USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume II > Part 39
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JOHN HUNTINGTON.
As the day with its morning of hope and promise, its noontide of activity, its evening of complete and successful effort ending in the grateful rest and quiet of the night, so was the life of John Huntington, a man esteemed and honored wherever known and most of all where best known. He figures on the pages of history as a capitalist but more than that as a benefactor whose interests and sym- pathies went out at all times toward the unfortunate in a tangible manifestation of a spirit of helpfulness. While he has passed from life his good deeds remain and are yet factors in much of the city's charitable and benevolent work.
Mr. Huntington was born in Preston, England, March 8, 1832, a son of Hugh Huntington, who was professor of mathematics at Onuskirk in Lancashire and one of the founders of the Trinity school at Preston. After acquiring a good edu- cation in his native land John Huntington sailed to America in 1852 and the same year came to Cleveland, establishing himself in the roofing business. In this industry he met with success and he also became interested in oil in an early day. It was in 1863 that he took up the business of refining oil with Clark, Payne & Company and his knowledge of mechanics and his understanding of the needs in the line of his business enabled him to invent many valuable improvements in the methods of refining oil, which inventions he patented. He also made improve- ments on the furnaces and on the machinery used in the manufacture of oil bar- rels. So great were the advantages resulting from the use of his inventions that the business of Clark, Payne & Company rapidly outstripped all competitors and finally they united with several of the chief refiners of this section of the country to form the Standard Oil Company. Mr. Huntington acquired a handsome for- tune but, never hoarding his gains for selfish purposes, he gave freely in charitable and benevolent lines and also became interested in other business enterprises which were of substantial benefit in upbuilding the city. In 1886 he engaged successfully in lake shipping and became part owner of a large fleet of vessels. He was also extensively interested in the Cleveland Stone Company and became its vice president.
Unlike the great majority of the prominent and successful business men of the present day, he did not regard participation in the political interests of his city as beneath him but on the contrary regarded it as a duty as well as the privi- lege of every American citizen to share in the work of promoting the welfare of city, state and country through the avenue of politics. He became actively inter- ested in municipal affairs and at an early day entered the city council, where by reelection he was retained for many years and was connected with the inception and carrying out of the plans for many of the public works of Cleveland. He was always a firm believer in a brilliant future for the city and his labors at all times looked to the growth and development of Cleveland while also promoting practical reform. In 1872 he introduced the resolution in the city council for the appointment of a committee to take into consideration the construction of a bridge across the river at Superior street. The resolution was adopted and he was ap- pointed to serve on the committee having in charge the construction of the bridge. He continued in the council for thirteen years, beginning in 1862, and always stood
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for substantial improvements such as paving streets, developing the sewer sys- tem, building bridges, advancing the water supply and introducing steam fire en- gines. He was also one of the promoters of the Lake View park and the Superior street viaduct. His labors were at all times practical and he was ever a man of ac- tion rather than of theory, accomplishing results while others were still forming plans.
In 1852 Mr. Huntington was united in marriage to Miss Jane Beck, of Pres- ton, England, and that year they sailed for the new world. As the years passed four children were added to the family : Mrs. A. C. Hord, William R., Mrs. H. P. Smith and Mrs. E. A. Merritt, all of Cleveland. Following the death of his first wife Mr. Huntington wedded Mrs. Mariet L. Goodwin, a daughter of Talmage W. Leek, of Cleveland. The death of Mr. Huntington occurred in London, England, January 10, 1893. Four years before-in 1889-he established a permanent fund to be known as the John Huntington Benevolent Trust and placed the sum of two hundred thousand dollars in the hands of a committee, which he selected. The income was to be divided between nineteen public insti- tutions of charitable and educational character, and today no less than forty diffrent charities of the city are benefited yearly through the Huntington Benevo- lent Trust. He also gave a certain per cent of the income from his estate during the life time of his children and at their death a definite amount of property for an art gallery and an evening polytechnic schools. He foresaw the needs of the city along these as well as many other lines and made provision therefor. His residence in America covered almost fifty years and during that period he made substantial progress. He wisely chose as the place of his residence a land where history is making, a country whose natural resources have not been developed to their full extent, as is the case in many districts of the old world, but where the wealth of its advantages is hardly yet realized. He took his part in shaping the destiny of the city with which he became identified, utilized his opportunities for the development of natural resources and as the years passed, in the control of his business interests, reached a place among thie millionaire residents of Cleve- land and won a firm hold on the affection of his fellow townsmen by reason of the many generous deeds which he did for the benefit of those needing his assis- tance. Thus among the names of the most honored dead of Cleveland is inscribed that of John Huntington.
