A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 104

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 104

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VERNON C. ROWLAND, M. D. Since his graduation from the Western Reserve Medi- cal School in 1909, Doctor Rowland has been one of the very busy men in the medical pro- fession at Cleveland. During 1909-10 he served as house officer of Lakeside Hospital, and since establishing his private practice in 1911 has devoted practically all his time to the special field of internal medicine and diagnosis. Doctor Rowland is one of the in- structors at Western Reserve Medical College and professor of general pathology in Western Reserve University Dental College. He is visiting physician to the medical dispensary of Lakeside Hospital, and is assistant visiting physician to St. Luke's Hospital, and visiting physician to the Rainbow Hospital. Doctor Rowland's offices are in the Osborn Building.

He represents an old and honored family of Stark County, Ohio, and was born at Canton January 4, 1883, and his parents, Daniel C. and Mary (Zimmerman) Rowland, both re- side in Canton. The Rowland family has been in Stark County for a century or more, a land grant signed in person by President Madison having been handed down. Doctor Rowland's great-grandparents of that name are both buried at Canton. Doctor Rowland was one of two children, his younger sister being Mrs. E. W. Oldham of Canton.

Doctor Rowland attended the public schools of Canton, graduating from high school in

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1900. He received the degree Bachelor of Science and the degree Master of Arts from the Ohio Wesleyan University of Delaware in 1903 and 1904, respectively. Thus he had a thorough literary education as the ground- work of his professional studies at Western Reserve. He is a member of the honorary fraternity Phi Beta Kappa of Ohio Wesleyan and of the Alpha Omega honorary fraternity of Western Reserve Medical College. He was president in 1916 of the Cleveland Chapter of the Alpha Omega. Doctor Rowland is a mem- ber of the Cleveland Academy of Medicine, Cleveland Medical Library Association, Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medi- cal Association. He also belongs to the Elec- tric League, the Civic League of Cleveland, and politically is independent though a stanch supporter of the policies and ideals of Presi- dent Wilson.

At Canton, June 17, 1916, he married Miss Helen M. Aungst, daughter of Judge Maurice E. and Lucy (Pontius) Aungst. Her father, who died in 1916, was for a number of years probate judge of Stark County. Mrs. Row- land's grandfather died in 1918 at the age of eighty-three. One of her ancestors was Simon Essig, founder of a prominent and well known family in Stark County. Simon Essig, who died in that county in 1848, served in Wash- ington's army during the Revolution and through him Mrs. Rowland is eligible to mem- bership in the Daughters of the American Revolution. The Essig family settled in Spring Township of Stark County in 1806. Mrs. Rowland's mother, Lucy (Pontius) Aungst, who still lives in Canton, is a grand- child of Frederick Pontius, who came from Pennsylvania and settled in Stark County in 1816.

ALBIN J. MILLER is owner of The A. J. Miller & Company at 5408-12 Bragg Road, an industry which he established in 1906, and which has steadily grown in facilities and ont- put and with a standard product now com- manding recognition in all the important markets of the country. The company manu- factures solder, babbit and terne metals, and all that the factory can produce is sold over a territory extending from New York to Chi- cago and St. Louis and into Canada.

Mr. Miller is a business man of wide and varied experience. Ile has spent most of his life in Cleveland, but was born at Mumliswil, Canton Solothurn, Switzerland, June 22, 1876, and lived with his parents on the famous Vol. II-35

(Wechten) dairy and cattle farm of his grand- father, Victor Bloch, on which place is situ- ated the attractive mountain known as the Vogel-Berg, which, with its waterfalls was an ideal spot for tourists. His father, Francis Xavier Miller, was born at Liesberg in Can- ton Bern, Switzerland, in 1838, and Albin J. lived there for a short time before his parents came to Cleveland. Francis Xavier learned the trade of carpentry and followed it at Lies- berg, later was a farmer at Mumliswil, and then returned to Liesberg to resume his trade. In 1879 he brought his family to the United States and located at Cleveland, where for two years he was employed by the Cleveland Rolling Mills Company. Ile then joined the Globe Iron Works as ship carpenter. He was the first carpenter taken on the pay roll by John Smith, first superintendent of the Globe Works, and he remained with that great in- dustry, now part of the American Ship Build- ing Company, until his death in 1890. After acquiring American citizenship he voted with the republican party. IIe was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church, and belonged to the Swiss Helvetia Society. Frank X. Miller married Agatha Bloch, who was born at Mum- liswil, Switzerland, February 4, 1839, and died at Cleveland May 13, 1906. She was the mother of five children : Adele, who died in Cleveland in 1889 at the age of twenty ; Lena, who died when thirteen years old ; Albin J. ; Achilles John, who is head of the Sanitary Tinning & Manufacturing Company at Cleve- land ; and Oscar Cornelius, who lives at Cleve- land and is a traveling salesman for a New York dry goods house.

