USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Annals of the Early Settlers Association of Cuyahoga County, volume IV, no. I > Part 4
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I was very strongly impressed the other day by the remark of a man who said to me: "I deem myself happy to have lived in the nineteenth century. I consider it fortunate that my lines are cast, and my time is appointed in the latter years of 1800." And, when asked, "Why?" "Didn't those who lived before there were so many inventions, get along as well, enjoy themselves as fully, with health as good, etc .; and didn't they see as much of life?" He said. "no, not half ; for we live more and faster in one year now than those old adventurers lived in ten." And this idea is em- phasized by things coming to our knowledge of common every day occurrence. I had occasion to go to Orange Township the other day, where I had never been but once or twice, but where, I remember if you started in the spring, in years gone by, and the nud was as deep as usual, it was all your life was worth to get there ; and if you got there, it was a query whether you ever got back. Besides, it would cost two or three dollars, and that was no small sum in those days ; but the other day all that was required was to take a comfortable car at the Public Square, and forthwith we pass swiftly and easily along magnificent streets, past beautiful buildings, through a city as large as ancient Rome, until we are
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at our destination-and we are propelled mysteriously by an invis- ible force which nobody can understand or explain-the only visible agency, a slender wire, endowed with an energy unseen, inexplicable, resistless. Our errand done, we returned by the same swift invisible silent steed ; and time, distance and expense are substantially blotted out. This is a miracle-one of the many living miracles of the present time. I do not use the word in its common sense, but it is one of those things which in ancient times would be called miraculous in a supernatural sense. I was under the necessity last week of occupying a dentist's chair, when I be- came for the first time aware that this unseen force was also har- nessed as a serviceable employee in the delicate business of den- tistry. These are mere instances of the new things-new uses of the present ; and so the Early Settlers now nearing the end of the nineteenth century as they turn their eyes to their surroundings must necessarily take note of the fact, as some scripture has i:, that in many respects there is "a new heavens and a new earth." Another new thing: A matter to which the President of this Association made some allusion this morning-The Monroe Doc- trine-was something very near to the American heart. There was associated with it the idea of permanency and sacredness. With difficulty are we getting over the notion that these United States must forever adhere to it in its entirety ; yet so swift and sweeping are our changing conditions, that I'll venture to say the Monroe doctrine now is, and since March last has been, as dead as Lazarus. The caution given by Washington in the early days of the republic to beware of all entangling alliances, etc., was good enough for that day, but is now worn out and inapplicable. And here again there's a new heavens and a new earth ; for new condi- tions and new necessities have come upon us. It matters not that some of us may not have been very enthusiastic in this last new order of things referred to; but we never accomplish things of great moment without sacrifice and cost. One thing this war, I believe, has accomplished. It has bound together a North and a South ; and healed the wounds which have lasted for a generation.
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Another thing: It has worked out for us the complicated color question. The race which thirty-five years ago was in chains, the children of the slaves who were liberated at the cost of so many lives, are now fighting side by side under old Federal and Con- federate officers. So you see we are making progress. Indeed we cannot keep the old with us if we would.
Permit me to repeat an illustration. It is said that when Charlemagne, the great ruler who gathered together the peoples of Medieval Europe into a mighty empire, who was great in war and great in peace, a giant in intellect as well as in frame, a patron of letters, a propagator of the church, an establisher of authority over a domain as extensive as ancient Rome-when at the end of a long and victorious reign he came to die, the piety of that age thought it proper, in view of the magnificence of his achievements, that he should be entombed in a sarcophagus, sitting in his royal robes, with his crown upon his head, facing the East, that he might with befitting dignity meet his Creator, the King Immortal and Invisible, at the Judgment day. The curiosity of two or three hundred years later opened that sepulchre and the king sat there still, with a royal crown upon his head and his kingly robes around him; but immediately light and air were admitted, the giant frame crumbled and collapsed, and in half an hour all that was visible was a rusty iron crown, some tinselry of cloth, and a handful of dust.
