USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > The pioneer families of Cleveland 1796-1840 Vol. II > Part 24
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Jane Gardner, b. 1829, in Pittsfield, Mass .; m. Samuel Sterling of Cleveland, born 1821 in Salisbury, Conn.
James Porter Gardner, b. 1831.
George William Gardner, b. 1834; m. Rosilda Oviatt, daughter of General Orson Oviatt of Cleve- land.
Mary Louis Gardner.
Frances Elizabeth Gardner, b. 1836; m. Joseph O. Taylor of Chicago. Samuel Stebbins Gardner, b. 1839, in Cleveland; m. Harriet F. Snif- fin of New York.
Rev. Theodore Yale Gardner, b. 1841; m. Charlotte A. Gates of Elyria, O.
Sarah Adams Gardner, b. 1847; m. Henry Cook Tibbetts of Kentucky.
James P. Gardner was a merchant of the city for a number of years. He removed to Cincinnati and became connected with newspaper work as a writer. He served in the Civil War in an Ohio regiment.
George W. Gardner entered the employ of a steamship company when but 14 years of age and for five years sailed on the lakes, until his de- sire to be a sailor was satisfied. He entered a bank as a clerk and after- ward went into the grain business and built the Union elevator.
As years passed he became actively associated with many big busi- ness enterprises in the city. He entered politics and for eight years was a member of the city council. For two terms, from 1885 to 1893, he was mayor of Cleveland, and a most popular one. His love of the water clung to him through life, and he became the first commodore of the Cleveland Yacht Club. He was a fine looking man of medium height, who appeared more like a genial lake captain than a business man and the highest officer of the city. He was universally liked and greatly loved and admired by his friends.
His wife was a charming woman of domestic tastes who gave her whole life to her family of seven children. She died in 1899. Mr. Gard- ner outlived her 12 years.
596
1837
BATTELL
Philip Battell, a lawyer, in partnership with R. M. Chapman, was practicing his profession in this city in 1837. The year he came here is not to be found. He was a graduate of Middleburg College, Vt.
He had a highly educated wife, a woman of fine antecedents, and ex- ceedingly well bred. Her maiden name was Emma Hart Seymour, daugh- ter of Hon. Horatio and Lucy Case Seymour. She was born in Middle- burg, Vt., and attended Willard Seminary, Troy, N. Y., entering as a pupil in 1823.
Mr. and Mrs. Battell left Cleveland some time before 1845, and re- turned to Middleburg, Vt., to live in the old Seymour homestead. They had two children.
Mrs. Battell died, leaving her husband and these children most be- reaved.
1837
BARNEY
Danforth N. Barney and Ashbel Barney were brothers who came to Cleveland some time between 1836 and 1840. They were merchants of the city many years, and at length removed to New York state, in which locality they had previously lived.
Mrs. Danforth N. Barney, Cynthia , and her infant daughter died in 1843, and were buried in Erie street cemetery. Subsequently, Mr. Barney married Azuba Latham, daughter of W. H. and Azuba Jinks Latham of Thetford, Vt. She was a sister of Mrs. T. M. Kelley and Mrs. G. B. Murfey.
Ashbel Barney married Susan Tracy, sister of James Jared Tracy, so many years the dean of Cleveland's banking interests.
Mrs. Ashbel Barney, like her sister Mrs. John E. Lyon, was a charm- ing society lady whom every one admired, and many tried to imitate.
1837
BLISS
Sidney D. Bliss of Castleton, Vt., son of Bradley Bliss and Annice Wood Bliss, removed to this city in 1837. He was 37 years of age. He was married to Maria Bradford three years before. She was born in Berkshire, Vt., and died in Wickliffe, O., in 1870.
The widowed mother of Sidney D. Bliss came with him, or joined him, and died here.
The children of Sidney and Maria Bliss :
Louisa Bliss, b. in Cleveland, 1840; m. Joshua S. Clinton of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Mary J. Bliss, b. 1837; m. L. B. Smith of Wickliffe, Ohio.
