HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY OHIOEdited by Lewis Cass Aldrich
Published 1889
HISTORY OF BERLIN TOWNSHIP
CHAPTER XXI. Pages 438 - 450
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AN almost universal custom prevailed in the early history of Ohio to name localities from those who first bought or settled on them. In this way. what is now called Berlin, was named Eldridge. from one of its original proprietors. In 1832 it was changed by the commissioners of Huron county. of which it was then a part. About this time some of the territory of Vermillion was added to its northern boundary, extending it to the lake shore, and given it a coast of several miles, thus making it a township of great possibilities. in looking over a map of Erie county, the mind would naturally ask, “which of these townships is sure to progress most rapidly? And, of course, a preference
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would be given to those with a coast line; then taking all that lie upon the lake, how can anyone predict a greater success of one than of the others? Yet one will often far outstrip the rest and attract to it from the beginning, those with a spirit of enterprise that would fail to be drawn elsewhere.
When the subject of its name came up for discussion, there had been sundry rumors concerning the integrity of Mr. Eldridge, who seems to have been a pleasant gentleman, who had purchased the eastern half the township as a speculation, and was ruined by the taxes that rested on unimproved lands as heavily as those that were cultivated. Rumors came from the East that he had tried to redeem his credit by forgery, and these rumors were only too readily believed by those who looked upon a land speculator with distrust. It was just at the time of the Milan-Berlin treaty, and when the commissioners wished the name changed, Noah Hill suggested that as there was a Milan, why not have a Berlin.
The township, as at first surveyed, was five miles square, and was afterward enlarged by the lake front. The surface is level (except where small valleys are formed by the streams) from the lake to the Ridge, where it rises from fifty to one hundred feet, and then extends southward as level as before. It is believed by scientific geologists that this ridge represents what was once the shore line of the lake. It extends through the township from northeast to southwest, and in one place called the “pinnacle,” the base of the bluff is sixty feet above the level of the lake, and its slope presents three distinct terraces or shore lines, at heights of one hundred, one hundred and fifty and one hundred and ninetyfive feet above the lake, each indicating a period of subsidence.
Timber was abundant, and consisted of various kinds of oak, chestnut and white wood; of the latter, this township has supplied more than any other in the fire-lands. The eastern part of the northern division was most heavily timbered. The soil is generally sandy, though the northern is lower and has a clayey soil. There are four marshes in the township, of which two have been reclaimed, and the other two are expected to be. Sandstone abounds, and half a dozen quarries have been opened and worked at different times. From these large quantities have been shipped, and the home market supplied with grindstones, and material for building. Salt-licks extended parallel with the ridge, and were the general resort for deer in the days of savage life. These animals came in large numbers and wore a path that afterward separated the lands of Nathan Tuttle and Ezekiel Sayles. During the dry season the surface of the licks is covered with an efflorescence of salt deposit, that is very marked. In the early times when salt was expensive and difficult to procure, the settlers dug a pit, into which they sank a section of a hollow tree, and took from this reservoir the water from which they made salt. The belief in the value of this salt spring was so
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strong in the mind of its first proprietor, Fosdick, that he refused to sell the adjacent land for many years. Later, Prof. B. L. Hill and others, made explorations for it, but were unable to find it, the floods of spring had swept it away. They found salt water, however, and proved the truth of the reports they had received from the early settlers.
Traces of the mound builders can be found on the farm of Henry Hoak in the western part of the township, and covers an eighth of an acre. There are at present large trees growing on it, and while digging a cellar for a new house,a large human skeleton was found in a sitting posture. Others have been found near the same place, and various kinds of relics, such as arrow-heads, stone axes, and such articles as have always been found within these peculiar mounds. Near the center of the township, on a place once owned by Lewis Osborne, is another mound; and in the northern part of the township is an old fortification of much interest. Hudson Tuthill possesses some of the relics belonging to this people, and H. L. Hill plowed up a French hatchet near the roots of a large stump. The tree had been cut down over twenty years before. It was very large, and near the heart of the tree were two or three plain hacks as if made by a hatchet. Outside of these hacks could be counted two hundred and nineteen courses, indicating the time that had elapsed since the marks were made, and bringing the date to a time parallel with the coming of the French to settle Canada.
