USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Memorial record of the county of Cuyahoga and city of Cleveland, Ohio, Pt.1 > Part 64
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The next important event in his life was his choice of a wife, namely, Miss Polly Farnham, a native of Connectient who had come to Rich-
field with her parents, Jolm and wife. Her father "took np" 1,200 acres in that township. But Mrs. Adams died in 1846, being laid at rest in Richfield township, after she had become the mother of four children, namely: Mary, who married Dr. Monson and died in Independence township, Cuyahoga county; Phoebe, now Mrs. John Noble of Brecksville township, and Arthur, the subject of this sketch; besides Eliza, who died in infancy. After the death of his wife Mr. Adams returned to Connecticut and married a widow, Mrs. Auna Barber.
In 1833 Mr: Adams moved into Brecksville township, purchasing over 325 acres of timber land, in its primitive State, and located in the southern part of the township. Naturally a a blacksmith-shop was among the first improve- ments upon this property, and in a short time he was known far and near as a good workman and of absolute necessity to the wants of the growing pioneer community. He had therefore a large and prosperous business. To obtain the iron required in his work he made a trip to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, which required many days to accomplish, the iron being brought by canal. In later years he abandoned his trade and gave his attention to farming, which he fol- lowed during his active life. After he quit manual labor at the anvil he assumed the part of director of the work there. Ilis death oc- enrred in 1884, and he now sleeps in Center cemetery. Politically he was a Whig and Re- publican, being well informed and decided in his views, and was a regular attendant at the elections. He was bitterly opposed to the use of intoxicants, and never would even allow any of them to be used at " bees," or industrial gatherings. He was a zealons member of the Congregational Church. At his trade he had few equals and no superiors: was a highly re- spected citizen every way, and was a self-made man in every sense of the word. After his death his widow survived a number of years, and died at Urbana, Ohio, in 1889.
Mr. Arthur Adams, whose name introdnees this sketch, attended Twinsburg (Ohio) Acad-
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cademy two years, when Professor Samnel Bis- sell was at its head. Naturally a mechanic, he exhibited a great degree of aptitude at the trade of carpentry, and by practice developed a thorough knowledge of the trade. After his marriage he located on the farm which he now ocenpies and owns, and followed agricultural pursuits, in addition to some carpentry work. Hle has erected many buidings in his neighbor- hood, and some even beyond the limits of his community; but in 1870 he abandoned this trade and has since given his attention more exclusively to farming. Ilis farm comprises 108 acres, and lies two and a half miles south of Brecksville Center. For himself he erected one of the largest barns in the township. Ile is a good and successful farmer. In politics he is a stanch Republican, and in religion both himself and wife are members of the Congre- gational Church.
Jannary 1, 1863, he married Miss Diana E. Green, who was born Jannary 24, 1843, in Illi- mois, a danghter of Harvey and Catharine (Parker) Green, who came to Independence township when their danghter was a child. Mr. and Mrs. Adams' children are: Harvey A., of Atlanta, Georgia; Arthur G., at home; Grace, of Painesville (Ohio) Seminary; Earl F., a school-teacher; and Ruba J., at home.
F RANK RIELEY, president of the Brook- lyn Building & Loan Association, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, December 11, 1842, son of Hugh Rieley. The elder Mr. Rieley, a maltster by trade, came to this city Trom Buffalo, New York, in 1838. He was born in Ireland in 1813 and died in Cleveland in 1882. Hle and his wife were the parents of seven children, four of whom survive, viz .: Mrs. Alfred Tilton, Cleveland; the subject of this sketch; Ingh, Colorado; and T. A., Cleve- land.
Frank Rieley remained with his father until he was sixteen years of age, when he began learning the trade of carriage painter. When
the Civil war came on he joined the Union army, becoming a private in Company I, Third Ohio Cavalry, and with the Army of the Cum- berland saw service in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, being a par- ticipant in many of the prominent engagements of the war. He was taken prisoner at Lexing- ton, Kentucky, by Morgan's men, but made his escape on the field and rejoined his regiment. At the close of the Atlanta campaign, in which he was engaged, he returned to Louisville, Kentucky, for horses for the army. After some other special service he joined his regi- ment at Macon, Georgia, from which point he was sent North and was mustered ont Angust 15, 1865. During his service he was pro- moted from the rank of private to that of first sergeant.
