A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 26

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 26

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Francis W. Hall spent his boyhood days in Bridgeport, Connecticut, was educated in public schools there, also Day's Prepara- tory School of Bridgeport, and St. Paul's School at Brookfield, Connecticut. The strongest impressions he has of school days was the time he spent in public school un- der a particularly hard schoolmaster known by the name of Selleck, who believed in ad- ministering knowledge through the route of corporal punishment. Mr. Hall was only sixteen when school days ended and let him into the active arena of experience and ac- complishment. His first regular employ- ment was as a helper in the carpet room of a dry goods house and later in a bookstore at Bridgeport. Mr. Hall first came to Cleve- land on October 9, 1871, the day the great Chi- cago fire started. He was in the passenger offices of the Lake Shore & Michigan South- ern Railway 61/2 years, finally resigning to return East, where he had charge of the ac- counting rooms of the Singer Manufacturing Company at Providence, Rhode Island, for six years. This training made him valuable to sewing machine organizations, and on return- ing to Cleveland he took a position in the wholesale department of the Domestic Sewing Machine Company and remained there seven years. Afterwards he spent four years with the White Sewing Machine Company as as- sistant to the superintendent of branch offices and later was promoted to retail man- ager for Cuyahoga County.

The position which was most significant as opening gradually the door of opportunity in a business way was when he became general manager of the Globe Soap Company, a con- cern that was afterwards incorporated as the Essex Soap Company. Mr. Hall finally left this business to establish a laundry supply house known as the Hall-Moore Company, but at the end of three years sold his interests and engaged in the same line of business independ- ently under the name F. W. Hall Company, the offices and plant of which concern is today situated at the corner of Noble Court and West Second Street. In May, 1917, Mr. Hall sold his interests and has since managed the

business for the purchaser temporarily. Un- der his active control the F. W. Hall Company gained an impregnable position in business af- fairs, and is the only business of its kind in Cleveland. It is both manufacturing and jobbing and handles a full line of launderers', dry cleaners' and janitors' supplies. It has built up a reputation and its goods are dis- tributed among laundry establishments throughout the Middle West. Naturally it is a special business field, and one which re- quired a great deal of organization and the establishment of near and remote connections in order to make it a success. Mr. Hall's courage and confidence were signally shown when he left a position paying him a large salary in order to undertake a business whose profits were in the beginning entirely de- pendent upon his individual resourcefulness and effort. But his confidence and initiative were justified. since the business grew and prospered and has enabled him to retire.

Mr. Hall owns one of the good homes at Willoughby on the Lake. He is a republican a member of the Episcopal Church, is affil- iated with Woodward Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Cleveland Chapter Royal Arch Masons; Holyrood Commandery Knights Templar; a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Consistory and the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the Rotary Club, the Cleveland Athletic Club, Civic Chib, Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, City Club and New England Society of Cleveland.

October 1, 1878, at Elyria, Ohio, Mr. Hall married Miss Addie E. Minor, daughter of John M. and Joanna (Fuller) Minor, both now deceased. Her father was an architect. Mrs. Hall, who died April 29, 1917, after they had traveled life's highway together for nearly forty years, was the mother of two daughters: Katharine Louise, who married Hamilton Hobbs, died December 25, 1902. Marguerite DeLacey is the wife of W. P. Ta- ber, a dry goods merchant at Norwalk, Ohio, Both daughters were educated in the Cleve- land public schools and also in the private school formerly conducted by Miss Mittle- berger in this city.

LEWIS FAMILY. Cleveland people have long taken a pride in and have appreciated the achievements of members of the Lewis family in literature and journalism. There have been three brothers of the name, all born at

William ELEwie

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Cleveland, who have been distinguished in the general field of literature and journalism -Alfred Henry Lewis, William Eugene Lewis and Irving Jefferson Lewis. And while referring to the family group we should not fail to note the brilliant young author and correspondent, Tracy Hammond Lewis, who is just now enjoying the early fruits of lit- erary success and is a son of William Engene Lewis.

All these three brothers were trained to other callings but found their most satisfac- tory field of effort in writing, presently leav- ing the work to which they were profes- sionally trained for newspaper employment.

