A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 33

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 33

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LL.B. in June, 1912. Admitted to the Ohio bar in the same month, he began the prac- tice of law in the law offices of the late Hon. Robert E. MeKisson. Mr. MeKisson, a promi- nent lawyer and former mayor of Cleveland, is the subject of a sketch on other pages of this publication. Mr. Ewing practiced in the McKisson offices until the death of the former mayor on October 14, 1915. Much of the practice formerly handled by Mr. MeKisson has since been turned over to Mr. Ewing and he has shown nnusual capacity and ability in the handling of complicated interests and is a forceful advocate in court and a thoroughly competent counselor. He now owns a splendid law library, having purchased a large part of the library formerly owned by Mr. MeKisson.

Mr. Ewing is a republican both by birth and environment, and has been quite active in politics. He has several times taken the stump in behalf of candidates, though he has so far kept his resolution not to seek office for himself. He is a member of the Masonic order at Medina, belongs to the Cleveland Bar Association, the Cleveland Civic League, and the Methodist Episcopal Church. ITis offices are in the Williamson Building and his home is at 1250 Marlowe Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio. Mr. Ewing was married August 26, 1914, to Miss Viva B. Sargeant, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Sargeant, of Medina. Medina was the birthplace and early home of Mrs. Ewing, and she is a graduate of the high school of Medina with the class of 1910. They have one daughter, Jane Lucile, born at Cleveland.

EVAN HENRY HOPKINS is a member of the law firm Herrick, Hopkins, Stockwell & Benesch, in the Society for Savings Building. Has been an active member of the Cleveland bar for over a quarter of a century. He was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, November 4, 1864, a son of David J. and Mary (Jef- freys) Hopkins. He was reared and received his early education in Pennsylvania and in 1885 graduated from the Western Reserve Academy and continued his college work in Adelbert College at Cleveland, which awarded him the bachelor of arts degree in 1889. Mr. Hopkins then entered Harvard Law College and was graduated LL. B. with the class of 1892. In October preceding his graduation he was admitted to the Ohio har and on leaving Harvard began active practice as junior part- ner of the law firm of Herrick & Hopkins. His senior associate is Mr. Frank R. Herrick. The firm of Herrick & Hopkins continued un-

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changed for nearly a quarter of a century. In January, 1916, John N. Stockwell, Jr., and Alfred A. Benesch was admitted to the firm. In 1892 Mr. Hopkins was appointed to a pro- fessorship in the Western Reserve Law School, which position he held until 1910. From 1892 to 1895 he was registrar, and from 1895 to 1910 he was also dean of the school.

Mr. Hopkins has for a number of years been a regular contributor to legal publications. Many of the young lawyers who received their training in Western Reserve University ac- knowledge their indebtedness to him as a teacher and adviser. He has frequently ap- peared before the higher courts both in the state and the federal judiciary.

From the time he began practice at Cleve- land Mr. Hopkins has evinced a ready and willing co-operation with every movement for the betterment of the city. He was a member and secretary of the Cleveland Public Library Board from 1892 until 1898 and in 1900 was appointed a member of the board of park com- missioners, serving one year. He is a re- publican, a member of the University Club and of the Presbyterian Church. He married December 27, 1892, Miss Frances P. M. Shain, of Cleveland, and has four daughters.

WALTER CHISHOLM RANSON has in recent years been prominently identified with the allotment business in the Cleveland real estate field. He is a man of wide and varied busi- ness experience in different lines and though a native of Cleveland has had his business head- quarters and home at different cities through- out the eastern states.

He has a number of notable Cleveland rela- tionships in his family record. His maternal grandfather, Capt. John Chisholm, came to Cleveland during the '40s, moving here from Nova Scotia. He had been a captain on ocean vessels and for a number of years had charge of some of the Great Lakes boats. In Cleve- land he lived as a neighbor to the late Henry Chisholm, one of Cleveland's well known pioneers. Captain Chisholm also built Great Lakes boats and assisted in constructing some of the first piling set in the Cleveland harbor. He died when comparatively young.

The paternal grandfather, Ranson, was an Englishman, and for many years served the East India Company and the Hudson's Bay Company. He was one of the traveling agents of the latter corporation in Canada and ac- quired considerable property in America. Many years ago he was owner of a tract of

land at Council Bluffs, Iowa. He sold 160 acres of this without his wife's signature to the deed, though she was still alive. That has remained a flaw on the title of the property to the present time.