And so it is with all things we have dealt with and lived for and set our heart upon ; they wither like the leaf and the fashions of them change; therefore I reconcile myself to the conditions of the Present ; and take large hope for what the future may have in store for us-and referring again to the war, in the midst of which we find ourselves, and which we cannot forget, though the out- come of it may not be without its difficulties, yet in addition to the healing of the wounds of the civil war, the unification of the republic, and the solution of the race question, there's the new thing of a united country stepping visibly to the front, with notice
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to all the world that justice and liberty, and stable government must and shall be maintained.
And now I think my time is exhausted. (Calls of go on).
These are some of the things which seemed to me appropriate to be alluded to on this occasion-but one more remark-half per- sonal: My wife said to me this morning: "Don't you commit the same blunder you have made two or three times at that Asso- ciation, in scolding at them for not doing what you fail to do yourself,"-referring to something urged at former meetings as to the importance of making this society the basis or nucleus for more careful historical work. Yet I'll venture to say again, we are not making of this organization all that we ought to in that line. I happened to be in the northwest a short time ago, and by the kindness of a gentleman who had some connection once with our Historical Society here, was shown through the rooms of an association at St. Paul, combining perhaps the functions of an Early Settlers' Association with a historical society-and I must say I was astonished at the extent and thoroughness of the work done. There was a suite of rooms in the State-house devoted to it-kept in excellent order, with files, it was said, of every paper published in Minnesota since the beginning, with an extraordin- arily complete historical and biographical miscellany pertaining to the beginnings of that State and civilization ; and all so arranged as to be at instant command.
It occurred to me we might well take a lesson from what others younger than us are doing elsewhere.
Something was said last year as to the interest which might center in some account of the earlier church organizations here. In apparent response thereto I have a letter written by a former resident of this place which, with your permission, I'll read. Reads as follows :
"EARLY CHURCHES IN CLEVELAND "
Dear Sir :- There should be, as you suggested at the last meeting of the E. S. Association, a permanent record of the ear- lier churches, their location, membership, etc.
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There was at no time any territorial or parish limits recog- nized, except perhaps by the Catholics. The first Trinity church was built and its society organized chiefly by residents of the West Side. St. Paul's was organized by the Rev. G. B. Perry, in a hall on Superior St., and its first building was on Euclid Avenue, within a few blocks of the newer Trinity. The Second Presby- terian was placed very near the First, on the same block.
In 1835, the original Trinity was on the Southeast corner of St. Clair and Seneca. In it I saw and heard Bishop McIlvaine, a rather youthful man for a bishop, and wearing a fine head of blonde hair. (Many of you in this audience will recollect it). The church had an organ, the size of a folding bed; the first church organ in Cleveland.
The First Presbyterian, "Old Stone Church," was built 1834, on the site of the present fine structure, which Mr. I. L. Hewitt, a friendly neighbor, informs me was built by a committee of which he was one of three, without instructions or limitations ; and when finished was out of debt. The "Old" church had no organ, its large volunteer choir being aided by the usual bass viol, violin, etc. In it I heard Prof. Finney preach, when on his way to take his place in the Oberlin faculty.
In 1834 the First Presbyterian Church of the West Side built the "Session House," on the rear of the lot where the First Con- gregational stood, on Detroit street. This building was moved to Harbor St., and was used for a school, and is, or was at one time, the oldest church building in the city. St. John's is now the oldest, built 1837, by Hezekiah Eldridge, for whom the late John Sanderson was draughtsman at the time.
The first Baptist, on the corner of Seneca and Champlain Sts., was a central and conspicuous object, with its tall spire and four- faced clock. (Headquarters of the Union Telegraph Co. are there now). It employed a succession of eloquent preachers, first of whom was Rev. S. W. Adams, very tall and scholarly. But the chief glory of the church was the genial and adequate janitor, John Malvin (an old colored man).
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The next building was St. Mary's Catholic, on Columbus St. near the bridge. The situation seemed admirably chosen to show the array of the large congregation, as they came streaming down the hill grades of Michigan, Champlain, Vineyard Lane, Detroit, Franklin and across the open "flats." It was a picturesque multi- tude, composed of emigrants, many in their antiquated and peasant costumes.
