A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume III, Part 65

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: 1106

USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume III > Part 65

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It was in 1904 that he came to Cleveland, where he established himself in- dependently in business. He makes a specialty of the manufacturing part of the trade and is remarkably skilled in the delicate art of the furrier, possessing a connoisseur's judgment of values and fitness. It is but natural that he has obtained an enviable recognition from the public whose confidence he possesses in highest degree. His place of business is at 1119 Prospect avenue, Southeast.

Mr. Engel was married in 1902 to Miss Mildred Grabiel, of Detroit, and the family residence is at 6200 Belvidere avenue. Cleveland derives her strength and high standing among the cities in great measure from her trades and smaller industries and to each in its own individual excellence credit is due, Mr. Engel's business coming in for its full share.

ALBERT E. AKINS.

Albert E. Akins, with excellent powers of organization and with strong ini- tiative spirit, has done much to promote the building and operation of electric railway lines in this section of the state and is now vice president of the Cleve- land, Columbus & Southwestern Electric Railway Company, one of the most extensive systems of interurban railways in northern Ohio. Born on the Ist of March, 1847, he is a son of Henry Akins, whose birth occurred in Connecti- cut, June 26, 1813. When a young man he came to Cleveland and soon after- ward settled in Euclid township, this county, where he followed the ship car- penter's trade. He was also employed in that way in Chicago and later removed to a small farm south of Cleveland, where he continued his residence until his death, which occurred in 1876. 'A stalwart abolitionist whose interest in the cause had practical manifestation, he took an active part in the work of the underground railway, whereby many slaves were assisted on their way to free- dom in Canada. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mercy M. Wilkinson, was born in the state of New York, March 8, 1816, and came to the west about the same time as her future husband. She, too, became a resident of Euclid township. She died March 21, 1909. Soon after their marriage, about 1843, they removed to Royalton township and were among the early settlers in this part of the county.

It was on the home farm in Royalton township that Albert E. Akins first opened his eyes to the light of day. He mastered the elementary branches of learning in the public schools there and attended Baldwin University at Berea, Ohio, for a short time, and afterward began teaching at the comparatively early age of eighteen years. He was identified with the school interests of Royal- ton and Union City for about eighteen years, during which time he held many official positions in the township. In 1881 he accepted a clerical position in the office of the county treasurer and when H. N. Whitbeck came into office he transferred Mr. Akins from the county to the city department, where he re- mained for about nine years. In 1889 he was elected auditor of the county. This was the second year in which the Crawford county plan of direct voting in the primaries was in vogue. Mr. Akins took his office in 1890 and served for one term and was then defeated in 1892 with the remainder of the ticket. He has been very active in political circles and is recognized as one whose labors are very effective in the organization of the republican forces. In 1895 he was nominated for office and was elected, but on account of ill health was obliged to abandon the duties of the position. During the interim he was one of several who, holding political positions, were prominent in building and op- erating the first interurban road between Cleveland and Berea, and also the Elyria Electric railroad. Since that time the system has been extended until the company now owns two hundred and ten miles of railroad in northern Ohio through the construction and consolidation of electric railway interests, which

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are now managed under the corporation style of the Cleveland, Columbus & Southwestern Electric Railway Company. For some years Mr. Akins was sec- retary of the company and later was made vice president. He is practically today the active head of the company and the successful manipulation of its af- fairs indicates his superior business ability, initiative spirit and powers of or- ganization. He owns an interest in different electric railroads throughout the country and has become widely known in this connection.

Mr. Akins was married in 1871 to Miss Linnie E. Meachan, who was born in Strongsville, Ohio. He holds membership in the Methodist church and is a prominent representative of the Tippecanoe Club, of which he has served as president and has since been a member of the board of directors. He is also connected with the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias lodge. While he has thus become widely known through various social and fraternal rela- tions, his political and business activities have perhaps brought him most promi- nently before the public and his powers of organization have constituted im- portant forces in both political and business management. It requires notable executive ability to manage all the manifold interests connected with the estab- lishment and operation of street railway lines and the extensive system which he has controlled is the adequate expression of his understanding of the vari- ous needs of the business and the enterprising spirit which he shows in adapting means and conditions to these needs. The exercise of effort is keeping him alert, and in an age where it is claimed that young men are rapidly forging their way to the front he maintains his place with those who are his juniors. He is yet, however, in the prime of life and at all times has kept in touch with the spirit of modern progress, so that his methods have been of a most progressive character.

