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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02481 1199
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THE OLD STONE CHURCH 1820 - 1920
Of this history 500 copies were privately printed for The Old Stone Church by The Premier Press
This is number
39
THE OLD STONE CHURCH Drawn by Anna P Oviatt
THE OLD STONE CHURCH
THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS
1820-1920
BY ARTHUR C. LUDLOW, D.D.
CLEVELAND, 1920 PRIVATELY PRINTED
COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN SOCIETY IN CLEVELAND
CONTENTS 1204349
FOREWORD 11 · ·
I BEGINNINGS, 1796-1820 ·
13
II
THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS
·
31
III
CHURCH DISCIPLINE
77
IV
THE PLAN OF UNION .
93
V PASTORATE OF THE REVEREND SAMUEL CLARK AIKEN, 1835-1861 105
VI
PASTORATE OF THE REVEREND WILLIAM
HENRY GOODRICH, 1858-1874 .
153
VII
FIRST PASTORATE OF THE REVEREND HIRAM
COLLINS HAYDN, 1872-1880
193
VIII PASTORATE OF THE REVEREND ARTHUR MITCHELL, 1880-1884 . 231
IX
THE SECOND PASTORATE OF THE REVEREND
HIRAM COLLINS HAYDN, 1884-1902
261
X GOOD MEASURE PRESSED DOWN AND RUNNING OVER 305
XI HELPERS ALL 335
XII
THE PASTORATE OF THE REVEREND ANDREW
BARCLAY MELDRUM
375
.
·
1
ILLUSTRATIONS
THE OLD STONE CHURCH . Frontispiece REDUCED FACSIMILE OF A PORTION OF THE RECORD BOOK
OF THE SOCIETY
45
THE ORIGINAL OLD STONE CHURCH
65
SAMUEL C. AIKEN
· 109
WILLIAM H. GOODRICH
155
THE CHURCH OF 1858-1884
161
INTERIOR OF THE OLD STONE CHURCH
195
ARTHUR MITCHELL
233
HIRAM C. HAYDN ·
263
ANDREW B. MELDRUM .
377
FOREWORD
In justice to the author it should be stated that while he has been a life-long resident of Cleveland and pastor for thirty-five years of a sister Presbyterian church, the historical matter presented in this volume was practically unknown to him, when within six months' time, under the additional burden of pastoral cares, the manuscript had to be prepared. More time for research and for proper arrangement of material would have been welcome, but that was out of the question. The language of previous writers may have been used at times, without in every instance due credit having been given, but the swiftness of the task is the only excuse for any seeming plagiarism.
Notwithstanding the exercise of all possible care, inaccuracies will be discovered, while descendants of early members of the Old Stone Church will be dis- appointed in not finding more attention having been given to their ancestors. Everything, however, was subordinated to the portrayal of the First Presby- terian Church of Cleveland as a member of Christ's body, through which the grace of God has richly blessed mankind.
The author closes with the feeling that not half has been told. Time may reveal a greater wealth of data than that in the possession of the centennial
12
FOREWORD
historian, and some one with greater leisure may prepare a more comprehensive and accurate history.
The author has had nothing to do with the form of the book, nor with the selection of its illustrations. He wishes to give special credit to Miss Gertrude M. Robertson, a faithful member of the Stone Church, for her valuable service in preparing the manuscript for the press. Above all he acknowledges the touch of an unseen hand that collaborated with him in 1896 Cleveland Presbyterianism, for without the abiding influence of her inspiration this Story of the Old Stone Church could never have been written.
ARTHUR C. LUDLOW CLEVELAND, AUG. 9, 1920.
I. BEGINNINGS 1796 - 1820
A cynical philosopher once said, "We learn from history that men never learn from history;" still Carlyle's maxims are to be treasured, "History is philosophy teaching by experience," and "History is the essence of innumerable biographies."
If valued truth does come like the particles of gold washed from the alloy of the mountainsides, ought not what is precious in the annals of the First Pres- byterian, or the Old Stone Church of Cleveland, as the religious organization is more popularly known, inspire warmer love for Christ, and a deeper spirit of consecration to the work of His kingdom? Might it not interest and inspire even the heart of the casual reader?
In the northwest quarter-section of the Public Square a gallows was constructed in 1812 for the execution of O'Mic, the Indian condemned for the murder of two white trappers. The court of justice had held its sessions in the open air, at the corner of Superior and Water Streets. Later religious services were conducted in an open field preparatory to the judicial execution.
