USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 1) > Part 27
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The German Evangelical Church, of Rockport, was organized by Rev. Philip Stemple of Brighton. He came to the township on invita- tion in 1851. When organized the church included fifteen families. For as many years Reverend Stemple preached to the German Protestants of Rockport in a schoolhouse. In the meantime the church had a steady growth and in 1867 a fine brick structure was built costing in cash $8,000, and with much labor and material donated. The first pastor in the new church, considered a very fine one in those days, was Rev. Frank Schreck from Wisconsin, and the first trustees were Peter Reitz, William Mack and a Mr. Annacher. Others who have been on the board of trustees are Henry Brondes, Frederick Brunner and George Zimmer. As illus- trating the changes in population from the original New England settlers, besides the above, in 1847 the German Methodists organized a church and the following year built a church building. The first class leader of this organization was Valentine Gleb, and the first trustees, William Mack, John Mack and Henry Dryer. Among those who have served as preachers have been Revs. John Klein, Baldaff, Reicher, Berg, Weber, Detter, G. Nachtripp, Budenbaum, Heidmeyer, Snyder, Nuffer, Nast and Borgerdeng, among the trustees have been Valentine Gleb, who also served
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for many years as class leader, Jacob Knopf, Henry Dryer, Michael Neuchter and Bartlett Stocker. Saint Mary's Church, a German Catholic organization, was perfected, and a frame building erected in 1854 with fourteen families. After its membership had more than doubled, a fine brick church was built. Father Kubler was for some time the officiating priest, and among the trustees have been George Betts, Jacob Ammers- bach and Mehurad Nicholas. We must mention one other church that seems to belong to the early history of Rockport and that is the Church of the Ascension, Episcopal. This, a chapel of Trinity Parish, Cleveland, was opened in 1875 and dedicated in 1879 by Bishop Bedell. It was opened with Rev. J. W. Brown of Trinity as its first rector and Charles P. Ranney of Cleveland as its first lay reader, and started with an attend- ance of fifty persons.
The earliest schoolmaster of Rockport was Jonathan Parshall. He was not an educator of standing and even in the days of the first schools was behind the times. He was a carpenter and the original Mars Wagar said he did not deserve the name of school teacher. Mars ought to have known, for he saw much of him. He said he was not very intelligent and much less industrious. Perhaps Mr. Wagar was prejudiced, for this Parshall bought an acre of ground next to the Wagar house and never paid for it, although he built a log house there. Parshall thought himself qualified to teach and taught a few terms in the back part of Mr. Wagar's house. These terms were inclined to be short, as his pupils inspired with other things than his teaching did not long continue. This self-inspired youth began teaching in 1829. In 1830 a log schoolhouse was built opposite the Ezra Nicholson home. The first teacher, and the first real teacher in the township, taught there. She was a lady from Olm- sted. As we have not her name we can only give credit to the Town- ship of Olmsted. Soon school buildings were built over Rockport in the various subdistricts. The log schoolhouses were replaced by brick in most instances. Out of eight schoolhouses built in the districts seven were built of brick, but poetically and really they were still "The Little Red Schoolhouse." The reason for this may be explained. Rockport has been almost wholly a farming and fruit growing township. The only industries of note have been the two brick and tile works. William Maile on Detroit Street manufactured brick and tile quite early, and John W. Spencer in the west part of the township operated another brick and tile works, and very properly the authorities patronized home industry.
