USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 1) > Part 23
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The religious history of Dover begins with the transplanting of a sprout from New England. In 1811 a Congregational Church was organ- ized in Lee, Massachusetts, with eight members, Jedediah Crocker, Sarah Crocker, his wife, Lydia, wife of Moses Hall, Katy Crosby, wife of Jedediah, Jonathan Smith and wife and Abner Smith and his wife. All but Mrs. Hall came to Dover, and, soon after their arrival, this organiza- tion was kept up under the name of the Congregational Church of Dover. They had no minister but conducted their own services and their numbers increased until in 1822 a log church was built. After some years the log church was burned and then services were held in Joseph Stocking's barn and in the town house, until a frame house was erected. In 1840 this church split on the slavery question. A part of the membership holding that slavery was a divine institution authorized and sanctioned by the teachings of the bible, and the others holding a different view. Of the divided membership, one congregation held meetings in the church building and the other in the town house. This state of affairs con- tinued for seven years and then the two bodies came together and reor- ganized as the Second Congregational Church of Dover, having at that time fifty-one members. Now the slavery question seems to have been withdrawn as a bone of contention but the doctrine of election, and pre- ordination, was much discussed. Says Mr. Hall: "At the session of the Sunday school the older members would take part, Deacon Osborn, Sr., Nehemiah Porter and others on the affirmative, and Deacon Ingersoll and Deacon Millard and others taking the negative. These discussions were very animated and attended with some heat." In this connection Mr. Hall speaks of the revival meetings held in Dover by President Charles Finney of Oberlin College. He says: "Mr. Finney was of the fire and brimstone order of preachers and he did not fail to give emphasis to the doctrine of hell and the devil. This was before there were any church buildings and he went with his tent to different towns and set it up to hold meetings."
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Mr. Hall speaks of Mr. Finney as president of Oberlin College, but he was not connected with the college until 1851. There is on old record of this first religious organization which says: "Congregational Society, organized December 12th, for the support of the Gospel, 1818," the mem- bership list is Noah Crocker, Nehemiah Porter, David Ingersoll, John Smith, Jesse Lilly, Asher Cooley, Wells Porter, Jonathan Smith, Slyvanus Phinney, Jedediah Crocker, Dennis Taylor, Barnabas Hall, James Hall, Another record recites: "First Samuel Crocker and Solomon Ketchum.
Congregational Society, incorporated February 2, 1831; incorporators, Calvin Phinney, Slyvanus Crocker, Josiah Hurst and Reuben Osborn."
A Methodist Episcopal Church was organized at Dover Center in 1825. The first meetings were held in houses and barns and no church building was erected until 1853. William Dempsey, James Elliott and Jerome Beardslee were trustees in the '70s. Another church of the same denom- ination was organized in a schoolhouse on the lake shore in 1827 by Rev. Eliphalet Johnson, brother of Leverett Johnson. It started with only six members and has never had a large membership, but in 1840 a church building was erected. Reverend Johnson preached until 1842 and was succeeded by circuit preachers. The First Baptist Church was organized February 24, 1836 with the following membership: Aaron Aldrich and wife, William W. and Julia Aldrich, Jesse Atwell and wife, and four others. This church began its meetings in the schoolhouse and nine years later built a church at North Dover. It continued in existence ten years more when services were discontinued. Among those who conducted the meetings were Elders Dimmick of Olmsted, Wire of Rockport and Lock- wood of Perry. The last settled pastor was Reverend Newton. The church building was burned in 1878. Another church was formed in Dover in pioneer days that gave expression to those wishing that form of wor- ship but which has since been abandoned. St. John's Episcopal Church was organized in 1837 and a church building was put up at Dover Center that year. Five years after there was only a scattered membership includ- ing Charles Hall, Weller Dean, Jesse Lilly, Austin Lilly and Albanus Lilly. Weller Dean was lay reader, and a settled minister, Reverend Granville, preached for a time. Much consolation must have been derived from the assurance that "where two or three are gathered together, etc." The little church organization dissolved in 1850. In 1858 a German Lutheran Church was organized and the members at the start were J. H. Lindemeyer, F. H. Hencke, F. Mathews, H. Luocke, J. H. Trast, William Schmidt, J. H. Weihrmann and August Warnecke. They first held their meetings in the Baptist Church at North Dover. A schoolhouse was built by the congregation, which was used as a church for several years. In 1877 a church building was erected at a cost of $4,000. The trustees at that time being H. H. Reinkal, G. Meyer and Christian Koch.
