USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > The pioneer families of Cleveland 1796-1840 Vol. I > Part 19
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Added to her family and household cares was the assistance Mrs. White rendered her husband in his business, often adding eight dollars a week to the mutual fund that insured financial independence in future years. Besides her skill as a tailoress, she was an exquisite needle- woman. A beautiful piece of embroidery on white satin bearing her maiden name and the year 1812, hangs framed, near to an oil-painting of herself, upon the wall of her son's home on Cedar Avenue. Close by is the old clock that ticked faithfully year in and year out for the dear old Deacon and his wife, and still making correct time. Here, also, are the brass andirons, the first of their kind owned in Cleveland.
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Among other accomplishments, Mrs. White was a notable cook, but she often referred with quiet humor to the first pig possessed by the family. He was such an accommodating pig, disposing, with apparent relish, of all the culinary mistakes and failures, for she had been hereto- fore too busy with her needle to acquaint herself with the mysteries of frying-pan and bake-oven.
She was a model mother-in-law, never entering her son's home with empty hands. There was always an offering of interest and affection. Once in assisting her daughter-in-law in some culinary efforts and find- ing a necessary article conspicuous by its absence, she chided her son, exclaiming, "What sort of a husband are you making, Charles, to let Emma get out of flour!" She died in , and the good Deacon survived her.
Children of Moses and Mary Andrews White:
Eliza White, m. Judge Jesse Bishop daughter of Henry and Lucinda
of Vergennes, Vt. E. Dabny Monroe of Providence. Charles White, m. Emma Monroe,
The Beldens lived west of the Whites on St. Clair Street, on a large adjoining lot.
1816
WATERMAN
The first courthouse and jail was built by Levi Johnson in 1812 and 1813. It stood on the north-west corner of the Public Square, faced the south, and was two stories high. There were two doors and two windows in the lower story front, and four windows in the upper story. A de- scription of the north side of it has never been given, except that it contained a little grated window high up in the prison side of the building, to which little boys used to climb in awed curiosity and peek in at a prisoner confined there. The west half of the building was the jail, and the eastern half was the jailer's dwelling. The whole upper floor was devoted to court purposes.
Eleazar Watterman is the first jailer mentioned in any history of Cleveland. Watterman is a very early Rhode Island name, and Eleazar occurs frequently in the annals of that family. But the immediate ances- try of this pioneer Watterman cannot be learned. He married Dorcas Hickox, "Uncle Abram" Hickox's daughter, in 1817, and took her to live in the part of the courthouse assigned to the jailer. The accommodations consisted of but one room, but it was a large one, and doubtless was partitioned off, as were the log-cabins of the day, into smaller ones by screens made of quilts and blankets.
Afterward, Mr. Watterman was a justice of the peace, recorder, and from 1825 to 1828, he was president ex-officio of the village council. He
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seems to have been a man who commanded the respect of his neighbors. He met with an accident in 1828 that resulted ultimately in his death. The only child of Eleazar and Dorcas Hickox Watterman was William Watterman. His mother, assisted by her sister, Lucinda Hickox, raised him to successful manhood. He married Sarah Stafford, and his home was on Woodland Avenue. For many years he was treasurer of Erie County.
The children of William and Sarah Stafford Watterman:
William Watterman: Worthington of Elyria; 2nd, Mr. Rockefeller.
Francis Watterman.
Helen Watterman, m. James B. Charles Watterman.
The Watterman family all lie in Woodland Cemetery.
1816
WOLCOTT
The social life of the hamlet received a notable addition about 1816, through the arrival of the Wolcott family from Windsor, Conn.
Mr. Albert Wolcott was the son of Brig. General Erastus Wolcott, who commanded a regiment under Gen. Washington at Boston, and the grandson of Governor Roger Wolcott of Connecticut, also the nephew of Gov. Mathew Griswald. He brought with him to Cleveland Gov. Wolcott's family Bible, which subsequently was deposited in the Hart- ford, Conn., museum by his grandson, Stoughton Bliss of Cleveland, and it is still on exhibition there. Albert Wolcott was 56 years old when he came to Ohio. His wife, Hannah Loomis Wolcott, had died in 1807, leav- ing him with a family of grown children. Soon after her death, he lost his only son. In making the change of residence, it was too late for him to hope for any pecuniary results, and yet he was at the time of life to keenly feel the severance of old ties. Moreover, existence at that day in Cleveland was one of hardship and self-denial.
