Dover Early Settlers Papers can be viewed online

Did you know that Harriet Beecher Stowe appears in the genealogy of the Foot family?

Did you know that a local boy joined the Ohio Militia under the command of “local popular farmer” and future president Colonel James A. Garfield? Or, that a Dover resident wrote about his children including daughter Elizabeth “killed by Indians”?

These and other fascinating items are included in the Early Settlers Papers project conducted by the Bay Village Historical Society. Close to 600 documents from the collection have been scanned and entered into a museum computer program and are available on the society’s website. The information can be accessed by going to www.bayhistorical.com. On the right side of the page, you will see Document Archive at the bottom of the list. When you click on that, you can view the first page of each document, giving you a glimpse into the past.

The project is supported in part by an award from the Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board, through funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). The historical society is in the process of reviewing, summarizing and digitizing the papers of early settlers in Dover, now Bay Village and Westlake. The papers of the Aldrich family are the first set under review. The plan is to digitize the entire collection of early settlers’ papers, some 600 cubic feet of history.

The papers can be reviewed online or in person by appointment. The Bay Village Historical Society can be contacted through the website or by calling 440-871-7338.