USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > The pioneer families of Cleveland 1796-1840 Vol. I > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
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
Gc 977.102 C59w v.1 1139044
M. L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02279 7531
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/pioneerfamilieso01wick
The Pioneer Families -
OF
CLEVELAND
OHIO
1796 - 1840
By
GERTRUDE VAN RENSSELAER
WICKHAM
VOL. I
Under the Auspices of
The Executive Committee of the Woman's Department of the Cleveland Centennial Commission-1896.
EVANGELICAL PUBLISHING HOUSE
1914
Copyrighted December 14, 1914
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
OF THE
WOMAN'S DEPARTMENT, CLEVELAND CENTENNIAL COMMISSION.
1914.
PRESIDENT, MRS. W. B. NEFF.
VICE-PRESIDENT, MRS. MARY SCRANTON BRADFORD.
RECORDING SECRETARY, MRS. ELLA STURTEVANT WEBB.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY, MRS. CHARLES W. CHASE.
TREASURER, MRS. O. J. HODGE.
HISTORIAN, MRS. GERTRUDE V. R. WICKHAM.
ASSISTANT HISTORIAN, AND CHAIRMAN OF PATRIOTIC WORK, MRS. CHARLES H. SMITH.
CHAIRMAN CIVIC AND EDUCATIONAL WORK, MRS. EDWARD L. HARRIS.
CHAIRMAN CHURCH AND PHILANTHROPIC WORK, MRS. H. A. GRIFFIN.
CHAIRMAN WOMEN IN INDUSTRIES, MRS. JANE ELLIOTT SNOW.
CHAIRMAN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LITERATURE, MRS. H. B. NEFF.
MRS. T. K. DISSETTE, MRS. PERRY H. BABCOCK,
MRS. L. A. RUSSELL, MRS. H. H. STAIR,
MRS. W. G. ROSE, MRS. WILLIAM HARDY,
MRS. CHARLES H. WEED, MRS. W. F. ROTHENBURGER,
MRS. ALFRED PAYSON CHURCHILL.
2
-
PREFACE. 1139044
When the Woman's Department of the Centennial Commission of 1896 was organized, Mrs. Gertrude V. R. Wickham was appointed Historian by the Executive Committee, who little dreamed of the task they were setting her. Mrs. Wickham undertook it in like faith and ignorance of its magnitude, but when she began, in her thorough manner, she found that what few records had been kept were like those of the Old Testament, restricted to the male line!
And these were sadly broken and incomplete. There had surely been women in the founding of the new town, but who they were, what their lives had been, and what service those lives had rendered to the community were known only to their scattered descendants or lost in forgetfulness. The injustice of this oblivion to the brave and patient pioneer woman appealed to Mrs. Wickham, who forthwith began data for a history of the mothers of Cleveland, which grew in time into the present book. It is not likely that she deliberately consecrated fifteen years of her life to the task, years full of arduous work accomplished by technical skill and deli- cate tact in interviewing, years of travel on foot and by trolley over remote parts of the city in all kinds of weather. The task also meant unending research in libraries and among court records, three months of special work in the libraries of New York and the Congressional Library at Washington, D. C. Not the least of the task was the writing of thousands of letters.
The result is now presented in the form of a History of the Pioneer Families of Cleveland, a noble growth from the first idea of a general Memorial to the wives of the early settlers of the Western Reserve. The work is as accurate as it was humanly possible to make it, and is written in the pleasant conversational style of one who loves the task. It is not merely the record of the events of each life, but something of its person- ality and as much of biography as could be found and used, thus giving to the descendants a personal memcir that is rare as it is valuable.
The difficulty of obtaining data may be illustrated by a single instance : David Clark was a pioneer of 1798. He died on Water Street in 1806, leaving a widow, four sons and two daughters. One of the latter married into the Doan family, and was thus easily traced. All the other members of the Clark family disappeared from the annals of Cleveland village, not a clue being left to tell of their migration. It took twelve years of search to find them. No record was made of the innumerable journeys to sub- urban towns, letters written, persons interviewed unsuccessfully. That one search would have made a story of itself, but the patient enthusiasm of Mrs. Wickham finally triumphed in the unearthing of a slight clue which led to the Pacific coast, and which at last brought the family his- tory to light. This is just one instance.
There are no favorites in the history, a fairness that is valuable to the commonwealth in large measure, aside from the personal interest of the descendants, for it happens that the blacksmith of the early village, whose story is as faithfully told as that of the banker, is probably the ancestor of the most prominent families of the present day, while the banker's descendants may now be found in humble lines.
