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AMES
three years after this second marriage, leaving his affairs in such a condition that no apparent income for the support of his family was afforded. This seemed a matter of great surprise to his neighbors and relatives, as he was a good business man and very energetic, one who seemed to have ample resources for the comfortable maintenance of himself and family. He dealt in real estate considerably, and in the last two years of his life was associated with Leonard Case in acquiring town lots and farming property. His descendants claim that the lot upon which now stands the city hall buildings was once owned by him in conjunction with Mr. Case. The farm had been mortgaged for money to pay on recent investments. In the loss of husband and father the family, therefore, were made homeless. The children were scattered among relatives and friends.
Mrs. Baldwin returned to Grafton and lived with her sister, Mrs. Jonathan Rawson, taking with her the twins who remained there until the marriage of their oldest sister a few years later, when they made their home with her.
The children of Samuel Smith and Sarah Camp Baldwin:
Philander Baldwin, b. 1798; died young. Removed to Roscoe, Ill.
Lucretia Baldwin, b. 1805; m. Reuben I. Henry. They lived in Aurora, O.
Caroline Baldwin, b. 1806; m. Victor Cannon of Bedford.
Julia Baldwi n, m. Thomas North. They moved to Wisconsin.
Sarah Baldwin, m. Almeron Dodge.
Henry Baldwin, m. Amanda Risley
Edward Baldwin, m. Fanny Thompson. Aunt of the late Horace Benton
Emily Baldwin, twin of Edward, m. Francis Moran
Lucretia lived with her uncle, Harry Baldwin, for some years after her mother's death. She taught district school in Brandywine, riding a horse to and from her work. It is told of her that she was generous and kind-hearted, and even in those days of heroic women was no ordinary person.
Caroline was six years old when she went to live with an aunt in Aurora. She led a long, exemplary life, an interesting woman with keen mental and spiritual insight. Francis Moran, who married Emily, was a talented and brilliant young school-teacher.
1808
AMES
Ashley Ames, an early settler of Cleveland and Newburgh, came west from Virgennes, Vt., where he was born in 1795. His father, David Ames, was a native of Hollins, N. H., and a Revolutionary soldier, who was superintendent of the Springfield, Mass., armory, and the inventor of the Ames rifle. The family was also represented in the French and Indian War.
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Ashley Ames was apprenticed to a stone-mason in his home town. The man was rough and abusive in his cups, and the boy, then only 12 or 13 years of age, ran away from him. He had heard tales of the New Connecticut, and he started for it on foot, walking all the way from Vermont to Buffalo, N. Y. Here he fell in with some Indians who were going up the lakes on a raft, and they allowed him to accompany them as far as Cleveland.
The whole story of this adventure would be an interesting one, how the child secured food on the way, what he found awaiting him here, who gave him employment, and what the work was !
However, four or five years later, he is driving a team for some one. The War of 1812 is on, and one day a detachment of troops marching through town on some expedition west of it, seized the team for transportation purposes and compelled the lad to drive it. He was with the army about three weeks. His brother, Stephan Ames, who had previously joined him in Cleveland, enlisted as a gunner, and years afterward was awarded 200 acres of Michigan land by the Government, which he at once sold for $100.
Ashley Ames bought a farm on Miles Avenue in Newburgh, and in 1826, married Sarah
Willard, daughter of the late John O. Willard. Miss Willard's home had been on Euclid Road,
corner of what is now E. 55th Street, where her widowed mother resided on a hundred-acre
farm. The bride was but 16 years old on her wedding day. She was a gifted young woman
who, if she had been born into a later generation, probably would have developed into a
successful artist, for she had a rare sense of form and color, and often astonished her
neighbors by effects produced in her household furnishing, through simple decoration and
artistic arrangement. In connection with this gift an interesting story is related of her.
A room of her home needed papering, and in lacking the material to do it in conventional style she accomplished the job by using odds and ends of many kinds and colors of wall-paper donated by friends who had no use for them. They were all arranged so harmoniously that the effect instead of being incongruous, was like a mosaic, and most attractive.
Mrs. Ames was an accomplished needle-worker. She embroidered beautifully, and the bands of her husband's shirt-fronts were adorned with fancy stitching, and all of his underwear bore his embroidered initial. She spun silk thread from cocoons, and knitted a large silk shawl in which was a pattern of birds and flowers. Her family of ten children did not prevent her from adopting two motherless little ones, whom she raised as her own.
Miss May Ames, of 9315 Miles Avenue, an artist and a teacher in the Cleveland School of Art, inherits her talent from this gifted grandmother.
In early years of his life, Ashley Ames could have become owner of a valuable piece of property that, had he availed himself of the opportunity offered, would have made his grandchildren of today able to count their fortune in seven figures.
Jonathan Johnson, an early pioneer lake-captain, owned 60 acres on Euclid Road. It was located between what is now East 34th and East 40th Street, and ran back to Central Avenue. It was covered with scrub
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oaks and brush. Capt. Johnson was not farmer and wished to dispose of the property.
As Ashley Ames had once done him a great service, the Captain wanted to give him the first chance of buying it. Mr. Ames owned a gentle horse that Capt. Johnson coveted. So, he offered to trade the 60 acres for the horse and a promissory note for $400, payable in 15 years without interest.
Mr. Ames was afraid to accept of the offer, as the land was uncleared, and the soil poor.
Mr. Ames was somewhat eccentric, which took the form of reticence. He never answered a question promptly. Usually he showed no signs of having heard it. Then hours and perhaps days afterward he would reply casually as if at that moment addressed on the subject. He had a horror of debt, and after his death the liabilities against his estate were 35 cents for medicine used in the last days of his illness.
The children of Ashley and Sarah Williard Ames:
Henry C. Ames, b. 1827; m. Fanny Bell..
Charles Williard Ames, b. 1829; m. Mary Fitzhugh.
Harrison W. Ames, b. 1831; m.Charlotte Goodhue.
Edwin Ames, b. 1833; m. Caroline. Briggs.
Ashley Ames, Jr.; b. 1835; m. Jane Perkins.
John O. Ames, b. 1837; m. Helen Lewis
Freeland H. Ames, b. 1845; died 1888.
Sarah Williard Ames, b. 1848; m.1st, Robert Carren ; 2nd, Horace Beakle
Adelia A. Ames, b. 1851; m. George Lewis
Anson W. Ames, b. 1854; living in Los Angeles, Cal.
It will be observed that seven sons were born in this family before there were any daughters. Mrs. Ames, therefore, initiated the younger sons in the mysteries of housekeeping, teaching them all the things in which only girls were supposed to be proficient, cooking, knitting, dishwashing, etc. They never regretted this in after life. On the contrary they were proud of their unusual accomplishments.
1811
AMES
Stephen Ames, son of David Ames of Hollis, N. H., and elder brother of Ashley Ames, came to Cleveland some time between 1808 and 1811. He was a gunner in the War of 1812, and secured 200 acres of Government land for his military services at that time.
He married Demis Ferris of Monckton, Vt., and settled on a farm on Broadway Avenue, opposite the old Cataract House. He was a wagon
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maker by trade as well as a farmer. His family of three sons and seven daughters mostly left Newburgh for pioneer homes in Western states.
Children of Stephan and Demis Ames:
Abigail Ames, m. Harry Tuttle of. Independence, O..
Martha Ames, m. Chester Beakle.,
Alzina Ames, unmarried.
Carlinda Ames, m. Mr. Warden.
David Ames.
Wesley Ames, married in Nebraska
Easton Ames, lives in Iowa
Orinda Ames, m. Charles Thomas of Warrensville, Ohio.
Priscilla Ames, m. Jerry Craile
Urania Ames, m. David Trevitt.
Stephan Ames died aged 86 years. He was at the time residing with his daughter, Mrs. Orinda Ames Thomas.
1808
TAYLOR
Philo Taylor came from New England to Rocky River about 1808, and bought or built a log-tavern on the eastern bank near the mouth of the stream. Here, in 1809, his eighth child was born, Egbert Taylor, said to have been the first one born in the township. The exact year that Mr. Taylor sold out and removed to town has not been recorded by his descendants. But we find him in August, 1816, helping to organize the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie, the pioneer bank of the city. He was a Cleveland merchant at that time, having a store for general merchandise on the north side of Superior, below Bank Street. He is said to have been landlord of a tavern, also, in the same spot.
In 1823, his wife, Zerviah Davenport Taylor, whom he married in 1793, and who was the mother of his eleven children, died, and was buried in Erie Street Cemetery. Shortly afterward, Mr. Taylor removed to Newburgh, but continued to be identified with the business interests of this place. Three years after the death of his wife, Zerviah, he married Miss Rhoda Baldwin of Newburgh. Philo Taylor died in 1854, aged 81 years.
The children of Philo and Zerviah Davenport Taylor filled valuable and important positions in the commercial and social life of Cleveland and Newburgh. Nothing personal has been preserved of their mother, but judging by her daughters, who were noted for their many lovely characteristics, she must have been a most estimable woman.
The children were
Sophia Taylor, b. 1795; m. Gaius Burke..
Elisha Taylor, b. 1798; m. 1st, Delia Foot of Dover; 2nd, in 1825, Elisabeth Drury
Wealthy Taylor, m. James McKay.
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Amanda Taylor, b. 1800; m. James. Hyndman.
Prudency Taylor, b. 1802; m. Brazilla Burke.
John D. Taylor, b. 1805; m. Laura Foot of Dover.
Lovica Taylor, b. 1807; m. Morris Hartwell.
Egbert Taylor, b. 1809
Charles Taylor, b. 1811; m. Elisabeth Shepard
Harvey Taylor, b. 1813; m. Martha _______
Julia Ann Taylor, b. 1816; m. James Hartwell
1809
HICKOX
June 15, 1809, was an eventful day for the Hickox family of old Waterbury, Conn., for Eri and Abram, two sons of Capt. Abraham and Jemima Foote Hickox, started early that morning with their families for Ohio.
Everything in the way of livestock and household furniture that could not be taken on the long journey was sold or given away. Each family had a wagon packed, and filled to over-flowing with bedding, wearing apparel, cooking-utensils, dishes, and enough provisions to last through the first few weeks of travel, and the wagon was drawn by a yoke of oxen.
Abram and his wife Tamar Tuttle Hickox were both middle-aged when they abandoned their New England home, and started on this distant venture. They had five daughters, Ruth, Oriana, Lucy, Lucinda, and Dorcas. Ruth, the oldest, was 24 years old, and the youngest girl was about 15.
The father walked all the way to Cleveland, while the mother and daughters took turns, two at a time, in riding precariously on the wagon. It was well into August before their destination was reached, and, doubtless, the road between Buffalo and Cleveland seemed the longest part of the journey.
Abram Hickox was a blacksmith, and upon his arrival found awaiting him all the work he could do, as Nathaniel Doan, the first blacksmith, had been driven out of the hamlet by malaria, and was then living on the corner of Euclid Avenue and Fairmount Street.
Eri Hickox was a farmer, and when the party reached Cleveland, he was far from satisfied with the looks of its sandy soil, and decided to continue the journey for a few days longer, and search for a farm better suited to his purposes.
This he found ten miles away in Middleburg Township, Berea. The families were thus separated for the first time, but the cousins interchanged visits frequently, and two of Abram's daughters spent their last days with their Middleburg relatives and were buried there.
The first shop and dwelling of Abram Hickox was near the corner of Superior and Bank streets, the present site of the Rockefeller Building.
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HICKOX
Either it was moved across the street near Seneca Street, or he built there a few years later, and before his death the smithy stood on Euclid Avenue, and his residence directly back of it, No. 27 Prospect Street. A narrow lane connecting the two streets at this point bore his name until recently.
Mr. Hickox was a character, and his quaint sayings and unconventional doings furnished amusement for Cleveland as a hamlet, a village, and a city. He was familiarly known as "Uncle Abram."
The sign over his smithy read:
"UNCLE ABRAM WORKS HERE."
While celebrating the day, one Fourth of July, he met with a serious accident, which laid him up for many weeks. Upon his recovery he changed his sign to read
"UNCLE ABRAM STILL WORKS HERE."
He was a cousin of Hon. John A. Foote, the noted Cleveland lawyer, his mother and the latter's grandfather being sister and brother. Mr. Hickox was a member of Trinity Church and its sexton from its organization until his death. In that office he seemed "The Head and Front of Episcopacy."
There was a time when the Stone Church and Trinity, both homeless, used the only schoolhouse together. The former had services morning and afternoon ; Trinity in the evening.
One Christmas, falling on the Sabbath, Uncle Abram planned to decorate the edifice with evergreens, candles, etc., for the evening service. It could be done only in the short interval that succeeded the close of the second meeting of the Presbyterians. It is said that in his eagerness to begin the work, he begged Parson Bradstreet not to preach one of his "damned, long-winded sermons, this time."
He was tall, thin, and, within the memory of all, wore large bowed spectacles over a rather sharp-pointed nose. His portrait is preserved in the Western Reserve Historical Building. He was the village sexton, and laid away in the first cemetery nearly all who were interred there.
