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 19
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This small sum was obtained through the energy of Major SPAFFORD, who, on behalf of himself and neighbors, made two trips to Washington, and spent much time there before aught could be accomplished. Nothing disheartened he commenced repairing his ruined homestead. Of the old arks that were used to transport provisions to our army during the war, from Fort Amanda and other places on the Auglaize and St. Marys rivers, he constructed a comfortable farm house and office, both of which are still stand. ing in front of Fort Meigs. He received a grant from Government of a tract of land next above and adjoining the Fort, which is now owned by his son,
352
SPAFFORD'S PERSONALE.
Judge AURORA SPAFFORD, of this place. He retain- ed his office of Collector until 1818, when he died at his residence. Major SPAFFORD took an active part in all the early affairs of this county. He named our town Perrysburg, in honor of the hero of lake Erie. I have several letters of his in my possession, one to General HARRISON and one to President MADISON, setting forth in the most graphic language, the losses to which he and his neighbors had been subjected by the war, and asking for redress. He was a sound headed, pure hearted man, as all say who knew him, and as his papers abundantly prove.
Yours, faithfully,
HEZ. L. HOSMER.
In Judge ATWATER's description of the personal appearance of the surveyors, he says of SPAFFORD, " he was more than medium in height, very straight, broad in the forehead, with a sober, serious coun- tenance ; rather slow in his motions, and on the whole was an excellent man."
1798.
The committee on partition, PEASE, SPAFFORD, WARREN and HOLBROOK, having reported from Can- andaigua, the directors called the stockholders to- gether at Hartford, to receive their lands. All the territory east of the Cuyahoga was included in the partition, except the six townships reserved for sale. These were Chapin, now Madison, Geauga county ; Mentor, Lake county ; Charlton, afterwards Chagrin, now Willoughby, Euclid, Cleveland, then including Newburg, and Weathersfield, or the "Salt Spring Township," in Trumbull county. On the 29th of January, 1798, the long expected draft took place, consisting of ninety-three equal parcels, embracing a township or more. On the next day the four allot- ed towns were drawn, in four hundred parcels, one for each share in the company. These were, North- field, Bedford and Warrensville, in this county, and the township of Perry in Lake county.
As the subject of civil government made no pro- gress, a petition was again laid before the general
354
DOAN FAMILY.
assembly of Connecticut, reciting their numerous failures in Congress, and most earnestly praying for relief. This was in October, 1798. In December an agent was appointed, to urge upon Congress speedy attention to their condition, in case the assembly should fail them.
At this meeting, Gen. CLEAVELAND's contract with the surveyors, made at Cleveland, Sept. 30th, 1796, was ratified and assumed by the company. Three hundred dollars was appropriated for the improve- ment of the Salt Springs, with a view to leasing the same. A bounty of two hundred dollars cash, or a loan of five hundred dollars, was offered to such persons as would put up certain grist mills, and two more assessments of ten dollars per share levied.
On the first of May, 1799, no relief had been ob- tained upon their petitions for a civil government, the losses and delays of their enterprise on this ac- count were again presented to the State of Connecti- cut. This had been so embarrassing to their opera- tions, that in the following year, the State was ask- ed to abate the interest due upon their payments.
MSS. OF JUDGE BARR.
"RODOLPHUS EDWARDS from Chenango county, New York, came to Cleveland this season; also NATHAN- IEL DOAN and family, from Chatham, Middlesex county, Conn. His journey from Chatham occupied
355
SETH DOAN.
ninety-two days. At Utica, N. York, he was joined by his nephew, SETH DOAN, at the urgent request of the latter, who was an ambitious boy of thirteen. In 1801 SETH's father, TIMOTHY DOAN, moved into Euclid, as his future home. NATHANIEL DOAN went at first into the cabin built by STILES, and immedi- ately put up a blacksmith shop on the south side of Superior street, not far east of the end of Bank street. JOSEPH LANDON and STEPHEN GILBERT cleared some ground and sowed it to wheat, on what was after- wards the HORACE PERRY farm. Major CARTER planted two acres of corn on Water street, just south of the light house.
In the latter part of the summer and all the fall, every person in the colony was at some time sick with fever and ague or billious fever. DOAN's fami- ly was attacked on the way, and were obliged to stop at Mentor, from whence PARKER and CHURCH brought them here. It consisted of nine persons, every one of them sick. SETH DOAN was the only one with strength enough to do anything, and he had shakes every day himself. He was able, when the fit sub- sided to bring a pail of water, and gather firewood. For two months this boy made the trip to Mr. KINGS- BURY's after his daily fit was over, and brought a little corn for the sick, which they mashed in a hand mill at Newburg. The nearest water mill at that time was on Walnut Creek, in Pennsylvania. When SETH was unable to go, their only vegetable food was turnips.
