USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 1) > Part 34
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Illustrative of the patriotic sentiment of the town, on Saturday, after the fall of Fort Sumter, a public meeting was called and this was adjourned to the following day. At this meeting nearly every resident of the town was present. All of the churches were closed to enable the
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congregations to attend the meeting and enthusiasm was at white heat. A full company of three months' men was raised as it was thought at first the war would be of short duration. Before this company was mus- tered in the call changed and the men of the company were consigned to other organizations. During the war 109 men enlisted from Chagrin Falls. Their deeds are recorded in the record of the various organizations. Sep- tember 3d the Chagrin Falls Soldiers Aid Society was formed and con- tinued under the leadership of Mrs. Jane E. Church until the end of the war. This society raised $832 in cash and $406 in supplies. At the close of the war there was a balance left in the treasury and this formed the nucleus of a fund which was raised for the erection of a soldiers' monu- ment to the men killed in the war. This monument was dedicated in 1865. Among the Chagrin Falls soldiers may be mentioned Gen. Benjamin F. Pritchard, who captured Jefferson Davis and received much notoriety by reason thereof. General Pritchard was a resident of the Falls for many years before the war.
After the Civil war the business of the township centered more and more at the Village of Chagrin Falls. Bentleyville ceased to function as a business center. In 1868 there was an attempt to revive Griffithsburg. A large gristmill was built there but the business did not come and the enterprise failed. Bad fires, the calamity that attends so many new vil- lages, have cast at times a temporary blight on the town. In 1868 a row of stores was burned and in 1873 the Philadelphia Block, so called, was burned. Many fine residences were built in the '70s. In the Annals of 1880 the town is recorded as having two paper mills, three foundries, one woodenware mill, two planing mills, one lumber yard, two gristmills, two banks, two lawyers, two physicians, three dentists, two dry goods stores, three groceries, three hardware stores, three drug stores, one bookstore, two jewelry stores, one photographer, two furniture stores, three shoe- stores, two bakeries, four millinery shops, two fancy goods stores, two tinshops, two wagon shops, five blacksmith shops, two harness shops, and one marble shop. As in Bedford the leading industry in the original upbuilding of the village was its chair factories, so in Chagrin Falls the industries that counted most were the paper mills. The Chagrin Falls Paper Company was organized in 1840 by Noah Graves. He made straw paper, wrapping paper mostly. In 1842 Charles Sears bought an interest and the firm name became Graves & Sears and writing paper was added to the line manufactured. The following year the firm name was changed to Sears and Brinsmade and the manufacture of printing paper began. The following year the mill was leased to Heaton and Daniels. Daniels went out and the firm was Heaton and White. In 1847 Sears came back into the firm and its name was Sears and White until 1850. Following this date it was Younglove and Hoyt for a year, and then Davis and Sykes until 1858, then Davis and Upham until 1860, then Davis as sole proprietor until 1866, when the mill closed. It was reopened in 1870 and the change of proprietors were in this order, P. Warren, J. G. Coleman, Pratt and Pope, Parker, Pope and Company. It was engaged in the manufacture of flour sacks but soon the firm name was changed to Pope and Bleasdale, who enlarged the business. In 1876 the Chagrin Falls Paper Company was organized with the following directors, D. S. Pope, I. W. Pope, S. I. Pope, and David Smith. With this constant change of proprietors the business had still increased until under the management of the Chagrin Falls Paper Company the output was 25,000 sacks per day. The changes in the management of the other paper mill were as frequent. It was started by Adams and Company, who took over the site of the Bliss and Mayhew flouring mill, then it was turned into a woolen factory by Bliss
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and Pool, and then operated by the Lake Erie Paper Mill Company and while under their management it was burned. It was rebuilt and taken over by Adams, Upham and Company. In 1872 Upham went out and the firm name became Adams and Company, who increased the business, having several large buildings and employing about sixty hands. The woodenware factory mentioned was started in 1842 by Curtiss Bullard and Cornelius Northrop for the manufacture of spinning wheels, reels, etc. The demand for these articles decreasing it began in 1857 the manufacture of kitchen ware. In the '70s under the firm name of Bullard and Marsh its principal output was a butter mold. Of the three foundries the first started was the Williams Foundry and Thimble Skein Factory. This was opened in 1844 by Benajah Williams. It was after some years conducted by his son, J. W. Williams. Among the articles manufactured have been sad irons, in later times more commonly called flatirons, bolster plates, priming tools, pump reels, and also wooden articles, such as ax handles and whiffletrees. The machine shop was started in 1844 by Adin Gaunt. The product has been matchers, planers, small steam engines, horse powers and intricate machinery of various kinds. The planing mill was opened in 1873 by George Ober, and the marble works by H. A. Sheffield. We have given enough to show the great variety of products manufactured in the town, so largely necessities in the home. It would seem that, with the power of the falls, the village, with its surrounding farms, could have made itself industrially independent from the outer world.
