C/H History Research Blog
History of the Outhouse (1/30/2011)
Even more than ghosts, the favorite fear of campgrounds to the uninitiated is......................the ominous outhouse (cue scarey music).
The dead of winter seems an appropriate time to tell outhouse stories. There was
always the fear of dropping critical items down the hole. Especially your
glasses. Or your flashlight. Or yourself. My biggest nightmare used to be that a
monster from the depths would reach up and pinch me right when I was most
vulnerable. Tips for outhouse issues will have to be a subject of a later
article. For now, I present a historical perspective.
- Lynn
History Snippets: The Outhouse
by Ranch Harper
The Richfield Times
July, 1991
When electricity came to Richfield many people remodeled their homes to
accomodate a bathroom. One old stalwart on a farm on Broadview Road north of
town positively refused to install a bathroom in his home. He didn't think it
right and proper to "do your business in the same house you ate in."
Modern day campers might think the pit toilets in many of today's campgrounds are similar to the old fashioned outhouse of yesterday. We old-timers can tell you - the only similarity is in the shape of the hole in the seat........
.......A couple of local carpenters have a little experience in outhouse construction. In Richfield's back.......A couple of local carpenters have a little experience in outhouse construction. In Richfield's back yard is Camp Julia Crowell, which belongs to the Cleveland Girl Scout Council. That 400-acre camp today encompasses the old Jim Kirby estate. Jim KIrby was the inventor of today's vacuum cleaner and is the uncle of Richfield's own Virginia Baumgardner.
It was the Buell Davidson Company that went into that undeveloped back country and constructed the first primitive outhouses for Camp Julia Crowell. In those days there were no electric lines running back there among the steep clefts and rocks with spring-fed streams and rocky hillsides covered with virgin timber and brush.
Harold Davidson and Johnny Gabriel were the carpenters assigned to construct those first nessessities. Harold said there were drawings or blueprints of the basic buildings to be constructed. Everything went fine until they discovered the prints did not show any specifications for the holes in the outhouse seats - nothing to indicate size, shape, beveled or sharp edges; no specs. Well, that didn't bother Harold who though usage in his younger days had acquired a "feel" for the proper size and shape for those old time nessessities. So Harold, taking saw in hand, proceeded to cut a beautifully bevel-edged hole of the proper shape and proportions. Johnny was profoundly amazed at what Harold had done and said, "What a memory, what a memory."
TopHistory's Jigsaw Puzzle (1/11/2011)
Tracking down an unwritten history is like working a jigsaw puzzle - where all the pieces are playing hide-n-seek. Spent the morning at RHS. No particular objective. I have come to realize that in this small town where everything and everyone is connected to everything and everyone else, I might as well just go through and read everything.
Adeline Axtell ( who owned the driveway parcel) continues to be a mystery - altho there was plenty about her husband - the governer of the New Mexico territory - in the Cleveland Leader, November 5, 1878. After a lengthy tale of Axtell's western adventures, there is a final paragrph referring obliquly to the Oviatts. Then this: "One place of interest, which deserves more than a passing notice, is located at the foot of the hill upon which the West village is built. It is the cider mill, where the average Richfielder imbibes enthusiasm and patriotism. In proportion as the texture of the cider approaches that of a grindstone, the Richfield citizen becomes more patriotic. Much more might be written of this place, but lack of space and a great love of my fellow man bid me forbear."
The foot of the hill would be at Oviatt & 303, by the south entrance of camp. The cider press could have been across the street where the golf course is now - but there's that odd, unconnected reference to the Oviatts. So at first I thought this was a nice little mention of a place to get apple cider. But the more LInda and I talked about it, it feels like an "insider's" code. Kind of the way gossip columns used to hint at scandals without actually making an accusation. Maybe that last line is kind of a threat.
We know there was a sawmill behind the Oviatt farm house in 1834. Which mysteriously (and frustratingly) disappeared from the town records. Did they turn it into a cider mill - as in hard cider? The more the citizens drink, the more patriotic they become - as in generally more emotional? Hmmmmmmm. Well, it's a theory. But if these guys were running an unofficial tavern - maybe that will turn up in the archeology!
As usual, anytime anyone came in, Linda asked if they had any connection with the Girl Scout camp. Turns out that the reason Ed came in was to purchase on of the wooden millwheels from Green Cottage crafters that RHS still had on hand. It further turns out that Ed is one of our camp neighbors whose property adjoins Crowell HIlaka! We had a good time talking history & the need for kids to get out into nature.
