USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume II > Part 107
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Dr. Ladd was but six years of age when he accompanied his parents on their removal from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Brunswick, Maine, where his father be- came professor of philosophy in Bowdoin College, there remaining until appointed to his present professorship in Yale. Dr. Ladd attended a private school until eight years of age and following the removal to New Haven, Connecticut, became a public-school student in the Hopkins grammar school and in the Hillhouse high school, from which he was graduated in 1891. Matriculating in Yale, he com- pleted his course there as an alumnus of 1895, winning his Bachelor of Arts degree. He next attended the Johns Hopkins University Medical School and was
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graduated M. D. in 1899. He then served until August, 1000, on the staff of Dr. Osler at Johns Hopkins Hospital, after which he came to Cleveland and for one year was resident physician at the Lakeside Hospital. Entering upon the practice of internal medicine, he has since given his attention to this field of labor and to educational work in the line of his profession, becoming lecturer on clinical microscopy at the Western Reserve University Medical School in 1901, since which time he has continued in the position. He has since been an occasional con- tributor to the current literature of the profession and has done research work in medical lines. His interest in his chosen calling is furthermore indicated through his membership in the Cleveland Academy of Medicine, the Ohio State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the Cleveland Medical Library Association.
Dr. Ladd has been and is widely known in different social organizations. be- longing to the Alpha Delta Phi, of Yale; Pithotomy of Johns Hopkins Medical School; is an honorary member of the Sigma Nu of the Western Reserve Uni- versity and a member of the University Club.
Dr. Ladd was married at Mount Washington, Maryland, November 25, 1903, to Miss Olivia Conkling, a daughter of William H. Conkling, president of the Savings Bank of Baltimore. There are three children: William C., born Octo- ber 29, 1903; Cornelia T., born June 7, 1905; and Louis W., January 25, 1908, all of whom are with their parents in the attractive family residence at No. 1963 East Sixty-ninth street. Endowed by nature with strong intellectual force, Dr. Ladd has carefully developed his latent powers and his laudable ambition, com- bined with a sense of conscientious obligation in all professional services, has carried him to a prominent place as a representative of the medical fraternity in Cleveland.
HENRY W. WEIDEMAN.
It is only a matter of time until a man who is equipped to be a leader in any line, attains to success. There are many substantial men in Cleveland who have risen steadily and gained and retained the full confidence of their associates until their years of endeavor are rewarded with elevation to power. The chief execu- tive of the Weideman Flour Company, Henry W. Weideman is a man whose energy, enthusiasm and capability have resulted in the upbuilding of a large enterprise and the consequent betterment of the many dependent upon his suc- cess for their livelihood. He was born in Cleveland, in October, 1855, a son of John C. and Laura Weideman.
His father was a stalwart German, whose honesty, sincerity, energy and fru- gality brought him success and esteem. Coming to the United States when young with his parents, he located in Medina county, Ohio, but after a few years he removed to Cleveland, where he readily grasped the opportunities offered. His birth occurred in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1829, and he was only fourteen years old when he located in Cleveland. He was first employed in the wholesale gro- cery house of W. J. Gordon Company. From 1848 to 1850 he lived in New York state but in the latter year returned to Cleveland, where in 1861 he embarked in the liquor business under the firm name of Weideman Company, but in the fall of 1863 sold his interest in that enterprise. The following year he founded the liquor house of Weideman & Tiedemann, with H. Tiedemann as the junior partner, and in 1868 O. G. Kent was taken into the firm, and his name added to its title. In 1871 when Mr. Tiedemann retired, the firm was reorganized and C. T. Has- brock was taken into it, the name becoming Weideman, Kent & Company. A stock company was formed in 1885 as The Weideman Company, with Mr. Weide- man as president. This firm has the largest wholesale liquor and grocery estab- lishment in the state and stands today as a monument to the zeal, industry and executive ability of John C. Weideman, for it was his brain that was behind it,
HENRY W. WEIDEMAN
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that brought about its present stability and importance. Mr. Weideman pos- sessed those sterling traits of character that make his countrymen succeed every- where, and his history but emphasizes that fact that nothing is impossible to the man willing to work and to save.
