A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 19

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 19

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vers" in his day. He came with Governor Winthrop to Boston in 1630, first locating at Charlestown. Subsequently he was one of the seven men appointed by the church of Charlestown to found the church and Town of Woburn, where he spent the rest of his life and where he served as selectman. Many of the descendants of Edward Convers have filled conspicuous positions in the learned pro- fessions, the commercial world and in public life. Among prominent men who claim him as an ancestor were: Commodore Morris, United States Navy; William Dean Howells, who has recently been called the "dean of American literature;" Larkin C. Mead, the sculptor; and John H. Converse, manufac- turer and capitalist of Philadelphia.

Sarah Converse, who was born April 12, 1804, was the second child of William and Sarah (Hunt) Converse, the former of Bed- ford and the latter of Concord, Massachu- setts. They had been married by Rev. Dr. Ripley and located at the Town of Wethers- field in the fall of 1800. Their five children consisted of three sons and two daughters. Their first child, Eliza, married in 1821 Dr. Elijah DeWitt, a young physician of Weth- ersfield, and with him moved to Elyria, Ohio. Subsequently Sarah Converse and her three younger brothers moved out to Ohio and she lived there until her marriage to Jeremiah Higbee, as noted above.

Jeremiah Higbee and wife had two sons: Edwin Converse Higbee, born at Lodi Sep- tember 7, 1837; and Joseph Converse Hig- bee, born September 6, 1842. Six days after the birth of the second son the mother died, and a few days later the infant Joseph fol- lowed her. Edwin C. Higbee was thus left motherless at the age of five years. A sec- ond mother for a few brief years assumed the responsibility of the home, and she was fol- lowed by Virginia Foote of Elyria, Ohio, who become the third wife of Jeremiah Higbee. To the influence of this noble woman, who lived to advanced years, Mr. Higbee always acknowledged a great debt. He was affection- ately devoted to her to the end of her life. She did much to develop those qualities of mind and heart which so characterized the Cleveland merchant.

As a youth Edwin Converse Higbee was noted as a thoughtful hoy, was kind of heart, gentle manner, inoffensive speech, and yet with an early manifestation of purposeful conduct. He lived in the simple environment of a country village, attended school and had

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

sufficient responsibility to develop the qual- ity of self reliance and enterprise. He was only sixteen years of age when he united with the Congregational Church at Lodi. Besides the advantages of the local schools he was for two years a student in the Baptist College at Granville, Ohio.

An attractive business opportunity caused him to abandon his intention of completing the college course and he entered into an ar- rangement with Mr. John G. Hower, then a merchant of Burbank, originally Bridgeport, Ohio, and together they came to Cleveland and entered partnership under the name Hower & Higbee. This firm in time built up one of the largest retail stores of Cleveland. In 1897 Mr. Hower, the senior partner, died and in 1902 the business was incorporated as The Higbee Company, with Mr. Edwin C. Higbee as president.

Mr. Higbee was a resident of Cleveland from September 10, 1860, until his death for- ty-five years later on January 18, 1906. He had seen his mercantile enterprise develop in proportion to the expanding commercial power of Cleveland, and The Higbee Com- pany, in which his son William T. succeeded him as president, celebrated its fiftieth anni- versary in 1911.

Considering his varied services and achieve- ments it is only natural that a volume of ap- preciation and tribute should follow his pass- ing. The sincerest tributes of all and those most significant were paid by employes who had been in close contact with him for many years. His life was also expressed in a con- stant readiness to help in community welfare and in particular devotion to the church of his choice. Mr. Higbee was a member of the board of trustees of the Society for Savings, and was also identified with the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, in addition to his chief business responsibilties as president and director of The Higbee Company. He never shirked a duty as a citizen. Personally he has been characterized as dignified without haughtiness, kindly without condescension, and helpful without ostentation. President Charles F. Thwing of Western Reserve Uni- versity aptly called him "one of the gentlest of all gentlemen and one of the noblest of men." Mr. Higbee was laid to rest in Lake- view Cemetery.

On coming to Cleveland he united with the Plymouth Congregational Church. Some years later he transferred his membership to the Old Stone Church of the Presbyterian de-

nomination and finally to the Calvary Presby- terian Church. He was for thirty-five years a ruling elder and made that a medium of the greatest helpfulness to both the Old Stone Church and the Calvary Church.

