USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 1) > Part 43
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
It is an interesting fact that in all of its twenty years of existence there has never been an election contest. Only one ticket has been in the field at any election. The first clerk of the village, Clifford A. Neff, ap- pointed as his assistant Miss Mary H. Giles, which office she still holds, and there is not a word or a line in the records of the clerk's office that has not been transcribed by her. She is also clerk of the school board. It may be interesting to note that she is the daughter of Sidney W. Giles, who was well known in the county for many years as secretary of the
297
THE CITY OF CLEVELAND
Glenville Race Track Association, which conducted the races where so many notable events occurred and where so many world records were broken.
The present officers of the village are: Mayor, R. F. Grant; clerk, A. H. Fieback; treasurer, H. P. McIntosh, Jr .; assessor, G. M. Soul; marshal, C. E. Cole; councilmen, C. S. Britton, J. E. Ferris, Abram Gar- field, C. N. Hickok, Herman Moss, and H. E. Sheffield. In 1918 a municipal building was constructed, costing, with the grounds, improve- ments and equipment, approximately $60,000. At this time R. L. Ireland was mayor; Clifford A. Neff, clerk; Charles H. Gale, treasurer, and the council consisted of C. S. Britton, B. P. Bole, A. S. Chisholm, Abram Garfield, Max McMurray, and N. W. Stanley. On the walls of the council chamber of the new building hangs a fine oil painting of Aaron Williams, the old lamp lighter, who served in that capacity "since the mind of man runs not to the contrary."
The schools of Bratenahl are housed in a commodious building on East One Hundred and Fifth Street. There are eight teachers, and the enroll- ment is 158. The principal is Miss Sara Bair. This is a grade school, and the pupils are permitted to attend the high schools of Cleveland until graduation, their tuition being paid by the village. The school board con- sists of W. E. Durstine, president; Miss Mary H. Giles, as we have said, clerk; A. D. Baldwin, Mrs. J. P. Burton, E. A. Foote, and Charles L. Stocker.
It would be of interest to trace the history of many who have entered into the political life of Bratenahl, but as they are so essentially a part of Greater Cleveland they will be considered in connection with later chapters. As to the selection of the name, it was taken from Bratenahl Road, an old East Cleveland-Euclid thoroughfare, which came, it is alleged, from an early pioneer family.
CHAPTER XXIV
RANGE 12, NUMBER 8, CLEVELAND TOWNSHIP
Except for the uneven shore of Lake Erie, this township would have contained a tract five miles square. It is the last of the subdivisions of Cuyahoga County that we are to consider, and as much of the history of Cuyahoga County centers here, we will consider it in its various stages of development. While the townships of the Reserve have been variously divided in the survey, some in quarter township divisions, some in 100- acre lots, this one distinct from all the rest began with a survey of a city with smaller lots. A surveyed city is not a city, hence we must first dis- cuss the township with this added distinction. In September of 1796 the surveying party under Moses Cleveland, engaged in the survey of the Connecticut Western Reserve, came to this township, known only as num- ber 8 in range 12, and laid out the plan of a city and named it, with the township, Cleveland, in honor of Moses Cleveland, the commander of the expedition, and then on October 18th they went away. The surveyors were professional men, their expenses were paid and they, after their arduous labors on the survey, went back to New England to rest up for another year. The following year they again made Cleveland their head- quarters. To recite in brief the condition of the enterprise-Moses Cleve- land was a director of the Connecticut Land Company, and was given a power of attorney as follows: "To Moses Cleveland-We the directors of the Connecticut Land Company having appointed you to go on to said land as superintendent over the agents and men sent on to survey and make locations on said land, to make and enter into friendly rela- tions with the natives, who are on said land or contiguous thereto and may have any pretended claim to the same, and secure such friendly inter- course amongst them as will establish peace, quiet and safety to the sur- vey and settlement of said lands not ceded by the natives under the authority of the United States.
"You are hereby for the foregoing purpose fully authorized and em- powered to act and transact all the above business in as full and ample a manner as we, ourselves, could do, to make contracts in the foregoing matters in our behalf and stead and make such drafts on our treasury as may be necessary to accomplish the foregoing object of your appointment. And all agents and men by us employed and sent on to survey and settle said land, to be obedient to your orders and directions. And you are to be accountable for all monies by you received, conforming your conduct to such orders and directions as we may, from time to time give you and to do and act in all matters according to your best skill and judgment, which may tend to the best interest, prosperity and success of said Con- necticut Land Company, having more particularly for your guide the Articles of Association entered into and signed by the individuals of said Company."
