USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 2) > Part 41
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Besides the general offices at Cleveland, there are executive organi- zations and representatives in such cities as Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri ; Omaha, Nebraska; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Mankato, Min- nesota ; Sioux City and Dubuque, Iowa; Peoria and Springfield, Illinois ; Indianapolis, Indiana; Chicago, Illinois; Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Memphis, Tennessee. Under the jurisdiction of these branch offices are various sub-branches located in the various cities in the state that they represent, all centering in the general office at Cleveland.
The executive officers of the company at Cleveland are: Frank B. Fretter, president; W. E. MacEwen, first vice president; W. H. Lam- precht Il, vice president ; Ed S. Page, vice president; C. S. Smith, secre- tary ,and H. F. Heil, treasurer.
The National Refining Company is principally known as the manu- facturers of White Rose gasoline and En-ar-co motor oil, White Rose gasoline selling at a premium throughout the United States, and the National Refining Company is the only company in the entire United States that sells one grade of gasoline at a premium over common, ordinary prices. The company employs. in its various branches some 3,500 men.
The National Refining Company is also famous as the originator of the well-known boy and slate, containing epigrams which, through adver- tising, has had more comments than perhaps any other advertising on any commodity in the history of advertising. The National Refining Company also lubricates about one-fifth of the total railroad mileage of the United States.
William Earl MacEwen, one of the vice presidents of the company, was born at Egmondville, Ontario, Canada, May 12, 1882. His father, Murdoch MacEwen, brought his family to Cleveland in 1882, and has been a well-known resident of this city for over forty years.
The second in a family of three sons and one daughter, William Earl MacEwen was educated in the grammar and high schools of Cleveland, and in the course of his business experience continued his education in the Baldwin University at Berea, and the Cleveland Law School. Immedi- ately after he graduated at the Rockwell Street School he began earning part of his way as messenger boy for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and at the same time studied stenography, and three years later went on the payroll of the National Refining Company as a stenographer. His promotions eventually took him to the position of traffic manager, and subsequently he became secretary and finally was advanced to his present post as vice president.
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During the World war period, Mr. MacEwen was a member of the Petroleum War Service Board and also acted as assistant secretary and counsel for the Western Petroleum Refiners' Association, having entire charge of the transportation of petroleum and its products throughout the United States during the period of hostilities. Another responsibility of war times was his direction of petroleum transportation of the United States for the petroleum branch of the War Service Board, which included the entire industry of the United States.
Mr. MacEwen is a member of the various Masonic bodies, and is also a member of the Union Club and Cleveland Athletic Club and Mid- Day Club of Cleveland, as well as the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce.
WELDON MOWER DAVIS was born on the south side of Cleveland, has lived there all his life, and has found increasing scope for his business talents and his public spirit as a citizen and community worker.
He was born in Brooklyn Village, now part of the City of Cleveland, on June 30, 1867. His father, the late Moses S. Davis, was born at Frome in Lancastershire, England, August 8, 1828, the son of Robert and Sarah Davis. Robert Davis and wife were natives of Wales." From Wales they removed to Lancastershire, England, and subsequently came to America and after a period of residence at Toronto, Canada, settled permanently in Brooklyn Village, Ohio. Robert Davis was a mason contractor, and followed that business in and around Cleveland for a number of years. Moses S. Davis was only a boy when his parents settled in Brooklyn Village. He grew up there, learned the trade of carpenter, and for upwards of half a century was one of the prominent contractors in that vicinity. He died April 12, 1898. He was a member of what is now the Brooklyn Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church. Moses Davis married Ellen M. Foster, who was born in Brooklyn Town- ship in 1838 and died April 23, 1921. She was a sister of Leonard G. Foster, a well-known Cleveland citizen whose career is given elsewhere. Moses S. Davis and wife had two sons, Lewis and Weldon.
During his boyhood, Weldon Mower Davis attended the Dennison Grammar and High School, and his first business employment was as clerk with the old firm of Palmer Brothers Company, wholesale grocers' sundries. He made himself very valuable to this firm, and in the course of a few years was admitted to membership as a director of the company. He handled a large part of the city sales work for the firm. When the Palmer Brothers' business was sold Mr. Davis went with the whole- sale grocery house of the Babcock, Hurd Company and for a number of years has been on the city sales force of this company.
