USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume III > Part 33
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On the 14th of February, 1894, occurred the marriage of Mr. Alexander and Miss Nellie B. Green, a daughter of John and Hannah Green, of Hoopeston, Illinois. They have three children, Irene, Winnifred and Helen, who are with their parents at No. 127 Carlyon Road, East Cleveland. Mr. Alexander finds interest and recreation in bowling and baseball. He also belongs to the Trans- portation Club and is a republican in politics where state and national questions are involved, but casts an independent local ballot. His wife is active in the Church of the Redeemer (Episcopal) and is interested in its various charities.
RALPH PRATT MYERS.
While Ralph Pratt Myers has passed from the scene of earthly activities, in which he won an honored name, the beauty of his better self lives on in the memory of his upright life, which is cherished by all who knew him. His in- fluence was at all times a benficent one and his record constitutes an example that shows forth the work of noble character building.
He was born in Schodack, Rensselaer county, New York, on the Ist of Jan- uary, 1820, and his youth was spent in Sand Lake, a little town not far from Albany, where he profited by such educational opportunities as the time and place offered. As he reached adult age he felt it wise to take advantage of the broader business opportunities offered in the city and went to Albany, where he soon secured employment in a large dry-goods house, but a laudable ambi- tion prompted him to engage in business for himself and when he had saved from his earnings sufficient capital to purchase a small stock he joined with a partner in establishing and conducting a store. With hopes and fears, with anticipations and apprehensions, they opened their little mercantile enterprise but a few years later Mr. Myers perfected plans that led to his removal to the middle west. His partner had already preceded him and they again engaged in business together, opening and conducting a store at Akron, Ohio. They again began handling dry goods but within a very short time changed their field of labor to the manufacture of stoves.
Always appreciative of opportunity, Mr. Myers recognized the advantages that might accrue from a removal to Cleveland, which was then a small but substan- tial« and developing town. He came to this city in 1859 and for more than thirty-eight years resided within its borders. He established himself in business here and throughout that period maintained an unsullied reputation for com- mercial integrity and progressive methods. As the years passed he became rec- ognized as a factor in financial circles and was one of the original directors of the Savings & Trust Company, organized in 1883. He remained in that con- nection with the bank until his death and was a member of the finance commit- tee for many years. In fact he was widely trusted in financial relations, had a wide acquaintance among men of business and accomplished a definite work both as a business man and a citizen.
In 1843, when twenty-three years of age, Mr. Myers was married to Miss Hannah Mary Osborn, of 'Albany, a lady beautiful both in person and character. They dwelt together in that harmony which constitutes an ideal married rela- tion, congenial in their tastes and at all times at one in their interests, until Mrs. Myers was called to the home beyond in 1883. In 1886 he married Mrs. C. A. Austin, of Akron, Ohio, with whom he lived until his death four years later. He left two surviving children, Mrs. Nathaniel Schneider and Harry E. Myers, both of whom reside in Cleveland.
Through his entire life his church was one of Mr. Myers' chief interests, having identified himself with the First Baptist church upon making Cleveland his home. In that organization he held various offices, being a deacon for a long term of years and in fact up to the time of his death. The last years of his
R. P. MYERS
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life were comparatively free from all business cares. He had an office in the Savings & Trust building, now the Citizens Savings & Trust, and there spent much of his time among the friends to whom he was very devoted. A friend who knew him intimately summed up his life as one conspicuous in fidelity to the best that he knew, adding also that he possessed an old fashioned courtesy and was thoughtful and chivalrous to all with whom he came in contact. On the 20th of February, 1898, Ralph Pratt Myers passed away, confident in the hope of another and better existence "farther on."
HON. MYRON T. HERRICK.
Investigation concerning the ancestry of Myron T. Herrick shows that he is descended from that sturdy, independent race from which came the brave fighters and wise counselors who determined the country's destiny. His paternal grandfather, Timothy Herrick, was born at Watertown, New York. His grand- father on the distaff side was Orrin Hulburt, who removed from Brattleboro, Vermont, his birthplace, to Watertown, New York, where occurred the birth of his daughter, Mary Hulburt Herrick, the mother of Myron T. Herrick. Both of the grandfathers fought in the War of 1812. Determining to remove west- ward, Timothy Herrick in 1834 walked from Watertown, New York, to Hunt- ington, Ohio, to find a suitable location for his family, and later with ox teams he accomplished the removal of his family and household effects to what was then a far western district. He was well fitted by nature and interests for pioneer life, being fond of hunting and delighting in tramping the forests in search of game. Not long afterward Orrin Hulburt also came to Ohio, settling on land at Lagrange given him by the government in recognition of his services in the War of 1812. The marriage of Timothy R. Herrick, the son of Timothy Her- rick, and Mary Hulburt was celebrated in this state, and Myron T. Herrick was born October 9, 1854, in a little log cabin on the farm owned by his grandfather at Huntington. Lorain county. His father, a man of unusual ability, was a farmer. He accumulated what was held in those days to be a considerable for- tune. Timothy R. Herrick was a man of much influence in public affairs and served for some time as mayor of the village of Wellington. His wife was a lady of quiet dignity and force, whose training did much to shape the character of her son.
