USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 2) > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
100
CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND
which occurred very suddenly at the age of forty-three, August 16, 1854. He was born in 1811.
John Radcliffe married Mary A. Tear, who was born in Kirk Andrew Parish, Isle of Man. Her father, Patrick Tear, was born and married in the same country, and in 1826 brought his family to the United States. In the same party were William H. Kelley and family and William Kneen and family, all of whom came by sailing vessel that was on the ocean for seven weeks between London and New York. From New York a steamer car- ried them up the Hudson to Troy, and thence they came West by the Erie Canal to Buffalo and sailing vessel to Cleveland. William Kneen settled in Carroll County, Ohio, while the Tear and Kelley families located in Cleveland, and were the first Man people in the city. Later many other people from the same island came, and their descendants have been promi- nent in business and public affairs. Mr. Tear died soon after his arrival, and Mrs. Tear married a Mr. Kelley and reared two sons, Edward and Henry. Both these sons became soldiers in the Civil war, Edward in 1861 joining the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was wounded at the Battle of Winchester, Virginia, March 23, 1862, and died the 1st of April of the same year. His remains were brought home and laid to rest in the cemetery at Gilletts Corner, what is now Leerood and Kinsman. Henry served in the Fourteenth Michigan Regiment of Mounted Infantry through- out the war, and spent the rest of his life in Michigan. Mrs. John Rad- cliffe died in 1890. She reared two children, Miss Eliza, who died unmarried, in 1904, and William K.
William K. Radcliffe attended the old Eagle School and then what was known as the Clinton, now the Brownell, School. After finishing a com- mon school course he went to work to earn his own living, at first as a messenger boy in the Western Union Telegraph Office, and he also deliv- ered the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Learning the carpenter's trade, he fol- lowed that occupation in Cleveland a short time, and in 1868 went to the oil fields in Pennsylvania, working as a tool dresser, and ran the engine. That was his source of livelihood until 1878, when, returning to Cleveland, he engaged in the wholesale commission business, and was active in that line until he retired in 1907. Mr. Radcliffe in 1912 purchased land on Coal Ridge Road, then on the outskirts of the City of Cleveland, and built one of the first houses in that vicinity. He has lived there ever since.
Mr. Radcliffe married, February 13, 1884, Miss Isabelle Brew. She was born on Eagle Street in Cleveland, daughter of William and Hannah Brew, natives of the Isle of Man and early settlers of Cleveland. Mr. Rad- cliffe lost his wife by death in 1916. There were two children, a son, Everett, and a daughter, Seville. Everett is a graduate of the Central High School and the Western Reserve University, and is now located at New York, a representative of the Carbide & Carbon Company of Cleveland. He married Katheryn Callow. The daughter, Seville, after graduating from Western Reserve University, taught in the West High School of Commerce four years, and subsequently married Perry F. Ellsworth. Mr. Ellsworth came from Meredith, New Hampshire, and is a son of Perry A. and Ann (Foss) Ellsworth. Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth have two sons, Perry Radcliffe and William Everett.
Mr. Radcliffe as a youth began attending the Sunday school of the
101
THE CITY OF CLEVELAND
Second Baptist Church, and joined the church at the age of sixteen. In Masonry he is affiliated with Iris Lodge No. 229, also with Webb Chapter No. 14, Royal Arch Masons, and the Eastern Star. He is a member of the Mona Relief Society, composed entirely of people of Isle of Man ancestry.
WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS was for many years successfully engaged in the contracting business, constructing public works both in Cleveland and elsewhere. He is a native of Cleveland, and member of a well known fam- ily of the city.
He was born at the Clements home on St. Clair Avenue. His father, James Clements, was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1819, of pure Scotch ancestry. He acquired a good education, and for several years was employed by the Government as a tax collector. While collecting taxes he made the acquaintance of Jean Latimer, daughter of Robert Latimer, niece of Lord Latimer and a lineal descendant of Bishop Latimer. They were married when she was in her eighteenth year. Robert Latimer made strenuous objection to the marriage and tried to have it annulled, but the courts decided adversely to his claim.
