USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut > Part 59
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As illustrating the versatility of American industry, The American Multigraph Com- pany's plant has recently been adapted for an important service to the foreign governments and now to the American Government. Be- sides manufacturing multigraphs the company has turned out large quantities of munitions for England, and the plant has been running day and night on materials for the United States, since it entered the war, for both the Army and Navy. Fourteen hundred people work in the plant on East Fortieth Street.
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In 1916-17 this plant produced a million time and percussion fuses for the British govern- ment, as well as 6,000,000 artillery cartridge case primers.
Mr. Osborn was the founder and is the presi- dent of The Cleveland Brass and Copper Mill, Incorporated, a $3,000,000 corporation, which has erected and put in operation a large plant in Cleveland for the production of brass and copper sheets and rods. He is a member of The National Marine League and the Amer-
In 1866 at the age of nineteen he came to the United States, following his trade for a time, but about 1872 he began to specialize in cooperage machinery. His success in that busi- ican Defense Society, and has active affilia -. ness was largely due to the working and per- tions with the Union Club, Country Club, Tavern Club, Roadside Club, Cleveland Auto- mobile Club, and the Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church. Mr. Osborn is a man of many inter- ests not only in a business way but in the pursuits and pastimes of home and society. He was one of the first of Cleveland's motor- ists, delights in golf, fishing and other out- door sports. On April 25, 1905, he married Miss Marion De Wolf Tracy, a native of Es- canaba, Michigan, and daughter of Dr. James Horace and Marion (DeWolf) Tracy. They have two children: Henry C. Jr., attending the Hawken School for Boys; and Tracy K.
JOHN S. ORAM. It is by no means an ordi- nary honor when a man achieves distinction in a community so large and populous as that of Cleveland. But it is still more and a de- cided tribute to the qualities of his mind and character, when his name becomes accepted throughout the country if not throughout other counties as a synonym of achievement in a large and important industry.
That was the distinction enjoyed by the late John S. Oram of Cleveland, who founded and built up in this city an industry for the manufacture of barrel making machinery which in the course of years became known through its products in cooperage circles throughout the civilized world.
His home was in Cleveland the larger part of his active life, but both birth and death oc- curred in England. He was born at Somer- setshire November 24, 1847, and died while on a visit to his sister at Ilfracombe, England, June 14, 1913. He had numerous relatives in- cluding brothers and sisters in England, and Ireland, and it had been his custom for sev- eral years to visit annually members of the family in Great Britain. His last trip abroad was begun in April, 1913, and death inter- rupted his plans to return to Cleveland in August of the same year. He was the oldest
of ten children. When he was three years of age in 1850 his father removed with the fam- ily to Ireland, and most of Jolm S. Oram's early associations are with a farm. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to learn the machinist's trade in the Swindon Railway Shops.
fection of ideas and inventions of his own, and for years before his death and until today the big factory at Cleveland is producing the perfected Oram inventions which are used in practically every country where cooperage is an important industry. He was one of the best known members of the National Coopers Association and of the Tight Barrel Stave Manufacturers Association, and was one of the leading men of affairs at Cleveland. He was a member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, the National Metal Trades Associa- tion, the Manufacturers Association, was a di- rectors in the Lake Shore Banking and Trust Company and did much in the way of per- sonal influence and through the use of his means to promote the Cleveland Young Men's Christian Association. For nearly forty years he was a faithful, ardent and generous Chris- tain and one of the most useful and best be- loved memebrs of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Cleveland.
The National Coopers Journal of Philadel- phia, in referring to his death, spoke of his name as inseparahly bound up and woven in the life and history of the Journal, and for years he had been a personal friend and busi- ness adviser to the late editor and president of the Journal. Editorially the Coopers Journal referred to Mr. Oram in the following words: "Personally Mr. Oram was possessed of a large, attractive, individual magnetism, was a congenial companion and a steadfast friend, one whom adversity could not crush nor prosperity spoil. That the business world in general and cooperage industry in particu- lar sustained a distinct and heavy loss in his passing we know." The Journal also quoted a tribute from a prominent man in the coop- erage industry, Robert Welch of St. Louis, who said : "I have had business dealings with John S. Oram for forty years, and have been personally acquainted with him for that length of time. He was a broad-minded Christian gentleman in the best sense of the word. He
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was absolutely trustworthy with all his deal- ings with his fellow men, and had a world of sympathy for them when adverse circum- stances gave them distress. He has made an indelible mark on the cooperage industry through the introduction of the Oram ma- chinery, which lessened the cost of manufac- ture while it increased production. Through- out all the long years of our connections, both business and social, his character proved such that I feel his loss as that of a brother. He was a sterling upright man and I mourn his death sincerely.'
