USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Early history of Cleveland, Ohio : including papers and other matter relating to the adjacent country : with biographical notices of the pioneers and surveyors > Part 17
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314
DEPARTURE FROM CONNEAUT.
The Indians were arrested by Mr. Youngs, and another gentleman and committed to prison at Pitts- burg.
Monday, Oct. 23d .- Had a fit of ague and fever, which continued until night.
Tuesday, 24th .- Sold the roan mare and saddle to Nathaniel Doan, and took his note for thirty-two dollars. Mr. Youngs, Mr. Warren and Mr. Doan set out for Buffalo creek, this morning. Mr. Hart arrived with his boat.
Conneaut, Oct. 25th .- We are short of pork, not having more than three-quarters of a barrel, and receiving none by Mr. Hart's boat, must send one boat over to Chippewa. Accordingly fitted out one under Major Spafford. She took on board all the men, sick and well, except Mr. Hart, Wm. Barker and myself. They were Colonel Ezra Wait, Amzi Atwater, Doctor Shepard, George Giddings, Samuel Spafford, David Clark, Eli Kellogg, Alexander and Chester Allen, H. F. Linsley, James Berry and Asa Mason. Major Spafford to wait at Queenstown for the other boat. Major Shepard started by land, for Buffalo creek, with Warham Shepard and Thomas Tupper. Parker agreed with Mr. Hart, to take the Stow horse to Buffalo creek.
October 31st, 1797 .- Mr. Hart and myself started from Conneaut, after sunset. Our hands were Lan- don, Goodsel, Smith, Kenney, (Keeny,) Forbes, Chapman and James and Richard Stoddard, with a
315
LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE.
land breeze and our oars, got within two miles of Presque Isle. (Redfield's party left in the woods.)
Nov. 1st .- Near Lowrey's Creek, Richard and James Stoddard took their route by land. Had a slight fit of the ague.
Nov. 2d .- At Lowrey's creek got a quart of milk, which Mr. Hart paid for; and bought two oars.
Nov. 3d .- Arrived at Buffalo creek at 4, P. M., found Major Shepard, Esquire Warren, and several of the sick men. Major Spafford came in yesterday.
Sunday 5th .- The two Allens, Eli Kellogg, and Thomas Tupper, started for Genesee. Samuel Forbes, E. Chapman and the two Parkers, accompanied them; the two Parkers having arrived, with the Stow horse, from Cleveland.
Nov. 6th .- This day the rear guard came up. Mr. Redfield, the two Nyes, Enoch Eldridge, the two Barkers, Shubal Parks, (or Parker,) Jacob Carlton, Clark Reynolds, and Richard and James Stoddard, with four horses ; snowing moderately all day."
It does not appear, from the field notes, that the latitude of Cleveland was determined, either in 1796 or '97, or that the instruments were brought here for that purpose. In fact, the position of this place was not fixed, astronomically, until January, 1859, when the late Lieutenant Colonel J. D. GRAHAM, of the United States military engineers, in charge of the light houses on the lakes, determined the latitude of the new court house to be forty-one degrees, thirty
316
NO MINERALS DISCOVERED.
minutes, five seconds, north; and the longitude from Greenwich, eighty-one degrees, forty-two minutes, six seconds, west; equal to five hours, twenty-six minutes, forty-eight and one-tenth seconds, time. As the longitude was determined from Cambridge, Mass., by telegraph, and that is the best established point in America, from Greenwich, by chronometer, this may be regarded as correct; unless there shall be a correction for Cambridge; since the Atlantic cable has connected it with the prime meridian in England.
Neither do any of the field notes, letters or reports, connected with the surveys of the Land Company, refer to the existence of iron ore, or coal, on the Re- serve. The south line, as far west as the Tuscarawas, was run over beds of coal, and the east line, for about thirty miles- All the townships east of the Cuyahoga, were explored in 1796 and '97; of which about one third were underlaid by strata of ore and coal, without being discovered. The first coal worked, to my knowledge, was taken from the bed of a small run, a mile west of Talmadge center, in 1810, and was used by blacksmiths only. In 1828 it was first brought to Cleveland, in small quantities, for the same purpose. As late as 1838, only a small amount was mined in the Mahoning valley, near Youngstown.