The instrument of capital punishment was erected in the Public Square, where later for many years the green and white lily-encircled fountain sent forth modest sprays, and where the late Tom L. Johnson
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THE OLD STONE CHURCH
in bronze is now seated. Before a terrific storm from the northwest dispersed the spectators of the grew- some hanging, many of them had found convenient seats upon piles of timber, which the builder of the gallows had drawn to the spot for the purpose of constructing a log court-house.
Levi Johnson, the most noted architect and builder of Cleveland's earlier years, rode into the city in 1809, sold his horse in order to secure a little capital, and thus began his remarkable career. In addition to the gallows and log court-house, he built many residences, the Johnson House on Superior Street opposite the American House, the first lighthouse and pier, the lighthouse at Cedar Point; while the channel of Sandusky Bay was marked by the buoys which he placed for the guidance of boats. After building a number of schooners in 1824 he constructed the first steamboat launched in Cleveland. He then became a prominent owner of boats, and died in 1871 reputed to be a millionaire.
The pioneer court of justice, constructed by Levi Johnson at the cost of five hundred dollars, was two stories in height and its logs were covered with boards painted red. In the lower story of the crude structure were the jail and apartments for the jailor's family. The second story was used for the court-room, and also served as a hall for public assemblies.
The walls of the lower story containing the cells for prisoners were certainly constructed for the safe- keeping of all committed to their confines, for they
15
BEGINNINGS
were made of squared timber three feet long, placed endwise and bolted together. At the landing of the inside stairway a fireplace sizzled during the winter months with green logs, in feeble efforts to warm the whole structure. In the upper story of this log court- house, whose construction had speedily followed the erection of the temporary gallows, the Old Stone Church was born, a place of advent almost as humble as the manger of Bethlehem.
Sunday Schools have often been the forerunners of church organizations. This was true of the origin of the First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland, although the pioneer Sunday School antedated the founding of the church by only a few months.
During June of 1819 a Sunday School had been started by a few earnest Christian men and women. Mr. Elisha Taylor, a Presbyterian, was elected super- intendent; while Mr. Moses White, a Baptist layman, served as secretary. Prominent among the women interested in the union venture were Mrs. Juliana Long and Mrs. Rebecca Carter.
Some forceful character usually inspires incipient religious movements, and this seems to have been especially true of Mr. Elisha Taylor, the first super- intendent and afterwards a ruling elder, until in 1853 he was dismissed from the Stone Church in order to become one of the thirteen charter members of the Euclid Street Presbyterian Church.
Mr. and Mrs. Elisha Taylor had come to Cleveland from Schenectady, N. Y., where they had been active members of the First Presbyterian Church. In their
16
THE OLD STONE CHURCH
new western home they at once combated the pre- vailing religious indifference of the times, and sought diligently to secure permanent spiritual privileges for the villagers. They were noted for hospitality and readiness to entertain ministers of all creeds who chanced to visit the settlement.
In his semicentennial sermon the Reverend Dr. W. H. Goodrich thus portrayed Mr. Elisha Taylor:
He was probably the equal of any of his contemporaries in natural gifts; and his education and culture were superior to theirs. He was a man of inflexible resolve, as well as of very sudden and intense emotions; and if sometimes in his haste he aroused enmity toward him- self, or even the cause he professed, no one could observe him nearly and thoroughly without feeling the power of a genuine, earnest and powerful Christianity.
Mrs. Elisha Taylor lived but two years after the formation of the Stone Church. Her grave in Erie Street Cemetery is marked by a slate monument whose inscription is as clear as when made. Upon the lower portion are these lines :
Twice seven brief years the husband of her youth She cheer'd and blest; and nine sweet babes embrac'd. But four of these herself surviv'd; the last An hour in age, ne'er felt a mother's care. Of faith in Jesus' blood, sov'reign but free, Profession good she made before the world. With God she walk'd; and at life's noon exchang'd Her faith and hope for bless'd eternity.
This pioneer wife, married at sixteen, had passed away when scarcely thirty-one years of age. She died
17
BEGINNINGS
at the birth of the ninth child, the fourth to survive, five having been taken in infancy.
Mr. Moses White, the Baptist layman, elected secretary of the first Sunday School in Cleveland, worshiped with the Presbyterians until the organi- zation of the First Baptist Church was effected in 1833. He lived to old age, an honored citizen and an earnest Christian layman.
