USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 2) > Part 35
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Mrs. Aenis was educated in the Cleveland public schools and resided with her parents until her marriage to Mr. Philip Aenis in 1876. Mr. Aenis, the son of William and Elizabeth Aenis, was born in Cleveland at the northeast corner of St. Clair and Erie streets. He was educated in the public schools. He became a carpenter, which occupation he followed until his death at the age of thirty-nine.
After the death of her husband Mrs. Aenis was employed in the delinquent tax department of the county treasurer. She held this position until appointed matron of the county jail. She served as matron for sev- eral years.
Mrs. Aenis has been active in various lines of work for institutions and for charity. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Pythian Sisters Home at Medina, Ohio. During the World war she was active in Red Cross work, having charge of a sewing center and also of a group at the packing department of Lake Erie division of Red Cross.
Mrs. Aenis is a member of the Eastern Star, Palestine Shrine, Dames of Malta and the Early Settlers Association. She was one of the mem- bers of All Saints Episcopal Church when it was organized in 1872.
Mrs. Aenis was the mother of four daughters: Clara L., May E., Cora B., and Naomi K. Clara L., a teacher, is in the junior high department of the Cleveland schools, is the only surviving one. May E., also a teacher in the Cleveland schools, passed away in February, 1924. Naomi died in 1913 and Cora in infancy.
AMY F. ROWLAND, educator, editor and social worker, has during the ten years spent in Cleveland been specially identified with the city's med- ical, surgical and hospital interests.
She was born at Saratoga Springs, New York, daughter of Rev. Lyman Rowland and granddaughter of John Rowland. Rev. Lyman Rowland was born at Pelham, Massachusetts, in 1831, was educated in the Munson Academy, preparing there for college and graduated from Amherst Col- lege. ' After graduating from the Andover Theological Seminary at Andover, Massachusetts, he was ordained a minister in the Congregational Church. His service brought him in connection with some of the leading Congregational churches of the country. He was first pastor of a church at Bangor, Maine, and spent two years in the Middle West. He was professor of English history and literature at Beloit College in Wisconsin, for six years was pastor of the Congregational Church at Saratoga Springs, New York, and for twenty-seven years enjoyed a long and successful pastorate at Lee in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. He was there until his death at the age of seventy-four.
Rev. Lyman Rowland married Tace Farley Wardwell, a native of
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Danvers, Massachusetts, and daughter of Jabez and Amy Swasey (Farley) Wardwell. The Farleys were an old Colonial family who settled at Ipsworth, Massachusetts, as early as 1633. Miss Rowland's mother died in 1873. Miss Amy Rowland has a brother, Lyman Mckean, who is . professor of biology in the Tarkio College in Missouri.
Miss Amy Rowland attended public schools in Massachusetts, is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and for ten years after graduating was a teacher in New York and Washington. For three years at Boston she acted as the American representative of the International Institute for Girls in Spain. Coming to Cleveland in 1913, she accepted the position of editorial secretary for Dr. G. W. Crile. In December, 1914, she went to the American Ambulance at Uemlly, France, with the Western Reserve University Unit, returning the following spring. In May, 1917, after America entered the war against Germany, she again went to France, this time with the Lakeside Hospital Unit. Since the foundation of the Cleveland Clinic in 1921, Miss Rowland has been in charge of the editorial department. In June, 1921, she received the honorary degree of Master of Arts from Mount Holyoke College.
She was president of the Woman's City Club for the year 1923-24. She is one of its charter members and for six years a director. She was the founder of the Cleveland Girls' Council and has been an officer thereof for six years. She is a member of the College Club, the Consumers' League and the League of Woman Voters.
ARTHUR JULIUS FREY. The Cleveland Chamber of Industry is one of the powerful organizations that have profoundly influenced and shaped the development of Cleveland within recent years. One of the men most active in that body has been Arthur Julius Frey, a well-known merchant, and he was signally honored by election as president of the Chamber in 1924.
