USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut > Part 72
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Mr. Noville's father was Henry Noville, Sr., a native of Alsace-Lorraine. On locating at Cleveland he worked as a pattern maker with the Cooperative Stove Company. He retired from business in 1904 and died in 1907. After coming to Cleveland he married Amelia Dick- son. They were the parents of seven children : Louise, now Mrs. Charles Lapp of Cleveland ; Julia, deceased wife of Fred S. Smith; Ida, present wife of Fred S. Smith of Memphis, Tennessee ; Lillian, Mrs. H. F. Peter of Cleve- land; Henry; Elsie, Mrs. Christ Hennis of Cleveland ; Belle, Mrs. James Walsh of Cleve- land.
Mr. Henry Noville is a member of the Cleve- land Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club and is a republican voter. On June 5, 1901, in this city he married Belle R. Wheaton. They have two children, Donald A., a student in high school; and Robert B.
HENRY A. BECKERMAN, attorney at law with offices in the Engineers Building, is a man of many varied interests that identify him closely with good citizenship as well as high profes- sional standing in Cleveland.
Though a resident of Cleveland since he was two and a half years of age, Mr. Becker- man was born in Germany, March 3, 1881. He is a son of Sol and Theresa (Lent) Becker- man, the former a native of Warsaw, Poland, and the latter of Germany where they were married. His father was educated as a rabbi in Germany and later came to America, pre- ceding his family four weeks, and at Cleveland his first work was as rabbi of Anshe Emeth congregation. He was there ten years, and then became rabbi of the Bohemian Temple on East Fortieth Street. He also served as su- perintendent of the Hebrew Relief Society. He died April 7, 1905, and his wife in 1911. They were the parents of six children, three sons and three daughters, the two older born in Germany and the others in Cleveland : Na- than C. and Henry A. are both attorneys at law; Julius J. is in the jewelry business at Cleveland; Sarah is a teacher of piano; Yetta married James Broekman and lives in New York City: Dorothy is Mrs. Maurice Klein, wife of an insurance man of Cleveland.
Henry A. Beckerman finished his literary education in the high school of Cleveland. He left his literary studies to specialize in the study of violin, but later turned his attention to the law. He studied law with Clifford Neff and also attended the Baldwin University Law School, from which he graduated LL. B. in 1901. He was not yet of legal age when he graduated and was not admitted to the bar until 1902. He then opened an office in the American Trust Building with Abraham Kolinsky as a partner under the name Beck- erman & Kolinsky. This partnership was dis- solved after ten months when Mr. Kolinsky took up special service under the late Mayor Tom Johnson. Mr. Beckerman retained the clientage of the firm, and in 1906 formed a partnership with S. J. Deutsch under the name Beckerman & Deutsch. They were to- gether for a year and since then Mr. Becker- man has practiced alone in the Engineers Building.
He is one of Cleveland's prominent repub- licans and during the past ten years has been in charge of the speakers' campaign, including two presidential campaigns, when Mr. Taft and Mr. Hughes were candidates. He has
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looked after the meetings and handled many other details of campaign management. He was also campaign manager during the mayor- alty contest for Davis, Baher and Frank Ho- gan. For a number of years Mr. Beckerman has been a member of the Republican Execu- tive Committee, is a member of the Twenty- second Ward Republican Club, and in 1914 was appointed a deputy state supervisor and inspector of elections, being one of the bi- partisan board composed of two members from each of the major parties to supervise and con- duet all elections both general and special, in Cuyahoga County. His term in that office ex- pires in May, 1918.
Mr. Beckerman has been through all the chairs of the Knights of Pythias, served as chancellor commander of Deak Lodge, Knights of Pythias, is a member of Cleveland Lodge No. 18, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the H. B. and S. V., the Independent Aid Society, Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, City Club, Civic League, Western Reserve Club, Cleveland Automobile Club, Cleveland and Ohio State Bar associations. He is a thoroughly ontdoor man, fond of wholesome recreation and sport, and has followed base- ball and football. He is a member of the Euclid Avenue Temple and also retains mem- bership in the temple of which his father was at one time rabbi.
Mr. Beckerman resides at 2051 East Sev- enty-seventh Street. September 12, 1904, he married Miss Tillie E. Kline. Her father is Rabbi Aaron Kline of Cleveland. Mrs. Beck- erman was born in Cleveland, is a graduate of the Central High School and the Cleveland Normal School, and was a successful teacher in the city for five years before her marriage. They have three children, two sons and one daughter, Stanley M., Robert Jason and Edith Theresa, all born in Cleveland.
