USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume III > Part 23
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In 1897 the golden jubilee of the diocese of Cleveland was celebrated. Bishop Horstmann having ordered a solemn celebration of the jubilee in conjunction with the observation of the fiftieth anniversary of the consecration of the Rev. Ama- deus Rappe as the first bishop of Cleveland. A special public celebration was held on October 13, 1897, and that day will ever be a red letter day in the Catholic an- nals of Cleveland.
On December 31, 1897, Bishop Horstmann issued an order prohibiting Sunday funerals. For many years the abuse had existed in the diocese, although Bishops Rappe and Gilmour had protested against it, but in his order all funerals were pro- hibited except those of extreme necessity and in these cases it was ordered that only a hearse or wagon and not more than two or three carriages would be allowed to the cemetery. That stopped Sunday funerals.
Bishop Horstmann has done much to build up the diocese. Many new par- ishes have been organized, numerous churches, many of them architectural gems, have been built, etc., and a great increase of the Catholic population gained, es- pecially in Cleveland and other large cities. Few dioceses, if any, in the United States have as many fine, costly and large churches and none has as many and well equipped parochial schools, colleges and academies in proportion to Catholic pop- ulation as are located within the limits of the diocese of Cleveland. The diocese is also provided with generously supported charitable institutions, covering nearly all wants of suffering and neglected humanity. One of the most recent institu- tions, put up almost exclusively through the personal effort and private purse of
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Bishop Horstmann is the Home for Boys at Detroit avenue and West Eighty- third street, Northwest. It was established in 1907. Bishop Horstmann also planned a protectory for Catholic boys. Ground was purchased at Elyria but the institution has not as yet been established owing to lack of means.
On the morning of May 11, 1908, Bishop Horstmann went to Canton, Ohio, to confirm classes in four different churches in the city and his duties there were exceedingly arduous. He first attended, at St. Mary's church, the dedication of a new parish house and in the evening he confirmed a class in the same church. On May 12th he spent a very hard day at St. Peter's church and on the day that he was stricken he was to have gone through the same services at St. Paul's and St. John's. But at 10 o'clock in the morning, when at his work in St. John's church, the first attack came to him and he was taken from his place at the altar and made to rest. But at II o'clock the second attack came and even then the physicians in attendance held out hope of his recovery, but it was not to be and at 9:20 p. m. a long and useful life spent in the service of others came to an end, the diocese of Cleveland, which had been long and faithfully served, was without its leader, and he died a martyr to his work, as one of his watchers so feelingly expressed. His death is mourned, not only by his own people but by all who knew him and with whom he was always a good friend. Always in sympathy with any work for the good of mankind and the community at large, his death will leave a void which will be hard to fill. He was kind-hearted and merciful to the weak and erring and a devout priest.
PERRY H. BABCOCK.
No man was more respected or more enjoyed the confidence of the people and none more deserves such respect and confidence than did Perry H. Babcock. He stood as a high type of American manhood and citizenship, for his sturdy integrity and honesty of principle led him to despise all unworthy or questionable means to secure success in any undertaking or for any purpose to promote his own advancement in any direction. For many years he occupied a prominent position in business circles as senior member of the wholesale grocery house of Babcock, Hurd & Company.
He was born at Ravenna, Portage county, Ohio, January 23, 1816. His par- ents were Allen and Mary (Collins) Babcock, members of old New England families. He was descended in the eighth generation from James Babcock, who was born in England in 1612 and landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in July, 1621. He was admitted an "inhabitant" of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, in 1642 and in 1853 became a freeman. The line of descent is traced down through John Babcock, a son of James. He wedded Mary Lawton and their son George married Elizabeth Hall and resided at South Kingstown, Rhode Island. David, son of George, lived at South Kingstown and Westerly, Rhode Island, and married Dorcas Brown. Their son, Jonathan Babcock, of Westerly, Rhode Island, married Susanna Perry, a representative of the old Rhode Island family to which Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry also belonged. Perry Bab- cock, son of Jonathan Babcock, married Cynthia Hickox and their son Almon Babcock, born in Granville, Massachusetts, November 9, 1788, became the father of Perry H. Babcock. Leaving Granville, Massachusetts, in 1810, he removed to Charlestown, Portage county, Ohio, where he acted as agent for his father, one of the members of the Charlestown Land Company. He was an active and en- terprising man and a prominent and influential factor in the development of the Western Reserve. He served under General Wadsworth in the war of 1812 and afterward settled in Ravenna, where he built the first brick house in the village. He then opened a hotel which became a favorite stopping-place on the stage route between Cleveland and Pittsburg and he conducted a blacksmith's shop
P. H. BABCOCK
CHARLES BABCOCK
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and carried on farming, making his home in that locality until his death in 1850. He was married in 1814 to Miss Mary Collins, the only daughter of Robert Johnson Collins, of Rootstown, Portage county, Ohio. In the maternal line she was descended from the old and well known family of Wadsworth, of Hartford, Connecticut, and of Charter Oak fame.