A few days before coming to Cleveland Mr. Higbee was married, August 23, 1860, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Haines. Mrs. Higbee is a daughter of Austin David and Hannah (Tryon) Haines, of Lodi, Ohio. Mrs. Higbee and four of their five children are still living : Howard Haines Higbee, Ph. D .; William Tryon Higbee; Mary E., the wife of William H. Clemnishaw, and Edith A., the wife of William T. Pullman.

HON. WILLIAM RUFUS DAY, Associate Jus- tice of the United States Supreme Court, has been one of the distinguished figures in Amer- ican national life for over twenty years. Dur- ing the exciting period of our war with Spain Judge Day's name was constantly associated in the minds of the people with the work of the state department and later as the chief negotiator of the peace between America and the Spanish Government. As a justice of the Supreme Court, while its work has been hardly less important, it is less dramatic and is not given so much newspaper publicity.

On the bench Judge Day has been charac- terized as a very conservative thinker, a man who abhors everything in the nature of "fire- works," studying out his conclusions with a calm mind and expressing his opinions with apparently a complete indifference to public clamor and superficial currents of sentiment. Judge Day, while always absolutely frank in his utterances, possesses that balance of fac- ulties which makes him a safe and reliable counselor in every national crisis.

Many of his ancestors were men eminent in the law and his place in that profession is almost a birthright. Judge Day was born at Ravenna in the Western Reserve of Ohio April 17, 1849. A few years ago in an ad- dress before his home people at Ravenna Judge Day spoke of the atmosphere and en- vironment in which his early youth was passed. "The generation with which my memory begins were mostly the children and grandchildren of Yankee pioneers. They cherished as a most precious heritage the memory of those who had braved the dan- gers of the wilderness and subdued the new lands to the cultivated fields and thriving towns which make up the transplanted New England of the West. Like their ancestors

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

they were possessed of the New England con- science, and for principles in which they be- lieved would follow a cause even to the stake. I suppose the most impressionable period of a human life is in the years when one is old enough to appreciate and hear for the first time the things which interest mankind in their daily life and aspirations. My most vivid recollections of Ravenna embraces the period just preceding and running through the Civil war. The people of the Western Reserve were profoundly stirred by the agi- tation of the question of the right to extend human slavery to the then newly settled ter- ritories of the Union. Under the leadership of such men as Wade and Giddings and Storrs, the majority of its people were strong in their denunciation of the growth of the slave power and firm in their demand that the new states should be free."

Judge Day is a son of Luther Day, one time a Supreme Judge, of Ohio. Luther Day was born at Granville in Washington County, New York, July 9, 1813. He numbered among his family connections some of the Revolu- tionary soldiers. He completed his common school education and prepared for college in an academy. The sudden death of his father stopped his education and until he was twenty years of age he worked to support the family. After his father's debts were paid he began working his way through college by teaching. In 1835 he entered Middlebury College of Vermont and remained three years. In 1838 his mother removed to Ravenna, and while visiting her he determined to remain and took up the study of law under Rufus P. Spalding. He was admitted to the bar October 8, 1840, and in 1843 was elected prosecuting attorney of Portage County. In 1845 he removed to Akron, but after a year returned to Ravenna and was again elected prosecutor in 1849. In politics he was a democrat until the Civil war. In 1851 he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas, serving two terms. Early in the war he was appointed Judge Advocate General on the staff of General Tod, and in 1863 was elected a member of the State Senate. That office he resigned in 1864 to become a judge of the Supreme Court. He was reelected to the Supreme Bench in 1869, and in 1874 was renominated but was defeated with the rest of the republican ticket. In April, 1875, Governor Allen appointed him a minority member of the commission to revise the statutes of the state. This position he resigned to become a member of the Supreme Court

Commission, to which he was appointed in 1876 by Governor Haves. When this work was completed he retired from public life and died at his home in Ravenna in 1886. He was an ardent Methodist.

