CHAPTER I. MRS. B. ROUSE, FOUNDER OF WOMAN'S WORE IN CLEVELAND-UNION PRAYER MEETING-THE LADIES' TRACT SOCIETY. WOMEN'S lives are richer and broader in this century than ever before. The world is educated, now, to know that besides keeping well ordered homes and caring for loved ones, we may work for humanity; may seek our own improvement. This inner and outer life, happily combined, prevents narrowness; removes from frivolity and unworthy pursuits; develops unselfishness, furnishing a channel for the outflow of Christly affection toward all the world. Cleveland. Women have ever been foremost in philanthropic endeavor; it is just that we gather from the past and the present some record of their fruitful toil in the white harvest field, whither we were sent to glean. In these days of God-speed to all good work, when the silver and the gold are poured into Willing hands wherewith to establish 16 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND dispensaries, hospitals, homes for the homeless, centers of relief, reform, and means of educational and industrial advantage, it is appropriate to review the infancy of humanitarian work within this city's limit. These beginnings imply woman's struggle with poverty, with difficulty almost insurmountable. It was a bright October morning that I called upon the founder of woman's work in Cleveland—Mrs. Rebecca Cromwell Rouse, then upward of four-score years, passing her evening time with a daughter, Mrs. Loren Prentiss. She was born in Salem, Mass., October 30th, 1799 ; her childhood was spent in affluence, her education liberal. With remarkable intellectual and spiritual gifts, her mind always retained the culture acquired by early years of travel and familiarity with nearly all lands beneath the sun. Endowed with Puritanic energy, resolute of soul and studious to please only her Lord, we found her looking backward with joy and forward with rejoicing when she should enter into the King's palace. At the date of her conversion, in 181o, there were but few Sunday schools in America, and the little children of New England churches went each Sabbath morning to recite the Westminster catechism to the Seven Deacons. AND THEIR WORK - 17 At eighteen, Miss Rebecca Cromwell married Benjamin Rouse, a young man in the business circles of Boston, Mass. In 1825, they removed to the City of New York, where, under the lead of Arthur Tappan, she visited the byways and worst localities of the metropolis. In time, both, herself and husband decided, upon the request of the American Sabbath School Union, to go as missionaries to the Western Reserve, with residence and headquarters at Cleveland, 0 After parting with friends, particularly those of the Delaney Street Baptist Church, they journeyed many days, arriving at this port October 19th, 1830. At that time there was no village above the Public Square, the population numbering one thousand. Euclid avenue was known as the Buffalo road and Fairmount, the road to Newburgh. They stopped on that Sabbath morning at Merwin's Tavern, a frame building painted red, on the present site of Bratenahl's Block, Superior and South Water streets, the latter called, then, Vineyard lane. After breakfast, Mrs. Rouse asked the landlord if there were no places of worship in the village and received for reply that a few Methodists were holding a prayer-meeting in the upper story of the opposite house. 18 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND They crossed the street, and found present among other few, Mrs. Daniel Worley, Joel Sizer, and young Mr. Bump, the school-master. At this time, the Episcopalians had a small, wooden meetinghouse, corner of St. Clair and Seneca streets, with organized parish services and Sunday school; here, again, female piety predominated, there being but two male members. This was Old Trinity. During the week following her arrival, Mrs. Rouse gathered about her several good women for religious work, at her own hired house, temporarily occupied, on Superior street, near the later Judge Bishop Block. In a picture owned by Mrs. Rouse, their newly built home shows favorably, as a white cottage on the exact site of the present Rouse Block. The cottage has a face, apparently, all windows, from the fact that the front room was used as a depository for the publications of the American Sunday School Union and Tract Society. This called forth the derisive remark from many male " sinners," then resident in our city, that " there is more religion in Rouse's windows than in the whole village besides." The names of those who constituted these early AND THEIR WORK - 19 assemblies in Cleveland were Mrs. Joel Scranton, Mrs. D. Worley, Mrs. Dr. Long, Mrs. Chas. Giddings, Mrs. Moses White, Mrs. Gabberden, Mrs. Edmund Clark, Mrs. Geo. Hoadley, Mrs. H. P. Weddell, Mrs. John M. Sterling; From this gathering grew the Woman's Union Gospel work of Cleveland, which now, under various forms, is a crown of glory upon the fair brow of our own Forest City. October 30th, 1830, Mrs. Rouse had organized the Ladies' Tract Society of the Village of Cleveland, auxiliary to the parent society of New York, the leader being its representative in the homes of our people. 