The history of Perry H. Babcock constitutes an important chapter in the commercial records of Cleveland. After completing a common-school education in his boyhood days, he learned the blacksmith's trade in his father's shop in Ravenna and in 1839, while working at his trade he met with an accident. During the enforced idleness which followed he accepted an invitation to make a trip to Cincinnati as the guest of the owners of a flat boat. During this trip Mr. Bab- cock was impressed with the possibilities of the profits that might be gained in the forwarding and commission business and determined at no distant day to put his ideas into practice. This proved that often seemingly trivial incidents consti- tute turning points in life for a casual trip taken merely to while away the time was the means of shaping Mr. Babcock's entire after life. Deflected from his purpose of devoting his life to the blacksmith's trade, he made his initial step in the commercial world and, ever proceeding forward, reached a place among the most successful merchants of his adopted city. While in Cincinnati he was employed as a clerk in a wholesale grocery house, there continuing until 1841 when he returned to Ravenna. The following year he hired a boat and brought a load c. 1 from the Briar Hill mines, now Youngstown, owned by Tod & Stam- baugh, the senior partner of the firm being David Tod, who was afterward gov- ernor of Ohio. This was the first load of coal ever taken from those mines to Ravenna for previous to that time Ravenna had used coal taken from the Tall- madge mines in Summit county. Mr. Babcock remained at Ravenna until 1845 and during the shipping season of that year was in Pittsburg, forwarding goods through to the lakes in company with the firm of Hubby & Hughes, of Cleveland. The following year, 1846, Mr. Babcock removed to Aurora, Ohio, where he en- gaged in business wth Hurd & Sons, the senior partner being his father-in-law. The firm was engaged in general merchandising, handling lines of goods in demand in those days. Mr. Babcock's work was entirely on the outside for he attended to the purchases while Mr. Hurd had charge of the sales. The firm continued at Aurora until 1853 when a removal was made to Cleveland in order to secure a broader field for operation. Later Joseph S. Williams, a brother-in-law of Mr. Babcock was admitted as a partner of the firm which then became Babcock, Hurd & Williams but later Messrs. Babcock and Hurd purchased the interest of Mr. Williams and the firm style of Babcock & Hurd was assumed. About 1865 C. A. Woodward and George H. Babcock, the latter a son of Perry H. Babcock, became members of the firm and the style became Babcock, Hurd & Company, under which name the business is still conducted, Perry H. Babcock remaining as the head of the house until his death which occurred April 15, 1897, his remains being interred in Lakeview cemetery. He was an active, energetic and forceful man up to the time of his demise and his record was at all times most honorable and creditable.
Few of Cleveland's citizens met with greater success or attained a more promi- nent position in mercantile circles than Mr. Babcock, for over a half century he was closely identified with the business interests of Cleveland and northern Ohio. What he attempted he accomplished and his plans were carefully formu- lated. He quickly utilized the opportunities that are to be found on every hand, his diligence and enterprise bringing him into important relations with commercial and financial interests. He did not confine his attention entirely to the manage- ment of the store for his sound judgment and keen discernment were sought in other directions. In 1874 he became a director of the National City Bank and 1876 until his death was also the vice president of that institution.
In 1843 Mr. Babcock was united in marriage to Miss Maria Hurd, a daughter of Hopson Hurd, Sr., of Aurora, Ohio. Mrs. Babcock passed away in 1882,
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leaving two sons, George H. and Charles. In 1884 Mr. Babcock was again mar- ried, his second union being with Caroline Baldwin, of Hudson, Ohio, who survives him and still resides in that town.
