In 2020, the Historical Society of Old Northfield, received an Email from Janet Rose Pinney Shea. Mrs. Shea was from Peterborough, New Hampshire. She had seen the genealogy tree that the Society had posted on Ancestry starting with Josiah Clemmons Johnson. Mrs. Shea said that she was a direct descendant of Josiah Johnson and inquired if the Society would like more information on the family. Of course, the Society said yes.
Mrs. Shea provided corrections to her family tree and then she asked if the Society would like transcripts of letters exchanged between her ancestors in Massachusetts and those who settled in Northfield. With grateful thanks, the Society received the transcripts in the Fall of 2020. Those transcripts are the basis of this series – Letters to Emily. Before we get started with the series, let’s back up and provide some background to Mrs. Shae’s ancestors.
The area we now know as the communities of Northfield Center, Northfield Village, Macedonia, and Sagamore Hills, was all once known as Northfield.
The first inhabitants in the area were Native Americans who came here some 10,000 years ago. In 1662, through a royal charter, the colony of Connecticut claimed a section of land extending from Connecticut across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. After the Revolutionary War and the formation of the United States, Connecticut gave most of its western lands to the national government but kept approximately 3,400,000 acres lying north of latitude 41 degrees and extending 120 miles westward from the Pennsylvania border. This became the Western Reserve. In 1795 Connecticut sold most of this land to a group of investors who had formed the Connecticut Land Company. In 1796 the company began the survey of the land to prepare it for sale. The first survey party was led by Moses Cleaveland. The city of Cleveland, Ohio was named after him. Interestingly, a newspaper in 1831 dropped the ‘a’ from Cleaveland and the change stuck.
The initial settlement of Northfield was scattered and slow. Isaac Bacon, a native of Boston Massachusetts, purchased a plot of land in 1806 and travelled with his family to Northfield becoming its first settler in 1807. He built a log cabin at the intersection of Valleyview and North Boyden. His closest neighbor lived four miles away on Tinker’s Creek. Native Americans were camped on his property. After his death in 1812, his son built a second home in 1832 that is still standing today. His brother-in-law Jerimiah Cranmer was the second family to settle in Northfield Township in 1810. He was from New Jersey and fought in the Revolutionary War. Jerimiah Cranmer was the first burial in Northfield-Macedonia Cemetery.
By the 1830s, more New Englanders were coming to the region. One of the families was the ancestor of Mrs. Shea, Josiah Clemmons Johnson. He was born in 1781 in Buckland Massachusetts. Josiah married Betsey Elmer in 1801 in Ashfield, Massachusetts. They had 16 children. Four of them died in infancy. Betsey was 17 when she had her first child and 43 for her last one. Josiah purchased land in Ohio in 1825, 1829, and 1830.
By 1833 their two oldest daughters, Emily and Festa were married. Their son, also named Josiah, along with Emily and Festa stayed in Massachusetts while Josiah and Betsey moved their remaining nine children to Ohio from Buckland, Massachusetts. Josiah and Betsey spent the rest of their lives in Northfield. Josiah died in 1856 and Betsey passed away in 1870. Both are buried in Northfield Cemetery.
Emily had married Roderick Dwight in 1832 in Buckland, Massachusetts. The letters in this series were written to Emily and Roderick from their Ohio relatives, and later from family members who had moved to Wisconsin. Emily and Roderick were urged to join the rest of the family in Ohio, and they did have an extended visit (one of the letters talks about ‘mud’ a lot), but they returned to Massachusetts. Included is one letter written to Emily and Roderick from relatives in Colrain, Massachusetts while they were visiting in Ohio.
The Historical Society of Old Northfield will be eternally grateful to Mrs. Shea for sharing with the Society and now you the reader, the experiences of her ancestors as they carried out their lives in Northfield. Sadly, Mrs. Shea passed away in November 2022.
The letters span several decades from 1833 to 1880. The letters will be presented in their original form and not corrected for capitalization, punctuation, or spelling.