20 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND CHAPTER II. CLEVELAND IN 1800-MRS. JULIANA WALWORTH LONG-MRS. MARY H. SEVERANCE-HISTORICAL SKETCH-MR. AND MRS. H. B. PAYNE. MRS. MARY H. SEVERANCE, an elect lady, whose name is found on all records of benevolence in this city, whether for the home church, the Foreign Mission, the orphan, the needy, or the soldier, furnishes to this review of woman's work, information of her loved and venerated mother, Mrs. Dr. Long, wife of the first physician and surgeon that came to this city and county. What with Mrs. Severance's graceful narration, Rev. Dr. Hawks' eloquent tribute, and Hon. Alfred Kelley's reminiscences, this chapter will have unusual interest. Necessarily, allusion must be made to the first settlement upon the Western Reserve, and to the planting of a church here, for the life of Juliana Walworth Long has been coextensive with the entire history of the social and AND THEIR WORK - 21 religious institutions of this portion of Ohio. She was born in Aurora, New York, September 19th, 1794. In 1799, her father, Mr. John Walworth, made a tour to this country. Coming to Cleveland, he stayed two weeks with Major Lorenzo Carter, who was then living in a log house situate in the northern angle formed by Cuyahoga river and Union lane. He returned home, went to Connecticut and purchased a tract of two thousand acres oil Grand river, in the present township of Painesville. February 27th, 1800, he left Aurora with his wife, four children, servants, and a small party of friends, and proceeded in sleighs to Buffalo. Resting there a few days they continued their journey, driving upon the ice, camping one night on shore, spreading their beds upon hemlock boughs. Leaving his family at Presque Isle, now Erie, Mr. Walworth and servant, with two horses and a yoke of oxen, made their way, sixty miles, through the wilderness to Grand River, his household goods being transported from Buffalo in sleighs. There being no road, this journey from Presque Isle occupied five and a half days. Arriving, their nearest neighbors on the east were fifteen miles distant, and no road. On the 22 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND west, eight miles away, was the " Marsh," now Mentor—a settlement of five families. Thither, by a bridle-path, Mr. Walworth went for food. Four weeks later he returned to Erie for his family and goods. These were placed upon a flat-boat, and the dear ones reached their destination in the wilderness, April 7th, i800, where they lived two weeks in a tent and hut. About this time, General Edward Payne arrived with several workmen, and two comfortable houses were erected. His name was, without doubt, given to the town—Paynesville. In 18o6, Hon. John Walworth, grandfather of Mrs. M. H. Severance, foreseeing the advantages of this port for a larger town, removed to Cleveland, exchanging his property with Governor Huntington, occupying a blockhouse which stood on the opposite side of the present American. The removal thither was made in a boat, which upset, en route. Mr. Walworth was Postmaster, Clerk of Court, Recorder, Collector of Customs, and Associate Judge. He is described as a small man of active habits and pleasing countenance, possessing energy, though compelled to struggle against a tendency to consumption. His determined, hopeful character is AND THEIR WORK - 23 Seen in the fact that after a tedious journey in the Spring from Aurora, N. Y., to " Grand River," in the township of Painesville, in sleighs from Buffalo and no roads, he wrote back to a Connecticut friend a cheerful letter, giving the name " Blooming Grove " to the forest whose branches overshadowed his lowly dwelling. Mrs. Walworth is remembered as a kind, judicious, dignified, woman, spoken of with great respect by all persons who shared her hospitality. In those days were no hotels or boarding-houses, and the few resident families had to receive all newcomers, so that the cares of early housekeepers were much greater than those of the present. Juliana was now twelve years old. She received her education with her parents and at the little school in Painesville. April 7th, 1811, she was married to Dr. David Long, late of Hebron, N. Y. Dr. and Mrs. Long first resided in a frame structure near the Lighthouse. Afterwards, they lived in a dwelling in the rear of the American ; pasture grounds extended back from it to the river. The Doctor's name was given to the street running from South Water east to Seneca, and John Walworth's name appears with the street from Central Way to 24 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND Scowden. We have, Walworth Place and Walworth Run. In 181o, there were but