We have referred to the churches. The Congregational Church was organized in 1835. Its first members were Thomas N. West, Rebecca R. West, Alexander H. Hart, Polly Hart, Timothy A. Osborn, Sarah Osborn, Salomy Crosby, Andrew Dickinson, and Thomas West. Its pas- tors at the first have been Revs. John S. Harris, Abram Nast, - - Нор- kins, Josiah Canmor. In 1857 the church united with the Cleveland Pres- bytery. After its incorporation in 1869 the pastors have included Revs. G. W. Walker, D. T. Childs, A. D. Barber, William Woodmansee and Edmund Gail. The Methodist organization up to 1844 met in school- houses, then a church was built. In 1854 it was on a wide circuit including Chagrin Falls, Mayfield, Gates Mills, Bainbridge, Orange Hill, Orange, Solon, Russell, and Chester. This circuit was covered by Revs. Patterson, Fouts, and Wright. In 1857 the circuit was limited to Chagrin Falls and Solon, and covered by Rev. D. C. Wright. The pastors since it began its separate existence have included Revs. H. N. Stearns, John O'Neal, George J. Bliss, C. T. Kingsbury, G. W. Chesbury, N. H. Holmes, W. T. Wilson, B. Excell, and A. H. Dormer. The Disciple Church was organized at Bentleyville in 1831 by Adamson Bentley, the founder of the village. It started with a membership of thirty and met in a log schoolhouse. Gamaliel was the first overseer, and R. E. Russell and Zadoc Bowell were the first deacons. After seven years in the schoolhouse it moved to Chagrin Falls. In 1846 the Disciples held a large tent meeting there representing the counties of Cuyahoga and Geauga. Alexander Campbell was present and the meeting was largely attended. Shortly after this big meeting a church was built. In 1849 Isaac Eret delivered a series of lectures to the Disciples, but the most interesting incident occurred nine years later when James A. Garfield held a discussion with a man by the name of Dutton, a somewhat noted infidel. Among the preachers of the early days were Adamson Bentley, William Hayden, W. T. Horner, James A. Garfield, J. H. Rhodes, B. A. Hinsdale, Sterling McBride, R. S. White, J. G. Coleman, Adam Burns and James Vernon. The Free Will Baptist Church was organized at a schoolhouse in the Township of Russell by Rev. A. K. Moulton. The first members were
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Henry E. Whipple, John Walters, Reuben T. Walters, Sarah E. Morse, Hannah Mason, Faustina L. McConoughy and Lucy Goodwill. Moulton was the first pastor and John Walters the first deacon. It was incorporated in 1841 with the following trustees: John Walters, Otis B. Bliss and R. R. Wallers. Among the early pastors following Reverend Moulton have been Revs. Walter D. Stanard, A. R. Crafts, P. W. Belknap, E. H. Hig- bee, G. H. Ball, Norman Starr and Daniel H. Miller. A church was built in 1845. In 1846 a Bible Christian Church was organized, com- posed of English families. In 1851 a frame church was built and in 1874 it was replaced by a brick one, having been incorporated in 1869. Among the . early ministers were Revs. George Rippin, John Chapel, Joseph Hodge, William Roach, William Hooper, George Haycraft and John Pinch.
