USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume III > Part 97
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In 1879 Mr. Tremaine was married to Miss Emma Crouse, a native of Mich- igan, and a daughter of Robert and Mary (Sample) Crouse. The family resi- dence is at No. 1911 East Seventy-fifth street.
Fraternally Mr. Tremaine is connected with the Masons, having attained the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite, and is also a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is likewise connected with the Cleveland Athletic Club, is a mem- ber of the executive committee of the Business Men's Club of the Young Men's Christian Association. He has not concentrated his energies upon his business to the exclusion of all outside interests but keeps well informed on questions of vital interest to the community and to the public at large. In trade relations he has made gradual advancement, manifesting in all his career an intelligent an- ticipation of possibilities, ready at any time to guide the destinies of the enter- prise with which he has been associated. He has splendid reserve force as well as resourceful ability, and throughout his life has manifested an habitual regard for what is best in the exercise of human activities. His chief sources of recre- ation are motoring and fishing.
REV. FRANCIS A. MALLOY.
The Rev. Francis A. Malloy, rector of St. Aloysius church of Cleveland, was born in Mulraney, County Mayo, Ireland, December 27, 1863, a son of Michael and Bridget (Lavelle) Malloy and grandson of Daniel Malloy. The latter died in 1878, aged ninety-seven years. Michael Malloy was born in the same place as his son in 1826 and died August 23, 1899. His wife was born February 15, 1838, and was a daughter of Edward Lavelle. On May 1, 1882, Michael Malloy came to Cleveland and lived retired for some years before his demise. While residing in Ireland he was engaged in farming operations. Sev-
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eral cousins on both sides of the house are in the priesthood. Father Malloy has three brothers and one sister: John, a contractor of Cleveland; Michael, a retired resident of Cleveland; James, an employe of the East Gas Company of Cleveland; and Catherine, the wife of John E. Darlton, of Cleveland.
Father Malloy was educated in the national and parochial schools of Ire- land, and after he came to Cleveland he took a course in the Cleveland Busi- ness College. Following this he entered Assumption College at Sandwich, On- tario, Canada, and was graduated from that institution in 1886. He then attended St. Mary's Seminary of Cleveland in order to complete his theological course, but as his health failed he returned to Canada and taught for a year in the col- lege. Again entering the seminary, he was ordained priest December 17, 1892, by Bishop Horstmann, celebrating his first mass in St. Malachi's church, Decem- ber 18, 1872. His first charge was the Holy Name church in South Cleveland, and he remained there seven years. Following this he was pastor of St. Mary's church at Norwalk, Ohio, but after four years he was transferred to his present charge, on October 1, 1904. The parish was established June 30, 1901, and its first priest was the Rev. Joseph S. Smith, whom Father Malloy succeeded.
There are now four hundred families in the parish and three hundred pupils in the school presided over by six teachers. The church property has a front- age of three hundred feet on East One Hundred and Ninth street and two hundred and thirty feet on St. Clair street. The congregation at present worships in the school building but owing to the increasing numbers a new church must soon be erected which will cost about one hundred thousand dollars, and a new parochial residence is to be built in 1910, costing about fifteen thousand dollars. In 1908 the church bought the Episcopal church of the Incarnation. Father Malloy is a man who commands confidence and who has inspired his people with a deep love for him. He is a convincing speaker and excellent manager and in the work before him of building his new church, without doubt will be able to successfully cope with his various problems.
EUGENE GRASSELLI.