597
1837
CRITTENDEN
Seth W. Crittenden, son of Oren and Candace Whitmore Crittenden, was a resident of Cleveland at least thirty years. He was here and in business when the directory of 1837 was published. He remained in the city until 1868, when he removed with his family to Utica, N. Y. He was a cousin of N. E. and Joseph H. Crittenden, pioneers of Cleveland, and evidently came to the city some time before 1837.
He was in the insurance business while living in this city, serving as secretary of a Cleveland company of whom Edmund Clark was presi- dent, and six other prominent Cleveland men directors.
Seth W. Crittenden remained a bachelor until his forty-fourth year, when he married, in 1854, Miss Cornelia G. Bacon of Utica, N. Y. She was the daughter of William Johnson Bacon, for many years Justice of the Supreme Court in New York state, and Eliza Kirkland Bacon his wife.
Mr. Crittenden is recalled as a small slender man, in delicate health, with very kind, pleasant manners. And Mrs. Crittenden is remembered as a fine-looking, accomplished lady, much admired and respected by her friends.
Seth Crittenden died in 1888, and rests in Forest Hill cemetery in Utica, N. Y.
The children of Seth W. and Cornelia Bacon Crittenden :
William B. Crittenden, m. Bessie S. Walter H. Crittenden, m. Lillian H. Swigart. He died June, 1900, leav- Haines. Mr. Walter Crittenden is in business at 206 Broadway, New York City, and resides in Brook- lyn, N. Y. ing Edmund and Alice K. Critten- den. The widow and children re- side in Brooklyn, N. Y.
1837
COE
The family name of Coe has never been a common one in the city. It does not appear in the annals of the town until the summer of 1837, when the small schooner Charles Crooks cleared from Buffalo, tied up at a River street dock, and landed a passenger, Samuel Sage Coe, a slender lad of 18 years. In his pockets was barely enough money with which to pay for a day's board and a night's lodging. But, spite of his slight physique and youthful bearing, the boy possessed a man's courage and bravely faced what might betide him at the top of the steep hill that led from the boat to Superior street, then the only business one of the town.
He had come from Oswego, N. Y., his birthplace. His mother was a widow, which accounts for his early self-reliance, and this mother had been struggling for ten years to keep her children together under one roof. The father Benjamin Coe died in 1827. He was a leading physician of the town of Oswego, but the amount of his practice never overbalanced the credit accounts on his books, and at his death, long standing bills due the estate were never paid.
598
1838
COE
Mrs. Benjamin Coe was Matilda P. Parsons, daughter of Col. Eli Coe, a soldier of the Revolution, who died in Oswego, N. Y., 1830, aged 82 vears. She was a member of the Springfield, Mass., Parsons family.
Young Coe soon secured a position in Cleveland that paid him $30 a month. It was a clerkship in the firm of Ransom McNair and Co., com- mission merchants. Three years after his arrival here, he was joined by his mother, his younger brother Charles, and Mary Coe, the daughter of the family. They all lived together at 112 Lake street, until after the marriages of the sons.
S. S. Coe was in the produce and commission business for some years, then drifted into insurance, and with his brother C. W. Coe, became very well known all over Northern Ohio as an agent for popular insurance companies. The brothers were gentlemen in the best sense of that term, as befitted their birth and breeding.
S. S. Coe was a man of kind impulses, and in his business was con- siderate of others. During the last years of his life, he met with some reverses owing to the panic of 1876. He died in -, and with his wife, mother, and sister, lies in Woodland cemetery.
In 1856, Samuel Sage Coe married Gertrude Allen, daughter of and began housekeeping at 46 Ontario street, corner of Hamilton. It was one of the finest residences in that locality. His brother, married ten years previous, lived in a house adjoining it, No. 48.
The children of S. S. and Gertrude Coe:
William Rawson Coe, b. 1854. Gertrude Maria Coe, b. 1864; Mrs. Sage Coe, b. 1861. Thornton P. Smith.
No members of this family are living in the city.
