USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Cleveland, Ohio, pictorial and biographical. De luxe supplement, Volume II > Part 4
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John B. W. Comles
erected. There is another department of Mr. Cowles' business that is profitable and extensive as well. This is the negotiating of loans upon mortgage security, in which connection he represents eastern corporations having abundant supplies of funds available. Another branch of his business is the care of property for non-resident own- ers or for resident capitalists who wish to be free from the care of their own property or estates. Mr. Cowles' activity, enterprise and business discernment has thus carried him into important relations with the public and he today figures as one of the most prominent and successful real-estate men of Cleveland. On the organization of the Cleveland Trust Company in 1894, capitalized for six hun- dred thousand dollars, he was elected president and so continued for eight years or until the consolidattion of the Cleveland Trust Com- pany with the Western Reserve Trust Company, when he became chairman of the board. In 1876 Mr. Cowles took entire charge of the real-estate interests of J. D. Rockefeller in Cleveland and since 1880 he has likewise had charge of the interests of Charles F. Brush. These duties alone would make him a busy man and yet, as is in- dicated, various other duties and interests have claimed his atten- tion. In April of 1896 he was chosen president of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce and thus became the foremost official rep- resentative of the commercial and business interests of this city.
As the years passed on there came to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Cowles four children : Alice Welch, now the wife of the Rev. John Doane, pastor of the Congregational church of Greeley, Colorado; Mary Flagler; Edward Church, who died in infancy; and Leroy Hervey, who died in 1887 at the age of fourteen years. The wife and mother passed away in 1903 and Mr. Cowles afterward wedded Miss Beatrice Walker, of Brantford, Canada. They have one daughter, Beatrice Jeannette, born in 1905.
It is not alone by reason of the extent and importance of his busi- ness affairs that Mr. Cowles has become widely known. He has. been a cooperant factor in many measures for the public good, is interested in all matters of civic virtue and civic pride and has been a leader in many movements which have reflected credit and honor upon the municipal spirit of Cleveland. On the 22d of July, 1896, when a mass meeting was held to celebrate the centennial of the arrival of Moses Cleaveland on the site of the present city, Mr. Cowles there for the first time made public announcement of the magnificent addition to the public park department of the city, made possible by the generosity of John D. Rockefeller, who gave to Cleveland lands and money to the extent of six hundred thousand dollars, afterward augmented by three hundred thousand more.
Isaac Porter Lamson
N the year 1869 one of New England's manufacturing enterprises was removed from Mount Carmel, Con- necticut, to Cleveland, and has since been conducted under the name of the Lamson & Sessions Company. From its inception Isaac P. Lamson has been active in its management and control and throughout this entire period his close conformity to a high standard of commercial ethics, as well as his diligence and determination, have brought to him as a reward for his labor not only a handsome competence but the merited respect of his fellowmen. He was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, September 2, 1832, and spent his boyhood and youth amid the beautiful hills and valleys of that district. The family is of English origin and was established in America in 1635 or 1636, when three brothers of the name braved the dangers in- cident to an ocean voyage of that day and became residents of Mas- sachusetts. They were Barnabas, William and Timothy Lamson, the first named being the ancestor of the branch of the family to which I. P. Lamson belongs. He embarked from Harwich, Eng- land, in the ship Defense, August 10, 1635, in company with the Rev. Thomas Shepard. They settled at Newtowne, now Cambridge, Massachusetts, and almost immediately found themselves placed in responsible positions there. The proprietary records of Cambridge show that at different times Barnabas Lamson sold land, that in 1636 he was a selectman and in 1637 a surveyor. He died about 1640, while his wife probably passed away at a previous date, and it seems likely that several of their children were born in England. The terms of his will provided that his estate should be divided equally among his five children, the youngest of whom was Joseph Lamson. While there is no definite record concerning his birth, it is probable that he was born in 1638, at Charlestown, Massachu- setts. By the terms of his father's will, being still a minor at the time of his father's death, he went to live in the family of Deacon
