USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > History of Cuyahoga County soldiers' and sailors' monument. Scenes and incidents from its inception to its completion.--Description of the memorial structure, and roll of honor > Part 27
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Other corporations-though less heavily taxed-con- tributed as freely. The Western Union Telegraph Co.
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sent the Aid Society's dispatches free; the Omnibus Co. gave passes to the officers, after the establishment of the Soldiers' Home; the frank of the society was for three years recognized by the Post Office Department, which made possible the vast circulation of documents containing information and issued from its office, amount- ing to one hundred and twenty-five thousand. To the Cleveland daily papers the indebtedness of the Aid Society was very great. The columns of all were open to the bulletins and reports of the sanitary work, and a large space in the Cleveland Herald and Cleveland Leader was weekly occupied by material prepared at the Bank Street office. From the United States and Ameri- can express companies, innumerable favors were re- ceived, as also from the Cleveland gas and water com- panies. It is, of course, impossible to record within the present limits the great obligation of the Soldiers' Aid Society to individuals.
To acquaint themselves with the method of distribut- ing hospital stores, and to obtain specific information as to supplies most urgently needed, the officers of the Aid Society from time to time visited the front, inspected the Commission's depots and its Soldiers' Homes and went to Pittsburg Landing on the hospital steamers. The reports rendered of these inspections did much to encourage and stimulate the Soldiers' Aid Society and its branches, since not only was the efficiency of the Sanitary Commission's system confirmed, but the need of further effort established.
The hospital steamer Lancaster No. 2, which carried down cargoes of sanitary stores and brought up the wounded from the South to the hospitals along the Ohio River, was, from the first, very largely fitted out and supplied on every trip by the Cleveland Branch.
One of the most important departinents of the sani- tary work was called the Special Relief Service. From
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the first days of the War, cases where personal aid could be given were numerous, and a small room in the Union Depot was occupied in April, 1862, for the ac- commodation of invalid Soldiers in transit. The occa- sional services of a nurse were secured, and the patients fed from the depot restaurant. These limited quarters proved inadequate, when the two years inen, returning from the lower Mississippi, brought with them so great a number of sick and wounded. By the favor of the railroad companies, a site was secured upon the wharf, parallel with the Union Depot, and a building put up for the purposes of a Soldiers' Home. This building, which was on several subsequent occasions enlarged, was opened on December 12th, 1863. During its existence, nearly fifty-eight thousand Soldiers received aid and comfort within its walls. This number comprised inen in transit, who if able to proceed upon their journey. received only food, lodging or clothing; sick and wounded men unequal to further travel who remained under skilled treatment until convalescent; patients consigned to Camp Cleveland and awaiting transfer to that hospital ; regiments en route for other States, upon their discharge, who were fed and had their sick cared for; the sick of those Ohio troops who were entertained upon their return by the City of Cleveland; and dis- charged and disabled Soldiers, awaiting the settlement of claims for pension and bounty, or out of work and seeking employment. The number of cases where in- dividual relief was required made serious demands upon the sympathy and attention of members of the Soldiers' Aid Society, and no branch of the general work excited more interest. In October, 1865, the furniture and out- fit of the Soldiers' Home, as well as the patients therein resident, were transferred to the Home at Columbus, O., which was maintained by the State until the general Government could make permanent provision for its
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pensioners. Two rooms in the Cleveland institution were kept open until 1866, for use in occasional cases and as a point from which patients could be sent to Columbus. In June, 1866, it was finally closed and the building sold.
The Aid Rooms were from the first a center of inquiry regarding Soldiers in the field or in hospital, and tlie society early availed itself of the Sanitary Commission's Hospital Directory service. This record of Soldiers in hospital in the Western Department, daily posted, enabled the friends of a patient to obtain reliable infor- mation regarding his condition. Through the field- agents of the Commission, also, the graves of Union Soldiers could be often identified and their bodies sent home, in the care of the Cleveland office.
