Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

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.

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.

Dudley Baldwin

In 1819, Dudley Baldwin came to Cleveland from Ballston, New York, having as his principal capital a fair common school education. In course of time be found employment in the mercantile store of Mr. Weddell, and became one of his trusted clerks, being, after a few years, taken into partnership. The death of Mr. Weddell in 1847, terminated a connection that had existed pleasantly for over twenty years.

For the next few years Mr. Baldwin was chiefly engaged in closing up the affairs of Mr. Weddell, after which he engaged for a time in the manufacture of agricultural implements, until, from ill heath, he was compelled to relinquish business and seek restoration of health by travel and in quiet retirement.

Mr. Baldwin was identified with the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad from its inception, and during the darkest days of the undertaking he stood firmly by it, in connection with the other directors, never losing faith in its ultimate success--a success he has lived to see perfected. He has also, for a number of years, been a director of the Commercial Bank of Cleveland.

In religious principles Mr. Baldwin is a Presbyterian, and has long been connected with the Euclid street Presbyterian Church. He is known to all his acquaintances as a man of quiet unassuming manners, and of sterling worth.

Norman C. Baldwin.

Very many of those who settled on the Western Reserve, in the early days of its history, came from Connecticut, and the fact of so many Connecticut families being already here induced considerable emigration from that State long after the first rush was over. Among others of Connecticut birth who found their way eventually to Cleveland, was Norman C. Baldwin, born at Litchfield, July 29th, 1802, and spending his early years in the struggles which so many of the New England families of limited resources had to pass through in the early portion of the present century.

Whilst yet but a mere child he assisted his father in the work of the farm, but being left fatherless at the age of eight, he was sent two years afterwards to work in his cousin's store, where he remained four years. In his fourteenth year he left Litchfield for New Haven, where he found employment for a year with a provision packer.

At that time his mother joined the stream of emigration setting towards the Ohio, and with her came her children. Stopping at Hudson, Summit county, young Baldwin commenced trading on his own account, and built up a good business, which he managed alone for eighteen months and then formed a partnership with two of his brothers, the partnership lasting eight years. Then the firm was dissolved and Norman C. came to Cleveland, where he formed a partnership with Noble H. Merwin in the general produce business.

In 1830, the firm of Giddings, Baldwin & Co., which had succeeded that of Merwin & Baldwin, contained seven partners, of whom Mr. Baldwin is the only survivor. The business was mainly forwarding and commission, the forwarding being mostly by canal. The firm was one of the most important on the lakes, owning a line of boats, the Troy and Erie, from Portsmouth, on the Ohio river, to New York In those days the canal lines carried passengers as well as freight, the boats usually taking about thirty passengers and one thousand bushels of wheat. For emigrants, of whom many were pouring into the West, special boats were fitted up with accommodations, such as they were, for about a hundred and fifty passengers. In 1836, Mr. Baldwin left the mercantile business altogether, and thereafter devoted his attention to operations in real estate.

As illustrating the growth of the city and the consequent increasing value of city property, Mr. Baldwin relates having purchased in 1833 three parcels of land, neither of which cost over two thousand dollars, which are now estimated to be worth half a million of dollars each. In 1831, he was offered, in the course of his operations, a strip of land fronting on Superior street and running back to the canal, with a comfortable frame house thereon, for one thousand dollars. The price looked high and Mr. Baldwin, distrusting his own judgment, consulted 'Squire Cowles, then a prominent attorney. Mr. Cowles hesitated, thought the investment somewhat risky, although they might live to see the land worth thirty dollars a foot front. Heeding his own fears, which were not abated by the doubtful opinion of his adviser, Mr. Baldwin refused to purchase. That same land is worth now not merely thirty dollars a foot, but equivalent to three or four thousand dollars a foot front.

As showing the condition of the roads around Cleveland, and the mode of traveling in the early days of its history, it is narrated by Mr. Baldwin, that when living in Hudson he was fond of good horses and kept a team of which he was proud. The distance between Hudson and Cleveland was but twenty-four miles, but that distance had never been done in one day by any team. Mr. Baldwin thought the time had come for performing the feat, and accordingly set out on the journey. Just at tea time he drew rein in front of Merwin's tavern, at the corner of Superior street and Vineyard lane, and shouted to the landlord. The guests had just seated themselves to tea when Mr. Merwin rushed into the room in a state of great excitement, exclaiming, "For God's sake, gentlemen, come out and see a team that has been driven from Hudson to-day!" The guests left the table in a hurry and rushed to the door, scarcely crediting their own eyes.

Mr. Baldwin was married in 1829, and lost his wife in the Spring of 1867. Of this marriage there are now six children living and three dead. One son, Norman A., is engaged in agriculture in the neighborhood of the city.

Leverett Alcott.