USA > Ohio > Lorain County > A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio: An Authentic Narrative of the. > Part 27
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The late Edmund Gillmore was born in Black River Township of Lorain County, February 10, 1833, and died at the City of Lorain on Thanksgiving Day in 1902. He was educated in the public schools of his native township, and at the age of fifteen became an employe on one of the lake boats, making trips to Oswego, Chicago and all the lake ports. He was a sailor for ten years, and was also employed in the ship yards around Lake Erie, working as a ship caulker. While thus en- gaged on one occasion he received a severe injury which made him an invalid the rest of his life, and for forty-two years he never walked a step. However, he was able to attend to business and filled various local offices, such as justice of the peace, treasurer of the school board, assessor, township clerk for fifteen years, and for more than twenty years as notary public. He was first elected justice of the peace in 1863, and served in that capacity thirty-nine years. For ten months he was with his brother, General Gillmore, in New York City acting as shipping agent and assistant draughtsman. He was an active republican and a man of the highest character.
In 1857 Edmund Gillmore married Miss Adelaide E. Gillmore, a daughter of Alanson and Evelyn (Jones) Gillmore. Her father came out of Massachusetts about the same time as the other members of that family, and was identified with the early shipbuilding interests at the mouth of Black River. He was later a farmer, and in 1880 removed to Lorain, where he died when about ninety years of age. Mrs. Edmund Gillmore was born November 22, 1833, on Washington Street in Lorain. She spent practically the entire eighty-two years of her life in one com- munity, and saw a village of 300 inhabitants grow and develop to a city of more than 30,000 people. She was the devoted companion of her husband for nearly half a century, and many tributes were paid to her as a pioneer woman of Lorain County at the time of her death in July, 1915. She was one of the early members of and for many years an active worker in the First Congregational Church at the corner of Wash- ington Avenue and Fourth Street. She was also one of the members of the Old Friends Circle, which was organized in 1888, and until her death she never failed to attend each annual meeting of that organization. For forty-four years Mrs. Gillmore occupied the old homestead on Washington Avenue opposite the City Park. Mrs. Gillmore's only sur- viving sister is Mrs. Fannie Wilford of Lorain. The only son and child
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of the late Edmund and Adelaide Gillmore is Quincy A., now a promi- nent attorney at Elyria, and mentioned in following paragraphs.
QUINCY A. GILLMORE. Named in honor of his distinguished uncle, the late Maj .- Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore, one of the greatest soldiers and engineers produced by Lorain County, and whose career is briefly sketched on other pages, the subject of this brief article has for more than thirty years enjoyed high standing and esteem as a lawyer and citizen at Elyria.
A son of the late Edmund Gillmore, whose career has been pre- sented in these pages, Quincy A. Gillmore was born in the City of Lorain, then called Black River, May 12, 1859. His youth was one of inspiring associations and excellent advantages. He attended the common schools up to 1872, following which he was for four years in the Elyria High School, was a student for one year in Oberlin College and one year in Western Reserve College and in 1881 graduated A. B. from the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware. He had already determined upon the law as his profession and after two years in the Cincinnati Law School was graduated LL. B. in 1883. Admitted to the Ohio bar, he began practice at Elyria in the fall of 1884 and is now one of the senior members of the local bar. He has found within the strict limits of his profession a pleasant employment for all his time and energies, has for years enjoyed a large and profitable practice, and so far as his regular business is concerned is first and last a lawyer. His many friends also speak of him as a whole souled gentleman, a charming com- panion and though his qualities are rather positive than negative he has acquired firm and lasting friendships, and has made his influence count for much in behalf of the movements for local welfare undertaken during the last thirty years in Elyria. His law offices are in the Elyria Block.
Only once was Mr. Gillmore drawn into the political arena. In 1894 he was candidate for prosecuting attorney of Lorain County and lost the election by just one vote. Both before that and since he has been active as a republican, a worker for party success, and in these modern times acknowledging his position as a stand patter. Mr. Gillmore is a member of the Lorain County Bar Association, of the Elyria Country Club, of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, and has affiliations with the various branches of Masonry and with the Knights of Pythias. He is a member of King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons; of Marshall Chapter No. 47, Royal Arch Masons; of the Scottish Rite Con- sistory at Cleveland and the Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine at . Cleveland.
