USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut > Part 53
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CHARLES C. BELLOWS. Cleveland recently welcomed an important addition to its finan- cial circle in Mr. Charles C. Bellows, invest- ment banker and resident partner of the bank- ing firm of Merrill, Lynch & Company of New York City. Merrill, Lynch & Company has long been a name and organization familiar to the financial public as investment bankers. This firm have handled as underwriters and brokers many prominent bond and stock is- sues and through their membership in the New York, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago Stock exchanges they are in close touch with the financial interests of America.
Mr. Bellows has had a rapid rise in the financial district of New York. He was born
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at Brooklyn April 26, 1891, a son of Arthur C. and Katherine (Strang) Bellows. His parents were both born at Brooklyn and are still living in that city. His father is head of the firm M. E. Bellows & Son of New York City, importers. This business was estab- lished by the family in 1820.
The only child of his parents, Charles C. Bellows was educated in the high class private school, the Polytechnic of Brooklyn, graduat- ing in 1909. He left school to go into Wall Street and rapidly accumulated experience with the banking houses of Brown Brothers and with several other financial firms on Wall Street.
April 1, 1917, he came to Cleveland as resi- dent partner of Merrill, Lynch & Company, and opened a handsome suite of offices in the Guardian Building. The establishment of this branch office gives to Cleveland another im- portant financial service, since the Merrill, Lynch & Company has in many respects un- surpassed facilities as dealers in bonds, pre- ferred stocks, short-time notes, and the firm also does a general banking business. The office at Cleveland was opened April 15, 1917.
Mr. Bellows looks upon Cleveland as his home city, and is a member of the Union, Shaker Heights, County and Cleveland Ath- letic Clubs, and recently bought a home in the beautiful suburb of Shaker Heights Village on Brighton Road. At Brooklyn April 24, 1915, he married Miss Doris Rude of that city, where she was born and educated under private tutors.
WILLIAM HARPER. In reviewing the careers of the notable men of a community, the thoughtful person is impressed by the number of foreign-born individuals who have risen to high places among the leaders in almost every line. The question naturally arises whether the older countries give their men a better early training than can be obtained here, or whether in the United States those who have labored under disadvantages of a more con- stricted form of government expand under the liberal laws of this republic. But, what- ever the cause, the effect seems to be the same, the men of foreign birth who have succeeded exceed those of strictly American stock. In the great coal industry one of the best known figures in Ohio is William Harper, who is of foreign birth although thoroughly American- ized. He was born at Newcastle-on-Tvne, Eng- land. and there attended a private school. His first business experience was connected with
the coal industry, for he was in his young manhood a salesman for a coal company. In 1883, on immigrating to the United States, he settled first at Chicago, where he became a salesman for the Brazil Block Coal Company, an enterprise with which he was identified for twelve years. He then went to Columbus, Ohio, where he became manager of the Cam- bridge Consolidated Coal Company.
Mr. Harper came to Cleveland in 1896, and here became associated with the Ellsworth Morris Coal Company as manager of the com- pany's mines at Cambridge. In 1897 the name was changed to the Morris Coal Company, with the following officers: Calvary Morris, presi- dent; John E. Newell, vice president; and William Harper, secretary and treasurer. In 1912, upon the death of Mr. Morris, Mr. Har- per succeeded him as president and retains also the position of treasurer, H. C. Steffen being secretary and P. T. White, vice president. This company owns two mines, one known as Black Top and the other as Cleveland, lo- cated at Cambridge in Guernsey County, Ohio, where there are still left over 45,000 acres of fields to mine. There are 350 people em- ployed, and the headquarters of the company are located at Cleveland, with executive of- fices in the Citizens Building. Mr. Harper is also secretary and treasurer of the Morris Poston Coal Company of Cleveland, a sub- sidiary company of the Morris Coal Company. He belongs to the Union Club, is a republican, and attends the Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Harper was married in December, 1895, to Miss Edith Murchy, of Chicago, and they are the parents of two children : Wallace, who is twenty-one years of age and now attending Dartmouth College; and Evelyn, a graduate of the Laurel School for Girls, Cleveland, and now attending Smith College.
