First settlers

Until 1701 no one owned any specific land. The land was the property of everyone. If was considered free for all to use. It was of course a vast wilderness abounding in wildlife.
It is believed that the first landowner in our area was Charles Groesbeck who settled in Section 33 in 1830 according to the Warren Historical Society's Booklet on the History of Warren. Then followed Charles Rivard in 1831 in Section 35. He made a homestead at the northwest corner of 12 Mile and Mound. Others followed Louis Groesbeck and the Beebe Family who settled near the trail (later called the Creek Road) that ran along the Red Run Creek.

This was probably the first settlement in what was later Warren Township and became known as Beebe’s corners probably because it had a toll gate run by John L Beebe, to pay for the labor that went into the plank road paving over marshy area of road. The road was ten feet wide and made of oak planks. Loaded wagons had the right of way. Or if both were loaded or empty the wagon heading South had the right of way and the other one had to pull off. This was not very good after a rain as the ground became very muddy. John Beebe also operated a general store, tin shop and later a post office.

1826 Warren was still a heavily timbered area. The Moravian road was still a trail road.

Land office very busy

The land office was doing a booming business in the 1830s. Most of the settlers arrived after 1830. The dense trees were cut for homes, fuel and crop land. The area of Warren and Center Line began to be changed from mature forest to rural farmland.

The dense trees, some about five feet in diameter at the base and over 200 feet tall, were cut for homes, fuel and crop land. The area of Warren was gradually changed from mature forest to rural farmland. These settlers still had no laws and no police except the sheriff but nearly everyone agreed to live in a civilized way. Crime was very low during these times but we have no evidence to prove it until more research is done. Most people were too busy cutting trees, clearing ground, planting crops, building cabins, gathering food, cooking meals and doing chores to cause any trouble.

Beebe’s Corners sprouted a Tavern, trading post, distillery, a mill and later other businesses. It has been reported that the main industries in the early days of the village other than farming was making of bricks, saw mills, flour and feed mills, and wagon and buggy making.

The first pioneers worked very hard and long. It was a survive or not survive situation. They had to keep constant watch for raiders or hostile Indians. First they had to build a lean-to to protect themselves from wolves, bears and wild cats as there were no rooms at the Holiday Inn.

They had to scout out places to find water and to build a cabin. The next thing was to clear some ground to plant some crops. All cooking was done outside regardless of weather. The lean-to usually did not keep out the rain. Misquotes were horrendous. There were no power tools so everything had to be done with the ax. If they brought animals pens had to be constructed. Soon a primitive cabin was built. This was followed some time later by a real log cabin with a roof that kept out rain. There were no windows as there was no glass. The cooking was still done outside until a chimney could be constructed. The woods was the bathroom until an outhouse could be constructed and there was no toilet paper. There were no stores or fast food places. All things needed had to be built by hand out of local materials. All of this took great amounts of time and hard labor.
There were no roads just trails. If you got hurt you either bandaged yourself up with rags or died as there was no help around. Any neighbor was a long ways away. Many settlers died from Indian raids and diseases. Many babies died and many women died in childbirth as there were no doctors.
See the History links for more details.