A history of the city of Cleveland: its settlement, rise and progress, 1796-1896, Part 22

Author: Kennedy, James Harrison, 1849-1934
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Cleveland : The Imperial Press
Number of Pages: 688

USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of the city of Cleveland: its settlement, rise and progress, 1796-1896 > Part 22

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was connected with various educational and reformatory institutions, and performed many useful labors for the good of mankind. He passed from life on July 16th, 1891.

Another notable accession, in the same year, came in the person of Thomas Burnham, one of the city's early busi- ness men. He was a native of Saratoga County, New York, and was for some time master of a freight boat run- ning from White- hall to Albany, on the Champlain Canal. In 1833, he concluded to abandon boat life, was married on Oc- tober 29th of that year, and on the same day set out with his young wife, and one hun- dred and fifty dol- lars, to try his for- tune in the then far west, in Ohio. The conveyances by which they reached their final destination were various in kind, and their journey FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF TO-DAY. illustrates some- what the common methods of travel in that day. They were conveyed by team from Glens Falls to Saratoga, where they took the cars to Schenectady. Railroading was then a primitive thing, and the line upon which they rode possessed cars fashioned like stage-coaches, run- ning on a strap rail, and drawn by three horses driven tandem. The Schenectady and Albany line was, at that time, employing steam power, but the new motive

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power was not as yet used on the smaller roads.

At Schenectady, Mr. and Mrs. Burnham took passage on a boat on the Erie Canal, and proceeded to Buffalo, where they embarked on the steamer " Pennsylvania " for Cleveland. The boat was a slow one, her fuel green- wood, and as she stopped at every port along the way to receive and discharge freight, four days and four nights were consumed in the passage. Soon after his arrival, Mr. Burnham took charge of a school on the west side of the river, in Brooklyn township; Ohio City not having been created. The school building was located on the corner of Washington and Pearl streets, and among the pupils who attended were A. J. Wenham, Henry and Mark S. Castle, and Josiah Barber. Mr. Burnham after- wards entered business life, where he was very successful, and served as Mayor of Ohio City for two terms.

A somewhat touching incident, connected with a fa- mous Indian chief and his visit to Cleveland, has been related by Harvey Rice 61 as occurring in this year, and will bear relation. "At the close of the Black Hawk War, in 1833," says he, " the chieftain, Black Hawk, and several of his band were taken, in the custody of a gov- ernment officer, to Washington as captives, to be dealt with as the authorities might decide. The captives, in- stead of being shot, as they expected, were kindly re- ceived, and lionized by being taken about town, shown its wonders, and then sent through several eastern cities, with a view to convince them of the invincible power of the white people. They were then returned, under es- cort, to their homes in the 'far west.' While on their return, the party stopped over a day at Cleveland, as re- quested by Black Hawk, in order to give him an oppor- tunity to visit the grave of his mother, who, as he said, was buried on the banks of the Cuyahoga. He took a canoe and proceeded alone up the river to the bluff that projects into the valley from the southeast corner of the

61 Address by Harvey Rice .- "Annals of the Early Settlers' Association," No. 10, P. 301.

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Riverside Cemetery. Here he remained for an hour or more, in silent meditation, and then rejoined his com- rades with a tear in his eye, though it is said that an Indian never weeps. From the fact of this visit to the grave of his mother, Black Hawk, it may be presumed, was born on the banks of the Cuyahoga."

There was another visitor to Cleveland in the same year, who represented the civilization of transatlantic countries, even as this unfortunate Indian chief represented the sup- planted and departing savagery of the west. Unlike the red visitor, he noted his impressions of the neighborhood and times, and the same have come to us in the form of a letter, which this John Stair, of England, wrote from " Newburg, county of Cuyahoga," on August 16th, 1833.62 He regarded Cleveland as "an increasing place," and "for the size of it, the prettiest town I have seen in America." He believed that its situation on the lake was so commanding, that it would soon be a place of great importance, and even then the inhabitants were beginning to have a taste for the fine arts, "so that a person who un- derstood drawing, music, etc., so as to teach it well, might make money apace there." Each letter that he mailed to England cost him twenty-five cents; large turkeys could be purchased in the Cleveland market at fifty cents each ; fowls, one shilling; roasting pigs, twenty-five cents; mut- ton, beef, pork, veal, etc., from two to four cents per pound ; butter, nine cents, and cheese, six. Cows could be pur- chased for from ten to twenty-five dollars each, and horses from thirty to one hundred. " This is a poor man's coun- try," he adds, " but unless he has land or can labor hard, a man with a family of small children stands but a poor chance. Situations for single men are very scarce, except as bar-tenders at taverns, clerks, etc." He complained of the great scarcity of a circulating medium-" frequently men who are possessed of a good farm and considerable stock are weeks and months without a cent; they barter,

62 " An Old Letter."-" Annals of the Early Settlers' Association," No. 4, P. 40.

