USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 3) > Part 13
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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
Peter John Kmieck was seven years of age when brought to Cleveland, where he received his primary education in the public schools. He was graduated from St. Ignatius High School in 1912, following which he en- rolled as a student at St. Ignatius College, and was graduated therefrom in 1915, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Continuing his studies, he entered the medical department of Western Reserve College, from which he was graduated in 1919, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and following this became an interne at St. John's Hospital, Cleveland, for eight months, and then served an interneship of one year at St. Vincent's Charity Hos- pital. Doctor Kmieck took up the general practice of his profession on the West Side late in 1920, where he has made gratifying progress, both in his profession and in the confidence of the people of his community. He is a member of the staff of St. Vincent's Charity Hospital, caring for the eye, ear, nose and throat cases, and gynecology. Doctor Kmieck belongs to several professional organizations, and holds membership in Gilmore Council, Knights of Columbus. He is a member of St. Augustine parish of the Catholic Church.
Doctor Kmieck married Miss Effie A. Gorman, daughter of P. W. Gorman, of Cleveland, and they have one son, Peter John, Jr., born January 2, 1922. Doctor Kmieck's home and office are at 2616 West Fourteenth Street.
ARTHUR E. BOWER, owner and general manager of the Bower and Bower Live Stock Commission Company, Cleveland Union Stock Yards, was born on a farm in Coles County, Illinois, May 9, 1872. His ancestry have long been residents of the United States.
His father, Oliver C. Bower, was born in Clark County, Indiana, July 25, 1846. At the age of sixteen he followed in the footsteps of his father, Absolom, who was a dealer in live stock, with the exception that the father
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shipped his stock down the Mississippi to New Orleans, while the son found his market in Louisville, Kentucky. Oliver C. Bower went a few years to the college in Indiana which later became Butler College, situated in Indianapolis. In December, 1869, he married Emily Jane Perisho, born April 6, 1846, a daughter of Isaac and Rosanne (O'Hara) Perisho. Mrs. Perisho's father was Gen. Michael O'Hara, an aide de camp to General Washington at the surrender of Cornwallis, of which event there is a famous picture in the Capitol Building at Washington. In 1871 O. C. Bower joined his father-in-law in Coles County, Illinois. Here he became the owner of a 400-acre farm, which is now in the possession of A. E. Bower and son and is known as "Bowerhome." Mr. Bower never gave up his stock business for farming. In 1891 he came on a visit to Cleveland, where he found an inviting opening for developing his line of business and in October of that year he organized the firm of Bower & Bower, which has grown into the firm known in the Central Eastern States as the "Old Reliable Bower & Bower." O. C. Bower remained in active service both in business and his church, Franklin Circle Christian, Cleveland, and the Bushton, Illinois, Christian, he being an elder in each church, until he died in 1917. He was a member of the Woodmen of the World and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Arthur E. Bower, son of O. C. Bower, received his early education in Coles County, Illinois, and the Central Indiana Normal College, Danville, Indiana. After coming to Cleveland he took a course at the Spencerian Business College. He became associated with his father's business early in life and grew up with it. In 1893 he became the junior partner, and soon took over, for the most part, the management of the firm. In 1898 he married Mary A. Herrick, born November 28, 1875, whose father was one of Cleveland's foremost civil engineers, being one of the engineers who built the old Superior Viaduct used so many years in Cleveland. Mr. Herrick was a pioneer in his work. He was one of the engineers who laid the Union Pacific Railroad through Kansas to Kit Carson, Colorado. He surveyed the first wagon road across the Isthmus of Panama for a Cleve- land syndicate. He died in 1903. Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Bower have three children, Arthur Oliver, born October 2, 1900, graduated from Ohio State University in 1922, and married Florence May O'Hair in 1924. He is now the resident manager of "Bowerhome Farms ;" Lou Emily, born November 24, 1903, was a graduate of Hiram College, Hiram, Ohio, in 1924; William Millard, born June 16, 1905, is a member of the class of 1926 at Hiram College.
