Category: Exploration and Early Settlement

ASTOR HOUSE

The ASTOR HOUSE was for many years considered to be Cleveland's oldest structure. Although its authenticity was never established, the hand-cut, chestnut-timbered Astor House was generally believed to have been built in the 1780s as a trading post by the Northwestern Fur Co., a venture associated with John Jacob Astor. The Astor House as it appeared in the early 1900s. WRHS.

BALDWIN, SAMUEL S.

BALDWIN, SAMUEL S. (ca. 1776-12 July 1822), was an early Cleveland and Cuyahoga County public official. Born in Ridgefield, Conn., to Samuel and Hannah (Northrup) Baldwin, he moved to a farm in NEWBURGH in 1808 and dabbled in real estate with LEONARD CASE. Baldwin's short public career revolved around politics.

BENEDICT, DANIEL

BENEDICT, DANIEL (20 Mar. 1776-16 Nov. 1840) was a pioneer settler and the first permanent resident of BEDFORD. At the time the Township was organized in 1823, it was Benedict who proposed the name Bedford in honor of his home town.

BLACK HAWK

BLACK HAWK (1767-3 Oct. 1838) was an American Indian chief of the Sauk, and leader of the Black Hawk War against the U.S. in 1832. Born in a Sauk village on Rock River, Ill., near the present day city of Rock Island, Ill., he came to Cleveland in 1833 to visit his mother's grave on the CUYAHOGA RIVER.

BRADSTREET'S DISASTER

BRADSTREET'S DISASTER, which occurred 1.7 miles west of Rocky River on October 18 and 19, 1764, is one of the most notable events in the presettlement history of Cleveland. In late summer 1764, British Colonel John Bradstreet, renowned as the hero of Fort Frontenac, proceeded from Fort Niagara to Fort Detroit with 2,300 British regulars, American provincials, and Indians.

CARTER, LORENZO

CARTER, LORENZO (1767-7 Feb. 1814), frontiersman, community leader, and tavernkeeper, was Cleveland's first permanent settler, arriving in Cleveland on 2 May 1797 with his brother-in-law, Ezekiel Hawley (Holley, Holly), and their families. Lorenzo was born in Rutland, Vt., and on 28 Jan. 1789 married Rebecca Fuller. Until Apr.

CITY PLANNING

CITY PLANNING. Like most American cities, Cleveland began as a speculative venture in real estate. Conceived as the capital of New Connecticut, the city was laid out in 1796 by surveyors with the original Moses Cleaveland expedition. The plat, a faithful reproduction of a New England town, with its characteristic commons, failed to treat either river or lakefront as a public amenity.

CLEAVELAND, MOSES

CLEAVELAND, MOSES (29 Jan. 1754-16 Nov. 1806), founder of the city of Cleveland, was born in Canterbury, Conn. In 1777, Cleaveland began service in the Revolutionary War in a Connecticut Continental Regiment, and graduated from Yale. Resigning his commission in 1781, he practiced law in Canterbury, and on 2 Mar. 1794 married Esther Champion and had four children.

CLEVELAND HALL OF FAME

The CLEVELAND HALL OF FAME consists of deceased individuals from the Greater Cleveland area who received national or international acclaim.

COATES, WILLIAM R.
CONNECTICUT LAND CO.

The CONNECTICUT LAND CO. (1795-1809) was an investment group that obtained title from the State of Connecticut to a major portion of the WESTERN RESERVE lands for resale to settlers. On 3 Aug.

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.

CROGHAN, GEORGE

CROGHAN, GEORGE (1720-31 Aug. 1782) was a frontiersman, trader, and Indian agent who was born in Ireland and came to Pennsylvania in 1741. He served as a captain under Gen. Braddock, and later as Sir Wm. Johnson's deputy superintendent of Indian affairs.

CUYAHOGA COUNTY GOVERNMENT

CUYAHOGA COUNTY GOVERNMENT. On 16 July 1810, the General Assembly of Ohio approved an act calling for the organization of the county of Cuyahoga. The state constitution had established that the general assembly would provide, by general law, for the government of all Ohio counties according to the same organization.

DE LERY, JOSEPH GASPARD CHAUSSEGROS

DE LERY, JOSEPH GASPARD CHAUSSEGROS (21 July 1721-11 Dec. 1797), a French lieutenant, described in his private journal the earliest recorded account of the complete transit of the south shore of Lake Erie. In it he noted the first recorded encampment at the CUYAHOGA RIVER, on 2 Aug.

DOAN, NATHANIEL

DOAN, NATHANIEL (1 June 1762-29 Nov. 1815), was a blacksmith and in charge of the cows, oxen, and horses of the 1797 second surveying expedition of the Connecticut Land Co. Doan, son of Seth and Mercy (Parker) Doan, was born in Middle Haddam, Conn., where, on 29 Nov. 1785, he married Sarah Adams (d. 4 Mar. 1853). Along with JAS.

DOCKSTADTER, NICHOLAS

DOCKSTADTER, NICHOLAS (4 Jan. 1802-9 Nov. 1871), pioneer, merchant, banker, and mayor of Cleveland from 1840-41, was born in Albany, N.Y., to Jacob and Angelica (Hanson) Dockstadter. Educated locally, he came to Cleveland in 1826 with 2 of his brothers, Richard and Butler. Once in Cleveland, Dockstadter embarked on an independent dealership in hats, caps, and furs, which he received in trade with local Indians.

DU SHATTAR, JOSEPH

DU SHATTAR, JOSEPH an early fur trader who established a trading post on the CUYAHOGA RIVER ca. 1790. According to Charles Whittlesey, the youthful Du Shattar worked for the North-West Fur Company along Lake Erie.

DUGWAY BROOK
DUNHAM TAVERN

The DUNHAM TAVERN, one of Cleveland's oldest buildings and a representative Colonial farmhouse of pioneer days, is still standing in its original location at 6709 Euclid Ave. Believed to be the first building constructed on Euclid east of E. 55th St., the tavern was originally the home of Rufus and Jane Pratt Dunham, a young couple who came to Cleveland between 1819-23 from Mansfield, MA.

EARLY SETTLERS ASSN. OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

The EARLY SETTLERS ASSOCIATION OF THE WESTERN RESERVE is a voluntary organization of people who are interested in studying, preserving and commemorating the history of the Connecticut WESTERN RESERVE and early Cleveland.

ELLICOTT LINE

The ELLICOTT LINE, the western border of Pennsylvania and its border with Ohio, is a famous demarcation between older colonial land grants and the newer land allotments following the Revolution.

ERIE INDIANS

The ERIE INDIANS, or the CAT NATION, were first noted in 1624 when the Huron told Fr. Gabriel Sagard about Eriehronon, or Eriquehronon, living across the lake. Sagard's 1639 Huron Dictionary translated this term as "Cat People," possibly referring to raccoons rather than any feline animal.

EXPLORATIONS

EXPLORATIONS. The map Amerique Septentrionale, published by Nicholas Sanson in 1650, not only was the first to adequately show Lake Erie but also charted the southern shore with an accuracy unmatched for more than a century. Earlier French maps, from 1612-42, not only were vague and inaccurate but also were admittedly based on reports from Indians living farther north or east.

FIRST MAP OF CLEVELAND

THE FIRST MAP OF CLEVELAND or “The Spafford Map,” is a manuscript map created on the townsite being surveyed by MOSES CLEAVELAND’s party in September of 1796.