USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > The pioneer families of Cleveland 1796-1840 Vol. I > Part 23
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of Bennington, Vt. Wells.
Mary Hamlin, m. Henry Putnam of New York City.
Henry Hamlin, m. Louise Stevens of Cleveland.
Louisa Hamlin, m. Frank Chamber- lain of Cleveland.
Mrs. Hamlin survived her husband twenty-one years. She died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Martha Hamlin Dewey, in Bennington, Vt., aged 85 years. The family burial lot is in Erie Street Cemetery.
1818
NICHOLS
Humphrey Nichols of Ware, N. H., arrived in Cleveland in 1818. He had been raised on a farm, and, upon reaching town, at once looked for land suitable for farming purposes. Whether he brought the money with him or later earned the $500 which paid for 100 acres at $5 an acre has not been learned, but it was a good investment even when later he had to pay as much again for it.
The land was bounded by Wade Park Ave., Lamont street, E. 105th, and E. 93rd streets. It was purchased of the Western Reserve college, then situated in Hudson, Ohio. The land had been a gift of an eastern man named Law. A disregard by the college trustees of conditions re- quired, or some flaw in the title reverted the property to Law's heirs,
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and in 1841 Mr. Nichols had to pay $6 more an acre in order to hold it. The Nichols descendants still retain a few acres of the original 100-acre farm. The city holds possession of a portion lying along Rockefeller Park Boulevard.
Humphrey Nichols married, in 1824, Maria Bunts, b. 1803. Her mother, a widow with two other children, Richard and Levi, had married Charles Broff, a widower also with children.
The children of Humphrey and Maria Nichols :
Jesse Nichols, m. Jane Jones of Og- Abigail Nichols, m. Lorenzo Janes.
densburg, N. Y. Minerva Nichols, died aged 25 years.
Caroline Nichols, m. Mathew Penti- Edwin Nichols, died aged 50 years. cost.
Before her marriage, Mrs. Nichols had been a member in good stand- ing of the East End Methodist Church. Mr. Nichols had not as yet pro- fessed conversion, and declined to join the church, whereupon Miss Maria Bunts was notified that her choice of a husband was not regarded with favor, and the society put her "upon probation." Many times in the years that followed the Methodist church would gladly have welcomed her into its folds, but she refused all overtures in that direction.
She died in 1864, aged 61 years.
1818
WELLMAN
In the Cleveland Herald, 1820, the following notice is given :
"The militia will meet for drill on the square in front of Mowry's tavern, Saturday evening. CAPT. H. WELLMAN."
The map of Superior Street in 1825 shows that Capt. Hiram B. Well- man lived, at that time, on the south side of the street.
In the first decade of the last century, Mrs. Joel Wellman with her four children, two sons and two daughters, made a journey on horseback in mid-winter over the Allegheny Mountains from Canadagua, N. Y., to Dalton, Wayne Co., O. It was taken at that time of the year in order that the family could be settled in their new house and ready to plow and plant when the spring season opened. The children were Hiram B., Marshal D., Eliza, and Flora Wellman.
The sons did not remain long in Dalton, and while yet lads they found their way to Cleveland. It is told that they early displayed wonderful self-reliance and courage, natural characteristics in sons of so brave and energetic a mother. While in Cleveland, they went on some errand
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to an island near Put-in-Bay. It was late in the fall, and the vessel in which they made the journey landed them on the island with the under- standing that the boat would stop on its return trip and bring them back to Cleveland. For some unknown reason, this was not done, and the boys were left alone on a desolate island, with a limited supply of food, winter close at hand, and no means of getting to the mainland.
But they were not dismayed, for with the most primitive of tools they fashioned a boat or raft of sufficient strength to bear their weight not only to the mainland, but all the way back to Cleveland. Marshall D. Wellman returned to Wayne County and resided in Wooster, afterward removing to Massillon, Ohio. He was largely interested in the building of canals, and became wealthy. His beautiful home yet stands in Mas- sillon on the corner of Main and Prospect streets, and is occupied by one of his descendants.
Jack London, the well-known writer of fiction, is the grandson of Marshall D. Wellman.
Capt. Hiram B. Wellman settled in Cleveland. He was the town marshal from 1820 to 1828. He had various interests in the town. One of them was a large red warehouse on the river, where he bought and sold merchandise under the firm name of H. B. Wellman and Co. He was also a director of the Bank of Cleveland. With O. P. Hoyt, he pro- moted Ohio City property, now the West Side.
