Pioneer Women of Cleveland 807
PIONEER WOMEN OF CLEVELAND CUYAHOGA COUNT Y.
1796- 1816
The fi rst white woman to step foot in o n the Cuyahoga river attended t.he Cleveland was
Pioneer Women of Cleveland
808 CLEVELAND
CALL OF DUTY OR MERCY. FEAR OF THE INDIANS, It is to be hoped that this good woman who, harmless when sober, were a men. bad a. far easier life in her declining ace when aroused by drink, some of years than was accorded to her in her which Mr. Carter, with the custom of younger days. She was thirty-eight the times, dispensed to them. A drunken years old when she came to Cleveland. brave once chased her, hatchet in hand, The youngest daughter, Minerva Gun, around a wood pile, but was caught in married and clied young. Christopher the act by her husband, who put a sud Gun married Ruth Hickox, daughter of den stop to the sport. Abram Hickox. the Cleveland blacksmith. Mrs. Carter had nine children, six of Charles married Betsey Mattock, Horace, whom married and left descendants. The Anna Pritchard, and Elijah Gun, Jr. daughters were Laura, who married married Eleanor Grant. Erastus Miles, and secondly James Rebecca Fuller, aged twenty-eight Strong; Polly who became Mrs. William years, daughter of Amos and Mercy Peets; Mercy married Asahel Abels; and Taylor Fuller, was the wife of Lorenzo Betsy married Orison Cathan. Carter, the noted Cleveland pioneer. Lucy Carter, s ister of Lorento Carter, They started from Castleton, Vt., in the married Ezekiel Hawley of Castleton, late summer of 1796, with three children, Vt., and with her husband accompanied respectively two, four and six years of her brother's family on their trip to Ohio. age. When the family reached the small Little can be gleaned of her life in Cleve hamlet of Buffalo, it was deemed best land save that she was every inch a to postpone the remainder o£ the journey, Carter or a Buell, on the maternal side, and in order to secure shelter, they whichever it was that handed down to crossed the Niagara river into Canada. her and her brother characteristics of Before spring arrived another child had courage, self reliance, fortitude, and the be.on born, little Henry, who was after instinct for wisely directing and guiding wards drowned when teo years of age. others. They arrived in Cleveland about the Her family of living children was middle of May, 1797, and settled in the small, but others may have died young. usual log cabin on a two acre lot near Pioneer life took constant toll of infancy. the foot of St. Clair Ave., close to the Her daughter Fanny married Theodore river bank. The lot cost Mr. Carter but Miles, and her son Alphonso married $47.50. This first log house on the river Juliette Jackson. was the scene of many activities. It was The Hawley family lived first on West a dwelling, Indian trading post, store, 9th Street, near the corner of Superior and head-quarters for all the settlement. Ave., and within three years removed Here was celebrated in 1801 the Fourth to a more healthy-location on Broadway, . of July witb simple refreshments, and near Woodhill Road. The parents were with dancing. Soon afterward Mrs. victims of the epidemie of fever that Carter took possession of a new log swept the township in 1827. house on the northeast comer of Super Eunice Waldo was the daughter of ior and West Ninth Streets. This was John and Hannah Carleton Waldo.. Her a village tavern for several succeeding grandfather, Lieut. John Carleton, her years, and here Mr. Carter died of a lin father and his two brothers reinforced gering and painful illness in 1814. the garrison of Ticonderoga when it was More has been retained of his wife beseiged. than of most of our pioneer women, all of it worthy of perpetuation. She came She married Judge James Kingsbury from Carmel, a beautiful little village of Alstead, N. H. He was caught in the in eastern New York, and was descended OHIO LAND BOOM from fine New England stock. She was of 1796, and with his family of wife and spiritually minded, sympathetic, kind three children, the youngest an infant, hearted, and open-handed. Very timid, and a nephew named Carleton, started she suffered much through for the future Cleveland. They brought
Pioneer Women of Cleveland
CLEVELAND 809
~th them a horse, cow, yoke of oxen Mrs. Eunice Kingsbury died in 1843 and a few household necessities. aged seventy-three years; therefore she Probably no pioneer woman of this" was but twenty-six, when as a mother city endured the hardship, privation and of I our Children she suffered such dire mental suffering that Eunice Waldo experience in the wilderness. What was Kingsbury experienced in that western mortal of her lies in Erie Street Ceme trip. After reaching Conneaut her hus tery. May her ashes never be disturbed. band returned to New Hampshire on a THE FIRST WEDDING business errand leaving her alone in the in Cleveland was that of a little Cana ~lderness with her little ones. Winter dian maid, who accompanied the Carters set in before his return. Meanwhile an from Canada to Oeveland in order to other child was born. In this case, also, help Mrs. Carter with her little children. squaws attended her. But the friendly Her sweetheart, William Clement, fol· Indians left Conneaut. The cow died lowed her to Cleveland shortly after, and !rome ating poison leaves and there was claimed her hand in marriage. The no milk for the children. Fever dried wedding was solemnized July 4th, 1797. up her natural sustenance and the in The Rev. Seth Hart officiated, and as fant starved. Mr. Kingsbury was stricken custodian of the Connecticut surveyor's with malarial fever upon his arrival in stores, he supplied the materials for the his eastern borne and his recovery and wedding feast. The fatller of Clement return barely saved tlte lives of his whole was an American Tory. who at the close family. The story is a thrilling one and of the Revolutionary War settled on the can be found