USA > Ohio > Summit County > Centennial history of Summit County, Ohio and representative citizens > Part 101
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William F. Keller's education was obtained in the public schools at Wooster. When eighteen years of age he came to Akron, where he followed teaming and other occupations for
a time. In 1880 he went to work in a brick- yard, learning the trade with Arthur Bartges, and later he worked for the Cooper Brick Company. In 1890 he decided to go into busi- ness for himself, and, in partnership with his brothers, leased the present plant. The busi- ness has constantly increased and has been ex- panded into one of the large and prospering concerns of Portage Township.
Mr. Keller, as above noted, married Hattie L. Seigfried, who is a daughter of Isaac Sieg- fried, of Akron, and they have five children, namely: Pearl, who is bookkeeper for the Keller Brick Company, and wife of Albert Phelps, who is employed by the firm; and Earl L., Claude, Helen and Ada. Mrs. Kel- ler is a member of Trinity Reformed Church of Akron. In politics, Mr. Keller is a Repub- lican. Fraternally, he is connected with the Modern Woodmen.
FREDERICK WOOD, a highly respected citizen of Akron, and a pioneer resident of Summit County, whose business life at Penin- sula covered more than fifty years, was born in County Wicklow, Ireland, in 1828, his par- ents being Nesbitt and Eliza (Morton) Wood.
In 1835 the parents of Mr. Wood came to America with their children. They lived for two years in Michigan and then removed to Ohio, settling in Boston Township, Summit County. There the father died in 1863 and was survived five years by his wife.
From the age of eighteen years, when he entered into business, until his final retire- ment, Mr. Wood's whole life was given to mercantile pursuits. After several years of training in the stores of the village of Bos- ton, in 1853 Mr. Wood embarked in business for himself at Peninsula, with which place he was identified for over a half century. He served in many of the township and town of- fices, for over twenty years was postmaster, and was the promoter and backer of many of the successful enterprises of the place. For twenty years or more he operated a stone quarry in Boston Township. With his re- tirement front active business life and removal to Akron he severed many ties at Peninsula.
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In 1854 Mr. Wood was married to Char- lotte M. Barnhart, who was born June 19, 1836, at Peninsula, where she died October 22, 1890. She was a daughter of Jacob and Rhoda (Bronson) Barnhart, the former of whom was born in New York and became a resident of Peninsula in 1833. He died Jan- uary 26, 1874, one of Summit County's most respected citizens. The mother of Mrs. Wood was born in Connecticut, in 1800, and she was a daughter of Hermon and Molly (Hickox) Bronson. There were four children born to Frederick Wood and wife, namely: Anna C., Stella A., Minnie E. and Frederick C. The eldest daughter died in womanhood and the third daughter died in infancy. Stella A. married H. L. Cross, of Cleveland and they have three children. Frederick C. is a promi- nent citizen of Akron. An adopted daughter of Mr. Wood, Mrs. Julia E. Moody, resides in the old Wood homestead at Peninsula.
Mr. Wood has been a member of the Epis- copal Church since boyhood and, with his wife, was very active in church work for years, the latter being organist and leader of the choir. She was a lady of many accomplish- ments and lovely character and her death was a loss, not only to her family, but to her church and community. Mr. Wood is a member of the Masonic fraternity.
EDWARD COATES, a successful business citizen of Cuyahoga Falls, who has shown en- terprise and ability, not only in one trade, but in several, carries on two distinct industries on his property at the north end of Second Street in this city. His greenhouses cover a large space and his florist business is flourish- ing, while he has had his own blacksmith shop in operation for a number of years. Mr. Coates was born at Simcoe, County Norfolk, Ontario, Dominion of Canada, November 8, 1856, and is a son of Thomas and Jane (Alderson) Coates.
Thomas Coates was born at Richmond, Yorkshire, England, in 1819. and died in 1883. He was a carriage-maker by trade, and after emigrating to Canada, settled at Simcoe, where he did a large business and gained an
extended reputation as a carriage and wagon manufacturer. He retired from active busi- ness about eight years before his death. In the management of municipal affairs at Sim- coe he was very prominent, holding numer- ous responsible offices, and at the time of his death was acting mayor. His children were: Joseph, residing at Simcoe; Maria, who mar- ried Francis Hurt; Thomas, residing at Sim- coe; Edward, and George. Maria and George are both deceased. The family was reared in the faith of the Episcopal Church.