A Reverend Mr. Osgood, who visited feeble churches on the Western Reserve, is said to have been present at the organization of this Sunday School in 1819. For some time between twenty and forty pupils attended and were instructed by seven or eight teachers. The school was held part of the year, and flourished better in the winter months.
Out of this home missionary Sunday School issued, September 19, 1820, the First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland. The Reverend William Hanford and the Reverend Randolph Stone, delegated represen- tatives of the Portage Presbytery, met July 18, 1820, in the log court-house, sixteen persons desirous of becoming charter members of the new religious enterprise. The two clergymen, graduates of Yale College, had become prominent leaders of religious forces upon the Western Reserve.
As a home missionary the Reverend William Han- ford had visited almost every Ohio settlement, and to him has been credited the formation of sixteen pioneer churches. For sixteen years he was also pastor of the church at Hudson, Ohio, afterwards the seat of Western Reserve College, to whose founding
18
THE OLD STONE CHURCH
and early welfare the Reverend Mr. Hanford gave much attention.
This pioneer home missionary still has a represen- tative in the activities of Cleveland Presbytery, his nephew, Elder Lewis H. Hanford, having been a lead- ing official throughout the history of the South Pres- byterian Church and frequently a member of Presby- tery.
The business of the preliminary meeting, conducted July 18, 1820, by the two ministers, was recorded in the first volume of the church minutes in this exact form:
After prayer following persons expressed a desire to be examined with reference to their being formed into a church, Viz. Elisha Taylor and Ann his wife, Henry Baird and Ann his wife, Sam'l I. Hamlin, Philip B. Andrews, Sophia L. Perry, Sophia Walsworth, Mabel Howe, Birth Johnston, Robert Baird and Nancy his wife, Rebecca Carter, Julianna Long, Isabella Williamson and Harriet Howe. The first ten of these were Members of the Church - the last six had never made a public profession of their Faith. The above mentioned individuals were all examined, as to their doctrinal and experimental knowledge of Christianity. After which they expressed their approbation of each other. Suitable remarks were made and the meeting closed with prayer. At 4 o'clock P. M., public worship was attended. After sermon those who had been examined were propounded as candidates to be formed into a Church - the organization of which was postponed until letters of recommendation might be obtained by several who had not received them.
This postponement is supposed to have been due to the strict Presbyterian training of Mr. Elisha Taylor,
19
BEGINNINGS
who insisted upon having the letters of certain pros- pective charter members; consequently the organiza- tion of the new church was not completed until September 19, 1820. The following minute describes that formal work of organization:
Agreeably to previous appointment a meeting was held for the purpose of completing the organization of a church in this place. Ministers present as above. After prayer and suitable remarks those who had been previously propounded, excepting Mrs. Sophia L. Perry, who was prevented from attending by sickness in the family, came forward, publicly professed their Faith in Christ, entered into Covenant with God and with each other; were declared to be a Church of Christ, charged to walk worthy of their High Vocation and commended by prayer to the guidance, protection and blessing of Almighty God: After which a meeting of the Church was held. Elisha Taylor was appointed Clerk, and the Con- fession of Faith and Covenant were unanimously adopted. Voted that the Church be under the Watch and Care of the Presbytery of Portage - that the mode of internal government of this Church be left for further determina- tion. Adjournment. Attest, Elisha Taylor, Clerk.
The list of charter members has not always been printed correctly, either in respect to the number of them, or the spelling of their names. In his sermon, delivered in 1893, entitled "History of Presbyter- ianism in Cleveland," the Reverend Dr. H. C. Haydn specified fifteen members, having omitted "Robert Baird and Nancy his wife," and included Minerva Merwin, who united with the church a year later.
