A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume III, Part 96

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 96

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Stephen Hobson, the father of Dr. Hobson of this review, was a native of Jefferson county, Ohio, and for many years was successfully engaged in the conduct of a general mercantile establishment at Flushing, Belmont county. It was largely owing to his efforts that the Cleveland, Tuscarawas Valley & Wheeling Railway (now a part of the Baltimore & Ohio system) built its line through that section of the country. He was one of the foremost citizens of Flushing and a leader in every movement calculated to promote the general wel- fare. He established the First National Bank of that city and was widely recog- nized as one of its most prominent and esteemed residents. His demise, which occurred at Flushing in 1887 when he was fifty-seven years of age, was the oc- casion of deep and widespread regret. His widow still survives at the age of seventy-four years and yet lives on the old homestead. She is a devoted member of the Friends church, having been reared in that faith. Two of her brothers loyally defended the interests of the Union throughout the entire period of the Civil war.

Joseph Franklin Hobson spent his boyhood days in the place of his nativity and supplemented his preliminary education, obtained in the Friends schools, by a course in the academy at Barnesville, from which he was graduated in 1880. He then studied pharmacy at Philadelphia for one year, on the expiration of which period he returned to Flushing and began the study of medicine under the direction of a cousin, Dr. John A. Hobson. Afterward he matriculated in the medical department of the Western Reserve University, where he won the degree of M. D. in 1886. Following his graduation he was appointed house surgeon to the Lakeside Hospital, thus serving until October, 1887, when he en- tered upon the private practice of his profession, establishing an office on Erie street (now Ninth street) on the present site of the Rose building. Three years later he purchased a piece of property on the corner of Eighteenth street and Prospect avenue, where he built a handsome residence and has since made his home. His attention was given to the practice of both medicine and surgery until 1897, when he went abroad, spending a year in special work at Vienna and other European cities. Since his return to the United States he has confined his professional labors to surgery. From 1887 until 1892 he was a teacher of anatomy and surgery at the Western Reserve University Medical College, and since 1892 has held the chair of professor of surgery at the Cleveland College of Physicians and Surgeons. He has been chief of staff and visiting surgeon to

DR. J. F. HOBSON

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St. Luke's Hospital since its organization and was on the staff of its predecessor, the Cleveland General Hospital, from the time of its organization in 1893. He is likewise visiting surgeon to the Cleveland City Hospital and to St. John's Hospital. Since entering professional ranks he has been surgeon for the Penn- sylvania Company and for many years has also acted in that capacity for the Lake Shore Railway. He is grand lodge medical adviser of the Brotherhood of Rail- way Trainmen, the largest and best managed organization of railwaymen in the world. His high standing in the profession is indicated by these various con- nections and by the important and extensive private practice accorded him. He keeps in touch with the advancement that is being continually made by the medi- cal fraternity through his membership in the Cleveland Academy of Medicine, the Ohio State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the Cleve- land Medical Library Association and is an officer in the last named. At the same time through private study and research he has continually promoted his efficiency and is justly regarded as one of the ablest practitioners of Cleveland, manifesting at all times a close conformity to a high standard of professional ethics.

In November, 1892, at Cleveland, Dr. Hobson was joined in wedlock to Miss Anna Schlather, a daughter of Leonard Schlather, one of the substantial and representative business men of this city. Their union has been blessed with one daughter, Helen Emily, who is now fifteen years of age and is a junior student at the Hathaway-Brown school. Mrs. Hobson was educated in Germany, where she spent five years, and speaks the language of that country fluently. She was a piano pupil of one of the court teachers in Vienna and is deeply interested in music and art, still pursuing her studies under one of the best masters of this city. She also devotes much time to the pipe organ and recently a fine instru- ment has been installed in her home. In musical circles of Cleveland she is a well known and prominent factor and her home is the scene of many interesting functions, all musicians of merit having the entree thereof. Mrs. Hobson be- gan her art studies abroad during her school days, later continued them at the Cleveland School of Art and since leaving that institution has been under the instruction of one of the most distinguished portrait artists of this city. At the last exhibition of paintings by Cleveland artists which was held at the Art School, several of her productions were accepted by the committee and occu- pied the choicest positions on the walls of the salon.

