USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Cleveland, Ohio, pictorial and biographical. De luxe supplement, Volume II > Part 13
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Don. Jolillis Vickery
R. Grant, of Boston, Massachusetts, a lady of rare literary talent and much culture, who died in 1902. In 1904 he married Mrs. Rosalie Griggs Mayberry, of Cleveland, and they now live in a modest quiet home at 1640 East Eighty-fourth street, where Judge Vickery can usually be found, surrounded by his books and works of art, a hard- working, painstaking, able judge, giving thoughtful attention to his judicial duties.
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henry A. Chisholm
H ENRY A. CHISHOLM, as president of the William Chisholm's Sons Company and formerly as manager of the Chisholm Steel Shovel Works, has contributed to Cleveland's fame as an industrial center and through his connection with other important business enter- prises has likewise advanced the commercial and financial interests of the city. Almost his entire life has been passed in Cleveland, although he was born in Montreal, Canada, November 18, 1851. His father, William Chisholm, was of Scotch nativity but crossed the Atlantic to Canada about 1848, and in 1854 came to the Forest city, with the business interests of which he was identified for more than forty years. In the fall of 1877 he established the Chisholm Steel Shovel Works, one of the oldest industries of this kind in the United States. He remained active in its management and control until about ten years prior to his death, when he retired from business, spending his remaining days in the enjoyment of well earned rest, his long and useful life being brought to a close on the 10th of January, 1907. He was a man of marked initiative spirit and of keen business sagacity, possessing, moreover, that type of mind which finds its greatest pleasure in successfully accomplishing tasks of great diffi- culty.
Henry A. Chisholm was but three years of age at the time of the removal of the family to Cleveland, and when a lad of six he was sent to the public schools, while later he went to Exeter, New Hampshire, there to prepare for college. Afterward entering Harvard, he was graduated within its classic walls in 1874 and, returning to Cleveland, entered the steel mills of the Cleveland Rolling Mills Company for the purpose of becoming thoroughly familiar with the steel industry in its practical operation. In 1877, when his father established the Chisholm Steel Shovel Works, he became interested in the enterprise, with which he has been connected continuously since, his previous ex- perience and business capacity well fitting him for the responsibilities
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that devolved upon him when upon his father's death he became man- ager of the business. In 1910 the Chisholm Steel Shovel Company was incorporated as the William Chisholm's Sons Company, with H. A. Chisholm, president, A. T. Chisholm, vice president, and A. E. Cook, secretary and treasurer. Mr. Chisholm has made it his pur- pose to maintain the high standard for which his father worked, and the product of the plant has included only the highest grade of tools, so that the business today enjoys a national reputation for the excel- lence of its product, as well as for the extent of its operations. Through a wise business policy the enterprise has been maintained upon a sound financial basis, so that a substantial and gratifying return has been received upon the original investment of capable and well devised plans. While signally successful in this field of activity, Mr. Chis- holm has also evinced active interest in other enterprises, was a director of the Union Steel Screw Company, and is now a director of the National Screw & Tack Company, which absorbed the Union Steel Screw Company. The negotiation for this absorption was mainly conducted by Mr. Chisholm. A coincidence in connection with the Union Steel Screw Company was that Mr. Chisholm's father was the first vice president, and the son, H. A., was the last official in that capacity. He is also a director of the First National Bank and the Central National Bank and in the Superior Savings & Trust Com- pany he is a stockholder. His name is an honored one in financial circles and wherever the output of the William Chisholm's Sons Com- pany is known, for he has held to that high and honorable policy which has been the guiding spirit of the company from the inception of the business.
In Boston, Massachusetts, in 1877, Mr. Chisholm was married to Miss Eliza Gertrude Tozier, of that city, and they have one son, Andre T., who is a graduate of the Princeton class of 1902 and is superintendent of the William Chisholm's Sons Company. He mar- ried Laura Hickox Brown, a daughter of Harvey H. and a grand- daughter of Fayette Brown. They have one daughter, Elizabeth, born June 22, 1907.
