USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Cleveland, Ohio, pictorial and biographical. De luxe supplement, Volume II > Part 6
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Born in Cleveland, Charles A. Maher spent his time between the ages of seven and twelve years in the parochial school and after- ward attended Brooks Military Academy, which later became the University School. On putting aside his text-books he became con- nected with the Britton Iron & Steel Mills, which he represented as shipping clerk for a time, and when he left that company he was serving as assistant night superintendent of the mill. He then went abroad, where he remained for six months, and upon his return he entered the foundry of the Maher & Brayton Company, going right into the works that he might thoroughly master the business. He served in every department, acquainting himself with the trade, and after the firm became the Maher Wheel & Foundry Company he was made secretary and general manager, thus continuing until the busi- ness was merged into the National Company. At that time he was elected secretary and so continued from 1903 until 1905, when he was made vice president and given charge of the sales. The main office is in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and the business has now spread over the entire country. The company now has five plants, and its trade is constantly increasing. In 1908 Mr. Maher became identified with the selling agency of Otis Bonnell & Company, which firm went out of existence on May 1, 1908. Mr. Maher now devotes the major por- tion of his time to the interests of the National Car Wheel Company. Before he was chosen for his present position he was manager of the car-wheel department. Throughout his business life he has been very successful, and largely owing to his capable control his business has increased from forty to fifty per cent, the Cleveland plant rank- ing third.
In 1894 Mr. Maher was married to Miss Jeanette Sherman, of Rochester, New York, who is very active in the social circles of the city. Mr. Maher has also been a leading member of the Hermit Club and takes an active part in its productions. He is likewise a member of the Euclid Club, the Roadside Club and the Cleveland Athletic Club and is a non-resident member of the Lambs Club of New York. He is a man of force and of ready decision, which, how- ever, follows thorough knowledge of the business with a clear under-
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standing of the conditions that exist in trade circles. His enterprise has brought him into prominent connection with one of the most important industries not only of the city but of the country as well. His deductions concerning business affairs are logical, his methods practical and his labors resultant.
Samt. E. Williamson
Samuel Cladsit Williamson
AMUEL ELADSIT WILLIAMSON, who stood as S a man among men, his splendid intellect and powers as an attorney being well balanced by his literary at- tainments, his love of all that it beautiful in art and nature and his splendid Christian character, came to be uniformly loved and admired not only in Cleve- land, the city of his residence, but throughout the state and in all parts of the country where he was known. His life seemed to be a personification of the qualities which inspired trust, owing to the combination of his spiritual and intellectual gifts and the remarkable purity of his character. His freedom from ostentation or display was the very essence of simplicity but the honor and prominence which he did not demand for himself came to him as the freewill offering of those among whom he lived and labored.
A native of Cleveland, Judge Williamson was born April 19, 1844, and was a scion of that fine New England stock which has impressed itself on the entire state of Ohio. Those who knew his honored father and mother could not have been surprised at his successful and useful career, since the qualities that made him what he was he inherited from them. It has been said that some men, perhaps most, create their own opportunities while others seem born to them, but in either event opportunity to make a career is all that one's friends can give him; the rest must be done by himself. There- fore, while Judge Williamson had back of him an ancestry honored and distinguished, it was the simple weight of his own character and ability that carried him through important relations. His estimate of his father, Samuel Williamson, indicates not only the true char- acter of his sire but also the filial devotion and respect entertained for him by Judge Williamson, who, in an introductory note to a memorial volume, said: "Samuel Williamson was so long a resi- dent of Cleveland, he was known to so many people, so many public and private trusts had been committed to his faithful care, he had
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given freely so much needed counsel and help, he was so universally regarded as a model of uprightness, and so many men and women looked up to him with loving reverence, that it has been thought worth while to preserve for others as well as for his own family some of the words that were written and spoken of him in the days following his death. It must not be forgotten, however, that language befitting a public occasion, or the newspaper, could not tell what he was in his own home and to those who lived in his love."
It was in association with and under the guidance of such a man that Judge Williamson spent his youthful days and, having attended the public schools until sixteen years of age, he then entered Western Reserve College, at which institution he studied until 1864, when he was graduated with honors. After the completion of his college course he read law under the direction of his father for about a year and a half and then matriculated in Harvard Law School. A year's study enabled him to complete the prescribed course, after which he was admitted to the bar in the same year-1866. With a mind naturally analytical, logical and inductive and early imbued with the ambition to become a successful lawyer, he entered upon active practice in connection with his father in February, 1867. The part- nership between them was maintained until 1869, when the son be- came professionally associated with T. K. Bolton under the firm style of Williamson & Bolton. That partnership was terminated in 1874 and for six years thereafter Judge Williamson practiced as a partner of Judge J. E. Ingersoll, this relation being severed when Mr. Williamson was elected to the common pleas bench in 1880. He presided as judge over the court until September, 1882, when he re- signed from the bench to become general counsel for the Nickel Plate Railroad. For years he held that position, during which time his ability as a lawyer became widely recognized in railroad circles. His comprehensive knowledge of corporation law and especially of that relating to railway interests led to his selection as the legal representative of the Vanderbilt system of railroads and he became associated therewith as general counsel. At the time of his demise, when the bar association of Cleveland met to take action conerning his death, Hon. John C. Hale said: "He came to the bar in 1867, thoroughly equipped by his intellectual endowment and his accu- rate knowledge of the law. His first work at the bar was that of a general practitioner in this city, where he soon attained a marked success. His professional work during the first years of his practice was such as to place him in the ranks of the good lawyers of the state. His unswerving integrity, his power of analysis, with the intuitive ability to judge the character of men, and the confidence he always
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inspired in both court and jury, made him a formidable trial lawyer, and as a safe and wise counselor he had no superior. The details of his work cannot be here recited; it was efficient and effective. No client's cause was ever neglected by him or poorly represented. It was my pleasure on many occasions to listen to his arguments in cases involving important questions of law, and observe his methods and his power. After more than ten years at the bar he was selected as one of the judges of the court of common pleas of this county. No better man ever occupied the bench of that court. His knowledge of law, his logical and discriminating mind, his innate love of justice fitted him for, and he was in fact, an ideal judge. At the close of two years he left the bench to assume other and very important duties which were to be entrusted to him. Increasing demands upon his professional services followed. Although much of his time was employed in his duties as general counsel for one of the great rail- roads of the country, he still found time for the general practice and was often engaged in important litigation; and more than that, he took the time to advise, counsel and assist, without compensation, many who turned to him in their troubles for aid. Step by step he advanced in his professional work, until during the last four years of his life he held and, except when disabled by sickness, fully per- formed the duties of a position second in importance to none in the county in the line of his profession. His entire professional work was performed with credit to himself and profit to his clients. He was self-reliant, and to this much of his success is due. He had, with en- tirely good reason, confidence in his own judgment. He reached conclusions by methods which rarely led him astray, and when his judgment was once formed he had no hesitation in following it. This is characteristic of great men, a class to which he belonged."
