The biography of Levi Johnson is, in effect, the history of Cleveland, and
a sketch of the more active period of his life involves the narrative of
life in Cleveland during the earlier years of its existence. It is,
therefore, of more than ordinary interest.
Mr. Johnson is a native of Herkimer county, New York, having been born in
that county April 25th, 1786. He commenced life in a time and place that
admitted of no idlers, young or old, and in his tenth year it was his
weekly task to make and dip out a barrel of potash, he being too young to
be employed with the others in wood-chopping. Until his fourteenth year he
lived with an uncle, working on a farm, and laboring hard. At that age he
determined to be a carpenter and joiner, and entered the shop of Ephraim
Derrick, with whom he remained four years. At eighteen, he changed masters
and worked with Laflet Remington, and at twenty-one changed again to
Stephen Remington, with whom he worked at barn building one year.
It was whilst he was with Stephen Remington that an event occurred that
shaped Levi Johnson's future life. Considerable interest had been excited
in regard to Ohio, towards which emigrants were frequently seen taking
their way. A brother of Stephen Remington was sent west to spy out the
land and report on its desirableness as a home. This committee of one, on
lands, came to Newburgh, and was so strongly impressed with the advantages
of the place from which Cleveland was afterwards said to be but six miles
distant, that he allowed his imagination to run away with his veracity. He
wrote back that he had struck the richest country in the world; that the
soil was marvelously fertile, and that corn grew so tall and strong that
the raccoons ran up the stems and lodged on the ears out of the way of the
dogs. Great was the excitement in Herkimer county when this report was
received. Such wonderful growth of corn was never known in York State, but
Ohio was a _terra incognita_, and Munchausen himself would have had a
chance of being believed had he located his adventures in what was then
the Far West. Stephen Remington quit barn-building, shut up his shop,
packed up his tools and started in the Fall of 1807 for the new Eden, on
Lake Erie. In the succeeding Spring, Johnson followed in his footsteps as
far as East Bloomfield, near Canandaigua, where he worked during that
Summer, building a meeting-house.
In the Fall of 1808, he shouldered his pack and set out on foot for the
West. At Buffalo he found work and wintered there until February, when his
uncle came along, bound also for the land of promise. There was room in
the sleigh for Levi, and he was not loth to avail himself of the
opportunity of making his journey quicker and easier than on foot. On the
10th of March, 1809, the sleigh and its load entered Cleveland.
By that time it had come to be hard sledding, so the sleigh was abandoned
and the two travelers, determining to put farther west, mounted the horses
and continued their journey to Huron county. Here they fell in with Judge
Wright and Ruggles, who were surveying the Fire Lands. They wanted a
saw-mill, and Johnson's uncle contracted to build one at the town of
Jessup, now known as Wakeman. Levi turned back to Cleveland, and was
fortunate in finding a home in the family of Judge Walworth. The Judge
wanted an office built, and Johnson undertook to make it. Hitherto, all
the houses were of logs; but the Judge, having a carpenter boarding in his
family, aspired to something more pretentions. The building was to be
frame. At that time Euclid was a flourishing settlement, and rejoiced in
that important feature--a saw-mill. The lumber was brought from Euclid,
the frame set up on Superior street, about where the American House now
stands, and every day the gossips of the little settlement gathered to
watch and discuss the progress of the first frame building in Cleveland.
The work occupied forty days, and when it was completed, there was great
pride in this new feature of Cleveland architecture. The erection of the
first frame building marked the commencement of a new era.
That job done, Levi turned back to Huron to fulfill the contract made by
his uncle for the erection of a saw-mill. This was a heavy job for so
small a force, and between three and four months were spent in it.
Slinging his kit of tools on his back, he then turned once more towards
Cleveland, in which he settled down for the remainder of his life, the
next two or three years being spent in building houses and barns in
Cleveland, and in the more flourishing village of Newburgh. A saw-mill
also was put up on Tinker's creek.
When Mr. Johnson was building the saw-mill at Jessup, he fell in with a
young lady, Miss Montier, who enjoyed the distinction of being the first
white girl that landed in Huron, where she lived with a family named
Hawley. The young carpenter fell in love with the only pretty girl to be
found in the neighborhood, and she was not unkindly disposed to the young
man. When he returned to Cleveland she was induced to come also, and lived
with Judge Walworth, at that time the great landed owner, and consequently
prominent man in the thriving village of sixty inhabitants. In 1811, the
couple were married.
In the Fall of 1812, Johnson made a contract with the County
Commissioners, Messrs. Wright, Ruggles and Miles, to build a Court House
and Jail on the Public Square, opposite where the First Presbyterian
Church now stands. The material was to be logs, laid end-wise for greater
security. The work was pushed forward rapidly the next Summer, and towards
noon of September 12th, Johnson and his men were just putting the
finishing touches to the building, when they were startled by what seemed
the roar of distant thunder. On looking out of the windows not a cloud
could be seen in the sky, but the reverberations continued, and at once
the conviction that the noise was of cannons seized them. Throwing down
their tools they ran to the bank of the lake, where nearly all the
villagers at home to the number of about thirty, were already gathered,
stretching their eyes to the westward, whence the sounds came. Now the
reports of the cannon could be plainly distinguished. They knew that
Perry's fleet had passed up the lake, and that, consequently, a battle
could be at any moment expected. The louder reports told when the
Americans fired, for their guns were of heavier caliber than the English.
