USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 2) > Part 29
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Aside from his mercantile business, Mr. Bartunek has other important interests, among which are those of banking, and he is vice president and a member of the board of directors of the Oul Building and Loan Associa- tion, one of the progressive and prosperous financial institutions of the Broadway district, and of which he was one of the organizers and incor- porators.
Mr. Bartunek is active in the civic and social affairs of his community, especially those effecting the interests of his fellow countrymen, and always lends a willing and generous support to all movements having for their object the general welfare of the city and its people. During the World war period he contributed of both his time and means, as did all other patriotic citizens, to the success of the different campaigns for the promo- tion and success of all war measures. He is active in church affairs, and is a member of the board of trustees of the First Central Union, a national Catholic fraternal society.
As a business man and citizen Mr. Bartunek has a large circle of friends and acquaintances, all of whom honor and esteem him for his long and successful and useful life both as a business man and as a citizen.
In 1889 Mr. Bartunek was united in marriage with Marie R. Bliehall, who was born in Bohemia, the daughter of Martin and Marie (Klos) Bliehall, who came to Cleveland when she was a year old. To their marriage the following children have been born:
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Emil A., who served as naturalization clerk in the county courthouse for several years, and resigned to take up welfare work with the Vlchek Tool Company of Cleveland. In 1920 he was elected justice of the peace of Newburg Heights. He married May Friedl, of Cleveland, and they have one son, Robert.
Otto J., a member of the Cleveland bar, married Anna B. Hlavin, the daughter of Frank Hlavin, of Cleveland, and they have one son, Joseph W. Bartunek II, a sketch of whom follows.
Hattie married Joseph Blaha, of Cleveland, and died leaving a son, Raymond, who was born in 1918, and who was adopted by his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Bartunek.
OTTO JOSEPH BARTUNEK, who is a native of Cleveland, had finished his legal education and was admitted to the bar only a few weeks before he entered the United States Aviation Corps during the World war, but since his service at home and abroad has built up a successful practice as an attorney and is also active in the real estate and insurance business.
Mr. Bartunek was born in Cleveland, November 24, 1894, son of Joseph W. and Marie R. (Bliehall) Bartunek. His father is a well-known mer- chant and banker and member of one of the pioneer Bohemian families of the South Broadway district of Cleveland. More extended reference to the family is made in the preceding sketch.
Otto Joseph Bartunek finished his parochial school course in 1908, then attended the South High School during 1908-1909, and the High School of Commerce from 1909 to 1912. He took up the study of law privately and continued in the Cleveland Law School of Baldwin-Wallace University, where he was graduated Bachelor of Laws in 1917, and admitted to the Ohio bar in June of the same year.
After a brief experience as an attorney he enlisted as a private, Novem- ber 13, 1917, in the air service, reporting to the Columbus Barracks, and was ordered to San Antonio, Texas, and attached to the One Hundred and Seventieth Aerial Squadron. From San Antonio he was sent to Mount Clemens, Michigan, then to Garden City, New York, and with his com- mand sailed from that port for overseas, landing at East Liverpool, England. He had seven months of further training in England, and for eight months was in France. In France he was stationed at La Havre, Saint Maxient and Romorantin, having leave of absence during that period in Paris and Saint Malo. Mr. Bartunek was discharged from active duty June 24, 1919, and has since held a commission as lieutenant in the Officers' Reserve Corps of the United States Air Service.
In addition to his law practice he is proprietor of the Bartunek Real Estate and Insurance Company at 5638 Broadway, one of the leading estab- lishments in its line in the South End. He has also interested himself in civic and public affairs. In 1920 he was a democratic nominee for the Ohio General Assembly, but was defeated in the Harding landslide of that year. He is a member of the Cleveland Bar Association, the National Home Club, the Knights of Columbus, Shupe Post No. 22 of the American Legion, the Cleveland Gravs, and the Corlett Catholic Club. Mr. Bartunek married, February 8, 1922, Miss Anna B. Hlavin, daughter of Frank Hlavin, of Cleveland, and they have a son, Joseph W., born February 16, 1924.
Stanley Alonowski
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STANLEY KLONOWSKI, founder, president and treasurer of the Bank of Cleveland, is one of the talented men of his race in this city, and his attainments well justify his place of leadership in the business and civic affairs of the community.