GEORGE WARREN SPENCER, M. D.

Dr. George Warren Spencer, who for more than a quarter of a century has been continuously engaged in the practice of medicine at Cleveland, has made a specialty of dermatological work since 1891. He was born in Portage county, Ohio, on the 8th of December, 1850, a son of Alexander and Mary (Thomson) Spencer, who were natives of Poughkeepsie, New York, and Ohio respectively. The father was eighteen years of age when he took up his abode in Portage county, Ohio, where he gave his attention to general agricultural pursuits until the time of his demise, passing away in 1889 at the age of sixty-eight years. His wife, who was born on the same farm which was the birthplace of their son, George W., survived him for but three weeks.

George Warren Spencer remained on the home farm until twenty-two years of age and obtained his early education in the district schools. Subsequently he attended Hiram College and afterward pursued a course in Oberlin University, studying and teaching alternately from the age of nineteen until he took up the study of medicine in 1874. He first spent two years in the office of Dr. E. Hahn at Latonia, Ohio, and then entered the department of medicine and surgery of the University of Michigan, from which institution he was graduated in June, 1878, winning the degree of M. D. The following August he located for practice at Collinwood, now a part of Cleveland, where he continued for two years. He then practiced at Shelby, Ohio, until the spring of 1883, when he returned to Cleveland and has here since remained, his patronage constantly growing in vol- ume and importance. He took the chair of dermatology at the Cleveland Medical College in 1891, but resigned in 1893 in order to accept the chairs of dermatology and physiology at the University of Medicine and Surgery, which he has since held. The two institutions were later combined under the name of the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College, and there he has built up the most complete work- ing physiological laboratory in the country. In 1897 he pursued a post graduate

DR. G. W. SPENCER

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course at the Columbia University of New York in laboratory work in physi- ology, while in 1902 he attended the St. Louis Hospital of Paris and also took a course in dermatological work at the London Skin Hospital. He has made a specialty of dermatology since 1891 and is very successful in this branch of prac- tice. He has been on the staff of the Huron Street Hospital for many years and also on the city hospital staff for some years. Broad minded and liberal in his views, he has labored rather for the advancement of the medical science in gen- eral than for his particular school and has been a frequent contributor to medical journals, having written many valuable articles which have been favorably re- ceived by the profession. He belongs to the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical Society, the Northeastern Ohio Homeopathic Society, the Ohio State Homeo- pathic Society and the American Institute of Homeopathy.

On the 29th of January, 1880, at Collinwood, Dr. Spencer was united in mar- riage to Miss Lulu Thompson, of Red Oak, Iowa. They now have four children, as follows : Harry A., twenty-eight years of age, who is connected with the George Worthington Company of this city; Myrtle, at home; Stanley, a young man of twenty-four, who is in the employ of the Lake Shore Railroad Company; and George W. Jr., twenty-two years of age, who is still under the parental roof. The family residence is at No. 2196 East One Hundredth street.

Dr. Spencer is fond of travel and has visited many points of interest both in this country and abroad. He has membership relations with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Phi Kappa Psi and the Euclid Avenue Christian church. In professional and social life he holds to high standards and enjoys in large measure the confidence and trust of those with whom he is brought in con- tact in every relation of life.

WILLIAM RUGGLES WATTERSON.

