There are also several soldiers of the war of 1812 yet resting in Erie Street Cemetery, and one of these was a Revolutionary hero as well. His name is Gamaliel Fenton. He participated in Revolutionary Skirmishes at Horse Neck and White Plains, 1780. then fought at Plattsburg in 1812. He married Elizabeth Webber and came to Cleveland in 1832. Died during the cholera epidemic in the 87th year of his age.
Gamaliel was born in Mansfield, Conn., January, 1763. The spring he was 17 years of age, he enlisted in the First Regiment militia for nine months under Capt. Smith and Lieut. Read. He marched with his company to New London, Conn., to join the patriotic forces protecting the coast. A detachment to which he was assigned spent most of the time cutting faggots near an Indian village some miles north of New London. These were made into bundles and carried to the coast for use in the barricades of the small forts. In November of that year, 1780, his time having expired he returned home, but not for long; again he enlisted and took part in the skirmishes at Horse Neck, and was with the army at White Plains.
In 1788 Mr. Fenton joined the exodus of the young men of the southern New England states to the northern ones of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. He removed to Walpole, Cheshire Co, NH, where he is listed for the 1790 census and where he remained until the breaking out of the war of 1812. For 18 months he nursed the sick and wounded in a hospital at Burlington, VT, during which time he received nothing for his services. He was at the Battle of Plattsburg discharging his gun in that engagement 37 times.
His wife Elisabeth Webber Fenton was eight years his junior. The family lived for a short time in Montreal, where their second
child was born in 1804. In 1832 Gamaliel Fenton, his wife, and two sons, Orin and Horace came to Cleveland. The latter were both married and probably brought young children with them. Gamaliel was then in his 70th year, and Mrs. Fenton the elder 62 years. In his old age Gamaliel Fenton dictated his revolutionary experiences to a grandson, and his descendants yet preserve the precious legacy.
The family lived first on St. Clair street near Erie street. Early in the '40s Horace Fenton, with whom his parents lived, built a home on Kinsman street now Woodland Ave., just east of Erie street, and here the old people died. The revolutionary hero fell a victim to the cholera scourge in 1849 and died aged 86 years. Mrs. Elisabeth Fenton followed him four years later, her death by apoplexy being as sudden as was that of her husband.
Horace Fenton was 28 years of age when he came to Cleveland. He was a carpenter and after a time became a contractor. He was a useful man in the community and much respected. Several fine residences and public buildings were erected by him. We find his name in the volunteer Fire Department. Milo Hickox is foreman of Hook and Ladder Company, No. 1, W. J. Warner is his first assistant, and Horace Fenton second assistant. All three were carpenters.
Mrs. Horace Fenton was Lois Thorp of Ogdensburg, N. Y. She was born in 1808, therefore was 24 years of age when she made Cleveland her home. She died in the home on Woodland Ave. in 1853, leaving a family of five children. They were:
Priscilla Fenton, b. 1830; m. her cousin Luther Fenton; d. 1902.
Daniel Fenton, b. 1832; died four years of age.
Maria M. Fenton, b. 1835; m. Dewitt M. Calkins of Cleveland; d. 1910.
Henry T. Fenton, b. 1838; d. 1895; m. Louise Hagedorn of Port Huron, Michigan.
Lois Fenton, b. 1842; d. 1867; m. Isaac Wright of Kirtland, OH.
Helen E. Fenton, b. 1845; m. Donald McEason, living in Beaver, Pa.
In 1858 Horace Fenton removed to Barton, Mass., and from that place to Kiantone, N. Y. Meanwhile, he had married secondly, Mrs. Katherine Young of the former place by whom he had several more children: Esther, Hortense, Rose, Horace, Nettie, and Francis Fenton.
Horace Fenton, the elder, died 1885 in Cleveland while on a visit to his children in this city. He was dining with his niece Clarissa Fenton
Jaynes on Madison Ave., now East 79th st., when stricken with apoplexy, and was buried by the side of his first wife in Erie street cemetery.
Orin Fenton, eldest son of Gamaliel Fenton, was a farmer and lived on Crawford Road. His wife was Clarissa Thatcher of Ogdensburg, NY.
They had eight children, all but one of whom have passed away. Children of Orin and Clarissa Fenton:
Sarah Fenton, unmarried.
Elisabeth Fenton, unmarried.
Amos Fenton, m. Susan Lee of Mogadore, OH.
Luther Fenton, m. his cousin Clarissa Fenton.
William Fenton, m. Isabelle Armstrong of Havanna, Ill.
Evelina Fenton, m. David A. Halsted.
Horace Fenton, m. Sarah Watkins of East Cleveland.
Clarissa Fenton, m. Henry Jaynes, live in Madison, OH.