A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 97

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 97

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These are some of the achievements which have led to an assertion, hardly possible of contradiction, that no iron industry in the United States had such an enormous growth from such small beginnings in such a short space of time. In less than eighteen years the business which Mr. Chisholm established in 1857 had come to represent an investment of ten millions. No panics materially affected the business of his concern, and in fact his in- dustries were on such permanent basis that they were frequently able to extend financial assistance to some of the large and small rail- road companies during periods of financial depression.

Henry Chisholm was a fine type of the old fashioned employer, the real industrial leader, the man who went in and out among his workmen, understood some of the details of their commonplace existence as well as their rated capacity for doing a given quantity of work, and always remained accessible to the humblest man in his industries. Wealth never spoiled him and his simplicity of manner and unaffected sympathy were some of the finest fruits of real democracy. His authority was based upon something more than autocratic and arbitrary power.

Henry Chisholm died May 9, 1881, compara- tively young in years, not yet three score. At the time of his death he was giving em- ployment to more people than there were in Cleveland when he came here. The news of his death affected the community like a blow. The men in his employment immediately stopped work and went to their homes. They could not go on. The societies with which he was connected passed appropriate resolu- tions, the works were closed down, and the

community felt that one of its best men had been taken. He was a man of great power but above all of love for his fellowmen.

He was never a figure in political life and yet no one could have done more in the line of public service. Any good charity could command his means, and institutions of re- ligion and benevolence did in fact lean heavily upon him. The individual cases of assistance were unmeasured in number and unrecorded in memory except by the persons themselves. Mr. Chisholm was a trustee or director of four of the charitable institutions of Cleve- land, for twenty years was an active member of the Second Baptist Church, and had a large number of business and financial connections with banks and manufacturing corporations.

In Scotland Henry Chisholm married Miss Jean Allen of Dumfermline, Fifeshire. They were the parents of five sons and three daughters. Henry and Stewart died in in- fancy, and Christina at the age of five. The oldest, William Chisholm, now deceased, be- came manager of the rolling mills established by his father at Chicago and later took his father's place in the Cleveland Rolling Mill. He was vice president and general manager of the Rolling Mill of Chicago for seventeen years, and after his father's death was presi- dent and director of the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company. He was a very able business man. The second son, Stewart H., has also been a big figure in iron and steel circles in Cleveland. The third son, Wilson B., is de- ceased. The daughters are Catherine, Mrs. A. T. Osborn, and Janet, Mrs. C. B. Beach.

STANLEY W. SPARKS was born at Columbus, Ohio, May 27, 1876. It is doubtful if any native son of Ohio at his age has seen so much of the world and has been identified with a greater range of interests and ac- tivities than Mr. Sparks. His has been a career full of life and action. That he is now head of one of the largest industrial organizations in Ohio is only the culmination of an intense and purposeful energy which began when he was a small boy.

He is a son of Edward S. and Belle Sparks. Until he was twelve years of age he contented himself with the routine studies of the public schools. He left school, following the lure of the sea, and became an apprenticed seaman on the vessel of the William H. Bes- sie & Company. In that capacity he made several trips around the world. At Belfast, Ireland, he began an apprenticeship to learn

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the marine engineer's trade at Horland & Wolf's shipyards. No salary was attached to his service as an apprentice and to support himself he waited on tables. He was there five years and was then given a card showing his competence for practical work as a ma- rine engineer.

For one year he was with the White Star Line in their Oriental trade and then joined the British India Steam Navigation Com- pany of Calcutta and served as marine engi- neer on various ships of that line for two years. His next connection was with the Straits Settlements Steamship Company at Singapore, being on the mail service to China for one year. Until 1898 he was a marine engineer with the Archibald Currie Line at Melbourne, Australia.

During the Spanish-American war Mr. Sparks transferred to the United States Quar- termaster's Department of the United States Navy and was on vessels carrying supplies to Dewey's fleet at Manila. From this he entered the Quartermaster's Department of the army and was mustered out of service in October, 1898. Going back to Melbourne he was again in the Britishi service as a marine engineer, and was on duty during the Boer war, carry- ing troops to South Africa. He resigned in 1901, and while returning to London on the steamship Mexican was wrecked off the coast of South Africa. After being rescued, he made his way by other vessels to London and was employed as a marine engineer with the Thames Ship Building Company until 1902.

