Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/122

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��HISTORY OF OHIO.

��by all an important Western place, and one des- tined to be a great commercial mart. Time has verified the prophecies, as now the city of Cleve- land covers the site.

As early as 1755, the mouth of the Cuyahoga River was laid down on the maps, and the French had a station here. It was also considered an im- portant post during the war of the Revolution, and later, of 1812. The British, who, after the Revolution, refused to abandon the lake country west of the Cuyahoga, occupied its shores until 1790. Their traders had a house in Ohio City, north of the Detroit road, on the point of the hill near the river, when the surveyors arrived in 1796. Washington, Jefferson, and all statesmen of that day, regarded the outlet of the Cuyahoga as an important place, and hence the early at- tempt of the surveyors to reach and lay out a town here.

The corps of surveyors arrived early in Septem- ber, 1796, and at once proceeded to lay out a town. It was named Cleveland, in honor of Gen. Moses Cleveland, the Land Company's agent, and for years a very prominent man in Connecticut, where he lived and died. By the 18th of October, the surveyors had completed the survey and left the place, leaving only Job V. Stiles and family, and Edward Paine, who were the only persons that passed the succeeding winter in this place. Their residence was a log cabin that stood on a spot of ground long afterward occupied by the Commercial Bank. Their nearest neighbors were at Conne- aut, where Judge Kingsbury lived; at Fort Mcintosh, on the south or east, at the mouth of Big Beaver, and at the mouth of the river Raisin, on the west.

The next seasoij, the surveying party came again to Cleveland, which they made their headquarters. Pearly in the spring, Judge Kingsbury came over from Conneaut, bringing with him Elijah Gunn, who had a short time before joined him. Soon after, Maj. Lorenzo Carter and Ezekiel Hawley came with their families. These were about all who are known to have settled in this place that summer. The next year, 1798, Rodolphus Ed- wards and Nathaniel Doane and their families set- tled in Cleveland. Mr. Doane had been ninety- two days on his journey from Chatham, Conn. In the latter part of the summer and fall, nearly every person in the settlement was down with the bil- ious fever or with the ague. Mr. Doane's family consisted of nine persons, of whom Seth, a lad six- teen years of age, was the only one able to care for

��them. Such was the severity of the fever, that any one having only the ague was deemed quite fortunate. Much suffering for proper food and medicines followed. The only way the Doane family was supplied for two months or more, was through the exertions of this boy, who went daily, after having had one attack of the chills, to Judge Kingsbury's in Newburg — five miles away, where the Judge now lived — got a peck of corn, mashed it in a hand-mill, waited until a second attack of the chills passed over, and then returned. At one time, for several days, he was too ill to make the trip, during which turnips comprised the chief article of diet. Fortunately, Maj. Carter, having only the ague, was enabled with his trusty rifle and dogs to procure an abundance of venison and other wild game, His family, being somewhat acclimated, suffered less than many others. Their situation can hardly now be realized. " Destitute of a physician, and with few medicines, necessity taught them to use such means as nature had placed within their reach. They substituted pills from the extract of the bitternut bark for calomel, and dogwood and cherry bark for quinine."

In November, four men, who had so far recov- ered as to have ague attacks no oftener than once in two or three days, started in the only boat for Walnut Creek, Penn., to obtain a winter's supply of flour. When below Euclid Creek, a storm drove them ashore, broke their boat, and compelled their return. During the winter and summer fol- lowing, the settlers had no flour, except that ground in hand and coffee mills, which was, how- ever, considered very good. Not all had even that. During the summer, the Connecticut Land Com- pany opened the first road on the Reserve, which commenced about ten miles south of the lake shore, on the Pennsylvania State line, and extended to Cleveland. In January, 1799, Mr. Doane moved to Doane's Corners, leaving only Maj. Car- ter's family in Cleveland, all the rest leaving as soon as they were well enough. For fifteen months, the Major and his family were the only white per- sons left on the town site. During the spring, Wheeler W. Williams and Maj. Wyatt built the first grist-mill on the Reserve, on the site of New- burg. It was looked upon as a very valuable acces- sion to the neighborhood. Prior to this, each fam- ily had its own hand-mill in one of the corners of the cabin. The old mill is thus described by a pioneer :

" The stones were of the common grindstone grit, about four inches thick, and twenty in diame-

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