Mr. PEASE, with the other surveyors and commit- tee-men, remained at Canandaigua to finish the par-
317
PROCEEDINGS OF THE LAND COMPANY.
tition, and make up their reports; a work which the stockholders expected would have been concluded a year sooner. On the 13th of December, 1797, the committee reported upon the four townships, each of which had been surveyed into one hundred lots, containing one hundred and sixty acres.
The surveyors for these towns were: NATHAN REDFIELD, RICHARD M. STODDARD, PHINEAS BARKER and JOSEPH LANDON.
The towns selected by the committee, as the most valuable, were Nos. 5, 6 and 7, of Range 11, and No. 11, of Range 7; now Northfield, Bedford, Warrens- ville and Perry.
At a meeting held at Hartford, January 23, 1798, FARMERS BROTHER and RED JACKET received a dou- ceur of fifteen dollars each for expenses, ten dollars in cash and five dollars in goods.
" Whereas, The Directors have given to TABITHA CUMI STILES, wife of JOB P. STILES, one city lot, one ten acre lot, and one one hundred acre lot; to ANNA GUN, wife of ELIJAH GUN, one one hundred acre lot; to JAMES KINGSBURY and wife, one one hundred acre lot; to NATHANIEL DOAN one city lot, he being obliged to reside thereon as a blacksmith, and all in the city and town of Cleaveland. Voted, that these grants be approved."
Another tax of twenty dollars a share was laid. The Company having given up all ambitious hopes of being one of the powers of the Union, now offer
318
LORENZO CARTER.
their political title to the Congress of the United States, and in case it is accepted, they empower Mr. SWIFT to desire Governor ST. CLAIR to lay off a new county comprising the Western Reserve.
Donations of land to actual settlers were author- ized. The committee on roads, report in favor of constructing a road near the lake, from Erie to Cleveland, with a branch from Township 10, Range 3, (Lenox, Ashtabula county,) to the Salt Spring, on the Meander creek.
As the Six Nations claimed a part of the fifteen hundred dollars promised to the Mohawks, at Buf- falo, June 24th, 1796, "it is ordered that this sum be paid to ISRAEL CHAPMAN, Superintendant of Indian Affairs, to be distributed by him." At the same meeting a committee was appointed, author- ized to prosecute or settle with the heirs of SAMUEL H. PARSONS for their claim to the Salt Spring tract.
MEMORANDA OF JUDGE BARR.
Major LORENZO CARTER, who came here in 1797, was a great acquisition to the settlement. He was perfectly fearless, and otherwise peculiarly fitted to meet the perils of the wilderness. He was an expert marksman, and an enthusiastic hunter; the terror of the deer and bear of the neighborhood.
On the west side of the river, at the mouth, was a natural mound, covered with trees, (see GAYLORD'S
319
EARLY BURIALS.
sketch.) Strange as it may seem, in the early days, and as late as 1820, persons have walked across the mouth on a sand bar, the channel being frequently closed up by storms. KINGSBURY and GUN, came here from Conneaut, early in 1797, remaining that season, when they removed to the ridge, in what was afterwards Newburg. EZEKIEL HAWLEY, came to Cleveland the same year. KINGSBURY built a shanty east of the Public Square, and GUN occupied one of the Company's cabins, until one was built on River street, north of St. Clair, near the cupola opposite WINSLOW's warehouse, (1842, late HUSSEY & Mc- BRIDE.) HAWLEY built on the hill, on the north- east corner of Water and Superior, now (1842,) owned by NATHAN PERRY. The Land Company, the same season, put up a double log cabin, on the south side of Superior, east of Vineyard lane. CHARLES PARKER and EBENEZER MERRY, settled in Mentor the same year, and each sowed a crop of wheat, from seed obtained at Conneaut.
