USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > The pioneer families of Cleveland 1796-1840 Vol. I > Part 34
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It is said that she would carry her butter and eggs from Warrensville to Cleveland, a distance of nine miles, walking both ways, and returning the same day. She endured many hardships, but through them all was noted for her gentleness and patience.
Her daughter Mary Ann Teare married John Radcliffe. He died leaving her with three small children. She was a woman of rare excel- lence, industrious, economical, generous, and kind-hearted. She lived in Cleveland on Cedar Ave., and was a member of the Euclid Ave. Baptist Church. She died in 1890. Her surviving children are William and Eliza Radcliffe.
William Kneen and his wife grew tired of their "huckleberry patch," as they called it, in Newburgh, and removed to Carroll County, O., where Mrs. Kneen died at the age of 91. Their daughter Mary Kneen married Rev. Hugh Gibson, and died in Los Angeles, Cal.
Jane Kneen, youngest daughter of William and Mary Kenyon Kneen, became the only survivor of the party of thirteen from the Isle of Man in 1826. She was proud to relate that her mother frequently entertained John Wesley at her home. She, Mary Kenyon, was one of the first, if not the first woman convert to Methodism on the Isle of Man. She had a re- markable voice and led the singing at all the Wesley religious meetings.
Jane Kneen married Elijah Shepherd, and after his death she left Carroll County, and returned to Cleveland, where she resided on Eglen- dale Avenue with her daughter Mary Shepherd, and her son Frank Shep- herd of the HOLMES, SHEPHERD LUMBER CO.
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CANNELL
In 1826, several families from the Isle of Man came to the north-east part of Newburgh and settled on land on what is now Union street and south of Kinsman Road. It was a small colony of not more than half a dozen families. Some of them settled in Warrensville. Those who formed what was long known as the Manx village were, Mr. and Mrs. William Kelley, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Quiggin, Mr. and Mrs. John N. Cannell, and three families of Corletts. They were industrious, frugal, moral, and religious people. In 1831, they built a log-cabin school-house on the corner of what is now known as Union and Rice avenues. The Stewarts and Saxtons from Connecticut joined in this educational enter- prise.
John N. Cannell was born in 1800. His wife Jane Quiggin was born the same year. Mr. Cannell's father Patrick Cannell accompanied his son to Newburgh. He was then 72 years of age. Patrick Cannell established the first Sunday School opened in Newburgh. His daughters and his sons' wives were teachers in it. His wife, Margaret Quayle Cannell had died ten years previously.
Children of John N. and Jane Quiggin Cannell :
John W. Cannell, b. 1823; drowned in Shaker Lake, 1842.
Thomas Cannell, b. 1825; m. Mariett Farr.
Jane J. Cannell, b. 1828; m. Sayles A. June.
Elisabeth J. Cannell, b. 1831; m. William Kelley.
Emily A. Cannell, b. 1833; m. John Watson.
Charles Cannell, b. 1836; m. Elisa- beth Eldridge.
Louise Cannell, b. 1838; m. 1st, An- drew Stone, 2nd, James Jenkins.
Henry A. Cannell, b. 1841; unmar- ried.
Eli W. Cannell, b. 1844; m. Marga- ret E. Corlett.
The youngest child of the family, E. W. Cannell, 4129 E. 93rd St., and Mrs. Thomas Cannell, living in Iowa, are the only surviving members of it.
1827
This year marked the town's highest degree of exaltation and its low- est depth of depression.
The opening of the Ohio Canal was celebrated with all the ceremony the limited resources of the village made possible. Distinguished guests, including the governor of the state, were entertained with simple but dignified hospitality. The festivities closed with a dance at Merwin's Tavern, then managed by James Belden, and renamed the "Mansion House." It is said that in order to fill out the quadrilles, then the only dance in vogue, every adult in the community had to be present and assist. Even children were pressed into the service.
But, alas! scarcely had the happy event ceased to be the theme of
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1827
THE FIRST METHODIST CHURCH ORGANIZED
every tongue, ere the village was prostrated by a fatal epidemic of typhoid fever, causing much suffering and seventeen deaths. It lasted over two months and those who escaped the disease were worn out, from constant ministrations to the sick and the dying.
Newburgh and East Cleveland were also grievously afflicted. Whole households were ill at one and the same time, and often, three or four deaths occurred in a family. The home of Amihaaz Sherwin, living on the present site of the Euclid Ave. Congregational Church, was a sad scene of suffering and death. Martha Dickerson, wife of Peter Dicker- son of East Cleveland, and her two children were buried within a few days of each other.
