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ELIZABETH (LOVELAND) MCFARLAND/MCFARLIN
(1790 to 1881) OHIO PIONEER
(Research by her gr gr grandson Peter Folsom McFarlin, - Jan 17, 201
1 reviewed Dec 2019)
Elizabeth (Betsey) Loveland arrived in April of 1799 from Vermont int o the Western Reserve of Connecticut, which soon became Coitsville, Oh io. She was about age nine, and traveled with her siblings and pioneer ing parents, Amos and Jemima (Dicki
nson) Loveland.
Amos Loveland; Revolutionary Soldier, Surveyor, Pioneer and Farmer
There is much found in the records and histories about Elizabeth’s fat her; Amos Loveland which will not be presented here. But, here's som e of his interesting story anyway.
Amos was the third of five boys and eight girls. While living in Glast onbury, Connecticut, on 1 May 1777, he enlisted at age fourteen for th ree years in the CT Continental Line's Seventh Regiment. He took par t in the battle of Germantown, and w as discharged 1 May 1780. Amos ree nlisted 1 July 1780 as a private in the Second CT Regiment and was dis charged again 9 December 1780 (*a). Now just 18 years old and a three- year veteran of the successful American Revolution, he returned to Gl a stonbury. In 1785, at age twenty-two, he married Jemima Dickenson, dau ghter of David and Beriah (Loveland) Dickenson. The couple immediatel y headed for the new opportunities now found in Vermont, made safer fo r settlement by the end of the Re volutionary hostilities. They settle d and started their family in Vershire (and Chelsea?), Vermont, livin g there for thirteen years. He is found there in the first federal dec ennial census of 1790. (He is not found in any federal census in 18 0 0 or 1810 - Ohio’s are not extant).
Early in 1798, at age thirty-five, he went to the Mahoning River valle y of the Connecticut Western Reserve (in the area which later became O hio). There he spent the summer in assisting John Partridge Bissel sur veying the new Connecticut Reserv e lands purchased by the absentee lan d company's owner, Daniel Coit of Connecticut. In the fall of 1798 Mr . Loveland purchased all the lands in that part of Coitsville townshi p on the south side of the Mahoning River; four hundred and twenty-fo u r acres. This sale was formalized in the land records five years late r (*b). Amos returned to Vermont in the fall of 1798, settled his affa irs there, and “...in December, 1798, with his wife and six children h e left Chelsea for his new home.. ." (*c). In two sleighs, (loaded wit h bedding, farming utensils, and furniture) drawn by four horses, thei r family of eight 'headed West' across New York and Pennsylvania towar ds their new homestead. It is possible that they may have stopped i n t o visit or stay with their (cousins), also named Amos Loveland just ea st of the Hudson river in the town of Greenbush (now Sand Lake), Renss elear co, New York.
They sleighed across the frozen Susquehanna River at Whitestone, and , since the snow was now melting, Amos exchanged his sleighs for a wag on and continued on. After completing the hard, four-month journey t o the Mahoning on 4 April 1799, they o ccupied the log cabin near the r iver, which he had erected for their use the year before. One half wa s floored with 'puncheons'; split logs dressed out with an axe, the ot her half remained earthen.
The Lovelands; Amos 37, Jemima 37, Elizur 13, Milly 12, Elizabeth 8, L ucina 7, Amos jr 5, and another son (?) were all shown in the Vershir e census of 1790. They became the first permanent settlers of Coitsvil le. During the first year, the fami ly depended largely on hunting an d some supplies from neighboring settlements. Amos cleared his farm an d resided there with various sons, daughters and their families unti l his death in 1851.
Just after Christmas, 1851, Amos died, probably at home, age 89. He wa s buried in the family cemetery on his farm, the land he'd long ago pl anned to live on after first seeing it during his pioneering survey o f 1798.
Amos Loveland’s story Notes;
*a- Revolutionary War Pension File W8090; 21 Aug, 1832; Amos applied f or pension age 69
*b -Trumbull County, Ohio deeds; A-166, 167; Dated 22 Aug 1803. "We, M oses Cleveland, Joseph Perkins of Connt., and Daniel Lathrop Coit of N ew York City, trustees of Erie Company, by our atty. Simon Perkins o f Trum Co Ohio, by letters dated 1 7 Mar 1803, for $726 from Amos Lovel and of Trum Co, land in Coitsville, range 1 Twp 2, lot 28, on the sout h bank of the Mahoning River."
