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Biographies
Source:
Memorial Record of the County of Cuyahoga and
Cleveland, Ohio
ILLUSTRATED
Publ. Chicago:
The Lewis Publishing Company
1894
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Ranney, Henry C. |
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HARVEY RICE. - An
eminent citizen of Cleveland, in the person of Harvey Rice,
died on the 7th of November, 1871, having completed ninety-one
years and four months of life. He was born at Conway,
Massachusetts, in the last year of the eighteenth century, June
11, 1800. His father was a farmer and he was bereft of his
mother when he was but four years of age.
One of the most precious literary legacies which Mr.
Rice left to his family and friends is a manuscript volume,
written in compliance with the earnest solicitation of a friend,
entitled "Leaflets of a Life-time," and completed in his
eighty-seventh year. It is a beautiful photograph of his
life, his sentiments, his affections, his memory of childhood,
his birth place, and the remembrance of the sad sweet face and
the dying kiss of his mother. A few extracts will
illustrate this record.
"The old frame house in which I was born, through sadly
weather beaten, still survives the assaults of time, of storm,
and of tempest, for the simple reason, I suppose, that it is
literally founded upon a rock, - a rock which, covered with a
thin soil, projects from a hillside, and in its general
appearance resembles the outlines of a giant's chair. When
I last visited the old mansion it has assumed a lonely and
forsaken aspect, a sadness of expression which touched the
better feelings of my nature, and compelled me to turn away with
a sorrowful heart and a tearful eye. The farm consists of
about fifty acres of romantic hill and dale . The rocks, broad
and black crop out in almost every part of it and seem to
contend with the small intervening space of arable land for the
supremacy. The contrast, however, between rock-plat and
grass-plat presents to the eye an agreeable picture, or rather
landscape, penciled here and there with silver rills, whose
waters are as pure and sweet as the nectar of the gods.
"In the distance are seen mountain ranges mantled in
celestial blue seeming like a circular crowd of spectators lost
in silent admiration of the scene. It was here within this
charmed circle that I first saw the light, and here in the
fourth summer of my childhood my mother died. At such an
age the loss of a mother is irreparable. It was a loss
which I did not then appreciate, but which I doubt not gave
directions of the future of my life. Being so young at the
time of her death, I remember but little in relation to her.
The most I can recollect is the expression of tenderness of
which she took her final leave of me and the other members of
the family at her bedside, and the subsequent appearance which
her funeral procession presented to my childish eye as it wound
its way slowly over the hills to the rural graveyard in which
her remains were deposited. It was said by those best
acquainted with her, that she was not only an exemplary lady but
that she possessed for those times unusual literary attainments,
and for this reason was often solicited by her personal friends
and neighbors to furnish ,in matters of local interest, notices
for the newspaper press, especially obituaries and elegiac
verses."
Five times in the course of his life Mr. Rice
made a pilgrimage to the neglected old graveyard in Conway where
reposes the sacred dust of his mother, the last time being in
1874. "It is," he writes, "a quiet rural spot on the hillside.
Her headstone is constructed of slate rock, primitive in design
and humble in its pretension, yet it is now so overgrown with
moss that I found it difficult to read the inscription, but
finally succeeded in deciphering the words, 'Died Aug. 2, 1804;
aged 33 years.' As if to guard the quiet of her slumbers,
a native pine has grown up at her foot-stone and now breathes
its pensive whispers, dirge-like, over her remains. Even
her headstone, as if weary with watching, has assumed a leaning
posture. From its crumbling edges I gathered a few
fragments, and also culled a few of the many wild flower that
had had blossomed in its shadow. These I have carefully
preserved in a picture-frame. The fragments and flowers
are so arranged in the frame as to give the flowers the
appearance of having sprung to life, naturally, out of broken
ledge of slate rock. This picture as inartistic as it may
be, now adorns the walls of my library. Simple as this
device may seem to others, it is and ever will be regarded by me
as a relic of priceless value."
