A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 10

Author: Avery, Elroy McKendree, 1844-1935; Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, New York The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 904

USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut > Part 10

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ROLAND T. MEACHAM is a prominent mem- ber of the Cleveland Stock Exchange. He has been in the investment and commission stock brokerage business for a number of years, mak- ing a specialty of Public Utility Securities. His judgment on securities has won him a large clientele and has brought him an unas- sailable position among the most creditable and successful men in that business in Cleveland.

He was born at Parma, Ohio, July 21, 1874, son of Levi E. and Lina (Biddulph) Meacham.

His father has been a well known and promi- nent Cleveland citizen. Roland T. Meacham was educated in the district schools and the public schools of Cleveland, graduating from the West High School, and subsequently en- tered Adelbert College, from which he grad- uated A. B. in 1899. Since leaving college his work has been in the business field as a broker and investment adviser and his private offices are in the Citizens Building.

Mr. Meacham is a republican, a member of the Alpha Delta Phi Club of New York and the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and of the Cleveland Chamber of Industry. June 12, 1912, he married Miss Evelyn Mae Shipbaugh.

JUDGE JOSEPH C. BLOCH is one of the older active members of the Cuyahoga County bar. He has been in the practice of law at Cleve- land for about thirty years, the only inter- ruption to his private practice having come during his active service on the bench.

Judge Bloch has achieved success in life through the stimulation furnished by his own ambition and in spite of early handicaps and lack of opportunity. He largely educated himself, having been thrown practically on his own resources when a boy. He is a native of Hungary, where he was born October 24, 1860, a son of Edward and Lena (Weiss) Bloch. In November, 1865, when Judge Bloch was about five years of age, the family came to America and located at Cleveland. Edward Bloch had been an extensive owner of land in Hungary, and after coming to this country engaged in the distilling business. He was a fine business man, commanded the respect of everyone who knew him either per- sonally or in a business way, and his death was widely mourned in Cleveland. While operating a distillery he accidentally fell into one of the hot vats and as a result of injuries his health was impaired and brought about a complication of diseases from which he died some years later. His wife is also deceased. Of their ten children, five sons and four daughters are still living, but Judge Bloch is the only one now residing in Cleveland.

Joseph C. Bloch spent his early years in Cleveland, attended the public schools, and later took the complete course of the State University of Iowa, where he was graduated from the law department with the degree LL. B. He was admitted to the practice of law in 1880. For some time Judge Bloch had as his preceptor in law the venerable William

Fortement Meacham

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

S. Kerruish, who is now one of the oldest if not the oldest attorney still practicing in the Federal and state courts of Northern Ohio.

In his efforts to gain an education and ad- vance himself in the fortunes of the world Judge Bloch did not hesitate to accept any honorable means of earning a livelihood when young. For a time, several years, he worked in the county clerk's office at Cleveland, and still earlier had sold newspapers, had done work in cigar factories, was bookkeeper, and through these various avenues he sought the bigger opportunities of life.

After he took up the practice of law a clien- tage was not long denied him. He has been a careful and conscientious attorney, has shown more than ordinary skill in handling the transactions of a varied and complicated legal business, and at the same time he has been extremely popular as a citizen. He is an active member of the Ohio State and Cuya- hoga County Bar associations.

Bloch was elected judge of the Court of In- . Colonel Wing.

In 1892-93 Judge Bloch served as a member of the General Assembly of Ohio in the Nine- teenth General Assembly and in the Lower House. In his election to that office he re- ceived the largest number of votes given to any candidate on the republican ticket. He was re-elected in 1895 and served during the session of 1896. In November, 1896, Mr. solvency. He was the first incumbent of that court of Cleveland, and taking his seat on the bench in February, 1897, he served out one term of five years. He had resigned from the State Legislature to enter upon his duties as judge. He devoted himself with singular patience and rare insight to the heavy duties imposed upon the judge of the Court of In- solvency, and made a record for which the bar of Cleveland will always hold him in grateful remembrance. Aside from these of- fices Judge Bloch has held no other public position. However, he has always been some- what active in politics, and his belief has usually harmonized with that of the repub- lican party.

He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the National Union and kindred organiza- tions, and has filled chairs in them all. He also belongs to the Excelsior Club and is a member of The Temple on Euclid Avenue.

