Aaron Olmstead

Captain Aaron Olmstead, sometimes spelled Olmsted, [cite book |title= History of Portage County Ohio|last= Brown|first= R.C |authorlink= |coauthors= Norris, J.E.|year= 1885, 1972 revision|publisher= Warner, Beers, and Company|location= Chicago, Illinois|isbn= |pages= 195, 431-432 Reference on page 195 uses spelling "Olmstead," while reference on pages 431-432 uses spelling "Olmsted."] was a wealthy sea captain in the China trade out of New England, and one of 49 investors who formed a syndicate in 1795 to purchase a major part of the Western Reserve from the U.S. state of Connecticut. He became the owner of thousands of acres from his $30,000 share of the $120,000 total land deal. The land encompassed the areas now known as North Olmsted, Ohio, Olmsted Falls, Ohio and Olmsted Township (originally known as Lenox) in what is now Cuyahoga County as well as Franklin Township, named after his son Aaron Franklin Olmsted, and most of the city of Kent, Ohio in what is now Portage County. Olmsted traveled west on horseback to visit the land in 1795, but never settled there.

A native of East Hartford, Connecticut, he was born 19 May 1753 as the eighth child of General Jonathan and Hanna (Meakins) Olmstead. [cite web |url= http://www.the-roundup.com/olmstead/index.htm|title= Olmsted-Olmstead|accessdate=2008-05-21 |format= |work= the-roundup.com ] He married Mary Langrel Bigelow on 10 December 1778 and had fourteen children, of which only five lived to adulthood. He died 9 September 1806 in East Hartford. [cite web |url= http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/search/frameset_search.asp|title= Family Group Record|accessdate=2008-05-21 |format= |work= FamilySearch.org|publisher= The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]

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