The First Methodist church was, I think, on St. Clair St., east of Erie. Of its preachers I remember Rev. B. K. Maltby. On the West or "Ohio City" side, the Methodists used the Vermont St. school house, station house, blacksmith shop; and there I heard their combined voices singing "Loving Kindness" with great animation, or shouting their devotions in response to the lead of T. D. Masters, long known as the oldest of original and genuine Methodists.
The Disciples of Ohio City occupied the hall in Columbus Block till their house on the corner of the Circle was built. I cannot name the date of building the first Methodist or the first Baptist churches on the West Side.
In 1837, a Universalist church was built east of Pearl St., near the market ; and about that date another on Prospect St., west of Erie.
In 1846, the Wesleyans, of whom R. H. Blackmer was chief, had a building on Euclid, east of the Winslow residence, near the angle, and the Associate Presbyterians, with Rev. J. W. Logue as minister, (that is the father of our Judge of the Common Pleas Court at the present time, I take it), and D. Pollock, leading elder, had a very small building near the site of the Streibinger House.
The Bethel, on the track of the C. C. C. R. R., between Su- perior and Vineyard lanes, and under care of the unsailorly look- ing Rev. Day, became the first station used by the road. The circular "Tabernacle," on Erie, between Rockwell and St. Clair, was the scene of many notable gatherings besides of Adventists.
Rev. D. J. Robinson, the minister, was a devoted, self-deny-
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ing, laborious worker; and his character as a true shepherd has had too few parallels.
Of the organization and membership of the original church societies, there are doubtless records extant that will be preserved with increased vigilance, as the time advances; but the first buildings, though remembered by many, have wholly vanished. If any one with a clearer head and steadier hand than mine, will volunteer a better reproduction of them, I shall be grateful indeed.
Very sincerely and respectfully yours, C. G. CALKINS."
As the male quartette sang "Massa's in the Cold, Cold Ground," instead of "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground," as called for in the program, Judge Hamilton thought they had better call them back for "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground," so they came back and sang the latter.
In introducing Gen. J. J. Elwell, Judge Hamilton said :
For eighteen long years Father Addison was with us, I think, at every pioneer meeting, at every re-union so far as I now know. We have still with us another old member in the person of Gen- eral Elwell. He is still with us, still useful, and still ornamental. I will present him to you for an address.
ADDRESS OF GEN. J. J. ELWELL.
My friends, I will not detain you long. You must be weary. We have had a glorious day, but we have not the "hold out," the "hang on," as we had fifty years ago, and you must be weary. And then, it will soon be milking time. The sun is going down.
I am reminded by the presence of Father Thorpe and his re- marks, and also by Brother Kerruish, of early Catholicism here in Cleveland, and I just wish to refer to it in this connection, and I know of no fact that illustrates more clearly the wonderful pro- gress of this city than the growth of that religion and its great churches. I happened to be here in 1845. I came into the city on Saturday, and on the Sabbath following, having a desire to see a Catholic church, a Catholic service, which I had heard of,
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living in the country, down here in Trumbull County; I had never seen anything of the kind; I visited across the river, down near Columbus Bridge, to which Brother Kerruish refers, that first Catholic church of Cleveland. That was 55 years ago. It has since been occupied and the building is standing there yet for a lumber yard ; you have all seen it, most of you at least; I re- member it, and never pass that old church without raising my hat to it. At that time it comprised the great Catholic church of Cleveland, a small congregation of foreigners, and to-day I am told by Father Thorpe that the Catholic denomination of Cleve- land amounts to 135,000. That little church represented Cleve- land at that time, and the great Catholic church represents its growth to-day. And so with the other denominations.
I feel, my friends, or did while the Secretary was reading the report of our honored dead friends, to use the words of Colonel Hay, our present minister to the court of St. James, Cleveland's poet-statesman :
We meet and greet in closing ranks, In life's declining sun, When the bugles of God shall sound recall, And the battle of life is won.
