USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut > Part 78
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Cleveland. Mrs. Oliver was born at Washing- ton Court House, Ohio, was edueated in he Ohio State University at Columbus, and prior to her marriage was postmaster in the United States sub-Postal Station, Higbee Company, at Cleveland.
THOMAS E. GREENE has well earned his present position as a successful lawyer at Cleveland, to which he brought not only thor- ough knowledge and learning acquired by elose study of the law but also an experience in practical affairs gained by his early career as a railroad man.
Mr. Greene was born in Cleveland April 3, 1874, a son of John William and Mary ( Horn) Greene. His grandfather, John William Greene, Sr., was in his time foreman of the old Pressley Shipyards at Cleveland. His wife was born in Ireland, came to Cleveland at the age of about sixteen, and they were married at old St. Mary's Church on the Flats. At the time of her death she was one of the oldest residents of the West Side of Cleveland. The grandparents lived in Saginaw, Michigan, about six years but then returned to Cleveland. Grandfather Greene was a native of England.
John William Greene, Jr., was born in Sagi- naw, Michigan, and came with his parents to Cleveland when he was about two years of age. IIe has been a resident of the city now for over sixty-five years, and has had a varied and active career. He is now in the me- chanical department of the Public Utilities De- partment of the City of Cleveland under Tom Farrell. He is a stationary engineer by trade and has been master mechanie in charge of the pumping station. He has also been quite ae- tive in republican politics, and at one time served as waterworks trustee of West Cleve- land, and was also master mechanie for the old Upson Nut Company. John William Greene, Jr., married Mary Horn, who died when their son Thomas was seven years of age. She left only two sons, the other being William Joseph, now connected with the American Ship Building Company of Cleveland.
Thomas E. Greene was educated in St. Pat- rick's School, the West High School, also attended night school and for one year was in- structor in one of the night schools of Cleve- land.
On leaving school he went to work in the railroad offices of the Big Four Company, first as messenger boy and then with added respon- sibilities until he was claim clerk at the time he left railroading to take up the practice of
law. Altogether he spent ten years with the Big Four. Mr. Greene studied law in the Cleveland Law School of Baldwin-Wallace University, graduating LL. B. in 1901 and admitted to the Ohio bar the same year. Ile has also practiced in the federal courts. He was first associated with John Dowling, and the firm of Dowling & Greene continued two years, with offices in the Williamson Block. Since that time Mr. Greene has practiced alone. For the past five years his offiees have been in the Engineers Building.
He has been very active in polities for the past sixteen years and is a leading republican. On dissolving partnership with Mr. Dowling he was elected justice of the peace of the city and filled that position three years, and then for four years was assistant city proseenting attorney under John A. Cline. He was a member of the campaign committee both times Mayor Harry L. Davis was a candidate for that office and has done much general commit- tee work, has served as delegate to several re- publican state conventions and was many times elected from his home wards, the First and the Third, to county conventions.
Mr. Greene is very prominent in fraternal affairs, being affiliated with the Fraternal Or- der of Eagles, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Woodmen of the World. He also belongs to the Cleveland Bar Association, the West Side Chamber of Industry, the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, the City Club, Knights of Columbus, and the Cleveland Automobile Club. For the past sixteen years he has been prominent in the Knights of Columbus, and for seven years has been judge advocate of the Grand Commandery of the Knights of St. John. Ife is inspector of the Seventh Regi- ment of Cleveland, having filled that office seven years. For five years he was chairman or chief ranger of the Catholic Order of For- esters, with a Cleveland membership of about 4,000 and an Ohio membership of 12,000. He has been delegate from Ohio to the interna- tional convention of the Order of Foresters, including the membership of that order both in Canada and the United States. He has oc- enpied this post of delegate for sixteen con- tinnous years and is now candidate for inter- national trustee. Mr. Greene is member of St. Rose Catholic Parish and his home at 11407 Clifton Boulevard is the most interesting point in all the world for him, notwithstanding his many activities outside. He is above all a family man.
