Cleveland Past and Present

M >> Maurice Joblin >> Cleveland Past and Present

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46

He accepted the office in the spirit in which it had been conferred upon
him. He understood that the people believed he was disposed and able to
manage the affairs of the city vigorously and honestly, and he was not
disposed to evade the responsibilities of the office. His time was devoted
to the duties of his position, the different departments under his charge
were carefully scrutinized, and whilst his strictness and vigorous
execution of the laws made the offenders complain of his severity, there
was no question raised as to his ability, integrity, or honest zeal for
the city's interest. He discharged the duties of his office with
scrupulous exactness, and he endeavored to make others do the same. During
his administration it was no longer a reproach that the ordinances of the
city stood

"Like the forfeits in a barbers shop,
As much in mock as mark."

At the breaking out of the war, Mr. Chapin took an early and active part
in stirring up the people to defend the Government of the Union. Wherever
his money, influence, or active energy could be made serviceable, there he
was always to be found. Having obtained the appropriation for the
Twenty-Ninth Regiment, he worked diligently in raising, equipping, and
sending it to the field, and spent much of his own time at the front in
various capacities. The ladies who worked diligently for the comfort of
the soldiers and the care of the sick and wounded, through the medium of
the Ladies' Aid Association, found in Mr. Chapin an indefatigable
assistant. He was ever ready with suggestion, active aid, and money,
laboring day and night, either at the front, in the hospitals, or at
home, in behalf of the soldier.

The Cleveland Library Association was another field in which Mr. Chapin's
energy and business tact were manifested. In 1854, he was elected
president of the Association, which had struggled along, a feeble
organization, contending against numerous difficulties. Under his vigorous
management the Association was brought to a higher degree of prosperity
then it had ever witnessed; the income was largely increased, the number
of books increased one-half, and a lively interest excited in the public
mind concerning it. Mr. Chapin retired at the close of his term of office,
and the affairs of the Association gradually lapsed into their former
unsatisfactory condition. In 1858, an attempt was made to save it by
revolutionizing its constitution and management. A new constitution was
adopted, and under it Mr. Chapin was again elected president. The result
was even more marked than in the previous instance. The number of members
was nearly doubled, a load of debt that had accumulated through a number
of years was removed, a large number of books added to the library, and
the reading-room enlarged and improved. Again, after the lapse of ten
years, Mr. Chapin has been called to the presidency of the Association,
under circumstances precisely similar to those under which he had twice
before assumed the duties of the position.

Mr. Chapin was married October 15th, 1849, to Matilda, daughter of John
Fenno, of Boston. Of this marriage have been born six children, the oldest
of whom, a son now nineteen years of age, is in the wholesale grocery of
Edwards, Townsend & Co.; the others are all attending school.

Moses White.

Moses White, now one of the very few remaining early citizens of
Cleveland, was born at Warwick, Hampshire county, Mass., February
25th, 1791. His father's name was Jacob White, a native of Menden,
Mass., who traces back his ancestors as natives of that town, to as
early a date as 1665.

Moses White, the subject of this memoir, being deprived, at a very early
age, of his mother, by death, went to live in Mendon, with his maternal
grandfather, Peter Penninian. Afterwards he went to Boston, where he
learned the merchant tailor business, with one John Willson. From Boston
he went to Providence, R. I., where he remained about two years, and where
he became acquainted with Miss Mary Andrews, whom he afterwards married.

In 1813, being desirons of settling further west, he first went to Utica,
N. Y., and after remaining there a few months, he proceeded, with a horse
and buggy, to Cleveland, where he arrived in October, 1816, the population
of the place then being only about 150.

He established himself here as a merchant tailor, and pursued the business
steadily about twenty years, and with success. He afterwards established a
store at Chillicothe, Ohio, which, not being under his own care, did not
prove successful.

From his arrival in Cleveland, he was forward in all the moral and
religious enterprises of the place, first in union with all the religious
denominations represented, and afterwards he was more particularly
identified with the Baptist Church, in which he has been for nearly forty
years a deacon.

He now enjoys more than usual health and vigor for one of his age, and has
the respect, confidence and esteem of every person who knows him.

