Cleveland Past and Present

M >> Maurice Joblin >> Cleveland Past and Present

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After the family arrived at Cleveland, Mr. Merwin engaged in keeping a
public house or tavern, as it was then designated, on the corner of
Superior street and Vineyard lane, and about the same time established a
warehouse at the foot of Superior street and commenced his career in the
commerce of the lakes. He built the schooner Minerva, which was the first
vessel registered at Washington, from the District of Cuyahoga, under the
U. S. Revenue Laws. For many years Mr. Merwin, under contracts with the
Government, furnished the supplies required at the U. S. Garrisons on the
western frontiers, at Fort Gratiot, Mackinaw, Sault St. Marie, Green Bay
and Chicago, as well as the Hudson Bay Company at the Sault St. Marie.

In a commercial point of view his business became extensive for those
times, and he enjoyed the entire confidence of the Government and of
business men generally throughout the lake country. He succeeded in
accumulating a handsome fortune, which consisted mostly in vessel stocks
and in lands. He owned a large breadth of lands, extending from the south
side of Superior street to the river, which, since his time, has become
exceedingly valuable.

But owing mainly to over-work in the various departments of his
increasing business, while he was yet in the noon of manhood, his
health became seriously impaired, and with a view to recruit it he
sailed for the West Indies in 1829, and on the 3d day of November, of
that year, died of consumption, at the Island of St. Thomas, in the 47th
year of his age. He was a gentleman of fine personal appearance,
measuring six feet and four inches in height, erect and well
proportioned. In a word, he was a man of heart, and of generous
impulses, honest, frank and cordial. In the circle in winch he moved, he
was the friend of everybody and everybody was his friend.

John Blair.

The race of men who remember Cleveland in the day of its small beginnings,
is fast passing away. Of those who were residents of the little village on
the Cuyahoga fifty years ago, only about half a dozen now live in the
flourishing city that occupies its site and inherits its name. One of
these is John Blair, well known to all the Clevelanders of ante-railroad
days, but who is probably a mere name to a large proportion of those who
have crowded into the city of late years. Mr. Blair is one of the few
remaining links that connect the rude village in the forest with the
modern Forest City.

John Blair was born in Maryland on the 18th of December, 1793. His early
years were spent in farming, but at the age of twenty-three he dropped the
hoe and turned his back to the plow, resolving to come west and seek his
fortune. From the time that he shook from his feet the dirt of the
Maryland farm, he says, he has never done a whole day's work, at one time,
at manual labor.

In 1819, he reached Cleveland, then an insignificant village of about a
hundred and fifty inhabitants, who dwelt mostly in log houses, grouped at
the foot of Superior street. At the corner of Water street and what is now
Union lane, stood the pioneer hotel of Cleveland, the tavern of Major
Carter, where good accommodations for man and beast were always to be
found. The young Maryland adventurer was not overburdened with wealth when
he landed in his future home, his entire cash capital being three dollars.
But it was no discredit in those days to be poor, and three dollars was a
fine capital to start business upon. In fact sonic of the then "old
settlers," would have been glad to possess so much capital in ready money
as a reserve fund.

But even in those days of primitive simplicity, three dollars would not
support a man for any great length of time if there were no other sources
of supply. Mr. Blair recognized the fact that no time must be wasted, and
at once turned his attention to a chance for speculation. An opportunity
immediately offered itself. An old Quaker, with speculation in his eye,
entered Cleveland with two hundred and fifty fat hogs, expecting to find a
good market. In this he was mistaken, and as hogs on foot were expensive
to hold over for a better market, he determined to convert them into salt
pork. Mr. Blair offered to turn pork-packer for a proper consideration;
the offer was accepted, and this was Mr. Blair's first step in business.

Pork-packing, as a steady business, offered but little inducement, so Mr.
Blair decided on establishing himself on the river as produce dealer and
commission merchant. The capital required was small, and the work not
exhaustive, for the facilities for shipping were slight and the amount to
be shipped small; warehouses were of the most modest dimensions, and
docks existed only in imagination. When the shipping merchant had a
consignment to put on board one of the diminutive vessels that at
intervals found their way into the port, the stuff was put on a flat boat
and poled or rowed to the vessel's side, Business was conducted in a very
leisurely manner, there being no occasion for hurry, and everybody
concerned being willing to make the most of what little business there
was. The slow moving Pennsylvania Dutch who had formed settlements in
northeastern Ohio, and drove their wide wheeled wagons along the
sometimes seemingly bottomless roads to Cleveland, plowed through the mud
on the river bank in search of "de John Blair vat kips de white fishes,"
and after much chaffer, unloaded the flour and wheat from their wagons,
and loaded up with fish and salt, sometimes giving three barrels of flour
for one barrel of salt.

