A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume III, Part 98

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

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REV. LATHROP COOLEY.

In the death of the Rev. Lathrop Cooley, on the 2d of January, 1910, not only the city of Cleveland but northern Ohio as well lost a man who by common con- sent stood for years as a representative of the very best in Ohio citizenship. He was dean of the ministers of the Disciples faith and a man whose influence for good was immeasurable. A native of Genesee county, New York, he was born October 25, 1821, of New England parentage. His ancestors were among the founders of Massachusetts in the colonial days and one of them, Major Lathrop, served as an officer in the French and Indian war.

Lathrop Cooley was one of a family of nine children, all of whom grew to manhood or womanhood, reared families and were most useful and influential citizens in the communities in which they lived. He was but a lad of eight years when his parents removed to what was then the far west and settled in Portage county, Ohio. This was in 1829 and in the midst of frontier life and vicissitudes the boy grew to manhood. Work was plentiful and, as was the custom in those days, a few months'

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schooling in winter followed a long summer of hard labor on the farm, the fields having to be developed from a forest tract. Later the family removed to Lorain county. Lathrop Cooley acquired his preliminary education in the district schools of his locality and later attended what was then the Brooklyn Academy, his educa- tional training being concluded at Bethany, West Virginia. In early manhood he taught school and at the age of twenty-two began preaching, delivering his first sermon at his home church-a log cabin in the woods at North Eaton, Lorain county, his pulpit being a huge block of wood. Around him stood a dozen men and a few women who had braved the dangers of the frontier. As the country became more thickly settled the log cabins disappeared and in their places were built houses from lumber sawed at their very doors. Each year brought new neighbors. It was finally decided to build a church at North Eaton. A little sawmill was erected near the site of the proposed church and the lumber was cut there. The church was soon dedicated, the members of the congregation con- tributing nearly everything toward its construction. The young pastor had a dif- ficult task for the first few years. He lived here and there among the members of his congregation, often helping in the fields at harvest time, and at other times when he could leave his religious studies. Many a time he completed his Sunday sermon by the dim rays of a tallow candle or the light from the old open fireplace.

For many years it had been Dr. Cooley's custom to visit the North Eaton church on the second Sunday of July, the anniversary of his first sermon. This year would have been his sixty-sixth anniversary. At the age of twenty-four he was called to the pastorate of the Franklin Circle church, being its first regular pas- tor. With the exception of a year spent in and around Chicago, Dr. Cooley's life work was on the Western Reserve. For more than sixty years he had been in active service in the ministry of the Disciple church. He was the first pastor of the Franklin Circle Disciple church, his salary the first year being one hundred dollars. He had long pastorates in Cleveland, Akron, Painesville, North Royal- ton and North Eaton. In 1877 he started the Disciples mission, which met at old Erie street and Hamilton avenue. In 1883 this became the Cedar Avenue church, which recently moved to Crawford Road. In 1880 Dr. Cooley became superin- tendent and chaplain of the Bethel. For a number of years he was the financial agent of Hiram College and for over thirty years had been a trustee of that insti- tution. He was a director of the Citizens Savings & Trust Company for more than twenty years and was closely identified with many other business enterprises.

In his chosen calling as a minister of the gospel, Dr. Cooley was widely known outside of his denominational affiliation, having taken an active part in general religious work. Lathrop Cooley was probably in the active service of the church more years than any other man in Cleveland. He officiated at more than five hundred weddings and conducted more than two thousand funerals. He was widely known outside the ministry. In 1910 Hiram College conferred the degree of A. M. upon Mr. Cooley and the same year Baldwin University conferred upon him the degree of D. D.

Rev. Cooley's life was one of great usefulness in many spheres. Courteous in his bearing toward all, he was gentle in spirit, firm in principle, indefatigable in toil and unwearying in his service to all good causes. He reverently found God's work in nature and in history, and obedient to God's voice in his own soul, en- joyed the work of seeking to lead other men to the same obedience. His rever- ently beautiful face and fine physique made him a striking personality, and his intelligence and mental alertness and widespread interest in the work of the world as manifested in his later years, were unusual in a man of his age. He was a true friend in his interest and generosity, ever ready with encouragement and aid, and his uniformly kind and courteous manner marked him a true gentleman of the old school. As he advanced in years to a venerable age, he retained not only the phy- sical but also the intellectual vigor of a much younger man. His noble life. rounded out in years, and his good example could not fail to leave a broad im- press on those about him.