Mr. A. J. Miller was educated in the paro- chial schools of Cleveland, where his parents located when he was three years old. He also attended St. Ignatius College. When sixteen years old he went to work with the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad, and was employed in capacities of increasing responsibility in the general offices of that company for seven years. For another three years he was salesman with the Kinney & Levan Crockery House, after which for three years he was shipping clerk with the Otis Steel Company. A very im- portant item of his business training and ex- perience came from his services of ten years as bookkeeper with the Acme Machinery Com- pany.

In 1905 Mr. Miller took a well earned va- cation and spent eight months traveling over Europe in France, Switzerland, Italy and the Orient. On returning to Cleveland in the

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winter of 1905, he was secretary and treasurer for the Ideal Bronze Company until after his mother's death. Then in 1906 he estab- lished the A. J. Miller Company, building the plant on Bragg Road. He is sole owner of this business. He is also a director in the Cleveland Drilling and Development Company and has various other business interests.

Mr. Miller votes as an independent, is a member of the Catholic Church, the Catholic Knights of Ohio and was formerly a member of the Knights of Columbus.

His modern home at 2921 East Fifty-fourth Street was built by his mother in 1895. Mr. Miller married at Cleveland November 12, 1907, Miss Agnes B. Pechloefel, a native of Cleveland. Four children were born to their marriage. Cornelia, born in 1909; Mercedes, born in 1911; Bernice, born in 1913, who died when two years old; and Adele, born in 1916.

ALBERT WILLIAM SMITH since 1891 has been professor of chemistry in Case School of Ap- plied Science at Cleveland. He is one of the distinguished men in scientific circles in Amer- ica, and his services have conferred distinction upon Cleveland as an educational center.

Mr. Smith was born at Newark, Ohio, Octo- ber 4, 1862, son of George II. and Mary (San- born) Smith. His father was born in Ohio in 1819 and died at Newark in 1865. He was a carpenter and contractor, and during the Civil war served as a captain in the State Militia. His wife Mary Sanborn was born at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1829 and died at Cleveland in 1910.

Albert William Smith graduated from the University of Michigan with the degree Ph. C. in 1885 and in 1887 received his Bachelor of Science degree from Case School of Applied Science at Cleveland. Later he went abroad and has his Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Zurich conferred in 1891. He is a member of two scientific Greek Letter fraternities, the Tau Beta Pi and the Sigma Psi.

On returning from abroad Doctor Smith took his present chair as professor of chemistry at Case School of Applied Science. Besides his heavy duties as teacher he has found time to participate in the conventions and gather- ings of scientific men all over the country and has contributed a number of technical papers to such conventions and also to scientific maga- zines. He is a member of the American Asso- ciation for the Advancement of Science, of the American Chemical Society, the American

Institute of Mining Engineers, the American Electro-Chemical Society, the Society for Pro- motion of Engineering Education, the French and English Societies of Chemical Industry and the American Institute of Chemical En- gineers.

Doctor Smith resides at 11333 Belleflower Road, with Judge John C. Hale. Professor Smith married at Cleveland on June 5, 1890, Miss Mary Wilkinson. He is the father of four children, and two of his sons are now in the army. The oldest child, Cara Hale, is a graduate of the College for Women of Western Reserve University and is the wife of Russell C. Manning. Mr. Manning is a captain in the Ordnance Department of the United States Army. Kent H., the oldest son of Doctor Smith, is a graduate of Dartmouth College and of Case School of Applied Science, hav- ing the degree Bachelor of Science from both institutions. He is now a lieutenant in the aviation service of the army. Vincent Kins- man, the second son, graduated Bachelor of Science from Dartmouth College, is a first lieutenant in the Heavy Artillery. Kelvin is a member of the junior class of Dartmouth College.

THOMAS THOMSON is an expert mining en- gineer with experience in mining and reduc- tion plants in various sections of the country and for the past four years has been a resi- dent of Cleveland, where he is general super- intendent and second vice president of the Lake Erie Smelting Company.