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October 19, 1896, he married Miss Maude Joyce, a native of Cleveland. They were mar- ried in St. Malachi's Church. Mrs. Greene is a daughter of Patrick and Matilda (Joyce) Joyce. Her parents, both now deceased, were of the same family name but were not related. Mrs. Greene was educated in St. Malachi's parochial schools. They have two young daughters, both highly educated and cultured young women. Merilla Maude, the older, was born at Cleveland, attended the St. Colman Parochial School, took the academic work in Our Lady of Lourdes and is now a student of St. Mary's College at Notre Dame, Indiana. Mildred Mary, the second daughter, is also a native of Cleveland, attended St. Mary and St. Rose Parochial schools and is now in the academic department of Our Lady of Lourdes.
JOHN ALVIN ALBURN, attorney at law since 1904, was born on a farm at Pleasant Hill, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, February 9, 1879, a son of John Frederick and Cecilia (Leubben) Alburn. When he was four years old, his parents moved to Youngstown, Ohio, where he graduated with honors from Rayen High School in 1897. After teaching a coun- try school for a year, Mr. Alburn entered Adelbert College, from which he graduated with honors in 1902, two years later receiving the degree of Master of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the graduate and law departments of Western Reserve University. Although completing the eight year course in six years Mr. Alburn earned his way through college through such positions as janitor, sales man- ager, night school teacher, business college instructor and assistant to the dean, and yet joined in all college activities, being a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon, Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Delta Phi fraternities, editor of the college paper, president of the College Lit- erary Society and the University Debating As- sociation, and secretary of the National Re- publican College League.
Since his admission to the bar in 1904, Mr. Alburn has devoted himself exclusively to the practice of the law except in 1905, when he acted as chief probation officer of the Cuya- hoga County Juvenile Court and again in 1911 when the Cleveland City Council elected him to fill a vacancy in the position of coun- cilman at large.
Mr. Alburn was in 1907 appointed assist- ant attorney general of Ohio and promoted to the position of special counsel to the attorney general in 1910. In this position he
at some time or other acted as attorney for every department of the state government, as adviser to prosecuting attorneys, city solicitors and the general assembly and tried cases in most of the counties of the state, including such well known cases as the "Electric Mule Case," the "Cleveland Canal Case" and the "Voting Machine Case."
In addition to a large general law practice Mr. Alburn is a recognized specialist in pub- lie law and corporation law, as is evidenced by his position as general counsel of the Cleve- land and Mahoning Valley Railway Company, his employment in special matters by the legal departments of the Nickel Plate, Erie Rail- road and Pullman companies and the Attor- ney General of Ohio, his public law work in behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, the Au- tomobile Club and the Civic League and his success with Attorney Fackler in the impor- tant case in which the Parrett-Whittemore Tax Law, providing a taxation system for the State of Ohio, was declared by the supreme court to be unconstitutional.
Notwithstanding this strenuous professional work Mr. Alburn has always found time for civic and social activities, including service as chairman of sub-committees of Liberty Loan campaigns, appeal agent of the Provost Mar- shal General, legal advisor to Exemption Board, president of the Tippecanoe Club, chairman of the Public Affairs Committee of the City Club, vice-chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Rivers and Harbor Committee and membership in the Union, University, Automobile and other clubs and organizations.
On October 10, 1911, he married Miss May- belle Murphy, of Columbus, and they have three children, Annabelle, Margaret and Joan.
He is a member of the law firm of Price, Alburn, Crum & Alburn, in the Garfield Building.
GEORGE ANDERSON GROOT of Cleveland, Ohio, was born in Shushan, Washington County. New York, August 3, 1843. His father was John Aaron Groot, late of Kipton, Lorain County, Ohio. Symon Symouse Groot, the first settler, came to this country in 1640 and settled in New Amsterdam, now New York City, and after residing there a num- ber of years, he, after several changes, finally settled in Schenectady, New York. His mother, Eliza Jane, whose family name was Heath, was of English descent on both sides. Her ancestors came to this country in 1645 and located in Haddam, Connecticut. George
Geo. A. Groot,
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Anderson Groot first attended the common school in his native town. In 1850 his father moved to Brookfield, Waukesha County, Wis- consin, where he resided one year. Being dis- satisfied with that location, he left there for his old home in Washington County, New York, in the spring of 1851. On the way down the lakes on board steamer, he fell in with a man who lived in Summit County, Ohio, who induced him to stop at Cleveland and go to Akron, which he did, and settled on a farm in Copley Township in that connty. Here George, the eldest of eight children, worked on his father's farm, and attended the com- mon school during the winter months. This continued nntil the spring of 1857, when his parents moved to Camden, now Kipton, Lorain County, Ohio, where they resided until their death. His father died in 1893, his mother in 1907.
