Centennial history of Summit County, Ohio and representative citizens, Part 35

Author: Doyle, William B., b. 1868
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1150

USA > Ohio > Summit County > Centennial history of Summit County, Ohio and representative citizens > Part 35

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Colorado. He is connected by membership with the Congregational Church, the Sons of the American Revolution and various Masonic bodies.

FRANK G. MARSII, a leading member of the Akron bar, with offices in the Dobson Block, belongs to one of the old pioneer fami- lies of this section, and was born March 18, 1869, in Franklin Township, Summit County, Ohio. He is a son of Hiram F. Marsh and a grandson of George Marsh, who came to Summit County among its earliest settlers.

Mr. Marsh was educated in the schools of Franklin Township and at a superior select school at Manchester, where he spent four years. He began to teach when only sixteen years of age, and continued in that occupation for four school years in his native county. In 1891 he went to Detroit, where he took a course in stenography and typewriting at the Pernin Institute, and after his return he worked during that fall for the Republican Central Conunittee, teaching school during the following winter. On March 10, 1892, he accepted a position with the Aultman-Mil- ler Company, and remained with that firm for eleven years, terminating the connection in 1903. In 1896 he registered with the law firm of Andress & Whittemore and was sup- plied with law text books. These he studied during all the hours he could call his own, for the next three years, and his diligence and perseverance were rewarded when he sue- cessfully passed the examination necessary be- fore the Supreme Court, at Columbus, in Oc- tober, 1899. Ile was still retained by the Aultman-Miller Company as special corre- spondent and assistant counsel for the com- pany up to May, 1903, when he went to the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, entering the sales department, where he remained one year. On May 15, 1904, Mr. Marsh severed his connection with that firm and in the fol- lowing month began the practice of law, in which he has been engaged sinee, meeting with the success which his years of prepara- tion entitle him to. His personal popularity was proved in the following September, when

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he was brought forward as a candidate for a place on the Board of Education. Although he was one of fifteen contestants, he was selected as having the third largest number of votes and was subsequently elected for a term of four years. He has always been in- terested in politics and was a candidate for mayor before the Republican convention in 1907, but while he had a large following, was not nominated. At a meeting held Septem- ber 16, 1907, by the City Council of Akron Mr. Marsh received the appointment of justice of the peace, to fill the unexpired term of George A. Patterson, resigned. On Tuesday, November 5, of the same year, he was elected one of the four justices of the peace in and for the township of Akron for a term of four years beginning with January 1, 1908.

Fraternally Mr. Marsh belongs to the Odd Fellows and to the. Modern Woodmen of America. He is a member of the Reformed Church.

W. A. SPENCER, attorney, a member of the well-known law firm of Esgate, Spencer and Snyder, at Akron, was born in London, England in 1870, and was seven years of age when his parents came to America and located at Akron.

In 1888 Mr. Spencer was graduated from the Akron High School and spent the follow- ing year on a fruit farm in Tennessee, carn- ing the money with which to give him two years training at Buchtel College. He then entered upon the study of law in the office of Sawders and Rogers, at Akron, where he remained until the spring of 1898, when he enlisted in Company B, Eighth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for service in the Spanish-American War. His regiment was sent to Cuba, and with his comrades he partic- ipated in the Santiago campaign, and re- mained in the service for eight months. He was mustered out at Wooster, Ohio, and re- turned to Akron, where he was admitted to the bar one year later. He began practice alone, but later became a member of the pres- ent firm of Esgate, Spencer and Snyder, which succeeded Esgate, Spencer and Loomis, on the

death of Mr. Loomis. Mr. Spencer is a di- rector in the German American Building and Loan Association. He has ever taken an ac- tive part in polities and is chairman of the Democratic executive committees of city and county. Under Mayor Kemple he served two years as police prosecutor.

In 1900 Mr. Spencer was married to Ger- trude Huse, of Akron, and they have one child, Margaret. Fraternally Mr. Spencer is identified with the Masons and the Pathfind- ers, and he belongs also to the Spanish-Ameri- can War Veteran Association. He is a self- ·made man to a large extent, and owes little to favoring circumstanees attending his boy- hood or youth.

