USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Annals of the Early Settlers Association of Cuyahoga County, number I > Part 11
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line, with thirteen horses and some cattle, on the 4th day of July, 1796, and celebrated the day in good style, and two days later began to measure the east line of New Connecticut, as they called it, and on the first day found plenty of gnats and mosquitoes, and encamped near a swamp. This surveying party was about sixteen days in working southward along the western line of Pennsylvania, which had been surveyed about two years previously. They made their way through woods and swamps, over streams, up and down the hills, keeping a full account of what they saw each day, describing the soil, the timber, the water, etc., until they reached the 41st degree of latitude, which was the base or south line of the Western Reserve. The plan of survey agreed upon at the time re- quired them to run west on this parallel 120 miles, from the west boundary of Pennsylvania, making in all twenty-four ranges of townships, five miles square. The townships were numbered northward to the lake, from one upward; Cleveland was in the twelfth range, and No. 7 in order, from the south. As all that part of the Western Reserve west of the Cuyahoga River was at that time claimed by the Indians, the original survey was made only to the river Cuyahoga, coming from the East.
I need not dwell on the manner in which the proprietors of the Connecticut Land Company surveyed and divided up the immense territory which thus came into their possession. The system of division adopted was too complicated to admit of a satisfactory explanation at this time. The entire interest which the company owned was divided up into 400 shares, each subscription of $3,000 representing one four-hundredth part of the price of the Western Reserve. The first division made was of four townships, which were selected by a com- mittee of three, as being of the greatest value, next to the six already selected for sale, on account of their situation and nat- ural advantages. These four townships were Northfield, in Summit county, Bedford and Warrensville in this county, and
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Perry in Lake county. These were surveyed into 412 lots, the intention being that each lot should contain about 160 acres, and each share was intended to be good for an average lot in a township. In this, as well as in other drafts, many of the owners of an interest in the Connecticut Land Company united their interests in common, and drew together.
In addition to this draft of these four townships there were four others. The first was in 1798, and was for all the remaining lands east of the Cuyahoga, and was arranged to be drawn in ninety-three parts, each part being about one township, and representing $12,903.23 of interest in the orig- inal $1,200,000 purchase price. The second draft was in 1802, for the balance of the six townships then unsold, and the land in Weathersfield township, Trumbull county, where Niles is located, and which was not divided in 1798 because of uncertainty about the limits of the 25,000 acres bought by General Parsons. The third draft was in 1807, and was for the townships west of the Cuyahoga. Draft number four was for the surplus land, so-called, lying between the Fire Lands on the west and the Connecticut Land Company's on the east; also at this draft were divided up what notes and claims there were on hand growing out of the sale of the six townships and all unadjusted claims.
The actual quantity of land in the Western Reserve, by survey, as estimated by the late General Simon Perkins, is as follows:
CONNECTICUT LAND COMPANY- Acres.
Land east of Cuyahoga River, etc. 2,002,970
Land west of Cuyahoga, exclusive of surplus and islands in Lake Erie.
827,921
Surplus land, so-called 5,286
Islands in Lake Erie 5,924
Amount of Connecticut Land Company, in acres 2,841,471
Parsons or Salt Spring tract. 25,450
Sufferers' or Fire Lands (Huron and Erie counties) 500,000
Total of acres in the Connecticut Western Reserve 3,366,921
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According to the computation by the late Leonard Case, there were but 3,333,690 acres, but he does not include the Parsons tract. He also estimated that the directors sold, be- fore the division of the six townships, 2,852 acres in Mentor; 2,355 in Euclid, and 6,754 in Cleveland.
