USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 2) > Part 7
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
The genealogy of the Loomis family can be traced through but two names-Loomis and Pomeroy-to Henry I of England, through his natural daughter who married the Baron Sir Henry de Pomeraine. Charles W. Loomis, father of subject, followed farming in Medina County, Ohio, for a number of years but removed to Henry County, this state, in the fall of 1861. A year later, or in 1862, he again removed, this time locating near Nashville, Holmes County, Ohio, where he died November 14, 1864. His widow passed away in Berea, Ohio, September 20, 1906, and was interred in her lot in Woodvale Cemetery of that town. Following out her ex- pressed wish, her husband's remains were removed to that burial ground and laid beside her in 1907.
Elisha S. Loomis, whose life record is very unusual and remarkable, was the eldest of seven brothers, and was but twelve years of age when his father died. The family soon scattered but Elisha was retained by his mother to assist with the work and to aid her in taking care of the two youngest children. Filled with the ambition to lighten the burden on his mother, young Elisha, when fourteen years of age, secured a place to work and received $3 per month for his services. At the end of two years he had saved $25, and this he immediately put out at interest. His wages were then increased to $6 per month, but he was obliged to wait six months for his pay in full. He was then offered $10 per month and this he accepted although another family offered him $11 per month. The latter he would not accept for the people were rough and irreligious.
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After the death of the father the mother rented a two-room log cabin for $12 per year, part of the rent being paid by giving some of the father's farming tools. They saw very hard times, and to get wheat for bread often picked up scattered heads of wheat gleaned in the corners after the reapers. Young Loomis or Lumas had, for years, a regular program of going to school three or four months in the winter and working on farms the rest of the year. He must have been a lad of more than ordinary ability for he now holds four college degrees and is professor emeritus of mathematics of an Ohio university.
On the 10th of June, 1880, he was graduated from Baldwin University with the degree of Bachelor of Science; received the degree of Master of Arts at the same institution of learning July 17, 1886; the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Wooster University June 20, 1888; Bachelor of Laws from Cleveland Law School of Baldwin-Wallace University on June 20, 1900, and was admitted to the bar of Ohio at the same date. He also holds the honored title of Professor Emeritus at Baldwin-Wallace University. On July 5, 1890, he was granted a high school teacher's life certificate and began teaching. He was superintendent of schools at Shreve, Ohio, from 1876 to 1879 ; principal of Burbank Academy at Bur- bank, Ohio, from 1880 to 1881 ; principal of Richfield Central High. School, Summit County, Ohio, from 1881 to 1885; professor of mathematics in Baldwin-Wallace University from 1885 to 1895, and from 1895 up to the close of 1923 was head of the department of mathematics in West High School of Cleveland. At the last mentioned date he retired on school pen- sion, having reached the limit established by Ohio law which provides that no teacher of the public schools shall hold position after having reached the age of seventy years. He taught his first school, beginning in April, 1873, and completed his last term of teaching in June, 1923, thus rounding out a full half century of successful teaching, and but for the intervention of the Ohio school law limiting the age of teachers for school teaching he would have continued his school work for an indefinite period, should he have so desired, for his physical and mental faculties are unimpaired, and "his spirit is willing."
Professor Loomis is the author of "Theism, the Result of Completed Investigation," "The Teaching of Mathematics in High School," "How to Attack an Original in Geometry," and also has completed but unpub- lished manuscript for "One Hundred and Twenty Possible Geometric Proofs of the Pythagorian Proposition"; he is also the author of "The Loomis Family in America" (1838-1908), a volume of 859 pages of genealogy ; also author of "The Genealogy of the Oberholtzer Family in America" (now complete in M. S. S.) also of the brochure on "Dr. Mahlon Loomis and Wireless Telegraphy." Doctor Loomis was the first man in the world to send wireless messages, unaided by artificial batteries, such dis- tances as to convince the witnesses present that what he did far surpassed anything theretofore done by any other investigator. Dr. Loomis was at one time a Cuyahoga County citizen, and of the same family of Loomis as is Professor E. S.
He is a member of the National Educational Association, the North- eastern Ohio Teachers' Association and the Mathematical Association of Cleveland. He was made a Mason on February 25, 1885, by Meriden Sun
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Lodge No. 266, Free and Accepted Masons at West Richfield, Ohio, and is now a member of Berea Lodge No. 382, Free and Accepted Masons, Berea, Ohio. He was made a Royal Arch Mason by Berea Chapter No. 134, May 17, 1889 ; became a member of Oriental Commandery No. 12, Knights Templar at Cleveland June 28, 1901 ; Lake Erie Consistory, Valley of Cleveland Ancient Accepted Scotish Rite Masons March 13, 1908, in which he has attained the thirty-second degree, and Al Koran Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine October 28, 1908.
