USA > Ohio > Lorain County > A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio: An Authentic Narrative of the. > Part 14
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JUDGE AMOS R. WEBBER. It was forty years ago that Judge Webber began the practice of law at Elyria. On the public life of his home city and county he has since made in indelible impression. Probably no. citizen of the county is more respected, and enjoys more completely the confidence of the people. Judge Webber is a man of unimpeachable character, has high attainments as a lawyer, and in the management of his private practice as also in the administration of different offices, from common pleas judge to congressman, has brought the highest qualifica- tions and has shown a ready grasp of every problem presented for his solution. Since retiring from his seat in Congress ten years ago Judge Webber has been quietly engaged in his large law practice and has offices in the Elyria Block.
Amos Richard Webber was born January 21, 1852, in Hinckley, Medina County, Ohio. His great-grandfather, Joseph Webber, was an Englishman who on coming to the United States located in New Eng- land. In the next generation is Rev. Richard Webber, who became a pioneer minister in Medina County, Ohio. He has been described as a preacher of much eloquence and force, and a man who was through- out his career devoted to the arduous vocation which he chose early in life. He was frequently sought as an adviser not only in spiritual matters but in the common relationships and duties of temporal existence.
George E. Webber, father of Judge Webber, was born in Massachu- setts and was fourteen years of age when the family moved to Ohio. He became a man of substantial character and a factor in business affairs in Medina. As a young man he returned to his native state and learned the trade of moulder, and then returning to Ohio established a foundry at Hinckley in Medina County. After giving this business all the en- ergies he possessed for twenty years, impaired health led him to take up work as a farmer, at which he spent several seasons. With renewed vigor and health he then established a foundry for the manufacture of hollow ironware at Medina, and developed the industry to one of im- portant proportions and made it one of the chief factories at Medina. George E. Webber married Jane Woodruff. During her young woman- hood she had taught school at Hinckley. Her father, Amos Woodruff, was a Hinckley shoemaker, and was distinguished in that community as the first avowed abolitionist and took Wm. Lloyd Garrison's Liberator for a great many years. His home became a station of the underground railway, and he lived to see the peculiar institution abolished to which he was so strongly opposed.
Judge Webber grew up in Medina County, was educated in the pub- lic schools, and is a graduate of old Baldwin University at Berea near Cleveland. He studied law largely by himself and under the preceptor- ship of local lawyers. and on being admitted to the Ohio bar in 1876 opened his office in the same year at Elyria. While' it would not be practicable to review in detail his work as an attorney, it is only an expression of a general judgment among his associates that he has dur- ing the past forty years been rated as one of the best advocates and counselors in the Lorain County Bar. His career has also been punctu- ated by important public service. His first noteworthy promotion in public affairs was his election in 1887 as prosecuting attorney for Lorain County. He was re-elected and continued in the office until 1894. After an interval came his election to the Court of Common Pleas and he pre- sided over this branch of the Ohio bench with admirable dignity and
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efficiency for nearly three years. He resigned from the bench to accept the republican nomination for Congress to fill the unexpired term caused by the death of the representative from the Fourteenth District. He was then elected a member of the Fifty-eighth Congress in 1904, and his service in that body ran from 1903 to 1906. He was defeated for renomination because of his activities against the liquor interests, a power which he has consistently fought all his life. Another factor in his failure to secure the nomination was due to his having repudiated the then governor of Ohio, Myron T. Herrick, because of that gentle- man's attitude on the liquor question. Judge Webber has been an active and determined opponent of the liquor traffic for the past thirty years. He carried his convictions and his activity into Congress, where he intro- duced a bill for the abolition of saloons in the District of Columbia. He aroused much interest in the campaign at Washington, and on the day his bill was brought before the committee a procession of several thou- sand people marched through the streets to the capitol as a demonstra- tion of popular support to the measure. In spite of Judge Webber's strenuous efforts in behalf of the bill, it was never reported from the committee, but the sentiment thus aroused caused similar bills to be introduced in every Congress since, which have been supported by a large number of congressmen. He was one of the prime movers in the organization of the Anti-Saloon League, and was for a number of years a member of the judiciary committee of that organization, and spoke over the State of Ohio in the interests of the work. Mr. Webber has lectured for a number of years before churches, Young Men's Christian associations, and other public organizations, in the interest of the young men of this country.
