Connected indissolubly with the story of the rise and progress of the important railroad interests of Cleveland and northern Ohio, is the name of Stillman Witt. As one of the builders of the pioneer railroad from the city, and of the next in point of time, which has since become one of the foremost lines of the country in importance and profitableness, Mr. Witt deserves honorable record among the men who have contributed most to make Cleveland what it is to-day, a rich, populous, and rapidly growing city.

Stillman Witt is a self-made man, and unlike some of this class, his self-manufacture will stand the test of close criticism. The material has not been spoiled or warped in the process. Those who know him best know that the struggles of his early years have not soured his disposition or hardened his feelings, and that access of fortune has not made him purse-proud. The Stillman Witt of to-day, rich and influential, is the same Stillman Witt who paddled a ferry boat at about forty cents a day, and was happy in his good fortune.

Mr. Witt was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, January 4th, 1808. His parentage was humble, and, in consequence, his facilities for obtaining an education very limited. When about thirteen years old, his father moved with his family to Troy, New York, where young Stillman was hired by Richard P. Hart to run a skiff ferry, the wages being ten dollars per month, which the lad thought a sum sufficient to secure his independence. Among the passengers frequently crossing the ferry was Mr. Canvass White, U. S. Engineer, at that time superintending the construction of public works in various parts of the country. Mr. White took a strong fancy to the juvenile ferryman, and was so much impressed by the interest the boy manifested in construction, that he applied to Stillman's father for permission to take the lad and educate him in his own profession. The permission was granted, and from that day dates the career of the future railroad builder.

[Illustration: Yours Truly, S. Witt]

Young Witt was greatly pleased with his new profession, and devoted himself to it with such zeal and faithfulness that he grew rapidly in the esteem of his patron. When he had sufficiently progressed to be entrusted with works of such importance, he was dispatched in different directions to construct bridges and canals as the agent of Mr. White. In this manner he superintended the construction of the bridge at Cohoes Falls, on the Mohawk river, four miles above Troy, where, in conjunction with Mr. White, he laid out a town which has since grown to a population of thirty thousand. The side cut on the Erie canal, at Port Schuyler, was dug under his management, and the docks there, since covered with factories, were built by him. When these were completed he was dispatched into Pennsylvania, with twenty-four carpenters, all his seniors, to build a State bridge at the mouth of the Juniata, from Duncan Island to Peter's Mountain. He was then ordered to the work on the Louisville and Portland canal, but before this was completed he was taken sick and remained a prisoner in a sick room at Albany for thirteen months.

With his recovery came a temporary change of occupation. Abandoning for a time his work of bridge building and canal digging, he took charge of the steamboat James Farley, the first lake-canal boat that towed through, without transhipment, to New York. This was followed by his taking charge, for between two and three years, of Dr. Nott's steamboat Novelty. Next he became manager of the Hudson River Association line of boats, in which capacity he remained during the existence of the association, ten years. The Albany and Boston Railroad having been opened, Mr. Witt was invited to become its manager at Albany, and accepted the trust, remaining in that position seven years and a half.

Now came the most important epoch in Mr. Witt's life. After a hard struggle the scheme for the construction of a railroad between Cleveland and Columbus assumed definite shape, a company was organized and was prepared to go to work when contractors should be found who would build the road with a little money and a good deal of faith. Mr. Witt's opportunity had come. At the end of a four days' toilsome journey from Buffalo in a cab, he reached Cleveland, and satisfactory arrangements were finally entered into. A firm was formed, under the name of Harbach, Stone & Witt, and the work commenced. The story of the building of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad has already been told in another part of this volume; it is a story of hoping almost against hope, of desperate struggles against opposition and indifference, and of final triumph. Mr. Witt's part in the struggle was an important one, and the solid benefit resulting from the success that crowned the enterprise was well deserved by him.

Before the work of construction was half completed, Mr. Harbach died, and the firm remained Stone & Witt, under which name it has become familiar to all parts of the American railroad world. The road was opened between Cleveland and Columbus in 1851, and the success that speedily followed the opening, demonstrated the wisdom of the projectors of the line, and justified the faith of its contractors. The three years of construction had not terminated before Messrs. Stone & Witt undertook the construction of the Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad, and in two years this road, now one of the richest and most powerful lines of the country, was completed. This was followed, sometime after, by the building of the Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad, which required but one year to construct, although built in the best manner.

With the completion of the Chicago and Milwaukee road Mr. Witt's active career as a railroad builder ceased. Since that time he has been chiefly employed in the management of his extensive railroad and banking interests, having been at different periods a director in the Michigan Southern; Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati; Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula; Cleveland and Pittsburgh; Chicago and Milwaukee, and Bellefontaine and Indiana railroads, besides being vice-president of two of these roads and president of one of them. His connection with the Bellefontaine and Indiana Railroad is noticeable from the fact that it was by his sagacity and unwearied energy, ably assisted by the late Governor Brough, as general manager, that the company was raised from absolute insolvency to a high rank among dividend paying lines. Mr. Witt had gone into the undertaking with a number of other Clevelanders, had all but lost his entire investment, but had never lost faith in the ultimate success of the line, or flagged for an instant in his efforts to bring about that success. The event proved the justness of his conclusions.

In addition to his railroad engagements, Mr. Witt is president of the Sun Insurance Company, of Cleveland; director of the Second National, and Commercial National Banks, and Cleveland Banking Company; also, of the Bank of Toledo. His interests are not all centered in railroad and banking enterprises, he having investments in the Cleveland Chemical Works, and in several other enterprises that contribute to the prosperity of the city.

Mr. Witt was married in June, 1834, to Miss Eliza A. Douglass, of Albany, but who was a native of Rhode Island. Of the four children who were the fruit of this marriage, but two survive. The elder daughter, Mary, is now the wife of Mr. Dan P. Eells, of Cleveland. The younger, Emma, is the wife of Col. W. H. Harris, of the United States Army, now in command of the arsenal at Indianapolis.

Mr. Witt's qualifications as a business man are attested by his success, won not by a mere stroke of luck, but by far-seeing sagacity, quick decision, and untiring industry. From first to last he never encountered a failure, not because fortune chanced always to be on his side, but because shrewdness and forethought enabled him to provide against misfortune. As a citizen he has always pursued a liberal and enlightened policy, ever ready to unite in whatever promised to be for the public good. In social life he has a wide circle of attached friends, and not a single enemy. Genial, unselfish, deeply attached to his family, and with a warm side for humanity in general, Mr. Witt has made for himself more friends than perhaps he himself is aware of.

Wealth and position have enabled him to do numerous acts of kindness, and his disposition has prompted him to perform those acts without ostentation and with a gracefulness that gave twofold value to the act.

In religious belief Mr. Witt is a Baptist, having joined with that church organization in Albany, thirty-one years ago. For years he has been a valuable and highly respected member of the First Baptist Church in Cleveland.