USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume III > Part 92
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After being graduated from the grammar schools Charles H. Eichhorn be- came a student in the West high school and completed the course in that institu-
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
tion in 1879, at the age of twenty years. He then removed to Delray, Michigan, where he followed the profession of teaching for three years, on the expiration of which period he came to Cleveland, likewise becoming identified with the educational interests of this city as an instructor in the public schools. In 1886, he was made secretary to the superintendent of public schools, acting in that capacity until 1892, when he was elected secretary of the Brooklyn Building & Loan Association, with which institution he is still connected. On the Ist of March, 1909, he became cashier of the Market branch of the State Banking & Trust Company and has already proved a valuable and capable incumbent in that important position.
On the 22d of June, 1894, Mr. Eichhorn was united in marriage to Miss Lulu I. Challacomb, of Cleveland, by whom he has a son, Kenneth C., now five years of age. The family residence is at No. 52 Elberon avenue, East Cleve- land.
Politically Mr. Eichhorn is a republican and in fraternal circles has attained high rank, being a Scottish and York Rite Mason. He is past master of Hal- cyon Lodge, No. 498, A. F. & A. M .; past high priest of Thatcher Chapter, No. IOI, R. A. M. ; past commander of Forest City Commandery ; past potent master of Eliadah Lodge of Perfection, second lieutenant commander of the Lake Erie Consistory and past potentate of Al Koran Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; and grand generalissimo of the Grand Commandery, K. T., of Ohio. He is likewise a member of Cleveland Council of the Royal League. Cleveland has long numbered him among its well known, prosperous and enterprising citi- zens and he enjoys the kindly regard and esteem of an extensive circle of warm friends.
EDGAR P. WATTERSON.
Edgar P. Watterson, the treasurer of the Griffin-Watterson Construction Company, general contractors of Cleveland, was born in this city on the 15th of June, 1857, his parents being William J, and Sarah A. (Ruggles) Watterson. The father, whose birth occurred in Warrensville, Ohio, on the 28th of May, 1830, came to Cleveland when a young man of seventeen years and began learning the carpenter's trade with the firm of Cubben & Corlett, contractors. Subsequently he embarked in the contracting business on his own account, being thus actively engaged until 1879, when he purchased a half interest in the tobacco business of J. Schriber & Company. In January, 1887, the firm was consolidated with the Hull, Boesger & Company, and then became the Standard Tobacco Company, of which Mr. Watterson was elected president, acting in that capacity until 1902, when the concern went out of business. William J. Watterson spent his re- maining days in retirement, passing away in November, 1905, when seventy-five years of age. He had always resided in this county and was well known and highly esteemed within its borders as a most prosperous, progressive and re- spected citizen.
Edgar P. Watterson attended the public schools until sixteen years of age and then went to Alliance, Ohio, where for one year he pursued his studies in Mount Union College. He then returned to Cleveland and served an appren- ticeship at the carpenter's trade under the direction of his father, assisting in the rebuilding of the insane asylum. In July, 1876, he entered the employ of the old Second National Bank (now the Bank of Commerce) as a collector, while later he became bookkeeper, acting in that capacity until May, 1880. At that time he made his way to southwestern Kansas, where he worked on a ranch for a year, and subsequently worked on ranches in Texas and Oklahoma until 1883. In that year he once more returned to Cleveland and secured a position as bookkeeper with the Standard Tobacco Company, of which his
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
father was president, being thus employed until the Ist of January, 1902. Dur- ing the following two years he had charge of the office of C. N. Griffin, a con- tractor, and on the expiration of that period they incorporated the Concrete Steel Construction Company, of which Mr. Watterson was elected secretary and treasurer, which offices he held from the Ist of March, 1905, until May 1, 1907, when he sold out his interest in the business. On the Ist of June, 1907, in association with Mr. Griffin, he organized the Griffin-Watterson Construction Company, of which he was elected treasurer and in this capacity his efforts have since proved a potent element in the success which has attended the concern. As the years have advanced his efficiency has continually increased and he is today recognized as one of the prominent representatives of building interests in his native city.
