USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > The pioneer families of Cleveland 1796-1840 Vol. II > Part 3
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Kelley, whom he married in Canandaigua, N. Y., in 1834, and in that year came to Cleveland.
Joseph H. Crittenden began a shoe and leather business at 9 Superior street which he continued until 1857, when he retired and went to Brook- lyn, N. Y., where he died in 1874. He always kept his interests in Cleve- land, his home for 25 years, and the last of his real-estate holdings was sold recently to the B. of L. Engineers.
The first home of the Joseph Crittenden family was 78 Seneca street, and afterward on the present site of the New England Bld. They were members of the Old Stone Church on the Public Square, and Mr. Crittenden was one of the donors to the building fund at its erection. Mrs. Crittenden died in Plainfield, N. J., in 1898, aged 84.
The children of Joseph and Eliza Kelley Crittenden :
Mary Beulah Crittenden, m. David B. Palmer of New York state.
They had six children.
George Nash Crittenden, m. Olivia Headley ; had one child.
Minnie Sarah Crittenden, unmar- ried; living in Plainfield, N. J.
Ella Azuba Crittenden, died in in- fancy.
James Manning Crittenden, died in infancy.
Josephine Abbott Crittenden, m. John Henry Carman, M. D. Liv- ing in Plainfield, N. J.
The above children were all born in Cleveland. The older ones must have been past 20 years of age when the family removed to Brooklyn, therefore well known by the young people of their day and generation. This meant life-long friendships; for the intimate companions of our youth are seldom forgotten.
1832
FENTON
Erie street cemetery is consecrated by the graves of several soldiers of the American Revolution, heroes of the struggle that made this country a nation and a republic. All that was mortal of them was laid away here, hundreds of miles from their places of nativity and the scenes of their patriotic endeavors.
Two of them were first buried in the small Ontario street cemetery and when that resting-place of the dead was condemned, their coffins were hauled up to the surface of the ground and carted over to Erie street cemetery and again buried from sight. At this writing what remains of their dust is threatened with yet another removal as commercial greed is persistently plotting to seize this "God's acre" for pecuniary profit.
There are also several soldiers of the war of 1812 yet resting in Erie street cemetery, and one of these was a Revolutionary hero as well. His name was Gamaliel Fenton.
He was born in Mansfield, Conn., January, 1763. The spring he was
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FENTON
17 years of age, he enlisted in the militia for nine months under Capt. Smith and Lieut. Read. He marched with his company to New London, Conn., to join the patriotic forces protecting the coast. A detachment to which he was assigned spent most of the time cutting faggots near an Indian village some miles north of New London. These were made into bundles and carried to the coast for use in the barricades of the small forts.
In November of that year, 1780, his time having expired he returned home, but not for long; again he enlisted and took part in the skirmishes at Horse Neck, and was with the army at White Plains.
In his old age Gamaliel Fenton dictated his revolutionary experiences to a grandson, and his descendants yet preserve the precious legacy.
In 1788 Mr. Fenton joined the exodus of the young men of the south- ern New England states to the northern ones of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. He removed to Walpole, N. H., where he remained until the breaking out of the war of 1812. For 18 months he nursed the sick and wounded in a hospital at Burlington, Vt., during which time he re- ceived nothing for his services. He was at the Battle of Plattsburg dis- charging his gun, in that engagement 37 times.
His wife Elisabeth Webber Fenton was eight years his junior.
The family lived for a short time in Montreal, where their second child was born in 1804. In 1832 Gamaliel Fenton, his wife, and two sons, Orin and Horace came to Cleveland. The latter were both married and probably brought young children with them. Gamaliel was then in his 70th year, and Mrs. Fenton the elder 62 years.
The family lived first on St. Clair street near Erie street. Early in the '40s Horace Fenton, with whom his parents lived, built a home on Kinsman street now Woodland Ave., just east of Erie street, and here the old people died, The revolutionary hero fell a victim to the cholera scourge in 1849 and died aged 86 years. Mrs. Elisabeth Fenton followed him four years later, her death by apoplexy being as sudden as was that of her husband.
