USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 3) > Part 2
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Daniel R. Taylor was born at Twinsburg, Summit County, Ohio, March 28, 1838, coming of Revolutionary stock and of old pioneer Western Reserve ancestry. His parents were Royal and Sarah A. (Richardson) Taylor, his grandfather was Samuel Taylor, and his great-grandfather, also Samuel Taylor, spent his entire life in Massachusetts, where his direct ancestors, the Taylors from Suffolk, England, had settled in the early Colonial days. Four of his sons were soldiers in the American Revolution and also took part in many of the early Indian campaigns.
The Taylor family was founded in Ohio by Samuel Taylor, the grand- father, a native of Massachusetts, who came to the Western Reserve with his wife and eight children and in 1807 established a home at Aurora, in Portage County, where his death occurred shortly after the close of the War of 1812. Of this long overland journey it is related in the family records that Samuel Taylor rode across the Ohio line in probably the first
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carriage or old-time chaise that ever entered the state, but the discovery was soon made that this Massachusetts vehicle had not been constructed strong enough to contend with the difficulties of the roadless, trackless frontier country encountered, and upon finally reaching Youngstown the symbol of luxury was traded for a cow, a transaction spoken of facetiously by Daniel R. Taylor as "probably the best trade the Taylor family ever made." The travelers finally reached Aurora, their destination, but at that time there were absolutely no public roads through Warren County.
Royal Taylor was born at Middlefield, Massachusetts, and accompanied his parents when they removed to Ohio, of which state he became a man of worth and prominence. At the time of his death he was a resident of Ravenna, Ohio, and among the tributes paid to his memory the following is worthy of preservation as family history. "Royal Taylor was a vigorous man, physically and mentally. With the active men of his generation he did much toward developing the Western Reserve in every way. He took an active part in organizing the free soil and republican parties, and in aiding Governors Tod and Brough in caring for veterans of the Civil war. In early days he was of great assistance to his widowed mother, in the meantime taking advantage of every opportunity, limited at the time, to obtain an education, even acquiring a more or less familiar acquaintance with Latin and other higher branches of study, including a fair knowledge of law. As a young man he passed two years as a teacher in Kentucky, where he became a friend of the Marshall and other representative families, and there married his first wife. All of their five children are deceased. After his return to Ohio, Royal Taylor became associated with his brother and another man in the business of transporting cheese to points down the Ohio River by means of flatboats and other primitive means, thus virtually opening the first transport trade to the South from Northern Ohio. After the financial depression of 1837 he was appointed assignee for several merchants who failed in business, and because of his success in handling these affairs he continued in this line of work for several years."
Royal Taylor was married, second, in 1837 to Miss Sarah A. Richardson, whose parents had come to Ohio from Barkhamstead, Connecticut, in 1824 and settled at Twinsburg, her father in all probability having been a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Of the seven children of this marriage Daniel R. was the first born. He has one brother, seven years his junior, William G. Taylor, who is engaged in the real estate business at Cleveland, a lawyer by profession, but never active at the bar.
Daniel Richardson Taylor attended school in boyhood at Chagrin Falls and Bissell Academy at Twinsburg, and early made himself very useful in his father's office, his fine, legible penmanship being utilized in copying deeds, contracts, mortgages and other important legal documents, at the same time giving him a little business experience. In 1856, when the Cleve- land & Mahoning Railroad was opened, Mr. Taylor was appointed station agent at Solon, Ohio, and later served at Aurora in the same capacity, continuing with the railroad for about four years, when he returned to his father's office and took charge of the latter's real estate interests in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, these business matters being of unusual importance at that time on account of the impending war.
In 1862 Mr. Taylor enlisted for military service, entering the Eighty-
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fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which he was made quartermaster, and served as such during the term of his regiment's enlistment, after which he became military agent at Louisville, Kentucky, and then at Nashville, Ten- nessee. Of this important period of his life Mr. Taylor has written: "Here I did the best work of my life, and I remained until we got virtually all of the Union soldiers out of the South."