Their literary inclinations can hardly be accounted for by family inheritance. Their father, I. J. Lewis, was a builder with a spe- cialty of heavy buildings, such as churches, colleges and the like, and his reputation in that field became so widely accepted that in almost every considerable city between Pitts- burg and Denver at the present time may be found one or more substantial buildings that were erected by him. The Lewis family is of old Virginia stock dating back for more than two centuries, and in earlier generations there were connections with the family of Thomas Jefferson. At one time the Lewis family owned extensive properties in the South, in- cluding the celebrated Hot Springs in Vir- ginia. I. J. Lewis married Harriet Tracy, who was directly descended from Lieutenant Thomas Tracy, who settled at Norwich, Con- nectient, in 1608. The Tracys were allotted large areas in the Western Reserve in pay- ment for shipping and docks destroyed at New Haven and New London during the War of the Revolution. Harriet Tracy's father, Rev. Abel Tracy, of Cuyahoga County, ex- tended his labors as a minister throughout the territory included in the Northeastern Ohio Methodist Episcopal Conference.

I. J. Lewis found that his business took him so often away from Cleveland that he preferred life on a farm for his family and for several years they all lived in Concord, a small town near Painesville. The Lewis hrothers were educated in the Painesville and Cleveland high schools, attending the East High School of Cleveland while Dr. Elroy M. Avery was its superintendent. The late Alfred Henry Lewis among American literary men was almost in a class by himself as a master of the short story and as a political correspondent. His admirers and readers, numhered by the hundreds of thousands, as-

sociated his name chiefly with the "Wolfville" stories and those products of his pen will doubtless be read and appreciated as long as any interest is felt in the old time life of the ranch and range of the southwest. While it may be too early to claim immortality for his literary fame, the readers of "Wolfville" are still legion and their enthusiasm is of a quality which does not moderate with time and change.

Alfred Henry Lewis read law with Mar- shall S. Castle of Cleveland, a brilliant law- yer of the old school whose memory is still alive among members of the bar. HIe was an extremely popular young man and an ardent student. Mr. Castle, his preceptor, frequently called attention to the ease withi which his pupil mastered the profession. "That boy can read down the fold of a law book and he has both pages of text photo- graphed on his mind," he said.

Young Mr. Lewis was elected prosecuting attorney of Cleveland two months after his admission to the bar. He was licensed to practice thirty days after he had achieved his majority. For two years he officiated as city prosecutor and upon the expiration of his term went West in a concession to a spirit of adventure which took him over the entire southwestern cattle country. His four years as cowpuncher and performances in other capacities in New Mexico, Arizona and Colo- rado equipped him with the incidents and experience which made him famons as the author of the "Wolfville" books. The first of these was printed twenty years ago. It was followed by others, from year to year, constituting a record of a day and conditions forever gone. The ranges are fenced, the vast herds of cattle are cared for by ranch hands, on a somewhat larger scale but after the same fashion, as followed by the small cattle growers of Ohio, Indiana and the mid- dle states. The time and men he pictured, through the medium of his "Old Cattle Man," are no more, but his Wolfville writings are accounted by literary students of the differ- ent phases of American life as entitled to a place among the classics.

The author died December 23, 1914, but his Wolfville and other books still enjoy a heavy sale. Between 1897, when he published his first Wolfville book and the time of his death -seventeen years-Mr. Lewis printed eight- een books which enjoyed wide vogue, and two, "Searchy," the story of a New York boy, and "The Field Notes of a Reformer,"

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printed in installments in magazines, which are now in the hands of publishers. The lat- ter is a tale of his experiences as city prose- cutor of Cleveland.

"The Boss," a political romance, "The President," "The Throwback," "Ohio Days," a series of incidents having their origin in the country schools and social life of north- ern Ohio, and other similar romances, also enjoyed a generous popularity.

"Aaron Burr, an American Patrician," "When Men Grow Tall," a story of Andrew Jackson, "Paul Jones, " and "Peggy O'Neal," are four books of which Mr. Lewis was the author having their scene in Washington and are descriptive of the periods of American life, political and social, indicated by the titles.

