Historical Brownhelm Questions

[Mike Stark]

I've been researching local history (Vermilion, Brownhelm, etc.) and had a few questions that hopefully someone would be able to provide some information.

First, I was reading about Mrs. Alverson's School House (Strut Street School) built in 1819. Described as an 18 x 22 foot school was built on the brow of the hill (North Ridge Road and Claus Road). Does anyone know the location of this building in relation to the current North Ridge & Claus Road intersections? Is there any structure or remnants (foundations, etc.) remaining? Was it used until 1899 when the brick school was built?

Second, I found mention of a train station ... "Brownhelm could also boast of a U.S. Post Office from November 6, 1878 to March 31, 1912 and a train station located at Brownhelm Station Road, and Sunnyside Road". Same question, does anyone know the location of this building in relation to the current Conrail tracks and Brownhelm Station Road, and Sunnyside Road?

And last, what can you tell me about the small church located on Claus Road located between the Conrail tracks & Rt-2 that is owned by the Brownhelm Historical Association? Do you have information when it was built? How long was it used? Is it still in use?

Are there any historical photographs of any of these or other sites in Brownhelm?

Thank you in advance for any information,
Mike Stark


mikestark1 at hotmail dot com

[zipcode43015]

Through my father's research we discovered that the current Brownhelm School was actually built over an around the original school structure that was pre-civil war. so, the current school has absorbed the school within it's structure! This alone makes the Brownhelm school a historic site as it is registered on the Federal registery of historic places with the Dept. of Interior.

[ruscoop]

Brownhelm, Ohio enters into the history of the Goodrich family, or more specifically into the history of what may have been the best published account of the Goodrich family ancestry-genealogy.

A Presbyterian minister named Rev. Hiram P. Goodrich (1800-1861) compiled a comprehensive ancestry-genealogy of the Goodrich family for a man named Henry B. Goodrich. Rev. Goodrich traveled to England and researched extensively in the states, as required, to produce what was purported to be an excellent manuscript. Rev. Goodrich had a copy of the finished manuscript for himself, which he reportedly said he "...would not accept $1,000 for."

Rev. Hiram Goodrich died in 1861. Afterward; his copy of the manuscript was packaged and sent to the Chicago Historical Society for safekeeping, where it burned in the October 8-9, 1871 Great Chicago Fire.

Henry B. Smith, of course, also had a copy, but he was murdered on a return trip to St. Louis (where Rev. Hiram Goodrich also resided at the end of his life) at about the time Rev. Hiram Goodrich died. What became of Henry's copy of the manuscript is unknown, but "...it is understood that (Henry's) family returned to Brownhelm, Ohio shortly after his death; it is supposed it was taken there."

Would the manuscript copy of the Goodrich Family Genealogy prepared originally for Henry B. Goodrich, by any chance, have turned up in the archival holdings of the Brownhelm Historical Association?

[ruscoop]

(Edwin Hubbard, as quoted from the introduction to The Goodrich Family Memorial, Part One (1883)):

"Gentlemen: at your request, I have prepared, and herewith submit, a statement showing reasons that would seem to warrant the effort now being made to collect and arrange in suitable form for preservation, "A History of the Descendants of Ensign WILLIAM GOODRICH, who married SARAH MARVIN, at Hartford, Conn., October 4, 1648, and settled at Wethersfield; also a statement of the material now in hand for that purpose."

"During the year 1861, I was employed by Mr. Henry B. Goodrich, formerly of Brownhelm, Lorain Co., Ohio (son of Henry-7, Ezekiel-6, Zacheus-5, Zacheus-4, Richard-3, Ephraim-2, William-1), but then a resident of Chicago, to make a list of his Goodrich relatives. Among the many valuable memoranda furnished by my patron was a large collection of manuscripts gathered by Rev. Hiram-6 P. Goodrich (son of Benjamin-5, Benjamin-4, Benjamin-3, David-2, William-1), an Episcopal clergyman of St. Louis who, with his father Benjamin-5 (Goodrich) of Pittsfield, Mass., had spent a portion of the last seventy years in collecting these memoranda, having twice visited England for the purpose."

"As no attempt had been made to arrange the mass of material (a portion of which was in Latin), the work was much larger than anticipated. By the kind assistance of Rev. Wm. Barry, then secretary of the Chicago Historical Society, the work was completed, in manuscript form, to the satisfaction of Mr. Goodrich, who after examination said: "I would not take a thousand dollars for my copy, if I could not get another." The English history of the property belonging to the family extended back to the year 807, and the traditionary accounts were, generally, quite well sustained by public and family documents."

"The connection between the English family of County Sussex and that of William and John Goodrich of Wethersfield, Conn. was so clearly established by documentary evidence, that the representatives of the Wethersfield branch received property left to them by will of an uncle in Sussex as early as A.D. 1677. Quite a number of the lines of descent from William of Wethersfield were brought down into the present century."

"In the month of October, 1862, this man, Henry B. Goodrich, was murdered, while on his way to St. Louis. Rev. Hiram P. Goodrich of St. Louis also died the same year, and as his only son was said to have enlisted in the Confederate army, there seemed to be no one to whom the manuscripts could properly be returned. They were carefully packed, and the package marked "Papers belonging to the Estate of the late Hiram P. Goodrich of St. Louis, Mo., In care of the Chicago Historical Society, until called for." They were undoubtedly destroyed by the great fore of October 8-9, 1871."

"What became of the manuscript book, compiled for Henry-8 B. Goodrich, is unknown, but as it is understood that his family returned to Brownhelm, Ohio shortly after his death, it is supposed it was taken there."

[Linda Kinder]

Does anyone have any information or pictures of the Kneisel family in Brownhelm Township?

[J. E. Wittmer]

I have a handwritten copy of a news paper written about the Brownhelm area among other items. My ancesters settled there as early as 1830 and another walked from new England in 1843 to settle in Brownhelm. When I contact the society they were not interested.
granddaughter of Wittmer, Hopkins, Vincent