John C. Weideman was twice married. In 1853 he married Laura Muntz, of Liverpool, Ohio, by whom he had three children, but our subject is the only one now surviving. Her death occurred in 1877, when she was forty-two years old, and in 1879 he married Louisa Dieboldt. He died in 1900, and in his demise the city lost one of its most valuable and progressive citizens.
Henry W. Weideman has inherited many of his father's attributes, including his business ability. After passing through the Cleveland schools, he attended Baldwin University at Berea, Ohio, and coming home, was associated with his father in the grocery business until the latter's death, serving a part of the time as secretary of the company. At that time he retired from active participation in the company but still remains on its official board.
Out of this company founded by his father, grew the Weideman Flour Com- pany, which was incorporated in April, 1909, with Mr. Weideman as president. He erected the building occupied by the company, it being designed to meet its special requirements. The territory covered by the concern includes Ohio and the surrounding states and the company does a jobbing business exclusively, carrying a general line of flour. In addition to his other interests Mr. Weideman is a director of the O'Donohue Coffee Company of Cleveland. In all of his con- nections he exhibits the same business integrity that made his father so trusted, and the name stands for much in Cleveland and the state.
Mr. Weideman married May 23, 1878, Dorothy Burke, who was born in Cleveland, and they have four children : Carl J., associated with his father in busi- ness ; Pearl, who married William E. Kurz; Myrtle, who married Walter Theo- bald; and Laura, at home.
Liberal in his political views, Mr. Weideman believes in voting for the best man for office in local affairs. He is a Mason, having attained to the Knights Templar degree, and is also a Shriner. He is a typical representative of the good old school of reliable business men, where honesty was everything and integrity was held sacred. Because of this he holds the respect of those who know him for his thorough manhood, dignity of character and singleness of purpose. Much of his leisure time is devoted to motoring and travel.
HENRY HAMMERSLEY.
The life record of Henry Hammersley is a splendid example of what perse- verance, determination, energy and ability may accomplish. These are the quali- ties upon which he has builded his success and which have carried him into im- portant business relations. He is now local treasurer of the Nickel Plate Railroad and through successive stages of promotion has worked his way upward to his present position of responsibilty.
A native of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, he comes of English lineage. His father, James Hammersley, was born in Northumberlandshire, England, about 1805, and was the son of a prominent landowner. Becoming dissatisfied at home and being provided generously with funds, he came to the United States when twenty-five years of age and purchased a large block of coal land in what is now Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, and also a plantation near Memphis, Ten- nessee. He likewise engaged in merchandising for a short time but abandoned that pursuit when his son Henry was four years of age, devoting his time to his real-estate interests, which were of considerable magnitude for those days. He died in 1857 at the age of fifty-two years. His wife, who bore the maiden name
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of Anna Davis, was born in Wales but was reared in England. Of her family history .her son Henry knows but litttle. His elder brother, long since dead, gave the information that she came of an influential family and that her father was financially interested in the mining of tin in Wales and spent his time between the mines and London. Unto Mr. and Mrs. James Hammersley were born three sons and one daughter, of whom George Washington Hammersley of Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, and Henry, of this review, are the only survivors.
The latter was educated in the public schools and in Western University of Pennsylvania, but left the latter institution before his graduation, owing to a disagreement with his guardians, of whom there were two in addition to a trustee of the estate. He ran away from home and engaged as a cabin boy on the steamer Roebuck, a new boat built especially for the cotton trade and bound for the Yazoo and Big Sunflower rivers. He was then but fifteen years of age. In time he was advanced to the position of receiving clerk and remained on the river between four and five years, running in various trades on the Ohio, Mississippi, Cumber- land, Tennessee and Yazoo rivers. His experience on the river was the most fascinating and romantic of his entire life, especially that on the lower Mississippi, when palatial steamers used to plow its waters. Railroading is tame when com- pared with steamboating of those days, for steamers were the scene of many brilliant festivities and because of their splendid equipment could well be termed "floating palaces."
