WALWORTH, JOHN W.

WALWORTH, JOHN W. (1765-10 Sept. 1812), early settler and government official, was born in Groton, Conn., son of Samuel and Hannah (Woodbridge) Walworth. He left Connecticut in 1792 to settle near Lake Cayuga, N.Y. Spending the winter of 1799 near Painesville, Ohio, he purchased 2,000 acres of land, and settled his family there in 1800. In 1802, Gov. St. Clair appointed Walworth as justice of the peace for Trumbull County. Two years later he became postmaster of Painesville. When the CUYAHOGA RIVER was made a port of entry into the U.S. in 1805, Pres. Jefferson appointed Walworth the inspector of revenue (collector of the District of Erie)so Walworth resettled in Cleveland in 1806. He received 2 other appointments in 1806, as Cleveland postmaster and associate judge of Geauga County. When Cuyahoga County was organized in 1810, he became county clerk and recorder, as well as clerk of the Supreme Court of Ohio. Walworth was a farmer, having exchanged his Painesville land for 300 acres in Cleveland. Walworth was a founder of the first Masonic Lodge in northern Ohio, established in Warren in 1803. He was also a member of the Board of Commissioners for the Improvement of the Cuyahoga & Tuscarawas Rivers, a project conceived to provide an improved connection between Lake Erie and the Ohio River. Walworth married Julianna Morgan on 22 Mar. 1789. She was one of 3 women who refused to leave Cleveland when war broke out in 1812. She chose to remain with her husband, who was dying of tuberculosis. They had 6 children: Ashbel, Juliana, John P., Horace, Hannah, and John A. Walworth died in Cleveland and was buried in WOODLAND CEMETERY.