USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Cleveland, Ohio, pictorial and biographical. De luxe supplement, Volume I > Part 19
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Andrew figurin
Andrew Squire
A NDREW SQUIRE, one of the eminent members of the Ohio bar, has in his practice made a specialty of corporation law, a department of the legal science which is growing more and more complex as the re- sult of the rapid growth and development of busi- ness and the establishment of new lines of commer- cial and industrial activity. Specialization in practice is largely the outgrowth of conditions of the last century, and the eminent law- yers are they who, well grounded in the fundamental principles, have concentrated their energies upon the mastery of a particular line, gaining therein a degree of proficiency that could not be at- tained if time and effort were given to various branches of practice. Mr. Squire is well known in his professional relations as the senior partner of the firm of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, of Cleveland, and finds in the work of the courts of Ohio's metropolis scope for his energy and his ability in the field of labor which he has chosen as his life work, having an extensive clientage of a most important character.
A native of Mantua, Portage county, Ohio, Andrew Squire was born October 21, 1850, and comes in both the paternal and maternal lines of New England ancestry. His parents were Dr. Andrew Jackson and Martha (Wilmot) Squire, the former a physician who was born in Ohio in 1815. As a pupil in the public schools of his native town Andrew Squire continued his studies to the age of eleven years, after which he entered the Western Reserve Eclectic Insti- tute at Hiram, Ohio. His parents removing to that place in 1863, he continued in school there until the winter of 1866-7, when he en- tered upon a course of medical lectures in Cleveland. However, while pursuing his studies in that direction his interests became awakened in the law and he determined to prepare for that branch of professional service, giving his leisure hours to the mastery of Blackstone's Commentaries and Bouvier's Institutes. Following his graduation from Hiram in June, 1872, he came to Cleveland and entered regularly upon the study of law in October of that year in the office of Cadwell & Marvin. His thorough reading and the
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capability which he displayed in the mastery of legal principles secured his admission to the bar on the 3d of December, 1873, after passing the required examination before the supreme court at Columbus.
Mr. Squire at once located for practice in Cleveland and upon the election of his former preceptor, Mr. Cadwell, to the common pleas bench he was admitted to a partnership by Mr. Marvin, the relation between them being maintained until January 1, 1878. In the meantime Lieutenant Governor Alphonso Hart came to Cleve- land and was admitted to the firm in 1875 under the style of Marvin, Hart & Squire, which relation was continued until Mr. Squire with- drew three years later to form a partnership with Mr. Estep. In the spring of 1882 the firm was further strengthened by the addition of Judge Dickey under the firm name of Estep, Dickey & Squire. On the Ist of January, 1890, however, Mr. Squire severed his con- nection with that firm and joined Judge William B. Sanders and James H. Dempsey in the existing firm of Squire, Sanders & Demp- sey. His position at the bar almost from the beginning of his prac- tice has been a prominent one, for his work as an advocate and coun- sel has been characterized by all the salient qualities of the success- ful practitioner who prepares his cases with thoroughness and care and is well fortified by knowledge of law and precedent for the pre- sentation of his causes before court and jury. Mr. Squire is a clear thinker, a logical reasoner and strong in argument and is well versed in those branches of the law to which he has given special attention. In recent years he has more and more largely concentrated his en- ergies upon corporation law and is now the legal representative for some of the most prominent business concerns of the city, to whom his sage counsel, based upon comprehensive understanding of legal principles, proves a valuable asset in the conduct of their business. It is proverbial that law partnerships are of comparatively brief duration, but on the Ist of January, 1910, that of Mr. Squire as sen- ior partner had existed for twenty years. He has become financially interested and also has voice in the management of the Bank of Commerce National Association; is likewise a director of the Citi- zens Savings & Trust Company, the Cleveland Stone Company and other corporations; a trustee of the Garfield Memorial Association and various other associations.