The first school teacher in Dover so far as any information can be obtained, was Betsey Crocker, who taught in a log schoolhouse on the lake shore in 1816. This was before any school districts were formed but after the organization of the township it was a public school. Philena Crocker, sister of Betsey, taught there at the age of fourteen. There was a man teacher also, for Wells Porter wielded the switch and ferrule in the same locality. In 1826 there were seventy householders in the town- ship and it was divided into five school districts and a schoolhouse was built in each. The number of sub-districts was increased with increasing population. In 1880 the school enumeration of the township was 672. The secular school connected with the German Lutheran Church had at that time 115 pupils. It began with thirty-three pupils. The schools are now operated by separate school boards, Bay Village at the north
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constituting one school district and Dover Village the other. Parkview school in Bay Village accommodates all in the district. It employs six teachers, has an enrollment of 165 pupils, and is under the supervision of H. H. Wiggins. The schools of Dover Village are all in one large com- modious building located at the Center. L. E. Hayes is the superin- tendent. There are twelve teachers and they have 360 pupils enrolled. The methods employed in districts in the rural parts of the county, that involve the transportation of the distant pupils in busses to the schools, are employed in these school districts.
In discussing the schools of Dover mention should be made of the Dover Academy. In 1845 John Wilson, a graduate of Oberlin College, built a building and opened a school under that name a mile and a half southwest of Dover Center. Success attended the school and in 1852 it was moved to the Center. The citizens being greatly interested organized a corporation and erected a building on what was later a part of the fair grounds. The name of the corporation was the Dover Academical Asso- ciation. Wilson, the successful teacher, was retained as principal from the first and remained in charge until 1860. The public schools in the meantime had grown to greater efficiency and were very highly regarded and the academy only continued two years after the first principal ceased his labors there. The abandoned building was afterwards used by the officers of the Dover Fair Association. The first directors of the academy were, Leverett Johnson, L. G. Porter, and Benjamin Reed. The fair asso- ciation was organized in 1850 and land bought by money advanced by Josiah Hurst, S. L. Beebe, and J. Coles. The property purchased was a little north of the Center. Annual fairs were held here from the date of the organization of the association and they grew in popularity from year to year. People from all parts of the county attended and it was one of the occasions that many never failed to take advantage of, regard- less of weather or conditions. Have you been to the Dover Fair? was a question often propounded. Julius Farr was president of the association in 1880 and they continued to hold these annual meetings for some time afterwards.
Dover has not been devoid of fraternal orders and like her sister townships they were diversified. Dover Lodge of the Odd Fellows, No. 393, had as charter members, John Kirk, William B. Delford, C. D. Knapp, A. P. Smith, S. Bradford, C. L. Underhill, A. Wolf, P. W. Barton, W. W. Mead, A. S. Porter, Junia Sperry, J. Beardsley, D. B. Wright, and D. H. Perry. At the close of the '70s the officers were, Perry Powell, James L. Hand, James Beardsley, Benjamin Chappel and Frank Baker. This lodge and the township jointly built a building to be used as town hall and lodge room at a cost of $6,000 in 1873. Northwest Encampment, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was organized July 1, 1875. The charter members were Alfred Wolf, Alfred Bates, L. J. Cahoon, Van Ness Moore, Philip Phillips, Perry Powell, and Frank Baker. A little later the officers were Philip Phillips, Perry Powell, Jerome Beardsley, John Morrisey, and F. W. Guild. The Star Lodge of the Daughters of Rebecca was organized with sixteen charter members in 1871. The officers in 1879 were John Griffin, Mrs. Murry Farr, Mrs. John Griffin, Benjamin Chappel and Mrs. Maitland Beebe.
Dover Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, No. 489, organized with the list of charter members as follows : D. R. Watson, L. M. Coe, G. Reublin, John Kirk, John Jordan, E. S. Lewis, J. L. Hand, S. Barry, William Lewis, G. Pease, and William Sprague. There were others, including the Temperance League and the Dover Cornet Band, which in the township, as in other townships, was
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a musical and social organization. Some of these have ceased to exist and others remain as a part of the social life of today.
