USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of the city of Cleveland: its settlement, rise and progress, 1796-1896 > Part 13
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" All hands went on board at Cleveland," to quote di- rect from the narrative, "and rowed the first afternoon, as far as Rocky River, where they stopped for the night. While there, in overhauling their fishing tackle, they found that a portion of the rope belonging to their seine, and something else belonging to it, had been left at Cleveland. Young White and the two sons of Captain Plumb were sent back to Cleveland for the missing ar- ticles, confidently expecting to get back in time to get on the boat before it left Rocky River. For this purpose they made the utmost expedition, not sparing themselves at all, lest a long walk from one river to the other, with nothing but an Indian trail along the lake shore for their guide, should pay for their remissness."
Upon their return to Rocky River they discovered that
1 " Loss of an Open Boat," by Q. F. Atkins .- " Annals of Early Set- tlers' Association," No. 9, p. 255. The account furnished by Col. Whit- tlesey differs from the above in several particulars.
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the boat was gone. They decided to push ahead, and when near Dover Point discovered an empty cask, an oar, and some other articles afloat in the water. A little further on, they came " to an inward curve of the high, rocky bank, where they beheld the wreck of the boat, driven in upon a small strip of rock and sand beach, with a frowning rock overhanging it, some sixty or seven- ty feet high, and no living person save Captain Plumb, to tell how the disaster came upon them. All his asso- ciates, four in number, were drowned."
Young White and Captain Plumb's oldest son hastened on to Black River for help. The younger son, with a courage beyond his years, climbed a sapling upon the bank, bent it over the cliff by his weight, and when it was as low as it could go, dropped safely down upon the sand beside his exhausted father. When the expected help arrived, at night, the two were, with no little diffi- culty, drawn to the bank in safety. The story of the wreck was soon told-a sudden squall had upset the boat, about a half mile from the shore, and Captain Plumb was the only one permitted to reach a place of safety. The bodies of the four were afterwards discovered, where the waves had cast them upon the beach.
It was in 1808 that Major Carter inaugurated the ship building industry of Cleveland, by constructing the " Zephyr, of thirty tons burthen," designed for the lake trade. This was followed in 1809 by the launching of the " Sally," a schooner of five or six tons, constructed by Joel Thorp; and the "Dove," of about the same size, built by Alex. Simpson; while in 1810, Murray & Bixby built the " Ohio," of sixty tons. Other lake vessels noted in connection with the early lake marine were the " Cuy- ahoga Packet," built at the mouth of the Chagrin River, the " Washington," the " Harlequin," the "Good In- tent," the " Tracy," the " Wilkinson," the "Contract- or," the " Adams," and also several of Canadian con- struction.
The year 1809 was in some respects an important one
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to Cleveland, not because of any great event which oc- curred, but in an incident here and there showing that it was gradually losing its pioneer newness, and approach- ing the ways of modern villagehood. Thus we see Col- lector Walworth forwarding his formal report from the port of Cuyahoga to the Treasury Department; and al- though the entire value of goods exported to Canada reached but fifty dollars from April to October, there was enough to show that a beginning had been made. A framed building, to be used as an office by the collector- postmaster, was erected on Superior street, and was re- garded as a novelty with metropolitan suggestions.
The projection of a road to the westward from the Cuy- ahoga, was yet another event pointing in the same direc- tion. The State Legislature granted an appropriation for the opening of such road from Cleveland to the mouth of the Huron River. The work was committed to the hands of Lorenzo Carter and Nathaniel Doan, of Cleveland, and Ebenezer Murray, of Mentor. The ridge near the bank of the lake was naturally selected, and the highway thus laid out was known as the Cleveland and Huron, and afterwards as the Milan State road; which was later changed to the Detroit road, and then to Detroit street.
A mail route was laid out between Cleveland and De- troit. " The mail was carried," says John D. Tay- lor,? " in a leather satchel by a man on foot; I remem- ber him and his name-Edward McCartney-as my fath- er had bought land and lived on the lake shore in Dover, where he kept a hotel during the war of 1812, and where the mail-carrier was accustomed to stop. After the com- mencement of the war, the United States mail was carried on horseback till about 1820, when stage coaches carried it until superseded by railroad coaches. In 1809, the whole contents of the mail between Cleveland and Detroit weighed from five to seven pounds, going at the rate of about thirty miles a day." At about the same time
2 "Pioneer Life in Cuyahoga County," by John D. Taylor .- " Annals of the Early Settlers' Association," No. 1I, p. 435.
