USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Annals of the Early Settlers Association of Cuyahoga County, volume IV, no. I > Part 5
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ADDRESS OF REV. LATHROP COOLEY.
Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen : I am not the first chaplain of this Association ; others occupied the place before I did, but as your president has said, I was honored at one time with that honorable position in this Association. By removing out of the county I was not only disqualified to act as chaplain, but also as a member of this Association. But I have the honor of being a member of an association similar to this, comprising Eastern Medina and Western Summit County, of which also I have the honor of being chaplain, and I bring from that asso- ciation greetings. Oh, there is a common membership among the early settlers of this Western Reserve. The hardships, the trials and sympathies, though requisite to accomplish what they did accomplish, was common to them all.
It affords me great pleasure, ladies and gentlemen, to be present on this occasion. I have always loved the old people of this Western Reserve and the associations connected with the past half century.
The gentleman who has just taken his seat said he was glad to have lived at such a time. Some years ago I had the pleasure of preaching my fiftieth anniversary sermon, and in that sermon I announced that I was thankful for three things: One was that I had lived when I had lived. No half century was crowded ever with so many marvelous events as the past half century at that time had been crowded.
In the second place I was thankful to have lived where I had
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lived. For with one year's exception during my ministry then, I had spent my time in Cuyahoga County and the counties ad- joining. Here in the midst of the finest specimens of the new editions of New England I had spent my life.
These were two things for which I was thankful.
And last but not least I was thankful that I had tried to be a minister of the gospel, a faithful servant, a public servant of the Lord.
These three things loom up before me to-day. I see no reason to change my mind, especially looking upon the faces before me, and yet there is a great solemnity and sadness here to-day, as well as a great gladness. Glad to see so many faces that I have seen so many years, but sad to see so many vacant seats. Gone, yes, one by one. Almost each week of the past year some pioneer has fallen. A few more years, and where will be the pioneers of this Western Reserve? Grand men, manly men, grand women, womanly women! What great deeds did they accomplish? They laid the foundations deep and broad for an enlargement of human society. I have always been proud to say in other countries : "I am from America." Proud to say in America that I am from Ohio, and proud to say anywhere that I am from Northern Ohio. For of all countries, as Bancroft once said, of all countries of which he ever wrote, (and he was a great historian) "the Western Reserve presents the finest type of civil- ization and human progress." I say then I am glad to be here to- day, although I do not properly belong to this Association on ac- count of removing to a neighboring county, but I am with you in heart, with you in spirit, and I am inclined at no time to ignore the fact that I am old. I am rather glad to think I am old. I once traveled in the Orient where they had a great many antiques ; I guess they manufactured them, and the older they got them in name the better price they bore. So you may call me an antique, and I will estimate myself higher than I ever did before.
It is something remarkable (I will explain myself) but I am one of the oldest men in the whole country, I suppose. I once
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had a horseback ride with a lady known as Mother Eve. Now I must explain myself, because I would not have it go out that I was not truthful. A long time ago a lady took a school in our district in Streetsboro, by the name of Snow, a daughter of Squire Snow of Mantua. That lady went with her father, the whole family went, to Utah; they joined the Mormon Church. They used to have in the city, in their great city there, what was called the Sealing House, and they had the scenery there of the Garden of Eden, Mother Eve and the Old Fellow himself with his cloven foot, where the wives were sealed to their husbands. And would you believe it, this lady who taught school in Streetsboro and who wanted to go. home on Saturday night, rode with me on horseback home, and she became Mother Eve in the Sealing House in the great Mormon City.
(Mr. Williams : On one horse?)
One horse only. Now I don't wish Honorable Mr. Wil- liams, I don't wish to have you understand that riding was very offensive to me with a lady on horseback, one horse. There are pleasant memories connected with horseback riding in those old times. You know the lady had her position, of course, where she could hold on in case of any danger, by throwing her arm around the man, who was in the saddle, and it was often the case in riding on horseback that things became monotonous, and a. little spur in the heel of the gentleman would start old Tom or Kate and make them jump, and then you know, with a horse that jumps and a lady on behind, you know, she would hold on and had a grip on your arm that was very strong, and yet not offensive ; there was no wrong impression made. This belongs to the Honorable Mr. Williams. This story never would have been told if he had not introduced it.
