USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > The pioneer families of Cleveland 1796-1840 Vol. II > Part 10
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Mrs. Frederick Whittlesey was Eliza Burrall, daughter of John and Mary Robbins Burrall of Suffield, O.
She was 22 years old at the time of her marriage.
The children of Frederick and Eliza Whittlesey :
Mary Whittlesey, b. 1831.
Julia Whittlesey, b. 1835; m. Elias B. Hillard.
Henry Smalley Whittlesey, b. 1836; m. Mary E. Taylor.
Eliza Whittlesey, b. 1839; m. Henry M. Cowles.
Frederick Whittlesey, b. 1841; m. Ellen Kennedy. Resides in Den- ver, Colo.
Albert Whittlesey, b. 1843; m. Lucy Wright. Emily Whittlesey, b. 1846; m. Al- fred W. Newton.
1834 WORTHINGTON
George and Ralph H. Worthington, once prominent in the city, were born in Cooperstown, N. Y., of old American stock.
Their parents were Ralph and Clarissa Clark Worthington. Clarissa Clark was the eldest daughter of Jerome and Anna Pinneo Clark of Colchester, Ct.
456
1834
WORTHINGTON
The earliest Worthington, and for a time the only one in New Eng- land, was Nicholas, who came from England and settled in Saybrook in 1649, but afterward removed to Hatfield, Ct. His wife was Sarah Bunce, the daughter of Thomas Bunce of Hartford.
The Worthington brothers who reached Cleveland in 1834 were of the sixth generation from these ancestors. We find them established in business, and both boarding at the Franklin House, kept by Benj. Har- rington, who later was one of the city's postmasters.
"George Worthington, hardware merchant, 3 Superior street, corner of Union lane;
"R. H. Worthington, cap and hat manufacturer, 31 Superior street, three doors west of the post-office,"
reads the little Cleveland directory for 1837. This record contains no hint of the hard work, anxiety and worry of running a business on lim- ited capital, with money exceedingly scarce, a financial condition preva- lent in every pioneer town in the '20s and '30s.
George Worthington was but 21 years old when he came west, yet the enterprise and far-reaching sagacity he at once displayed was most unusual, and far outclassed the older merchants of the little community. The manner in which he built up his trade outside of the town is an in- teresting story, and should be of value to the young business man of today, alike situated.
It was done through personal effort. He did not stand behind the counter of his small hardware store and wait for customers to drop in for purchase, but started out and traveled for miles the country round, solicitating orders, and offering to exchange with farmers or store-keepers anything he could dispose of, pork, grain, etc.
Soon wagons loaded with produce and drawn by horses or oxen were coming into town from a hundred miles away, and receiving from him in return hardware and other merchandise. Before 1840, he had moved to larger quarters, a store-room on the north-east corner of Superior and Water streets, once the old Nathan Perry stand, and here he transacted business for 30 years. Thenceforth it became an extensive wholesale establishment on the corner of Water and St. Clair streets, where it yet remains and is partly managed by the second generation of the Cleveland branch of the family.
In November, 1840, Mr. Worthington married Maria Cushman Black- mer, 23 years of age. She was the daughter of Reuben Harmon and Amanda Cushman Blackmer, Cleveland pioneers, who came here from Dorset, Vt. In 1836 Mr. Blackmer had a general provision-store on On- tario street, the present site of W. P. Southworth Co.
Just in the rear of this store was a little white chapel in the midst of a cluster of small dwellings. Here Miss Maria Blackmer opened a private school which afterward became absorbed in the newly established free, or public school system.
As a bride Maria Blackmer was slender and petite, with dark hair, and large dark eyes, and, judging from the personality of after years, must have been a very pretty young woman.
457
1834
STEDMAN
The four sons and four daughters that came into her household were typical American children, of the seventh generation on their father's side, and on their mother's directly descended from Thomas Cushman and his wife, Mary Allerton, of the Mayflower.
