USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 2) > Part 22
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
The late Dr. Frank G. Jones was the eldest of his parents' six children. He was born at Liverpool, Medina County, Ohio, October 2, 1868, and died at Cleveland, July 23, 1917. He was reared at Cleveland, and after grad- uating from the Cleveland Homeopathic College, engaged successfully in the practice of his profession in this city. He served in the Spanish- American war as a major in the Medical Corps of the United States Army. In political sentiment he was a republican, in fraternal life, an Elk, and was a member of the Presbyterian Church. Like his father before him, he was held in esteem and affection by all who came within his close acquaintance. He married Eleanor Stowe, who still resides at Cleveland, and they had two sons, Gaius V. and Frank Garrett, the former of whom is engaged in the moving picture business at Los Angeles, California.
Frank Garrett Jones was reared in Cleveland, where he attended the public schools, and afterward was graduated from Baldwin-Wallace Uni- versity, and in 1915 received his medical degree from the Ohio State Uni- versity. For eighteen months thereafter he was an interne in Glenville Hospital at Cleveland, and then entered into general practice, but six months later had put aside his own plans and ambitions, with the unselfish spirit that marked this profession above any other during the whole period of the World war.
Doctor Jones volunteered his services to the Government, and on April 28, 1917, under commission as first lieutenant in the United States Medical Corps, was sent to Washington, D. C., and from there overseas in Septem- ber following. He served in the General Hospital at Leeds, England, until February, 1918, and thereafter with the Sixty-second British Division, in France, until the signing of the armistice, after which he was with the American Army of Occupation in Germany until ordered back to the United States, where he arrived in May, 1919, and was honorably discharged at Camp Dix, New Jersey, with the rank of captain, to which he had been promoted while in France.
Shortly after his return from abroad, in 1919, Doctor Jones married Miss Ruth Amadon, of Mount Vernon, Ohio, and they have one son, Craig Mortimer Jones. The doctor and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.
It was with many disturbing memories of his work across the sea but with a wealth of practical experience in a professional way that Doctor Jones reopened his office at Cleveland and again entered upon the practice of medicine, subsequently deciding to devote himself exclusively to surgery. He belongs to the Cuyahoga County, the Ohio State and the American Medical associations, is a member of the Glenville Hospital staff and, like many other members of his beneficent profession, gives more of his time, knowledge and skill to charity than the world knows of. Doctor Jones is a republican in political affiliation, and is a member of the Big Ten Club.
THEODORE BROOKS BRECK, M. D. Turning back the pages of history to the early days in the Western Reserve, many names that are familiar and distinguished today appear in the old records. One of the farseeing men of his time was Robert Breck, a native of New England, who in-
161
THE CITY OF CLEVELAND
vested, through the Connecticut Land Company, in land in the Western Reserve in 1798, although he never occupied it. He was born at Northamp- ton, Massachusetts, and was a direct descendant of the Sheldon Breck branch of the family that came from England to the American colonies in 1630. Robert Breck was the great-grandfather of Dr. Theodore Brooks Breck, who is one of Cleveland's prominent physicians and surgeons.
Doctor Breck was born at Newburg, Ohio, March 3, 1862, a son of Joseph Hunt and Harriet (Brooks) Breck, and a grandson of Rev. Joseph Hunt Breck, the latter of whom was the first of the Breck family to settle in Ohio. He was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, a son of Robert Breck. He was educated at Yale College and Andover Seminary, and was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian Church in Massachusetts. His first charge after coming to Ohio was at Huntsville, in Ashtabula County, going from there to Cleveland and later settling at Newburg, where he passed the rest of his life. He both preached and taught school, and founded a boys' preparatory school. He survived to the age of eighty- three years. The Village of Brecksville was named in honor of Robert Breck. Reverend Breck was twice married, first to Fannie Snow and after- ward to a Miss Chamberlaine, his two children, Joseph Hunt and Angeline, being born to his first union.
Joseph Hunt Breck was about ten years old when his parents settled in Ohio, his birth having taken place at Northampton, Massachusetts. In addition to being a substantial farmer and large land owner, he was promi- nent in republican political circles, and served several years as a member of the Ohio Legislature. He was a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church, and in the Masonic fraternity had reached the Chapter degree. His death occurred at Cleveland in 1908, at the age of seventy-six years. He married Harriet Brooks, who was born at Laporte, Lorain County, Ohio, and who died on her ninety-first birthday, April 21, 1923. Of their four children, Doctor Breck was the second born, the others being: George Dwight and William Marion, both of Cleveland; and Louise, who is the wife of George O. Begg, of Detroit, Michigan.
