Part 18

Mr. Peck now carried on his ship yard alone, and his first work was the filling of a contract to build two steam Revenue cutters for service on the lakes. The John Sherman, of 500 tons, and the A. P. Fessenden, of the same size, were turned out, and no better work could possibly be found. The Government officers promptly accepted the vessels and declared them more than up to the requirements of the contract. They were pronounced models of beauty, strength, and speed.

The cutters were followed by the schooner Oak Leaf, 390 tons; propellers Messenger, 400 tons, and Nebraska, 1,300 tons, the latter, one of the finest steamers put on the lakes; schooner David Stewart, 675 tons; propellers Manistee, 400 tons, and City of Concord, 400 tons. Two other propellers, one of 1,000 tons, and one of about 300 tons, were added in the season of 1869.

It will be seen that nearly all the vessels, whether sail or steam, built by Mr. Peck, were of the first class, being mainly barques and large propellers. They will be recognized by those familiar with lake commerce, as models in size, beauty, and strength, whilst several have made unusually quick trips.

Mr. Peck has enjoyed an unusual measure of success. The work of his hands has prospered, and he has earned his reward, not only in reputation but in substantial prosperity. He has aimed not only to equal the best work done by others, but studied how to improve on his own work. The result has been a constant improvement in the style and quality of his vessels, so that excellent as the last new hull may have been, it was almost sure to be excelled by the next one that left the stocks. And whilst thus giving close attention to the mechanical details of his business, he was skillful in managing the financial part of it so as to secure the rewards honestly won by industry and skill. He always kept his affairs in such order that no serious financial difficulty ever troubled him.

Nor was he an avaricious, though a prudent man. A working man himself, he was in thorough sympathy with his workmen, and in the slack season, instead of discharging his men and thus entailing want upon them, he built vessels on speculation, merely that he might keep the men busy and their families from suffering. Providentially these speculations were always successful, thus illustrating the proverb, that "there is he that scattereth, and yet increaseth."

Mr. Peck took an active part in the formation of the People's Gas Light Company, and is now president of that organization. He is also a director of the Savings Loan Association.

John Martin.

John Martin, of the firm of Quayle & Martin, was born in the county of Antrim, Ireland, December 15th, 1824, of poor parents, with whom he came to Canada when but nine years of age. At the age of fourteen he commenced working in a ship yard in Montreal, by turning grindstone. He soon attracted the attention of the proprietor by his using handily the tools of the workmen while they were at dinner, and he was furnished tools and set to work at the trade. He continued in this employ for about two years, and during the time, with a view to fitting himself for the business of life, he attended school in the evenings. He then worked his passage to French Creek, New York, having at the time of leaving only a dollar and a half in money. At French Creek he engaged with G. S. Weeks, one of the best ship builders on the lakes, and remained with him at French Creek two years, when Mr. Weeks moved to Oswego, Mr. Martin accompanying him to that place, and continuing in his employ two years longer. Mr. Martin then went to Detroit, where he worked a year on the steamboat Wisconsin.

In 1843, he came to Cleveland and commenced work for G. W. Jones, on the steamboat Empire. This work finished, he commenced sub-contracting, wrecking, planking, and jobbing generally, until 1846, when he went into the employ of another firm, with whom he worked two years.

At the end of that time his employers were owing him more than they could pay, so, to square the matter, he bought an interest in their business. But this did not mend the matter, as it proved to be an interest in their debts, more than in their business, they being deeply involved. The firm owned the brig Courtland, and one of the members had sailed her for some time at a great loss. Young Martin took his place and proved himself master of the situation, by reducing the liabilities of the firm to about $2,500. That done he sold the vessel, dissolved partnership, and commenced planking and general jobbing again. After a time he built a vessel for Moses & Quayle. He found frequent employment in wrecking jobs, being very successful at such work.

[Illustration: Yours truly, John Martin]

The three years thus occupied gave him a start in life. He cleared off the indebtedness of the old firm and had $3,000 ahead. He then took the contract for building the brig John G. Deshler, for Handy, Warren & Co. This was a very successful contract, and gave Mr. Martin a handsome lift, and enabled him to take an interest with Mr. Quayle, under the firm name of Quayle & Martin, a brief mention of its operations being made in the sketch of Mr. Quayle's life.