FRANK S. DAY. It would be idle to specu- late on Mr. Day's attainments had the circum- stances of his life been different, but one is probably justified in saying that the advan- tages of wealth and family position and educa- tion acquired without special effort could not have made him a better lawyer or citizen than he has become without such influences.
Mr. Day was born on the West Side in Cleveland on Washington Street, September 9, 1881. His parents were Michael William and Margaret (Larcey) Day, the former a native of Wexford and the latter of Limerick, Ire- land. The father came to America alone at the age of eighteen in 1865. The mother came
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to this country also alone, being at the time fifteen years of age. They first met in Cleve- land, and were married April 10, 1870. Michael W. Day was a teamster in Cleveland and died here July 4, 1913, and his widow is still liv- ing. They had a family of five children, four sons and one daughter, all still living, as fol- lows: Thomas J., on attorney with offices in the American Trust Building; Nellie G., widow of Henry F. Poelking of Cleveland; Michael W., Jr., a horseshoer by trade; Rich- ard P., connected with the municipal light de- partment of Cleveland; and Frank S.
Frank S. Day, the youngest of the family, was educated in the Scranton School, in St. Patrick's parochial school two years, spent six ycars in St. Ignatius College, and for three years studied law in the law department of the Baldwin-Wallace University. It should be remembered, however, that this education was not consecutive, and there were long intervals of work, hard knocks, and other vicissitudes in the intervals. Mr. Day graduated from St. Ignatius College in 1900 and received his Bachelor of Law degree from Baldwin-Wal- lace University in June, 1907.
After graduating from St. Ignatius he spent eighteen months working for the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad Company. Impairment of eyesight caused him to leave that job, and he then became a mail carrier from Station A of the Cleveland postoffice. He carried mail about the city five years, from December 1, 1902, to April, 1907. While carrying mail he managed to devote an hour or so every day to the study of law.
He was admitted to the Ohio bar in June, 1907, and in the following year was admitted to practice in the United States District Court. About the time he was admitted to the bar he entered he law office of Judge Foran, who was then head of the firm Foran, Pearson & Pow- ell. He remained with Judge Foran until June, 1908.
In the fall of 1907 Mr. Day was a candi- date for councilman in the old 24th now the 21st ward against John Durkin. John Dur- kin had the support and backing of the city administration, but young Day who had lived in the ward only forty-five days, while his op- ponent had been there about fifteen years, made such a vigorous fight that he was de- feated by only one hundred ninety-two votes. At that time the late Tom Johnson was mayor of Cleveland. In January following Mr. Day's race for councilman, Tom Johnson sent for him. Mr. Day describes that incident. "I
remember so well the circumstances of that appointment. Tom Jolinson sent for me. He was working on his fare box (preparatory to the installation of the three-cent fare system) and Sylvester McMahon and Billie Stage were with him. He said, 'We're going to make you assistant county solicitor, young man.' I was so astonished I could say nothing for a minute. Then I managed to ask him if he thought I could fill the position. 'You'll fill it and with credit,' was his answer. I recov- ercd enough to say thank you before I went to the county commissioner's office." That was Mr. Day's active entry into Cleveland poli- tics.
He filled the duties of assistant city solicitor about a year until the change of administra- tion. He was at the time fresh from law school and the salary attached to the position seemed a very attractive one.
After this experience Mr. Day began the private practice of law associated with Sena- tor William T. Clark, and a few months later they formed a partnership known as Clark & Day. This was one of Mr. Day's important associations in his early legal career and con- tinued for three years. On January 1, 1911, he was appointed first assistant prosecuting attorney of the City of Cleveland, and filled that office four years. In the fall of 1915 Mr. Day was candidate for judge of the Municipal Court and stood fourth in a list of twenty- three candidates. Governor Cox appointed him to fill an unexpired term as judge of the Municipal Court and he resigned January 1, 1918, to resume the practice of law. Politic- ally Mr. Day has always been an ardent demo- crat since the days of Tom Johnson. A close friendship developed between him and that veteran municipal leader and business man, and to this time Mr. Day looks upon the late Mayor Johnson as one of the biggest men America has produced. After he retired from his legal association with Judge Clark Mr. Day was alone in practice and his present offices are in the Society for Savings Building. It is recalled that while Mr. Day was first assistant city prosecutor that much of the business com- ing before him was settled out of court, and as a matter of fact it was his definite policy to settle any trouble that could be settled without resort to court procedure. Mr. Day is coun- sel for a number of well-known companies and corporations in Cleveland, among them the Theodor Kundts Co. and he represents the Retail Credit Men's Association, and for the past two years has represented the On Leong
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Tong, the Chinese merchants' association of Cleveland.
