USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Annals of the Early Settlers Association of Cuyahoga County, number I > Part 23
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MR. SANFORD J. LEWIS was born in 1823, in New Jersey, and died July 31st, 1882. When qnite young, he resided in what was then called Ohio City, now Cleveland West Side. He was elected city Treasurer, and under Mr. Charles Winslow, he was also Deputy Post Master. He soon afterwards, in company with Mr. Carver, opened a banking-house in Ohio City. and still later, he, in com- pany with Mr. Barton, opened a dry goods store in what was then known as the marble front building on Superior street. At the dissolution of their firm, he became connected with the Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Company, as its book-keeper, and still later as its Secretary, which he retained until illness prevented him from per- forming the labors of the office. From a paper read before the Light Artillery Association, of which he was a member, I extract the following : "In the community, in which he spent his life, he was ever known and respected as a kind-hearted and courteous gentle- man, and to us, his comrades, he has left the record of a life, in which there was done no unworthy act or deed, over which we wish to throw the mantle of charity or forgetfulness."
ARTHUR QUINN, born in Ireland 1810, came to the Reserve 1833, and died March 25th, 1883, aged 73 years. Mr. Quinn was a flour merchant in Cleveland for many years, modest and retiring in his general character, conscientious and true in all his dealings, public spirited and liberal in all that tended to promote God's glo- ry, and the best interests of mankind. He was one of the forty
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persons who organized St. Paul's parish of this city, now one of its most flourishing parishes. For many years he was its Senior Warden, and continued a faithful and consistent communicant of the same while he lived.
FREDERICK FEY was born in Germany in 1810, emigrated to America in 1831, came to Cleveland in 1832, for several years he was employed as tallyman in the ware-house on River street, where the Detroit Boat Company now are-still later he was in the employ of the Lake Shore Railroad, for the several years last past he was engaged in the coal business. Mr. Fey was from early life a member of the Lutheran Church, and his three sons and two daughters, still living, give good evidence of his fatherly Christian character and training. He was the first originator of the Luther- an Church in Cleveland and gave largely to its support, and con- tinued to the time of his death a consistent and worthy member of the same .- He died in 1883.
MR. G. H. DETMER was born in Ruhle, Hanover, June 11th, 1801, emigrated to America and settled in Cleveland 1835, where up to the time of his death he continuously resided. He estab- lished himself in the merchant tailoring business, by industry and good management he secured enough of this world's goods, to re- tire from active business, and to pass his remaining years in peace and quiet. He was one of the most prominent promoters of Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church on the flats, and his life was an exemplification of the faith he professed, a model public spirited citizen-he had the confidence and respect of all who came in con- tact with him. He died at his residence, 385 Lake street, Cleve- land, July 21st, 1883, full of years and good works.
MR. HORATIO SLADE was born in England 1827, came to Cleve- land 1834, died 1882. Mr. Slade was at the time of his death a member of the Disciples' Church of Collamer and one of its Trustees.
MRS. DELIA R. O'BRIEN was a native of Vermont, born in 1813. She came to the Western Reserve when but a child with her par- ents in 1817. and died February 24th, 1882. The details of her history are unknown to the writer, except so far, as that she
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was said to be an amiable and excellent woman, beloved by all who knew her.
MR. S. S. COE, late of the firm of Coe and Olmsted, Insurance Agents, came to the Reserve in 1837, and died at Cleveland Aug. 3d, 1883. He was a gentleman well known and highly esteemed in our business community. He possessed rare social qualities, and had many warm personal friends. He was a gentleman of unques- tioned integrity, and enjoyed the confidence of the public. He died in the maturity of his manhood and in the midst of his use- fulness, beloved and respected by all who had made his acquaint- ance.
The Arion Quartette sang the song " In the sweet by and by," and the exercises closed with the singing of the doxology.
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COMMUNICATIONS OF HISTORICAL VALUE.
AN OLD LETTER.
AN EPISTLE THAT IS FIFTY YEARS OLD.
