USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 2) > Part 26
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Alfred H. Berr grew up in Berea, attended public schools and the academic department of Baldwin College, in which he also took the full classical course and graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1900. As a result of his careful training he was able to enter the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College and there complete the four years' course, graduating Doctor of Medicine in 1903. He supplemented his courses in medical college during the last year by work at the Huron Road Hospital. Soon after graduating he opened his office and began general practice in Cleve- land.
In June, 1918, Doctor Berr volunteered and was commissioned first lieutenant in the Medical Corps, United States Army, and ordered to active duty September 1, 1918. He spent five months in the base hospital at Camp Gordon, Atlanta, Georgia, and was then transferred to United States General Hospital No. 22 at Philadelphia, where he continued on duty until his honorable discharge June 30, 1919, and then returned to his private practice in Cleveland. He is a member of the Cleveland Homeo- pathic Medical Society, the State Homeopathic Medical Association and the American Institute of Homeopathy. Fraternally he is affiliated with Brooklyn Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, John Corwin Chapter Royal
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Arch Masons, Forest City Commandery Knights Templar, Lake Erie Con- sistory of the Scottish Rite, thirty-second degree, Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and the National Masonic Research Society. He is past chancellor commander of Washington Lodge No. 10, Knights of Pythias, and a member of Phi Alpha Gamma medical fraternity.
March 15, 1906, Doctor Berr married Louise Eckertz, of Cleveland. She was born in Germany and was a small child when her parents, Edward and Jacobine (Roemer) Eckertz, came to the United States and located in Erie, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Berr is a graduate nurse from Huron Road Hospital, Cleveland. They have one son, Alfred Harold, Jr., born Decem- ber 16, 1906.
GRANT ELWOOD KOPLIN, M. T. D., has devoted many years to study and practice as an osteopathic physician and naturopath, and is one of the leading representatives of his profession in Northern Ohio.
He was born at Johnson's Corners, near Barberton, Summit County, Ohio, February 22, 1867, son of Henry and Louisa (Hoskins) Koplin. His father was a native of Pennsylvania, and his grandfather, Abraham Koplin, was born in the same state, of Holland Dutch parentage. Abraham Koplin brought his family to Ohio by wagon in early times, and located at Sherman, in Medina County, between Barberton and Wadsworth. Louisa Hoskins was born at Johnson's Corners, daughter of Lebeus and Sarah (Shortis) Hoskins. Henry Koplin was a cooper by trade. In 1870 he moved to Wadsworth, and for fifteen years continued a suc- cessful business there as a contractor in the manufacture of oil barrels. In 1885 he removed his business headquarters to Akron, and continued the contracting business in that city. He died in 1917, at the age of eighty-four, his wife having passed away in 1916, at the same age.
Doctor Koplin was three years of age when the family moved to Wadsworth. He graduated from the Wadsworth High School, and in 1887 received the Bachelor of Arts degree from Vander-Schmitten Col- lege at Wadsworth, and his Master of Arts degree was awarded him in 1890 by Calvin College of Cleveland. Doctor Koplin has been a student of medical science for over thirty years. He received his Bachelor of Medicine degree from the Huron Road College of Osteopathy at Cleve- land in 1893. His degree Doctor of Mechano Therapy came in 1896 from the American College of Chiropractic of Chicago. He spent two years in the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, and was then awarded the Doctor of Osteopathy degree. For many years Doctor Koplin has practiced mechano therapy in a district of Cleveland in the vicinity of his present home, 3728 West Twenty-fifth Street. He is a member and former president of the Ohio State Naturopathic Association.
Doctor Koplin is a member of Brooklyn Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, Keystone Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Forest City Commandery, Knights Templar, Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and Lake Erie Consistory of the Scottish Rite (thirty-second degree), and is a member of the Lakewood Country Club and the Brooklyn Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Miss Emma Burri, who was born at New Philadel- phia, Ohio, daughter of John Burri. Mrs. Koplin died on May 2, 1922. Doctor and Mrs. Koplin had one daughter, Lorna ..
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ROBERT J. CORLETT has been a resident of Cleveland thirty-five years, and in that time has achieved a most successful record in business affairs. He has also been a leader in various civic and improvement movements on the South Side.
Mr. Corlett was born on the Isle of Man, September 21, 1870, son of John and Anna (Corrin) Corlett, both natives of the Isle of Man, where they lived out their lives.