Judge Webber was married May 17, 1875, to Miss Ida E. Finch. Mrs. Webber died in Washington while Judge Webber was a member of Congress. Their two sons were: Gilbert W. and Lawrence N. Judge Webber's first wife was Miss Nettie Finch of Anna, Illinois.
LAWRENCE HARRISON WEBBER. A son of A. R. Webber, whose career as a Lorain County lawyer has been previously sketched, is Lawrence Harrison Webber, who has already earned his first distinctions in the law and in public affairs. In the city primaries in August, 1915, Mr. Webber attracted much notice by his gallant fight for the republican nomination to the office of city solicitor, and in spite of his youth his recognized ability and fitness for the nomination and his vigorous and persistent campaigning methods brought him success over four rivals. He received more than a fourth of the entire vote cast, and led his nearest opponent by more than sixty.
Born at Elyria March 25, 1891, Lawrence Harrison Webber is a graduate of the Elyria High School with the class of 1910, and the fol- lowing two years were spent as a student in the Ohio Wesleyan Uni- versity at Delaware. He is a graduate of the Cleveland Law School with the class of June, 1914, and completed the regular three years' course in the two years from 1912 to 1914. He was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio December 18, 1913, and is now junior member of the law firm of Webber & Webber in the Elyria Block at Elyria, being associated with his father, A. R. Webber.
In politics Mr. Webber is a republican, and was elected city solicitor on November 2, 1915,
Outside of his profession Mr. Webber is a young man of general personality and has identified himself with the best interests of his home city. He is an active member of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, is a member of the Church of Christ, and belongs to the National
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College Fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, in which he was initiated Novem- ber 5, 1910, at Ohio Wesleyan University.
June 18, 1913, at Elyria he married Jean E. Bath. Her father, John W. Bath, was for eight years postmaster at Elyria. They are the par- ents of one daughter, Shirley Webber, who was born May 25, 1915.
WILLIAM A. BRAMAN. Few men exercised a stronger and wider in- fluence in the affairs of Lorain County than the late William A. Braman, who was in his sixty-ninth year when he died at Elyria April 12, 1905. In early life hard work and self-reliance were his portion, but in later years he was a vigorous force in the republican party of Lorain County, was both broad minded and practical in promoting everything good in his home city, and was highly successful in business, being president of the Elyria Savings and Banking Company at the time of his death.
He was born in Carlisle Township of Lorain County October 24, 1836. His Scotch ancestors came to America about 1700, locating in Boston, and several of them were revolutionary soldiers and the family was also represented in the War of 1812. One characteristic which has persisted through a number of generations is splendid physical develop- ment. Mr. Braman himself stood six feet three inches in height, and it is said that his grandfather and two brothers and two sisters were each six feet or more in height. Grandfather Braman was one of the pioneer settlers in Lorain County, coming from Genesce County, New York, to Avon Township in 1822. William A. Braman was the son of Anson and Emeline (Vincent) Braman. His father was born in Genesee County, New York, May 30, 1811, grew up partly in Avon Township, and for many years was a farmer and nurseryman in Carlisle Township. He was in the nursery business at Elyria from 1855 to 1872, and then re- moved to Michigan. Emeline Vincent was born in Massachusetts October 8, 1818, and had come with her parents in 1834 to Carlisle Township, where she was married the following year.