The schools of Rockport have lead in the advancement of the various municipalities within the township. The cities of West Park and Rock- port have grown only with the growth and greater efficiency of the schools. Fairview Village schools absorb those of the Township of Goldwood. The present officers of the village are: Mayor, George B. Sweet; clerk, Ross P. Jordan; treasurer, Nick Gillis ; assessor, Harvey Eaton ; marshal, James Wescott ; councilmen, A. G. Eggleston, E. M. Spencer, John Kaiser, F. L. Dyke, George Chittock and J. B. Lewis. The schools are in one large building and there are employed twelve teachers. The principal is Lewis F. Mayer. The enrollment of pupils is 285. Goldwood Township has officers as follows: Justice of the peace, Arthur H. Hill; constable, Thomas Sanford; trustees, Charles Anthony, William J. Thomson and John D. Rehberg; clerk, Walter H. Thomson; treasurer, John Wilker; assessor, Evan Heston. The schools, as we have said, are united with the Village of Fairview, and are under the general management of the County Board of Education and the County Superintendent. The officers of Rocky River Village, which has grown from a small hamlet in a few years to a populous village, as shown by the school enumeration, are :
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Mayor, Carl A. Stein; clerk, Frank Mitchell; treasurer, E. L. Stafford ; assessors, A. E. Zuske; councilmen, W. M. Dean, J. O. Gordon, William Hutchinson, Warren S. Lovell, L. J. Zeager and Charles J. Zuska. The schools are housed in three separate buildings and are under the imme- diate supervision of C. C. Pierce. Twenty-four teachers are employed and the enrollment of pupils has reached this year 629. The officers of the City of West Park, which has this year been annexed to the City of Cleveland, and forms a ward of that great city, and whose offices are vacated by that procedure, were: Mayor, Henry S. Reitz; auditor, Fred Fenchter; treasurer, Fred Alber; assessors, ward 1, John Leonard ; ward 2, George Cooper ; ward 3, Louis Thomas ; ward 4, Joseph Bashmer ; councilmen, Everett J. Short, J. H. Hager, Peter J. Mueller, Albert Ehle, Charles E. Wallis, Charles C. Hahn, John Koellacher and J. A. Neubauer. The schools and other features of this portion of the original township will be treated, further on, as a part of the City of Cleveland, which is its present place in history.
LAKEWOOD
Of Lakewood, the beautiful city of homes, the gem of the outgrowth on the soil of old Rockport, the fruition after some years of the labors of the first settlers, who laid the foundation, we cannot speak too highly. Its wonderful growth, in keeping with the growth of Greater Cleveland, of which it is a western border, is phenomenal. Its homes are all that the name implies. There is no seeming attempt to outdo one another, but everywhere neatness and variety and the attractive ornaments of trees and flowers, and well cut lawns. By the courtesy of Hon. Richard F. Edwards, of the Ohio House of Representatives, we are permitted to draw from his forthcoming book on "The Pioneers of Lakewood." Mr. Edwards is a grandson of Doctor Fry, one of the early pioneers of Rockport, and lives at 1375 Fry Street in the City of Lakewood. He has been elected and reelected to the General Assembly and is serving as a member of the Finance Committee of the House. He has had large experience as a newspaper writer in New York City and elsewhere and has interviewed many men of national and international fame, yet he sees in the sturdy pioneers those enduring qualities, those original achieve- ments, which should be recorded for the present and future generations. His work on the finance committee of the House of Representatives has been marked by close application and carefully formed judgments rather than spectacular display. He is known as "The watch dog of the treasury." He says in his introduction: "These sketches are of the earliest resi- dents of Lakewood, who settled in this district more than half a century before the World war. They are gathered all from first hand sources. There is material for many a romance in the early history of the present city of more than 50,000, in the stories of the Nicholsons, the Wagars, the French family, the Halls, the Kirtland and the Winchester families. The greatest of all the pioneers was the Dr. Jared P. Kirtland, but the fas- cinating side lights .on the career of this wonderful man could only be obtained from my Harvard classmate, Mars E. Wagar, and from J. C. Andrews and William Johnson. I looked with wonder through the pages of my encyclopedia that I found no mention of the man who originated all of the well known varieties of cherries. He was a famous horticulturist and a great doctor. His textbooks were used at Yale. He discovered that this lake district was especially adapted to grape culture, because the underlying shale strata retained the moisture needed for the growth and development of that delicious fruit." Mr. Edwards speaks
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in his introduction of the French family and says: "The original mem- ber of the French family was Price French, a younger son of Lord French, who married the daughter of an Indian chief. His elder brother died and he was called home to assume the title left by his father, but refused, and on the outbreak of the War of 1812 he served in the army of his adopted country against the British. * *
