USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 2) > Part 32
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Dr. H. C. Barr married Miss Agnes R. Pierson, daughter of Theopolis and Theodosia (Rosebrook) Pierson, of Ludlowville, New York. Doctor and Mrs. Barr have two children: Marguerite Pierson, born in 1900, and Harry Robert, born in 1911.
WALLACE JACOB BENNER, M. D., physician and surgeon of Lakewood, who has won success in his profession and popularity as a citizen, was born on a farm at Clark's Mill, Summit County, Ohio, on April 23, 1878, the son of the late Simon P. and Caroline (Slaybaugh) Benner. His father, also a native of Summit County, was the son of Henry Benner, a native of Pennsylvania, and descended from Holland Dutch ancestors who came to America in Colonial times in search of better conditions of life, and found them in the old "Keystone" State, where they were living when the Revolutionary war came on, in which struggle one of the two brothers fought in the Continental army, the other with the Tories. Henry Benner came to Summit County when most of the land was wild, and the Indians were still there, and game was in abundance. He spent the remaining years of his life on his farm at Manchester, Summit County, dying there at the age of ninety-three years. Simon P. Benner was reared on the farm, spent his life as a farmer, and died August 22, 1884, at the age of thirty-nine years, leaving a widow and eight out of nine children born of his marriage. One of these children is the Hon. Charles Benner, prominent lawyer and jurist of Akron, Ohio. The mother of the Doctor was born near Akron, the daughter of Aaron Slaybaugh, of the old and well-known family of that name of Summit County. She died in 1890, at the age of forty-three years.
Having been left an orphan at an early age, Doctor Benner was thrown upon his own resources, but was fortunate in having an uncle who became his guardian and foster-father. He worked on a dairy farm to earn money to pay his way through high school, and earned money for his medical education by teaching school. He was graduated from West- ern Reserve University Medical School, Doctor of Medicine. in 1903, spent fifteen months as interne in the old Cleveland General Hospital (now St. Luke's), and in May, 1904, entered general practice in Lakewood,
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Wallace J. Benner. m.D.
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and has since continued with success that has given him rank as one of the leaders of his profession in the community.
He was one of the promoters and organizers of Lakewood Hospital in 1907, and has held a place on the staff of the institution ever since it was organized. He has served as director of health of the City of Lakewood for the past ten years, having served in that capacity through five administrations of municipal government.
Doctor Benner was united in marriage with Miss Hanna E. Kyle, the daughter of John C. and Mary L. (Fellows) Kyle, of Youngstown, Ohio, and to them have been born a daughter, Betty Jane, born on July 19, 1914, and a son, Wallace Kyle, born on June 23, 1923.
LESTER JARVIS BENSON, M. D., prominent physician and surgeon of Lakewood, where he has been in active and successful practice for the last fifteen years, was born at Hartsville, Stark County, Ohio, December 22, 1860, and is a son of Jarvis and Sarah (Meyers) Benson. Jarvis Benson was born at Whitehall, Vermont, on the shore of Lake Champlain, in the year 1828, and was a representative of a family that was founded in New England in the Colonial period of our national history. He was a young man when he came to Ohio and settled near Hartsville, Stark County, in which locality his marriage was solemnized. His wife was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1838, and her father became a pioneer physician at Hartsville, Ohio. A few years after his marriage Jarvis Benson moved to Stevens Point, Wisconsin, but later he returned to Stark County, Ohio, where he was residing at Randolph at the inception of the Civil war. Early in 1861 he enlisted in an Ohio regiment, in the capacity of drummer, and he thus served until the close of the war. From Stark County he thereafter removed to Akron, and in 1870 he went with his family to Longmont, Boulder County, Colorado. From that state he removed to Macedonia, Iowa, and three years later he returned to Akron, Ohio, in which city he continued to reside until his death, in 1903. He was a shoemaker by trade and vocation, and followed his trade many years. His wife preceded him to eternal rest, her death having occurred in 1899.