The procedure up to the point of sending out the surveyors was like this. Fifty men bought out this tract (the Western Reserve) from the State of Connecticut. Some of the names of these men are familiar in this county and city, that is the family name, Joseph Howland, Daniel S. Coit,
298
299
THE CITY OF CLEVELAND
Elias Morgan, Caleb Atwater, Samuel Mather, Jr., Ephraim Kirby, Gideon Granger, Jr., Solomon Cowles, Moses Cleveland, Samuel P. Lord, and Aaron Olmsted. The fifty original purchasers paid for the land to the State of Connecticut by forming a pool as it is sometimes called. The amount paid to the state was $1,200,000. This sum was placed in the school fund of the state and has remained there. This body of men or- ganized into the Connecticut Land Company. The deed from the State of Connecticut must have been a joint deed to all the contributors, for they all joined in a deed of trust to Jonathan Brace, John Caldwell, and John Morgan, authorizing them to give deeds to purchasers. Of course they had bought this tract of land to sell again. It was not altogether a rosy proposition. It was known that a large part of this land was on the west side of the Cuyahoga River and could not be disposed of until the Indian rights were extinguished. This purchase was to include 3,000,000 acres and it was generally assumed that there was much more land in the tract, exclusive of the Fire Lands, and so several gentlemen offered to take the balance from the state, it is presumed at the same price, 40 cents per acre. These men were called the Excess Company. Naturally they must await the more accurate survey of the first, the Connecticut Land Company. In order to make an accurate division of the profits according to the amount each man had put into the pool the company organized as a corporation with a capital of $1,200,000 divided into 400 shares of $3,000 each. These shares were distributed in proportion to what each man had paid into the enterprise. A board of directors was chosen as follows: Oliver Phelps, Henry Champion 2nd, Moses Cleveland, Samuel W. Johnson, Ephraim Kirby, Samuel Mather, Jr., and Roger Newberry. Articles of agreement adopted provided that the tract should be surveyed into townships five miles square, the part east of the Cuyahoga as soon as possible, that west as soon as the Indians were bought off. Some townships were to be sold to pay the expenses of the survey. Moses Cleveland, a lawyer of Canter- bury, Windam County, Connecticut, forty years old, was chosen as one of the directors to manage the survey in person. Some generalship would be required in this undertaking, and he had been promoted by successive stages to the generalship of the Fifth Brigade of the Connecticut State Militia. This may not have been taken into consideration in the selection, but he was of a dark complexion and some writers have suggested that by reason of that fact he was more successful in dealing with the Indians, as they often took him for one of their race. Be that as it may he was an able man of great natural dignity of carriage, scholarly, and a born leader. As to the spelling of his name we use the present spelling, but the records show that he wrote it both Cleaveland and Cleveland, and the history of the section from which his ancestors came to America gives the spelling Cleveland. Seth Pease, the astronomer and one of the leading surveyors of the expedition led by the General, spells it Cleveland on his maps.
Of this surveying party Augustus Porter of Connecticut was the principal surveyor, and Deputy Superintendent Seth Pease we have men- tioned. The other surveyors were Amos Spafford, John M. Holly, Rich- ard M. Stoddard, and Moses Warren. Joshua Stow was commissary of the expedition, and Dr. Theodore Shepard, physician. There were thirty- six other employees. The various members of the expedition were directed to assemble at Canandaigua, New York, on the southeast shore of Lake Ontario, and from there they proceeded in a body to the Western Reserve, mostly by boats. In getting here they rowed, sailed, and walked the shore. This expedition involved large expense, and apparently each mem- ber kept a record of his expenses to present to the company, in connec-
300
CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND
tion with a diary for general information, from the time of leaving his home. From the diary of Seth Pease, one of the young surveyors, pre- served in the Western Reserve Historical Society annals can be found this entry: "I began my journey Monday, May ninth 1796 -- Fare from Suffield to Hartford six shillings -- expenses four shillings six pence- Fare on my chest from Middleton one shilling sixpence-Trip to New York-Passage and liquor 4 dollars and 34-In New York-Ticket for play 75 cents liquor 14 cents-show of elephants 50 cents-Shaving and combing 13 cents." Seth wanted to be prepared, in case he was asked the question that was commonly propounded to one, who had been to New York: "Did you see the elephants ?"
