Turhand Kirtland -  Some Source Material


From "A Look At Poland, Ohio - 200 Years and Counting" by Robert Wilkeson (1996):

"Turhand Kirtland: was born in Wallingford Connecticut on November 16, 1755. His parents were Constant and Rachel Kirtland. A carriage maker by trade until moving to Poland, Kirtland acted as an agent and surveyor for the Connecticut Land Company during the sale of the Western Reserve. It was at this time that Kirtland acquired land in Burton, Kirtland, and Poland Ohio." 

"In 1798, Kirtland joined with a group of people surveying Poland Township. The first person to claim land in Poland, Kirtland moved his family here in 1803. Their home was in the vicinity of the home now addressed as 424 South Main St. The property is next to the Presbyterian Church."

"Kirtland owned a considerable amount of land in Poland and donated a part of this for the Presbyterian Church and cemetery. The church, though changed, remains on this site to this day. In later years, Kirtland descendents donated the land known as the VILLAGE GREEN and a trust fund for maintenance of the green."

"A chronology of the life of Turhand Kirtland in Poland finds that: In 1803, he was installed as Master of Erie Lodge #47 of the Masons at Warren, Ohio; in 1809, he was appointed as moderator of Saint James Church in Boardman (the first Episcopal Church in Mahoning County); in 1814, Kirtland was elected to the state senate; in later years he served as Judge and Justice of the Peace. Among his accomplishments, Kirtland helped found the first bank in Western Reserve at Warren, Ohio."

"Turhand Kirtland was married twice. His first wife, Mary Beech, died on November 24, 1792 at Wallingford, Connecticut. There were no children of this marriage. Turhand's second wife was Polly Potter. They were married January 19, 1793 at Wallingford. Turhand and Polly had seven children, Jared, Henry, Billius, George, Mary, Nancy, and Charles who died in infancy. Turhand died on August 16, 1844 and is buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery."

From "The Riverside Review" (Poland, Ohio Riverside Cemetery)
Issue No. 36 - August 2004 Published by Ted Heineman

Judge Turhand Kirtland

If you had lived in Poland Village back in the 1830s, you would have seen this man every Sunday dressed in his best suit driving a buggy to church. The Judge was a member of St. James Episcopal Church, then located three miles west of Poland on the southeast corner of Market St. and Route 224. In the buggy with the Judge would be his wife, Polly, dressed in the latest silk fashions of the day. The Kirtlands had joined St. James on July 20, 1809 when it became the first Episcopal Diocese outside of the original thirteen colonies. They, with sixty other members, met in a private home until 1828 when construction of their Colonial-style church was completed. In 1972 this 144 year old church was moved from Market Street to its present location in Boardman Park.

Just about everyone living in the Western Reserve 170 years ago knew the Judge or had heard of his accomplishments. He had participated in the Revolutionary War and had been active in public affairs in Wallingford, Connecticut before coming to Poland. As one of the original members of the Connecticut Land Company, he was with the first surveying party to arrive on the shores of Lake Erie. After moving his family to Ohio in 1803 he was installed as Master of Erie Lodge, No. 47, Free and Accepted Masons. In 1804, Turhand was elected State Senator from Trumbull County. He was Associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for several years and Justice of Peace in Poland Township for more than two decades. In the 1830's you would have likely tipped your hat to this handsome couple as they rode past on their way to church.

Poland's only Ohio Historical Marker is located at the north end of the Village Green. It was installed in 1982 by The Ohio Historical Society and the thirty-one lodges of the Twenty-Fourth Masonic District to honor Judge Turhand Kirtland (1755-1844). It reads as follows:

Born in Wallingford, Connecticut. Served during the Revolutionary War. Proprietor, Agent, and Surveyor of the Connecticut Land Company. Appointed Judge of Trumbull County by Territorial Governor Arthur St. Clair, 1800. State Senator, Trumbull County 1815-1816. Poland Justice of the Peace, twenty years. Moderator of the St. James Episcopal Church, Boardman, 1809. First Worshipful Master of Erie Lodge No. 47, Warren, 1803, oldest lodge in the Connecticut Western Reserve and one of the six lodges to form the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Ohio. 1809. Served his God, his Country, his Fellowman, his Fraternity-Benefactor of this Village Green and Cemetery.

