USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107
As an author Mr. Backus is known by his publications and lectures on "The Real Mexico and Modern Civilization," "Mental Laws and the Power of Suggestion," "Health through Drugless Methods," "Science and Immor- tality," and others. He is a member of the Pan American Association of the United States at New York, the American Academy of Political and Social Science of Philadelphia, the City Club of Cleveland, the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, is president of the Fed- erated Association of Drugless Practitioners and Allied Professions of Ohio, president of the Cuyahoga Chiropractic Association of Ohio, the Ohio State Society of Naturopaths, president The American Suggestive Thera- peutic Association of Ohio, the National Psychic Science Association of Cleveland, and president of the Appreciation League of the United States, whose national headquarters are in Cleveland. In 1906-08 he was vice president of the American School Association of Mexico City and was president of the Amer-
ican Colony of Mexico at Mexico City in 1905- 07. In politics Mr. Backus has usually been affiliated with the republican party. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, and while in Mexico City assisted iu installing the Mystic Shrine, one of whose prominent initiates was President Porfirio Diaz. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Mr. Backus' professional offices are in the Permanent Building of Cleveland. His only son, Richard C. Backus, is a New York lawyer. His only daughter, Edna Lois, is the wife of Leroy Scott, sales manager of the National Carbon Company of Cleveland.
MARTIN L. SWEENEY. Among the younger members of the Cleveland bar, one whose thor- ough learning and varied ability in public life account him one of the leaders is Martin L. Sweeney. Mr. Sweeney practices as a gen- eral practitioner of the law with offices in the Society for Savings Building.
He was born at Cleveland, April 15, 1885, a son of Dominic and Anna (Cleary ) Sweeney. His parents were both natives of Ireland, his father born in County Roscommon and his mother in County Sligo. They were married in Cleveland. Dominic Sweeney came to the United States when about twenty years of age, landing in New York City and coming direct to Cleveland. That was about 1860. The mother came to this country and to Cleveland at about the age of sixteen and has lived in Cleveland for more than forty-five years. Dominic Sweeney was a teaming contractor, and under the late Mayor Blee held the office of superintendent of catch basins. He was very active in democratic politics, especially in that district of the city now the twelfth ward. As contractor he also had much to do with building up and developing the Upper Cuyahoga Valley. In the family were seven children, three sons and four daughters, all living except one daughter. John Thomas, the oldest, is a resident of Los Angeles, California ; Mary is the deceased daughter; Catherine, Anna, Martin L., Agnes and Dominic J. are the five younger children. Dominic is now assistant priest of the Blessed Sacrament Church of Cleveland. All were born in Cleve- land. Martin L. Sweeney was twelve years of age when his father died. It then became necessary for him to go to work, and from that age he has depended npon his own energy and resources to put him into the profession of law and into a position where he may properly
164
CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS
be considered one of the successful men of this city. In the meantime he had attended St. Bridget's Parochial School of Cleveland and in the intervals of his self-supporting work made himself opportunities to attend private school and also the night classes of the Cleve- land Law School, the law department of Bald- win-Wallace College. Mr. Sweeney is a very capable salesman, and mastered that art be- fore he was ready to practice law.
He was graduated with the class of June, 1913, from law school and was admitted to the Ohio bar December 16, 1913. He began practice in the Society for Savings Building in December, 1914.
Mr. Sweeney has taken an active part in democratic politics in Cleveland. In the fall of 1912, before his admission to the bar, he was elected to the Eightieth General Assembly, during the administration of Gov. James Cox. He served in the session of 1913-14 and was a member of the committees on Benevolent and Penal Institutions, Liquor Traffic and Temperance, Supplies and Expenditures. While in the Legislature Mr. Sweeney gave particular attention to the Workmen's Com- pensation Act, the Mothers' Pension Bill and the Liquor License problem. In the Eightieth Assembly he was next to the youngest member of the House of Representatives.
Mr. Sweeney, who is unmarried, is inter- ested in a number of fraternal societies, in- cluding the Knights of Columbus, the Fra- ternal Order of Eagles, the Loyal Order of Moose, is a past officer of the Catholic Order of Foresters of Perry Court of Cleveland, and is the Cuyahoga County president for the four year term, 1915-18, of the Ancient Order of Hibernians of Ohio. He also belongs to the City Club, the Cleveland Bar Association, and St. Thomas Parish of the Catholic Church.