In 1867 John S. Oram married Miss Jane Clark, who was his helpmate during the years of struggle, and a true wife and loving mother in time of prosperity until her death in Janu- ary, 1890. Five children were born to them. two sons and three daughters: Arthur J. and Oscar T., Ida, is wife of William H. Keim; Lillian, is Mrs. William Harmon, and Miss E. Jean Oram.
The remains of John S. Oram were brought home and were laid to rest at his old home in Cleveland.
OSCAR T. ORAM is a son of the late John S. Oram, and at the death of his father in 1913 became secretary of the John S. Oram Com- pany, where the inventions and improvements of his father in cooperage machinery are still manufactured and distributed to the world.
Oscar T. Oram was born at Cleveland Janu- ary 29, 1878, and grew up in a home of high ideals and with every incentive to a life of effectiveness and purpose. He attended the grammar and high schools of Cleveland, until the age of sixteen, and then went to work as a machinist's apprentice in his father's shops. He gained experience both in the technical and business side of the industry, and in 1907 was made superintendent of the factory, re- sponsibilities which he carried until he took up his present duties Mr. Oram is independent in politics. In August, 1902, he married at Cleveland Maude Losey. They have two chil- dren, John Samuel and Kathryn Belle.
CLAYTON H. WARNER. Business achieve- ments and associations have formed rapidly for Clayton H. Warner, who came to Cleveland less than ten years ago, and for several years was a law student. While studying law he operated on a small scale in real estate and soon abandoned his idea of a profession in order to work out his ideas and finds the best scope for his unusual talents in the field of
real estate and general finance. It is repeating only the current testimony of real estate cir- cles to say that he is one of the successful young operators in the city.
Mr. Warner was born at New Haven, Con- necticut, November 15, 1889, a son of Frank B. and Myra (Rochford) Warner. Through his mother he is descended in the fifth and sixth generations from Grand Marshal Rochforte of France, as the name was spelled. Frank B. Warner has been a resident of Geneva. Ohio, since 1902, and is one of the directors of The Chamberlain Clothing Company, a large and wealthy concern of that city. He is also a deacon in the Disciples Church at Geneva. Clayton Warner's mother died in New Haven, Connecticut, when he was eighteen months of age and for his second wife the father married Miss Lillian Brainard, of Geneva, Ohio.
The only child of his parents, Clayton H. Warner was educated in the public schools of New Haven, Connecticut, and from the age of thirteen attended the public and high schools of Geneva, Ohio. He graduated with the class of 1908, and during his high school course showed a general all around ability in other matters than his studies. He was secretary and general business manager of his gradu- ating class, had much to do with getting out the creditable class Annual of 1908, and was also a leader in the theatrical enterprise of the high school during that year.
After leaving high school Mr. Warner came to Cleveland and entered the Western Reserve University Law School, where he spent eight months. The next two years he spent study- ing law with Attorney Glen E. Griswold, keep- ing up his studies for his own personal benefit, knowing that a knowledge of the law would be of inestimable advantage to him in his business career. At the same time he kept an office in Collinwood, where he spent the mornings and evenings as a real estate operator and there developed an extensive collection business al- most before he had formally launched into a business career. Since November 1, 1909, he has been dealing in real estate, mortgages and insurance, and has always been an individual operator, never connected with anyone else nor working for anyone else. He specializes in first and second mortgages. real estate, general insurance and bonds, and has demonstrated splendid ability in the general financial field and in handling many important business in- vestments.
