Ashtabula County, OHGenWeb   Pioneer Women of the Western Reserve

Introduction

Forward

The Memorial to the Pioneer Women of the Western Reserve was begun in 1896 during the Centennial Celebration of the founding of Cleveland. The idea of such a history was first conceived by Mrs. Gertrude Van Rensselaer, Wickham, Historian for the Women's Department of the Cleveland Centennial Commission. It was approved by this organization and the work begun under its auspices.

In cooperation with assistant-historians from each township upon the Western Reserve the material was gathered and prepared in manuscript from under the personal direction of the Historian. Four volumes were published and placed in the hands of subscribers during the centennial year. The fifth and last volume, together with the Index for the entire history, completes this most remarkable and valuable work.

It is said to be the only record of its kind that connects the pioneer women of the Western Reserve with their New England forebears. It is hoped that it may prove of assistance to genealogists, as the maiden names of wives and mothers are recorded, as well as names of husbands and families and ancestors still further back in history. The research work has been monumental. It has necessitated delving into musty records, finding old letters, visiting old cemeteries and corresponding with descendants of pioneer women.

The narratives are unique, being true accounts of thrilling events and personal experiences of those courageous men and women who braved the wilderness. It gives a vivid picture of early times upon the Western Reserve in great contrast with conditions in the twentieth century.

Since there have been so many persons engaged in the collection and transmission of historical material, relying in many cases upon the memory of descendants of the pioneers, who have retold the tales as best they could, it is possible that some errors in dates and even in names have occurred. But the greatest care has been taken to make the work accurate.

After the Cleveland Centennial Commission disbanded, the Executive Committee of the Women's Department re-organized and became self-perpetuating in order to finish the work under taken by the Women's Department and to carry forward its patriotic interest in the preservation of the early records of the Western Reserve.

Listed below are the Ashtabula County township committee members responsible for the sketches [as listed in Volume 5]. They have now [in 2004] become part of history and, in many instances, are more detached from today's generation than the people about whom they wrote. Unfortunately, many of their true identities are unknown because, even in a memorial to women, they chose to identify themselves by their husbands' names instead of their own.

COMMITTEES

APPOINTED FOR THE COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL DATA

1896-1924