He married Miss Eliza Steward of Wooster, and brought her to the Superior street home. She must have been a very youthful bride, for she died in 1835 at the age of 26, leaving three little daughters. They were tenderly cared for by Martha L. Welton, who eventually became their father's second wife. She died in 1849.
Mr. Wellman married a third time, a Miss Mary H. Concklin of New York City, who gave him three sons, Marshall and Marcus, twins, and William Wellman. The last two reside in Chicago.
The children born in Cleveland :
Flora Wellman, m. Elisha W. Pax- Eliza Wellman, m. John F. Kart- ton of Wheeling, W. Va. haus, after the death of her sister
Mary Wellman, m. John F. Kart- Mary.
haus of Massillon, Ohio.
Col. Hiram B. Wellman left Cleveland about 1835, and took up his residence in Massillon. He became a prominent citizen of that town, re- siding in a stately Colonial house on Prospect Street near his brother's home. This house is now in the possession of strangers. He went to New York City in the latter years of his life, and in 1877 made a trip to Fernandina, Florida, with his daughter, Eliza Paxton. They contracted the yellow fever, and both died and were buried there. He was 79 years old at the time of his death. A granddaughter, the child of Mary Well- man Karthaus, yet resides in Massillon.
The Wellman brothers and their children who died in Massillon, all lie near each other in Massillon Cemetery, one of the loveliest burial places in the State of Ohio.
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1818
WOOD
In September, 1818, a small boat from the famous steamer "Walk-in- the-Water" entered the river and landed at the foot of Superior Street, a tall, broad-shouldered, powerfully framed young man, a Vermont law- yer 26 years of age who had come to "spy out the land" and see if it really was all that it purported to be, "flowing in milk and honey." As he toiled up the steep bank we cannot but conjecture what he expected to find at the summit, and what his state of mind at first sight of the poor, primitive little place, a struggling, straggling hamlet of 200 inhab- itants, with a few houses standing here and there near the river bank, and back of them the virgin forest. He may have realized at the moment that his feet were at last on Ohio soil, but little could he have dreamed that one day he would be Ohio's governor.
Reuben Wood was the eldest son of Nathaniel Wood, Jr., of Middle- town, Vt. His grandfather was Rev. Nathaniel Wood, one time chaplain in the War of the American Revolution, and whose three brothers had fought on the patriot side at the Battle of Bennington, Vt. Young Wood's education was unusually thorough, especially in the classics. It is told that all through life he carried about with him a Greek Testa- ment and Cæsar's Commentaries, which he read with ease.
He had begun the study of law when, in 1816, he married, and with his youthful bride resided for a year with his widowed mother, who had removed, meanwhile, to Woodville, N. Y., near Sackett's Harbor. At the completion of his legal course he came to Ohio, leaving his wife and child to rejoin him later.
His instructors had been a distinguished Canadian judge, and a New York lawyer equally renowned, and he had been admitted to prac- tice in the Vermont courts. But the latter availed him naught in Ohio. He could do no legal business, however trivial, until the Supreme Court of the state, then holding in Ravenna, had passed upon his professional merits.
The bottom of the young man's purse was alarmingly visible, so to hire a team was out of the question. Yet Ravenna was miles away, and between that place were woods, woods with ravenous wolves, catamounts, and possible Indians lurking, not a pleasant walk in anticipation. But it was an autumn month and there were objects in view other than wild beasts or men.
We can imagine how Reuben Wood, whose love of nature was life long and sincere, noted these as he strode along hour after hour. The glorious foliage above, the cushions of moss beneath, the wild beauty of the little lakes and streams yet almost unknown to the white man, the gentle rain of falling nuts, and the innumerable wild fowl gathering for their southern flight. If he encountered any serious obstacles in that long walk to Ravenna and return, they were overcome, and he brought back with him a permit to practise law within the State of Ohio.
But the outlook was anything but auspicious. The small sum of money he had brought with him dwindled in spite of the fees he occa- sionally earned. Yet, as the winter wore on, he longed for his wife and little Loretta to the extent of taking the chances of sending for them. Therefore, in the spring of 1819, as soon as navigation and the weather would permit, Mrs. Wood and her babe but a few months old started to
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join her husband in Cleveland. Mr. Wood went down the lake as far as Buffalo to meet her, and they took passage in the "Walk-in-the-Water" for the last stages of Mrs. Wood's journey.