When Mr. Hammersley retired from the river he returned home to lay claim to his share of the estate, much to the surprise of the executors, who supposed that he was dead. He then studied bookkeeping and was graduated at the end of three months, completing the work that usually required six months. The books writtten by him then are still in his possession and are models of neatness. Making his way northward from Nashville, Tennessee, he engaged in the boat store business at Evansville, Indiana, but sold out in eighteen months. He was prominent and active in public interests in Evansville during that period and raised the first regular militia company in southern Indiana, known as the Evans- ville Rifles, in which he received the command from Governor James D. Williams. He also held the position of deputy surveyor of customs, deputy surveyor of port and deputy disbursing officer at Evansville, his commission being issued by Secre- tary John Sherman. As deputy he disbursed the money for building a new post- office and custom house at Evansville. After a year, however, he resigned to devote his entire time to private business interests. On disposing of his boat store in Evansville, he returned to Paducah, Kentucky, and for several years was engaged in the office of the Kanawha Salt Company. While with them he made for the home office at Charleston, Virginia, an account sales, using English and German text for a fancy heading with the body in neat back-hand. The head office then wrote the agent at Paducah complimenting Mr. Hammersley on the work, stating that they had framed it and hung it up in the office. He next accepted a position at Evansville, Indiana, as chief accountant in the office of L. Ruffner, Jr., & Company, at that time one of the largest grain and commission houses in the southwest, one item of their yearly sales being ninety thousand bar- rels of salt, while their sales of grain, hay and flour were immense, their trade extending to Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, and other southern points. They were also pork packers and plow manufacturers, all of which accounts were in his charge. He was warned by his former chief that it was too big an enterprise for him to handle, but this determined him more than ever to fill the position. He not only had to keep the current work up but had to check back a half million dollars worth of work to effect the balance. Putting system into his task, he handled it with ease, being a rapid writer and quick at figures. He has still in his possession an excellent recommendation from this firm, couched in very complimentary terms. After two years with the house the principal stockholder, who was the president of the Citizens National Bank, withdrew and the firm was dissolved.
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Mr. Hammersley was then offered a position with the German American National Bank of Paducah, Kentucky, at a still further advance in salary, but he decided to accept a position with the firm of H. M. Sweeter & Company, whole- sale dry-goods merchants, as chief accountant and credit man. It was predicted by one of their confidential men that Mr. Hammersley would hold the position but a short time as they never had a man who filled the position longer than eigh- teen months, so strenuous were the demands made upon the incumbent. Mr. Hammersley, however, was a worker and held the place for seven years, working seventeen hours each day during six months of the busy season. He resigned much against the wishes of the company and he now has in his possession a valuable testimonial from them as well as a most complimentary recommendation. In the meantime his reputation for ability, diligence and business capacity was spreading abroad and when he left that place he was offered five different posi- tions all at an advance over his former salary. He did not waste any time but accepted a position with the celebrated railroad construction company of Brown, Howard & Company as auditor and cashier in the building of the extension of the Peoria, Decatur & Evansville Railway and also the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad. He handled fourteen million dollars for this firm without bond and on the completion of the latter road in October, 1882, he was made its assistant treasurer and has remained as such until the present time. He has signed every check issued by this company at Cleveland since it opened for busi- ness. His record is a splendid example of the fact that ability will come to the front and that energy and determination win their just rewards.