* The Calkinses and the Winchesters were of old Yankee stock and of distinguished lineage. The first Win- chester helped the slave, George Harris, immortalized in Mrs. Stowe's 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' to escape from his would-be captors, and was later haled before the court at Painesville." Mr. Edwards concludes his intro- duction by saying : "We do not need to worship our ancestors, as do the Chinese, but it is well worth while to understand their ideals and methods and see to it that we do not slip, so far as the former are concerned. The reading of their deeds will do us good." We will give enough of the sketches of Mr. Edwards to show their merit and historical interest and the necessity of preserving in permanent form that which would other- wise be lost. "Perhaps no descendant of Lakewood pioneers has a stronger claim to fame than the late Ezra Nicholson, son of James and Betsy Bartholomew Nicholson, who built the first permanent home in what is now Lakewood, 110 years ago on the site of the mansion of the late Robert Wallace, Detroit Street, opposite Waterbury Road. The fine allotment through the fruitful acres was in fact named after the Connecticut town where the pioneer wife was born, Chatham, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, the birthplace of James Nicholson, who was a minister's son. For our splendid old Yankee citizen, who has now passed on to the 'greatest adventure of life' was what writers are pleased to call a man of vision, inheriting that sixth sense of looking afar into the future to some closed book, that led his father, when twenty-one years of age, to travel on foot from the Massachusetts home to the far off Western Reserve, which, not a decade before, was the home of the hostile Indian. The date was, in fact, but ten years after Mad Anthony Wayne had broken the power of the savages at 'Fallen Timbers,' sixty miles west of the Cuyahoga. At first James Nicholson settled in Ashtabula, where he bought a section of forest and began clearing for his future farm. Here he married and one day after he had lived here six years there came along a homesick traveler from the wilderness five miles west of the Cuyahoga River, who stopped to visit former friends. He offered to trade with Nicholson and give money to boot. The Ashtabula farm was improved and the other's land was in what is now Lakewood. Our pioneer was a Yankee, and, as a matter of course, he must see the land. He walked to Cleveland to satisfy himself before he closed the deal. There wasn't any better means of travel by which he could transport household goods and therefore he traveled the seventy-five miles with his bride to the new home, driving a yoke of oxen, and taking several more days than is now required for the express trains to span the con- tinent. When it was necessary to build a fire before the door at night to keep away the wolves and bears, the young husband was drafted into the army fighting against the British in the War of 1812, and left his wife alone in the wilderness for three months. While he was away a bear came and carried off the family pig squealing in its arms. The same bear was shot by the musket which Nicholson carried to the front. Nichol- son bought 160 acres more land out of the earnings of the original pur- chase. His holdings then extended from the west line of Cohasset Avenue allotment to the east 'ine of what is now Elbur Avenue. On this estate there was never a mortgage. When he built the first home in 1812, the or y habitation between the Cuyahoga River and the Rocky River was a
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ferryman's house on the west bank of the Cuyahoga River and another on the east bank of the Rocky River. Detroit Street was a crooked blazed trail through the woods. The second home was built on the hill on the west side of Nicholson Creek, where a fine residence now stands. It was fastened together by wooden pins, no nails, and in consequence swayed and creaked dreadfully when there was a heavy wind. Twenty-five years after the building of the log house the present homestead, opposite Nicholson Avenue, was erected in a chestnut grove, a former camping place for Indians, who often exchanged products of the chase for much prized salt. This homestead has been occupied since only by Nicholsons. Ezra Nicholson was then only two years old. This sketch would not be com- plete without a brief history of him. He was a man of 'vision.' If he had done nothing further than invent the 'Nicholson Log,' which is in universal use in the navy, his fame would be established. He was the first capitalist to see the importance of natural gas, an unknown agent fifty years ago. The first gas well in this part of the country was put down by Ezra Nicholson just south of Scenic Park, a gusher, more than half a century ago. Inability to pipe the product resulted in abandon- ment of this well, but, not discouraged. he bored another just west of the old homestead, which is in use today. Mr. Daly will take notice that our fine old neighbor put in pipes as far as Cove Avenue and told the neighbors to 'hitch on' free of cost. He organized the first rapid transit, the Rocky River Railroad, with the late Dan P. Rhodes and Elias Sims and was the first president. The old depot (McGuire's then) still stands, the third house west of Fifty-eighth Street on the north side of Bridge Avenue. This was the eastern terminus. The railroad ran to the Cliff House, Rocky River, and the car fare was 20 cents. George Mulhern was the first conductor. Later Mr. Nicholson negotiated the right of way for the Nickel Plate Railroad, which bought the Rocky River Road. He was the first clerk of the Hamlet of Lakewood and served on the committee that selected the name. The permanent home of the sons is still in Lakewood.