1838
"Jabez Foster died 1838, aged 39 years, also his wife Jane Foster." (Erie st. cemetery.) They lived No. 30 Seneca st.
"Died. Cynthia, daughter of Ebenezer and Mary Gregg." (Erie street cemetery.)
Died. Charles Prentiss (The inscription is defaced. He may have died earlier.)
Died. "Robert Houston Backus, son of the late Rev. Azel Backus, D. D., Pres. of Hamilton College, aged 36 years." (Erie st. cemetery.)
"Died. Francis (or Frances) Reed, of New York."
599
1838
FITCH
Although a late pioneer, coming to Cleveland at 51 years of age, and some time after his married son and daughter had settled in the city, Zalmon Fitch in the 32 years of his residence here was such a leading figure in financial circles that he merits considerable space in any his- tory of early Cleveland. A pen-picture of him given by one who knew him well is of value in this connection.
"He had a fine face and figure, courteous to all, always richly though plainly dressed, and with the most scrupulous neatness, he was a con- spicuous figure on the street, in the church, and in social life. He had large dark eyes and was thought to strongly resemble Daniel Webster. A man of high character and unblemished reputation, he was universally esteemed and respected, and by those with whom he was most inti- mate, greatly loved."
He was born in Norwalk, Conn., the son of Haynes and Ann Cook Fitch in the sixth generation from Thomas Fitch the American ancestor. His father served in Capt. Jabez Gregory's company, Connecticut mili- tia, in the Revolutionary War.
In 1804, when only 19 years old, he came west and started a store in Canfield, Ohio, said to be the second one established on the Reserve. Four years later he married Betsey Mygatt, daughter of Comfort and Lucy Knapp Mygatt, pioneers of Canfield from Danbury, Conn. Mrs. Fitch was eighth in line from Joseph Mygatt of Hartford, Conn. Her grandfather in 1778 was Lieut. Col. of the 16th Regiment of Conn. Mili- tia. In the war of 1812, Zalmon Fitch served under General Wads- worth in defending the Ohio frontier after Hull's surrender.
The first bank established on the Western Reserve was in Warren in 1813, and named the "Western Reserve Bank." Mr. Fitch was made its cashier, a position he held for 23 years, or until he became its president. In his hands was nearly the whole management and control of the funds of the canal then in process of construction. His decision was final and satisfactory.
A very interesting story is told of the manner in which Mr. Fitch sent money to eastern banks before the days of express companies. He would sometimes take as high as $50,000 in bills on eastern banks to Pittsburg, driving his own team, and exchanging them for Ohio money. He was generally accompanied by his wife's nephew, Comfort A. Adams, a lad of 17 to 19 years. The money was carried in a carpet sack under the buggy seat. The first stop was at Poland, 20 miles, for dinner, where the carpet bag and robes were given in charge of the landlord, Chester Bidwell. The next stop was at Darlington, and the baggage placed by Mr. Dunlap the landlord in a small closet adjoining the bar room, in charge of the night watchman (a big yellow dog). The next day at Economy, 20 miles, for dinner, the precious bag was given to the Econo- mite brothers, in charge, and then 20 more miles brought Mr. Fitch to Pittsburg. The same amount of Ohio bills had then to be carried on the return journey, where stops were made at the same places with the usual precautions.
Mr. Zalmon Fitch lived in Warren in 1838, and in October of that year, removed to Cleveland where his two children, Grant Fitch and Mrs. Laura Fitch Williams, were then living. Soon after coming here, he un-
600
1838
BINGHAM
dertook to straighten out the affairs of the Bank of Cleveland, which was embarrassed through the panic of 1837, and the utter collapse of Cleve- land's real estate boom. Later he associated with George Williams (who had been partner of his son Grant Fitch) in the private banking and brokerage business under the firm name of George Williams and Co.
The children of Zalmon and Betsey Mygatt Fitch :
Lucy Fitch, b. in Canfield, 1809; m. William Williams 1827; d. in Buf- falo, 1829.
