USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Cleveland, Ohio, pictorial and biographical. De luxe supplement, Volume II > Part 5
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
The fine residence of Mr. Hickox, with its ample grounds, on Euclid avenue, was his home for over thirty years, and here he found the true happiness of his life. In person he was over six feet in height, of spare form and strong, rugged cast of features. He had a marked head, with perceptive qualities largely developed, a broad open forehead, blue eyes and a pleasing voice. He was much in sympathy with deserving young men, and many owe their success to his timely aid and cheerful advice. He met death peace- fully on the 17th of April, 1890, surrounded by all the members of his family.
11
hon. Stephen Buhrer
H ON. STEPHEN BUHRER, deceased, was best known to the citizens of Cleveland as a prominent leader in democratic circles and as an official whose efforts in behalf of the city were characterized by far- reaching and beneficial results. Over the record of his public career there falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil, and as a councilman and mayor he gave many tangi- ble proofs of his unfaltering and ever increasing devotion to the pub- lic good. He was, moreover, a self-made man in the highest and best sense of the term, for, denied the advantages which are usually accorded to the American youth, in the school of experience he learned life's lessons well and made for himself a substantial and honorable place in business circles of the city.
Mr. Buhrer was born on the Zoar farm in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, December 25, 1825. As the name indicates, he comes of Ger- man ancestry, the family being founded in America in 1817, when Johann Casper Buhrer, from the province of Baden, landed at Phila- delphia. On the same ship had come Anna Maria Miller, from Stockach, Germany. They immediately repaired to Greensburg, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Buhrer had friends, and there were mar- ried. During a period of more than a year in which they remained residents of Greensburg their eldest child, Catherine, was born. They were led to change their place of residence from the fact that while crossing the Atlantic Mrs. Buhrer had become acquainted with and formed a warm friendship for some ladies who were also of German birth and who became residents of Zoar, Ohio. Desirous to live near them, Mr. Buhrer and his wife and little daughter made their way to that locality, taking up their abode on a farm near the town in what is now one of the richest agricultural sections of the state. At the time of their arrival the district was largely wild and unimproved, but the industry and thrift of the German population have trans-
77
78
Don. Stephen Buhrer
formed it into one of the most prosperous and fair regions that rep- resent the agricultural life of the state. The father, however, was not long permitted to enjoy his new home, for in the late fall of 1829 he passed away, leaving two young children to the care of his widow. Two years before his death he had removed from his farm to the village of Zoar.
That town was a center for a society of Friends, called Separat- ists, and after the death of the father the two children were bound to the society until their majority. They were subjected to very severe discipline, as this venerable religious community exemplified their faith in the ancient adage of not spoiling the child by sparing the rod and enforced the maxim with the utmost patriarchal severity upon the unhappy and helpless children. At a very early age Stephen Buhrer was put to work on the farm and in the factories and had to do other labor for which his years and strength scarcely equipped him. When in his ninth year he was given charge of the sheep in the vast pasture ranges of Zoar. There he labored for three years, or to the age of twelve, when he was placed in a cooper shop belonging to the so- ciety. He not only learned the trade of coopering but at different times did almost every kind of work incident to the company's varied industries, such as doing a man's work in the brewing and slaughter- ing department and often supplemented the same by acting as hostler at the Zoar tavern and driving horses on the Ohio canal. He re- ceived no remuneration for all this service, which he performed for six weary years, nor was he given the educational advantages that were his just due. The only instruction that he received was in Sun- day school and in evening schools which he attended after his tenth year at the close of a hard day's work. Notwithstanding his strenu- ous labor, failing health, loneliness, discouragement and mental de- pression, the noble inheritance of the German blood and brain en- abled him at last to assert the rights of nature, and in 1842 he left the society and came to Cleveland.
