OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Ohio -- The Frontier (Part 3) *********************************************************************** OHGENWEB NOTICE: All distribution rights to this electronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/ *********************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 October 1, 2001 *********************************************************************** Historical Collections of Ohio The Kelley Family Collections Newspaper article, Plains Dealer compiled by S.J. Kelley-- 1925 And Then They Went West by Darlene E. Kelley 1998 *********************************************************************** Ohio -- The Frontier Part 3 The firsts -- Articles by S.J. Kelly on Job Stiles Plains Dealer *********************************************************************** Ohio -- The Frontier part 3 The firsts-- Cleavelands men were capable engineers and practical planners, endowed with courage and endurance. The survey of 1796 was made under the direction of Augustus Porter, superintendent, who had the techical assistance of Amos Spafford and Seth Pease, makers of the first two maps of Cleveland. These maps, simular in most respects, initiated a city plan with right angle streets of noble width, and with the public square. In the fall. the surveyors departed. The founder had done his work wisely and well. When he returned to Connecticut, he resumed his law practice, never to again visit the settlement on the lake. When he died ten years later, the little colony bearing his name was slowly taking substancial form. In early 1797, a second expedition was organized, with Rev Seth Hart, head of the party, and Seth Paease, chief surveyor. By fall, the exploration of the Reserve was concluded. Cleveland street lines were determined and lots were laid out. The surveyors left a rich heritage in the form of goodly waterfront, forests of sturdy timber, a curving stream, and wide stretches of level land backed by a gentle ridge. The year 1797, witnessed the arrival of the first settlers-- Elisha Gun, Lorenzo Carter, Ezeckiel Hawley, and James Kingsbury with their families. Despite privations, disease, and danger, the pioneers sought the opportunity at the frontier, ax in one hand, rifle in the other. and the bible in their saddlebags. Early during the summer, the surveyors had built a cabin labeled " Pease's Hotel " and a storehouse for supplies near the river. They also erected a cabin for the Stiles family on lot 53 ( West 6th, near Superior ). In about mid october, winter threatened, urging plans for departure. By the eighteenth, the surveying party had gone. Seed wheat brought from a settlement on the Genesee River in New York State was sowed in the fall on a 6 acre clearing at Conneaut, east of the creek, by the land company employees. It grew to produce the first-- crop of grain grown by civilized men on the Western Reserve. Only a footpath led down to the mouth of the Cuyahoga where the surveyors' cabins had been empty for about a month. Three people remained in the settlement in a lonely cabin built by the surveyors. This was the first-- family dwelling in Cleveland, The Stiles', and Joseph Landon, who soon moved on. A new boarder, Edward Paine, traded with the Ottawa, Delaware. and Chippewa Indians west of the river, and later founded Painesville. A small camp of friendly Senacas lived under the hill. This was Cleveland on the first-- Thanksgiving, as the population of these people prepared to face the first winter in the wilderness. The first-- adventurer to seek a new home for his family in the Reserve of his own volition was James Kingsbury, aged twenty nine. He had come to Conneaut from Alsted, New Hampshire, with his wife, Eunice Waldo Kingsbury, and three small children. They had arrived soon after the surveyors. The first-- six months in Conneaut is typical of pioneer courage and fortitude. Dwindling supplies and an absence of game presaged starvation for the family. In Novemeber, Kingsbury set out for New Hampshire to secure provisions, expecting he would be gone for a month or so. There he was stricken with fever. Anxiety for his family urged him to start home sooner than advisable, and when he reached Buffalo on Dec 3, he was almost exhausted. Pushing forward the next day with his Indian guide, into the wilds, he was overtaken with snow that had fallen for three weeks without intermission, until, in some places it was up to his chin. His horse died on the way, but determined to go on, and it was Christmas Eve, when he reached his cabin. First-- Christmas Eve. Meantime, friendly Indians had brought Mrs Kingsbury meat until they could no longer brave the winter storms. Her husband's thirteen year old nephew cared for the oxen and cow, and tried to comfort the pioneer mother in her loneliness and despair when she gave birth to the first-- white child born on the Reserve before the father returned. Soon fever attacked his wife, their food was almost gone, and James Kingsbury, forgetful of his own weakness, set out with a hand-sled for Erie, where he obtained a bushel of wheat, which when cracked and boiled stayed starvation. Upon the death of the cow from the effects of eating the browse of oak trees, the baby's chance for life, decreased daily, and the child died in January. The First-- death. The family endured near starvation, and for two weeks Mrs Kingsbury was scarcely conscious. Late in Feb or early March the bitter winter relaxed, and Kingsbury was able to bring down a solitary pigeon with a well aimed shot. The nourishing broth kindled a spark that started the long climb to health in the frail, tired body of his wife. They had survived the first -- hard winter. The first -- white child born and lived in Cleveland was Charles Phelps Stiles, son of Job Phelps and Tabitha Cumi Stiles. The date was January 23, 1797. The first-- permanent settlers was Lorenzo Carter, thirty years of age, arriving in May 1797 and his brother