USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume III > Part 9
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ELISHA STERLING, M. D.
Dr. Elisha Sterling, an eminent surgeon and naturalist whose work was a factor in the world's progress, his ability being widely recognized in scientific circles, was born in Salisbury, Connecticut, August 15, 1825. His father, John Sterling, came to Cleveland with an ox team and was three weeks in making the trip. Here he engaged in business, also staking out a claim and later becom- ing much interested in real estate. Elisha Sterling was but a young lad when he accompanied his parents on their westward removal to Cleveland, then a little village containing only about five hundred inhabitants. Educated in the schools of this city, he spent his boyhood and youth here, was married and es- tablished his home in Cleveland, making it his place of residence throughout his remaining days. It was on the 12th of May, 1854, that he wedded Miss Mary Hilliard, a daughter of Richard Hilliard. Dr. and Mrs. Sterling became the parents of five children who were living at the time of the death of the father, December 29, 1891. These are : Richard Hilliard, a resident of Denver, Colorado; Mrs. Y. P. Morgan, whose husband was Dr. Morgan, a distinguished repre- sentative of the Episcopal clergy, mentioned elsewhere in this work; Agnes; Dora; and Katharine.
As the interests of a youth center in the place of his residence, so with Dr. Sterling, who in his boyhood days found delight in companionship with the Indians and French-Canadian hunters, ranging through the woods and explor- ing the districts in the region of the Cuyahoga river which gave no indication of the habitation of white men in this part of the country. The woods and the waters became as an open book to him. Not only did he became familiar with Lake Erie but also with Michigan and Superior as he paddled with his com- panions over those great inland seas. Tramping with them through the forests, he also obtained a comprehensive knowledge concerning the game to be found in those regions and he knew also where the fish were to be obtained and learned much concerning the habits of the denizens of the forest and of the streams. In 1836 he became a member of a sporting and athletic club founded by William Case. It was said of him that he was a naturalist of high ability
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and throughout his entire life manifested the keenest interest in the different phases of nature, especially in its animate life.
As a profession Dr. Sterling took up the study of medicine and surgery and specialized in the latter field, becoming recognized as an eminent surgeon of the middle west. He began preparation for the profession under Professor Ackley in the old medical college on Erie street and after winning his degree went to Paris and completed his studies. While there he was invited by Pro- fessor Ricard to accompany him on a professional visit to Louis Napoleon and perform a surgical operation. It was as a pupil of Jean Jacques Victor Coste that Dr. Sterling witnessed the experiments of Joseph Remy in artificial hatch- ing of trout eggs from the Vosges mountains in the cellar of the observatory in the Luxemburg Gardens of Paris in 1850. He remained always a natural- ist, interested in everything bearing upon scientific understanding of the animal life, and when in Europe for professional study, used his opportunities to fur- ther his knowledge in that direction as well. He was a close friend of Dr. Garlich, famed in connection with fish culture.
As a surgeon Dr. Sterling performed some notable operations. The Medical Record credits him with priority on the western continent in an operation in excision of the hip joint, the patient surviving eleven years, and the entire ex- tirpation of the human tongue-the only case of this kind where a cure re- sulted from the operation. During the Civil war Dr. Sterling served as sur- geon of the Ohio Light Artillery under General Barnett and was wounded in the ankle, being struck by a bullet. From the effects of this injury he never fully recovered. In his later years he ceased to practice medicine and engaged in writing for the Forest & Stream and papers of natural research. The Kirt- land Society of Natural Science was the result of a suggestion of Dr. Sterling and its first meeting was held in his office February 25, 1869. The breadth of his studies and the depth of his research gained him prominence among men eminent in the two fields of labor in which he was particularly interested. Any- thing which tended to bring to man the key to the complex mystery which we call life, whether manifest in human or in animal form, was of interest to him. As a surgeon he displayed a most comprehensive knowledge of anatomy and of the component parts of the human body, together with the onslaughts made upon it by disease and the results that might be secured by operative surgery. At the same time he sought to know the facts relative to life in the animal kingdom and his knowledge and ability placed him prominently among Ameri- can naturalists.
JOHN H. GRIFFITH.