Mr. Thomson is a native of Scotland, born at Rosliu, July 7, 1880. His father, Joseph Thomson, who was born in the same place in 1836 was a miner and for a number of years owned an interest in a coal mine at Roslin, where he died in 1889. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church. Joseph Thomson married Barbara Adams, who was born in Glasgow. Scotland, in 1837. She died in 1891 at Little Bay, Newfoundland. Several of their children have been conspicuous in mining and general engineering circles. The oldest of the family, George, is a mining engineer living at Berwick, Nova Scotia. Christina is the wife of William Megill, a retired metallurgist liv- ing at Frederickstown, Missouri. Joseph is a mining engineer with home in Alberta, Canada. Agnes married George Langmead, jeweler at St. Johns, Newfoundland ; James is a metallurgist with home in Brooklyn, New York; Barbara married Robert Moore, a resi- dent of Elizabeth, New Jersey, and con-

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nected with the Benjamin Moore Company, paint manufacturers.

Thomas Thomson, youngest of the family, was taken after his father's death to Little Bay, Newfoundland, where he received his early education in the public schools. In 1897 he graduated from the high school at Eliza- beth, New Jersey, and then went and entered the Colorado School of Mines at Golden, where he was graduated in 1901 with the degree Mining Engineer. Then followed two years of active experience in the copper mines of Arizona, but since that time his work has been chiefly in reclaiming secondary metals at the big industrial plants. He was in that work at Tottenville, New York, for eight years and in 1913 came to Cleveland, where he was super- intendent of the department for the reclaim- ing of secondary metals with several different plants. In 1914 he became general superin- tendent and second vice president of the Erie Smelting Company at Seventy-eighth Street and Bessemer Avenue. Their plant is for the general reduction and reclaiming of secondary metals, and the output of brass and copper ingots is distributed all over the United States.

Mr. Thomson is a republican in politics and is a vestryman of the Episcopal Church. He is affiliated with Elbrook Lodge Free and Ac- cepted Masons, James Corbin Chapter Royal Arch Masons, Brooklyn Lodge of the Knights of Pythias and the Royal Arcanum. He is a member in good standing of the American Institute of Mining Engineers.

Mr. Thomson's home is at 3426 Krather Road in Brooklyn, Cleveland. He married at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, in September, 1903. The maiden name of his wife was Sarah E. Phillips, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George B. Phillips, both now deceased. Her father was at one time very prominent in politics at Key West, Florida. Mr. and Mrs. Thomson have three children: Joseph, born June 7, 1904; Dorothy, born August 23, 1906; and Genevieve, born December 24, 1913.

WILLIAM W. WATTERSON. In the industry of shipbuilding which in recent months has been exalted to first importance among all the industries of the world William Wallace Watterson is a veteran in experience, skill and knowledge of the infinite detail of the busi- ness. Mr. Watterson has been a resident of Cleveland for many years, and has long been identified with The Pittsburgh Steamship Company as its superintendent of construc- tion.

Mr. Watterson comes of a scafaring family, and was born on the Isle of Man, a British subject, May 5, 1862. Ilis father, John Wat- terson, was born there in 1836 and it was his legal place of residence all his life, though his vocation as a sailor took him to practically all the known ports of the world. Ile died in the Isle of Man in 1904. He was a member of the Episcopal Church. During one of his voyages he met a Scotch lassie in Fifeshire, and subsequently she returned home with him to the Isle of Man as his wife. Her maiden name was Christina Wallace, and she was born in Fifeshire in 1840. She died on the Isle of Man in 1911. They had a family of six children : Christina, wife of Alfred Bailey, a butcher living on the Isle of Man; Eliza, wife of John Quayle, a farmer on the Isle of Man; William W .: John, who was a sail maker and died on the Isle of Man in 1911; Alice has lived in Cleveland since the death of her husband James Gaskell. a sail maker formerly living on the Isle of Man; and Emma, who died unmarried on her na- tive isle in 1907. Of these children both John and Emma lived for several years with their brother William in Cleveland.

