USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 3) > Part 15
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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
Doctor Biddinger grew up on the old homestead in Ashland County. His early advantages were those of the country schools. Following that he attended the Savannah Academy, was a teacher a year, and in 1905 graduated from the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College, later a department of the Ohio State University. During 1904-05 he was an interne in the Cleveland Maternity Hospital. He engaged in private prac- tice in this city for a time, and then went to New York for further pro- fessional experience as an interne in the Metropolitan Hospital. In 1908 he resumed his practice at Cleveland, and with passing years his work has come to be confined almost entirely to surgery.
His distinguished military record should be given in some detail. January 6. 1906, he enlisted in Company I of the Fifth Regiment, Ohio National Guard. March 20, 1906, he was promoted to sergeant of Com- pany I of the Fifth Regiment; November 26, 1907, was discharged to permit him to accept a commission as second lieutenant ; July 28, 1908, he was assigned with that rank to Company I; May 24, 1909, was transferred to Second Battalion, Ohio Naval Militia, as an ensign and assistant sur- geon ; April 8, 1910, was commissioned lieutenant and assistant surgeon and assigned to duty on the U. S. S. Dorothea; April 18, 1912, by special order No. 75, paragraph 8, adjutant-general's department. he was com- missioned lieutenant and surgeon to rank from March 25, 1912.
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April 6, 1917, by the President's proclamation, he was called back to duty, and with the Ohio Naval Division reported at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and was assigned as senior medical officer to the Kron Prinz Wil- helm, one of the German raiders interned by the government, a ship that was fitted out as a cruiser transport at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and renamed the U. S. S. Von Steuben. It took six months to refit the Von Steuben. October 31, 1917, the vessel left for her first trip overseas, carrying marines and Base Hospital No. 5. It joined the convoy in New. York Harbor, the other transports being the Agamemnon, the Mount Vernon and America, under convoy by the U. S. S. cruiser North Caro- lina and two destroyers. As senior medical officer on the Von Steuben, Doctor Biddinger made nine round trips to France during the war and one trip after the armistice. On the maiden trip, while about one thousand miles off the French coast, the Von Steuben and the Agamemnon came into collision, but without serious damage beyond injuring the rails and small boats. On the return trip the Von Steuben put into Halifax for coal, and was about thirteen miles out of the harbor when the tragic explosion of munitions occurred in that harbor, one of the British disasters of the war. The scene was witnessed by Doctor Biddinger. The American Medical Corps on the vessels near the harbor were ordered ashore for relief work. Leaving there, the Von Steuben ran into a 120-mile gale which greatly retarded the completion of her voyage. Reaching Philadelphia, the Von Steuben was ordered to take on a marine regiment and supplies for Cuba, and while en route was ordered to proceed to Balboa for repairs. She passed through the Panama Canal, being the largest ship up to that time to negotiate that passage. After the repairs had been made the ship returned to Philadelphia, and resumed transport duty. On the third return trip, at 4:30 P. M., March 5, 1918, while off the Azores the Von Steuben encountered a submarine, opening fire and swinging away. A five-inch shell exploded on the American transport, killing a man on each side of Doctor Biddinger and another on the upper deck over his head. Twelve others were wounded. On October 28, 1919, Doctor Biddinger was transferred to a receiving ship in New York Harbor, and was released from active duty May 2, 1920. He still holds the rank of lieutenant-com- mander in the Naval Reserves. At his release he was recommended for the distinguished service medal, but received instead a citation from the secre- tary of the navy for meritorious service. This was awarded November 11. 1920, and he was later commissioned lieutenant-commander to date from September 1, 1918.
Doctor Biddinger has been head of the surgical staff of Grace Hospital since the close of his war service. In July, 1923, he was appointed visiting surgeon to the Huron Road Hospital. He is a member of the State and National Homeopathic associations. He was a member of the War Transport Service Society, and is affiliated with Euclid Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Cleveland Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; Forest City Commandery, Knights Templar ; Lake Erie Consistory of the Scottish Rite, Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and belongs to the Masonic societies of the Grotto and the Tall Cedars of Lebanon. He is a member of the Lions Club and the Koran Club.