As I have already said, in 1788, Governor St. Clair estab- lished all of Ohio east of the Cuyahoga, the old Portage Path, and the Tuscarawas into Washington county; in 1796, Wayne county was organized, including with other counties, all of the Reserve west of the Cuyahoga, the Portage Path, and the Tuscarawas. In 1797 that part of the Reserve that had been in Washington county was put into Jefferson county, with Steubenville for the county seat. In 1780 the Western Re- serve was organized under the territorial government of Trum- bull county, with Warren as the county seat, and the first court held August 25th, 1800. In 1801 there were but thirty- five families in Warren, but it was by far the most important point on the Reserve. In 1801 they began to get a mail once in two weeks from Pittsburgh by way of Canfield and Youngs- town, and that was the terminus of the mail route for a couple of years before it came on to Cleveland. The route from War- ren was by way of Deerfield, Ravenna, Hudson, etc., and from Cleveland to Detroit, along the old Indian trail to Sandusky, Toledo, and so on to Detroit. From Cleveland to Warren, the mail went via Painesville and Jefferson. Geauga county was organized March 1st, 1806, and included a large part of Cuyahoga; and Portage county, June 7th, 1808, whilst Cuyahoga was organized May 7th, 1810. As that part of the Reserve lying in the Mahoning Valley was more accessible for many years than the northern part, for a number of years it thrived most.
The county of Cuyahoga has remained in its present state since 1843, having, from time to time, been reduced in size by the formation of Huron, Medina, Lorain, and Lake counties.
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The first mill erected in Cuyahoga county was at the falls in Newburgh. Its completion was celebrated by the pioneers with great rejoicing, and it was only at the beginning of this century that our forefathers of the Reserve enjoyed the luxury of bolted flour. Another evidence of advaneing civilization was the building of a still-house, in 1800, at Cleveland. They couldn't sell their corn for money, so they made it into whisky; they couldn't sell the whisky for money, so they were compelled to drink it.
The lands in the six reserved townships and of the city lots in Cleveland, were very slow of sale. City lots had fallen one- half in value, or from $50 to $25, and it is a remarkable faet that the most fortunate of the men who went into the Con- necticut Land Company realized a very meager profit, and many of them were losers rather than gainers in the enter- prise. The Reserve settled very slowly compared with more recent settlements in the western States, as Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, or Wisconsin. As showing the slow growth of the country for the first twenty years of this century, take Cleveland. In 1796 its population was 4; in 1797, 15; in 1800, three years later, only 7; in 1810, 57; only 50 in ten years; and in 1820, Cleveland had 150 inhabitants. In those early days money was scarce, the facilities for transportation were very poor, and the country was yet in the woods. To pioneers, as to most of mankind, the golden age is always in the past, but he who compares the Western Reserve with what it was when the pioneers first invaded its forests, cannot fail to see the wonderful change.
Within its borders are the thrifty cities and towns of San- dusky, Norwalk, Elyria, Wellington, Medina, Cleveland, Ak- ron, Ravenna, Warren, Youngstown, Painesville, Ashtabula, Jefferson, and numerous others. It is abundantly supplied with railroads, and I have the authority of the Secretary of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture for saying that every 100 acres of land on the Reserve, besides yielding a variety of
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tillage crops, yields also an average of 262 pounds of butter and 924 pounds of cheese, "far exceeding the world-wide famous Scioto Valley." Again, the Reserve averages 9} cattle to every 100 acres, while neither the Scioto nor Miami Valleys, both famous for their cattle, exceed 63 head to 100 acres. Also, that the product per acre of wheat, corn, oats, flaxseed, potatoes, tobacco, sorghum, and clover hay, exceed those of the Miami Valley. The explanation is not in the su- periority of the soil, but, as Mr. Klippart says, there is a better system of culture on the Reserve than is to be found any- where else in the State. What but fifty years ago was little better than a wilderness, is now a rich and populous portion of Ohio, increasing yearly in wealth, people and general pros- perity.