Mr. Bower and his mother are extensive land owners. Beside their Cleveland and Illinois property, they own a large ranch near Kit Carson in Cheyenne County, Colorado. Mr. Bower is a member of the board of directors of the Lorain Street Savings & Trust Company ; an active mem- ber of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of Industry ; and he is the chairman of the official board of the Franklin Circle Christian Church, where he and his family have been members since coming to Cleveland.
There are many romantic stories in the history of this man's family. The Hostetlers, the family of his paternal grandmother, were captured by the Indians and because of the training acquired during their captivity
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they became pioneers in the Middle West. The Perishos, the family of his mother, were driven to the United States during the persecution of the Hugenots in France, and from Albermarle Sound, North Carolina, they migrated westward through Kentucky and Indiana to Illinois .. Through these experiences many stories have arisen which, woven together, form the interesting history back of this prominent, philanthropic business man of the West Side.
MATTHEW FREDERICK BRAMLEY. The life record of Matthew Frederick Bramley reads like a romance, but it is founded on facts, and is but the outcome of determined and persistent effort on the part of an honest, hard-working young American, who, in spite of numerous obstacles, steadily advanced until today he is one of the prominent citizens and sub- stantial business men of Cleveland, with activities extending into numerous channels of industry, and covering years of political and civic service. He was born on a farm at Independence, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, January 4, 1868.
Matthew Frederick Bramley is a son of John P. and Mary Ann (Newton) Bramley, natives of Nottingham, England, who were married in this country. John P. Bramley was only twelve years of age when he came to the United States and located in Cuyahoga County. Here he became interested in farming, and he also operated a sawmill at Brecks- ville, Cuyahoga County. Coming then to Cleveland, for the subsequent thirty years he was an active member of the Cleveland police force, and for ten years was on the police pension rolls, after his retirement from the force. His death occurred at Cleveland.
In 1870, when only two years old, Matthew Frederick. Bramley, or Fred. as he is known to his intimates, had the misfortune to lose his mother, and he and his two brothers were reared on the farm by their paternal grandparents. When his father remarried the children were taken to Cleveland, and were sent to school. When but a very small boy Frederick Bramley began to make himself useful by carrying papers on a regular route, and some of the older people remember the bright, cheerful little fellow who was so faithful even then in discharging the obligations he had incurred. Home conditions not being congenial, Frederick Bramley and his brothers ran away, but at different times, and he went to the farm of his uncle, and there he learned to be a farmer so thoroughly that he subsequently leased his father's farm, and, although still young in years, conducted it during the summer months, and during the winter ones cut and hauled cordwood to the market.
However. he longed for the advantages of the city, and when he was nineteen he left the farm and returned to Cleveland, and the first winter, unfortunately, engaged in work so strenuous and exhausting from its exposure as to impair his health to such an extent that he still feels the effects. This work was hauling ice from the ponds to the breweries, and in it he broke down utterly, and suffered from a long illness. When he had partially recovered he commenced driving a team for paving con- tractors, and in that connection gained a knowledge which was later to prove of great benefit to him. Still later he was teamster for the late Henry Everett, who was then erecting his fine residence at Case and Euclid
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Avenue, which palatial home is still the handsomest on Euclid Avenue, and one of the landmarks of that section of Cleveland.
Recognizing the faithfulness of the young man, Henry Claflin, presi- dent of the Claflin Paving Company, made him foreman of teams. From that employment he went on the old Case farm as foreman for J. F. Siegenthaler, who had leased this property at the intersection of Lorain and Linwood avenue. Mr. Bramley remained on this farm for several years, and during that period married his employer's daughter, and they lived in a log house on the farm. It was while on the farm that he and a number of representative citizens of the neighborhood organized a band of "White Caps," to drive from it some undesirables. Mr. Bramley was a lieutenant of this efficient little band, who borrowed guns from the Berea militia, and succeeded in carrying out their intention.