356
DISTRESSING SICKNESS.
When Major CARTER had an intermission of the disease, he and his hounds generally secured a deer, which was liberally shared with the other sick fami- lies. CARTER's family being somewhat acclimated, suffered less than the new comers. There was no physician to prescribe, and few medicines.
In the place of calomel, they used an infusion of butternut bark, and for quinine and Peruvian bark, they substituted dog wood and cherry. For tea and coffee they burned corn, wheat, rye and peas. The families of KINGSBURY and GUN, on the ridge, were in good health, and visiting the city as often as pos- sible, were untiring in their attentions to the sick. EDWARDS, who had moved to the ridge, was sick, and continued so all winter. As the cold weather came on, the invalids gradually recovered strength, so that by the first of January, 1799, they were in reasona- ble health.
About the middle of November, four of the set- tlers who had a respite of one or two days between fits, started for Walnut Creek to get flour. As they were coasting along the shore below Euclid creek, their boat was wrecked in a storm, and they were obliged to return. During the winter and spring they were without flour, subsisting upon wheat and corn, ground in the hand mill and made up Graham fashion.
The Land Company caused a road to be surveyed and partially worked this year, from Cleveland to
357
THE FIRST MILL.
the Pennsylvania line, about ten miles from the lake, which was the first road opened through the Reserve. DAVID ABBOTT, from Fort Stanwix, New York, set- tled at the Chagrin river, and JOSEPH BURK and family, in Euclid. Burton, Harpersfield and Youngs- town were also occupied for the first time as settle- ments."
1799.
" Mr. N. DOAN, moved to Doan's corners in Janua- ry, where he lived both beloved and respected until his decease in December, 1815. After his removal Major CARTER's was the only white family in Cleve- land until April, 1800. In the spring of '99 WHEELER W. WILLIAMS, of Norwich, Conn., and Major WYATT commenced building a mill at the Falls, in New- burg. This being the first mill on the Reserve, its completion was celebrated by the pioneers with great joy and festivity. During the following winter our citizens enjoyed the luxury of bolted flour, made in their own mills, from wheat raised by themselves.
SETH DOAN is the only denizen of the city at that time, who still (1842) resides in it. Only four out of a population of fifteen survive. These are SARAII DOAN, the widow of NATHANIEL, LUCY CARTER, wid- ow of JAMES STRONG, ALONZO CARTER, of Newburg, (still living, 1866) and SETH DOAN, the heroic boy.
The season of 1799 was very healthy. With the exception of Messrs. WILLIAMS and WYATT, and two
358
TRUMBULL COUNTY ERECTED.
or three young men who came to Newburg, no set- tlers arrived this year. TURHAND KIRTLAND, father of Prof. J. P. KIRTLAND, was made Agent for the Land Company and visited the Reserve."
1800.
In the year 1800 the inhabitants of the Western Reserve found themselves in the enjoyment of a civil government. The discussions between the State of Connecticut and the United States were composed, by the transfer of the State claim of jurisdiction to the Federal Government, and the claim of the Gov- ernment to the soil, to the State. Governor ST. CLAIR established the county of Trumbull, and issued a a proclamation for elections, to be held under the Territorial system ; which was dated Sept. 22d, and directed to DAVID ABBOTT, Sheriff, commanding him, "That on the second Tuesday of October, he cause an election to be held for the purpose of electing one person to represent the county in the Territorial Leg- islature." All elections by the existing laws, were to be held at the respective county seats of the coun- ties in the Territory. Of course this election was held at Warren, the seat of justice for Trumbull county. The manner of conducting the election was after the English mode. That is, the sheriff of the county assembled the electors by proclamation, he presided at the election, and received the votes of the
359
CLEVELAND TOWNSHIP.
electors orally, or viva voce. It will readily be con- ceded, that in a county, embracing as Trumbull then did, a large Territory, only a portion of the elect- ors would attend. The number convened at that election was forty-two. Out of this number General Edward Paine received 38 votes, and was the mem- ber elect. General Paine took his seat in the Terri- torial Legislature in 1801.
Immediately after the organization of Trumbull county, at the first Court of Quarter Sessions in Au- gust, the county was organized into eight townships. The townships were named Youngstown, Warren, Hudson, Vernon, Richfield, Middlefield, Painesville and Cleveland.