On the 26th of December, 1883, in Cleveland, Mr. Watterson was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Hunt, by whom he has five children. William J., the eldest, is now a young man of twenty-five years. He is a graduate of the West- ern Reserve University and was center on the football team for three years. He also coached for Hiram College during the season of 1908 and 1909. The other children of Mr. and Mrs. Watterson are as follows: Harlan, twenty-three years of age, who is in the employ of his father; Leroy, a young man of twenty, who is in the United States navy, on the ship New York; Ralph, eighteen years old, who sailed on the Great Lakes for two seasons and is now an apprentice with the Central Lithographing Company; and Ruth, a little maiden of eight, who attends the public school. The family residence is at No. 6316 Hawthorne avenue.
In politics Mr. Watterson is a stanch republican, while his religious belief accords with the teachings of the Presbyterian church. He belongs to the Mac- abees and is also a valued member of the Cleveland Builders Exchange. In business circles his methods have ever been honorable and straightforward and his strongly marked characteristics are such as commend him to the trust and friendship of his fellowmen.
ABNER ROYCE.
The interests and cooperation of Abner Royce touched so many lines of ac- tivity and usefulness as to make his record one of great worth to Cleveland. His sympathy reached out to all mankind and found expression in the tangible aid which he gave to others in private life or in public affairs.
He was born in a little log cabin on the shores of Lake Champlain the 23d of June, 1839. His ancestry extended back through the early period of the republic and through colonial days to Robert Royce, who in 1630 landed at Boston. In his life were manifest many of the sturdy and sterling character- istics of this New England ancestry, and his early experiences were those of the farmer and frontiersman whose opportunities were limited owing to the iso- lation of families in a sparsely settled district.
His early education was acquired in a log schoolhouse and with a desire for better opportunities than he had already received he later engaged in teaching in the district schools to secure funds sufficient for the continuation of his studies, this ambition being realized at Baldwin University.
His removal to the west occurred in 1845, when his parents brought their family to Ohio, settling in Crawford county, where he remained until after the outbreak of the Civil war. Constrained by a spirit of patriotism, he offered his services to the government but remained with the Union army as a member of the Fifty-fifth Ohio Regiment for less than a year, being discharged on account of ill health.
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ABNER ROYCE
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
Following his return to the north, Mr. Royce was married in 1863 to Miss Henrietta L. Knapp. In the year following their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Royce located in Cleveland when Mr. Royce became associated with S. E. Stone in the life insurance business. Some years were devoted to that undertaking and then, branching out into other fields, he commenced the manufacture of flavoring ex- tracts on a small scale in 1879. The new venture proved profitable and with the growth of the business he extended its scope to include the manufacture of per- fumes and toilet articles, and with the passing years this undertaking grew to be one of the city's foremost productive industries.
In time the business was reorganized and incorporated as The Abner Royce Company, with the subject of this review as its president and chief executive head. Since his demise the enterprise has been successfully continued and its ramifying trade interests have made it known throughout the entire country.
The nature of Mr. Royce was by no means a self-centered one. Few men have so fully realized the obligations of wealth or have been more mindful of their responsibilities to their fellowmen. His nature was essentially charitable and kindly, and he rejoiced in the opportunity of doing good to others. He held membership in the Epworth Memorial church and through its different lines of activity improved the chances of assisting his fellow travelers on life's journey. He was also in thorough sympathy with the beneficent principle of the Masonic fraternity and was an enthusiastic member of Forest City Lodge, F. & A. M .; Webb Chapter, R. A. M .; Cleveland Council, R. & S. M .; Oriental Commandery, K. T .; Lake Erie Consistory, S. P. R. S .; and Pearl Chapter, O. E. S. He had the unqualified regard and love of his brethren of the craft and he was equally popular and honored in Memorial Post, G. A. R., in which he held membership and in Cleveland Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. It has been said of him, "A bright touch of kindliness marked his every act" and that, "In the city's business growth, in its religious activities, and in its development in the spirit of fraternity he had been a constant, unfaltering laborer, bearing an honored part."
Mr. and Mrs. Royce became the parents of a daughter and son, Mrs. W. H. Hyde and W. D. Royce. To his family Mr. Royce displayed the utmost devo- tion, considering no sacrifice nor effort on his part too great if it would enhance the welfare of those of his own household.