Robert J. Corlett had only limited advantages in school, and in 1883, at the age of thirteen, began an apprenticeship in the retail grocery business in his native country. Five years later, in 1888, he came to the United States.
Mr. Corlett's first employment in Cleveland was in the kitchen at the old Weddel House. From there he went in a similar capacity to the American House, and in time was promoted to the responsibilities of chef of that hostelry.
Leaving the hotel business, Mr. Corlett opened his first retail grocery store at what is now 3224 Chestnutdale Avenue, corner of West Thirty- third Street. A few years later he established his own bakery, and subse- quent to that opened a second retail store at 3554 West Thirty-second Street. With the assistance of his two sons, Clarence and Gale, he still contiued the two stores, and in the meantime has built up a large and exten- sive patronage.
For many years Mr. Corlett served as a director in the Ohio Retail Grocers' Association, and is now a director in both the Ohio and Cleve- land Retail Grocers' Associations. He is affiliated with Brooklyn Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, John K. Corwin Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and with the Brooklyn Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Corlett married Miss Emily L. Zietlow. She was born in Ger- many and was eighteen months old when her parents came to Cleveland. Mr. and Mrs. Corlett have three children, the two sons, Clarence John and Robert Gale, being actively associated with their father's business. The daughter, Irene Emily, married Arthur C. Hoenig, son of Police Captain Hoenig, of Cleveland. Mr. and Mrs. Hoenig live on Riverside Drive in New York. Mr. Corlett's residence is at 3210 Mapledale Avenue.
PHILIP BINZ. The Philip Binz Monumental Works is one of the oldest plants of its kind in Cleveland, and has been a business with steady growth and increasing prosperity for half a century. In the quality of its work and output this plant is hardly excelled by any in the country.
The secretary-treasurer of the corporation and manager of the works is Philip Binz, son of the founder of the business. Philip Binz, Sr., one of the pioneer monument makers of Cleveland, was born in Hesse-Darm- stadt, Germany, in 1844. He thoroughly learned the stone cutting trade in Germany. He came to the United States just after the close of the Civil war, and after a brief stay at Hudson, New York, came to Cleve- land. Here he was employed as a journeyman stone cutter until 1872, in which year he established a business of his own on Wade Avenue. With limited capital and credit he started on a very modest scale, and at first did all the work of the shop. His artistic taste and skill, his industry and his progressive business methods soon attracted a growing custom, and
Gro. B. Riley
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he became master of a shop employing a number of skilled workers. By 1886 the business had increased so as to require new and larger quarters. In that year the plant was removed to what is now West Twenty-fifth Street and Riverside Avenue, just across the street from the present plant and opposite Riverside Cemetery. Here again the quarters and facilities were outgrown, and in 1909 the plant occupied its present quarters at 3636-42 West Twenty-fifth Street. The building of the plant is a pressed brick structure 196x90 feet, with storerooms and workshop on the same floor. It is a building constructed especially for the purpose, with a ceiling high enough so that the largest of private monuments may be stood upright. Experts have pronounced this the finest monumental workshop in the United States. The mechanical facilities and the working personnel make it a plant capable of producing the finest of monuments from either granite or marble, and the greater part of the really artistic monumental work done in Cleveland has been manufactured at the Binz plant.
The founder of the business died in 1906. His widow, Dora, who was born in 1851, died in the year following the death of her husband.
Philip Binz, the son, was born in the old Binz home on Wade Avenue, July 3, 1881. He was educated in the public schools, and at the age of sixteen went to work for his father. He learned the trade of stone cutter, and mastered all the technical details of the business, so that he was well qualified to assume a large share of the responsibilities of management during his father's later years. After the death of his father he and his brother Andrew incorporated the business, Andrew becoming president and Philip, secretary and treasurer. Andrew Binz died in 1920, and since that year Mr. Philip Binz has had full charge of the business.
He is also a director in the Lincoln Savings & Loan Company and the Gibraltar Mortgage Company. He is a member of the Cleveland Cham- ber of Industry and the Lutheran Church. Mr. Philip Binz married Miss Minnie Schwandt, daughter of Michael Schwandt, of Cleveland. They have a son and two daughters, named Elsworth, Carol and Marion.
Frederick Binz, son of Andrew and nephew of Philip, and Frank Binz, son of Philip Binz, Sr., are also identified with the Binz Company.
