Cleveland Past and Present: Its Representative Men Part 20

The drug establishment of Strong & Armstrong stands foremost in that branch of the business of Cleveland and has achieved a wide reputation, having an extensive trade not only through Northern Ohio, but in Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania, drawing custom away from Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Detroit in territory previously considered naturally tributary to those places.

S. M. Strong, the leading partner of the firm, is a native Buckeye, having been born in Lorain County, Ohio, in 1833. His boyhood was spent in acquiring a good common school education, after obtaining which he became clerk in a drug store at Elyria, entering it at the age of sixteen and remaining about two years when, in 1850, he accompanied his employer, who removed to Cleveland, and remained with him there three years more.

At the end of that time, he entered g.a.y.l.o.r.d's drug store, in which he continued about two years, when he turned his attention to pus.h.i.+ng a fever and ague remedy which he had been at work on for several years previous. Four years he devoted to this work, finding a partial success, and then he formed a partners.h.i.+p with A. C. Armstrong, of Medina county, for the purpose of building up a wholesale and retailing business. The business of Henderson & Punderson, which was established in 1836, was purchased, and the new firm of Strong & Armstrong opened business in the old place, No. 199 Superior street. At first the business was carried on in a limited way, the total of jobbing and retail sales for the first year amounting to but $75,000. But the partners were young, energetic, and full of hope. They pushed their trade vigorously, attended closely to the details of the business, and mingled enterprise with prudent economy so well that they were soon gratified at finding their business annually growing larger and more profitable. In less than ten years their trade has grown from about $75,000 in a year to over $600,000, and their limited establishment so enlarged as to require the services of twenty-four a.s.sistants. The business, though large, has been managed with such care and prudence as to render losses very light and litigation almost wholly unnecessary.

s.h.i.+p Building

For years Cleveland has been the princ.i.p.al s.h.i.+p building port on the lakes. Of late the s.h.i.+p building interest here has shared the depression felt by it throughout the Union, but it is still an important interest, and before long will probably resume its activity.

The first vessel reported built in the vicinity of Cleveland was the Zephyr, thirty tons burthen, built by Mr. Carter, in 1808, for the trade of the village. The precise spot of her building is not recorded. She was burned at Conjocketa Creek, near Black Rock. The next was the Ohio, of sixty tons, built by Murray and Bixby, in 1810, and launched from the East bank of the river near the spot now occupied by Pett.i.t & Holland's warehouse. She was sailed by John Austen and afterwards became a gunboat in Perry's fleet, but took no part in the battle of Lake Erie, being absent on special service.

In 1813, Levi Johnson built the Pilot. The story of her construction and launch has already been told in the sketch of Levi Johnson's life. In that sketch also will be found the account of most of the early s.h.i.+p building of Cleveland, he being the princ.i.p.al s.h.i.+p builder of the pioneer days.

In 1821, Philo Taylor built the Prudence, which was launched on the river opposite where the New England block now stands.

In 1826, John Blair built the Macedonian, of sixty tons, and in the same year the Lake Serpent, forty tons, was built by Captain Bartiss and sailed by him.

The first steamboat built in Cleveland was the Enterprise, built by Levi Johnson in 1826, but not floated into the lake until the following year.

The enterprise of s.h.i.+p building pursued a steady course in Cleveland for a number of years, a few vessels being added annually, until about the year 1853, when the business took a sudden start and made rapid progress. For the next few years the s.h.i.+p yards were busy and the s.h.i.+p building interest was one of the most important branches of the business of the city. In 1856, a total of thirty-seven lake crafts, sail and steam, was reported built, having a tonnage of nearly sixteen thousand tons. During the past twenty years, nearly five hundred vessels of all kinds, for lake navigation, have been built in the district of Cuyahoga, and of these all but a small proportion were built in Cleveland. The description of vessels built has greatly altered during that time, the size of the largest cla.s.s having more than trebled. During the year 1868, there were built in this port four propellers, one steamer and three schooners, with an aggregate of 3,279 tons. This is much less in number and tonnage than in some previous years, but still gives Cleveland the lead in the s.h.i.+p building of the lakes. The absorption of the flats on the lower part of the river for railroad and manufacturing purposes, and for lumber yards, has seriously incommoded the s.h.i.+p building interests by restricting the s.p.a.ce available for s.h.i.+p yards.

