Part 35

David Morris was born of respectable parents, in Sirhowy, Monmouth county, on the border of Wales, July 9th, 1819. His opportunities for acquiring an education were limited, but such as they were he made the most of, and obtained sufficient knowledge of the ordinary branches to enable him to successfully carry on business in after life. When about twenty years of age he emigrated to the United States, landing in New York. October 4th, 1839, in company with his mother and the remainder of the children, his father having arrived earlier, for the purpose of seeking a location. The first stop was made in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, thence they removed for a short time to Llewellyn, and afterwards to Primrose, Schuylkill county.

In 1841, he left his parents and went to Middlebury, Summit county, Ohio. He at once commenced digging coal for Mr. Philpot, with whom he had been acquainted in Wales. After a few months he commenced driving team on the railroad, and continued in that capacity for about two years. The zeal and ability shown by the young man attracted the attention of his employer, and proved of signal assistance in pushing forward the work. So marked was the interest exhibited by Mr. Philpot in his assistant, that he favored a closer connection, and in 1843, his daughter, Dorothy Philpot, was married to David Morris. The young wife was a lady of more than ordinary good qualities, and the union proved a source of unfailing happiness, Mrs. Morris being not only an exemplary wife and mother in her home, but by her counsel and assistance materially advancing the business interests of her husband.

In 1847, Mr. Morris, in connection with W. H. Harris, contracted with Lemuel Crawford for mining the Chippewa bank by the ton. After two years, he took the management of the work for Crawford & Price, the latter having purchased an interest. He then went to Girard to work his own mines at that point. The coal being of an excellent quality, and the demand constantly increasing, these mines became a source of great wealth, engrossing large capital, and giving employment to a host of workmen. Instead of the one mine which he found, his original enterprise, his estate now comprises the Mineral Ridge mines, which have been worked about eighteen years, and have yielded about a hundred and fifty tons per day; the Girard mines, worked about the same period, and yielding two hundred tons daily; and mines at Youngstown, which have been worked eight years. The pay roll of these mines now bears about $12,000 per month, and the freight bills on the railroad average $3,000 per week. The coal is mostly brought to Cleveland, whence it is shipped to Chicago, Milwaukee, Hamilton, and Toronto, a large amount going to the latter place.

In 1856, Mr. Morris moved to Cleveland, the amount of business transacted with this city making this step prudent. Here the firm of Crawford, Price & Morris was formed, which subsequently became Price, Crawford & Morris, and finally Morris & Price. On the 15th of February, 1862, he died in the forty-third year of his age.

[Illustration: Truly Yours, David Morris]

Mr. Morris was active, industrious, and unfailing in his watchfulness over the interests in his charge, both when an employee and when an employer. His industry set a good example, which those under him were induced to follow, and in this way labors which would have wearied and discouraged men with a less energetic and industrious manager, were performed with cheerfulness. He was a man of few words but his manner and acts spoke more forcibly than words, and his men learned to obey and respect an employer, who, instead of ordering and lecturing them, quietly showed them how he wished a thing by setting about it with them. He was careful to restrain his passions, and to act from judgment instead of from impulse. In this way he was not only successful in business, and respected by his business associates, but possessed the esteem and confidence of his workmen, who, when he lay in his last illness, gathered anxiously to learn every item of intelligence that could be learned in regard to his condition.

Mr. Morris was simple and unpretending in his habits, and of a religious turn of mind. He felt his obligations to God, and during his later years, especially, was diligent in his attention on Divine worship. In the closing days of his illness, he was constantly engaged in prayer, and departed this life in the assured hope of a peaceful and joyous hereafter.

The disease that carried him off was typhoid fever, with which he was at first seized in Cleveland, where he lay at his residence for some weeks. On his partial recovery he visited Girard, where he suffered a relapse, and after a lingering illness, died at the residence of his parents. He was buried in Youngstown cemetery, the funeral exercises being attended by one of the largest assemblages of friends ever congregated at that place on a similar occasion.

It was feared that with his death the operation of his works would cease and a large number of people be thus thrown out of employment. But a short time before his death he had expressed the desire that the works should be carried on after his departure the same as before it; "because," said he, "to stop the work would do much harm to others and no good to us." Mr. Morris appointed his wife, Mrs. Dorothy Morris, and Mr. Robert McLauchlan, executors of his will, and trustees of the estate. Mr. McLauchlan, who had been for a number of years engaged with the firm previous to the death of Mr. Morris, and therefore familiar with all its business detail, had the additional qualification of being an able financier, and possessing a practical knowledge of all branches of the coal interest, and above all, a character for unimpeachable integrity. His administration has been eminently successful.