In 1902 Mr. Sparks returned to the United States and in Cleveland was employed as a machinist with several firms until the follow- ing year, when he went west and worked as foreman and master mechanic at different points along the Santa Fe Railway. In 1905 he was in San Francisco, and resumed his profession as a marine engineer with the Union Iron works until 1908. At that time he took up a business which he has followed more or less closely ever since, the sale of machine tools. He established a business for himself in San Francisco, and in the fall of that year carried his campaign into Mexico, selling machine tools to the different mines of that country. In 1909 he resumed his headquarters in San Francisco and was there until 1912, when he returned to the town of his birth, Columbus, and became a machine tool salesman for the Osborne Sexton Ma- chinery Company. A year later he left that firm and returned to Cleveland as vice presi-

dent and manager of the Lake Erie Ma- chinery and Supply Company. He sold his interests there in 1913, becoming manager of the machinery department of the Cleve- land Tool and Supply Company until March, 1915.

At that date, with other associates, he organized the Cleveland Machinery & Sup- ply Company, of which he is president and treasurer, with C. D. Gibson, vice president, John O'Brien, treasurer, and W. E. Mc- Naughton, secretary. This company devised a special lathe for the manufacture of shell machinery. This lathe met with universal favor and in less than a year the company had sold the machines to an aggregate value of over two million dollars. At one time they had twenty-eight plants in Ohio en- gaged in turning out these machines. In March, 1916, the company bought the Kern Machine Tool Company at Hamilton, Ohio. This plant was equipped for manufacturing a line of high speed ball bearing drill presses, and also upright drilling machinery. After improving the plant and adding to its equip- ment they gave it greatly increased capacity. Among other improvements they installed a complete tool room employing 150 men. This business has grown so rapidly that the plant was soon inadequate to fill orders and they then bought the American Lathe and Press Company at Hamilton, employing 220 men. This plant is used for manufacture of a com- plete line of heavy duty engine lathes.

In January, 1917, the business was rein- corporated under the name Simplex Machine Tool Company. This company controls all the manufacturing plants owned by Mr. Sparks and his associates, while the Cleve- land Machinery and Supply Company has the exclusive selling agency for the different plants. Phenomenal increases in industries of this kind are the order of the day, and in February, 1917, another great increase was justified. At that time they bought the Rich- mond Adding and Listing Company of Columbus, employing 125 men. That plant was well adapted for light manufacturing, and is now used for the manufacture of light tool machinery, especially 12-inch lathes and universal tool room grinders. At the present time the organization of which Mr. Sparks is at the head is approximately five months behind in its orders.

Mr. Sparks since coming to Cleveland has established one of the beautiful homes on St. James Parkway in Cleveland Heights. He

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is a member of the Cleveland Athletic Club, Cleveland Yacht Club, Willowick Country Club, Hamilton Club of Hamilton, Ohio, is a life member of the British Marine-Engineers Association and holds a Past Chief Engi- neer's Certificate in England. Politically he is a republican. At San Francisco January 12, 1909, he married Viola Belle Knarston.

SIDNEY V. WILSON was for half a century a resident, business man and power in civic af- fairs at Willoughby, one of the interesting and prosperous units of population and com- mercial affairs in the Cleveland district.

Third in a family of thirteen children he was born at Norway in Herkimer County, New York, October 15, 1823. The family migrated to Chautauqua County to a farm which was later incorporated in the grounds of the Chau- tauqua Assembly. In early youth he sought a home in the West. At Crawfordsville, Indi- ana, he learned the wheelwright's trade. He soon decided to return to Willoughby, Ohio, a place toward which he had been especially attracted on his way out by the knowledge that it was named in honor of Dr. Willoughby, the family physician who assisted in bringing him into the world; and by the sign of "S. Smart," which hung over the little red grocery, and the striking appearance of a hotel painted in alternate colors of red, blue and green, known to the traveling public as the "Zebra Inn."

