USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 1) > Part 13
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Miller ; councilmen, J. W. Hazel, Henry Byer, James Cupalo, William Weir, Sherley Stanbush and Clifton D. Wren. Since that record was made, charges have been preferred against the marshal, Edward De Miller, in connection with the enforcement of the prohibition laws, and he has been ousted from office. At present A. W. Hecker and W. F. Keiper, as deputy marshals, act in his stead. A visit to the village hall, which comprises the mayor's office and the jail, indicates the activity of these deputies. Outside piles of casks, said to contain wine, were awaiting the hearing before the mayor of the erstwhile owners. Vacant cells were filled with jugs and still of those who were charged with unlawful manufacture and sale. The exhibits at the mayor's office do not represent offenders in the village alone, as cases are brought to the mayor from the township outside. The present population of the village is about 500.
The last of the municipalities to be erected from the territory of old Brooklyn Township includes a great garden area, in the southeast part. The occasion for the breaking away from the township government was the higher tax valuations due to the intensive cultivation for gardening and greenhouse purposes. The citizens were paying for school buildings and improvements in other parts of the township and in larger proportions and got but little in return. J. E. Wyman visited P. H. Kaiser, the county solicitor, and requested him to direct this community to the necessary pro- ceedings to secure for them a special school district. He was advised that a special school district would only be formed of a municipality. Then the necessary steps were taken and in 1903 the Village of Brooklyn Heights was formed to include in addition to the Brooklyn territory, nearly an equal amount from Independence Township. The first officers were: Mayor, M. L. Reutenik; clerk, H. H. Richardson; treasurer, Simeon Chester; councilmen, I. B. Hinckley, W. H. Gates, John Gehring, Sr., J. L. Foote and J. E. Wyman. The county records show that the Town- ship of Brooklyn Heights was also formed of territory co-extensive with the village. This is functioning as a judicial township. In this village the green house industry is predominant. There are today more than 100 acres under glass. The first mayor of the village, Mr. Reutenik, was one of the leaders in a large way. He was active in forming an organiza- tion called the Growers' Market, which acts, as does the Citrus Associa- tion of the orange sections of the country, in directing the supply, sale and shipment of their products. Fresh vegetables are shipped throughout the year to all parts of the country. The Florists' Association also has a large representation from this section. The value of the vegetables and flowers produced from this territory each year totals a sum unthought of when Isaac Hinckley tried to mortgage 100 acres for a barrel of flour and was refused.
The present officers of the village are: Mayor, H. J. Webster ; clerk, A. F. Goldenbogen; treasurer, George Walter; assessor, Ross Wyman; councilmen, Frank Wutrich, George Thompson, Alexander Drecer, E. W. Arth, A. G. Heinrichs and Henry Merkle.
Thus Brooklyn Township, number 7 of range 13, has raised up six separate municipalities, four have merged in Greater Cleveland and two have still their separate government, and a little corner of number 7 is still the Township of Brooklyn. Among the trustees of the original town- ship have been Samuel H. Barstow, Diodate Clark, William Allen, Samuel Tyler, Martin Kellogg, Russell Pelton, William Burton, Jonathan Fish, Benjamin Sawtell, Ezra Honeywell, William Hartness, Philo Rowley, Morris Jackson, Samuel Storer, Levi Lockwood, R. C. Selden, Seth Brainard, James Sears, Ambrose Anthony. Francis Branch, Homer Strong, Clark S. Gates, John Goes, David S. Brainard, John L. Johnson, C. L.
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Gates, John Reeve, Martin K. Rowley, Thomas James, James W. Day, Joseph Marmann, Levi Fish, William Lehr, F. S. Pelton, Jacob Siringer, John Ross, Marcus Dennerle, Jefferson Fish, Bethuel Fish, John Myers, Samuel Sears, Robert Curtiss, Daniel W. Hoyt, Erhart Wooster, Robert Curtiss, J. C. Wait, John Williams, John Schmehl, Charles E. Farrell, Seymour Trowbridge, Charles Miller, Sanford R. Brainard, William Thomas and Peter Vonderaue. Among the clerks have been C. L. Rus- sell, Samuel H. Fox, Francis Fuller, John H. Sargent, George L. Chap- man, Charles Winslow, C. E. Hill, F. W. Pelton, Bolles M. Brainard, Charles H. Babcock, Frederick Dalton, Joseph B. Shull, F. H. Chester, Fred W. Wirth, Edwin T. Fuller, B. J. Ross, William Treat and Charles N. Collins. Among the treasurers, Oziah and David S. Brainard and Bethuel and Ozias Fish, Carlos Jones and Carver Stickney also served in that office.
