USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Official report of the centennial celebration of the founding of the city of Cleveland and the settlement of the Western Reserve > Part 22
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Of her illustrious sons of a century ago, we recall the names of Oliver Wolcott, Oliver Ellsworth, Roger Sherman, Israel Putnam, Jonathan Trumbull, William Will- iams, Samuel Holden Parsons, Samuel Worthington, Silas Deane, and others, whose names are held in grateful recollection by the people of that State.
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CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE CITY OF CLEVELAND.
But for Connecticut the war of the Revolution could not have been maintained. Governor Trumbull was the right hand of Washington. The dear old commonwealth gave her sons, her money, and devoted prayers, that freedom might conquer. Of the 233,771 soldiers sent by the thirteen colonies to the war, 101, 846 were furnished by Con- necticut and Massachusetts.
Perhaps the highest tribute that can be paid to the morality and purity of the peo- ple of Connecticut, may be found in the fact that during 100 years of her existence it is said no divorce case was known in her history. No wonder that we, the people of the Western Reserve, the loving descendants of the "little mother," pay to her memory this day our tribute of affectionate pride and admiration.
But what shall we say for Cleveland, our own beautiful, thriving city, whose cen- tennial anniversary we this day celebrate. For the city is known far and wide for its wealth, its commerce, its manufactures, its shipbuilding, its fleet of stately steam ves- sels, its newspapers, its schools, colleges, churches, the education and high character of its people, its influence upon the State and nation, and splendid promise for greater and wider fields of usefulness. One hundred years ago and Cleveland had three in- habitants. To-day 350,000 souls. Law, order, are respected and honored. It is the home of as patriotic, generous and elevated a people as any of its size in the Union. The waters of Lake Erie wash its entire borders, and its fleet of noble vessels carry a com- merce upon the great chain of lakes, richer by far than that of Tyre and Sidon in their days of loftiest supremacy. The history of our city has been honorable in the past, and we all earnestly unite in the hope that her future will be still richer in benefits to the human race, and greater and grander in all the elements of the loftiest civilization.
My friends of the Early Settlers' Association, I shall to-day speak for the last time as your president. When the centennial celebration of the city is concluded, I shall place my resignation in the hands of your trustees. But since I have known so many of you, studied your sturdy characters, become acquainted with the history of your lives, your patriotic love of country, your early struggles with poverty and the wilder- ness, your industry and economy, and the shining example of virtue you have placed before your children, I wish to pay you the homage of my sincere regard. So long as your descendants shall follow your example, the State shall be rich in faithful, devoted sons and useful citizens.
During the last five years our society has lost by death, a large number of its most prominent members, some of them the very patriarchs of the association. During the last few weeks Mr. Darius Adams, one of our trustees, and Cleveland's foremost and most valuable citizen, ched at the age of 86 years, honored and beloved for a long use- ful, stainless life. Rev. John T. Avery, another of our members, died a brief time ago at the same age. For years he had been confined to his house as an invalid, and he lived only in the memory of the past. He loved to talk of the days gone by, when he was a moving power in the State. In the prime of his life he was an evangelist widely known for his eloquent gifts of speech and religious influence. Thousands of men and women were converted under his preaching, and he was a mighty power in Cleveland for good. The great revival led by him in the Stone Church laid the foun- dation largely for its splendid career of benevolence and usefulness. The last time I saw him his mind was vigorous and clear, but he knew his work was done, and he was only waiting the summons to depart.
Let us thank God so many of us have lived to see this day, and behold the pros- perity and glory of our city, State and native land. We have lived in the choicest era in the history of the world, and the blessings of liberty and free institutions have been our lot. My earnest hope for each of you is that your years may be lengthened, so long as the power of enjoyment is given, and that at last, like a shock of corn fully ripe, crowned with the recollection of a well spent life, and in humble confidence of a happy immortality, you may be gathered to your fathers, leaving to your children and children's children the memory of your labors and sacrifices.
For the dead of our society, we this day specially mourn their absence, but praise or censure is alike now to them. We shall see their faces and hear their voices no more. Let them rest in peace.