GEORGE BOTHWELL RILEY has by his character and achievement lent honor to the bar of his native state and gained place as one of the repre- sentative lawyers in the City of Cleveland, where he is a member of the law firm of Riley & McQuigg, in which his coadjutor is Col. John R. McQuigg, of whom individual mention is made on other pages of this work.
Mr. Riley was born at Richmond, Jefferson County, Ohio, October 15, 1864, and is a son of John C. and Margaret (Bothwell) Riley. James Riley, the founder of the family in Ohio, settled at Richmond, Jefferson County, and was there a pioneer in the tanning business. John C. Riley, son of James the pioneer, was born at Richmond, Ohio, in the year 1832. He there gave a long term of service in the office of justice of the peace, and not until he was well advanced in years did he sell his farm and move to Cleveland, where his two sons had previously established their residence. Here he remained, retired from all active business, until his death, in 1914. His wife died in August, 1864, when her son George B., of this review, was but two months old.
Vol. II-13
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After profiting by the advantages of the public schools of his native place George B. Riley there continued his studies in Richmond College, which was at that time a well conducted and important Ohio educational institution. In advancing his academic or literary education he next entered Wooster University, and in this institution he was graduated in 1888, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, one of his classmates and fellow-graduates having been Colonel McQuigg, his present law partner. In 1890 Mr. Riley received from his alma mater the degree of Master of Arts.
In 1888-89 Mr. Riley read law in the office of A. H. Battin, of Steuben- ville, and in 1889-90 he continued his technical studies in the offices and under the preceptorship of the well known Cleveland law firm of Hender- son, Kline & Tolles. In 1890 he was admitted to the bar, and in October of that year he entered the active general practice of his profession in Cleveland, the present firm of Riley & McQuigg having been formed in that year and in law business having long been one of substantial and representative order. Mr. Riley is known as a vigorous and resourceful trial lawyer and duly conservative counselor, and he has given his un- divided attention to his law business, save for the period of his service on the bench of the Police Court of Cleveland, under the administrations of Mayors Blee and Farley. He is a member of Pantalpha Lodge No. 636, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Criterion Lodge No. 68, Knights of Pythias. The political allegiance of Mr. Riley is given to the republican party, and his predilection for sports afield and afloat is indicated by his holding membership in a gun club and bowling team. Mr. Riley is popular in professional, business and social circles in his home city.
CLAUDE LEROY DIFFORD, A. B., M. D. One of the well-known physi- cians and surgeons of Cleveland, who have won success and prestige in their profession, is Dr. Claude L. Difford, who has been in active practice in this city for the past seventeen years, practically in one location on the West Side.
Doctor Difford is a native of this county, born at Olmsted Falls on May 26, 1879, the son of Albert S. and Mary J. (Locke) Difford. His father was born in Mesopotamia, Trumbull County, Ohio, on October 4, 1846, the son of John Difford, a native of England, who settled in Trumbull County at an early date. Albert S. was reared on his father's farm in Trumbull County, and followed farming in that county and in Cuyahoga County until 1887, in which year he entered the employ of the Cleveland City Railway Company, and continued to be identified with that company until he retired from active life. He is now in his seventy- seventh year. His wife, Mary J., was born in England, January 1, 1849, the daughter of William Locke, a native of England, who came over from that country and settled in Cuyahoga County, established a home, and brought his family over when the Doctor's mother was in her first year. She is now in her seventy-fifth year.
Doctor Difford attended the home district public schools, the Olmsted schools and the Cleveland schools, graduating from West High in 1898. He was graduated from Adelbert College of Western Reserve University, Bachelor of Arts with the class of 1902, and then entered Western Reserve Medical School, from which he was graduated Doctor of Medi-
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cine with the class of 1905, following which he served for one year as interne and resident physician at Lakeside Hospital. In 1906 he entered the general practice of medicine and surgery on the West Side, located just across the street from his present offices, on the corner of Lorain Avenue and West Sixty-fifth Street, in which section of the city he has built up a large and representative practice and become a recognized leader in his profession.
Doctor Difford holds membership in the Cleveland Academy of Medi- cine, the Ohio State Medical Association and the American Medical Association.
While ever discharging the duties incumbent upon him as a citizen Doctor Difford is not active in political affairs, finding his professional duties so absorbing and exacting that he gives practically his entire time to his practice. Fraternally he is a member of Guyer Lodge Knights of Pythias and of Phi Gamma Delta.
