Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/469

 HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

��455

��the west side was of round logs ; the other was of hewed logs, and was afterward used as a court house and jail.

Tn 1815, John M. May, the first lawj-er, set- tled in the new town. He was born in Conway-, Hampshire Co., Mass.; moved to Washington County. N. Y., and came to Marietta in 1811 ; thence to Lancaster, Ohio, where he studied law. When admitted to the bar, he came directly to Mansfield, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1869. His son, Man- uel, is his successor in his practice. There were about a dozen families in town when he came. On the east side of the square, a lit- tle north of the present Methodist Church, was a little dwelling-house, owned and occupied by James Moore, then Deputy. Sheriff of the count}'. James McCluer, one of the Judges, lived on the northwest corner of Main and Fourth streets. There was a hewed-log house on the present site of the Wiler House, occu- pied as a dwelling. Andrew Coffinberr}' lived on the southeast corner of East Diamond and Fourth streets ; Samuel Carrothers* and famil}', on the northwest corner, and a little below, on East Diamond, lived David Stevens. John C. Gilkisont lived on Main street, a little north of the Wiler House. Rolin Weldon lived on Fourth street, west of Main. John Gamson lived on the present site of the opera building, and, a few years afterward, opened a store. Joseph Cairns had a rough-log house on the McFall corner, and, soon after, went into the mercantile business. The block-house, on the west side of the square, was used, in 1816, for a school, taught by Miss P]liza Wolf Many of the original forest trees were standing in the square at that time.

The first lawyer who came after Mr. Ma}' was Asa Grimes, father of A. L. Grimes. He only lived a few months after his arrival. The next lawvers were Col. William Cotgi-ave and Wilson

��* Samuel Carrothers died Jnnp 20, 1865, aged eighty-five, t John C. Gilkison died June 22, 1856.

��Elliott, who came in 1816. A few years after, James Purdy, Jacob Parker and James Stewart came. The first law student admitted to the bar was Andrew Coffinljerry, who studied with Mr. ^lay. In those da^-s, lawyers traveled with the court from count}- to county. Among those from abroad who attended the courts at Mans- field were William Stansberry,* of Newark ; Hosmer Curtis and Samuel ]Mott, of Mount Vernon, and Charles T. Sherman, of Lancaster. Curtis was the first Prosecuting Attorney, and was followed by Mr. May in 1816.

In 1815, E. P. Sturges came from Fairfield, Conn., and opened a little store in a log cabin, directly opposite the present site of the Wiler House. Soon after, he bought out Dr. Powers, and that corner, where the first cabin was erected, has ever since been known as the "Sturges corner." A Mr. Buckingham Sher- wood came with him. They soon did a thriving business. The next year (1816), they enlarged their storeroom, and continued doing business together until 1823, when E. P. Sturges' brother, Edward Sturges, Sr., came, bought out Mr. Sherwood, and the firm became E. P. & E. Sturges. Mr. Sherwood went to Xewark. The Sturges firm continued to do a profitable busi- ness, made money rapidly, and became wealthy. In 1862, E. P. Sturges died, the firm was dis- solved, H. H. Sturges stepping in and continu- ing the business. It soon became the wholesale dry-goods house of Sturges, Wood & Witter. E. Sturges, Sr., engaged in banking and vari- ous financial enterprises, and in 1869 engaged in the wholesale grocery business with his son, E. P. Sturges, with whom he continued until his death, in September, 1878.

Indians were quite numerous around Mans- field, in its early life, but not hostile until the war of 1812. They frequently came into the village for traffic, bringing game, furs, berries, etc. Huckleberries and cranberries were very

eighty-five.
 * This gentleman died in Newark, Ohio, January 23, 1873, aged

�� �