USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 1) > Part 47
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During the Revolutionary War Cuyahoga County was too far from the scene of action to be affected. Many of the western Indians took part, however. War parties often passed down the lake headed for the battle front. When it came to terms of peace Oswald representing England proposed the Ohio River as the southern boundary of the British posses- sions. The American commissioners, headed by John Adams, opposed it vehemently and the peace commissioners finally agreed upon the middle of the Great Lakes. Their findings were signed in 1783. Thus England's authority over the territory comprising Cuyahoga County lasted from 1760 to 1783. On the conclusion of peace the Americans expected to take possession at once of the posts south of the boundary line. The English refused to give them up, making the excuse that there was unfair conduct on the part of some of the Colonies (States) regarding debts owed by their citizens to British subjects. Like the World War of 1914, the after clap continued after peace terms were agreed upon. The British retained the posts at Fort Niagara, Detroit and Sandusky for some time. This had its effect on the conduct of the Indians, who looked upon the possess- ors of these posts as great men of this region and the British had a great influence over them to the detriment of the settlers from the American Colonies. All this had to be overcome by Moses Cleveland and Lorenzo Carter, representing the planners and builders of the new civilization in Cuyahoga County. There were also conflicting claims for title among the Colonies themselves by reason of the various royal charters granted from time to time to the Colonies. Grants of land of wide and indefinite exten- sion had been given by the Crown. These ranged from the year 1606 to the year 1631. In referring to one of these royal charters, and which was like many, the old annals recite that the territory was diabolically described. It is a matter of national pride that the States, in order to avoid violence among themselves, ceded all disputed territory to the Confederation and gave it authority to adjust the boundaries.
In February the Legislature passed an act erecting the County of Cuyahoga. This was in 1807. The boundaries then included Willoughby or Chagrin, as it was called at that time, and excluded Dover and Olmsted on the west. The county was not organized until 1810, but was left under the authority of Geauga County. The seat of political power being so far away, authority was rather thinly spread on the western border so far as the county was in evidence, but the township of Cleveland was in existence and the Carter Law was in force. In this interim between the passing of the act authorizing its existence and the organization of the county occurred an incident that seemed likely to precipitate an Indian war. An Indian called Tohn Mohawk killed a white man near Hudson. The white man, Daniel Diver, was well and favorably known. Two of his friends determined to avenge his murder. They found an Indian named Nicksaw
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in the woods. Either assuming that he was the murderer or acting on general principles, desiring to kill some Indian, whether the right one or not, they shot him dead in his tracks. Major Carter and a trader named Campbell went with the chief of the Senecas, Stigwanish, or Seneca, as he was commonly called, to the place of the shooting and assisted in the burial of the dead Indian. They noticed that the snow was. undisturbed, indicating that there was no combat or resistance. After- wards it was discovered that John Mohawk was the murderer of Diver. The whites demanded Mohawk from the Indians to be tried and punished. The Indians replied that the white men who killed Nicksaw should also be arrested and punished. There was great excitement. The whites saw the Indians encamped across the river in large numbers and decided in the interest of peace to go slowly. Judge Huntington had a conference with Stigwanish, the Seneca chief. Stigwanish wanted justice for both sides. Did not want the Indian punished and not the whites and agreed to deliver Mohawk into custody if the murderers of Nicksaw were also arrested. Referring to the evidence found by himself, Major Carter and Campbell, he said : "White man may lie, Indian may lie, snow cannot lie." The final outcome of the matter was that there was no prosecution of any of the murderers.
Of this Seneca chief who figured in this controversy General Paine said that he had the honesty of Aristides, the dignity of a Roman senator, and the benevolence of a William Penn. Lest we be too much taken with the poetic qualities of the "Noble Red Man," it may be added that Stigwanish, while in a drunken frenzy, split open the skull of his infant child by a blow aimed at the head of his squaw, and was finally killed by a white man, whom he attempted to murder.