The surface of the country in this township is beautifully varied, in some places high, elsewhere rolling or level, and in some places large bowlders are to be found. All kinds of crops can be grown here, and no richer farming lands can be found than those of Berlin township.
The first settlement was made in 1808, by a party of adventurers, who had launched a rude boat at the mouth of Walnut Creek, Pennsylvania. There were seven of these men, and they boldly sailed out upon the lake in pursuit of their fortunes. Their boat was loaded with provision, tools, and thirty barrels of whisky. When the storms began to beat upon them they reluctantly threw overboard the liquor, and after it was over gathered it up again.
When they found the mouth of the Huron, the sand bar kept them from getting ashore, and they were obliged to dig a channel for their boat from the lake to the river. They selected a field of eighteen acres of land now composing the Kline and Minuse farm in Milan township, and put in a corn crop. After putting in their crop and hoeing it, they left it to go for their families, leaving an Indian to guard and protect it. It was not until the autumn that they returned, the men as before by boat with their goods, and the women and children on horseback, escorted by John Hoak’s father, Henry Hoak. He was the oldest of all the pioneers, having first seen the light in 1745, and remained here until his death, living to a grand old age and dying in his eighty-eighth year. The majority of this brave party deserted Huron on account of its over
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flows, and settled in Berlin. They found here rich soil and two creeks — one called the Chapelle, the other “ The Old Woman Creek,” because it was said a squaw had drowned in it at an early date. It rises in Huron county and passes through the whole length of the central portion of this township. It has also a West Branch, and the two branches have had at different times more than half a dozen saw- mills built along their course. The Chapelle empties into the lake in Vermillion. These strangers also found an abundance of wild game, turkeys, deer, and small animals, with a sprinkling of wolves and bears, sufficient to keep them in a state of anxiety continually. Men that worked by night, at that time, did so to the music of the wolves that barked on every side. A Mr. Freeman who settled in the eastern part of the township, had noticed that his hogs came to the house "badly wounded, and one moonlight night he heard one of them squealing. He seized his gun and flew to the rescue. A large bear was carrying off a good sized hog. The hog was dead, and in attempting to carry it over a log the bear had stood upon the log and was there shot. Its meat was divided among all the settlers and was enjoyed as a rare treat, being the first of the kind they had ever tasted.
A thrilling wolf story is told of a boy named Jacob Simpson, who was left alone at the house of Mr. Fitzgerald. The boy had nothing to read, and no company but a dog, so, as the evening was pleasant he went out of doors and sat on a log, howling to imitate a wolf. The dog joined in the concert, and his voice was even more shrill than the boy's. It was but a short time before they heard a reply from the genuine creature, and as they came near the house the boy ran in and tried to coax the dog to go with him. It was worse than vain, the dog would not stir, and the pack of wolves surrounded the house and attacked the dog. This made the dog willing to join his master and he came to the door to be let in, and so closely was he followed by the wolves that as Simpson opened the door to let him in, he nearly caught a wolf at the same time. He fastened the door and piled fire-wood against it to keep them out, and succeeded in doing so. The dog wanted to get out again, but he dared not let him go among them, and they remained around the house a long time trying to get in. Life had little time for pleasure then, all thoughts were centered on getting a living and avoiding dangers.
The first town-meeting was held at Thompson’s Mill, April, 1817. The folio wing is a list of those chosen township officers: Trustees, John Laughlin, Samuel Reed, aud John Thompson; clerk, Henry Brady; treasurer, John Hoak ; constable, Daniel Butler ; lister and appraiser, Lybeus Storrs ; path roasters, Christopher Brumbacker and Thomas Starr; fence- viewers, Jno. Hoak, Samuel Reed ; poor-masters, Heironymus Mingus and Christopher Brumbacker. All the voters had an office, and some of them two offices, after the idea of Artemas Ward, that all soldiers should be brigadiers. The first house is said to have been built by John Hoak, near the western
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line of the township. There were but four white men present to carry up the corners, but Silas David, an Indian chief, who was a frequent visitor to the whites, brought his friends to the “raising,” and would not allow them to touch a drop of liquor until the work was done. Then they had a drunken brawl. One of them became so beastly drunk that the others built a pen rails around him, covered him up and left him till the morning of the next day.