In the original record "Walsworth" should have been "Walworth;" while "Birth Johnston" was
20
THE OLD STONE CHURCH
"Mrs. Bertha Johnston." "Julianna Long" should have been "Juliana Long." Mr. Elisha Taylor was a dry goods merchant, while Deacon Samuel I. Ham- len was a carpenter by trade, and almost as pro- nounced a Presbyterian as Mr. Taylor. In the original church roll the name was "Hamlin," instead of "Hamlen," and in Dr. Haydn's sermon it was printed "T. J.," instead of "S. I. Hamlen." He was the father of the late Reverend Chauncey L. Hamlen, a graduate of Western Reserve College and a Presby- terian clergyman, whose youth was spent in the Stone Church. Philip B. Andrews, the owner of a machine shop, made a specialty of repairing steam- boat engines. Henry Baird, the proprietor of a small hotel under Superior Street hill, was a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian, who marched out of church when a bass viol was installed in the choir loft. Mrs. Sophia L. Perry was the widow of Nathan Perry, Sr., a Revolutionary soldier who came to Cleveland in 1806, and became a leader in pioneer days. Mrs. Perry was the daughter of a Vermont clergyman. She is said to have been a very dignified woman, somewhat austere in manner. Her son, Nathan Perry, Jr., resembled his mother in character and disposition. She died in 1836. Mabel and Harriet Howe were Mrs. Mabel and Miss Harriet Howe. They may have been con- nected with Eben D. Howe, who came to Cleve- land in 1819 and was one of the founders of the Cleveland Herald.
Mrs. Sophia Walworth was the wife of Ashbel W. Walworth, the son of Judge John Walworth, who
21
BEGINNINGS
came in 1800 from Connecticut to Ohio, and pur- chased a farm near Painesville. A man of sound judgment and education, he soon became a leading spirit on the Reserve. In 1806 he removed to Cleve- land, having bought a farm of three hundred acres, bounded by Huron, Erie, Cross Streets and the Cuyahoga River. There he resided until he died in 1812. He had held many offices in government and had been associate judge of the Common Pleas Court. His daughter, Juliana Walworth, one of the charter members of the Stone Church, became the wife of Dr. David Long, the first physician to settle in Cleve- land, having come from Hebron, N. Y., in 1810. He was a public spirited man, interested in whatever concerned the welfare of the community. Dr. and Mrs. David Long had a daughter, Mrs. Mary H. Severance, who became the mother of the late Elders Solon L. and Louis H. Severance, who for many years were leaders not only in Presbyterian circles, but also in all missionary and charitable enterprises. Thus Mr. John L. Severance and Mrs. Francis F. Prentiss, children of the late Louis H. Severance, and Mrs. B. L. Milliken, Professor Allen D. and Miss Mary H. Severance, children of the late Solon L. Severance, are members of the fifth generation in line of descent from Judge John Walworth.
While one daughter of Judge John Walworth be- came the wife of the first physician to settle in Cleve- land, a second daughter, Hannah Walworth, became the wife of Dr. Benjamin Strickland, Cleveland's first dentist. He came in 1835 from Vermont, when he was
22
THE OLD STONE CHURCH
twenty-five years of age, and practiced dentistry over fifty years. The first Strickland home and office were located on the present site of the Marshall Drug Com- pany on the Public Square.
Isabella Williamson, a charter member, was the wife of Samuel Williamson, who came to Cleveland from Pennsylvania in 1810. With his brother Matthew he established a tanning business, but he was known as Judge Williamson, having been an associate judge of the Common Pleas Court. He was greatly interested in the moral and intellectual wel- fare of the community, and his name was first on the charter of the Stone Church Society. It is noticeable that only one man who signed the petition for a charter in 1827, incorporating the Church Society, was a member of the church. A number afterwards became members, while some doubtless belonged to distant churches.
Samuel Williamson, the son of Samuel and Isabella Williamson, graduated from Jefferson College in 1829, studied law and became a partner of Leonard Case, Sr. He became one of the most influential members of the Stone Church, and was president of the Board of Trustees from 1860 until the time of his death in 1884. For many years he was president of the Society for Savings. He was the father of the late Judge Samuel E. Williamson, the late George T. Williamson of Chicago, and the Reverend James D. Williamson, D.D., for many years an honored member of Cleveland Presbytery and now vice-president of the Society for Savings.
23
BEGINNINGS
Bertha Johnston and Rebecca Carter were widows. The latter was the widow of the noted Major Lorenzo Carter, who came to Cleveland when only seven persons were living on the banks of the Cuyahoga River. For a number of years Major Carter was the foremost citizen of the village, by reason of his ability to keep order, especially in case of unruly Indians who were attracted to David Bryant's distillery, which commenced operations twenty years prior to the founding of the Stone Church. Major Carter accumulated considerable property and died in 1814, when forty-seven years of age. The widow outlived her husband thirteen years, and for seven years she was a faithful member of the Stone Church. Very modest stones mark the graves of Major and Mrs. Lorenzo Carter, which are a little north of the west entrance of Erie Street Cemetery.