Mr. Morris left a wife and six children to mourn his loss, the eldest of whom, Mary, is now the widow of the late A. V. Cannon, and the second, William, is a member of the firm of Ward, Morris & Co., coal dealers. The third, John, is engaged at one of the estate mines, at Niles, Ohio, the rest being quite young.

W. I. Price.

W. I. Price was born in Nantiglo, South Wales, May 21st, 1823, and came to the United States with his father when about twelve years of age. His father settled at Paris, Ohio, where the subject of this sketch remained until he grew up to man's estate, when he removed to Cleveland, and was engaged as book-keeper with Messrs. Camp & Stockly. The confidence of his employers in his business ability and integrity was soon manifested by their sending him to Chicago as their agent in the coal business. His stay in that city was marked by several severe fits of sickness, and he was eventually compelled to leave that post and return to Cleveland.

Soon after his return he became interested with Lemuel Crawford, in the business of mining coal, in the early development of which branch of trade he filled a conspicuous and important part. He often related, after the coal interest had assumed large proportions, the difficulties to be surmounted in introducing coal as an article of fuel, especially on the steamboats. Frequently he has sat up all night watching for the steamers to come in, and then almost gave away coal in order to induce their officers to use it.

The firm of Crawford & Price was formed in 1850. With persistent energy it continued to push its coal business until it assumed considerable proportions, when, in 1856, Mr. David Morris became a partner, and the firm name was changed to Crawford, Price & Co., and again in 1858, to Price, Crawford & Morris. In 1857, the firm of Price, Morris & Co. was established in Chicago, and Mr. Price was, during much of his time,

## actively engaged in the extensive coal transactions of that firm.

[Illustration: Very Resp. Yours, W. I. Price]

Mr. Price was married to Miss Harriet Murray, who died in 1850, after two years of married life, leaving one child, which only survived her three months. He was married again August 27, 1856, to Miss Caroline Anderson, of Manchester, Vermont, daughter of Rev. James Anderson, of the Congregational church.

Being in ill health at the time of his second marriage, Mr. Price, with his wife, took a trip to Europe, visiting his old home in Wales, and returned with his health so much improved that he was scarcely recognized by his friends.

The year 1857 was a most trying time for business men. Mr. Price's labors were arduous in the extreme; his energy was unbounded, and the labors he was compelled to perform doubtless so over-taxed his strength that he had not sufficient vitality to recover.

In the Fall of 1858, he had the first serious apprehensions for his health. A bronchial difficulty from which he suffered, was aggravated by traveling and exposure, and in the Spring of 1859, he went to New York for advice. He was told to make another trip to Europe. This advice was followed, but he returned very little benefited. After a few weeks he started with his wife on a tour south, intending to remain there during the Winter. Reaching Charleston, S. C., about the middle of November, he remained but a short time, and then set out for the Sulphur Springs, at Aiken. Here he improved rapidly, but as the cold came on, and the accommodations were poor, it was thought advisable to go further south. At Savannah he remained a short time, and after wandering from point to point, arrived early in February at New Smyrna, where a large company of English hunters made their headquarters. Here they found better food and accommodations. After wandering through the South until about the middle of May, they returned to New York, where they were met by the partner of Mr. Price, Mr. Morris, and Mr. Price's brother Philip. The latter accompanied them to Manchester, Vermont. The mountain air of that region stopped the cough of the invalid, and from Thursday, May 17th, to Monday 21st, he was able to sit up, and was attending to business with his brother all the morning of the last named day. A friend from Brooklyn called, and with him he conversed for half an hour. On rising to bid him good bye, he was seized with hemorrhage, and asked to be assisted to bed. He never spoke more, and died in fifteen minutes. His remains were brought to Cleveland and interred in Erie street cemetery, but were afterwards removed to Woodland. The last illness of Mr. Price was borne without a murmur.

Mr. Price was modest and retiring in manner, affable in disposition, and benevolent to a fault. He was most beloved where best known. In business circles his integrity was proverbial, and his financial ability everywhere acknowledged. Few men have died so sincerely regretted by those who knew him.

James Anderson Price, the only child of the subject of this sketch, was born April 22d, 1858, and though yet very young, presents in personal appearance and disposition an exact counterpart of his father.

D. W. Cross.

In the Spring of 1855, when the coal trade of Cleveland was, comparatively, in its infancy, and before the Mahoning Railroad was built, the late Oliver H. Perry and David W. Cross set about investigating the coal deposits in the Mahoning Valley, which resulted in their making some leases of coal lands, and in purchasing a coal tract of about one hundred and fifty acres, known then as the old Heaton coal bank, of Mineral Ridge coal. In January, 1856, Perry, Cross & Co. commenced operations in earnest, opened an office and coal yard on Johnson & Tisdale's dock and mined and brought to Cleveland the first cargo of Mineral Ridge coal. It came by the way of the Pennsylvania and Ohio canal from Niles, Trumbull county, Ohio.

