USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > The pioneer families of Cleveland 1796-1840 Vol. II > Part 25
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Joseph Gray seems to have been as much beloved by his associates, as was his caustic pen dreaded by his political opponents.
The Plain Dealer was first housed at 15 Superior street in a build- ing also occupied by Sandford & Hayward, pioneer printers and publish- ers. A big book suspended from the second story was their sign.
To the right was the hat store of Richard and Nicholas Dockstader; to the left that of Worthington & Stair. Afterward the plant was moved to the old Atwater Block at the foot of the street and facing it.
Mr. Gray was one of the early postmasters of Cleveland, his term of office extending from 1852 to 1858. The post-office, at that time, was on the west side of Water street, corner of St. Clair.
Mr. Gray lived in a pretty cottage, 253 Superior street, near Erie, the site of the Colonial Theatre. It set back quite a distance from the sidewalk, and its lawn was ornamented by a fountain, usually active, and a source of curiosity to children.
In this cottage were entertained many notables, both local and na- tional. Mrs. Gray was well-fitted to be the mistress of such a home. She was Miss Catherine Foster before her marriage, and the daugh- ter of a pioneer. The writer regrets that more cannot be learned of this lady, the wife and companion of so noted a Cleveland man. She is said to have been a very handsome woman, and shone in society.
Mr. Gray's death in 1862 was premature; brought about by an acci- dent through which one eye was destroyed and the loss of the other threatened. He lived on for a year with his nervous system shattered, and unable to either read or write. His widow removed to Los Ange- les, California, where she died at the home of her daughter.
Ransom, Admiral N. and Joseph Gray were all buried in Erie st. cemetery.
The children of Joseph and Catharine Foster Gray :
Josephine Gray, m. W. H. Harvey ; sculptor as a model for the Perry monument now established in Wade Park. He removed to New York City.
lives in Can Bernardino, Califor- nia. She was a widow in 1902. Eugene Gray. As a lad this son was noted for his remarkable beauty, and was selected by Wolcott the
Lewis Gray.
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1839
DOLMAN
The residence and millinery store of Francis and Catherine Dolman adjoined on the east side of Seneca street.
They were from Bath, England. In the early '40s, they extended their business by opening, for that period, a fine establishment on Superior street, corner of Seneca, a site that in recent years Webb C. Ball, the jeweler, occupied so long.
This business venture was very successful. Dolman's millinery store for three decades or more was one of the features of Superior street, and popular with the sex that then, as now, delights in pretty things.
The couple bought a farm on Cedar avenue in the vicinity of what is now East 90th street, upon which they retired. It consisted of about 17 acres, and extended south to Quincy street. Through this farm Mr. Dolman cut a street and called it Bell avenue.
The children of Francis and Catherine Dolman :
Albert Dolman, unmarried. Jane Dolman, m. Jabez Fitch.
George Dolman, m. Miss Umless. Adelaide Dolman, m. James Crocker.
Dr. William Dolman. John H. Dolman, m. Julia Wheeler.
Dr. William Dolman was a surgeon in the civil war. He died in the south. His brother John was a paymaster during that conflict, but lived to return home and engage in the railroad business. His widow, a daugh- ter Jenny, and a son, his namesake, reside on Cedar ave. on the site of the old homestead. George Dolman, the only surviving member of the family, resides in Denver.
Mrs. Catherine Dolman was a keen, bright, old lady who lived to be 94 years of age. She died in 1897, having outlived her husband 18 years.
The family all lie in Erie st. cemetery.
1839
Mayor, Dr. Joshua Mills. Postmaster, Aaron Barker.
Married. In this city, by Rev. Bury, W. J. Gordon and Miss Charlotte Champlin.
"Died. Levi Beebe, of Waterbury, Conn." (Erie st. cemetery.)
"Died. Charles Tracy, 46 years." (Erie st. cemetery.)
The southeast corner of Euclid avenue and Erie street is a cornfield. The southwest corner is a grove in which political meetings and other gatherings are held.