He was 80 years old at the time of his own death, having lived here 36 years, and his grave is in Erie Street Cemetery, near the front entrance.
Of Tamar Tuttle Hickox, his wife, naught can be learned save that she was a good woman, and the mother of his five daughters. As these daughters were exceptionally fine women, and universally respected, it will be inferred that not all of their good traits were inherited from their father.
Mrs. Hickox lived but six years after her arrival in Cleveland. A year after her death, 1816, Uncle Abram married Phebe Stone, widow of Elisha Dibble. She died in 1839, aged 70 years, and was buried in Erie Street Cemetery by the side of her first husband. Abram Hickox then went to live with his daughter, Lucinda Caldwell, and died six years later.
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The children of Abram and Tamar Tuttle Hickox:
Ruth Hickox, b. 1785; m. Chrystopher Gun, in 1810. See Gun sketch.
Oriana Hickox, b. 1788, m. Luther Scott; 2nd, Solomon Woodford.
Lucinda Hickox, m. Nathan Cummings ; 2nd, Asel Caldwell
Dorcas Hickox, m. Eliezar Waterman. See Waterman sketch.
Lucy Hickox, died at an advanced age unmarried.
Oriana Hickox, or "Aunt Ora," as she was best known, had two sons by her first marriage, Harvey and Abram Scott.
Lucinda Hickox was twice a widow while yet a young woman. She had a son, Samuel Cummings, who died in his teens, and by her second husband, Mr. Caldwell, a lovely daughter and two sons. She kept a private school for many years on Superior Street, and helped much in forming the character of the young people in those early days. She was remembered by gray-haired women of a past generation as one whom every one loved and admired. She was a consistent Christian, and a sweet singer, who used her gift in the services of her church, or for the pleasure of friends and social events. Her daughter, Mary Caldwell, was very like her mother. She married John Bailey, brother of Robert Bailey, and removed to Sandusky, where she died, leaving two young sons and a daughter, Mary Bailey Henderson, now residing with her relative, Mrs. W. A. Price, in this city.
1809
RUPLE
The following is incomplete data regarding an old and well-known family of East Cleveland.
Samuel Ruple of Pennsylvania, married Rebecca Croft. Came to East Cleveland about 1809.
MARRIAGES
Emma Ruple, m. Sargeant Currier, Jr..
Katherine Ruple, m. Austin Badger.
John Ruple, m. Pamelia Thomas..
Polly Ruple, m. Benjamin Houghton.
Louise Ruple, m. Richard McIlrath.
Tryphena Ruple, m. Charles Humphrey
In 1819 Cyrus Ruple m. Tryphena Beers
In 1818 Seth Ruple m. Jane Beers
Died, Abigail Ruple, 1840.
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John Johnson of Warren, Herkimer Co., N. Y., furnished to the hamlet of Cleveland five of his six children, all of the five arriving immediately following the War of 1812. His family consisted of
John Johnson, who settled in Buffalo, N. Y., and had several sons, all railroad engineers..
Levi Johnson, b. 1788; m. Margaret Montier..
Jonathan Johnson, b. 1788; m. Minerva Allen.
Benjamin Johnson, unmarried
Polly Johnson, m. Thomas Rummage
Phebe Johnson, m. Wm. White ; 2nd, John Post
Three children of another family of the same name, but not related to the above except through marriage, came to Cleveland about the same time. They were:
Capt. William Johnson, m. Grace O'Kane..
Capt. Harpin Johnson, m. Lucretia Allen.
Mary Johnson, m. Philip B. Andrews. She died young
1809
JOHNSON
Levi Johnson, so far as can be ascertained, was the first of the family on the ground, in 1809, and doubtless he was responsible for the arrival, within a few years, of his brothers and sisters. He had learned the carpenter's trade of an uncle, with whom he had worked for a time, and one account of his first journey west states that he made it with this relative, and that they came in the winter season, driving all the way with a horse and sleigh. Another version of the same story names his companion, Mr. Remington, who may have been the uncle in question.
An early family of Remingtons are buried in Erie Street Cemetery, who may have been relatives or possibly descendants of the above.
Levi Johnson found employment at his trade almost immediately through Judge John Walworth, who set him at work building a business office on Superior Street, where the American House now stands, and opposite the Rockefeller Building. It was the second frame-structure erected in the hamlet. The first one, the Carter house, built by Joel Thorpe, was burned to the ground after completion. As was the custom of the day, Levi boarded with the family of the Walworths while at work on the building, about 40 days. It was used for several years as a United States revenue office, and a post-office. Young Johnson's business success seems to have been commensurate with his energy. His services were in demand for miles around Cleveland. We find him as early as 1810, in Huron County, erecting a saw and grist-mill. During the War
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JOHNSON
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of 1812, in company with his brother-in-law, Thomas Rummage, he fitted up a frail craft, loaded it with supplies, and, keeping close to the shore, worked his way to Detroit, Mich., where the northern division of the United States Army was then stationed, and sold his cargo at a large profit. This success led to other like ventures, and the sum of profits accrued furnished capital for future investments, which took the form of vessel-building. His first effort in this line must have caused long sustained interest and curiosity in the town, for he built it a mile or more from the lake or river, and on the property of his brother-in-law, Thomas Rummage. The spot is now covered by the Euclid Avenue Opera House, corner of Sheriff, now East 4th Street.
Although a very small craft, judged by modern standards, it must have loomed up to big proportions when viewed by the onlookers of that day. Doubtless no one but Levi Johnson was at all optimistic as to the result of this venture. One can imagine how the idle stood about and even the busy passers-by paused to exchange opinions and voice the question in every mind, How was it going to be possible to get the vessel to the river and down the steep bank into the water? But on the morning of the day of the launch, every farmer for miles around came driving his team of horses or yoke of oxen, the latter predominating, hitched them to the boat, and, to ! she moved down and into the river "as slick as grease." He continued vessel-building, though in more convenient locations, and then, with his customary shrewdness, exchanged his interests in them for real estate, and thus founded a fortune.
Levi Johnson's marriage was, in a degree, romantic, for he found his future wife, Miss Margaret Montier, in Huron County, where he was temporarily working on a grist-mill. She was living with a Canadian French family, whether related to them or not has never been stated. But, as she was of French parentage herself, probably they were relations or former neighbors. She was born in Lancaster, Pa. Upon his return to Cleveland, the Walworths became interested in his love affair, and they sent for her and took her into their own home, and she was married there some months later, in 1811. Mr. Johnson was then 25 years old, the bride 19 years.
The first home of the Johnsons was a small, unpretentious framehouse, now covered by the west end of the Rockefeller Building. Here they lived many years, then removed to a fine stone residence that Mr. Johnson had erected, south-east corner of Water, now West 9th Street, and Lake Avenue.
Water Street was then lined with attractive homes, mostly built by men who became residents of the city after 1840. The Gordon mansion, the Walton home, Uncle Sam's solid residence for his Cleveland lighthouse keeper, and other pretentious structures gave the west side of the street much solidity and dignity. Water Street had at least two village taverns, standing on its east side, from the earliest days ; but business, until along in the '60s, was confined within a short block north of Superior Street. In after years, a second grading of Water and Bank streets left many residences propped on stilts, until an additional half-story or more could be built under them, and this led to the removal of many old families out to Prospect or Woodland Avenue localities.
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No more widely known man than Levi Johnson ever lived in Cleveland's infancy, but his wife took no part in public or social life. She was extremely domestic and confined all her interests to her own household.
The children of Levi and Margaret Montier Johnson:
Harriet Johnson, m. Alexander Sackett.
Capt. Periander Johnson, m. Harriet Butterfield.
Philander L. Johnson, b. 1823; m. Sarah M. Clark, daughter of Michail and Sarah Clark. She was born in Ireland, but lived in London,. Eng. Her sister----- married-------- Montpelier.
Children of Philander L. and Sarah Johnson:
Margaret Johnson, (twin) gym. Larimer Porter-
Mary Johnson, (twin)..
Harriet Johnson.
Levi A. Johnson.
Clara Johnson.
1809
JOHNSON
The Cleveland Herald of February 24, 1821, contained the following announcement
"Married in this village, on Saturday evening last, by Josiah Barber, Esq., Capt. Jonathan Johnson to Miss Minerva Allen."
The bride was one of three pretty sisters, daughters of Holden Allen, living in Black Rock, now a suburb of Buffalo, N. Y. He settled there before the War of 1812. The sisters were Lucretia, Minerva, and Sybel, all of whom married Cleveland men. Lucretia, the wife of Capt. Harpin Johnson of the other family of lake captains, had lived in Cleveland some time when her younger unmarried sister made her a visit, and two young and eligible Clevelanders saw that Black Rock should know them no more.
Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Johnson first lived on Euclid Avenue, near the present Opera House. He commanded a small vessel called "The Mercator," and late in the-fall of 1822 he arrived at Cleveland and anchored outside near the mouth of the river, while a storm was raging, the wind blowing fiercely and the waves rolling high.
Two other vessels were also anchored near by, the "Prudence" and the "Good Intent." There was no harbor in those days, as the river was too shallow to allow of the entrance of laden boats. They had to be loaded and unloaded by flat-bottomed lighters. The storm grew worse, and the "Prudence," true to her name, fled to seek shelter at the Islands, and soon the "Cood Intent" followed her example. But Capt. Johnson, either through his faith in his staunch little craft, or trust in her anchor,
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remained. His young wife, having learned his perilous situation, could neither rest nor sleep, and about midnight went all alone from her home on Euclid Avenue to the shore of the lake, and stood for hours watching the lights on the boat rise and sink out of sight in the water. Sometimes they would disappear for such a length of time that her agony of suspense would culminate in a certainty that the vessel had swamped and her husband had gone down with it. Her pretty fur cap was torn from her head by the wind,' and went sailing away, but in her anxiety she failed to notice the beating of the rain upon her head.
But as morning broke, the "Mercator" was still riding her anchor, and Mrs. Johnson returned home, hoping for the best. It was not the only time for her and other sailors' wives, of whom the village had many, to pace the lake bank, praying for the safety of loved ones tossing upon the waves outside.
The first child born to the couple was named Alexander M. Johnson.
It would have added immeasurably to the interest and value of this work had the writer been enabled to secure data and detail of other families from some surviving member of it, so intelligent and so willing to promote this undertaking as this first-born child of Jonathan and Minerva Johnson. Not only has he furnished material concerning his own father and family connections, but given clues concerning several other very early pioneers, that led to successful research.
The second time that the Johnsons became parents, twins arrived in the household. The proud father, upon his next return-trip from Buffalo, brought with him, on his vessel, a willow baby-carriage, the first one, it is claimed, seen upon the streets of Cleveland. It was designed for two children, with a canopy at each end. Mrs. Johnson trimmed it with yellow cloth, and the pretty baby-carriage with its twin occupants created much curiosity and interest.
The young couple were quite musical. He played the snare-drum, and, it is claimed, was the first drum-major elected by the local militia. She could play four instruments, the flute, fife, flageolet, and accordion. The last one, while a ridiculous squawking affair in the hands of an amateur, is capable of most musical notes if handled correctly, and in those days, when pianos, parlor-organs, and even the melodion, with its absurd limitations, were unknown, the accordion was much prized, and often was a successful accompaniment for the voice.
Mrs. Johnson was a beautiful singer, and for many years was a member of the Old Stone Church choir, and Mrs. T. P. Handy, who also possessed a fine voice, and herself were ever in demand for all social affairs, adding much to the simple pleasures of the day. Mrs. Johnson with her accordion, and Mrs. Handy were once the chief entertainers at a large tea-party given by Mrs. Peter Weddell in her home on the corner of Superior and Bank streets.
Alexander Johnson, then a very small boy, recalls playing with Horace Weddell on the floor of an adjoining room, and listening to the music in the parlor. His mother was also a fine dancer, and daintily holding up her skirts, taught her son, by example, the popular jigs of the day.
One other accomplishment proved most valuable to her in a financial
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way. She was an expert with the needle, and when the famous old steamboat "Columbus" was launched, she made its flag and received for the work $5, an amount equal to $15 of the present day.
The children of Jonathan and Minerva Johnson:
Alexander M. Johnson, b. 1822; m. Sarah E. Child of Barry, N. Y..
*Henry James Johnson, m. AnnaCampbell of Scotland..
*Helen Jane Johnson, m. J. Bazena of France
Henrietta Johnson, m. Charles Holsey; lived in Indiana
JOHNSON
Benjamin Johnson, or "Benhu," as he was called, the younger brother of Levi and Jonathan Johnson, served in the navy during the War of 1812, thereby losing a leg. He never married, and he lived with his widowed sister, Mrs. Phebe White, in her humble little home on Euclid Avenue, near Bond Street.
His misfortune and consequent poverty had no depressing effect on his jovial nature. His only capital was an old white horse and a wagon, and with these he picked up such odd jobs as the town people were able to offer.