It was about the time or a little before the organization of the county that the Legislature authorized a lottery to raise the money to clear the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas rivers of logs and other obstructions to aid navigation. The managers of this lottery were Samuel Huntington, judge of the Supreme Court; Amos Spafford, John Walworth, Lorenzo Carter, James Kingsbury and Timothy Doan. John Walworth was chosen as general agent for the sale of tickets. Sub-agents were appointed at Zanesville, Steubenville, Albany, New York, Hartford, Connecticut, and Boston, Massachusetts. The scheme provided that 12,000 tickets were to be sold at $5 each and prizes equalling $60,000, beginning with one first prize of $5,000 awarded. Twelve and one-half per cent was to be deducted from the prizes to make up the fund for the internal improvement con- templated. The scheme failed and such money as had been received was returned without interest. It is said that Judge Huntington moved to Painesville shortly after, despairing of the future of Cleveland. It is more probable that the Judge left to find a more healthful locality, as about Cleveland it was ague, ague, ague. Just the same he was the second governor of Ohio and he lived for several years among the log cabins in the woods of Cuyahoga County. While much is written about the menace of fever and ague in Cleveland, it was not after all a fatal malady. The lack of harbor facilities along the lake was a greater menace. The violent storms with the rock bound coast were very destructive. In twelve years out of eighteen deaths in Cleveland eleven were by drowning.
Before the county was organized the Legislature appointed a committee to establish the seat of justice. The only place considered besides Cleveland was Newburgh. It was as large as Cleveland and more health- ful but the committee saw in the location on the lake at the mouth of the river a greater possibility. They selected Cleveland and presented a bill to the Legislature for their services, eleven days at two dollars per day,
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twenty-two dollars. We have mentioned as among the early settlers here Stanley Griswold, who was appointed United States Senator by Governor Huntington, also an early settler. In a letter written to a friend, the new senator suggested that Cleveland would be a good place for a doctor to locate, saying there were no doctors in the county and none of any eminence within fifty miles. He suggested that a physician coming to the town would have to keep school part of the time. As indicating the political fiber of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County it can be said that we had a Governor and a United States Senator before we had a doctor. There were two mail routes touching Cleveland and Cleveland had the only postoffice in the county; Joseph Burke had the contract for the southern route. The circuit was Cleveland, Hudson, Ravenna, Deerfield, Warren, Mesopotamia, Windsor, Jefferson, Austinburg, Painesville and Cleveland. There was another route along the lake shore operated.
JUDGE JAMES KINGSBURY
Burke in his trips under his contract found no bridges, he crossed streams sometimes with canoes that were available, sometimes by floating across on a convenient log, sometimes by wading and was frequently obliged to swim, carrying the mail pouch above the water. This would imply that he made his trips or many of them on foot.
Cuyahoga County was organized in May, 1810. Benjamin Ruggles was presiding judge of the Common Pleas Court, and Nathan Perry, Sr., A. Gilbert, and Timothy Doan were associate judges. The clerk was John Walworth; sheriff, Smith Baldwin. The first court was held in the store of Elias and Harvey Murray. There was one case of petit larceny, several for selling liquor (whiskey). to the Indians, and several for selling foreign goods without a license. The population of the county at this time was nearly 1,500, but there were settlements out of Cleveland larger than the county seat. Euclid had 15 per cent more votes at the election than Cleveland. This first court soon were engaged in the trial of Omic for murder, with Alfred Kelley as prosecuting attorney representing the State of Ohio, and Peter Hitchcock, assigned as counsel for the defendant. Alfred Kelley was then twenty-one years of age, and was the first practicing lawyer in Cleveland. At the regular county
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election Jabez Wright, Nathaniel Doan, Erastus Miles, were elected county commissioners, and Jabez Wright was chosen clerk of that body. Other officers elected were: Sheriff, Smith S. Baldwin; treasurer, Asa Dille ; recorder, John Walworth; surveyor, Samuel S. Baldwin. No county auditor was elected as the duties were performed at first by the clerk to the county commissioners. This first election of county officers was probably not attended with the usual political activity that has characterized them in later years.
