A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I, Part 13

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1262

USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I > Part 13

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From the original in Western Reserve Historical Society

CAPTAIN ALLEN GAYLORD'S SKETCH OF "CLEVELAND UNDER THE HILL" IN 1800 Retouched by Prof. John Brainard, in 1850

A, surveyor's eabin, or "Pease's hotel"; B, log storehouse of the surveyors; C, Lorenzo Car- ter's first cabin; D, mouth of the river; E, old river bed, a "stagnant pool," and mound with trees on it, showing that the river had but recently eut it off.

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

accompanying their work, Moses Cleaveland left the town that bears his name and never returned to it again.

The surveyors left Cleveland, October 18th. Job Stiles and his wife and Richard Landon, one of the surveying party, remained here with food for the winter. Landon soon left for some unknown reason and his place was taken by Edward Paine, a trader with the Indians, who later became prominent in Geauga county. These were the first permanent inhabitants of the "city of Cleveland." During the winter a child was born to Mrs. Stiles. This was the first child born in Cleveland. No physician was in attendance, a neighborly Indian squaw acting as nurse.4

Though the surveyors had worked faithfully, they did not accomplish as much as the Land company had hoped. Those running the parallels had mis- taken the Chagrin river for the Cuyahoga; supplies were difficult to forward; the tangled wilderness made progress tedious. The company had thought one season would be ample for the survey. The general discontent of the share- holders was foreshadowed in General Cleaveland's first report, quoted above. On January 17, 1797, a meeting of the company was held at Hartford and a committee was appointed to investigate the "very great expense of the company [about fourteen thousand dollars] during the first year, the causes which have prevented the completion of the surveys; and why the surveyors and agents have not made their reports." 5 A second committee was appointed to investi- gate the conduct of the directors. A committee on partition, consisting of Daniel Holbrook, Moses Warren, Jr., Seth Pease and Amos Spafford was appointed, and an assessment of five dollars per share was voted.

On February 22, 1797, the committee to investigate the directors reported a complete exoneration. The dissatisfied stockholders were moreover told by Augustus Porter, the chief surveyor, that there was no excess for the "Excess Company," and that the Land company had less than the three million acres which they thought they had purchased.

In the spring of 1797 the second surveying party set out from the Reserve under the superintendence of Rev. Seth Hart. Seth Pease was the principal sur- veyor and with him were the following surveyors: Richard M. Stoddard, Moses Warren, Amzi Atwater, Joseph Landon, Amos Spafford, Warham Shepard, Phineas Barker, Nathan Redfield. There were fifty-two employees 6 and Theo- dore Shepard (or Shepherd), physician.7

On their arrival at Conneaut they learned that the families left there had suffered terrible hardships during the winter. Elijah Gun and Anna, his wife, were left at Stow castle during this first winter but when the second surveying party arrived, May 26, Pease enters in his journal, "We found that Mr. Gun's family had removed to Cuyahoga. Mr. Kingsbury, his wife and one child were in a low state of health, to whom we administered what relief we could." James Kingsbury had come here in 1796 for the purpose of seeking a house in the wilderness. He was not connected with the Land company.

4 Rice "Pioneers of the Western Reserve," p. 61.

5 Whittlesey's "Early History of Cleveland," p. 254.

6 Whittlesey is not certain that there were others. P. 275.

7 See Appendix for list.

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

The survey east of the Cuyahoga was completed this season and on December 13, 1797, the committee on partition reported on the four townships that had been surveyed into four hundred lots, each of one hundred and sixty acres. The townships were Northfield, Bedford, Warrensville and Perry. A distribution of the draft was made. In 1806 the surveys of the land west of the Cuyahoga was begun. Amos Spafford, of Cleveland, and Almon Ruggles, of Huron, fixed the boundary between the Firelands and the Reserve. There were in all five divisions made of the draft, the final taking place at Hartford, January 5, 1809. All the unsold lots in Cleveland were then distributed.