Reuben Hall has furnished an interesting account of the blast furnace previously mentioned, which comes from personal knowledge as a resident of the township for the period of the ordinary human life: "One of the largest industries which was ever undertaken in Dover was a blast furnace for making pig iron, which was made from bog ore, and this ore was found at different places on the north side of the middle ridge road between Rocky River and Elyria. The promoters of the enterprise were Doctor Tilden, of Ohio City, and Mr. Morley, a relative of the Morley who used to have a factory for the making of white lead, which was located at the junction of Canal and Champlain streets in Cleveland. It was supposed that the Cuyahoga Furnace Company, which was located at the foot of Detroit Street hill, had an interest in the enterprise, as the products of the furnace were taken to the Cuyahoga furnace. This enterprise required the services of a large number of men and teams. The wood had to be cut in the forest for making the charcoal, and the ore drawn from the beds to the furnace, and when the ore was smelted and made into pig iron, it took other teams to draw it to the city. A high chimney or stack was built and at the top of this, what was called a top-house. A bridge was constructed starting from near the road and leading up to the top-house, for the purpose of drawing up the coal, ore and lime, to where they were to be put into the top of the stack. A horse and cart were used to transport the coal, ore, and lime over the bridge up to the top-house. One of the horses used for this purpose was a large, fine looking sorrel horse by the name of Mike. He was so intelligent and became so accustomed to the work that he would take his loads up to the bridgeway and deliver them in the top-house without a driver. The pits for charring the wood into coal were near where the wood was cut. A level spot of ground would be selected, and the wood drawn together and set on end in a circle and built up about the shape of a hay stack and then covered with earth, after which it was fired, and then watchers had to attend it night and day to keep the fire confined so that it would not break out and burn up the wood. When the coal was charred sufficiently, the dirt covering was removed and the charcoal taken out and drawn in wagons with high boxes to the coal shed, which was near the furnace, there to be kept dry for future use. There was a large bellows at the bottom of the stack which was worked by an engine with steam power to keep the coal hot enough to melt the ore. The cinders were drawn out at the bottom of the stack and when there was enough iron melted it was drawn out into beds, which had been formed with gutters to receive it, and when it was cool it was in the shape of pig iron, and was then taken by teams to the Cuyahoga furnace in Cleveland. The Dover blast furnace was burned down in 1844. The cause of the fire was, that the stack did not settle evenly and became clogged, and when it gave way it came down with such force that it threw the hot cinders and melted iron all over the building and set it on fire instantly, so that it could not be saved. There was one man who was sleeping in his berth in the plant, who was badly burned and died the next day." While this furnace was in operation it was a great annoyance to the church people, who were brought up in the belief that no ordinary work should be done on Sunday. There were two churches nearby and the running of a blast furnace successfully requires that it continue in operation all the time, nights and Sundays included. There was no charge, however, that the cause of the fire was of divine origin.
The record of Dover in the Civil war is creditable and there were few slackers when the call for troops came. Gilbert Porter, Andrew K. Rose,
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George M. Miner, Thomas Hammond, Samuel H. Ames, Orlando Austin, Chauncey D. Hall, John Hamlin, Peter H. Kaiser, William Reed, J. Gesner, J. Jordan, and Orlando Smith enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty- fourth Regiment of Ohio Volunteers ; John F. Flynn, Leonard G. Loomis, Benjamin Phinney, Bertrand C. Austin, R. W. Austin, Harrison Bates, Melvin B. Cousins, Asahel P. Root, William H. Webbsdale, John Griffin, Martin Lilly, Sanford Phinney, William Sage, David H. Taylor, Stephen M. Taylor, Thomas Williams, Christopher Dimmick, and Marius Tuttle, enlisted in the Forty-second Ohio, and Sherman Sperry, Francis Smith, Joseph Root, William Root, and Hiram Bartholomew, enlisted in the Twenty-third Ohio. In the latter end of the war when the hundred-day men were called out and the One Hundred and Fiftieth Ohio was formed, Company I was composed entirely of enlistments from Dover, Olmsted, and Rockport. Among them were Junia Sperry, who was a sergeant; John M. Cooley, Reuben Hall, Zibia S. Hall, and others from Dover.
This township being level the question of drainage was of primary importance, the question of ditches often holding first place in the minds of the farmers. It became necessary to establish main ditches of large capacity into which the farms could be drained by smaller ones. County ditches were built and over the location of these much controversy arose. The county engineer or surveyor was intrusted with this work and he was often harassed by divided opinions on the part of the Dover residents. The attitude of a person who came before the electors for the office of county surveyor on certain ditches in the township had much to do with his success at the polls. As late as the '70s we often heard of "The Dover Ditch Wars," but they were not wars of violence. The important ques- tion of drainage has been settled in its general character for the township. In speaking of the township we refer to the original territory, for, as we have said, the township has passed with the march of events.