At last the firing ceased for a while. Then three loud reports, evidently
American, were heard, and the little crowd, convinced that their side had
won, gave three hearty cheers for Perry.
About two days afterwards, Johnson and a man named Rumidge picked up a
large flat-boat that had been built by General Jessup for the conveyance
of troops, and then abandoned. Each of the finders purchased a hundred
bushels of potatoes, took them to the army at Put-in-Bay, quadrupling the
money invested, and giving Johnson his first financial start in life.
As General Jessup needed the boat to transfer his troops to Malden, he
retained it, taking Rumidge also into service, and leaving Johnson to
return to Cleveland on the gunboat Somers, of which he was made pilot for
the voyage. Shortly afterwards Rumidge returned with the boat and brought
news that the American forces had fought a battle with the British at
Moravian Town. Johnson resumed command of the flat-boat, and with his
associate freighted it with supplies for the army at Detroit. The
speculation was successful, and Johnson engaged with the quartermaster of
the post to bring a cargo of clothing from Cleveland to Detroit. The
season was far advanced, and the voyage was cut short by the ice in the
upper part of the lake, so that the boat was headed for Huron, where the
cargo was landed and the freight for that distance paid.
Johnson was now a man of means, the successful transactions with the army
having given him more money than he had ever possessed at one time before.
His voyages and trading success had given him a taste for similar
occupations in the future, and his first step was to build a vessel for
himself. His first essay in ship-building was something novel. The keel
was laid for a ship of thirty-five tons, to be named the Pilot. There was
no iron for spikes, but wooden pins supplied their place. Other devices of
similar primitiveness were resorted to in the course of the work, and at
last she was finished. Now came the question of launching, and it was not
lightly to be answered. Modern builders sometimes meet with a difficulty
owing to the ship sticking on the "ways," but this early ship-builder of
Cleveland had a greater obstacle than this to overcome. He had built his
ship with very slight reference to the lake on which she was to float. For
convenience in getting timber, and other reasons, he had made his
ship-yard about half a mile from the water, near where St. Paul's Church
now stands on Euclid avenue, and the greasing of the "ways" and knocking
out of the blocks would not ensure a successful launch. Here was a
dilemma. Johnson pondered and then resolved. An appeal for aid was
promptly responded to. The farmers from Euclid and Newburgh came in with
twenty-eight yoke of cattle. The ship was hoisted on wheels and drawn in
triumph down the main street to the foot of Superior street hill, where
she was launched into the river amid the cheers of the assembled crowd.
This was not the first of Cleveland ship-building. About the year 1808,
Major Carter built the Zephyr, used in bringing goods, salt, &c., from
Buffalo. After good service she was laid up in a creek, a little below
Black Rock, where she was found by the British during the war and burned.
In 1810, the firm of Bixby & Murray built the Ohio, an important craft of
somewhere about sixty tons burden, the ship-yard being lower down the
river than the point from which Johnson's craft was subsequently
launched. Towards the close of the war she was laid up at Buffalo, when
the Government purchased her, cut her down, and converted her into a
pilot boat.
Whilst Johnson was building his vessel another was under construction on
the flats near the present location of the works of J. G. Hussey & Co. This
craft, the Lady of the Lake, about thirty tons, was built by Mr. Gaylord,
brother of the late Mrs. Leonard Case, and was sailed by Captain Stowe,
between Detroit and Buffalo.
Johnson was now literally embarked on a sea of success. His little ship
was in immediate requisition for army purposes. Cargoes of army stores
were transported between Buffalo and Detroit. Two loads of soldiers were
taken from Buffalo to the command of Major Camp, at Detroit, and on one of
the return voyages the guns left by Harrison at Maumee were taken to Erie.
The absconding of a quarter-master with the funds in his possession, among
other sums three hundred dollars belonging to Johnson, was a serious
drawback in the Summer's operations.
In the Spring of 1815, he recommenced carrying stores to Malden, reaching
there on his first trip March 20th, and on this voyage Irad Kelley was a
passenger. His second trip was made to Detroit. When passing Malden he was
hailed from the fort, but as he paid no attention, Major Putoff fired a
shot to make the vessel heave-to and leave the mail. The shot passed
through the foresail, but was not heeded. A second shot was fired and then
Johnson considered it prudent to heave-to and go ashore. He was sternly
questioned as to his inattention to the first orders to heave to, and
replied that being a young sailor he did not understand how to heave-to.
The officer told him to bring the mail ashore, but was met with a refusal,
it being contrary to instructions. Johnson started back to his craft and
was followed by a party of men from the fort, who manned a boat and gave
chase. Johnson, on boarding his vessel, spread sail, and being favored
with a good breeze, drew away from his pursuers and reached Detroit, where
he placed the mail in the post-office.
During the early part of the war, whilst Johnson was building his vessel
and in other ways kept busy, he was chosen coroner of Cuyahoga, being the
first to hold that office in the county. The sparseness of the population
rendered his duties light, the only inquest during his term of office
being over the body of an old man frozen to death in Euclid.