Theodore Brooks Breck was educated in the public schools of New- burg and at Oberlin College, after which he entered the medical school of the Western Reserve University, from which he was graduated in 1887 with his degree. He established himself in the practice of his pro- fession at Cleveland, subsequently taking a post graduate course in the New York Polyclinic and the New York Post Graduate School, after which he went abroad and spent one year in the medical centers of London and another in Paris. He resumed practice at Cleveland in 1906, but prior to that had spent eight years as a physician and surgeon in the Michigan iron and copper fields.
At Crystal Falls, Michigan, in 1893, Doctor Breck married Miss Mattie Spencer, and two of their children survive, Spencer and Louise, the latter of whom is the wife of Hollister St. George Fergus, of Cleveland.
Doctor Breck's professional standing is high. In addition to handling a large private practice, he is a member of the staff of Glenville Hospital and a member of its board of managers, and is a member of the Ohio State Medical and the American Medical associations and of the Cleve- land Academy of Medicine. Broad minded professionally and otherwise,
Vol. II-11
162
CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND
the doctor is an observant citizen devoted to the general welfare of Cleve- land and belongs to the Cleveland Library Association and kindred organi- zations along the line of education and general culture. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, holding membership in Euclid Lodge No. 577, Free and Accepted Masons.
HON. WILLIAM S. HANNA. While he has practiced law in Cleveland for the past five years and is president of the Reserve Mortgage and In- vestment Company, Judge Hanna's professional reputation is based upon the effective work he did and service rendered through many years of practice in Holmes County, Ohio, including a term as judge of the Court of Common Pleas.
He was born on a farm near Holmesville, in Holmes County, January 14, 1860, son of Milton and Elizabeth A. (Stiffler) Hanna. His grand- father, James Hanna, was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, repre- senting the Scotch-Irish Hannas so prominent in the early history of. Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. The frontier Village of Han- nastown in Pennsylvania was named for this family. This village was destroyed by hostile Indians. From Pennsylvania several branches of the Hanna family moved to Eastern Ohio and settled in Columbiana County, including James Hanna, who located in that section of Ohio in 1819. The late Mark Hanna of Cleveland was a descendant of one of these pioneer Hannas in Columbiana County. The Hannas for the most part until the last generation or two were Quakers in religion.
Milton Hanna, father of Judge Hanna, was born in Columbiana County, in 1824, and about 1834 accompanied his parents and moved to Wayne County, Ohio, and two years later to Holmes County. James Hanna was postmaster of Holmesville for many years, served as county commissioner, was active in public affairs and a man of fine efficiency and dignity. His son Milton was also influential in the democratic party, though never a seeker of public office. He spent his life effectively as a farmer and died in 1903. His wife, Elizabeth A., was born in Holmes County, daughter of John Stiffler, whose Holland Dutch ancestors came to America in Colonial times, settling near Philadelphia, and the later generations moved into Western Pennsylvania and thence into Ohio, settling in and around Benton and in Holmes County. John Stiffler was an early day blacksmith in Holmes County, and had the distinction of opening the first coal mine in that county, mining coal to use in his blacksmith shop. Mrs. Milton Hanna died in 1895. She was the mother of six children: William S .; John C., a practicing physician at Kenmore, Ohio; Andrew J., who occu- pies the old homestead farm in Holmes County ; Charles M., a physician, who died in 1918; and two daughters, Phebe, wife of John Mitchell, and Susie, wife of Harvey Kauffman, of Wooster, Ohio.
William S. Hanna was reared on his father's farm in Holmes County, attending the district schools, the Millersburg Normal School and Mount Union College. As a youth he was known for his sound intelligence, enter- prise and industry and worthy ambition to make the best of his talents. For several years he taught school in his native county, and in the mean- time carried on the study of law with D. S. Uhl, a noted trial lawyer of Holmes County. In 1884 he moved out to Iowa, taught school for a time
CI
It SHarma,
163
THE CITY OF CLEVELAND
and, returning to Holmes County, resumed the same work and served as county school examiner and later as county surveyor. After practicing law for a time he was elected and served two terms of three years each as prosecuting attorney of Holmes County. In 1912 he was elected judge of the Common Pleas Court of the third subdivision of the Sixth Judicial District, comprising Coshocton, Holmes and Wayne counties. Judge Hanna was on the bench a full term of six years, and in 1919, after retiring from the bench, he located at Cleveland to resume private practice. In the fol- lowing year he was elected president of the Reserve Mortgage and Invest- ment Company, an office he has continued to fill by annual reelection. He is also president of the Knickerbocker Mortgage Company of Cleveland.