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or as they call it, trade for almost everything. Many raise all they eat, with few exceptions, such as tea, coffee, etc. They raise their own wool and flax, which are spun and woven by the women for clothing, so that a farmer is the most independent person in this country." Mechan- ics of all descriptions met with ready employment. Women school-teachers were paid six dollars per month, and " boarded around " with the parents of their pupils. Men teachers received from ten to twenty dollars per month, and also obtained a living by swinging around the circle of the district. There were a few select or private schools, one of which Mr. Stair kept in Newburg.

Another entertaining view of the Forest City, in the same year, may be briefly quoted, as supplemental to the above:63 " Few places in the western country are so advantageously situated for commerce, or boast greater population and business. Here is the northern termination of the Ohio Canal, 309 miles in length, by which this village will communicate with Columbus and Cincinnati, with Pittsburgh, St. Louis and New Orleans. . . · An inspec- tion of the map will show that Cleveland has a position of extraordinary advantage, and it only requires a moderate capital, and the usual enterprise of the American char- acter, to advance its destiny to an equality with the most flourishing cities of the west. Two years ago, it had one thousand inhabitants; it has now two thousand, and is rapidly increasing. The vicinity is a healthy, fertile country, as yet mostly new, but fast filling up. An arti- ficial harbor, safe and commodious, constructed by the United States, often presents twenty to thirty sloops, schooners, and steamboats."

63 This account is taken from an article written by E. Randell, of Tiffin, Ohio, to the "Cleveland Leader " some years since. He says that it is quoted from the " Casket " of 1833.

CHAPTER XI.

THE CITY OF CLEVELAND.

The era of railroad building, that was inaugurated in America with such wide-spread results, in the decade from 1830 to 1840, brought Cleveland, for the first time, within its direct influence in the early days of 1834. On the 3rd of March, of that year, an act was passed by the Ohio Legis- lature incorporating an organization by "the name and style of the Cleveland and Newburgh Railroad Com- pany." Those named in the act as corporators were Aaron Barker, David H. Beardsley, Truman P. Handy, John W. Allen, Horace Perry, Lyman Kendall, and James S. Clark. They were authorized to construct a railroad " from some point in lot No. 413 in Newburgh township, to the harbor in Cleveland;" permitted to transport freight and passengers "by the power and force of steam, animals, or other mechanical force, or by a com- bination of them." The terminus, at the eastern end, was near a stone quarry on the lot named, which was itself near the corner of the four townships-Cleveland, Euclid, Warrensville and Newburg. There was, immedi- ately, a scene of activity in that neighborhood, as the ex- pectations of the American people as to what could be ac- complished by aid of a railroad, even though run by horse- power, were very great. A depot was put up, and the farm lands, lying round about, were cut up into building lots.

The authorized stock was fifty thousand dollars, which was subscribed, and construction commenced. Ahaz

Merchant was chief engineer. The track was laid through Euclid street, and across Doan Brook, and thence on up to the quarry, near where Adelbert College now stands. The rails were made of wood, and two horses driven tan- dem constituted the motive power. The line ran along

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the south side of the Public Square, while the depot was a part of the barn of the Cleveland Hotel, which stood upon the present site of the Forest City House. The Square was, at that time, the dumping ground of the stone brought in. This first "railroad " of Cleveland was operated only for a few years and then abandoned, the rotting ties and rails remaining for a long time a public nuisance upon the highway.64

There was a quiet but steady growth all through 1834, but nothing of a startling nature to chronicle. The Cuya- hoga Steam Furnace Company was organized in that year, the chief stockholders being Josiah Barber, Richard Lord, Luke Risley and Charles Hoyt. The plant was located at the corner of Detroit and Center streets, and for many years it was the chief iron manufacturing concern of the city. The first locomotive made west of the Alleghanies was manufactured there, and also the machinery for the first screw propeller to run upon the lakes. In 1841, the company manufactured a large number of cannon for the United States Government, and at a later date enlarged its scope of operations for the making of plows, castings, mill-irons, etc. The locomotive above referred to was made for a newly-constructed railway between Detroit and Pontiac, Michigan, and after twelve years of use, was in such good condition that it was sold for nearly its first cost. At these works were also built the locomotives first used on the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad, and also those on the Cleveland & Ashtabula.

