A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 85

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 85

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Mervin C. Harvey was educated in the pub- lie schools of Cleveland, graduated from the University School in 1895, and is a graduate of Yale University, where he took his degree in 1899. The first two years after his return to Cleveland from university, Mr. Harvey worked as a factory hand with the Standard Welding Company. He then accepted a posi- tion with greater promise for the future as clerk with Otis & Company, stocks and bonds, and since 1906 he has been a partner in that firm and is also an officer and director in sev- eral large Cleveland corporations.

Mr. Harvey is a member of the Union Club, Country Club, Chagrin Valley Hunt Club, Tavern Club, Civic League, and Columbus Club of Columbus, Ohio. He is a republican in politics. April 16, 1912, at Cleveland, he married Virginia Bennell. Their two children are Sarah and Henry.

WILLIAM E. FUTCH. While lack of early education undoubtedly is a great handicap to a young man starting ont in life, it does not bar success when industry, intelligence, per- severance and ambition are present. This fact finds illustration in the career of William E. Futch, president of the Locomotive Engineers' Mutual Life and Accident Insurance Associa- tion, who found himself but poorly prepared for the hard and serious struggle of life that faced him when twelve years old. IIe had neither financial nor influential assistance as he made his way step by step and finally reached high position through his own sturdy

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efforts. Such men are more than interesting. they are worthy of emulation.

William E. Futch was born in Bryan County, Georgia, March 12, 1860. His par- ents were William and Adelaide (Spears) Futch, old families of that section who, prior to the changes brought about by the Civil war, were affluent and influential. William Futch, father of William E., was born in 1822 in Bryan County and remained on his father's plantation until he was twenty years of age and then attended a school at Jacksonville. In 1856 he returned to his father's plantation in Bryan County and was engaged there when the war between the states was precipitated. He enlisted in 1861 in a cavalry division in the Confederate army and served with valor until the war terminated in 1865. Once more he returned to the old family estate and farmed for two years, but under entirely new condi- tions, which led him to remove to the Town of Brunswick and enter the mercantile busi- ness, in which he was engaged at the time of his death in 1872.

It was in the public schools of Brunswick, Georgia, that William E. Futch secured his first educational training, and compared with the public schools of today the facilities were meager indeed. However, this modicum of in- struction had to satisfy the ambitious lad until years afterward, when, after coming to Cleve- land and weighed down with business respon- sibilities, he nevertheless found time by going to school at night, under the auspices of the Young Men's Christian Association, to pursue advanced branches of study and round out a course that at least was academic. Still fur- ther, he took up the study of law and finally was graduated from the Cleveland Law School.

In the section where Mr. Futch found him- self as a boy of twelve years and self depend- ent, the only opening he saw ready was in a saw will, which was hard work for a child of his tender years, and when he found a position on the Brunswick and Western Railroad he felt better satisfied and thus drifted into rail- road work, in which he continued for many years. The Brunswick and Western was later absorbed by the Plant system and now is a part of the Atlantic Coast Line. Through in- dustry and fidelity Mr. Futch was able to ad- vance until he became a locomotive engineer and served as such with the above company for fourteen years, severing his relations at that time because of his election as president of the Locomotive Engineers' Mutual Life and Accident Insurance Company, with headquar-

ters at Cleveland, which office he has held ever since.

