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HIS
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CUYAHOGA COUNTY
OHIO
O
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
5
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
Dar 8F 497 C656
CAUCE QUM
SPIRO SPERO
Darlington Memorial Library
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from University of Pittsburgh Library System
http://www.archive.org/details/historyofcuyahog00injohn
FIRST COURT HOUSE AND JAIL ERECTED IN 1812 TORN 0OWN 1830. ( DRAWN BY WM WATERMAN. .
SECOND COURT HOUSE SW CORNER MONUMENTAL SQUARE ERECTED 1828. REMOVED IN 1888.
THIRD COURT HOUSE BUILT 1858
FOURTH COURT HOUSE. " FROM ORIGINAL DESIGN " COMMENCED 1875. [ UNFINISHED. )
AN
VFISC AGH
HISTORY
-- OF --
CUYAHOGA COUNTY,
OHIO.5
IN THREE PARTS:
PART FIRST .- GENERAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY. PART SECOND .- HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. PART THIRD .- HISTORY OF THE TOWNSHIPS.
-
lith ortraits and Biographical ketches
ITS PROMINENT MEN AND PIONEERS.
COMPILED BY CRISFIELD JOHNSON.
PUBLISHED BY LOUIS H. EVERTS.
-1881 .-
PRESS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., PHILADELPHIA.
CONTENTS.
HISTORICAL.
HISTORY OF CUYAHOGA COUNTY.
PART FIRST.
General History of the County.
CHAPTER
PAGE
I .- The Situation in 1626
13
II .- Prehistoric Speculations
15
III .- The Eries and their Destruction
17
IV .- Disputed Dominion
20
V .- English Dominion
24
VI .- The Period from 1783 to 1794
30
VII .- Sale and Survey
36
LII .- The Baptist and Disciple Churches
259
IX .- The Period from 180I to 1806
47
X .- The Period from 1807 to 1812
53
LV .- Evangelical and other Churches
272
LVI .- Benevolent Institutions
278
LVII .- The Masons .
285
XIV .- The Period from 1840 to 1861 74
LIX .- Foresters, Knights of IIonor, and Clubs
293
XV .- During and since the War 80
LX .- Board of Trade, Banks, etc. .
297
XVI .- First and Fifth Infantry 83
LXI .- Miscellaneous Departments and Institutions
301
LXII .- Manufactures
306
LXIII .- Schools and Libraries
310
XX .- Twenty-fourth, Twenty-seventh, and Thirty-sev- enth Infantry, etc.
101
XXI .- Forty-first Infantry 105
XXII .- Forty-second, Forty-third, and Fifty-second In-
fantry 115
XXIII .- Fifty-fourth, Fifty-eighth, and Sixtieth Infantry 117
XXIV .- Sixty-first, Sixty-fifth, and Sixty-seventh In- fantry
121
PART THIRD.
The Townships.
LXIX .- Bedford . 403
411
LXXI .- Brooklyn
416
LXXII .- Chagrin Falls . 425
LXXIII .- Dover
. 435
LXXIV .- East Cleveland
443
LXXV .- Euclid .
452
LXXVI .- Independence
460
XXXIII .- Second and Sixth Cavalry, etc.
163
XXXIV .- Tenth and Twelfth Cavalry .
170
LXXVIII .- Middleburg
171
XXXV .- First Light Artillery, etc. 174
181
LXXX .- Olmstead
484
XXXVII .- The Press 188
LXXXI .- Orange
491
XXXVIII .- Colleges
202
LXXXII .- Parma .
497
XXXIX .- Various Societies, etc. 204
LXXXIII .- Rockport
501
XL .- The National Guard, etc.
207
LXXXIV .- Royalton
510
XLI .- Ceosus Notes 210
LXXXV .- Solon
515
XLII .- Cuyahoga County Civil List
210
LXXXVI .- Strongsville .
520
XLIII .- Geology
.
214
LXXXVII .- Warrensville .
528
BIOGRAPHICAL.