Another venture for the year 1834 was the establish-

64 The ready pen of George F. Marshall has touched up this pioneer line in these words: " The Cleveland and Newburgh Railway was an accom- plished fact, had its day, carried its loads of human freight and blue stone combined, yielded up its dividends and the ghost simultaneously, and where is it? . The line of route was directly through Euclid street, and a single passenger-coach carried all the human freight that sought transit; one horse was quite enough for any car-load, and we prided our- selves that we had a street railroad in real good earnest, and two trips a day were quite enough for all the travel."-" A Sketch of Early Times in Cleveland," by Geo. F. Marshall .- " Annals of the Early Settlers' As- sociation," No. I, p. 100.

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ment of yet another newspaper, the Cleveland " Whig." We have seen how the " Herald " came into being, and also, noted the birth and death of its short-lived prede- cessor, the " Gazette and Commercial Register." From 1819 to 1832, the " Herald " seems to have held the field without a rival. In the year last named, it veered some- what toward Democracy, or " Jacksonianism," as it was called at a time when Andrew Jackson dominated his party. The Cleveland Whigs were naturally not pleased with this course, and a number of them set to work for the creation of a counteracting agency. Madison Kelley was persuaded to undertake the task, and in 1832 established the " Advertiser," as an out-and-out Whig organ. John W. Allen wrote the first editorial, and the party back of the venture were pleased with the tone of their new de- fender; and yet such is the irony of fate, that out of this Whig organ grew that staunch Democratic newspaper, the Cleveland " Plain Dealer," while the "Herald " finally came around to the support of the Whigs.

The "Advertiser " was sold in 1834 to Canfield & Spen- cer, who continued its publication as a Democratic weekly paper until 1836, when it became a daily. J. W. and A. N. Gray purchased it in 1841, and changed the name to the " Plain Dealer," by which name it has been known since.

The " Whig," which appeared on the 20th of August (1834), was published by Rice & Penniman, and existed about two years. During several succeeding years, the ambition of various parties took the direction of newspa- pers, and the little city-for such it was soon called-suf- fered no dearth of periodical literature. In 1836, came the " Messenger," which died within a year; and in the same year the "Ohio City Argus " was established on the West Side, by T. H. Smead and Lyman W. Hall-quite Whig- gish in its tendencies, but not very partisan. Col. Charles Whittlesey established the " Cleveland Daily Gazette" in 1836, which united with the " Herald " in 1837, under the name " Daily Herald and Gazette." " The Liberal- ist " came in 1836, and was so skeptical in its tendencies

----

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ment of yet another newspaper, the Cleveland " Whig." We have seen how the " Herald " came into being, and also, noted the birth and death of its short-lived prede- cessor, the " Gazette and Commercial Register." From 1819 to 1832, the " Herald " seems to have held the field without a rival. In the year last named, it veered some- what toward Democracy, or " Jacksonianism," as it was called at a time when Andrew Jackson dominated his party. The Cleveland Whigs were naturally not pleased with this course, and a number of them set to work for the creation of a counteracting agency. Madison Kelley was persuaded to undertake the task, and in 1832 established the " Advertiser," as an out-and-out Whig organ. John W. Allen wrote the first editorial, and the party back of the venture were pleased with the tone of their new de- fender; and yet such is the irony of fate, that out of this Whig organ grew that staunch Democratic newspaper, the Cleveland " Plain Dealer," while the " Herald " finally came around to the support of the Whigs.

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MAP CLEVELAND AND ITS / ENVIRONS Surveyed and Published by Ahat Merchant, October, 1835

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that it failed of support, and died within a year. The " Journal " came into existence in 1836; the " Commer- cial Intelligencer " in 1838; the "Axe" in 1840; the " Agitator " in 1840; the " Morning News," the " Palla- dium of Liberty, " the " Eagle-Eyed News-Catcher," and the " Morning Mercury," were the products of 1841, and, during several succeeding years, other like attempts were made, only to be overtaken by the same fate.