For about eighteen months after the close of the Civil war Mr. Taylor was associated with his father, who at that time was commissioner of soldiers' claims at Columbus, Ohio, but in November, 1867, he came to Cleveland, and this city has been his home ever since, his business activities having been largely and notably along the line of real estate dealing. In pleasurable looking back over a long and active business life Mr. Taylor has had the following to say: "In the early days my business was of a general commission order, in the opening and selling of allotments; later I became concerned in owning and handling railroad frontage for manu- facturing purposes, with several kinds of railroad fronts in Cleveland, and my business has since continued along that line to a considerable extent. I was purchasing agent for the Pennsylvania Railroad for many years, in the acquiring of real estate in Cleveland and vicinity. Though I have now measurably retired from the vigorous activities that formerly engaged my attention, I still have my own business and am interested in certain other concerns that place no little demand upon my time." Mr. Taylor might have added that in the opinion of his fellow citizens few men of his years are so clear-visioned, encouraging and optimistic in attitude in relation to the beautiful city he has helped to build, and few so unselfishly ready to still lend a helping hand wherever the city's present or future welfare is concerned.
In 1892 Mr. Taylor was largely instrumental in organizing the Cleve- land Real Estate Board, which has become a flourishing and important body. He is president of the Manufacturers Realty Company and of the Harbor View Company, owners of a large amount of valuable real estate, and has been a director and executive officer of a number of local concerns, including the Adams-Bagnell Electric Company. For a half century he has been a member of the Old Stone Church. He is one of the original members of the Union Club and has belonged to others. He has never accepted a political office, but has always been active in the republican party.
JESSE BYRON FAY is senior member of the firm of Fay, Oberlin & Fay, representative patent attorneys in the City of Cleveland, and he has prestige as one of the veteran members of the bar of the Ohio metropolis, where he has been engaged in the practice of his profession nearly forty years.
Mr. Fay was born at Sandusky, Ohio, September 8, 1860, and is a son of the late Byron and Eliza Ada (Williams) Fay, whose marriage was solemnized in the year 1859. Byron Fay was born at Plattsburg, New York, February 6, 1828, and his wife was born at Carbondale, Penn- sylvania, June 28, 1834, a daughter of Jesse and Eliza Maria (Johnson) Williams. Byron Fay gained his early education in the schools of his native place, and at the age of sixteen years he went to Canandaigua, New York, where he took a position in the drug store of one of his
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uncles. He learned the business thoroughly, and eventually he came to Ohio and established himself in the drug business in the City of San- dusky. In 1867 he disposed of his business at that place and removed to Cleveland, where he engaged in the manufacture of inks and mucilage and developed a substantial and prosperous industrial and commercial enterprise. Both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives in Cleveland, and both were devout members of the Euclid Avenue Congre- gational Church, in which he served as a deacon.
Jesse B. Fay was about six years old at the time of the family removal to Cleveland, and here he received his early education in the public schools, including the high school. He was thereafter a student in Hamilton Col- lege, in the State of New York, and in preparation for his chosen pro- fession he entered the law department of the great University of Michigan. He was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1884, and in that year entered the general practice of law in Cleveland. Two years later he began to con- centrate his activities in the domain of patent law, and for many years he has given exclusive attention to this special department of practice, in which he has won authoritative position both at home and abroad. His first professional partnership was with Thomas B. Hall, and after the dissolving of the firm of Hall & Fay he was engaged in individual prac- tice for a number of years. In 1912 he became senior member of the law firm of Fay & Oberlin, and later his two sons, Horace Byron and Thomas Hayes Fay, were admitted to the firm, the title of which has since been Fay, Oberlin & Fay. This firm controls a large and important law business in its special field of practice, and its standing is of the high- est. Mr. Fay is a director of the Cleveland Trust Company and has other financial interests of important order. His hobby, a most worthy and engaging one, is summed up in his fine farm and summer home on the shore of Lake Erie, twenty miles east of Cleveland, and on this ideal place he passes the summer months, vitalizing his physical forces and fortifying himself anew in generous optimistic concern of life and human destiny. He is a member of the Cleveland Patent Law Association, of which he was president in 1918-1919, and he is a member also of the Patent Law Association of Washington, D. C., the American Bar Association, the Ohio State Bar Association and the Cleveland Bar Association. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, including Oriental Commandery of Knights Templar, and he holds membership in the Union and Willowwick clubs of Cleveland.