Another department of the Soldiers' Aid Society's work was its employment agency, whereby occupation was secured for disabled Soldiers which was suited to their physical capacity. Out of three hundred applica- tions inade to this agency, situations for two hundred and six men were obtained-an unexpected result under the limitations of the applicants.
At the close of the War, the Cleveland Branchi as- sumed a work which the General Sanitary Commission then laid down. The society established an agency for the collection of pension and bounty claims, free of charge to the Soldiers. This business was put in charge of Jasper E. Williams, a brilliant young lawyer, whose subsequent illness threw upon the secretary and treas- urer of the society the conduct of the agency until it became apparent that the work inust go into other hands. About two thousand Soldiers' claims were filed, through this agency, and all valid ones collected with- out charge to the applicants.
The number of Soldiers and their families relieved through the different departments of the special relief
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work reached sixty thousand five hundred and ninety- eight; many of these received aid through long peri- ods, and often to a considerable amount. No statistics can give the true record of what was asked and granted in individual cases. The Soldiers' Home, which was the chief channel of special relief, was conducted upon a broad principle which allowed always of favorable doubt in temporary cases. Its general government rested exclusively with the Soldiers' Aid Society, either the secretary or treasurer being in attendance every morning at the Home office.
The financial support of the Soldiers' Aid Society was, as a whole, purely voluntary. Contributions were obtained by means of frequent public presentation of the necessity for the relief work, and of the success at- tending its operations, rather than upon direct solicita- tion. An exception was made when for a certain period the society asked and obtained monthly membership fees, whereby a small but fixed income was secured. The Soldiers' Home was also built by funds solicited for the purpose. The general revenue of the society was derived from the free-will gifts of the people of Northern Ohio, either directly contributed, or received through the frequent successful amateur entertainments. A portion of California's grand contribution to the San- itary Commission came to its Cleveland branch, but the society's great work subsequent to 1864-when several carloads of hospital supplies were sent weekly to the front, when the hospital steamers and trains were sup- ported, and fifty-seven thousand five hundred and ninety-two Soldiers were individually relieved-was only made possible through the results of the Northern Ohio Sanitary Fair which was opened Feb. 22, 1864. By means of this fair, the Soldiers' Aid Society was enabled to show at the close of its operations a grand total of supplies disbursed amounting in value to $982,-
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481.25. To this should be added the amount in cash paid for the special relief service $36,636.33, and $5,000 contributed to the State Soldiers' Home at Colin- bus. The whole amount expended in the purchase of material and vegetables and the shipping of the same amounted to $59,993.09. The total of cash contribu- tions received from every source during the War was $119,938.26, advances to societies or Soldiers which were repaid, or commissions to be executed for U. S. Sani- tary Commission not being of course included. The whole amount expended to 1869 was $115,751.28, ex- clusive of the above commissions. The balance of cash on hand was employed for the benefit of individual Soldiers in the Columbus Home or in Northern Ohio, and what remained was, in October, 1884, turned over to the Grand Army of the Republic, in Cleveland.
The Northern Ohio Soldiers' Aid Society contribut- ing towns were as follows : Ashland Co., II towns. Kelley's Island, I town. Lake Co., S towns. Lawrence Co., Pa., I town. Ashtabula Co., 33 towns. Carroll Co., 4 towns.
Chautauqua Co., N. Y., I town.
Livingston Co., N. Y., 2 towns. Lorain Co., 24 towns.
Columbiana Co., 15 towns.
Crawford Co., Pa., 3 towns. Mahoning Co., 12 towns.
Medina Co., IS towns.
Cuyahoga Co., 26 towns. Deer Creek Co., Pa., I town. Monroe Co., N. Y., I town. Erie Co., 7 towns. Oakland Co., Mich., I town. Erie Co., Pa., 14 towns. Olivesburgh Co., I town. Ottawa Co., 4 towns. Portage Co., 22 towns. Richland Co., 2 towns. Sandusky Co., 2 towns. Seneca Co., 5 towns. Geauga Co., 19 towns. Hardin Co., I town. Harrison Co., I town. Holmes Co., 9 towns. Huron Co., IS towns.