As such we represent that great army of old settlers which has passed on. We miss them here to-day, and no one is missed more than that humble, good man, Marshal Addison. He was a useful man. I never knew a man to do as much useful business upon so humble a capital. Mr. Addison was always planning some good work, and he never planned anything but what he attempted to execute himself. Modest, honest, earnest, he accomplished much.
We miss also those other grand men: Mr. Dudley Baldwin, in my opinion, and I was very close to him for forty years, the most perfect, take him all in all, and accomplished gentleman and business man that I ever met. I speak from a personal stand- point, you understand ; others undoubtedly have their special friends and objects of admiration, but Mr. Dudley Baldwin to me
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was as the apple of my eye. I cherish his memory as I cherish the memory of my mother and wife. I miss him every day.
And then how we miss Mr. Handy, and Solon Burgess. Those accomplished gentlemen were with us only a little while ago and stood upon this platform ; so we may well say, that as the bugles of God call, they are disappearing. They are going up higher.
One of the speakers has referred to the reluctance with which we grow old. Well, that may be a common feeling, but it is a feeling I know nothing about. I thank God every day that I have had my time during this present century which is now going out, and I am satisfied. I thank God for the opportunities I have had of living, and the man who wants my place is welcome to it. I doubt whether he will have a grander time in which to live than I have had, see more. enjoy more. I hope he may, but to us, those who are before me to-day, have lived in one of the most glorious eras of time. There is no question about it. Our fathers plodded along. One hour to us is as much, or there can be as much crowded into it, as a day with them. As an illustration of that fact, we can speak to New York and Chicago instantly.
My father came up from Warren to Cleveland in 1824 with an ox team for a load of Burr Mills stones. He was two or three weeks in coming from Warren to and getting back again. No roads, no bridges. I came up the other night in just sixty min- utes. So I say, my friends, we ought to be well satisfied with the chance we have had. We have seen this wonderful, marvelous growth of this most beautiful, blessed spot on God's round world, this Western Reserve. And those of our friends who have gone before are not dead. We will meet them. They have just gone ahead of us a little. The last talk I had with my friend, Dudley Baldwin, was on his piazza in front of his beautiful lawn, and as he looked out on it he said to me: "This is after all a beautiful world. I am willing to remain here, but I am perfectly willing to depart, as I shall now in a very few hours, in a very few days at most. I have enjoyed this life exceedingly ; it has been to me a
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beautiful life"; and he talked as if his home was second only to heaven, and it was only a step from this home to heaven with him, and his ideas were clear, his propositions and his conclusions cor- rect. Said he: "I shall have larger and wider opportunities."
So, after all, when this life is at an end there will be new fields opened, new worlds. We should not regret the change. We should rather anticipate it with joy and satisfaction. How kind it is in good Mother Nature to let us down so kindly. A little deaf, a little dull in our senses ; the eye becomes gradually dini, and thus we are quietly, almost unconsciously eased down to rest in the arms of Mother Earth, from whence we came.
I believe with regard to these men and women who first settled this Western Reserve that they were the bravest, the most persistent, the most honest and earnest class of men and women that ever blessed this world. They were generally the sons and daughters of the Revolutionary fathers and mothers. Those be- fore me to-day are descendants of Revolutionary soldiers. This Western Reserve and a large part of the State of Ohio was settled by the children of these pioneer soldiers, and their mettle was in them. The revolutionary soldiers came of Cromwell's soldiers. It is this race, my friends, that made these beautiful homes on the Western Reserve; that made these roads and these churches and these school houses, towns and cities. These noble, patriotic men and women, this grand Anglo-Saxon race which is now widening and extending its domain over the whole earth. I agree with Brother Kerruish entirely that we have not finished up matters on this continent ; that the Monroe Doctrine is obsolete. There is no question about that. When that Monroe Doctrine was enunciated we were a handful, only 3,000,000 people. We are now 75,000,000. We then occupied a little territory along the Atlantic Coast extending to the mountains, not to the Mississippi River : just a little strip there on the Atlantic sea-shore. It was necessary then to attend to our home matters exclusively. We had a hard fight for life; the experiment of Republicanism was new entirely, and we were looked upon by the nations of Europe
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as but for a day. There was no other course to take for those in authority led by Washington but to attend alone to home matters. "No entangling alliances with foreign powers"; that was abso- lutely necessary ; we had all we could attend to at home; we had an enemy in the front of us, a forest, a wilderness, a continental wilderness, full of hostile tribes. "Avoid all entangling alliances." Of course that was necessary. But now we are 75,000,000 people, and we say to the nations of Europe, "It is for you to avoid en- tangling alliances with the United States of America." We shall go where our commerce calls us.
