William R. Carver
William R. Carver, P.O. Chicago, Ill., was born in Brandon, Vt., October 15, 1830; son of Jonathan P. and Betsey K. (Knowlton) Carver, who were the parents of nine children, six now living: Emma E., wife of Harry Cooley; William R.; Charles P.; Henry C.; Ann E., wife of Thomas E. Metlin; Mary P., wife of C.T. Williams. They settled in Franklin Mills (now Kent) in 1843, where Mr. Carver kept the Franklin (now Continental) Hotel for about eighteen months, when he retired from business and resided in Kent until his death, May 31, 1871, in his seventy-ninth year. His widow has reached the ripe age of seventy-nine and now resides in Kent. The paternal grandfather of our subject was Rufus Carver, a native of Deerfield, Vt., a shoe-maker by trade and a son of the famous traveler, Capt. Jonathan Carver, who in 1766-68 explored the vast country along the Upper Mississippi and received in recognition of his influence and services a grant of territory from the Indians, of which the following is a copy:
"To Jonathan Carver,
"A chief under the most mighty and potent George the Third, King of the English and other nations, the fame of whose courageous warriors has reached our ears, and has been more fully told to us by our good brother Jonathan aforesaid, whom we rejoice to see come among us, and bring us good news from his country.
"We, chiefs of the Naudowissies, who have hereto set our seals, do by these presents, for ourselves and heirs forever, in return for the many presents and other good services done by the said Jonathan to ourselves and allies, give, grant, and convey to him the said Jonathan, and to his heirs and assigns for ever, the whole of a certain tract or territory of land, bounded as follows, viz. From the Fall of St. Anthony, running on the east bank of the Mississippi nearly southeast, as far as the south end of Lake Pepin, where the Chipeway River joins the Mississippi, and from thence eastward five days travel, accounting twenty English miles per day, and from thence north six days travel, at twenty English miles per day, and from thence again to the Fall of St. Anthony, on a direct straight line. We do for ourselves, heirs, and assigns for ever, give unto the said Jonathan, his heirs and assigns for ever, all the said lands, with all the trees, rocks, and rivers therein; reserving for ourselves and heirs the sole liberty of hunting and fishing on land not planted and improved by the said Jonathan, his heirs and assigns. To which we have affixed our respective seals, at the Great Cave, May the first, one thousand seven hundred and sixty seven.
"The foregoing, with the signets from two Indian chiefs of the Naudowissie tribes near the Fall of St. Anthony, on the River Mississippi, to Capt. Jonathan Carver, dated at the Great Cave on May first, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven, is a true copy of an original deed, compared according to the testimonies of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Peters and Dr. John Coakley Lettsom, M.D., as stated in a petition to Congress by Samuel Harrison, on behalf of the heirs of Capt. Jonathan Carver, praying for a recognition of the same as on file in the Senate Office of the Secretary of the Senate of the United States. Examined on this 23d day of April, one thousand eight hundred and six, at the capitol in the city of Washington.
"Attest, Samuel A. Otis
Secretary of the Senate of the United States
"Signed in the Presence of Samuel Eliot, Junr.
"The above is certified under the seal of the Secretary of State for James Madison."
This original deed on parchment has been carefully treasured in the family as an "heirloom," but was unfortunately destroyed in the "great fire," Chicago, October, 1871.
The "Great Cave" in which the treaty with Capt. Carver was held and the deed executed, is located on the bank of the Mississippi at St. Paul, and is well known as "Carver’s Cave," and is visited by thousands of tourists annually. One of the most thrifty counties and towns in Minnesota also bears the name of the great traveler. His maternal grandfather, William Knowlton, a native of Beverly, Mass., settled in Franklin about 1835. Our subject was thirteen years of age when his parents came to this township. He was educated in the high schools of Kent and started in life as a clerk at Ravenna, in the store of Cyrus Prentiss, in 1847, with whom he remained six years. He afterward located at Cleveland, St. Louis and St. Paul, and has been engaged in various branches of business in different sections of the country. In 1872 he purchased the Continental Hotel in Kent, a building five stories high with five stores attached, on which he has expended several thousand dollars in repairing and improvements. He is also owner of other valuable property in Kent. Mr. Carver is a gentleman of public spirit and enterprise, always interested in anything that tends toward the improvement of Kent.
From History of Portage County, Ohio, Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1885