Professor Loomis is active and prominent in the business affairs of Lakewood and has been identified with the organization and conduct of several of its financial institutions. He is a director in the Detroit Avenue Savings and Loan Company, director in the Guarantee Estates Company of Cleveland, director in the Commercial and Savings Bank of Berea, and director in the France Manufacturing Company of Cleveland. He was married on June 17, 1880, to Miss Letitia E. Shire, a native of Hardy Township, Holmes County, Ohio, born April 17, 1856, and the daughter of Henry and Martha Ann (Welch) Shire. Mrs.'Loomis is prominent in social circles and is especially interested in Woman's Christian Temper- ance Union work. To this marriage have been born the following children : Elatus G., who married Miss Zoe E. Clark and they have a daughter, Clara Byrde; Clara Icona married Robert L. Lechner and they have a son and daughter, Robert L. (2d) and Jean.
EVERETTE HENRY KRUEGER. Ten years after his admission to the bar Everette Henry Krueger finds himself in the enjoyment of a large and steadily growing general law practice, and at the same time with many busi- ness and civic interests to command his time and energies.
Mr. Krueger was born at Berlin Heights, in Erie County, Ohio, April 22, 1888, son of M. C. and Clara (Weichel) Krueger. He grew up in his native locality, where he attended grammar and high schools, and con- tinued his higher education in the Ohio Northern University and graduated Bachelor of Laws from the Cleveland Law School in 1912. On being ad- mitted to the Ohio bar the same year he took up practice at Cleveland, at first in association with the law firm of Reed & Eichelberger, then with Reed, Eichelberger and Nord, which was succeeded by Reed, Meals and Eichelberger, and finally with Townes, Krueger, Portman and Pelton. Since 1922 Mr. Krueger has been senior member of the firm Krueger and Pelton, composed of two of the leading younger lawyers of the city.
Mr. Krueger was one of the organizers of and is president of the Fidelity Mortgage Company. His law offices are in the Fidelity Company's Build- ing. He is secretary of the East Ninth-Euclid Company, owners of the Hickox Building at the corner of Euclid Avenue and East Ninth Street, the busiest corner in Cleveland. Mr. Krueger is member of the Cleveland Bar Association and also belongs to the Ohio State and American Bar asso- ciations.
His chief public service was rendered as a member of the city council. He was elected to that body in 1915, reelected in 1917 and in 1919, but resigned in 1920. While in the council he was chairman of the judiciary committee. Mr. Krueger is a member of the Cleveland Athletic, the Cleve- land Yacht, the Canterbury Golf, Western Reserve and Tippecanoe clubs.
Vol. II-4
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In Masonry he is affiliated with the Lake Erie Consistory of the Scottish Rite, Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine, Al Sirat Grotto, and also belongs to the Pythian Star Lodge, Knights of Pythias.
November 10, 1915, Mr. Krueger married Miss Marian Cynthia Heath, daughter of Charles E. and Mabel (Root) Heath of Plymouth, Richland County, Ohio. They have one son, Robert Heath Krueger, and a daughter, Margot Anne.
FRED F. KLINGMAN. Measured by long continued success and sub- stantial position in business and professional affairs, Fred F. Klingman is one of the outstanding lawyers and business men of Cleveland. He has practiced law nearly thirty years, and is a leader in many affairs outside his profession.
He was born on what is now East Twelfth Street in Cleveland, Novem- ber 29, 1866, son of Jacob and Minnie (Finn) Klingman. Jacob Klingman was born in 1839, and was about ten years of age when his parents came from Germany, as a result of the revolution in that country. The Kling- mans located at Cleveland, and later moved to Brooklyn Village. Jacob Klingman during his active years was in the railroad service. He died in 1905. He is survived by Mrs. Minnie Klingman, who was born in 1839, and was also ten years of age when her father, John Finn, brought his family from Germany in 1849 and located at Cleveland.
