A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 7

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 7

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Mr. Otis married Miss Lucia Ransom Ed- wards, July 11, 1895. Mrs. Otis is the dangh- ter of the late William Edwards, himself a

conspicuous figure in Cleveland history, and Lucia Ransom Edwards. Mr. and Mrs. Otis have two children, William Edwards Otis and Lucia Eliza Otis. The city home of the family is at 3436 Euclid Avenue.

RALPH RANDOLPH ROOT exemplified in every detail the character of the old-time merchant. He began in a humble role, pursued his ends with undeviating ambition and industry, was quick of perception, thorough in his execu- tion, and was always guided by a spirit of integrity that ruled his every act and brought him not only material success but the esteem and admiration of his fellow men. It is not too much to say that his work and his char- acter constitute one of the cornerstones of the Root & McBride Company of today, one of the largest and best known of Cleveland's wholesale institutions.

Ralph Randolph Root was born at Coopers- town, New York, February 10, 1823, a son of Elias and Nancy (Sabin) Root. He was about fifteen years old when his parents came to Cleveland, and he grew up in the city when it was still struggling in competition with many other thriving inland towns. The edu- cation begun in public schools was continued at Oberlin College. As a boy he learned the printer's trade, but did not follow it long as a vocation.

About sixty or seventy years ago one of Cleveland's best known mercantile establish- ments was "the old city mill store," and it was here that the late Mr. Root acquired his first mercantile training as a clerk. Not long afterwards his abilities had counted so rap- idly in winning favor that the proprietor of the store, Mr. A. M. Perry, admitted him to a partnership in the new firm of A. M. Perry & Company. Still later this was succeeded by Morgan & Root, the principals being E. P. Morgan and R. R. Root. Lee McBride was the next partner admitted to the firm, and the name was then changed to Morgan, Root & Company. Mr. Morgan retired in 1884, and the business was continued as Root & McBride Brothers, Lee McBride's brother John H. having entered the firm as junior partner. From that time forward until his death, five years later, Mr. Root was senior partner, and the wisdom with which he di- rected the business effectively contributed to the wide and prosperous connections the firm had as retail merchants all over the Middle West.

0 8 alden

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

Mr. Root died in Cleveland in January, 1889. In 1862 he married Miss Anna Y. Tubbs, who is still living in Cleveland. She is a daughter of John M. Tubbs. Mlr. and Mrs. Root had four children : Frederic Payn Root, vice president of the Root & McBride Company ; Mary Loomis Root, wife of Frank Ely Abbott of Cleveland; Walter S., who is connected with the Root & McBride Company ; and Cornelia W., wife of Frank H. Ginn, of Cleveland.

FREDERIC PAYN ROOT, vice president of the wholesale dry goods house of the Root & Mc- Bride Company, of which his father, Ralph R. Root, elsewhere mentioned, was one of the founders, has had a typically successful busi- ness career and it can be described very brief- ly, since it is a record of a continuous connec- tion from school days with the Root & Mc- Bride Company, with the increasing responsi- bilities that increasing experience and ability merited.

The oldest of his father's children, he was born in Cleveland August 28, 1865. He was educated in private schools and is a gradu- ate of the Brooks Military Academy of Cleve- land. From school he went immediately to the wholesale dry goods establishment of his father, and during the next few years there was not a single department or line of the work which escaped his experience. His close and detailed knowledge of dry goods he has since used in many ways to promote the for- tunes of the Root & McBride Company, which is the largest importer and jobber of dry goods in the State of Ohio. When the busi- ness was incorporated a number of years ago, Mr. Root was made vice president, and has sinee retained that post, together with the office of a director. He is also a director of the Union Commerce National Bank of Cleveland, and is a trustee of the Society for Savings.

He is also a member of the Union Club, Country Club, Mayfield Country Club, Road- side Club, Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, Civic League, City Club and Cleveland Au- tomobile Club.

Mr. Root married Mary Randall Crawford, who died March 27, 1905, the mother of two sons. The older is Paul Crawford Root, 110W assistant general superintendent of the Cleve- land-Akron Bag Company. He married Elca- nor H. Kingsbury, of Montelair, New Jersey, and they have one son, Paul Crawford Root,

Jr. The younger son, Ralph Randall, is now serving with the rank of first lieutenant in the aviation section of the United States army in France. He married Anna R. Lincoln, of Cleveland, daughter of Dr. W. R. Lincoln.