His wife having died in 1858, he has since that date made it his home with
his daughter, Mrs. J. P. Bishop, of Cleveland, with whom he now resides.

In many respects Deacon White's history furnishes an example worthy of
imitation. In the times of his boyhood, in New England, when a boy did not
possess the means for establishing himself in business, or of educating
himself for some professional calling, and particularly if he was an
orphan, he was required to learn some trade. In his case, his friends not
only recommended this, but he was desirous himself, of doing it. He
accordingly went from Mendon to Boston, a distance of about forty miles,
where, alone and among strangers, he sought a place where he might serve
as an apprentice. For days he wandered about seeking such an opportunity
and finally fell in with John Willson, the merchant tailor before
mentioned, who received him as an errand boy, and finally as an
apprentice, in which position he continued, passing through all the grades
incident to such employment, till he was twenty-one years of age.

Without father or mother, or friends to look up to for counsel and advice,
he persevered, and preserved his integrity, having the confidence of all
with whom he was associated.

In those early days, nothing was more common than to emigrate to the
West, leaving the principles of New England education, in religion and
morality, behind. Judging from accounts of society in Cleveland in very
early times, such must have been the case of some, at least.

But such was not the case with the youthful Moses White. Though he found
not many congenial spirits in this far-off western region, yet whenever,
in the little village of Cleveland, he heard of a place of prayer, or a
meeting, or association for the promotion of temperance or morality,
thither he bent his footsteps. Now in a ripe and happy old age he enjoys,
not only the retrospect, but also the present--and not only these, but he
is constantly looking for a consummation of perfect happiness, beyond what
either the past has, or the present life can afford.

Finally, so far as accumulating wealth is concerned, he has not been as
fortunate as some, and yet less unfortunate than many others, and now
enjoys a competence abundantly sufficient to provide for all his wants and
to transmit something to his children. Well may worldly ones say, "O that
my last days might be like his!"

David H. Beardsley.

Mr. Beardsley does not claim to be a pioneer, but an early settler of the
second class, having arrived in Cleveland with his family in June, 1826.
Cleveland is supposed to have then had about five hundred people. He was
of Quaker origin, and lived at New Preston, Connecticut, before he removed
to Ohio. He was of course anxious to obtain employment, and being a
beautiful penman, a contract was soon made with the late Judge Willey, who
was the county auditor, to serve as his clerk, at one dollar per day. He
was employed about thirty days in making the county duplicate. The taxable
property of the county at that time amounted to the sum of two hundred and
sixty-eight thousand, seven hundred and seventy-one dollars. When Mr.
Beardsley was deputy auditor, all the public business centered in the old
log court house, on the northwest quarter of the Square.

On the fourth of July, 1827, the Ohio canal was opened to lock seventeen,
near Akron, and the canal commissioners, prominent among whom was his
friend Alfred Kelley, were in need of a scrupulously honest man, and a
good clerk, for the purpose of collecting tolls. They found all the
necessary qualifications of integrity, assiduity, and accuracy in Mr.
Beardsley, who was therefore appointed, the day not having arrived when
qualification for office should be the last of recommendations. The
collectorship may be said to have been Mr. Beardsley's profession. He
spent in the office most of the period of active life, in twenty-three
years, undisturbed by the changes of administration. To our ears this may
sound incredible.

Mr. Beardsley's salary was at first three hundred dollars per annum,
increasing to twelve hundred before the close of his services. He
collected the sum of one million, three hundred and ninety-eight thousand,
six hundred and forty-two dollars and sixty-eight cents. His accounts were
models of nicety as well as accuracy, errors and discrepancies being
equally unknown.

Being a gentleman of simple tastes and habits, with few wants, he has
acquired a comfortable competence, without acquiring a thirst for gold,
and without withholding his substance from charitable and public purposes.
He is highly esteemed by all who know him, for a life-long consistency of
character, and sterling qualities as a man and a friend. The writer
occasionally sees him on our crowded streets, although quite feeble, with
a mind perfectly serene, and well aware that his race is almost run. His
record is worthy of emulation.

Thomas Augustus Walton.