He passed away December 2, 1903, at the age of sixty-seven years, leaving to his family the rich reward of well directed labor but more than that, the price- less heritage of an untarnished name. Those who knew him best and were most familiar with his nature, rich in its kindly sympathy and generous spirit, may well echo the words :
"He was a man. Take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again !"
MRS. MARY H. SEVERANCE.
Mrs. Mary H. Severance, the only daughter of Dr. David Long, the first physician to settle in Cleveland, was born March 1, 1816, in a large log house which stood on Superior street near the site of the present American House, which was later replaced by a brick house. Her parents afterward removed to an ample stone house on Superior, corner of Seneca street, where a garden, with arbor and profusion of flowers, was the playground of her childhood. She and her older brother Solon shared all their parents' counsels in the care of those who came to the home, whether white settlers or friendly Indians. Although idolized, as an only daughter, the hospitality of her parents made the childhood of Mary Helen Long a delightful succession of life-long friendships, which, while pleasant in themselves, taught her lessons of sweet forbearance and gen-
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erosity. With companions of childhood, she gathered strawberries on the Pub- lic Square, watched the arrival of the first stage coach, the first steamboat on Lake Erie, and the first canal boat. She remembered attending the Collamer or Euclid Presbyterian church before regular services were held in Cleveland. A notable reminiscence of her childhood was that of running, at five years of age, into the road to tell to passers-by the result of the first census, which attrib- uted to Cleveland five hundred fifty-three inhabitants.
There being no adequate educational facilities in the village of her child- hood, Miss Long was sent to boarding schools at Warren and Elyria. The great sorrow of early days was the death of her only brother, a young man much beloved in the community. In 1833 she was married to Solomon Lewis Severance, a young merchant from Shelburne, Massachusetts. To gratify her ardent desire for a simple home, her father built the small white cottage on Huron street, a building which withstood all encroachments until the construction of the Empire Theater removed the landmark. With but five years of married life, after the death of her husband, with her two sons, Solon L. and Louis H. Severance, she lived in her father's home, the stone house on Woodland avenue, corner of Linden street. There the family lived until the place was sold to Mr. Erastus Gaylord and Dr. Long removed to the new home just beyond. For more than forty years in this homestead, corner of what was Longwood avenue, but now East Thirty-fifth street, Mrs. Severance was the center of the family life, where she gathered her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren about her. With failing sight and yet unfailing courage, in her declining years she consented to leave the home of many memories and make a new residence with her sons, Solon L. and Louis H. Severance, at the corner of Euclid avenue and East Eighty-ninth street.
At the age of fourteen Mrs. Severance became a member of the First Pres- byterian church and sang for many years in the choir. With enthusiasm for every Christian activity, she helped to organize the first missionary society, which equipped with an outfit the pioneer missionary to the east coast of Africa. She became a charter member of the Second Presbyterian church, and again in 1872 joined with others in organizing the Woodland Avenue Presbyterian church, to which she gave loyal service. Mrs. Severance warmly supported the anti-slavery movement, her sympathies finding practical outlet in work of the Sanitary Commission during the Civil war. She assisted in founding the Pro- testant Orphan Asylum and Lakeside Hospital, being a trustee of the latter until the time of her death. For three generations this life was identified with Cleveland's highest interests.
Mrs. Severance's bearing was never haughty, and her hosts of friends in- cluded people from every rank in life. Her rare discrimination pierced through all disguises and, with delicious impartiality, she meted out pleasant words and deeds. Her benefactions were so delicately bestowed, that none but the recipi- ent could know the gift or the sweet spirit which prompted it. Mrs. Severance passed away October 1, 1902, in the eighty-seventh years of her age, leaving the full impress of a simple-hearted, clear-minded, public-spirited life, culminating in the hallowed memory of a long. beautiful womanhood.
HORACE B. CORNER.