3
THE SCOPE OF THE WORK
Covers in all cases where it was possible to find sufficient data :
The parentage of the pioneer,
His mother's maiden name,
His birthplace and the date of his arrival in Cleveland,
His age at the time of arrival,
His business and where situated,
His home, street and number,
Year of his death and where buried,
Maiden name of his wife, and her parentage,
Her age when married and when and where married,
Names of children and whom they married.
All data has been verified when possible. Much has been gathered from the lips of very old people who passed beyond soon after, and whose information would have been forever lost but for timely effort. Much more space than is usual has been given to women, while the gossipy affectionate style of composition reveals that the whole work has been a labor of love in which the writer has known and communicated with these people so intimately that she treats them all as friends.
It is only just to state that this invaluable work was made possible by the dollar subscriptions of the members of the Woman's Centennial Com- mission of 1896. Every woman who was a member of that organization has a corresponding share in the Pioneer History.
The descendants of early Clevelanders are scattered from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon, where no records of their ancestors are obtain- able, and to these as well as those who form the nucleus of the great city, the value of this book will increase as each succeeding year that carries them farther down the century is an added span to the bridge that sepa- rates them from their own kindred in the past.
Cleveland, 1914.
ELIZABETH H. NEFF.
1
4
GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ARE DUE TO THE FOLLOWING:
Homer E. Stewart of Akron, O., for research in Portage and Summit Counties Courts of Probate.
The late Alexander Johnson of Lakewood, O., for a map of Water Street-West 9th-in 1828.
Miss Sarah L. Barker of Kennard Street, whose phenomenal recol- lection of early St. Clair Street was most valuable.
The late Mrs. Mary Long Severance, for a map of Superior Street in 1825, and for her sympathetic appreciation of this historical effort, coupled with a readiness to assist with facts and names whenever called upon.
The Cuyahoga Abstract Company, for a map locating the 100-acre lots in Newburgh, presented by the Connecticut Land Company in 1797 to the Stiles and Gun families.
The Western Reserve Historical Society, for free access to its books, manuscripts, and newspaper files-covering a period of 15 years.
W. H. Brett and his assistants of Cleveland Public Library, whose many courtesies-long-continued-were valued factors in the preparation of this work.
Also, to the New York Public Library, New York Historical Society, and Congressional Library, Washington, D. C. G. V. R. W.
5
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Surviving pioneers, many of whom since have passed away.
Descendants of early settlers-who are scattered over the length and breadth of the land.
Inscriptions on monuments and headstones in Erie Street, Woodland, Lake View, East Cleveland, and Harvard Grove Cemeteries.
Annals of Early Settlers' Association.
Early marriages in Cuyahoga County, compiled by Mrs. O. J. Hodge. Published, family genealogies.
First Cleveland Directory, published 1837-through courtesy of Guardian Savings & Trust Company.
James H. Kennedy's History of Cleveland-constantly referred to for pioneer names and dates.
Files of Cleveland newspapers-beginning with the "Advertiser," pub- lished in 1819.
Records of land transfers, taxes on property, etc., which should have been a gold mine for reference, have been stored for over half a century in a dark, dirty cellar of the old court house on the Public Square-there- fore inaccessible.
6
THE PIONEER FAMILIES OF CLEVELAND.
1796
STILES
When, early in the month of June, 1796, a party sent out by the Connecticut Land Company to survey the Western Reserve, met with disaster in their open boats on Lake Ontario and were cast ashore at Sodus Bay, there were two women sharing in all the stress and danger of the expedition.
One was a bride of but a few months, the other carried a young child. The former, bearing the fantastic Biblical name of "Talitha Cumi," was a Miss Elderkin of Hartford, Conn., when in the previous November she had married Job P. Stiles.
The latter was Mrs. Elijah Gun.
Neither the name of Job P. Stiles nor that of Elijah Gun appears in the official list of surveyors and helpers composing the party. How or why they were included in it can only be conjectured. A good-natured assent to the appeal of the two men to be allowed in the party with their families as possible settlers may explain their presence there, or, possibly a recog- nition of the valuable service the women might render in the commissary department of the expedition may have influenced its leader in the matter.