When the genial countenance and kindly voice of T. A. Walton were missed
from the customary gatherings of the river merchants, it was felt that
something had been lost which not even a lucky speculation, or a good run
of trade, could not restore. When the news of his sudden death, whilst on
a foreign tour for the restoration of his health, was received, there was
genuine sorrow among his old business associates, and poignant grief with
many who had learned to look on him not merely as a successful merchant,
but as a man of tender heart and open hand when suffering and distress
appealed to him for sympathy and aid.

Mr. Walton was born in London, and to the last he looked with affection to
the city of his birth. His education was gained at the City of London
School. After leaving school he was brought up to mercantile pursuits, and
in 1830, concluding that there was a better opening in that line in
America, he came to this country, bringing with him a considerable amount
of money. For a few years he remained in New York, loaning his capital,
for which he always found ready customers, but unfortunately they were not
all as ready to pay as to borrow. He lost large sums, and was driven to
the conclusion that for a man of his openness of character and confiding
honesty, New York was an unprofitable location. The representations of a
friend, combined with dissatisfaction with his experience in the
commercial metropolis, determined him to seek his fortune in the West.
Evansburg, Ohio, had been represented to him as a desirable place in which
to live, a thriving business point, and adjacent to good hunting ground.
This combination of attractions determined him, and he set out for
Evansburg with what remained of his capital.

But the attractions of Evansburg soon wearied him. Neither his social,
commercial, nor sportsmanlike hopes were fulfilled by the facts, and Mr.
Walton speedily turned his back on the place of so much promise and so
little realization. Cleveland was the rising place of the West, and to
Cleveland he came, and established himself, as was the custom with new
comers of a commercial turn, in the produce and commission trade.
Following the old maxim, he stuck to his business and his business stuck
to him. The old frame warehouse in front of which he hung out his sign in
1838, was occupied by him for twenty-five years, until January, 1863,
when he retired from active business and was succeeded in the same
building by his nephew, Thomas Walton, who still retains the business and
the old location.

Mr. Walton's nice sense of honor commended him to a large circle of
customers in the interior and in Michigan, whilst nearly all the Canadian
business with Cleveland passed through his hands. His Canadian customers
relied implicitly on his word, and the fact that he always retained his
old friends, and received constant accessions of new, sufficiently proved
that their confidence was not misplaced.

In the Spring of 1863, soon after his retirement from business, he went to
England with the intention of staying a year or two and then returning to
enjoy the remainder of his life in ease in this country. Whilst in
England he paid a visit to some friends in Southampton, and whilst taking
a bath in a movable bathing-house on the beach, probably was seized with
cramp and suffocated by water getting into his lungs. The news of his
death caused a painful shock in business, social, and religious circles,
where he had been so well known and so highly esteemed.

For a long term of years Mr. Walton was the presiding officer of the St.
George's Society of Cleveland, and that benevolent institution owed its
usefulness in great measure to his indefatigable zeal in the cause, and to
his unstinted liberality. To the distressed of any nation he never turned
a deaf ear, but to the needy and suffering of his native country he was
ever liberal, and accompanied his unostentatious charities with kind words
and manifestations of sincere interest that were frequently as beneficial
to the recipient as the money itself. He was also a valued member of the
Masonic Order.

In religious belief he was an Episcopalian, and was long one of the
leading members of Trinity Church. His devotion was unaffectedly sincere,
and though he made no vaunt of his religious principles or hopes, there
could be no question of his deep, earnest convictions. Kind, courteous,
ever thinking of the good of others, and wholly unselfish, Mr. Walton was
a good specimen of the true Christian gentleman.

Although of English birth, and clinging affectionately to all that
reminded him of his native land, he was a thorough supporter of American
institutions, and an admirer of the American character. Deeply and warmly
as he loved the land of his birth, his affection was even stronger for the
land of his adoption, and it was his purpose to have returned from his
visit to his boyhood's home and settle down in peaceful content in the
chosen home of his manhood, until death should lay him in an American
grave. When the war broke out he was an earnest and unshrinking supporter
of the Government, and his means were freely used for its support, and for
the comfort of the soldiers who were fighting its battles. Though alien
born, and associated intimately with people of like birth, there was no
native American that could surpass him in love for the Union, and few that
exceeded him, in proportion to his means, in contributions to the defence
of the Union.