The first white settler was John Dunbar, who came from New York State 1809, and settled on the farm afterward owned by the heirs of John Westerlow. Here he cleared the land and built a house, and was afterward joined bv his brother, Isaac, who came with him, but afterwards built himself a house near the centre of the township. For many years all traces of the family have been lost. In 1810 he was joined by Perry and Thomas Starr, who came from Connecticut, in a one-horse wagon to Cleveland. Mr. Starr was a blacksmith by trade, and used to follow the business of ironing vessels for the lake. He did the iron work for the first decked-vessel that was built this side of Erie, Pa. It was owned by Captain Austin, of Vermillion. Mr. Starr had eight children, of whom his eldest son, William Eldridge, is said to be the first male child born in the township. He and Thomas Starr built a mill on the lands since owned by L. H. Hill, and in the fall of the same year, 1810, the latter built a house on the farm now owned by J. S. Lowry. A snow fell the night before the raising and was anxious fearing it might keep every one away, for the neighbors lived several miles in every direction; but early in the morning “old Mr. Burdtie." was on hand with his jug of whiskey and in as good spirits as though a June sun were shining. When the building was up the whiskey was enjoyed by all hands as only old settlers knew how to enjoy it. In this building the brothers kept bachelor’s hall for a time till Thomas was drafted in 1812, when he went into the army and on his return home married and moved to the center of the township.
There is a story told of “old Mr. Burdue,” which deserves a place in history. Soft water was like money, very scarce, and this man had a pecular longing for it. He started out with a piece of soap in his pocket, and said. should travel until he found a spring of soft water, and there he would locate. In the afternoon he found a beautiful spring and decided to remain there. His orchard was the first to bear fruit, and by some strange freak of circumstance, a school house had been built near his apple trees, and the old man’s life kept in a constant state of worriment to guard his treasures. The boys watched his coming and sought to avoid him, and many said he seemed to them the Evil One himself as he chased them with his white hair flying in the wind and the stones flying through the air.
The first physician who came to this township was Dr. George G. Baker who came from Connecticut in 1822. He did not remain long for he moved to Florence township, where he remained for many years, and then to
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Norwalk. His practice was large, extending far beyond the fire-lands, and his success in treating the diseases of a new country was far beyond that attained by ordinary physicians.
The first death was a tragic affair that resulted from insanity. The wife of John Dunbar had been ill with a fever, and her health was so shattered that her mind was left in a feeble condition that resulted in her throwing herself in the fire and burning herself so terribly that she died in a few hours from the effects of it. This was in 1811, and there was no minister that could be found to attend the funeral.
The first grist mill was built by John Thompson. The first postmaster was Jeduthan Cobb, in 1820. The mail was then carried on horseback from Cleveland to Lower Sandusky, by Robert Wolverton, who afterward ran a sort of coach, carrying mail and passengers.
The first hotel was built by ar man named Walker on the Walker farm. Schools here, as elsewhere on the fire-lands, were among the first objects to be attended to after the land was cleared and a house built for the family. The first school house of Berlin township if contrasted today with the ordinary country school buildings of the region would afford a striking illustration of the march of civilization. It was built on a farm since owned by Henry Hine, and in the year 1811 was taught by John Leland. When the war broke out the feeling of insecurity made many of the settlers leave the place and return to the East and the school was broken up. The panic was so great that it nearly cleared the township, and in January, 1814, there were only four families left.
The second school house was built of logs covered with “shake", on the farm of Daniel Butler, in 1815, and the school was first kept by Sophia Case.