Now we used to take horseback rides, and you know we couldn't well look in the face of the lady who sat behind us, as you can now riding in a carriage ; you say, "How vulgar! how could you enjoy that? Riding with a lady on behind, you couldn't look in her face"; but when the spur struck into Tom
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and he would jump one side, ladies sometimes make a noise, and the arm came round, and there was an impression made that you will never forget. I say then, if it became monotonous at any time, a little spur of the horse would change the monotony and make it quite interesting. And so we had our horseback rides, and we had a great many pleasant things.
One thing I want to say to the young people, I wish they were here to-day. They sometimes ask me, "How is it that you are so old and yet don't show it? How do you keep your health?" I haven't kept my bed a day in a half century. How does it happen? Well, I will tell you. It is to make the best of everything and not to get down. Live where the sun shines. Now I used to make the best of riding on horseback, don't you see? I made the best of it.
Some sixty years ago my brother and I went to the woods to chop the clearing and get ready for the family to come on. We had already been in the country about ten years then. Came in from the East behind a yoke of oxen, a long journey ; then we moved forward still, my brother and I, older, into the forest, and I can say to you, it means something to go into the dark forest, with those big trees, elms, beech, hickory and oak, and cut them down and clear off the land. That meant something. How did we live? We had just three things, potatoes, bacon and flour. That was the stock. The flour, I was the cook, and I used to wet it up with water and fry it after we fried the pork or the bacon, that was oily, fat ; out in the woods that was the kind of diet that we had; but the water you understand was not such water as you have here in Cleveland, that is, sometimes ; I un- derstand sometimes there are animals in the water here; but we had in the water there, we had a little animal called a wiggler, so that flour, it didn't need any shortening when we wet it up; the water was richer because of the presence of those wigglers. You know the doctors say now sometimes that microbes are neces- sities. Well, my brother George, younger than myself, he said, "Never mind the wigglers. Twelve wigglers are as good as an egg." That is the way he put it. Fifty years after that I wrote
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to my brother about those old times, and when I came to the water that we had I wrote a few lines in poetry. I described the springs in the deep forests. I will quote one verse :
Our springs were made by turned up trees,
The water thick with falling leaves,
And wigglers bright and gay. Twelve of the best
Equal one egg fresh from the nest, As George was wont to say.
I say then, I don't care to go back there ; I can live without that sort of life ; I don't care to go back into the woods. No, my friends, I had a good time then, and I have a good time to-day. I rode on horseback thousands of miles in my early life ; I ride on the cars to-day. It is a better day to live in. Twenty-five cents I had to pay for postage on a letter then ; I can pay two cents and get it now anywheres, from any place, and send it to almost any place. Twenty-five cents ; my uncle Timothy Cooley, worked a whole day for Joseph Atwater in Mantua, brother of Judge At- water, and Judge Atwater was one of Cleveland's parties who came here 100 years or more ago, I knew them very well; he worked for Joseph Atwater in Mantua a whole day to pay postage on a letter that came from Berkshire Hills, Massachusetts. Now I don't care to go back there. No, my friends, we live in a good time, a glorious time ; don't let us forget the blessings of to-day. It is only one day at a time with us, anyhow. Here and now let us make the best of this. "The waters of the river never lave the same shore twice." We never live over life again.
But I must close. I thank you, Mr. President, for the invi- tation to speak to you, I thank the audience for listening to what I have to say ; I shall always love this Society, and I hope, whether I am a member or not, that I may look in your faces again before the shadows close over me and the night comes on that has no morning here.
The quartette then sang "America," and then, being joined by the audience, "Doxology."
The meeting then closed with an appropriate benediction.
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SKETCHES OF DECEASED MEMBERS.
HIRAM M. ADDISON.
A life that has exerted a powerful and long-continued in- fluence in Cleveland ended when Mr. H. M. Addison, known through the length and breadth of the city as "Father" Addison, peacefully breathed his last at 1:20 o'clock a. m., January 14, 1898.