Among the fraternal orders the Masons were the first to organize and a Mason lodge was chartered in 1854. The charter members were Caleb Earl, Orison Cathan, Jonathan Cole, Apollo Hewitt, Roderick White, Nathan Hobert, S. B. Kellogg, Samuel Sunderland, Thomas White, L. D. Mix and Henry Burnet. The masters of the lodge in the early days have been Caleb Earl, L. D. Mix, D. A. Davis, S. L. Wilkinson, M. A. Lander, C. M. Foote, R. W. Walters and H. M. Doty. A year later the Odd Fellows Lodge was organized with the following charter
members : Thomas M. Bayard, John W. Williams, H. A. Robinson, Uriah Ackley and Bennett Robbins. Later on came the Independent Order of Good Templars Lodge, a Knights of Pythias Lodge, the Chagrin Falls Chapter (Masonic) and other similar fraternal and beneficial orders, not to omit the Grand Army of the Republic, with its representative Post.
The Township of Chagrin Falls has had efficient officers and a list of the men who served it in a public way will so demonstrate to those conversant with its history. The early trustees were: Ralph E. Russell, Stoughton Bentley, B. H. Bosworth, Charles E. Morton, Leonard Samp- son, E. P. Wolcott, Samuel Pool, L. Lampson, Hannibal Goodell, L. D. Mix, Horace White, George Gladden, Alonzo Harlow, Ephraim Sheffield, E. R. Sage, A. Upham, Orrin Nash, Julius Kent, Charles Force, E. M. Eggleston, W. W. Collins, S. W. Brewster, Silas Christian, J. G. Cole- man, William Hutchins, Alexander Frazer, Z. K. Eggleston and A. Church. Among the clerks have been A. Knox, David Burchard, Thomas Shaw, L. D. Mix, A. J. Williams, John V. Smith, S. K. Collins, E. P. Wol- cott, A. Harlow, Thomas Shaw, Lucius E. Goodwin, W. J. Armour, George King, Eleazer Goodwin, C. R. Bliss, W. H. Caley, Austin Church, D. O. Davis. The early treasurers were Thomas Shaw, O. Bliss, John Mahew, J. A. Brown, Abel Fisher, Charles Force, J. H. Burnet, A. Up- ham, G. B. Rogers, L. D. Mix, L. McFarland, Alfred Williams and John J. Davis. E. P. Wilmot has served among the carly justices of the peace and is at the present time one of the justices for Chagrin Falls. He is a lawyer of ability and has a large acquaintance over the county .. His study of the law began in the office of Henry C. Ranney of Cleveland. Perhaps one Chagrin Falls man in his day was more widely acquainted over the county and state than any other resident, Dr. H. W. Curtiss. Born in Portage County he graduated from the Cleveland Medical Col- lege in 1851 and came to Chagrin Falls the following year. He was elected and reelected to the office of state representative and then elected and reelected to the State Senate. When Governor Rutherford B. Hayes was elected president of the United States, and in consequence resigned the office of governor, Doctor Curtiss became president of the State Senate and acting lieutenant-governor of the state. Following this service he was elected and served a third term in the State Senate. At home he
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was active in local affairs and served for fifteen years as a member of the school board at Chagrin Falls. Mrs. Curtiss' maiden name was Olive B. Rood. They had four children, Dwight C., Dan P., Paul and Virginia. In connection with the chapter on Chagrin Falls an incident while J. J. Stranahan was a member of the General Assembly and which illustrates his fondness for a joke may be recorded. Stranahan was a faithful and able representative and these jokes were only occasional. From one of the southern counties of the state there came to the Sixty- seventh General Assembly a representative, a retired, confiding, weak in the upper story representative, a democrat who in some unexpected way was elected to the House. Being a clergyman by profession, Stranahan suggested to him that he open the session with prayer at some time. He demurred, suggesting that he was not qualified for so important a function. The negotiations resulted in Stranahan writing out the prayer. When the morning selected came the gentleman recited the prayer as it was written by Stranahan. Among other things he praised the administration of Governor Foraker in the highest terms. The fact of a democratic member praising the administration of a republican governor was unusual and the newspapers over the state gave it wide publicity. Some, however, discovered the joke and published the fact that Stranahan wrote the prayer.