in detail in Canadian side of the Nidgara river. "THE PIONEER FAMILIES OF The future life of the bride, Chloe CLEVELAND. VOLUME 1." Inches, was one of prosperity and ease. Her three sons became well known citi Upon the arrival of the family here, zens in their plac.es of residence, and tlle it took refuge in an old trading hut on twin daughters, Ann and Margaret the east side of the river, until a cabin Clement, married Richard and William was built. It stood on lot 63, the present W oodrutf of Connecticut, who settled in site of the Post Office and East 3rd Street. Niagara in 1804. The only living grand Malaria drove them within three years child of Chloe Inches Clement, bearing to the northeast corner of Kinsman and the name, was, in 1896, a wealthy far Woodhill Roads. Here Mrs. Kingsbury mer aged seventy-six years, living in St. lived for forty-five years, dispensing a Davids on the Niagara river. Margaret generous hospitality to near neighbors Clement's son was also living at that and Cleveland friends. Memories of it date, aged eighty-five. He was a civil lingered with the early settlers as long engineer, and for many years superin as life lasted, and traditions of it have tendent of the Weiland Canal. been handed down to posterity. East 17th Street, .north of Euclid Ave. Eunice Kingsbury was a good, kind runs straight through the pioneer home hearted woman, prompt to relieve neces• stead of Nancy Doan, wife of Samuel sity in any form. She bad a family of Dodge. Here in 1804 was built a log nine children, four sons and five daugh cabin for the bride, who was daughter ters. Of the latter, Abigail married Dyer of Timothy and Mary Carey Doan, who Sherman; Elmira was Mrs. Perley Hos had settled in East Cleveland two years mer; Nancy became Mrs. Caleb Baldwin; previous. Mrs. Nancy Dodge drew water Calista married Runa Baldwin, and from Diana married Buckley Steadman. THE FIRST WELL All of these daughters must be reckon dug in Cleveland. Other pionee women ed as pioneer women, three of them were had to drink rain water or that hauled born in the township before 1804. Their from the river. The stones used for the father very early invested largely in purpose had formerly been part of In real estate near the river which eventual dian fireplaces, ocxaaionally built by them ly brought wealth to his children. in or near· their wiswams. Pioneer Women of Cleveland
810 CLEVELAND
Nancy Doan Dodge had but one da~h children, in the year 1800, and lived on ter, Mary, who married Ezra B. Srrutl1 the south side of Superior Street close and died young. Her sons Henry and to its western end. Her daughters, Anna George Dodge perpetuated the name and and Chloe, were married soon after honor of the family for long years, and their arrival; the former to John Craw their descendants are yet leading citi in 1801, and the latter in 1804 to Stephen zens oi Cleveland. Henry Dodge mar Gilbert, who was drowned four years ried Mary Anne Wiley, niece of the later, together with Mrs. Spafford's CITY'S FIRST MAYOR. youngest son Adolphus, eighteen years old. Her daughter Anna died six years and George C. Dodge married Lucy A. after marriage, leaving two sons, three Burton, a sister of the late Dr. Burton and five years of age. of Windermere, a suburb of this city. The renaming of Cleveland streets was In 1810 Major Spafford was appointed never more regrettable than when Dodge postmaster of Fort Meigs, now Toledo, Street became East 17th Street, one that and his wife had to begin all over again bears no sigoifitance, no cherished tradi another pionee,. life. The two sons, Samuel at1d Aurora, accompanied their tion. parents, but Anna Craw and her two For two years after her ar-rival in young children remained in Cleveland, 1798, Mrs. Rudolphus Edwards (A110a and were cared fo,. by Mr. and Mrs. Merrill) lived in a log cabin at the foot John Walworth. of Superior Street. She had two chil During the War of 1812 a party of dren at that time, one a young step· British and daughter, and the other an infant of her own. She was a woman of uncommon good INDIANS SWOOPED DOWN sense and judgment, qualities much need upon the settlers of that region, who had ed in those pioneer days. The family to flee for their lives. The Spaffords removed to what is now Woodhill Road, escaped in a•.' open boat to ~ Hu: oo and for long years kept a tavern there. river, up wh•ch they rowed e>ght miles Six children were added to the two to Milan. Ohio. brought from Tolland, Conn., all born in the old tavern. At the close of the war, and upon their return to their Maumee home, Mrs. Besides the family of ten to care for, Spafford lived in a shack made out of and the uncertain traveling public to en the wreck of an old transport, until a tertain, there was spinning, weaving, better shcl ter could be erected. For soap making, candle dipping. and number tbeir former home was burned and aU less other tasks which she performed live stock gone. The family had to begin faithfully and well. Not astonishing life anew. Their property ultimately be that she died in early middle age, when came valuable, but Mrs. Spafford did her youngest child was not fifteen years not live to enjoy the ease and comfort old. · that came to her children through it. Sally Edwards, only daughter of Sarah Adams (Mrs. Nathaniel Doan) Rhoda Barnett Edwards, (first wife of was twenty-seven years old when she Rudolphus) married Patrick Thomas. reached Cleveland in 1798. Her husband Anna Merrill Edwards' daughters were had been the blacksmith of the survey Rhoda (Mrs. Lyman Rhodes); Cherry ors who measured and laid out the streets (Mrs. Samuel Stewart) ; Clara (Mrs. of the future city. He was promised a David Burroughs) ; Anna (Mrs. Noble town lot if he would settle here, an Olmstead) ; and Lydia (Mrs. Lymon offer he accepted, and the family lived Little). There were also two sons, in a log cabin on the north side of Sta.rk and Rudolphus Jr. Superior Street near West Jrd Street. Mrs. Amos Spafford, (Olive Ba:low) The only son, Job, was nine y~s ol~. of Orwell, Vt., had a strenuous p10neer and there were three daughters m thetr life, one of long struggle, exposure, peril, teens : Sarah who married Richard sorrow and disappointment. •She arrived Blinn in 1802. Delia who married Mr. in Cleveland with her husband and five Eddy, secondly David Little, and Mercy,
