USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Cleveland, past and present; its representative men > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
Gc 977.102 C59j 1620598
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02280 1218
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
http://www.archive.org/details/clevelandpastpre00jobl
FAST AND ITS
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CLEVELAND PAST.
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CLEVELAND,“
PAST AND PRESENT;
ITS
Representative Men:
COMPRISING
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PIONEER SETTLERS AND PROMINENT CITIZENS,
WITH A
HISTORY OF THE CITY.
AND HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF ITS COMMERCE, MANUFACTURES. SHIP BUILDING, RAILROADS, TELEGRAPHY, SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, ETC., PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHIC VIEWS AND PORTRAITS.
MAURICE JOBLIN, PUBLISHER.
CLEVELAND, O .: FAIRBANKS. BENEDICT & CO., PRINTERS, HERALD OFFICE.
1869
ולשהרש ומח
1620598
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1869, by MAURICE JOBLIN. In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Ohio.
1
PREFACE.
IN many ways the story of the survey and first settlement of Cleveland has been made familiar to the public. It has been told at pioneer gatherings, repro- duced in newspapers and periodicals, enlarged upon in directory prefaces and condensed for works of topographical reference. Within a short time Col. Charles Whittlesey has gathered up, collected, and' arranged the abundant materials for the Early History of Cleveland in a handsome volume bearing that title.
But Col. Whittlesy's volume closes with the war of 1812, when Cleveland was still a pioneer settlement with but a few families. The history of the growth of that settlement to a village, its development into a commercial port, and then into a large and flourishing city, with a busy population of a hundred thousand persons, remained mostly unwritten, and no part of it existing in perma- nent form. The whole period is covered by the active lives of men yet with us who have grown up with the place, and with whose history that of the city is inseperably connected. It occurred to the projector of this work that a history of Cleveland could be written in the individual histories of its represen- tative men, that such a volume would not only be a reliable account of the growth of the city in its general features and in the development of its several branches of industry, but would possess the additional advantage of the interest attaching to personal narrative. This idea has been faithfully worked out in the following pages, not without much labor and difficulty in the collection and arrange- ment of the materials. Besides the personal narratives, an introductory sketch to each of the departments of business into which the biographical sketches are grouped gives a brief account of the rise and present position of that particular industry ; these, taken together, forming a full and accurate business and profes- sional history of the city. An introductory sketch of the general history of Cleveland gives completeness to the whole, whilst the numerous illustrations and portraits add greatly to the interest and value of the work.
Numerous as are the sketches, it is not, of course, claimed that all are repre- sented in the volume who deserve a place in it. This would be impossible in a work of ordinary dimensions, even were it convenient, or even possible, to obtain the necessary materials. The aim has been to sketch sufficient of the representative men in each leading business and professional department to give a fair idea of the nature and extent of that department. It is not a complete biographical dictionary of Cleveland, but a volume of biographical selections, made, as the lawyers say, " without prejudice."
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
FOR the records of the first sixteen or seventeen years of the history of Cleveland, what may be styled its pioneer history, the local historian will hereafter be indebted to the work of Col. Whittlesey, where every known and reliable fact connected with that period of Cleveland's history is carefully preserved.
The city was originally comprised in lands purchased by the "Connecticut Land Company," and formed a portion of what is termed the Western Reserve. This company was organized in 1795, and in the month of May of the following year, it commissioned General Moses Cleaveland to superintend the survey of their lands, with a staff of forty-eight assistants. On the 22d of July, 1796, General Cleaveland, accompanied by Augustus Porter, the principal of the surveying department, and several others, entered the mouth of the Cuyahoga from the lake. Job P. Stiles and his wife are supposed to have been with the party. General Cleaveland con- tinued his progress to Sandusky Bay, leaving enough men to put up a storehouse for the supplies, and a cabin for the accommodation of the surveyors. These were located a short distance south of St. Clair street, west of Union lane, at a spring in the side-hill, in rear of Scott's warehouse. During the season a cabin was put up for Stiles, on lot 53, east side of Bank street, north of the Herald Building, where Morgan & Root's block now stands. This was the first building for permanent settlement erected on the site of the city, although huts for temporary occupancy had been previously built in the neighborhood.
