Bazetta Township, Trumbull County

• Mosquito Creek LakeBuilt 1944 · 7,850 acres

How Bazetta Township, Trumbull County began

Bazetta Township's five original proprietors received their deed from the Connecticut Land Company on September 20, 1798 (Wikipedia gives 1795), dividing the 17,247-acre tract among themselves in 1802. Edward Schofield, a Connecticut-born surveyor who had worked across the Reserve since 1797, became the township's first settler about 1804, living alone with his nearest neighbor five miles off; John Budd, Henry K. Hulse and Joseph Pruden settled nearby around the same time. Samuel Bacon, who arrived in 1816 and traded for the township's only sawmill, gave his name to the settlement that grew up there, known for decades as Baconsburgh before the railroad renamed its station Cortland -- a name the growing town then took for its own. Cortland formally incorporated in 1874. The origin of the township's own unusual name is not established by any source consulted. Much of the township is today covered by Mosquito Creek Lake and the surrounding Mosquito Lake State Park and Mosquito Creek Wildlife Area, a state recreation area created by the same 1944 dam that supplies Warren's water.

Settled c. 1804 (Edward Schofield, first settler), by Edward Schofield, first settler, c. 1804; deed to the five proprietors dated September 20, 1798.

Where the name comes from

No source consulted establishes the origin or meaning of the name Bazetta; Wikipedia's own article on the township states plainly that 'the etymology of the name Bazetta is uncertain,' and the 1882 county history likewise offers no explanation, naming only the five proprietors and the land transaction. It remains the only township of this name in Ohio. The township's one village, by contrast, has a clearly documented name history: first known as Baconsburgh, after settler Samuel Bacon, it was renamed Cortland when the railroad company gave that name to its station there.

Before the town

No Native village, camp or treaty event specific to Bazetta Township is recorded in the sources we reviewed. The township lies within the Mahoning-valley region the county's 1882 history describes as Delaware-occupied hunting ground used seasonally by Seneca and Mingo bands through the 1700s, and Mosquito Creek, which the Wyandot, Seneca or other Reserve-era nations would have used for travel and fishing before the 1944 dam impounded it into a lake, runs through the township, but no source found names a specific site inside its present boundaries. The Connecticut Land Company's 1795 sale of the township (the 1882 county history dates the deed to 1798) predates by ten years the 1805 Treaty of Fort Industry that formally extinguished Native title to the land being sold.

Nations recorded here: Lenape (Delaware), Seneca, Mingo (Seneca-Cayuga).

Timeline

1. 1798-09-20 — The Connecticut Land Company deeds the township to five proprietors -- David Huntington, Nathaniel Shalor, Samuel P. Lord, Sylvester Mather and Richard McCurdy.
2. 1802 — The proprietors have the land surveyed in separate portions and divided among themselves, Nathaniel Shalor receiving the largest share (7,300 acres) in the township's north.
3. c. 1804 — Edward Schofield, a Connecticut-born surveyor who had worked across the Reserve since 1797, becomes the township's first settler, living alone with his nearest neighbor five miles away; John Budd settles nearby around the same time.
4. c. 1812 — Schofield builds the township's first gristmill.
5. 1816 — Samuel Bacon and family arrive, trading for the township's only sawmill (then owned by Bentley & Brooks); his settlement becomes the starting point of the township's only village, later known for decades as Baconsburgh.
6. 1817 — Edward Schofield, largely responsible for founding the township's early religious organization, is elected to the state legislature.
7. 1829 — Enos Bacon, Samuel's son, opens the village's first store; the settlement is by this time known as Baconsburgh.
8. 1874 — Cortland (as the village had been renamed after the railroad named its station there) formally incorporates, electing Asa Hines its first mayor.
9. 1938 — The federal Flood Control Act authorizes a reservoir on Mosquito Creek, which crosses the township.
10. 1944-04 — The US Army Corps of Engineers completes the dam creating Mosquito Creek Lake, submerging a significant portion of the township's land and creating what becomes Mosquito Lake State Park.
11. 2020 — The census records 5,916 residents in Bazetta Township across 24.5 square miles.

Stories

The creek that confused everyone who crossed it

Bazetta's Confusion Run got its name from exactly the kind of misadventure it sounds like. In the township's early days, three men -- Benjamin Rowlee, Henry K. Hulse and a third whose name the 1882 county history admits was already forgotten by the time it was written -- set out on some errand through the dense, trackless forest in the creek's neighborhood. Again and again they lost their way, and again and again, trying to get their bearings, they found themselves back at the same small stream, no closer to the settlement than when they'd started. They named it, with weary accuracy, Confusion Run -- a name, the book notes, that stuck and is still used 'to this day.'

Five proprietors and a name nobody can explain

Bazetta Township's founding is unusually well documented on the ownership side and unusually blank on everything else: the Connecticut Land Company deeded its 17,247 acres in 1798 to five named proprietors -- David Huntington, Nathaniel Shalor, Sylvester Mather, Richard McCurdy and Samuel P. Lord -- who divided the land among themselves in shares ranging from Shalor's 7,300 acres down to Lord's 1,635, and settlers did not actually arrive to work that land for several more years, Edward Schofield becoming the first around 1804. What none of that paperwork explains, and what neither the 1882 county history nor Wikipedia can supply, is the township's own name -- unlike neighboring townships named for Connecticut towns (Weathersfield) or land company agents (Hubbard), Bazetta's origin is simply unknown, and it remains the only township anywhere in Ohio to carry the name. A century and a half later the township's geography changed more than its name ever did: the 1944 damming of Mosquito Creek put a large reservoir across a substantial share of the township's original farmland, turning what had been ordinary Western Reserve cropland into the shoreline of Mosquito Lake State Park.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · archive.org

Mostly private wells The water here

• Cortland City83% of residentsGroundwater wells (7 wells)
• Lordstown Village7% of residentsMeander Creek Reservoir (via MVSD, blended w/ Mosquito Lake)
• Warren City7% of residentsMosquito Creek Lake (Mosquito Creek Reservoir)
• Trumbull Co. - Bazetta/champion3% of residentsMosquito Creek Lake (Mosquito Creek Reservoir)
• Pleasant Park Mobile Court0% of residentsGroundwater wells (1 wells)
• Belle Acres Mobile Home Park0% of residentsGroundwater wells (1 wells)

Community health centers (1)

Dialysis centers (1)

Fire and EMS stations (2)

High-hazard dams (1)

Bridges rated poor (2)

Police stations (2)

Public EV charging (2)

Spills reported since 2021 (3)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026-08-24: official county or city website.

Money issues on the ballot since 2015: 17 of 22 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 2 of 3.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked. The county's results on file run through 2026-02-03; later elections are not loaded yet.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-12-02

Statewide question: State Issue 3: Voter ID

Local questions for Bazetta Township, Trumbull County, Trumbull County and its school district:

• Lakeview Local School District: Renews a 1-mill property tax levy for the general permanent improvements of Lakeview Local School District for 5 years, beginning in 2027.

Races, candidates and every question for an address: your ballot. County offices and judges are on your county board's sample ballot.

Cite this page