The history of the young Peter and his descendants is very faithfully recorded for us by J. N. Webster, of Cleveland, Ohio, who has a relationship to the family.
Peter Martin Weddell (3) was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in 1787, theonly child of Peter (2) by his second wife, Sarah Martin. His father, by his first wife, _ Prichard,had three children, Jesse, Joseph and Lydia. They are named in the will of P. M. Weddell (3) as half brothers and sister, the latter described as married to James Montgomery. P. M. Weddell (3) was a posthumous son. His mother, Sarah, afterwards married Ezekiel Woods, and they together with P. M. Weddell (3) then fourteen years old, moved to Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky, where Peter found work in a store, and when nineteen years old became a partner of his employer. About 1812 he moved to Newark,.Licking County, Ohio, and became a trader there. The land records of that county contained an allotment or Newark addition of lots made by him while in business there. His mother, after her marriage to Ezekiel Woods, had a son, Ezekiel S., born in Washington County, Penna. December 25, 1791, who came to Newark in May, 1~8, with a stock of general merchandise and conducted a country store for eighteen years, also owning and working a farm near the village, on which he specialized in raising blooded cattle. He later became a dealer in real estate.
As Mr. Weddell and is brother Ezekiel were during their lives very fond of each other, it is worth while to briefly record here somewhat of Ezekiel's family. He died in Newark February 7, 1880; had married September 11, 1823 Sarah J. Burnham, of Zanesville, Ohio, who was born November 20, 1800 and died April 17, 1841. They had four children, William B., Charles R., Mary B., and Eliza W. His second wife was Harriet Warner Munson, of Granville, Ohio.
Wm. B. Woods, graduate of Yale College in 1845. Lawyer. Mayor of Newark; Speaker of Ohio Legislature; Colonel in Civil War from 1861 to its close; with General Sherman in his "March to the Sea"; brevet Major General; appointed in 1869 Judge, 5th Circuit U. S. Court, comprising Louisiana and other Southern States; then Associate Justice U. S. Supreme Court. He died in 1887.
Charles R. Woods graduated from West Point; also served through the Civil War and became Major General by brevet.
Mary B. Woods married George W. Manypenny, of Zanesville, Ohio, and later of Columbus, Ohio.
Eliza W. Woods married William Warner of Newark. He also served throughthe Civil War and afterward became a U.S. Senator.
Our Mr. Weddell, while in Newark, met Sophia 1. Perry of Cleveland, Ohio. She had been sent to Newark to attend school and also to escape the dangers during the War of 1812 that Cleveland villagers might be exposed to. They were married in November 1815. She was the daughter of Nathan Perry Sr., was born in 1792 and died on December 23, 1823. a few days after the birth of her son, Horace Perry Weddell. Her mother, also Sophia L., was the daughter of a Vermont clergyman. She died in 1836. A local record of her death states "She was a very dignified woman somewhat austere in manner". Her father, Nathan Perry, Sr., born in Connecticut in 1760, a soldier in the American Revolution, was with Moses Cleaveland and his surveying party in 1796, coming from an earlier home in Western New York, and in 1806 brought is family to Cleveland to remain. He served as an Associate Justice of the first Common Pleas Court, held in Cleveland in 1810 He died in 1813. He also left two sons, born in Connecticut, Horace and Nathan Jr. Horace was the first Recorder of Cleveland Village. in 1815, its President in 1820, County Clerk in 1823 and Incorporator of the Cleveland and Newberg Railroad in 1834. He became a large land owner and he and Nathan were two of the "twenty eight gentlemen who created a Body Corporate and Politic under the name of First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland, January 5, 1827". This is now called the Old Stone Church and stands where its first meeting house was built, fronting the Public Square. It is still vigorous and progressive. Cherished and supported by the descendants of its founders, it contributes more than its share to the social and religious welfare of the city.
Their mother was one of sixteen who in 1820 had formed the second Sunday School and Church in Cleveland. They worshiped in the Log Court House on the Public Square until incorporated as above stated. Horace died in the spring of 1835. It is worthy of notice that Ezekiel Woods was also an incorporator of the First Presbyterian Church of Newark, Ohio.
