(192) (Capt.) AARON OLMSTED, b. at E. Hartford, Conn., May 19, 1753; d. Sept. 9, 1806; m. Dec. 10, 1778, Mary Langrell Bigelow; ... He marched with the E. Hartford company for the relief of Boston in April, 1775. Afterwards he was a capt. in the China trade. ...
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CAPTAIN AARON OLMSTED
All through his life Capt. Olmsted showed remarkable business ability. Following the sea from a boy he carefully saved his wages and profits from trading, and, as tradition has it, bringing his savings home and putting them in a bee-hive for safe-keeping. The bee-hive he afterward adopted as his coat of arms.
He was one of the first to go into the China trade, and was captain of his own ship. He early became a member of the Masonic order, and brought home many beautiful things emblematic of the Order from different parts of the world, among them two white lambskin aprons elaborately decorated with Masonic emblems done in silk. One of them he presented to President Washington, a brother Mason. There are several of these emblems still kept in the family.
In 1794 he made the journey on horseback through the almost wilderness to the immediate vicinity of Cleveland, Ohio, then known as the Connecticut Western Reserve, buying 20,000 acres of land. This tract of land is a part to-day of Cuyahoga County, and practically a suburb of Cleveland. There have been built up several thriving cities and towns on the land he formerly owned; among them are Berea, North Olmsted and Olmsted Falls. The certificates of purchase are now in the family, dated September 5, 1795, and signed by Jonathan Bruce, J. M. Morgan and John Caldwell, trustees for the Company.
Of his descendants, some are scattered, living in different States, but a majority still live in Hartford and East Hartford.
He died comparatively in the prime of his life, leaving a very large estate as reckoned over one hundred years ago, being largely in real estate located in Hartford and East Hartford.
