Part 10 (1/2)

He established himself here as a merchant tailor, and pursued the business steadily about twenty years, and with success. He afterwards established a store at Chillicothe, Ohio, which, not being under his own care, did not prove successful.

From his arrival in Cleveland, he was forward in all the moral and religious enterprises of the place, first in union with all the religious denominations represented, and afterwards he was more particularly identified with the Baptist Church, in which he has been for nearly forty years a deacon.

He now enjoys more than usual health and vigor for one of his age, and has the respect, confidence and esteem of every person who knows him.

His wife having died in 1858, he has since that date made it his home with his daughter, Mrs. J. P. Bishop, of Cleveland, with whom he now resides.

In many respects Deacon White's history furnishes an example worthy of imitation. In the times of his boyhood, in New England, when a boy did not possess the means for establis.h.i.+ng himself in business, or of educating himself for some professional calling, and particularly if he was an orphan, he was required to learn some trade. In his case, his friends not only recommended this, but he was desirous himself, of doing it. He accordingly went from Mendon to Boston, a distance of about forty miles, where, alone and among strangers, he sought a place where he might serve as an apprentice. For days he wandered about seeking such an opportunity and finally fell in with John Willson, the merchant tailor before mentioned, who received him as an errand boy, and finally as an apprentice, in which position he continued, pa.s.sing through all the grades incident to such employment, till he was twenty-one years of age.

Without father or mother, or friends to look up to for counsel and advice, he persevered, and preserved his integrity, having the confidence of all with whom he was a.s.sociated.

In those early days, nothing was more common than to emigrate to the West, leaving the principles of New England education, in religion and morality, behind. Judging from accounts of society in Cleveland in very early times, such must have been the case of some, at least.

But such was not the case with the youthful Moses White. Though he found not many congenial spirits in this far-off western region, yet whenever, in the little village of Cleveland, he heard of a place of prayer, or a meeting, or a.s.sociation for the promotion of temperance or morality, thither he bent his footsteps. Now in a ripe and happy old age he enjoys, not only the retrospect, but also the present--and not only these, but he is constantly looking for a consummation of perfect happiness, beyond what either the past has, or the present life can afford.

Finally, so far as acc.u.mulating wealth is concerned, he has not been as fortunate as some, and yet less unfortunate than many others, and now enjoys a competence abundantly sufficient to provide for all his wants and to transmit something to his children. Well may worldly ones say, ”O that my last days might be like his!”

David H. Beardsley.

Mr. Beardsley does not claim to be a pioneer, but an early settler of the second cla.s.s, having arrived in Cleveland with his family in June, 1826.

Cleveland is supposed to have then had about five hundred people. He was of Quaker origin, and lived at New Preston, Connecticut, before he removed to Ohio. He was of course anxious to obtain employment, and being a beautiful penman, a contract was soon made with the late Judge Willey, who was the county auditor, to serve as his clerk, at one dollar per day. He was employed about thirty days in making the county duplicate. The taxable property of the county at that time amounted to the sum of two hundred and sixty-eight thousand, seven hundred and seventy-one dollars. When Mr.

Beardsley was deputy auditor, all the public business centered in the old log court house, on the northwest quarter of the Square.

On the fourth of July, 1827, the Ohio ca.n.a.l was opened to lock seventeen, near Akron, and the ca.n.a.l commissioners, prominent among whom was his friend Alfred Kelley, were in need of a scrupulously honest man, and a good clerk, for the purpose of collecting tolls. They found all the necessary qualifications of integrity, a.s.siduity, and accuracy in Mr.

Beardsley, who was therefore appointed, the day not having arrived when qualification for office should be the last of recommendations. The collectors.h.i.+p may be said to have been Mr. Beardsley's profession. He spent in the office most of the period of active life, in twenty-three years, undisturbed by the changes of administration. To our ears this may sound incredible.

Mr. Beardsley's salary was at first three hundred dollars per annum, increasing to twelve hundred before the close of his services. He collected the sum of one million, three hundred and ninety-eight thousand, six hundred and forty-two dollars and sixty-eight cents. His accounts were models of nicety as well as accuracy, errors and discrepancies being equally unknown.

Being a gentleman of simple tastes and habits, with few wants, he has acquired a comfortable competence, without acquiring a thirst for gold, and without withholding his substance from charitable and public purposes.

He is highly esteemed by all who know him, for a life-long consistency of character, and sterling qualities as a man and a friend. The writer occasionally sees him on our crowded streets, although quite feeble, with a mind perfectly serene, and well aware that his race is almost run. His record is worthy of emulation.

Thomas Augustus Walton.

When the genial countenance and kindly voice of T. A. Walton were missed from the customary gatherings of the river merchants, it was felt that something had been lost which not even a lucky speculation, or a good run of trade, could not restore. When the news of his sudden death, whilst on a foreign tour for the restoration of his health, was received, there was genuine sorrow among his old business a.s.sociates, and poignant grief with many who had learned to look on him not merely as a successful merchant, but as a man of tender heart and open hand when suffering and distress appealed to him for sympathy and aid.

Mr. Walton was born in London, and to the last he looked with affection to the city of his birth. His education was gained at the City of London School. After leaving school he was brought up to mercantile pursuits, and in 1830, concluding that there was a better opening in that line in America, he came to this country, bringing with him a considerable amount of money. For a few years he remained in New York, loaning his capital, for which he always found ready customers, but unfortunately they were not all as ready to pay as to borrow. He lost large sums, and was driven to the conclusion that for a man of his openness of character and confiding honesty, New York was an unprofitable location. The representations of a friend, combined with dissatisfaction with his experience in the commercial metropolis, determined him to seek his fortune in the West.

Evansburg, Ohio, had been represented to him as a desirable place in which to live, a thriving business point, and adjacent to good hunting ground.

This combination of attractions determined him, and he set out for Evansburg with what remained of his capital.

But the attractions of Evansburg soon wearied him. Neither his social, commercial, nor sportsmanlike hopes were fulfilled by the facts, and Mr.

Walton speedily turned his back on the place of so much promise and so little realization. Cleveland was the rising place of the West, and to Cleveland he came, and established himself, as was the custom with new comers of a commercial turn, in the produce and commission trade.