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Joseph Burke, of Euclid, held the mail-carrying contract to the eastward, the route running from Cleveland to Hudson, Ravenna, Deerfield, Warren, Mesopotamia, Windsor, Jefferson, Austinburg, Harpersfield, Painesville, and thence back to Cleveland. The two sons of the con- tractor alternated with each other in covering the route, going on horseback in summer when the roads permitted, and on foot the rest of the time.
In this connection we may be permitted to glance ahead at the experiences of another mail agent, Asael Adams, of Warren (whose school in early Cleveland has been already referred to), who carried the mail on horse- back during the war of 1812 and 1813, two years, from Cleveland to Pittsburg. He left Pittsburg every Friday at 6:00 a. m .; arrived at Greersburg by 5:00 p. m .; left at 5 :30 p. m. ; arrived at Canfield on Saturday by 6:00 p. m .; left at 7:00 p. m .; and arrived at Cleveland on Monday by 10:00 a. m. Then returning, he left Cleve- land every Monday at 2:00 p. m. ; arrived at Canfield on Wednesday by 6:00 a. m .; left at 7:00 a. m .; arrived at Greersburg the same day by 6:00 p. m. ; left at 7:00 p. m. ; arrived at Pittsburg on Thursday by 6:00 p. m.
The only post-offices between Pittsburg and Cleveland, at that time, and at which he stopped, were as follows: Beavertown, New Lisbon, Canfield, Deerfield, Hartland, Ravenna, Hudson and Gallatin; thence by Aurora, Man- tua, Palmyra, Canfield, New Lisbon, Greersburg and Beavertown to Pittsburg, once a week. He received as salary $1863 per quarter of a year during the continuance
3 The salary above mentioned was not the only good this pioneer mail- carrier secured on his travels. At Canfield, Ohio, he gained a wife, in the person of Lucy Mygatt, whose father was a merchant and postmaster at that point. Mr. Adams established à general store in Warren, in 1814, and became one of the leading merchants of that place. In the early days of his mercantile career his goods, purchased in New York City, were carried in large wagons over the Alleghany mountains, by the way of Pittsburg, to Warren. Money was very scarce, and he sold goods to the farmers on one year's time, and received from his customers wheat, deer- skins, deer horns, scorched salts, horses, cattle, hogs, sheep and hickory- nuts, in payment for dry goods, drugs, groceries and hardware. The
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of his contract, to be paid in drafts on postmasters on the route, as above mentioned, or named at the option of the Postmaster-General, Gideon Granger. He was also au- thorized as contractor to carry newspapers, other than those conveyed in the mail, for hisown emolument. Often while riding one horse, he would lead another, loaded with articles for the pioneers from Pittsburg. Dense woods skirted both sides of the bad roads almost the whole of the way from Pittsburg to Cleveland. Wolves, bears and other wild animals roamed through these great forests, and often in the dark nights made the lonesome journey of the belated mail-carrier exceedingly unpleasant. There were no bridges over the rivers and streams, which were often very high. He would fasten the mail bag about his shoulders and swim his horse over the swollen rivers, often wet to the skin, and not a house within several miles distance.
In the matter of population, Cleveland (in 1809) lost one of its older residents, and gained several others who were in every sense desirable additions. Amos Spafford was elected a member of the lower house of the State Legislature, as a representative from Geauga County, to which Cleveland yet belonged. He soon received the appointment of collector of the new port of entry estab- lished on the Maumee River, and in the spring of the year following removed to Perrysburg.4
articles, wheat, deer-skins, etc., received by Adams were sent to Pittsburg, and sold for cash and goods. The scorched salts were sent in wagons to Ashtabula, thence to Buffalo by water, and exchanged for window-glass, and the glass brought back by the lake and by wagon to Warren, again to be traded to the farmers. A large business for those days was trans- acted by exchange, with but very little money in circulation.