(Here is what I learned about Erie Lodge No.47 after searching the internet)

On October 19, 1803, a charter was granted to 22 Brethren by the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Connecticut to establish a lodge of Free and Accepted Masons (F. & A. M.) at Warren, Ohio. At that time Warren was the seat of justice of Trumbull County, which comprised the whole of the Connecticut Western Reserve. Among these brethren were Turhand Kirtland of Poland, William Rayen of Youngstown (The Rayen School of Engineering was named for him), and George Tod, the father of Ohio Governor David Tod. On March 16, 1804 Right Worshipful Turhand Kirtland was solemnly installed as Master of Erie Lodge No. 47, F. & A. M. under protection and jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut.

After 3 years' successful and harmonious existence, Erie Lodge No.47 decided that greater benefit would arise to the Craft by the formation of a Grand Lodge for the State of Ohio. The Lodge formed a committee to correspond with lodges in Marietta, Cincinnati, Zanesville, Worthington, and Chillicothe. Eight months later the committee reported that they had received favorable communications in answer to theirs. On January 5, 1809 representatives from the six existing Ohio Lodges convened in Chillicothe, the State Capital at that time, and adopted the same Constitution as that of the neighboring Grand Lodge of Kentucky. Forty-four year old Samuel Huntington, then governor of Ohio, was elected the first Grand Master of Masons in the State of Ohio. Thus to Erie Lodge belongs the honor of being the first to suggest and first to take the initiative towards establishing the Grand Lodge of Ohio.

It is interesting to note that the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ohio became the sixteenth Grand Lodge of F. & A. M. established in the United States of America. The New England Lodge #48 of Worthington was not permitted to vote in the 1809 formation. The story is that the necessary credentials for voting did not arrive for their representative until after the meeting. One should also note that Governor Samuel Huntington lived in Painesville, Ohio, and belonged to Erie Lodge No.47. His father was also named Samuel and was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and later became governor of Connecticut in 1786.

Forty-five year old Colonel James Hillman, the First Citizen of Youngstown, followed Kirtland as the Master Mason of Erie Lodge No.47 in 1807. His life story is in this issue of the Riverside Review. The following article gives a brief history of Freemasonry and helps explain the words "Free and Accepted."

2014 Links to Kirtland papers:
http://ead.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ead/view?docId=ead/OCLWHi1040.xml;query=Turhand%20Kirtland;brand=default
http://ead.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ead/view?docId=ead/OCLWHi1040.xml;chunk.id=c01_1C;brand=default;query=Turhand%20Kirtland

http://ead.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ead/view?docId=ead/OCLWHi0772.xml;query=Turhand%20Kirtland;brand=default

Abstract:
Turhand Kirtland (1755-1844) was a land agent for the Connecticut, Big Beaver, and Union land companies, and founder of Poland, Ohio. Kirtland owned almost 2,000 acres in the township named after him, although he never permanently resided there. Kirtland Township was an "equalizing" township used by the Connecticut Land Company to compensate for losses of those settlers or investors who received swampy or poor land throughout the Western Reserve. Collection consists of a copy of a diary kept by Kirtland on his travels throughout the Western Reserve.
Identification: MS 737       Location: closed stacks