Judge Hanna was active in democratic party politics in Holmes County, but would never seek any offices except those in the immediate sphere of his profession. During the World war, under appointments from Governor Cox, he served as chairman of the Legal Advisory Board of Holmes County. Judge Hanna for many years has interested himself in local history and the various problems of his home community and state. He contributed regularly to the newspapers for many years, and he published a series of articles in Holmes County, including historical sketches and chapters on such subjects : "Early Civil Jurisprudence of Holmes County"; "The Indian Boundary"; "A History of the Newspapers of Holmes County"; "The Indians of the Kilbuck"; and "Colonel Cramford."
Judge Hanna married, in September, 1887, Miss Nevada B. Ewing, a native of Holmesville, Ohio. Her father, Thomas Ewing, came to Ohio from Western Pennsylvania. Judge and Mrs. Hanna are the parents of five children : Fern, Hazel, William E., Milton A. and Veda V., the latter of whom died in 1920. The daughter Fern graduated from Bethany College in West Virginia and is now the wife of Joseph M. Wells, assistant manager of the Homer Laughlin Pottery Company of Newell, West Vir- ginia. They have two children, Virginia R. and Joseph M., Jr. Hazel Hanna, also a graduate of Bethany College, was married to George S. Getz, a hardware merchant at Kent, Ohio. Their two children are William Hanna Getz and Jean Getz. William E. Hanna, son of Judge Hanna, graduated from Bethany College, studied law in the Ohio State University and the University of Michigan, graduated from the Western Reserve University Law School, was admitted to the bar in 1923, and is now associated in practice in Cleveland with the law firm of Johnson and Johnson. The younger son, Milton A. Hanna, graduated from Bethany College, and is now a senior of Western Reserve Law School.
ROBERT L. PATTERSON has been actively and successfully identified with the real estate business in Cleveland since 1906, and is associated in a responsible executive capacity with the Wade Realty Company, with offices in the Hanna Building.
Mr. Patterson was born in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, January 6, 1880, and his parents, John M. and Ella L. Patterson, now maintain their home at Rochester, that state, where the father, at the age of sixty-five years (1923), is living retired after many years of active association with glass manufacturing.
The eldest in the family of four children, Robert L. Patterson, acquired
164
CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND
his early education in the public schools of his native state, and thereafter he attended and was graduated from the Pennsylvania Nautical School, at Philadelphia, he having in the meanwhile cruised two years on the ship Saratoga, retained in commission by this admiral training school. Mr. Patterson was eighteen years of age at the inception of the Spanish- American war, and in April, 1898, he showed his youthful patriotism by enlisting in Company B, Tenth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. With this command he continued in active service during the war with Spain and the Philippine insurrection, and he received his honorable discharge at the Presidio, in California, in August, 1899. He was mustered out with his regiment, which was commanded by Col. A. L. Hawkins and which made a record that gained it the title of "The Fighting Tenth." This regi- ment was the first under fire in the Philippines, and Mr. Patterson later served in the army transport service between New York and Manila, via the Suez Canal.
From the old Keystone State Mr. Patterson went to New York City, where he gained experience in the real estate business. In 1906 he came to Cleveland and became associated with Wade Brothers in the same line of enterprise. He has since continued this alliance, and in connection therewith has made a record of successful achievement in operations of broad scope and importance. In 1910 the business of Wade Brothers was incorporated under the title of the Wade Realty Company, and with officers as here noted: J. H. Wade, president ; J. H. Wade, Jr., vice presi- dent; and G. G. Wade, secretary and treasurer. This company owned and developed the Wade Allotment, Ashbury-Wade Park Avenue, Mag- nolia Drive, Hazel Drive, East Boulevard, East One Hundred and Seventh, One Hundred and Eighth, One Hundred and Fifteenth streets, etc .- the highest priced residential property and the most rigidly restricted of all allotment properties in the vicinity of Cleveland. In this section are now found some of the most beautiful and impressive homes of repre- sentative citizens of Cleveland.