Mr. Chisholm is identified with some of the more important social organizations of Cleveland through his membership in the Union, University, Euclid and Mayfield Country Clubs. Politically he is in sympathy wtih the republican party but aside from casting his influence for municipal progress he has taken little part in the city's public life. His acts, which are the expression of upright and hon- orable ideals and an exposition of a kindly and helpful spirit, have made him a citizen to be admired and a man to whom friends give unfaltering loyalty.
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Stephen S. Creadon
S TEPHEN S. CREADON, president and manager of the Standard Brewing Company and also of the Lake City Ice Company, is a splendid example of the pro- gressive and successful business man of the present, who, when he believes in the possibility of success for a project or undertaking, never hesitates to give to it the assistance of his energy, effort and careful management.
A native of Cleveland, Mr. Creadon was born in 1865 and when a lad began sailing on the Great Lakes, devoting about eight years to that department of labor. The opportunity for advancement, how- ever, was not sufficient to render such work attractive to one of his ambitious nature and, turning his attention to other lines, he was, for about four years, in the employ of a gasoline stove manufacturing concern. While his work in that connection was that of a skilled mechanic in the ornamental department, the financial return was not in keeping with what he felt he was able to earn. Therefore with the capital that he could command at that time he entered upon his first business venture, turning his attention to mercantile lines. This was in 1893, and the succeeding six years, during which he conducted a retail business at the corner of Detroit and West Twenty-fifth streets, not only added to his financial resources but developed his business capacity and foresight, enabling him to detect opportunity for indus- trial development.
In 1904 Mr. Creadon promoted the Standard Brewing Company, ot which he became president and manager, a relation that he has borne to the company ever since. The success of this enterprise has been such as to place it in a foremost position among the leading breweries of the city. Entering the field against formidable competi- tion, the growth of his undertaking has been remarkable. With a most modern equipment and a product noted for its purity and excel- lence, and with management that is able and competent, the success has been well merited. The bottling department of this plant is one
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of its special features and contains all of the apparatus necessary for the conduct of that branch of the business. The well known brands, Erin Brew and Ehren Brau, originated here and, while the most pop- ular brands in the city, are suggestive of the nationality of the stock- holders of the company. The prominent part that Mr. Creadon has taken in the success of this industry reflects no small amount of credit upon him. He organized the Lake City Ice Company in 1906 and has been its president ever since. He has shown himself to be a man of unusual business capacity and adaptation, for whatever he has undertaken he has carried to success.
In 1894 Mr. Creadon was married to Miss Catherine A. Mc- Laughlin, of this city, and they have one son, George E., born May 2, 1895, who is a student in St. Ignatius College. The family are iden- tified with St. Patrick's church. Mr. Creadon holds a life member- ship in Cleveland Aerie, No. 135, F. O. E., and is also a member of the Auto Club.
Addison Tills Tough
A DDISON HILLS HOUGH, one of the best known men in Cleveland in brokerage, financial and invest- ment security circles, is a native of the Forest city, born May 23, 1869, the only son of Alfred B. and Abbie (Rhodes) Hough. The father, a native of Spring- field, Ohio, came to Cleveland at the age of ten years. His wife, now deceased, was a daughter of Charles L. Rhodes, one of the old-time pioneers of Cleveland.