Horace Fenton was 28 years of age when he came to Cleveland. He was a carpenter and after a time became a contractor. He was a useful man in the community and much respected. Several fine residences and public buildings were erected by him.
We find his name in the volunteer Fire Department. Milo Hickox is foreman of Hook and Ladder Company, No. 1, W. J. Warner is his first assistant, and Horace Fenton second assistant. All three were car- penters.
Mrs. Horace Fenton was Lois Thorp of Ogdensburg, N. Y. She was born in 1808, therefore was 24 years of age when she made Cleveland her home. She died in the home on Woodland Ave. in 1853, leaving a family of five children. They were:
Priscilla Fenton, b. 1830; m. her cousin Luther Fenton; d. 1902.
Daniel Fenton, b. 1832; died four years of age.
Maria M. Fenton, b. 1835; m. De-
witt M. Calkins of Cleveland; d. 1910.
Henry T. Fenton, b. 1838; d. 1895; m. Louise Hagedorn of Port Hu- ron, Michigan.
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Lois Fenton, b. 1842; d. 1867; m. ald McEason, living in Beaver, Pa.
Isaac Wright of Kirtland, O.
Helen E. Fenton, b. 1845; m. Don-
In 1858 Horace Fenton removed to Barton, Mass., and from that place to Kiantone, N. Y. Meanwhile, he had married secondly, Mrs. Katherine Young of the former place by whom he had several more chil- dren : Esther, Hortense, Rose, Horace, Nettie, and Francis Fenton.
Horace Fenton, the elder, died 1885 in Cleveland while on a visit to his children in this city. He was dining with his niece Clarissa Fenton Jaynes on Madison Ave., now East 79th st., when stricken with apo- plexy, and was buried by the side of his first wife in Erie street cemetery.
Orin Fenton, eldest son of Gamaliel Fenton, was a farmer and lived on Crawford Road. His wife was Clarissa Thatcher of Ogdensburg, N. Y.
They had eight children, all but one of whom have passed away.
Children of Orin and Clarissa Fenton :
Sarah Fenton, unmarried.
Elisabeth Fenton, unmarried.
Amos Fenton, m. Susan Lee of Mo- gadore, O.
Luther Fenton, m. his cousin Claris- sa Fenton.
William Fenton, m. Isabelle Arm- strong of Havanna, Ill.
Evelina Fenton, m. David A. Hal- sted.
Horace Fenton, m. Sarah Watkins of East Cleveland.
Clarissa Fenton, m. Henry Jaynes, live in Madison, O.
1832
FERRIS
Rev. Daniel Ferris of Montton, Vt., came to Newburgh after the death of his wife Amarilla Stetson Ferris, and lived with his son Lyman who had preceded him to Ohio three years earlier. He lived in Newburgh and vicinity about 14 years, dying at the advanced age of 83 years.
Lyman Ferris is the only child mentioned of Rev. David, probably because the other children, if any, were living in New England. Mrs. Ly- man Ferris was the Newburgh pioneer Jerusha Benton, and the sec- ond wife of Lyman Ferris. The couple were very refined, punctilious, and stately in their bearing. They were devout Methodists and were greatly beloved and esteemed by the members of that denomination, both in Cleveland and Newburgh, and their home was ever open to traveling clergymen.
They had three daughters, all born in this locality. Mr. Ferris may have had children by his first wife who remained in Vermont. He died in 1872, aged 79, and Jerusha Benton Ferris passed away a year later. Their children were:
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Polly Ferris, b. 1830; m. Rev. Hen- ry Mendenhall.
Lorain Ferris, b. 1836; m. Louis Dibble Stark. Esther Ferris, b. 1840; died young.
1832
CRAW
James Miller Craw and his wife Sarah Bentley Craw were from Al- bany, N. Y., and brought their family of five children to Cleveland in 1832. Mr. Craw was a mason and contractor and his two sons followed the same occupation. In 1837 they were living at No. 32 High street, then a very attractive location. All the members of this family were valuable members of society and of Trinity and Grace Churches, and their grand- children are proud of the fact that they come of revolutionary stock.