The presidential campaign of 1840 echoed in Dover as in all the rural communities. A mass meeting was held in Dover and large delegations came from other towns. The meeting was held in the woods. Avon and Sheffield came with a large conveyance to which was attached as the team, thirty-two yoke of oxen in one line. On one end of the wagon was a small log cabin, decorated with coon skins, and on the other a barrel of cider. In front of this outfit was a small donkey hitched to a cart with the driver seated on a box labeled "Sub Treasury." This was intended as a hit at Van Buren for his position on the banking laws. Cleveland speakers addressed the meeting. Dover sent a delegation to a meeting at Elyria in this campaign, and included in the crowd was a load of thirty-six young ladies dressed in white to represent the thirty-six states of the Union and one dressed in black to represent Texas, which had gained its independence from Mexico and was then a republic, but, in the market for admission as the thirty-seventh state of the Union. It is quite likely that this was intended as an expression against the annexation of Texas.
As soon as the original pioneers had cleared sufficient land, stock rais- ing became an important industry, horses, cattle and sheep. Buyers came from the East and the money left with the pioneers spelled prosperity. The sheep industry was important, as in many of the townships of the county, and in Dover as well the farmers kept from 100 to 200 sheep and it may be said that the larger share of the income for the year came from the sale of the "clip" of wool. The buyers would appear in June when the sheep were sheared. Buyers came to Dover from Cleve- land and Elyria. In the town also came John Hall and George Hall- of Olmsted, Goodwin of Columbia and Willson of Avon, to buy wool in the shearing season, so that there was much competitive bidding in prices.
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In 1864, during the Civil war, Doctor Moore, who lived at Dover Center, engaged in wool buying and he paid $1 per pound for wool that year. To give the other side of the stock raising industry-one year this section was afflicted with a serious drought and farmers were short of winter feed. Sheldon Johnson of Dover bought up cattle in large numbers and drove them to a section not affected by the drought, to winter. He paid $5 and $10 per head. Reuben Hall said that, that winter his father sold a pair of steers for $17 that at the present time would be worth $200 or $300. They were three years old. So runs the life of those engaged in "the most healthful, the most useful, the most noble employment of man," farming.
We will close this chapter on the development of number 7 of range 15, in the original survey of the Western Reserve, with a few added notes. The first white child born in the township was Angelina Porter, daughter of Asahel Porter, who was born June 12, 1812, the second was Vesta Bassett, daughter of Nathan Bassett, who was born June 14, 1812. The first male child born in the township was Franklin, son of Joseph Cahoon. The first wedding was that of Leverett Johnson and Abigail Cahoon, which was solemnized by John S. Reed, the first justice of the peace in Dover. The second marriage was that of Jethro Butler and Betsy Smith. An incident that caused much excitement at the time was the taking captive by the Indians of a daughter of Daniel Page, he who built the first frame house in Dover. She was visiting in a neighboring township when taken captive. Her captivity only lasted a few days when she was rescued by United States soldiers.
CHAPTER XIV
OLMSTED
Number 6 of range 15 was an unbroken forest when the War of 1812 began. The outcome of war is never certain and this one had its effect on the minds of those who were to take part in the creation of a new civilization in New Connecticut. The start was made in this township while the war was raging. It was a timid beginning. It was a try out of the possibilities of the soil and might or might not be permanent. James Geer, while a resident of Columbia, which is now of Lorain County, made the initiative start in this way. Instead of making a clearing in the usual way, cutting and burning the trees and building his log house, he slipped over from Columbia, girdled a tract of timber, cut out the underbrush on land which was afterwards known as the Browning farm, and planted corn, raising what he could among the trees. This was in the southwest corner of the township. After peace was declared he came in boldly, put up a small log house and moved his family there, they being the first settlers and first permanent residents. Their son, Calvin Geer, was then a boy of seven. Sixty years later Calvin Geer was the oldest surviving resident of Olmsted.