The years of his life were busy ones for John H. Griffith until about four years prior to his demise, when he put aside the cares of commerce and spent his remaining days in the enjoyment of well earned rest. He was born in Roches- ter, New York, on the 19th of January, 1836. He did not reach the Psalmist's allotted span of life of three score years and ten, for his death occurred on the 25th of January, 1905. He was brought to Cleveland by his parents, David and Charlotte Griffith, in 1837 when but a year old. The family located on what is now the west side of the city. His father was one of the pioneer settlers and business men here, being for many years a well known representative of the com- mission business. He displayed in marked measure a spirit of enterprise and progress and those qualities were used for the advancement of the city as well as for his individual gain. He was likewise a charter member of the old St. John's church, one of the first in Cleveland.
John H. Griffith was reared in this city and acquired his education here under the tutorship of Mrs. Chapman on the west side, and he also spent several terms
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in study in neighboring towns. He was a young man of twenty years when, in 1856, he found employment in the freight office of the Pittsburg, Cleveland, Columbus & St. Louis Railroad, with which he was connected for several years, or until 1863, when in association with his brother he entered the malt business, leasing the plant from their father. In this field of labor John H. Griffith con- tinued until about four years prior to his death, when he retired from active bus- iness to spend his remaining days in the enjoyment of the fruits of his former toil. His industry, perseverance and capable management had brought him a substantial competence and he used this during the last four years of his life to supply him not only with the necessities but also with those things which con- tribute to the comfort and pleasure of living.
On the 10th of January, 1861, Mr. Griffith was united in marriage to Loraine E. Powers, a daughter of David J. and Eliza A. Powers, who were pioneer set- tlers near Madison, Wisconsin, in the early '40s and spent their last years in Chi- cago. Mr. and Mrs. Griffith had but one child, Charlotte P.
Politically Mr. Griffith was a republican, interested in the success of the party and in hearty sympathy with its principles, yet the honors and emoluments of office had no attraction for him. He was a good singer, fond of music, and was a member of one of the famous quartets of Cleveland. His fine voice rendered him popular in musical circles and many of his most pleasant hours were spent in association with those who enjoyed as he did this art, which is the least tan- gible but the most powerful of all arts. He attended the Episcopal church and the many good qualities of his life won him the esteem of his associates and gained for him the friendship of many with whom he came in contact.
JOSEPH EDGAR COOK, M. D.
Dr. Joseph Edgar Cook, who has done an important public work of a profes- sional nature and at the same time has enjoyed a large general private practice in medicine and surgery, was born at Perry, Lake county, Ohio, February 13, 1856. His father, Joseph Warren Cook, a native of Vermont, came with his parents to Ohio when a boy, settling in Lake county, where he spent his life on a farm, his death there occurring in 1889 when he was sixty-one years of age. The family is of English lineage. The mother of Dr. Cook was, prior to her marriage, Minerva E. Haywood, and she, too, was of New England birth. Her parents were among the early settlers of Madison county, Ohio, and, remaining a resi- dent of this state until her death, she here passed away in 1891 at the age of sixty-two years.
Dr. Cook remained upon the home farm until fifteen years of age, when he continued his studies in the Geneva (Ohio) Normal School, where he spent three years. He then went to Hiram College but at the end of the junior year was obliged to seek employment, and, having an opportunity to read medicine, he put aside his college text-books and came to Cleveland in 1878. Here he entered the office of Dr. W. J. Scott and subsequently entered the medical department of Wooster University in the spring of 1881. This was the last year before the consolidation of the two colleges which formed the medical department of the Western Reserve University, from which he later received an ad eundem degree of M. D., thereby becoming an alumnus of the medical department of the West- ern Reserve University. Soon after his graduation he removed to the west side and became associated in practice with Dr. Nathaniel M. Jones, the relation be- ing maintained for about fifteen years. He then removed to the east side, open- ing an office in his present location in the New England building. He engages in the general practice of medicine and surgery and was surgeon for the Consoli- dated Street Railways for eighteen years, or until the fall of 1908. He has also been a member of the visiting medical staff of St. Vincent's Hospital for the
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past eighteen years and was physician in charge of the City Infirmary and City Hospital for five years. After practicing for five or six years he spent one win- ter in post-graduate work in New York city. In 1896 he was chosen to the pres- idency of the Cleveland Medical Society and is also a member of the Cleveland Academy of Medicine, the Ohio State Medical Society, the Cleveland Medical Library Association, of which he was the first president, and a member of the American Medical Society.
