USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > The pioneer families of Cleveland 1796-1840 Vol. I > Part 24
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Charles Long Cutter, b. 1842. He was a graduate of Western Re-
serve University, and afterward studied law. He 'm. Anne Spen- cer, daughter of T. P. Spencer.
Frances Maria Cutter, b. 1843; m. Charles Dillingham.
Emma Hutchins Cutter.
Martha Cutter.
William Henry Cutter. Arthur Davis Cutter.
Orlando and Abilene D. Cutter lived for some years side by side on St. Clair Street, Mrs. Orlando Cutter's brother, Richard Hilliard, occu- pying an adjoining residence to the left of them.
Moses Cutter, eldest of the brothers, also came west. He lived and transacted business in this city for a time, but, as his sons were active and prominent citizens of St. Louis, he and his wife soon joined them in that city.
Mrs. Moses Cutter was born in 1775, and was the daughter of Col. Christopher Webber.
The burial lots of the Cutter family are in Woodland Cemetery.
1819
The first marriage notice in Cleveland Herald.
"On the 25th day of September last, at Monroe, by John Bean, Esq., Elder John Blodgett of Salem, to the amiable Miss Anna Abbott, of the former place."
The Monroe and Salem mentioned may have been in this state.
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The first death notice in Cleveland Herald.
"Died, Dec. 31, 1819, Mrs. Leora Barker, aged 21. She left parents, brothers, and sisters."
"The Rev. Philander Chase, bishop of the State of Ohio, will preach in the courthouse" (north-west corner of Public Square) "in the village of Cleveland at 10 o'clock A. M., Sept. 28, 1819." (Herald.)
Salt yet very high. One barrel worth as much as three barrels of flour.
Money very scarce. Every sixpence and shilling coming to hand had to be put by for taxes.
To relieve the wants of the people the township trustees issued a hundred dollars in shin-plasters, signed by Daniel Kelly, President, and Horace Perry, clerk of the board of trustees. Silver dollars were cut into nine pieces, and half-dollars into five pieces in order to make change.
"Joel Smith advertises his boot and shoe shop-'a few rods north-west of Merwin's tavern.' "
1819
In June, 1819, a mission Sabbath-school was organized in the old log courthouse standing in the center of the south-west corner of the Square. Elisha Taylor was elected Superintendent, and Moses White, afterward founder and deacon of First Baptist Church, was made the Secretary.
This little Sabbath-school established the infancy of the Stone Church and Presbyterianism in the city. Therefore, no one of that faith but must feel an interest in the personality of the little band of Christian workers, first ancestors of the great membership of today, possessing unlimited resources, and widespread influence.
But in 1819, it was very small and very poor. The log courthouse sheltered it for two years, and after that it experienced all the anxieties and uncertainties of those who rent or accept the charity of landlords.
For a while, it held forth in the small schoolhouse on south side of St. Clair street near Bank street, then, in the second story of the old Academy on the opposite side of the street, the site of No. 1 Engine House, and by the time James Kellogg had built a business block where the American House now stands, the society was housed in the third story, and the Sabbath-school had long taken its proper place as a training school of the organized church with its 28 charter members.
There were 16 adult names enrolled on that June Sabbath of 1819, and personal mention of each will be found in this volume. Besides Elisha Taylor and Moses White, there were Mrs. Taylor, S. I. Hamlin, Philip B. Andrews, Sophia L. Perry, widow of Nathan, Sr., Bertha Johnson,
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Sophia Walworth, Mrs. Mabel Howe, Miss Harriet Howe, Henry Baird, Mrs. Ann Baird, Juliana Long, Mrs. Isabelle Williamson, Mrs. Minerva Merwin, and Rebecca Carter, widow of Lorenzo.
1819
FOOTE
Herchel Foote was an enterprising and popular young man who estab- lished the first book-store in town, in 1819. Probably he was induced to do this by members of the Men's Literary Society, organized as early as 1810, who tried to maintain a small public library.
His book-store was on the north-west corner of Superior Street and the Public Square, now the site of Marshall's drug-store. He was also a singing-master, and while leading the choir in the Old Stone Church, conducted singing-schools at Doan's Corners, and sometimes in Newburgh or Euclid.
He sold his book-store to Mr. Rouse, and bought one of general mer- chandise on the opposite side of the street below Seneca, and formerly owned by S. S. Dudley. Within a few years, he removed out on Euclid Ave., in what is now East Cleveland, where he was made a justice of the peace and postmaster of the village.