From his very boyhood the late William A. Braman had the inde- pendence to pursue a self-sustaining course, and on reaching manhood he was equal to the solution of any problems involved in his business and personal affairs. Apparently everything he undertook proved suc- cessful. He attended the district schools of his home neighborhood, and on reaching manhood, being thrown upon his own resources, he worked out on farms and also taught country school in order to pursue advanced studies in higher institutions. In 1864 he began dealing in live stock, and in 1870, associated with Mr. Boynton, he took up the cheese business. In the spring of 1874 he was one of the organizers of the firm of Braman, Horr & Warner, manufacturers and general dealers in butter and cheese. This business became one of the most extensive of its kind in Northern Ohio. During the last twenty-five or thirty years of his life his interests were not confined to any one line. In 1890 a stock company was organized by leading republicans in Elyria and Lorain County to purchase the Elyria Republican, which it was de- termined should become a temperance republican paper, true to the best interests of the party and in favor of temperance and moral interests. The directors of this company insisted upon Mr. Braman taking the position of editor, though he was without practical experience in that profession. He took the position at first only temporarily, but was un- able to relinquish it for eight years, and made of it a journal notable for its high ground and standards as a republican paper and an exponent of temperance and every other reform. He was not only an able editor but made the Republican self-supporting financially.
In his later years Mr. Braman was best known as a banker. For
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twenty years or more he was a director in The Savings Deposit Bank Company, for several years was vice president, and also president of The First National Bank of Lorain, and was a director of The Pen- field Avenue Savings Bank at Lorain from its organization in 1895. Subsequently his banking interests were concentrated in the Elyria Savings & Banking Company, of which he was president.
The ideals of useful citizenship were seldom better exemplified than in the career of William A. Braman. Always with credit he filled vari- ous positions of responsibility and honor. Personally he was dignified in his demeanor, possessed an impressive personality, and in everything was thoroughly American and patriotic. It was truthfully said of him that he was a better American than he was a partisan.
In politics his father had been an old line democrat, but in spite of that affiliation Mr. Braman had gone with the new republican party in 1856 and voted for John C. Fremont. William A. Braman came to manhood about the time the republican party was organized and about the time the great national crisis was evolved between the North and the South. Like many others he was influenced in his attitude toward public questions at that time by an early reading of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and he was an ardent boy partisan of Fremont in 1856. In 1860 he cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, and thereafter for more than forty years was a champion of the best in the grand old party. While living in his home Township of Carlisle he filled most of the township offices, trustee, clerk, treasurer, and at the age of thirty-one was appointed county commissioner for one year. In 1877 he was elected county treasurer by a majority of 2,800, the largest given to anyone on the ticket. He filled that place with fidelity and efficiency for two terms of two years each, receiving his nomination without opposition. In 1887 he was nominated and elected to the State Legislature, in which he served two terms. He was a member of the Finance Committee in both sessions of the Legislature, and among other things established the pro- vision that each state institution should be regularly visited and inspected hy a legislative committee. While in the Legislature he also showed himself an effective force in behalf of temperance reform. It was largely due to his efforts that the township local option law was passed and also the Sunday law, prohibiting sale of liquor on Sunday. Mr. Braman was one of the strongest supporters of Major Mckinley in his first nomination for governor of Ohio, and did some effective work in con- solidating the party on that candidate. For many years Mr. Braman was president of the Lorain County Humane Society, and though an intensely practical and busy. man, the influences of humanitarianism were always guiding factors with him. For many years he was a mem- ber of the city council at Elyria, and was a trustee of the local schools for nineteen years. He was president seven years of the Lorain County Agricultural Society and for three years was president of the Farmers Institute.
With all these activities and interests he was essentially domestic in his tastes and found his highest happiness in his home and among his family. April 27, 1865, he married Miss Sophia E. Patterson, daughter of Hiram Patterson. Mrs. Braman is still living at Elyria. To their marriage were born three children, Theodore W., who was born in 1867, and is now deceased; Charles M., born in 1869; and Belle Louise.
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CHARLES M. BRAMAN. Since he was twenty-two years of age Charles M. Braman has been giving his best ability and energy to banking and his present position represents a steady promotion on the basis of merit and by reason of the prompt and efficient handling of all the responsi- bilities entrusted to his care.