Mrs. Worthington's domestic cares absorbed all her time and effort for many years. Then, when it required a less measure of attention, her mind and heart went out in sympathy to struggling humanity, especially to poor or orphaned children, bereft of mother love or the comforts she had deemed so essential for her own little ones, and to the aged whom life had left stranded by the wayside.
She gave herself freely and of her wealth generously to the various charities with which she was affiliated, and thus became very dear to a host of people to whom her own family were strangers, and. who mourned her death in 1902 as a personal loss.
In 1848 Mr. Worthington purchased nine acres of land on the north side of Euclid avenue between Sterling and Case, East 30th and 40th, for which he paid $3500. Upon this he erected one of the beautiful homes that helped to make that throroughfare famous. The previous residence of the family had been Number 85 St. Clair street.
Children of George and Maria Worthington :
Ralph Worthington, b. 1841.
Abigail Maria Worthington, m. George Hoyt, son of Sylvester and Eleanor Converse Hoyt of Char- don, O.
Mary Beadle Worthington, m. Clark I. Butts, son of Freeman and Mary Ballard Butts.
Clarissa Clark Worthington, m. Wil- lis B. Hale, son of Edwin B. and Susannah Hoyt Hale.
George Worthington, m. Lily M. Smith, dau. of John W. and Altia Downer Smith of Albany, N. Y.
Alice Worthington, m. Martin J. Pendleton, son of Charles and Charity Sears Pendleton.
Two children died in infancy.
Ralph H. Worthington, who started a business in Cleveland a year later than George Worthington, evidently had more obstacles to encoun- ter, or was less plucky than his brother, for he tired of the struggles of a pioneer merchant, and returned east, settling in New York City, where commercial life was less strenuous.
1834 STEDMAN
Buckley Stedman, a provision dealer, doing business on Merwin street, and his brother, W. G. Stedman, were sons of Timothy and Mehetabel Root Stedman.
Buckley married 1st, Lydia Reed, a daughter of George and Abigail Van de Water Read of Watertown, N. Y.
458
1834
LEONARD
Mrs. Stedman was born in 1801, and married in 1822. It is said that she was a beautiful woman, and a fine old portrait of her in posses- sion of a granddaughter testifies to the fact. She died in Cleveland, 1844.
The children were George, Norton, Charlotte, Julia, Harriet, Emma, and Derrick Buckley Stedman.
The family lived on the east side of Ontario street, south of the Pub- lic Square.
Julia Stedman, a handsome, bril- Charlotte Stedman, m. Basil Span-
liant girl, married William Mil- gler, son of the pioneer.
ler of Buffalo, N. Y. Harriet and Emma Stedman, mar- ried Chapman brothers.
Buckley Stedman married 2nd, Diana Kingsbury, daughter of Judge James Kingsbury, the pioneer. They had no children.
1834
LEONARD
Jarvis Leonard was a resident of Cleveland for 64 years. He came here in 1834 while it was yet a village, and died in 1898, when it was a great metropolis. Previous to 1834 he had been living in Pomfret, Vt., where he was born in 1809, and where he had been clerking in his father's dry-goods store. His parents were Orphis and Mary Pratt Leonard of that town.
Jarvis Leonard started a store of his own in Cleveland at 56 Superior street under the firm name of Leonard & White.
Two years afterward, he returned to Vermont to marry Miss Frances Emoretta Tuttle Vail, daughter of Allen and Elisabeth Tuttle Vail.
Their first home was on Superior street. Afterward they lived on Prospect street, and finally Mr. Leonard built on East Madison ave., East 79th street, where he died. His wife had passed to the beyond five years before his demise, aged 84.
Jarvis Leonard seems to have led a quiet business life. His name does not appear in connection with public affairs of any kind either in the early or later years of his life. After 1850 he was connected with the Society for Savings.
The children of Jarvis and Frances Leonard :
Caroline Maria Leonard, b. 1837, in Matilda Charlotte Leonard, b. 1840. Cleveland. Mary J. Leonard.