*c - *3 Historical Collections of the Mahoning Valley; 1876 v 1 p 71
ELIZABETH BECOMES OLDEST RESIDENT OF THE WESTERN RESERVE
However, Elizabeth did all her traveling when a child, for she staye d continuously in the town after reaching Coitsville, except to live w ith her daughter Lavinia (McFarland) Harris just a few miles away in Y oungstown the last few years of he r life.
In 1812, at age twenty-two, Elizabeth married William McFarland, ten y ears older (*1). She moved only a few miles away, still in Coitsville , to his farmstead on the Hazleton Road. They appear to have had thre e boys and three girls by 1820, poss ibly two of the children were twin s, since six single birth children in eight years would be unusual, ev en in those times. The 1830 census shows William and Elizabeth, with e leven children. It is reported that she, "...became the mother of s i x sons and six daughters..." (*2 p 165).
The 1850 census lists her birthplace as Vermont, and confirms that sh e is ten years younger than her husband, William. The McFarland childr en still living at their home are; Amos, (age 38, b Ohio), Jemima, (ag e 30, b Ohio), Candace, (age 20 , b Ohio), Lovina, (age 17, b Ohio, i n school), and Annetta, (age 8, b Ohio, in school). Ten years later, i n 1860, she is a widow, living next door to her son Anderson and his f amily. Elizabeth McFarland is head of her own small household, wit h so n, Amos, age 48 ("idiotic"), and daughter Annetta J, age 18 (school te acher, and attending school).
In 1870, at age 80, she still maintains her own home very nearby to so n Anderson, while living with son Amos and youngest daughter Lucinia ( Lavinia) McFarland, age 35, who is keeping house with Elizabeth. By 18 80, Elizabeth and Amos were boardi ng with her daughter Lavinia who ha d now married Hamilton Harris (about 1875). He had been widowed by th e death of Lavinia's sister Candace in August of 1874, and this arrang ement may have been a marriage of 'convenience' for all concerned.
The following is quoted entirely from: Historical Collections of Mahon ing Valley, Youngstown, Ohio, May, 1876, pp 510-512.
THE DEAN RAFTS
"In December, 1804, an elderly gentleman came to this town (Youngstown , ed.) representing that he wished to contract for squared white-oak t imber and staves, the timber to be used for ship-building, and the sta ves to be taken to the Madeira Isl ands for wine casks. He was referre d to Isaac Powers, of this township, and Amos Loveland, of Coitsvill e Township, as men that could furnish what he wanted. He called upon t hem, and made a bargain, which they had to go to Poland to have writt e n. The contract was drawn at the house of Jonathan Fowler, and writte n either by him or Terhand Kirtland. The sizes and lengths of the timb ers were all specified. It was all large timber.
The contract for the timber was made with Isaac Powers, and the stave s with Amos Loveland. Mr. Dean was evidently a man that understood hi s business, and capable of doing a sharp bargain, as he succeeded in g etting Mr. Powers into a contract en tirely in his own favor. Mr. Power s, although being a good mechanic in timber, never had the experienc e of the cost of furnishing timber of such sizes and weight, and conse quently got but little to pay the scant wages due his workmen and fo r h is own time and labor. He, however, furnished the timbers as calle d for by the contract. Mr. Loveland's part of the bargain will be unde rstood by giving it in the words of his daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth M'Far land, who is now living in Coitsvill e Township, and is eighty-five yea rs of age. She says:"
'My recollection of the Dean rafts is that they were three in number , and were got up about the year 1803 or 1804. They were composed of s quared timbers hewed out, and of large air-tight casks. My father, Amo s Loveland, furnished all the timbe r for the casks, and helped to tak e it out. He also furnished the trees standing in the woods from whic h the square timber was made. He was not under contract for building t he casks or for any other part of the labor of constructing. He, howe v er, had the contract to furnish the staves dressed. The staves were go t out dressed and finished, and then set up for the wine casks, and af terward knocked down, that is, taken apart, and the staves destined fo r each cask bunched or bundled , each bundle being secured by a small h oop at each end. John Moore, father of Wm. 0. Moore of the Sarah J. St ewart tragedy, James Walker, ____ Holmes, with the help of my father , were the coopers who split them out (the staves) in the Summer , se t them up and built the casks in the Fall and Winter. The casks were i ntended to buoy up the rafts. We furnished the boarding and lodging an d shop for these coopers. We were often hard put to furnish the tabl e with the necessary substantia ls of life. For meat we often had game ; namely, wild turkey, venison, and occasionally bear meat.
