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Nicholas is credited with building over 15 vessels in Vermilion between the years 1853-1873. Some accounts say he and Burton Parsons operated a shipyard there. In 1865, he relocated to Cleveland, Ohio after buying five acres of land on Wilson Avenue. He continued to build in Vermilion until 1873. He was a stockholder in the Cleveland Ship Building Company and combined with other ship builders to promote the building of the Onoko, the first steel vessel built in Cleveland. Nicholas held interests in many other Cleveland-built vessels, as well. Isaac W. Nicholas died in June of 1900 and is buried in Woodland Cemetery, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. ALVIN BRADLEY (1814-1885) Captain Alvin Bradley was born on November 27, 1814 in Ellington, Connecticut. He was nine years of age when the family moved to Brownhelm, Ohio in 1823. Some biographical accounts say that he lived for awhile in Milan, Ohio where he became friends with the Edison family and that the famous inventor, Thomas Alva Edison, was partially named for him. Bradley became a sailor at the age of 19, sailing on the schooner Liberty and later commanding the Olive Branch and the Commodore Lawrence. In 1851, he married Helen M. Burgess. Their union was blessed with four children The shipbuilding partnership of Bradley & Cobb was formed in 1853 at Vermilion. Ahira Cobb was born in Tolland, Connecticut on October 12, 1814. His family left Tolland in 1819 and settled on a farm in Huron, Ohio. Cobb married Maria Briant and their union was blessed with nine children. In 1836, he formed a partnership under the name of Cobb, Hill & Co. in Birmington, Ohio. He would continue this association for over 20 years. He had considerable holdings in Birmingham and in 1852, Cobb exchanged some of the holdings for the Forest City House, one of Cleveland's most noted hotels. The following year he became partners with Alva Bradley in a ship building company. Ahira Cobb died on April 11, 1882 in Cleveland. He is buried in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio. The schooner South America (1841), propeller Indiana (1848), and schooner Charles C. Griswold (1854) were among the vessels built by Bradley & Cobb. Bradley relocated to Cleveland in 1859 and moved his interests there in 1868. He was the first president of the Cleveland Vessel Owner's Association, an active member of the Temperance Movement and a trustee of the Euclid Avenue Congregational Church. He died in Cleveland on November 28, 1885 and is buried in Lake View Cemetery next to his shipbuilding partner, Ahira Cobb. 167