In the division of the s.h.i.+p building business of the lakes in past years, the construction of large side-wheel steamers was princ.i.p.ally carried on at Buffalo, whilst in first cla.s.s propellers and sailing vessels Cleveland immeasurably distanced all compet.i.tors, both in the quant.i.ty and quality of the craft turned out. As the demand for side-wheel steamers lessened, the site of their construction was removed from Buffalo to Detroit.

Cleveland-built propellers, however, take front rank, and Cleveland-built sail vessels have found their way over every part of the lake chain, sailed down the Atlantic coast from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to South American ports, and crossing the Atlantic, have penetrated nearly every European sea. Everywhere they have done credit to their builders by their speed, sea worthiness, and excellent construction.

Just here it is proper to place, on record the history of an attempt to establish a direct trade with Europe, which gave abundant promise of good results, both to the commercial and s.h.i.+p building interests of the city.

It has already been referred to in this work, but it appropriately falls within the scope of this sketch.

In the year 1856, the schooner Dean Richmond, of 379 tons, was built by Quayle & Martin in Cleveland, for C. J. Kershaw, of Chicago. This vessel was loaded with wheat and under the command of Capt. D. C. Pierce, sailed from Chicago to Liverpool. She arrived in good time, having made a quick pa.s.sage, and astonished the English people by her rig, and from the fact of her having come from the inland lakes of America to Europe. The schooner was sold in Liverpool, and her new owners changed her name to the Belina, and placed her in the trade between Liverpool and Brazil, on which route she made quick and successful trips.

In 1857, the same builders turned out the barque c.J. Kershaw, of 380 tons burthen, having built her for Capt. D. G. Pierce, who was the pioneer captain in the trade. The Kershaw was loaded with staves, cedar posts and black walnut lumber. In the Fall, she started on her return with a load of crockery and iron, but was twice driven back by terrific gales and had to go into dock for repairs. This brought her into St. Lawrence river so late, that she was frozen in the Lachine Ca.n.a.l. Early in 1858, she arrived in Cleveland with her cargo in excellent order and to the perfect satisfaction of the consignees.

About the time that the Kershaw was launched, a small British schooner, the Madeira Pet of 123 tons, came from Liverpool through the rivers and lakes to Chicago, with a cargo of hardware, cutlery, gla.s.s, &c., on speculation. The enterprise was not successful, and no more attempts were made to establish a direct trade between Chicago and European ports.

During the Spring and Summer of 1858, several of the leading business men of Cleveland entered with vigor into the trade, and a respectable fleet of vessels was dispatched to European ports. A new barque, the D. C. Pierce, was built for Messrs. Pierce & Barney and sent to Liverpool with a cargo of staves and black walnut lumber. The same parties sent the C. J. Kershaw to London with a similar cargo, and the Chieftain and Black Hawk, with the same kind of freight. Mr. T. P. Handy sent the R. H. Harmon with staves and black walnut lumber to Liverpool, the D. B. s.e.xton with a similar cargo to London, and the J. F. Warner with a cargo of the same kind to Glasgow. Mr.

H. E. Howe sent the new barque H. E. Howe to London with a cargo of staves and lumber. Col. N. M. Standart sent the Correspondent to Liverpool with a load of wheat, and Mr. C. Reis freighted the Harvest to Hamburgh with a cargo of lumber, staves and fancy woods. This made a fleet of ten vessels, owned and freighted by Cleveland merchants, with a total tonnage of about 3,600 tons. Two vessels were sent out from Detroit with similar cargoes, but the enterprise was pre-eminently a Cleveland one.

All of the Cleveland fleet disposed of their cargoes to good advantage.

Six of them returned with cargoes of crockery, bar iron, pig iron, and salt. This part of the trip also proved successful. It was the intention of the owners to sell some of the vessels in England, but the s.h.i.+pping interests were so prostrated that it was impossible to dispose of the s.h.i.+ps at anything like a fair price. They therefore still remained in the hands of Cleveland owners, but four of them did not return to the Lakes.

The D. B. s.e.xton went up the Mediterranean; the H. E. Howe went on a voyage to South America, the Harvest to the West Indies, and the C. J.

Kershaw was employed in the Mediterranean trade. Wherever any of the Cleveland vessels went, they called forth complimentary remarks by their fleetness and steadiness in heavy weather.