Dr. Cook was for two years a member of the board of education preceding the adoption of the federal plan, and during the second year he acted as president of the board. He belongs to all Masonic bodies in this city, including the con- sistory and the Mystic Shrine. His political allegiance is given to the democracy and he is a member of the Christian church.
On the 18th of November, 1896, in Cleveland, Dr. Cook was married to Miss Lillian H. Heisley, a daughter of Judge John W. Heisley, of the common pleas bench of this city, serving in this judicial position for many years. Mrs. Cook is an officer of the Young Women's Christian Association, in which she has been very active. Since their marriage Dr. and Mrs. Cook have resided at 1950 East Seventieth street, where they cordially extend the hospitality of their home to many friends.
NEWELL SAMUEL COZAD.
The name of Cozad has figured on the pages of Cleveland's history for more than a century, or from the time when the present Ohio metropolis was a little struggling village, bounded on one side by the lake, over whose waters no steam- ship had as yet passed, while on the other side was the almost impenetrable forest. Newell S. Cozad was the third son of Samuel Cozad, who arrived in Cleveland in 1807 with his parents. He was a direct descendant of Jacques Cozad, who came to America in 1662. He was descended from French Huguenot ancestors who at the time of religious persecution had fled from northern France to Hol- land. Samuel Cozad had six children, all of whom are now deceased with the exception of Newell S. Cozad, who is living at 2043 Cornell Road. He was born in 1830 on his father's farm, which is now Wade Park. As a boy he attended Shaw's Academy for two years and afterward spent a similar period in Cleve- land University. He took up the study of law under the direction of Joseph and Samuel Adams and was admitted to the bar when Judge Starkweather was on the bench. He then formed a partnership with J. M. Coffinberry in 1854, the connection being continued for two years, when Mr. Coffinberry was elected judge and withdrew from the firm. Mr. Cozad afterward practiced alone until 1857 when he put aside the work of the profession to look after the business interests of his father, whose health was failing and so continued until the death of his father in 1872, at which time he was appointed administrator of the estate.
In June, 1858, Mr. Cozad was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Goe, of Trum- bull county, Ohio. There were two children of that marriage, Mary A. and Charles N. The son, now residing in Caldwell, Kansas, is married and has a daughter sixteen years of age. Mary A. Cozad is now Mrs. George W. Bradford and has two children, Charles and Ruth. The former is a graduate of the Case School of Applied Science of the class of 1907 and is now in electrical business in New York city, while Ruth is a graduate of the Hathaway-Brown Private School, of the class of June, 1909.
In the year 1865 Newell S. Cozad enlisted as a member of Company D, One Hundred and Fiftieth Ohio Regiment, and was corporal of a company under Captain John Wisman, Lieutenant Colonel Frazee and Colonel W. H. Hayward. After returning from the war he continued to assist in the management of his father's business affairs, as previously stated, and on the division of the estate
NEWELL S. COZAD
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he inherited as his portion the home farm, which included the Wade Park of the present day. He planned and laid out that park in 1874, doing much of the labor himself in clearing and grading up the drives, spending about sixty thousand dol- lars on the improvement and development of the park. This money was bor- rowed on mortgage against the park and when a financial stringency came on Mr. Cozad was compelled to relinquish his title to the land to parties holding the mortgage, thereby killing a cherished ambition not only of his own but of the entire Cozad family. He afterward went west, spending some time in Kansas and the Indian Territory where he engaged in stock-raising. After devoting twelve years to that business he returned to Cleveland in 1888. During his resi- dence in the Indian Territory the red men in that part of the country were very restless, owing to the Custer massacre. Many raids occurred and several men were killed on Mr. Cozad's ranch, it being a very wild country during his sojourn there. On his return to Cleveland he took up his residence at Lake View, on the Cozad property, comprising about eight acres. Aside from looking after this allotment he is leading a retired life. He holds membership in Forest City Post, G. A. R., and both he and his wife are members of the Euclid Avenue Congrega- tional church, with which he has thus been affiliated for fifty-eight years. He belongs to one of the oldest, most prominent and most honored families of the city and justly enjoys the fruits of a successful business life. Surrounded by comforts and pleasures in accordance with his desires, he stands as a representa- tive of a family whose high character in no manner suffers by his connection. A splendid type of American manhood and citizenship, he is now one of the most venerable of the native sons of Cleveland, his life record covering seventy-nine years.