Mr. ELDRIDGE, one of the employees of the Land Company, who was drowned in crossing Grand river, was the first person buried in the city of Cleveland. The first burying ground was on lot 97, between Prospect and Huron streets, east side of Ontario, which was removed to Erie street in 1835. PELEG WASHBURN, who was an apprentice to NATHANIEL DOAN, as a blacksmith, died of dysentery in 1797. At this time, a death or two excites little attention ;
320
SICKLY TIMES.
but when we reflect how few there were in this country at that time, their distance from home: des- titute of the necessaries and comforts of civilization, a death and a burial, was an occurrence of no small moment.
This was a sickly season. The old settlers have often remarked, in reference to those melancholy times, they could not have got along without the game which Major CARTER killed, and the attentions of his generous wife."
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
The history of every member of the surveying parties of 1796-7, has a deep interest for their des- cendants, a large number of whom reside in the country, of which they were the first thorough ex- plorers. They pursued their toilsome way, during those years, over all that part of the Reserve, east of the Cuyahoga, leaving perpetual evidence of their track through the forest, in measured lines, marked upon the trees.
Only a few of the hands employed by the com- pany on the surveys of 1796, returned to the work in 1797. Of those who passed that year in the field, but a small portion became settlers. The formal compact of Sept. 30, 1796, in reference to the settle- ment in Euclid, was carried out, by not more than two. Probably the severe labors of the survey, cooled their admiration of the new country. Many of them underwent the ordeal of fever and ague, which was abundantly sufficient to damage their faith in the "promised land."
322
EZEKIEL MORLEY.
A courageous man, who might be willing to encounter this miserable disease, which prostrates every form and grade of ambition, would not will- ingly expose his family to it. They saw that no civil government existed, or was likely to exist. Some of the surveyors, like SPAFFORD and ATWATER, determined to take their chances, and spend their days in New Connecticut. DOAN, GUN and CLARK, also became settlers. Of those who returned to New England, very few were again heard of here.
At the recent pioneer meetings, the private history of a small number of them has reached us. SAN. FORD, CULVER and MORLEY, survived long enough to hear of those movements, to rescue from oblivion the enterprises of their youthful days.
EZEKIEL MORLEY.
BY ALFRED MORLEY.
KIRTLAND, OHIO, June 7, 1858.
MR. WHITTLESEY :- In reply to your enquiries in regard to EZEKIEL MORLEY, I will answer as nearly as I can. He was an uncle of mine, not my father. He was born in Glastenbury, Connecticut, in 1758; died in Chester, Geauga county, Ohio, August 6th, 1852, lacking nine days of ninety-three years.
Emigrated from Genesee county, New York, to Chester, Ohio, in 1832. He was a Revolutionary
323
LOT SANFORD.
soldier, and drew a pension of ninety-six dollars a year. Was one of the surveying party in running the lines of the Western Reserve in 1796-'97, and assisted in erecting the first log cabin that was built in Cleveland. He supposed himself to be the first white man that saw Chagrin Falls. Enclosed you will find his signature.
My father was seventeen months older than uncle EZEKIEL, and was a Revolutionary soldier. He died where I now live, aged eighty-six years and six months, having lived with the wife of his youth sixty-three years.
Yours Truly,
ALFRED MORLEY.
LOT SANFORD.
STATEMENT OF A. W. PERRY, HIS SON-IN-LAW, AND OF R. W. PERRY, A GRANDSON.
SHOREHAM, VT., November 21, 1859.
We have consulted with Lor SANFORD, who was not in the surveying party of 1796, but in that of 1797.
He was born September 5th, 1773, and was one of the party who went out to survey the Western Reserve. AMOS SPAFFORD Was the chief surveyor of this party. No particular incident happened on the outward journey, except the accidental death of DAVID ELDRIDGE. He undertook to swim his horse
324
THE FIRST GARDEN.
across Grand river, although strongly advised to the contrary, and the animal proving unequal to the task, ELDRIDGE was drowned and his body carried on to Cleveland, and buried on the banks of the Cuyahoga. SANFORD assisted in digging his grave, thus performing the office of sexton to the first white man who was buried in Cleveland.