Samuel Baldwin was the first sheriff of the county, and Johnson was his
first deputy. His first experience in office was noticeable. Major
Jessup, in command of the troops, had brought to Cleveland from
Pittsburgh a Mr. Robins, who built from thirty to forty flat bottomed
boats, or batteaux, to be used in the transportation of the troops. The
Major ran short of funds and left a balance unpaid in the cost of
construction. Robins brought suit, and the Major, thinking the deputy
sheriff probably had some unpleasant business for him, studiously avoided
an interview with Johnson, and whenever they met by chance, pulled out
his pistols and warned Johnson to keep his distance. It so happened,
however, that no legal documents had been put in his hands for execution,
so that the Major was alarmed without cause.
But the groundless scare of the impecunious Major was a trifling affair
compared with the grand scare that overtook the whole people along the
lake in the autumn of 1812, at the time of Hull's surrender One day a
fleet of vessels was seen bearing down upon the coast. It was first
noticed in the vicinity of Huron by a woman. No sooner had she seen the
vessels bearing down towards the coast from the westward, than she rushed
into the house, emptied her feather bed and placed the tick on a horse as
a pack-saddle; then catching up one child before her and another behind,
she rode at the top of the animal's speed, thinking torture and death lay
behind her. Whenever she passed a house she raised an alarm, and at two
o'clock in the morning, more dead than alive with terror and fatigue, she
urged her jaded horse into the village of Cleveland, screaming at the top
of her voice, "The British and Indians are coming! The British and Indians
are coming!" Men slept lightly at that time, with their senses attent to
every sound of danger. The shrieks of the woman and the dreaded notice of
the approach of the merciless foe awoke the whole village and curdled the
blood of the villagers with horror. In that brief announcement, "The
British and Indians are coming," were concentrated possibilities of
frightful outrage, carnage and devastation. Wild with the terror of her
long and agonized night ride, the woman reiterated her piercing warning
again and again, filling the air with her shouts. A chorus of voices, from
the childish treble to the deep bass of the men, swelled the volume of
sound and added to the confusion and alarm. In a few minutes every house
was empty, and the entire population of the village swarmed around the
exhausted woman and heard her brief story, broken by gasps for breath and
by hysterical sobs. She insisted that a fleet was bearing down upon the
coast with the purpose of spreading carnage and devastation along the
whole lake frontier, that the vessels were crowded with British troops and
merciless savages, and that before long the musket bail, the torch and the
scalping knife would seek their victims among the inhabitants of
Cleveland.
At once all was hurry; the entire population prepared for speedy flight.
The greater part took to the woods in the direction of Euclid, the women
and children being guarded by some of the men, the others remaining to
reconnoiter, and, if possible, defend their property. As soon as the
non-fighting portion of the settlement was cared for, a picked force of
twenty-five men, contributed by Cleveland, Euclid and Newburgh, marched to
the mouth of the river and kept guard. It was evening when this little
army reached the river, and for hours after dark they patrolled the banks,
listening intently for the approach of the enemy. About two o'clock in the
morning a vessel was heard entering the river; the guards hastily gathered
for the attack, but before firing, hailed the supposed foe; an answering
hail was returned. "Who are you, and what have you on board?" shouted the
river guards. "An American vessel loaded with Hull's troops!" was the
reply. The astounded guard burst into laughter at their absurd scare. The
alarm spread with greater swiftness than the report of the facts, and for
days armed men came pouring into Cleveland from so far as Pittsburgh,
prepared to beat back the enemy that existed only in their imagination.
It was during this year that the Indian, Omic, was hung for participating
in the murder of the trappers, Gibbs and Wood, near Sandusky, in return
for the shelter given by the trappers to their two murderers. After
committing the murder, the Indians set fire to the hut, and the flames
became the instrument of their capture, for some boys returning from Cold
Creek Mill saw the fire, went to it, and discovered the partly consumed
bodies of the murdered men. The murderers were demanded from the Indians,
and Omic was captured by them and surrendered.
The prisoner was lodged in Major Carter's house until the trial which was
held under a cherry tree at the corner of Water and Superior streets.
Alfred Kelly prosecuted for the State, and Johnson was one of the jury.
Omic was convicted and sentenced to be hung. Johnson, who sat on the jury
that condemned him, was now employed to build the gallows to hang the
criminal. When Omic was led out by Sheriff Baldwin to execution, he
remarked that the gallows was too high. He then called for whisky and
drank half a pint, which loosened his tongue, and he talked rapidly and
incoherently, threatening to return in two days and wreak his revenge on
all the pale-faces. More liquor was given him, and he asked for more, but
Judge Walworth denounced the giving him more, that he might die drunk, as
an outrage, and his supply of liquor was therefore stopped.
Time being up, Sheriff Baldwin was about to cut the drop-rope, when he
saw that the condemned man had clutched the rope over his head to save
his neck from being broken. The Sheriff dismounted from his horse,
climbed up the gallows and tied the prisoner's hands more firmly behind
his back. The gallows was braced, and Omic contrived to clutch one of
the braces with his hands, fastened behind his back as they were, as he
fell when the drop-rope was cut. He hung in that position for some time,
until his strength gave way and he swung off. When he had hung
sufficiently long, the by-standers drew him to the cross-beam of the
gallows, when the rope broke and the body of the wretched murderer fell
into his open grave beneath.
In the same year Mr. Johnson was path-master of Cleveland, and he retains
in his possession the list of names of those who did work on the roads in
that year, armed with good and sufficient shovels according to law.
