ADDISON, HIRAM M. (21 Nov. 1818-14 Jan. 1898), was an early Cleveland settler, educator, and reformer. He was born to the pioneer Western Reserve family of William and Hannah Addison in EUCLID, educated in local schools, and began teaching in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania where he achieved a considerable reputation as an educator. He married Anna McCaslin (13 Nov. 1825 - 1 Aug. 1901), one of his pupils, in Pennsylvania in 1844 and moved first to Warrensville, settling in Cleveland in 1856. Addison ventured into journalism, writing for the Ohio Farmer in the 1850s. He founded, edited, or was associated with several ill-fated newspapers before the CIVIL WAR, including the American Advertiser, the Temperance Banner, the Harpoon (a temperance paper), and the Cleveland Commercial. Addison was interested in various social causes, particularly ABOLITIONISM and the plight of poor urban children to the extent that he was known as "Father Addison." In 1874 he began his summer Fresh Air Camp in Warrensville Twp. for indigent city children, hoping to influence them through exposure to nature and organized recreation to strive for higher goals than their backgrounds presumably allowed, an idea that was prodigiously copied and continues as a part of urban social work today. In 1879, Addison founded the EARLY SETTLERS ASSOC. OF THE WESTERN RESERVE. He also originated the idea for erecting a log cabin on PUBLIC SQUARE that became a focal point of the city's centennial festivities. Addison and his wife had six children; Flora, Mary Jane, Minerva, Frances Eliza, Jesse Hanna, and Clarence Harmar. Hiram Addison died in 1898 and was buried in WOODLAND CEMETERY.
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