CHAPTER VIII FIVE YEARS OF VILLAGE LIFE Having secured an official organization for the little village that was to become a metropolis, we may with propriety quicken our pace as we move on from the then to the now. As stated in the preceding chapter, the first president of the village was Alfred Kelley ; in less than a year he resigned and was succeeded by his father, Daniel Kelley, who held the office, by unanimous elections, until 1819. In 1820, Horace Perry was elected and, in 1821, Reuben Wood; then came Leonard Case who served until 1825, when he failed to qualify on his election and Eleazur Waterman, the recorder, became president ex officio. Here the record becomes defective; it is probable that Mr. Waterman continued to serve as president and recorder until 1828, when he resigned on account of poor health. In May of that year, Oirson Cathan (a son-in-law of Lorenzo Carter) was elected. Dr. David Long was elected in 1829 ; Richard Hilliard in 1830 and 1831; John W. Allen served from 1832 to 1835. In 1836, came a city charter with a mayor as its chief administrative officer. In 1815, Alfred Kelley received twelve votes; in 1835, Mr. Allen received 106 - a fair index of the growth of the village. FIRST VILLAGE LEGISLATION The following resume of village legislation, chiefly a condensation of the record written by Mr. Kennedy, will probably be sufficient for the purpose of this volume: In January, 1816, Ashbel W. Walworth, a son of John and the corporation clerk, was officially ordered not to "issue any amount of bills greater than double the amount of the funds in his hands." In 1817, it was ordered that "the several sums of money which were by individuals subscribed for the building of a school-house, in said village, to be refunded to the subscribers." In 1818, the first recorded ordinance provided that "if any person shall shoot or discharge any gun or pistol within said village, such person so offending shall, upon conviction, be fined in any sum not exceeding -five dollars, nor under fifty cents, for the use of the said village." In 100 - 1815] - VILLAGE AND TOWN - 101 1820, ordinances were passed forbidding the running of swine at large, or butchering within the limits of the village except under certain regulation ; prescribing permits for the giving of shows and penalties for allowing geese to run at large; forbidding horse racing and fast driving, etc. In 1823, the planting of shade trees in the streets was regulated by ordinance. In 1825, a tax of one-fourth of one per cent was laid on all the property in the village, and Canal Street, Michigan Street, Champlain Street, and a part of Seneca (now West Third) Street were laid out. In 1828, a tax of two mills per dollar was ordered and, when the village trustees appropriated $200 to put the village in proper order, it was earnestly asked "what on earth the trustees could find in the village to spend two hundred dollars on ?" In 1829, the first fire engine was bought for $285, a market was established and regulated by ordinance, and the delinquent tax list was rather robust. In 1830, a village seal and a tax of half a mill on the dollar were ordered. In 1831, Prospect Street from Ontario to Erie (East Ninth) Street was laid out. In 1832, a tax of two mills on the dollar was ordered ; Dr. David Long and Orville B. Skinner were made a committee to buy a village hearse, harness and bier; and, in fear of the coming of the cholera, the first board of health was appointed as is set forth in the following record : "At a meeting of the board of trustees of the village of Cleaveland, on the 24th of June, 1832, present J. W. Allen, D. Long, P. May, and S. Pease, convened for the appointment of a board of health, in pursuance of a resolution of a meeting of the citizens of the village on the 23rd in- 102 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. VIII stant, the following gentlemen were appointed : Dr. [E. W.] Cowles, Dr. [Joshua] Mills, Dr. [Oran] St. John, S. Belden, Charles Denison." Subsequently, Dr. J. S. Weldon and Daniel Worley were added to the board. The preparations made in fear of the approaching plague were quickly justified by events, as will appear in the account of the "cholera scares" described in Chapter IX. In 1833, River Street, Meadow Street (West Eleventh Place), and Spring Street were laid out in the section between Water (West Ninth) Street and the river. Many new streets were laid out in 1834. While these things were being done, the township of Cleveland, of which the village was a part, was doing well. As was common then, even in the older parts of the country, many persons were notified to leave lest they become a charge upon the public. The trouble of an inadequate revenue seems to have been chronic, and relief was sought in 1817 by taxing every horse half a dollar and every head of horned cattle twenty-five cents per year, with the result that by 1821 the township tax had been increased to $86.02. The desire for holding office was not universal; about 1821, Peter M. Weddell refused to serve as an overseer of the poor and was fined two dollars for his unwillingness; several years later we find this entry in the records: "Be it remembered that Leonard Case and Samuel Cowles, declining to serve as overseers of the poor, after being duly elected for the township of Cleaveland for 1827, paid their fines according to the requisition of the statutes." John S. Clark, John Blair, and Reuben Champion in turn declined the proffered honor and paid their fines. The records also show that the indenturing of apprentices was not infrequent and throw light upon the details of transactions now little understood. Thus, in one case it was provided that "he will cause the said minor to be taught to read and write, and so much of arithmetic as to include the single rule of three, and at the expiration of said time of service, to furnish the said minor with a new Bible, and at least two suits of common wearing apparel." NOTABLE ARRIVALS OF 1816 Having thus briefly disposed of the chief legislative events of the village era, we turn to a short account of other matters not less important. In 1816, the assessed valuation of the real estate of "The City of Cleveland" as surveyed in 1796 (see Seth Pease map, page 24), was $21,065. A visitor to the village that year declared that "Cleaveland never would amount to anything because the soil was too poor," and spent the night at the Newburg tavern "because 1816] - VALUABLE RECRUITS - 103 it was the most desirable place for man and beast." Among the arrivals of that year were Leonard Case, Philo Scovill, and Noble H. Merwin, "notable additions to the population." Mr. Case had come to Ohio with his father, who settled on a farm near Warren in 1800. In the following year, when the son was about fifteen years of age, a severe illness left him a cripple. Seeing that he could not be a farmer, the lad determined to be a surveyor; in 1806, he became connected with the office of the land commissioner at Warren and thus gained much knowledge concerning the Western Reserve and the Connecticut Land Company. During the war with England, he was engaged in the collection of taxes from non-residents of the Reserve and thus added to his knowledge of land values, etc. In addition to his regular work, he studied law and was admitted to the bar. Why he came to Cleveland in 1816 will soon appear. Philo Scovill was the son of Timothy Scoville and came to Cleveland from Buffalo, then the family residence. The father was a millwright and his son was familiar with the use of tools, in fact, a carpenter and joiner. But in Cleveland he soon established himself in the drug and grocery business, which proved to be distasteful and unprofitable. Then, in company with Thomas O. Young, he built a sawmill on Big Creek, a little stream that empties into the Cuyahoga River near the southern limits of the city. After the mill was in successful operation, he branched out as a building contractor, the first competitor of Levi Johnson. Cleveland was growing in population, and Mr. Scovill was busy building stores and dwellings---and prosperous. In 1820, Nathan 104 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. VIII Perry sold to Timothy Scoville fifty feet front of lot No. 50 (see the Spafford map, page 97) on the north side of Superior Street for $300. Here Philo Scovill, in 1825, built the Franklin House, the largest tavern that Cleveland had yet seen, a three-story, frame building, "very spacious and furnished in a style not surpassed in this part of the state." In addition to managing his hotel, Mr. Scovill continued his business as builder and invested his savings in land. One of these purchases consisted of one hundred and ten acres extending along the north side of what is now Woodland Avenue from East Ninth Street to East Twenty-eighth Street. In this year (1816), Noble H. Merwin brought his family from Connecticut. It is said that he had visited Cleveland and built a log warehouse at the corner of Superior and Merwin streets in 1815. For years, Amos Spafford, the surveyor, had kept a small inn on lot 73 (see Spafford map, page 97) at the southeast corner of Superior Street and Vineyard Lane (later called South Water Street and now Columbus Road). In 1815, the lot was sold to George Wallace, and "Spafford's Tavern" became the "Wallace House." Since 1812, Wallace had kept a tavern on the south side of Superior Street west of Seneca (West Third) Street. When he bought Spafford's tavern, his former place passed to Michael Spangler who there kept Spangler's Inn until 1824 or later. In 1817, Wallace sold the "Wallace House" to David Merwin of Palmyra, Portage County; in 1822, the buyer sold it to Noble H. Merwin. The Merwins built a new, two-story tavern, the "Mansion House." For more than twenty years "it was Cleveland's favorite hotel and its owner, a popular and progressive man, was a leader in business and civic affairs." In 1822, Mr. Merwin launched, at the foot of Superior Street, the "Minerva," a schooner of forty-four tons, built by him at the corner of Superior and Merwin streets. In this year (1816), the "Cleaveland Pier Company" was incorporated "for the purpose of erecting a pier at or near the village of Cleaveland for the accommodation of vessels navigating Lake Erie." The incorporators were Alonzo Carter, A. W. Walworth, David Long, Alfred Kelley, Datus Kelley, Eben Hosmer, Daniel Kelley, George Wallace, Darius E. Henderson, Samuel Williamson, Sr., Irad Kelley, James Kingsbury, Horace Perry and Levi Johnson. But storms and quicksand quickly wrecked what they built and the project was a failure. No other pier was built into the lake for dockage until the famous Stockly's pier was built at the foot of Bank (West Sixth) Street, a third of a century later. 