A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume II, Part 3

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1150

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His political allegiance is given to the republican party and his fraternal rela- tions are with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Royal Ar- canum. In his entire business career there has not been an esoteric phase, his dependence being placed upon the rules which govern strict and unswerving business integrity and indefatigable enterprise.

HARLEY BROWNELL GIBBS.

Entering business life at the age of sixteen years, Harley Brownell Gibbs, through well directed energy and intelligent effort, has achieved notable success. There has been no esoteric phase in all his career, but rather the gradual unfold- ing of powers that have enabled him to grasp and master each situation and bring his interests to prosperous conclusions. Born in Milan, Erie county, Ohio, on the 13th of March, 1849, Mr. Gibbs is of Scotch lineage, being a direct descen- dant of Giles Gibbs, who came from England to Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1633, and in 1641 removed to Windsor, Connecticut. One of his ancestors, Major Gibbs, was on the staff of General Washington in the Revolutionary war, while another was a captain in the colonial army and still another a captain in the navy at the time of the war for independence. His father, Edward Hanford Gibbs, was a native of Norwalk, Connecticut, born August 4, 1812. He was but six years of age when he accompanied his parents on their removal westward to Nor- walk, Ohio, and after he had attained his majority he engaged in general mer- chandising, following that pursuit in Milan, Ohio, for many years, or until his death in 1871. He wedded Maria Louise Brownell, who was born in Ovid, New York, August 1, 1815, and was of French lineage, being a descendant of Lieutenant Jonathan Brownell, who married one of the Mayflower passengers, and also of Bishop Brownell, bishop of Connecticut and later presiding bishop of the United States. This family was also represented in the Revolutionary war by those who valiantly defended the interests of the colonies. The death of Mrs. Gibbs occurred in 1869. The family numbered five children, of whom Harley B. Gibbs was the third in order of birth. Two of the number have passed away, the living being Mrs. William Lewis, of Chicago, and Platt P. Gibbs, also of the same city.

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

Harley B. Gibbs spent his boyhood in Milan, Ohio, and in Chicago, removing to the latter city when sixteen years of age. There he secured a position in the office of a grain and commission house, where he continued for about six years, receiving valuable practical training, which has constituted an excellent founda- tion on which to rear the superstructure of his later business success. For thirty- eight years he has been a resident of Cleveland, arriving in this city in 1871 at which time he became connected with the King Bridge Company, which was or- ganized in that year. He served as bookkeeper until 1875 and was elected secre- tary, which position he filled until chosen treasurer in 1887. He remained in that connection until 1907, when he resigned the office but still remains as one of the board of directors. In the meantime his business ability, marked enter- prise and executive force were recognized, and his cooperation has been eagerly welcomed in other fields of business. He is now the vice president of the Lake Shore Banking & Trust Company, of which he was one of the organizers in 1890. serving since that time in his present official connection He is also a director of the Manly Drive Company, of New York.

At Hudson, Ohio, on the 24th of October, 1878, Mr. Gibbs was married to Miss Emma Johnson, of the place, who died in 1894. His political allegiance is given to the republican party at the polls, but he is not an active worker in its ranks. Prominent in Masonry, he belongs to Tyrian Lodge, A. F. & A. M., Ori- ental Commandery, K. P., Lake Erie Consistory, S. P. R. S., and Al Koran Temple A. A. O. N. M. S. He is also a popular and valued member of various clubs, belonging to the Union, the Roadside and the Euclid Clubs, the New England Society of Cleveland, the Union League Club of Chicago and the Ohio Society of New York.

JOHN H. PRICE.

John H. Price, occupying a central place on the stage of public activity, is making his impress felt upon the proceedings of the bar, upon the political situa- tion of the city and upon its sociological conditions, especially in his efforts to promote the welfare of the newsboys and others to whom fate has vouchsafed little opportunity. Although a young man, his life has been one of usefulness in his service to the city and has also been fraught with successful accomplishment in the line of his chosen profession.