Pioneer Women of Cleveland
CLEVELAND 811 who became Mrs. Edward Baldwin. WORTHY SUCCESSOR There was also a Cleveland-born daugh of its first and form~r mistress, Sarah ter, .Rebecca (Mrs. Harvey Halliday). Adams Doan. Mr. Doan brought with him a young Although she left many descendants nephew, Seth Doan, son of Timothy. :in this vicinity, it has been diflieult to His presence in the family was most Jearn much concerning the personality providential, for that first year on Super of Ruth Granger, wife of W. W. Wil ior Street every member of it but Seth liams, the pioneer miller of the city and was very iU with malarial fever. To add one who filled offices of trust and stood to their s11ffering there was little food high in the community. The couple came to be obtained in the settlement. For 11rom Suffield and Norwich, Conn., and weeks at a time the hamlet lRutb was thirty-five years old when she arrived in 1800 in Newburg, long since UVED ON CORN MEAL a part of the city. Mr. Williams had which was procured in Newburg. The four brothers who were officers in the lad carried com there and had it ground, War of the Revolution, and his wife's walking all the distance of six mUes family, the Grangers, were notable New there arid return. He· alone ministered England people. to bis suffering relatives, setting an ex The family settled on what is now ample of fortitude and courage seldom Woodbill Road, and there RuU1 Williams equaled by one so young. di.ed. She was small, alert, and very in I n less than a year, Mr. Doan moved telligent. Years before her death, she to a farm on Euclid Ave. near East was stricken with blindness, but developed J07th Street, where he kept a country such acute hearing that no one could tavern and a slore. There was much t!llter her room, ever so cautiously, but travel westward along that road for many :she would know and tell who it was. following years. Many of the pilgrims H er daughter Mary married Amos Ca stopped off at the Doan tavern, others hoon, and Martha married Elijah Peel, encamped in Wade Park over night, and well known pioneer. They lived on West prepared their own meals. To these Mrs. 3rd Street for some years. They were Doan was ever kind and accommodating, charter members of the First Methodist lending often of her own supplies .Qf Church. and their memory is revered by food and bedding. l'ler husband. died in that society. 1815, and she remained a widow for forty David Clark and his family of four years. Her life h;id been one of great sons and two daughters accompanied the change and vicissitude, also one of much Spatlords from Dorset, Vermont. The sorrow. But like most women of that author of "The Pioneer Families of day, she accepted everything that befell Cleveland" spent many her, whether for good or ill, with patient YEARS OF RESEARCH resignation. in securing the maiden name of Mrs. Sarah Doan Blinn lived on a £arm on Clark, notwithstanding her descendants Woodhill Road. ·'S}Je ·died in young ':.Ire yet citizens of this community. womanhood leaving a little son who died Finally the data was f umisbed through in California, unmarried. a great-grandson living in Manitoba, Delia Doan taught the first school in Canada. Her maiden name was Mar Euclid Village. Mercy Doan Baldwin garet Branch. She was thirty-nine years also died young. Her husband, Edward old when she became a resident of Cleve Baldwin, was County Treasurer. Har land. Her daughter and namesake was riet Woodruff was the wife of Job Doau. f ourteen and Lucy twelve years of age. She was nineteen years old at her mar The Clarks li~ on the west side of riage. She was a tall. fine looking old Water Street (now West 9th S t.) woman, one of a remarkable Christian and were close neighbors o£ the Carters cbaract~r•. faithful, kind and generous. who li~ on the corner. Margaret As a landlady of the Doan Tavern, she married Elisha. Norton, the pioneer post "'as a master, and they lived across the street
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812 CLEVELAND
in the hou.!e Ezekiel Hawley occupied Her dauJhter, Eleeta, was the ae<:Ofld for the three previous years. wife of R1chard Blinn. They removed Lucy Clark married Seth Doan the to Perrysburg, Ohio, where with her heroic lad who nursed his Uncle Nathan family, suffered increruble hardship from iel Doan's family when ill from malarial the prevalence of malaria in that section. fever, and doubtless saved their lives. Julia Hamilton became Mrs. Edmond Thenceforth Lucy lived in East Cleve Rathbunl. and in 1819 Lyrna married land. Mr. Clark died in his West 9th Samuel Miles. The sons of Samuel and street home in 1806. Susannah Hamilton were Chester and Justus. The form~r married Lydia War The Nortons lived later in Painesville, ner and moved his famill• .o the west. Ohio, where it is PM~ed the husband ] ustus marrid Salinda COChran, a sweet rued. His widow, garet Clark Nor tempered, valuable woman in the com ton returned to the city and resided many munity. years on the east side of West 6th street. The old Academy of Music was bWit THE WEDDING DRESS either on this site or contiguous to it. of. Philena Gun when she ~ied Cap The Clark sons, Rufus, Mason, Martin tain Allen Gaylord, from GOshen, Ct.. and Jarvis, all settled in western states• was of calico, very scant in the skirt. in after years. but very full as to sleeves. She was The mother lies in an isolated cemetery sixteen years old when she came with in Mesopotamia, Ohio. How it happened her parents to Cleveland and