It was about 1845 that James Clements and bride came to America. They landed from a sailing vessel at New York, and thence came West by boat up the Hudson River, and over the Erie Canal from Troy to Buf- falo, being six weeks on that part of the journey. From Buffalo they came to Cleveland, which was then a small city without railroad connection with the outside world. James Clements worked at his trade as a mason, and later became a contractor on public works. He had the contract to lay the first sewer in Cleveland. Soon after coming to the city he bought a home on the north side of St. Clair Avenue, near Ninth Street, paying $3 a front foot for the property. At the same time he was offered land at the corner of Twenty-second Street and Euclid Avenue at $6 a front foot. All the children were born in the old home on St. Clair Avenue. Robert Latimer, father of Mrs. James Clements, though much opposed to her marriage. sold his estate in County Tyrone, and accompanied by his several children, came to America a year after his daughter, and also located at Cleveland. He said he could not be separated from his daughter. He died about six months after coming to Cleveland, and was buried in the Erie Street Cemetery.
James Clements died in 1904 and his wife, in 1894. They reared five children : Robert, Mary (now deceased), Martha, William L. and David L.
William L. Clements was educated in public schools, one of the schools he attended occupying the site of the Union Bank Building on Euclid Ave- nue. After completing his high school education he became an apprentice at the mason's trade, serving five years, and then did journeyman work five years more. After that he became a contractor on public works, and did an extensive business in many towns and cities, and was active in this line until 1913, when he retired. Since then he has devoted his time to his private interests.
About the time of his marriage he began housekeeping on East Sixty- third Street, between Euclid and Hough avenues. He lived there twenty- five years, and then bought land in a new development on Fairmont
102
CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND
Avenue, erecting the commodious stone residence where he and his wife now reside.
In 1896 Mr. Clements married Miss Mattie E. Forrester. She was born in Cleveland, daughter of Alexander and Annie E. (Denham) For- rester. Both her parents were of Scotch ancestry, and both families were early settlers in Cleveland. Mr. and Mrs. Clements have three sons, Wil- liam Forrester, Arthur Latimer and Karl A. Mr. Clements is a member of the Cleveland Athletic Club, Iris Lodge of Masons, and is a republican in politics.
HON. THEODORE L. STRIMPLE, former judge of the Common Pleas Court at Cleveland, has earned a high reputation as an able attorney, and has given a generous measure of his time and abilities to the public service.
Judge Strimple was born in a log house near Mansfield, in Richland County, Ohio, April 25, 1859. His father, John Strimple, was born in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, February 19, 1829. The grandfather, Aaron Strimple, also a native of New Jersey, came to Ohio in 1839, accompanied by his own and three other families. This trip was made with wagons and teams and they were twenty-nine days en route, landing in New Haven Township. At that period the greater part of that section was unimproved. In 1840 Aaron Strimple removed to Mifflin Township, leased land for several years, and about 1850 bought a farm on the land between Richland and Huron counties, part of the farm lying in each county. Later he bought eighty acres in Greenwich Township.
John Strimple devoted his active life to farming in Richland County, clearing up the land, and became well known as a stock raiser and stock dealer. He erected a fine set of building improvements, and these build- ings are still standing in good condition. He lived there until his death in 1890. He was a republican, served as township trustee, and was a class leader in the Methodist Episcopal Church and superintendent of the Sunday school upwards of twenty-five years. John Strimple married in 1851 Elizabeth Viers, who was born in Richland County, daughter of Liberton Viers, a pioneer of that county. Elizabeth Mary Strimple died in 1864, and John Strimple subsequently married her sister Loraine. The five sons of John Strimple were Silas W., Thomas K., Theodore L., Aaron B. and Aden L. Thomas was an attorney and died while serving in the Ohio Legislature, having cast his vote for Mr. Hanna for United States senator.
Theodore L. Strimple attended the public schools near his father's farm, and at the age of sixteen taught one term in the home district and later taught in the Black Fork district in Richland County. By teaching and other work he earned the money to improve his own education. In 1884 he was graduated from Baldwin University at Berea with the Bach- elor of Philosophy degree. He studied law in the office of Chandler & Wilcox of Cleveland, was admitted to the bar June 1, 1886, and for a time was associated with Frank M. Chandler in publishing a law journal known as the Court Record, now the Cleveland Legal News. Following that he formed a partnership with the late Frank M. Wilcox, the firm handling an extensive law business.
Judge Strimple began his public career when appointed in January,
Chauncey Griffin
103
THE CITY OF CLEVELAND
1891, assistant prosecuting attorney of Cuyahoga County. In 1895 he was appointed prosecuting attorney to fill the unexpired term of Judge Neff, and in 1896 was regularly elected to that office. In 1898 he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and he filled that office twelve years, having been reelected for a second term. Since retiring from the bench he has devoted his time to a general law practice, with offices in the Society for Savings Building. He was county school examiner of Cuyahoga County in 1889-91. Judge Strimple is an active republican.