The history of Cleveland begins with the surveying party, but the story behind the survey is extremely interesting. No attempt was made to settle here until the passage of the ordinance of 1787 and the beginning of government under the territorial system. Then, as one expresses it, toilers on the rocky farms of Connecticut sighed for the mellow soil of Ohio, and the sale began. Oliver Phelps, a native of Windsor, led the enterprise, opening an office at Canandaigua, the first in the country for the sale of forest lands to settlers. At this town the surveyors gathered for the trip to New Connecticut under Moses Cleveland, of Canterbury, "magnetic, able, decisive, and patriotic." Connecticut had been especially favored by King Charles, who was incensed at Massachusetts, and this was not the first attempt of the state at similar occupancy. The sad his- tory of Wyoming was known to the hardy pioneers, who bought of the Connecticut Land Company. By a grant from King Charles the state was given a tract, about the size of the Western Reserve, of land later claimed and acquired by Pennsylvania. In the beautiful Wyoming Val- ley traversed by the north branch of the Susquehanna there had been planted a colony under the Connecticut town system of individual democracy.
"On Susquehanna's side, fair Wyoming ! Although the wild-flower on thy ruined wall, And roofless homes, a sad remembrance bring Of what thy gentle people did befall ; Yet thou wert once the loveliest land of all."
After getting the charter rights, the Susquehanna Land Company was formed just as the Connecticut Land Company was organized in the pur- chase of the Western Reserve. Wyoming was bought from the Five Nations for £2,000 by the Susquehanna Company, and settlers bought their land from this company. Here flourished a happy community immortalized in song by Thomas Campbell in "Gertrude of Wyoming," from which the above fragment is taken. The Revolution came and then the massacre, designated by historians as one of the darkest crimes per- petrated during the War for Independence. As history records, the Tories under John Butler, and the Indians under Brandt fell upon these Wyoming settlements, while the able bodied men of military age were at the front under Washington. Half the population were killed, the old men and boys covering the flight of the women and small children who had to endure the hardships of an overland retreat to Connecticut. After peace was declared, scattering settlers returned to keep alive their claims to land purchased. Then came the Articles of Confederation empowering the establishing of courts to arbitrate disputed boundaries between states. Connecticut clung to her grant from the King, but kings were in disfavor after the Revolution, and the court gave Wyoming to Pennsylvania.
301
THE CITY OF CLEVELAND
Connecticut gracefully accepted the decree and withdrew her claim. The settlers, thus seemingly deserted by their state, had a hard time of it. Writs of the Pennsylvania courts were enforced, the property of Con- necticut men destroyed, fences were cast down, and the rights or claims of the settlers ignored. The old Susquehanna Company, that had sold them the land, was reorganized to aid them in enforcing their claims.
THE OLDEST HOUSE IN THE CITY
This building, built upon the site of the log trading post of John Jacob Astor, was removed by the city to a site at the eastern end of Edgewater Park, to be preserved as a relic of the past. On October 14, 1922, a few hours after the above picture was taken, the old building was destroyed by official order.
Ethan Allen and some of his Green Mountain Boys settled here after the war. The settlers became strong, and there raged what was called the Yankee and Pennamite war. Then the State of Pennsylvania passed laws confirming the Connecticut settlers in their titles, and the war ended.
Connecticut having so gracefully surrendered her claim to Wyoming, that is the State of Connecticut, when her grant westward, which is de- scribed in the charter from King Charles as extended to the Pacific Ocean, was taken up, it was decided to give her the tract known as the Western Reserve. Thus in releasing her claim to the great western belt she was
302
CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND
given this territory, as was asserted, to recompense her for the loss of Wyoming. As one writer claims, "It would have been absurd to ask Connecticut to surrender a claim so sound in law and so fortified by re- peated recognitions without any recompense. Her proposition that she should reserve a tract about the width and length of the Wyoming tract was accepted."
