OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Tidbits of Ohio -- Part 8 ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgenwebarchives.org ************************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 February 15, 2005 ************************************************************************** Historical Collections of Ohio And They Went West S.L. Kelly diaries Series of Articles by Darlene E. Kelley Tid Bits - part 8. ************************************************************************** The First Bridges The ice masses of the glacerial period is analogous to a river. The current being supplied by snowfall in far northern regions. This immense masses of ice, thousands of feet in thickness, moved slowly southward, sweeping away vast forests, tearing off tops and sides of ledges. mixing debis with its own mass, and grinding much of it together to form boulder clay. Gravel, sand, clay and boulders picked up or torn off by the ice were thus carried southward and there left as the ice-sheet melted. The granite hard-head boulders that are not uncommon on the surface of this sandstone region of northern Ohio were thus imported from Canada and laid down at Ohio's doors in this way, the drainage of the glaciated region, of which Cuyahoga County ia a part, was so changed that the country resmbles, on a large scale, a checked and worm eaten plank which a carpenter has filled with putty. After the great glacer had thus plastered its debris in a thick layer over the Cuyahoga, the drainage system had to be created. In the course of time, a hundred centuries or more, the valleys of the Cuyahoga and of the lesser streams that divide Cleveland into the East Side, the West side and the South Side, and the numerous ravines that subdivide these sections, were cut by running water thus creating an imperitive demand for bridges and viaducts. The lower part of the Cuyahoga river flows to the Lake along its deep preglacial valley but far above its ancient bed. The borders and the depth of this preglacial valley has been somewhat accurately determined from the records made in drilling wells for water, gas, and oil. When Moses Cleaveland and some of his party first arrived at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River on July 22, 1796, they had advanced a little way up its channel and attempted to land, but in their efforts to do so, they ran their boat into the marshy growth of wild vegetation which skirted the easterly bank of the river and thus were stranded. Here Moses, like his ancient namesake, found himself cradled in the bulrushes. The place where they landed was at the end of an old Indian trail, the passage thence to what we call the West Side being generally made by canoe. In the following year, 1797, Elijah Gunn, who had been the keeper of the stores of Conneaut; came to Cleveland and for years operated a ferry across the river at the foot of Superior Street, the only easy means of getting across the river to Brooklyn. One of the first bridges across the River was a floating bridge of whitewood logs. When a vessel had to pass, the logs were floated to one side; and when it had passed, the logs were drawn back into place by ropes. These ropes were drawn by horses and oxen. In 1833, James S. Clark and associates laid out Columbus Street to the river through what was then called Cleveland Center. Several years later, they alloted what they called Willeyville, named in honor of the then Mayor of Cleveland. Through this Willeyville they laid out an extenson of Columbus Street to the Wooster and Medina turnpike on the west side. They then graded their new street down to the river and in 1835, spent $15,000 more to build a bridge to connect the two sections of their Columbus Street properties, thus creating a short route to Cleveland from the south and west and practically side-tracking Brooklyn village which lay near the mouth of the river. This was the first substancial bridge across the Cuyahoga. The first city directory printed in 1837, states that the bridge was supported by a stone abutment on either shore and piers of solid masonry erected in the center of the river. Between the piers, there were a draw sufficient to allow a vessel of forty-nine feet beam to pass through. The length was two hundred feet, the breadth, including the sidewalks, thirty-three feet, and the height of the piers, above the surface of the water, was estimated at twenty four feet. The whole, with the exception of the draw, was roofed and enclosed. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Growing up in Rockport Emeline Kelley wrote her recollections of growing up in the little community of Rockport, Ohio. She was the daughter of Datus Kelley and Sara ( Dean ) Kelley, and grandaughter of Daniel Kelley and Jemima ( Stow ) Kelley, one of the pioneer founders of Cleveland, Ohio. In her recollections she writes; " I was born on June 10, 1819 at Rockport, Ohio. My parents were both natives of Connecticut and moved with their parents when quite young to Lowville, NY. My grandfather Dean settled in Martinsburg, a short ride from Lowville where my father and mother were married in 1811 and moved to Ohio. My father selected his farm out of a wilderness of forests and Indians eight miles west of a small town of 600 inhabitants called Cleveland. The roads were horrid with no bridges over the two rivers and long steep hills on both sides of the rivers. The lake ( Erie ) in small boats was quite often used for travel. Fathers choice of a farm proved to be a good one. In Jan 1845 it was considered one of the finest locations in Cuyahoga Co., and was sold in 1887 for $47,000. Geo B. Merwins widow bought it from Father in 1835 for a little over $7,000. One this farm I was born and lived until I was 16 years old. I had six brothers and two sisters. One of my brothers died when 10 months old and died before I was born. Eight of us lived to be men and women, with Daniel dying at age of maturity ( 21). The rest of us ( 7 in all ) were married and had childen. We were all taught good manners thanks to the good moral training our parents gave us, and perhaps to the good blood my parents possessed. My Father, Datus Kelley was a leader in the town in all public work. He hired the teachers; went for them, took them home, boarded them over Sundays. The teachers pretended to board around with those who were sent to school, but headquarters were at our house. My father was the first temperance advocate and the first to refuse to treat drunks in our home. Father was a great reader, but never read works of fiction. Mother did not get the time to read much; but heard father read outloud and had great discussons over