Isaac Frost, Transcription of Will

Isaac Frost Will
Recorded in Book D
Page 143
Journal K 156

Proved and append (?) in
Open Court May 2 1839

Est. A, No. 621

Isaac Frost of the township of Olmsted, county of Cuyahoga, and the state of Ohio, being sick in body but of sound and disposeing mind, memory, and understanding do make and publish this my last will and testament in manner and form following. That is to say

First: it is my will that my funeral expenses and all my just debts be paid.

Second: I give devise and bequeath to my beloved wife Annise Frost in heir of her dowry one third of all the movable property to be her owne and the use of the other tow thirds for two years use of all my farm on which I now reside situated in the township of Olmsted on the road runing west from Elias C. Frost containing about 30 acres for as long as she lives; she however first disposeing of a sufficensy there of to pay my just debts as afforesaid & when she has done with it all the property bequeathed to her as aforesaid except the one third of moveable property to be her owne to my grandchildren that I shall here after disignate and to their heirs and assigns forever in the following manner, vis.

Third: I give and divise to the children of Sally my eldest daughter one hundred and seventy five dollars and to their heirs and assigns forever.

Forth: I give and divise to the children of Easter my second daughter one hundred and seventy five dollars and to their heirs and assigns forever.

Fifth: I give and divise to the children of Lyman my second son one hundred and seventy five dollars and to their heirs and assigns forever.

Sixth: What remains is to be divided into four equal parts to the children of the aforesaid Sally one part, the children of the aforesaid Easter one part, and the children of the aforesaid Lyman one part, to the children of Elias one part to their heirs and assigns forever.

Seventhly: It is my will that Elias C. Frost ____ inheritance in my estate.

And lastly: I hereby constitute and appoint Annice Frost, wife, and William Wood to be my executors for this my last will and testament revoking and annulling all former wills by me made and satisfying and confirming this and no other to be my last will and testament.
Signed Isaac Frost

In testimony whereof I hereby set my hand and seal this thirty first day of December, AD one thousand eight hundred and thirty eight.

Sined published and delivered by the above named Isaac Frost and from his last will and testament in presence of us who at his request singed as witness of the same.
John Kennedy
Hiram B. Gleason
William Wood


_______________
My notes:
I believe Isaac Frost died early 1839. His first wife, Anna, had died about 1812. The second wife, Annise, was much younger than her husband, but I don't find any children by the union. She is still living in Olmstead Twp. Ohio in 1840, age 40 - 50.

One of his daughters was Sarah "Sally" Frost who married Mr. Hosmer Merry. Both Sally and Hosmer had died by the date of this will. They had six children.

Daughter, Esther Frost, married Mr. Abijah Comstock. I don't have her children listed at this time. She was still living at the time of this will.

Older son, Elias C. Frost was a physician. He married Phoebe McIlrath, and had 6 children. In 1840, two or three of his sons migrated to Johnson County Iowa. I believed he traveled there soon afterward, leaving his wife and other children in Olmstead OH. An Iowa record says he was buried in Johnson County, Iowa, as were 2 or 3 of his sons, Jarvis, Jackson, and possibly a son named Lyman.

Second son, J. Lyman Frost is my ancestor. He was a Dr. although I believe self-proclaimed. He married Oriana Paine. They had 4 children born in Ohio. In 1830, the family migrated to Michigan, then in 1836 to Peoria, Illinois, where his wife died. By 1841, Lyman and his family had moved to Johnson County Iowa, about the same time as did his nephews above.

Although there is a missing word (torn corner) in the will concerning son, Elias C. Frost, it is possible that being the oldest son, he inherited the balance of estate. Or the missing word(s) could say that he "has no" inheritance in the estate. Note that none of Isaac's other children received anything, just grandchildren. In 1840, Isaac's widow still lives on the estate, near Elias and family. She may have remarried after that... no record found yet.

Will of Isaac Frost, 1759 - 1838

Isaac Frost, b. Waterbury CT, 1759. Lived in Cuyahoga County OH from early 1800s to his death. This will was written and signed by him Dec. 31, 1838. Probate was in early 1839. We do not know the exact date of his death. The scan is hard to read, but I will follow up with a transcription.

FIRST TEACHER IN BRECKSVILLE, OH

About 1814, Oriana PAYNE (sp.), the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Seth PAYNE, taught the first school in the township at the center in a log house, near where the town hall now stands, with the HOADLEY, ADAMS, BRADFORD and WAIT children attending the school. The nearest schoolhouse at that time was in Newburgh. Oriana PAYNE married Lyman FROST and settled at the center of Brecksville in 1815, the year her father died. This information from "A Memorial to the Pioneer Women of the Western Reserve" by Mrs. Gertrude Van Rensselaer Wickham published in 1896.

Our 3Gt Grandparents, Johnson Lyman Frost and Oriana Payne Frost were members of a Congregational Church. From History of Cuyahoga County on Ancestry.com.