JOHN C. FRANK, of the law firm of Tib- bals and Frank, Akron, has been a resident of this city for the past twenty-seven years, and has been one of the enterprising citizens whose energies have contributed to its re- markable development during that period. He was born at Uniontown, Stark County, Ohio, in 1864, and when sixteen years of age came to Akron, completing his literary edu- cation in the Akron High School. He pre- pared for his chosen profession in the law department of the University of Michigan, where he was graduated in 1885. He imme- diately entered the law office of the late Gen- eral Voris, where he remained until June, 1886, at which time he became associated pro- fessionally with Judge Tibbals. He subsequent- ly practiced alone for two years and then formed his present partnership with Judge Tibbals. The firm of Tibbals and Frank is now the oldest law firm in Akron, and has been eoneerned in a large share of the most important litigation that has come before the courts of the eity and county during the period of its existence. Probably no law firm in Summit County stands higher in public esteem, or more justly deserves the high repu- tation which it enjoys.

Mr. Frank was married in 1888 to Celia E. Esselburn, of Akron, and he and his wife have two sons, Charles W. and Paul A., both of whom are receiving superior educational

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training, calculated to fit them for the best American citizenship. Politically Mr. Frank is a Republican, and takes an active interest in public affairs. He is a member of the Court House Building Committee, an impor- tant office at this time. With his family he belongs to Grace Reformed Church.

COL. GEORGE MITCHELL WRIGHT, ouly son of Clement Wright and Luey Ayer Whitney, his wife, was born August 8, 1847, in Tallmadge Township, Summit County, Ohio, on the farm, one mile south from Tall- madge Center, on which his great-grandfath- er, Captain John Wright, and his grandfather, Alpha Wright, settled in 1809, and where his father, Clement Wright, was born. Of this branch of the Wright family four generations have lived on this farm and, including Col- onel Wright's children, five generations have lived in Tallmadge. The home of Colonel Wright, however, was on the farm only dur- ing his infaney, his father having moved from the farm to Tallmadge Center and there en- gaged in the mercantile. business when Col- onel Wright was less than two years old.

The father and mother of Colonel Wright were both from well-known New England families of high standing, which had been transplanted from England to America prior to 1640. His father was a direct descendant of the eleventh generation, in the male line, from John Wright, Esq., of Kelvedon Manor, Kelvedon Hatch, County Essex, England. who acquired Kelvedon Manor by purchase in 1538, the emigrant ancestor to this country being Thomas Wright, who settled at Weth- ersfield, Connecticut, before 1640, probably in 1639. The mother of Colonel Wright was from one of the most aneient and honorable families of Herefordshire, England, the ear- liest ancestor in England, in the direct male line, having been one of the invaders who came with William I. in 1066. Of this branch of the Whitney family, the emigrant ancestor to America was John Whitney, who, with his wife Elinor and five ehildren, came from Eng- land in 1635 and settled at Watertown. Mas- sachusetts. Colonel Wright's mother was of

the seventh generation from this emigrant ancestor to America; and before such emi- grant aneestor this branch of the family is traced in England for eighteen generations in the direct male line. Although for many gen- erations after the Norman Conquest this fam- ily was one of the most distinguished in IIere- fordshire, it began gradually to die out in England about the time the American branch was transplanted and established in this country.

Colonel Wright was educated in the public schools, Tallmadge Academy and Western Re- serve College, but left college early in the course. After studying law at Akron, Ohio; with his unele Hon. Sidney Edgerton and Hon. Jacob A. Kohler (who were then in partnership) he was admitted to the bar in Ohio, June 16, 1873, and began practice at Akron as a partner of Hon Henry MeKinney, who had then recently moved from Akron to Cleveland, Ohio, and desired a partner for his Summit County business. The law part- nership of "Mckinney & Wright" existed for several years, and Colonel Wright afterwards continued in the active and successful practice of the law until 1882. But his interest in scientific researches in the domain of geology was so great that for several years he devoted much time and attention to scientific studies. Finally, in 1882, having received an appoint- ment as Assistant Geologist in the United States Geological Survey (without the aid of any political influence whatever, but on the recommendations and indorsements of scien- tific experts only). he left the practice of the law and during the next four years devoted himself wholly to geological field-work and in- vestigations for the government. Assigned at first to the staff of the Division of the Great Basin, his field-work was in Nevada. Califor- nia and Utah. Subsequently transferred to the staff of the Division having charge of the geological survey of the Yellowstone National Park, that interesting region was his special field of work for three years, with field-work also in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. While his work and investigations were in struetur- al and dynamical geology in general, his spe-

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cialty was the study of volcanic and crystalline rocks and the problems of volcanic action and phenomena (which throw so much light ou mineral deposits), and he also did some spe- cial work in glacial geology. During the win- ters he was stationed in Salt Lake City, Utah, New York City, N. Y., and Washington, D. C., engaged in scientific study and research, working out the problems presented by field observations and collections, and writing re- ports. Ilaving had the valuable experience and education of these four years of scientific study and field investigation under the most favorable circumstances and in some of the most instructive and interesting regions known, he resigned in 1886, although re- quested and desired to continue in this scien- tifie work for the government, and resumed the practice of the law at Akron, Ohio, where he continued in active practice until the breaking out of the war with Spain in April, 1898.