Mr. Johnson's success as a ship-builder encouraged him to persevere in
that business. In the autumn of 1815, he laid down the lines of the
schooner Neptune, sixty-five tons burden, not far below the neighborhood
of the Central market. In the following Spring she was launched, and run
on Lake Erie, her first trip being to Buffalo, whence she returned with a
cargo of merchandise for Jonathan Williamson, of Detroit. In the Fall of
that year a half interest in the Neptune was sold to Richard H. Blinn,
Seth Doan, and Dr. Long. In 1817, she made a trip to Mackinac, for the
American Fur Company, and remained in that trade until the Fall of 1819.
In the Summer of 1818, Major Edwards, Paymaster Smith, and another army
officer came to Mackinac on the Tiger, and engaged Mr. Johnson to take
them to Green Bay, agreeing to pay him three hundred dollars for the trip.
The same vessel, under Johnson's command, took the first load of troops
from Green Bay to Chicago, after the massacre, Major Whistler engaging the
ship for the purpose.
In 1824, Johnson left the Neptune, and in company with Turhooven &
Brothers, built the steamer Enterprise, about two hundred and twenty
tons burden. This was the first steam vessel built in Cleveland, and her
hull was made near the site of the Winslow warehouse. The engine, of
sixty to seventy horse power, was brought from Pittsburgh. Johnson ran
her between Buffalo and Detroit until 1828, when hard times coming on
and business threatening to be unprofitable, he sold his interest in
her, and left the lakes. In company with Goodman and Wilkeson, he built
the Commodore, on the Chagrin river, in the year 1830, and that closed
his ship-building career.
By this time he had accumulated about thirty thousand dollars, a
respectable fortune in those days, with which he invested largely in real
estate, and waited the course of events to make his investments
profitable.
In 1831, he contracted with the Government officers to build the
light-house on Water street. In 1836, he built a light-house at Sandusky.
In the following year he constructed seven hundred feet of the stone pier
on the east side of the Cuyahoga river mouth. The first thing done in the
latter work was the driving of spiles. Mr. Johnson became dissatisfied
with the old system of driving spiles by horse-power, and purchased a
steam engine for four hundred dollars. Making a large wooden wheel he
rigged it after the style of the present spile-drivers, and in the course
of two or three weeks, had the satisfaction of seeing the spiles driven
with greatly increased speed and effect by steam-power.
About 1839, he took his new spile-driver to Maumee Bay and drove about
nine hundred feet of spiling around Turtle Island, filling the enclosed
space with earth to the height of three feet, to protect the light-house.
In 1840, he built the Saginaw light-house, sixty-five feet high, with the
adjoining dwelling. In 1842-3, he built the light-house on the Western
Sister Island, at the west end of Lake Erie. In 1847, he completed his
light-house work by building the Portage River light-house.
Besides his light-house building, Mr. Johnson erected in 1842 his stone
residence on Water street, and in 1845, the Johnson House hotel on
Superior street. The stone for the former was brought from Kingston,
Canada West. In 1853, he built the Johnson Block, on Bank street, and in
1858, he put up the Marine Block at the mouth of the river. This completed
his active work.
Since 1858, Mr. Johnson's sole occupation has been the care of his
property and occasional speculations in real estate. By a long life of
activity and prudence, and by the steady rise in real estate, he is now
possessed of personal and landed property to the value of about six
hundred thousand dollars, having come to the city with no other capital
than his kit of tools, a strong arm, and an energetic purpose. Though
eighty-three years of age, his health is good, his memory remarkably
active, and all his faculties unimpaired. He has two sons and one daughter
yet living, having lost two children. He has had nine grandchildren, and
five great-grandchildren.
Noble H. Merwin.
In classifying the early commercial men of Cleveland, the name of Noble H.
Merwin is justly entitled to stand among the first on the list. In fact he
was the founder and father of her commerce, and a man not only noble in
name, but noble in character.
He was born in New Milford, Ct., in 1782, received a good common school
education, and married Minerva Buckingham, of that town. Soon after the
war of 1812, he went to Georgia and there engaged in mercantile pursuits,
having established a store at Savannah and also at Milledgeville. He came
to Cleveland in 1815. His family rejoined him at Cleveland in February,
1816. In coming from Georgia they crossed the Alleghanies, and were six
weeks in accomplishing the journey, having traveled all the way in wagons.
The two elder children were born at New Milford, the other four at
Cleveland. The oldest son, George B. Merwin, of Rockport, is now the only
surviving member of the family.
After the family arrived at Cleveland, Mr. Merwin engaged in keeping a
public house or tavern, as it was then designated, on the corner of
Superior street and Vineyard lane, and about the same time established a
warehouse at the foot of Superior street and commenced his career in the
commerce of the lakes. He built the schooner Minerva, which was the first
vessel registered at Washington, from the District of Cuyahoga, under the
U. S. Revenue Laws. For many years Mr. Merwin, under contracts with the
Government, furnished the supplies required at the U. S. Garrisons on the
western frontiers, at Fort Gratiot, Mackinaw, Sault St. Marie, Green Bay
and Chicago, as well as the Hudson Bay Company at the Sault St. Marie.