Grant Fitch, b. 1810; m. Mary C. Baldwin, 1837; died in Cleveland, 1840.
Laura Fitch, b. 1814; m. William Williams 1832; d. in Cleveland 1852.
Zalmon Fitch married 2nd Rebecca H. Salter of New Haven, Conn. She was born in Tiverton, England, and died in Cleveland, 1879, aged 89 years. There were no children of this marriage. Rebecca Salter Will- iams had been a music teacher; and as her husband's grandchildren and great-grandchildren successively reached suitable age, she took delight in giving them their first lessons on the piano.
The Zalmon Fitch home for 20 years was on the south-east corner of Prospect ave. and East 9th street. Mr. Fitch then bought and removed to a house on the north side of Euclid ave., nearly opposite E. 14th st., where he died in 1860.
1838
BINGHAM
Edward Bingham, second son of Cyrus and Abigail Foote Bingham, b. 1821 in Andover, Conn., came to Cleveland a year or two after his brother William arrived. He was associated with the latter in the hard- ware business until his death. He married Esther Sandford. Her mother, Julia Clark Sandford, was a sister of Albert and Aaron Clark of the city. The family lived at 83 St. Clair st. in 1856.
The children of Edward and Esther Bingham:
Julia Bingham, m. Luther Allen of Arthur Bingham, m. Nellie A. Whit- Cleveland. ney of Cleveland. Albert Lucian Bingham, b. 1862.
Joel Foote Bingham, b. 1827, brother of William and Edward Bing- ham, spent a few years of his late boyhood in Cleveland. He studied for the ministry and was ordained in the Congregational church, but later embraced the Episcopal faith. He settled in Hartford, Conn. In 1869, Western Reserve College tendered him the degree of Doctor of Divinity.
601
1
1838
SCOTT
Martin Bowen Scott of Deerfield, N. Y., aged 37 years, while on a western tour in search of health, visited Cleveland in 1838. Evidently he found it here, as he remained and lived 34 years afterward, dying at the age of 71.
He was of an old New England family, the first American ancestor of which was Richard Scott of Boston, 1633, and M. B. Scott seems to have been the first of his name in this immediate locality. The year fol- lowing his arrival, he married Miss Mary Williamson, daughter of Sam- uel and Isabella Williamson, who was 26 years old, well instructed in all the refinements of life, well educated, and, as she was born here, well known.
Mr. Scott began a business career that proved highly successful, bene- fiting not only himself and family, but the city as well.
Hitherto the river had been lined with old wooden warehouses that were anything but ornamental. Within two years Mr. Scott had built a steam elevator of brick, a new departure in more ways than one. "The Scott Elevator" was a landmark and the pride of the river for many long years.
But Martin Scott's patriotism left a more deeply engraven record than any mercantile venture, however epoch-making. He gave the first $5000 of the civil war loan asked for by the national government. That is, he was the first Cleveland citizen to respond to the appeal, thus setting an ex- ample of confidence, and of faith in the final result of the conflict between the North and the South that was invaluable locally.
The children of M. B. and Mary Williamson Scott were:
Isabelle Scott.
Martin Scott.
William Scott, died unmarried. Charles Scott, m. Belle Ledling.
1838
MORGAN
One beautiful day in January, 1910, the writer rang the bell of the Dorcas Home on Addison Road, and at request was ushered into the room of Mrs. Henry Morgan, who, for some years, had been boarding in that place.
Mrs. Morgan was found reclining on her bed as she had been having a slight attack of "grip," and in a feeble condition physically. But there was no weakness of the mind. As she lay there in her pretty, attractive room, the sun shining in upon her, revealing every feature of her fine old face, she talked freely and charmingly of her girlhood, widowhood, and motherhood.
It was difficult to realize that she had passed her ninth decade of life, had passed through such vicissitudes of circumstances, and yet could so vividly recall the long gone years when she was young and Cleveland but little more than a village.
602
1838
VAN TINE
Her parents were Joseph and Clarissa Perkins Hodges of Petersham, Mass., who came west in 1834 and settled in Geauga Co., O.