The genealogical record of the family indicates that
the first American ancestor was Edmund Rice, who
emigrated with his wife and seven children from Barkhamsted,
England, to America, in 1638, and settled in Sudbury,
Massachusetts. Barkhamstead, about twenty miles northwest
of London, is a town of great historical interest.
Originally, from the first to the fourth century, it was the
camp of the Roman Legions, whose vast earthworks are now visible
and whose bastions are still green. It was also the first
permanent camp of the Norman conqueror after the battle of
Hastings in 1066, where he received the submission of London.
A castle was here erected, which was a royal residence long
before that of Windsor, and which is still visible in its rains.
It was the residence of the royal line of York, terminating in
the death of Richard III, last of the Plantagenets,
seven years before the discovery of America. But above all
kings and courtiers it is interesting as the birth-place of the
poet Cowper, whose father was rector of the church.
Mr. Rice's grandfather, Cyrus Rice, was
the lineal descendant of Edmund He emigrated from
Worcester, Massachusetts, to Conway in 1762, being the first
white man who settled in that town. His only neighbors at
that time were the dusky sons of the forest. In his family
was born the first white child of the town - a daughter, whose
name was Beulah, and in his family occurred the first
death, that of his wife. He lived to see the town
generally settled, was the father of seven sons and three
daughters, and died at the age of ninety-two years. One of
his sons, Stephen was the father of Harvey Rice,
and his mother's maiden name was Lucy Baker. They
settled on the farm adjoining that of Cyrus, the
primitive pioneer, and here Harvey Rice was born.
The following record is extracted from "Leaflets of a
Life-time;" "My father was a man of find physical
proportions, and of great physical strength. Though not
highly educated he possessed a logical mind, and rarely met his
equal in debating a theological question. As the grand
object of life, he never sought wealth, nor did he obtain it.
Yet he managed to live in comfortable circumstances, and always
sustained an irreproachable character. He died in 1850 in
the eighty-third year of his age. For his memory I
entertain a profound filial regard, and shall ever recall with
gratitude his parental kindness and solicitude for my welfare."
The contemporaneous historical events surrounding the
period of one's birth and boyhood are no less interesting to
recall than those more commonly noted at the period of death.
When light first gladdened the infant eyes of Harvey Rice,
John Adams was president; George III still lived;
Washington had been entombed at Mt. Vernon but six months;
Napoleon had but recently fought the battle of the
Pyramids; the then future city of his ultimate adoption had
existed, on paper only, for four years; Europe then and for
twenty years thereafter, was in the throes of the French
Revolution, and the current foreign news read by the youth of
New England was of battles by land and sea—of Nelson and the
Nile, of Trafalgar and Copenhagen, of Marengo, Austerlitz, and
Lodi's fatal bridge, of Wellington and Waterloo. Poetry
then more than now was read by old and young alike. While
Plutarch and Gibbon were read and revered, poetry
had more delightful fascination, especially for youth.
Milton was associated with Isaiah; the Paradise Lost
was regarded of confirmatory of and proof of Holy Writ;
Pollock and Young were in every household; Cowper
and Goldsmith were deemed standard poets; Gray's
Elegy was in every school reader; Shakespeare suggested
the sinful theater and therefore was not so generally read and
appreciated as in later years; Bryant and Scott
were the most popular authors; the grace of the "Lady of the
Lake" and the grandeur of the Hebrew Melodies were the literary
themes of New England social life. In such historical and
literary atmosphere was awakened and developed the bright and
reflective mind in the springtime of the life of Harvey
Rice. But above all were his youth and early
manhood influenced and inspired by his older contemporary, the
poet Bryant, whose birth-place was the neighboring town
of Cummington, and whose "Thanatopsis " was the foundation of
his subsequent, pre-eminent, poetic and scholarly fame.