The life history of Eugene Grasselli is another indication that in America avenues of opportunity are open to all who choose to enter therein. With laudable ambition as a stimulus for continued activity and with broad knowledge as the foundation for success, Mr. Grasselli steadily worked his way upward until he was widely known as the founder and owner of the most extensive chemical manufactory of this part of the country. Moreover, in all relations of citizen- ship and of private life he commanded the honor and respect of his fellowmen. A native of the city of Strasburg, in what is now the German province of Alsace, Eugene Grasselli was born January 31, 1810. His father, Jean Angelo Grasselli, became prominent as a chemist of Strasburg, establishing and conducting an extensive business, while his scientific investigations also won him prominence. The son was afforded liberal educational privileges, receiving a university train- ing, which included elaborate instruction in chemistry. His attention being called to America and its business opportunities, he resolved to seek the broader field of labor offered on this side the Atlantic and in 1836 arrived in the new world, locating first at Philadelphia, where he secured a position with the firm of Farr & Kuenzie, the predecessors of the now widely known firm of Powers & Weightman, manufacturing chemists. For three years Mr. Grasselli remained a resident of Philadelphia but wishing to engage in business independently, he removed to Cincinnati, where on a small scale he began the manufacture of chemicals, opening the first establishment of the kind west of the 'Alleghanies. From the beginning the new enterprise prospered and soon grew to extensive proportions, owing to his capable management, the excellence of the products
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which he turned out and the demand which he created in the market of the west. The business enjoyed a continuous growth for more than a quarter of a century and then Mr. Grasselli, in 1867, decided to establish a branch in Cleveland. He removed with his family to this city and perfected the arrangements that resulted in opening the large works of the Grasselli Chemical Company in this city. The branch soon outgrew the parent establishment and the name of Eugene Grasselli became a familiar one in technical commercial circles throughout the country in association with the production of perfect chemicals and wherever those products of science are known and used. Mr. Grasselli was a thorough master of the business, understanding fully the properties of all the chemicals which he used, as well as the processes of manufacture. Through him general knowledge of chemistry as a practical commercial science has been greatly en- larged and to him is due the credit of having created one of the most important and extensive manufacturing industries of the country. The trade of the house now reaches from ocean to ocean, the business being developed along substantial modern lines in keeping with the progressive spirit characteristic of the age.
On the 17th of June, 1837, Mr. Grasselli was united in marriage to Miss Fredrica Eisenbarth, of Wurtemberg, and unto them were born nine children, three sons and six daughters. The sons are all mentioned elsewhere in this volume. The death of the husband and father occurred in Cleveland, January 10, 1882, and a feeling of uniform sorrow spread throughout the city, for he had occupied so prominent a place in business circles and had been so true and loyal in his friendships and in his citizenship that the news of his death brought a sense of personal bereavement to all who knew him. He was a gentleman of broad learning and culture, whose salient characteristics won him the respect, honor and warm friendship of those with whom he was associated. He never sought to figure prominently in public life outside of his business connections and he found his greatest happiness at his own fireside and in assisting those less for- tunate. He was very generous and the poor and needy found in him a friend. While his benevolences were many, he was always most unostentatious in his charity, preferring to give in a manner so quiet that none should know of his charity save himself and the recipient. His scholarly taste made him a valued friend of all those who appreciate higher education and culture, while his sterling honor and integrity under all circumstances won him unqualified confidence and regard.
WEBB C. BALL.
Webb C. Ball has been a dynamic force in a project of vital significance to the whole country, although his work is in some measure unknown to those not thoroughly acquainted with the "up-to-date" system of railroad operation. However, his name in the press now awakens general interest, for he has become known as the originator and inventor of railroad watch movements and new appliances used in their construction, his skill in that direction winning him fame throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. More than all this, he stands at the head of his extensive Railroad Time Inspection Service which has been of incalculable benefit in preventing the loss of life and the destruction of prop- erty through railroad accidents. Aside from these connections, he is recognized in Cleveland as one of the leading and prosperous merchants of the city. His youthful days were passed on his father's farm in Knox county, Ohio, where his birth also occurred, but agricultural pursuits did not prove especially attractive to him, his natural tendencies being mechanical, especially in more minute and intricate phases. He was therefore, apprenticed to the watchmaking and jewelry trade, for four years, his wages being fixed at one dollar per week the first two years, and seven dollars per week the third and fourth. (Would a young
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WEBB C. BALL
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man now a days be willing to start on such a meager basis?) For eight years he worked at the bench, while from 1874 until 1879 he occupied the responsible position of business manager with the Deuber Watch Case Manufacturing Com- pany, whose plant was then located in Cincinnati.