JAMES GORMSEN. Twenty-five years ago when he came to Cleveland James Gormsen was a new arrival from his native land of Denmark, practically unacquainted with American ways and business methods, master of a trade but had to commend himself to the community without capital or special in- finence. He is one of Lakewood's most sub- stantial citizens, and as a business man his success is well known in that part of the city.
He was born in Denmark October 6, 1870, a son of John and Christina Gormsen. From the age of thirteen, when he left the public
schools of Denmark, he worked on his father's farm three years, and at sixteen became a blacksmith's apprentice. He put in four years learning the trade in the thorough fashion which is characteristic of the Danish me- chanics, and after that worked as a journey- man one year.
It was at this point in his career that he came to Cleveland and accepting the first honest work that offered he was for a year and a half a farm hand on the Lee Road east of town. For six months he was a blacksmith in the employ of Jake Smith in Cleveland, and followed the same trade for Lyman, the horseshoer, until the fall of 1893. By that time he had accumulated a modest amount of capital and had experience which justified him in establishing a shop of his own at Lake- wood. For fourteen years he was in business at that shop, and then erected a three-story building at 18519 Detroit Avenue. This build- ing he used for the display and storage of a large stock of hardware and implements, but at the end of two years sold the hardware business to G. H. Ruck, retaining the imple- ment and harness department. Since then the business has enjoyed a rapid growth and in 1912 he put in a furniture stock, occupying the first two floors of his building; the third floor known as Gormsen Hall is used for lodge purposes. In 1908 Mr. Gormsen erected a two-story business and apartment block at 18520 Detroit Avenue, naming it in honor of his son. The Roy. In 1914 there followed another two-story business and apartment building adjoining his original site, and this in honor of his daughter is The Hildur. It is located at 18517 Detroit Avenue, and part of the building is used for his business.
Mr. Gormsen was elected a member of the Council of Lakewood in 1909 and has filled that office continuously, having been re-elected five times. He is a member of the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce, the Lakewood Retail Merchants Association, the Chamber of In- dustry, the Cleveland Automobile Club and of Lakewood Lodge No. 601, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and the Elks. He organized the Gorm Lodge of Danish Brotherhood and the lodge was named for him. In politics he is independent and in religion a Lutheran.
December 15, 1894, at Cleveland Mr. Gorm- sen married Anna Carlson. Their two chil- dren are: Hildur, now a student in Dyke Business College ; and Roy, attending the pub- lie schools.
M. B. Gary
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RALPH M. NORRINGTON. While he was edu- cated for the law, Ralph M. Norrington has probably never handled a case in court nor conducted a law office, and has been almost exclusively identified with some line of prac- tical business since he left college. Since com- ing to Cleveland he has made his chief suc- cess as an executive officer operating the Cleve- land Taxicab Company, now the Cleveland Taxicab and Service Company. He is just the type of man who is capable of developing such a business to the plane of an important and indispensable public service and much of what The Cleveland Taxicab and Service Com- pany means to the people of Cleveland today is a reflection of the constant study and care- ful management of Mr. Norrington.
Under the old name of The Cleveland Taxi- cab Company this business was incorporated May 1, 1911, with A. W. Ellenberger as presi- dent, L. A. Sheets, vice president, and S. S. Olds, Jr., as secretary and treasurer. At that time the company erected a substantial two- story building on One Hundred Seventh Street near Euclid, furnishing floor space 140 by 100 feet.
When Mr. Norrington came to Cleveland he was associated with The Cleveland Taxicab Company as assistant superintendent, later was promoted to superintendent, and in No- vember, 1915, became general manager. In February, 1916, he became secretary, treasurer and general manager of the company and in November, 1917, he bought out the entire busi- ness, changing the name to The Cleveland Taxicab and Service Company and is now pre- paring to reincorporate under that title. He has done much to enlarge and improve both the facilities and service, installing several special departments. The company now em- ploys from thirty-five to forty chauffeurs and other men, and maintains a livery service of ten Packard touring cars and also two serv- ice trucks.