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EDWARD THOMAS HURLEY, M. D. Among her many reasons for civic pride the City of Cleveland names her assemblage of eminent medical men, some of whom have contributed in no small degree to the advancement of medical science in modern days. A member of this able and honored profes- sional body who is held in high esteem here and elsewhere is Dr. Edward Thomas Hurley, physician and surgeon, and a veteran officer of the World war.
Doctor Hurley was born at Oil City, Pennsylvania, January 29, 1881, a son of Dennis and Mary (Hurley) Hurley, both of whom were born in Ireland, the father a native of County Kerry, and the mother of County Clare. They were married in Canada, both having been brought to the Dominion by their parents when young. Later Dennis Hurley and his family came to the United States, and in 1881 resided in Pennsylvania, where he was employed in the oil fields. In 1882 he brought his family to Conneaut, Ohio, where he was engaged in the hotel business for a number of years. His death occurred there in 1899, at the age of fifty-six years. The mother of Doctor Hurley still resides at Conneaut.
Edward Thomas Hurley was reared at Conneaut and was educated in the public schools, being graduated from the high school in 1899. The loss of his father in this year made a necessary change in his plans for the future, and instead of preparing for college and a medical career he went to work in the copper mines of Minnesota, where he continued for five years. After leaving the mines he turned his attention into an entirely different channel, accepting a position as traveling salesman for a Minne- sota milling company, and for several years afterward traveled all through Western territory selling flour.
During this interval Mr. Hurley had never given up his early ambition to enter the medical profession, and now the time had come when he could begin the study of medical science with confidence as to the result, and in 1912 he entered the medical department of Loyola University, at Chicago, Illinois, from which he was graduated in 1916, with his degree of Doctor of Medicine. For one year afterward Doctor Hurley was resident physician in the Jersey City (New Jersey) Hospital, and for six months was resident physician at the New York City Nursery and Children's Hospital. He returned then to Conneaut, where he became surgeon for the New York & Chicago (Nickel Plate) Railroad, with which corporation he has been officially identified ever since.
When the urgent call came from the Government for medical help in time of war Doctor Hurley was one of the first to respond. In 1918 he was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Medical Corps, United States Army, went first to the Officers' Training Camp at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and then was transferred to Camp Forest, Georgia, where he was detailed for overseas duty, but the signing of the armistice with the enemy made further military preparation unnecessary, and Doctor Hurley was soon honorably discharged and mustered out of the service .. He returned to his practice at Conneaut, where he remained until 1920, when he came to Cleveland and opened his offices at 9722 Lorain Avenue. Doctor Hurley is a general practitioner, and his high personal character and professional skill have made him well known in the city, his professional standing being
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further indicated by his membership in the Ohio Medical Society and the American Medical Association.
Doctor Hurley was united in marriage with Miss Grace A. Reilly. a daughter of James Reilly, of Detroit, Michigan. Doctor Hurley was reared in the Catholic Church and is a member of Saint Ignatius parish, Cleve- land, and belongs to the loyal order of church and country-the Knights of Columbus.
GEORGE CHRISTIAN LANG is owner of one of the large furniture and undertaking establishments on the West Side. He has been in business there for a quarter of a century, and has made a notable success in every way. He began business in Cleveland with a small capital, and has been satisfied to develop his enterprise gradually and as time and opportunity warranted.
Mr. Lang was born at Dunkirk, New York, September 27, 1870, son of John A. and Theresa (Fischer) Lang. His parents were both born in Germany, and were brought to the United States when about fourteen years of age. His grandfather, John Lang, and the maternal grandfather, Alois Fischer, settled with their families at Dunkirk, New York, the former becoming a farmer and the latter a carpenter. John A. Lang also followed the business of farming, and died at Dunkirk in 1884, survived by his widow until 1910.
George C. Lang passed his boyhood on his father's farm, and supple- mented the advantages of the country schools by attending school in Dun- kirk. In 1891, at the age of twenty-one, he came to Cuyahoga County, and for two years was a student in the Baldwin-Wallace College at Berea. After finishing his education Mr. Lang spent two years in the stone and coal business at Chicago Junction, Ohio, and for a similar length of time was in the ice and coal business at his old home town at Dunkirk.