Fred F. Klingman has spent all his life in Cleveland. As a boy he at- tended the old Brownell Street Public School, graduated from high school, and then took up railroad work. He followed railroading for eleven years, and for several years of that time employed all his leisure in the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1894, and in the same year began prac- tice. He has had a steadily growing volume of important legal business, and while not a seeker for public honors, he has performed with credit his duties in several capacities. He was assistant prosecuting attorney of Cuyahoga County, and was a member of the Council of Brooklyn Village during the administration of Mayor William R. Coates. When Brooklyn was annexed he became a member of the Cleveland City Council to repre- sent the Sixth Ward.
Mr. Klingman is not only a lawyer, but a banker, manufacturer and railroad man. He is president of the Cleveland, Alliance & Mahoning Val- ley Railway Company, an important interurban line connecting Cleveland with outside districts. He is a director in the Fidelity Mortgage Company, is a member of the advisory board of the United Savings and Trust Com- pany, is attorney for the South Side Savings and Loan Company, and is secretary of the Victor Tea Company. Mr. Klingman is a member of the Cuyahoga County Bar Association, and is affiliated with Elsworth Lodge. Free and Accepted Masons, and Hillman Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. He married Miss Hattie Jones. Mrs. Klingman is a native of Cleveland!, and daughter of Thomas Jones.
HENRY M. FARNSWORTH has practiced law as a member of the Cleve- land bar forty years. One of his sons is now associated with him in han- dling the extensive practice of the firm Farnsworth & Farnsworth. Outside of his profession he has interested himself in some of the larger projects
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of general welfare, particularly city planning and metropolitan park de- velopment, and has given much time and thought to movements designed to guide and chart the future development of the city and metropolitan district surrounding.
Mr. Farnsworth was born at Nashua, New Hampshire, September 4, 1861. He is of English ancestry, and his people lived in New England for a number of generations. His grandfather, Charles Farnsworth, was born at Washington, New Hampshire. His father, the late Marshall H. Farns- worth, was born at Boston, Massachusetts, July 4, 1837, located at Colum- bus, Ohio, in 1865, and in 1870 moved to Cleveland, where for many years he was identified with the manufacturing interests of the city. He died in 1911. Marshall H. Farnsworth married Mary C. Danforth, a daughter of Timothy and Mary (Taylor) Danforth. She was born at Milford, New Hampshire, February 2, 1840, and died at Cleveland in 1906.
Henry M. Farnsworth was four years of age when brought to Ohio, and has lived in Cleveland since he was nine. He graduated from the Brooklyn High School in 1878, and for a time taught school at Royalton, Ohio. He established and for five years published the Cuyahogan weekly newspaper. While in the newspaper business he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1882, and since that year has been steadily engaged in handling a growing volume of law business.
His home interests were for many years associated with the old Village of Brooklyn, now part of greater Cleveland. He was one of the organizers and incorporators in 1888 of the Brooklyn Savings & Banking Company, and was secretary and treasurer and later vice president of the company until it was absorbed by the Union Trust Company. Mr. Farnsworth is a charter member of the Cleveland Chamber of Industry, and has served on its board of directors and executive committee and was its president in 1911. In 1917 he was appointed president of the Cleveland Metropolitan Park Board, and since that year has given a large part of his time to the important public duties involved in this position. In 1916 he was also appointed a member of the City Planning Commission and continues to serve in that capacity. He is a member of the Cleveland and Ohio State Bar associations. and of Brooklyn Lodge No. 454, Free and Accepted Masons.
March 25, 1886, Mr. Farnsworth married Miss Bettie C. Brainard, daughter of the late Titus N. Brainard, one of the prominent men in Cleve- land in his days. Mr. and Mrs. Farnsworth's two sons are: Frank M., of the law firm of Farnsworth & Farnsworth, and Brainard H., who is a student of law.
WILFRED SINGLETON. One of the largest industries engaged in manu- facturing and supplying the City of Cleveland with wholesome and sanitary food products is the Star Baking Company. With this institution Wilfred Singleton has been identified practically since the beginning of his business. career. He is now president and general manager.
Mr. Singleton is a native of Cleveland. He was born at 464 Detroit Avenue, August 4, 1872, son of the late John F. and Mary (Scaref ) Single- ton. His parents were represented among the first settlers of the West Side. Both were born in England, were taken to Canada when young people, were married there in 1860, and in 1868 came to Cleveland, locating on Detroit
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Avenue. John F. Singleton was a brick maker in Canada, and in Cleveland for a number of years was engaged in business as a wall paper dealer and a decorator. He died March 26, 1909, at the age of seventy-three. His widow survived him until September 25, 1919, when she was eighty years of age. The parents were members of the Church of England until coming to Cleveland, and thereafter worshipped in the Pilgrim Congregational Church.