After his stories of American life, Mr. Lewis was decidedly strongest and achieved his biggest work as a political correspondent. In that field he ranks among the highest and was the most widely read of any contempo- raneous writer. Following his cowboy expe- riences he practiced law in Kansas City but after four years joined the staff of the Kan- sas City Star, which under the late Col. William R. Nelson, was approaching the height of its influence. His work on the Star attracted immediate attention and he was later employed by the Kansas City Times as its Washington correspondent. He subsequently became the Washington correspondent of the Chicago Times, of which his brother William E. Lewis was managing editor.

When Mr. Hearst came east from San Fran- cisco and bought and revived the New York Journal, now the American, his first addition to the staff was Alfred Henry Lewis as Wash- ington correspondent. Mr. Lewis' name was known widely at the time by those interested in national affairs. His employment by Hearst gave wide circulation for his writ- ings in the various newspapers and maga- zines owned by that perfervid publicist and within two years Mr. Lewis' work became the most widely read not to say the most influential of any sent out from Washington. His position was unique; he was consulted by publicists and statesmen of all parties and holding earnestly to a rule of action which he adopted after his term of office of public prosecutor of Cleveland, he religiously de- clined all offices of political preferment, ap- pointive or elective. Three times he declined nominations as congressman in New York in districts where nomination meant election.

President Roosevelt offered him his choice of any foreign mission within the presidential power of appointment, with the exception of two. With the excepted two on the list Mr. Lewis would have declined as he did the others.

For a period of two years he was joint owner and edited, in association with Oliver H. P. Belmont, a weekly illustrated political journal in New York called "The Verdict." This was discontinued with the election of Mr. Belmont to Congress and Mr. Lewis re- turned to magazine work and newspaper cor- respondence. He also edited a magazine orig- inally designed for the improvement of pol- ities and society called "Human Life." Of this journal Mr. Lewis was absentee chief, performing his labors at long distance. His home was in New York and the publication office in Boston, the natural home of the up- lift. Human Life for a time had much popu- larity but after Mr. Lewis retired it journeyed to the discard.

For the last ten years of his life Alfred Henry Lewis was probably the highest paid and most prolific writer in America. He un- derstood every subject and adorned it and died at the height of a life of usefulness and endeavor. It is said of him that he was the one writer who wrote as he believed without considering the policy of the medium in which his work was to be printed. His various ar- rangements with newspaper and magazine owners was that his work should not be altered, but printed, if printed at all, in the style and manner of phrasing which he em- ployed.

His style was pungent, forceful and many times brilliant. It was characterized by a certain rugged originality of diction and it is doubtful if any writer ever used words, either in their native or acquired significance, with more effectiveness. He may have carried this quality too far in some of his writings, but it served him remarkably well in those spe- cial fields where his talents were at their best.

Alfred Henry Lewis' one fault character- ized him all his life. It was a frailty of genial nature and so pronounced as to be wholly admirable. His friends could do no wrong. On the other hand, those whom he conceived to be enemies of the public good, whether high in repute or office, had occasion frequently to mend their ways and reform their systems as the result of his writings.

The third of this trio of brothers is Irving

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Jefferson Lewis, who began his newspaper work on the Cleveland Plain Dealer after its purchase by the late L. E. Holden. Mr. N. S. Cobleigh, at this writing cable editor of the New York World, was city editor, and R. R. Holden managing editor. J. H. A. Bone, the greatest newspaper man who ever wrote for a Cleveland newspaper, was the editor-in-chief. He was the most helpful of editors and took the greatest interest in the younger members of his staff. The elder ones, he argued, had their habits formed and their course charted. On this staff a man with any capacity for newspaper work should grow.

Irving Jefferson Lewis was with the Plain Dealer for three years, when he joined his brothers in Kansas City as a member of the staff of the Star. He was subsequently man- aging editor of the Kansas City Globe, and in time, going to Chicago, held executive po- sitions on the Chicago Herald and the Chi- cago Times. Twenty years ago he went to New York and for the last fifteen years has been managing editor of the New York Morn- ing Telegraph. With his daily executive edi- torial work and the writing of general articles for his newspaper, Mr. Lewis has found time to produce upwards of 400 short stories or sketches of New York life. They are among the most popular of the syndicate writings sent out from New York.