" Can storied urn, or animated bust Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath ; Can Honor's voice provoke the silent dust, Or Flatt'ry soothe the dull, cold car of death? No farther seek their merits to disclose, Or draw their frailties from their dread abode. (There they alike in trembling hope repose, ) The bosom of their father and their God."
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EARLY SETTLERS' DAY.
At the conclusion of President Parsons's address the quartette sang "Auld Lang Syne," the audience joining in the chorus. Colonel Par- sons then said :
"As the Hon. John C. Covert was the pioneer in drafting a resolution that the Early Settlers should celebrate the centennial of this city, out of which, under the pro- tecting care of Director Day, these magnificent displays of the last few days have taken place, I have asked Mr. Covert to tell you what he knows about it this morning."
Mr. Covert, being thus introduced, spoke in part as follows:
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :
It sounds a little odd, and somewhat pleasant withal, to hear myself called a pioneer by Colonel Parsons, but when he went on to explain that he meant by that that I was the author of the resolution which caused this centennial celebration, I under- stood, and was happy to learn, that he did not mean that I was one of the pioneers who came here with Moses Cleaveland a hundred years ago. (Laughter.)
There is no class of persons anywhere in the world to-day so interesting to us Clevelanders as those pioneers, and although I cannot be classed among them, yet I have a great pleasure in meeting with the Old Settlers' Association, and I hope that the pleasure will be continued for years to come, until I may be looked upon as one of the early pioneers.
When the first settlers came here they thought the proximity of river and lake a good location, but they soon found the land poor, and as they wanted a good farming land, they scattered about over the country in search of better soil. Many of them went to Newburgh, which was comparatively populous in 1798. A guide to the West- ern country, written early in this century, described Cleveland as a place on the south shore of Lake Erie, between five and six miles northwest of Newburg.
Most of the people who came here were farmers, some had been Revolutionary soldiers, two, Lorenzo Carter and Seth Stiles, were agents of John Jacob Astor, whose fur trade extended. far into the west, and who was then planning the magnificent scheme described in Irving's " Astoria," to have a line of trading posts stretching over the Alleghenies and the Rocky Mountains, with ships all along the Pacific coast and a great central depot and offices in New York. People have told me in my boy- hood that Carter was a genuine trapper. Some imaginative writers have ascribed to him a mysterious influence over the Indians. The only mystery about it was that he won them by selling whiskey for their furs, and severely whipped or frightened them when they became disorderly.
The early settlers of this country came from the seashore, and some of them moved to the western wilderness just to keep their boys from embarking in whaling expeditions or voyages to the Indies. They were wide-awake, venturesome, and bound to go somewhere. While still young Seth Doan had made several distant voyages, and his family moved from Haddam to Herkimer, N. Y., just to get him away from the sea. When his brother, Nathaniel Doan, was sent by the Connecticut Land Com- pany as one of the surveyors to the Western Reserve, Seth accompamed him, coming with Moses Cleaveland and his party.
They went by boat down the Connecticut River, across the sound up the Hudson, then up the Mohawk River, whence they carried their outfit seven miles to Black River, which took them to Lake Ontario, and then sailed or rowed the rest of the way to the Cuyahoga, portaging their boats and luggage around the great falls. An old lady who is present here, Mrs. Harriet Doan Sprague, whose grandmother was in one of the first parties coming to this wilderness, has often described this wild journey to me, as told her by her ancestors. When the wind was fair they sailed swiftly upon the lake, a few men attending to the vessel, under the direction of a captain who had learned his business on the high seas. The men entertained each other with stories of their experience on the sea and their trials during the Revolution. The young men looked off over the blue lake and thought of the wild adventures of the whaling voy- ages they had missed by coming west; but the disappointed whalers were to found an empire. During two days the lake was as smooth as glass and nearly all the passen- gers went ashore, walking along the beach, the men pulling the boats with ropes. The children kept close to the water's edge for fear of wild beasts, the hunters made in. cursions into the woods and came back loaded with game. At night all the party re- tired to their boats to sleep, the children telling with much amusement in after years of their fear of being attacked by the immense serpents supposed to be called upon the wild flowers upon the shore.