Doctor Benson remained in Iowa three years after his parents had returned to Ohio, and there he attended school, as did he later the public schools of Akron, Ohio. In 1898 he entered the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College, and in this institution he was graduated in 1903, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Though fully appreciative of the Homeopathic system of medicine, he further fortified himself by a course in the so-called regular school of medicine, he having been graduated in the medical department of the University of Illinois in 1906, and having received therefrom the supplemental degree of Doctor of Medicine. In the meanwhile he had been established in practice in the City of Chicago for two years, and in 1907 became an interne in St. Clair Hospital at Cleveland, Ohio. He continued thereafter in the general practice of his profession in that city until 1910, when he transferred his residence and professional headquarters to Lakewood, in which city he has a large and representative practice. He is a member of the obstetrical and gyne- cological staff at Lakewood Hospital. In the Masonic fraternity Doctor
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Benson is affiliated with Lakewood Lodge Free and Accepted Masons ; Cunningham Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; Oriental Commandery, Knights Templar; Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine; and Al Sirat Grotto of the Veiled Prophets. He is a member of Lakewood Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and has been affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since 1888.
Doctor Benson married Miss Eunice Bartlett, who was born and reared in Cleveland, a daughter of Arthur Bartlett. Doctor and Mrs. Benson have a fine little son, Roy, born April 22, 1916.
JOHN SCHURMAN, president and general manager of the Ohio York Ice Machine Company, is a native of the old country, his birth having occurred in Alkmaar, Holland, on January 27, 1880. He is the son of Capt. John and Catherine (Miller) Schurman, both of whom also were natives of Holland where they passed the most of their lives and died. For many active and prosperous years the father was captain of a busy sea-going cargo boat out of Amsterdam.
John Schurman, the subject of this memoir, was educated in the graded schools of his native town, and it was there also that he attended the Technical High and a night technical school and laid the foundation of his business career. In 1896, when a young man, only sixteen years old, he left his home in Holland and sailed across the water to Pretoria, South Africa, where he secured a position as an apprentice machinist for the South African Railway. It was in South Africa that he spent the greater part of four years, working the most of the time for the above mentioned railway. The last nine months of this period he served as an enlisted soldier in the Boer Army, and fought against the British Empire, participating in many of the campaigns and move- ments which have become historic and memorable. When the British Army captured Pretoria he was among the troops surrendered by the determined Boers, and was soon afterward ordered to go to work for the British, but positively refused to do so, and was accordingly shipped out of South Africa with about 900 others who were acting under the same incentives or motives.
In order to get a new start in life he returned to his native land and soon afterward signed up as assistant engineer on a salt-water boat, but served thus for only a short time. He finally was employed as assistant engineer of an English ocean-going steamer which plied between the ports of Amsterdam, Liverpool and the East Indies. In April, 1903, when at home between the voyages, he married Joanna M. P. Mannes, and accompanied by his wife he came to the United States. After a week's time spent in studying the situation he came west to Cleveland, where they had determined to make their permanent home.
Mr. Schurman soon found employment as an erecting engineer in the construction of a "Sand Sucker" boat for the Great Lakes for the L. P. and J. A. Smith Company, which concern is now known as the Great Lakes Dredging & Docks . Company of Cleveland. This work on the "Sand Sucker" obliged Mr. Schurman and wife to go to Buffalo to reside for a time, because the boat was built on the ways at that city. When the vessel was finally launched Mr. Schurman secured a position
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as machinist for the Lehigh Valley. Railway Company in Buffalo, but the severe cold weather of this region affected his health to such a serious degree that he and his wife determined to change their location. They crossed the continent to California, and located first at the Needles, near the Arizona line, where he secured a job with the Santa Fe Railway Company. But living conditions there were so undesirable and wretched that he managed to secure a transfer to the company's main shops at Topeka, Kansas, where he became gang foreman of the engine repair department, and was thus engaged for two years.
In 1906 Mr. Schurman and wife returned to Cleveland and during the succeeding year he was again with the American Ship Building Company. Following this period he was engaged for a year with the Bruce & McBeth Iron Works. In 1908 he went with Thomas L. Johnson and built the first installed pay-enter fare-box for the Cleveland Street Railway Com- pany. In 1909 he became erecting engineer for the Cleveland Ice Machine Company, and was employed by that concern until they went out of business.