After leaving the army Mr. Rieley was for eighteen months engaged in work at his trade. Then he turned his attention to the grocery business, and a few months later to the coal business, under the firm name of Ackley & Rieley. Two years after this, in company with Charles Geib he engaged in the carriage busi- ness. The following year brought about a change whereby Mr. Rieley engaged in malt- ing, which he continued five years, or until he was elected Street Commissioner in 1879. Ile served as Street Commissioner four years, and was at the same time a member of the Board of Improvement. In 1883 he engaged in con- tracting, paving and sewering in partnership with Luke Brennan, which business relation existed until 1890, when Mr. Rieley became in- terested in the Northern Ohio Paving & Con- strnetion Co., as superintendent. Ile resigned his position in the spring of 1891 to accept the office of Deputy Director of Public Works for the city, being appointed as such by R. R. Her- rick, and serving under him nutil May, 1893, when a new administration brought about change in ollice. He has since been engaged in contracting.
In 1878 Mr. Rieley was elected to the City Council from the old Twelfth ward, on the Re-
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publican ticket, and while a member of that body rendered most efficient service. He re- signed from the Council to accept the office of Street Commissioner. Mr. Rieley is a real- estate owner in the city, and is president of the Walworth Run Foundry Co.
He was married December 25, 1869, to Mary A. Pritchard, of Geneva, Ohio. Their children are Charles F. and Oliver R.
Mr. Rieley is a member of Army and Navy Post, G. A. R.
EORGE A. SCHLATTERBECK a leading member of German circles in this city, is justly entitled to the space that has been accorded him in this vol- nme. He was born in Bavaria, Germany, Sep- tember 7, 1829, a son of John M. and Rosina Schlatterbeck. His boyhood and youth were passed in his native land, where he received a good education in the common schools. Am- bitions to make a place for himself in the world he came to America at the age of twenty-three years, and after landing on these shores pro- ceeded directly to Cleveland, Ohio, where he has since resided.
Being without means on his arrival in Cleve- land, he embraced the first opportunity to earn a livelihood by carrying brick up the building at the corner of Water and St. Clair streets, then in course of construction. Hle then worked in a brickyard, where the Standard Oil Works are now located, until cold weather set in, when he obtained employment on a farm in Newburg. In November, the same year, he obtained a position with P. M. Weddell, in this city, for whom he worked for eighteen months. He then commenced to work at the carpenter trade, and worked for the same contractor on honse work for over six years, when he went into the Cleveland & Pittsburg car shops, where he stayed over five years, and after some six months' work in the shops of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad he started out as a contractor.
Ile conducted an important and extensive business until 1874, when he was elected County Commissioner on the Liberal Demo- cratie tieket. Himself a Republican in politics, he was afterward elected to the office by his own party, serving fifteen years in this respon- sible position. Ile is a man of broad public spirit and discharged his duties with rare fidelity. Ile continued to carry on his private business upon a diminished scale, but the de- mands of the office increased from year to year until all. personal enterprises were abandoned. Retiring from public life in 1890, he turned his attention to fire insurance. He has other in - terests in this city, and has met with well- merited success in all of his ventures.
Mr. Schlatterbeck is a member of the Masonic order, belonging to Concordia Lodge, No. 345, F. & A. M., and to Webb Chapter, No. 14, R. A. M. He has belonged to the I. O. O. F. thirty-five years, was its treasurer for eight years, and has passed all the chairs of the subordinate lodge and the encampment. For six years he represented his order at the Grand Lodge. He has been associated with the Knights of Pythias, and has always taken an active interest in social affairs. Ile is secretary of the German Pioneer Association, of which he has been a member from its organization.
Ile was married in this city August 5, 1859, to Miss Wilhelmina Steinbrenner. They have two children: Elizabeth, wife of E. C. Carter, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and Rose, a com- petent teacher in the public schools of this eity.