Euclid ave. is still a bad road to be avoided. Teams and carriages find Woodland ave. much better driving this side of Willson, East 55th, as it had been improved with gravel.
About this time T. P. Handy and M. C. Younglove purchased lots of five acres each at $100 an acre on Euclid ave. just beyond Huntington st., E. 18th.
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1839
BECKWITH
The name of Beckwith has been best and longest known in this city through the firm of "Beckwith and Sterling," pioneer carpet merchants of the town, the senior member of which was Thomas Sterling Beckwith .. He was born in Lyme, Conn., in 1821. His parents removed to Glen's Falls, N. Y., where his father died, leaving a widow and a family off young children. Two of these were William E. and Thomas S. Beckwith. Their mother, Jerusha Sill Beckwith, made her home in Granville, N. Y., where her children had educational advantages, and where afterward! her sons through employment in local drygoods stores learned many de -. tails of that business. After a clerkship of four years in Granville, Thomas Sterling came to Cleveland, just in time to become a real pioneer of this city. He entered the employ of Alexander Sacket, and afterwardi followed his brother William into the firm of P. M. Weddell & Co., one of the partners of which was Dudley Baldwin.
Here, doubtless, Mr. Beckwith acquired some of the business ability' and absorbed the business code of integrity for which Messrs. Weddell and Baldwin were noted. In 1857, with his brother and Frederick A. Sterling, yet living, he started the first store in town, dealing exclusive- ly in the sale of carpets. Previous to that time drygoods firms handled carpets on a small scale, as does the big department store of today on a large one. The establishment of the firm of Beckwith and Sterling was soon followed by another one dealing solely in carpets, and these two firms absorbed the trade so that for many following years, local drygoods merchants ceased to handle that branch of the business.
Mr. Beckwith was a very religious man and all testimony concerning him shows that he tried most earnestly to reconcile his business with his faith. It is said of him that he was honest in the very bone and fiber of his being. He told the truth and nothing but the truth. He never deceived a customer, nor allowed his employes to do so. One of Mr. Beckwith's strongest convictions was that religion should be free to rich and poor alike, and at his death he left a fund which he hoped would be the means of establishing a perpetual line of free-pew churches. The first one built through this fund was called Beckwith Chapel. When it became self-supporting the fund was to be withdrawn from it, and an- other free-seated church or chapel erected. Beckwith Chapel was located on Fairmount st., E. 107th, near the Western Reserve University and Case School of Applied Science. Recently its congregation united with the Third Presbyterian Church and is housed in a beautiful and very costly edifice opposite the college grounds and called the "Euclid Avenue Presbyterian Church."
Mr. Beckwith was greatly interested in the Bethel, an institution de- voted primarily to the welfare of seamen, but which later included also the city's poor, especially its widows and children. For 20 years Mr. Beckwith was superintendent of its Sabbath school. This, in connection with his regular attendance on church services, must have made his Sab- bath an arduous day for him, especially when advancing years had robbed him of early strength and vigor.
Mr. Beckwith married in 1849, Sarah Oliphant, daughter of Robert W. and Mary Raymond Oliphant of Granville, Washington Co., N. Y. The groom was 28 years old and the bride 27 years. Their first child, a
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little daughter, lived but two months. It was 15 years before their next child was born, a son, and he was followed by another son within a year.
Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Beckwith had taken into their hearts and home two little girls to whom they gave devoted affection and care. Mr. Beckwith died in 1876. His widow survived him 24 years, and in 1900 was laid beside him in Lake View cemetery. One who knew her in- timately says that "she was a noble-hearted, sweet-mannered lady, who in all Mr. Beckwith's labors and trials was inded a 'helpmeet.' After his death she gave to their four children the guidance and care he was no longer permitted to bestow, and so far as was in her power carried on the good work and continued the record of benevolence he so well began."
The children of Thomas S. and Sarah Oliphant Beckwith :
Kittie Beckwith, b. 1849; died in in- fancy.