For thirteen years, or until the basement of the first church building could be utilized, this little band of Christians, like Israel of old, had no fixed habita- tion. During the first fifteen years no pastors were installed, the congregation having depended upon "supplies," some of whom were more transient than stated.
The log court-house in the Public Square, the first log schoolhouse on St. Clair Street, the more stately Academy on the site of the present Engine House No. 1 on St. Clair Avenue, and finally the third story of Dr. Long's building on Superior Street, where the American House is located, in a room termed "The Garret," were successive places of worship. The only
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THE OLD STONE CHURCH
other church existing in Cleveland at the time of the organization of the Stone Church was Trinity Parish, popularly denominated "The Church," but in later years known as "Old Trinity." This church had been formed November 9, 1816, in Phineas Shepherd's home, a log cabin on the west side of the river. At that time there was no diocesan organization, or even a missionary society connected with Ohio, but Darius Cooper in 1817 had been appointed to read service. It was not until September 27, 1819, that Bishop Chase first visited the parish and confirmed ten per- sons. Until Trinity Church erected a frame building, costing about three thousand dollars, at the corner of St. Clair and Seneca Streets, the members worshipped in the log court-house, in the Academy, and finally in the Free Masons' Hall.
Thus when the Village of Cleveland contained but one hundred fifty inhabitants, two religious organiza- tions, to be known in time as Old Trinity and Old Stone Churches, shared the same hall for divine worship, and laid humble foundations for larger things, not having the slightest idea that the pioneer village at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River would ever become a great city. That part of Ohio adjacent to Lake Erie had never figured in history. With the exception of the brief sojourn of Christian Indians, under the leadership of Moravian missionaries, on Tinker's Creek, near Bedford, Ohio, for almost a decade after the Revolutionary War the southern shore of Lake Erie was practically deserted.
After the struggle for independence all the Ameri-
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BEGINNINGS
can colonies, with the exception of Connecticut, sur- rendered their claims to the "Northwest Territory." The "Nutmeg State," however, continued to assert control of a strip of land, between the forty-first and forty-second parallels, extending from Connecticut to the Mississippi River and including northern Ohio. A national treaty, made in 1785 with three tribes of Indians, brought the hitherto insignificant Cuyahoga River into marked prominence. The Indians spelled the name "Cayahoga," meaning "crooked," and tor- tuous the stream was. At times its mouth was filled with sand to such an extent that crossing on foot was possible. The national treaty with the Indians forced them to retire west of the Cuyahoga River and Portage Path; while the whites on their part were not to go west of those bounds.
Vast schemes were at once launched by land speculators, the most successful having been the members of the Connecticut Land Company. In 1786 the Government gave Connecticut a strip of land extending one hundred twenty miles west of the Pennsylvania line, between the forty-first and forty- second parallels, as large as Connecticut herself, hence appropriately termed the "New Connecticut." The grant was also called the "Western Reserved Lands," abbreviated in time to "The Western Reserve," or "The Reserve." Connecticut gave five hundred thousand acres of this tract to the citizens of five towns, whose homes had been burned in the Revolu- tionary War, during the raids of Benedict Arnold. The beneficiaries through this grant formed "The
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THE OLD STONE CHURCH
Fire Lands and Sufferers' Land Company." In 1795, however, the Connecticut Legislature abandoned the idea of retailing the remaining three million acres, and so sold the whole tract for forty cents per acre to the Connecticut Land Company, composed of fifty-six citizens of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Fortu- nately for Connecticut the sum of one million two hundred thousand dollars, received through the sale, was set aside for educational purposes. The Land Company had seven directors, one of whom was General Moses Cleaveland, who headed the first sur- veying party as far as the Cuyahoga River, which was half-way between the eastern and western boun- daries of the Western Reserve.
Half of the Western Reserve, between the Cuya- hoga River and the Pennsylvania line, was first sold. Disposition of the half between the Cuyahoga River and Sandusky had to be delayed, until it could be secured from the Indians. The surveyed area of the Western Reserve fell far short of original estimates. It had been taken for granted that the tract of land formed a parallelogram one hundred twenty miles long by seventy-one and a half miles wide, but fully one-third of the estimated area was found to be at the bottom of Lake Erie, the southern shore of that body of water, the northern boundary of the Western Reserve, running northeast and southwest, instead of east and west.
Before returning east members of Moses Cleave- land's party surveyed the "capital city" of the Western Reserve, and bestowed upon it the name of
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