He is affiliated with Cleveland Lodge No. 18, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Loyal Order of Moose, the Cleveland Bar Association, the Law Library Association, and attends Villa Angeline Catholic Church. He is a baseball fan and for three years while attending St. Ignatius College played on the college team.
June 20, 1911, in St. Agnes Church at Cleveland Mr. Day married Miss Susan J. O'Brien. She was born in Ireland on the banks of the River Shannon, coming to the United States at the age of seventeen with her mother, brothers and sisters. She was edu- cated in Ireland and for two years before coming to America taught school in the old country. Mr. and Mrs. Day have one daugh- ter, Josephine Jane, born in Cleveland. Their home is at 17810 Windward Road.
JAMES EDWIN EWERS has a degree as a law- yer from Yale University, but his real work in the profession has been in welfare work and social service. Mr. Ewers is now general agent for the Cleveland Humane Society, and was called to this city on account of his able work in connection with a similar organization at Boston.
Few men have practiced the gospel of self help more faithfully than Mr. Ewers. IIe was born at Fredericktown, Knox county, Ohio, August 22, 1880, a son of George J. and An- netta (Adams) Ewers. His parents still live on the farm four miles from Fredericktown, which came into the family in the person of the great-grandfather of James E. Ewers. The title to the land was conveyed in a war- rant signed by President James Madison. George J. Ewers and wife were both born in Knox County, and grandfather George Ewers and grandmother Ewers were natives of the same county. Annetta Adams' father came from Pennsylvania and was probably born in that state. Annetta's mother was Sarah Brown. George J. Ewers has always been an extensive farmer in Knox county, and has shown himself a man of progressive ideals, having filled various township offices and is one of the highly respected citzens of his community. He and his wife had four sons; Frank A., a physician and surgeon of Akron ; James E .; Floyd, on the old farm with his parents; and Walter, who died just before graduating from high school.
Mr. Ewers is eligible to membership in the
Sons of the American Revolution, as ancestors on both sides were in the struggle for inde- pendence. One of them, Nehemiah Royce, is great-great-great-grandfather on the maternal side, was born at Plymouth, Connecticut, Sep- tember 1, 1753, graduated from Yale College in 1774 and was given the Master of Arts de- gree in 1778. October 15, 1775, he entered the service of the Continental Army, was ap- pointed a lieutenant in Colonel 'Samuel El- more's Connecticut Regiment, raised for duty in the northern department, and on January 1, 1777, was commissioned adjutant of Colonel Chandler's Eighth Connecticut Continental. In November, 1777, he was promoted to captain and during the fall of 1779 served with Wayne's Light Infantry Corps. At the Mor- ristown winter quarters in 1779-80 he was in temporary command of his regiment. By the new arrangements of January 1, 1781, he went on duty with Sherman's Fifth Connecticut, and served with that until his retirement Jan- uary 1, 1783. He died in Watertown about the first of September, 1790. IIe had one son, Amos H. Royce. For services in the Revolu- tion Nehemiah Royce acquired a land warrant for four hundred acres of land, which was located in Berlin Township of Knox County, Ohio. His son Amos settled on that land.