Mr. Norrington was born at Bay City, Mich- igan, October 17, 1888, son of Henry H. and Frances E. (White) Norrington. He was educated in the public schools of Bay City, graduating from high school in 1905, and later entered the law department of the Uni- versity of Michigan, where he graduated LL. B. in 1911. From law school he removed to Toronto, Canada, and with his brother Rob- ert W. became identified with the financial brokerage business in the firm of R. W. Nor- rington & Company. He was there three years, and then came to Cleveland and took up
the associations which have already been de- scribed. Mr. Norrington is a member of the Zeta Psi college fraternity, is a republican, and is unmarried.
CAPT. MARCO BOZZARRUS GARY was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1859. IIe soon exchanged the role of a diligent young attorney for the uniform and service of a soldier, and as an artillery officer his fame is sceure in the an- nals of the war. The half century of life that remained to him after this struggle was spent in the exacting duties of his profession and in answering numerous calls to public duty and responsibility. For many years Captain Gary was a resident of Cleveland, and his name is held in high honor in this city.
He was born in Genesec County, New York, December 31, 1831, the youngest of a family . of thirteen children, ten daughters and three sons. Four years after his birth his father, Capt. Aaron Gary, moved to Pennsylvania, settling on a farm near Albion, where the son was reared and where he acquired the rudi- ments of an English education. It was not until he was twenty-five years of age that he had made enough money to fulfill his ambi- tion to study law. This study he pursued at Ashtabula, Ohio, for three years with the firm of Sherman & Farmer.
Admitted to the bar in 1859, Captain Gary one year later opened a law office at Geneva and was there when the Civil war broke upon the country. At the very beginning of that struggle he enlisted in the Geneva one-gun battery for the three months' service. At the expiration of that time he joined his Captain Kenny in raising a full six-gun battery for . three years enlistment. They soon had their men recruited and in September, 1861, as a lieutenant, Captain Gary assembled with his company at Camp Dennison near Cincinnati to prepare and drill for field duty. Later he was promoted to captain and was with what was known as Battery C of the First Ohio Light Artillery through the entire Civil war. He had command of his battery in some of the famous battles of that struggle and was with the army of Sherman in many cam- paigns, including the march to the sea. Dur- ing the last two years of the war Captain Gary was in command of a brigade of artillery, consisting of three full batteries, his own and a New York and a Pennsylvania battery. Before being mustered out at the close of the war his excellent service and proficiency as an artillery officer were recognized by his
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being offered a captaincy in the regular army.
But the war being over he expressed him- self satisfied with military life, and returning to Geneva. was soon in the full course of a busy law practice. Captain Gary had the honor of being the first mayor elected at Geneva. While engaged in practice there he met and married Miss Mila C. Pinney, with whom he lived happily until his death.
After about five years in Geneva Captain Gary moved to Cleveland and entered the law firm of Gary, Gilbert & Hills. He gave up pointment from President Harrison as col- his partnership with that firm to accept ap- lector of customs of the Port of Cleveland. Captain Gary was one of the close personal friends of former President Harrison. At the conclusion of his duties in this federal office he resumed law practice and only retired in the face of increasing years in 1900.
Captain Gary was active in politics for years and one of the men of real prominence in the life and affairs of Cleveland. He was a member of the Cleveland Chamber of Com- merce, was a charter member of Woodward Lodge of Masons and belonged to the Loyal Legion.
The death of this honored old soldier and lawyer occurred April 27, 1909. He was sur- vived by his widow, who died just five years later, and hy two children, Georgia Mila and Marco W. Brief reference to the career of the son, Marco W. Gary, a well known real estate man of Cleveland, will be found on other pages. The daughter is Mrs. J. D. Cockeroft, of Northport, Long Island, New York.
MARCO W. GARY is a civil engineer by pro- fession, but for some years has been well estab- lished in the general real estate business at Cleveland, with offices at 506 Society for Sav- ings Building.
Mr. Gary was born in Cleveland January 29, 1881, a son of the late Capt. M. B. Gary and Mila C. (Pinney) Gary. He was the younger of their two children. His sister, Georgia G., married J. D. Cockeroft, of Long Island, New York, son of the late James Cock- croft, who was editor and publisher of the American and English Encyclopedia of Law.
Marco W. Gary was educated in the pub- lic schools of Cleveland and from the Central High School entered the Case School of Ap- plied Science, and took the civil engineering course three years. His rather extensive ex- perience in engineering circles has proved an invaluable asset to him in the real estate field. He worked for a time in the county engineer's
office under William Evers and then for about four years was in the general contracting busi- ness on his own account. In 1912 he opened his office and has since been handling real estate, chiefly his own property. Mr. Gary is a re- publican in politics and member of the Eman- uel Episcopal Church.