JOHN MATTHEW CHAPMAN.
John Matthew Chapman, general manager at Cleveland of the Crandall Pack- ing Company of Palmyra, New York, was born November 25, 1858, in Macedon, Wayne county, New York, his parents being Robert and Anna (Wigglesworth) Chapman. At the usual age he began his education as a district school pupil and was employed about home until twenty years of age, when he started out to make his own way in the world, going to St. Louis, Missouri, where he spent five years in the employ of Cox & Gordon as clerk and foreman. On the expiration of that period he continued his westward journey to Leadville, Colorado, and became chainman and levelman on the construction of the Colorado Midland Railway. He remained for three years and then returned to Palmyra, New York, where he acted as salesman for the Garlock Packing Company. For fifteen years he con- tinued there, working his way upward to the position of traveling salesman, and from 1898 until 1906 he was manager of the Cleveland branch of the business. In the latter year he resigned to become manager for the Crandall Packing Com- pany at Cleveland and is occupying that position at the present writing. It is one of responsibility, involving keen foresight and careful management, and the house numbers him among its most worthy and capable representatives.
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In 1894 Mr. Chapman led to the marriage altar Miss Anna E. Cunningham, a native of Sodus, New York, and of English descent. Mr. Chapman belongs to the Masonic lodge at Palmyra, New York, has also taken the degrees of capitular, cryptic and chivalric Masonry, and is a member of the Knights of Maccabees. His political endorsement is given to the republicans and, while he neither seeks nor desires office as a reward for party fealty, he keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day and at all times is a public-spirited citizen, in- terested in the general welfare and especially in that of the city in which he makes his home. His business record had a humble beginning, and placing his dependence on no outside aid or influence he has worked upward through his ability and enterprise until he has become well known in the business circles of Cleveland.
HERMAN FRIEDMAN.
In contemplating the life history of such a man as Herman Friedman, one is reminded of the words of Charles Sumner, who said, "Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war." In an active business career Herman Friedman has steadily worked his way upward and has come up conqueror in the strife, when- ever he has had to contend with competition, hardships and difficulties which seemed to block his path. He is today the president of the Friedman, Blau & Farber Company, conducting the most extensive knitting business in Cleveland and the largest of its class in the United States. Four hundred and fifty people find employment in his factories, while his goods are shipped to all parts of the country.
Mr. Friedman was born in Hungary, May 17, 1855, and is the son of Simon and Marie Friedman, both of whom are deceased. Their family numbered five sons : Nathan, a resident of St. Louis; Jacob, who is living in New York; Henry, who is living in Sioux City, Iowa; David, a retired manufacturer of Cleveland ; and Herman.