In 1827, the Ohio Canal was partially opened to Cleveland, and a
revolution in trade was effected. The interior of the State was soon
brought into communication with the enterprising merchants on Lake Erie
and the Ohio river. Mr. Blair was prompt to avail himself of the
opportunity to increase his trade. He built the first canal boat
constructed in Cleveland, and launched her in 1828, near the site of the
present Stone Mill, amid the plaudits of all the people of the village,
who had turned out to witness the launching. As soon as the craft settled
herself proudly on the bosom of the canal, Mr. Blair invited the
spectators of the launch to come on board, and, with a good team of horses
for motive power, the party were treated to an excursion as far as Eight
Mile Lock and return, the whole day being consumed in the journey.
Subsequently Mr. Blair became interested, with others, in a line of twelve
boats, employing nearly one hundred horses to work them.

From this time Cleveland continued to grow and prosper. The products of
the interior were brought in a steadily increasing stream to Cleveland by
the canal, and shipped to Detroit, then the great mart of the western
lakes. A strong tide of emigration had set towards Northern Michigan, and
those seeking homes there had to be fed mainly by Ohio produce, for which
Michigan fish and furs were given in exchange. But the opening of the
Erie Canal placed a new market within reach, and Mr. Blair was among the
first to take Ohio flour to New York, selling it there at fourteen
dollars the barrel.

In 1845, Mr. Blair, then in the prime of his vigor, being but fifty-two
years old, resolved to quit a business in which he had been uniformly
successful, and spend the remainder of his life in enjoying what he had
acquired by diligence and enterprise. He was then the oldest merchant in
the city, having been in business over a quarter of a century. For the
past twenty-four years he has taken life easy, which he has been able to
do from the sensible step he adopted of quitting active business before it
wore him out. At the age of seventy-five he is still hale, hearty and
vigorous, looking younger than his actual years, and possessing that great
desideratum, a sound mind in a sound body.

Philo Scovill.

Familiar as is the name of Philo Scovill, but few of our citizens are
aware that he was one of Cleveland's earliest merchants. It appears that
circumstances, not altogether the choice of Mr. Scovill, induced him to
come to Cleveland with a stock of drugs and groceries. His father was a
millwright, and had brought up his son to the use of tools. He had no
taste for his new calling, and so worked out of the store-keeping as
speedily as possible, and commenced the erection of dwellings and stores
in the then new country, being only second in the trade here to Levi
Johnson. He continued in the building business until 1826, when he erected
the Franklin House, on Superior street, on the next lot but one to the
site of the Johnson House. Mr. Scovill at once became the landlord, and
continued as such for twenty-three years, excepting an interval of a five
years' lease.

About 1849, he left the hotel business to attend to his real estate
interests. He was successful in his hotel business; and from time to time
invested his surplus capital in lands adjacent to the city, which, within
the last few years have become exceedingly valuable. Streets have been
laid out upon his property, and inducements offered to settlers that
insured a ready sale, and materially aided the growth of the city.

Mr. Scovill, as a man, has enjoyed the confidence of his fellow citizens
to an unusual degree. He was hardworking, resolute, and exactly fitted by
nature for the pioneer life of his choice, a life that, though toilsome,
has left him still hale and vigorous, with the exception of the fruits of
overwork, and perhaps exposure, in the form of rheumatism.

Mr. Scovill was born in Salisbury, Ct., November 30, 1791. He lived at
that place until he was nine years of age, when his father moved to
Cornwall, in the same county; thence to Shenango county, and from thence
to Seneca county, N. Y. Here he lived on the banks of Seneca Lake nine
years. After that he lived in Buffalo one year, from which point he came
to Cleveland, as before stated.

Mr. Scovill was married February 16, 1819, to Miss Jemima Beebe. Mrs. S.
is still living and enjoying excellent health.

Melancthon Barnett.

