USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Cleveland, Ohio, pictorial and biographical. De luxe supplement, Volume II > Part 24
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
Pleasantly situated in his home life, Mr. Sullivan was married in 1873 to Miss Selina J. Brown, and unto them were born two daugh- ters and a son. Mr. Sullivan finds pleasant association in his occa- sional visits to the Union, Country, Colonial, Roadside and Euclid Heights Clubs, of Cleveland, in all of which he holds membership. In manner he is a gentleman of the old school in that his courtesy is unfailing, but at the same time he is the alert, enterprising business man, a typical representative of the twentieth century spirit which formulates its plans and accomplishes its purposes along lines that demand the investment of millions.
I. K. Deveroux
henry Kelsey Debereux
A Yale man, "well descended and well bred," Henry Kelsey Devereux is a man of large business interests and of extended social connections. A lifelong resi- dent of Cleveland, he is known throughout the city as Harry K. Devereux to a circle of friends that is coextensive with that of his acquaintances. He has done more than any other one man to promote racing as a sport in Cleveland and when commercial interests claim his attention, he is the alert, enterprising business man, ready to grapple and solve the involved and complex problems that may arise.
Mr. Devereux was born October 10, 1860, and is a son of Gen- eral J. H. and Antoinette (Kelsey) Devereux, of whom mention is made elsewhere in this volume. He attended Brooks Military Acad- emy and then entered Yale, pursuing his scientific course in Shef- field College, from which he was graduated in 1883. Returning to Ohio, he was employed as a civil engineer on what was then known as the "Bee Line,"-The Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and In- dianapolis Railway, with which he remained for a few years. He then located in Cleveland and has since been engaged in the railway supply business. He is also manager of the Chicago-Cleveland Car Roofing Company, is a director of the American Sportsman Company and of the Roadside Club Company.
Mr. Devereux was the prime moving spirit in organizing the Forest City Live Stock & Fair Company, which built the North Randall trotting track, one of the finest racing plants in the United States, when the old Glenville track was sold to be divided into city lots. Light harness racing seemed to be doomed in Cleveland. This was a time when enthusiasm alone was not all that was needed to save the sport, for it required enthusiasm combined with capital, as a racing plant is an expensive thing to build. Mr. Devereux was the man who took the lead and interested sufficient capital in the
467
468
Denry Kelsey Debereux
project to insure success. However, it remained for him to show the push and energy, with a constant oversight of affairs, that re- sulted in the establishing in Cleveland of the model racing track of the country devoted to light harness racing. His entire identification with light harness racing has been as a gentleman driver. He is the most skillful gentleman reinsman in the country, as shown by actual performances. He has never raced for money and has been attracted to the sport only by his great love for horses. His interest began in his early youth. He was not a rugged lad and the physician recommended that he be given a pony and that he should ride all day long. The father heeded the physician's advice and with the pony Harry Devereux soon regained his health, for it kept him out in the air. It also aroused his interest in horses. He soon sold the pony to purchase a horse and again and again made purchases, each one being a little better than its predecessor. The father was also deeply interested in horses and both father and son took pride in the time their horses could make in harness.
Moreover, even in his boyhood days Harry Devereux took great pride in the appearance of his horses and after attaining manhood, when his capital permitted it, he began to purchase fine blooded stock. He has owned a number of fine animals, many of which he has bred and trained himself. One in particular, the celebrated stal- lion, John A. McKerron, he bred, trained and drove to record and over him no one has held a rein to speed but Mr. Devereux. One of the Cleveland papers has said of him in this connection: "Harry K. Devereux, one of the stanchest friends the trotting horse sport ever had in this country, is a man of many titles. Devereux's whole heart and soul are in the light harness racing game, and his spirit, knowledge of the game and great love of the sport places him foremost among the solons of harness racing. Mr. Devereux is the backbone of the trotting and pacing sport in Cleveland. His keen persever- ance and determination to keep the racing game clean and pros- perous are factors so pronounced that his influence is having a great bearing on the uplift of the sport all over the country, and it can be said that to a certain degree the decidedly increased strength in the grand circuit as mapped out for this season is due to his efforts. At present, Mr. Devereux has a string of titles that would necessitate the most careful work on the part of an expert accountant to keep in mind. He is president of the Forest City Live Stock & Fair Com- pany, which company built the North Randall track. He is presi- dent of the grand circuit, president of the Gentlemen's Driving Club of Cleveland, president of the League of Amateur Driving Clubs and secretary of the American Association of Trotting Horse Breed-
469
Henry Kelsey Debereux
ers. Mr. Devereux is now the head of the leading organizations that control both amateur and professional racing."