twenty !hat at the age of seventy-six she was eight upon her wedding day. Her mterred so far from the graves of her daughters were Ann, Minerva, Caroline, Cleveland daughters is a mystery not and Desdemona. The latter never mar solved. One of her sons may have lived ried and was living as the only survivor for a time in that vicinity. of the fa.mily as late as 1898. "Aunt Phenie" was a tenn o£ endear The first wife of Augustus Gilbert of ment given the pioneer mother, Mrs. James Vermont wa.s Olive Parmely. She came Hamilton, whose home from 1801 wttil in 1801 and succun1bed to the extreme her death was in Newbur&h. Mrs. privation of those early days, dying in Augustus Gilbert (Olive Parmely) and a log cabin of the wilderness in 1807. the second wife, Irene Burlc, were her The care of her seven children, the old neighbors. est but sixteen years of age, fell upon Irene Burke, who, as the second wife Susannah Hamilton of Chester, Mus., of Mr. Gilb«t, gave to the motherless changed her- life but not her name, when children the measure of care and affec she married Samuel Hamilton. With tion they sorely needed. Her step her six children she arrived cold and daUJ.hters were Dotia, Harriet, Mana. hungry at the cabin o£ an old neighbor. Emdy, Lovice and Althea, all of whom, This was in the spring of 1801, and they save Emily, married. Augustus, Jr. was continued their Journey to Newburgh the only sou of the family. soon after. Only three yeara elapsed before she was left a widow, and her Irene Gilbert had two daughters of her oldest son but fourteen years old. Mr. own, Louise born 10 1810, and Irene. Hamilton was drowned in Buffalo Creek The latter married Rev. A. P. Jones, • while on his way to his former home associate editor of the Plain Dealer, where be had been called by buaines~ sometime in the '30s. matters. Hannah Huntington of New London, Zlra. Susannah was, as has been before Conn., was another young woman who stated, the noblest type of pioneer mother, did not change her name at marria&e. living, working and sacnficing for her for her husband wu S&muel Huntffi&too.. fatherless children. She was well re Hannah was the daughter of Jud&e An· munerated for all this in the honor and drew Huntington and his wife Lucy Coit. respect accorded in after life by her She was born in Norwich, Ct., and there children.. Her grandson, Judge Edwin became a bride. T. Hamilton, wu an eminent jurist of The f1Ullily of foar children arrived thia city, a man of superior attainments. in Cleveland in May, 1801. Amos Spaf·
Pioneer Women of Cleveland
CLEVELAND 813 ford had built for Mr. Huntington young and tender and that it qwckly sup A DOUBLE LOG HOUSE, plied food . for the starving ch,ildren.. The family came to Cleveland in 1801 tbe largest in the settlement. It stood and settled on Lake Ave. in a log cabin. on the bluff back of the present site of Just before the War of 1812, Mr. Thorp, the American House, south side of who was a carpenter, received a con Superior St. near West 6th, and it tract to build houses in Buffalo, to whieb c:ommanded a beautiful view of the place he removed his family. He lost Cuyahoga river valley. his life at Lundy's Lane as a sharpshooter Mrs. Huntington's experience while in that conflict and when the British and living here without any of the comforts Indians burned Buffalo, poor Mrs. Thorp or luxuries of her eastern home, and her lost everything in the way of clothing, efforts to conform to the privation, bedding and household belongings. She dreariness, and constant ill-health of her made her way somehow and in some wa'l present one would be an interesting to Cleveland. How she ever managed tt srory. Her nearest neighbors, Mrs. with her seven ..clll.ldren, is one of the Spafford and Mrs. Carter, were almost marvels of the average pioneer woman's as unfitted, save in loyalty, courage and heroism and patience. as she for such a lif~ WONDERFUL ADAPTATION She was thirty-one years old and brought six children with her to Cleve to every circumstance of the life of that land. The only daughter, Martha mar day. She died at the residence of her ried Dr. John H. Mathews, of Paines youngest son, Ferris Thorp, in Orange ville, Ohio. The sons were Francis, ten township. years of age, Julian, five years, Colbert, M311' Saylor, second wife of David six years, Samuel, three years and Dille, Jr., and her sister Frances Saylor, Robert but a year old. Little Samuel Mrs. Asa Dille, came here in 1803. David died in Cleveland at the age of five. was a revolutionary soldier. He bought All the others lived to manhood. property in Euclid and his brother Asa Mr. Huntington. settled on Euclid Ave. near Mayfield Road. Their wives rode all the way AFTERWARD GOVERNOR from Wheeling on horseback, each carry of Ohio, exchanged his large land hold ing an infant in her ams with another ings here in 1806 for equal property at ehild seated behind her and holding on the mouth of the Grand River, near to mother for dear life. And all this Painesville, previously owned by Judge ON MERELY A BRIDLE Walworth. He took his family to the Newburgh Heights and remained there path. Both sisters wete noted for their for a time, then took possession of his unselfish hospitality. property at Fairport. Here both parents Mary Anne Dille, maiden name un died, and now rest in Evergreen Ceme known, was the w:ife o f Samuel Dille, tery, Painesville. nephew of David and Asa. Her home Joel Thorp, son of Yale Thorp of was on Broadway, one and a half miles New Haven, put his yo~ wife, Sarah from the Public Square. She died in Dayton, and her three eh1ldren into an 1815, leavin$' a family of five ehildren, ax cart and started for Ohio about 1799, and was buned in Harvard Grove Ceme ending in A$htabula County and twenty tery. She bad two grandsons who gave miles from any other white family. Here up their lives for their country during again was a family threatened with ·the Civil War. starvatiOQ in the absence of the husband Clara Edwards married the son of a and father. They were reduced to the neighbor, David Burrough~ who settled last extremity of eating the grain that on Woodhill Rd. in 180~. The son. stuck to the straw oi their straw ticks. David, Jr., removed to the hamlet, set At this crisis almost a miracle happened. up a blacksmith shop, and built a home A wild turkey lighted on a stump near on Superior St.,_ northwest corner of the cabin, and Mrs. Thorp managed to West Third St. Clara Burroughs was shoot it. It is to be hoped that it was an estimable woman, kind and friendly to