In a commercial point of view his business became extensive for those
times, and he enjoyed the entire confidence of the Government and of
business men generally throughout the lake country. He succeeded in
accumulating a handsome fortune, which consisted mostly in vessel stocks
and in lands. He owned a large breadth of lands, extending from the south
side of Superior street to the river, which, since his time, has become
exceedingly valuable.
But owing mainly to over-work in the various departments of his
increasing business, while he was yet in the noon of manhood, his
health became seriously impaired, and with a view to recruit it he
sailed for the West Indies in 1829, and on the 3d day of November, of
that year, died of consumption, at the Island of St. Thomas, in the 47th
year of his age. He was a gentleman of fine personal appearance,
measuring six feet and four inches in height, erect and well
proportioned. In a word, he was a man of heart, and of generous
impulses, honest, frank and cordial. In the circle in winch he moved, he
was the friend of everybody and everybody was his friend.
John Blair.
The race of men who remember Cleveland in the day of its small beginnings,
is fast passing away. Of those who were residents of the little village on
the Cuyahoga fifty years ago, only about half a dozen now live in the
flourishing city that occupies its site and inherits its name. One of
these is John Blair, well known to all the Clevelanders of ante-railroad
days, but who is probably a mere name to a large proportion of those who
have crowded into the city of late years. Mr. Blair is one of the few
remaining links that connect the rude village in the forest with the
modern Forest City.
John Blair was born in Maryland on the 18th of December, 1793. His early
years were spent in farming, but at the age of twenty-three he dropped the
hoe and turned his back to the plow, resolving to come west and seek his
fortune. From the time that he shook from his feet the dirt of the
Maryland farm, he says, he has never done a whole day's work, at one time,
at manual labor.
In 1819, he reached Cleveland, then an insignificant village of about a
hundred and fifty inhabitants, who dwelt mostly in log houses, grouped at
the foot of Superior street. At the corner of Water street and what is now
Union lane, stood the pioneer hotel of Cleveland, the tavern of Major
Carter, where good accommodations for man and beast were always to be
found. The young Maryland adventurer was not overburdened with wealth when
he landed in his future home, his entire cash capital being three dollars.
But it was no discredit in those days to be poor, and three dollars was a
fine capital to start business upon. In fact sonic of the then "old
settlers," would have been glad to possess so much capital in ready money
as a reserve fund.
But even in those days of primitive simplicity, three dollars would not
support a man for any great length of time if there were no other sources
of supply. Mr. Blair recognized the fact that no time must be wasted, and
at once turned his attention to a chance for speculation. An opportunity
immediately offered itself. An old Quaker, with speculation in his eye,
entered Cleveland with two hundred and fifty fat hogs, expecting to find a
good market. In this he was mistaken, and as hogs on foot were expensive
to hold over for a better market, he determined to convert them into salt
pork. Mr. Blair offered to turn pork-packer for a proper consideration;
the offer was accepted, and this was Mr. Blair's first step in business.
Pork-packing, as a steady business, offered but little inducement, so Mr.
Blair decided on establishing himself on the river as produce dealer and
commission merchant. The capital required was small, and the work not
exhaustive, for the facilities for shipping were slight and the amount to
be shipped small; warehouses were of the most modest dimensions, and
docks existed only in imagination. When the shipping merchant had a
consignment to put on board one of the diminutive vessels that at
intervals found their way into the port, the stuff was put on a flat boat
and poled or rowed to the vessel's side, Business was conducted in a very
leisurely manner, there being no occasion for hurry, and everybody
concerned being willing to make the most of what little business there
was. The slow moving Pennsylvania Dutch who had formed settlements in
northeastern Ohio, and drove their wide wheeled wagons along the
sometimes seemingly bottomless roads to Cleveland, plowed through the mud
on the river bank in search of "de John Blair vat kips de white fishes,"
and after much chaffer, unloaded the flour and wheat from their wagons,
and loaded up with fish and salt, sometimes giving three barrels of flour
for one barrel of salt.
In 1827, the Ohio Canal was partially opened to Cleveland, and a
revolution in trade was effected. The interior of the State was soon
brought into communication with the enterprising merchants on Lake Erie
and the Ohio river. Mr. Blair was prompt to avail himself of the
opportunity to increase his trade. He built the first canal boat
constructed in Cleveland, and launched her in 1828, near the site of the
present Stone Mill, amid the plaudits of all the people of the village,
who had turned out to witness the launching. As soon as the craft settled
herself proudly on the bosom of the canal, Mr. Blair invited the
spectators of the launch to come on board, and, with a good team of horses
for motive power, the party were treated to an excursion as far as Eight
Mile Lock and return, the whole day being consumed in the journey.
Subsequently Mr. Blair became interested, with others, in a line of twelve
boats, employing nearly one hundred horses to work them.
From this time Cleveland continued to grow and prosper. The products of
the interior were brought in a steadily increasing stream to Cleveland by
the canal, and shipped to Detroit, then the great mart of the western
lakes. A strong tide of emigration had set towards Northern Michigan, and
those seeking homes there had to be fed mainly by Ohio produce, for which
Michigan fish and furs were given in exchange. But the opening of the
Erie Canal placed a new market within reach, and Mr. Blair was among the
first to take Ohio flour to New York, selling it there at fourteen
dollars the barrel.