This concluded the surveys. The settlement of the new tract began in earn- est as soon as the land was apportioned. Comparatively few of the surveyors became settlers. In contrast with the first party, the second party suffered con- tinually with malaria.

CHAPTER X.

PIONEER FAMILIES AND VILLAGE GROWTH.

The success of a pioneer town depends upon the character and virility of its first settlers as well as upon its geographical location. In the heroic age of set- tlement personality predominates. It leaves its mark upon the character of the community as strongly as the personality of the parent on the child. As the village develops into a town, the individuality of its inhabitants becomes merged in the community interests, and as the town further develops into a city, per- sonal identity is almost entirely destroyed.1

Whittlesey gives the following list of the first settlers :2

"1796-Job P. Stiles and Tabitha Cumi Stiles, his wife; Edward Paine.

"1797-Lorenzo Carter and Rebecca Carter (nee Aikin) ; Alonzo, Henry, Laura (Mrs. Strong), Mercy (Mrs. Abell) and Betsey (Mrs. Cathan), their children : Mrs. Chloe Inches, (Mrs. Clement) James Kingsbury and Eunice Kings- bury (nee Waldo), with three children, Amos S., Almon and Abigail (Mrs. Sherman) ; Ezekiel Hawley and Lucy Hawley (nee Carter) and one child; Elijah Gun and Anna Gun and one child; Pierre Meloche; and Peleg Washburne, who died the same season.

"1798-Nathaniel Doan and Mary Doan (nee Carey), Job and three daugh- ters, afterward Mrs. R. H. Blin, Mrs. Eddy and Mrs. Baldwin; Samuel Dodge; Rodolphus Edwards; Nathan Chapman; Steven Gilbert ; Joseph Landon.

"1799-Richard H. Blin, William Wheeler Williams; Mr. Gallup; Major Wyatt.

"1800-Amos Spafford, wife and family; Alexander Campbell ; David Clark

1 Biographical sketches of the pioneers are preserved in the "Annals of the Early Settlers' Association," the Tracts of the Western Reserve Historical Society and in the writings of Charles Whittlesey, Harvey Rice and others. Pen pictures of the village and town written by contemporaries are also preserved in these records.

2 "Early History of Cleveland," p. 454.

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SUPERIOR

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CLEAVELAND

hildings in 1814. Buildings of an earlier date. a. Fort Huntington, 1813. b. Trading-house of 1786. c: Carter's first cabin, 1796. d. Job P. Stiles's first cabin, 1796. e. Surveyor's first cabin, 1796. f. Surveyor's cabin on the hill, 1797. g. Cemetery lot, 1797. h. Jail and Court-House, 1812. i. Kingsbury's first cabin, 1797. k. Carter's house'on the hill, 1803.

The different positions of the shore-lines are shown by the dates of the surveys :- 1796, 1801, 1812, 1827, 1831, 1840, 1842, 1846, 1857.

Amos Spafford's map of 1801, as copied by Alfred Kelley into Cuyahoga County Records in 1814. Kelley indicated the buildings, The positions of the shore lines were added by Col. Chas. Whittlesey, who reproduced the map in his "Early History of Cleveland."

1801

1846

840

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-1796

1796

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STREET

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173

OHIO

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

and wife, Mason, Martin, James, Margaret and Lucy, their children ; David Bry- ant ; Gilman Bryant ; and Samuel Jones.

"1801-Samuel Huntington and wife; Miss Margaret Cobb; Julius C. and Colburn, sons of Mr. Huntington; Timothy Doan and Polly Doan, Timothy, Jr., Seth, John, Deborah (Mrs. Crocker), Mrs. Samuel Dodge and Mrs. Bron- son, their children ; Elisha Norton and family."