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814 CLEVELAND
nery one. She wa1 quite a 1tout woman wonder£ ully interesting and should be with the good nature that usually accom preserved intact. panies embonpoint. She kept a big flock Juliana Morgan, wife of Judge John of geese, the ganden of which village Walworth, was a type of the pioneer children feared and long recalled in after woman of her day and generation. She years. brought with her to Oeveland in 1806, The da~hters of Clara Burroughs aD the culture acquired in her New Lon were, Mary (Mrs. Lyman) and Phoebe don, Conn., home of ease and plenty. (Mrs. Orin Houghton). And to this were added great self Sophia Leonora Root was the daughter reliance and prompt resource gained by of the Rn. Benijah and Elizabeth Guun experience of hardship and peril in reach ~ey Root, and ;about 1789 married Major ing her destination, which was a farm Nathan Perry, Sr., of Rutland, Vt. Her of 390 acres, long since become the very husband purchased a farm and mill near heart of the city. ~uffalo, N. Y., where Mrs. Perry exper The family first settled in Fairport, tenced pionee.r life, and ~n in Cleve Ohio. Then exchanged property with llltJd hamlet where the family removed in Governor Huntington, pioneer settler of 1806, making their home on the northeast Cleveland, and started 1n an comer of Superior and W ut 9th streets. OPEN BOAT ON LAKE ERIE Mrs. Perry was a dignified and reticent woman. She had a sister living in New for their n·ew home. The boat was ark, Ohio, and often went there on wrecked on the way, and its occupants visits, riding all the way on horseback. all precipitated into the water. Judge She outlived her husband many years. Walworth's life was saved by the closest It has been claimed that at her death margin. she was buried in her Mrs. Walworth lived for six years where the Friendly Inn now stands, Cen WIDE DEEP LAWN tral Ave. and Broadway, and for the on Euclid Alve., but like many other rest of her life on Euclid Ave. -below traditions this may have no foundation E. 9th St. Her two daughters Wt:re in fact. Juliana, who married Dr. David Lon~t Her only daughter Sophia was a lovely and lived in the Huntington log house young woman, whose marriage to Peter all her early years on the southwest M. Weddell lasted but a few years. Mrs. comer of Superior and West 6th Sts.; Horace Perry (Abigail Smith) became and Hannah, who became Mrs. Benjamin a bride in 181-4 and lived in a large frame Strickland. Mrs. Long was a notable house on the south side of the Public member of early Cleveland society. Square. The only daughter of Horace Wonderfully kind-hearted and generous, Perry (Pauline) married Charles N. the sick, the poor and the sorrc>wful Willey, nephew of the first mayor of naturaDy gravitated to her doorstep. SUP. Oeveland. of help and comfort. Her sister Hannah was an estimable woman but very quiet Pauline Skinner, who married Nathan and reserved. Perry, Jr., in 1816, was the dauJht4!r of Captain Abram Skinner of Pamenille. Mrs. Philo Taylor (Zerviah Daven She was born in Hartford, Conn., was port) came to Rocky River from New twenty-three years old, and eight years England in 180$, where she lived in a the junior of her husband. She bas been log tavern. Here her eighth child JWas recalled by old citizens as a woman of born, the first birth in tbat township. pleaaing personality with kind and help In 1816 she was occt1pying a home on ful ways. Her first Cleveland borne was Superior St., where she died in 1823 on 10\ftr Superior St. and afterward for and was laid away in Erie St. cemetery. long years in a spacious bouse yet stand Two of her daughters, Sophia and ing on the comer of Euclid Ave. and Prudence, were the wives of the Burke E.. 21st St. brothers, Gains and Brazilla, of New burgh. Wealthy, Amanda Loviea and THE PERRY HOMESTEAD Julia Taylor all married Cleveland or This old landmark i1 nry attractive, Newburgh men and are said to haft
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CLEVELAND 815
hid lovely characteristics, and were dren and Ma thew W illiamson, advanced yaluable women in the community. the Cleveland census to fifty-seven names The fi rst wife of the famous Cleveland of all ages. blacksmith, Abram H ickox, was Jemima Mrs. Williamson spent the first years Tuttle, who with her five grown of her life in the hamlet on West 9th St., daughters came aU the way from Water then but a path wide enough for an ox bury, Conn., in a wagon that also con cart. This was in 1810. She was one tained household effects and provisions. of the earliest members of the Old Stone The father walked, as did the women Church. Afterward with her unmarried folks at intervals, taking turns with each daughter Sarah she resided on the north other in the wagon. .side of Euclid Ave. jus~ west of East 6th St. She out-lived her husband These pioneer daughters, Ruth, Oriana, twenty-five years and died at the age of Lucy, Lucinda and Dorcas were tine :seventy-seven. She is recalled as a "Dear women greatly respected in the com old lady". Her grandson, Rev. James D. munity. Lucinda Williamson, who married Miss Ely of KE P T A PRIVAXE SCHOOL Elyria, Ohio, is yet living an honored and beloved member of Greater Cleve for yfars. Lucy died unmarried at an advanced age. Ruth married Christopher land. Gun. Mrs. Robert Wallace (Harriet Men ough) was a woman of much executive The dwelling of the Hickox family ability despite a delicate constitution. Sir.: was close to the blacksmith shop, which wa.