USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of the city of Cleveland: its settlement, rise and progress, 1796-1896 > Part 3
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17 At the very end of 1798, Uriah Tracy, a Senator from Connecticut, in- troduced a measure in Congress that, after reintroduction and amendment, became a law in April, 1800. This authorized the President to transfer to Connecticut the legal title to the Reserve-thus confirming the title to all who had purchased from that State-on condition that the State would relinquish all claim to political jurisdiction over the same section of ter- ritory in favor of the United States. This agreement was carried out, and New Connecticut eventually became a portion of Ohio. (For above act, see Annals of Congress for 1800, p. 1495.)
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
A further step toward the disposal of her Western pos- sessions was taken by Connecticut in May, 1795, when she appointed a committee to receive any proposals that might be made " for the purchase of the lands belonging to this State lying west of the west line of Pennsylvania as claimed by said State to form and complete any contract or contracts for the sale of said lands." Eight men, representing the eight counties of Connecti- cut, entered into contracts with various individuals, for the sale of three million acres of the Reserve, for one million two hundred thousand dollars, or a cost of forty cents per acre. These deeds were quitclaims only, the State guaranteeing nothing as against such Indian titles as still remained unextinguished.18
The holders of these deeds formed themselves into an organization called the "Connecticut Land Company," and for convenience in the transaction of business, con- veyed their respective interests to three trustees: John Caldwell. John Morgan and Jonathan Brace. The man- agement of affairs was left to a board of seven directors: Oliver Phelps, Henry Champion, Moses Cleaveland, Samuel W. Johnson, Ephraim Kirby, Samuel Mather, Jr., and Roger Newbury.
Elaborate " articles of association and agreement " were drawn up. The annual meetings of the company were to be held in Hartford, Conn., in October, from whence the affairs of New Connecticut were to be managed. It was determined that the Indian titles should be extinguished, and the land surveyed into townships of five miles square. The proprietors were to club together, and draw by town- ships, after which the owners were to receive deeds and make their own subdivisions. In the first draft, $12,903.23 of purchase money represented a township.
18 " With the exception of a few hundred acres previously sold, in the neighborhood of the Salt Spring Tract, on the Mahoning, all titles to lands on the Reserve east of the Fire Lands rest on this quitclaim deed of Connecticut to the three trustees, who were all living as late as 1836, and joined in making deeds to lands on the Reserve." Western Reserve His- torical Society, Tract No. 20, p. 9.
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
The next thing in this rapidly moving series of events was to push the surveys preliminary to sale and settle- ment. In the articles of association above referred to, the directors were authorized " to procure an extinguishment of the Indian title to said Reserve. ยท To survey the whole of said Reserve, and to lay the same out into townships containing sixteen thousand acres each; to fix on a township in which the first settlement shall be made, to survey that township into small lots in such manner as they shall think proper, and to sell and dispose of said lots to actual settlers only; to erect in said township a saw-mill and grist-mill at the expense of said company, to lay out and sell five other townships of sixteen thou- sand acres each to actual settlers only."
When the directors, in accordance with these instruc- tions, cast about for some one into whose hands should be committed the opening of this great far Western wilder- ness which had come under their control, their choice fell upon one of their number-a man of education, legal at- tainments, military experience, and of good, sturdy stock. He was in the prime of life, and eminently fitted for the responsible labors before him ; and as he was a mem- ber of the company, and one of its directors, his interest was that of his employers.
This newly-chosen superintendent over the agents and men sent to survey and make locations on said land, whose name has become so closely linked with the for- tunes of this great city of the Middle West, was Moses Cleaveland.19 The family from which he came was of no mean origin. The name comes from the Saxon, and be -. fore the Norman conquest was borne by a prominent family in Yorkshire, England. " An antiquarian of re- pute," writes one who has made the personal career of
19 In early days the name was variously spelled Cleffland, Clifland, Cleiveland, Cleaveland, and Cleveland. It is said that the family orig- inally occupied an estate that was marked by fissures in the rocky soil, known to the Saxons as "clefts," or "cleves." This caused the rural neighborhood to speak of the occupants of the estate as the " Clefflands," which title the family accepted.