"It is a far cry from the present modern and model City of Lake- wood to 1789, when a hunter and trapper visited the then newly estab- lished City of Marietta, on the Ohio, and stated that he had traveled westward on the southern shore of Lake Erie as far as the River Cuya- hoga. He ventured the opinion that the location was a good one and would some day be the site of a great city. At the time of his visit to the new City of Marietta, the City of Lakewood was only inhabited by Indians. Right in the City of Lakewood today are a number of families whose histories are practically the history of the town before it became a municipality. One of the best known is the Wagar family, who at one time or another have owned at least one-fifth of the entire 3,600 acres that constitute the area of the town. It was more than 100 years ago that the first Wagar came to Ohio from Lansingburgh, New York. He was Mars Wagar, a man learned in the classics and the mystery of surveying. In 1820 he purchased 111 acres of land in East Rockport, a mile and a half east of Rocky River. He paid $5 an acre for the homestead on which four generations have since lived and it is interest- ing to note that his grandson and namesake this year sold twenty acres of the interior of that farm with no street frontage for $95,000, or practically $5,000 an acre. Incidentally Mars E. Wagar told the writer that that property was assessed for taxes at the same value as the price of sale. The old abstracts show that the Wagar homestead was bought from the estate of Gideon Granger, who took his title direct from the Connecticut Land Company. The Grant House property through which now runs
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the extension of Belle Avenue was sold to Israel Kidney, twelve acres in all, for $7 an acre. The original Wagar's grandson, many years after, bought back two acres of the same for $14,000. The real price first paid for the twelve acres was a yoke of oxen. This was often told by Mrs. Katura Wagar, who long survived her husband. On this $84 estate was built the hotel, which after the Civil war was called the Grant House. This hotel stood on a steep hill and the hill was a favorite coasting place in winter. This hotel was the scene of many a wild revel and many are the stories told about it. One is of Innkeeper Bennett, who made a bet with a famous local woodman that he could not saw five cords of wood in one day. Bennett lost his money. Another episode of the old days when John Barleycorn was still triumphant is related. It was decided to play a joke on one of the inebriated frequenters of the place. A ghost was fitted out to intercept the home-going frequenter on a gloomy boisterous night. The victim saw the ghost some distance away and provided himself with a rock. 'Who are you?' he asked. 'I am the devil and have come after you,' was the reply. 'Well, take this,' said the much sobered man, whereupon the rock sped true and the ghost was knocked out. As a sequel to this story it is related that the doctor refused to patch up the injured ghost until his fee of 50 cents was paid.
"If one should start to view critically the history of the pioneer Rockport family, the Winchesters, after which the avenue at the east end of Lakewood is named, one might say that it was a case of too fine eugenics, for father, mother, and nine children, half of the latter born in East Rockport, were known locally for their good looks, and more than one of their descendants was endowed with genius in art or litera- ture, or both, but not one reached success in those lines which had been so freely predicted for them. Nature demanded a let down of indiffer- ence to success for a generation of the family, whose ancestral line in- cluded clergymen, professors, college presidents and men of affairs. Philander Winchester, who staged a runaway marriage with Eliza Gill- man Calkins, daughter of a Lakewood pioneer, was the original Win- chester of this county. He settled in Lakewood in 1848. The old home- stead that stood at the southeast corner of what was later Spring Garden Avenue was torn down a couple of years ago. His father, Rev. Jonathan Winchester, was granted a license to preach and a charter from the Connecticut Land Company to build churches in the Western Reserve in 1797. Mr. Philip Winchester, the only one now living in Ohio of the seven surviving children, living at 1798 East 101st Street has the license carefully preserved. Mr. Winchester is an official of the Standard Oil Company. He is the youngest of the nine children. Philander Win- chester started his youth with the romance of a runaway marriage and his life was filled with drama, which did not include the results obtained by the worship of the dollar. In 1840 he managed the Painesville Tele- graph at a time when that town was expected to be greater than Cleve- land. The two towns were running 'neck and neck' in population. Later with L. L. Rice, he as business manager, piloted the paper, which was succeeded by the Cleveland Leader. But it was in the days of the 'under- ground railway' that the high points in the drama was reached. Famous were his exploits in aiding the escape of the four Clarks, Lewis and Walter the most famous. Lewis was the original of George Harris of Harriet Beecher Stowe's immortal 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' Philip Win- chester tells of the thrilling events connected with the work of his father as a leading 'conductor' on the 'underground railway,' as he heard the story from his mother, of the many black boys from time to time hidden in the cellar of the Winchester home; how many a time going down into