His first work at Willoughby was the manu- facture of wagons. His shop stood at what is now the corner of Erie and Spaulding streets. He made the wagons entirely by hand. One of them was in use on the plains as late as 1890. However, he soon assumed the manage- ment of the Zebra Inn. Among other guests to whom he stood host he entertained the offi- cials of the Lake Shore and Michigan South- ern Railroad Company, who met there when the last spike connecting the Chicago and Buffalo divisions was driven. From 1854 for six years Mr. Wilson and K. S. Baker con- ducted a general merchandise store at Find- lay, Ohio, being the first Yankees to go among that old Dutch settlement. On his return to Willoughby he was a partner with his brother- in-law, S. W. Smart, as a merchant from 1860 to 1872. At the latter date he engaged in business alone, his store being on Erie Street opposite Vine Street. In 1889 he removed it to the Carrel Block and enlarged his opera- tions, admitting his son Sidney S. to copart- nership under the firm name of S. V. Wilson

& Son. In 1892 his younger son Ray Wilson came into the firm and at the same time they bought one of the Bond stores. Ray Wilson's death in 1898 was a great loss to the firm as well as to the community at large. The busi- ness expanded in 1899 by the purchase of two stores and the entire stock of Dickey & Col- lister. From that time until his death Sid- ney V. Wilson was the leading merchant of Lake County and after a brief illness of a week from pneumonia he died February 14, 1903, aged seventy-nine.

Mr. Wilson was a man of strong individu- ality, among his most notable traits being his undoubted integrity, rigid scruples of honor, genial courtesy and his unbounded hospitality. Sympathetic and charitable, he had also a keen sense of humor, making him a most de- lightful companion, and was especially loved by the young people. No man, it is safe to say, ever had a better sense of the true value of wealth and ease, and no man exacted from it and imparted from it a greater amount of happiness.

Sidney V. Wilson married February 3, 1856, Miss Hepzibah B. Smart, who was born at Orange, Cuyahoga County, July 4, 1833, a daughter of the late Samuel Smart, who came with his family to Willoughby, Ohio, in 1836 and for many years was proprietor of the little red grocery store over which was displayed the sign "S. Smart." She was a woman of culture and refinement; educated in the old Willoughby Seminary, now Lake Erie College, and until her death which occurred March 10, 1903, at the home of her daughter Mrs. E. E. Flickinger at Indianapolis, Indiana, she held her membership and her interest in the Alumnae Association. Six children were born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, of whom two sons and a daughter died in infancy, and Ray in July, 1898. The two living children are Florence, wife of E. E. Flickinger of Indianapolis, and Sidney S. of Willoughby.

SIDNEY S. WILSON, only living son of the late Sidney V. Wilson, was made a partner in the mercantile firm of S. V. Wilson & Son in 1889, nearly thirty years ago. He was then twenty-three years old, fresh from college, and with the average young American college man's ambition and aspirations for achieve- ment and influence.

He was born at Willoughby July 22, 1865. His educational and home advantages were of the best. In 1882, at the age of seventeen, he graduated from the Willoughby High School.

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Further preparation for college was made during the following year at the Buchtel Academy in Akron, after which he entered Western Reserve University, where he gradu- ated with the class of 1888. His student rec- ord needs no comment from the fact that he was elected to the honorary scholarship fra- ternity of Phi Beta Kappa. The interval of a year between his graduation and his en- trance into business with his father was spent as a teacher in the high school at Willoughby.

The important thing for the public to know is how a man of education, initiative, and financial ability uses his talents and oppor- tunities. In the case of Mr. Wilson this fact is reflected partly by his notable record as a merchant, financier and business promoter, but even more by the influential place he oc- cupies in the business and civic community of his home town and in Cleveland, where he is recognized as a leader as well as in his own community.

Mr. Wilsou remained an active associate with his father until the latter's death in 1903. In 1904 he organized the Sidney S. Wil- son Company at Willoughby, taking over the entire interests of the old firm and adding the purchased stock of two competitors besides admitting to the firm several young men who had been identified with the business for a number of years. This organization devel- oped one of the best equipped and best man- aged general stores in Northern Ohio. About the same time Mr. Wilson organized the Wil- loughby Hotel Company, which took over and thoroughly refitted the old Gibbons House, transforming it into the modern "Kingsley."

