A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 50

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 50

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At the time of his death Mr. Burke was a director in a large number of Cleveland busi- ness enterprises and his sound judgment was a well recognized source of power and help- fulness to the success of many of these con- cerns.

Whether in meeting with clients or busi- ness associates or with his friends, Mr. Burke always was pronounced a most genial gentle- man. He was an eloquent orator and at one time an active leader in local and state repub- lican politics. However, only once did he turn aside from his devotion to the law and business into the field of practical politics. In 1897 he was nominated by his party as candi- date for state senator. He made an aggressive and hard fought campaign, one that attracted much attention over the state, and was elected in the following November. After his term he retired from office and his service in the State Senate from 1897 to 1899 was the only position he ever filled by election.

But this single term constitutes an impor- tant record in itself. He was the author of mnuch legislation which met with opposition at the time of its enactment, but which is now greatly appreciated by residents of Cleveland. This legislation provided for the expenditure of millions of dollars for the establishment and maintenance of Cleveland Park, the Mar- ket House and the new City Hall, which has been built under authority of one of his bills. That he had some insight into the fu- ture and some conception of the requirements of a city like Cleveland is evidenced by the fact that although there was bitter opposi- tion to his ideas of building boulevards, parks

and public buildings, his City Hall bill hav- ing once been defeated and the other projects considered useless expenditures, yet after a period of years this legislation meets with the approval of the people and materially assisted in making Cleveland one of the most attrac- tive cities in the country. The story is told that in order to get favorable consideration for his City Hall Bill Mr. Burke brought the state senators to Cleveland in a body and con- ducted them through the old city hall to show them the necessity for a new municipal build- ing.

Another project of his legislative work was his authorship of what is known as the "Burke Ten Per Cent Bill" which permits grocers, merchants and all who furnish the necessaries of life to enforce payment from delinquent debtors by subjecting ten per cent of their wages or salaries to the processes devised by this law. This bill met with opposition throughout the state but was finally passed and still stands on the statute books and is con- tinually being used by the courts and has had a very salutary effect in inducing the pay- ments of debts for the necessities of life, as well as correcting an evil which had existed since Ohio was made a state.

From 1898 to 1900 Mr. Burke was a trustee of the Ohio Republican League. He was a close personal friend of the late Senator For- aker, and politically was allied with the Foraker element of the republican party and took part in all of those great contests known as "the Foraker-Hanna fights of Ohio." He was a great friend of the late Asa S. Bushnell, and represented the legislative interests of the state administration while Mr. Bushnell was governor of Ohio. He was the leader in the opposition to the election of M. A. Hanna to the United States Senate and came within one vote of accomplishing Hanna's defeat.

Reference has already been made to his elo- quence as a lawyer. He was more than an eloquent speaker, was a master of logic and repeatedly aroused the admiration of all his contemporaries at the bar by his ability, re- garded as second to none, to marshal facts before a jury. It was this power which made him one of the best trial lawyers in Cleveland. He often won cases through his sheer ability to sway a jury, and one of his former legal associates says that Mr. Burke enjoyed no part of his profession more than his formal and ex- temporaneous speeches before juries. That was his forte, whereas many lawyers fail of the highest success because of some distinctive

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aversion to or failure of adequate performance in that one department. He was in his real element in court work, and it was the constant encouragement of repeated successes that brought him the heaviest burdens of trial and court practice, and accounted for the reputa- tion he long had of having tried more cases than any lawyer now practicing at the Cleve- land bar.

Mr. Burke was a liberal giver to Cleveland charities and identified himself actively with those organizations that represented the city's civic and social spirit. He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Chamber of In- dustry, and of the Cleveland Athletic Club, the Willowick Club, the City Club, and was one of the founders and president of the Ashtabula County Society of Cleveland. While so much of his life was spent in con- tact with men and affairs, he was none the less a devotee of the standard and classical literature. It is said that he possessed one of the most complete private libraries in Cleve- land.

Mr. Burke enjoyed an ideal family life. In 1893 he married Miss Tillie H. Hahn of Cleve- land. She still occupies her old home at 2064 East 81st Street, and only a short time before his death Mr. Burke had completed remodel- ing a new family residence at Plainesville. Mrs. Burke has one son, Vernon H. Burke, Jr.