When the surveyors returned to Connecticut in the autumn of 1796 they left in Cleveland, Job B. Stiles and his wife Tabitha Cumi Stiles, with provisions for the winter. A log hut was erected for them by the surveyors on lot 53 about where Kinney & Levan's store now stands on Bank street near Superior. Rich- ard Landon, one of the surveyors, was left with them but he soon abandoned the isolated settlement and his place was taken by Edward Paine, who was then trading with the Indians. Thus these three persons were the first to spend the lonely winter's vigil in the vast wilderness of the Reserve. When the surveyors returned in the following summer they brought with them James Kingsbury, his brave wife, Eunice, and their three children, Abigail, Amos Shepherd and Almon. The Kingsburys were the first settlers on the Reserve who came on their own account, independent of the Land company. They had passed through a terrible experience in Conneaut the preceding winter. Judge Kingsbury and his wife had reached Conneaut, seeking a home in the wilderness in the summer of 1796. It became necessary for Mr. Kingsbury to return east in the autumn and he left his wife at Conneaut with provisions to last until his return. He was delayed, however, and did not reach Conneaut until the 24th of December, where he found his wife exhausted, an infant that had been born during his absence at the point of death, and the supply of food nearly gone. After terrible hardships he succeeded in bringing some provisions from Erie. The babe died soon afterward. When the second surveying party came to Cleve- land, Mr. Kingsbury came with them and here he became identified with the vil- lage and was one of the actual founders of our city. He died on his farm near Newburg on the 12th of December, 1847. His long and useful life was given un- stintedly to the public service. In 1800 he was appointed judge of the Common Pleas for the county of Trumbull; in 1805, he was a member of the legislature to which he was reelected for a second term; in the War of 1812 he was active in the forwarding of supplies to the American forces, and was a pioneer in all worthy efforts to establish the community.

Job Stiles and his family returned with the surveyors to New England in the fall of 1797 and remained there during the rest of their days.

Lorenzo Carter, another of the arrivals of 1797, was the most picturesque char- acter of our early history. The traditions of the village are filled with allusions to his stalwart bravery, his fearlessness and his success at quelling the Indian troubles and settling frontier disputes. His first cabin, erected in 1797, was located about six rods from the river and about fifteen rods north of St. Clair street. In 1803 he built a more aspiring cabin of logs that were boarded on the outside to give the hut the appearance of a frame building. This cabin was on Union street near lower Superior. The building was burned to the ground just before it was finished, but was immediately rebuilt by the dauntless pioneer. Afterwards he purchased a considerable tract of land on the west side of the river, where he

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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

built a substantial house. He and his sons were engaged in river traffic for a number of years. He died February 8, 1814, aged only forty-seven years. "He was kind and generous to the poor and unfortunate, hospitable to the stranger, would put himself to great inconvenience to oblige a neighbor, and was always at the service of an individual or the public, when a wrong had been perpetrated. In all the domestic relations he was kind and affectionate." 3

Elijah Gun, who also arrived in 1797, was for many years the picturesque boat- man who ferried the stranger across the Cuyahoga river at the foot of Superior street.

In 1798 arrived two other men who were potent in laying the foundation of our city. Nathaniel Doan (sometimes spelled Doane), was a member of the first surveying party and also of the second. He was so confident of the future of the western country that he brought his family in 1798, consisting of his wife Sarah and four children. He moved into the cabin that had been occupied by Job Stiles and conducted a blacksmith shop, the first in the village, on the south side of Superior street just east of Bank street. In 1799 he moved four miles to the eastward where Doan's Corners commemorate the location of his farm. There he soon established a smithy. He was not only a useful blacksmith, how- ever, but a most useful citizen of the county. He kept a tavern and a store, built a little saleratus factory on his farm, was postmaster and justice of the peace, and in the absence of clergymen, conducted religious services in his own home.