CHARLES WARNER PAINE is a lawyer by profession, member of the firm Seaton and Paine in the Leader-News Building, and since moving to this city seventeen years ago has attained the position and success that goes with a lawyer of the highest standing.
Mr. Paine represents some old and promi- nent family connections in Northeastern Ohio. There were five members of the Paine family soldiers in the Revolutionary war. After the war they settled in different localities, and one branch went to Northeastern Ohio and as a result of their influence and activities the Town of Painesville was named for them.
Charles Warner Paine was born on a farm
in Ripley Township, Huron County, Ohio, not far from the little town of Greenwich, Sep- tember 14, 1872. Another notable ancestor was his greatgrandfather, Rev. Joseph Ed- wards, who in the pioneer times of Huron County was a Presbyterian circuit rider. He preached the gospel in many widely scattered communities of the state and he gave the land and laid out Edwards cemetery in Ripley Township. In that cemetery are buried all of Mr. Paine's people on both sides and also many of the early settlers of that locality. Both the Paine and Edwards families came to Ohio from Connecticut. Mr. Paine is a son of Edwards Clark and Cordelia (Jenney) Paine. His mother's people were Quakers from New Jersey. Both parents were born in Ripley Township of Huron County. Edwards C. Paine grew up as a farmer boy, followed farm- ing to some extent and also railroad work, but spent the greater part of his active life and found his real vocation in the insurance field. In 1892 he moved to Columbus, Ohio, and was one of the leading life insurance men of the state. At the time of his death in 1914 he was manager of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York at Columbus. The mother also died at Columbus in 1914. Ed- wards C. Paine was a Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner. In the family were three children, two sons and one daughter, Charles W. being the oldest. His brother, Frederick C., is in the general insurance business at Phoenix, Arizona. He was born at Sandusky, Ohio, while the daughter, Mrs. Edward Compton Fenimore, was born at Port Clinton, Ohio. Mrs. Fenimore is prominent in social circles at Columbus and the Fenimores are one of the leading families of the capital city. Mr. and Mrs. Fenimore have three children : Edward Compton Fenimore, Jr., born Decem- ber 4, 1911; Charles Paine Fenimore and John Cooper Fenimore, both of whom were born on Christmas Eve, the one in 1913 and the youngest in 1915.
Charles W. Paine spent most of his early youth at Port Clinton, Ohio, and graduated from the high school there in 1890. In 1897 he completed his studies in the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, was graduated Bache- lor of Science, and the following year he spent in Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore, taking special courses in History, Economics and Jurisprudence. Mr. Paine studied law at Delaware, Ohio, with Frank M. Merriott and was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1899. During the following year he was a partner with his
Char Maine.
165
CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS
preceptor under the name Merriott & Paine, but in 1900 removed to Cleveland and in 1902 formed his present partnership with Arthur E. Seton. For fifteen years this firm has had a large share of the general practice of law and has handled many cases of importance in all the local and state courts.
While in Ohio Wesleyan University Mr. Paine was captain of cadets, and this experi- ence and familiarity with military technique brought him an offer, which he accepted, while he was a student at Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore to drill some of the recruits for the Spanish-American war. After removing to Cleveland he was for five years a member of Troop A of the Ohio National Guard. Mr. Paine is a republican in politics, but outside of his profession he finds his chief pleasure in his attractive home at 2456 Overlook Road. If he has any special recreation it is automo- biling.
At Cleveland October 10, 1915, Mr. Paine married Miss Florence Eleanor Whiting. Their married life has been a most happy and ideal one, and the affection that culminated in their marriage was the result of common ideals and tastes and purposes. Mrs. Paine is a daughter of Arthur E. and Fanny ( Wooster) Whiting, of Cleveland. She was born in Cleveland, and completed her education at Miss Mittleberger's School. Mrs. Paine was a member of the Euclid Club, an organization no longer in existence but recalled in the grateful associations of all its former mem- bers. Both Mr. and Mrs. Paine are members of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. They are the parents of one child, Patricia Eleanor, born November 10, 1917.