At that day Spain was a mighty nation, and only as long ago as when Shakespeare died-1616-she was the greatest nation on the globe. She had more territory than England or Russia; she owned the home peninsula ; she owned Naples, the Lower Coun- tries and Milan ; and she owned everything on this continent south of the 34th degree of latitude, all South America, all the Pacific Coast of North America. This Anglo-Saxon race is to- day taking the last islands she has. To-morrow our troops will be upon Porto Rico undoubtedly and in possession of the last strong- hold of Spain upon this continent, and why? Because she has abused her great privileges, her wonderful opportunity. For the 300 years her rule has been a rule of oppression and barbarism. I was opposed to this war, for I have no sympathy with war, I have seen all I wish to see of war. There is but one synonym or term in our language which will properly represent war; take it financially, take it physically, take it morally, war means hell and damnation. I hoped and prayed that by some means this war might be avoided, and I believe it might have been had not the Maine been blown up. After that there was no longer chance for peace. Thank God, the spirit of Washington still rules in this country. After that dastardly deed the nation called for war, and though our President held back as long as he possibly could, he at last spoke for the people of America. That te rible wrong must be avenged. And it was only one of the many wrongs that the United States of America had suffered. The President was
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insulted by the Spanish minister in that letter which he wrote, absolutely insulted, and opprobrious epithets were applied to him. War had to come and war has come, and the nations of Europe are looking upon us to-day as the greatest war nation upon this globe_unless it be England. We are equal to any nation. Since the Rebellion there has been no question about the fighting ability of the Americans. That question was settled during the Civil War. Then they said: "Well, they are good fighters, but they never can pay that debt." But we went right to work to pay that debt and have wiped out more than two-thirds of it already, and our bonds are worth more than the bonds of any other nation on the globe. The president the other day asked for $200,000,000.00 and $1,400,000,000.00 were offered him at 3 per cent interest. That is what astonishes the statesmen of Europe more if possible than our fighting, and that is what stamps us as the greatest war nation on the globe. We could raise ten million fighting men if it were necessary ; and we can raise the money to pay them. War means money and men, and when this nation can raise all the money it wants at three per cent, and all the men it wants, it stamps the nation as the greatest upon the globe, for no other nation can do that, no other nation has ever paid its national debt.
So, my friends, it is our destiny to move right along. The United States cannot give up the land it has taken until it is thoroughly satisfied and recompensated for all the expenses of the war, and has all the harbors it needs. There is a new condition of things existing on this continent, and perhaps on the other conti- nents, and it will be met in a new way; our work has just com- menced, and we are going to move on and maintain the position we have taken and advance just as long as it is necessary, and hold on to what we need for commerce and defence.
At this point the Rev. J. W. Malcolm was to have spoken, and in explaining his absence and introducing another speaker, Judge Hamilton spoke as follows :
The next address upon the program is that by Rev. J. W. Malcolm. Let me inquire if he is in the audience. He told me
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that he had a sudden call to attend a funeral. Hoped to be back soon and I think he will be probably before we close. In the meantime we have present with us our first chaplain, chaplain of this Society for very many, many years. He finally moved from this County to that of Medina, and hence we were compelled to select another chaplain. Our old chaplain is present with us, and I have no doubt you will be very glad to see and hear from him. Let me introduce to you the Rev. Lathrop Cooley.
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