Mr. Price was born in Youngstown, Ohio, July 31, 1878, and is of Welsh parentage-a son of Morgan P. and Margaret (Davis) Price. Improving his opportunities for the acquirement of an education, he was graduated from the public schools of Youngstown with honors and from the Rayen high school with the class of 1897. In the meantime, while still in the grammar schools, he was employed as a newsboy and as messenger boy for the Western Union Telegraph Company, and also worked in the office of the Brown, Bonnell Iron Company. Ambitious to secure an education, he entered Mount Union College in the year of his graduation from the high school, working his way through both high school and college by doing newspaper work. He was graduated from Mount Union in 1900 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and during his college days became affiliated with the Sigma Alpha Epsilon and also the Theta Nu Epsilon. During his college days he served as city editor of the Alliance Review and was also editor-in-chief of the College Annual and other college papers. He received hon- ors in debate, becoming the winner in the annual debates and also receiving hon- ors in oratory. He was likewise manager of athletic teams and was popular alike with professors and classmates-a young man alive to the situation, eagerly em- bracing his opportunities for mental development and at the same time realizing that education is but a means to an end-a preparation for the practical and re- sponsible duties of life. Appreciative of the value of European experience, he

JOHN H. PRICE

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

crossed the ocean as a cattle puncher on a cattle boat and roughed it through nine European countries, traveling as a newspaper correspondent throughout Europe in 1900.

In the meantime Mr. Price formed the definite purpose of becoming a mem- ber of the bar and, returning to America in 1901, entered the law school of the Ohio State University, at the same time doing special work for the Cleveland Plain Dealer in Columbus. Later he matriculated in the law school of the West- ern Reserve University and while preparing for the profession edited a history of the Ohio National Guard and Ohio volunteers in the war with Spain, and also edited the Law School Annual. He was well equipped, not only by research but through actual experience, for his historical editorial work, having served with the Eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry at Santiago, Cuba, participating in the siege of the city.

Mr. Price was admitted to the bar in 1903 and since that time has been act- ively'engaged in the practice of law in Cleveland, making a specialty of corpora- tion, insurance and constitutional law. He has now a liberal and representative clientage along these lines and in 1909 he was appointed by the attorney general of Ohio as special counsel to the attorney general for Cuyahoga county, having charge of all legal matters for the state in this county. He has been connected with various important cases in his capacity as counsel, while his private law business has also brought him prominently before the public in a professional capacity. He is not unknown as a sagacious and successful business man, being secretary and treasurer of the Western Reserve Motor Car Company, and presi- dent of the East End Realty Company.

Not only as a prominent and rising representative of the bar is John H. Price known in Cleveland and Ohio. He is recognized as one of the prominent repub- lican leaders of the city and is probably the youngest man who ever served as chairman of the republican committee of Cuyahoga county, being chosen for that office when but twenty-eight years of age. He was termed the "boy chairman" but his clear-cut opinions, definite plans and high ideals were those of a man of thought and action. From his youth he has been deeply interested in political questions and in the situation of the country, availing himself of every opportu- nity to broaden his knowledge along those lines. He saw that it was with diffi- culty that young men were making their way in political circles where older men desired to keep their place as campaign orators and as candidates, fearing that their place might be usurped by those of younger years. Mr. Price championed the cause of the young man and his labors were equally efficacious for a campaign of cleanliness and for opposition to anything like misrule in public affairs. In 1906 he managed a "moneyless campaign" that was commented on editorially throughout the country, following as it did an era of tremendous campaign ex- penditure in Cuyahoga county. His efforts were eminently successful. Since that year he has served continuously as a member of the republican executive committee of Cuyahoga county and is generally chairman of the speaker's com- mittee of the successive campaigns. In 1908 he was a candidate for common pleas judge.

Mr. Price was married in 1903 to Miss Floride Gaillard Staats, a daughter of Henry N. Staats, and unto them have been born two sons, John H. and Newman Staats Price. Mr. Price is a member of the Masonic fraternity, having taken the degrees of the commandery, the consistory, and also of the Mystic Shrine. He is likewise affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. For a number of years he has been a director of the Tippecanoe Club and is a member of the Chamber of Com- merce, the Colonial Club and the Ohio State Board of Commerce. He was one of the committee of arrangements to the Tippecanoe Club which planned to visit that Club at Canton on the occasion of the dedication of the memorial erected to President McKinley. He holds membership in the Calvary Presbyterian church and is much interested in sociological work. He holds membership in the Social

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

Service Club and has given much time and attention to the interests and welfare of newsboys in the city of Cleveland, serving for two years as president of the Cleveland Newsboys' Association. In this connection he was active in the effort to reach boys who cannot afford the membership dues of the Young Men's Chris- tian Association, providing gymnasium facilities and more opportunity for ath- letic development, realizing that the profitable and enjoyable employment of time is a sure preventive of mischief and crime. John H. Price is particularly alive to the interests and vital questions of the day, whether of a professional, political or sociological nature, and his labors and efforts have been of a most practical char- acter, while at the same time he works toward high ideals.