;
JOHN ALVARO SMITH, senior member of the law firm of Smith, Griswold, Green & Hadden, is in point of years of continuous service one of the oldest members of the Cleveland bar. He was graduated from the Ohio State and Union Law School at Cleveland in 1872, with the degree LL.B., was admitted to the Ohio bar in the same year and to the United States courts on the 4th of July of that year. During his practice he had gained the reputation and the influential connections of the successful lawyer, and of his later enviable eminence at the har nothing could be said that would more distinguish him than his present position at the head of the firm above named.
Mr. Smith was born at Plain City, Ohio, December 12, 1848. His parents, John Whit- more and Esther Ann (Keys) Smith, were
early settlers in Union County, Ohio, where his father had a large farm. Both parents died in Union County. Of the ten children eight are living today.
John A. Smith acquired a liberal education as a preparation for his chosen career. He was graduated A. M. and B. A. from the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware in 1871, and in the following year graduated in law at Cleveland. Mingling with his strict profes- sional activities as a lawyer have come many business and civic interests. He is a director in bank and commercial corporations, includ- ing the following: The Guarantee Title and Trust Company, the Pearl Street Savings & Trust Company; the Forest City Savings & Trust Company, the State Banking & Trust Company, the Columbia Savings & Loan Com- pany, the McLean Tire & Rubber Company, the Detroit Street Investment Company, the Merchants Banking & Storage Company, the Citizens Mortgage Investment Company, and the C. S. Realty Company.
lIe is an honored member of the Cleveland Bar Association and the Ohio State Bar Asso- ciation. For 61% years he served as a member of the Cleveland Library Board, was a mem- ber of the city council one term, 1888-90, and was president of the East Cleveland Council and vice mayor of East Cleveland from 1911 to 1913. Mr. Smith is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of Holyrood Commandery of the Knights Templar, and of Lake Erie Consistory. Ile also belongs to the Cleveland Athletic Club, the Castalia Trout Club and the Masonic Club. IIis church is the Winde- mere Methodist Episcopal.
Mr. Smith was married in Cleveland, July 18, 1876, to Marietta Edmondston, now de- ceased. The one child of their union is John William Smith, an attorney and now a member of the law firm of Smith, Griswold, Green & Hadden.
On December 18, 1915, Mr. Smith married Elizabeth A. Williams, daughter of the late Thomas H. and Mary ( Lewis) Williams. Her parents were married in Wales and about a year later came to the United States, locating at Hubbard in Trumbull County, Ohio, where her father was a coal operator. She was edu- cated in the grammar and high schools of Hubbard, Ohio, took preparatory work in the Baldwin-Wallace University at Cleveland, and is a graduate of the Cleveland Law School. She was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1908 and is a member of the Cleveland Bar Asso- ciation and the Ohio State Bar Association.
166
CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS
Mrs. Smith is active in the Woman's Suffrage Movement, is a member of the Woman's Club of Cleveland and was a delegate to the National Convention held at Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1916, by that organization.
ARTHUR DOUGLAS BALDWIN, who has ac- quired many influential connections with Cleveland's life both as a lawyer and citizen, has practiced law in the city for a number of years, and he has looked after a large clientage and many other interests from his offices in the Garfield Building.
. Mr. Baldwin was born in the Hawaiian Islands April 8, 1876, son of Henry P. and Emily (Alexander) Baldwin. Part of his youth was spent in California and he attended the Oakland High School in that state. He was prepared for college in the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, graduated B. A. from Yale University and has his law degree from the Harvard Law School.
In 1908 he organized the law firm of Crowell & Baldwin at Cleveland. This firm was dis- solved in 1911. Mr. Baldwin is secretary of the Workingmen's Collateral Loan Company, a director of the American Fabric and Belting Company, and also gives much of his profes- sional time to various social and charitable in- stitutions and organizations. In March, 1917, Mr. Baldwin became a member of the new law firm Garfield, MacGregor & Baldwin, the senior member of which is James R. Garfield, formerly Secretary of the Interior under Presi- dent Roosevelt.
He served with Judge Daniel Babst, of Crestline, Ohio, on the commission to codify Ohio Children's Law in 1911-12. In 1912 he was progressive candidate for state representa- tive. His home is in the suburb Bratenahl, on Lake Shore Boulevard, and he was a mem- ber of the Bratenahl Board of Education in 1910-13. From 1901 to 1904 he was a member of Troop A, Ohio National Guard.