Judge Bloch was married at Cleveland about thirty years ago to Miss Mollie Feder, a native of Germany. She came to Cleveland with her parents, both of whom are now de- ceased. Judge and Mrs. Bloch are the parents

of two children. Mrs. Juliette C. Barnes was educated in the Cleveland schools, graduated from Washington College at Washington, D. C., and is now living in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Edward J. Bloch, the son, also had the advantages of the Cleveland public schools and was a student in the Michigan Military Academy at Orchard Lake. He is now suc- cessfully identified with the real estate busi- ness at Cleveland. Judge Bloch as an attor- ney has his offices in the Williamson Building of Cleveland.

COL. JOSEPH KNOWLES WING was for many years a distinguished citizen of Ohio and a resident of Trumbull County.

His own life was a continuation of a notable lineage. He was descended from John Wing and his wife, Deborah (Batchelder) Wing, who with their four sons, John, David, Dan- iel and Matthew, arrived at Boston, Massa- chusetts, from England in the ship William Francis on June 5, 1632. This first genera- tion of the Wings settled at Saugus, New Lynn, Massachusetts, but later moved to the region known as the Peninsula of Cape Cod. From them the line of descent goes through John Wing, their second son; Ananias Wing, oldest son of John; John, son of Ananias; John, son of John; and Bani, father of

When Bani Wing was seventeen years of age he enlisted, in 1779, from Conway, Hamp- shire County, Massachusetts, in Captain Rice's Company of Colonel Chapin's Regi- ment, and made a gallant and honorable rec- ord as one of the patriots who helped to win independence. He also served under Colonel Watson in the defense of the Hudson River. He was present at one of the notable occa- sions of the war, when Major Andre was ex- ecuted for his complicity in the treason of Benedict Arnold. Bani Wing married Lucy Clary, and of their nine children Joseph Knowles was the youngest.

Joseph Knowles Wing was born at Wil- mington, Vermont, July 27, 1810. He died at his home in Bloomfield, Trumbull County, Ohio, January 1, 1898, when in his eighty- eighth year. A period of 135 years separated his death from his father's birth, and in his later years he was one of the few sons of a Revolutionary soldier in Ohio. On account of that somewhat rare distinction he was made in 1896 a life member of the Ohio Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

At the age of sixteen Colonel Wing left his

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

father's home at Wilmington, Vermont, and started out to carve his own career in the world. The wonderful resources of the West were just becoming known east of the Alle- ghenies, and only a year or so before the Erie Canal had been opened to navigation, but steam railways were still far in the future. For five years Colonel Wing lived in Albany County, New York, at Rensselaerville, where he worked as a merchant's clerk. He proved invaluable to his employer and became a pop- ular man of the community. He was while living there appointed quartermaster of the Twenty-fifth Regiment of New York State Infantry, and filled that position for three years on the staff of Gen. DeWitt Clinton.

Colonel Wing came to the Western Reserve of Ohio in the spring of 1831. He was at that time twenty-one years of age, and came west on a commission to open a general store. He selected Bloomfield in Trumbull County, and after buying his stock of goods in New York City came west and thereafter made his permanent home at Bloomfield.

At the outbreak of the Civil war Colonel Wing was appointed by President Lincoln assistant quartermaster with the rank of cap- tain. Later successively he was commissioned major and lieutenant colonel by brevet. He was with the armies in the early campaigns through Tennessee and Mississippi. At Cor- inth, when that place was the headquarters for Rosecrans' army, he was put in charge of the cavalry division of the quartermaster's department and soon afterwards assigned as chief quartermaster of the district. He him- self took part in the battle of Corinth on October 2-3, 1862, and the desperate hand to hand struggle for mastery which marked the turning point of the conflict was enacted around headquarters where his own tent and station were. After General Rosecrans was relieved of command, Colonel Wing remained at Corinth, attached to the staff of Gen. Gren- ville M. Dodge. In 1864 the Western army, including the Sixteenth Army Corps, was withdrawn for

the Atlanta campaign. Colonel Wing as chief quartermaster of the Sixteenth Corps participated in all the move- ments until the fall of Atlanta, and with his command marched 500 miles and engaged in thirteen distinct battles. For 100 days he and his comrades were almost constantly under fire. In his official report and by letters to Secretary Stanton, Governor Dodge com- mended Colonel Wing for his efficiency and urged his promotion with the brevet rank of

brigadier general. In November, 1864, Colonel Wing assumed charge of the quarter- master's department in the district of Beau- fort, North Carolina, and remained there un- til honorably mustered out at the close of the war. On March 3, 1897, Colonel Wing was honored by the commandery of Ohio with election as a member of the first class of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.