Such were the influences that surrounded his youth and
ultimately directed his footsteps and lighted his pathway to
Williams College at which he graduated in 1824. From the
close of the Revolution the course of empire from the Atlantic
States has ever been westward, first to Holland Purchase, next
to New Connecticut or the Western Reserve, then onward still,
until now, after a lapse of a hundred years, there is no more
West. Immediately on leaving college Mr. Rice
came directly to the Reserve,—the stage coach, Erie canal boat,
and schooner from Buffalo, being in that day the most
expeditious means of conveyance,—arriving at Cleveland on the
24th day of September, 1824, then only a village of 400
inhabitants. The most imposing brick structure then
erected was the Cleveland Academy on St. Clair street, now
(1894) occupied as headquarters by the fire department of the
city. Here the accomplished young graduate immediately
secured a position of classical teacher and principal. In
the meantime he entered his name as student in the office of
Reuben Wood, Esq., and employed his leisure
hours in study. In the spring of 1826 he resigned his
position in the academy and went to Cincinnati, where he
continued his legal studies with Bellamy Storer,
Esq. Returning to Cleveland he was admitted to the
bar and commenced the practice of law in partnership with his
early friend, Reuben Wood, who afterward became
Chief Justice and then Governor of the State.
In 1828 he united in marriage with Miss Fannie
Rice at the home of his law partner. She died in
1837. Three years later, in 1840, he married Emma
Maria Wood, who was his beloved companion nearly
fifty years, preceding him in death a little less than three
years, in 1889. He was the happy father of sons and
daughters. In 1830 he was elected representative to
the legislature. Though one of the youngest members, he
was honored with a place on the joint committee appointed to
revise the statutes of the State, the revision of 1830 being the
first ever undertaken of the Ohio statutes. In the course
of this revision, many new provisions were incorporated into the
laws, some of which were prepared by Mr. Rice and
are still retained on the statute-book. Near the close of
the session he was appointed by that body, agent to sell the
Western Reserve school lands, some 50,000 acres in Holmes and
Tuscarawas counties. To that end he opened an office in
Millersburg. This important public service having been
accomplished, in 1833 he returned to Cleveland and was appointed
Clerk of the county courts, which position he held for for seven
years. Within that period he was twice nominated by his
party for Congress. In 1851 be was elected to the State
Senate and was made chairman on the committee on schools.
This proved to be the occasion of his winning an honorable and
lasting fame, it being no less to the end of his life than his
public recognition as "Father of the Common School System of
Ohio."
The journals of the Ohio Senate furnish a complete
record of the inception, draft, report, and advocacy of the
school bill by Senator Rice, and the vote, almost
unanimous, twenty-two to two, by which it passed that body, and
ultimately the house, and thus became alike a law and a blessing
to a generation of the children of the State. The leading
journals of the State, without distinction of party, were
unanimous in their friendly greeting of the new school law, and
published his speech with editorial comments on its clearness of
statement and happy illustration, and awarded the meed of
approval and praise to Senator Rice for his great
and beneficent work. And now after forty years it reads
like a prophecy fulfilled. The following are its concluding
paragraphs:
"By the provisions of this bill, it is intended to make
our common schools what they ought to be,—the colleges of the
people,—cheap enough for the poorest and good enough for the
richest. "With but a slight increase of taxation, schools
of different grades can be established and maintained in any
township of the State, and the sons and daughters of our farmers
and mechanics have an opportunity of acquiring a finished
education, equal with the more favored of the land. In
this day, the elements of mind now slumbering among the masses,
like a fine unwrought marble in the quarry, will be aroused and
brought out to challenge the admiration of the world.
Philosophers and sages will abound everywhere, on the farm and
in the workshops, and many a man of genius will stand among the
masses and exhibit a brilliancy of intellect which will be
recognized in the circling years of the future as 'A light, a
land-mark on the cliffs of time.' It is only the educated
man who is competent to interrogate nature and comprehend
comprehend her relations. Though 1 would not break down
the aristocracy of knowledge of the present age, yet, sir, I
would level up and equalize and thus create, if I may be allowed
the expression, a democracy of knowledge. In this way, and
in this way only, can men be made equal in fact, equal in their
social and political relations, equal in mental refinement, and
in a just appreciation of what constitutes man the brother of
his fellow man.