Addison H. Hough prepared for college at Brooks Military Academy and then, entering Yale, was graduated with the class of 1890. Following his return to Cleveland, Mr. Hough entered the employ of the Brush Electric Company, which he represented in various departments until 1895, holding the position of secretary and purchase agent when he severed his connections with the company to enter into partnership with Charles A. Otis, Jr., under the firm name of Otis, Hough & Company, in the conduct of an iron and steel com- mission business. A change in partnership in 1898 led to a reorgani- zation under the name of Otis, Bonnell & Company, Mr. Hough still remaining a member of the firm. It was at that time that William F. Bonnell was admitted to the partnership and the name was changed from the fact that Mr. Otis and Mr. Hough then engaged in the banking and brokerage business, organizing the firm of Otis & Hough with membership in the New York and Chicago stock exchanges and the Chicago board of trade. The firm was first established in April, 1899, when C. A. Otis, Jr., and Addison H. Hough assumed the man- agement of the Cleveland branch of the firm of Otis, Wilcox & Com- pany of Chicago. In December of the same year, Messrs. Otis and Hough determined to open an office of their own, independent of all outside connections, and thus the firm of Otis & Hough took over the Cleveland business of Otis, Wilcox & Company on the Ist of January, 1900. The business of this firm has had a remarkable growth and is now one of the largest in its line in the west. A general brokerage
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business is conducted, together with the execution of orders for the clients in the leading stock, grain and cotton exchanges of the country as well as the extensive handling of municipal bonds and high grade investment securities for a clientele that covers almost the entire country. This firm was one of the prime movers in the organization of the Cleveland Stock Exchange, of which Mr. Hough was presi- dent for several years. The growth and development of the business of Otis & Hough is without a parallel in the financial history of the city and reflects no small amount of credit on those in whose hands rests the management. The efforts of Mr. Hough in the business world have extended beyond this specific line of activity, carrying him into connection with various other commercial and financial enterprises.
Mr. Hough is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and in this and other connections assists materially in promoting public progress. He belongs to the Union, Tavern, Roadside, Country, Hermit and Automobile Clubs and is a republican and member of the Tippecanoe Club, but is not active in politics to the extent of seeking or desiring public office. During his college days he became a member of the Psi Upsilon and the Scroll and Keys, the senior society of Yale. He is a member of Dr. Sutphen's church-Second Presbyterian-and with appreciation for the social amenities of life, he holds friendship inviolable and is equally loyal to the interests entrusted to his care in business relations.
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Um L'Watkins
William H. dalatkins
ILLIAM H. WATKINS, associated as an investor and W officer with various leading business interests of Cleve land, is perhaps best known as the president of the W. J. Townsend Company, and president of the Davis Dry Goods Company and treasurer of the Ohio Gas Meter Company. He was born on Root street, on the west side of Cleveland, April 12, 1866. The city was then flourishing and yet had by no means entered upon that era of rapid and substan- tial growth which in recent years has made it one of the chief manu- facturing and business centers of the entire country. His youthful days were spent in the home of his parents, Lewis J. and Agnes (Shanks) Watkins. The father was a native of Srevathan, Mon- mouthshire, Wales, born June 20, 1839, and the mother's birth occur- red at Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, Scotland, July 24, 1844. Lewis J. Watkins came to America at the age of seventeen years, attracted by the broader business opportunities of the new world. He was a young man of twenty when he established his home in Cleveland and secured a position as roller in the steel mills. At the time of the Civil war he espoused the Union cause, enlisting in the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served throughout the period of hostilities. He died May 12, 1882. His wife came to this country when a little maiden of ten years and died July 3, 1877.
William H. Watkins, reared in Cleveland, pursued his education in the public schools between the ages of six and eleven years. He then started out to make his own way in the world. The burden of self-support was a heavy one for young shoulders but he resolutely faced the conditions before him and secured employment in the old Union Iron Works, where he remained for six months. He next entered the employ of the Cleveland Rolling Mills Company and there continued for four years. While yet a young man he took a three years' course in mechanical engineering at the Young Men's Christian Association night school and also spent a year in a night
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course at Central Institute. His efficiency increasing, he was pro- moted and on leaving the Cleveland Rolling Mills Company he en- tered the service of the Union Rolling Mills Company, where he gradually worked his way upward until he became boss roller. He has been associated with the business for twenty-eight years at this writing and continues as foreman of the rolling department. Thor- oughly mastering every task assigned him Mr. Watkins gained com- prehensive knowledge of the processes of iron and steel manufacture and is acknowledged an expert workman. As the years have gone on and he has won that success which all men regard as the reward of labor, he has made investment in other lines and is active in the man- agement of various important business concerns. Of the W. J. Town- send Company he is now president and is also chief executive officer of the Davis Dry Goods Company of Cambridge, Ohio. He is treas- urer of the Ohio Gas Meter Company and a stockholder and director of the Empire Rolling Mills Company of Cleveland. He likewise owns stock in the Columbia Bank, and the Phillemac Rolling Mills Company, of Glendale, Ohio. All these are dividend-bearing invest- ments, contributing to the prosperity which Mr. Watkins is now enjoying and which he well merits, for his success is all self-earned.