I have thus outlined the history of Ohio for two hundred years, and of the Western Reserve for three-quarters of a century. What there is to-day to be proud of and rejoice in our midst, we largely owe to the brave pioneers-to the noble men and women who subdued the wilderness, and laid the foundations of this Commonwealth of the Western Reserve, whose people are as intelligent, thrifty, prosperous, and patri- otie as are to be found on any equal area in the world-a peo- ple who read and think for themselves. Many of the old pioneers have passed away. Their memories should be hal- lowed, the story of their early trials and struggles should be often told. The younger generation should not be allowed to forget that there is a past full of intense interest, the study of which will enrich and ennoble the descendants of the pio- neers, by its memorable struggles, trials and conquests, through which our pioneer fathers passed in the subjugation of a wil- derness, and its reduction under the hand of civilization and industry. It was the proud boast of a Roman Emperor that he found Rome brick and left it marble. The pioneers did more. They left blooming gardens, affluence, thriving cities,
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and a grand civilization, where they found a wilderness, pov- erty, wigwams, and barbarism. Coming as they did from the American Revolution, many of them were old soldiers who had lost everything but life, and who came to the new West poor, adventurous and hopeful. They knew that by the solemn compact of 1787, that spread its protecting ægis over 400,000 square miles of untrodden wilderness, the fair heri- tage of the Reserve, and the entire country north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, would forever be dedicated to free schools and freedom; that no slave should breathe its air; that religious liberty was forever guaranteed. They had and needed no stock in trade but the musket and the ax, and to many an old revolutionary veteran that had slept in camps, his log cabin was a palace. Those who came from New Eng- land came also with a deep love of knowledge, and in many a log house young men were reared who have since become famous and are among the great of the earth.
[The foregoing address, evincing as it does profound historical re- search, was listened to with deep interest by the association, and is justly regarded as a valuable production.]
SONG: "THE GOOD OLD DAYS." BY THE ARION QUARTETTE.
LIFE AND CHARACTER of DAVID H. BEARDSLEY.
BY HON. J. P. BISHOP.
A few days since I received a communication from our honored President, saying that the committee were unani- mous in requesting me to deliver an address on the " Life and Character of David H. Beardsley," at this meeting of "the early settlers."
In compliance with this request, I appear before you to-
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day. If only the customary tribute was paid to the subject of this address, it would be substantially as follows:
" IN MEMORIAM
DAVID H. BEARDSLEY-Born June 6th, 1789, at New Preston, Litchfield County, Conn .; died at Cleveland, O., August 31st, 1870."
I doubt not many here are ready to ask " What more than this can be said of David H. Beardsley, whose life was so un- obtrusive and unassuming among us, and who came and went in the daily walks of life almost unnoticed by the world around him?""
To this I reply, very much may be said. Much more than I have time here to say or you to listen to.
I wish to preface, before I proceed, that being acquainted with Mr. Beardsley in his public, private and social life, soon after his decease, with the approval of his nearest family rela- tives, I prepared a sketch of him, which was published in the Cleveland Leader. Much of the matter contained in this arti- . cle I reproduce here.
From what I have already said, it appears that on August 31st, 1870, an aged citizen of Cleveland went to his rest. He went as he had lived, peacefully and quietly, and thus ended his earthly being in the very manner he had desired; and as many plants leave behind them an attractive and lovely fra- grance, so may it be truly said that in the many varied mem- ories which are now cherished of the deceased there is an aroma of character left by him, which every one who may be old and experienced in intercourse among men in the best and most intelligent circles of society, may not meet with in a life- time. There was nothing in his early life calculated to produce this result, except his native genius and original char- acteristics of mind.
There were no influences of the home-circle that could produce this result, for of these he was very early deprived. He was, however, in the early part of his life, thrown among
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that class of religious people called "Friends," whose simple ways, austere, but unostentations virtues he admired and loved, and was greatly influenced by them to his latest days.
Thrown upon his own resources in his youth, he pursued that course to which his inclinations of mind most impelled him, which was gaining and treasuring up knowledge.
Those who have been privileged to enjoy an intimate ac- quaintance with him can now attest how thoroughly he per- sisted in his favorite habit all his life and even in his old age, of keeping apace with the times in the general sciences and modern improvements and progress.