Mr. Devereux married Miss Mildred Abeel French, a daughter of Julius E. French. They have two children, Julius French and Aileen Mildred. Mr. Devereux was a member of the Delta Psi fraternity at Yale and, among others, holds membership with the Country, Roadside and Tavern Clubs of Cleveland. In politics he is a republican where state and national questions are involved but is not a strict partisan and at local elections always selects the best man and endorses the issues which he thinks the most significant and vital in municipal affairs. He has a city residence on Euclid ave- nue and country homes at Wickliffe and North Randall, Ohio. One of the Cleveland papers characterized him in this manner: "He has always been a gentleman in the European as well as the Yankee sense of the word. He belongs to all the clubs. At the race track he wears the smile that won't come off and is popular because of his genial comradeship; and yet he could drop into the lounge of the Albemarle Club in London or an old salon of the Rue Ste. Hon- ore and people would swear that he had been born to the purple."
:
5℃
=
Solon L. Seberance
OLON L. SEVERANCE, for many years prominent S in financial and commercial circles, was born in Cleve- land, September 8, 1834. His father, Solomon Lewis Severance, coming as a young man from Shelburne,. Massachusetts, in 1830, became one of Cleveland's earliest dry-goods merchants. His mother before her marriage was Miss Mary H. Long, only daughter of Dr. David Long, Cleveland's pioneer physician, who settled here in 1810 and married a daughter of Judge John Walworth. Mr. Severance's father died in 1838, leaving two sons, Solon L. and Louis H., and the mother, who lived to be eighty-six years of age, passed away October 1, 1902.
The son Solon L. Severance was educated in the district and pri- vate schools of those early days. Commencing as an office boy at the age of fourteen, he worked his way upward in the banking business until, with others, he organized the Euclid Avenue National Bank, being its first cashier and last president, before its absorption into the Euclid Park and later the First National Bank. Mr. Severance is still identified with banking interests, being a director of the First National, the largest bank in the state of Ohio.
On October 10, 1860, Mr. Severance was married to Miss Emily C. Allen, a native of Kinsman, Trumbull county, Ohio, where her father and grandfather were noted surgeons. Three children have been born to them : Julia, a graduate of Wells College, is the wife of Dr. B. L. Millikin, of this city. Professor Allen D. Severance, a graduate of Amherst College, class of 1889, a student at Oberlin and Hartford Theological Seminaries and the Universities of Halle, Ber- lin and Paris, has been identified for ten years with Adelbert College and the College for Women of Western Reserve University, where he is at present associate professor of church history and instructor in historical bibliography. The youngest daughter, Mary, resides with her parents.
473
474
Solon L. Seberance
Mr. Severance is a member of the Union Club and the Chamber of Commerce. He has been prominent in religious and philanthropic work. Having been connected from boyhood with the Second Pres- byterian church, he became later a charter member of the Woodland Avenue church, in which he served as an elder and Sunday school superintendent for many years. Mr. Severance has been something of a traveler. He began his experiences as such on the notable voyage of the steamer Quaker City, the pioneer of tourist craft in eastern waters. This was a wooden ship of sixteen hundred tons burden, and the story of its cruise has been most entertainingly told by Mark Twain in his "Innocents Abroad." In his later years, among other journeys, Mr. Severance has twice visited China and Japan and made the voy- age around the world., These journeys and interests he has shared with friends and a wide public, giving many addresses illustrated by stereopticon, and striving to enlist their sympathy and cooperation in the cause of Christian missions.
Elbert Hall Baker
E LBERT HALL BAKER, general manager of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, was born in Norwalk, Ohio, July 25, 1854. He is a descendant in the eighth gen- eration of Edward Baker, who came from England with Governor Winthrop and later established his home at Northampton, Massachusetts. The great- grandfather, leaving Northampton, established the family home in the state of New York, whence Theodore Baker, the grandfather, removed to Norwalk, Ohio, in 1819. Henry Baker, the father, was born in Norwalk and, like his father, learned and followed the tanner's trade. In 1865 he removed to Cleveland, where he was engaged in business for several years but is now living retired, making his home with his son, Elbert H. Baker, at the advanced age of eighty years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Clara Maria Hall and died in 1892, was a daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Hall, D. D., who, leav- ing his New England home in Keene, New Hampshire, removed first to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he was active as a missionary and educator and thence to Norwalk, Ohio, where he became the head of what was called the Norwalk Institute, a prominent institu- tion of learning in that day. Dr. Hall was later president of Deni- son University. The Halls, like the Baker family, came of Puritan ancestry.