Dr. Hobson is a valued member of the Union and Clifton Clubs and finds his chief sources of recreation in motoring and tennis. He spends the summer months at his fine home on the west bank of the Rocky river but during the winter seasons resides with his family at No. 1721 Prospect avenue. Both he and his wife are very fond of travel and have been able to indulge their taste in this direction, having visited many points of interest in this and other countries. They are also lovers of good literature and possess a large and well selected library. The Doctor is a large, athletic man of fine appearance, and comes from a family large of stature, hardy and long-lived. Nature, travel and culture have vied in making him an interesting and entertaining companion, and his genial manner, unfailing courtesy and unfeigned cordiality have won him the high regard of those with whom he has been brought in contact.

WILLIAM HENRY CANNIFF.

Through the stages of gradual development and progress, his faithful per- formance of each day's duty equipping him for more responsible service on the succeeding day, William Henry Canniff has obtained his present important po- sition as president of the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railway, known as the Nickel Plate. His life record began on the 22d of October, 1847, Litchfield,

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Michigan, being the place of his nativity. The common schools afforded him his early educational privileges, and he never had the benefit of instruction in more advanced educational institutions, but in the school of experience he learned many valuable lessons and as he progressed, step by step, took with him the knowledge which had come to him in his previous mastery of his daily tasks. From the age of sixteen years he has been identified with railway interests, att which time he was made night watchman at Osseo, Michigan, for the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana Railroad. Two years later he was advanced to the position of station agent at Trenton and in August, 1868, he was made joint ! agent for the road above named and the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railroad, at Salem Crossing.

Ability is the ladder on which men climb to success and it was the faithful- ness and ready adaptability of William H. Canniff that has led to his promotion from time to time. In 1872 he was made trackmaster of the Kendalville divi- sion of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, occupying that position until 1879, when he was transferred to the Chicago division in the same capacity. In the autumn of 1880 he became superintendent of the Lansing division of the Lake Shore and a year later was also made superintendent for the Detroit, Hills- dale & Southwestern and the Fort Wayne & Jackson Railroads. His next pro- motion came to him in 1888, when he was chosen assistant general superintendent of the entire system. About four years passed and on the Ist of January, 1892, he was made general superintendent, while on the Ist of March, 1896, he be- came general manager of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Com- pany, in which position he gave his energies to administrative direction, display- ing marked executive force and keen discernment in controlling the complex and important railway interests under his care. His promotions have continually brought him a wider acquaintance, and he today is most prominently known in railway circles of the country. In May, 1898, he was elected president of the Nickel Plate road, in which capacity he is now serving. He is an active mem- ber of the American Railway Association, and is also a member of the Country, Union, Roadside and Clifton Clubs of Cleveland and the Chicago Club.

WILLIAM THOMAS CORLETT, M. D., L. R. C. P., LOND.

Dr. William Thomas Corlett, who is classed by the medical profession as well as the general public as one of the most prominent physicians of Cleveland, was born in Orange, Ohio, April 15, 1854. His father, William Corlett, a native of the Isle of Man, came to America in 1827 and located on a farm in Newburg, Cuyahoga county. Later he moved to Orange, cleared a farm of its native forest and engaged in the occupation of farming, and remained there until 1870, when he retired and removed to Cleveland, where he resided until his death, which occurred in August, 1901, when he was in his ninety-second year. His wife, whose maiden name was Ann Avery, was born in Devonshire, England, August 18, 1816, and came to the United States in the '30s, at the age of twenty- one years. She also came of a family of sturdy country people and lived to the age of seventy-eight years, passing away January 20, 1895. There were but two children in the family, the sister of Dr. Corlett being Miss Jeannette Corlett, of Cleveland.