William Wallace Watterson received his primary advantages in the public schools of his native country. At the age of fourteen he found employment as an apprentice in a ship yard, and for six years was busy in learning and practicing every detail of the trade. He then signed articles for service on a British ship two years, and that was an eventful ex- perience, entailing a voyage to the west coast of South America aronnd Cape Horn. When the voyage was over he resumed work in a shipbuilding yard on his native island for a year and in the spring of 1886 came to the United States and located at Cleveland. For about two years he was with The Globe Iron Works in their local shipyard, and subse- quently with the yards of Ratcliff & Langell. The Ship Owners Dry Dock Company then employed him to build a dry dock, a property which was subsequently acquired by The American Ship Building Company. Mr. Wat- terson was with this corporation for twelve years as superintendent, and then for two years they sent him as superintendent of the Lorain Ship Yard at Lorain, Ohio. Leaving Cleveland he then spent three years as super- intendent for the Ship Owners Dry Dock Com- pany of Chicago, but in the spring of 1904 re- turned to this city and entered the service of the Pittsburgh Steamship Company as super-

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intendent of construction, the office he still holds. His offices are in the Rockefeller Build- ing, and he has complete supervision of the building and repairs of upwards of a hundred steamers and barges owned by the company.

Mr. Watterson is a director of the Cleveland Motor Car Company and is well known both in business and social circles. He is affiliated with Bigelow Lodge Free and Accepted Ma- sons, Thatcher Chapter Royal Arch Masons, Forest City Commandery Knight Templars, Lake Erie Consistory of the Scottish Rite, and lias his Shrine membership in Medinah Temple at Chicago. Ile also belongs to Cleve- land Chamber of Commerce, the Cleveland Yacht Club, and is a member of the Episcopal Church and a republican in politics. Mr. Watterson owns considerable local real estate, including a dwelling house at 1440 West Sev- enty-fifth Street. He built as a gift to his bride the modern home at 1432 West Seventy- fourth Street, a short time before he married. Mr. Watterson married in Cleveland in 1893 Miss Laura Megarvey, daughter of P. J. and Harriet (Crowe) Megarvey, both now de- ceased. Her father was a native of Pennsyl- vania, moved to Ohio in 1846 and came to Cleveland in 1871. He was a plasterer by trade. Mr. and Mrs. Watterson have two chil- dren : William Wallace, Jr., a student in the University School of Cleveland, who enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve in July, 1918; and Laura, attending the West High School.

GEORGE D. KOCH is a prominent Cleveland furniture manufacturer and dealer, and has been identified with practically every phase of this industry since boyhood. He is now president of the George D. Koch & Son Com- pany, operating one of the largest and best patronized furniture and rug houses in the city, at 10300 Euclid Avenue. Mr. Koch is well known in business and commercial affairs and is also president of the Central Savings & Loan Company in the Euclid Arcade and the City Office Desk Company.

George D. Koch began his education in the public schools of Cleveland but left off his formal schooling at the age of fourteen to learn the technical processes of the furniture business. His first work was with the J. A. Vincent Company, now the Vincent-Barstow Company, one of the pioneer furniture houses of the city. He was with them and other firms until 1872, when he entered business for

himself by establishing the Fleming & Koch Furniture Company on the West Side. The partnership was dissolved in 1874, and his next partner was F. Henke, under the firm name of Koch & Henke. They built up a large and flourishing establishment on Lorain Avenue on the west side, and when the plant was burned in 1912 it was considered the largest furniture house in the city. The fire was a disastrous one, causing a total loss, and the firm was then dissolved.

Mr. Koch then established his present busi- ness, under the name George D. Koch & Son Company, located at 10300 Euelid Ave- nue. In a few short years he has succeeded in building up the largest furniture house in the East End of Cleveland. He carries the better makes of furniture, Oriental and do- mestie rugs, and has a trade drawn from all over the city and surrounding territory. His store has a frontage of 81 feet and a depth of 257 feet. Mr. George D. Koch is president of the company and his sons, C. C. Koch and George B. Koeh are respectfully vice president and secretary and treasurer. Mr. George D. Koch's home is at 15315 Detroit Avenue, at the corner of Mars Avenue in Lakewood.

He has always been interested in local public affairs so far as his business interests would permit. In 1883 he was elected a mem- ber of the board of education. He served as a member of the board until he removed from that ward.

In 1875 at Cleveland Mr. Koch married Miss Bertha A. Berno. Their two sons, George B. and Charles C., already named, are both grad- uates of the Cleveland Business College. They also have two daughters, Viola and Stella, both graduates of the Cleveland High School and the latter still at home. Viola married for her first husband George Muth, a eivil en- gineer, now deceased. She is now the wife of Frank Shepard, a shipping contractor, and their home is in Lakewood.