Mr. Frey was born on what was Brainard, now Gehring Street, on the West Side of Cleveland, May 30, 1881, son of Charles and Emelia (Heil) Frey. His father was born in Karlsruhe, Baden, Germany, in December, 1848. He was a soldier in the German army during the Franco-Prussian war, and soon after the close of that conflict came to America, locating in Cleveland. He had learned and worked at the trade of harnessmaker in Germany, and a few years after reaching Cleveland his thrifty industry enabled him to establish a business of his own, which he continued many years. Later he became connected with the Cleveland Harness Com- pany, where he continued until his death in June, 1924. He was a resi- dent of the West Side for more than fifty years. After coming to Cleveland he married Emelia Heil, who was born in Cleveland in 1855 and died in June, 1900.
Arthur Julius Frey grew up on the West Side, attended the old Hicks Street Public School until he was fourteen, and since that time has gained his larger education by practical work in the field of mercantile enterprise. After leaving school he went to work for the Fries & Schuele Company in their department store on West Twenty-fifth Street. His first service was that of a general utility boy at wages of two dollars a week. He has been with that one commercial house continuously now
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for nearly thirty years, his advancement having kept pace with his grow- ing knowledge and skill in different departments of the business. For some years he has been a member of the company and is now a department manager in the store.
While this has been his chief working interest, Mr. Frey has always maintained a clear visioned interest in civic affairs. In 1911 he became a member of the Cleveland Chamber of Industry, served as one of its directors for two years, as a member of its executive committee one year, and on January 1, 1924, was inducted into the office of president. He is affiliated with Lakewood Lodge No. 601, Free and Accepted Masons, and of the Lakewood Country Club.
Mr. Frey married Miss Ella Harris, who was born at Frackville, Pennsylvania, daughter of John P. Harris. Her father is proprietor of the Harris Wood Fiber Mantel Company of Cleveland. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Frey are: Arthur J., Jr., and Jean Harris. The family reside at 2041 Arthur Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio.
THE CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER. The lines marking the inception, development and cumulative influence of this Cleveland newspaper run parallel with those of the history of the city itself during a period of more than four score years.
In 1841, J. W. and A. N. Gray bought a small paper that had been known for ten years as the Cleveland Advertiser. Largely for the purpose of indicating the type of outspoken frankness with which they wished to deal with affairs these new publishers changed the name of their paper to the Plain Dealer.
Though the young paper already had competition, its sturdy and witty editor, J. W. Gray, was able to lay the foundation for the present success- ful and influential daily. Almost constant experimenting with editions, weekly, morning and evening, has brought the modern Cleveland Plain Dealer to the forefront. Probably about every experiment worth trying has been tried out in the presentation of this paper to the public for approval.
For several months the Plain Dealer was published in an upstairs room over the postoffice, on Superior Street, and the modest plant and office were then removed to another upstairs room over the Clark drug store, where its headquarters were maintained until 1853. Within the period between that year and 1896 the paper was moved twice before it was established at its present site. The newspaper plant burned in 1908, and the main part of the building now occupied was erected on the site of the old one. Destruction of the building by fire did not stop the publica- tion of a single issue, as the resourceful management found a means for continuing the work. The size of the 1908 building doubled, approxi- mately, by the erection of an addition that was completed in 1921.
In its history of eighty-two years the Plain Dealer has had a group of remarkable editors who have left their impression on the thought of Cleveland. The first of these was J. W. Gray, who presided over the editorial sanctum from 1841 until his death in 1865. W. W. Armstrong purchased the paper after Gray's death and became its editor. He re- tained control and became the first president of the Plain Dealer Publish-
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ing Company at the time of its organization in 1877. L. E. Holden secured control in 1885. In 1898 E. H. Baker became general manager, and in 1914 he was made president, which position he has since retained.
Among the names that have come to stand out with particular promi- nence in connection with the history of the Cleveland Plain Dealer one of primary distinction is that of Charles F. Brown, better known to the literary world as "Artemus Ward." He was associate editor with Mr. Gray from 1857 until the latter part of the year 1860. The humor and quaint style of "Artemus Ward" mark a specially interesting period in the history of the Plain Dealer.
A second name that proved a great asset to the paper was that of J. H. A. Bone, who was associate editor from 1885 to 1906. His observa- tions usually appeared under the pen name of "Spectacles," and were the very essence of geniality.
E. H. Baker, a man of very broad newspaper experience, has set the paper on a solid foundation. Under his leadership the Plain Dealer has become a household word in thousands of homes and it is now one of the great national dailies, with a daily circulation of nearly 200,000. The company over which Mr. Baker presides has become one of the landmarks of Cleveland, as representing a stalwart and sound financial enterprise.
