T. S. Palmer
Here is an interesting letter from T.S. Palmer, a pioneer of Richland now a resident of Los Angeles, California that will interest many readers of the News. In a letter renewing his subscription he says: My father located there 78 years ago. I was born a few years after. I lived in Mansfield a short time in 1836, then again from 1842 to 1845. I knew Mansfield in the time of the elder Sturges, Mays, Rowlands, McCombs, McFalls, Grimes, Avery and Drennen, Bartleys, Stewarts, etc., etc. Doctor Bushnell with his long curly hair has been a fixture in my mind from my earliest recollection. Among the "kids" of my time were John Sherman, who was sweeping out the office and keeping things clean for his elder brother, Charley Sherman. My boy friend, Emanual (now Judge) May, and many others who have passed over the "dark valley". My father John E. Palmer lived six miles northeast of Mansfield near what is now Pavonia. I left Mansfield in 1845 and the state of Ohio in 1847, half a century ago. What great changes have occurred in that time! No one man can take it all in, vast is no name for it. It is bewildering to contemplate a marked epoch in our national history. I had somewhat of a wandering disposition, I traveled through the south and west, the "great west" and in 1849 after driving an ox team for over 2,000 miles. I brought up in the gold digging of California. Since then I have made many ocean trips, 11 trips across the continent through all the territories and nearly all the states. Now I have settled down in my old age in one of the finest little cities and the most delightful climate in America. -- T.S. Palmer
From The Mansfield Semi-Weekly News, March 23, 1897