For thirty-one years Mr. Ball has been a resident of Cleveland, coming to this city on the 19th of March, 1879, at which time he began business in the watch and jewelry trade on his own account on the site where he still remains. The years have chronicled a constant increase of business until he today has the largest house for the sale of railroad standard watches, precious stones, jewelry and solid silverware in this part of the country. Two show cases and a work bench on one side of the room constituted the nucleus of the present establish- ment. The trade steadily increased in extent and volume, and in 1891 a stock company was formed, up to which time Mr. Ball had been alone in the ownership and control of the enterprise. The Webb C. Ball Company was then incor- porated under the laws of the state with a paid-up capital of one hundred thou- sand dollars, Mr. Ball acting as manager and treasurer for some time, while later he became president of the company. The name of Ball is today a synonym for accuracy in construction of railroad watches throughout the entire country.
It has been in this line that the ingenuity and mechanical skill of Mr. Ball have been brought into play. He has made a special study of the requirements of railroad men in the matter of timepieces and in his efforts to keep abreast of the marvelous strides of recent years in railroad speed and equipment, he has produced several distinct watch movements, covered by his own patents and trademarks. Each is adapted to fill the requirements of those for whose use it was constructed and is a triumph of mechanical art, unexcelled in the history of railroad watch construction.
In an article written by James B. Morrow and published January 16, 1910, in a large number of leading papers, Mr. Ball was mentioned as "the man who holds a watch on one hundred and twenty-five thousand miles of railroad." He was, moreover, characterized as "time expert," and to him was given the credit which is justly his due, of being the pioneer in the field of railroad watch in- spection and regulation. His becoming interested in the subject was the result of a railroad collision which occurred on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad April 18, 1891, between the fast mail and an accommodation train. Nine United States postal clerks lost their lives besides both engineers and firemen. In the trials which followed Mr. Ball was frequently called to testify, and the facts brought out in the trial proved that the accident was due to defi- cient watches in the hands of trainmen in charge of the accommodation train. Soon afterward Mr. Ball was authorized to prepare a plan of inspection and to investigate conditions on the Vanderbilt lines east of Chicago. He found there was no uniformity in trainmen's watches; they were of any make which the owner wished to use and at times freight trains were operated according to alarm clocks hung in the caboose. He also found that clocks in roundhouses and train dispatchers' offices were not regulated according to a uniform schedule. As the result of this investigation Mr. Ball evolved a plan of inspection for the watches used by railroad employes, and for the Standard clocks as well. This plan provides that watches of standard grade must be carried by men in charge of trains. No discrimination is permitted against any watch manufactory if its products meet the requirements, the railroad grades of eight leading watch fac- tories being accepted under the inspection rule. Local inspectors are appointed at division points, with Mr. Ball's head office at Cleveland. To these local in- spectors trainmen must report every two weeks; they are furnished with a clearance card certificate which must record any variation in their watches. If anything is found amiss the trainmen must secure a Standard Loaner watch and leave his own for adjustment. These loaned watches are furnished without ex- pense to the trainmen. By this card system a perfect record is kept and the train- men cheerfully comply. as it safeguards the service and themselves as well.
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Thus liability to accident is avoided under this system of time and watch in- spection. Over seventy-five per cent of the different railroads are employing the system instituted by Mr. Ball. The value of this system cannot be overestimated and stands as one of the crowning efforts of a well spent life, having undoubt- edly saved the lives of hundreds and perhaps thousands, as well as railroad property of great value. Mr. Ball maintains a large office force in Cleveland, also in Chicago and San Francisco, with traveling assistants whose duties are given entirely to the Time and Watch Inspection Service. The railroad lines in eastern and central districts are administered from the Cleveland office, while the railroads in the Chicago, middle western and southern districts are admin- istered from the Chicago office, and Pacific lines from the San Francisco office. Correct records of all the watches carried by the employes of the different rail- roads are on file in one or other of these offices.
