Dorset Township, Ashtabula County

How Dorset Township, Ashtabula County began

Dorset Township's land was bought in 1798 by Judge Isaac Mills, Pierpont Edwards, and others of New Haven, Connecticut, but the first attempt at settlement -- by Joel Thorp and his family in 1799 -- failed after three hardship-filled years, and the township was not permanently settled until John Smith arrived on February 8, 1821. The township organized under the name Millsford about 1824; a special act of the legislature renamed it Dorset in 1849, honoring Dorset, Vermont, the home of an early settler, per Wikipedia; we found no other source for it. The township's most notable later resident was John Brown Jr., eldest son of the abolitionist John Brown, who, according to Wikipedia, made Dorset his home from about 1855 to 1885 -- a residency that overlapped with, and may help explain, his documented ties to Jefferson and Cherry Valley during his father's 1859 Harpers Ferry conspiracy.

Settled June or July 1799 (Joel Thorp, first attempted settler, abandoned by 1802); February 8, 1821 (John Smith, first permanent settler), platted about 1824 (organized as Millsford Township), incorporated 1849 (renamed Dorset by special act of the Ohio legislature), by Joel Thorp, first attempt; John Smith, first permanent settler.

Where the name comes from

The township organized under the name Millsford about 1824 and was renamed Dorset in 1849 by special act of the Ohio legislature; the 1878 county history, though detailed on the township's settlement, does not explain the new name's origin. Wikipedia states it honors Dorset, Vermont, the home of an early settler, which we could not independently confirm.

Before the town

A commonly repeated claim holds that Seneca people maintained their last camping grounds in the region near Mill Creek within Dorset Township, using it as hunting territory into the late 1820s. We could not confirm this in any source we were able to read, so it is not an established fact.

Timeline

1. 1798 — Judge Isaac Mills, Pierpont Edwards, and others of New Haven, Connecticut become the township's original owners; the land is divided into lots the following year by T. R. Hawley.
2. June or July 1799 — Joel Thorp, of North Haven, Connecticut, makes the first attempt at settlement, traveling over 600 miles with his wife and three children by ox wagon; the family endures nearly three years of hardship, at times close to starvation, before abandoning the claim in the summer of 1802.
3. 1812 — A family named Cowles locates about a mile west of the centre, clears several acres, but removes before 1818.
4. 1818 — Asa Richardson exchanges his Vermont farm with Judge Mills for land in the township and brings his family from Steuben County, New York, but he too removes after four or five years.
5. February 8, 1821 — John Smith, of Worthington, Massachusetts, arrives on lot No. 21 and erects the first log house built by a settler who stays permanently, on 384 acres.
6. January 9, 1822 — Abitha Sutliff is struck and killed by a falling tree while clearing land near the town hall site -- the township's first death; Dr. Giles Cowles of Austinburg delivers what is thought to be the first sermon preached in the township, at the funeral.
7. summer 1823 — Sarah Houghton (later Mrs. Austin Burr) teaches the township's first school, in a log house near the Thorp place, to sixteen scholars for six shillings a week.
8. 1824 — The territory organizes as a separate township under the name Millsford.
9. 1825 — The first Methodist church organizes, formed by Rev. Joseph Carr with fifteen members meeting at the home of Cheever Richardson.
10. April 29, 1854 — Lyman Sutliff, son of the man killed by a falling tree in 1822, is murdered by Horace Haynes only a few rods from the spot of his father's death; Haynes is sentenced to life in prison but is eventually pardoned.
11. 1849 — By special act of the Ohio legislature, the township is renamed from Millsford to Dorset.
12. c. 1855-1885 — John Brown Jr., eldest son of abolitionist John Brown, resides in Dorset, according to Wikipedia; we found no other source for it.

Stories

The tree that grew from a riding-whip

On the east bank of Mills Creek, near the covered bridge north of the Jefferson road, an enormous willow tree once drew the eye of every passerby -- its trunk measuring over eleven feet around and its crown spreading at least sixty feet. The 1878 county history preserved the story of how it got there: around 1830, a Mrs. Tom Collins, out on horseback, stopped to let her horse drink from the creek and idly pushed the end of a small willow twig she had been using as a riding-whip into the soft bank. Whether by accident or on purpose, she rode off and left it standing there, and from that single forgotten twig grew the towering tree travelers later stopped to admire. The county historian could not resist the moral: 'Tall oaks from little acorns grow.'

A family marked by falling trees and worse

The Sutliff family's history in Dorset reads like a run of genuinely bad luck. Abitha Sutliff, one of the township's earliest settlers, was killed on January 9, 1822 when a tree he was felling came down on him -- the first recorded death in the township, and by all accounts the first sermon delivered here was preached at his funeral. He left four sons: Anson, Joel, Lyman, and Hiram. More than three decades later, on April 29, 1854, Lyman was murdered only a few rods from the very spot where his father had been crushed, by a man named Horace Haynes, who was sent to the penitentiary for life -- Ashtabula County's harshest available punishment for murder -- and was nonetheless eventually pardoned. As if that were not enough, a young son of Hiram Sutliff was later bitten by a mad dog and died in agony less than half a mile from where his grandfather had died under the tree. The county historian recorded all three events without comment, letting the coincidence of location speak for itself.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · solomonspalding.com · archive.org · nps.gov

Mostly private wells The water here

• Aqua Ohio - Village of Jefferson98% of residentsLake Erie
• Dfc Mobile Home Park2% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Private schools (1)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (2)

Money issues on the ballot since 2019: 6 of 6 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 1 of 1.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

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