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
the founder of Cleveland a close and loving study,20 " states that William Cleveland, of York, England, who died at Hinckley, in Leicestershire, in 1630, was the remote ancestor of the American Clevelands. It is also shown that a lineal descendant of his, whose name was Moses, and who was a housewright, or builder, by trade, emi- grated from England and landed at Boston in the year 1635, where he remained for several years. He then, in connection with Edward Winn and others, founded the town of Woburn, Massachusetts, where both he and Winn permanently settled. This Moses Cleveland was a man of intelligence and enterprise. He aspired to full citizen- ship and became, in 1643, what was then called a ' free- man.' The qualifications of a 'freeman ' required that he should be of 'godly walk and conversation, at least twenty-one years of age, take an oath of allegiance to the government of Massachusetts Bay Colony, be worth two hundred pounds, and consent to hold office if elected, or pay a fine of forty shillings, and vote at all elections or pay the same fine.' The restrictions and conditions were so onerous that many who were eligible preferred not to become freemen, being more free as they were. But this Moses, who had now become a freeman, feeling that he had ancestral blood in his veins of a superior qual- ity, thought that it ought to be transmitted, and after a brief courtship married, in 1648, Anne Winn, the daugh- ter of his friend, Edward Winn, of Woburn. In taking this step, ' Moses' did not make a mistake. The result was that he became the accredited progenitor of all the Clevelands born in the United States-a race not only numerous, but noted for great moral worth and many noble traits of character."
That later Moses Cleaveland, with whom this inquiry is directly concerned, was born on January 29th, 1754, in Canterbury, Windham County, Connecticut. He was the second son of Aaron Cleaveland and Thankful Paine.
20 " Gen. Moses Cleaveland," by Harvey Rice, in " Sketches of Western Life," Boston, 1888, p. 12.
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
They were refined, intelligent people, who decided that the son, Moses, should receive an education, and after the usual preparation he was sent to Yale College, from which he was graduated in 1777. He studied for the bar, and upon admission, began the practice of the law in his native town. No small degree of professional suc- cess was permitted him, yet within two years his atten- tion was turned in another direction, by his acceptance of a commission as captain of Sappers and Miners, in the Army of the United States.21 Within a short time he resigned this commission and returned to the law. He served as a member of the Connecticut Legislature sev- eral terms, and made an honorable record in that capac- ity. In 1794, he was married to Esther, daughter of Henry Champion, who is spoken of as " a young lady of rare accomplishments." He served in various capacities in the militia of the State, and early in 1796 became gen- eral of the Fifth Brigade.
General Cleaveland's connection with the Connecticut Land Company, and his experiences upon the Western Reserve, are related elsewhere at their proper place in this narrative. He continued his useful life, after his re- turn from the West, until November 16th, 1806,22 when at Canterbury, Connecticut, he laid down his duties for- ever. His life and achievements are well summarized
21 This commission declares that as the United States of America, in Congress assembled, repose " especial trust and confidence " in his " pa- triotism, conduct and fidelity," do constitute and appoint him "to be a captain in the companies of Sappers and Miners in the Army of the United States, to take rank as such from the second day of August, 1779." He is " carefully and diligently to discharge the duty of a captain, by doing and performing all manner of things thereunto belonging." The commission is signed by " His Excellency Samuel Huntington, Esq., President of the Congress of the United States of America." Under date of June 7th, 1781, we find this endorsement: " Captain Cleaveland is hereby, at his own re- quest, discharged from the service of the United States."
22 In an old cemetery in Canterbury may be seen a moss-covered stone which bears this inscription :
Moses Cleaveland, Esq. Died November 16, 1806. Aged Fifty-two.
