USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > History of Cuyahoga County, Ohio > Part 90
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Ile had also advocated and voted for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and indeed had espoused the anti-slavery eause as early as the year 1833, and was an active worker till slavery was abol- ished. Hle belonged to the old Liberty party, and was mobbed in Trumbull, his native county, for declaring his convictions on the subject of slavery. In an anti- slavery meeting in Hudson, Ohio, about the year 1841, in criticizing what he regarded as the pro-slavery position of the Western Reserve College, he used lan- gnage which was distasteful to the faculty and stu- dents, and he was thoroughly hissed by the latter.
In giving the history of the anti-slavery cause on the Western Reserve, and in reference to the anti-slavery efforts of President Storer and Professors Beriah Green and E. Wright, Jr., when connected with the college, he said, "Then an anti-slavery light blazed from College Hill, but where is that light now?" when the hissing continued for severalminutes, but was finally drowned in cheers.
We quote from the remarks of Mr. Hutchins in the thirty-seventh Congress, as published in the Ameri- can Annual Cyclopedia, on the subject of using col- ored troops to put down the Rebellion: " If we can take for soldiers minor apprentiees and minor sons, we have the same right to take slaves; for they are either persons or property. If they are persons we are entitled to their services to save the Government, and the fact that they are not citizens does not change the right of the Government to their services as sub- jeets, unless they owe allegiance to a foreign govern- ment. It colored persons are property we may cer- tainly use that property to put down the rebellion."
In Congress he also took up the subject of postal reform, introduced a bill and made an able and care- fully prepared speech in its favor, in which he advo- cated a reduction of postage on letters, and a uniform rate for all distances, as well as a uniformity of pos- tage on printed matter; and in addition especially urged the advantages of the carrier delivery system. These measures have since been substantially adopted by the government. Mr. Hutchins received special mention from the Postmaster General for his able and persistent efforts in this direction. Ile is at present occupied in the practice of his profession as a member of the firm of Hutchins & Campbell. As a lawyer he occupies a high rank and has ever been esteemed by the members of the bar for his integrity, and for the ability with which he discharges the duties devolving upon him.
lle married Rhoda M. Andrews, by whom he has tive children, three sons and two daughters: Horace A. and John C., living in Cleveland; Albert E., re. siding in Chicago; Mary H., who is with her parents in Cleveland; and Helen K. who died of typhoid fever, at the age of twenty-two.
LEVI JOHNSON.
On the 10th of March, 1809, Levi Johnson, emi- grating westward from New York in quest of the land of promise (a name then bestowed by New York- ers upon the Western Reserve) entered Cleveland in a two-horse sleigh, with his uncle, also a western pioneer. They pushed on to Huron county, where they halted, and whence, after a short time, Levi returned to ('leveland, beginning what proved to be a remarkable career, the history of which is a part of the early his- tory of the Forest City itself.
Mr. Johnson was born in Herkimer county, Now York, April 25, 1286, and from his boyhood until his twenty-second year labored successively as a farm-
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hand and carpenter; then, becoming fired with the western fever, he journeyed to Cleveland in 1809, as has just been stated. He was fortunate in finding a home in the family of Judge Walworth, for whom he contracted at once to build a framed office. This structure (situated where the American House now stands) was one of the first framed edifices erected in Cleveland, and its construction was an event of no shght importance in the little community.
Young Johnson continued to ply the saw and plane busily for the next few years, in Cleveland and the vicinity. In 1811 he married Miss Martin, of Huron county, and in 1812 undertook the then important con- traet of building a log court-house on the public square, at Cleveland. Completing the task, he turned his back upon carpentering and became a trader in supplies for the army on the frontier, and, being shrewd and careful, he soon acquired what was then thought a considerable amount of money. Ambitious to extend his enterprises, he built a sixty-ton vessel, called the "Pilot," which he sailed on the lake in the Govern- ment service during the war, to his material profit.
Meanwhile Mr. Johnson was chosen the first coro- ner of Cuyahoga county, and also served as deputy under Samuel Baldwin, the first sheriff.