The last named was educated in the schools of Hungary to his seventeenth year, when in 1872 he bade adieu to friends and native country and sailed for the United States, attracted by the opportunities of the new world. Having re- solved to seek a home and fortune on the western continent, he located at Elkhart, Indiana, and there completed his education, after which he went to Coldwater, Michigan, in 1874, and engaged in the dry-goods business as a clerk. He was faithful and diligent and also economical so that he soon became proprietor of the business, which under his capable guidance steadily increased in volume and importance until he sold out in March, 1883. At that time he sought the broader opportunities of the city and came to Cleveland, where he established a knitting factory under the firm name of H. Friedman & Company. The beginning was small, for he had but two rooms in a building at St. Clair and Bank streets. The enterprise proved a growing one from the beginning, and he found at the end of the year that quarters were too small and removed to St. Clair street near Bank, where he used two entire floors and one-half of another to accommodate the growing business. In 1887 he removed to a building erected for the company by General Barnett on Bank street, and there continuous development of the trade made it necessary for him to add another building at a later date. There they continued until 1903, when they removed to their present modern factory at Perkins and East Thirty-seventh streets. Theirs was the first fancy knitting mill west of Philadelphia and today does the largest knitting business in Cleveland and is the largest of this class in the United States. Something of the growth of the business is indicated in the fact that four hundred and fifty operatives are now employed in the factory, while a large selling force is maintained in this city and on the road. The excellence of the output, the reasonable prices and the
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reliability of the trade relations have been the chief forces in the success of the house, which is now one of the leading productive industries of Cleveland and has largely set the standard for enterprises of this character in the United States. Mr. Friedman also has various outside interests. He is a director of the Ameri- can Lace Company at Elyria, Ohio, and is financially represented in many cor- porations.
On the 10th of July, 1893, Mr. Friedman was married to Miss Lena Blau, the daughter of Samuel and Katherine Blau. Mrs. Friedman was born December 6, 1862, and died June 27, 1908, leaving two children: Sidney S., who was edu- cated in the Central high school and the Western Reserve University and is now associated with his father in business, and Rema M., who attended the Central high school and Wellesley College, near Boston, Massachusetts. The family residence is at No. 2417 East Fortieth street.
Mr. Friedman manifests his appreciation of the social amenities of life in his membership in the Excelsior and Oakwood Clubs. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, and he belongs to Willson Avenue Temple church and to various Masonic bodies. His leisure hours are largely devoted to motor- ing and fishing, and he also is fond of good literature, having a large library, which contains many choice volumes. In his life continuous activity has been accorded due recognition, and his intelligently directed labor has placed him in a notable position in commercial circles in Cleveland.
THOMAS ALBERT TARBET.
Thomas Albert Tarbet, whose labors as a plaster contractor largely set the standard for work of that character in Cleveland, was born at Teele on the Isle of Man, July 22, 1848. He was a son of John Tarbet, who was a plasterer, and in- structed his son in that work. He learned plain and ornamental plastering under his father at the age of fourteen years and afterward went to Liverpool, England, where he completed his trade, attaining a high degree of skill in that line of work. He was twenty-one years of age when he arrived in Cleveland, and with the busi- ness interests of the city he was thereafter closely associated. He worked at his trade in the employ of others for about five years and then commenced business for himself. As the result of his perseverance, energy and capability as the years passed he became one of the largest contractors in his line in the country, doing work in many of the finest buildings in this and other cities. Under contract he did the plastering and interior finishing in the Lakeside Hospital, the Williamson, Electric and Hickok buildings, also in the buildings of the Society for Savings, the American Trust Company building, the Perry Payne building, the Osborn and Lennon buildings, the Colonial Arcade, the Hollenden Hotel, St. Francis and St. Columbkills churches in Cleveland and two other large churches at McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. He also had the plastering contract for many other churches and buildings throughout the state. He completed the Erie County Bank at Buffalo, the Newburg Asylum and the Warrensville buildings for the city of Cleveland. He enjoyed an especially high reputation in connection with his work in churches, and thus his services were in continual demand, calling him to various sections of the country.
On the 18th of May, 1875, Mr. Tarbet was united in marriage to Miss Emma Sayles, also a native of the Isle of Man, and they became the parents of six chil- dren: Gertrude, now the wife of Frank Faber ; Emma, the wife of Ira S. Gifford ; Douglas ; Alice, the wife of W. W. Corlett ; Estelle ; and one who is deceased.