GORDON WADE RUTH. One of the progressive young business men of Cleveland who has won success and prestige in this, his native city, is Gordon W. Ruth, proprietor of "Ruth's Soda and Tea Shoppe," who was born in this city and has spent his entire life here. From his boyhood Mr. Ruth has been a "bread-winner," and the success he has achieved has been due to his ingenuity and initiative, backed up with courage, industry and close application, for he is in every respect what may well be termed a "self-made man."
Mr. Ruth was born at 1560 East Forty-seventh Street, Cleveland, on April 27, 1893, the son of the late William Clinton and Hester A. (Murry) Ruth. His parents, who were natives of Long Island, New York, came to Cleveland in 1887, and spent the remainder of their lives in this city. William Clinton Ruth was senior member of Herbert Wright & Ruth, brokers. He also served on the school board, and as an alderman during the administration of Mayor Babcock.
Gordon W. acquired his education at Case Grammar School and East High School, and while he was a school boy he sold papers on the streets, often working as a newsboy from five o'clock in the morning until ten at night. In 1907, at the age of fourteen years, he went to work after school hours and on Saturdays for the Standard Drug Company, and eventually he was assigned to the soda fountain in one of the stores of the company. It was not long before he began introducing some of his original ideas into the soda department, and the company, realizing the value of his ideas, encouraged him to greater effort. He became impressed with the idea of making the soda department pay dividends all the year round, won over the company to his plans, and soon he had the soda business established on a sound, all-year basis. He later developed the soda lunch, with sandwiches and coffee as features of the soda fountain department, and he gradually
Jorden W. Ruth
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enlarged on the idea until regular dinners were being served. In both of these innovations Mr. Ruth was the originator in Cleveland.
After having spent seventeen years, most of them in an executive capacity, with the Standard Company, Mr. Ruth decided to enter business on his own account, and in May, 1924, he resigned his position and estab- lished "Ruth's Soda and Tea Shoppe" at 56 Superior Arcade, near the Euclid end, where he has one of the best equipped establishments of its kind in the city, which has proved a success from the beginning, with a bright future of success and development before it. Mr. Ruth, aside from his soda and tea establishment, is interested to an extent in real estate, and is. also vice president of the Sy-Ru Manufacturing Company, makers of Sy-Ru products.
Mr. Ruth is active and prominent in civic and political affairs and takes deep interest in both. He was the promoter and organizer of the Repub- lican First Voters' League and is president of the league. He is an active member of the Tippecanoe and Western Reserve Republican clubs, and of the Cleveland Yacht and Willowick Country clubs, and of Trinity Cathedral.
On August 22, 1917, Mr. Ruth married Miss Naomi Martin, who was born in Cleveland, the daughter of William J. and Kate Martin. and to them have been born the following children: Gordon, W., Jr., Elain June and Richard W.
NATHANIEL D. DAVIS is one of the talented younger members of the Cleveland bar, where he has been engaged in practice since 1916. His offices are in the Society for Savings Building.
His father, David Davis, was born in the country known as White Russia, was reared there and given good educational advantages, becoming well versed in the Talmud. About 1878 he came to America, and after living for a time in Kansas City, moved to Cleveland. In this city his active career was devoted to real estate. He finally retired and died at the age of seventy-eight. His wife, Esther Botnick, was born in the same locality of Russia as her husband. She resides at Cleveland. Her six children were Benjamin, Herman, Lottie (deceased), Mary, Nathaniel D. and Gertrude. The three older children were born in Russia.
Nathaniel D. Davis was born at Cleveland. and as a boy attended the Mayflower and Marion Public schools and the Central High School. After graduating from high school he completed a course in the Metropolitan Business College, and then entered Baldwin-Wallace University Law School. He was graduated Bachelor of Laws in 1916, and was admitted to the bar. In his law practice he has confined himself to the civil branch of his profession.
In 1917 he married Miss Sarah F. Mayers. She was born at Cleve- land, daughter of Moses and Ida (Becker) Mayers. They have two chil- dren, De Arnold and Laurence Irving. Mr. Davis has an innate fondness for literature and art, and besides the books of his profession has developed an extensive private library, with the reproductions of many famous paint- ings. He is a member of the Cleveland Art Museum and Law Library Association and of Cleveland Lodge, Knights of Pythias. In religious matters he is an atheist.
