A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 29

Author: Avery, Elroy McKendree, 1844-1935; Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, New York The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 904

USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut > Part 29

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In the Cleveland of a century ago there were buildings at every turn which were the product of Levi Johnson's skill as a carpenter and contractor. In 1812 he took a contract to build the first court house and jail at the northwest corner of the square, opposite the present site of the First Presbyterian Church. The material was to be of logs. In order to make the structure as solid as possible, the broad sides of the logs were placed together. About noon on the 10th of September, 1813, Mr. Johnson and his men were putting the fin- ishing touches to this building. Sounds were heard that were first taken to be distant thun- der, but on more careful investigation proved to be the roar of distant cannon. Captain Johnson and his workmen hastened to the banks of the lake, all the inhabitants of the village had in the meantime collected, and this was the first annoucement to the people of Cleveland of the great battle being fought at Put-in-Bay by Commodore Perry with the British fleet, a battle which gave the command of the Great Lakes to the American forces during the remainder of the War of 1812.

A few days after this battle Levi Johnson and a friend found a large flat boat that had been built by General Jessup for the convey- ance of troops and had been abandoned. The two men bought a hundred bushels of potatoes and loading them on the flat boat proceeded to the army and navy headquarters at Put-in- Bay, where the potatoes proved a welcome ad- dition to the army fare and brought the part- ners a handsome profit. That was the first of Levi Johnson's successful commercial transac- tions and as much as anything else started

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him on the road to prosperity. Later he and his companion loaded the flat boat with sup- plies which were taken to the army at Detroit, and again gave them a large profit. Mr. John- son entered into a contract with the quarter- master of the Detroit Post to carry a cargo of clothing to the army. It was late in the season and the boat was obstructed by ice, compelling a landing at Huron. Nevertheless the cargo was delivered and those were the initial suc- cesses of Capt. Levi Johnson as a contractor and an important figure in the lake transpor- tation business.

He next proceeded with the construction of a vessel of his own. The keel was laid for a ship of thirty-five tons, named Highland. Un- der many difficulties this boat was finally com- pleted and its lannching was a big event in the history of the Cleveland of that day. The boat was hoisted on wheels, and with much strenuous exertion was finally drawn to the edge of the water by twenty-eight yoke of oxen. This launching occurred on the river at the foot of Superior Street, and an im- mense crowd, as measured in proportion to the population of Northern Ohio at that time, cheered and applauded the exploit. It was the first boat of any size constructed and launched at Cleveland and marks the beginning of Cleveland's history as a shipping center.

In the meantime Mr. Johnson continued his business as a builder. He is credited with hav- ing built the gallows on which the Indian O'Mie was hanged. In 1811 he put up the Buckeye House and many of the historie struc- tures of the early days were the work of his hands and his organization. He made a great success of his first boat, and when it was launched it was requisitioned for army pur- poses and on it army stores were transported between Buffalo and Detroit. Two loads of soldiers were also taken from Buffalo to the command of Major Camp at Detroit. On the return trip the guns left by Harrison at Maumee were taken to Erie. In this business Mr. Johnson lost $300 as a result of the quar- termaster absconding. In 1815 he began transporting stores to Malden, making his first trip on March 20th. On the second trip to Detroit he was hailed when passing Malden, and when his boat did not stop a shot was fired, the ball passing through the foresail, and after the second shot Mr. Johnson brought his vessel to the shore. The commander of the fort demanded the mail, but Mr. Johnson de- clined to give it up and though an attempt was made to detain his vessel he spread sail

and with a favorable wind got away from his pursuers and did not stop until he had deliv- ered the mail safely at the Detroit post office. In 1815 Captain Johnson built the schooner Neptune, of sixty-five tons, and after taking it to Buffalo he returned with a cargo of mer- chandise consigned to Jonathan Williamson. In 1817 this vessel made a trip to Mackinac for the American Fur Company, and was em- ployed in the fur trade until the fall of 1819.