On the 13th of April, 1887, Mr. Watkins was married to Miss Emma L. Rhodes, a daughter of I. J. and Mary (Trudley) Rhodes, the former engaged in the grocery business. Mr. and Mrs. Watkins have become the parents of seven children: Hazel, who is a grad- uate of the South high school and completed a classical course in Wellesley College, near Boston; Blanch, who is a graduate of the Central high school and is now a student in the Western Reserve Uni- versity in Cleveland; Esther N., who is attending the Central high school; Grace L., also a high school pupil; Gladys, William H. and Myron H., who are pupils in the Woodland Hills school.
In politics Mr. Watkins is a republican whose political views are the outcome of broad reading of the political situation and of the questions and issues of the day. In religious faith he is a Congrega- tionalist and takes an active interest in the work of the Union Con- gregational church, serving for twelve years as church treasurer, while at the present time he is a deacon. For fifteen years he was superin- tendent of the Sunday school and he cooperates in other activities which are elements in the growth of the church and the extension of its influence. He is likewise a member of the board of managers of the Young Men's Christian Association. Fraternally he is a Mason, holding membership in Euclid Lodge. He has always been a man of temperate habits, free from excess in any direction, and thus the conservation of his physical and mental forces have enabled him to
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accomplish what he has undertaken in the business world. He is honored by all who know him because of his close conformity to high principles and manly purposes, and in his social relations and in his church, as well as through business associations, he has won many friends.
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Edward A. Roll
DWARD A. NOLL, who is the president of the E National Tool Company of Cleveland, a concern which during the four years of its existence has proved its right to be numbered among the prosperous busi- ness houses of this city, was born in Cumberland, Maryland, May 19, 1867. His father, Henry Noll, was a native of the German fatherland and came to America about 1840. His mother, who in her maidenhood was Miss Elizabeth Sherrmesser, was born in Saxony, Germany, and like her husband has passed away.
Edward A. Noll attended the public schools of Cleveland, but left his lessons at the age of fourteen, to go to work as an office boy at the Young Men's Christian Association, obtaining wages of one dollar and a half a week. A year later he became an apprentice with Warner & Swasey, working in their machine shop and becoming a machinist and tool maker. In 1887 he found employment with the National Tube Works, at Mckeesport, Pennsylvania. At the end of two years he returned to Cleveland and went to work for the Cleveland Rubber Company, remaining with them for about four years, and later be- coming associated for the next six months with the Cleveland Auto- matic Machine Company. In 1892 he secured a position as foreman with the Standard Tool Company, with whom he was connected until 1905 when he organized the National Tool Company. When the firm was incorporated he was made its president and has since held that position. Through years of experience he has been well fitted to discharge the duties which devolve upon him and is able to guide the business along successful channels and make it a profitable investment for his capital and labor.
In 1902 Mr. Noll was united in marriage to Miss Lulu M. Miller, a daughter of Leonard and Katherine (Faust) Miller, of Cleveland. They have one son, Edward L., who is now seven years of age. For the past fifteen years Mr. Noll has held membership in National
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Edward A. Rou
Lodge, K. P., and has been closely connected with the work of his fraternal brethren. There is also an interesting military chapter in the life history of Mr. Noll, who is widely and prominently known among those who wear the uniform that indicates military service and unfaltering loyalty to the country. On the 16th of June, 1889, he became a member of Company F, Fifth Infantry, Ohio National Guard, and on the first anniversary of his enlistment was appointed corporal. On the 10th of June, 1891, he became sergeant and was transferred to Company K, August 10, 1892. Further promotion made him second lieutenant on the 10th of December, 1894, and cap- tain on the 14th of July, 1897. He served in the war with Spain as captain of Company K, Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, from May II, 1898, until the 5th of November following, when he was mustered out of the United States service. He continued, however, with the Ohio National Guard until June 18, 1900, when he resigned and was honored by being placed on the retired list June 18, 1900. In the pre- vious January he had been elected major of the Fifth Regiment, but on account of resigning from military service retired as ranking cap- tain of the regiment. A man of conspicuous industry, he has ever directed it well and to good purpose, and adhering to upright and honorable principles has attained to a position of respect among the men who have come to know him.
