USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > The pioneer families of Cleveland 1796-1840 Vol. II > Part 18
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Upon coming to the city Mr. and Mrs. Raymond identified themselves with the Old Stone Church, and three generations of the family have since that time been earnest workers and supporters of that church society.
The Raymond home was No. 15 Lake street. In the fall of 1866, Mr. Samuel Raymond's health demanded a warmer climate for the ensuing winter months, and with his wife he started for Havanna, Cuba, via New Orleans.
They took passage on the steamer Carter, which exploded when abreast of Vicksburg on the Mississippi, and burned to the water's edge. Mr. Raymond's life was lost in the catastrophe. Mrs. Raymond's leg was broken, and she received minor injuries, but was assisted to a bale of cotton floating in the river, to which she clung until rescued by a passing steamer.
Her long widowhood which followed this sudden and sad bereavement
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was alleviated by the constant and tender ministrations of her only daughter who died middle-aged and unmarried while in one of the Gulf states in search of health.
The Raymond name has ever been an honored one in the city of Cleve- land. All the years intervening between 1835 and 1912 the family tra- ditions for honesty, integrity, church activities and works of benevolence have been maintained.
Henry N. Raymond died but recently. His home for many years was on the south side of Superior street, east of and adjoining old Trinity Church. When Bond-E. 6th-street was opened from Superior street to Euclid ave. the extension cut through the Raymond lawn on the east of the house, leaving the latter on the south-west corner of the two streets.
It was the only one remaining of the row of stately dwellings that once adorned that side of Superior street from the Public Square to Erie -E. 9th street. One by one they were torn down to make room for towering business blocks. The Cleveland Leader Printing Co. leased the property and has erected a huge building for combined newspaper and office work, and the Raymond home, the last old landmark of that locality, has disappeared.
The children of Samuel and Mary North Raymond :
Henry North Raymond, m. Elisa- Mary Louise Raymond, died unmar- beth Strong, daughter of John and Helen Strong of Schenectady, N. Y. ried. Samuel A. Raymond, m. Emma Stone.
1835
INGLEHART
Among the prominent physicians of the city previous to 1840, was Dr. Smith Inglehart. His wife was a Buffalo lady, a Miss Maria Johnson. Her sister married the famous Buffalo clergyman, Dr. Lord, who had charge of a Presbyterian church in that city through the life time of two or three generations.
Mrs. Inglehart is remembered as a pleasant little lady with very nice manners. She died early, and her husband married again, Miss Sarah Johnson, a cousin of his first wife. The wedding was in old Trinity Church, corner of Seneca and St. Clair streets. The Ingleharts boarded, for some time after coming to the city, with the W. V. Craws, and then commenced housekeeping on Broadway, between Cross and Ohio streets. Their nearest neighbors were the Stricklands and the Handersons. The house previously had been occupied by the Chamberlains.
Mrs. Maria Inglehart had three children :
George Inglehart, married Miss Cul- bertson of Solon, O. They moved to Chicago.
Fred J. Inglehart, married a Buffalo, N. Y., lady.
Maria Inglehart, married James Gill. He died and his widow re- sides in Glenville.
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MILFORD
One of the most interesting men who came to the village of Cleve- land was William Milford, a well-educated Irishman of striking personal appearance and polished manners. He came from Geneva, N. Y., where he had been living about five years, or from the time he reached this country, and was naturalized in 1830.
He was a merchant here for several years, having a controlling in- terest in two stores, "Wm. Milford & Co.," dealers in staple and fancy dry-goods, doing business at 61 Superior street, and "Milford Harding & Co.," upholsterers, 12 Water street.
Later on, he was a forwarding and commission merchant.
His residence was 10 Erie street, a few doors north of the May prop- erty, and this home was one of the happiest and most attractive in the city. Here was dispensed a hospitality most cordial and almost univer- sal. The Milfords had no children, but Mrs. Milford's widowed sister, Mrs. John McLauren, and her two children, William and Mary McLauren, were members of the Milford household for some years, and the nephew and niece were tenderly loved by the childless couple.
As a citizen, Mr. Milford was always active and enthusiastic in pro- moting measures for the advancement or betterment of the town, often serving as chairman upon such occasions. He assisted in organizing the first Board of Trade, and was President of the City Council in 1840. Twelve years later, he appeared to have abandoned commercial business, and become landlord of the American House, in which he died in 1854.
Mrs. William Milford's maiden name was Miranda Mckay, daughter of Col. Robert and Sophia Clark McKay of Caledonia, Livingston Co., N. Y. She was married in 1830, and was 25 years old when she came to Cleveland.
