2022-09-12 17:40
The Firelands History Website
“Sufferers’ Land.”“Firelands.”
These evocative and descriptive phrases refer to a region in northern Ohio set aside by t… Read More
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"Sufferers' Land" Tales by Dave Barton
2018-11-11 17:19
Veterans’ Day – originally called Armistice Day to mark the end of hostilities during World War I. Today is the one-hundredth anniversary of that day, so full of joy – for… Read More
2018-08-04 14:16
Last Post: Devout Christian Woman,
.
I am a Shawnee.
My forefathers were warriors.
Their son is a warrior.
Tecumseh
Warrior Son
May of 1810 was momentous for David Gibbs of Norwalk, Conne… Read More
2018-05-12 15:53
On Sunday, the twentieth day of May 1810, in Norwalk, Connecticut, David Gibbs, a lawyer recently admitted to the Connecticut bar, joined in holy matrimony with Elizabeth Lockwood, a devout… Read More
2018-05-03 14:04
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And now We roam in Sovreign Woods –
And now We hunt the Doe
Emily Dickinson
White-tail Deer [1]
In my last post, Forest Primeval, I wrote that Native Americans would set fires in th… Read More
2018-04-29 14:28
This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophet… Read More
2018-04-09 11:08
My last post, Who is that Narrow Fellow, garnered more interest than I had imagined it would, so I thought I’d follow it with more about Emily Dickinson and her poetry, which I love.
T… Read More
2018-03-23 11:57
My last post about Emily Dickinson was so well received (thanks for all the kind comments) that I decided to run another one of her nature poems past you. I love this poem, and recite it to… Read More
2018-03-18 13:53
Like Emily Dickinson, I was born in Amherst – just not the one in Massachusetts. My birthplace is Amherst, Ohio, just over the county line from the Firelands, the subject of this blog… Read More
2018-03-03 13:45
Sufferers’ Land
Last Reunion of the Pioneers
by Dave Barton
The Fourth of July 1857 was a Saturday. From all over Erie and Huron counties, people gathered for the reunion, an assembly… Read More
2018-02-25 15:38
Sufferers’ Land
Pioneer Heritage
by Dave Barton
By the mid 1850s, the ranks of the early settlers of the Firelands were becoming thin. Many of the survivors, chief among them Platt Ben… Read More
2018-02-21 12:57
Sufferers’ Land
Future Warriors of Norwalk
by Dave Barton
Dave Benedict was at Kenyon College during the Cholera epidemic of 1854. Some of the grandchildren of the pioneers were able t… Read More
2018-02-17 14:54
Sufferers’ Land
Railroads and Cholera
by Dave Barton
For years, Norwalk’s prosperity depended on its position as Huron County Seat. The town of Milan dominated the commerce of th… Read More
2018-02-14 13:12
Sufferers’ Land
Norwalk, Ohio Life in the 1850’s
by Dave Barton
A new generation was growing up in Norwalk in the early 1850s, the offspring of the young people who had come to N… Read More
2018-02-10 17:33
Sufferers’ Land
End of an Era
by Dave Barton
From the time he established The Huron Reflector in 1830, Lucy Wickham’s father Samuel Preston had been senior proprietor a… Read More
2018-02-07 13:21
Sufferers’ Land
The Wickham Family in the 1850’s
by Dave Barton
In 1850, the Wickham household on East Main was bulging at the seams with fourteen people living under its roof. F… Read More
2018-02-03 17:34
Sufferers’ Land
The Benedict Family in the 1850’s
by Dave Barton
The Benedict, Wickham, Preston, Buckingham and Gallup families had not lost anyone to the cholera in 1849. Samuel… Read More
2018-01-31 13:05
Sufferers’ Land
Cholera Strikes Again
by Dave Barton
The summer of 1849, Cholera struck a second devastating blow across the Firelands. Sandusky, being the largest town in the reg… Read More
2018-01-27 14:15
Sufferers’ Land
Life in Norwalk, Ohio in the 1840’s
by Dave Barton
In the mid-1840s, Norwalk was a vibrant village with over a thousand inhabitants. A sandy road, now called Main… Read More
2018-01-24 12:54
Sufferers’ Land
Runaway Slaves in Norwalk
by Dave Barton
In early November 1842, bounty hunters captured twelve runaway slaves in nearby Fitchville Township and brought them to Norwalk… Read More
2018-01-20 14:03
Sufferers’ Land
An Abolitionist Comes to Norwalk