1827
The Connecticut Land Company gave the hamlet of Cleveland in 1808, 101/4 acres of land for a cemetery on what is now E. 9th St. In 1827 it was platted and called Erie Street Cemetery. While this was being done, Judge Spaulding rode by in a stage-coach bound for Warren, and he wondered why a site for a burying-ground should be selected so far out of town. In September of this year, an infant daughter of Deacon Moses White was interred-the first grave dug in the cemetery. The children of the bereaved family cried bitterly because they had put little Minerva "way out in the woods." The records of the cemetery for the first 13 years were destroyed by fire, and its books reopen in 1840.
The Cuyahoga River, as it neared Lake Erie, suddenly swerved to the left and entered the lake from what is now the West Side. In this year the Government straightened this bend in the river by cutting an arti- ficial channel out into the lake several rods east of the old original one. Steamers and vessels were now enabled to enter the harbor.
Wolves still troublesome on farms near town. Sheep and hogs at- tacked by them.
1827
THE FIRST METHODIST CHURCH ORGANIZED
Previous to this year came the Rev. Joel Sizer of New York, accom- panied by his sister Abigail, and set up housekeeping on St. Clair street, corner of what is now "Court Place." The brother and sister were ferv- ent Methodists. Joel had been made a local preacher in his eastern home, and within a year's time of his arrival here, he had gathered together the few Methodists in town, and formed a class, the Rev. John Crawford, a pioneer preacher, assisting.
The members of this class were:
Rev. Joel Sizer; Abigail Sizer; Grace O'Kane Johnson, widow of
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1827
McLANE
William; Mrs. Lucy Knowlton; Elisabeth Belden, afterward the wife of Eubulus Southworth; Eliza Tomlinson, wife of Andrew Worley; Andrew Tomlinson, Mrs. Worley's brother. Seven in all. Not long after, Elijah Peet of Newburgh and his wife, Martha Williams Peet, joined the class, and four years later took up their residence at 36 Bank Street, where they lived the remainder of their days.
Nothing can be learned of the subsequent lives of Joel* Sizer or his sister, nor that of Lucy Knowlton. She is said to have been a widow with sons.
The society worshiped in the little log school-house standing on the south-east corner of St. Clair and Bank streets; sometimes, when the weather permitted, in one of the many groves near the heart of town; and one winter the Old Stone Church faternally opened wide its basement doors to the homeless brethren of another denomination.
1827
McLANE
John McLane or McLean-it has been spelled both ways-became a Methodist minister, consequently, had no permanent abiding-place, as, by the rules of that denomination, clergy were shifted about every two years. In 1833, he was a preacher on the Cleveland Circuit, and held a very animated series of revival meetings in this town. He was residing in Canfield, O., in 1884, and nearly 80 years of age.
1827
BAIRD-McLANE
"Married-In September, by the Rev. Bradstreet, John McLane and Eliza Baird."
The bride was a daughter of Henry and Ann Baird. It is said to have been a run-away wedding. Mr. Baird was a Scotch-Irish Presby- terian of the strictest kind. He was the man who once arose from his pew and marched out of church because a bass viol was brought into the choir to accompany the singing. Mr. and Mrs. Baird were both charter members of the Stone Church. Mrs. Baird was full of old-world ideas of what was her "Christian duty."
Eliza Baird taught in the little red school-house which stood on or near the south-east corner of St. Clair and Bank streets, the site of the Kennard House. Loretta Wood, daughter of Gov. Wood, was one of her
* He is said to have been a high degree Mason of that fraternity.
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1827
SHORT
pupils, and she called Miss Baird her first cultured teacher. Caroline Scovil, daughter of Philo, was another of her scholars. The little girls used to play keeping house among the stumps surrounding the little building. Girl pupils were taught to knit and to sew.
Miss Baird graduated into the dignity of an "Academy" teacher when that building was erected, and remained there until her marriage in 1827.
1827
SHORT
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Short stood on the sand beach at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River one early summer day in 1827. They had just been landed by small boats from a vessel, for the river was too shallow for large craft to enter. Their young children stood with them, and piled about were the household goods brought all the way from Derby, Conn. The family came the whole journey by water. First, a little schooner took them down the Housatonic River and Long Island Sound to New York City. Another boat conveyed them up the Hudson River to Albany. A canal-boat carried them to Buffalo and finally they were brought on Lake Erie to Cleveland.