In 1879 was celebrated the marriage of Webb C. Ball and Miss Florence I. Young, daughter of William H. Young, of Kenton, Ohio, and their family now numbers a son and three daughters. Politically an independent republi- can, Mr. Ball is without aspiration for office and yet no one manifests a higher spirit of progressive citizenship or is more loyal to the interests of the community. Through the establishment and control of a large commercial enterprise, in ad- dition to his extensive railroad time service, he has contributed to the material development of Cleveland and his influence at all times is given to every move- ment for the public good. Mr. Ball's life is a splendid illustration of the fact that not in the fortune of birth or early environment lies the secret of success, but rather in the individual who calls forth his inherent powers to meet and utilize the opportunities as they arise.
GUSTAVE C. E. WEBER, M. D.
Cleveland has no more prominent representative of the medical profession than Dr. Gustave Carl Erich Weber, who has been engaged in practice here for over a half century and has been identified with the medical institutions of the city. A native of Germany, he was born at Bonn, on the Rhine, May 26, 1830, and is a son of Dr. Moritz Ignatz Weber, one of the most distinguished anato- mists of his day, having been decorated by several of the crowned heads of Europe for distinguished services in the cause of the science. The father occupied the chair of anatomy in the University of Bonn from its organization in 1818, hav- ing previously been connected with the University of Landshut as demonstrator of anatomy. His call to the University of Bonn was a great honor for a young man and the appointment was undoubtedly due to the fact that his nephew, Phil- lip Franz Von Walther, one of the most renowned surgeons of Europe and the author of the Progressive System of Surgery, had been professor of surgery in both of the institutions before him. The University of Bonn has had more dis- tinguished students than any other in its most brilliant career, and Dr. Weber remained connected with that institution for many years. He died there in 1875 at the age of eighty-four years. He was the author of a large, three volume text-book on anatomy and also published many other valuable works, some of which were translated into every printed language. These included the largest and most comprehensive, illustrated atlas extant, containing life size folder plates and many full page illustrations. On the maternal side he is also of distinguished ancestry, his mother being a noblewoman, a member of the Von Podewils family.
Dr. G. C. E. Weber began his education in the gymnasium of Bonn and the college there. Before entering the medical profession, however, he emigrated to America in 1849 as he did not care to become involved in the revolution of that year. He located in St. Louis and there continued his studies, taking his
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degree at the medical department of Washington University in 1850. At that time he created a deep impression for his work in anatomy, a record of which is still to be found in the museum of the college. While in St. Louis he also took an interest in agriculture. Returning to Europe, he continued his studies and investigations at Amsterdam, Holland, under Professors Schneevogt and I. M. Schrant and then went to Vienna, where for a year he made his home with Professor Carl Braun, being interne at the great Lying-In Hospital at that place. He also attended lectures at Prague, Berlin and Paris, studying under such noted professors as Charles A. Pope, Carl Braun, Klein, Rokitanzky, Hebra and Skoda. He devoted special attention to obstetrics at Vienna and was in- terne at the Buiten Gasthuis one year.
Being pleased with the city of Amsterdam, Dr. Weber had decided to locate there to engage in the practice of his profession but, his brother Eduard having become ill and obliged to give up his practice in New York, our subject took charge of his affairs in this city in 1853 and was engaged in practice there for about three years. It was during that time that he met Miss Ruth Elizabeth Cheney and in 1854 they were united in marriage. Unto them was born a son, Carl, who also became a physician but is now deceased.