All of this time Mr. Bramley was struggling against the ill health which had resulted from his serious illness, and so he left the farm and entered the old Produce Bank of Cleveland at a salary of $7 per week. On this meager amount he maintained his family, although they continued to live in the old log house on the farm, for which he paid a monthly rental of $8. While serving in the bank he came into contact with two of its officials, who made Mr. Bramley the proposition that he solicit paving contracts for them, they promising to furnish the money to finance them. Delighted at the prospect of going into something which would enable him to get a real start in the world, Mr. Bramley began soliciting and had but little difficulty in acquiring three paving contracts. It was then that the man rose to the opportunity, and, through almost superhuman effort, succeeded in com- pleting these contracts, and doing so to the satisfaction of his customers, and with a reasonable profit to himself. This was the commencement of his fortune, and from then on he has steadily advanced, and he is still largely interested in the paving business, as president and treasurer of the Cleveland-Trinidad Paving Company, which he organized thirty years ago, and which is today the largest paving company in the world, with branches at New York City, Columbus, Ohio, Detroit and Saginaw, Michigan.
In 1916 Mr. Bramley organized the Templar Motors Company, one of the important automobile industries of Cleveland, of which he was presi- dent and general manager, and this he developed into a very large concern. During the World war the Templar plant supplied the United States Government with large quantities of shells on contract. He is also presi- dent and principal owner of the Luna Park Amusement Company, of which he was the promoter and organizer. This is one of the largest and most popular outdoor amusement parks at Cleveland or in the United States.
Successful as he has been in business, Mr. Bramley has not confined his activities to this one field, but has been for years very prominent in civic and political affairs. In 1898 he was elected on the republican ticket to the Lower House of the State Assembly, and in 1900 was elected to the same body to succeed himself, and while thus serving was the author of a number of very important bills, and supported many more of an admir- able character which are now on the statute books. He served as a member of the Cleveland City Hall Commission from 1898 to 1908, and as a member of the Cuyahoga County Building Commission from 1895 to 1908.
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He is a former vice president of the Cleveland Chamber of Industry ; is a member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, and the Cleveland Safety Council, of which for two years he was president.
Very prominent in Masonry, he has been advanced in that order to the thirty-second degree, and he also belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Cleveland Athletic Club, the Cleveland Yacht Club and the Westwood Country Club.
On July 23, 1891, Mr. Bramley married Miss Gertrude Siegenthaler, of Cleveland, and they have two children: John Harold and Margaret Elizabeth.
JOHN ALOIS ZIMMER. One of the well known business men of Cleve- land is John A. Zimmer, treasurer of the United Banking & Trust Com- pany. He is a native son of the South Side of the city, where he has spent his life. He was born in the family home at what is now Clark Avenue and West Forty-eighth Street, on September 8, 1890, the son of John and Anna M. (Pfannes) Zimmer. His parents were born in Germany, the father in 1856, the mother in 1860, both coming to this country when young, and they were married in Cleveland.
John A. Zimmer was educated in St. Stephens Parochial School, where he took the full course and also the commercial course, completing both before he had reached his fifteenth birthday. Leaving school he became a messenger for the Clark Avenue Savings Bank, where he continued for two and a half years. He next became bookkeeper in the State Banking & Trust Company, continuing with that bank for five years and raising to the position of paying teller. He then spent one year as cashier of the Aluminum Castings Company, and then, on January 8, 1913, he became teller in the United Banking &. Trust Company, with which he has since continued. In January, 1918, he was made assistant secretary, and in May, 1921, he was elected treasurer of the bank, and so continues. He is also president of the Royal Mortgage Company, and secretary of the Lib- erty Gauge & Instrument Company, both of which companies he helped to organize.
Mr. Zimmer is a member and treasurer of the Cleveland Chamber of Industry, and a member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of Halcyon Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, Thatcher Chap- ter, Royal Arch Masons, Holyrood Commandery, Knights Templar, Lake Erie Consistory, Scottish Rite, and Al Koran Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the Cleveland Athletic Club and the Dover Country Club.
Mr. Zimmer married Adelia E. Hemann, who was born in Cleveland, the daughter of Henry C. and Catherine E. (Gettman) Hemann, and to them one son has been born, Jack Henry, aged four years.