L UTHER BATTLES, who was for many years a conspienous figure in agrienltural circles, is a worthy representative of one of the oldest families of Cuyahoga county. He was born in Herkimer county, New York, April 29, 1826, the fifth child of Luther Bat- tles, Sr. When he was a child of eight years his parents removed to this county, and settled upon an nnimproved farm in Mayfield township,
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where he grew to years of maturity. His early education was received in the primitive log schoolhonse which fostered the budding intel- leet of many an aspiring youth; while pursuing his more advanced studies he was a pupil at Kirkland Flats, attending the sessions held in the old Mormon Temple, and also attended the seminary at Chester, Geauga county, for one year. At the age of twenty years he began teaching, the first school of which he was mas- ter being on Chagrin river near the Falls. Hle afterward went to Indiana and for a year tanght in Kendallville, returning to Mayfield at the end of twelve months.
lle was married December 1, 1847, to Miss Catherine HI. Mapes, a daughter of Rufus and Abigail ( Allen) Mapes. Mr. Mapes was born in New York State April 3, 1795; he was a soldier in the war of 1812, and in 1816 was married to Miss Allen, who was a descendant of Ethan Allen, born in the Province of Maine before it was a State. They emigrated to Ohio in 1818 and settled in Mayfield township, where they passed the remainder of their lives; they were the parents of seventeen children, fifteen of whom grow to maturity. In 1868 they cele- brated their fiftieth marriage anniversary. Mr. Mapes died March 8, 1874, while his wife sur- vived until January 13, 1882. After his mar- riage Mr. Battles located on seventy acres of heavily timbered land, for which he had paid eight dollars an acre; after clearing twenty-five acres he sold ont for double the amount expended, and bought a tract of partially improved land. Later he purchased the old homestead on which his father had settled in 1834, and to this he added until the farm comprised 375 aeres; here he carried on a general farming business, gain- ing an enviable reputation in the breeding and raising of live stock. In 1877 he retired From active pursuits, purchasing his present residence where he and his family are surrounded with the comforts of the nineteenth century civili- zation.
Mr. and Mrs. Battles are the parents of five children: Franklin, born June 6, 1849, died
August 20, 1859; Alpha B., born June 28, 1855, is the wife of L. W. Stevenson; Eugene, born November 14, 1857, married Miss Mary Hill; James E., born April 21, 1861, is men- tioned elsewhere in this volume; Hilliard, born April 5, 1863, married Miss Annie Wisenbach. Mr. Battles and wife have been for many years members of the M. E. Church. He has served the township as Trustee, discharging his duties with that zeal and fidelity which have marked all his dealings in life.
Inther Battles, Sr., deceased, was born in Swanzy, Cheshire county, New Hampshire, Oc- tober 17, 1792; the date of his death was Jan- mary 14, 1883, in Mayfield. He was descended from English and Seotch ancestors, and at the age of eight years was taken to New York State; his parents settled in Herkimer county on the banks of the Mohawk river, where his father was drowned in 1809. Mr. Battles was married in 1817 to Miss Arathusa Porter, his most beloved companion for forty seven years. She was of German deseent. Her father served throughout the Revolutionary war, as quarter- master. She was born in Tolland county, Con- neetient, October 4, 1796, and died in Mayfield, March 18, 1864. In 1834 Mr. Battles was carried by the tide of western emigration to Ohio, and located in Cuyahoga county in Mayfield town- ship. At that time there were no roads made, and the school districts were not organized. Possessed of a most remarkable physique, he performed the heavy labors that fell to the pio- neer, faced the hardships and privations, and in the end overcame all obstacles. His unusual vigor attended him to the close of his life. Ile was a man of firm convictions, honorable in all his transactions, conscientious in all the ameni- ties of life and in every way worthy of the con- fidence reposed in him.
He had ten children: Zervirah, born Decem- ber 18, 1818, married James E. Keyte, of Geauga county; Edwin D., born July 22, 1820; Mary, born February 22, 1822, died JJanuary 21, 1888; Sarah, born December 23, 1823, died November 25, 1856; Luther, subject of this
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sketch, born April 29, 1826; Newton, born May 10, 1828, died December 20, 1861; Henry, born September 18, 1830; Alexander, born January 11, 1833, died November 19, 1873; Lorenzo, born October 1, 1836; and John I., born No- vember 14, 1839, died March 31, 1893. Newton was a soldier in the late Civil war, a member of the Forty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died in Camp Wickliffe, Kentucky, and was buried on the old homestead here in Cuyahoga county. Henry resides in Geauga county; and Lorenzo D. lives on the old homestead.