The present officers of the township are: Justices of the peace, E. P. Wilmot and M. L. Miner; trustees, J. G. Coleman, E. O. Foster and E. L. Lowe; clerk, F. A. Williams; treasurer, James R. Porter ; assessor, C. F. Phillips; constables, R. F. Shipley and B. R. Hill. The present officers of the village are: Councilmen, John A. Church, William Did- ham, Frank Eggleston, Homer S. Kent, Edward McCollum and Silas Whitlock; mayor, Leslie Wycoff; clerk, Gladys M. Foster; treasurer, Martha Ridge; assessor, Charles Phillips. The former clerk was J. V. Class.
We have referred to the effort of the Chagrin Falls residents to get a railroad to the Falls. The building of an electric line by the Cleveland & Chagrin Falls Railway Company in the '80s was a great boon to the town. Providing as it did, in common with all suburban lines, for both passenger and freight transportation, it was the one thing most needed. The growth of the village has since progressed steadily. By the census of 1900 it had 1,586 residents, in 1910 it had 1,931, and in 1920 the census report gives the population as 2,237. Judging from the school enroll- ment of this year the increase in population for the ten years follow- ing 1920 will be still greater. An annual event in Chagrin Falls for some years has been the fair which draws people to the town from a wide area for a week of fun and profitable recreation. This fair like that at Berea is fostered and aided financially by the county, the county commissioners each year making the necessary appropriation.
Identified with the history of Chagrin Falls are many whose names have not been mentioned. Among these are Prof. F. B. Shumaker, who was superintendent of schools for many years, and was president of the County Teachers Institute; Joseph Stoneman, hardware dealer; James H. Shute, a large property owner ; William Hutchings, who began his business career by working for Doctor Vincent at $10 a month, and who afterwards owned the Vincent estate and many other valuable prop- erties, who did much work for the county, was active in getting the railroad to the Falls, and then settled down as a hardware dealer; Wil- liam A. Braund, the carriage builder; Austin Church, the blacksmith, whose ancestors were soldiers in the Revolutionary war and the War of 1812; A. M. Burns, son of Rev. Andrew Burns of Chagrin Falls, who
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served on the staff of General McCook, one of the "fighting McCooks," who was promoted for gallant services in the Civil war, was state senator, agent for the United States Treasury and assistant city solicitor of Cleve- land; John S. Bullard, who was postmaster way back in 1834 and served on the school board, an expert manufacturer, who engaged early in the woodenware production; William H. Dripps, hardware merchant and one time mayor of the town; William Larkworthy, merchant and philan- thropist; Arthur H. Williams, merchant of note, whose brother, Arris H., was killed at the battle of Gettysburg, and Capt. H. B. York, a gallant soldier and officer in the Civil war.