With so many changes it would not have been surprising if some of their belongings had spilled out or been lost overboard on the way .. So Mrs. Short had good reason to exclaim:
"Thank goodness! Here we are at last, and everything belonging to us, save the warming-pan !"
But wintry nights and cold sheets were months ahead, and the arti- cles yet at hand were more necessary or comforting just then than the bed-warmer. The family found temporary shelter in a log-house on Lake Street, probably the one built and occupied years previously by the Thorpes. 1827 was a year of great sickness and many deaths in the vil- lage, and the Shorts took refuge on Woodland Hills. Four years later, Mr. Short bought a farm on Woodland Ave., corner of Case, and extend- ing back to the ravine.
The log-house on it was occupied for a time, but soon a new frame one took its place and, for 70 years was the family homestead.
Peter Short, born in 1773, was the son of Joseph and Abigail Short, who had ten children. Mrs. Peter Short was Minerva Mallory of Mil- ford, Conn. She was a daughter of Moses Mallory, a Revolutionary sol- dier, of whom mention will be made later. Mr. and Mrs. Short had 13 children, only seven of whom accompanied or followed their parents to Cleveland. Charles Short, one of the older children, remained in Connec- ticut, married there and died in 1878. His grandchildren still reside in Bethel, Conn., and in Brooklyn, N. Y.
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1827
SHORT
Children of Peter and Minerva Mallory Short:
Almira Short, m. Starr B. Riggs. Minerva Short, m. Thomas Davis. David Short, b. 1818; unmarried.
Lewis Short, b. 1811; m. Helen Woodman.
Maryette Short, b. 1815; unmarried.
Maria Short, m. 1st, Ed-
wards; 2nd, Harvey.
Lucy Short, b. 1813; m. Zachariah Eddy.
Almira Short and Mr. Riggs were married in 1824 in Derby, Conn. They came to Cleveland in 1828, and remained in or near this place for about 10 years, then removed to Indiana. Mr. Riggs was a founder of the Congregationalist church in Boonville, Ind. His children; nine in number, settled in Indiana and in Iowa. Mr. Riggs survived his wife 18 years.
Minerva Short married Mr. Davis, the pioneer, in December of the same year she came to Cleveland, and remained here the rest of her life. See Thomas Davis family sketch.
Lewis Short lived on Woodland Ave. near the old homestead. He worked on his farm and later had a shoe-shop. In 1882, he moved to Detroit street in what is now Lakewood and, ten years later, died aged 81 years. He was of a very religious nature and held original interpre- tations of the Bible, which he much reverenced, and loved to expound. Unlike the type of religious enthusiast, he was liberal-minded, gentle, genial, and loth to take offense. His wife, Helen Woodman Short, was born in Exeter, N. H., and was of the same age as her husband, 23 years, when married.
Children of Lewis and Helen Short :
Caroline Short, m. Mr. Kidney. Frank Short, married and lived in Lakewood.
Henry L. Short, m. Mrs. Cowles. Lives in Colorado. Frederick Short, lived in Syracuse,
George W. Short, m. Adalaide Mun- hall.
N. Y., and married there.
George W. Short was a well-known business and club man of the city. He was a senior partner of the firm of Short & Forman, publishers. His wife and two pretty daughters were prominent in Cleveland society until after the death of Mr. Short. They live or spend most of the year in New York City.
Lucy Short was but 16 years of age when she married Mr. Eddy and, in 1879, they celebrated their golden wedding as a house-warming in the third and last home of the Short family on Woodland Ave. This house was built in front of the old homestead which also had taken the place of the early log-cabin. Mr. Eddy was a builder of row-boats and back of his house had a large shop in which he worked on them.
Mr. Edwards, the first husband of Maria Short, was drowned on the Great Lakes shortly after the birth of their first child, Sarah L. Edwards. Sarah was adopted and reared by Maryette and David Short. She re-
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1827
SHORT
ceived her education in Cleveland, and was married in the old homestead to Dr. Henry Slosson, son of Dr. Franklin Slosson, for many years a lead- ing dentist. Maria Short Edwards was married a second time to Mr. Harvey, and lived in Toledo, Ohio, where she died.
Maryette Short possessed peculiar strength of mind and character. Through the years of her youth, the pioneer years, when the mother was always an invalid, it was Maryette who bore the burden of the home- making. She helped in the evenings after the day's work in the house was over (and it was a long day's work of baking and cooking and churn- ing and caring for the needs of farm and family) ; she would go out into the fields and help father and brother build the fires under many stumps to clear the fields for the new crops. In middle life still she was the strong rock of support upon which her immediate household and a very large circle of relatives, in their many vicissitudes and emergencies, leaned heavily.
