USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut > Part 83
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On taking up his duties at University School in the fall of 1902, Mr. Peters was in- structor in physical geography and history the first year, in 1903 taught Latin and German, and from 1904 to 1908 was in charge of classes in French and Latin. In 1908, upon the resignation of Mr. George D. Pettee, Mr. Peters was elected principal.
University School has enjoyed great growth and advancement in the ten years of his ad- ministration. Its enrollment has practically doubled, and whereas in former years the school was operated at a deficit the revenues for several years have been sufficient to offset all operating expenses. At the same time the value of the property has greatly increased. This better financial showing has not been made at the expense of needed improvements and extensions of courses and facilities.
Mr. Peters is a man of thorough scholarship, administrative ability, and has many versatile interests that serve to strengthen his hold upon the students and increase the value of his work among them. He has always kept up an interest in athletics, for several years coached the baseball team of the school, and several times has won individual honors at tennis. He has traveled widely, both in his home country and abroad, and in 1912 he was one of a party from representative secondary schools of America on a return visit to schools of England, where he visited Glasgow, Edin- burg, Oxford, Cambridge, Rugby, Eton, Har- row and Winchester, and on the continent ex- tended his observations to the universities of Leyden, Bonn, Heidelberg and Paris.
Mr. Peters is a member of the Head Masters' Association, of the North Academic Associa- tion, which he served as president in 1913-14, Vol. II-28
J. FRANK HARRISON. From the standpoint of human affairs the most interesting part of the rceord of the many men prominent in Cleveland industries is that the majority of them served their apprenticeship in the role of hard work, humble station, and have risen to positions of prominence and responsibility by the route which has been recommended by all philosophers and students as the only sure road to success.
An example of this is J. Frank Harrison, whose name is readily identified with the lead- ers in Cleveland industries. He was born at Springfield, Ohio, April 7, 1859, son of John D. and Barbara (Metzger) Harrison. Soon after his birth his parents moved to Middle- town, Ohio, where the son attended public school until fourteen and then went to work learning a trade in his father's jobbing ma- chine shop. He remained there until he was twenty-two and then, being a master ma- chinist, he traveled about from place to plaee working at his trade, going as far west as Denver.
In the course of his moves about the country he reached Cuyahoga Falls in 1884 and there took charge of the Falls River and Machine Company. From there he moved into Cleve- land in 1889, accepting the position of super- intendent of the National Screw and Tack Company. Having accumulated a great deal of valuable experience and being in short a recognized authority in his branch of manu- facture, Mr. Harrison resigned in 1896 and with others associated with him organized the Atlas Bolt & Screw Company. He was the first superintendent of this business and also on the board of directors, and since 1902 has been its general manager.
The growth of the business is a reflection of Cleveland's progressive spirit of enterprise within the last twenty years. There were only thirty-five men on the payroll when the company opened for business, while today from 400 to 500 men are living through em- ployment in this industry. The Atlas Bolt & Serew Company is really two manufacturing eoneerns. One manufactures bolt, serews and screw machinery produets. The other depart-
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ment is the Atlas Car & Manufacturing Com- pany. Its product consists of a general line of mining cars, coke, quenching cars, and all kinds of ears used in ore furnace equipment. They also put out some of the best types of electric locomotives.
In September, 1917, the business was moved to its new quarters on Ivanhoe Road. This is a large modern building, of most approved type of modern factory construction and af- fords 155,000 square feet of floor space.
As a man of demonstrated ability, J. Frank Harrison has naturally been drawn into other important business affairs. He was one of the founders and is a director of the Cleveland Brass & Copper Mills, Incorporated. He is a director and first vice president of the Guar- antee State Savings & Loan Company, director in the Noble Land Company, and a stoek- holder in the Cleveland Life Insurance Com- pany. He is active in the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce.
October 20, 1886, at Cuyahoga Falls, Mr. Harrison married Miss Nellie Blood. They have a daughter and a son. Florence M., the danghter, is a graduate of the Shaw High School and the Woman's College of Western Reserve University, and is now studying mu- sic in New York City. She is a member of the Phi Kappa Zeta Sorority. Leland A. is also a graduate of the Shaw High School and of Western Reserve University, and is now as- sistant to the superintendent of the Atlas Bolt & Serew Company. He is a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon College Fraternity. He married Mareh 2, 1918, Beatrice L. Honnecker, of Cleveland.