Unlike many men the importance of whose business or profes- sional interests place them above the majority of their fellows, Mr. Squire takes deep interest in the political situation of the country, recognizing his duty of citizenship in this regard and standing stanchly in support of the principles which he regards as vital ele-
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ments in good government. He is a stalwart republican and in 1896 was a delegate to the St. Louis convention which nominated William Mckinley for the presidency. He received the highest honors of Masonry when the thirty-third degree was conferred upon him, and he is prominent in club circles of the city, belonging to the University and Union Clubs of Cleveland and the University and New York Clubs of New York city. He is also a member of the Country Club of Cleveland and was elected to its presidency in 1909. In strictly professional relations he is connected with the American Bar Association and the International Bar Association. His activities are varied, touching the general interests of society, and his example and efforts are forceful factors toward the better- ment of all conditions which bear upon the social, professional and intellectual life of the city.
J.2. Riddle
John Quinby Riddle
T HE laws of cause and effect hold in no field more closely than in business life, where progress and pros- perity are the incontrovertible proofs of close appli- cation, determination and energy. It is true that fortunes have been made where the business policy pursued has not been an honorable one, but the stigma of public disapproval ultimately follows and in the great majority of cases such a course eventually occasions downfall. With a record that will bear close investigation and scrutiny, John Quinby Riddle stands today in the ranks of Cleveland's prominent merchants and financiers, his voice proving a valuable factor in the control of vari- ous successful enterprises. The family is of Norman origin, the name being originally Ryedale. The direct ancestor of our subject went to England at the time of the Norman invasion under William the Conqueror, and was granted lands in Roxburyshire, Scotland, a part of which are still owned by the family. The first American ancestor was John Riddle, the grandfather of John Q. Riddle, who on crossing the Atlantic in 1797, established his home in Philadel- phia, where he was one of the superintendents of the city's first sys- tem of waterworks. He married Miss Jane Steele, of English ori- gin, and subsequently removed to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where James S. Riddle, the father of our subject, was born. James Rid- dle married Matilda Siddons, of Philadelphia, and about 1830 his father and he became residents of Holmes county, Ohio, where the subject of this article was born. They afterward removed to Ful- ton county, being among the earliest settlers in the northwestern part of the state. James Riddle devoted his life to farming and stock raising in his business relations, while in other ways his activity constituted a valuable element in the public life and progress of the community. The family was prominently connected with the devel- opment of this section of Ohio, taking an active part in shaping not only the business and material development but also the political, social and moral interests of the community.
John Quinby Riddle, educated in the district schools of Fulton county, Ohio, and in Oak Grove Academy, afterward engaged in
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teaching school for two years and then entered the insurance field at Wauseon, Ohio. Subsequently he turned his attention to the hardware business and banking, and became one of the leading citi- zens there, prominently identified with the progress and upbuilding of the town. Seeking a broader field of labor, he came to Cleveland in 1884 and joined the firm of Lockwood Taylor & Company in the conduct of an extensive wholesale hardware enterprise, which was later incorporated as The Lockwood Taylor Hardware Company. He was elected to the position of vice president in 1889 and has filled that position continuously since. This is one of the largest wholesale hardware houses of the city, widely known to the trade throughout this and other states, its development being attributable to the adoption of business methods which are alike fair to the seller and the purchaser and which conform to the highest standard of commercial ethics. The labors of Mr. Riddle have accomplished important and far reaching results, contributing in no small de- gree to the expansion and material growth of the enterprise with which he has long been associated.
Mr. Riddle also served as assignee of the Baackes Wire Nail Company and was warmly congratulated by Judge Henry C. White, of the probate court, for the able manner in which he handled the affairs of the company, operating the plant for three years and fi- nally closing out the business to the American Steel & Wire Company to the decided advantage of the interested parties, one half million dollars being realized. Judge White wrote as follows: "On review- ing the record of your service in the execution of your trust as as- signee in this insolvent estate, I cannot refrain from addressing you this congratulatory letter. The affairs of the Baackes Wire Nail Company were in such complicated and bad condition as to require at least two conditions to conserve the interest of all concerned.