Miss Charlotte Leonard is the only surviving member of this family. She resides on East 79th street, and spends her winters in the south.
459
1834
SEYMOUR
For two days in the late summer of 1849, a crowd stood near the foot of Water street in front of "Sunset Cottage," built and once occupied by Alfred Kelley, but then the residence of Alexander Seymour, a well- known and popular resident of the city. Every one coming out of the house was waylaid and eagerly questioned. All were watching and wait- ing for tidings from within where lay the master of the house, stricken down with Asiatic cholera. It was the third time that the scourge had visited the city, and each time its victims had been largely of the best and most valuable of its citizens.
Sorrow and dismay were on the faces of all gathered there. At length, some one came out, and announced that Mr. Seymour had passed away, and was free from further suffering.
He left a family of orphan children, as his wife had died some years previous, 1839.
Alexander Seymour was the son of Norman and Kate Seymour of Northampton, Mass. His branch of the Seymour family has been rec- ognized by the descendants of Jane Seymour, wife of Henry VIII, yet living in an English castle, as related to them in line of descent. His parents were cousins.
An early resident of the city who lived on Water street, as a child, says that he was a very handsome man, with a fine, stately carriage, and polished manners.
While in Troy, N. Y., on business, he met Hester Lansing, daughter of Jacob Lansing, who gave Lansingburg, N. Y., its name, who had an ideal home on the Hudson river, and a family of children, all of whom married into well-known New York families.
Mr. and Mrs. Seymour went to live in Utica, N. Y., where Mr. Sey- mour built a most attractive residence on the crest of a hill and between two streets, so that both sides of the house had beautiful frontages.
The young couple had a number of relatives living in Utica. Among them were Horatio Seymour, a cousin, and one-time governor of New York, and Mrs. Gardner Tracy, a sister of Mrs. Seymour. Three chil- dren of the latter afterward came to Cleveland, James J. Tracy, Mrs. A. N. Barney, and Mrs. John E. Lyon.
About 1834, Mr. Seymour concluded to engage in the banking busi- ness in Cleveland, and with his wife and three children came here all the way from Utica in a carriage. The youngest child, a little girl, took her naps on a pillow on the floor of the vehicle.
Their first home was on Huron street, west of Erie, near where the Homeopathic Hospital stands. They then moved to the eastern side of the double brick residence standing on Rockwell street, back of the new post-office. Their front windows looked out on the Case homestead, then occupying the whole square, and surrounded by trees, shrubs and flowers.
Mr. Seymour became interested in Rocky River real-estate, and owned a large farm there where the family spent vacations and the hot, summer days. A brother of Mr. Seymour lived on it afterward, many years.
In the Rockwell street home Mrs. Seymour died of consumption. She was an exceptionally lovable character, and had made hosts of loving,
460
1834
MONROE
grateful friends in the three towns in which she had spent her life, Lan- singburgh, Utica, and Cleveland.
She had a heart tenderly touched by the sufferings of the needy, and always listened sympathetically to every tale of sin or suffering. She lived for her home and family, and trusted God. She left five children, two of them born in Cleveland. After her death, Mr. Seymour removed to Sunset Cottage, Water street.
They were both laid to rest in Erie street cemetery. Their two young- est children were delicate and died young. The others were:
Mary Ann Seymour, m. William Warren of England, Manager of the Liverpool, London, and Globe Insurance Co.
Cornelius Lansing, m. Lucy Kings- bury, daughter of Judge James Kingsbury, the pioneer.
Helen Lansing, m. Seth Coggswell Baldwin, son of Edward and Mer- cy Doan Baldwin.
While residing in Utica, N. Y., Alexander Seymour became much at- tached to the Rev. Samuel Aiken, and after removing here was instru- mental in securing that clergyman for the Old Stone church. So lov- ing was the friendship of the two men, that they bought adjoining burial- lots in Erie street cemetery that they might together open their eyes on the resurrection morn.