The eighth annual reunion of the Batties fam- ily was celebrated September 8, 1888, at the old homestead, now owned by Lorenzo Battles, May- field. Meeting called to order by the president, John Battles. Mary Ann Battles, historian, then read a collection of family history, extend- ing back some 200 years, after which Luther Battles elosed with the following address:
" Relatives and Friends: Impelled by an ir- resistible impulse of love and respect, we meet to-day to renew our friendship and commemo- rate the lives and death of our father and mother. There is no place so sacred to our hearts as the home of our childhood. If it was humble it was our home, and until life is with us no more it will be a place where onr memo- ries will never cease to linger, and on their con- secrated altars its fires will never cease to burn. So the events of to-day are to live; they will go down into history to be read by generations yet unborn; it is for them to know who we are, where and how we have lived, and where we came from.
'. It is now fifty-three years since our father and mother with their eight children started from Herkimer town and county, New York, for their comparatively wilderness home in Ohio, Cuyahoga county, situated on the east bank of the Chagrin river, in the town of May- field, and now known as a part of the East Hill. They came from Utica to Buffalo by canal, and from Buffalo here in a wagon drawn by a pair of gray horses, -- to our long-talked-of home. With little or no money, strangers among
strangers, with no revenne save the products of their own industry, they depended upon their own efforts for everything. They did not ex- peet manna to fall in the wilderness for them, nor loaves to come to their baskets, or fishes to their nets, without an effort of their own; so they taught us that we could not reap if we did not sow. Now they commenced the long and weary struggle for life anew ; hardships were encountered on every hand, but they had an indomitable will that never deviated from their main object, which was to conquer the wilds of nature and provide for the wants of their household; and whatever measure of success crowned their lives was the direct result of their own vigorous ef- forts; out of the storms of effort came forth sunshine; ont of the bitter came forth sweet.
" I ask, who was the great central figure and loving sympathizer in all our trials and vicissi- tudes, our griefs and disasters, our hopes and fears, who heard every cry and felt the throb- bings of every heart ? None but mother. To provide for our wants was the highest ambition of her life, her only pleasures were ours, her only bliss our care. Early every Sunday morn- ing it was her delight to dress us neat and clean for church. She directed our feet in the path of wisdom, and for us to honor God was her daily precept; love for her children was the guiding star of her life.
No tongue or pen or crafty art ('an tell the love of a mother's heart.
" At our new home two more children were born, making ten in all. At a proper time we were all married, but one. Mother was at our marriages to make merry and glad. Another step on in the march of life finds her sharing our bitter griefs over the graves of our children. She sipped at every cup of our sorrows; she clothed our sighs with her smiles and tears; she was a rock and refuge of strength, and in her we did safely trust. She lived to see two of her children consigned to their final place of rest, but in this she gracefully submitted to the decree of her God. She sacrificed her boy at the shrine of liberty, then bowed her head with patriotic
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fortitude at his sad, lamented fate. If ever a mother fulfilled her task, and drained the cup of life and duty to its utmost limit, it was she, our mother. If in all the world there was an- other like her, it was my wife's mother, now sleeping by her side.
" The moral fortitude of our parents and in- dustry of their hands crowned their lives with a living success. All through their days of plenty, their hearts were full of human sympathy, and their hands were open to deserving charity. No one knows the true heart of parents better than their children; and what I say I say from knowledge, and what I say is truc. Our father and mother have gone; long and weary was the road they trod, cheerfully bearing life's burden on their way; their work is done, and to-day we pay tribute to their memory. We can look be- yond their graves and say all is well. Their Christian lives and virtues, love of home and children, are now blended into one, and as long as these hearts of ours continue to throb, their lives should be an altar on which our memories should never cease to linger.
" And now a word to ourselves. What an awe-inspiring lesson is here reflected for our mutual consideration! Now we realize there is nothing left to us but their memory. We read their names on the cold marble that marks their place of rest. If we should call, they would not answer; their hands have ceased to adminis- ter; their voices have ceased to chide. Their memory warns ns to renounce the vain phan- toms of this life and eling more and more devot- edly to the sanctity of our homes and virtue of onr children. It is for us to keep their memo- ries sacred, nor let it end at the grave. When we look back we behold lengthening shadows mark our pathway; tune is slowly weaving our shrouds and spreading our palls. We die, and from that austere and mystic fate we cannot claim relief. Our past lies before the world as an open book, known and read by all. Our fu- ture is a tale untold, but it is left for us to say what that tale shall be; if, good, then we live for a purpose; il bad, we live in vain. It mat-
ters not how long we may live, but how well; our lives are not measured by the years we live, but by the good we do.