• the landlady of the village tavern stood on the site of the Rockefeller which was filled with 1he sick and Bid~(. The mother succumbed to the wounded one year of the War of 1812. hardships of pioneer life within six Although threatened with an attack at years, and Phoebe Stone, widow of any hour, by the British troops and tl1e Elisha Dibble, sueeeeded h~ r in the Indians, she would not seek safety leav Hickox home. ing the invalids to face such ar ordeal Levi Johnson, the Oeveland carpenter alone. Her daughter Emmeline was born and ship-builder, met his future wife in the tavern in 1814 and became the Margard Montier, while on business in bride of Thomas Wilson, first sheriff Huron County. She became the "next of Portage County. door" neighbor of the Hickox family. A Mrs. Noble Merwin ( Minerva Buck tavern built upon the site stood there ingham) was a power in the village that long years and but recently made way was to be consulted in all matters of for the western end of the Rockefeller civics and religion. Also a big-hearted, Bwlding. Tbe eldest daughter, Harriet unselfish woman who served herself Johnson, married the well-known pioneer last. Many stories concerning this trait Alexander Sackett. have been handed -down to the present Lucretia, Minerva and Sybil, the three generation. - daul(hters of Holden· Allen, lived in She also was a landlady assisting her Buffalo previous to the War of 1812. husband in entertaining Lucretia married Captain Harpin ] ohn son, Minerva married Captain Jonathan WESTBOUND TRAVELERS, Johnson, brother of Levi. She was an in their tavern at the foot of Superior expert needle woman and when the old St. Her grandmother was a sister of steamship "Columbus'~ was launched, Roger Sherman of Rhode Island. Of her two daughters, Minerva married RECEIVED FIVE DOLLARS George Atwater and the youngest, Mary, for making its flag, a sum equal to $15.00 died in young womanhood. at the present day. The young landlady of Mowrey's Tav . One of the most notable women of the ern was Rhoda Curtis who married Pliny time was Mrs. Samuel Williamson (Isa M owrey in 1816. The tavern stood on bella McQueen) of Crawford County, the Public Square, the site of the present Penn. The arrival of the family, Mr. New England H otel. She was the and Mrs. Williamson, their three chit- dau&hter of a tanner livin& near Doan's
Pioneer Women of Cleveland
816 CLEVELAND
Cnrners. Her !'ister Lydia Curtis mar dwelling not far from where a modern ried. the following year, James Bliss. brick cottage was being prepared for her The result of Plina Mowrey's financial near the foot of West 9th St. But she difficulties and misfortunes led the young died before it could be completed. She couple to remove elsewhere. was a reader, bad a strong sense of Polly Johnson, sister of Levi and Jona humor, and ber shrewd, keen remarks than, became Mrs. Thomas Rummage were quoted in many following years. and lived on Euclid and East 4th St., Harriet Pease (Mrs. Irad Kelley), occupied in late years by the Opera Betsey Gould (Mrs. Reynolds Kelley), House" Lucy Latham (Mrs. Thomas M. Kelley), Phoebe Stone (Mrs. Elisha Dibble) and Mary Seymour Welles (Mrs. Alfred escaped with her family in an open boat, Kelley) wer'! all early pioneers of the pursued by the enemy during the War city. of 1812, from some town in Michigan. Mrs. Amasa Bailey (Sally Eaton) of The family took refuge with Rudolphus Cummington, Mass., was the first woman Edwards on Woodhill Rd. until their to live on the southeast corner of Super own log cabin was built near Doan's ior S L and the Public Square, opposite Cor~ters. Phoebe Dibble's husband and the Post Office. three children died within three years of Mrs. Richard Bailey (Polly White) their :.rrival and a son followed them was a daughter of the pioneer Levi soon afterwards. In 1816 she became the White. She had a family of nine chil second wi!e of Abram Hickox and dren all born in Cleveland, and all but thenceforth her home was No. 27 Pros one in after years moved to the far west. pect St. Probably Mrs. Polly Bailey aided and No woman in early Cleveland was abetted her husband in one of better known than CLEVELAND'S EPIDEMICS, THE WIDOW CALAHAN when he is said to have worked in his who lived on the Flats in the river val grocery all day and sat up more than ley. Her husband was a Canadian soldier half the night administering to the sick who at intervals came and went. The and suffering. latter won out at last and she was left with a family of little ones to support Esther Thompson (Mrs. George by her own efforts. Her beautiful flower Pease) of Goshen, Conn., came to Hud garden., her Hocks of ducks, geese, chick son. Ohio, with her parents in 1801, and to Cleveland in 1816. Her sons Sylves ens and the pigs scrupulously tended were ter and Jesse were the scboobnab!s of made to contribute to the family larder. many of our oldest citizens and were Her children were a credit to her and very popular young men. Her daughters an honor to the town. H arrtet, Hulda and Lucretia were charm The arrival of Jemima Stow Kelley ing young women and as the wives of with her husband Daniel Kelley in 1814 lrad Kelley, Morris Hepburn and Pren was an event far reaching in effect even tiss Dow, all prominent merchants of to th.is day. She was a devoted mother the town, they held- a conspicuous place and when her son Alfred left his home in Cleveland's social life in those early in Middletown, Conn., and came to Ohio, days. his two years of absence and her longing Anna Dunlap married Elisha Taylor for him lmJ?<:lled her to be readily in sympathy wtth Daniel Kelley's plan to of Schenectady, N. Y. She was one of follow their son to Cleveland. She bad four sister who also were residents of near relatives in Ohio, her brothers that town. The year of the family's Joshua and Silas Stow. large landed arrival, 1816, was one of great poverty proprietors in the Western Reserve. and suffering all over the country be cause of what was termed lrad, Reynolds and Thomas Kelley were her younger sons. Each of them "THE COLD SUMMER", marri~ young and their wives w~re un when frosts occurred every month, cut usually fine women. Mrs. Jemima Kelley ting down grain and vegetables when began her local housekeeping in a frame half matured,
