A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 71

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 71

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Lucien Seymour was educated in the district schools of his native township, the public schools of Ashtabula, and for a time attended Racine College at Racine, Wisconsin. During luis earlier career he was a merchant at Ashta- bula and also a miller, he and his father oper- ating flour mills known as the Ohio Mills, William Seymour & Son, proprietors. Mr. Seymour first became secretary of the Grand Council of the Royal Arcanum for Ohio in 1900 and filled the office five years. Then after an interim of nine years he was again elected in 1914, and has been chosen his own successor ever since. His work as grand sec- retary takes hiim all over Ohio, there being councils of the order in all the important cen- ters of the state.

In 1912 Mr. Seymour assisted in organizing The Pure Protection Life Association at Cleve- land, which is now a prosperous company with offices in the Arcade at Cleveland. Mr. Sey- mour served as its first secretary and is now a member of the founders board. He also had an active part in organizing the Ohio Royal Building and Loan Company in 1916 and is its secretary. This company is a mu- tual organization, all the profits being shared . by the stockholders and is incorporated under the laws of Ohio with a capital stock of $300,000 for the purpose of promoting home building.

Mr. Seymour is a republican in politics and in earlier years was quite active in Ashta- bula County. In 1893 he spent a year as county deputy supervisor of elections in that county. He is a Knight Templar Mason and a Royal Arch Chapter Mason, a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, of the Royal League and the Ashtabula County Society of Cleveland. Mr. Seymour is a man of versatile interests, and while his life has been immersed in practical business affairs he has a distinctly

literary trend, and has occasionally written some pleasing prose and verse. Some of his verses, in celebration of the glories and beau- ties of his native State of Ohio, have been widely published and circulated.

Mr. Seymour married Miss Catherine M. Ducro of Ashtabula, daughter of John and Isabella (Warner) Ducro, old settlers of Ash- tabula, both now deceased. Her father was for many years engaged in the furniture and undertaking business. Mrs. Seymour was born at Jefferson. Ohio, but was educated in Ashta- bula. In former years both Mr. and Mrs. Sey- mour were very prominent in the Episcopal Church. Mr. and Mrs. Seymour established a mission of the Protestant Episcopal Church at Ashtabula Harbor, known as the Grace Me- morial Mission, and both of them were leaders in church activities there. Mr. and Mrs. Sey- mour have had their home in Cleveland since 1899. Their only daughter, Carrie S., is now the wife of Duncan MacFarlane of Cleveland.

SAMUEL HENRY NEEDS is one of Cleveland's foremost figures in the coal industry, having been a resident of this city over thirty-five years, and from responsibilities and duties of a minor character with the Ohio-Pennsylvania Coal Company he progressed to the post of general manager and is now executive head of several important business organizations.

Mr. Needs was born at Tiverton, Devonshire, England, September 30, 1859, son of Samuel and Elizabeth Needs. Both parents spent all their lives in England, where they died. Sam- uel Needs was a well sinker in England and lost his life while engaged in his occupation when his son, Samuel H., was only three years of age. In going down a well which he had partially completed he failed to take the nec- essary precautions, and was overcome by the fatal gas or "damps" as it is called and could not be rescued alive. He and his wife had four children, two daughters and two sons. The daughter, Bessie, still lives in England. The other daughter, Ellen, widow of James Wyburn, is a resident of Cleveland. The other son, Walter G. Needs, who died in Cleveland February 25, 1906, was one of the most popu- lar musicians of this city. He was a musician of all around ability, was both an individual performer and a leader and organizer, and he furnished music in all the playhouses of Cleveland in his day.

