Cleveland Past and Present: Its Representative Men Part 4

Mr. Johnson's success as a ship-builder encouraged him to persevere in that business. In the autumn of 1815, he laid down the lines of the schooner Neptune, sixty-five tons burden, not far below the neighborhood of the Central market. In the following Spring she was launched, and run on Lake Erie, her first trip being to Buffalo, whence she returned with a cargo of merchandise for Jonathan Williamson, of Detroit. In the Fall of that year a half interest in the Neptune was sold to Richard H. Blinn, Seth Doan, and Dr. Long. In 1817, she made a trip to Mackinac, for the American Fur Company, and remained in that trade until the Fall of 1819.

In the Summer of 1818, Major Edwards, Paymaster Smith, and another army officer came to Mackinac on the Tiger, and engaged Mr. Johnson to take them to Green Bay, agreeing to pay him three hundred dollars for the trip.

The same vessel, under Johnson's command, took the first load of troops from Green Bay to Chicago, after the ma.s.sacre, Major Whistler engaging the ship for the purpose.

In 1824, Johnson left the Neptune, and in company with Turhooven & Brothers, built the steamer Enterprise, about two hundred and twenty tons burden. This was the first steam vessel built in Cleveland, and her hull was made near the site of the Winslow warehouse. The engine, of sixty to seventy horse power, was brought from Pittsburgh. Johnson ran her between Buffalo and Detroit until 1828, when hard times coming on and business threatening to be unprofitable, he sold his interest in her, and left the lakes. In company with Goodman and Wilkeson, he built the Commodore, on the Chagrin river, in the year 1830, and that closed his ship-building career.

By this time he had acc.u.mulated about thirty thousand dollars, a respectable fortune in those days, with which he invested largely in real estate, and waited the course of events to make his investments profitable.

In 1831, he contracted with the Government officers to build the light-house on Water street. In 1836, he built a light-house at Sandusky.

In the following year he constructed seven hundred feet of the stone pier on the east side of the Cuyahoga river mouth. The first thing done in the latter work was the driving of spiles. Mr. Johnson became dissatisfied with the old system of driving spiles by horse-power, and purchased a steam engine for four hundred dollars. Making a large wooden wheel he rigged it after the style of the present spile-drivers, and in the course of two or three weeks, had the satisfaction of seeing the spiles driven with greatly increased speed and effect by steam-power.

About 1839, he took his new spile-driver to Maumee Bay and drove about nine hundred feet of spiling around Turtle Island, filling the enclosed s.p.a.ce with earth to the height of three feet, to protect the light-house.

In 1840, he built the Saginaw light-house, sixty-five feet high, with the adjoining dwelling. In 1842-3, he built the light-house on the Western Sister Island, at the west end of Lake Erie. In 1847, he completed his light-house work by building the Portage River light-house.

Besides his light-house building, Mr. Johnson erected in 1842 his stone residence on Water street, and in 1845, the Johnson House hotel on Superior street. The stone for the former was brought from Kingston, Canada West. In 1853, he built the Johnson Block, on Bank street, and in 1858, he put up the Marine Block at the mouth of the river. This completed his active work.

Since 1858, Mr. Johnson's sole occupation has been the care of his property and occasional speculations in real estate. By a long life of activity and prudence, and by the steady rise in real estate, he is now possessed of personal and landed property to the value of about six hundred thousand dollars, having come to the city with no other capital than his kit of tools, a strong arm, and an energetic purpose. Though eighty-three years of age, his health is good, his memory remarkably active, and all his faculties unimpaired. He has two sons and one daughter yet living, having lost two children. He has had nine grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

n.o.ble H. Merwin.

In cla.s.sifying the early commercial men of Cleveland, the name of n.o.ble H.

Merwin is justly ent.i.tled to stand among the first on the list. In fact he was the founder and father of her commerce, and a man not only n.o.ble in name, but n.o.ble in character.

He was born in New Milford, Ct., in 1782, received a good common school education, and married Minerva Buckingham, of that town. Soon after the war of 1812, he went to Georgia and there engaged in mercantile pursuits, having established a store at Savannah and also at Milledgeville. He came to Cleveland in 1815. His family rejoined him at Cleveland in February, 1816. In coming from Georgia they crossed the Alleghanies, and were six weeks in accomplishing the journey, having traveled all the way in wagons.

The two elder children were born at New Milford, the other four at Cleveland. The oldest son, George B. Merwin, of Rockport, is now the only surviving member of the family.

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 acc.u.mulating 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 pa.s.sing 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 Ca.n.a.l 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 ca.n.a.l 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 ca.n.a.l, 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 ca.n.a.l, 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 Ca.n.a.l 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 circ.u.mstances, 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 pa.s.s 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 pa.s.sing 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.