JOHN F. RUST, SR. Not at any time in the last half century could the fortune and welfare of Cleveland as a city be said to de- pend upon any one individual or even a half dozen men. The city is too great, too complex in its activities, and represents the force and energy of thousands and hundreds of thou- sands of participating lives. But moving through and vitalizing the mass have been many conspicnous individuals, bulwarks of power and prestige, and whose names and careers are emblematic of what Cleveland as a city means to the world.

Of these individuals one of the most note- worthy was the late John F. Rust, Sr., who lived in Cleveland over thirty years and died in that city August 9, 1899. He was of New England birth and parentage, born at Rut- land, Vermont, June 15, 1835. His parents were Amasa and Charlotte (Ward) Rust, and he was the youngest of their five sons and three daughters. When he was two years old the family came west to Marine City, Michi- gan, where he grew to manhood and attended the public schools. At the age of eighteen he

went to work as an engineer in his brother's saw mill. Soon afterward he was in the lum- ber business at Saginaw with his brothers. He also became connected with the firm Ward Brothers, prominent ship owners and lumber- men.

Mr. Rust came from Saginaw to Cleveland in 1865 and used his experience and capital to establish one of the leading lumber firms of the city under the name Rust, King & Com- pany. Later this firm was Rust, King & Clint. As lumber merchants their interests covered a wide field, and the business was conducted on profitable lines for many years. Mr. Rust finally retired from the lumber trade in 1883.

In that year he was associated with Messrs. King, Newcomb, Lenty and other business men in founding the Citizens Savings & Trust Company of Cleveland. Mr. Rust became a director and vice president, and the founding of the business on conservative and safe lines was largely due to his activity and manage- ment in the first years. He continued as vice president of the Citizens Savings & Trust Company many years, was vice president of the Western Reserve National Bank, and was a stockholder in every national bank in Cleve- land. Much of his wealth was also repre- sented in large real estate holdings. He owned property on Euclid Avenue and in the downtown district, and he was also an owner of vessel interests on the Great Lakes and in the mining districts of the West and in the lumber fields of Michigan.

His name is otherwise remembered than merely as a successful business man. It is said that he never allowed personal interests or ambition to dwarf his public spirit or ac- tivity. He was an influential member of the Chamber of Commerce and Chamber of In- dustry, was a director of the Huron Street Ilospital, was a trustee and a liberal supporter of the Second Presbyterian Church and a member of the Union Club, Enclid Club, Colonial Club, Roadside Club, and Gentle- man's Driving Club. He was also a Master Mason. Outside of home his chief recreation was found in driving and the management of good horses.

December 15, 1863, at Saginaw, Michigan, Mr. Rust married Miss W. A. Smith, daughter of Isaac and Weltheina (Stevens) Smith. Her father was at one time a jeweler at Knowles- ville, New York, where Mrs. Rust was born in 1845. Mrs. Rust died at Philadelphia in December, 1909, just ten years after her husband passed away. She was the mother

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of five children: Frank P., who was born in Saginaw in 1864 and died in California in 1901; Gertrude, who married George N. Chandler of Cleveland; Charlotte, who mar- ried Wilson Potter of Philadelphia; Clara, wife of W. E. Brigham, Providence, Rhode Island; John F., Jr., a resident of Cleveland.

GEORGE F. HART. That George F. Hart is a very capable Cleveland business man his many friends and associates abundantly testify, and his position as one of the executive officers of the great Guardian Savings and Trust Company is one that makes further com- mentary on that subject superfluous. There has been nothing spectacular in Mr. Hart's career. It has consisted of a quiet and faith- ful performance of duty, beginning in a hum- ble position, and is a record of service from boyhood to mature manhood in banking.

He was born at Allegan, Michigan, Decem- ber 25, 1872, and he received his first instruc- tion in that little city in the public schools. When he was eleven years of age his parents moved to LaPorte, Indiana, where he con- tinued to attend public school until he was six- teen. At that early date in his career he found a position according with his experience and abilities in the bank of A. P. Andrew, Jr., and Son at LaPorte. Larger responsibilities were given him as he proved himself capable, and when he left the LaPorte Bank on Feb- ruary 1, 1900, he had been occupying the posi- tion of teller for some time.