Mr. Tarbet was a very prominent member of the Builders Exchange. He gave his political allegiance to the republican party and fraternally was connected with the Masons. He was also a member of the Monas Relief Society, providing for its own poor people. He was a most charitable man, his benevolent spirit prompting
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his generous assistance to those in need, and at all times he was ready to extend a helping hand. He was also public spirited, and his endorsement was given to the various measures for the welfare and progress of Cleveland. He died very suddenly on the 7th of April, 1909, and his death was the occasion of deep regret not only to his own household but in business circles and in various associations which have numbered him as a member. Mrs. Tarbet is still living in Cleveland and for a number of years has been a very active and prominent worker in the Willson Avenue Presbyterian church.
JASON A. BIDWELL.
Prominent along the lines of manufacturing that are a phase of the iron in- dustry and have contributed largely to Cleveland's industrial growth for more than a third of a century is the busienss of screw manufacturing, and to no in- dividual is there so much credit due for the establishment and development of this industry as to the gentleman whose name heads this review-Jason A. Bidwell, who may justly be termed the father of this industry in Cleveland. He was born December 17, 1830, in the town of Landaff, New Hampshire, a son of Jason and Sally (Peck) Bidwell. The father was born in Lebanon, New Hampshire, March 3, 1782, a son of Nathaniel Bidwell, whose wife was a Miss Bigsby. Nathaniel Bidwell was descended from John Bidwell, one of the early settlers and a land- holder of Hartford, Connecticut, in 1639. It is believed that nearly all bearing the name of Bidwell in this country are descendants of this John. The family is one of high standing and is connected by marriage with many eminent families, among whom may be mentioned that of President Stiles, of Yale University. The mother of Jason A. Bidwell was a daughter of Truman Peck, a soldier of the Revolution. The marriage of James Bidwell and Sally Peck was celebrated at Grafton, New Hampshire, in 1807, and the following July they started with an ox-team and their household effects for Littleton, New Hampshire, a town then but recently granted to new settlers. At that time it was a wilderness of pine forest, including the finest specimens of that kind of timber to be found in America, many of the trees being five feet in diameter and reaching a height of one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet before there was a knot or limb. There the Bidwell family lived for sixteen years, undergoing the hardships and priva- tions incident to pioneer life and forming habits of industry, frugality and upright- ness which made marked impression on their posterity. In 1823 they removed to Landaff, where Jason A. Bidwell was born. In 1835 he accompanied his par- ents to Franconia, where he resided until fourteen years of age, when he left home and entered the business field, wherein he has since labored with ceaseless activity, usefulness and credit. Although his pecuniary aid was decidedly lim- ited, but few men have met with more success in their undertakings. In 1844, with the enthusiasm common to youth and with the determination and courage rarely met with in one so young, and with intelligent ideas and possibilities of life, he laid the foundation for his later success by becoming an apprentice to the E. & T. Fairbanks Company of St. Johnsbury, Vermont. There, working four- teen hours a day, he learned the blacksmith's trade, his compensation being a Yankee shilling equivalent to sixteen and two-thirds cents as a day's wage. This barely enabled him to meet the necessities of life but the boy was possessed of a firm determination to master the trade in all its details and make his life one of usefulness. He eagerly improved his opportunities, receiving his instruction from a master workman. At that time the Fairbanks Company was just beginning the manufacture of scales, which required large amounts of screws which were imported from England, received at Boston and transferred to St. Johnsbury, about four weeks being required to make the round trip from Boston to St. Johns-
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bury. This was tedious and expensive and the firm determined upon manufac- turing its own screws.