by Dave Barton
After the failure of his business, Henry Buckingham had been elected County Treasurer. One evening in the fall of 1842… Read More
2018-01-16 15:43
Sufferers’ Land
Henry Buckingham and the Underground Railroad
by Dave Barton
In 1842, Henry Buckingham still had not recovered financially from the loss of the Norwalk Manufacturing Co… Read More
2018-01-13 15:01
Sufferers’ Land
The Benedict Family
by Dave Barton
Platt Benedict was not in as bad a situation as Henry Buckingham although the failure of The Norwalk Manufacturing Company must have… Read More
2018-01-10 13:13
Sufferers’ Land
Disappointment and Despair
by Dave Barton
Platt Benedict and Henry Buckingham founded The Norwalk Manufacturing Company in 1829, but it was never a great success. By th… Read More
2018-01-06 14:06
Sufferers’ Land
High Hopes for a Bright Future
by Dave Barton
For Henry Buckingham, August 1839 was a time of promise and anticipation. He looked forward to again becoming a grandfathe… Read More
2018-01-03 14:47
Sufferers’ Land
A Newlywed’s Life
by Dave Barton
Lucy Wickham returned to Norwalk in October 1835, and she and Frederick set up housekeeping at 61 West Main Street, owned by the… Read More
2018-01-01 15:33
Happy New Year, everyone!
2017 was the best year yet for the Firelands History Website. I expect 2018 to be even better.
What will I be posting this year?
First up, I’ll finish re-pos… Read More
2017-12-30 14:14
2018 has been a good year for the Firelands History Website. Today, we’ll take stock of the year’s most viewed posts. With apologies to David Letterman, here is my top 10 list… Read More
2017-12-28 14:06
Sufferers’ Land
The Wickham Family
by Dave Barton
While staying with her husband’s parents at their home in Sodus Point, New York, Lucy heard many stories about the Wickham famil… Read More
2017-12-25 14:18
Sufferers’ Land
Lucy Visits Her In-laws
by Dave Barton
Frederick Wickham and Lucy Preston married in January 1835. That summer, Frederick went back to the lake and the schooner De… Read More
2017-12-23 13:45
Sufferers’ Land
Lily of the Garden
by Dave Barton
Lucy Preston loved flowers and often worked in the garden in front of her home. One day in the mid-eighteen-thirties, her love of gard… Read More
2017-12-19 17:17
Sufferers’ Land
Cholera Comes to the Firelands
by Dave Barton
Today, Cholera is largely unknown in this country and around the world. However, during the nineteenth century, it was an… Read More
2017-12-16 13:29
Sufferers’ Land
The Huron Reflector
by Dave Barton
At the end of the 1820s, Samuel Preston and George Buckingham, son of Henry Buckingham, decided to start a newspaper in Norwalk. Samu… Read More
2017-12-12 15:00
Sufferers’ Land
The Entrepreneurs
by Dave Barton
The pioneers came to Norwalk to make their fortunes. They were entrepreneurs, willing to work hard and take risks to succeed. Platt Ben… Read More
2017-12-09 14:10
Sufferers’ Land
A Terrible Tragedy
by Dave Barton
On Wednesday, August 28, 1833, less than a month after the birth of David Benedict, Lucy Preston learned that there had been a horribl… Read More
2017-12-05 14:20
Sufferers’ Land
Jonas Benedict
by Dave Barton
After moving to Norwalk, Lucy Preston became involved in the social life of the town. With her friend Mary Ann Morse and other young peopl… Read More
2017-12-02 14:23
Sufferers’ Land
Henry Buckingham
by Dave Barton
In the spring of 1822, the Buckingham family arrived in Norwalk and built a house on a lot where the Roman Catholic Church now stands. O… Read More
2017-11-28 16:16
Sufferers’ Land
Death, Education, Responsibility
by Dave Barton
In the fall of 1826, Lucy’s mother, Esther contracted inflammatory fever. For fifteen days, Lucy, then age twelve… Read More
2017-11-25 14:27
Sufferers’ Land
School and Tragedy
by Dave Barton
The year Samuel Preston moved his family to Norwalk, the men of the town, with Platt Benedict in the lead, established the Royal Arch… Read More
2017-11-23 13:44
Sufferers’ Land
To Canada and Back Again
by Dave Barton
Lucy and her family were overjoyed to see their relatives after a long separation. The trip from New Hampshire had been long and… Read More
2017-11-20 13:38
Sufferers’ Land
The Firelands at Last
by Dave Barton
