NELSON
Cresting the hill on State Route 305, whether you approach from the east, west, south or the north, the 132 -year -old, sandstone memorial to the Nelson Civil War dead stands starkly outlined against the sky. It is constructed in four tiers and boasts an American eagle resting from flight on the top tier.
On the face of the monument, some of the names inscribed are: "KILLED IN BATTLE, Capt. M. Horton, 1861; Lt. L.L. Adams, Arthur Adams; C.R. Russell, N. Hartman; S.R. Tuttle; T. Bancroft; Capt. G.W. Goodsell; J.A. Shald; F.L. Wheelock; Capt. J.L. Sherman... The list seems endless.
On one side of the monument are engraved the names of those who died of disease. On the other side the list names those who died of wounds. On the back of the edifice near the top the following inscription appears: "Nelson Stephens, killed in battle, Petersburg, Va., on Aug. 9, 1864, age 21 years".
In a program presentation about Nelson in the 1980s, the late Mrs. Hazel Chalker Cline stated, "The base of the monument was made of huge stones hauled by oxen from a quarry in nearby Windham. The monument, which rises 16 feet from the base, was erected by Fox and Mills from Ravenna. The sculpture work was done by John O'Brien, who, according to Mrs. Cline, did sculpture work on Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial National Monument at the point of Put-In-Bay on S. Bass Island. The memorial was built at a cost of $1,225.
In the mid-1930s, a committee was formed by the Literary Musical Club of Nelson, headed by the late Mrs. Cline and Mrs.Ella Hamlin, to have the names of the World War I veterans included on the face of the monument. Arrangements were made with the Coit Monument Works at Ravenna for a marble slab to be bolted to the face of the third tier on the front of the monument listing the 38 WWI Nelson veterans and the four Spanish War veterans who served their country. The dedication took place on May 26, 1935.
There has since been placed in front of the Nelson Community Center, a memorial dedicated in 1944 to those who served in World War II.
Through the years the monument has needed repairs and in the process of rebuilding it to its present state, the huge stones were removed.
The flag poles at the site have also received their share of accidental destruction. The first wooden flag pole was erected in 1896. In the 1918 era, "greasing of the flag pole" was a forbidden sport, but nevertheless, freshmen school students still attempted to remove the sophomore class's flag! In 1926 Nelson trustees purchased an iron flag pole that had been used in front of the Garrettsville Opera House. It also met its demise with an automobile, but the trustees have persevered, and once again "Old Glory" waves in the breezes on top of the hill at Nelson Center over the memorial honoring "those who served".
Through the years, Nelson school children used the village green as
an extended playground. The late Mrs. Cline who taught school there for
many years, told of the children who delighted in climbing the monument
and the constant vigil the teachers had
in "keeping the children off of it during recess."
At the beginning of the third act of Thornton Wilder's play 'Our Town', the stage manager says "Over that way are some Civil War veterans too--iron flags on their graves--New Hampshire boys--Had a notion that the union ought to be kept together, though they'd never seen more than 50 miles of it themselves. All they knew was the name, friends-- the United States of America."
He could have been writing about Nelson when he said "Our Town". In
this small community there were 112 soldiers who left Nelson Center to
serve in the 'War of the Rebellion.'
__________
(This account of the settlement of Nelson, Ohio, is from a story published in The Journal in 1973 by Connie (McClelland) Angel)
In the year 1800 John Adams was President of the United States, there were sixteen states, and Ohio was three years from becoming a state. It was in the spring of this year that three brothers, Delaune, Asahel and Isaac Mills left their home in Beckett, Massachusetts to seek their fortunes in the wilderness to the west.
Delaune, with his wife and three children, Asahel with his wife and child, and Isaac set out with their belongings in two covered wagons, each drawn by oxen. Their journey took several weeks when at last they came to Youngstown, then a community of only a few cabins. As the family had only 18 cents between them at this point, it was agreed that they would remain in Youngstown and work. A man named Urial Holmes owned most of the land in what was Hiram Township, a part of Trumbull County. The Mills brothers were fortunate to find employment with Holmes who was about to have his land surveyed. They were hired as ax men to the surveyors.
The brothers left their wives and children in Youngstown to earn their board by working in a hotel, and progressed to Nelson to earn their living. By September Delaune returned to Youngstown for his family and they moved to Nelson to a hundred-acre lot given to him by Holmes as a reward for settling there. Their cabin was built on the northwest side of the creek, west of Nelson Center.