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An acquaintance of more than forty years said of him : "As a man Dr. Cooley was distinguished for his energy and decision of character. The circumstances in which he obtained his education illustrate this-meager as were his opportuni- ties for this, he was determined to secure an education and with little to depend upon but his own exertions he persevered until the end. So in his ministry, whatever he did was done heartily and with a will, and the momentum of his own determination carried others along with him. He was a man of great industry. 'One duty follows another,' was his motto, and he was ready for each duty as it came round. He accomplished a greater amount of labor than many others be- cause he kept doing while other men were resting or deciding what to do. His working power was increased by his remarkable cheerfulness of spirit, the result both of his native temperament and of his Christian faith. He was a man of sound judgment, discreet in dealing with men, possessing much of that common sense which is often worth more than learning or eloquence, and very skillful in estimating men and things at their true value. A man whose social affections never wore out, and rarely has a very aged minister lived who, having buried his generation, could be so social, so happy and so useful among survivors."

As a preacher Dr. Cooley has been thus described by one who attended his church for years and knew him well. "His sermons were marked by great sim- plicity of thought and style and were devoted to the inculcation of the great doc- trines and duties of religion. He had a quick and strong sense, an imagination of sufficient power to illustrate his thoughts often by bold figures, and a tenderness and fervor of feeling that gave them a deep impression on his hearers. He never indulged in abstruse speculation nor wasted his efforts on trifles. In the pulpit he was grave, dignified, earnest and impressive and had eminently the air of an ambassador of God. In prayer he was simple, pertinent and fervid, and he read the Scriptures with unusual propriety and force."

For almost fifteen years Dr. Cooley resided in Medina, Ohio, during the sum- mer months and in Cleveland during the winter seasons. The Medina County Gazette said of him editorially : "The death of Rev. Lathrop Cooley has removed from this community and from the much wider community of all northern Ohio, a remarkable figure. Medina county was his adopted home in the later years of his life, but his residence in and around Medina for a number of years had made his very notable personal presence familiar to us all. While he was first and fore- most an eloquent and forceful preacher, he was more than that. He was a man of affairs with a decided talent for business. His judgment was exceptionally good in all the affairs of life. His range of acquaintance was very large and on his list of friends were many 'big' men, including men of every honorable walk in life. His bright mind was a storehouse of reminiscences, from which the history of northern Ohio might have been written. Personally it was our loss not to have close acquaintance with this notable man that his residence in our community should have assured, for no more affable nor more genial man ever became a part of our community. We share the feeling expressed by a friend of Dr. Cooley since his death when that friend said: 'The kind face and the high bearing of the man ever as you passed him on the street exerted a good influence on you that you might not be able to explain but yet was real.' Truly a patriarch of northern Ohio has fallen."

Dr. Cooley was a man of extensive private interests and of large charity and often his many gifts were known only to the recipients thereof. He had often expressed the wish that his work of preaching the Gospel and of relieving the suffering and needy might continue after him, and to that end his widow and family are about to erect the Cooley Memorial Hospital in Cleveland, which will be one of the most modern institutions of its kind in the country. The Cooley Memorial Fountain at Medina was erected in his memory.

Dr. Cooley was first married on the 20th of May, 1848, to Miss Laura Reid, of Granger, Ohio, who died February 6, 1893. Five children were born of that marriage, of whom two are now living: Almon B., of Bloomingdale, Michigan ;

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and the Rev. Harris R. Cooley, who was head of the department of city charities in Cleveland under Mayor Johnson. On the 20th of June, 1895, Dr. Cooley wedded Miss Letta E. Searles, who was for years principal of the Landon school of Cleveland and who survives him. Dr. Cooley was laid to rest in Woodland cemetery. The memory of such a man can never die while living monuments remain upon which were imprinted the touch of his noble soul.