" Who gets the most out of this life? It is not always the rich, neither is it the poor, but it is ho who lives for himself, and lives for others as well. One becomes a benelit to others, for hu- manity's sake, and another for immediate honor or future rewards. The selfish man never sees himself as others see him; he would have every- body serve his purpose. The conceited man is much the same. Ile flatters himself that he is a special favorite here, and expects to be here- after. Sneh when weighed in the balance are found wanting. In general a man is landed for his gold, but the time hurries on when he will only be known for the good he has done. The angel of merey that cares not for gold hovers around with tireless wings to record, if any, the good deeds of justice, mercy, charity and love which have adorned their lives. It is not self, and self alone, and vain conceit, nor gold, nor formal prayers, nor empty ceremonies, nor sac- rificial blood that will be of any avail to us in the great beyond. The happy man here and hereafter is he who applies justice to himself and benevolence to others.
" In conclusion, I would say that the religion of our parents was confined to narrow limits, owing to the age in which they lived. If they were living to-day they would denounce the be- lief that the sin of Adam brought death and condemnation into the world, and that sin ne- cessitated the crucifixion of Jesus as the only way whereby the human race could be saved. They would have reasoned in this way: If Jesus died for the sins of the world, then the debt is paid and the sinner is free and needs no pardon. But this is not so. Jesus has paid no man's debt of sin. All have to pay their own. Jesus died a martyr to the cause of justice and merey, not as a sacrifice for sin. We are to look for a savior within ourselves, and know that punish- ment is inevitable to him who violates the laws of justice, love and merey; and to avoid pun- ishment we must avoid the act, making man
0
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his own mediator; and the measure of his hap- piness depends entirely on his efforts for good, conscience sitting in judgment on every act. Merit will ever determine destiny; we never can expect benefits that we have not earned, neither need we fear punishments which we do not de- serve.
" The day is not far away when the only re- ligion will be that of man's humanity to man; the only atonement will be that of restitution; the only object of life will be that of happiness; and the only redeemer will be the practice of virtue, justice, love and truth."
E LIJAH STEARNS, a farmer and fruit- grower of Olmstead township, was born in this township, in 1813, a son of Elijah and Wealthy (Usher) Stearns, who settled in this township in 1526. Our subject was brought up and educated in Olmstead township, and has always been engaged in farming.
In 1862 he enlisted in the Union service for three years, in the Fifteenth Ohio Independent Battery, was assigned to the Western army and participated in the battle of Holly Springs and in the siege of Vicksburg. Taking sick, he next spent a time at home on furlough, and then rejoined his regiment at Cairo, Illinois. He inade the trip to the sea under General Sher- man, and returned through the Carolinas, and participated in the grand review at Washington, and was honorably discharged at Columbus, Ohio, in July, 1865.
Ile purchased his present farm in 1873. It contains twenty acres, three acres of which are in grapes and two acres in other fruit. He is a member of Olinstead Falls Post, G. A. R., No. 631, of which he has been Officer of the Day for five or six years. In politics he is a Repub- lican.
He was married in Middleburg township, in November, 1880 to Miss Oella C. Pa Delford, a native of New York and a daughter of William and Desire (Tourgee) Pa Delford: her father
was a native of Massachusetts, and her mother of Saratoga county, New York. They came to this county in 1859. Mr. Pa Delford's death ocenrred in Dover, March 3, 1893, and Mrs. Pa Delford's March 3, 1886, on her seventy- lilth birthday. It is a coincidence worthy of note that they both died on the same day of the year, but seven years apart. The seven chil- dren whom they reared are: William T., who is married and resides in Denver, Colorado; Catha- rine Amanda, dying in infancy in New York; Frances Mary, married and residing in Forest- ville, Chautauqua county, New York; Bernard Wellington, living in Chicago; Angusta Re- becca, wife of Heman Perry, of Dover town- ship; Oella, now Mrs. Stearns; and Lydia Ophelia, who married John Morris Ford, of Olmstead township. Mr. and Mrs. Stearns have two children, namely: Perey Pa Delford and Bernard Augustus. Mrs. Stearns was a mem- ber of the Baptist Church at Chautauqua, New York.
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