The second pioneer to arrive in 1798, who impressed his personality upon our city, was Samuel Dodge. As Nathaniel Doan was Cleveland's first blacksmith, Samuel Dodge was Cleveland's first carpenter. He was twenty-one years of age and unmarried when he came to our community, had a fair education and was endowed with great energy and good sense. A carpenter is a very useful member of a pioneer community and Samuel Dodge's services were indispensable. He built in 1801 the first frame barn erected in Cleveland, for Samuel Hunting- ton. Tradition has it he received three hundred and thirty dollars as a considera- tion, and that he took in lieu of cash several ten acre lots located between Euclid avenue and St. Clair street. Dodge street (now 17th) indicates the location of this fortunate bargain. He married the daughter of Nathaniel Doan and built for him- self a log hut on the land he had received from Governor Huntington, and there he dug a well on the north side of Euclid avenue near the present location of Dodge street. This was the first well dug in the village. It was lined with small boulders, was covered with a stone slab and provided with a sweep, common in the backwoods. It did samaritan service for many years .*

These four men, Lorenzo Carter, James Kingsbury, Nathaniel Doan and Sam- uel Dodge, deserve to be remembered as the actual founders of the village of Cleveland, for Moses Cleaveland never returned after his first furtive visit to the

3 "Early History of Cleveland," p. 347.

* "December 14, 1804, Mr. Huntington deeded to Mr. Dodge, for the consideration of three hundred and thirty dollars as named in conveyance, eleven ten-acre lots em- bracing a strip of land extending from what was called in this deed, the "Middle Road," *

oftened called "Central Highway," now Euclid avenue, to the lake. * * Some of this land is still held in the Dodge family. * * * It is said the abstracts of title to this land show the fewest transfers generally-three in all-of any real estate in Cuyahoga county."

-O. J. Hodge, "Annals Early Settlers' Association," Vol. V. p. 348.

Judge Kingsbury's House, Woodland Hills Avenue. Built in 1800; still standing. One of the first orchards in the county was planted around this house.

Said to be the oldest house in Cleveland, and to have been used by Astor's Fur Company before Cleveland was surveyed. There is great doubt as to this. Alfred Kelley lo- cates a Trading House on the west side, on his map of 1814, giving date of house as 1786. This may be the house here shown. The house was built of hewn timbers, later covered with sidings. Joel Scranton owned it for a number of years and sold it to Robert Sanderson in 1844. It was moved to Frankfort street from its original location on the flats near the river. See "Annals Early Settlers' Association," No .5, p. 84.

Courtesy of Rev. Arthur Dudlow

Two of the oldest buildings in the city, on Miles Avenue, formerly Newburgh. The frame house was built by Edward Taylor in 1832. The brick house was Newburgh's first town hall, built about 1828. The lower floor had two school rooms, the upper was the Town Hall, reached by a broad stairway from the street. The original New- burgh log schoolhouse stood on this site.

and

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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

wilderness. But these men endured the privations and vicissitudes of frontier life, reared their families here and plied their honest trades. Their foresight, energy, good sense, and high ideals of civic duty established the village that developed into the metropolis of a great state. Their neglected graves are tokens of the carelessness and ingratitude of our citizenship. Three of them, Samuel Dodge, Lorenzo Carter and James Kingsbury, were buried in the old Erie cemetery ; Nathaniel Doan is buried in the East Cleveland cemetery. No public monument commemorates their arduous services.

Among the arrivals of 1800 was Amos Spafford, one of the members of the first surveying party. He lived here but a few years when he removed to the Miami river. He was active in the War of 1812. The condition of the ridge be- tween Doan's Corners and Newburgh, which was more populous than Cleveland in 1806, is set forth by Judge Walworth, who then a boy of sixteen, came to visit the family of W. W. Williams. "Newburgh street was opened previously from the mill north to Doan's Corners, and was then lined with cultivated fields on both sides, nearly the whole distance from Judge Kingsbury's to the mill. But much dead timber remained in the fields. There were some orchards of apple trees on some of the farms and Judge Kingsbury's orchard bore a few apples that season, which was probably the first season of bearing." 4

In 1800, also came Alexander Campbell, one of the earliest traders to bring a permanent stock of goods to the village; and David Bryant, whose distillery near the spring at the foot of Superior street, proved very popular with the In- dians and useful to the pioneers. In 1801 came Samuel Huntington, who is mentioned in another chapter, and Timothy Doan, brother of Nathaniel Doan, who, like his brother, became a useful member of the community. He purchased a section of land for about a dollar an acre near Doan's Corners, where he re- mained during the rest of his life.5