Jackson Co., Mich., I town. Stark Co., 20 towns. Jefferson Co., 3 towns.
Summit Co., 25 towns.
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HISTORY OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY
Trumbull Co., 28 towns. Wayne Co., 6 towns.
Tuscarawas Co., 4 towns. Williams Co., I town.
Warren Co., Pa., 2 towns. Wood Co., I town.
OFFICERS NORTHERN OHIO SOLDIERS' AID SOCIETY. President.
Mrs. B. Rouse. Vice-Presidents.
Mrs. Win. Melhinch, Mrs. Lewis Burton,
Mrs. John Shelley, Mrs. J. A. Harris.
Secretary. Miss Mary Clark Brayton.
Treasurer.
Miss Ellen F. Terry. Office Assistants.
Miss Sara Mahan, Miss Carrie P. Younglove, Mrs. Emma L. Miller. Committees.
Mrs. Geo. A. Benedict,
Mrs. Dr. Isom,
Mrs. S. Belden,
Mrs. H. Iddings,
Mrs. T. Burnham,
Mrs. J. Lyman,
Mrs. L. Alcott,
Mrs. Joseph Lyman,
Mrs. D. Chittenden,
Mrs. C. W. Lepper,
Mrs. John Coon,
Mrs. Win. Mittleberger,
Mrs. J. H. Chase,
Mrs. H. Newberry,
Mrs. Wmn. Collins,
Mrs. Stanley Noble,
Mrs. Bolivar Butts,
Mrs. Joseph Perkins,
Mrs. Hiram Griswold,
Mrs. J. M. Richards,
Mrs. C. M. Giddings,
Mrs. O. B. Skinner,
Mrs. Charles Hickox,
Mrs. Southworth,
Mrs. D. Howe,
Mrs. W. T. Smith,
Mrs. L. M. Hubby,
Mrs. W. E. Standart,
Mrs. J. Hayward,
Mrs. J. H. Sargent,
Mrs. W. H. Hayward,
Mrs. Philo Scovill,
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SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT.
Mrs. C. A. Tracy, Mrs. S. Williamson,
Mrs. Peter Thatcher, Mrs. J. H. Wade, Mrs. M. C. Younglove. Assistants.
Mrs. H. G. Abbey,
Mrs. Hunt,
Mrs. Dr. Arter,
Mrs. T. Bolton,
Mrs. A. Foote,
Mrs. W. J. Boardman,
Mrs. T. M. Kelley,
Miss Bixby,
Misses Kellogg,
Mrs. James Barnett,
Mrs. S. A. Jewett,
Miss Annette Barnett,
Mrs. R. Lauderdale,
Mrs. Beverlin,
Mrs. H. H. Little,
Mrs. John Crowell,
Mrs. Dr. Long,
Mrs. Win. B. Castle,
Mrs. Merritt,
Mrs. Bradford,
Miss Mahan,
Mrs. S. W. Crittenden,
Mrs. Geo. B. Ely,
Mrs. J. T. Stevens,
Mrs. A. Fuller,
Mrs. E. F. Gaylord,
Mrs. H. B. Hurlbut,
Mrs. S. O. Griswold,
Mrs. Dr. Hopkins,
Mrs. G. A. Hyde,
Mrs. F. W. Parsons,
Miss Belle Carter,
Miss Annie Baldwin,
Miss Mary Shelley,
Miss Nettie Brayton,
Miss Sterling,
Miss Carrie Grant, Miss Stewart,
Miss Georgia Gordon, Miss Lily Walton,
Miss Helen Lester, Miss Clara Woolson,
Mrs. Geo. Mygatt,
Mrs. Willey,
Miss Vaughan.
Document Clerks.
Miss Annie Carter,
Miss Nellie Russell,
Mrs. A. B. Stone,
Mrs. L. Severance,
Mrs. E. Thayer,
Mrs. Dr. Thayer,
Mrs. Whitman,
Mrs. R. C. Vates.