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RALPH LATEN AMMERMAN, one of the younger members of the Cleveland bar, represented Ohio as a gallant young soldier in overseas service in the World war, his only brother, Earl Swain Ammerman, having been a member of the same command in this patriotic service.
Mr. Ammerman was born at Eaton, Preble County, Ohio, on the 14th of June, 1892, and in the same place his father, Frank Laten Ammerman, was also born. On a farm in that county was born David Ammerman, father of Frank L., and the father of David likewise was a native of Preble County, where the family was founded in the early pioneer days. The parents of the father of David Ammerman were natives of Pennsyl- vania and of Dutch ancestry, and they were numbered among the first settlers in Preble County, Ohio, at that time having been still a part of the great Northwest Territory. These sterling pioneers obtained government land, at $1.25 an acre, and reclaimed a productive farm from the forest wilds, in which the Indians still disputed dominion with the wild beasts. The subject of this review relates an interesting incident of the early pio- neer days, the record having come down in the family through the succes- sive generations. In the year 1812 a venturesome clock peddler came to the home of the paternal great-grandparents of Ralph L. Ammerman, his dignified approach having been made on the back of a mule, and on either side of the solemn animal was strapped a clock. The peddler was given the hospitality of the Ammerman home, a primitive log house, and his entertainment was extended two or three days, as a severe snow storm raged and made it impossible for him to continue his journeying. The host at the pioneer home traded the peddler a home-made sled for one of the clocks, and this ancient timepiece has been handed down from father to son, with the result that it is now busily ticking the hours in the Cleve- land home of Ralph L. Ammerman, who highly values it as a family heir- loom. The sled which the peddler obtained served to aid him in trans- porting his wares over the snowclad roads and trails as he continued his itinerary. The great-grandparents attained to ripe old age, and in Preble County remain today a number of their descendants of the sixth generation in the county.
David Ammerman engaged in the provision business at Eaton, and there he passed the closing years of his life, as did also his wife, whose maiden name was Margaret Miltern, and who was born and reared in that county, her parents having been early settlers there. Mrs. David Ammerman was somewhat more than ninety years of age at the time of her death.
Frank L. Ammerman received the advantages of the public schools of Eaton. In 1911 he removed with his family to Cleveland. He married Miss Mary Ellen Swain, who was born and reared in Preble County and who was a daughter of Jackson and Sarah ( McKee) Swain, her parents having passed their entire lives in that county. Mrs. Ammerman passed to the life eternal in August, 1923, and is survived by two sons, Ralph Laten and Earl Swain.
The preliminary education of Ralph L. Ammerman was acquired in the public schools of Eaton, and after his graduation from high school he entered Adelbert College of Western Reserve University, in which he continued his studies until his graduation with the degree of Bachelor of
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Arts. Thereafter he was a student in the law department of Western Reserve University until the nation's entry into the World war gave to him the call to higher duty. In May, 1917, shortly after the nation formally declared war against Germany, Mr. Ammerman enlisted as a member of the Lakeside Ambulance Corps, and on the 8th of the same month he sailed from New York for service in France, where he arrived May 25, and where he continued in active service twenty-three months. He returned home in April, 1919, and after receiving his honorable discharge he resumed his studies in the law school of Western Reserve University, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1920 and with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was forthwith admitted to the Ohio bar, and has since been actively engaged in the general practice of his pro- fession in Cleveland, where he maintains his office in the Engineer Build- ing. He is also secretary of the Lakewood Mortgage and Guarantee Com- pany and the Lake Erie Garden Association. He is affiliated with the Pi Kappa Phi and Delta Theta Phi college fraternities, with Collinwood Lodge No. 582, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Rising Sun Chapter No. 190, Royal Arch Masons. For several years he has been active in American Legion work in Cuyahoga County, and was com- mander of Charles H. Kell Post No. 47 of the American Legion in 1923- 1924.
