CASE-BARLOW - HISTORY
Into the Firelands of The Western Reserve
On May 23, 1814, Chauncey and Cleopatra Case set off from Granby, CT to farm the virgin land purchased from the Connecticut Land Company. Their unsprung covered wagon was pulled by 2 horses with a milk cow tethered behind. The Cases had 5 children with a sixth on the way. On the 4th of July, they arrived in Hudson. There was a log house already on the property. The family started clearing the land for farming and built a kiln to make brick used for their home and to sell to others include the Western Reserve College (now the Western Reserve Academy). Click on the thumbnail to display the full-size image in a separate window.
Case Family History
Building a New Life
Chauncey and Cleopatra Case moved to Hudson from Granby, Connecticut in early 1814 and raised 10 children on the Farm. Chauncey and Cleopatra were the original builders of the house c. 1830.
In 1853, Chauncey and Cleopatra transferred ownership of the home to their son, Henry, and his wife, Mary. During the 1880's, the Farm grew to 483 acres. Proceeding and during the Civil War, Case-Barlow Farm was a site for Abolitionist meetings. Abolitionist John Brown, a friend of the Case family, shared a close friendship with Chauncey and Cleopatra's son, Lora. The homestead served as a stop on the Underground Railroad.
Upon Henry's death in 1890, the ownership of the property was shared by a group of his heirs and operated by their daughter Hattie Susan Case (1861-1898) and her husband, Franklin F. Barlow (1858-1934). Hattie and Franklin Barlow were married in December of 1883 and had three children named Henry Case Barlow (1885-1958), Harley Edmund Barlow (1887-1894), and Clara May Barlow (1891-1932). In 1897, the Case-Barlow family assumed ownership of the property. During Hattie and Franklin's operation and ownership of the Farm, the current bank barn was built. After Hattie's death, Franklin met and married Cynthia Belle Fern.
Franklin and Hattie transferred the ownership of the farm to their son Henry C. and his wife Isabel Sackett Barlow in 1910,and became the fourth generation of owners. Their family included three sons, Franklin Sacketts Barlow (1912-1996), Harold Edmund Barlow (1914-2002), and Donald Charles Barlow (1915-2001).
The next transfer of the Farm occurred in 1946, when Henry and Isabel Barlow conveyed ownership to their son, Donald Charles Barlow and his wife Emily Fisk Pierce. After retiring, Henry Case Barlow became the Mayor of Hudson and served for twelve years. Don and Emily were married in 1941 and sadly, Emily passed away in 1990. In January of 1993, Don married Helen.
Don and Helen donated the homestead to the First Congregational Church of Hudson and in November of 1996 the Farm was sold to a nonprofit corporation called Case-Barlow Bicentennial Farm with the sole purpose of preserving the property for future generations to enjoy.
Case - Barlow Family History
