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.

Isaac Frost, 4gt Grandfather, b. 1759 CT

The first record I find of Isaac Frost is in the 1800 census of New Haven, CT. Family members are not named, but the ages of his sons correspond to our ancestor Johnson Lyman Frost, b. 1794, and brother, Elias Carrington Frost, b. 1780-90. There are females listed in Isaac’s family, who would be wife, Ann, and daughters, names unknown. Among other families in the Waterbury Township, CT, are the Hoadleys and Bronsons. Both of these families are related to our Frost ancestors, which leads us to believe this is the Isaac Frost who migrated to Columbia Station, near Cleveland, Ohio, along with Hoadleys and Bronsons.

As a background, I would like to share something about the history of the Western Reserve area, which includes Cleveland, Ohio. This information about Columbia Township will explain the migration of our family, and is found online at Wikipedia:

“Columbia Station is part of the Connecticut Western Reserve, lands ceded in 1786 by Connecticut after the American Revolution. In 1805, two years after Ohio became a U.S. State, the federal government finalized treaties with local American Indians. The reserve was surveyed and parceled into rough 5-mile-square blocks (smaller than the typical 6-mile-square townships in the U.S.). The Bronson and Hoadley families of Waterbury, Connecticut, pooled together $20,087 to purchase a township. On April 4, 1807, they drew Township 5 N, Range 15 W from a random selection of townships in the reserve, purchasing the land ‘site’-unseen.
Columbia Station has been continuously inhabited since 1807, the longest settlement in the Western Reserve west of the Cuyahoga River. Columbia has other firsts in the Western Reserve west of the Cuyahoga: the first classroom (Bronson cabin, summer of 1808), first teacher (Sally Bronson, 1808… probably sister of our Isaac Frost), first white child born (Sally Hoadley…distant cousin of Frosts), first gristmill, (1809), first cemetery (1811), first doctor (Zephaniah Potter, 1809), and organized church society (Episcopalian, 1809). Columbia celebrated its bicentennial in 2007.” Wikipedia
One of Isaac’s sons, Elias C. Frost, of Euclid, Ohio, is mentioned as one of the first surveyors in 1807. These first men came from Waterbury, CT to Buffalo, NY, then spent 21 days on the rough waters of Lake Erie to reach Cleveland. Euclid was the new “hometown” of Elias’ wife, Phoebe McElrath.

“In the summer of 1807 the township was surveyed. A surveyor by the name of LACEY was first employed, but his chain was found to be of an incorrect length and he was discharged. In August of the same year Robert WORDEN, a surveyor from Columbiana county, was engaged, who, with Levi BRONSON, Daniel BRONSON, Benoni ADAMS, and Elias FROST of Euclid, as ax and chain men, set out from Cleveland taking a southwest course until the northeast corner of the town was reached. From this point they proceeded west two and a half miles, thence south a like distance to the center of the township. The party made their encampment here, on the west bank of the Rocky River. A daughter of Levi BRONSON, Mrs. Oliver TERRELL, accompanied the party to do their cooking, to whom must be accorded the honor of being the first white woman that ever set foot on the soil of Columbia.” History of Lorain County, Columbia Township (Part 1).

Father, Isaac, and sons, Elias C. and Lyman J. Frost, are shown to settle on lot #28 of the Columbia Township in 1808.

We do not know if there were any of Isaac’s daughters who traveled west with the Frost family, but his wife, Anne, made the trip. A narrative about another family, the Hickox’s, who traveled from Waterbury CT at the same time, gives us an idea of those early beginnings:

“Mrs. HICKOX ‘kept house’ in their wagon while her husband and sons felled trees and built their log cabin, which, though small, was large enough for its furnishings, the most important being the children, four sons and as many daughters. " Cuyahoga Cities

There are many more accounts of the earliest settlement of the townships in Lorain and Cuyahoga County at http://www.columbiahistoricalsociety.org/history1.html
In reading these narratives which have been posted, we find many mentions of the Frost family.