1816] - THE FIRST CHURCH - 105 FIRST CHURCH ORGANIZED The lament of the Rev. Mr. Badger over the apparent lack of piety in Cleveland in 1802 has been already noted in these pages. Whatever the cause, the Cleveland villagers refrained from doing much in the way of organized religious effort for more than a dozen years longer, but, on the ninth of November, 1816, there was a meeting at the house of Phineas Shepherd "for the purpose of nominating officers for a Protestant Episcopal Church." Timothy Doan was chosen moderator ; Charles Gear, clerk; Phineas Shepherd and Abraham Scott, wardens; Timothy Doan, Abraham Hickox, and Jonathan Pelton, vestrymen ; Dennis Cooper, reading clerk. The little company then adjourned "till Easter Monday next." This Phineas Shepherd (or Shephard) had come from Connecticut in 1815, and soon took up his residence on the west side of the river. His log house, in which this first church organization in Cuyahoga County was thus inaugurated was located on Pearl Street, Brooklyn, now called West Twenty-fifth Street, within a few hundred feet of the present St. John's Church, which stands at the corner of Church Avenue and West Twenty-sixth Street. On the second of the following March (1817), at a vestry meeting held at the court-house, attended by the church officers chosen at the meeting held at Phineas Shepherd's house in November, and by John Wilcox, Alfred Kelley, Irad Kelley, Thomas M. Kelley, Noble H. Merwin, David Long, D. C. Henderson, Philo Scovill, the Rev. Roger Searl of Plymouth, Connecticut, and others, it was resolved that the persons present were attached to the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States and that they did unite themselves into a congregation by the name of "Trinity Parish of Cleaveland, Ohio, for the worship and services of Almighty God according to the forms and regulations of said church." A second election was held a few days later at which officers were chosen for "Trinity Parish of Cleaveland," but the village was small and the church had no house in which to hold its meetings. There was no settled minister, but the services of lay readers were secured, and Mr. Searl, who for nine years looked after the struggling parishes in northern Ohio, made occasional visits. In 1818, says Dr. John Wesley Brown, a former rector of Trinity Parish, Cleveland, Mr. Sear' "organized the Episcopal Church called Trinity, Brooklyn," and on that day, Philander Chase, the first Episcopal bishop of Ohio, "confirmed a class of ten candidates in Trinity, Brooklyn, among whom was the Hon. George L. Chapman." Then, for a time, there was a Trinity Parish, Cleveland, and a Trinity Parish, Brook- 106 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. VIII lyn, but, in May, 1820, a meeting of the Cleveland vestry declared "that it is expedient in future to have the clerical and other public services of the Episcopal Church in Trinity Parish, heretofore located in Cleveland, held in Brooklyn ordinarily, and occasionally in Cleveland and Euclid, as circumstances may seem to require." At the next annual convention of the diocese, Mr. Searl reported that "most of the efficient members of Trinity Church, Cleveland, being residents in the township and very flourishing village of Brooklyn, on the west side of the Cuyahoga River, and directly opposite the village of Cleveland, the Parish was induced at the last regular Easter meeting, to vote its permanent location and public services in Brooklyn. In consequence of this resolution, the word 'Cleveland' will in future be omitted in the records of that Parish. Their number is small; but the members are respectable and they now have the services of the Church regularly performed every Sunday." In 1823 and 1825, Bishop Chase "preached in Cleaveland but went over to Brooklyn for confirmation." In 1825, "the question of building a Church edifice having been raised, it was decided to have it located in Cleaveland and hold services on the east side of the river from thenceforth. Consequently, at the Ninth Annual Convention of the diocese held June 7, 1826, Trinity Parish was designated as being in Cleave- 1816] - A QUESTION OF PRIORITY - 107 land." In that year, the Rev. Silas C. Freeman became rector of Trinity Parish on a salary of $500 per annum, with the understanding that the church of the same denomination at Norwalk should employ him one-third or one-half of the time, paying their proportion of the five hundred dollars. Under this arrangement, Trinity Parish recrossed the river and services were held in the court-house. In 1827, Mr. Freeman succeeded in raising funds for a church. A lot was secured at the corner of St. Clair and Seneca (West Third) streets, and a frame church building, "distinctly gothic as to its details," was put up thereon "at a cost of $3,000.00 which was consecrated the 12th of August, 1829, and was the first house devoted to the worship of God in the present City of Cleveland." In 1828 (August 12), Trinity Parish of Cleveland was incorporated by special act of the general assembly, with Josiah Barber, Phineas Shepherd, Charles Taylor, Henry L. Noble, Reuben Champion, James S. Clark, Sherlock J. Andrews, Levi Sargeant, and John W. Allen as vestrymen and wardens. The first named three of these had taken part in the meeting held at Phineas Shepherd's house in Brooklyn in November, 1816, and later, after Trinity was taken away from Brooklyn, were among the organizers of the still existing St. John's parish. In December, 1835, the Rev. Seth Davis became the first rector of St. John's and, in 1836, a stone church was built at the corner of Church an Wall streets, now known as Church Avenue and West Twenty-sixth Street. The old church is still occupied as a church by St. John's parish. In 1855, Trinity parish consecrated a large stone church on Superior Street near Bond (East Sixth) Street which became the cathedral and, in its turn, gave way to the present Trinity Cathedral 108 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. VIII at the corner of Euclid Avenue and East Twenty-second Street. Whether Trinity Cathedral or St. John's Church is the oldest church organization in Cuyahoga County is still a mooted question, but the matter was prettily stated in the congratulations sent by the church to the cathedral on the occasion of their respective centennials, (November 9, 1916) : "Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland—our twin brother, born in the same log cabin, on the same day and hour, under the protecting roof of the Pioneer of Brooklyn, Phineas Shepherd. We have long since forgiven Trinity for leaving our bed and board and changing its name from Trinity, Brooklyn, to Trinity, Cleveland, as it was obliged to do when it set up housekeeping for itself . . . because its members on that side of the river became weary or afraid of crossing over to Brooklyn on Sundays on a floating bridge which sometimes floated out into the lake." KELLEY'S LARGE STONE HOUSE Alfred Kelley owned a piece of land extending from Water (West Ninth) Street to the river and overlooking the lake at the north. Here, near the corner of Water and Lake streets (West Ninth Street and Lakeside Avenue), he built a "somewhat pretentious" house, intending it for his parents, but before it was finished his mother died and the house became his home, for he soon went back to Lowville whence he had come and took thence a bride. Most of the accounts speak of this as Cleveland's second brick house and say that it was built in 1816, but the Kelley Family History says: "In 1814, he began the construction of a stone house on the bluff overlooking Lake Erie, a short distance easterly from the old lighthouse." In the summer of 1817, Mr. Kelley married and brought his bride to his still unfinished house in Cleveland. Some of the incidents of the home-coming are thus recorded by Mr. Kennedy : "He had purchased a carriage in Albany, and after the wedding the young couple set out in that vehicle for the new home he had found in the west. They drove to Buffalo, and as the roads had become quite difficult to travel, they decided to come the remainder of the distance on a schooner that was then lying in the harbor. As she was not yet ready to sail, they drove to Niagara Falls, and on the return found that the vessel had taken advantage of a favoring breeze, and gone on without them. They thereupon concluded to continue in their vehicle. Seven days were occupied in the trip, as the roads were in a fearful condition, and for portions of the distance both were compelled to walk. Upon reaching Cleveland they discovered 1816] - THE FIRST BANK - 109 that the schooner had not yet arrived in port. Their carriage was the first one seen in Cleveland, and was for a long time in demand upon special occasions. It was used by the senior Leonard Case, when he, also, went forth to bring home a bride." The house was occupied by Mr. Kelley and his wife until 1827 ; in it the first five of their children were born. The older of these children used to play on the beach of the lake where the so-called "Union Depot" now (1918) stands. The house was torn down about 1850. CLEVELAND'S FIRST BANK AND BANKERS In this year of Cleveland's first church organization, also came its first bank. A new general banking law, enacted by the general assembly for the improvement of the banking interests of Ohio, incorporated half a dozen banks, including the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie, and extended the charters of several more. The incorporators of this pioneer bank of Cleveland were John H. Strong, Samuel Williamson, Philo Taylor, George Wallace, David Long, Erastus Miles, Seth Doan, and Alfred Kelley. The bank was opened for business in a building that stood at the corner of Superior and Bank (West Sixth) streets. The rest of the short story of its life is told by an entry on a fly leaf of the largest of four record books still preserved by the Western Reserve Historical Society. The record runs thus: 110 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. VIII This ledger, with the two journals and letter-book, are the first books used for banking in Cleveland. They were made by Peter Burtsell, in New York, for the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie, which commenced business in August, 1816,—Alfred Kelley president, and Leonard Case, cashier. The bank failed in 1820. On the second day of April, 1832, it was reorganized and resumed business, after paying off its existing liabilities, consisting of less than ten thousand dollars due the treasurer of the United States. Leonard Case was chosen president, and Truman P. Handy, cashier. The following gentlemen constituted its directory : Leonard Case, Samuel Williamson, Edward Clark, Peter M. Weddell, Heman Oviatt, Charles M. Giddings, John Blair, Alfred Kelley, David King, James Duncan, Roswell Kent, T. P. Handy, John