Children of James M. and Sarah Bentley Craw:
William Valoir Craw, m. Margaret Wilson. wealthy citizen of Portland, Ore.
James Augustus Craw, m. Rhoda Leonora Craw, m. Moses Drake. Lynde. They had two daughters who are
Elizabeth Craw, m. ------- Wood- ruff. No children. Mrs. Hiram Wardwell of Ft. Wayne, Ind., and Mrs. Roger But- terfield of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Mary Craw, m. Joseph Van Schuy-
ver. Their only son became a
William V. Craw, a member of Cleveland's first council, was born on Pearl street in Albany, N. Y., in 1810. He was the son of James Miller and Sarah Bentley Craw, and came with them to Cleveland in 1832.
He was a carpenter and building contractor, who erected many busi- ness blocks and private dwellings in the '40s and '50s, few of which remain standing, having long since been torn down to make room for more mod- ern and pretentious buildings. The Perry-Payne structure displaced one of them. About the only one yet remaining is the building occupied by Strong and Cobb, retail druggists.
In later years Mr. Craw turned his attention to the rapidly grow- ing fish business of the city and for forty years dealt in the sale of that commodity, becoming in time Fish Inspector of Cleveland. His bonded warehouse stood for forty-eight years at No. 68 and 70 River street.
His value as a citizen, however, was his service in the Council and on the Board of Education. He was responsible for the survey of the city by a scientific surveyor brought from Ontario for that purpose, much trouble having previously been encountered both in city and county through carelessness of incompetent surveyors.
Mr. Craw was an enthusiast on the subject of public schools, and threw his whole weight of influence toward the establishment of Cleve- land's first high school, a measure that encountered bitter opposition
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CRAW
from many of the city's tax-payers. In 1844 he married Margaret A. Wil- son, the daughter of John and Ann Aram Wilson. She was born in Watertown, N. Y., in 1821, and was brought to Cleveland by her parents in 1831. The couple boarded for six months at the residence of Dr. Ingle- hart on Huron Road near Ninth street, and afterward began housekeep- ing at 20 Bolivar Road, which was their home for many years. They both died on Kennard street near Scovill Ave .; Mr. Craw in 1895, and his wife in 1903 aged eight-three years.
The family attended Trinity Church at first, but feeling the need of one in their locality, assisted in the organization of Grace Church, of which society Mrs. Craw was a devoted member and enthusiastic worker. She took an active part in the Sanitary Fair held on the Public Square during the civil war, and was ever interested in all measures that needed her co-operation.
Through the kind impulses of Mr. and Mrs. Craw several talented boys and girls of earlier Cleveland were enabled to reach heights of achievement otherwise unattainable. One of these was Hubert Hreki- mer, the world-famous artist. His mother was a music-teacher and had set her heart upon her son's career as a musician. Mrs. Craw discov- ered the lad's talent and ambition for art, and persuaded his mother to change her plans for his future. Hubert was at once given drawing- lessons and assisted and encouraged in his ambition to be a painter.
Children of William V. and Margaret Wilson Craw:
Kate Bentley Craw, m. Dr. John Frank Gardner Craw, m. Frances Corlett Gill.
Wilson John Craw, m. Sarah Law- rence.
Ransom Whipple.
James M. Craw, unmarried. Mathilde Craw, m. William J. Smith.
Those of the family who have passed away were recently removed from old Erie street cemetery to the new one at Warrensville.
Children of James A. and Rhoda Lynde Craw:
George A. Craw, unmarried. Died 1905.
Sarah Bentley Craw, unmarried.
Frances Bentley Craw, died 1847. Edward Lnyde Craw, m. Anna Ma- rie Rockhill. Died 1900.
James A. Craw married (2nd) Jane Turner. They had one son: Charles King Craw.
Of this family but two survive, Sarah B. and Edward L. Craw. The latter is a real-estate man of Fort Wayne, Ind., and is proprietor of "The Portland," a fine modern hotel of that city. His son, George Rock- hill Craw, resides in Chicago.