The Willoughby Banking Company was another organization in which Mr. Wilson par- ticipated. This business was subsequently sold to the Cleveland Trust Company. Besides his interests at Willoughby Mr. Wilson is now interested in several Cleveland industries. For several years he owned and managed the A. C. Rogers Printing Company and also edited and published School Topics, a monthly school journal.

With all his other work there has been no keener student and more consistent advocate of good government and civic improvement in Willoughby than Mr. Wilson. For some years he had a part in local school management, but otherwise refused political honors until the fall of 1909, when he was prevailed upon by his friends to accept the nomination for mayor of Willoughby, and was elected with- out opposition on the municipal ticket. He

held that office with credit and with much ad- vancement to the town from January 1, 1910, to January 1, 1914, two terms. Mr. Wilson is general manager of the Andrews Institute for Girls at Willoughby, and for eighteen years was member of the board of education and part of the time president.

He is now trustee of the Western Reserve Historical Society. It is his distinction to be the first trustee of that society ever elected outside of Cleveland, the affairs of the society always having with this exception been en- trusted to the management of Cleveland men. He is a member of the Alumni Association of Western Reserve University and of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. Other organizations that elaim his membership and some of his time are the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, Willowick Country Club, of which he is a charter member, Hermit Club, the Cleveland Advertising Club of which he is president at this writing (1917-18), is a Mason and mem- ber of the Knights of Pythias. Any worthy charity in Willoughby can count upon him in advance for support.

During the last year war work has especial- ly enlisted his sympathy and earnest en- deavors, especially has he been helpful in for- warding the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion campaigns and the Liberty Loan.

Mr. Wilson was organizer of the first street fair ever held on the Western Reserve-at Willoughby -- and was long secretary of the Willoughby Chamber of Commerce. His knowledge of men and affairs is not restricted to his home locality, and at different times he has accepted an opportunity to travel over the United States, Canada and Mexico.

In June, 1891, Mr. Wilson married Miss Anna Clark Kingsley. They had been friends from childhood. Their one daughter Amo Louise is now Mrs. Sherman S. Clark, whose husband is connected with the F. G. Clark Oil Company of Cleveland.

HENRY A. EVERETT. It is for his pioneer work in the construction and financing of electric public utilities that the late Henry A. Everett, who died at Pasadena, California, April 10, 1917, will be longest remembered both at Cleveland and elsewhere in the United States. Mr. Everett was identified with the construction and operation of various electric railways in Ohio, and he exemplified a special genius in the upbuilding of such properties and particularly in the management of the financial problems involved.

Halveret

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Mr. Everett was born at Cleveland October 16, 1856, and was only sixty years of age when he died. His parents were Dr. Azariah and Emily (Burnham) Everett. His father was not only a physician but is remembered as the president of the first street railway in Northern Ohio.

Henry A. Everett secured his education in the public and private schools of Cleveland. At an early age he turned his attention to business affairs, and soon became identified with the pioneer efforts at electric traction, and was a promoter, constructor and operator of electric railways and in various other in- dustries in which electricity is the basic principle. He organized and financed a num- ber of independent telephone companies and was identified with electric lighting corpora- tions in many cities.

For many years he was associated with E. W. Moore. The Everett-Moore syndicate became financially involved in December, 1901, with total debts approximating $17,000,- 000. Cleveland and Ohio banks and the large railway supply houses were the principal creditors. The properties of the syndicate constituted an aggregate value of $100,000,- 000. It required three years to liquidate the debt. The manner in which the difficulties were solved has been considered one of the greatest pieces of financial engineering in the history of Cleveland, and a large share of the credit has always been given to Henry A. Everett.

Mr. Everett was vice president while Mr. Moore was president of the Lake Shore Elec- tric and the Cleveland, Painesville & Eastern Railway companies, in addition to active financial connections with many other electric traction companies throughout this country and Canada. He was also president of the Northern Ohio Traction & Light Company and of the London Street Railway Company of London, Ontario. A few months before his death a syndicate of New York bankers ac- quired control of the Northern Ohio Traction & Light Company, and as under the new man- agement most of the old employes were thrown out of work, Mr. Everett gave one of many instances of his magnificent philan- thropy by establishing a private pension to take care of his faithful subordinates. It is said that more than one Cleveland fortune is the result of Everett's friendship. He was known to let all of his favored assistants into his confidence, and those who remained faith- ful to him were sharers in his good fortune.

