USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Cleveland, Ohio, pictorial and biographical. De luxe supplement, Volume I > Part 18
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William Parmelee Murray
Clubs, with the Hermits and the Cleveland Athletic Club, of which he is now the president; is also a member of the Duquesne Club of Pittsburg and the Ellicott Square and Buffalo Clubs of Buffalo, New York. In his business career his ability to coordinate forces has been one of the strong points in his success; he believes in the spirit of unity and seeks that harmony which is found where many are working toward a single end and accomplishing results that could not be obtained through divided interests.
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LoroHolden
Liberty C. Holden
I N his tastes a man of letters, in his study a statesman without being a politician, Liberty E. Holden has devoted his life to business interests, managing af- fairs of great breadth and yet throughout the years he has been keenly interested in education, literature, in scientific investigation and in the great questions which the country faces. A combination of qualities such as Mr. Holden possesses is somewhat rare for it is seldom that the success- ful business man possesses the literary tastes and studious habits which have always been numbered among his characteristics.
Mr. Holden was born in Raymond, Cumberland county, Maine, June 20, 1834, and is descended from Puritan ancestry. His ma- ternal line is traced back directly to John and Priscilla Alden and Isaac Stern, who was of the party that accompanied Governor Win- throp to Boston in May, 1630. The Holden family, of English origin, was established in Massachusetts in 1634 by Richard and Justinian Holden. Physical and mental strength were inherent in his ancestors. His youthful days were passed in New England in a period when the Revolutionary soldiers were living and memories of the Revolution were recited at the fireside thus teaching patriot- ism.
From early boyhood, manifesting a studious nature and special aptitude in his studies, he eagerly availed himself of every oppor- tunity for intellectual progress. Although the duties of the home farm claimed much of his time and attention he eagerly read every book that he could buy or borrow and moreover had the faculty of assimilating the works which he perused. He had such advance- ment in intellectual lines that when but sixteen years of age, he was qualified for and became a teacher in the public schools and at eighteen years taught select schools in the neighboring village. At twenty years of age he taught district schools in Massachusetts and at twenty-one was prepared for college. His labors enabled him to pay a year's tuition in college but he decided to spend that year in teaching and during the period he taught select schools at Den- mark and at Lovell, and the high school at Bridgeton Center, Maine. He was, by this means, enabled to pay for a two years' college course
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Liberty C. Holden
at Waterville College, Maine. He ranked as one of the best stu- dents in his class and was elected class poet.
When he had completed his sophomore year he decided to con- tinue his college work in the University of Michigan. Thus he al- lied himself with the west. He had determined to make his home in that part of the country, believing that its opportunities were superior to those of the older and more thickly settled east. Pre- senting a certificate of standing from the Waterville College in the fall of 1856, he was at once admitted to the University of Michigan. He completed the last two years of his college life and also taught one of the Union schools of Ann Arbor in 1857. After his gradua- tion in 1858 and upon the recommendation of the University fac- ulty, he was given the professorship of rhetoric and English litera- ture in Kalamazoo College, Michigan. Three years were passed there most happily for he found literary work entirely congenial to his tastes.
In August, 1860, Mr. Holden married Miss Delia E. Bulkley, of Kalamazoo, and the following year he was elected superintendent of the public schools of Tiffin, Ohio, where he remained about two years. During his residence in Kalamazoo and in Tiffin he studied law, and in order to complete his law studies, he came to Cleveland in 1862 and entered the office of Judge J. P. Bishop, who directed his reading until his admission to the bar in 1863. He thought at that time to devote his entire life to law practice but a well devel- oped business sense led him to recognize the excellent opportunities for real-estate investments, as Cleveland was then entering upon an era of rapid and substantial growth. Accordingly Mr. Holden made purchases of property and his judgment in this direction was soon confirmed. He was one of the first to see the advantages of East Cleveland and to realize its importance as a location for homes of the business men of Cleveland. Removing to that district he be- came closely associated with its interests and not only dealt largely in real estate and in that manner contributed to the growth and de- velopment of the city, but also was connected with many movements to meet the specific needs of a growing modern city. He was among the first to advocate the introduction of water and gas and the gen- eral improvement of the streets and was a stalwart champion of pub- lic education, acting for nine years as a member of the board of edu- cation, serving throughout that entire time, with the exception of one year, as president of the board.