Edward Coates attended the common schools and during his vacations he learned the wood-working trade with his father, and by the time he was sixteen years of age he lad a working knowledge of wagon-making. Ile then learned carriage-ironing and for sev- pral years was thus employed in some of the best shops at Simcoe. Following this he formed a partnership with his brother Joseph under the firm name of J. & E. Coates, for the manufacture of wagons and carriages, and the firm also engaged in undertaking. Edward Coates continued as a member of this firm un- til 1880, when he withdrew to give his entire attention to horseshoeing. For some years previous he had had considerable practice in this line, and had acquired enough skill to make him feel confident of success. After securing a diploma from the Toronto Veteri- nary College as a horse farrier, he opened a shop at Simcoe.
In the latter part of 1883 Mr. Coates came to Cuyahoga Falls and started into business for himself, at Northampton. Shortly after- ward he removed to Munroe Falls, where he remained until 1885, when he returned to Cuyahoga Falls and entered into partnership with Joseph Jones, under the firm name of Jones & Coates, in the business of horseshoe- ing and general repairing. Several years later Mr. Coates bought the interest of Mr. Jones and continued alone until 1899, when he pur- chased the business of F. D. Vogan, and after that was the only proprietor and operator of a shop of this kind at Cuyahoga Falls for four years. Mr. Coates prospered so well that he decided to expand his facilities and, accord-
PAUL E. WERNER
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ingly, moved to his present site on Second Street, building his present commodious and well-equipped shop. He still does a very large business in this line.
In his boyhood Mr. Coates had worked at times in a florist's establishment, and finding the work congenial, had subsequently re- solved, now that he had the time, to take up floriculture as a business. 1904 he built his first greenhouse, a struc- ture 14 by 60 feet, intending to run it as a kind of side issue, but he succeeded so well and his trade increased so rapidly that in 1905 he built another greenhouse, 20 by 60 feet in dimensions, and he now devotes about three acres to plants and flowers. He deals mainly in bedding plants and finds a ready local mar- ket for all he can produce. Beginning this business more for recreation than for profit, Mr. Coates has developed it into something very important and remunerative.
Mr. Coates was married to Mary A. Mon- teith, who is a daughter of William Monteith, of Simcoe, Ontario, but who was born in County Donegal, Ireland. They have two children, Edward M., residing at Cleveland. and Ruth M. The family belong to St. John's Episcopal Church, in which Mr. Coates has served two terms as a member of the vestry. His fraternal connections are with the Na- tional Union, being secretary of the local council, and of the Modern Woodmen of America, being a charter member of the or- ganization at Cuyahoga Falls.
PAUL E. WERNER, founder, president and general manager of the Werner Company, at Akron, book manufacturers, lithograph- ers, printers and engravers, and also publish- ers of the New Werner Edition of the Ency- clopaedia Brittannica. has been in active busi- ness life in this city for a great many years. Mr. Werner was born in 1850, in Wurtein- berg, Germany, a kingdom that has con- tributed to America some of her leading citi- zens, and came to the United States in 1867.
Mr. Werner came to Akron as a boy of sev- enteen years and until 1874 he was employed in clerical positions with different business
firms, in the meanwhile preparing himself and laying the foundations for a business of his own. In the above mentioned year he purchased the Akron Germania, and in four years had made such progress that he felt justified in enlarging his scope of operations, in 1878 founding the Sunday Gazette, and also the Akron Tribune, daily and weekly. The management of all these journals he kept in his own hands until 1884. Pressure of other business then induced Mr. Werner to dis- pose of his newspapers, and he then turned his entire attention to general printing, bind- ing and engraving. In 1888 Mr. Werner or- ganized a stock company which was the fore- runner of the present great book factory, which represents, in a special degree, the de- velopment of the ideas and the persevering industry and foresight of its founder.
.Among the many prospering business en- terprises of Akron few are more widely known, and still fewer are of equal import- ance to this section than the Werner Com- pany, the officers of which are men of capital, public spirit and unblemished integrity. They are: Paul E. Werner, president and general manager; R. M. Werner, vice-president and assistant treasurer; C. I. Bruner, treasurer ; Karl Kendig, secretary; H. M. Huddleston, assistant secretary; and Edward P. Werner, general superintendent.