It was on April 13, 1897, that Mr. Lang engaged in business at Cleve- land by opening a small furniture store and undertaking establishment on Lorain Avenue, near Clark Avenue. The best proof of his business ability was the steady growth made in both branches by his enterprise. By 1910 he was owner of a business that needed greatly enlarged quarters, and in that year he bought property at the corner of Lorain Avenue and West Ninety-fifth Street and erected a handsome business block, a brick structure three stories and basement, with a frontage of 120 feet, and 125 feet in depth. This gave him floor space of 30,000 square feet, every foot being utilized by his stock and business. In May, 1924, a new store, 90 by 100 feet, was erected at One Hundred and Twenty-second Street and Lorain Avenue, the business having grown very rapidly. Mr. Lang is sole owner of this prosperous establishment.
He is also connected with other business, civic and commercial organiza- tions in his section of the city, being a member of the Advisory Board of the United Bank, a director in the Depositors Savings & Loan Com- pany, was a director in 1922 of the Chamber of Industry, is a member of the Civic League and president of the Board of Trustees of the Bethany Methodist Episcopal Church. He is affiliated with Guyer Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and Idonia Lodge, Independent Order of Foresters.
In 1898, the year after Mr. Lang came to Cleveland, he married
leo .a. Finnerman
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Miss Emma Stocker. Her father, Bartholomew Stocker, died in March, 1923, in his ninety-first year. He was born in Switzerland, and for a long period of years was engaged in farming and dairying at his place on Settle- ment Road, at what is now One Hundred and Thirtieth Street.
FRANCIS WILLIARD DITTRICK, D. P., D. C., a prominent representative of chiropractic in Cleveland, has a successful practice with offices at 9827 Lorain Avenue.
He was born on the West Side of Cleveland, May 7, 1890, son of Roscoe and Ida (Rice) Dittrick. His father was born in Canada and his mother, who is still living, is a native of Pennsylvania. Roscoe Dittrick came to Cleveland when a young man, and for a number of years followed a trade. He then engaged in business as a paving contractor, and for many years was one of the substantial business men and public-spirited citizens of the West Side. He died in November, 1915, at the age of seventy years. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity.
Doctor Dittrick grew up on the West Side of Cleveland, attended public schools there, and was graduated from the Metropolitan Business College. After his business training he moved to Chicago, and for two years was a student in the McFadden School of Physical Culture, from which he received his Doctor of Physics degree, and followed that with the regular course of the National School of Chiropractic in Chicago, where he gradu- ated Doctor of Chiropractics in July, 1914.
Doctor Dittrick then returned to Cleveland, and in the same year took up practice, with offices he now occupies on Lorain Avenue. He is the leading chiropractor in his section of the city, and is a member of the Cuyahoga County Chiropractic Association and the Ohio Chiropractic Association. He is also a member of the West End Business Men's Asso- ciation and belongs to the Episcopal Church.
Doctor Dittrick married Helen M. Fleming, a native of Pennsylvania, and daughter of John and Mary Fleming, now residents of Cleveland. They have one daughter, Frances Marie.
GEORGE AUGUST TINNERMAN, president of the Lorain Street Savings and Trust Company of Cleveland and founder and owner of the substan- tial industrial enterprise conducted under the title of the Tinnerman Stove and Range Company, has by his own ability and efforts won secure standing as one of the representative business men of Cleveland.
Mr. Tinnerman was born in Prussia, on the 10th of April, 1845, and is a son of Henry F. and Sophia (Dryer) Tinnerman, both likewise natives of Prussia, where the former was born in 1797 and the latter in 1820. Henry F. Tinnerman, a wagonmaker by trade, was in his fiftieth year when, accompanied by his wife and their son, George A., of this review, he came to the United States, in 1847. He established his residence at Ohio City, which is now an integral part of the West Side of the City of Cleveland, and shortly after his arrival in Cuyahoga County he purchased a farm not far distant from the present city limits, he having paid in gold the purchase price for this property. In 1850, however, he sold the farm and resumed the work of his trade. He opened a blacksmith and wagon- making shop at what is now the corner of Lorain Street and Fulton Road,
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and this was undoubtedly the first establishment of its kind on what is now the West Side of Cleveland. Mr. Tinnerman, a specially skillful mechanic, did all kinds of general blacksmith work, including the shoeing of both horses and oxen, and in his shop he also manufactured wagons of the most substantial type, his wife having assisted him effectively in the work of the shop by varnishing the wagons after he had painted them. In 1858 Mr. Tinnerman retired again from the work of his trade, and he then removed to another farm, which he then purchased, but two years later he returned to Cleveland, where he continued to maintain his home until his death, in 1880, his widow passing away in 1888, and both having been devout communicants of the First Reformed Lutheran Church. They became the parents of two sons, of whom the subject of this sketch is the elder, the younger son, Henry, being deceased.