Mr. Klonowski was born in Russian Poland, May 29, 1883, son of Frank and Eva (Rewertowski) Klonowski. His father spent all his life in the old country, where he died in 1906. The same year the widow and five other children were brought to the United States by Stanley Klonowski.
In the meantime Stanley Klonowski had been educated in Polish schools, and before leaving his native land had a fluent command of the Polish, Russian, French and English languages. After leaving school he entered the service of the Russian government as postal clerk and telegraph operator at Warsaw, Poland, and that vicinity. He performed these duties three years, and for six months was stationed at St. Petersburg as an officer in the Russian army. He also spent several months in civilian pursuits in Germany and Austria, and in 1905 came to the United States and to Cleveland. At Cleveland he worked for a time on a Polish news- paper, had similar work in Toledo, and then, going to Chicago, he was employed during the day and in the evening attended night classes, study- ing pharmacy. He also studied nursing. Leaving Chicago, he returned to Cleveland, to visit his brother, and decided to remain in this city.
He was soon working as a clerk for a foreign exchange agency, and for one year was manager of the Polish-American Realty & Trust Com- pany. These various positions had given him a thorough training in American business methods, and he decided to engage in business for himself. In 1913 he organized the Klonowski Savings Bank, a private banking, foreign exchange and real estate business. He incorporated this under his own name in 1920, and in May, 1921, the business was again incorporated as the Bank of Cleveland. Mr. Klonowski is president and treasurer of this highly prosperous institution, one of the successful bank- ing enterprises of the city. The bank has resources of over $1,000,000, and owns one of the excellent banking houses of the city, located at 7100 Broadway.
Individually and through his bank Mr. Klonowski was one of the most active of Cleveland citizens in promoting the success of the World war, particularly in the Liberty Loan and War Stamp campaigns. His bank was the first in the city to fill its quota in every campaign, and for that record it received the thanks of the Government through the Fed- eral Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Mr. Klonowski is a member of the various Polish social organizations, is a fourth degree Knight of Colum- bus, and is a member and for five years was a trustee of St. Stanislaus Catholic Church. He belongs to the Polish-American Chamber of Indus- try, the Cleveland Real Estate Board and other civic and business organizations.
He married, January 16, 1912, Miss Stella Akuszewski. She was born in Cleveland, daughter of Ladislaw and Julia Akuszewski. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Klonowski: Eva, born July 28, 1913; Joseph, born March 15. 1916; Leonard, born November 23, 1918; Ber- nard, born July 10, 1920, and Stanislaus, born March 28, 1923.
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ROY MASON DAVIS. Among the men of Cleveland who have won prestige in the business and civic life of the city is Roy M. Davis, general superintendent of the Lindner Company, one of the largest commercial concerns of the city. He was born in Cleveland, on November 14, 1878, the son of Schuyler and Isabelle (Mason) Davis, and grandson of the Rev. George Davis, who was for many years a conspicuous figure in the Episcopal Church of Ohio.
Rev. George Davis was a native of Rutland, Vermont, born on August 4, 1810. He was a graduate of William and Mary College, and was ordained to the ministry of the Episcopal Church. His first charge was that of Kent, Ohio (then known as Franklin Mills), from where he went to Medina, Ohio. He was stationed in Medina for almost twenty years, going next to Elyria, Ohio. Later he was returned to Medina for another term of years, going next to Ravenna, where he was pastor when he was elevated to the position of general missionary of the Episcopal Church (an office that now bears the title of Arch Deacon). In 1876 he came to Cleveland, and here spent his declining years, his death occurring in 1880. He married Maria Schuyler, who was born at Flatbush, Long Island, New York, in 1814, the daughter of General Schuyler, one of the most pictur- esque figures in the American Revolution. She died in Cleveland in 1904, at the age of ninety years.
Schuyler Davis was born in Medina, Ohio. He came to Cleveland in 1865, and for many years was identified with different concerns of the city and various charity and church work, acting as a lay reader in the Episcopal Church. He died in 1897 at Cleveland. His wife, Isabelle, was born in Elyria, Ohio, the daughter of Charles E. Mason, a Civil war veteran.