Cleveland embraced the townships of Chester, Russell and Bainbridge, now in Geauga county ; all of the present county of Cuyahoga east of the river, and all of the Indian country from the Cuyahoga to the west line of the Reserve. When the townships west of the river were organized, after the county of Cuyahoga was erected, the channel of the river form- ed the western boundary of Cleveland. The City of Ohio and the City of Cleveland, were organized in March, 1836, without changing this boundary ; but the dividing line between the cities followed the new or artificial channel, made in 1827 by the con- struction of a harbor.
A portion of Cleveland township, embracing about seven acres at the mouth of the river, remain-
1
360
THE FIRST ELECTION.
ed in Ohio City until the township organization was given up.
On the 2d of October, 1800, the election was held at Warren, where the electors assembled, after the English fashion, for the first and the last time. None were present from Cleveland. The appoint- ment of township officers was vested in the Court of Quarter Sessions, composed of Justices of the Peace of the quorum, appointed by the Governor. Efforts had been made by the Territorial Legislature to change this mode of appointment, to an election by the people, but the sturdy old Governor applied his veto to all such innovations. In 1802, he so far re- laxed as to allow of election districts, or precincts, of less size than a county.
In Cleveland township, KINGSBURY was the first Justice of the Quorum, AMOS SPAFFORD a Justice not of Quorum. STEPHEN GILBERT and LORENZO CARTER were the first constables.
"Early in the spring, DAVID HUDSON passed here, in company with THADDEUS LACY and DAVID KEL- LOGG and their families, to settle in Hudson, Summit county, Ohio. Capt. ALLAN GAYLORD, of Newburg, was of this party. (1866, Capt. GAYLORD is still living). A school house was built this season, near KINGSBURY's, on the ridge road, and Miss SARAH DOAN, daughter of NATHANIEL DOAN, was the teach- er. DAVID CLARK and Major AMOS SPAFFORD, with their families, arrived from Vermont, and became
361
LORENZO CARTER.
settlers in Cleveland. Major SPAFFORD occupied the Merwin lot, south of Superior and east of Vineyard streets, near the corner. Mr. CLARK built on Water street, west side, near the Mansion House. [The Mansion House of 1842 stood nearly opposite VIN- CENT'S furniture store. ] JOHN WALWORTH and ED- WARD PAINE settled at Painesville, BENJ. TAPPEN at Ravenna, and EPHRAIM QUINBY at Warren, during this year."-(BARR.)
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LETTER OF J. A. ACKLEY.
PARMA, July 29th, 1858.
HON. JOHN BARR,
Dear Sir :- LORENZO CARTER Was a half brother of mine, but he, being the eldest of six children by the first, and myself the youngest of three children by the second husband; and our mother' having lived a widow six years, brings us quite a distance apart. He was a man, and gone from home before I was born. Consequently I can say little of him from my own knowledge, but must rely on what I have heard from my mother, brothers and sisters. LORENZO CARTER Was born in the year 1766, at Warren, Litchfield county, Connecticut, and conse- quently was about ten years of age, at the com- mencement of the revolutionary war, at which time, he had the misfortune to lose his father. He was then left to the care of a widowed mother, in mode-
24
362
HIS JOURNEY WEST.
rate circumstances, with a family of six children, all young; to pass through that turbulent period. LORENZO was a strong, athletic self-willed boy, and it could not be expected that a mother would guide and direct him like a father. But our mother was a thorough going woman, and managed to get along reasonably well, until the close of the war, when she married again, and soon after moved to Castle- ton, Rutland county, Vermont; then almost a wil- derness.
LORENZO was about eighteen years of age, a very natural age to become fond of a dog or gun, hunting and fishing. The country being new, and game plenty, he soon became quite a Nimrod. Arrived to manhood, he bought a lot of new land, took to him- self a better half, and settled on his land. But farming, or at least clearing a new farm, was not exactly to his mind. He soon became restless and wished for a change. About this time the Ohio fever began to rage, and CARTER, in company with a man by the name of HIGBY, started for the West- ern wilds. Their course was through western Penn- sylvania, to Pittsburg, down the Ohio river as far as the Muskingum river. They then turned north and struck the lake at Cleveland, from thence by the nearest route home. CARTER arranged his affairs as soon as possible, and the next year, in June, started with his family and effects for the west, and arrived at Cleveland in the summer of 1797,
363
COL. JAMES HILLMAN.
Many stories are told of Major CARTER, some are true, and many that are not true. He was the man for a pioneer, with strength of body and mind, but not cultivated. His maxim was not to give an insult, nor receive one, without resenting it, and the insulter generally paid dear for his temerity. With all his faults, his heart was in the right place, and he was as ready to avenge a wrong done to the weak, as one done to himself.