In his fraternal relations Perry H. Babcock was a Mason and in his life ex- emplified the beneficent spirit of the craft. His salient characteristics were such as commend him to the confidence, good will and trust of all who knew him. His interests were broad and varied and never self-centered and his activities reached out to many fields of labor which are essential elements in the world's progress. He took a deep interest in the Western Reserve His- torical Society, of which he was a life member. In all of his business associations and in his private life he commanded the respect of all who knew him. He was singularly modest and while he never spoke boastfully of his own accomplish- ments the world recognizes the fact that his force of character, his enterprise and his honorable business methods constitute the chief features in the success which he achieved and the honor which was accorded him.
It will be interesting in this connection to note something of the family which Mr. Babcock left. His elder son, George H. Babcock, was educated in the public schools and in 1865 became a member of the firm of Babcock, Hurd & Company, so continuing until his death in 1883. He was a Knight Templar Mason and a young man of sterling worth whose death was regarded as a distinct loss in the community. Charles Babcock, the younger son, was born January 28, 1853, in Aurora, Ohio, and was educated in the common schools and in Cornell Univer- sity. He, too, made his initial step in the business world in connection with the firm of Babcock, Hurd & Company and after three years' association therewith, as an employe, he was admitted to a partnership in 1876. He also succeeded his father as a director in the National City Bank and is likewise a director of the Union Steel Screw Company, of the Bankers Surety Company, the McLean Arms & Ordnance Company and is interested in a number of other corporations. Mr. Babcock is interested in the promotion and building of the Kansas City, Mex- ico & Orient Railway. He is a worthy successor of an honored father, showing the same adaptability to prevailing conditions and the same keen discernment of intricate problems that characterized Perry H. Babcock.
Charles Babcock was married in Bridgeport, Ohio, to Miss Kate S. Holloway of that place and unto them have been born four children: Virginia M., now the wife of Niles B. Hasbrouck, of Cleveland; Lila P., the wife of Edwin H. James, of Cleveland; Harry H., who died in childhood; and Georgia K., who is the wife of Joseph W. Sutphen, of Cleveland.
Charles Babcock is widely known through his social relations as well as in business connections. He belongs to the Union, Euclid, Country and Colonial Clubs, being one of the charter members and organizers of the last named. He also belongs to the Ohio Society of New York and the Winona Point Shooting Club.
PHILIP O'NEIL.
Through the greater part of his active connection with business interests in Cleveland, Philip O'Neil was president of an insurance company, which in the course of years secured an extensive clientage. He enjoyed the well earned dis- tinction of being what the world calls a self-made man. His birth occurred in County Wexford, Ireland, and in that land he largely acquired his education and learned the tailor's trade. He came to America with his father, Dennis O'Neil, and when a young man took up his abode in Cleveland. The voyage across the Atlantic was a long and tedious one, for none of the ocean greyhounds were then in existence but eventually father and son reached their destination and for five or six years after arriving in Cleveland, Philip O'Neil continued to work at his trade in this city. Thinking to find a more profitable field in insurance, he then
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joined Patrick O'Brian in organizing an insurance company, of which he became president and secretary. He so continued until the end of his days and in the interim succeeded in building up an extensive and profitable business. He never regretted his determination to come to this city but found in its business condi- tions the opportunities which he sought and in their improvement he made steady progress, winning the just and merited reward of earnest, persistent labor.
On August 23, 1855, Mr. O'Neil was united in marriage to Miss Ellen Whelan, who was born in County Wexford, Ireland, and came to the United States with her father, John Whelan, who was a tailor in Ireland, whence he sailed for Amer- ica with his family that he might rear them in "the land of the free" and give them the better advantages offered in the new world. Unto Mr. and Mrs. O'Neil were born eight children, of whom six are yet living: Dennis, a prominent manufac- turer near Chicago; Nellie F .; Annie T .; Mary C .; John Philip, also of Chicago; and Lizzie, the wife of James J. Laughlin.
