A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume II, Part 60

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

USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume II > Part 60

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ADAM SCHWIMMER.

Adam Schwimmer, who is engaged in the real-estate and insurance business, his extensive clientage being the measure of his activity and enterprise, was born in Cleveland, August 18, 1859. Adam Schwimmer, his father, came to the United States from Germany on a vessel which was one hundred and sixty days in making the passage. About 1843 or 1844 he located at the corner of St. Clair and Fifty-fifth streets, where he engaged in gardening and farming, being one of the early residents of that district which is now part of the city. In 1865 he removed to Euclid, where he again engaged in gardening and farming. In 1855 he married Elizabeth Bembouer, and unto them were born two sons, Adam and Charles. The latter is now living at the old homestead in Euclid township near Noble. The father continued in business there until his life's labors were ended in death in 1872, while his wife passed away in 1886. Both were buried in the Euclid cemetery.

Adam Schwimmer of this review attended the city schools until he took up active work in order to provide for his own support. His first position after leaving school was with the Otis steel works, where he was employed for about three years.

In 1882 Mr. Schwimmer was united in marriage to Miss Mary Bahls and was then taken into the florist's business by his father-in-law, John J. Bahls, who was one of the pioneer florists of the city, doing business on St. Clair near Fifty- fifth street. He died on the 20th of April, 1902, at the age of seventy-two years, while his wife passed away in 1898 and both were laid to rest in Woodland cem- etery. Mrs. Schwimmer was their only child and by her, marriage she has be- come the mother of one son. Rudolph C., who was born June 10, 1884. At pres- ent he is associated with his father in the real-estate business at the corner of Fifty-fifth and St. Clair streets. The family residence is at No. 50 Chapman ave- enue, East Cleveland.

Mr. Schwimmer following his marriage was engaged in the cultivation of flowers for about fifteen years, or until 1892, when he built a business block containing five store rooms at the corner of Sixty-first street and St. Clair. There he engaged in the grocery business for ten years with good success and at length sold out to H. B. Cook. For the past seven years he and his son have been associated in the insurance and real-estate business at the present location

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and they have an extensive clientage in each department, negotiating annually many important realty transfers and writing a large amount of insurance. In his business career Mr. Schwimmer has made steady progress, seeking his suc- cess along well defined lines of labor, and his enterprise and energy have per- meated his entire business career and constituted the forceful factors of his suc- cess. He is an ardent republican and his son is also a stanch advocate of that party and is recognized in the community as a young man of sterling qualities that tend to make a citizen of the first order. Mr. Schwimmer has spent his en- tire life in this city, covering a half century, during which period he has wit- nessed remarkable growth here with changes that have made Cleveland the metropolis of Ohio and one of the important commercial centers of the Union.

CHARLES G. HICKOX.

Charles G. Hickox, first vice president of the Toledo & Ohio Central Rail- way and connected with many other corporate enterprises, was born in Cleveland in 1846, a son of Charles Hickox, for many years a prominent business man in this city represented elsewhere in this work. He supplemented his public-school course by study in the University of Michigan and on leaving college decided on a business career, turning his attention to manufacturing interests in connec- tion with the flour milling business which was established by his father and which is still carried on by the Cleveland Milling Company. Of the business of this organization he remained as secretary and treasurer until 1890, when he retired from active control.

Mr. Hickox became connected with railway interests in 1881 as a director of the Columbus, Hocking Valley & Toledo Railroad, thus continuing until 1886, when he became a director of the Toledo & Ohio Central Railway. In 1890 he was chosen its vice president, which is his present connection. He is also second officer in the Adams-Bagnall Electric Company, the Lake View Cemetery Asso- ciation and the Gardner Electric Drill Company, and is one of the directors of the Hocking Valley Railway Company, the Kanawha & Michigan Railway Com- pany and the Cleveland & Mahoning Railway Company. He is likewise inter- ested in other corporations and is well known as a man of sagacity in business affairs, capable in management and wise in his investments.

In his political views Mr. Hickox is an earnest republican, while in social circles he is connected with the Union, Roadside and Country Clubs.

GEORGE P. COMEY.