Under his administration the schools were classified, the high school building was erected, competent teachers were employed and the schools of the village were placed upon a most substantial basis.
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Liberty C. Holden
He was also the prime mover in the annexation of East Cleveland to the city of Cleveland.
While thus active in public affairs, Mr. Holden was also man- aging important business concerns, extending his efforts into various fields of endeavor while substantial results attest his efforts. In 1873 Mr. Holden became interested in iron mines in the Lake Su- perior region and was manager of the Pittsburg and Lake Angeline in 1873-4. His executive force and capable control made this one of the productive mines in that locality. His investments also ex- tended to mining property near Salt Lake City, Utah, which he purchased in 1874. Thoroughness has always been one of his marked characteristics and in entering the field of mining invest- ment and operation he determined to understand the subject and to this end gave close study to metallurgy, mining and geology. Added to his scientific knowledge was his keen business discernment, re- sulting in the developing of a group of mines known as the Old Telegraph. He built large furnaces, concentrating and leaching works, and became one of the largest operators in that section of the country. It was through his mining operations in Utah that he at- tained the greater part of his wealth, although his mining interests in Lake Superior and his real-estate investments in Cleveland were also sources of substantial profit. His comprehensive knowledge of practical and scientific mining made him the logical delegate of the Utah Mine Protective Association when it became necessary to send some one to Washington in 1882 to represent their interests be- fore congress. His clear and cogent presentation of the situation, his comprehensive knowledge of the business, its conditions and its possibilities brought the matter so forcibly before the national legis- lators that the mining interests of the west were saved from ruin which would have inevitably followed the reduction of the tariff as then proposed. In 1885, serving as delegate to the National Bi- metallic Association in Washington, he was made chairman of its executive committee. His extensive business interests in Utah have necessitated him spending much time there since 1874. Always in- terested in the subject of education, he became president of the Salt Lake Academy, which was organized in his home and established by himself and friends, its work proving a most potent element for reformation in that country.
Since 1862, however, Mr. Holden has regarded Cleveland as his home and aside from his real-estate interests here, he is connected with substantial business affairs of the city. He owns the Cleveland Plain Dealer by owning the stock of the Plain Dealer Publishing Company. In his position as president of the company, he has done
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Liberty C. Dolden
not a little to make it the leading democratic paper of the state and one of the best journals of America. Mr. Holden is also well known as the builder and owner of the Hollenden Hotel, one of the highest types of hotel construction and equipment in the United States. The name of this hostelry is the name of his father's family as it stood in the old Saxon times and in the record of estates made by William the conqueror in Domesday book.
In other movements pertaining to the welfare of the city, Mr. Holden is deeply interested and his continued interest in his early profession and the work that has been accomplished thereby is mani- fested in his services as trustee of Adelbert College and the Western Reserve University. He is a member of the Unitarian church and is liberal in his support of charity, education and religion. He does not believe in that indiscriminate giving which fosters vagrancy and idleness, but helping self-reliance and self-support in the making of a progressive and valuable citizenship.
As evidence of Mr. Holden's civic life, we attach a list herewith of the offices he holds.
Liberty Emery Holden, owner and publisher of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, was born in Raymond, Maine, June 20, 1833, a son of Liberty Holden and Sally (Cox) Holden. He was graduated from the University of Michigan as A. B. in 1858 and A. M. in 1861. He was admitted to the bar in 1862, moved to East Cleve- land in 1866; was manager of the Pittsburg and Lake Angeline mines, 1872; interested in silver mines in Utah from 1876 to 1893; is now proprietor of the Hollenden Hotel and president of the Hol- lenden Hotel Company, the Plain Dealer Publishing Company, Maple Leaf Land Company, Hub Transfer & Storage Company; and director of the First National Bank of Cleveland, Cleveland Transfer & Carriage Company, Western Reserve Insurance Com- pany, Haskins Realty Company and Lennox Realty Company. Mr. Holden is vice president of the Western Reserve Historical Society, trustee of Western Reserve University, Adelbert College and Lake View Cemetery Association; chairman of the building committee of the Cleveland Museum of Art; member of the National Munici- pal League, Municipal Association of Cleveland, and American In- stitute of Mining Engineers; he is a member of the Rowfant, Uni- versity, Union and Country Clubs of Cleveland, the Alta Club of Salt Lake City, and the University Club of New York. He is mayor of Bratenahl village, Ohio. Mr. Holden was married in Kalama- zoo, Michigan, August 14, 1860, to Delia E. Bulkley. Residence: Loch Hame, Lake Shore Boulevard, Bratenahl, Ohio. Office ad- dress, Room 2, Plain Dealer Building, Cleveland, Ohio.