On November 27, 1884, at Delaware, Ohio, Mr. Gillmore married Miss Frankie G. Brown, who was born in Delaware, a daughter of Jacob A. and Nancy A. (Graham) Brown, both now deceased. They have one son, Scott E., who was born in Elyria August 23, 1890. This son was graduated from the University School at Cleveland in 1910, spent one year in the Case School of Applied Science at Cleveland, and then entered Yale University, where he pursued a course of mechanical engineering and was graduated Bachelor of Philosophy in June, 1914. He is now employed by the Warner-Swasey Company of Cleveland.
CHARLES F. ADAMS, lawyer and present prosecuting attorney of Lorain County, has had his home in the City of Lorain for the past eighteen years. No attorney in Lorain County stands higher in the estimation of his fellow lawyers than Charles F. Adams, and it is note- worthy that while he has conducted his office with utmost fearlessness and with fidelity to duty, his popularity has suffered nothing in conse- quence of his official acts.
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Charles. J. adams
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He represents a very old family in Northern Ohio. He was born at Olmsted Falls in Cuyahoga County, September 9, 1872, a son of L. B. and Hulda B. (Carpenter) Adams. His grandfather, Ransom Adams, was a native of Connecticut, where the family had lived for a number of generations. Ransom Adams when a young man left his home in Water- bury, Connecticut, and going west settled at Olmsted Falls in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. He was a useful factor in that early community, and followed his trade of wood turner until advanced years came upon him. He was also a licensed preacher, and in the early days he filled many pulpits as a supply Methodist minister. Ransom Adams married Phoebe Underhill, descended from an old New England family. These two people met some years after Ransom had come to Ohio. They had four children : Lorenzo, Cynthia, Wilbur and James. The two youngest sons were drowned while boys in Rocky River. The daughter married Asel Osborn.
Lorenzo B. Adams, father of the Lorain lawyer, was born in Olmsted Falls, Ohio, in 1833. During his youth he learned the trade of tinsmith, and he followed that until his death, when still in the prime of life, at the age of fifty-three. Along with his work as a tinsmith he conducted a small hardware store at Olmsted Falls and the management of this store devolved upon his widow after his death. Mr. Adams enlisted in 1861 in Company B, First Ohio Light Artillery. Upon the expiration of his first enlistment he enlisted in the Eighty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, serving until the close of the war. He was a very public spirited man and did much to help any worthy cause. He served eleven years as mayor of Olmsted Falls. Mrs. Adams showed much capacity in con- ducting the business for about fourteen years, being assisted in the mean- time by her son, Lorenzo B., Jr., and also during vacation terms by her son, Charles. Mrs. L. B. Adams before her marriage was Hulda B. Carpenter, a daughter of Caleb and Susan (Haynes) Carpenter. Lorenzo B. Adams, Jr., who is now engaged in the real estate and brokerage business on Long Island, New York, married Eva Haight. After the death of her first husband Mrs. Hulda Adams married, in 1900, George Avery, who is now deceased. In religious belief the Adams family has always adhered to the doctrines of the Congregational Church.
There was just enough of hardship and privation in the early life of Charles F. Adams to keep his energy and ambition at a high tension. As a boy he attended the public schools of Olmsted Falls, and he also continued his literary education at Baldwin University at Berea and in the Ohio Northern University at Ada. He was still a boy when he set his ambition for the law, and he had done much reading along that line before he entered law school.
In 1892 Mr. Adams entered the law department of the University of Michigan, where he was graduated LL. B. in 1894. His first field of practice was at Niles, Ohio, where he remained a year and a half. It is interesting to recall the fact that his first office was in the building where the late President William Mckinley was born. From Niles he removed to Cleveland, where he continued practice in the office of George Foster, and had some experience that proved very valuable to him during the two years he spent at Cleveland in association with Mr. Foster.