Mr. Hammersley was married in Evansville, Indiana, to Miss Matilda Gra- ham, a daughter of Dr. David Moore Graham, a noted physician and former Mississippi planter, whom he first met on a steamer when, accompanied by his daughter, he was returning to his home in the south from a trip to Saratoga. Her grandfather, William Graham, was born in Pennsylvania and was a soldier of the Revolutionary war. He had seven sons and three daughters, some of whom settled in the Carolinas, Missouri and other southern states. The family is distantly related to the families of General T. J. (Stonewall) Jackson and D. H. Hill, noted Confederate leaders. Mrs. Hammersley is also related to the royal family of Holland through Baron Otto, who was her mother's uncle. The family tree which was in possession of Aunt Katy Emrich, who guarded it jeal- ously when alive, has disappeared since her death and the family have been un- able to locate it. Mr. and Mrs. Hammersley have one child, a daughter Grace, now the wife of H. T. Rice, of Louisville, Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Hammers- ley reside at No. 1601 Twenty-first street in Cleveland.
If he has any fads athletics is one of them and, like his father, he has always been fond of horses, spending much time in riding and driving previous to his coming north. Formerly he was a member of the Colonial and Transportation Clubs but at present holds membership with the Cleveland Athletic Club only. He is a man of forceful character, a typical representative of the enterprising American and stands also as a high type of manhood and chivalry.
EDWARD W. BRIGGS.
Edward W. Briggs, dealing in surety bonds and insurance, occupies an influen- tial position in the financial circles of the city and, being a young man of excellent business judgment and untiring energy, which qualities have enabled him to be thus far successful, the future will undoubtedly reward his ambition and noble purpose with a position of greater prominence in business affairs.
His father, Frank A. Briggs, was a native of New York state, born July 7, 1844, and to this city he came about 1865, having previously resided for a time in Michigan. Here he followed his profession as civil engineer until his death in
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1900. He was a veteran of the Civil war and served throughout the conflict in the Eighteenth Michigan Volunteer Infantry. The mother of our subject, Charlotte A. (Jackson) Briggs, departed this life when he was in his eleventh year. Her people were among the first settlers of this region, her grandfather, a native of England, having located on the present site of Cleveland when the entire country was a vast wilderness and here the members of the family became quite prom- inent, owning large tracts of land within the city limits and also in the suburbs.
At the usual age Edward W. Briggs was enrolled as a pupil at the public schools here and upon completing his studies, anxious to launch out in the busi- ness world, he secured employment as a clerk in the Cleveland City Forge & Iron Company's offices, where he remained for nine years, during which time by faith- ful application to duty he acquired business experience and secured several pro- motions. At the expiration of that period he resigned his position and, joining the Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he was a commissioned officer, served throughout the Spanish-American war, after which he was appointed agent of the Chamber of Commerce building, resigning to enter business on his own account. For two years he was affiliated with the United Surety Company as manager, and for the past two years represented the Massachusetts Bonding and Insurance Company. He has excellent business qualifications which are widely recognized and his career thus far has been of great usefulness not only to himself but par- ticularly to the companies with which he is associated.
Mr. Briggs wedded Grace A. Rogers on August 3, 1896, and the couple have since been living in the comfort and joy of domestic happiness in this city. He is prominent in club life and for three years was rear commodore of the Cleveland Yacht Club, and is now vice commodore of the Lakewood Yacht Club and, being fond of boating, spends most of his leisure time on the lakes. During his brief career, his genial disposition has won him a host of friends, and his business qual- ifications, which are evidenced by the responsible position he occupies, justly num- ber him among the city's representative men.
EDWARD LEWIS.
The history of any community resolves itself into the lives of the men whose activities have been responsible for its upbuilding, and in a city the magnitude of Cleveland this fact is doubtly true. Her remarkable growth is largely due to the varied and extensive industrial institutions, foremost among which is the iron and steel industry. No history of this city would be complete without prominent men- tion of those men whose careers are inseparably a part of the history of that in- dustry. Such a man was Edward Lewis, who came to Cleveland in 1841. He was born in Malmsbury, Wiltshire, England, in 1819, a son of a worthy market gar- dener, whose family of eleven children typified in a small way the crowded con- dition of the United Kingdom. Believing the new world offered better opportuni- ties for a young man, whose sole capital was his energy and ambition, Edward Lewis set sail for the United States.