Mr. Milford died on the eve of a serious commercial depression, and his estate, when settled, fell short of all expectations. The trustee who had it in charge failed, and the Milford property being involved, was mostly swept away.
But Mrs. Milford was a woman of great courage and wonderful fort- itude. Although in delicate health, and seemingly unfitted through her previous sheltered life to cope with the world, she bravely declined all pecuniary assistance whatever, and succeeded in supporting herself for 20 years, or until her death in 1874.
She was in the employ of the post-office, and for three years was libra- rian and custodian of the Historical Library. She made this latter posi- tion a labor of love, the compensation being very small, and threw herself with enthusiasm into the task of classifying and caring for the books and antiquities stored there. Her love of children led her to spend much time upon those who frequented the Historical rooms, making their vis- its there educational. She was a beloved member of Trinity Church, from which her funeral services were held, and attended by a large as- semblage of admiring and attached friends.
Her nephew, William E. McLauren, became a member of the Plain Dealer staff; left journalism to study for the ministry; became rector of Trinity P. E. Church, and later Bishop of Illinois.
His sister, Mary McLauren, is remembered as a very pretty young girl, with beautiful hair. She married John S. Conant of Monroe, Mich.,
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MENDENHALL
and was last living in Princeton, N. J., where a son was attending col- lege.
1835
MENDENHALL
Dr. George Mendenhall, born 1814, in Sharon, Conn., was the son of Aaron and Lydia Richardson Mendenhall. He graduated from the medi- cal department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1835, and came directly to Cleveland. He had been a diligent pupil, ranking high with the faculty and his fellow-students, therefore it followed that he "made good" in character and in his profession, and won the attention and re- spect of Cleveland people at once. He came of a fine Quaker family, the American ancestor of which came to this country with William Penn.
Dr. Mendenhall remained in Cleveland nine years, and then removed to Cincinnati, where he became very prominent as a physician and as a patriotic citizen.
During the cholera scourge of 1849 he worked day and night at the bedside of the stricken, and won the admiration and gratitude of the com- munity by his tireless devotion to the path of duty. He also took an ac- tive part in the civil war, giving valuable service to the Sanitary Com- mission. He was most generous and kindly to his poor patients, his sym- pathy quickly responding to any appeal of the unfortunate.
Dr. Mendenhall married during his residence in Cleveland, and his wife spent six happy years in this city. She was Miss Elisabeth S. Maule of Philadelphia, Pa. Her family, dating back to French extraction, came to this country early. She was a most excellent woman, and most con- genial and helpful to her husband. She also was a worker in the Sani- tary Commission, and spent much time in the Cincinnati hospitals, visit- ing or nursing sick soldiers.
"Women of the War" contains a detailed account of her services, rat- ing them highly.
The children of Dr. and Elisabeth Maule Mendenhall :
Charles Mendenhall, m. Fanny Carlisle.
Emma Mendenhall, m. Larz Anderson.
Laurance Mendenhall, m. Margaret C. Neff.
In 1836, Cyrus Mendenhall and Samuel Richardson were in partner- ship, doing business in Cleveland Center Block. Dr. Mendenhall also had his office at the same place. As his mother was a Richardson, these men were his relatives.
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1835
MATHER
Dr. Ozias Mather of East Haddam, son of Dr. Augustus Mather, mar- ried, in 1808, Harriet Brainard. She was the only daughter of Deacon Jabez Brainard, the revolutionary soldier, a sketch of whom appears on another page of this work. She was also the sister of Nathan Brainard, the pioneer.
Dr. Mather died in 1813, in Washington, N. H., and Harriet Brainard Mather was left a widow with two little sons, one of them an infant born the year his father died.
She married, secondly, Edmund Lawrence of Groton, Mass., and in 1853, while on a visit with Cleveland relatives, she died, aged 63 years, and was buried in Erie st. cemetery. Mr. Lawrence survived her but a year, his death occurring in West Danvers, Mass. Her children were:
Henry Brainard Mather, b. 1809; married, 1840, Ellen Everett, daughter of Charles Everett. Henry B. Mather died in Boston, Mass., in 1884. Samuel Holmes Mather, b. 1813; m. Emily Washington Gregory.
Samuel H. Mather came to Cleveland in 1835, when 22 years of age. He was admitted to the bar the following year, and practiced his profes- sion for 15 years. He was one of the founders of the Society for Sav- ings bank, and for many years was connected with it as its president. He was a most substantial citizen of Cleveland, honest, upright, a leading member of the Second Presbyterian Church, and always to be found on the right side of every worthy movement in its support or encourage- ment.