Pioneer Women of Cleveland
CLEVELAND 817 Mrs. Anna Taylor died and Eliubeth land. S,he married Herschel Foote who Ely of a distinguished Massachusetts kept a very early bookstore on the cor irunily, a calm, quiet woman of .thirty ner o~ the Public Square, the site now five years, became Mr. Taylor's second occupted by Marshall's drug store. wife and took excellent care of the three ] onathan Bliss died in 1823 of mala motherless children of Anna Taylor. rial fever, and his widow lived her later For long years the family of Deacon years in Washington, D. C., and Sara Moses and Mary Andrews White were toga, N. Y. prominent members of the little com Ruth White, wife of Seth Cogswell munity and later on after Clevelanrl be Baldwin, died in Ballston Springs, N. Y. came a city. Their young daughter, at the birth of her eighth child and namesake. Some time after the sad MINERVA WHITE, event Miss Abigail Kellogg assumed the was the first burial in Erie Street ceme care of the motherless children as Mr. tery. At that time it was all woods. Baldwin's second wife, and another son Among other accomplishments, Mrs. and daughter were added to the family White was a skillful needle worker, Abigail lived but a short time after he; notable cook, and best of all, a most arrival in Cleveland, the unaccustomed successful mother-in-law, never entering hardships having proved too much for her son's home without bearing some her delicate constitution. Her son Dud offering of interest and affection. Her l~y Baldwin, th.en but nin~ years of age, only daughter Eliza married Judge ]esse hved the remamder of hts years in the Bishop of this city, long a well-known city, one of its best known and honored jurist. The White family lived on citizens. Superior St. near the American House. His wife was Henrietta Hine, daugh Four gentle rc:fin«< si~ters from Wind ter of Homer and Henrietta Skinner sor, Conn., arrived in 1816. They were Hine of Youngstown, and a nlece of of a distinguished family, their father, Mrs. Nathan Perry, Jr. The early home Albert Wolcott, being the son of Brig. of the young couple was on West 6th St., General Erastus Wolcott and a grandson now covered by the Rockefeller Buil~ng. of the famous Roger Wolcott. He also Mrs. Dudley Bjtldwin was very fond was a nephew of Gov. Mathew Griswold. of Bowers and her little garden· at that The family brought with them the family spot blossomed gayly, attracting all Bible of Roger Wolcott, all of which jlassersby. Her next and last home on was East 21st •St. with its ample grounds gave more opportunity to indulge in A SOCIAL ASSET HER BELOVED PASTIME appreciated by their pioneer neighbors. Mr. Wolcott's wife had died in Windsor. and here her daughters, Mary Baldwin The oldest daughter, Cynthia, was Mrs. and Anne Baldwin Schulte keep alive the William Bliss. She lived on the south ftoral tradition of that earlier day. side of Superior near the comer of West This incomplete sketch of Cleveland 3rd St. and was about twenty-eight years pioneer women, which is all that space of a~ when she began her Cleveland allows, covers the first twenty years of housekeeping in that spot. Her sisters, the town's settlement and sixteen years H annah, Laura and Elizabeth lived with before it became a full-.fledged city. their father near by. Much additional information concerning Jon:tthan Bliss, brother c.f William, the women mentioned, with personal and also lrved on the south side of· Superior interesting facts regarding hundreds of St. His wife's maiden name probably women who came to the city later will be found in "The Pioneer of ~as Hannah Kent. The couple had a Famili~s little adopted daughter, Pamelia Town Cleveland 1796-1840". send, who had been made an orphan in Gertrude Von Ren.sstloer Wickham. one of the epidemks that swept Cleve- Hi$tori Pioneer Women of Cleveland Last First Page Last First Page Abels Asahel 808 Carter Betsy 808 Adams Sarah 810 Carter Henry 808 Allen Holden 815 Carter Laura 808 Allen Lucretia 815 Carter Lorenzo 808 Allen Minerva 815 Carter Lorenzo 808 Allen Sybil 815 Carter Lucy 808 Atwater George 815 Carter Mercy Taylor 808 Bailey Mrs. Amasa 816 Carter Polly 808 Bailey Mrs. Polly 816 Cathan Orison 808 Bailey Mrs. Richard 816 Clark David 811 Baldwin Dudley 817 Clark Jarvis 812 Baldwin Edward 811 Clark Lucy 811 Baldwin Mary 817 Clark Lucy 812 Baldwin Mercy Doan 811 Clark Margaret 811 Baldwin Mrs. Caleb 809 Clark Martin 812 Baldwin Mrs. Dudley 817 Clark Mason 812 Baldwin Mrs. Edward 811 Clark Rufus 812 Baldwin Runa 809 Clement Anna 809 Baldwin Seth Cogswell 817 Clement Chloe Inches 809 Barlow Olive 810 Clement Margaret 809 Bishop Judge Jesse 817 Clement William 809 Blinn Richard 810 Cleveland Moses 807 Blinn Richard 810 Cochran Salinda 812 Blinn Richard 812 Coit Lucy 812 Blinn Sarah Doan 811 Craw Anna 810 Bliss James 816 Craw John 810 Bliss Jonathan 817 Curtis Lydia 816 Bliss Mrs. William 817 Curtis Rhoda 815 Branch Margaret 811 Davenport Zerviah 814 Buckingham Minerva 815 Dayton Sarah 813 Buell 808 Dibble Elisha 815 Burk Irene 812 Dibble Mrs. Elisha 816 Burke Brazilla 814 Dibble Phoebe 816 Burke Gaius 814 Dille Asa 813 Burke Irene 812 Dille David 813 Burroughs Clara 813 Dille Mary Anne 813 Burroughs David 813 Dille Mrs. Asa 813 Burroughs David, Jr. 813 Dille Samuel 813 Burroughs Mary 814 Dille, Jr. David 813 Burroughs Mrs. David 810 Doan Delia 810 