Ist, The vigilant and constant wise care of the trustee in charge, and
2d, The time and patience to be extended by the court and the creditors and others interested to enable the trustee to utilize the plant.
Your management in the conducting of the business of the manu- facturing establishment was so careful and conservative that the re- sults of operating the business proved to be very advantageous to the estate. It was only by constant, close and careful supervision that the favorable results were achieved. After closing up the business there remained contingent liabilities which justified the somewhat lengthy litigation in the final adjustment of matters in the estate.
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The result of the execution of your trust is more favorable than in any insolvent estate that has ever been conducted in the probate court of this county.
You have satisfied the demands of creditors and have returned to the stockholders a very large portion of the value of their stock.
Had the affairs of this corporation fallen into the hands of some attorney or other person unfamiliar with its constitution and pur- poses, and who would have hastily disposed of the estate and speed- ily liquidated the whole concern, a great loss and sacrifice would have been made, both to creditors and stockholders.
Your services have been invaluable to the interests of all con- cerned and the amount of compensation which you will receive will not be at all commensurate to the value of the services and the time, labor and responsibility employed in the execution of your trust.
You are certainly to be most cordially congratulated for the efficient and successful manner in which this estate has been administered."
In addition to his other interests Mr. Riddle was one of the or- ganizers and first directors of the Colonial National Bank, which was afterward merged with the Union National Bank, and he was also one of the directors of the East End Bank, which amalgamated with the Cleveland Trust Company. He is still a director in the Union Savings & Loan Company and director of the Continental Sugar Company. He is also vice president of the Milwaukee Steam- ship Company, one of its finest vessels and one of the largest of the Great Lakes being the J. Q. Riddle, named in his honor.
Mr. Riddle was married to Miss Mary Teeple, a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Sayers) Teeple, of Lenawee county, Michi- gan. Their children are two in number. The daughter, Ida R., was educated at Glendale College and studied languages and music abroad. She married Charles H. Pennington, a son of B. L. Pen- nington, and they have one son, Gordon Riddle Pennington, who was born in Cleveland in 1891 and is now attending the Case School of Applied Science. Arthur V., who is the secretary and treasurer of the Hardie Manufacturing Company, of Hudson, Michigan, and Portland, Oregon, is a Harvard man and a member of the Harvard Club, of New York.
Mr. Riddle is a man of public spirit whose cooperation has proven a valuable factor in various projects for the general good. He belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and gives his political allegiance to the republican party where national questions are in- volved, but his local ballot is cast independent of party ties in the interests of a businesslike, honest and progressive administration
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of municipal affairs. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Euclid Avenue Disciples church and he is serving as president of its board of trustees. Fraternally Mr. Riddle is connected with the higher orders in Masonry, being a member of Oriental Comman- dery, K. T., and a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason. His membership relations in more strictly social lines are with the Colonial and the Cleveland Athletic Clubs and the Rowfant Club of which he was one of the earliest members and a Fellow. His leisure hours are pleasurable spent in bowling and driving. Fond of literature, his library contains a fine collection of standard and rare volumes. His success in life may be attributed to his close application and his determination to do well anything that he at- tempts. Judicious investments has also played an important part in his success and as he has prospered he has made liberal contribu- tions to charity, recognizing and fully meeting his obligations as a citizen, not from any sense of duty but by reason of his sincere and genuine interest in his fellowmen.
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Perry D. Babcock
N O man was more respected or more enjoyed the con- fidence of the people and none more deserves such respect and confidence than did Perry H. Babcock. He stood as a high type of American manhood and citizenship, for his sturdy integrity and honesty of principle led him to despise all unworthy or ques- tionable means to secure success in any undertaking or for any purpose to promote his own advancement in any direction. For many years he occupied a prominent position in business circles as senior member of the wholesale grocery house of Babcock, Hurd & Company.