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the dark cellar members of the family had stumbled upon trembling slaves hidden there during the day to be transported to the next station in the night time. On a day made historic, report came to the Winchester home that Walter Clark had been captured by two slave catchers, who were taking him back to the South. Mr. Winchester planned to surprise the southerners at a steep narrow piece of road, tip the hack over the bank and release the prisoner. It was known that Clark was seated between
DR. JARED P. KIRTLAND
his captors and tied to them with a strong rope, and Mr. Winchester as planned slipped up unobserved and cut the ropes. In his excitement the first slash did not succeed and the next time he cut too deep and laid open the prisoner's back with his knife. 'It was wonderful, my father has told, me,' said Philip Winchester, 'that Clark never winced as the blood flowed and gave no sign to the two captors.' The next thing that happened was the overturning of the coach in the dark. Clark ran to the buggy of Mr. Winchester and they drove away. The slave catchers released the horses and pursued them on horseback. In the meantime Mr. Winchester had changed coat and hat with Clark. The Clarks were the children of a wealthy planter by a beautiful quadroon girl and were of a lighter complexion even than Mr. Winchester. As the pursuers came
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in view Winchester, supposedly Clark, leaped from the buggy and made up the hill into a thick copse, while Clark drove hurriedly on, as the pursuers dismounted and followed Winchester. Winchester kept up the chase for hours, while Clark was being hurried to safety on his way to Canada. He finally allowed himself to be caught and not recognized by the slave catchers was put in the lockup at Painesville. In the morning he was brought into court and the judge remarked: 'Why, there must be some mistake, this is Mr. Philander Winchester, an old schoolmate of mine.' He was released to the chagrin of the slave catchers and the delight of the citizens who were against the slave chasers. Mr. Winchester belonged to a generation of this splendid family, who believed in the pur- suit of ideals at any personal cost."
"In old East Rockport there were a small select number, who stood out above the rest. Among them were Dr. Jared P. Kirtland, James Nicholson, Price French, Mars Wagar, Franklyn R. Elliott and Dr. Richard Fry. Doctor Kirtland easily stood first, and we believe today there is no one who could dispute that title with him. The old Kirtland homestead of indigenous narrow cleavage sandstone was built when he purchased the 200 acres extending from what is now Madison Avenue to the lake, bounded on the east by the Price French acres. This includes the entire present Kuntz estate. Bunts Road was the eastern boundary south of Detroit Avenue. The purchase was made in 1837. Several other pioneer homes were built of the same material as Dr. Kirtland's. This mansion still stands on Detroit Avenue opposite the Elks' Home, changed by stucco and porch additions but not improved in the eyes of old settlers. Doctor Kirtland was born at Wallingford, Connecticut, in 1793. His father, general agent for the Connecticut Land Company, intended to send him to Edinburgh University, Scotland, but the breaking out of the War of 1812 prevented and he sent him to Yale, where he graduated in the medical department. His life was devoted to the study of medicine and natural history, plant and animal life. He was a national authority on natural history, geology, etymology, pomology and horticulture, and was an intimate of Agassiz. He made discoveries of the parthenogenesis of silk worms and the fish fauna of the lakes. Twenty-six varieties of cher- ries were originated by him and half a dozen pears. He was an expert taxidermist and taught many of the sons and daughters of settlers the art just for the love of it. One of them for a long time had a sign in front of his house, 'Bird Stuffer.' That was before the pretty word taxi- dermist became popular. He also showed his neighbors how to make wax flowers, perfect imitations of plant life. He was the first and only presi- dent of the Cleveland Academy of Science, succeeded by the Kirtland Society of Natural History, and, with Doctor Delamater, was the founder of Western Reserve Medical College, where he was a lecturer for twenty years. Doctor Kirtland in fact was the savant of Rockport, the grand old man of his day. He was six feet tall and a figure that would be noted anywhere. The older men of today remember the mane of white hair, the strong splendid face, aquiline nose, and the look of genius that marked him out from all others of that day. The children and young men looked up to him with something like awe. In his house was the most wonderful library in miles around, 6,000 volumes. Among them were the complete works and pictures of the great Audubon, worth at that time $400. He knew all the local birds and all about them. The demesne about his house was a veritable park, and the blooming magnolias, then unusual, were the wonder of all who passed. He could not bear to see a fine tree injured in any may. The present Mars Wagar said he never was so chagrined in his life as at a reproof from the old doctor. His mother had taken the
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