Katherine Louise Beckwith, adopted, b. 1858; m. William Otis Knight; m. 2nd, Addison Hubbard.
Fannie Isabella Beckwith, adopted, b. 1862; m. Cassius B. Clark.
Thomas Sterling Beckwith, b. 1864; unmarried.
William Oliphant Beckwith, b. 1865; died 1885.
The last residence of the Beckwith family was 3813 Euclid avenue, near Case, East 40th st.
1839
SOUTHERN
William and Anna Pixley Southern were residents of Ithaca, N. Y., when they concluded to come west. Mr. Southern was a farmer and a cooper. He was born 1800, and of New England ancestry. His wife, born 1807, was descended from German emigrants. Mr. Southern pur- chased a farm in Rockport, and the family lived upon it, at first, in a log-cabin, which gave place some years later to a finer but no more sub- stantial edifice.
Mr. Southern dealt in staves considerably, which kept him much in touch with Cleveland, and members of his family began to live here at an early age, and three of the children married into East End pioneer fam- ilies. Mr. Southern died in 1871, and his wife in 1876. Their children:
Julia Southern, m. Peter Bower of Mary Southern, m. Ander- Rockport. son.
William Southern, Jr., died in the civil war.
Lemuel M. Southern, m. Libbie Gale, dau. of Martin Gale.
Chrystopher Southern, a fruit-grow- er of Rockport, O.
Joseph Southern, a fruit-grower in Rockport, O.
Elvira Southern, m. John Ingram of Cleveland.
Susie Southern, m. Peter Clampitt of E. Cleveland.
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1839
WINSLOW
The Winslow and Hamlin families of New England settled in Jeffer- son Co., N. Y., thence removed to Richmond, O., and about 1839 changed their place of residence to Cleveland. The heads of these families were warm friends, and their children continued the intimacy through life.
Tisdale Winslow was a direct descendant of Gov. Winslow of the Mayflower. His wife was Mary Armitage of Albany, N. Y. Their Cleve- land home was near the corner of St. Clair and Bank streets. In their declining years they removed to Mansfield in order to be with their youngest daughter Alyoa, whose home after her marriage was in that place.
Alonzo A. Winslow, one of their sons, was a prominent man for many years in the civil and political history of the city. He served as sheriff, and was thenceforth known as "Sheriff Winslow" to distinguish him from the other well-known men of the same name in the city.
He lived in a picturesque cottage on Euclid Ave., cor. Giddings Ave., East 71st. A brook ran through the place, spanned by a little bridge. This was once the site of a log-tannery belonging to a man named Curtis, and the little stream was called Curtis Brook. When the Giddings fam- ily settled near by, and Giddings Ave. was laid out between the lots, the brook was thenceforth Giddings Brook. A huge garage now covers the site of Mr. Winslow's cottage.
The children of Tisdale and Mary Armitage Winslow:
Susan Winslow, m. Mr. Chapman. John Winslow. Abby Eliza Winslow, m. Isaac Seav- Alonzo P. Winslow, m. Alvira Lyon of Willoughby; 2nd, Emma M. erns.
Alyoa Winslow, m. William Rhodes. Johnson.
1839
RANSOM
Chauncy S. Ransom was the son of Stephen and Sally, or Tally, Grey Ransom of Watertown, Conn. He came to this city in 1839, and became associated in business with Lucius M. Cobb on Center street in the manu- factury of sash and blinds. He was also in the lumber business.
His wife was Ann E. Younglove, daughter of Moses and Hannah Younglove. She was the sister of Moses Younglove, Jr., the pioneer, and half-sister of the Cobb brothers.
Mr. and Mrs. Ransom were married in Cambridge, N. Y. Their first home in Cleveland was 162 Prospect street near Brownell, from which they removed to Case Avenue where they resided the rest of their days.
Mr. Ransom's young sister Tally Ransom, while on a visit to her Cleveland relatives, died in this city.