From "The Strangest Names In American Political History" web site

 Justly referred to as an Ohio pioneer, Turhand Kirtland was a prominent figure in the early days of the Ohio territory, being a founding father of what is now Poland, Ohio. During a long life that extended nearly nine decades, Kirtland was involved in many different aspects of the development of the burgeoning counties of Trumbull and Mahoning. Kirtland was originally born in Wallingford, Connecticut on November 16, 1755, a son of Constant and Rachel Kirtland. Turhand was a Revolutionary War veteran, and is remarked by the National DAR Society Lineage Book, Vol. 32 as "having been engaged on the boats, transporting the retreating army at Long Island in 1776 where he contracted camp fever, and was honorably discharged." Following his stint in the Continental Army, Kirtland returned to Wallingford where he worked as a carriage manufacturer for a number of years.
   Kirtland married twice during his life, his first wife being Mary Beach, who died in 1792. He remarried in the year following her death to Polly Potter (1772-1850), who eventually gave birth to six children, who are listed as follows: Jared Potter (1793-1877), Henry Turhand (born 1795-1874), Mary Beech (1798-1825), Nancy (born 1801), Charles Dutton (died in infancy in 1814), Billious (1807-1891) and George (1809-1890). Of the Kirtland children Jared Potter Kirtland is the most notable, as he was for many years a distinguished physician judge and naturalist, and was honored by having a type of snake (the Kirtland's Water snake) named after him.
   Turhand Kirtland was connected for many years with the Connecticut Land Company, being employed as a general land agent whilst also being one of the company's stockholders. He first visited the Ohio territory in 1798 and with wealth accumulated from his carriage manufacturing business began to purchase numerous lots of land throughout the area known as the Western Reserve. Portions of this three million acres of land throughout Northeastern Ohio were surveyed and examined by Kirtland for the Connecticut Land Company, and around 1799 relocated from Connecticut to the Ohio territory, settling in an area then known as Burton. In 1800 then territorial Governor Arthur St. Clair (1737-181) appointed Kirtland as Judge for the newly established county of Trumbull. 
   After leaving Trumbull County in April 1803, the Kirtland family removed to Mahoning County, settling in the village of Poland. Kirtland had surveyed and mapped out the Poland vicinity some years previously, and in the same year as his resettlement was named as the first master of the Erie Lodge #47 of Masons, the first Masonic lodge to be built in the Western Reserve. Kirtland continued to make a name for himself in the still young community of  Poland, becoming moderator of the first Episcopal church in Mahoning County and later aided in establishing the local Library Association and Poland Reading Room.
   In 1814 Turhand Kirtland was elected as a member of the Ohio State Senate, representing Trumbull County. He served here until 1815 and was later elected as a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, serving on the bench for nearly a decade. Following his tenure as judge, Kirtland was a justice of peace in Poland for over twenty years and died on August 16, 1844, a few months before his 89th birthday. He was interred at the Poland Presbyterian Cemetery, also the resting place of Polly Kirtland and the couple's infant son Charles Dutton.

 From    http://kirtlandlibrary.blogspot.com/

Our city's namesake, Turhand Kirtland, was born in Wallingford, Connecticut in 1755 (the village of Kirtland Hills is named for Turhand's son, Jared Potter Kirtland). Turhand Kirtland was the resident general land agent for the Connecticut Land Company which sold parcels of land in the Western Reserve during the 1800s.

Turhand Kirtland

Turhand had nine siblings. His great-grandfather, Nathaniel Kyrtland, came to Massachusetts from England in 1635. Turhand began work by manufacturing carriages and stagecoaches, and acted in the provisional service of New York.

Turhand and other land agents formed the Connecticut Land Company and purchased the Western Reserve from the state of Ohio in 1795. In 1796, General Moses Cleaveland began a survey of this land. Two years later, the land was divided among the Connecticut Land Company stockholders by a draft. Turhand drew the township of Mecca, part of the township of Auburn, Poland, Burton, and 2,000 acres in Kirtland.

Turhand owned much of the township that was Kirtland but sold most of it and never lived there. He lived in Poland, Ohio with his wife, Mary Potter, and three children: Henry, Nancy, and Mary. (Son Jared remained in Connecticut to be educated. He gained fame as a physician, teacher, naturalist, horticulturalist, and ornithologist.) Turhand helped establish libraries and schools among the reserve, including Western Reserve College.

In 1798, Turhand, along with a group of surveyors and settlers, began surveying and laying out the townships. Turhand kept a diary of this time. You can read it here or you can follow us on Twitter as we tweet entries beginning May 12.
 

Wikipedia - Kirtland, Ohio page:

Kirtland is named for Turhand Kirtland, a principal of the Connecticut Land Company and judge in Trumbull County, the first political entity in Ohio that included Kirtland township. Kirtland, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War, demonstrated "both breadth of vision and integrity" in his fair dealings with the local Native Americans. He was known for his bravery, resourcefulness, and passion for justice.  Dr. Jared Potter Kirtland was the son of the former; he helped to found a medical college in nearby Willoughby, Ohio, and he compiled the first ornithology of Ohio.  The bird Kirtland's Warbler is named for Jared Kirtland. This rare species has been documented in the city during migration, but it does not nest in Ohio.

"Jared Potter Kirtland, The Ohio Journal of Science, May  1930