Especially was he in demand on or before "washday." For several years there were but few, if any, private wells, and the only supply of rain-water was caught in shallow, wooden troughs. Therefore water had to be hauled from the river or from nearby springs. There were three of the latter that were most available. One under the bank near the foot of Superior Street, another upon the site of the present Opera House, and a third, and abundant, just north of the Public Square, and opposite the present post-office.
To this spot housewives would resort, bringing their soiled clothes, and, using a big iron kettle for heating purposes, do their washing and spread it out to dry on the grass of the vacant field upon which the spring stood, meanwhile keeping watchful eyes on their little ones playing about.
Mrs. George Merwin gives a pretty picture of such a scene in "recollections," furnished by her in a meeting of the Early Settlers' Association ; herself and her little companions playing with dolls and broken dishes in her childhood days.
But often it was inconvenient or impossible to wash at the spring, and then Benhu and his white horse would be kept busy indeed. He used to sing rollicking sailor songs, as he drove slowly along, which announced from afar his comings and his goings.
Phebe White, his sister, had two children, Julian and Loretta White. She married a second time, Mr. John Post of Cleveland.
*Twins.
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1809
WALLACE
In 1809 Amos Spafford sold his tavern at the foot of Superior Street to George Wallace. The latter is said to have previously lived in or near Boston, Mass., and to have been a Cleveland correspondent of a Boston newspaper for many years, or while he lived here, 1809-1820. At the end of seven years, he sold out to Noble H. Merwin. Meanwhile, he had built another tavern on the other side of the street, about halfway between Seneca and Bank streets, now West 3rd and West 6th, which he named the "Commercial House," and occupied it for four years. It was a two-story frame-building, with a porch its whole width, and with wide steps leading up to it. This second tavern Mr. Wallace sold to Michael Spangler, and then, with his family, removed to Northfield, Summit Co., Ohio.
The little hamlet of Brandywine in that township rivalled the village of Cleveland, at that time, and Mr. Wallace and his brother, Robert Wallace, established a store, grist and saw-mill, also a woolen factory, all in operation at once.
Mrs. Wallace, Harriet Menough, was born in Pennsylvania. It is said that her marriage was the first one celebrated in Ohio. She was of a delicate organization, but was a woman of much executive ability, and a faithful wife and mother. She was living in town at the time of Hull's Surrender. Her mother, Mrs. Isabella Waugh Menough, was living with her. They were hourly expecting an attack by the British and Indians, and while many were fleeing to a place of safety, she courageously remained with her horse saddled in the stable, saying that she might be needed. True enough ! The house was soon filled with sick and wounded soldiers of our own army who had been exchanged. Many of them, long years afterward, acknowledged her kindness to them, and thanked her warmly.
Mr. Wallace seems to have been a public-spirited man. He took part in the organization of the village in 1814, and was one of its first assessors. With others he attempted to improve the mouth of the river, so that lake-craft could enter it, and he was a trustee of Cleveland's first bank.
Mr. and Mrs. Wallace had two sons, and a daughter, Emmeline, who married Thomas Wilson, Portage County's first sheriff.
In 1840, newspapers published Mrs. Wilson's death at the age of 26 years, showing that she was born in Cleveland in 1814.
1810
Population, 57.
The first session of court in Cleveland held June 5, in the store erected by Elisha and Harvey Murray. Benjamin Ruggles presiding judge.
Cuyahoga County organized. Nathan Sperry, Sr., Augustus Gilbert and Timothy Doan associate judges.
COUNTY OFFICES
Recorder, John Walworth.
Town Postmaster, John Walworth.
Treasurer, Asa Dille.
Town Collector of Customs, John Walworth
Sheriff, Samuel Smith Baldwin..
Surveyor, Samuel Smith Baldwin.
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WOODWORTH
The Luther Woodworth family came to East Cleveland from New Jersey. Mrs. Woodworth's maiden name was Clarissa Murray. As nearly correct as can be ascertained the children were as follows
Theron Woodworth, m. 1st, Cordelia Joclyn of Kirtland, O., who died
in Kirtland; m. 2nd, Rebecca Graham of Perry, O..
Julia Woodworth, m. William Henry
Eveline Woodworth, m. 1st, Levi Richmond ; d. in Randolph, O.
Clarissa Woodworth, m. David Terrill ; removed to Michigan
Caroline Woodworth, m. Jackson Converse. Perkins; removed to Wisconsin.
1810
WILLIAMSON
Samuel Williamson, 28 years old, living in Cumberland County, Pa., went to Crawford. County, that state, in 1800, the first year of the last century. There he met Miss Isabella McQueen, 18 years of age, and not long afterward they joined their mutual fortunes in matrimony.
Ten years later found them with their children, and accompanied by Mathew Williamson, a bachelor brother, traveling slowly in a northwesterly route in the wilderness to the hamlet of Cleveland, which they reached in May. Their arrival brought the population of the same up to 57, men, women and children.
They made their home on Water, now West 9th Street. It was on the west side of it, original lot 201, adjoining a narrow, crooked lane that led to the river. This lane eventually became the western end of St. Clair Street. The brothers built a tannery near the foot of this, and soon had all the business they could attend to. For, in addition to the pelts of domestic animals brought to them to convert into leather, there were quantities of skins of wild animals brought in by Indians and trappers to be cured for the market.
When the family settled on Water Street, that thoroughfare was as yet but partially defined. An ox-team bringing a supply of wood to the house would have to turn first to one side of the narrow road and then to the other, to avoid the big stumps yet standing there, and even this pretense of a passage was blocked just beyond the Williamsons by trees and underbrush.
When Mrs. Williamson looked across the way from her front door, she saw a rail-fence extending from Superior Street nearly to the lake bank. The grounds thus enclosed were pretty well cleared ; the northern end, Lorenzo Carter's 12-acre farm, much more so, and usually covered with growing grain, and on both sides of the street elder-bushes had sprung up after the trees were felled, making a thick underbrush. In short, it looked like any newly laid out country-road through the woods today, nothing more nor less. Behind the house the grounds were level for about 200 feet, then sloped unevenly to the river. This bank was
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covered in spring and summer with beautiful wild flowers, some of them now extinct in Northern Ohio. Wild grapes and bittersweet vines ran riot, filling the air with fragrance and color, and down near the water's edge grew fleur-de-lis and sweet-flag. The family lived on this spot many years, then removed to Euclid Avenue, where the Williamson Building now stands.
Samuel Williamson belonged to the first village official staff, one of the three trustees chosen in 1815, David Long and Nathan Perry, Jr., being the other two. He was associate judge of the Common Pleas Court in 1823.
In the Cleveland Herald of 1834 appeared this death-notice : "After a protracted illness, Hon. Samuel Williamson, much esteemed for his integrity and moral worth. His funeral was attended by a large concourse of citizens."
In 1821, the year following the organization of the Old Stone Church, Mrs. Isabella Williamson became a member of it. After the marriage of her son, she continued to live in a small frame-cottage east of his new residence. Her unmarried daughter shared her home. Nothing can be learned of her, and yet, how much ! except the testimony of a now aged resident who recalls her as a beloved friend of her mother's and a "dear old lady." She lived 25 years after her husband's death, her own taking place in 1859, at the age of 77.
Matthew Williamson, the brother, was one of the patriotic company of militia, who organized in the War of 1812 to protect the hamlet from invasion, to march out to attack an advancing enemy, or to respond to calls for other military services.
There were seven children in the Williamson family. They attended school in an old building back of the present site of the American House, and in the old Academy on St. Clair Street, that structure so tenacious in the memory of the youth of that day, and 20 years of other days to come, each and all loving to dwell upon, and talk over their experiences as pupils in the old Academy. Afterwards the Williamson children were given other and higher education than the town afforded, whenever thought desirable for them ; the boys, especially, attending colleges in eastern states.
The children of Samuel and Isabella Williamson:
Mary Williamson, m. Martin Bowen Scott..
Samuel Williamson, m. Mary E. Tisdale.
Sarah Williamson, died aged 63 years
Samuel Williamson, Jr., was two years old when his parents came to Cleveland, and he lived here 74 years. Into that 74 years was crowded an experience that few Cleveland men could boast. He was one of the 57 inhabitants of the hamlet in 1810, and one of the population of 200,000 that the city of Cleveland claimed in 1884.
Between that time, Mr. Williamson had been a practising lawyer, a legislator, a county officer, and the president of the largest savings-bank in the city.
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BALDWIN
Of all the traits of character attributed to him, that which seems to count most now is that he was the kindest of men, the tenderest and most considerate of friends, that he carried into his private life all that he publicly professed.
In 1843 he married Miss Mary E. Tisdale of Utica, N. Y., an eastern town that furnished to Cleveland in those early days many beautiful brides, and some of its most valued sons.
The children of Samuel and Mary Tisdale Williamson:
Judge Samuel E. Williamson, m. Miss Mary P. Marsh of New Haven, Conn. ; 2nd, Miss Harriet W. Brown of East Windsor, Ct.
George T. Williamson
Rev. James D. Williamson, m. Miss Ely of Elyria, Ohio.
1810
BALDWIN
There were several families of Baldwin who came to Cleveland, Doan's Corners, and Newburgh at a very early day. It has been found extremely difficult to secure accurate data regarding Newburgh's earliest settlers. Records are not to be obtained. If any were kept, they are buried in the tons of records stored in the basements of court-house and city hall. As near as can be ascertained, Philemon Baldwin and his sons were among the first to arrive, before the year 1810. They settled on farms in Newburgh.
Philemon Baldwin, Sr., came from Yates Co., N. Y. He had been a pioneer of that county, and to him is accorded the honor of naming Penn Yan, N. Y.
There was much strife among the residents of the place concerning the naming of the newly settled town. Settlers from Pennsylvania wished it called one way, and New England settlers another. It was Philemon Baldwin who satisfied all parties by suggesting Penn for one party, and finishing with the first syllable of Yankee for the other. He must have been over 50 years old when he made his second venture in pioneer life. He is said to have been an interesting man, shrewd, witty, and full of fun, a genial companion, more ready to see the bright side of life's shield than its darker one. He died in 1830.
There was a large family of children, the oldest members of which, possibly, did not accompany their parents to Newburgh. They were:
Asa, Philemon, Amos, George, Mary, Sally, Elisabeth, Esther, Caleb, and Runa Baldwin.
Philemon Baldwin, Jr., was born 1785, married Polly Rose of Norris Landing, Conn. They moved first to Niagara Falls, and then to Newburgh in 1810. The only personal record of this family is found in an advertisement in the Herald for the return or apprehension of a bound boy.
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LONG
The children of Philemon, Jr., and Polly Baldwin:
Calista Baldwin, b. 1810; m. H. A Graves in 1830, of East Cleveland. They both died in Bedford, Ohio.
Starr Baldwin, b. 1812; died in San Francisco, Cal.
Henry Baldwin, b. 1814
Martha Baldwin, b. 1822.
Lucette Baldwin, b. 1830.
Philemon Baldwin, Jr., died in Newburgh, 1831.
Caleb and Runa Baldwin, sons of Philemon, Sr., married the daughters of Judge James Kingsbury, the Cleveland pioneer. It was a double wedding on December 7, 1814, and it is reported that the affair was a big social success, participated in by nearly all Newburgh, and Cleveland as well, and we can imagine that the jovial father of the bridegrooms did his full share in making everybody feel happy on the occasion. Also, that certain young neighbors and friends of the couples made right merry, and that Samuel Jones and his violin beguiled their footsteps.
The residence of Judge Kingsbury was so much larger than the usual pioneer home that there was no necessity for setting the furniture of the house outside of it during the party, as was the custom in the log-cabins of that day in order to make room for the company. Horace Perry, Cleveland's justice of the peace, performed the ceremonies.
The children of Caleb and Nancy Kingsbury Baldwin:
Nancy Baldwin, m. ------Gardner..
Caleb Baldwin, went to Missouri and was in the government service.
James Baldwin
Waldo Baldwin.
Ellen Baldwin.
This branch of the Philemon Baldwin, Sr., family joined the Mormons in Utah.
The children of Runa and Calista Kingsbury Baldwin:
Albert and Sherman Baldwin, physicians of Toledo, Ohio.
Almon Baldwin, m. in Paulding Co., Ohio.
Sophrona Baldwin, m. Preston Burroughs. Lived in Chicago, Ill.
Martha Baldwin, m. Charles Lougee. Lived in Oakland, Cal.
1810
LONG
The year 1810 was epoch-making in the history of Cleveland through the arrival of Dr. David Long, the first resident physician of this locality. To be sure, he might have been considered rather young, 21 years, to be entrusted with surgical cases, for instance. But a community that for 14 years had managed its broken bones unaided would not be apt to demand
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age and experience when a full-fledged doctor appeared unheralded upon the scene.