William Eugene Lewis, second of the three, editor and publisher of the New York Morn- ing Telegraph, has also done much to sus- tain the prestige of the family in literature and journalism. He acquired his early expe- rience in newspaper work while devoting him- self to the study of law. He was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one and in the meantime had been a reporter for the Cleveland Leader. During the administra- tion of Hon. George W. Gardner as mayor, he served as secretary to the mayor and as a member of the Board of Improvements. When his term of office expired he went to Kansas City and engaged in the practice of law with his brother Alfred Henry.

William E. Lewis is a man of versatile tal- ents. His reputation has mainly been se- cured through his journalistic achievements, which have made his name a familiar one in some of the largest cities of the country. In the order named he has been, city editor of the Cleveland Herald, managing editor of the Kansas City News and the Chicago Times, had charge of the New York Journal's (now American) Cuban correspondence in the early

part of the Spanish-American war, managing editor of the Philadelphia North American, after its purchase by Thomas S. Wanamaker, and for the last twelve years has been presi- dent of The Lewis Publishing Company, which publishes the Morning Telegraph.

In politics by reason of family tradition perhaps, Mr. Lewis has always been a re- publican, of the independent brand, and has similarly inherited his religious beliefs and is in sympathy with the Methodist Episcopal Church. His home is at Great Neck, Long Island. He is a member of the North Hemp- stead Country and the Manhasset Bay Yacht clubs, and of the National Press Club, at Washington, and the Lotus Club of New York. He is also a member of the old colonial order, the Patriots and Founders of America.

William E. Lewis married Miss Frances Eleanor Oviatt. Her father O. M. Oviatt, a former resident of Richfield, Ohio, was once extensively engaged in the cattle business and owned and operated a large ranch near Col- fax, New Mexico. Mrs. Lewis' paternal grand- father Gen. O. M. Oviatt, was prominent in Cleveland municipal and financial affairs at one time, and with his father Capt. Heman Oviatt was a founder of the West- ern Reserve College at Hudson. Her mother, Frances (Hammond) Oviatt was a daughter of Nathaniel Hammond, who early removed from Connecticut to Northern Ohio. The an- cestry of Mrs. Lewis like that of her husband is of old colonial stock, their nearest forbears of foreign birth having come to America in 1608. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. William E. Lewis, a daughter and son. The former Ethel Oviatt Lewis was grad- uated from Smith College in the class of 1909, with Phi Beta Kappa honors, and is now Mrs. Waldo Grose.

The son Tracy Hammond Lewis is the other member of this family who has the family ten- dency toward writing. The home of his par- ents at the time of his birth was in Chicago, but he was born in Northern Ohio while his mother was visiting her parents Mr. and Mrs. O. M. Oviatt.

Tracy Lewis upon his graduation from Yale in 1912, which graduation it might be remarked was vastly gratifying from the standpoint of scholastic attainments, became a member of the staff of the New York Times. After a year he took a place on the executive staff of The Morning Telegraph of New York. At the time of the excitement along the bor- der in 1916 he was sent as correspondent for

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his paper. Of the entire number of news- paper writers who viewed Mexico and its con- ditions at that time, he was the first to give permanence to his impressions in book form. "Along the Rio Grande," which was printed late in 1916, was one of the most enjoyable pieces of literature having for its subject mat- ter the period of hostilities between the United States and Mexico. The author was interested in the various subjects connected with the camp and border life which he saw, and he wrote with the freshness of enthusiasm which would have done credit to his uncle Alfred Henry. "Along the Rio Grande" covers cer- tain sections of the Southwest and also the East and is frequently noted in trade jour- nals as "one of the six best sellers."

Tracy Lewis is greatly indebted to his mother for a fine literary taste. Mrs. Lewis before and for several years after her mar- riage wrote for several magazines and for Chicago newspapers. Her writings, chiefly in the form of sketches, stories and poetry, were characterized by a discriminating choice of subjects and the graphic quality of ex- pression. Mrs. Lewis shaped the early studies of her children along the best literary lines.

