The first priority of the newly formed Bay Village Historical Society, in 1960, was to plaque as Landmark Houses those houses documented as being 100 years old. Nine houses from seven families received plaques.
Joseph and Lydia Kenyon Cahoon, of Vergennes, Vermont, was the first family. They arrived the morning of October 10, 1810. Joseph purchased Lot #95 and in 1818 built a frame house on Lake Road. This house is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The second family into the township on the afternoon of October 10, 1810, was Asahal and Rebecca Johnson Porter accompanied by Leverett Johnson and Reuben Osborn of Woodbridge, Connecticut. Asahal purchased Lot #94, and his brothers-in-law, Reuben Osborn, Lot #93 and Leverett Johnson, Lot #58. Reuben helped Asahal build a log cabin and returned to Camden, New York, for his wife, Sarah, and children. They returned May 17, 1811.
On April 6, 1814, returning from a shopping trip to Cleveland, in an open boat, Rebecca Porter, her son, Dennis, George Smith, and Noah Crocker capsized at the mouth of the Rocky River. All drowned but Noah Crocker. Sarah buried her sister on land she gave for Lakeside Cemetery.
Asahal moved to Rockport where he died in 1820. Sarah raised her nieces, Catherine, Emeline, and Angeline Porter. Reuben Osborn built the first frame house between Cleveland and Lorain in 1814. His son, Selden, built a house in 1832, and Selden’s son, Sherman, in 1858, all on Lake Road.
William Saddler I was returning from the War of 1812 when his journey to Clarence Station, New York, brought him through Dover Township. He liked what he saw and returned with his father, Christopher, purchasing Lot #92 in 1814. Christopher constructed a log cabin where Saddler Road is today. In 1835, William and Elizabeth Tryon Saddler replaced the log cabin with a frame house between Ruth and Florence on Lake Road.
David Foote, a Revolutionary War veteran, packed up his wife, Betsy Hamlin, and his family from Lee, Massachusetts, purchased Lot #97 and moved to Dover Township in 1815. He built two log cabins before erecting a frame house in 1828 on Lake Road. David’s son, Ranson, married Catherine Porter, Asahal’s daughter. Ranson and Catherine raised 12 children in the house. Their son, Henry, and daughter, Catherine, lived there until their deaths.
Aaron and Elizabeth Winsor Aldrich came into South Dover township in 1817 from Smithfield, Rhode Island. Due to poor health, Aaron returned east in 1822. He returned, purchased Lots #98 and part of 92 at the corner of Bradley and Lake Roads and, in 1830, built a frame house. Aaron’s house is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Dexter Tuttle came from Rowe, Massachusetts, in 1823, married Amelia Weidner, and built his house in 1835 on Lots #87 and 88 at Lake and Columbia Roads. The Tuttles raised sheep which they sold to the Silverthorne Hotel. Ezra Tuttle married Victoria Clague and Frederick Tuttle married Mary Jane Bates.
Thomas Powell, born in Olean, New York, married Sophia Saddler in 1832. Tom purchased Lot #81 and in 1850 built a frame house on Bradley Road. Thomas farmed and operated a sawmill at the corner of Bradley and Naigle Roads. Years later, his great grandson, Roger, had a free range turkey farm on the property. The Foote and Saddler houses have been torn down by builders.