As one of the founders of the Early Settlers' Association, as the founder and chief support of the Children's Fresh Air Camp, which has given health and happiness to hundreds of sickly chi !- dren and worn out mothers, and as the energetic, never-tiring aid of a long list of benevolent and philanthropic enterprises, "Father" Addison had won for himself the respect and affection of citizens in every walk in life, and his death will occasion the keenest regret.
"FATHER" ADDISON'S LIFE.
Few faces were more familiar in Cleveland than that of Mr. Addison. He was a citizen of whom it may be truly said that if all mankind were governed by as pure motives as those which prompted his actions, this world would be considerably nearer the millennium than it is. The name of H. M. Addison, widely known as "Father" Addison, had become almost a synonym in this part of the State for disinterested efforts in behalf of suffering humanity. "Father" Addison was born in Cuyahoga county when Cleveland was a mere hamlet. He first saw the light of day in Euclid township, about four miles east of Lake View Cem- etery, on November 21, 1818.
All of his boyhood days were passed in the township of Warrensville, where he obtained his education in a log school
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house. He worked at farming until 1835, when he moved to that part of Cleveland known as the West Side. From 1836 to 1844 he was engaged in traveling and teaching school. In 1844 he was united in marriage with Miss Ann McCaslin. The wed- ding took place in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, where "Father" Addison successfully taught school four winters and two summers. In 1845 the young couple began life in earnest on their farm in Warrensville.
In 1849 "Father" Addison forsook the pursuits of agriculture for those of journalismn, establishing the first penny paper in Northern Ohio, if not in the State. In 1852 he purchased the Cleveland Commercial, which, under his editorship, became an excellent weekly newspaper, though not successful financia ly. Later he was connected with the Plain Dealer as agent and cor- respondent, and still later he served the Review and the Ohio Farmer in the same capacities. He was always a staunch anti- slavery man.
Early in the rebellion "Father" Addison presented himself for enlistment in the "Bloody Seventh" Regiment, but was re- jected on account of his tendency to rheumatism. When the United States Sanitary Commission called for citizen nurses to go to the front, he was one of the first to respond, serving faith- fully till the places of such nurses were filled by soldiers unable to do active service. At the close of the war "Father" Addison moved his family to Jeffersonville, Ind., where he resided ten ycars, but he found that he could not be contented away from the scenes of his youth and early manhood, and gladly returned to his old home.
In 1879 he was the prime mover in organizing "The Early Settlers' Association of Cuyahoga County." In 1889 he began the establishment of "The Fresh Air Camp"-a summer home on Woodland Hills for sickly children and their mothers. Under his management, the camp became a well nigh indispensible in- stitution. To sustain it and improve its condition, "Father" Addison worked with a vigor worthy of a man of forty years his
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junior. He said that he hoped before incapacitated by old age, to make the "Fresh Air Camp" as permanent an institution as the Industrial Home, on Detroit street.
"Father" Addison, although he had passed the allotted span of life by nearly ten years, was practically in full possession of his physical and mental faculties up to within a short time of his death. People who knew "Father" Addison intimately have thought within the last few months that he would not live many more years. Recently his step has not been so firm as it was a few years ago, and there were other indications of failing health.
Still it is doubtful if "Father" Addison thought that he had but a short time to live. He tried to be as aggressive as he was years ago, and manifested the greatest of interest in the Fresh Air Camp, which is now an incorporated institution.
"Father" Addison had ideas on every subject. He sug- gested the old log cabin which was a feature of the Cleveland centennial celebration.
"Father" Addison's communications to the daily newspapers on nearly every subject imaginable made him known to every reader. He wrote slowly and spent a great deal of time in the newspaper offices. An umbrella and a small valise of uncertain age were almost always carried by him, and he frequently lost them. His searches for misplaced and forgotten articles were frequently long and tenacious.
"Father" Addison did not display as much interest in cur- rent events as he did in the happenings of fifty and sixty years ago, and his stories of pioneer life were very interesting.
"Father" Addison had been ill but a few days. He had a severe attack of la grippe, and last night was the first time he went to bed on account of his illness.
MRS. WM. BINGHAM.