William Ruggles Watterson, an architect of Cleveland, the senior partner of the firm of Watterson & Schneider, was born in this city March 17, 1867. His ancestors came from the Isle of Man, where his grandfather, William Watter- son, was born. He was one of the original Manx settlers at Warrensville, Ohio, and of the strong, rugged type of the honest pioneer whose labors were an essential and valuable element in the work of laying the foundation for the present prosperity and progress of the county. William J. Watterson, the father, was also a native of Cleveland and became well known as one of the early builders and contractors of the city, who in his business affairs at- tained success and prominence. The extent of his operations and his activities along lines of general progress and improvement made him widely known and caused him to be classified with the representative and honored men of the Forest city, where he died in 1905. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Ruggles, was a native of Connecticut and a daughter of Hiram Ruggles, one of the pioneers of Newburg, Ohio. Mrs. Watterson passed away about four years prior to the death of her husband, her demise occurring in 1901.

William R. Watterson, whose name introduces this review, is indebted to the public school system of the city for the educational privileges which he enjoyed. Passing through consecutive grades in the primary and grammar schools, he eventually became a high school student and when he had put aside his text- books to learn the more difficult lessons in the school of experience he became an apprentice in an architect's office, believing that he would find the profession a congenial and interesting one. Having thoroughly equipped for this calling, he entered upon active practice in 1890 and has since made steady progress along the highroad to success, each forward step bringing him broader opportunities and a wider outlook. Almost from the beginning his business was a paying one and while still practicing alone he erected the Ellington for the Bradley estate,

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and the Teachout warehouses, following the fire which occurred in 1891. In 1892 he entered Columbia University in order to pursue a two years' special course in architecture and thus greatly augmented his skill and ability. He re- turned to his native city in 1894 as the Cleveland representative of George B. Post, of New York, acting as supervising architect, in which connection he had charge of the construction of the Park building and the Bank of Pittsburg in the city of Pittsburg. He remained in that place until 1895, when he returned to Cleveland to resume the practice of his profession, remaining alone for eight years thereafter or until 1903, during which period he erected a row of buildings for the Perry-Payne Company. He also erected the Whitney building and the Tavistock Hotel. He likewise put up the Younglove building and the Physics building of the Case School of Applied Science, together with many residences, some of which are numbered among the fine homes of the city. In 1903 he en- tered into partnership with Charles S. Schneider and the firm became Watter- son & Schneider-a connection that has since been maintained, while the growth of the business has made the firm one of the most prominent in this line in the city. Mr. Watterson devotes his entire attention to the profession and is thor- oughly conversant with the great scientific principles underlying his work, as well as with all of the practical phases of the business.

Mr. Watterson is a member of the American Institute of Architects, of the Cleveland Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and of the latter was at one time president for two years. He is likewise connected with the Architectural League of America and belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and to the Union Club. He is also connected with the Delta Kappa Epsilon, a college fraternity. He has two sons: Joseph B., born in 1900; and William Herbert, born in 1903.

In all of his work Mr. Watterson has displayed the thoroughness that con- stitutes one of the features of his success and his hard work and persistency of purpose have also been elements in the advancement that has brought him to a prominent position among the architects of this city.

REV. LOUIS S. REDMER.

Rev. Louis S. Redmer, whose labors have been a potent force for the up- building of Catholicism in Cleveland, is now pastor of St. Hyacinth church. He was born September 27, 1877, in Poland. His father, Joseph Redmer, also a native of the same country, was born March 17, 1835, and is still living there. He has served as an officer in the regular army, being connected with the cav- alry department. He wedded Appolonia Jackowska, who was born in Poland, December 19, 1837, and died April 9, 1906. She was a daughter of Valentine Jackowska, who was likewise born in Poland, where he was a landowner. He, too, died in that country. A brother of the Rev. Louis Redmer is Dr. Konrad Redmer, who is now successfully practicing medicine and surgery in Danzig, Poland. Some of his writings have been translated into English by Dr. Spald- ing, of Portland, Maine.

Rev. Louis Redmer was educated in the public schools of Poland, attending the gymnasium, an institution equivalent to the college of this country. He was graduated in 1895, and in the same year came to the United States, matriculat- ing in St. John's Seminary at Brooklyn, New York, where he studied for three years, or from 1897 until 1900. During the two previous years he had devoted his time to the mastery of the English language in Brooklyn. He also studied in St. John's Theological Seminary in 1900 and afterward entered the Laval University at Quebec, Canada, from which he was graduated in 1902. He was then ordained in that city by Archbishop Begin of Quebec for the diocese of

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Cleveland, for his studies had been conducted with the end in view of laboring in this diocese.