Besides his military service and his long and active career as a business man, Colonel Wing was twice honored by the people of Trumbull County, who elected him to the State Legislature.

In October, 1842, he married Miss Mary Brown, daughter of' Ephraim and Mary (Huntington) Brown. Her father, Ephraim Brown, is elsewhere referred to in this pub- lication. Mrs. Wing died at the old home at Bloomfield December 15, 1887. She was born at Westmoreland, New Hampshire, May 28, 1812, and was a small child when her par- ents came to the Ohio Western Reserve. Colonel and Mrs. Wing were the parents of seven children, and two sons and three daugh- ters still survice. The names of these children were: Mary Huntington Wing; Elizabeth Brown Wing; Virginia Passavant Wing; George C., mentioned elsewhere; Judge Fran- · cis J., also mentioned on other pages; Julia King Wing; and Anna Margaret Wing.

GEORGE CLARY WING has been identified with the Cleveland bar for thirty-three years. His career has been cast upon the highest plane of a lawyer's work, and he is also known for his thorough scholarship not only in law but in literary matters, and his valuable serv- ice in writing and preserving early Ohio his- tory should not be overlooked.

He was born at Bloomfield in Trumbull County, Ohio, and was the fourth of the seven children of the late Col. Joseph K. and Mary (Brown) Wing. In both lines he is connected with some of the oldest and best known of the New England and Western Re- serve families.

George Clary Wing was educated in the public schools of Bloomfield, attended that exclusive preparatory school known as Phil- lips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, and in 1871 was graduated A. B. from Harvard College. He studied law at Georgetown Uni- versity at Washington, D. C., where he not only had the instruction supplied by the fac- ulty of that institution but exceptional op-

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

portunities to meet and hear great lawyers and other prominent men in the national cap- ital. He received his degree of LL. B. at Georgetown University in 1873. For a time he was chief clerk of the United States De- partment of Justice, and for three years was one of the Government attorneys in the Court of Claims; afterwards, by appointment of Secretary Freylinghuysen, he became chief of the diplomatic bureau in the Department of State.

Resigning his post at Washington in May, 1884, Mr. Wing returned to Ohio and has since been engaged in the practice of law at Cleveland. He has given his time to general practice, and has also handled a large volume of corporate and patent business. His of- fices are in the Citizens Building.

Mr. Wing is unmarried. His pursuits are scholarly and outside the law he concerns himself largely with the study of history and also with the genealogy of his immediate fam- ily. Among writers he is widely esteemed as the author of the volume entitled "Early Years of the Western Reserve," and is rec- ognized as one of the few qualified authorities in the history of this section of his native state.

JUDGE FRANCIS JOSEPH WING. While death at sixty-seven always seems premature, it was a career of well rounded achievement and ful- fillment of early promise that was terminated in the passing of Judge Francis Joseph Wing on February 1, 1918. Judge Wing was one of Cleveland's foremost representatives of the bar, had practiced more than forty years, and among other honors associated with his name was a service as judge of the United States District Court for Northern Ohio.

Judge Wing was member of a family in which the legal profession was a tradition. The family had contributed many notable fig- ures to the law as well as to other profes- sions. Judge Wing's father was the late Colonel Joseph Knowles Wing, whose history and that of the family is given on other pages of this publication.

Francis Joseph Wing was born at North Bloomfield. Trumbull County, Ohio, Septem- ber 14, 1850. The village where he was born had been laid out by his father and grand- father and other pioneers. Judge Wing at- tended public school in his native village, also had private instruction, and prepared for col- lege in the noted Phillips Academy at Ando- ver. He was a student in Harvard University from 1868 to 1871, leaving in his junior year.