Moreover, the young man probably had absorbed more medical lore before he had even opened a text-book than many an older man possessed after years of study ; for he was in the third generation of a family of physicians, and his profession an inheritance as well as a choice. His grandfather, Dr. John Long, was a noted practitioner of Shelbourne, Mass., whose two sons, Dr. Long, Jr., and Dr. David Long, followed closely in his footsteps, while their sister, Diana Long, kept the feminine side of the family in line by marrying Dr. Robert Severance.
Dr. David Long, Sr., and his wife, Margaret Harkness Long, removed to Hebron, N. Y., and there, in 1789, was born their son, David, Jr., who was destined to make the family name a household word and of historical value in this western city.
The young doctor did not expect that the first years of his practice would be adequate for his support, especially if he married, which he proceeded to do within a twelvemonth. Indeed, in scanning the pages of the earliest newspaper, his advertisements suggest merely a commercial life. He offers salt and other commodities for sale. He has a dry goods store. In connection with Levi Johnson, he builds a warehouse on the river.
He found time for civic duties, assisting in the promotion of the little hamlet to the dignity of a village, and, as county commissioner, his vote saved to Cleveland the county-seat and prevented its threatened removal to Newburgh.
In the cholera epidemics he served on the board of health, and was one of that quartet of medical heroes, who, with unsinking courage, fought the dread disease unarmed with adequate knowledge concerning its cause or its cure.
Dr. Long was loyal to his inheritance of religious belief. It was quite the fashion among the earliest local physicians to belittle the sacred Scriptures, and to claim that science had proven them false. At least three of Dr. Long's associates, preceding 1830, were openly free-thinkers, but when, in 1817, Old Trinity was organized, he was at hand to help the cause, even though raised in, and, at heart, of another orthodoxy. But in 1844 we find him an active member and the elder of the Second Presbyterian Church.
The professional life of Dr. Long for many years was strenuous and often perilous. When he arrived in Cleveland, there was no other physician west of Painesville or north of Hudson. Often he would be called out of his own bed to that of some patient whom it would take hours of weary horseback-riding to reach, through terrible roads or dense woods, and over swollen streams that his horse would have to swim. Frequently he would be caught in one of those electrical storms, the severity of which we have in these days no counterpart, and he would be drenched to the skin, with his destination yet many miles away.
In this era of exorbitant fees, it will be of interest to note that quite often the patient who was farthest away and most inaccessible was unable to pay the good doctor ; for money was scarce and pioneers very poor.
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LONG
So it will be readily seen why a physician of that day had to sell salt to eke out his income.
The toil, self-sacrifice, and generosity of the medical profession of the Western Reserve during the first half century of its history can never be adequately estimated. Some of those men kept no accounts, accepting whatever their patients could afford to pay, and that often, not in money, but in produce. The love and esteem of the people to whom they ministered seemed to them an adequate return for their services when nothing more material was at hand with which to be paid ; and the presence of a physician in the lonely little cabins of the- wilderness was that of counselor and friend, as well as medical adviser and healer.
The domestic life of Dr. David Long was ideal. In 1811, he married Juliana Walworth, daughter of John and Juliana Morgan Walworth, the Cleveland pioneers of 1806. Mrs. Long was eminently fitted to be the wife of such a man as was Dr. Long. Broad-minded, public-spirited, and generous to a degree. All her social duties were marked by simplicity and sincerity. Her roof continuously sheltered some homeless one in need of her pity and care. No one was ever turned from her door unassisted by what they claimed, whether it was food or sympathy. She was especially kind to young strangers in town, and their loneliness was often lessened through evenings spent in her hospitable home.
Mrs. Ellen R. Miller of this city relates an incident connected with the War of 1812, and of Mrs. Long, which is very characteristic of the latter. Mrs. Miller's grandfather, Dr. Coleman of Ashtabula, enlisted as a surgeon in that conflict. He was taken very ill, and as he lay in the little hospital on Superior Street near the Public Square, grave doubts were felt as to his recovery.
A messenger about to carry a dispatch to Erie was requested to stop at Ashtabula on his way, and acquaint Mrs. Coleman of her husband's condition. She at once began preparing to come on to Cleveland, and induced the nearest neighbor of her own sex to accompany her.
The two women started on horseback, Mrs. Coleman guiding her own animal with one hand, while with the other she held her infant close to her breast. Night overtook them in the forest, far from any pioneer log house, and they encamped in the lonely wilderness, trembling every moment and sleepless with apprehension whenever the howling of wolves seemed to draw nearer.
Morning dawned at last, and they renewed the journey. Alighting at the door of the hospital, they were met by Mrs. Long, who was assisting in the care of the sick soldiers. She insisted upon taking them to her own home for food and rest, then said to Mrs. Coleman
"You are to make this your headquarters while you remain. Furthermore, leave your babe with me while you are at the bedside of your husband. I will care for it tenderly whenever you are absent."
Which she proceeded to do. Contrary to all previous conclusions, Dr. Coleman recovered and returned to his home in Ashtabula. Dr. and Mrs. Long often exchanged visits in after years with the Colemans, and their names and memory have been cherished and revered to this day by the descendants of the latter.
The Longs lived in the log-house back of the present site of the Ameri
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can House, and at one time in a small frame-house on Water Street. In the early '30s, Dr. Long built a substantial stone-house on Superior Street, south-west corner of Seneca, which he occupied for two years, then removed to his farm on Woodland Avenue, on the north side of which he erected a fine Colonial residence. This, with 171/2 acres of land surrounding it, he sold in 1845 to Erastus Gaylord, and built himself another fine home west of it, in which he died in 1859. Long Street, parallel to Superior, cut through Dr. Long's pasture, whence its name ; and Longwood Avenue, once a- beautiful thoroughfare, running north from Woodland, received its name in honor of the family.
The children of David and Juliana Walworth Long:
Mary H. Long, m. Solomon Lewis Severance.
Horace Long, d. 1845, aged 12 years
Solon Long, d. 1850.
1810
ALFRED KELLEY
Alfred Kelley, the second son of Thomas and Jemima Stow Kelley, and 21 years of age, rode into Cleveland on horseback, having traveled all the way from Oneida Co., N. Y. It was in 1810, the year Cuyahoga County was organized, and as a lawyer, he became its first prosecuting attorney.
From that day until he took up his residence elsewhere he was loyal to the town and city of his adoption, and in return Cleveland was ever proud of her gifted son. He was a handsome young man, and possessed a brilliant mind, an inheritance from his mother's family.
When the little hamlet became a village in 1815, Alfred Kelley was made its president, and at 25 years of age, barely old enough to acquire the position, he was sent to represent this district in the Ohio Legislature.
August, 1817, he married Mary Seymour Welles, daughter of Melancthon Woolsey and Abigail Buel Welles of Stamford, Conn. The young couple accompanied by the bride's sister, Sarah Welles, traveled from Lowville, N. Y., to Cleveland in a carriage. Mrs. Kelley's letters to her former home describing the wedding-journey were exceedingly interesting and graphic.
"The first day after leaving Buffalo we traveled but 19 miles over the most terrible roads you can possibly conceive of. I had no idea that roads could be so intolerable.
"We stayed that night in a log-cabin crowded with movers who spread their beds so thickly upon the floor that you could scarcely move without stepping on some one. Alfred drove the carriage, the next day, on the beach around the jutting rocks into the water where the waves dashed over the backs of the horses. In this way, had the lake been calm, we could
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have avoided the miles of Cataraugus woods which are a terror to all travelers in this country.
"Sarah and I walked four miles that day. We saw wagons stuck in the mud, children crying and many discouraged mothers.
"We reached here just a week from the day we left Buffalo. The village looked much pleasanter than I had dared to expect. I was received very affectionately by all the family, particularly by the old gentleman,"-Daniel Kelley, Sr., her father-in-law.
Much of the early prosperity of the town was due to Alfred Kelley's keenness of vision. Had he not been a resident-of the -place, identified with its interests and present in person to suggest and to guide at crucial moments of its history, Cleveland might have seriously blundered or neglected to embrace opportunities that gave her the impetus from which she never retrograded. There were better harbors, by far, on the lake than the Cuyahoga River afforded. Huron but 50 miles west had a wide, deep river, never closed by sand-bars, and had that town possessed an Alfred Kelley it would in this day have been the leading Ohio city on Lake Erie. It was he who secured for Cleveland the northern terminus of the Erie Canal, and he it was who pushed and exploited for her the first railroads to enter the city.
Circumstances forced him to remove to Columbus, O., after a tenyears' residence on Water Street in the brick-cottage erected for his parents. He had a large family of children, seven daughters and four sons. The eldest born in Cleveland in 1818, the youngest in Columbus in 1841. Mrs. Kelley died 1882 in a beautiful home that her husband had erected in the latter city.
The children of Alfred and Mary Welles Kelley:
Maria Kelley, b. 1818; m. Judge Bates of Columbus..
Jane Kelley, b. 1820; m. William Collins of Lowville, N. Y., a lawyer. She lived most of her life in Cleveland, corner of Euclid Avenue and Collins Place.
Anna Kelley, b. 1836; m. Col. Carl G. Frendenburg, U. S. A., and lived in Washington, D. C.
Alfred Kelley, b. 1839; m. Mary Craig Dulevy
Helen Kelley, b. 1831; m. Francis Collins, a lawyer and brother of William
Katherine Kelley, b. 1841; m. Rev. William H. Dunning of Mobile, Ala.; 2nd, Rev. Edward Abbott, brother of Lyman Abbott.
Five of the Kelley children died in infancy.
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1810
MURRAY
Much locally historical interest is centered in the brothers Elias and Harvey Murray, who arrived in Cleveland early in the summer of 1810. Enoch Murray of East Cleveland, who died 1819 and left a widow, Katherine Smith Murray, and young children, may have been another brother, as there is a tradition to that effect preserved by the descendants of Harvey Murray, and Enoch is a name common to the family.
Elias Murray did not remain long in Cleveland, but went on to a more western state, in what year is not known. He wrote a long letter, in the 40's, to Col. Whittlesey from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in which he gave his first impression of Cleveland, received from a sailing vessel anchored off shore, and how the town looked to him in a nearer view as he landed in a small row-boat.
This letter was published in a newspaper, then clipped from it and pasted in a book containing similar letters from other pioneers. It is preserved by the Western Reserve Historical Society.
The record kept in 1810 of books drawn from the first, small library of the hamlet contains frequently the names of Elias and Harvey Murray, and shows not only that they were fond of reading, but cared only for the best literature.
They built a store on the south side of Superior Street near the Public Square and adjoining the present site of the Forest City House. There is no evidence that they ever stocked it with merchandise, but it was used as a hospital during the War of 1812, even after a Government hospital was built on Water Street after Hull's Surrender. It became the property of Theodore Miles, and various uses were made of the building in the many years it stood on Superior Street, and at the time it was torn down, 1855, was pronounced the oldest one in town.
Harvey Murray brought a wife and one or two young children with him to Cleveland. He distinguished himself in the War of 1812 by commanding the company of militia organized to resist invasion from the British.
Capt. Harvey Murray had a grist-mill on a creek in East Cleveland, and probably was living there at the time of his death, which occurred about 1827. As his wife died then also, they were undoubtedly victims of the typhoid fever scourge of that year. Their children were left orphans at a tender age, and were cared for by sympathetic friends and neighbors.
The children of Capt. Harvey and Emily Murray:
Elias Murray, married, had two sons, left this locality in 1840.
Eli Murray, married, had two children, Mansfield and Mary Murray. The family also removed in, 1840.
Layman Murray, died young.
Emily Murray, b. 1814; m. Elisha Benjamin in 1830 at Warrensville. She died of consumption at Northfield, O., 1851, aged 37, leaving a large family of young children.
Eliza Murray, m. Russell Nugent She had three children : William, Emily and Gabriel Nugent. She died in 1842, at the age probably of 26 years, and at the home of her sister in Northfield.
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Mrs. Emily Murray Benjamin had nine children: David, Hester, Theresa, Lyman, Emily, Bianca, Frances, Enoch, and Cynthia Benjamin.
To Miss Frank E. Benjamin, daughter of Lyman Benjamin of this city and great-granddaughter of Capt. Harvey Murray, we are indebted for the family genealogy.
1810
TOWN
The earliest records of Newburgh contain mention of Dr. Town, who evidently practised medicine and entered into the public affairs of the village. He removed to Hudson, Ohio, where he was widely known as a physician, and where he died in 1859.
Dr. Israel Town was born in Granville, N. Y. He was the son of Joseph and Hannah Coleman Town. His wife was Lucy White Town, who shared in her husband's busy professional life both in Newburgh and in Hudson.
Their only child was: Mary Helen Town, m. Joseph Murray.
1810
PEET
Elijah Peet, born in 1765 in New Milford, Conn., was fifth in line from John Peet, the American ancestor of the family. Elijah Peet married Betsey Leavenworth of Woodbury, Conn. He lived in Vermont until of middle-age, and then about 1812, perhaps earlier, came with his family to Newburgh. He died in Lee, Mass., in 1814. Probably he had a family of children, but only one, Stephen Peet, has been found. In the records of the probate court of Cuyahoga County the name of the Rev. Stephen Peet occurs often in connection with marriage ceremonies between 1825 and 1836. The couples at whose weddings this clergyman officiated were mostly residents of Cleveland, Newburgh, and Euclid, Ohio.