Resuming ship building in 1815, he built the sixty- five ton schooner " Neptune " and several other vessels. In 1824, in company with the firm of Terhoeven Brothers, he built the " Enterprise," of two hundred and twenty tons burden, the first steam vessel built at Cleveland. Still later he constructod the steamer Commodore. In 1830, having grown weary of marine architecture, he soll out his steamboat interests and turned his attention once more to contracts on shore. In 1831 he built the Water street light-house for the government; in 1836 he built another at Sandusky, and in 183; constructed nine hundred feet of the stone pier on the east side of the mouth of the Cuyahoga. In 1840, 1843 and 184; he built successively the Sag- inaw, Western Sister Island and Portage river light- houses. He also built in Cleveland the Johnson House, the Marine Block, the Johnson Block and other important structures.
In 1858 Mr. Johnson retired from active business, and, being endowed with abundaut wealth, passed the evening of life in comfort and ease. Full of years and honors, he passed away to his rest on the 19th day of December, 1871, at the age of eighty-five.
ALFRED KELLEY.
Ilon. Alfred Kelley, the second son of Daniel Kel- ley, was born in Middletown, Connecticut, November 1, 1189. He was descended in the fifth generation from Joseph Kelley (1st) who was one of the first settlers of Norwich, Connecticut. llis great-grand- father, Joseph Kelley (2d), son of the person just named, removed to Vermont, and died there in 1814 at the age of nearly ninety years. Alfred Kelley's grandfather, Daniel Kelley, lived in Norwich, Con-
necticut, where Daniel Kelley (2d), the father of the subject of this memoir, was born on the 27th day of November, 1735. Hle married Jemima Stow, daugh- ter of Elihu and Jemima Stow, and sister of Judges Joshua and Silas Stow, of Lowville, New York, on the 28th day of January, 1781. He died at Cleveland August 2, 1831. Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Kelley had a family of six sons. They removed from Connecticut to Lowville, New York, when Alfred was nine years of age, where the head of the family was principal judge of the court of common pleas of Lewis county, being also one of the founders of Lowville academy and president of its board of trustees.
Alfred Kelley was educated at Fairfield academy, New York, and read law in the office of Jonas Platt, a judge of the supreme court of that State. In the spring of 1810 he traveled on horseback in company with Joshua Stow and others to Cleveland. He was admitted to practice in the court of common pleas in November, and on the same day, being his twenty-first birthday, he was appointed by the court to act as prosecuting attorney. He was continuously appoint- ed proscenting attorney until 1821, when he declined to act any longer in that capacity. In 1814 Mr. Kel- ley was elected a member of the Ohio house of repre- sentatives; being the youngest member of that body, which met at Chillicothe, then the temporary capital of the Sate. He continued, with intervals, a member of the legislature from Cuyahoga county until 1822, when he was appointed, with others, State canal con- Inissioner.
The Ohio canal is a monument to the enterprise, energy, integrity and sagacity of Alfred Kelley. 1Ie was the leading member of the board of commissioners during its construction, and the onerous and respon- sible service was performed with such fidelity and economy that the actual cost did not exceed the exti- mute! The dimensions of the Ohio canal were the same as those of the Erie canal, New York, but the number of locks was nearly twice as great. Mr. Kelley's indomitable will and iron constitution tri- nmphed over all difficulties, and the Ohio canal, con- meeting the Ohio river with Lake Erie, was finished in 1830. During its construction Mr. Kelley removed first to Akron and then to Columbus, where he made his home during the remainder of his life. After the canal was finished he resigned the position of com- missioner in order to regain his health (badly shat- tered by close application to the duties of his office), and to devote himself to his private affairs.
In October, 1836, Mr. Kelley was elected to the Ohio house of representatives from Franklin county, and was re-elected to the same office in the next two legislatures. He was chairman of the Whig State Central Committee in 1840, and was one of the most active and influential managers of that campaign, in which Gen. Harrison was elected to the presidency. HIe was appointed State fund commissioner in 1840. In 1841 and '42 a formidable party arose in the legis- lature and State, which advocated the non-payment of
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the maturing interest on the State debt, and the repudiation of the debt itself. Mr. Kelley went to New York and was able to raise nearly a quarter of a million of dollars on his own personal security, by which means the interest was paid at maturity, and the State of Ohio was saved from repudiation.
