Memorial record of the county of Cuyahoga and city of Cleveland, Ohio, Pt.1, Part 35

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. 1n
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 994


USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Memorial record of the county of Cuyahoga and city of Cleveland, Ohio, Pt.1 > Part 35


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CUYAHOGA COUNTY.


drew a mortgage deed or deed of trust of the Atlantic & Great Western Railway Company to trustees, Azariah C. Flagg, of New York, being the principal trustee. This mortgage was given to secure the payment of $4,000,000 in bonds of different denominations; and while there had been other mortgages of railroads in Ohio, some of them very elaborate and lengthy, this mort- gage, which was drawn by the subject of this sketch, is said to be mainly adopted as the late form by most other companies, --- of course with changes in conformity to the laws of the State of Ohio; and he has drawn several mortgages or trust deeds containing clanses of most de- cided importance applicable to this State, one of which protects the mortgaged property from being levied upon and sold for the payment of debts before the mortgage is due or any of its interest coupons.


In 1853 Mr. Tyler commenced to act as the accountant, solicitor and attorney for this rail- road company. Finally the offices were re- moved to Mansfield, Ohio, and then he removed there, still in charge of the business of the company. There he remained until 1858, when work was suspended upon the road, and the organization was not fully kept up.


He then removed to Warren, Ohio. Having been formerly intimately acquainted with Judge Mathew Birchard, late one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Ohio, he entered into part- nership with him; but, political excitement at that time running high, he soon got into poli- ties, and being a Republican was called upon to deliver public addresses, and did make many speeches in favor of the Republican party. Up to and during the canvass and election of Lin- coln he spoke almost continually at some place in this State, in different counties; and in 1860 he was nominated for Probate Judge of Trumbull county, -an office that then paid better than any other in the county, and it was designed to confer upon him a compliment for his efforts for the Republican party. He was elected that fall, the Republican party boing in every way successful.


In the spring of that year he entered upon the duties of his office, but at this time the war broke out. Smmter was taken. The country was in great excitement and many of the law- yers of Trumbull county enlisted, but, having been elected to his office, although he was offered a Captaincy of a company in Trumbull county, he thought it his duty to continue in his office, inasmuch as some one must fill it, and the people of Trumbull county had selected hi, and the office being a good paying office he thonght best to continue in it. In his speeches which he made for the enlisting of soldiers he said that " the office which he held was subject to be turned over to any wounded soldier and lawyer who was competent to fill it;" and to show his wish to be true to his promise he faithfully carried it ont, for notwithstanding he was nominated unanimously, and elected by an increased majority over all other candidates the second term, after he had held the office about one year only, a soldier and a lawyer, and sup- posed to be a good man, came home severely wounded. Brough was then Governor. Mr. Tyler immediately went to Columbus with his resignation, and a recommendation of the ap- pointment of Mr. Yeomans, who was the wounded soldier. Meeting Brongh at the Neil Ilouse he offered him these papers for examina- tion. It might be said here that Mr. Tyler had had considerable acquaintance with Governor Brough while he was connected with the Belle- fontaine & Indiana Railroad, having met him at arions points where the two roads, i. e., the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad and the Bellefontaine & Indiana Railroad, were nearly competitors. Now Brongh showed his " brough- " ness," for, on presenting this resignation and this recommendation, he exclaimed that a resignation was in one hand and an appointment in the other,-the force of which the subject of this sketch appreciated better afterward than at the time. Being anxious to carry out his pledge to the people of Trumbull county, he did not appreciate the situation, and thereupon porhaps got a little offensive himself, in telling the


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Governor that he (the Governor) would not only accept the resignation but would make the ap- pointment; thereupon the Governor smiled and passed out of sight. The next day Mr. Tyler called upon the Auditor of the State, with whom he was well acquainted, and told him what a mistake he had made, and how sorry he was for it; thereupon the Auditor said to him, " You hand in your resignation and also the recom- mendation of the appointment of your suc- cessor, and I will guarantee yon that the resig- nation will be accepted, and the appointment made as you recommend; you no doubt pleased Governor Brought," and this prediction was fulfilled: Yeomans was appointed aud installed in the office.


