USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 3) > Part 19
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daughter are married and well established in life, and all are honoring the family name. Of the husband, W. G. Rose, mention is made on other pages of this work.
WILLIS VICKERY, distinguished Cleveland lawyer and jurist, was born at Bellevue, Huron County, Ohio, November 26, 1857, and soon afterward the family home was established on a farm in Erie County, removal having later been made to Sandusky County, where the subject of this review was reared to manhood on the home farm. In 1880 Judge Vickery was gradu- ated in the high school at Clyde, and thereafter he studied law and gave his attention to teaching in the public schools until he entered the law department of Boston University, Massachusetts, in which he was gradu- ated in 1884. In 1885 he formed a law partnership with his brother Jesse, and they opened an office at Bellvue, where the alliance continued until the removal of Judge Vickery to Cleveland, in 1896. Here Judge Vickery continued in the successful practice of his profession until he assumed his place on the bench of the Common Pleas Court of the fourth subdivision of the third judicial district of Ohio. In this office he made a record of emi- nent success, and he has been prominent also in the educational work of his profession, especially in his service as secretary of the Cleveland Law School. On the bench Judge Vickery has been called upon to render deci- sions in many important cases, including a number of major bearing upon the welfare of Cleveland, and he has proved one of the able and repre- sentative members of the Ohio judiciary. He is a republican, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and Knights of Pythias, and is a member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, and is identified with various pro- fessional and social organizations of representative order.
Judge Vickery is known as a bibliophile and a man of exceptional cul- ture and literary ability. He has one of the best private libraries in Cleve- land, is known throughout the United States as an enthusiastic Shake- spearean student, and has given service as president of the New York Shakespeare Society, besides having membership in the Bibliophile Society of Boston, the Carteret Book Club of Newark, New Jersey, and the Rowfant Club of Cleveland. He has served as president of Rowfant Bindery Company, known for its great artistic work in the binding of books. Judge Vickery is a popular lecturer on literary subjects, and there is much call for service in this capacity, besides which he has written and published several books.
By his first marriage Judge Vickery is the father of two sons and one, daughter, the mother, whose maiden name was Anna L. Snyder, having died when the younger son was an infant. The second marriage of Judge Vickery was with Eleanor R. Grant, of Boston, and she died in 1902. In 1904 was solemnized his marriage to Mrs. Rosalie Griggs Mayberry, of Cleveland.
CHARLES HERBERT GARDNER initiated his business career in the City of Cleveland with most modest financial resources, but his vital energy, his initiative ability, and his progressive policies eventually gained to him substantial success and a place of prominence and influence as one of the representative men of affairs in the Ohio metropolis. A more genial and.
Chiffon
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engaging personality and a character expressive of greater integrity and loyalty that significantly marked this sterling and honored citizen, would be difficult to find, and from boyhood until the close of his life Mr. Gardner manifested the qualities that ever beget the supreme measure of popular confidence and good will. It has consistently been said by one of the friends and comrades of Mr. Gardner's youth, that his personality was such that his every acquaintance was destined to be his friend for all time. Mr. Gardner was a native son of the county to which this publication is devoted. He was born in the historic old town of Chagrin Falls, Cuyahoga County, on the 26th of August, 1855, and was a son of Albon and Sarah (White) Gardner, who there continued their residence until their death, the father having had large real estate holdings in and about Chagrin Falls and having for many years been there engaged in the insur- ance business, in connection with the supervision of his real estate interests.
After having duly profited by the advantages of the public schools of his native place Mr. Gardner further fortified himself by completing a course in the Spencerian Business College in the City of Cleveland. His first employment was in the private bank conducted at Chagrin Falls by E. B. Pratt, and he was about twenty-five years of age when, with very limited capital, he organized in Cleveland the Globe Oil Company, of which he became president and manager. By close application and indefatigable energy he developed for his company a substantial and prosperous business in the buying and distributing of oil, and eventually the concern was merged with the National Oil Company, with which he continued his alliance until he sold his interest in the corporation and business. He then turned his attention to the wholesale and retail flour business, pur- chasing the interest of Donmeyer, Gardner & Company corporation, of which he continued the president and general manager until his death, which occurred December 6, 1920. He made this one of the leading concerns of its kind in the Cleveland metropolitan district, and became interested also in other local business enterprises of important order. He became a stockholder and executive of the City Ice Company about the time of its organization, and was active in the development of this company's ex- tensive business, now one of the largest of the sort in the entire United States. He was a member of the first Board of Directors of the Dow Chemical Company, and became the first president of the Federal Mort- gage & Finance Company, with both of which corporations he continued his connection until the close of his life.