PAGE
John W. Allen
327
Leonard Case
336
Sherlock J. Andrews
327
Selah Chamberlain
337
William W. Armstrong
329
Henry Chisholm
337
Elhert Irving Baldwin
329
William Chisholoi
338
Melancthon Barnett
330
Ahira Cobb
338
George A. Benedict
330
James M. Coffinherry
340
Hamilton Fisk Biggar
331
William Collins .
341
William Bowler .
332
Edwin Weed Cowles
342
Alva Bradley
333
Edwin Cowles
343
Francis Branch
334
Samuel Cowles
345
Gaius Burk
334
D. W. Cross
345
Stevenson Burke
335
John Crowell
340
CHAPTER
PAGE
XLIV .- The First Four Years . 223
XLV .- The Village from 1800 to 1815
XLVI .- The Village from 1815 to 1825 936
XLVII .- From 1825 to the City Charter
240
XLVIII .- An Outline of Later Years 2442
XLIX .- Protestant Episcopal Churches
245
L .- The Methodist Churches
250
LI .- The Presbyterian Churches .
255
VIII .- The Period from 1798 to 1800
XII .- From the War to the Canal 63
XIII .- Progress, Inflation, aud " Hard Times" 70
XVII .- Seventh Infantry . 85
94
XVIII .- Eighth, Fourteenth, and Seventeenth Infantry XIX .- The Twenty-third Infantry
96
LXIV .- The Cleveland Bar
317
LXV. - Cleveland Civil List
321
LXVI .- Biographical Sketches
327
LXVII .-
٠٠
(continued)
348
LXVIII .-
.
374
XXV .- Eighty-fourth, Eighty-sixth, and Eighty-seventh Infantry, etc.
XXVI .- One Hundred and Third Infantry, etc. 126 128
XXVII .- One Hundred and Seventh Infantry, etc.
136
XXVIII .- One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Infantry I39
XXIX .- One Hundred and Twenty-fifth and One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Infantry 146
XXX .- One Hundred and Twenty-ninth and One Hundred and Fiftieth Infantry 15I
XXXI .- The One-Year Infantry Regiments
153
XXXII. - The Sharpshooters 161
LXXVII .- Mayfield
466
LXXIX .- Newburg
481
XXXVI .- The Independent Batteries, etc.
LXX .- Brecksville
LIII .- Roman Catholic Churches, etc. 263
LIV .- The Congregational Churches 268
LVIII .- Odd-Fellows and Knights of Pythias 289.
XI .- The War of 1812 . 58
PART SECOND.
The City of Cleveland.
PAGE
7
CONTENTS.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
PAGE
PAGE
John Henry Devereux
348
William Johnson Scott
. 382
William II. Doan
351
Abraham D. Slaght
383
Daniel P. Eells .
352
Amasa Stone
384
Sylvester T. Everett
353
Andros B. Stone
385
James Farmer
354
1 Worthy S. Streator
387
Edwin B. Hale .
Amos Townsend .
388
Truman P. Ilandy
356
Oscar Townsend .
389
Benjamin Harrington
357
Jephtha 11. Wade
390
Henry J. Ilerrick
358
Samuel Williamson
392
Rensselaer R. Herrick
Hiram V. Willson
393
Orlando J. Ilodge
Rufus King Winslow .
394
James M. Iloyt .
Timothy Doane Crocker
395
Hinman B. Hurlbut
363
Rufus P. Ranney
397
John Hutchins
363
Theodore Breck .
facing
410
Moses Hunt
365
Moses Mathews .
414
Charles Gregory King
366
Isaiah W. Fish .
366
Martin Kellogg .
422
Zenas King
Jared Potter Kirtland
367
Ahel S. Ilinekley
424
David Long
368
L. G. Porter
facing
440
Richard C. Parsons
370
Col. Ezra Eddy
facing
468
Henry B. Payne
371
Frederick Willson
470
Jacob Perkins
372
John Baldwin
facing
472
Nathan Perry
373
Henry Parker
476
Houston H. Poppleton
373
A. P. Knowlton
478
Thomas Quayle .
Amos Boynton
495
Daniel P. Rhodes
John P. Spencer .
facing
504
John P. Robison
378
Lewis Nicholson .
506
William G. Rose
379
Israel D. Wagar .