(Joseph Hodges was a soldier of the War of 1812.)
Her grandmother, Silence White Hodges, was a descendant of Pere- grene White, first child of Plymouth Colony, and her great-grandfather, Timothy Hodges, was at the Defense of Boston, and served three years in the Continental army.
She was a bride at 18 years of age, the wife of Henry Morgan, who was living in Cleveland that year, 1838. Just when he came here, I forgot to ask. He was a carpenter 24 years old, from Westfield, Mass.
Their first home was No. 52 Prospect street. Ten children came to the household, seven of whom lived to maturity.
In 1857, when her youngest was a babe of five months, Mr. Morgan died. A glance at their birth-list will give the ages of the others-think of it !- 3-5-11-12-13 and 14 years.
And we can but conjecture whether her eight brothers and sisters living in as many towns of the Western Reserve rallied to her relief in this dark hour, or whether, as was the experience of so many widows of past years, she struggled on alone.
The family were then living at 68 Prospect street, perhaps the same one as in 1838, but renumbered.
Children of Henry and Hannah L. Hodges Morgan:
Francis Louise Morgan, b. 1843; m. Thomas H. Wall, of Cleveland.
Charles H. Morgan, b. 1844; m. 1st. Julia W. Barney; 2nd, Helen F. Throop.
George E. Morgan, b. 1845; m. Sa- rah E. Clark.
Richard B. Morgan, b. 1846; m. Au- relia M. Jackson.
William C. Morgan, b. 1852 ; d. 1860. Dr. Franklin Morgan, b. 1854; m.
1st, Mary C. Orr; 2nd, Winnifred Webb.
Clara Alida Morgan, b. 1856; died 1874, unmarried.
Mrs. Hannah Louise Morgan died July, 1910.
1838 VAN TINE
Robert F. Van Tine was a soldier of the American revolution, who served his country for three years, and was discharged a cripple for life. He was a member of an old Dutch family of New York and lived in Steu- ben, that state, where he married Mary B. Chapin.
Their son William H. Van Tine was born in 1820, and some time be- tween 1838 and 1840 came to Cleveland. He married Julia Maria Her- rick, daughter of Maria and the late Sylvester P. Herrick of Vernon, N. Y. The young couple at once joined the Presbyterian church, and thenceforth for half a century were Sabbath School workers. Their home was on Brownell street.
603
1838
BRAINARD
In 1892 they celebrated their golden wedding. Mr. Van Tine was a produce merchant for some years, then went into the insurance business, in which he was best known.
The children of Wm. and Julia Herrick Van Tine:
Cornelia Van Tine, m. Edward H. Pardue.
Robert Van Tine, died aged 21.
Wm. H. Van Tine, Jr., m. Mary Long Hogan.
Julia Van Tine, m. J. P. Moody of Syracuse, N. Y.
Rensellaer H. Van Tine.
1838
BRAINARD
Jabez Brainard, born 1759, son of Simon and Hepzibah Spencer Brainard, a soldier of the American Revolution, rests in Erie street cemetery at the right of the main drive, and not far from the Erie street entrance. His brother Simon Brainard was a lieutenant in the Conn. Continentals. His brother Jeptha Brainard served seven years in the revolutionary army. His brother Asa Brainard also was a soldier of the American Revolution.
The parents of these patriots lived in Chatham, Conn. Soon after the close of the war, Jabez Brainard married Lucy Bingham, daughter of Deacon Elijah and Sarah Jackson Bingham, and removed to Leam- sted, N. H., where he lived many years. He was a leading member of the Presbyterian church of that town, and was familiarly known as "Deacon Brainard."
His only son Nathan Brainard established himself in business in Cleveland, and hither at the death of his wife came Jabez Brainard seeking and receiving in the loneliness of his declining years the minis- trations that only kinship and love can bestow. And in this city, in 1852, in the once well known Brainard residence on Sheriff street, he died aged 94. A large part of the history of Cleveland is to be found in the lives of many old families of this city allied through marriage to the descendants of this revolutionary hero.