W. Allen. Its charter expired in 1842. The legislature of Ohio refusing to extend the charter of existing banks, its affairs were placed, by the courts, in the hands of T. P. Handy, Henry B. Payne, and Dudley Baldwin, as special commis- 112 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS [Chap. VIII sioners, who proceeded to pay off its liabilities and wind up its affairs. They paid over to its stockholders the balance of its assets in land and money, in June, 1844. T. P. Handy was then appointed trustee of the stockholders, who, under their orders, distributed to them. the remaining assets in June, 1845. Its capital was five hundred thousand dollars. The books were, prior to 1832, kept by Leonard Case, cashier. [Presented to the Historical Society of Cleveland by T. P. Handy, January, 1877.] Mr. Case was called from Warren to serve as the first cashier of the bank, on the recommendation of Judge James Kingsbury, "because he wrote a good hand and was a good accountant." The village was small and the business of the bank did not keep the cashier busy. Although he had been admitted to the bar, "he never was a trial lawyer, but he used his knowledge in adjusting business differences, particularly as to land, was frugal and bought land, so that at his death he was one of the rich men of Cleveland." He died 1816] - MEDIA OF EXCHANGE - 113 in 1864, leaving his property to his son, the. second Leonard Case who, by his generous contributions to 'philanthropic work in Cleveland, and by his endowment of the Case Library and the Case School of Applied Science, has forever linked the name of Case with that of Cleveland. As Alfred Kelley and Leonard Case were men of integrity and of the highest order of financial ability, we may safely assume that the early failure of Cleveland's pioneer bank was due to existing conditions and not to any fault of theirs. The local money market was then so cramped that, about 1817, the village trustees, to relieve the needs of the people, issued corporation scrip, popularly known as "shinplasters," ranging in value from six and a quarter cents to fifty cents, and "a silver dollar was divided into nine pieces, each passing for a shilling," i. e., twelve and a half cents. According to Mr. Orth, "the reorganization of this bank, in 1832, Vol. I-8 114 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. VIII was due to the distinguished historian, George Bancroft, who was then in Washington where he heard that its charter was good for several years and that the prospects for a bank in Cleveland were of the best. He provided, with others, capital of $200,000, and sent Truman P. Handy, one of Cleveland's ablest and wisest bankers, to be its cashier. Cleveland has thus become a double debtor to this national historian." As we shall see, Mr. Handy served Cleveland in various capacities, and always faithfully and well. At this time, the assessed "value of the real estate within the city, including the entire plat surveyed in 1796, was $21,065." To this information, add several descriptions that have been preserved for us and we get a pretty clear idea of what the village and its environs then were. In a personal statement by Captain Lewis Dibble, printed in the Annals of the Early Settlers Association, we are told that (going west), "on leaving Doan's Corners, one would come in a little time to a cleared farm. Then down about where A. P. Winslow now lives [Euclid Avenue and East Seventy-first Street] a man named Curtis had a tannery. There was only a small clearing, large enough for the tannery and a residence. There was nothing else but woods until Willson avenue [East Fifty-fifth Street] was reached, and there a man named Bartlett had a small clearing, on which there was a frame house, the boards running up and down. Following down the line of what is now Euclid avenue, the next sign of civilization was found at what is now Erie [East Ninth Street], where a little patch of three or four acres had been cleared, surrounded by a rail fence. Where the First Methodist Church [the Cleveland Trust Company's building] now stands, a man named Smith lived, in a log-house. I don't remember any building between that and the Square, which was already laid out, but covered with bushes and stumps." Mrs. Philo Scovill tells us that "many stumps and uncut bushes disfigured the Public Square, its only decoration being the log jail. The land south from Superior Street to the river was used as a cow pasture and was thought to be of little value." We also have the statement of Leonard Case that "the only streets fairly cleared were Superior west of the Square; Euclid road was made passable for teams, as was also part of Ontario street. Water street was a winding path in the bushes; and Union and Vineyard lanes mere paths to the river. Mandrake lane and Seneca and Bank streets were practically all woods; while Ontario street north of the Square, Superior east of it, Erie, Bond and Wood, were in a state of nature. A pass- 1817] - A VILLAGE SCHOOL-HOUSE - 115 able road ran out by Ontario street and the modern Broadway, to Newburg. The Kinsman road (Woodland avenue) was then altogether out of town." FIRST SCHOOL-HOUSE BUILT IN CLEVELAND In a small grove of oak trees on St. Clair Street near Bank (West Sixth) Street, on the east side of the lot now occupied by the Kennard House, a little school-house had been built by private subscription, the donors being John A. Ackley, Walter Bradrock, Alonzo Carter, John Dixon, Stephen S. Dudley, J. Heather, D. C. Henderson, Levi Johnson, Daniel Kelley, T. & I. Kelley, David Long, Edward McCarney, T. & D. Mills, Plinney Mowrey, Joel Nason, N. II. Merwin, Geo. Pease, Horace Perry, J. Riddle, James Root, William Trimball, Geo. Wallace, A. W. Walworth, Jacob Wilkerson, and Samuel Williamson, the several amounts ranging from two and a half to twenty dollars. In January, 1817, the village trustees voted that the sums given for this purpose by these public spirited citizens should be refunded to them from "the treasury of the corporation at the end of three years from and after the 13th of June, 1817," and that "the corporation shall be the sole proprietors of the said school-house." In later years, Miller M. Spangler, who learned to read at one of the schools kept in this building, made a sketch of it which is herewith reproduced. In his Early History of the Cleveland Public Schools, published by the board of education in 1876, Mr. Andrew Freese, Cleve- 116 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. VIII land's first superintendent of schools, says: "No description of this building is needed further than to say that it resembled a country district schoolhouse, being modeled upon that well-known and peculiarly constructed edifice, which has suffered no change in a century—one story, the size about 24x30, chimney at one end, door at the corner near the chimney, the six windows of twelve lights each placed high; it being an old notion that children should not look out to see anything. As a school-house of the olden time, some interest attaches to its history, but perhaps more from the fact that it was the first school property ever owned by Cleveland as a corporation. But the schools kept in it were not free, except to a few who were too poor to pay tuition. The town gave the rent of the house to such teachers as were deemed qualified, subjecting them to very few conditions. They were left to manage the school in all respects just as they pleased.. It was, in short, a private and not a public school." According to the Recollections of George B. Merwin, the school was opened with twenty-four pupils, and "the young men in the town were assessed to pay the master for the amount of his wages for the children of those parents who were unable to do so. . . . Religious services were regularly held here, Judge Kelley offering prayer, a young man read the sermon, and my mother led the singing; singing school was also kept here, taught by Herschel Foote, who came from Utica, N. Y., and established the first book-store in town." In addition to these improvements in educational matters, there were, in 1817, several improvements in commercial circles, "suggestive of an upward trend in business affairs. . . . Captain William Gaylord and Leonard Case put up the first frame warehouse down by the river, those in existence previously being of logs. Not long afterwards, Dr. David Long and Levi Johnson constructed another, of like character, near the same locality, and still another was built by John Blair." The first printing press set up in Cleveland was brought from Beaver, Pennsylvania, by its owner, Andrew Logan ; with it he brought such type and outfit as he had. Upon this hand press was printed a little four-page sheet with four columns to the page. According to Logan's prospectus, his paper, The Cleaveland Gazette and Commercial Register, was to be issued weekly, a promise that he was not able to make good, although he tried to keep faith with his few subscribers. The first issue of this first Cleveland newspaper bears date of July 31, 1818. Logan's type was so worn ("down to the third nick") that some of the matter printed was illegible, and a lack of paper sometimes delayed the days of publication and some- 1818] - THE FIRST NEWSPAPER - 117 times forced the issue of half sheets. On the eighth of December, Logan told his patrons that they need not expect any more issues of the Gazette and Register until he got back from a proposed trip to the nearest paper supply establishment, and the trip 'took two weeks. On the twenty-first of March, 1820, the publication of the paper was discontinued ; probably the result of the competition of a better equipped rival that appeared in 1819. 