FREDERICK FERDINAND QUILLIAMS, M. D., a well known physician and surgeon of Cleveland, was born on the family farm on Quilliams Road, in East Cleveland Township, Cuyahoga County, November 8, 1870, and is the son of William Thomas and Nancy Jane (Moore) Quilliams. The father, William T., was born in Painesville, Ohio, on August 13, 1838, the son of Hugh and Elizabeth (Kelley) Quilliams, natives of the Isle of Man,
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where they were reared and united in marriage. Soon after marriage they came to the United States, landing at New York. After spending a few months in the City of New York they came westward to Ohio and located temporarily in Painesville, but a little later removed to the town of War- rensville, this county. Still later they again changed their location and established themselves permanently on Quilliams Road (named for the family ), and remained on the farm the remainder of their lives.
William T. Quilliams, father of Doctor Quilliams, began in early man- hood to learn the carpenter trade, and was serving his apprenticeship when the Civil war came on, and he promptly enlisted in the Union Army and served for three years as sergeant of Battery B, First Ohio Light Artillery. He participated in various historic movements and campaigns, and was lucky to escape both wounds and capture, but eleven years after the war he was unfortunate enough to lose his right hand in an accident. At the close of the war he was honorably discharged and promptly returned to his home on Quilliams Road.
Soon afterwards he began work as a contracting carpenter, and continued that occupation until he lost his hand in 1876. He then gave up the car- penter trade and retired from active business, but a little later he accepted the position of bailiff of the Common Pleas Court and some time afterward the same position in the Court of Appeals, and served as such for many years. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Masonic Order. His death occurred on July 19, 1917. His widow, Nancy J., was born in Hiram, Portage County, Ohio, on February 16, 1842, the daughter of Francis and Prudence (Dunlap) Moore, both natives of Ohio. She is the granddaughter of the first white child born in Trumbull County, Ohio. The Moore and the Dunlap families came to Ohio from New England.
Dr. Frederick F. Quilliams was educated in the common schools, grad- uating from Shaw High School in May 1889. He then entered the Spen- cerian Business College, took the full course, and graduated therefrom the succeeding year. He was graduated from Cleveland Medical College in 1897 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and in the same year he engaged in the practice of general medicine and surgery in his present neighborhood, and has continued the same with success.
Doctor Quilliams is a member of the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical Society, of the American Institute of Homeopathy and of the Ohio State Homeopathic Medical Society ; also a member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce ; of Woodward Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and Mc- Kinley Chapter, and of Cleveland City Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He chose for his life companion Miss Catherine D., who was born in Cleveland, the daughter of the late George Speddy, who, for a number of years, was a captain in the Cleveland Fire Department.
Doctor Quilliams' offices and residence are at 1618 East One Hundred and Eighteenth Street.
IRA H. BAKER. Taking the real measure of human life, not in length of years, but in experience and accomplishment, the career of the late Ira H. Baker was singularly rich and full. While death came to him at the
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age of forty-one, he had succeeded in proving his value in business and in realizing the ideals of a beautiful and strong manhood. His friendships brought him in contact with many of the best known citizens of Cleveland, both among his own and his older contemporaries.
He was born at Chagrin Falls, Ohio, May 26, 1881, and died May 4, 1922, only child of Charles A. and Flora Melissa (Kelly) Baker. He was a boy of bounding vitality, a natural athlete, popular among his schoolmates and proficient in his serious work. The Cleveland Central High School athletics already centered around him for several years. He pitched for the baseball team and played quarterback and was captain of the football team.
For three years after leaving high school he was employed by the Brown Hoist Machinery Company. With this practical experience he entered Case School of Applied Science to complete his technical education as a mechanical engineer, graduating in 1906. At Case his athletic prowess realized all the prophecies made of him in high school, and his individual attainments contributed a great deal to the prestige of Case School in athletic circles in those years. He was one of the staff of pitchers and captain of the baseball team, but it was his skill and leadership as quarter- back on the football team that brought him the greatest measure of fame and made the Case team one to be respected by all the colleges and univer- sities of Ohio and the Middle West. He was captain of the eleven in his senior year. After graduating he kept up his interest in athletics at Case, his loyalty as an alumnus proving an inspiration to the coaches and man- agers. As a young business man he took up golf, and was accounted one of the best amateurs in the Cleveland district. He belonged to the National Golf Association, and was elected president of the Cleveland District Association in 1921, the year it was organized. In earlier years he was also interested in boxing.