Samuel Henry Needs grew up in England, had a common school education at Tiverton,

Pleas

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and for seven years worked in a silk lace manu- facturing establishment. On March 17, 1881, he arrived at Philadelphia by ocean vessel from Liverpool, and about two weeks later, on April 1, 1881, reached Cleveland, that date representing a connection with this city which has never been broken. The first five years he was here he was in the operating service of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Rail- way and in 1886 entered the city treasurer's office under Tom Axworthy. He afterwards spent another year with Mr. Axworthy in the latter's coal office, and while there he laid the foundation of his experience and acquaintance with the coal industry. From that he joined the Ohio-Pennsylvania Coal Company, a cor- poration with which he was connected for twenty-eight years, and filled every responsi- bility from car recorder to general manager. He was formerly secretary and treasurer of the Ohio-Pennsylvania Coal Company, is presi- dent of the Morse Crable Coal Company and vice president and general manager of the Bergholz Coal Mining Company. Mr. Needs' offices are in the Commercial Bank Building.

While living in England Mr. Needs served one year with a company of British volunteers. He is well known in fraternal circles, being. affiliated with Iris Lodge No. 229, Free and Accepted Masons; Webb Chapter No. 14, Royal Arch Masons; Oriental Commandery, Knights Templar; Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is past exalted ruler of Cleveland Lodge of Elks No. 18, and was grand treasurer of the order in 1902-03. Mr. Needs is a republican, a member of the City Club, and his church is the Methodist Epis- copal.

On Christmas Day, 1886, in Cleveland, he married Miss Emma Weile. They are the par- ents of three children. Daisy A. is a grad- uate of the Laurel School of Cleveland; Ulysses S. graduated from Dartmouth College in 1914; and Robert W. was member of the class of 1918 in the Cleveland Heights High School and there prepared for entrance to Dartmouth College. All the children are na- tives of Cleveland.

RT. REV. WILLIAM HORN. Though his home was in Cleveland from 1871 until his death in this city on April 27, 1917, there were no set limits to prescribe the work and influence of the late Bishop William Horn of the Evangelical Association. For a long period of

years he was chief editor of the church papers of his denomination at Cleveland, and then for nearly a quarter of a century was bishop of the church. He resigned that post at the Los Angeles General Conference of 1915. His dioeese had no geographical boundaries and every year he traveled thousands of miles in all parts of the country in discharge of his episcopal duties.

Aside from the prominent position he oe- enpied in his church, Bishop Horn lived a life of intense activity and his individual experi- ence makes most interesting reading. A num- ber of years ago for the benefit of his children he wrote out many of the facts of his life, espe- cially those relating to his early years in the ministry, and it is from his own words that most of the following story is compiled.

IIe was born at Oberfishbach near Siegen in Prussia, May 7, 1839, and was therefore in his seventy-eighth year when he died. IIe was ten years of age when his father, Jacob Horn, died, and his mother afterwards married Her- man Schneider. Bishop Horn was always a man of utmost modesty, even approaching the point of diffidence. This was illustrated in his early experiences. He was started to sehool at the age of four, but his bashfulness was such that only extreme urging on the part of his good grandmother would make him attend. It was not that he did not desire to learn but he was almost morbidly afraid of other children. This was overeome, and later he found extreme pleasure in pursuing his studies. At the age of fourteen, when he was confirmed, he was started to work in the mines, but found that hard and disagreeable toil.

In the spring of 1855, when he was sixteen years of age, he and his mother, stepfather and other ehildren set out for America. The party landed at New York on the 4th of .July. He saw a railroad for the first time at Cologne and his first sight of the ocean was at Bremen.

In America they were strange people in a strange land, and none of them understood English, and for that reason young William Horn was unable to apply the knowledge he had aequired from books in the old country. Thus he did not know that Niagara Falls when he passed it was the great natural wonder which he had read of in the old country. The family journeyed west until they arrived at Cooperstown in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. Here they lived among Indians, bears and deer, with very few white neighbors.

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From the pioneer farm in the woods Wil- liam Horn went in 1856 to Lomira, Dodge County, to attend school for a few weeks and then worked for a farmer at $8 a month, turn- ing over his wages to the support of the fant- ily. "In the little log cabin country school house I had some very interesting experi- ences," as his own words recall them years afterward. "Being seventeen years old, al- most full grown, not understanding any Eng- lish, the children laughed at mc and called me 'the big Dutchman.' The teacher, however, had the good sense to teach me separate from the other beginners, told me through an in- terpreter that 'I learned as fast as a horse could run' and after several weeks asked me to spell with the big class which of course made me a little nervous. But fortunately the lesson consisted of those long latin words like contribution, absolution, etc., which were quite difficult to spell for those country chaps, but being the same in English as in German, quite easy for me. Standing at the foot end of the class, I therefore moved up very rapidly and before long stood at the top. Thereafter the boys stopped laughing at me and imagined that I knew much more than I really did."

