USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 1) > Part 19
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Thus, in closing, we are reminded of the lines that were so often declaimed in the "Little Red Schoolhouse":
"What constitutes a state ?
Not high-raised battlements or labored mound, Thick wall or moated gate;
Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned,
Not bays and broad armed ports,
Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride;
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Not starred and spangled courts, Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride- No-men, high-minded men With powers as far above dull brutes endued, In forest, brake, or den,
As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude."
CHAPTER XII
MIDDLEBURG
To many of the present residents of Cuyahoga County the name at the head of this chapter is not very familiar. The growth and develop- ment of Berea, a village formed from the territory of Middleburg, its influence as a college town, its quarries of sandstone seemingly inexhaust- ible, have given the village a prominence, in later years, that has hidden the name and almost blotted out the existence of the original township. People speak of going to Berea, but few know the name of the original township from which it sprang. The township, however, shorn of its original territory by the formation of the Village of Berea and the Village of Brook Park, is a political unit of the county and functions as when first organized. In the disposition of the lands of Cuyahoga County by the Connecticut Land Company there was more or less speculation and uncertainty. The surveyors who ran the lines reported number 6 of range 14, this township, as low, wet and swampy in places, and it was rated low in the division among their members. Thus (we do not know for what price) the township was purchased by Gideon Granger, postmaster general under President Thomas Jefferson, being disposed of to one man. Granger, no doubt, thought he had a doubtful purchase. If he had known that the drainage of later years could bring into being valuable farms of productive beauty and that underneath a large acreage of his purchase lay a billion and more dollars worth of sandstone of the highest commercial value he would have smiled the smile that goes with one who knows he has made a successful purchase. Settlement was slow depend- ing upon sales. The first move was an offer of fifty acres of land to any one who would live upon the place. It seems that Abram Hickox accepted the proposition but did not carry out his part of the programme. He gave his name to Lake Abram, but never lived in the township. Jared Hickox, a relative, came in 1809 and located on the Bagley road about half way between the present Berea and the old turnpike. He got the fifty acres that was offered as a prize to the first settler. Jared Hickox was the grandfather of Mrs. Rosanna Fowls, prominent in the early his- tory of Middleburg. Jared Hickox holds the distinctive title, in the annals, of first settler, but he lived but a year after coming to the town- ship, dying suddenly of heart disease on a trip to Cleveland, leaving a widow, Rachel Ann, mother of Mrs. Fowls, and four sons, Nathaniel, Jared, Eri and Azel Hickox.
The next settlers were the Vaughns, who came in 1810 and located on the banks of the Rocky River near the present site of Berea. The family consisted of Jonathan Vaughn and wife and two sons, Ephraim and Richard. There were no further accessions to the little colony until the next year, 1811, when Abram Fowls, unmarried, arrived, and also John Fowls, a younger brother of Abram. It is said that they selected a farm near the Hickox home, but it is also written in the annals that "near," in those days, might mean within a mile or two. They came on foot through the woods to their new possessions. This habit of walking so grew upon Abram that he wore a path through the woods to the Hickox
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home and, following this trail to its logical conclusion, married Rachel Ann Hitchcock. This, the first wedding in the township, took place in 1812. Long engagements were not the vogue in those days. Abram had only $2.50 in his pocket, and to his name, in money, but Rachel was willing to take him "for better or for worse." Modern romances, to be "best sellers," must turn out well, and this one complied with all that is requisite in the love romance of today. They lived happily, raised a family of ten children, and at the time of the death of Mr. Fowls in 1850, the $2.50 had enlarged to a very considerable fortune. He owned 500 acres of choice land and had large monied interests in various enterprises. The Vaughns were enterprising. Even with this small company in the town- ship, Jonathan Vaughn put up a sawmill on Rocky River near the present New York Central Depot and Ephraim Vaughn built a log gristmill farther up the stream. They depended in a large measure on out of town trade. We have related how Ephraim would meet his Strongsville cus- tomers part way and receive grists for his mill. Add to those settlers
UNCLE ABRAHAM HICKOX
already mentioned Silas Becket and his son Elias Becket and we have enumerated the list of settlers prior to the War of 1812. The Beckets located near the Vaughns.