Mr. Gardner, ever loyal and liberal in his civic attitude and well fortified in his opinions concerning political and economic affairs, had no ambition for public office, but was aligned staunchly in the ranks of the republican party. He was a most earnest, zealous and liberal member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as is also his widow, and it was in their home, at 14965 Euclid Avenue, where Mrs. Gardner still resides, that the Windermere Methodist Episcopal Church was organized, the new church edifice having been dedicated in 1908. Mr. Gardner was called upon to serve in virtually all of the laymen's offices of his church, and was for a long term of years chairman of the Board of Trustees of the same. With the finest of social instincts and with deep appreciation of the ideals that represent the best in human thought and motive, Mr.
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Gardner enjoyed greatly his association with his fellowmen, but his in- terests ever centered in his home, every relation of which was of idyllic order.
On the 28th of May, 1885, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Gardner and Miss Hattie E. Vaughn, daughter of the late William A. and Sarah (Mossman) Vaughn, of Greenville, Pennsylvania, and she has long been a loved figure in church and social circles in the community that has' represented her home for more than thirty-five years. Mr. and Mrs. Gardner became the parents of four children, three of whom survive the honored father : Lawrence, who resides in the City of New York, married Miss Percita West, of that city, and they have one daughter, Fernande ; Eugene, who likewise resides in the national metropolis, married Miss Mary Oughton, of Chicago, and they have two children, Dana and Eugene, Jr .; Marjorie is the wife of Mills G. Clark, and they reside in Cleveland ; and Grace is at home
FAYETTE BROWN was one of the most venerable and honored citizens of Cleveland at the time of his death, and had made large contribution to the civic and material advancement of the Ohio metropolis. 'He was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, December 17, 1823, and after receiving good educational advantages, as gauged by the standards of the locality and period, he became a clerk in a wholesale hardware establishment in Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, he having eventually become a partner in the business. In 1851 he became a resident of Cleveland, where he became junior mem- ber of the banking firm of Mygatt & Brown. In 1857 he assumed full control of the business, but at the inception of the Civil war he closed his bank and became a paymaster in the United States Army. Personal inter- ests necessitated his resignation the following year, and upon his return to Cleveland he became general agent and manager for the Jackson Iron Company, a position which he retained until December, 1887. He became one of the prominent representatives of the iron industry and was foremost in making Cleveland a great iron center. He became president of the Union Screw Company, the Brown Hoisting Machinery Company, the National Chemical Company, and the G. C. Kuhlanan Car Company, was made chairman of the Stewart Iron Company, Ltd., and was a member of the firm of H. H. Brown & Company, one of the large iron-ore con- cerns of the country. His was a loyal and noble personality, and his name merits high place on the roll of those prominently concerned in the upbuilding of Cleveland.
In 1847 Mr. Brown married Miss Cornelia C. Curtiss, of Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, and they became the parents of three sons and two daughters, two of the sons having, like their father, become prominent representatives of the iron trade in Cleveland.
MYRON T. HERRICK, a former governor of Ohio and former United States ambassador to France, was born at Huntington, Ohio, October 9, 1855, and his early educational advantages included those of Oberlin Col- lege and Ohio Wesleyan University, the latter of which conferred upon him in 1899 the honorary degree of Master of Arts. In 1915 he received from Princeton University the degree of Doctor of Laws.
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Mr. Herrick was admitted to the bar in 1878, and continued in the practice of his profession in Cleveland until 1886, when he became secre- tary and treasurer of the Society for Savings, of which Cleveland institu- tion he was made president in 1894. His business connections have involved also his service as vice president of the National Carbon Company. He was a member of the City Council of Cleveland in the period of 1895-98.