From LaPorte Mr. Hart came to Cleveland, and his service with the Guardian Savings & Trust Company has been continuous since that date. He worked as clerk in different depart- ments, in 1901 entering the trust department, was subsequently promoted to assistant treas- urer, was then elected treasurer, and is now the second vice president. He has specialized in the handling of the trust department of this great bank, and nearly all of his seventeen years service has been in that department.

Mr. Hart is a member of the Cleveland Ath- letic Club, Hermit Club, City Club, Chamber of Commerce, and he is a republican and a member of the Episcopal Church. At La- Porte, Indiana, October 17, 1894, he married Miss Sarah Whiting. Their one child, Helen Cornelia, is a graduate of the Cleveland public schools and is now attending LaSalle Seminary at Auburndale, Massachusetts.

MICHAEL ALBL. Cleveland has every rea- son to be proud of its Bohemian population.

They constitute a body of useful and indus- trious citizens and nowhere are American ideals better exemplified than in the Bohe- mian quarter. Fifty years ago there was a mere handful of Bohemians in Cleveland. One of the pioneers of this nationality was the late Michael Albl, who died at his home 4944 Broadway Southeast, April 4, 1916. He lived in Cleveland nearly half a century. He at- tained business success and great influence, particularly among his own people.

He was born at Stenovic, Province of Pil- zen, Bohemia. He first came to the United States and located at Cleveland at the close of the Civil war in 1865. His father, Joseph Albl, came with him to the United States, but his mother, then an invalid, was unable to make the trip. His father in time became dissatisfied and lonely and Michael also went back to Bohemia mainly for the purpose of ac- companying his father to his native land. Joseph Albl died in Bohemia at the advanced age of ninety-five, while his wife died at ninety-three.

Before coming to America Michael Albl married Catherine Pech, who was born in a little hamlet or village near Stenovic, Bohe- mia. Both were quite young when they left the old country and settled at Cleveland. Michael Albl was a cooper by trade and for a time was employed in that line for the firm of Rockefeller and Andrews. He was also a musician and his skill in that art furnished him other means of earning a living. After a short time he engaged in the grocery busi- ness, and was developing a promising trade before he went back to the old country with his father. In the latter part of 1873 Michael Albl again returned to America and came to Cleveland and resumed the grocery business which has been continued since his retirement by his son, Joseph, at 4950 Broadway South- east. It is one of the largest stores in that section of the city and is a monument to the business enterprise of the late Michael Albl. His first location was at the corner of Broad- way and what is now Forty-ninth Street, but he sold that corner and bought property about half a block away on Broadway. He continued in business there until 1892, when he retired, and after that was in the real estate and insurance business and became con- nected with a number of enterprises. He was one of the organizers of The Forest City Brew- ing Company and its first president, an office he filled until his death. For several years he was treasurer of the Svet Printing and

's byf G Withtons & Bro Ny

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Publishing Company, publishers of the Bo- hemian daily newspaper of that name.

Mr. Albl represented a fine type of citizen- ship. He was public spirited to a marked de- gree and concerned himself with everything that was connected with the city welfare. He was a power in politics in his ward and at one time served as a waterworks trustee. He was a director of The Broadway Savings and Loan Company. He belonged to Bratim V. Kruhu Branch No. 22 of the Bohemian Slav- onic Benevolent Society (C. S. P. S.), was a member of the Bohemian Old Settlers' As- sociation and of Branch No. 60, Knights of Pythias.

Mr. Albl's good wife died at Cleveland, No- vember 20, 1901, at the age of fifty-eight. They reared six sons, all of whom have be- come good and useful citizens in Cleveland. Joseph M. is a grocer on Broadway and has taken over the business originally established by his father there. Dr. M. A. is a successful physician and surgeon. Edward J. is a prom- inent Cleveland lawyer. Frank E. and Os- wald E. are both pharmacists and conduct the drug store on Broadway known as Albl Brothers Pharmacy. Dr. Charles J., the youngest, is also a physician and surgeon. The sons were all born in Cleveland except Edward J., who was born in the old country after his parents had returned there. The sons now all live along Broadway, in the same community, where their honored father and mother settled over fifty years ago.

