52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Week #2 Theme - Origins

As we keep searching further and further back in the generations of our families, we can never hope to find the origins of our ancestors. But at every level we discover clues about immigration, occupations, and family history. In a couple of cases, I've found origins of places where my ancestors had an influence in exploration or naming, etc.

When the area of Cleveland, Ohio, called Columbia Station, was being surveyed, our Frost and Paine ancestors from Connecticut were among the first settlers. Elias C. Frost, son of our ancestor, Isaac Frost, is mentioned as one of the first surveyors of the Columbia Station 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. Elias C. Frost and 4 others, 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, (possibly a cousin of the Frosts) 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 (our direct ancestor), are shown to settle on lot #28 of the Columbia Station Township in 1808. Another direct ancestor, Seth Paine, helped survey the town of Brecksville, OH, where he was the first settler, in 1811. Streets in the area are named for Seth Paine and his daughter Oriana (our 3Gt Grandmother,first teacher in Brecksville, OH), and the first post office was Frostville.

Thus, our family was influential in the origins of what has become the metropolis of Cleveland and suburbs.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.  Week #49 theme is "New Horizons".

As our families arrived on the Atlantic Coast, some as early as the 1640s, they must have been anxiously waiting for the view of the new land on the horizon. They were so brave and ready for new experiences. 

Choosing just one of these many early families, I would like to chronicle our Frost family through more than two centuries of seeking "New Horizons."  The immigrant John Frost, our 9th great grandfather, was born 1614 in England. He came first to New York with his father, John, and then to New Haven CT by 1660s.  His son, John, married Mercy Paine there, and was the father of our 7th gt grandfather, Samuel Frost.  (We will find the surname of Paine again in this family line.)  But first, three generations of "Grandpa Samuels" lived in and around New Haven. They would have lived through the struggles of clearing lands and surviving the elements of a new world, including the French and Indian Wars.   Then in 1754, our 4th gt grandfather, Isaac Frost, was born.  His father fought in the Revolutionary War, and they saw the new nation on the horizon.

Soon after the war, a Connecticut investment company made plans to populate the Western Reserve which would include the new city of Cleveland, Ohio.  Isaac and his family would be among the first to make this venture.  In fact, we believe that one of Isaac's sons, Elias, surveyed the plats for the city of Cleveland. Another son, Johnson LymanFrost, our 3rd Gt Grandfather, married Oriana Paine, daughter of Seth Paine (see, I told you that name would show up again). Oriana Paine Frost was the first teacher in the Brecksville, OH area, and her name shows up in streets and institutions. Oriana’s mother, Hannah Nash Paine, descended from a most interesting line including Canada Waite, born in captivity in Canada when her mother was kidnapped by Indians.

Old Isaac, and sons, Elias, and Lyman helped establish the town of Olmstead, OH.  The Frost name is still seen in the area. But even further horizons beckoned, and in 1820, Johnson Lyman and family are found in St. Clair, Michigan. Both Elias and Lyman had studied medicine, and although Lyman was not a doctor, he used his knowledge to assist a doctor there. Then in 1830, he and his family, including our 2 Gt Grandfather; Elias Carlos Frost, have moved further into the frontier to Lacon County Illinois, near Peoria.  As a side note here, while in Lacon County, the Frosts lived about a mile from the Graves family who went west as part of the Donner party.  New horizons were difficult if not impossible to conquer for many in that era.

When the wilds of Iowa opened for settlement, Lyman, whose wife had died in Illinois, took his children, and traveled to Iowa City.  As we look back, it had been 200 years since the first Frost immigrants had arrived in North America, and they had lived in 6 states, always moving westward.  Iowa in the 1840s was a new frontier, with forts and Indian confrontations. Many settlers came with very little furniture and belongings, as they had to travel by wagons pulled by oxen. But Iowa City grew up quickly into an area of businesses, a militia, and academics. The University and debating societies were established by 1847.

It was in Iowa City that our Frosts, Herringtons, Shafers, and McGills came together through marriage. In the 70s, Elias and family, including daughter, Eva, who married Daniel McGill, moved on to the western part of the state. Our grandma, Harriett “Hattie” McGill, and her siblings were born in Audubon County.  According to family lore, farming was difficult due to the weather and the plague of locusts or grasshoppers.  And at one point, the general store in Audubon County, owned by Elias (also called Carlos) was robbed by the "Crooked Creek Gang".

The brother-in-law of Elias (D.P. McGill's foster father), Daniel Shafer, had helped to survey the state line of Nebraska; so Elias and Lucinda, along with the elderly Lyman, moved on to Stuart, Nebraska.  Lyman died there according to the family Bible. His life alone had stretched from Connecticut to Nebraska, and his very interesting personality has been recorded... another story.

After a few years near Keya Paha County, Elias and family moved on west again, to Chadron, Dawes County, Nebraska, around 1888.  The McGills, still in Iowa, headed for the newly opened territory of Oklahoma, with Daniel making the Run of 1889. And Elias also moved his family to Oklahoma, where they lived and died in Perry, Noble County. 

Many descendants and relatives of these Frost families followed their dreams even further west in the U.S.   Their stories include California during the gold rush days and later years, as well as other states. We have so many families who made similar treks, but this is an example of the pioneer spirit…seeking New Horizons.

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.