Among the justices of the peace, who have represented the majesty of the law in Brooklyn Township, may be mentioned George W. Marsh, C. L. Russell, William Burton, Benjamin Doud, Herman A. Hurlbut, Samuel Tyler, Scott W. Sayles, J. H. Sargent, Benjamin Sawtell, Andrew White, Ezra R. Benton, Henry 1. Whitman, Homer Strong, Samuel Storer, J. A. Redington, Ezra Honeywell, Wells Porter, Charles H. Bab- cock, Felix Nicola, Benjamin R. Beavis, John Reeve, John S. Fish, Joseph M. Poe, Ambrose Anthony, William Treat and Charles N. Collins. All should have the title of Esquire attached to their names. Mr. Collins was clerk of the Village of Brooklyn at the time of its annexation to Cleveland. Joseph M. Poe served several terms as a member of the Legislature from this county and was related to the Poes so famous as Indian fighters in the pioneer history of Ohio. Felix Nicola served as sheriff of the county, and Charles H. Babcock, as has been said, was at one time speaker pro tem of the Ohio General Assembly.
The first religious services in Brooklyn were held by a traveling Uni- versalist preacher. As early as 1814 a Methodist class met at the home of Oziah Brainard. It started with three members, Ebenezer Fish, Syl- vanus Brainard and Seth Brainard. This small class increased to ten. In 1817, Booth and Goddard, Methodist circuit riders, preached in Brook- lyn and soon after the Methodist Church was organized. It held meetings in a log house which later was used by the Congregationalists, who organ- ized in 1819. The Brooklyn Methodist Church in 1837 moved into a frame building on what is now West Twenty-fifth Street, near Denison Avenue, and in 1848 a brick church was built on the site of the frame one, which was moved away, and in 1916 was dedicated the present structure on Archwood, which was built at a cost of about $85,000. Previous to 1844 a number of seceders from this church organized what was known as the Reformed Methodist Church, across the valley in Brighton. Among the members were Ogden and Julia Hinckley, Cyrus Brainard and Joseph and Mathilda Williams. This organization was allowed to lapse and in 1844 the Brighton Methodist Episcopal Church was organized. Among the pastors who have served this church the name of Rev. E. H. Bush is the most widely known. The present pastor of the Brooklyn Church on Archwood is Rev. Elmer S. Smith. Among the early pastors are (omitting the Rev.) James Taylor, John Crawford, Solomon Meneier, Adam Poe, H. O. Sheldon, James McIntyre, N. S. Albright, Joseph Mat- tock, Alfred Holbrook and Hoadley. In 1876, T. K. Dissette was superintendent of the Sunday school. He became a preacher and platform orator of note and for many years, after leaving the ministry for the law, served as judge of the Common Pleas Court in Cleveland.
The Congregational Church of Brooklyn was organized in 1819. The
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original members were Amos Brainard, Isaac Hinckley and Sallie Hinckley, his wife, James and Eliza Smith, husband and wife, and Rebecca Brainard. The early ministers were William McLain and T. I. Bradstreet and Ran- dolph Stone. In 1847 the organization lapsed but was renewed in 1851 under the direction of Calvin Durfee. Among the pastors have been James A. Bates, E. H. Votaw, J. W. Hargrave, Reverend Peeke and Reverend Lewis. The present pastor is Rev. R. B. Blyth. In 1867 this church, which, although Congregational had before been attached to the Cleveland Presbytery, united with the Congregational Conference. In 1879 the present church building on Archwood was completed and opened for public services.
We have given briefly the history of these churches, whose roots were fibered deeply in the soil of the original township. Of the schools little can be given as the records are not preserved and their history will merge in that of the City of Cleveland. Various organizations deserve mention and other churches now active in this portion of Cleveland that belong in part to Brooklyn history. Brooklyn Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, Camp Sears, which once existed as an independent body of ex-soldiers of the Civil war, the Women's Relief Corps, the Daughters of Veterans, the Sons of Veterans, Brooklyn Masonic Lodge, Brooklyn Chap- ter of the Eastern Star and Denison Chapter, on the north side of Mill Creek and Elbrook and Laurel Lodges of Masons, Elbrook Chapter of the Eastern Star on the south side, originally Brighton, Riverside Lodge Knights of Pythias on the north side and a lodge of the same order on the south side, a lodge of the Woodmen of the World on the north side and Glen Lodge of Oddfellows and a lodge of the Knights of Malta on the south side are a part of the history of Brooklyn and Cleveland.
