First Settler

[Towntalk]

John Young's Plat Map:

[AllanY2525]

There is quite a bit of history regarding the land where the Westlake Terrace apartments
used to stand, now called the Arlingon "Hope VI" neighborhood where the new homes
are.

Covington Street and the projects got their name from a guy named "Covington Westlake".
That makes sense - I always wondered about both the origin of the name for the projects
as well as Covington - one of the oldest streets in the city.  I have a friend who lives on
Covington, and his house is probably the oldest remaining house on Covington because it
sits VERY close to the street - in fact, closer than any other house on the street.  This
is because it was built long before the building code was updated with the 30 to 40 foot
"setback" rule that required houses to sit at least 30 to 40 feet in from the curb in front
of the home lot.

Evidently, Covington Westlake had a river crossing to the south bank of the river, hence
the name "Westlake's Crossing" referenced in some of the old history books.

Westlake Avenue, Rose Alley, and Morrison Avenue are extinct streets that were buried
under the Westlake Terrace projects sometime around 1938(?).  E. Rufus Thompson
was the architect for the projects.

As we all know, a lot of the street names in Youngstown are derived from the families
who owned the land when the streets were put in - and I'm sure that Morrison Avenue
was named after someone who was related to the J.W. Morrison referenced below.

The section of the map I've attached shows the former Morrison Avenue,
Rose Alley and Westlake Avenue, as well as some other streets that are now long
gone.  There was also a street named "Argyle", which is now buried under the
Rout 193 to Route 422 interchange near the bottom of Wirt Street.

There was a also a family named Griffith that had a farm in the vicinity, hence the
name for Griffith Street - also shown on this map fragment.

It also shows that there were actually quite a few houses on the land where the projects
were built.  The original [Eastern] boundary of what we call "Briar Hill" was very close to where
the Westlake Terrace projects were built.

This map section was taken from the 1907 Sandborn maps, by the way.

Interesting stuff.

[Rick Rowlands]

I suggest that all of the evidence presented here be forwarded to Allan to be put up on his website, and perhaps through our collective wisdom we can either prove, disprove or defer due to lack of information.  I run into problems such as this often in my historical research, and in some cases there is conflicting data that just can't possibly be right.

[Towntalk]

As a matter of fact I did when I first located the article and the could not help because they were running into the same problems that the Ohio Historical Society is running into and that is money, and that was back in 1994 and 1995 when I was working on Vol.1 of my unpublished book on the history of Youngstown, a personal project that turned into ten volumes.

As for Mr. Morrison, the Vindicator as I said had a couple of local men who contributed articles on Youngstown history for the Sunday paper that were not on the staff. These articles were featured in the Sunday magazine section of the paper. That section was later dropped which is sad since it contained a number of really interesting sections such as The Man on the Monument (written by Vindicator staffers such as Clingen Jackson) where the Man on the Monument had conversations with the Lady on the Fountain about local events and people, and the Sunday Olio (also writted by a staffer) which were very brief and terse comments about local "celeberties", politicians and infamous locals.

[Towntalk]

There are decedents of Nathaniel Dabney though my friend and I'm sure, based on a Vindicator article 10-11-1953 who would say hogwash to your theories.

[Towntalk]

Since you are calling me a liar, prove it with documentation that you are right. I cited references provided by the Public Library - History of Trumbull and Mahoning Counties, p. 434 so I guess that they are also lying through their teeth.

I suggest that you contact the Connecticut Historical Society to make your case ... oh wait, I already did and their Connecticut Land Company documents are quite limited and not complete.

[AllanY2525]

All i can say, is that both of you are better researchers than I am..

I put the article up on the web site because I found it to be quite interesting
and make no claims as to it's accuracy...

LOL

[Towntalk]

Steve this information came directly from the Public Library:

We have some information on Nathaniel Gardner Dabney. The longest entry is from the History of Trumbull and Mahoning Counties, p. 434, which is available full text from Google Books:  http://books.google.com/bkshp?hl=en&tab=wp
Enter the search below and you will be able to pull up the pages. Dabney was listed on page 48 of the same source as being a resident of Youngstown in 1801. On page 373, he is listed as paying .40 in "chattel" taxes in 1803. If you would prefer scanned pages, please let us know.
We have a typewritten essay titled "Cycle of a Century: Stories and Sketches of Men and Affairs Prominent in Youngstown since Its Settlement" that has some information on Dabney. It is cited as being from the Vindicator, December 24, 1896, page 12. The page is hard to read, but when we checked the Vindicator newspaper microfilm for the original we found that day had only 8 pages. Here is the text since the copy would be of such poor quality:
NATHANIEL G. DABNEY was born in Boston, Mass., about 1770. When a young man he went to Pittsburgh and afterwards came to Youngstown among the earliest settlers. He purchased a large tract of land west of the village, cleared up a farm and erected suitable buildings. He married in 1797, Miss Nancy Keifer, of Pennsylvania, a farmer's daughter. They were the parents of six children. The eldest daughter was born in Youngstown in 1798, one of the first children of pioneers born in the township. He died in 1813. His wife survived him many years. One of their grandchildren, Miss Kate Morman, daughter of Mary Dabney, who was married to Peter Everett, owns the old homestead. Another grandchild, Mrs.
Laura Jane Westlade, daughter of Gardner Dabney, the eldest son, owns a residence and tract of land on the east part of the old farm. The Rolling Mill of the Union Iron and Steel company stands on the south part of the farm, which was part of her inheritance.
A timeline published in the Vindicator on April 14, 1996, p. B1:2, has Betsey Dabney listed as "FIRST recorded birth of a white child, Betsey Dabney, born to Mr. And Mrs. Nathaniel Dabney" for the year 1798.
There were two brief mentions in History of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley Ohio by Joseph G. Butler, Jr. Vol. 1, Chicago: American Historical Society, 1921. This title is also available on Google Books.
1.      Nathaniel Dabney, a native of Boston, located here in 1797 on land he purchased prior to coming to the Western Reserve. The same year he was married to Miss Mary Keifer of Pennsylvania. p.103
2.      While there have been various claims as to the identity of the first white child born in Youngstown, the first that can be found recorded in written annals was a daughter, Betsey Dabney, born to Nathaniel Dabney and wife in 1798. She was married to Ransly Curtis of Farmington in 1818. Betsey Dabney was not the first white child born on the Western Reserve, however. The story of the birth and tragic death of the first white native of the Reserve is told in the preceding chapter of this volume. p.112
Finally, we are attaching a 10-11-1953 Vindicator article about the family.