+ " His first return to the Government shows that the amount of exports, at the expiration of the first quarter, was three thousand and thirty dollars. It consisted of three thousand dollars' worth of coon, bear and mink skins, and thirty dollars' worth of bear's oil. Major Spafford cul- tivated a piece of land, including Fort Meigs, built several out houses, and acquired considerable property here, previous to the war (1812). He was a man very much esteemed by the American and French inhabitants; was, indeed, an adviser and friend to all the early settlers. He retained his office of collector until 1818, when he died at his resi- dence."-" Whittlesey's Early History of Cleveland," p. 348.
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One of the additions referred to, came in the person of Stanley Griswold, who remained about long enough to be called an Ohio man, and made eligible to office, and then passed on to higher duties. A citizen of Connecti- cut, he had been appointed, in 1805, secretary for the Territory of Michigan, under Governor Hull, and col- lector of the port of Detroit. Because of political com- plications, he resigned, and removing to Cleveland, took up his residence at Doan's Corners. He was soon drafted into the public service, and the township records for 1809 show his name as clerk, in place of Nathaniel Doan, who had served for some years. A vacancy from Ohio occur- ring in the United States Senate, Governor Huntington appointed Mr. Griswold to fill out the term, and he soon left for Washington.
It was while en route to the National Capital that Sen- ator Griswold, in correspondence with a friend,5 wrote a letter that suggests some faith in the future of Cleveland, with a thorough understanding of its drawbacks in the present. It is in response to an inquiry as to the chances for a physician in the infant settlement. " I have con- sulted," he says, " the principal characters, particularly Judge Walworth, who concurs with me, that Cleveland would be an excellent place for a young physician, and cannot long remain unoccupied. This is based more on what the place is expected to be, than what it is. Even now a physician of eminence would command great practice, from being called to ride over a large country, say fifty miles each way. There is now none of emi- nent or ordinary character in that extent. But settle- ments are scattered, and roads new and bad, which would make it a painful practice. Within a few weeks Cleveland has been fixed upon by a committee of the Legislature as the seat of justice for Cuyahoga County. Several respectable characters will remove to that town. The country around bids fair to increase
5 In a letter to Hon. James Witherell, under date of Somerset, Pa., May 28, 1809 .- " Whittlesey's Early History of Cleveland," p. 426.
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rapidly in population. A young physician of the quali- fications described by you will be certain to succeed, but for a short time, if without means, must keep school, for which there is a good chance in winter, till a piece of ground, bring on a few goods (for which it is a good stand), or do something else in connection with his practice."
Another important arrival this year was that of Levi Johnson, a native of Herkimer County, N. Y., who was about twenty-four years of age when he cast in his fortunes with those of Cleveland. His usefulness and skill as a builder were seen all about the city, in both public and private edifices. He constructed for himself a log-cabin on the Euclid road near the Public Square; built the old log court-house and jail combined, on the northwest quarter of the Square; and also the gallows on which the Indian, O'Mic, was hung. In an ac- count of his life, recently pub- lished by the association of early settlers, we find this brief LEVI JOHNSON. tribute to his public usefulness: He built the first frame house in Cleveland, for Judge John Walworth, where the American House now stands. In 1811, he built the Buck- eye House for the father of the now venerable Rodol- phus Edwards, on Woodland Hills avenue, and soon afterwards several other houses and barns in New- burg township. In 1813 or 1814, he built the schooner "Ladies' Master," near his residence, which was hauled to the foot of Superior street by ox-teams of the country people, where she was launched. In 1817, he built the schooner " Neptune," on the river, near the foot of Eagle street, which was altogether in the woods. In 1824, he built the first steamboat constructed in
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Cleveland, the " Enterprise," just below the foot of St. Clair street. He sailed on the lake till 1830, and then built the old stone lighthouse where the present one now stands, and then the lighthouse at Cedar Point, and set the buoys marking the channel to and in Sandusky Bay; and later he built seventeen hundred feet of the east government pier in this city. Cleveland contains many other substantial evidences of his enterprise and good judgment. He died in 1871.
One of the most noted additions in the line of citizen- ship that early Cleveland ever received was when Alfred Kelley appeared upon the scene in 1810. His mark upon the fortunes of Cleveland, and the financial legislation of Ohio, was broad and deep, and to the benefit of every measure to which he set his hand. He was born in Mid- dletown, Conn., on November 7th, 1789, was educated in Fairfield Academy, New York, and afterward read law in Whitesborough. In the spring of 1810, when several months short of his majority, he de- cided to try life and fortune for himself, and set off for the ALFRED KELLEY. far west of Ohio. The journey was made on horseback, and he and Dr. Jared P. Kirtland came in company with Joshua Stow. He reached Cleveland at an opportune time, as Cuyahoga County had just taken its position as a separate organization, and its courts had been for the first time con- stituted. While Samuel Huntington, who was also a law- yer, had preceded Mr. Kelley by some years, he had never entered upon practice here, so to all real intent, Mr. Kelley was Cleveland's first lawyer of note. He was certainly the first to put up his sign in Cuyahoga County.