Wilfred Singleton during his boyhood attended the Denison Avenue Public School. Leaving there he became a salesman for the Star Baking Company. Some years later he took an active part in the reorganization of the business, and became sales manager for the new company. Later he was promoted to president and general manager, and the remarkable suc- cess of the Star Baking Company of Cleveland during recent years has been in a large degree a tribute to the knowledge and executive manage- ment of Mr. Singleton.
Among other business interests he is president of the Olmstead-Dover Savings & Loan Company, is vice president of the Depositors Savings & Loan Company, a director of the Lincoln Savings & Loan Company, and a director in the Defiance Pressed Steel Company and the Fostoria Tool Manufacturing Company. Socially he is affiliated with the Union Club, Sleepy Hollow Country Club, Westwood Country Club, is a director in the Old Colony Club. He was the first man "raised" in Denison Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, also affiliated with Forest City Commandery, Knights Templar, and the Lake Erie Consistory of the Scottish Rite, Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine.
Mr. Singleton married Esther M. Seither. Her father, Frank Seither, was a prominent business man in Cleveland, whose sketch appears else- where in this publication. The three children of their marriage are : Besse Eleanore, born in 1902 ; John Frank, born in 1905, and Alfred Henry, born in 1910.
ARDON PHILO HAMMOND, M. D., has been an active member of the medical profession in Cleveland for twenty years. He is a high-minded and hard-working physician, and has given much of his time to the public side of the profession. He is the present county coroner of Cuyahoga County.
Doctor Hammond was born at Castalia, Ohio, October 31, 1869, son of John and Emily C. (Holden) Hammond. His grandfather, Thomas Hammond, was a native of England. John Hammond was born at Brock- port, New York, in 1822, and as a young man came to Ohio and settled at Huron. In 1861 he enlisted in the First Ohio Heavy Artillery, and saw much active service before the close of his term of enlistment in 1864. He was a blacksmith by trade, and part of the time while he was in the army he was detailed as an artificer. After the war he returned to Huron and married Emily C. Holden, a native of that town, and daughter of Thomas Holden, who was born in the north of Ireland, and was an early settler at Huron. From Huron the Hammond family removed to Castalia, where John Hammond followed his trade as a blacksmith until his death in 1861. After his death his widow returned to Huron, but is now living at Cleve- land. Doctor Hammond was only two years old when his father died. He
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grew up at Huron, graduated from the high school there in 1885, and immediately afterward had to embark upon some labor that would earn him a living. While his mind was set on the medical profession about that time, he had no money with which to pursue a course in a medical college. He, therefore, went to work as a drug clerk at Norwalk, Ohio, remained there a year, and then came to Cleveland where he continued clerking in a drug store and also attended a school of pharmacy until he graduated in 1888. In 1896 he left the drug business to become an employe of the Cleveland Postoffice. During the following six years he served as a carrier and clerk, and part of the money he earned in that way enabled him to carry out his ambition for a medical career. In 1900 he entered the Western Reserve Medical College, graduated Doctor of Medicine in 1904, and during the following summer performed the duties of physician to the Children's Fresh Air Camp. The next winter he was attached to the staff of the United States Marine Hospital at Cleveland, and in 1905 he began private prac- tice. Doctor Hammond has an extensive general practice in medicine and surgery. He served as district city physician under Mayor Baehr's admin- istration for two years, and for two years was employed in a similar capacity during Mayor Baker's administration. At the general election of 1920 he was elected on the republican ticket as county coroner, beginning the duties of that office January 3, 1921; reelected November, 1923, to serve till January, 1925.
Doctor Hammond is a member of the Cleveland Academy of Medicine and the Ohio State Medical Society. He is a member of the League of Republican clubs, and belongs to the Republican Club of the Twenty-fifth, Twenty-second, Seventeenth, Sixteenth and Fourth wards. He is also a member of the Wampanoag Indians and is affiliated with Woodward Lodge No. 508, Free and Accepted Masons; Cleveland Chapter No. 184, Royal Arch Masons; Holyrood Commandery, Knights Templar; Lake Erie Consistory of the Scottish Rite, Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and Al Sirat Grotto. He belongs to Halcyon Lodge, Knights of Pythias.
Doctor Hammond married Florence Moore of Cleveland. They are members of the Episcopal Church.