Mr. Buhrer began work at the cooper's trade, but his health was ยท so impaired that he could hardly earn enough to pay his board. Thinking that he might recuperate in other lines, he accepted a posi- tion as traveling salesman, in 1846, his territory covering at first, Ohio, and later, western Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. As he thus got out into the world his broader interests brought him many valu- able experiences and he came to see that Zoar was not the center of the universe nor its religious teachings all that there was of practical Christianity, as he had been taught in his childhood days. The pre- vailing malarial fevers of that early time, however, cut short his career as a traveling man and he returned by rail as far as Detroit,
79
Don. Stephen Buhrer
where his funds became exhausted and necessitated the sale of some of his wearing apparel that he might pay deck passage on a steam- boat bound for Cleveland, which city he had come to regard as his home. For two months, thereafter, ill health utterly incapacitated him for labor, and as he was without funds he was about to be sent to the poorhouse when the only friend he had in the city came for- ward and spoke words of encouragement and hope and gave substan- tial proof of his friendship, guaranteeing the payment of his board bill until his death or recovery. Thus cheered and heartened, he seemed to take new lease of life and hope and was soon enabled to again work at his trade, which he did for a year, gaining thus a good salary, for he was skillful and competent as a cooper. He worked in a shipyard for a brief period in the winter of 1847, but soon re- turned to coopering.
His health and success were such that Mr. Buhrer now felt jus- tified in establishing a home of his own, to which end in 1848 he wedded Miss Eva Maria Schneider, and they became the parents of three children : John, deceased, who wedded Miss Carrie Downer, the latter residing in Chicago; Mrs. Mary Jane Hanna, of Seattle, Washington; and Mrs. Lois Catherine Barstow, now of East Orange, New Jersey.
With the added incentive of having a home for which to provide, Mr. Buhrer, ambitious to engage in business on his own account, formed a partnership for the conduct of a coopering enterprise, which he conducted for three years. He then sold his interest to his partner in 1853, at which time he turned his attention to the business of rec- tifying and purifying spirits, which undertaking continued to claim his time and energies throughout his remaining days and returned to him a very substantial reward for his labor and capable business management.
In the meantime Mr. Buhrer had won recognition among his fel- low citizens by reason of his upright life, his industry, his laudable ambition and determination in business affairs, and the spirt of pro- gressive citizenship which he at all times manifested. He had been a resident of Cleveland for only eleven years and was but twenty- nine years of age when, in 1855, he was elected a member of the city council and in 1863 and 1865 was again chosen to the same position, the last time without opposition. He served in the council during the period of the Civil war and was known as a stalwart champion of the Union cause and an active participant in every movement to advance the interest of the Federal government. It was only a phys- ical infirmity that prevented him from doing active military service on the battlefields of the south. However, he did valuable work as
80
Don. Stephen Buhrer
a member of the city council and especially was his presence needed in his own ward, where his friendly care and helpful spirit were con- tinually called into requisition in behalf of many women and chil- dren whose fathers were doing service at the front or had already fallen in battle. Twice was his ward subjected to draft and would have had to submit to a third but for the energetic action of Mr. Buhrer, who prevented this by largely contributing to the payment of bounties to volunteers. He gave most freely to this cause as also to assistance in individual cases and thus rendered untold benefit to the Union, for it was as necessary to care for those at home as it was to meet the enemy upon the fields of carnage. It was doubtless in recognition of his important service in his ward and in the city during the most gloomy days of the civil strife in his capacity of trustee that he was returned to the council for a third term with unprecedented unanimity.
Hardly had his third term as councilman expired when higher honors were conferred upon Mr. Buhrer in his election to the mayor- alty in April, 1867. His party was not usually in the ascendant but his personal popularity and the confidence reposed in him by his fellow townsmen gained for him the strong support which was given him and which placed him in the chair of Cleveland's chief executive. His administration was characterized by all that marks the loyal citizen and the careful man of business. His duties were then no sinecure, for the work that devolved upon him as the head of the city government was often of a most strenuous character. The only official colleagues of the mayor then were the city clerk, who was also auditor, and the treasurer and a board of city improvement, of which the mayor was chairman, having in charge public works of great magnitude and including the expenditure of large sums of money. He was entrusted with the sole control and management of the police force and was therefore made responsible for its fidelity and efficiency, besides exercising a careful and constant supervision over the fire and water and every other department of the city gov- ernment with a view to the promotion of financial economy. The rigid discharge of duty which he had required of the police and the avoidance at the same time of everything oppressive or of the exer- cise of a seemingly undue official severity, won alike their regard and the public approbation.