three frame dwellings here and five or six log houses, and in 1812, Mrs. Long relates that the Public Square was only partly cleared, and had in it many-stumps and bushes. In 1831, Dr. Long built a stone house, with ample grounds, corner of Superior and Seneca streets. This eminent lady, although fragile physically, possessed unusual energy and resoluteness of character ; self-reliant and decided, she triumphed over, bodily delicacy, and attended well to her household management. She, with her husband, had great love for children. Besides taking-good care of her own, their house was the asylum for many homeless ones. Six of these called her mother, and received from her a mother's love. So proverbial was this characteristic that a dear little boy who had received her care, temporarily, upon hearing of some orphan child, inquired, " Why don't he go to Aunty Ongs ? " Her heart and hand were given to every work in which God could be honored by doing good to humanity. Through her husband she learned much of the needs of the sick, and in these days of skilled nurses, prepared delicacies and other appliances, one can hardly un- AND THEIR WORK - 25 derstand how much care was given in the early days. Though of nervous temperament, her fortitude was always sufficient for demands upon the emergency. A boundless beneyolence was her leading trait, which, combined with ready disposition to sacrifice self, made her one of the most remarkable of our representative women. An adopted child says that she would work for others, would knit stockings for poor children when she could not hold up her head. The same person relates that Dr. Long, having once returned from visiting a patient in Newburgh, reported that the sick man needed comforts which he was too poor to purchase. These Mrs. Long speedily prepared, and, with another lady, drove towards the sick man's house. As they were descending Clark's Hill, some part of the harness gave way. Her friend advised that they return home. Mrs. Long's answer was, " No, the man needs the comforts now," and, taking off a gingham apron, she cut its strings, tied up the harness with them and fulfilled her errand of mercy. It is said of her that in the last war with England, and in that against the Slaveholders' Rebellion, she did what she could to aid her country. In both wars she prepared lint for the 26 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND   wounded, and personally ministered to them and to the sick. In the war of 1812, though the scene of conflict was not on this ground, many ill and wounded soldiers were brought to this post rand her visits were esteemed only second to her husband's ; in fact, she supplemented his efforts. Mrs. George Wallace, Mrs. John Walworth, and Mrs. Dr. Long refused to flee, but stayed with their husbands after Hull's disgraceful surrender of Detroit, when it was supposed Cleveland would he taken. One of the soldiers on his dying bed gave Mrs. Long his blanket, which she religiously preserved. When Sumter was fired upon and the people were hastening to offer gifts for their sons and brothers in the field, Mrs. Long brought out that cherished blanket, in one corner of which was wrought " 1812," and would have sent it for some brave boy, had she not been persuaded to substitute other gifts in its place. This rare woman heard the 'boom of Perry's guns in the engagement that immortalized his name. She rejoiced in the overthrow of the Rebellion.   Mrs. Long heard the Gospel chiefly from the missionaries that itinerated, or preached a part of the time only in a particular locality. The first   AND THEIR WORK - 27   sermon she remembered to have heard was in a barn, at Euclid, by Rev. Mr. Badger ; afterward she worshipped, with others, in a log school-house on the south side of St. Clair street, near the site of the Kennard House ; also in private residences.   Mrs. Severance says that her mother was ong of the first ladies in Cleveland to banish wines and liquors from her sideboard, being convinced from Dr. Lyman Beecher's. lectures that teetotalism is the only right course ; she was ever thereafter a staunch temperance advocate. The latter part of her life was full of good works, and hundreds blessed her gentle charities. This precious leader died in July, 1866, aged 72, surrounded by a host of loving friends even to the- fourth generation, revered and mourned by the entire community. It is well to refresh our minds in reviewing the career of one who did so much for Cleveland, she, " being dead, yet speaketh."   