HENRY ALDEN SHERWIN.
Approachable, courteous and free from ostentation or display, one meeting Henry Alden Sherwin in the general walks of life would scarcely think of him as a financier and prominent manufacturer, but rather of his pleasing personal characteristics, and yet his name is known from ocean to ocean and in every for- eign land, as he stands today at the head of the world's greatest paint and varn- ishing manufacturing interests. He was born in Baltimore, Vermont, September 27, 1842, a son of Alden W. and Rachel (Bachelder) Sherwin, who were born and reared in that state and were representatives of old New England families. They were thrifty, frugal people of high moral character.
In such a home atmosphere Henry Alden Sherwin was reared and the lessons then imprinted on his nature have since borne rich fruit. He attended the pub- lic schools to the age of fifteen years, when he put aside his text-books that he might enter the business world and earn his own living. His first position made heavy demand upon his time and energies and gave him little outlook, as he was employed as errand boy and clerk in a general store. However, he looked beyond the conditions of the moment to the opportunities of the future and resolved that if persistency of purpose and undaunted energy could win him promotion hie would secure it. After two or three years spent in the store, desiring a broader field of action and regarding the opportunities of the growing west as superior to those of New England, he came to Ohio and established his home in Cleveland in February, 1860. For a time he was employed as a clerk and in other ways in a large dry goods house, receiving, however, but small salary. His manifest ability and faithfulness, however, soon won him recognition in merited promo- tion and here later he had become chief bookkeeper. The house closed its bus- iness soon afterward but his service in that connection was sufficient to recom- mend him for other important positions and in a similar capacity he went to a wholesale grocery house, in which he was admitted to a partnership a few months later in recognition of his rare business sagacity and thorough trustworthiness.
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He did not find the business, however, congenial to his tastes and, disposing of his interests in 1866, he turned his attention to the sale of paints, colors and varnishes. He had been connected with this trade for but a brief period when he felt that he was established on the highroad to success. The little business grew rapidly, demanding larger quarters from time to time, and new departments were added as the enterprise progressed. From a small beginning the business has grown to be the largest of the kind in the world and in no center of civili- zation is the name of the Sherwin-Williams Company unknown. It was in 1870 that Mr. Sherwin formed a partnership with E. P. Williams, and plans were' made to extend the field of operations still further, Mr. Sherwin deciding to take up the manufacture as well as the sale of the commodity which he handled. The policy which was instituted has always been maintained and has constituted the basis of their splendid success. Mr. Sherwin resolved that the growth of the business should rest upon good quality and persistent advertising. He deter- mined that only the best products that could be made should leave his establish- ment, believing that the best goods would sell the best and would prove not only more profitable to the manufacturer but also of, more value to the consumer. His idea as to the highest quality remaining the standard of the enterprise is one which has been maintained throughout the conduct of his business and the wis- dom of his judgment has been conclusively proven in the success he has attained. As a manufacturer he met with the same success which had come to him in the sale of paints, colors and varnishes, and the continued expansion and growth of his business led to the increase of the plant from time to time, to additions to the force of traveling salesmen and to a general extension of trade. At length, in order to place the business on a more permanent basis and to provide proper facilities for its greater advancement, it was decided to form a stock organiza- tion, and in 1884 the business was reorganized and incorporated under the name of the Sherwin-Williams Company, with Mr. Sherwin as its president. The new company continued to grow safely along the lines laid down by its founder until today the enterprise stands at the head of the paint industry of the world, owing in large measure to the keen foresight and sound business judgment of Mr. Sherwin and to the correct principles promulgated by him.
Mr. Sherwin himself said: "I attribute whatever success has come to the company to an unfailing loyalty to good quality in our products, to business char- acter, good advertising and hard work. Good goods and good advertising stand side by side. Neither could have won without the help of the other."