A severe storm struck the steamer as it neared Cleveland. It could not enter port, even in pleasant weather, and for two days and three nights its passengers were tossed and tumbled on the waves within sight of the whole population on shore who watched the boat anxiously and unceasingly, but unable to alleviate the situation. At last, the lake sub- sided enough to allow small boats and lighters to row out to the steamer, and the wretched passengers were released from their tossing prison.
When Mr. and Mrs. Wood were finally landed, they were utterly pros- trated. Mrs. Wood declared that she would much rather die than live, and her husband's nerve completely gave out. His fare to Buffalo and re- turn added to his wife's passage had cost $60, and when he stepped ashore he had but 50 cents left in his pocket. In physical weakness and mental depression he resolved at the moment to give up the struggle and return to his old home in Woodville.
But Mrs. Wood's sound sense and womanly fortitude rescued the day. "I was foolish enough to come out here under the circumstances, and I am going to stick it out!" she exclaimed. How they managed to begin housekeeping on 50 cents of ready money, we can only conjecture. They never went into detail regarding it, save that they were very poor at first, very economical, but equally and always happy. Only six years later he became a state senator, then judge of common pleas, chief justice, and, in 1851, governor of the state.
It took 33 years to reach the last goal, but they were years in which he maintained a character above reproach. It is claimed that the breath of suspicion was never lisped against Reuben Wood, either as an humble lawyer or honored magistrate. He was a man of genial disposition and tender sympathies. He was a wit and enjoyed fun, but on the bench was grave and dignified.
He resigned the office of governor in order to accept that of consul at Valparaiso, South America. But this failing to meet his expectations, he returned to Cleveland, and again entered his law office and private life. He died very suddenly, October, 1864.
As wife of the governor, Mrs. Reuben Wood, in a feminine way acquired as much distinction as her husband. She was very attractive, modest, intelligent, and refined, therefore capable of receiving the many famous guests they were called upon to entertain from time to time, with grace, tact, and dignity.
Mary Rice Wood was the daughter of Truman Rice of Clarendon, Vt., who removed to the wilderness of northern New York south-west of Sackets Harbor, at the close of the Revolutionary War. Here he erected a saw and grist-mill, a store, and a comfortable log-house for his family. He was an intelligent man, and his wife was a lovable, practical woman. The father's circumstances admitted of expense in the education of his four daughters, of whom Mary was the eldest, and at the age of 12 years she was sent away from home to a boarding-school that furnished superior advantages, so that when she married Reuben Wood, six years later, she was a fitting mate for the young, ambitious lawyer. She was ever devoted
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to the interests of her husband in either extreme of their circumstances, and as he advanced to high official positions, she gained unsought promi- nence in the most refined circles of the land. In her prosperity she was generous, and for the unfortunate had unbounded sympathy. In the fall of 1824, she returned to her eastern home to spend the winter, accom- panied by a sister who had been visiting her. The Wood residence was rented for eight months to James L. Conger, a lawyer who with his young wife had just arrived in town. Judging from a letter written to relatives by Mrs. Conger, at that time, Reuben Wood and his wife were maintaining an unusually comfortable and attractive home within six years of their arrival in Cleveland.
In 1833, they moved on to a farm out on Detroit street, in what is now Lakewood, and gave it the name of "Evergreen Place." On this they lived after Governor Wood's retirement from public life. Both hus- band and wife were very fond of the beautiful in nature, and delighted in the cultivation of trees, shrubs, and flowers. Mrs. Wood spent many happy hours in her garden which was filled with common as well as rare floral treasures.
She outlived her husband 22 years, dying in Alameda, California, in the 89th year of her age.
Governor and Mrs. Reuben Wood rest in Woodland Cemetery.
Their children were both daughters.
Loretta Wood, m. George B. Mer- Mary Wood, m. Seabury L. Mastick win.
of Alameda, Cal.
Loretta Wood married the eldest son of the Cleveland pioneers, Noble and Minerva Buckingham Merwin. She was born in 1818, and died in 1890, having lived all her long life in Cleveland. In her old age, she furnished some beautiful and touching reminiscences to the Old Settlers' Association, from which much herein is quoted. She says:
"My first teacher was Eliza Beard, the daughter of cultivated Irish people. At the age of nine I went to school to Harvey Rice, then a young law student from the east who taught in the old academy on St. Clair street, now an engine house." Harvey Rice became her uncle the fol- lowing year, by marrying Fanny Rice, her mother's sister.
"An adjoining lot covered with old stumps deposited there from vari- ous parts of the town, weather-beaten and bleached by storms, was our playground, the stumps our playhouses when we arranged our bits of broken crockery, not a set of little dishes having yet been brought to the village."