W.D. Benes
UdI. Dominick Benes
DOMINICK BENES, whose many designs of Cleve- W. land's prominent buildings place him in a conspicu- ous position before the public as one of the city's leading architects, was born in Prague, Bohemia, June 14, 1857. Far back in the ancestral history appears the name of Benes in connection with the profession of architecture, for Russell Sturgiss in his dictionary of architecture gives the name of Benedict Benes, who was architect to the king of Bohemia and erected many important buildings of Prague, where he died in 1537. Joseph M. Benes, the father of W. D. Benes, was one of the first citizens that Bohemia furnished to Cleveland. He was born in Prague, Bohemia, in 1826, and came to this country with his brother, John V. Benes, an architect, in 1866. He first located in Chicago, where he remained for about a year, and afterward came to Cleveland. He had previously learned the cutter's trade in connection with merchant tailoring and in this city associated himself with Carson & Company, tailors. Subse- quently he established a tailoring business at Euclid and Willson avenue, where he conducted an extensive and profitable enterprise. He was widely read on historical and political topics and was fore- most among those who supported the early educational movements among his countrymen. His wife bore the maiden name of Jose- phine Nowak. His family consisted of five sons and two daughters : Carl D., W. Dominick, Anthony J., G. Dale, George D., Rose and Josephine.
W. Dominick Benes began his education in the schools of Prague, was afterward a student in the public schools of Cleveland and later in the high school at Oberlin, Ohio. In 1872, however, he put aside the text-books which he was using at Oberlin to study and work with his uncle, J. V. Benes, an architect of Chicago. Upon his return to Cleveland seven months later he entered into a three years' contract with A. Mitermiler to study architecture and thus his time passed from 1873 until 1876. The following twenty years were spent in the office of Coburn & Barnum, architects, and for two years he was a member of the firm of Coburn, Barnum & Benes.
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UM. Dominick Benes
Later he spent a year in a partnership relation which was main- tained under the name of Coburn, Barnum, Benes & Hubbell, and since the 5th of May, 1897, he has been practicing his profession un- der the firm name of Hubbell & Benes. His study has been given more especially to designs and among the commissions which he worked on while with the above firms were those for the plans of the Olney art gallery, the Historical Society building, the Goodrich House, the Wade Memorial, the Citizens building, the Centennial arch, the Cleveland School of Art, the East End Baptist church at Euclid and Logan streets, the West Side market house and many fine residences. At present he is engaged upon the design for the Cleve- land Museum of Art, which is to be built in Wade park. The Cen- tennial arch, for which he made the designs, was seventy feet high, one hundred feet wide and twenty feet thick. The ornamentations were elaborate and beautiful. There were six plaster cast groups on pedestals, one on each side and one on each end. Those in front consisted of winged figures, seven feet high, holding aloft vases of flowers. Around the front of the arch proper ran a band of decora- tive work, while in the center or keystone was a large American eagle with outstretched wings. The frieze set forth an ornamenta- tion in which cupids, shields and garlands played the leading part. On top of the arch a balustrade with flags of all nations formed the crowning decoration. At night it appeared in all its glory, light from nine hundred electric lamps shining forth, brilliantly illumi- nating the public square. Possessing good business ability, compre- hensive knowledge of scientific principles and splendid apprecia- tion for all that is artistic in light, form and coloring, Mr. Benes well deserves to be classed with the leading architects of Cleveland.