The establishment of the Society of Savings alone was a most valua- ble event to the community, assuring safety for the small savings of the poor, and enabling the business man or others in temporary need of money to borrow it upon real-estate security at reasonable rates. From a small venture housed in a frame building, it occupies a many-storied and im- posing structure on the site of the Giddings-Crittenden dwelling on the Public Square.
The marriage of Samuel Holmes Mather to Miss Gregory in 1842 united two famous lines of American ancestry. He was a descendant of the Rev. Richard Mather, and related to the celebrated Increase and Cot- ton Mather. His bride was the daughter of Dr. W. M. Gregory of Albany, N. Y., and her mother was Lucretia-Ely-Gregory, member of the fa- mous Massachusetts family of that name.
Mr. Mather was a cousin of Silas, Henry and Joseph Brainard, pioneer settlers of the city.
The home of Mr. and Mrs. Mather in the latter years of their life was a stone structure on the north side of Prospect street, east of Sterling ave. Here, probably, was planted the first Boston ivy known to this lo- cality. As it grew year after year its tendrils rapidly extending farther and yet farther, covering, at length, the entire facade of the house, the new and beautiful vine was watched and admired by the public, and the Mather residence became an interesting landmark of the city.
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STRICKLAND
The children of Samuel H. and Emily G. Mather :
Frederic Gregory Mather, b. 1844, m. 1st, Cornelia Alcott; 2nd, Alice Yager.
Ellen Augusta Mather, b. 1847; m. Richard H. Mather of Amherst Col- lege.
Mr. S. H. Mather died in 1894, and Mrs. Mather in 1900. They rest in Lake View cemetery.
There are no representatives of the family now living in the city.
1835
STRICKLAND
The following wedding notice appeared in the Cleveland Herald, Jan- uary, 1841 :
"Married by Rev. S. C. Aiken, Dr. Benjamin Strickland and Miss Hannah Walworth."
"The editor received a remembrance with above notice. Joy and prosperity attend the couple."
The groom came to this city from Vermont in 1835. He was then 25 years old, and opened a dentist office on Superior street in a frame house standing near the present site of Marshall's drug store, and after his marriage he occupied this house also as a residence.
Mrs. Strickland was the youngest child of John and Juliana Mor- gan Walworth, the Cleveland pioneers. She was born 22 years after her brother Ashbel Walworth, and the year her sister, Mrs. Dr. Long, was married. Her father died when she was an infant, and her mother, four years later, married William Keyes, and lived on the north side of Euclid ave., not far from the Public Square.
The Stricklands removed their residence to one that was built on the Walworth farm on Broadway near the old market house, the doctor re- taining his downtown office. Eventually, they again united the two in a handsome brick dwelling three stories high, set close to the sidewalk. It occupied the site of her mother's last home on Euclid ave.
Dr. Strickland was a tall, reticent man, with singularly austere bear- ing and cold manners, all of which may have belied his real nature. He was prosperous, and his dentistry practice in Cleveland extended over 50 years.
George Marshal, who was a near neighbor of the Stricklands for many years, and a warm friend as well, once gave a delightful pen picture of the couple. He wrote :
"Although they were well mated, they were somewhat dissimilar in disposition. He was staid, retiring, isolated. She was outspoken, com- panionable, cheerful, and happy, in her daily walk and conversation. Her
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SACKET
extreme vivacity, overflowing spirits and youthful manner would lead one to fall far short in guessing at her age. It is safe to say that this good woman maintained all the elements of youth during her entire life, and at no time would the term 'old' become appropriate to her.
"During the civil war, her only child, a son, enlisted in the navy with- out the knowledge or consent of his parents. The anxiety as to the where- abouts of the lad and distress over his possible fate was more than the mother could bear. Hosts of friends called upon her to express their sympathy for her in her trouble." One of them, however, was truly a 'Job's comforter' of the feminine sex. Said she:
'I fear that this trial has been imposed upon you in order that you may be humbled for the worldliness you have exhibited in building, fur- nishing, and adorning your earthly abode so elegantly.'
Mrs. Strickland replied :
'For mercy's sake! If this is all the consolation you can bring me in this hour of trouble and sorrow, I wish you would leave my house at once.' "
This only son of the Stricklands was very little comfort to them in their old age through spells of mental unbalance. He died some time before his parents passed away. The latter event transpired for both in the same year-1889.
1835
SACKET
Alexander Sacket, for long years one of the most prominent merchants in town, had his first glimpse of Cleveland in 1835-the year he became of age.
He was the son of Augustus Sacket of Sacket's Harbor, N. Y. He had received a liberal education, and, though young, considerable mercantile training as well, therefore, well able to cope with the difficulties and obsta- cles inevitable in his new business enterprise.