Dr. James Hedley, widely known as a lecturer, was identified with Brooklyn where he spent many of the last years of his life. His widow, Mrs. Mary Hedley, now lives near their Brooklyn home. Dr. Hedley in 1901 published a book entitled : "Twenty Years on the Lecture Platform." In this book is printed entire one of his lectures entitled "The Sunny Side of Life." This lecture at the time the book was published had been deliv- ered more than a thousand times. It embodies the Coue idea now called autosuggestion. From this most interesting book of a Brooklyn author we quote the inscription : "I know a place where love has builded ; a place from which when going I weep, and to which returning I laugh, as with the laughter of angels; a place to which my children bring the first wild flowers of spring; a place where affection lights as with the splendor of morning doorstep and window; a place that sorrow has hallowed and joy blest as with a benediction ; a place where when men forsake me and doubt me, faith still abides and the heart still hopes. No painter can do it jus- tice, no poet can sing a song worthy of it, and no philosopher can explain the meaning of its power. The place is Home, and to Mary, my wife, who has made it possible, I affectionately inscribe this book. James Hedley."
Leonard G. Foster, mentioned as the first recorder of Brooklyn Vil- lage, has published several volumes of poems. His last book, "The Early Days," is a single poem profusely illustrated. Mr. Foster is now over 80 years of age but active. The poem, "The Early Days," was read by him at a meeting of the Early Settlers' Association recently and describes the life of the early settlers. The three books published by him previous to this are "Whisperings of Nature," "Blossoms of Nature," and "Songs of Nature." With his permission we quote the dedication: "To the sturdy pioneers who braved the hardships and perils of an unbroken wilderness and planted the seeds of progress that have blossomed into the civilization
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we enjoy today, this heart-begotten retrospect in verse is tenderly dedicated by the author."
Carlos Jones, the founder of the Jones Home for Friendless Children, located between Library and Daisy Avenues on West Twenty-fifth Street, should have a place in Brooklyn history. One of the early mayors of Brooklyn Village, active in public affairs he has left this home, which has been a real home to a multitude of children otherwise bereft, and it has been sustained and carried on to greater efficiency by the community from year to year.
CHAPTER VIII
PARMA
Number 6, range 13, would be our designation, if taken from the surveyors' records, which includes a tract five miles square, north of Roy- alton, west of Independence and east of Middleburgh townships. This tract level in the north and west but hilly in the east, having no streams of size, but with a productive clay soil, fell in the original speculative division of the Western Reserve to several proprietors. There was the Tuckerman, Cheny, Sly, Blake, Plympton and other tracts, and the owners early endeavored to promote settlement on their lands. On account of the general impression that it was a swampy and undesirable region, the orig- inal owners had difficulty in finding purchasers at first. Benjamin Fay, a native of Massachusetts, who came from Lewis County, New York, was the first settler. He came in 1816 and located on the Plympton tract. With his wife and twelve children, an ox team and a horse, he made the journey. On arriving he was compelled to cut a road through the woods to reach his farm. He opened a tavern in 1819 on the old stage road in a double log house, an evidence of affluence or a large family in those days, opposite the residence, later, of J. W. Fay. As "B. Fay's Inn," this was a much frequented hostelry and a famous landmark for many years. Mr. Fay built a frame tavern in 1826 and in 1832 replaced it with a brick one, which was the first brick house built in the township. He served in pub- lic office and was honored and useful until his death in 1860 at the age of eighty-five.
In 1817 one Conrad Countryman, a "Mohawk Dutchman," took up a farm on the Ely tract in the western part of the township on a line on which afterwards ran the stage road between Cleveland and Columbus. He built a sawmill and conducted a blacksmith shop, both early and essential industries, these being the first in the township. In addition to all this, he, aided by his son, who had built a log house on his father's farm and kept "bachelor's hall," besides being miller, lumberman, farmer and blacksmith also kept a tavern and we can safely assume that he kept busy. Pelatiah Bliss, a Connecticut Yankee, in 1818, traveled on foot, carrying a pack on his back, seeking a location in the boundless West. On reaching this town- ship he was favorably impressed and bought fifty acres on the Ely tract, built a shanty and made a clearing. Previous to the trip he had become obsessed with the idea of marrying a certain fair damsel in Connecticut as soon as a home was provided. After laboring a few years in the new home to make it and its surroundings fit for a bride he walked back, living on the return journey from his haversack, stocked with salt pork. This incident, with others, is included in a sketch given the writer by Charles S. Whittern for this history, who was born and raised as a boy in the township, was a teacher in the "Little Red Schoolhouse" of those days, and has been connected with the courts of Cleveland for a third of a century. Mr. Whittern published a few years ago a neat volume of poems entitled "The Little Red School House and Other Poems."