Asahel, however, stayed in Youngstown until the following spring, when he settled near Tinkers Creek, about a half-mile west of Nelson Center. Isaac, the only single brother, returned to Massachusetts where he and Origen Adams acted as scouts for a religious group which would later settle in Windham. It is amazing to think of these men walking from Ohio to Massachusetts and back, but that is just what they did, several times. Isaac Mills actually made the trip either on foot or with a span of horses and a loaded wagon thirty-three times!
In 1805 Isaac married Adams' sister, fifteen-year-old Polly, and they too settled in Nelson, one quarter of a mile north of his brother Asahel's home.
There was no road from Warren to Nelson in that first year, only a blazed bridle path, so Delaune took it upon himself to construct his own. "This road passed near Phalanx, crossed the east and west Center road--east of the Ledge Swamp, around the swamp to the north and ascended the Ledge Hill, just east of the Center, following the contour of the hill." It was not until 1885 that the Ledge Hill was straightened as we know it today.
The hardships the men and their families must have faced is evidenced by accounts of their diet which consisted of turnips for three meals a day, along with the meat of game animals, which were plentiful. One hazard the settlers encountered were rattlesnakes. The records show that as many as 200 rattlesnakes were killed in a single day.
Indians were another hazard. The Cayugas made camps around the Hiram area and in Nelson Ledges. They lived in wigwams and were not as culturally advanced as the prehistoric Indians who left burial mounds in Nelson. Peace between the white men and red man did not come about until 1785 when the Treaty of Ft. McIntosh was signed. This treaty permitted the white man to settle east of the Cuyahoga River. Despite the treaty, raids still occurred until 1795 when the Treaty of Green Ville was signed, and then safety was finally guaranteed to the white man.
Unfortunately, incidents still erupted for another ten years or so until the Indians vanished from the area. Among these skirmishes were ones involving Delaune Mills, an extremely intrepid Indian fighter...
Delaune was a big, strong man, apparently absolutely without fear, as is evidenced in a letter written by his son Urial. The letter states: "About 1803 an Indian got mad at my father and said he would kill him. Father was in the habit of hunting through the Fall. One day, in crossing a trail made in the snow the day before, he found the track of an Indian following him; this put him on his guard. He soon saw the Indian. They both sheltered themselves behind trees. Father put his hat on his gun stock and stuck it out so that the Indian could see it. The Indian shot a hole through the hat, and when it fell he ran forward toward father with his tomahawk in his hand. Father then stepped from behind the tree, shot him and buried him. He told my mother and she told me."
On still another occasion, when Delaune had beaten an Indian for "snapping" a gun at his brother Asahel, he was threatened with death if the Indian died. The wounded Indian came to Delaune's house while he was away and asked his wife, Sophia, if he could stay. Receiving consent, he remained the night and in the morning cooked his breakfast of bear's meat. The Indian then left and came back and presented Sophia with the hind quarters of a great bear, then departed, much to her relief.
Delaune maintained a tavern on the road from Youngstown to Cleveland, now State Route 305, for travelers to eat and sleep, which was a popular stopping-off place. Many of his troubles with the Indians were attributed to the fact that he traded liquor with them for furs.
Delaune, who later became a captain in the militia during the War of 1812, is accredited with killing Big Cayuga, chief of the Cayuga band camped in Nelson, and also Snip Nose Cayuga. Captain Mills died in 1823 from a rattlesnake bite.
Asahel was a Methodist who frequently preached at services in his home. He eventually moved to Deerfield where he died.
Isaac and Polly had nine children and his descendants still live in
Nelson today (1973). They are Gladys Randall, Grace Randall Goodsell, Garland
W. Randall, and Brianne Randall. (Ed. Note: In 2000, Garland and his daughter
Brianne Randall Finney are
living.)
In Tinker Cemetery on Route 305 we find the tombstone of Delaune which reads: "In memory of Capt. Delaune Mills who died with the dropsy of the heart July 26, 1823, age 50 years. When this dread summon doth appear, no anxious friends, or kindred dear, nor enterprise, nor wealth can save a single mortal from the grave." More recently a monument has been erected by Mr. and Mrs. Earl M. Goodsell near the site of the original with these words: "Mills, First settlers in Nelson. Three Mills brothers, Delaune, Asahel, Isaac came from Beckett, Massachusetts in 1800. Delaune and family lived in a cabin on the creek just west of Nelson Center."