During the summer George A. Groot worked on the farm and attended school during the winter months, until the spring of 1860, when he entered Oberlin College at Oberlin, Ohio, and attended there one term. He, to- gether with a neighbor boy, rented a room for 25 cents per week in what was known as Car- penter's Hall. Each boy furnished his own provisions and they jointly furnished the room, which consisted of a straw hed, blankets, towels, etc. He carried with him from his home each Monday morning in a basket pro- visions sufficient to last the entire week and re- turned home at the end of each week to re- plenish his stock of food. The distance from Kipton to Oberlin is five miles and he always made the journey on the railroad, "hitting the ties." Those were long and wearisome journeys, but with his boyish ardor for acquir- ing an education, with good health and elastic spirits, the obstacles and difficulties were thought lightly of. In the fall of that year he went to a select school in Camden, together with about forty girls and boys. The follow- ing winter he attended a grade school in South Amherst, where he supported himself work- ing for his board. The following spring he hired out to work on a farm for that season at $12.00 a month, in order to obtain money to enable him to attend college at Oberlin in the fall. The first Sunday after the firing on Fort Sumter in April, 1861, he secured his release from his engagement and devoted the entire day visiting various of his boy eom- panions trying to induce them to enlist in the army with him. As a result of his efforts, fourteen young men of his own age agreed to
go with him to enlist. They were conveyed to Wellington to enlist there in a company that was then forming in that town. That company being overfull when they arrived, General Sheldon, afterwards governor of New Mexico, induced him and his associates to go to Cleveland with him and enlist in Company H, Eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was organized in Elyria, Ohio, and then not quite full. He enlisted in that company on April 20, 1861, for a period of three months. The regiment was one of the first that went to Camp Dennison. On arriving there, the boys alighted from the cars and made their way through a wheat field in the midst of a heavy rain, beating down the wheat which was then breast high, and made camp there. After he had been there for three months, an effort was made to have the men re-enlist for three years. He did not re-enlist, for reasons that seemed to be good to him at that time. Afterwards he helped to organize a company, which was mustered in as Company I of the same regiment on August 10, 1861, at Colum- bus, Ohio. He was mustered out of the three months' service on August 20, 1861, at Colum- bus, Ohio. This time he was mustered in as sergeant of Company I. His record as a sol- dier is the record of his regiment up to and including the battle of Fredericksburg on De- eember 13, 1862. During his term of serv- ice he participated in twenty-two engage- ments, the last of which was the battle of Fred- ericksburg, where he was wounded. He was wounded so severely that when he was re- moved from the battlefield the surgeon gave no hope of his recovery. The ball entered his throat on the right side, tearing away a piece of the clavicle where it is attached to the sternum, partly severing the windpipe, nearly eutting it off, passing to the left shoulder, thenee down the left side and lodging above the left hip, where it now remains, causing continuous pain ever since. For nearly a week he received no attention at all from the regi- mental surgeon, Dr. Thomas MeEbright, of Akron, Ohio, for his ease was considered hope- less. The wound completely incapacitated him for further service. On January 8, 1863, he received his second honorable discharge from the army at Washington. Hle left the hospital about February 20, 1863, and re- turned home.
As soon as he was able he resumed his studies in Oberlin, at the spring term of 1863. In the fall of 1863 he taught sehool in Dan- bury, Ottawa County, Ohio. He returned to.
