One of our town’s early hotel owners

By Editor | September 19, 2018 |

Cyrus Tuttle was born on May 15, 1797, at Brandon, Vt., and died on Dec. 9, 1848, Seminary Township, Fayette County. He was a son of Capt. Solomon and Deborah Strong Tuttle, and came with his family to Fayette County in 1836, settling in Seminary Township.

Cyrus married first to Ann Dew, while living in Perry County, Ohio, and after her premature death, married on March 11, 1821, Sarah Seamans, daughter of Samuel and Sarah Lowe Seamans.
Cyrus made history in Ohio when he and brother-in-law Josiah True chased a bear into a cave and shot it. Certain it was dead, they entered the cave to remove the carcass, but were chased out by another bear hiding in the back, and Josiah was knocked to the ground.
While living in Trimble Township in Athens County, Ohio, Cyrus was clerk for the first election of township officers.
He subscribed for shares in the “Coonskin Library,” the first library established in the Western Reserve, financed by a load of pelts driven to New York by Josiah True and sold to John Jacob Astor, then in the fur trade.
In 1836, before leaving for Illinois, Cyrus and wife Sarah executed a quitclaim deed as heirs of Gilbert Seamans covering land in Perry and Licking counties in the Ohio Refugee Plot, a grant to Colonist Sympathizers during the Revolution.
Eight children accompanied the family when they made the long journey to Vandalia over the National Road, with four more born after reaching here. The children included, John Dennison, Martha, Samuel, Solomon, William Harrison, Sarah, Lydia and Cyrus W. Tuttle, all born in Ohio; and Almira, Francis M., Austin and Marcella, born in Seminary Township in Fayette County.
In 1849, three of the Tuttle boys – Samuel, Solomon and William – joined 64-year old Lemuel Lee and his youngest son, George A., and headed out west to the gold fields. After six weeks on the trail, Lemuel died of cholera and was buried on the banks of the Platte River near Cotton Creek, Colo.
Another Fayette County man, John Thompson, wrote in his memoirs of “catching up with Old Mr. Lee’s outfit” on the trail and of staying with them after the death of Lemuel. He then continued the journey to California with them, before splitting up and seeking his own fortune.
The Tuttle boys stayed out west four years, all the while remaining in contact with relatives in Vandalia, so that they were at the beside of their mother, Sarah, when she passed away, on April 10, 1853.
Six months after returning home, Samuel bought out the Vandalia mercantile of J. & L. Seaman, and where Seaman asked for debtors to come in and pay up, Samuel advertised in “The Age of Steam” newspaper that he had fancy dry goods, crockery, paints, medicine and ready-made boots for sale at his store on Washington Street, opposite the Steam Mill.
With war clouds looming, Solomon and William both joined Infantry units during the Civil War, returning home after their service.
It was after this time they opened their first hotel, The Tuttle House and then The Union Hotel, which was operated into the late 1870s.
Both ventures were on Fifth Street in Vandalia with the Union Hotel (pictured here) standing on the corner of Fifth and Johnson streets, the current site of Vandalia’s hometown newspaper, “The Leader-Union.” Solomon lived in the hotel with his family.
The ledger book, in the possession of this writer, indicates that many county people having business in town opened accounts with Solomon Tuttle, so they could take their noon meal there, although they did not spend the night in his hotel.
For several months in 1876, he provided meals for inmates at the local jail, submitting an invoice each month to the sheriff.
Some of the historical events of the Tuttle family, such as bear hunting, has been preserved in books, while other events were recorded in back issues of newspapers and memories of the family. With these sources we can “flesh out” the lives of some of these history makers from the past.