The Harper extended family had made the difficult trip from Harpersfield, New York, in 1798 to settle in the area today known as Harpersfield, Ohio.
The children of Alexander and Elizabeth Harper married spouses who would greatly influence our county.
Only about 50 persons lived within today’s Ashtabula County during the winter of 1799-1800. Life seems very harsh and hard in our county this year of 2026, but nothing like the hardship of that lonely first year.
Harpersfield had the most population, settled in 1798 by the New York emigrants: Harper, Gregory and McFarland.
Four more townships would be settled the following year of 1799. Two would come from New York and two from Connecticut. Conneaut was second to be settled by the New York families of Montgomery, Wright, King and Bemus.
Austinburg was settled later that same year of 1799 by the Connecticut families of Austin, Beckwith, Stevens and Allen.
Later that year Windsor would be settled by George Phelps who came from Connecticut. Before the year of 1799 was over, one more settler would establish his home in Monroe. Stephen Moutlton came from New York.
Within one year’s time, these 50 individuals came to the most northeastern point next to Lake Erie and began to established homes in what would become Ashtabula County.
It would take 28 years before all of the townships would be settled in our county with Hartsgrove being the last one in 1828.
The families would help each other out as much as they could with some providing food, some shelter, some prayer, some legal help. Woodsman, pastors, early lawyers, surveyors, hunters, whatever their talent, each one aided the other in a simple and hard life.
Official records list only the name of the household who came in the party that settled. The wife was not listed and yet, it was she who kept the “home fires” going. It was she who feed, clothed, encouraged and managed the house to enable the family to survive.
I was able to get a copy of Section 4 of the “Women of the Western Reserve Before 1840,” printed in 1875. Under Ashtabula County, the following women are listed by maiden and married name, the date they came, which township they settled in and where their last residence was. This resource is available at the Western Reserve Historical Society, and I will have a copy placed in the resource library at the Jefferson Historical Society.
This list will only include the women who came in 1798-1803 to settle the first ten townships. Elizabeth Wright (Mrs. Daniel Bartholomew) came in 1800, and was from Harpersfield, New York. Polly Lamont (Mrs. Benjamin Hartwell) came in 1804 to Geneva Township, with her last known address as Harpersfield, Ohio.
Lucina Warner (Mrs. Elisah Chapin) came in 1798 from New York and died in Harpersfield, Ohio. Mrs. Levi Montgomery is only listed by her married name, but she came with her husband, Levi, in 1802 and died in Harpersfield, Ohio. In 1803, four women came with their husbands from Harpersfield, New York. They were Elizabeth Harris (Mrs. John Brakeman), last residence, Harpersfield, Ohio. John Brakeman served in the Revolutionary War and is buried in the abandoned Harpersfield Township Cemetery. With the listing is Susan Brakeman (Mrs. Timothy Wood), last residence, Kingsville, Ohio; Eve Brakeman (Mrs. Ezra Gregrory), last residence, Wisconsin; and Mary Brakeman (Mrs. C.H. SeCheverell), last residence, Harpersfield, Ohio.
A West Virginian came to Harpersfield in 1802. Jane Newell (Mrs. Davidson Williams) settled and died in Harpersfield, Ohio. (I wonder if she spent her whole life explaining to the Northerners why she had a southern accent as I have had to do.) Esther Hotchkiss (Mrs. William Hewin) came from Delaware County, New York, and was living in Geneva, Ohio, as her last residence.
The heroine of my last few columns Elizabeth Bartholomew (Mrs. Alexander Harper) came in 1798 from Bethlehem, New York, to settle and die at Harpersfield, Ohio. Coming that same year with Elizabeth were Hannah Bartholomew (Mrs. Skinner, no first name given); Miriam Harper (Mrs. McFarland); Margaret Harper (Mrs. Aaron Wheeler); Elizabeth Harper (Mrs. Abraham Tappan); and Mary Harper (Mrs. Adna Cowles). Coming also in 1798 was Lucinda Packer (Mrs. Heman Hickok) to Harpersfield, Ohio, from Jefferson, New York.
There are other women who came, but these are the ones whose names are on the official list of 1840 settlers collected in 1875 that included the date of arrival.
At least two-thirds of the pioneer settlers of our county were born within the boundaries of Connecticut. Although the first settlers came during 1796-97, there were no laws to govern the people. It was a lawless land and every man for himself. On May 30, 1800, the first municipal laws were laid out.
The second township to be settled was the territory of Conneaut when in the spring of 1799, Aaron Wright, Levi and John Montgomery, Nathan and John King, Robert Montgomery and Samuel Bemus with their families brought their boats ashore at the mouth of Conneaut Creek.
Surveyors who had come to that location in 1796 had built a crude structure for shelter while surveying. John, later Judge, Kingsbury would take over the house during the following winter.
During the first fall, Kingsbury had to return to New York for business leaving his family behind but expecting a quick return. While he was gone, he was stricken with an illness that kept him away all through the winter. Upon his return, he discovered his wife and two children, one born while he was gone, had died. This was the first recorded death in Conneaut.
By 1799, new settlers would take over the structure built by the surveyors and the home built by John Kingsbury. The men included Thomas Montgomery and Aaron Wright and their families. Having a shelter already in place greatly helped the new settlers. They also discovered crops of corn left behind by the Indians providing them with food.
The Conneaut settlers did not have to clear forests and build cabins like those who settled in Harpersfield, about 25 miles away. The next year more settlers came. Robert, Levi and John Montgomery along with Samuel Bemus and Nathan and John King joined the settlement along the Conneaut Creek. It was still a lonely existence. Aaron Wright was recorded as saying, “I once lived sixteen days without seeing a human face, except my own in a pail of water.” Wright was desperate for food, commenting that he had just finished picking off the last bones from a porcupine. When all seemed dark, two friends appeared with a turkey they had just killed.
The corner turned for the settlers, when, in 1800, many more settlers came to the area including Seth Harrington, James Harper, James Montgomery, James and Nathaniel Laughlin and Daniel Baldwin.
Aaron Wright would erect the first grist mill. Seth Harrington, Aaron Wright and Nathan King would mark the first road, today’s ridge road leading to Ashtabula. The first religious meeting was held at the cabin of Aaron Wright with the Rev. Joseph Badger as first minister. Two of the families would be joined when Aaron Wright married Anna Montgomry in 1800. They had to travel twenty-five miles to Harpersfield to be married by the only qualified officiant, Justice Aaron Wheeler. Wheeler was married to Margaret Harper, daughter of Alexander and Elizabeth Harper. I wonder if they held the first party in the wilderness.
Families intermarried within the small settlements. Children were named after the parents, grandparents or a child who died. The records of the settlers are often confused or written incorrectly because of the closeness and intermarriages.
Next week, you will read of the other early settlements in 1799 of Austinburg, Windsor and Monroe.
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