In 1824 Captain Johnson and his associates built the first steamer ever constructed at Cleveland. It was known as the Enterprise and was of about 200 tons capacity. The Cleveland Press recently published some in- teresting items concerning this pioneer steam- boat, and in the course of the article said : "The building of the Enterprise may be said to mark the beginning of Cleveland's import- ance in Great Lakes traffic and the industrial progress resulting therefrom. The Enterprise was much different from the ore freighters that now enter the Cleveland harbor. She was perhaps one-fifth as long and burned wood for fuel. To Clevelanders she represented a great evolution not only in freight but in passenger traffic. Those accustomed to travel by water had been forced to put up with rude, stuffy quarters in the cabin of a sailing vessel. Al- though the Enterprise mainly carried freight, she had quarters for passengers." The En- terprise subsequently sailed back and forth over the lake between Buffalo, Detroit and Cleveland until 1828. Iu that year Captain Johnson sold his interest in the vessel. In 1830, with the firm of Goodman & Wilkeson, he built the Commodore on the Chagrin River, and the construction of this vessel closed his career as a ship builder. He afterwards con- tracted to build for the general government the old stone lighthouse on the site of the present one at Cleveland harbor. He also built the lighthouse at Cedar Point and set the buoys marking the channel to and into Sandusky Bay. Later Captain Johnson built 700 feet of the east government pier at Cleve- land.

His various ventures as a builder and vessel owner gave him what was then regarded as a substantial fortune, and he prudently invested it in real estate. He always showed great faith in Cleveland as a coming city and that faith has been remarkably justified since his life- time. Even before he died he was rated as a millionaire, and yet he had come to Cleveland almost as a penniless workman. In 1860 he became a director in the Commercial Bank of

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Lake Erie. He was always a builder, though not in the original sense. Through his capital he erected some of the structures which were considered the latest word in modern archi- tecture in those days, and he improved some of the most conspicuous lots in the city.

In 1812 Captain Johnson was chosen coro- ner of Cuyahoga County, being the first in- cumbent of the office. He was also the first man appointed deputy sheriff. He was one of the last survivors of that group of men who had laid the permanent foundation of the city, whose greatness he was in a position to ap- preciate and realize before his death. Capt. Levi Johnson died December 19, 1871, at the age of eighty-six. He and his wife reared three children: Harriet, Periander and Phil- ander L.

PHILANDER L. JOHNSON. The fortune in Cleveland which his father gained by sheer force of energy and will, coupled with good judgment and intelligence, Philander L. John- son succeeded in augmenting under less stren- uons conditions, perhaps, but with reliance upon the same qualities which had made his father so successful.

A son of Capt. Levi and Margaret (Mon- tier) Johnson, whose lives as Cleveland pio- neers have been described above, Philander L. Johnson was born in Cleveland June 23, 1823. He was the only one of his parents' children born in Cleveland. In the city where he was born and reared he died May 18, 1907, at the age of eighty-four, and at the time was one of the few men whose knowledge of Cleve- land's development and history went back to the early '30s. He had the advantages of the common schools, and early became associated with his father. He was especially concerned with his father's real estate business, and prob- ably no one in his generation ever surpassed him in keen, exact and authorative knowledge of real estate values and opportunities. After his father's death he inherited a share of the estate, which in itself was a considerable for- tune, but by his own judicious independent investments he made it vastly larger and more important. The public knew that he was one of Cleveland's wealthy men, but it was chiefly concerned in its stewardship of that wealth, and the important thing to remember is that he not only conserved private capital but did much to give the city corresponding benefit by his wise and judicious administration. In his later years Philander L. Johnson became ex- tensively interested in the transportation busi-

ness on the Great Lakes. Thus he ended his career in a line which had taken the attention of his father at the beginning. In company with others P. L. Johnson bought the barge Kate Winslow, later built the HI. J. Johnson and the George Pressely, and in 1892 he was interested in the purchase of the Minnchaha and in 1893 of the Nellie Reddington.

Mr. Johnson was a stanch democrat, but never had any desire to gain the distinctions that come through practical participation in politics. He understood that the obligations imposed upon him were chiefly in the wise and constructive administration of his business affairs, and the success with which he dis- charged these responsibilities should be re- garded as his hig life work.

Philander L. Johnson married Sarah M. Clarke. She was born in Dublin, Ireland, daughter of Michael and Sarah Clarke, but was reared in London, England. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson had six children. Margaret and Mary, the oldest, were twins, and the former is now Mrs. Lorimer Porter and the latter is Mrs. Mary Spencer. The others still living are Harriet K., Mrs. Clare J. Cobb and Levi A. Another son, Clarke Johnson, died in 1891 at the age of eleven years.