The usual experiences of the farmer boy constituted the salient features in the early life of Myron T. Herrick. He began his education in Huntington, Ohio, and continued it in the schools of Wellington following the removal of his parents to a farm two miles east of the village when he was twelve years of age. He completed the greater portion of the high school work but did not graduate. As a boy he appreciated the value of educational discipline and training. His ambition to obtain an education was stimulated by the reading of Henry Ward Beecher's story, Norwood. When he was thirteen years of age he attended the commencement exercises at Oberlin College and what he saw and heard there strengthened his determination to secure a college education. His father, how- ever, was inclined to think that experience was a better teacher and believed that success came more quickly and more surely by hard work in field or office. He therefore attempted to dissuade his son from going to college and offered him a substantial interest in the farm, but the boy's purpose was not to be shaken and he set out to work his own way in college. Myron T. Herrick was scarcely six- teen years of age when he secured the position of teacher in the district school at Brighton, Ohio. About the same time he began taking a keen interest in the affairs of state and nation. In those days every community had its debat- ing society where public questions were discussed and at these meetings young Herrick soon showed himself a quick thinker and a ready talker with clear and
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positive views. In addition to his duties as teacher he attempted, by working at night, to fit himself for college, but the strain soon told on his health.
Myron T. Herrick then went to St. Louis in connection with an enterprise which was not a success and he soon was obliged to find other means of support. About that time the Merchants bridge over the Mississippi, then considered a remarkable feat of engineering, was completed. It occurred to the young man that a description of the bridge might be acceptable to a newspaper ; accordingly he wrote an article on the subject which he took to the St. Louis Globe Democrat, hoping that he might be paid for it. That he was not without ability at that time as a writer is indicated by the fact that not only was the article accepted but that he was given a commission to travel through Texas and Oklahoma and write up that wonderful country. For the next eight months he furnished to the papers stories of the cattle ranches and descriptions of the towns he visited and the people he met. At the same time he was gaining broad knowledge of human nature and an understanding of the possibilities of that great and grow- ing section of the country. He never abandoned his idea of a college education, however, and in less than a year from the time he reached St. Louis he entered Oberlin College, where he studied for a year and a half. He was then obliged to discontinue his course through a lack of further means. To replenish his ex- hausted exchequer he first sold dinner bells to farmers, later was agent for the Estey organs, and in a short time was again able to resume his studies, entering the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware. After two years' study he had re- ceived credit sufficient to rank as a junior, but was then obliged to give up his college course. Myron T. Herrick has always been an earnest advocate of ad- vanced education. For some years he has been a trustee of the Ohio Wesleyan University, which in recognition of his eminence as a financier, public official and man of affairs has conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws, as have Kenyon and Miami Colleges.
When Myron T. Herrick left college he was a young man of active mind, a quick and clear thinker, ambitious and persistent and of affable manner, making friends easily and keeping them. He started out in business life as a lightning rod agent in western Pennsylvania but soon accepted the position of bookkeeper in the office of William Vischer at Wellington. The opportunities of the village were, however, too limited for a young man of his ambition; and with the in- tention of becoming a lawyer he entered the office of L. F. and G. E. Herrick, of Cleveland, in 1875, where he received a small salary for doing the clerical work of the office. The money that he earned in this way, with that which he had saved, enabled him to pay his own way. Immediately after his admission to the bar in 1878 he opened an office for himself. He was more than usually success- ful in building up a practice and with it came business opportunities of which he took full advantage. His work as a lawyer gradually developed along con- structive business lines. His ability and temperament seemed to be more those of the financier and man of affairs than of the lawyer. In his undertakings he has been almost uniformly successful. With Henry C. Ranney he purchased a portion of the Case estate, which was soon sold at an advance of one hundred thousand dollars. He was instrumental in the organization of the Cleveland Hardware Company-a successful enterprise especially well known because it has put into practice advanced ideas as to the treatment of employes. Mr. Her- rick was associated with others in promoting the Cleveland Arcade building. In 1886 he was elected secretary and treasurer of the Society for Savings. Al- though but thirty-two years of age at the time, he was practically the chief ex- ecutive head of the bank. Under his guidance the institution has steadily grown until on the Ist of July, 1908, the deposits of the bank approximated fifty mil- lion dollars and the number of depositors eighty-one thousand. His connection with this bank means much more to him than his salary as an official and he has repeatedly refused more remunerative positions. If he had done nothing else his success as a directing head of the Society for Savings would entitle him to
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a very high and honorable position in the community. It was while he was secre- tary and treasurer of the bank that the magnificent bank building was erected. Many of the admirable details of construction and arrangement were planned by him. He was elected president of the Society for Savings in 1894. He held this position until June, 1905, when he resigned because his duties as governor of the state did not permit of his giving as much time as he thought necessary to the work of the bank, but that he might still retain official connection with the institution the position of chairman of the board was created and he was elected to fill it.