In October, 1912, Mr. Schurman organized the Sixth City Refriger- ating & Engineering Company, of which he became vice president. Three years later, after the concern had become fully grounded and successful, differences arose, whereupon Mr. Schurman promptly sold out his interests in the company and in 1915 became superintendent, salesman and general office man for the F. E. Wright Company, dealers in ice machines. On December 10, 1919, he organized the Ohio York Ice Machine Company, incorporated it for $150,000, and erected the large plant now standing at the corner of West Twenty-fifth Street and Washington Avenue. This important concern has been prosperous and successful from the start.
Mr. Schurman is a director in the Detroit Avenue Savings and Loan Association of Lakewood, and a director in the Exchange Savings & Loan Association in the Windermere section of East Cleveland. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Engineering Society and the American Society of Refrigerating Engineers. He is a Mason, a member of Oriental Commandery, Knights Templar, of Al Koran Temple, Mystic Shrine, of Al Sirat Grotto, and he and wife are members of the Reformed Church. They have three children: Catherine, John and Christian. Mr. Schurman and wife are taking an active and important part in the upbuilding of the city and in the progress of the social affairs of the community. During all important social and domestic events that involve the people they not only take an active part, but are leaders in action and stand forth as prominent and reputable citizens.
PAUL SCHNELLER. In the business field at Cleveland few men have shown more initiative and ability in the past seven years than Paul Schneller, journalist, banker and realtor, who is secretary of the Inter- national Building & Loan Association. This association is particularly concerned with the welfare of the city's large Slovenian population, and in native membership it is the largest institution along this line in the United States.
Paul Schneller is an Austrian by birth, born in that empire on Decem- ber 13, 1872. His parents were John and Mary (Barich) Schneller,
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farming people, well known and respected in, their community. The father died in the old country in 1895. The mother died March 15, 1923, aged eighty-four years, her death occurring in the home of her son Paul, she having come to this country in 1908.
When Mr. Schneller came to the United States to join his relatives, an uncle and aunt, at Calumet, Michigan, he had his own way to make in the world, and immediately set about it, accepting a humble position around the copper mines at first, but later securing a position more in accordance with his ability, whereby he was able to accumulate some capital, and one 'of the first uses he made of it was to further his education and gain proficiency in the English language. The night schools offered him ready opportunity, but they did not entirely satisfy his ambi- tion to progress rapidly, and for a time he took extra lessons, which were paid for at the rate of a dollar an hour. In the meanwhile, he went to work as a clerk in a general store at Calumet, and continued in that capacity until 1905, when, in partnership with William J. Webb, under the firm name of Webb & Schneller, he went into the real estate and insurance business, with which he remained identified for nine years. During this period he had become so well and favorably known at Calumet that public office was tendered him, and he was elected city treasurer of Calumet, in which responsible office he served for four years.
In 1914 Mr. Schneller went to Chicago, called there to establish a newspaper, The Glasilo, the official organ of the Grand Corniolian Slo- venian Catholic Union of the United States. He became president of the publishing company, and remained with the paper until he had the publication thoroughly organized and on a sound financial basis.
In 1916 Mr. Schneller came to Cleveland and began the promotion of the Slovenian Building & Loan Association, for which a charter was granted on December 12, 1916. The concern was opened for business on October 2, 1917, with Mr. Schneller as secretary, and with an author- ized capital of $100,000. The first deposit was $5,000, made by Anton Kausek, who was then president and now vice president, and with such an auspicious beginning the prospect of success was encouraging. This prospect has never been dimmed. In spite of disorganized public con- ditions incident to the World war, the books of the association continued to show healthy growth. In July, 1921, when the name was changed to the International Building & Loan Association, the deposits were approx- imately $250,000, while on March 31, 1924, the deposits were $996.317.32, with assets of $1,286,692.24. There are 3,254 depositors, making this association the strongest Slovenian building and loan association in the United States, not only reflecting credit on its careful management, but upon the industry and thrift of those who will reap its benefits. In 1921 the association bought the old Kilfoil property on the corner of St. Clair Avenue and East Sixty-third (old Oxford) Street, the dimensions of the lot being 50x136 feet, and in April, 1922, began the erection of the present home of the association, a two-story brick structure 56x100 feet in dimensions, one quarter of the block housing the association's bank, and the rest given up to stores and offices, being one of the finest commercial buildings in its section of the city. The bank is thoroughly modern in equipment and of handsome interior. The present officers of the associa-
Dr. H.C. KElker
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tion are as follows: Joseph Plevik, president; Anton Kausek, vice presi- dent ; Matthew Braidech, second vice president; Paul Schneller, secretary and treasurer; A. J. Zuzek, attorney.