THOMAS L. JOHNSON.

Thomas L. Johnson, for thirty years a member of the Cleveland bar,. holding through much of this period a position of distinctive precedence as one of the abler practitioners of law in this city, was born May 29, 1855, at Mingo, Cham- paign county, Ohio. His public-school eudcation was supplemented by study in the National Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio, and in that institution he was also a teacher for two years. He did not graduate from college but pursued the usual college course with the help of a tutor while teaching.

Determining upon the practice of law as his life work, Mr. Johnson entered the Boston University, where he pursued the regular course and was gradu- ated with the class of 1878. In the fall of that year he came to Cleveland and continued his reading as a law student in the office of Hutchins & Campbell. Soon afterward, however, he was admitted to the bar and entered upon active practice with D. A. Matthews. This association was maintained for about two years, when in 1881 he became a member of the law firm of Hutchins, Campbell & Johnson. Changes in partnership have since occurred, resulting in the adop- tion of the firm name of Hutchins, Stewart & Johnson and later of Stewart & Johnson. On the Ist of April, 1890, the partnership of White, Johnson & McCarlin was formed and later White, Johnson, McCarlin & Cannon, which con- tinued until January 1, 1910, when the firm became White, Johnson & Cannon.

REV. ADOLPH MARTIN SEEHOLZER.

The Rev. Adolph Martin Seeholzer, pastor of St. Boniface church of this city was born on Kelley's Island, Ohio, March 13, 1873, a son of Charles and Sophie (Bollinger) Seeholzer. His father was born in Switzerland, December 25, 1835, and died on Kelley's Island, October 3, 1897. His mother died Au- gust II, 1909, at Cleveland, Ohio.

Father Seeholzer was educated in the parochial schools of Kelley's Island and then entered Canisius College of Buffalo, New York, where he finished the classical course at the age of eighteen years. Following this he entered St. Mary's Seminary of Cleveland, being ordained June 4, 1898, by Bishop Horstmann at the cathedral. His first mass was celebrated on Kelley's Island at St. Michael's church, June 12, 1898, and he was appointed assistant to the rector of St. Steph- en's church of this city. Here he remained until October 30, 1904, when he was assigned to St. Boniface church, where he has since continued.

The parish of St. Boniface was organized by Rev. Casimir Reichlin in 1904, when it was divided from St. Stephen's parish. In 1902 he purchased eight lots on the corner of Carlos avenue and West Fifty-fourth street, running through to West Fifty-second street. On this he built a frame church edifice that would seat four hundred people. This was so arranged as to be used for school pur- poses as well, although only designed as a temporary church building. The first mass celebrated in the new church occurred October 16, 1904, with Father Reich- lin officiating. At this service he announced that St. Stephen's parish contributed the eight lots to the new parish, they then being valued at three thousand, two

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hundred dollars. In 1905 St. Boniface congregation bought eight lots more, and in 1906 bought fifteen additional ones. The church property now occupies an entire block, with a frontage of three hundred and twenty-nine feet and a depth of six hundred feet, with two hundred and twenty-seven feet on Carlos avenue. In 1905 Father Seeholzer built a frame school building, and there is a good par- ish house and a Sisters house. A barn which was on the property was converted in 1906 into a schoolhouse. There are three hundred and fifty families in the parish, about half speaking German and the remainder English. There are eight schoolrooms with seven Notre Dame Sisters as teachers and there are four hun- dred and twenty pupils in the school.

With the organization of the parish church societies were also established : St. Boniface Aid Society and St. Aloysius Young Men's Society which take care of its members in time of sickness and death. The membership of these societies is growing larger from year to year. The teachers are doing a noble work and are training their pupils to be useful men and women. Judging from the prog- ress of the congregation in the past five years this young congregation has a bright future.

HENRY HAMMERSLEY.

The life record of Henry Hammersley is a splendid example of what perse- verance, determination, energy and ability may accomplish. These are the qual- ities upon which he has builded his success and which have carried him into important business relations. He is now local treasurer of the Nickel Plate Railroad and through successive stages of promotion has worked his way up- ward to his present position of responsibility.