Upon the return of the party from Sandusky, Mr. Porter prepared the outlines of the city. He says: "I surveyed a piece of land designed for a town-its dimen- sions I do not recollect-probably equal to about a mile square, bounding west on the river, and north on the lake. I made a plot of this ground, and laid it off into streets and lots. Most or all the streets I surveyed myself, when I left it in charge of Mr. Holley to complete the survey of the lots."
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CLEVELAND, PAST AND PRESENT.
The survey of the city was commenced on the 16th of September, and completed about the 1st of October, 1796. Holley's notes state that on Monday, October 17th, he " finished surveying in New Connecticut ; weather rainy," and on the following day he records : " We left Cuyahoga at 3 o'clock 17 minutes, for HOME. We left at Cuyahoga, Job Stiles and wife, and Joseph Landon, with provisions for the Winter." Landon soon abandoned the spot and his place was taken by Edward Paine, who had arrived from the State of New York, for the purpose of trading with the Indians, and who may be considered the first mercantile man who transacted business in Cleveland. Thus, during the Winter of 1796-7, the population of the city consisted of three inhabitants. During the Winter a child is reputed to have been born in the cabin, which had only squaws for nurses.
Early in the Spring of 1797, James Kingsbury and family, from New England, with Elijah Gunn, one of the surveying party, all of whom had continued during the Winter at Conneaut, where they had endured incredible hardships, removed to Cleveland. His first cabin was put up on the site of the Case Block, east of the Public Square, but he subsequently removed to a point east of the present city limits, somewhere on a line with Kinsman street. Here he remained until his death.
The next families who were attracted to this settlement were those of Major Lorenzo Carter and Ezekiel Hawley, who came from Kirtland, Vermont, the family of the Major being accompanied by Miss Cloe Inches. In the Spring of the follow. ing year, (1798,) the former gentleman sowed two acres of corn on the west side of Water street. He was also the first person who erected a frame building in the city, which he completed in 1802; but an unfortunate casualty proved fatal to the enterprise, for when he was about to occupy the residence it was totally destroyed by fire. In 1803, however, he erected another house on the site of the destroyed building, but on this occasion he confined himself to hewn logs.
The fourth addition of the season was that of Nathan Chapman and his family, who, like the patriarchs of yore, traveled with his herd, and marched into the Forest City at the head of two yoke of oxen and four milch cows, which were the first neat stock that fed from the rich pasturage on the banks of the Cuyahoga.
In the Summer of 1797, the surveying party returned to the Western Reserve . and resumed their labors, with Cleveland as a head-quarters. It was a very sickly season and three of the number died, one of whom was David Eldridge, whose remains were interred in a piece of ground chosen as a cemetery, at the corner of Prospect and Ontario streets. This funeral occurred on the 3d of June, 1797, and is the first recorded in the city. Recently, while making some improvements to the buildings now occupying that location, some human bones were discovered.
CLEVELAND, PAST AND PRESENT.
Less than one month after the first funeral, occurred the first wedding. On the 1st of July, 1797, the marriage was solemnized of William Clement, of Erie. to Miss Cloe Inches, who had come to this city with the family of Major Lorenzo Carter. The ceremony was performed by Mr. Seth Hart, who was regarded by the surveying party as their chaplain.
In the beginning of the following year, (1798,) the population had increased to fifteen. No other immigration is recorded until that of Rodolphus Edwards and Nathaniel Doane and their families, in 1799, the latter consisting of nine persons. They journeyed from Chatham, Connecticut, and were occupied ninety-two days in their transit-a longer period than is now allowed to accomplish a voyage to the East Indies.
In 1799, the Land Company caused a road to be surveyed and partially worked, from Cleveland to the Pennsylvania line, about ten miles from the lake, which was the first road opened through the Reserve. In the Spring of that year Wheeler W. Williams, from Norwich, Connecticut, and Major Wyatt, erected a grist mill at the falls at Newburgh, and in 1800 a saw mill was also built by them ; a sub- stantial proof that sufficient corn and wheat were grown and lumber required to warrant the speculation.
