Dennis Morgan UST200 Spring 2000

My family has a connection with the Northwest Territory dating back to the early 1700’s. The historical record of my fathers side of the family has been exhaustively documented by my great-aunt Barbara. The majority of the information I have comes from an eighty nine page document “Ancestors of Ellen Loretta Lucas,” (my grandmother). This document has over one thousand references documenting seven generation of my family’s history.
A large number on both sides of my family served in the revolutionary war. Luckily for me I also have a great-aunt on my mothers side with a keen interest in family history as well. In March 1779, John and Sarah Lowry consummated the first marriage in the Northwest Territory in which both persons were white, although married according to Indian ritual. It seems they spent an extended period of captivity with Mingo and Delaware Indians. Apparently they were hidden and not returned when one Col. Bouquet retrieved captives in 1764 after Pontiac’s war. Another relative, Anna Hite was the first woman MD graduated in Ohio. My family is a fairly mixed group, the earliest connection with the new world apparently being French Huguenots driven from France.
However, it was the latest arrival that firmly set my roots in Cleveland. James and Ellen Crellin (my great-great grandparents) came to south Collinwood from the Isle of Man sometime between 1904 and 1906. Very proud people, they were known simply as Mom and Dad for several generations of my family.
I traveled to the Isle of Man in 1998 and for myself satisfied the question of why they left. There is a display in the Museum in Douglas that presents the options faced by native Manx at the end of the 1800’s. At the time these options were limited to working in mines dealing with terrible conditions or trying subsistence farming dealing with long difficult winters on the windy isle. I traveled there in January and can attest to that harsh season. It wasn’t until the modern tourism industry bloomed that fortunes changed for the island natives. At the end of the display a choice was presented as it was faced; I certainly knew which choice I would make.
Christain Boyd's probate petition to Her Majesty's High Court of Justice of the Isle of Man, dated 28 March 1896, includes the Last Will and Testament of John Boyde (Ellen Crellin’s father). An Executor's Bond in the amount of 100 pounds is signed by James Crellin of the town of Douglas, laborer. They had moved from Ballaugh to Douglas were my great-grandmother Katie was born in 1899. Ellen worked as a servant in Ballaugh and James with the railway. If they were not planning to leave for America when they came to Douglas, they would be in the minority as this time represents a mass emigration from the Isle of Man.
My great-grandmother was baptized in September 1904 in Douglas. My great-aunt Elizabeth (Fairy) was born in Cleveland in January 1906. Emigration took place sometime between these dates. The next record of my family is from the Directory of Cleveland, 1915. James Crellin is listed as a green grocer at 15916 St. Clair Ave just up the street from five points in South Collinwood. Down the street my family began a relationship that continues today with Nottingham United Methodist Church. Unfortunately, all records of the 150 year old church were lost in a fire. My great-grandmother was the head cook during the peak of the railroad yards in Collinwood.
James and Ellen spent a brief stint in California during the depression working a chicken farm, but by that time my family had established itself on east 187th due to the earlier boom of the area. In the attached appendix there is a map of the area from 1903 before the south side of St. Clair (up from five points) was parceled. By 1912 most of the major landmarks of the neighborhood are present including South High School. A sizeable portion of land being owned by the Rockefellers suggests the level of interest in the area at the end of the 19th century.
Several Manx traditions are still present in my family. Probably due to the harsh winters, the Manx have taken great pride in the interior of their residence. A key to this being the mantle piece. After my trip to the Isle of Man, my grandmothers traditions took on a new significance to me. My great-grandfather Lucas arrived from Pennsylvania in Cleveland about five years after the Crellins and also settled in Nottingham Village working for the railroad.
My family developed a very close knit association around “Mom and Dad,” with several more houses around East 187th. My father, at age seven, actually believed he killed Grandpa Crellin after dropping a board on his foot. He died coincidentally in 1948 shortly after and the custom was not to talk specifics of death with children. The language was never passed down in the family as they certainly were interested in a break with the past and fully realizing their American Dream.
My grandparents moved out to Euclid after WWII and my grandfather worked with National ACME until retirement as the head of their experimental department. At the time the area near East 250th was completely undeveloped. My father graduated from CSU in 1964 and worked in computers for 30 years.