Surveyors Come to Wooster

By Laura Merrell, revised by Glenna Van Dyke

Though the signs of them are easy to overlook, reminders of the people who planned Wooster can be found all over town. These men named many of Wooster’s major streets after themselves, such as Bever, Larwill, and Grant street. Many of these early surveyors rose to local prominence in their day, becoming important political figures in both Wooster and the state of Ohio. Despite their public presence, mystery and controversy surround many of these early figures, making them a fascinating piece of Wooster’s story.  

Street signs for Grant and Bowman streets.

Initial Surveying Party

In 1808, a group of hopeful young surveyors arrived on a patch of beautiful land and started to lay out plans for a town. This town would eventually become the city of Wooster.1 The Treaty of Fort Industry gave the United States thousands of acres of new, unexplored land that Americans were eager to settle. To do this, the government called upon adventurous young men such as Joseph and William Larwill, Johnathan Grant, and William Henry to plan out towns on this unknown territory.2  Each of these men had their own unique skills to offer; Grant, for example, was an expert hunter and could defend the rest of the group from whatever wild animals lurked in the wilderness. As the organizers of the entire town, these surveyors became extremely powerful men, and they ensured their local legacies by naming several streets after themselves.3     

Original layout map of Wooster from 1808.
The Larwill brothers, John Bever, and William Henry laid out the town center and main streets of Wooster in 1808.

Portrait of William Henry
William Henry was a prominent figure in Wooster’s early history as he was both an initial surveyor and served as a judge for the Court of Common Pleas.

Excerpt from William Henry's obituary
William Henry’s obituary in the Wooster Republican listed his numerous positions including judge, businessman, and member of the Christian community.

Naming of the County and the Town

Portrait of General Anthony Wayne
General Anthony Wayne had an extensive military career and was involved in the Treaty of Greenville. He has had many towns, villages, bridges, and counties named after him

Many wonder where the names of both Wooster and Wayne County come from. Turns out, when both Wooster and Wayne County were named, Revolutionary War Generals were the heroes of the day, and many new landmarks were named after them. General David Wooster was one such general and Joseph Larwill admired him so much he named the town of Wooster after him.4  Wayne County was also named to honor General Anthony Wayne, who signed the Treaty of Greenville, which allowed settlement in the Ohio Valley. However, not every landmark in the area is named for a General. Killbuck Creek gets its name from a Delaware chief, who was the head of a village close to Wooster.5    

Portrait of General David Wooster
General David Wooster was a military figure in the Revolutionary War, and although he does not share any direct ties with the initial surveyors, they selected him as the town’s namesake.

Early on, there was also disagreement about which town should be the county seat. Some thought that it should be Wooster, while others thought it should be nearby Madison Hill. In the end, Wooster agreed to build a courthouse on May 30, 1811 and won the title. 6 After being named the county seat, Wooster began to boom as settlers poured in, attracted by the opportunities of the West.  

the Wooster courthouse
The current downtown Wooster courthouse serves as a reminder of one of the conditions for Wooster’s position as county seat, which was to construct a courthouse.

Joseph Larwill and the War of 1812 Controversy  

Two men standing next to a portrait of Joseph Larwill
John Larwill came with his brothers to Wooster in 1807. Contemporary historian Ben Douglas reported that Larwill became Wooster’s Justice of the Peace in 1820 and married sixty-two couples during his tenure.

The three Larwill brothers, John, Joseph and William, become powerful local political figures and held several public offices. Joseph Larwill, for example, was a representative in the Ohio Senate for Wayne County and was Justice of the Peace in Wooster in the 1820s. However, his power was threatened when controversy about him broke out in 1822.7  A bombshell article in The Wooster Spectator shocked locals by accusing Larwill of “of negligence, or worse, in the command of his men” in the War of 1812.8 However, four of Larwill’s own men came out against the article and claimed that the sentinels were to blame, and accused them of failing to awaken the soldiers and warn them of an incoming attack. Supporters of Larwill came to his defense, writing that “…he was disobeyed and abandoned by those men on whom, alone, he had a right to rely for safety”.9  In the end, Larwill and his political career came out of the controversy mostly unscathed, and he was still elected to the Ohio Legislature in 1841.10 

Newspaper article about Joseph Larwill
Joseph Larwill has been featured in many Daily Record articles over the years and holds special importance as a founder of the town, a politician, and local business owner.
 

Plaque dedicated to the first house, built by John Larwill, in Wooster in 1808.
John Larwill was among the first surveyors and also holds the title of constructing the house in Wooster, which once stood in a space now occupied by a paint store.

John Bever Historical Debate

 Everyone knows Bever Street, but not everyone knows that it was named after John Bever, who surveyed Wayne, Columbiana, and Stark counties in the early 1800s.11  Locals today pronounce it as “Beaver” but the Bever family’s history tells a different and more confusing story. Bever’s obituary in the Wooster Republican even remarks that there was “considerable division of opinion to the orthography and pronunciation of the name”.12 The confusion comes from his heritage, as Bever’s father was German and his mother was Irish. The traditional Irish pronunciation is Beaver, while the traditional German pronunciation is Bever with the “e” pronounced as in ever. It seems even the family never definitively solved the problem, as land deeds and newspaper articles used both. Today, locals joke that they took the “a” out of Beaver and put it in Beall. 

Sign for Bever street.
Although Bever’s family name may still be up for debate, the town uses the common Irish pronunciation and the common German spelling for the street named in his honor: a seamless combination of his cultural background.
Obituary for John Bever.
The obituary traces Bever’s interesting family history as he emigrated to the United States from Ireland after leaving Germany for unspecified religious reasons. The article also details the origin of the confusion about his family name, which still causes some debate within the town today.

Sources:

1 “Vast Estates of Larwill Family Fast Being Settled by Executors: A Short History of the Early Pioneers of Wayne County Ties of Old Friendship Shown by Will,” Wayne County Democrat, February 3, 1904. 
2 Ben Douglass, History of Wayne County, Ohio, From the Days of the Pioneers and First Settlers to the Present Time (Indianapolis, IN: Robert Douglass, 1878), 410. 
3 Dorothy M. Kimbrell, “A Biographical sketch of Jonathan Grant Family from Beaver Co. Pa.”, available in the Wayne County Public Library Genealogy Department in the Grant Family File. 

4 Ben Douglass, History of Wayne County, Ohio, From the Days of the Pioneers and First Settlers to the Present Time (Indianapolis, IN: Robert Douglass, 1878), 410.
5  Henry Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio (Norwalk, OH: The Laning Printing Co., 1896), vol. 2, 831.
6 Ibid., 833.

7 Ben Douglass, History of Wayne County, Ohio, From the Days of the Pioneers and First Settlers to the Present Time (Indianapolis, IN: Robert Douglass, 1878), 307.
8 “Reply to Larwill Attack is Among Gifts to Library,” The Daily Record, January 5, 1959, 12.
9 Ibid.
10 Douglass, History of Wayne County,307.

11 Thomas J. Malone, John Bever, Pioneer Surveyor who explored the wilderness that was northeast Ohio in the early 19th century and found it good (East Liverpool Historical Society, 1975), 5.
12 “Obituary- Reminiscences of the Beaver Family,” Wooster Republican, April 15, 1875

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