Mr. Warner is a member of the Cleveland Real Estate Board, and is secretary and treas-
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urer of The Warner-Davis Building Company, general building contractors and cement con- struction work. He is also secretary and treas- urer of The Woodruff-Warner Engineering Company, a director of The Park Heights Realty Company, president of The Commercial Motors Company, and was one of the organizers and is director and general manager of The Economy Investment Company, dealers in second mortgages. Mr. Warner is rated as be- ing the largest individual dealer in second mortgages in Cleveland today. In 1918 Mr. Warner and associates organized a $1,000,000 company to be known as the Ohio Mortgage Company, which corporation will deal exclu- sively in Cleveland second mortgages. He has directed his influence to the building up of Cleveland Heights, where he has erected over $50,000 worth of various types of buildings.
In polities he is a republican and was for- merly quite active and for four years was a judge of the election board of the Twenty- sixth Ward in Collinwood. In late years busi- ness matters have proved too exigent for him to do much in party politics. Mr. Warner is a member of the Tippecanoe Club. He is a member of the Disciples Church at Geneva, Ohio, and is unmarried, living at 9608 Parme- lee Avenue.
WILLIAM J. PINKETT is one of the younger business men of Cleveland, and from a humble start has found his way to influence and power and is one of the responsible officials with the Van Sweringen extensive interests in and around Cleveland.
Mr. Pinkett was born December 7, 1884, at Cleveland, a son of William and Jessie (Walker) Pinkett and had the advantages of the local public schools only to the age of thir- teen. His father was in the retail meat busi- ness in the firm of Gibbons & Pinkett, and it was in that shop that William J. Pinkett went to work as a clerk and finally gained a part- nership.
He left the meat business in 1905 to become identified with O. P. and M. J. Van Sweringen, real estate operators. Since then he has had increasing duties and responsibilities with the tremendous operations of this firm, the remark- able story of which is told on other pages of this publication. Mr. Pinkett was first assis- tant bookkeeper for the Van Sweringens, has promoted himself through different grades un- til he now has charge of much of the financial affairs and the office management. He is also
secretary and treasurer of The Van Sweringen Company, secretary and treasurer of The Cleveland Interurban Railway Company, as- sistant treasurer of The Terminal Building Company, and is an officer in a number of other business organizations.
Mr. Pinkett is a member of the Colonial Club, is a Methodist and a republican. On August 27, 1905, at Cleveland he married Miss Ella Schuman. They have one child, William, a student in the public schools.
FRANK A. PECK is a business man of first magnitude in Cleveland, executive head of The Cleveland Railway Supply Company and whose career has been a record of steady pro- motion from minor to major responsibilities.
Mr. Peck was born in Syracuse, New York, June 21, 1875, a son of Frank A. and Eliza- beth R. Peck. He attended the grammar and high schools of his native city, at the age of seventeen went abroad to Germany and for two years was a student in Freiburg Univer- sity.
With this liberal training and experience Mr. Peck came to Cleveland and entered the service of the Brown Hoisting Machinery Company. He worked in different positions and in course of time was promoted to man- ager of the Canadian office at Montreal, Can- ada, from 1910 to 1913.
Mr. Peck resigned his work with the Brown Company to become vice president of The Cleveland Railway Supply Company. In May, 1916, the business was reorganized and since then Mr. Peek has been president, treas- urer and general manager. The other officers are R. G. A. Phillips, vice president L. B. Bacon, secretary, and A. R. Warner and Charles F. Lang directors. This is one of the larger enterprises of its kind in the United States. The company are both manufacturers and jobbers of railroad switch stands, guard- rails, tie-plates, and rail-braces. They handle standard products and their clients compose some of the largest railway systems in Amer- ica. At the present time they are also han- dling a considerable export business.
In a social way Mr. Peek is a member of the Roadside Country Club, Cleveland Automo- bile Club. Cleveland Athletic Club, Chamber of Commerce, Montreal Engineers Club of Montreal, and in politics is a republican. He and his family are members of the Episcopal Church. At Syracuse, New York. December 14, 1902, he married Miss Lita E. Waggoner.
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Their two daughters, Elizabeth D. and Marion E., are both students in the Hathaway-Brown School of Cleveland.
WILLIAM GENT. It is no exaggeration to claim that literally millions of people have derived entertainment, value and benefit from the products manufactured and controlled by William Gent, of The William Gent Vending Machine Company. It is the only indus- try of its kind in Cleveland. Until recently this was The United Vending Machine Con- pany, of which Mr. Gent was manager.