In 1806 two important additions to the pioneer colony were made when Nathan Perry and John Walworth arrived. Nathan Perry was called by Judge Cleveland "the first great pioneer merchant of Cleveland." He was a successful trader with the Indians, was born in Connecticut in 1760, came to Ohio in 1796, brought his family here in 1806, purchased a thousand acres of land in what is now Lake county for about fifty cents an acre and became the owner of a five acre tract in Cleveland between Superior, St. Clair, Water and Banks streets, and of a tract of land afterwards known as the Horace Perry farm near the intersection of Broadway and Perry street. At the corner of Superior and Water street he built a storehouse and dwelling, which was replaced within a few years by a brick store. His business expanded until he became one of the leading business men in north- ern Ohio, and one of the wealthiest men of the city. He died June 24, 1865. His only child became the wife of Senator Henry B. Payne.

John Walworth came to Painesville in 1800. He moved to Cleveland in 1806 and died on the 10th of September, 1812, leaving three sons, John P., Horace and Ashbel W., all of whom became potent in our community, and two daughters, who were Mrs. Dr. Long and Mrs. Dr. Strickland. He was an active man, kind

" "Early History of Cleveland," p. 428.

6 For details of the Doan family, see "Sketch of the Doan Family," by John Doan, "Annals of Early Settlers Association" No. 6, p. 51.

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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

and intelligent, favored by the Indians and popular with all. He held more offices than any other of the early settlers. Governor St. Clair commis- sioned him as justice of the peace in July, 1802; Governor Tiffin appointed him as associate judge in April, 1803; he was appointed postmaster of Painesville in November, 1804; inspector of the port of Cuyahoga, June 12, 1805; collector of the district of Erie, July 17, 1806; associate judge of Cuyahoga county, January 23, 1806; postmaster of Cleveland in May, 1806, which latter office he held until the time of his death. He was also recorder and clerk of the common pleas court of Cuyahoga county. During the War of 1812 his courage, vigilance and energy did much to dispel the panic among the villagers on the news of Hull's surrender.

In 1808 'Abram Hickox became a member of the community. He built his first blacksmith shop near the corner of Superior and Bond, where his sign "Uncle Abram works here," swung over the street for many years. Later he moved his smithy to the corner of Euclid and Hickox street. He was a kind-hearted man as well as a very useful one, and his quaint figure was well known to all of the pioneers. He died in 1845, and was buried in the Erie street cemetery.

In 1808 Doan's Corners received two valuable additions when Samuel Cozad and his brother Elias settled there. They built the first tannery in that neighbor- hood. Stanley Griswold was another fortunate addition to the village in this year. He had been appointed secretary of the territory of Michigan in 1805, but removed to Doan's Corners soon afterward, where he was made town clerk and soon thereafter was appointed United States senator by Governor Hunting- ton, to fill out an unexpired term.

In 1809 arrived a man who became one of the pioneers in lake traffic and shipbuilding. This was Levi Johnson. He was a native of Herkimer county, New York, and was about twenty-four years old when he came to Cleveland. He built a log cabin on Euclid road near the public square. He was a builder and carpenter; many of the more pretentious houses of the town were his handiwork. In 1814 he built the schooner, "Lady's Master." It was built "upon the hill" and hauled to the river by ox teams. Subsequently he built quite a number of these early trading boats. He built the first stone light- house here, also the lighthouse at Cedar Point and Sandusky bay, as well as a considerable portion of the first government pier. His brothers, Samuel and Jonathan joined in these various enterprises.

