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1811

PALMER.

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1812

DIBBLE

     The original deed of the Ingersoll property is still in the possession of the family, and in the division of land the latter was simply transferred to children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  Many of the family are (yet living on the property, and not far from the site of the old homestead.

     The children of Levi and Diedema Parker Ingersoll:

Clarissa Ingersoll, m. W. P. Hudson.      He was a grandson of Ammihaz      Sherwin.

Catherine Ingersoll, m. Martin      Wingart. Rose Ann Ingersoll, m. E. B. Wood.

     The early death of Polly Burke first wife of Laban Ingersoll, leaving young children, was a tragedy for the latter.
     Florilla, the eldest daughter, was but six years of age at the time, and was taken to the home of an aunt who cared for her until she was eleven years old.  Then, giving her as many pennies as her years counted, the aunt told her that henceforth she must take care of herself.  Which she proceeded to do, but just how the story does not relate.  The Ingersolls were hard to meet, with money so scarce that every cent counted for as much as dollars do at the present day.  Florilla married Henry Marblein 1838 and had three sons and two daughters.
     Eliza Ann Ingersoll, born in 1819, was but an infant at her mother's death.  She married Rufus Ruggles, son of Cyrus and Anna Stilson Ruggles.  She was a very industrious woman and devoted to her four sons and two daughters.  In her recollections of pioneer days the poverty of the community was often her theme.  Baked potatoes moistened with milk was sometimes the only fare for weeks at a time.
     The Ingersoll family burial-lots are in the East Cleveland Cemetery and the Congregational Churchyard in East Cleveland.

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1812

DIBBLE.

     Previous to the year 1811, Elisha Dibble and family were living in Aurelius, N. Y.  Mrs. Dibble was Phebe Stone, the daughter of Ebenezer and Mary Stone, and she was married in 1791.
     They had a large family of children, every year or two adding to the number, until, by September, 1810, there were nine in all, Samuel, the oldest, 18 years of age, and the youngest, Lyman, had just opened his eyes upon a world where babies were almost at a discount.  However, Lyman may have been just as dear to the household as any that had preceded him.  But the parents began to look the future in the face with dismay.  They had ambitions for their young brood that they felt would never be realized by remaining where they were, and in seeking for some

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more favorable location, they were persuaded to remove to the River Raisin, or Monroe, Mich., as it was afterward called.
     They were preceded or followed by other eastern people, so that the place was quite a settlement.  The War of 1812 broke out within a year.  Rumors of British troops and Indians advancing from Detroit upon them reached Monroe, and panic-stricken, every one began to flee, as they thought, for their lives, toward Fort Meigs or Cleveland.
     Mr. Dibble and Mr. Kent secured a small boat, placed their families in it with such clothing, bedding, and food as could be stored away, and started for Cleveland.  The first night they encamped near Sandusky, the next one many miles eastward, and so, working their way close to shore until they reached the mouth of Rocky River, where they remained a day or two, while the women washed clothing, and the children stretched their cramped limbs.
     When Cleveland was reached, there was found to be a scarcity of dwellings, causing much anxiety and delay in procuring shelter for such a big boat-load of adults and children.  But the hospitable doors of Rudolphus Edwards’ double log-house on Woodland Hills Road opened to the weary, discouraged refugees, and they here remained until one of their own was erected.
     Elisha Dibble seems to have been a patriot ready to sacrifice for his country, for in spite of his large family and unsettled circumstances, he raised a local company of volunteers, of which he took command, and joined Gen. Perkins at Huron.  He remained in service until taken very ill, returning home only in time to die.  His family was so rejoiced to see him, and so overcome at his physical condition, that they all shed tears.  A little daughter of Rudolphus Edwards, happening to be there at the time and seeing his sword and gun, and the excitement his arrival had created, thought something dreadful was about to happen, and ran home as fast as her little legs would carry her.  Capt. Dibble was but 43 years of age when he died.  Samuel Dibble, the oldest son, who had joined Capt.
Dibble’s company, remained in the army until the close of the war.
     He then took his father’s place in caring for his mother, brothers, and sisters.  He bought 50 acres of farming land south of Doan’s Corners, near Fairmount and Cedar Avenues, and placed the family upon it.
     While living here, the wolves were very troublesome.  They howled around the house at night, terrifying the children, and adding to the mother’s worries and forebodings.  But after a while, the whole family became so accustomed to their weird noise that they ceased to fear or to lose sleep by it.
     Elisha Dibble’s death occurred in 1813, and each succeeding year, for a time, Mrs. Dibble suffered bereavement in the loss of children.  Her daughter, Polly Dibble, 18 years of age, died the following one.  Hosea Dibble, 15 years old, died in 1815, in 1816 Lavina Dibble Williams, 23 years of age, in childbed, and later, Martin Dibble, who had gone south in search of fortune, died there.
     The rest of the children were: Anson, Lovisa, Lewis, and Lyman Dibble.  The latter died at 20 years of age.
     Samuel married, 1st Miss Jewett of Newburgh, 2nd Miss Tibbitts, and moved to Elkhart, Ind.  They had but one child, named Phebe for her