The company arrived and established their head quarters, building a log house, and enclosing a gar- den for the purpose of raising their vegetables. SANFORD laid a fence around this garden, being the first fence ever built in the town.
There had been a log hut built at this place the year previous, by the same party.
SETH HART, the agent of the company, was left in charge of the head quarters. No incidents are mentioned while the party was out surveying, ex- cept the death of MINOR BICKNELL, who was taken sick with fever, and was carried through the woods fifty miles before he died. He was buried near the Cuyahoga, probably about thirty miles from the present site of Cleveland.
Soon after arriving at head quarters, two more of the party-ANDREWS and WASHBURN-died, and were buried by the side of ELDRIDGE. Several mem- bers of the company are mentioned, among whom are SAMUEL SPAFFORD, (son of AMos,) and OLIVER CULVER, who were chainmen; ANDREWS was flagman, and SANFORD-the subject of this sketch-went as
325
SANFORD'S COMPANY.
axman. He, with eleven others, left Cleveland the 12th of September, 1797, and returned to Orwell, Vermont, where he then lived, arriving the 3d of December. In April, 1804, he removed to a farm which he had purchased in Shoreham, Vermont, where he has since lived, being now in his eighty- sixth year.
The two BARKERS, ALPHEUS CHOAT, DAVID CLARK, OLIVER CULVER, the two NYES and Amos and SAM- UEL SPAFFORD were from Vermont; the two GID- DINGS were from Connecticut. SANFORD and SAMUEL SPAFFORD chopped four acres of timber in Euclid, the first ever chopped for settlement duties.
About eight or ten years ago JOB STILES died in the town of Leicester, Addison county, Vermont. My brother has heard STILES boast of putting up the first house in Cleveland. SANFORD retains his mental faculties in a good degree, but is infirm from a paralytic stroke he had about two years since, and therefore he cannot write you, but I send you his autograph, written before. He feels a lively interest in the historical articles published in Cleveland, which are read to him. You cannot better compen- sate him and his wife, who still lives, than by send- ing him such articles."
Mr. SANFORD died at Shoreham, April 20, 1860, on the farm he had cultivated since 1804, being eighty-six years and seven months of age. He there acquired a competence, living for more than fifty
.
326
OLIVER CULVER.
years in communion with the Congregational church, of which he was a liberal supporter. His wife died in June, 1865, at the age of eighty-two.
OLIVER CULVER.
At the pioneer celebration of October, 1858, OLIVER CULVER, of New York, one of the surveying party of 1797, was present, supposed to be the only survivor. LOT SANFORD was, however, then alive.
The following letter gives a brief history of CUL- VER, who may still be living.
ROCHESTER, July 29, 1860.
JOHN BARR, Esq .- Mr. OLIVER CULVER, of Brigh- ton, to-day called on me, and handed me your letter of March 27th, 1860, in which you request him to state the date and place of his birth, and to send his autograph, for the Pioneer society of Cleveland. Mr. CULVER would willingly send his autograph, but he can not, because for some time past, his sight has so much failed, that he does not write, even his own name. In all other respects, his health continues robust and good. Mr. CULVER was born at East Windsor, Hartford county, Connecticut, September 24th, 1778; and will be eighty-two years old on the 24th of September next.
When he was five years of age, soon after the peace of 1783, his father removed from East Wind-
327
OLIVER CULVER.
sor, to Ticonderoga, N. Y. After a short residence there, he removed to Orwell, Vermont, where Mr. CULVER remained with his parents, until the spring of 1797, returning home, occasionally, until 1805. In February, 1797, he hired, with his father's consent, - to AMOS SPAFFORD, to accompany him with a party of surveyors to the Connecticut Company's Lands.