CHARLES RENZ.

Charles Renz, who for the past three years has served as vice president of the Standard Brewing Company, was formerly identified with the concern as its chief executive officer and previous to his connection with brewing interests con- ducted a grocery establishment in Cleveland for more than two decades. He was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, on the 4th of August, 1856, a son of Lud- wig and Caroline Renz. John Renz, the paternal grandfather, whose birth oc- curred in Wurtemberg in 1772, was a blacksmith and wagon-maker by trade and passed away in 1842. Ludwig Renz, the father of our subject, first opened his eyes to the light of day in Wurtemberg, Germany, on the 18th of July, 1818. He was likewise a blacksmith by trade and followed that occupation both in his native country and in the United States. It was in the year 1871 that he crossed the Atlantic to the new world, landing at New York, whence he came direct to Cleveland, Ohio. He retired from active life in 1880 and six years later was called to his final rest.

Charles Renz, who attended the public schools of Germany until fourteen years of age, was a lad of fifteen when he accompanied his parents on their emi- gration to the United States, the family home being established in Cleveland. He then served a two years' apprenticeship to the blacksmith's trade and after- ward secured employment in the carriage shop of Lowman & Son, where he re- mained for five years. On the expiration of that period he went to Chicago, where he started out in business on his own account as a carriage maker, con- tinuing a resident of the western metropolis for three years. Subsequently he worked at his trade in Leadville, Colorado, for a year and then returned to Cleve- land and opened a grocery store at the corner of Holmden avenue and West Twenty-fifth street. After two years he admitted his brother to a partnership and the association was maintained with mutual pleasure and profit for a period of twenty years. In February, 1903, Charles Renz was elected president of the Standard Brewing Company and acted in that responsible position until 1906, since which time he has ably represented the interests of the concern as its vice president. Some idea of the steady growth and expansion of the business may be gained from the fact that the first year the company turned out ten thousand barrels of beer, the second year nineteen thousand, the third year thirty-five thousand, the fourth year fifty-one thousand and the fifth year fifty-five thou- sand barrels. The Standard Brewing Company now employs a force of fifty- six men and utilizes sixteen wagons for delivery purposes.

Mr. Renz has been married twice. His first wife, whom he wedded in Cleve- land and who bore the maiden name of Katie Meyer, passed away in September. 1906. They had three children, as follows: Erma and Helen, who are graduates of the high school; and Carl, twelve years of age, who is now attending the public schools. For his second wife Mr. Renz chose Mrs. Boehm, their marriage being celebrated on the 17th of October, 1907. The family residence is at No. 1903 Holmden avenue.

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

At the polls Mr. Renz exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the democracy, while in religious faith he is a Protestant. Dur- ing the long period of his residence in this community the principles that have actuated his life have been such as to win for him the highest esteem and good will of his fellow townsmen.

REV. SEYMOUR WEBSTER ADAMS, D.D.

In a review of the history of Cleveland and those who have aided in any way in molding its history, one must at once recognize the fact that the Rev. Sey- mour Webster Adams was a forceful factor in its moral development, his far- reaching influence being still felt in the lives of those who knew him, although more than four decades have passed since he was called to the home beyond. Actuated by the highest Christian ideals, his heart reached out in ready sympathy to all mankind, and his belief in his fellowmen led them to do their best that they might merit his good opinion. His memory is enshrined in the hearts of all with whom he came in contact and remains as a blessed benediction to those who knew him. Rev. Adams was born in Vernon, Oneida county, New York, August I, 1815, a son of Isaac and Eunice (Webster) Adams. The father, who was long a deacon in the Baptist church of Vernon, died in 1861. The mother was a niece of Noah Webster. They were farming people who diligently and persis- tently wrought for the welfare of their family, and while occupied with the daily tasks of the household and the fields they did not neglect the religious instruction of their children nor fail to mold their own lives in harmony with Christian teachings.

