USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Cleveland, Ohio, pictorial and biographical. De luxe supplement, Volume II > Part 12
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In 1825, L. A. Kelsey married Sophia Smith, the daughter of Miner Smith, a druggist of Windham, Connecticut, and a grand- daughter of Major Hezekiah Huntington, who left the Revolution- ary army after a service of three years, to establish, at Windham, Con- necticut, the first armory in the United States for the making and re- pairing of guns, and, where it is said, the first gun wholly made in America was produced.
Soon after Mr. Kelsey's marriage he removed to Youngstown, on the Niagara river, to engage in the lumber business. A schooner, owned by his firm was the first to pass through the Welland canal. He came to Cleveland in 1837, having been induced by flattering promises to take charge of the "Exchange," which was supposed to
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be a very fine structure on the "Flats." After his arrival there was a failure on the part of the Exchange people, and the project fell through. Mr. Kelsey then turned his attention to the old Cleveland Hotel, which stood on the site of the present Forest City House.
Finding the business distasteful, after one year he retired. Soon after this he became commander of the lake passenger steamer "Chesapeake," in the line between Buffalo and Chicago. Subse- quently he purchased the steamer General Harrison and ran it be- tween Chicago and Green Bay. He always had a great fondness for the water, and when but a lad Commodore Chauncey, who was a warm personal friend of the family, wished him to enter the navy but his father would not consent.
After the erection of the New England Hotel, by George M. Atwater, in 1847, Mr. Kelsey was persuaded to take charge of it and was its proprietor for two years. This hotel was on the corner of Superior and Merwin streets, a fine structure for those days, and was considered a rival of the Weddell House. The New England Ho- tel was destroyed by fire in 1854.
Politically Mr. Kelsey was a democrat and took a prominent part in the political affairs of his time. He was many times chosen as a delegate to the national and state conventions of his party. He was elected mayor of Cleveland in 1848 and 1849, and although much pressed to serve another term, declined to do so. He had an exten- sive acquaintance with the prominent party leaders of the country, and could relate many interesting incidents of his experiences with the historical men of that day.
His nature was most jovial, modest and kind, and his tastes musi- cal and artistic. In 1844, he built a home on Woodland avenue, and resided there during the remainder of his life, excepting the two years he conducted the New England Hotel. His family consisted of two sons and three daughters, who lived to adult age : Mrs. J. H. Devereux; Edgar Oscor of Lowell, Massachusetts; Theodore Row- land, who was killed at Chickamauga in the Civil war; Ada Helen, who died unmarried; and Josephine, who married John Cutter, and is now his widow, residing in Meadville, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Kelsey's death came in his eighty-seventh year. His wife died three years before, and both are buried now in Lakeview cemetery, at Cleveland.
Fawcett
Adam J. Fawcett
DAM J. FAWCETT, one of the progressive young A business men of Cleveland, whose name has been con- nected with automobile interests for some time and who is now actively and successfully engaged in the confectionery business in connection with The Bailey Company, was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1878. He pursued his education in the schools of his native city until his gradu- ation from the high school, when he entered business life as a clerk in the employ of J. Boyd, a lumber contractor operating in the woods of Canada. He was thus engaged for a year, after which he came to Cleveland, and in the fall of 1896 entered the employ of the Cleve- land Sawmill Company, with which he remained until 1898, when the Spanish-American war was inaugurated. Although not a native- born citizen of the United States, Mr. Fawcett's interest was keenly aroused in the conditions which brought on the war and, enlisting in the navy, he served for two years. He left Cleveland in May, 1898, to join the Onondaga revenue cutter as an ordinary seaman. Before reaching Boston, however, he was promoted to quartermaster of the third class. Arriving at Norfolk, Virginia, his boat was put into the coast service, cruising between Norfolk and Eastport, Maine, and during this period he was promoted to the rank of quartermaster of the first class.
