Part 9

In the Spring of 1863, soon after his retirement from business, he went to England with the intention of staying a year or two and then returning to enjoy the remainder of his life in ease in this country. Whilst in England he paid a visit to some friends in Southampton, and whilst taking a bath in a movable bathing-house on the beach, probably was seized with cramp and suffocated by water getting into his lungs. The news of his death caused a painful shock in business, social, and religious circles, where he had been so well known and so highly esteemed.

For a long term of years Mr. Walton was the presiding officer of the St. George's Society of Cleveland, and that benevolent institution owed its usefulness in great measure to his indefatigable zeal in the cause, and to his unstinted liberality. To the distressed of any nation he never turned a deaf ear, but to the needy and suffering of his native country he was ever liberal, and accompanied his unostentatious charities with kind words and manifestations of sincere interest that were frequently as beneficial to the recipient as the money itself. He was also a valued member of the Masonic Order.

In religious belief he was an Episcopalian, and was long one of the leading members of Trinity Church. His devotion was unaffectedly sincere, and though he made no vaunt of his religious principles or hopes, there could be no question of his deep, earnest convictions. Kind, courteous, ever thinking of the good of others, and wholly unselfish, Mr. Walton was a good specimen of the true Christian gentleman.

Although of English birth, and clinging affectionately to all that reminded him of his native land, he was a thorough supporter of American institutions, and an admirer of the American character. Deeply and warmly as he loved the land of his birth, his affection was even stronger for the land of his adoption, and it was his purpose to have returned from his visit to his boyhood's home and settle down in peaceful content in the chosen home of his manhood, until death should lay him in an American grave. When the war broke out he was an earnest and unshrinking supporter of the Government, and his means were freely used for its support, and for the comfort of the soldiers who were fighting its battles. Though alien born, and associated intimately with people of like birth, there was no native American that could surpass him in love for the Union, and few that exceeded him, in proportion to his means, in contributions to the defence of the Union.

In the language of his favorite Shakespeare, it might be said of him

His life was gentle, and the elements So mixed in him, that nature might stand up And say to all the world, _This was a man_!

George Worthington.

Prominent among the business firms of Cleveland, is that of George Worthington & Co., a house which stands in the front rank both on account of the business done, and of its integrity and honorable dealing.

Mr. Worthington, the founder and head of the firm, was born in Cooperstown, N. Y., September 21st, 1813. He received a good common school education, and then entered on a business career by becoming clerk in a hardware store in Utica, in 1830, remaining in that position until 1834, when he came to Cleveland and commenced business as a hardware dealer on his own account. His first store was on the corner of Superior and Union lane, on the site of the clothing store of Isaac A. Isaacs, and the first goods received by him were drawn by oxen owned by a man who did all the carting at that time. Cleveland was then but a small town, and most of the trading was done with the teamsters that came from Wooster and other points south, bringing pork, grain, and other products, and taking back merchandise. Trade was brisk, but cash scarce, nearly all the operations being more in the nature of barter than of purchase and sale.

After remaining three years in his first store, he removed to the corner of Water and Superior streets, on the site of the present National Bank building, and in that location he remained thirty years, during which time he witnessed the growth of Cleveland from a small town to a large and prosperous city.

When he had been established about fifteen years, Mr. Worthington began rapidly to enlarge his business, and he associated with him Mr. James Barnett and Mr. Edward Bingham, at present members of the firm. About that time they commenced wholesaling, and gradually built up a business from five thousand dollars the first year, to a million dollars. This, however, involved a vast amount of labor, and an indomitable determination to succeed by driving business. Mr. Worthington, in the absence of railroads or other public conveyance, traveled through the adjacent townships and counties on horseback, introducing his wares, and obtaining orders which would be filled by the carriers' wagons.

Railroads revolutionized trade and gave an impetus to everything, and establishments that were on a firm footing before were prepared to take advantage of circumstances. This was the case with Mr. Worthington. His wholesale business has grown enormously, especially since 1860.

About 1862, Mr. Worthington projected the Cleveland Iron and Nail Works, and, in connection with Mr. W. Bingham, matured the plans and got the works into successful operation in about one year from broaching the project, the work turned out being of the best quality. The owners of the works can sell readily all they make, and furnish active and steady employment for about two hundred men.

Mr. Worthington has also been extensively interested in blast furnaces and coal mining, in the vicinity of Cleveland, and has been very successful in them also.