Largely through the influence and during the mayoralty term of Mr. Buhrer, the Cleveland House of Correction and Workhouse was completed, its humane purpose being to reform and reclaim, if possi- ble, as well as punish, the vicious and criminal. This work had the hearty endorsement of Mayor Buhrer, who at all times stood for en-
81
Don. Stephen Buhrer
terprises and projects of public progress, improvement and advance- ment. He opposed anything like misrule in public affairs and his name has ever been largely regarded as a synonym for all that is best in mayoralty service. He ever placed the good of the city before partisanship or personal aggrandizement and he sought the better- ment of municipal conditions without the useless or extravagant ex- penditure of the public funds. It was his desire to retire from of- fice on the expiration of his first term that he might give his atten- tion to his business, which he felt demanded his time and care, but his party renominated him and in April, 1869, he was again elected to the mayoralty, receiving an unprecedented majority of nearly three thousand. Thus came to him the endorsement of the general public concerning his previous service, notwithstanding the fact that he was ever recognized as a loyal democrat and the republican party was then in the ascendant in Cleveland. His party further honored him in the following autumn in making him the candidate for state treas- urer, but in that year Ohio gave its usual republican support to the candidates for state offices. In April, 1871, Mr. Buhrer was again urged to become the mayoralty candidate. He respectfully but em- phatically declined for he felt now that he had rendered such ser- vices to the public as were commensurate with the duties of a good citizen and preferred the quiet of home life and the opportunity for the conduct of individual business interests. Notwithstanding his refusal he was nominated but this was the presidential year and, more- over, the republican party gathered in its strength, saying that for a third term a candidate should not be elected upon his personal popu- larity. The republicans bent every energy to accomplish their pur- pose and succeeded, Mr. Buhrer losing in the race, although his op- ponent won by a very small majority. Later, without his knowledge, the democrats twice nominated him for county treasurer and kept his name upon the ticket notwithstanding his protest. In 1874 he was returned to the city council, though his ward was largely republi- can, but his fellow townsmen recognized the fact that very important measures were pending which his presence would promote. The finance committee and the board of improvement absorbed almost his entire time during the ensuing two years' service. Later he was ap- pointed on the board of workhouse directors, in which connection his labors were of signal benefit to the public. He stood at all times for measures, movements and institutions that would promote the gen- eral good, including the Home for Wayward Children who needed the care and attention of the public. He was the first who officially recommended the high level bridge which spans the valley of the Cuyahoga river, known as the Superior street viaduct.
82
Don. Stephen Buhrer
While the public life of Mr. Buhrer made constant and heavy demands upon his time and attention, his deepest interest, neverthe- less, centered in his home. In the early springtime of 1889 he lost his first wife, who had long been an invalid. A year later, on the 29th of March, 1890, he married Miss Marguerite Patterson, a daughter of William and Anna (Marshal) Patterson. Her father came from Scotland to America and after some years' residence in New York removed to Cleveland. The death of Mr. Buhrer oc- curred December 9, 1907, and thus passed one who had long been a central figure on the stage of activities in Cleveland. His commer- cial enterprise was unfaltering but his vision was never narrowed to the boundaries of personal interests alone. He viewed life from higher standpoints, recognized his duties and his opportunities, ful- filling the one and improving the other to the benefit of the city at large.