Mr. Ransom was a member of the city council for a time, and did excellent service. He was dubbed the "Watchdog" of the council because of his faithfulness and accuracy.
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He died in 1888, aged 78 years, and his wife passed away in 1896 at the age of 86.
Children of Chauncy and Ann Ransom :
Minerva A. Ransom, m. Charles Winans of Adrian, Mich.
Moses Y. Ransom, m. Isabella Gorham.
Emily Hooker Ransom, m. Daniel Pritchard.
M. Y. Ransom's daughter is the wife of Howard Yost of the Society for Savings.
The family burial lot is in Woodland cemetery.
1839
GORDON
William J. Gordon was born on a New Jersey farm on or near the site of the Monmouth battle-field. He was 21 years old when he came to Cleveland in 1839. If there was a dollar in his pocket at that time, it had been earned by him and was neither borrowed nor a gift. He possessed many talents, but the one talent that made all the others possible to cul- tivate or practical for use was the faculty for business, the keen sense of commercial value, and of financial opportunities. Accompanying this was a masterful spirit capable of bending circumstance to his own will, and for having his own natural way. He was independent in thought and action all his life. Starting with a small grocery on River street near the foot of St. Clair street, his business culminated in one of the largest wholesale groceries in Northern Ohio, and known as the house of Gordon & McMillen.
Mr. Gordon also entered the iron trade, which was exceedingly profit- able, and added to this were banking interests. He had a singularly well-defined dual nature. In private life he was poetical and artistic. He had much distinction in person, in manner, in bearing, and in intel- lectual outlook on the finer phases of life.
He accumulated a large library, many valuable paintings, beautiful statuary, and other works of art, results of years of travel abroad. With- out special training in the field of landscape gardening and the art of bending nature to his own sense of beauty, he had that province of activ- ity entirely at his command, a master of one of the finest forms of esthetic development.
At 23 years of age, he married Miss Charlotte Champlin. Her mother was a widow who, in the late '40s, became the second wife of James Law- rence. The first Gordon home was 39 Huron street, near Prospect. In 1856, the family was living on the west side of Water street near the Government property. Mr. Gordon remodeled and added to this home until it became an imposing mansion for those days. In the rear of his grounds he erected a facsimile of a ruined abbey which, for many years,
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was a landmark for that part of the city and an object of much interest and inquiry to passengers entering or leaving the city by steamboat or railroad.
Some time in the late '60s, Mr. Gordon purchased land on the lake shore and Bratenahl Road, which was added to from time to time until it comprised 152 acres. Upon this he spent a fortune. Every effect of long vistas, wide expanses, unusual grouping, and occasionally of vivid coloring, effects that only a past-master of landscape gardening could conceive, were produced. These, with the lake and lagoon, made the park one of the most beautiful of its size in the country. And this, at his death, he left a free gift to the city.
Although the name Gordon had no place upon Cleveland records until the year 1839, it is destined to remain there perpetually, unless some future mayor of the city, born elsewhere and whose interests and rever- ences are confined to the parks and cemeteries of his native town, fol- lows the example of a predecessor, and runs streets and electric lines through Gordon Park, thus ruining or eliminating it.
It seems no more than just and appropriate that the long years of personal labor on the estate Mr. Gordon left to the city should make it always distinctly associated with its former owner. He gave to it not only of his means but of himself. Early and late he could have been found on his grounds directing surveys of its beautiful walks and drives or overseeing the planting of some rare tree or shrub, frequently himself handling the spade.
Meanwhile, at the marriage of his only son he turned over to the lat- ter the Water street mansion, and retired to his lake shore estate, where he remodeled an old farm house standing at the north-east corner of it. In time this house became completely covered with American ivy, convert- ing it into a unique and picturesque feature of the park.
Mrs. Gordon died in this home. She was a woman highly regarded and much esteemed by many friends. She had a kind heart and was easi- ly touched by the sorrows of this earth, of which alas! she had had her share. Her declining years were saddened by the death of her only daughter in young womanhood, the waywardness of her son, her own continuous ill health, and other serious troubles. Mr. Gordon outlived his wife some years. He died in 1893.