Although without children of her own, she saw playing about her feet three generations of little children whom she loved most tenderly and cared for with great and unselfish service, she was a woman some- times to be feared, always to be loved, trusted, and leaned upon. The years of her life were many, and when at last she was alone, the only one of the once large household left in the empty house, she met this also with the same unflinching courage, the same keen intelligence that had ever dominated her.
On her 80th birthday, she sent to all of her family a dainty missive which read :
"On Thursday afternoon at four, Miss Short will meet you at her door. For on that day and at that hour, She doth you all invite To come and stay to tea, At early candle light."
"756 Woodland Ave."
David Short also remained single, and the brother and sister lived to- gether and carried on the farm. Near the close of his life, he engaged in the oil business under the firm name of Short, Judd & Co. He was a member of the Cleveland Grays. His death occurred in 1894, when 76 years of age.
All descendants of the Cleveland pioneer Peter Short and of his chil- dren have reason to be proud of their forebears. Honesty, piety, sim- plicity, and industry were some of the many virtues of the Peter Short families. No one was ever made poorer in order to increase their gains. Every dollar brought into their households was honestly earned at the shoemaker's bench or in the field. They were just and considerate in their dealings, held out helping hands to their neighbors, and were sym- pathetic with all who were in sorrow or in financial distress.
When, in research, we chance upon some record of an early Cleveland man that reveals how wealth was sometimes acquired within the limits of a law, but far short of its spirit, the lives of Peter Short and his chil-
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1827
STARKWEATHER
dren shine brightly in contrast, and prove how nearly one may follow in the footsteps of the Master.
Moses Mallory, the Revolutionary soldier and the father of Mrs. Peter Short, was distinctly remembered by the older children of her family. He sat in a corner by the huge fire-place in the old Milford, Conn., home and delighted his grandchildren with stories of the Revolution, and often of events of which he was an eye-witness.
At one period of his service in the army he was ill and was given a furlough. He had to make a way to his home far north and leading through a tract of country occupied by the British. He found it extreme- ly difficult to obtain food and often suffered the pangs of hunger. One day, when almost famished, he approached a modest home near the edge of the woods in which he was hiding, and entered into conversation with the woman of the house. He did not ask for food, but presently inquired if she ever made stone soup. At her amazed negative, he assured her that she missed much in not knowing how to make a very delicious dish. But the stones must be of a particlar kind having peculiar qualities. If he could find some of these rare stones would she like to have him show her how the soup was prepared ?
She surely would. He went to the brook, gathered three or four large pebbles, and bringing them back to the house deposited them in a kettle of water, and set it over the fire. After it had boiled a few minutes, he called for salt, and presently for some cornmeal to thicken the soup. The result was a nourishing porridge of which he partook ravenously, and which the woman shared with him without once suspecting the trick.
1827 STARKWEATHER
Samuel Starkweather was the son of Hon. Oliver Starkweather. His grandfather, Hon. Ephraim Starkweather, was a soldier of the American Revolution, and it naturally followed that a boy of such forebears would not be content to settle down on the small farm where he was born and raised, but filled with ambition, worked hard for all the education he could obtain in his native town of Pawtucket, Mass., and then sought a higher one at Brown University.
He came to Cleveland in 1827, and soon made his presence felt in the small village. He was a born orator, and was called upon to make speeches upon many occasions-patriotic speeches, or speeches of wel- come, and his opinions were called for in any public gathering where ora- tory was in demand. He was collector of customs for the port of Cleve- land. He studied law, and became a judge, and for five years was mayor of the city.
His office was 39 Superior street, and his family-residence for many years at the south-east corner of Water and Lake streets. Later years
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1827
STODDARD
the family removed to Euclid Ave. near Erie and just east of the Cleve- land Trust Company.
Mrs. Julia Judd Starkweather, sister of Mrs. T. P. May and Mrs. Nicholas Dockstader, was born 1810 in New Britton, Conn. For nearly seventy years she was identified with the religious and social interests of the city. From the time there were but 500 men and women and children all told in the little village of 1825, until it became the great city of 1894, she lived always within half a mile of the same spot. For some years previous to her death she bore the honor of being the oldest surviving member of the Stone Church, and she was much beloved by all affiliated with that religious society.
As wife of the mayor of the city, she carried herself with tact and dignity through all the public and social functions entailed upon her hus- band during his terms of office, and won the admiration and respect of visiting celebrities and officials of neighboring cities.