CE. Bencham
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Charles Comard Benham
HAT Cleveland's commercial and industrial impor- T tance has been greatly augmented by her splendid port and other excellent shipping facilities is a fact recognized by all. Among those most prominent and widely known in connection with shipping in- terests is Charles Edward Benham, vessel agent who from the age of nine years has been closely associated with marine transportation and for some years sailed the lakes as master and vessel owner.
He was born in Ashtabula, Ohio, September 29, 1847, a son of Samuel and Harriet N. (Williams) Benham, both representatives of old New England families. The father, a native of Middletown, Connecticut, removed to Ashtabula, Ohio, as a young man, and there engaged in merchandising for many years, or until his removal to Cleveland in 1852. He became identified with mercantile interests in this city, being first located on River street and later on Detroit street, where he continued until his death, which occurred in 1897, when he was seventy-seven years of age. During the war he was located in the Northern Transportation building on River street and shipped provisions to the army for the government. In his early days he was interested in the vessel business in Ashtabula, and it was during that period that his son, Charles Edward, made his start in the same line. The mother was a native of Weymouth, Massachu- setts, who died in 1897 at the age of seventy-five years.
Charles Edward Benham supplemented the education which he acquired in the public schools of Ashtabula by a course in Bryant & Stratton Business College at Cleveland. He was only nine years of age when he began sailing on the lakes in the summer seasons, having always a great fondness for the water. During the winter months following the completion of his commercial course, he read medicine with Drs. Boynton and Van Norman for two years and afterward with the latter alone for two years. He likewise attended lectures
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at the Huron Street Homeopathic Hospital Medical College but with no intention of engaging in the practice of medicine as a life work, his reading being done simply from his interest in the profes- sion. On the 13th of August, 1862, when sixteen years of age, he sailed his first vessel as master of the Industry on Lakes Erie and Huron, and from that time forward was in command of vessels of every description. He first became financially interested in shipping at the time he was made master and gradually increased his invest- ments, owning at different times the Henry C. Richards, Queen City, Zack Chandler, C. H. Johnson, the Reindeer, George Sherman, and the Metropolis, some of which he also sailed. He was likewise for eleven years the owner of the tug Sampson, the most powerful tug on the lakes. This he sailed for five years. He also owned numerous other tugs and at one time controlled and operated a White Stack Tug Line of seven tugs. He also commanded numerous other sail- ing vessels, and at one time sailed the Ketchum, in which he had an interest, and was, moreover, interested in numerous other vessels, owning the Nahant, H. B. Tuttle and Edward S. Pease. In 1882 he practically left the lakes, but has continued his financial con- nection with vessel interests to some extent to the present, although he ceased to be actively interested therein when he entered the govern- * ment service as special deputy collector of customs in 1898.
About 1882 Br. Benham entered the firm of Palmer & Benham, vessel owners and agents, and while associated therewith represented the marine interests of the Mercantile Insurance Company and also looked after the wrecking and appraising of seven different companies. The firm of Palmer & Benham was the first to occupy the Perry- Payne building. Two years later the partnership was dissolved and Mr. Benham became a partner of Captain Joe DeVille. This rela- tion was discontinued in 1897, when the firm became C. P. Gil- christ & Company, vessel owners, the principal partners being C. P. Gilchrist and Charles E. Benham. Alone Mr. Benham con- ducts an extensive business in marine surveying, appraising, wrecking and looking after the construction of steel and wooden ships. Prob- ably no other man in Cleveland has a wider acquaintance with the various crafts which navigate the lakes or is more competent to speak with authority upon shipping interests.
In 1887 Mr. Benham removed his residence to the west side, becoming a member of the water board of the West Cleveland corpo- ration, of which he was chairman until the annexation of the district to Cleveland. He was chairman of the West Cleveland annexation committee and also chairman of the joint committee of annexation of the two cities. As a member of the water board he established the
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