The father of these children was an active member of the Masonic fraternity. He was a member of both the York and Scottish Rites, was affiliated with Webb Chapter No. 14, Royal Arch Masons, the Knight Templar Com- mandery, the Ohio Consistory of the Scottish Rite and the Mystic Shrine. He also belonged to the Knights of Pythias. He gave the full strength of his influence to the various move- ments inaugurated in the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, of which he was a member, and was also identified with the Vessel Owners' Association.

The many responsibilities connected with the management of his father's estate have now devolved upon his son Levi A. Levi A. Johnson inherited from his father and grand- father unusual traits of business character, and he was also liberally trained, being a graduate of Yale University. He is one of the younger generation of Cleveland business men, and in his generation he wields a constructive influence not unworthy to be compared with the parts his honored grandfather and father took in Cleveland history of the past.

LEVI ARTHUR JOHNSON has a very distin- guished relationship with Cleveland history and affairs. He is a grandson of Capt. Levi

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Johnson, who arrived in Cleveland March 10, 1809, and for years was one of the foremost figures of the city. Concerning his activities other pages of this publication furnish a rec- ord. Some of Cleveland's most valuable real estate belongs to the Johnson family, and Levi A. Johnson's chief work since leaving college has been in handling this estate.

He was born at Cleveland September 1, 1873, a son of the late Philander Levi Johnson, who was born in Cleveland on Superior Ave- nue, where the Rockefeller Building now stands, and, as told on other pages, was ac- tively identified with the Great Lakes trans- portation and with Cleveland real estate. His widow, Sarah (Clarke) Johnson, is still liv- ing, and is the nominal president of The John- son Realty Company.

Levi A. Johnson has traced out in the fam- ily record the names of five Levis, including his own son, now four years of age. After the first of the name, who served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war, there came Capt. Levi Johnson, the Cleveland pioneer. His father, as above noted, bore the name Philander Levi, and Levi A. and his son make up the five.

Levi Arthur Johnson was educated in the Cleveland public schools, Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, and graduated Ph. B. with the class of 1895 from the Shef- field Scientific School of Yale University. On leaving college he returned to Cleveland and has since that time managed the estate of his father, which has been incorporated as The Johnson Realty Company. Mr. Johnson is secretary and treasurer of the company, with his mother as president. Through this com- pany he has put on the market eight allot- ments since 1912. The first was the Woodhill Subdivision, and in 1913 the Shaker View allotment, and after that six others followed. Mr. Johnson is also a director of The Wood & Spencer Company. He is a member of the Union Club, Country Club, Cleveland Real Estate Board, is a democratic voter, a member of the Episcopal Church, and the Delta Psi Fraternity of Yale University. His hobby is fishing, and every summer he spends along some of his favorite streams in Canada.

October 24, 1911, he married Margaret Tay- lor Dodge, of Cleveland. Mrs. Johnson is a granddaughter of Virgil C. Taylor, one of Cleveland's eminent men. She was born and educated in Cleveland, a graduate of Miss Mittleberger's private school, and has sus- tained a very active part in social and philan- thropic affairs. She is a member of the Cleve-

land Automoble Club, active in Red Cross work and the Maternity Hospital, and is a member of the Woman's Club and the Daugh- ters of the American Revolution. Their one child, Levi Clarke Johnson, was born at Cleve- land January 29, 1913.

ELBERT H. BAKER, president and general manager of The Cleveland Plain Dealer Pub- lishing Company, has had forty years of ac- tive newspaper life in Cleveland. He is one of the veterans of the profession and is also widely known as a citizen and business man.

He was born at Norwalk, Ohio, July 25, 1854, son of Henry and Clara (Hall) Baker. He began life with a public school education. In 1877 Mr. Baker became connected with the Cleveland Herald as bookkeeper and later as advertising manager. In 1882 he became ad- vertising manager of the Cleveland Leader and was for ten years a member of its board of directors. He continued in active charge of the advertising department of the Leader until 1897. In 1898 he became associated with the Cleveland Plain Dealer as general manager, on the death of Liberty E. Holden. In 1913 Mr. Baker was elected president of the Plain Dealer Publishing Company.