He who has had occasion to traverse Bank street many times, or to pass
along Superior at the head of Bank, must have become familiar with the
figure of a hale old gentleman, to be seen frequently on sunny days,
standing on the steps of the Merchants Bank, or passing along Bank street
between the bank and his residence, beyond Lake street. His clothes are
not of showy material or fashionable cut, one hand is generally employed
in holding a clay pipe, from which he draws comfort and inspiration, and
which rarely leaves his lips when on the street, except to utter some bit
of dry humor, in which he especially delights. That is Melancthon Barnett,
one of the "oldest inhabitants" of the Forest City, and whose well known
figure and quaint jokes will be missed by his many friends out of doors,
as will his wise counsels within the bank parlor, when death shall at
length summon him to leave his wonted haunts.

Mr. Barnett was born in Amenia, Dutchess county, New York, in 1789. At six
years old he was taken with the remainder of the family to Oneida county,
where he remained until 1812, when he removed to New Hartford, near Utica,
and remained two years as clerk in a store. From that place he went to
Cherry Valley, Otsego County, where he went as partner in the mercantile
business, and continued there until 1825. In that year Mr. May came west
to Cleveland for the purpose of opening a store, and Mr. Barnett came with
him as clerk. In course of time he was advanced to the position of
partner, and continued in business until 1834, when May and Barnett wound
up their affairs as merchants, and became speculators in land. Their real
estate business was carried on successfully for many years, the steady
growth of the town making their investments profitable.

In 1843, Mr. Barnett was elected Treasurer of Cuyahoga county, and proved
himself one of the most capable and scrupulously honest officers the
county has ever had. He held the position six years, and the business not
occupying his entire time, he also filled the office of Justice of the
Peace, continuing his real estate transactions at the same time.

At the close of his career as a public officer he was elected Director of
the City Bank, with which he has remained to the present time, rarely, if
ever, being absent during the business hours of the bank.

Mr. Barnett was married May 15, 1815, to Miss Mary Clark, at Cherry
Valley. Mrs. Barnett died April 21, 1840, in Cleveland, having borne five
children. Only two of these yet live, the oldest, Augustus, being in the
leather business at Watertown, Wisconsin, and the younger, James, in the
hardware business in Cleveland. The latter is well known for his brilliant
services at the head of the Ohio Artillery during the war, in Western
Virginia and Tennessee, and no name is cherished with greater pride in
Cleveland than that of General James Barnett.

Joel Scranton.

Joel Scranton, whose name is associated with much of the history of
Cleveland, during the period when it grew from a small village to a city
well on the way to permanent prosperity, was born in Belchertown, Mass.,
April 5, 1792. Whilst yet a child his parents removed with him to Otsego
county, N. Y., where a considerable portion of his early life was spent.
About the year 1820 he removed to Cleveland, where he engaged in business
and remained until his death, of apoplexy, on the 9th of April, 1858,
having just completed his sixty-sixth year.

In the later years of the village of Cleveland and the early days of the
city, Mr. Scranton's leather and dry goods store, at the corner of
Superior and Water streets, was a well known business landmark. In the
prosecution of his business he succeeded in saving a comfortable
competence, which was increased by his judicious investments in real
estate. These last have, by the rapid growth of the city, and increase in
value since his death, become highly valuable property.

Mr. Scranton was industrious, economical, and judicious in business
transactions; of strong mind and well balanced judgment; a kind parent and
a firm friend.

Orlando Cutter.

Orlando Cutter first beheld the harbor and city of Cleveland on the 30th
of June, 1818, having spent nine dismal days on the schooner Ben Franklin,
in the passage from Black Rock. He was landed in a yawl, at the mouth of
the river, near a bluff that stood where the Toledo Railroad Machine Shops
have since been built, about seventy-five rods west of the present
entrance to the harbor. In those days the river entrance was of a very
unreliable character, being sometimes entirely blocked up with sand, so
that people walked across. It was no uncommon thing for people to ride
over, or jump the outlet with the help of a pole.

[Illustration]

Mr. Cutter walked along the beach and on the old road to Water street,
and thence in a broiling sun to the frame tavern of Noble H. Merwin, on
Vineyard lane, near Superior street. Here he was first introduced to Philo
Scovill, a robust young carpenter, who was hewing timber for Merwin's new
brick tavern, afterwards called the Mansion House.