In the language of his favorite Shakespeare, it might be said of him

His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him, that nature might stand up
And say to all the world, _This was a man_!

George Worthington.

Prominent among the business firms of Cleveland, is that of George
Worthington & Co., a house which stands in the front rank both on account
of the business done, and of its integrity and honorable dealing.

Mr. Worthington, the founder and head of the firm, was born in
Cooperstown, N. Y., September 21st, 1813. He received a good common school
education, and then entered on a business career by becoming clerk in a
hardware store in Utica, in 1830, remaining in that position until 1834,
when he came to Cleveland and commenced business as a hardware dealer on
his own account. His first store was on the corner of Superior and Union
lane, on the site of the clothing store of Isaac A. Isaacs, and the first
goods received by him were drawn by oxen owned by a man who did all the
carting at that time. Cleveland was then but a small town, and most of the
trading was done with the teamsters that came from Wooster and other
points south, bringing pork, grain, and other products, and taking back
merchandise. Trade was brisk, but cash scarce, nearly all the operations
being more in the nature of barter than of purchase and sale.

After remaining three years in his first store, he removed to the corner
of Water and Superior streets, on the site of the present National Bank
building, and in that location he remained thirty years, during which time
he witnessed the growth of Cleveland from a small town to a large and
prosperous city.

When he had been established about fifteen years, Mr. Worthington began
rapidly to enlarge his business, and he associated with him Mr. James
Barnett and Mr. Edward Bingham, at present members of the firm. About that
time they commenced wholesaling, and gradually built up a business from
five thousand dollars the first year, to a million dollars. This, however,
involved a vast amount of labor, and an indomitable determination to
succeed by driving business. Mr. Worthington, in the absence of railroads
or other public conveyance, traveled through the adjacent townships and
counties on horseback, introducing his wares, and obtaining orders which
would be filled by the carriers' wagons.

[Illustration: Yours Truly, G. Worthington]

Railroads revolutionized trade and gave an impetus to everything, and
establishments that were on a firm footing before were prepared to take
advantage of circumstances. This was the case with Mr. Worthington. His
wholesale business has grown enormously, especially since 1860.

About 1862, Mr. Worthington projected the Cleveland Iron and Nail Works,
and, in connection with Mr. W. Bingham, matured the plans and got the
works into successful operation in about one year from broaching the
project, the work turned out being of the best quality. The owners of the
works can sell readily all they make, and furnish active and steady
employment for about two hundred men.

Mr. Worthington has also been extensively interested in blast furnaces and
coal mining, in the vicinity of Cleveland, and has been very successful in
them also.

At the present time the Cleveland Iron and Nail Company is erecting the
first blast furnace within the city limits, calculated for a capacity of
about three hundred tons per week. The firm have also built works on their
grounds for the manufacture of gas pipe, which have been in successful
operation for about a year, with the exception of a delay caused by a
fire. This is an important work in a city so rapidly growing as Cleveland,
and will retain many thousand of dollars formerly sent to Philadelphia and
other points.

On the passage of the National Bank Law, Mr. Worthington and a number of
other capitalists of the city, organized the First National Bank of
Cleveland, with a capital of four hundred thousand dollars, which has
been very successful. Mr. Worthington was elected president on its
organization, and still retains the office. He is a director of the Ohio
Savings and Loan Bank, of this city. He is also largely interested in
the local Insurance interests; vice-president of the Sun, and also
interested in the Cleveland and Commercial, and is a director of the
Hahnemann Life Insurance Company. He is also president of the Cleveland
Iron Mining Company, one of the most successful organizations of the
kind in the country.

No one man, probably, has done more towards building up the business
portion of the city than has Mr. Worthington. His first building was
erected on the corner of Ontario and St. Clair streets, now occupied by H.
Johnson. Since that time he has erected fifty dwelling-houses, and
fourteen stores.

In 1840, he was married to Miss Maria C. Blackmar, of Cleveland, by the
Rev. Dr. Aiken. Of the marriage six children have been born, two sons
and four daughters, all living. The oldest son, Ralph, is now a member
of the firm.

