The name of Andrew Freese will always hold a place of honor in the scholastic records of Cleveland. No educator in the city is held in such affectionate esteem by a large class of former pupils, and none better deserves the grateful tributes paid to his abilities as a teacher and his worth as a citizen.
Mr. Freese was born in Levant, Penobscot county, Maine, on November 1st, 1816. His father was a farmer, but Andrew was of such slender frame and weak constitution that he was completely unfitted for farming life. His father destined him to be a printer, and took him to the nearest printing office to show him how types were set and newspapers printed. The boy was not favorably impressed with what he saw, and begged to be allowed to enter college. This was considered out of the question, his father being too poor to provide the necessary funds. But the boy's heart was set upon it, and he thought that by teaching school for a time he could obtain money enough to complete his own education. This idea he carried into execution, and had no sooner entered on the business of teaching than he realized that he had found his true vocation. He continued to teach and study until his collegiate course was completed, and then he resolved to fit himself for the business of teaching by studying the best systems of education, as laid down in the most approved books and practiced in the most successful schools. He examined the best school buildings, and brought away plans of construction, and models of their furniture. The most thorough teachers were consulted as to the results of their experience, and when he had thus acquired a thorough mastery of the whole science of teaching, instead of setting out as an educational empiric, he resolved to seek the West as a better field for turning his knowledge to account, than was the East, where educators were far too numerous to make the business profitable.
[Illustration: Yours Truly, Andrew Freese]
Mr. Freese came to Cleveland in 1840, and offered his services to the Board of School Managers as a teacher. His rare ability was appreciated, he was immediately engaged, and was at once recognized as the head of the schools. There was then only the general school law to work under. The law as then understood, made it almost a crime to give instruction in the higher branches of even an English education. There was then no high schools, or graded schools in the great State of Ohio. To Cleveland, and to Mr. Freese, belong the honor of establishing the first free high school in the State. The scholars from that school may now be found in almost every State in the Union, eminent in all departments of life. They have been met with as Governors, jurists, mechanicians, and artists, and the first inquiry from themallhas been, "Is Mr. Freese still with you? All I am, and all I have, I owe to him; may God forever bless him."
The high school was established in July, 1846, and Mr. Freese at once placed at its head. Those unfriendly to public schools, and especially to this department, offered him large inducements to engage in a private school, but Mr. Freese had faith in the success of the experiment, and was determined not to abandon it until its success was insured. The pay given by the city was but a beggarly pittance, and his labors inside and out of the school room were exceedingly arduous, but no discouragement could daunt his zeal, and he resisted blandishments as he treated opposition, with indifference. The unexpected and severe labors imposed upon him shattered his health, but with him love overcame all other considerations, and he persisted. In June, 1853, the office of Superintendent of Instruction was created, and tendered to Mr. Freese, who held it until 1861, when his failing health admonished him to retire. Recently he was summoned from his retirement to take the position of principal of the Central High school, now grown to proportions its founders scarcely dared hope for it. It was with extreme reluctance that Mr. Freese consented to resume his old profession, but he finally did so, working with great zeal and success until the close of the Summer term of 1869, when, immediately after re-election by a highly complimentary vote, he was compelled, by the condition of his health, to resign his position and bid a final farewell to the profession he so much loved. The proceedings of the Board of Education in relation to the resignation of Mr. Freese are of interest, as showing the high value set upon his services to the cause of education.
The following communication was presented to the Board:
To the Honorable the Board of Education of the city of Cleveland:
Gentlemen: I have to submit herewith the resignation of Mr. Andrew Freese, who has for the past year acted as principal of the Central High school.
On account of ill health it was with great reluctance that Mr. Freese went into this position. In accordance, however, with the advice of friends, he finally yielded to persuasion and entered upon the discharge of its duties with the well known earnestness of his character. The result has been marked in the earnestness with which his able corps of assistants associated with him have co-operated to promote the highest interests of the school, and of each and all its pupils. It has been specially marked, too, by the increased devotion of all the scholars to their studies, and the ready acquiescence with which they have obeyed all the rules and regulations of your Board.
In taking leave of Mr. Freese it is due to him that I should thus formally and earnestly record my high appreciation of his services. Furthermore, it may not be inappropriate for me testify to the fact, that much of the hearty earnestness of the corps of teachers with which I am now laboring, is due to the influence of this gentleman when he held the office which I now hold.
Andrew J. Rickoff, Superintendent of Instruction.
The Board of Education having received and accepted the resignation of Andrew Freese, Esq., principal of the Central High School, Mr. Perkins offered the following resolutions, which were adopted:
Resolved, That the thanks of the Board are hereby tendered to Mr. Freese, for the valuable services he has rendered in the various relations he has sustained to the public schools of this city during the last quarter of a century. In every position he has been called to fill, he has proved himself faithful to the trust committed to his keeping. To him more than any other are we indebted for the deservedly elevated character of our System of graded schools.
Resolved, That the president and secretary of the Board be requested to communicate to Mr. Freese the feeling of regret occasioned by his withdrawal from our service, together with a certified copy of its action this evening.
Mr. Freese was the originator of the celebrated outline maps. Many years before any were published by Mitchell, they were in use here, and may still be found on some of the walls and floors of our old school houses, where they were placed by Mr. Freese. What Horace Mann and William Colburn did for the schools of New England, Andrew Freese has done for the schools of the West. Almost immediately after commencing his labors he began to protest to the Board of School Managers against our school laws; under them he could do no justice to himself or his scholars. His efforts were aided by the Board of School Managers, and after a hard contest with city and State authorities, the laws were altered so as to give us one of the best school systems in the world. The first free high school in the State was started by Mr. Freese, in the basement of an old church, at a rent of fifty dollars per annum, and this was regarded by some of our largest tax payers as so great an outrage that they threatened to resist the payment of their taxes. The school now enjoys the use of a palatial building, and our grammar schools have the use of the most elegant and convenient structures for educational purposes in the State. Many of our citizens devoted their time and money to bring about this great change, which has done and is doing so much for the welfare of our city. But perhaps no one man has done so much as Mr. Freese.
It would be difficult, if not impossible, to overrate the services of Mr. Freese to the cause of education in Cleveland. It was the sole business of his life, and he entered on it with utter unselfishness. With him the cause was everything, self nothing. He traveled far, spent his own slender funds freely, and labored assiduously in the endeavor to secure the best of everything in plan and machinery, for the city schools. He had no ambition outside or beyond the school room, and his shrinking modesty prevented him claiming the credit justly due him for the unintermitted and successful labors performed within the school walls.
Among the citizens of Ohio, few are more worthy of mention than Rev. Anson Smyth. There is not a township in the State in which his influence has not been felt, nor a school district in which his name is not honored. He has labored to uplift the intellectual, social, and moral status of our great commonwealth, and his impress is left on the highest and most sacred interests of the people.
Though born in Pennsylvania, Mr. Smyth is none the less a New Englander. His parents and older brothers and sisters were natives of New England. There many of his early years were spent, and there he received both his collegiate and his theological education. There for two years he taught school, and for three, was pastor of a church. Thus it is seen, that while his birth makes him a Pennsylvanian, his blood and education make him a Yankee.