Children of William J. and Charlotte Gordon :
Charles Gordon, m. Mary Smithe of New York.
Georgiana Gordon, m. Count Alphonse Vinain (Quatorze) of Belgium.
She lived but a short time after her marriage.
The widow and children of Charles Gordon reside in New York City, and no member of the family is now living in Cleveland. Daisy Gordon, daughter of Charles Gordon, married Daniel Rhodes Hanna, and had a lit- tle daughter, Elisabeth Hanna, who, with her mother, resides in New York City.
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1839
HANDY
Truman P. and Parker Handy had a brother associated with them in Cleveland and in Massillon, O., but whom ill health forced out of business. He never recovered from a stroke of paralysis, although his life was prolonged many years. He died in 1891, aged 72 years. This brother was Augustus Handy. He married 1st, Harriet Spencer of Massillon, and they had two children.
Augusta Handy, m. Capt. John R. Johnson.
Harriet Handy, m. John W. Manahan.
Mrs. Harriet Spencer died in 1851, seven years after her marriage, leaving her two little daughters at a tender age. Augustus married 2nd, in 1856, Fanny J. Babcock, of Truxton, N. Y., who died within ten years. She also left two children.
Truman P. Handy 2nd, m. Helen P. Handy, m. Dickenson.
The family home was on Superior street. Augustus Handy died at the home of his eldest daughter, Mrs. Augusta Handy Johnson, on E. 43rd st.
1839
HAMLIN
William H. Hamlin and his wife Mary Trowbridge Hamlin of Great Barrington, Mass., accompanied or soon followed the Winslow family to Cleveland from Richmond, Ohio.
Their children were:
Sarah Maria Hamlin, b. in Court- Maryette Hamlin, m. Ezra Hoyt; land Co., N. Y .; m. Harvey John- son. lives in California. Julia Hamlin, and William Hamlin.
1839
JOHNSON
Harvey Johnson of Milton, Saratoga Co., N. Y., was born in 1815; married Sarah Maria Hamlin in 1838. They lived in Richmond hamlet, Lake Co., Ohio, a year or two, then removed to Cleveland.
The children of Harvey and Sarah Maria Johnson, all born in Cleve- land :
Isabella Johnson, m. Carlos A. Emma Johnson, m. Alonzo P. Wins- Smith. low, a second wife. Harvey Johnson, and Cora Johnson.
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1839
BURY
Rev. Richard Bury who was rector of Old Trinity in 1839, and in later years of Grace P. E. Church, was born in England in 1792, but came with his parents to this country when he was eight years old.
His father was William Bury of Bury, near Manchester, Eng., his mother Mary Barnett Bury. They had three children, only one of whom married. The family lived in New York.
Richard, the youngest child, studied medicine and then theology, grad- uating from Union College in 1812. He became rector of Trinity Church, Albany, then had charge of a parish in Poterdam, N. Y., and in 1830 received a call from St. Paul's, Detroit, the same year that Rev. S. C. Freeman left Cleveland and took charge of St. John's, Detroit.
Richard Bury remained in that city nine years and then came to Cleveland.
He was married in Sand Lake, N. Y., in 1819, to Mariette Gregory, dau. of Uriah M. Gregory. She was 26 years old, and the groom her sen- ior only by a year.
The children of Richard and Mariette Gregory Bury :
Mary F. Bury, b. 1820, in Albany, N. Y .; m. Horace Gray. N. Y .; m. Miriam Dwight.
Elisabeth Bury, b. 1822 in Albany, N. Y .; m. Rev. D. D. Gregory. William A. Bury, b. 1824 in Albany, N. Y .; m. Eliza Resiune ( ?).
Charles Bury, b. 1825, in Albany, N. Y .; unmarried.
Theodore Bury, b. 1827, in Albany,
Richard A. Bury, b. 1830, in Al- bany, N. Y .; m. 1st, Caroline Choate; 2nd, Mary Hoag.