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Bridge and was still a member of the household according to an old church record of 1658. No further mention of him has been found until 1679, when the Middlesex probate record mentions his death as occurring in February of that year. Although the records of those early days are very incomplete, mention has been found of five children, of whom Savage says: "There is no positive evidence that these are his children but it is the consensus of opinion that they are." The third of these children was Ebenezer Lamson, who was married at Concord, Massachusetts, April 19, 1698, to Sarah Hartwell, a daughter of John and Priscilla (Wright) Hartwell. The death of Mrs. Sarah Lamson, who was born in December, 1677, occurred November 13, 1715. There has been no record found concerning the second marriage of Ebenezer Lamson, but from the date of the birth of his youngest child it is supposed that such a mar- riage occurred. His eldest child, Timothy Lamson, was born at Concord, Massachusetts, July 25, 1699, and was married at Wo- burn, Massachusetts, October 22, 1734, to Patience Thompson, who was born October 25, 1713, a daughter of Jonathan and Frances (Whitmore) Thompson and a granddaughter of Jonathan Thomp- son, Sr., who was the first male teacher of North Woburn, Mas- sachusetts. The children of Timothy and Patience Lamson were seven in number, the fourth being Ebenezer Lamson, who was born at Concord, April 13, 1741. He made his home in childhood with his guardian and fourth cousin, Captain Isaac Hartwell, of North Gore, Massachusetts. He received a good common-school educa- tion and after his marriage became converted and soon commenced preaching. On the Ioth of June, 1778, he was ordained as pastor of the First Baptist church at Ashford, Connecticut. He was peace- fully dismissed in November, 1782, the church recommending him as a faithful gospel preacher, but he did not take his dismissal kindly and criticised the church with great severity. He afterward preached at Sutton, Massachusetts, from 1788 until 1794. In later years he became a Universalist and owned a pew in the church of that de- nomination at Oxford, Massachusetts. From the force of circum- stances he was compelled at the age of eighty to seek a new home two hundred miles west of the birthplace of his children. He went to live with his son Isaac at Mount Washington, Massachusetts, where on July 4, 1824, when eighty-three years of age, he was the princi- pal orator at a celebration held on Mt. Everett, the highest point in southern Berkshire. A published genealogy of the family says: "The address consumed two hours in its delivery. He gave many humorous anecdotes of his war experience (he had been a chaplain in the Revolutionary war) and, being a fine singer, interspersed
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Isaac Porter Lamson
the same with Revolutionary songs." His grandson, O. E. Lamson, gives the following description of him: "He was of florid complex- ion, had light brown hair, hazel eyes, Roman nose and thin lips. He had a ready tongue and a voice that was clear, soft and rich in melody. He was a fluent speaker with just a bit of sarcasm to make an impression upon his listeners. He preached extemporaneously, and his sound eloquence gained for him the cognomen of elder. A good logical reasoner, he made a good impression, but his master- piece was music. Such a voice few ever possess ; at the age of ninety- one, clear soft and sweet, without a tremor. At any time in life he could fill a church full of the richest melody." He died July 4, 1834, at Mount Washington, Massachusetts, predicting his death the night before. He was married April 28, 1763, to Ruth Phillips who was born at Oxford, Massachusetts, October 17, 1744, and died September 2, 1803. She was a daughter of Joseph and Ruth (Towne) Phillips, the former a grandson of the Rev. George Phil- lips, the first minister of Watertown, Massachusetts, and a direct ancestor of Wendell Phillips and Phillips Brooks.
Isaac Lamson, the eldest child of Ebenezer and Ruth (Phillips) Lamson, was born at Charlton, Massachusetts, February 19, 1764, and was one of the self-made men of the olden time. His education was largely self-acquired, but he was a man of great natural ability. As a youth he worked for three dollars per month with the privilege of light and books in the winter time. He availed himself of every means to acquire knowledge, became a school teacher and for twenty years taught in the same town. He removed from Charlton to Mount Washington, Massachusetts, in the early part of the nine- teenth century and soon became an active participant in the town's affairs and its business interests. In 1807 he purchased some small wood lots and in 1809 purchased the city sawmill. Later he se- cured four hundred and sixty acres, the same being the south half of Mt. Everett. He was town clerk from 1809 to 1816 inclusive and from 1819 to 1838 inclusive. He served as selectman in 1810, 1819 and 1820 and as a member of the school committee form 1814 to 1817 and from 1832 to 1834 inclusive. He was assessor in 1809, 1810 and 1813. He was married in April, 1784 or 1785, to Keziah Sharpe, who was born in 1767 in Ashford, Connecticut, was a daughter of Solomon and Judith (Knowlton) Sharpe. Their eight children were born at Charlestown, Massachusetts. Their married life was terminated by legal separation and for his second wife Isaac Lam- son chose Deborah Pray, who was born at Oxford, Massachusetts, March 20, 1784, a daughter of Ebenezer and Deborah Learned (Robinson) Pray. Isaac Lamson removed with his second wife to
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Isaac Porter Lamson
Mount Washington, Massachusetts. Four children were born of this union and the wife and mother died March 22, 1812. He was again married July 24, 1814, when Mrs. Waitstill (Holley) Patter- son became his wife. She was the widow of Mark Patterson and a daughter of John and Rebecca (Lewis) Holley. She was born June 4, 1786, and died September 20, 1857, having for more than thirteen years survived her husband, Isaac Lamson, who died Jan- uary 24, 1844.