Burroughs Phoebe 814 Doan Delia 811 Burton Dr. 810 Doan Job Phelps 810 burton Lucy A. 810 Doan Job Phelps 811 Cahoon amos 811 Doan Lucy 812 Calahan Widow 816 Doan Mary Carey 809 Carleton Lieut. John 808 Doan Mercy 810 Pioneer Women of Cleveland Last First Page Last First Page Doan Mrs. Nathaniel 810 Gaylord Desdemona 812 Doan Nancy 809 Gaylord Minerva 812 Doan Nathaniel 812 Gilbert Althea 812 Doan Rebecca 811 Gilbert Augustus 812 Doan Sarah 810 Gilbert Augustus Jr. 812 Doan Sarah 810 Gilbert Dotia 812 Doan Sarah Adams 811 Gilbert Emily 812 Doan Seth 811 Gilbert Harriet 812 Doan Seth 812 Gilbert Irene 812 Doan timothy 809 Gilbert Louise 812 Doan Timothy 811 Gilbert Lovice 812 Dodge George 810 Gilbert Maria 812 Dodge George C. 810 Gilbert Mrs. Augustus 812 Dodge Henry 810 Gilbert Stephen 810 Dodge Mary 810 Gould Betsey Mattock 816 Dodge Mrs. Nancy 809 Granger Ruth 811 Dodge Nancy Doan 810 Grant Elanor 808 Dodge Sameul 809 Griswold Gov. Mathey 817 Dow Prentiss 816 Gun Charles 808 Dunlap Anna 816 Gun Christopher 815 Eaton Sally 816 gun Chriswtopher 808 Eddy Mr 810 Gun Minerva 808 Edwards Anna 810 Gun Mrs. Elijah 807 Edwards Anna Merrill 810 Gun Philena 807 Edwards Cherry 810 Gun Philena 812 Edwards Clara 810 Gun, Jr Elijah 808 Edwards Clara 813 Halliday Mrs. Harvey 811 Edwards Lydia 810 Hamilton Chester 812 Edwards Mrs. Rudolphus 810 Hamilton Electa 812 Edwards Rhoda 810 Hamilton Judge Edwin T. 812 Edwards Rhoda Barnett 810 Hamilton Julia 812 Edwards Rudolphus Jr. 810 Hamilton Justus 812 Edwards Rudolphus Jr. 816 Hamilton Lyma 812 Edwards Sally 810 Hamilton Mrs. James 812 Edwards Stark 810 Hamilton Samuel 812 Elderkin Talitha 807 Hamilton Susannah 812 Ely Elizabeth Guernsey 817 Hart Rev. Seth 809 Ely Miss 815 Hawley Alphonso 808 Fotte Herschel 817 Hawley Exekiel 808 Fuller Amos 808 Hawley Ezekiel 812 Fuller Mercy Taylor 808 Hawley Fanny 808 Fuller Rebecca 808 Hepburn Morris 816 Gaylord Ann 812 Hickox Abram 808 Gaylord Capt. Allen 807 Hickox Abram 815 Gaylord Captain Allen 812 Hickox Abram 816 Gaylord Caroline 812 Hickox Dorcas 815 Pioneer Women of Cleveland Last First Page Last First Page Hickox Lucinda 815 Little David 810 Hickox Lucy 815 Little Mrs. Lymon 810 Hickox Oriana 815 Long Dr. David 814 Hickox Ruth 808 Lyman Mrs. 814 Hickox Ruth 815 Mathews Colbert 813 Hine Henrietta 817 Mathews Dr. Hohn H. 813 Hine Henrietta Skinner 817 Mathews Francis 813 Hine Homer 817 Mathews Julian 813 Horace Betsey Mattock 808 Mathews Robert 813 Hosmer Mrs. Perley 809 Mathews Samuel 813 Houghton Mrs. Orin 814 McQueen Isabella 815 Huntington Hannah Carleton 812 Menough Harriet 815 Huntington Judge Andrew 812 Merrill Anna 810 Huntington Martha 813 Mervin Mary 815 Huntington Samuel 812 Merwin Minerva 815 Inches Chloe 809 Merwin Mrs. Noble 815 Jackson Juliette 808 Miles Erastun 808 Johnson Captain Harpin 815 Miles Samuel 812 Johnson Captain Jonathan 815 Miles Theodore 808 Johnson Harriet 815 Montier Margaret 815 Johnson Jonathan 816 Morgan Juliana 814 Johnson Levi 815 Moses Deacon 817 Johnson Levi 816 Mowrey Pliny 815 Johnson Polly 816 Norton Elisha 811 Jones Rev. A. P. 812 Norton Margaret Clark 812 Kelley Alfred 816 Olmstead Mrs. Noble 810 Kelley Daniel 816 Parmely Olive 812 Kelley Irad 816 Parmely Olive 812 Kelley Jemima Stow 816 Pease Harriet 816 Kelley Mrs. Alfred 816 Pease Harriet 816 Kelley Mrs. Irad 816 Pease Hulda 816 Kelley Mrs. Jemima 816 Pease Lucretia 816 Kelley Mrs. Reynolds 816 Pease Mrs. George 816 Kelley Mrs. Thomas M. 816 Peets Elijah 811 Kelley Reynolds 816 Peets Mrs. William 808 Kelley Thomas 816 Perry Mrs. Horace 814 Kellogg Miss Abigail 817 Perry Pauline 814 Kent Hannah 817 Perry, Jr Mrs. Nathaniel 817 Kingsbury Abigail 809 Perry, Jr Nathaniel 814 Kingsbury Calista 809 Perry, Sr. Major Nathan 814 Kingsbury Diana 809 Perry, Sr. Sophia Leonora 814 Kingsbury Elmira 809 Phenie Aunt 812 Kingsbury Eunice Waldo 809 Pritchard Anna 808 Kingsbury Judge James 808 Rathbun Mrs. Edmond 812 Kingsbury Nancy 809 Rhodes Mrs. Lyman 810 Latham Lucy 816 Rood Sophia Leonora 814 Pioneer Women of Cleveland Last First Page Last First Page Root Elizabeth Guernsey 814 Townsend Pamelia 817 Root Rev. Benijah 814 Tuttle Jemima 815 Rummage Mrs. Thomas 816 Waldo Eunice 808 Sackett Alexander 815 Waldo Hannah Carleton 808 Sartwell Anna 807 Waldo John 808 Saylor Frances 813 Wallace Emmeline 815 Saylor Mary 813 Wallace Mrs. Robert 815 Schelte Anne Baldwin 817 Walworth Hannah 814 Sherman Dyer 809 Walworth Judge 813 Sherman Roger 815 Walworth Judge John 814 Skinner Captain Abram 814 Walworth Juliana 814 Skinner Pauline 814 Walworth Mr. and Mrs. John 810 Smith Abigail 814 Warner Lydia 812 Smith Ezra B. 810 Weddell Peter M 814 Spafford Adolphus 810 Welles Mary Seymour 816 Spafford Amos 813 White Elizabeth Guernsey 817 Spafford Anna 810 White Levi 816 Spafford Aurora 810 White Mary Andrews 817 Spafford Chloe 810 White Polly 816 Spafford Major 810 White Ruth 817 Spafford Mrs. Amos 810 White Minerva 817 Spafford Samuel 810 Wickham Gertrued Van Rensselaer 817 Steadman Buckley 809 Wiley Mary Anne 810 Stewart Mrs. Samuel 810 Willey Charles N. 814 Stiles Charles Phelps 807 Williams Martha 811 Stiles Job Phelps 807 Williams Mary 811 Stiles Talitha 807 Williams Ruth 811 Stone Phoebe 815 Williams W.W. 811 Stone Phoebe 816 Williamson Mathew 815 Stow Joshua 816 Williamson Mrs. Samuel 815 Stow Silas 816 Williamson Rev. James d. 815 Strickland Mrs. Benjamin 814 Williamson Sarah 815 Strong James 808 Wilson thomas 815 Taylor Amanda Lovica 814 Wolcott Albert 817 Taylor Elisha 816 Wolcott Brig. General Erastus 817 Taylor Julia 814 Wolcott Cynthia 817 Taylor Mrs. Anna 817 Wolcott Elizabeth 817 Taylor Mrs. Philo 814 Wolcott Hannah 817 Taylor Prudence 814 Wolcott Laura 817 Taylor Sophia Leonora 814 Wolcott Roger 817 Taylor Wealthy 814 Wolcott Roger 817 Thomas Patrick 810 Woodruff Harriet 811 Thompson Esther 816 Woodruff Richard 809 Thorp Ferria 813 Woodruff William 809 Thorp Joel 813 Thorp Yale 813