The progress of the War of 1812 was disquieting. The headquarters of General Harrison was at the west end of Lake Erie. He had no trouble in getting enlistments, as volunteers came in such numbers that it became necessary to refuse many. General Harrison was governor of Indiana Territory, and General Hull of Michigan Territory, and their troubles with the Indians began before war was actually declared. Thus each had a considerable force at his command. When Hull was menaced at Detroit he ordered Captain Heald, who with a company of fifty regular troops occupied Fort Dearborn (Chicago), to abandon that post in the deep wilderness and hasten to Detroit. He left the post in charge of friendly Indians and, taking with him a number of militia, started along the shore of the lake for Detroit. He had marched only a short distance along the beach when he was attacked by a body of Indians, and twenty-six of the regular troops and all of the militia were slaughtered. A number of women and children were murdered and scalped. Captain Heald and his wife, both severely wounded, escaped. Mrs. Heald was wounded six times, but escaped. This event occurred August 14, 1812. The next day, August 15th, General Brock appeared at Detroit with 700 British troops and 600 Indians, and demanded the instant surrender, threatening at
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the same time to give free rein to Indian cruelty, in the event of refusal. General Hull, a Revolutionary soldier, surrendered without firing a shot. Historians in defending Hull refer to the number and character of the enemy. The character of the enemy is what disturbed the settlers, and they took such precautions as seemed within their power. Soon after Hull's surrender a block house was built at Columbia, Lorain County, then a part of Cuyahoga, where there was a larger settlement. To this refuge the settlers of Middleburg repaired whenever the danger call was sent out. In case of the report of special danger, Captain Hoadley, in command, sent out the call for men to defend the fortress, which was also a refuge for the women and children. This was an exciting time in American history and particularly distressing to the scattered settlers on the border. Mr. Fowls took his family, with the rest of the colony, to the block house for a week at one time. When a second call was sent out he left them at home in charge of a younger brother. All other inhabitants of Middleburg went to the block house at Columbia, this family remaining alone in the desolate woods. It may be explained that during these exciting times a child was born to Abram and Rachel Ann Fowls, Lucy, the oldest daugh- ter. This was the first white child born in the township, and as a bit of genealogy we might add that Lucy married Nathan Gardner.
After Perry's victory and the vigorous campaign of Gen. William Henry Harrison, old Tippecanoe, immediately following his receipt of the message from Perry : "We have met the enemy and they are ours," : " set- tlements increased, and in 1815, after peace was declared, the doors were wide open. Number 6 of range 14 is five miles square and watered by the east branch of Rocky River. Near the river the surface is broken, the balance level. When opened for settlement it was covered with a forest of beech, maple, oak and elm. About the swamp northeast of the Center were groves of hemlock and birch. Into this swamp wolves, pan- thers, bears, etc., retreated from the rifles of the woodmen. The first family to come after the war was that of Abram Meeker. They located at the outlet of Lake Abram. Mr. James Wood informs the writer that the deeds to land about the lake were descriptive of the farms as extend- ing to low water mark and that when, in later years and with values much appreciated, the lake was partially drained, there was controversy over the ownership of the new acreage. The family of Thaddeus Lathrop came in 1816. His daughter, who later became Mrs. Susan Tuttle of Albion, related that when the family came, she, then nine years of age, heard only of the Vaughns, the Fowls, the Meekers, the Hickoxs, and the Beckets, as residents of the township; that the only road to Cleveland was a path marked by blazed trees. In this year a number of the people of the township attended a Methodist camp meeting at Cleveland. They came home enthused and began holding meetings in Middleburg. They prayed, sang, and exhorted among themselves, without the presence of a minister, and made many converts. Then Jacob Ward, a preacher from Brunswick, came and organized a Methodist society. This was the first religious organization in the township. It continued in active existence for many years before it was supplied with a regular preacher.
