Born in Connecticut in 1794, Leverett Johnson came to Dover Township with his brother-in-law and sister, Asahel and Rebecca Johnson Porter, on October 10, 1810. In 1811, at age 16, he began clearing land in what is now Westlake. In 1814 he built a log house at Porter and Center Ridge roads for his bride, Abigail Cahoon. They raised nine children and lived there for the rest of their lives. Johnson became a prominent citizen of Dover Township, serving as a justice of the peace, township treasurer and trustee, Cuyahoga County commissioner, five-term Ohio state legislator, and first director of Dover Academy, a local school. He died at home on April 19, 1856. He donated part of his land for Evergreen Cemetery, where he, Abigail, and many of Westlake's pioneers are buried. Founded about 1820 on land donated by Leverett Johnson and several others, Evergreen Cemetery on Center Ridge Road in Westlake, west of Porter Road, occupies about 16 acres and is the burial place of many American pioneers who cleared and settled the area, including members of the Cooley, Crocker, Follett, Holden, Johnson, Porter, Smith, Sperry, Stocking, and Taylor families. Owned and maintained by the city of Westlake, it had more than 3,800 interments as of 2011.