USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 1) > Part 14
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The first death in the township was that of Isaac Emerson, a young man of seventeen. He was buried on the Countryman place and later his body was removed to the cemetery on the Medina road.
The first marriage ceremony was celebrated at the house of Joseph Small when his daughter Lois was wedded to Ephraim Towls of Middle- burgh. It is reported that this, although the first, was a quiet wedding. The advent of horning parties with the horse fiddle, a scantling or rail drawn over a dry goods box which had been rosined for the occasion, the use of any article that would make a disagreeable noise, and the general disturbance by the members of a disorganized crowd, by whom and for what peculiar end it is not known, entered later into the diver- sions of pioneer life and has continued with some changes, at intervals, up to the present time.
As has been said, the township was organized in 1826 and the name Greenbrier changed to the official name of Parma, but it has remained an agricultural community. In these days when we speak so glibly of billions it may be interesting to read the report of the township treasurer as to his receipts for the year up to April, 1827. He reported receipts for road taxes $16.84 and for road certificates $11.38, making a total of
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$28.22. This was the beginning of the good roads movement. In 1827 the township was divided into road districts, the first being two miles in width on the west side, the second the same width, parallel with this north and south, and the third constituting the remainder. The road known as the Brighton and Parma plank road was at an early day the Cleveland and Columbus turnpike, over which there was a vast amount of travel and upon which, within the limits of Parma, there were four taverns. When William Henry Harrison was elected to the Presidency the Whigs celebrated with great enthusiasm. Among other demonstrations a crowd from Cleveland mounted a canoe on wheels and escorted it over the turnpike to Columbus. When this procession reached the house of Asa Emerson there was a counter demonstration. Mr. Emerson was an unflinching democrat, a supporter of Van Buren, and even though his candidate was beaten he was not one to sit idly by and desert him. He hoisted his wife's red petticoat on a broomstick, in derision, and marched defiantly alongside the big canoe waving his flag and taunting the Harrison crowd to intense anger. Good judgment prevailed and the clash amounted only to a clash of tongues and no violence ensued.
We have said that Parma from the first was strictly an agricultural community. An exception may be noted in an industry that for a brief period was well and widely known. William and Dudley Humphrey, who came to Parma in 1836, pursued for fifteen years, or until 1851, the manu- facture of clock cases, in which they set the works procured from Con- necticut. These clocks they then sold throughout the country. Their business became quite extensive and the homes of the settlers all over the Western Reserve were equipped with Connecticut timepieces en- closed in Parma cases.
The first sermon heard in Parma was delivered by Rev. Henry Hudson, a Baptist minister, at the home of Asa Emerson. Mr. Hudson was a doctor of medicine as well as a minister, and having been called to attend the birth of a daughter of Mr. Emerson's on Saturday, he remained and preached a sermon on Sunday. A hasty notice was sent out and the inhabitants gathered in response. After that Mr. Hudson preached often in Parma, and as many of the residents were of that faith he always had hearers. Another Baptist, Rev. Mr. Jackson, also preached there, but no church of that denomination was ever formed. But a Free Will Baptist Church was organized in the southeast part of the township in 1830. Among the members were David Pond, John Johnson, I. W. Kil- burn, Alfred Cleveland and Moses Ware, with their wives. A revival in 1839 added forty to the membership. Among the early preachers were Elders Randall and Walker. This church never had a building of its own but used a schoolhouse for worship. It dissolved in 1864. The first Presbyterian was organized as Congregational November 7, 1835, with fourteen members, the Freeman family, James M. Cogswell, Beulah G. Adams, Catharine Ann Ferrell, Mary H. Cogswell, the Chapin family, Frederick and Harriet Cogswell and Arvin Kennedy as, what would be called in a non-sectarian fraternal body, charter members. In this church began the temperance movement. At the first meeting it was resolved "not to take for a member any person who is a dealer in or manufacturer of ardent spirits." The first minister was Rev. Benjamin Page, who was employed to give half of his time for $400 per year. Among the early min- isters were Rev. V. D. Taylor, Rev. Phineas Kingsley, Rev. C. B. Stevens and Rev. J. D. Jenkins. The meetings were held in a schoolhouse until their church was built.
It will be noted that in the early settlement of the townships, so far referred to, the New England type of pioneer prevailed, and this is .