Mr. Herrick has long held much of leadership in the affairs of the republican party in Ohio, and has been a delegate to many of the national conventions of the party, as well as a member of the republican state execu- tive committee of Ohio, and member of the republican national committee. He served as a member of the staff of Governor McKinley, with the rank of colonel, and was himself governor of Ohio in 1903-06. From February 15, 1912, to December, 1914, he was United States ambassador to France. He has been trustee and treasurer of the Mckinley National Memorial Association, is a former president of the American Bankers' Association, and was a commissioner of the Centennial Celebration in New York. In 1880 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Herrick to Carolyn M. Parmely, of Dayton, Ohio.
SAMUEL ELADSIT WILLIAMSON long held place as one of the distin- guished members of the bar of his native city and state, and made also a record of able service on the bench of the common pleas court of Cuyahoga County, his service having been of only two years' duration, as other large and important interests put a greater claim upon his attention.
Judge Williamson was born in Cleveland April 19, 1844, and his father, Samuel Williamson, was a leading member of the Cleveland bar for many years. In 1864 Judge Williamson was graduated from Western Reserve College, and in 1866 he was graduated from Harvard Law School. In Feb- ruary, 1867, he became associated with his father in the practice of law in Cleveland, and thereafter he had other professional alliances. In 1880 he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and this office he resigned in September, 1882, to become general counsel for the Nickel Plate Railroad, a position which he retained many years. He served as a trustee of Adelbert College of the Western Reserve University from shortly after his gradua- tion therein until the time of his death. He was one of the founders of the University School of Cleveland and was president of its board of trustees from 1890 until his death. He served, as had his father and pater- nal grand father, as a director of the Merchants Bank of Ohio, was a trustee of the Cleveland Society for Savings, and he became a director and vice president of several of the corporations connected with the New York Cen- tral's system of railroads, besides being a director of the Western Reserve Trust Company. He served as president of the First Presbyterian Church organization of Cleveland, was a trustee of Lakeside Hospital, and he was an honored member of representative professional organizations, as well as of leading clubs of Ohio and New York, besides having been a member of the executive committee of the Eastern Railroad Association. His was a life of high ideals and noble stewardship, and his name merits a place of distinction on the pages of Ohio history.
Judge Williamson married Miss Mary P. Marsh in 1878, and she died
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in 1881, survived by two daughters. In 1884 Judge Williamson married Miss Harriet W. Brown, and the one child of this union was a son.
FREDERICK H. GOFF, lawyer and financier, was president of the Cleve- land Trust Company at the time of his death, and also vice president of the Cleveland Terminal & Valley Railroad Company, and the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling Railroad Company.
Mr. Goff was born in Kane County, Illinois, December 15, 1858, and in advancing his education along higher academic lines he entered the University of Michigan, in which he was graduated in 1881, with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. He was admitted to the Ohio bar in June, 1883, and thereafter he continued the practice of his profession in Cleve- land until 1908, when he retired, shortly after being elected president of the Cleveland Trust Company. At the time of his retirement from the practice of law he was president of the Cleveland Bar Association. In 1903 he was elected mayor of the suburban town of Glenville. He was a repub- lican in politics and was a member of the Unitarian Church. He held mem- bership in the Union, Rowfant and Country clubs. In 1894 Mr. Goff married Miss Frances Southworth, and they became the parents of one son and two daughters.
JAMES HUMPHREY HOYT was at the time of his death one of the dis- tinguished members of the bar of his native City of Cleveland, his birth having here occurred November 10, 1852. In 1874 he was graduated from Brown University with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and in 1877 he received from the law school of Harvard University his degree of Bachelor of Laws. He forthwith engaged in the practice of his profession in Cleveland, where he made a record of large and worthy achievement and gained priority as one of the representative members of the Cuyahoga County bar. He was long the senior member of the law firm of Hoyt, Dustin, Kelley, McKeehan & Andrews. He was general counsel of the Hocking Valley Railway, and was secretary of the Lake Superior & Ish- peming Railway, and the Munising, Marquette & Southeastern Railway. He was an active member of the American Bar Association and other pro- fessional organizations, and was a Government delegate to the Universal Congress of Lawyers and Jurists held in connection with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1904. In 1885 was solemnized his marriage to Miss Jessie L. Taintor, of Cleveland.