His first employment was with Peter Weddell on the corner of Su- perior and Bank streets, the site of the Rockefeller building. But it was not long before he branched out for himself and started a dry-goods store just west of his employer on the site of the Johnson House, and now also covered by the big sky-scraper. In this enterprise he was aided and ad- vised by Peter Weddell, who delighted in the kindly help and encourage- ment of the young in their first start in business life.
Alexander Sacket married Miss Hannah Johnson, born in the city and one year his junior. She was the daughter of the pioneer, Capt. Levi Johnson.
She remained ever a quiet, domestic woman, caring little for events that did not include her husband and household of seven children. The family lived at 37 Ontario street, as early as 1837, and later removed to the south side of Euclid ave., near what is now East 67th street. The
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TAYLOR
homestead was roomy, and well adapted for the happiness of a family of young people, and was surrounded by spacious grounds.
Eventually, Mr. Sacket changed his business to the river front, where his warehouse long remained a landmark in that locality. And upon re- tiring from this, he gave his remaining years to real-estate transactions, in which his son-in-law, Mr. V. C. Taylor, was, and yet remains, a promi- nent and popular dealer.
The children of Alexander and Harriet Johnson Sacket:
Margaret Sacket, married Virgil C. Levi Sacket, m. Rose Barcley, dau. Tayler, son of Hector and Polly of Dr. J. T. and Hannah Barcley. Carter Tayler. Ellen Sacket, m. Dr. H. H. Baxter,
Harriet Sacket, m. Henry Rumbaugh of North Carolina. a practicing physician of the city.
Mary Sacket, m. Charles Brown of Buffalo, N. Y.
The only son of the family to reach manhood became an active busi- ness man in the community. He died in the prime of life.
Alexander Sacket died in 1884, and Mrs. Sacket in 1897. The ceme- tery lot of the family is in Lake View.
1835
TAYLOR
Rev. Vernon Dyke Taylor, a Presbyterian clergyman about 36 years old, came to Cleveland from Connecticut in 1835, and took charge of the Bethel-a chapel for seamen. He was an earnest worker wherever sta- tioned. His previous church had been in a constant revival during the seven years he had been its pastor.
He was the son of Amos Taylor, and born in Hinesburg, Vermont. Two or more of his uncles are said to have perished as prisoners in the famous Sugar House near New York City during the revolutionary war.
Rev. Mr. Taylor was married in Vermont to Miss Charlotte Hall Curtis, who died in Connecticut in 1830, leaving three children. He mar- ried, 2nd, Catherine Maria Woodruff, of a well-known Connecticut fam- ily, who accompanied her husband to Cleveland. She died two years after her arrival aged 27 years, leaving two young children.
The family of little ones attended school, and were very much taken with their teacher, a Miss Susan Judd, daughter of William and Sarah Root Judd. Her parents removed from Northampton, Mass., to a town south of and near Cleveland. Miss Judd was a graduate of Willis- ton Ladies' Academy of her native city, and with her family passed through Cleveland on their way to their new home. She remained here
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TAYLOR
and taught in a private school. It was before the days of the public school system.
The premature death of Mrs. Catherine Woodruff Taylor, leaving a household of children with no relative in the city to assist the father in caring for them, appealed to Miss Judd's tenderest sympathies, and at the urgent solicitation of Mr. Taylor she married him and became a be- loved step-mother to the family, one whose memory was revered by them.
Rev. V. D. Taylor built a home on Erie street the year he came to Cleveland. It was diagonally across from the entrance to Erie street cemetery, and numbered "273." An alley separates it from what was once a Methodist church. Here Mr. Taylor and both his wives died. Here his daughters were married, and it remains in the possession of his youngest and only living child, Mrs. H. P. Welton of Fort Wayne, Ind., who returns to Cleveland nearly every summer on a brief visit.
Mr. Taylor and his wives Catherine and Maria Taylor are buried in Erie street cemetery at the left of the main drive not far from the main entrance.
The children of Rev. V. D. and Charlotte Curtiss Taylor :
Cornelius Hector Taylor, m. Julia Edwards of Southampton, Mass. Ella Eliza Taylor, m. Rev. J. H. Scott.
Mary Louise Taylor, m. Amasa Strong of Geauga Co.
The children of Rev. V. D. and Catherine Wadsworth Taylor:
Timothy Dwight Taylor, removed and died in Illinois.
Edward Payson Taylor, m. Augusta Eno of St. Louis, Mo.
Children of Rev. V. D. and Susan Judd Taylor :
William Henry Taylor, D. S. P.