Leaving the service in the fall of 1900, Mr. Fawcett returned to Cleveland and accepted his old position with the Cleveland Sawmill Company, and through the influence of his friend, L. D. Holden, who was president of this company, he became connected with the Hollenden Hotel. After serving as night clerk for about six months he was made auditor of the hotel company and remained in the posi- tion for four years. On the 15th of March, 1903, he became asso- ciated with his father-in-law, M. F. Jewell, in the confectionery busi- ness on Erie street and they also secured the concession in their line with the Bailey Company's store, the soda fountain business in that
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connection being the largest in Cleveland. In addition Mr. Fawcett owned and operated the Tabernacle garage from 1907 until the property was sold to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers for their headquarters. When he gave up his garage business Mr. Faw- cett became agent for the Oakland car, establishing business under the name of The Avenue Motor Car Company, and was also agent for the Pope-Hartford people, but when this agency was taken over by the General Motors Company in January, 1910, Mr. Fawcett re- tired from the automobile business and now devotes his entire ener- gies to the conduct of his confectionery and soda business, which is the most extensive in the city.
On the 24th of April, 1902, occurred the marriage of Mr. Faw- cett and Miss Daisy Jewell, a daughter of M. F. Jewell, and they have three children : Gertrude and Jean, twins, six years of age; and Millard, aged two years. Mr. Fawcett is a member of the Chamber of Commerce. He belongs to the Cleveland Athletic and to the Cleveland Automobile Clubs, and is exceedingly popular in both. He is also a prominent representative of Masonry, holding member- ship in Iris Lodge No. 229, F. & A. M .; Webb Chapter, R. A. M .; Oriental Commandery, K. T., and Lake Erie Consistory, S. P. R. S., thirty-second degree Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. He is very fond of outdoor sports and he and his wife each year go to northern Canada deer hunting. Mrs. Fawcett is also an ardent enthusiast and has brought down several fine deer. Mr. Fawcett has one of the finest collections of modern rifles and guns of all descriptions in Cleveland and is a true sportsman, thoroughly at home in the forests, with knowl- edge of woodcraft such as few possess. A varied and interesting life has been that of Mr. Fawcett and in the short time he has been in business he has achieved an enviable prominence, establishing a repu- tation as a most alert, energetic and progressive man, well deserving the confidence of those with whom he is associated.
Una Lamano
Mortimer Talilliam Lawrence
A LTHOUGH the life record of. Mortimer William Lawrence closed ere he had completed the period of young manhood, he being but thirty-seven years of age at the time of his death, he had accomplished within that period a work that would have been a fit- ting crown to many more years of earnest and persistent labor. Moreover, he lives enshrined in the memory of all who knew him as one who exemplified in his life the best traits of family and social relations.
He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, June 12, 1873, the third son of M. J. Lawrence, of whom extended mention is made on another page of this volume. After attending the Kentucky Street public school he continued his education in the high schools of Denver, Colorado, to which city his father had removed, being there engaged in business. Subsequently he became a pupil in the University School of Cleveland and matriculated in the Ohio State University for the agricultural course in the fall of 1891. He did not graduate from the university, however, for he pursued an elective course, taking up such studies as he deemed would be of value to him in his later work as the assistant of his father in the publication of the Ohio Farmer. During his col- lege days he became a member of the Phi Gamma Delta and Theta Nu Epsilon fraternities and always took a prominent part in college affairs.
At the close of the school year in June, 1894, Mortimer W. Law- rence left the university and immediately began work in the editorial department of the Ohio Farmer, thus becoming connected with the Lawrence Publishing Company. Later he was transferred to the Michigan Farmer of Detroit, where his duties connected him with both the editorial and business departments for a year and a half. He then returned to the business office of the Ohio Farmer, where he continued to devote his great energy to the general interests of this
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paper. For several years prior to his demise he was the general man- ager of the business and his administration was marked by great advances and improvements in every department. Following his father's gradual withdrawal from active management, Mortimer W. Lawrence became general manager, which position he held until his death, and at the same time was vice president of the Lawrence-WI- liams Company, sole agents in the United States and Canada for Gombault's Caustic Balsam, the great French veterinary remedy. His investments and activities were exetnded to other fields, for he was a director in many concerns of the city.
