Name/Title
"Obituary" of Joel B. CahoonEntry/Object ID
2000.FIC.02.350.1Scope and Content
Obituary of Joel B. Cahoon. I
Joel passed away on Saturday, September 28, 1882 at Rose Hill.
Three copies of the original. A and B are complete. C is missing the second column.
2000.FIC.02.350.1A
OBITUARY
JOEL B. CAHOON
Cleveland Herald, Saturday Morning, September 30, 1882
The article is one long column with five lines at the top of the next column.
Joel B. Cahoon, third son of Joseph and Lydia Kenyon Cahoon, was born in Salisbury, Herkimer county, N.Y., August 27th, 1793. The story of his life, stretching over a space so vast, is full of interest. His father's family removed when he was a small child to Vergennes, Vt., but, this locality not suiting them as a permanent home, in 1799 Mr. Cahoon visited Ohio with a view to settling in this now famous State. Visits to different parts of the State were made, and in 1810 it was decided to locate upon the shore of Lake Erie, twelve miles west of Cleveland. To the New Englander this seemed a dangerous undertaking, and upon the morning of their departure from Vergennes the people assembled upon the village green to bid them farewell after the “man of God” had offered prayer and given them his final blessing. For six weeks the travelers, in their covered wagon drawn by four horses and saddle-horse behind, bore steadily on their way through forests, streams yet unbridged, and over hills, steep and rugged, till the bright sun of October 10th lit the valley and hillside with golden, mellow light, the wagon halted at their forest home and the first settlement of Dover was made. For several years the subject of this sketch remained with his father, aiding in the various duties of clearing the forest and farming as well as building the first grist-mill west of the Cuyahoga River, upon Cahoon Creek, the raising of which was in progress at the time of the Battle of Lake Erie. The farm-life was soon after this changed to a soldiers, he remaining in service till the War of 1812 was declared at an end.
In 1822 he started out into the busy world, soon acquiring a small capital with which to start a business in company with his brother Daniel.
They took contracts for building locks on the Pennsylvania Canal, being very successful, using the profits this acquired enabling them to go into stone work, and three or four years were passed in this manner. In 1830 the second railroad of the many which now make the United States prosperous when commenced. In company with Hon. James K. Morehead, for many years M.C. from Pennsylvania, three sections of the celebrated B.&O.R.R. near Frederick were constructed. The following year he took the contract for building the Lateral Branch of this road from Frederick, Md., to Point of Rocks, and excavation upon it still being know as “Cahoon’s deep cut.” While in Frederick, he formed the acquaintance of Mrs. M.A. Van Allen, of Washington, D.C., a lady many years his junior, to whom on July 19th, 1831, he was married. No other proof of the wisdom of his choice is necessary than that more than fifty years have been passed in happy companionship. The good fortune which attended him this far was not always to last, for in 1836 he sustained much heavy losses as to nearly exhaust his heretofore abundant treasury. In view of more prosperous business he moved to Kentucky, then to Indiana, but four years after, when engaged upon a heavy contract, the State of Indiana suspended payment, again depriving him of his gains. The last of his engagements upon public works was in 1842 at North Bend, near Cincinnati, at which time occurred the death of a brother so closely associated with him. This bereavement following his losses in business caused him to think of returning to the home and friends of his youth, and in the autumn he removed to the farm in Dover, engaging in farming and milling till age prevented active life. When the labor was laid aside he sat in comfort by his pleasant hearth enjoying the companionship of life long friends. Three years ago he received a shock of paralysis, and a year later another, which completely prostrated him, but after a time his health was restored, though without the use of his limbs. The same energy which characterized his earlier life was apparent at this time, as he patiently and cheerfully waited, expecting to regain the use of his disabled members, never being discouraged or unhappy, but always recognizing some beauty and comfort in his surroundings. He was a member of the Baptist Church in Dover many years, and his latter days were filled with peace and confidence in the blessed promises. His character was never stained. Strictly honest, upright and manly, he was respected by the entire community around him.
2000.FIC.02.350.1B
He was a man with very few advantages of education except home culture and self improvement, still well informed and intelligent as well as active in business, who battled with the world and was above it, living a strictly temperate, virtuous life. Belonging in part to the last century he witnessed the grand improvements of the age, such as in travel and transportation, the telegraph machinery, etc.; Cleveland, with its four or five houses, grow to a city of 2000,000 inhabitants; the Cuyahoga, spanned by its grand viaduct, in place of the ferry of seventy years ago, and the shrill whistle of the locomotive, as it passes the home of the pioneer railroad contractor, speaks of a much more rapid transit than the moving wagon of 1810.
More than this, he has outlived his generation. The early settlers have long since passed from earth, and of the ten brothers and sisters who gathered round the home hearth not one remains. As he sat in the doorway at Rose Hill watching with unimpaired interest the everchanging, ever beautiful waters, it may be he caught a glimpse of the other country, at whose gateway he has patiently, calmly waited till the hinges would turn and permit an entrance to “an eternal day” with those he loved.
About two months since he was taken ill, and most of the time was in great pain. Thursday evening the end of this beautiful life was reached, and in the same room in which his mother died forty years ago he breathed his last, bequeathing to his children a priceless legacy in his good name.Collection
Early Family Papers: CahoonRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Tolhurst, T., Rev.Person or Organization
Cahoon, Joel B.Person or Organization
Croghan, M.J.Person or Organization
Jewett, J.R., Rev.Person or Organization
Van Allen, M.J.Person or Organization
Morehead, J.K., Hon.