Stephen Peet was the fourth child of Elijah and Betsey Peet, the very early pioneers of Newburgh. When but 17 years of age he taught the winter school of 1814 and 1815 in a little building in Broadway. Isham Morgan of Newburgh, then a small lad, was one of Mr. Peet's pupils, and he has handed down to the present generation a vivid picture of school life in those days.
"During the term, Mr. Peet got up an exhibition for the evening of
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the last day of school. On the road from Newburgh to Cleveland, now called Broadway, and where you first get a view of the river from the high land, stood the log-house of Samuel Dille. It was large for the time, and in it was a spacious upper room the length and breadth of the house.
"There the people of Cleveland and Newburgh assembled to witness our school exhibition. First on the program was "The Conjuror.' Then followed `The Dissipated Oxford Student' (both taken from a book called the `Columbia Orator.') The scene between Brutus and Cassius was rendered, besides other well-known pieces. The various parts were pronounced by critics present to have been performed in admirable style.
"My father, mother, two little sisters, and myself returned home, a - distance of a mile and a half, on the family horse, presenting a cavalcade somewhat uncouth on the streets of present Cleveland." The Morgans lived in the vicinity of Broadway and Willson, now East 55th St.
Soon after this, young Peet returned east to finish his education. He prepared for Yale with a famous clergyman of Lee, Mass., and after his graduation from that college in 1823, he studied theology under the Rev. Dr. Ralph Emerson of Litchfield, Conn. Therefore he was finely equipped for the ministry, when he returned to the little pioneer town of Newburgh and began his labors in its small Congregational church. He also had charge of one in Euclid, and after his marriage in 1826, took up his residence in the latter place.
Some time in the '30s, he removed to Wisconsin and became a pioneer preacher of Milwaukee and Green Bay. Many of our pioneer clergymen distinguished themselves in later years in other localities, and the Rev. Stephen Peet was one of these. It is with local pride we note that he was one of the group of seven men who organized Beloit College, Wisconsin. He died in 1855.
Mrs. Stephen Peet, Martha Denison, was the young widow of the Rev. Henry Sherman, and the daughter of Amos and Hannah Williams Denison of Stonington, Conn. She was descended from Col. George Denison, the famous Indian fighter, from Anne Hutchinson, and from the Rev. James Noyse who drew the famous "Saybrook Platform," the first statement of the Congregational church.
The village of Cleveland, Newburgh, and Euclid, to which Mrs. Peet was introduced in 1826, were crude little centers of pioneer civilization, and one can conjecture how keenly the young bride realized the difference in social life and manners of living in this western country, and that of the ultra-refined and highly educated community in which she had been bred. However, there were many delightful New England people already well established in this county, who spoke her language and could help her, first to understand and then to appreciate.
The children of Stephen and Martha Peet:
Martha Denison Peet, unmarried.
Harriet Peet, m. Henry H. Gray of
Darlington, Wis. She is yet living at San Jose, Cal.
Rev. Stephen Denison Peet, b. 1830 in Euclid; m. 1st, Catherine Moseley; 2nd, Olive Walworth, dau. of Elijah Tisdale Cutler of Williamsfield, O.
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(Rev. Peet graduated in the first class at Beloit College, 1851, and from Andover Theological Seminary, 1854. While having a pastorate most of his active life, Mr. Peet was an ardent student of the prehistoric remains in this country, and published a magazine, the "American Antiquarian," for 30 years. He also wrote several books on these subjects. Mrs. Olive Cutler Peet was a graduate of Mt. Holyoke in 1863. Mr. and Mrs. S. D. Peet are both living.)
Joseph B. Peet, m. Louise Smith of Milan, Ohio..
Emerson W. Peet, m. 1st, Emma Fellows of Geneva, Ill.; 2nd, Aurelia K. Eastman, a cousin of Gov Eastman of Rochester, N. Y.
Mr. E. W. Peet died in 1902. He was a graduate of Amherst College. His widow resides in St. Paul, Minn.
Joseph and Emerson Peet were both successful business men.
1810
PEET
Elijah Peet was a Vermonter, born in Arlington of that state in 1793. Probably he was a near relative of the Rev. Stephen Peet, whose father, Elijah Peet, was a very early pioneer of Newburgh. The descendants of the latter have preserved merely their own direct line and have no record of other children than Stephen. The fact that the Cleveland Elijah Peet first lived in Newburgh after his arrival in this locality and the similarity of names, would lead to the supposition that he was either a son or a nephew of the elder one.
There are several early marriages of Newburgh Peets recorded. One of these was Minerva Peet, and it will be noticed that one of the daughters of Elijah Peet and Martha Williams Peet was named Minerva. Elijah Peet was a good Christian man, greatly respected in any locality in which he lived. He married Martha Williams, daughter of W. W. and Ruth Granger Williams, early pioneers of Newburgh. Their home was about two miles east of Judge Kingsbury's residence.
Mr. and Mrs. Peet belonged to the little band of Cleveland Methodists when it was struggling for membership and, in order to hold the society together, for funds with which to employ a minister at least twice a month. Mr. Peet supplied the necessary fuel for warming the room in which the society met, and every Sunday morning he and his wife would start very early from their Newburgh home and drive eight miles to Cleveland, over roads that were nearly impassable, in order to have a fire built, and the Sabbath School comfortable when it met at nine o'clock.
Methodist ministers coming into the city for the day or for conference learned that the surest road to personal comfort led straight to the Peet home, ever open for their entertainment, and the small, struggling
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church leaned hard upon Elijah Peet's leadership and counsel. He was the first superintendent of the first Methodist Sunday School in the city.
In 1831, the Peet family moved to town from Newburgh. Their home was at 32 Bank Street. Mr. Peet kept a grocery store near by. He was the town marshal in 1835, and in 1845 he issued the second directory of the city, one much needed and considered, at the time, quite complete.
He died in 1845, aged 53 years, and was interred in Erie Street Cemetery.
Mrs. Martha Williams Peet is remembered in her later years as an attractive elderly lady, quiet, devoted to her husband and- family,. loved and admired in her circle of friends and relatives. She died in 1867, aged 73 years, and was placed beside her husband in Erie Street Cemetery. Descendants of Elijah and Martha Peet are prominent in Cleveland's commercial, professional, and social circles of today. One of their grandsons is John Lowman, well-known physician and surgeon, another is one of the firm of Otis and Hough, bankers and brokers, and still another a senior partner of Pickands, Mather & Co.
The children of Elijah and Martha Williams Peet:
Minerva Peet, b. 1818; m. Jacob Lowman..
Mary Peet, m. Hamilton Hough.
Martha Peet, m. John Outwaite.
Ruth Peet, m. William Rose.
Marcia Peet, m. Rev. Ezra Jones
Caroline Peet, unmarried.
Eliza Peet, m. Henry Harwood.
1811
Joseph H. Day of New Jersey came to Cleveland in June of this year, and bought a lot corner of Superior and Seneca, now W. 3rd Street. He sold this lot to help pay for a farm of 300 acres in Euclid. His reason for selling the land was that the sand drifted in so at the mouth of the river that no one thought Cleveland lots would ever have commercial value.
1811
PALMER
Thomas and Sarah Fordyce came to East Cleveland from Pennsylvania. Their children:
Hannah Palmer, m. Elias Cozad..
Lydia Palmer, m. Leonard Massilliot.
Jerusha Palmer, m. James Johnston
James Palmer, m. Anna Bonnell.
Thomas Palmer died in 1841, aged 81. Sarah Fordyce Palmer died in 1854, aged 87. The Palmer burial lot is in East Cleveland Cemetery.
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AKIN
George and Tamizen Akin came from Haddam, Conn., in 1811, settled in Brooklyn, where the city infirmary stood for many years. Mrs. Akin lived to be 91 years old. The children of George and Tamizen Akin
Cyrel Akin, m. Mary------
Irad Akin, m. Harriet Russell ; 2nd, India Brainard.
Julia Akin, m. a Rathbun; 2nd, Abner Cochran.
Caroline Akin, m. Diodate Clark.
William Akin, m. Betsey Clark, dau. of Joseph and Hannah Cole Clark.
Betsey Clark Akin grew old gracefully. She was a most worthy pioneer and held in the highest respect.
1811
MERWIN
Noble H. Merwin was not yet 30 years of age when he came to Cleveland, and only in his 47th year when he died of consumption in the Island of St. Thomas. He was a very tall, fine-looking man. Born in Milford, Conn., and married there in 1807 he came to Cleveland in 1811. The next year Mrs. Merwin drove all the way from Connecticut in a wagon the usual route, and in the usual time, six weeks. The two older children accompanying her.
Mr. Merwin bought out George Wallace, who owned the tavern on the south side of Superior Street, just as it turns to the left down the hill. The tavern stood a little back from the street, and there they lived for some years. The property containing two acres was valuable then in comparison with other locations, and in time became the nucleus of a fortune.
Besides keeping this public house Noble Merwin had a large warehouse at the foot of Superior Street, on the left hand side facing the river, and he bought produce, and was so fortunate as to receive Government patronage, furnishing it with supplies, etc. He also built vessels, very small ones of course, but they laid the foundations of the future shipbuilding industries of the city. Through these several activities, he became very well known, and was prominent in all the affairs of those days.
Mrs. Merwin, before her marriage, was a Miss Minerva Buckingham, the daughter of Nathan Botsford and Rebecca Hartwell Buckingham. Her grandmother, Rebecca Sherman, was a sister of Roger Sherman of Rhode Island, and her grandfather was a brother of Mrs. Roger Sherman. Mrs. Merwin joined her husband in Cleveland, in 1811, when her oldest child, George B., was but three years of age. It is said that she was a woman of great force of character, and strong religious feeling and sentiment.
At the date of her settlement in Cleveland there were but 57 inhabitants, men, women and children.
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There were no religious services held here previous to that time, and one Sabbath she invited every one to meet her in the log courthouse on the Public Square, where she opened her Bible, and conducted services suitable to the time and circumstances. This she continued to do each following Sabbath, assisted by others, until a missionary was sent to relieve her of the duty.
After the Stone Church was organized in 1819, or rather the Sunday School, which was the infant of that church, she led the singing until her death in 1823, while yet a young woman. Her grave is in Erie Street Cemetery.
Noble H. and Minerva B. Merwin's children:
George B. Merwin, m. Loretta, daughter of Governor Wood.
Minerva Merwin, m. George M. Atwater, and died in New York City, N. Y.
Augustas Merwin, the "Gus" of boyhood, m. Mrs. Eliza Eubanks ; died in New York.
James Merwin, a lad of twelve years when drowned in Cuyahoga River
Mary Merwin, a lovely and interesting girl, and betrothed of Richard Hilliard, died young of consumption
Noble H. Merwin died six years after the death of his wife, Minerva, but, in the meanwhile, he married a second time, a young widow, Mrs. Jane Lyon, daughter of Richard and Prudence Smyth of Detroit, Mich. In 1812 she became the wife of Thomas Lyon, Paymaster of the American army, who was then stationed at that place. At the close of the war he started for St. Louis to prove some land warrants in his possession, his young wife accompanying him. They journeyed by way of the Maumee River and portaged from it to the Illinois River, where Mr. Lyon was taken suddenly ill, and died at Carlisle, Ind.
Here was born her son, Richard T. Lyon, who for over a half a century was prominent in the business interests of Cleveland, and one of the best known men in the city and surrounding country, for he was a commission merchant the most of the time.
As soon as the bereaved young mother could travel, her brother, afterward William Smyth of this city, came for her and took her and her infant back to Detroit. She married Noble H. Merwin in 1825 and died eleven years later, not yet 40 years of age. She lived first in the old Mansion House, but soon Superior Street was graded, the tavern left high up from the sidewalks, and its foundations threatened.
Mr. Merwin had built a fine brick-house on the east side of Seneca Street, between Superior and Champlain St., in which Mrs. Merwin lived. When Noble H. Merwin died in 1829, his widow inherited as part of her dower interest the hotel with forty feet frontage of land on Superior Street, which she leased for 99 years, from February 1, 1836, to her stepchildren, George B., Augustus, and Minerva Merwin, at a rental for the full time of $1,350 per annum, which lease has yet 22 years to run. The hotel was destroyed by fire in 1835.
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Merwin Street, an old, commercial thoroughfare, was named in honor of this pioneer family.
Mrs. Merwin's son, Richard T. Lyon, in 1841, married Ellen M. Starkweather, daughter of James C. and Almira Starkweather of Pawtucket, R. I., and niece of Judge Starkweather of Cleveland.
The children of Richard and Ellen Starkweather Lyon:
Richard Lyon, m. Lena McCurley
of Schenectady, N. Y.; 2nd, Louise Schroder of Chicago, Ill.