509
James Henry Salisbury
379
Alanson Pomeroy
527
John C. Sanders
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
PAGE
Cuyahoga County Court-Houses ( Frontispiece)
faeing title.
Portrait of R. R. Herrick (steel)
facing
326
Outline Map of Cuyahoga County
13
E. I. Baldwin
328
Portrait of Nathan Perry (steel)
52
H. F. Biggar
IF. V. Willson
56
16
William Bowler “
332
John Crowell
..
60
A. Bradley
334
S. J. Andrews
..
68
D. W. Cross
344
=
11. B. Payne
..
78
S. O. Griswold
=
354
66
William Collins
Geo. A. Benedict
46
192
C. G. King
366
Edwin Cowles
between 194, 195
R. F. Paine
368
Edwin W. Cowles
194, 195
HI. H. Poppleton (steel)
«
372
Jacob Perkins
=
facing
202
Thomas Quayle
374
J. P. Robison
Amos Townsend
212
..
J. C. Sanders
380
Geological Map of Cuyahoga County
214
..
Elias Sims
382
Portrait of John Hutchins (steel)
216
A. D. Slaght
384
Protile Section Across the Cuyahoga Valley
217
Francis Branch
384
Portrait of Gen. Moses Cleaveland
facing
223
Oscar Townsend
388
S. Williamson (steel)
66
236
T. D. Crocker
396
B. Harrington
S. Chamberlain
211
Theodore Breck
410
..
Z. King
H. B. Hurlbut
16
16
256
Moses Mathews
414
James Farmer
=
276
Isaiah W. Fish
416
I. II. Wade
Martin Kellogg
422
Danl P. Eells
4.
282
Abel S. Hinckley
425
W. II. Doan
284
4
II. W. Curtiss (steel)
facing
434
T. P. Handy
..
..
296
John Doane (steel)
450
E. B. Hale
298
Col. Ezra Eddy
468
S. T. Everett
66
300
Frederick Willson (steel)
470
D. P. Rhodes
304
John Baldwin .
472
A. B. Stone
306
Ilenry Parker .
476
William Chisholm ( steel)
between
308, 309 308, 309
..
Gaius Burke .
66
482
..
A. Stone
facing
310
David J. Stearns
.
..
316
..
John P. Spencer
facing
504
44
James M. Hoyt
..
320
Lewis Nicholson
=
506
F. W. Pelton
..
322
Israel D. Wagar (steel)
508
Win. G. Rose
..
324
Alanson Pomeroy
526
.6
72
J. II. Devereux
348
Stevenson Burke (steel)
82
H. J. Herrick
356
George W. Howe "
=
360
R. C. Parsons
206
Ansel Roberts
376
210
J. II. Salisbury
378
W. S. Streator
66
246
Moses Hunt .
412
L. G. Porter
440
Peter Thatcher ( steel)
288
..
..
A. P. Knowlton
478
..
Henry Chisholm
:
64
A. Cobh
338
R. P. Ranney
367
Harvey W. Curtiss
434
Robert F. Paine
369
John Doane
374
David Johnson Stearns
.
49]
375
377
Ansel Roberts
36]
Reuben Wood
395
Levi Johnson
412
Alfred Kelley
364
Thomas M. Kelley
359
360
Geo. William Ilowe
Peter Thatcher .
386
Seneca O. Griswold
354
355
Elias Sims .
383
350
240
S. V. Harkness
400
66
.4
280
44
46
491
J. M. Coffinberry
188
=
330
362
416
450
Frederick William Pelton
381
..
INTRODUCTION.
T HE subjeet of our history comprises the present territory of the county of Cuyahoga and the aets of the inhabitants of that territory. Everything lying beyond those limits will receive only such men- tion as may be necessary to show the connection of the chain of events.
The work is naturally divided into three portions. The first consists of a general history of the county. comprising a connected chronological record of the principal events from the earliest accounts down to the year 1879; followed by some statistical matter, by condensed histories of the principal regiments and batteries containing Cuyahoga county soldiers in the War for the Union, and by sketches of various organ- izations which pertain to the county at large, but an account of which cannot well be incorporated in the continuons record.