Much of the fear of invasion by hostile Indians was dissipated by the victory of General Harrison at Tippecanoe (which occurred in 1811), only to return again with the opening of the War of 1812. When this war began a company of militia was organized in the county with headquarters at Cleveland. The captain was Harvey Murray ; lieutenant, Lewis Dille ; ensign, Alfred Kelley ; sergeants, Ebenezer Green, Simeon Moss, Thomas Hamilton, and Seth Doan ; corporals, James Root, John Lauterman, Asa Dille, Martin G. Shelhouse; drummer, David S. Tyler; fifer, Rudolphus Carlton. There were about fifty privates. Another company was organ- ized out around Newburgh, and was commanded by Allen Gaylord. An event which occurred shortly after hostilities began, August 23, 1812, created considerable interest. That was the meeting at Cleveland of General Wadsworth, with his aides, Benjamin Tappan and Elisha Whittle- sey, with General Cass, who came down from Detroit. Cass was on his way to Washington and he denounced the surrender of Hull in the most unmeasured terms. One rather curious fact in the history of this period and which we have not referred to in discussing the various townships was the feeling of security that the people entertained by moving eastward. This seemed to allay their fears, even a short remove. People in Cuyahoga County would move thirty or forty miles to the eastward, and enter cabins deserted by others, who had moved in the same direction. Settlers came from Huron County and felt safe at the mouth of the Cuyahoga. These were called refugees. The use of this term reminds us of the hen- pecked husband who left his muscular and belligerent spouse. When charged with having deserted his family he said: "I am not a deserter, I am a refugee." It was after Hull's surrender that the exodus eastward began. Elisha Dibble was one who settled in Cleveland at this time of general moving. After Gen. William Henry Harrison took command in the Northwest, General Perkins was stationed at the mouth of the Huron River. He had a battle there with the British and Indians. A number of Cuyahoga men were in that battle. James S. Hill was killed and John Carleton and Moses Eldred wounded. During the war Samuel Dodge was engaged in building vessels for the government, both in the Cuyahoga River and at Erie. The only regular troops to enter Cleveland during the war were those under Captain Sholes, already referred to as building Fort Huntington.
The lack of harbor facilities along the lake, the violent storms and consequent danger to the shipping, then of small tonnage, prevented a growth in commerce in that direction in any very considerable degree. Cleveland was a slow moving town, but the agricultural interests of the county were expanding from year to year. July 4, 1825, ground was broken at Cleveland for the Ohio Canal, a waterway exempt from loss by storms and consequent losses by reason thereof. In the fall of that year the Erie Canal was finished and boats began running from Albany to Buffalo and this provided a line of cheap transportation in that direction. About this time the first move was made looking to government action in bringing harbor facilities to Cleveland. This we will discuss later. The first steamer Walk-in-the-Water had been wrecked but a new one, the
THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY BUILDING OF TODAY
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Superior had been built and the next year another, the Henry Clay was launched. The marine interests were advancing in anticipation of better facilities. Travel over the roads to Cleveland increased. Many workmen were employed on the canal. The farmers brought in their products and exchanged them for imported articles. The Pennsylvania Germans, located in Orange, Solon, Warrensville, Bedford and Newburgh, drove in with their big wagons and wide tires, bringing flour and wheat which they exchanged for fish, salt, and other products not produced on the farm. The black salts, potash, and pearlash industries already referred to became active.
In 1826 agitation for a new courthouse began and with it a lively fight for the removal of the county seat to Newburgh. This contest culminated at the election of a county commissioner to fill a vacancy caused by the death of one of the members of the board. Of the two remaining mem- bers, one was for Cleveland and one for Newburgh. The issue at the elec- tion was closely drawn. The candidate favoring Cleveland was elected by a small majority and the county seat question thus settled in favor of Cleveland. The next year, 1827, a new brick courthouse was begun and its location was on the southwest corner of the Public Square, opposite the present Hotel Cleveland. It was finished the next year, and in October of that year it housed the courts and county officials and continued in use for thirty years. It was a two-story brick, facing north. Four years later a stone jail was built in the rear of the courthouse and because of its for- bidding appearance it was called the "Blue Jug." This year there was organized in Cleveland a so-called colonization society designed to deport colored people to Africa. It was a part of a national organization and was interested by reason of the presence of the slaves in America, who had been made captive from Africa. It would seem that the organizers had at that time a premonition that the slaves would ultimately be made free and would want to go home. Of this society Samuel Cowles was president, Rev. Rudolph Stone, Hon. Nehemiah Allen, Datus Kelley, Josiah Barber, and Lewis R. Dille, vice presidents; A. W. Walworth, treasurer ; James S. Clark, secretary, and Mordecai Bartley, delegate to the National Society. On July 4th, just two years after beginning work, the Ohio Canal was opened from Cleveland to Akron and there was a grand celebration. Noble H. Merwin brought the canal packet Pioneer from Buffalo, which after some difficulty, was launched in the canal. This loaded with the notables of Cleveland met on its trip southward the packet Allen Trimble, carrying the governor of that name on board. The entire canal through to the Ohio was completed in five years, but it is an interesting fact that this northern division was a paying proposition to the state as late as 1886, long after most of the canals were abandoned.
