Tracing our Roots…Pioneers settle in Monroe Township

Before the first white man settled in the township of Monroe, a large tribe of approximately 40-50 Indians were here of the tribes, Seneca and Massasauga, in the northern part of the area, today known Conneaut.
The first white man to settle Monroe was an unsettled man. Colonel Stephen Moulton came from Whitestone, New York, but left behind his wife and children, wealth and position. He was not alone. The woman who came with him and traveled that long journey was a woman to whom he was not married. They had one child. If it is scandalous today, imagine what it was considered in 1799.
The Colonel’s “wife” is not named in any of the five historical books I researched, but her actions are certainly mentioned. They settled east of today’s Kelloggsville and erected the first log house near John Wetmore’s residence in 1878. The couple lived there for two years improving the land and house. Moulton sold out to pioneer settler, Jonathan Harrington the second settler who came in 1801. The Colonel moved closer to what would become the settlement of Kelloggsville
“Be sure your sins will find you out,” the old expression goes, and it certainly came true for the Colonel. The woman who stole him from his family married another man, but before long, he left her. I wonder what happened to that woman and if she had any regrets.
Monroe Township is named after President James Monroe and is the largest in size of all Ashtabula County townships. It is 7 miles in length and 5 miles in width. All the rest of the territory was laid out in 5-mile square townships except the ones that bordered on Lake Erie. These townships were uneven because of the northeast and southwest slant of the lakeshore.
The surveyors had marked out what became known as the Girdled Road which in 1799, the Colonel followed as did the second settler, Jonathan Harrington in 1801. Harrington came from Rhode Island. His daughter Maria Harrington would be the bride in the first wedding to take place in the township. In 1808, Maria married George Ferguson, son of William Ferguson, for whom Ferguson’s Settlement was named. Since there was no official to marry them, they had to travel to Pennsylvania to make the ceremony legal.
The following year of 1802, three Ferguson brothers, William, James and George came and settled nearby and the place became known as “Ferguson’s Settlement.” The area kept that name until 1814 when the first mail route came through from Warren, Ohio.
That same year of 1802, William Hardy with his wife and three little boys and a baby, were making the trip to Ashtabula County from Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. Sadly, the wife became very sick and died as they reached Black Lick, Indiana County, Pennsylvania. With everything sold and the little they had with them, William Hardy had no choice but to continue the journey with the children. The oldest boy, John, 8, helped care for his sibling including his sister less than a year old. The family arrived here Monroe in 1803, at the same time the George Ferguson family was moving back to Pennsylvania. The Hardy family moved into their cabin.
To show how hard life was one need only to look at the life of the Hardy family. In 1803, the year he settled in Monroe, he brought 10 sheep and 10 hogs. The bears ate the hogs and the wolves killed the sheep. William Hardy only lived another ten years before passing away. His children continued to live in Kelloggsville.
A few years after the Ferguson brothers came, William sold his land to Martin and Amos Kellogg, James moved to Conneaut, and George moved to Springfield, Pennsylvania. The brothers first bought 640 acres north of Kelloggsville, then bought Ferguson’s 200 acres and settled there. Amos Kellogg became the first postmaster of Monroe Township. Folks came to his home to get their mail as part of the Kellogg home was converted to a post office. The area name was changed to Kelloggsville as a result. In 1814, brother-in-law Harvey Dean followed them and settled a mile and a half north of Kelloggsville.
Other Revolutionary War veterans who settled in Monroe Township were Solomon, Sr. with wife, Phoebe White and their seven children including son, Solomon Durkee, Jr.; Thomas Barrett, and wife, Patience, who came in 1801; as mentioned, Jonathan Harrington who had 10 children and David Niles who came in 1803 from Rhode Island. Niles settled in the northwest part of the township near Conneaut Creek.
The Tinker family came in 1810 and established a foundry business in 1836 on Horton Road in an area that became known as Tinker’s Hollow.
Caleb Blodgett came from Batavia, New York, in 1810 and had a great impact on the economy and progress of the township. He bought 50 acres near the northwest part of Kelloggsville and built the “Brick Tavern” which is on County Road 40. His impact on the township led to great growth. He bought out one distillery and built 4 or 5 more, was a proprietor of stage lines on the Ridge Road, and built a turnpike road from the southeast corner of Richmond to the north line of the original township of Monroe, a distance of 15 miles. The road would become known as “Blodgett’s Turnpike.”
He supplied beef and pork to the garrison at Green Bay, built a flour mill at the southeast of Sheffield, and a grist mill in Kelloggsville in 1833. But Blodgett was a man who assumed great risks without counting the costs and getting into lots of hot water as a result. He was often on the run and was at least one time kidnapped to obtain lost money. Somehow, he escaped conviction and harm but finally sold his investments and “left town” in 1836 and settled in Wisconsin.
It is interesting to note that the first religious meeting of any sort was led by the Rev. Joseph Badger in one of the log cabins about 1804. Badger was known among the settlers and valued for his faith and his commitment the spiritual leader for the pioneer settlers. His name shows up in most of the early township histories.
The first doctors were Dr. Jacob Vosburg in 1819, followed by Dr. Greenleaf Fifield, who left and went to Conneaut to practice until his death. Dr. Stephen G. Holbrook came in 1824, married a daughter of Martin Kellogg and practiced for 50 years until his death in 1875.
Settling the North part of the township along the Center Road was Ezekial Colby, Rufus Hatch, Sr. Rufus Hatch, Jr., Harvey Hatch, Solomon Durkee, Sr., Solomon Durkee, Jr., David Durkee, Humphrey Cram, James and Joseph Hicks, Ambrose Ford, John and Sedgwick Bushnell, Daniel Kelsey, Nathaniel Welsh, David, John and Samuel Eaton, Sr., and others.
It is hard to imagine but in the 1820s and 1830s, Kelloggsville in Monroe Township was thriving with businesses. The history books write of this township “From 1820-1830, Kelloggsville was one of the most important business points in this section of the state.” Today, it is a quiet, peaceful township with an amazing history. Five of the former inns are still standing as homes and a historical marker is located above the Old Brick Tavern on Monroe Center Road.
Much of Monroe Township history was submitted by Russell Humphrey, Sr. for the 1985 edition History of Ashtabula County, Ohio, Pioneer Women of the Western Reserve, Moina Large’s 1929 History of Ashtabula County, Biographical History of the Western Reserve, 1929 and 1959 editions of Revolutionary War Soldiers of Ohio by the Daughters of the American Revolution.