The following pioneer sketch is given in connection with Mrs Long : Mr. Job V. Stiles located in Cleveland in 1796, and built a cabin on the ground opposite the Weddell House on Bank street. He was the first white settler in Cleveland. The same year, Judge Kingsbury settled at Conneaut. In   28 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND   the Spring of 1797, he came to Cleveland, put up a house near where the Post Office now is, but in the Autumn removed upon the ridge of the Kinsman road. Other settlers came here and removed, as did Mr. Stiles. It was thought the locality was not conducive" to health, as ague and other bilious diseases prevailed. This retarded progress. Settlements were begun in Newburgh and Euclid in 1798. So late as July, 1801, Rev. Joseph Badger, the first missionary, but not the first minister upon the Reserve, visited Cleveland. He speaks of lodging in Autumn of the same year when on a visit to the Indians on the Huron and the Maumee at Major Lorenzo Carter's. He came by the Southern route, passing through Pittsburgh and arriving at the cabin of Rev. William Wick, at Youngstown, in the latter part of December, 1800. On the last Sabbath of that month he preached his first sermon on the Reserve, having been received by Mr. Wick " as a familiar friend." Mr. Badger soon made a missionary tour through the infant settlement and preached the Gospel to the scattered households in the wilderness. He came as far west as Cleveland, and went from here to Painesville.   AND THEIR WORK - 29   The settlements, separated by miles of unbroken forests and by streams not yet bridged, consisted of a few families, usually, from one or two to five or six ; at the utmost, eleven. Going from Cleveland he found in Euclid, one family ; in Chagrin, one ; in Mentor, four (there had been five, one was homesick and went back East); in Painesville, two. These two at Painesville were Mr. John Walworth's and Gen. Edward Payne's ; to them he preached. He must have been the first minister whom they had heard since coming hither in April, 1800, fifteen months before.   The marriage of Henry B. Payne with Mary Perry, a descendant of the Commodore, gives lustre to local history. Mrs. Payne's love for learning, and liberality to our School of Art ; her public spirit and lovely character make for herself a warm place in the hearts of Clevelanders. The magnificent Perry-Payne block, situate in one of the old places of Superior street, is of itself a memorial to pioneer enterprise. Mr. and Mrs. Dudley Baldwin and the Wicks leave traces of splendid ancestry and of their own thrift in this metropolis of the Western Reserve.   30 - WOMEN OE CLEVELAND   CHAPTER III.   MRS. PHILO SCOVILL-OLD TRINITY-MRS. NOBLE H. MERWIN-THE LOG COURT HOUSE.   MRS. PHILO SCOVILL was born December 27, 1800. Of vigorous health, she has passed a life-time of work ; first, for her home and children, after them the city's welfare and her church, then the orphan, sick, and friendless.   There is upon our list of honored women none more public spirited and wide-awake, nor one more unselfish than our venerable friend, the last of Cleveland's pioneer women to pass away.   With characteristic regard, she desired this. sketch to embody a history of Trinity Parish and its charities, rather than a personal record. In fact, a tribute to her must be an outline of church history, for she is so closely identified with its beginning, and has always been so devoted to its. progress, that she is frequently called " Mother of Old Trinity." Her mother, one of the noblest   AND THEIR WORK - 31   women of the Revolution, left to the daughter a rare heritage—common sense, energy and cheerfulness. Judging from the celerity with which she thoroughly informed us upon diffrcult points in Cleveland's past, we had hoped that she might see a birthday in 1900. Her grandfather, John Walker,- was a Tory in the early days of our country, and held office under Government in Hartford, Conn. His daughter, married to Benjamin Bixby, located on Ohio soil at New Lisbon, Columbiana County, where Mrs. Scovill was born. She came to this city August 16, 1816,, and was married February 16, 1819. For several years thereafter her life was full of home duties, her attention absorbed with the rearing of children, devotion to her husband's interests, a man who was struggling under difficulties to do all possible for the town in which he had determined to reside.   It will be of interest to know that in 1826, after removing a crooked rail fence from the lot, Philo Scovill built and occupied the Franklin House, standing on the present site of Scovill Block. It was the first three-storied building on the Western Reserve, and of imposing appearance for that day. On one side of it was N. E. Crittenden's little   32 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND   jewelry shop. On the other, Dockstader & Tomlinson's hat store.   During the Winter of 1796-97, just three people lived in our whole city—Mr. and Mrs. Job Stiles and Joseph Landon. Fifteen persons resided here January 1st, 1798. The next year the families of Rodolphus Edwards and Nathaniel Doane arrived, being ninety-two days on their way from Connecticut.   In 1800, with accessions to the New England exodus and Ohio immigration, several houses were built on the high ground east of the Cuyahoga.   