# Samuel Starkweather

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**Samuel Starkweather** (December 27, 1799 – July 5, 1876) was the seventh [mayor](/source/Mayor_of_Cleveland) of [Cleveland](/source/Cleveland), [Ohio](/source/Ohio) from 1844 to 1845 and the fifteenth mayor of Cleveland from 1857 to 1858.

Starkweather was born in [Pawtucket](/source/Pawtucket,_Rhode_Island), [Rhode Island](/source/Rhode_Island) to Oliver and Miriam (Clay) Starkweather. He graduated from [Brown College](/source/Brown_University) in 1822, tutored there until 1824, and then left to study law in [Windham](/source/Windham,_Connecticut), [Connecticut](/source/Connecticut). Starkweather was [admitted to the bar](/source/Admission_to_the_bar_in_the_United_States) in [Columbus](/source/Columbus,_Ohio) in 1826. Starkweather moved to [Cleveland](/source/Cleveland,_Ohio) soon after and joined the Cleveland Grays in 1837, where he took a prominent position in [Cleveland](/source/Cleveland,_Ohio) politics. Starkweather was elected mayor in 1844, won reelection in 1845, and again in 1857 for a 2-year term. He was the first judge of the Cuyahoga [Court of Common Pleas](/source/Ohio_Courts_of_Common_Pleas) elected under the new Constitution and served a 5-year term. Starkweather helped establish the first high school in [Cleveland](/source/Cleveland,_Ohio). He also promoted [railroads](/source/Rail_transport) in [Cleveland](/source/Cleveland,_Ohio) and helped establish the [Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad](/source/Cleveland,_Columbus_and_Cincinnati_Railroad).

He was collector of the ports of Cleveland, and built a lighthouse of which he was superintendent in 1831. The US Treasury paid him $4,997.00 on the lighthouse and $113.30 for expenditures for it. The land cost $1,000.00. He also built a lighthouse on Turtle Island, Lake Erie, Port Clinton OH in 1832 for which the US Government paid him $1,068.43. The US Government also paid him in 1831 for the support and maintenance of the lighthouses, floating lights, beacons, buoys, and stakeages. He also built or established a marine hospital on which the US Treasury paid him $147.17.

Starkweather married Julia Judd on June 25, 1828. Their 4 children were Sarah, Samuel, William, and Julia. Starkweather is buried in [Lake View Cemetery](/source/Lake_View_Cemetery).

## References

- *The Encyclopedia Of Cleveland History* by Cleveland Bicentennial Commission (Cleveland, Ohio), David D. Van Tassel (Editor), and John J. Grabowski (Editor) ISBN 0-253-33056-4
- Starkweather, Carlton Lee, M.D. *Robert Starkweather and his Descendants*, Knapp, Peck and Thomson, 1904.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Samuel Starkweather](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Starkweather) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Starkweather?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.