The Locomotive Engineers' Mutual Life and Accident Insurance Association was organized December 3, 1867, and is the oldest fraternal insurance society in the United States. It was incorporated under the insurance laws of Ohio on March 3, 1894, it prior to that time having only been a voluntary organization. The com- pany is an outgrowth of the Locomotive Broth- erhood but entirely separate in officers and finances. The company has 70,000 certificate holders and has insurance in force aggregat- ing $156,000,000, with members throughout the United States and in Canada, Panama, Cuba and South America. Their paid claims aggregate in figures $37,000,000, and the com- pany has grown until now it is dispensing $550,000 per month. The names of officers and trustees, with place of residence follows: W. E. Futch, president, 1136 B. of L. E. Building, Cleveland, Ohio; C. E. Richards, general secretary and treasurer, same address ; Amos Beeler, vice president, 1027 Kansas Av- enue, Atchison, Kansas; J. H. Welch; chair- man of the board of trustees, 411 Luckie Street, Atlanta, Georgia; Myer Hurley, 151 West Forty-second Street, New York City; John M. Breen, 299 Woodbine Avenne; Roches- ter, New York; George A. Pearson, Box 96, Richmond, Province of Quebec, Canada ; J. G. Bywater, 2057 Lincoln Avenue, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Mr. Futch was married in February, 1888, at Brunswick, Georgia, to Miss Minnie Cheat- ham Greer, and six children were born to them, five now living, namely : Ethel Adelaide, who is a graduate of the Cleveland Law School, resides at home; Willie-Greer, who also resides at home; Rosa Lucile, who is the wife of George F. Gorham, of Cleveland ; Charles Edward, who is preparing for the profession of medicine at the University of Michigan ; and Nelson Kramer, who is a stu- dent in the public school.

Mr. Futch has always preserved an inde- pendent attitude in political matters, but has never shirked any public responsibility when the hand of duty pointed and it numbered with the generous and public spirited men of the city. He belongs to the Elks and to the Masonic fraternity, having taken both the Scottish and York rites. With his family he attends the Methodist Episcopal Church.

GEORGE B. HOAG is a prominent Cleveland contractor. He is at the head of two com-

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panies which have specialized with their facil- ities and experience in handling some of the more difficult problems of engineering con- struction, such as the building of piers, break- waters, underground tunnels and practically all phases of general drainage and sewerage lines.

While now at the head of a very successful business Mr. Hoag has had his ups and downs, and the lines did not fall altogether in pleas- ant places during his youth and early man- hood.

He was born at Tideonte, Pennsylvania, April 18, 1862, son of William F. and Eliza- beth A. (Smith) Hoag. During his infancy his parents removed to Erie, Pennsylvania. There he was a pupil in the public schools to the age of twelve. His father having been an old soldier the boy was next placed in the Soldiers' Orphans' School and Home at Mer- cer, Pennsylvania. This was an institution to provide home and school facilities for depend- ent children of old soldiers, and is conducted much on the line of an industrial school. While there Mr. Hoag learned the printing trade.

On leaving school he worked as a printer on the old Mercer Dispatch for two years, fol- lowing which he was a printer for one year with the Oil City Derrick at Oil City. He left printing temporarily to take employment with the Standard Oil Company. He helped cut the first right of way and lay the first 8-inch high-pressure line which furnished the supply of gas for Meadville, Pennsylvania, and it was said to be the largest gas main in the world.

Mr. Hoag's acquaintance with the City of Cleveland began in 1892. His early years here were spent as a printer, six years in the com- posing rooms of the Plain Dealer and two years with The World. About that time Mayor McKisson appointed him chief adjustor of the assessing department of the waterworks. This city position he held for two years. and then identified himself with a completely new field of enterprise. As an employe of J. A. Reaugh & Sons, contractors, he went to work as a timekeeper. His ambition, energy, and rapid study of all conditions covering contract work soon brought him to the position of su- perintendent of construction.

After five years with that company Mr. Hoag established The George B. Hoag Con- struction Company and the Hoag & Dall Com- pany. He is president and treasurer of both these well known Cleveland companies. As

already noted they handle general contracts for tunnels, sewers, deep foundations and other hazardous pieces of construction work. Mr. Hoag had charge of the construction of the two main piers of the new High Level Bridge in Cleveland. Other contracts handled by him and his companies, suffieing to indi- cate the important character of his work are as follows: The drainage system of the new City Hall, a contract involving $62,000; the drainage system of the new Convention Hall, now in course of construction, costing $160,- 000; the East Forty-ninth Street tunnel, a $150,000 contract; West Forty-fifth Street tunnel, $115,000; the outfall tunnel at Lake- wood running through Rocky River to Lake Erie, built at a cost of $123,000; the Corrigan- MeKinney tunnel, $18,000; the first section of the Dayway-Brook Culvert system, $85,000. The company is now filling a large contract for a five-mile sewerage system at Barberton, Ohio. From 200 to 300 men find employment during the greater part of the year with the companies of which Mr. Ifoag is the head.