In 1916 the Wade Realty Company opened for development the Cedar Hill Allotment, consisting of two streets running from Cedar Road to North Park Boulevard, in Cleveland Heights, and the company controls also a general brokerage business of important ramifications. In the development work and exploitive enterprise of this representative Cleve- land corporation Mr. Patterson has taken an active and effective part. He is affiliated with the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, and his continued interest in martial affairs is indicated by his membership in the Cleveland Grays.
August 12, 1910, recorded the marriage of Mr. Patterson and Miss Myrtle Leedom, daughter of Henry and Jane Leedom, of Kenton, Ohio.
WILLIAM FRANCIS RYAN. Having practically spent his life in the insurance business, William Francis Ryan is entitled to the leading posi- tion he now occupies in the insurance field at Cleveland, and his share of the business in his line is a gratifying one and a proof of his efficiency. He was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, January 30, 1880, a son of William F. and Mary (Williams) Ryan, the former of whom has been dead for thirty years. William F. Ryan was also in the insurance business, being
165
THE CITY OF CLEVELAND
connected with the J. C. Sherlock Company of Cincinnati, entering the employ of that concern in a humble capacity and working his way up in it. He was also connected with the Postal Telegraph Company for two years, and was subsequently associated with John H. Blood of Cleveland. Six children were born to William F. Ryan and his wife, of whom William Francis Ryan was the second.
Growing up in his native city, William Francis Ryan attended the graded schools and Woodward High School of Cincinnati, and subsequently the University of Cincinnati. Twenty-one years ago Mr. Ryan came to Cleveland, and has been in the insurance business in both this city and Cincinnati. Upon coming to Cleveland he was with the Van DeBoe-Hager Company, a copartnership, as manager of the insurance department, and after eight years he bought the business.
Mr. Ryan has been advanced through all of the bodies of the Scottish and York Rites, and is a thirty-second degree and Shriner Mason. He also belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and has served on the Board of Trustees and as chairman of a committee of the local lodge of this order. The Cleveland Athletic Club, the Lakewood Country Club, and the Cleveland Real Estate Board all holds his mem- bership. In political faith he is a republican. The Episcopal Church has in him an earnest member.
On November 23, 1903, Mr. Ryan married Miss Wilson, a daughter of George H. Wilson, of Cleveland, and granddaughter of Matthew Wil- son, one of the first oil refiners in tthe Mahoning Valley operating as a member of the Schofield & Alexander Company. Althought he was a prominent oil man, he died when quite a young man as a result of an accident. The Wilson family is English in origin. Mr. and Mrs. Ryan had two children, but the daughter died in infancy. The son, a promising youth of eighteen years, is preparing for college. Mrs. Ryan's interests are centered in her home and family, and she has not cared to enter club or political life. In his work Mr. Ryan is actuated by a firm belief in the value of the service he is rendering the public. It has always been his contention that insurance is one of the necessities of life, and that the one who is engaged in awakening the public to the crying need for securing adequate protection against loss, through insurance, was per- forming a meritorious work, and one which entitled him to an honorable position in his home community.
RAYMOND TRUE CRAGIN, real estate, with offices in the Williamson Building, has lived in Cleveland since early childhood, though he was born in the far Northwest. His people were Ohioans.
Mr. Cragin was born at Seattle, Washington, March 29, 1888, the same year that Washington Territory was admitted to the Union. His parents, True and Corena Bell (Mix) Cragin, were born in Ohio. His father was educated in Oberlin College, for a brief time was with Lock- wood Taylor & Company, the well known Cleveland hardware merchants, and, going to the Northwest, identified himself with the pioneer business known as the Seattle Hardware Company. On account of failing health he returned with his family to Ohio in 1893, and was an employe of the Standard Oil Company until his death in 1895. He was the father of
166
CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND
two sons, Raymond True and Laurence L. The latter has been a resident of Colorado since his return from France in 1919.
Raymond True Cragin was nine years of age when the family located at Cleveland. He was educated in the public schools, and in 1907, at the age of nineteen, became an employee of Daniel R. Taylor, the pioneer real estate man of Cleveland. In 1912 he established his own business, under the name Raymond T. Cragin. This name he has made prominent and familiar in connection with real estate operations in Cleveland. The business was operated continuously except in 1918, when it was closed in order that Mr. Cragin and his associates might perform their service in the World war. The business is the continuation of the real estate office established by Mr. Daniel R. Taylor in 1867. Mr. Cragin specializes in commercial, industrial and investment properties, and has represented a number of corporations and other large investors.