In 1845 Luther Day married a daughter of his former legal preceptor, Judge Spalding. Emily Spalding was a grand-daughter of Zephaniah Swift, who in early times served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Con- necticut and was author of Swift's Digest. Rufus P. Spalding, her father, was a member of the Ohio Supreme Court and of Congress and was one of the notable orators of Ohio. Mrs. Day died in 1852 and four years later Judge Luther Day married Miss Barnes of Lanesboro, Massachusetts. She proved a kind mother to the three children of Judge Day by his first wife and had a large family of her own.

William R. Day acquired his early educa- tion in the public schools of Ravenna and was in the Literary and Law Departments of the University of Michigan from 1866 to 1872. Part of the time he served as librarian of the Law Library. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1870, read law in the office of Judge Robinson at Ravenna and attended law lectures in the University of Michigan in 1871-72. In 1898 his alma mater conferred upon him the degree LL.D. and he received a similar degree from the University of the City of New York in 1899.

Judge Day was admitted to the bar in 1872 and began active practice at Canton, Ohio, where he associated himself with William A. Lynch. Other partners were Austin Lynch and David B. Day, and his firm gained a reputation second to none in the state.

His public career covers a period of thirty years. He served as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas from 1886 to 1890, and in 1889 President Harrison appointed him United States District Judge for Northern Ohio. He resigned that office before entering upon its duties on account of failing health. In March, 1897, Judge Day was called to Washington by President Mckinley as assist- ant secretary of state. On April 26, 1898, a few days after the outbreak of the war with Spain, he succeeded John Sherman as secre- tary of state and administered the affairs of that great office practically throughout the Cuban war. In September, 1898, he was suc- ceeded by John Hay, and then became chair- man of the United States Peace Commission at Paris and negotiated the Treaty of Peace

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

with Spain. In 1899 Judge Day was ap- pointed United States Circuit Judge of the Sixth Circuit and in February, 1903, Presi- dent Roosevelt raised him to the rank and dignity of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, an office he has now filled for nearly fifteen years.

In 1875 Judge Day married Mary Elizabeth Schaefer, whose father, Louis Schaefer, was for many years an active member of the Stark County bar. Mrs. Day died January 5, 1912. They were the parents of four children : William L., Luther, Stephen and Rufus.

JOSEPH F. SAWICKI. Among the rising young men in public affairs and in the law Joseph F. Sawicki is one of those of foreign birth, but of Cleveland training, who have so truly absorbed the best spirit of the city and the times. He has obtained a firm stand- ing among the rapidly-advancing attorneys of the younger generation, has been twice a mnem- ber of the State Legislature, and has been constantly active in Polish circles, where he has a large and enthusiastic following.

Joseph F. Sawicki was born in the little city of Gorzno, Poland, near the border of Russia and Germany, March 18, 1881, and is a son of Peter P. and Bogumila (Jurkowska) Sawicki. His mother was the daughter of an old Polish Legionary patriot who escaped from Russia and settled in German Poland. Some- thing of a soldier of fortune, he possessed a military air, was tall and rugged, and a great walker and thinker. He died in Poland at the age of ninety-six years. Peter P. Sawicki first came to the United States alone, in 1883, and after working for a few months and care- fully saving his earnings, returned to Poland to make arrangements for the removal of his family. In 1885 he again came to this coun- try, and after accumulating some small capital sent for his wife and children, who arrived at Cleveland in April, 1886. The father dur- ing his earlier years was a mason contractor, but more recently has conducted a men's fur- nishing goods and shoe store on Fleet Avenue, Cleveland, where he is now doing a successful business, built up through industry and good business management. The mother died at Cleveland January 22, 1915. In the family of fourteen children, the first two were born in Poland, the second being Joseph F., and the others in Cleveland. Four children died in infancy, and a daughter died at the age of twelve years. Of those living, Dr. Bruno J. Sawicki, a successful physician and surgeon

with a large practice at Detroit, is now a lieutenant in the United States army and stationed in the Massachusetts General Hos- pital ; Alfons Sawicki is a student in his final year at Saint Stanislaus Parochial School; Clara W. is the wife of S. J. Olysztynski, vice president of the Truck Engineering Company of Cleveland; and the other children are single and live with their father.