"In conclusion, sir, allow me to express my belief that
the day is nut far distant when Ohio, in the noble cause of
popular education and of human rights, will lead the column and
become what she is capable of becoming,—a star of the first
magnitude, the brightest in the galaxy of our American Union."
In the autumn of 1852, Mr. Rice made a
flying trip through most of the Southern States accompanied by
his wife and son. They proceeded from Cleveland by the way
of New York, Washington, Richmond, Wilmington, Charleston and
Savannah; and returned home by the way of Mobile, New Orleans,
the Mississippi river and Cincinnati, having made a circuit of
nearly 5,000 miles. A very interesting account of the
journey was given in a series of letters by Mr. Rice,
in a New York magazine. Later in life, after the opening
of the trans-continental railroad, he visited California, and
coasted along its pleasant shores, and delighted the public,
through his home journal, with a charming description of the
country of the Golden Gate.
Mr. Rice enjoyed a serene, placid,
domestic, social and literary life. In 1871, Williams
College conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of
Laws. He often participated in the reunions of the alumni
in the halls of his alma mater, and as often delivered a poem,
or a more formal address. He was very industrious.
Besides the almost constant and gratuitous local public service,
in the council, and on boards of finance and of penal and
charitable institutions, his daily life work was in his library,
among the hundreds of standard volumes of science, philosophy,
literature and law. His pen was never idle, and the
product thereof consists of several volumes of history,
biography, poems and essays,—philosophical and
scientific,—embracing many subjects of modern thought from
women's rights to the glacial period.
In the development and preservation of local history,
the industrious researches of Mr. Rice are among
the most valuable and precious treasures of our historical
institutions. He was the early friend and ever cherished
the Western Reserve Historical Society, now holding within its
noble structure the richest collection of the historical and
antique in the State. The historical inspirations of his soul
embraced national no less than local themes, early manifested in
the erection of the colossal statue of Commodore Perry,
the first suggestion of which was made by him while a member of
the city council in 1857. He was made a chairman of the
committee charged with the execution of the enterprise. In
1867 he erected at his own expense, in the domain of Williams
College, a beautiful grove called "Mission Park," a noble
monument commemorative of the pious students' service of prayer
in 1806, when and where was first announced the inspired thought
that led to the organization of the American Board of Foreign
Missions. From its organization in 1879 until his death,
he was the president and inspiring spirit of the Early Settlers'
Association, and in that capacity he annually delivered a
discourse, pertinent and attractive, largely historical,
touching incidents and events in the lives of the oldest and
most noted pioneers. Under the authority and parentage of
the association he caused to be erected in the Public Square the
statue of Moses Cleaveland, the founder of the
city, the same being dedicated July 22, 1888. On each of
those several occasions of dedications and unveiling of
monuments and statues, Mr. Rice was called upon to
deliver a memorial historical address. Annually during the
last decade, the birthday of Mr. Rice was observed
by his neighbors and many of the oldest citizens, by calls and
joyful greetings; and for the last five years of his happily
prolonged life, those occasions developed into something like a
levee, tilling his library and parlors with old and young alike,
among whom he moved, the Nestor of the age, the most cheerful of
the company, and the grandest example of bright intellect and
happy old age. The personality of Harvey Rice
commanded alike respect and reverence. Noble in stature,
with a countenance reminding one of the well-known likeness of
the poet "Whittier, his pleasant social qualities and
genial spirit awakened a sentiment of regard akin to affection.
Source: Memorial Record of the County of Cuyahoga and City of
Cleveland, Ohio - Publ. Chicago - The Lewis Publishing Company - 1894
- Page 775 |
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WALTER PERCIVAL RICE,
chief engineer of the city of Cleveland, was born in this city,
Sept. 2, 1855. After taking a course in the public schools
he was prepared for a scientific course under the tutorship of
John D. Crehore, a civil engineer, and then, entering the
school of civil engineering at the Lehigh University,
Pennsylvania, he graduated in 1876, receiving the degree of C.
E. Returning to Cleveland he was for several years engaged
in street work, dredging and in the construction of the Superior
street viaduct, under B F. Morse and S. H. Miller.
