Cleveland Past and Present

M >> Maurice Joblin >> Cleveland Past and Present

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William Philpot.

Although never a resident of Cleveland, the enterprise of William Philpot
so directly contributed to the prosperity of the city, the labors of his
life were so connected with it, and the interests he founded have since
become such an integral part of the business of Cleveland, that his
memoir appropriately finds a place in this work. It is proper, too, that
it should stand foremost in the department relating to the coal trade of
the city, for he may justly be considered one of the leading founders of
that trade.

William Philpot was born in Shropshire, England. At an early age he
removed to Wales and went to work in the mines at three pence per day.
Soon after he was able to earn full wages, he became an overseer, and
continued in that capacity until he took contracts on his own account. His
success was varied, on some he made handsomely, on others he failed. By
the year 1835, he accumulated about eight thousand dollars, and concluded
to go to the United States as affording greater facilities for small
capitalists. He proceeded to Pittsburgh, where he immediately interested
himself in the mining of coal. He commenced by leasing from one party a
portion of the coal and the right of way on a large tract of coal land,
for a term of twenty-one years, and leased coal from others, at a quarter
cent per bushel. Of another person he purchased a farm, bearing coal, at
seventy-five dollars an acre. In the Summer of 1837, he took into
partnership Mr. Snowden, and the firm set to work vigorously, mining coal
at Saw Mill Run and shipping on the Ohio river, to which Mr. Philpot had
built a railway a mile in length. The two partners were not well matched.
Mr. Philpot was full of energy, fertile in resources, and never slackened
in his endeavors to push his affairs. No difficulties daunted him; the
greater the obstacles the more pleasure he took in surmounting them. He
built his railroad tracks where most other men would have shrunk from
placing a rail and whilst those who commenced preparations for a mine at
the same time with himself were still in the preparatory stages of work,
his cars would be rattling down to the river loaded with coal. One great
secret of his ability to hasten matters was his influence with the men
under him. He was familiar and affable with them, worked energetically
among them whenever a sharp effort was needed, and in this way got more
work out of the men, without their feeling that they had been imposed
upon, than most employers could have done. Mr. Snowden was a man of an
entirely different stamp, and it soon became evident that the firm must
dissolve. After some negotiations Mr. Philpot disposed of his interests to
Messrs. Snowden and Lewis, and in 1838, removed to Paris, Portage county,
Ohio, where he had purchased a farm. His family at that time consisted of
his wife and two daughters; Mary Ann, now the wife of R. J. Price, Esq.,
Dorothy, now widow of the late David Morris, Esq. With them also was his
father, Samuel Philpot, now dead. Soon after his removal to Portage county
he became interested with Mr. Philip Price, in the excavation of the
Pennsylvania and Ohio canal, and during the progress of the work they
purchased land on either side of the canal, including Lock fourteen, where
they built a saw and flouring mill, using the canal water as motive power.
Towards the latter part of 1839, Mr. Philpot purchased the interest of Mr.
Price in the mills and land, and ran the mills successfully, until 1841,
when he sold both mills and land to Colonel Elisha Garrett, of
Garrettsville. In the Spring of 1841, Mr. Philpot rented his home farm and
removed with his family to Middlebury, Summit county, where he had
purchased a coal bank, and engaged once more in the coal trade.

The importance of his operations in coal, both to the business of the coal
regions and of Cleveland, which formed his principal market, can scarcely
be overestimated. Before removing to Springfield he discovered there, in
1840, a valuable coal mine, which he afterwards developed and worked
successfully, building a railroad of about three miles from the mines to
the canal at Middlebury, whence the coal was shipped to Cleveland. This
road he stocked with about forty coal cars, and for several years his mine
supplied the principal demand for the Cleveland market. In 1843, he
developed and improved the celebrated Chippewa mines, Wayne county, near
the village of Clinton, and built a railroad to the Ohio canal. From these
mines he supplied the Cleveland market with large quantities of coal until
the year 1845, when he sold out half his interests in them to Mr. Lemuel
Crawford, and some time afterward he sold one-quarter interest to Mr.
David Camp.