For some time Mr. Everett was chairman of the board of the Detroit United Railroads of Detroit, Michigan. He built the Detroit Railway in 1895 and 1896 with the assistance of his friends and Mayor Pingree. It was the first three cent fare city railroad in the United States.

Socially he was a member of the Union Club, the Century Club, the Colonial Club and the Electric Club. In 1886 he married at Cleveland Josephine Pettengill. They be- came the parents of three children: Leolyn Louise, now Mrs. Spelman of New York City; a son who died in infancy, and Dorothy Burnham. Mrs. Everett is now living at Wil- loughby, Ohio, where Mr. Everett some years ago erected a beautiful home.

THEODORE C. ERNST. This is a name long and prominently associated with Cleveland's business affairs. Theodore C. Ernst was an early associate with his brother A. C Ernst in establishing the now nationally known firm of certified public accountants, Ernst & Ernst. Mr. Theodore Ernst's chief business in later years has been in developing and building up a splendid laundry service, and he now op- erates one of the largest and most complete laundry plants in the city.

He was born in Cleveland September 23, 1869, a son of John C. and Mary (Hertel) Ernst. He was educated in the public schools, going from the West High School to the Spen- cerian Business College, where another year was spent taking special courses in English, bookkeeping and commercial law.

For a number of years in his early business experience Mr. Ernst was connected with the auditing department of the Nickel Plate Railway Company. In 1903 he formed a partnership with his brother, A. C. Ernst, un- der the name Ernst & Ernst, public account- ants.

In 1908, as a result of the strain of busi- ness which caused a complete nervous break- down, he sold his interest in this company to his brother and spent nearly a year recuper- ating. Upon being restored to health and activity he bought the Excelsior Laundry Company. IIe had this incorporated as the E. & H. Laundry Company, and has been the guiding head of its affairs ever since.

Mr. Ernst is well known in Cleveland busi- ness and social life. He is a member of the Cleveland Athletic Club, the Automobile Club, the Add Club, the Chamber of Com- merce, the Chamber of Industry and in pol-

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ities a republican. June 17, 1897, at Cleve- land he married Miss Cora Koepff. Their one daughter is Mildred, who attended the East High School, graduated from Laurel School for Girls in 1917 and later attended Miss Sayward's School for Girls at Over- brook, Pennsylvania.

HENRY W. WEIDEMAN is a retired Cleve- land business man, long identified with the well known wholesale grocery house of The Weideman Company. The name Weideman is one of the most conspicuous in business af- fairs at Cleveland, and has been so for more than sixty years.

His father was the late J. C. Weideman, whose name not only stood high on the roll of Cleveland wholesale merchants but was also identified with public affairs. J. C. Weide- man was born in Germany in 1833, and was a small boy when brought to Cleveland, where he grew to manhood. He entered business as a wholesale grocer and liquor merchant, his first location being on Merwin Street and later on Water Street. The successful man- agement of this business brought him many important connections in business and finan- cial affairs. He was one of the founders and directors of the Forest City Bank and was also identified with the Union National Bank and the United Banking and Savings Com- pany and other financial institutions. His extensive real estate investments included a large tract of land on Lake Avenue at the foot of Merwin Avenue, and many years ago he had built a large bowling alley on that property close to the Lake Shore.

Many remember J. C. Weideman best be- cause of his prominence in the affairs of the republican party in Cleveland. He was elect- ed police commissioner, refused to serve a second term, and consistently opposed the urging of his friends and associates to be- come a candidate for mayor. He was affiliated with Bigelow Lodge Free and Accepted Ma- sons; Thatcher Chapter Royal Arch Masons; Forest City Commandery Knights Templar; Lake Erie Consistory of the Scottish Rite; and Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine and is also a member of the Knights of Py- thias.

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A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 97

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