The desire of moral culture and education did not relax in this lonely region, and in 1800, a township school was organized, and the children were taught by Sarah Doane. The site of the school house was near Kingsbury's, on the ridge road.
Cleveland received two additions in 1800, in the persons of David Clarke and Amos Spafford, the former of whom erected a house on Water street. The first sermon preached in Cleveland, was delivered in that year by the Rev. Joseph Badger, an agent of the Connecticut Missionary Society.
The years of 1798, 1799 and 1800, were remarkable for the early commencement of genial weather. Pinks were in bloom in February, and the peach trees were also in full blossom in March.
In 1801, the first distillery was erected by David Bryant. The memorable 4th of July of the same year was celebrated by the first ball in Cleveland. It took place at Major Carter's log house, on the slope from Superior street to the harbor, and was attended by thirty of both sexes.
The first village school was held in Major Carter's house in 1802, and the children were taught by Anna Spafford.
In 1803, Elisha Norton arrived in Cleveland with a stock of goods princi- pally adapted to the Indian trade, which he exhibited for sale in Major Carter's
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CLEVELAND, PAST AND PRESENT.
house. The State of Ohio was this year admitted into the Union, and the first election was held at James Kingsbury's.
The first Post Office was established here in 1804, when letters were received and transmitted every seven days.
In 1805, the harbor was made a port of entry, and classed within the Erie district. In the same year the territory on the west side of Cuyahoga was ceded to the State by treaty. During the negotiations for that treaty, one of the commis- sioners, Hon. Gideon Granger, distinguished for talents, enterprise and forethought, uttered to his astonished associates this bold, and what was then deemed, extraor- dinary prediction : " Within fifty years an extensive city will occupy these grounds, and vessels will sail directly from this port into the Atlantic Ocean." The prediction has been fulfilled, though the latter portion of it required an extension of time, of a year or two to make the fulfilment literal.
In 1800, Nathan Perry and family and Judge Walworth removed to Cleveland the latter from Painesville. In the same year the first militia training occurred. The place of rendezvous was Doane's corner, and the muster amounted to about fifty men.
In 1809, the county of Cuyahoga was formed, Cleveland chosen as the county seat, and Amos Spafford was elected representative. The same year Abraham Hickox commenced business as a blacksmith, under the euphonious cognomen of "Uncle Abram."
On the 5th of June, 1810, the first Court of Record was held in a frame build- ing erected by Elias and Harvey Murray, on the the north side of Superior street, of which Judge Ruggles was President, assisted by three Associate Judges. George Wallis and family arrived this year and opened a tavern. Samuel and Matthew Williamson began business as tanners. Dr. David Long commenced practice as a physician, and Alfred Kelley as the first attorney in Cleveland. Elias and Harvey Murray opened a store this year in Union lane, and may be termed the first general merchants.
In 1812, was the first trial for murder and the execution in Cleveland, that of the Indian O'Mic. for the murder of two white trappers near Sandusky City. In the same year the court house was built.
The first brick house erected in the city was that of J. R. and I. Kelley, in Superior street. It was built in 1814; but the bricks were very unlike those of the present day, being more than twice their size. They were made in Cleveland. This edifice was soon succeeded by another of the same material, built by Alfred Kelley, in Water street.
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CLEVELAND, PAST AND PRESENT.
In 1815, Cleveland was incorporated by the Legislature with a village charter and Alfred Kelley was the first President.
In 1816, the first bank was established in the city, under the title of the Com- mercial Bank of Lake Erie, of which Leonard Case took the management. In that year the number of vessels enrolled as hailing from the port of Cleveland, was but seven, and their aggregate burthen 430 tons.
In 1817, the first church was organized, which was the Episcopal church of Trinity ; but it was not until 1828 that the edifice was erected on the corner of St. Clair and Seneca streets.
On the 31st of July, 1818, the first newspaper was printed in this city, "The Cleveland Gazette and Commercial Register." On the 1st of September in the same year, the first steam vessel entered the harbor, the " Walk-in-the-Water," commanded by Captain Fish, from Buffalo, putting in on its way to Detroit. It was :00 tons burthen, had accommodations for one hundred cabin and a greater number of steerage passengers, and was propelled at eight or ten miles an hour. Its arrival and departure were greeted with several rounds of artillery, and many persons accompanied her to Detroit.