James E. Ewers while a boy lived on the home farm and attended the district school in the vicinity. His parents were not wealthy people, though they lent every encouragement to their sons to make the best of their time and talents. An older son was in medical col- lege, and as there was not enough in the fam- ily purse to keep two sons in college at the same time, James E. Ewers undertook to gain an education by his individual efforts and earnings. The school he selected was for many years one of the noblest institutions of its kind in the country, Berea College at Berea, Ken- tucky. He earned his way throughout his course in that institution. With another young man of about the same age he had a position as a porter in the Ladies' Hall, doing sueh work as ringing the bell, tending lights and looking after the mail, etc. For this he was given room rent and board. Berea Col- lege was originally established in 1856 by Fa- ther Fee, an abolitionist, to educate the blacks. For many years its scholars were drawn irre- spective of color largely from the poorer dis- triets of the mountainous region of Eastern Kentucky. In 1903 the Legislature of Ken- tucky passed a bill prohibiting the education of blacks along with whites in the same insti-
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tution. Berea College was maintained as nearly as possible a free institution, with only incidental fees, and practically every student earned the greater part of his expenses there. Aside from the instruction he received from books Mr. Ewers counts it a great privilege to have been a student there, since it brought him into close touch with the mountain peo- ple and their children. He finished his course there in 1900.
During the summer of 1902 Mr. Ewers worked on the Brookyln Rapid Transit in Brooklyn, New York, being employed every day during the summer, Sundays included. Here again he had a splendid opportunity to meet all kinds of people and study human nature, and he regards it one of the chief courses in the progress of his liberal education. In the fall of that year he entered Yale Uni- versity and took the regular academie course, graduating in 1906. He followed that with work in the law department, receiving his LL. B. degree from Yale in 1908.
While at Yale Mr. Ewers paid his expenses by tending furnace and later found work as a checker in the Yale Commons dining hall, that work paying for his board. The following two summers he again worked with the Brook- lyn Rapid Transit and the third summer was employed in a hotel at Asbury Park and at the same time tutored a boy preparing for Prince- ton. The next summer he was a tutor and companion for a wealthy family who had a summer home at Norwalk, Connecticut. The summer after that he was employed as tutor for two boys of wealthy parents in New Lon- don, Connecticut. Thus his college education meant more to him than to sons of wealthy parents who go through such an institution in contact only with books and its social life. His college experiences included waiting on table in a students' boarding house, attending fur- nace, serving as checker, selling tickets for the Yale Athletic Association, collecting for a law firm, working as agent for a life insurance company, tutoring students, and at one time he served as a professional pall-bearer for un- dertakers, and during one winter vacation worked for the American Express Company at New Haven. For four years he was em- ployed at nights as head of the gymnasium de- partment of the Orange Street Boys Chib of New Haven, and for another year worked with the Oak Street Boys Club in New Haven. This brought him into elose touch with boys and has largely influenced his subsequent carcer.
Mr. Ewers was admitted to the Massachu- setts bar in February, 1909, and then became counsel for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in Boston. He handled much of the legal work of this society from July, 1908, until February 1, 1917, when he resigned and came to Cleveland to accept his present positon as general agent of The Cleveland Humane Society with offices in the City Hall. During 1916 Mr. Ewers also looked after a private practice as a lawyer in Boston.
Mr. Ewers is a sincere independent in poli- ties, and seeks out the best man for the place and easts his vote accordingly. He is a mem- ber of the Alpha Chi Rho college fraternity and while living in Boston was a member of the Boston City Club, and the Boston Y. M. C. A. He is a member of the Cleveland City Club, and several other clubs. On subjects connected with his active experience Mr. Ewers has made numerous public addresses both at Cleveland and in Boston. In the summer of 1916 he was at Plattsburg and took the Training Camp Course. He is un- married.
J. ARTIIUR HOUSE. Aside from some very desirable assets, due partly to inheritance and partly to early environment and training, J. Arthur House started life on the same footing with any number of thousands of other young men. It has been one of the long boasted ad- vantages of American democracy that any one of the many may attain by his own efforts and power a place among the few. In that re- spect Mr. House is a typically and thoroughly representative American.
He belongs to au old Cuyahoga County family. His grandfather, Ruel House, came from Glastonbury, Connecticut, in 1818 and settled at Euclid, now a Cleveland suburb. In 1837 he moved to East Cleveland, and lived there until his death in 1880. J. Arthur House was born at East Cleveland October 20, 1871, a son of Joseph W. and Clarissa House. His father, who was born in Cleveland in March, 1840, grew up and received his education in his native city and during the Civil war en- listed in the Union army as a member of Bat- tery B, First Ohio Light Artillery. With a creditable record as a soldier he returned to Cleveland and for a number of years was en- gaged in gardening about the city. In 1884 he entered the contracting business and has now been retired only a few years.