In 1858, Mr. Martin loaded the John G. Deshler and D. C. Pierce with staves and made a successful trip to England, and on the return brought one of the spans for the Victoria bridge at Montreal. In 1859, he took over two more cargoes in the same vessels, selling one in Cork, and the other in Glasgow. Nor was this the only connection of the firm with the direct lake and ocean trade. They have built vessels for Liverpool parties, for ocean service, and also two vessels for New York parties for the same purpose. Six of these vessels have also been sold out of the lake service for ocean navigation, and have been used on the ocean for five or six years with great success. The John G. Deshler, which had been transferred to the ocean, as previously mentioned, was sunk by the rebels at the outbreak of the war, and was a total loss to the firm. The latest work of the firm is a fine vessel for A. Bradley, that will carry a thousand tons of iron ore.

Mr. Martin has proved himself admirably adapted to the line of business it was his fortune to learn, and this, of course, together with close attention to business, furnishes the clue to his success. He is emphatically a self-made man, and can therefore appreciate the handsome competence that has crowned his labors so early in life, he being now but 45 years of age.

During the war Mr. Martin was actively and earnestly on the side of the Government. He was never idle, and always ready to furnish his share, and far more than his share, to the work of suppressing the rebellion. He furnished three substitutes for the army, and was active in promoting volunteering.

Mr. Martin was married to Miss Mary Picket, of Devonshire, England, whose father and grandfather were both Episcopal clergymen. Three children were born of this marriage; a son, who is now book-keeper for the firm, and two daughters.

Mr. Martin has enjoyed the confidence of his neighbors to so high a degree, that he has represented the Ninth Ward in the City Council for six successive years.

The Bench and Bar

The leading points in the history of legal affairs in Cleveland have already been noticed with sufficient fullness in the sketch of the history of Cleveland, especially so far as relates more immediately to the earlier portion of that history. The following biographical sketches give a good general idea of the progress of affairs in relation to the Bench and Bar of the city within the active life of the present generation. It is therefore unnecessary at this place to detail more than a few incidental facts.

The township of Cleveland, of the county of Trumbull, was organized in 1800. The first justice of the Quorum, for the new township, was James Kingsbury, and the first Justice, not of the Quorum, was Amos Spafford. The first constables were Stephen Gilbert and Lorenzo Carter.

In 1810, the county of Cuyahoga was organized and Cleveland made the county seat. The court-house, of logs, was two years afterwards built on the Public Square, as narrated in previuos portions of this work. The county was organized on the 9th May, and on 5th of June a County Court was held with the following officers:

_Presiding Judge_.--Benjamin Ruggles _Associate Judges_.--Nathan Perry, Sen., Augustus Gilbert, Timothy Doan. _Clerk_.--John Walworth. _Sheriff_.--Smith S. Baldwin.

The first lawyer in Cleveland, under the county organization, arrived here the same year and put out his shingle with the name of "Alfred Kelley" inscribed thereon. Previous to this the law business had all been done by Samuel Huntington, who arrived in 1801. At the time of the organization of the court, the court-house had not been built, and the first session was held in Murray's store, which had just been built. The first business was the finding of a bill by the grand jury for petit larceny, and several for the offence of selling whisky to Indians, and selling foreign goods without license.

The first execution was that of the Indian Omic, which took place June 24th, 1812, as previously narrated.

In March, 1836, Cleveland was incorporated as a city, and henceforth to the ordinary courts of the county was added a city court for cognizance of offences against the ordinances.

In the year 1848, a Superior Court was organized, with Sherlock J. Andrew as judge, and G. A. Benedict as clerk. This court existed but a short time, when it expired by reason of the adoption of the new constitution of the State, which made no provision for its continuance.

In 1855, Cleveland was selected as the seat of a District and Circuit Court of the United States.

As a matter of curiosity, the following list of Attorneys and Counsellors in Cleveland, in 1837, is taken from McCabe's Cleveland and Ohio City Directory, those not practising at that time being marked with an asterisk: Joseph Adams, John W. Allen, Sherlock J. Andrews, Oliver P. Baldwin, John Barr, Phillip Battell, George A. Benedict, Henry W. Billings, Elijah Bingham,* Flavius Bingham, Thomas Bolton, James A. Briggs, Varnum J. Card, Leonard Case,* Richard M. Chapman, Alexander L. Collins, James L. Conger, Samuel Cowles,* Henry H. Dodge, John Erwin, Simeon Ford, John A. Foot, James K. Hitchcock, George Hoadly, James M. Hoyt, Seth T. Hurd, Moses Kelley, George T. Kingsley, William B. Lloyd, George W. Lynde, Samuel Mather, Daniel Parish, Henry B. Payne, Francis Randal, Harvey Rice, O. S. St. John, Wyllys Silliman, George W. Stanley, Samuel Starkweather, John M. Sterling,* Charles Stetson, Charles Whittlesey, Frederick Whittlesey,* John W. Willey,* Samuel Williamson, Hiram V. Wilson.