Job Phelps Stiles-born in Granville, Mass., 1769-was the son of Job and Lydia Phelps Stiles, of two well-known New England families. The first American ancestor of the Stiles was Robert, who came to Rowley, Mass., from Yorkshire, Eng., with Rev. Ezekiel Rogers. The tombstone of Mrs. Lydia Stiles still stands in the Granville Cemetery. She died in 1779, aged 40 years.
Mrs. Talitha Stiles was equally well born. The Elderkin family has furnished to the American commonwealth many of the name who were noted for their statesmanship, scholarship, and patriotism. Mrs. Stiles was 17 years of age when she came to Cleveland.
The young couple were well educated for the times. Both had been school teachers. They were married in Vermont or removed to that state soon after the wedding, and lived for a time in a locality from which came, a year or two later, several of the earliest Cleveland settlers.
They were present at that first and memorable celebration of the Fourth of July on the Western Reserve soon after the surveyors had reached its north-eastern limit-now known as Conneaut, O.
Here the company divided its forces, part remaining to define the eastern line of the promised land, while the others pushed on in boats to lay out its north-western one, which, at that time, began at the mouth of the Cuyahoga-the Indian claims beyond that point not having been settled. This part of the expedition was considered of more importance, and it included Moses Cleaveland, its leader and the most skillful of its surveyors.
With them came Mr. and Mrs. Stiles-the Guns remaining in Conneaut. A cabin was erected for the former on lot 53, north-east corner of
7
1796
STILES
Superior and Bank streets. This lot contained two acres of land and extended from Superior to what is now St. Clair Street. The cabin, if yet standing, would be on Bank Street, near Frankfort. It must be borne in mind, however, that there were no streets then, except on paper, and their limits only defined by an occasional stake left by the surveyors. Here, in the following February, was born a little son to Mr. and Mrs. Stiles. Squaws belonging to a tribe of Seneca Indians encamped on the river south of the present central viaduct attended to the needs of the young mother and child.
The Stiles family, in common with every other transient or permanent settler in Cleveland, suffered from the malaria that existed in all the lower portions of the hamlet. Marsh lands and stagnant water bred swarms of mosquitoes that, through lack of proper precautions, inoculated the inhab- itants with their deadly poison. Fever and ague, typhoid and typhus fever, and many other like ailments yearly decimated the ranks of the young and old exposed to the attacks of the insects. Children especially suffered from disease and, in many cases, a whole family of little ones would be swept away by some form of malaria then prevalent.
The Stiles family moved their few household effects to the heights south-east of the city and settled upon the 100-acre tract of land situated on what is now known as the south-west corner of Woodhill Road and Union Street. Here they remained for a time, but for how long a period cannot be determined. Authorities conflict in statements regarding it. Probably not long before the war of 1812, Mr. and Mrs. Stiles returned to Vermont by way of Canada. What conduced to this seemingly backward movement of their fortunes has never been explained. They may not have succeeded in attempts to farm the land, or Mrs. Stiles may have succumbed to homesickness and a longing for her parents and friends.
The long, weary journey back to Vermont must have been filled with regret and discouragement. The return to the eastern state did not prove fortunate in a material way, for the family never acquired much means.
It frequently has been stated as an historical fact that the Connecticut Land Company made a valuable gift of land to Mrs. Stiles as the first woman settler of Cleveland. That such a promise was made there can be little doubt. The land-as itemized-consisted of the two-acre town lot on Superior Street, upon which the family first settled, a ten-acre lot, No. 133, on St. Clair Street, extending back to the lake-a line drawn north- ward from E. 18th Street would pass through this property-and a 100- acre lot, No. 448-situated on Woodhill Road corner of Union Street. The depth of the latter extended south half-way to Harvard Street, and its width now includes wholly, or partially, the great Newburgh Rolling Mills.
But the promise of this property was never fulfilled. The Connecticut Land Company furnished no deed of it to Mrs. Stiles. In 1841, John Ives and John Wilde-residence unknown-called upon her where she was liv- ing in Brandon, Vt., and secured a quit deed of the three parcels of Cleve- land land. It has been stated that the equivalent for them was sheep and cattle. However, Messrs. Ives and Wilde were unable to take possession. The Connecticut Land Company had previously conveyed the property to other persons than the Stiles.
8
1796
STILES
Job Stiles died in Branford, Vt., in 1849, aged 80 years. His wife, Talitha Elderkin Stiles, outlived him 10 years. Their Cleveland-born son -Charles Pheles Stiles-married Laura Irish, widow of Mr. Wetmore, raised a family of children and removed to Beaver, Iroquois Co., Illinois, where he died in 1882, aged 85 years.