HENRY GILBERT RENKER. One of the progressive business men of Cleveland is Henry G. Renker, president of the Ideal Products Company, who is a native of this city and is descended from one of the old families of Brooklyn Township (now Cleveland) where three generations of his family have had active part in the business and civic affairs.
His grandfather, Henry Renker, who was born in Germany on September 19, 1808, came to the United States as a young man, then went to Mexico, where for a few years he owned and operated a coffee planta- tion. While in Mexico he married Bertha Schlechterway, who was born in Germany, January 21, 1811. From Mexico they came North to Ohio, living for a time in Lorain County, and then moving to Cuyahoga County,
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Julius Renker
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and settled in the village of Brighton, now within the Cleveland city limits. He was a cooper by trade, and at Brighton he established one of the early cooper shops and continued active in that business the rest of his life. He died December 6, 1879. His wife died October 3, 1869.
Julius Renker, son of Henry, and father of Henry G., was born in Brighton, Brooklyn Township, September 2, 1848, and lived for three-quar- ters of a century in that section of the city. From his father he learned the cooper's trade, and was actively associated with him and succeeded to the business upon his death and carried it on until 1886, when he became a contractor and builder, and continued in that line of business until he re- tired. For six consecutive years he served as assessor of Brooklyn Town- ship, and for a number of years was on the village board of health before Brighton was consolidated with Cleveland. He is a member of Riverside Lodge, Knights of Pythias, is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a member of the Lutheran Church. May 28, 1873, he married Eva C. Kline, who was born in Parma Township, Cuyahoga County, daughter of Philip and Mary (Messersmith) Kline, early settlers of Parma. It is one of the interesting evidences of the development of Cleveland in a business way, that the business offices now occupied by Ideal Products Company, at one time was the residence of the Renker family, and it was in this structure that Henry G. Renker was born on April 9, 1881. He acquired his education in the graded and high schools, attended business college, and his first employ- ment was with a lumber company. Subsequently he took up building work and did an independent business in building houses for a time. From that he engaged in the manufacture of cement building blocks under the firm name of the Renker Stone Company, from which the Ideal Products Company has been developed.
Mr. Renker is a director in several other corporations, including the Independent Brick and Tile Company, The Brooklyn Mortgage Company and The State Mortgage Company. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Industry, the Cleveland Builders Exchange, and Brooklyn Lodge No. 426, Knights of Pythias.
Mr. Renker married Miss May E. Ingham, who was born in the Village of Brighton, the daughter of Albert and Lucy D. (Eldridge) Ingham. Mr. and Mrs. Renker have four children: Irwin, born December 26, 1901; educated in the public schools and West Technical School, and is in charge of all equipment repairs of the Ideal Products Company ; Myrtle May, born September 25, 1905, graduate of Brooklyn Heights High School; Howard Henry, born December 5, 1906, graduate of Brooklyn Heights High School, is in the office of the Ideal Products Company ; Eva Electa, born June 30, 1917.
JULIUS RENKER. To have lived in one community his entire life, to have witnessed the development of that community from a small village into an important section of a great city and, best of all, to have had an active part in that development, is the experience of Julius Renker, one of the most highly respected citizens of the South End of the City of Cleve- land, where he was born and where he has spent the seventy-six years of his busy and honored life. .