Mr. Smyth is a self-made man. By his unaided energies he surmounted the difficulties that stood in the way of his advancement, and has achieved distinction by a career of great usefulness. His father was a man of high respectability, and most excellent character. He was a farmer in moderate circumstances, and being well advanced in life, and declining in health, when his youngest son, the tenth of twelve children, determined to acquire a liberal education, he was unable to do anything for his assistance. But the boy had a brave heart, and he went forward, strong in the idea that "there is nothing impossible to him that wills." At first by manual labor, and afterwards by teaching, he contrived to secure funds for meeting those expenses which demanded ready payment. When he left the theological seminary he owed several hundred dollars, all of which he paid from his first earnings.
After preaching for three years at the East, Mr. Smyth accepted a call to the pastoral charge of a church in Michigan. It was a village of a few hundred people, in a new and wild region. Society was in a chaotic condition, and there were but few who had either the ability or the disposition to do much for the young pastor's support or encouragement. The locality was unhealthy, and Mr. Smyth suffered severely from prevalent diseases. But during a ministry there of four years, he was eminently successful, and he left the church four times as strong as he found it.
In 1847, Mr. Smyth came to Ohio, and, after spending a few months in Cleveland, received and accepted a call to the pastorate of the Presbyterian church in Toledo. He entered upon his new charge with zeal and energy. He labored faithfully for the advancement of the cause of Christ in that rising town, but owing to chronic alienation among the members of his church, from the beginning he felt the need of that degree of co-operation and sympathy necessary to insure the full benefit of his labors. Still, the condition of affairs greatly improved under his ministry; the membership of the church being nearly doubled, and the congregation largely increased. At the end of three years he resigned his charge and entered upon that department of public service in which he has acquired most honorable distinction.
[Illustration: Yours truly, Anson Smyth]
Until 1850, the facilities for education in Toledo were all in the future. While pastor of the church there, Mr. Smyth felt keenly the need of establishing a good system of schools ere the town should become confirmed in the habit of neglecting so important an interest. A few of the citizens took hold of the business with energy; the "Akron School Law" was adopted, and a Board of Education elected. Mr. Smyth was placed at the head of the movement. This was a position he had never expected to fill, but, regarding it as a field of usefulness, a field in which to serve God and society, not less sacred than that of the pastoral office, he went to his new work without a doubt that thereby he was doing the will of God. In many particulars the business Mr. Smyth found upon his hands was new and strange to him. He had had no experience in organizing schools upon the graded plan. Eighteen years ago there were very few good schools in Ohio. Lorin Andrews, at Massillon, Dr. Lord, at Columbus, M. F. Cowdery, at Sandusky, Andrew Freese, at Cleveland, and H. H. Barney, at Cincinnati, were the leaders in the educational reformation, then rising into notice. Not till three years afterwards was our noble school law enacted. But Mr. Smyth took hold of the great work entrusted to him with characteristic energy. He read much and thought more upon the best plan of organizing a school system for the city, and when he left there, in 1856, the schools of Toledo had gained a most enviable character. They were regarded as among the best in the country, and their Superintendent had acquired the reputation of being one of the wisest and most successful educators in America. The Board of Education committed the entire management of the schools to him. The selection of teachers, the classification and discipline of the schools, the course of study, and the examinations were just what Mr. Smyth was pleased to make them. He gathered around him a corps of teachers equal to the best in the State, and the schools were the pride of the citizens. When he resigned, in closing an article upon the subject, the Blade remarked: "We regard the retirement of Mr. Smyth as no less than a public calamity."
At a meeting of the State Teachers Association, in December, 1855, Mr. Smyth was unanimously elected President of that body, also editor of the Journal of Education. In the following February he removed to Columbus, and entered upon his editorial duties. His success in his new field was most satisfactory to all who were interested in the cause which he represented.
In May, 1856, the Republican State Convention nominated Mr. Smyth for the office of State Commissioner of Schools. This was an honor as unexpected by him as it was satisfactory to the people. He was elected by a large majority, and in February, 1857, entered upon the discharge of the duties of his new office. In this high position he remained six years, having been re-elected in 1859.
Mr. Smyth was not disheartened when he found his post at the head of the educational forces of the State, environed with most serious embarrassments. The general school law had been in operation three years, encountering the hostility of a large portion of the people, who were persistent in their efforts to secure its repeal, or extensive modification. It was regarded as doubtful whether it could much longer survive in the face of the antagonism which confronted it. But when Mr. Smyth turned the office over to his successor, in 1863, the law had become popular, and strong in the regards of nearly all the people. The changes which it had experienced were improvements, and it was everywhere working out its own praise.
In this sketch, Mr. Smyth's labors and successes in the Commissionership can not be detailed. He spared no pains in promoting the interests which the State had confided to him. Whether looking after members of the legislature who were working against the law, or performing ordinary office duties, or traveling and addressing the people, he showed untiring industry and enthusiastic devotion to the good cause. When he declined, another nomination, the State Teachers' Association, at their meeting in Mount Vernon, passed a resolution highly approving his administration. David Tod, then Governor, wrote of him to a friend: "The most faithful manner in which Mr. Smyth has discharged the arduous duties of School Commissioner of our State for the last six years, involving, as it did, the expenditure of millions of money, without the loss of a dollar, has won for him my fullest confidence and profound respect. He is an excellent business man, and a Christian gentleman." No man ever left an office stronger in the confidence and esteem of the people.
Mr. Smyth did not propose to continue longer in the educational field, and declined many invitations to positions at the head of institutions of learning. But, very unexpectedly to him, he was elected Superintendent of Instruction for Cleveland. A strong inclination to reside here, and the urgency of friends, secured his acceptance. He removed to this city in July, 1863, and was warmly welcomed by the people.
At that time, the Board of Education was in many things subordinate to the City Council, and these two bodies not always working harmoniously prevented the adoption of many reforms advocated by the Superintendant. Still, Mr. Smyth's administration was a period of great prosperity and advancement with the Cleveland schools. The gradation and classification were improved; modes of teaching were introduced which greatly promoted the purposes of education. Through his influence the use of the rod in the schools was to a great extent discontinued, while better order was secured. His success in the selection of teachers was remarkable. He seemed to have an intuitive knowledge of character, and next to none of those he placed in charge of schools proved failures. His power over teachers was very great. While he was exacting in his demands, never excusing negligence, he knew how to temper authority with kind and courteous manners.
In the management of schools, Mr. Smyth required that due regard be had to manners and morals. Arithmetic and grammar were not, in his estimation, more important than politeness and Christian morality. He encouraged the ornamentation of the school rooms with plants, flowers and engravings, which has been so generally adopted, thus rendering them attractive and conducive to taste and refinement.