The appended letter was written by Mr. John Stair fifty years ago to-day to his nephew, Thomas Stair, of London, England. The letter was recently sent by Mr. Alfred Stair, of Manchester, England, son of Thomas Stair, to Mr. S. H. Curtiss, of Cleveland. At the time the letter was written Mr. Stair was teaching a private school in Newburg, but directly after moved into Cleveland. The letter is as follows :
COUNTY OF CUYAHOGA, O.
NEWBURG, August 16th, 1833.
MY DEAR THOMAS : An opportunity offers of sending a few lines to you by way of "Cheapside," which I gladly embrace. You have thought it strange perhaps that I have not written you be- fore, but when I tell you that on every letter we send to England, we have 25 cents to pay postage to New York, and 27 cents for every one we receive (if brought by private hand and posted at New York 25 cents), added to which the uncommon scarcity of money, you will cease to be surprised. Frequently men who are possessed of a good farm and considerable stock are weeks and months without a cent. They barter, or as they call it trade for almost everything, and are so accustomed to it that they don't feel it, but it is particularly trying to foreigners who have not the means to do so, consequently their resources are soon drained unless they have sufficient to purchase a farm, where, by hard work, they may soon supply nearly all their wants. 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 per-
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son in this country, and any person with a small income may live well for one third that they can in England. Before I give you the prices of a few things, I should tell you that our accounts are kept by dollars (market thus $) and cents. A dollar is equal to eight shillings York, or one hundred cents. For large Turkeys, 50 cents each ; fowls, one shilling or 12} cents each ; roasting pigs, 25 cents each ; mutton, beef, pork, veal, etc., four cents per pound ; when bought by the quarter, 2@2} cents per pound ; butter from nine cents to one shilling per pound ; cheese, six cents per pound ; groceries, with the exception of tea, as dear as in England ; Young Hyson, $1 per pound, cows from $10 to $25 each, horses from $30 to $100 each ; clothing of all kinds is dear. So, you see, this is the poor man's country, 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. Shopmen are better off generally in the old country with little more than their board and lodging. New York is quite overdone, so many stop there. We arrived there the 1st of September, just as the cholera began to abate. Its ravages there, and, indeed, nearly all over the States, were very great. We were mereifully preserved all the way, although at serveral times lodging under the same roof with it, but without knowing it at the time. There were cases in every town we passed through. It has again broken out in the Southern States, and I expect will reach Cleveland six miles from us, it being a place where so many emigrants land. It is a very increasing place, and for the size of it, the prettiest town I have seen in America. Its situation on the lake is so commanding that it will soon be a place of great import- anee, and the inhabitants are beginning to have a taste for the fine arts, so that a person who understood drawing, music, etc., so as to teach it well, might make money apace there. Mechanics of all description meet with employment. Education in this country is conducted very differently to what it is in the old country. Each State is divided into townships of five miles square. Each town- ship is again divided into districts, and each district has a school house. These are called district schools, and are taught by a female
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in the summer, and by a man in the winter. The former is paid about $6 per month, and boards around at the houses of the differ- ent pupils, a week at each place. The male teacher gets from $10 to $20 per month, according to the size of the school, and boards around. In many places they have select or private schools, I have kept one here. * * . * * *
We have much reason for thankfulness, all things considered, for amidst heavy trials of afflictions, dangers, and privatious we have been preserved in a wonderful manner, for which I desire to be truly thankful to my Heavenly Father, and would desire to trust him for the future. * * * *
We are exceedingly tried for want of cash. I have taken but little more than five dollars in cash for education since I have been in the country - a little more than a sovereign (they fetch $4.75). * * * * *
I must now bid you adieu, and remain your affectionate uncle.
J. STAIR.
PIONEER CLERGYMEN.
In accordance with the request of the Presbytery I submit a brief history of the pioneer ministers and missionaries of the Wes- tern Reserve as they appeared to me in the days of my boyhood.
When the State of Connecticut had surveyed her reserved lands in Northern Ohio. and set them up to public sale, and when many of the purchasers retailed them to actual settlers, most of whom were from Connecticut, the good people of the State did not forget her emigrants, and as soon as a sufficient number had placed them- selves in widely different localities and, of course, deprived of literary privileges they early followed them with devoted ministers of the Gospel.