His next remove was to Youngstown, where, in 1846, he leased the Manning
and Wertz bank, and while sinking for coal, discovered iron ore. He then
went to Pittsburgh and endeavored to get up a furnace company, but not
being successful, he returned, and associated himself with Jonathan
Warner and a few others in organizing the Ohio Iron and Mining Company,
now known as the Eagle Furnace Company, Messrs. Philpot and Warner owning
two-thirds of the entire stock. Mr. Philpot at that time opened and
developed the Wertz and Manning Briar Hill coal mines, the furnace having
been built with the purpose of smelting iron ore with raw stone coal,
being the second constructed for this purpose in the Mahoning Valley, the
first being that of Wilkenson, Wilks & Co., at Lowellville. The
experiment was hazardous, and was carried forward under many difficulties,
financial and otherwise, but the energy and enterprise of Mr. Philpot
triumphed over them all.

Mr. Philpot was a man of rare energy, industry and practical good sense.
He was always successful for he seemed to have an intuitive knowledge of
what was the right course to take, and when once entered on an enterprise
never allowed himself to be defeated or discouraged. His integrity was
unquestioned. His word was as good as a bond, and was entirely relied on.
He was a kind husband and father, a true friend, and his heart and hand
were always open to the poor and distressed, many of whom were not only
relieved from their pressing emergencies, but were assisted to start in
business or to procure homesteads. Besides his many excellent social
qualities and business talents, he was possessed of a most extraordinary
memory, and it is related of him by one who knew him intimately, that
after hearing a speech or sermon that enlisted his whole attention, he
would sometimes rehearse it to others almost verbatim.

Mr. Philpot died in Liberty township, Trumbull county, June 2d, 1851.

In all the great enterprises of his business career, Mr. Philpot was ably
supported by his beloved partner in life, who was a woman of more than
ordinary ability. She was also most remarkably benevolent, bestowing much
care on the sick and indigent in her immediate neighborhood. She survived
her husband a number of years, and died at Cleveland, in August, 1865,
deeply lamented.

[Illustration: Lemuel Crawford]

Lemuel Crawford.

The subject of this sketch belonged to the business classes, as
distinguished from the professional, but which are none the less fruitful
in characters of prominence and public interest.

Indeed it has come to pass in later years that what are commonly known as
the learned professions, law, medicine and theology, though still high in
rank, have lost something of the ruling pre-eminence they occupied in our
earlier history. Other departments in the world's industry have asserted
themselves, and railway systems, telegraphs, commerce, journalism,
manufactures, banking, and other branches, have come forward and absorbed
their fair proportion of the best talent and ambition of the country.

Lemuel Crawford was born in Florida, Schoharie county, New York,
December 15, 1805.

Left without means, at the age of fourteen he chose the trade of moulder
in the iron or furnace business.

At twenty-one he came to Painesville, Ohio, where he was made foreman of
the Geauga Furnace. Here he remained about six years, having especial
superintendence of the pattern and moulding department, and filling his
position with great skill and credit. At this place, July 29, 1832, he
married Louisa Murray, of Willoughby, in the same county, who still
survives him, and to whose long and faithful companionship, judgment and
energy, in all the vicissitudes of his fortune, he was largely indebted
for his success.

In 1833, Mr. Crawford moved with his family to Detroit, whence, after
remaining six years, he removed to Presque Isle on Lake Huron, where he
was the first to start the wood trade, for fuel for our then rapidly
growing steamboat commerce. Here he remained seven years, superintending
large bodies of wood cutters and suppliers, the saw mills, now so common
in the lumber region, being then unknown.

In 1846, perceiving, with his usual forecast, that coal was likely to
supplant wood for the uses of our steam marine, he removed to Cleveland,
and at once invested about forty thousand dollars in the Chippewa mines,
so called, in the Mahoning Valley, which had been opened a year or two
before, and promised, as the event proved, to afford an almost
inexhaustible supply of the richest coal. These mines, adding tracts of
adjoining coal land to them as occasion demanded, he continued to work
with a large annual yield for more then twenty years.

Shortly after commencing with the Chippewa, he was found, in 1848, to be
among the pioneers in opening up the beds of Briar Hill coal in the
Mahoning Valley, so well known to steamboat men and manufacturers ever
since, as being a kind of coal peculiarly fitted for their uses. Here he
continued to mine largely at several different localities selected by him
with rare judgment. He also opened and carried on mining extensively at
other points, such as on the Ohio, below Steubenville, also in Orange
county, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.

His chief business office and coal depots were at Cleveland, but he had
branch establishments at Detroit and Chicago, and at one time was largely
interested in vessel property on the Lakes, and although the business of
mining and selling coal, mainly for supplying steam craft and for
exportation, was his leading pursuit, he was one of the earliest in 1851,
to engage in the manufacture of pig iron from our native ores in the
Mahoning Valley, having an interest in the second furnace started there,
and being the builder of the fourth. From time to time he invested
judiciously in real estate.