In his political views Mr. O'Neil was an earnest republican but without aspira- tion for office, and he was an active member and generous supporter of the Catho- lic church. He possessed a most charitable spirit that prompted his ready and liberal assistance to any in need and it was by reason of his many acts of kindness and helpful services to those with whom he came in contact that he won the re- spect and friendship of all who knew him, while his death, which occurred in De- cember, 1881, was deeply regretted throughout the city of his adoption. Mrs. O'Neil has made her home in Cleveland since her husband's death. She may well be proud of her family, whom she has carefully reared and who indeed are a credit to her name.
FRANK EDWARD STIVERSON.
Frank Edward Stiverson, who is now president and general manager of the Stiverson Motor Car Company, a recently organized enterprise of Cleveland, has through individual merit and close application reached this prominent posi- tion in commercial circles. He is a son of Edward and Elizabeth ( Heine) Stiver- son, of Newburg, Ohio, and is a descendant of one of the old Holland families of New Amsterdam. The name was originally spelled Stuyvesant and among the ancestors was Peter Stuyvesant, governor of the Dutch who constituted the Manhattan colony.
The birth of Frank E. Stiverson occurred near Cleveland in December. 1859, and his education was acquired in the Brownell public school of this city and Hiram, Ohio. When thirteen years of age he was employed on a farm at Mantua, Ohio, and later engaged in the meat business at Painesville, Ohio. He after- ward engaged in the carriage and livery business with Hobert Harrison, a son of the junior partner of the firm of Storrs & Harrison, retailing carriages, wagons and farm machinery. The enterprise was then conducted under the name of Harrison & Stiverson for two years, at the end of which time he purchased the interest of his partner and continued the business alone, the en- terprise proving a successful venture under his careful management. At the same time he assumed the agency of the White bicycle, also the Cleveland bicycle and became agent for the United States Express Company. Leaving the busi- ness in the hands of a manager, he then traveled for the White Company, sell- ing bicycles for six months in the year and in the fall returning to the business which he had established. Subsequently he traveled for the Lozier Bicycle Company, selling bicycles for the Cleveland branch of the business, and at length he disposed of his own business and became sales manager for the Champion Chemical Company, which he thus represented for three years. He did excellent work in that connection, after which he returned to Painesville, Ohio, and pur- chased the Cowles Hotel, the leading hotel of the city, which he managed for
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two years. He then disposed of the hostelry and returned to the Champion Chemical Company, traveling to the Pacific coast and later making business trips to Cuba in the interest of that firm. In 1906 Mr. White of the White Com- pany made Mr. Stiverson sales manager of the Ohio sales department. As the successor of Hobart Adams he was manager for the state of Ohio until November 1, 1909, when he resigned his position with the White Company and began the manufacture of automobiles under the name of the Stiverson Motor Car Company of Cleveland. Of this company he is the president and general manager and, although this is a new enterprise, the business is well organized and promises to be a successful venture. His advancement-and his business life has been marked by steady progress-has been due to hard work, no fortunate combination of circumstances aiding him as he has passed on in his business life to larger undertakings and broader responsibilities.
In 1896 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Stiverson and Miss Medora B. Stevens, a daughter of H. K. Stevens. Mr. Stiverson is the owner of the Stuy- vesant apartments and has become recognized as a forceful factor in the busi- ness circles of the city. He belongs to the Automobile Club and gives his political allegiance to the republican party. Earnest, persistent and indefatigable labor has been the main feature in his life record and both as a business man and citizen he enjoys an enviable reputation.
JUDGE THOMAS BOLTON.
Judge Thomas Bolton, for many years one of Cleveland's most prominent attorneys and able jurists, ranking also as one of her foremost citizens in his day, was born in Scipio, Cayuga county, New York, November 29, 1809, a son of Thomas Bolton, who was an extensive farmer in that section of western New York. Judge Bolton first attended the district schools of his native county and at seventeen years of age entered the high school on Temple Hill in Geneseo, where he prepared for college. In the fall of 1829 he entered Harvard University, being graduated in the class of 1833, winning honors in mathematics. In this connection it is pleasant to revert to the fact that his most intimate schoolmate, classmate and fellow graduate was the Hon. Moses Kelly, who was afterward his partner in the practice of law for many years in Cleveland and that between the two, from their earliest acquaintance to the time when death called Mr. Kelly, there was a steadfast and unbroken friendship that was almost fraternal. With time affluence came to both and their homes were side by side. Such lifelong friendships are unusual, but whenever they do exist they indicate the presence in both parties of true and trusty qualities, with true appreciation on the one hand of the other's sterling characteristics.