On the 4th of September, 1903, Mr. Lawrence wedded Miss Nelle Belle Jones, a daughter of Dr. G. J. Jones, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work. They had three children, Mary Jeanette, Mortimer William and Gaius Jones.
The death of Mr. Lawrence occurred November 11, 1909. He was a most popular young man, highly esteemed by all whom he met either in business or social circles. He belonged to the Union, Hermit, Cleveland Automobile and Cleveland Advertising Clubs, in the membership of which he found many congenial friends. It was not only his splendid business ability, but also the kindly nature and innumerable little acts of kindness that so greatly endeared Mr. Law- rence to his associates. He always had a good word for everybody, and it was his custom when going to his office in his automobile to pick up laboring men and bring them down town to their work. The term "Morrie," by which he was uniformly known, was an expres- sion of deep affection and friendly regard.
One who knew him well said: "I shall always remember him first as a dear friend, next as a true gentleman in the best sense of that good word and next as a very superior business man, level headed, sagacious, shrewd but always just and kindly. It will be impossible to fill the void left by his death in the hearts and lives of his many friends." Another wrote of him: "As a business man he possessed the rare quality of being an excellent executive as well as a balance wheel; he inspired activity but at the same time, by his genial presence and happy manner, kept everyone good natured. Those who were in contact with him ever day for years loved him best, because the deeper one went into his personality the more he would find to admire and to love. Even those who might differ from him on a matter of policy never failed to accord him the acknowledgment of clear reason and consistency.
"It seems but a few days ago that he was among us, large of body, energetic of spirit, kindly and charitable of disposition, lofty of prin- ciple, broadly sensible in every way. He devoted all of his great
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energy and rare good judgment to what ever was at hand. From the time he arrived at the office he was all business, but such was the effect of his graceful manner that troublous places were smoothed out before him as when oil is poured upon a stormy sea. Quick to admit a fault, he was even more eager to right a wrong than he was to demand that similar action be accorded him by someone else. He believed in working in the open, and if he ever habored hatred it was for dis- honesty and underhanded methods. No one can ever say that this man was guilty of either of these faults.
"As an employer and manager of men and women he was deeply loved, for in working with them day after day and year after year his many excellent qualities were constantly being drawn out, and he was continually doing the many things that attract fellow beings one to another. It was a common saying among the employes of the Law- rence Publishing Company that one would be willing to give his right hand for 'Morrie' as he was familiarly known to all. And this was no idle boast, for all who had ever been brought into intimate contact with him were immediately so deeply impressed with his many good qualities that they would gladly go to almost any extreme for his sake. The same can be said of all of the host of friends that he made outside of business circles. He was indeed a rare combination of essentials.
"He had a remarkably wide circle of devoted and loyal personal friends. His magnetic nature drew people to him with a rare power and once attracted he held them by the same genial spirit that per- vaded all that he did. During an acquaintance of many years, under all kinds of circumstances, we have never heard one person speak otherwise than well of him. Intensely human, his broad mind and charitable disposition placed him at one with his fellows in a way that was remarkable indeed. His liberality and kindness forbade him to seek preferment for himself, but he was ever on the lookout for a way to turn a favor to a friend. Is it any wonder, then, that today actually thousands mourn his taking? Such men are rare, and that is why they are so highly appreciated.
"As a husband and father, son and brother, he was loving and deeply loved. His home was his castle; and as soon as the business of the day was finished he always hurried home to greet his wife and little ones, and to be at ease among them and the many friends that were wont to visit that home. He was never too busy to stop and talk of homely things which he thought deserved his attention, and the benefit of his good judgment and advice was always given freely to any of his friends or relatives who might ask it. It is indeed hard to attribute to him any preponderating characteristics and it would be
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just as hard to imagine any situation in which he would not be able to take care of himself. He was an all-around man in every sense of that big word. In the business, social and family world he was uni- versally loved and respected."