From all these sources in spite of some business adventures which
proved disastrous, through unexpected financial revulsions, or the
fault of others, he succeeded in amassing a splendid fortune to be
inherited by his family. He was never a speculator, nor a rash
operator, but his business views were liberal and comprehensive, and
carried out with energy and wisdom. Personally he was a man of fine
presence and manners, always pleasant to meet with on the street,
cordial and unassuming. He was intensely loyal and liberal throughout
the war, and always kind and charitable to the poor. He was not a
church member, but was a regular church attendant and a respecter of
religions institutions. In his later years he was frequently an
invalid, and being in New York in the Fall of 1867, by the advice of
physicians, and in company with friends from Cleveland, he sailed for
Europe, where, in Paris, during the Exposition, he spent some months,
returning with health improved, but which again declined until June
30, 1868, when at the age of sixty-two years, six months and fifteen
days, he died at his beautiful home in Cleveland, surrounded by his
family and friends, peacefully and calmly, as a good man dies.

We feel that we can not do better than to conclude this brief and
imperfect sketch with the notice which appeared in the Cleveland Herald on
the evening of the day of his decease. Speaking of the event it says:

We regret to announce the decease of this prominent business man and
respected citizen, who died at his residence on Euclid avenue this
(Tuesday) morning at about 9 o'clock.

Mr. Crawford had for years been more or less an invalid, but had not
been alarmingly ill until last Thursday, when by a sudden and severe
attack he was completely prostrated, and recovery became hopeless.

Mr. Crawford had nearly reached the age of sixty-three. A native of New
York, beginning life with few, if any, adventitous aids, he had attained
to affluence and position by a long and enterprising business career.
For the last twenty-four years he has lived in Cleveland. He was among
the pioneers in the coal mining business of Northern Ohio, contributing
largely ever since by his sagacity and experience, to the development of
that important element of commerce and public wealth.

Through all the vicissitudes of a long business life he maintained a
character of the most perfect integrity. As a citizen he was liberal and
public spirited; as a neighbor and friend he was kind and generous; in
his social and domestic relations he was simple and unostentatious,
affectionate and beloved. Very many in the various ranks and conditions
of life, both here and elsewhere, will mourn his loss, and remember him
with sincere respect.

D. P. Rhodes.

The name of D. P. Rhodes is distinguished among those who have
contributed to the prosperity of Cleveland by the development of its coal
and iron interests. For many years he has labored to build up the coal
and iron trade of the city, on which its future mainly depends, and has
met with a success which has benefitted the public in a far greater
degree than it has enriched himself, although he has had nothing to
complain of in that respect.

Mr. Rhodes was born in Sudbury, Rutland county, Vermont. His father dying
when the boy was but five years old, he was compelled to work for his own
living, riding horse for his neighbors whilst they plowed corn, digging
potatoes and picking apples for every tenth bushel, and doing other odd
jobs. When he was fifteen years old his mother married again and he lived
with his stepfather till twenty-one. His stepfather, being rich, offered
him a farm if he would stay with him, but he was bent on seeing the West
before accepting the farm, and so set out westward. Whilst in the West he
became engaged to be married, and before marriage he visited his home,
when his stepfather offered him half his property if he would return there
and live. The papers were made out but were not to be executed till he had
consulted his affianced. To do this he returned to the West. As he
traveled by canal he had abundant time to consider the matter, and the
more he thought of it the more he became sick of the idea. Things were too
circumscribed down east to suit his taste. He said nothing of the matter
to his affianced, but wrote home that he was not coming; and to this day
he has never seen occasion to regret his decision, but has been confirmed
in its wisdom. To use his own expression: "By Jupiter, I would rather live
west, if I did'nt live half as long."

Mr. Rhodes became early interested in the coal business, his first
enterprise being in company with Messrs. Tod and Ford, in 1845, at the old
Briar Hill mines, from which they raised and shipped by canal about fifty
tons per week. This was considered a good business. In two or three years
business increased to a hundred tons daily. In 1846, another mine was
opened in Girard. This was followed by the Clover Hill mine in the
Tuscarawas Valley, previous to the opening of which the firm was changed
by the death of Mr. Ford. The next opened was the Clinton mines in the
Tuscarawas Valley. Then a mine in Fairview, Wayne county, which was the
last large transaction with Gov. Tod as partner. In about 1855, Tod and
Rhodes dissolved partnership, Mr. Rhodes taking Clover Hill, and Gov. Tod
all the rest of the interests.