Three churches were added to the growing religious and moral agencies of Cleveland in 1834. St. John's Episcopal, on the West Side, was organized in this year, and held services in school-houses and in the resi- dences of its members until 1836, when a commodious stone church building was erected on the corner of Church and Wall streets. The First Congregational Church was also organized on December 2 1st, with a mem- bership of thirty-eight. There were at this time but fif- teen German families in Cleveland. A meeting of several of these was held, where they organized the German Evangelical Protestant Church society. The early meet- ings were held in the old Bethel building, between Water street and Superior street hill, until 1836, when the society moved to what was known as the Third Ward School, on St. Clair street.

The name of Henry B. Payne 65 first appears on the public

65 Henry B. Payne has made his mark upon the history of Cleveland in a deep and lasting manner. Born in Hamilton, New York, he was edu- cated at Hamilton College; studied law; came to Cleveland in 1832, and after admission to the bar, entered into partnership with H. V. Willson. He early took part in the conduct of public affairs; was a member of the City Council; president of the Cleveland & Columbus Railroad Company ; member of the first board of water-works commissioners; sinking-fund commissioner; city clerk; elected to the State Senate in 1851 ; was Demo- cratic nominee for United States Senator in 1851, but was beaten by Ben Wade by only one vote; was Democratic candidate for governor in 1857, but was defeated by Salmon P. Chase by but a few hundred votes ; served as delegate to a number of presidential conventions. Mr. Payne was elected to Congress from the Cuyahoga district in 1874, and was a member of the famous Tilden-Hayes electoral commission. In 1880, he was a prominent candidate for the Democratic nomination for President. He rounded out a long and honorable public career by election to the United States Senate in 1884. He died on September 9th, 1896.

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records of Cleveland in 1834, when he served as a clerk of elections. He had become a resident of Cleveland the previous year, and formed a law partnership with H. V. Willson, his former class-mate. The long and valuable connection of Mr. Payne with Cleveland, and her public interests, will be shown, from time to time, in the record that follows.

There was commenced in the office of the clerk of Cuya- hoga County, on September 26th, 1834, a record book which the law compelled, but which reads now with little credit to the law-makers of Ohio. It is still in existence, in the dusty files of that office, although, let us say thank- fully, the use for it has long since passed away. Upon the first page is this entry : " Record of Black and Mu- latto persons, certificates of freedom, bonds, etc." It was commenced in accordance with the requirements of an act of the Ohio Legislature of 1804, which provided that " no black or mulatto person shall be permitted to settle or reside in this State unless he or she shall first procure a fair certificate from some court within the United States of his or her actual freedom, and requiring every such person to have such certificate recorded in the clerk's office in the county in which he or she intended to reside."

The law further provided that it should be unlawful, and punishable with a fine, to employ any such person not provided with a certificate of this character. Another act was passed in the same year, making it punishable with a fine to harbor or secrete any " black or mulatto person," and also imposing a fine of one thousand dollars upon anyone who aided or assisted in the removal of any such person-"the property of another." In 1807, a law as to slaves was enacted to the effect that no negro or mulatto should be permitted to settle within the State, unless such person should, twenty days thereafter, enter into a bond, with two or more freehold sureties, " con- ditioned for the good behavior of such negro or mulatto, and to pay for the support of such person in case he or

CLEVELAND AND OHIO CITY, 1851. (From Scranton Heights).

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she be found within any township unable to support him or herself."

The first entry in this book, as above stated, was made in 1834, and the last one appears in 1851. One Thornton Kinney, in one of the earliest registrations, was described as "a man of dark complexion, age twenty-one years, five feet nine inches high, and was free born." Another is that of "Jesse Burrell, about forty-nine years of age ; has a scar on the forehead, and one over the left eye." This bears the attestation of Robert F. Paine, clerk, by William Waterman, deputy. Public opinion upon the question of slave-holding was very much divided in Ohio, even at that late date, the general view being that it was a necessary social and political institution for the South, and that it was the duty of the North to protect, so far as in their power lay, the slave-holders in the possession of their human chattels.