"I walk the streets of Cleveland today unmindful of the changes time and wealth have wrought. I see rather the scattered houses, the vacant lots, and the second growth of oaks and beeches covering them."
Seabury L. Mastick removed to San Francisco, Cal., soon after his marriage. He went into the lumber business and became wealthy. His wife survived him ten years. She died at the home of her son in Plain- field, N. J.
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1818
GRAVES
Dr. Ezra Graves, the pioneer physician of Cleveland, and contempo- rary of Dr. Long, is frequently mentioned in records of early dates. He lived where the Adelbert and Case colleges now stand. His practice was mostly with the pioneers living east of Willson Ave., now E. 55th St. He was eccentric in manner, but a skillful practitioner.
His family :
Hiram Graves. Deborah Graves. Temperance Graves.
Deborah Graves married Dr. Jonathan Simmons of East Cleveland, in 1818, and died 1834. They had four children, Ezra Graves Simmons, who married Eliza Harris, daughter of Arial and Clarissa Sherman Harris, Sophrona Simmons, married Holly Miles of Newburgh; Mary Simmons, married William Given of Cleveland, and Peter Simmons, removed to Denver, Col. If living he would be 80 years of age.
1818
WILBUR
Eliam and Mary Edson Wilbur were living on a farm in Batavia, N. Y., when their eldest son James B. Wilbur left home in 1818 to see for himself the little settlement on the south shore of Lake Erie about which reports had reached him, reports that were most favorable and alluring.
He had been here but a short time when he sent for his parents and sisters. The family consisted of two sons and two daughters. After his arrival in Cleveland, Eliam Wilbur was engaged in several occupations. He was employed by the town to lay out our Erie Street Cemetery, and he planted many of the trees that in after years made that sacred place so beautiful.
The family residence was on Bond Street in 1837. James B. Wilbur clerked for Nathan C. Hills in his grocery, corner of the Square and Superior street, where Marshall's drug-store now stands. Afterward he opened a grocery of his own, which he conducted for two or three years. He was in the stamp department of the post-office for a long time, and finally turned hotel-keeper with much success, managing the Forest City House.
In 1842, he married Miss Loretta Welch, many years his junior, and the daughter of that good woman, Mrs. Benjamin Welch. She is still living and young in heart through the ministrations of three married daughters of her own.
Nelson Wilbur, the other son of the family, became a Methodist min- ister, and preached most of the time in the south. He married a lady residing in a southern town where he was located.
Angelica Wilbur remained unmarried all her life.
Mary Wilbur married and died childless.
The above were sisters of James B. Wilbur.
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1818
CUTTER
The Cutter brothers were perfect types of New England manhood, poor, independent, industrious, ambitious. But while capable of hard work and self-denial in order to succeed, they would never lend them- selves to sharp dealing in any shape. They were scrupulously honest and kind in their business transactions, always keeping within the spirit as well as the letter of the law.
There were three of them, Moses, Orlando, and Abilene Davis Cutter, who came here at an early day. They were the sons of Benjamin and Catherine Farnsworth Cutter of Alstead and Jeffrey, N. H. There were other sons and daughters who remained east.
The father seems to have been something of a rover, impractical, and lacking in high sense of responsibility to his family. He moved from Alstead to Woodstock, Vermont, and, while his younger children were yet of tender age, he again removed to the wilds of lower Canada, into a log-house two miles from any other residence, and where there were no opportunities whatever for their schooling.
Meanwhile, Moses Cutter, the eldest son, either remaining in Vermont or returning there, married and started a country store in Royalton.
At the age of twelve Orlando went to live with this brother, who sent him to school for three years, then paid him $4.00 a month and board for his services in the store, and the following year doubled his wages.
Orlando was now eighteen years of age, and he went to Boston and clerked for the next three years for a dry-goods merchant. The estima- tion in which he was held for industry and honesty by his employer can be judged by the fact that when he concluded to seek his fortune in the far west, this man loaned him four hundred dollars for that purpose.
Detroit was his objective point, but after reaching that place he formed a business partnership with a Detroit firm and came to Cleve- land to start a branch store. There were but three stores established here at that time, October, 1818, and there seemed to be business enough for more, on account of rapidly increasing trade between this port and the large farming district south of it.
But within a year his (Detroit) partners failed, leaving him respon- sible for debts that took ten years to liquidate. He paid them all and established himself on a firm basis, "without assistance from any one, not even to the amount of a dime."