The parents of Walter C. Ranson were Thomas W. and Eliza Jane (Chisholm) Ran- son. The former was born in England, and during early manhood had some experience in the English navy. He came to Cleveland when about twenty years of age. His wife was born in Nova Scotia and was brought to Cleveland at the age of seven years. Thomas W. Ranson died at Cleveland March 26, 1916, at the age of seventy-six and his wife passed away November 30, 1917, aged seventy-eight. They were married in Cleveland, and the father was for many years prominent in railroad work. At one time he was superintendent of motive power for the old C. C. & I. Railway before it was acquired by the Big Four System. He was also an employee of the Erie Railway. In 1872 he patented an air brake and put it on the market under the firm name of the Gardner & Ranson Air Brake. The rights were contested in an infringement suit brought by the West- inghouse people, and being defeated in a lower court Ranson and his partner never carried the matter to a higher tribunal and thus lost both the honor and the profits which would have been a proper reward to his genius. After leaving railroading he was engaged in the manufacture of artificial ice machinery, as a member of the Arctic Ice Machinery Company at Cleveland and Canton. He also had charge of The American Ice Company's plant at Balti- more and Washington. About eight years be- fore his death he retired from business. He was affiliated with Iris Lodge No. 229, Free and Accepted Masons and of the Royal Arch Chapter. He and his wife had four sons, three of whom are still living: Albert V., of Pitts- burgh : Dr. Thomas W., of Cleveland ; Walter C .; and William T., who died at Cleveland when about twenty-five years of age.

Walter C. Ranson spent most of his boyhood at Cleveland, attended public schools, and fin- ished his education at Hornell, New York, where he graduated from his school in 1892. His business experience began as storekeeper for the Erie Railway at Hornell, where he re- mained four years. He then became a travel- ing salesman and represented different com- panies and different lines of goods for several years. His next employment was as secretary and treasurer of the Conneant Ice Company at Pittsburgh, and from there he returned to

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Cleveland in 1902. For several years he was connected with the Frisbie Company, a real estate firmn, credited with the distinction of having put on the market the first modern allotment in the Cleveland district. Becoming dissatisfied with his business relations by that time, Mr. Ranson left them and for a time was superintendent of erection in contracting for pipe work for a mill construction and pipe work company. Later he was salesman for The United States Mercantile Company, a rival of the Dun and Bradstreet mercantile agencies, and was manager of the Pittsburgh branch office.

Returning to Cleveland in 1912 Mr. Ranson became local sales representative for The Schauffler Realty Company, and continued with that firm until 1913, when he and W. Louis Rose, a fellow employee of the Schauffler interests, established The R. & R. Realty Com- pany with offices in the Park Building. Messrs. Ranson and Rose have been responsible for the organization of several companies, including also The R. R. & P. P. Company, the R. & R. Brokerage Company, the R. R. Home Building Company, all of which have their offices in the Park Building. Mr. Ranson is president of these organizations and Mr. Rose is secretary and treasurer. They have dealt exclusively in allotments, and have specialized in the develop- ment and marketing of the Five Points allot- ment, one of the most interesting residence district developments in the manufacturing regions around Cleveland.

Mr. Ranson volunteered his services during the Spanish-American war, but was disquali- fied since he was eight pounds under the physical weight requirements of the Govern- ment. He was formerly a working member of the republican party but at present has no special interest in politics. He is unmarried and has never sought membership in any clubs or lodges.

JOSEPH HERMAN WENNEMAN. One of the leading legal combinations of the City of Cleveland in the firm of Wenneman, Gates & Edgerton. The senior member of this concern, Joseph Herman Wenneman, has been engaged in practice at Cleveland for twenty-two years, and during this period has been engaged in much important litigation, particularly in the field of insurance and surety law and settle- ment of estates, although he also carries on a general practice. Mr. Wenneman has been identified with public affairs in various ways and is accounted one of the city's strong and

forceful citizens. He is a native son of Cleve- land and was born May 23, 1871, his parents being Henry C. and Anna (Hoff) Wenneman.