While they arranged to continue west by land, the stranded families stayed in a rented house in Erie. Lucy found a large stray dog… Read More
2017-11-18 14:08
Sufferers’ Land
Lucy Preston’s Long Journey West
by Dave Barton
Lucy Preston — with her father, mother, brother, Grandma Taylor, and her little dog Nero — departed Pe… Read More
2017-11-16 15:01
Sufferers’ Land
The Preston and Taylor Families
by Dave Barton
Like the Benedicts, Lucy’s family traced its ancestry to the early days of the colonies. Her father’s family… Read More
2017-11-14 12:55
Sufferers’ Land
Lucy Preston
by Dave Barton
In 1819, five-year-old Lucy Preston lived in Nashua, New Hampshire with her parents Samuel and Esther Preston, her brother Charles, her gran… Read More
2017-11-12 13:06
Sufferers’ Land
Trial and Punishment
by Dave Barton
The Huron County Court of Common Pleas convened on Tuesday, May 18 at the Court House in Norwalk. A Grand Jury met the same day. Two… Read More
2017-11-11 14:45
In Compiègne, France, at 5 a.m. ninety-nine years ago today, the allies signed an armistice with Germany that was to take effect in six hours – “the eleventh hou… Read More
2017-11-10 14:03
Sufferers’ Land
Recapture
by Dave Barton
A day or two after the return of Negonaba, Sally and the other townspeople were relieved when Captain Burt, accompanied by Constable Charles Tu… Read More
2017-11-08 14:47
Sufferers’ Land
A Grim Comedy of Errors
by Dave Barton
One night, a week after the prisoners came to Norwalk, gunshots and cries of alarm awakened the village. Platt Benedict rushed fr… Read More
2017-11-06 13:37
Sufferers’ Land
Crime and Capture
by Dave Barton
The Portage River was a traditional passage for Indians traveling from the Maumee River to Lake Erie. Around the middle of April, three… Read More
2017-11-04 13:38
Sufferers’ Land
Murder on the Portage River
by Dave Barton
In late April 1819, disturbing news reached the village of Norwalk. Indians on the Portage River northwest of town had murder… Read More
2017-11-02 12:55
Sufferers’ Land
Native Americans
by Dave Barton
When the Benedict family arrived in Norwalk, open warfare with Native Americans had ceased, but tension remained. Hunting parties of Ind… Read More
2017-10-31 12:53
Sufferers’ Land
The Episcopal Church in Norwalk
by Dave Barton
As with everything else in the early days of the village of Norwalk, Platt and Sally Benedict were involved in the religi… Read More
2017-10-29 13:57
Sufferers’ Land
The Gallup Family in Norwalk
by Dave Barton
In 1818, the Gallup brothers, William and Hallet, came from Avery to Norwalk when the County Seat moved there. They were cab… Read More
2017-10-27 13:20
Sufferers’ Land
Clarissa Benedict
by Dave Barton
Clarissa Benedict came to Norwalk at the age of twenty. She was born in North Salem, New York in 1796, and although she spent much of h… Read More
2017-10-25 13:27
Sufferers’ Land
Social Life on the Frontier
by Dave Barton
Communal projects were often social occasions, as a settler described in later years. In the early settlement of the country… Read More
2017-10-23 13:41
Sufferers’ Land
Women’s Life on the Frontier
by Dave Barton
Life on the frontier was not easy, but Sally and the rest of the Benedicts, like most settler families, adapted well… Read More
2017-10-21 13:49
Sufferers’ Land
A Village is Born on the Sand Ridge
by Dave Barton
That fall, Captain Enos Gilbert and his family arrived in Norwalk. They bought the unfinished house started by Amos A… Read More
2017-10-19 13:14
Sufferers’ Land
Education on the Frontier
by Dave Barton
Most settlers from Connecticut were well educated and interested in their children’s schooling. In those days on the fron… Read More
2017-10-17 13:31
Sufferers’ Land
Making a New Town on the Frontier
by Dave Barton
Platt Benedict moved to the frontier to establish a town. But in order to have a town, he needed people, and convincing… Read More
2017-10-15 13:55
Sufferers’ Land
The First Winter
by Dave Barton
For a few days, provisions were low. Then Platt bought a deer from an Indian for a dollar. Until then, the family subsisted on green cor… Read More
2017-10-13 12:15
Sufferers’ Land
A Home in the Wilderness
by Dave Barton
A day or so from their destination, Platt and Sally received bad news. Their cabin had burned down.