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Born at Carlisle in Lorain County March 5, 1869, Charles Martin Braman is a son of William A. and Sophia E. Braman. The Braman family is of Scotch-Irish descent. As will be found more fully stated on other pages the late William A. Braman was for many years prominent in county affairs, served as a member of the General Assembly four years, as county treasurer two terms, for many years was editor of the Elyria Republican, and was one of the organizers and until the date of his death in 1905 was president of the Elyria Savings and Banking Company.
Having finished his education in the Elyria public schools in 1888, Charles M. Braman at the age of twenty became clerk in the Savings Deposit Bank of Elyria. In 1892, after three years, he left to become cashier of the Savings Deposit Bank of Medina, Ohio. He was there two years and four months. However, he gained his reputation as a banker by his nineteen years of service as cashier of the Central Banking Company of Lorain, from which he resigned to take the position of vice president of the Savings Deposit Bank Company of Elyria in January, 1914; was elected to the presidency January 30, 1916. He is now vice president of the Central Banking Company of Lorain, is a director of the Wood Lumber Company of Lorain, and treasurer of the Eastern Heights Land Company of Elyria. In banking circles he enjoys an enviable position, and is the chief executive officer of one of the largest institutions of Northern Ohio, The Savings Deposit Bank and Trust Company having total resources of more than $2,000,000, representing not only large capi- tal but the experience and business ability of a number of well known financiers.
In the spring of 1915, at the solicitation of his many republican friends, Mr. Braman consented to become a candidate for the republican nomination for city auditor of Elyria. Though he had five rivals for the nomination, in the August primaries he received more than a third of the total vote cast, and at the election, held November 2, 1915, was elected to fill that office. For more than thirteen years he served as deputy city treasurer of Lorain, Ohio, and on January 1, 1915, was ap- pointed a member of the Elyria Board of Health and for two years had also been a member of the Elyria School Board. He is a director of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, is a member and director of the Country Club, is president of the Men's Club of the Congregational Church, president of the Social Settlement Association, and a trustee of the local Young Men's Christian Association. Mr. Braman is an attendant of the First Congregational Church, and is affiliated with King Solomon Lodge and also with the Royal Arch Chapter of Masonry and with the Elks.
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On June 20, 1895, at Elyria, Mr. Braman married Miss Anna B. Folger, daughter of the late Thomas Folger, to whom reference is made on other pages. The Folgers are an English family, and the first of the name emigrated to this country during the eighteenth century and founded the City of Nantucket. The late Thomas Folger was a nephew cf Charles J. Folger, former secretary of the United States Treasury under President Garfield. Thomas Folger rose to the rank of adjutant in the Civil war with the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was a commission merchant in Cleveland several years, and served as mayor of Elyria two years. Mr. and Mrs. Braman have two children : Theodore F. and Josephine L. Mr. Braman finds his chief recreation in golf. He is a clean-cut business man, popular in social circles, and stands for all that is progressive and substantial in his home community.
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THOMAS FOLGER. What the late Thomas Folger represented as an individual asset to the community of Lorain County is concisely de- scribed in an editorial from an Elyria paper published shortly after his death, which occurred at his summer home on Avon Point October 13, 1909. The opinions there expressed are vouched for by all the practical facts of his honored lifetime. The editorial was as follows:
"The sudden death of Thomas Folger came as a sad blow to his many friends in the city. Mr. Folger's personality had won for him during his long residence in Elyria a place in the respect of all his fellow cit- izens. His quiet, unassuming way spoke of a big nature, and those who knew him intimately were attracted strongly by his frankness and hon- esty as well as by a cordiality that never failed. He was quick to make up his mind, and his decisions were announced positively. One always counted on a square deal with Thomas Folger and was never disap- pointed. He attended to his business affairs in a quiet manner, accom- plished successful results and won friends, which is much to say for a man in these days. His successful election as mayor a few years ago, against a strong party opposition, showed the confidence of the com- munity and he made a most able official. He was impartial in his court work, rich and poor receiving impartial justice, while his rulings were ever tempered with good sense. He has always been a democrat in politics, and in his death the party loses one of its most loyal supporters. The city loses a good and patriotic citizen. His early years were cheer- fully given to the service of his country and he also cheerfully under- took those civic duties entrusted to him. He was just preparing for an arduous campaign for re-election to the mayoralty when death cut him down, and he was entering into it with a zeal born entirely of a desire to help toward a needed reform in the various branches of the city government. He was glad to assume the burdens which would follow if his fellow citizens desired it. A good man indeed has gone from us."