CHARLES E. ALDEN. Few lawyers at the Cleveland bar are generally acknowledged to have a more ready and sound judgment in the broad and intricate matters pertaining to corporation, commercial and real estate juris- prudence than Charles E. Alden, senior mem- ber of the firm of Alden, Knapp & Magee. His education and experience have admirably fitted him for practice in these fields, and by the consideration of the important interests with which he has been identified it will be realized how rapid and substantial has been his professional progress.

The Alden family descends from sturdy New England stock, the first of the family in this country having immigrated to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in the year 1620. Enoch Al- den, grandfather of Charles E. Alden, came from Williamstown, Massachusetts, and was one of the earliest settlers of Middlefield, Geauga County, Ohio. Charles E. Alden was born at Middlefield, December 18, 1875, and is a son of Edward H. and Hercey M. (Dun- ham) Alden.

Edward H. Alden, who for many years was an agriculturist in Geauga County, served as both a volunteer and a drafted mau during the Civil war, the greater part of his service of nearly three years being with Company B, Eighty-Seventh Regiment, and Company A, One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Regi- ment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. In 1892 he moved to Hiram, Ohio, where he died October 25. 1916, his widow now being a resident of that place. They were members of the Metho- dist Church. Of their nine children, four sons and four daughters grew to maturity, their names being: Dr. A. H., a graduate of Hiram College, and now engaged in the prac- tice of medicine at North Lima, Ohio; Dr. E. H., who is practicing dentistry at Alliance : Charles E .; John, who died at the age of four years; Diantha, who died when thirty- three years of age; Emily, who resides with her mother at Hiram; Mabel, who is the wife of Perry L. Green, of Hiram, secretary and manager of the Greendale Dairy Farm; David Russell, a graduate of Hiram College, and now a resident of Kent, Ohio; and Her- cey May, a professional nurse of Cleveland,

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

who was formerly for several years night superintendent of the East Fifty-fifth Street Hospital.

Charles E. Alden obtained his early train- ing under greatest difficulties. He worked on his father's farm and attended district school at Middlefield until the age of seventeen. He was then compelled to rely upon his own re- sources. In spite of disappointments and obstacles that would have disheartened any but a dauntless spirit, he persisted steadfastly in attaining his cherished ambition to secure a college education. His course in college and afterwards in law school were made possible only by untiring energy and devotion and by the most rigid economy and self-denial.

After leaving the farm he taught country schools for about three years in Middlefield and in Livingston County, Illinois. He then attended Hiram College, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1901. After pursuing special studies during the fall and winter of 1901 and 1902 he entered the office of Edwin Vorhis at Ak- ron, Ohio, where he studied law for six months. Going to Cleveland in the fall of 1902, he secured employment in the office of Bardons & Oliver, and later in the office of the American Steel & Wire Company, per- forming stenographic and clerical work dur- ing the day and attending law school at night. He spent two years in the Cleveland Law School, and then, dropping his office work, he completed his studies in the law department of Western Reserve University in the spring of 1905, at that time being admitted to the bar. He commenced the practice of law in January, 1906, in partnership with Eldon J. Hopple, who for the past two terms has been speaker of the House of Representatives at Columbus, and the firm of Alden & Hopple continued in existence until January, 1909, when W. C. Mccullough became a partner, the style of the combination then being Mc- Cullough, Alden & Hopple. In 1910 Mr. Alden withdrew and formed a partnership with H. H. Knapp and C. F. Magee, and the firm of Alden, Knapp and Magee is generally accounted at this time as one of the most formidable organizations in the city. Offices are maintained in the Engineers Building, and a general practice is carried on, although the firm has perhaps obtained its strongest standing in the specialty of corporation, com- mercial and real estate law.

Mr. Alden is a democrat and a member of

the Twenty-second Ward Democratic Club, and of the Tom L. Johnson Club. He is also a member of the Christian Church, the Civic League, the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, the City Club, the local and the Ohio State Bar Associations and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Those who know him need not be told that he is a broad-minded citizen of sterling worth, steadfastly interested in all public measures which promise to be of practical good, and those who are not acquainted with him may have the full assurance of his legion of friends to that effect. He is a close student, and is not only interested in the literature of his profession, but also in worth-while works of history and fiction.