After graduating from Case in 1906, Mr. Baker went to the Dravo- Doyle Company as manager, but subsequently he organized the mechanical engineering firm of Baker, Dunbar & Company, which, since his death, has continued under the same title. During the World war Mr. Baker was one of the prominent contractors and construction engineers in the Cleveland district. He was a captain of the American Protective League during the World war.
He was a charter member of the Cleveland Athletic Club, was a mem- ber and director of the Shaker Heights Country Club, and in college was a Phi Delta Theta. He was a former president of the Case Alumni Asso- ciation, was active in the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, and at all times exemplified the qualities of the clean sportsman and high-minded citizen.
The late Mr. Baker married, November 28, 1912, Miss Inez Q. Phillips, who, like her husband, was an only child. Her parents, Charles Sawteel and Emma Jane (Quirk) Phillips, represented old-time families at Cleve- land. Her father, who became a horticulturist, was born in a log cabin on Doan Street, on ground subsequently used for a race track. Mrs. Baker, whose home is at 2851 South Park Boulevard, Shaker Heights, is the mother of three children, Melissa, born in 1913, Jane, born in 1919, and Ira H., Jr., born in 1921.
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WALLACE KIRKWOOD MOCK, M. D. In no other city has there been more intelligent recognition of the remarkable advances made in medical science in the last quarter of a century than in Cleveland. The medical profession is ably represented here, and one of its prominent and well known members is Dr. Wallace Kirkwood Mock, who for over twenty years has been identified with the Fairview Park Hospital at Cleveland.
Doctor Mock belongs to Ohio both by birth and parentage. He was born on his father's farm in Berlin Township, Mahoning County, Ohio, December 28, 1864, and is a son of David and Phebe (Westover) Mock. The Mock ancestral line reaches back to Western Germany, from which section came Doctor Mock's sturdy pioneering ancestors, who settled and through their industry and thrift prospered in the State of Pennsylvania, generations ago. There his grandfather, Frederick Mock, was born and reared, and in young manhood came to Ohio and was the founder of the family in Mahoning County.
David Mock, father of Doctor Mock, was born March 4; 1837, on the farm adjoining the one he now owns and resides on in Berlin Township, Mahoning County, and during all his active life was engaged in farm pur- suits. He married Phebe Westover, who was born on a farm in Milton Township, Mahoning County, April 10, 1842, and still survives. Her father, Sherman Westover, was a native of Massachusetts and of English descent.
Wallace Kirkwood Mock attended the district school and remained on the home farm until sixteen years of age, then took a course in the North- western Ohio Normal School at Canfield, Ohio, where he was prepared for teaching. For several years he devoted himself to this profession, mainly in Mahoning County, and then turned his attention to the study of medical science, satisfying an ambition he had cherished from boyhood. After completing a course of medical reading under the preceptorship of Dr. F. W. Carson, of Berlin Center, Mahoning County, he in 1886 entered the Eclectic Medical College at Cincinnati, from which institution he was graduated with credit and with his degree in 1889.
Doctor Mock came to Cleveland in the above year and entered medical practice, for one year maintaining his office on Pearl Street, opposite Jay Street, changing then to Columbus Street and Lorain Avenue, where he continued until 1906, when he moved to his present offices, on the corner of West Twenty-eighth Street and Lorain Avenue. As a general practi- tioner and faithful, able and conscientious medical man Doctor Mock has won the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens in general, and since 1890 he has been continuously attached to the staff of some hospital. For some time he was with the Women's and Children's Hospital, on Vega Avenue, South Side, afterward joined the staff of the Deaconess Hospital on West Eleventh Street, and in 1902 the Fairview Park Hospital, on Franklin Boulevard, and is now one of the chief physicians of the staff of this modern hospital. He is identified with numerous scientific organiza- tions and is a member of the Ohio State Association and the American Eclectic Medical Association.
Doctor Mock married Miss Della Stacy, of Poland, Mahoning County, Ohio. They reside at 6405 Franklin Avenue. Doctor Mock was reared in the Lutheran Church. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and a
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