Mr. Baker is a member of the board of directors of the Associated Press and of the American Newspaper Publishers Association, serving as president of the latter association in 1912-14. Mr. Baker has exemplified much of the stalwart public spirit which has char- acterized Cleveland citizenship and made it first among Ohio cities. He is chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Euclid Avenue Congregational Church, and a trustee of the Cleveland Young Men's Christian Associa- tion. He is a member of the Western Reserve Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolu- tion and the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. He has membership in various clubs includ- ing the Union Club, Cleveland Athletic Club, Chagrin Valley Hunt Club.

Mr. Baker and his family reside at Gates Mill, Ohio. He was married June 1, 1876, to Miss Ida A. Smith of Cleveland. They have reason to be proud of their children. The eldest, Louise Hall, is now Mrs. Benjamin Hastings of Cleveland. Mrs. Hastings is a graduate of the Woman's College of Cleve- land with the class of 1901. Frank Smith Baker, who graduated from Adelbert Col- lege of Cleveland in 1902, is now publisher of the Tribune at Tacoma, Washington. El. bert H., Jr., who was a student at Cornell

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University for three years, is the efficiency engineer of the St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company with residence and office at Tacoma, Washington. Alton Fletcher Baker, was grad- uated from Cornell University with the class of 1917 and is now serving at the front in France as a first lieutenant in the Automobile Convoy.

WILLIAM JOHN SHAW. Among the men whose legal talent and professional achieve- ments reflected honor on the Cleveland bar, was the late William John Shaw, whose prac- tice at Cleveland covered over a decade and whose activity in politics brought about many civic reforms. He was born at Greenspring, Sandusky County, Ohio, April 10, 1873, and was the eldest son of William and Maria (Flynn) Shaw, highly respected residents of Greenspring. The father of Mr. Shaw was born in 1848, in Sandusky County, and the mother was born in Ireland but was reared at St. Louis, Missouri. They reared a family of five children, four sons and one daughter. The first break in the family came with the death of William John Shaw on July 29. 1915.

William J. Shaw attended the public schools and had academic advantages in Greenspring, after which he went to Fremont, Ohio, and still later came to Cleveland and as a student entered the law department of the Western Reserve University, from which he was grad- uated three years later, in June, 1898, with the degree of B. L. Prior to entering the uni- versity and while residing at Fremont he had been a law student in the office of Hon. George Kinney, the present mayor of that city. When he first entered into practice it was in part- nership with R. R. Rule, who is an attorney at Fremont at the present time, and they re- mained together for two years, the title of the firm being Rule & Shaw. Mr. Shaw was then connected with the legal department of the Erie Railroad, following which he entered into a law partnership with his brother, George Wheeler Shaw, a well known attorney and sub- stantial business man of Cleveland. This association lasted for about ten years and was severed by the death of Mr. Shaw. He was highly regarded in the profession and by the publie and had the reputation of being capa- ble, conscientious and conservative. Many cases of importance were won by the firm be- cause of his clear understanding of the law and his lucid demonstration when before judge and jury.

Mr. Shaw was a republican in politics and

he became quite active in local affairs. In 1912 he was elected a member of the City Council from the Nineteenth Ward and served two years with extreme efficiency because he was a man of sterling honor, and before his term had expired was appointed a member of the board of review and still later was ap- pointed to membership on the county tax board of complaints. While acting as a mem- ber of the board of review he displayed his fearlessness when he believed himself in the right by his opposition to placing the Rocke- feller personal property on the Cuyahoga County tax duplicate.

Mr. Shaw married Miss Bertha Severin, of Cleveland. She survives with their two daughters, Elizabeth and Ruth, both of whom were born in Cleveland. Mr. Shaw was a member of the Cleveland Bar Association. He belonged also to Brenton D. Babcock Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, No. 600, at Cleveland, and to the Knights of Pythias lodge at Greenspring, Obio. He was a man of the highest personal character and his pro- fessional honor was ever untarnished.

GEORGE WHEELER SHAW. One of the able members of the Cleveland bar is George Wheeler Shaw, who has been in continuous practice in this city for seventeen years, for ten years being associated with his brother, the late William J. Shaw, under the firm name of W. J. & G. W. Shaw. Mr. Shaw is a man of strong intellectual endowment and is a thorough master of his profession. He is a native of Ohio and was born at Greenspring in Sandusky County, January 18, 1877. His parents are William and Maria (Flynn) Shaw, who reside at Greenspring, Ohio.