Worth Viking
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Don. dalillis Vickery
W ILLIS VICKERY, judge of the court of common pleas, for the fourth subdivision of the third judicial district of Ohio, was born at Bellevue, Huron county, Ohio, November 26, 1857. His parents were William Vick- ery and Sarah Perkins Vickery, who emigrated from the county of Devon, England, in May, 1857, coming directly to Bellevue, where a few months afterward the subject of this sketch was born. Shortly afterward the family, which at that time comprised the parents and three children, moved to the country on a farm, first in Erie county, Ohio, and then to Sandusky county, Ohio, where young Vickery was brought up and where he resided with his parents until he reached manhood. In 1869 the mother died, and the father never afterward remarried, but kept his family to- gether on the home farm between Clyde and Bellevue in Sandusky county. Hard work from early until late on the farm was the lot of all. No school except three months in the winter, and until young Vickery had reached the age of nineteen years he saw nothing but hard work and deprivations. But while he worked with his hands his mind was growing strong and vigorous with his body, so that in the fall of 1877, when he entered Clyde high school in the second year, he was soon able to lead his class, and in 1880, when he graduated, it was as valedictorian of the class.
Not having means to go to college and being nearly twenty-two years of age, he determined to study law, and in the fall of 1880 he entered the law office of Messrs. Everett and Fowler, at Fremont, Ohio, where he remained for six months, but in January, 1881, being asked to accept the position of principal of the grammar school at Clyde, Ohio, he took the position and taught the balance of the year. In the fall of 188 1 he secured a position as teacher of the high school at Castalia, Ohio, where he taught for one year with success. In the meantime he continued his studies in the law, and in the fall of 1882 he entered the middle year of the law department of Boston Univers-
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ity, Boston, Massachusetts, and remained there until he was graduated in 1884, having won a scholarship the first year.
Returning to Ohio, Judge Vickery was admitted to the Ohio bar in June, 1885, when, with his brother Jesse, who had graduated from the law department of Michigan University, he formed a law part- nership and opened a law office at Bellevue, Ohio, under the firm name of Vickery Brothers. They continued the practice of law with marked success, taking part in much of the important litigations of Erie, Sandusky and Huron counties until in 1896, when the firm was dissolved and Judge Vickery removed to Cleveland, Ohio. For a number of years he practiced alone and then became associated with the Hon. Charles S. Bentley, ex-judge of the circuit court of Ohio, under the firm name of Bentley & Vickery, which firm lasted for three years. It was then dissolved, and Judge Vickery again prac- ticed alone until just before his election to the bench, when he was associated in the firm of Vickery, Fleharty & Corlett, the latter firm being dissolved January 1, 1909, when Judge Vickery assumed his duties on the bench. His election to the bench came to him as an honor after having achieved an honorable position at the bar of Cuyahoga county. Coming to the city an entire stranger with no friends or ac- quaintances in the city, he compelled recognition by sheer force of ability and indefatigable work, so that when he ran for the office of judge of the court of common pleas it was generally conceded that he was well fitted for the high duties, and he was endorsed by all the newspapers and civic societies of the city without regard to politics and was elected by an unusually large majority.
In 1897 Judge Vickery was one of the moving spirits with Judge Arthur E. Rowley, of the probate court of Huron county, Ohio, and Ex-Judge Charles S. Bentley, in organizing the Baldwin University Law School, of which school he became the secretary and managing officer. Later when this school was consolidated with the Cleveland Law School, Judge Vickery became the secretary and managing officer of the consolidated school and the real head of the school, which position and duties he has not allowed the more honorable duties of his judicial position to interfere with. He has been the means of making it possible for scores of young men to gain a law education, and many of them to achieve an honorable position at the bar of this and other states. He now lectures in the school on con- tracts, partnership and constitutional law. As a teacher he has few superiors, as he has a comprehensive grasp of his subjects and the faculty of imparting knowledge in a rare degree.