Nathan Perry Jr. was born in Connecticut May 1, 1786, living in Western New York during his boyhood. During this time his father sent. him to live in the Camp of Red Jacket, Chief of the Six Nations or Iroquois, who then were settled near his home, that he might acquire their language and acquaintance as an aid to becoming a fur trader. He learned several dialects and thereby gained great influence with the red men in his later years, when they became frequent visitors to the Cleveland settlement. When he left home in 1804, he established a fur trading post at the mouth of Black River, on Lake Erie, thirty miles west of Cleveland, where since has grown up the city of Lorain with its 50,000 population.He moved to Cleveland in 1808, became its first pioneer merchant, at the corner of Superior and Water (now W 9th St.) Streets. He was the founder of the "Perry Estate" at the corner of Euclid Avenue and N. Perry (now E. 21st) Street. His store site and the greater portion of his home lands are still owned by his direct descendants, and his mansion still remains as built by him. These holdings of real estate are the most extensive and valuable now owned by any one family in the city. He died June 25, 1865, leaving a son, Oliver Hazard, and a daughter Mary, both born in Cleveland, Oliver on April 12, 1817. He was killed December 23, 1864 in an accident on the Cleveland & Pittsburgh R.R., near Hudson, Ohio. He and his cousin, Horace P. Weddell, had planned a shooting trip for that day, but the latter, because of the stormy weather and a bad cold, declined going. Oliver was an avid sportsman and kept a journal of his many expeditions and adventures in Northern Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. It is a very interesting account of his out-door life and has been privately printed by C. W. Bingham,who married one of his nieces.
Mary Perry, who was born in 1818 and died in 1895, was married to Henry B. Payne. He was born in Hamilton, New York in 1810 and came to Cleveland in 1833 to take up the practice of law with Hiram V. Willson as partner, who was afterward appointed by President Buchanan to be the first Judge of the U. S District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. It was in this office that Stephan A. Douglass began his law studies. Mr. Payne was a Union Democrat in his politics.He took a prominent part in the city's government and welfare and made his influence felt in its educational and civic work. At the time of the Tilden-Hayes Controversy in Congress, Mr. Payne. then Representative from Cuyahoga and adjacent counties in Northern Ohio, on January 25, 1877 introduced the Electoral Commission Bill into the House, and with James A. Garfield and other members was made a member of the Commission. During the trial of this famous dispute he served as Council in behalf of Mr. Tilden. Later he was elected and served one term as U. S. Senator from Ohio. He died in 1896. Mr. and Mrs. Payne had six children: Nathan Perry, 1837-1885; Oliver Hazard, 1839-1917; Flora, 1842-1898; Harry Wilson, 1845-1878; Elisha Howard, 1851-1852; and Mary, 1854-1898. The sons died unmarried. Nathan was a large coal mining operator, took great interest in local politics and served as Mayor of Cleveland. Oliver was an original stock-hold in the Standard Oil Co. and its treasurer for more than twenty-five years.He entered Yale College in the class of 1863, attending through Junior Year, and enlisted in the Union Army, September 11, 1862, as Lt. Colonel of the 124th O.V.I., a regiment raised in Cleveland. He became Colonel January 1, 1863, was severely wounded and resigned November 2, 1864. He received his Yale degree as M. A. in 1878. He gave to the Cleveland Medical College $300,000 and bequeathed to Yale $1,000,000. Harry Willson graduated at Yale in 1867 and the Columbia Law School in 1870. Failing in health he went to Mentone, France. seeking a better climate, where he died. Flora married William C. Whitney, roommate of Oliver Payne at Yale. He became a lawyer in New York City, was in Congress with Mr. Payne and was Assistant Council for Mr. Tilden as above referred to He received from Yale the degree of L.L.D. and was Secretary of the Navy under President Cleveland. They had several children well known in New York City. Mary married Charles W. Bingham of Cleveland, graduate of Yale, early resident and hardware merchant. Their children live in Cleveland.
When Peter Weddell began his business career in Cleveland, it was a village of 423 inhabitants and its taxable value of real estate, $21,000. In 1821 he made his first land purchase. It was at the northwest corner of Superior Street and another to be opened called Bank Street (now W. 6th). The lot had a frontage of 36 feet on Superior Street and was 5 rods deep price $400. He from time to time acquired adjoining parcels and then erected a large brick structure called the Washington Block, in which he had his store and also his home until 1833, when he moved to his new mansion on Euclid Road, about one and one half miles from the Public Square. This was the first of spacious design and merit to be gradually followed during seventy years by others, which gave to Cleveland the honor of having the most attractive residence avenue in the United States.
In his first house were born all of his children; Caroline and Laura M.. who both died in infancy; Peter Perry, who was born in 1817 and died in 1839,unmarried; and Horace Perry,who was born in December 1823.
Peter M. Weddell was a devout Christian, both in belief and acts. On coming to Cleveland he identified himself with the little group that formed the First Presbyterian Society, and in 1827 was one of its incorporators and its first treasurer. In 1832 he was one of a building committee to raise the sum of $5,000, for the Society's first home, and one of seven to pay for its present site.The church cost $9,000, not paid in full until 1848. In Kennedy's History of Cleveland, published in 1896, is an accurate picture of it.