Whilst developing his coal interests, Mr. Rhodes made important
discoveries of iron ore, the first being veins of black band ore, very
similar to the English and Scotch, though richer. The veins of this ore in
Tuscarawas are from five to fifteen feet thick. He also discovered and
worked a vein of mountain ore that will also run from five to fifteen feet
thick, and is easily mined, one miner being able to mine twenty tons per
day after the earth has been removed. Mr. Rhodes spent several months in
the ore fields of Scotland and England in 1868, and found the veins there
not over two feet in thickness.

[Illustration: Yours Truly, D. P. Rhodes]

In the Tuscarawas Valley property, Mr. Rhodes has found seven veins of
coal, five of which are very good, and he has worked the whole of them.
There is also as good fire-clay as any yet discovered, the finest grade
being pure sandstone, which stands fire as hearthstones in furnaces better
than any other. Shell ore, block ore, and limestone also exist in
abundance. The iron enterprises in which Mr. Rhodes is interested are the
Tuscarawas Iron Company, formed about 1864, of which Mr. Rhodes is
president. This company have three or four thousand acres of mineral land
in the Tuscarawas Valley, and the works have a capacity of a hundred and
fifty tons per week; also the Dover Rolling Mill Company, of which Mr.
Baker is president. It makes all sizes of merchant and small T rail iron,
having a capacity of about fifteen tons per day.

He is largely interested in a mining company near Massillon, having three
engines and three openings there, and can mine a thousand tons of coal per
day as soon as the road from Massillon to Clinton is completed. This will
be the shortest coal bearing road,--for blast furnace coal--to Cleveland,
by fifteen miles, for it connects with the Cleveland, Zanesville and
Cincinnati Railroad at Clinton, thence to Cleveland by Cleveland and
Pittsburgh Railroad at Hudson. A company was formed and sunk some eight
hundred or nine hundred feet, within three miles of Canal Dover, on the
line of this company, and found salt water of the very best quality, the
water itself being almost strong enough to preserve meat. There is coal
within twenty rods of the wells at ninety cents per ton, whereas in
Syracuse and Saginaw they have to use wood, at a cost (at the former
place) of seven dollars per cord. Mr. Cass, President of the Fort Wayne
Railroad, and J. N. McCullough, of the same and of the Cleveland and
Pittsburgh Railroad, are heavily interested in the road connections
adverted to above.

At Fulton, three miles below Clinton, is another coal company in which Mr.
Rhodes is interested. This mine yields about three hundred tons per day,
and could double that amount if there were sufficient transportation.
There are two engines and two openings at this bank.

Mr. Rhodes is also interested in three mines at Marseilles, Willmington
and Braceville, Illinois. He has taken a hearty interest in all
improvements, and especially in the matter of railroads. He was interested
in building the Northern Division of the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad,
and was on the executive committee.

D. P. Rhodes and H. S. Stevens built the West Side street railroad, and
equipped it. He was also largely interested in building and equipping the
Rocky River railroad. He is also interested in the Cleveland and
Zanesville railroad project.

Dr. Upson, of Talmadge, and Messrs. Philpot and Camp were in the coal
business when Mr. Rhodes commenced, and they have all disappeared. They
only then received about one boat load of fifty tons per week by canal,
whereas, the firm of Rhodes & Co. now handle from ninety thousand to one
hundred thousand tons per year.

Mr. Rhodes has built his docks in this city, two of them are the largest
on the line of the river. About seven hundred men are employed on works in
which he is heavily interested, but nothing troubles him. He says: "If the
men don't dig the coal or iron, they don't get paid for it, so I take it
easy, and am giving my attention to farming. I have a stock farm of five
hundred and forty-four and a half acres at Ravenna that I run myself, and
I have another of eighty acres adjacent to the city, rented for gardening,
and still another of twenty-six and a half acres, out on the Detroit road
where I intend to build me a home to live and die in, if I do not die away
from home." He is now only fifty-three years old, hale and hearty, and
seemingly good for another score or two of years.

He has four children, the oldest and youngest being daughters. The oldest
is the wife of M. A. Hanna, of the firm of Rhodes & Co. The oldest son,
Robert, is a member of the same firm; the other son, James, has just
returned from a long visit to the mineral fields of Europe and attending
lectures on metallurgy and mining. By his observation and studies he has
acquired an extensive knowledge of the old world and the modes of working
mines. The youngest daughter, Fanny, is at school at Batavia, New York.