Along with business he has participated in civic and church affairs. He was formerly a member of the Brooklyn Village school board and was one of the school commissioners when the village was annexed to the city. Fraternally he is affiliated with Brooklyn Lodge Free and Accepted Masons, Oriental Commandery of Knights Templar, Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and is a member of Riverside Lodge Knights of Pythias.
October 23, 1895, he married Miss Mattie R. Chase. She was born in Bainbridge, Geauga County, Ohio, and is a sister of W. W. Chase, of
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whom a separate sketch appears elsewhere, and the Rev. G. D. Chase, D. D., of the Michigan Methodist Episcopal Conference. Mrs. Davis is a member of the Readers Club, the Brooklyn Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and Brooklyn Memorial Methodist Church.
Mr. and Mrs. Davis have two sons. At the time of the World war both were too young for the draft, and they volunteered their services. The older, Robert C., was educated in the city schools, prepared for college in the Chamberlain Military School at Randolph, New York, and attended Western Reserve University. As a volunteer he entered the Naval Officers' Training School and was on duty until after the armistice, but did not get overseas. He is now connected with the Canfield Oil Company at Cleveland. The younger son, Gordon B., is a graduate of the Lincoln High School, and completed his professional preparations by graduating from the dental department of Western Reserve University and is now practicing in his home city. He was in the Students' Army Training Corps of Western Reserve University until the signing of the armistice.
ROY ARVID DANIELS has been a well-known citizen and business man of Lakewood for over twenty years, and for seventeen years he has been identified with the undertaking and funeral directing interests of the city. He was born on the old Daniels homestead in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, on May 23, 1883, the son of Frank M. and Evaline (Hanna) Daniels, both of whom are natives of Crawford County, the father the son of Howard I. Daniels, the mother the daughter of Abraham Hanna, the grandfathers having been early settlers of Crawford County.
Roy A. was reared on the home farm and was educated in the public schools. He spent the first eighteen years of his life on the farm, and in 1901 he came to Cleveland. He was in the employ of the Big Four Railway in this city for one year, and then removed to Lakewood, which at that time was but a village, and Mr. Daniels may lay claim to being one of its pioneers.
In Lakewood Mr. Daniels was first engaged in the retail grocery business, and in 1907 he entered the undertaking business as a member of the firm of Mastick & Daniels, the pioneer funeral directors of the community. This firm was continued until 1924, although the senior member of it died in 1920, his interests having been taken over by his widow, with Mr. Daniels in active charge of the entire business. Mrs. Mas- tick died in October, 1923. On June 1, 1924, the business was merged with that of Saxton & Son, under the firm name of Saxton, Daniels & Mastick, with Frank R. Saxton as the senior member.
Mr. Daniels has been active and prominent in the civic and social affairs of Lakewood for many years, taking part in all movements which have promoted the growth and welfare of the city. He is a member of the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce, a charter member of Lakewood Lodge of Elks, a member of Lakewood Kiwanis Club, and of the Lake- wood Republican Club. He is a member of Lakewood Lodge No. 601, Free and Accepted Masons; Cunningham Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Holy Grail Commandery, Knights Templar; Al Sirat Grotto and Al
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Koran Shrine. He belongs also to Lakewood Lodge No. 729, Knights of Pythias, the Knights of Malta and Modern Woodmen of America.
Mr. Daniels married Miss Mabel G. Sikes, who was born in Craw- ford County, Pennsylvania, the daughter of LeRoy Sikes. To Mr. and Mrs. Daniels two daughters have been born: Jessie Evelyn and Frances Marie.
MARTIN LUTHER RUETENIK, one of the most successful and scien- tific exponents of market gardening in his native city, is a representative of an old and honored Cleveland family. He is a son of the late Rev. Herman J. Ruetenik, D. D., LL. D., and Amelia C. (Martin) Rue- tenik.