He was born at Ravenna, Portage county, Ohio, January 23, 1816. His parents were Allen and Mary (Collins) Babcock, mem- bers of old New England families. He was descended in the eighth generation from James Babcock, who was born in England in 1612 and landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in July, 1621. He was ad- mitted an "inhabitant" of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, in 1642 and in 1853 became a freeman. The line of descent is traced down through John Babcock, a son of James. He wedded Mary Lawton and their son George married Elizabeth Hall and resided at South Kingstown, Rhode Island. David, son of George, lived at South Kingstown and Westerly, Rhode Island, and married Dorcas Brown. Their son, Jonathan Babcock, of Westerly, Rhode Island, married Susanna Perry, a representative of the old Rhode Island family to which Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry also belonged. Perry Babcock, son of Jonathan Babcock, married Cynthia Hickox and their son Almon Babcock, born in Granville, Massachusetts, No- vember 9, 1788, became the father of Perry H. Babcock. Leaving Granville, Massachusetts, in 1810, he removed to Charlestown, Portage county, Ohio, where he acted as agent for his father, one of the members of the Charlestown Land Company. He was an active and enterprising man and a prominent and influential factor in the development of the Western Reserve. He served under Gen- eral Wadsworth in the war of 1812 and afterward settled in Ra- venna, where he built the first brick house in the village. He then
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opened a hotel which became a favorite stopping-place on the stage route between Cleveland and Pittsburg and he conducted a black- smith's shop and carried on farming, making his home in that lo- cality until his death in 1850. He was married in 1814 to Miss Mary Collins, the only daughter of Robert Johnson Collins, of Rootstown, portage county, Ohio. In the maternal line she was descended from the old and well known family of Wadsworth, of Hartford, Connecticut, and of Charter Oak fame.
The history of Perry H. Babcock constitutes an important chap- ter in the commercial records of Cleveland. After completing a common-school education in his boyhood days, he learned the black- smith's trade in his father's shop in Ravenna and in 1839, while working at his trade he met with an accident. During the enforced idleness which followed he accepted an invitation to make a trip to Cincinnati as the guest of the owners of a flat boat. During this trip Mr. Babcock was impressed with the possibilities of the profits that might be gained in the forwarding and commission business and determined at no distant day to put his ideas into practice. This proved that often seemingly trivial incidents constitute turning points in life for a casual trip taken merely to while away the time was the means of shaping Mr. Babcock's entire after life. Deflected from his purpose of devoting his life to the blacksmith's trade, he made his initial step in the commercial world and, ever proceeding for- ward, reached a place among the most successful merchants of his adopted city. While in Cincinnati he was employed as a clerk in a wholesale grocery house, there continuing until 1841, when he re- turned to Ravenna. The following year he hired a boat and brought a load of coal from the Briar Hill mines, now Youngstown, owned by Tod & Stambaugh, the senior partner of the firm being David Tod, who was afterward governor of Ohio. This was the first load of coal ever taken from those mines to Ravenna for previous to that time Ravenna had used coal taken from the Tallmadge mines in Summit county. Mr. Babcock remained at Ravenna until 1845 and during the shipping season of that year was in Pittsburg, for- warding goods through to the lakes in company with the firm of Hubby & Hughes, of Cleveland. The following year, 1846, Mr. Babcock removed to Aurora, Ohio, where he engaged in business with Hurd & Sons, the senior partner being his father-in-law. The firm was engaged in general merchandising, handling lines of goods in demand in those days. Mr. Babcock's work was entirely on the outside for he attended to the purchases while Mr. Hurd had charge of the sales. The firm continued at Aurora until 1853 when a re- moval was made to Cleveland in order to secure a broader field
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Perry 3h. Babcock
for operation. Later Joseph S. Williams, a brother-in-law of Mr. Babcock was admitted as a partner of the firm which then became Babcock, Hurd & Williams but later Messrs. Babcock and Hurd purchased the interest of Mr. Williams and the firm style of Bab- cock & Hurd was assumed. About 1865 C. A. Woodward and George H. Babcock, the latter a son of Perry H. Babcock, became members of the firm and the style became Babcock, Hurd & Com- pany, under which name the business is still conducted, Perry H. Babcock remaining as the head of the house until his death, which occurred April 15, 1897, his remains being interred in Lakeview cemetery. He was an active, energetic and forceful man up to the time of his demise and his record was at all times most honorable and creditable.
