1781 - 1863

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• Birth	12 Jun 1781	Southwick, Hampden, MA
  Gender	Male
  Buried	1863	Oak Grove Cemetary, Tomah, Monroe, WI
  Died	2 Mar 1863	Tomah, Monroe, WI
  Person ID	I129773	Brainard (Brainerd) / Foster / Fish
  Last Modified	27 Oct 2005 00:00:00
  Family	Clarissa TRACY, b. 7 Jul 1783, Mesopotamia, Trumbull, OH
  Married	12 Feb 1806	Mesopotamia, Trumbull, OH
  Children	1. Caroline GILLETT   2. Mary Ann GILLETT > 3. Seth Augustus GILLETT, b. 21 Nov 1808, OH > 4. Robert Edwin GILLETT, b. 23 Jun 1809, Mesopotamia, OH > 5. Ransom Addison GILLETT, b. 1818   6. Martha GILLETT, b. 1823   7. Elizabeth GILLETT
  Family ID	F46829	Group Sheet

• Notes

  GRISWOLD GILLETT Our Gillett ancestors lived in the Connecticut River valley for over 170 years until 1801 when Griswold Gillett joined Seth Tracy, a Revolutionary War veteran, and the Tracy family as "a hired man" to manage a team of Tracy’s wagons traveling west to Trumbull County, Ohio. This part of Ohio was known as The Western Reserve. It was a strip of land that Connecticut reserved in 1796 for herself. It lay between the shore of Lake Erie and the forty-first parallel (just south of Youngstown) and ran 120 miles west from the western border of Pennsylvania to a point just beyond Sandusky. This was New Connecticut and a land of opportunity in a new nation. Mesopotamia Township, Trumbull County, Ohio Seth Tracy, who had previously selected his land in Mesopotamia Township, started from Preston, CT to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, with several teams and his family. Unfortunately, Simeon Tracy, Seth's father, died at Pittsfield. Seth's mother, Lois Branch Tracy, continued on. Griswold joined the Tracys at Pittsfield, driving one of the teams. At Whitestown, New York, Seth Tracy procured a boat, and proceeded as far as Niagara Falls. Here the boat and contents were hauled around the Falls on trucks, with cattle, and again committed to the water. After coasting along the south shore of Lake Erie to the mouth of Grand River, they entered the river, and followed up to within one mile of the residence of Judge Griswold, in Windsor, and from thence to Mesopotamia by land, where they arrived May 8, 1801. When Seth Tracy arrived in Mesopotamia with Griswold, he cleared his land and built his house all with the help of Griswold Gillett. In 1806 Griswold married Tracy’s eldest daughter Clarissa. The wedding took place at the residence of the bride’s father and in addition to "giving away the bride" the father performed the wedding ceremony, having recently been elected justice of the peace. Here in Mesopotamia, Ohio Griswold and Clarissa built a home and raised a family. Their son, Robert Edwin, would later continue our family line. Record of marriage of Griswold Gillett and Clarissa Tracy Samuel Forward taught the first school, in 1803, in a room in the house of Seth Tracy. The first schoolhouse was built on the north part of Seth Tracy's farm, near the center, in 1806. There were but a few Indians in this town. One old chief, Pauqua, sometimes came around, oftener begging for something to drink than to eat, and it was always a relief to some of the children when he left. After the war of 1812 a small band of Indians visited Grand River to hunt. The inhabitants made their camp a visit, but found the Indians absent. They broke some of their kettles, made the form of an Indian on the bark of a tree, shot a ball into it, and left. The Indians took the hint, and left too. March 14, 1806, the Commissioners of Trumbull County ordered that Windsor, Mesopotamia, and Henshaw (as Farmington was then called), "should be erected into, and declared, a township district, with all the rights, privileges, and immunities given to, and vested in, townships within this State, by the name of Troy, and the first township meeting shall be held at the house formerly occupied by Dr Clark, in said district." At a meeting held in the district of Troy and county of Trumbull, on Monday, the 7th day of April, Anno Domini 1806, voted and made choice of Otis Guild, Chairman of said meeting; Hezekiah Sperry and Jonathan Higley, Judges of said meeting; Ephraim Clark, Township Clerk; William Cox, Gager Smith, and Jonathan Higley, Trustees; Skene D. Sacket and Abraham Daley, Overseers of the Poor; Griswold