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
by Mr. Rice, who says: " Whatever else may be said of General Cleaveland, it is evident that he not only led an honorable life, but achieved a great work. He was a man of few words and of prompt action. His morality was an outgrowth of Puritanism and as rigid as it was pure. He was manly and dignified in his bearing, and so sedate in his looks that strangers often took him for a clergyman. In complexion he was somewhat swarthy, so much so that the Indians claimed him as akin to their own race. In personal appearance he was of medium height, erect, thick-set and portly, had black hair, a quick, penetrating eye, muscular limbs, and a military air in his step, indicating that he was born to command. In the social circle he was pleasant and agreeable in his style of manners, and was always received as a welcome guest. He was a friend to everybody, and everybody seemed to be his friend. In his opinions he was decisive, and could readily give a logical reason for them. He was also a man of true courage amid threatening dangers, and as shrewd in his tactics and management as he was coura- geous. . His was not only a career of unusual in- terest, but a mission that transformed a wilderness into a civilized land. In a word, his life-work commands our admiration, and deserves commemoration.'23
The instructions conveyed to General Cleaveland were general in their character, leaving a wide latitude to his discretion and his judgment in meeting the exigencies of the occasion. He was to superintend the surveys, and " to make and enter into friendly negotiations with the natives who are on said land, or contiguous thereto, and may have any pretended claim to the same, and secure such friendly intercourse amongst them as will establish peace, quiet and safety to the survey and settlement of such lands not ceded by the natives under the authority of the United States." He was further " fully authorized and empowered to act and transact all the above business in as full and ample a manner as we ourselves could do; to
23 Rice's "Sketches of Western Life," p. 24.
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
make contracts on the foregoing matters, in our behalf and stead, and make such drafts on our treasury as may be necessary to accomplish the foregoing objects of your appointment."
" This elastic and comprehensive commission was issued on May 12th, 1796, and so expeditious was the stirring man in charge, that by May 19th we find him in Albany, N. Y., making active preparations for an early ad- vance upon the West. On that date he wrote to Oliver Phelps, chairman of the board of direct- ors, in a not altogether cheer- ful strain :24
" Albany, May 19, 1796.
" I have in rain and bad roads arrived at this place. Mr. Porter left Schenectady on last Sunday, one man was drowned. I find it inconvenient and at present impossible to obtain a loan of money without sacrifice, as our credit as a company is SETH PEASE. not yet sufficiently known. It must then rest on drafts on Thos. Mather & Company, dependent on their early being supplied with money from
Hartford. Mr. Porter has proceeded, as I ob- tain information, with all the dispatch and attention pos- sible, but we shall all fall short, tho' our exertions are ever so great, without pecuniary aid. I have concluded, without adequate supply, to proceed, and as my presence is much wanted to risque consequences, shall make drafts on Thos. Mather and Company, resting assured that you
24 Through the patriotic effort of George F. Marshall, of Cleveland, some letters from the pen of General Cleaveland while upon this ex- pedition have recently been made available for historic use. There are four in all; these were found by Mr. Marshall in the possession of Walter H. Phelps, a great grandson of Oliver Phelps, of Canandaigua, N. Y., who permitted copies to be taken. They appear in full in the " Annals of the Early Settlers' Association," Vol. III., No. I, p. 68.
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
will immediately, if at the expense of a person on pur- pose send on the money immediately that can be pro- cured, to Messrs. Mather, who will attend to all orders and directions you may please to give. A credit once established, the business can with great ease and less expense be transacted, but if we shall be obliged to draw orders, and once protested, I am apprehensive that consequences will be fatal, at least to the persons employed."
Affairs were so far carried successfully forward that early in the succeeding June the expedition was concen- trated at Schenectady. A list of the officers and men em- ployed was as follows :25
Moses Cleaveland, superintendent.
Augustus Porter, principal surveyor and deputy super- intendent.
Seth Pease, astronomer and surveyor.
Amos Spafford, John Milton Holley, Richard M. Stod- dard and Moses Warren, surveyors.
Joshua Stow, commissary.
Theodore Shepard, physician.
EMPLOYEES OF THE COMPANY.
Joseph Tinker, Boatman,
Joseph M'Intyre,
George Proudfoot,
Francis Gray,
Samuel Forbes,
Amos Sawtel,
Stephen Benton,
Amos Barber,
Samuel Hungerford,
William B. Hall,
Samuel Davenport,
Asa Mason,
Amzi Atwater,
Michael Coffin,
Elisha Ayres,
Thomas Harris,
Norman Wilcox,
Timothy Dunham,
George Gooding,
Shadrach Benham,
Samuel Agnew,
Wareham Shepard,
25 Whittlesey's " Early History of Cleveland," p. 188. Col. Whittlesey adds: "Elijah Gun, and Anna, his wife, came with the surveyors and took charge of Stow's Castle at Conneaut. Job P. Stiles, and Tabitha Cumi, his wife, were left in charge of the company's stores at Cleveland. There were thirteen horses and some cattle, which completed the party of 1796."