Soon after this the construction of the Atlan- tic & Great Western Railway started up again, and Mr. Tyler was called upon to act as its general attorney. He then came to Cleveland, in 1865, and was appointed the general attorney of the entire lines from Salamanca through Ohio to Dayton. Feeling as though it was rather too heavy a load for him to carry alone, although very ambitious, he thought of Judge R. P. Ranney as assistant. During the time that he was student in the office of John Ran- ney at Ravenna, Ohio, he frequently met Hon- orable Rufus P. Rauney at the office of his brother there, and had frequently met him while he was acting as one of the judges of the Supreme Court at Columbus; and he knew, as many knew, that Judge Ranney was unex- peetedly to himself elected judge, having run for the office contrary to his own wishes. Mr. Tyler songht an interview with Judge Rauney, and told him of his appointment as general attorney on the lines of road extending from Salamanca to Dayton, and solicited the judge to go in with him and act as counsel for the road, with the understanding that he was not to try cases in the Common Pleas Courts, uor other- wise unless of decided importance. Judge Ranney's reply was that he " would consider the matter, and that the Supreme Court was going to take a recess at a certain time,"-


which was along in February, 1865. However that may be, Judge Ranney came home in Feb- ruary or March, 1865, and immediately sent in his resignation as one of the judges of the Su- preme Court, entered into a partnership, or associated himself with Mr. Tyler, and they re- mained in connection with the business of that company nutil the final hearing on sale was had, somewhere in 1869, when Judge Rauney took the side with the bondholders of the first- mortgage bouds, and the subject of this sketch was the attorney of the stockholders, and also of the subsequent mortgagees. After the road was sold he was also the attorney of the receiver that was appointed. Various matters connected with this receivership, although extremely iu- teresting perhaps to the country, and might be in this case, could be related here; yet, not to prolong the sketeh, it may be stated that Mr. Tyler was the attorney of Robert B. Potter, of New York, who was appointed receiver, after- ward the attorney of Gould & O'Dougherty, receivers, until there was a disagreement be- tween Mellenry & Gould; and then Mr. Tyler thought that he was in duty bound to act for Mr. MelIenry, which he did. Several very in- teresting passages might be related with regard to that matter, which would be interesting more partienlarly to the special friends of the subject of this sketelı.


At a meeting of a very large number of the stockholders of the company at Kent, Ohio, July 12, 1864, the following statement was made and adopted by them, which we quote here: " From the organization of the company, in 1851, until 1858, Mr. Tyler acted in the official capacity of secretary aud legal adviser, and dur- ing that whole period no steps were taken, in- volving an important legal questiou, without his counsel and approval; and, notwithstanding the severe ordeal through which the company was compelled to pass, involving a thorough legal investigation into its organization and all its acts, it has ever been able to vindicate itself, and has not lost a dollar by reason of thus fol- lowing the legal opinions of Mr. Tyler."


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CUYAHOGA COUNTY.


Abont the time the Atlantic & Great West- ern Railway was sold and the new organization took place, the railroad company for which Mr. Tyler is at present the general counsel was or- ganized. Several of the persons formorly in- terested in the Atlantic & Great Western Rail- way, having taken an interest in this new company, requested Mr. Tyler to act as its general counsel and attorney, which he concluded to do, and has been the general counsel and at- torney of the company ever since.


The subject of this sketch has been a stanch Republican all his life, and has been a friend of several of the most distinguished persons of that party,-among them Senator John Sherman and James A. Garfield. He was an Elector during the campaign of 1880, and as such he of course voted for James A. Garfield for Presi -. dent of the United States.


Mr. Tyler's love of literature caused him to seek through Horace Greeley, with whom he was well acquainted, an interview with Wash- ington Irving. The works of Washington Irving had become extremely familiar to him, -so much so that he could repeat verbatim long passages taken from some of his books, as Salamagundi and Knickerbocker and others. This love of Irving's and other literary works was stimulated by his boyhood instructor, to whom reference has been heretofore made.


Taking Mr. Greeley's letter to Mr. Irving, he found him in a rather melancholy condition: he had not been writing for several weeks, the work he had in hand then being the last volume of the Life of George Washington. This letter being handed to Mr. Irving, he kindly received its bearer and conversation commenced. The introductory letter assuring him that its bearer was familiar with his writings made Mr. Tyler feel ambitious to verify that fact, and he com- ienced repeating from the early works of Irving certain full passages; thereupon Mr. Irving be- came very merry, and said, " Your instructor must have stimulated you into a great love of history,"-and went on to talk freely. One remark is particularly worthy of mention: Mr.