Mr. Cutter had experienced what our city boys would regard as a rough
beginning in life. At sixteen he went into a store at Royalton,
Massachusetts, at a salary of _four dollars a month_ and board; and at the
end of a year had saved one dollar and a half. His pay being increased to
one hundred dollars for the next year, he ventured upon the luxury of a
pair of boots. In September, 1815, having proven his mettle as an active,
capable and honest young man, he was translated to a large jobbing house,
on Cornhill, Boston, the salary being board and clothing. Having been born
at Jeffrey, New Hampshire, June 5, 1797, at the end of three years
apprenticeship in the Boston establishment, he arrived at the age of
twenty-one, and became his own master. The firm offered him a credit for
dry goods to the amount of $10,000, with which to go west and seek his
fortune, but before accepting the offer he concluded to go and see if he
could find a suitable place for trade, but as he had no money, it was
necessary to borrow $400 for the expenses of the trip. With a pair of well
filled saddlebags as an outfit, he started, and in due time arrived at
Black Rock, and from thence proceeded, as above narrated, to Cleveland, on
a tour of examination.

Cleveland had then about two hundred inhabitants, and four stores. Water
street was cleared out sufficiently for the purposes of travel to the
lake. It was also prepared for a race course--for which purpose it was
used for a number of years.

Twenty or thirty German teams from Pennsylvania, Stark, Wayne and other
counties, laden with flour, each team having from four to six horses,
encamped in Superior street at night, and gave Cleveland such a business
appearance that Mr. Cutter took a fancy to it.

After two weeks, Mr. Cutter set sail in the schooner Wasp for Sandusky,
where there was a natural harbor, and from thence in the Fire Fly, for
Detroit. But his thoughts reverted to Cleveland, and forming a partnership
with Messrs. Mack & Conant, of Detroit, the firm purchased twenty
thousand dollars worth of dry goods, groceries, and a general assortment
for an extensive establishment here.

In February, 1820, he married Miss Phelps, of Painesville, Ohio, who died
in 1829, two of whose children are now living. His competitors in business
were Nathan Perry, J. R. & I. Kelly, S. S. Dudley and Dr. David Long. It
was only about a year after he opened in Cleveland when Mack & Conant
failed, throwing the Cleveland purchase entirely upon him. After ten years
of hard work, and close application, he paid off the whole, but at the
close it left him only five hundred dollars in old goods. Ohio currency
was not exactly money in those days. It was at a discount of twenty-five
to thirty per cent. for eastern funds. There was, moreover, little of it,
and there were stay laws, and the appraisal of personal, as well as real
estate, under execution, rendering collections almost impossible. To
illustrate: a man in Middleburg, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, owed Mr. Cutter
seventy-five dollars. He went to attend the constable's sale, and found
among the effects a dog appraised at ten dollars; rails ten cents each,
and a watch worth five dollars valued at twenty dollars, so he left the
place in disgust and hurried home, through the woods, in no placid frame
of mind. Of four new shoes put on his horse that morning, three had been
torn off by the mud, roots, and corduroy between Cleveland and Middleburg.

After closing up the old business, he posted books or turned his hand
to whatever employment presented itself. Inactivity and despondency
formed no part of his character. About 1827, there was a temporary
business connection between himself and Thos. M. Kelly, after which he
started again alone, adding the auction and commission business to that
of a merchant.

Mr. Cutter, in November, 1832, was married to Miss Hilliard, sister of the
late Richard Hilliard. Of this marriage there are seven children now
living, most of them settled in the city. William L. is cashier of the
Merchants National Bank; Edwin succeeded his father two years since at the
old auction store in Bank street, and R. H. is the principal partner of
Cutter & Co., upholsterers.

Going east in the Fall of 1821, Mr. Cutter, on his return, preferred the
staunch steamer Walk-in-the-Water, to the Wasps, Fire Flies and Franklins,
on board of which he had experienced so many buffetings. George Williams
and John S. Strong were also of the same mind. These three old settlers,
and about seventy others, went on board at Black Rock, in the afternoon.
Eight yoke of oxen were required to assist the engines in getting her over
the rapids into the open lake. In the night a furious gale arose, Capt.
Rogers put back, but not being able to get into Buffalo Creek, came to
anchor near its mouth. Being awfully sea sick, Mr. Cutter lay below,
little caring where the Walk-in-the-Water went to. Her anchor, however,
parted before morning, and she went ashore sidewise, on an easy sand
beach, without loss of life.