EDWARD J. ALBL, attorney at law in the Society for Savings Building, has attained a substantial degree of success in the legal pro- fession, has a fine reputation and enviable business connections in this city. He is one of the six sturdy sons, all prominent in Cleve- land business life, of the late Michael and Catherine (Pech) Albl, Bohemian pioneers of Cleveland whose lives are made matter of record on other pages.

Of these sons, Edward J. is the only one not a native of Cleveland. As related else- where, his parents went back to Bohemia after some years of residence in Cleveland and while in that country Edward J. Albl was born at Stenovic in the Province of Pilzen, September 2, 1873. When he was three months of age his parents returned to Cleve- land and he has spent practically all his life in this city.

Mr. Albl attended the public schools grad- uating from the Central High School with the

class of 1892. Both inclination and oppor- tunity led him to the legal profession. Soon after leaving high school he entered the law office of Frank Friend, one of the oldest prac- ticing Bohemian attorneys in Cleveland. Mr. Albl remained in Mr. Friend's office studying law and giving faithful attention to such duties as were assigned him by his preceptor and continued a factor in the Friend law office even while a student in the Western Reserve University Law School. He was in law school three years, and then took the State Bar ex- amination at Columbus and was admitted to practice in December, 1904. Even after setting up as an attorney for himself he kept an office with Mr. Friend, though they had no partnership relations. Thus for more than twelve years he was daily associated with Mr. Friend. Mr. Albl is in the general practice as a lawyer, and among his influential con- nections is counsel for the Broadway Savings and Trust Company of Cleveland, the Forest City Brewing Company and counsel and Director of the Home Investment Company.

While independent in politics he has strong leanings toward the democratic faith. He is a member of Newburgh Lodge No. 379, Free and Accepted Masons; Palacky Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, the Bohemian Turners, C. E. C. H., and the Bohemian Benevolent or- ganization known as C. S. P. S. He is a mem- ber and was formerly a director of the South End Chamber of Enterprise and belongs to the Cleveland Bar and the Ohio State Bar associations. His favorite diversions are base- ball and motoring and he is a member of the Cleveland Automobile Club.

On August 22, 1898, he married Miss Rose M. Mally of Cleveland, daughter of Peter and Antoinette (Simek) Mally, an old Bohemian family of Cleveland. Her parents are now deceased. Her father was a gardener by trade. Mrs. Albl was born at Cleveland and was educated in the city schools. She has made her home the center of her best affec- tions and interests and participates to only a limited degree in club and social affairs. Two children were born to their marriage. The daughter Eleanor Rose was born June 16, 1900, and died June 11, 1907. The son Edward J., Jr., was born at Cleveland Febru- ary 4, 1909.

RICHARD EDWARD DEVNEY, a resident of Cleveland since 1902, is one of the leaders in real estate circles and has specialized and con- centrated his work almost entirely in Euclid

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Avenue property. Mr. Devney had a thor- ough and interesting experience as a business man and salesman before entering the real estate field at Cleveland, and is member of an old and well known Ashtabula family.

He was born in Cattaraugus County, New York, July 31, 1868, a son of James P. and Margaret F. (Jordan) Devney. His father, a native of Ireland, left the old country at the age of fourteen and satisfied by long experi- ence his boyish longing for the sea. He sailed on the ocean for a number of years and finally settled at Quebec, Canada, where he learned the trade of ship building. In 1851 at Quebec he married and about 1860 moved to Buffalo, New York, and from there to Cattaraugus County. In 1869 he came to Ohio, first locat- ing at Conneaut. In all these years he was working as a practical ship builder. At Con- neaut he took charge of the shipyards of the late M. Capron and supervised the building and outfitting of many of the old time sailing vessels that came out of that yard and played their part in Great Lakes transportation. He was more than a thoroughly competent me- chanic, and in 1877, moving to Ashtabula, established a shipyard of his own and it is still in business and known as Devney's Ship- yard. He constructed a large number of boats of different types, and developed a large and successful business. His death occurred in Ashtabula in 1894 when about seventy years of age. His widow came to Cleveland with other members of the family in 1903 and died in this city December 20, 1914. At Ashtabula James Devney also invested his surplus capital in the building of numerous homes, which he kept for renting purposes, and left a large estate at the time of his death. He and his wife reared a family of ten children, five sons and five daughters, and four of the sons and two of the daughters are still living, some of them in Ashtabula and some in Cleveland. One of the oldest sons, John P., was for a number of years deputy collector of customs at Ashtabula and is now in the real estate busi- ness there. He has succeeded his father as manager of the Devney Shipyard. Another son, Henry J., was successor to his brother John and is now active head of the Devney Shipyard, having conducted the business for the last twelve years.