Mr. Alden was married at Brunswick, Medina County, Ohio, in 1902, to Miss Ina May Gibbs, a daughter of Alexander and Paulina (Green) Gibbs, the latter still living, and the former of whom died at Brunswick, December 26, 1915, aged seventy-three years. Mr. Gibbs was a Civil war veteran with a brilliant military record, and was with Gen- eral Custer as a cavalryman at the battle of Five Forks and others. During the Civil war he took part in seventeen pitched battles and was with Sheridan at the time of his historic ride to Winchester, and rose to cor- poral and to a staff officership. Mrs. Alden was born at Brunswick, where she received her early education, subsequently attending Ohio Northern College at Ada, and then go- ing to Hiram College, where she received the degree of Bachelor of Literature in the same class as that in which Mr. Alden graduated. Prior to that time she had taught school for several years, and later was a teacher in Me- dina County, Ohio, until her marriage. `Mr. and Mrs. Alden are the parents of two chil- dren, both born at Cleveland : Marcella Eugenia and John Butler.

ALBERT LEWIS TALCOTT has been a Cleve- land lawyer since 1890, for many years con- nected with the Erie Railroad Company, and now has an extensive law and real estate busi- ness, with offices in The Arcade.

He was born in the beautiful Village of Jefferson in Ashtabula County, Ohio, Feb- ruary 8, 1859. Mr. Talcott has an interest- ing lineage from old New England, involving many personages of note in the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut.

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS 1198369

The line of descent is traced from John Talcott and Dorothy Mort, his wife, who came over from Braintree, Essex County, England, to Boston, on the ship Lion, in 1632, two years after the arrival of the colony of Puri- tans that settled Massachusetts Bay. The fa- ther and the paternal grandfather of John Talcott were both named John and lived in Colchester, England. In Vol. 1137, page 148, of the Harlean Manuscript, preserved in the British Museum, containing the Herald's visi- tation of Essex County in 1558, are found the arms and pedigree of the Talcott family, originally from Warwickshire, England.

Samuel Talcott, born in 1635, was the first person of that family name to be born in America. He was graduated from Harvard College in 1658 and resided in Wethersfield, Connecticut, upon land devised to him in 1659 by his father, who had moved to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1636, with other members of Rev. Mr. Hooker's company. The Hooker company had become dissatisfied with their first location at Newton (now Cambridge) near Boston and had gone to Connecticut to secure more perfect liberty of worship. In anticipation of this removal, John Talcott erected a house in 1635 which stood on the ground afterwards long occupied by the old "North Church." This was the first house built in Hartford. John Talcott was one of the leading citizens of Hartford and for many years a member of the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut and also of the com- mittee appointed in 1637 to consider the pro- priety of the war with the Pequot Indians, with whom hostilities broke out during that year.

His son, Lieut .- Col. John Talcott, was one of the patentees named in the charter granted by King Charles II to the Colony of Connecti- cut in 1662. He was appointed in 1676, when the war with King Philip broke out, to com- mand the "standing army" of the colony. In the various battles with the Indians in which he was engaged he was always victo- rious and gained great renown as an Indian fighter. Lieut .- Col. John Talcott was treas- urer of the colony from 1660 to 1676. His daughter, Elizabeth, married Capt. Joseph Wadsworth, one of the most familiar heroes of early colonial history. It was this Captain Wadsworth who on the night of October 31, 1687, aided by Lieut .- Col. John Talcott, seized the charter of the colony and hid it in an oak tree. Sir Edmund Andros, it will be remem- bered, was named as governor of New Eng-

land by King James II and had been directed to take possession of the charters of several colonies. After securing the charters of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, he attempted to take that of Connecticut and was only pre- vented by this forehanded action of Captain Wadsworth. This tree became known as the "Charter Oak". and the story of the event is familiar to every American school child.

Mr. A. L. Talcott's great-grandfather, Elizur Talcott, was a Revolutionary soldier. His son, Nelson Talcott, the grandfather, came to Mesopotamia, Ohio, from Norwich, Massa- chusetts, in or about the year 1826. Elizur Talcott accompanied him. Nelson Talcott finally settled in Nelson Township of Portage County, where in 1828 he established a chair factory. This factory was subsequently relo- cated in the Village of Garrettsville, where he conducted the largest business of the kind in the state for many years.