Miss Pickands,
Mrs. A. M. Harman,
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HISTORY OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY
NORTHERN OHIO SANITARY FAIR EXECUTIVE COM- MITTEE.
Chairman. T. P. Handy. Secretaries.
Mary Clark Brayton, H. M. Chapin,
Ellen F. Terry.
Dr. J. S. Newberry,
Peter Thatcher, Jr.,
Joseph Perkins,
Amasa Stone, Jr.,
George B. Senter,
Stillman Witt,
Samuel L. Mather,
Win. B. Castle,
Mrs. B. Rouse,
Mrs. Chas. A. Terry,
Mrs. Wm. Melhinch,
Mrs. Geo. A. Benedict,
Mrs. Lewis Burton,
Mrs. S. Williamson,
Mrs. J. A. Harris,
Mrs. L. M. Hubby,
Mrs. John Shelley,
Mrs. Win. B. Castle,
CHAIRMEN OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES.
Peter Thatcher,
William Edwards,
I. U. Masters,
Win. J. Boardman,
T. N. Bond,
T. P. Handy,
J. G. Hussey,
George Willey,
M. C. Younglove,
D. P. Eells,
Wm. Bingham,
John F. Warner,
J. V. N. Yates,
A. W. Fairbanks,
H. F. Brayton,
Col. W. H. Hayward,
John N. Frazee,
Mrs. Dr. E. Sterling,
Mrs. Fayette Brown,
Mrs. M. C. Younglove,
Mrs. A. G. Colwell,
Mrs. T. Burnham.
MRS. BENJAMIN ROUSE.
Rebecca Cromwell was born in Salem, Mass., Oct. 30, 1799. She married Benjamin Rouse in Boston, Ang. 12, 1821, and, after living a few years in New York City, removed in 1830 to Cleveland, Ohio, to engage in mis- sionary work under the auspices of the American Sunday School Union. The early years of Mr. and
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SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT.
Mrs. Rouse in Cleveland were devoted to unremitting, earnest work in the cause of religion, and in visiting the sick and poor. Mrs. Rouse early showed those qualities which distinguished her after-life. She was identified with the various charitable organizations in Cleveland-the Dorcas Society, the charities connected with the First Baptist Church, and the Cleveland Or- phan Asylum, whose president she continued for many years to be.
Mrs. Rouse was elected president of the Northern Ohio Soldiers' Aid Society in April, 1861, and held this office till the close of its operations. Gifted with a re- markable degree of native eloquence, Mrs. Rouse was able to stimulate the audiences whom she addressed in the interests of the Sanitary Commission to a point hardly to be reached by the most practiced orator. Her own loyal convictions and fervent sympathies were trans- lated into simple yet forcible language, intelligible to all who heard her.
She visited Wheeling, Va., in 1861, Louisville and Perryville, Ky., in 1862. In the latter year, she went with some other members of the society to Pittsburg Landing, on the second trip of the hospital steamer Lancaster, No. 2. The information she gathered dur- ing these journeys was communicated on her return to the societies of eager workers in Northern Olio.
Mrs. Rouse's personality was undoubtedly a powerful element in the success of the Soldiers' Aid Society. With her small, erect figure and shrewd, kindly coun- tenance, she conveyed the impression of quick intelli- gence and decision of character to all with whom she came in contact. Her nature was possessed of great strength, patience and endurance, which her delicate physical constitution hardly foretold.
With the close of the Sanitary Commission operations, Mrs. Ronse's connection with public charities ceased,
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save that she continued as its president her active in- terest in the Orphan Asylum. She died Dec. 23, 1887, peacefully, in the fullness of years, leaving behind her the record of a long life, worthily spent.
MRS. WILLIAM MELHINCH.
