, OH
Hanktown, settled in 1846, was home to eighty-nine of the three hundred and eighty-three slaves, owned by John Randolph (1773-1833), a wealthy Virginian landowner and cousin to President Thomas Jefferson. Randolph had decided to free the slaves and indicated the decision in his will. His family, however, found three different wills and protested. Thirteen years passed before the slaves left the plantation. In 1846, Judge William Leigh arranged for the slaves to travel to Mercer County and purchased two thousand acres. (Continued on other side)
, OH
The Marysville Ohio National Guard Armory was the first such armory constructed in the state after the recognition of the Guard in 1909. The new armory and others like it were built in response to federalization of National Guard units after the passage of the Militia Act of 1903. Armory buildings served as the headquarters for local companies and provided drill rooms and arsenals for the storage of military equipment and supplies. Architect Charles Insco Williams designed Marysville’s armory and it was built by James Laughlin, both of Dayton, Ohio. Marysville contractor George W. Fox provided the brickwork for the structure. Construction began in 1910 and was completed in 1911 at a cost of $19,886. (Continued on other side)
, OH
Frances Dana (Barker) Gage was born on October 12, 1908, in Marietta. She married James L. Gage in 1829 and they raised eight children, including four sons who served with Union forces during the Civil War. Throughout much of her life, Frances was deeply involved with the Temperance and Anti-Slavery movements and Women’s Rights issues. Presiding over the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron in 1851, she invited Sojourner Truth to give her famous “Ain’t I a Woman” speech. The Gage family moved in 1853 to St. Louis, the western extension of the Mason-Dixon Line, where her life was threatened whenever she spoke out against slavery. During the Civil War, she traveled south to aid Union soldiers and teach freed slaves. Though crippled and permanently disabled by a stroke, she continued to lecture on social issues until 1867. Frances Dana Gage died on November 10, 1884, in Greenwich, Connecticut.
, OH
As a member of the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Cavalry that fought at the Battle of Sailor’s Creek in Virginia on April 6, 1865, the last major battle of the Civil War, Private William Richardson was personally recommended by General Phillip Sheridan to receive the Medal of Honor for bravery. Private Richardson was the only survivor of an eight man recon group sent to investigate the strength and position of the Confederate troops. His information was invaluable toward the defeat of the enemy forces that day. Private Richardson is buried with his comrades by the Civil War Soldiers Monument.
, OH
With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, many young men of Bristol Township enlisted in the army when President Abraham Lincoln issued his call to defend the Union cause. The death toll of some of these men at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee in April 1862 touched the local community as did the loss of Bristol Township lives at the Battle of Perryville in Kentucky, the Battle of Cedar Mountain in Virginia, and other theaters of war later in the year. The local citizenry responded to a plan for a lasting public memorial at the Town Park through a fund raising campaign. In 1863 the town square was transformed with a marble monument placed on an elevated mound at its center. The monument was designed by local artist Frank J. Hammond and manufactured by Myers, Uhl & Company of Cleveland at a cost of $500. [continued on other side]
, OH
Born on June 7, 1931 in Dayton to Edna and Henry Stang, Dorothy Mae was the fourth of nine children. She attended Julienne High School and entered religious life with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1948. She professed final vows in 1956 and worked as an elementary school teacher in Chicago and Phoenix before beginning her ministry in Brazil in 1966. There, she worked with the Pastoral Land Commission, an organization that fights for the rights of rural workers and peasants, as well as defending land reforms. Over the next 40 years, Dorothy continued to live out and share the Gospel, the foundation of her life. In addition to her work supporting land reform, she opened 39 schools, founded 35 faith communities and educated women and helped them obtain viable jobs. (Continued on other side)
, OH
With the help of town founder, David Hudson, Western Reserve College and its Academy were founded in 1826. Often called “The Yale of the West,” the college saw success initially as all of its professors and college presidents were Yale College graduates. Nationally, Western Reserve College became involved with the Underground Railroad and anti-slavery movement 28 years before the Civil War began. Moreover, Western Reserve College established the Loomis observatory, named for Elias Loomis, a Yale tutor and WRC professor, which is now the second oldest observatory in the United States. The Western Reserve College moved to Cleveland in 1882 and eventually became Case Western Reserve University while the Academy remained in Hudson. Today, the Western Reserve Academy is one of the nation’s oldest and most respected independent college preparatory schools.
, OH
Canfield, named for the area’s primary landowner Judson Canfield, is one of the earliest examples of a New England town plan in both Ohio and the Western Reserve. It dates to April 20, 1798, when surveyor Nathaniel Church arrived from Connecticut to layout the town. Church and his team erected a log cabin and laid out roads and lots using a New England Green Plan that envisioned a communal ground at the center that would later be surrounded by various civil buildings. During the War of 1812, the Canfield Green was used as a drill ground for the Northern Ohio and Western Reserve militia, led by General Elijah Wadsworth. On August 23, 1812, General Wadsworth and the Canfield Dragoons left the Canfield Green heading for Cleveland to defend the United States and the Western Reserve from attacks by the British and their Native American allies. (Continued on other side)
614.297.2300
Contact Us