A native of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, he comes of English lineage. His father, James Hammersley, was born in Northumberlandshire, England, about 1805, and was the son of a prominent landowner. Becoming dissatisfied at home and being provided generously with funds, he came to the United States when twenty-five years of age and purchased a large block of coal land in what is now Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, and also a plantation near Mem- phis, Tennessee. He likewise engaged in merchandsing for a short time but abandoned that pursuit when his son Henry was four years of age, devoting his time to his real-estate interests, which were of considerable magnitude for those days. He died in 1857 at the age of fifty-two years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Anna Davis, was born in Wales but was reared in England. Of her family history her son Henry knows but little. His elder brother, long since dead, gave the information that she came of an influential family and that her father was financially interested in the mining of tin in Wales and spent his time between the mines and London. Unto Mr. and Mrs. James Hammersley were born three sons and one daughter, of whom George Washington Hammers- ley of Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, and Henry, of this review, are the only survivors.

The latter was educated in the public schools and in Western University of Pennsylvania, but left the latter institution before his graduation, owing to a disagreement with his guardians, of whom there were two in addition to a trus- tee of the estate. He ran away from home and engaged as a cabin boy on the steamer Roebuck, a new boat built especially for the cotton trade and bound for the Yazoo and Big Sunflower rivers. He was then but fifteen years of age. In time he was advanced to the position of receiving clerk and remained on the river between four and five years, running in various trades on the Ohio, Mis- sissippi, Cumberland, Tennessee and Yazoo rivers. His experience on the river was the most fascinating and romantic of his entire life, especially that on the lower Mississippi, when palatial steamers used to plow its waters. Railroading

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is tame when compared with steamboating of those days, for steamers were the scene of many brilliant festivities and because of their splendid equipment could well be termed "floating palaces."

When Mr. Hammersley retired from the river he returned home to lay claim to his share of the estate, much to the surprise of the executors, who sup- posed that he was dead. He then studied bookkeeping and was graduated at the end of three months, completing the work that usually required six months. The books written by him then are still in his possession and are models of neat- ness. Making his way northward from Nashville, Tennessee, he engaged in the boat store business at Evansville, Indiana, but sold out in eighteen months. He was prominent and active in public interests in Evansville during that period and raised the first regular militia company in southern Indiana, known as the Evans- ville Rifles, in which he received the command from Governor James D. Wil- liams. He also held the position of deputy surveyor of customs, deputy sur- veyor of port and deputy disbursing officer at Evansville, his commission being issued by Secretary John Sherman. As deputy he disbursed the money for building a new postoffice and custom house at Evansville. After a year, how- ever, he resigned to devote his entire time to private business interests. On dis- posing of his boat store in Evansville, he returned to Paducah, Kentucky, and for several years was engaged in the office of the Kanawha Salt Company. While with them he made for the home office at Charleston, Virginia, an account sales, using English and German text for a fancy heading with the body in neat back- hand. The head office then wrote the agent at Paducah complimenting Mr. Hammersley on the work, stating that they had framed it and hung it up in the office. He next accepted a position at Evansville, Indiana, as chief accountant in the office of L. Ruffner, Jr., & Company, at that time one of the largest grain and commission houses in the southwest, one item of their yearly sales being ninety thousand barrels of salt, while their sales of grain, hay and flour were immense, their trade extending to Charlston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, and other southern points. They were also pork packers and plow manufac- turers, all of which accounts were in his charge. He was warned by his former chief that it was too big an enterprise for him to handle, but this determined him more than ever to fill the position. He not only had to keep the current work up but had to check back a half million dollars' worth of work to effect the balance. Putting system into his task, he handled it with ease, being a rapid writer and quick at figures. He has still in his possession an excellent recom- mendation from this firm, couched in very complimentary terms. After two years with the house the principal stockholder, who was the president of the Citizens National Bank, withdrew and the firm was dissolved.