He is also well known in club and social life of Cleveland, a member of the Cleveland Athletic Club, Chamber of Commerce, Auto- mobile Club, Rotary Club, and Woodward Lodge of Masons. Politically he votes as a republican and is a member of the Methodist Church. At Bryan, Ohio, June 28, 1893, Mr. Hoag married Belle F. Neff. They have one child, Robert, attending University School.

HON. GEORGE W. GARDNER. It has been the fortnne of some men to have so impressed their personalities and activities upon the com- munities in which their labors have found a receptive field that their influence and prestige continue to be an asset long after the authors of these qualities have been removed by death from the scene of their life's labors. The su- preme efforts of the most capable individuals are called forth for the achievement of real suc- cess in the face of the strenuous competition of the marts of commerce and trade of the twen- tieth century. To combine with these efforts a salutary influence in the cause of good citi- zenship demands qualifieations which all too few individuals possess. As the world views its achievements, success of a real kind comes to but few. The attainment of material things and the possession of the monetary prestige which they may give can place a man upon a certain pedestal; but the mere gaining of means does not indicate success as it should be written indelibly on the pages of a city's

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history. This may come only through constant fidelity to trust, immaculate probity of life. and a conscientious and sincere performance of the duties and responsibilities which man is called upon to perform and discharge.

The late Ilon. George W. Gardner. of Cleve- land, combined in his business qualifications and standards of life in rare degree the char- acteristies which form success in its truest and best sense. He attained a name and position in the business world which few men of his time and locality were able to acquire. With honor and without animosity he fought his way through the supreme contests of commer- cial strife in which only the fittest survive. It was his reward to have his name placed beyond and above criticism; honorable and straight-forward business conduct assured him that. But better, there will ever be connected with his name the remem- brance of a record for sterling citizen- ship and high-minded performance of puh- lic service. Hon. George W. Gardner, son of James Gardner, came of sound and sterling stock on both sides of the family, and through his mother was a direct descendant of the founder of Yale University. He was born at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, February 7, 1834, and was three years of age when brought by his parents to Cleveland. Until he was four- teen years of age he attended the public schools, and for five years following sailed the Great Lakes, returning to Cleveland to begin his business career in the private banking house of Wick, Otis & Brownell. He continued with this concern until 1857, when he became junior partner in the firm of Otis, Brownell & Company, dealers in grain and owners and operators of a large elevator on the river. Two years later, in 1859, he severed his connection with this firm, and, with M. B. Clark and J. D. Rockefeller, formed the firm of Clark, Gardner & Company, which continued in existence until 1861. In that year, with Peter Thatcher, George H. Burt and A. C. McNairy, Mr. Gardner built the Union Elevator, a larger one than all the others combined. Later partners in the euter- prise were Stephen V. Harkness, who became prominent later as a large stockholder in the Standard Oil Company ; and, again, M. B. Clark, the firm becoming Gardner & Clark. In 1878 this concern purchased the National Flour Mills and added the manufacture of fine flour to its elevator business: Mr. Gard- ner was one of the incorporators and for over thirty years a member of the Cleveland Board

of Trade, out of which grew the present Cham- ber of Commerce, and was at one time presi- dent of that association. He was always largely interested in manufacturing enter- prises, having been president of the Buckeye Stove Company, the Buttman Furnace Com- pany and the Walker Manufacturing Com- pany, and was also for several years a direc- tor of the Merehants National Bank. His business operations, directed by his able and ripe judgment, netted him a handsome for- tune and proved the truth of his claim that a man could be thoroughly honorable in his dealings and vet accumulate considerable prop- erty, provided he be willing to exert himself and act according to the dictates of his con- science.