For five successive years Mr. Smyth was re-elected, but the last election he declined to accept, having entered into business arrangements, that he might pay needed attention to pecuniary interests. During his superintendence the number of teachers employed in the schools increased from eighty to one hundred and thirty; the splendid school buildings now approaching completion, were planned and put under contract, the School Library was established, and all school interests were most prosperons. When he retired from the superintendence of the schools, nearly two years ago, the Leader expressed the public sentiment in regard to his services, in the following terms: "It is with unfeigned regret that we announce the resignation of Rev. Anson Smyth, as Superintendent of Instruction in this city. He has discharged the duties of this office for four years with ability and efficiency. The educational interests of the city have been guarded with jealous care; and the excellent condition of our public schools, the firm, judicious discipline that is enforced, and the thorough system of instruction well attest his zeal, ability and faithfulness. To the teachers of the schools and the citizens generally, he has given the most unqualified satisfaction, and all will sincerely regret the circumstances which have induced him to retire."
Mr. Smyth has never given up pulpit services, but has averaged to preach one sermon per Sunday ever since resigning his pastoral charge in Toledo, eighteen years ago. Though a Presbyterian in doctrine, and loyal to that church, he is remarkably free from sectarian exclusiveness, and all evangelical churches seek and obtain his ministerial services.
Within the last year he has given more than twenty addresses at college commencements, and before literary and educational associations, while he has been obliged to decline numerous applications for like labors.
The weight of fifty years and the work of a life of very great activity rest lightly upon him. He is possessed of robust health, and is as marked for energy and vivacity as he was twenty years ago. But few men, who at his age have accomplished so much labor, seem still so able to repeat their life-work.
The family of Humiston, or Humbastone, as it was originally called, is one of considerable antiquity, and its American branch dates from an early period in the history of this country, John Humbastone, its founder, having settled in New Haven, Connecticut, towards the middle of the seventeenth century. For over two hundred years the family, or a portion of it, resided in the same neighborhood, about seven miles out of New Haven, on the Quinnipiac river. At the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, several members of the family took part in the struggle on the side of the patriots, and did good service.
Caleb Humiston (the name had been corrupted in the course of time) was of the third generation in descent from John Humbastone, the original settler in New Haven. He was born on the old homestead on the Quinnipiac river, inherited a portion of it, and lived there until he was thirty years old. Then he removed to Berkshire county, Massachusetts, settling down in 1816 on a farm he had purchased in Great Barrington. He was at this time a farmer in comfortable circumstances, but misfortune came upon him, his property passed from his control, and he was reduced to extremely narrow circumstances. When this misfortune came upon him he had already been burdened with a large family. Ten children had been born, one of whom died, but the others grew up and had to be provided for, the family consisting of seven boys and two girls. It is a noteworthy fact, that with the exception of the child who died in infancy, and Caleb Humeston himself, there has been no death in the family for over half a century, the youngest of them now living being thirty-eight years old. The family had been noted for its longevity, the average age of the ancestors of the present generation being between seventy and eighty years.
R. F. Humiston, whose life we propose briefly to sketch, was born in Great Barrington, July 29th, 1821. The misfortune suffered by his father overtook him when R. F. was nine years old, and from that time each one of the children was capable to do something towards earning a living. Tools were provided for each, proper work marked out, and every one held responsible for the faithful performance of the allotted task. As long as could be afforded, the children were sent to the district school, but the grade of education provided was low, and the knowledge acquired meagre. In his ninth year, R. F. Humiston was taken from school and put to earn his living with a neighbor, with whom he remained a year, and was then placed to work in a cotton factory at Stockbridge, Mass. His duty in this establishment was to tend a spinning jenny, and the winter hours of labor were from six o'clock in the morning to eight at night, with half an hour's intermission for dinner.
His health failing through the severity of this labor, his parents took him from this factory and placed him in another factory, for the manufacture of cotton batting and wadding, in West Stockbridge. Here he remained several months, but was obliged to leave on account of sickness.
In the Spring of 1833, the family removed to Ohio. After selling his farm and paying his debts, Caleb Humiston had barely sufficient left with which to reach Hudson, Ohio. Here he engaged in making brick, the subject of this sketch, twelve years old, assisting in the brick yard. Change of climate, hard work, and want brought sickness on the whole family, and before R. F. Humiston was fifteen years old the physicians pronounced his constitution entirely broken down, and that he could never do severe labor. He availed himself of an offer to become clerk of a store in Hudson, and clerked there and in Cleveland until he was sixteen years old. When clerk in a Cleveland bookstore, the proprietor failed and the books were taken to Buffalo, young Humiston receiving an offer of a clerkship in that city. This he declined, refusing to desert his family, who were in poverty, and working hard. His health having been partially restored, he took off his good clothes and re-entered the brick yard, where he remained until he was eighteen years old. Whilst in the store he had learned to keep books, and turned this knowledge to account in arranging his fathers business. A number of the better class of citizens of Hudson insisted on the boy having an education, and a merchant offered to bear the expense of a collegiate course, but the boy was too useful in his father's business to be spared, and so the opportunity was lost.
But the brick-making did not suit the boy, who was ambitious, and desirous of learning. In the Winter after he was eighteen, he went to learn the trade of a carpenter, agreeing to pay his father for his unexpired time as soon as he became of age. He learned the carpenter's trade of Samuel Johnson, in Ravenna, an intelligent man, who was highly respected by his neighbors, and whose influence was of great benefit to his apprentice, forming correct habits, and giving him moral and intellectual training.
Young Humiston was ambitious to excel as a mechanic, and spent his evenings in studying architecture and examining plans for buildings. There was no eight or ten hour system in those days. Mechanics worked from daylight to dark, frequently continuing their labors sixteen hours. Under this severe strain his health again gave way, and in September, 1841, he was reluctantly compelled to abandon the trade of a carpenter, except to work about three days in the week in order to pay his board.
At this point he determined to gain an education, and endeavor to earn a living by his brain, since his muscles failed him. He returned to Hudson with the purpose of entering college, his entire capital being ten cents in money and a few tools, with which he hoped to earn enough to pay for his board and tuition. He remained at the college five years, working at his trade by the hour, and doing odd jobs, teaching an occasional term, and working hard as a carpenter in vacations. His studies and labors were unremitting, sometimes allowing him but three hours' sleep out of the twenty-four. As might be expected, his health again gave way, and he was obliged to leave. The college conferred on him the honorary degree of M. A., and the Wesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio, subsequently conferred the same degree, both without solicitation.
[Illustration: R. F. Humiston.]
On leaving college he went into the nursery business, not having physical stamina sufficient to prosecute his studies for the ministry, as intended. In this business he continued directly for eighteen months, and partially for five or six years.
In the Fall of 1847, he commenced teaching in the public schools in Cuyahoga Falls, and in the following Spring established a private school, the Cuyahoga Falls Seminary. At the end of that year he was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction and principal of the high school. He continued his seminary, having assistants, and the privilege being allowed him of spending a portion of his time in the management of that establishment. In the Fall of 1849, he came to Cleveland and was appointed principal of the Rockwell street grammar school, where he remained seven years, bringing up the school from a low pitch to rank among the foremost in the city. His salary, when he began to teach in Cleveland was but five hundred dollars, and out of this he had to provide for two families, his own and that of his parents. To add to his small stipend, he taught evening school, and took agencies in the vacation. At the same time he was repeatedly offered other situations at better salaries, and was invited to become the principal of a State Normal school. He tendered his resignation as principal of the Rockwell street school, but was induced to remain on promise of increase of salary. Finally, becoming weary of that hope deferred that maketh the heart sick, he resigned and was engaged at a much higher salary, to establish, under the patronage of an association of leading citizens, the Cleveland Academy. This enterprise was very successful, and the position pleasant, a fine corps of assistants being gathered around him.