He came to Cleveland from Utica, N. Y., although his birthplace was Canton, Conn. He was the fourth son of John Foote, Jr. His mother was Lois Mills Foote, daughter of Dea. Benjamin and Hannah Humphrey Mills of Canton. His parents both died when he was 10 years old, the mother in December, 1802, and his father in the following June.
In 1821, he married Pamelia Townsend, daughter of Christopher Townsend of Albany, N. Y. Her mother died at her birth and Jonathan and Hannah Bliss, who had no children of their own, adopted her as their daughter. Afterward they became Cleveland pioneers of 1816, bringing the little girl, then 11 years of age, with them. She matured into an attractive young woman with unusually refined speech and bear- ing, and was universally admired and respected. She was 17 years old at the time of her marriage, and her husband was 28.
For over 30 years Herchel Foote kept a store on the south-west corner of Euclid Ave. and Noble Road, and lived in a large house about 100 feet west of it. His store was one of the usual village type, containing dry- goods, hardware, and groceries. He was popular with his neighbors, and drew trade from a wide area. So successful was he that some time in the early '50s he enlarged his business resources by building a big brick store directly opposite the one he had occupied so long. It was over 60 feet in length, and as the largest one thus far built in that locality, it was con- sidered quite a pretentious building. He sent east for a big stock of goods and the outlook for trade seemed exceedingly flattering. Bennet Town- send, a brother-in-law, was taken in as partner.
But while business had been thus prospering with Mr. Foote, his
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household affairs were not on as satisfactory a footing. Mrs. Foote was a favorite in Cleveland society, and frequently entertained her intimate friends in it. Mrs. T. M. Kelley, Mrs. Weddell, Mrs. Sherlock Andrews, the Hoadleys, and the Woolseys would often drive out in their carriages to call upon Mrs. Foote, to take tea with her, or to spend the day.
Trouble began with Mrs. Foote's neglect to introduce her maids to the company and by requiring them to serve the table instead of sitting down at it with the guests. In the country district of that day this was an innovation. The "help" proved her claim of "being as good as anybody else" by being seated with the family, and when necessary, it was more often the mistress who left the table to procure some forgotten adjunct of it, or attend to the dessert. Mrs. Foote's very reasonable and sensible requirements as viewed from the stand-point of our day and generation, were considered personal insults, not only by the maids, but by their fol- lowing of relatives and friends, although in every other way Mrs. Foote had been the most considerate mistress.
Meanwhile, the social attention she received and the customary sight of carriages standing before her door began to excite the animosity of the envious. This feeling grew as inevitably as all sentiment grows in a community that has but few outside interests, and every happening is of account.
Nearly north of this locality was a settlement with a reputation of be- ing "rough," and which furnished most of the help sought by housewives, within a radius of several miles. About the time that Mr. Foote launched out in his new store, he unfortunately added to the antagonism that had been smoldering in that settlement against his family by an adverse decision as a justice of the peace against two tavern-keepers whose busi- ness had sunk to the level of grogshops merely. The result was a boycott of his store, carried on aggressively and persistently, winning over or cowering his former customers. He became unable to meet his local bills or to pay eastern creditors, and finally he failed heavily. Disheartened and discouraged by the turn of affairs he traded his property on Euclid Ave. for Wisconsin land valued at $10 an acre, which proved to be mostly under water, and worth about 50 cents an acre.
"Nicest people I ever knew," declared an old gentleman born and raised within a few rods of the Foote homestead, and who narrated to the writer the above facts. "We never had finer neighbors, before or since. Kind, generous, and good through and through. Best folks I ever met, and it wasn't long after they left town that hired girls were expected to wait on table and eat afterward, and no one kicked up a rumpus over it, either. I know for a fact that more than one was sorry and ashamed that they didn't stand up for the Footes and down those no-account people who made all that trouble for them."
Mr. Herchel Foote removed to Saratoga Springs, N. Y. He died in the autumn of 1870 in his 80th year, at Brooklyn, N. Y. Mrs. Foote died at the home of her son Edward in Larchmont Manor, N. Y., aged 89 years. This son had become a successful physician of New York City, with a summer home at Larchmont, and his son Dr. Edward Bliss Foote succeeded him in his practice.
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The children of Herchel and Pamelia Foote:
Alfred Mills Foote, b. 1822; m. Ruth Adams; 2nd, Miss Sally Brush. His later years were spent on a
fruit farm in New Jersey.
Edward Bliss Foote.