118 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. VIII In this year (1818), the first Methodist church in what is now Cleveland was organized in what was then Brooklyn. The Centenary of Methodism in Cleveland was celebrated (Sunday, September 15, 1918) with a parade of many thousands and two large memorial meetings, one at the Euclid Avenue Opera House and the other at the Hippodrome. REUBEN WOOD In 1818, came to Cleveland from Vermont a lawyer, Reuben Wood. He soon acquired an extensive legal practice, became a member of the state senate, chief-justice of the supreme court, and in 1849 and 1850 was elected governor of Ohio; he died at Rockport in Cuyahoga County in 1864. In the same year came Ahaz Merchant, a surveyor who did a great deal of engineering for the city and county prior to the employment of a city engineer, laid out the most important allotments in Ohio City, a part of the original Brooklyn township on the west side of the river, and, in the early railway building era, built the "Angier House," now long known as "The Kennard." He was the father of Silas Merchant, a famous business man and local politician of a later generation. The Ahaz Merchant map of Cleveland in 1835 appears on a later page of this volume. ID the same year also came Orlando Cutter who began business here with a stock of goods valued at $20,000—a big store for Cleveland in that day. That year also brought by schooner Levi Sargent and his family. His 1818] - THE FIRST STEAMBOAT - 119 son, John H. Sargent, became a famous civil engineer, early railway builder, and an active member of the Early Settlers Association, in the Annals of which he has put on record that "Orlando Cutter dealt out groceries and provisions at the top of Superior lane, looking up Superior street to the woods in and beyond the Public Square, and I still remember the sweets from his mococks of Indian sugar. Nathan Perry sold dry goods, Walworth made hats, and Tewell repaired old watches on Superior street. Dr. Long dealt out ague cures from a little frame house nearly opposite Bank street at first, but not long after from a stone house, that stood a little back from Superior street. The Ox Bow, Cleveland centre,' was then a densely wooded swamp. Alonzo Carter lived on the west side of the river, opposite the foot of Superior lane. He was a great hunter." In April, 1817, Ara Sprague arrived. In the indispensable Annals, he says: "I arrived a few weeks after the first census had been taken. Its population was, at that time, but one hundred and seventy-two souls; all poor, and struggling hard to keep soul and body together. Small change was very scarce. They used what were called 'corporation shinplasters' as a substitute. The inhabitants were mostly New England people, and seemed to be living in a wilderness of scrub oaks. Only thirty or forty acres had been cleared. Most of the occupied town lots were fenced with rails. There were three warehouses on the river; however, very little commercial business was done, as there was no harbor at that time. All freight and passengers were landed on the beach by lighter and smaller boats. To get freight to the warehouses, which were a quarter of a mile from the beach, we had to roll it over the sand, and load it into canal boats. The price of freight from Buffalo to Cleveland was $1 a barrel; the price of passage on vessels $10, and on steamboats $20." "WALK-IN-THE-WATER" MAKER CLEVELAND The last item in Mr. Sprague's schedule of prices, just quoted, suggests that there was a steamboat on Lake Erie at that time—and there was. For nearly a hundred years after the disappearance of "Le Griffon," the short-lived vessel that LaSalle had built, in 1679, on the Niagara River, five miles above the falls,* there were no sailboats on the great lakes. In 1763, two or three schooners were engaged in carrying the troops, supplies and furs between the Niagara and Detroit. In 1769, the "Enterprise" was built at Detroit, the * See Avery 's History of the United States and Its People, vol. 3, pages 173-177. 120 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. VIII beginning of a great industry there. As we have seen, shipbuilding was begun at Cleveland early in the nineteenth century. The building of the "Zephyr" by Major Carter and of the "Pilot" by Levi Johnson have been recorded in earlier pages of this volume. Prior to 1818, the "Ohio" of sixty tons had been built by Murray and Bixby; the "Lady of the Lake," thirty tons, by Mr. Gaylord, brother of the wife of Leonard Case; and the "Neptune," sixty-five tons, by Levi Johnson, and several other of less burthen. But now, on the twenty-fifth of August, in this year, 1818, the inhabitants of the village of Cleveland got their first glimpse of a new era in the navigation of the Great Lakes. On that day, the picturesque steamboat, "Walk-in-the-Water," named .after a chief of the Wyandot tribe, stopped at Cleveland on her way from Buffalo to Detroit. The incident was thus recorded in the Gazette and Register of the first of September: "The elegant steamboat, 'Walk-in-the-Water,' Captain Fish, from Buffalo, arrived in this place on Tuesday last on her way to Detroit. On her arrival she was greeted with a salute of several rounds of artillery from the point. She was visited by a number of gentlemen and ladies from the village, who were treated with the greatest attention and politeness by the officers and crew. She is calculated to carry three hundred tons and to accommodate about 1819] - ANOTHER NEWSPAPER - 121 one hundred passengers in the cabin exclusive of steerage and forecastle, for the accommodation of families. After remaining off the mouth of the river for a short time sh3 proceeded on her way to Detroit. The 'Walk in the Water' will run, propelled by steam alone, from eight to ten miles an hour. She is schooner rigged and in a gale will possibly work as well as any vessel on the lake." The run from Cleveland to Detroit was made in forty-four hours and ten minutes. This first steamboat on Lake Erie was wrecked at the mouth of Buffalo Creek in 1821. The second steamboat on the lake was the "Superior," which was launched at Buffalo in April of the following year. CLEVELAND HERALD FOUNDED In 1819, came a second and more successful venture in the publication of a Cleveland newspaper. In his Autobiography of a Pioneer Printer, Mr. Eber D. Howe says: "I commenced looking about for material aid to bring about my plan for putting in operation the `Cleaveland Herald.' With this view, I went to Erie, and conferred with my old friend Willes, who had the year before started the 'Erie Gazette.' After due consultation and deliberation, he agreed to re. move his press and type to Cleveland after the expiration of the first year in that place. So, on the 19th of October, 1819, without a sin- 122 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. VIII gle subscriber, the first number of the 'Cleaveland Herald' was issued. Some of the difficulties and perplexities now to be encountered may here be mentioned, as matters of curiosity to the present generation. Our mails were then all carried on horse-back. We had one mail a week from Buffalo, Pittsburg, Columbus, and Sandusky. The paper, on which we printed, was transported in wagons from Pittsburg, and at some seasons the roads were in such condition that it was impossi- 1818-19] - NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION - 123 ble to procure it in time for publication days. Advance payments for newspapers at that time were never .thought of. In a few weeks our subscription list amounted to about 300, at which point it stood for about two years, with no very great variation. These were scattered all over the Western Reserve, except in the County of Trumbull. In order to extend our circulation to its greatest capacity, we were obliged to resort to measures and expedients which would appear rather ludicrous at the present day. For instance, each and every week, after the paper had been struck off, I mounted a horse with a valise, filled with copies of the 'Herald,' and distributed them at the doors of all subscribers between Cleveland and Painesville, a distance of thirty miles, leaving a package at the latter place ; and on returning diverged two miles to what is known as Kirtland Flats, where another package was left for distribution, which occupied fully 124 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. VIII two days. I frequently carried a tin horn to notify the yeomanry of the arrival of the latest news, which was generally forty days from Europe and ten days from New York. This service was performed through the fall, winter, and spring, and through rain, snow, and mud, with only one additional charge of fifty cents on the subscription price; and as the number of papers thus carried averaged about sixty the profits may be readily calculated." The Herald was, at first, "printed and published weekly by Z. Willes & Company, directly opposite the Commercial Coffee House, Superior Street." In the following year, it was issued from "a building opposite Mowry's Tavern and a few rods from the Court House." In 1823, it. moved to a new building on Superior Street, "a few steps east of Spangler's Coffee House." In 1821, Mr. Howe sold his interest in the Herald and moved to Painesville where he became editor of the Telegraph. For several years the Herald had no local competitor. In this year (1819), came John Blair and the "picturesque" Joel Scranton. Blair came from Maryland with three dollars in his pocket ; a lucky speculation soon increased his capital and he opened a produce and commission store on the river. Scranton was born in Betchertown, Massachusetts, in 1793: He brought with him to Cleveland a schooner load of leather, the basis of his trading and his fortune. He became one of the prominent merchants of the village and bought the "Scranton Flats" on the west side of the river where 1819-20] - BUY LAND - 125 Scranton Road still perpetuates his name. He had a rich and plentiful fund of humor, but his opinions were convictions. "He was cool, even calculating and shrewd, yet his heart was kindly and his deeds generous. He was a keen reader of men, and possessed great mercantile abilities. He judged of the future of the village and judged wisely. He knew how, when and where to buy, when to sell and when to hold. With the growing place he became a substantial man, and as the years went on became a wealthy man." In 1828, he married Miss Irene P. Hickox. "Five children were born to them all but one of whom, together with their mother, preceded him to the tomb. Mrs. Mary S. Bradford, of Cleveland, is the only surviving child of Joel Scranton. To her his wealth descended, and through her it has cheered hundreds of hearts, alleviated suffering, lightened burdens, and aided many worthy institutions." In 1820, came Peter M. Weddell and Michael Spangler. Weddell "soon made himself one of the leading commercial factors of the village" and, a quarter of a century later, built the long-time famous "Weddell House" at the northwest corner of Superior and Bank (West Sixth) streets, where the Rockefeller Building now stands; Spangler's "Commercial House" was, for some years, one of the landmarks of the village. In this year, a line of stages to Columbus was put in operation, and another line to Norwalk. "In 1821, these efforts were followed by others, and two additional wagons were started, one for. Pittsburgh, and another for Buffalo." CHAPTER IX A GOOD BEGINNING AND A BAD ENDING In an interesting paragraph, Mr. Orth says that the Congregationalists and the Presbyterians, acting under a certain "plan: of union, cooperated to establish churches and missions throughout the Western Reserve. The oldest Congregational church in the limits of the city is the Archwood church in the Brooklyn District, organized in 1819 as a Presbyterian church, while the oldest Presbyterian church in the vicinity is that at