1810 was an important year to the early settlement, for it welcomed its first lawyer and first doctor. The first lawyer was Alfred Kelley. He was born in Middletown, Connecticut, November 7, 1789, attended Fairfield academy, came to Cleveland on horseback in company with Dr. Jared P. Kirtland and Joshua Stow, two men who afterwards became distinguished in the development of the Western Reserve. Samuel Huntington, who lived in Cleveland before 1810, was a lawyer, but he did not practice here and remained only a few years. Alfred Kelley was Cleveland's first actual lawyer. His strong personality and active mind are im- pressed upon all of the early village legislation. He became a member of the general assembly, and served almost continuously from 1814 until 1822. He left the stamp of his activity upon many state laws, especially the canal and banking laws. In 1822 he was appointed canal commissioner of the state. He removed to Columbus in 1830, and died there December 2, 1859.

From original drawing in Western Reserve Historical Society Lorenzo Carter

From original drawing in Western Reserve Historical Society Mrs. Lorenzo Carter

From the original in Western Reserve Historical Society James Kingsbury

From original print in Western Reserve Historical Society Seth Pease

From an old eut "I'nele" Abram Hickox

CLEVELAND PIONEERS

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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

Dr. David Long, Cleveland's first physician, also came here from New York, from Washington county. He was educated in New York city and when he joined with lawyer Kelley in a litttle office on Superior street, there was no physician nearer than Painesville, Hudson, Wooster and Monroe. Dr. Long at once became an active public-spirited member of the new community .* Elias and Harvey Murray, merchants, also arrived in 1810. They built a frame store on Superior street, west of the Forest City block. Samuel Williamson and his brother Matthew were important arrivals in 1810. They built the first tannery in the village of Cleveland. Samuel died in 1834. His son Samuel became one of the distinguished members of the Cleveland bar and served in many public positions. He was for many years the president of the Society for Savings and died in 1884. And he in turn left to the county a distinguished son, Samuel E. Williamson, noted jurist and friend of all good works, who died February 21, 1903.

Mr. Y. L. Morgan has left the following description of the town in 1811 : "The following to the best of my recollection are the names of men who lived in what was then Cleveland in the fall of 1811 and the spring of 1812. Possibly a few names may be missing. I will begin north of the Kingsbury creek on Broadway. The first was Major Samuel Jones on the hill near the turn of the road. Farther down came Judge John Walworth, then postmaster, and his oldest son, A. W. Walworth, and son-in-law, Dr. David Long. Then on the corner where the Forest City House now stands, was a Mr. Morey. The next was near the now American House, where the little postoffice then stood, occupied by Mr. Hanchet, who has just started a little store. Close by was a tavern kept by Mr. George Wallace. On the top of the hill north of Main street, Lorenzo Carter and son, Lorenzo, Jr., who kept tavern also. The only house below on Water street was owned by Judge Samuel Wil- liamson, with his family and his brother Matthew, who had a tannery on the side hill below. On the corner of Water and Superior streets was Nathan Perry's store, and his brother, Horace Perry, lived near by. Levi Johnson came to Cleveland about that time, likewise two brothers of his who came soon after -Benjamin, a one legged man, and I think the other's name was John. The first and last were lake captains for a time. Abraham Hickox, the old black- smith; Alfred Kelley, Esq., who traded with 'Squire Walworth at that time; then a Mr. Bailey, also Elias and Harvey Murray, and perhaps a very few others in the town, not named. On what is now Euclid avenue from Monumental Square through the woods to East Cleveland, was but one man, Nathan Chap- man, who lived in a small shanty, with a small clearing around him and near the present Euclid Station. He died soon after. Then at what was called Doan's Corners, lived two families only, Nathaniel, the older, and Major Seth Doan. Then on the south, now Woodland Hills avenue, first came Richard Blin, Rodolphus Edwards and Mr. Stephens, a school teacher; Mr. Honey, James Kingsbury, David Burras, Eben Hosmer, John Wightman, William W. Williams and three sons, Frederick, William W., Jr, and Joseph. Next on the Carter place, Philomen Baldwin and four sons, Philomen, Jr., Amos, Caleb and Runa. Next James Hamil- ton ; then Samuel Hamilton (who was drowned in the lake), his widow and three

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A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I, Part 13

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1262

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1262