Judge Vickery was elected to the bench in the fall of 1908, and at once became known as a fearless, able and impartial judge. Some
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of the most important cases fell to his lot to try, notably the lake front litigation and the State of Ohio versus Hayes. The lake front litiga- tion had been in the courts for sixteen years and had been twice de- cided in favor of the railroad company, defendants, by the United States courts and was sent back to the state courts to be tried there. Judge Vickery took up this case almost as his first work on the bench and spent his nights in studying the case to keep abreast with the many able lawyers who presented it in court. After three weeks' trial and a further week's deliberation, he delivered an opinion sustaining the city in its contention, deciding contrary to the decisions of the two Unted States courts, he taking a bold and strong stand for the rights of the public as against the encroachments on the public's rights. His position was sustained in a learned opinion by Judge Henry, of the circuit court. By Judge Vickery's decision the city of Cleve- land is likely to recover land on the lake front worth thirty million dollars.
The state of Ohio, or Hayes case, was the most technical criminal case tried in Cuyahoga county courts for years. It involved the em- bezzlement of one hundred and ninety-eight bonds of one thousand dollars each and covered a commercial transaction of a long period of time. The trial took three weeks and there were numerous able lawyers on each side. Judge Vickery's position was upheld by the circuit court, and he was complimented by a member of the circuit court for the able manner in which he presided over the trial.
Judge Vickery has a well stored mind, and that, together with his long training at the bar, has enabled him to dispatch business in such a manner that it has brought forth much praise. The Cleveland Leader editorial says: "Judge Vickery, of the common pleas court, is undoubtedly right in his contention that with the present legal machinery in Ohio and other states, it is possible to turn the wheels much faster and keep the business of the courts more nearly down to date. He has proven his case by his own work. It has been demonstrated that a judge with ability and determination, and plenty of industry to boot, can wade through a mass of hampering techni- calities with surpassing ease. Judge Vickery has simply refused to be bound and clogged by common usage in American courts where nothing essential was involved."
Again the Leader says, editorially: "Judge Vickery has won golden opinion by his work on the bench, which he has adorned less than a year. His popularity has increased greatly, and he has earned all the credit which the public has given him. He has been active, earnest, businesslike and efficient. His courtroom has been the scene of many stinging rebukes to unworthy members of the bar. Petty
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chicanery has often been swept away there to make way for quick justice."
While Judge Vickery is a republican in politics, he is not a parti- san and believes in the elimination of politics from the courts, and the court from politics.
Besides being an able lawyer, a teacher and jurist, Judge Vickery is a scholar in rather a marked sense. He is a bibliophile of biblio- philes and has one of the best libraries in the city of Cleveland. He is a close student of Shakespeare, and the Elizabethian and restora- tion drama, and has probably the best private library on Shakespeare and Shakespearana in America. He is known all over the United States as a Shakespearean student, being president of the New York Shakespeare Society, the largest organization of that kind in America. He is a member of the Rowfant Club of Cleveland, and has been its president; also a member of the Bibliophile Society of Boston, Massa- chusetts; and of the Carteret Book Club, of Newark, New Jersey. He is president of the Rowfant Bindery Company, which company binds books as artistically and beautifully as anywhere in the world. Judge Vickery loves books and has a fireproof library where he keeps his many rare treasures. He loves beautiful books beautifully bound, and he has many rare examples of finely bound books both ancient and modern. He is constantly called upon to lecture upon his favorite themes, and his lectures have the rare charm of coming from one full of the subject which he loves.
Judge Vickery has written and published several books, notably "Caliban," translated from the French by the late Mrs. Vickery, with introduction written by him; "A Search After a First Folio," published by the Rowfant Club; "Oscar Wilde, a Sketch," besides having written the introduction to the Bankside Restoration Series, issued by the New York Shakespeare Society, of which series he was one of the joint editors with Dr. Appleton Morgan, of New York. Judge Vickery has perhaps the best collection of books and works of Oscar Wilde of anyone in the world and has made a close study of that erratic genius.
Judge Vickery is a Mason, a Knight of Pythias, a member of the Tippecanoe Club and of the Chamber of Commerce Club. He has been three times married and has three children by his first wife: Lucile H., a graduate of the Women's College of Western Reserve University, now a teacher in the Cleveland schools; Melville, a junior in Case School of Applied Science; and Howard L., who is at Annapolis preparing to enter Annapolis Naval Academy. Their mother, Anna L. Snyder, who had been a high school teacher, died when Howard was a babe. Later Judge Vickery married Eleanor
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