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Oberlin, and took a commercial course, with a view of engaging in mercantile business. In the following March he visited Chicago and Milwaukee for the purpose of securing a situa- tion. In this, however, he was not successful. The following winter he taught the same school that he had taught the previous winter, for a period of five months, after which he went to Oberlin for one term. In the fall of 1865 he attended school at Milan, Ohio. In the winter of 1865-6 he again taught school in Danbury Township. In the spring of 1866 he entered Oberlin to take a collegiate course, attended three terms, and taught school at Danbury the following winter. He returned to Oberlin in 1867, remained two terms, and in the fall entered Hillsdale College, Hills- dale, Michigan, to take a collegiate course. In the winter he again taught school in Dan- bury, and returned to Hillsdale in the spring of 1868, and remained until January, 1869, when he came to Cleveland, Ohio, and was appointed crier of the United States Court- in the meantime continuing his college studies most assiduously. He returned to Hillsdale, still applying himself ardently, and in June, 1870, he was graduated with full honors, standing high in his classes, with a degree of Bachelor of Science. Afterwards the college conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He immediately came to Cleveland, read law in the office of the eminent lawyers, Estep & Burke, and was admitted to the bar in September, 1871. He was afterwards ad- mitted to the United States Cirenit and Dis- triet Court and on December 3, 1883, he was admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States. While reading law he took a law course in the Ohio State and Union Law Col- lege, located at Cleveland, from which he was graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Laws on July 3, 1872. On admission to the bar, the more fully to qualify himself for the active duties of his chosen profession, he made an extensive tour, visiting numerous large cities and places of importance and public interest, among which were Salt Lake City, Yosemite Valley, California, Mexico, Central America, Mazatlan, Manzanillo, and Acaquleo (he was in Mazatlan at the time that city was taken by the rebels, in 1871), Port Libertad, Pan- ama. Aspinwall, Kingston, Jamaica, and New York City. He then visited the old home where he was born-his first visit to the place of his birth since leaving it when a child, and saw many there who remembered him. He remained in the employ of Estep & Burke un-
til the firm was dissolved in July, 1875, when he entered into partnership with Judge Burke, which lasted until November, when he opened an office of his own. Since his admission to the bar he has been continuously in active practice. His ability and thorough knowledge of the law, speedily brought to him a large and lucrative practice. Being a lawyer of sterling character and high standing in his profession, the cases brought to him are of the more important class.
He is a man who has naturally always been deeply interested in educational matters. In 1876 he was elected a member of the board of education, serving two years. In the spring of 1878 he was nominated for another term, but owing to his radical views on certain ques- tions pertaining to public education was de- feated. He has since had the satisfaction of seeing all of his views, then regarded as pe- culiar, adopted by the board. In the spring of 1883 his friends again nominated him for a position on the school board; while his party was defeated, he ran largely ahead of his ticket. In the fall of that year he was one of the republican nominces for common pleas judge, but he and his ticket with one or two exceptions were defeated. He was a strong republican until 1892. During the time he was a member of the republican party he was a delegate to almost every important con- vention held in his county and through his efforts many men owed their nominations to him. He was a delegate to the state conven- tion of the republican party at which Joseph B. Foraker was first nominated for governor. He was secretary of that convention and John Sherman was chairman. He was chairman of the Cuyahoga County delegation to the state convention held in Cleveland at which M. A. Hanna was nominated as one of the delegates at large to the Republican National Conven- tion at Chicago. Mr. Groot had the honor of presenting Mr. Hanna's name to that conven- tion in a brilliant speech, at the close of which Mr. Hanna was nominated by acclamation. This was Mr. Hanna's advent in national pol- ities. Mr. Groot was a stump speaker for the republican party in every campaign from 1868 until 1892, when he cast in his lot with the people's party, supporting its candidates until the party and principles were absorbed by the democratie organization in 1896. He sup- ported the democratic party until 1900, since which time he has been entirely independent. As a political campaigner for the people's party and for the democratic party, he
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stumped the states of Ohio, Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois and Missouri, and was one of the speakers most in demand by the party com- mittees of those parties. He was a delegate to the free silver convention held in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1896, and by that body was ap- pointed chairman of the notification commit- tee and as such he tendered the nomination of that party to Mr. Bryan at Lincoln, Nebraska, on September 8, 1896. During the past seven years he has been a eandidate three different time for common pleas judge, but owing to his being absolutely non-partisan in politics, he failed to receive sufficient votes to elect him. While he has been very active in politics and publie movements, he has never neglected his profession and has long enjoyed a position as one of the most successful members of the Cleveland bar. He now has his offices in the Arcade Building.