Henry C. Wenneman, who was first a car- penter, later a grocer, and is now retired, was born in Westphalia, Germany, and was a young man when he came to the United States and located at Cleveland. Here he met and married Anna Hoff, who had been born in the Rhine Province, near Koblenz, Germany, and whose death occurred in May, 1912. The parents had three sons and one daughter, all of whom are now living, as follows : Peter J .. who is the oldest and resides at West Park, Ohio, where he is engaged in business as a commission dealer; Joseph Herman, of this notice ; John J., who is a carpenter contractor at Buffalo, New York; and Kate, who is now Mrs. Joseph M. Loehr, of Cleveland, and lives with her father at the old home here. All the children were born at Cleveland and were reared and received their educations in this city.

Joseph Herman Wenneman first attended Saint Mary's Parochial School, and then en- rolled as a student at Saint Ignatius College, on the West Side, Cleveland. He was the first real graduate of that institution, and, in fact, had he not coaxed a pupil friend during the last half of the year to prepare himself to graduate at the same time he would have been the only graduate of 1894. As it was, it made a graduating class of two. Mr. Wenneman was given the degree of bachelor of arts by Saint Ignatius that year, and after taking a post-graduate course was in 1895 given the degree of master of arts. While attending this college he also did triple duty by taking the law course at the Western Reserve Uni- versity Law School, being graduated from that institution with the class of 1896, with the de- gree of bachelor of laws. He had been ad- mitted to the bar of Ohio in 1895 and had commenced practice at Cleveland in June of that year. The greater part of his tuition fees at college were paid by Mr. Wenneman from funds he had earned in his youth while work- ing at various iron trades and also in the wood cabinet maker works.

During the first five months of his practice Mr. Wenneman remained without a partner. At the end of that time he formed an associa- tion with Herman Preusser, under the firm name of Preusser & Wenneman, with offices in the Beekman Building on Superior Avenue. This partnership remained in force until 1900,

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when Mr. Wenneman again resumed indi- vidual practice, and continued by himself until the fall of 1904, with an office in the Williamson Building. Subsequently he formed a partnership with Charter Oak Mc- Cray, under the firm style of Wenneman & McCray, with offices still in the Williamson Building, and their partnership continued for three years, or until 1908. Mr. Wenneman then again took up individual practice, mov- ing his office to the Citizens Building and con- tinued alone until February, 1911, when he became associated with Clement L. Gates and Arthur R. Edgerton in the firm of Wenneman, Gates and Edgerton. The offices of this, the present firm, were originally in the Citizens Building, but when the now Marshall Build- ing was erected, on the Public Square, the con- cern moved to that structure, where the members occupy suite No. 604-607.

In 1897 Mr. Wenneman was admitted to practice in the Federal courts and before the Department of the Interior. He has made a particularly profound study of insurance and surety law, and of the settlement of estates, and also carries on a general practice. He has acted as general agent for various surety and casualty companies. His identification with various organizations of the city ineludes membership in the Cleveland Law Library As- sociation, the Cleveland Bar Association and the Cleveland Chamber of Industry. He is also a member of the building committees of Saint John's Hospital and Saint Stephen's Auditorium and School; and belongs to the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association, in which he was grand deputy of Ohio; the Loyal Order of Moose; and the alumni association of the Western Reserve University Law School, of which he was president in 1912 and 1913. He maintains an independent stand upon political questions of the day, although until about 1902 he was very active in politics. With his family he belongs to Saint Mary's Church, Berea, Ohio.

Mr. Wenneman was married April 12, 1899, to Miss Augusta C. Sellers, of Cleveland, daughter of Theodore and Margaret Sellers, the former of whom resides at North Olmsted, while the latter died in 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Wenneman are the parents of two sons: Joseph Anthony and William Henry, both of whom are students at the Strongsville High School. The Wenneman family reside in a pleasant home at Strongsville, which is sit-

uated about sixteen miles from the Public Square, Cleveland.

FRANCIS L. STEVENS. Prominent among the representatives of the legal profession of Cleveland is Francis L. Stevens, whose career has been a somewhat remarkable one. The common, every-day man, engrossed in the busi- ness avocation which brings him his daily sus- tenance, is representative, perhaps, of the nation's citizenship. This is the normal type, and his life begins and ends, in many cases, with nothing more distinctive than is the ripple on the stream when the pebble is thrown into the water. It is the unusual type that commands attention and it is his influence ex- erted on his community and the record of his life that are interesting and valuable as mat- ters of biography. In the professions, and especially in the law, the opportunities for usefulness and personal advancement depend almost entirely upon this unusually-gifted in- dividual, and here natural endowment is as essential as is thorough preparation. The bar of Cleveland has its full quota of brilliant men, and one of its foremost members is Mr. Stevens.