Isaac Lamson, a son of Isaac and Keziah Lamson, was born at Charlton, Massachusetts, February 8, 1799. He was a well informed man for the time in which he lived. Although a man of few words, when he spoke it was always to the point and he impressed his hear- ers with his honesty and sincerity. By occupation he was a collier and farmer and for many years lived in Berkshire county, Massa- chusetts. He also served as selectman and in various town offices. He was a life-long Methodist, prominent in the church and for some time acted as class leader. He also served in the state militia. On the 4th of January, 1825, he married Celina Miller, who was born October 7, 1805, a daughter of the Rev. Thomas and Asenith (Andrews) Miller. The first four years of their married life was spent in Sheffield, Massachusetts, whence they removed to Mount Washington and there on a farm among the rocky hills and unfruit- ful soil they spent the greater part of their lives and reared a family of eight children. They removed to Connecticut a few years before the death of the father that they might be near their children, and he passed away at Burlington, Connecticut, March 25, 1886, while Mrs. Lamson died August 1, 1888. The genealogy of the Miller family has been traced back through eight generations to John Miller, who came to America from Maidstone, Kent county, Eng- land, about 1649, settling first at Lyon, Massachusetts, and remov- ing later to East Hampton, Long Island. The Rev. Thomas Miller was a descendant of John Miller and son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Filer) Miller. He was born in 1783 and died in 1859. He married for his first wife Asenith Andrews. of Wallingford, Connecticut, by whom he had eleven children. She died August 27, 1819, and he afterward wedded Phebe Canfield, of Canfield, Ohio, who was born in 1800 and died in 1854, leaving ten children.
The family of Isaac and Celina (Miller) Lamson numbered four sons and four daughters. Samuel M., born at Sheffield, Massachu- setts, January 1, 1826, was associated for a time with the Lamson & Sessions Company of Cleveland, but afterward returned to Con- necticut, where he spent the remainder of his life on a farm, there passing away in June, 1909. Thomas H., born in Sheffield, Massa-
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Isaac Porter Lamson
chusetts, July 16, 1827, was one of the Lamson & Sessions Company and died in 1882. Celina, born at Mount Washington, Massachusetts, June 16, 1829, was married July 30, 1848, to Darius Campbell, of Bristol, Connecticut. He died August 19, 1904, but Mrs. Campbell is still living in Bristol. Isaac P. is the next of the family. Esther, born at Mount Washington, August 23, 1834, was married in No- vember, 1855, to Henry Judson, who died March 8, 1878. On the 12th of October, 1892, she became the wife of I. T. Rowe and they reside in Bristol, Connecticut. Waldo, born February II, 1837, died September 20, 1844. Lucinda, born November 17, 1844, became the wife of John Elton and afterward married Walter Camp, their home being now at Southington, Connecticut. Mary, born at Mount Washington, April 13, 1848, was married November 26, 1868, to Le Roy A. Gleason, for thirty-six years general manager and in- ventor of the Lamson & Sessions Company. The four daughters all survive but Isaac P. Lamson is the only surviving son.
