----Original Message Follows---- Good morning all, For your perusal, here's some text from "The History of Parma" by Ernest R. Kubasek published in 1976 by Ernest R. Kubasek and Bernard Survoy. This will be presented with me only removing information that does not pertain to the FAYS. Please pardon the occassional typos. page 49-51 "In the waning days of 1815, the same year that the war with the British ended, a man, his wife, and their ten children were preparing themselves, their wagons and their team of oxen for the long trek from New York into the Ohio wilderness. Taking the trail from Albany to Buffalo, where it connected with the Lake Trail, the man traveled the distance walking alongside his wagon. most of his ten children walked with him, tending to the horse tied to the back of the wagon. Oftentimes his wife would walk along with him, carrying an infant child, less than one year old, while he carried another small child. There were many stops made, to rest the animals and tend to the injuries of man and woman alike. The reasons for coming, or not coming, varied; but the inducements that brought this man and his family to a land they had never seen were many. The cost of the land was low, and the soil was richly fertile, there was no slavery and a man's labor received a high price for a day's work. It was Benejah Fay, a native of Massachusetts, who came with his wife, Ruth Wilcox Fay and ten children from Lewis County, New York and first settled on a division of the Western Reserve known as Township 6, Range 13. The year was 1816. The purchase of Township 6 had been acquired by various proprietors, Tuckerman, Cheny, Ely, Blake, and others. the Fay family were the first settlers in the Township, locating themselves on the Blake Tract. Fay quickly started the task of clearing the land and with his three oldest sons, Asa 15, Joseph Mason 11, and benejah Jr. 10, he built a cabin. The new land had earned the ignoble name of Greenbrier after a thorny, climbing shrub which produces small greenish flowers. . . . Being the first settlers in Parma held no particular significance however, for Ruth and Benejah Fay. It was probably some time later before they even realized the fact. The land was still wild, and their chores each day started before dawn and lasted well into the night. What is more important than being first, is the matter of what they did after they arrived here. They had to survive and they did. When the Fay family arrived, Benejah Fay had to cut a road through the woods to his land. The present site of his first settlement is now Theota Avenue at the intersection of Pearl and Ridge Roads. Fay was a merchant, not a farmer, and his eye for business soon saw an opportunity. His property fronted a wagon trail leading to Medina and Columbus. In 1819 as the road was now becoming wel traveled, he opened a tavern. It was actually a "double log house", with logs fifteen feet long. The cabin itself was 7 feet high. A remarkable construction accomplishment for three boys and a man. He designed it as an inn with loft sleeping quarters for travelers and primitive accommodations for their horses or oxen. The double log cabin was chinked with clay and had a fireplace, spoken of with proud grandiloquence as being large enough for a man to stand in. The location of Benejah Fay's land, plus the large, warm, welcoming fireplace of B. Fay's Inn, made his place a famous landmark for many years. Fay's foresight was further rewarded when in the summer of the following year, 1820, the first stagecoach lines were started on the route between Cleveland and Columbus. . . .Fay's Inn was the first tavern south of Cleveland on the Columbus Road and quickly became a favorite stopping place for meals, lodging, and spirits. It also earned the distinction of being Parma's first business established. Another first for Ruth and Ben Fay came in the same year as the arrival of the first stagecoach line in Parma, although this new arrival did not come by coach. On January 26, 1820 Mabel Fay was born to Parma's first settlers and upon her arrival she earned the honorary distinction of being the first child born in the township. Soon freight wagons and mail lines were running to Columbus and as B. Fay's Inn prospered, in 1826 Benejah Fay replaced the log house with a frame structure. In 1832 he replaced the wooden structure with a brick one which also became the first brick house in the Parma Township. Benejah Fay served two terms as a town trustee, 1827 and 1828, and four terms as the township Treasurer - 1831, 1832, 1833, and 1834. Fay was born on July 28, 1773 in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Ruth Wilcox Fay was also born there in the year 1781. Ruth Fay died in 1831 and a year later Benejah married Rhoda Roads. There were no children recorded from the second marriage. Jeremiah Wilcox Fay, born in Parma in 1822, was the grandfather of Dr. Dudley Fay. Dr Fay presently resides on Vista Lane in Parma." That is the main mentioning of the Fay's, though there are more references throughout the book. Dr. Dudley Fay died on 1-16-1992. My wife's great-grandfather is the brother of Dr. Dudley S Fay. The book on page 50 lists all the children with their birthdates, which I already posted to the list. It fails to mention any other Fays aside from Dr. Dudley Fay or Benejah's children. LMA Jim & Elicia Shreve ============================== Free Web space. ANY amount. ANY subject. RootsWeb's Freepages put you in touch with millions. http://cgi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/acctform.cgi ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com