Lakewood Lore

First settler wedding a gala occasion for all

The Daniel Kelleys were a bustling family who figured prominently in the early history of our community. The first wedding hereabouts took place in the lob cabin of their oldest son, Datus, near Rocky River.

Joined in wedlock there on Jan. 9, 1814, were Chester Dean, who was Datus' brother-in-law, and Lucy Smith, daughter of Abner Smith of nearby Dover. George Wallace, Esq., of Cleveland officiated.

It was such a gala occasion that events for a longs time afterward were dated as having occurred before or after the wedding.

Even though a snowstorm threatened, friends arrived from miles around to attend the affair. One early settler recounted in later years how many came "on cordwood sledges drawn over the glistening and cracking snow by horned oxen, while those less fortunate ploughed through the snow in Indian moccasins or cowhide brogans."

There was a great feast awaiting the guests. It is believed the spread included spareribs, chicken pot pie, roast wild turkey and all the fixin's, plus a dessert of cakes—round, raisin and nut—as well as shortcake baked in a spider before the fire. Then afterward, there was dancing to a fiddler's music 'til the wee hours.

Datus was one of four Kelley sons who came here with their parents in 1811 from Lowville, N.Y. The wedding party enhanced his reputation for generous, patriarchal hospitality.

Though a surveyor by trade, he built the first industry in Rockport Township, of which our community (before it became Lakewood) was a part. The pioneer enterprise was a sawmill.

Later, Datus and his brother, Ira, bought one of the Lake Erie Islands and moved there in 1836. It became known as Kelleys Island, and for many years, its quarries were a bountiful source of huge grindstones for gristmills.

This article appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post January 26, 1989. Reprinted with permission.

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