In the public schools of his native county Isaac P. Lamson was educated and at the age of eighteen years he left home to engage in the bolt manufacturing business. He learned the trade and fol- lowed it for eighteen years, becoming foreman and superintendent of a factory. In 1865, in association with his brother and S. W. Sessions, he organized the Lamson & Sessions Company at Mount Carmel, Connecticut, and conducted a successful business there un- til 1869, when the plant was removed to Cleveland and soon became one of the city's important manufacturing interests. In 1884 the business was incorporated with Mr. Sessions as president and Isaac P. Lamson as superintendent. The concern has now enjoyed a suc- cessful existence for over forty years and since 1884 has occupied its present site. This is one of the largest enterprises of its kind in the city and the factory is splendidly equipped for the conduct of the trade. The employment of skilled workmen and the utilization of modern machinery insures the excellence of the output, which finds a ready sale on the market. Mr. Lamson is now president. Since the creation of the company Mr. Lamson's attention has been chiefly confined to the machinery and manufacturing departments of the business, involving duties for which he was amply qualified by his early mechanical experience and training. Of the vast num- ber of improvements in machinery and devices for manufacturing bolts and nuts during the past half century, few have escaped the critical inspection and careful study of Isaac Lamson. Always keenly on the alert for new inventions and novel ideas in the con- struction and adaptation of mechanical devices, his practical eye
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Isaac Porter Lamson
never failed to discover their merit or detect their faults. None of the numerous valuable machines in the mammoth factory of the Lamson & Sessions Company was placed there without the sanction and approval of Isaac Lamson, and it is admitted that he has rarely, if ever, erred in passing judgment on the merit of a new invention. Though not an inventor, Mr. Lamson is quick to comprehend the merits or faults of the inventions of others.
Mr. Lamson's attention has been closely confined to the bolt and nut business, but he is connected with a number of other exten- sive commercial, manufacturing and financial enterprises in Cleve- land and elsewhere.
On the 17th of May, 1856, Mr. Lamson was married to Miss Fannie L. Sessions, a daughter of Calvin and Lydia (Humphreys) Sessions. She was born in Burlington, Connecticut, April 21, 1836. By her marriage she became the mother of one daughter, Lillian, now the wife of John G. Jennings and the mother of one son, I. Lamson Jennings, who attended the public and University schools of Cleveland and was graduated from Yale in 1907. He is now superintendent and one of the stockholders of the Lamson & Ses- sions Company. Mrs. Lamson died in Cleveland, January 24, 1908. She was very active in church and charitable work and served for many years as president of the board of lady managers of the Jones Home. She was also actively interested in various charities and her assistance was of a practical character that accomplished far- reaching results. At her death the Rev. D. F. Bradley, her pastor, said of her: "Mrs. Lamson from her girlhood until the days when, in the maturity of a wide experience, she became the center of a circle of congenial spirits, had the passion for kindness and the op- portunity for kindness, and the beautiful memory of her life is the result of her full use of the disposition and the opportuntiy. It would scarcely be appropriate to say of Mrs. Lamson that she did her duty to her honored husband, to her church and children and friends, and to all who looked to her for cheer and hope. Duty with her was illuminated and uplifted. It became only the starting point for manifold service such as the quick mind and tender heart can give. Cold duty was kindled into a glow of gladness in every helpful, warm-hearted ministry. We came to expect from her, and not in vain, something sweeter and deeper than the ordinary proc- esses of friendship and love. And those who knew her best and expected much of her were never disappointed. In all these years she has poured out her heart in devotion that never wearied."
Mr. Lamson is of the same Christian faith as his wife but not a member of the Pilgrim Congregational church, though he is much
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Isaac Porter Lamson
interested in its various departments of work, especially that field of church work which has to do with the care of the poor and needy. He is now president of the Jones Home and he and his wife were in the utmost sympathy with all efforts to ameliorate the hard conditions of life for the unfortunate. Mr. Lamson is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and to a considerable extent has co- operated in its measures and movements for the public good. He has been a life-long republican, coming to his majority shortly be- fore John C. Fremont was made the nominee of the party for the presidency. For one term he served as a member of the city coun- cil from the old thirteenth ward, but the honors and emoluments of office have had no attraction for him. He has been a delegate to the republican national conventions which nominated Benjamin Harri- son and William McKinley, and he also served as the presidential elector when the former was chosen chief executive.