[Towntalk]

If you were to read some of the old local newspapers of that era you would quickly see that the vocabulary of the period was quite different than what we use today. Many of the articles would strike us as odd.

Example:

Then: "The Smiths lived in Fifth Street."
Now:  "The Smiths lived on Fifth Street."

By the way Steve, if you go back to Vindicators prior to the Book you referenced you will find dozens of names of people who made contributions to Youngstown's development that aren't even mentioned in Butler's book, nor in Sanderson's book. Does that mean that they didn't exist but were made up out of whole cloth, or for that matter Howard Aley's book?

[Towntalk]

The entire article was written by  Family member J. W. Morrison, Jr. The family had documentation from the Connecticut Land Company not John Young. Mr. Dabney came here before John Young and began the platting of the land he purchased, and without question the first thing he did was build a cabin. He certainly would not have lived under the stars or in a pup tent.

He also left his partner here while he went back for medical treatment.

The entire article is too long to post here, but if you go to http://allthingsyoungstown.net/  it's there.

The early Vindicators as a Sunday feature ran a whole series of articles on the history of Youngstown, none of which were ever challenged.

There was one instance where the paper ran a story about the Indians in Lincoln Park that was cooked up by somebody, but that didn't happen very often.

[Towntalk]

I won't keep you in suspense any longer, so here's the answer:

HOW THE CITY WAS NEARLY FOUNDED IN BRIER HILL
By J. W. Morrison, Jr.
[Youngstown Vindicator, June 11, 1908]

    In the early part of 1796, Mr. Dabney came to what is now known as Youngstown. Leaving family and friends at his old home in New England, young Mr. Dabney started on horseback for Pittsburgh, through the dense woods and wilderness. After a long journey of hardship and toil he arrived at Pittsburgh.
    While Mr. Dabney was resting there he met a friend, who advised him of the possibilities of the Mahoning Valley, and its advantages for a trading point, where various supplies could be exchanged for hides, pelts and skins, as well as for farming, the soil being of the best. The friend consented to come later and take charge of Mr. Dabney's farm. Mr. Dabney himself was to take charge of the general store which he expected to build. With this understanding, Mr. Dabney came through to what is now known as Youngstown.
    A farm of 400 acres was located, extending from what is now known as Westlakes's Crossing, on West Federal street, to upper Brier Hill, buying it from the Connecticut Land Company at $1.25 per acre. He began at once to arrange to lay out a town on his property, at the center of which he expected to put up his store building. But the unforseen happened which made such a wonderful change in the future of the city, Mr. Dabney took very ill and was compelled to go back to Pittsburgh again for medical aid. It took him three or four months to regain his health and return. He found that Mr. Young of Peterborough, New Hampture had come into the locality in his absence, bought land where the center of the city now stands, laid out a town on his own property and called the town after his own name - Youngstown.

[Towntalk]

Since this is a toughy, here is another clue:

1. The article was written by: J. W. Morrison, Jr.

2. Source: Youngstown Vindicator, June 11, 1908

[Towntalk]

Sorry to tell you Steve but Butler did not write the book himself but hired a man from one of the papers to do the actual writing under his (Butler's) name and it was aimed at promoting the local blue blooded families locally.

[Towntalk]

Wrong Steve, it was not James Hillman. The man I reference was here before John Young's arrival. Please review the question:

Who was Youngstown's first settler and to help you I will say that it was not Hillman, Shehy, or even John Young.

and the hint:

His holdings ran west of what is now Fifth Avenue, and he purchased his land from the same land company that Young did.

[Towntalk]

Do you mean to tell me that no one got the answer yet. Its there clear as a cloudless day in summer.

Just go to http://allthingsyoungstown.net/ and you'll find the answer to the quiz question.

I'm amazed that Rick of all people didn't get this right off.