Almira Lyon, m. Martin Hedges of East Bloomfield, N. Y.
Jennie Lyon, m. Lucian Hall of Cleveland
James Lyon, or "Jimmie," who was an infant when his mother died, never married.
Richard T. Lyon m. secondly, Julia M. Hedges, a sister of his son-inlaw, Martin Hedges, and their only child:
Nelly Lyon, m. Dr. Charles F. Booth of Canadaigua, N. Y.
1811
George Buckingham Merwin, eldest son of Noble and Minerva B. Merwin, was a young man of fine presence and noble bearing. He had ambition and opportunity, for his father became very prosperous in business and was able to give his son all the advantages he craved. He was sent to a celebrated military school, and afterward while in Detroit, Mich., boarding with a refined French family, he learned to speak their language fluently. He was naturally quiet in his tastes, but proved to have much business ability when the management of his father's property devolved upon him.
He built a fine brick-house at the head of Prospect Street, which was then west of Sterling, now East 30th Street. When Prospect Street was cut through Sterling, this home was moved to the south side of it. It is a fine type of the architecture of that day, and the high ceilings of its interior, the size of the rooms, and the fine finish of all woodwork evidence refined and dignified taste. It is at present the home of the Rowfant Club, a very appropriate one for book-lovers, as George Merwin was a student all his life. He bought the Kelley farm in Rockport, which adjoined the estate of Governor Reuben Wood, his father-in-law, and the two families lived an ideal life, side by side, in the midst of fruit, flowers, and birds. The windows of the two houses looked out upon the lake, whose waves lapped the shore but a few feet away. A fine plankroad led to the city, six miles distant, and there were horses of lineage, and conveyances of various construction and size that would take one to the center of business activities in a comparatively short time.
Mrs. Loretta Wood Merwin outlived her husband many years. She kept her interest in the best things of life to the last. While in California with her son, she urged the necessity and the value of preserving records of its pioneer days, and especially personal reminiscences, so photo
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graphic of times and events. Her son's wife, Mrs. Noble H. Merwin, bears loving and enthusiastic testimony regarding the elder Mrs. Merwin's personality, her charm of manner, her thorough womanliness. She died in 1890.
The children of George B. and Loretta Wood Merwin:
Noble H. Merwin, m. Miss Emma A. Shyrock. He died in 1885, in Cal.
George Merwin, m. Minnie Watmough.
1811
MORGAN
In the summer of 1811, Youngs L. Morgan, his wife Betsey, daughter of Samuel Jones of Groton, Conn., and their five children, Julia, Mary, Youngs L., Jr., Caleb, and Isham Avery Morgan, left Groton to seek a new home in northern Ohio. All their earthly goods were packed in a large, covered wagon. Accompanying them on their journey were Major Spicer and family, who settled in Akron, and James Fish, his wife Mary Wilcox Fish, and their four children, Mary, James, Elisha, and Sally Fish.
Whatever may have been the regrets of the adults of the party, or their doubts and fears of what lay before them, those 36 days of steady picnicing must have seemed a great lark to the twelve or more children belonging to it.
They arrived here in September, and Mr. Morgan purchased direct from the Connecticut Land Company a large tract in Newburgh, which afterward was divided into three farms. One was on the corner of Broadway and Willson Avenues, one at the corner of Broadway and Aetna, and one on Union Street.
The family spent the following fall and winter with Mr. Morgan's sister, Mrs. John Wightman, who had preceded them by a few months, and was living in a log-house on Broadway. Mr. Morgan worked hard all winter cutting and rolling logs for his own home, which by spring was ready for occupancy. Meanwhile, and for many a year, his wife toiled early and late for her household, and like all women of her day, spun and wove everything in the way of clothing or bedding her family needed. Some of her weaving patterns are the wonder and pride of her great-grandchildren of today.
There was much sickness among the scattered neighbors, and Mrs. Morgan would mount her horse when sent for, any time of night or day, and go to the relief of the suffering; watching or nursing as occasion required.
At the general alarm in 1812 of invading British and Indians, causing needless excitement, as the news was false, Mr. Morgan placed his wife and small children in an ox-cart, and sent his eldest son, Youngs L. Mor-
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gan, Jr., about 15 years of age, to drive them to a place of greater safety, remaining with another son, Caleb, to hide in brush-piles and under logs what few treasures the family possessed.
Then Mr. Morgan began to worry over the lack of comforts his wife and children were enduring, and if they remained away long, how much they would need milk, and so, placing a feather-bed across his horse, he mounted, and with Caleb started to drive two cows in the direction his family had taken. All went well until the approach of night, when the cows decided that it was milking time and they must return home. And away they started back with Mr. Morgan. and Caleb after them helter skelter through the woods, tearing holes in the feather bed on the protruding brush, which sent the feathers flying in every direction. Tying knots in the tick, they hastened on. But with the morning light came the news that the terrifying rumors were false, and every one returned home much relieved.
Mrs. Morgan only lived 16 years after her arrival here, dying in 1827, the year so fatal to the community in widespread sickness and death. The writer thinks that Major Samuel Jones, who lived on Broadway, not far from the Morgans, was either her father or brother, probably the latter.
Children of Youngs L. and Betsey Jones Morgan:
Julia Morgan, m. Henry Hand, and afterward lived in Dover.
Mary Morgan, m. Henry Parkman,son of the founder of Parkman..
Youngs L. Morgan, Jr., b. 1797; m.Caroline Thomas.
Caleb Morgan, b. 1795; m. Julia. Thomas, and Mary Drake, his step-sister.
Isham Avery Morgan, b. 1809; m.Juliette Meech
Ashbel Walworth Morgan, b. in Cleveland, 1815; m. Zerviah Burke
The writer has made great effort to connect Mrs. Betsey Jones Morgan with the early pioneer, Major Samuel Jones, who also came from Groton and lived in the neighborhood of the Morgan and Wightman families. Although the research has proved fruitless, she feels sure that this man was either the father or brother of Mrs. Morgan. His home on Broadway was just at the west turn of the road, and it is said that it afterward became the residence of Capt. Allen Gaylord. Major Samuel Jones commanded the early militia. He also played the violin, and one of the frolics of early days was a sleigh-ride out to his house, followed by a dance for which he played.
After the death of Mrs. Betsey Morgan, Mr. Morgan married again. His second wife was a young widow with four children. She was Ruth Jackson, a daughter of Morris and Lucina Sheldon Jackson, born in Providence, R. I., and moved with her parents to Broome, N. Y. Here she married Reuben Drake, who died fifteen years later.
She came to Cleveland in 1830, taking passage on the steamer "Amaranth," Capt. Aaron Root, from Buffalo to Lorain, bringing her two youngest children with her. In 1831 she was married to Mr. Morgan at the home of her sister, Mrs. Alphonso Hawley. Her death occurred thir-
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teen years afterward, at her home on Aetna Street. Although not one of the earliest settlers of Cleveland, she experienced many of the hardships of pioneer life. Ambitious, energetic, and capable, the amount of work she could accomplish was a marvel to those who knew her. She also was an excellent and willing nurse, and her advice and assistance was in constant demand. Generous to a fault, no worthy person was ever turned away from her door lacking sympathy or material aid. She loved to read, and kept herself posted in current events. She died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Swaine, on Prospect Street.
The Drake children were:
Mary Drake, m. her step-brother, Caleb Morgan. She was his second wife.
Capt. Sir Francis Drake, m. Antoinette Jones, daughter of Capt. Augustus and Saba Murdock. Jones of Saybrook, Conn. She was a sister of William, Frederick, and Buel B. Jones, the Cleveland and Black River ship builders of an early day. Buel B. Jones married Nancy Jackson, sister of Mrs. Ruth Morgan, Sr.
Lucinda Drake, m. Valentine Swaine, son of Shubel and Sarah Turner Swaine
Morris Jackson Drake, m. Caroline Matson, daughter of Dr. Sylvester and Sophia Tracy Matson.
Youngs L. Morgan, Jr., made a visit to New York State in 1828, and brought back with him a young and beautiful bride, Miss Caroline Thomas, daughter of Anthony and Mary Buckley Thomas of Lebanon, Conn. The young people began housekeeping in a log-cabin on the Union Street farm, and Caroline found living in the woods vastly different from her town life in the east. Scrubbing floors, and cooking over the fire-place were new experiences for her. But she bravely swallowed the big lump that often came in her throat, for the childhood home was far away, and money too scarce to be used on the long return journey. It took great courage to face all the trials that befell her, but she braved them all, and lived to see prosperous days. Also, to see the little town of Cleveland, with less than a thousand people, including Newburgh, grow to a city of 330,000.
She died in 1895, leaving two sons:
Herman L. Morgan, who married Sarah H. Smith, granddaughter of Major Spicer of Akron, and daughter of Warren and Lydia Spicer Smith.
Charles C. Morgan, m. Emma Shaf- fer, daughter of Andrew and Nancy Shaffer. After her death, he married Georgia Warner.
Caleb Morgan married Julia Thomas, sister of Mrs. Youngs L. Morgan, Jr. She died young, leaving a son and daughter, Henry Morgan, who married Lucretia J. Pierce, and Eliza Juliette Morgan, who married James Tenney, and removed to Monroe, Mich.
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Eliza was one of the pioneer school teachers who taught for $1.25 a week, and boarded around with families supplying pupils.
Caleb Morgan married secondly, in 1838, Mary Drake, his step-sister. Her life was that of a faithful wife, devoted mother, and loyal friend. It was full of household activity, yet she maintained the keenest interest in all that transpired in her social circle, in her church, and in political affairs. She believed that the latter should be influenced through the home. Her New England conscience allowed no overruling of anything that seemed to be the right, and between herself and her step-children existed the warmest relations. She was born in Dryden, N. Y., and came with her brother, Sir Francis Drake, in 1832, arriving on the- steamer "Enterprise." Sympathetic and generous to the last, she died at the old homestead, corner of Broadway and Willson Avenue, in 1895.
Though business and traffic destroyed its former quiet, nothing could persuade her to leave it. Mr. Caleb Morgan died in 1885.
The children of Caleb and Mary Drake Morgan:
Austin L. Morgan, m. Laura Dell.
Bates, daughter of Isaac and Elisabeth Bates.
Julia L. Morgan, m. Richard M. Choate, son of Thomas and Mary Wright Choate.
Walter Morgan
Reuben Morgan, m. Clarissa Hart, daughter of Geo. W. and Anna Beardsley Hart.
In 1833 Isham Morgan married Juliette Meech, daughter of Gurdon and Lucy Swan Meech of Bozrah, Conn. She was a sister of Mrs. O. M. Burke. Coming from such a family as the Meeches, she undoubtedly was worthy of as much space in this history as her sisters-in-law have been accorded, but unfortunately, the writer has been unable to learn anything more definite than that she had children, who were
Ann Eliza Morgan, m. John Allen of Akron.
Ellen Morgan, who died when 16 years of age.
Sebert Morgan, who married Ida ______.
Mrs. Morgan died in 1895.
Ashbel Walworth Morgan married Zerviah Burke, daughter of B. B. and Prudency Taylor Burke, who was born in Newburgh. She had been a school teacher when the demand for her services was much greater than the means to require them, for money was very scarce. She taught in East Cleveland for a dollar a week :and her board, and felt highly elated and well paid when promoted to a Warrensville school at double the salary. She was one of the earliest disciples of Miles Avenue Disciple Church, and for years its most active adherent. The Aetna Mission was built mainly through her efforts, her husband giving the land, and she raising the funds for its erection. She died in 1890. The home of Ashbel and Zerviah Morgan was on Aetna Street. The children were
Clifford Morgan..
Mary Morgan, m. Anson Jackson.
Carrie Morgan, m. William Baxter
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1811
MOWREY
All property bordering on the Public Square is of local historic interest, but none more so than the south-west corner of it, now occupied by the Forest City House, previous to it by the Dunham House, the Cleveland House, and earliest of all by the Mowrey tavern. To this spot, before the War of 1812, came Pliny Mowrey, lured by the hopes and dreams of the future, and, with the courage that only youth possesses, he invested his little all in the purchase of this lot and in building upon it a small village tavern. It is sad to record, even a century later, that bitter disappointment, absolute defeat, and possible tragedy followed this venture.
Pliny Mowrey was . the eldest son of, Reuben Mowrey of Hartford, Conn., who in 1808 brought his family of ten children into the wilds of Gustavus, Trumbull Co. He also brought with them an old musket, upon the stock of which was carved his name, and which, tradition claims, had seen Revolutionary service. Mowrey's Tavern, a name that clung to it long after its first builder and owner had left the city, and perhaps this part of the country, stood upon the eastern part of the lot that is bounded by the Square, Superior Street, Seneca Street, now West 3rd, and extended south to Long Street.
It is on record that Mowrey borrowed $230.63 of Nathan Perry, Jr., doubtless to defray a part of the expenses of building. Nathan publicly demanded payment previous to or by a certain time. The obligation was met, the debt canceled, and Pliny Mowrey seems to have reached a fair plane of success, when, three years later, his brother, Hosea Mowrey, appeared upon the scene, and in time muddled affairs to such an extent as to leave Pliny a hopeless bankrupt.