the village of Euclid, organized by the Connecticut Congregational Missionary society, in 1807. Under this plan of union, churches organized in this district by Congregational missionary societies were united in a presbytery and were, therefore, counted as Presbyterians. Thus the Euclid Presbyterian church was a member of the Hartford Presbytery, and the Doan's Corners church, which for years occupied the corner of One Hundred and Fifth Street and Euclid Avenue, now the Euclid Avenue Congregational Church, was Presbyterian until 1862. The pres ent First Congregational church on Franklin Avenue and the Plymouth church were organized as Presbyterian churches, while the Old Stone church, organized in 1820, for so many years the mother of Presbyterian churches, was composed chiefly of Congregationalists, and organized by Congregational ministers. These facts explain the liberal character of Cleveland Presbyterians as deriving their forms of faith, as well as their leading laymen and clergymen from the Congregational centers of New England. At all events, the early history of these two great bodies of churches is inextricably interwoven." FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH On the nineteenth of September, 1820, and as the outgrowth of a union Sunday school of which Elisha Taylor was superintendent, fifteen persons, namely, Elisha Taylor and Ann, his wife, T. J. Hamlin, P. B. Andrews, Sophia L. Perry, Bertha Johnson, Sophia Walworth, Mabel How, Henry Baird and Ann, his wife, Rebecca Carter, - 126 - 128 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS- [Chap. IX Juliana Long, Isabella Williamson, Harriet How, and Minerva Merwin, gathered in the old log court-house and organized a Presbyterian church, the second church society in Cleveland, and chose the Rev. Randolph Stone as minister. For a time, the meetings were held in the court-house and later in the Academy building on St. Clair Street. The society was incorporated as the "First Presbyterian Society of Cleveland" in 1827; Samuel Cowles was chosen president; D. H. Beardsley, secretary; and Peter M. Weddell, treasurer. In 1828, says Mr. L. F. Mellen of blessed memory, "they worshiped in a hall on Superior street, where now stands the American House. It was rented for five years to be used on Sunday, but during the week was a dancing hall." The society having been incorporated in 1827, plans were adopted, and a building begun in 1832. On the twenty-sixth day of February, 1834, the first Presbyterian church 1820-21] - CHURCH SUPPLY - 129 in Cleveland was dedicated; it stood at the northwest corner of the Public Square and Ontario Street, the site of its second successor, the present "Old Stone Church" as it is commonly called. At that time, the number of communicants was ninety-four. Hitherto, there had been no settled minister and the supplies had been transient rather than stated. The ministers who supplied were as follows: The Rev. Randolph Stone, 1820-1821; the Rev. William McLean, 1822; the Rev. S. J. Bradstreet, 1823-1830; the Rev. John Sessions, 1831 (a part) ; the Rev. Samuel Hutchings, 1832-1833; and the Rev. John Keep, 1833-1835. The first settled pastor was the Rev. Samuel C. Aiken, who was called from Utica, New York, and came in 1835. A PIONEER BRIDGE SUBSCRIPTION That there was a bridge across the Cuyahoga River built or contemplated as early as 1821, is witnessed by a document recently received by The Western Reserve Historical Society. The document is "No. 5" of what probably was a series of such subscriptions. It reads as follows: We the Subscribers promise to pay Samuel Williamson, Nathan Perry, David Long, and Thos 0. Young or order each one severally for hisself and theirselves, the sum by us severally subscribed and which is annexed to our respective name for the purpose of erecting a free Bridge across the Cuyahoga River ; at the line between the lands of Leonard Case & Noble H. Merwin. All Cash Subscriptions shall be payable on demand after Said Bridge is finished all work & material Subscription. The work shall be done at any time upon demand after . said Bridge is commenced. And all materials shall be furnished after a contract is made for building the Said Bridge on demand & reasonable notice allowing sufficient time to procure the Same. And when the material is not named in the Subscription, the person subscribing shall furnish such materials as he shall be requested to procure. If any Grain be subscribed it shall be delivered at N. H. Merwins Ware House in Cleaveland ; or in Brooklyn, at the Ware House of A. Carters unless otherwise agreed upon by the holders of the Subscription. All materials to be delivered on the ground where the Said Bridge is to be erected at the usual Cash price where no price is affixed. Cleav Land, Nov. 16th 1821. This list bears the names of thirteen subscribers, none of whom promise the payment of money ; four promise three days' work each ; two promise five bushels of wheat each ; one promises four bushels ; five promise three bushels each ; and one signs his name without specifying the payment to be made. This document is accompanied by a letter from the late Henry C. White, long the probate judge of Cuyahoga Vol. I-9 130 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. IX County, who says that his father, Wileman White, "was the builder of the bridge and doubtless took this contract of subscription in part payment." Wileman White came from Berkshire County, Massachusetts, to Cleveland in 1815, entered upon business as contractor and builder, and died in 1841. I find no further evidence that the bridge was actually built. By this time, Cleveland had found itself and was certain of its further development. The increase in population soon became marked—the swift influx at hand sounds its warning that the personal era of this municipal history must soon be brought to a close. But before the coming of that close, I crowd in a few more characters who appeared upon the village stage—men who played their several parts so well that the story would be sadly marred by the omission of their names. JOHN W. WILLEY In 1822, John W. Willey, a native of New Hampshire and then twenty-five years of age, began the practice of law in Cleveland. "He was thoroughly fitted to make his way in a new and growing country. Well learned in the law, of a keen and penetrating mind, a logician by nature, and endowed with great eloquence and wit, he soon became a marked figure at the Ohio bar." He became the first mayor of Cleveland in 1836 and was re-elected in 1837. In speaking of the first city charter, Judge Seneca O. Griswold says : "It shows, on the part of its author, a clear understanding of municipal rights and duties. The language is clear and precise, and throughout its whole length it bears the impress of an educated, experienced legal mind. It was, undoubtedly, the work of the first mayor." Mr. Willey served half a dozen terms in the general assembly of the state, was a judge of the common pleas court of the county, and, at the time of his death in 1841, was president judge of the fourteenth judicial district. THE CLEVELAND ACADEMY The little schoolhouse on St. Clair Street that, in 1817, became the property of the village of Cleveland had become inadequate to the demands of the citizens of the coming metropolis of Ohio, in consequence of which a new building, about forty-five by twenty-five feet in size, was begun in 1821, on the north side of St. Clair Street and about half way between Seneca (West Third) and Bank (West Sixth) 1822] - A GRADED SCHOOL - 131 streets. It was named the " Cleveland Academy" and, when it was finished in 1822, the Cleaveland Herald called the attention of its readers to "the convenient academy of brick, with its handsome spire, and its spacious room in the second story for public purposes." Late in June, 1822, the two rooms on the first floor having been completed, the academy was opened with the Rev. William McLean as headmaster. For reading, writing and spelling, the tuition was $1.75 per term ; geography and grammar might be added for another dollar, while the full curriculum, including the higher mathematics, Latin, and Greek, was offered for $4.00 per term. Before long, as we shall soon see, "the spacious room in the second story" was needed and used for a senior department of the school. In 1823, Richard Hilliard, a former New York school-teacher, engaged in the mercantile business where the old Atwater building used to stand, and soon built up a large dry-goods and grocery trade. He later built a brick block on Water Street (West Ninth) at the corner of Frankfort, "moved into it, and extended his operations still further. In company with Courtland Palmer, of New York, and Edwin Clark, of Cleveland, he purchased a large tract of land on 132 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. IX the flats, and aided in opening that part of the city to manufacturing purposes. In his labor in connection with the creation of Cleveland's system of waterworks, as president of the incorporated village, and as one of the promoters of the city's railroad system, he gave a service of great value." He died in December, 1856. RUFUS P. SPALDING In March, 1823, Judge Rufus P. Spalding made his first visit to Cleveland. In the Annals of the Early Settlers' Association, he has given us a valuable picture of the village as it then was. He says : I came from Warren, in Trumbull County, where I then lived, in the company of Hon. George Tod, who was then president judge of the third judicial circuit, which embraced, if I mistake not, the whole Western Reserve. We made the journey on horseback, and were nearly two days in accomplishing it. I recollect the Judge, instead of an overcoat, wore an Indian blanket drawn over his head by means of a hole cut in the center. We came to attend court, and put up at the house of Mr. Merwin, where we met quite a number of lawyers from adjacent counties. At this time the village of Warren, where I lived, was considered as altogether ahead of Cleveland in importance ; indeed, there was very little of Cleveland, at that day, east and southeast of the Public Square. The population was estimated at four hundred souls. The earliest burying-ground was at the present inter, section of Prospect and Ontario streets. Some years afterward in riding away from Cleveland, in the stage-coach, I passed the Erie street cemetery, just then laid out. I recollect it excited my surprise 1823] - A NOTABLE TWO - 133 that a site for a burying-ground should be selected so far out of town. The court that I attended on my first visit was held in the old courthouse, that stood on the northwest quarter of the Public Square. The presiding judge was the Hon. George Tod, a well-read lawyer and a courteous gentleman, the father of our late patriotic governor, David Tod. The associate judges of the Common Pleas Court were Hon. Thomas Card and Hon. Samuel Williamson, Horace Perry was clerk, and Jas. S. Clarke, sheriff. The lawyers attending court were Alfred Kelley, then acting, prosecuting attorney for the county ; Leonard Case, Samuel Cowles, Reuben Wood and John W. 