In 1898 Mr. Adams established his office and residence at Lorain, and since that time his reputation as an able lawyer and high minded citizen has spread over all the townships of Lorain County. He has handled a number of very important cases tried in the district courts. During 1905-06 he served as city solicitor of Lorain. In November. 1912, Mr. Adams was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney of Lorain County, beginning his official duties January 1, 1913. He was re-elected in 1914, and is a candidate for re-election in 1916. During his administration he has shown great executive ability and it is well
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understood that never before in the history of the county has the office of prosecuting attorney exhibited a cleaner record than that made by Mr. Adams.
He takes much interest in fraternal affairs, and is affiliated with the Patriotic Order Sons of America at Lorain, the Woodland Lodge, Knights of Pythias at Lorain, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Lorain, and other fraternal bodies.
In 1895 Mr. Adams married Miss Florence Terrell, who was born at North Ridgeville, Ohio, a daughter of Clayton and Cyrene Terrell, both members of old Lorain County families. Mrs. Adams' great-grand- mother was a sister of General Halleck of the Revolutionary army. Mr. and Mrs. Adams have two children. Thelma is now a student in the New England Conservatory of Music at Boston. The son, L. Burton, is still in the public schools at Lorain.
S. JESSE GEORGE, during the past five years, has been associated with very many of the largest and most important real estate transactions at Elyria. That he has attained unusual prominence and demonstrated marked ability in this direction is seemingly a refutation of the adage that "the shoemaker should stick to his last," for his inclinations as a youth led him to a widely different channel of usefulness, and his career as an engineering accountant of railroads, covering a period of fifteen years, was no less successful than has been his management of his present business.
Mr. George was born at Bairdstown, Pennsylvania, April 21, 1864, and is a son of Mathew and Rachel (Lowry) George. His father, a native of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, was in his earlier years a merchant and kept the Canal Supply Store, a general store during the prosperous years of the canal, but later turned his attention to land surveying and passed his entire life in Westmoreland County, where he died, at the age of sixty-three years. He was one of his community's prominent and influential men, and was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. Mrs. George, who was born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, died at Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County, at the age of ninety- seven years. There were five sons and one daughter in the family, all of whom grew to maturity, and all of whom are now living except the daughter: William, of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Daniel Lowry, a resident of Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania; Lewis, of Blairs- ville, that state; Nettie, who died at Irwin, Pennsylvania, as the wife of Tobias Crock; Robert M., of Blairsville; and S. Jesse.
S. Jesse George received his education at Blairsville Academy and preparatory schools, and at Curry Institute, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After leaving school he followed civil engineering for two years, and then, his earlier instincts influencing him, he entered upon a career as an engineering accountant of railroads that covered fifteen years. He was with the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the Chicago & North- western and the Baltimore & Ohio railroads at different times and various places, being located at Norwalk, Painsville and Cleveland while with the first named road; material agent for the Chicago & North- western in the construction work of double-tracking the road through Iowa, and stationed at Ames, Iowa, during that time; and while with the Baltimore & Ohio was chief clerk of engineering of the Cleveland Divi- sion, with headquarters at Cleveland. After that for several years he was variously employed, and in 1903 came to Elyria, where he became construction clerk in the employ of the National Tube Company. After participating in the erection of the numerous mills that were built at Lorain at that time, Mr. George became secretary to the chief engineer of the National Tube Company, and held that position until 1910.
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Having in his long and extensive railroading experience witnessed the possibilities of the great Middle West in the way of real estate transac- tions, he resigned his position at that time and embarked in the realty and insurance business at Elyria. Since that time his services have been in very general demand. His attention is devoted to the buying and selling of real estate, the renting, care and management of property, the paying of taxes for non-residents, acting as notary public, and dealing in life, fire, accident, tornado, plate glass and automobile insurance and surety bonds. His offices are maintained at Nos. 206-8 Masonic Temple. His great capability and thorough knowledge of values, coupled with many years of business association with men of affairs, render him a valued medium for the successful carrying through of deals of im- portance, and his business slogan, "Let George do it," is widely known not only at Elyria, but all over the surrounding county. Mr. George is an active member of the Chamber of Commerce.