Mr. Baldwin is a member of the Nisi Prius Club; is trustee of the Cleveland Federation for Charity and Philanthropy; president of the Babies' Dispensary and Hospital; a trustee of the Legal Aid Society; member of the executive board of the Civic League of Cleveland; president of the Cleveland Hos- pital Council; and secretary of the survey committee of the Cleveland Foundation. He has social membership in the Union Club, the Tavern Club, the Country Club, the Mayfield Golf Club, the University Club, the Chagrin Valley Hunt Club, and finds his recreation
chiefly in horseback riding and tennis. On November 27, 1917, he was commissioned first lieutenant of field artillery in the National Army and assigned to active duty at Camp Funston, Kansas.
Mr. Baldwin was married at Cleveland June 17, 1902, to Reba Louise Williams. Their five children are Henry, Louise, Fred, Alex- ander and Sarah.
CHARLES WADDELL CHESNUTT has been a member of the Cleveland bar for thirty years. While the law has been a congenial field and his attainments and accomplishments have fitted him to rank among the able members of the legal profession, Mr. Chesnutt has at- tained his national reputation and has found recreation in authorship and he has long been recognized as one of the first in Cleveland's literary circles.
Though most of his youth was spent in the South Mr. Chesnutt claims Cleveland as his native city. He was born there June 20, 1858, a son of Andrew J. and Maria Chesnutt. His parents were of southern ancestry, located at Cleveland in 1856, but after the close of the Civil war went to North Carolina, locating at Fayetteville. Mr. Chesnutt received his earliest instruction in the public schools of Cleveland, and in North Carolina his school- ing was largely of a private character. Natur- ally studious, he followed this bent and has mastered a wide range of subjects in addition to the law.
At the age of sixteen he became a teacher. For nine years he worked in the public schools of North Carolina, and when only twenty- three years of age was appointed principal of the State Normal School at Fayetteville. Part of his journeyman experience as a writer was done in New York City in 1884 in connec- tion with newspapers. He also qualified as an expert shorthand reporter and on returning to Cleveland became a reporter in the courts and his services in that capacity have been employed in connection with a great deal of important litigation. By this practical ex- perience and also by study in the office of the late Samuel E. Williamson, he prepared for admission to the bar and after examination was licensed to practice in 1887. Since then he has combined court reporting with a gen- eral practice as a lawyer, and his offices are in the Williamson Building.
As a writer Mr. Chesnutt's power has been chiefly manifested in delineation of the pic- turesque and the romantic in human experi-
167
CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS
ence. He became an interested observer of motives and circumstances in the development of human destiny when a teacher in North Carolina, and many of the incidents he has woven into his larger works were drawn from his rather extensive contact with men and affairs. Mr. Chesnutt is the author of : "The Conjure Woman," 1899; "The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories," 1899; "Life of Frederick Douglas," published in the "Bea- con Biographies" in 1899; "The House Be- hind the Cedars," 1900; "The Marrow. of Tradition," 1901; "The Colonel's Dream," 1905, these being the better known titles in addition to a large number of short stories and fugitive essays and articles. His writings indicate a wealth of imagination combined with a comprehensive understanding of the problems of life and a clear analysis of the motive springs of human conduct. Mr. Ches- nutt is married and is a member of the Row- fant Club.
WILLIAM R. RYAN, SR., was for many years a conspicuous figure in the political, business and civic life of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. For ten years he was the recognized power behind the throne of the democratic party in the county, and also became known as "the father of Cleveland's summer resorts."
He was born at Detroit, Michigan, June 21, 1855, and died October 23, 1917, a son of Jerome and Loretta Ryan. His parents were both natives of Ireland and died during the early boyhood of William R. Ryan, who grew up and was educated hy an uncle, a stern school master of the old school. He began his career humbly enough, but in a few years was managing a modest business of his own. For a number of years he was a dealer in candy, cigars and tobacco, and also operated a drug store. From these interests he became identi- fied with the establishment and management of public amusement and resort places. He organized and was the first president and man- ager of the Euclid Beach Park, Cleveland's most popular summer resort, and he also owned and operated Manhattan Beach and the White City Park in Cleveland. For the last twenty years of his life he was one of Cleveland's leading real estate men, and during this time handled some of the largest real estate deals in the city. He was an official appraiser of real estate, was a director in the State Banking and Trust Company, and his later years were burdened with heavy husiness responsibilities. He is given credit for being the first man to
predict that Cleveland would have a million people by 1920, a prediction which at the pres- ent time few would doubt the fulfillment.