George A. Tinnerman was about two years of age at the time of the family immigration to the United States, and in the schools of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, he gained his early education. At the age of sixteen years he entered upon an apprenticeship to the tinner's trade in Cleveland, and after his three years' apprenticeship he followed his trade for a time as a journeyman. He then opened a shop of his own, on the site of his father's old blacksmith and wagon shop, and it is interesting to record that on this site now stands the substantial modern building of the Lorain Street Sav- ings and Trust Company, of which he is the president. In 1867, after having taken a course in a local business college, Mr. Tinnerman engaged in the hardware business, in a building on the site of his former shop, and for more than half a century he here continued successfully established in this line of enterprise as a practical tinsmith and as the owner of a well equipped general hardware store. It is however, as the inventor and the manufacturer of stoves and ranges that Mr. Tinnerman has gained his most noteworthy financial and business success and prestige. He has developed a large and prosperous manufacturing enterprise that is destined to stand as an enduring monument to his ability and his progressiveness. While handling stoves in his hardware store he conceived clear ideas for improv- ing these essential household equipments, and eventually he perfected plans for the production of ranges of wrought steel. He obtained patents on his invention, and after making his first range he commissioned his wife to bring to the store a batch of biscuit dough, which he placed in the heated oven of the new range, with the statement to his wife that in seven minutes the biscuits would be baked and ready to eat. This statement proved true and established the value of his improved mechanism. Then, in a modest way, he initiated the marketing of his ranges. He demon- strated the range to a number of his friends, to each of whom he made a proposition virtually as follows : "Give me $10 and your old stove and I will set up one of my ranges in your kitchen." In most instances his offer was accepted. The new ranges gave full satisfaction, and thus a basis was established for a new manufacturing enterprise of important order. In 1885 Mr. Tinnerman was ready to initiate the manufacture of what are now known as the Ohio Steel Stoves and Ranges. By a judicious system of circularizing literature sent forth into various states the business of the new concern rapidly expanded in scope, a properly equipped factory was built, and for nearly forty years the products of the Tinnerman stove
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and range manufactory have been recognized as representing an important factor in the industrial and commercial activities of Cleveland. While Mr: Tinnerman still retains ownership of the business, its management is now vested entirely in the hands of his son, Albert H., who holds the posi- tion of general manager.
Mr. Tinnerman was one of the organizers and incorporators of the Lorain Street Savings and Trust Company, of which he has served con- tinuously as a director and of which he is now the president, this being one of the substantial, well ordered and important financial institutions of the Ohio metropolis.
Mr. Tinnerman has done much of practical value in the course of his long and active business career, and, in an entirely unostentatious way, has shown also a fine sense of civic stewardship and has done well his part in the furtherance of the civic and material advancement of Cleveland, espe- cially in connection with the development of the West Side. He is honored as a substantial and public-spirited citizen of sterling character and worthy achievement. He and his wife are earnest communicants of the Lutheran Church.
In 1868 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Tinnerman and Miss Caroline Ruley, who was born and reared in Cleveland, and the children of this union were four in number: Emma is the wife of William Tarnutezer, and they have two sons and one daughter; Frank is deceased and is survived by his widow and their two daughters; Albert H., as before noted, is general manager of the Tinnerman Stove and Range Company ; Lillian is the wife of Charles DeBolt, a representative lawyer engaged in practice in the City of Buffalo, New York, and they have three children.
WILLIAM EDWARD DWYER, M. D., is a Cleveland physician and surgeon who early in his practice was called to the army and was on active duty for about a year overseas. He then resumed his work, with the benefit of excep- tional training and experience, and has a large practice in his part of the city.