George P. Comey, who occupies a distinguished position in the business cir- cles of Cleveland, is the president of the Comey & Johnson Company, manufac- turers of ladies' straw and felt hats. Not only is the concern a pioneer in its line in this city but it also is one of the largest and most widely known through- out the United States and one that maintains the reputation of Cleveland as a successful manufacturing center. George P. Comey was born in Brooklyn, New York, April 21, 1858, and was the descendant of a family of Scotch origin, the name formerly having been Macomey. In the days of Oliver Cromwell the family were exiled and compelled to flee to America, locating in Foxboro and Stoughton, Massachusetts. His father, George P. Comey, was a prominent man- ufacturer of straw goods in New York city. He wedded Miss Clara Dean, of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, who was of English parentage.

George P. Comey attended the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and then the Connecticut Literary Institute, at Suffield, Connecticut. After his education was

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completed he joined his father and uncle in New York city in manufacturing ladies' hats and straw goods, remaining associated with them for about two years. In 1880 he came to Cleveland and here engaged in the same line of bus- iness as a partner in the firm of J. G. Pettee & Company. The business was thus conducted for three years, when Mr. Comey bought the interest of Mr. Pettee and established the firm of Comey & Johnson, under which name operations were successfully conducted until the death of Mr. Johnson on the 23d of June, 1905. Subsequently the concern was reincorporated. Its field of operations has greatly enlarged until the enterprise is the best known of the kind in the country and, as Mr. Comey has always been its active head, the success and growth of the business are largely the result of his sagacity and intelligently directed energy. He is also a director of the First National Bank and a director and vice presi- dent of the American Artificial Silk Company.

On the 29th of June, 1881, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Comey and Miss Nannie J. Gill, of Hinsdale, Massachusetts. Their union has been blessed with seven children: Clara M., Florence L., George Lawrence, Frederick Har- lan, Ralph, Harold and Robert Comey. Mr. Comey is a member of the Union, Euclid and Automobile Clubs of Cleveland and his geniality constantly wins for him an increasing circle of friends. For three decades he has been a represent- ative of manufacturing and commercial interests in Cleveland and his activity has given impetus to the progress of the city along those lines.

GAIUS J. JONES, M. D.

Dr. Jones was born at Remsen, Oneida county, New York, February 27, 1843. His father, Jonathan, was of Welsh stock and by trade a mason and bricklayer, but he owned a farm most of the time, upon which his family was reared. His mother, Elizabeth Roberts, a woman possessing rare qualities of mind and heart, emigrated from Carnarvonshire, Wales, at the age of sixteen and after a brief stay in New York city removed to Remsen, where, at a later date, she was married to Jonathan Jones, Gaius was one of the children resulting from this union, and with the other children of the community attended the district school, which, as . was then customary, was only in session for a few months each winter. Here he manifested a natural aptitude for learning and, completing the course of study at the age of thirteen, he was sent to a select school in the village of Remsen for one term, then to an academy at Prospect, a few miles distant, for two terms. When the academy course at Prospect had been completed, Gaius was a boy of sixteen. He had passed a very creditable examination before the school commis- sioner the year before, but was refused a teacher's appointment because of his youth. The following year, however, he was awarded a position, although still a year younger than required by law. At the age of eighteen ill health compelled him to abandon teaching, and after recovering he went to Utica in March, 1861, where he was engaged as a dry-goods clerk until Fort Sumter was fired upon, when he immediately enlisted in Company E, Fourteenth Regiment, New York Volunteers, being the first volunteer from his township. While encamped on the Potomac, in August, 1861, an epidemic of typhoid fever carried off a large num- ber of the members of his regiment. Gaius suffered for five weeks from the fever but remained in the army until January 13, 1862, when, not having recov- ered sufficiently to perform any service, he was honorably discharged and re- turned to his home. He was so emaciated that his best friends could hardly recognize him, but under the careful nursing of his mother he regained consid- erable strength. He had considered medicine as a profession to some extent be- fore entering the army and on his discharge, not feeling capable of performing physical labor, he began to study with Dr. M. M. Gardner, of Holland Patent.