He also describes his first church service at Lomira, held in a small farm house. He was not accustomed to pioneer church gather- ings, and was unable to understand how church could be held in such restricted quar- ters and was much puzzled by the appearance of the minister without the formal clerical garb. Only a few weeks later at a quarterly conference in a log school house he was con- verted.

During the years that followed he worked as a farm hand, and also taught several terms in the forests of Brown County, Wisconsin. Again quoting his language to describe this experience, "Knowing very little about Eng- lish literature and the responsible art of teach- ing, I had the great advantage that my con- stituents, and especially the children, knew nothing at all. At that time the state had made provision to furnish each school with a copy of Webster's Dictionary, so the super- intendent requested me to take the big book along to my school; and when the foreign pco- ple saw me coming with the gigantic volume under my arm, how could they help but be impressed with my phenomenal learning, and fortunately that impression lasted through the whole term. The superintendent of instruc- tion visited the school several times and it has

remained a mystery to me until this day by what means I had gained his favor, but lie gave me the very best recommendation on the district register."

To his frequent self questionings as to what vocation he should follow, it seemed that there was always the answer ready that he should enter the ministry. Finally the decision was practically taken out of his own hands, and at a meeting in the Lomira Circuit he was voted a recommendation for the position of assistant preacher. This honor and the be- ginning of his ministerial career came to him in the autumn of 1861. He began his duties with a lame horse and old buggy, and started visiting the sixteen preaching places in the circuit .. For a number of years Bishop Horn carried the gospel through many remote and isolated sections of Northern Wisconsin, trav- eling through the woods, frequently losing his way, sleeping at night in the leaves and on the snow, putting up with the starvation fare which the poor settlers themselves had as their best, and enduring privations and hardships such as only a man of the greatest fortitude and a spirit upheld by his faith in his mission could endure. However, those phases of his life and the many interesting experiences must be passed over with only a few words.

In 1864, when he was twenty-five years of age, he was ordained a deacon, and was as- signed to a new field of labor at Port Wash- ington, Wisconsin. Having been ordained, he was by the church rules allowed to marry, and began looking about for a companion. He sought guidance from older men in his choice, and strangely enough three different superior churchmen, without consultation among each other, counselled him to make choice of Mary Fishbach of Hartford. This counsel receiv- ing the approval of his own judgment and feelings, he laid the case before her and re- ceived an affirmative. Then on May 19, 1864, in spite of the strenuous objections on the part of her grandmother, who had decided upon a different mate for her granddaughter, they were married in the Evangelical Church at Hartford by Rev. Leonhard Buehler.

Mary Fishbach was born at Milwaukee. Oc- tober 6, 1843. Her father, Anthony Fish- bach, came from Alsace, then a French prov- ince, and her mother, Catherine Meinzer, was from Baden, Germany. Mary's mother died when she was about seven years of age. Her father had been reared a Catholic but was con-

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verted as a Protestant and took an active part in the building up of the Evangelical Associa- tion at Milwaukee and Hartford.

After his marriage Bishop Horn renewed his industrious labors in Wisconsin, being lo- cated successively at Port Washington, Fond du Lac, Chilton Mission, Gravesville, and at the same time looking after many isolated missions involving long and difficult journeys. The people among whom he worked were ex- tremely poor, but they were willing to share the best they had with the minister. Bishop Horn and his family lived in houses poor as his people, and several of his children were born during that period of wandering and privation in Wisconsin.