The company has been very successful in the development of some very unusual types of automatic vending machines, technically known as "coin-controlled machines." The company manufactures, of course, the stand- ard types of weighing machines which are found practically everywhere, and they liave also manufactured and have put on the mar- ket such unusual machines as the Anto-Elec- tric scales, etc.
Mr. William Gent was born at Rockford, Illinois, February 3, 1871, a son of William and Mary S. (Taylor) Gent.
In 1903 he became associated with the Mark Wagner & Company, a firm at Buffalo operat- ing coin controled machines. Mr. Gent man- aged the business for the company in various cities until 1906, in which year he came to Cleveland and became manager of The United Vending Machine Company. In August, 1917, this business was reorganized and the name changed to The William Gent Vending Machine Company, of which Mr. Gent is sec- retary and treasurer and his brother, Arthur Gent, is manager. They have a large factory at 800-840 East Ninety-third Street and it is an industry as succesful as it is unusual and distinctive among the business institutions of Cleveland.
Mr. Gent is a member of The Cleveland Advertising Club and is a republican in poli- ties. On June 14, 1904, at Bloomington, Illi- nois, he married Lillian Dark. They have three children, William, Jr., Helen and Vir- ginia, the two older being students in the Cleveland public schools.
HON. WILLIAM G. ROSE. Certain periods in Cleveland's history as a municipality have central personalities, reflecting and dominat- ing the spirit and enterprise of the time. Forty years ago that personality was the late William G. Rose, then mayor of Cleveland, who exemplified through his office a singular
power of leadership and qualities of states- manship that are more than ever interesting and instructive after the passage of so many years. It is at the risk of some repetition that Mr. Rose's administration is briefly reviewed here, as an important chapter of his own long and useful life.
Mr. Rose came to Cleveland when thirty- eight years old. He was born in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, September 23, 1829, and came of a family that produced many strong and rugged men. He was the youngest of eleven children, all of whom reached ma- ture years and became heads of families. His parents were James and Martha (McKinley) Rose, his father of English and his mother of Scotch-Irish descent. The record of the Rose family goes back into early Colonial history of Pennsylvania. Rose and Ross are the same name. Betsy Ross was of Doylestown, Pa. The founder of the name was Andrew Rose, a native of England, who located at Doyles- town in Bucks Connty, Pennsylvania. It is said that he made cannon for the Colonial army in Revolutionary days. James Rose, his son, and father of William G. Rose, was born at Doylestown and served his country in the War of 1812. His four brothers were also in the army in that war and ten of his grand- sons were Union soldiers. The wife of James Rose, Martha Mckinley, was the daughter of David McKinley, great-grandfather of Presi- dent McKinley, and a soldier of the Revolu- tion.
William G. Rose grew up among the rugged hills of Western Pennsylvania. He had a farm experience, dividing his time between the common schools and the duties of the fields. He finished his literary education in the Austinburg Grand River Institute in Ohio and the Beaver Academy. He acquired a fair knowledge of Latin, Greek and Higher Mathematics, and for a time taught Latin and Mathematics in Beaver Academy. In 1853 he took up the study of law with Hon. William Stewart at Mercer and was admitted to the bar April 7, 1855. For ten years he enjoyed success and prominence in his native county. He came to manhood when new issues were making the realignment of parties in America, and while the allegiance of the Rose family for years had been strongly democratic, he was one of the thoughtful young men of the time who went into the republican party at the time of its organiza- tion. For a time he was editor and proprietor of the Independent Democrat in Mercer
HmCs Rose
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County, and in 1857 was elected a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, serving from 1858 to 1860. In 1860 he was chosen a dele- gate to the National Republican Convention at Chicago, which named Abraham Lincoln, but did not attend. He was twice nominated on the republican ticket in his congressional dis- trict for member of Congress.
Mr. Rose served with a three months regi- ment of Pennsylvania in the Civil war, and was in the army when Morgan was captured.
Mr. Rose came to Cleveland in 1865. His business activities in the oil field and in real estate brought him much success and rapid accumulations, and in 1874 he practically re- tired from business.
