USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 1) > Part 22
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THE CITY OF CLEVELAND
Dover man was not elected speaker but he had received a high compliment in a stormy period. Mr. Johnson again served in the fifty-second Assem- bly, when Salmon P. Chase was governor, who was elected by a small majority over Henry B. Payne of Cleveland. This session began in 1856. Mr. Johnson died while serving on this, his fifth term in the House.
In 1811 Philo Taylor settled in the town. He built the first sawmill and opened the first tavern but stayed only a few years. Dr. John Taylor came from Rockport in 1813. He was the first physician, but had some peculiar theories. One of them was in regard to treatment for consump- tion or tuberculosis as it is now called. He contended that daily exercises of a character that would bring into play the muscles of the chest would bring a cure. His wife was afflicted with the disease and he kept her at daily exercise, swinging a flatiron in each hand, but the treatment was not a success and she died. Whether he clung to his theory after that is not recorded. He moved to Carlisle, Ohio, and later to Wisconsin, where he died. Joseph Stocking of Ashfield, Massachusetts, bought a farm in Dover and with his uncle, Jonathan Smith, came to his new possessions in 1811. He went back to Massachusetts and postponed his return until after the War of 1812. In 1815 he returned with quite a delegation, his wife and five children, Nehemiah Porter, John Smith, Asa Blood, Wells Porter, Jesse Lilly and Royal Holden, all relatives. He lived on the farm to the good old age of ninety-five years. Jesse Lilly settled on North Ridge and then moved to the south part of the township. John Smith bought on lot 55 and Royal Holden about a mile west of the present Dover Center. Asa Blood built a log tavern and replaced it in after years by a brick hotel, which was located on the same site. In later years this hotel was kept by Philip Phillips. Dover in its pioneer period was more favored in the way of mail facilities than many other townships. In 1825 with Asa Blood as postmaster it had mail three times a week. A mail stage driven by a Mr. Wolverton from Cleveland to Elyria never missed the postoffice at Dover Center and it found Postmaster Blood on the job. Nehemiah Porter with his wife, two children and Wells Porter, a bachelor relative, settled on lot 45. Ebenezer Porter came in 1816. Of this family all remained in Dover except Wells Porter, who after settling for some years on a farm of his own, moved to Cleveland. Jedediah Crocker of Lee, Massachusetts, bought in Dover and in June, 1811, came west as far as Euclid. He remained there while his son Noah with a wife and three children came on to Dover and began clearing on his father's land. After a time he
found work in Elyria and worked there from time to time while clearing on his father's farm. This he found more remunerative than farming, and when in 1816 Jedediah came on to Dover with his family, he had sold all the land he bought from Hubbard and Stowe of Connecticut except two lots. He sold for $1.25 per acre, what it cost him. When he came his nearest neighbors were Barnabas Hall, Thomas Foot, Sylvanus Phin- ney, Bernard Case, Jesse Lilly, Jonathan Smith, and Harry and Jasper Taylor. In 1810 Moses Hall of Lee, Massachusetts, bought 2,100 acres of land in Dover and the same year moved with his wife and twelve chil- dren to Ashtabula. Of the Dover land he gave each of his seven sons 100 acres and each daughter fifty acres. Two of his sons, Barnabas and James and a married daughter with her husband settled in Dover in 1811. Barnabas was located on a farm on lot 62 where he spent his life and was succeeded by his son Charles. James in 1821 returned to Ashtabula. Nathan Bassett lived on lot 82. He had a turning lathe and made chairs. He was known as a great hunter and was a successful bee culturist, an important avocation in the days before the great sugar centrals supplied the world with sugar. He was killed by lightning in 1842 while at work
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in his barn. But to return to the Hall family-Nancy, another daughter of Moses Hall, who had married David Ingersoll, settled on lot 37 in Dover in 1820. The couple had seven children and outlived them all, he dying in 1879 at the age of eighty-three, and she the same year at about the same age. Another son of Moses Hall, Charles, with his wife, came to Dover in the '20s and settled on lot 48. They had two children, Reuben and Z. S. Hall. Of Reuben we will speak in another place. Another pioneer family, Jesse Atwell, with wife and five children from Steuben County, New York, arrived in 1817. They reached Cleveland July 4 and pushed on to Dover, making the trip from Cleveland in a day and a half. They saw only one frame house on the way. Atwell bought lot 68 of Moses Hall. At the end of five years he bought lot 69 of the original owners, Hubbard and Stowe, for $4.20 per acre, thus showing that the price of land had advanced since the first sales in the township. Atwell remained on the farm until his death in 1875 at the age of eighty-nine. Amos Sperry came with his family from Oneida, New York, in 1815 and bought lot 60 of Lyman Root, who moved to Ridgville. Sperry opened a blacksmith shop and tavern in 1818, but he put up no tavern sign till 1824. Supposedly the customers at the blacksmith shop sufficiently adver- tised the tavern before that time. Believing as Washington said that "agriculture is the most healthful, most useful, most noble employment of man," he in a few years dropped the shop and the tavern and farmed it until his death in 1848 at the age of eighty-seven. The old tavern sign has been kept in the family as a souvenir of pioneer days. His son, Amos R. Sperry, who came a year before him, also lived out his life on the farm leaving a descendant, Junia Sperry. Amos R. Sperry married the widow of Junia Beach of Elyria. She survived her husband many years, living to be 100 years old. Other families that came early were those of Jason Bradley, John Wolf, Jethro Butler, Aaron Aldrich, Lyman Root, Eber Loomis and Joseph Root.