'Willey, of Cleveland; Samuel W. Phelps and Samuel Wheeler, of Geauga ; Jonathan Sloane, of Portage, Elisha Whittlesey, Thomas D. Webb, and R. P. Spalding, of Trumbull County. John Blair was foreman of the grand jury. Mr. Spalding was born in Massachusetts in 1798 and was graduated from Yale in 1817. He lived at Warren from 1821 to about 1837, when he moved to Ravenna from which place he was sent to the state legislature. Later, he moved to Akron and was elected a judge of the supreme court, in which high office he served four years. He moved to Cleveland about 1852 ; his name first :appears in the city directory in 1853. He took an honorable part in the professional, civic, and political activities of Cleveland and died in August, 1866. Now enters Harvey Rice,* the father of the public schools of Ohio. When he came to Cleveland, Mr. Rice was twenty-four years of age and a graduate of Williams College in Massachusetts. After a three days' rough passage by schooner from Buffalo, he was off the mouth of the Cuyahoga on the twenty-fourth of September, 1824. In the Annals of the Early Settlers, of which association he was the first president, Mr. Rice has told us that "a sand.:bar prevented the schooner from entering the river. The jolly boat was let down, and two jolly fellows, myself and a young man from Baltimore, were transferred to the boat with our baggage, and rowed by a brawny sailor over the sand-bar into the placid waters of the river, and landed on the end of a row of planks that stood on stilts and bridged the marshy brink of the river, to the foot of Union lane. Here we were left standing with our trunks on the wharf-end of a plank at midnight, strangers in a strange land. We hardly knew what to do, but soon concluded that we must make our way in the world, however dark the prospect. There was no time to be lost, so we commenced our career in Ohio as porters, by shouldering our trunks and groping our way up Union lane to Superior street, where we espied a light at some distance up the street, to which we directed our foot- * All stand and give the Chautauqua salute. 134 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. IX steps. . . . In the morning, I took a stroll to see the town, and in less than half an hour saw all there was of it. The town, even at that time, was proud of itself, and called itself the 'gem of the West.' In fact, the Public Square, so called, was begemmed with stumps, while near its center glowed its crowning jewel, a log courthouse. The eastern border of the Square was skirted by the native forest, which abounded in rabbits and squirrels, and afforded the villagers a 'happy hunting ground.' The entire population did not, at that time, exceed four hundred souls. The dwellings were generally small, but were interspersed here and there with a few pretentious mansions. . . . I came armed with no other weapons than a letter of introduction to a leading citizen of the town, and a college diploma printed in Latin, which affixed to my name the vainglorious title of A. B. With these instrumentalities I succeeded, on the second day after my arrival, in securing the position of classical teacher and principal of the Cleveland Academy." In 1825, ground was broken at Licking Summit for the Ohio Canal, the details of which will be given more fully in Chapter XI, 1825] - THE CLEVELAND HARBOR - 135 and the national government made its first appropriation for the improvement of the Cleveland harbor. At that time the bar at the mouth of the river still impeded navigation and, in March, congress appropriated $5,000, all of which was spent in building a pier into the lake from the east shore of the river. As the channel still remained precarious or impassable, congress made a larger appropriation and the government sent a member of the United States engineer corps under whose direction a second pier was built parallel to the first and still further east. Then the channel was changed and the river made to flow between the parallel piers. The work proved successful and resulted in giving Cleveland a good harbor. By 1828, there were at least ten feet of water in the channel. The canal and the harbor improvements gave the village a new impetus and, from that time, there was a marked growth ; the population increased ten-fold in a decade. 136 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. IX From the list of arrivals in 1825, I take the name of Melancthon Barnett, who began life in the village as a clerk in the store of Thomas P. May; subsequently the firm name became May and Barnett. Mr. Barnett served as a member of the Cleveland city council and was a vice president of the City Bank of Cleveland, which was incorporated in 1845 as an independent bank and, in 1865, developed into the National City Bank of Cleveland. But the chief claim of Melanethon Barnett upon the reverent remembrance of Cleveland and Clevelanders lies in the fact that he was the father of Gen. James Barnett. Another notable recruit of 1825 was Sherlock J. Andrews. He was a graduate of Union College and, like Mr. Allen, Connecticut born and a lawyer. He was elected to congress in 1840, and was judge of the superior court of Cleveland in 1848. He was a member of the state constitutional conventions of 1850 and 1873. "A brilliant advocate, a model judge, a cultured, high-minded gentleman." He died in 1880. In 1825, also came John W. Allen. He studied law with Judge Samuel Cowles and was five times elected village president, the last of that tribe. He served in the state senate and in congress, and, in 1841, was mayor of the city. He was one of the moving spirits in the building of our first railways and, from 1870 to 1875, was postmaster; in short, he was "conspicuously useful." He died in 1887. THE SECOND COURTHOUSE By 1826, it was generally agreed that the old court-house and jail in the northwest section of the Public Square had been outgrown, but when the matter of building a new one was brought up for discussion the dormant ambition of Newburg was aroused and her old claim was again put forward. In the opinion of the inhabitants of that town, "the decisive time had come when the question ought to be settled for all time and before any more money was expended in Cleveland. The battle was fought out to the end, and was the last one of which we shall hear, in the history of these two places that have now become one. There were three county commissioners by whom the question must be decided. One of them was removed by death, and it was found that the other two were equally divided, one favoring Newburg, and the other Cleveland. An election was held in 1826 to fill the vacancy. It was one of the hottest and most exciting that had as yet been seen in that section, all other issues being swallowed up in this great question. Dr. David Long, the Cleveland nominee, was elected by a small majority, and Cleveland's last struggle 1826] - A NEW COURT-HOUSE - 137 with Newburg was won." It was decided to locate the new court-house on the southwest section of the Public Square. Plans were adopted and work was begun that year. The building was finished in 1828 and court was held therein on the twenty-eighth of October of that year. As described by Mr. Kennedy, "it was two stories high, of brick, surmounted by a wooden dome, faced the lake, and was entered by a half dozen steps, front and rear. The lower story was divided into offices for use of the county officials, while the upper floor was used for court purposes. Two or three years later a substantial stone jail was erected in the rear of the court-house and across the street—a structure that, from its sombre appearance, was usually called the blue jug.' " A description of rare architectural merit will be given in the account of the contents of the first directory of Cleveland and Ohio City (1837) a few pages further on. In this building the public, judicial and administrative business of the county was carried on for nearly thirty years. In this year, Philo Scovill completed the Franklin House and opened its doors for the accommodation of his probable patrons, and a new cemetery was dedicated. This burying ground was then called the City Cemetery and contained two acres. Its area was subsequently enlarged to ten acres and its name changed to the Erie Street Cemetery. For many years it was Cleveland's chief place of burial. 138 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. IX David H. Beardsley came to Cleveland in 1826, from Connecticut via Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), Ohio, where he served as a judge and was elected to the state legislature. In 1827, he was appointed collector for the Ohio canal at its northern terminus, a position that he held for a score of years. "Not an error, either large or small was ever detected in his accounts." In the same year came Nicholas Dockstader, born at Albany in 1802. He soon went into business and was the leading hat, cap, and fur dealer in the city until his retirement from active business in 1858. He rendered valuable service in the city council after the incorporation of Cleveland in 1836 and was elected mayor in 1840. He died in 1871. Of him, it is of record, "he was a business man .who gave his time freely to the public when he could be of service, but who by no means made office-holding the purpose of his life." In 1827, congress made its second appropriation ($10,000) for the improvement of the Cleveland harbor; in 1828, the new court-house on the Public Square was completed; in 1829, the first fire engine was bought as already stated; and, in 1830, a light house was built "on the bluff at the end of Water Street, its lantern being one hundred and thirty-five feet above water level." In 1828, the first mineral "coal was brought to Cleveland and hawked about the streets. A few bushels were purchased for experiment, but the housewives objected to it on account of its blackness, preferring wood, a much cleaner and, at that time, more abundant article of fuel." GEORGE WORTHINGTON George Worthington was born at Cooperstown, New York, in 1813. After a few years of service as clerk in a hardware store at Utica, he came to Cleveland in 1829 and began business as a hardware dealer on his own account. His first store was on the corner of Superior Street and Union Lane, but three years later he moved to the northeast corner of Water (West Ninth) and Superior streets. A few years after that, James Barnett was admitted to partnership ; the enlarged firm entered the wholesale trade and soon had a business