In this manner is the sad history of Wyoming linked with that of Cleveland and the Western Reserve, and the fact that the settlers who came here were familiar with its history adds to our estimate of their courage and indominative will. When the first emigrants left their native Connecticut for the far West the parting words of friends were spoken as if they were the last, and they were tenderly remembered in the public prayers of the village minister.
The township of Cleveland was organized before that of any other in the county, before the state was organized and before the county was organized. A territorial court of quarter sessions met at Warren, Ohio, in the early part of the year 1802 and erected the Township of Cleveland. The meeting of this court was held in a sheltered locality between two corn cribs, a few feet from the site of a house afterwards occupied by F. Freeman of Warren. Acting under an order from this court the in- habitants of the township met at the house of James Kingsbury on April 5, 1802, and organized by choosing Rudolphus Edwards as chairman and Nathaniel Doan as clerk, and elected township officers. The names of some of the officers have been preserved. The trustees elected at this meeting were Amos Spafford, Timothy Doan and W. W. Williams. Samuel Huntington was elected one of the supervisors of highways, he was afterwards supreme judge and then governor of Ohio. Timothy Doan was Common Pleas judge, as we have related. Thus this first township seems to have been well officered. The election the following year was held at the same place, the house of James Kingsbury, and these were the officers who presided over the town meeting: Amos Spafford, chairman, and Nathaniel Doan, clerk. The officers elected were Amos Spafford, James Kingsbury and Timothy Doan, trustees; James Kings- bury and James Hamilton, overseers of the poor; Rudolphus Edwards, Ezekiel Nolley and Amos Spafford, fence viewers; Elijah Gunn and Samuel Huntington, appraisers of houses ; James Kingsbury, lister ; Wil- liam Elvin, James Kingsbury and Timothy Doan, supervisors of highways, and Rudolphus Edwards, constable. Two months later the electors met at the same place, and an election for justices of the peace, presided over by Samuel Jones, was held. Amos Spafford and Timothy Doan received the honor and were duly elected justices of the peace. In this year the state was organized and at this justice election, that is on the same day, another election was held. This was more formal and in accordance with the strict letter of the law. Amos Spafford, Elijah Gunn and Samuel Jones were chosen judges of election, and Stephen Gilbert and Nathaniel Doan, clerks. This election was for the choice of one state senator, two state representatives and one member of Congress, the Township of Cleveland voting as a part of Trumbull County.
For Congress, David Hudson received twenty-seven votes, and Michael Baldwin, six. For the State Senate, Benjamin Tappan received twenty-one votes, and Amos Spafford, one. For State Representatives, David Abbott received twenty-two votes; Ephraim Quimby, nineteen; Amos Spafford, one, and David Hudson, one. The representatives elected to this first legislative session of Ohio by a vote of twenty-six to three refused to employ a chaplain, eight new counties were erected, and John Smith and Thomas Worthington were chosen United States Senators. Edward
303
THE CITY OF CLEVELAND
Tiffin was declared elected governor, receiving 4,564 votes. The election in Cleveland Township the following year was held as before at the house of James Kingsbury. The date was April 22d. The Judges of election were Amos Spafford and Lorenzo Carter. James Kingsbury, Lorenzo Carter and Timothy Doan were elected trustees; Lorenzo Carter, Thad- deus Lacy, James Kingsbury and Timothy Doan, supervisors of highways; Rudolphus Edwards, constable ; Nathaniel Doan, clerk, and Timothy Doan, treasurer. This latter office became necessary, as it was voted at the meet- ing to raise $10 by township tax. The trustees met at the house of Nathaniel Doan and divided the township into road districts. To Lorenzo Carter was given the road leading from the "City of Cleveland" to Hud- son ; Daniel Rukers was given the road from the south side of Cleveland, to Euclid to the bridge near Isaac Tillotson's; Timothy Doan was given the road from Isaac Tillotson's to the east line of the town of Euclid ; James Kingsbury was given the road from Nathaniel Doan's to Wilson's Mills, and to Thaddeus Lacy was given the road leading from Daniel Purker's to Hudson.