Charlotte Elisabeth Taylor, m. Rev. H. P. Welton, a Baptist clergyman, who is a teacher and lecturer in a Bible Institute in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Cornelius H. Taylor graduated from Western Reserve University in the class of 1846 or '47. He was twice offered the presidency of that in- stitution in after years. His first pastorate was Huron, O., where he re- mained for a long period, and where he was much beloved. At the time of his death in 1875 he was pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati. His classmate in college-also a Presbyterian minister- married Ella Eliza Taylor, his sister. Another classmate, Mr. Bushnell, accepted as his first charge the pastorate of a Presbyterian church in Sandusky so as to be near his friend in Huron.
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1835
SCHERMERHORN
Morgan Lewis Schermerhorn was only one of hundreds of other New York children of his generation who were named for a distinguished and favorite son of that state. He was born in 1806, and his parents were Cornelius and Catharine Van Rensselaer Schermerhorn of Albany, both of Knickerbocker lineage. His mother was a sister of Gen. Solomon Van Rensselaer of the War of 1812.
M. L. Schermerhorn was considered an unusually attractive man, handsome and debonair. An old lady who as a child visited relatives in Cleveland in the winter of 1835, says that Mr. Schermerhorn and his brother-in-law, Judah Colt, figured prominently in the social life of the town.
Chess was much in vogue, that winter, and as Mr. Schermerhorn and Mr. Colt were experts in the game, they were constantly in demand at evening entertainments. Mr. Colt also had the advantage of being a fine looking, gay young bachelor, fresh from the more stirring social life of the east, and fertile in suggestions for additional fun and frolic.
Mr. Schermerhorn was a lawyer, but appears to have practiced his profession seldom, using his knowledge of law to further the various in- terests in which he was engaged. After his sojourn in Cleveland, he re- turned to Albany, about 1840, and for many years was in the government service.
In 1825 he had married Elisabeth Colt, member of a well-known fam- ily of New York, a high-bred, accomplished woman. She died at the birth of her youngest child.
The children of M. L. and Elisabeth Schermerhorn :
Matilda Schermerhorn, b. 1826; m. Edward Baker, and resided in Eng- land.
Judah Colt Schermerhorn, b. 1834; m. Frances H. Clark.
Charles Schermerhorn, a well-known Baltimore merchant; b. 1848; m. Charlesto Applegarth.
John C. Schermerhorn, b. 1850; m. Caroline Hognic; removed to Texas.
Judah Colt Schermerhorn, who had lived in Cleveland during his early childhood days, became a civil engineer, and his business eventually called him back to this city where he lived for some years on Ontario street.
He died suddenly while on a trip to Texas. Meanwhile, his wife, Mrs. Frances Schermerhorn, an exceptionally lovely woman, had died, leaving a family of little children bereft of a mother's tenderness and sympathetic care, and Mr. Schermerhorn married again. His second wife was the late Mrs. Dennis.
Two children of Judah Colt Schermerhorn have been residents of Cleveland since childhood-Charles R. Schermerhorn, and Mrs. Mary S. Paddock.
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SHELLEY
For 50 years John Shelley was warden or vestryman of Old Trinity Church, and in all those years he was in weekly attendance upon its sacred services, save when ill or out of town. One of the duties of a church vestryman is to seat "the stranger within the gates," and many are they whose earliest recollection of Sabbaths in Trinity is that of John Shel- ley's figure, straight and sturdy, ushering visitors up the main aisle to comfortable pews, or, as warden, contribution plate in hand, moving slowly down it to the soft sound of clinking coin and to the beautiful strains of an offertory being played or sung. Probably no one is yet liv- ing whom he first seated or to whom he passed the plate in the little church on Seneca street.
John Shelley was 20 years when in 1835 he came from England to the village of Cleveland, then numbering but 2000 souls. He had started from home with a business project in view, which local condi- tions, at that time, made impractical. The next step was to look about and determine what was most in demand in the little town and least sup- plied. It proved to be gentlemen's clothes. Therefore, Mr. Shelley opened a custom-made tailoring establishment, at number 15 Superior street, advertised the fact at once in the local newspapers, and saw that the same had a conspicuous place in the first city directory of 1837. But he was too shrewd a business man to continue in an occupation of slow re- turn when fortunes were being made in land allotments. So he put his own hand to the real-estate wheel and sent it spinning to profitable ends. He built a fine stone house in the most beautiful part of Prospect, near Perry. Trinity Cathedral now overshadows it. There were more promi- nent business men probably living within two blocks of that corner of Prospect street than in any other neighborhood of the city. For years before his death Col. William Edwards was the sole survivor of that group of men, and his widow pluckily remains in her attractive home, unmoved by the allurements of what, at present, are more fashionable districts.
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