Mrs. William Melhinch, whose maiden name was Rosamond Spooner Dexter, was a native of Ogdens- burgh, New York, and came to Cleveland to live in 1850, Mr. Melhinch being a commission merchant in this city. She was elected vice-president of the Sol- diers' Aid Society at its inauguration and continued in office throughout the War. Her special work lay in the superintendence of the hospital stores-in their recep- tion and repacking-and the influence of her joyous, sunny nature was felt not only by her associates, but by the soldier-visitors to the Aid Rooms to whose wants she ministered. Mrs. Melhinch died in Cleveland in 1888, after many years of grief and suffering. Her memory is honored by those friends who survive her for the loving nature and patient courage which she manifested under all circumstances of personal trial. She was the last to realize her own worth, or to believe herself entitled to commendation.
MRS. JOHN SHELLEY.
Clarinda Russell was born in Adams, N. Y., June 7th, 1820, and was married to Mr. John Shelley, of Cleve- land, January 17th, 1840. Actively engaged from her early connection with Trinity Church, Cleveland, in the charities of that parish, she was known as a woman of ability in affairs and possessed of excellent judgment. In April, 1861, she was elected vice-president of the Soldiers' Aid Society, which office she held until early in 1863, when she tendered her resignation, upon her temporary removal from Cleveland. During her
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connection with the society, she gave it her time and the benefit of her practical knowledge in executive matters. In the direction of the work room, and in the councils of the office, she was always to be depended upon for calm, reasonable judgment, and unswerving devotion to the interests of the society. Mrs. Shelley died in Cleveland, August 27, 1877.
MRS. LEWIS BURTON.
Mrs. Lewis Burton, wife of Rev. Lewis Burton, Rector of St. John's Church, of Cleveland, West Side, succeeded Mrs. Shelley as vice-president. Mrs. Burton's term of office extended to November 1, 1864, when she resigned the position. Her services were most valuable to the Soldiers' Aid Society as representing its interests to members who living at a somewhat greater distance from the central office were yet among the most constant contributors to its stores. Mrs. Burton was very faithful in the duties of her position, and her withdrawal was greatly regretted by her associates.
MRS. JOSIAH A. HARRIS.
Mrs. Harris was born in Egremont, Mass., in 1810, and removed at an early age to Ridgeville, Ohio, with her parents. On her marriage in 1830 to Mr. J. A. Harris, she came to Cleveland, where she has since lived. Mr. Harris was connected with the Cleveland Herald during almost his entire life in this city and was distinguished by his literary appreciation and quick sympathies. Mrs. Harris has been connected with many fornis of charitable work since her marriage, and has seen the growth of the city of Cleveland from its feeble beginnings to its present development. On the organi- zation of the Soldiers' Aid Society, she became one of its most active and valuable members, present almost every day at the store-room, engaged in the business of the special committee of which she was chairman,
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HISTORY OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY
and also in attendance at the Soldiers' Home, when regiments were to be entertained, or an increased nitin- ber of sick Soldiers required care. On the retirement of Mrs. Lewis Burton, Mrs. Harris was elected vice- president, November 1, 1864, an office for which her long familiarity with the work of the society and her devo- tion to its interests had peculiarly fitted her. Mrs. Harris is still living in Cleveland, and in full sympathy with the charities with which her life has been asso- ciated.
MARY CLARK BRAYTON.
None who ever knew Mary Clark Brayton could fail to be impressed with the strength and individuality of her character. Strong to bear, as she was quick to feel and prompt to act, her nature was marked by a depth and breadth which disclosed no symptom of over- growth, or partial development. This conscious power enabled her to assume and bear the burdens of lives in close association with her own, to hold them in sacred trust, so long as her ability to serve should last.