At the present time the Cleveland Iron and Nail Company is erecting the first blast furnace within the city limits, calculated for a capacity of about three hundred tons per week. The firm have also built works on their grounds for the manufacture of gas pipe, which have been in successful operation for about a year, with the exception of a delay caused by a fire. This is an important work in a city so rapidly growing as Cleveland, and will retain many thousand of dollars formerly sent to Philadelphia and other points.

On the passage of the National Bank Law, Mr. Worthington and a number of other capitalists of the city, organized the First National Bank of Cleveland, with a capital of four hundred thousand dollars, which has been very successful. Mr. Worthington was elected president on its organization, and still retains the office. He is a director of the Ohio Savings and Loan Bank, of this city. He is also largely interested in the local Insurance interests; vice-president of the Sun, and also interested in the Cleveland and Commercial, and is a director of the Hahnemann Life Insurance Company. He is also president of the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, one of the most successful organizations of the kind in the country.

No one man, probably, has done more towards building up the business portion of the city than has Mr. Worthington. His first building was erected on the corner of Ontario and St. Clair streets, now occupied by H. Johnson. Since that time he has erected fifty dwelling-houses, and fourteen stores.

In 1840, he was married to Miss Maria C. Blackmar, of Cleveland, by the Rev. Dr. Aiken. Of the marriage six children have been born, two sons and four daughters, all living. The oldest son, Ralph, is now a member of the firm.

In 1862, Mr. Worthington became interested in the wholesale dry goods business in New York City, and has been quite successful in the enterprise.

Mr. Worthington is a good specimen of a self-made man, who was not spoiled in the making. Hard work did not harden his character, nor has prosperity turned his head. Coming to Cleveland without a dollar, he has built up a large fortune by sheer hard work, close application to business and strict business habits. He at the same time built up a fine reputation by his integrity of character and scrupulous honesty in his dealings. At fifty-six years of age, his health is now, as it has always been, remarkably good; he has never been detained from business on account of sickness.

N. E. Crittenden.

One of the best known names in this city, to new as well as old citizens, is that of N. E. Crittenden. For very many years his jewelry establishment has been a landmark in the business district "on the hill," and the greater part of the population, for about forty years, have taken their time from his clock.

Mr. Crittenden is a Massachusetts Yankee in birth and pedigree, having been born at Conway, July 25th, 1804. In his earlier years he received a good common school education, and at the age of eighteen was bound apprentice to the jewelry and watch-making business, serving four years at Geneva, N. Y., and then removing to Batavia, where he was employed two years at the trade, and in Albany one year. In the latter city he married Miss Mary A. Ogden, soon after the ceremony moving to Batavia, where, however, he made but a short stay. He had determined on setting up on his own account, and Batavia presented no opening for him. That land of hope and promise, the West, tempted him as it had tempted others, and with five hundred dollars in jewelry, purchased on credit, he started westward in search of a place in which to turn his jewelry into cash.

Taking vessel at Buffalo he came to Cleveland, but there was no harbor, and the vessel stopped outside to land any passengers for that place, and then resumed her trip. Mr. Crittenden concluded not to end his voyage until he had gone farther, and stuck by the ship until he reached Detroit, where he landed and investigated with a view to settling. The prospect was not inviting. In order to do business there it was necessary to understand and speak Canadian French, and Mr. Crittenden's acquirements in that direction were not extensive. Detroit was clearly no place for him.

Whilst roaming around the place he fell in with Mr. Walbridge, who was seeking a location to open a dry goods business. He too was dissatisfied with the inducements Detroit offered, and had almost resolved to abandon the attempt and go home. Mr. Crittenden had reached the same conclusion, and the two took the boat on the return trip, thoroughly disenchanted with the business prospects of the West. When the boat reached Cleveland they concluded to land and take a look at the place before they utterly turned their backs on the western country.

It was in September, 1826. The village was pleasantly situated, and the location impressed the strangers favorably. The houses had an appearance of thrift and comfort, and there was an air of New England enterprise about the settlement that confirmed the good impression formed at the approach. Mr. Crittenden turned to his companion and announced his determination to go no farther; he had found the object of his search. That he might satisfy himself of the probable future of the settlement he got a conveyance and rode into the country to see what were the surroundings of the embryo city. As he passed up through the street his ears were saluted with drum and fife, the people were all out in their holiday clothes, and teams, loaded with old folks and young folks, were coming into town, for it was "general training." The farther he rode and the more he saw, the more firmly he became convinced that here was to be his future home, and before long his five hundred dollars' worth of jewelry found purchasers among the lads and lasses, and some of the older folks, of Cleveland.