Doctor Difford was united in marriage, on September 25, 1919, with Loretta Eggleston, of East Cleveland, the daughter of C. H. Eggleston, a well-known business man. To their marriage a daughter, Mary Alla, was born on September 10, 1920.
MAX MAHRER, M. D. A native of Cleveland, Doctor Mahrer had graduated from Western Reserve coincident with America's entrance into the World war. He immediately volunteered, and later was called to active duty with the Medical Corps, and went overseas in time to give some of his service and acquire the experience of a hospital and field surgeon close to the battle front. During the past four years he has had a busy private practice in the city.
He was born on East Forty-ninth Street, August 2, 1893, son of Adolph and Sophia (Mahrer) Mahrer. His parents were born and mar- ried in Austria, came to the United States and settled in Cleveland in 1887, and are still honored residents of the city. His father is now retired.
Doctor Mahrer attended the Barkwell graded schools, graduated from the South High School in 1910, and then pursued the full academic course in Adelbert College of Western Reserve University, where he graduated Doctor of Medicine in 1914. Without interruption he continued his professional studies in Western Reserve University, graduated Doctor of Medicine in 1917, and for one year was an interne in the Cleveland City Hospital.
Early in 1917 Doctor Mahrer volunteered for duty with the Medical Corps, and was commissioned a first lieutenant in August, 1917. He was not called to active duty until July, 1918. After three weeks in the Medical Officers' Training Camp at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, he was ordered overseas, landed at Brest, and almost immediately was sent to duty on the great battle front. He was in service during the St. Mihiel drive of August 12 to 16th, and then was in the Argonne from September 25 to November 11, 1918. After the armistice he was kept on duty in France until June, 1919. He returned to the United States, and was relieved from active duty at Camp Lee, Virginia. He enlisted and was commissioned for a period of five years, and though given a furlough from army duty, he was subject to call until the termination of his enlistment in 1922.
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In the meantime, on November 19, 1919, Doctor Mahrer began private practice in his present offices at 5404 Broadway. His home is at 3171 Meadowbrook Boulevard at Cleveland Heights. Doctor Mahrer is a member of the Cleveland Academy of Medicine, the State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association.
In 1922 he married Miss Minnie Dunmar, of Cleveland. She was born at Columbus, Ohio, daughter of Samuel Dunmar.
GEORGE KLOOZ is a veteran of the Civil war and is also a veteran busi- ness man of Cleveland, but for the last ten years has lived retired in that city.
He was born in a log house on the farm at Liverpool, now Valley City, in Medina County, Ohio, February 26, 1843. His father, John Klooz, was a native of Wuertemberg, Germany, was reared and edu- cated there, and was one of several brothers to come to America, making the journey while he was a young man in the early thirties. Some of these brothers settled in Louisiana, and one, named Franklin, at Louis- ville, Kentucky. John Klooz came to America on a sailing vessel, being two months on the way, and for a time stopped in Pennsylvania, then with ox team he journeyed to Ohio. At Cleveland he was offered land at eight dollars an acre. Not being satisfied with its agricultural possi- bilities he moved into the heavily timbered district of Medina County, where he bought timbered land at $1.25 an acre. At that time wild game was abundant, and he supplied nearly all the meat for his table from this source. He built a log cabin home, and his life was one of great industry, resulting in the clearing up of a large amount of land, its improvement, and the construction of good buildings. He was one of the very sub- stantial men of the community and performed more than an ordinary share in the improvement of the country. He lived there until his death, at the age of eighty-three years. John Klooz married Christine Boepple, who was born in Saxony, Germany. Two of her brothers came to America, Jacob settling in Medina County and John in Louisiana. Mrs. Christine Klooz died at the age of seventy-six years. She and her hus- band were members of the Lutheran Church. Her seven children were: Christine, Katherine, Mary, John, George, Susan and Konrad, all deceased, except George.
George Klooz attended one of the pioneer schools of Medina County, each winter a three months' term being taught in a log cabin. But when he was only thirteen years of age he left home and, coming to Cleveland, worked for a time as a clerk in an auction store in Ohio City (now the West Side), and then began an apprenticeship at the harness and saddlery trade. While he was learning this trade the Civil war broke out, and he soon enlisted in the navy and was assigned to duty on the gun boat Choc- taw. At that time the Confederates held all the Mississippi River from Vicksburg, south. He was on duty on the Mississippi and also on the Red River until 1864, when, on account of disability, he was given an honorable discharge.