Irving said that, " having been abroad for sev- eral years in different countries of Europe, when I walk along Broadway it reminds me of a boiling cauldron, in which the nationalities of the earth are being boiled together in one mass, and a new people, a new class of humanity is the result,-the ' Great American People,'- which in my judgment will ultimately excel all other peoples upon the earth." It seems that Irving made minutes of certain things that occurred (which he did in this case), and por- tions of this conversation have been published in his life and letters. This interview is one of the events of which the subject of this sketch is decidedly proud.


Pierre Irving, a nephew of Washington Irving, rode from Irvington to New York with Mr. Tyler, and he said on the way that "the interview was very opportune, for his uncle's spirits had been in that way revived, and he seemed to feel better than he had for several weeks; and he said, 'I am going to work." Mr. Pierre Irving further said, "You came there as a private citizen, as an admirer of Mr. Irving's works, and showed him most decidedly that you were acquainted with them, and loved Irving for his works; and it seemed to do him good. Many had come to him with their books to have them dedicated to him, or have him write his name in them, and he became dis- gusted with that class of visitors."


Mr. Tyler is still actively engaged in attend- ing to the business of his profession. IIis duties as general counsel of the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling Railroad Company demand his special attention, but in connection with his son, William B. Tyler, he is engaged in general practice of the law.


The subject of this sketch was first married to Miss Nancy V. Horr, who died within a few years after their marriage. By her he had one son, since deceased. ITis second marriage was to Miss Sarah A. Mckinney, with whom he lived many years. By her he had two sons; Charles W. Tyler, now residing in New York city, by profession a journalist; and William


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B. Tyler, now practicing law with him in Cleveland, Ohio. He has again married, this time the widow of Mr. James B. Parish, de- ceased, she having been a scholar of his when a young girl, and her name Miss Einer I. Waite, and for whom he had entertained kindly regards, especially as she and his former wife were inti- mate friends.


OSIIUA B. GLENN, a prominent real- estate dealer of Cleveland, was born in Ashland county, Ohio, February 16, 1833, a son of Joslina Glenn. The latter was born in Havre de Grace, Maryland, in 1794. Ilis grandfather, Norman Glenn, was a native of the north of Ireland, but of Scotch descent. Ile braved the trials and dangers of a life in Colo- nial America to enjoy religions and other liber- ties. He was probably an officer in the Colonial . army during the Revolutionary war, and after- ward an officer in a civil capacity. Ilis son, Jolin Glenn, married a Miss Streater, and they had five children. The family subsequently lo- eated in Wooster and Jeromesville, Ohio, where they were engaged in agricultural pursuits. John Glenn died in Ashland county, this State, in 1852, at the age of eighty-four years. Ilis son, Joslina Glenn, the father of Joshua B., was a soldier in the war of 1812, with England, un- der General Winfield Scott, and was stationed principally at Baltimore. After his discharge le came to Ohio in search of a western home, pitching his tent in Ashland county in 1814. He settled in the dense forest, ont of which he grabbed a farm, and his nearest neighbor was then two miles distant. Mr. Glenn married Sarah Beatty, a native of Maryland, and they had the following children: Robert, deceased; Joli, who died from a disease contracted in the army; William, in Ashland county; James, who also died from the effects of army service; Elizabeth J., wife of Dr. Cowen, of Ashland county; Mary, deceased at the age of twenty


years; Joshua B., whose name introduces this notice; and Nicholas, a farmer of Jeromesville, Ohio.


J. B. Glenn, the subject of this sketch, re- mained on the home farm until twenty-one years of age. lle was then employed as clerk by Robert McMahon, of Jeromesville, one year, and during the following year was engaged in the same occupation for the dry-goods firm of D. Il. King & Company, of Wooster, Ohio. September 2, 1858, he came to Cleveland, where he was engaged in the commission busi- ness for a time, afterward conducted a retail establishment on Ontario street, and next en- tered the jobbing foreign and domestic fruit trade.