GAIUS J. JONES

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New York. He attended lectures at the Homeopathic Hospital College of Cleve- land, Ohio, and in March, 1865, commenced the practice of medicine at Liver- pool, Medina county, Ohio. In July, 1866, he was married to Miss Emma Wil- mot, an estimable young lady of Liverpool. The following year they removed to Holland Patent, where Dr. Jones assumed the practice of his preceptor, but find- ing matters unsatisfactory, they returned to Liverpool in 1867. In 1871 they re- moved to Grafton, Ohio, where the Doctor not only acquired much new practice but retained many of his former patrons at Liverpool, enjoying on the whole one of the most desirable practices in that vicinity. The following year, 1872, he was induced by those who saw his promising future to accept a position as lecturer on anatomy at his alma mater, the Homeopathic Hospital College. Here his great ability was early recognized and the following year he was given the full professorship of anatomy, which chair he filled with much credit until 1878. During two years of this time he also partially filled the chair of surgery. For two years after his appointment on the college faculty Dr. Jones remained at Grafton, but in 1874 he moved to Cleveland, where his rare judgment and ex- ceptional ability soon won for him one of the most lucrative practices in the city. In 1878, although still a comparatively young practitioner, his high accomplish- ments as a teacher of medicine were again recognized and he was promoted to the professorship of theory and practice of medicine. He has since taught in this department continuously and has won a wide reputation as an authority upon this subject. His thorough knowledge and experience, coupled with his peculiar faculty of getting at the truth, make him a most thorough and conscientious teacher, while his constant kindly interest in the welfare of his students and his desire to be of help to them in every possible way, make him one of the most amiable of teachers and one in whom the students place the utmost confidence. He is the author of a work on the Practice of Medicine, which is used as a lead- ing text-book in his college.

As a practitioner Dr. Jones has had mavelous success. His good judgment, wide knowledge and unquestionable integrity have won for him the admiration and respect of all who know him. Quiet and reserved in his manner, he is slow to advance himself and all the honors that have been conferred upon him have come simply in recognition of his genuine ability and strength of character. He was dean of the Cleveland Medical College from 1890 to 1897, and when it united with the University of Medicine and Surgery under the name of the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College he was made vice dean, which office he continued to fill for two years and then was elected dean of the college. He continued to fill that position from 1899 until 1907, when he was elected president of the board of trustees, relinquishing his position as dean. On account of the labor anl re- sponsibility of the position he gave it up in 1909, still retaining his position as member of the board of trustees, and remaning at the head of the department of theory and practice. He is a member of the Cleveland Homeopathic Society and of the Ohio Homeopathic Medical Society, having been president of both of these societies. He has been a member of the American Institute of Homeop- athy since 1873 and is now a member of the senate of seniors, board of trustees and of the committee on Medical Journal of that body. He has been a member of the medical staff of the Cleveland Homeopathic Hospital since 1874, now be- ing on the consulting staff. For some years he was surgeon of the Fifth Regi- ment, also chief surgeon for the relief association of the Lake Shore Division of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, and also for a time surgeon of the Erie Road at Cleveland. However he soon found that it was impossible to carry on his large general practice and do justice to his surgical work. So, urged by Professor A. O. Blair and J. C. Sanders to accept the college chair which they had respectively held, namely theory and practice, he complied with their wishes. Still, he pays considerable attention to accidental work, as formerly.

Dr. Jones is interested in various business enterprises where his executive ability has commanded the respect of his associates. Notable among these is the

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National Safe & Lock Company, of which he has been president almost since the organization of the company in 1887.

Dr. Jones and his wife have been blessed with five children, of whom the eldest and now the only son, Dr. Frank G. Jones, graduated from the Homeo- pathic Hospital College in 1888. He is now engaged in practice in Cleveland, occupying an office jointly with his father in the Caxton building. The second son, George W., after passing through high school, attended Harvard Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1892. He continued in the practice of law until 1898, and then, after attending four courses of lectures in the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College, he began the practice of medicine with his father and continued to do so until he died very suddenly August 6, 1906. At the time of his death he was professor of anatomy in the college from which he graduated. The eldest daughter was married in 1898 to Mr. George White, Jr., of Franklin, Pennsylvania. A few years later Mr. White died quite suddenly and after remaining a widow for three years she was married to C. O. Davis. They are now living in Detroit, Michigan. The second daughter, Nellie G., grad- uated at the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, in 1898. She con- tinued in the study and teaching of music until she was married to M. W. Law- rence, the manager of the Ohio Farmer and the Michigan Farmer, two of the leading agricultural papers of the country. They have two children and are now residing in Cleveland. Clara, the youngest, has also paid considerable attention to music, having attended the Lake Erie College at Painesville and the Conserva- tory of Music at Oberlin. She was married in June, 1909, and is now living at Chagrin Falls, near Cleveland.