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grandmother, who married Frank Dean, and still resides in Elkhart.  Anson Dibble moved to Porter, Mich., married a Miss Lydia Odell, and two of their children are still living in that town.  Lewis Dibble proved to be the one child in the large family who remained in Cleveland, and bequeathed the Dibble name to posterity.  He sailed on the lakes for 17 years, and for a time had charge of the U. S. Marine Hospital, still standing on Lake Street.  We find his name in connection with other public services, and in view of all his parents sacrificed in behalf of their children, it is a gratification to know that one of them left an honorable name and considerable property behind him.
     In 1826, he purchased 50 feet of land on Euclid Avenue for $100.  It was just east of the Opera House entrance, now worth $300,000.  In 1839, he invested in 15 acres on Norwood Ave., off of Woodland Ave., which afterward justified his judgment of real estate.  He married Mary Ammock, daughter of John Ammock, who came to Cleveland in 1830, and lived No. 49 Bolivar Street, when the directory of 1837 was compiled.

     The children of Lewis and Mary Dibble:

Phebe Dibble, m. Samuel Thompson. Lewis L. Dibble, m. Josephine Cagan Charles E. Dibble, m. Belle Hildebrand.

Minerva Dibble, m. John J. Shepard. Florence Dibble, m. McKinney. Anson Dibble, m. Nelly Lines.

     Dibble Ave., between Willson Ave. and Dunham Ave., was named for the family.
     Lovisa Dibble, born 1804, daughter of Elisha and Phebe Dibble, married Capt. Ebenezer Stark.  The family lived in the neighborhood of Fairmount and Cedar Aves., where Capt. Stark owned 100 acres of land.  Previously, he had a ten-acre lot on Euclid Ave., near Giddings, which he foolishly sold for $150.  He owned several city lots down town.  He had built for him a cottage on Prospect Street, corner of Huntington, and offered in payment a lot near the corner of Euclid and Sheriff.  The offer was not accepted.  Ready money was of more value, those days, more necessary to almost any resident of Cleveland than land.  Most
people were land-rich and pocket-poor.
     Mrs. Stark had a retentive memory, and was fond of repeating the poems she read and loved.  She was a pleasant-mannered, cheerful woman, though life had given her much that would have been brooded over by one of a more despondent temperament.  She had to bring up her family alone, and she lost her only daughters.  Her son, Henry Stark, married Abigail Thorp of Collamer. James Stark died a hero’s death, was killed at Chattanooga in the Civil War, 124th Regiment.  Louis Dibble Stark married Lorain J. Ferris.
     Mrs. Lovisa Stark was a devout Episcopalian, a member of Trinity Church.  For several years before her death she made her home with her son, Lewis Dibble Stark, and died aged 76 years. .
     For many years, before the names of streets were arbitrarily changed to numbers only, there was a Stark Avenue north of Euclid Ave., near

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Fairmount Ave.  It was named for this family who owned much propgrty at that time in the vicinity.  It probably was cut through their arm.
     Mrs. Phebe Stone Dibble, widow of Elisha, in 1816 married Abram Hickox, the noted Cleveland blacksmith.  She was his second wife, and when she died in 1839, aged 70 years, they were living at 27 Prospect Street.  She is buried by the side of Elisha Dibble in Erie Street Cemetery, near the front entrance.

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