The Werner Company is by far the largest and most complete book factory on the Amer- ican Continent. It comprises under one roof, so to speak, and under one management, all the graphic arts and trades. It furnishes di- rectly and indirectly the material means of livelihood for from 4,000 to 5.000 Akron in- habitants. The great majority of the em- ployees of the Werner Company are skilled in trades and arts and receive high compensa- tion. During the year 1906 the works of the Werner Company were in uninterrupted oper- ation and a great part of the time were run- ning thirteen hours daily. In order to form an idea of the magnitude of this great in- dustry the following will be of interest: Dur- ing that year this company purchased and re- ceived raw material and shipped finished
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products representing the full capacity of 1,200 railroad cars. The products included more than 3,000,000 of large books; more than 15,000,000 of large and finely-illustrated catalogs made for the largest manufacturing concerns of this country, and millions of other printed, lithographed and engraved articles. If the books alone which were manufactured by the Werner Company last year were laid on one pile alone, one on top of the other, this pile would reach ninety-six miles into the air. If these books were laid side by side, they would constitute a line 500 miles long.
The raw materials consumed during the past year comprise 3,500 different kinds, the largest consumption being in paper, cloth, leather, gold and ink. A little calculation will show how immense has been the output. If the paper consumed for only the past year were laid in sheets, side by side, they would reach around the world four times. The binders' cloth consumed for this period meas- ured 5,000,000 square feet. The different kinds of leather consumed required the skins of 25,000 cattle, 30,000 sheep, and 36,000 Persian and Morocco goats. Over 3,000,000 leaves of gold were consumed.
While the principal product of this factory is books, the Werner Company has a world- wide reputation for furnishing fine commer- cial work, typographic as well as lithographic, and catalogs of every description, and of this particular kind of product it makes more than any other concern in the United States.
President Werner of the above company has numerous other interests in city and county and has been the encourager of many of the enterprises which needed a helping hand when getting established. He is presi- dent of the Klages Coal and Ice Company, is president of the Akron Germania Company. and also of the German-American Company.
On February 22, 1873, Mr. Werner was married to Lucy Anna Denaple, and they have three sons-Edward Paul. Frank Albert and Richard Marvin. All three were educated at Kenyon Military Academy, at Gambier, Ohio, subsequently attended schools in the East, and finally completed their gen-
eral educations in Germany. Edward Paul, who is the general superintendent of the Werner Company, was married in 1901 to Harriet Poellman, and they have three chil- dren: Frank Albert, residing at Berlin, Ger- many, has made a reputation, at the age of thirty years, as a portrait artist; and Richard Marvin, who is vice-president and assistant treasurer of the Werner Company, married Eda R. Hyndman, and they have one child. Their home is at No. 282 West Market Street.
Although Mr. Werner's life has been main- ly devoted to his large business interests, he is recognized as one of the foremost public- spirited men in the community. His influ- ence is felt in the furtherance of educational and philanthropic movements at Akron.
T. DWIGHT PAUL, assistant state engi- neer, was born at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, July 21, 1848. He is a son of the late Hosea Paul, who was a pioneer citizen and surveyor. Hosea Paul was born at Northfield, Vermont, April 6, 1809. In 1834 he removed to Cuyahoga Falls, where he afterward served as justice of the peace and mayor. He located several of the first railroads in this section, and was county surveyor for many years. During 1863-4 he served as an assistant engineer in the United States Engineer Corps department of the Army of the Cumberland. His death in 1870 was hastened by hardships endured in his war service. He was noted for his rugged honesty, and for his outspoken opposi- tion to slavery and intemperance, when it re- quired courage to express such sentiments.
T. Dwight Paul was educated in the public schools at Cuyahoga Falls and the Pennsyl- vania Polytechnic College at Philadelphia. He was married in 1877 to Emeline Owens, of Armstrong's Mills, Belmont County, Ohio. Two children were born to them: Ethel. who died in 1900. at the age of twenty-one years. and Frank D. Paul, a graduate of the Ohio State University, who is now a mechanical en- gineer at Cleveland. They have two foster children. Theresa and Lewis Paul, whom they took to raise upon the death of their daughter.
Mr. Paul served one year as county surveyor
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by appointment and for three years was resi- dent engineer of the Public Works of Ohio, and for one year was United States deputy mineral surveyor, of Montana. He was chief engineer of the B. Z. & C. R. R. in 1875-6, building the same from Bellaire to Woodsfield, Ohio. He has served as division engineer of the Canada Southern, Chicago, Lakeshore & Western, the Chicago & Erie, the Union Pa- cific, and other railroads, in Canada, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Kansas, Nebraska, Idaho, Montana and Washington.