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CHARLES H. NOCK, a native of Cleveland, has for a number of years been identified with the fire brick and building supply business, and is now head of one of the large concerns of its kind in the city, the Nock Fire Brick Com- pany.
Mr. Nock was born in Rockport, Cuyahoga County, October 24, 1872. His father, George Nock, was born in Germany April 12, 1834, and educated in the old country. He came to Cleveland in 1854, first knowing this city when it was a comparatively small town. He did not settle in the city but on a farm nearby at Rockport, and was busily engaged in agri- culture until he retired in 1885. He died in 1897. By his marriage at Cleveland to An- tonio Volk, who is still living, he was the fa- ther of ten children.
Charles H. Nock as member of this large
household early realized his responsibilities as an individual in the world, and at the age of thirteen and a half his education was finished so far as formal school attendance was con- eerned. He had been in the public schools and also St. Stephen's Parochial School. Mr. Nock is now in a line of business which is widely differentiated from his carly occupa- tions. After leaving school he served as a shoemaker's apprentice for Samuel Kennard & Sons, shoe manufacturers at Cleveland. He was advanced to the position of foreman of the lasters, and remained with that one firm eleven years. He resigned to go to Muncie, Indiana, where for two years he was fore- man for the Tappan Shoe Manufacturing Com- pany.
That was his last active association with shoe making, and when he returned to Cleve- land he started practically at the bottom of the ladder as warehouseman for the Stowe, Fuller & Company, dealers in fire brick and building supplies. He was advanced from time to time to general utility man and sales- man, and on October 1, 1912, resigned his position to establish the Nock Fire Brick Com- pany. He has since been president and gen- eral manager of the company and has built up a large business throughont this part of the Middle West as dealers in fire brick and general builders' supplies.
Mr. Nock is a democrat in politics and a member of the Catholic Church. At Muncie, Indiana, December 26, 1894, he married Leona A. Kepley. They are the parents of six chil- dren : Beatrice Marie ; Charles J., bookkeeper for his father ; Frank A., who is branch man- ager for the Western Union Telegraph Com- pany ; Gilbert B., and Ralph L., both in the parochial schools; and Helen A.
EDWARD E. NEWMAN early found his work, distinguished himself by efficiency and fidelity in small roles, and is making his mark in Cleveland financial circles, being already sec- retary of the Cleveland Trust Company.
Ile was born at Cleveland August 10, 1880. His father, Herman C. Newman, came to Cleveland in 1873 and for a time was super- intendent of construction with Andrew Dall. Later the William Dall Company was organ- ized, and since then he has been a partner and secretary of the corporation. Herman C. New- man married after coming to Cleveland Julia C. Whieher. Their three children are: Ed- ward E., Arthur B., and W. Elmore.
Edward E. Newman attended the grammar
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DR. Lavies
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and Central High schools of Cleveland until sixteen, had a year of special instruction in the Spencerian Business College, and on Au- gust 7, 1897, at the age of seventeen, was taken into the Cleveland Trust Company in the ea- pacity of stenographer in the safe deposit department. He was promoted from time to time and is now secretary of the Cleveland Trust Company.
Mr. Newman has a number of other respon- sibilities and interests in business affairs. He is director and treasurer of the Cleveland Ad Club, director in the Better Business Commis- sion, secretary and treasurer of the Limestone Transportation Company, and secretary and treasurer of the Bradley Transportation Com- pany. Mr. Newman was married first in 1901 to Helen M. Thayer, who died July 31, 1913. Socially he is a member of the Cleveland Ath- letie Club. On May 17, 1915, at Cleveland, he married Theo Elizabeth Stevenson. They have one child, Jane E.
DANIEL R. DAVIES is an important figure in Cleveland industrial circles. For about thirty years he has been identified with the Acme Machinery Company, of which he is secretary and treasurer. He has held that office with the company for nearly twenty years and for the past ten years has assumed the major part of the business responsibilities of the com- pany. This is one of Cleveland's notable in- dustries, has a large plant at 4533 St. Claire Avenue, Northeast, and is one of the standard concerns in America manufacturing bolt, nut and special machinery.