Horace B. Corner has for forty years been identified with the Citizens Sav- ings & Trust Company of which he is now the vice president. Through the steady progress that results from close application, well directed energy, per- sistency of purpose and the wise utilization of time and opportunity he had reached the position of distinction which he now occupies in financial circles in Cleveland, standing with that honored class of American citizenship who are
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HORACE B. CORNER
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known as self-made men. He was born in McConnelsville, Ohio, June 26, 1846, and is a son of William M. and Mary Trow (Bassett) Corner. His paternal grandfather, Edwin Corner, was one of Ohio's pioneer settlers, belonging to a party of thirty colonists who came from Macclesfield, England, and located at or near Marietta, Ohio. Subsequently he removed to McConnelsville, where he engaged in general merchandising and in the banking business and for a time represented his district in the state legislature. His son, William M. Corner, was born in McConnelsville, January 8, 1822. In 1857 he removed to Cleveland, where he was engaged in mercantile pursuits until his retirement. He died February 16, 1900, and a life of great usefulness was thus ended. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Trow Bassett, a lady of superior education and lineal descendant of William Bassett, who landed from the ship Fortune at Plymouth in 1621. She was educated in the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, having been a pupil of Mary Lyon, one of the famous women educators of the time. She herself gained distinction in connection with educational interests, being for a time principal of the McConnelsville schools, principal of the Worth- ington Seminary and also of Howard University at Washington, D. C., and for many years conducted a private school for young women in Cleveland. In Mc- Connelsville she became the wife of William M. Corner and unto them were born two sons: Horace B. and Charles, the latter a resident of Savannah, Georgia. At the close of the Civil war Mrs. Corner became deeply interested in the freed- men's educational movement and for a time was engaged in that work in Mont- gomery, Alabama. She was born in Hawley, Massachusetts, December 18, 1818, and died in Savannah, Georgia, December 10, 1893, having spent her last years in the south.
Horace B. Corner came to Cleveland in 1857, at the age of eleven years, and continued his education, begun in the public schools of McConnelsville, in the public, private and commercial schools of this city, his training being re- ceived principally under his mother's personal tutelage. He was one of the first newsboys of the city and at different times in his youth he visited his uncle in Massachusetts and learned something of farming. He subsequently took a position as cashier and bookkeeper in a dry-goods house in Columbus, Ohio, where he remained for two years. Returning to Cleveland he entered the office of the Buckeye Insurance Company of this city, with which he was connected for two years, and on the Ist of February, 1870, he became identified with the Citizens Savings & Trust Company. He was first made teller and bookkeeper, being the original incumbent in the former office. Since that time owing to va- rious promotions, he has served successively as secretary and treasurer, director, member of the finance committee and in 1903 was elected vice president-his present position. For forty consecutive years he has been continuously connected with this bank, which at the outset had not more than fifty customers a day while at the present time it annually serves over three thousand daily and is now probably the largest financial institution in the state. In point of service Mr. Corner is the second oldest bank official in the city and no man is more honored and respected in financial and business circles, not only by reason of what he has achieved but also through the honorable, straightforward methods which he has ever followed. He has other interests and has been at times as- sociated with many of the city's financial enterprises.
On the 26th of November, 1884, Mr. Corner was married in Cleveland to Miss Amelia Coolman Ranney, a daughter of Henry C. and Helen (Burgess) Ranney. Mrs. Corner is very active in church and philanthropic work. She was born in Warren, Ohio, August 7, 1855, and during her childhood days came to Cleveland with her parents. She is the mother of two sons : Kenneth Ranney, who was educated in the Cleveland public schools and the University School; and Horace Ranney, who pursued his education in the University School and Wil- liams College, Massachusetts. The family residence is at No. 1895 East One Hundred and Fifth street.
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Mr. Corner has never allowed personal interests or ambition to dwarf his public spirit or activities and has cooperated in many movements for the general good. He belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and endorses all of its measures for the upbuilding of the city. He belongs to the Union Club and was for two years the president of the Colonial Club. His political allegiance is given to the republican party. He finds recreation in motoring and travel, having made va- rious tours abroad. A cultured mind, combined with strong intellectual powers with which nature endowed him, has given him keen appreciation of the riches of literature. As a financier he occupies a most honored position among Cleve- land's business men.
ALBERT C. BUELL, M. D.