Next - up to the Kirby Company on W. 114th to look through the last box of their archives. Most of the archives had been lost or destroyed and there is almost nothing left. The staff were very friendly and they set me up in a quiet room with a good cup of coffee. Tucked in between all the 1970's photos was three versions of this old picture:
There is no label, no name. The only context is that it was in the box of company photos. So its likely a group of employees. 1920's, early 30's? The guy in the front row 4th from the left in bow tie & jacket looks like it could be Kirby, and I would suspect a couple of the other front row bow tie guys are Scott & Fetzer, Kirby's business associates. I like to imagine that this is at camp. On the dam hill. We know that the Kirby Co held at least one picnic on camp land. But if that's a shadow of Kirby House on the far left, the giant oak tree is missing. Altho maybe it can't be seen from this angle. Or maybe this is a completly generic, insignificant hillside nowhere near the camp.
Not only are the jigsaw puzzle pieces hiding, but pieces from other puzzles are mixed in at random. sigh. :-(
Lynn
TopI've mentioned before that when I visit the Richfield Historical Society on Tuesday mornings, there are usually people from the village dropping in. And that because Richfield is a small town and most of the families have been there forever, most of the people turn out to have some connection with Crowell Hilaka.
What I haven't mentioned before is that most of the men of a certain age grin sheepishly - then admit to having having snuck in. Or at least trying to. No names to be revealed - just historic trends.
One elderly gentleman liked to sneak over at night while the Kirbys still lived there. He liked to stop the millwheel from turning with his bare hands and then see how long it would take to start up again. Another guy confessed that he and his buddies would ride their bikes over to the camp before there was a fence, creep up to a tent unit, and make scarey animal noises. They considered it a triumph if they could get the girls to scream. Then they'd peel out on their bikes before getting caught. (I told that guy that he owed us. He agreed.)
All that changed once the fence was up. Today's informant liked slipping into the tank proving grounds on a regular basis. But he made it a point to check through the fence to see if there were any girls in view. Sometimes the girls were already up at the fence already, and they would talk. This was in the late 1950's and early 60's. I have never been able to pinpoint WHEN the fence was installed. But by getting rough dates and correlating them with the degree of male sneakage, it had to have been put up between the mid 1940's to late 1950's. The fence is so unusually heavy-duty for a GS camp even now, let alone fifty years ago. My guess is that it went up when the proving grounds came in. I would not be suprised to find out that it was paid for by the proving ground people - either the military or GM - as a condition of being able to locate so close to a girls' camp. But that's just my theory.
Today's informant spoke at length about the tank testing operations: The proving grounds were located in what is now Rising Valley Park. The entrance was on Newton instead of Oviatt. The tanks were built at the GM plant in Cleveland (now the I-X Center) and tested in Richfield because of the hilly terrain. At one point the tanks went down a hill into a creek. The water got to six feet deep and the tanks had to go all the way under and emerge on the opposite hillside without stopping.
Addendum to the apple story: When I told my dad about Neal Fruit Farm, he said when he was a kid during the second world war, he and the other kids in Bedford would get taken on a YMCA bus down to Richfield to pick fruit during the summer and on weekends. All the men were at war and even migrant workers weren't enough. He wasn't at Neal's himself, but somewhere nearby. The amazing thing? Not that Dad picked fruit, but that my own FATHER turns out to be one of the folks with an old-time Richfield Connection!
How Girls Can Benefit Now (4/14/10)
As I am working on camp history displays for the open house this weekend, I keep thinking this: As fascinating as the historical research has become, the really important message is How Girls Can Benefit from Camp NOW.
It is so much better if girls at the different sites could say "Our troop camped here and we had a blast!!!!" than "the 93 acres of what has become known as "Camp Hilaka" were purchased as an extension of camp Jula Crowell in 1956 primarily to protect the northern shore of Lake Linnea" ( yawn).
People may be curious about the old houses, but it probably doesn't matter much if anyone knows whether they were bult in 1904 or 1924. A little mystery won't kill anyone. However, pointing out that the grand staircase at Amity is perfect for fashion shows and the staging of fairy tales, that can get the ideas rolling.
This may be a sacreligious thought from a historian, but we're not running a history museum on Sunday, we're trying to save a camp. So don't be afraid to help.
We can use more volunteers for the open house. No expertise required. There are some sites that have adult volunteers with a small display or two, but it would be helpul to have all the sites covered, if we could, and girl enthusiasm to ANY site is a very welcome addition!!!!!!
TopHow Did They Get Him Home? (3/28/10)
E-mail from Lynn to Dr. Alan Lee, an archeologist:
I was getting ready to write to you about a different puzzle concerning Mason Oviatt - so he dies in California in July 1850. They shipped his body home and he's buried in the West Richfield cemetery. Very sad, but not questionable.