The third school house was built near the “old man Burdue’s” spring in 1818. It was sixteen feet by twenty, and the logs of which it was built were of all sizes and lengths, some running far beyond the others. The roof was covered with “shake", held down by heavy poles. The floor was made of logs split through the middle, with seats to match, without any backs. Writing desks were of split slabs, supported by pins driven into the log walls. There were three windows, with greased newspapers for glass. One entire end of the building was occupied by the fire place, which could burn logs of all sizes. There was not a board or nail in the house. The school here was opened by Thomas Stevens, who received ten dollars a month, paid in farm produce or work. In 1874 the Central district erected a building at a cost of thirteen thousand dollars. This is a graded school, and from the beginning was under the care of Mr. Job Fish, who taught the higher grade.
There are now ten school houses in the township, valued at twenty six thousand four hundred dollars, and a single year’s expenses now are over four thousand dollars. The central district also supports one at the east end, whose building cost five hundred dollars.
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Religion was early planted on the soil of Berlin. Those who came from New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and other Eastern States, to make their homes in the far West, brought with them staunch religious convictions that were not likely to die out. The first person who was known to have “experienced religion", on the fire-lands, was Lazarus Young, whose life has a record of consistency among trials that would test a man’s metal.
The Methodists held class meetings as early as 1812, in private residence', with occasional preaching from Nathan Smith, Mr. Westhich, Dennis Goddard, William Pattee and Mr. Walker. At one of these meetings the following resolution was adopted:
“Whereas", Our lots, by Divine Providence, are cast in this wilderness land, where we are destitute of the preached word, destitute of an able shepherd to take us by the hand, and believing it to be our duty, as professed followers of Christ; and also feeling it to be our desire, and esteeming it to be our highest privilege on earth to do all we can to the declarative glory of God. and the advancement of the Redeemer’s cause in the world, and the good of souls; and believing it will most conduce to this glorious end to form ourselves into a conference state, in brotherly compact, and thereby mutually strive to maintain the glory of God, keep the Christian Sabbath, watch over one another in love, and be help to each other in our pilgrimage journey, and finding ourselves to be in union sentiments, we, therefore, do hereby this day agree to unite in brotherly compact in the best of bonds, for the purpose above named. March 4, 1818.”
Signed by Joshua Phillips, Robert Wolverton, P. G. Smith, Levi Fuller, Fanny Smith, Rebecca Smith. Luther Harris.
Some of these met in Florence at the residence of P. Starr, and with others of that township were organized by Elder Warner Goodale, into the Baptist Church of Berlin. They held their meetings at private residences in Berlin and Florence, with occasional preaching from Elders French, Hartwell Hanks, Tucker, Abbott, Rigdon and Call.
Elder Call was the first settled minister in the township, and, in fact, between Cleveland and the “Indian Land.” He settled on a farm in 1820, on lot seven, range five. Here he always resided, until he died in 1861, at the advanced age of eighty.
The Baptist Church was really founded and sustained by Elder Joshua Phillips, whose name was first to be signed to the articles of agreement. He was dismissed at his own request in 1833, and the same year Elder Algood was secured to preach half the time. In 1837 Elder Wood preached in the same way, and in 1838 Elder P. Latimer was secured. He became a settled minister in 1839. In 1840 H. C. Sylvester took Latimer’s place, and was succeeded in 1842 by Elder Warren. During his ministry he engaged the services of a celebrated revivalist, Elder Weaver, and the entire township was
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awakened as never before or since. In 1844 Elder Blake was called to be pastor, and that year the first Sabbath school was organized. Blake was succeeded in 1845 by Elders Storrs and Bloomer, and in 1847 by Henderson, he in turn in 1848, by Wilder, and he by Willoughby in 1851. During his ministry the question of slavery agitated this as it had done many other churches, and it passed a rule, by a vote of seventeen to two, that no slave holder could receive the hand of fellowship. This broke the power of a strong organization, and since that time, although the first church in Berlin, it has been shorn of its strength and influence.