From the completion of the canal the price of land advanced, but there was still much of wilderness in the county. In 1827 the county commis- sioners offered a bounty on wolf scalps and many of the townships supple- mented this reward. The prevalent crimes were horse stealing and coun- terfeiting. The horse thieves were well organized and the counterfeiters confined their activities largely to the production of counterfeit coins. Another thing of historical interest which arose in 1837 was the "Patriot's War." There was an effort of a portion of Canada to break off from the mother country. No one wanted another war with England and in order to show that there was no connivance with the movement on the part of this country, Henry H. Dodge was elected by the Legislature to preserve order on the border. This had the desired effect and without the assist- ance of this country the movement died out. In the hard times from 1837 to 1840 it is said that a great majority of the business men of Cleveland
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failed, but from 1840, when the population of the county had increased to 25,500 and the City of Cleveland to over 7,000, prosperity set in, which has continued until we find today a county of over 1,000,000 souls.
In the presidential campaign of 1840, Cuyahoga County gave a large majority for General Harrison as has been intimated. Cleveland being a port on the lakes was a great point for slave hunters. For a time they were in great favor with the authorities. Abolitionists were few and in great disfavor. In the spring of 1841 three negroes, accused of being runaway slaves from New Orleans were kidnapped in Buffalo, brought to Cleveland and lodged in the "Blue Jug." Edward Wade and John A. Foote, pronounced abolitionists, were refused admission to the jail., Thomas Bolton, who was not an abolitionist, but was indignant at this denial of rights, applied and was admitted and after talking with the
ROCKY RIVER BRIDGE AND ITS GREAT CONCRETE SPAN
prisoners, announced his intention of defending them. Public sentiment was strong against him, and there was much talk of tearing down his office. He persisted, defended the negroes and they were freed. This had great effect and from this time forth, no prisoners were denied a hearing and no slaves were taken back from Cuyahoga County by court order. The sentiment produced by the propaganda of the slave owners had been dissipated.
When railroads came, like many advances in the equipment of civiliza- tion, they had a hard struggle for existence. Some of the charters were allowed to lapse. Men were slow to invest in what might prove a losing proposition. As an illustration in later years-the Marconi wireless sta- tions lost money for some years and investors had only the satisfaction of knowing that they were benefiting humanity, but those with a vision held on and their reward came. Among the men of Cleveland who were active in reviving the railroad interests in 1845 were Hon. John W. Allen, Richard Hilliard, John M. Woolsey, and Henry B. Payne. Leonard Case subscribed $500,000 towards the stock of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad, and Cleveland men subscribed over $2,000,000. Are we not ready to give credit to those, who in the dark days of the railroads of Ohio, had the courage and the foresight to invest, thus giving so great
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an impetus to the development of their state and the City of Cleveland. In 1848 the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula Railroad was built. The shipping interests had steadily advanced. Investments in steamboats had steadily continued and in view of the disasters it is a marvel that it continued. There were thirty-nine plying on the lake before 1850 and Cleveland got her share of the trade. Out of the thirty-nine mentioned, thirty ended their career with fire or wreck. Before the railroads had advanced there was "brilliant" passenger traffic on the lake. But it had its dark clouds. There were thirty-nine lives lost in the wreck of the Griffith and 400 in the wreck of the Lady Elgin.