Francis L. Stevens was born at Alvinston, Ontario, Canada, April 5, 1877, and is a son of Elijah and Louise J. (Oke) Stevens. His father was born at Nilestown, near London, Ontario, and spent his boyhood there, while his mother was born at Whitby, Ontario. They met and were married at Alvinston, where the father was engaged in the bakery and confec- tionary business, but subsequently went to Wallaceburgh, Ontario, and May 9, 1899, came to the United States and located at Lorain, Ohio, where Elijah Stevens also followed the bakery and confectionery business. About the year 1907 they came to Cleveland. where Mr. Stevens was employed by the George Worth- ington Company, a wholesale hardware con- cern, until his death, which occurred February 19, 1916. Mrs. Stevens still survives her hus- band and is a resident of Cleveland. Mr. Stevens was widely known in fraternal circles of the city, being a member of King Solomon Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Elyria; Elyria Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; Elyria Council, Royal and Select Masons; Holy Rood Commandery, Knights Templars, Cleveland; Lake Erie Consistory, Select Royal Masons; and Al Koran Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic

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Shrine, Cleveland; Cleveland Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star; Suydenham Valley Lodge No. 120, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Wallaceburgh, Ontario, and the Encampment of that order at the same place; the Inde- pendent Order of Foresters; the Canadian Order of Foresters; the Ancient Order of United Workmen; the Canadian Order Wood- men of the World; and Rokeby Lodge No. 19, Knights of Pythias, of Wallaceburgh. He was very active in religious work and a help- ful member of the Peoples Methodist Episco- pal Church of Cleveland.

Francis L. Stevens, his parents' only child, attended the graded schools of Alvinston and the high school at Wallaceburgh, Ontario, where he was graduated in the class of June, 1894. After going to Lorain, Ohio, he learned the machinists's trade, at which he worked for nine years, holding a stationary engineer's license and working at various places all over the country. Finally he took a position as foreman in one of the Erie shops, and it was while he was thus engaged that he became interested in the law and decided to enter upon its practice. He was compelled to work and to support a wife and three children, but despite this fact he not only graduated from the law department of Baldwin-Wallace Col- lege, but was one of the honorary members of the graduating class of 1911. He commenced practice at once, even before hearing that he had successfully passed the examination be- fore the Supreme Court, and from that time to the present has been in the enjoyment of a constantly-growing clientele. He carries on a general practice, being equally familiar with the various branches of his profession, and maintains offices in suite No. 1126-29, William- son Building. His success in his profession has been remarkable and he enjoys the esteem and friendship of his fellow practitioners and his fellow members in the various orders of the law with which he is connected.

Like his father, Mr. Stevens has been greatly interested in fraternal orders and their work. He is now a member of Euclid Lodge No. 599, Free and Accepted Masons; Garrett Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Garrett, Indi- ana; Apollo Commandery, Knights Templars, Kendallville, Indiana; and Garrett Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star; Anchor Lodge No. 908, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Cleveland ; Holman Lodge No. 699, Knights of Pythias, of Lorain, Ohio, and several insur- ance orders. He has been twice noble grand

of Anchor Lodge of Odd Fellows, and has the distinction of having presided at the largest meeting of any one lodge ever held in Ohio, this being December 19, 1912, at a special meeting of Anchor Lodge to confer the third degree upon fifty-seven candidates. Politically Mr. Stevens is a republican. With his wife and children he belongs to Calvary Evangeli- cal Church of Cleveland. Mr. Stevens is so much of a home man that this may be said to be liis hobby, but this must be shared with a love for mechanics, which he has retained since his youth.