On the 26th of August, 1886, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Fay and Miss Mary A. Ford, who was born and reared in Cleveland and who is a daughter of the late Horace and Sarah Amelia (Dawes) Ford, who came to this city from Massachusetts and who here passed the remainder of their lives, they having been for many years residents of Cleveland. Mr. and Mrs. Fay have three children. Horace Byron, who was born May 26, 1888, received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Adelbert College of Western Reserve University, and thereafter took a special course in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Both he and his brother are now members of the patent-law firm of Fay, Oberlin & Fay, as previously noted in this context. He married Miss Florence Keating, and they have three children: Horace Byron, Jr., Robert Jesse,
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and Mary Margaret. Thomas Hayes Fay, the second son, was born August 27, 1890, was graduated from the historic Virginia Military Insti- tute, with the degree of Bachelor of Science, and thereafter completed a special post-graduate course in the University of Wisconsin. He married Miss Ervilla Williver, and they have a daughter, Ervilla Williver Fay. Elizabeth, the only daughter of the subject of this review, is a graduate of the Woman's College of Western Reserve University, and is now the wife of James B. Miskell, of Cleveland.
WILLIAM GRANVILLE LEE. As president of the Brotherhood of Rail- way Trainmen William Granville Lee is one of the outstanding figures in the railroad world. For over twenty years he has been a resident of Cleveland, and this community has learned to esteem him not only for his high official position but for his local citizenship. Perhaps no better statement of the pride felt by Cleveland people in their distinguished fellow citizen and also of his official standing in railway labor circles could be found than that expressed in an editorial in the Cleveland News in June, 1922. This editorial read as follows: "Many speeches and reso- lutions could not have furnished such convincing testimony to the good sense and rightmindedness of the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen as the action of that big organization gave when it reelected President W. G. Lee, on the first ballot, in its annual convention at Toronto, Canada. In such matters actions speak much louder than words, and in Cleveland, particularly, where President Lee has lived long enough to be widely known, his character and his personality go far toward guaranteeing reasonableness, conservatism and careful though untiring progress in the affairs of the very large brotherhood at the head of which he has served for thirteen years.
"Organizations of all kinds are naturally and properly judged, in large part, by the officers they choose and the way they reward or punish the work their officers do for them. In this instance the election of President Lee for another term is proof enough that the Railway Trainmen are facing the light and going in the right direction. His defeat would have been an ill omen for his own organization and for the railroad brother- hoods as a group."
William Granville Lee has almost continuously for forty-five years been identified with railroads as a brakeman, switchman or conductor, or as an official of one of the most powerful unions. He was born at LaPrairie, Illinois, November 29, 1859, son of James W. and Sylvesta Jane (Tracy) Lee. His grandfather, William Lee, was a native of Vir- ginia, and of the same original stock that produced some of the most famous characters not only in Virginia, but national history, including Gen. R. E. Lee. William Lee was a pioneer settler in Southern Indiana. James W. Lee, father of William G. Lee, was born in Jeffersonville, Indiana, in 1835, and became a carpenter and contractor. From Jeffer- sonville he moved to LaPrairie, Illinois, and subsequently to Lawrence. Kansas. He and his wife lived there for many years, but from 1912 spent their declining years at Cleveland. James W. Lee died in 1919, and his widow, now in her eighty-sixth year, strong and resourceful for her age, resides at Cleveland. She was born at Coshocton, Ohio. Her father,
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David Tracy, a native of Maryland, as a boy drove a horse on the tow- path of the old Potomac Canal, and later settled at Coshocton, Ohio.