Colonel Wright has always taken great in- terest in military affairs, and prior to the War with Spain he had been an officer of the Ohio National Guard, having held a commision for more than five years in the First Regiment of Light Artillery-then one of the finest mili- tary organizations in the United States. At the beginning of the war he was commissioned in the military service of the United States. May 13, 1898 (having been enrolled April 26, 1898), as second lieutenant and battalion. adjutant in the Eighth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry; was detailed as acting ordnance officer of the regiment, May 14, 1898, and accompanied the regiment from Camp Bushnell, Columbus, Ohio, to Camp Alger, Virginia; was appointed aide-de-camp and brigade ordnance officer on the staff of Brigadier General George A. Garretson, June 13, 1898, and served as such until after the elose of the war; left Camp Alger, Virginia. July 5th, with brigade headquarters and two regiments, and proceeded by rail to Charleston. South Carolina-the third regiment of the brigade being transported by rail to New York, there to embark for Cuba; sailed July 8th from Charleston, S. C., for Cuba. on the

U. S. S. "Yale," carrying Major General Nel- son 1. Miles, commanding the U. S. Army, and staff, and arrived off Santiago Harbor, July 11th, while the fleet was bombarding the city, six days before the surrender; and took part in the demonstrations against the Span- ish works at the entrance to Santiago Harbor before the surrender of Santiago, being on duty with the troops under command of Gen- erals Henry and Garretson, held in readiness for three days under orders to be landed at a given signal, under protections of the fire of the fleet, west of Sacopa Battery-the first plan being to try to connect with the right of Gen- (ral Shafter's line, which plan was changed to one involving an attempt to carry Sacopa by assault. AAfter the surrender of Santiago the troops held on shipboard, being no longer needed at Santiago, were available for the ex- pedition to Porto Rico, the final plans for which were arranged in a conference between General Miles and Admiral Sampson on board the flag-ship "New York," lying off Aguadores, July 16th. Colonel (then lieuten- ant) Wright was so fortunate as to be one of the staff officers present at this conference. Lieutenant Wright continued on board the "Yale," which the next day (July 17th) steamed eastward for Guantanamo Bay, still carrying General Miles and staff and also General Garretson and staff. The troops for the first expedition to Porto Rico having been concentrated at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the transport squadron, with its naval convoy, sailed for Porto Rico, July 21st, carrying an effective force of only about 3,300 troops to invade the island of Porto Rico, where the enemy then had 8.233 Spanish regulars and 9,107 armed volunteers-more than 17,000 troops in all. But General Miles having out- witted the Spanish commanders by causing the course of the fleet to be changed at the last moment, a landing was effected at Guan- ica on the southwestern coast of Porto Rico, July 25th, without loss of life. Lieutenant Wright was with the first troops landed here, and was present when General Miles formal- ly planted the flag and took possession of the island for the United States ; and he also took

WADE G. SHORT, LL. B.

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part in the decisive action the next day (July 26th), under General Garretson, in front of Yauco, Porto Rico, which gave the American troops possession of the important town of Yauco and the railroad leading thence to Ponce, and resulted in the surrender of Ponce, then the largest town on the island, without resistance. In the commanding general's of- ficial report of this action the name of Lieu- tenant Wright appears in a list of the names of eight offieers "especially commended for gallantry and coolness under fire." Lieutenant Wright accompanied the troops under Gener- als Henry and Garretson on the march from Guanica, via Yauco, to Ponce; and, in Gen- eral Miles' subsequent concerted movement of the four columns of troops from the southern coast northward, Lieutenant Wright accom- panied the left-center column, under Gener- als Henry and Garretson, in its march from Ponee over the mountain trail, via Adjuntas and Utuado, toward Arecibo-which column penetrated farther north than any other American troops before the peace protocol put an end to hostilities.