Henry Talcott, father of the Cleveland law- yer, was long a prominent business man and citizen of Jefferson in Ashtabula County. He was born in Nelson Township of Portage County December 28, 1832, and moved to Jef- ferson in Ashtabula County in 1852. There he engaged in the hardware business, and was a hardware merchant forty years. His inter- ests also extended to manufacturing, banking and farming, and during the last twenty years of his life those interests became very exten- sive. His death occurred July 12, 1894. He was a man of prominence and influence politi- cally as a republican, and as a young man had opposed the extension of slavery. In later years his influence was exerted for the adoption of the Interstate Commerce Act by Congress and the Pure Food Laws of Ohio. Governor Foraker appointed him assistant dairy and food commissioner of Ohio when the original pure food law was adopted.

December 23, 1855, Henry Talcott married Cordelia J. Pritchard. She was also a native of Nelson Township, Portage County, and was educated in Nelson Academy and at Hi- ram College. She was a cousin of Gen. B. D. Pritchard, who until his decease a few years ago, was a prominent banker at Allegan, Mich- igan, and commanded the troop of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry which captured Jefferson Davis while he was fleeing from Richmond at the close of the Civil war. Henry and Cor- delia J. Talcott had five sons, all of whom reached manhood and were given college ad- vantages. Three of them, John C., Albert L., and William E., became lawyers. Ralph

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

H. graduated from the Boston Conservatory of Music and is now a teacher of music in Cleveland. The youngest son, George Nelson, has always followed a mercantile career and is also a resident of Cleveland.

Albert Lewis Talcott was graduated from the Eastman National Business College at Poughkeepsie in 1874 with the degree Master of Accounts. In 1877 he received the degree Bachelor of Philosophy from Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio, and then entered Yale University Law School, where he completed his course, ranking fourth in his class and receiving the degree LL. B. in 1880.

Admitted to the bar at Columbus in De- cember, 1880, Mr. Talcott began practice at Jefferson, Ohio, in partnership with his older brother, the late John C. Talcott, under the firm name of Talcott Brothers. That partner- ship continued for ten years, until A. L. Tal- cott removed to Cleveland in October, 1890. Here he entered the service of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad Company, now the Erie Railroad Company, as assistant land, tax and claim agent. To those duties he gave his time and attention for about 181% years, finally resigning in 1909 to resume the private practice of law and the real estate business.

For many years Mr. Talcott has been a recognized leader in the prohibition party of the state and nation. He was affiliated with the republican organization and took an ac- tive part in local affairs with that party un- til 1885. At that date he concluded that pro- hibition was the most important political ques- tion and has since continually supported its nominees, except in 1915, when the prohibi- tion nominees of Ohio withdrew in favor of those of the progressive party after the State Progressive Convention had endorsed prohi- bition. Mr. Talcott was a delegate to the Prohibition National Convention in 1892 and 1908. He has been nominated by the Ohio State Convention of the party as candidate for judge of the Supreme Court three differ- ent times. In 1916 he received 106,273 votes for that office, that being by far the largest vote ever given a prohibition candidate in Ohio.

About forty-five years ago Mr. Talcott joined the Independent Order of Good Tem- plars and retained his active membership therein for over thirty years. At Mount Union College he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. In 1885 he united with the Jefferson Baptist Church and after removing

to Cleveland took a letter from that church to the First Baptist Church of Cleveland in 1891 and has been very active in that denom- ination ever since. He served as president of the Cleveland Baptist City Mission Society for two years and secretary seven years. He has been secretary of the Baptist Home of North- ern Ohio for Old People since it was organized in 1907.

On August 4, 1881, at Jefferson, Ohio, Mr. Talcott married Elizabeth J. Bailey, daughter of William and Mary A. Bailey, of Jefferson. Her parents were of English descent. Mrs. Talcott was born at Jefferson, February 17, 1860, was educated in the village schools and was a teacher until her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Talcott have three children : Cora Mabel, born October 5, 1882, was married October 4, 1902, to Bruce W. Huling. They now reside at Akron. John Albert, the only son, was born March 8, 1886. January 29, 1910, he married Harriet I. Finney, of Toronto, Can- ada. Both are successful teachers and are now connected with Bishop College at Marshall, Texas. Winifred Bailey, the youngest, was born August 8, 1892, and resides with her parents at 1457 East 116th Street, Cleveland.