The remaining children, all girls, accompanied him. They were: Hannah, b. 1786, Cynthia, Laura, and Elisabeth Wolcott. Cynthia had previously been married to William Bliss. All of the sisters are recalled as gentle and very refined. How could they be otherwise, considering their forebears? And what cruel change of fortune could have driven them into the wilderness? for Cleveland was not much less in 1816.
Madam Mary Severance, the granddaughter of John Walworth, re- calls the sisters in very pleasing fashion. As a very little girl, she was quite familiar with their personal appearance. Upon church and state occasions they wore merino shawls exactly alike, with pretty colored centers and gay borders. They were especially attractive to the child because there were none others like them in town. One bright Sabbath
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morning, when walking up Superior Street towards the Square, she noticed the Wolcott sisters ahead of her on their way to church, and has- tened her steps so as to be near them. And as she gazed admiringly at the way they walked and carried themselves, she resolved that when she grew up she would be just like one of them, but which one she could not de- cide, as they were equally unusual and admirable. Two of them lived to be very aged.
The Wolcott family, father and daughters, were buried in Erie Street Cemetery.
1816
SCOVIL
A young man 25 years old, who came to town in 1816, evidently thought when he started west from his Connecticut home, that drugs and groceries were the things our village needed most, as he brought with him a supply of these commodities, and opened them up in a small way on the south side of Superior Street near Water. He gradually eliminated the groceries from his stock and sold drugs only, and then, after the lapse of a few years, realizing that there were more dealers in every sort of merchandise than the size of the place warranted, that he was not experienced in that line of business himself, having previously learned the carpenter's trade, and that carpenters, not merchants, were then most in demand, he discarded the drug business altogether, and returned to his legitimate and most useful occupation.
Among the buildings that Philo Scovil soon erected was a small frame-store and dwelling for Nathan Perry, Jr., on the corner of Superior and Water streets. It superseded a log one built in 1806 by Nathan Perry, Sr., and which had been in use by father and son about 20 years. In part payment for this work, Mr. Scovil took a 66-foot Superior Street lot just east of the building. It ran back to Frankfort Street, and today is worth a fortune. Yet he offered to sell it for $300. Not only the lot, but a quan- tity of building material he had hauled onto it and concluded not to use. Evidently no one jumped at the offer.
He built a large, three-story frame-structure on the lot for the pur- poses of a tavern, which was one of the needs of the town just then, the small taverns in use being inadequate for the traveling public. He named it the "Franklin House," and it was regarded as a magnificent structure. It had the regulation front platform extending its whole width, and reached by steps. Whether Mr. Scovil failed in a plan to rent it, or intended from the first to run it himself, no one can say. The fact re- mains that he kept the tavern for long years, and it became one of the city's oldest landmarks.
Philo Scovil was born in Salisbury, Conn., 1791, and died in Cleveland, 1875. His father was Timothy Scovil, a wheelwright, and a soldier of the American Revolution. He was fourth in descent from Samuel Scovill of Saybrook, Conn., the first American ancestor. Mrs. Philo Scovil was
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Jemima Bixby, one of the three daughters of Benjamin and Margaret Walker Bixby of Hartford, Conn., who were pioneers of Lisbon, Ohio, and afterward of Summit County. One of her parents died in Akron in 1821, the other in Tallmadge, Ohio, at the residence of a daughter, Mrs. Roxana Bixby.
Mrs. Jemima Scovil met her future husband while on a visit to the Merwins in their tavern at the foot of Superior Street, and married him in 1819. She entered into his tavern scheme with zeal, bringing into it all her New England habits of thrift, order, and neatness, of the best culinary skill, and of executive ability, so that in time it sustained an enviable reputation for clean beds and sumptuous fare.
No couple in northern Ohio was better and more widely known than were Philo and Mrs. Scovil. Not only were they prominent through their occupation, but by their various activities outside of their home. Mrs. Scovil was a member of Trinity Parish, one of the founders of its home for old ladies, also one of the members of the first board of the Protestant Orphan Asylum. Even in the last years of life, she spent her days in knitting women's and children's leggings, famous of their kind, for the various church and charitable bazars frequently held. She was old-fashioned in her movements and methods, very deliberate, never an- swering a question hastily, always pondered a moment over it, and one could be sure that her reply would be absolutely accurate, either she knew exactly or not at all. She had the best of her Bible by heart, and her wonderful memory in this respect was known, upon occasion, to not only trip the laity and clergy, but a bishop as well.
