| Notes |
- Horace is the son of Orpan Deming and Dr. Caleb Waldhams Ensign of Dalton, Mass.
JOHN CHITTENDEN, MURDERER
. 1837 Sep 5 - John Chittenden, age 21/1816 married Sally Ann Filley, age 18/1818.
'The above interlineation was made at the request of John M Stevens.'
. 1850 Oct. Census, Randolph Twp., Portage Co.
John Chittenden, age 33, /1817 Ohio, Farmer; married to Sally A, age 31/1819, Conn.
1854, Apr 12, Wednesday - The little daughter of Mr. Ensign, of Rootstown, who was injured on the 22nd alt [i.e. March]., Mr. Chittenden, a crazy man, living in Randolph*, we regret to learn, died on Monday morning, after many days of suffering. Mr. Ensign is expected to recover.
Ref: Portage County Democrat Newspaper, Ravenna, Ohio.
Note: Lucina Ophra Ensign, b 1839 Mar 31 - 10 Apr 1854.
Warning, very graphic details follow.
. 1854 Apr 22, Sat . ATTEMPT OF A MANIC TO MURDER A FAMILY
A horrible tragedy was enacted at Rootstown, Ohio, on the 22nd ult. Notice of it has already been given in the city papers. A private letter from a witness of the scene, furnishes the following details:
It seems that Mr. Horace L Ensign, of Rootstown, had risen on the morning of 22nd & without dressing, was in the act of putting a stick of wood in the kitchen stove, when he was felled by a blow on his head Mr E was standing at the time near door that opened into the woodshed. The door was ajar & the blow as given from some person in the shed.
The correspondent says: Mr. Ensign saw no one, but placing his hands on each side of his head, he hastened through into his dining room, where his wife was; he exclaimed, "I am killed, someone has split my head open with an axe.' He then ran out to the door & cried murder. His wife seeing him bleeding & a gash on his head, just above & also back of the temple, shouted for help. Meantime the children were awakened & came running in; the eldest, a son of 16, on coming down stairs, opened the door leading to the woodshed, thinking his father was in there. On opening the door, the first object that he saw was a man with an uplifted axe, looking like a demon at him. He says: Caleb, what do you want of me? Caleb spring back & shut the door.
. By this time a neighbor came across the street & went to the woodhouse, when the manic addressed him by name, Donald Deming. - that is my name, he replied & continued he, 'John Chittenden, what are you doing with that axe? "I thirst for blood & blood I will have, 'said he. Mr. Deming tried to cool him down & after a few minutes succeeded in getting the axe. However, before he could get it away, Chittenden wrenched it from him.
. [Some of the children had been sent for help, even in their undress.] After loosing his hold upon the axe, Deming retreated to the dining room where Horace sat bleeding & his family around him frightened very much. Deming held the door from the dining room & hoped to keep him from that, but with the axe he shivered the door at once, when Mr. Deming exclaimed, 'run or your lives!'
By this time, another neighbor got there & on seeing what was going on, ran home to get his rifle, thinking it best to shoot the madman. Upon word being given to run, they all left as they thought & Deming shut the outer door, but Lucinda, their eldest daughter, 15 years old, stopped save a little brother 2 & half years old, who had been awakened by the breaking in of the door & had jumped from his bed on the floor & stood screaming from fright. She caught him in time to get her fingers pinched as Deming shut the door. She saw the wretch leap through the door, through where the upper panel had been broken. She called to them to have them open the door, but by this time she received a blow from he head of the axe, which felled her with the little one still in her arms.
Meanwhile Horace had presentment that some child still remained in the house, & had gone around to the back kitchen door & entered, passing into the dining room. There lay Lucinda weltering in her blood & as he supposed, dead. The outside door had been opened; Deming had opened it of the child when she called; Chittenden was in the act of splitting open Lucinda's head; Horace sprang across the dining room, seized the axe handle to avert the blow from J. Chitteneden, finding someone was behind him turned upon him, in the scuffle cut to the bone on the back of Horace's head. Upon that, Horace seized him by the throat & Deming by his leg & by a hard struggle they got him down, he still retaining the axe & Horace still choking him. By this time the woman had called the man back that had gone for his rifle. He came & with much difficulty wrenched the axe from him; (he only held it by one hand; they then got ropes & bound him. Horace was covered with blood & so was the floor.
After he secured, a messenger was posted to Ravenna for medical aid. The word flow like lightning & a general rush ensued. Horace's head was trepanned. His brain lay exposed during his struggle with the man. The pulsation could be seen, but the membrane was not broken. The inside of the bone that was taken off was 1.5 long by quarter inch wide. Upon the outside the bone was more than 2 inches long, besides 2 small pieces that were not measured. He to all appearances will survive, but poor Lucinda is in a very critical situation. The bones were so driven into the brain, that the surgeon thought it best not to do much for her, but her friends insisted upon trying. After 5 hours they proceeded to dress her wound. After pressing the scalp each way, they extracted 6 pieces of bone, some an inch & over. Several of them were nearly buried in the brain. Dr. Pratt extracted them, raising up the scull wherever it was depressed. About 2 spoonfuls of the brain escaped. She still lies in a very critical situation, with but a small hope of recovery.