Number 6, range 13, was known as Greenbrier until its organiza- tion when it received the official title of Parma. The only information
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THE CITY OF CLEVELAND
as to the selection of the name or the change from the unofficial to the official name is the suggestion that Parma is an easier name to write and hence less burdensome to the penman whose tools included the axe, the maul and wedge, and the flail. The settlement of the township was slow until 1821, when a number of families came at the same time. The families of Asa Emerson, Amos Hodgman, Jesse Nicholas, Joseph Small and William Steele, all neighbors in Maine, settled in Southern Ohio in 1817. As related in the sketch of Mr. Whittern, however, the Emersons came to Greenbrier direct from Maine. At any rate, these families kept up a correspondence with each other, those in Southern Ohio being dis- satisfied with their location, it was agreed that they should all come to Greenbrier, which they did in 1821. Asa Emerson, who had a family of nine, bought a farm of seventy-five acres on the Wickerman tract, stop- ping for a while at Countryman's before buying. He was a vigorous character, a typical pioneer. He became a carpenter as well as a farmer and lived in Parma until his death in 1855. Amos Hodgman settled on the Tuckerman tract, living the balance of his days on the farm and leaving his descendants to continue the reclaiming of the wilderness into which he and his family came as early settlers. Jesse Nicholas and family settled on the Ely tract. Nicholas was located on the old Columbus road and became a tavern keeper as well as farmer. Joseph Small settled on the Tuckerman tract and after twenty-six years moved to Michigan, but as a rule these early arrivals remained during life and leaving at their death descendants to continue in their stead. Of those who came in 1821, John Hodgman, Asa and Oliver Emerson were in 1880 the earliest sur- viving settlers. A pathetic incident is related of one family who came with the number in 1821. William Steele, with his wife, (they had no children) who had located on the Ely tract, after two years of frontier life, died. His widow returned to Maine, making the journey on foot and alone.
The sketch by Mr. Whittern, expanded from a bit of local history found in an old scrap book runs as follows: "In the early pioneer days what is now Parma township was a portion of Brooklyn and bore the euphonious and significant name 'Greenbrier.' This appellation was deemed most appropriate by the early settlers because of the vigorous growth and well-nigh universal prevalence of this thorny emerald creeper upon the hilly sections of the territory.
"Parma was settled somewhat later than the adjacent townships and was organized into a township in 1826. In April of that year was held the first township election at the cabin home of Samuel Freeman. Pelatiah Bliss was chosen clerk and treasurer, Asa Emerson, Sr., S. J. Varney and David Andrews trustees, Benjamin Fay and Jesse Nicholas overseers of the poor, John Hodgman and Benjamin Norton fence viewers, and Amos Hodgman and Asher Norton supervisors of highways. The Emersons arrived from Maine, after a tortuous journey and a lapse of four years. Their itinerary in the 'wild west' included Charleston and Wheeling in West Virginia, then old Virginia. Coming to Cleveland, then Ohio City and to Parma, they purchased a tract in the woods at three dollars an acre. They found the population in no wise dense, for only four householders had preceded them and they were the families of Ben- jamin Fay and Conrad Countryman and the unmarried Pelatiah Bliss and Mr. Countryman, brother of Conrad, the two latter keepers of 'bachelor halls.'
"The cabins of these 'householders' were all located near the present Wooster Pike. The Bliss domicile, near what is now York Road, was the only residence between Albion and the Emerson cabin. Pelatiah Bliss
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was a native of Connecticut and there he left his fiancee when he came to seek his new home in the western wilds. Those were the joyous days of tedious locomotion on 'shanks' horses and of moderate migratory speed in 'prairie schooners' drawn by patient oxen gee-ing and haw-ing through the winding ways. Such trivial things, however, could not dampen the ardor of Mr. Bliss, whose 'best girl' must be obtained at any cost and transplanted from the environs of the 'wooden nutmeg State' to the fertile soil in the land of the buckeye. So this valiant householder set forth on the long journey to Connecticut on foot and alone, carrying only a haversack containing a chunk of salt pork for his subsistence en route. When hunger gnawed and no settler's cabin was near his line of march, Pelatiah would kindle a fire, roast some strips of meat on a sharpened stick, and devour it with a real woodman's appetite. Often on this long tramp was he compelled to accept the hospitable offer of Mother Nature to recline upon her bed of leaves for his night's repose. His destination reached, the nuptial knot was firmly tied, for you know-
" 'Love is as cunnin' a little thing As a hummin' bird upon the wing."