Rev. Herman Julius Ruetenik was born at Demmerthin, a village to the north of the City of Berlin, Germany, on September 20, 1826, and his death occurred in the City of Cleveland, Ohio, February 22, 1914. His father was a minister in Germany, and for several generations in that country the family had given distinguished members to the professions, including the ministry of the State Church. Dr. Herman J. Ruetenik was given the advantages of the gymnasium in the City of Berlin and those of the great University of Halle. He was one of many cultured Germans who came to the United States in 1848, following the collapse of the German revolution, in which he had been at least a sympathizer. He landed in the port of New York City, and on the 17th of July, 1853, he was ordained a clergyman of the Reformed Church, at Easton, Penn- sylvania. In the same year he came to Ohio as a missionary of his ยท church, and after remaining for intervals in Toledo and Tiffin, this state, he came to Cleveland and became pastor of the First Reformed Church. In 1887 he founded the Eighth Reformed Church, of which he was the revered and loved pastor many years. He was for a time a member of the faculty of Heidelberg College at Tiffin, and later he became the founder and president of old Calvin College, at Cleveland. He was one of the distinguished clergymen of the Reformed Church in the United States, was the author of many publications of religious order ; he was the organizer of the Central Publishing Company, at Cleveland, which is still one of the important concerns here maintained under the auspices of the Reformed Church. He served as vice president of the general synod of the Reformed Church, and was not only an influential and honored member and clergyman of his church, one of high intellectuality and marked administrative ability, but he was also a citizen whose loyalty was shown in effective stewardship. At Easton, Pennsylvania, on the 11th of October, 1853, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Amelia Clara Martin, whose father was a manufacturer of fine musical instru- ments, and she died at the home in Cleveland, January 13, 1905, loved by all who had come within the sphere of her gentle and gracious influence.
Martin Luther Ruetenik was born in Cleveland on the 17th of May, 1868, and here was afforded the advantages of the public schools and of Calvin College. He left college in 1887 and engaged in market gar- dening on a modest scale, he having become the owner of the land which he utilized for this purpose, on Schaff Road, in the locality now known as Brooklyn Heights. During the intervening years he has continued
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a progressive and successful representative of this interesting line of productive enterprise, and has become one of the prominent and well- known exponents of market gardening in the United States. In con- nection with his operations he now has about three and one-half acres of ground devoted to vegetable growing under glass. His scientific methods have attracted the attention of leading representatives of this line of enterprise throughout the country, and he has introduced systems and methods that have been widely adopted. He was one of the pio- neers, twenty years ago, in combating the celery blight, and was one of the first to use a spray for this purpose, the Bordeaux formula, which he employed at that time with much success, being now in general use by celery growers throughout the land. He was the first man to grow tomatoes under glass after the spring lettuce crop had been harvested, he having gained his idea of doing this work through the experimental station maintained at Wooster, Ohio. He was one of the first in this part of Ohio to adopt the plan of sharing profits with employes, a policy which he still holds. For six years Mr. Ruetenik was a member of the board of control of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station at Wooster, Ohio ; he served two terms as president of the Vegetable Grow- ers' Association of America, was later a member of its official board and is still one of its influential members; and for ten years he was president of the Cleveland Vegetable Growers' Association. He was president of the Lincoln Bank at the time when it was merged with the Pearl Street Savings & Trust Company, of which latter he is now vice president. Mr. Ruetenik had the distinction of being chosen the first mayor of Brooklyn Heights, and is serving in 1922 as a member of the board of education of this attractive suburban village. He and his wife are zealous communicants of the Eighth Reformed Church, founded by his father, and he is a member of its official board.
Mr. Ruetenik married Miss Kate Kleinhans, who was born at Youngstown, this state, a daughter of John and Marie (Rithmiller) Kleinhans. Mr. and Mrs. Ruetenik became the parents of four children, of whom the second, Louise, died at the age of five years. Howard, who is associated with his father, was married in June, 1922, to Miss Sadie Pretzer of Cleveland. The two younger children, Dorothea and Paul, remain at the parental home.
HON. NETTIE MACKENZIE CLAPP, distinguished citizen of Cleveland, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is the daughter of William and Lucretia (Lounsbury) Mackenzie, natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio, respectively, the father of Scotch and the mother of English ancestry.