392
1832
COWLES
Dr. Edwin Cowles who appeared in Cleveland for the first time in 1832 was not, as has been erroneously stated, a brother of the earlier pioneer of the same name, Judge Samuel Cowles. If any blood relationship ex- isted between them it dated back several generations. But Dr. Cowles was a brother-in-law of the Judge, having married the latter's sister.
Dr. Cowles was the son of the Rev. Giles Hooker Cowles, D. D., of Connecticut, who came to Austinburg in 1810, to become the first pastor of a little congregation that the Rev. Joseph Badger had collected in the wilderness of Ashtabula county. He was installed over his flock in a barn where services were held until funds could be raised for building a church. And when this was accomplished it became famous in a modest way, for it was ornamented with a steeple, a typical New England church steeple, the first in Ohio.
The Reverend Giles H. Cowles was accompanied by his wife Polly White Cowles and a family of children, the second of whom was Edwin, seventeen years of age. This family was one of the cases where heredity counts. The children were all gifted with unusual intelligence and with deep religious feeling. An ancestor on their father's side was the cele- brated New England divine, Rev. Thomas Hooker, and their mother was directly descended from Peregrine White, that first-born child of the Plymouth Colony. John Cowles of Hartford, Conn., 1635, headed the American family of the name.
Mrs. Cowles brought to the wilderness a dainty set of china orna- mented with the family monogram. It was made to order and presented to her on her wedding-day in 1792. It is said that previous to her mar- riage Mrs. Cowles had been so engrossed in study as to neglect the arts of the housewife and had not learned to cook. But she brought to the problems facing her a well-trained mind which soon solved them, and even excelled in what she had once been deficient. She was also a sweet singer and two of her daughters inherited from her their musical talent.
Her father was Alpheus White whom tradition claims was a soldier with Washington, and who lost his wife by drowning the night of the Crossing of the Delaware. Her mother was Abigail Weed White.
Dr. Edwin Weed Cowles, the oldest child of Rev. Giles H. and Sally White Cwoles, was born in Bristol, Conn., in 1794. He studied medicine with O. K. Hawley of Austinburg and practised his profession in that town for about ten years; then removed to Mantua, Portage Co., O. He remained in the latter place until 1832, when he came to Cleveland, whether to look over the field in view of settling here, or in order to help fight the terrible scourge of cholera that threatened the town, is uncer- tain. He did heroic service in unhesitatingly risking his own life to com- bat the unknown disease and unselfishly caring for the sick and dying strangers in town with no home or personal friends to look after them. Cholera broke out on a steamer bound from Buffalo to Detroit. It put into Cleveland for medical help and Dr. Cowles went on with it to Detroit.
Dr. Cowles boarded that summer with Deacon Lathrop, and in the fall brought on his family and established them on Euclid avenue beyond E. 107th street, the site of Adelbert College, W. R. U. Here he re- mained but two years, and then for some reason removed to Detroit,
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1832
COWLES
Mich., where he practised medicine until 1838, when he returned to Cleveland.
Dr. Cowles seems to have been a progressive in his profession and not inclined to accept as infallible the authorities preceding his time. It is said that he was the first Cleveland physician to lend an ear to the shocking Homeopathy heresy (?). Perhaps this may be an explanation of his evident uneasiness or discontent, as he again returned to Michi- gan, remaining in Adrian and Ann Arbor for five years. The rest of his days were spent in Cleveland where he died in 1861. The first home of the family in town was close to the Public Square on the little street that ran from it through to St. Clair but for many following years the residence was No. 77 Prospect street.
At twenty-one years of age Dr. Cowles married Almira Foote of Nor- folk, Conn. She was the daughter of Asa and Sarah Mills Foote. The latter was first married to Joseph Cowles and had at least one child, Samuel Cowles, who became the well-known pioneer judge of Cleveland. Probably it was through this much-beloved half-brother of his wife that Dr. Cowles was led to make the city his home.