It will hardly be necessary to apologize for yet another digression at this point, for the purpose of taking a per- sonal view of Cleveland in this year 1835, through the eyes of one who was then a sturdy boy, and now an hon- ored jurist and useful citizen-Hon. James D. Cleveland. 66 " As the steamer came up the river," writes Judge Cleveland, "the boy read the signs on the warehouses- Richard Winslow, Blair & Smith, Foster & Dennison, W. V. Craw, Robert H. Backus, Gillett & Hickox, C. M. Gid- dings, N. M. Standart, M. B. Scott, Griffith & Standart, Noble H. Merwin-and passed scores of steamers, schoon- ers and canal boats, exchanging wheat and flour from in- terior Ohio for goods and salt to be carried to the canal towns all the way to the Ohio River. Walking up Su- perior lane, a steep, unpaved road, you passed the stores of Denker & Borges; Deacon Whitaker's, full of stoves; George Worthington, hardware; at the corner of Union lane, where Captain McCurdy had lately retired from the dry goods business; Strickland & Gaylord, drugs, etc .;

66 " The City of Cleveland Sixty Years ago," by James D. Cleveland, in the "Cleveland Leader," February 2nd, 1896.

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Sanford & Lott, printing and book-store ; and T. W. Morse, tailor. On reaching the top, Superior street, 132 feet wide, spread before you-the widest of unpaved streets, with not a foot of flagged sidewalk except at the corner of Bank street, in front of a bank. It was lined with a few brick, two and three-story buildings. A town pump stood at the corner of Bank street, near the old Commercial Bank of Lake Erie, on the corner, of which Leonard Case was president, and Truman P. Handy cashier. There were three or four hotels. Pigs ran in the street, and many a cow browsed on all the approaches to it. Dr. Long had a fine two-story residence on the corner of Seneca street. Mr. Case,'C. M. Giddings, Elijah Bingham, Will- iam Lemon, John W. Allen, and a few others, had resi- dences dotted around the Public Square, upon which the old Stone Church occupied its present site, and in the southwest corner stood the court-house. The post-office occupied a little ten by fifty feet store-room in Levi John- son's building, below Bank street, and you received your letters from the hands of Postmaster Daniel Worley, and paid him the eighteen pence, or twenty-five cents postage, to which it was subject, according to the distance it had travelled. The great majority of the best residences were on Water, St. Clair and Lake streets. A few good houses had been built on Euclid avenue, but the Virginia rail- fence still lined it on the north side, from where Bond street now is to the Jones residence, near Erie street, where Judge Jones and the Senator (John P. Jones) lived in their boyhood. There were groves of fine black oaks and chestnuts on Erie street between Superior and Pros- pect streets, and a good many on the northeast part of the Public Square, and between St. Clair street and the lake. With its scattered houses, its numerous groves, its lofty outlook upon the lake, its clear atmosphere, as yet unpolluted by smoke, Cleveland was as beautiful a village as could be found west of New Haven."

The ship-building interests of the city received a marked impetus, when, in 1835, Seth W. Johnson opened a yard,

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at first confining himself to the repairing of vessels. He soon turned his attention to building, and the steam boats " Constellation " and " Robert Fulton " were among the first of his works. The establishment was increased, in 1844, by the addition of Mŕ. Tisdale, and the firm name became Johnson & Tisdale. This copartnership lasted nineteen years. The firm of Quayle & Moses built a number of vessels; when Mr. Moses retired, John Martin took his place, the firm living for a long time in local history as Quayle & Martin. From the time of this con- nection up to 1869, they had built fully seventy-five ves- sels, and in one year they turned out thirteen. E. M. Peck opened a yard here, his first ship being the " Jenny Lind," of two hundred tons. He formed a partnership, in 1855, with I. U. Masters, under the name of Peck & Mas- ters, which existed until 1864. Over fifty vessels were launched by them, and after the dissolution of the firm, Mr. Peck carried on the business alone. He built the revenue cutters " John Sherman " and " A. P. Fessen- den," which were promptly accepted by the government, and put in commission on the great lakes. He also con- structed a number of other vessels, the greater part of them being of large size. Captain Alva Bradley removed his-shipyard from Vermillion to Cleveland in 1868, and built many vessels here before retiring from the ship- building business.

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A history of the city of Cleveland: its settlement, rise and progress, 1796-1896, Part 22

Author: Kennedy, James Harrison, 1849-1934 Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Cleveland : The Imperial Press Number of Pages: 688

Author: Kennedy, James Harrison, 1849-1934
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Cleveland : The Imperial Press
Number of Pages: 688