Mrs. Clapp attended the public and private schools of Cincinnati, and then spent three years as a student at the Cincinnati School of Arts, as well as receiving private instruction under leading artists of that time. Soon after leaving art school she was married to Harold Thompson Clapp, M. D., who was born in Salem, New York, but spent the greater part of his early life at Glens Falls, that state. He was educated at the Glens Falls Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire, and Western Reserve University, graduating from the Medical Department of the latter, and has since been in the practice of medicine in Cleveland. To Doctor and Mrs. Clapp one
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daughter has been born, Dorothy Annette, who was educated in the Cleve- land public schools, graduated from Laurel School (a private school for girls of this city), and afterwards attended Lake Erie College, Painesville, Ohio, and is married to Daniel Hammond Petty, of Cleveland.
Previous to her marriage Mrs. Clapp made a specialty of interior designing and illustrating. She is an able artist and for several years attracted attention by the excellence of her commercial designing and illustrating. She is known also as one of the "busiest and most able club women in Cleveland," and her notable prominence has come from her activity in modern civic, economic, educational and political affairs. She has sought comprehensive remedial measures for the higher development of children and for the liberation of women from the old customs and bonds, and in advocating and securing progressive human advancement.
As chairman of the Civic and Legislative Committee of the Federation of Woman's Clubs, Mrs. Clapp became a leader of various progressive movements for civic betterment. One of these fundamental measures was the printing, "In the Interest of Good Citizenship," of 1,000 copies of the City Charter for free distribution through libraries and civic organi- zations for use in the study of city government, as no copies of the City Charter were available in Cleveland ; another progressive measure was the promotion of a course in citizenship-the first undertaking of that kind among women, when for the first time in open forum about 500 women discussed city, state and national government. She was for two years a member of the Governing Board of the Cleveland Woman's Suffrage League, and for two years chairman of the Cleveland Heights District. She was also one of the organizers and served as president of the Republi- can Woman's League of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. She was one of the organizers of the Woman's Civic Club of Cleveland Heights and served successively as membership chairman, recording secretary and vice president.
During the World war period Mrs. Clapp was very active in all local affairs, doing extensive and constructive war work. She was the organizer and chairman of the Cleveland Heights Red Cross Auxiliary of the Woman's Civic Club and was the organizer and captain of the Canteen Company of the Woman's Suffrage Party; she was ward organizer for food conservation, and ward organizer of the Victory Loan and a member of the Woman's Executive Committee of the same. She also rendered valuable service as a member of the Americanization Council and of the Ohio State Planning Council, being one of the first women to become interested in a zoning program and the civic organization of which she was chairman being the first woman's organization to join this movement. She also served for two years on a jury of five members appointed by the Chamber of Commerce to inspect and to award medals to apartment houses of especial merit or construction. She served the Woman's Club as vice president, and as organizer and chairman of its Civic and Legislative Com- mittee her work was unusually constructive-printing in the "Interests of American Citizenship" 10,000 copies of the Constitution of the United States for free distribution to new citizens, libraries and civic organizations, as none were otherwise available.
Mrs. Clapp entered the domain of state politics in 1922 as a republican
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candidate from Cuyahoga County for the Ohio General Assembly. In the primaries of that year she was one of seventy-nine candidates for the House of Representatives, eight of whom were women seeking that honor, and was the only woman nominated. After a spirited campaign she won the dis- tinction of standing third on the ticket for the House of Representatives of the Eighty-fifth General Assembly. In the organization of the House she was appointed chairman of House Committee on universities and colleges, chairman of House Committee on libraries, having the honor of being the only member of the House to be appointed to two chairman- ships ; she was also a member of House Committee on cities, health, and benevolent and penal institutions. As a member of the latter committee, being especially interested in the problems that confront state institutions, Mrs. Clapp visited almost all of them during the session of inspection by the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives.
Mrs. Clapp was one of the first six women to be elected to the Ohio General Assembly, and was the first woman in Ohio to see a measure of which she was the author and sponsor enacted into law. This bill (House Bill No. 141), making compulsory the teaching of the United States Con- stitution and Ohio Constitution in our public schools (which law is now in force) was one of the few to pass the General Assembly without a dissenting vote, and is regarded as one of the most fundamental measures enacted into law during that session. She introduced House Bill No. 344, designed to adjust difficulties in administration of library laws; House Bill No. 584, to eliminate difficulties in administration of county library laws (both enacted into laws). She supported all welfare legislation ; stood for all measures promoting respect for the Constitution of the United States, law enforcement, business methods in state legislation, welfare of women and children, and efficient service to the public. Of Mrs. Clapp's service in the Eighty-fifth General Assembly the following estimate was given by the Hon. H. H. Griswold, speaker of the House of Representa- tives : "She (Mrs. Clapp) has helped to establish a high standard in public life for Ohio women. Standing for progressive legislation, she has been sane and sensible ; humanitarian, but never sentimental. I hope she will consider it her duty to serve again, for she has been, and will be, a stabilizing influence."