In 1844 Mr. Kelley was elected to the State senate from the Franklin district. It was during this term that he originated the bill to organize the State Bank of Ohio and other banking companies, which was gen- erally admitted by bankers and financiers to be the best American banking law then known. While Mr. Kelley was a member of the legislature many valu- able general laws originated with him, and most of the measures requiring investigation and profound thought were entrusted to his care. He was the author, in 1818, of the first legislative bill-either in this country or in Europe-to abolish imprisonment for debt. It failed to become a law, but in a letter to a friend Mr. Kelley said: " The time will come when the absurdity as well as inhumanity of adding oppres- sion to misfortune will be acknowledged."
At the end of this senatorial term Mr. Kelley was elected president of the Columbus and Xenia railroad company, which enterprise he was actively engaged upon until it was finished. lle also accepted the presidency of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cinein- nati railroad, and carried on that work with his usual ardor and ability; bis labors being ouly surpassed by those upon the Ohio canal. With his own hands he dug the first shovelful of earth and laid the last rail. In 1850 he was chosen president of the Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula railroad company (afterward absorbed in the Lake Shore Company), and was soon actively engaged in the construction of the road. During this period occurred the famous riots of Eric and Harbor Creek, in opposition to the construction of the road through Pennsylvania. The success of the company in this contest was largely due to Mr. Kelley's offorts. After the completion of these roads he resigned the presidency of their respective com- panies, but continued an active director in each of them to the time of his death.
Mr. Kelley closed his public life as the member from Columbus of the State senate of 1852. Dur- ing the last year of this service his health was declin- ing. Yet such was his fidelity to his trust that he went daily to the senate, and he carried through the legislature several important measures for the pur- pose of ascertaining the condition of the State treas- ury, and securing the safety of the public funds. He was also, during his legislative career, very active in remodeling the tax laws, so as to relieve land-owners from excessive taxation and place a part of the bur- den on those who had property in bonds and money.
At the end of this term of the senate his health was much broken down (caused by an over-taxation of mind and body), and he seemed to be gradually wasting away without any settled disease. Ile was only confined to his room a few days before his death,
which took place on the 2d day of December, 1859. So gentle was the summons, when his pure spirit left its earthly tenement, that his surrounding friends were scarcely conscious of the great ehange.
It has been said of him, that few persons have ever lived who, merely by personal exertions, have left behind them more numerous and lasting monuments of patient and useful labor.
Mr. Kelley was married on the 25th of August, 181;, to Miss Mary S. Wells, daughter of Melanc- thon Wells, Esq., by whom he had a family of eleven children, viz: Maria Jane, who became Mrs. Judge Bates, of Columbus; Charlotte, who died at six years old; Edward, who died at the age of two years; Adelaide and Henry, who died in infancy: Helen, who became Mrs. Francis Collins, of Columbus; Frank, who died at four years old; Anna, who mar- ried Col. C. J. Freudenberg, U. S. A .: Alfred; and Kate, wife of Rev. W. II. Dunning, of Cambridge.
THOMAS M. KELLEY .*
Thomas M. Kelley, a brother of Alfred Kelley, the subject of the preceding sketch, was born at Middle- town, Connecticut, on the 17th of March, 1792. In the following year his father removed with his family to Lowville, Lewis county, New York, where the sub- ject of this memoir resided until he came to Cleveland in 1815. In that place he made his home continu- ously till his death on the 11th of June, 1828. Al- though the facilities for education were not, as a general rule, abundant in his childhood, yet at Low- ville there was, besides the common schools, an acad- emy where the higher branches were taught, and from the specimens of its graduates who settled here we should infer they were taught with more than ordi- nary success.
For many years Mr. Kelley was engaged in mercan- tile pursuits, and especially in packing and shipping beef and pork, pot and pearl ashes, furs and some minor articles, the products of this then new region, down lakes Erie and Ontario and the St. Lawrence river to Montreal, a distant, but, for such articles, the most accessible market. After the completion of the Erie canal, in 1825, a large part of this trade was diverted through that channel. In later years Mr. Kelley was largely concerned in real estate operations and in banking, and in 1848 was made president of the Merchants' bank.
IJe did not, however, give his whole mind to the management of business affairs. He was a man of unquestionable integrity and unusual intelligence, and was an industrious reader, not only of current literature, but of standard works. He formed his opinions deliberately, and generally correctly, and then, like all his brothers, was prone to adhere to them persistently.
HIe was a member of the legislature, and as such did
*By Hon. J. W. Allen.