Her sister, Marian Bixby, who was but a year older than herself, never married, and made her home with Mrs. Scovil until her death in 1863, aged 64 years. She was closely associated with Mrs. Scovil in all her activities and widely known and loved. Roxanna Bixby, another sister, also lived for a time with Mrs. Scovil, then married and went to Tallmadge, Ohio, to reside.
In later years, Philo Scovil, realizing the opportunities offered in real- estate, acquired a large property in the vicinity of Brownell Street, and through which Scovill Avenue was first laid out. He died in 1875. Mrs. Scovil survived him 13 years. The family burial lot is in the old Erie Street Cemetery.
The three children of the couple shared the acquaintances and popu- larity of their parents. They are frequently referred to in connection with the boys and girls who attended the old academy on St. Clair Street. They were:
Edward A. Scovil, b. 1819; m. Cath- Caroline Scovil, b. 1824; m. Elijah erine Shaw; he died 1890. St. John Bemis; she died 1885.
Oliver C. Scovil, b. 1823; m. Adeline ; he died 1894.
Oliver C. Scovil, or "Crockett," as he was called, when 17 years of age, went off on a whaling expedition, and was gone three years. He continued the life of a sailor for a time, and then returned home and learned the printer's trade. The California gold furor made of him a
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"forty-niner," and again he was absent six years. Upon his return, he opened a cooper's shop on the flats.
Elijah St. John Bemis was a grandson of Gamaliel and Margaret St. John of Buffalo, N. Y., and therefore a nephew of Dr. and John R. St. John, and Mrs. Skinner. He was a paper manufacturer and book pub- lisher, doing business under the firm name of Penniman and Bemis. His partner was Francis Penniman.
The marriage of Elijah J. Bemis and Caroline Scovil was an unfortu- nate one for herself. It was a runaway match disapproved of by her parents. There was a separation after the birth of two daughters, and Mrs. Bemis resided with her widowed mother for many years before the latter's death. She removed to a western state, where she died. The daughters are living in Canada.
1816
SHEPARD
Phineas Shepard, the new landlord of the Carter Tavern, meant far more to the village of Cleveland in 1816, than any financial success he might make of his venture. Indeed it could not have been a flourishing business, since he relinquished it within three years' time. But his value to the community lay in his strict integrity and his high moral standards. He was a man of pronounced religious convictions, fearless in expressing them, and self-sacrificing in promulgating them. He was very nearly 60 years of age and the father of 10 children when he began his pioneer life in Cleveland.
He was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and when but 17 years of age enlisted in the Revolutionary Army. He served under Gen. Montgomery, and at the end of three years' service received an honorable discharge. At times he suffered much privation and hardship as a Revolutionary soldier. At White Plains he was afflicted with small-pox, but pulled through in spite of exposure and lack of proper nursing. In 1783, Phineas Shepard married Deliverance Smith, the daughter of Gen. Martin Smith, a Revolutionary hero, whose portrait now hangs on the walls of the Historical Society of New York City.
Mr. and Mrs. Shepard had six children born to them in Hartford. In 1800 they caught the western fever, and removed to Lucerne, Pa., from there to Pittsburgh, then to Akron, Ohio, called "Old Portage," and finally in 1816 to Cleveland, where they spent their remaining years of life.
Mr. Shepard was a fervent communicant of the Protestant Episcopal faith. Three of his children were confirmed by Bishop Chase before com- ing here. When he reached this town and found no church of any de- nomination, he at once proceeded to organize one of his own preference. On Nov. 9th, 1816, a little company met at the Carter Tavern for that
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purpose. munity :
It was composed of 17 representative men of the little com-
Phineas Shepard
Irad Wilcox
Timothy Doan
Noble H. Merwin
Charles Gear
Abraham Scott
Abraham Hickox
Jonathan Pelton
Dennis Cooper
D. C. Henderson
John Wilcox Alfred Kelley T. M. Kelley
Philo Scovil
Dr. David Long
This list is a roll of honr, and the descendants of every man whose name is inscribed upon it have reason to allude to the fact with pride. Not all who assisted in the organization lived within the town limits. Timothy Doan resided at Doan's Corners, Euclid and E. 107th Street, and Jonathan Pelton's home was in East Cleveland. Some of the others may have lived in East Cleveland, Newburgh, or Brooklyn. The Rev. Searl of Plymouth, Conn., presided at the meeting, and visited the little parish at intervals. When he could not be present a lay-reader selected from their number, conducted the Sunday services. The poverty of the community in that day can be realized by the following incident :
The Rev. Searl, on one of his visits bewailed his need of an ax. The writer is under the impression that his home was in Norwalk, Ohio, but his itinerancy scattered. Phineas Shepard had no money to buy his friend and rector an ax, but he possessed two axes. One was a very old, scarred veteran of the forest and woodpile that had no further excuse for lying around in the way; the other was a bright, sharp instrument, the lightest stroke of which cut deep. Mr. Shepard went out to his wood-house and looked long and thoughtfully at the two axes, then picked up the only useful one, and returning to the house handed it over to Mr. Searl.