The removal of the family to Cleveland made Elbert Hall Baker a resident of this city when eleven years of age and his education, begun in the public schools of Norwalk, was continued here as a public-school student until he reached the age of sixteen years, when he began providing for his own maintenance as a drug clerk. After three years spent in that position he secured a situation in a hard- ware store, where he remained until 1877, since which time he has been identified with newspaper interests. He entered the employ of the old Cleveland Herald as bookkeeper and later became advertis-
477
478
Elbert Dall Baker
ing manager, remaining with that paper until 1882, when in the same capacity he went to the Cleveland Leader, where he thus served for fifteen years. He was for ten years a director of the Leader Company. In 1898 he became general manager of the Plain Dealer and has since given his undivided time and attention to the control of the paper in this connection. The newspaper fraternity accords him distinctive prominence as one of its representatives and the Plain Dealer bears evidence of his superior ability in the lines of editorial and business management, to which he gives his attention. Under his guidance the paper has developed in all of its various departments and he is now building a large addition to the present quarters, which will give room for a plant three times the present size.
His business affairs have in no wise precluded active participation in movements for the public benefit and to this end he is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and has served on its board of directors. He is also one of the trustees of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation and president of the board of trustees of the Euclid Avenue Congregational church. No worthy work done in the name of char- ity or religion seeks his aid in vain, while in many private capacities unknown to the public his labors have been an effective force in promoting general improvement. As a member of the Chamber of Commerce he served as chairman of the committee which brought about the renaming and renumbering of the streets in systematic or- der, this commendable work being largely attributable to his labors. He is an enthusiastic supporter of the city, a believer in its future, and that his opinions thereof have their basis in fact is indicated in the growth and progress which he has witnessed in all business lines. Since he took charge of the Plain Dealer twelve years ago its business has increased seven-fold and equal advance has been shown in other lines, all of which constitutes a foundation for his opinion that Cleve- land will soon reach the million mark.
On the Ist of June, 1876, in Cleveland, Mr. Baker was married to Miss Ida A. Smith, a daughter of the late Pardon B. Smith, at one time prominent in Cleveland. Their family numbers three sons and a daughter. Mr. Baker belongs to the Colonial and the Cleve- land Athletic Clubs but his interest centers in the home rather than in club life and in public welfare rather than in society circles. He might well be termed a practical optimist, for while greatly inter- ested in 'and desirous of Cleveland's rapid growth, he puts forth ef- fective effort as a cooperant factor in attaining this result and while he has refused offers of public office and public trust, he yet exerts a most strong and beneficial influence for the public good.
Claro Evast nav
Charles O. Cbarts
C HARLES O. Evarts is president of the Evarts-Tre- maine Flicker Company and treasurer of the National Union. With a nature that can never be content with mediocrity, he has resolutely pushed forward in the legitimate lines of business, seeking the just and mer- ited rewards of persevering energy and intelligently directed effort. The firm of which he is now the head controls the largest indemnity insurance business of the city and in other lines Mr. Evarts has been an effective factor in the attainment of success. He was born on the island of Jamaica, July 17, 1847. His father, William H. Evarts, was a native of New York and for some years was connected with the missionary service of the Congregational church in Jamaica, where he died at Brainard Station. He was graduated from the Oberlin College and, determining to devote his life to the work of the missionary, was then sent out by the American Missionary Society and labored for some years in the West Indies.