“In the summer of 1816, the Rev. Wm. Handford, in the employ of the Connecticut Missionary Society, began preaching in Brecksville. And on the 13 of July organized the First Congregational Church of Brecksville, with 16 members, namely : John Adams, Lemuel Hoadley, Chloe Hoadley, John Wait, Bolter Colson, Harriett Colson, Hannah Paine, Lyman J. Frost, Oriana Frost, Zelpha Wait, Lucy Wilcox, James Dixon, Mary Dixon, Joseph Rice, Orrin Wilcox, and Abigail Wilcox. These elected Lyman J. Frost as the first clerk. The church had no regular pastor until 1840…..” A later text mentions that J. Lyman Frost was a “self styled” minister.

Between 1816 and 1820, the Frost families moved to Cuyahoga, Middleburg District, in the area of Berea. Lyman J. and Oriana had 4 children (dates from family Bible):
Luther Paine Frost b. 1817,Berea,OH
Harriett Amelia Frost b. 1820, Berea,OH
Celina Calista Frost b. 1825,Berea,OH
Elias Carlos Frost b. 1826, Berea, OH

In Brecksville, OH, today, there are streets named for Seth Payne and his daughter, Orianna Paine/ Payne. There is also a shelter or treatment center named Oriana House in the area. I do not know if it is named for our ancestor.

Seth Paine and Hannah Nash from Massachusetts to Ohio

PAINE, SETH , of Williamsburg, Massachusetts, was a land surveyor who surveyed what is now Brecksville, and the first permanent white settler in the Township. [Seth and wife Hannah were our 4th gt grandparents, their daughter Oriana having married Johnson Lyman Frost, mentioned previously.]
From "The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History" - "Paine came to the Western Reserve in 1810 as an assistant to Alfred Wolcott, a surveyor from Boston, employed by John Breck, the person for whom Brecksville was named. Paine and Wolcott surveyed Brecksville Township and returned to Northampton, Massachusetts, with their report. Paine liked the area so well that he returned in June, 1811, from Williamsburg, Massachusetts with his wife, and children, Oliver, Spencer, Almira and Lorina [Oriana], and a young unmarried man named Melzer Clark. Seth and Hannah Paine settled in the southwest corner of Brecksville Township on lot 64, at what became known as Carter's Corners. Soon afterwards Melzer Clark and Almira Paine were married, this being the first marriage in Brecksville.

As land agent for John Breck, Paine had power of attorney to grant title to land sold. Paine's compensation for services rendered was to choose 200 acres anywhere in the township, with the exception that it should not be bottom land and should not include a mill site. Paine chose the southwest part. He left his family at a settlement in Newburgh, near the corner of Walker and Broadway in Cleveland, during the winter of 1810-1811, while he proceeded to Brecksville to build a log house."

As the first settler, something of his family is of historical interest. He was of the sixth generation from Stephen Paine, who came from Great Ellington, Norfolk County, England, to America in 1638 on the ship “Diligent” and first settled in Hingham, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts. In 1661 Stephen and his two sons, with others, purchased a large tract of land near Rehoboth, Massachusetts from Wamsitta, son of Massasoit. …. [much more about Stephen Paine and his descendants can be found in online searches.]
"At the breaking out of the war of 1812 the few inhabitants of Brecksville, OH, for a time, kept up a little garrison at the house of Seth Paine, but as rumors of Indian hostilities became more alarming most of the people fled to Hudson, where they remained until the danger was over. After the war only a few straggling Indians were seen, and these soon abandoned the country, leaving the settlers in undisturbed possession of their homes. Seth Paine and son in law Melzer Clark both died in 1815, four years after their arrival. And their unfinished work was turned over to other agents of the land company. Their families, left without their care, remained in the almost unbroken forest. The oldest son of Paine, Spencer, had to take his father’s place in supporting the family when he was only fourteen years of age. ” [From “A History of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland” by William Coates]

Death of Anne Frost, Wife of Isaac

The gravestone shown here is that of Anne Frost, our 4th Gt. Grandmother. This is the earliest gravestone photographed for any of our family. According to the inscription, she would have been born in about 1762, probably in Connecticut. Her maiden name is unknown.

FROST , Anne, wife of Isaac, d June 9, 1812, 50y

The grave is one of the earliest in Columbia Center Cemetery. Located on the east side of Columbia West River Road, a short distance north of Route 82, this oldest Lorain County Cemetery was laid out in 1811 to accommodate nine deaths from the ague [fever/chills, possibly malaria]. The site is the cabin clearing of Bela Bronson overlooking Rocky River Valley. Bela Bronson was first cousin of our Johnson Lyman Frost. Many pioneers from Waterbury, Connecticut, five Revolutionary War veterans, and many members of the militia for the War of 1812 are buried here. Map.

After the war, several families from Columbia Township moved into the area south of Cleveland called Brecksville. Isaac, and sons, Elias C., and Johnson Lyman Frost came to Brecksville when it was still a forested area. Johnson L., my ancestor, married Oriana Paine, daughter of Seth and Hannah Paine, who were the first white settlers in Brecksville, Ohio. Their story is chronicled in “A History of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland,” by William R. Coates, found on Ancestry.com.