Mr. Bidwell was set to work in that department where he had to cut the wire, heat one end in a common blacksmith fire, upset the head, trim off the burrs and cut the slot and the thread, all by hand-work that is entirely done by machinery today. His apprenticeschip covered seven years, after which he engaged himself to the firm for another year as a journeyman, receiving one dollar per day for his services. At the end of that time, in 1852, he went to Providence, Rhode Island, in which busy manufacturing city, guided by men of experience, his active brain and natural adaptability to mechanical pursuits enabled him to stand well to the front with the best mechanics and artisans of that time. The opportunity was his and he eagerly embraced it, his inventive genius and abilities finding full scope in his connection with the screw business, then in its infancy. The devolopment of the screw industry is an interesting chapter in the history of invention and manufacture in America. All the screws that are now made in America, and in the old world also, are made on machinery invented by American mechanics. No one man, however, can lay claim to all the inventions which have taken this industry out of the realm of hand-labor and given it over into the tireless hand of the steam engine. At the present day all the operations of manufacturing wood and machine screws are performed by automatic machines; that is, the coil of wire is placed upon a reel and is automatically manipulated by three dis- tinct machines, until it is delivered by the last machine a perfect screw. The machines are : first, heading ; second, shaving and cutting the slot ; third, forming the thread. With much of this machinery Mr. Bidwell has been identified, either as inventor or in making important improvements, as the records of the patent office at Washington will show. The date of screw manufacturing in this country may be fixed as 1798, when David Wilkinson, of Providence, Rhode Island, and
Thomas W. Harvey, of Ramapo, New York, invented their process.
to this other mechanics had, from time to time, made attempts to lift the business from hand to an automatic standard, but failed. Not until 1837 did the effort bear fruit, and not until 1849 was success achieved in the manufacture of what is now known as the gimlet-pointed wood-screws. Up to this time all, or nearly all, the screws made had the blunt point, and were only in part made by machinery, some of the operations requiring hand-labor. In 1852 the first automatic machine that has proven an entire success was started and has completely revolutionized the manufacture of wood-screws of the world. Screw machinery, like everything else, has had to grow and that, too, from a very small and imperfect beginning.
Soon after going to Providence in 1852 Mr. Bidwell became connected with the Eagle Screw Company, manufacturers of wood and machine screws. In 1862 when that concern united with the New England to form the American Screw Company, Mr. Bidwell went to Boston in the employ of the Spencer Rifle Com- pany, having charge of the screw department which was one of the most important positions in the plant. In 1864, when the Boston Screw Company was organized, Mr. Bidwell superintended the work for about a year and then returned to the American Screw Company with which he remained until 1872. He had witnessed a wonderful development in the business of screw manufacturing through the introduction of improved machinery from time to time, also recognizing that a great advantage would be gained for the profits of the business if a location could be obtained nearer coal and iron centers. Accordingly in 1871 he made quite an extended trip to various places in the south and west, returning by way of Cleveland. After looking the ground over thoroughly it became evident to his mind that Cleveland was the most desirable point at which to establish the manu- facture of a great industry, and in December, 1871, he entered into the project with all the energy and enthusiasm of his nature. A company was organized under the name of the Union Steel Screw Company, comprised of some of the very strongest men of this city in business and financial circles. It is doubtful if any industrial concern was ever organized in Cleveland with a more able board
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of directors : Stillman Witt, president; William Chisholm, vice president; J. A. Bidwell, architect, engineer and general superintendent; Henry Chisholm, H. C. Payne, J. H. Wade, Sr., Fayette Brown and Robert Hanna.
Mr. Bidwell took up his residence in Cleveland in 1872, the year the Union Steel Screw Company began business, and through the following thirty-four years, or until 1906, the history of that concern is the record of the business ac- tivity of Jason A. Bidwell. It was he who planned and carried into execution ; he was the "main girder" in the structure, the moving power, who gave to the busi- ness in all its branches guidance, direction, life and energy. The important posi- tion he held in a large industrial plant required tact, ability, skill, judgment and decision of the very highest order. That he met fully and completely all demands of this character is best shown by the following :
"On motion of Mr. H. B. Payne: Resolved, That the Board desire to place on record their appreciation of the intelligence, skill, diligence and fidelity which have characterized the services of J. A. Bidwell, during the time he has been in its employ ; as also their entire satisfaction and approval of results of his labors which have thus far justified and fulfilled all the expectations and promises made by him at the commencement of the enterprise." This was entered upon the records of the Union Screw Company, June 6, 1874.
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