Sylvanus Smith was the first settler at Dover Center and built a house there at a point that was later occupied by a store. Asa Blood, who kept the first tavern at the Center, married a sister of Sylvanus Smith. Other sisters married Ansel Rice and Asher Cooley, Dover pioneers. Smith built several houses at the Center, having faith in its future. In 1816 James Case with wife and nine children came from Ashfield, Massachu- setts, and settled on the North Ridge, west of Cahoon Creek. He built a sawmill there but died in two years leaving a son, Bernard Case, upon whom devolved the care of the family. Bernard finally gave up the pioneer business and went back to New York. Another son, Osborn Case, went to Rockport in 1832. The James Case mentioned was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. During his short life in Dover he worked as cooper, miller and farmer. Sumner Adams should be mentioned, who came with Case in 1816, was a blacksmith in Dover for four years and then returned to New England. In 1826 Joseph Porter came from Ashfield, Massachu- setts, with his wife and four children, Jemima, John, Leonard and Rebecca. At this period in our history the age of progress was dawning. They came in style, took the Erie Canal to Buffalo, boat by lake to Cleve- land, and stage to Dover. The Porter family have been identified so inti- mately with the history of Dover that it may not be uninteresting to trace back along the line. Some 300 years ago, but after the Pilgrim Fathers had set the example, the first Porter, Samuel, came from England and landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts. Like many of the pioneer families in Cuyahoga County, this one of whom Samuel Porter was the head, was characterized by long life and large families. Samuel Porter moved from Plymouth to Beverly. Here Samuel Porter, second, married Lydia Her-
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rick of Beverly. His son Nehemiah married Hannah Smith of Beverly. The next in line was Nehemiah II, born at Ipswick. He graduated at Harvard in 1745, married Rebecca Chapman of Beverly, was Congrega- tional minister at Ipswick, and lived to lack twenty-one days of being 100 years old. It seemed to be the passion in those days to go to Beverly for a wife. I know of no such book but it occurs to the writer that "The Belles of Beverly" would be a good title for a story. Joseph Porter, whom we have mentioned as coming to Dover in 1826 with his wife and four children, was the son of the minister, Nehemiah II. His family increased to eleven, of whom L. G. Porter, long prominent in the Dover community, was the tenth. He was the eighth son and tenth child. L. G. Porter mar- ried in 1838 Catherine Stevens, daughter of Rev. Solomon Stevens, Con- gregational minister of Dover. Mr. Porter was justice of the peace in Dover for six years, and held other positions of trust. By his will, which was probated after his death in 1884, he left $1,000 for establishing a library in Dover. A charter was procured from the state on application of the following charter members: Dr. J. M. Lathrop, A. S. Cooley, R. Hall, F. J. Rose, T. H. Hurst and J. N. Hurst. The Dover Literary Society, an organization of young people, having the nucleus of a library, joined in, and the library was established under the name of the Porter Library and Literary Association of Dover. A building and lot was pur- chased and by petition of citizens a legislative act was passed authorizing the levy of two-tenths of a mill on the taxable property of the township for the support of the library. Thus was established a valuable adjunct to the schools and asset to the community. Among the early settlers, the Cooley family have contributed to the sum of Dover's influence in the county. Two members have served in the State Legislature and it has been identified in local affairs of the township. In tracing the lineage in brief we find that Robert Cooley, or Coole, as it was sometimes written, came to America from Ipswick, England, in 1634. He had three sons, of whom Benjamin, born in 1619, was the youngest. Benjamin with his wife, Sarah, were among the first settlers of Springfield, Massachusetts. He was an ensign in King Phillip's war against the white settlers. They had eight children, of whom Obadiah, born in 1646, was the second. In 1670 Obadiah married Rebecca Williams of Springfield. Their family consisted of seven children and Obadiah Cooley II was the fourth, born in 1675. This Oba- diah took a wife in 1702, whose maiden name was Dorcas Hale. They had six children. Noah, the second, born in 1706, married and moved to Palmer, Massachusetts. Their family consisted of six also. One son, Asher, was a member of a company of Minute Men, who marched from Palmer to Lexington, where occurred the first bloodshed of the Revolutionary war, and Noah II, the first born, was also a soldier in that war. This Noah Cooley, named for his father, married Esther Hyde of Monson, Mas- sachusetts, and moved to Hawley. Their children numbered five and Asher, among the first settlers of Dover, was the fourth born. Asher