He also introduced an auction business which for many years was a valuable asset to the city. This he turned over, eventually, to his sons and spent his declining years in caring for estates intrusted to his keeping.
Two years after his arrival in Cleveland, at the age of twenty-three, Orlando Cutter married Phyana Phelps of Willoughby, O., daughter of Seth and Sarah Pierce Phelps, formerly of Aurora, N. Y.
She lived nine years afterward, and was the mother of three children, two of whom reached maturity. They were:
Orlando Phelps Cutter, b. 1824 in Willoughby, O. He was the first of the patriotic sons of Orlando Cutter who offered their lives and services to their country in the
Civil War. He was with Col. Bar- nett's battery for four years. It is said he was the first Clevelander to sail in a vessel from this port bound for California via Cape
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CUTTER
Horn. He was away at this time for seven years.
Edwin Cutter, b. 1827 in Cleveland;
m. (1) Helen Earl, daughter of Lorenzo and Marietta Earl; m. (2) Ellen Patrick.
In 1832 Orlando Cutter married (2) Sarah Hilliard, daughter of David and Lydia Hudson Hilliard, and sister of Richard Hilliard, the pioneer merchant.
She was a tall, fine-looking woman. Some of her six children closely resembled her. She died aged 66, in Nassau, N. J.
The Cutter children by the second marriage were:
Richard Hilliard Cutter, b. 1833; m. (1) Delphine Frances Wilson, daughter of Elisha Wilson of Cleveland. She died leaving no children. He m. (2) Mary Ham- ilton. He served in the Civil War. William Lemen Cutter, b. 1838, was named for a popular citizen of the city. He m. Caroline Atwater, daughter of Charles and Mary Kirtland Pease. William L. Cut- ter was engaged in mercantile and banking pursuits.
Nelson Patrick Cutter, b. 1837; un- married. Was a member of the first company of volunteers that left Cleveland at the breaking out of the Civil War. He was taken ill and died that year, 1861. He gave his life to his country.
John Farnsworth Cutter, b. 1841, was yet another son of this fam-
ily who served through the Civil War. He was present at several decisive battles; marched with Sherman to Savannah, and nearly lost his life by starvation when a prisoner in Charlestown, S. C. He m. Josephine Kelsey, daughter of Lorenzo and Sophia Smith Kel- sey. She was a sister of Mrs. John Devereaux.
Helen Phyana Cutter, m. Henry J. Hoyt of Cleveland.
Horace Long Cutter, m. Emily Har- vey.
Norman Webber Cutter, m. Mar- guerite Porter.
Sarah Catherine Cutter, the young- est child of the family, is the only one now living in the city. Rich- ard, Helen and Horace reside else- where.
Abilene Davis Cutter, son of Benjamin and Catherine Farnsworth Cutter, was five years younger than his brother Orlando. He was the only child of the family not born in New Hampshire. His birth was in 1802 in Woodstock, Vt.
His brother's venture probably fired his imagination and ambition, for a few months after Orlando's departure he started on foot to join him here. It is stated that he made a knapsack out of a tow blouse to contain his clothes while traveling.
Luckily, the lad was not obliged to carry out his plan of walking so great a distance, for a part of the way two men in a lumber wagon shared their seat with him.
From Black Rock, N. Y., he continued his journey in the celebrated old steamer "Walk-in-the-Water," the first one on our lake. Many inter- esting stories are related of experiences shared by other pioneers who trusted their lives and stomachs, chiefly the latter, on the slow, shaky
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boat, that often anchored outside of the port for hours, and even days, unable to make harbor, and bobbing about on choppy seas while passen- gers suffered all the pangs of sea-sickness.
A. D. Cutter was but sixteen years of age when he reached this town. He at once began to clerk for his brother. Again the Cutter honesty and ability were recognized, for a few years later a wealthy merchant of this city, having a branch store in Wooster, O., dispatched him to that place to look after it, and later sold his interest out to Mr. Cutter. Later he returned to this city and until his death was one of its honored mer- chants.
He married, at Wooster, Mary Shepler Hemperly, b. 1816 at Beaver, Pa. They were married in 1831.
He died very suddenly in 1852. His widow, seven years later, became the second wife of Hon. John A. Foote.
The children of A. D. and Mary Cutter:
Julia, Phineas and Henrietta, who died young.
Mary Elizabeth Cutter, b. 1839; m. James M. Carson of Cleveland. She died leaving no children, and J. M. Carson m. (2) Mary McMil- len.
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