The second part is composed of a history of the city of Cleveland constructed on the same plan; that. is, with a general account of the city's magnificent progress from its first permanent settlement by the whites to the present time, accompanied with separate sketches of the various churches, societies, and other prominent institutions within its present corporate limits.
The third part will be ocenpied by histories of all the townships in the county; each being arranged on the same plan as that of the city, though necessarily occupying far less space, and the first settlement by the whites being taken as the starting point in each.
Interspersed among these city and township histo- ries will be found numerous portraits of citizens of the county, accompanied by biographical sketches, together with illustrations of buildings and natural scenery.
The earlier portion of the general history of the county is necessarily derived entirely from books, while for the later part contributions have also been levied on newspapers, manuscript records and per- sonal reminiscences. For the city and township histories we have depended principally on the three last named sources of information, it being seldom that we find crystalized in books the facts occurring during the present century, to which those minor histories principally relate.
In regard to early history, we are under especial obligations to Colonel Charles Whittlesey's " Early Ilistory of Cleveland." As Colonel Whittlesey has gone over the same ground, many of the facts par- rated by us relating to the title and survey of the Western Reserve, and the first settlement of the county, are also mentioned by him, although we have consulted many other anthorities and original manu- scripts, and some surviving residents of the county previous to the war of 1812, and have added consid- erable to the stores contained in the Colonel's valuable repository. The arrangement, the language and the conclusions are entirely our own.
We also beg leave to acknowledge our obligations to the following volumes, which we have had oc- casion to consult during the progress of our work: Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio; Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac; Parkman's Jesnits in North America; Parkman's Discovery of the Northwest; Bancroft's History of the United States; Bouquets' Expedition against the Ohio Indians; Crawford's Campaign against the Indians of Sandusky; Lossing's Field Book of the War of 1812; Reid's Ohio in the War: Joblin's Cleveland Past and Present: Freese's Early History of Cleveland Schools; Higher Ednea-
2
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-
INTRODUCTION.
tional Institutions of Ohio: Kilbourn's History of the Ohio Canals; Payne's Cleveland Ilustrated; Hayden's History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve; Wood's Record of the Seventh Ohio Infantry; Hayes' Journal-History of the One Hundred and Third Ohio Volunteers; Mason's Record of the Twelfth Ohio Cavalry: Tracie's Annuals of the Nineteenth Ohio Battery; Our Acre and its Harvests, by Mary Clark Brayton and Ellen F. Terry, ete., etc. We have paid especial attention to the military record of the county in the War for the Union, and believe we have made it as complete as was practicable in the space we were able to devote to it.
We also desire to express our especial obligations to the officers of the Western Reserve Historical Society for the ample opportunities afforded ns of consulting the valuable library, newspaper files and manuscripts of that institution. Our acknowledgements are also Que the librarians of the City Library and the Cleve- land Library Association for similar favors. The ladies and gentlemen who have favored us with per- sonal reminiscences bearing upon our subject are so numerous that it is almost impossible to do more than express our obligations to them en masse. We shall endeavor, however, to mention the more important contributions in connection with the various portions of the work in which they have been used.
It is needless to say to any sensible person that in a work of this magnitude, and of such multiplicity of
details, there must be some errors. Especially is this to be feared in a county of such rapid development as Cuyahoga-in a city of such marvelous growth as Cleveland. Where civilization has charged through the wilderness at a "double quick;" where the bears of the forest still lingered after the bears of the stock exchange had begun to growl; where lawyers have had to fight with wolves and doctors have sometimes been confronted by panthers; where the Indian trail of three fourths of a century ago is replaced by a street which is proudly claimed to be the finest in the world, there has been little time to make a record of these kaleidoscopic changes. Nay, the memory of surviv- ing witnesses may well be sometimes at fault, confused by the swift succession of events-by a growth of county and city unequaled outside of America, and rarely matched even in our wonder-working country.