In June, 1893, he married Miss Allie Wright, of Cleveland, daughter of Frederick and Dorothy (Pease) Wright. Her father was an exten- sive landholder, his property including the Beach Cliff property. Mrs. Strimple died June 21, 1922. They reared two children. The daugh- ter, Pauline Marie, is a graduate of the Hathaway-Brown School of Cleve- land, and by her marriage to Carl W. Fuller, has three children, named Catherine, Mary Louise and Carl W., Jr. The son, Theodore L. Strimple, Jr., is a graduate of Western Reserve University and married Louise Bowler, daughter of George W. Bowler and granddaughter of N. P. Bowler. They have one son, Lawrence Bowler Strimple. Theodore L. Strimple, Jr., now resides in Willoughby and is the assistant manager of the credit department of the National Acme Company.
CHAUNCEY N. GRIFFIN. In one of the larger cities of the country, where every business and profession has its devotees numbered by the hundreds, the late Chauncey N. Griffin by sheer force of merit and enter- prise rose to conspicuous position in the contracting and building circles. His work and his character made him an impressive figure. He was physic- ally large, of fine address, genial manners and had a host of friends to mourn his untimely taking off.
He was born May 29, 1866. at Mankato, Minn., son of John and Marilla (Mansfield) Griffin. When he was seven years of age, he was sent to Cleveland and thereafter was reared in the home of his uncle, Chauncey Griffin, who lived on a farm in Cuyahoga County, the old place being on what is now Dennison Avenue. As a boy he attended the village school at Rockwell. His uncle was poor and necessity forced him early into self supporting work. He learned the stone mason's trade, and that was in a measure the foundation of his business career.
He continued working at the trade until he was about twenty-seven and then took up stone mason contracting. He started in a small way and expanded his business on the merits of his performance, rather than through influence. He soon became a brick as well as a stone building contractor, and from that got into general contracting. At first he was alone, then organized the C. N. Griffin & Company, later the Concrete Steel Construction Company and finally returned to the original title of C. N. Griffin & Company. His first building contract of more than ordinary importance, was the erection of the building for the Historical Society on Euclid and 107th Street. After that his firm erected a great many of the fine public and private structures of the city, including such schoolhouses as the West Technical, the Addison, at East 79th and Hough ; the Columbia, Elmira and Chambers schools. He built the New Amsterdam Apartment Hotel, the second structure of this kind in the city, was con-
104
CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND
tractor for the Annisfield Building on East Ninth Street; the Hadam Building on Euclid at 105th Street; the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Passenger Station ; the Pennsylvania Railway Station, the Cadillac Build- ing ; the Physics Building on the campus of the Western Reserve Uni- versity ; the Alta House for J. D. Rockefeller after his daughter Alta.
On August 12, 1923, Mr. Griffin was hit by an automobile, both legs being broken, and as a result blood poison set in. He died three weeks later, September 1, 1923. His first wife was Sarah Luckrau, the three children of that marriage, all in Cleveland, being Elbert N., Chauncey N. and Elsie C. On December 15, 1900, Mr. Griffin married Charlotte E. Sherer, of Dayton Ohio, and Mrs. Griffin survives him and for the last three years of his life had taken an active part in the management of his business.
The late Mr. Griffin was affiliated with the Lake Erie Consistory of the Scottish Rite Masons, the Grotto and the Mystic Shrine, was a republican and at one time quite active and influential in politics; was a former president of the Builders Exchange, and a member of the Western Re- serve Club, the Tippecanoe Club and the Windermere Methodist Church.
GILBERT B. CANFIELD, of Cleveland, is one of the competent and aggressive business men of the city, and one who is taking a leading part in the financial life of his great home city. He was born at Cleveland, Ohio, April 21, 1883, a son of the late Lewis C. Canfield, a pioneer in the oil industry of Ohio, and one of the organizers of the Trumbull Securities Company of Warren, Ohio. Gilbert B. Canfield was vice president of this company from its inception, and at the annual meeting of the company. January 30, 1923, was elected its president.
The Trumbull Securities Company was organized originally to take care of the rapidly developing coal ore and manufacturing interests throughout the Mahoning Valley. The growth of these interests was so rapid and became so vast that it was found necessary to transfer head- quarters to Cleveland, where greater facilities were available for outlet and financing. After coming to Cleveland the company broadened the scope of its activities by handling nationally-known bonds. Since Mav 1, 1922, when this policy was inaugurated, the company has handled eighty- three separate national issues. The company during 1922 had a volume of sales more than double that of 1921, an effective demonstration of the wisdom of the change in policy from primarily a stock-selling organization only to one handling bonds almost exclusively.