For one year he studied law with Caleb Blodgett at Boston, Massachusetts, and later under Judge Buckingham of Newark and Ed- ward O. Fitch of Ashtabula, Ohio. He was admitted to the bar in 1874 and at once came to Cleveland, practicing two years alone and then as a member of the law firm Coon & Wing until 1880. For one year, 1880-81, Judge Wing served as Assistant United States Dis- trict Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, and then was appointed judge of the Common Pleas Court by Governor Bushnell. Judge Wing and his brother George C. Wing elsewhere mentioned were in practice for a number of years and another associate was Edwin L. Thurston.

Always an active republican in politics, Judge Wing never sought political distinc- tions outside his own profession. He served as Judge of the Common Pleas of Cuyahoga County from 1899 until 1901, leaving that office to accept appointment from President Mckinley as United States District Judge of the Northern Ohio District. With dignity and exceptional ability he remained on the Bench until 1905, when he resigned and again took up private practice.

Judge Wing married September 25, 1878, Mary Brackett Remington. Her father, Stephen G. Remington, was at one time as- sistant auditor of the Lake Shore Railway Company. Judge and Mrs. Wing had three children, Virginia Remington, Marie Reming- ton, and Stephanie Remington. All were born in Cleveland, were educated at Miss Mittle- berger's School for Young Ladies and finished their training at Eastern colleges, Virginia, finishing at Ogontz, Marie at Bryn Mawr and Mrs. W. M. Kennedy at Rosemond, Pennsylvania. The oldest danghter, Vir- ginia, is on the Civilian Relief Committee of the Red Cross. The youngest daughter is Mrs. W. M. Kennedy of Pittsburgh.

The second daughter, Marie Remington Wing, has had a career that deserves some special notice. In 1915 she was called to New York City to take charge of the west side branch of the Y. W. C. A. A greater oppor- tunity for enthusiastic work and organizing ability could hardly have been presented. The branch association had only two hundred members. It occupied a fine structure which had formerly been used for other philan- thropic and religious purposes, and on which John D. Rockefeller, Jr., held a mortgage of about two hundred thousand dollars, with accumulated interest. The Young Women's

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

Christian Association obtained the right to ocenpy the property for a branch of the main body and asked Miss Wing to take charge. She rapidly familiarized herself with the situa- tion and with a superabundant energy and skill as an organizer put life into the association, and at the end of the first year had a thousand active members, while the institution's useful- ness and success were marvelously improved. Today the membership is over three thousand. Miss Wing receives full credit for all this achievement and the story of her work is found in remarks made by Mr. George W. Perkins in his letter to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., published in current issues of the New York papers. At that time John D. Rocke- feller presented to the association the mort- gage which he held together with overdue interest of thirty-six thousand dollars, that act in itself testifying to his appreciation of the vigor and usefulness of the institution and Miss Wing's work. In the fall of 1917 Miss Wing was called to the position of a di- rector of all the branches of the Young Wom- en's Christian Association in New York City, one of the most responsible positions ever held by any woman of the present time and on January 1, 1918, Miss Wing accepted a call to become general secretary of the Young Women's Christian Association of Cleveland.

NORMAN O. STONE. Ordinarily the strict rules that have been developed to safeguard commerce do not permit an individual name to be listed in so-called "tangible assets." But in every city will be found a few individuals whose personal integrity, long experience and skillful energy have builded year after year one concrete result upon another until some- thing solid and enduring stands for which the name is a symbol. Thus from the financial as well as from the moral standpoint "a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches."

An interesting illustration of this at Cleve- land is the fact that a corporation of business men are associated today under the name N. O. Stone Company, and it was both good business and a happy expression of regard for an eminent and old time Cleveland business man that the company retained the individual name when they succeeded to the business which the owner of that name had built up by long and careful years of industry and in- tegrity of management.

Mr. Stone, who died December 27, 1912, was for fifty years a Cleveland merchant. He was born at Strongsville, Cuyahoga County, De-

cember 3, 1844, and was of a pioneer family in the Western Reserve and of New England ancestry. He was a son of Marvin and Han- nah (West) Stone. His father came to this part of "New Connecticut" from old Con- nectieut in 1837, locating on the farm where he lived until his death in 1872. Norman O. Stone had the wholesome environment of the farm during his youth, was educated in dis- triet schools up to the age of fifteen, and then entered Baldwin College, located at Berea in Cuyahoga County. He was a student there two years and at the age of seventeen took up a formal business career, which, continuing for over half a century, brought him to the first rank of Cleveland's merchants. His first employment was as clerk in the establishment of Smith, Dodd & Company, and later he was with Suttles & Company. In 1864, before reaching his majority, Mr. Stone opened a modest stock of boots and shoes and inaug- urated his career as a retail shoe merchant. Ten years later the business was organized under the style N. O. Stone & Company, and it was continuously conducted under that title. After the death of Mr. Stone the business, the good will and the company title were taken over by a new corporate organization, so that the business remains today one of Cleveland's valued and valuable commercial assets.