Mr. Glenn left that business in charge of a competent person and enlisted for service in the late war, in 1863. He became a member of Company F, One Hundred and Fiftieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served on pieket duty at Washington, District of Columbia, until the expiration of his term of enlistment. Mr. Glenn then resumed his business. In 1870 he took liis family to New York city, for the pur- pose of giving his afflicted wife the advantage of the best medical skill, and remained there three years. After returning to this city he en- gaged in the real-estate business, during which time he represented the old Sixth ward, from 1881 to 1883, in the City Council. In 1884 he entered a real-estate business in company with Colonel Wilcox, continuing with that gentle- man two years. In 1886, having conceived a plan to settle Northern immigrants on South- ern soil, Mr. Glenn located at West Point, Mis- sissippi, where he established a large colony, and conducted a profitable business until the Presidential election in the fall of 1888. The old rebel spirit and Sonthern animosities toward Northern men became so aroused as to seriously interfere with the progress of the colony. In 1891 Mr. Glenn and many others left that coun- try for their Northern homes. In July, 1891, he was appointed Steward for the Cleveland I- firmary, and served in that position until May 1, 1893.


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CUYAHOGA COUNTY.


Mr. Glenn was married at Wooster, Ohio, in 1855, to Miss Lydia Saybolt, a daughter of Abram Saybolt, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They had six children, viz .: Dayton W., born in 1857, was employed as enrolling clerk, afterward as Sergeant-at-Arms of the Ohio Senate, and is now a traveling salesman; John S., a printer by profession; Nettie Mand, a teacher in the Cleve- land schools; Emma B., wife of A. L. Dunklin, of St. Charles, Missouri; Edith B., now Mrs. Morrow, of this city; and Lyman J., a railroad postal clerk. The wife and mother died June 21, 1883. In November, 1885, Mr. Glenn was united in marriage with Laura B., a daughter of Isaac Arbuckle, a native of Pennsylvania, but subsequently located near New Lisbon, Ohio. Hle had the following children: Mrs. Itha Smith, of Denver, Colorado; William F., of Wood county, Ohio; Josephine Smith, a resident of New Lisbon; Eher L., of Beaver county, Pennsylvania; Mrs. Mary Gilmore, of Colum- biana county; Elizabeth McBaine, of Beaver county, Pennsylvania; Mrs. Mina Beach, of this city; and Mrs. Glenn.


D ANIEL KELLEY was a pioneer of Cleve- land, to which place he emigrated from New York in 1814, and the Kelley fan- ily therefore has long since been of considerable prominence in this city.


Joseph Kelley, a ship-builder, was the parent tree of the family in America. Ilis nativity is not known, but it is very probable that he was of Welsh origin, and the year of his birth 1690. He was an early settler of Norwich, Connecti- cut, where he was a citizen in 1716. About 1723 he married Lydia Calkins, who was a de- scendant of Hugh Calkins, one of a body of emigrants from Monmonthshire on the borders of Wales, who came to New England in 1640, with their minister, Rev. Mr. Binman. Joseph and Lydia Kelley had a son, Daniel, born in 1721, at Norwich, Connectient, and died in Vermont, aged nearly ninety years. In 1751 he married Abigail Reynolds, a daughter of


Joseph and Lydia Reynolds. She bore him several children, of whom only Daniel and Abi- gail ever married.


Daniel Kelley, the second, was born at Nor- wich, Connectient, November 27, 1755, and in 1787 married Jemima Stow, born at Middle- town, Connectient, December 28, 1763, of Eng- lish lineage, and died at Cleveland, September 13 (?), 1815. They removed to Lowville, New York, in 1798. Hle was a pioneer and founder of that city, where he figured conspicuously in public life. In the fall of 1814 he and his wife removed to Cleveland, whither several of their sons had preceded them. In Cleveland he served as Postmaster and County Treasurer, and died August 7, 1831. The children of Daniel and Jemima Kelley were all born at Middletown, Connecticut, as follows: Datus, born April 24, 1788; Alfred, born November 7, 1789; Irad, born October 24, 1791; Joseph Reynolds, born March 29, 1794; Thomas Moore, born March 17, 1797; and Daniel, born October 21, 1802.


Datus Kelley married, in 1811, Sara Dean, and they had the following children: Addison, Julins, Daniel, Samuel, Emeline, Caroline, Eliza- beth, Alfred Stow and William Datus. Abont 1810, together with others of the family, Datns Kelley came to Cleveland and purchased a farm abont one mile west of Roeky river. In 1833 he and his brother Trad visited Cunningham's (now Kelley's) island, by solicitation of Mr. Allen, agent for the owners, with a view of purchasing the island. August 20, 1833, the two brothers made the first purchase of lands, 1,444.92 acres, comprising the eastern half of the island, the price being $1.50 per acre. Other purchases were made until the brothers became owners of the entire island, - 3,000 acres. In 1836 Datus Kelley removed his family to the island, on which he resided till his death, which occurred Jannary 24, 1866. He was a patriarch in this community, upon which he and his descendants have exercised a lasting in- fnence. He effected the development of the material resources of the island by clearing its surface of the valable cedar forests which