Reared in the atmosphere of a cultured, Christian home, the lessons of wis- dom there taught sank deep into the mind and heart of the Rev. Seymour W. Adams, and when seventeen years of age he naturally passed into intimate rela- tions with the church, this being but the outward expression of the mental atti- tude which had been his from youth. Soon afterward he became a student in Hamilton College, at Clinton, New York, where he pursued the full course of study, and, desiring to devote his life to the work of the ministry, he then con- tinued his studies in the Hamilton Theological Seminary, in Madison county. New York. When he had been fully instructed in the theology of the church and in all that qualifies the young man for the work of the ministry, he was ordained in February, 1843, and began preaching as supply at Durhamville, New York. A few months later he accepted a call from the Baptist church at Johnstown, New York, and in 1844 became pastor of the church in his native town of Vernon. In 1846 he was unanimously called to the First Baptist church of Cleveland, and after much hesitation accepted its pastorate, entering upon the active work of the church on the second Sunday in November of that year. He remained here until his death, carefully organized the work of the church and by his words of truth and wisdom greatly promoted the spiritual development of his people and added many to the congregation. At different times churches were set off from the one of which he was pastor, and thus his labors were extended along the lines of a constantly broadening angle and have not yet ceased to bear fruit in the lives of those with whom he came in contact. He was an earnest and discriminating student who realized that Christianity should be a very present help in time of trouble and a rule by which to govern daily conduct, as well as a point of Sunday observance. During his life he preached in the regular Sunday services and at funerals three thousand, four hundred and ninety-three sermons, performed three hundred and forty-two marriage cere- monies, attended five hundred and four funerals and baptized two hundred and ninety-nine people who confessed their faith in Christ. During the years 1858 and 1859 he wrote the memoir of Dr. Nathaniel Kendrick, so long and favorably

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

known as the founder of the Hamilton Theological School, which in time devel- oped into the Madison University and Hamilton Theological Seminary.

Mr. Adams was married three times. In 1843 he wedded Caroline E. Griggs, who died in Cleveland in 1847. In January, 1849, Mrs. Cordelia C. Peck became his wife. She was the widow of the Rev. Lenus M. Peck and a daughter of Dr. Nathaniel Kendrick. She died October 7, 1852, and on the 9th of August, 1855, Rev. Adams was united in the holy bonds of matrimony to Miss Augusta Hoyt. Rev. Adams had four children: Francis A., who is first assistant principal of the East high school and has been very active in educa- tional circles in this city; Mary E., whose labors have also been an element in the intellectual progress of the city, her position being now at the head of the English department of the Central high school; Mrs. Cornelia B. Shiras, of Otta, Kansas; and Seymour Webster, in the employ of Saginaw Bay Lumber Company.

On the 7th of June, 1864, upon invitation of the Cleveland branch of the Christian commission, he left home to labor as a delegate with the soldiers and was assigned to a hospital in the vicinity of Washington, where day after day he watched and nursed and administered to the sick and needy of body and soul. On the 6th of July he returned home, for ill health demanded that he cease his labors in the hospital. To inquiries concerning his health he said that he was better, and indeed well, his happiness at being again with his family and his peo- ple deceiving him as to his own physical condition, but disease had laid her hand upon him and on the IIth of September he preached his last sermon.

While the Rev. Mr. Adams was a man of scholarly attainments and strong intellectual force he also manifested a deep and abiding human sympathy and was ever willing to aid those outside of his church as well as those of his own membership. He manifested at all times a most kindly and considerate spirit, speaking ever a word of encouragement rather than of disapproval, seeking ever to inspire by the presentation of the right method rather than the condemnation of the wrong. Many there are who yet cherish the words which he spoke, and the work of the Baptist church in Cleveland received a decided impetus through his labors and zeal. Mrs. Adams still resides in Cleveland and has great love for the city where she has now made her home for many years. Her circle of friends is an extensive one here and is continually increasing as the circle of her acquaintance widens.

SAMUEL MATHER.