Deacon Jabez Brainard was of slight build, and of medium height. He had blue eyes that twinkled with mirth, or shone with intelligence. He was exceedingly original in his speech, withal a Puritan by inherit- ance and instinct, a markedly pious man even in the days when irre- ligion was rare in the community. His desk, a beautiful piece of Colonial furniture, stood in the library of his grandson, the late Prof. George Brainard, and doubtless is still treasured and used by the family.
604
1838
GRAY
The Gray brothers, four in number, who made their first appearance in Cleveland in 1833, were of an old New England family. Their father, Urel Gray, lived in Bridgport, Vt., where his children were born. Their mother, Betsey Case Gray, was also of Puritan stock. The family re- moved to Madrid, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., while the children were still young. In 1833, their second son, Admiral Nelson Gray, with his wife and two little children came to Cleveland to live. In 1838, Joseph W. Gray, youngest son of Urel and Betsey Gray, joined his brother here, and he was soon followed by another one, Ami Nicholas Gray, and lastly came Ransom Gray, the oldest son of the family.
The latter did not live many years after his removal to Cleve- land. He was a blacksmith. His widow Rhoda Gray outlived her hus- band many years. They were both buried in Erie street cemetery. There were no children in this family.
Mrs. Betsey Case Gray joined her sons here after the death of her husband, and in time was laid away beside Ransom in Erie street ceme- tery.
Ami Nicholas Gray, the third son of the family, was also connected with the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and was in the post-office when Joseph W. Gray was postmaster. He spent some years in Columbus, O., in an official position, and lastly in Washington, D. C., where he died. Soon after his arrival in Cleveland, A. Nicholas Gray joined the First Baptist Church, and thenceforth his brothers called him "Deacon," to which he responded with good-natured acquiescence.
But from the fact that his older brother and himself possessed the same initials grew many complications. The most troublesome came through their mail. Finally, Admiral N. Gray said to his brother A. Nicholas Gray :
"I am tired of opening and reading your letters, and surely do not want you to be reading mine. You will have to change your initials; call yourself Nicholas A. Gray."
"How many times must I change my name?" queried the long-suffer- ing young man. "Ever since I joined the church I have been 'Deacon,' and now you ask me to be something else !"
However, he yielded, and thenceforth was generally known as "Nich- olas" Gray, though all his relatives and intimate friends continued to affectionately address him as Deacon.
He married Miss Anna Lewis. They had several children, but only one lived to maturity, a daughter, Alice Gray, who married Dr. Flower, and, until recently, has lived in New Haven, Conn. This little girl was the idol of her parents, and while they were living in Columbus, she was the intimate friend of every member of the legislature because her father's constant companion, and thus daily a visitor at the Capitol. At the time, Mr. Gray was the Plain Dealer's Columbus correspondent.
Joseph W. Gray, the youngest brother of the family, was better and longer known in connection with newspaper work than the others. He was editor and publisher of the Cleveland Plain Dealer from 1842 to 1862, covering a critical and exciting period of the country's history. He died in the second year of the civil war. Had he lived to its close, the political policy of the Plain Dealer undoubtedly would have been less aggressive, its attitude toward the southern states less partisan.
605
1838
GRAY
Mr. Gray was an ardent admirer and staunch supporter of Stephen A. Douglas, a presidential candidate in the campaign that elected Abra- ham Lincoln, and they were warm personal friends.
Much has been written of Joseph W. Gray, the most satisfactory of which is contained in an article by George Hoyt in the Sunday Plain Dealer of August 24, 1902. It covers an entire page and contains por- traits of the three Gray brothers associated together in the purchase and publication of the paper. All three evidently were fine-looking men. The face of Joseph is that of a poet. Mr. Hoyt says of him:
"He was a handsome man of medium height; rather slight in build; hair black and brushed back of the ears, where it was lightly inclined to curl; eyes bright, genial and laughing; in person scrupulously neat and always becomingly dressed."
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