It is literally true that the honors and re- sponsibilities of public office which came to Mr. Rose in Cleveland were unsolicited and unsought. His material affairs had been so ordered that he was practically independent when forty-five years of age and his position and character were such as to make him an ideal public servant. He steadily resisted in- fluences brought to bear to make him a can- didate until 1877 when he accepted the repub- lican nomination for mayor and was elected by a generous majority. It was a critical time in the affairs of the city and of the nation economically. The most disastrous panie in history still exercised its blighting influence over industry. The keynote of his administra- tion was necessarily one of retrenchment and extreme economy. It is a splendid tribute to his tact, his financial judgment and his cour- age that he put into effect his program of economy without materially lessening the effi- ciency of vital municipal departments. His services were especially valuable in abruptly checking the extravagant customs of the past which had annually added to the burden of bonded debt carried by the citizens.
But some other points of his administration are of even greater interest at present time because of the foresight and breadth of mind that seemed to put him far in advance of the thought of his day in municipal and govern- mental matters. In his address to the council in April, 1879, at the conclusion of his term of office he foreshadowed the modern juvenile court and probation system for delinquent youth when he said: "All those confined in the house of refuge are children under sixteen years of age. Our duty does not end when we have seen them fed and clothed and protected from the storm, but demands that we do what we can to help them lead good and useful
lives. *
* * Nothing but evil can result from bringing these innocent boys and girls into such close proximity to criminals. We should send them from our care with no taint upon them, and no check to their ambitions. Give them a suburban home removed from the contaminating influence of criminals and from the din and smoke of the city."
One of the outstanding features of the industrial history of the nation in 1877 was the great railway strike which paralyzed the transportation system. Cleveland was a vital center of transportation interests, being the headquarters of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway. Modern public officials upon whom devolved the responsibility of keeping law and order and maintaining equal justice between conflicting elements in our society may gain sound and valuable lessons in wisdom from the course followed by Mayor Rose in that crisis. A writer in the magazine of Western History, more than thirty years ago, reviews the subject as follows:
"As soon as there were evidences of trouble here Mayor Rose coolly and quietly applied himself to an investigation and discovered the need for preparation to preserve peace here, if there should be an outbreak in any direction. He also discovered the fact that hasty or ill-considered action on part of the authorities would cause the appearance of that danger of which all had fear, and that a show of force might be the chief means of making that force necessary. It was not the strikers who were feared, but that large body of law breakers who, as at Pittsburg, were only too ready to burn, pillage and kill at the first sign of riot, or a conflict of any sort. All the dangers of the situation forced themselves on Mayor Rose's mind, and he felt the full meaning of many of the responsibilities he had assumed. Not a moment was lost. A con- sultation was held with some of the leading citizens, and with no show of power and no outward parade, the city was placed within a few hours in such a position that it could successfully cope with any disturbance that might arise. The police, the artillery, the mili- tia, and a strong force of organized veterans of the late war were massed and held in such shape that an overmastering force could have been thrown into the streets at the first stroke of an alarm. Newspapers and authorities were discreet and the great majority of the people never knew until long afterward of the forces that slept on their arms night after night in the armories and police station. All the force
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was there in shape for needed use and yet there was no show of that force, and no boast made of what would be or could be done. Mayor Rose was on duty night and day, and no man could have shown more nerve, courage and determination, aided by a large fund of tact and good sense, than he did all through this dangerous trouble. Those who stood near him speak in the highest praise of his course, and certainly a glance at the admirable re- sults that followed his policy, is its best de- fense and eulogy. He held one grand ad- vantage that might not have been open to all men in his position. The strikers, and work- ing men generally, knew that he was their true friend and had their interests at heart; and that while he would enforce the law with power and vigor if need be, he would never allow it to be used as an instrument for their oppression. He was in constant communica- tion with the strikers, and knew all their plans and purposes; while its leaders sought his advice and were held to their law abiding purposes largely by his influence. It was in- deed fortunate for the city that Cleveland possessed a chief executive who held the con- fidence of all classes, and who had the will and courage to see that the right thing and the safe thing was done, no matter whose pur- pose might be aided and retarded thereby. It was during the same year that the great strike of the coopers occurred in Cleveland, and the mayor's responsibility and course as described in the above were here duplicated on a smaller scale. Not a life was lost, nor a dollar's worth of property destroyed."
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