This house now largely sets the standard for the trade in the manufacture and sale of paints, varnishes and kindred products. The main offices and one of the largest factories of the company are at Cleveland. The plant at this point consists of seventeen large buildings. At Cleveland are also located the head- quarters of the central district of the company's organization, which handles the business of the northern central portion of the United States, with offices and warehouses at Buffalo and Cincinnati. The remainder of the continent is divided into six districts : the Atlantic coast district, with offices and warehouses at New- ark, New Jersey, Savannah, Philadelphia, Boston, New York city, and a factory at Newark; the middle west district, with offices and factories at Chicago and warehouses and offices at St. Louis and Minneapolis; the Canadian district, with offices and factories in Montreal, Quebec, and offices and warehouses at To- ronto, Ontario and Winnipeg, Manitoba; the Pacific coast district, with offices and warehouses at San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle; and the southwestern district, with headquarters at Kansas City and offices and ware- houses at Dallas, Texas, and Omaha, Nebraska. The export department is located at the Newark sales offices and the factory at that point is splendidly sit- uated for purposes of foreign shipments. The company has its own linseed oil works thoroughly equipped with modern machinery, railway tracks, docks, marine elevator, et cetera, where it makes and refines its own linseed oil ; it oper- ates its own tin can plant, with a capacity of seven million cans a year ; it makes
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all its varnishes, driers and japans ; manufactures all its dry colors and runs its own printing plant, machine shops and box factory. In the box and cooperage department of the company the mills have an annual capacity of fifteen million feet of lumber and a dockage front of five hundred feet. The sample department where the sample folders are finished turns out annually nearly forty million samples. The capacity of this department allows them to paste one hundred and fifty thousand samples a day, while the amount of paint that is spread on their color cards would paint all the houses in a good sized town.
From the beginning it has been the policy of Mr. Sherwin and his associates to advertise extensively, to bring out striking and attractive but not freakish ad- vertisements and to correctly represent the products of the factory. Nearly twenty years ago the advertising department was organized and today is resembles in its organization a very fair-sized advertising agency and its work is much of a similar character. The department managers go to it for suggestion and assist- ance in the way of advertising to assist them in pushing the sale of the products in which they are particularly interested. It is completely equipped with a staff of writers and art department, clerical office force, a printing department of fif- teen presses, a complete bindery and a large sampling department where the color cards are made, besides a finishing department where the varnishes, stains, enamels and other high grade finishes are worked out on the wood or on surfaces on which they are customarily used, so that any one interested can see exactly the effect obtained by the use of the various finishes. As the result of the exten- sive advertising no other paint or varnish products are as generally known as are those of the Sherwin-Williams Company.
Not only have the stockholders in this enterprise given their attention to the development of a mammoth trade but they have closely studied the betterment of industrial conditions and have in this regard promoted many interests which have made their plants and their relation to their employes of a model character. Two floors in one building of the Cleveland plant are used exclusively as lunch room and kitchen, where a well selected bill of fare is served at practically cost prices. Rest rooms are provided for the girls and an employes' sick and death mutual benefit society renders aid in case of sickness or death among the em- ployes, the membership thereof including more than 90 per cent of the working force. A large part of one floor in one building is set aside as a club room and is used for meetings of employes and as a place of rest and recreation. It is furnished with a piano and game tables and the leading magazines are on file. In the club room is also located the library of the company and a branch of the Cleveland public library. The company publishes a monthly magazine called "The Chameleon," for the entire staff. It is edited and printed in its own print- ing department, is open to contributions from all employes and contains instruc- tion, news, information and illustrations of the business. Moreover, the company hold a yearly convention of salesmen, officers and managers in Cleveland, give an annual banquet for employes, an annual outing for all employes and their families, maintains a debating society for young men in the office, also a glee club, and makes various gifts in recognition of faithful and competent service. The view of the company in this work is summed up very well in the follow- ing words: "The care and improvement of the animate machinery is at least as important to the manufacturer as the care and improvement of the immediate machinery. The three most important matters for attention should be health, morals and education, because a more vigorous employe can do more work, a more conscientious employe will do more conscientious work, and a more intelli- gent employe will do more intelligent work."
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