His youngest son, the only male descendant of Job Stiles-born 1839- is a widower with two daughters. With his death the name of this branch of the Stiles family will cease.
PRESENT ROCKEFELLER BUILDING
BANK ST. OR WEST 6TH
JOB STILES CABIN
SUPERIOR
STREET
FIRST CHILD BORN IN CLEVELAND
The snow was falling lightly upon Cuyahoga's ice-locked river. The small trees and undergrowth covering its eastern bank were bending under the weight of that already fallen. Stretching away on the western side the white level of expanse was broken, here and there, by shriveled stalks or cattail plumes indicating the swamp beneath.
It was early in the afternoon, and a gray light yet outlined the river, but far out on the frozen shores of the lake Erie, the ragged hummocks of ice were growing dim, while the narrow zigzag trail that led up the steep bank was lost in a dense forest into which premature night had fallen.
A few minutes' walk in it from the river stood a small cabin built of rough-hewn logs, so overshadowed by the great trees pressing in upon it that they seemed a menace-as if Nature would gladly crush out this in- trusion upon its primeval solitude. The narrow, crude door of the hut swung on leathern hinges, and the one other opening on a line with it and intended for a window was covered with greased paper, thus made trans- parent and rainproof, but through which daylight entered only when the sun hung high and skies were unclouded.
9
1796
STILES
But the one-roomed interior needed no other light than that from the fireplace of mud and stone, which filled one end of its entire width, and in which big chunks of wood, backed by a flaming log, were brightly burning.
A bedstead of saplings, nailed crosswise and close together, supported by four posts, still covered with bark, stood in a corner near the window. A wide, smooth-hewed slab of wood resting upon rough logs served as a table, upon which stood the few pieces of crockery the household contained. A log stretching the length of one side of the room was used as a settle, while a low slab, fashioned like the table and capable of seating three people, stood before the fire. A rude ladder of sticks fastened to the wall led to a small opening overhead leading to a loft, in which no adult evi- dently could stand upright.
Down this ladder, with much stooping and wriggling, backed a young man, who then walked to the fire with a pretence of poking and replenish- ing it, meanwhile stealing embarrassed glances at a very young woman, who was either lying upon the bed or getting up and moving restlessly about the room.
Frequently she sighed, occasionally moaned softly, and every few min- utes opened the door and peered anxiously out into the gloom beyond. Once she gave a quick gasp, as if stricken with mortal pain, and, sinking down upon the settle, turned frightened, beseeching eyes upon the other occupant of the cabin.
"I don't see why Job stays so long-seems as if I couldn't wait another minute for him. You better go to meet him, Joe,1 and hurry him up."
"Yes, I will so, Talitha. But you know Indians are slow as molasses. It's hard to get one started. They seem to need so much time to turn things over in their minds. I wouldn't worry if I were you. The Senecas are still down under the hill by the river, for I was there only yesterday, and Au Gee's squaw signed to ask me how you were, real kind. But I'll go and see if there's anything hindering."
And taking a coonskin cap and a tippet from a peg in the wall, he hastened out. The young woman, as if unwilling to remain alone in the cabin, put a shawl about her shoulders, and following him to the door, stood leaning against the casing and looking up into the tall trees, where daylight faintly lingered, outlining their topmost branches, where glistened bunches of dead leaves encrusted in snow.
"Oh, Mother, Mother!" she exclaimed aloud, voicing the longing that had possessed her for hours, "I want you, I need you, I am so alone."
As she gazed upward, her tremulous speech breaking in upon the utter stillness of the forest, the tree trunks receded. Suddenly a band of close- set lights brilliant beyond imagination and higher than the tallest trees hung suspended in the darkness. Soon similar ones sprang out beneath them, rows above rows of lights dazzling, innumerable, rose from the ground to the dizzy heights that crowned the whole.2
With their appearance came strange sounds, unlike anything she had ever heard, rending the air, a continuous roar mingled with noises like clashings of steel upon steel.3 Looking down at her feet, behold, a wide
1 Joseph Langdon.
2 The Rockefeller Building.
3 A trolley car.
3 1833 02279 7531
10
1796
LANDON
stone walk covered the leaves of the forest before her door, and beyond it a paved street, along which swiftly moved a horseless vehicle ablaze with light.1 A little way to the left, it turned at right angles and eastward, and joined a procession of like vehicles passing and repassing in endless pro- cession.