On June 4, 1890, Mr. George was married to Miss Mabel C. Beard, of Carnegie, Pennsylvania, and to this union there have been born two daughters: Alice and Alma both graduates of the Elyria High School. Mr. George is a leading republican. Fraternally, he is a member of King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons, past commander of Elyria Commandery, past high priest of Marshall Chapter, and secre- tary of Marshall Chapter and present recorder of Elyria Council and Elyria Commandery. Mr. George's manner and bearing are those of the brainy, successful man of business, and he thus possesses peculiar advantages for his chosen vocation. His friends are as numerous as his acquaintances, and his career in the real estate business at Elyria is undoubtedly destined to be a brilliant and successful one.
CHARLES H. SAVAGE. It seldom happens that an earnest purpose, a mature experience and full mastery of details, and industry and close application, do not overcome all the traditions which are supposed to, militate against success. An apt case in point is that of the well known Elyria jeweler and silversmith, Charles H. Savage, whose establishment at 401 Broad Street is the best known shop in the trading district. Mr. Savage is not superstitious, and has effectively refuted some popular notions by starting his independent business career on Friday the 13th of November, 1901. That was the beginning of his career as a jeweler independently, and the continued success and growth of his enterprise is at least one strong evidence that prosperity is not subject to lucky auspices of beginning.
Throughout practically all his life Charles H. Savage has lived in Elyria, where he was born February 8, 1867, a son of John and Harriet (Hobill) Savage. His father was born in England, came to the United States with his parents when a boy, grew up on the old home farm in Avon Township of Lorain County, and subsequently moved to Elyria, where for many years he conducted a meat market on Cheapside where the Wilder Cigar Store is now located. He died in Elyria, March 18, 1895. Politically he was a republican, but after one experience as a city councilman in Elyria for a term had a sufficiency of practical politics, and cared for no other active participation in that line. He was one of the honored business men and left his family the heritage of a good name. His wife, who was born in Massachusetts, came with her parents when a girl to Elyria, and she died in that city in 1908. Their two sons and one daughter are still living, Charles H. being the oldest, George W. being a conductor of the Green line of electric transporta- tion, while the daughter, Annie E., is now Mrs. B. A. Francis, the wife of a grocer in Elyria. All the children were born and educated in Elyria.
Vol. 11-12
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The early education of Charles H. Savage was gained in the public schools of his native city and he also attended high school and a busi- ness college. Up to the age of eighteen he had some experience in work- ing with his father in the meat market, but then started to learn the technical side of the business in which he is now engaged. He became an apprentice in the establishment of John Murbach, the veteran jeweler and silversmith who is still in business at Elyria and remained with that employer for eighteen years, learning not only the trade but also the details of the business from the selling standpoint. He also attended for some time the technical school conducted by John L. Finn, the old jeweler and watchmaker, who had a small school for instructing boys in the trade. Mr. Finn is still living in Elyria, though now retired from business. After all these years of apprenticeship and experience in the employ of others, Mr. Savage finally started at the time mentioned in a business of his own, and now has a splendid establishment centrally located in the shopping district.
Besides his successful business record he has shown himself a public spirited citizen in supporting many movements for the good of the com- munity. Mr. Savage is a director in the Savings Deposit Bank and Trust Company of Elyria, a stockholder in the Elyria Savings & Bank- ing Company, president and a director of the Elyria Chamber of Com- merce, and holds stock in several other local enterprises. He is well known socially, being a member of the Elyria Country Club, the Elyria Automobile Association, is identified with the First Congregational Church, and takes much part in Masonic affairs. He is affiliated with King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons; Marshall Chapter No. 47, Royal Arch Masons; Elyria Council No. 86, Royal and Select Masters, of which he is now past thrice illustrious master; Elyria Commandery No. 60, Knights Templar, also Thirty-second Degree Scottish Rite and Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Cleveland.