Mr. Davies comes of a race of people who from time immemorial have been noted for their skill and efficiency in 'mechanical lines. He was born in South Wales, at Merthyr Tyd- fil, on February 16, 1867. However, since he was two years of age he has been an American, his parents having come to this country at that time. Both parents were natives of Wales, and on coming to America lived four years in Cleveland, then moved to Pittsburgh, Penn- sylvania, and also lived at Girard, Ohio. His father was a blacksmith by trade, and was connected with rolling mills at different points in Pennsylvania and Ohio. The family also lived at Canal Dover, Ohio, and from there returned to Cleveland, where the father spent the rest of his days. Daniel R. Davies and his oldest sister, Elizabeth, were both born in Wales, while the other children are natives of America, some of them born in Cleveland one in Pittsburgh, two in Girard, Ohio, and
one in Canal Dover. Mr. Davies' brother David A. is purchasing agent for the Acme Machinery Company. The six sisters are Elizabeth, Margaret A., Rachel, Jennie L., Edith H., and Mabel Grace. Elizabeth is now Mrs. Elizabeth Davies Lewis of Cleveland. She has two sons, the older, Albert Wayne Lewis, being connected with the M. A. Hanna & Company of Cleveland. Her younger son, William G., is with the First Regiment of American Engineers, and has been in France sinee August, 1917. Mrs. Lewis also has two daughters. Mr. Davies' sisters Rachel and Jennie are teachers in the Cleveland public schools, and Margaret and Mabel are also residents of Cleveland. The other sister, Edith, who was formerly a Cleveland teacher, is now Mrs. John Morris of Youngstown, Ohio.
Daniel R. Davies received most of his edu- cation in the public schools of Cleveland and sinee leaving school has followed work along mechanical lines, practically his entire career having been devoted to the Acme Machinery Company. He is also a director of the State Banking & Trust Company of Cleveland, and a director of the Welker Supply Company.
lle is one of the prominent Masons of Cleve- land, active both in the York and Scottish Rite. He is an honorary member and past master of Cleveland City Lodge No. 15, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, and gave up his mem- bership in that lodge to organize and install Glenville Lodge No. 618, Ancient Free & Ac- cepted Masons, which he served as master for two years. In appreciation of his services the Glenville lodge presented him with a beau- tifully engraved gold watch. He also demitted from Cleveland Chapter to become a charter member of Glenville Chapter, Royal Arch Ma- sons. Ile has membership in Oriental Com- mandery, Knights Templar, Lake Erie Con- sistory of the Scottish Rite and Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine. Since the age of twenty-one he has been identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has social membership in the Cleveland Athletic Club, Willowick Country Club and belongs to the Credit Men's Association and the Cleve- land Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Davies is a very active outdoor man, fond of sports, in- eluding both golf and baseball, and for years has made a close study of Masonry in all its branehes.
February 28, 1894, he married Miss Eliza- beth Donald Paton, who was born and edu- cated in Cleveland, daughter of Robert W.
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Paton, the story of whose long and inter- esting career is told on other pages. Mr. and Mrs. Davies have two children, Marie Loveday and Catherine Paton. The former graduated from the Laurel private school for girls at Cleveland in 1914 and is a member of the class of 1918 at Vassar College. the young- er daughter is now a member of the junior class of Laurel School. . Both daughters were born in Cleveland. The Davies family have a pleasant home on East One Hundred and Eighth Street. Mr. Davies is president of the Glenville Masonic Temple Company, Incor- porated, and this company is now planning under his direction the construction of a new temple for Glenville.
ROBERT WILSON PATON. One of the pioneers in the rolling mill industry of Cleve- land, long identified with manufacturing, the coal trade, and real estate interests, Robert Wilson Paton is a true son of old Scotland, and, venerable in years, still represents many of the stanch and hardy elements of his native character fused with a sturdy American loyalty and patriotism. Mr. Paton has been a resident of Cleveland for over sixty years.
He was born in Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland, March 10, 1834. About eighteen months later in the same village was born An- drew Carnegie, whose achievements have filled many of the brightest pages in American in- dustrial life and world wide philanthropy, The Carnegie family immigrated to America about 1848, but Robert Wilson Paton clung to the ties of the old country until he was past his majority. His parents were James and Elizabeth (Donald) Paton, the former a ma- chinist by trade and for twenty-five years foreman in the Dunfermline foundry. Both he and his wife died in the old country be- fore their son came to America.