In 1817 and 1818 the families of Enoch G. Watrous and Silas Gard- ner settled on the river near the Strongsville line. Then Paul Gardner and Wheeler Wellman and Mr. Wellman's father-in-law, Solomon Love- joy, who kept the first tavern in the township. Mr. Lovejoy had two children, Edwin and Amy Lovejoy. In 1820 the town meeting was held and a civil township organization effected. Few records are preserved of this original organization. The selection of the name, Middleburg, to supplant number 6, range 14, was chosen, but the origin of the name is
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not known and the manner of the selection. An old record shows that Ephraim Vaughn was the first justice of the peace, he that presided at the first election in Strongsville, but the other first officers are not of record, except that an early record shows a note of the commission of one Wil- liam Vaughn as a justice of the peace and his jurisdiction, including number 6 in range 15, now Olmsted Township. This notation is signed by Jared Hickox as township clerk and gives the date of the commission as February, 1819. Another old record, with date of June 22, 1820, says Solomon S. Doty qualified as constable on that date and gave the neces- sary bail. In March, 1821, the trustees of the township divided it into two road districts, and in April, 1823, into school districts. The record of this transaction is signed by Wheeler Wellman as clerk. In this year is recorded the first full list of township officers: Trustees, David Har- rington, Abram Fowls and Richard Vaughn; Wheeler Wellman, clerk ; Silas Gardner, treasurer; Jared Hickox and Ephraim Fowls, overseers of the poor; Eli Wellman and Ephraim Fowls, constables; Jared Hickox, lister ; Ephraim Vaughn, appraiser ; Solomon Lovejoy and Wheeler Well- man, supervisors of highways; Abram Fowls, Owen Wellman and Silas Becket, fence viewers. As the officers must be residents of the township they must necessarily be confined to a few families, for few there were.
From 1820 to 1827 there was little immigration. Prospective pur- chasers seemed to be repelled by the wet soil. One said in a discussion in regard to the purchase of land: "If Middleburg was not fastened to Strongsville, it would sink." In 1827 there came to the township a remarkable and most interesting man, whose name is linked inseparably with its growth and development, John Baldwin. He and his young wife came by stage, making the last lap of the journey, four or five miles, on foot. He was a remarkable and unique character. John Baldwin was born in Branford, Connecticut, October 13, 1799 of Puritan parentage. His grandfather was a blacksmith and worked on an anvil in New Haven, Connecticut, making axes, hoes and other tools, with the father of Lyman Beecher. In the Revolutionary war his father enlisted as a private and won the rank of captain in the service. John Baldwin's mother was the daughter of Edward Melay of New Haven. Young John had only a meager education as a child. The school he attended taught only reading and writing; arithmetic, geography, and English grammar were not in- cluded in the curriculum. At eighteen he joined the Methodist Church, and began from that time a study of books, and, like Lincoln, got his education from them. He did, however, attend an advance school for a time and then engaged in teaching. He taught in Fishkill, New York, then in Maryland, and later in Litchfield, Connecticut. He was a great believer in combining religious with ordinary instruction. Outside of Bible characters, John Wesley was his ideal. He was obsessed with the idea of aiding in the work of education along the lines suggested. Just how Providence aided him in his heart's desires is a little drama in itself. He was married in 1828 and the next spring came, as we have said, to Middleburg, locating where Berea now stands. In brief-he built the first frame house, organized the first Sunday school, opened the first quarry, laid out the first building lots, and built the first seminary, which became Baldwin Institute, and later a university,-and turned the first grindstone.
The stone quarries of Berea that became known the world over, and that gave the town the title of "The Grindstone City," were a discovery. The settlers found in the bed of the Rocky River flat stones that pos- sessed a marvelous grit for sharpening tools. They would take them home, shape them as best they could, cut a square hole in the center and provide
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themselves with a home-made grindstone, an essential on the farm. It is said that Mr. Baldwin in digging a cellar for his home discovered the vein of rock underlying a large area of the township. Wise enough to appreciate its value he purchased the land adjoining his own and finally owned all the quarry land of the township. When Mr. Baldwin came to the township there were about 100 residents. The heads of families were, Silas Gardner, Enoch G. Watrous, Benjamin Colby, Silas Becket, Ephraim Vaughn, Richard Vaughn, Jonathan Vaughn, Eli Osborn, Zina Osborn, Charles Green, Aruna Phelps, Ephraim Meeker, a Mr. Tracy, Nathan Gardner, Benjamin Tuttle, Abram Fowls, David Fowls, Ephraim Fowls, Donald Fairchild, Paul Gardner, Amos Gardner, Valentine Gardner and Abijah Bagley. In 1827 the only roads worth mentioning were the road up and down the river and from Columbia northeast to Cleveland. Beyond these, the roads were just muddy paths. The turnpike was just started at this time.