In 1806 my father's family penetrated the dense wilderness as far as Aurora, now Portage county, Ohio, and planted us down on the farthest verge of civilization in the West. I have no evidence that another house of a white man was to be found on the space of
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five miles in a straight line to the Pacific Ocean. As early as 1808 I well remember the call of Joseph Badger, a man then of more than forty, stalwart, bold and fearless. He it was who preached the first sermon in what is now the city of Cleveland. He much amused children with a story of how he once climbed a tree to escape from a bear. Being of a very social turn he greatly interested and in- structed us with his conversation, as whenever he came around he was always welcomed most heartily. My father, though not at that time a professing Christian, kept the ministers tavern in Aurora, and then we had the pleasure (my mother especially) to provide the best we could for their comfort. Mr. Badger, as was true of most of the missionaries, preached in private houses and used notes as was generally done then. His residence was in Ashtabula.
Next to him was Nathan B. Darrow, having his home in Vienna, Trumbull county. He was a man about thirty, very gentlemanly in his appearance, familiar to children and pleasing to all. He early supplied the church in Vienna a part of the time and spent the balance as a missionary. Let it be remembered the inhabitants were sparse, the roads muddy and streams without bridges. The only way of travelling was by foot or horseback. It required no little perseverance and resolution to make these journeys. Mr. Darrow died much regretted in Vienna.
Another was Jonathan Leslie, a tall man of dark complexion and somewhat formal in his manner. His bearing and dignity gave him respect, but he lacked that familiarity that would have added much to his usefulness. His residence was in Harpersfield, where I think he died.
Another was Joshua Beer, who lived in Springfield, now Summit county, O. He was from Pennsylvania and of Scotch- Irish descent, and was about forty years of age. He was stoutly built, of dark complexion, and maintained more than usual gravity. His preaching was extemporaneous and on the whole very accept- able. He was too distant to please children. I think he died in Springfield, though I am not certain.
Thomas Barr, whose early home was in Euclid, Cuyahoga county, was also from Pennsylvania, and of Scotch-Irish descent.
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He was one of the most ardent and energetic men to be found. He used no notes in preaching, and his zeal gave him much attention. He was social and greatly pleased the children. Indeed, I think few men were ever better fitted to the body of the people. I believe he died in Enclid.
Giles H. Cowles, after Dr. Cowles, of Austinburgh, Ashtabula county, was a man past middle life when I first knew him. In stature thick-set, short, and very dignified in his manner, and a man of good sense and fine education. His sermons were logical, plain, and practical ; in short, he was a fine example of a Con- necticut pastor. He was worthy of respect, and was prized by the people of Austinburgh. There he died many years ago. One of his sons was a valuable physician, whose son is now the worthy and respected editor of the Cleveland Leader.
John Seward, born in Granville, Mass., 1784, graduated at Williams in 1810, and 1811 was licensed to preach the Gospel, and the same year was ordained as a missionary, and being provided by his father with an iron gray horse, in three days was on his way to the Western Reserve, where he arrived in three weeks and spent his first Sabbath in Conneaut. Soon after this I had the pleasure of hearing him preach in Aurora, where he was installed Aug. 5th, 1812, to supply one-half of the time. The balance was spent as a mis- sionary. In person he was slender, yet hale, and showed himself capable of great endurance. He was very exemplary as a Christian, and never lowered himself as a minister of the Gospel. To do good to all classes was his delight. He was Calvinistic in his doctrines, and exceedingly plain and pointed in his discourses. He generally used his manuscript in the desk, and was remarkably argumenta- tive and practical. Few men have I heard more conclusive in reasoning and convincing in argument. The youth were not over- looked, and before the Sunday-school system prevailed he used the assembly catechism and held out presents of Bibles to those that excelled. He will ever be remembered with respect by the people in Anrora. Soon after him came William Handford, one of the best of men and ministers. Small in stature, and early crippled for life by his exposures on the missionary field, he was settled as pastor
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in Hudson, where he spent the best years of his life. He was a good preacher, always making it manifest that what he said he himself believed, and thus his preaching was with power. Feeble as he was, he performed a vast amount of valuable work. None that knew him failed to love and respect him.