Mr. Shaw may be said to be a combination of several distinct nationalities, as his mother is of Irish extraction combined with English, and his father of Scotch and Irish. William Shaw was born in Sandusky County, Ohio, in 1848. His grandfather was a Presbyterian minister in Scotland. When the excitement aroused by the precipitation of the Civil war spread over every part of Sandusky County, work on the home farm became dull and tire- some to William Shaw and, although only fourteen years of age, he decided for himself that he would make a good soldier and en- listed, and before his mother was able to reach the recruiting station and interfere he had proceeded to Cincinnati, Ohio. Although he accompanied her home, the spirit of adven- ture had taken root and again he ran away

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from home and made his way to St. Louis, Missouri. In the course of time he returned to the comforts of home without persuasion and for some time afterward oeeupied his time in selling spokes and hubs in Cleveland and vieinity. He also assisted in building railroad bridges for the Nickel Plate and other sys- tems, but his main occupation in life has been farming. He married Maria Flynn, who was born in Ireland but was reared at St. Louis, Missouri, and five children have been born to them, four sons and one daughter. The sons are: William John, who died at Cleveland, July 29, 1915; George Wheeler; Thomas P., who is assistant law librarian of the Cleve- land Law Library; Allen J., who is a resident of Cleveland.

George Wheeler Shaw attended the public schools of Greenspring, Ohio, being graduated from the high school in the class of 1891, and three years later was graduated from Green- spring Academy, following which he entered Adelbert College and was graduated in 1898 with the degree of A. B. All this was pre- paratory to a full law eourse in the law de- partment of the Western Reserve University, from which he was graduated in 1900 with the degree of B. L.

Mr. Shaw was admitted to the bar of Ohio in June, 1900, and entered upon practice in Cleveland in association with his brother, the late William John Shaw, who was prominent in the law and also in politieal life at Cleve- land. This business and fraternal association continued until the death of the older partner. For ten years the firm handled some very im- portant litigation and notable eases. Mr. Shaw at present confines himself mainly to an office praetiee, being retained by several cor- porations, and is also attorney for a number of lesser companies and organizations. He has additional interests, being president and sec- retary of the Franklin Oil and Gas Company, an Ohio eorporation with plant at Bedford, Ohio, and is secretary of the Metalene Chemi- eal Company, of Cleveland. He is a member of the Masonie Order, the Knights Templar and Al Koran Temple, Aneient Arabie Order Nobles Mystie Shrine, and a member of the Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Shaw was married April 16, 1902, to Miss Edith M. Clarke, who is a daughter of George H. and Clara (Mueller) Clarke, the former of whom is deceased. Mrs. Shaw was born at Springfield, Ohio, but was reared and educated at Cleveland and is a graduate of the Central High School. Mr. and Mrs. Shaw

have two children, Wade and Edith, both of whom were born in this city. Mr. Shaw is one of the eonseientious men of his profession and gives his elients the best that is in him. He and his family reside at Shaker Village.

ALFRED BURNS SMYTHE, president of The A. B. Smythe Company, real estate and in- surance, has been an active figure in local real estate circles practically since he left col- lege. While personally responsible for the splendid position his company now enjoys in business cireles, Mr. Smythe is a man of varied interests, was at one time a professional base- ball player, and has long been prominent in musical and philanthropie affairs in this eity.

He was born at Nevada, Ohio, August 4, 1874, and has some very substantial family associations, all Seotch-Irish. His paternal grandfather, William Smythe, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1807 and died at Holton, Kansas. His wife, Mary (Story). Smythe, was born in Ohio in 1808. Marcus M. Smythe, father of Alfred B., was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, in 1837. He married Mary Comfort Burns, who was born in Mansfield, Ohio, in 1846. Her grandfather was an own cousin of the great poet Robert Burns. Her father, Rev. John Burns, was graduated with the degree Master of Arts from Kenyon College in 1856, and for a num- ber of years was principal of the Milford Academy. Marcus M. Smythe and wife had three daughters and one son. The daughters are Mrs. Josiah Catrow of Germantown, Ohio; Mrs. E. V. Wells of Cleveland, and Mary Alice Smythe of Berkeley, California.

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A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 29

Author: Avery, Elroy McKendree, 1844-1935; Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Chicago, New York The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 904

Author: Avery, Elroy McKendree, 1844-1935; Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, New York The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 904