In the following year, other vessels were sent out and made successful trips. The remarkable sea-going qualities exhibited by these lake-built crafts, outsailing, as they did, ocean clippers and weathering gales that sent sea-going s.h.i.+ps flying helpless before the storm, attracted the attention of Eastern s.h.i.+p-owners, and orders were received for vessels to be built for the Atlantic coasting trade. The outbreak of the war gave a severe check to the direct trade, which pa.s.sed into the hands of an English firm who still continue to run vessels between Cleveland and Liverpool, and in the depressed condition of the American carrying trade on the ocean there was no longer a demand for new vessels for the coasting trade. With a revival of business in that line, and an enlargement of the ca.n.a.ls between Lake Erie and tidewater, so as to allow the pa.s.sage of larger vessels, there is a probability that a brisk demand for Cleveland vessels for the salt water will yet spring up.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Respectfully, S. W. Johnson]

Seth W. Johnson.

The name of Seth W. Johnson has for more than thirty years been closely and prominently identified with the s.h.i.+p building interests of Cleveland. He saw the business in its infancy, was largely accessory to its growth into the important proportions it at last a.s.sumed, and though no longer engaged in the business, his withdrawal from it is so recent that the mention of his name suggests, to those familiar with the affairs of the city for a number of years, the incessant tapping of the s.h.i.+pwrights' hammers and visions of skeleton s.h.i.+ps gradually a.s.suming the form and substance in which they are to carry the commerce of the great West to market.

Mr. Johnson was a native of Middle Haddam, Middles.e.x County, Connecticut, his mother, who died October 17, 1868, being formerly Miss Mary Whitmore, born at Middletown, Middles.e.x County, Connecticut, in 1780, and his father, Henry Johnson, born in 1776, and died July 6, 1869. Seth W.

Johnson was the second son and third child of a family of nine, all of whom, with both father and mother, were alive on the 16th of October, 1868, the oldest child being then about sixty-one years old, and the youngest over forty.

Young Johnson worked with his father a short time as a farmer, but not feeling in his element in the plow field or in the cow yard, he followed the bent of his mechanical tastes, and engaged himself to work in a s.h.i.+p yard. He commenced work in this line when about fourteen years old, and served out his full apprentices.h.i.+p of seven years, when he set up in business for himself, taking full charge of the work of finis.h.i.+ng s.h.i.+ps.

This he carried on for three years with considerable success.

But New England, he rightly judged, was too narrow a field for the young man who wished to improve his prospects and with narrow means lay the foundation of a liberal competence. The West offered the most promise, and to the West he accordingly came, taking his kit of tools with him. Landing in Cleveland in the Fall of 1834, he satisfied himself that here was the proper place for the exercise of his knowledge and abilities, and here, accordingly, he prepared to make his home. Before settling down to steady business in Cleveland he made a trip to Perrysburgh, on the Maumee, where he a.s.sisted in finis.h.i.+ng the Commodore Perry. This work done he returned to Cleveland in the Spring of 1835, and opened his s.h.i.+p yard, at first confining himself to the repair of vessels. But soon he was called on to build as well as repair. The steamboat Constellation was completed by him at Black River, and the steamboat Robert Fulton, built at Cleveland by Griffith, Standart & Co.

In 1844, Mr. Johnson a.s.sociated with him Mr. E. Tisdale, and the firm of Johnson & Tisdale acquired honorable fame as s.h.i.+p builders along the entire chain of lakes and beyond. The copartners.h.i.+p lasted nineteen years.

Before the formation of this partners.h.i.+p, Mr. Tisdale had commenced the building of a railway for docking vessels, and this was the first firm to lift vessels for the purpose of repairing them. With his first work, in 1835, in Cleveland, he commenced the acquisition of vessel property, and steadily pursued the policy of taking this kind of stock, until he became a large s.h.i.+p owner as well as s.h.i.+p builder.

The discovery of the mineral resources of the Lake Superior region attracted a large number of people to that locality, the only feasible means of communication with which was by lake. The Saut rapids prevented the a.s.sent of vessels from the lower lakes, and to meet the requirements of the trade that suddenly sprung into existence two vessels were built on Lake Superior, the freights being carried across the portage around the rapids. These vessels being insufficient for the needs, it became a question whether others could not be taken across the portage from below and launched on the waters of the upper lake. Messrs. Johnson & Tisdale thought it could be done, and took the contract for thus transporting the schooner Swallow and steamer Julia Palmer. They were hauled two miles on greased slides or ways and safely launched on the bosom of the "father of lakes." The undertaking was considered one of great difficulty, if not of absolute impossibility, and its success gave Messrs. Johnson & Tisdale widespread notoriety.