His native place was New Preston, Litchfield county, Conn. In early life he qualified himself for a first-class teacher, and pursued that profession successfully in Baltimore, Md., and other places. After his marriage he removed to Ohio and settled in what was then called Lower Sandusky, now Fremont. Early in 1826 he removed to Cleveland, but previously, and soon after removing to Ohio, his character for intelligence and integrity were appreciated, as he was elected to the Legislature of Ohio, and also was appointed a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. His residence and public posi- tion in Cleveland after he came here, have become historical. The history of the city could not well be written without giv- ing him a prominent place. Appointed, as he was in 1827, as collector at this point of the Ohio Canal, and continuing in that office for a score of years, when most of the commerce of Cleveland passed through the canal and thence connected itself with a great part of the State, he could not help being widely known.
It is well known his experience was such that his aid and counsel were sought in framing and adopting the rules and regulations governing the canals of Ohio. Under his intelli- gent counsels the canal rules and regulations and laws of Ohio became almost a perfect code.
So highly was he esteemed that no matter how political
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parties changed, Mr. Beardsley remained unmolested in his office so long as he chose to retain it, however much it might have been coveted by others. At one time, at the accession of the Democratic party to power, an effort was made to change the Collector of Cleveland, but a high official connected with the public works of the State declared to those in power that if Mr. Beardsley were removed he would himself resign, as he considered him indispensable, not merely as Collector of Cleveland, but as an adviser on the management of the public works of the State.
In transacting the business of the State, he was precise and exact. But while he required this from others, he prac- ticed the same rule towards them-always according to them every right and insisting that they should accept it.
His long continuance in office and his manner of conduct- ing the public business caused him to be very widely known.
His integrity was the great feature of his character. Dur- ing all those years that he transacted the business of the State, and in the numerous accounts rendered by him, which amounted to thousands, and in the amount of money collected to about $1,400,000, not an error, either large or small, was ever detected in his accounts. Having remained many years in his office, and feeling finally that some other business would be more congenial to him, he voluntarily retired.
Not long after this, however, he was called to still more important positions in connection with the Water Works and Sinking Fund Commissioners of the City of Cleveland. In the latter of these positions he remained till a short time be- fore his death.
In these as well as in every other position, the most strict integrity was his rule, and not only this but all his transac- tions were free from the ordinary mistakes that most persons are liable to make.
It has already been said that integrity was a great feature of his character and the rule of his life.
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When he is spoken of as the "honest man," the man of " great integrity," it should not be understood in the limited sense in which it is ordinarily used. It was no assumed fea- ture of his character that he might possess a good name before the world. It was a feature woven into his very nature. He loved these characteristics for their own sake; they were hidden down deep in his most secret heart. He loved them as he loved to think of their great and pure Author. Loving them, he endeavored to impress them upon the minds of others who might come under his influence, not so much in words as by the example of his life-thus well exemplifying the sentiment contained in the following lines from Longfellow:
"In the elder days of art, Builders wrought with greatest care, Each minute and unseen part, For the gods see everywhere.
" Let us do our work as well, Both the unseen and the seen; Make the house where gods may dwell, . Beautiful, entire and clean."
That his life, as one symmetrical whole, was illustrative of the sentiment in these lines, those who were at all inti- mate with him will readily verify, and the more intimate and confidential the relation was with him the more clearly was this apparent.
The poet says:
"'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view ;"
But whatever may be the ordinary experience, it was not so with David H. Beardsley, either in public, private, social or domestic life-for he, as builder, " wrought with greatest care each minute and unseen part."
His integrity of character was illustrated in his religious convictions.
He could coincide with no religious creed fully, and there- fore, was not willing to subscribe to one that did not in all of
..
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its leading features command his assent; and yet no man in the community was more ready to commend religion than he. His attendance was, in the main, on the Presbyterian Church service, and he encouraged his family in a religious life, and in making a public profession.
His views of the Christian Sabbath corresponded to those of some of the early reformers-that the Jewish Sabbath passes away with the Jewish law, and that the first day of the week was to be observed only in grateful remembrance of Christ's resurrection. With all this he was a conscientious observer of the Lord's day.
