Burton Hall, Shepardson College. heavenly hosts which sang the glad anthem to the watching shepherds on the hills of Judaea. At last he rightly determined the direction of the sounds and, pushing forward through the trees, he saw the worshipping company. Without making his presence known, he hastened home to his cabin, told his wondering wife what he had seen, and then said, "The promise of God is a bond." — by this Welsh proverb signifying that there need be no fear of the new neighbors. This was the happy introduction of the two elements of population which, working always in the utmost harmony, joined to make up the history of Granville, Ohio.       Before another week had passed the first house was finished, It was designed for various purposes, being used for some time for a town hall, for the meeting place for the company, for a hotel, and for a place of worship. The reproduction of its quaint features is sufficiently suggestive.       The minutes of the last meeting which the company held in Granville, Massachusetts, close with the entry: "Voted, that this Meeting be Adjourned to the first Monday of December Next at Nine-O'Clock in the Morning to Meet on the Hardy Section Which the Co. purchased in the King Hall, Shepardson College. State of Ohio for the purpose of Making the first Division of Lands the Company Owns in Sd State."       This company illustrates in a striking way the development of civil government. An interesting comparison might be made between it and some such company as that which settled Plymouth, where governmental functions were carried on by the business organization for some time, until popular demand or public exigency forced the formation of a body politic. Of course the Granville company was not unique in this respect. The company seems to have served as town government for a number of months. Among other actions taken, it reserved the summit of a peculiarly shaped hill for public purposed, thus at the very beginning providing for what has always been open land, but which within the last few years only has been improved for park purposes. In addition, it was voted "to Establish the Bureying Ground," to set aside a lot "for the Seport of the Gospel," an- — page 110 — Beginning Previous Page | Next Page | Granville Page | Hampden County History & Genealogy |