Marguerite Paterson Buhrer-
Mrs. Marguerite Paterson Buhrer
A LIFE largely devoted to service for humanity has given Mrs. Marguerite Paterson Buhrer firm hold upon the regard and affection of Cleveland's citizens. She came to this city in her childhood days in company with her parents, William and Anna (Marshal) Paterson, the former born in Scotland, March 17, 1807, and the latter in New York, May 1, 1841. The daughter acquired her educa- tion in the public schools and for one year was a teacher in a private school. During all her life she has been interested in charitable and mission work and is today one of the best known women in charity circles in this city. Her labors have been of a most practical character and of far-reaching benefit. They have not consisted of the giving of a sum of money without thought of the recipient; on the contrary she believes in investigating the different cases and in addition to sub- stantial gifts, which have met the physical needs, she has been quick to speak the word of sympathy and encouragement that has brought hope to many a heart and caused the hearer to again put forth earnest effort to rise superior to conditions and environment. It has been said that no worthy person has ever been turned from her door empty handed.
The secret of this life of service is found in her church member- ship. From childhood she has been identified with the Franklin Avenue Methodist Episcopal church, has been a most active worker in the different women's organizations, and has filled the office of president of the Home Mission Society. Believing that anything that tends to uplift humanity and inspire to nobler purposes and higher living a feature of church work, she has extended her efforts into various fields, the far-reaching influences of which are immeas- urable. She was one of the charter members of the Health Protective Association, the first civic society of Cleveland, and for one year served as its president and for seven years as its secretary. She did much active work in introducing and promoting the plan for an out-
85
86
Ars. Marguerite Paterson Buhrer
ing for poor mothers and working women to different parks of the city during the summers of 1899 and 1900. She was also instrumental in introducing gardening in vacant lots that children's time might be thus employed during the summer of 1898. She was associated with others in the establishment of the first public playground and sewing school, a work introduced at the Eagle Street school and continued through the summers of 1898, 1899 and 1900.
In 1899 Mrs. Buhrer worked hard to secure the passage of an ordinance in the city council making it a misdemeanor for any one to expectorate on sidewalks or in the street cars and thus constitute a menace to public health. The introduction of waste-paper baskets throughout the city was another law that came about through her dili- gent work, and it was Mrs. Buhrer's thought and effort that resulted in the establishment of the board of women visitors appointed by the governor to visit the state public institutions. She was instrumental in organizing a society among the deaf and dumb of the city and thus adding much to lives deprived of many things that the majority of mankind enjoy. She filled the office of national secretary to the Na- tional Health Protective League for five years and she is a member of the Ohio State Suffrage Association, serving at the present time as chairman of the enrollment committee. She has also been selected as state delegate to the National Women's Suffrage Association at the three meetings held at Buffalo, Seattle and Washington.
Seven years ago the Cleveland Emerson Class was organized in her home and with the literary development of the city she has also been connected. A close student of the great economic and socio- logical questions which confront the country, she has so informed her- self on these subjects that her exposition and support of a cause is always a clear enunciation of facts as well as of practical plans along which organized effort may reach substantial and desirable results. At present she is endeavoring to procure rest and recreation rooms for the young boys, as well as girls, employed in factories and stores, where they can go after their lunch for a chat or a game or to rest or to sit and read awhile before returning to work. Another feature of her success along many lines is the interest she has awakened in other women in certain important questions of industry, philanthropy and civics, getting them to work with her and then stepping quietly aside that they may have the credit of the work accomplished. In this way she has gained the interest and cooperation of many women who here- tofore knew little of the human side of life outside of their own beauti- ful homes. Mrs. Buhrer's home life has ever been the happiest, as she says her home was her heaven up to the death of her husband.
SA. Chisholm
Stewart Henry Chisholm
S TEWART HENRY CHISHOLM, a son of Henry and Jean (Allan) Chisholm, was born in Montreal, Canada, December 21, 1846, and the Cleveland pub- lic schools afforded him his educational opportuni- ties. When school days were over he entered the employ of the firm of Stone, Chisholm & Jones, and the business in its reorganization became known as the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company, while later it became a branch of the United States Steel Company under the name of the American Steel & Wire Company. As time passed Stewart H. Chisholm made steady prog- ress in his connection with that important enterprise and is today one of the most prominent representatives of the steel and iron trade in Cleveland, one of the most important centers of the trade in the country. He served for a number of years as vice president of the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company and also was elected to the vice presidency of the American Steel & Wire Company. Capable and resourceful, he was chosen to the presidency of the Chisholm & Moore Manufacturing Company and to the Long Arm System Com- pany, and is a director in numerous important business and banking institutions which are leading features in the commercial, industrial and financial life of this city.