Rev. Redmer was ordained May 25, 1902, and celebrated his first mass at the Church of St. Anne de Beaupre on the 26th of May. He was then appointed assistant pastor at St. Hedwig's church in Toledo and on the 3d of October, 1903, organized a parish in East Toledo known as St. Mary Magdalene. There he erected a frame church with a seating capacity of two hundred and fifty, a schoolhouse of one room and a parish home. He was appointed pastor of that church and during his labors there raised and spent for the parish nearly fifteen thousand dollars. He continued there until September 26, 1906, when he came to Cleveland.

On the 20th of December following Father Redmer was appointed to the task of organizing a Polish congregation, which he did, the result being -St. Hya- cinth church. The first service was held January 6, 1907, and about fifty people · were in attendance. The parish was organized and the first mass celebrated at St. Lawrence church on East Eighty-first street, Southeast, and Union avenue. In May, 1907, the property was purchased from the Cleveland Art Museum estate at the corner of Francis avenue and East Sixty-first street, one hundred and sixty- nine feet on the avenue and three hundred and nineteen feet on Sixty-first street. Attorney Horace Kelley, secretary of the Cleveland Museum of Art aided the parish to secure this beautiful tract of land. Here Father Redmer has erected a brick edifice, which is a combination of church and school, the former having a seating capacity of seven hundred and fifty, while the school contains ten rooms. He has also built a parish house of brick. There are three teachers, Polish Sisters of St. Joseph from Stevens Point, Wisconsin, in the school and the pupils number one hundred and fifty. Three hundred families belong to the parish and twelve hundred people, therefore, attend the church. The parish is now in good shape financially, and the church was opened on Christ- mas day of 1907, while school was opened January 15, 1908. Father Redmer has conducted a wonderful work here. The church was dedicated August 23, 1908, by the first Polish bishop of America, Rt. Rev. Paul Rhode, of Chicago, and this was his first public function.

While at St. Mary Magdalene parish, East Toledo, Father Redmer was in charge of a very unique congregation, for eight nationalities and two rites (Greek and Roman) composed this parish. The pastor was compelled to de- liver four sermons in four different languages every Sunday. Father Redmer is able to preach without accent and with all necessary fluency in English, Ger- man and French, just as well as in Polish. The Polish people of St. Hyacinth are classed as the very best in Cleveland by Father Redmer, who loves his peo- ple and takes every opportunity to praise them.

THOMAS B. VAN DORN.

Cleveland, a center of the iron industry, numbers among its citizenship men who have displayed notable business ability and initiative spirit in the conduct of business enterprises of this character, and the list includes the name of Thomas B. Van Dorn, the vice president of the Van Dorn Iron Works Company, of which his father, James H. Van Dorn, is the president. The son was born in Akron, in 1873. The family removed to Cleveland in 1876 and he attended the common schools, his promotion through successive grades eventually mak- ing him a student in the Central high school, from which he was graduated with the class of 1888. In the fall of the same year he entered Cornell University, where he pursued a four years' special course in civil engineering and won the degree of C. E. upon his graduation in 1892. Believing that he might benefit by experience received in the employ of some one besides his father, he at once

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sought and obtained a position as draughtsman with the Berlin Bridge Com- pany of East Berlin, Connecticut, and remained in that position for three years.

Returning to Cleveland in 1895, Mr. Van Dorn entered his father's employ as draughtsman and was given charge of the structural iron department. He bent every energy to the task of thoroughly familiarizing himself with the busi- ness and his increased capabilities and powers led to his election by the board of directors to the vice presidency of the Van Dorn Iron Works Company in 1900. He is also a director of the Van Dorn & Dutton Company and in these connections is doing much to sustain the honorable and enviable reputation which has always attached to the family name in Cleveland.

