COZAD, SAMUEL III

COZAD, SAMUEL III (4 April 1794-23 May 1870) Western Reserve pioneer that settled the Euclid Ave.-Wade Park area, was born in New Jersey, the son of Samuel Jr. and Jane McIlrath Cozad. He and his family arrived in the Western Reserve in 1806 to settle land purchased by his father at $1 an acre extending from DOAN'S CORNERS (E. 107th St.) to LAKE VIEW CEMETERY on the south side of Euclid Ave. Later his son, Samuel III, purchased 100 acres in EAST CLEVELAND Township, on the north side of Euclid, from Doans Corners eastward beyond Wade Park. His nearest neighbor was Job Doan who kept a tavern at the corner of Euclid and E. 107th St). Cozad turned the woods, undergrowth, and marsh into farmland, and built a log cabin in the area of Wade Park lagoon. He and Mary Condit were married in 1816, and they had a son Newell, born in 1830. Pioneer farming was backbreaking work, and predators roamed the area, making it necessary to guard their domesticated animals. Later in life, Newell recalled how they hunted bear near the campus of Western Reserve University. As the area grew in population, land values increased, and Cozad built a frame house on the site of SEVERANCE HALL. By 1860, his property was valued at $20,000. Cozad died at his residence in East Cleveland Township and was buried at Lake View Cemetery in 1878.


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