William G. Lee had a public school education in Illinois, and was twenty years of age when he began his eventful experience as a railroad worker. In 1879 he became a brakeman with the Santa Fe Railway, his first run being out of Emporia, Kansas. He was next transferred to the Mountain Division of the Santa Fe, with headquarters at Raton, New Mexico, and in the latter part of 1880 was promoted to freight conductor. He remained in that position, with a run between La Junta, Colorado, and Las Vegas, New Mexico, until June, 1883. This service as a brakeman and conductor on the Mountain Railway was performed under trying conditions such as only comparatively few active railway men can recall as a matter of personal experience. At that time railroading everywhere was a service of unusual hazards, but in the mountain district particularly it was comparatively new and experimental. No trains were equipped with air brakes or automatic couplers or other safety devices. Moreover, the country was filled with a lawless, irresponsible set of men who had no respect for railway property or railway employes. Railroad workers were also compelled to spend part of their time in inhospitable railway terminals of that day. The towns were new, the majority of the residents living in tents, and the principal business was gambling and running saloons. Mr. Lee had his experience in a territory where the cowboy was supreme and ruled things in his own particular, not to say picturesque, way. One of the requirements for train service in those days was that one member of each train crew should have some knowledge of telegraphy. Mr. Lee fortunately had learned the Morse alphabet, and was regarded as something of an operator. This knowledge served its good purpose in securing for him early promotion. During the few months he was employed on the Raton Mountains between Trinidad and Raton he unloaded the first consignment of steel used in the bridges that were con- structed to replace the old wooden structures spanning the streams in that region.
The only important interruption to his continuous service with rail- roads came in the latter part of 1883, when he resigned to become deputy recorder of deeds of Ford County, Kansas. He held that office about three and one-half years. He then resumed his work as a railroad man, beginning again as brakeman and switchman, with the Wabash Railway, after a few months transferred as a brakeman to the Missouri Pacific at Kansas City, and left that company in 1901 to become a brakeman with the Union Pacific Railway at Kansas City, where promotion was more rapid. Five months later he was promoted to conductor, and was a con- ductor on the Union Pacific, running out of Kansas City, until he became first vice president of the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen.
He had become a member of the Brotherhood early in 1889, and immediately became prominent in its affairs. He served as local and gen- eral committeeman and legislative representative, and was a member of the committee that put into effect the first working agreement for con- ductors, brakemen and yardmen with the Missouri Pacific Railway. On August 1, 1895, Mr. Lee assumed the duties of first vice president of the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, and held that office for fourteen years.
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On January 1, 1909, he was elected president, or chief, of the Brother- hood and has rounded out fifteen years of active service in that capacity. When he assumed the office of president the Brotherhood had a member- ship of 100,684, and all funds constituted $1,500,000. On January 1, 1924, the membership had grown to 180,000, with total funds of over $8,250,000.
In 1906 the first collective movement was inaugurated in behalf of train and yard employes in the western territory. For the greater part of the time this work was under the personal direction of Mr. Lee as first vice president of the Brotherhood. The result was increased wages to the men in that section, and much was done toward securing uniformity of wages and service conditions. Mr. Lee in 1904 had personal direction of the first general wage movement in the New York Harbor District, as a result of which substantial increased wages were secured, also improved working rules, for all the men represented by him in that territory, including uniform rates for yard service. Mr. Lee was also in charge of the Pittsburgh yard wage movement in 1906, affecting all the lines enter- ing that city, as a result of which better service conditions and increased wages were secured for yard men in that territory.
Since assuming the office of president of the Brotherhood Mr. Lee has been a principal in all the negotiation of wage increases in the Eastern, Western and Southern territories, and widespread improvement resulted in service and other conditions affecting the members of the Brotherhood. As the editorial above quoted indicates, no 'small measure of this hand- some prosperity and situation is due to Mr. Lee, the grand chief and pres- ident. Mr. Lee has earned the confidence of the railway trainmen, and likewise that of the general public through his conservative yet fearless attitude. During the great strike of 1922 he held his organization strictly to their contract agreement and secured increased respect for the Brother- hood as well as for himself personally as its leader.