[Illustration: Alfred Kelley]

Alfred Kelley.

Alfred Kelley was born at Middletown, Conn., Nov. 7th, 1789. He was the second son of Daniel and Jemima Kelley. His mother's maiden name was Stow. She was a sister of Judge Joshua Stow, and also of Judge Silas Stow of Lowville, N. Y. The latter was the father of Judge Horatio Stow, of Buffalo, N. Y., and of Alexander Stow, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, both of whom were men of great talents and distinction. In the winter of 1798, Alfred Kelley removed with his father's family to Lowville, N. Y. His father was President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Lewis county, N. Y., was one of the founders of Lowville Academy and President of its Board of Trustees.

Alfred Kelley was educated at Fairfield Academy, N. Y. He read law at Whitesboro, N. Y., three years, in the office of Jonas Platt, a judge of the Supreme Court of that State.

In the Spring of 1810, in company with Joshua Stow, Dr. J. P. Kirtland, and others, he removed to Cleveland,--traveling on horseback. At the November term 1810, on motion of Peter Hitchcock, Alfred Kelley was admitted as an attorney of the Court of Common Pleas for Cuyahoga county. On the same day, being his 21st birth day, he was appointed Public Prosecutor as the successor of Peter Hitchcock, late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio. Mr. Kelley continued Prosecutor till 1821, when he resigned. In October 1814, he was elected from Cuyahoga county a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, being barely old enough under the Constitution when the Legislature met to take his seat in that body and being the youngest member. Chillicothe was then the temporary State capital.

On the 25th of August, 1817. Alfred Kelley was married to Mary S. Welles, oldest daughter of Major Melancthon Wolsey Welles, of Lowville, N. Y. They had eleven children of whom six are now living.

He continued, with intervals, a member of the Ohio Legislature from Cuyahoga county, from 1814 until 1822, when he was appointed, with others, State Canal Commissioner, by an act of the General Assembly, empowering the Commissioners to make examinations, surveys and estimates, to ascertain the practicability of connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River, by canal.

The Ohio Canal is a monument to the enterprise, energy, integrity and sagacity of Alfred Kelley. He was acting Commissioner during its construction and the onerous and responsible service was performed with such fidelity and economy that the _actual cost did not exceed the estimate!_ The dimensions of the Ohio Canal were the same as those of the Erie Canal of N. Y., but the number of locks was nearly double. The Erie Canal was 363 miles in length, its total cost was $7,143,789, and cost per mile $19,679. The Ohio Canal is 307 miles in length, its total cost was $4,695,824, and cost per mile $15,300, being less than that of any other canal constructed on this continent. The Ohio Canal was finished about 1830. The labor in the then facilities for conducting important public enterprises was Herculean, but Mr. Kelley's indomitable will, and iron constitution and physique triumphed over all difficulties. Mr. Kelley neither charged nor received any pay for his first year's services in superintending the preliminary explorations and surveys for the Ohio Canal. The pay of the Acting Canal Commissioner was $3,00 [sic] per day. When the work was done he resigned as Canal Commissioner, and retired from public service to attend to his private affairs, and recuperate his shattered constitution and health. In the Fall of 1830, he became a resident of Columbus. In October, 1836, he was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives from Franklin county, and was re-elected to the same office in the next two Legislatures. He was Chairman of the Ohio Whig State Central Committee in 1840, a year distinguished for a great political revolution and the election of Wm. H. Harrison to the Presidency, and was one of the most active and influential managers of that campaign.

Mr. Kelley was appointed State Fund Commissioner in 1840, a period of great financial embarrassment and distress. In 1841 and '42, a formidable party arose in the Legislature and in the State, which advocated the non-payment of the maturing interest upon the State debt, and the repudiation of the debt itself. This was a time which indeed tried the souls of men. Mr. Kelley went to New York, and such was the confidence reposed in his integrity and practical ability--notwithstanding the underhanded and atrocious means employed by the repudiators, to defeat his object--that he was enabled to raise in that city (where no one could be found willing to loan money to the sovereign State of Ohio) nearly a quarter of a million of dollars on his own personal security, and thus by his generous efforts, and by his alone, the interest was paid at maturity, and the State of Ohio was saved from repudiation. At the time that Mr. Kelley thus volunteered himself as security for the State, (an act which was done contrary to the advice of his friends,) such was the unenlightened state of public opinion, such the moral obtuseness of some, nay, many men in power, that the chances were a hundred to one that no effective measure would be adopted to save the public credit--none to indemnify him.