Their married Lydia Smith, whose birthplace was Chatham, Ontario. typical pioneer family numbered ten and John M. Cooley was the youngest member. John M., besides being active in township affairs in Dover, served as a member of the Sixty-first General Assembly of Ohio. At this session Allen G. Thurman was elected United States senator and William Allen was governor of Ohio. John M. Cooley was married in 1854 to Lucy Seymour, who had come from Connecticut to Ohio some time before. They had three children of whom Hon. A. S. Cooley, now serving his second term in the Ohio Legislature, was the first born. After the death of his father, Deacon Asher Cooley, J. M. Cooley occupied the old home- stead, and now after some years of residence in Cleveland, the grandson,
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Hon. A. S. Cooley, or Doctor Cooley, as he is more frequently called, from his profession, has moved to the homestead in Dover and fitted it up with modern conveniences.
Reuben Hall of Dover in 1910 published "Reminiscences of Dover Pioneer Life." He said: "After the township had been partially settled there were four principal roads running through the town, east and west, and nearly parallel with each other. These were the Lake Shore, the North Ridge, the Middle Ridge, and the Coe Ridge roads. Between 1830 and 1850 there was a large emigration from the eastern to the western states. The principal line of travel was the Middle Ridge. The log school where I went to school was on this road, and it was a common sight to see the covered wagons of the emigrants passing by. There were also two or three lines of stage coaches with their loads of passengers and mail going each way daily, with four and sometimes six horses attached. The large amount of travel required many hotels or taverns, as they were called in those days. After leaving Cleveland there was the Bullshead Tavern, then a little farther west Young's Hotel, then the Brooklyn House, then the Rock- port House, and at Rocky River the Wright House (now Silverthorn's), then the Telegraph House, and getting into Dover was one kept by old Granger Sperry and at Dover Center there were three, one kept by Job Smith, one by a Mr. Boone, and the other where the postoffice was kept, by Asa Blood. The latter was where the stage horses were changed for fresh ones to continue their course to Elyria, Toledo and Detroit. Some of the families who have lived in Dover and with whom I have been partially or intimately acquainted, are the following: The Cahoons, the Saddlers, the Foots, Aldrichs, Bassetts, Browns, Atwells, Clagues, Clem- ans, Phinneys, Bradleys, Hursts, Crockers, Halls, Stockings, Smiths, Mil- lards, Sperrys, Coes, Hands, Austins, Roses, Taylors, Johnsons, Ingersolls, Cooleys, and many others. The older members of these families have all passed away, and of the next generation and their descendants there are but few remaining. There is one family which I have not mentioned, the Lilly family. There were at one time six brothers by the name of Lilly living in Dover and all but one had large families. Today there is not one in the township by the name of Lilly, and but two who ever bore the name, Mrs. Ann Eliza Saddler and my wife, Mrs. Hall. Uncle Barney Hall and his wife, Aunt Hannah, came to Dover in 1811 and commenced pioneer life in their little log cabin. On September 28, 1812, while Uncle Barney was away and Aunt Hannah had gone to visit a sick neighbor, their log house was burned down. As the Indians were frequent callers and knew that there was a good supply of pewter dishes in the log cabin, it was supposed that they had taken the dishes and then set fire to the house to conceal their crime. Undaunted by this calamity, Aunt Hannah established her kitchen in the hollow of a sycamore stub, from which place she served refreshments at the building of the new log house, having fresh white ash chips for plates and using the handleless knives and forks raked from the ruins."
The first postmaster in North Dover was Asahel Porter, who kept a store on the lake shore near Avon in 1815. After him in the order named were Reuben Osborn, Eli Clemens, Calvin Phinney, ancestor of Benjamin Phinney, who was county commissioner of Cuyahoga County, a Dover resident, and Daniel Brown, who was there in the '70s. Asa Blood, whom we have mentioned as postmaster at Dover Center, was succeeded by Marius Moore and he by Hon. J. M. Cooley. A postoffice was started at Coe Ridge in 1843 with A. M. Coe, who settled there in 1823, as post- master. It had an uncertain tenure. In 1864 it was moved to Olmsted, brought back in 1867 and removed again to Olmsted in 1874.