The Congregational church organization was formed in 1823 by Rev. A. H. Betts and S. B. Sullivan, with nine members. Mr. Betts preached occasionally until 1829. At this time they secured the services of Everton Judson to preach one third of the time for two years. After that E. Barber preached a year, followed by Joseph Crawford two years, who, in turn, was succeeded by J. C. Sherwin in 1840, who remained until 1851. He was eminently successful, and very much beloved by his congregation and the entire community. He was succeeded for a short time by James Scott. G. C. Judson followed him in 1852 and remained one year. In 1853 John Parlin came, and in 1854 was succeeded by F. A. Demming, who remained three years. He was followed by E. M. Cravath, who remained until 1863, when he entered the army as chaplain. 1864 saw T. B. Penfield filling the pulpit, followed by George Candee, from 1865 to 1869. Sidney Bryant remained but a few months, and was followed by a year’s pastorate of J. C. Thompson. He was succeeded by Henry Brown, whose ministry was very short. In 1871 Levi Loring accepted the call and remained until 1874. A. D. Hall followed him and left in 1878, to go to Japan as a missionary. N. S. Wright became stated supply at that time, and was followed by Abner A. Pipes, who became stated supply until 1883. Then William Jones succeeded as a licentiate, and afterward became settled as pastor and remained until 1886, when J. H. J. Rice took charge of the church and has proved himself efficient and successful. The church is flourishing and prosperous, and everything looks forward to a future of more efficiency than all that has gone before. Mr. Rice came from Oberlin, where he studied to fit himself for the ministry, having previously been a teacher. With the zeal of a young man, and the wider experience of an older person, he brings with him the best qualifications to insure usefulness.
Strange to say that instead of finding a Methodist Church the first to be organized in Berlin, as is generally the case in pioneer life, it was not until 1837 that a chapel was built by them in the eastern part of the township. Another chapel was built in 1850 in the western part. This division was a most unfortunate affair, and created a feeling that resulted in selling the western chapel for a school house. In 1870 a brick edifice was built at the
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Heights, but the different pastors who have labored in this field it is not possible to give. The church has grown steadily from those class meetings of the early part of the century, until now it stands on an assured foundation as a permanent and flourishing institution.
Nature has helped man to start the industries of the fire-lands. Beneath the soil lie the formations that will furnish labor and wealth to untold numbers; the lake shore offers fishing and commerce. The rich soil suggests farms and dairies, and it needs no prophet to tell what shall be written as the industries of Berlin. Quarrying, fruit growing, dairying, and in former times lumbering engaged men’s minds.
Quarrying was begun by Joshua Phillips on land since owned by J. M. Stahl. He had sold the land to Eldridge, but desiring to build himself a house, he reserved the use of the stone for a year. Elder Phillips, with an eye to business, secured a large number of teams and employed the hours of that year in getting out all the stone that he possibly could. As a result, he had not only enough for his own use, but was enabled to supply the general demand. Even then no one knew that the ledge of sand stone, which crops out on the northeast of the Heights, was one of the most valuable in the State. What did the fact matter if were it not known? George A. Baillie was the first man to make this fact known.
It was not an easy thing for him to do, for it required a vast amount of work to clear away the rubbish and demonstrate that this desirable stone lay beneath. There was a fine gravel bed near by, and because of this the Lake Shore Railroad was willing to extend a branch road into the heart of the quarry. The stone is of superior quality and seemingly inexhaustible. The strata lie from six inches to eight feet in thickness. General Gilmore made a test of it and thought it would bear a crushing force of 14,250 per square inch, and a well known architect, E. E. Myers, says, “He regards it as one of the best sand stones he has ever seen or used.” It is apparently unaffected by changes of temperature, by acids or age. There were four hundred car loads shipped to New York in 1878. There is another quarry seemingly as inexhaustible on the farm of H Hammond, where Mr. Lowry began working a few years since. Grindstones were formerly manufactured to quite an extent, but the business is now discontinued.