For more than sixty-five years the name of Mather has been prominently identified with the financial, industrial and social interests of Cleveland. One of the oldest and most prominent of the New England families, it has numbered among its members such noted divines as the Rev. Richard Mather, the Ameri- can progenitor of the family; his son, the Rev. Dr. Increase Mather, the first native born president of Harvard College; and the latter's son, the Rev. Dr. Cotton Mather, who was a graduate of Harvard, senior pastor of the Old North Church in Boston and an overseer of Harvard College.

The branch of this family under consideration, whose history is inseparably a part of that of Cleveland during the period of its representation here, springs from Samuel Livingston Mather of the eighth generation, the father of Samuel Mather and William Gwinn Mather, among the foremost citizens of Cleveland.

The name Mather is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Math, meaning honor, reverence-and its representatives are very numerous in some parts of England and Scotland. Nearly all of those bearing the honored name in this country are descended from the Rev. Richard Mather, of Lowton, Winwick parish, Lanca- shire, England, where he was born in 1596. The line of descent from him, show-

SAMUEL MATHER

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

ing connection of the Cleveland branch, is designated by Roman numerals in the following.

(I) Rev. Richard Mather, the founder of the family in the new world, ar- rived at Boston, August 17, 1635. In 1636 he became the beloved pastor of the church in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and died there in 1669. He was twice married, his first wife, Catharine Holt, being the mother of his six children. His second wife was Sarah Cotton, the widow of the noted Rev. John Cotton.

(II) Timothy Mather, son of the Rev. Richard and Catharine (Holt) Mather, married first Catharine Atherton and second Elizabeth Weeks.

(III) Richard Mather, son of Timothy and Catharine ( Atherton) Mather, and his two brothers, Rev. Samuel, who settled in Windsor, Connecticut, and Atherton, who settled in Suffield, Connecticut, are ancestors of all those bearing the name and descend from the New England Mathers, as the name in other lines to this time ceased with Samuel Mather, a grandson of the Rev. Dr. Cotton Mather. After his marriage Richard Mather removed to Lyme, New London county, Connecticut, where he died in 1688.

(IV) Samuel Mather, of Lyme, Connecticut, married Deborah Champion and resided in that town.

(V) Richard Mather married Deborah Ely and resided in Lyme, Connecti- cut.

(VI) Samuel Mather married Lois Griswold. He was a prominent man in Connecticut and a member of the Connecticut Land Company.

(VII) Samuel Mather, born in Lyme, Connecticut, in 1771, after his grad- uation from Yale made a journey to the then wilderness of the Western Reserve to inspect lands in that section held by his father and other eastern men who were members of the Connecticut Land Company. After his return east he set- tled in Albany, New York, where he resided for some years, subsequently remov- ing to Middletown, Connecticut, where he died April 16, 1854. He married Catherine Livingston, of a prominent New York family. Like his father, he was one of the leading men in his section of Connecticut. In his family were nine children. The eldest, a daughter, Maria, became the wife of Major General J. K. F. Mansfield, of Middletown, Connecticut, who was mortally wounded at Antietam in 1862. Their daughter married Walter B. Hubbard, whose sister is the wife of Frank B. Weeks, the present governor of Connecticut.

(VIII) Samuel Livingston Mather, son of Samuel and Catherine (Living- ston) Mather, was born in Middletown, Connecticut, July 1, 1817, and was a member of the first class that was graduated from the Wesleyan University of that city-in 1835. After leaving college he was for some time occupied with business transactions for his father and subsequently, for several years, was in business in New York on his own account. During this period he made two voyages to Europe. In 1843 he came to Cleveland to look after the sale of lands owned by his father as one of the holders on the Western Reserve and also to attend to the same line of business for other eastern men who had interests in the state. Soon after coming to Cleveland he was admitted to the bar but never practiced the profession of law, for about that time his attention was attracted to the iron discoveries in the Lake Superior regions. He foresaw the future importance of that district and determined to give his time to and invest his cap- ital in its development. In 1853 he became one of the incorporators of the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, which mined and transported to Lake Erie the first cargo of Lake Superior iron ore. He was a member of the company's original board of directors and its first secretary and treasurer. Those offices he filled until 1869, when he was elected president and treasurer-a relation that he sustained until his death.

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A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume II, Part 3

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1150

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1150