In 1850 Cuyahoga County had a population of 48,099 and Cleveland 17,034. Of the townships Bedford had 1,853, Brecksville 1,116, Brooklyn 6,375, Chagrin Falls 1,250, Dover 1,102, East Cleveland 2,313, Euclid 1,447, Independence 1,485, Mayfield 1,117, Middleburg 1,490, Newburgh 1,542, Olmsted 1,216, Orange 1,063, Parma 1,329, Royalton 1,253, Solon 1,034, Strongsville 1,199, Warrensville 1,410. Thus the urban was' making great gains over the rural population. February 1, 1851, the first train came to Cleveland from Columbus over the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railway and in the same month the whole line was in opera- tion. In these later days the question of direct ocean traffic with the Great Lakes is discussed and predictions made that Cleveland will some day entertain in her harbor ocean vessels and ship direct to foreign ports. In the '50s, the steamer Dean, built by Quayle and Martin of Cleveland for C. J. Kershaw of Chicago, sailed through the Welland Canal to Liver- pool, having loaded at Chicago. The next year after this effort and beginning of direct trade, a barque by the same builders loaded with staves and lumber, made the trip to Liverpool bringing back crockery, iron and other commodities. Before 1858 ten vessels were sent to and from Europe and Cleveland as follows: The D. C. Pierce to Liverpool, the Kershaw, Chieftain, Blackhawk to London by Pierce and Barney, the R. H. Harmon to Liverpool, the D. W. Sexton to London, the J. F. Warner to Glasgow by T. P. Handy, the H. E. Howe to Liverpool by H. E. Howe, the Correspondent to Liverpool by N. M. Standart, the Har- vest to Hamburg by C. Reis. The cargoes from here were principally staves and lumber. Some of these vessels were sold in Europe, but six returned with cargoes of crockery, iron and salt. This direct trade with Europe was broken off by the action of England in the Civil war and has never been resumed. The building of vessels of tonnage too great to pass through the canal has made it impossible until an adequate waterway shall be provided.
Of the participation of the county in the Mexican war, an event not closely allied with our history because far distant, there is little to record. The only citizen of note who participated, and who was prominent in Cleveland and Cuyahoga was O. J. Hodge. In 1852 following the close of the war, Gen. Winfield Scott, the hero of that war, visited Cleveland as a whig candidate for the presidency. He was not a very tactful cam- paigner, nor a successful candidate. He stopped at the American House, where he made a speech from the balcony. One of the campaign songs of that year began :
"Our gallant Scott has made his mark On many a bloody plain, And patriot hearts beat high to greet The chief of Lundy's Lane."
In that campaign, Gen. Sam Houston also visited Cleveland, wearing a broad-brimmed slouch hat and a vest made of the skin of a Texas wildcat
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with the hair on. He made a speech from the balcony of the Forest City House on the Public Square in opposition to General Scott. While in Cleveland he was an object of much interest. He was governor of Tennessee, then drifted into Texas, made it a republic, became its presi- dent, then its governor under the United States, and at the outbreak of the Civil war, resigned rather than take an oath to support the Southern Confederacy. Another historical event in this year was the coming to Cleveland of the funeral escort with the body of Henry Clay. It came from Buffalo on the steamer Buckeye State. The Light Artillery Com- pany under Capt. D. L. Wood fired a salute as the steamer approached
THE COURTHOUSE IN 1885
the harbor. Among the funeral escort were six United States Senators, including Sam Houston.
On September 10, 1860, the celebration of the anniversary of Perry's victory was an unusual event in Cleveland, for it had as one of its features the unveiling of a statue to Commodore Perry on the Public Square. This was really a county affair, although it was under the auspices of the city council. Harvey Rice originated the idea, and in 1857 he, with J. M. Coffinbury, J. Kirkpatrick and C. D. Williams, were appointed a committee to erect a monument to Perry. They made a con- tract with T. Jones and Sons, proprietors of a marble works, to erect a monument for $6,000 if so much could be raised by contributions, the work to proceed at contractor's risk. Jones and Sons employed William Walcutt as sculptor and Carrara marble was imported from Italy. Sub- scriptions came in rapidly and the price was raised to $8,000. When the time came for the unveiling the council sent many invitations to people of prominence, including relatives of Perry and the state officers of Ohio and Rhode Island. The occasion was one of great interest. Governor
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