This year completes his semi-centennial as a citizen of Cleveland, yet he
is still hale and vigorous. He has gone through revulsions, and has
enjoyed prosperity with equal equanimity, never indulging in idleness or
ease, and has now come to a ripe old age possessed of an ample competence.

Peter Martin Weddell.

One of the most noted historical and topographical landmarks of Cleveland
is the Weddell House. Its builder was one of the most valuable citizens of
the Forest City.

Mr. P. M. Weddell was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1788.
His father died before his birth, and his mother, marrying again, removed
to Paris, Bourbon county, Kentucky, the State at that time deserving its
sobriquet of the "dark and bloody ground," as the contest with the native
savages was carried on with relentless fury on both sides. Under such
circumstances it may well be supposed that he grew up with few educational
or other advantages, and that his youth was one of vicissitudes and
hardships.

At the age of fourteen he applied at a store for employment, what surplus
clothing and effects he then possessed being carelessly flung over his
shoulders. He promised to do any work they were pleased to set him at, and
he thought he could satisfy them. This broad pledge was so well kept that
at the age of nineteen he was made a partner. This partnership was soon
closed by the death of the old member.

Young Weddell, with a vigorous body, good habits, a clear judgment, and
some money, removed to Newark, Ohio, during the war of 1812. While he was
successfully trading there, Miss Sophia Perry, of Cleveland, was sent to
her friends at Newark for greater safety, and to acquire an education.
She was but little past fifteen when she consented to be Mrs. Weddell, and
they were married in November, 1815.

In 1820, Mr. Weddell removed from Newark to Cleveland and established
himself in business on Superior street, taking a stand at once among the
leading merchants of the place, a position he retained as long as he
continued in business.

In 1823, Mrs. Weddell died, leaving three children, of whom H. P. Weddell
is the only survivor. A portrait of her, by Peale, still remains in the
family house, which confirms the remembrances of her friends that she
possessed many charms both of person and of disposition. In the
following year Mr. Weddell married Mrs. Eliza A. Bell, of Newark, who is
still living, and whom every old citizen of Cleveland well knows and
sincerely respects.

In 1825, he formed a partnership with Mr. Edmund Clade, from Buffalo, and
retired from active participation in business. In 1828, the partnership
was dissolved. Three years afterwards he took into partnership with him
his two clerks, Greenup C. Woods, his half brother, and Dudley Baldwin,
the firm name being P. M. Weddell & Co. The firm lasted but four years,
when Mr. Woods established himself in Newark, and Messrs. Weddell and
Baldwin continued the business together until 1845.

When Mr. Weddell commenced his mercantile life it was no child's play.
At that time there were no canals or railroads to facilitate
commerce--scarcely were there any roads at all--specie was the only
currency west of the mountains, and that had to be carried across the
mountains from Pittsburgh on the backs of mules, and the merchandise
returned in the same way. Long after, when traveling over the
Alleghanies with a friend, Mr. Weddell frequently pointed to places on
the road which he remembered, and of which he related interesting
anecdotes. Several merchants would travel together and sometimes they
would have guards, as the lonely uninhabited mountains were not
altogether safe even in those days.

In 1823, Mr. Weddell built what was regarded as a princely brick residence
and store on the corner of Superior and Bank streets, afterwards the site
of the Weddell House. His surplus funds were invested in real estate,
which soon began to increase in value at an astonishing rate, as the city
grew in population and importance. On one of his lots upon Euclid street
he built the stone cottage which he designed as a country retreat, and
after his taking his clerks into partnership, he left the store mainly to
their management, devoting his attention to the purchase and improvement
of real estate, being generally regarded as a gentleman of wealth.

In the Spring of 1845 he began work upon the Weddell House, tearing away
the store and mansion, where his fortune had been made. It was finished in
two years. He then made a journey to New York to purchase furniture. On
the way home he was attacked by typhoid fever, and in three weeks was in
his grave.

As a merchant, Mr. Weddell had few superiors. His urbanity, industry,
and care made him popular, successful, and safe, while his integrity and
his liberality were well known to his correspondents and to all the
religious and benevolent institutions of the times.