06/19/2025
In 2019, North Olmsted eighth graders Rafel Alshakergi, Maya Elkhatib, and Kameron Swanson took a school history project to the next level when they brought attention to a group of unmarked graves in Butternut Ridge Cemetery. Labeled only as ‘Occupied by Colored People’, the graves turned out to be those of the Peake and Cousins families, some of the earliest Black settlers in the Western Reserve. You can read about the students’ efforts to properly mark and memorialize the gravesites (which even achieved national coverage in the New York Times!) here: https://www.morningjournal.com/2020/02/19/north-olmsted-students-rediscover-graves-of-early-black-settlers/
In honor of Juneteenth, we would like to share more on what is known about the life of George Peake (sometimes spelled ‘Peak’), the first Black settler known to purchase land in Cuyahoga County’s western townships. This information was generously shared with us by Mike Welsh, Wayne Carringer, and Janice Patterson. They first published it in a 2023 two-part series, part of which you can read here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-QXpYnRiOm_RUJQ6yQ6VnPngLKkkKLpd/view?usp=sharing
George Peake first crossed the Rocky River in 1809, and though originally thought to have immediately settled in Rockport (now Rocky River), deed records show that he actually purchased 103 acres in 1811 in what is now Avon Township from John Walworth and his wife. In 1815, records show that Peake split the acreage into separate deeds for three of his sons: Joseph, James, and Henry. Around that same time, Henry Peake purchased the eastern 80 acres of Jethro Butler’s 240 acre settlement on Lot 87/88 in Dover (what is now Bay Village).
According to historian Russell H. Davis, George Peake was an inventor, and was locally respected for designing a new, easier-to-use hand mill for grinding grain.
In an earlier, uncited passage by historian Crisfield Johnson, George Peake is said to have helped early Dover settler Asahel Porter to build a log home on Lot 94 in 1810. However, Peake would’ve been 88 years old at the time, so it may have been one or more of his sons who assisted with the construction.