January 9, 1905, at Cleveland he married Nellie (Sausse) Shea, who was born and edu- cated in Cleveland. Mr. and Mrs. Gary have a most happy family of three children, and their home life is ideal. Their children are Francis M. and Margaret M., twins, and Georgia M. The son Francis attends the University School, while the two daughters are students in the Hathaway-Brown School for Girls. These children were all born in Cleve- land. Mr. and Mrs. Gary reside at 1901 East Seventy-third Street. He is a member of the Cleveland Automobile Club, the East End Tennis Club, and of Riverside Lodge, Knights of Pythias.
EDWIN JAY PINNEY, a lawyer who achieved enviable prominence in his profession both in his old home town of Jefferson and at Cleve- land, where he practiced for a quarter of a century, was the type of man who exacts much from himself and his opportunities and never allowed the ordinary obstacles to interfere with his progress toward certain definite ideals and objects. This was exemplified both in his early life of struggle to attain an education and also later as a successful lawyer when he sacrificed his time and influence again and again, without expectation of honor, merely to build up and create sentiment in behalf of prohibition.
Mr. Pinney was born at Hartsgrove, Ash- tabula County, Ohio, in May, 1847, and died at his home on Lake Avenue in Lakewood February 17, 1916, at the age of sixty-nine. He was laid to rest at his old home town of Jefferson, and the pallbearers were some of his old attorney friends who had been asso- ciated with him for years.
HIe spent his boyhood working on his father's farm and attending district school. At the age of fifteen he entered the Geneva Nor- mal School. He did work for his board and also paid his tuition by sweeping out the school-rooms. When he was seventeen he took up the duties of a country school teacher. The earnings from that work enabled him to attend Grand River Institute for several terms. When nineteen he began the study of law in the of- fice of Northway & Ensign, but continued to
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support himself by teaching, especially in the winter. At one time he was principal of the high school at Rock Creek and also at Jeffer- son, where his last work in the schoolroom was done about the time he was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1869.
On July 4, 1870, Mr. Pinney opened an of- fiee at Jefferson, and was engaged in a success- ful practice in that city for twenty years, until April, 1890, when he moved to Cleveland. At Cleveland he continued his work as a lawyer until three weeks before his death. His first partnership was with John Gill at Jefferson, who died shortly afterwards. In 1879 the firm of Pinney and White was formed and for eleven years he and the late Alvin C. White had almost pick and choice of the legal busi- ness in their district. At the time Mr. Pinney moved to Cleveland the firm was employed en sixty out of the 350 cases then on the court doeket.
At Cleveland Mr. Pinney formed a partner- ship with Minor G. Norton. When Mr. Nor- ton was made director of law of Cleveland Mr. Pinney became associated with former Judge C. W. Noble and Thomas C. Willard under the name Noble, Pinney & Willard. That partnership was discontinued after some years, and after that Mr. Pinney was associated, though not on terms of a formal partnership, with C. W. Dille and Mr. Willard.
Mr. Pinney was many times elected as grand secretary and also as grand chief templar of the Independent Order of Good Templars of Ohio. Both in this state and elsewhere he be- came known as an eloquent and convincing speaker on all phases of temperance and pro- hibition. For over thirty years he was a loyal advocate of the prohibition party. In March, 1895, he was nominated on that tieket in Cleve- land for mayor, and was also prohibition candidate for Congress in 1902 from the Twen- ty-first District. At one time he was pro- hibition candidate for governor and several times for the office of judge of the Supreme Court. As a matter of duty he accepted various other places on the prohibition ticket. This political activity was not due in any sense to a desire for publie office, but in order that his influence as a successful lawyer might be turned to some good account as a leader in a party in whose destiny he firmly believed. He was willing to go to any reasonable length to educate publie opinion and keep together a party entrusted primarily with carrying out the prohibition platform. For many years Mr.
Pinney was a member of the Ashtabula Society of Cleveland.
Ile was survived by his widow, Mrs. Mary E. Pinney, and two daughters, Mrs. F. P. Coul- ton and Mrs. Mary A. E. Sibley, and a son, W. G. Pinney, all of whom now reside at Chicago.