In 1902-3 he was engineer in charge of con- struction of the Akron & Barberton Belt Rail- road. In 1894-5 he had charge of the field work of the survey of a proposed ship canal through Ohio for the United States govern- ment.
Mr. Paul served in the Akron City Coun- cil from 1898 to 1901. He twice prevented the Akron Street Railroad from obtaining an extension of their franchise on a 5-cent fare basis, and compelled a basis of twenty-five tickets for one (1) dollar. He was very large- ly instrumental in securing independent tele- phone service for Akron. He made a remark- able record in opposition to all franchise ag- gression, and to all forms of hasty or secret legislation, often voting alone in his opposi- tion. Mr. Paul has still work to do before his history closes, and his friends believe it will not be unimportant.
WARD B. MIDDLETON, physician and surgeon at Cuyahoga Falls, and proprietor of "The Elms," a private hospital, is an eminent member of his profession, for which he pre- pared by long courses of study in the most ad- vanced scientific schools of the country. Dr. Middleton was born in Jackson Township, Coshocton County, Ohio, October 24, 1858, and is a son of Jesse and Susan A. (Titus) Middleton. Ignatius Middleton, the paternal grandfather of Dr. Middleton, was born in South Carolina, where he owned a large plan- tation and was one of a distinguished family, his uncle, Arthur Middleton, being one of the signers of the Declaration of Independ- ence.
Jesse Middleton, father of Dr. Middleton. was born in South Carolina and was a son of Ignatius and Sarah (Loomis) Middleton. He died in Coshocton County, Ohio, in 1886, aged seventy-six years. He had long been en- gaged in farming and stock-raising. In poli- tics he was a stanch Democrat. He married Susan A. Titus, who was a daughter of Tim- othy Titus, of Harrison County, and she re- sides at Roscoe, Ohio, being now in her eighty- sixth year. They had five children, namely : William C., residing on the old homestead; Caroline, who married John Norris and resides in Coshocton County; Frances L., who mar- ried Henry Ash and resides at Roscoe, Ohio; Bessie (deceased), who married Dr. G. S. Morris, of Arkansas City, Kansas; Ward B., the youngest, whose name begins this sketch. Jesse Middleton and his wife were early pro- moters of the Presbyterian Church in Coshoc- ton County.
In boyhood Dr. Middleton attended first the local schools and later the Normal school at Ada, and a school at Cannonsburg, Pennsyl- vania. He taught school for seven years, dur- ing which period he entered upon the study of medicine, beginning to read in 1880 under Dr. W. C. Frew, of Coshocton. He subse- quently entered the Medical College of Ohio, at Cincinnati, where he was graduated March 5, 1885. He began the practice of his profes- sion at Roscoe, where he remained for eigh- teen months, then practiced for one year at Newark, after which he became examining surgeon for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, for four years residing at Pittsburg, and for the latter four years of this connection at Akron. Dr. Middleton retired from railroad practice in 1899, since which time he has mainly devoted himself to surgery, residing at Cuyahoga Falls, where, in February, 1905, he opened his private hospital. This medi- cal retreat which he has named "The Elms" is a modern institution, beautifully located and thoroughly equipped, with accommoda- tions for ten patients, all of whom come di- rectly under Dr. Middleton's personal care.
Dr. Middleton is a member of the Summit County Medical Society and the American
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Medical Association. IIe keeps closely in touch with the progress of his profession and makes use of such perfected apparatus as his own knowledge and experience have proved to be of value. In 1898 he passed three months in the New York Polyclinic Hospital, doing post-graduate work in surgery and gynecol- ogy; in the fall of 1899 he spent three weeks in the Chicago Clinical School; in the fall of 1900 he took a special course in gynecology at the Mary Thompson Hospital, Chicago, un- der Dr. Byron Robinson, and at the same time he took an operative course in the post-grad- uate school in the same city, which he has vis- ited since. .
Dr. Middleton married Clara R. Wood, who is a daughter of II. H. Wood, of Coshocton County, and they have two children, namely : Louise A. and Margaret L. Dr. Middleton is nominally identified with the Democratic party, but is practically independent in political action. He is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church.