In the spring of 1871 at the conference, Bishop Horn had been elected presiding elder of the Mississippi district. The duties of that position would have kept him away from his wife and four children practically all the time, and after presenting this phase of the matter he was relieved from the office. In the fall of that year he was sent as a delegate to the General Conference at Mapleville, Illinois. At that General Conference the Evangelical Magazine which had been conducted as a theological monthly and edited by Bishop Esher, was changed into a magazine for the Sunday school and family. To the post of editor, involving also the responsibility of editing the German juvenile literature of the church, Bishop Horn was chosen at that con- ference. It was the duties of this position which brought him and his family to Cleve- land.

Bishop Horn and his wife and four chil- dren arrived in Cleveland in December, 1871. At that time he says, big trees lined the prin- cipal streets, especially Woodland Avenue, and the town deserved the name Forest City more than it does now. For upwards of twenty years Bishop Horn gave his time and energies faithfully and successfully to his work as editor. He made the magazines and various periodicals under his charge prosperous pub- lications and a source of the greatest benefit to the church and the people. However, to the end he retained a characteristically modest attitude toward his work and it was in keep- ing with his great simplicity of character that he would never confess that he was bigger and broader than his task. His introduction to the field of literary effort needs to be told in his own words to be properly appreciated.

"My beginning as an editor never had its like in the church and perhaps not in the

world. I had never been in a printing estab- lishment before and yet I was to edit not only the German Juvenile Literature for the church but also establish a new family and Sunday School Magazine, without having the least knowledge of the business or the material to start with.

"I was shown to a little shabby dusty corner in the publishing house, called an office, with a few bare shelves, but not a book on them except a copy of Webster's dictionary. I noticed a few wooden blocks lying around and was wondering what they were there for, without having the slightest idea that they were wood cuts used for illustrations. So you may believe me when I say that I almost trembled when the little printer 'devil' knocked at the door and asked for copy. But in spite of the ignorance, want of experience, and means, in spite of all the difficulties, the Christliche Kinderfreund, Lamuerweide, Sun- day School books and even the almanac were edited and the new magazine was not only properly launched. but to my astonishment met with unexpected success.

"As the so-called office was abundantly sup- plied with spiders, flies and other domestics, but entirely void of any literary material, I was thrown upon my own resources, the few books in my private library, my imagination and experience. I described the latter as I had found it, what I had done, heard, scen, thought and dreamed in the mysterious wild woods and among the Indians in Wisconsin, as also my reception in the empty editorial office, and this seemed to please the readers, for it brought encouraging letters and a pleas- ant smile on the face of the publisher when he noticed how the subscription list was grow- ing from month to month. At the following General Conference I was re-elected by ac- clamation."

In the course of time he came to take the greatest pleasure in his editorial work, espe- cially on the Evangelical Magazine. About 1875 the matter was broached to him of becom- ing successor to the editor of the Christliche Botschafter, the leading denominational pub- lication of the Evangelical Association. He unequivocally declined to consider such an of- fice, since he did not believe he had the ability to edit the weekly church paper. During the next four years, however, the Botschafter lost many subscribers, and the responsibility for that situation was laid at the door of Bishop Horn because of his earlier refusal to assume the responsibilities of editorship. From that

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time forward he resolved that however he might regard his individual ability, he would accept any task or responsibility laid upon him by his church. Thus at the General Confer- ence of 1879 at Chicago he was elected editor of the Christliche Botschafter, and he was the active head of that journal, published at Cleve- land, until he was given the more important work of a bishop of the Evangelical Associa- tion. As editor of the Botschafter he saw its circulation and influence grow, until it had a larger number of subscribers than ever before. He was editor of the Botschafter during the trouble which threatened a permanent break in the Evangelical Association, and his con- scientious and fearless work through the col- ums of that paper may be largely credited with saving the church from collapse.

Bishop Horn was thirty-two years of age when he came to Cleveland to assume his edi- torial post. He was the youngest editor ever elected in the church. From the time of his ordination as a deacon in Wisconsin until he resigned his office as bishop in 1915, consti- tnted a period of over half a century, probably the longest individual service rendered by any man in the church in America.