In 1845, Mr. Blair, then in the prime of his vigor, being but fifty-two
years old, resolved to quit a business in which he had been uniformly
successful, and spend the remainder of his life in enjoying what he had
acquired by diligence and enterprise. He was then the oldest merchant in
the city, having been in business over a quarter of a century. For the
past twenty-four years he has taken life easy, which he has been able to
do from the sensible step he adopted of quitting active business before it
wore him out. At the age of seventy-five he is still hale, hearty and
vigorous, looking younger than his actual years, and possessing that great
desideratum, a sound mind in a sound body.
Philo Scovill.
Familiar as is the name of Philo Scovill, but few of our citizens are
aware that he was one of Cleveland's earliest merchants. It appears that
circumstances, not altogether the choice of Mr. Scovill, induced him to
come to Cleveland with a stock of drugs and groceries. His father was a
millwright, and had brought up his son to the use of tools. He had no
taste for his new calling, and so worked out of the store-keeping as
speedily as possible, and commenced the erection of dwellings and stores
in the then new country, being only second in the trade here to Levi
Johnson. He continued in the building business until 1826, when he erected
the Franklin House, on Superior street, on the next lot but one to the
site of the Johnson House. Mr. Scovill at once became the landlord, and
continued as such for twenty-three years, excepting an interval of a five
years' lease.
About 1849, he left the hotel business to attend to his real estate
interests. He was successful in his hotel business; and from time to time
invested his surplus capital in lands adjacent to the city, which, within
the last few years have become exceedingly valuable. Streets have been
laid out upon his property, and inducements offered to settlers that
insured a ready sale, and materially aided the growth of the city.
Mr. Scovill, as a man, has enjoyed the confidence of his fellow citizens
to an unusual degree. He was hardworking, resolute, and exactly fitted by
nature for the pioneer life of his choice, a life that, though toilsome,
has left him still hale and vigorous, with the exception of the fruits of
overwork, and perhaps exposure, in the form of rheumatism.
Mr. Scovill was born in Salisbury, Ct., November 30, 1791. He lived at
that place until he was nine years of age, when his father moved to
Cornwall, in the same county; thence to Shenango county, and from thence
to Seneca county, N. Y. Here he lived on the banks of Seneca Lake nine
years. After that he lived in Buffalo one year, from which point he came
to Cleveland, as before stated.
Mr. Scovill was married February 16, 1819, to Miss Jemima Beebe. Mrs. S.
is still living and enjoying excellent health.
Melancthon Barnett.
He who has had occasion to traverse Bank street many times, or to pass
along Superior at the head of Bank, must have become familiar with the
figure of a hale old gentleman, to be seen frequently on sunny days,
standing on the steps of the Merchants Bank, or passing along Bank street
between the bank and his residence, beyond Lake street. His clothes are
not of showy material or fashionable cut, one hand is generally employed
in holding a clay pipe, from which he draws comfort and inspiration, and
which rarely leaves his lips when on the street, except to utter some bit
of dry humor, in which he especially delights. That is Melancthon Barnett,
one of the "oldest inhabitants" of the Forest City, and whose well known
figure and quaint jokes will be missed by his many friends out of doors,
as will his wise counsels within the bank parlor, when death shall at
length summon him to leave his wonted haunts.
Mr. Barnett was born in Amenia, Dutchess county, New York, in 1789. At six
years old he was taken with the remainder of the family to Oneida county,
where he remained until 1812, when he removed to New Hartford, near Utica,
and remained two years as clerk in a store. From that place he went to
Cherry Valley, Otsego County, where he went as partner in the mercantile
business, and continued there until 1825. In that year Mr. May came west
to Cleveland for the purpose of opening a store, and Mr. Barnett came with
him as clerk. In course of time he was advanced to the position of
partner, and continued in business until 1834, when May and Barnett wound
up their affairs as merchants, and became speculators in land. Their real
estate business was carried on successfully for many years, the steady
growth of the town making their investments profitable.
In 1843, Mr. Barnett was elected Treasurer of Cuyahoga county, and proved
himself one of the most capable and scrupulously honest officers the
county has ever had. He held the position six years, and the business not
occupying his entire time, he also filled the office of Justice of the
Peace, continuing his real estate transactions at the same time.
At the close of his career as a public officer he was elected Director of
the City Bank, with which he has remained to the present time, rarely, if
ever, being absent during the business hours of the bank.
Mr. Barnett was married May 15, 1815, to Miss Mary Clark, at Cherry
Valley. Mrs. Barnett died April 21, 1840, in Cleveland, having borne five
children. Only two of these yet live, the oldest, Augustus, being in the
leather business at Watertown, Wisconsin, and the younger, James, in the
hardware business in Cleveland. The latter is well known for his brilliant
services at the head of the Ohio Artillery during the war, in Western
Virginia and Tennessee, and no name is cherished with greater pride in
Cleveland than that of General James Barnett.
Joel Scranton.
Joel Scranton, whose name is associated with much of the history of
Cleveland, during the period when it grew from a small village to a city
well on the way to permanent prosperity, was born in Belchertown, Mass.,
April 5, 1792. Whilst yet a child his parents removed with him to Otsego
county, N. Y., where a considerable portion of his early life was spent.
About the year 1820 he removed to Cleveland, where he engaged in business
and remained until his death, of apoplexy, on the 9th of April, 1858,
having just completed his sixty-sixth year.