As soon as they had cabins to cover their heads, the early pioneers began to clear lands for a crop, and then set out orchards, even while the forest tree were still standing. No apples could be obtained nearer than Canada, which seemed much farther distant then than now, when boats flit to and fro daily The first fruit trees were brought from Canada in 1812 by John Hoak and Mr Fleming, of Huron, who went across the lake and returned with a boat load of trees. Some of these are still growing on the old Burdue farm and in tne orchard of Henry Hoak. There are three pear trees still living that are
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immense specimens of their kind, one of them measuring seventy feet in height and eight feet seven inches in circumference. They yield constantly, and average from thirty to fifty bushels each. This was the beginning of an industry that has since made Berlin famous, and no township can compete with it in the amount or quality of fruit raised.
Dairying was not considered profitable in the early years of this township’s history, but after the establishment of a creamery by Melvin Stone in 1877, a new impetus was given in this direction, and over two hundred cows were devoted to this service. A finer quality of butter was made at a much lower cost, yet bringing a higher market price. An abundant stream of water of cool, even temperature, afforded the secret of the delicious product, and in 1878 an addition of a hundred cows showed how successful the enterprise had proved. With the broad prairies of Ohio for the cattle’s range, there is no reason why she should not become as noted for her butter as is New York. The one lack has been an even temperature, with good cellars and spring water, which are now being supplied, and the art of butter making is sure to be carried to perfection. Good butter now brings from fifteen to twenty cents per pound.
Berlin box manufactory, for making fruit boxes, was first started in 1865, and has been a leading interest. At first it was connected with the sorghum business, which began about the same time. In the year 1864 ten thousand gallons of syrup was made and the business continued until 1866. In addition to making boxes, barrels for shipping apples were also made, and in one year six thousand were sent out. Two years later the box business had so increased that all other interests were closed out. The owners have continually added to their buildings and increased their operations, until now one hundred thousand feet of timber are required annually. This furnishes employment to many who could find no way to earn a livelihood were the box factory closed. Twenty five or thirty find steady work there. Much of the success is due to the mechanical genius and enterprise of its leader, Samuel Patterson, who has been with the enterprise from its beginning. It is always a place of interest to strangers visiting Berlin, and as fruit interests increase, this business must also grow.
With all the glow of natural advantages, of energetic settlers, of romance and fact that are connected with Berlin, a single shadow has been thrown over it by the organization of a Free Love Community. The originators of the affair were not residents of Berlin, but came from States far removed from Ohio, and only succeeded in drawing into their toils a single citizen of the place, yet the atmosphere of their restless ideas seemed to affect many who never became identified with it, and there is no doubt that Berlin was more or less injured by the contact. A Community was not established at first. A small nucleus was gathered and their peculiar tenets taught and disseminated until i860, when Point Hope Community was organized with twenty
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members, and lasted a twelve month. The same year another Community was inaugurated, called the Industrial Fraternity, which also had twenty members and lived but six months. Five years later the Berlin Community, or Croatian Republic, was started with twelve members and six children, and lived about a year. In an able article from the pen of one of Berlin’s most widely known citizens, Mr. Hudson Tuttle, we are indebted for much valuable information connected with the history of the township, and from the same pen we quote concerning the Community in question:
“So far as testing communism, the affair was a perfect failure. The drifting to this section of so many individuals, who, to use their own phrase, were 'intensely individualized,’ and who remained after the complete failure of their schemes, has had an influence on the character of the town. They engnged in fruit growing, have multiplied the small farms, and added to the prosperity and intellectual life of the people,” etc.He then alludes to a sketch of this movement taken from Johnson’s Encyclopedia, calling it a society of Spiritualists, which Mr. Tuthill says was false, because many of the bitterest opponents the Community had were Spiritualists. A part of the number were atheists, some believers in different creeds, and some were Spiritualists. There was little toleration shown the new comers, and tradition has a record of certain women seizing the mailbox and making a bonfire of it in the streets, because it contained a lot of the their pernicious literature.