In the public schools of Orange, Ohio, Dr. Corlett acquired his preliminary education and afterward attended the Chagrin Falls high school and Oberlin College. In 1874 he took up the study of medicine in the medical department of the University of Wooster and received the degree of M. D. in 1877. Soon after he was appointed demonstrator of anatomy in the medical department of Wooster University, which position he resigned in 1879 in order to go abroad

Col the

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for further study. He entered the London Hospital as surgical dresser and later served in the medical department of the same hospital. After completing his studies in London he entered the Hôpital St. Louis and Hôtel Dieu in Paris. Returning to London, he was admitted to the examinations of the Royal College of Physicians and was qualified as L. R. C. P., Lond., in July, 1881. He then returned to America and began the practice of medicine in Cleveland, where he has remained and through the steps of orderly progression has reached a foremost place as a representative of the medical profession in this city.

While studying in London and Paris, Dr. Corlett gave special attention to diseases of the skin and though he took up general medical practice when he returned to Cleveland, after a short time he devoted his energies to his chosen specialty. In 1882 he was appointed lecturer on diseases of the skin and genito- urinary diseases in the medical department of Wooster University, his alma mater. In 1884 he was appointed professor of these chairs, which position he held until the following year, when he resigned to accept a lectureship in the same branches in the medical department of the Western Reserve University. He was appointed professor in these branches in 1887. In 1889 he again visited the medical centers of Europe, including Vienna, Berlin, Paris and London, for the purpose of further pursuing his studies. In 1890 his title was changed to professor of dermatology and syphilology, which chair he still holds. In 1883 he was appointed physician of diseases of the skin to Charity Hospital and is still serving on the staff of that institution. At this time he served one year on the Cleveland board of health. He has been on the consulting staff of both St. Alexis and the City hospitals since their organization, and since the completion of the new building of the Lakeside Hospital he has been dermatologist to that institution, where most of his clinical work, aside from his private practice, is now done.

Dr. Corlett has written very extensively for medical journals on his special. branch and his writings have been widely quoted by French, English, German and Russian authors. He has likewise contributed numerous chapters in various treatises devoted to diseases of the skin. His most noteworthy contributions to the medical literature are of a clinical nature, those concerning his original in- vestigations on the effect of climate on diseases of the skin, notably that of cold, to which he has called attention before medical congresses, chiefly those of Rome, in 1894, and London, in 1898. He is the author of a treatise on Acute Infectious Exanthemata, eight octavo, three hundred and ninety pages, profusely illustrated, published in 1891, which has had and is still having a large sale in both this country and Europe. At the outbreak of the widespread epidemic of smallpox, in 1890, he addressed the University of Buffalo at its annual alumni meet- ing on the differential diagnoses of smallpox, which lecture was illustrated by lan- tern slides and was also given before the medical society of St. Louis and the Academy of Medicine of Cincinnati. He also lectured at many smaller places because of the alarming epidemic of smallpox at that time. In 1903 he was invited to London to deliver the annual oration before the Dermatological Soci- ety of Great Britain and Ireland. While in Europe he took occasion to visit Professor Finsen's Light Institute at Copenhagen, and also to study the effect of the Roentgen ray treatment in Vienna. At this time he also pursued special studies in Hamburg, Breslau and Prague. During the past year, 1909, Dr. Corlett revisited Germany to familiarize himself with certain problems pertaining to his specialty which are now being worked out. He belongs to the Cleveland Acad- emy of Medicine, to the Ohio State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, the American Dermatological Association, and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine of Great Britain. He was president of the local Cuyahoga County Medical Society many years ago and of the American Derma- tological Association in 1896.

Dr. Corlett belongs to the Union and Country Clubs and to St. Paul's Episco- . pal church. He is a man of fine personal appearance, athletic and very ener-

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getic, and in manner is courteous, genial and approachable. He has traveled extensively, both in this country and in nearly every foreign land.