ERNST W. MUELLER. The development of any great industry that carries with it solid- ity and permanence, comes about through like qualities in its founders and owners. Busi- ness sueeess comes largely because of business integrity. The honest policy pursued by one of the representative families of Cleveland, the Muellers, long prominent in the brewing industry, has not been changed in recent years, but continues a dominating feature of all the business operations of Ernst W. Muel- ler, who is president of the Cleveland Home

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Brewing Company, one of the many extensive manufacturing plants in its line in this sec- tion of the state.

Ernst W. Mueller has spent almost his entire life in the United States, of which he is a proud and patriotic citizen, but his birth took place in Alsenz, Bavaria, Germany, Oc- tober 13, 1851. His parents were Peter and Mary (Lynn) Mueller. Peter Mueller was born in Bavaria in 1821 and died at Cleve- land, Ohio, in 1898, having come to this city in 1856, the last of his family to leave the old country because of the troubles incurred in the revolution in Germany in 1848. One of his brothers became very prominent in public life in Ohio and served the state in the office of lieutenant governor.

Peter Mueller learned the trade of harness making in Germany, but it was distasteful to him and soon after reaching Cleveland he found opportunity to go into the malting busi- ness and continued in that line until the end of a busy life. He was married in Bavaria to Mary Lynn, and she died at Cleveland in 1907, aged seventy-six years. They had the following children: Herman, who was born in Bavaria, died at Stuttgart, Germany, in 1907, having succeeded his father in the malt- ing business : Ernst W .: Otto, who is a physi- cian and surgeon at Cleveland ; and Fred P., who died at Cleveland in 1909, was asso- ciated in business with the Paul Schmidt Com- pany, wine manufacturers. Dr. Otto Mueller of the above family has become eminent in his profession. He is a graduate of Harvard University and of the Chicago Medical Uni- versity. Ile studied in both Frankfort and Berlin, Germany, and for two years after leaving college practiced without pay in the Government Marine Hospital.

Ernst W. Mueller was educated in the pub- lic schools of Cleveland and was graduated from the high school in 1870. He began his business life with his father, who was then established in a building he erected on Cham- plain Street, his plant running through to Michigan Street. This building still belongs to the family. Ernst W. continued in his father's malting business until 1887, when he started the Cleveland Brewing Company, on Ansel Avenue, and in 1897 this was merged with the Cleveland-Sandusky Brewing Company, of which Mr. Mueller became president. In 1907 he organized the Cleveland Home Brew- ing Company, of which he is president. He took over the Beltz Brewing Company's building, a small structure, which has been

enlarged and newly equipped and its capacity at present is 100,000 barrels per year. The brewery is situated at No. 2501 Sixty-first Street, Cleveland. The officers of the com- pany are: Ernst W. Mueller, president; Ru- dolph Mueller, vice president, and Carl F. Schroeder, secretary and treasurer.

Ernst W. Mueller was married at Cleveland in 1879 to Miss Agatha Leick, who is a daugh- ter of F. A. and Elizabeth (Hecge) Leick, old residents of Cleveland, who came to New- burg, Ohio, from Germany, in the '40s. Mr. and Mrs. Mueller have three sons: Omar E., who is in the real estate business in Cleve- land; Curt B., who is a patent attorney with offices in the Leader-News Building, Cleve- land, resides on Elbur Avenue, Lakewood ; and Lynn E., who was associated with his father in business before becoming a member of Troop A, One Hundred Thirty-Fifth Ar- tillery; National Army, stationed at Camp Sheridan. He is a sergeant in rank and is in line for promotion, and in 1916 accompanied his military organization to El Paso, Texas, and is now somewhere in France.

Mr. Mueller is a member of the City Club, Cleveland. He has never found much time to devote to politics, but is never backward about stating his position on public questions and has always preferred the sense of freedom that he enjoys in voting independently. Mr. Mueller is one of Cleveland's most charitable men and his support is given to many worthy enterprises.

HORACE A. WATTERSON. Taking the serv- ices of father and son together the Wattersons have been doing much of the heavy construc- tion work involved in the building of mills, faetories and other structures in the Cleve- land district for half a century or more. One of the prominent contractors of the city today is Horace A. Watterson, with offices in the Citizens Building.

The family have been residents of this sec- tion of Ohio for more than fourscore years. The paternal grandparents were natives of the Isle of Man, Great Britain. The grand- father, William Watterson, was born there in 1806. Immediately after his marriage to Miss McGowan, a native of the same island, he set out for America, bringing his bride to Ohio and settling on a farm at Warrensville. He followed farming there for many years, but he and his wife spent their last days in retire- ment at Cleveland, where the grandfather died in 1888.

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A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 104

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