Mr. Schneller married Miss Anna Wertin, who was born at Calumet, Michigan, and they have six children: Agnes, who is the wife of Richard Guest, of Calumet, is a graduate of the high school there; Genevieve, who was educated in the public schools of Calumet and the Harrison High School, Chicago, is an expert telegrapher and has charge of the wire between New York and Cleveland; Paul, who finished his high school course at the Cathedral Latin School, is a student in the Spencerian Business College, Cleveland; Frederick and Margaret, both of whom are high school students; and John, who is attending a church school. Mr. Schneller and his family belong to St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church.
In addition to Mr. Schneller's important business interests above named he is financially concerned in the Rosecliff Realty Company, of which he is secretary, and was the organizer and formerly the vice presi- dent of the East Shore S. & L. Company, on East One Hundred Eighty- fifth Street. He belongs to a number of representative organizations, including the Knights of Columbus and the Grand Corniolian Slovenian Catholic Union of America.
HENRY CREATH KELKER, M. D. During the past twenty years Dr. Henry Creath Kelker has been engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery at Cleveland, and by his devotion to the duties of his profession, his close study and his pronounced skill, has won a liberal and represen- tative practice. His talents and general ability have gained him recogni- tion among his fellow physicians in the regular school of medicine, and throughout his entire career he has maintained a high standard of pro- fessional ethics and honorable principles.
Doctor Kelker was born on a farm eight miles from Mount Gilead, Morrow County, Ohio, June 4, 1875, and is a son of Rudolph Frederick and Ida A. (Cook) Kelker. Rudolph F. Kelker was born in 1843, in Richland County, Ohio, and died in Morrow County, this state, in 1908. He was a son of Henry Kelker, a native of Pennsylvania, the latter a son of Jacob Kelker, who was a son of Anthony Kelker, a soldier in the army of General Washington during the Revolutionary war. Anthony Kelker was only a boy when the family immigrated to America and settled in the colony of Pennsylvania. On the maternal side Doctor Kelker is a direct descendant of Sir Walter Scott. His mother was born in 1837, in Morrow County, Ohio, and died May 1, 1909. She was a daughter of Stephen Cook, a native of Maryland, who was a son of John Cook, the son of Captain Cook, an English sea captain who was lost at sea. John Cook was a school teacher in his early davs, and was a finely educated man for his day. He fought under General Washington during the Revolutionary war, after the close of which he came from Maryland as the pioneer of the family in Ohio, to accept his grant of Government land for his services as a soldier, this property lying partly in Morrow and partly in Knox counties. Stephen Cook, the grandfather of the Doctor, was an infant in arms when the family came from Mary-
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land, his mother making the journey on horseback, carrying him. He be- came a pioneer preacher of the Disciples (Campbellite) Church, and traveled all over Western Ohio, preaching, at the same time taking care of a large family on his farm. To Rudolph F. and Ida A. (Cook) Kelker there were born the following children : A son, who died in infancy ; Chal- len, who died in 1913, leaving four children; Katherine, who married Ernest Gallagher and lives at Alameda, California; Lua, who married Fred Livingston and lives at Chesterville, Morrow County, Ohio; Henry Creath, of this review; Lois, who married Ray B. Miller, and resides in Morrow County, Ohio, five miles south of Galion, the mother of four children; and Bertha, who married Herbert George, and resides at Gar- retsville, Ohio.