Before the writer lies a letter over a hundred years old written by Miss Almira Foote to Samuel Cowles, then living in Farmington, Conn. She had lost both her parents some years previous and was teaching school in Onandaga, N. Y. The epistle is penned in a vigorous, self- reliant, hopeful style, though her orphaned and homeless condition evi- dently is keenly felt.
As Mrs. Edwin Cowles and the mother of boys away at school, she wrote other and beautiful letters, full of motherly love and anxiety. Not over their clothes nor their health, but their manners and morals. "Be good, serve God," is her principal theme. Evidently she took great com- fort in her first-born, who wrote to her often and kept her posted as to his daily life. She died in 1846. Both Dr. Cowles and his wife rest in Lake View cemetery.
The children of Dr. Edwin and Almira Foote Cowles:
Giles Hooker Cowles, b. 1819; died in Cleveland 1842; a young man of great promise and of fine per- sonality.
Helen Cowles, b. 1821; m. 1st, Dr. Franklin L. Markham; m. 2nd, Buell Goodsel Wheeler of Rock- ford, Ill.
Samuel Cowles, b. 1823; m. Anna L.
Wooster, dau. of Calvin Wooster. Edwin Cowles, b. 1825; m. Eliza- beth, daughter of Hon. Morely Hutchinson of Cayuga, N. Y. Alfred Cowles, b. 1832; m. Sarah F. Hutchinson, sister and dau. of above.
Samuel Cowles, third child of Dr. Edwin Cowles, was a lawyer. He went to California in 1853 and became a very prominent judge of that state.
Alfred Cowles, the youngest child of the family, engaged in the print- ing business with his brother Edwin and Joseph Medill until 1855, when with Mr. Medill he bought the Chicago Tribune and for twenty-eight years was manager and principal proprietor of that noted metropolitan
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COWLES
journal. In the later years of his life he traveled much in his own coun- try and abroad. He was a man of strong character and genial hospital- ity. The family residence was at 1805 Michigan Ave., Chicago.
Edwin Cowles, his father's namesake and fourth child, may readily be conceded a Cleveland pioneer as he came to this town in 1832, a lad of eight years. He developed into a typical member of the Cowles family, with additional characteristics from the maternal side also in evidence. Of these stood out physical and mental courage, and vigorous expression at all times of independent thought.
Edwin Cowles was an ardent champion of the abolition movement when it was unpopular and often unsafe to be identified with it. He founded the Cleveland Leader in 1854 and for long years was its princi- pal proprietor, manager and editor. All through the dark days of the civil war the Cleveland Leader was unswervingly loyal to the Govern- ment, and stood staunchly by President Lincoln in all his efforts to bring the war to a close.
Mr. Cowles was absolutely without fear. An infantile disease had left him with two minor physical losses, one of which was defective hear- ing. In spite of this he walked alone every night of his active life from his office to his home between midnight and four o'clock A. M., regard- less of the expostulations of his personal friends and of his family. Other men were assaulted by cowardly enemies or knocked down and robbed by thugs, but the robust, vigorous, thoroughly self-reliant figure of Mr. Cowles seemed too doubtful a proposition for any assailant.
He was a very affectionate and indulgent father. Anything that affected one of his children adversely caused him keen mental distress. During the earlier years of their married life Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Cowles lived in a house adjoining that of Dr. Cowles on Prospect street. After- ward they resided on the south-west corner of Superior and Erie street. Not long before his death Mr. Cowles built an unusually large and costly home on Prospect street near Sterling.
He passed from this life in 1890. Mrs. Elizabeth Hutchinson Cowles outlived him twenty years and died in her childhood home in Cayuga, N. Y., where she spent much of her declining years.
Children of Edwin and Elizabeth Cowles:
Almira F. Cowles, b. 1850; m. Charles W. Chase.
Helen H. Cowles, b. 1851; m. George P. Pomeroy; she died in 1884.
Eugene H. Cowles, b. 1855; m. Al-
ice M. Hale; 2nd, Claire Luensch- loss.
Alfred H. Cowles, b. 1858.
Lewis H. Cowles, b. 1861; m. Sarah F. Hutchinson of Cayuga, N. Y.