A leader of men, Mr. Gardner understood human nature and knew how to sway those about him, and, fortunately for the com- munity, his influence always tended toward moral uplift and the betterment of existing conditions. He was appointed by Governor Foster as one of the trustees of the Ohio Re- form School at Lancaster, and served five years, the last three as president of the board. It was at his suggestion and through his influence that the name of the institution was changed to that of Boys' Industrial School, to remove the stigma attached to the old style of nomen- elature. The brutal system of punishment in vogue at the time he began his official duties was changed, also through his influence, to a more sensible and just one, which, while being milder, made for better discipline and was far- reaching in its results in bringing about re- form. In addition, he made numerous other changes, all beneficial. For eight years Mr. Gardner was a member of the Cleveland City Council, being president thereof the last three years, and as a member and chairman of the finance committee introduced an ordinance, which was passed, changing the method of dis- posing of city bonds, which previously had been accepted by contractors in payment for work at par, but disposed of to others at from 85 to 95 cents, so that contractors, in making bids on specifications for city work, did so on a basis of receiving about 85 cents on the dollar in payment. The bonds were actually worth par and a premium, so that tax-payers lost the difference. The results of the ordinance framed and introduced by Mr. Gardner have been the saving of many thousands of dollars for the people of Cleveland. In 1885 Mr. Gardner was elected mayor of Cleveland and again in 1889, and in both administrations

MC Norbug

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established a splendid record for capable and conscientious public service and unselfish, dis- interested citizenship. Mr. Gardner's death, in December, 1912, lost to his city a man who had ever been foremost in protecting its in- terests, one whose name had become a synonym for honor and integrity in business circles, a man who had generously supported worthy movements, educational, moral and charitable.

In 1857 occurred the marriage of George W. Gardner and Rosaline Oviatt, daughter of Gen. Orson Oviatt, of Cleveland. They he- came the parents of seven children.

BURT M. GARDNER, son of George W. Gard- ner, was born at Cleveland, Ohio, January 16, 1867. He attended public schools until reach- ing the age of seventeen years, at which time he began work as a shipping clerk in his father's grain elevator, being thus engaged for six years. He then secured the appointment as office manager for the Claflen Paving Com- pany, with which firm he continued for one year, and then became identified with Bur- rows Brothers as manager of the retail de- partment of their stationery and book store. One year later he went to Chicago, where he became secretary and associate editor of the Iron Trade Review, remaining in that capacity for ten years, following which he opened an office at Chicago and engaged in the iron and steel brokerage business for five years. Re- turning to Cleveland, Mr. Gardner became the western representative of the American Brass Company, of Waterbury, Connecticut, but after three years resigned to embark in the brass and copper business as a jobber on his own account, incorporating his firm as the B. M. Gardner Company, of which he is presi- dent and treasurer. This concern deals in brass and copper, doing from $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 worth of business annually all over the United States. Mr. Gardner is also secre- tary and general sales manager for the Cleve- land Brass and Copper Mills, Incorporated, a $1.500.000 corporation.

He is a member of the Union Club, the May- field Country Club and the Cleveland Yacht Club of Cleveland, and the National Demo- cratic Club of New York. He maintains an independent stand in regard to political af- fairs, and attends the Episcopal Church.

Mr. Gardner was married at St. Paul, Min- nesota, September 12, 1895, to Miss Marian Hall, and they have one son, John H., now eighteen years of age, who is attending the Case School of Applied Science.

RUDOLPH C. NORBERG came to Cleveland in the fall of 1902. He was then twenty-one years of age and had only recently come to this country from Sweden, fresh from his studies and technical training in some of the best schools of his native land.

He was born at Stockholm March 18, 1881, son of Carl and Elin Norberg, and after his public school course had entered and pursued the full course of the Royal Technical College at Stockholm, where he graduated as an elee- trical engineer in 1902.

Technical knowledge and training was never better bestowed than in the case of Mr. Nor- berg. He has a naturally keen mind and an ability that has carried him far in technical and industrial circles at Cleveland. His early experiences here were, however, in the hum- bler lines of work. For nine weeks he worked in the storeroom of the Erner Electric Com- pany and then for a time was a draftsman with the Browning Engineering Company. His real opportunity opened for him in the fall of 1903, when he was taken into the Willard Stor- age Battery Company, first as a draftsman. He worked through all the different departments in various positions, and was finally made gen- eral sales manager and director. While this is his position, it is the testimony of Mr. Wil- lard. head of the company, that much of the success of the institution is properly credited to Mr. Norberg, whose ingenuity, study and tremendous energy have meant more to the growing business perhaps than the service supplied by any other individual.

