Alex Justice – Pioneer Woodsman, Indian Expert and Recluse

Courtesy the Spirit of 76 Museum

“He was Alex Justice, a long-haired man who wore leggings and a battered, slouch hat. Justice left his mark indelibly on the history pages of southern Lorain-co. He was one of the few to know the Indians so well he might have been one except for a difference in the coloring of his skin. He lived among them, shared their trials and tribulations, and accompanied them on long and tiring foot trips to southern Ohio where the Indians gathered salt at natural salt licks."

That was the description of Alex Justice written by Don Miller in the 1951 Lorain Journal article featured in yesterday's post about the Wellington Indian mound. Miller was explaining that Justice was one of the few that knew its location.

"So, with the passage of time, Justice became acknowledged as the last word in Indian lore in this section of the country," wrote Miller. "He knew their history and their customs. He knew how and where noted ancestors of his friends were buried – but he kept this secret to himself."

The book Looking Back on Lorain County (1978) by Ernst Louis Henes includes a page about Alex Justice, as well as the photo below. 

"The champion hawk, crow and owl hunter of the Western Reserve was Alex Justice who lived as a recluse in a 2-room log cabin on a 70-acre farm on Route 18 in Brighton Township. In fact, he was one of the best hunters in the state," wrote Henes.

"Alex was even better known as a collector of Indian and related artifacts. He walked all the way to Florida searching for articles of historic interest. A bachelor, his wants were simple, and he did very little farming, preferring to hunt, trap, and fashion miniature tools in his blacksmith shop. These and other items he sold or swapped with other collectors.

"He died in 1926 at 88 and was buried in a black walnut coffin which he had made a quarter of a century before. He used it for his bed, and it was out of this that he was lifted in his last illness to be taken to the New London Hospital.

"Burial was in Brighton. By his request there were no flowers, or hymns, or minister. A friend read a short prayer as he was lowered to his last resting place. His hundreds of artifacts were divided between the Firelands Museum in Norwalk and Herrick Memorial Library in Wellington, the latter turning most of its portion to the Spirit of ’76 Museum upon its establishment in 1970."

Two years before he passed away, Alex Justice and his coffin were mentioned in the "What One Man Thinks" column in the Lorain Journal on April 19, 1924.

His obituary appeared in the paper on February 24, 1926.

About a week later, the small item below appeared in the March 4, 1926 edition.

It sure sounds like Alex Justice was quite a unique character – a Lorain County original. He lived his life in his own meaningful way, and he bestowed a gift of priceless history to his home county with his donation of his one-of-a-kind relics and belongings.

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The Spirit of 76 Museum in Wellington has a whole page dedicated to its Alex Justice collection on its website, which you can find here.