Dr. William Edward Dwyer was born in Cleveland, at Fifty-fifth and Broadway, January 26, 1889, son of William and Bridget (McGreevey) Dwyer. His parents were born in Ireland, were brought to America when children, were reared and married in Cleveland, and his father for many years has been in the service of the Erie Railway Company. His mother died February 6, 1918, at the age of fifty-eight.
Doctor Dwyer was educated in the public schools of his native city, graduated Bachelor of Arts from Western Reserve University in 1911, and took his medical degree from Western Reserve Medical School in 1914. For about a year after graduating he was an interne at Saint Alexis Hospital.
February 15, 1918, he was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Army Medical Corps, and in March of the same year went overseas, landing at Liverpool. He was assigned to duty with the British Army and detailed for service in Edinburgh Hospital in Scotland. He remained in that historic city for about eight months, and was then ordered to report for duty with the American Forces and was detailed to Base Hospital No. 8 at Savenay, France. March 17, 1919, he sailed for home, was mustered out at Camp Dix, New Jersey, April 26, 1919, and on July 19th of that year resumed
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his professional work in Cleveland. Since returning home he has occupied his present offices at 10132 Lorain Avenue, corner of West Boulevard.
Doctor Dwyer is a member of the Cleveland Academy of Medicine, the Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and also belongs to the American Legion and the Knights of Columbus. Doctor Dwyer married Miss Henrietta Hughes, daughter of Samuel and Esther Hughes, of Cleveland. They have one son, William E., born in 1920.
KARL HOLDEN CHANDLER, M. D., has been engaged in practice as a physician and surgeon on the West Side since he graduated from medical school, except for the period he was in the army service during the World war. His offices are at 9854 Lorain Avenue.
A native of Cleveland, he was born on the West Side, January 21, 1891, son of Leslie L. and Alice J. (Downing) Chandler. His parents were born in Canada, were married there, and first came to Cleveland in 1890. Soon after the birth of Doctor Chandler they returned to Canada, but again settled, this time permanently, in Cleveland in 1897. The father died in 1912 and the mother in 1917.
Doctor Chandler has spent his life in Cleveland since has was six years of age. He attended public schools, graduated from the West High School in 1910, and soon afterward entered the Cleveland Pulte Medical College, where he was graduated Doctor of Medicine in 1914. In further training for the work of his profession he spent six months as an interne in Glenville Hospital and one year in the same capacity in Huron Road Hospital. Following that he opened an office and engaged in general practice.
September 30, 1918, Doctor Chandler was commissioned first lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps, and was soon called to active duty at the hospital at Camp Sherman. At the time of the armistice he was awaiting orders for his command to go overseas. December 24, 1918, he was mus- tered out and honorably discharged, and at once resumed his professional work in Cleveland.
. Doctor Chandler married Caroline Bubel. She was born at West Park, a Cleveland suburb, daughter of Christian and Anna Bubel. Their two children are Karl H., Jr., born in 1916, and Betty Jane, born in 1920.
WILLIAM J. SEMPLE, director of finance for the City of Cleveland, is one of the well known and popular citizens of the Ohio metropolis, and had a successful career in business before he was called to public duties.
He was born in Cleveland, son of William Semple and grandson of James Semple. James Semple, a native of Scotland, came to America when a young man and for ten years lived in Canada, where he married a girl who, like himself, was born in Scotland, and her parents were pioneers of the Province of Ontario. James Semple from Canada moved to New York State and finally spent his last years in Cleveland. William Semple, father of the finance director, was born at Silver Creek, New York, acquired a good education and was one of the first men to qualify for the profession of electrical engineering. For some time he was in the service of the Brush Electric Light Company, and was sent by this corporation to Cincin-
Im. Stischweies.
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nati to install the first electric light plant in that city. After completing that work he returned to Cleveland, and was only forty-two years of age when he died. His wife, Helen MacDonald Hart, was born in Scotland, and died at the age of sixty-eight years. Her parents were Malcolm and Elizabeth Hart. William Semple and wife reared three children : Ruth E., teacher in the public schools of Cleveland, William J. and George Hart.
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