Respectfully, Yours, JOHN A. ACKLEY.
LETTER OF COL. JAMES HILLMAN.
YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO, NOV. 23, 1843. JUDGE BARR, Cleveland :
Dear Sir -Yours of the 15th came duly to hand, making enquiries of the early times and settlement of Cleveland.
In the spring of 1786, Messrs. DUNCAN & WILSON entered into a contract with Messrs. CALDWELL & ELLIOTT, of Detroit, to deliver a quantity of flour and bacon at the mouth of the Cuyahoga river to a man by the name of JAMES HAWDER, an Englishman, who had a tent at the mouth of the river, for the purpose of receiving it. In May, 1786, I engaged with DUNCAN & WILSON, at Pittsburg, as pack- horseman, and started immediately. We took the Indian trail for Sandusky, until we arrived at the "Standing Stone," on the Cuyahoga, a little below
1
364
THE HARBOR IN 1786.
the mouth of Breakneck creek, where the village of Franklin is now. There we left the Sandusky trail and took one direct to the mouth of Tinker's creek, where was a little town built by HECKEWELDER and ZEISBERGER, with a number of Moravian Indians. They were Moravian preachers. Here we crossed the Cuyahoga, and went down on the west side to the mouth. In going down we passed a small log trading house, where one MEGINNES traded with the Indians. He had left the house in the spring before we were there. I understood he had some difficulty with the Indians and left, but whether any were killed I do not recollect.
We made six trips that summer. On the second' trip, one HUGH BLAIR, a packhorseman, in crossing Breakneck creek, fell backwards from his horse and broke his neck. His horse got his foot fast in some beech roots. We called it "Breakneck creek," a name I believe it has always retained.
The mouth of the Cuyahoga was then about the same as when I last saw it, in 1813. In 1786 there was a pond of water west of the mouth, which we called "Sun Fish Pond," where we caught sun fish. We carried axes to cut our wood, and I remember, we at one time undertook to open the mouth of the river, which was choked up with sand. We made wooden shovels and began to dig away the sand until the water ran through, which took away the sand so fast that our party was divided, a portion
365
FIRST SALT BOILING.
being left on the east side where Cleveland now is. CALDWELL & ELLIOTT had a small sail boat to carry the flour and bacon to Detroit. We used to cross the river by means of the "Mackinaw," that being the name of the sail boat. By opening the mouth of the river, she could sail up to where there was a spring, near where Main street comes to the river. We made collars of our blankets for some of the horses, and took our tent ropes, made of raw elk skin, for tugs, drew small logs and built a hut at the spring, which I believe was the first house built on the Cleveland side. [No mention of this is made by the surveyors.
On the west side the bottom was in woodland, except Sun Fish Fond, which had the appearance of an old outlet to the lake. At that time there were no traders about the mouth of the river, only HAW- DEN's (or HAWDER's) tent, who was there to receive the flour and bacon. As fast as we delivered it, it was forwarded by the Mackinaw to Detroit. There was no trading at Grindstone brook, where MEGINNES formerly traded.
In the year 1785, DUNCAN & WILSON sent some kettles and some Indian goods to the Salt Springs, on the Mahoning river, in Trumbull county, with a view of making salt. Government ascertained that fact, and in the same year, there being troops at Fort McIntosh, at the mouth of Big Beaver, sent a Lieutenant and some soldiers, with an order to
366
MURDER OF KRIBS.
DUNCAN & WILSON to quit the enterprise, which they did, as the Indian title had not been extin- guished.
DUNCAN & WILSON left a man at the Salt Springs by the name of JOHN KRIBS, to take care of their property. . In the summer of 1786, when we were on our way to Cleveland, near where the Mahoning crosses the State line, an Indian came to us and said that KRIBS (or KRIPS,) had been murdered by an Indian named NEMAHAHE, which means "Great Wolf." We left our horses and loading near the State line, and went that night to the Salt Spring, about eighteen miles. We found him very much eaten by wolves. We went back to our horses, and when we came on we then buried KRIBS.
I am now eighty-five years old. As to the mean- ing of Indian names for rivers and water courses, I am not able to give any information that would be useful to you.
Resp'y, your very ob't serv't, JAMES HILLMAN.
BOUNDARIES OF CUYAHOGA COUNTY.