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practically true as to all the townships of the county, but great changes came in the large number of foreign born citizens who followed them. In the census of Parma taken in 1870, out of a population of 1,500 two- thirds were German and others of foreign birth. This change will be noticed in the organization of religious bodies. In 1858 Saint Paul's German Reformed Protestant was organized and a brick building for worship erected. The first trustees were Michael Hoag, Adam Hahn, George Bauer and John Huber. Rev. Mr. Kraus was one of the pastors, but he served after a division of the organization occurred. This was in 1867. Members of this church broke away and formed Saint John's German Evangelical Lutheran Church and the following year built them- selves a church building. In 1872, through the efforts of Father Quigley, the Church of the Holy Family (Catholic) was organized. Father Quig- ley began services at the home of Conrad Rohrbach and a year later, in 1873, a church building was built on a lot adjoining the residence. Mr. Rohrbach was the first trustee.
The first school was taught by Samuel Freeman in his own home in 1825. He taught his own children and such of those of his neighbors as cared to come. If he received any compensation it came probably in the way of "changing work," those who sent children to his school giving value for the instruction received in farm or other work for Mr. Freeman and his family. The following year, the year of the township organiza- tion, two school districts were set off, one in May and the other in December of 1826. Later nine districts were formed to include all the territory of the township, and the "Little Red Schoolhouse" was the uni- versity of each district. We can only mention a few of those who taught in these universities, Jane Elliott (Snow), authoress and lecturer, acting as associate editor of this history until her death; John M. Wilcox, who was sheriff of this county and at the time of his death editor of the Cleve- land Press; Levi E. Meacham, soldier, legislator and county officer ; Charles S. Whittern, court officer in the Common Pleas Court of the county for a third of a century and still so acting, and Reuben Elliott, who served as county school examiner, are some of the teachers whom it is a pleasure to name. Samuel Freeman, the first school teacher, was also the first postmaster of Parma. Others who held the office of post- master were Oliver Emerson and Harry Humphrey. Parma has some mineral springs of medicinal value and quarries of building and flagging stone. The Cogswell quarry at one time produced a large quantity of material.
Among those who have served as trustees of the township are names that suggest families whose descendants are numerous as were the trees of the forest when the pioneers came. Benjamin Fay, Samuel Freeman, Asher Norton, David Adams, Oliver Emerson, Asa Emerson, Peter Countryman, Daniel Green, John Wheeler, Reuben Hurlbut, Dudley Roberts, Rufus Scovill, Barzilla Snow, David Clark, Jeremiah Toms, Alfred Cleveland, Samuel S. Ward, Moses Towls, John J. Bigelow, Charles Stroud, James Walling, I. J. Lockwood, William Humphrey, Bela Norton, James M. Cogswell, William C. Warner, Phillip Henniger, William Redrup, Marcus A. Brown, Leander Snow and Philip Unkrich are among the number. Among those who served as township clerk are Lyndon Freeman, Reuben Emerson, O. J. Tuttle, Asa Emerson, F. F. Cogswell, James M. Cogswell, Palmer Snow, Edward Eggleston and Dr. S. B. Ingersoll.
Among those who have served as treasurer-and history does not record that there have been any defalcations-are Pelatiah Bliss, David Adams, Asa Fay, Benajah Fay, John A. Ackley, Jacob A. Stroub, Oliver
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Emerson, David Clark, Marcus A. Brown, J. W. Fay, O. F. Nicholas, Charles Stearns and E. D. Cogswell.
The present officers of the township are: Trustees, H. Gemeiner, J. D. Loder, A. E. Riester ; clerk, L. H. Geiss; treasurer, J. F. Kottman ; assessor, L. H. Geiss; justices of the peace, H. J. Schaaf and Herman Geltman ; constables, W. F. White and Henry Thompson.
The history of a township is the history of its people and we cannot record local incidents without following the invitation of Mr. Whittern, the Parma poet, who says :
"Let's run today in barefoot dreams Down leafy lanes of youth, To where the brook sings soothingly Its simple songs of truth."
As reflecting in a measure the home life of Parma, I have been per- mitted to draw from the unpublished memoirs of Jane Elliott Snow, authoress and coeditor until her death, at will. She lived a long time in Parma on the farm, married there and raised a family, taught in the little red schoolhouse and was a factor in the community for many years. In her introduction she says: "These memoirs are written at the urgent request of friends. They were not asked to be written nor are they written because I am great or have been great, nor are they written be- cause I have been the center of a high social circle and associated with great people. They are written solely because I have lived long and seen many changes. My life has covered the period of great epoch-making inventions and discoveries. It has covered the period when spinning, weaving and other industries were taken out of the home, where they were done by hand, and into factories, where they are done by machinery. During the first two decades and more of my life wood was used for heating and candles for lighting the homes. In farming communities- and half of my life was spent there-the roads were poor and a farm wagon was the nearest to a pleasure carriage that most people owned. My memory goes to a period ante-dating the Civil war by a number of years. I remember well the bitter controversy over slavery that was often heard in our local community. With other mothers, sisters and daughters I felt the woes, the grief, that comes into the homes because of the suffering and loss of loved ones in the mighty conflict. I have witnessed the aston- ishment and mourning and heard the wail of a great people over the martyrdom of three sainted Presidents. I have sorrowed much and have enjoyed much of life, and now, as the shadows begin to fall and my steps go down nearer and nearer to the final end, I try to recall only the pleasant things in life and to hope that 'He who doeth all things well' will pardon my offenses and at last take me to himself."