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
David Beard,
Titus V. Munson, Charles Parker, Nathaniel Doan,
James .Halket, Olney F. Rice, Samuel Barnes,
John Briant, Joseph Landon, Ezekiel Morly, Luke Hanchet, James Hamilton, John Lock, Stephen Burbank,
Daniel Shulay.
CHAPTER II.
LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS.
When the order was given to move toward the West, several of the party were placed in charge of the horses and cattle, and sent overland to Buffalo. Others pro- ceeded in boats by way of the Mohawk River. On reach- ing Fort Stanwix, now known as Rome, N. Y., they transferred across the portage to Wood Creek, passed down to Oneida Lake, across that body and its outlets, and so down the Oswego River to Lake Ontario. They sailed along the coast of the lake to the mouth of the Niagara River and along the same to Queenstown, where they crossed another portage and reached Chippewa, from whence they passed up the Niagara and Lake Erie to Buffalo, where they met the detachment which had come overland.
Naturally, many hardships were encountered upon the way, for it was no light undertaking to conduct an ex- pedition of this size and character across many miles of new and unbroken country. Little is said of these, how- ever, by the hardy men upon whom these labors fell. One of the surveyors, John Milton Holley, industriously kept a journal in which a number of incidents of a minor nature are recorded. Under date of May 31st, he says: "Stow (the commissary) and Stoddard (one of the survey- ors) came from Sodus, on Lake Ontario, with information that three boats were cast away, but no lives or property lost; in consequence of which we left Canandaiqua the 3Ist of May for Gerundicut (Irondequoit), slept the first night at Howe's in Boughton town.
" June Ist. Went to the landing to see our boat, but as it had not arrived, Porter, Stow and myself embarked
-
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
on Dunbar's boat, to go to the great lake to meet our boat, but as luck would have it, we went in the boat about half a mile to the landing, unloaded, and Porter with four hands returned to Little Sodus, to give relief to those who were cast away, and Stow and myself with our hands encamped on the Gerundicut. Built a bark hut, and the men lodged in it the first night. Stow and my- self lodged on the floor at Dunbar's.
" June 3rd, Gen. Cleaveland at evening arrived at Can- andaiqua and gave us information that the boats had gone from Whitestown to Fort Stanwix, and Mr. Stow got a letter from the British Minister, or charge des' affaires, to the commanding officer at Fort Oswego, requesting permission for our boats to pass unmolested. This in- formation, together with the favorable prospect of wind and weather at that time, gave us great hopes that the stores would get on safely and rap- idly, but on Saturday morn- ing there sprang up in the northwest a storm, and blew most violently on the shore of the lake. This proved fatal to one of the boats, and damaged another very much, though we went a little for- ward to a safe harbor, and JOSHUA STOW. built several fires on the bank of the lake, as a bea- con to those coming on, After the disaster had hap- pened, the boat that was safe went on to the Gerun- dicut with a load, and left the other three, including the one that was stove, at Little Sodus, encamped near the lake. Among the passengers were two families, one of the women with a little child. . .
Started from Canandaiqua, and arrived on the morning of the 4th. All these misfortunes happened in con- sequence of not having liberty to pass the fort at Oswe-
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
go.26 Such are the effects of allowing the British government to exist on the continent of America."
On June 17, the journal records the fact that "at even- ing we got to Skinner's tavern, at Buffalo creek." On the 18th: " Porter and myself went on the creek in a bark canoe, a-fishing, and caught only three little ones." On Sunday, June 19th: " Left Buffalo in Winney's boat, for Chippewa, had a fair wind down, and arrived about one o'clock at Chippewa, dined at Fanning's, found our goods were not at the Gore, in Chippewa, and was obliged to go to Queenstown after them, and as I could not get a horse was obliged to walk. I got to Queenstown before night, and lodged at Caleb Ingersoll's; next morning set out for Buffalo. On the way I stopped to look at Niagara Falls. That river a little above Fort Slusher, is two and one half miles wide. Soon after this the water is very rapid, and continuing on, is hurried with amazing impet- uosity down the most stupendous precipice perhaps in nature. There is a fog continually arising, occasioned by the tumbling of the water, which, in a clear morning, is seen from Lake Erie, at the distance of thirty or forty miles, as is the noise also heard. As the hands were very dilatory in leaving Chippewa, we were obliged to encamp on the great island in the river. We struck a fire and cooked some squirrels and pigeons, and a young part- ridge. I slept very sound all night, between a large log and the bank of the river. The next day arrived at Buf- falo."