Mr. Hammersley was then offered a position with the German American National Bank of Paducah, Kentucky, at a still further advance in salary, but he decided to accept a position with the firm of H. M.Sweeter & Company, whole- sale dry-goods merchants, as chief accountant and credit man. It was pre- dicted by one of their confidential men that Mr. Hammersley would hold the position but a short time as they never had a man who filled the position longer than eighteen months, so strenuous were the demands made upon the incumbent. Mr. Hammersley, however, was a worker and held the place for seven years, working seventeen hours each day during six months of the busy season. He resigned much against the wishes of the company and he now has in his posses- sion a valuable testimonial from them as well as a most complimentary recom- mendation. In the meantime his reputation for ability, diligence and business capacity was spreading abroad and when he left that place he was offered five different positions all at an advance over his former salary. He did not waste any time but accepted a position with the celebrated railroad construction com- pany of Brown, Howard & Company as auditor and cashier in the building of the extension of the Peoria, Decatur & Evansville Railway and also the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad. He handled fourteen million dollars for

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this firm without bond and on the completion of the latter road in October, 1882, he was made its assistant treasurer and has remained as such until the present time. He has signed every check issued by this company at Cleveland since it opened for business. His record is a splendid example of the fact that ability will come to the front and that energy and determination win their just rewards.

Mr. Hammersley was married in Evansville, Indiana, to Miss Matilda Gra- ham, a daughter of Dr. David Moore Graham, a noted physician and former Mississippi planter, whom he first met on a steamer when, accompanied by his daughter, he was returning to his home in the south from a trip to Saratoga. Her grandfather, William Graham, was born in Pennsylvania and was a soldier of the Revolutionary war. He had seven sons and three daughters, some of whom settled in the Carolinas, Missouri and other southern states. The family is distantly related to the families of General T. J. (Stonewall) Jackson and D. H. Hill, noted Confederate leaders. Mrs. Hammersley is also related to the royal family of Holland through Baron Otto, who was her mother's uncle. The family tree which was in possession of Aunt Katy Emrich, who guarded it jealously when alive, has disappeared since her death and the family have been unable to locate it. Mr. and Mrs. Hammersley have one child, a daughter Grace, now the wife of H. T. Rice, of Louisville, Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Ham- mersley reside at No. 1601 Twenty-first street in Cleveland.

If he has any fads athletics is one of them and, like his father, he has always been fond of horses, spending much time in riding and driving previous to his coming north. Formerly he was a member of the Colonial and Transportation Clubs but at present holds membership with the Cleveland Athletic Club only. He is a man of forceful character, a typical representative of the enterprising American and stands also as a high type of manhood and chivalry.

JAMES C. BRAINARD.

James C. Brainard who entered the services of the Johnston & Jennings Company, winning promotion to the position of manager in 1895, since which time he has had charge of the foundry and machine shops of the company which are located on Addison road and the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, belongs to that class of men whose earnest, persistent purpose constitutes the basis on which they have built their success. He was born in Gates Mills, Ohio, October 5, 1863, and was seven years of age when brought to Cleveland by his parents. The father, George Brainard, was likewise a native of this state, repre- senting one of the old pioneer families of Ohio, established here in 1812, at which time ancestors of our subject came from Connecticut and settled in that section of Cleveland which was formerly called Ohio City. He became a farmer on the south side and was identified with general agricultural interests until after the outbreak of the Civil war, when he responded to the country's call for aid and went to the front, valiantly espousing the Union cause until the battle of Gettys- burg, in which he gave his life as a ransom for his country.

James C. Brainard attended the public schools and was at one time a pupil in the old high school which stood on the present site of the Citizens building. Crossing the threshold of business life, his first step took him into the employ of Thomas R. Reeves, who was conducting business under the name of the Novelty Iron Company. He remained with that house for five years and then turned his attention to the commission business. Later he became connected with the Likly, McDonald & Rockett Company, manufacturers of trunk and leather goods, and in 1890 he became connected with his present firm. While upon the road placing orders for the house he became familiar with the line of goods manufac- tured, and his previous training in business circles further qualified him for pro- motion to the position of manager when, in 1895, he was given that position by

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A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume III, Part 98

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