In the November term of court, Peter Hitchcock moved
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that Mr. Kelley be admitted to practice, and his name was soon upon the roll. It certainly was an occasion of interest to the young man, as it was the twenty-first an- niversary of his birth, saw him become a member of a bar, to which he afterwards should lend such honor and lus- ter, and also gave him his first office, as he was immedi- ately made public prosecutor. He held this office until 1821, when he voluntarily relinquished it; was the first president of the incorporated village of Cleveland; repre- sented Cuyahoga County in the General Assembly, and remained in that position almost continuously from 1814 to 1822, when he became one of Ohio's canal commissioners, and entered upon the greatest labor of his life. In 1830, Mr. Kelley removed to Columbus; served again in the Legislature, and as State Fund Commissioner saved the State-almost entirely through his own practical ability and personal influence-from the stain of repudiation. His useful life was ended on December 2nd, 1859. We shall see him again and again in the course of this narra- tive in connection with the great canal and railroad inter- ests that did so much for Cleveland.
There was a noted addition to the population of Cleve- land in the medical line in 1810, almost equal in importance to that of the law above mentioned. The suggestions of Senator Griswold that there was an opening for an able young physician, and that he would have enough of hard work, was made good in the case of Dr. David Long, who reached here in June of the year above named. He was a native of Washington County, N. Y., and had gradu- ated in medicine in New York City. He was Cleveland's first resident physician, and when he arrived there were no physicians nearer than Painesville, Hudson, Wooster and Monroe. His practice was extensive, and many illustra- tive and entertaining incidents in connection therewith might be related: "Dr. Long was a public-spirited man," says his chief biographer,6 " and interested in whatever
6 " Pioneer Medicine on the Reserve," by Dudley P. Allen, M. D. -" Magazine of Western History," Vol. III., p. 286.
-
NORVALJORDAN
THE VALLEY OF THE CUYAHOGA, 1846.
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concerned the welfare of the community. He was a successful candidate for the office of county commis- sioner at a time when the location of the court-house greatly excited the interest of the county. One com- missioner favored Newburg and another Cleveland, and the election of Dr. Long determined its location in Cleveland. He was engaged in various business enter- prises, but a contract for building a section of the canal proved to be an unfortunate business venture, though it was of great importance to the commercial interests of Cleveland. In 1836, Dr. Long removed from Superior street to a farm on what is now Woodland avenue, but was then called Kinsman street. Here he built first the stone house occupied by the late Erastus Gaylord, and afterward the house still standing on the corner of Wood- land and Longwood avenues, in which house he lived till the time of his death, September 1, 1851, at the age of sixty-four years."
The store of Elias and Harvey Murray became one of the local mercantile features of this year (1810); Major Carter built a warehouse on Union lane either in this year or the one preceding, showing that business was grow- ing down in that section of the village; and Elias Cozad built out at Doan's Corners the first tannery operated in Cleveland, and this was followed by a like structure erected by Samuel and Matthew Williamson, either to- ward the end of this year or the opening of 1811.
The record of 1810 can be ended well by a summary of the steps by which, in this year, Cuyahoga County be- came a distinct organization upon its own merits. It will be remembered that such part of the present county as lies east of the river was, in 1788, made a part of Wash- ington County, with the county-seat away down upon the Ohio, at Marietta. Such portion of the county as lies west of the river, was embraced in the county of Wayne, created in 1796, with the seat at Detroit. In July, 1797, the portion of the Reserve east of the river became a part of Jefferson County, with the county-seat
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at Steubenville. When Trumbull County was organized, in 1800, it embraced all of the Western Reserve, includ- ing the Fire Lands, and the group of Lake Erie islands off Sandusky. In 1806, the county of Geauga was set off from Trumbull, and included the main portion of the present Cuyahoga. Huron County had a legal existence in 1809. By an act of the legislature of February 10th, 1807, Portage, Ashtabula and Cuyahoga were created, and under this act the last named was declared to " em- brace so much of the county of Geauga as lay west of the ninth range of townships." The boundaries were fixed as follows: "On the east side of Cuyahoga River, all north of town five, and west of range nine; on the west side of the river, all north of town four, and east of range fifteen; a space between ranges fourteen and twenty on the west; and the County of Huron, being attached to Geauga for judicial purposes."