1819
WILLES
Three old weather-beaten headstones standing in a row in Erie Street Cemetery to the right of the main entrance are of peculiar interest to one having the early history of the city at heart. They indicate the graves of the first three editors of the old Cleveland Herald, Luther Willes, Ziba Willes, and Jewett Prime. All three died comparatively young, and of the same disease, tuberculosis.
The Willes were brothers, and the year they came to Cleveland, 1819, Luther was 30 and Ziba 24 years old. It has been found impossible to secure aught concerning the previous lives of these young men save that they were the sons of Sylvanus Willes of some town of New Hampshire, and that they came to Cleveland by the way of Erie, Pa., where, in September, 1818, Ziba had started the first newspaper published in that place. It was christened the "Erie Gazette," and was a venture that lasted but a year.
At the expiration of that time, the press, type, and other parapher- nalia of a small printing-office were transferred to Cleveland, and in October, 1819, was published the first issue of the Cleveland Herald, a newspaper that existed for 66 years.
Ziba Willes was assisted in this by a former friend and associate, Eber D. Howe, a practical printer 21 years of age, whose native home was Clifton Springs, Saratoga County, N. Y. Mr. Howe retained his connection with the Herald but two years, then removed to Painesville, Ohio, where in July, 1822, he started the Painesville Telegraph. After his departure, Luther Willes was associated for a time with his brother in the publication of the Herald, but finally withdrew and removed to Bedford, Ohio.
Luther Willes married Fanny Willey, daughter of Allen and Sophia Frink Willey of Goshen, N. H. She was an exceptionally intelligent and attractive young woman, and a sister of Hon. John W. Willey, first Mayor of Cleveland. Although possessing no data to prove the supposition, the writer is inclined to the belief that the Willeys and the Willes brothers had been neighbors or schoolmates previous to their residence here, and that their arrival in Cleveland in the same year was not by mere chance.
Mr. and Mrs. Luther Willes led an ideal life in the beautiful little village of Bedford. They were within an easy drive of Cleveland, and their pretty, hospitable home was often filled with their numerous town relatives and intimate friends.
Mr. and Mrs. John Willey, Rev. Elijah Willey, Dr. Joshua Mills and
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wife, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Andrews, and the Dodge relatives were frequent and welcome guests. And hither in 1826 came the younger brother, Ziba Willes, already bearing in his shrunken cheeks and hollow cough premonitions of the fate that awaited him. A disease incident to childhood had affected his hearing and precluded general conversation, which caused him, at times, to experience the loneliness that comes to those alike afflicted. He is said to have been a very lovable character, kind, gentle, friendly to every one, regardless of circumstance, and ex- ceedingly honest. He died at his brother's home in Bedford in 1830, aged 35 years, and was brought back to Cleveland and buried in Erie Street Cemetery.
Three years later Luther Willes, stricken by the same malady, was laid to rest beside him.
The children of Luther and Fanny Willes.
Charles Luther Willes, m. Anna Ma- ria Gleason.
Maria Louise Willes, m. Gen. Jacob Medary of Columbus, Ohio.
Caroline A. Willes, m. Dr. Henry
Slosson, a Cleveland physician and druggist.
Fanny Willes, m. Michael L. Sulli- vant.
Annette Willes, died young.
Mrs. Luther Willes survived her husband 47 years, and dying at an advanced age was laid beside the companion of her youth in Erie Street Cemetery. Her children, bereft of father in helpless childhood, received the best efforts of her life and made a success of their own. Her only son Charles, left a daughter, Miss Mary Sue Willes, who at this date, 1911, is an associate editor of a newspaper in St. Paul, Minn.
1819
SCRANTON
Scranton Avenue is one of the few city streets named after pioneers that has escaped the vandalism of the council that changed nomenclature into numbers.
Stephen Scranton of Ludlow, Mass., married Asenath Wright, daugh- ter of Abel and Joshua Wright of New London, Conn. The couple had a family of eight children, the older of whom were born in Ludlow and Belcherstown, and the youngest, twin-daughters, Cornelia and Harriet, were born in 1817 near Cooperstown, N. Y.
Stephen Scranton was a skillful worker in steel and iron. He was a man of unusual ability with an inventive turn of mind. He built works in Otsego Co., N. Y., for the manufacture of cut nails, the first one of its kind in the state. He possessed rare energy, and had he lived in this later day, would have been known as a "captain of industry" from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
But misfortune overtook him. His works were swept out of exist-
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ence by fire again and again. The last time they burned down, he gave up the struggle, and with his family removed west, settling in Brighton, Lorain County.