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CUYAHOGA COUNTY.


covered it and eultivating the grape and peach. Ile established communication with the main land, opened limestone quarries, built a hotel and donated a public hall to the township, and did other deeds of public spirit, thus making more appropriate the name of the island than sneh would be simply because of ownership. He was a warm Friend of education and gave generous assistance to the founding of schools. His moral influence was manifest in its effect upon the settlers forming the community, to whom lands were sold.


To his noble and useful life that of his good, motherly and charitable wife was a blessing. She was deservingly and familiarly known by the title of " Aunt " among the people. She was born at Martinsburg, New York, as a danghter of Samuel Dean. The Dean family were pioneers of Cuyahoga county, and many of the family now live in Rockport township. Mrs. Kelley's death preceded that of her husband, she dying March 21, 1864.


Alfred Kelley, a son of Daniel and Jemima (Stow) Kelley, was born at or near Middletown, Connecticut, November 7, 1787. In the winter of 1798-'99 his parents removed to Lowville, New York, where Alfred attended the common school, and completed an academical education at Fairfield Academy. In 1807 he took up the study of law in the office of Judge Jonas Platt, under whose direetions he continued his studies till the spring of 1810, when he came to Cleve- land, which place at that time was a hamlet of only three framed and six log honses. Ile came to Cleveland in company with his uncle, Judge Joshua Stow, and Jared P. Kirtland, the latter then being a young medical student.


Alfred Kelley was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1810, and, becoming Prosecuting Attorney, held that office until 1822. He was an advocate of extraordinary force and cogeney, and a very large and Incrative practice he relinquished to take charge of the construction of the Ohio Canal, of which he had long been an carnest projector. In 1814, along with Hon. William A. Harper, he was elected to represent Ashta-


bala, Geanga and Cuyahoga counties in the State Legislature, in the House of which body he was then the youngest yet most prominent and influential member.


To the Legislature he was re-elected in 1815 and 1816, and thereafter served several terms, serving both in the House and Senate. As a legislator he was of marked ability, was always an advocate of advanced ideas in jurisprudence, in finance, in internal improvement, etc., and was one of the early advocates of the building .of canals, and upon the adoption of this policy he was, in 1822, appointed a commissioner to carry it into effect. To him was intrusted the superintendency of the construction of the Ohio Canal, connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio river. Of this project he has been ap- propriately called the father. Whether or not the idea of this eanal originated with him, its completion and snecess were due to his energy, perseverance and ability. In October, 1840, he removed to Columbus, this State, where he re- sided during the remainder of his life.


August 25, 1817, Mary Seymour Welles, oldest daughter of Major Melancthon W. Welles, of Martinsburg, New York, became his wife, and they had the following children: Maria, Jane, Charlotte, Edward, Adelaide, Henry, Helen, Frank, Annie, Alfred and Katherine Kelley.


In 1840 Mr. Kelley was appointed one of the canal fund commissioners, having charge of the funds necessary to prosecute the various canal enterprises in which Ohio was then engaged. While in the Legislature, in 1816, Mr. Kelley drew the State Bank statute, which nearly a half century later served as the model of our present national banking law. He labored zealonsly and judiciously to give the State a just and equitable tax system. He introdneed the first bill to abolish imprisonment for debt ever brought before an Ohio general assembly, in 1818, and in the grave crisis of 1841 he saved the State from the indelible disgrace of repudiation by pledging his own personal for. tune to secure the money with which the obli-


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gations of Ohio could be met. He was not only a lawyer of marked ability, but a legislator of nnimpeachable purpose, generons to a fault with his own, but serupulously exact in caring for the property of others; disinterestedly .pa- triotic, the good of the State was his chief con- cern, and he believed that a public trust should never be a means to personal wealth or aggrand- izement. Ohio has furnished to the nation financiers of world-wide reputation. Alfred was the pioneer of all, the peer of any.


By several railroad companies he was chosen to direct and superintend the construction of their roads. He was the first president of the Columbus & Xenia Railroad (1845); was presi- dent of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad (1847), and of the Cleveland, Paines- ville & Ashtabula Railroad (1857).




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