J. Arthur House attended the grammar and
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high schools of Cleveland until he was sixteen years of age. His first employment was as office boy at wages of $15 a month with the Nickel Plate Railroad. The former office boy now sits as one of the directors of that great transportation company. When he left the railroad 31/2 years later he was occupying the position of claim clerk. For the following year he was clerk with Pickands-Mather Company, and then for two years was clerk with the Re- public Iron Company.
It was this varied experience and training that he brought with him when he first became connected with the Guardian Savings and Trust Company. As clerk in that institution he was successively advanced to teller, book- keeper, in 1899 to assistant treasurer, in 1902 to assistant secretary, in February, 1906, was elected secretary, in 1912 became fifth vice president, and in 1914 was elected first vice president which office he held until December 4, 1917, when he was elected president of one of Ohio's largest and best known banking in- stitutions.
Mr. House holds the position of director in a number of prominent corporations, includ- ing the Cleveland National Bank, Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad, N. Y. C. & St. L. Railroad, Paragon Refining Company, Cleve- land Brass & Copper Mills, Incorporated, Metal Craft Company, Triton Steamship Com- pany, of which he is treasurer, The Morris Plan Bank, The Alleghany By-Products Com- pany, the Cleveland Macaroni Company.
Mr. House is a member of the Masonic Order and the Union, Hermit and Cleveland Athletic clubs, the Country Club and the Shaker Heights Country Club, is a republican in pol- ities, a member of the Euclid Avenue Meth- odist Episcopal Church and has found time to serve various public institutions. He is a trustee of St. Luke's Hospital, assistant treas- urer of the Lakeside Hospital, and a trustee of the Deaconess Home. In Cleveland June 14, 1899, he married Miss Maude Marie Mills. They have two children. James A., Jr., aged twelve, attending the University School, while the daughter, Helen Elizabeth, is a student of the Hathaway Brown School for Girls.
GARRETT STEVENS first came to Cleveland as representative of an insurance company and was identified with the claim departments of several companies both in Cleveland and else- where until 1916, when he opened his office for the private practice of law in the Guardian Building. Mr. Stevens has been a lawyer for
many years, and grew up in the atmosphere of that profession and in close association with democratic politics in Old Berks County, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Stevens was born at Reading, Penn- sylvania, December 19, 1877, a son of Garrett B. and Catherine Mary (Zeller) Stevens. His father was born on a farm near Feasterville in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, while the mother was a native of Reading, and in that city they were married. Both parents are now deceased. Garrett B. Stevens practiced law at Reading for more than thirty years, and for twenty years was the recognized dem- ocratie leader in Berks County. He never held an office for himself. His death occurred in 1910 at the age of sixty-five, while the mother passed away in 1911, aged sixty-six. During most of the time Garrett B. Stevens practiced law alone, but subsequently was associated with Judge W. Kerper Stevens under the firm name of Stevens & Stevens. These partners were not related. Later he had his son John B. Stevens as a partner under the firm name of Stevens & Stevens. There were five children in the family, Garrett being the old- est. Wallace, who took special work in Har- vard University, graduated in law from the University of New York and is now an at- torney and vice president of a bonding com- pany at Hartford, Connecticut. John B., still in practice at Reading, graduated A. B. from the University of Pennsylvania and studied law under his father. The two daughters are Elizabeth B. and Catherine M., both living in Philadelphia. Elizabeth holds the degree Bachelor of Domestic Science from Drexel In- stitute of Philadelphia while Catherine is a graduate of the Reading High School. Eliza- beth is now a teacher of domestic science in the public schools of Philadelphia while Cath- erine is secretary of the correction department of Municipal Court at Philadelphia. All the children were born at Reading, and all the sons are successful lawyers.
Garrett Stevens graduated from the Read- ing High School in 1895, spent two years in the literary department of Yale College and from there entered Dickinson College of Law at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he was grad- uated LL. B. in 1899. In 1898 at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war his entire class with the exception of two members enlisted in Company G of the 8th Pennsylvania Infantry. Mr. Stevens got only as far as Camp Alger at Washington, where he suffered a sunstroke and after three months was sent home. He
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