CHAPTER . XIX
MAYFIELD
Mayfield, survey township number 8 in range 10, like Chagrin Falls and Orange, includes a portion of the Chagrin River Valley. Originally under the civil jurisdiction of Chagrin, now Willoughby Township in Lake County, it soon formed its own township government and entered into the sisterhood of townships of Cuyahoga County. In its pioneer history it has the distinction among other things of furnishing the biggest snake story yet recorded in the annals of the county. The first settlement was made in 1805 by Abner Johnson, Samuel Johnson and David Smith, who came with their families from Ontario County, New York, in that year and located on the west side of Chagrin River a little above the site of Willson's Mills. The next spring three old neighbors came from New York with packs on their backs, guns on their shoulders and a dog by their side. The leader of this hiking or hunting party and the oldest was Daniel S. Judd. He was a large fleshy man who had fought in the French and Indian wars forty-five years before, and was also a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He was known as a great hunter of animals as well as men. This trip to the Western Reserve was in one sense a long hunt, as their trail took them through many miles of virgin forest. The others of the party were the two sons of Daniel, Freeman and Thomas Judd. The dog we will call Jack. The four, we must still include Jack, had started for Portage County, intending to settle there, but lost their way and by some turn of fate came upon their old neighbors of Ontario County, New York, whom they had not seen for some time. The fine bottom land of Chagrin River attracted them, and finding their old neighbors here as well, their plans were changed and they began a settlement on the west side of the river above where the others, the first settlers, had located. The Judds immediately began clearing, planting as they cleared, built a log cabin, probably more than one, as the sons had families, and in the fall went back East for their families and household furniture. In the family of Daniel S. Judd was Polly Judd, and she made quick conquest of the heart of John Howton, and in 1807 the first wedding was attended with the usual solemnities in this little community. The contracting parties were Polly Judd and John Howton and the magistrate who attended to the legal part of the programme was Squire Turner of Chagrin Falls. Polly, although the first to marry in Mayfield, was not the first daughter of the old warrior to take that step. In the spring of 1807 James Covert, a son-in-law of Daniel S. Judd, with a wife and child, came from New York to the Chagrin Valley. He located below the site of Willson's Mills, as that location is now given upon the map. He was twenty-six, but other than his interest in realty his possessions consisted of a wife and child, $3 in money, an ax and a dog. He put up a shanty, went on foot to Painesville for a peck of salt, for which he paid $1, bought two pigs for the $2 left, and started in as a pioneer farmer. His biggest asset was his credit with his father-in-law, Judd. From him he bought a two-year- old heifer on credit. Not to trace all of the steps nor to know just how much he owed to his wife, the daughter of the old warrior, for his ad-
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vancement, it is sufficient to say that at the time of his death he owned over 1,000 acres of land and much other property and was long known as the richest man in the township. He was the father of twenty-three children, and died in 1878 at the age of ninety-seven years. Of his twenty-three children fourteen were by his first wife, whose maiden name was Martha Judd. The eighth born was James Covert, Jr., who for many years con- ducted the "Chagrin Valley Poultry Farm." This was the Abner Johnson farm, originally owned by that first settler, and was located, as we have said, above Willson's Mills. Samuel Johnson and David Smith left before Covert, Sr., came, so that this Abner Johnson farm was the first farm cleared in the township. John Jackson bought the farms of the first two, Samuel Johnson and David Smith, and became a permanent resident. The first birth in the township was a child to the first wedded pair, John and Polly Howton.
The difficulty that attended the pioneers generally in the county, the handicap of bad roads, was perhaps greater in Mayfield in its early history than in some other townships, as being under the civil government of Chagrin Township, now Willoughby, the few residents were called out to work their road tax in that township and the work done at home was voluntary road work. The Chagrin was much more healthful than the Cuyahoga and there was very little fever and ague, which was so preva- lent in many parts of the county in the early days. Young calves and pigs were often killed and eaten by the bears, but Mr. Covert solved the problem by keeping together so large a drove of hogs that they would join together and fight Bruin to a finish. Failing in the pig battles, the bears would resort to small depredations about the house by night and day. One morning Mrs. Judd put cream in the churn ready for churning, set it out on a temporary porch and went about her other household duties. When she came out to churn she found the churn upset and the cream licked up neatly and completely. Bear tracks all about revealed the iden- tity of the robbers. James Jackson, who boarded with the Judds, planned a ruse to get the robbers. He