Mr. Lamson is fond of spending an hour at golf and has always been a lover of fine horses. He was for many years one of the lead- ing matinee drivers of the city, owning some of the fastest pole teams. He resides at No. 2330 West Fourteenth street and has a country home, the Edgewood, in the midst of a sixty-acre farm on the St. Lawrence river near Alexandria Bay, New York. He has traveled extensively and spends his winters in Florida, where he owns and conducts an orange grove. For forty years he has been a representative of the manufacturing interests of Cleveland and from the age of eighteen has been dependent upon his own resources, discriminating judgment has led the way. His labor, intelligently directed, has brought him to a prominent position in the business world as the representative of one of the most extensive and impor- seeking advancement along the well defined lines of labor where tant industrial enterprises of Cleveland.
Frederick D. Goff
REDERICK H. GOFF, president of The Cleveland F Trust Company, was born at Blackberry, Kane county, Illinois, December 15, 1858, his parents being Fred- erick C. and Catherine J. (Brown) Goff, the former a coal operator of Cleveland. The family is an old one in this country, the first representatives of the name having come to the United States as early as 1670.
Mr. Goff was graduated from the University of Michigan in 1881 and was admitted to the bar of Ohio in June, 1883. In October, 1884, he became a partner of W. F. Carr under the firm name of Carr & Goff. This firm united with Estep & Dickey in June, 1890, under the name of Estep, Dickey, Carr & Goff. Later Mr. Goff became a member of the firm, Kline, Tolles & Goff. In June, 1908, he was elected president of The Cleveland Trust Company and shortly thereafter retired from active practice. At the time of his retirement, he was president of the Cleveland Bar Association. In 1903 he was elected mayor of Glenville, at the time a suburb of Cleveland. In the fall of 1907 at the request of the directors of The Cleveland Electric Railway Company Mr. Goff undertook to effect a settlement of the street railway controversy, the company agree- ing to abide by any settlement he might make. He is a member of the Union, Country and Rowfant Clubs and vice president of the Cleveland Terminal & Valley Railroad Company, The Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling Railroad Company and the Akron & Chicago Junction Railroad Company.
On the 16th of October, 1894, Mr. Goff was united in marriage to Miss Frances Southworth, by whom he has three children, Fred- ericka S., William S. and Frances Mary.
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Charles Nickix
Charles Dickox
C HARLES HICKOX was born in Washington town- ship, Litchfield county, Connecticut, in 1810, and was the youngest of four brothers. His parents, who were natives of Connecticut, moved to the west in - 1815 and settled in Canfield, Mahoning county, Ohio. Charles Hickox remained here until he was seventeen, when he moved to Rochester, joining two brothers who had already preceded him there.
In Canfield he attended the village schools during the winters, acquiring a fair education, his summers being spent on the farm. He remained in Rochester until 1837, when, realizing that there were greater opportunities for a young man in the west, he came to Cleveland. The city at that time had a population of about five thousand, and as it was the year of the great panic, the business out- look was not encouraging.
Mr. Hickox was fortunate in securing employment as clerk in a commission and forwarding house, where he remained for two years, at the end of that time engaging in the same business on his own account. He soon became identified with other business en- terprises, the most important resulting in the founding of the large flour mills, with which he, or members of his family, were con- nected for nearly thirty years.
In 1872 Mr. Hickox turned his attention to other lines of in- vestment, among them the iron ore mines of Lake Superior and coal lands in central Ohio. By the sale of these latter to the Hocking Valley Railroad, he became identified with that company, and later with the Ohio Central Railway, being active in the general man- agement of both corporations.
Mr. Hickox was one of the founders of the Society for Savings, a member of the Board of Sinking Fund Commissioners, President of the Republic Iron Company, and was a director in a number of other corporations.
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Charles Dickox
At various periods he had owned considerable real estate in Cleveland, and at the time of his death, was constructing the Hickox Building, at the corner of Euclid Avenue and East Ninth Street.
In politics Mr. Hickox was a republican, his early training hav- ing aroused in him a hatred of all oppression, and influenced him to cast his political fortunes with the abolitionists, freesoilers and republicans successively. He never filled any public office, but his influence was always felt, and he spared neither time nor money in promoting the good of the city, the state and the nation. He had traveled extensively here and abroad, and was an indefatigable newspaper reader, keeping himself fully abreast of the times.
Mr. Hickox married, in 1843, Miss Laura A. Freeman, daugh- ter of Judge Francis Freeman, of Warren, Ohio. Four children were born to them, Frank F., Charles G., Ralph W., and Mrs. Har- vey H. Brown, all living in Cleveland.
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