Mr. Stewart, whom Platt had… Read More
2017-10-11 13:25
Sufferers’ Land
The Trek West
by Dave Barton
The Benedicts traveled first to Norwalk, Connecticut, where they were joined by Platt’s cousin Jemima Keeler, her husband Luke, and t… Read More
2017-10-09 14:15
Sufferers’ Land
Return to the Firelands
by Dave Barton
During the five months of Platt’s absence, his wife Sally Benedict saw New England plunge into turmoil because of the previ… Read More
2017-10-07 13:42
Sufferers’ Land
Return to the Firelands
by David Barton
In January of 1817, Platt again started for The Firelands, traveling in a one-horse wagon. He stopped in New York, where his si… Read More
2017-10-05 14:10
Sufferers’ Land
Year Without Summer
by Dave Barton
The winter of 1815-1816 was normal, but that changed in late spring. In June, the weather turned cold and it snowed. The year 1816 be… Read More
2017-10-03 14:30
Sufferers’ Land
Land of Opportunity
by David Barton
In his fortieth year, Platt Benedict left his home in Danbury, Connecticut, and traveled to the Ohio wilderness in search of a new h… Read More
2017-10-01 13:33
Because of the positive response to my recent post, A Home in the Wilderness Revisited, I have decided to repost the entire Sufferers’ Land series from 2008 and 2009. I begin with… Read More
2017-09-29 13:43
In One Night in Norwalk – A Hitchhiker’s Tale, I told how I found entries in my grandmother’s diary of the night I arrived at her door after a failed attempt to hitchhike h… Read More
2017-09-27 16:34
With all I have written about the history of Norwalk, Ohio, you might think that I grew up in that city and the Firelands. But I did not. I was born in Amherst, Ohio, and raised in &hell…Read More
2017-09-25 13:13
February 2, 1830 issue of the Huron Reflector, the forefather of the present day Norwalk Reflector.
In my last post, I discussed the sources I’ve drawn on to write about the history of… Read More
2017-09-23 13:11
Firelands Historical Society Museum
If I had my druthers, I’d spend my free time in Norwalk, Ohio at the Firelands Historical Society‘s Laning-Young Research Center, the Norwalk… Read More
2017-09-09 14:45
Two hundred years ago today, September 9, 1817, Platt and Sally Benedict and their family arrived in the Sufferers’ Land of northern Ohio, ending a two month trek from their home in Co… Read More
2017-09-07 17:41
Scene of the Devastation of the Michigan Fire of 1908 [1]
This year, it seems that the entire western U.S. is in flames. Although in Colorado, where I live, we have mostly been spared the… Read More
2017-08-15 18:13
The Bobbsey Twins book cover, circa 1908 (from Wikipedia Commons)
Were you once hooked on the Bobbsey Twins? I was. The lives and adventures of Nan and Bert, Freddie and Flossie, and thei… Read More
2017-08-07 15:42
Cleveland, Ohio – 1930 [1]
By far, Cleveland and its suburbs was the primary destination for the graduates of the Norwalk High School Class of 1907. Why Cleveland? Today – alth… Read More
2017-08-02 13:30
Norwalk High School, Norwalk, Ohio 1907
In the ninety years from the founding of Norwalk, Ohio by Platt and Sally Benedict to the graduation of the Norwalk High School Class of 1907, a la… Read More
2017-07-31 14:40
When I began researching the lives after graduation of the members of the Norwalk High School Class of 1907, I expected to find that a higher percentage of the men of the class had married… Read More
2017-07-29 14:52
According to the 1940 U.S. Census, the same percentage of men in the Class of 1907 served in the military as went to college, Arthur Young and Fred French being the only two who never serv… Read More
2017-07-27 13:02
In my last post, we saw that only two women out of seventeen in the Norwalk High School Class of 1907 went on to college, and only one of those two graduated. With the men of the class, ho… Read More
2017-07-25 15:14
As we saw in my last post, only two women out of seventeen in the Norwalk High School Class of 1907 went on to a degree-producing college, Florence Davidson and Harriott Wickham.