Newspapers have not been a successful investment. The Bulletin was first started in 1870 by W. B. Harrison, and five years later F. J. Miles started the "index". Besides these there had been several papers started at different times by the Socialists, and after a brief career died. The "Social Revolutionist", in 1857, was conducted by J. S. Patterson, and is the first of which we find mention. Then followed in quick succession Age of Freedom , 1858; Good Time Coming, 1859; the New Republic, 1862; the Optimist and Kingdom of Heaven , 1869; the Principia or Personality, 1868; the New Campaign. 1871. the Toledo Sun, 1875.
Temperance movements have not been successful in Berlin township. The circumstances of the pioneers were adverse to a strictly temperate life, Exposure to variable climate, hardships and privations had a tendency to make men resort to anything that could give temporary relief or comfort, yet in 1851 the Ark of Temperance was successfully formed and became one of the greatest helps the township ever had, mentally and morally. Mr. S. O. Kellogg was the founder, and the movement grew out of his desire to unite men and women in a society of culture and social enjoyment. The organization at one time numbered one hundred and eight in its membership, and from its influence went a force that resulted in the formation of several other Arks, which would have no doubt been in existence at the present time if they had been pushed forward with any vigor and enthusiasm.
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Before the formation of this society there had been a regular Sons of Temperance, but it lasted but a short time and has never been revived. Berlin has cause for pride in the record she made during the war by sending her men to the army during the various wars of our country. We find no other township rivaling her in this respect. During the War of the Revolution Orley Benschoter, Hieronynmus Mingus, and Aaron Von Benschoter were soldiers. In the War of 1812 Russell Ransom, Nathaniel Griffen, Ephraim Hardy, Prosper Carey, George Whitney, Joshua Phillips, P. T. Barber, Jacob Mingus, Nathaniel Burdue, H. Dunbar and T. Miller, served their country, and in the War of the Rebellion we have even a larger list. William Lowry, Samuel McGurkin, Richard Mulleneaux, Curtis Mulleneaux, Myron Rice, George Burgess, L. L. Hardy, D. D. Stage, W. A. Keith, Spafford Penny, J. Woodward, Osro J. Lowell, J. Hall, J. Daniels, Elisha Jenkins, W. Swartz, Diodot Ransom, George Johnson, S. Seeley, C. A Graves, E. Hoffman, E. Hardy, Fred Huntley, James Smith, Charles Elwood, Henry Elwood, Aaron Hall, Lucius Smith, Daniel Weatherslow, Oliver Benschoter, Frank Bemis, William Bellamy.
Berlin township has three villages within its boundaries. Berlinville on the old State road was at one time a busy little thoroughfare, but when stagecoaches were superseded by railroads, it fell into the background and remained the same little village to the present time, but without the life and bustle of the early days.
Berlin Heights has a wide reputation, and had it been directly on the line of the railroad would have grown much more rapidly than it has done. It has several stores, several manufactories, a saw mill, a grist mill, a fine school building with graded school, three churches and a hotel.
Ceylon on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad is directly north of Berlin Heights, and grew to its present size in an incredibly short time. It has two stores, two saloons, a hotel, a post office and a saw mill. There are six cemeteries in the township, one of which is being washed away by the united force of Chapelle Creek and the lake. The others are at Berlinville, Berlin Heights and Harpen’s Corners.
Incidents belonging to this history might be given sufficient to fill a book, but a few connected with those who were most prominent in the townships history must not be omitted. Perhaps no man had more influence in shaping the minds of the first decade than the Baptist Elder, Joshua Phillips, to whom we have referred in the previous pages. He came from New York, and alternated his labors in preaching, clearing away the forest and doing mason work. His children became identified with the interests of the country, and one of them had quite a reputation for success in treating climatic diseases, and when in later years he gave up his practice, he became a disciple of Ralph W. Emerson and Parker, and read constantly. He industriously collected many of the facts that make history so interesting and preserved them for later generations.
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Hudson Tuttle, a son of one of the early settlers, still lives at Berlin Height, and both himself and wife are widely known as staunch spiritualists, and literary characters. Mr. Tuttle has himself devoted much time to writing up the history of this portion of the fire-lands, which he has done in a masterly manner.