Harvey Coe began his services on the Reserve about the same time and was early settled as pastor in Vernon, Trumbull county. He was very prominent in his appearance, and at first sight seemed rather assuming and affected in his language. His discourses were clear and more than usually instructive. The better he was known the more was he respected. Not far from the same period arrived Caleb Pitkin, from Milford, Ct., and began service as a missionary. He was in middle life, hale and energetic. His aim was to do good and planned for that purpose. He was settled only a part of his time in Charlestown, Portage county, as pastor, and gave the rest to missionary service. He was plain, practical, and orthodox. None more Calvinistic. I deemed him one of the most useful among the early ministers of the Reserve.
Josephi Treat came about the same time also. He was tall and spare, very punctilious, and remarkably precise in his manner. In his preaching he was logical and peculiar in the use of language. His discourses were very finished productions and deemed quite Calvinistie. He was early settled as pastor in Windom, Portage county, and deemed a very good and useful man. Seward, Fenn, Standford, Coe, Pitkin, and Treat worked together in great har- mony and were the active agents in forming churches and founding the Western Reserve College. They were truly working men and it is to them in a great measure we owe the existent Presbyterian- ism on the Reserve. In connection with them was Mr. Bacon, the father of Dr. Leonard Bacon, of New Heaven. He was commis- sioned by colonel Tallmadge, of Litchfield, Conn., to lay out the township of Tallmadge, now in Summit county. This business he wisely prosecuted, and secured for the township a valuable class of early settlers. The town owes him much regard for what he did for it. As a preacher he was dry, but orthodox. He was better calculated to sell land than preach the Gospel.
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Joseph Merriam is the last I shall mention. He came early and settled in Randolph, Portage county. Whether he acted as a missionary I cannot say. He was a very modest, quiet man, a per- son of good sense, steadfast and reliable, a good practical preacher, and is permitted to live to the present day- I believe the only one of the number mentioned that survives.
To their honor be it said that none of them came under scandal, and none made shipwreck of their faith or in any manner brought disgrace on the blessed cause in which they were engaged. The field they early selected for their active work and all, with the exception of Merriam, have laid down their lives on it, and their spirits have been transferred to the Paradise of God. Such a galaxy of ministers, extending from 1808 to 1824, can scarcely be found. The fruit of their toil and self-denial will never be lost. To the latest posterity they will justly be honored as the founders of a state of society that shall flourish and grow brighter and better as time moves onward.
Twinsburg, O., April 11th, 1881.
SAMUEL BISSELL.
OLD TIME CHARACTERS.
BY O. P. C.
Abraham Hickox, more familiarly known to both old and young as " Uncle Abram," settled in Cleveland at a very early day, and commenced business as a blacksmith near the rear of E. I. Bald- win's present store. He afterwards built a small shop at the corner of Euclid avenue and what is now known as Hickox street (named in honor of the old man), where he worked for many long years. His sign read, " Uncle Abram works here." Uncle Abram was as honest as the day is long, and a patriot tried and true. He it was who on each Fourth of July, at early dawn, would arouse the sleeping inhabitants with the loud and booming report of his an- vil, which was then the only battery of artillery of which Cleve- land could boast. And all day long he would keep up the fire
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along the line. The old man on one occasion met with quite a mishap, caused by the blowing up of his powder magazine, which burned him quite severely ; but, nothing daunted, he obtained a fresh supply and continued his fusillade. Although it has been many long years since Uncle Abram was laid to rest, methinks I see him still as he used to appear in his homespun gray suit, wide- rimmed wool hat, steel-bowed specks, and stout hickory staff. He died in 1845 at a very advanced age, and his remains now repose in Erie Street Cemetery by the side of his wife, who died several years previous.