We have said that we have no records that give any light as to the selection of the name of the township, but this is known, that the Vaughns, Gardners and Beckets came from Middleburg, New York, and the selec- tion was no doubt made to honor their native town. Mr. Baldwin, in a manuscript on file in the. Western Reserve Historical Society library, refers to various small industries that began in the township about the time when he began to develop the grindstone business. Benjamin Colby used to burn lime and when Mr. Baldwin built his house, he exchanged apples for lime, bushel for bushel, with Mr. Colby. Aruna Phelps, down near the present site of the railroad depot, made chairs and turned bed posts. In speaking of Abram Fowls, he says, "he made money by attend- ing strictly to business." Abijah Bagley occupied the prize fifty-acre farm given to the first settler, and gave his name to the Bagley road. In the swamp on an island was an establishment for making a circulating medium called Podunk money. Here a band of outlaws, undisturbed by the officers of the law, and undismayed by the immediate presence of dangerous beasts of the forest, continued their operations for many years. They burned charcoal for their use and had tools and a shop to serve as their illegitimate mint. Apparently they did not counterfeit but issued a coin that resembled real money of the realm only in this that it was coined. From 1812 to 1815, times in Middleburg were at their worst and the set- tlers did not shy at anything that resembled money. People in debt, as the price of land declined, gave up their homes. Murrain killed the cat- tle, while fever and ague shook the owners. Many people died in trying to get acclimated. The raccoon, the deer, and the squirrel destroyed the crops. The roads were heavy and in some places almost impassable. From 1828 to 1845, an even later period, the increase of population was slow because the land was held above the market price in other townships. During these seventeen years of depression some advancement was shown. A blast furnace was built on the river falls. This made a demand for charcoal, and the settlers made and sold this product while clearing up their farms. David and Clark Goss, as Mr. Baldwin expresses it in his sketch, "built mills, cleared farms, and made good citizens." Sheldon and Gilruth came and assisted in building the gristmill and in laying out a town and naming it Berea. They established a postoffice of that name. It seems Sheldon wanted it called Berea, and Gilruth clung to the name Tabor. They would neither yield, and finally agreed to decide it by the toss of a coin-heads, Berea; tails, Tabor. Sheldon won the toss, and it should be recorded that he was the first postmaster.
In the depressed times mentioned, the Vaughns sold their farms, but continued to operate their mills. Ephraim later bought twenty acres cov-
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ering the central part of the present Village of Berea and this he sold to John Baldwin in 1836. An industry that was of great benefit to the set- tlers was one operated by David Fairchild on the river falls. He made wooden dishes. These were largely used and were found on the tables of the settlers away from the larger centers of population. They were used in the log cabin even when "company" stayed to supper. John Baldwin, aided by David and Clark Goss, founded a school called Berea Seminary, which continued awhile and then failed. Mr. Baldwin says that after the failure of the school both David.and Clark left thinking it better to go than stay. There were twelve families having stock in the enterprise, and they lost money. This was at the time of a great inflation of paper money in the country, and some attributed the failure to that cause. Whether Mr. Baldwin was interested in this enterprise may be doubted, but the vision of such an institution was in his mind and he worked toward its accomplishment. In the primitive hand method of cutting out grindstones the Berea stone was found to be superior to those brought from Nova Scotia, which were those most used. Mr. Baldwin began by cutting them out with chisel and hammer as early as 1828. These he peddled in adjoining townships. In the winter of 1832 he employed two stone cut- ters to work in his cellar on shares. He furnished board and stone in the rough, and each party had an equal share in the finished product. In the spring the workmen sold their share of the grindstones and their tools to Mr. Baldwin. He sold to a stone trader from Canada, hauled them to Cleveland and shipped to the purchaser in Canada. This was the first shipment of Berea stone and it was years before Berea had a name. The demand for grindstones increased and Mr. Baldwin began the study of cheaper and easier production. The chisel and hammer produced good grindstones but at much labor and expense. The log mill of the Vaughnis was located at the east bank of the Rocky River, near the Berea Public Square or Triangle of today. Here was the power and Mr. Baldwin pondered over its application. He cut out a whitewood stick which he took to a little shop on the river and with the employment of a turning lathe shaped it for a pattern to be cast for a lathe to turn stone. On one moonlight night he shouldered his pattern and carried it on foot to Cleve- land to Mr. Hoyt's, who was agent for a small furnace located where the Cuyahoga furnace afterwards stood. This mandrel was cast the next day and was brought to the river to the Vaughn log mill and placed in the end of the water wheel shaft. A hole was made in a flat stone, it was put on the mandrel and secured by an iron key. The wheel was set in motion and the rim turned off. Says Mr. Baldwin: "This was the first grind- stone I ever saw turned and when it was taken down I looked at it with a great deal of interest." This was in 1833. There was a limited demand for a few years and then the stones were introduced in New York and found superior to a French stone, then celebrated. The demand soon became great and many teams were employed to haul the product to Cleve- land for shipment. In addition to grindstones Mr. Baldwin soon manu- factured also shoe and scythe stones. The machinery for this manufacture was devised by him using the power in the larger mill built by R. and E. Vaughn. This industry was moved to what was called the Red Mill, operated by Clapp and Armstrong and later by Frank Stearns. Business success was attending on John Baldwin, the man with a vision.