Upon the removal of the headquarters of the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen to Cleveland in 1899, Mr. Lee as first vice president established his permanent home in this city. His residence is in Lakewood. In 1912 he brought his parents to Cleveland. For seventeen years he has gen- erously cared for them in their Kansas home, and made their last years most pleasant. While a worker and official of the Union, a generous part of his pay check was mailed direct from the secretary-treasurer of the Brotherhood each pay day to his parents. Whatever success in life he has achieved Mr. Lee credits to the early teachings of his mother.
Mr. Lee was one of the charter members of the Lake-Shore Trust Company of Cleveland, and one of its original board of directors. He is a Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, and is a repub- lican in politics. On October 15, 1901, he married Miss Mary R. Rice, daughter of the late John Rice, of Chicago.
ANDREW SQUIRE recently rounded out a full half century in the practice of law at Cleveland. In the field of business and corporation law his suc- cess has been unqualified. Since 1890 he has been senior member of the firm Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, one of the oldest continuous law partner- ships in Cleveland.
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The golden anniversary of his admission to the Cleveland bar was not allowed to pass unnoticed, and on December 3, 1923, he was the guest of honor at a banquet attended by members of the Cleveland Bar Association and also by many leaders in Cleveland's political, social and industrial life. The embossed testimonial given him by the association at that time reads as follows: "Upon the completion of fifty years of continuous and active practice of his profession, as a member of the bar of Cuyahago County, the Cleveland Bar Association presents to Mr. Andrew Squire this sincere testimonial of appreciation of those services and that character and that conduct with which he has generously honored the profession which honors him.
"May his steadfast adherence to those principles which here made him leading lawyer and leading citizen-beloved by his fellowmen-be an in- spiration to all who would achieve real success."
In the course of the evening many other tributes were paid the veteran attorney, and one that expressed what all his old associates felt was a letter from Chief Justice Taft who wrote: "I have known and loved Mr. Squire for many, many years, longer, perhaps, than he and I are willing to admit. His sense of justice, his sweetness, his serenity, his great abilities, his sense of public duty, his personal charm and his love for his fellowmen are such that I do not wonder that his associates at the bar wish to give this testimony to their high appreciation of his eminent professional and personal qualities as one of the great leaders of the bar of Ohio and Cleveland.
"I am very sure that this evidence of the affection of the fellow mem- bers of his profession will delight his heart, and the more so because of his modesty and the gratified surprise he will feel at your expressions of deep respect and warm affection. It is a source of keen regret that I can- not be with you to take part in this most deserved tribute to half a century of useful professional of community and patriotic service."
Mr. Squire was born at Mantua, Portage County, Ohio, October 21, 1850, son of Dr. Andrew Jackson and Martha (Wilmot) Squire. He is of New England ancestry. Andrew Jackson Squire was born in Ohio in 1815, and practiced medicine for many years in Portage County.
As a youth Andrew Squire purposed to follow the same profession as his father, and for a time he studied medicine until he became convinced that his talents primarily prepared him for the law. He attended the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute at Hiram, and after a period of profes- sional study in Cleveland, he entered Hiram College, where he was gradu- ated Bachelor of Arts in 1872. From Hiram College he went immediately to Cleveland, carrying with him letters from James A. Garfield, then congressman, and Burke A. Hinsdale, president of the college. He did the duties of clerk and janitor in the law office of Andrew J. Marvin and Darius Cadwell, at the same time studying law, and in December, 1873, was admitted to the bar. After Mr. Cadwell went on the bench he became associated in partnership with Andrew J. Marvin. He had several other eminent Cleveland attorneys as associates. He and Judge William B. Sanders and James H. Dempsey established the firm of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey on January 1, 1890. The successful practice of the law has brought him all the achievements and honors craved by a worthy ambition, and he has been only a laymen in politics. Nevertheless he has been a Vol. III-2
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