Eunice Scranton, the oldest child of the family, married Rev. Steven V. Taylor, LL. D., President of Madison University, N. Y.
Abel Scranton died of consumption in Cleveland in 1828 at the age of 20.
Joel Scranton, the second child of Stephen and Ascenath Scranton, was born in Belcherstown in 1793. His father's continued misfortunes early made it imperative for Joel to strike out for himself. He had typical Yankee shrewdness to a degree, attributes more suited to mer- cantile pursuits than the one with which his boyhood had been familiar.
He was 26 years old when he came to Cleveland in 1819, on a little schooner laden with leather. He rented a small store at the foot of Superior Street, and in it stored his cargo. He soon disposed of it, for it was a commodity much in demand. Of this he had assured himself on a former visit, and reconnoiter. To the sale of leather he added that of dry-goods and groceries, and within a few years was doing a business that was steady in yearly growth.
He bought a farm of many acres lying between the river and the amphitheater of hills east and south of it, and since known as "Scranton Flats." Here he built a commodious brick dwelling, in which he lived and died. Years ago, some one with a facile pen pictured, most allur- ingly :
"The old home and orchard at the foot of the hill, the boat swinging by a chain to a ring in its nose at the shore, the horses and kine pastur- ing upon the green meadows of the Cuyahoga, the woods that crowned the heights, the humble dwellings struggling up the bluffs as if trying to scale them."
"The flocks of cheep grazing in the pasture have been succeeded by the white fleeces of the busy steam, and the rasp of scythes by the roar of a thousand wheels."
Mr. Scranton sometimes complained whimsically that his big farm and other extensive holdings kept him "land poor." Taxes and improve- ments yearly growing heavier and currency scarcer.
A Mr. Averill living in the east was his partner in real-estate holdings. "Scranton & Averill," as the firm was known, ceased at Mr. Scranton's death. Mr. Averill came on to Cleveland occasionally, but took no active part in the business. A son and three daughters inherited the latter's interest in the firm, and until very recently, if not yet, the heirs have drawn yearly upon the Cleveland estate.
In the office of T. H. and Edward Bushnell, Society for Savings Build- ing, hangs a letter written by Joel Scranton to Mr. Averill in those early days of land investment.
Mr. Scranton was very unconventional, independent, and democratic. He had a keen sense of humor, and any one who could inveigle him into reminiscence was certain of a rare treat.
In June, 1829, by Rev. Stephen Peet, he was married to Miss Irene P. Hickox. She was the daughter of David and Phebe Post Hickox, who settled in Clinton, N. Y., a college town, in order to give their children
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educational advantages. The family consisted of a son, Jesse Hickox, and several daughters.
David Hickox removed to Kinsman, Trumbull County, Ohio, and in- troduced into that locality the culture of silkworms which was attract- ing much attention in the east. He brought with him to Ohio cuttings of mulberry which he grafted upon native stock.
David Hickox served three years in the War of the American Revo- lution. He enlisted March, 1777, and was discharged June, 1780.
Irene Hickox finished her education at Mrs. Pierce's famous semi- nary in Litchfield, Conn., after which with Mrs. Lewis and an older sister, she started a school for young ladies at Warren, Ohio. A third sister looked after the household needs of the establishment while the others taught.
This venture was not a financial success however, and the sisters divided forces. Irene came to Cleveland and opened a select school in a dwelling on Superior Street below the present site of the American House. But Joel Scranton had other plans for Miss Irene, which he finally persuaded her to accept, and she dismissed her classes to become the mistress of his heart and home. There have been from time to time many beautiful tributes paid to Mrs. Scranton by those who knew her as a gentle, lovely girl, and as a cultured Christian woman whose society and friendship were sought and treasured alike by rich and poor.
She had a family of five children, four of whom she laid away one by one in Woodland Cemetery, and where she rests beside them.
The children of Joel and Irene Hickox Scranton :
Helen Maria Scranton, b. 1830; died at seven years of age. died 1857, 21 years.
Mary J. Scranton, b. 1832; m. in 1858, William Bradford. died of quick consumption, aged 10 years.
George Hickox Scranton, b. 1834; died 11 months old.
Emily Louise Scranton, b. 1836;
Charles Hickox Scranton, b. 1839;
Jenney an adopted daugh- ter, died of consumption.