With twelve siblings to keep track of, the Society has decided to begin each letter in the series with a short who’s who within the letter plus doing our best to identify local or historical references, and sometimes period slang to help with your understanding. We hope you enjoy the series and learn what it was like living in Northfield from the early to late 1800s.
In the letter:
J. H. Johnson (1813-1835) Juliette – sister
Betsy (1812-1889) Sister
Theodosius (1801-1885) Theodosius Wood married to Betsey.
His farm was in Northfield.
Elmer (1819-1901) Gad Elmer Johnson – brother
Carlos (1802-1855) Carlos Johnson – brother
Melvin (1831-1870) Carlos’s 2-year-old son
Maria (1826-1889) Ellen Maria – sister
E.D. (1808-1886) Emily Johnson Dwight
Roderick (1802-1863) Roderick D. Dwight – Emily’s husband
Samuel Taylor A neighbor of the Johnsons from
Buckland, Massachusetts.
T. Henry, Gardner, Mr. Ames, Mr. Fisk, and Cynthia Hasting are unknown.
A ferule is a wide ruler.
25 cts $.25 equivalent to $8.90 today
From J. H. Johnson – Sent from Strongsville, Ohio. Addressed to Mrs. Emily Dwight living in Colerain, Massachusetts.
Strongsville, June 2, 1833
Sister Emily
With pleasure I improve a few minutes in writing my health is very good and you would think so if you could see me since I you last I have thought much about you my employment is teaching school this summer it suits me well I have engage for 9 month for one dollar per week I have had 49 schollars six have week expired I got ten remaining I think never past away so pleasantly except now and then when I have to apply the rod or ferule I suppose know more about it than I do for experience is the best teacher when I think of you it seems as though I could ride over and see anytime but the second thought casts a gloom over the former and I am only permitted to write you a few limes our folks arrived here the twenty six in good spirits they can give an account of their journal better than I can I have had employment all the time I have braided some hats sold them for 50 cts I could have worked out this summer for ten shilling per week but chose rather to teach school O sis I want to see you and your old man and your little son very much I suppose you take some comfort you must think of sis once in a great while and if you should chance to take a pen drop a few lines and send it to me 25 cts will paid as cheerfully if could have the privilege I sometimes think I have not got a single friend in Mass. For among the whole I have received a single line I suppose [you xed out] their glad to the very hear that we are gone but I hope you will think that I am still your sister and forget me not I make my home at T. Henry and Gardner are here Mr Ames called last week Mr Fisk oldest boy is sick mr Samuel Taylor is in town Cynthia Hasting is married she was not in town quite a year Juliette is a going to be married as the saying is but other folks know more about it than I do for my part I am quite contented to remain an old maid as the saying is.
The spring very forward everything seems to wear a smiling aspect Theodosius has an exilent farm I think a pleasant a place as I ever was in I have not been about yet of any concequence I have only taken ride this spring I then went Medlin about twelve miles had a very pleasant ride like the place very much but I must stop shor wether I have written thing worthy of your perusal I fear not I ask your pardon sis and will try to [your exed out] my attention to something of more importance I have some rays of my Savior countenance as I journey through this vale of tears I am lost in wonder and admiration at forebearance God is sparing my unprofitable life is through his mercy that I have not my portion assign with hypocrits and unbelieaver O sister find that we have the same God in Strongsville and people that are as much engage as in Buck I must close by bidding you Adieu
E.D. J.H. Johnson
added at end:
Theodosius and Betsey well Elmer feels quite sober he has a swell throat and the teethache Maria is contented attends my school Mother feels more contented than expected she should Melvin is sick looks quite sorrowful
written in margin:
Give my best to Rhoderick and all inquiring
The Historical Society of Old Northfield is a non-profit and is funded through donations. You can contact the Historical Society of Old Northfield through their Email at Palmer-House@HSON.info or visit our website
www.hson.infoo to learn more about the history of our community or to make a donation.
The next letter…..1840. Juliette, although it is not mentioned, married in 1834, gave birth to a child in 1835, and died one month after giving birth. This next letter comes from Michigan where sister Sylvia has moved.