put a pail of milk on the porch at night and waited with trusty flintlock. Soon he heard a lapping in the direction of the milk pail, and shooting at the sound in the darkness shot a large black bear. The wolves were very destructive among the sheep. Mr. Covert bought two sheep and two lambs, paying $2.50 per head. The first night the wolves got the lambs; then Covert built a protection fence and yarded the two. From these he raised a large flock. He was an expert with the gun and he and James Jackson did much to thin out the wild enemy to his flocks and herds. At one time he was badly bitten by a wounded bear that he had approached too closely, and was confined to the house for a long time. Among the settlers who came after Covert were P. K. Wilson, Benjamin Wilson, Luke Covert, Benjamin Carpenter and Solo- mon Moon. Supposedly these were heads of families in the main. These early settlers of Mayfield were largely Methodists in religion, and as early as 1809 a class in that denomination was formed under the charge of Reverend Mr. Davidson, who was an eloquent speaker and active worker. The meetings were held in private houses, as there was not even a log schoolhouse built at that time. The first death in the township was that of the venerable Daniel S. Judd, veteran of two wars, who died of apoplexy in 1810. After his death Mr. Covert became in a sense the dean of the settlers. In later years he used to relate how he would often take a bushel of corn on his back to the mill at Chagrin, now Willoughby, attended on his return home by packs of wolves. These would follow and howl-rather unpleasant company, but rarely attacked man even in the night time. Once, as he related to a group of children,
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he was thoroughly scared. He said: "I had been reaping wheat for a man who lived several miles from the river in Chagrin, and was coming home after dark. It was difficult to follow the sled path in the night, so I took off my shoes, carrying them in my hands so that I could feel the path with my feet. When about two miles from home I could see a row of fierce eyes within a few feet all about me. Wolves, generally cowardly, rarely came so close to a person and I was thoroughly scared. I felt in the darkness for a tree that I could climb and my hands came upon two sticks. These I threw with all force at the row of eyes and the animals scattered in the darkness. They followed me all the way home, but at a safer distance on each side, howling at intervals."
War is destructive of the ordinary processes of civilization, and the War of 1812 stopped everything in the line of increased settlement in township 8, range 10. Not until 1816 was there a schoolhouse in the township. It was a log building erected on land of Anthony Sherman. This became the only public hall and was used for a long time as a school- house, church, and town hall. In 1815 Seth Mapes and family came into the pioneer life of the township. They stayed twelve years and then moved to Orange. In 1819 the little community took action towards forming a township government. It has been historically true that in all the history of Cuyahoga County and its constituent townships, as in the entire Western Reserve, orderly and complete civic authority was early established and all the forms of government put in force. It would seem that the failure of the French government to establish a more permanent foothold in this country was due to its form of settlements. The trading post established in the most attractive points for trade and commercial advantage did not take root and become a fixed and integral part of an empire such as they designed to establish. The township, a small but actual division of the greater county, the officers drawn from its people in most familiar and actual contact with all the rest, intrusted with the dignity and burden of local self government, was a little world in itself. It had in itself political strength and independence and yet as the athlete trains the smaller muscles to make the powerful and complete man, so these communities self trained in government are factors in building up and maintaining a great republic. On June 14, 1819, a town meeting was held in the log schoolhouse in township 8, range 10. At a previous meet- ing the name Mayfield had been selected and the county commissioners had approved of the selection, taken all the necessary steps, and granted the request for the organization. The meeting was organized by choosing Daniel S. Judd, Daniel Richardson, and Adam Overacker as judges of election, and John Jackson as clerk. Twenty men were present and voted and thirteen out of the twenty were elected to office. These first officers of the township were: Trustees, Adam Overacker, Seth Mapes, and Daniel Smith; clerk, John Jackson; treasurer, Benjamin Carpenter, Jr .; overseers of the poor, James Covert and Philo Judd ; fence viewers, John Gloge and Michael Overacker; appraiser, Francis Mapes; lister, Henry Francisco; justice of the peace, Michael Overacker. We have said that previous to the organization of the township it was a part of the civil Township of Chagrin. The Western Reserve Historical Society of Cleveland has preserved an interesting record connected with the separa- tion when the Township of Mayfield was formed. The Township of Chagrin settled with its seceding neighbor in strict equity. The record is in the form of a receipt and reads as follows :
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