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The country around this body of water was infested with animals, especially wild cats, the lake being originally called Cat Lake, and the Indians living near it being dominated the Cats on account of the presence of these animals.
The central portions of Cleveland, where we are holding this meeting, were not prized by the pioneers. As late as 1825 land on Water street went begging at $5 per acre. While the farmers moved out to Newburg, Doan's Corners, Brecksville, Royal- ton, and other points, a few men who had an eye to business remained down town. Nathan Perry's store was established corner of Water and Superior streets, in 1815. Mr. Horace Weddell, now living, assures me that his father's store was built on the corner of Superior and Bank streets as early as 1817, and not in 1820, as has been re- cently stated. Both of these merchants traded tobacco and blankets with the Indians for furs, while Lorenzo Carter satisfied the savage appetite for whiskey. Weddell's store was a brick building, with four white fluted columns in front of it, sustaining the upper front rooms. . There was also a town pump, on the corner and down Bank street a little way stood a butcher shop.
Nathaniel Doan built a home on Superior street immediately opposite Bank street, where the Leader office now stands, but his whole family was so afflicted with fever and ague that he moved eastward to what is now known as Doan's Corners. He built and kept a hotel on the northwest corner of Euclid avenue and Fairmount street, and opposite, on the southwest corner, he built a small store.
The Doans were a very influential people, all of them well educated. I am in- formed by John Doan's grandchildren, of whom there are now two in this room, that their grandfather, Nathaniel, was not a blacksmith, as has been recorded by some of our centennial historians. He built a blacksmith shop, a hotel, a saleratus factory, and a store because they were needed, the second especially, as there was no baking powder in those days. Nathaniel Doan was postmaster and justice of the peace for many years, and religious services were conducted by him in his house. When he died his mantle fell upon his son Job. Dillie Doan, daughter of Nathaniel, started the first school in Euclid.
The Doan tavern, built about 1817, now stands on Cedar avenue, Nos. 1543, 1545 and 1547, being used as three tenement houses. It is on the east side of the street, immediately east of Streator avenue. The store is now a part of Wood's grocery, No. 2281, on Euclid near Doan.
Immediately east of this hotel was Doan brook, and just beyond that "the flats," where the movers always halted a day or two to rest and wash up. Sometimes as many as fifteen wagons were seen here, camped on what is now the college campus. They borrowed kettles and tableware from the hotel. One mover forgot to return a borrowed silver spoon and sent it back a year later from the west, whither he had jour- neyed. This was a valuable article, "for," said the lady who related it to me, "it took twenty-seven silver dollars to make half a dozen silver spoons." After the movers had rested a few days, they crossed Doan lane to Newburg, thence to Wooster, where they struck the State road.
The following given me by Mr. George Watkins, are the names of a few settlers who occupied log cabins on Euclid avenue about isis: John Norton, John Gould, John O. Willard, Samuel Spangler, John Bunce, Timothy Watkins, Amal Triscott, Amos Holoday, Nathaniel Trisket, Joseph Clark, Joseph Bidwell, Thomas Night, Cardy Parker.
Back near the Shaker mills were quite extensive quarries, worked mostly by Penn- sylvania Dutchmen. A railroad was built by General Ahaz Merchant from the quar- ries running down the hill over a high bridge which spanned the hollow at Blue Rock springs, crossing orchards, and striking Euclid avenue at the corner of "Doan lane," and continuing down Euclid avenue to the depot or barn, which was just north of where the Forest City House now stands.
The cars were drawn by one horse; a passenger car was run once in a while, and several old ladies have assured me that they frequently long for these old cars while riding in the present electrical conveyance. It was the first railroad ever built in Ohio. It began running in 1834. It crossed deep ravines or gullies at Blue Rock springs, Brookfield street, and Bolton avenue. Mr. Silas Merchant, a man who has given many years of invaluable services to this city, and whose worthy father built this primi- tive railroad, well remembers everything connected with it, and it is worth while to record his recollections, as they may be of use in building railroads some time between now and the next centennial. ( Laughter. ) The ties were three feet apart. Rails were set dovetailed into the ties, wedged into an aperture made for them. Then a strip or ribbon, of maple or beech, was fastened to the top of the rail, where bridges were built. At Willson avenue the track deflected northward to avoid a large cranberry
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swamp that was infested by wild cats. Mr. George Watkins, who is with us here to- day, I believe, says the rails of this pioneer road were of wood, one inch thick and three wide. It transported wood and stone to the city. Its stock was heavily watered, troughs being located at convenient distances along what is now Euclid avenue for that purpose.