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THE CITY OF CLEVELAND
Surveyed township number 7 of range 15 was owned as we have said by Nehemiah Hubbard and Josiah Stowe. The township organization as erected November 4, 1811, embraced in addition to number 6, range 15, all of number 7, range 18, east of Black River. On March 6, 1812, it was ordered that all that tract of land lying west of the Township of Dover and west of number 6 of range 16 and east of the east line of the Fire Lands, so-called, and north of township 5 in ranges 17, 18 and 19, be and they are annexed to Dover. The first election was held at the house of Philo Taylor April 6, 1812. Eighteen votes were cast by the following electors: Philo Taylor, George Kelso, John Jordon, John Brittle, Noah Davis, Andrew Kelso, Timothy Wallace, David Smith, Joseph Cahoon, Joseph Quigley, Ralph Lyon, Joseph Root, Jonathan Seeley, Moses Eldred, Azariah Beebe, Lyman Root, Asahel Porter and Daniel Perry. Some of these first voters came as far as Black River. There is no record or tradition as to the selection of the name for the township. The officers selected at this first meeting were: Clerk of the township, Asahel Porter ; trustees, Daniel Perry, Joseph Quigley and Asahel Porter; overseers of the poor, Asahel Porter, Joseph Cahoon and Azariah Beebe ; fence viewers, Andrew Kelso and Moses Eldred; lister and appraiser, Jonathan Seeley ; supervisors of roads, a large number because of the added territory, Noah Davis, Ralph Lyon, Moses Eldred, Sylvanus Fleming, Daniel Brittle and Lyman Post; treasurer, Philo Taylor ; constables, Jonathan Seeley and Philo Taylor. An election for justice of the peace was held May 16th and John S. Reed elected as the first justice. Among those who have served as township officers for the first half century and more are: Trus- tees, Daniel Perry, Joseph Quigley, Asahel Porter, Nathan Bassett, Noah Crocker, Jonathan Taylor, John Turner, Amos R. Sperry, Wilbur Cahoon, Datus Kelley, Joseph Stocking, Asa Blood, Henry Taylor, Leverett John- son, Samuel Crocker, John Smith, Amos Cahoon, Thomas Foot, David Ingersoll, Asher M. Coe, Rial Holden, Charles Hall, Austin Lilly, Arza Dickinson, Aaron Aldrich, A. S. Farr, Joseph Brown, Benjamin Reed, Alfred Willard, William Saddler, N. Coburn, S. U. Towner, Henry Win- sor, Marius Moore, C. H. Tobey, Charles H. Hall, R. G. McCarty, C. E. Barnum, R. H. Knight, Edwin Farr, N. H. Austin, G. W. Laughlin, Reuben Hall, Josiah Hurst, Dennis Dow, Clark Smith, S. L. Beebe; clerks, Asahel Porter, John Turner, Noah Crocker, Thomas Foot, Sam- uel Crocker, John F. Smith, Asa Blood, Wills Porter, Jason Bradley, Eli Clemens, Austin Lilly, E. T. Smith, W. Porter, J. M. Bradley, Leverett Johnson, A. A. Lilly and John Wilson. Treasurer, Philo Taylor, Leverett Johnson, Thomas Foot, Samuel Crocker, Jedediah Crocker, Henry Taylor, Noah Crocker, Joseph Stocking, Hiram Smith, Asher Cooley, L. G. Porter, Marius Moore, Edwin Coe, D. W. Porter, Lester Simons, Jonathan Spencer. The township of Dover is no longer in existence as such. The territory after being reduced to its normal size, just embracing number 6, range 15, has been divided into two villages, Dover Village and Bay Village. Bay Village includes the northern portion of the original town- ship and includes all of the lake front property, the balance is included in Dover Village. The township organization is no more. In Bay Village are many fine residences along the lake shore. The present officers of Dover Village are: Mayor, R. Sneddin ; clerk, C. L. Hopkins ; treasurer, Eugene Hickin; assessor, Henry Wulf ; council, F. S. Boone, Mart Lim- pert, Casper Wuebker, H. H. Power, A. L. Tanner and S. A. Sperry. The officers of Bay Village are: Mayor, Walter, E. Wright; clerk, Jesse L. Saddler ; treasurer, A. K. Glendenning ; marshal, C. M. Geyer ; council, I. C. Powell, Henry Koch, William J. Blaha, C. E. Osborn, Harry Drake and Robert Hassler. The reader will look in vain for any names among
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the officers of these villages suggestive of the early pioneer families. They did their work and now in these later days and in this newer era of won- derful advancement the burdens are turned over to other hands. The families of the pioneers are widely scattered.