Dr. Jones was formerly a member of Memorial Post, Cleveland, and is now a charter member of the Army and Navy Post. He was made a Master Mason in Litchfield Lodge, Medina county, Ohio, in 1868. He became a member of Orien- tal Commandery, Knights Templars, in Cleveland in 1878. In 1883 he joined the Scottish Rite Consistory of Cincinnati and was a charter member of Lake Erie Consistory of Cleveland in 1893. At the same time he is not an old man and there is strong evidence that he will continue not only to alleviate the sufferings of humanity for years to come, but also to inspire hundreds of students with a greater desire for truth and knowledge. His ceaseless activity and success is constantly furnishing scores of young men with an example that, if followed, will make it impossible for any of them to say-"I have lived in vain."

HAROLD FOREST PETTEE.

Harold Forest Pettee, secretary and treasurer of the Hydraulic Pressed Steel Company, which he assisted in founding in 1906, since which time he has occu- pied his present official position, was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Novem- ber 20, 1875. His father, Simon Erastus Pettee, a native of Foxboro, Massa- chusetts, was born on July 3, 1822, and died May 30, 1903. He was a son of Simon and Sophia (Forest) Pettee and a grandson of Harvey Pettee. Simon E. Pettee was prominent as a manufacturer and inventor and had much to do with the development of modern machinery for the manufacture of paper bags. He was the inventor of the first paper bag machine and organized the Union Paper Bag Company. By that company he was sent abroad in 1860 and spent five years in Europe in the interest of the business. He then disposed of his shares in the paper bag company and made extensive investments in slate quar- ries, but like hundreds of others lost his money during the widespread financial panic of 1873. In 1876 he came to Cleveland and turned his attention to the manufacture of hats in connection with his brother, J. G. Pettee, under the firm style of J. G. Pettee & Company, which later became Comey & Pettee. After his brother's death Simon E. Pettee sold his interest to Mr. Comey and the business

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H. F. PETTEE

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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

is still carried on under the firm name of Comey & Johnson. He was then em- ployed by the Cleveland Paper Bag Company with instructions to build a bag machine which would compete with his own machine that he had previously in- vented and which was being used by the Union Paper Bag Company. This he successfully accomplished. He was working on and had almost completed a machine for canceling envelopes when a stroke of paralysis obliged him to give up all work and on the 30th of May, 1903, he passed away. He married Fidelia Carpenter, who was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1833, a daughter of James and Lucena Carpenter and a granddaughter of the Rev. Josiah Thompson, of Boston, Massachusetts. Mrs. Pettee is still living in Cleveland.

After leaving the Central high school, in which he completed his education, Harold F. Pettee entered the employ of the Root-McBride Company as depart- ment salesman and so continued for eleven years, beginning as stock boy and winning various promotions through his diligence and trustworthiness. He en- tered the manufacturing field in 1905 in association with F. Van Buskirk and in 1906 he became one of the founders of the Hydraulic Pressed Steel Company, at which time he was elected secretary and treasurer.

Mr. Pettee is well known in club organizations which draw their membership from those interested in athletic and outdoor sports. He belongs to the May- field Country, the East End Tennis, the Cleveland Athletic, the Hermit and Cleveland Automobile Clubs. He is also a member of the Royal League and in his political views is a republican, but not so strongly partisan that he votes for republican candidates at municipal election where no political issue is before the people.

Mr. Pettee was married October 1,4, 1902, to Miss Ethel Winter, a daughter of Fred G. and Mary (Winter) Clark, of Cleveland, and thev have one child, Virginia Forest. Mrs. Pettee is a graduate of the Miss Middleberger School and is interested in various charities.