When the first considerable fleet of Lake-built vessels left Cleveland for European ports direct--as already described in this volume--Mr. Johnson took one of his vessels, loaded with staves. She made a successful voyage, remained in Europe two years, engaged in the coasting trade, and then returned. His strange looking craft attracted considerable attention among the skippers of about forty sea-going vessels wind bound at the same time at the Land's End, and much ridicule was thrown on her odd looks, so unlike the English salt water s.h.i.+pping. But the laugh came in on the other side when her superior sailing qualities enabled her to run so close to the wind as to quickly double the point, make her port, unload and reload, and sail for another voyage before one of the others could beat around the Land's End and get in. Since that time he has sold two vessels, the Vanguard and Howell Hoppeck, to be placed by other parties in the direct line between Cleveland and Liverpool.

Mr. Johnson has taken considerable interest in matters outside of the s.h.i.+p building business, but which aided in developing the trade and increasing the prosperity of Cleveland. He aided in the formation of some of the railroad enterprises of the city although he has now withdrawn his interests from all but one. He also was interested in the Commercial Insurance Company, but has retired from active business and devotes his whole care to the management of his property, which has been added to by large investments in real estate in various portions of the Southern States.

He was married July 15, 1840, to Miss A. S. Norton of Middle Haddam, Conn., the native place of both, and by the marriage has had three children. The oldest, a daughter, died when seven years old; the two sons are still living, the oldest being engaged in the coffee and tea business in Buffalo, N. Y., with his father; the other at present being in North Carolina engaged in the lumber trade.

With commendable prudence Mr. Johnson has known when to quit active business and enjoy the fruits of his labor while he has a healthy mind and body capable of enjoying it, and which, without accident, he undoubtedly will have for many years to come. Hard work and close attention to business have been the cause of his success, and hence he will be able to appreciate the blessings of an ample competency. In social life Mr. Johnson is looked upon as a man of genial temperament, kindly disposition, and strong social qualities. He is universally respected by all who know him.

Thomas Quayle.

The names of Quayle and Martin are as familiar in the mouths of vessel men on the lakes as household words. The firm attained honorable prominence in the s.h.i.+p building records of Cleveland, and their work is among the best that floats upon the western waters.

Thomas Quayle, the senior member of the firm of Quayle & Martin, was born in the Isle of Man, May 9th, 1811, and came to America in 1827, coming straight to Cleveland, where he has remained ever since. He learned his trade of s.h.i.+p building from Mr. Church, of Huron, Ohio, who enjoyed an excellent reputation in that line. After working as journeyman till 1847, he formed a copartners.h.i.+p with John Codey, and at once started business.

This firm lasted about three years, during which time, among other work, they built a vessel named the Caroline, and another, the Shakespeare. When the last named was completed, the California fever had just broken out.

Mr. Codey caught the disease, the firm dissolved, and he went off to the land of gold. Mr. Quayle soon after a.s.sociated himself with Luther Moses, with whom he did business for about two years, during which time they did an almost incredible amount of business, considering the short s.p.a.ce of time, having from six to seven vessels on the stocks at once, and turning out two sets a year. One year after Mr. Moses left the firm a copartners.h.i.+p was formed with John Martin.

The new firm at once went into business on a large scale. From the time of their organization to the present, the firm built seventy-two vessels, comprising brigs, schooners, barques, tugs, and propellers. In one year they built thirteen vessels, and eight vessels, complete, in a year has been no unfrequent task successfully performed. Among others, they built the barque W. T. Graves, which carried the largest cargo of any fresh water vessel afloat. The propeller Dean Richmond is another of their build, and is also one of the largest on the lakes; besides these, four first cla.s.s vessels built for Mr. Frank Perew, deserve mention as giving character to Cleveland s.h.i.+p building. They are named the Mary E. Perew, D. P. Dobbin, Chandler J. Wells, and J. G. Marston. Besides the building of vessels, they have for some years been owners of vessels, and are at present interested in several large craft. The firm of Quayle & Martin recently finished a new tug of their own, the J. H. Martin intended to be used by them in the port of Erie.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Yours Respectfully, Thomas Quayle]

Mr. Quayle was married in 1835, to Eleanor Cannon, of the Isle of Man, by whom he has had eleven children, of whom seven are living. The eldest son, Thomas, is s.h.i.+p builder by trade, and is still connected with the vessel interests, though not building them. W. H. is also of the same trade as his father, and engaged with him, as is also Geo. L. Chas. E. has been a number of years with Alcott & Horton.