Dr. Albert C. Buell, a Cleveland physician, successful in his practice and not unknown as a contributor to medical literature, was born in Northfield, Ohio, January 18, 1851. The Buell family is of Scotch origin and was established in Vermont in early colonial days. The father, David C. Buell, was a native of St. Albins, Vermont, born November 27, 1820, and about 1837 he became a resident of Hudson, Ohio. Soon afterward he removed to Northfield, that state, where he spent the last fifty years of his life, devoting the great part of that time to carpentering and contracting. He was one of the early settlers and was moreover a hard-working, industrious man, successful in business and of high standing in the community. He married Harriet E. Chapman, who was born in Hudson, Ohio, August 30, 1825, a daughter of Captain John Chap- man, a veteran of the War of 1812 and one of the best known and most prom- inent citizens of that portion of the state in which he lived. Mr. and Mrs. David C. Buell were married at Hudson, Ohio, September 28, 1848, and the former died at Northfield, June 15, 1898, at the age of seventy-eight years, while his wife passed away, November 7, 1900, at the age of seventy-five. Their family numbered three sons and a daughter: Henry, who was with the Standard Oil Company until his death, which occurred August II, 1902; Emma, who is the widow of Edward Bierce and resides at New Milford, Portage county, Ohio; Albert C .; and Dr. Edwin C. Buell, a surgeon of Los Angeles, California.
Dr. Albert C. Buell spent his boyhood in Northfield, Ohio, where he at- tended the public schools to the age of sixteen years and then began teaching. He was thus identified with the system of public instruction for eleven years, after which he conducted a private school of his own for a year. On the ex- piration of that period he took up the study of medicine and was graduated from the Cleveland Homeopathic Hospital College with the degree of M. D., in the spring of 1880. He at once located in the Forest city and has now been in practice here continuously for over thirty years. Before his graduation he became associated with Dr. H. F. Biggar, Sr., under whom he studied for three years, and following the completion of his college course he was associated with Dr. Biggar for some time. His attention has been devoted to the general practice of medicine and surgery and he was instructor in the Homeopathic College Training School for Nurses for two years. He has frequently been requested to accept chairs in the Homeopathic College but has always declined, feeling that the interests of his private practice make sufficient demand upon his time. He has been an occasional contributor to medical literature and in strictly professional lines is connected with the Cleveland Homeopathic Medi- cal Society, the Ohio State Homeopathic Medical Society and the 'American Institute of Homeopathy.
Dr. Buell has also become interested to some extent in financial enterprises and is president of the Chippewa Lake Club Company with properties at Chip-
DR. A. C. BUELL
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
pewa Lake, Ohio, and in several other enterprises. He belongs to the Na- tional Geographical Society and to the Cleveland Athletic Association. He is also a member of the Pioneer Society of Ohio and of the Cleveland Gun Club. A lover of outdoor sports and an ardent hunter he has gone on shooting trips in all of the states and territories of the Union and in many foreign lands lying to the north, spending the last season in Newfoundland. He has many trophies of the hunt, among which is one of the finest moose heads in the country. He is also the possessor of a fine collection of antiquities, gems, relics and rare specimens of various kinds which indicate the breadth of his interest and the extent of his reading and his research.
On the 20th of November, 1878, Dr. Buell was married in Cleveland to Miss Ada A. Waite, a daughter of Benjamin Waite, of Northfield, Ohio. She was accidentally killed October 28, 1907. She had been active in private charitable work throughout the city and her good deeds and benefactions were almost numberless. In the family were three children but Albert C., the eldest died in 1884 at the age of four years. Clarion is the wife of Herbert G. Cannon, a mining engineer of Cleveland; and Helen married W. B. Woods, a member of the Cleveland bar. The Doctor was married June 9, 1909 to Miss Celia O. Barens, of Cleveland, the daughter of John Barens, of Tiffin, Ohio, well known for his mechanical abilities. Dr. Buell is one of the old-time family physi- cians, plain and unpretentious but genial and courteous in manner, and of a broad and cultured mind. These qualities have won him warm friendships and gained him firm hold on the affection of the many with whom he has come in contact.
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