His first store occupied the site of his present store on Superior street, and here, in a little building, he opened his original stock. The land he subsequently purchased of Levi Johnson, through the medium of Leonard Case, the purchase money being one thousand dollars for twenty-eight feet, with three years' time in which to make the payments. The exorbitant price horrified some of the old settlers, and one of them gravely shook his head, announcing his firm belief that such a sum of money for such a bit of land would turn Levi Johnson's head with unlooked for prosperity. The price would scarcely be called high in the present day, when land then considered far away in the distant country sells readily at higher rates. In the spring of 1827, having secured his store and sold out most of his original stock, he started East to make his first purchases and to bring his wife to Cleveland. His friends were surprised and gratified at his early return on such an errand. With his wife he brought some housekeeping articles, among other things the third carpet ever brought to the settlement.

In 1833, he had so far succeeded in business as to warrant his tearing down the old store and building in its stead a store and dwelling combined. Great was the admiration of the people at this building and it was considered a just source of pride by the people of Cleveland, for to the store was an open front, the first seen in the place, and to the private entrance to the dwelling was attached the first door-bell in Cleveland. The glass front and the tingling bell were unfailing sources of attraction until others adopted the novelty and public curiosity became sated. The building was well known to all who lived in the city previous to 1865, for it remained until, at that date, it had to give way to the larger, more elegant, and far more costly structure.

In 1843, Mr. Crittenden purchased the Giddings place, on the north side of the Public Square, with the stone residence on it, then considered an elegant mansion. The price paid for the lot, house and furniture was ten thousand dollars--a high price as rates then were, but marvellously cheap now. To that house he removed his family from over his store, and lived there twenty-five years, when it was turned over to business purposes.

About the year 1853, he erected the fine business block on Water street, now occupied by Stillson, Leek & Doering, at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars. In 1868, he put up the handsome block on the same street that is occupied by Childs & Co. The cost of this was not less than forty thousand dollars, and it is a decided ornament to the street. The purchase of the land and the erection of those elegant blocks, in addition to the one occupied by his own business, furnish sufficient evidence of the prosperity of his jewelry business, the regular stock of which has grown from an investment of five hundred dollars to one of more than a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.

But it must not be supposed that this prosperity was uninterrupted throughout Mr. Crittenden's business life. There were dark storms which threatened disastrous wreck, and nothing but stead-fastness of purpose and force of character brought him through. In 1836 the financial tornado swept over the land and stripped nearly every business man bare. When the storm was at its height Mr. Crittenden found himself with fifty thousand dollars of New York debts past due, and without the money to pay them. Collections were cut off, and whilst he was thus unable to raise the means from his debtors, his creditors were likewise stopped from pouncing upon him. Other men in like condition were compounding with their creditors, and thus getting out of their difficulties by partial repudiation. Mr. Crittenden declined to avail himself of the opportunity, and, in course of time, his creditors were paid in full, though that result was brought about by years of toil, of steady, persistent application to business, of shrewd financiering, and of rigid economy.

In his early days in Cleveland he was chosen one of the village trustees. In 1828, when he held that office, and Richard Hilliard was president of the Board of Trustees, the members gathered one afternoon in an office and voted an appropriation of two hundred dollars to put the village in proper order. Great was the outcry at this wastefulness, on the part of some of the tax payers. One of the old citizens, who yet lives, met Mr. Crittenden and wanted to know what on earth the trustees could find in the village to spend two hundred dollars about. At a later date, when Cleveland was a city and Mr. Crittenden a member of the Council, it was voted to appropriate ten thousand dollars to protect the lake front from encroachments by the lake. Again was Mr. Crittenden met and upbraided for his extravagance in municipal affairs, such conduct tending to bankrupt the city.

It is Mr. Crittenden's pride that he has had no serious litigation, his care in making contracts having saved him the unpleasant necessity of resorting to legal means to compel his debtors to fulfil their obligations. But whilst looking thus sharply after his own interests, avarice or parsimony has formed no part of his character, and he has been liberal according to his means.

William A. Otis.

William A. Otis was one of those pioneer business men, who settled in Ohio during the dark times which followed the war of 1812. He was one of those to whom we owe much, but of whom the present generation know little; who without capital or education gave an impetus to the Western settlement, by integrity, personal energy, economy, and good sense. By force of character alone, which was their only capital, they wrought such wonders that the wilderness was literally transposed into fruitful fields.