Mrs. Mary Scranton, widow of the late William Bradford, has been long the sole survivor of her father's family. She lost her only child in infancy, but her home has never been a childless one. In it has dwelt perpetual youth through the presence there of one after another to whom she has been a mother. Her sympathy for the widow and the fatherless, and the homeless, has been acute and tender, and under many circum- stances Mrs. Bradford has stood between the unfortunate and bitter, physical suffering. No one will ever learn of it through her.
She has been an active worker in the Old Trinity for many years. She founded the home on Prospect Street, giving to it personal service as well as financial support.
Mrs. Mary Bradford is one of the board of managers of the Women's department of the Cleveland Centennial Commission of 1896, under whose auspices this historical and genealogical work is being prepared and pub-
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lished. For several years she has maintained at her home on Euclid Ave. the annual meeting of the board.
Mrs. Bradford's cousin and adopted daughter, Ella Bradford, mar- ried Rt. Rev. William Montgomery Brown, Bishop of Arkansas.
1819
ARMSTRONG
John Armstrong and wife, Phebe Stewart Armstrong, were living in East Cleveland in 1819. They were from New Jersey, that state that fur- nished so many of East Cleveland's earliest pioneers.
Elizabeth Armstrong, m. A. B. Gills- pie.
Catherine Armstrong.
Adeline Armstrong, m. Jason Ab- bott. Died in Chardon, O.
Euphemia Armstrong, m. Ansel Walworth-Cleveland.
Caroline Armstrong, m. Luther Lewis.
Snover Armstrong, m. Mary Gun, granddaughter of Elijah Gun the pioneer of 1797.
1819
SOUTHWORTH
The name of Ebulous A. Southworth as early pioneer of Cleveland, does not appear in the Southworth genealogy, neither is there any other record available that gives his parentage or birthplace. He probably be- longed to the New England branch of that family.
His occupation is given as "mill wright" and again as "carpenter and contractor." He served the town in a public capacity in different years, and was on the first public school board. He seems to have been a useful and respected citizen, who in the first years of his residence here was possessed of considerable property both real-estate and personal.
He was owner of original lots 29 and 30, bounded by St. Clair, Bank and Lake streets. His home was No. 94 Bank Street, and he had a large carpenter shop on Academy Street.
In 1828 is recorded his marriage to Elizabeth Belden, 27 years of age, the daughter of Silas and Sarah Andrews Belden of Canaan, Conn. She met Mr. Southworth while making her home with her brother, the well- known pioneer, Silas Belden. She was a teacher in the Academy on St. Clair Street, and was pleasantly recalled by her pupils in succeeding years.
The business panic of 1837 started a rapid decline in Mr. Southworth's fortune. His homestead on Bank street and other property are found in the many lists of delinquent taxes advertised for years following the
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panic. The former, 66 feet, was sold in 1841 at auction by John A. Vin- cent, who had a mortgage upon it. Mrs. Southworth kept a boarding- house on Bank street for many years before and after the death of her husband. The latter was an estimable man, industrious, and of ab- stemious habits, but he lacked the business ability that in more skillful hands would have redeemed his fortune.
He died in 1870. Mrs. Southworth outlived all her family, and passed away in 1888 at the advanced age of 87.
The children of Ebulous and Elizabeth Southworth:
Mary C. Southworth, died in 1879, Louis Southworth, died 1862, aged aged 45 years. 16 years.
Sarah Southworth, died 1887, aged 49 years.
The only son was the idol of his parents and sisters, and his early death was a blow from which they never recovered. Mr. and Mrs. South- worth were charter members of the First Methodist Church. The family all lie in Erie Street Cemetery.
1819
COWLES
Judge Samuel Cowles, son of Joseph and Sarah Mills Cowles, was born in Simsbury, Conn., and at the age of forty-four removed to Cleve- land. It was in 1819, when the town was little more than a hamlet. He was a graduate of Williams College, had practised law for many years, and was a handsome, dignified gentleman of the old school of manners. Soon he became one of Cleveland's foremost and honored citizens, a law- yer of wide reputation, and was made a judge of common pleas court.
Besides the practice of his profession, he was identified with several business interests, and in time accumulated a fine property. He was con- sidered a safe counselor and in all money transactions perfectly reliable and above all criticism.
His partner for many years was Alfred Kelley, a brilliant lawyer of early Cleveland, who was a railroad promoter during the '40s, and who removed to Columbus, where he died.
Judge Cowles' name occurs frequently in all histories of early Cleve- land, especially in connection with philanthropic movements. He was president of the first anti-slavery society organized in northern Ohio, and was active in efforts to ameliorate the physical and spiritual condi- tion of sailors frequenting our port.
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