Early in March, 1797, he was sent by AMOS SPAF- FORD, with his son SAMUEL SPAFFORD, on foot, from Orwell, Vermont, to Schenectady, New York, to arrange for boats, and ascertain when they would be ready to carry the party on, from there up the Mohawk. SAMUEL SPAFFORD wrote back to his father, that the Mohawk would not be clear of ice, and the boats ready to start, before the first of April : and that he and Mr. CULVER would go on to Ironduquoit bay, and there camp, and hunt, until the surveying party arrived. They did so, traveling by land, on foot, well provided with arms, ammuni- tion and provisions. At Ironduquoit bay, they camped, and boarded with ASA DUNBAR, and family, a trapper, who was a mulatto man, from the Mohawk country, of whose location they were informed at Schenectady. They remained there hunting, and curing the skins taken, about six or seven weeks, until the surveying party under Mr. SPAFFORD arrived, about the last of April.
At Queenstown their boats were drawn over land, on carriages, with teams, by some Canadians, and
328
RETURN TO VERMONT.
launched at Chippeway, from whence they crossed to the mouth of Buffalo creek, and coasted up from there along the south shore of lake Erie. At Cleve- land the party erected a log house. Mr. CULVER Was a chain bearer, that season at twelve dollars a month.
When cold weather arrived, the party returned to Vermont. Mr. CULVER, and SAMUEL SPAFFORD stop- ped a few weeks at DUNBAR's, and continued their hunt, with the object of collecting peltries.
Late in Decmber, after the snow became too deep for hunting, they traveled on foot to Orwell. In 1798, Mr. CULVER went to Cleveland, in a party of eighteen men, employed as before, to assist in cutting out a road, to the Pennsylvania line, on which they worked that season. In 1800, he bought his present farm in Brighton, Monroe county, New York, cleared seven acres, and sowed it to wheat, and got a good crop.
Up to 1804 he was emploped three years at Iron- duquoit landing, by AUGUSTUS GRISWOLD; superin- tending an ashery. In 1804 he went to Cleveland, with a boat load of salt, dry goods, liquors, and tobacco, &c., and opened a store. The vessel was loaded at Black Rock, freight paid, three dollars per barrel. She was built at Erie, by SETH REED, and commanded by Capt. DOBBIN. In 1805, Mr. CULVER, married and settled on his farm. His wife died a few weeks since. I write this by his direction.
Respectfully, yours, &c.,
J. M. HATCH.
329
SETH PEASE.
When CULVER, re-visited the city fifty-four years after his mercantile trip, its identity with the sickly and scattered town of 1804, could scarcely be traced. He was conveyed through long and compactly built streets, covering nearly all the ample space allotted by the surveyors for city and out-lots. When he last saw them, they were not distinguishable from the surrounding forest, except by an occasional horse trail, and by blazed lines upon the trees.
SETH PEASE.
The personal history of Mr. PEASE, the most prominent of the surveyors, of the Land Company, is but imperfectly transmitted to us. According to Mr. ATWATER, he "was above medium height, slen- der and fair, with black, penetrating eyes. In his movements he was very active, and persevering in his designs, with a reflecting and thoughtful air. He was a very thorough mathematician."
FROM A LETTER OF RALPH GRANGER.
FAIRPORT, LAKE Co., O., Sept. 27, 1843.
"SETH PEASE was my uncle. He was very pre- cise in his business. Besides the minutes necessarily returned to the Company, he kept a full private journal. This I have seen, containing records of personal adventures with colored landscapes, one of which is the first residence of the surveyors at Con- neaught. He also brought to Connecticut, from
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330
SETH PEASE.
Ohio, specimens of minerals, which I have seen, among them some beautiful alabaster from Sandusky. He died at Philadelphia. His wife died in Connec- ticut. The only children now living are Mrs. NOAH A. FLETCHER, of Washington City, and ALFRED PEASE, his youngest son, at Dayton, Montgomery county, Ohio. This journal may have been lost or mislaid."