Mr. Otis left his paternal home in Massachusetts, about the year 1818, on foot, to seek a home in the West. Having reached Johnstown, in the Allegheny Mountains, he hired for a few months as man of all work, in an iron establishment, and thence set forward, travelling as before, by way of Pittsburgh, to the township of Bloomfield, in Trumbull county, Ohio. His physical constitution was equal to the labors of a new country, which had nothing to recommend it but a rich soil, and which required above all things perseverance and hard work. He cleared land, furnished the settlers with goods, for which they paid in ashes, or wheat, and kept a comfortable tavern for the accommodation of travelers. The ashes were manufactured by himself into "black salts" or impure potash, more often styled "Pots," which was the only strictly cash article in the country. It was necessary to haul the casks of potash to the mouth of Beaver river, or to Pittsburgh, from whence they drifted on flat boats down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans, and from thence were shipped to New York. Much of the teaming he did himself.

The "Pots" were exchanged at Pittsburgh for goods, or if shipped furnished a credit for the purchases, with which his wagon was loaded, on the return to Bloomfield. Currency did not in those days enter into the course of trade, because there was barely enough of it in the country to pay taxes. Mr. Otis was frequently obliged to furnish his customers with cash for this purpose. When the Erie Canal was finished to Buffalo, the wheat of the settlers on the Reserve, for the first time, became a cash article. They had an abundance of grain, which they were glad to dispose of at twenty-five cents a bushel, payable principally in goods. The canal furnished a better outlet for potash than the river. Mr. Otis determined to try a venture in flour at New York, which he considered the first lot sent there from the Reserve.

There were no flour barrels, and no coopers, at Bloomfield, but a few miles north towards the lake there was a good custom grist mill. He went into the woods, cut an oak tree, set his men to saw it into blocks of the right length, from which the rough staves were split. The wheat which his customers brought in, was stored at the mill and ground. When the cooper stuff was seasoned, the barrels were made, rough enough, but strong, and his stock of flour and potash hauled through the mud thirty-five miles to the mouth of Ashtabula creek. A schooner was at anchor outside, and as soon as his venture was on board, he took passage with it to Buffalo, and by canal to New York. The New York dealers were surprised and gratified, for they perceived at once the capacity of a new country on the shores of Lake Erie, of which they had hitherto only known in theory, not in practical results. In quality the flour was not behind that of the Genesee country, which seemed a wonder in their eyes. They purchased it readily and offered every encouragement to the trade and the trader. In process of time, wool and pork were added to the staples for the New York market. It was by this course of incessant activity during near twenty years of country business, coupled with a sure judgment, that Mr. Otis gradually acquired a moderate money capital. In 1835 or 1836, he came to this city, with his hard earned experience in traffic, and with more ready cash than most of our produce dealers then possessed, and entered upon a wider field of enterprise. He continued to purchase and sell the old class of articles, pork, flour and potash, to which iron soon became an important addition. His capital and experience brought him at once into connection with many public enterprises, which became necessary to an expanding country, especially such as relate to transportation. One of the earliest tumpikes in northeastern Ohio was made through Bloomfield, from Warren to Ashtabula. Steamers made their appearance on Lake Erie, and the Ohio canal extended navigation into the interior. In all these auxiliaries to trade in the heavy products of the country, Mr. Otis had a friendly interest, and when railways began to be discussed he saw their value at once. Finally, after his usual deliberation, he decided that the manufacture of iron was a safe and profitable business at Cleveland; he became the pioneer iron master of the place, with the usual result of his operations--a large profit on his investment.

This example and success laid the foundation of iron manufactures here. It required something more than the talents of a shrewd country merchant, or of a mere money lender, to foresee the coming wants of trade in a growing State, to invest in its banks, railroads and manufactures, and to render all these investments profitable. With his increase in wealth there was in Mr. Otis no increase of display, and no relaxation of the economy of early life, but an increasing liberality in public charities, particularly those connected with religion. When compared with the briskness of modern traffic he was slow and cautious; but having finally reached a conclusion he never flagged in the pursuit of his plans. He belonged to a past generation, but to a class of dealers whose judgment and perseverance built up the business of the country on a sure basis. In the midst of a speculative community in flush times, he appeared to be cold, dilatory, and over cautions, but he saw more clearly and further into the future of a business than younger and more impulsive minds, who had less experience in its revulsions.

For a number of years previous to his death Mr. Otis was largely interested in the banking business of the city. He took a prominent part in the organization of the State Bank of Ohio, was the originator of the Society for Savings in Cleveland, and was for thirteen years its president, and at the time of his death was president of the Commercial National Bank. He was also connected with the banking firm of Wicks, Otis & Brownell.