Florence… Read More
2017-07-22 13:26
Norwalk High School
If the curriculum at Norwalk High School in 1907 was what these days we would call college-prep (and I think that it was), then we should expect that many graduates went… Read More
2017-07-20 14:11
Before I address who in the class of 1907 went on to college after graduation, I would like to expand on the subject of the exclusive nature of high school attendance in 1907. Below is a pho… Read More
2017-07-18 14:12
Norwalk High School
In my last post, we looked at the breakdown of the Norwalk High School Class of 1907 by gender and age at the time of their graduation. In this post, we’ll check… Read More
2017-07-16 13:34
It’s been a couple weeks since my last post about the Norwalk High School Class of 1907 – Out Into the World. I return today with a series of posts about demographics o… Read More
2017-06-30 13:35
Norwalk High School Class of 1907 Front Row: Ruth Jenkins, Irene Eline, Irene Bragdon, Myrtle Woodruff. Second Row: Lillian Smith, Eugene Bloxham, Arthur Young, Carrie Spurrier, Harriott Wic… Read More
2017-06-27 13:11
Eight graduates of the Norwalk High School Class of 1907 spoke at the Commencement Ceremony on June 14, 1907 — two each chosen in four categories: for best grades for regular… Read More
2017-06-25 15:25
In my last post, we saw that Nina Humiston and Sheldon Laning were popular with their fellow students in the Norwalk High School Class of 1907. The last two of the eight speakers at Com… Read More
2017-06-23 13:44
Unlike the speakers described in my previous two posts, who were chosen for best grades in regular work and best grades in literary work, the other four speakers at Norwalk High Sc… Read More
2017-06-21 12:37
Two women in the Norwalk High School Class of 1907 , Inez Adams and Alice McCammon, were selected for best grades in literary work. Unlike Irene Bragdon, who was honored in the best gra… Read More
2017-06-19 12:16
June 19 fell on a Wednesday in 1907. That evening, the recent graduates of the Norwalk High School Class of 1907 hosted a dance at Link Hall, which they had decorated with a Native… Read More
2017-06-17 15:39
In my post, Norwalk High School Commencement, 1907, we learned that instead of remarks by a respected member of the community and a Valedictorian and Salutatorian, eight members of the Class… Read More
2017-06-15 02:07
On Friday, June 14, 1907, one-hundred and ten years ago today, the Norwalk High School Class of 1907 walked across the stage at the Gilmer Theater to receive their diplomas.
What did th… Read More
2017-06-14 02:02
In my last two posts about Class Day 1907, Bachelor Hall and The Chorus Girls Who Are They, I identified all members of the cast of the play Bachelor Hall that was performed at the Norwalk H… Read More
2017-06-13 01:46
In my last post, I presented the cast of a performance of Bachelor Hall, a play presented on June 5 and 6, 1907 by the Norwalk High School Class of 1907 — with a notable exception: the… Read More
2017-06-11 18:12
In my last post, Class Day 1907 – A Witty Speech by a Future U.S. Senator, we saw that Wednesday, June 5, 1907 was Class Day for the Norwalk High School Class of 1907. The ev… Read More
2017-06-05 12:01
At 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 5, 1907 — one-hundred and ten years ago today — school hall on the third floor of Norwalk High School was crowded with students,&nb&hell…Read More
2017-06-03 20:28
In my last post, A Play – A Dance – A Test, we saw that according to newspaper accounts, there was a member of the Norwalk High School Class of 1907 not pictured in the class com… Read More
2017-06-02 01:57
After introducing missionary Ora Tuttle in my posts Serendipity and The Hermit Kingdom, I’m afraid I must leave off telling the rest of her story for another time. I hav… Read More
2017-05-25 11:29
In my last post, Serendipity, I introduced Ora Tuttle of Norwalk, Ohio, who in 1907, at the age of 27, realized her life-long dream of serving as a missionary in a foreign lan… Read More
2017-05-24 02:23
In late May, 1907, a letter from the Chicago Training School for Home and Foreign Missions addressed to Miss Ora Tuttle of Norwalk, Ohio, arrived at her sister’s home in… Read More
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