in law, Ezekiel Hawley, and their families. They came from Vermont. Cartier erected a log cabin with a garret on the east bank of the river ( foot of St. Clair ) on a tract near the surveyors' hut. Travelers were welcomed to a meal, a bed, and a drink of good New England rum. Carter was a man of action and energy. He soon built a boat, launched a ferry at the foot of Superior Street, and laid in a stock of goods for trade with the Indians. Carter was a Baptist. The first-- boat of the second surveying expedition landed at the storehouse on the Cuyahoga on the afternoon of June 1, 1797. As the other boats came in, they brought the news of tragedy, the drowning of David Elridge, one of the party, as he attempted to ford the Grand River on horseback on June 3rd. Rev Hart with the surveying party conduced the first-- religious service in Cleveland the next day at the burial in the first-- cemetery on the east side of Ontario ( north of Prospect ). The plot was surrounded by briars and bushes. Virgin forests crowded in, and a little to the south on Ontario was a large mound, said to be the work of the Mound Builders. The first-- wedding was performed in Carter's cabin on July 4, 1797. Cleo Inches, Mrs Carter's household helper, became the bride of William Clement, who pursed her from Ontario. Rev Hart officiated. The bride and groom left the settlement on their honeymoon and never returned. This seems to be the last record of the good Reverands clerical ministrations. The first -- dry goods store was opened by Edward Paine. His stock of bright colored calicoes and trinkets brought a traffic line of curious but friendly Indians . James Kingsbury and his family who had accompanied the surveyers when they moved from Conneaut to Cleveland had lived a short time in a deserted trading cabin west of the river ( near Main and Center streets) -- reputedly the Astor House-- until a new cabin was built. ( Federal Building Site ) On Dec 11, the Kingsbury's moved again, this time to a higher, healthier location away from the swamps-- the ridge southeast of Cleveland ( Woodhill Road ) on the line from what became Doan's Corners ( East 105th Street ) This was the beginning of Newburgh -- or Newburg-- settlement. The first-- move to the suburbs had begun. *********************************************** From the Plains Dealer-- by S.L. Kelly Job Stiles' Cabin-- Job Stiles and his wife spent the winter of 1796 in their log cabin on Superior street, the first residence of a white family in Cleveland. The street hd been surveyed but probably a tree had not been cut in its whole length of Erie ( E.9th ) Street. All was forest and smoke must have risen from the cabin chimney, in a small clearing back of the spot where stood the Mercantile Bank Building long after, at Bank ( W 6th ) and Superior. The corner now is a parking lot and gas station and one of the occupants of the last building was the Guardian Savings & Trust Co. Cleveland's surveyers left for home Oct 18, 1796. Their field notes say: " We left at Cuyahoga, Job Stiles ad wife, and Joseph Landon, with provisions for the Winter." Landon did not reman long, but the Stiles couple stayed through the cold dreary season. Senecas on the east bank under the High Level bridge is now; Chippawas and Ottawas on the west side, partly up the hill, treated he lonely couple with great kindness. A foot path to the Senecas' camp, and down Union Lane ( W.10th ) to the surveyor's store house, was the only public highway. On Jan. 23,1797, a son was born to the Stiles'. Named Charles Phelps Stiles, the first white child born in Cleveland, he remained for years to marry and rear a family. Later he removed to Beaver, Iroquois County. Illinois, where he died in 1882, age 85. The timbered heights on the Cuyahoga had long been a roaring city with railroads, steamboats, paved streets, thousands of residents, and evenelectric lights. Nathaniel Doan, of the surveying expeditions of 1796 and 1797, was blacksmith for the Connecticut Land Co. He brought on his family in 1798 and " erected a " crude shop " on Superior Street before the Stiles' lot and occupied their cabin home. *********************************************** The Stiles Leave Cleveland by S.L Kelly Plains Dealer The Job Stiles did not remain long in their cabin on Superior Street for some reason not clear. Actions of the Land Company indicate that they had been promised a two-acre city lot for living here that first desolate winter. Records show an entry made Jan 23,1798, at a pay off meeting at Hartford, Conn. They paid Chief Red Jacket $ 15, an expense account. $ 10 in cash and the rest in goods, and adopted this resolution. " Whereas, The Directors have given to Tabitha Stiles, Wife of Job P. Stiles, one city lot, one 10 acre lot, and one 100 acre lot; ---- ; ( torn area ) to Nathaniel Doan one city lot, he being obliged to reside thereon as a blacksmith, and all in the city and town of Cleveland. Voted that these grants be approved. " Notwithstanding this, the Stiles vacated their cabin. The lots never deeded to Mrs. Stiles, and after living in differnt places in the town before the war of 1812, they returned to Vermont. Years later Job stiles died at Brandon, Vt., aged 80. He often declared that he built the first house in Cleveland and this entitles him to be considered the first actual builder of a residence in the city. He may not have decided its plain dimensions. But he worked on it, the cabin was to be his home, and he probably determined its arrangement and design, which is part of the architect's work. So technically he belonged to the profession. Mrs. Tabitha Stiles lived 10 years after her husband. Sharp real estate dealers heard of her claim to the Cleveland lots promised by the Land Company, which greatly increased in value. These dealers sought her out and persuaded her to sign away her claim to the property for a few head of cattle. ********************************************** to be continued in part 4