In 1884, with W. H. Lawrence, James Parmelee, Webb C. Hayes and B. F. Miles, Mr. Herrick purchased a small carbon manufacturing plant on Wilson avenue and from this has been developed the present National Carbon Company, which now manufactures a large part of the carbons and dry batteries made in this country, one of the Cleveland factories covering twenty-seven acres. In 1892 Mr. Herrick became interested in the erection of the Cuyahoga building, his associates in the enterprise being James Parmelee and C. A. Otis, Sr. Mr. Her- rick was also one of the organizers of the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Com- pany. This company has built up an immense business. It supplies electric light to the municipality and to practically all of the private consumers of Cleveland. Mr. Herrick was for a time president of the company. In 1896, as representative of the eastern banking interests, he was appointed one of the receivers of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad Company and by reason thereof was able to provide a Cleveland terminus for the Wheeling & Lake Erie by uniting it with the Cleveland, Canton & Southern. Later the Wabash, by obtaining control of the Wheeling & Lake Erie, gained an entrance into Cleveland, thus giving the city another trunk line. For twelve years Mr. Herrick was on the board of directors of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company and has had, as a director, voice in the management of the Bowling Green Trust Company of New York, the Night & Day Bank of New York, the Trust Company of America in New York and the Continental Trust Company of Baltimore. He was one of the organizers and is a director of the Quaker Oats Company. He was one of a syndicate that acquired control of the Western Maryland Railway in the inter- ests of the Goulds. In 1901 he was elected president of the American Bankers Bank ·Association.
From his boyhood questions of politics and the science of government have intensely interested Myron T. Herrick. In 1885 he was elected to the city council of Cleveland. Mayor George W. Gardner appointed him chairman of two important committees-the departmental examinations and public printing. At his suggestion all printing contracts were submitted to him for approval, re- sulting in a very considerable saving to the city. He also inaugurated many im- portant changes and improvements as chairman of the departmental examina- tions committee. He also served on the committee of legislation and in this connection he prepared and submitted to the general assembly a bill providing for depositories for city and county money. This measure became a law the importance of which is self evident, for prior to this time city and county trea- surers had absolute control over the funds in their possession and whatever in- terest they were able to obtain went into their own pockets. After serving two terms in the council Mr. Herrick refused to again become a candidate. In 1888 he opposed M. A. Hanna in a contest for control of the district convention that was to select delegates to the national convention. He was successful but insisted that Hanna be named with him as a delegate. This was the beginning of a very close personal friendship between the two men. From 1888 to the present time Mr. Herrick has been a delegate to every republican national convention save in 1900, when he was abroad; and that year, as elector at large, he cast his vote for William McKinley. He went to the St. Louis convention of 1896 as an en- thusiastic supporter of Governor Mckinley and took a leading part in the fram- ing of the gold standard plank in the platform adopted by the convention. In
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1900 he was made a member of the national committee from Ohio following the resignation of George B. Cox, and in 1904 was elected a member of the committee.
Following the election of William McKinley as governor of Ohio, in 1893, Myron T. Herrick was made a colonel on his staff, so serving until he felt that the duties interfered with his work as president of the Society for Savings. President McKinley soon after his election offered Colonel Herrick the treasury portfolio in his cabinet, but he felt that he could not afford the sacrifice of his business that its acceptance would involve. He also felt that greater strength would be added to the administration if a man more prominent in public life were named for the place. During his second administration President Mckinley offered Colonel Herrick the ambassadorship to Italy and President Roosevelt renewed the offer, but on both occasions Mr. Herrick declined, not caring to be away from his own country for the length of time that such a position would necessi- tate. Myron T. Herrick resolved on his retirement from the city council never again to become a candidate for office, but the course of events caused him to put aside this determination in the interests of state and national affairs. It was evident in the winter of 1904 that the democrats intended to defeat United States Senator Hanna for reelection and the Senator realized that if he were again sent to Washington he must have the support of the republican state senators from Cuyahoga county. To secure this it was felt that a strong man must be at the head of the Ohio state ticket and President McKinley and Senator Hanna both urged Colonel Herrick to accept the republican nomination for governor. Though he hesitated, he finally consented with the understanding that if he should be successful he would enter office unhampered by obligations or pledges of any sort. The suggestion that he would be the nominee was exceedingly popular and it was a foregone conclusion when he reached Columbus, where the state con- vention was held, that his nomination would be made by acclamation. In ac- cepting the nomination Colonel Herrick said in part: "We favor the extreme in nothing. We are for no fads or isms, no matter whence they come or by whom they are championed. Republican omniscience is as dangerous to the body poli- tic as any other kind. Untried and untested theories of government should find no place in our category of principles. Under the administration of Governor Nash the policy was declared that taxation of real and personal prop- erty for the support of the state government and institutions should cease and the necessary funds should be raised from special priviliges and franchises. I take it that this policy is to be maintained and that each county is to be left to sup- ply its needs as best suits it, the very best form of home rule. Gentle- men, I accept the charge you have so generously placed in my keeping in a spirit of the deepest reverence. As a loyal republican I obey your summons and stand ready to march and fight with you, and with you 'guard the bridge.'"