The other street2 upon which it turned, and of which the cabin fur- nished but a glimpse, was also bordered with tall buildings that would have seemed of wonderful proportions, but for the tremendous structure -a veritable tower of Babel-across the way.
And as Talitha Stiles gazed spellbound, forgetting time, space, and even her dire forebodings, a voice whispered in her ear,
"The little child you are soon to enclose in your arms will lead the list of thousands of the Cleveland born who will make reality what is to you now but a dream."
And then, above the roar of traffic and commerce, sounded the far- away bay of a wolf, and nearer the guttural voices of an aboriginal tongue. Suddenly all other sounds ceased. The lights went out, the great building opposite broke up into innumerable tree trunks, and through the dusk appeared Job Stiles, her husband, followed by two squaws; one with white locks and wise old eyes, bearing in her arms bunches of herbs, the other younger and spryer, carrying a warm blanket made of furs.
Talitha turned slowly back into the cabin. Had she fallen asleep, while leaning against the doorjamb? Or was it a heavenly vision that had come to comfort her? For surely in no earthly land could such things be !
Early in the morning of the following day, January 23, 1797, the stork that had been hovering for hours over the little log cabin, spread its wings for flight, leaving within a boy babe, the first child born in Cleveland, Ohio.
Charles Phelps Stiles.
1796 LANDON
One of the employees of both the first and second surveying parties that laid out the streets of Cleveland was a young man named Joseph Landon. He was given the choice of a town lot to purchase, and selected No. 77 on the south side of Superior Street, directly opposite that occupied by the Stiles. He remained in Cleveland some time after the surveyors had left, which was October 18, 1796. When he also returned East is doubtful. One authority states that it was in the month of February; an- other that it was at an earlier date. While remaining here, he lived with the Stiles in their log cabin. In the spring of 1797, he returned to Cleveland with the surveyors and with the help of Stephen Gilbert-who became a permanent settler-he cleared his lot and planted it to wheat. This is the last mention made in any Cleveland records of Joseph Landon.
1 Bank Street.
Superior.
11
1797
THE SECOND FAMILY TO ARRIVE IN CLEVELAND
The most careful research has failed to throw authentic light upon the answer to this question.
(1) It is claimed that Lorenzo Carter and his family were the earliest on the ground in the spring of 1797, but no proof of this has been fur- nished.
(2) The Hawley descendants say that the Carters were accompanied by Ezekial Hawley, his wife, and child.
(3) Furthermore, the second surveying party of the Connecticut Land Company, on their way to Cleveland, reached Conneaut, Ohio, May 26, 1797. Elijah Gun and his wife had been left there the previous fall in charge of the company's stores.
"We found that Gun and his wife had gone on to Cleveland," is the testimony of one of the surveyors who kept a journal of the expedition.
It is very probable that the Carters and Hawleys took the journey from Vermont together. Mrs. Carter had three small children when she started, and, while wintering in Canada, another child was born, December 13, 1796; namely, Henry Carter, who was drowned in the Cuyahoga River ten years later. Because of the domestic situation in the Carter family, it is not likely that Mrs. Carter started on such a long and eventful trip into the wilderness unaccompanied by some one of her own sex. Mrs. Ezekial Hawley was her sister-in-law, and it is reasonable, therefore, to rest upon the word of the Hawley family-that they all came on together.
No record has been left of the journey from Buffalo to Cleveland, whether it was made by water or land. If by the former route, they nat- urally would hug the shore all the way, beaching their boat at night-fall, and camping out until morning. As Conneaut was a station of the Con- necticut Land Company and occupied by a family, the pioneer party would scarcely go by the spot without stopping.
On the other hand, if the trip was by land, the party would pass through Conneaut. In either event, unless the Guns already had started for Cleveland, the three families would meet there in April or early May.
It is the opinion of the writer that the Carters, Hawleys, and Guns all came on together from Conneaut, and were established here by the time the second surveying party reached Cleveland.
It is much to be regretted that accurate data concerning the earliest events in the history of Cleveland has not been preserved. No authorita- tive statements can be made regarding many things that would be of great interest and value in any history of the city. There remains, there- fore, no recourse but to compare traditions handed down in pioneer fami- lies with the meager historical facts available, and accept that which seems most probable.
12
1797
GUN
As stated previously, Elijah Gun and his wife, accompanied the sur- veyors of the Connecticut Land Company from some point in the East to Conneaut, Ohio. He was in the employ of the surveyors, and Mrs. Gun cooked for the party.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.