While attending a medical convention in Detroit, in May, 1856, the Doctor stopped at Cleveland to visit some of his wife's relatives. Believing that the climate of New York city did not agree with him he had about decided to leave the east and, on hearing that the professor of surgery of the Cleveland Medical College had resigned from the faculty, he expressed a desire to attain the position left vacant. Through the influence of his friend, Professor Leidy, this was soon arranged, although there were from fifteen to twenty applicants, and in the fall of 1856 Dr. Weber assumed his duty here. His college work was inter -. rupted during the Civil war for one of the first acts of Governor Tod on assum- ing office was to appoint Dr. Weber, who was his private physician, as surgeon general of the Ohio forces in the autumn of 1861 with special mission to or- ganize a system for the better medical care of troops in the field. The duties of this position he most faithfully discharged. Through his influence the Ohio troops were better cared for and his services becoming widely known he was called into consultation in many cases by the surgeon general of the United States, William A. Hammond, and by Secretary of War Stanton. The soldiers at the front were soon benefited by his medical and surgical knowledge, sani- tary suggestions and care. In the spring of 1863 he severed his connection with the Cleveland Medical College and the following year organized the Charity Hospital Medical College, becoming professor of clinical surgery and dean of the faculty. This institution was finally merged into the medical department of the University of Wooster and he became a member of the faculty of the latter. At the request of Governor Tod he again became identified with mili- tary services by accepting the position of surgeon of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Ohio Infantry for the purpose of assisting with his influence the work of enlisting that regiment at the camp on the Heights, now University road southwest. He was appointed consulting surgeon of Charity Hospital which was founded by Bishop Rappe but owed its existence at that time mainly to Dr. Weber's suggestions and efforts. From first to last his services to the hospital were gratuitously rendered. In 1880, after the merging of the two medical colleges then in Cleveland-the Cleveland Medical College and the medical department of the University of Wooster-and the name being changed to the medical department of the Western Reserve University, Dr. Weber be- came dean of that institution and filled the position until appointed consul to Nuremburg, Germany, in 1897, by President Mckinley through the earnest so- licitation of Senator Hanna and numerous other friends. Not being pleased with that position, the Doctor finally asked to be relieved before his term was entirely finished. He was very much annoyed by many remarks made by Ger- man surgeons to the honor of his fellow countrymen and said if he had been a
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younger man he would have fought more than one duel as a result of slight to his countrymen. At the breaking out of the Spanish-American war a swagger- ing German lieutenant enraged the Doctor by declaring that "the Americans would find out something now; that they were going to fight a real army and not a division of themselves." "You forget, my friend," retorted the Doctor, "that before America was even a country, when it consisted of a few straggling settlements, it defeated not only the English army but the German army, hired for the occasion as well." Since his return Dr. Weber has lived at his country place, Cosey Bank at Willoughby, which he purchased over thirty years ago. During his long residence in Cleveland he was identified with many of its public interests, especially in the line of his profession. In 1859 he founded the Cleveland Medical Gazette, which he continued to edit during the several years of its existence. From 1870 to 1885 he was at the height of his success as a sur- geon and during his long practice here he has performed many remarkable op- erations, which have attracted widespread attention. No man in Cleveland today has had a better training as a surgeon and his success may be attributable to his preparation rather than to luck or personal ability alone. He had a habit always of analyzing an operation after he had made it and often after a day of clinics would sit up far into the night, going over every detail of the many cases with his assistants. At all times he kept up to the very latest literature by having a book dealer of New York frequently send him large consignments of books, which he would look over, sending back those he did not care for but always keeping a large number. These included the latest publications in French and German as well as English. His library together with his surgical instruments and all of his portraits of medical men except a few of the old teachers too dear to him to be parted with has been turned over to the Cleveland Medical Library Association.
On his return from Germany a banquet was given in his honor at the Uni- versity Club on the evening of May 8, 1902, under the auspices of the Cleveland Medical Association, and was attended by about one hundred and fifty of the representative physicians of the city and northern Ohio. But, during the toast, while his friend, Dr. Thaddeus Reamy of Cincinnati, was telling of his regard for Dr. Weber, the latter was seen to sink forward and fall to he floor. He has since recovered from this stroke and is now spending his days pleasantly at Cosey Bank in company with his wife and surrounded by many warm friends. Revered and honored by all who know him, no member of the medical fra- ternity in Ohio stands higher in public esteem than Dr. Weber.
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