Bishop Horn and wife celebrated their golden wedding anniversary and it was nearly three years later that their companionship was broken by his death. Mrs. Horn is still living, and also their six children, three daughters and three sons. The daughters are: Miss Ella, a teacher in the public schools of Cleve- land ; Mrs. Harry J. Lamb; Mrs. George Bel- lamy ; while the sons are Frank, Oscar and E. W. Horn.

OSCAR J. HORN is a Cleveland lawyer, a member of the bar nearly twenty years, and has acquired many interests that identify him definitely with the professional and civic life of this city.

Mr. Horn is the youngest son and was the fifth child in a family of the late Rt. Rev. William Horn, a beloved bishop of the Evangelical Association whose home was in Cleveland for many years and whose interest- ing life is the subject of a separate article in this publication.

Oscar J. Horn was born at Cleveland Sep- tember 24, 1872, soon after the family came to this city. He attended the public schools, graduated from the Central High School in 1891, and from Adelbert College in 1895 with the degree A. B. For three years he was a student in Western Reserve Law School.

While attending law school he also gained much valuable experience working in law of- fices and also as an employe in the legal de- partment of the city. He was admitted to the bar in November, 1899, and has always practiced alone. For a time he shared offices with Minor Norton and Judge S. S. Ford in the Society for Savings Building, but has had offices in the Engineers Building since it was completed. For the past eight years he has been legal representative of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, his duties as general counsel comprising a large part of his work as a general practitioner. Until 1916 for about four years he was also local representative as loan agent at Cleveland for the Northwestern Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee, until that company discontinued its Cleveland of- fice. Mr. Horn is also interested in a number of real estate organizations, and with three associates owns a farm of 700 acres in Portage and Summit counties, Ohio. Farming is one of his diversions and he enjoys nothing better during a relief from office practice than get- ting out on the farm and taking a real hand in its work. He is fond of outdoor life in general, and is a baseball fan and a motor enthusiast. In politics Mr. Horn is a republi- can, but has always been strictly independent in municipal matters. He is affiliated with Woodward Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons ; Webb Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Oriental Commandery, Knights Templar, and Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine. Other organiza- tions in which he has membership are the Cleveland Athletic Club, Chamber of Com- merce, City Club, Civic League, Cleveland Automobile Club, and the Cleveland and Ohio State Bar associations. He and his family are members of the East Seventy-fifth Street Evangelical Church, of which he is one of the trustees.

June 8, 1916, he married Katherine M. Hostetler. Their marriage was the last mar- riage ceremony performed by the venerable father of the groom, Bishop Horn. Mrs. Horn was born at Dover, Ohio, where both her par- ents, Joseph H. and Caroline (Myers) Hos- tetler are still living. Her father is a lawyer at Dover. She was educated in the schools there, and is a graduate with the degree Bach- elor of Arts from the Woman's College of Western Reserve University. Before her mar- riage she was a teacher in the East Technical High School of Cleveland. Mr. and Mrs. Horn reside at 2124 Stearns Road.

Moville

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HENRY NOVILLE, who was born in Cleveland June 6, 1879, left public school at the age of twelve years to go to work as bundle boy in the department store of E. R. Hull & Dutton. Thus while still a young man he has had a very busy career and a long experience in busi- ness affairs. Going to work at an age when most boys are in school, he developed ability to look out for himself and has been steadily progressing toward larger things and an im- proved position in the business community.

At the end of three years when he left the department store he was assistant window trimmer. Another year he spent clerking in the offices of the Standard Oil Company, and then entered the service of his uncle William Noville in the wholesale ice cream and oyster business. He was there three years, a time sufficient to give him a rather thorough knowl- edge of the business, and this experience he used to organize The Forest City Oyster Com- pany, his associates being Henry M. Longo and A. A. Kerr. In 1912 Mr. Noville was elected president and manager of the company and for the past six years its successful opera- tion has been under his direct supervision. The first year the company was organized they did a business worth $50,000, and in 1917 the value of the business aggregated $150,000. About fifteen men are employed in the differ- ent branches. This company handles northern cultivated oysters exclusively, the well known "Seal Shipt Brand," and through them this product is distributed through all parts of Northern Ohio.

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A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 71

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