After living in the tavern about three years, Mr. Shepard removed to the West Side and lived at 342 Pearl Street, near Franklin Avenue. He took his church with him. All services were discontinued in Cleveland village, and were thenceforth, for six years, held either at his residence or that of Josiah Barber, who was equally an enthusiastic church man. They took turns in reading the services whenever a clergyman was not present.
The children of Phineas and Deliverence Smith Shepard :
Miles Shepard, b. 1784.
Helen Shepard, b. 1787.
Maria Shepard, b. 1789. Delia Shepard, b. 1791.
Matilda Shepard, b. 1794.
Amelia Shepard, b. 1796 ; m. Francis Graham.
Phineas Shepard, Jr., b. 1800; m. Cleantha Hinckley, daughter of Isaac Hinckley.
Elizabeth Shepard, b. 1803; m. Charles Taylor, Jr.
Flora Lavinia Shepard, b. 1805; m. Mr. Morgan; 2nd, Morris Jack- son. William Shepard, b. 1808; m. Ann Jeanett Pearson.
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The oldest child of this family, it will be observed, was 24 years old when the youngest one was born. Miles left his home early and struck out for himself. When William was about 12 years of age, his father sent him to a church school in or near Columbus, Ohio. On his way there in a stage-coach he stopped over night at an obscure country tavern. He got into conversation with a man who asked him his name. "Any relation of Phineas Shepard?" he inquired. "I am his son," was the reply. "You are! Well, my partner who is now out in the barn is another son of Phineas Shepard." Thereupon William hastened to seek this brother, who proved to be Miles whom he had never met before, and never met again, as the latter went to the far west soon afterward.
Only the marriages of the five younger children can be secured. Whether the older ones died or removed to western states, is not known. The younger daughters of the family were very attractive women. Amelia was unusually intelligent and quite a belle. Elizabeth and Flora Lavinia Shepard were both beautiful girls and greatly admired.
Mrs. Deliverance Shepard died and was buried in Cleveland. She was noted for her kind, neighborly acts, and for her wonderful skill as a nurse. Her services were freely given and always gratuitous. Consequently, she was much beloved in the community.
In 1833 Phineas Shepard, Sr., married 2nd, Mrs. Flora MacIntyre. He died in 1842 at the home of his daughter, Flora L. Jackson, and at the age of 85, after a life replete with good works.
1816
CASE
Leonard Case was the son of Meshack and Magdalene Eckstein Case, a poor German couple living on a farm in Westmoreland Co., Pa. About the year 1800, with their family of eight children, of whom Leonard was the oldest, they removed to Warren, Trumbull County, O., with a view, probably, of bettering their condition.
Here, at the age of fourteen, Leonard was stricken with what may have been infantile paralysis, a disease at that time not recognized as such. The symptoms, now so familiar, were quite pronounced in his case, the burning fever followed by crippled limbs .* This illness left him lame and unable to do active work.
He studied surveying with no purpose of following that occupation, as events proved. Then he secured a position in the courthouse of Trum- bull County and, in the Recorder's office, made himself familiar with the records of the Connecticut Land Company. During the War of 1812 he was engaged in collecting delinquent taxes.
When the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie was organized in 1816 the question of a cashier was under discussion, and Judge Kingsbury was asked to recommend a suitable person for that office. "I know a young
* It was always attributed, however, to a severe cold.
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man in Warren named 'Case' who writes a plain hand and is quick at figures," he replied. And Leonard Case, Sr., became the first cashier of the first Cleveland bank, the first county auditor, and between 1821 and 1825, president of the village council. Meantime he had studied law and entered the bar. When the bank failed in 1820 he practised law, and dealt in real-estate the remainder of his business life.