Mrs. Snow relates homely incidents of her life on the Parma farm: "After my marriage our home was a favorite place for young people to meet, and back in the days just preceding the Civil war there were many interesting gatherings. A cousin, John M. Wilcox, who was afterwards sheriff of Cuyahoga County, and editor of The Cleveland Press, then a young man, was teaching his first school in the neighborhood. He made his home with us, as did my brother Reuben, who was attending the school. John was tall and slender while Reuben was thick set. They would improvise little plays and charades for the evening's entertainment for the family, and sometimes for the young folks of the neighborhood, who were invited to witness them. As my brother and cousin were the 'star actors,' one would button his coat about him to make himself appear even more tall and slender, while the other would stuff a pillow under his
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coat to represent the fat man. The amusing acts they performed created a lot of genuine fun.
"Brother Eugene went through the Civil war, being first with the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and afterwards with the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, but sometimes he was home on a furlough, as he changed regiments because of the complete annihilation of the first and because he was wounded at the battle of Chickamauga. 'Gene,' as he was called, was a pretty good singer of current songs and when with us added largely to the amusement repertoire. There were many bright young people in the neighborhood, who frequently visited at our home and often took part in the entertainments. They were Mary and Eliza Sloan, Sarah and Estella Sackett, Nellie Prindle, Julia Snow, Viola Snow, Mary, Katie and Julia Kline, Eva, Mary and Katie Kontz and others. Then, too, our home was a kind of half-way house between Royalton and Cleveland. As I was one of a large family on my mother's side, and as many of the relatives lived in Royalton, they often called on their way to and from the city. My refreshments were sometimes only a cup of tea and a piece of bread and butter, but for these they were welcome and our asso- ciations were most congenial. The day that Perry's monument was dedi- cated-it was a bright September day, 1859-many of my friends attended the ceremony, as nineteen of them stopped on their way home and took supper with me. I did not witness the ceremony as I had a little one at home to care for.
Among the delightful people who visited our home were a number of good singers, among them being the Stevens, Abbott and Clark fami- lies. Mr. Abbott taught singing school for many years. Lucretia Clark played the melodian and always had the latest song and newest book. The Akers family were specially favored with the gift of song. The mother, Mrs. Joseph Akers, before her marriage had a little melodian that she carried with her when she was expected to sing, and the music she would get out of it was not only surprising but delightful. During the decade of the '60s war songs such as "John Brown's Body Lies Moldering in the Grave" and "Marching Through Georgia" were sung at every social gathering. As we were near Cleveland, young girls would often come from the city and teach a summer term of school. Among the number was Miss Josephine Saxton, a pretty, ladylike young woman, who afterwards be- came Mrs. Ammon, and had a beautiful home on Euclid Avenue. She was prominent in philanthropic work and a member of some of the earliest woman's clubs of the city. For her interest in a poor girl, whom she felt was unjustly treated, she was summoned to court to answer as wit- ness in the case. As she refused to make known the girl's whereabouts, she was sent to the Old County Jail for contempt of court.
While in jail, which lasted for six weeks, Mrs. Ammon had her cell nicely fitted up with rugs and other luxuries from her home. Here she received, most graciously, her many friends and the time seemed to have passed in a very enjoyable manner. The judge who sentenced her to a brief term of imprisonment said it "was a case where a woman was con- demned for not talking." After her return home Mrs. Ammon had the cell duplicated in her palatial residence, and over the door were the words "Welcome the coming and speed the parting guest."
The Fourth of July was usually observed at the country tavern with a ball, when dancing would begin at 2 p. m. and last until morning. The young ladies who attended these balls usually wore a plain gown in the afternoon and took with them a dainty white or colored muslin to wear in the evening. Quadrilles and cotillons were the favorite dances. There was very little waltzing and such things as the "cake walk," "turkey trot" and the "tango" were then unknown.
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The imprisonment of Mrs. Ammon, which Mrs. Snow refers to, at- tracted very wide newspaper publicity at the time and became a sort of mystery reel in serials shown in the daily press. The girl of whose where- abouts Mrs. Ammon remained silent was finally brought into court and turned over to her legal guardian.