I'm reading the history of Summit County by Samuel Lane from 1898. He was also a prospector of 1850. He left Akron the same month as Mason altho in a different party. He gives a great description of the very arduous journey. Lots of hopeful prospectors died along the way or at the destination - mostly cholera. They were buried along the trail or in California. Being shipped home was not an option.
Sure, Mason had the very rich Uncle Heman who may have financed it. But how the hell would they have arranged it? There were no railroads. There was no dry ice. They could have packed him in brine -- but even so -- who is going to drag a body in a heavy barrel in a wagon where there is barely enough room for survivial provisions? Not to be gruesome, but someone had to have worked a miracle to have arranged this. Does this make sense to you? What am I missing, here?
It opens up the possiblilty that there might be some record somewhere at the California end.
Lynn
Western Reserve Historical Society Library (3/25/10)
Today I looked through a set of Oviatt family documents dated 1756 - 1876 at Western Reserve Historical Society library. They are on microfilm because the originals are stored in "the vault" somewhere. Included are:
There is also a faded document that is pretty much impossible to read on the microfilm but the annotation says it is a "copy of JW Weld deposition in the case of Old John Brown".
I am up trying to decipher the handwriting from these bad copies of already fuzzy microfilms. I don't think there will be any stunning new revelations here. But I am glad to find our people in Richfield formulating their abolitionist stance:
"...Resolved - that there appears to us a strange inconsistency in the action of the Ecclesiastical body to which most of our ministers belong inasmuch as they declare slavery to be sinful and yet take no measures for disciplining ministers or members for this sin...... "
In other words, they are getting tired of just talking. They are especially angry about hypocrisy. They are moving towards doing something. This is 1846. Fourteen years before the start of the Civil War.
Then of course later John Brown went from being a stealth abolitionist and underground railroad conductor to actual fighting against slavery and leading a raid at Harper's Ferry. The juxtaposition of a deposition for his trial with his everyday business letters just makes me think. Average, ordinary people - going about their work - just trying to make a living - but at the same time, standing up for what's right. Not letting the status quo dictate to them.
This is something that girls should be able to read about when they come to Crowell Hilaka. This stuff all happened right there in Richfield - and especially because the whole camp was at one time Oviatt land.
I transcribed the letters below. Looks like a lawyer is coming after JB asking about the ownership of some land. And someone else hasn't paid a debt.
If anyone else want to look at the source material, it's microfilm 777 Oviatt Family Papers WRHS
Akron 28th [????] 1845
Darius Lyman Esq
[???]
The deed from Aaron Clark [ transfer ? ] to Augustus Baldwin [in the deed referred to? ] it is for land included in the Mortgage. Brown, & Thompson's addition to Franklin Village does not include all the land intended to secure Oviatt. The amount in Village & in farming land as near as I can tell I gave to Cap't Oviatt more than a year ago with the map I had, & I doubt not he has them yet. Without those [papers?] I could not be [????} about the number of acres in each. The addition includes some Lots sold before the date of the mortgage, & marked on the map. I lent to Capt. O. without it I cannot [?] them out. The addition includes ( I think) 2 of the reservations in my deed from Haymaker [?] one to himself and one to Mrs. Warner; I can think of no more that are incorporated in it. The addition was laid out on township lots eleven & twelve. The exact amount of land included in Village or left for farming I cannot well determine but I suppose the statement I made out for Esq Weld & gave to Capt O to be nearly correct
Respectfully Yours
John Brown
Springfield [ Mass ? ] 7th Sept 1848
Marvin Oviatt Esq
[draft?]
Yours of the 1st. inst returning my order on the McClellands is received. I do not wish this note given to Mr. Perkins but I would rather you would write to McClellands that unless they take care of their note immediately you will put it in a way of being collected. The prospect of sales is good & I think we shall begin to realise soon on wool but at present have not & we have to pay about $1000 per week for frieght bills.
Respectfully Yours, John Brown
Ruth Freeman's Identity (2/09/10)
......so far on " Camp Stories Not Suitable For Children" ........... Milton R. Freeman is well known as the prosperous farmer who owned vast orchards including what is now the northern one third of Crowell Hilaka. Descendants of the neighboring farmer (in the middle third) have raised the suspicion that a couple of the children of a certain generation look a lot more like Mr. Freeman than their own illustrious ancestor. And it has only recently come to light that Mrs. Freeman's name was Ruth. According to her 1862 diary, Ruth was an extremly hardworking farm wife.
Today's installment ; Ruth's True Identity Revealed!
Not only was Ruth an Oviatt; she was one of the daughters of the land's previous owner - Nathaniel Oviatt. In my mind, this changes the whole perspective. It's not some bold adventurer, seeking his fortune, buying some land , and marrying a local girl to raise apples together. Now it's more like some guy comes along, finds out that the beautiful princess is heir to the kingdom, and marries her so that he can take over.