Mr. Paton had a limited education. He at- tended one of the familiar pay schools of Scot- land, taking his week's tuition with him and turning it over to the teacher every Monday morning. At the age of fifteen he went to work under his father's direction in the Dun- fermline foundry. At the age of twenty he began work in a foundry at St. Trolix. He was there three years. That was a period of industrial depression and of much hardship in Scotland, and it was considered a rash venture on the part of Mr. Paton's friends when he gave up what was regarded as a substantial position to come to America.
It required three weeks to cross the occan
in one of the sailing vessels of that period, and in July, 1857 he arrived at Cleveland, first visiting one of his brothers who had in the previous year located at Newburg. As a machinist and foundryman he went to work in the old mill of Stone, Chisholm & Jones at Newburg, and later he and his brother and others associates took an active part in the operation of the Union Iron Works. In 1873 Mr. Paton retired from iron manufacturing to enter the coal business, and soon afterwards he invested some of his capital in several al- lotments at Cleveland, eventually acquiring considerable property in the Newburg dis- trict. His good business judgment and finan- cial skill enabled him to develop and market the property to advantage, and he was an im- portant operator in the real estate field for a number of years. He has now sold nearly all his real estate, retaining only a few lots. Suc- cess of a substantial nature has been enjoyed by him, and he came to old age with an ample competence and with a record of complete honor and integrity in all his relationships. He was until 1913 a director of the Columbia Savings & Loan Company. Mr. Paton retired from active business in 1899. As an Ameri- can citizen he has always supported the repub- lican party, and has remained true to the religious observance of his forefathers as a member of the Presbyterian Church. He is now the oldest surviving member of the Odd Fel- lows in the south end of Cleveland and while never active as an official in the order has always kept his dues paid up promptly. He is also the oldest member of Cataract Lodge No. 295, Free and Accepted Masons.
At Cleveland February 12, 1868, Mr. Paton married Miss Mary Loveday, who was born in Leicestershire, England, daughter of James and Sarah (Hurlbut) Loveday. Her father was a contractor and took his family to America in 1865. Mr. and Mrs. Paton enjoyed a marriage companionship of many years, until it was interrupted by her death on August 28, 1914. For a number of years they lived in a fine home at 1952 East Eighty-first Street in Cleveland, but they finally sold that and in 1909 went to live with their daughter, Mrs. D. R. Davies, where Mrs. Paton died and where Mr. Paton is spending his declining years in every comfort which his own pros- perity justifies and surrounded by the af- fection and devotion of his daughter and her family. Mr. Paton has reached that time in life when interests become contracted, and though without the companionship of his wife
Robert Il. Palon
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and deprived of the pleasures of reading through failing eyesight he still retains a vig- orous optimism and endures his burdens un- complaining.
Mr. Paton is the father of three children. His daughter Elizabeth is the wife of Dr. R. Davies, secretary and treasurer of the Acme Machinery Company of Cleveland. James Loveday, the older son, is treasurer of the Columbia Savings & Loan Company. Willis, the youngest child, is connected with the Fenn- Farr Automobile Company. In 1910 Mr. and Mrs. Paton made a trip back to Scotland and England, leaving America on the 3rd of July and returning on the 3rd of September. Dur- ing their absence they visited their birth- places and also many other points of interest in Great Britain.
ALBERT N. JEAVONS for over twenty-five years has been in business under the name A. N. Jeavons, general japanning. The Jeav- ons family were the pioneers in establishing this branch of industry in Cleveland, and for over forty years the business has had its head- quarters on Champlain Avenue. Albert suc- ceeded his father, the late William Allen Jeavons, in the industry.
He was born at Billston, Yorkshire, Eng- land, December 25, 1865. Reference to his fa- ther and other members of the family will be found on other pages of this publication. Al- bert was four years of age when his parents came to Cleveland in 1869. Here he grew up, attending the public schools until thirteen, and then went to work in his father's shop. At the death of his father in 1891 he succeeded to the business, and has since conducted it un- der his own name.