May 5, 1917, marked the marriage of Mr. Ammerman and Miss Helen Bluhm, who was born and reared in Cleveland and who is a daughter of Gottlieb and Louisa (Krener) Bluhm, natives of Germany and honored citizens of Cleveland for many years past. Mr. and Mrs. Ammerman have two children, Viola J. and Ruth Louise.
JOHN EDWARD MASKA, M. D., has gained success and high professional reputation in Cleveland, where he has spent his entire life.
Doctor Maska was born on the East Side of Cleveland, May 17, 1876, and is a son of the late John and Mary (Hudson) Maska, both natives of Bohemia and both children at the time of the immigration of the respective families to the United States, when the voyage across the Atlantic was still made by medium of old-time sailing vessels. Both families became residents of Cleveland, and here the parents of the doctor passed the remainder of their lives, the death of the father having occurred in 1892 and that of the widowed mother on the 8th of July, 1922. John Maska was a musician of exceptional talent. At the time of her death Mrs. Mary (Hudson) Maska had been a resident of Cleveland for seventy-one years, and was undoubtedly the most venerable Bohemian woman who could here claim this distinction. Of the ten children, eight survive the parents.
After having profited by the advantages of parochial schools Doctor Maska continued his studies in St. Ignatius College. Thereafter he passed five years in the State of Oregon, and after his return to Cleveland he entered the Cleveland College of Physicians and Surgeons, which consti- tutes the medical department of Ohio Wesleyan University, and in this excellent institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1901, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Thereafter he served two months as an externe in St. Anne's Hospital, gave two months of service at the Children's Fresh Air Camp, and was for eighteen months an interne in
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the Cleveland City Hospital, where he gained valuable clinical experience. He initiated the active general practice of his profession by opening an office at the corner of East Fifty-fifth Street and Central Avenue, but since 1908 he has maintained his residence and office at 2184 West Fourteenth Street. The doctor is an active member of the Cleveland Academy of Medicine, the Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medical Asso- ciation. He is a member of the Cleveland Chamber of Industry and the Cleveland Automobile Club.
The year 1912 recorded the marriage of Doctor Maska and Miss Sophia Folsom, daughter of Adam and Sophia Folsom, of Cleveland.
DR. WILSON H. WYCKOFF, one of the proficient medical practitioners and one of the conspicuous citizens of Bedford, Ohio, is the son of Leslie N. and Rispah (May) Wyckoff, and was born in this vicinity near Chagrin Falls on the 25th of December, 1874. The father, Leslie N., was born at Chagrin Falls on May 15, 1852, and was there reared and edu- cated. He was given as sound an education as the public schools of that day afforded, and did much independent reading and studying, which greatly aided his mental development and his superiority among his fellow- men. Some time before his maturity he began to learn the carriage trimmer's trade, in which occupation he soon excelled his competitors and became well to do. He continued to follow this pursuit during much of the earlier portion of his life, but subsequently began to fill various clerical and other positions, both steam and electric, tendered him by the railroad authorities. After while he changed his occupation and engaged in merchandising and is still following that lucrative pursuit at Chagrin Falls. He has been successful both in industry and citizenship and his reputation follows him as old age approaches.
In 1872 he wedded Miss Rispah May, who bore him four children, as follows : William H., subject of this sketch; DeForest, who was called by death in his infancy ; Louis L .; and Grace E., who is the wife of Paul W. Lacey. Mr. Wyckoff is a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and his wife are faithful adherents of the Congre- gational Church, in which they have held various positions of trust and responsibility. He has served the town as councilman with high credit and aided greatly in advancing many reforms in civic and commercial essentials. His prominence became so pronounced that he was finally chosen mayor of the town by the voice of the people, and he is thus serving at the present day much to his distinction and renown.
The father of Leslie N. and grandfather of Dr. Wilson H. was Joseph Wyckoff, who was a native of Lansing, New York. He received the usual common school education in youth and at an early date in his career learned the trade of saddler and harness maker, which he made a success and pursued for many years .. After living at Lansing, New York, for some time, he finally moved to Pennsylvania, and still later went on to Ohio and located permanently at Chagrin Falls in the early '40s and there passed the remainder of his days. He was a proficient business man and a reputable citizen. He was twice married, first to Ella Gibbs, who bore him five children. His second wife was formerly Miss Olive Stewart Perkins, who bore him four children, of whom two sons grew to maturity, one of
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