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his constituents and the State valuable service. Un- der the old constitution the State was divided into a dozen or more judicial circuits, in each of which was a "president judge" (a lawyer) who held courts in the various counties, and who was assisted in each county by three associates, usually among the best men but not lawyers, who conkl and sometimes did over- ride the president, and who in his absence could hold terms without him. In 1846 Mr. Kelley was ap- pointed one of these judges, and, in the absence of the president judge, charged the grand jury in a man- ner much superior to that generally exhibited in such cases.
In 1841 Daniel Webster, Secretary of State under President Harrison, offered the office of marshal of the United States for the district of Ohio, then em- bracing the whole State, to Mr. Kelley, who agreed to accept it, but the speedy death of General Harrison and the political difficulties which arose between his successor, President Tyler, and the Whig Congress, delayed and finally defeated any action upon the proposition. This offer was the more complimentary because, owing to the then recent " Patriot War, " the relations of the United States with Great Britain were in a very disturbed condition; the northern frontier swarmed with men eager to involve the two countries in war, and the duties of a marshal required him to be a man of very great courage, firmness and discretion, such as Mr. Webster knew Mr. Kelley to be.
In 1833 Mr. Kelley married Miss Lucy Latham, of Vermont, a most estimable woman with whom he lived happily till her death in 1824. The fruits of this union were four children-one who died in early childhood; a daughter who married Col. George S. Mygatt and died not long afterwards; another daugh- ter, now the wife of Mr. Chester J Cole; and a son, Thomas Arthur Kelley; both of the survivors now reside in Cleveland. In his domestic relations Judge Kelley was kind, liberal and affectionate, and among his associates in the outer world he was very much esteemed. In public matters he was an active partici- pant, and was a free contributor in money, labor and influence to all undertakings that promised to ad- vance the common weal.
CHARLES GREGORY KING.
The following brief sketch of a business life, with the portrait of its subject, will introduce to our read- ers Charles Gregory King, a pioneer lumber merchant of Cuyahoga county. He was born in the town of Sand Lake, Rensselaer county, New York, on the 27th of September, 1822, and is one of a family of fourteen children, all of whom lived to reach the age of manhood and womanhood. He was early initiated into the practical details of farming, which was his father's avocation. The necessity of constant indus- try early inured the boy to habits of self-denial, but
seriously interfered with intellectual culture, for which he manifested a strong desire.
At the age of sixteen his father died, leaving bereaved hearts and an encumbered estate as an inheritance to his family. With the courage and determination which have characterized his whole life, Charles, together with some of his brothers, pro- vided a home for their beloved mother and their younger brothers and sisters. Seven years of his life were thus occupied; then his long fostered desire for mental improvement would brook no further repres- sion, and he felt at liberty to devote the proceeds of the next few months' labor to defraying the expense of tuition in the Brockport Collegiate Institute, lo- cated in western New York.
In alternate study and teaching he spent the years until 1849, when he started west in search of occupa tion. After a long and tiresome trip, which ex- tended into Michigan, he returned toward the East without accomplishing his object. At length, how- ever, his courage and perseverance overcame his ill- fortune, and at Erie, Pennsylvania, he was engaged as a buyer for a house which was shipping lumber to the Albany market. Ifis latent ability as a business man soon exhibited itself, and, after various promo- tions, he removed to Cleveland in 1852, becoming a partner in the well-known firm of Foote & King, which established the lumber yards on River street.
In the year 1862, owing to the failing health of Mr. Foote, the firm was dissolved, and for three years Mr. King conducted the business alone, at the end of which time Mr. D. K. Clint became a partner. In 1866 a new yard was established on Scranton avenue, and the house of Rust, King & Co. com- menced the manufacture and sale of lumber. In 1844, when the River street yard was given up to the city for the purpose of building the viadnet, new rela- tions were entered into, the firm name becoming Rust, King & Clint, which it still continues to be.
Commencing with limited capital, Mr. King has carefully and thoughtfully built up an extensive busi- ness, furnishing employment to many and sharing its benefits with a liberal hand. Amid all the fluctua- tions of monetary affairs, he has never been called to suffer serious financial loss, and at the age of fifty- six years we find him with the harness on, still pur- sning the even tenor of his business life, loved and honored in his domestic relations and esteemed by all as an upright Christian citizen. Whatever of success has attended Mr. King in his calling thus far, he attributes to the blessing of God upon the faithful use of his natural powers.