After two years labor in this position, some gentlemen connected with the property on University Heights, requested him to engage in the enterprise of a school on the Heights, in the building erected for a college under president Mahan, but which now lay unfinished and unoccupied, the college scheme having failed. They offered rent and grounds free, but he refused, until they agreed to sell him the whole property for a nominal sum, if he could acquire a clear title, the ownership having become badly involved by the failure of the college. This he eventually accomplished after much labor, and took possession of the property in 1856.
The task was a gigantic one to a man like Mr. Humiston, with limited funds and uncertain health. The building was unfinished and needed considerable expenditure to put it in shape for occupation. The location though very promising in the distant future, was then very inconvenient of access, and was therefore objectionable. But Mr. Humiston possessed a determined will and he set to work without delay. He borrowed money, fitted up a portion of the building, and opened the Cleveland Institute with strong hopes for the future, but gloomy prospects in the present.
About the middle of the second year the building took fire and a large portion of the interior was destroyed. The school was closed for six months, and with characteristic energy Mr. Humiston went to work to repair damages, enlarging the building, and again involving himself in debt to meet the expense. Success crowned his enterprise. The number of scholars increased rapidly, and again the building had to be enlarged and improved.
The institute was continued ten years, and the gross income in its later years ranged from $20,000 to $31,000 per year. During nearly the whole time Mr. Humiston taught himself, and usually five hours out of the six devoted to studies. At the same time he gave medical lectures at the Western Homoeopathic College, and managed all the affairs of the institute, keeping no agent or steward. He purchased and fitted up in the institute a fine chemical and philosophical apparatus, collected a good library and several valuable cabinets of specimens in natural history, geology, and mineralogy. The corps of teachers was large and of superior talents.
In 1868, Mr. Humiston, considering that he had earned a respite from his arduous and unremitting labors, accepted an offer from some gentlemen desirous of establishing a Homoeopathic Hospital, and sold his building' with half the adjoining grounds for $35,000. He then accepted the tender of the agency of the American Missionary Association in Great Britain, and early in 1869 left for Europe, having previously visited the South in order to acquaint himself with the condition of the freedmen, whose cause he designed especially to present. After a year or more spent in this work he designs visiting the remainder of Europe, North Africa, and the Holy Land.
Mr. Humiston has, since 1859, held the position of Professor of Chemistry and Toxicology in the Western Homoeopathic College, and has given ten courses of lectures in that institution. Each year he insisted on resigning, but the resignation has always been refused. On closing his educational career he again resigned, but the college again refused to accept his resignation, promising to supply his place temporarily during his absence in Europe.
The distinguishing characteristic of Mr. Humiston is his strong will, and this is well exemplified in the fact that although born with a constitutional fierce thirst for liquor, he has been able to continue in right habits of temperance through all temptation, though at the cost of many powerful struggles with his inordinate cravings. He is a man of strong religions convictions, and has been so from his youth up. For many years he was connected with the Methodist church on University Heights. As an educator he ranks among the best in the State, and was held in deservedly high esteem by those who had themselves been taught by him, or whose children had been brought up under his tuition.
First of the railroads of any description chartered in connection with Cleveland were the Cleveland and Newburgh and Cleveland and Bedford Railroad Companies. The first named was incorporated in 1835, built soon after, and for some time run by horse power, hauling stone and timber, and occasionally passengers. It was eventually abandoned. The Cleveland and Bedford was never built. Another local road, run by horse power, with wooden rails, was, about the same time, constructed between the city and East Cleveland, passing up Euclid street.
The Ohio Railroad was of a different character. It was intended to run along the lake shore from the Pennsylvania line to Toledo, mostly to be built on piles. Considerable work was done, though no iron laid, when the financial crisis overwhelmed it and its kindred schemes. The piles driven for the track are yet visible in places between Cleveland and Sandusky. The rights of the company, as far as they existed, afterwards became the property of the Junction Railroad Company, now the Cleveland and Toledo. Of the same period, was the Cleveland, Warren and Pittsburgh. This was chartered in 1836, the act of incorporation authorizing the construction of a railroad from Cleveland, in the direction of Pittsburgh, to the State line of Pennsylvania. At the point of intersection with the State line, the charter provided for the union of the road with any other road which the State of Pennsylvania might authorize from Pittsburgh, or any other point below the Ohio river, running in the direction of Cleveland, in order that a continuous route might be perfected from Cleveland to Pittsburgh, under the authority of both States. The charter was very loose in its provisions, allowing the president and directors to create and sell stock as in their judgement occasion might require, without limit as to the amount issued, except that it should not exceed the needs of the company. Plenary powers were granted to the company in the selection of a route, the condemnation of land, and like "full and discretionary power" was granted to the company in "the use and occupancy of the road, in the transportation of persons or property, either by the force and power of steam, or animals, or any mechanical or other power, or any combination of them, which the company may think proper to employ." The cost of the line was estimated to be less than $7,000 per mile. The road was to be an extension of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, a branch of which was to extend to Pittsburgh, and thus would "give the whole vast region of the western lakes an opportunity of marketing their products in, and receiving their foreign produce from Philadelphia and Baltimore, at least rive weeks earlier in the season, and at much less expense," than was accomplished at New York.
In the same year a charter was obtained for the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad, connecting Cleveland and Cincinnati by the way of Columbus.
None of the roads were built under these charters. The financial panic of 1837 swept them all into oblivion, together with a multitude of other roads projected throughout the country. Some of them were heard of no more, and others were revived in after years, the charters greatly amended, and the roads eventually built. The design of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad Company was eventually carried out to the extent of building a line to Columbus and there connecting with railroads extending to Cincinnati. The Cleveland, Warren and Pittsburgh charter was dug up, amended, and made authority for organization of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad, whilst the original route was mainly occupied by the new Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad.
The Cleveland and Bedford was at last rendered unnecessary by the Cleveland and Pittsburgh passing over its route, whilst the Cleveland and Newburgh reap-pears as a street railroad, for passengers only, the original design of a local railroad for freight being abandoned thirty odd years ago.
In 1845, the lapsed charter of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad Company was revived, revised, and a new company organized, with John W. Allen, Richard Hilliard, Jolin M. Woolsey and H. B. Payne as Cleveland directors, and John W. Allen as president. Between the organization of the company and the construction of the road there was a wide gulf of difficulties, jealousies and enmities, bridged over at last by untiring perseverance and unwavering faith in the final success of the undertaking. The story of the struggle is told incidentally in the biographical sketches of those connected with the enterprise. All that we have to do here is, to briefly sketch the leading features in the narrative as it has been already told, after a careful examination of the documentary history of the company. That account says the incorporation of the company had been obtained in the year 1845, with a proviso authorizing the city of Cleveland to subscribe two millions of dollars to the stock. The bonds of the city were promptly given, but before any money could be obtained upon these bonds it was necessary that a further subscription should be made by the citizens, not only to meet the current expenses, but to give assurance to capitalists abroad that the people here were really in earnest, and would not suffer the undertaking to fall through. After a thorough canvass of the city, by two well known and respected citizens, it was found that not more than twenty-five thousand dollars could be obtained. There was both a scarcity of cash and a lack of faith in the enterprise.