Colonel (then Lieutenant) Wright was rec- ommended for brevets as First Lieutenant and Captain (recommendation indorsed and ap- proved by General Miles) for meritorious serv- ices during the Porto Riean campaign, and for great personal bravery in action with Spanish troops near Yauco, Porto Rico, July 26, 1898; and after the elose of the war he was honorably discharged from the service of the United States, November 21, 1898. In 1899 he resumed the practice of the law and is still engaged in active practice at Akron, Ohio.

In the Ohio National Guard Colonel Wright has held the following commissions and posi- tions: second lieutenant, First Regiment, Light Artillery; second lieutenant and bat- talion adjutant, Eighth Regiment. Infantry; captain and regimental adjutant, Eighth Reg- iment, Infantry; acting adjutant general. Seeond Brigade; lieutenant-colonel and assist- ant adjutant general. adjutant general of the division : lieutenant-colonel and chief of staff of division : and eolonel and chief of staff of

division. He is now (November, 1907) chief of staff of division, with the rank of colonel; and he has served as such chief of staff, or as adjutant general and chief of staff ever since January 29, 1900-for very nearly eight years.

Colonel Wright is a member of the Pliilo- sophieal Society of Washington, D. C., and is at present the president of the Akron Bar Association. lle is also a member of the Alpha Delta Phi college fraternity, and a member of numerous military and patriotic orders and societies, in several of which he has held some of the higher offices.

Colonel Wright was married October 18, 1876, at Akron, Ohio, to Lucy Josephine Hale, of Akron, a daughter of James Madi- son Hale and Sarah Allen, his wife. Their children, all born at Tallmadge, Ohio, are: (1) Clement Hale Wright, born July 4, 1882, who graduated at the United States Military Academy, June 15, 1904, and is now a second lieutenant in the Second United States In- fantry, on duty with his regiment in the Philippine Islands; (2) Allen Whitney Wright, born July 17. 1889: and (3) George Maltby Wright, born June 24, 1892. Lieu- tenant Clement Hale Wright was married at IIartwell (a suburb of Cincinnati), Ohio, January I, 1906, to Laura Mitchell, a daugh- ter of Rev. Frank Gridley Mitchell, D. D .. and Mary Electa Davis, his wife.

WADE G. SHORT, LL. B., principal of the Hall Business University at Youngstown, Olrio, the Lorain Business College, at Lorain. and the Hammel Business College, at Akron. is engaged in the practice of law, with offices in the Dobson Building, at Akron. Profes- sor Short was born in Geauga County, Ohio, in 1880, where he secured his preliminary educational training.

When but fifteen years of age Mr. Short went to Cleveland, where he made a thorough study of commereial work. and graduated from a commercial college in that eity, and later from the law department of Baldwin University. He was admitted to the bar in

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1902. For some six years before coming to Akron, Mr. Short had been closely connected with business college work, having purchased the Hammel Business College from its founder, who had established it in 1881. In June, 1904, he bought the Hall Business Uni- versity, which had been established at Youngs- town, in 1892, and in 1903 he established the Lorain Business College, at Lorain. The offi- cers of these several commercial schools are as follows: Of the Hammel Business College, W. G. Short, LL. B., is president, and J. W. Short is business manager. Of the Hall Busi- ness University, C. C. Short is manager, J. W. Short, treasurer, and W. G. Short, LL. B., principal. The same personnel makes up the official force of the Lorain Business College, W. G. Short, LL. B., being president, J. W. Short, vice-president, and P. S. Short, man- ager. All these gentlemen are thoroughly competent in the work of commercial instruc- tion and their institutions take high rank in the business world.

Few men of his years have accomplished so much along a given line in so short a time as has Mr. Short, and he is justly numbered with the progressive and enterprising young men of this city. In addition to his law prae- tice and commercial college interests. Mr. Short handles a large amount of real es- tate.

RAY F. HAMLIN, a young but able mem- ber of the Akron bar, now serving his sec- ond term as city clerk, in spite of his youth has been nominated by the Republican party for the important office of city treasurer. Mr. Hamlin was born at Akron, April 24, 1881, and is a son of Byron S. Hamlin, a native of Summit County and for forty years a resi- dent of Akron. He was reared in his native city, where he attended the public schools, and then took a two-years' course in the law department of Columbia University at Wash- ington, D. C., and was graduated from Bald- win University at Cleveland in 1903. Upon his return to Akron he took the bar examina- tion and in the same year was admitted to practiee. He was at once appointed city clerk

and thus, from the beginning of his career, has been recognized as a political factor.