ZENAS KING.
Zenas King was born in Kingston, Vermont, May 1, 1818. His father was a farmer in that State, but removed to St. Lawrence county, New York, in 1823. Zenas remained on the farm until he was twenty-one years of age, when he came to Ohio and turned his
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attention to other occupations. He settled in Milan, Erie county, and began to take contracts for the erection of buildings, in which business he developed that mechanical ingenuity which he has shown in after life. In 1848 he formed a partnership with Mr. C. HI. Buck and engaged in the mercantile busi- ness, which he followed successfully for eight years.
His health partially failing, Mr. King disposed of his interest and engaged as a traveling agent for an agricultural-machinery house in Cincinnati; after which he became an agent for the Mosley Bridge Company. While connected with this company he became impressed with the defects of wooden bridges. and he continued to study upon the matter until he originated the "King Iron Bridge." In 1861 he obtained a patent for his invention.
The next year Mr. King removed his family to Cleveland, and erected extensive and commodious works on the corner of St. Clair and Wason streets for the purpose of manufacturing his bridges, and also steam boilers. His partner, Mr. Freese, on a dissolution of the firm took the boiler department, while Mr. King retained the bridge business.
The introduction of the bridge was a great task, for it was hard to make people believe that an iron bridge could possibly be built for fifteen hundred or two thousand dollars, when the old iron ones cost six to eight times as much, and yet were so heavy that they were capable of sustaining far less weight than the light and inexpensive ones invented by Mr. King. Knowing the value of his invention and the correct
mechanical principles involved in it, he resolutely pushed its claims until his bridges are now spanning rivers and minor streams in all parts of the country from Maine to Texas, he being the first who intro- duced the use of iron to any extent for ordinary high- way bridges.
Mr. King has already built a hundred miles of bridges, and is making larger additions to the num- ber every year. In 18;1 he organized the " King Bridge Manufacturing Stock Company," of which he is the president and manager. He is also president of the St. Clair and Collamer railway company. The "King bridge" is not only a monument of the inventive genius and business ability of Zenas K'ng, but is also a great publie benefit. and as such it will doubtless be recognized in the near future.
Mr. King has long been a vestryman in St. Paul's Episcopal Church. In 1844 he was married to Miss M. C. Wheelock, of Ogdensburg, New York; they have four children living.
JARED POTTER KIRTLAND.
This eminent man-physician, scientist and nat- uralist-achieved decided distinction in his chosen sphere, and Cuyahoga county, where a large por- tion of his scientific work was done, may well feel proud of a citizen so intently devoted to some of the profoundest researches of which the human mind is
capable. Dr. Kirtland was eminently a self-made naturalist, and to an inborn genius for that branch of science he added enthusiasm and untiring persever- ance-twin sisters of success.
He was born in Wallingford, Connecticut, in 1:95, and at the age of fifteen made his first appearance in Ohio, in Poland township, whither his father had preceded him as general agent of the Connecticut Land company. It being decided that young Kirt- land should be a doctor, he was sent in 1817 to the famous medical school of Dr. Rush, in Philadelphia, and upon completing his education there, he returned to Poland, and entered upon an active medical prac- tice. It was during his experience as a country phy- sician that his taste for natural science began to de- velop itself, and for twenty years of his life in that section he paid eager attention to the study of animal nature, with which the country richly teemed.
The publication of his extensive researches was made under the patronage of the Boston Historical Society, and brought him into prominent notice as a high authority in that department of science. In 1838 he was appointed to the department of Natural llis- tory in the Geological Survey, organized by the State of Ohio, and shortly afterwards was chosen to till a chair in the Ohio Medical College, at Cincinnati. The latter position he vacated in 1838 to take a similar place in the Cleveland Medical College. In that year he purchased a residence in Rockport, and there in- trodneed the culture of fruit, which, largely followed by others, has bestowed remarkable prosperity upon that township. Meanwhile Dr. Kirtland continued his studies as a naturalist and his lectures at the col- lege. ITis developments in the field of scientific hor- ticulture gave to that business an emphatic impetus, and his valned labors as a naturalist are perpetuated in the Kirtland academy of natural sciences, of Cleve- land. At the close of an extended and useful life, Dr. Kirtland died at his home in Rockport, Decem- ber 10, 1877, at the age of eighty-four.
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