JANE ELLIOTT SNOW. From unpublished memoirs of the subject of this sketch we are permitted to copy at will. She says, or rather quotes, in speaking of her ancestors that "those who do not treasure up the memory of their ancestors do not deserve to be remembered bv posterity." These memoirs, completed shortly before her death, will be placed in the Western Reserve Historical Society. Without the use of quotation marks we will give some paragraphs from this modest history. Mrs. Snow was for many years a constant writer for the press but never sensational or given to a study of dramatic utterances. Her articles were usually historical, and from historical characters and events she would draw useful lessons tc
105
THE CITY OF CLEVELAND
guide us of the present time. For many years she lectured before the Snow Monday Club and other organizations of the city and county. Her published works include "The Women of Tennyson," "A Family History," a small collection of poems, and other books. She was a member of the Woman's Press Club, the Woman's City Club, the Woman's Relief Corps, and the Methodist Episcopal Church. To these organizations should be added the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, the Cleveland Health Protective Association, and the Home Missionary Society.
In her memoirs she gives something of her ancestors, something of her early life, something of her life on the farm, and of her life in the city.
My great-grandfather on my mother's side was John Coates, born in Yorkshire, England, about 1740. Though not connected with any titled family, he evidently was a man of means and in early life something of a sportsman. He had his pack of hounds, and at one time prided himself on the possession of a valuable race horse. Later in life his tastes changed and his horse was sold and with the proceeds he purchased the nucleus of a library. He became well read, and in later life was noted as a man of scholarly tastes and acquirements. His republican principles and admira- tion for Washington brought him to this country early in the nineteenth century. He settled with his family first in New York State, and thirteen years later came to Royalton, Ohio, where he purchased nearly 4,000 acres of land. His children and grandchildren were each given a farm, my mother receiving her share. He lived to a great age, dying in 1832. His eldest son, my grandfather, was graduated from Oxford University.
On my father's side I am the seventh in direct descent from Rev. Tohn Elliott, the "Apostle to the Indians." He came to this country in 1631 in the ship Lion. He lived a long life, the greater part of it being devoted to the salvation of the Indians. He looked upon them as human beings with souls to save. In such reverence is his memory held that churches, halls, public squares, streets and other memorials without number bear the name of Elliott. Several drinking fountains are named in his honor, the one at Tucson, Arizona, being perhaps the most famous.
My birthplace was Royalton, Cuyahoga County. Ohio. The time of my first appearance on this planet was June 14. 1837. My father's farm, which my mother inherited, was a square of 100 acres, which lay about midway between what was known as Howe's Corners and Walling's Corners.
My life has covered the period of great epoch making inventions and discoveries ; it has covered the period when spinning, weaving and other industries were taken out of the home, where they were done by hand, and into factories, where they are done by machinery. During the first two decades and more of my life, wood was used for heating and candles for lighting the homes. In farming communities, and half of my life was spent there, the roads were poor and a farm wagon was the nearest approach to a pleasure carriage that most people owned.
Mv memory goes back to a period antedating the Civil war by a number of vears. I remember well the bitter controversies over shvery that were often heard in our local community. With other mothers, sisters and daughters, I felt the woes, the grief that comes into the homes because of the suffering and loss of loved ones in the mighty conflict.
I have witnessed the astonishment, and mourning, and heard the wail of a great people over the martyrdom of three sainted Presidents.
106
CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND
I have sorrowed much, and have enjoyed much of life; and now as the shadows begin to fall, and my steps go down nearer and nearer to the final end, I try to recall only the pleasant things in life and to hope that "He, who doeth all things well," will pardon my offenses and at last take me to himself.
Mrs. Snow was married to Carey Snow, of Parma, Ohio, and they had four children, Addie, Frank, Bertha and Albert, two of them survive her, Mrs. Bertha Snow Brainerd, of Lakewood, Ohio, and Albert Snow, of Cleveland, the present member of the Legislature from this county.
ROBERT WALTER WILLIAMS, M. D., whose office is at 2700 West Twenty-fifth Street, has gained success and high standing as one of the able physicians and surgeons of his native city, his birth having occurred at the family home on Columbus Road, on the West Side of Cleveland, July 20, 1872, and this part of the city is the stage of his successful pro- fessional activities at the present time.