Few of Cleveland's citizens met with greater success or attained a more prominent position in mercantile circles than Mr. Babcock, for over a half century he was closely identified with the business interests of Cleveland and northern Ohio. What he attempted he accomplished and his plans were carefully formulated. He quickly utilized the opportunties that are to be found on every hand, his diligence and enterprise bringing him into important relations with commercial and financial interests. He did not confine his atten- tion entirely to the management of the store for his sound judg- ment and keen discernment were sought in other directions. In 1874 he became a director of the National City Bank and 1876 until his death was also the vice president of that institution.
In 1843 Mr. Babcock was united in marriage to Miss Maria Hurd, a daughter of Hopson Hurd, Sr., of Aurora, Ohio. Mrs. Babcock passed away in 1882, leaving two sons, George H. and Charles. In 1884 Mr. Babcock was again married, his second union being with Caroline Baldwin, of Hudson, Ohio, who survives him and still resides in that town.
In his fraternal relations Perry H. Babcock was a Mason and in his life exemplified the beneficent spirit of the craft. His salient characteristics were such as commend him to the confidence, good will and trust of all who knew him. His interests were broad and varied and never self-centered and his activities reached out to many fields of labor which are essential elements in the world's progress. He took a deep interest in the Western Reserve Historical Society, of which he was a life member. In all of his business associations and in his private life he commanded the respect of all who knew him. He was singularly modest and while he never spoke boast- fully of his own accomplishments the world recognizes the fact that his force of character, his enterprise and his honorable business
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methods constitute the chief features in the success which he achieved and the honor which was accorded him.
It will be interesting in this connection to note something of the family which Mr. Babcock left. His elder son, George H. Bab- cock, was educated in the public schools and in 1865 became a mem- ber of the firm of Babcock, Hurd & Company, so continuing until his death in 1883. He was a Knight Templar Mason and a young man of sterling worth whose death was regarded as a distinct loss in the community. Charles Babcock, the younger son, was born January 28, 1853, in Aurora, Ohio, and was educated in the com- mon schools and in Cornell University. He, too, made his initial step in the business world in connection with the firm of Babcock, Hurd & Company and after three years' association therewith, as an employe, he was admitted to a partnership in 1876. He also suc- ceeded his father as a director in the National City Bank and is likewise a director of the Union Steel Screw Company, of the Bank- ers Surety Company, the McLean Arms & Ordnance Company and is interested in a number of other corporations. Mr. Babcock is in- terested in the promotion and building of the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railway. He is a worthy successor of an honored father, showing the same adaptability to prevailing conditions and the same keen discernment of intricate problems that characterized Perry H. Babcock.
Charles Babcock was married in Bridgeport, Ohio, to Miss Kate S. Holloway of that place and unto them have been born four chil- dren : Virginia M., now the wife of Niles B. Hasbrouck, of Cleve- land; Lila P., the wife of Edwin H. James, of Cleveland; Harry H., who died in childhood; and Georgia K., who is the wife of Joseph W. Sutphen, of Cleveland.
Charles Babcock is widely known through his social relations as well as in business connections. He belongs to the Union, Euclid, Country and Colonial Clubs, being one of the charter members and organizers of the last named. He also belongs to the Ohio Society of New York and the Winona Point Shooting Club.
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harry 7. Collier
HILE engaged in business as a general contractor, W Harry J. Collier has gained distinction in the field of railway and bridge building and in other diffi- cult work demanding superior ability and thorough understanding of mechanics and scientific principles. His record has been characterized by an orderly pro- gression that has resulted from the wise and intelligent use of every opportunity. He was born March 4, 1847, in Avoca, Steuben county, New York, and is a son of Joel R. and Keziah (MacWhor- ter) Collier. The father was in early life a sailor and became cap- tain of a vessel on the Hudson river, but devoted the later years of his life to farming and for some time lived in Illinois. Both he and his wife have now passed away.
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