Roy M. Davis attended the Cleveland public schools, completing two years of work in Central High School, leaving that school to go to work. His first employment was with the Young & Herrington Coal Company as office boy and collector. Two years later he entered the general offices of the American Steel and Wire Company, and continued, in different capaci- ties, with that corporation until he resigned in January, 1907 : first in the accounting division, then at the Newburg (Cleveland) plant, then chief clerk to the chief of accountants of the Cleveland District, then chief clerk of the Salem, Ohio, plant, and last as chief clerk of the Braddock, Penn- sylvania, plant. Leaving the American Steel and Wire Company, he be- came assistant secretary of the Hill Clutch Company of Cleveland, and while with that company his health failed, and for eight months he was inactive, spending part of that time in the hospital.
In March, 1910, Mr. Davis became associated with the Lindner Com- pany, and three years later he was made manager of the Wirls Company, the Toledo branch of the Lindner Company, and he spent the next two years in Toledo, returning to Cleveland in 1915 to take a position with the company as a department manager in the local store. The following year he was advanced to the position of general superintendent of the entire Cleveland organization, and also was given a place on the executive com- mittee of the company.
Mr. Davis is deeply interested in civic and welfare work. He is a member of the Social Service Committee in charge of the Children's
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Orphanage Group in the various Community Fund campaigns of recent years. He is a member and directtor of the Kiwanis Club and active in the welfare work of that organization, and is a member of Emanuel Lodge No. 605, Free and Accepted Masons; Cleveland Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Windermere Council, Royal and Select Masters, and Al Sirat Grotto, he being a member of the executive committee of the Grotto and deeply interested in the activities of the order.
In 1902 Mr. Davis was united in marriage with Miss Jessie Rogers, of Cleveland, the daughter of W. H. Rogers, of the Cleveland Trust Com- pany, and to them a daughter has been born, Caroline Jane, born on January 21, 1917.
JAMES O. GORDON, educator and mayor of Rocky River, has been identified with the educational work in the public schools of Lakewood and Cleveland for over twenty-five years. Since 1916 he has been head of the department of bookkeeping of the West High School of Commerce of Cleveland.
Mr. Gordon was born on the farm of his parents at Polk, in Ashland County, Ohio, July 6, 1869, son of Isaac and Rachael (Cole) Gordon, of Irish ancestry on his father's side, and Scotch through his mother. His grandfather, John Gordon, was born in Virginia, and was a pioneer settler in Ashland County, Ohio. Isaac Gordon was born in Ashland County in 1829, and spent his active career as a farmer and stock raiser. He died December 22, 1868, before the birth of his son, James O. His wife, Rachael Cole, was born in Ashland County, in 1832, daughter of Thomas Cole, who came to Ashland County from Maryland. She survived her husband forty years, passing away in 1908.
James O. Gordon grew up on the home farm and received his early schooling in the Village of Polk. Later he graduated with the Bachelor of Education degree at the college in Ashland. He also took special work in the Spencerian College at Cleveland and the Zannerian Art School in Columbus.
In 1892 he became a teacher in the public schools of Lakewood, and from 1900 to 1906 was head of the commercial department of the Dyke School of Business. He was then appointed head of the commercial department of South High School, Cleveland. Upon the consolidation of the commercial departments of the public schools Mr. Gordon was made a teacher in the bookkeeping department of what is now the Cleveland Com- mercial High School, at Bridge Avenue and Randall Road. During the past six years he has been head of this department. In addition to his day work he was for several years supervisor of the Evening High Schools of Cleveland.
Apart from his educational services Mr. Gordon is active in the civic affairs of Lakewood and the Village of Rocky River. He was a member of the Lakewood Board of Education for nine years, and for five years clerk of the board. He was elected a member of the Rocky River Village Council in 1921, and on November 6, 1923, was elected mayor of the village by a large majority, running as an independent candidate. During the World war Mr. Gordon served on the Draft Board of Lakewood Station. He was one of the organizers of Lakewood Hospital, and served as its
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secretary-treasurer for a number of years. He is on the Official Board of the Lakewood Methodist Episcopal Church, and a member of the Men's Club of that church. Mr. Gordon was made a Mason in Dover Lodge No. 489, Free and Accepted Masons, and later became a charter member of Lakewood Lodge No. 601. He is also affiliated with Cunningham Chap- ter No. 384, Royal Arch Masons. He is a member of the Rocky River Civic Club and belongs to the Ohio State Teachers' Association, the North Eastern Ohio Teachers' Association and the Cleveland Federation of Teachers.
