Lake County Ohio GenWeb

Col. Eleazer Paine

The following article is from the Painesville Telegraph, 15 December 1859, page 3 and transcribed here by Cynthia Turk. There is no byline but it appears to be part of the series by Spencer Phelps.

Sketches of the Pioneers -- No. 3.

Col. ELEAZER PAINE, nephew of Gen. EDWARD PAINE, as by inheritance, was one of those iron-willed men who are constituted, by their native hardihood and inflexibility of purpose, as suitable persons to become the van of the tide of emigration, that carries forward the Arts, Sciences, and Civilization, as

Col. Paine was born in East Windosr, [sic] Hartford county, Conn., in the year 1764. Of his boyhood we can gather no facts or incidents; such is the obliter-ating effect of time on the affairs of men. One fact alone has come down to us, as evincing one of the proudest traits pertaining to the human character. His breast, when a mere boy, swelled with patriotic emotions; and in the hour of her greatest need and in her peril he responded, with a manly mien, to the call of his country. At the age of only 16 years, he enlisted to fight the battles of the Revolution. At the expiration of his first term of service he enlist-ed again, that his country might have all that he was able to bestow to carry her through the long and sanguinary conflict that followed the announcement of that most remarkable sentiment of modern times, to wit: that "All men are born free."

In February, 1800, he left his home in East Wind-sor, in company with CHESTER ELLSWORTH, a brother-in-law, to search out a home in the wilderness of the West. They came on to Aurora, in the State of New York, and joined the company of Gen. PAINE, and were participants in the toils and hardships of the journey narrated in a former sketch of Gen. P.

Col. P. was one of the party who went in advance of the rest from Cattaraugus, with the cattle and horses, as related in the sketch of GEN. PAINE. He remained with the company at Grand River during the Summer, examining the country, and returned in the Fall to East Windsor, pleased with the soil and the face of the country, with the intention of making it his home. In pursuance of this purpose, Colonel PAINE in conjunction with Capt. ABRAHAM SKINNER, purchased of SAMUEL FOWLER, of Westfield, Mass, the whole of tract No. 4, in what is now Painesville-containing 3240 acres. The two in 1901 came out and surveyed the tract, subdividing it into lots of suitable size for farms, offering the same for sale, --returning to Connecticut in the Fall.

About the first of June, 1893, Col. PAINE, with his family and goods, left Connceticut, [sic] in wagons, for Buffalo. At this point he was obliged to dispose of his wagons, sending his horses on ahead, following the shore of the Lake nearly all the way to Grand River,--inasmuch as there was no wagon road yet,--nor at Buffalo was there any harbor,--so crossing over to Fort Erie, on the Canada shore, he embarked his family and goods on board a schooner, the "Good Intent," bound for Cleveland. They arrived at Presque Isle (now Erie), in the necessary lapse of time; but here they were detained so long by contrary winds, that the Capt. Of the 'Good Intent" changed his mind with regard to the destination of the voyage, and unloaded and returned to Buffalo. Col. PAINE was then obliged to resort to another expedient; so hiring a Batteau, his family and effects were on the move once more for Grand River, at which place they arrived on the 6th July.

He erected a log cabin at what was then denomin-ted "New Market Landing," on the ground now oc-cupied by the residence of R. W. and AUGUSTUS SKINNER. The same year, Col. PAINE, acting con-jointly with Capt. SKINNER, selected the site for and laid out the town of "New Market," on the bank of the River, about half a mile north-east of the "land-ing," near the south line of Dr. J. H. MATHEWS' farm.

Col. PAINE's physical nature bore up under all the fatigue and privation of two journeys to these, then, Western wilds, through all their difficulties, to the home of his adoption; but it was to endure no longer. His days had been numbered; and on the 4th of Feb-ruary, 1804, seven months wanting two days from the time of his arrival, the "mortal coil" released his spirit from its bonds, and the "pale horse" bore it to that bourne where the strife, the cares, turmoils, changes, and disquietudes of life end, and the repose of the eternal world ensues.

But with Col. P's death, his works did not die also. They flourished for an ephemeral existence, after him. New Market, it was thought, was located just where the great thoroughfare that must some day extend from Buffalo round the Lake Shore to Cleve-land, and thus onward in the West, would cross Grand River; and therefore, several lots were sold o [sic] actual settlers. A few mechanics came on also, tIn [sic] 1804, MEIGS S. BROWN put a Tannery in operation there. In 1805, a Mr. MARVIN opened a Hatter Shop, and in the same year, CHARLES PARKER brought a store of goods, which was - (although ALEXANDER DAVIDSON, in 1802 brought in on pack horses, from Pittsburgh, a few goods to the "Marsh Settlement," some four miles up the Lake; and a M. BETTIS BURNES, a Frenchman, had brought in a few from Detroit to Gen. PAINE's and traded them for furs, in 1803), the first general assortment, in what is now Lake County; whilst the mechanics, mentioned above, were probably the first upon the Western Re-serve.

"But I have lived, and have not lived in vain;
My mind may lose its force, my blood its fire,
And my frame perish even in conquering pain;
But there is that within me which shall tire,
Torture and twine, and breathe when I expire;
Something unearthly, which you deem not of."