On returning to Cleveland he resumed his apprenticeship, and also attended the Spencerian Business College. After a period as a journey- man worker he formed a partnership with an old soldier comrade, and
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they established a harness shop in Sandusky. A year later he sold out to his partner and, returning to Cleveland, engaged in the hardware busi- ness, with a store on Detroit Street, carrying a stock of general heavy and shelf hardware and cutlery. Later he moved to Pearl Street and added a department for stoves and tinware. Mr. Klooz was in business as a merchant at Cleveland nearly twenty years, until 1888, when he sold out, and for nearly another twenty years was one of the capable men in the service of William Bingham Company, continuing with that well known business house of Cleveland until he resigned in 1905, and retired from active business. During the last eleven years he has been a citizen of Lakewood.
On September 23, 1866, at the age of twenty-three, he married Miss Lena Wasserman, who was born in Germany on June 28, 1843, and was brought to America by her father, John Wasserman. John Wasserman settled in Cleveland, where for many years he was engaged in the hardware business. The three Wasserman children were Anna, Bernhard and Lena, all deceased. Mrs. Klooz died June 30, 1918, having reared seven children, named Edward E., Henrietta M., Olive C., Otis, Frances, Elmer and Carl C. The son Edward is with the Portage Silica Company, Youngs- town, Ohio. He married Minnie Nicolaus, and they have three daughters : Dorothy, Elsie and Margaret. Henrietta M., unmarried, resides with her parents. She taught in the Cleveland public schools for thirty years and then retired. Olive C. taught in public schools, and in 1891 married Milton Church Canfield, of Cleveland. Otis died in 1913, leaving a widow, nee Miss Jennie Metzger. Frances married Clinton D. Hoyt, and died in 1923, leaving two sons, Wilbur K: and Myron S. Elmer married Vera Zacharias, and they have four children: Kathryn, John, Elizabeth and Elinor O. Carl C. married Grace Dunford, and they have three children : George E., Lillian and Carl R. Mr. Klooz has always been faithful to the Lutheran religion, and is a member of Pilgrim Lutheran Church, in which he was reared. He is a member of Memoriam Post of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Cuyahoga County Early Settlers' Asso- ciation.
PAUL P. SCHREINER. One of the well-known and popular men of Cleveland is Paul P. Schreiner, who has been in public and official life for a number of years, during which period he has held many important elective official positions, both of the City of Cleveland and of Cuyahoga County, and at this writing (1924) he is holding a position in the office of county recorder.
Mr. Schreiner was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on August 11, 1862, the son of Andrew and Barbara (Hilger) Schreiner, natives of Oberendorf, Germany, where they were married, and from where they came to America in 1854 and settled in Johnstown. Afterward the family moved to Cleveland, and for many years thereafter Andrew Schreiner was a contracting carpenter. The parents are now deceased, the mother having died in July, 1895, aged sixty-eight years, the father dying in December, 1910, aged eighty-one years.
Paul P. Schreiner was one year old when he came with his parents to Cleveland. He attended St. Joseph's parochial school, and then served
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an apprenticeship at the cigar maker's trade. He worked at his trade for about six years in Kent, Ohio, and then returned to Cleveland, and from that time on he has resided in this city.
Mr. Schreiner began his active political work in about 1881, since when he has been a staunch supporter of the republican party. His first position in public office was that of storekeeper in the City Infirmary Division, under Mayor Rose. Following that he served as deputy county clerk under Robert M. Cordes. Then he was deputy under A. B. Honecker, clerk of the police court. In 1903 he was elected police clerk, he having been the only man on the republican ticket elected at that time on the city ticket. He was reelected police clerk in 1906, he being the only republican elected on the city ticket, thus having the distinction of having twice been elected when the remainder of the ticket failed. In 1909 he was again reelected police clerk, majority 20,000, and the following year he was nominated and elected county recorder. He was on the ticket for reelection as county recorder in 1912, but went down to defeat with the entire ticket in the landslide of that year. Following the expiration of his term as county recorder, in 1913, he retired to private life, but returned to the courthouse in 1922 as deputy county recorder.
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