In 1846, Martin Gale, whose widow is with us to-day, purchased 112 57-100 acres of this quarry land of the Ohio Life Insurance. and Trust Company, for $1, 685.55. Mrs. Gale still has the deed of this sale in her possession.
The first settlers had plenty of enjoyments, books, churches, and good, wholesome food. When the Erie canal was opened, barrels of shell oysters were brought to Buffalo, thence to Cleveland by vessel, and kept fresh all winter by pouring salted water upon them.
These early settlers were, as a rule, men of sturdy patriotism and broad intelli- gence. Their principles, like some of their houses, survive them. When all material objects associated with them shall have passed away, their principles will still live and their names and examples be cherished during centuries yet to come.
Mr. T. P. Handy, active and alert, though nearly ninety years of age, was next introduced. He was received with applause and spoke briefly, saying :
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :
It is a great pleasure to me, my friends, to be able to be with you on this occasion. I have been a member of this association for many years, but it so happened that every July I made a tour to the old New England country to the seashore to gain new vigor and strength. So to-day I am very glad to see so many that I have often thought of, heard of and read about, and to listen to the stirring addresses of your president, and the more stirring reminiscences just uttered by our friend Mr. Covert.
It is a great thing to have such a celebration as this. It is a great thing to live in this age. It is a blessed thing to recount the memories of those who had a part in this great work, and some of those are still among us, nearing the century of hfe.
I came here sixty-four years ago, and I will tell you how I got here. It was in the winter and the hills were covered with ice, and the stage drivers had to ask the pas- sengers to get out and walk up and down the hills because they would shde off into the ravine. I came on a bridal trip, and we had to walk a great deal up hill and down; but it was a pretty good introduction to the western world, because I learned some- thing about it. We arrived here safely after four days' journey by stage from Buffalo, where we had stopped on a visit for three days and two nights, and I have been here, thank God, ever since. I am glad that I have grown up with the splendid growth of the city.
Mr. Bancroft, the historian, who advised me to come here to take charge of a bank- ing institution, said to me that he thought Cleveland would be something of a town after a few years, and I as a young man had better go there and grow up with it, although I had a pleasant situation and fine salary in a bank in New York State. So I have had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Bancroft's predictions fulfilled. Cleveland has grown to be something of a place, far beyond his expectations, and far beyond our own. I think one of the main things that has added to our growth, and the growth of this whole Reserve, has been the character of the people, who brought with them the school house and the church. These two forces, more than any others, ac- count for the moral growth and material development of our community.
I greet you all to-day, my friends, and fellow members of this society. I rejoice with you in hearing the splendid address of our president and also that of Mr. Covert. Let us go on and do our work. One and another of us are passing away to the better land. Let these lives of ours be filled with glorious deeds for our country and for our God. (Applause. )
The Arions sang again, and being recalled started the patriotic hymn " America," in which the veterans readily joined. Colonel Par- sons presented Miss Belle Hamlin, the great-granddaughter of Lorenzo Carter, who was received with applause. General J. J. Elwell was then called upon, and in response said :
My friend Mr. Handy has referred to the time he came here. A little while before that I was a mail boy carrying the mail from Warren to Twinsburg. That was the
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great town out in that direction, just over the hills ten or fifteen miles. The mail from Cleveland came on an old horse with a little boy on his back and stopped at Twins- burg. It was not necessary to go any farther. The mail was pretty much distributed by the time I got there, which was thirty-eight miles. I would go out on Friday and return to Warren on Saturday, and you could put the mail from Cleveland going to Warren and that part of the Western Reserve in your hat. I carried it in one end of the portmanteau on my horse. A little while before that-but I am afraid I am expos- ing my age-the end of the route was at Ravenna. In 1833, I carried the mail from Warren to Ravenna, twenty-five miles, half the way through the woods, and there we tapped the stage route from Cleveland to Pittsburg, and took the little handful of Cleveland mail at that point instead of coming up to Twinsburg.