In the later years of the village of Cleveland and the early days of the
city, Mr. Scranton's leather and dry goods store, at the corner of
Superior and Water streets, was a well known business landmark. In the
prosecution of his business he succeeded in saving a comfortable
competence, which was increased by his judicious investments in real
estate. These last have, by the rapid growth of the city, and increase in
value since his death, become highly valuable property.
Mr. Scranton was industrious, economical, and judicious in business
transactions; of strong mind and well balanced judgment; a kind parent and
a firm friend.
Orlando Cutter.
Orlando Cutter first beheld the harbor and city of Cleveland on the 30th
of June, 1818, having spent nine dismal days on the schooner Ben Franklin,
in the passage from Black Rock. He was landed in a yawl, at the mouth of
the river, near a bluff that stood where the Toledo Railroad Machine Shops
have since been built, about seventy-five rods west of the present
entrance to the harbor. In those days the river entrance was of a very
unreliable character, being sometimes entirely blocked up with sand, so
that people walked across. It was no uncommon thing for people to ride
over, or jump the outlet with the help of a pole.
[Illustration]
Mr. Cutter walked along the beach and on the old road to Water street,
and thence in a broiling sun to the frame tavern of Noble H. Merwin, on
Vineyard lane, near Superior street. Here he was first introduced to Philo
Scovill, a robust young carpenter, who was hewing timber for Merwin's new
brick tavern, afterwards called the Mansion House.
Mr. Cutter had experienced what our city boys would regard as a rough
beginning in life. At sixteen he went into a store at Royalton,
Massachusetts, at a salary of _four dollars a month_ and board; and at the
end of a year had saved one dollar and a half. His pay being increased to
one hundred dollars for the next year, he ventured upon the luxury of a
pair of boots. In September, 1815, having proven his mettle as an active,
capable and honest young man, he was translated to a large jobbing house,
on Cornhill, Boston, the salary being board and clothing. Having been born
at Jeffrey, New Hampshire, June 5, 1797, at the end of three years
apprenticeship in the Boston establishment, he arrived at the age of
twenty-one, and became his own master. The firm offered him a credit for
dry goods to the amount of $10,000, with which to go west and seek his
fortune, but before accepting the offer he concluded to go and see if he
could find a suitable place for trade, but as he had no money, it was
necessary to borrow $400 for the expenses of the trip. With a pair of well
filled saddlebags as an outfit, he started, and in due time arrived at
Black Rock, and from thence proceeded, as above narrated, to Cleveland, on
a tour of examination.
Cleveland had then about two hundred inhabitants, and four stores. Water
street was cleared out sufficiently for the purposes of travel to the
lake. It was also prepared for a race course--for which purpose it was
used for a number of years.
Twenty or thirty German teams from Pennsylvania, Stark, Wayne and other
counties, laden with flour, each team having from four to six horses,
encamped in Superior street at night, and gave Cleveland such a business
appearance that Mr. Cutter took a fancy to it.
After two weeks, Mr. Cutter set sail in the schooner Wasp for Sandusky,
where there was a natural harbor, and from thence in the Fire Fly, for
Detroit. But his thoughts reverted to Cleveland, and forming a partnership
with Messrs. Mack & Conant, of Detroit, the firm purchased twenty
thousand dollars worth of dry goods, groceries, and a general assortment
for an extensive establishment here.
In February, 1820, he married Miss Phelps, of Painesville, Ohio, who died
in 1829, two of whose children are now living. His competitors in business
were Nathan Perry, J. R. & I. Kelly, S. S. Dudley and Dr. David Long. It
was only about a year after he opened in Cleveland when Mack & Conant
failed, throwing the Cleveland purchase entirely upon him. After ten years
of hard work, and close application, he paid off the whole, but at the
close it left him only five hundred dollars in old goods. Ohio currency
was not exactly money in those days. It was at a discount of twenty-five
to thirty per cent. for eastern funds. There was, moreover, little of it,
and there were stay laws, and the appraisal of personal, as well as real
estate, under execution, rendering collections almost impossible. To
illustrate: a man in Middleburg, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, owed Mr. Cutter
seventy-five dollars. He went to attend the constable's sale, and found
among the effects a dog appraised at ten dollars; rails ten cents each,
and a watch worth five dollars valued at twenty dollars, so he left the
place in disgust and hurried home, through the woods, in no placid frame
of mind. Of four new shoes put on his horse that morning, three had been
torn off by the mud, roots, and corduroy between Cleveland and Middleburg.
After closing up the old business, he posted books or turned his hand
to whatever employment presented itself. Inactivity and despondency
formed no part of his character. About 1827, there was a temporary
business connection between himself and Thos. M. Kelly, after which he
started again alone, adding the auction and commission business to that
of a merchant.
Mr. Cutter, in November, 1832, was married to Miss Hilliard, sister of the
late Richard Hilliard. Of this marriage there are seven children now
living, most of them settled in the city. William L. is cashier of the
Merchants National Bank; Edwin succeeded his father two years since at the
old auction store in Bank street, and R. H. is the principal partner of
Cutter & Co., upholsterers.
Going east in the Fall of 1821, Mr. Cutter, on his return, preferred the
staunch steamer Walk-in-the-Water, to the Wasps, Fire Flies and Franklins,
on board of which he had experienced so many buffetings. George Williams
and John S. Strong were also of the same mind. These three old settlers,
and about seventy others, went on board at Black Rock, in the afternoon.