At that time, when a gold dollar was only worth a dollar, the coal was mined at forty cents per ton, the canal freight about one dollar and seventy-five cents per ton, "dead work," handling, dockage, &c., about seventy-five cents, making the total cost of that coal on the docks in Cleveland ready for delivery, about two dollars and ninety cents per ton.

This mine produced about a hundred tons per day. The company that year also received about eight thousand tons of Briar Hill or "block coal" from Powers' bank, about two miles below Youngstown. This coal was also brought in by canal boats.

In the year 1859, Hon. Henry B. Payne, who had an interest in the original purchase of coal lands, with a view of establishing his son, Nathan P. Payne, in business, bought the entire interest of Mr. Perry in the concern and the business was continued in the name of D. W. Cross & Co. Mr. N. P. Payne, then an active young man just from his collegiate studies, took charge of the retail trade, and Isaac Newton had charge of the books. In 1860, arrangements were made with the late Lemuel Crawford to run his Chippewa and Briar Hill mines in connection with the Mineral Ridge mines, and it resulted in forming the company known as Crawford, Cross & Co., for one year, at the expiration of which time the firm of Cross, Payne & Co., composed of D. W. Cross, Nathan P. Payne and Isaac Newton, carried on the business. This firm made extensive explorations for coal. They discovered and opened the Summit bank coal mines, near Akron, built a locomotive railroad three miles long to the canal at Middlebury, and to the Cleveland & Zanesville and Atlantic & Great Western railroads; repaired the feeder canal from Middlebury to Akron, built a basin capable of holding eight canal boats, extensive shutes, docks, &c., capable of handling four thousand five hundred tons per day. This coal tract includes between three and four hundred acres. The coal is a superior quality of the Massillon grade, about four and a half feet thick, and for steam, manufacturing and domestic uses is claimed to have no superior. The company employed at this mine from seventy-five to a hundred and fifty men; built extensive shaft works for elevating coal to the surface; erected about forty comfortable tenements for the workmen and miners, and, in short, used all their past experience to make this a model mine. It is the nearest coal bank to Cleveland now open.

They also, in connection with the late W. A. Otis, Charles A. Otis and James Lewis, leased and purchased several hundred acres of coal lands in Brookfield, Trumbull county, Ohio, and opened the extensive works known as the Otis Coal Company's bank.

A shaft on this tract was sunk to the coal eight by sixteen feet and a hundred and fifty-five feet deep, in sixty-one days by Isaac Halford, superintendent, through solid rock, said to be the quickest work ever known in the valley. This tract produces an excellent quality of the Briar Hill grade of coal; a locomotive railroad connects it with a branch of the Mahoning Railroad, and the works are capable of mining and raising three hundred tons of coal per day.

In February, 1867, Mr. Cross retired from the business, and the present firm of Payne, Newton & Co., composed of N. P. Payne, Isaac Newton and Charles J. Sheffield, now carry on the extensive business of the entire concern. They have ample facilities for mining and handling five or six hundred tons of coal per day.

After the completion of the Cleveland & Mahoning Railroad the Pennsylvania and Ohio canal was abandoned, the Railroad Company having obtained control of the stock, and fixed so high a tariff as to cut off all competition with themselves. This effectually killed the canal, except that portion between Akron and Kent. The active trade on this part of the Pennsylvania and Ohio canal will insure its preservation, and as it is an important feeder (supplying water and trade) to the Ohio canal, the State will undoubtedly take possession of it. The capital invested by this concern in the coal trade is about $250,000.

Since his retirement from the coal trade, Mr. Cross has been actively interested in the Winslow Car Roofing Company and the Cleveland Steam Gauge Company, both carrying on their manufactories in Cleveland.

Religious

Although originally settled by people from Connecticut, Cleveland was not in its early days distinguished for its religious characteristics. Old inhabitants narrate how in the infancy of the settlement the whisky shop was more frequented than the preaching meeting, whenever that was held, and how, on one occasion, a party of scoffing unbelievers bore in mock triumph an effigy of the Saviour through the streets. A regular meeting of infidels was held, and burlesque celebrations of the Lord's Supper performed. Still later, when the business of slaughtering hogs became an important branch of industry, it was carried on regularly, on Sundays as well as on week-days, and as this was a leading feature in the year's doings the religious observance of the day was seriously interfered with during slaughtering season. Trade on the river, in the busy season, went on with but little regard for the Sundays, except that Mr. John Walworth invariably refused, although not a church member, to conform to the usage of his neighbors in doing business on that day. Unlike the modern emigrants from New England, the Cleveland pioneers did not carry the church with them.