In his childhood days Charles O. Evarts accompanied relatives on their return to the States and his home was established in Carlisle township, Lorain county, Ohio, where he spent his boyhood on a farm. He attended the district schools until fifteen years of age, pursuing his studies through the winter, while in the summer season he worked in the fields. Not content with the education he acquired in this direction, he afterward entered Oberlin College, where he remained as a student for three years. He had taught school during his preparatory course and at length he left college to enter business circles of Cleveland. For ten years he engaged in dealing in milk and afterward became an employe of the Standard Oil Company. In the meantime, utilizing his opportunities for judicious and safe in- vestment, he bought property and began operations in the real-estate allotment business, in which he has since been considerably inter- ested, his property deals adding materially to his annual income. On resigning his position with the Standard Oil Company he be-
481
482
Charles O. Cbarts
came a deputy in the county treasurer's office and was later appointed city sealer. He afterward was elected to the office of clerk of the board of health and was later elected city clerk but resigned that position to accept a proffered position in the Woodland Avenue Sav- ings & Loan Company on its organization. There he continued for three years, during which time he established his reputation in finan- cial circles as one competent to handle and control important moneyed interests. He was then elected secretary and treasurer of the Pro- duce Exchange Banking Company and so continued for fifteen years or until 1904. He was also connected for a time, about 1880, with the postoffice, having charge of the registry division under Postmaster Jones. He became interested in the insurance business during his connection with the Woodland Avenue Savings & Loan Company and at times has been a member of the firms of C. O. Evarts & Com- pany, Lauer & Evarts, Evarts & Company, Evarts, Tremaine & Com- pany, the Evarts-Tremaine Company and now the Evarts-Tremaine Flicker Company, of which he is the president. These changes in firm name have followed a change in partnership relations eventually leading up to the conduct of a business which is now of a most ex- tensive and important character.
In 1883 Mr. Evarts joined the National Union and has now served as its treasurer for over twenty-two years. He also belongs to the Royal Arcanum and has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite in Masonry. His membership is with Iris Lodge, F. & A. M .; Cleveland Chapter, R. A. M .; Lake Erie Consistory, S. P. R. S .; and Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He was also for many years identified with the Century, Colonial and Masonic Clubs. During the presidential campaign when the name of James A. Garfield headed the republican ticket he served as secretary of the county central committee and later as its chairman. He was elected and served as township clerk of Newburg township and in his political affiliation has always been a republican, believing firmly in the principles of the party and doing all in his power to promote its growth and extend its influence.
On the 26th of September, 1875, Mr. Evarts was married to Miss Josie C. Brown, a daughter of Peter H. and Mary J. (Vreeland) Brown, of Passaic county, New Jersey, but now residents of Cleve- land. Mrs. Evarts is prominent in the social club life of the city and extends the cordial hospitality of her home to many friends. The household numbers two children : Frank B., who was graduated from Adelbert College and from the Cleveland Law School and is now secretary to the Hon. Theodore Burton, United States senator from Ohio; and May Belle, who is a graduate of Laurel Institute and is
483
Charles @. @barts
a talented musician, active in social circles. Their home is at No. II2II Belleflower Road. Mr. Evarts is fond of motoring,while travel in other ways is also a source of interest and recreation to him. In all of his interests he manifests a contagious enthusiasm and in business affairs inspires his associates with much of the zeal and ac- tivity which has ever prompted him in carrying forward his indi- vidual interests.
Backwith
George Sherman Beckwith
C OMING to Cleveland eight years ago, his residence in this city dating from 1902, George Sherman Beck- with in the years which have since elapsed has devel- oped an extensive business as a dealer in coal and tim- ber lands under the firm style of G. S. Beckwith & Company, and as an officer and director of other cor- porations has contributed to the substantial results which have been obtained in their specific lines. He was born in Hartsgrove, Ashta- bula county, Ohio, January 23, 1874. His father was Gurden Albert Beckwith, a descendant of one of the original settlers of Ashtabula county, who had come to this state from Connecticut about the year 1800. Gurden A. Beckwith wedded Miss Caroline Eunice Cloes, a native of New Sarum, Canada, who was brought to Ohio in her girlhood days by her parents. Her father was a Scotch Canadian, but her mother was a native of this state.
George Sherman Beckwith attended the public schools of Ash- tabula county, being graduated from the Jefferson high school. For two years before he had finished his studies there he taught in the commercial department of the school and the following year was as- sociated with the Ashtabula Business College. He was then engaged in bookkeeping and in mercantile lines from 1897 until 1902, after which he came to Cleveland, where for a year he was employed by others. He then established his present business, which is conducted under the style of G. S. Beckwith & Company. Offices are maintained at No. 1113 Williamson building and the firm is engaged extensively in handling coal and timber lands. They have extensive holdings in the coal fields and also in the lumber regions of several states, their properties covering many thousands of acres. Within eight years the business has been developed to mammoth proportions, Mr. Beck- with and his associates making judicious and extensive investments as opportunity has offered until the firm is today regarded as among
487
488
George Sherman Beckwith
the foremost representatives in their field of business in the United States. Into other lines Mr. Beckwith has also extended his efforts and is an officer and director of several corporations. Among other interests, Mr. Beckwith is one of the owners of several thousand acres of valuable iron ore property near Birmingham, Alabama. He is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce.