JOHN P. KOEHLER.

John P. Koehler is practically living retired although officially connected with the German-American Savings Bank as its vice president. For many years he was widely known as one of the leading merchant tailors of Cleveland but, put- ting aside business interests of that character, is now giving his attention only to the supervision of his investments, for he has traveled far on the journey of life, having passed the eighty-eighth milestone. His birth occurred in Wertheim, Germany, February 2, 1822, his parents being Jeremiah and Barbara (Spekner) Koehler. Before coming to America he traveled extensively through Europe for twelve years as a journeyman tailor, having resided in and learned the languages of Switzerland and Denmark. In 1848 he sailed from London for the western world, the voyage to America covering thirty-five days, which was con- sidered a fairly rapid trip for that time. He did not tarry long in New York but from the eastern metropolis journeyed westward by way of canal and stage to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and then walked the entire distance from Pittsburg to Ravenna, from which point he rode into Cleveland, paying a teamster one dollar for the privilege of being thus transported to his destination. The city had only about seventeen thousand inhabitants at the time of his arrival. Here he became connected with the tailoring business and for twelve years was em- ployed as a journeyman in that line. In 1862, however, he engaged in business on his own account on Superior street opposite Bank street, where he remained for many years. Afterward he was in the Superior block until 1885, then re- moved to the Beckman block, later to what is now the Superior block, and in 1894 he removed to the Penn block on East Ninth street, being continu- ally successful in business until his retirement in 1902. With the growth of the

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city he had enjoyed a constantly increasing patronage, drawing his trade from among its best people and the extent and importance of his business interests gained him a place among Cleveland's men of affluence. He is now the vice president of the German-American Savings Bank, of which he was one of the organizers and original owners.

On the 20th of. April, 1850, Mr. Koehler was married to Miss Amelia Schmidt, a daughter of Caspar and Elizabeth (Dittmer) Schmidt, who were also natives of Germany. They became the parents of seven children: Christian Paul; Lottie, George and Gustavus, all deceased; Julius, the owner of the Royal Peanut Butter Company; Ida, who is the widow of Casper Dorer; and William, an electro-chemical engineer. The eldest son, Christian Paul Koehler, was born in Cleveland, January 23, 1851, was educated in the public schools and began his business career in connection with his father in 1868. They were associated through the ensuing years until 1902, when upon his father's retirement he be- came sole owner of the business. His course has made the family name, as it has always been, an honored one in the trade circles of the city and C. P. Koeh- ler is now one of the prominent representatives of commercial interests of Cleve- land. On the 8th of July, 1880, he wedded Marie Kitzsteiner, a daughter of Gustavus and Paulina (Seefried) Kitzsteiner, of Cleveland. The Kitzsteiners came from Germany in 1855 and took up their abode in this city. Unto Mr. and Mrs. C. P. Koehler has been born a daughter, Charlotte, who is a graduate of the high school and is at home with her parents at No. 2210 East Twenty-first street.

Mr. and Mrs. John P. Koehler celebrated their golden wedding in 1900 and continued to travel life's journey happily together for six years more when they were separated by the death of the wife, who passed away on the 2d of October, 1906, when seventy-nine years of age. Mr. Koehler still survives at the ripe age of eighty-eight years and is one of the most honored as well as the most vener- able residents of Cleveland. He is a member of the German Pioneer Society, of the Cleveland Gesang Verein and an honorary member of the Altenheim. His wide travel in early manhood brought to him that knowledge and culture which only can be obtained through such experiences. He came to America as a young man of twenty-six with laudable ambition and alert, enterprising spirit and the passing years chronicled his success, bringing him to a prominent place among the leading German-American residents of Cleveland.

MARTIN OLDERMAN.

Martin Olderman is one of Cleveland's citizens who has been successful in the dry-goods business. Four years ago he opened up a store at 8900 Lorain avenue with a stock valued at only a few hundred dollars but today his goods at the same location are worth about eight thousand dollars and include a very complete line of men's furnishings and dry goods.

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A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume II, Part 60

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