Then special practice, including bridge work, received his
attention for a short time. Subsequently, under Colonel
John M. Wilson, Mr. Rice served as United States Assistant
Engineer for a period of six years, on harbors between Dunkirk
and Detroit. Governor Hoadley appointed him Chief
of Engineers of the State of Ohio, and then he served three
years as city civil engineer of Cleveland. Finally, after
a lapse of time, he was, in 1893, appointed to the position he
now holds.
Among other works done by Mr. Rice, he designed
the Brooklyn and Brighton viaduct and superintended the
construction of the same. He was also consulting engineer
for the wheeling Arch, which is the third largest structure of
its kind in the world. Mr. Rice has designed
sewerage systems for several towns, was one of the founders of
the Civil Engineers' Club of Cleveland, and is a member of the
American Society of Civil Engineers. He has been a zealous
worker in behalf of the National Public Works movement as
represented by the McCullom-Breckenridge bill, a piece of
legislation looking to the introduction of a system of internal
improvements similar to other civilized nations. He is the
author of several articles contributed to scientific journals
and read before the Engineers' Club of this city, also the
Engineers' Club of Chicago. His statements in regard to
the currents off Cleveland and the final disposition of the
city's sewage were favorably reviewed by one of the leading
American experts.
He is a son of Percy W. Rice, who was born in
the State of Ohio.
Source: Memorial Record of the County of Cuyahoga and City of
Cleveland, Ohio - Publ. Chicago - The Lewis Publishing Company - 1894
- Page 589 |
W. W. Robbins
pg. 265 |
WALTER W. ROBBINS
Source: Memorial Record of the County of Cuyahoga and City of
Cleveland, Ohio - Publ. Chicago - The Lewis Publishing Company - 1894
- Page 265 |
Norman Robinson
pg. 322 |
NEWMAN ROBINSON
Source: Memorial Record of the County of Cuyahoga and City of
Cleveland, Ohio - Publ. Chicago - The Lewis Publishing Company - 1894
- Page 322 |
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FRANKLIN M. ROOT,
a representative farmer of Middleburg township, was born Mar. 4,
1839, in Brunswick, Medina county, Ohio. His father was
the late Charles Root, a native of Pittsfield,
Massachusetts. The Root family were among the early
settlers of Brunswick, Medina county. Charles Root
removed to Cleveland, where he kept the Pearl Street House for
seven years in what was formerly known as Ohio city, and is now
the West Side of Cleveland. He died in 1850. He was
formerly employed in the mercantile business in Brunswick.
The maiden name of his wife was Ruth A. Martin, and she
survives her husband at an advanced age. They had eight
sons, of whom Franklin M. was the third. When he
was about two years old his parents removed to Parma, Cuyahoga
county, remained one year and then removed to Ohio City (or West
Cleveland). In 1850 he returned with his widowed mother
and brothers to Brunswick, and remained for several years, when
he came to Middleburg township, where he has since been a
resident. Agriculture has been his chief business, his
present farm, a fine one, comprising nearly sixty years.
Mr. Root married, in Middleburg township, June
22, 1865, Miss Joanna Fowles, daughter of Lewis A. and
Hannah (Fish) Fowles. He was born in Middleburg
township, and she in Connecticut. They are old and
respected residents of this county. They had two sons and
three daughter, of whom Mrs. Root was the eldest.
She was born in Middleburg township, Mar. 23, 1847, where she
was reared.
Mr. and Mrs. Root have four sons:
Charles L., who married Miss IDa Gray; Samuel L.;
Rolland F., who married Ella M. Brainard; and
Alden F., who married Miss Belle C. Goss. Mr. Root
was Township Trustee for six years. He is now Postmaster
at Berea, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, under the administration of
President Cleveland.
Source: Memorial Record of the County of Cuyahoga and City of
Cleveland, Ohio - Publ. Chicago - The Lewis Publishing Company - 1894
- Page 813 |
Benjamin
Rouse
pg. 700 |
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E. C. Rouse
pg. 703 |
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R. E. Rouse
pg. 701 |
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