1834
MONROE
Nelson Monroe was one of the best known men of Cleveland. For a period of nearly thirty years he carried on a mercantile business that extended outside of the city and even the state. He died in 1860, aged 52 years.
Mrs. Nelson Monroe-Mary E. Luther-of Balston Spa, N. Y., came to Cleveland in the early '30s to visit her uncles, John and Henry Seaman, well-known merchants doing business on Superior street. The former lived on Seneca street, and the latter at 80 Bank street. She soon was welcomed into the circle of young people of that day, for she was pretty and agreeable, and before returning home became engaged to Nelson Monroe. He brought her back to Cleveland, and here they lived pros- perously, but not altogether happily, for they suffered the loss of several little children, none living very long. At last, a little daughter survived, to be the idol of their hearts. They gave her the name of "Keokee," and everything that wealth and affection could suggest or accomplish was showered upon her.
But at the age of seventeen she died. A beautiful piece of statuary marks her grave in Woodland cemetery, and upon it is inscribed, "She blooms in the field of night."
461
1834
OTIS
This statue, made in Italy, and erected at the grave of Keokee Mon- roe, is worthy of mention as the first work of art placed in a local ceme- tery. It was enclosed in glass for protection, and for some years it at- tracted much attention. Woodland cemetery was often visited for the purpose only of seeing the marble figure that was said to be a likeness of the beautiful young girl sleeping beneath it.
Mrs. Monroe survived her husband for thirty-three years. After his death she continued to call Cleveland her home, although spending many years in the east and in foreign travel. The Monroes lived in their early married life at 104 St. Clair street, opposite the old academy, public school, and fire-engine house. Between the front windows of the par- lor in this house was married Mr. Monroe's niece, Louise Dabney Mon- roe, to Charles White, the son of Deacon Moses White. And a few years later, 1864, in the same spot, was married the writer of this history of the Pioneer Families of Cleveland.
Nelson Monroe built a fine brick house on Euclid Avenue, just east of Bond street, and Mrs. Monroe continued to occupy it for some years. It served as a landmark because of two stone grayhounds which orna- mented the door-steps.
At her death, Mrs. Monroe left a large estate, the greater part of which was willed to benevolent and charitable institutions. She died in Paradise Valley, N. Y., in 1893.
1834
OTIS
William Otis, son of Stephen and Elisabeth Wade Otis, was born in Scituate, Mass., in 1768.
He married Philena Shaw of Wrentham, and removed to Cumming- ton, Mass.
After their family of eight children had been added to the household, and the youngest, a daughter, was nine years old, the couple, now middle- aged, came to Ohio. They died in Cleveland, and were buried in Wood- land cemetery.
Philma Shaw Otis, pioneer mother and great-great-grandmother of the present generation, was born in 1772, and was 68 years old at the time of her death.
The name of Otis is most honored in Massachusetts. It stands for brains, and culture, patriotism, and statesmanship. The family is typi- cally American. The first ancestor on this side of the Atlantic was John of Hingham in 1635, just 200 years before the name appeared in the financial and social circles of Cleveland.
Mr. William Otis was preceded to Ohio by his oldest child, William A. Otis, and, probably, it was through this son's advice or persuasion that the whole family followed him a few years later.
William Otis must have been a man of singular independence, and moreover, something of a wag. He expressed both tendencies in a pecul-
462
1834
OTIS
iar manner, probably originating and ending with himself. He named his first son after himself, William, adding to it "Augustus."
When his second son was born, he also was named William, with "Cushing" following it, and so on, until they numbered six Williams. These sons were usually known by their initials, W. A., W. C., etc. They were all men of strong character and forceful personality. Two of them died comparatively young.
The children of William and Philena Shaw Otis:
William Augustus Otis, b. 1794; m. Elisa Procter.
Philena Otis, b. 1796; m. Silas An- drews, of Hartford, Conn.