The democrats nominated Tom L. Johnson, of Cleveland, for governor, for he had for some time been the leader of Ohio democracy. The campaign began almost as soon as both tickets were selected and continued at high pressure until the election in November. Colonel Herrick with great enthusiasm and earnest- ness at once took an active part in the campaign, speaking in nearly every county in the state. Republican speakers asked for the retention of the party in power because of the soundness of its tenets as set forth in its platform, which declared for the maintenance of the protective tariff, the application of the constitutional penalty for the disfranchisement of colored voters in the south, the reduction in the representation in congress of those states in which colored voters were dis- franchised, for the reestablishment of a merchant marine and for constitutional amendments providing for the classification of property for taxation purposes, the exemption of stocks from double liability and the giving of the veto power to the governor. The platform of the democratic party was practically confined to the single issue of taxation and then, as it has ever been, the policy of the cam- paign was to oppose everything advocated by the republicans. The result of the campaign is a matter of history, Colonel Herrick receiving a majority of one
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hundred and thirteen thousand, eight hundred and twelve votes-the largest ever given an Ohio governor. The people of the state had had the issues of the cam- paign placed squarely before them with ample opportunity to judge the men who were asking for the highest office in their power to give, and they wisely chose the one who stood for wholesome, practical measures and in whom the sense of civic duty was so strong that nothing could move him from acting for the best interests of the state.
Myron T. Herrick was inaugurated the fortieth governor of Ohio, January II, 1904. His inaugural address fully set forth his policy. It was a manifesta- tion of the highest order of statesmanship and of public loyalty. He sounded a note of warning concerning a too large surplus in the treasury and asked the cooperation of the general assembly in avoiding extravagance in expending the state's money or recklessness in legislation. He advocated a state depository law ; an increase in the number of assistants to the attorney-general owing to the in- crease of legal business in his office ; the establishment of a state banking depart- ment for the supervision of all banking and trust companies incorporated under the laws of Ohio; the adoption of legislation for the regulation of interurban railroads ; the consideration of bids for the maintenance of state institutions for the care of the unfortunate ones of the state, and many other wise measures. Governor Herrick had a law passed, at his instigation, a short time before his in- auguration, that the members of the governor's staff should be officers of the National Guard. This recognition of the National Guard tended to raise its standard. Later a similar law was passed at the request of Governor Hughes in the state of New York. Governor Herrick appointed, in accordance with the law recently passed, members of the National Guard as his staff officers. He advo- cated reform in ballot laws ; the codification and amendment of the common school laws to meet the demands and requirements of modern education ; the considera- tion of the subject of forestry preserves and the encouragement of timber grow- ing, closing his inaugural address with an appeal for the cooperation of Ohio citizens in all that was for the best interests of the state.
Very soon after Governor Herrick came to Cleveland he joined the Cleveland Grays and remained with the organization for about three years, when he re- signed to become a member of Troop A, just then being organized. His connec- tion therewith covered twelve years. During the day of his inaugural he was escorted by the famous Troop A.
Governor Herrick is not and has never been a politician in the commonly ac- cepted sense of the term-one who studies every detail and phase of every ques- tion bearing upon the success of the party. He is preeminently a business man whose training and experience have been along the lines of conservative business. It is his plan first to determine the right course to pursue and then to follow that course. Such a course has been perhaps detrimental to him in politics. The very unequal division in the general assembly was a source of weakness rather than of strength to the republican party. The opposition was a matter of little account and therefore there was chance for much division and strife within the party ranks, as they did not need to concentrate their forces for protection against a common enemy. Conscious of great power, the majority evinced a tendency to favor some legislation the only merit of which was party expediency or which savored too much of the influence of special interests. Fortunately for the state and the party, Governor Herrick assumed the responsibility of insisting that only proper measures be enacted. He was determined to see that the faith of the people in him and the party was not violated and that promises made were carried into execution. It was a very difficult situation, but his efforts resulted in much beneficial and long-needed legislation, although in following the course which he believed to be just and right, Governor Herrick was subjected to much unjust criticism and abuse.
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