In 1817 Leonard Case, Sr., married, in Stow, O., Elizabeth Gaylord of Middletown, Conn. He bought a small house on Superior Street near the corner of Bank Street, originally the Stiles lot. Here the couple began housekeeping, and here they remained for nine years. The first bank of which Mr. Case was cashier and afterward president occupied the front of this house. Both their sons were born there.
In 1829 the family removed to a small frame-house standing on the present site of the post-office. It faced the Public Square and its length, which was greater in proportion than its width, stood close to the sidewalk of Superior Street. The windows of the house were small and the lower sashes of them were always hung with short curtains of red calico or unbleached cotton. In all the succeeding years of increasing prosperity, from 1829 to 1856, the family continued to live in this house.
It has been told the writer that Mrs. Case was very domestic in her tastes and seldom left her home except on errands for her household. She rarely called upon her neighbors, and was never in any sense a fre- quenter of society.
In 1856 Mr. Case moved into a double brick house on Rockwell Street at the corner of Wood, East 3rd Street, a residence he had owned for some years. He had sold the other site to the government for a post- office and custom-house. Mr. Case died within the following year.
It is curious to note that Leonard Case yearly acquired real-estate but did not sell it. In 1833 he advertises ten-year leaseholds on four-rod lots fronting Superior, Bank, St. Clair and Lake streets, the last one ten rods in depth.
There were several periods of great financial depression between 1812 and 1860, when business men in desperate straits were obliged to offer very valuable real-estate as security for comparatively small loans, and in numerous cases were unable to lift the debt. The bank or individual who held the mortgage came into possession of the property.
In the terrible panic of 1837 the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie, recently reorganized with Leonard Case as its president, acquired a large amount of real-estate in this manner.
Whole pages of local newspapers during the early '40s were filled with sheriff's notices of delinquent tax-sales, to be held on the steps of the courthouse. It is interesting to note how many well-known citizens of that day were unable to pay their taxes. At those sheriff-sales there were few bidders, but the man who had money could secure valuable real-estate for a song. Of course, it could be redeemed, and sometimes was, but more often it was so many years before the owners were in a position to pay back taxes, interest and charges that no effort was made to reclaim it.
It has been stated to the writer that much of the immense fortune
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made by Mr. Case in real-estate was founded upon the opportunities above mentioned.
The children of Leonard and Elizabeth Case :
William Case, b. 1818; died, unmar- Leonard Case, Jr., b. 1820; died, un- ried, 1862. married, 1880.
Neither of these sons was robust. Although much of William's life was spent in outdoor sports and recreation he died of consumption at the age of forty-two. He possessed much of his father's business ability, and relinquished his desire to attend college in order to assist his father in the management of his property. He also had railroad interests that made demands upon his time. He was fond of natural history and of hunting. His father's law-office that stood for so many years north of the homestead was converted by him into what would now be called a "den," but which he dubbed the "Ark." Here he kept his treasured specimens and the trophies of hunting expeditions. Here, with his brother, he welcomed congenial friends and organized them into a club, only one member of which now survives.
William Case was mayor of the city in 1850 and '51.
Leonard Case, Jr., was born delicate, and for sixty years struggled with continuous ill-health. He is said to have been a lovable man, kind- hearted and generous-minded. His instincts were scholarly, and, perhaps because he was barred from close study, he placed great value upon liberal education. His own well-equipped library and that of his brother formed the nucleus of the Case Library, which he richly endowed.
Four years previous to his death Leonard Case, Jr., placed a million dollars to the credit of an institution to be called "The Case School of Applied Science." It was housed at first in the Case homestead on Rock- well Street, where he and his brother had lived, but long since has occupied stately buildings on Euclid Avenue beyond East 107th Street.
1816
BLISS
Two prominent families in early days were Jonathan and William Bliss who came here about 1816. They were the sons of Stoughton and Zerviah White Bliss of East Windsor, Conn. Another brother, Pelethiah Bliss, also came to Ohio, but settled in Parma.
William and Jonathan both lived on the south side of Superior Street below Seneca. The latter's house came first, then Abram Hickox' black- smith shop, then the shop of S. S. Dudley, a young bachelor, after that the residence and jewelry shop of William Bliss.
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