Joseph F. Sawicki was educated at Saint Ignatius College, Cleveland, in the law depart- ment of Western Reserve University, and the law department of Baldwin University, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws, class of 1904. In that same year he was admitted to the bar and at once com- menced practice at Cleveland, where he rapidly came to the forefront as a young man of re- markable ability, energy and initiative. He was interested in politics and public affairs from the start, and in 1905 was elected from his district to the Ohio State Legislature, the first Pole to be elected to that body. When he took his seat he was the youngest member of the Assembly, and continued to serve through 1906, 1907 and 1908, establishing an excellent record and through his fidelity to the interests of his constituents gaining many new friends and adherents. In 1910 he was again sent to the Legislature, serving effi- ciently in 1911 and 1912 and repeating his energetic labors in behalf of his community and his state. Since his retirement from the Legislature Mr. Sawicki has been engaged in the general practice of his profession, and has attracted to himself a large and representa- tive clientele.

In politics Mr. Sawicki is a democrat and has always been an active and energetic worker in the ranks of his party. He is one of the leading members of the Kosciusko Club, a Polish democratic club and the oldest Polish democratic organization of the city. He has numerous business interests, including the Progressive Building Company of Cleveland, of which he is president, and is largely inter- ested in the handling of real estate. He holds membership in the Cleveland Chamber of Com- merce, the City Club, the Civic League, the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Automobile Club, and is fraternally identified with Cleveland Lodge No. 18, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In the line of his profession, he belongs to the Cleveland Bar Association, the Ohio State Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the Polish Lawyers Club of Cleveland. He has been a

Jos. 9. Sawicki

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

constant and indefatigable worker in behalf of Polish independence, and in the ranks of his countrymen here has gained a commanding influence. Among his connections in Polish circles may be mentioned the Polish-American Chamber of Industry, the Polish Falcons, the Polish Singing Society, the Polish National Alliance and the Alliance of Poles of the State of Ohio. He is a member of the Polish War Commission and the Polish . War Relief Com- mittee, both of Cleveland. He is a member of Saint Stanislaus Polish Catholic Church of Cleveland, and belongs to the Polish Catho- lie Union and to the Catholic Union of the State of Ohio.

In 1907, while attending the Polish Singers Convention held at Cleveland, Mr. Sawicki met Miss Eliabzeth V. Sadowska, a delegate from Detroit. Mr. Sawicki was a member of the reception committee, in which capacity he became acquainted with the young lady, whom he had never met before, although she had been born near his birthplace in the German- Polish province. Their friendship rapidly de- veloped into a warmer feeling, and June 24, 1908, at Saint Mary's Polish Catholic Church at Detroit, they were married. Mrs. Sawicki was two years of age when brought to the United States by her parents, John and Anna Sadowska. Her father was a Polish nobleman. While he had known nothing of work of any kind, when he lost his fortunes in middle life he came to the United States, courageously determined to recoup his means. Arriving at New York, a bogus dollar was thrust upon him, which represented his sole means, but he soon managed to obtain employment, and out of a salary of 95 cents a day was able in the course of a year to save enough to send to Poland for his wife and six children. He learned the baker's trade at Detroit, built up a business of his own, and when he died, in 1906, was a highly prosperous and greatly respected citizen of his community. Mrs. Sadowska, his widow, still makes her home at Detroit.

Mrs. Sawicki was educated at Detroit, at- tending Saint Mary's Parochial School, the Convent and Business College there, and the Detroit, Conservatory of Music. Like her hus- hand she is active in the affairs of the Polish people at Cleveland and is a foremost figure in much of the work being done. She was one of the organizers and the first secretary of the Polish Women's Union of America, and is at present a member of the Polish National Alliance, the Polish Catholic Union of Amer-

ica, the Alliance of Poles of the State of Ohio, the Polish Catholic Union of Ohio, the Polish Charitable Association of Cleveland. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Sawicki, all at Cleveland : Eugene J., Edwin F., Felicia Elizabeth and Anna Barbara, all at Cleveland.