According to the record and tradition furnished by Mrs. Scovill, the early inhabitants of Cleveland, from 1796 through the next two decades, did little credit to their Puritan training. In less than five years after the first cabin was put up, a distillery appeared, but no house of worship. Religion became a theme of coarse jesting. As an example, a party of infidels bore in mock procession through the streets the effigy of Christ. A better sentiment awakened first in the women of the period. Of necessity, then, the organization of churches must be included in this history of mothers.   The first printed trace we have of religious   AND THEIR WORK - 33   services here is in the records of the Buckingham family, furnished by Mrs. N. K. McDole. Mrs. Noble H. Merwin ( Minerva Buckingham ), a Presbyterian lady, and her husband came here in the Fall of 1815, Cleveland having just attained the dignity of a village, with 3o families including 150 persons. There being no public worship, Mrs. Merwin and her family inviting the neighbors, led them to the log court house and opened her Bible, leading the services until a missionary was sent to the people. Her Christian influence was sincerely felt. She died at an early date.   Mrs. Scovill describes the famous log court house as two stories high and standing where the oldest fountain in the Public Square now is. At the west end, lower story, was the jail, with debtors' and criminals' cells, grated windows in front ; east end, upper story, the court room. At the landing of the inside staircase, a fire-place, sizzling with green oak wood, feebly struggled to warm the institution. This was the assembly room for every description of meeting until the Academy was built.   Trinity Parish was organized at the residence of Phineas Shepherd, November 9th, 1816. At this   34 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND   time there was no diocesan organization, nor even missionary society, connected with Ohio. Darius Cooper was appointed to read service March 2, 1817. Rev. Roger Searle,, rector of St. Peter's Parish, Plymouth, Conn., visited Cleveland. Afterward, he reorganized this parish.   Mr. George L. Chapman, who was present, says the reorganization was effected at the house of Phineas Shepherd, who had removed to Brooklyn, the name by which the whole tract of country west of the Cuyahoga was called. This house was of logs, standing where 23o Pearl street now is. There were thirteen families and eleven communicants in the parish. Dr. Brown states : " September 27, 1819, Bishop Philander Chase first officially visited the parish and confirmed ten persons. Rev. Roger Searle made annual' visitations. He was the first Episcopalian preacher in the Northwest. In i827, Rev. Silas C. Freeman, being duly commissioned, set forth to secure means toward the erection of a church edifice. Western New York and Boston seem to have contributed most liberally. A lot was purchased of General Perkins, corner St. Clair and Seneca streets, for $250, and a frame building erected by White &   AND THEIR WORK - 35 Hamblin, at a cost of $3,070, amid more struggles and trials than would be known in erecting all the churches in the city at present. When Trinity was built it was known as The Church,' and among other duties which devolved upon it was to show to all the people whence cometh the wind ; hence, on each of the four pinnacles was planted a weather-cock, made according to contract, ' of sheet iron, of such form as may he directed, but not to be so large or expensive as the one on the court house.' Such taste was rebuked by the failure of the iron birds to turn, and so after awhile the stubborn weather-cocks were removed."   Until the church was erected, services were held where a room could be procured, first in the log court house, then in the Academy, and at length in Free Masons' Hall. All persin religiously int dined united in this worship. The corporation of Trinity Parish was formed in 1828, and the building completed ; in after time cut in two, separated, and the extremes united by the advice of Philo Scovill. The names of the incorporators were : Josiah Barber, Phineas Shepherd, Charles Taylor, James F. Clark, Sherlock J. Andrews and John W. Allen. At the close of   36 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND   1829, Rev. Mr. Freeman, overborne with missionary labor, resigned Trinity,. and for a time Rev. William N. Lyster was pastor.   Do not imagine we have wandered away from Mrs. Scovill. While her loved Zion was in preparation, she rocked the cradle, spun linen, and studied music. The occupant of the cradle at that particular juncture was her daughter Caroline, who advanced so rapidly that at three years, old she knit lovely yarn into strips at Miss Beard's school, and at five read the English reader. She is now. Mrs. Bemis.   Mr. Herbert C. Foote led the first choir in Old Trinity. Mrs. Foote, a small, (plaint figure, was leading treble ; Mrs. Scovill stood next.   