In 1867, Mr. D. P. Rhodes and J. F. Card being tired of the sale department
of their coal business, and having immense interest in mines that
required close attention, gave up their sale business in Cleveland to
Rhodes & Co., a firm consisting of G. H. Warmington, M. A. Hanna, and
Robert R. Rhodes, who are receiving and selling both coal and iron, the
same as the old firm.

The sales of coal by the firm for the past two years amounted to one
hundred thousand tons per year; together with a large trade in pig iron
and ore. The Willson Bank and Massillon and also Briar Hill grades of coal
are principally handled by this firm, who are also operators largely in
the Pennsylvania anthracites.

The ores passing through Cleveland to supply the manufactories of the
Mahoning Valley are from Lake Superior and Canada; the Canada ores forming
quite an extensive item. The firm keep for sale many varieties of pig
iron, the most considerable being that of the Tuscarawas iron, but
including also the Lake Superior and Salisbury irons.

The business of the firm averages one million dollars per year, and
extends through the entire chain of lakes, having agencies at Chicago and
Milwaukee, and also on Lake Superior ports. The Chicago trade is steadily
increasing, for which there are two or three good reasons, to wit: The
city is growing very rapidly; the Illinois coals are very inferior to
those of Ohio, and the local demand for the product of the Illinois coal
fields is very large, owing to the scarcity of wood.

David Morris.

The importance of biography as a branch of historical literature is
indisputable, and long before reaching this portion of our work the reader
must have realized the truth, that in the life of the individual can be
seen mirrored not only his individual struggles, "but all mankind's
epitome." The trouble, trials and labors of the one are but specimens of
the struggles of the many who have to fight the battle of life, and who go
down to their graves unchronicled. From the story of those whose
experience is recorded, may be gleaned lessons of hope under the most
discouraging circumstances, of perseverance amid difficulties, and
assurances that labor and faith will eventually conquer. These lessons are
forcibly taught in the history of the subject of the present sketch.

David Morris was born of respectable parents, in Sirhowy, Monmouth county,
on the border of Wales, July 9th, 1819. His opportunities for acquiring an
education were limited, but such as they were he made the most of, and
obtained sufficient knowledge of the ordinary branches to enable him to
successfully carry on business in after life. When about twenty years of
age he emigrated to the United States, landing in New York. October 4th,
1839, in company with his mother and the remainder of the children, his
father having arrived earlier, for the purpose of seeking a location. The
first stop was made in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, thence they removed for a
short time to Llewellyn, and afterwards to Primrose, Schuylkill county.

In 1841, he left his parents and went to Middlebury, Summit county, Ohio.
He at once commenced digging coal for Mr. Philpot, with whom he had been
acquainted in Wales. After a few months he commenced driving team on the
railroad, and continued in that capacity for about two years. The zeal
and ability shown by the young man attracted the attention of his
employer, and proved of signal assistance in pushing forward the work. So
marked was the interest exhibited by Mr. Philpot in his assistant, that
he favored a closer connection, and in 1843, his daughter, Dorothy
Philpot, was married to David Morris. The young wife was a lady of more
than ordinary good qualities, and the union proved a source of unfailing
happiness, Mrs. Morris being not only an exemplary wife and mother in her
home, but by her counsel and assistance materially advancing the business
interests of her husband.

In 1847, Mr. Morris, in connection with W. H. Harris, contracted with
Lemuel Crawford for mining the Chippewa bank by the ton. After two years,
he took the management of the work for Crawford & Price, the latter having
purchased an interest. He then went to Girard to work his own mines at
that point. The coal being of an excellent quality, and the demand
constantly increasing, these mines became a source of great wealth,
engrossing large capital, and giving employment to a host of workmen.
Instead of the one mine which he found, his original enterprise, his
estate now comprises the Mineral Ridge mines, which have been worked about
eighteen years, and have yielded about a hundred and fifty tons per day;
the Girard mines, worked about the same period, and yielding two hundred
tons daily; and mines at Youngstown, which have been worked eight years.
The pay roll of these mines now bears about $12,000 per month, and the
freight bills on the railroad average $3,000 per week. The coal is mostly
brought to Cleveland, whence it is shipped to Chicago, Milwaukee,
Hamilton, and Toronto, a large amount going to the latter place.