Hosea bought a half interest in the property and then persuaded Pliny to unite with him in placing a mortgage upon it of $4,500. The loan was procured of Joseph Boyd, an eastern man, through Leonard Case. Why so large a sum, for those days, should have been sought, has not been stated. It may have been used in enlarging the tavern and in building to the rear of it an annex, part of which was used for public gatherings and called "Mowrey's Hall." Another part of this was used for stabling teams of travelers and guests. The Cleveland Herald of May, 1820, contains the following announcement
"At Mowrey's Hall, positively the last night of Mrs. Kittie Blanchard. Doors open at early candle-light, May 31. Admittance, 50c, children half price.
Play, `The Mountaineers,' and a farce, `The Village Lawyer."'
Back of the tavern and the hall was a large and usually an unoccupied space. Mrs. Mary Long Severance told the writer that in her early childhood all sorts of small traveling shows encamped upon it, and even after she was well in her teens, circus tents were spread upon it large enough to accommodate all the town's population who could afford the price of admission.
Mowrey's tavern did not lack a landlady; for in the marriage records of the county we find in the beautiful penmanship of Horace Perry that December 3, 1816, Pliny Mowrey and Rhoda Curtis were married by him in virtue of his office as justice of the peace.
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WIGHTMAN
It has been claimed that Rhoda Curtis was the daughter of a tanner living on Euclid Avenue, near Giddings, now East 71st Street. A little creek ran through his grounds, which in early days was called "Curtis Creek." The place was occupied for many years by the late ex-Sheriff Winslow, and a huge garage now covers the site of Winslow's picturesque cottage and his beautiful lawn.
In the following February, 1817, Horace Perry married James Bliss to Ruth Curtis, who may have been a sister of Rhoda Mowrey. In 1822, Leonard Case foreclosed the mortgage on the Mowrey Tavern, and it was sold to Dr. Donald McIntosh, who took possession of it at once. Previous to this event, Dr. McIntosh had kept a tavern on Water Street, now West 9th.
It is with reluctance that the writer relinquishes the long research made for the subsequent history of Pliny Mowrey and his family. His niece, whose father was a younger brother by many years, writes from Cincinnati, Ohio, that the family tradition is that, embittered by his financial loss, and furious at the parties who had caused it, he left Cleveland immediately afterward and went "up the river." Misfortune followed him, though in what guise is not stated, and he then disappeared. His brothers and sisters never knew whether he died or removed to some distant part of the state, for he failed to communicate with them, and his children, if he had any, never made themselves known to their relatives.
1811
WIGHTMAN
When John J. Wightman and his wife, Deborah Calistia Morgan, left Groton, Conn., in 1811, and traveled by ox-team to Cleveland, they brought with them a name that for a century had been peculiarly honored and revered in Groton, and continued to be so for 80 years longer.
The ancestor of the family, Valentine Wightman, had founded Groton Baptist Church in 1710, and from that date until 1890, a Wightman had stood in its pulpit. Valentine was its pastor for 37 years; his son, Timothy, for 49 years; his grandson, John Gamo Wightman, for 45 years, and so on for a period of 180 years.
Mrs. John J. Wightman and Mrs. John Walworth were sisters of Youngs L. Morgan, and their mother was a Ledyard, sister of Col. Chrystopher Ledyard, the Revolutionary hero, who was murdered at Fort Griswald by the British officer to whom he had surrendered. Religion and patriotism, therefore, came hand in hand with the Wightmans, Morgans, and Walworths as they journeyed to Cleveland so early in the last century.
Mr. Wightman bought 10 acres of land on Broadway near Woodland Hills Road, and soon afterward built a country tavern which became one of the most famous in this section of the Reserve. It stood on the south side of the street and opposite of what is now St. Alexis Hospital.
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1811
WIGHTMAN
As might be expected, considering her forebears, many accounts of Mrs. Wightman's fine manners and dignified presence have been handed down to her grandchildren. In one way she was most fortunate. Surrounded by her kin who had settled all about her, she did not have to suffer the loneliness that many a well-bred and refined pioneer woman had to endure when isolated from relatives and congenial friends. Two of her family of children came with her from Connecticut, Deborah, three years of age, and John G., an infant. The others were born in the old homestead in Broadway.
Children of John J. and Deborah Morgan Wightman:
Deborah Ledyard Wightman, b. 1808; m. 1828, William Herman Knapp, b. 1801. She died 1880.
John Griswald Wightman, b. 1810; died 24 years old..
Isaac Avery Wightman, b. 1812; died 1873, unmarried..
Lucy Adelaide Wightman, b. 1814; m. 1842, Lewis Pangburn, b. 1816; d. 1894..
David Long Wightman, b. 1818; d .1877; m. 1839, Adeline Johnson b. 1822; d. 1899.
Sherburn Henry Wightman. b.1819; d. 1904, the last of his family
Horace F. Wightman, b. 1821; d. 1868; m. Mary Burgess
Harriet Lucretia Wightman, b. 1825; d. 1878; m. William K. Nye
David Long Wightman was a most useful member of the community all through his long life. He was connected with the Humane Society for many years, and worked for the amelioration of suffering with heart and soul.
Mrs. Deborah C. Wightman died in 1827, 32 years of age. John J. Wightman died in 1837, aged 49 years.
Deborah Wightman, the oldest of the children, was but 17 years old when her mother died. Her husband was a civil engineer, and in that capacity he worked on the construction of the Ohio Canal. But, for some years after his marriage he taught school, and often in the long, cold winters the young couple were separated for months, his school being sometimes twelve or more miles away. When Deborah Wightman Knapp died, the text chosen for her funeral was, "And they shall be given a new name." The clergy who officiated said that her ceIestial name might aptly be "Burden-Bearer," for, in over forty years of his acquaintance with her, he had not known a time when some otherwise homeless creature was not having a home with "Aunty Knapp."
Lucy Wightman Pangburn removed to Akron after her marriage, and later lived in Massillon. Her house was known as the "Preachers' Home," so freely and openly were clergymen welcomed, and several times she took in the whole family of one until a house was found for it, or until household furniture had arrived. She and her husband were "Uncle Lew and Aunt Lucy" to the whole community, and they worked together for the good of humanity. Like her sister, Mrs. Pangburn sheltered many a waif, oId or young, until death furnished a heavenly one, or circumstances relieved her from further ministrations.
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1811
STRONG
A notable arrival of this year was John Harris Strong. He came to act as a land agent for Connecticut owners of big tracts of real estate in this vicinity. He settled in Euclid, but was so identified with the business interests of Cleveland, that he was considered a resident of the town. Some of his children settled on Euclid Avenue below E. 107th Street, within a few years of their arrival here.
John H. Strong was the son of Deacon Josiah and Mary Harris Strong, and was born in Middleton, Conn., in 1762. At 20 years of age he married Elisabeth Cary of Chatham, Conn., two years his junior. She was a sister of Mrs. Timothy Doan, a pioneer of .1802.
Mr. and Mrs. Strong brought a family of 8 children with them, the oldest of whom was a son 27 years old, and the youngest, also a son, four years of age.
Mr. Strong became a judge of the common pleas of this county in 1817, and served until 1823, the year he died, at 61 years of age. He was one of the incorporators of Cleveland's first bank in 1816.
Judge Strong owned much real estate in Euclid and East Cleveland. All the south side of Euclid Avenue, between E. 107th and E. 79th Street, at one time belonged to him. A part of this property is still in the possession of his grandchildren.
The children of John H. and Elisabeth Carey Strong:
(1) James Strong, b. 1784; m. Ann Eliza Baldwin, dau. of Seth C. Baldwin; 2nd, Laura Miles.
(2) Walter Strong, b. 1786; m. Betsey Smith.
(3) Esther Strong, b. 1788; m. Theron Freeman
(4) Rodney Strong, b. 1790; m. Mary Taylor.
(5) John Harris Strong, b. 1795; died 1809.
(6) Josiah Conklin Strong, b. 1800; died 1839; m. Rebecca Brown.
(7) Thomas Jefferson Strong, b. 1802; m. Laura Bishop.
(8) Mary Ann Strong, b. 1805; m. John Cone of Haddam, Conn
(9) James Madison Strong, b. 1807; m. Margaret Brush.
James Strong, oldest child of John H. Strong, was 35 years old when in 1819 he married Ann Eliza Baldwin, 16 years his junior. She died eight years later, leaving a young son and a daughter, James H. and Ann Olivia Strong.
Mr. Strong's second wife was the daughter of the famous pioneer, Lorenzo Carter, and the widow of Erastus Miles of Newburgh. By this marriage he had three daughters.
James Strong's life in Cleveland was mostly spent on Euclid Avenue, near East 107th Street. He was one of the early sheriffs of this county.
(2) Mrs. Walter Strong was the daughter of Samuel and Ruth Smith of East Cleveland. Her sister was the wife of Jarvis Clark, son of David the pioneer. The Walter Strongs, the Smiths and the Clarks removed in the 40s to Elkhart, Ind., where they became very important and valuable pioneers of that town.
(3) Esther Strong m. Theron Freeman, son of Nathan and Cynthia
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Freeman. Esther died in 1826, and Theron in 1830, leaving six young children. Two others had died in infancy.
The children were : Samuel, John, James, Josiah, Sarah, and Esther Freeman.
(4) A Rodney Strong was living in 1856 on Pittsburg Street (Broadway). His occupation that of farmer.
(5) John Harris Strong and his wife, Mary Taylor Strong, had five children. Mary died, and Rodney Strong married a second time and had two more children.
(6) Mr. Josiah Strong's wife was the daughter of Deliverance and Mary Brown. He died in 1829, leaving two little sons. She died in 1835, six years later. The children were : George Clark Strong, and Edwin Miles Strong.
(7) Thomas Jefferson Strong married a daughter of Abram and Anna Freeman Bishop. They had two sons and five daughters. Thomas J. Strong, Jr., the second son, was killed at Stone River, Tenn., in the Civil War.
(8) John Cone, the first husband of Mary Ann Strong, died in 1835, leaving four children. She married 2nd, in 1836, Hiram Brooks. She had four children by this marriage. She died in 1863.
(9) Mrs. James M. Strong was the daughter of Edward and Patty Brush of Willoughby, 0. Mr. and Mrs. Strong had nine children, two of whom died in infancy. The oldest, John Harris Strong, lived in Berea, O.
1811
RUMMAGE
Thomas Rummage, who came to Cleveland from Pennsylvania in 1811 and married "Polly" Johnson, a sister of Captains Levi and Jonathan Johnson, left a lasting impression on the town through his own strong personality and that of his sons, also long and prominent citizens and lake captains.
He owned two or more acres of land on the south side of Euclid Avenue, including the Opera House site, and extending nearly to the Taylor Arcade. He also possessed a large farm on the West Side along West 25th Street, and spent his time alternately between the two places.
He was one of the early builders of boats, and was associated with his brother-in-law, Capt. Levi Johnson, in the latter's first ventures in that line.
Capt. Rummage was one of the first victims of the cholera epidemic of 1832, dying in a few hours after being stricken with the disease, and was buried on his farm. His oldest son was but 13 years of age at the time. Capt. Rummage's widow lived some years after his death, at 27 Euclid Avenue.* Her grave is in Erie Street Cemetery.
* Corner of Sheriff. The lot was 40 feet front and 198 feet on Sheriff.
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The children of Capt. Thomas and Polly Johnson Rummage:
Sarah Rummage, m. William Van Norman..
Capt. Solon Rummage, m. Margaret Davis.
Capt. Harvey Rummage, m. Harriet Harbaugh.
Martha Rummage, m. Thomas Warburton
Mary Rummage, m. Louis Moreau of Plattsburg, N. Y.
Louise Moreau, daughter of Louis and Mary Moreau, married Merrick Johnson, son of Luke Johnson, another Cleveland pioneer, and resides on Kinsman Road, this city.
An amusing and unusual story is related of one of these Rummage captains. Which one is not told. The Canal Bank, an old Cleveland concern, failed in the early part of November, 1854. Only the day before, Rummage had deposited a thousand dollars, his profits from a lake season of hardship and danger. Upon hearing of the bank failure, he entered it and demanded his money, which, of course, was refused.
"It is all the money I have in the world. Hand it over quickly or I'll kill you!" he shouted.
The officers of the defunct institution took no chances on that, and he got what he came for. The assignees, afterward appointed, could have demanded its return, but probably, knowing the man, were not disposed to be too exacting.
1811
CROCKER
Jedediah Davis Crocker was one of the early large land-owners of East Cleveland. He was born in Lee, Mass., 1785, and died in Cleveland in 1843. He married Deborah Doan in 1813, two years after his arrival in Ohio.
Mr. Crocker was a farmer. He was the original owner of what is now Wade Park, and sold it to Samuel Cozad soon after the latter came to Cleveland.