On May 28, 1907, Mr. Hamlin was mar- ried to Mabel J. Gordon, who is a daughter of Fred F. Gordon, of Akron. He is a member of Woodland Methodist Episcopal Church. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias and the Odd Fellows. IIc and wife are participants in the pleasant social life of the city, and both are valued for their personal attributes.

ORLANDO WILCOX, one of the leading members of the Summit County bar, and sen- ior member of the law firm of Wilcox, Par- sons, Burch and Adams, at Akron, was born in Medina County, Ohio, in December, 1851, and is a son of Dr. Orlando Wilcox, once a man of great prominence in this section.

Dr. Orlando Wilcox settled at Cuyahoga Falls in 1828, and in the following year, in association with Henry Wetmore, organized the first temperance society in the state of Ohio. He remained one of the leading citi- zens of Cuyahoga Fall- until 1831, when he moved to Medina County, where he practiced for many years, but prior to his death, in 1886, he returned to the Falls. It is inter- esting to recall historie events and compare them with those of modern times. The tem- peranee organization mentioned above, was the cause of the first strike in the industrial world of Summit County. At that time Mr. Wetmore was the owner of the paper mills at Cuyahoga Falls and it had been his cus- tom to each Saturday set out a barrel of whiskey for his employes to help themselves. After the organization of the temperance so- ciety, he cut off this luxury, with the result that the men went out on a strike, and a num- ber of them were never again employed in the mills. Mr. Wilcox has in his possession, with other interesting papers, a number of the original contracts made between Joshua Stow and William Wetmore, father of Henry Wet- more. for the organization of Stow Town- ship, some of these bearing the date of 1804.

Orlando Wilcox was reared in Medina County and attended the country schools prior

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to entering Baldwin University. He subse- quently read law in the office of A. J. Mar- vin, of Cleveland, being admitted to the bar in the spring of 1884. Locating at Cuyahoga Falls, he entered upon the practice of his profession and continued it there until 1898, when he went to Indian Territory, being as- signed to duty as special United States dis- trict attorney. During the time he remained in Indian Territory, which covered a period of two years, he tried sixty-four murder cases, and convicted the first man that was ever hung in the Territory by order of the Fed- eral courts. For various reasons Mr. Wilcox resigned this position and returned to Ohio, in 1900 establishing his law office at Akron, and becoming associated with C. T. Grant in the firm of Wileox and Grant, which con- tinued until the spring of 1904. In a new association Mr. Wilcox became senior mem- ber of the law firm of Wilcox, Parsons and Burch, Mr. Adams later being admitted as the junior member of the firm. Mr. Wilcox has successfully handled . a large number of important cases before the Ohio courts, and has an enviable record in the different branches of his profession.

Mr. Wilcox still retains his home at Cuya- hoga Falls and is interested in several finan- cial enterprises in that city. He is a director in the Cuyahoga Falls Savings Bank and in the Falls Savings and Loan Associa- tion. He is also president of the Mer- cantile Credit Company, of Cincinnati. Formerly he took an active interest in politics and his party chose him as its candidate for prosecuting attorney, and in 1896 for pro- bate judge. He came within seventy-seven votes of the nomination for the latter office. For fifteen years he was city solicitor for Cuya- hoga Falls, but the demands of his profes- sion have given him very little time to push his claims for political preferment, had he possessed the ambition to do so.

In 1874 Mr. Wilcox was married to Zelia M. Severance, of Medina County, and they have two daughters, Lottie and Mabel. Lot- tie is the wife of Charles C. McCuskey. resid- ing at Cuyahoga Falls. Mabel is a student at

Buchtel College, where she has made a re- markable record, taking the highest honors of her class, both in 1905 and 1907; she antici- pates graduating in the class of 1908. The family belong to the Disciples Church at Cuyahoga Falls, which Mr. Wilcox has served as a member of the board of trustees; he is now superintendent of the Sunday school. Fraternally he is connected with the Elks and the Knights of Pythias. The family is one of social prominence at Cuyahoga Falls.

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Centennial history of Summit County, Ohio and representative citizens, Part 35

Author: Doyle, William B., b. 1868 Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1150

Author: Doyle, William B., b. 1868
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1150