Gillette and Alpheus Sperry, Fence Viewers; Isaac Clark, Appraiser and Lister; Timothy Alderman, Appraiser; Joseph Alderman, Jr., Amadeus Brooks, and William Read, Supervisors of Highways; Griswold Gillette and Samuel Forward, Constables; Ephraim Clark, Treasurer. Griswold located on the farm where Capt. Aaron Lyman lived (the Howes farm south of Ab. Fauce’s). He made some improvements and sold out to Seth Tracy. He then bought the land at the southeast corner of the road leading to Bloomfield and the Common, later purchased in February 1815 by Dr. L. Newcomb. Griswold built a log cabin east of the Auretus White’s blacksmith shop and started a distillery some 15 rods east to help the farmers get rid of their surplus rye and corn, and made what they called whiskey. It was of such a nature that it would kill at a distance of forty rods, off hand, every time. He found that it was not as profitable as he had expected as he had to gow so far to get the grain ground. Well, he abandoned it before he sold to Dr. Newcomb. After selling out here he moved to Parkman, Geauga County. It is needless to say that the early settlers had many hardships to encounter. The story of one settlement is in a measure the story of all. The first settlers usually built rude huts of poles and bark, with a cloth of some kind for a door, taking the precaution, however, to roll some logs up before it at night, to keep the bears out. Occasionally a bear would rise upon his haunches, put his fore paws upon the top log, and take a peep within. The sight of the fire usually sent them on their way in a hurry. The huts were soon vacated for the more stately log house, and some new comer would move into the hut until he could build a house of his own. Game was plenty, and it was not many years before provisions were plenty. An old bear and two cubs were killed in this township as late as 1836. Deerskins were tanned, and made into jackets, roundabouts, and pants, and were very serviceable, although liable to chafe after having been wet and left to dry. After the introduction of sheep and flax, the women carded, spun, and wove their own cloth, using roots and leaves of different kinds for coloring the same; and when the boys had got a suit of homespun, they thought they had arrived at the acme of bliss, and they said, "Now our pants won't be all the time crawling above our knees, and stand alone when we take them off." Wolves were very plenty, and made frequent depredations upon the flocks, the last that were seen being a pack of five, that killed and wounded some eight or ten sheep for the widow of Elias Sperry, in the north part of the town, as late as 1837. A military company had been formed under the command of Captain Hill, of Windsor. On the breaking out of the war of 1812 a call was made for volunteers. Linus Tracy, Oliver Guild, Jairus Guild, and Whitney Smith volunteered; and afterward another call was made, when Matthew Laird, Elias Sperry, Griswold Gillette, Ebenezer K. Lamson, Amadeus Brooks, Lucius Sperry, and Isaac Clark went. Mesopotamia, Ohio, December 14, 1875 C. A. Brigden Historical Collections of the Mahoning Valley, Vol. 1, page 17 1876 the Mahoning Valley Historical Society In April of 1806 Griswold was elected fence viewer and constable of Mesopotamia. Griswold was a Presbyterian and was the owner of the Mesopotamia Distillery. Following are the OH state and US federal censuses where Griswold and his family appear: 1804 GRISWOLD GILLET Trumbull County OH 012 Mesopotamia Tax List OH Early Census Index OHS1a1353174 Name: Gillet, Griswould Year: 1807 County: TRUMBULL CO. State: OH Page: 024 Location: Name: Gillet, Griswold Year: 1808 County: TRUMBULL CO. State: OH Page: 019 Location: MIXED TWPS 1820 GILLET GRISWOLD Trumbull County OH 263 Mesopotamia Township Federal Population Schedule OH 1820 Federal Census Index OHS2a481001 ROSTER OF OHIO SOLDIERS IN WAR OF 1812 GILLET, GRISWOLD GRISWOLD GILLET Company: RUSSELL'S BATTALION, OHIO MILITIA. Rank In: CORPORAL Rank Out: CORPORAL Roll-Box: 81 Roll-Rec: 605 GILLET, GRISWOLD GRISWOLD GILLET Company: 2 REGIMENT (COTGREAVE'S), OHIO MILITIA. Rank In: SERGEANT Rank Out: SERGEANT Roll-Box: 81 Roll-Rec: 606 Following are some of Tegan Gillette’s notes: His grandfather was a farmer. His grandmother's family was considered well off and was an "aristocrat" in the those days. Griswold