In 1819, Mr. Barber built a log hut on the west side of the harbor, and may be considered the first permanent settler in Ohio City.
In 1820, was established a stage conveyance to Columbus, and in the autumn a second proceeded to Norwalk. In 1821, these efforts were followed by othe.s, and two additional wagons were started, one for Pittsburgh and another for Buffalo.
In 1825, an appropriation was made by Government for the improvement of the harbor, being the first Government aid received for that purpose. The water in the river was frequently so shallow that it was customary for vessels to lie off in the lake and transfer passengers and freight by boats. On the 4th of July in that year ground was broken at Licking Summit for the Ohio canal, to connect the waters of Lake Erie at Cleveland with those of the Ohio river at Portsmouth.
In 1827, Mr. Walworth, the harbor-master and Government agent, proceeded to Washington, and after the most strenuous exertions, succeeded in obtaining a further grant of $10,000 for the improvement of the harbor. In the same year the Ohio canal was opened to Akron, and the first importation of coal to Cleveland made.
In 1828, a new court-house was erected on the Public Square.
The light-house, on the bluff at the end of Water street, was built in 1830, the lantern being one hundred and thirty-five feet above water level.
In 1832, the Ohio canal was finished and communication between the lake and the Ohio river opened. In the same year a new jail was built on Champlain street.
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CLEVELAND, PAST AND PRESENT.
In 1834, some of the streets were graded, and the village assumed such importance that application for a city charter began to be talked of.
The population of the city had grown in 1835 to 5,080, having more than doubled in two years. There was at this time an immense rush of people to the West. Steamers ran from Buffalo to Detroit crowded with passengers at a fare of eight dollars, the number on board what would now be called small boats, sometimes reaching from five hundred to six hundred persons. The line hired steamers and fined them a hundred dollars if the round trip was not made in eight days. The slower boats, not being able to make that time with any certainty, frequently stopped at Cleveland, discharged their passengers, and put back to Buffalo. It sometimes chanced that the shore accommodations were insufficient for the great crowd of emigrants stopping over at this port, and the steamers were hired to lie off the port all night, that the passengers might have sleeping accommodations. In that year fire destroyed a large part of the business portion of Cleveland. At the same period James S. Clark built, at his own expense, the old Columbus street bridge, connecting Cleveland with Brooklyn township, and donated it to the city. Two years later this bridge was the occasion and scene of the famous "battle of the bridge," to be noticed in its proper place.
In 1836, Cleveland was granted a charter as a city. Greatly to the mortifi- cation of many of the citizens, the people across the river had received their charter for the organization of Ohio City before that for the city of Cleveland came to hand, and Ohio City, therefore, took precedence on point of age. This tended to embitter the jealous rivalry between the two cities, and it was only after long years that this feeling between the dwellers on the two sides of the river died out.
The settlement on the west side of the river had been made originally by Josiah Barber and Richard Lord. Soon after Alonzo Carter purchased on that side of the river and kept tavern in the "Red House," opposite Superior street. In 1831, the Buffalo Company purchased the Carter farm which covered the low land towards the mouth of the river, and the overlooking bluffs. They covered the low ground with warehouses, and the bluffs with stores and residences. Hotels were erected and preparations made for the building up of a city that should far eclipse the older settlement on the east side of the river. The com- pany excavated a short ship canal from the Cuyahoga to the old river bed, at the east end, and the waters being high, a steamboat passed into the lake, through a natural channel at the west end.
When it was proposed to get a city charter for Cleveland, negotiations were
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CLEVELAND, PAST AND PRESENT.
entered into between the leading men on both sides of the river with the pur- pose of either consolidating the two villages into one city, or at least acting in harmony. The parties could agree neither on terms of consolidation nor on boundaries. The negotiations were broken off, and each side started its deputation to Columbus to procure a city charter, with the result we have already noticed.
Ohio City was ambitious to have a harbor of its own, entirely independent of Cleveland and to the advantages of which that city could lay no claim. The old river bed was to be deepened and the channel to the lake at the west end re-opened. As a preliminary to this ignoring of the Cleveland harbor entrance of the Cuyahoga, a canal was cut through the marsh, from opposite the entrance to the Ohio canal to the old river bed, which was thus to be made the termi- nus of the Ohio canal.