Number 6 of range 13 has not escaped the general spirit of progress. The little red school has been supplanted and the original township organization has been broken into by the organization of a municipality, from its territory, called Parma Heights Village. This was originally a separate school district, but now the schools are all united. Parma Heights Village was organized in 1912 with John Stadler as mayor, R. N. ("Roddy") Hodgman as clerk and B. O. Stroud as treasurer. Mr. Stadler served two years and was succeeded by E. W. Denison, who served for four years. The next mayor was Edwin J. Heffner, who also served four years. George Heffner, a brother of Mayor Heffner, was a member of the first council of the village. The present officers of the village are: Mayor, J. B. McCrea ; clerk, Mrs. Bernice Uhinck ; treas- urer, Walter Geiger ; assessor, Henry Wetzel ; councilmen, E. W. Denison, Mrs. Julia Eastman, George Geiger, A. R. James, G. A. Hahn and W. H. Rose. Mr. Hodgman served continuously from the organization of the village, as its clerk, until his death in 1922. Vernon Croft is justice of the peace or police justice of the village. The board of education con- sists of C. H. Miller, Carl Haag and Henry Schaaf. In the place of the nine schoolhouses in the various school districts there are now three, the high school at the center, a graded school on the State Road, corner of Wick, and a graded school on the Wooster Pike. Busses are operated in carrying the pupils to and from these buildings, as has become the settled practice over the county.
John A. Ackley, whom we have mentioned as having served as town- ship treasurer, later served as treasurer of the school board. Mr. Ackley was a half brother of Lorenzo Carter, the most famous of Cleveland pioneers, and had many of the characteristics of that gentleman, being tall, stout and fearless. He was engineer in the building of the Ohio Canal, built the first stone pier at Cleveland Harbor, and was regarded in his day the best authority on water control and coffer-dam construction in the country. He was employed by the United States Government on many important building enterprises. He was the first marshal of the Village of Cleveland, Ohio. His son, John M. Ackley, now living at the age of eighty-eight, followed in his steps as an engineer and was for several years county engineer of the county. His work as surveyor is shown in innumerable plats made by him for the county records and their accuracy has never been questioned. Mr. John M. Ackley has furnished the writer with papers connected with the schools of Parma while his father was treasurer of the school board. In 1843 the school certificates, signed in the main by J. W. Gray, school examiner, have at their head the legend "Education is the Palladium of Liberty." Among the teachers thus commissioned to teach and whose meager salaries are recorded were Julia A. Beals, Emily T. Gillett, Abigail H. Andress, William Wheeler, S. W. Haladay, Charles H. Babcock and Caroline Humphrey. Another list dated 1851 included O. O. Spafford, L. R. Thorp, S. W. Chandler, Frances C. Eaton, Eliza Storer, Frances Huntington and William Taylor. Perhaps the most famous pupil of the "Little Red Schoolhouse" of Parma was John D. Rockefeller. His father, Doctor Rockefeller, moved to Parma after 1853 and William, Frank and John D. attended the district school there. William and Frank for a longer time, as John D., being the oldest of the boys, soon got work in Cleveland.
CHAPTER IX INDEPENDENCE
In the original survey, Independence is described as township 6 in range 12. In the matter of streams, so important in the early days, it is well provided. The Cuyahoga River divides it into two unequal parts and Tinkers Creek enters the Cuyahoga within its boundaries. On the north is original Brooklyn and Newburgh, on the east Bedford, on the west Parma and on the south Brecksville and a portion of Summit County, Northfield. It contains much rich bottom land and the soil generally is adapted to varied farming. Hemlock Creek flows through it from the west with falls providing considerable water power. It has quarries of sandstone (Berea grit) and blue stone. An extensive vein of red clay extends through the township and this in later years has proved to be valuable, being used in the manufacture of tile and pressed brick. Earlier the output from the quarries was very large. The portion of Independence east of the Cuyahoga was surveyed in 1808. The first settler, who came in 1811, was a man by the name of William King. He lived on lot or tract 4 for a number of years and then mysteriously disappeared. George Comstock and Mary, his wife, came as permanent settlers in 1812 and located on lot 4. Here they lived and died. They had three sons, Peter, George and Fitch, who remained on the old homestead. In this year and the following two other Comstock families came to Independence. One located on lot 2 and the head of the family died in 1815, leaving two sons, Fitch and Joseph, and a widow. Daniel Comstock settled on lot 4 and died shortly afterwards, leaving three sons, Albert, Stephen and Leonard. The old records are silent as to daughters, but they may have existed, unsung if not unwept. In this neighborhood in 1813 came Samuel Wood. He had two sons, Silas and Harry. In the same year Lewis Johnson, a blacksmith, located there, and this necessary industrial, social and political headquarters mingled its sparks of wit and iron and local news. Johnson had a large family, but only one son, Thomas, is remembered in the annals. Philander Ballou located on the south side of Tinkers Creek, near its mouth, about the same time as the Johnson family. Along the valley of this creek many settlers located quite early in the history of the township, among them Daniel Chase and Clark Morton. A daughter of Morton was drowned while crossing the Cuyahoga in a canoe. Clark Morton had two sons, Daniel and Silas. Thomas, Samuel and William Morton settled in this neighborhood about this time.