HARRY W. HAROLD, one of the sub- stantial retired residents of Akron, where he has lived for the past twenty-seven years, was born at Maidstone, County Kent, England, in 1829.
Prior to coming to America in 1859, Mr. Harold had been well educated in an English school, and had already served for twelve years in the British army. He located at Oxford, Worcester County, Massachusetts, from which plaee he enlisted in 1861 for serv- ice in the Civil War in Company E, Fifteenth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. On account of his previous military expe- rience, he was made drill master of Company E, in which he held the rank of sergeant. The regiment was stationed in Virginia during the term of Mr. Harold's service, and it partici- pated in numerous hard battles.
After his honorable discharge from the army, which eame in 1863, on account of ill- ness, Mr. Harold returned to Massachusetts, and shortly afterward went to work in the government armory at Springfield. where he remained for two years. This was followed by
a visit to his old home in England, and, after returning to America, he was engaged for three years in a cutlery business in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and then came to Ohio, and for five years carried on à gun and cutlery business at Alliance. Four years of farming in Lee County, Illinois, followed, and then Mr. Harold lived one year at Canton, Ohio, coming from there to Akron. For three and one-half years he was superintendent of the Akron Cutlery Works, after which he en- gagede in a gunsmith business for himself, continuing until 1900, when he retired from all kinds of business. As recreation he does quite a little bit of gardening on his pleasant grounds at No. 318 Carroll Street. He owns other property at Akron.
In 1866 Mr. Harold was married to Anna Proudley, : and they have one child, Charles B., who is bookkeeper for the Star Drilling Works. With his family, Mr. Harold belongs to the Episcopal Church. Politically, he is a Republican. He has never lost his interest in military affairs and enjoys attending the re- unions of his old regiment. During and sinee the Civil War he has been interested in the philanthropic work carried on by Clara Bar- ton, of the Red Cross Society, for whom he has the greatest veneration and with whom he carries on a friendly correspondence.
THE LOOMIS HARDWARE COMPANY, one of the oldest business firms at Cuyahoga Falls, which was established in 1864 and in- corporated in 1895, does the largest business in its line in Summit County. Its main founder was L. W. Loomis, the late father of the present proprietors, Byron H. and Irving L. Loomis, who was prominently identified with the progress and development of this section for very many years. L. W. Loomis was born January 11, 1836, at Nelson, Madi- son County, New York, and was the eldest of a family of eleven children born to his parents. who were William and Emeline (Thomas) Loomis.
L. W. Loomis was five years of age when his parents moved to Wyoming County, New York, and he remained on his father's farm
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until he had reached his majority, when he started out for himself. His capital of $10 he used in preparing to go out on the road as a tin peddler for the firm of Smith & Harring- ton, of Waterloo, New York, and he was in the employ of this house when he enlisted for service in the Civil War, entering Company G, Thirteenth Regiment, New York Volun- teer Infantry. During the two years he was in the army he participated in the battles of Yorktown, Hanover Court House, Ball's Bluff and other engagements of more or less importance, and was honorably discharged at Canandaigua, New York, February 6, 1864.
After his return from the army, Mr. Loomis resumed work for his old employers, until February, 1864, when, with his brother, Horace E. Loomis, he came to Cuyahoga Falls, and, in partnership with his former firm, established the business which is now known as the Loomis Hardware Company. Mr. Loomis and brother contributed ten tin- ware wagons and they had a half interest in the business. In March, 1865, L. W. Loomis bought his brother's interest, and in 1868 he became the sole owner of the business. He found a market all over the country, and for twenty years kept up the peddling business in seasonable time, replacing the tinware with a hardware stock.
On June 10, 1895. the Loomis Hardware Company was incorporated by L. W., Byron H. and Irving L. Loomis. This business has been since expanded into one of the largest in the county. The store at Cuyahoga Falls is stocked with everything in the line of hard- ware, including kitchen furnishings and ranges. The tinware department has been resumed, and they have a special trade which takes their manufactured goods.
When Mr. Loomis came to Cuyahoga Falls in 1864. he found a town with a population of 1,500, with few signs of improvements of a public character. It was through his per- sonal efforts that a petition was circulated which resulted in the incorporation of the town. He was a man of great enterprise and remarkable foresight. In 1879, in partner- ship with H. E. Parks, he opened up High
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