Born in Wadsworth, Medina County, Ohio, February 14, 1842, Thomas Folger was a son of Henry G. and Eliza A. (Ingersoll) Folger. The Folger family was established in America in colonial times, and one of the name was among the seven original proprietors of the Island of Nantucket. At Nantucket Thomas Folger's grandfather, also named Thomas, lived for many years, being identified with the old-time whal- ing industry, which had one of its important centers at Nantucket. He owned several whaling vessels, and when the English government pro- vided a subsidy for the whaling industry, Thomas Folger moved his residence to London, England, and lived there until the abolition of the whale-oil bounty, and then returned to Nantucket. While living in London he was married, and in that city Henry G. Folger was born. Another of his sons was the late Charles J. Folger, who was United States sub-treasurer under President Grant, was secretary of the treas- ury under Presidents Garfield and Arthur, was otherwise a high Gov- ernment official, and was judge of the Court of Appeals of New York. Henry C. Folger was the founder of the family in the Western Reserve of Ohio, for many years lived in Medina County, where he was a farmer and died at Elyria, November 26, 1885, having spent years of his life at Avon Point. His wife, whose maiden name was Eliza A. Ingersoll, a native of Auburn, New York, died March 7, 1904, at the home of her son Thomas.
Educated in the common schools of Medina County and in the West- ern Reserve College at Hudson, the late Thomas Folger was nineteen when the war broke out and in August, 1861, enlisted as a private in Company H of the Twenty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was
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mustered out of that regiment and received his honorable discharge in July, 1865, after nearly four years of active service. While his regi- ment was in the army of the Potomac he fought at Gettysburg, Chan- cellorsville and Peters Mountain, beside many minor engagements, and when the regiment was transferred to the army under Sherman he took part in the Atlanta campaign, and accompanied Sherman on the march to the sea and up through the Carolinas, finally participating in the Grand Review at Washington, in 1865. He was promoted out of the ranks to lieutenant and adjutant, and later received the brevet rank of captain. With the close of the war he took up his residence at Cleve- land, was in the produce and commission business for about nine years, and up to 1878 gave his attention to the wholesale commission trade.
Lorain County's prominence as a grape growing center is largely due to the leadership of the late Thomas Folger. It was in 1878 that he identified himself with viticulture both for pleasure and profit, and on his farm of 150 acres at Avon Point along the shores of Lake Erie he cultivated the grape for many years and perhaps as extensively as any other vineyardist in Lorain County. The industry is still continued by his family and no grapes of better quality are shipped out of Ohio than those from the Folger vineyard. For the last twenty years of his life Mr. Folger lived at Elyria, though for months at a time his resi- dence there was only nominal, since he found his chief pursuit and pleasure in the supervision of his beautiful country estate. He per- formed a useful service in bringing the grape growers together in the organization of the Lorain County Grape Growers Shipping Association, and for fourteen years was manager of the association and had charge of the selling and shipping of the crops of the 150 growers who were its members.
Always a democrat in politics, while not ambitious for official pre- ferment, his civic loyalty was such that he did not deny himself or his services to the public. He served several years as a member of the city council of Elyria, and was the nominee of the party for the office of mayor in 1903. His election was not only a triumph for the cause of good government locally, but was particularly interesting from the fact that he was the first democratic mayor of Elyria in more than half a century, and his administration was distinctly creditable to the party.
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