On the 26th of June, 1895, Dr. Corlett was married at Rhein-Pfalz, Germany, to Miss Amanda Leisy, a daughter of the late Isaac Leisy, of Cleveland. Mrs. Corlett has been very active in social and musical circles and gives much time to charitable work. Unto this marriage have been born six children: Christine; Ann; William, who died in 1904 at the age of four years; Helen; Edward Leisy; and Thomas William. The city residence of the family is at No. 1935 Euclid avenue and their summer home, called Tioga Lodge, is situated on High- land Road in Euclid. Dr. Corlett's principal recreations are travel and hunting and he is a member of the Winous Point Shooting Club and the Cleveland Gun Club. He possesses a large and well-selected library, with the contents of which he is very familiar, and that he possesses literary taste and talent is moreover indicated in a volume which he has just written, entitled "Tropical America," eight octavo, two hundred and twenty-one pages, illustrated with twenty-seven photogravings, it being the log book of a midwinter cruise. It was published by the Burrows Brothers Company and is now enjoying a large sale. Thus in various relations he is well known, but perhaps is most widely known in con- nection with his profession. He is one of the pioneers in specialty work in Cleveland, there having been none who specialized here in the profession of medicine except those who treated the eye when he began practice. He is a recognized authority both in this and foreign countries in the branch to which he has devoted his attention and is regarded not only as one of the eminent phy- sicians of Cleveland but of the country as well.

HENRY A. CHISHOLM.

Henry A. Chisholm, as president of the William Chisholm's Sons Company and formerly as manager of the Chisholm Steel Shovel Works, has contributed to Cleveland's fame as an industrial center and through his connection with other important business enterprises has likewise advanced the commercial and financial interests of the city. Almost his entire life has been passed in Cleveland, al- though he was born in Montreal, Canada, November 18, 1851. His father, Wil- liam Chisholm, was of Scotch nativity but crossed the Atlantic to Canada about 1848, and in 1854 came to the Forest city, with the business interests of which he was identified for more than forty years. In the fall of 1877 he established the Chisholm Steel Shovel Works, one of the oldest industries of this kind in the United States. He remained active in its management and control until about ten years prior to his death, when he retired from business, spending his remain- ing days in the enjoyment of well earned rest, his long and useful life being brought to a close on the Ioth of January, 1907. He was a man of marked initia- tive spirit and of keen business sagacity, possessing, moreover, that type of mind which finds its greatest pleasure in successfully accomplishing tasks of great difficulty.

Henry A. Chisholm was but three years of age at the time of the removal of the family to Cleveland, and when a lad of six he was sent to the public schools, while later he went to Exeter, New Hampshire, there to prepare for college. Afterward entering Harvard, he was graduated within its classic walls in 1874 and, returning to Cleveland, entered the steel mills of the Cleveland Rolling Mills Company for the purpose of becoming thoroughly familiar with the steel indus- try in its practical operation. In 1877, when his father established the Chisholm Steel Shovel Works, he became interested in the enterprise, with which he has been connected continuously since, his previous experience and business capacity well fitting him for the responsibilities that devolved upon him when upon his father's death he became manager of the business. In 1910 the Chisholm Steel

H. A. CHISHOLM

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Shovel Company was incorporated as the William Chisholm's Sons Company, with H. A. Chisholm, president, A. T. Chisholm, vice president, and A. E. Cook, secretary and treasurer. Mr. Chisholm has made it his purpose to maintain the high standard for which his father worked, and the product of the plant has in- cluded only the highest grade of tools, so that the business today enjoys a national reputation for the excellence of its product, as well as for the extent of its oper- ations. Through a wise business policy the enterprise has been maintained upon a sound financial basis, so that a substantial and gratifying return has been re- ceived upon the original investment of capable and well devised plans. While signally successful in this field of activity, Mr. Chisholm has also evinced active interest in other enterprises, was a director of the Union Steel Screw Company, and is now a director of the National Screw & Tack Company, which absorbed the Union Steel Screw Company. The negotiation for this absorption was mainly conducted by Mr. Chisholm. A coincidence in connection with the Union Steel Screw Company was that Mr. Chisholm's father was the first vice president, and the son, H. A., was the last official in that capacity. He is also a director of the First National Bank and the Central National Bank and in the Superior Savings & Trust Company he is a stockholder. His name is an honored one in financial circles and wherever the output of the William Chisholm's Sons Company is known, for he has held to that high and honorable policy which has been the guiding spirit of the company from the inception of the business.

