Finding aid for the Walworth Family Papers

Biography of the Walworth Family

John and Ashabel W. Walworth were members of one of the most influential families in the early history of the Western Reserve. John Walworth (1765-1812) was the first of his family to settle in Northeast Ohio. He was born in Groton, Connecticut, and was a sailor as a young man. In 1789, he married Juliana Morgan (1769-1853), and they moved to Cayuga Lake, New York, in 1792. After a visit to the Western Reserve in 1799, John Walworth purchased two thousand acres from the Connecticut Land Company and moved to Painesville, Ohio, in 1800. Juliana Morgan Walworth and their children, Ashbel W. Walworth, Julia Walworth, Horace Walworth, and John P. Walworth, arrived in Painesville in April 1800. It was soon after that John was appointed Deputy Post Master of Painesville (1800), Justice of the Peace (1802), and Associate Judge of Trumbull County (1803). In 1806, the Walworth family moved to Cleveland to facilitate John Walworth's posts as Inspector of the Revenue for the Port of Cuyahoga and Collector for the District of Erie (1806). In Cleveland Juliana Walworth gave birth to her last child with John, Hannah, in 1811. Before John's death in 1812, he was also appointed Associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Geauga (1806) and Post Master of Cleveland. After John's death, Juliana married William Keyes in 1816.

John and Juliana's children established two branches of the family, one in Cleveland and one along the southern Mississippi River. Ashbel Walworth assumed many of his father's duties and remained in Cleveland. Julia Walworth (1794-1866) married Cleveland's first medical doctor, David Long (1787-1851), and remained in Cleveland until her death. Hannah Walworth (1811-1888) married Cleveland's first dentist, Benjamin Strickland (1810-1889), and traveled widely to visit family members; however she resided in Cleveland until her death. John Periander Walworth and Horace Walworth sought and found their fortunes along the Mississippi River. Ashbel Walworth (1790-1844) assumed many of John's business responsibilities and official posts, including Post Master of Cleveland and Collector of the Customs for the District of Erie. Ashbel expanded his father's business interests while owning most of the land upon which Cleveland was built. He was the treasurer for the Corporation of the Village of Cleveland and the Cuyahoga County Civilization Society. Ashbel married Mary Ann Dunlap (1797-1870, of Schenectady, New York, in 1820. Together they raised six children: John, William, Ann, Sarah, Mary and Jane.

Horace F. Walworth (1796-1863) left Cleveland with John P. Walworth and, like his brother, eventually became very wealthy in the ante-bellum southern economy. He established a plantation at Point Chicot, Arkansas, then moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he died. Horace, blind for most of his life, never married and his death during the Civil War caused legal difficulties for his siblings until well after end of the war. John Periander Walworth (1798-1882) established "The Burn," a plantation in Natchez, Mississippi, and is considered the founder of the Mississippi branch of the Walworth family. Around 1815 John P. Walworth left Cleveland with Horace, and, like his father and brother Ashbel, worked in a post office. He eventually became a successful merchant, bank president and plantation owner until the Civil War. John P. Walworth eventually recovered from the financial loss incurred during the War, but faced economic difficulties during Reconstruction. John Walworth (1821-1900), eldest son of Ashbel and Mary Ann Dunlap, continued Ashbel's business interests in Cleveland, Ohio, but did not assume the public offices of his forefathers. He married Mary Rocella Race (1828-1911) of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, in 1851. William Walworth (1823-1864), John's brother, traveled throughout the United States and never settled in one particular place. William was a sailor, among other occupations, and eventually enlisted as an officer in the Union Army in 1862. He took his own life in a Washington hospital in 1864. Mary Walworth (1831-1895) stayed in Cleveland and married Samuel Brodbury (1817-1894).

Scope and Content

The Walworth Family Papers 1774-1884 and undated, consist primarily of correspondence, financial records, legal records, official documents, architectural drawings and various ephemera.

This collection is of value to researchers of many different topics. First, the collection is of significance for scholars researching the economic, social, political, judicial, philatelic, family and women's history of Connecticut's Western Reserve in Ohio. Topics within this collection include the history of Painesville, Ohio, and Cleveland, Ohio, prior to the Civil War, the Embargo Act, the War of 1812, the American Civil War, and lighthouses. Specifically, this collection contains detailed correspondence concerning land transactions for the Connecticut Land Company; records of the Post Office of Painesville, Ohio, and Cleveland, Ohio, including circulars from the Post Master General of the United States; records of the Port of Cuyahoga, including United States Treasury circulars; records of the Circuit Court of Geauga County, Ohio, Corporation of the Village of Cleveland, and the Cleveland School House; records of the Cleveland Branch of the Erie Bank of Pennsylvania; land valuations and tax lists for Cleveland and the Fire Lands; and legal records of Litchfield County, Connecticut, and New London County, Connecticut. Significant individuals within the collection include William Eldredge, Frederick Miner, Gideon Granger, Calvin Pease, Samuel Huntington, Albert Gallatin, Moses Warren, Amos Spafford, Elisha Whittlesey, Thomas Winthrop, David Abbott, Nathaniel Ledyard, Lewis Cass, Oliver Phelps, Charles P. Barnum, Lewis Morgan, and Oliver Forward. Through the correspondence between the women in the Walworth family, the collection offers a unique insight into the social relations of the Walworth family and their relations including the Dunlap, Beattie, Strickland, Keyes, Wren, and Avery families.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Access

While there are no access restrictions on this collection, researchers will be asked to use the microfilm of this collection.

The researcher should also consult WRHS Manuscripts Vertical File "W"; MS 1 Manuscripts Relating to the Early History of the Western Reserve; MS 870 William Eldredge Papers; MS 1270 Abraham Skinner Papers; MS 3236 Oliver Phelps Family Papers; and MS 4558 Severance Family Papers.

All portraits and photographs have been removed to the photograph and print collection.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Preferred Citation

[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 1901 Walworth Family Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

Acquisition Information

Gift of Mrs. S. L. Severance, undated; Miss Anna Walworth, undated; Mrs. Eugene T. Izant, 1970; and John Walworth Izant, 1996.

Processing Information

Processed by Chuck Piotrowski in 1996; microfilmed by Bernard Watford in 1996.

Detailed Description of The Collection