This Chittenden belonged Randolph, the town south of this; has had fits from a child; & ugly tempered man naturally. Of late his friends have thought him deranged at times. The night previous to this attack, he had 3 keepers. He attempted to kill his brother.
His wife was directed to go about half an mile to a neighbor's to stay. In her hurry, in leaping a fence, she sprained her ankle. Of course, she crawled on her hands & knees & by so doing, she probably escaped death, for he broke loose from his keepers, & in pursuing her he passed very near her twice, but the night was dark & she being on the ground, he did not see her.
He left searching for her & went to a neighbor's, called for Mr. Mrs. Ward did not recognize his voice & replied to him that he had gone after John Chittenden. Well, said he with an oath, you shall go too. She then know his voice, watched the candle, & blew it out. Her 2 daughters were upstairs in bed. - She fled up the chamber stairs & held the door. He smashed in a window with a cudgel that he carried with him; he entered through the window, but could not find anyone. He took all the covers off the stove, threw fine about the room piled bed clothes & other things on the stove. He broke out 2 other windows, sash & all, made his exit through one of them. Mrs. Ward smiled the fire & with assistance of her daughters, extinguished it.
All the houses in his neighborhood bear marks of his visit. He eluded his pursuers till after he was taken at Horace's. He bragged that the had sent his pursuers on the wrong track. He know, he said, where they would to to look for him, but retook another road. They wanted to kill him, as he said, but said he, I fixed them; I thirst for blood & blood I'll have. I don't think he cared whose. There was no reason for his attack upon Horace; they never had any difficulty inter lives. I can't describe the scene, if I try. - From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 6.
Ref: Sunbury American Newspaper, Sunbury, Northumberland Co., PA. (This is the more complete copy); Daily Evening Star, DC, published 1854.4.19.
. 1860 Census, Randolph Twp., Ohio, John Chittenden, age 43/1817, PAUPER
& Sally A, age 41/1819, Mass., son Gideon Chittenden, age 21, Mason.
. 1886 Nov 29, Monday. Spirit Talk. A Public Test Seance in the People's Theater. Dr. H. F. Merrill of Connecticut, Delivers from large number of people who have passed to the Other Life, where ancient anecdotes appear to haver perennial Interest … the philosophy of Spiritualism. After the singing of a hymn by the Lyceum choir a brief invocation was delivered by Dr. Merrill of Hartford, O., much after the manner of Christian prayer. [& various testimonies] … Horace Ensign & Lucinda Ensign told how they were murdered by John Crittenden, a madman. …The shadows of Olafson & Nancy Wheeler were recognized by a gentleman from Geauga.
Ref: Plain Dealer Newspaper Cleveland, Ohio. Transcripts by PJ Ahlberg, 2016.
VERIFY IDENITY:
. 1859 Jan 4 - Advertisement, The undersigned, take pleasure in recommending to the public the PANORAMA OF SLAVERY
Exhibited by Rev. T Ross Gross. It was painted under the direction supervision of Mr. G, who sketched the scenes from his own experience & observation. It illustrates the mode of growing the staple, agricultural productions of the South & faithfully representing the characteristic of the Peculiar Institution.
Horace Ensign, Madison, Lake Co., Ohio, C. W. Ensign, M T Miller, E L Plimpton, MD, James Leedir, D B Rose, Joseph Davis.
Will be at the following places: Reselvania, Ohio, Tues. evening. Jan 2nd, Belfountain, O. Wed. Jan 4th, De Graff, O., Jan 14th, Sidney, O. Friday, Jan 6th.
Ref: Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, Newspaper.
. 1869 Nov 11, Thurs. - Died Ensign, In Madison, Ohio, November 7th Celeslia R Ensign, wife of Deacon Horace, aged 72 years /1797.
Ref: Cleveland Leader Newspaper, Cleveland, Ohio.
. 1880 Jun 23 - Commencement at Madison, Ohio,
The 5th annual Commencement of the Madison Public Schools took place Kellogg's Hall last ending. The following are the mass of the class of 1880, together with the subjects of their essays: Horace Ensign: The Cowardice of Crime.
Ref: Cleveland Leader Newspaper, published 1880 June 25, Friday.
. 1898 Sep 19, Monday, Ervine Franklin Ensign, Obituary
on Aug 29 at his home at Madison, Ohio, Ervine Franklin Ensign passed to the life beyond, Born July 13, 1829, ancestors served with distinction in the Revolutionary War,
His father, Deacon Horace Ensign, from Dalton, Mass., in 1812, located at Madsion. Devon Ensign body championed the cause of anti-slavery, at the cost of social ostracism, The home was a noted station on the underground railway.
At age of 9, EF Ensign participated in many an exciting skirmish with Southern slave gathered & helped many on his way to freedom. He was a deacon of the Congregational Church. Prior to 1885 he was engaged in mercantile business in Cleveland; a trustee of Ohio University.
EFE survived by his wife, daughter of Frances H, secretary of Ohio WCTU & son Horace Raynod, Minneapolis, Min.
Ref: Cleveland Leader Newspaper.
Transcriptions by PJ Ahlberg 2016. Thank you. - - -
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1814 - 1896 (82 years)