At the residence of Mr. James King in Glenville, August 28, 1898, at 1:30 o'clock, Mrs. Elizabeth Beardsley Bingham, wife of
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Mr. William Bingham of this city, passed quietly away. Later in the afternoon the remains were removed to the family resi- dence, at No. 789 Euclid avenue. Mrs. Bingham had been ailing for two years and the doctors attributed her death to heart failure.
The deceased left two daughters, Mrs. C. A. Brayton and Miss Cassandra H. Bingham, and one son, Mr. Charles W. Bingham.
Mrs. Bingham was born near Sandusky Oct. 3, 1822, and was the daughter of David H. Beardsley, who for a long time was a collector on the Ohio State canal. For over sixty years she resided in this city, being connected with the First Presby- terian church ever since its first organization. She was a Chris- tian woman in the truest sense of the word, and was ever will- ing and eager to lend an ear to charity.
ZENAS BENNETT.
Zenas Bennett, probably the oldest man in the Western Reserve, died shortly after noon on the 17th of April, 1898, the cause of death being exhaustion. He was nearly 102 years of age, and died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. A. J. Conkey, in Warrensville, where he was visiting.
Mr. Bennett was in many respects a remarkable man. Al- though having lived to such an advanced age, his senses had not been impaired, and he could read newspapers as readily as a per- son fifty years younger. In person he was of patriarchal ap- pearance, having pure white hair and a long, flowing white beard. As a rule he walked without the use of a cane or other artificial means, and, barring a decided stoop, appeared to be much younger than he really was.
Mr. Bennett was born at about the time Moses Cleaveland was selecting a landing place at the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, and had he lived a few years longer would have had the distinc- tion of having seen the light of three centuries. He was born
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August 11, 1796. When he was still young his parents moved from New York, his native state, to Vermont, where he lived until he attained man's estate. He then came to the Western Re- serve.
In religion Mr. Bennett was an enthusiastic Baptist. He was tolerant, however, of the religious views of others. He had the habit of applying a scriptural quotation to everything he did, and it was not uncommon to hear him recite several chapters from the Bible without error.
For over seventy years Mr. Bennett lived in Warrensville, and was one of the unique characters of that place. About six years ago he moved to Cleveland and made his home with his daughter, Mrs. Julia Bleakesdale, in the South End. From that time on he made his headquarters at Eli Cannell's flour and feed store on broadway, where he could be found at all hours of the day, recalling old times with other old inhabitants who frequented that store. He frequently told how, when he first came to Cleve- land, Erie, Rockwell and Wood streets were a part of the virgin forest which then covered the greater part of Cleveland. It was in this strip of forest, somewhere between the old court house and Erie street, according to Mr. Bennett, that a deer was shot by a hunting party within his recollection.
Until a few years ago Mr. Bennett performed manual labor on his property, and did all of his own chores. On a hot sum- mer's day when he was nearing his hundredth year, he could be seen weeding his garden or hoeing his corn, when other people sought the coolest spots.
Mr. Bennett always laid claim to the fact that his ancestors were descendants of Roger Williams, and that he could trace his lineage back to 1620, when his forefathers came from Eng- land.
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HON. ROBERT BLEE
Robert E. Blee, ex-mayor of Cleveland, died February 26, 1898, at his home, No. 2084 Euclid avenue, the immediate cause of his death being pneumonia.
Mr. Blee had an interesting career. He was born in the eastern part of what is now Cleveland, in 1839, and was a son of Hugh Blee, one of the early settlers of this county. Mr. Blee was prepared for Shaw Academy, a Collinwood educational insti- tution, at a district school, which was located near the Lake Shore railway tracks in Glenville. The Blee family was moderately large.
While a student at the preparatory school he watched the construction of the railroad, and his intense interest in railroads had an important influence in molding his career.
"Some way or other I got my lessons," said the ex-Mayor to a reporter several weeks previous to his death, "but I was looking out of the window four-fifths of the time. Very often the teacher would come down and strike me across the hands with a heavy ruler. At recess and at noon I would rush down to where the men were working on the railroad and remain there until I was forced to leave.
