Early History of Plymouth Township
by
Darrell E. Hamilton
 

       In 1805,  William Thompson built the first log cabin in the present Plymouth Township.  Had  Plymouth
not separated from Ashtabula Township in 1838, this event probably would have been forgotten as Thomas
Hamilton  had built the first log cabin in  Ashtabula Township  in 1801.  At  the  time,  Nehemiah Hubbard
owned  Ashtabula township which encompassed the present Plymouth Township.
     William Thompson did not remain long as Plymouth's first settler. Thompson  moved  from  the  present
Plymouth  Township  in  1807. Thomas McGahhe also settled and built in Plymouth near the  William
Thompson cabin but he did not remain long either.
       Earlier historical sketches often  contradict  each  other.  Often a settler  would  not  be  given  credit
for  being  the  first  permanent settler  because  he  died  even  though  his  family  and children remained.
Even though his wife should have been given a lot of credit for  being  an  early  settler, very little was ever
mentioned of her. Sometimes a settler was not given credit for being the first permanent settler because he
remained in the  township but two or three years even though he or she  might  have made  easier  or more
attractive for other settlers to come into the township.
       In  1806,  the  first  permanent  settler (or  third,  take your pick) settled in the northern portion of
Ashtabula  Township.  His  name was Samuel  White.  Samuel  White also has the distinction of being the
first settler to plant an orchard in Ashtabula  Township in 1807 which included the present Plymouth
Township  at the time.  The orchard   contained   forty   trees  and  bore  fruit four years later in 1811.
Almost the entire yield of the orchard's first yield went to the sick and needy of the township.
       The first non-Indian child born (Edmund Burnett)  in Plymouth Township was a son born  to Mr. and
Mrs. David Burnett.
    The first  marriage  in  Plymouth  Township  is   also  shared  by Ashtabula City and Ashtabula Township.
Miss Julia Hubbard, who was the first school teacher in what now is Ashtabula City, was  the first bride for
the township.  Julia  Hubbard  married  Walker  Richmond of  New York at the residence of her father,
Captain  Manoah Hubbard.
       The  first school house was built  in  the summer of 1810. It was built of logs and stood in the "hollow",
a short  distance north of the present  cemetery.  The first  school teacher was Warner Mann  who taught
twelve students the  first   year.  His salary  was  paid  by  the parents  each  paying  a  share  of  teacher's
salary which  was a rifling  sum  in  those  days. Can you imagine paying one twelfth of a teacher's salary 
What  history does not record is how many children from each family attended the school. Just  imagine if  
one family had six children in the school, would they have to be pay half he teacher's salary? The first
frame  school  house  was  erected  in Plymouth Township in 1817.
       In  1809, the  first  saw  mill  was constructed. Settlers began to arrive in  larger  numbers after 1809.
The  need  for  a   church  was seen. The first worship held in  Plymouth  was  held   in  a log cabin cabin  on
Seven   Hills  Road. The  service  lead  to  the St.  Peter's Episcopal Church in  Ashtabula City. In 1834, a
branch of   St. Peter's was organized in Plymouth. A church was built in 1841 but a tornado destroyed the
church building in 1909.  A new church was  built  and today that church building is a residence.  It  is the  
first house east of  Plymouth Elementary School.
       The southern portion of  Ashtabula  Township had grown  sufficient enough for the need and want of a
separate  township.  On July 4,  1838,  Plymouth  was  formed  from  the southern  portion  of  Ashtabula
Township.  In  their  first  election,  Samuel  Burnett,  Andrew  Willey and  William Stewart were elected
the township's first trustees. Levi P. Blankeslee was elected Plymouth's first clerk.