Richard E. Devney was educated in the pub- lic schools of Conneaut and Ashtabula, at- tended New Lyme College in Ashtabula County, taking a commercial course, and fol- lowing school work he learned the ship caulk-

er's trade. For a time he also had a practical experience as a seaman on the Great Lakes. Beginning in the fall of 1890 he was for a year and a half associated with his brother John in the real estate business at Ashtabula. In June, 1892, Mr. Devney became a traveling salesman for a manufacturing company in West Virginia. He was with this firm a num- ber of years and in that time traveled over nearly the entire United States, covering many thousands of miles annually and placing busi- ness for the company in thirty-seven different states.

In August, 1902, Mr. Devney, having left the arduous work of the road, located in Cleve- land and entered the real estate general brok- erage business. Since 1907 he has special- ized in property along the principal thorough- fare of the city. He is one of the reliable representative men of his business in Cleve- land and has a thorough understanding of real estate values and business opportunities here. He is a member of the Cleveland Real Estate Board, which he served as president in 1916, a member of the National Association of Real Estate Boards, and is on the Governing Board of the Ohio Association of Real Estate Boards. In the fall of 1917 he was captain of one of the teams of the Cleveland Real Estate Board for the sale of Liberty Bonds and stood fourth in the list of captains.

One of his chief interests for a number of years has been in building up organizations to work in the interests of the orphan asylums of Cleveland. He is a member of St. Thomas parish and active in the Knights of Columbus. His skill and ability as a promoter received significant testimony during his work in con- nection with several of the local Guilds. For two years, in 1909-10, he was president of St. Joseph's Guild. He was elected to that office when the Guild had a membership of 112. Be- fore the two years of his term were over there were 900 active working members and the Guild was an institution of power and influ- ence and its work has been going forward on the same high plane to which Mr. Devney brought it. After that he became president of St. Anthony's Guild, and here had similar success during 1911. The membership of forty at the beginning was 539 by the close of his term. In 1913 he became president of St. Vin- cent's Guild, which had only forty-eight active members. In six months' time the active mem- bership was 900, and by the end of the year was 1,200, while today 2,400 persons are giv- ing their loyalty and their work to this organi-

John formally

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zation. Mr. Devney is now identified only in a general supervisory and advisory way with these institutions, and was well satisfied to build them up and give them the vitality and power which their place in the scheme of correlated church activities deserve.

Mr. Devney, who is unmarried, is a member of the City Club, the Civic League, the Cleve- land Chamber of Commerce, Highland Park Club, and the Ashtabula County Society of Cleveland. He finds his recreation in golf. His home is at 9917 South Boulevard.

WILLIAM E. DONNELLY, though now living retired in Portage County, is one of the widely known men of Cleveland, where for over a third of a century he enjoyed the prominence of an authority in various branches of the patent law.

He was born at Cleveland, May 20, 1855, was educated in the public schools, and early in his career went to work for the late General Leggett in handling different branches of pat- ent examinations and causes. His ability as a patent expert brought him into more active association with General Leggett and for a number of years he was member of the firm M. D. Leggett & Company. After the dissolu- tion of this firm in 1896 Mr. Donnelly became a member of Lynch, Dorer & Donnelly, patent attorneys, from which he withdrew in 1899 and thereafter practiced alone until 1908, when his son became associated with him under the name W. E. and J. J. Donnelly. Mr. Don- nelly retired from practice October 1, 1917, and the business of the firm is now handled by his son, John J. Donnelly.

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A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 50

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