But we have taken great pains to secure accuracy, and we believe we have succeeded so far as snecess is possible in a work of this nature. As for the manner in which this mass of local information has been arranged and presented, we must leave it to the judg- ment of our readers. Those readers we now invite to ascend with us the stream of Time for two hun- dred and fifty years, in a single instant, preparatory to taking their places in the ship " History," and sail- ing slowly down the mighty river, noting year after year, decade after decade, century after century, the marvelous changes taking place on its teeming shores.
HISTORY OF CUYAHOGA COUNTY.
PART FIRST:
GENERAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY.
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GENERAL HISTORY OF CUYAHOGA COUNTY.
CHAPTER I. THE SITUATION IN 1626.
First Information-The Neuter Nation-The Eries-Their Connection With the Iroquois- Their Location-Open Ground to the South- Neighbors on the West-Slight Knowledge of the Eries -General Character of the Indians-Meager Anthority of Sacheuis and Chiefs -Absence of Property and of Jealousy-Forest and Game.
THE first definite knowledge regarding the oceu- pants of the south shore of Lake Erie dates from the year 1626, when Father La Roche Daillon, a " Recol- let" missionary, preached among the Ittiwandar- onks, more commonly known as the Kuhquahs. called by the French the Neuter Nation. This peculiar tribe was principally located in the Canadian penin- sula on the north shore of Lake Erie, having. how- ever, several outlying villages on the east side of the Niagara. and extending a short distance from Buffalo up the southeastern side of the lake.
Before going farther, we may note that at the time our story begins, the French had been for twenty- three years established on the shores of the St. Lawrence, the Dutch were already located at the mouth of the Hudson, while the Pilgrim Fathers had for six years been sternly battling with want, and hardship, and danger, on the rock-bound shores of New England. The position of the French on the St. Lawrence gave them a great advantage in prose- cuting discoveries and establishing posts along the great lakes, and that adventurous people were well disposed to make the fullest possible use of their opportunities.
From the information obtained by Father Daillon during his sojourn among the Venter Nation, eked out by occasional reports from straggling French hunters and Iroquois chiefs, it appears that at that time all the southern shore of the lake, from the mouth of Cattaraugus creek, in New York, to the vicinity of Sandusky bay, was occupied by a powerful tribe of Indians, called Erie or Erickronons (people of Erie) and known by the French as the Nation of the Cat. It is not exactly certain that " Erie " meant " cat " in the Indian language, but such is believed to be the case. Some writers have claimed that the Eries and Neuters were the same nation, but the weight of evidence is decidedly in favor of their sep- arate existence, and the powerful authority of Park-
man ("Jesuite of North America," p. 44) is on the same side.
Little is known of the Eries save that they were a powerful tribe, of kindred blood with the celebrated Iroquois, or Fice Nations, and speaking a dialeet of the same language. In fact, according to the most profound students of Indianology (if we may be al- lowed to coin a convenient word) the Iroquois, the Neuter Nation, the Eries and the Hurons were all parts of one aboriginal stock, while around them. on the north, the east and the south were various branches of the still larger Algonquin race. Tradition asserts that at one time the authority of the Eries extended as far east as the Genesee river in New York, which was the boundary between them and the fierce Sene- cus, the westernmost nation of the Iroquois confeder- ary. Their villages, however, were on the shore of the lake which bears their name, and as near as can be ascertained, their principal seats stretched from the vicinity of the present city of Erie to that of Cleveland.
To the southward there was a vast open space, al- ternately the hunting ground and the battlefield of rival tribes, over which the Eries could range with more or less difficulty, to the contines of the Choctaws and Cherokees. On the west and northwest were the lands of the powerful Ottawas, Pottawattomies, Chip- percas and Miamis. It will be understood that the word " powerful" is used in a relative sense, meaning powerful for a tribe of Indians. The Senecas, the strongest of the Fice Nations, had but about a thou- sand warriors, and it is not probable that either of the western tribes, including the Eries, had more than that number.
Less is known of the Eries than of most other In- dian tribes, for during the middle part of the seven- teenth century the French missionaries and fur-traders were generally deterred by the enmity of the Iroquois from taking the route to the West by way of Lake Erie, and ere that route was opened to European travel the Erie nation was blotted out of existence, as will hereafter be described. From the slight ac- counts which have reached us, however, it is evident that they did not differ materially from the other In- dian tribes which surrounded them, and whose char- acteristics are so well known to Americans.