The first regularly organized religious society in Cleveland was the Episcopal, which gathered together for religious worship in 1817, under the ministration of the Rev. Roger Searles. The meetings were held wherever a room could be obtained, the court-house, old academy building, and other public rooms being frequently used for the purpose. In 1828, Trinity Church was regularly incorporated, and the frame building which stood on the corner of Seneca and St. Clair streets until its destruction by fire in 1853, is remembered with affection by many Clevelanders as "Old Trinity."

The next religions organization was Presbyterian. In 1820, a few residents of Cleveland engaged, the Rev. Randolph Stone, pastor of a church at Morgan, Ashtabula county, to devote a third of his ministrations to Cleveland. In June of that year the first Sunday school was established with Elisha Taylor as superintendent, but it was only by the most persistent effort that it was enabled to combat the prejudices and overcome the indifference of the people. In September, 1820, the First Presbyterian church was formally organized, with fourteen members, in the old log court-house. In 1827, the society was regularly incorporated, and in 1834, the old stone church on the Public Square was opened for worship. During the whole of this time the congregation had no settled pastor, but was dependent on occasional visits of ministers from other places.

The first attempt at Methodist organization was somewhere between 1824 and 1827. Methodism was not in favor among the early settlers in Cleveland. The historian of the Erie Conference relates that a Methodist friend in New England, who owned land in Cleveland, sent on a deed for the lot on the northeast corner of Ontario and Rockwell street, where Mr. Crittenden afterwards built a large stone house, which lot would have been most suitable for a church, and that no person could be found willing to pay the trifling expense of recording, or take charge of the deed, and it was returned to the donor. In 1830, Cleveland became a station, with Rev. Mr. Plimpton, pastor.

The first Baptist meeting was held in the old academy, in 1832, the Rev. Richmond Taggart preaching to a handful of believers. In 1833, the First Baptist society was formally organized with twenty-seven members, Moses White and Benjamin Rouse, who still live in the city, being of the original deacons. In 1836, their first church, on the corner of Seneca and Champlain streets, was dedicated with a sermon by the Rev. Elisha Tucker, of Buffalo, who was afterwards called to the pastorate.

About the year 1835, the first Roman Catholic church was built on Columbus street on the flats, and was intended to supply the religious needs of the Roman Catholics of Cleveland and Ohio City, being situated almost midway between the settled portions of the two places. The first pastor was the Rev. Mr. Dillon.

In 1835, the first Bethel church, for the use of sailors, was built at the back of the site of Gorton, McMillan & Co.'s warehouse. It was a plain wooden structure, which remained there until the erection of the brick church on Water Street, when the wooden building was removed to make way for the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad.

In 1839, the first Hebrew synagogue was organized and a brick church was afterwards built on Eagle street.

From these feeble beginnings have grown up the present religious organizations of Cleveland, numbering about seventy churches, many of them of great beauty and costliness, with flourishing Sunday schools and wealthy congregations. The leading denominations have each several churches graded, from stately buildings for the older and wealthier congregations to the modest mission chapels. Nearly all the religious beliefs of the day are represented by organizations in the city, and all are in a flourishing, or at least a growing condition.

Samuel C. Aiken.

The ancestors of Mr. Aiken were from the North of Ireland, particularly from Londonderry, Antrim and Belfast. At an early day one or two colonies came over to this country and settled on a tract of land on the Merrimac River, in New Hampshire, calling it Londonderry, after the name of the city from which most of them had emigrated. Fragments of these colonies were soon scattered over New England, and a few families moved to Vermont and purchased a tract of land midway between the Green Mountains and Connecticut River. The township was at first called Derry, and afterwards divided, one portion retaining the original name, and the other taking the name of Windham. In the latter town Dr. Aiken was born, September 21, 1791. His parents were both natives of Londonderry, New Hampshire. Before their marriage, his mother, whose maiden name was Clark, resided a considerable portion of her time in Boston, with a brother and three sisters, and was there when the Revolutionary war broke out. When the city fell into the hands of the British, they refused to let any one leave. By some means however Miss Clark escaped and crossed over to Cambridge, where the American army was stationed under General Washington. After questioning her as to her escape and the situation of affairs in the city, Washington told her, that, in the present condition of the country it was unsafe for her to travel unprotected, and accordingly gave her an escort, proving that the great General was also mindful of the courtesies of a gentleman.