Also in 1832 he was a director in the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie, which failed in 1837. but was succeeded by the Merchant's Bank located at the northeast corner of Superior and Bank Streets in its own three story brick building, and its successor is still doing business at the same corner. He was president of the Merchants Bank from 1845 until his death. The capital stock of this bank was $150,000.
In 1836 he was one of five to incorporate the Ohio Railroad Company, to extend from Cleveland to Toledo, with aid promised from the State. Part of it was actually constructed but because of the panic of 1837 the State withdrew its support, defeating the project and "leaving an unpropitious memory". Its right of way is now used by the Lake Shore [Railway], a part of the New York Central System.
In January 1840 he gave $4,000 toward the establishment of Western Reserve College at Huron, Ohio, and to "endow a professorship of Biblical Literature therein".
In the first Directory of the City of Cleveland, l837, opposite the title page is the following full page advertisement, which, historically quaint, is worth pre-serving here:
PETER M. WEDDELL & CO. At the old stand, on the corner of Superior and Bank Streets, (No. 1 Washington Block) so long and so favorably known to the public, keep constantly on hand a very extensive assortment of DRY GOODS consisting in part of Broad Cloths. Cassimeres, Sattinets, Cotton, Linnen and Worested Drillings, Merino Cassimers, Summer Cloths, black and colored Silks, India Satins, Muslin Edgings, thread and bobinet Laces and Edgings, red, white and black Merino Shawls, imitation Cashmeres and raw silk Shawls, Gothic furniture Prints, very fine white and red Flannels, French. English and American calicoes, Bed-ticking, linen and cotton Sheeting and Shirting, double and single Damask, Birdseye and Russia Diaper, Moleskins, Umbrellas, Parasols, &c. &c. Also, a few pieces of very choice CARPETS & RUGS, together with a carefully selected assortment of FAMILY GROCERIES The very best of Teas, Laguira and Old Java Coffee, Sugars. Rice, Raisins, Salaeratus, Mrs. Miller's Tobacco, Honey Dew and Plug 7 years old, Hard Coal, &c. To those who may favor the establishment with a call, we would say, that they may rest assured of fair and honorable dealing. All goods not as good as recommended, will be taken back or ample remuneration will be made; that the prices of their goods are as low as at any other store, and many articles lower than can be found at the stores generally; and finally, after tendering our thanks to our old friends, we would respectfully invite those making purchases in our city, to make us a call, not to buy, unless they think it for their interest, but to inform themselves respecting prices, qualities, &c. &c. PETER M. WEDDELL DUDLEY BALDWIN PETER P. WEDDELL Cleveland, August, 1837
On April 8, 1845 Peter M. began the erection of a hotel in brick and stone, four stories in height, at the corner of Superior and Bank Streets, which, when completed, was the best then existing in the West. A good picture of it is also in Kennedy's History. It was finished early in 1847. He then went to Baltimore to purchase its furniture, and also to lease it to the Barnums, who had a famous hostelry in that city. While returning home. he contracted pneumonia, of which he died May 6, 1847. His remains, as also those of all his family, except his youngest son, Horace Perry, are buried in the old Erie Street Cemetery of Cleveland. His will ,probated May 15 following, contained many bequests to his relatives and to two benevolent institutions $5,000 each, and $1,000 to a third. The remainder, after ample provision for his widow, he devised to Horace, his only heir. His oil portrait, painted by a local artist, Jarvis F. Honks, about 1840, is in the Western Reserve Historical Society of Cleveland, and a wood cut of it in Kennedy's History. His widow was Eliza Anne Owen, 1800-1886, a gentle and cultured woman, much beloved by all who knew her, and regarded by Horace, her step son, as his real mother to whom he gave his sincerest affection. Her portrait. painted by Peale, is in the possession of the family. She was the first daughter of Noah Owen and Elizabeth Gilmore, he a descendant of John Owen, a Welshman who settled in Windsor, Conn. before 1650. Noah Owen, born in Hebron, Conn., February, 1756, served in the Revolutionary Army, studied medicine, married Elizabeth Gilmore of Castleton, Rutland County, Vermont in 1797. The family moved to western N.Y. in 1806 and in 1815 to Newark, Ohio where he died in 1819. He was an Elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Newark in 1818. Miss Owen married first, about 1820, David Bell of Newark who died shortly afterward. He was the first Secretary and Organizer of the First Masonic Lodge of Newark.
In thus tracing briefly the life work of Peter M. Weddell and of Nathan Perry Jr. and adding thereto the name of Leonard Case, first Secretary of the Connecticut Land Company, another founder of the Old Stone Church, the three con be justly considered the original builders of what is today a metropolis of one million people. They brought with them their courage, their perseverance and their religious convictions, and handed down their prosperity to their descendants, who are also today worthy benefactors and leaders in the same community.