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14
GENERAL HISTORY OF CUYAHOGA COUNTY.
Fierce, cruel and intractable, the men spent their time in hunting and fighting, while the women not only performed their domestic labors, but bore all burdens when attending their masters, and planted, tended and gathered the maize, the pumpkins and the beans, which were the principal vegetable food of the tribe. Slight indeed were the bonds of govern- ment imposed on these most democratic of republic- ans. A few of the elder men were known as sachems, a position rather of honor than of power, though they exercised a gentle authority in maintaining order at home, and determined whether there should be peace or war with neighboring tribes.
In war, the leadership of the tribe devolved on younger men, called war-chiefs, but even these had no authority resembling that exercised by the officers of a civilized army. War being once declared, any ambitions chief could raise a party of volunteers to go on a raid against the enemy. They usually fol- lowed his guidance, but in case they refused to obey him there was no punishment known to Indian law which could be inflicted upon them. Even if one of them showed cowardice, the severest chastisement visited upon him was to call him a " squaw," and de- bar him henceforth from the honors and privileges of a warrior. This, however, was a terrible punishment to men whose only idea of glory or fame was in con- nection with warlike prowess. Sometimes, in cases of great importance, the chiefs called the whole nation to arms, but even then those who failed to respond were merely designated as " squaws, " and left in com- pany with the squaws.
Of civil government there was little need. Fero- cious as the Indians were against their enemies, the members of the various tribes seldom quarreled among themselves. There was not much for them to quar- rel about. There was almost no individual property save the stone tomahawk, the bow and the arrows which each man could manufacture for himself; so there were no contests arising from the sin of covet- ousness. The marriage bond sat lightly upon them, although they were not a peculiarly licentious race. They were merely apathetic in that respect, and mar- ital infidelity did not awaken the anger often felt among barbarous nations no purer than the Indians; so there were few quarrels about women. Liquor had not been introduced among them, and thus another large class of troubles was avoided.
True, they had ferocious and malignant tempers, but it was not necessary to exercise them at home, and until after the introduction of liquor they seldom did so. If a number of Erie braves felt their native tiereeness gnawing in their breasts till it must have vent, it was needless for them to slay each other; they could get up a war party, go forth and scalp a few Ottawa women, or burn a captured Seneca warrior, and be happy.
The whole Indian system was opposed to the idea
of stringent government. Parental restraint over children was of the lightest kind, though great def- erence was paid to age in both men and women. The little copper-colored rogues ran about in naked bless- edness, doing whatsoever they liked; the girls, as they approached womanhood, expecting nothing else than to share the labors of the wigwam and cornfield, while the adolescent boys eagerly trained themselves to be- come hunters and warriors.
When the Eries were the lords over the territory of Cuyahoga county there was ample opportunity for the young braves to exercise themselves there in the ex- hilarating duties of the chase. The level or gently undulating ground, composed of sandy soil near the lake and a clayey loam farther back, was covered with a gigantic growth of beeches, maples, oaks, elms, etc., probably unsurpassed on the continent. The Indians were in the habit of burning off the underbrush so that they could more readily see the game, and this killed the small trees, but caused the large ones to attain magnificent proportions.
Here the deer wandered in great numbers. Here and there, in some aged and hollow tree, the black bear made his hermitage through the wintry days, coming forth in the spring to feed on roots and ber- ries, and, later, on the ample supply of nuts and acorns afforded by the forest. llere, too, was occasionally heard the fierce sercam of the American panther, at which even the hardy Indian youths shrank back in dismay, leaving the task of confronting that dreaded foe to the bravest warriors of the tribe.
Numerous birds flitted among the trees, on which the children could test the strength of their tiny bows and their own accuracy of aim, while at long intervals the lordly cagle soared far overhead, or circled swiftly downward to seize his prey, usually defying with im- punity the arrows even of the most renowned bowmen of the forest. Upon the earth, among many harm- Jess congeners, crawled the deadly rattlesnake, which, however, was easily avoided by the dark youth, shod with wariness and bnskined with cunning.
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