Let us glance into " the church " during its earliest Christmas carols. The women singers were twelve in number, six of them married, dressed in black with bishop sleeves, white caps and poke bonnets ; six- young ladies arrayed in white, all the sweet faces with woman's crowning glory combed smoothly adown the cheek and over the ear. In their hands, all in a line, is the anthem prepared for the occasion, printed on fly-sheets,   " Strike the cymbal, Roll the timbrel."   AND THEIR WORK - 37   And again, " Hosanna in the Highest."   No dim religious light pervades the sanctuary, but an illumination from candelabra of wood sus, pended from the ceiling, perforated and holding in pyramidal shape hosts of tallow candles.   Across the middle of the eight windows, in a wooden frame, are lighted candles. The interior of the edifice is grand with festoons of ground pine.   From the vestibule, stairs at either side lead to the gallery at the door end ; under the stairs, on the men's side of the house, is the vestry, out of which the beloved pastor emerges, wearing the first white surplice, for all preceding missionaries and bishops were robed in canonical black. As the minister slowly passes up the aisle to the chancel, Miss Sarah Hyde, with rapt expression, leans forward in the choir, and whispers, " Do see Mr. Lyster ; doesn't he look like the Lord himself? "   In reviewing Mrs. Scovill's career, we can but be impressed with the nobility of her character. Struggling with poverty, she was brave and cheerful. She affirms that one Winter here the corporation lived on three dollars, this amount being   38 - WOMEN OF' CLEVELAND   kept in lively circulation. During one season Philo Scovill saw but two silver dollars. It was a struggle for life these pioneers had. She sustained her husband, brought up her children, ministered to her neighbors, to the public, the Church of Christ, the orphans, and in a later day, when the Rebellion broke out, she nourished the Union soldier. Dear, last pioneer woman of Cleveland, we salute thee ! She knew how to bear adversity, but better than that, she knew how to bear prosperity. She never assumed airs, and through fourscore years and more, her good sense and good cheer have made her eminent among our women.   In the language of her pastor, Rev. J. W. Brown, D. D., uttered during her life-time : " Sweetly may the day of life decline with thee, and the dawning of the morrow be an abundant entrance into life eternal, and when ours shall become a tradition of the past for the remembrance of those who come after, may our memory be as sweet to them, and Old Trinity be as precious as the memory of our ancestry and Old Trinity of the past is to us !   AND THEIR WORK - 39 CHAPTER IV.   THE WESTERN RESERVE BROOKLYN - MOSES CLEAVELAND-MRS. STILES AND MRS. GUNNJOHN JACOB ASTOR'S HOUSE-MAJOR LORENZO CARTER-JUDGE JOSIAH BARBER AND WIFE -GEORGE WATKINS-CHAS. TAYLOR'S FARMLEVI SARGENT-WALK-IN-THE-WATER.   SKETCHING pioneer women of Cleveland is fascinating employment, and if in delineating them we occasionally refer to their husbands and sons, pardon.   Ohio City, known now as the West Side, obtained its charter first, and is, in all respects, entitled to early consideration. The treaty between the French and English ceded, in 1763, the territory south of the lakes to England. Under certain grants, Connecticut obtained a recognition of her claim in a compromise, by which a tract was set off to her on the south shore of Lake Erie, containing 3,666,921 acres, known as New Connecti-   40 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND   cut, or the Western Reserve. Cleveland is situated precisely in the center of this Reserve, sixty miles from each extremity.   Moses Cleaveland was here in 1796, two years after the extinguishment of the Indian title and before there was a single white settler in the whole Northwestern Territory.   General Moses Cleaveland, standing in the Public Square through Winter's snow and Summer's rain, represents no myth. He was the son of Colonel Aaron and Thankful Paine Cleaveland, born January 29th, 1754, in Canterbury, Conn. He entered Yale College in 1777 ; left his studies to join the Continental Army, but resigned after the siege of Yorktown, in October, 1781 ; became a. lawyer ; married Esther Champion, March 21st, r794; was appointed, in 1796, Superintendent of the Connecticut Land Co., which purchased the Western Reserve. The surveying party numbered fifty-two persons, of whom two were women—Mrs. Job V. Stiles and Mrs. Elijah Gunn. Moses Cleaveland died in his native town, November 16th, 1806. The Indian title upon Ohio City was not extinguished until July 4th, 1805.   