Proud to be from Sullivan, a small town with a big heart!
History
Sullivan Township was settled in 1817 by seven brave families from Vermont. They left comfortable homes and towns to build a new life in the wilderness of Ohio. Originally part of the Western Reserve lands it had been surveyed in the year 1806 and then again in 1816. The land they found and the change it quickly underwent so long ago was described as follows, in 1863, by one of those brave pioneers, Sylvanus Parmely.
“Very few have any idea of the privations and hardships the pioneers endured in the early settlements of these now populous towns. These large, well-cultivated fields were, a few years since, (not half a century,) covered with forest trees. The majestic oak, the beautiful poplar, the graceful elm, the hardy beech, black walnut, chestnut, and the delectable maple, interlaced with iron wood, dogwood, boxwood, crab-apple, wild cherry and plum, covered these beautiful fields; and the deer, the wolf, and the bear were its inhabitants, Herds of these wild animals roamed fearlessly through the thick forest unmolested.
“Where, but a few years since, nothing was to be seen but the wild woods stretching far and wide in rude magnificence, unbroken by the hand of man, and naught was heard but the songs of winged choristers hymning notes of praise to their creator, mingled with the howlings of wild animals, and the fierce yells of the savage, may now be seen – ‘the shelter cot, the cultivated farm, the never-failing brook with busy mill, the decent church, that tops the neighboring hill’.
“While the busy hum of cheerful industry echoes in every direction. The songs of grateful praise and adoration ascend from many a hearth-stone, and pleasing converse bespeaks the intelligence, virtue, and happiness of the people. What, indeed, hath not the hand of toil wrought! What may not patient, persevering industry accomplish! Nor is this all; as the footsteps of civilization have advanced, the mists and vapors of ignorance have been dispelled, and the brilliant rays of truth have broken upon the mind with power, illuminating our path with knowledge, and guiding us through the intricate labyrinths of science.”
When the pioneers finally arrived with their families, Sullivan was still, at that time, considered part of Medina County which had been formed in 1812. Later in 1822 it became part of the newly formed Lorain County. It wasn’t until 1846 when Ashland County was formed that Sullivan took its current place in the upper northeast corner of the county.
~quoted content from Ashland County, Ohio Research Aid #14
~Thomas Stephen Neel, Editor