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(The text in quotations are selections from the 1896 book, “Memorial to the Pioneer Women of the Western Reserve”, page 279, by the Mecca Committee led by historian Amoretta Reynolds.)

 

In 1824, Joseph and Susan (Allen) Phillips came from Connecticut to settle north of Mecca Circle on the west side of Rt. 46. Joseph was Mecca’s first blacksmith.

 

Justus and Sarah (Rhodes) St. John came to Mecca from Fowler sometime between 1820 and 1830. Their daughter, Orilla, married James Oscar Hickok.

 

Jack Sperry was the first mail carrier before a post office existed, though no records of him can be found. Lemuel Hickok was the first postmaster, serving from 1825 to 1832. The post office sat in the northwest corner of Mecca Circle.

 

“In 1825 came Ira Knapp and his wife, Betsey Stark, from Vermont. She was the mother of eight children, one of whom, Mrs. Daniel Pierson, was school teacher in the early days and is still residing here. Mrs. Knapp is remembered by one who knew her as an excellent woman, who made famous shortcake baked on a stone and covered with ashes in the primitive way. Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose Cowdery, nee Dencie Coe, came to Mecca in 1827 from Connecticut. The many lovely traits of this Christian mother's character will long be remembered by those who knew her. She left many sons and three daughters to imitate her virtues.”

 

Ira Knapp's property, as seen on the 1899 map

 

 

 

Ira and Betsey Knapp owned land between Phillips-Rice and Love Warner (see 1899 map). Ira was also an early mail carrier for the township and his route extended from Warren to Ashtabula. In an account printed in the 1882 book, “History of Trumbull & Mahoning Counties, Ohio” Ira said:

“The Buttles family were the only inhabitants of the west side of the creek. The only roads were paths marked by blazed trees. The road to the Johnston line had not even been bushed out. Some of the brooks had pole bridges across them. There were o-frame buildings in the township except a few small shanties. A log school-house was partly built at East Mecca when I came, and I helped to finish it. Mr. Bartlett, of Greene, was among the first teachers there. He received about $10 per month, but not in money. The settlers paid him for teaching by helping him clear his farm in Greene.”

 

Gravestone of Ira and Betsey Knapp in East Mecca Cemetery.
Photo by Ashley Armstrong for Find A Grave.

 

The Buttles were the first family to settle in West Mecca. Joseph and Susannah Buttles brought their sons Edmund, Justin, and Friend from Connecticut. They made their home on the north end of Hoagland Blackstub/Bazetta Rd.

 

“In 1820 Mrs. Joseph Buttles and Mrs. Edmund Buttles came into the first homes north of West Mecca. What these mothers endured we can hardly conceive, living eight years without neighbors nearer than the east settlement of a few families, and an unbroken forest between, filled with wild animals, and sometimes a panther cry was heard, and a few years later one was seen by a member of the Smith family. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Buttles died in Месса.”

 

Per the 1830 census, Edmund Buttles lived on Lot 28 of the Kirtland Tract, on the north side of West Mecca. His closest neighbor was Joseph Davidson. He married Priscilla Feigle of Mecca in 1826.

 

Property of Edmund Buttles and Joseph Davidson, as seen on the 1830 map.

 

Friend Buttles married Electa Payne of Rootstown on Dec 28, 1824 in that same town and and brought her to Mecca. She was the daughter of Solomon and Mary (Loomis) Payne.

 

“Electa Payne, of Rootstown, has the honor of being the first bride brought into the little settlement. She was born in Connecticut, her parents coming with oxen and herself walking all the way and driving the cow. Friend Buttles, son of Mrs. Joseph Buttles, sought her out and brought her to the wilds of Mecca as his wife. They went with ox-sled to preaching the next Sunday at East Mecca. The young bride made a good wife and loving mother, and in time removed to Farmington.”

 

Friend was the clerk at Mecca’s first church, which was Presbyterian. By 1840, he and Electa had moved their family to Farmington, where they are buried. Friend and Electa had two surviving children, daughter Electa Zeriah, who married Homer Chapman, and son Solon Jay, who married Mary Davidson and went on to become the postmaster of Garretsville.

 

Justin Buttles was a shoemaker, and lived with his wife Sarah “Sally” in Mecca, as evidenced in the 1850 census. They were married in 1826 and their son, Urial, was born in Mecca and followed his father into the shoemaking trade. Sarah died at age 44 and was buried in East Mecca Cemetery.

 

Gravestone of Sarah "Sally" Buttles in East Mecca Cemetery.
Photo by Ashley Armstrong for Find A Grave.

 

“Almira Buttles and husband, Levi P. Rice, located in East Mecca in 1829. She came with her parents from Connecticut, walking all the way. Her friends told her she would never see Ohio, as her health was poor, but she arrived feeling better for her six weeks’ tramp.”

 

The couple had seven children. Almira Asenath Rice lived in Mecca until her death at the age of 60 and she is buried in South Cemetery in Greene. Levi, her junior by five years, remarried to Hannah (St. John) Knox, the widow of Austin Knox, also of Mecca. Levi lived out his life in Mecca and died aged 66. Levi and Almira’s son, Moses Theron Rice, was born in Mecca and went on to be an officer in the Union Army and a US Congressman.

 

Herman Benton purchased the Buttles farm in 1834, part of which remained in the Benton family for decades to come.

 

This post was written for the Mecca Township Historical Society, as part of an ongoing series for Mecca.

 

Resources

 

– Memorial to the Pioneer Women of the Western Reserve, 1896

– History of the Western Reserve by Upton, Harriet Taylor; Cutler, Harry Gardner, 1910

– 1874 and 1899 Trumbull County Atlases

–"Mecca" by Thomas Kachur, c. 1970 and 2002 editions

–Familysearch.org tax, census, and vital records