On the 20th of November, 1900, Mr. Beckwith and Miss Lucy Minerva Mann were married in Ashtabula. She, too, is a native of Ashtabula county and a descendant of the New England family of that name. Her great-grandfather was a pioneer of Ashtabula county, having settled in the Western Reserve in 1806. Mrs. Beckwith, how- ever, spent a considerable portion of her girlhood in Portland, Ore- gon, where she acquired her education. Three children have been born of this marriage: Thayer, born June 1, 1902; Virginia, Sep- tember 12, 1904; and George, January 13, 1909. The parents have won many warm friends in Cleveland during the eight years of their residence here and Mr. Beckwith has become known as an exemplary representative of the Masonic fraternity, being identified with both the York and Scottish Rites. In politics he has always been a stanch defender of the principles of the republican party but aside from exercising his right of franchise and exerting his influence in behalf of efficient government, he has taken no active part in municipal affairs, for he feels that his constantly growing business interests make full demand upon his time. His capacity for successful management, his initiative spirit, his undaunted enterprise and his incorruptible commercial integrity are manifest in the splendid results which have attended his efforts.
C
INDEX
Allen, James'
293
Ambler, W. E. 381
Baker, E. H. .477
Ball, W. C ..
387
Barnett, James
5
Beckwith, G. S.
487
Bell, J.
.337
Benham, C. E.
261
Bingham, William
25
Bolton, Thomas
189
Brainard, Silas
209
Breck, J. H.
287
Buell, A. C ..
213
Buhrer, Marguerite P.
85
Buhrer, Stephen 77
Calhoun, N. S. 167
Chisholm, Henry 421
Chisholm, H. A. 239
Chisholm, S. H.
89
Chisholm, William, Sr.
37
Coffinberry
117
Cooley, Lathrop 455
Corner, H. B .. .405
Cowles, J. G. W. 49
Creadon, S. S ..
243
Crouse, J. B.
357
Devereux, H. K. 467
Dille, W. W. 301
Durell, G. B.
307
Edmondson, G. M.
437
Edwards, William
311
Evarts, C. O.
481
Farr, Warren
.151
Fawcett, A. J.
221
Fuller, H. A.
171
Gasser, J. M .. 271
Giessen, D. E. 113
Goff, F. H ..
69
Goodman, M. P.
411
Griswold, S. O ..
267
Guthery, Erwin G ..
323
Hammersley, Henry
.445
Hatch, H. R. .331
Henn, E. C ..
129
Hickox, Charles
73
Hobson, J. F .. 393
Hodgson, G. H. 345
Hough, A. H ..
247
Hutchinson, J. T.
281
Jewett, C. A.
203
Kelsey, L. A.
217
Kimberley, D. H. 179
Lamson, I. P. 59
Landesman, Jacob 297
Langer, Mr. and Mrs. F. J .. 155
Lawrence, M. W.
225
Lawrence, W. H.
19
Long, David
451
McHugh, P. A.
109
McIntosh, H. P.
433
McMyler, P. J. 353
Maher, C. A ..
93
Moore, V. M.
199
Myers, R. P. 319
Nicholas, F. M.
427
Noll, E. A.
257
Orth, S. P.
349
Osborn, L. A
195
Pease, F. A
417
Ranney, H. C.
13
Ranney, J. R. 185
Ranney, R. P.
365
Rose, W. G ...
43
Rose, Mrs. W. G ..
45
Royce, Abner
327
Severance, S. L.
473
Snyder, A. M.
441
Sullivan, J. J.
461
Van De Boe, J. S.
161
Vickery, Willis
231
Wade, J. H ... 33
Watkins, W. H.
251
Wieber, C. L. F.
275
Williamson, S. E.
99
Wilson, Thomas
399
Henry, F. A ..
139
York, R. F.
135
8851
11
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.