I am somewhat crankish, my friends, upon the Ordinance of 1787, to which our worthy president referred. All this wonderful civilization, in addition to the geograph- ical position and in addition to these natural advantages that have existed, de- pends upon that great God-given Ordinance. I referred to it when we were talking about the cabin on the Square the other day; and to me it ranks with Magna Charta, with the compacts on the Mayflower, with the Declaration of Independence, with the adoption of the Constitution, and with the Emancipation Proclamation. That Ordin- ance is the secret of our great prosperity here upon the Western Reserve. (Applause. ) That Magna Charta which made everybody free and kept them free is the secret of our remarkable progress.
I was glad to hear the president refer to the mothers of the Western Reserve. God bless their memory, and may their descendants cherish their memory. My mother came over the mountains from the east to Warren when she was sixteen. It is the mothers-those grand women-who have made this land what it is. They raised the Presidents. Talk about presidents! Talk about the Western Reserve having fur- nished two or three presidents, and this great northwest territory over a half dozen Presidents! Talk about the mothers, why don't you? It is the mothers who make the presidents. It is the mother that raises the boys. (Applause.) The father seems to think if he comes home and kisses the children and fondles and plays with them he has done his part, but it is the mother that is with them from morning until night. God bless the memory of the pioneer mothers of the Western Reserve. They were intelli- gent women. My first knowledge of Lowell and Holmes and other noble writers of world-wide fame was from mothers in the log cabins, where they had gathered up the early productions of the poets and read them to the children.
Why, if it had not been for the women, Mrs. Ingham and her assistants, we could not be having this great celebration. Then the million of dollars that was raised for the soldiers during the war by the women of the Western Reserve, that our president referred to. They were patriotic. They went into every hamlet on the Western Re- serve and one good mother lamented that she had been able to send but six sons to the war. Why, she said that if she had known about the war coming on she would have got married ten years earlier. (Laughter.) These are the kind of mothers, and these are the nobler men who have made this country what it is.
Mr. S. D. Dodge, United States District Attorney, who had recently become a member of the society, addressed the audience as follows:
Mr. Chairman and Fellow-Members of the Early Settlers' Association :
It has been my pleasure to-day to join this association, and I have been requested by Mr. Williams and Mr. Parsons to say just a single word.
Well, my eye, Mr. Chairman, is not dim nor my natural force abated, yet I realize that I am growing old when I find myself possessing the qualifications necessary to become a member of the Early Settlers' Association. I believe it is not necessary, Mr. Chairman, to have gray hairs or be bald headed to be a member of this association, and while I did discover the other day a few silver threads in my hair, I want it un- derstood that the proportion of silver threads is very much less than sixteen to one. (Laughter. ) Iam glad, Mr. Chairman, to be able to be present upon such an occasion as this for the first time as one of you. I remember well as a young man, just out of college, when this association was organized, and how much interest my good father took in its or- ganization. I remember at that time, when you elected your first vice-president and wom- an suffrage was recognized in this association, how he told you that Surrey thump had been vindicated and Betsy Prig squelched-that there was a Mrs. Harris. ( Laughter.)
When I consider the fact that my father helped organize this association, that he was born in Collamer, and that uncle John Doan was his mother's brother, I feel that something besides my age entitles me to be an early settler.
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EARLY SETTLERS' DAY.
To me, Mr. Chairman, the most interesting occasion of this whole centennial is the occasion that brings together those who can look back furthest in the century which has closed; those whose eyes have seen both the old log cabin in the forest and the towering buildings on our avenues; those of you whose ears have heard both the strains of High Betty Martin on a cracked violin and have also paid five cents to hear in the phonograph the Marine Band of Washington playing in the Arcade in Cleveland (ap- plause); those of you who have sent a message to a friend in a letter that was blotted with sand from a sand-box, and those of you who have talked that message over a wire to a friend in a distant city.
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