Doctor Williams is a son of Samuel Alfred and Mary Agnes (Sullivan) Williams. Samuel A. Williams was born at Westport, New York, on the shore of Lake Champlain, in the year 1849, and was a son of Capt. Samuel Alfred Williams, who likewise was a native of the old Empire State and whose active career was one of close association with seafaring interests. During the last few years of his active life Captain Williams was in com- mand of the fine pleasure yacht of Dr. Seward Webb, who married a daughter of William Vanderbilt, a son of Comomdore Cornelius Vander- bilt. Samuel A. Williams, father of the subject of this review, early became associated with the hotel business, and it was while he was clerk in one of the leading old-time hotels in New York City that he met and married Miss Mary Agnes Sullivan, who was thirteen years of age when she came from her native County Cork, Ireland, and joined an older sister in New York City. On their honeymoon trip Mr. and Mrs. Williams came to Cleveland, Ohio, and here he soon entered the employ of the Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati & Saint Louis (Big Four) Railroad, in the service of which he continued during the remainder of his active career, the while the family home was maintained in Cleveland. Here his death occurred in 1918, and his widow, now seventy-three years of age (1924), resides in the home of her son, Dr. Robert W. The doctor is the eldest of the three children ; Samuel Alfred II is sales manager for the Atlas Car and Manu- facturing Company of Cleveland, and Charles Harry met an accidental death in 1896. The widowed mother and the two surviving sons are communicants of Saint John's Church, Protestant Episcopal, as was also the father, and of the choir of this parish the sons were members in their boyhood.
The public schools of Cleveland afforded Doctor Williams his prelimi- narv education, which was supplemented by a course in Calvin College. In 1899 he was graduated from the Cleveland College of Physicians and Sur- geons, constituting the medical department of the Ohio Wesleyan Univer- sity, at Delaware, and after thus gaining his degree of Doctor of Medicine he had eighteen months of valuable clinical experience as an interne in the Cleveland General Hospital, which has since been reorganized as Saint Luke's Hospital. The doctor has since been established in the general practice of his profession on the West Side of his native city, and the
107
THE CITY OF CLEVELAND
scope and character of his professional business attest alike his technical skill and his personal popularity. He is a member of the Cleveland Academy of Medicine, the Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. The doctor married Miss Emma R. Kees, who was born and reared in Cleveland, where her father, William F. Kees, is promi- nently engaged in the insurance business.
In conclusion is given a record concerning an important and specially noteworthy phase in the career of Doctor Williams, that pertaining to his loyal and effective service in connection with the nation's participation in . the great World war. April 10, 1917, only four days after the United States entered the war, Doctor Williams was commissioned, at Columbus, Ohio, a first lieutenant in the United States Medical Corps and was assigned to duty with Major Bond at the Federal Building in Cleveland. On the 8th of the following June he was ordered to report at Camp Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, Indiana, and on the 17th of August he was transferred to Camp Sherman, Ohio, and assigned to duty with the Medical Corps of the Three Hundred and Twenty-second Field Artillery. November 12, 1917, Doctor Williams was assigned to staff duty at the division surgical headquarters at Camp Sherman, and on the 25th of that month he was commissioned captain. He at this time was transferred to the surgeon's headquarters of this camp, as assistant camp surgeon, and September 25, 1918, he was commissioned major in the Medical Corps of the United States Army, his vital and able service at Camp Sherman hav- ing continued until he received his honorable discharge, January 1, 1919. The doctor still holds the rank of major in the Reserve Medical Corps of the United States Army. He had received valuable training in military tactics prior to the World war through his membership in the Cleveland Greys, the crack military organization of Ohio. He has been a member of this organization twenty-three years. and in the same now holds the rank of lieutenant. The year 1922 finds Doctor Williams in service as com- mander of Henry P. Shupe Post No. 22, American Legion, besides being a member of the executive board of the Cuyahoga County Council of the American Legion and of the "Forty Hommes et Eight Chevaux" of this great patriotic order. He is affiliated with Lakewood Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and in the great fraternity has received the thirty- second degree of the Scottish Rite. his advancement in the Scottish Rite of Masonry having occurred while he was in military service and he being thus a member of the Consistory at Indianapolis, though he is affiliated with Aladdin Temple of the Mystic Shrine in Columbus, Ohio. He is actively identified with the Cleveland Chamber of Industry and takes loyal interest in all things touching the welfare of the beautiful city in which he was born and reared.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.