On the 9th of March, 1881, in this city, Mr. Benes was married to Miss Matilda F. Nowak. Her parents were among the pioneer Bohemian residents of Cleveland and her father, Frank Nowak, erected the first meeting house for the various Bohemian societies. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Benes have been born four children: Grace, Clara, Matilda and Jerome Howard. The last named was mar- ried April 15, 1908, in Lakewood, Ohio, to Miss Alice R. Maile.
Mr. Benes was a member of the Bohemian Turners Society, a local athletic association, and was teacher therein for several years. He was also a member of the first Cleveland Athletic Club and the Young Men's Christian Association Business Men's Club. He was formerly a member of the Century Club and now belongs to the Clifton Club and the Lakewood Yacht Club. Interested in the public schools, he served as a member of the board of education of West Cleveland from 1885 until 1887 and he has done active work
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OUI. Dominick Benes
for municipal progress as a member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce since November 20, 1901. Along more specifically scien- tific lines he is connected with the American Institute of Architects, which has its headquarters in Washington, D. C., and is now presi- dent and past president of the local chapter of that organization. He is also a charter member and at one time was president of the Cleveland Architectural Club. He has held to high ideals in his profession, working ever along lines of progress, recognizing the fact that his advancement must depend upon the increase of his skill as well as upon the ability to carefully and systematically man- age his business interests.
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Alfred S. Field.
Alfred Stone Field
LFRED STONE FIELD, a gentleman of quiet de- A meanor but of strong character who left the impress of his individuality upon all with whom he came in contact, was well known in the business circles of Cleveland as an expert accountant. His birth oc- curred in Ohio's capital city January 8, 1842, his parents being John and Elizabeth (Stone) Field, the latter a native of Worthington, Massachusetts, and the former of New Berlin, New York. When about nineteen years of age the father removed westward to Columbus, Ohio, and became a pioneer lumberman of that city. He made visits to Cleveland when it required five days to make the trip by stage and he would spend weeks here, buying and loading lumber on the canal to be shipped to Columbus. For a long period he continued in the lumber trade but at the age of sixty years put aside business cares and retired to private life. He was intensely public spirited in his devotion to the general good and cooperated in many movements which were of material benefit to the city. His political allegiance was given to the republican party. He was a warm personal friend of Horace Greeley and throughout his life was a subscriber to the New York Tribune. In antebellum days when the country was greatly aroused over the slavery ques- tion he belonged to the underground railway organization and as- sisted many negroes on their way to freedom in the north. His re- ligious faith was that of the Universalist church and he died in Columbus at the very advanced age of ninety-two years. He was connected with the Marshall Field family of Chicago and was also a relative of Cyrus W. Field, who laid the Atlantic cable and be- longed to one of the oldest and most prominent American families. His brother, Sylas N. Field, was a leading politician of Columbus.
Alfred S. Field in his youthful days manifested special aptitude in his studies and when but fourteen years of age was graduated from the high school of Columbus. He afterward completed his educa- tion at Oxford and on putting aside his text-books became associated in business with his brother. He continued in active connection with
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Alfred Stone Field
the lumber trade for a number of years and was in partnership with his brother S. N. Field and also with R. B. Adams, who had been associated with his father. In this undertaking he met with success, his sound judgment and his enterprise proving factors in the substan- tial progress which he made along commercial lines. He continued in the lumber business until 1876, when he removed to Cleveland, becoming an expert accountant of this city. He was thus identified with its business interests up to the time of his demise.
In 1864 Mr. Field was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Schofield, a sister of Captain Levi Schofield and a member of one of the old pioneer families of Cleveland. She is now prominent in the social circles of the city and belongs to the East End Conversa- tional Club and to the Western Reserve Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. By her marriage she has become the mother of one daughter, Grace, now Mrs. George Dana Adams, who has one child, Margaret.