Well, OK. Maybe not that dramatic. Maybe Milton was a nice guy after all who just happened to fall in love with the daughter of a major landholder. I don't think they inherited - I think I have a deed upstairs showing that some money changed hands.
Not scandalous enough for you? In 1856, the owner of a large chunk of the middle (I'd guess from about Wonken Tonken up to the Adirondack Unit) was "R. Gargett". I showed this to Linda Fleming at the Richfield Historical Society, and she popped out with: "Oh yes - the Gargett's. They were part of that big murder story. - It was very famous. The last man to be hung in Summit County." To which I said, "They weren't murdered in camp, were they?" (You can see what my priorities are here). She hastened to assure me that it was elsewhere in Richfield, and she isn't even sure how closely related these Gargetts are to those Gargetts. The Gargetts were the murderees, not the murderer. The murderer was, I believe, a doctor from Michigan named Hunter. He was was courting one of the Gargett daughters. When she soured on him, he couldn't handle it. But I will leave the details for someone else to google.
Lynn
The Quest Continues: One Good Deed (11/5/09)
Since I have been going around complaining that I can't find out the date the Oviatt Farmhouse was built, historically-savvy people have told me to check the property tax records. A sudden increase in valuation means a building was added. Property tax has been around here since the 1820's. Summit county wasn't established until 1840 - so I'd have to check Medina County records. Then it occured to me that before I look for taxes, I ought to check there for the deed transfer.
Medina County's deeds index was a huge old book, about 2 feet tall and pages 15 inches across , with all the property transfers in Medina County from 1818 to 1843. Rough alphabetical order. There were TONS of Oviatts: Benjamin Oviatt, Mason's grandfather who was a revolutionary war soldier; Salmon Oviatt, Mason's father whose house is still standing on Rt. 303 just east of Broadview; Heman Oviatt, the rich uncle; plus various other uncles , cousins, and one aunt. There were also tons of now familar names from the histories I've been reading recently; Newtons, Nortons, Farnhams and Hudsons. Sometimes the parcels swap around between the main charactors. No Mason to be seen. Whatever else he may have been, Mason Oviatt was NOT a major player in the real estate market. A little note at the bottom of the last column refers back to another page. There's a bunch more "O" entiries out of order. Three quarters of the way down the page is our man.
Mason bought the land from his parents for one thousand dollars. The deed starts out with a hello to anyone reading the document. If you have read this email so far, the message is for you, from April 5, 1836: " To all persons to whom these presents shall come, greeting." Then it gets all legal. The western boundary of the land went all the way to the Hinkley border. It measured one hundred and one acres. Although the land had been owned jointly by Salmon and his wife Mary, the title only transfers to Mason, not Fanny. You have to wonder why. Did her in-laws not like her? Were they trying to make sure her relatives, the Carters and the Farnhams (who were big wheels in town) never got control of it? Was Mason opposed to having Fanny on the deed?
Whatever the reason, it wasn't an oversight. I was surprised at how many women were listed in the index holding their own property. Plus, the ammendment to the deed transfer certifies that the county recorder made sure that Mary was included in the deal - that she understood the legal issues and that she was OK with them. This appears to have been part of his routine function:
" Personally appeared before me - Salmon Oviatt & Mary Oviatt his wife who
acknowleged that they did sign and seal the forgoing instrument, and that the
same is their free act and deed, And I do further certify that I did examine the
said Mary Oviatt separate and apart from her husband and did then and there make
known to her the contents of the forgoing instrument and, upon that examination
she declared that she did voluntarily, sign, seal, and acknowledge the same and
that she was satisfied therewith.
- Martin Chittenden, Justice of the Peace // Recorded June 3rd 1837 //
Oviatt Cole, Recorder.
Heman Oviatt endows CWRU Chair (10/25/09)
Heman Oviatt endowed the first chair (professorship) at Case Western Reserve University. An article about the endowment, including a picture of Heman, can be found here.
But wait, there's more!
In 1815, Heman Oviatt lent money to a guy named Zenath Kent and went into a business partnership with him to open a general store in Ravenna. The store was very successful. With this excellent start, Zenath was able to buy Oviatt out and move on to several other developments in the town of Franklin Mills.
Zenath's son carried on this business tradition. He was so influential in bringing railroad business into Franklin Mills that the town voted to change the name of the town to Kent. As in Kent State University.
Don't you get the feeling that Heman Oviatt was pretty much the Forest Gump of the 1800's? He was involved in damn near everything.
Does this have any bearing whatsoever on camp?
Maybe.
If we play our cards right.
Something good will come of it, eventually.
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