For a year prior to December, 1917, Tracy Lewis was at Washington doing the daily work of a national correspondent. He took nat- urally to the discussion of national and inter- national politics and found expression for his views in the Washington Herald, the Phila- delphia Press, the New York Morning Tele- graph and several western papers.

Possibly owing to his college training, Tracy Hammond Lewis finds much employment for his spare time in athletics, particularly field and water sports. He is one of the front di- vision of trapshooters in America and also as a yachtsman has taken down many important cups on the Sound and the Atlantic. In De- cember he received an appointment to the Gunnery Section of the Aviation Corps and was sent to San Antonio, Texas, for military instruction. He was commissioned as lieu- tenant in the Signal Corps, and detailed as instructor in machine gunnery.

VERNON LELAND STANFORD has attained an enviable position in the Cleveland bar, where he has practiced since 1903. He has distin- guished himself as a hard worker, a sound student and one who looks after the interests of his clientage with the resources born of conscientious care and long experience.

He was born on his Grandfather Stanford's

old farm at Randolph in Portage County, Ohio, December 2, 1877, a son of Wallace C. and Flora (Carver) Stanford. His parents are living at Ravenna, Ohio, on a farm along rural route No. 1. His father is a carpenter by trade but has given most of his life to agriculture. His grandfather, Chauncey Stan- ford, was one of the notable men of Portage County, standing high in the esteem of a large community because of his nobility of character and the good he accomplished in the course of a long life. He was in his eightieth year when he died at Ravenna in March, 1897. He fol- lowed the business of carpenter and farmer through his active career. During the Civil war he was a year too old to be called into service, while his son Wallace was then too young, and thus neither of them had experi- ence as a soldier.

Wallace C. Stanford was born in Edinburg, Ohio, and the family has lived in the vicinity of Ravenna for over a century. Chauncey Stanford's wife was Keturah Betsy Stanford, who died at the old home in Ravenna built by her father on January 24, 1917. She was ninety-two years of age in August, 1916. The Stanfords came from Connectient, being of English descent. It is probable that the famous Stanfords of California were descend- ants of the same original stock. Flora Carver Stanford was born in Louisville, Stark County, Ohio, but spent the greater part of her early life where she now lives not far from Ra- venna, on a farm owned by her parents. She taught school in that district in her younger days. Her mother, Lucinda (Grant) Carver, belonged to one of the oldest families settling in Portage County. Vernon Leland Stanford lived on his grandfather's farm until he was seven years of age, when his parents hought the old Carver place, where they still reside. In the family were two sons and one daughter that grew up. Vernon L. is the oldest. The next younger was Blanche, who died when about nineteen years of age. The daughter Bertha is now Mrs. Richard Dennis, living on a farm at Shalersville, Ohio. The only other son, Ray W., is an inspector with the Goodrich Rubber Company at Akron. All are gradu- ates of the Ravenna High School.

Vernon Leland Stanford graduated from Ravenna High School with the class of 1896. In 1900 he completed the collegiate course of Adelbert College at Cleveland, graduating Ph.B., and studied for the law in the Western Reserve University Law School, which gave him the degree LL. B. in 1903. He was ad-

Edward . Haoush

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mitted to the bar June 11th of the same year and at once engaged in general practice with offices in the Society for Savings Building, where he is still located. Mr. Stanford never had a partner and his successful practice has been entirely the result of his own ability and energies. He is also secretary and treasurer of the Cleveland Envelope Company.

Mr. Stanford has never married. Outside of his profession his chief diversion is music. For some time he was secretary of the Asso- ciation Male Chorus, a musical organization of the Young Men's Christian Association. He sang with that chorus for ten years steadily until 1917. He attends the Glenville Presby- terian Church, singing in the choir and teach- ing a class in Sunday school, though not a regular member of the church. He is also in- terested in instrumental music and plays the bass viol. In his profession he has been ad- mitted to practice in the Federal Court. Among other relations he is a member of the Civic League of Cleveland.

CHARLES ALFRED PAINE, who was elected president of the Cleveland Clearing House Association on February 6, 1917, has a bank- ing experience covering thirty-five years in Cleveland and is president of the National City Bank and an official in many other enter- prises.

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A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 26

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