Eight yoke of oxen were required to assist the engines in getting her over
the rapids into the open lake. In the night a furious gale arose, Capt.
Rogers put back, but not being able to get into Buffalo Creek, came to
anchor near its mouth. Being awfully sea sick, Mr. Cutter lay below,
little caring where the Walk-in-the-Water went to. Her anchor, however,
parted before morning, and she went ashore sidewise, on an easy sand
beach, without loss of life.
This year completes his semi-centennial as a citizen of Cleveland, yet he
is still hale and vigorous. He has gone through revulsions, and has
enjoyed prosperity with equal equanimity, never indulging in idleness or
ease, and has now come to a ripe old age possessed of an ample competence.
Peter Martin Weddell.
One of the most noted historical and topographical landmarks of Cleveland
is the Weddell House. Its builder was one of the most valuable citizens of
the Forest City.
Mr. P. M. Weddell was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1788.
His father died before his birth, and his mother, marrying again, removed
to Paris, Bourbon county, Kentucky, the State at that time deserving its
sobriquet of the "dark and bloody ground," as the contest with the native
savages was carried on with relentless fury on both sides. Under such
circumstances it may well be supposed that he grew up with few educational
or other advantages, and that his youth was one of vicissitudes and
hardships.
At the age of fourteen he applied at a store for employment, what surplus
clothing and effects he then possessed being carelessly flung over his
shoulders. He promised to do any work they were pleased to set him at, and
he thought he could satisfy them. This broad pledge was so well kept that
at the age of nineteen he was made a partner. This partnership was soon
closed by the death of the old member.
Young Weddell, with a vigorous body, good habits, a clear judgment, and
some money, removed to Newark, Ohio, during the war of 1812. While he was
successfully trading there, Miss Sophia Perry, of Cleveland, was sent to
her friends at Newark for greater safety, and to acquire an education.
She was but little past fifteen when she consented to be Mrs. Weddell, and
they were married in November, 1815.
In 1820, Mr. Weddell removed from Newark to Cleveland and established
himself in business on Superior street, taking a stand at once among the
leading merchants of the place, a position he retained as long as he
continued in business.
In 1823, Mrs. Weddell died, leaving three children, of whom H. P. Weddell
is the only survivor. A portrait of her, by Peale, still remains in the
family house, which confirms the remembrances of her friends that she
possessed many charms both of person and of disposition. In the
following year Mr. Weddell married Mrs. Eliza A. Bell, of Newark, who is
still living, and whom every old citizen of Cleveland well knows and
sincerely respects.
In 1825, he formed a partnership with Mr. Edmund Clade, from Buffalo, and
retired from active participation in business. In 1828, the partnership
was dissolved. Three years afterwards he took into partnership with him
his two clerks, Greenup C. Woods, his half brother, and Dudley Baldwin,
the firm name being P. M. Weddell & Co. The firm lasted but four years,
when Mr. Woods established himself in Newark, and Messrs. Weddell and
Baldwin continued the business together until 1845.
When Mr. Weddell commenced his mercantile life it was no child's play.
At that time there were no canals or railroads to facilitate
commerce--scarcely were there any roads at all--specie was the only
currency west of the mountains, and that had to be carried across the
mountains from Pittsburgh on the backs of mules, and the merchandise
returned in the same way. Long after, when traveling over the
Alleghanies with a friend, Mr. Weddell frequently pointed to places on
the road which he remembered, and of which he related interesting
anecdotes. Several merchants would travel together and sometimes they
would have guards, as the lonely uninhabited mountains were not
altogether safe even in those days.
In 1823, Mr. Weddell built what was regarded as a princely brick residence
and store on the corner of Superior and Bank streets, afterwards the site
of the Weddell House. His surplus funds were invested in real estate,
which soon began to increase in value at an astonishing rate, as the city
grew in population and importance. On one of his lots upon Euclid street
he built the stone cottage which he designed as a country retreat, and
after his taking his clerks into partnership, he left the store mainly to
their management, devoting his attention to the purchase and improvement
of real estate, being generally regarded as a gentleman of wealth.
In the Spring of 1845 he began work upon the Weddell House, tearing away
the store and mansion, where his fortune had been made. It was finished in
two years. He then made a journey to New York to purchase furniture. On
the way home he was attacked by typhoid fever, and in three weeks was in
his grave.
As a merchant, Mr. Weddell had few superiors. His urbanity, industry,
and care made him popular, successful, and safe, while his integrity and
his liberality were well known to his correspondents and to all the
religious and benevolent institutions of the times.
He was always willing and ready to aid and assist his young men; when he
found one correct and capable he never refused a helping hand. Very few of
his day were so liberal in this respect, or could point to so many who
became prominent merchants by their aid as could Mr. Weddell.
At his death, Mr. Weddell was a man of such personal energy and business
capacity, that he had promise of twenty more years of active life. Soon
after the Rev. S. G. Aiken became pastor of the old Stone Church, Mr.
Weddell became a communicant, and he died in the Christian faith. He
bequeathed to the American Board of Foreign Missions the sum of five
thousand dollars; to the Home Missionary Society five thousand dollars,
and several other bequests amounting to some thousands to other benevolent
institutions.