CHARLES HICKOX. Cleveland has always been the home of men who do large things in a large way. The destiny of the city can be quite authoritatively traced out in the ac- tivities and influence of prominent men whose careers are represented on various pages of this publication. Cleveland takes great pride in its transportation system and one of the foundation stones of its prosperity was the service it performed as a connecting link be- tween the ore regions in the North and the coal deposits of the State of Ohio. In the develop- ment of both of these branches of the city's life one of the prominent factors was the late Charles Hickox. He was a man of unlimited energy, of stalwart manhood, and with a fine public spirit that equalled his vigor as a pri- vate business man. Hardly a name better deserves the tribute of the printed page.

He was of Connecticut birth and ancestry and carried with him to Ohio those sterling virtues so long associated with New England people. He was born in Washington Town- ship, Litchfield County, Connecticut, Novem- ber 17, 1810, and his parents were also natives of Connecticut. He was the youngest of four brothers. When he was five years of age in 1815 his parents, following the tide of emi- gration to the West, located in Canfield, Ma- honing County, Ohio. In that region, then almost on the western frontier, Charles Hickox spent his early life until he was seventeen. In the winter seasons he attended the Canfield public schools, acquiring therefrom a fair edu- cation, and his summers were spent in the work of the farm. When seventeen he went to Rochester, New York, where he joined two brothers who had previously located there, and that city was his environment until 1837.

Then, a vigorous young man of twenty- seven, and with the best part of his career before him, he cast in his fortunes with the small but promising city of Cleveland. Cleve- land then had a population of about five thousand. It was at a peculiarly low ebb of material prosperity, since the year 1837 saw the culmination of the great panic following an era of unexampled enterprise and inflation of public credit. During the next two years

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CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

Charles Hickox worked as clerk in a commis- sion and forwarding house at Cleveland. At the end of that time, the business outlook improving, he engaged in the same business on his own account, and from that time his influence and efforts had a marked effect in local business life.

One of the most important of his enterprises was the founding of the large flour mills with which he or other members of the family were closely connected for nearly thirty years. In 1872 he began using his capital and his per- sonal resources in the development of the iron ore mines of Lake Superior and the coal lands of Central Ohio. He was instrumental in turning over the coal lands to the Hocking Valley Railroad, and thereby became identified with the management of that railroad com- pany and subsequently with the Ohio Central Railroad. For a long term of years Mr. Hickox was president of The Republic Iron Company, was one of the founders of The Society for Savings of Cleveland, and at one time was member of the Board of Sinking Fund Commissioners. He held post as a director in a number of important cor- porations.

Much of his surplus capital was invested in local real estate. At the time of his death he was constructing the Hickox Building, now at the corner of Euclid Avenue and East Ninth Street, in the heart of Cleveland's busi- ness district, and it is perhaps the most familiar material monument to the construc- tive efforts of this notable Cleveland man.

That he became a man of wealth was only a natural result of his unusual powers as an administrator and director of large material resources. His contemporaries and the people of Cleveland remember him not so much for his fortune as for the worthy use to which he put it. Younger men especially esteemed him, and he showed great sympathy with the struggles and aspirations of the younger gen- eration, and there are many who owe their success to his timely aid and cheerful advice. He spared neither time nor money in pro- moting the good of the city and his influence was a strong factor, though he himself never held any public office and was in politics only for what good he could accomplish. He had successively been aligned with the abolitionists, the free soilers and the republican parties. He possessed a fine natural mind, and it was cultivated and broadened by extensive travels at home and abroad, and he was an inde- fatigable reader of newspapers and was as

well informed on affairs of state and world politics as in matters affecting his home com- munity.

One of the handsome landmarks of the city, on Euclid Avenue, is the old Hickox home- stead, surrounded with ample grounds. This was the home of Charles Hickox for over thirty years, and there he died April 17, 1890, when in his eightieth year.

He married in 1843 Miss Laura A. Freeman. She was a daughter of Judge Francis Freeman of Warren, Ohio. Mrs. Hickox was born in Warren, Ohio, August 24, 1819, and died in Cleveland April 3, 1893, at the age of seventy- three. There were four children: Frank F. of Cleveland; Charles G., who died in Cleve- land April 23, 1912; Ralph W., who was born January 1, 1850, in Cleveland, Ohio, and died March 25, 1910, at Lyons, France; and Mrs. Harvey H. Brown of Cleveland.

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A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 19

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