Early History of Plymouth Township

<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> <B>  </B><A HREF="Home.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ashtabula Bicentennial Celebration"><U><B>Home</B></U></A><B>                     </B><A HREF="History.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" History "><U><B>History</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=180 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="02ad4c00dkelyh.gif"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Early History of Plymouth Township</I></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="588" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 1176 ><NOBR><div>      <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><B>In 1805,  William Thompson built the first log cabin in the present</B></FONT></div> <div> <B>Plymouth Township.  Had  Plymouth not separated from  Ashtabula</B></div> <div> <B>Township in 1838,  this event probably would have been forgotten as</B></div> <div> <B>Thomas  Hamilton  had built the first log cabin in   Ashtabula Town-</B></div> <div> <B>ship  in  1801.   At  the  time,   Nehemiah  Hubbard  owned  Ashtabula </B></div> <div> <B>Township which encompassed the present Plymouth Township.</B></div> <div> <B>    William Thompson did not remain long as Plymouth's first settler.</B></div> <div> <B>Thompson  moved  from  the  present  Plymouth  Township  in  1807. </B></div> <div> <B>Thomas McGahhe also settled and built in Plymouth near the  Will-</B></div> <div> <B>iam Thompson cabin but he did not remain long either.</B></div> <div> <B>     Earlier historical sketches often  contradict  each  other.  Often a</B></div> <div> <B>settler  would  not  be  given  credit  for  being  the  first  permanent </B></div> <div> <B>settler  because  he  died  even  though  his  family  and children re-</B></div> <div> <B>mained. Even though his wife should have been given a lot of credit</B></div> <div> <B>for  being  an  early  settler,  very  little  was  ever  mentioned of her. </B></div> <div> <B>Sometimes  a  settler was not given credit for being the first perma</B></div> <div> <B>nent  settler because he remained in the  township but two or three</B></div> <div> <B>years  even  though   he   or   she  might  have   made  easier  or more</B></div> <div> <B>attractive for other settlers to come into the township.</B></div> <div> <B>       In  1806,  the  first  permanent  settler (or  third,  take your pick) </B></div> <div> <B>settled in the northern portion  of  Ashtabula  Township.  His  name </B></div> <div> <B>was Samuel  White.  Samuel  White also has the distinction of being</B></div> <div> <B>the first settler to plant an orchard in Ashtabula  Township in 1807 </B></div> <div> <B>which included the present   Plymouth  Township  at the time.  The </B></div> <div> <B>orchard   contained   forty   trees  and  bore  fruit four years later in </B></div> <div> <B>1811. Almost the entire yield of the orchard's first yield went to the </B></div> <div> <B>sick and needy of the township.</B></div> <div> <B>       The first non-Indian child born (Edmund Burnett)  in Plymouth</B></div> <div> <B>Township was a son born to Mr. and Mrs. David Burnett. </B></div> <div> <B>        The first  marriage  in  Plymouth  Township  is   also  shared  by</B></div> <div> <B>Ashtabula City and Ashtabula Township. Miss Julia Hubbard,  who </B></div> <div> <B>was the first school teacher in what now is Ashtabula City,  was  the </B></div> <div> <B>first bride for the township.  Julia  Hubbard  married  Walker  Rich-</B></div> <div> <B>mond of  New York at the residence of her father,  Captain  Manoah </B></div> <div> <B>Hubbard.</B></div> <div> <B>        The  first  school house  was  built  in  the summer of 1810. It was</B></div> <div> <B>built of logs and stood in the "hollow"   a short  distance north of the </B></div> <div> <B>present  cemetery.  The first  school teacher was  Warner Mann  who</B></div> <div> <B>taught twelve students the  first   year.  His salary  was  paid  by  the</B></div> <div> <B>parents  each  paying  a  share  of  the  teacher's  salary which  was a</B></div> <div> <B>trifling  sum  in  those  days.  Can you imagine paying one twelfth of</B></div> <div> <B>a teacher's salary today?  What  history does not record is how many </B></div> <div> <B>children from each family attended the school.  Just  imagine if  one</B></div> <div> <B>family had six children in the school, would they have to be pay half </B></div> <div> <B>the teacher's salary?  The  first  frame  school  house  was  erected  in</B></div> <div> <B>Plymouth Township in 1817.</B></div> <div> <B>          In  1809, the  first  saw  mill  was   constructed. Settlers began to </B></div> <div> <B>arrive in  larger  numbers   after  1809.  The  need  for  a   church  was </B></div> <div> <B>seen. The first worship service held in  Plymouth  was  held   in  a log </B></div> <div> <B>cabin  on   Seven   Hills  Road.    The  service  lead  to  the   St.  Peter's</B></div> <div> <B>Episcopal Church in  Ashtabula City. In 1834, a branch of   St. Peter's</B></div> <div> <B>was organized in Plymouth. A church was built in 1841 but a tornado</B></div> <div> <B>destroyed the church building in 1909.  A new church was  built  and </B></div> <div> <B>today that church building is a residence.  It  is the  first church east</B></div> <div> <B>of  Plymouth Elementary School.</B></div> <div> <B>         The southern portion of  Ashtabula  Township had grown  suffi-</B></div> <div> <B>cient  enough  for  the  need  and want  of  a  separate  township.  On</B></div> <div> <B>July 4,  1838,  Plymouth  was  formed  from  the southern  portion  of </B></div> <div> <B>Ashtabula  Township.  In  their  first  election,  Samuel  Burnett,  An-</B></div> <div> <B>drew  Willey and  William Stewart were elected the township's first </B></div> <div> <B>trustees. Levi P. Blankeslee was elected Plymouth's first clerk.</B></div> <bR> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div>        </div> </td> </tr></table></body>