He was an uncompromising enemy of intemperance and a friend of the temperance reform, and evinced this friendship by both precept and example.
In theology he was no mere surface reader and thinker. He went back to the fundamental principles.
He was especially versed in the evidences of Christianity- not content with reading one author on the subject, he not only read but studied various authorities and could start que- ries which the ordinary student could not answer or solve, but to him they were clear and answerable, not only from reasons found in his reading and studies, but from the logic of his own mind.
He was a student in geology and especially as bearing on the first of Genesis, and could, in a private interview of one hour, give you the theories and solutions of them, far beyond what you could get in the ordinary circles of learned professors.
What has been said of him with reference to his theological knowledge may be said of him in the departments of history, philosophy and politics.
He was a logician and metaphysician, also. He was a keen discriminator as to the merits of discourse and argument and had not patience with declamation when it was claimed to be argument, and mere sophistry would be met by him some- times with the most telling sarcasm.
D
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In metaphysics he was learned far beyond many who claim to be learned in the mysteries of that science-and the able metaphysicians of the age would have been astonished in an encounter with Mr. Beardsley when he would freely enter into discussion on metaphysical subjects.
It may be said that it is surprising he should have accom- plished so much and have become so learned. Not so. For a score of years as canal collector he had four or five months of leisure every year, and his leisure days and evenings were not allowed to pass without adding to his storehouse of knowl- edge. Also, after he had retired from that office, he had equal facilities for reading and study which he sedulously improved.
It is not our province to enter into the sanctuary of home and speak of him in his relations of husband and father-there are those living who feel how sacred these relations were, espe- cially the relation of father-and now that he has gone from them, long years of busy life will not suffice to efface these precious memories. One trait of character may be spoken of here which was common both in the family as well as in other relations-that is his kindness of heart.
It has been supposed by many who had merely business relations with him as a public functionary, that he was cold and austere and unapproachable. This was not so; on the contrary, he was on all proper occasions as warm-hearted and approachable and kind as even a fond and tender mother. He had kind words for those in his employ, while he was in of- fice as collector, that will ever be remembered, particularly by one who now attributes his success and position in life to kind and encouraging words of Mr. Beardsley. In the work as col- lector's clerk at one time there occurred a succession of er- rors, and the young man made up his mind to leave because of these errors, but Mr. Beardsley remarked in the kindest of manner, " we must all live and learn; we are none of us perfect." From that moment more courage was inspired, and the young man went on anew during the whole year with
EARLY SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION. 51
scarcely a recurring error. A friendship began at that time between the employer and that clerk that continued till death terminated the earthly relation. The one who now addresses you was that clerk. Notwithstanding this, he was austere in the performance of his public duty and carried his principles into practice. In one respect this was particularly marked.
All who were masters of boats navigating the canal were obliged to make oath to the amount of cargo they had on board. This oath was for the most part administered by him.
The oath being required by law and the name of God be- ing used, he would not administer the oath as a mere form or ceremony as is generally done, but would always proceed to do it in the most solemn and impressive manner and with un- covered head, and always requiring the one taking the oath to uncover also. This was but being consistent with himself- believing in God and in revelation, he could not do otherwise than he did (as he believed) without " taking the name of the Lord in vain."
Another firm and unyielding feature in his character was the conviction that the laws, while they remained such, must be implicitly obeyed; that no infraction of them was to be winked at, nor was their effect to be nullified by a weak senti- mentalism under the guise of mercy and good-will.
His reply to all who inveighed against the rigors of the law was that he did not make the laws-that while they existed upon the statute book they must be obeyed, and the repeal of them must be by the law-making power. It will naturally be asked " is there no member of the family of this distinguished citizen still living?" I answer: Yes. Mrs. Bingham, the accomplished wife of Hon. William Bingham, formerly our State Senator, is his daughter and only surviving child.
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