John M. Woolsey was sent to Cincinnati to negotiate the city bonds with the Ohio Life and Trust Company; to Pittsburgh to ascertain upon what terms iron could be obtained; and to Philadelphia and New York to enlist the sympathy and help of capitalists. The mission was a failure. The common strap iron of that day could not be obtained without cash on delivery, and the money could not be procured on any terms. Cleveland was too far off, and entirely unknown to the moneyed men of the eastern cities. Thus, in the Spring of 1847, one of the very darkest periods in our history, it was determined to abandon the enterprise for the time, and await a more favorable season.
In this desperate extremity Mr. Hilliard and Mr. Payne volunteered another and last effort of three months personal labor to arouse their fellow citizens to a proper sense of the importance and ultimate value of this grand undertaking. By patient perseverance they succeeded in securing a leading subscription of five thousand dollars from Leonard Case, who also consented to become a director of the company. The ultimate result of the solicitations was the subscription of about $40,000 additional to the amount previously pledged. About the same time an accession of the utmost importance was made when Alfred Kelley, of Columbus, accepted the presidency of the road, contrary to his inclination to retire from further public duties and to the strong remonstrances of his personal friends. Through the influence of Mr. Dwight, of Springfield, Mass., the directors secured the services of Captain Childs, well known among Eastern capitalists as a skillful engineer, and his endorsement of the company did much to advance its credit abroad. But it was still necessary to secure a large disposal of stock at home, and to effect this, a liberal additional assessment upon the friends of the road was made and accepted. Mr. Childs finally recommended Mr. Harbeck, who, in company with Stillman Witt and Amasa Stone, Jr., undertook and carried out the building of the road to its completion.
In February, 1851, the first through train arrived from Columbus, bringing the State authorities and the Legislature, to celebrate the union of the two cities. Thus the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad was the pioneer of the series of the now enlarged, and most important enterprises so clearly identified with the growth of the city. The chairman of the building committee stated at the opening of the new depot, that during the entire building of that road, there was not a dollar paid as a bribe to either the Legislature or the City Council, to receive their favors.
The terminus of the road at Cleveland was originally intended to be on Scranton's Flats, but it was afterwards determined to bring the road across the river to the site of the old New England House. Appreciating the importance of extending it to the lake shore, the contractors agreed to grade the road free of charge from that point to the lake, and it was accordingly carried forward to its present terminus.
In 1869, the road was consolidated with the Bellefontaine line, thus placing its western terminus in Indianapolis. Its southern stem had previously been extended by way of the Delaware Cut-Off to Springfield, thus opening another connection with Cincinnati.
We have already said that the charter of the Cleveland, Warren and Pittsburgh Railroad, after sleeping for several years, was dug up, amended, and the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad Company organized under it. The resuscitation of the charter took place in March, 1845, when the route was changed from "the most direct in the direction of Pittsburgh," to "the most direct, practicable, and least expensive route to the Ohio river, at the most suitable point." The company organized at Ravenna, in October of the same year, with James Stewart, of Wellsville, as president, A. G. Cattell, as secretary, and Cyrus Prentiss, as treasurer. The route was surveyed, meetings held in aid of the project, and in July, 1847, the first contracts let from Wellsville northward, and the work of construction commenced. The northern end dragged, owing to the slow coming in of subscriptions, and the work was not fully let until 1849.
In February, 1851, the line was opened from Cleveland to Hudson, and the General Assembly and State officers who had come to Cleveland to attend the celebration of the opening of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad, accepted an invitation to ride over the new railroad to Hudson. A short supply of provisions at Hudson, and the ditching of the train on the return trip, made the weary and hungry legislators long remember their pioneer trip over the unfinished Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad. In March following, the track was completed to Ravenna, in November to Hanover, at which time free passes for "each stockholder and his lady," and "landholders through whose land the road passes, with their wives," were issued, good for one ride over the line and return, that they might see the whole of the stupendous undertaking and admire it. In January 1852, connection was made with the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad at Alliance, and a route thus opened to Pittsburgh, and in March, of the same year, the line was opened to Wellsville, and connection with the Ohio river perfected, thus completing the work laid out in the amended charter.
At different times, subsequently, authority was granted by the General Assembly for the extension of the line and the construction of branches. In this way the River Division was built, connecting the Wellsville end with Pittsburgh by a junction with the Ohio and Pennsylvania at Rochester, and with the Baltimore and Ohio and Central Ohio, by a line to Bellair. The Tuscarawas Branch was built to New Philadelphia, and there stopped, though its original purpose was to form a connection with the Steubenville and Indiana Railroad. Authority was also given to build a branch from Hudson towards the Ohio and Pennsylvania and any line running in the direction of Columbus. A separate company afterwards constructed this "Akron Branch," or Cleveland, Zanesville and Cincinnati Railroad, so far as Millersburgh. The Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad has had a serious financial struggle to go through, but it has come out as an important and prosperous line. It is now working under a consolidation of earnings with the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago, formerly known as the Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad Company, now, after several consolidations and changes of title, forming part of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad Company, was part of the general plan of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad, was built under much of the same influence, and has always been intimately connected with it in its working. The charter was obtained by special act in 1848, and empowered the corporators to build a line by way of Painesville, through Ashtabula county, to the Pennsylvania State line, and to continue their line into that State to any point authorized by the Pennsylvania Legislature. That part of the road extending to Erie, in the State of Pennsylvania, was constructed under the charter of the Franklin Canal Company, passed by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, the 21st day of May, 1846, and amended April 9th, 1849, giving it authority to construct a railroad.
The company was organized August 1st, 1849, by the selection of Alfred Kelley, Samuel L. Seldin, Heman B. Ely, George E. Gillett, David R. Paige, Laphnor Lake and Peleg P. Sanford as directors, and Heman B. Ely as president, and the surveys from Cleveland were made under the superintendence of Frederick Harbeck as chief engineer, and from the State line to Erie he acted as consulting engineer, filling both situations until his death, which occurred in the month of February, 1851. A contract for the construction of the road from Cleveland to the State line of Pennsylvania was made with Frederick Harbeck, A. Stone, Jr., and Stillman Witt, on the 26th day of July, 1850, but the work progressed slowly for six months after the contract was concluded, principally for the reason that there was no confidence in the ability of a railroad from Cleveland to Erie or Buffalo to compete with the lake in the transportation of persons and property, and the contractors expended more than $100,000 of their means before a like amount could be raised through all other sources. In the month of January, 1851, the Hon. Alfred Kelley was appointed general agent of the company with unlimited authority to raise funds and press forward the work of completion. He entered upon his duties with his usual indomitable perseverance and energy, fully seconded by the directors and contractors, and they had the satisfaction of passing a locomotive over its entire length late in the autumn of the year 1852.