'Mr Powers took out all the timber and built the rafts. It took abou t one year to get them completed. They were successfully launched in t he Mahoning River in Coitsville Township at the south end of the prese nt Lawrence Railroad Bridge at the S pring flood in 1806. The river wa s swollen to its highest water mark, and most of the inhabitants of th e surrounding neighborhood were there to see them off. An old gentlema n, Mr. Dean, contracted for the building and launching of them. He w a s not here often, but his nephew, James Dean, bossed the job. He, Jam es, fell out of a canoe between this and Beaver Falls. He with two me n were traveling in the canoe. The others went ashore to sleep, leavin g Mr. Dean in the canoe to watc h their trunks and outfit. The next mor ning, he was found at the bottom of the river, wrapped in his blanket , dead. The rafts went to pieces on the falls of Beaver on account o f insufficient depth of water to float them over.'
‘The timbers of the rafts were lost, but most of the staves were gathe red, loaded in flat-boats, and taken to New Orleans. These rafts wer e about one hundred feet in length, and about twenty-five feet wide. T he casks for buoys or floats were ma de air-tight, and frames or yoke s were made, in which they were confined. Upon this frame or yoke th e raft timbers were placed. The casks were about four feet in diamete r and six feet in length, and made of very heavy staves, and well boun d wi th hoops. The exact number to each raft is not known, but we are l ed to believe it was twenty-four. They were framed in the timbers in p airs, to move endways on the water. On the top of the rafts were pile d the staves.
‘Jonathan Fowler, the first settler of Poland Township, was drowned a t that time at Hardscrabble in the Beaver River. He was accompanying t he party that was running the rafts. While passing the rapids at tha t place, the canoe in which he was ri ding struck a rock and upset, an d he was lost. The others that were in the canoe at that time were res cued.
‘At the time these rafts were got out, and until after they were gon e and lost, there were no suspicions but what they were intended to b e used for legitimate purposes. It, however, afterward was rumored tha t Dean was a confederate or in the em ploy of Aaron Burr, and it was su pposed and believed by many that they were intended to be used by hi m in his treasonable purposes against the Government. Nothing, however , positive was ever known to the people of this country as to their in te nded destination.
Yours, etc.,
Youngstown, O., December 24, 1875.’
By the time Elizabeth died in June of 1881, she had been "...a residen t of the Western Reserve longer than any other person, having reside d continuously in the Mahoning valley over eighty-two years..." (* 2 p 165). She was buried near her husban d in the Pioneer Methodist Cem etery in Coitsville Center, Ohio.
Monument reads; Elizabeth Loveland McFarlin, born Aug 7 1790 died Jun e 16 1881.
PFM's SOURCES for Elizabeth (Loveland) McFarland/McFarlin
1790 census; Vershire or Chelsea, Orange co, Vermont p 219 Amos Lovela nd (Elizabeth's 4 mos)
1820 census; Coitsville, Ohio p 239; (her age 26-45)
1830 census; Coitsville, Ohio p 249; (her age 40-50)
1840 census; Coitsville, Ohio p 190; (her age 40-50)
1850 census; Coitsville, Ohio p 577; (her age 70 sic, born in Vermont)
1860 census; Coitsville, Ohio p 13; (her age 69, born in Vermont, rea l value $1,000)
1870 census; Coitsville, Ohio p 107; (her age 80, b Vermont, real valu e $1,000, pers value $500)
1880 census; Youngstown, Ohio ED 104 p 264; with Hamilton Harris (Eliz abeth's age 89, boarder, born in Vermont,)
PFM's Other REFERENCES
*1 Trumbull County Marriages (1-58); William McFarland of Coitsville t o Betsy Loveland, on 17 Dec 1812, by Nathaniel Blakesley JP, of Youngs town.
*2 History of Mahoning and Trumbull Counties. Williams, Vol II 1882
FSID 2S3B-GMV
(Research):Family Tree DNA (www.familytree.com)
Family Tree for Mr. Peter Folsom McFarlin
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1790 - 1881 (90 years)