In Boston, Massachusetts, in 1877, Mr. Chisholm was married to Miss Eliza Gertrude Tozier, of that city, and they have one son, Andre T., who is a graduate of the Princeton class of 1902 and is superintendent of the William Chisholm's Sons Company. He married Laura Hickox Brown, a daughter of Harvey H. and a granddaughter of Fayette Brown. They have one daughter, Elizabeth, born June 22, 1907.

Mr. Chisholm is identified with some of the more important social organiza- tions of Cleveland through his membership in the Union, University, Euclid and Mayfield Country Clubs. Politically he is in sympathy with the republican party but aside from casting his influence for municipal progress he has taken little part in the city's public life. His acts, which are the expression of upright and honorable ideals and an exposition of a kindly and helpful spirit, have made him a citizen to be admired and a man to whom friends give unfaltering loyalty.

HENRY A. TREMAINE.

There are many instances which prove that diligence alone will not win suc- cess, but when it is supplemented by discriminating judgment it becomes a dynamic force in the business world and leads ever to successful accomplishment. A man of well balanced capacities and powers, Henry A. Tremaine has that strength of character and steadfast purpose which inspires confidence in others and in his business career has made steady progress until his position in trade circles is an important one, for he is now treasurer of the National Electric Lamp Company. He was born in Brownville, New York, June 7, 1852, and is a representative of one of the early families of Jefferson county, New York. His father, Abner Tremaine, was a native of the Empire state, born in 1812. Throughout the greater part of his life he followed merchandising, thus provid- ing for his family. He married Mahala Hatch, who was born in New York in 1819 and belonged to an old Connecticut family represented in America in colo- nial days. The death of Mr. Tremaine occurred in 1871 and his wife, long sur- viving him, passed away in 1908.

Henry A. Tremaine spent the first twelve years of his life in the place of his nativity and then accompanied his parents on their removal to Michigan. He supplemented his early education by study in the State University of Michigan

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and was graduated from the school of chemistry in 1875 as a pharmaceutical chemist. After the completion of his college course he established a drug store in Ann Arbor, Michigan, conducting the business for three and a half years, after which he removed to Missouri, in 1879, and for a short time engaged in general merchandising there. At the expiration of that period he returned to Hartland, Michigan, where he continued in business for a year and a half, be- ginning the manufacture of vinegar and pickles. The enterprise proved profit- able and was continued until 1894, after which Mr. Tremaine began a wholesale business in vinegar.

In December, 1884, however, he took up the work of manufacturing electric light carbon, a business that was then in its infancy. Immediate success came to him, his enterprise continually developing along substantial lines until 1893, when a number of different firms were merged into the National Carbon Com- pany. Mr. Tremaine then sold his interests in Cleveland and removed to Fos- toria, Ohio, where he established a similar plant under the name of the Crouse- Tremaine Carbon Company. After conducting business there for nine years he then sold out to the National Carbon Company with the understanding that he would not again become actively connected with that line of business. In February, 1897, while in Fostoria, he began the manufacture of incandescent lamps and in 1901 organized the National Electric Lamp Company, returning to Cleveland in the fall of 1902 as treasurer of this company. The principal offices of the company are in New York and Cleveland, and they control about thirty per cent of the business of the country, having factories in about twelve of the leading cities and in some instances there are two or more factories in one city. In these different factories are manufactured different kinds of lamps to meet the varied demands of the trade. Their output is sent to all parts of America and their business is constantly expanding, being now one of the leading pro- ductive industries of the country.

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A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume III, Part 96

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