The happy couple engaged passage on the nineteenth century limited cov- ered wagon in which the Joel and George Foote families were just em- barking for Brooklyn. In return for these transportation facilities Mr. Bliss served as ox-team engineer, directing the limited through without a collision and without the loss of a single passenger.
"As has been said, the Emersons bought their land for three dollars an acre but the same land is now worth as many hundred dollars per acre. In those early days of the 'johnny' cake and 'punkin' pie, venison steaks were abundant and bear meat was not limited to the worshippers of Epicurus, for our hardy forefathers knew how to use their long- barreled rifles with marvelous accuracy of aim. Their home-made leaden pellets from those trusty guns were as unerring in their course to the heart of the noble buck as were those of the renowned Leather Stocking, famous for his marksmanship, as related by our own James Fennimore Cooper. Samuel Freeman taught the first Parma school and five of the early families combined to build the first church. The church was but the fraction of a mile from the site of the present Presbyterian edifice. Where this church stands the old Nicholas tavern stood in the days of the stage coach, drawn by a four-horse team, which carried the mail and passengers through to Medina."
Asher Norton and family came from Vermont in 1823 and settled in the southeast part of the township. Norton stayed on the farm till 1863, when he moved to Brighton, where he died. His brother Benjamin Norton, who bought an adjoining farm in the same year as Asher, re- mained till 1859, when he moved to Brecksville. Rufus Scovill, a brother- in-law of the Nortons, came the same year with his family and remained till his death. We are getting now nearly to the date of the organization of the township. Albert T. Beals, who had earlier settled in Royalton, came with his family to Parma or Greenbrier in 1825, having bought a farm on the Ely tract. They lived in the township till 1875. Our fore- fathers were not nomads. In 1825, this year, the little settlement was aug- mented by the arrival of Samuel Freeman, wife, ten children and a hired man, who came from Massachusetts. Freeman came by way of the Erie Canal and Lake Erie and arrived at the home of Benjamin Fay in Green- brier Saturday, May 25th, twenty days after starting. He bought a farm on the Plympton tract and the family lived in the new barn of Benjamin Fay until their house was built. Neighborly fraternity was supreme.
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The early settlers of Parma had the hardships common to all in the county, and dangers, but the red man had vanished before their coming. Indians did not trouble but wild beasts were numerous and caused much annoyance. As late as 1842 the ravages of bears and wolves were so great that a hunt was organized and a round-up similar to the great Hinckley hunt referred to in a former chapter was formulated. This hunt lasted several days. For a long time after its settlement grass was scarce and hay for cattle was brought from Middleburgh. Later the township was a large producer of hay and large quantities were sold in Cleveland. In the most primitive era there was only browse for cattle and the housewife baked her bread on a board before a wood fire and roasted meat hung by a string over the same wood fire. Wheat bread was scarce but "johnny cake" made from corn ground in a home stump mortar did its part as a substitute. When Moses Towl built a gristmill on Big Creek it was con- sidered a great boon and Mr. Towl was looked upon as a philanthropist or public benefactor.
The first person born in the township was Lucina Emerson, daughter of Asa. She was born in March, 1823. She married Charles Nicholas and bore him two children. A grandson, Harry, has been a deputy in the county clerk's office in Cleveland for many years, holding a responsible position and being so efficient that political changes do not affect his tenure of position. On the death of her husband she married Levi E. Meacham, who was of Puritan stock, a native of Maine. He came with his parents to Parma in 1820. His parents were Isaac and Sophia Meacham. It is authentically stated that the mother of Isaac was a granddaughter of the celebrated Miles Standish. By her second husband Mrs. Meacham had one child, Levi E. Meacham, who was left to her sole care, as the father died when he was two years of age. At the outbreak of the Civil war her two sons enlisted, Oscar Nicholas and Levi E. Meacham, the latter being only fifteen years of age, and she herself went to the front and served as a hospital nurse. Oscar served until disabled by wounds and Levi served till the end of the war. She went to the front in 1862 and served till the close of the war, when she returned to the old home in Parma. For a third husband she married Joshua Whitney, whom she outlived for a number of years. Levi E. Meacham was county clerk and state representative after the Civil war and lived in Cleveland until his death quite recently.
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