In 1862, Mr. Worthington became interested in the wholesale dry goods
business in New York City, and has been quite successful in the
enterprise.

Mr. Worthington is a good specimen of a self-made man, who was not
spoiled in the making. Hard work did not harden his character, nor has
prosperity turned his head. Coming to Cleveland without a dollar, he has
built up a large fortune by sheer hard work, close application to
business and strict business habits. He at the same time built up a fine
reputation by his integrity of character and scrupulous honesty in his
dealings. At fifty-six years of age, his health is now, as it has always
been, remarkably good; he has never been detained from business on
account of sickness.

N. E. Crittenden.

One of the best known names in this city, to new as well as old citizens,
is that of N. E. Crittenden. For very many years his jewelry establishment
has been a landmark in the business district "on the hill," and the
greater part of the population, for about forty years, have taken their
time from his clock.

Mr. Crittenden is a Massachusetts Yankee in birth and pedigree, having
been born at Conway, July 25th, 1804. In his earlier years he received a
good common school education, and at the age of eighteen was bound
apprentice to the jewelry and watch-making business, serving four years at
Geneva, N. Y., and then removing to Batavia, where he was employed two
years at the trade, and in Albany one year. In the latter city he married
Miss Mary A. Ogden, soon after the ceremony moving to Batavia, where,
however, he made but a short stay. He had determined on setting up on his
own account, and Batavia presented no opening for him. That land of hope
and promise, the West, tempted him as it had tempted others, and with five
hundred dollars in jewelry, purchased on credit, he started westward in
search of a place in which to turn his jewelry into cash.

Taking vessel at Buffalo he came to Cleveland, but there was no harbor,
and the vessel stopped outside to land any passengers for that place, and
then resumed her trip. Mr. Crittenden concluded not to end his voyage
until he had gone farther, and stuck by the ship until he reached Detroit,
where he landed and investigated with a view to settling. The prospect was
not inviting. In order to do business there it was necessary to understand
and speak Canadian French, and Mr. Crittenden's acquirements in that
direction were not extensive. Detroit was clearly no place for him.

Whilst roaming around the place he fell in with Mr. Walbridge, who was
seeking a location to open a dry goods business. He too was dissatisfied
with the inducements Detroit offered, and had almost resolved to abandon
the attempt and go home. Mr. Crittenden had reached the same conclusion,
and the two took the boat on the return trip, thoroughly disenchanted with
the business prospects of the West. When the boat reached Cleveland they
concluded to land and take a look at the place before they utterly turned
their backs on the western country.

It was in September, 1826. The village was pleasantly situated, and the
location impressed the strangers favorably. The houses had an appearance
of thrift and comfort, and there was an air of New England enterprise
about the settlement that confirmed the good impression formed at the
approach. Mr. Crittenden turned to his companion and announced his
determination to go no farther; he had found the object of his search.
That he might satisfy himself of the probable future of the settlement he
got a conveyance and rode into the country to see what were the
surroundings of the embryo city. As he passed up through the street his
ears were saluted with drum and fife, the people were all out in their
holiday clothes, and teams, loaded with old folks and young folks, were
coming into town, for it was "general training." The farther he rode and
the more he saw, the more firmly he became convinced that here was to be
his future home, and before long his five hundred dollars' worth of
jewelry found purchasers among the lads and lasses, and some of the older
folks, of Cleveland.

His first store occupied the site of his present store on Superior street,
and here, in a little building, he opened his original stock. The land he
subsequently purchased of Levi Johnson, through the medium of Leonard
Case, the purchase money being one thousand dollars for twenty-eight
feet, with three years' time in which to make the payments. The exorbitant
price horrified some of the old settlers, and one of them gravely shook
his head, announcing his firm belief that such a sum of money for such a
bit of land would turn Levi Johnson's head with unlooked for prosperity.
The price would scarcely be called high in the present day, when land then
considered far away in the distant country sells readily at higher rates.
In the spring of 1827, having secured his store and sold out most of his
original stock, he started East to make his first purchases and to bring
his wife to Cleveland. His friends were surprised and gratified at his
early return on such an errand. With his wife he brought some housekeeping
articles, among other things the third carpet ever brought to the
settlement.