Early in his career he became interested in local democratic politics, and eventually was a figure of prominence in the state politics. He served as justice of the peace from 1883 to 1886, having been elected at the age of twenty- five. He was chief deputy sheriff of Cuyahoga County from 1887 to 1890 and was sheriff from 1891 to 1894.
The late Mr. Ryan was a charter member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association. He was a member of St. Agnes Catholic Church. In 1877 in Cleveland he married Catherine Murphy, daughter of Nicholas and Catherine Murphy. They became the parents of nine children : Jerome A., who married Agnes O'Brien; Nicholas, Kathryn and Angela, all unmarried; William R., who mar- ried Louise Brotherton; Frances, wife of Howard Hall; J. Lee, who married Marian Fuller; Clara, who became the wife of John Cleary ; and Eugene, unmarried.
WILLIAM RICHARD RYAN, JR., one of the younger members of the Cleveland bar, has already a well established position in his pro- fession. He is a son of the late William R. Ryan, elsewhere mentioned in this publication.
He was born at Cleveland, April 21, 1887, and had unusually liberal and thorough ad- vantages in preparation for his profession. He attended the Fairmount Grade School, the East High School, was a student of Denison Uni- versity with the class of 1907, and took his law course at Notre Dame University, from which he graduated LL. B. in 1911. He was a mem- ber of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Denison University. Mr. Ryan was prominent in col- lege athletics. While in the East High School at Cleveland he played as a member and was captain of the championship football and base- ball teams, and for four years, from 1907 to 1911, was with the Notre Dame University baseball and football teams. The followers of university sports need not be told that Notre Dame teams during those years stood in the front rank, and during one season at least its football team had no superior either east or west.
Since coming out of university Mr. Ryan has been busily engaged with a growing law practice, with offices in the Society for Savings Building. He is a member of the Catholic Church. In politics he went with Roosevelt in
168
CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS
the progressive campaign of 1912, and in that year was candidate for county recorder of Cuyahoga County. He is a member of the Alpha Omega High School fraternity. Octo- ber 3, 1912, at Cleveland, Mr. Ryan married Louise Alden Brotherton, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles F. Brotherton of Cleveland. She is a direct descendant of the famous John Alden of Mayflower and early Pilgrim history. One of her grandmothers lived in the first frame building in Kansas City, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Ryan have two children : Julia Louise and W. R. Ryan, third.
ROSCOE MORGAN EWING is one of Cleve- land's younger lawyers, but has taken high rank in the profession and enjoys some very influential and useful connections with the Cleveland bar and with Cleveland citizenship.
He was born in Wayne County, Ohio, May 23, 1889, and through his mother his family has been identified with Ohio since 1800, while his father's family came to this state in 1812. Mr. Ewing was reared in Medina County from the age of eight years and lived there until 1908, when he came to Cleveland. His parents, John E. and Chastina (Baird) Ewing, are still living in Medina County. His father has been superintendent of the Medina County Infirmary since 1908. Both parents were na- tives of Wayne County. The Bairds came from Vermont and Connecticut while the Ewings were of Virginia stock. Mr. Ewing's great-grandfather on his mother's side lived in the early days ten miles south of Wooster, Ohio. Roscoe M. Ewing was third in a family of five children, all of whom are living, as follows: Ernest, an instructor in the Spen- cerian Business College of Cleveland ; Carrie, wife of Roy Curtis, a grocer at Wadsworth in Medina County ; Roscoe M .; Dr. Forest R., a veterinary surgeon with a large practice at Shreve in Wayne County ; and Theodore H., who is still at home and a student in high school. All the children were born in Wayne County except Theodore, who is a native of Medina County.
Roscoe M. Ewing had some difficulties to contend with and stimulate his ambition while a youth. He attended the district schools, the Wadsworth High School, where he was grad- uated in 1908, and in the meantime had taught two terms of school in Medina County. Com- ing to Cleveland in the summer of 1908, he was enrolled as a student in Western Reserve University in the fall of 1909 and diligently pursued his law studies until graduating
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.