Mr. Van Dorn was married to Miss Martha Early, of this city, and they have four children, namely : Winnefred, aged fourteen years; Isabelle, eleven years; Martha, eight years; and James T., five years of age. Mr. Van Dorn is a mem- ber of the Lakewood Yacht Club and enthusiastically enjoys the sport which caused the organization of that club.

WALTER J. HAMILTON.

Walter J. Hamilton, a Cleveland attorney engaged in the general practice of law as senior partner of the firm of Hamilton & Smith, represents one of the oldest families of Cuyahoga county, established here in 1801. The first American ancestor came to this country in the middle of the seventeenth century. Justus Hamilton, the grandfather of W. J. Hamilton, was born in Massachusetts in 1792 and through an active business life gave his attention to farming. For many years he served as justice of the peace at Newburg, Ohio, now a part of Cleveland, whither members of the family had removed from Pelham and Ches- terfield, Massachusetts. Justus Hamilton and his father, Robert Hamilton, ar- rived in Ohio in 1801, settling in the Western Reserve. The state had not yet been admitted to the Union and was a vast and almost unbroken wilderness, within whose domains the white settlers had hardly penetrated. Since that time members of the Hamilton family have borne an active and helpful part as the work of civilization has been carried forward.

Judge Edwin T. Hamilton, the father of Walter J. Hamilton, was born in Cuyahoga county, July 13, 1830, and was graduated from Meadville College of Pennsylvania in 1851. Having prepared for the bar in a law office in Cleveland he was first admitted to practice in the courts of Ohio and afterward went to Iowa, where he practiced for about a year and a half and then returned to Cleveland. His record is one which reflects credit and honor upon the judicial history of the state. For twenty years he was judge of the common pleas court of Cleveland, during which time he was re-elected on four occasions. He went upon the bench in 1875 and retired two decades later, after which he practiced for ten years in connection with his son, Walter J. Hamilton. His course on the bench was distinguished by a masterful grasp of every problem presented for so- lution and his opinions were based upon a comprehensive knowledge of the law and the equity of the case. That his decisions were fair and impartial finds in- controvertible proof in the fact that he was four times chosen to serve on the common pleas bench. On the Ioth of February, 1863, he wedded Mary E. Jones, a daughter of John and Mary (Mason) Jones of Cleveland, and they became parents of a son and daughter, Walter J. and Florence A. At the time of the Civil war Judge Hamilton served for four months at the front, but then returned home, where he was greatly needed, owing to the fact that all of his brothers were doing duty in the field and someone was needed to look after the interests of those who were left behind. He lived to the ripe old age of seventy- five years and passed away April 2, 1905, honored by all who knew him.

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EDWIN T. HAMILTON

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Walter J. Hamilton was born April 14, 1865, in that part of Cleveland which was once the town of Newburg, and in the public schools continued his education until he had completed the course in the Central high school, after which he pursued his college work in the University of Michigan until he was graduated with the Bachelor of Philosophy degree in 1888. The two succeeding years were devoted to the study of law in Cornell College, which in 1890 conferred upon him the degrees of Bachelor of Law and Master of Philosophy. He began prac- tice in Cleveland and for a time was alone, after which he became associated with Judge Ong. Following his father's retirement from the bench the law firm of Hamilton, Hamilton & Smith was formed and since the death of the senior partner the association has been maintained under the firm style of Hamilton & Smith. They engage in the general practice of law and have a good clientage, which makes full demand upon their time and energies and requires the careful work of the office that must always precede the clear and strong presentation of the case in the courts.

On the 16th of April, 1893, Walter J. Hamilton was married to Miss Jennie E. Adams, a daughter of Edgar and Mary J. (Elliott) Adams of Cleveland. They have four children: Dorothy A., Gladys E., Edwin T. and Margaret B. Mr. Hamilton belongs to Phi Kappa Psi, a college fraternity, and to the Cleveland Bar Association. He is a worthy representative of a well known pioneer family and his record reflects credit upon a name that has stood for progressive citizen- ship and the practical upbuilding and improvement of this section of the state through more than a century.

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A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume III, Part 65

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: 1106

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: 1106