Mrs. Clapp entered the August, 1924, republican primaries, seeking a renomination for reelection to the General Assemly, and was accorded the distinction and honor in a field of ninety-one candidates for the House of Representatives of leading the ticket by a large margin, thus being the first woman in Cuyahoga County to lead a county ticket.
Mrs. Clapp is a member of the joint legislative commission appointed by the Eighty-fifth General Assembly to investigate the advisability of a law fixing a minimum wage scale for women. This committee consists of six members, three from the Senate and three from the House.
Mrs. Clapp served as the only woman member of the Executive Com- mittee of the Republican National Convention at Cleveland in 1924, she being the first woman to serve on an executive committee of a national republican convention. She organized and was chairman of the Woman's Committee of the convention and had the appointing of an advisory com- mittee of fifty and an assisting group of seven hundred and fifty hostesses,
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and of her appointment to this position a leading periodical says: "Mrs. Clapp has demonstrated to her colleagues that she has the essential qualities, and her appointment to the important post of chairman of the convention Woman's Committee is a recognition of her sane and very human point of view and her ability as an organizer." Of her work as chairman of that committee, Hon. Carmi Thompson, chairman of the Cleveland com- mittee in charge of the convention, had the following to say: "The women . have been splendid. They have worked shoulder to shoulder with men's committees. I cannot speak too highly of Mrs. Clapp's efficient organiza- tion. We have consulted with her not only on all matters concerning the arrangements for women delegates, but have invited her to sit at our council table and have profited by her keen judgment and wise advice. Women will play an important part in the success of the convention." This prediction proved true, for the last action of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland before adjourning was the unanimous passage of a resolution on behalf of the National Committee and the Convention thanking "Carmi A. Thompson, chairman of the Cleveland Committee and Mrs. Nettie M. Clapp and their associates and sub-committees and city officials for their hospitality and the perfect arrangement for the Convention."
Mrs. Clapp is a member of the Tippecanoe Club, of the Woman's Club, the Woman's City Club, of the League of Woman Voters, of the Martha Bolton Literary Club, of the Cleveland Heights Civic Club, of the Business Woman's Club, is a member of the board and chairman of the hospitality committee of the Republican Women of Ohio, the largest woman's political club in Cleveland, and of other social, civic and political organizations.
CAPTAIN ALVA BRADLEY. Ninety years ago a boy named Alva Bradley left the pioneer homestead which he had assisted his father in clearing . near Brownhelm in Lorain County to become a sailor on the Great Lakes. In following years he did all the duties of an apprentice and common seaman, then sailed boats as a master, was captain and part owner of a number of well known boats on Lake Erie, and in later years owned a fleet of lake boats that carried much of the commerce on the great inland seas. All these interests and activities made Capt. Alva Bradley for many years one of the leaders in the transportation interests centering at Cleveland. Capt. Alva Bradley was born at Ellington, Connecticut, November 27, 1814, of New England ancestry and of the dauntless spirit of New England pioneers. His father, Leonard Bradley, born also at Ellington, November 4, 1792, came out to the Western Reserve of Ohio, located lands at Brown- helm and two years later went back to Connecticut, where he married Roxanna Thrall, daughter of William Thrall. In 1823 the Bradley family gave up their home in New England and started for the New Connecticut of Ohio. After a wagon journey to Albany, New York, they continued along the route of the Erie Canal, not yet completed, to Buffalo, and then by sailing vessel to Cleveland. Alva Bradley was then nine years old. He was the first of four children. His mother died in 1858. Leonard Bradley remained on the old homestead at Brownhelm until his death on May 3, 1875. He was a whig, an enthusiastic republican when that party was organized, and held such offices as township trustee.
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