of a million dollars a year. The firm of George Worthington and Company is still one of the strong business institutions of the city. Mr. Barnett became the second president of the company, a major-general in the civil war, president of the First National Bank and of the Associated Charities, and was officially connected with many similar philanthropic organizations. He was often called "Cleveland's Grand Old Man." In 1903, in presenting a certificate designating 1829] - THE FIRST HARDWARE STORE - 139 him as an honorary life member of the Children's Fresh Air Camp, Dr. Elroy M. Avery, the president of the camp, said: "It is a matter of congratulation that it goes to one who, in all the varied walks of a long and honorable life, has played every part well—in war and in peace, in business and philanthropy ; to one who has shown his friends how to grow old beautifully ; to one who, by common consent, is admitted to be what I now formally proclaim you to be, The First Citizen of Cleveland." VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS AND HAPPENINGS George Hoadley, Seth A. Abbey, Norman C. Baldwin, and Richard Winslow came in 1830, and Milo H. Hickox in 1831. Mr. Hoadley had been a tutor at Yale College, a newspaper writer, and had served as mayor of New Haven, Connecticut. From 1832 to 1846, he was a justice of the peace. One of our city historians calls him "one of the marked men of his day" and another says that, as a justice of the peace, "he remains our model. He decided over twenty thousand cases, few were appealed, and none were reversed." He was mayor of Cleveland from 1846 to 1848. In 1849, the family moved to Cincinnati, where his son, born at New Haven in 1825 and graduated at Western Reserve College in 1844, began the practice of law. This son was elected governor of Ohio in 1883. Mr. Abbey became city marshal and judge of the police court ; Mr. Baldwin entered the produce commission business in partnership with Noble H. Merwin. In later years, Mr. Baldwin was engaged in banking and real estate business. He became 1831] - DOMESTIC DIFFICULTIES - 141 the owner of a large tract of land extending from East Ninety-third Street to the eastern limits of Luna Park and from Quincy Avenue to Woodland Avenue. Mr. Winslow brought considerable capital and engaged in the wholesale grocery business. Mr. Hickox had hard luck at the beginning as appears from a confidential letter that he wrote to a friend and later had the pluck to print in the Annals of the Early Settlers' Association. In this letter he said : Cleveland is about two-thirds as large as Rochester, east side of the river, and is the pleasantest sight that you ever saw. The streets are broad and cross each other at right angles. The court-house is better than the one in Rochester; the rest of the .buildings altogether are not worth more than four of the best in that place, and one room of a middling size rents for one dollar per month. Everything that we want to live upon commands cash and a high price. Mechanics' wages are low. Journeymen get from $10 to $20 per month and board ; I get nine shillings and six pence per day, and board myself. I have the best of work. Now for the morals. There are between fifteen and twenty grogshops, and they all live. There was one opened here last week by a man from Rochester. There is a temperance society, with ten or a dozen male members. The Presbyterian church has fahr male members, Baptist six, Methodist about the same, the Episcopal is small ; they have a house, the others have not. The court-house is used at this time for a theatrical company, and is well filled with people of all classes. My health has not been good since we have been here. About four weeks since, we awoke in the morning and found ourselves all shaking with the ague. I had but one fit myself. My wife had it about a week, every day, and my son three weeks, every day, and what made it worse, my wife and son both shook at the same time. I spent one day in search of a girl ; gave up the chase and engaged a passage for my wife to Buffalo, to be forwarded to Rochester. She was to leave the next morning. I was telling my troubles to an acquaintance, who told me that he would find a girl for me, or let me have his rather than have my family leave, so we concluded to stay. THE CLEVELAND ADVERTISER APPEARS In the early part of this year (January 6, 1831), the first number of the Cleveland Advertiser, a weekly paper, was issued by Henry Bolles and Madison Kelley. Although the proprietors acknowledged no political affiliation, their paper was anti-Jacksonian and anti-Masonic. The Advertiser became a daily paper in 1836. Henry B. Payne came to Cleveland in 1832 and, as already stated, married the daughter of Nathan Perry, Jr. He ably managed the landed estate that his wife inherited, took an active part in public affairs, serving as a member of the city council and the state senate, as a representative in congress and as a United States senator. He 142 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS- [Chap. IX was a member of the first board of waterworks commissioners, one of the sinking fund commissioners, and one of the congressional commission that settled the dangerous Hayes-Tilden presidential controversy. He was actively identified with the railway interests of the community and did much toward the upbuilding of the city. He died in 1896. In any history of Cleveland the name of Henry B. Payne must be written large. When the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie was reorganized in 1832, as already recorded, the directors called from Buffalo a bright young man to act as cashier. In response to the call, Truman P. Handy, then twenty-five years old, came with his young bride and entered upon his long and successful career as one of the great bankers of Cleveland.* He was a member of the board of education, a trustee of Adelbert (Western Reserve University) and Oberlin colleges, and of the Lane * See portrait on page 110. 1832] - THE CHOLERA - 143 Theological Seminary. For more than fourscore years, he was an elder of the Second Presbyterian church and actively interested in its Sunday school work. He died in 1898. Another arrival of this year was Timothy P. Spencer, one of the founders of the Cleveland Advertiser and, in later years, the Cleveland postmaster. The year also saw the organization of a church in Newburg, "Congregational in form although attached to the Cleveland Presbytery. It came into existence at the residence of Noah Graves, under the direction of the Rev. David Peet, of Euclid, assisted by the Rev. Harvey Lyon. A temporary place of worship was fitted up in a carpenter's shop, and services were held occasionally under the leadership of the Rev. Simeon Woodruff, of Strongsville. This organization became known in later days as the South Presbyterian Church." But there was another arrival in 1832—far less welcome but, fortunately, a transient. The preparations made at Cleveland on account of the expected Indian cholera, have already been mentioned. At that time, medical science "had not robbed this eastern plague of its terrors, so, when the alarm was sent through the west that death in its worst form of wholesale slaughter was approaching, the people of Cleveland, like their neighbors, were panic-stricken, and ready to resort to any measures for protection. Toward the end of May, an emigrant ship landed at Quebec with a load of passengers, and the cholera aboard. It spread over that city with great virulence; moved up the St. Lawrence River; attacked Montreal, where its effects were fatal in most cases. A feeling of panic spread rapidly through all the lake region, as it was known that the march of the scourge, in that direction, would be certain and rapid." In a communication to the newly-created board of health (see page 101), the village president, John W. Allen, said : "At a public meeting of the citizens of this village yesterday to adopt measures in relation to the anticipated arrival of the Indian cholera within our limits, it was determined that a committee of five persons be appointed, whose duty should be to inspect any vessels arriving here from Lake Ontario, or any port on the lake where the cholera does or may exist; to examine all cases that may be suspicious in their character, either on the river or in the village; to examine into the existence of, and cause to be removed, all nuisances that may have a tendency to generate or propagate the disease. . . . And, also, that they erect or procure a suitable building for the reception of strangers, or others, who may be attacked, or who have not the proper accommodation of their own." The village trustees 'also passed an ordinance providing for the inspection of vessels and the placing of them in 144 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. IX quarantine. The apprehension and dread of the villagers constituted a veritable "scare," the story of which Mr. John W. Allen has put on record for us. The Black Hawk war was then raging in Illinois and Wisconsin and "the Indians were all on the war path. The garrison at what is now Chicago had been massacred, and every white man, woman, and child they could hunt out, murdered. With a horrible pestilence threatened in the east and at home, too, and a war of extermination in progress in the west, it may well be inferred the popular mind was in a high state of excitement. About June, General Scott was ordered to gather all the troops he could find in the eastern forts at Buffalo, and start them off in a steamboat in all haste for Chicago. . . . Incipient indications of cholera soon appeared, and some died, and by the time the boat arrived at Fort Gratiot, at the foot of Lake Huron, it became apparent that the effort to reach Chicago by water would prove abortive. General Scott, therefore, landed his men, and prepared to make the march through the wilderness, three hundred miles or more to Chicago" and sent the boat, with a number of sick soldiers, back to Buffalo. Before the boat, the "Henry Clay," arrived at Cleveland, half a dozen men had died and their bodies had been thrown overboard, and others were sick. "Early in the morning of the tenth of June," continued Mr. Allen, "we found the 'Clay' lying fast to the west bank of the river, with a flag of distress flying, and we knew the hour of trial had come upon us, thus unheralded. The trustees met immediately, and it was determined at once that everything should be done to aid the sufferers, and protect our citizens so far as in us lay. I was deputed to visit Captain Norton and find what, he most needed, and how it could be done. A short conversation was held with him across the river, and plans suggested for relieving them. The result was that the men were removed to comfortable barracks on the West Side and needed appliances