That part of Cuyahoga county which lies east of Cuyahoga river, had its first organization as a part of Washington county, erected July 27, 1788, with the county seat at Marietta. Lake Erie was the northern boundary of Washington county, and the Cuyahoga river, the old portage path, and the Tus-
367
BOUNDARIES OF THE COUNTY.
carawas river its western boundary, on the Reserve. The city of Cleveland was thus situated at the ex. treme north-west corner, of the first county erected in Ohio. That part of Cuyahoga county which lies west of the river was embraced in the county of Wayne, with the county seat at Detroit, erected August 15, 1796. On the 29th of July, 1797, that part of the Western Reserve which lies east of the Cuyahoga river, and the old portage path, became a part of the county of Jefferson; with the county seat at Steubenville. The county of Trumbull was erected July 10, 1800, and embraced all the West- ern Reserve, including the Fire lands, and the Islands opposite. All these organizations were effected by proclamation, prior to the existence of the territorial legislature. By an act of the State legislature, dated December 21st, 1805, which took effect March, 1806, the county of Geauga was set off from the county of Trumbull, including a large part of the present county of Cuyahoga; and extending west as far as Range 14. Huron county was erected February 7, 1809, covering the Fire lands. The counties of Cuyahoga, Portage and Ashtabula were authorized February 10, 1807. By this act the county of Cuyahoga was declared to embrace so much of the county of Geauga as lay west of the 9th range of townships. The organization of the county of Cuyahoga did not take place till January 16, 1810. The boundaries of this county, by the Act
368
CHANGES OF BOUNDARY.
of 1807, were as follows. On the east side of Cuy- ยป ahoga rivers, all north of Town 5, and west of Range 9; on the west side of the river, all north of Town 4, and east of Range 15 ; a space between Ranges 14 and 20 on the west; and the county of Huron, being attached to Cuyahoga county for judicial purposes.
One of the commissioners for fixing the county seat presented his bill for services, in the following words :
" COLUMBIANA COUNTY, OHIO, L October, 1809.
Deir Sir :- I have called on Mr. PEAIES for my Pay for fixing the Seat of Justis in the County of Cuyahoga and he informt me that he did not Chit it. Sir, I should take it as a favour of you would send it with Mister PEAIES at your Nixt Cort and In so doing will oblige Your humble Sarvent R. B ** R. ABRAHAM TAPPIN Esq.
A Leven Days Two Dollars per day, Twenty two Dollars."
On the 25th of January, 1811, the line between Huron and Cuyahoga counties was changed on the west. Beginning at the south-west corner of Strongs- ville, No. 5, in the 14th Range, it was carried west- ward, to the south west corner of Eaton, No. 5, in the 16th Range; thence north to the north-west corner of Eaton township; thence west to the middle of Black river, and northerly, following its channel, to the lake. When the county of Medina was erected, February 18th, 1812, another alteration
369
PRESENT LIMITS.
took place in the western boundary of Cuyahoga county. From the north-west corner of Eaton, the line extended north to the north-west corner of Ridgeville, No. 6, Range 16; thence west to Black river, and with the river to the lake. Until the 1st of April, 1815, when Huron county was organized, legal proceedings in that county, were prosecuted in Cuyahoga. Lorain county, which was organized on the 1st of April, 1824, took from the south-west part of Cuyahoga, Town 5, of Range 15, (Colum- bia,) and the west half of Olmsted, in that Range. By the Act of January 29th, 1827, this half town- ship was restored to Cuyahoga County.
Changes in the outline of the county, were not yet at an end. When Lake county was organized, March 20th, 1840, the township of Willoughby, on the north-east was dissevered from Cuyahoga.
Afterwards, January 29th, 1841, a strip ninety rods wide, in the north-east part of Orange township, extending from the north-east corner down the east line, to the east and west center road, was annexed to Geauga county.
In compensation for this, lots 17, 18 and 19, in the south-west corner of Russell, Geauga county, were transferred to Cuyahoga, in order to accommo- date the thriving village of Chagrin Falls.
On the 11th of January, 1843, the tract taken from Orange was restored. Since then the county lines have remained without change.
B
D
E
CLEVELAND UNDER THE HILL,
EARLY IN THE SPRING OF THE YEAR 1800, FROM A RUDE SKETCH MADE AT THE TIME BY ALLEN GAYLORD, OF NEWBURG.
A. Surveyors' cabin, or " PEASE'S Hotel." B. Log store-house of the surveyors. C. LORENZO CARTER's first cabin. D. Mouth of the river. E. Old river bed and natural mound beyond it.
Although this is only a rough outline taken by one of the pioneers, who was wholly unskilled in the use of the pencil, it must be regarded as a reasonably correct picture of the lower town at that time. The trail or road up the hill, is no doubt more conspicuous and street like than it should be, although it was then used by teams. During the same year, DAVID BRYANT became a settler, and commenced building a small distillery at the mouth of the ravine, between the cabins, as his son more fully relates in the following letter :
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