Under Mr. Stone's management it had be- come the largest retail shoe store in the state. Thus Mr. Stone was not only the foremost representative of the retail shoe trade in Ohio, but one of the best known men in his line of business in the Middle West. His success in business must be measured by still further achievements and influences than those which enabled him to build up a large store. For many years he was actively interested in bank- ing, and was vice president of the Cleveland National Bank. He was a director in the Citizens Savings and Trust Company and was interested in various other financial and com- mercial enterprises. He was also a director in the Cleveland Telephone Company.

On May 1, 1867, Mr. Stone married Miss Ella Andrus, of New York, who survives him. Many of Cleveland's best known business and social organizations knew and esteemed him as a member. He belonged to the Union Club, the Country Club, Roadside Club, the Cham- ber of Commerce, and during fifty years had identified himself in some practical way with every movement put forth by the Chamber of Commerce to promote the growth and welfare of the city. He was a member of the Trinity

Honnan @ Alone

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

Episcopal Church and voted as a democrat though he was never in personal or practical polities. Mr. Stone was a great lover of horses and delighted in riding or driving a horse even after the dawn of the horseless age. He often took recreation from his business and made use of his generous means for extensive travel. He twice encircled the globe and visited nearly all the places of historic interest in this coun- try and abroad. Mr. Stone is remembered by his old associates as a man of genial person- ality, one who easily made friends and retained them, and altogether a high and most worthy type of citizenship.

LEONARD COLTON HANNA, who is now sen- ior member of the firm M. A. Hanna & Com- pany, has been an active Cleveland business man over forty years. He is a brother of the late United States Senator Mark A. Hanna, who founded the business still carried on at Cleveland under his name. It is one of the largest and most important firms in the coun- try handling coal, coke, iron ore and pig iron. The active members of the company at pres- ent are: L. C. Hanna, M. Andrews, H. M. Hanna, Jr., F. B. Richards, R. F. Grant, Wil- liam Collins, J. D. Ireland and L. C. Hanna, Jr

At the old family home in New Lisbon, Ohio, Leonard Colton Hanna was born No- vember 30, 1850, a son of Dr. Leonard and Samantha Maria (Converse) Hanna. L. C. Hanna grew up in Cleveland, attended the public schools, and from September, 1857, to June, 1867, was a student of Doctor Hol- brook's Military School. His first important business experience was in the oil industry, for one year being connected with Hanna, Doherty & Company. For one season in 1871 he sailed on the steamer Northern Light. In January, 1872, he left for St. Paul, Minne- sota, and was a resident of that city until November, 1874, since which date his home and important business connections have been identified with Cleveland.

Besides his interest as ranking head of M. A. Hanna & Company, Mr. Hanna is finan- cially and officially identified with the Su- perior Savings & Trust Company, the Guard- ian Savings & Trust Company and the Union National Bank of Cleveland.

He is a member of the Tavern Club, the Union Club, the Roadside Club, the Country Club of Cleveland, and the Chagrin Valley Hunt Club at Gates Mill, Ohio. He was for- merly interested in military affairs and for

eight years commanded the Cleveland Gatling Gun Battery.

Mr. Hanna has been twice married. He married his first wife in Buffalo, New York. On October 17, 1888, at Richmond, Kentucky, he married Coralie Walker. He has three children : Jean Claire Hanna, Fanny Hanna Moore and Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.

BLUFORD WILSON BROCKETT has been a member of the Cleveland bar since 1901, and has always specialized and given his entire time and attention to patent law and patent canses. He is senior member of Brockett & Hyde, with offices in the Arcade.

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A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 10

Author: Avery, Elroy McKendree, 1844-1935; Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Chicago, New York The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 904

Author: Avery, Elroy McKendree, 1844-1935; Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, New York The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 904