and physicians were furnished. Captain Norton came ashore and went into retirement, with a friend, for a day or two, and the 'Clay' was thoroughly fumigated, and in three or four days, she left for Buffalo. Some of the men having died here, they were buried on a bluff point on the West Side. But, in the interim, the disease showed itself among our citizens in various localities, among those who had not been exposed at all from proximity to the boat, or to those of us who had been most connected with the work that had been done. The faces of men were blanched, and they spoke with bated breath, and all got away from here who could. How many persons were attacked is unknown now, but in the course of a fortnight the disease became less virulent 1832] - SICKNESS AND SERVICE - 145 and ended within a month, about fifty having died. About the middle of October following, a cold rain storm occurred, and weeks, perhaps months, after the last case had ceased of the previous visitation, fourteen men were seized with cholera and all died within three days. No explanation could be given as to the origin, no others being affected, and that was the last appearance of it for two years. In 1834, we had another visitation, and some deaths occurred, but the people were not so much scared." In the personal statement printed in the Annals of the Early Settlers' Association, from which statement I have already made quotation, Captain Lewis Dibble says : "I was here in the two cholera scares. We had heard a great deal of it, and some marvelous tales were told of men walking along the streets and falling dead, with others of the same character. It was in 1832. I was on the schooner 'America,' and Mr. May asked me whether I would lay up or go on to Buffalo, where the disease was then raging. I replied that I would probably have to face it one place or another, and that it might as well be Buffalo as here. We accordingly went down. We saw a great many hearses going to and fro, and I must confess that things did not look pleasant. When we came back (to Cleveland) we found a guard on the dock, as the people were determined that no ships with cholera On board should stop here. . . . When the 'Henry Clay' came in here on her way back from carrying troops up to the Black Hawk war, she had a number of cases on board. There was great excitement, and many declared she should not remain, some wishing to go down and burn her. . . . On one occasion water was wanted at the cholera hospital on Whisky Island, and no one could be got to take it there. My vessel was at the foot of Superior street. We took two casks to a spring near Superior street, filled them, and then rowed them down the river to the point of destination. Word came in from Doan's Corners that Job Doan, the father of W. H. Doan, was down with it and needed help. A man named Thomas Coolihan and I agreed to go out and see him. We got a buggy and went to the Franklin House, where we waited a long time before a couple of doctors whom we expected came in. They then mounted another buggy and we drove out, the hour being quite late. We all four went in. The doctors looked at him, shook their heads, and going out returned to the city. He was in great agony. When we, the other two, went up to the bed, he took our hands, and by his look showed that he was in great pain.. Captain Stark and a man named Dave Little stood over him, rubbing him all the time. It was no use. We remained about an hour and then returned to the city. An hour after we left, he died." Vol. I-10 CHAPTER X GROWTH OF MIND AND BODY Charles Whittlesey, now better known as Colonel Whittlesey, was born at Southington, Connecticut, in 1808; his father settled in Tallmadge, Ohio, in 1815. In 1827, the son entered the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was graduated in 1831 and became a brevet second lieutenant in the Fifth United States Infantry and, in November, set out to join his regiment at Mackinac. At the close of the Black Hawk war, he resigned from the army. About that time (1832) he opened a law office in Cleveland and soon became part owner and co-editor of the Whig and Herald. In 1837, he was appointed assistant geologist of Ohio; associated with him was Dr. J. P. Kirtland who was entrusted with the natural history work. At the end of two years, the survey was discontinued, but not until it had disclosed the rich coal and iron deposits of eastern Ohio ; thus laying the foundations for the vast manufacturing industries that have made that part of the state populous and prosperous. In a resume of this work, Professor Newberry has said that the benefits derived "conclusively demonstrate that the geological survey was a producer and not a consumer, that it added far more than it took from the public treasury, and deserved special encouragement and support as a wealth producing agency in our darkest financial hour. . . . It did much to arrest useless expenditure of money in the search for coal outside of the coal fields. . . . It is scarcely less important to let our people know what we have not, than what we have, among our mineral resources." But that is an economic truth that often has proved difficult to pound into the understanding of an Ohio legislature. In 1839 and 1840, he made examination of many of the prehistoric works then known to exist in the state, including the extensive works at Newark and Marietta.* For several years, he was engaged in surveys of the * See Avery 's History of the United States and Its People, vol. I, pp. 44-49, 59-62. - 146 - 148 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. X copper and iron-ore regions of Michigan and Wisconsin, but at the outbreak of the civil war he turned from such employment and soon became colonel of the Twentieth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He planned and constructed the defences of Cincinnati and was in command of his regiment at the taking of Fort Donelson. At Shiloh, he commanded a brigade,- soon after which, because of long-continued ill health, he tendered his resignation and retired from •          the army. General Grant endorsed his resignation thus : "We cannot afford to lose so. good an officer." Colonel Whittlesey soon turned his attention again to explorations in the Lake Superior and Upper Mississippi basins, researches that added to the mineral wealth of the country. But the work for which he is now best known was at hand. The Western Reserve Historical Society was organized in May, 1867, upon the suggestion of Judge Charles Candee Baldwin who became its secretary, but Mr. Baldwin says that all looked to Colonel Whittlesey "to lead the movement and none other could have approached his efficiency or ability as president of the society." In a memorial notice before the Civil Engineer's Club, Mr. J. P. Holloway said : Colonel Whittlesey will be best and longest remembered in Cleveland and on the Reserve, for his untiring interests and labors in seekin to rescue from oblivion the pioneer history of this portion of the state and which culminated in the establishment of the present Western Reserve Historical Society, of which for many years he was the presiding officer. It will be remembered by many here, how for was little else of the Western Reserve Historical Society years there except its active, hardworking president. For several years before his death, Colonel Whittlesey was confined to his home by rheumatism and other disorders, but if he could no longer travel about the city he could write. His Early History of Cleveland was published in 1867; the list of his books and pamphlets, compiled by Judge Baldwin, enumerates one hundred and ninety-one. In his last few years, the relation of religion to science engaged much of his thought; his last published work consists of a series of articles on Theism and Atheism in Science: On the morning of Sunday, the seventeenth of October, 1886, he was seized with a chill ; he died early in the morning of the following day.* * In the preparation of this. sketch, I have made very full and free use of a Memorial of colonel Charing Whittlesey, late President of the Western Reserve Historical Society, prepared by Judge Baldwin, and printed in the Society 's Tract, No. 68. 1832] - OHIO'S BLACK LAWS - 149 THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW In 1793, congress passed a fugitive slave law providing that, on the owner's giving proof of ownership before a magistrate of the locality where the slave was found, the magistrate should order the slave delivered up to him without trial by jury. Hindering arrest or harboring a runaway slave was punishable by fine of five hundred dollars. The law was open to much abuse and was much abused ; many free negroes were kidnapped from the northern states. In 1804, the Ohio legislature decreed that "no black or mulatto person shall be permitted to settle or reside in this state unless he or she shall first procure a fair certificate from some court within the United States of his or her actual freedom and requiring every such person to have such certificate recorded in the clerk's office in the county in which he or she intended to reside." Any person who employed a negro or mulatto person not thus registered was subject to a fine. In the same year, the. legislature made it 'a legal offense to harbor or secrete any black or mulatto person and levied a fine of one thousand dollars upon any one who aided the escape of any such person who was "the property of another." Three years later (1807), Ohio law required every such person to give a bond before settling in the state, such bond to be signed by two or more freehold sureties and "conditioned for the good behavior of such negro or mulatto and to pay for the support of such person in case he or she be found within any township unable to support him or herself." For years, while there was little north and south traffic through the state, these statutes were practically dead letters, mere "scraps of paper;" but when the Erie-Ohio "canal was opened and colored people began to pass through Cleveland, then the rigor of the law, particularly of the national fugitive slave law, aroused the slumbering animosities of the people." LOCAL ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENT The fact that there was an anti-slavery society in Cleveland as early as 1810, has already been noted. In 1827, was organized, the short-lived Cuyahoga County Colonization Society. This was a branch of a national organization that sought the removal of negroes from the United States to Africa, hoping thus to secure the voluntary emancipation of slaves by their masters and the gradual abolition of the peculiar institution. Its president was Samuel Cowles; its vice presidents were the Rev. Randolph Snow, Nehemiah Allen, Datus Kelley, Josiah Barber, and Lewis R. Dille. A. W. Walworth was