Alone but confident, he left the classic precincts of the little English town whose pavements had been more than once vocal with the tread of royalty, and whose abbey walls to this day bear the marks of Cromwell's cannon balls, and sought the greater advantages of America. Taking passage on a sailing vessel that after a stormy voyage of six weeks landed him in New York, he made up his mind to locate in a smaller town and came to Cleveland.
This was at that time the terminus of the stage route and navigation had closed for the season. Thus being forced to remain or proceed elsewhere by other meth- ods of travel, his location in this city was much by force of circumstances.
Having made up his mind to remain here Mr. Lewis sought employment and soon found it in the iron and hardware store of W. A. Otis on what was then
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EDWARD LEWIS
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Merwin street, thus beginning a connection with the iron business that was con- tinued for more than a half century. He was a sturdy young man, full of energy and ambition, and was paid the munificent sum of one dollar per day and boarded himself. His habits of industry, his willingness and the ready manner with which he learned the business attracted the attention of Mr. Otis and he was advanced to positions of trust. Mr. Otis furnished the capital for the building of a small rolling mill at Newcastle, Pennsylvania, to make iron nails which were sold in the Cleveland market, and in connection with this enterprise, as his representative, Mr. Lewis acquired valuable information in the iron-making business. This was an early period in the development of the iron industry in this section of the country and he stood among the foremost who were active in the line of business to which Cleveland largely owes her present progress and prosperity. He be- came the owner of a third interest in the business of the firm of Ford & Otis, afterward reorganized under the name of the Otis Iron Company. The plant and its equipments, although very small in comparison with those of the present time, constituted a mammoth enterprise for those days. The firm started with two fur- naces and two hammers, employing about fifteen men. A year later two more hammers were installed and in 1859 an eighteen inch and an eight inch mill were added to the plant, the daily product being about eight or nine tons-a large amount for that day. However, the iron business was somewhat disocuraging and uncertain at that time, the mills being entirely idle during twenty-one months of the forty-eight months in which James Buchanan was president of the United States. The war and the Morrill tariff, however, infused life into the enterprise, which from that time enjoyed rapid and substantial growth. In 1872 Mr. Otis re- tired from the firm and the Lake Erie Iron Company succeeded to the business, W. C. Scofield and Mr. Lewis purchasing the interests of Mr. Otis and E. B. Thomas. Gradually a mammoth undertaking was built up and in this great estab- lishment, which included mills, furnaces, forges and one of the most extensive bolt and nut works in the country, Mr. Lewis became one of the extensive stock- holders. The business grew until it was necessary to employ one thousand men in its conduct and from 1861 until 1893 work in the plant was never stopped ex- cept for repairs. With the gradual expansion of the business Mr. Lewis was closely identified, carefully formulating his plans, executing them with decision, while over every detail of the business he watcehd carefully that its best interests might be conserved and that maximum results might be obtained at a minimum expenditure of time, labor and material, which is the source of all success in the industrial world.
Mr. Lewis was a man of great physical energy and when long past three score and ten, was able to perform an amount of work more becoming of one twenty years his junior. The advancing years seemed to have little or no effect on his vigorous frame and none whatever upon his capacity for business. He ac- cumulated a large property, the possession of which never changed the man in his manner toward acquaintances of his early struggles in life.
No citizen of his time in Cleveland enjoyed any higher reputation for busi- ness foresight and ability, for progressive energy and sterling integrity. His word was his bond, and that was always at a premium. Before the war Mr. Lewis was one of the most active conductors of the "underground" railway in this city. The fugitive slaves were usually shipped across the lake on Canadian lum- ber vessels, and he could relate many stirring incidents of those troublous days in which he took a leading part. The slavery question entered prominently into church discussions until after the emancipation, and Mr. Lewis affiliated with the Wesleyan Methodists on that account, the Methodist Episcopal church being di- vided on the issue. In 1872, however, he joined the First Methodist Episcopal church and remained one if its pillars until his death.
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