Mr. Gordon married Lola, daughter of William A. and Sarah Edwards, who was born in 1890 at Polk, Ashland County, Ohio. He resides at 19735 Frazier Drive.
HON. EDWARD ALEXANDER WIEGAND, mayor of the City of Lakewood, is well and favorably known in the "Greater Cleveland" district, for he was born in Cleveland and is prominent in the affairs of Lakewood.
Mr. Wiegand was born on the south side of Cleveland, on November 15, 1877, the son of Edward and Julia (Braeue) Wiegand. His father died in 1884, and later his mother again married, and the family moved to Pitts- burg, in which city the future mayor received his early schooling and where he first became a wage earner. At the age of ten and a half years he became cash boy in one of Pittsburg's large department stores, for a weekly wage of $1.50, and during the next several years he found employment in different capacities in different establishments in the same city. The family returned to Cleveland, and young Edward, then a lad of thirteen years, found employment in the cooper shops of Greif Brothers. Two years later he became shipping clerk for the Columbia Brewing Company of Cleveland, and when that company combined with the Cleveland-Sandusky Company he continued with the greater concern as bookkeeper and later was placed in the sales department. Subsequently he became identified with the Leisy Brewing Company as assistant general manager. However, he later re- turned to the Cleveland-Sandusky Company as assistant to the president, and still later he was promoted to sales manager. On July 1, 1923, he was made general manager of the Cleveland-Sandusky Company, a position he held until he resigned to enter the primaries for the nomination as mayor of Lakewood in 1923.
The mayoralty election was hotly contested, but after a strenuous cam- paign Mr. Wiegand was successful by a comfortable margin in a three- cornered contest at the November, 1923, election, and took office January 1, 1924. It was said in the campaign by Mr. Wiegand's opponents that if he were elected he would not enforce the laws, but under his administration the laws have been more generally and efficiently enforced than ever before in the history of the municipality, March, 1924, showing the largest returns in the history of the department in a single month. During the campaign he promised to give the city, if elected, a purely business administration, and in order to make good that promise, as soon as he was inducted into office he set about the reorganization of his cabinet by securing the assistance of men thoroughly qualified to carry out his ideas as to needed reforms, with the result that he selected new and thoroughly competent heads for the departments of building, finance, law, streets and garbage, all of which
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departments are functioning 100 per cent, and innovations and improve- ments follow one after the other to the benefit of the municipality. In 1923 but three collections of ashes and rubbish were made, while under the present administration three collections were made in its first four months, and the collections were made at less cost to the city by reason of the employment of privately owned trucks for the purpose. In April Mayor Wiegand took up with the Nickel Plate Railroad Company the matter of safe-guarding traffic at the crossings in Lakewood, with the result that traffic is much more safe than ever before, with still more safety promised for the near future. On the invitation of Mr. H. O. Berg, director of Cleveland Recreational Council, in May, 1924, Mayor Wiegand visited the cities of Chicago and Milwaukee and inspected the wonderful development in the recreational and playgrounds of those cities, and he plans, as far as the city's finances will permit, to incorporate the same features along those lines in the parks and playgrounds of Lakewood. ' While in Chicago and Milwaukee Mayor Wiegand also saw what wonder- ful improvement those cities have made in the development of their lake fronts, and upon his return home he presented to the City Council the project of improving Lakewood's water front, and a dump for dirt and ashes has already been established which, it is believed, will eventually result in great improvement, including a pier at the City Hall.
Mayor Wiegand is also prominent in the business and social affairs of Lakewood. He is president of the County Savings & Loan Company and president of the County Mortgage Company, two flourishing financial insti- tutions of which he was one of the promoters and incorporators. He is a former vice president of the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce; is past exalted ruler of Lakewood Lodge No. 1350, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; a member of Clifton Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons ; Cleveland Lodge No. 65, Loyal Order of Moose; Greater Lakewood League; Lakewood Republican Club, Lakewood Young Men's Christian Association and Cleveland Kiwanis Club.
