Early History of Kingsville & North Kingsville

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="02c285a1erlcgo.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><B>Ashtabula Bicentennial Celebration</B></FONT><B>     </B></div> <div> <A HREF="History.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" History "><U><B>History</B></U></A><B>          </B><A HREF="Home.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ashtabula Bicentennial Celebration"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=187 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="02ad4c00dkelyh.gif"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Early History of Kingsville & North Kingsville</I></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 1036 ><NOBR><div> <B>Early History of North Kingsville</B></div> <div> <B>and</B></div> <div> <B>North Kingsville</B></div> <div> <B>by</B></div> <div> <B>Darrell E. Hamilton</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>       The very first settlers of  Kingsville, were all squatters.  Most of</B></div> <div> <B>them came from western Pennsylvania with very little or no money</B></div> <div> <B>at all.  Most of them probably  knew they were  squatters when they</B></div> <div> <B>settled the area but more  than  likely  they may not of had a choice</B></div> <div> <B>for various reasons, mainly being all of them were very poor.</B></div> <div> <B>       Eldad Harrington was the very first squatter who had a reputa-</B></div> <div> <B>tion as a great hunter and fisherman.  He  came  to  Kingsville  from</B></div> <div> <B>western  Pennsylvania  in  the  late  summer of 1803.  He erected his</B></div> <div> <B>cabin on the bottom lands of the Conneaut River near  the  bend  of</B></div> <div> <B>the stream.  In 1805,  Harrington was followed by seven other squat-</B></div> <div> <B>ters and their families.  Most  of  these  families  hoped  they be able</B></div> <div> <B>to earn enough money to buy their land. Sometimes they would sell</B></div> <div> <B>their  improvements  to  the  land  to  buy  their own  land  and start</B></div> <div> <B>over.  This  was  a  common   practice   in  the  Connecticut  Western</B></div> <div> <B>Reserve  for  early  settlers.   The  names  of  these  early  settlers  or</B></div> <div> <B>"squatters", as labeled by many earlier historians were  Israel Harr-</B></div> <div> <B>ington,  Elijah  Lewis,  Andrew  Stull,  Daniel Tolbert, Leonard and</B></div> <div> <B>Michael Widener, a Mr. Blackman and a  Mr. and Mrs. Blackamore,</B></div> <div> <B> all of whom where  from  western   Pennsylvania.   Mr   Blackamore</B></div> <div> <B>was a soldier in the Revolutionary War with the  Continental  Con-</B></div> <div> <B>gress. </B></div> <div> <B>       In the early years of  Kingsville,  even  though  the Indians  had</B></div> <div> <B>"sold"  their lands, they had been granted the right to hunt and fish</B></div> <div> <B>on their former lands by the treaty of Greenville. Kingsville had an</B></div> <div> <B>abundant wildlife and fish as did  the rest  of  Ashtabula Township.</B></div> <div> <B>By the end of the War of 1812, most Indians had left the Connecticut</B></div> <div> <B>Western Reserve.</B></div> <div> <B>       The first settler who was a land owner in what we now know as</B></div> <div> <B>Kingsville - North Kingsville, was Captain Walter Fobes who came</B></div> <div> <B>from Norwich, Massachusetts in 1805. Fobes' life was short lived as</B></div> <div> <B>he died in 1816. Kingsville at one time  was  known  as  Fobes'  Dale</B></div> <div> <B>after the first land owner in the township that settles  there.  For  a</B></div> <div> <B>short while, although not officially,  Kingsville  was  called  "Fobes' </B></div> <div> <B>Tale". The settlers of early  Kingsville  did  not  like  the  name  that</B></div> <div> <B>their  town  was  being   called   by   substituting  the   "D"   for   a  "T'. </B></div> <div> <B>The  settlers  finally   got  together  and   renames   their  township,</B></div> <div> <B>Norwich after the town that Captain Walter Fobes came from. </B></div> <div> <B>       The  name  "Norwich"  was short  lived.  A traveler who was just</B></div> <div> <B>passing through "Norwich" heard about the controversy of  renam-</B></div> <div> <B>ing the township which had become known as "Fobes' Tale", Unlike</B></div> <div> <B>Ashtabula, the people of  Kingsville must have been more easily in-</B></div> <div> <B>fluenced with the power of whiskey just like the Indians of the Con-</B></div> <div> <B>necticut Western Reserve. An inintinerant named King suggested</B></div> <div> <B>that the town be named after him. In return,  King  would give the </B></div> <div> <B>people four gallons of whiskey. The people agreed and Kingsville</B></div> <div> <B>was born. </B></div> <div> <B>       The township of Kingsville was organized in 1810 and was th</B></div> <div> <B>first township created from Ashtabula Township.</B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>