In 1845, with Holden Dwight as principal, Baldwin Institute was in operation, and families began coming to town for the education of their children. By this time a number of Germans had settled in the town and as they could not speak much English a German Methodist Church was formed, giving them the opportunity of hearing the conducting of services
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in their own language. But we should add more of the earlier years. In 1832 the first Sunday school was established at the home of John Bald- win. Deacon Rouse of Cleveland was present at this first meeting and lent his experience to the occasion. He was an agent of an Eastern society that encouraged and aided Sunday schools by supplying books for their library and giving general assistance. In this year a temperance society was formed called The Total Abstinence Society. They were active in urging reservations in deeds of sale of land preventing the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors thereon. Many of the original deeds con- tain such reservations. Eli Osborn put up a fulling mill on the river. He used to dress cloth, survey land, act as justice of the peace, conduct religious meetings and sometimes preach. Perhaps the best illustration of the elimination of the middle man was shown in the business of Ben- jamin Tuttle. He had a shop on Rocky River in which he ground bark, tanned hides, and made shoes. The farmers would sell him the hides and get measured for a pair of boots or shoes, boots mostly in the case of the men. They bought and sold direct to the manufacturer. Thus was elim- inated the wholesaler's profit, the retailer's profit, the salesman's salary and traveling expenses, cost of packing and shipping, and the added cost to take care of unsold stock, "marked down to $3.99." Valentine Gard- ner bought out Tuttle and continued the business. Charles Green bought a small piece of land, but gave his time principally to pettifogging in the justice courts. He was the first legal practitioner in the township. In 1833 the first tavern was opened on the turnpike in a house built by Sol- omon Lovejoy. This hostelry was conducted later by his son. Along the turnpike in the township at this time were the Pomeroy, Bassett, Smith, Peebles, Fuller and other families. Jonathan Patterson, who came in 1831, said the wolves howled nightly close to the homes of the settlers. In 1834, 1835 and 1836 an era of speculation seemed to have struck the country and Middleburg caught the contagion. All sorts of speculative schemes were eagerly sought and embraced. In 1836 a social settlement was con- ceived in the minds of Rev. Henry O. Sheldon and James Gilruth. We have mentioned these gentlemen in connection with the first postoffice and the selection of the name, Berea. Mr. Sheldon was the first minister in the township. When he came the water power of the river was used, but there was no village, no store and no doctor. The plan of the settlement was applied socialism. The members were to hold property in common and do business in common. Its nucleus was to be the town. It is an odd coincidence that when the first purchaser of Middleburg, Hon. Gideon Granger, who was postmaster general under President Thomas Jefferson, died, the unsold land passed to Francis Granger, who was postmaster gen- eral under President William Henry Harrison some years later. To be exact, just forty. There were some other heirs. This community, organized by Sheldon and Gilruth, this application of the principles of socialism, this Utopia in the minds of its founders, started off in flying colors. Staid settlers held their breath as viewing a new era in human relationship, a remedy for the perplexities of the individual struggle for existence. Twenty families, mostly newcomers, formed the community. Only three resident families joined. The community bought of Granger over 1,000 acres of land. Some houses were bought and others built. Although the property was owned in common the residences were sep- arate. Business was conducted by a Board of Twelve Apostles. They bought and repaired a gristmill and sawmill on the river, put in crops, and the new era in modern civilization was launched. The "Community" was favorably regarded by the people of the township generally. They seemed to be different from social reformers. They were zealous in re-
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