To the younger generation pioneer history may seem to be made up of trivial incidents. The building of the log cabin, the raising, as the log house gave place to the frame, the families of those who came, the meager details of the household equipment, marriage, birth, death, the grist- mill, the sawmill, the blacksmith shop, the store, the postoffice, may not seem to them of historical interest, but they are. The history of nations is so made up. Great successes and failures of great leaders often have hinged upon these so-called trivial things. "For the want of a nail the shoe was lost, for the want of a shoe the horse was lost, for the want of a horse the rider was lost, for the want of the rider the battle was lost, for the want of the battle the kingdom was lost, and all for the want of a horseshoe nail." We will assume that the scout whom Napoleon sent out before the battle of Waterloo, and who reported a level field between the French and English forces, may have been so annoyed by the presence of bunions that he did not investigate as thoroughly as he would have done otherwise and so failed to discover the sharp ravine before the army of Wellington, into which, as Victor Hugo says, line after line of the French went down in that famous charge, until the ravine was filled and the remnant rode over on the living bridge. The greatest generals of the world have been those who have been the greatest masters of details. Our favorite idea of a general is that of a man on horseback waving a sword. General Grant insisted upon daily reports from his entire army. He must know just how many men were sick, what food they had, what stockings and other clothing and every detail of their equipment. These reports he pored over in his tent while others slept. In the founding of a new community nothing is trivial, and in all history the record of achievement is woven with a warp of small detail. A new settlement was a little world in itself and its happenings that might seem to us now unimportant became the theme of the community. These were
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discussed with a thoroughness of detail that to us now might seem to indicate that the first settlers were of inferior mentality. They were otherwise. The changes came with the denser population. This is shown in the conduct of the newspapers and their news items. As the com- munity grew, space became important. Reporters were instructed to condense. It has been related that one news writer, who had been repri- manded by the editor for extending his items, turned in the following : "John Smith, of Podunk, blew into his gun to see if it was loaded. It was. Funeral at 4 o'clock at his late residence." In contrast to this condensed item we give one taken from the early annals of Olmsted :
"The Second Death and Serious Accident .- In 1819 D. J. Stearns had an Irish boy working for him, whose parents resided in Ridgeville, now Lorain County. One day the boy obtained permission to visit his home, promising to return in time to do the chores at night. The night set in dark and the boy did not return. His wife being away, Mr. Stearns was at home alone. Late in the night he heard an agonized voice shriek- ing 'Oh, dear! Oh, dear !' at some distance from the house. For a moment it ceased and then it was heard again nearer than before. Mr. Stearns stepped out of the door when he was suddenly grasped by a man, who flung his arms around him in a state of frantic excitement, crying out at the same time : 'Oh, my boy is kilt ! my boy is kilt ! my boy is kilt !' 'As soon as Mr. Stearns could recover from his astonishment and get the man to the light, he found that the visitor was Mr. Hanley, the father of John, the boy who had worked for him. It was with great difficulty that he could quiet the frantic Irishman so as to obtain even the slightest idea of what was the matter. At length, however, he succeeded in learn- ing from the broken ejaculations of the distracted father, mingled with cries and groans and sobs of anguish, that Hanley and his son had been coon hunting and that a large tree had fallen upon his boy and had prob- ably crushed him to death, a mile or two out in the woods to the Northeast. Knowing that he could do nothing without assistance, Mr. Stearns made Hanley promise to remain at the house until he could obtain aid. His nearest neighbor, Amos Briggs, was absent, and there were no others nearer than a mile and a half. He accordingly went to the Briggs stable and took his horse to go for help. Ere he could mount, however, Hanley came rushing up and again flung his arms about the young man, crying out that 'his boy was kilt,' in all the agony of unreasoning despair. Again Mr. Stearns pacified him and persuaded him to return to the house. The former then rode a mile and a half and obtained the help of three newcomers, Bennett Powell, John Cole and another, whose name is not recollected. The four returned with all speed to Stearns' house, where they found the desolate father, with whom they set out to find the scene of the disaster. Hanley, however, had been so frightened and demoralized by the catastrophe that he could give no clear idea of the direction to be taken. Nevertheless he thought it was somewhere west of north and he knew there was a burning tree where the sad event had occurred. The five men hurried forward in the darkness in the general direction indicated and at length saw a light in advance. Shaping their course toward it they soon arrived at a burning tree ; there they soon found that the distracted father's words were but too true: the poor boy was indeed killed. A large tree lay where it had fallen directly across the youth's head, which was crushed out of all semblance of humanity, while his body was raised from the ground by the pressure on his head. It seems as they gathered from Hanley's broken statements and from his subse- quent utterances in a quieter state, that he had persuaded his son to remain and hunt coons with him instead of returning to Stearns' that
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