His father established the pioneer japanning shops in Cleveland in 1875, at 142 Champlain Avenue. In 1877 the business was moved to 806 Champlain Avenue and has been there ever since. Originally the business required only 1,400 square feet of floor space, but to- day 12,000 square feet are hardly adequate for the activities of the plant. Three men con- stituted the first working force, and today there are forty employes. Mr. Jeavons has his individual experience, a number of thor- oughly expert men, and all the facilities for general japanning work on castings and all classes of steel and iron products. This is one of the largest jobbing japanning houses in the United States.
Mr. Jeavons has shown great executive abil- ity in conducting the business since his fa-
ther's death and is also a man of original ideas and has brought out several useful de- vices and inventions. The most profitable and the most widely known is the Jeavons Spring Imbricator and Cover, which is extensively manufactured.
Mr. Jeavons is affiliated with Forest City Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; is past high priest of Webb Chapter, Royal Arch Ma- sons; is past commander of Oriental Com- mandery, Knights Templar ; a member of Lake Erie Consistory, Scottish Rite, and is past potentate of Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is a member of the Cleveland Athletic Club, Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Automobile Club and in politics is a republican. Mr. Jeavons married in Cleve- land Julia P. Hedges, whose ancestors resided for many generations in Vermont.
Mr. and Mrs. Jeavons have three daughters : Jennie, wife of Arthur T. Mason, of Cleve- land; Beatrice, who is Mrs. Ralph S. Poister of Canton, Ohio; and Lillian, who is a grad- uate of the Hathaway-Brown School and is at home.
ARCHIBALD L. OSBORNE. Quite early in his life and experience, Archibald L. Osborne found his work in the sphere of salesmanship, and he has been developing his own powers and those of others in that line ever since. For many years he traveled as representative of different china and crockery houses, has filled important executive positions, and is now vice president and sales manager of the Kin- ney & Levan Company, importers and dis- tributors of china, pottery, glass, silverware and a varied line of supplies. This is one of the large and important firms in the whole- sale district of Cleveland, distributing their goods all over the United States. The com- pany have a very extensive store and ware- house at 1375-1385 Euclid Avenue.
Mr. Osborne was born at Leesville, Craw- ford County, Ohio, March 4, 1861, a son of William and Ann Eliza (Smith) Osborne. Most of his early education was acquired in the public schools of Wooster, Ohio, but when only thirteen years of age he began earning his own living as a clerk in the china store of Samuel Geitgey. At that place January 1, 1880, at the age of nineteen, he went to Pitts- burg and accepted as a real opportunity the position of stock boy with the wholesale glass and lamp honse of H. MeAfee, Jr. This firm was made to realize the value of his work and fidelity and gradually advanced him un-
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til he was on the road as a traveling repre- sentative. When the business was sold in 1883 he transferred his services to Cavitt & Pollock in the same line, but after a year re- signed and came to Cleveland. He then formed his first affiliation with Kinney & Levan Company and traveled and sold their goods in the territory of Michigan until Jan- mary 1, 1890. He was then called to head- quarters and made manager of the wholesale sales department, but in 1907 resigned to be- come a partner of the firm Osborne, Boynton & Osborne, wholesale crockery and glassware at Detroit. Mr. Osborne remained at Detroit about six years and in 1913 sold his interests there and returned to Cleveland to become vice president and wholesale sales manager of the Kinney & Levan Company.
For a number of years Mr. Osborne has been one of the prominent members of the Cleve- land Chamber of Commerce. He served as president of its convention board in 1906, has served on the executive committee of the re- tail merchants' board, was vice president of the manufacturers' and wholesale merchants' board of the chamber in 1915, and in October, 1916, was elected president of that board. In politics he is a republican and is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
At Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, July 2, 1884. Mr. Osborne married Mary Norton, daughter of James Norton, of Steubenville, Ohio. Their only son, Carl N., aged thirty-two, graduated from Adelbert College of Western Reserve University in 1906 and for several years was a member of the firm Borton & Borton, stocks and bonds, at Cleveland as head of the invest- ment department. On February 1, 1918, he severed his connection with that firm to enter the financial department of the M. A. Hanna Company. He married in October, 1913, Mary Harper Annat, daughter of William Annat, of Wooster, Ohio. They have one son, Wil- liam Annat Osborne.
HARRY LEWIS DEIBEL is one of the leading younger lawyers of the Cleveland bar, is con- sidered an authority on many phases of con- stitutional law, and has proved himself one of the leading spirits in the life and affairs of his city. particularly the West Side.
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