JOHN BYRON CONNOR, whose death occurred February 21, 1923, was then living retired after a long business career. He had been a wholesale grain merchant, and was also a landscape gardener by profession, and in later years his professional experience enabled him to render important service to the city in connection with the public parks.
Mr. Connor was born on a farm on the Ridge Road in Brooklyn Town- ship, Cuyahoga County, January 27, 1853. His parents, James and Margaret (Haynes) Connor, were born in the same town in Ireland, his mother being the daughter of an English army officer. James Connor came to the United States before his marriage, Margaret Haynes follow- ing him. They were married in Brooklyn, Cleveland. James Connor, a stone cutter by trade, soon after locating at Brooklyn opened the James Quarries. For many years he engaged in a successful business as a stone contractor. He and his wife had two daughters and one son. The
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daughter Mary died at the age of twenty-five, and Elizabeth is the wife of Rev. Mr. Ash and lives at Los Angeles, California.
John B. Connor had a public school education, and he became self sup- porting at an early age. When he was fifteen he left the farm in Brooklyn Township and went to work for a grain broker named Converse on Pros- pect Street in Cleveland. The money he earned while with Mr. Converse for a year enabled him to take a course in bookkeeping and a six months' course in penmanship at the Spencerian Business College. After this commercial training he was a clerk for one year with the Standard Oil Company.
Mr. Connor's experience as a landscape gardener began in 1874 with James M. Hoyt. He spent two years working for Mr. Hoyt, then a year for Morris B. Clark of the Union Elevator Company, and three years for Samuel Williamson, president of the Society for Savings.
When he married, in 1879, Mr. Connor took up farming on the York Road in Brooklyn Township, and the interests of his farm demanded his time and energy until 1891. In that year he entered the wholesale grain business, and was one of the active men in that line at Cleveland for twenty years.
Mr. Connor in 1910 entered the service of the City Park Department as foreman of Brookside Park. Two years later he met with an accident while on duty, and was practically retired until 1917. He was then again appointed foreman of Brookside Park, and only resigned that office and retired altogether from business affairs on January 1, 1922.
Mr. Connor was one of the early members of the Chamber of Indus- tries, and was identified with the general program of that organization through subsequent years. Forty-seven years ago he became a member of Glenn Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and filled all the chairs.
In 1879, on January 23, he married Miss Sarah A. Humphries. Mrs. Connor was born on a farm on York Road in Brooklyn Township, daugh- ter of Henry and Caroline (Day) Humphries. Her parents were natives of England and for many years were well known and honored residents of Cuyahoga County. The five children born to Mr. and Mrs. Connor , were named, Anna, Mabel, James, Arthur and Raymond. Anna is the wife of Arthur E. Fisher. Mr. Fisher served as secretary to Mark A. Hanna of Cleveland, and later as assistant secretary to Mr. Hanna when United States senator at Washington. He is now secretary to George B. Cortelyou, a distinguished American, who served as private secretary both to President Cleveland and President Roosevelt, later was secretary of the treasury, and is now president of the Consolidated Gas Company of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher live at East Orange, New Jersey. The daughter Mabel, who died in August, 1910, was the wife of Carl Werner. James enlisted at the time of the World war, was in France and with the Army of Occupation, and continued in service for a year after his return from Europe. The son Arthur is sales manager for the White Sewing Machine Company of Guelph, Canada.
HARRY DECKER is treasurer and manager of the Decker Realty Com- panv. an organization that has carried out an extensive program in the building of homes and the development of important sections on the south
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side of Cleveland in recent years. Mr. Decker for over thirty years was an active merchant, and has been in many ways one of the most influential citizens in that part of Cleveland.
He was born at Cleveland, February 14, 1864, son of Benjamin and Adrianna Decker. His parents were born in Holland, his father in 1833 and his mother in 1839. Soon after their marriage they came to the United States and located at Cleveland. Benjamin Decker in 1864 bought. land on what is now Seventy-first Street and Decker Avenue, East Cleve- land He built a home there, and for a number of years operated a market garden and was an expert in this line of productive labor. Part of his land was laid out into lots and Decker Avenue was named by him. The parents remained in this locality, with the city growing up around them, all the rest of their lives. The father died in 1907 and the mother in 1912. All their children were born in Cleveland and all are still residents of the city: Cora, wife of John Page; John, Harry, Jacob and James, who were twins, and Jennie, wife of Harvey Schwin. The father and mother were both active members of the Methodist Evangelical Church.
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