Henry Creath Kelker was reared on the home farm and acquired his early education in the home schools. He also attended the Mount Gilead High School, from which he was graduated in 1895, and in 1897 came to Cleveland and was an orderly for two years at the City Hospital. In the fall of 1899 he entered Western Reserve Medical School, through which he worked his own way by accepting such honorable employment as he could find, and was a member of the graduating class of 1903, when he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In the same year he en- gaged in general practice at Cleveland, taking up medicine and surgery at 9854 Lorain Avenue, corner of West Ninety-ninth Street, where he has since maintained his office, that having been his location for twenty years. Naturally, during this long period he has become well known to the people of his locality, who have expressed their confidence in him as a physician and man by extending to him their patronage and friend- ship. He is a member of the Cleveland Academy of Medicine, the Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Doctor Kelker has been physician to the Cleveland Orphanage for the last eighteen years, or since 1905, and is a member of the Official Board of that insti- tution. Fraternally Doctor Kelker is affiliated with Ohio National Steel Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons ; Robert Wallace Chapter, Roval Arch Masons ; Cleveland Council; Forest City Commandery, Knight Templar ; Lake Erie Consistory, Scottish Rite Masons, thirty-second degree; Al Koran Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; Al Sirat Grotto, and Forest City Chapter, Ohio Eastern Star. He is also a member of the Chamber of Industry, the City Club, the Civic League and the Lakewood Country Club. His religious affiliation is with the West Boulevard Christian Church, in which he is an elder.
On August 6, 1900, Doctor Kelker was united in marriage with Miss Amelia Katherine Scheerer, who was born at Cleveland, a daughter of John and Christina (Dobelman) Scheerer, the former of whom is deceased. To Doctor and Mrs. Kelker there have been born six children. as follows: John Rudolph. born December 23, 1901, a graduate of West High School a graduate Bachelor of Arts, from Hiram College. and is now in Western Reserve Medical School; Henry Frederick, born March 4, 1903, who was a junior in West High School when taken ill, and died Mav 8, 1922; Stephen Marcellus, born April 9, 1904. a graduate of West High School, class of 1922. and now a sophomore at Hiram College : Ida Christina. born September 19, 1906, a graduate of West High School, 1924; Amelia
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Katherine, born April 5, 1908, now in West High School; and James Marius, born November 3, 1912, who is attending graded school.
JOHN A. DENNERLE. One of the leading business men and citizens of Cleveland's West Side is John A. Dennerle, well-known coal dealer, who was born in that section of the city on November 15, 1858, the son of the late Marcus and Elizabeth (Geib) Dennerle, natives of Bavaria, Germany.
Following the German revolution in 1848 many sturdy German people came to the United States to find better opportunities and homes, and among them were the parents of John A. Dennerle, who crossed the Atlantic in 1851, came direct to Cleveland, and were married in this city. Marcus, the father, learned the carpentering trade in Cleveland, and being a good mechanic he found work at his trade, which he followed a number of years, then was engaged in the teaming business. From 1876 to 1886 he engaged in the grocery and coal business on the West Side, prospered, and continued until he retired from active business in 1886. He died in his home on the West Side in 1905, his widow sur- viving him until April 23, 1923, when she died in her ninety-third year. They were members of the Evangelical Church.
John A. Dennerle attended the public schools and took the courses at the Spencerian Business College. Having gained experience in the grocery and coal business in his father's store, he engaged in that line on his own account in 1884, on Lorain Avenue, also adding feed to his line. Five years later he retired from the grocery part of his business, continuing the feed and coal lines until 1916, when he dropped the handling of feed, confining his business entirely to coal. His coal business had grown to such an extent by 1900 that it became necessary to seek other and more adequate quarters, and he established his large yards at West Seventy-third Street and Dennison Avenue, where he has every modern facility for the handling of his large and growing business. Aside from his coal business he has other important interests, being a member of the boards of directors of both the Lorain Street Savings & Trust Company and the Ohio Savings & Loan Company.
Mr. Dennerle has for many years been active in the business and civic affairs of the city, and has contributed his full share to the welfare of the community by giving of his time and means to all movements having for their object the good of its institutions. He is a charter member of the Cleveland Chamber of Industry, and is a member of Hesperian Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and the Cleveland Automobile Club. In 1884 he was elected a member of the city council from the Eleventh Ward, serving in that body with credit to himself and satis- faction to the people.
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