William Cushing Otis, b. 1801; m. Mary Craft of Painesville, O., in 1829.
William Harrison Otis, b. 1803; m. Minerva Dille of Euclid, in 1831.
William Shaw Otis, b. 1807 ; m. Han- nah Mygatt; 2nd, Miss Lyman, dau. of Darius Lyman of Raven- na, O.
Dr. William Francis Otis, b. 1810; m. Isabella Murrell of Bowling Green, Ky., his brother's widow.
William Lucius Otis, b. 1813; m. Is- abella Murrell. He died in Port- age Co.
Caroline Otis, b. 1816; m. Bates.
In 1818, William Augustus Otis, then 24 years of age, started on foot from Cummington, Mass., to seek fortune in the west.
He first tried Pittsburg, but financial luck avoided him there, and he passed on and up to Bloomfield, Trumbull Co., O. Here he opened a tav- ern, and started a store, buying and selling every kind of produce in de- mand.
He was too tirelessly active and ambitious to remain contentedly in a country village, and, in the late '30s, he came to Cleveland, and for years was one of its leading commission merchants. He also became a pioneer iron manufacturer, and later a banker.
Mr. Otis assisted in reorganizing the Second Presbyterian church, in 1844, at which time he became one of its deacons. In connection with this, he is said to have been a man who used his religion in his business life and not merely as a Sunday garment. He died in 1868, aged 74.
He had married, at the age of 30, Miss Eliza Procter of Manchester, Mass., a lady very near his own age. She died in 1856.
The children of W. A. and Eliza Procter Otis :
Charles A. Otis. William H. Otis. Lived in Indian-
Eliza Procter Otis, m. Hon. T. D. apolis.
Crocker.
Charles A. Otis was the mayor of Cleveland in 1875 and 1876. He succeeded his father in the iron business, and afterward started a rolling- mill.
He and his sister, Mrs. Crocker, lived side by side on Euclid Ave., near East 30th street, for many years.
463
1834
PEASE
Charles A. Otis m. 1st, Miss Mary Shepard, who died, leaving two daughters :
Anna Otis, m. Judge William B. San- Nelly Otis, m. Dr. J. Kent Sanders. ders.
Mr. Otis married secondly, Miss Anna Eliza Shepard, his sister-in- law.
They had three sons :
William A. Otis.
Charles A. Otis, Jr.
Harrison G. Otis.
Charles A. Otis, Jr., is the best-known Cleveland representative of this old pioneer family in the present financial and social life of the city. He is the senior member of the firm Otis & Hough, private bankers and stock-brokers. He is also the proprietor of the Cleveland Evening News .*
* Since sold to Daniel R. Hanna.
Mr. Otis is exceedingly popular with all classes of men through his democratic bearing, his ready sympathy, and generosity. He married Miss Lucia Edwards, daughter of the late Col. William Edwards.
1834
PEASE
Sheldon Pease was the son of Isaac Pease of Derby, Conn.
He was 25 years old when he came to Cleveland. He was married in 1835 at the residence of Horace Canfield to Miss Marianne Hum- phrey, younger sister of Mrs. Canfield.
Old residents recall Mrs. Pease in terms of great admiration. She had a beautiful face, a fine carriage, and lovely manners.
The family lived, part of the time, in Dr. Long's former residence, s. w. corner of Superior and Seneca street, West 3rd. Meanwhile Dr. Long was occupying his spacious home out Woodland Ave.
Later the Pease family removed farther east on Superior st., about opposite the Arcade.
Sheldon Pease was associated with others in the forwarding and com- mission business, and had vessel interests. The firm name was "Griffith, Pease & Co.," and their place of business was on the corner of Superior and Merwin streets, on the river.
Mr. Pease was a member of the first Board of Trade, organized in 1847, with Wm. Milford as the president, and during the years of his residence in the city was an active, progressive citizen, prominent in every public measure.