lost his father at a young age and was raised by his grandfather, but which side of the family is unclear right now. He was not allowed to work too hard as a boy as his grandfather wanted him to grow big and strong so that when he was mature he would stand 6' tall in his stockings. A good education was tough to come by and his was limited. Griswold was smitten with grandma who "hazed" have been a beautiful girl, as she was a very handsome old lady. After they arrived on the shore of Lake Erie and were cleaning up the farm the War of 1812 broke out and Griswold enlisted as a soldier. He was a fine shot as he often told his grandson, TW Gillette, of some of his shots at a mark and once of shooting an Indian dog a long distance off just as they were landing on the island of Macinaw. The dog was sitting near one of the wigwams on the brow of a hill, it had a white spot on its breast. He had made the remark that he could kill that dog. The colonel who was Col. Davenport (that the city of Davenport is now named after) told him to try it. He shot the dog and when they landed and passed the hill they found that he had hit the dog in the white spot on his breast. They had quite a fight with the Indians on their march around the island. The Indians were in cover behind rocks and trees and on all sides of them. When any of the men were wounded and had to be left or fell out they were killed, the Indians would run out after the command had passed and scalp them. One poor fellow had been wounded was trying to keep up when and Indian shot him in the hip then ran out with his hatchet and buried it in the man's head. Grandfather saw him while loading his gun as fast as he could and just as the Indian had raised his arm to pull out the hatchet grandfather took aim at him fired and the Indian fell shot through the body. When they marched around the island and came to that spot again he said that Davenport went over to the two dead bodies and after looking at them said, "I saw Gillette shoot that Indian at a very long range. He is the best shot in the army on the island." "Grandfather said he shot at Indians a great many times but he did not know that he killed any others and did not want to know." TW remembers ============================================================== From Tegan Gillette: He served his enlistment as well as part of another married man’s who had a family but could not remain away from his home. I think the man was any animal that he knew of. When he was over 80 people would come for miles and take him in their lumber wagons in a rocking chair to doctor their sick animals. He was a great joker and was the life of the neighborhood. He army life got him in the habit of drinking (the army's rations included whiskey and tobacco) so often he would go on a drinking spree. He would not drink socially at the tavern where they always had bums and loafers. He despised them but he would go and get a jug of whiskey and have a lonesome drink by himself. In later years, he would often say that the one thing he had always done was to provide well for his family. According to Mrs. Bakon, an 87 year old lady, he was a noted character when she was girl and his witty sayings were quoted far and near. While he was not educated he was a man of brains and raised a large family of 7 children. When he was in his cups and after his children were grown up, he would say if it was not for their father, the Gillette girls would be too proud to live on earth. It was necessary to do something to keep them down. "My you're a lot of handsome girls and talented," Mrs Baken said after he had left Ohio and gone to Wisconsin. Mrs. Baken went to see the place he had picked out for his grave (Tomah, WI). He had planted a thorn tree at the foot as "he had traveled a life of thorns" and a weeping willow which was the emblem of his wife's life. At his head he had planted a crab apple tree, as he had been crabbed. At the left was rose bush which represented his children, the joy of his life. Tombstone engraving: The aged pioneer of the west Has gone down peacefully to rest Here he lies in silent sleep No one for him need mourn or weep

• Sources

  [S2800] Ancestral File (R), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (Copyright (c) 1987, June 1998, data as of 5 January 1998). [S2801] Tegan698.FTW, Tegan Gillette.