The children of Samuel and Julia Judd Starkweather:
William Starkweather, m. Olivia Sims, daughter of Capt. Sims. . Samuel Starkweather, Jr.
Sarah Starkweather, married at her parents' residence on Water street, Richard Parsons, Huron Co., O., a young lawyer of fine
presence and eloquent speech. For a few years he was editor of the Cleveland Herald, keeping that newspaper up to a high standard. With him was associated Col. W. P. Fogg. (Both men died some years since.)
One of the editors of the Herald at that time was J. H. A. Bone, a liter- ary and dramatic critic of fine ability.
The book-keeper of the establishment was Elbert H. Baker, then slen- der and youthful, whose sympathetic manner and kindly dealings made him most popular with the reportorial staff. For many years past he has been business-manager of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and through rare foresight and untiring energy has made a phenomenal success of that newspaper, sending great packages of its daily and Sunday editions into every town and village of northern Ohio.
1827 STODDARD
John Stoddard of Massachusetts was an early resident of Cleveland, but the year in which he came west with his family cannot be determined. They were very cultured, refined people. Mrs. Stoddard, before her mar- riage, was Miss Mary W. Billings of Conway, Mass., and a relative of Mrs. Edmund Clark, who was Anna Maria Billings of the same town.
John Stoddard was the son of John, and a graduate of Yale College in 1787. He married Miss Billings in 1800, and removed to Albany,
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1827
MILLS
N. Y., where they lived for some years before coming to Cleveland. As he was born in 1767, he must have been at an advanced age when he made the last change of residence. Probably about 60 years old.
The family lived first on Euclid Ave. near the Public Square; after- ward they removed to No. 9 Ontario street back of the Old Stone Church. At that time, there were but three houses standing on that side of Ontario street between the Square and Lake street.
The children of John and Mary Stoddard:
Esther Williams Stoddard, b. 1803. William Stoddard, b. 1818.
Mary Ann Stoddard, m. Thurston. Solomon Stoddard, b. 1823.
John D. Stoddard, b. 1810.
Esther Williams Stoddard was an early member of the Old Stone Church.
An Amos Stoddard was living on Prospect street in 1856.
1827
MILLS
As the second mayor of Cleveland, the antecedents of Joshua Mills are of special interest. But spite of long and patient research, noth- ing can be found concerning his parentage, birth-place, or of his move- ments prior to 1827, the year he came to Cleveland village. The family records, which might throw light upon the subject, are at present stored in the effects of an army officer stationed on the Pacific coast and are unattainable.
Dr. Mills was accompanied to Cleveland by his wife and three chil- dren, two of whom were Mrs. Mills' children through a former mar- riage. He opened a drug-store and took up his residence in one of the Champion houses north side of Superior street just east of Seneca.
He began to make himself useful at once, aside from his practice of medicine. In the cholera season of 1832, he was made a member of the Board of Health, and gave faithful and fearless service during the prev- alence of that frightful epidemic, both in that year and two years later when the scourge returned with virulence.
Dr. Mills lived in Cleveland but 15 years, yet each one of them found him holding some public position bestowed upon him by a community that that respected and trusted him. He was an alderman, president of the council, and lastly mayor of the city for three years.
Mrs. Mills was born Phebe Stafford Higby, daughter of Dexter and Rosanna Ellsworth Higby of Castleton, Vt. Her parents removed to Chillicothe, O., when she was 14 years old. In 1820, she married Syl- vester Norton, and went to live in Granville, N. Y. Within a few years Mr. Norton died, and she returned with her two children, Sylvester and
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1827
MILLS
Minerva Norton, to her parents' home in Chillicothe. Here, about 1826, she married Joshua Mills. Whether he was practising medicine in that locality, or, had previously met her in Granville, is not ascertained.
In 1829, Laura Higby, Mrs. Mills' only sister, five years younger than herself, married John W. Willey, first mayor of the city of Cleveland, whom she had met in her frequent visits to town. The wedding was celebrated in the Mills residence on Superior street. Soon after, the young couple began housekeeping in an adjacent dwelling also owned by Reuben Champion.
There is a discrepancy in the testimony of old settlers regarding the time the two families resided here. Mrs. Juliana Walworth Keyes is said to have owned two small frame-houses on the opposite side of the street just below Seneca, that were occupied by Dr. Mills and John Willey previous to their removal to beyond the Public Square. There is little doubt that they lived at different times on both sides of Superior street, but which was Dr. Mills' first residence is in doubt.
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