One of the local movements in which his active participation has always afforded him the most satisfaction was as an advocate and speaker in behalf of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument which now stands on the public square and is one of the most conspicuous public memorials in the State of Ohio. Mr. Groot was first and foremost in the movement to seeure the erection of this monument. There was a strong opposition by the public and especially the street railroad interests to its being placed in its present location. He opposed any change and in- sisted that, sinee the state had granted the right to place it there, it should not be placed in the northeast section of the square. He canvassed the matter thoroughly and made several speeches in favor of not giving up the southeast section. As a result of his efforts a meeting of the soldiers and sailors of the county was ealled to pass upon the question at which resolutions which he drew up were, after his speech, unanimously adopted amid the wildest enthusiasm. In appreciation of his efforts the commission presented him with a fine large framed pieture of the monument which hangs on his office wall in the Arcade and is greatly prized by him.
At Huron, Ohio, December 12, 1872, he married Maora Agnes Sage, daughter of Wil- liam G. and Isabella Douglas Sage. Theirs was a happy and ideal companionship, un- broken for nearly forty-five years. Mrs. Groot died at their home in East Cleveland, June 9, 1917, at the age of sixty-five. He first met his wife at Oberlin, Ohio, in 1868, while she was attending college there. She was a de-
voted wife and mother and was beloved by all who knew her. She was a member of the board of managers of the Dorcas Invalid Home for many years and one of its officials. In speaking of his wife he said, "1 have lost the best and truest friend I ever had or ever expect to have exeept my mother." Their marriage was blessed with the birth of five ehildren : Edith Maora; William Sage, who died in April, 1914, leaving a widow, Lucy Hubbard Groot; George, who married Jose- phine Placak, who died May 16, 1910, leaving one child, George Sage; Isabel Douglas; and Agnes.
The record of Mr. Groot's early life is one of toil, labor, untiring industry, continnous perseverance, indomitable pluek, unswerving integrity. A life with such a past brings its own reward. It is by no fortuitous eircum- stanee that he has risen : born without any of the advantages that wealth proeures, unaided by others, and dependent upon himself alone, he has made his own headway in spite of ob- staeles seemingly almost insurmountable. As a lawyer, a man, a husband, a father, he takes high rank, and is honored and respected by all.
FRANCIS FLOYD VAN DEUSEN is a Cleveland man whose service and promotion in banking affairs is an interesting and inspiring record. His early ambition was for the law. Prepara- tory to that profession he completed one year of the general course of Adelbert College of Western Reserve University. The scholastie year ended with final examinations on Satur- day. The next Monday, June 10, 1907, he went to work in the Garfield Savings Bank as bookkeeper. He accepted this place as a vaca- tion employment only. He fully intended to give up the work and return to Adelbert Col- lege the next fall. Banking was a more fascin- ating business than he had counted on and it seemed to offer in addition such possibilities for the future that the opening of the fall term of college passed unnoticed and all thought of the law as a profession beeame submerged in his new duties and environment.
Mr. Van Deusen has been eonneeted with the Garfield Savings Bank continuously sinee that date, and in one of the largest savings banks of the Middle West has gained rapid promotion. He was first made receiving teller, then paying teller, and in September, 1913, became cashier of the Glenville office of the bank. The Garfield Savings Bank has its main office in the Garfield Building, but has five branches in different parts of Cleveland and
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suburbs. The bank was founded more than a quarter of a century ago, and now has ag- gregate resources well upwards of $10,000,000. Mr. Van Deusen became actively identified with local business and civic affairs of Glen- ville, and when in January, 1917, he was pro- moted to assistant treasurer and took up his new duties in the main office of the bank he was tendered a banquet by the business and professional men of Glenville, who took this opportunity to express their pleasure over this promotion and their tributes to his work and value as a member of the Glenville community. In January, 1918, Mr. Van Deusen made an- other step of progress and has since been treasurer of the Garfield Savings Bank.
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