The children of Jedediah and Deborah Crocker:
Sarah Crocker, b. 1816; m. Eli Adams. She died 1862.
Timothy Davis Crocker, b. 1819; m.Eliza Proctor Otis. He died 1898.
Davis J. Crocker, b. 1822.
Timothy D. Crocker was long a prominent citizen of Cleveland. In the Iatter years of his life he lived in a fine residence on Euclid Avenue, near Sterling, now East 30th Street. It adjoined the residence of his brother-in-law, Charles A. Otis.
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Mr. and Mrs. T. D. Crocker had several children who reached maturity, but only one survives, Laura Crocker. With her widowed mother she spends most of her life in eastern states or in traveling.
Samuel Crocker, who may have been a brother of Jedediah, was an early resident of Euclid. He married Sophrona Smith in 1814.
RESIDENTS OF THE HAMLET DURING THE WAR OF 1812
George Wallace
Horace Perry
James Root
Samuel Williamson
Horatio Perry
Mathew Williamson
Elias Murray
Widow Calahan
John Walworth
Harvey Murray
Levi Johnson
Dr. David Long
Richard Bailey
Major Samuel Jones
Alfred Kelley
Amasa Bailey
Hezekiah King
Pliny Mowrey
Abraham Hickox
Hiram Hanchett
Noble H. Merwin
Nathan Perry
David Henderson
Of the above all have been traced save Hezekiah King and Hiram Hanchett. James Root returned east soon after the war.
1812
BATES
Noble Bates, and his wife, Aurilla Booth, and two young daughters came to Newburgh in 1812 from Essex, Vt. Two more daughters were born in Newburgh.
Mr. Bates was a miller, and the family depended for bread upon the flour brought to his mill to be ground. For some reason, there was a time when the settlers had no wheat to grind, or were too busy to take it to the mill. Consequently, the Bates family were obliged to subsist entirely on corn-meal. One night, after all the children were in bed and asleep, Mr. Bates came home from the mill bearing a sack of flour. Mrs. Bates made a big pan of biscuits and baked them as soon as possible, then called up the children to partake, as they had gone to bed complaining of hunger. They had a very interesting family of four daughters.
Sophia Bates, m. Barnabas Laughton in 1830, and went to Chicago. Five years later, she returned a widow with two sons. Afterward she married Albert Lucy Bates, m. Benj. Wiggins of Kingsbury, and had one daughter. Newburgh, and had one daughter, and two sons. After Kingsbury's death, he married Thomas Garfield uncle of the President, and another son was added to her children. Sophia Bates Garfield was energetic and jolly
Elvira Bates, m. Stephen V. R. Forbes of Chicago.
Eunice Bates, m. Eden Miles, eldest son of Theodore and Lydia Clark Miles. She had two sons and two daughters.
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The four Bates sisters were very active workers in the Sanitary Commission during the Civil War, gathering hospital supplies, etc. They were beloved by all that knew them.
Mrs. Stephen Forbes had three daughters, Aurilla, Plina, and Paulina Forbes. All now living in the far west or south.
Sophia Bates' sons were David and Peter Laughton, and Thomas Garfield. Her daughter, Harriet Kingsbury, married John Hofste. David Laughton married Calista Garfield, his step-sister.
1812
INGERSOLL
In 1812 the Connecticut Land Company sold 900 acres in Newburgh to a Lee, Mass., man, who intended to occupy it with his family. He had eight children, and perhaps planned to give each of them a hundred-acre lot and retain one for himself. The purchase of so large a tract meant in that day about $1,400 cash or a very good credit. The land extended from Buckeye Road southward. Its western boundary adjoined the Edwards farm on Woodhill Road, and its eastern line stretched beyond Rice Avenue.
The man who invested so largely in Newburgh pioneer forest was Elijah Ingersoll, member of a family who had lived in Massachusetts for many generations, the first one of which was John Ingersoll, who with his brother Richard came from England in 1629, and settled in Salem. The mother of John Ingersoll's sons was Mary Hunt, a granddaughter of Gov. Webster of Connecticut. The parents of Elijah Ingersoll, the Newburgh pioneer, were David and Lydia Ingersoll Ingersoll. They were cousins.
Elijah's maternal grandfather, Moses Ingersoll, was a large landholder of Great Barrington, Mass., and the former may have inherited some of this property, thereby paving the way for his Newburgh investment. He was born. in 1766, which made him 46 years old, when he came here in 1812.
At the age of 20, he had married Polly Barlow. They had nine children. She died in 1807, when 44 years old, and was buried in the Lee, Mass., Cemetery.
Elijah Ingersoll married 2nd, Betsey Thomas, who accompanied him and his eight children to Newburgh. She lived here but four years. Six months after her death, Mr. Ingersoll married 3rd, Mrs. Rosanna Churchill Parker, a widow with children.
The Ingersoll farm-house was five miles east of the Public Square. It stood on the north side of Ingersoll Road, near its junction with Rice Avenue. It was a large frame-building, with a wing, and was occupied continuously by five generations of Ingersolls, the last three of whom were born in it.
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The children of Elijah and Polly Barlow Ingersoll:
Clarissa Ingersoll, b. 1787; m. Amos Kingsbury.
Bathsheba Ingersoll, b. 1789; m. Justin Battles..
Nathan Ingersoll, b. 1791; m. Polly Perry.
Laban Ingersoll, b. 1793; m. Polly Burke ; 2nd, Olive Ormsby, 1821.
Levi Ingersoll, b. 1795; m. Deideman Parker.
Isaac Ingersoll, b. 1797; m. Betsey Parker
Elisha Ingersoll, b. 1799; unmar- ried ; d. 17 years old.
Lucinda Ingersoll, b. 1802; unmarried ; d. 25. years old.
Three of their children, Clarissa, Bathsheba and Nathan, were married before coming west.
Polly Perry married Nathan Ingersoll when she was 22 years old, and came with him on her wedding journey to Ohio in a wagon containing their household goods. During the first years of her residence in the wilderness, she was very much afraid of the Indians, who were quite numerous in the locality at certain seasons of the year.
One night, when sitting alone in their cabin, holding in her lap her first babe, then six months old, there came a loud noise at the door, as if some one had thrown himself against it. She was greatly frightened. Her only thought was "Indians." She rushed to the bedstead and hid her infant under the feather-bed, then went slowly and apprehensively to the door which was still being thumped. Upon opening it, in bounded a large black dog who evidently had lost his master and had the intelligence to seek shelter in a house.
Mrs. Nathan Ingersoll proved in later years to be a woman of great force of character. All her endowments fitted her for the hardships of pioneer life. She would walk miles to succor some needy family, or to nurse the sick. She never once turned away any one asking for shelter, or empty-handed when hungry.
Upon her 90th birthday she gave a party to her kin and with her own hands made cake for the occasion. The next day she walked a mile to the home of a relative and insisted upon milking the cow when the time came for it that evening. She was the daughter of Abraham and Temperance Hatch Perry of Lee, Mass. In the 68 years that she lived in this locality she saw Cleveland grow from the little hamlet of five houses, to be a great city of thousands of homes.
The children of Nathan and Polly Perry Ingersoll:
Adaline Ingersoll, b. 1813; m.Thomas Crosby..
Samantha Ingersoll, m. Charles Hall.
Jane Ingersoll, unmarried..
Lucy Ingersoll, m. John Kelly.
Edwin P. Ingersoll, m. Elizabeth Walters
John Ingersoll, m. Hannah Abbey.
Barlow Ingersoll, m. Katherine Ford Higgins
Levi Ingersoll lived all his Cleveland life in the old homestead, of which he held a life-lease from his father. His wife was a daughter of his step-mother. The latter was very kind to her husband's children.
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The original deed of the Ingersoll property is still in the possession of the family, and in the division of land the latter was simply transferred to children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Many of the family are yet living on the property, and not far from the site of the old homestead.
The children of Levi and Diedema Parker Ingersoll:
Clarissa Ingersoll, m. W. P. Hudson. He was a grandson of Ammihaz. Sherwin.
Catherine Ingersoll, m. Martin Winegart
Rose Ann Ingersoll, m. E. B Wood.
The early death of Polly Burke, first wife of Laban Ingersoll, leaving young children, was a tragedy for the latter.
Florilla, the eldest daughter, was but six years of age at the time, and was taken to the home of an aunt who cared for her until she was eleven years old. Then, giving her as many pennies as her years counted, the aunt told her that henceforth she must take care of herself. Which she proceeded to do, but just how the story does not relate. The Ingersolls, like most every other family of the time, were land-poor, the taxes on it were hard to meet, with money so scarce that every cent counted for as much as dollars do at the present day. Florilla married Henry Marble in 1838 and had three sons and two daughters.
Eliza Ann Ingersoll, born in 1819, was but an infant at her mother's death. She married Rufus Ruggles, son of Cyrus and Anna Stilson Ruggles. She was a very industrious woman and devoted to her four sons and two daughters. In her recollections of pioneer days the poverty of the community was often her theme. Baked potatoes moistened with milk was sometimes the only fare for weeks at a time.
The Ingersoll family burial-lots are in the East Cleveland Cemetery and the Congregational Churchyard in East Cleveland.
1812
DIBBLE
Previous to the year 1811, Elisha Dibble and family were living in Aurelius, N. Y. Mrs. Dibble was Phebe Stone, the daughter of Ebenezer and Mary Stone, and she was married in 1791.
They had a large family of children, every year or two adding to the number, until, by September, 1810, there were nine in all, Samuel, the oldest, 18 years of age, and the youngest, Lyman, had just opened his eyes upon a world where babies were almost at a discount. However, Lyman may have been just as dear to the household as any that had preceded him. But the parents began to look the future in the face with dismay. They had ambitions for their young brood that they felt would never be realized by remaining where they were, and in seeking for some
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more favorable location, they were persuaded to remove to the River Raisin, or Monroe, Mich., as it was afterward called.
They were preceded or followed by other eastern people, so that the place was quite a settlement. The War of 1812 broke out within a year. Rumors of British troops and Indians advancing from Detroit upon them reached Monroe, and panic-stricken, every one began to flee, as they thought, for their lives, toward Fort Meigs or Cleveland.
Mr. Dibble and Mr. Kent secured a small boat, placed their families in it with such clothing, bedding, and food. as could be stored away, and started for Cleveland. The first night they encamped near Sandusky, the next one many miles eastward, and so, working their way close to shore until they reached the mouth of Rocky River, where they remained a day or two, while the women washed clothing, and the children stretched their cramped limbs.
When Cleveland was reached, there was found to be a scarcity of dwellings, causing much anxiety and delay in procuring shelter for such a big boat-load of adults and children. But the hospitable doors of Rudolphus Edwards' double log-house on Woodland Hills Road opened to the weary, discouraged refugees, and they here remained until one of their own was erected.
Elisha Dibble seems to have been a patriot ready to sacrifice for his country, for in spite of his large family and unsettled circumstances, he raised a local company of volunteers, of which he took command, and joined Gen. Perkins at Huron. He remained in service until taken very ill, returning home only in time to die. His family was so rejoiced to see him, and so overcome at his physical condition, that they all shed tears. A little daughter of Rudolphus Edwards, happening to be there at the time and seeing his sword and gun, and the excitement his arrival had created, thought something dreadful was about to happen, and ran home as fast as her little legs would carry her. Capt. Dibble was but 43 years of age when he died. Samuel Dibble, the oldest son, who had joined Capt. Dibble's company, remained in the army until the close of the war.
He then took his father's place in caring for his mother, brothers, and sisters. He bought 50 acres of farming land south of Doan's Corners, near Fairmount and Cedar Avenues, and placed the family upon it.
While living here, the wolves were very troublesome. They howled around the house at night, terrifying the children, and adding to the mother's worries and forebodings. But after a while, the whole family became so accustomed to their weird noise that they ceased to fear or to lose sleep by it.
Elisha Dibble's death occurred in 1813, and each succeeding year, for a time, Mrs. Dibble suffered bereavement in the loss of children. Her daughter, Polly Dibble, 18 years of age, died the following one. Hosea Dibble, 15 years old, died in 1815, in 1816 Lavina Dibble Williams, 23 years of age, in childbed, and later, Martin Dibble, who had gone south in search of fortune, died there.
The rest of the children were: Anson, Lovisa, Lewis, and Lyman Dibble. The latter died at 20 years of age.
Samuel married, 1st Miss Jewett of Newburgh, 2nd Miss Tibbitts, and moved to Elkhart, Ind. They had but one child, named Phebe for her
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grandmother, who married Frank Dean, and still resides in Elkhart. Anson Dibble moved to Porter, Mich., married a Miss Lydia Odell, and two of their children are still living in that town. Lewis Dibble proved to be the one child in the large family who remained in Cleveland, and bequeathed the Dibble name to posterity. He sailed on the lakes for 17 years, and for a time had charge of the U. S. Marine Hospital, still standing on Lake Street. We find his name in connection with other public services, and in view of al