In 1844, he was elected to the State Senate from the Franklin district. It was during this term that he originated the bill to organize the State Bank of Ohio, and other banking companies, which by general consent among bankers and financiers, was the best of American banking laws. His banking System was successfully in operation during the whole twenty years of its charter. Many of the most valuable provisions of the present National banking law were taken from Mr. Kelley's bill to "organize the State Bank of Ohio." Many of the provisions of this law were original and novel, and evinced deep thought and a profound knowledge of this department of political science. For several years, and during some of the most trying periods in the financial history of Ohio, and of the country, Mr. Kelley was a member of the Board of Control of the State Bank of Ohio; and part of the time was President of the Board. It was also during this Senatorial term that Mr. Kelley originated the present Revenue System of the State. The main principles of this Revenue or Tax law were subsequently incorporated in the new Constitution of Ohio.

While Mr. Kelley was a member of the Legislature few valuable general laws can be found in the Statute books which did not originate with him, and most of the measures requiring laborious investigation and profound thought were entrusted to him. He was the author, in 1818, of the first Legislative bill--either in this country or in Europe--to abolish imprisonment for debt.

It then failed to become a law. In a letter to a friend, dated Jan. 16th, 1819, Mr. Kelley said: "The House has to-day disagreed by a small majority, to my favorite bill to abolish imprisonment for debt. I was not disappointed, although at first, a large majority seemed in favor of it. The time will come when the absurdity as well as inhumanity of adding oppression to misfortune will be acknowledged; and if I should live to see that day I shall exult in the consciousness of having early combatted one of the worst prejudices of the age." In 1831, the Legislature of New York passed the first law abolishing imprisonment for debt.

At the end of this Senatorial term he was elected President of the Columbus & Xenia Railroad Company, and was actively engaged upon all the duties of that enterprise until it was finished; soon after which he resigned. While this road was in progress, upon the urgent solicitation of the active promoters of the C., C. & C. R. R., Mr. Kelley accepted the Presidency of that Company, and began the work with his usual order and ability.

His zeal and labors upon this enterprise were only surpassed in his work upon the Ohio Canal. He solicited subscriptions to the capital stock; located much of the route; procured rights of way; attended in person to the purchase of materials; the procuring of money, and the details of the construction of the road, and continued the ever working president of the road until he resigned, a short time after its completion. With his own hands he dug the first shovel of earth, and laid the last rail upon this road. It is but just to say, that the citizens of Cleveland and the people of Ohio are more indebted to Alfred Kelley than to any other man for the C., C. & C. R. R. He was still acting president of the C. & X. and the C., C. & C. Companies, when he was chosen, in 1850, president of the C., P. & A., or Lake Shore R. R. Company. He was actively engaged upon this road in the performance of duties similar to those done upon the C., C. & C. road until its completion in 1853, when he resigned. It was while he was president of this road that the famous riots occurred at Erie and Harbor Creek, Pa., in opposition to the construction of the road through Pennsylvania. The success of the company in this formidable contest was largely due to the sagacity, forbearance and indomitable will of Alfred Kelley. When he took charge of these railroads, such enterprises at the West had but little credit at the East. The roads constructed by him have paid regular dividends from the time of their completion. He continued until his death an active director in these companies.

In October, 1857, he was again elected to the State Senate from Columbus, being then 64 years of age, and the oldest member of the Legislature. This was his last appearance in public life. During the last year of this service his health was declining. Although so much debilitated that prudence required confinement to his house, if not to his bed, yet such was his fidelity to his trust, that he went daily to the Senate and carried through the Legislature several important measures to ascertain the true condition of the State Treasury, and to secure the public funds from further depredations.

At the end of this term he retired from public life hoping to regain his health; but his constitution was too much broken to admit of re-establishment. He did not appear to be affected with any specific disease, but seemed gradually wasting away from an over-taxed mind and body. His oft quoted maxim was, "It is better to wear out than to rust out." He was only confined to his room a few days previous to his death, and on Friday, the 2d day of December, 1863, his pure spirit left its earthly tenement so gently that the friends who surrounded him could scarcely determine when it ascended. Mr. Kelley was twenty-four years in the service of the people of Ohio, in the Legislature, and as Canal Commissioner, and Fund Commissioner. His history would be almost a complete financial and political history of Ohio. He gave a greater impulse to the physical development of Ohio, and left upon its statute books higher proofs of wisdom and forecast than any who had preceded him. Indeed, few persons have ever lived who, merely by personal exertions, have left behind them more numerous and lasting monuments of patient and useful labor.

Note.--For much of this sketch we are indebted to an unpublished "Memoir of Alfred Kelley," by the late Judge Gustavus Swan, of Columbus.

Leonard Case