395
1832
COON
In the first decade of the last century, Mathew Coon, son of Jeremiah and Ruth Mosier Coon, of Dutch ancestry, and living in Half Moon, N. Y., married Albacinda Lyon, daughter of Holmes Lyon. They had a family of eleven children, some of whom were born in Ballston Spa, N. Y.
In 1832 the family came to Cleveland in the usual way, starting from Albany and riding on the Erie canal to Buffalo, then changing to a steamboat or vessel running from that port to this one.
Mathew Coon was then fifty-one and Mrs. Coon forty-four years of age. Evidently they found life rather strenuous at first in their efforts to provide for their large family. But in time everything worked out satisfactorily. Their children were unusually bright, ambitious young people, who meant to make the most of themselves and proceeded to do so irrespective of circumstances.
The eldest son became a hotel-keeper, and was landlord of the New England House for a time. Jeremiah learned the jeweler's trade of N. E. Crittenden, and for many years had a jewelry-store of his own on Superior street. John also learned that trade, but left it for the law. Henry was a civil war veteran, and subsequently was in the service of the government. He died in the Dayton Soldiers' Home.
Mathew Coon and his wife rest in Erie street cemetery. He died in 1847 and Mrs. Coon survived him 20 years.
The children of Mathew and Albacinda Coon :
Holmes Coon, hotel-keeper.
Jane Coon.
Minerva Coon, b. 1811; m. Nathan- iel Ranney.
Harriet Coon, m. Morris Barnes.
Mary Coon, b. 1816 ; m. William Sco- field.
Jeremiah Coon, b. 1817; m. Olive Stockwell of Rochester, N. Y.
John Coon, b. 1822; m. Martha A. E. Howe.
Caroline Coon, b. 1822; d. 1884; unmarried.
Henry Coon, civil war veteran.
Elisabeth Coon, b. 1829; m. Will- iam Culver of Massillon, O.
John Coon, third son of Mathew and Albacinda Coon, was born in Ball- ston Spa, N. Y. When but fourteen years of age he began an apprentice- ship with N. E. Crittenden, the Cleveland jeweler. That he made good use of every moment of spare time is evidenced by the fact that within eleven years he had mastered his trade, prepared for college, and grad- uated from Yale in the class of 1847. A set of Shakespeare in seven vol- umes attest to his merit in one direction while at college. The books are inscribed :
"Presented to John Coon for excellency in composition.
NOAH PORTER."
He returned home to study law with Andrews and Foot, and in time to become a leading member of the bar. He was one of the original "ark- ites," perhaps the youngest member of that celebrated Cleveland club. While at college he made the acquaintance and won the affection of Miss
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1832
CLEVELAND
Martha Ann Elisabeth Howe, a sister of Henry Howe his roommate and chum, and after his business affairs admitted of such an important step, he returned east to Worcester, Mass., to claim his bride.
Among other incidents of his career John Coon was the private secre- tary of Thomas Ewing, Secretary of the Interior.
Children of John and Martha A. E. Coon:
George W. Coon, m. Martha A. Os- John Coon, Jr., m. Milly M. Holt. born of Corning, N. Y .; 2nd, Al-
ice L. Moody of Cincinnati.
1832
CLEVELAND
A year or two preceding that of 1832 two brothers, William and Aaron P. Cleveland, from Charlestown, South Carolina, came to town and built a small row of stores, reserving the use of one for themselves as a retail dry-goods store. They were the sons of George and Catey Caldwell Cleveland, of Guilford, Conn.
William had gone to New York, when a youth, to clerk in a mercantile house. In 1826 he joined his brother Aaron, who was engaged in cot- ton brokerage in Charlestown, and not long after that the young men came west to seek their fortunes in Cleveland. The sign over their store read "Cleveland Brothers." It will be noticed that the name contained but one A. Although kinsmen of Moses Cleaveland they never had spelled their name the same, and it is claimed by their descendants that it was due to their influence the town changed from Cleaveland to Cleveland. Not long after their arrival here the brothers were joined by a third and younger one, George Cleveland.
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