It was at the point last named that General Cleaveland was permitted to fulfill, in a measure, one of the duties
26 The above patriotic outburst requires a word of explanation. Oswego was still in the hands of the British, and when Mr. Stow asked permission to pass the fort with his boats, he was refused by the officer in charge. In face of this refusal he slipped by on a dark night and his boats passed safely into Lake Ontario. The delay because of these negotiations caused him to be caught in a storm with the loss above recorded. The fort at Oswego and that at Niagara were both at that time under contract of delivery to the United States, in accordance with the provisions of Jay's treaty.
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
with which he had been charged by those under whose authority he was acting. Although various treaties had been made with the Indians, by which it was supposed they had given up all claims to the lands east of the Cuya- hoga, the party were met at Buffalo by a claim which, if not adjusted, would be certain to create trouble in the present, and danger to the new settlements of the future.
The General was confronted by representatives of the Mohawk and Seneca Indians, headed by the famous Red Jacket, and Joseph Brant otherwise known to fame by his Indian name of Thayendanega, who were determined to use force if necessary, to oppose the further progress of the expedition toward the West. In the skill and ad- dress with which he met this danger and averted it, the General showed himself a diplomat as well as a soldier. A conference, or council, was arranged. "At two o'clock this afternoon," we learn from the record of Sur- veyor Holley, " the council fire with the Six Nations was uncovered, and at evening was again covered until morning, when it was opened again, and after some con- siderable delay, Captain Brant gave General Cleaveland a speech in writing.
" The chiefs, after this, were determined to get drunk. No more business was done this day. In the evening the Indians had one of their old ceremonial dances, where one gets up and walks up and down between them, singing something, and those who sit around keep tune by grunt- ing. Next morning, which was the 23rd, after several speeches back and forth, from Red Jacket to General Cleaveland, Captain Chapin, Brant, etc., General Cleave- land answered Brant's speech. In short, the business was concluded in this way. General Cleaveland offered Brant one thousand dollars as a present. Brant, in an- swer, told General Cleaveland that their minds were easily satisfied, but that they thought his offer was not enough, and added this to it, that if he would use his in- fluence with the United States to procure an annuity of five hundred dollars par, and if this should fail that the
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
Connecticut Land Company should, in a reasonable time, make an additional present of one thousand five hundred dollars, which was agreed to. The Mohawks are to give one hundred dollars to the Senecas, and Cleaveland gave two beef cattle and whisky to make a feast for them."
In return for the payments above promised, and the agreement to intercede with the government, it was guaranteed by the chiefs that the settlers upon the Re- serve should not be molested; and this agreement, so far as they were concerned, was faithfully carried out.
Our recording surveyor pauses for a moment in his nar- ration of events to relate a side incident which casts a light upon the shrewd philosophy of one of these children of the forests: " Farmer's Brother, Red Jacket and Lit- tle Billy and Green Grass Hopper dined with the com- missioners. In the course of conversation, Red Jacket gave his sentiments upon religion, which were to this pur- pose: ' You white people make a great parade about re- ligion ; you say you have a book of laws and rules which was given you by the Great Spirit, but is this true? Was it written by his own hand and given to you? No,' says he, ' it was written by your own people. They do it to deceive you. Their whole wishes center here (pointing to his pocket); all they want is the money. (It happened there was a priest in the room at the same time who heard him.) He says white people tell them they wish to come and live among them as brothers and learn them agriculture. So they bring on implements of husbandry and presents, tell them good stories, and all appears hon- est. But when they are gone all appears as a dream. Our land is taken from us, and still we don't know how to farm it.'" This seems, in some respects, a very shrewd presentation of the vexed " Indian question " at an early day.
These formidable powers having been conciliated, the expedition again moved westward, in two divisions, as be- fore; one by land and the other by Lake Erie. On the 4th day of July, at 6 p. m., they reached the mouth of
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