Along with the active prosecution of his private business Mr. Cragin has identified himself with local real estate organizations. During the year 1922 he was president of the Cleveland Real Estate Board, vice presi- dent of the Ohio and National Associations of Real Estate Boards, and has served on many committees of these organizations. He was especially active in connection with their services to the Federal Government. He is a member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, and lias done his part in connection with a number of public spirited causes. He is a member of the Union Club, Cleveland Athletic Club, Canterbury Golf Club, Real Estate Board, Chamber of Industry, is a republican and belongs to the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant.
May 3, 1919, Mr. Cragin married Miss Gertrude Edna Bardons, daughter of George C. and Mary C. Bardons. Her father is an expert in the machine and tool industry. He received his early training with the firm Pratt & Whitney and later with Warner & Swazey in Cleveland, and in 1892 became associated with John G. Oliver in the firm Bardons & Oliver. For thirty years that firm has been a notable one in Cleveland's industries, manufacturing turret lathes and machine tools. Mrs. Cragin is a graduate of the College for Women of Western Reserve University, is active in the Alumni Association, and has worked with several public welfare associations.
CARL A. SHEM, who was a captain of field artillery in France, is treasurer of the Cities Real Estate and Securities Company of Cleveland, a corporation doing a general real estate business and specializing to some extent in commercial property and the development of downtown sites.
Captain Shem was born October 18, 1892, at Camden, New Jersey, son of G. W. Shem. His father is the head of The Alliance Structural Company at Alliance, Ohio. Carl A. Shem was reared in that Ohio city, graduated from high school in 1910, and then took the engineering course in the Case School of Applied Science at Cleveland, where he graduated in 1915. During the next two years he was construction engineer with Cities Service Company.
Early in the war he was commissioned captain of field artillery, went overseas, and was in command of a battery of the Three Hundred and Twenty-third Field Artillery in the Thirty-second Division during the
167
THE CITY OF CLEVELAND
Meuse-Argonne offensive. After the armistice he was with the Army of Occupation at Coblenz, and returned home and received his honorable discharge May 22, 1919.
The Cities Real Estate and Securities Company was incorporated in 1919, and Captain Shem has been treasurer since then. The president is Thomas E. Monks; vice president, Theodore Schmitt; the secretary, Walter J. Schmitt, and the counsel, F. W. Treadway. Captain Shem is a member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, the Cleveland Athletic Club and the Westwood Country Club.
Walter J. Schmitt, secretary of the Cities Real Estate and Securities Company, is a native of Cleveland, son of Theodore and Emma Nussdorfer Schmitt, both natives of Cleveland. His father is vice president of the company.
Walter J. Schmitt was educated in the public schools of Cleveland, the University of Pennsylvania, and acquired his early training in the brokerage business with the Maynard H. Murch Company, with which he remained until November 1, 1919, when he resigned to become manager of the Cities Real Estate and Securities Company. He is also secretary of the Schmitt Realty & Investment Company, and is a member of the Cleveland Athletic Club and the Clifton Club.
FRANCIS C. PHILLIPS is a native son of Cleveland, and is here proving a most worthy successor of his father in civic loyalty and in effective busi- ness enterprise of important order. Upon the death of his father he became the executive head of the F. Phillips Company, an old established concern which in its operations in water and sewer construction has played an important part in the material progress of the Ohio metropolis.
Mr. Phillips was born in Cleveland, on the 6th of June, 1892, and is a son of the late Francis C. Phillips, who was born in England and who was a lad of fourteen years when he came to the United States, alone, and dependent upon his own resources in making advancement to the goal of independence and success. For a time Francis C. Phillips, Sr., found em- ployment on a New England farm, and as an ambitious youth he came to Cleveland, Ohio, where he followed mechanical occupation and finally became actively identified with sewer and water construction work and the grading and improving of streets. He eventually formed a partner- ship with August L. Bixel, under the firm name of Phillips & Bixel, and this alliance continued until the death of Mr. Phillips. The concern developed a substantial and prosperous contracting business in the lines noted above, and Mr. Phillips also did individual contract work of the same order, with secure place in the confidence of the city government. He was a loyal and liberal citizen who gained unqualified popular esteem, was a stalwart supporter of the cause of the republican party, and in the Masonic fraternity he received the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite. This sterling citizen of Cleveland is survived by five children.
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.