The death of Mr. Field occurred December 9, 1899, when he was but fifty-seven years of age and was the occasion of deep and widespread regret among his many friends. In politics he was a stanch and stalwart republican who worked faithfully for his party because he believed that its platform contained the best elements of good government. He was a very honorable and upright man, of quiet, genial deportment, of keen intellectual force, of sterling char- acter and of refined tastes. He thus won his friends among the most cultured people of the city and his closest companions were those who had highest appreciation for the qualities which are most en- nobling in life.
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Stenry N Weideman!
henry UM. Taleideman
I T is only a matter of time until a man who is equipped to be a leader in any line, attains to success. There are many substantial men in Cleveland who have risen steadily and gained and retained the full confidence of their associates until their years of endeavor are rewarded with elevation to power. The chief execu- tive of the Weideman Flour Company, Henry W. Weideman, is a man whose energy, enthusiasm and capability have resulted in the upbuilding of a large enterprise and the consequent betterment of the many dependent upon his success for their livelihood. He was born in Cleveland, in October, 1855, a son of John C. and Laura Weideman.
His father was a stalwart German, whose honesty, sincerity, en- ergy and frugality brought him success and esteem. Coming to the United States when young with his parents, he located in Medina county, Ohio, but after a few years he removed to Cleveland, where he readily grasped the opportunities offered. His birth occurred in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1829, and he was only fourteen years old when he located in Cleveland. He was first employed in the whole- sale grocery house of W. J. Gordon Company. From 1848 to 1850 he lived in New York state but in the latter year returned to Cleve- land, where in 1861 he embarked in the liquor business under the firm name of Weideman Company, but in the fall of 1863 sold his interest in that enterprise. The following year he founded the liquor house of Weideman & Tiedemann, with H. Tiedemann as the jun- ior partner, and in 1868 O. G. Kent was taken into the firm, and his name added to its title. In 1871 when Mr. Tiedemann retired, the firm was reorganized and C. T. Hasbrock was taken into it, the name becoming Weideman, Kent & Company. A stock company was formed in 1885 as The Weideman Company, with Mr. Weide- man as president. This firm has the largest wholesale liquor and grocery establishment in the state and stands today as a monument to the zeal, industry and executive ability of John C. Weideman, for it was his brain that was behind it, that brought about its present stability and importance. Mr. Weideman possessed those sterling
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Henry M. Weideman
traits of character that make his countrymen succeed everywhere, and his history but emphasizes that fact that nothing is impossible to the man willing to work and to save.
John C. Weideman was twice married. In 1853 he married Laura Muntz, of Liverpool, Ohio, by whom he had three children, but our subject is the only one now surviving. Her death occurred in 1877, when she was forty-two years old, and in 1879 he married Louisa Dieboldt. He died in 1900, and in his demise the city lost one of its most valuable and progressive citizens.
Henry W. Weideman has inherited many of his father's at- tributes, including his business ability. After passing through the Cleveland schools, he attended Baldwin University at Berea, Ohio, and coming home, was associated with his father in the grocery busi- ness until the latter's death, serving a part of the time as secretary of the company. At that time he retired from active participation in the company but still remains on its official board.
Out of this company founded by his father, grew the Weideman Flour Company, which was incorporated in April, 1909, with Mr. Weideman as president. He erected the building occupied by the company, it being designed to meet its special requirements. The territory covered by the concern includes Ohio and the surrounding states and the company does a jobbing business exclusively, carry- ing a general line of flour. In addition to his other interests Mr. Weideman is a director of the O'Donohue Coffee Company of Cleve- land. In all of his connections he exhibits the same business integ- rity that made his father so trusted, and the name stands for much in Cleveland and the state.
Mr. Weideman married, May 23, 1878, Dorothy Burke, who was born in Cleveland, and they have four children: Carl J., associated with his father in business; Pearl, who married William E. Kurz; Myrtle, who married Walter Theobald; and Laura, at home.
Liberal in his political views, Mr. Weideman believes in vot- ing for the best man for office in local affairs. He is a Mason, having attained to the Knights Templar degree, and is also a Shriner. He is a typical representative of the good old school of reliable busi- ness men, where honesty was everything and integrity was held sacred. Because of this he holds the respect of those who know him for his thorough manhood, dignity of character and singleness of purpose. Much of his leisure time is devoted to motoring and travel.
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