The Hiram Way Cunningham family that arrived in Clarksfield Township in the summer of 1833 had its roots in New York and New England. Hiram’s father, Layton Cunningham, Sr., was born on 18 January 1764, evidently in Unadilla, Otsego County, New York. On 18 January 1789 in Litchfield, Litchfield County, Connecticut, he married Phebe (Polly) Way, who was born in Litchfield on 17 June 1768. Soon, they moved to New York. By 1810 Layton Cunningham was living in Milford, Otsego County, New York, In the 1810 census he is recorded as being 45 years of age or older (he would have been 46), with a wife who was between 26 and 44 (she would have been 41 or 42), and with 8 sons (in order, Ira, Joel, Alvah, Harvey, Russell, Hiram Way, Lyman, and Layton) and 3 daughters (in order, Lydia, Lucinda, and Anna). A 12th child, Phebe, was born in 1813.
Sometime after 1810 Layton Cunningham moved his family to Clarence, New York, then in Niagara County but later included in Erie County. While in Clarence, several of the older children married and established their own homes. One was Hiram Way Cunningham who was born in Otsego County, New York on 6 November 1803. He married Mrs Eunice Sheldon on 1 February 1830 in Lancaster, Erie County, New York. Eunice Perkins Brown was born on 3 February 1806 in North Pownal, Bennington County, Vermont, the daughter of Joseph Brown and Sarah Chapman. Eunice Brown’s first marriage was to Corydon Sheldon in 1826 or 1827 in Erie County, New York. To this marriage was born a son, Jairus Corydon Sheldon, on 2 November 1827 in Clarence, New York. Corydon Sheldon died in Lancaster on 21 January 1829 and is buried in Egelston Cemetery in Lancaster.
Two children were born to Hiram Way and Eunice Cunningham while they were living in Lancaster, Joseph Oscar, born 12 December 1830, and Albert Palmer, born on11 August 1832. These two children, plus Jairus Sheldon, made the move with their parents (and with Hiram’s brother, Layton Cunningham, Jr. and his family) in June of 1833 from New York to Clarksfield Township, Huron County, Ohio. There, on 6 September 1833 Hiram bought 207 acres of land in section 2, about a mile southeast of the village of Clarksfield, from Francis L. Hawks for $414. Over the next several years he cleared the land and built a log cabin for his expanding family. Subsequent children, all born in Clarksfield, were Olive Malvina, born 27 November 1834, Julius, born 25 December 1836 (died 10 July 1838), Orton Clark, born 4 October 1838, Phebe E., born 15 April 1840 (died 20 March 1841), Edwin Wilbur, born 31 August 1842, Emma J., born 18 December 1848 (died 28 January 1860), and an infant son who died on 15 May 1845. Julius, Phebe, Emma, and the infant son are buried in their parents’ burial plot in the Clarksfield Methodist Cemetery. Also buried in that plot is Alma E., first child of Orton Clark and Anna Cunningham, who died on 21 May 1862.
It took a long time for Hiram to accumulate appreciable income, but after a while he built a sawmill that served himself and neighbors. On 23 September 1850 he sold a half interest in the sawmill to William H. Wood for $325. He also sold a part of his farm, 48.2 acres on 4 August 1849 to Stephen R. Day for $1,000. That money was probably used to purchase, on 13 December 1849, 60 acres of land for that price from Henry S. Barnes. The following year on 28 October he spent $1,000 by buying back 44. 4 acres from said Stephen R. Day. Although he made no further farm land sales, he did buy on 31 March 1860 a lot in the town of Norwalk from Nathan Wooster at a cost of $400.
Hiram Way Cunningham’s life came to an end on 11 July 1866 at the farm home in Clarksfield Township. He was buried in the Clarksfield Methodist Cemetery next to the graves of his children. His will bequeathed 104 acres of land to his widow. She sold that land to Thomas F. Week on 23 November 1867. Little more than a year later, on 9 March 1869, Eunice Cunningham died. She was laid to rest beside her husband in the Clarksfield Methodist Cemetery.
Five of their children, plus Eunice’s son, Jairus Sheldon, lived to maturity. Joseph O. Cunningham attended Baldwin Institute in Berea, Ohio and Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. In 1852 he taught school in Eugene, Vermilion County, Indiana. In 1853 he moved to Urbana, Illinois where he purchased a newspaper. Later he studied law and set up a practice in Urbana, subsequently being elected a county judge. He wrote several books on Champaign County, Illinois history and wrote of his boyhood in Clarksfield for the Firelands Historical Society. He died in Urbana on 30 April 1917 and is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery there.
Albert Palmer Cunningham also attended Oberlin College, then followed his older brother to Urbana. He served in the Civil War as a sergeant in the 76th Illinois Infantry Regiment, including the Battle of Vicksburg. After the war he operated a drug store. He was an alderman in Urbana and also served two terms as mayor of the city. He died on 12 October 1893 and is buried near his brother in Mount Hope Cemetery.
Olive M. Cunningham married Robert J. Fisher of Clarksfield who was a harness maker and a mail carrier. He became mentally unstable and his family committed him to the Northern Ohio Hospital for the Insane at Newburg. Accompanied by a nephew, he went to Norwalk on 3 November 1876 to catch a train to Newburg. While waiting on the platform, a freight train came by and Fisher committed suicide by throwing himself in front of the train. He was buried in Clarksfield Methodist Cemetery. Olive remained in Clarksfield for some years then moved to Sidell Township, Vermillion County, Illinois to live with her daughter, Myra. Sometime after 1900 Olive moved to Emporia, Kansas with her daughter, Myra, and family. Also moving to Emporia at that time were her other daughter, Dot, and her son, Frank. Olive died there sometime after 1920.
Orton C. Cunningham followed his brothers to Urbana in the 1860s and became a teacher. He married and had three children by 1870. He died young and is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Urbana.
Edwin Wilbur Cunningham left Clarksfield in the 1860s and went to live in Emporia, Kansas. He was a lawyer and was active in community affairs. When the city was incorporated in April of 1870, he was selected as city clerk. He was elected in May of 1870 to serve on the first Board of Education in Emporia. In 1891 he was elected to the Supreme Court of Kansas; he served there until his death, which occurred in Boulder, Colorado on 16 August 1905.