Attractive home surroundings and club associations are an indi- cation of the social nature of Mr. Chisholm, whose friends delight in his companionship, which is characterized by unfeigned cordiality. He was married in 1872 to Miss Harriet Kelley, a daughter of George A. and Martha J. (Eastland) Kelley, of Kelleys Island. Twenty-three years passed, and Mrs. Chisholm was called to her final rest in 1895, leaving three sons : Wilson K., a graduate of Yale University of the class of 1898 and now treasurer of the Chisholm & Moore Manufacturing Company; Clifton, with large ranch inter- ests in New Mexico; and Douglas, a Yale man of 1909, who is now purchasing agent for the Chisholm & Moore Manufacturing Com-
89
90
Stewart Henry Chisholm
pany. In 1900 Mr. Chisholm was again married, his second union being with Mrs. H. P. Cord, who died in 1901. As a club man Mr. Chisholm is well known in the Union, Country and Roadside Clubs of Cleveland, the New York Yacht Club and the Manhattan Club of New York. His political indorsement is given to the republican party and liberal support to the Euclid avenue Baptist church, in which he holds membership. The leisure which is a manifestation of success, enables him to indulge his interests in golf, hunting, fish- ing and yachting. A resident of Cleveland for sixty years, the evi- dences of his business ability are many, and the salient features of his life record are such as have given him prominence in the highest social circles, so that he is often a familiar figure in those places where the most interesting men of Cleveland gather.
OC
Gallaher
Charles A. Maher
O N the honor roll of those who have been prominent in the development of the industrial interests of Cleve- land, is found the name of Charles A. Maher, who is the vice president of the National Car Wheel Com- pany, an enterprise that is today of world-wide fame. He started upon the journey of life in 1867, and in the forty-two years which have since come and gone he has made steady progress toward the goal of prosperity, which is the objec- tive point before every well balanced business man. As the name indicates, he comes of Irish ancestry. His parents, Thomas and Helen (Watson) Maher, were both natives of Ireland, the former born near Dublin in County Carlow in 1829. When about nine or ten years of age he crossed the Atlantic with his parents and be- came a resident of Cleveland. After attaining his majority he gained for himself a position of distinction among the leading busi- ness men of the city. He was one of the early manufacturers of Cleveland, becoming one of the founders of the carwheel business here, which was then conducted under the name of the Bowler & Maher Company. Later Mr. Brayton was admitted to a partner- ship, and his name was added to the firm style. A subsequent change in 1880 led to the adoption of the name of Maher & Brayton, a co- partnership in the manufacture of car wheels and gray iron cast- ings, while later it became the Maher Foundry Company, for Thomas Maher, by buying out the stock from time to time, became the sole owner of the business. In 1903 he sold the plant to the National Car Wheel Company, which took over five large concerns from Cleveland, Pittsburg, Rochester, New York city and Sayre, Penn- sylvania. The plant here was one of the oldest in the country and one of the most substantial in this line of trade. After selling to the National Company, Thomas Maher retired from active business. In the meantime, however, he was one of the founders of the River- side Foundry Company and also of the Columbia Iron & Steel Com-
93
94
Charles A. Maher
pany of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. He thus operated extensively along industrial lines, and his enterprise and business discernment were of such a character as to gain him notable prominence in this field of labor. His wife was brought to Cleveland during her early girlhood, her father being engaged in the rolling-mill business in this city during the pioneer epoch of industrial development here. In fact both the Maher and Watson families were among the early set- tlers. The death of Mrs. Maher occurred in 1876.
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.