At the outbreak of the War, her mind found in the Sanitary Commission work a field for the exercise of powers whose activity had been hitherto comparatively limited. It had noble work to engage her mnatured in- tellect, arousing its resources and bringing into play her remarkable executive abilities, while touching the springs of passionate enthusiasm. Of the officers of the Soldiers' Aid Society, elected in April, 1861, to direct its work, none save Mrs. Rouse, the president, had been accustomed to public service, or, indeed, to trained work of any kind. As secretary of the Cleveland branch of the U. S. Sanitary Commission, Miss Brayton ilet the demands of an unprecedented and comprehen- sive office with quick resource and inexhaustible energy. Her correspondence with the five or six hundred soci- eties which composed the Northern Ohio Soldiers' Aid
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Society exemplifies-perhaps more than any one thing- her intellectual resources. She maintained constant intercourse with each of them throughout the War, explaining to them the Sanitary Commission system, aiding in the solution of local difficulties, stimulating them with information from the seat of war, always en- couraging them with her own belief in the efficacy of the relief work. There are twenty-one volumes pre- served of the letters from these auxiliary societies, but the collection is incomplete without those of the secre- tary of the central office.
In the interests of the supply work, Miss Brayton visited Washington in 1861, at the time of the first battle of Bull Run, and again in 1862, when the great rotunda was filled with empty beds waiting for the wounded from the battle of Antietam, and the city hospitals were overflowing with patients. In April, 1862, Miss Brayton visited Nashville, where, on the fall of Fort Donaldson, a depot of supplies was established, and on the news of the battle of Shiloli, went down to Pittsburg Landing on the first steamer which carried relief to the wounded. In October, 1862, she visited, with Mrs. Rouse, the hospitals at Perryville, and in May, 1863, accompanied Dr. Read, Sanitary Com- mission Inspector, to Louisville, Nashville and Mur- freesboro.
The history of the supply work Miss Brayton has herself recorded, with the operations of the Sanitary Fair. She was not less interested in the special relief service. With the close of the operations of the Soldiers' Aid Society, and the issuing of its final report in 1869, Miss Brayton's public service ceased; her na- ture, too deeply drawn upon, on its intellectual and emotional sides, needed temporary repose. That her subsequent life was clouded by illness and was all too brief, seems now but a tale that is told, since what she
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hoped for has at last been realized, in God's own time and way.
Measured by time and in the light of human seeing, the life of Mary Clark Brayton seems sadly short, for she died in 1879; but measured by energy and work ac- complished, who can call it incomplete ?
ELLEN FRANCES TERRY.
Ellen Frances Terry was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on December 26, 1837, and was the daughter of Charles Augustus Terry, M. D., and Julia E. Woodbridge, his wife.
On the organization of the Soldiers' Aid Society in 1861, she was elected its treasurer, which office she held throughout the society's existence. Her duties com- prised not only those specially appertaining to her office, but the keeping of the records of receipts and disbursements of hospital stores. Her warmest interest lay in the special relief work, especially in the Soldiers' Home, built through the efforts of Mrs. Wm. Melhinch and herself, and to which a large part of her time was devoted. The history of the special relief service in the final report of the society, with the accompanying detailed tables and the statistics of disbursements of stores, are Miss Terry's work.
In 1872, Miss Terry left Cleveland upon the death of her parents, and in ISSI accepted the office of general secretary of the State Charities Aid Association, of New York City. This position she held for two years, re- signing it, upon her marriage, in 1883, to Charles Fred- erick Johnson, M. A., Professor of English Literature in Trinity College, Hartford, Conn.
SARA MAHAN.
Sara Mahan was the daughter of the Rev. Asa Mahan, first President of Oberlin College. She was born May 4tl1, 1840, and early adopted the profession of a teacher,
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in which her success was very remarkable. She entered the office of the Soldiers' Aid Society, August, 1862, with an unusual equipment of methodical training and business experience. In the rush of impetuous fervor which, with its passion of generous giving, at times severely tried the resources of the Aid Society, such qualities as Miss Mahan possessed were most valuable. In the printing office, where she acted as forewoman in charge of the amateur corps, she rendered most efficient service, as well as in the clerical work, which was her chief employment.
The strain of these duties was severe, and from their effects Miss Mahan never entirely recovered. At the close of the War she took up other occupations, which her failing health compelled her to lay aside, one after another. But neither illness nor the sure decay of her physical nature could conquer the resolute will and indomitable courage. The end was long delayed, but came at last, on the twenty-second day of January, 1875.
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