Rodolphus Edwards, for short called " Dolph," and of whom I am about to write, can be numbered among the early pioneers of Cuyahoga county, having come here away back in 1797. He settled on a large tract of land now known as Woodland Hills, but former- ly called Butternut Ridge. In addition to farming he kept a pub- lic inn or tavern, as they were called in those days, for the accom- modation of the traveling public, which was a place of resort for the old pioneers who used occasionally to meet and over their glasses of cider-flip pass away the time recounting their trials and adventures of pioneer life. This old house is still standing, hav- ing been converted into a private residence, and is now occupied by Rodolphus Edwards, Jr., who himself is well advanced in years. Rain or snow, hot or cold, as regular as Saturday came around Uncle Dolph, with his old Dobbin, old time carryall and big brindle dog, seated bolt upright on the seat by the side of his master, would make his appearance in town. He would drive up to a post in front of a certain store, and after hitching his horse he would gather up his jugs which were to be filled with molasses, vinegar and certain other liquids for the benefit of his traveling customers, he would at once attend to having them filled and making pur- chases of such other articles as he desired, and having safely stowed them away in his wagon would leave his faithful dog on guard while he visited his numerous friends and whiled away the day in talking over old times. When ready to return home it would sometimes happen, especially in very hot weather, that by the time he would get comfortably seated in his carryall he would become
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somewhat drowsy and drop into a doze, and the lines would hang listlessly in his hands, but Old Dobbin would trot off homewards all the same, while Old Brindle would sit as solemn as a judge and keep faithful vigil over both master and horse, until all were safely landed at the Edward's mansion. Rodolphus Edwards has long since finished life's journey, and but few of the old pioneers now remain.
Of all the eccentric men the late Irad Kelley perhaps had no equal. As he was so well known to all who have resided in Cleve- land for the last twenty years, no personal description of him is here needed. He, too, was one of the pioneers and prominent citi- zens of early times. At one time he announced himself as a can- didate for Congress and Sheriff of Cuyahoga County, but was not at all particular on what ticket his name was placed. There is no doubt had he succeeded in being elected to both positions, but that he would have been equal to the emergency. However, he fell sever- al thousand votes short of an election. Several years ago when the project was broached of enclosing that part of Superior and Ontario streets running through the Public Square and making it all one, Irad Kelley fought, tooth and toc nail, against the measure. When it was finally done, the old man, who then resided out on Euclid avenue, would hitch his horses at the upper end of the Square and walk down through it, declaring he would never drive around; he held out for a long time, but finally had to give in. As the story related of him in regard to his old gray horse Pomp, has so often been told, I will omit it here, but this allusion to it will no doubt cause the old inhabitants to smile. The following incident has never ap- peared in print or been told in public, the writer only being cogniz- ant of the facts : One bitter cold night in December 1874, while I was wending my way down Superior street, I met Irad Kelley dressed in his usual swallow tailed coat, low quarter shoes and stove pipe hat. Cold as it was he wore neither overcoat nor gloves. Stopping me he asked, if I could direct him to the place where some women had advertised to deliver a lecture on matri- mony. After answering him in the negative I asked him what an old man like him wanted to know about matrimony. "W-a-a-1,"
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he replied in his usual nasal twang, "I wanted to hear what the darned old crittur had to say anyhow." This, I believe, was the last time I ever saw Irad Kelley alive, his death occuring a few months afterwards.
There were quite a number of other queer characters who flourished here in early times, among whom may be mentioned MeCoy the pettifogger, Long Tom Coffin, Tom Colahan, Bill Rich- ardson of low-black-suspicious-schooner fame, jolly rollicking Capt. Dan Hickox of old canal packet memory, and last, though not least. John Brown, the barber, who used to argue that the reason why the colored people did not thrive as well at the North as at the South was " bekase dey did not congeal to de climate."
I have now accomplished the task I set out to perform, and in doing so I trust I have given no offence or been too personal in what I have written, as it has been far from my intention to cast ridicule on the names of those whom I have mentioned. My aim and object have been in a measure to revive old memories of by- gone days. Who is there that will now take up the pen where I have left off and furnish us with the histories of those early sett- lers who in their day accomplished so much in building up, beau- tifying and advancing the interests of this now great and growing city ?
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