In 1837, city rivalry ran so high that it resulted in the "battle of the bridge." Both sides claimed jurisdiction over the Columbus street bridge built by Mr. Clark and donated for public use. Armed men turned out on either side to take possession of the disputed structure. A field piece was posted on the low ground on the Cleveland side, to rake the bridge. Guns, pistols, crowbars, clubs and stones were freely used on both sides Men were wounded of both parties, three of them seriously. The draw was cut away, the middle pier and the western abutment partially blown down, and the field piece spiked by the west siders. But the sheriff and the city marshal of Cleveland appeared on the scene, gained posession of the dilapidated bridge, which had been given to the city of Cleveland, and lodged some of the rioters in the county jail. This removed the bridge question from the camp and battle-field to the more peaceful locality of the courts.
In 1840, the population had increased to 6071, so that, notwithstanding that the city had been suffering from depression, there was an influx of a thousand persons in the last five years.
In 1841, the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal was completed, connecting the Ohio Canal at Akron with the Ohio river at Beaver, Pennsylvania, and thus forming a water communication with Pittsburgh.
The United States Marine Hospital, pleasantly situated on the banks of the lake, was commenced in 1844 and not completed until 1852. It is surrounded by eight acres of ground, and is designed to accommodate one hundred and forty patients.
In 1845, the city voted to loan its credit for $200,000 towards the construction of a railroad from Cleveland to Columbus and Cincinnati, and subsequently the credit of the city was pledged for the loan of $100,000 towards the completion of the Cleveland and Erie or Lake Shore line.
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CLEVELAND, PAST AND PRESENT.
In 1851, the 23d of February, the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad was opened for travel ; and on the same day forty miles of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad was likewise completed. These circumstances produced great rejoicings, for during the period of their construction the city had been almost daily adding to the number of its inhabitants, so that it had nearly doubled in the last six years, its population being now 21,140, and in the following year (1852) it added eighty-seven persons per week to its numbers, being then 25,670.
In 1858, the new court house was built and the old court house on the Public Square was taken down.
We have thus glanced at a few of the leading incidents in the history of the city. A more full and exact account will be found in the historical sketches prefacing each department in the body of the work, and still further details will be found in the biographical sketches. There only remains to be added here a few data in regard to the population, government, and officials of the city.
The population of Cleveland commenced in 1796, with four persons. Next year the number increased to fifteen, but in 1800, had fallen back to seven. The subsequent figures are: 1S10, 57; 1820, about 150; 1825, about 500; 1830, United States census, 1,075; 1832, about 1,500; 1833, about 1,900; 1834, city census, 6,071, or with Ohio City, 7,648; 1845, 9.573, or with Ohio City, 12,035; 1846, Cleveland 10,135 ; 1850, United ; States census, 17,034, or with Ohio City, 20,984; 1851, city census, 21,140; 1852, 25,670; 1860, United States census for combined city, 43,838 ; 1866, 67,500; 1869, not less than 100,000.
The village of Cleveland was incorporated in 1814, and the first president of the village, elected in 1815, was Alfred Kelley. Twelve votes were cast at the election. In the following year he resigned his position, and his father, Daniel Kelley, was elected by the same number of votes, retaining his position until 1820, when Horace Perry was made president. In the following year he was succeeded by Reuben Wood. From the year 1821 to 1825, Leonard Case was regularly elected president of the corporation, but neglecting to qualify in the latter year, the recorder, E. Waterman, became president, ex-officio. Here the records are defective until the year 1828, when it appears Mr. Waterman received the double office of president and recorder. On account of ill-health he resigned, and on the 30th of May the trustees appointed Oirson Cathau as president. At
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the annual election in June, 1829, Dr. David Long was elected president, and during his presidency a fire-engine was purchased. Forty-eight votes were cast
at this election. For the years 1830 and 1831, Richard Ililliard was president, and for the following year John W. Allen was chosen, and retained the position until 1835, one hundred and six votes being cast at the last named election.
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