Mr. Stevens was married at Lorain, Ohio, March 26, 1902, to Miss Loreetha E. Mc- Cleary, of that city, daughter of Clayton A. and Henrietta (Holmes) MeCleary, the for- mer of whom died when Mrs. Stevens was about two years old. Mr. and Mrs. McCleary came from Harrison County, Ohio, where they lived in the vicinity of Cadiz, and the former's people traced their ancestry back to the May- flower band, while the latter's earliest ancestor in America came about ten years after the arrival of that ship. Mrs. Stevens was edu- cated at Science Hill School, near Cadiz, and graduated in elecution from Franklin College. She belongs to the Order of the Eastern Star, the Rebekahs and the Pythian Sisters, and is widely known in religious and elub circles of Cleveland. Mrs. Stevens is descended from the same common ancestry as was President Lincoln, both being descendants from Obediah Holmes, who came to America in 1638. Among his ten children were Lydia, from whom Presi- dent Lincoln descended, and Jonathan, Mrs. Stevens' ancestor. Her ancestry to Jonathan Holmes runs through the male line with the exception of her mother. Mrs. McCleary still survives and is making her home at Columbus, Ohio, with her eldest daughter. To Mr. and Mrs. Stevens the following children have been born: Harold L., born March 8, 1905, at Gar- rett, Indiana; Waldo Holmes, born March 29, 1907, at Columbus, Ohio; Clayton Perrine, born August 8, 1910, at Cleveland; and one child who died in infancy.

CHARLES BRENNER has been a prominent figure in Cuyahoga County politics for many vears. He evidently has a natural bent for politics, and while he has had some large busi- ness interests he enjoys the association with men and affairs that finds its chief oppor- tunity in public life.

Mr. Brenner was born in Cleveland, Octo-

Charles Brenner

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ber 8, 1865, a son of Charles F. and Sophia (Deuringer) Brenner. Both parents were born in Germany, the father in Hesse Darm- stadt and the mother in Barberie. They met and married at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, both having come to this country when young people. Grandmother Deuringer lived in Cuyahoga County and was buried in the old Erie Street cemetery in 1867. Grandfather Brenner died at Dover in Cuyahoga County, twelve miles from Cleveland, in 1870 and is laid to rest with a number of other early pioneers in the private cemetery known as Clemens cemetery at Dover.

Charles F. Brenner was reared and edu- cated in the old country and came with his family when a youth to America, making the voyage in an old fashioned sailing vessel that was seven weeks on the sea. For a time they lived in Philadelphia and in 1849 came to Cuyahoga County. Charles F. Brenner was born July 22, 1830. He was a man of genial disposition and had hosts of friends all over Cuyahoga County. When referring to his family lie was fond of saying that he had five boys and each boy had a sister. This riddle being interpreted meant that he had five sons and one daughter. Charles F. Brenner was one of the early day tavern keepers and saloon men. His trade was hat making, which he had learned in Philadelphia. At Dover in this county he kept a hotel and saloon known as the Harvest Home. It was located on the old highway between Cleveland and Lorain, and was one of the three noted public houses of that thoroughfare. The other was old Grant House near Bell Avenue on Detroit Street, and the third was the Silverthorn Hotel, which only recently was torn down. Harvest Home is still doing business and is under the old name, its present proprietor being Henry Wolf. The Harvest Home in early days was kept open all night, frequented by travelers along the thoroughfare. A stable was also maintained for the keeping and feed- ing of horses. In connection with the hotel Charles F. Brenner conducted a farm of fifty acres. His place was famous for smoked stur- geon, which he bought fresh and cured by his own recipe. This old property the family later traded for city property in Cleveland. Charles F. Brenner was an active Mason and his funeral when he died about thirty years ago was conducted with the rights of that order. He belonged to Concordia Lodge, F. and A. M., and was also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and wore

the pins and insignia of both orders. At the time of the Civil war he was a young man and enlisted as a private in the Seventh New York Infantry, coming out with the rank of second lieutenant. Ile was all through the struggle and was a brave and gallant soldier. Nevertheless, he was an ardent democrat, and at the time of the Tilden campaign in 1876 he raised a hickory pole at Dover. His death occurred at the age of sixty-four. His widow is still living at Lakewood with her daughter and was eighty-one years of age in April, 1917. The third oldest son, Lonis, went to New York City, where he made a fortune in the paint business on Seventeenth Street, near Fifth Avenue, and died there in 1912. The son George is living retired at Cleveland. Fred has spent most of his life as a traveler, and is now on the police force at Pueblo, Colorado. William was an active member of the Cleveland police force seventeen years and for the past five years has been employed in the Detective Bureau. The only daughter, Lillie is Mrs. H. J. McNeill, of Lakewood. All the children were educated in the public schools of Dover.

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A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 33

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