After the building of the Ohio Canal this neighborhood was the home and rendezvous of Jim Brown, the famous outlaw. Joseph M. Poe, who had often seen Brown in the days of his prime, described him to the writer as a man of fine personal appearance and of most pleasing manner. He was a kind neighbor and many instances are related of his deeds of charity and neighborly kindness. His operations were confined largely to the counterfeiting of gold coins. He did not bother with silver of less denom- ination than one dollar. His exploits continued for a long period of time and included some of the most daring escapes from the clutches of the law. At one time he passed, in Cleveland, a large quantity of counterfeit gold
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coin. Before doing this he had arranged with confederates a relay course from Cleveland to Buffalo, having fast riding horses stationed at various points along the way for a night ride. He rode the distance without stop- ping except to change from one horse to another, a fresh horse replacing a tired one. He appeared in Buffalo to many as soon as possible after his arrival. He was arrested and brought to Cleveland for trial. He set up an alibi and brought witnesses from Buffalo to testify as to his presence there. These were the days of slow and laborious transportation, of woods and heavy roads. He was found not guilty, the trial judge holding that it would have been impossible for him to have been in Cleveland at the time the crime was committed and in Buffalo at the time proved by credit- able witnesses. Brown was arrested in Louisville, Kentucky, at one time. A citizen there attracted by his good looks and pleasing address consented to give bond for his appearance on the condition that Brown deposit with him the amount of the bond. This was done and the prisoner released on bail. He did not appear and the money deposited to secure the bond proved to be counterfeit. His death occurred on the Ohio Canal near the scene of many of his most daring escapes. In attempting to elude capture he jumped from the gate beam of a lock to the deck of a canal boat that had just reached the low level in the lock and died from the injuries received in the fall.
In the valley of the river Asa and Horace Hungerford were located as early as 1813 and in the southeast part of the township Stephen Frazer and Horace Dickson located soon after. North on the old state road which leads through the Center, Zephaniah Hathaway, a Vermonter, settled in 1816 where he resided until death at the age of more than ninety years. He had two sons, Alden and Zephaniah 2nd. The sons of Alden were William, Rodney and Edwin and of Zephaniah 2nd were James and Milo. Jonathan Fisher, another Vermonter, came in 1816 and located on the farm later owned and operated by a descendant, Lloyd Fisher, who was prominent in township affairs and served as county commissioner of Cuyahoga County. North of the Fisher farm Elisha Brower located in 1817 and soon after died, leaving four sons, John David, Pinckney, Demiel and William. Still north a settler by the name of Ives took up a farm in 1819. He had a son named Erastus. David Skinner was an early arrival, settling on a farm west of the present Willow station of the Balti- more Railroad, formerly the Valley Road. A group of families came in 1813 to the northern part near the River settlement, the Cochran, Miner and Paine families. William Green came from Brecksville in 1817 and settled on what was known later as the Fosdick place. He had five sons, Harvey, Elijah, Jeremiah, Herod and Frederick. There were several daughters. Emily married a Fosdick and remained on the old place. In the same year, up the river, came John Westphal and the community was augmented in its industrial life by a shoemaker. In 1823 he sold out to Smith Towner and his son, D. D. Towner. Clark Towner later occupied the place. John I. Archibald and William Harper, sons of Col. John Harper, a Revolutionary soldier, came from Delaware County, New York, in 1816. They had started westward in 1810, stopping first in Ashtabula County and then John I. moving to Independence. He had two sons, Erastus R. and DeWitt C. and three daughters, whom the early chron- iclers do not name except to state that one of the daughters married H. C. Edwards of Newburgh. The family was increased by a boy by the name of John Maxwell, who was bound out to Mr. Harper after the custom of the times. This boy, after his apprenticeship with the Harpers, moved farther on and became sheriff of a county in the far west and was killed while making the arrest of a desperate character on the border. In 1814
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