Mr. Norberg is a man of high standing in technical cireles, member of the Society of Au- tomotive Engineers, Society of Railway Elee- trical Engineers, a member of the Detroit Ath- letie Club, Willowick Country Club of Cleve- land, and is an independent in politics. June 24, 1911, at Cleveland, he married Ida Roberts. They have two children : Charles Robert and James Franklin.

JOHN P. WHITE, secretary-treasurer of the American Commercial Company of Cleveland and officially identified with numerous other business organizations, at one time walked the streets of Cleveland looking for a job. His has been a career of success attained by his energy and ambition.

When he was five years of age, in 1871, his parents, James and Susan (Chambers) White, emigrated from Somersetshire, England, where their son John was born November 7, 1866, to America and located at Berea, Ohio.

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There John P. White attended his first schools, and at the age of twelve began working as an apprentice in the flour mills of his uncle, Thomas Chambers, in Lorain County, Ohio. He learned the milling trade in all its aspects, and during spare time attended school for about five years. In further preparation for a larger career he took the course of the Ober- lin Business College, from which he graduated in the spring of 1884, being the youngest mem- ber of the class.

After that he worked as bookkeeper for the Berea Stone Company a year, and it was at this juncture that he arrived at Cleveland and spent several weeks in looking for some posi- tion. His first employment was with the Ful- ton Market Company. A year later he went with W. P. Southworth Company, wholesale and retail grocers, as cashier, and at the end of twelve months was advanced to bookkeeper and from that to assistant secretary and treas- urer. While his title was only assistant he really had the authority of secretary and treas- urer of the company and was one of the most trusted and capable officials in that well known Cleveland organization.

Mr. White resigned from the Southworth Company in 1909 and with Frank M. Gregg organized the American Commercial Com- pany, of which he is secretary, treasurer and director. The company has developed rapidly within eight years and now does a business valued at several million dollars a year. The scope of business done by the American Com- mercial Company is the financing of the auto- mobile dealer through the manufacturer throughout the United States and Canada.

Mr. White is also a director of the Arthur H. Clarke Company, publishers of Cleveland ; director of the Cleveland Worm and Gear Company, and director of the Cleveland Maca- roni Company. He is a member of the Cleve- land Chamber of Commerce, the Cleveland Ad Club, is a steward in the Epworth Methodist Church and in politics is a republican.

At Cleveland September 10, 1890, he mar- ried Mae Reed, daughter of Capt. Seymour S. Reed, who made a gallant record as mem- ber of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. White have three children : Betty Mae, at home, is a graduate of Smith College; Gladys is the wife of Howard K. Nichols, of Lorain, Ohio, and the mother of twin daughters, Lois and Betty ; Marian Reed is attending the Beech- wood School for Girls near Philadelphia.

CHARLES AUBREY EATON, D. D., has a host of friends and admirers in Cleveland, gained during his long and successful ministry here as a pastor of the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church. Since 1909 Doctor Eaton has been pastor of the Madison Avenue Church of New York City, though the field of his activities and influence is now hardly confined to any one city or district. In recognition of his exceptional power and influence and earnest- ness he was recently appointed chairman of the national service section of the United States Shipping Board of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, in which capacity it is his duty to visit every ship building plant in the coun- try and endeavor to arouse a spirit of pa- triotism, thrift and industry among the work- men.

Doctor Eaton was born in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, March 29, 1868, a son of Stephen and Mary Desiah (Parker) Eaton. He is a descendant of John Eaton, who emi- grated from England and settled at Salisbury, Massachusetts, in 1640. Doctor Eaton ac- quired his early education in the high schools of Truro and Amherst, Nova Scotia, was grad- nated from Acadia College of Nova Scotia with the degree B. A. in 1890 and received the honorary degree Master of Arts from the same institution in 1893. In the latter year he finished his theological course at the Newton Theological Institution of Massachusetts. In 1896 the degree Master of Arts was conferred upon him by MeMaster University at Toronto, Ontario, and he received the degree Doctor of Divinity from Baylor University of Texas in 1899 and from Acadia University in 1907. He received the degree LL. B. from McMaster University in 1916.

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A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 85

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