Away back, between 1783 and 1800, a block-   AND THEIR WORK - 41   house was built as a trading post by John Jacob Astor, at the outlet of the 0ld river, beyond the present location of the water-works, probably at the foot of Waverly street. It was one of the series erected throughout the West by this enterprising founder of the American Fur Company, only one other being known in Ohio—at Marietta, our oldest town. Mr. Astor may have named the immense tract of land lying west of the Cuyahoga —Brooklyn—in honor of his own neighboring city. If so, our claim is fixed to exceedingly blue blood. This ancient and honorable block-house has a story, as related by Joel Scranton to Robert Sanderson ; it suffered vicissitudes. Beavers so filled up the river outlet that access was denied. Then . it was moved to the little piece of land, called in these degenerate times, Whiskey Island.   About sixty years after that, Government opened the river straight to the light-house ; then the United States moved the block-house to the upper end of the pier. Its next journey was to the foot of Superior street, close to the old, red warehouse. Its roof was composed of eleven courses of shingles—one or two sets being hewed out with a broad-axe, Within the century, the building has   42 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND   again been moved and made over ; between the joists adhered fur and wool—remains of Mr. Astor's occupancy. It is a quaint little affair, old, unpainted, with windows like coarse needles' eyes ; rented to two families, Nos. 152 and 154 Hanover street, the property of Mrs. Mary Sanderson Pollock, who, with her sister, Mrs. Amelia Sanderson Hubbell, preserves all possible trace of pioneer existence. In 1797, Major Lorenzo Carter built a log dwelling under the hill on the west bank of the river; it was tavern and school-house ; about its immense fire-place for some years were held merry-makings, social gatherings and settlers' councils. In 1800, or earlier, Samuel P. Lord appeared as land owner of Brooklyn township ; he left, but we have his four children as ancestors—Mrs. Judge Josiah Barber, Mrs. Abigail Randall, Richard Lord, and S. P. Lord, Jr., an eccentric character. J. H. Strong, agent of these lands, or one of his family, gave name to Strongsville. There arrived in these wilds, in 1818, from New England, besides Judge and Mrs. Barber, the Branch family, George Watkins and Thos. O. Young.   The Watkins' settled at Doan's Corners. Of this party, George Watkins, now of Logan avenue,     AND THEIR WORK - 43   East End, is sole survivor. The Barbers, Branches and Kelloggs bought tracts in Brooklyn. What is now the South Side is included in these pioneers' farms, extending to Clark avenue. Mr. Epaphroditus Ackley owned beyond Walworth Run between Scranton and Barber avenues. Including the ground now occupied by Riverside Cemetery, came the Brainards', Aikins', Fosters' and Fishs' lands. Charles Taylor's farm ran back from the present State street to the river bed, including one hundred acres on the plateau overlooking the lake. Most notable of the old mansions near the romantic John Jacob Astor house is the former residence of Mr. Chas. Taylor, No. 386 Detroit street, and that of his son, DeWitt Clinton, two doors away, the latter almost unchanged, the former remodeled. The wing of No. 384, called the " East Room," was shared with the public. Clergymen of the Episcopal Church preached in it ; Sunday schools and other gatherings were held ; in 1821, Mr. John H. Sargent attended Sabbath school there. Two of our streets—Taylor and Clinton—were named by this pioneer. Levi Sargeant came here in 1818, with no railroads, steamboats or anything else to make civilization easy. The next   44 - AND THEIR WORK.   season, however, the famous boat, Walk-in-the Water, plied in Lake Erie, to and from Buffalo. She first entered Cleveland harbor, September 1st, 1818. Then began chopping, clearing and build- ing. On the summit of a formidable hill, now corner of Pearl and Franklin streets, Judge Josiah Barber erected a fortress of log's, roomy and hospitable. The teamsters of prairie-schooners, or, huge Pennsylvania covered wagons, dreaded this hill worse than any between it and Wooster. Behold our present lovely grade of Pearl street !   Between this point and Jay street was an apple orchard ; across our present Franklin avenue stretched a plum orchard, while the underlying sand was adapted to the growth of watermelons. The first frame residence in Brooklyn was put up by Phineas Shepard in 1819. The house still stands as No. 342 Pearl street.   AND THEIR WORK - 45   CHAPTER V.   HEROIC WOMEN OF CLEVELAND—ROSAMOND SARGENT—THE BLACK BOTTLE—JERUSHA T. BARBER—MRS. GEO. L. CHAPMAN—MRS. ZERVIAH CHAMPION—MRS. LUCY SELDEN—MR. AND MRS. JOSIAH BARBER, JR.—MR. AND MRS. RICHARD LORD.   women of the West Side," says Mr. John H. Sargent, " was of them at the wash tub, cooking stove, and the needle, with no patent wringers, no hard coal, gas stoves, or sewing machines.   " The women of those days were strong of brain and strong in arms, and used to exemplify theory by practice. Their names I now recall were Mrs. Charles Taylor, Mrs. Barber, Mrs. Shepard, Mrs. Sargent, Mrs. Lord, Mrs. Tylee, Mrs. Tuttle and Mrs. Randall. A little later, some one of them used to open her unfinished house every Sabbath for meetings. There was one among them that MY recollection of the early work of the   46 - WOMEN OF CLEVELAND   neither I, nor the poor of the town, could ever forget, for she never forgot me or them. That woman was my own mother."   Rosamond B. Sargent was of uncommon intellect, possessing " faculty " in eminent degree, excelling in good works, pronounced in antislavery sentiment, and not a whit behind the temperance women of to-day. Shoemaker Smith and his black bottle were the disgrace of the town, from the emptied condition of one and the full state of the other. He frequently lay in the gutter with icicles appended to his tangled locks or mingled with them. She warmed and fed him, putting him into one of her neat rooms, trying to reform him. Her efforts availed only temporarily ; he subsequently died in the sand.   She wrought with her hands, earning enough to take her back to New Hampshire for a little vacation. Mrs. Sargent was a grand woman ; bright, original, a true child of the Church ; a communicant in Old Trinity. It was very pleasant to talk with her eldest child, Mrs. Jerusha T, Barber, who told me how hard the pioneer women worked. There were no hotels ; they must keep open house and entertain new-comers ; that in her childhood.   AND THEIR WORK - 47   she has known eight persons at once finding lodging on straw laid upon the floor of her mother's cellar kitchen.   I asked Mrs. Barber how Cleveland came to be " a village, six miles from Newburg?" She says that persons coming here would find such a stretch of sand that they pushed further on until reaching arable soil ; that they planted orchards first at Newburg, and the Brooklyn people went there for fruit until their orchards were sufficiently advanced. When that had been accomplished, their young people had husking and paring bees. The amusements of the older ones were limited ; confined to an occasional quilting of an afternoon and playing .whist evenings. These women used to carry their washings across the river to the Flats in the shade, where was an undergrowth of grass. In her young days, Mrs. B. has gathered eight quarts of huckle-berries at once in our present Franklin Court and cranberries in the outlying marshes of Kennard and adjacent streets ; wild strawberries grew everywhere. She spoke in high terms of her neighbors : Mrs. Charles Taylor, Mrs. Abigail Randall and Mrs. Reuben Champion, her that was Zerviah F. Hyde.   WOMEN OF CLEVELAND - 48   Mrs. Mary A. Degnon describes the excellent women of old times as making soap, dipping candles, or running them into moulds ; curing hams, spinning wool, weaving cloth, knitting socks, making their own garments and those of their husbands and sons.   In 1824, Judge Josiah Barber had moved into his new and aristocratic brick residence in the apple orchard. He entertained most hospitably, and being first incorporator of Trinity Parish, Bishop Chase, on his visits hither, stopped there always. Jerusha Barber, nee Sargent, was confirmed in this house by the Bishop, married in 1825, and went to live on one of the South Side farms for a quarter of a century. She was a model pioneer woman, always ready to recall "Auld Lang Syne." She resided mostly at Collamer with her daughter, Mrs. James McCroskey, who inherits from splendid stock her fondness for temperance work. Her son, Hon. Josiah Barber, resided at No. 129 Franklin avenue. His personal history would read like a romance ; public-spirited, noble-hearted—everybody's friend. His memory was a treasure-house of information—and he so willing to impart. As President of Riverside Cemetery Association and   AND THEIR WORK - 49   its Superintendent, he made that spot a lovely place of repose for our dead. His wife is daughter of the chief pioneer in Columbus, O., inheriting the enterprise and thrift of her ancestors. She is devoted to her husband's memory, an excellent neighbor, and possesses first-class executive ability. Lucy Sargent, the youngest of our pioneer women, married Robert C. Selden, a man of remarkably good principles, who died not long since. They, too, occupied a suburban farm. His family are well known and honored.   We pause long enough to introduce Mr. and Mrs. Richard Lord, who, in 1826, occupied their frame house, corner of Pearl and Franklin streets, opposite Judge Josiah Barber's. These two gentlemen were brothers-in-law and had bought a large tract of land here; for some time they were the only male members of Old Trinity. The Lords were truly aristocratic, living stylishly, owning a horse and carriage, keeping one servant ; in their well-appointed home was a clavichord, with fluted green silk in the front carvings, culminating in a central rosette ; this keyed instrument resembled an upright piano-forte.   Mrs. Stephen N. Herrick, mother of Mrs.