Following his graduation Judge Bolton entered upon the study of law at Canandaigua, New York, in the office of John C. Spencer, a strong and distin- guished member of the legal profession in that section. At the end of a year he came west to seek a permanent location where he might further pursue his studies and enter upon active practice. He located at Cleveland, finding that points farther west were hardly within the pale of civilization at that early day. This was in September, 1834, and Cleveland was but little more than a village of twenty- five hundred inhabitants. It was not incorporated as a city until 1836, when at a public meeting to determine on the corporate limits Mr. Bolton was appointed on a committee to draft the charter and urged that both sides of the river should be embraced within the boundary limits. Although he was overruled in this, the wisdom of his foresight and judgment was proven not many years afterward when that section was taken into the corporate limits of Cleveland. His active connection with municipal affairs was renewed as councilman in 1839 and as alderman in 1841.
THOMAS BOLTON
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Returning to his professional life, Mr. Bolton, who had studied law for a year in the office of James L. Conger of Cleveland, was admitted to the bar in Sep- tember, 1835, by the supreme court of Ohio, on the circuit, Chief Justice Peter Hitchcock then presiding. For about a year Mr. Bolton was in partnership with Mr. Conger and then purchased his interest in the business, after which he sent for his old college friend, Moses Kelly, to join him. They formed a partnership that continued until 1856, when Mr. Bolton was elected to the bench. For many years the firm of Bolton & Kelly stood in the front rank of the legal talent of Cleveland.
As bearing upon his political career it may be narrated that in the fall of 1839 Judge Bolton was elected prosecuting attorney of the county, at which time the whig party was largely in the ascendency, commanding a plurality of from fifteen hundred to two thousand. Although he was a democrat and the candidate of that party for the office, he was elected after a residence of but five years in the county. Two years later, on the expiration of his term, he was strongly solicited by both parties to accept the positon for another term but declined in consequence of the inadequacy of the salary. An incident occurred during his service as prosecuting attorney which had marked effect upon the politics of Cleveland and that section of the state. Until 1841 slave owners were in the habit of sending their agents to Cleveland and causing their runaway slaves to be arrested and taken before a magistrate, when a warrant would be obtained for the return of the slaves, who would thus be carried back to captivity. All this was common, creating little or no excitement, and Mr. Bolton in the practice of his profession was more frequently employed for this purpose than any other attorney in the city. In the spring of 1841, three negroes who were claimed as slaves had run away from New Orleans and were in Buffalo. The agent of their master applied to a law firm in Cleveland for assistance. At that time slaves arrested in Buffalo were in the habit of claiming a trial by jury, which was granted. To avoid a jury, some members of which might sympathize with the runaways, it was thought advisable to get the negroes into Ohio and accordingly one of the attorneys, the agent and a negro from Cleveland repaired to Buffalo. On their return the three negroes came with them and it was said they had been kidnaped. On reaching this city the negroes were arrested under the law of congress as fugitives from service and lodged in the county jail. Information of this at length reached the few abolition- ists then in Cleveland, among them the Hon. Edward Wade, and Hon. John A. Foote, prominent lawyers of that day. They applied to the jailer for permission to consult with the negroes, but public opinion was so strong against the abolition- ists that neither the jailer nor the sheriff would permit them to communicate with the prisoners. It came about through chance that a colored man asked Mr. Bolton if he would take up their defense. He readily assented, and being prosecuting attorney of the county and not an abolitionist-a fact which was well understood -- the doors of the jail were readily opened to him and he immediately made prepara- tion for a vigorous defense of the prisoners. A writ of habeas corpus was immediately applied for to Judge Barber, one of the associate judges at the time ; the negroes were brought before him and the case continued for ninety days to allow the defense time for preparation. When it became known about town that Mr. Bolton had undertaken the defense of the negroes great indignation was excited and many threatened to tear down his office and to use violence toward his person. This only aroused him to greater energy in behalf of the negroes. In the meantime indictments had been procured in Buffalo against the alleged kidnapers and the excitement in the city greatly increased, so that on the day of the trial the courthouse was packed to the doors. After an investigation which lasted two days, the court discharged the defendants and they were acquitted.
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