Reuben Hall in his reminiscences states that his father and mother after their marriage in 1819 put their household goods and a stock of provi- sions for the winter in an ox cart drawn by two yoke of oxen and with a boy to drive or help drive, started for their new home in the wilderness of Dover. After getting to Dover his father had only 50 cents left, and 25 of this he gave to the boy to take him back to Ashtabula with one of the yoke of oxen. He had left not an extravagant sum with which to begin housekeeping, at least for a newly married couple. In 1825 the forest was dotted with clearings and log cabins. Valuable timber must be destroyed before the pioneer could raise anything to live upon. There was no market for lumber and no mills to cut it. The cutting down of trees was usually done in winter. They were cut into log lengths and piled into heaps for burning. As it required three men and an ox team to do this work, neighbors would change works, helping each other, one to drive the ox team and haul the logs together and two to pile the logs in heaps for burning. When the field, which had been chopped over was finished, the log heaps were fired, and it was a beautiful sight in the evening to see the glowing light which was cast on the surrounding forest. The cleared field was surrounded by a rail fence, the rails being made from selected logs, which were free to split. The pioneer then had a hard task to get in the seed for the first two or three crops for the land could not be plowed on account of the stumps and roots, and he had to take his ox team, hitch to a three cornered drag, and loosen the ground as well as he could. The planting of fruit trees in Dover, like that in other townships of the County, began early, but, on account of the nearness to the lake, the raising of grapes soon led all the rest. This increased until at one time Dover was the second largest shipping point for grapes in the United States, being exceeded only by Euclid in the northeast part of the county.
The market in Cleveland for potash was a great boon to the first settlers here as in other townships. For a time about the only product that could be turned into money was potash. There were two asheries started quite early in Dover. John Rose opened one at his home and Philip Phillips in another part of the township. We have explained the method of marketing this product and its commercial value in the chapter on Strongsville. Rose and Phillips would gather up the ashes where the log heaps were burned with a team and wagon and haul them to the ashery for leaching. Then the lye was boiled in large iron kettles. Mr. Rose would drive even to Olmsted, Middleburg, and Rockport for ashes. In the new community many small industries sprang up to meet the needs of the settlers. These gradually disappeared as transportation facilities made possible the centralization in larger communities with the application of improved machinery. Amos Sperry Sr. made the nails used in building a barn, in his blacksmith shop. Naturally such a nail factory would give way quickly to machine methods but the barn went up with hand wrought nails. Edwin Hall had a cooper shop where he made barrels of many kinds including pounding barrels for domestic laundry work. The demand for the latter was often greater than his ability to supply the commodity. An industry somewhat short lived grew out of the discovery of iron ore beds in the township. In 1832 Tilden and Morley had a furnace and iron ware manufactory near where the ore beds were found. They had a store also and employed altogether
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twelve men. The furnace stood on the spot that was later the residence of Junius Sperry. Tilden and Morley sold to the Cuyahoga Furnace Company and in 1843 the plant was destroyed by fire. Benjamin Reed rebuilt in 1848, but he had only operated a short time when the supply of ore was exhausted. Thus ended the iron business in Dover. The passing of the iron industry was followed by the passing of the grist- mill that most important factor in pioneer days.
Up to the year 1856 there were several grist mills in the township operated by water power. The small creeks flowing into the lake had sufficient fall to provide for operating the overshot wheel. In 1854 Junia Sperry, Robert Crooks and Millard and Smith, built a steam grist- mill. This they sold to Garret Reublin and John Kirk. Afterwards the property was acquired by E. Carpenter and O. Lilly. They did a large business for several years. After another transfer to a Mr. Murphy it burned down. This was in 1890. In 1892 William Glasgow and his brother bought the mill site and built a new mill thereon installing a roller process for making flour and special machinery for grinding feed. This mill passed to several owners and then the fatality that had followed the locality came again and on November 23, 1811 it was totally destroyed by fire. The township and the gristmill, its early benefactor, have both passed away. Fauver and Hart built a bending factory about a mile southwest of Dover Center in 1850. They manufactured felloes, sleigh runners, and shafts. This was in operation in the '80s but as Mr. Hall makes no mention of it in his Dover book we assume that it has gone the way of other small industries that have been supplanted by the greater ones, whose customers are nation and world wide.
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