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Mr. Renker was born in the village of Brighton, Brooklyn Township, Cuyahoga County, on September 2, 1848, the son of the late Henry and Bertha (Schlechterway) Renker. His father was born in Germany, on September 19, 1808, and came to this country when he was a young man. He later went down into Mexico, where he purchased land and for several years was engaged in growing coffee on his own plantation. There he met and married his wife, Bertha, who was born in Germany, on January 21, 1811. Selling his plantation in Mexico, Mr. Renker and wife came north into Ohio, lived for a time in Lorain County, and then settled in the Village of Brighton, Brooklyn Township, Cuyahoga County. He had learned the cooper's trade in his native country, and upon locating in Brighton he opened one of the very earliest cooper shops in that part of the county, and continued in business the remainder of his life. His wife preceded him to the grave, she having died on October 3, 1869, while his death occurred on December 6, 1879. To Henry and Bertha Renker the following children were born: Franzisco, born.September 30, 1837, died January 16, 1838; Hermina, born August 10, 1839, died June 22, 1915, married John Penning ; Amelia, born February 27, 1842, married Martin Lind; Herman, born May 21, 1844, died in July, 1910; Matilda, born July 2, 1846, married Herman Brantmiller ; Julius, born September 2, 1848; Bertha, born Janu- ary 30, 1850, married Charles Love; Emma, born June 17, 1852, died January 12, 1910, married Gilbert Livingston, and Louise, born June 18. 1855, died November 26, 1919, married Joseph Stafford.
Julius Renker attended the village schools and learned the cooper's trade under his father. He continued in his father's shop, and upon the death of the latter he succeeded to the business and continued to conduct the same until 1886. In that year he engaged in contracting and building, developed a large business, and continued successfully until he retired from active business.
During his active life he was interested and took an active part in public affairs. For six consecutive years he served as assessor of Brooklyn Township, and also served as a member of Brighton Village Board of Health until the village became a part of the City of Cleveland. He was a charter member of Riverside Lodge, Knights of Pythias, is a member of the Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Lutheran Church. A man of rugged strength of character, of finest moral fiber, enterprising and public spirited, his life has been that of the good citizen and careful business man, and now, in the evening of his long and useful life, he enjoys the genuine respect of the community of which he has so long been an honored and useful member.
On May 28, 1873, Mr. Renker was united in marriage with Eva C. Kline, who was born in Parma Township, Cuyahoga County, the daughter of Philip and Mary (Messersmith) Kline. Her parents were born in Germany, came to this country in their young days, and after marriage settled on the old State Road in Parma Township, where they spent the remainder of their long lives. The father died in July, 1894, at the age of seventy-two years; the mother died in August, 1904, at the age of seventy- eight years.
To Mr. and Mrs. Renker the following children have been born: Luella, born July 29, 1874, died August 24, 1877 ; Julia B., born June 24,
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1876, died May 8, 1914, married David J. Guscott; Henry G. (see biog- raphy preceding this), and Franklin, born June 4, 1888.
CHARLES FRANCIS BRUSH, a distinguished Ohio scientist and inventor, was born at Euclid, Ohio, March 17, 1849, and was a resident of Cleveland at the time when he made the series of experiments that brought about the practical development of electric arc lighting, he having been a pioneer in the investigation of electric lighting, and having invented, in 1878, the Brush electric arc light.
Mr. Brush received from the University of Michigan the degree of Mechanical Engineer, in 1869, and in 1899 the honorary degree of Master of Science. Western Reserve University has given him the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Laws, which latter honorary degree was likewise conferred upon him by Kenyon College, while in 1912 the University of Michigan gave him the degree of Doctor of Science. He made the fundamental invention of the storage battery and was a pioneer in inventing other devices essential to modern electrical engineering. He was the founder of the Brush Electric Company, founder and first president of the Linde Air Products Company, became president of the Cleveland Arcade Company in 1887, was a corporator of the Case School of Applied Science, and has served as trustee of Western Reserve University, Adelbert College, the University School and the Cleveland School of Art. In 1881 he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, France; and in 1899 he received the Rumford medal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has membership in the American Physical Society and the American Philosophical Society, is a fellow of the American Asso- ciation for the Advancement of Science. He had been a valued member of the Ohio State Board of Commerce, and has served as president of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. He has membership in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Institute of Electrical Engi- neers, the Archæological Institute of America, the American Historical Association, the National Electric Light Association, the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, the American Chemical Society, the Royal Society of Arts, besides being affiliated with leading clubs and other social and scientific organizations.
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