Before anyone could buy land on the Western Reserve, it had to be surveyed so land owners would know where their property boundaries were.  One early surveyor, Turhand Kirtland, kept a journal during the summers of 1798, 1799, and 1800 while he worked in several townships.    

 

In the first year, it took the surveying team 2 weeks just to cut through the woods to where they were to begin work.  Kirtland wrote about eating rattlesnake (it was good), hunting for lost oxen and horses, and being slowed down by swamps, little to eat, and not enough clean water to drink. 

 

In 1803, Kirtland brought his wife, Polly Potter, and family from Connecticut to Poland to settle.  The township was named so it wouldn’t be confused with any other place on the Reserve.  Many places in northeastern Ohio were named for people or towns from Connecticut or New York State.

 

Have you ever kept a journal, or read one by someone else?  Would you be willing to live and work in unsettled country?  Why would you want to name your new town after where you came from?  For a better look at these primary documents, go to www.mahoninghistory.org.  Under Education, click on 'What do you Know' for a list of articles.  Then click on the embedded images in an article for a downloadable file.

 

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