464
1834
LYMAN
He was general manager of the Western Transportation Co., and, its headquarters having been established in Buffalo, made his removal to that city imperative. His home there was on Franklin Ave. He retired from business in 1870.
Mr. and Mrs. Pease had two sons who, in youth, were unusually hand- some lads, and in their brief manhood gave great promise for the future. They were both born in Cleveland.
Alfred Humphrey Pease possessed a degree of musical talent that just- ified his parents in sending him to Germany for a musical education. He became a pianist of national note and a composer of orchestral composi- tion. He died in St. Louis, Mo., 44 years of age.
Arthur W. Pease, born 1844, was a tall, graceful young man, full of noble inmpulses and talented in many ways.
In 1866, he married Julia Watson, daughter of Stephen Van Rens- selaer Watson.
Five years after their wedding, they both lost their lives in a railroad accident on the Hudson River Railroad.
This same casualty caused the death of George Benedict, a well- known Cleveland citizen.
It will be noticed that the declining years of Sheldon and Mrs. Pease were saddened by the loss of both their children. They often visited Cleveland friends, and also entertained them generously in their Buffalo home.
1834 LYMAN
Benjamin Sheldon Lyman was a Cleveland druggist, whose store for some years was on Superior street, and his residence No. 6 Water street.
He came to this town from Utica, N. Y. His father was Dr. Micah Lyman of Northampton, Mass., a Yale graduate, who practiced medicine in Troy, N. Y., and his mother was Elisabeth Sheldon Lyman. The Ly- mans were residents of Northampton for many generations. They inter- married frequently with the Strong and Sheldon families.
Benjamin Sheldon Lyman was about 33 years of age when he came to Cleveland. He had recently married Miss Mary H. Wait of Clinton, N. Y., 27 years old. Their eldest daughter, Elisabeth Sheldon Lyman, and two sons, who died in infancy, were born in this city. Some time between the panic of 1837 and 1840, the family returned east and set- tled in Troy, N. Y., where Mr. Lyman's father, Dr. Micah Lyman, was established as a physician.
Here was born their second daughter, Mary Sophia Lyman. Several years later, the Lymans removed to Brooklyn, N. Y. Their only son, Benjamin Fisher Lyman, was born in that city in 1849.
Mr. Lyman eventually became connected with the consulate of China, and, in 1871, was stationed at Too Choo.
It has not been learned when he returned to this country, or the subse- quent residence of his children.
465
1834
HENRY MONROE
Although Nelson Monroe, through his longer residence in Cleveland, was better known than his brother, Henry Monroe, the latter was the founder of the large wholesale grocery, established in 1834, and continu- ing in business for about forty years.
The brothers Nelson and Henry were the sons of Abraham and Pris- cilla Utley Monroe of Bridgewater, N. Y.
Henry Monroe traveled for the firm, and in 1836, while on one of these business trips, died in Chicago of typhoid fever. He left a wife and two children, Henry, and Emma Monroe.
Mrs. Henry Monroe was a Miss Lucinda Dabney of Providence, Rhode Island. She was of Huguenot descent, and is said to have possessed a strikingly beautiful face.
At the time of her husband's death she had been called east by the serious illness of her mother. She started with her little children for Providence, but reached there too late. Her mother was dead, and be- fore she could recover from the shock, word was received that her hus- band had died suddenly in Chicago. She had to take the long journey to that city at once, and after her husband's burial returned to her father's house.
Little Henry died, and the daughter, Emma Monroe, while on a visit to her uncle, Nelson Monroe, met and married Charles White, the son of Deacon Moses White.
Mrs. Emma Nelson White was a very pleasant, intelligent lady. To her the writer was indebted for valuable data contained in this history. Charles White, her husband, was born on Superior street, and died in 1908.
1834
MOULD
It is seldom that a woman 70 years of age is willing to give up her home and native country in order to be with her children. This was what Catherine Mould did in 1832. To cross the ocean was a far more serious undertaking at that time than in these days, and her action was that of a brave woman and a devoted mother.
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