his well digested reading. Mother greatest fort outside of her many household duties, such as weaving our dresses; spinning and carding wool for stockings; dipping candles; making butter; and etc and etc; doing the work for the family , with always an infant in her arms or nearby; was to go to the sick for miles around. Her three brothers living about a mile away had 10 to 12 chilren each and mother was the first to help with their births, besides a good many other infants around Rockport. There was only one Doctor, west of Cleveland for many years and she never charged anything for her services with the sick; and I never knew of her getting any presents. For 20 years of her Rockport life, she had a baby not 2 years old. No acreage was cleared when Father and Mother moved on to the farm. The first thing was to build a log house for shelter, and clear a garden spot. It took a great many men to remove the huge trees, burn them, save the ashes and make potash of it. The men had to be boarded. Thank goodness that not as many dishes was used as now. One plate, knife and fork, a cup and saucer, and spoon was all one person needed at one meal. Then with the boarders they also needed them, so they took turns with the meals, boarders first, and then the family. Not more than 3 months before I was born, Father built a new frame house. It was the first frame house in Rockport. My oldest brother Addison was the first male child born in Rockport. How one woman could do the work my mother did in those days is past my comprehension. Very little help could be had at any price for sewing or housework in those days. One nice thing was that a dress spun and wove by a hand machine would last for years as it was the fashion then to have few dresses. Our homemade plaid dresses were colored with madder roots and indigo blue, which I thought very pretty. We wore shoes about to our ankles and the dresses came to the tops of our shoes. When there was snow, our shoes would get full and packed like ice. A knife would have to be used to dig the ice out when we got home from school. In the summer all children under 10 went barefoot and then again, some of the older did too. I always wanted my shoes off early in the spring, so I could splash through the puddles of water and wade in the lake. My feet at night would be so sore and cracked open by being wet, they would look like a toads back and ache dreadfully. Mother would give me a little cream and a rag to wind around them and send me to bed. The next morning I would be all well and ready to splash in the water again. It was great fun to make the water fly. When I was 12 years old I had pantaloons to wear for the first time. They were very comfortable; but most every one thought them very boyish, and were teased for putting on boyish clothes. I remember what a comfortable addition it was to my clothing. When I was ten years old Gov. Wood (then Judge Wood) moved to Rockport from Cleveland and lived on the next farm East of us. Their oldest girl, " Loretta " became my fast chum until her death in 1884. She was in Cleveland a good deal and brought home all the newest styles going, and so I had to dress about as she did, and do as she did. She was a great favorite with my older brothers, as she was a good dancer, and in that way I got to the public balls very young. Dancing parties at our house were quite frequent. Father never danced in his life; but mother did and when they built the frame house they put up a board partition between the two back chambers, so it could be taken down easily and throw them together which made a room 30 feet long by 14 feet wide. We commenced dancing in those days about 4 o'clock P.M. and about 1 o'clock the fiddler ( Judge Coe ) would put up his fiddle and leave. We had refreshments about 11 P.M. We danced the plastering off the kitchen overhead, some of it every time, which made quite a mess to clean up. The house Judge Wood moved into was not finished. No rooms upstairs were plastered and rats and mice cantered all over it. The Judge being gone a great deal and the family were afraid to stay there nights, and would come over after me ( 10 years old mind you ) to protect them and be company. I was used to living in the country and fearless, so many a night I spent with them until their house was completed. I enjoyed it very much, being thought so brave and of course they all made it very pleasant for me. Mrs. Wood and my mother became great friends, and next to my mother, she was the best woman I knew. She was always getting me up in great style, to go to parties with Loretta. I had a man's saddle horse and a hard riding horse. Father would send me 5 miles with a bag of corn to get it ground into meal. Mr. Taylor, the man who owned the mill ground the corn and sent me on my way with the meal. Going a mile to school was what took up my time 7 months in the year. Five and a half days in the week. 4th of July, New years, and Christmas was our only Holidays. In the spring Father made a barrel or two of maple sugar, and some syrup. We would start out in the morning with an iron kettle between us on a horse, with I and Loretta. We were expected to boil down enough to get what we wanted to eat. We would spend our time playing, and keeping the sap boiling. The sap would sometimes boil over an put the fire out and sometimes would get nearly cold for the want of fire. I learned to milk very young. In fact it was the first thing I did unless it was to squall, and then my brothers had to milk. She had to be milked twice a day. Our first school house was a log building with three windows, one door, a punchion floor and an open fireplace with stick and mud chimney, The mud was dug from under the floor, which made a hole and used often to put bad schollers in by raising a plank in the floor. There were cracks between the puncheons wide enough to drop quill pes and slate pencils and etc into this hole. We were ordered to stand when we recited, read, or spelled, with our toes close to a crack in the floor to keep us in line. Sometimes the bad boys in the hole stuck the old pens through the crack and prick our bare feet. In 1829 the township with my father's help built a frame school house. The old one was so dark that father thought best to put a small window in front of each desk and to prevent one scholor jiggling his neighbors elbows when writing, a board partition was put between each desk. It was a funny looking building inside and out, and I never saw one like it. Beauty of architecture was left out. It was an improvement over the old log school house and more convienient than beautiful." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Continued in part 9.