JOHN CARLOS TALCOTT. The Cleveland bar had one of its ablest thinkers and most successful practitioners in the person of the late Jolin Carlos Talcott, who died at his home in that city December 17, 1904. He had prac- ticed law for over a quarter of a century and the last ten years of his life were spent in Cleveland.

He was the oldest brother of Albert Lewis Talcott and William Ellsworth Taleott, else- where referred to, and a son of Henry and Cordelia J. Talcott, a prominent family of Jefferson, Ashtabula County, where John C. was born March 8, 1857.

John C. Talcott acquired a liberal educa- tion. In 1874 he graduated from the Spen- cerian Business College of Cleveland, and then took the classical course in Mount Union Col- lege at Alliance, where he received his A. B. degree in 1876. He studied law at Yale Uni- versity, graduating LL. B. in 1878 and Master of Laws in 1881, and always took high rank in his literary and professional studies and was fourth in rank in his class at Yale. He was admitted to the bar of Ohio in the fall of 1879, and was actively engaged in practice at Jefferson until his removal to Cleveland in 1894. Soon after his admission to the bar he was elected justice of the peace for Jefferson

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

Township in 1879, and besides his work as a lawyer served from 1878 to 1891 as cashier of Talcott's Deposit Bank of Jefferson.

From 1880 to 1890 he and his younger brother, Albert, were in law partnership un- der the firm name of Talcott Brothers, attor- neys at law. From the date of his removal to Cleveland until his death, John C. Talcott had a large general practice. As a lawyer he was characterized by unusual learning and was a clear and logical thinker and speaker. A judge of the Common Pleas Court, before whom he had just argued an important case only a short time before his death, pronounced his argument the best he had ever heard in his court.

In politics he was a republican, and was chairman of the Republican County Central Committee of Ashtabula County during his earlier career. He served as a member of the board of education of Glenville as long as his health would permit. He was a member of the Delta Tan Delta fraternity at Mount Union, and was active in the Tippecanoe Club and the Cleveland Whist Club. He never married and for years had his home with his mother, Mrs. Cordelia J. Talcott. His re- mains were interred at the old family home at Jefferson.

WILLIAM ELLSWORTH TALCOTT, one of the three brothers whose names have long adorned the legal profession in Cleveland, was an ac- tive member of the bar of this city for nearly twenty years, but is now a resident of New York City.

He was born at Jefferson, Ohio, October 25, 1862, being the fourth son of Henry and Cordelia J. Talcott. The record of the fam- ily is given elsewhere.

Mr. Talcott graduated from Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie in 1878, from the Jefferson High School in 1879, and is an alumnus of Mount Union College at Al- liance, from which he received the A. B. de- gree in 1882 and the degree Master of Arts in 1887. Mr. Talcott graduated from the law department of Yale University in 1884 and was given the degree Master of Laws in 1885.

He began the practice of law at Akron in 1885, but on November 1, 1886, removed to Cleveland, where he was appointed special claim agent for the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad Company. In 1897 he was promoted to land, tax and claim agent for the Erie Railroad west of Salamanca. He has made his chief work and has gained his chief

fame as a lawyer in this line of activity. On October 1, 1904, he was promoted to general real estate agent for the Erie Railroad system, with headquarters at New York City. He re- signed May 1, 1907. to accept his present of- fice as assistant general land and tax agent for the New York Central Railway Company, also with headquarters in New York City.

Ife is a member of several New York social clubs, including the New York, Pleiades, Whist and Knickerbocker Whist clubs. He has no record as a political worker or candi- date, but has supported the republican ticket in national and state affairs and is independ- ent in local elections. In college he became a member of a Delta Tau Delta fraternity and has had membership in the Royal Ar- canum and the American Insurance Union. His wife and two daughters are active mem- bers of the Disciples Church.

November 30, 1882, at Canton, Ohio, Mr. Talcott married Eva May Holl, daughter of Dan R. and Nancy (Mishler) IIoll. Mrs. Tal- cott is of Pennsylvania Dutch stock, her par- ents having come from the vicinity of Lan- caster, Pennsylvania, to Stark County, Ohio, where they were farmers. Mr. and Mrs. Tal- cott had four children: Homer Leroy, who in 1908 married Bertha Ehser and has one daughter; William Ellsworth, Jr., who died in 1909: Grace Helen and Maude Eleanor, still single.

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A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 7

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