As a citizen Mayor Wiegand has given freely of his time and energies to the development of Lakewood and its public welfare, and few men of the city are better known or more highly esteemed and appreciated than he, and his circle of friends is large and ever widening. His success in life has not been an accident, but is due to his native good sense and sound judgment, fine executive ability, and perseverance and determination to accomplish results in whatever he undertakes, aided by a keen judgment of men and by his strong and genial personality, which enables him to win and hold the confidence of those with whom he comes in contact in public, business and private life.
Mayor Wiegand was united in marriage with Miss Charlotta May Schmidt, who was born in Alleghany (now a part of the City of Pitts- burg), and to them have been born three children : Catherine, born October 2, 1903; Julia Clara, born January 27, 1905; Edward Albert, born June 8, 1907.
RICHARD ROCHE HAWKINS. A resident of Cleveland since 1896, Richard Roche Hawkins is a prominent business man and citizen of Cleve- land, is a member of the State Legislature, and is distinguished as one of
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the strongest characters and ablest leaders among laymen in the religious and moral forces of the city.
Mr. Hawkins is a native of England, born at Manchester, January 28, 1854, son of James and Ann M. (Roche) Hawkins. His maternal grand- father was Richard Roche, bailiff for Lord Mount Norris of County Wexford, Ireland, and subsequently emigrated to Canada and kept the first inn or hotel at Exeter in Ontario. He gave his four children liberal educations, all three of the sons graduated from Trinity College of Dublin. The oldest son went into the army and was lost in India, while the other two became men of prominence in Canada. A cousin of Richard Roche Hawkins is Dr. William J. Roche, a minister of the interior of the Dominion of Canada and commissioner of Indian affairs. Doctor Roche was a guest of his cousin and the Canadian Club of Cleveland in 1916.
James Hawkins, father of Richard R. Hawkins, was a tailor by trade, and died at Liverpool, England, when his son, Richard R., was five years old. In August, 1859, the widowed mother emigrated to Canada, and for three years lived at Port Colborne, Ontario. Her second husband was John Robinson, a native of Boston, and a deep sea sailor. They lived for a number of years at Erie, Pennsylvania, but both were laid to rest in the old cemetery at Port Colborne. Richard Roche Hawkins was the second of the four children of his father. His brother John became a farmer in Siskiyou County, California, and his brother William a tailor at Port Colborne, Ontario. His mother by her second marriage had two children : Edward J. Robinson, who died at Los Angeles, California ; and a daughter, who is the wife of Brace R. Davis, a millwright in California.
Richard Roche Hawkins acquired his first school advantages in Canada, attended public schools at Erie, Pennsylvania, and during the Civil war at Buffalo, New York. Among his early memories he recalls the passage of General Grant to Erie for the front during the war. Being of a mechanical turn of mind, he first thought of the occupation of engineer, but subse- quently became a steward on one of the large vessels on the Great Lakes. For six years he was a fresh water sailor in this capacity, and on May 24, 1876, made his first voyage as steward on an ocean vessel, and continued on salt water for seven years, making one trip around Cape Horn. From 1882 to 1896 Mr. Hawkins was in the plumbing and steam fitting business at Chicago, and in the latter year moved to Cleveland. Since then he has kept more or less active in the business affairs of this city, chiefly in plumb- ing and the grocery lines. He was one of the proprietors of the Boulevard Plumbing and Heating Company of Cleveland.
Mr. Hawkins is a republican and has been an active member of his party in Cleveland. He was elected and served two years, in 1902-03, as a member of the Cleveland City Council, representing the old Third District, comprising the Ninth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Wards. At that time Tom Johnson was mavor of the city. He served several times as assessor, and in November, 1915, was elected justice of the peace of East Cleveland, beginning his four-year term January 1, 1916. He has been reelected and still performs the duties of this office. In 1920 he was nominated at the republican primaries and elected to the General Assembly, and in November, 1922, was reelected. In the eighty-fourth session of the assembly, 1921, he served as a member of the committees on county affairs, fees and salaries,
Laura N. Sloan.
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and villages, and was a member of the same committee in the eighty-fifth assembly. All his legislative activities were in line with his well known pri- vate character. He favored and advocated all legislation of patriotic character, favored the taxation of church and other properties not owned by the city, state or nation, legislation requiring the attendance at public schools of all children between the ages of six and sixteen, for the exami- nation of penal institutions where boys and girls are confined, for the strict enforcement of the prohibition laws and other legislation of a moral character.
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