The act conferring authority on the Franklin Canal Company to construct a railroad from the State line of Ohio to the city of Erie, being regarded by the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania as doubtful, they repealed it on the 28th day of January, 1854. On the 5th day of May, 1856, the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania passed an act authorizing the Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad Company to purchase the road as constructed from the State line to Erie, and to operate it under the general law of the State of Pennsylvania, passed the 19th day of February, 1849. The history of the Pennsylvania portion of the line reflects no credit on that State. The petty and vexations "Erie War" in 1854, by which a portion of the people of Erie attempted to prevent a through connection of the road at that place, and the unjustifiable expenses to which the company were subjected by the Legislature, are blots on the record of that State.
The road was operated jointly with the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad until April 1st, 1855, when the management was divided. In 1869, it was consolidated, first with the Cleveland and Toledo and then with the Michigan Southern and Buffalo and Erie Railroads. The Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula has been one of the most profitable railroads in the country.
The story of the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad Company--one of persistent struggle against apparently insurmountable difficulties, is told in great part in the sketch of the life of Jacob Perkins, to whose labors and sacrifices the success of the undertaking is in great measure due. The road was projected to develope more fully the mineral and agricultural resource of Trumbull and Mahoning counties, and to find a market for their products in Pittsburgh or Cleveland. Unlike many projected railroads, the first object of this line was a local trade; the through business anticipated was a secondary consideration. The Company was incorporated in 1851, and the first meeting of stockholders held at, Warren, Trumbull county, in June, 1852, when $300,000 local subscriptions were reported and it was determined to survey and prepare estimates for the road. The directors under whom this work was commenced were Jacob Perkins, Frederick Kinsman and Charles Smith, of Warren, David Tod, of Youngstown, Dudley Baldwin of Cleveland, Robert Cunningham, of New Castle, and James Magee, of Philadelphia. In order to aid the enterprise by securing connections, they opened negotiations with the Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad, and the Pittsburgh and Erie Railroad, but without success. About the same time a contract was made with the Junction Railroad, afterwards merged in the Cleveland and Toledo Road, for purchase of ground near the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, on the west side, and the right of way obtained through a portion of Ohio City, and through Scranton's Hill to the west end of the Columbus street bridge, near which the freight depot was afterwards established. In 1853, the principal office of the Company was removed to Cleveland, which was made the head quarters of the Company.
After surveying different routes and hesitating over the choice between them, it was decided to build the road from Cleveland, on the West Side, and running through Scranton's hill to Newburgh, Bedford, Aurora, Mantua and Warren, fifty-three miles, and thence down the Mahoning Valley to Youngstown and Poland, to the east line of the State.
Repeated attempts were made to induce the Legislature of Pennsylvania to authorize an extension of the road in that State, but owing to the opposition of the Pittsburgh and Erie Bailroad, and especially of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad, the desired permission was finally refused. The estimated aggregate cost of the road was about one and three-quarter millions of dollars, and when the principal contracts for labor and iron were made, there was a very fair prospect of disposing of the bonds of the company to advantage, and thus, in addition to the loans effected in Philadelphia, New York and at home, the means to complete the work were reasonably anticipated. In the Directors' Report of 1854, they were obliged to announce unlooked for embarrassments, growing out of the altered condition of the money market. The story of the seemingly hopeless, but finally successful, struggle that followed is told in another part of this work. At length, in 1857, after five or six years of persevering efforts, and most perplexing difficulties, the road was opened through to Youngstown; substantial machine shops were built at Cleveland, station houses erected along the route, and the coal and iron of the Mahoning Valley were made accessible by a quick and easy route.
In October, 1863, the road was leased for ninety-nine years to the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, which had already laid a broad gauge upon the track, That company now controls the main line to Youngstown, with the several branches to Hubbard and the coal mines. The narrow gauge is kept up for the use of the Mahoning trains, freight and passenger, while the broad gauge is used by the Atlantic and Great Western through trains. The track has been extended to the shore of the old river bed, an extensive wharfage established, and large facilities obtained for connecting the traffic of the road with the lake commerce.
The Cleveland and Toledo Railroad Company was formed by the consolidation of two rival and nearly parallel lines. One of the companies thus united, was incorporated as the Junction Railroad Company, and the other by the name of the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad Company. The former was incorporated by an act of the legislature of Ohio, passed on the second day of March, 1846; and the latter, by an act of the seventh of March, 1850. The Junction Railroad Company, by its original charter and two amendments, in 1861, was authorized to construct a railroad from the city of Cleveland to the west line of the State by such route as the directors might determine, with power to construct branches to any points within the counties through which the main line might pass. The charter of the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad Company, authorized the construction of a railroad from Toledo, by the way of Norwalk, in the county of Huron, to a connection with the Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati Railroad, at some point in the counties of Huron or Lorain. The authorized capital stock of the Junction Company was three millions, and that of the other company, two millions of dollars.
The consolidation was effected, and the new company organized on the first of September, A. D. 1853, under the specific provisions of the twelfth section of the amendment to the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad charter, passed on the first of March, 1850. Under its charter, the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad Company constructed a road from the east bank of the Maumee river, opposite the city of Toledo, to Grafton, where it connects with the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad, twenty-five miles south-west from the city of Cleveland, being a distance of eighty-seven and one-half miles, all of which was finished and put into operation in January, 1853. This became known as the Southern Division of the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad.
The Northern Division, or Junction Railroad, was originally intended to run from Cleveland, west side, via Berea and Sandusky, westward to a point on the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad some twenty miles west of Toledo, and crossing the track of the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad at a point about eight miles east of the same city. The road was opened between Cleveland and Sandusky and operations commenced upon it in the Fall of 1858, immediately after the consolidation. The original project of a separate line to the west was carried out by the consolidated corporation so far as to construct the road to its intersection with the old Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland track, from which point both lines approached Toledo over the same right of way. This line was operated over its whole length until the 31st day of December, 1858, on which day the use for regular business of that portion lying west of Sandusky was discontinued, and all the through travel and traffic turned upon the Southern Division. On the 30th of July, 1856, a contract was entered into with the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad Company by which the Cleveland and Toledo Company acquired the right to use the track of the first named company from Grafton to Cleveland, for the Southern Division trains, and from Berea to Cleveland for the Northern Division, and thence forward all trains were run into, and departed from, the Union Depot in Cleveland--a change which soon resulted in the practical abandonment, for the time, of that portion of the Northern Division lying between Berea and Cleveland on the west side of Cuyahoga river. This arrangement, together with the completion, in 1855, of a bridge over the Maumee river at Toledo, enabled the company to receive and discharge its passengers in union depots at each end of its line. During the years 1865 and 1866, about eight miles of new road were constructed between Elyria on the Northern Division, and Oberlin on the Southern Division, for the purpose of allowing all trains to leave and come upon the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Road at Berea, thirteen miles, instead of Grafton, twenty-five miles from Cleveland. This new piece of road was opened for business on the 10th of September, 1866, and the road between Oberlin and Grafton immediately abandoned, The construction of a bridge near the mouth of the Cuyahoga river at Cleveland, brought the Northern Division line between Cleveland and Berea once more into use, and over it the freight trains of the line are now run. In 1869, the company was made part of the Consolidated line between Buffalo and Chicago.
The Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, by its lease of the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad, has become an important part of the Cleveland railroad System. The company was organized in 1851, as the Franklin and Warren Railroad Company, to build a road from Franklin Mills (now Kent) in Portage County, to Warren, in Trumbull county, with power to extend to a point in the eastern line of the State, northeast of Warren and southwesterly to Dayton, Ohio. In July, 1853, operations were actively commenced along the whole line, but were soon seriously retarded by financial embarrassments. In 1854, the Franklin and Warren Railroad Company, under authority of an Act of the General Assembly of 1853, changed its name to the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad Company. Two years before, a project had been started to extend the broad gauge of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad through Ohio, northeastern Pennsylvania and southwestern New York, to connect with the New York and Erie Railroad. This route would run through Meadville, Pennsylvania, Warren, Kent, Akron and Galion to Dayton, Ohio. In 1858, the Meadville Railroad Company changed their name to the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad Company of Pennsylvania. In 1859, a company was organized in the State of New York, under the name of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad in New York, and purchased in 1860 of the New York and Erie Railroad Company thirty eight miles of their road, from Salamanca to near Ashville. These thirty eight miles with eleven miles of new line, make up the entire length of line of this road in the State of New York. Each of the above companies made contracts for the building of their respective roads.
In the Fall of 1858, negotiations were commenced in London with James McHenry, for the means to carry on the work. T. W. Kennard, a civil engineer, came over as the attorney of Mr. McHenry, and engineer in chief of the whole work. In 1862, the road was opened from Corry to Meadville, Pennsylvania. In 1863, it was extended to Warren, and in the next year to Ravenna and Akron--202 miles from Salamanca.
In October, 1863, the three companies above named, leased for ninety-nine years, the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad, extending from Cleveland southerly to Youngstown, Ohio, sixty-seven miles. This road has a narrow gauge track crossing the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad at Leavittsburgh, Ohio, fifty miles south of Cleveland. The Atlantic and Great Western Company laid a rail on either side of the narrow track, thus carrying the broad gauge into Cleveland, and a broad gauge train from the city of New York entered Cleveland on the evening of November 3rd, 1863. Subsequently the several companies forming the Atlantic and Great Western line were consolidated into one line, and this again was, in 1869, consolidated with the Erie Railway.
Besides opening a new and important thoroughfare to the East, this line has opened up to Cleveland the resources of north-western Pennsylvania, and in the oil product has added an immense and highly profitable trade to the business of the city.
Several lines have been built, connecting with and adding business to the railroads leading to Cleveland, but of these it is not the province of this work to speak. A large number of new railroads have been from time to time projected in various directions. Some of these "paper railroads" have intrinsic merit, and these, or lines aiming at the same objects, will eventually be built.
[Illustration: Yours truly, Jacob Perkins]
Jacob Perkins was born at Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, September 1st, 1822, being next to the youngest of the children of Gen. Simon Perkins, one of the earliest and most prominent, business men of norther Ohio, a land agent of large business, and the owner of extensive tracts of land. In his early years Jacob Perkins developed a strong inclination for study, acquiring knowledge with unusual facility, and gratifying his intense passion for reading useful works by every means within his power.
He commenced fitting himself for college at the Burton Academy, then under the direction of Mr. H. L. Hitchcock, now president of Western Reserve College, and completed his preparation at Middletown, Connecticut, in the school of Isaac Webb. He entered Yale College in 1837.
While in college he was distinguished for the elegance of his style and the wide range of his literary acquirements. He delivered the philosophic oration at his junior exhibition, and was chosen second editor of "Yale Literary Magazine," a position in which he took great interest, and filled to the satisfaction and pride of his class. His college course was, however, interrupted by a long and severe illness before the close of his junior year, which compelled him to leave his studies and (to his permanent regret) prevented him from graduating with his own class. He returned the following year and was graduated with the class of 1842.
He entered his father's office at Warren, and was occupied with its business until, upon the death of his father, some two years afterwards, he became one of his executors.
During his residence at Warren he appeared occasionally before home audiences as a public speaker, and always with great acceptance.
In politics, he early adopted strong anti-slavery principles, then not the popular doctrine, and they were always freely and openly advocated. Of an address delivered in 1848, which was published and attracted very considerable local attention, the editor of the Chronicle remarked, "We have listened to the best orators of the land, from the Connecticut to the Mississippi, and can truly say, by none have we been so thoroughly delighted in every particular as by this effort of our distinguished townsman." The oration discussed the true theory of human rights and the legitimate powers of human government--and the following extract gives the spirit of his political principles on the subject of slavery:
The object of law is not to make rights, but to define and maintain them; man possesses them before the existence of law, the same as he does afterwards. No matter what government may extend its control over him; no matter how miserable or how sinful the mother in whose arms his eyes opened to the day; no matter in what hovel his infancy is nursed; no matter what complexion--an Indian or an African sun may have burned upon him, this may decide the privileges which he is able to assert, but can not affect the existence of his rights. His self-mastery is the gift of his creator, and oppression, only, can take it away.
Without solicitation he was nominated and elected a member of the Convention that framed the present Constitution of Ohio. His associates from the district were Judges Peter Hitchcock and R. P. Ranney, and although "he was the youngest member but one of the Convention--and in the minority, his influence and position were excelled by few."
He was one of the Senatorial Presidential Electors for Ohio on the Fremont ticket in 1856.
In the intellectual progress of the young about him, and the building up of schools and colleges, he took especial interest. He first suggested and urged upon President Pierce to adopt the conditions of the present "Permanent Fund of Western Reserve College," rather than to solicit unconditional contributions, which experience had proved were so easily absorbed by present necessities, and left the future as poor as the past. In connection with his brothers, he made the first subscription to that fund. The embarrassment arising from his railroad enterprise prevented him from increasing that contribution. The wisdom of his suggestions was subsequently shown, when, during the rupture and consequent embarrassment under which the college labored, the income of this fund had a very important, if not vital share in saving it from abandonment, and afterwards proved the nucleus of its present endowment.
He was always efficient in favoring improvements. He was associated with Hon. F. Kinsman and his brother in founding the beautiful Woodland Cemetery at Warren. The land was purchased and the ground laid out by them, and then transferred to the present corporation.
Soon after his return from the Constitutional Convention, he became interested in the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad. He was most influential in obtaining the charter and organizing the company, of which he was elected president, and became the principal, almost sole financial manager.
Owing to prior and conflicting railroad interests, little aid could be obtained for his project in either of the terminal cities, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, and the work was commenced in 1853 with a comparatively small stock subscription. A tightening money market prevented any considerable increase of the stock list, or a favorable disposition of the bonds of the road, and the financial crisis a few years afterwards so reduced the value of the securities of this, as of all unfinished railroads, as practically to shut them out of the market. In this emergency the alternative presented itself to Mr. Perkins and his resident directors, either to abandon the enterprise and bankrupt the company, with the entire loss of the amount expended, or to push it forward to completion by the pledge, and at the risk of their private fortunes, credit, and reputations.