On October 15, 1890, early in his business career, Mr. Savage mar- ried Miss Anna E. Ernne, who has been his capable companion and homemaker for twenty-five years. Mrs. Savage was born in Elyria, is a graduate of the high school, and in 1914 was honored with the office of president of the local alumni association. Her parents were Mathias and Elizabeth (Walters) Ernne, both of whom were born in Switzer- land. Her father died at Elyria, January 17, 1906, and her mother is still living.
J. C. HILL. Few banking institutions in Northern Ohio have a more notable record than the Savings Deposit Bank & Trust Company of Elyria, with which Mr. Hill has been identified since its beginning as a private bank years ago, and of which he is now president. It has been a conservatively managed institution, and emphasis has always been placed upon strength rather than mere size. However, the com- pany now stands in the front rank of banks as to its tangible assets, and at the close of business in 1914 its total resources aggregated more than $2,000,000. A report of the condition of the company at that time showed capital stock of $211,900, surplus of $100,000, undivided profits of over $23,000, and deposits of approximately $1,740,000. Its banking house at one of the principal corners in the business district of Elyria, has been a landmark in the financial life of that city for many years. The names of the principal officers are: J. C. Hill, president ; C. M. Braman, and C. E. Blanchard, vice presidents; James B. Seward, cashier, and F. R. Eckler, assistant cashier. The list of directors includes other men of the highest financial standing in Lorain County.
J. C. Hill, who was cashier of the company when it began business in the early '70s, has had a long and noteworthy career. More than
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fifty years ago he was a practicing lawyer at Elyria and gave up the law for business and has long been a forceful figure not only in local finance but in civic enterprise. A native of Erie County, Ohio, he was the son of E. P. and Sarah Hill, both natives of Connecticut, from which state father and grandfather came as pioneers in the little community of Berlin Heights in Erie County. E. P. Hill served as a member of the Ohio State Senate from Erie County in 1852-53.
J. C. Hill finished his public education in the high school at Berlin Heights, and subsequently attended Antioch College at Yellow Springs, Greene County, where he was under the instruction of the great educator, Horace Mann. He graduated A. B. from Antioch in 1860 and studied law at Cleveland, where he was graduated from law school LL. B. in June, 1861. He then came to Elyria with a young lawyer whose acquaintance he had formed in Cleveland, Judge J. C. Hale, who was for a number of years identified with the Lorain County bar and is now living retired in Cleveland, and is mentioned elsewhere in this publication. These two young lawyers came together to Elyria and practiced as partners one year, Mr. Hill then being in practice by himself for the same length of time, after which he resumed partner- ship with Judge Hale and so continued until 1864.
In 1864 Mr. Hill largely gave up the law and formed a co-partner- ship in the live stock business with the late W. A. Braman, whose personal record will be found on other pages. For three years they were together in business, and this was a period of financial profit to both members, and for several years following that Mr. Hill was engaged in the nursery business, and had an extensive trade both wholesale and retail.
On November 1, 1872, Mr. Hill with the late T. L. Nelson, organized and opened the doors of a private banking house, with unlimited liability of stockholders. At the end of the second year there were twelve members of the company, and their aggregate resources at the command of the bank amounted to $500,000. It was largely the character of the men behind the institution which insured its early success and gave it the unbounded confidence of the public. As a result the bank was soon able to double its capital from its own earnings, and at the same time paid regular dividends to stockholders. In the early days it was known as the Savings Deposit Bank of Elyria, and without doubt was one of the most flourishing and safest institutions of the kind in the state. The reorganization and incorporation as a regular stock bank under the title The Savings Deposit Bank Company were effected in 1890. Its paid up capital at that time was $200,000, besides a surplus of $12,000. In March, 1893, the bank carried loans to the extent of over $1,000,000 and had deposit accounts aggregating $950,000. Mr. Hill was the first cashier and manager of the company, and on the death of Mr. T. L. Nelson, the president, in 1890, was elected his successor, and in con- nection with the chief executive office has since had the practical manage- ment of the company. Mr. Charles M. Braman, who is vice president and a director now shares the responsibility of management with Mr. Hill. A sketch of Mr. Braman will be found elsewhere.
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