New Series on Frost Family Heritage

The Frost family seems to have left clues for us all across the country, from Connecticut to Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska, then to Oklahoma. Along the way, we find the names of spouses which we will attempt to trace… Paine/Payne, Nash, Cooper, Sanford, Fenn, Towner, Harrington, and more.

Eva Ida Frost McGill, pictured, was our gt. grandmother. Her father was Elias Carlos Frost, the son of Johnson Lyman Frost. Johnson’s father was Isaac Frost. Isaac (our 4gt grandfather) was born in the New Haven area of CT in the 1750s. His family tree, which I am still verifying, will take us back into the 1600s, still in CT.

News Article about Charles Terry, Brother of Gt. Grandmother, Lizzie Terry Griffin

Charlie Terry was quite a character as you can read in the article, written when he was about 91. I have a web page about him also.     Link to my old geocities web page for Charles W. Terry  "A Remarkable Man."
http://web.archive.org/web/20091028074345/http://www.geocities.com/dgranna/charleswterry.html

Free Newspaper Searches Available

We have just found a freebie that doesn't seem to have strings attached. At www.newspaperarchive.com you can register with just your email address to gain access to a limited number of views of searches for your name or keywords.

I just signed up and visited. The limited version (three views) is free. I searched for someone that I knew would get lots of hits in his town of Atchison, KS. They showed me two pages of possibilities, but I could only look at three choices in one day. Then they suggest to upgrade. The fee if you upgrade can be about $11.99 a month billed monthly, or $5.99 a month paid annually.

Starting fresh today with 3 free page views, I quickly used up those views. However, you may freely browse the lists of newspapers in each state to see which towns or counties are represented. You may choose by clicking the label on a column to view the state list alphabetically by city, by newspaper name, or by date (choose a range of years available.)

You may even do a name search, specific phrase, or some other searches and view the results with dates/years, but the snippets in the results are garbled in some cases. These searches are free without being included in the 3 freebies, unless you choose to VIEW a specific page. So there seems to be a lot you can do in prep for specific searches. If your name is unique it will be more beneficial of course. And if there are NO results for your name search, you are not penalized.

Don't get greedy! If you have already used your 3 free views for the day, but happen to find a possible "goody" in your browsing, don't click on the view in hopes you will get just one more. You will get a message that you have reached your limit.... AND.... you can't go back to browsing.

Adding a P.S. to Samuel Seely Griffin Info

In following up on Nathaniel Harris, father in law of Samuel Seely Griffin, we were able to find descendants who have matched and expanded on our information. Through their notes, we now know that Samuel S. and Elizabeth died in Farmington, Fulton County, IL. This information is found on Find-A-Grave. Elizabeth died April 2, 1847 and is buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery, section OG, inscribed as "wife of Rev. S. S. Griffin" "age 65 years." In the same section is the grave of Rev. S. S. Griffin, d. Feb. 1873, and N. H. Griffin, d. 1843. This was probably a young son, possibly in his teen years.

Was Your Ancestor in the War of 1812 ?

If you have done searches on Ancestry.com for your relative who might have fought in the War of 1812, you may have found his record in Military Records. But there may be MORE ... hidden away in an un-indexed database. The "War of 1812 Pension Application Files Index, 1812 - 1815" is a treasure chest of information. It's not easy to browse, but not impossible, as the records are alphabetized by surname, with sections such as Gra - Gree, and Greg - Gy. Within those sections there may be 800 individuals, so some guesswork is involved. But a little luck and perseverance led me to the following file on Levi Griffin, brother of our 3gt Grandfather, Jonathan Griffin.


Information includes:
Soldier's Name and Name of Widow
Bounty Land File Numbers
Service (Rank, Regiment, State)
Dates of Enlistment and Discharge
Residence of Soldier
Residence of Widow
Maiden Name of Widow (sometimes more than one wife)
Marriage of Soldier and Widow - Date and Place
Death of Soldier
Death of Widow
Remarks (might include info that the soldier sent a substitute, etc.)

Not every person in my files who was enlisted in the War of 1812 is found in these files, but the information I found in only a few searches is priceless.

Thanks to Randy Seaver's blog Genea-Musings for the heads up on this un-searched database.