Caroline Bury, b. 1831, in Detroit, Mich .; m. George W. Bloodgood. Henry A. Bury, b. 1834, in Detroit, Mich .; unmarried.
Rev. Richard Bury came back to Cleveland, to take charge of Grace Church.
Mrs. Mariette Bury died in 1861, and two or three years later Mr. Bury married Mrs. Zervia Fitch. She survived him a number of years. He died 1875.
The family lived on Clinton street, afterward changed to Brownell, and again to E. 14th street.
Miss Mariette Gray of Grosse Isle, Mich., is the last survivor of her father's and mother's family.
1839
FRANCIS
The euphonious and biblical name of Phyletus Francis is so unusual that probably but one man in Cleveland ever bore it.
The Francis family that came to this city at an early day was of old, New England stock, dating back to the seventeenth century. One mem- ber of it, Ezeriah Francis, living in 1815 in Hamburg, near Buffalo, N. Y., hailed from Vermont. His wife, Lavina Cheeseman, was a native
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BUTTS
of New Jersey. They settled in that part of Hamburg called "Chestnut Ridge," but some years later removed to a farm in Chardon, O.
In 1839, or near that date, their son Phyletus, whose trend of thought and activity was toward commerce rather than agriculture, left home prepared to enter any field of honest endeavor leading to what he had in view for himself. His first venture brought him to this city, and here he made a modest success in life, married and had a family of children.
His early life on a farm had given him a love for horses, and he be- came interested in the purchase and sale of them. At one time he kept a livery. In the later years of his life he dealt in real estate.
In 1843 he married Miss Sarah Mead, daughter of William and Rhoda Mead, the Cleveland pioneers. The Francis home was on Erie street, opposite the cemetery. They lost their older children, only the two young- est of the family living to maturity.
Phyletus Francis died in 1884, and his wife Sarah Mead Francis in 1906. Their graves are in Woodland cemetery. Their children were:
William P. Francis, m. Hannah Stanley (well known in his con- nection with the Cleveland Elec-
Payton. They reside on Stan-
wood Road, East Cleveland. tric R. R. Their home is 8211
Rhoda Lavina Francis, m. John J. Euclid ave.
1840
A business depression overshadows the city. It began in 1837 and lasted for five years. Hundreds of families who had settled here in 1835 and 1836, returned to their former homes or removed to cities and towns farther west. Much valuable Cleveland property was sacrificed by owners unable to pay taxes upon it.
Many business men of the city who remained in it were hampered for years by debts incurred during the panic.
1840
BUTTS
Caleb B. Butts married in 1822, Sarah Ann Ross, daughter of John M. and Eliza Ross of Dover, N. Y., and in 1840 they removed to Cleveland. Two years later they were host and hostess of the American House, 42 Superior street. It was built about 1836, and Isaac Newton had had previous charge of it. Deacon and Mrs. Butts were active members in the First Baptist Church, and greatly interested in its advancement and prosperity.
In 1872, they celebrated their golden wedding at the home of their son Bolivar Butts, whose daughter has in her possession large oil por- traits of the worthy couple which are admired by all who knew them.
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FREESE
Caleb Butts died in 1888 at the home of his daughter in New Jersey, while there on a visit, and Mrs. Butts survived him but three years.
The children of Caleb and Sarah Ross Butts :
Eliza Butts, m. Chester Demming Bolivar Butts, m. Martha Cather,
of Stockbridge, Mass. daughter of Robert and Marga-
William Butts, m. an Eastern lady. ret Norton Cather.
The latter was identified long years with Trinity church as a vestry .. man.
1840
FREESE
The names of Freese in connection with the Cleveland public schools covered a period of 21 years, and for 40 years more it remained famil- iar to hundreds of middle aged men and women. Today there still remains in the hearts of many former pupils yet living tender memories of An- drew Jackson Freese, their high school principal, their honored superin- tendent, their beloved friend.
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