His journals, of which a portion for the years 1795 to 1799, inclusive, are before me, show excel- lent penmanship, and precise business habits. In 1795 he surveyed for the State of Massachusetts, in the province of Maine. After the close of the sur- veys east of the Cuyahoga, in 1797, Mr. PEASE, engaged with PORTER, ATWATER, and others of his enterprising old friends of the woods, in the allot- ment of the "Holland Purchase," in western New York. This service occupied two years, '98 and '99. The elections of the year 1800, resulted in the success of the "Republican," or JEFFERSON party, over that of the Federalists. Under JEFFERSON'S administration, GIDEON GRANGER, became Post Mas- ter General, and Mr. PEASE, who was a brother-in-law, was made Assistant Post Master General. Judge CALVIN PEASE, of Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, was his brother. In 1806, when the Indian title to that part of the Reserve west of the Cuyahoga, was extinguished, SETH PEASE, was directed by the Gov- ernment, to extend the southern boundary along the
331
NATHANIEL DOAN.
41st parallel, west of the river, which he did. There is still hope of recovering more of the memoranda, to which the Hon. RALPH GRANGER refers. His skill as a draftsman and sketcher, and his facility in description will give them great interest.
NATHANIEL DOAN.
NATHANIEL DOAN, was one of those of the first surveying party, who volunteerd for the second year's work. He was so well pleased with the new country, that he emigrated with his family in 1798, and became one of the permanent settlers. In 1799 they fled from the miasma of the river bank, like the majority of the early residents, and settled on the Euclid road, four miles from the Cuyahoga, at the corners; where the road from Newburg intersects Euclid street. This gave rise to a hamlet, which has increased to a village, and which, until recently, was known as "Doan's Corners."
Mr. DOAN was the blacksmith of the Land Com- pany, whose business it was, during the progress of the survey, to keep their pack horses well shod. In 1798 he erected a rude shop on the south side of Superior street.
A blacksmith is a very important member of a pioneer settlement. He is soon brought into per- sonal acquaintance, with all the neighboring people. His shop becomes a central point for gossip, and for more serious discussions upon public affairs. Mr.
332
SETH DOAN.
DOAN appears to have been an useful smith, and a good citizen. His name appears frequently, in the proceedings at elections and town meetings. In 1804, he was made a lieutenant in the first militia company organized here. NATHAN CHAPMAN, who was not personally connected with the surveyors, but who appears to have been on the Reserve, from the year 1796, as a purveyor of beef, and a trader, was a friend of DOAN. CHAPMAN had no family, and died at Doan's Corners in 1814. DOAN died at the same place, in 1815. The widow of the late EDWARD BALDWIN, of Cleveland, once the sheriff and treasurer of Cuyahoga county, is the daughter NATHANIEL DOAN.
The late SETH DOAN, who was his nephew, in a statement made to JAMES S. CLARK, Esq., in January, 1841, remarks, "that a boat was despatched in the fall of '98, down the lake, to a mill ten miles west of Erie, at Walnut creek, for flour; but it was beached and destroyed, at Euclid Point. They had occasional communications with Detroit, through straggling Frenchmen and Indians. There was, as yet, no set- tlement at Buffalo or Black Rock, nor any between Cleveland and the Ohio river. The one at Presque Isle, or Erie being the nearest. When we arrived, there were three or four clearings, of about two acres each. One between Water street and the bluff, just north of St. Clair street; another near STILES' house, on Bank street, and one near HAW-
333
ELIJAH GUN.
LEY's at the end of Superior street, where the "Central Buildings," (Atwater Block,) are now standing."
ELIJAH GUN.
Although GUN, like STILES, came to Ohio with the surveyors, and spent a large part of his life in the vicinity of Cleveland, his personal history has not been well preserved. On the approach of old age, he left the pioneer homestead, in Newburg, and removed to the Maumee river, to the residence of his son, near Napoleon, Ohio. Little has come down to us, of his occupations, and of his trials at Conneaut during the winter of 1796-'7. Both himself and his wife, appear to have endured the hardships of those days better than many of their cotemporaries. His cabin, at Conneaut, was about a mile above Stow Castle, on the creek. He reached a very advanced age, nearly or quite, four score and ten, dying among his kindred, on the banks of the Maumee.
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