JOSEPH B. KEENAN, formerly of the firm Morgan & Keenan, with offices in the Guardian Building, is now a member of Ilcadquarters Company, One Hundred Thirty-fifth United States Field Artillery, Camp Sheridan, Mont- gomery, Alabama.
Mr. Keenan came to Cleveland immediately after completing his law course in Harvard University. He was born at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, January 11, 1888. That city has been the home of the Keenan family for three generations, and the mother is still liv- ing there. He is a son of Bernard A. and Sarah A. (Berry) Keenan. His father, who died in November, 1916, was without doubt one of Pawtucket's best known and most ad- mired citizens. His bigness of heart, his kind- liness and impulsive generosity made him hosts of friends and admirers among all classes. For a number of years he held the office of commissioner of licenses in Pawtucket an office similar to police commissioner in Ohio. Ile was as well known for philanthropy and charitable work as he was in politics, and he did much in behalf of the prisoners in the state penitentiary of Rhode Island. He died suddenly of heart failure at the age of sixty- four. The five children, all living, were born in Pawtucket. John, the oldest, now has charge of the advertising department of the Providence Journal. Bernard J. has received the degree Doctor of Philosophy at Brown University and has spent three years in spe- cial research abroad. The third in age is Joseph B. The two younger children, both daughters, are Sarah and Mary, the former at home and the latter known as Sister Bep- tille, a nun in St. Xavier Convent at Paw- tueket.
Joseph B. Keenan attended the public schools of Pawtucket, graduating from high school in 1906, and in 1910 he completed the elassieal course in Brown University, receiv- ing both the degrees A. B. and A. M. He has since taken special work largely along lines of political science during summer terms at Cor- nell University, University of Wisconsin, Uni- versity of Michigan and University of Chi-
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cago. His law course was taken at Harvard University, from which he received the de- gree Bachelor of Laws in 1913.
He then came to Cleveland and in December, 1913, was admitted to the Ohio bar. In this city he began practice with the law firm of Stanley & Horwitz, a firm in the Williamson Building, but on April 1, 1916, entered prac- tice for himself. April 1, 1917, he and Robert D. Morgan established the present firm of Mor- gan & Keenan in the Guardian Building.
Mr. Keenan is unmarried and for the past three years has made his home at the Univer- sity Club. He is a veteran of Troop A, Ohio National Guard, an organization comprising some of the best citizens of Cleveland. He has also served his troop as its secretary. He is active and influential in the republican party and when Roosevelt came to Cleveland in 1916 Mr. Keenan and two others organized the Hughes League of Cleveland. Mr. Kee- nau has given much time and thought to the union labor investigations and during his sum- mer course at the University of Chicago he specialized in the subject of labor unions. He is a member of the University Club and the Knights of Columbus, the Cleveland Bar As- sociation and St. Agnes Parish of Cleveland. He has been admitted to practice in the United States District Court.
WILLIAM JAMES ZOUL, residence 2550 East One Hundred Twenty-eighth Street, Shaker Heights, is one of the younger justices of the peace and is living a very busy and useful life divided between his judicial and police court practice and varicd public and social interests.
He was born at Cleveland March 17, 1889, sou of Joseph and Mary (Houck) Zoul. At an early age he learned to depend upon him- self to get ahead in the world. He attended the public schools and graduated from the Cleveland Law School, Baldwin-Wallace Uni- versity, receiving the degree of LL. B. June 3, 1915. Various public offices have received much of his time and he was formerly United States census enumerator, state deputy fish and game warden, deputy sheriff, constable and is now justice of the peace and police judge. When elected justice of the peace he was twenty-three years of age, the youngest justice of the peace in Ohio. During 1916 he performed over 3,000 marriages, thirty-three in one day, the biggest record ever recorded in the history of the county. Mr. Zoul was the first to offer his services free to enroll men for the selective draft. He is chairman of the
military committee of the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks. He enlisted at the age of eighteen years as trumpetor, Company A, First Battalion of Engineers, two enlistments from July 22, 1907, to August 9, 1911, when lie was honorably discharged. He is a mem- ber of the Ohio Fish and Game Inspectors' Association, belongs to the Young Men's Busi- ness Club, Cleveland Automobile Club, and is adjutant Army and Navy Union, Cleveland Garrison No. 3. He is identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, the Sigma Kappa Phi Fraternity, and the Young Men's Christian Association. Mr. Zoul married June 30, 1915, Miss Grace M. Johns.
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