We have been giving the early organization of number 8, range 12, the township which included a "city." The separate history of this city began September 16, 1796, when Augustus Porter began laying out some streets on the east side of the Cuyahoga River. Porter ran the street lines; Seth Pease, Amos Spafford and Richard Stoddard surveyed the city lots. In the same month and year it was named. Previously it had been called Cuyahoga or spoken of in the minutes of the surveyors as mouth of the Cuyahoga. The first mention on record of the name occurs in the minutes of the agreement entered into by Moses Cleveland and his surveyors as to the Township of Euclid. The minutes state "at a meet- ing held at the City of Cleveland," etc. The "city" contained at this time two log houses, one occupied by Job Stiles and Tabitha, his wife, who kept house for members of the surveying party from time to time. It was sometimes called Pease's Tavern, because of the frequent presence and attractive personality of that gentleman. The other was used by the surveyors. The surveyors left in October for the East, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Job Stiles and Jacob Landon. The three had decided to become permanent settlers, although coming originally as employees of the Con- necticut Land Company. The surveyors built a log cabin for them at what is now the west end of Superior Avenue. Landon only stayed a few weeks, and went East before winter came, but Edward Paine, after- wards the founder of Painesville, came and boarded with Mr. and Mrs. Stiles and commenced trading with the Indians, who camped on their lands west of the river. These three remained alone, except for Indians, during the winter. Job Stiles and Tabitha Stiles were the first settlers of Cleveland, and Edward Paine the first trader. On the edge of the Indian country in the winter of 1795 these three constituted the entire population of Cleveland. The part of the Western Reserve east of the Cuyahoga River was cleared of the Indian claim by the treaty of Green- ville in 1795, and that west of the river by the treaty of Fort Industry in 1805, ten years later. Cleveland, with its population of three souls, was in the County of Washington of the Northwest Territory, but it was thought by some that the Connecticut Land Company was invested with the powers of government as well as title of land. This township was one of those sold to provide the expenses of the survey.
Mrs. Job Stiles, the first woman resident of Cleveland, in the log cabin on the bank of the Cuyahoga on that first winter, was deserving of recognition, and she got it. The directors and stockholders of the Con- necticut Land Company gave her one city lot, one ten-acre lot, and one
304
CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND
100-acre lot in Cleveland Township. They also gave 100 acres to Mrs. Anna Gun, wife of Elijah Gun, who had charge of the company's stores at Conneaut, but intended to move to Cleveland. They gave 100 acres of land in the township to James Kingsbury and wife, the first settlers on the Western Reserve not connected with the company. Kingsbury and wife first located at Conneaut. They gave a city lot to Nathaniel Doan, who had acted as blacksmith for the company, shoeing the pack horses of the surveyors.
In the spring of 1797 Edward Paine, who had spent the winter trading with the Indians, having beads, calico, and other articles for barter, left Cleveland and his boarding place with Job and Tabitha Stiles and made his permanent residence at Painesville, which town he founded and which bears his name. In the spring of this year the Guns came from Conneaut and became the second family resident of Cleveland. In June the sur- veyors returned, and this time Seth Pease was head surveyor. On the way to Cleveland one of their number, David Eldridge, was drowned in Grand River, and they brought the body with them to Cleveland for burial. The burial was on the east side of Ontario Street, some distance from the Stiles cabin and therefore out of town. The surveyors, before starting in with their second year's professional labors, did some clearing around the cabin of Job and Tabitha Stiles at the west end of Superior Street as we now designate the site. They planted a garden and flowers and brought a bustle of life and activity.
This year came Lorenzo Carter, known to early settlers as Major Carter, and brought his family from Rutland, Vermont. His son Alonzo was then seven years old. He was a remarkable man, a typical pioneer. He had great strength, was a master with the gun and the axe, had unlim- ited assurance and the courage of a Richard Cœur de Leon. He soon gained a wonderful influence over the Indians unequalled by any other white man in the vicinity. He was the Miles Standish of Cleveland. He even impressed the Indians as one having supernatural power. While Moses Cleveland could plan a civilization, it required men like Lorenzo Carter to build it. The writer, gazing at the massive monument to Miles Standish on the Atlantic coast near Plymouth, was impressed with the idea that a monument to Lorenzo Carter by the side of that of Moses Cleveland here would be most appropriate. The founder and the builder side by side in this great city of wealth of brain and brawn would be a beautiful historical setting. Lorenzo Carter built his log cabin on the flats near the river, close by a thoroughfare afterwards known as Spring Street.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.