There was an alteration in the line between Cuyahoga and Huron Counties in 1811, and when Medina County was created in 1812, another change in the western bound- ary of Cuyahoga was made. When Lorain was organized in 1824, there was still another small disturbance along the same line. The township of Willoughby, on the east, was lost in 1840, when Lake County was created; and in 1841 a portion of Orange township was annexed to Geauga, and a strip of Russell, in Geauga, was transferred to Cuyahoga; but in 1843 the tract taken from Orange was restored.
CHAPTER VII.
IN THE TIME OF WAR.
In the letter of Senator Stanley Griswold, previously quoted, he states that a committee of the Legislature ? had, in 1809, been charged with the duty of locating the seat of justice for Cuyahoga County. This commission was met by the urgent claims of both Cleveland and Newburg, which place last named had a population fully as large as her rival, and was regarded as the more health- ful location of the two. Cleveland carried the day, not so much because of present advantages, as for its pros- pects in the future.
The independent judicial existence of Cuyahoga Coun- ty, therefore, commenced in May, 1810, when the Common Pleas Court was organized. Hon. Benjamin Ruggles was presiding judge, and Nathan Perry, Sr., Augustus Gilbert, and Timothy Doan, associate judges. The first official staff of the county elected, or appointed by the judges of the court, or otherwise, was as follows:
Prosecuting Attorney: Peter Hitchcock (of Geauga County), appointed in June; succeeded in November by Alfred Kelley.
Clerk and Recorder : John Walworth.
Sheriff : Smith S. Baldwin.
7 Col. Whittlesey (" Early History of Cleveland," p. 368) has preserved a copy of the bill presented by one of these commissioners, addressed to Abraham Tappan, Esq .:
" Columbiana County, Ohio, October, 1809.
"Deir Sir :- I have called on Mr. Peaies for my Pay for fixing the Seat of Justis in the county of Cuyahoga and he informt me that he did not Chit it. Sir, I should take it as a favour of you would send it with Mister Peaies at your Nixt Cort and In so doing will oblige Your humble Sarvent .- R. B ... r.
" A Leven Days Two Dollars per day, Twentytwo Dollars."
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County Commissioners: Jabez Wright, Nathaniel Doan. Treasurer: Asa Dille.
Surveyor: Samuel S. Baldwin.
The first session of the court was held at the newly- erected store of Elias and Harvey Murray on Superior street, which had not been occupied. One indictment was presented for petit larceny, several for selling foreign goods without license, and others for selling whisky to the Indians. The session of the succeeding June had to deal with three criminal prosecutions and five civil suits. There was one case of " trespass on the case for eleven hundred white fish of the value of $70, which came into the hands of the defendant by 'finding,' but who refused to give them up on demand, and converted them to his own use." This suit was laid over until the next term, when the plaintiff failed to appear, and it was dismissed. The other cases have been thus described: "Alfred Kel- ley appears in the second case on the docket, on behalf of Ralph M. Pomeroy vs. James Leach. Suit on a note of hand dated October 27, 1808, 'at Black Rock, to-wit, at Cleveland,' for $80, and in another sum of $150. This case was continued one term, and then discontinued by settlement. And now, in the third case, the famous old pioneer, Rodolphus Edwards, was chosen defendant in the suit of one John S. Reede. It was an appealed case from Justice Erasmus Miles' court, by the plaintiff, the justice having decided that the plaintiff had no case against Ed- wards. The plaintiff failed to prosecute his appeal, and the old pioneer was decreed to 'go' with judgment for his costs, $8.54. R. B. Parkman was defendant's attor- ney. The fourth case was an action of ejectment for a farm in Euclid, in which Alfred Kelley appeared for the heirs of Aaron Olmsted, of East Hartford, Conn., vs. Richard Fen, and James Lewis, the tenant; Samuel W. Phelps, attorney for defendants."8
At the November term, an indictment was presented
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