"When we were graduated one of the school officials took the railroad as a subject for his address. One of his statements made a forcible impression at the time. The speaker referred to the building of the new means of transporting goods and pas- sengers, and said that if the boys were smart some of them would be brakemen; if they were particularly bright, some of them would be conductors and engineers ; some of them might even become managers. Continuing, he said that one of us might some day be elected Mayor of the big city then growing up on the west of us.
"Well, I became a brakeman, a conductor and a manager, and served one term as Mayor of Cleveland. But I guess that the presidency, which it was said that one of us might reach, is far beyond me."
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When about 17 years of age Mr. Blee came to Cleveland to look for work, and he succeeded in finding a position. For a year he served as a brakeman on the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati railroad. He served under John Miller, now super- intendent of the Pan Handle road, a part of the western lines of the Pennsylvania system.
When the civil war broke out he was filling the position of passenger conductor. He enlisted, and was assigned to look after the transportation of troops between Cleveland, Camp Chase and Camp Denison. Following the close of the war, he Was appointed assistant superintendent of the railroad for which he had formerly worked. Three years later Mr. Blee was ad- vanced to general superintendent of the road, then known as the Bee Line. He continued in that position until 1888, when a second consolidation produced the Big Four system, as at pres- ent constituted. Mr. Blee's authority was extended over the entire system. After thirty-six years of railroading Mr. Blee resigned in 1891.
Mr. Blee organized the "Bee Line Insurance Company," and served as president for twenty-two years. During his in- cumbency the distributions footed up several hundred thousand dollars.
In 1875 Mr. Blee, who had always been a democrat, was made a police commissioner. In 1893 he was a successful can- didate for the mayoralty, and served one term, being succeeded by Mayor McKisson.
The former Mayor's business interests were many. "Every penny I possess I earned honestly," he said in discussing his success. "I took advantage of opportunities, and was a success- ful speculator. If any person can show that I ever defrauded him out of a dollar I will return the money with good interest." Mr. Blee was president of the Ohio National Building and Loan Company, a director in the State National Bank, the Grafton Stone Company and several other companies. In the railroad world he was known as "Honest Bob Blee."
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Mr. Blee never married. He lived at No. 2084 Euclid avenue with a maiden sister. Mrs. Herman Frasch was a niece who was entrusted to his care when she was quite young.
Every visitor to the city hall who used to go there when Robert Blee was mayor, felt a sadness when he thought that the kindly, genial, affectionate man, who for two years occupied the executive's chair, would be seen no more. All city flags were displayed at half mast.
The most sorrowing heart within the municipal building was that of "Sammy." Samuel Newman was Mayor Blee's espe- cial protege and companion when the kindly ex-railroader was the city's chief executive. During Mr. Blee's term the mayor was invited with his cabinet to attend the graduating exercises of the Cleveland Jewish Orphan Asylum. Samuel Newman was one of the graduating class. . The mayor took a fancy to the bright-eyed youth, and spoke to him in a kindly way, and patted him on the head. That was enough for "Sammy." The boy followed the mayor all the evening and the mayor seemed to enjoy the unique friendship. At parting, Mayor Blee said : "Come and see me at the office, Sam, and I'll see if I can do something for you."
Two or three days afterwards Mayor Blee found "Sammy" waiting. Pleased that the boy should so quickly take him at his word, the mayor put him to work at his own expense as errand boy, and in a few days got him on the pay-roll of the mayor's and city treasurer's offices for small amounts each, the aggregate making a comfortable income for a lad no older than young Newman.
About four years have passed. "Sammy" Newman is now stenographer to the present mayor. He has not an enemy on earth, nor does a man in the city hall wish him ill, though he is almost if not quite "the last leaf on the tree" since Mayor Blee's time. He does not forget his first friend in official life, though.
When Robert Blee was mayor he started for his office room
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a collection of pictures of ex-mayors, and secured large photo- graphs or oil paintings of almost all the ex-mayors of Cleveland. When he was succeeded by Mayor McKisson, the new mayor, desiring to add to the collection which graced the walls of the office he occupied, asked Mayor Blee for his picture, and one was furnished. Mayor Blee himself chose a location for his pic- ture over the mantelpiece in the mayor's office. This picture, by the way, an exceptionally fine one, was draped with crepe.
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