In this, the darkest day of the enterprise, Mr. Perkins manifested his confidence in its ultimate success, and his generous willingness to meet fully his share of the hazard to be incurred, by proposing to them, jointly with him, to assume that risk; and agreeing that in case of disaster, he would himself pay the first $100,000 of loss, and thereafter share it equally with them.
With a devotion to the interests entrusted to them, a determination rarely equalled in the history of our railroad enterprises, they unanimously accepted this proposition, and determined to complete the road, at least to a remunerative point in the coal fields of the Mahoning Valley.
The financial storm was so much more severe and longer continued than the wisest had calculated upon, that for years the result was regarded by them and the friends of the enterprise with painful suspense. In the interest of the road Mr. Perkins spent the Spring of 1854 in England, without achieving any important financial results.
At length, in 1856, the road was opened to Youngstown, and its receipts, carefully husbanded, began slowly to lessen the floating debt, by that time grown to frightful proportions, and carried solely by the pledge of the private property and credit of the president and Ohio directors. These directors, consisting of Hon. Frederick Kinsman and Charles Smith, of Warren, Governor David Tod, of Briar Hill, Judge Reuben Hitchcock, of Painesville, and Dudley Baldwin, of Cleveland, by the free use of their widely known and high business credit, without distrust or dissension, sustained the president through that long and severe trial, a trial which can never be realized except by those who shared its burdens. The president and these directors should ever be held in honor by the stockholders of the company, whose investment they saved from utter loss, and by the business men of the entire Mahoning Valley, and not less by the city of Cleveland; for the mining and manufacturing interests developed by their exertions and sacrifices, lie at the very foundation of the present prosperity of both.
Before, however, the road was enabled to free itself from financial embarrassment, so to as commence making a satisfactory return to the stockholders, which Mr. Perkins was exceedingly anxious to see accomplished under his own presidency--his failing health compelled him to leave its active management, and he died before the bright day dawned upon the enterprise.
He said to a friend during his last illness, with characteristic distinctness: "If I die, you may inscribe on my tomb stone, Died of the Mahoning Railroad;" so great had been his devotion to the interests of the road, and so severe the personal exposures which its supervision had required of him, who was characteristically more thoughtful of every interest confided to his care, than of his own health.
He was married October 24th, 1850, to Miss Elizabeth O. Tod, daughter of Dr. J. I. Tod, of Milton, Trumbull county, Ohio, and removed his family to Cleveland in 1856. Of three children, only one, Jacob Bishop, survives him. Mrs. Perkins died of rapid consumption, June 4th, 1857, and his devoted attention at the sick bed of his wife greatly facilitated the development of the same insidious disease, which was gradually to undermine his own naturally vigorous constitution.
The business necessities of his road, embarrassed and pressing as they were, united with his uniform self-forgetfulness, prevented his giving attention to his personal comfort and health, long after his friends saw the shadow of the destroyer falling upon his path. He was finally, in great prostration of health and strength, compelled to leave the active duties of the road and spent the latter part of the Winter of 1857-8 in the Southern States, but returned in the Spring with little or no improvement. He continued to fail; during the Summer and in the Fall of 1858 he again went South in the vain hope of at least physical relief, and died in Havana, Cuba, January 12th, 1859. His remains were embalmed and brought home by his physician who had accompanied him--and were interred at Warren, in Woodland Cemetery, where so many of his family repose around him. A special train from either end of the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad brought the board of directors and an unusually large number of business and personal friends to join the long procession which followed "the last of earth" to its resting place.
One of the editorial notices of his death, at the time, very justly remarks of him:
He was a man of mark, and through strength of talent, moral firmness and urbanity of manner, wielded an influence seldom possessed by a man of his years. In addition to his remarkable business capacity, Mr. Perkins was a man of high literary taste, which was constantly improving and enriching his mind. He continued, even amid his pressing-business engagements, his habits of study and general reading. Mr. Perkins belonged to that exceptional class of cases in which great wealth, inherited, does not injure the recipient.
An editorial of a Warren paper, mentioning his death, says:
He was born in this town in 1821, and from his boyhood exhibited a mental capacity and energy which was only the promise of the brilliancy of his manhood. To his exertion, his personal influence and liberal investment of capital the country is indebted for the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad. To his unremitting labor in this enterprise he has sacrificed personal comfort and convenience, and we fear, shortened his days by his labors and exposure in bringing the work to completion. Known widely as Mr. Perkins has been by his active part in public enterprises, his loss will be felt throughout the State, but we who have known him both as boy and man, have a deeper interest in him, and the sympathies of the people of Warren, with his relatives, will have much of the nature of personal grief for one directly connected with them.
Said a classmate in the class meeting of 1862:
Although his name on the catalogue ranks with the class of 1842, his affections were with us, and he always regarded himself of our number. He visited New Haven frequently during the latter part of his life, in connection with a railway enterprise, in which he was interested, and exhibited the same large-heartedness and intellectual superiority which won for him universal respect during his college course.
A gentleman who knew Mr. Perkins intimately, and as a director was associated with him in the construction of the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad, and in carrying its debt, wrote of him as follows:
The management and construction of the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad by Mr. Perkins, under circumstances the most difficult and trying, were well calculated to test his powers, and, in that work he proved himself possessed of business capacity rarely equalled, sustained by unquestioned integrity, and remarkable energy. These qualifications, united with his large wealth, gave him the requisite influence with business men and capitalists. His devotion to the interests of the road, his abiding confidence in a favorable result, and his clear and just appreciation of its value, and importance to the community, called forth his best efforts, and were essential conditions of success. To him more than to any other individual are the projection, inauguration, and accomplishment of this enterprise attributable. From its earliest projection, he had a most comprehensive and clear view of its importance to the city of Cleveland and the Mahoning Valley, and confidently anticipated for them, in the event of its completion, a rapidity and extent of development and prosperity, which were then regarded as visionary, but which the result has fully demonstrated.
His life was spared to witness only the commencement of this prosperity, nor can it be doubted, that his close application, and unremitting efforts to forward the work shortened his life materially. His deep and absorbing interest in it, prevented the precautionary measures and relaxations, which in all probability would have prolonged his life for years. His associates in the board saw the danger and urged him to earlier and more decided measures for relief. He too was aware of their importance. But the constant demand upon his time and strength, and the continually recurring necessities of the enterprise, which he had so much at heart, were urgent, and so absorbed his thoughts and energies, that he delayed until it was obvious that relaxation could afford merely temporary relief.
In his intercourse with the board, Mr. Perkins was uniformly courteous and gentlemanly, always giving respectful attention to the suggestions of his associates, but ever proving himself thoroughly posted; readily comprehending the most judicious measures, and clearly demonstrating their wisdom. Entire harmony in the action of the directors was the result, and all had the fullest confidence in him. While his business capacity and integrity commanded their highest admiration, his urbanity, kindness and marked social qualities secured their strong personal attachment, and by them his decease was regarded as a severe personal affliction, as well as a great public loss.
Thus is briefly noticed, one who dying comparatively early, had given evidence of great business capacity, as well as the promise of unusual power and popularity with the people of his own State, and nation.