Hon. Carlos M. Stone, judge of the common pleas court, added the further testimony: "His election to the common pleas bench of this county, in 1880, met with universal approval and satisfaction, for his eminent fitness and high integrity were recognized and ap- preciated by all. His career upon the bench was brief, for at the end of about two years of distinguished service rendered to the people of this judicial district, he resigned his position to accept the general counselship of one of the great railway lines of the country. While his judicial career was short, it was characterized by an in- tense desire to arrive at the truth and entirely satisfy the great ends of justice, united with firmness and courage under all emergencies to do the right as it was given him to perceive it.
"His mind, as it appeared to me, accomplished its labors with an ease that appeared like repose, and great burdens borne by him
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seemed light. He was deliberate and calm in forming opinions. Patient and untiring in research, he weighed every consideration and aimed only at the truth. Like most strong natures, he was simple and direct. I have seen no judge whose intellectual processes were more utterly free from the influence of personal passions and senti- ments."
"As a trial judge," said John G. White, "he was one of the best whom I have known. Business was closed up; questions were de- cided promptly; and although himself one of the best triers of fact whom I have ever known upon the bench, he did not usurp the province of the jury. He recognized that the unanimous opinion of twelve men, even though singly they might be far inferior in judgment to the court, was worthy of consideration, even from the highest. Though well equipped, though learned and acute, he rec- ognized that counsel who had studied a case, though inferior in ability, might still have something to say which the most able judge might profit by. When he went off the bench to assume important professional duties, he still continued to grow in professional at- tainments and in general estimation. No one would say of him that he was a great advocate. He had not the tricks of elocution nor the graces of rhetoric, and yet in the trial of a case to a jury he carried unusual weight; the candor of his speech, the care and precision with which he never overstated his case, the weight of his character, car- ried force and conviction to the mind of every man upon the jury. In addressing courts, discussing questions of law, nobody who has spoken here today has spoken too highly of the clearness, of the knowledge, with which he made evident to the court his conclusions, the reasons why the court should coincide with him."
Judge Williamson's home life was largely the embodiment of that which was most ideal in such relations. He was twice married, having in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1878, wedded Miss Mary P. Marsh, a sister of the late Professor O. C. Marsh, a distinguished instructor in geology at Yale University. They became parents of two daughters, Mary Peabody and Ethel Marsh. The mother died in 1881 and in 1884 Judge Williamson married Miss Harriet W. Brown, of East Windsor, Connecticut. They had one son, Samuel Bartlett Williamson. During his youthful days the Williamson home was located on the present site of the Williamson building on the public square and throughout his entire life Judge Williamson continued a resident of Cleveland, his last days being spent at the family home on the lake front in Glenville, where a commodious and tasteful residence stands in the midst of a wide lawn adorned with stately trees, beautiful winding walks and numerous beds of
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flowers. Judge William B. Sanders said of him: "To no man was home more dear, and in the delights of home and family found he the greatest joy. He was a lover of nature and never happier than when amid the rocks and crags of Alpine scenery, expressive of that which is grand and strong, or amid the softness and quiet of mellow landscape, expressive of that which is gentle and lovable in nature's household.
" He was possessed of nice literary taste, and found pleasure and recreation in the delightful atmosphere of his well selected library. In him the art of the musician, the painter and the sculptor found intelligent response, and at home and abroad he had cultivated ac- quaintance with all which is best in art."
The cause of education at all times commanded the active, help- ful support of Judge Williamson. A graduate of Adelbert College, he never suffered the tie that bound him to his alma mater to be loos- ened but soon after his graduation was elected a member of its board of trustees and so continued until his death, evincing to the very last a keen interest in its welfare. At the time of the discussion of the question of the removal of the school from Hudson to Cleveland that it might enter into a larger life, he strongly advocated the re- moval and gave time, energy and wise counsel toward securing its success. He also advocated sanely and cogently the wisdom of sep- arating the two sexes and establishing a college for women as a part of the university, allowing each college to work out its future in its own unhampered way. The growth of each college since that time testifies to the soundness of his reasoning. In each and every educa- tional or administrative problem that was met with, his colleagues on the board of trustees seemed instinctively and naturally to turn to Judge Williamson for advice and his clearness of vision and wise judgment never failed to point out the way in which his associates were glad to follow him. He became one of the prime movers in the organization of the University School in 1890 and from that time until his demise acted as president of the board of trustees. He watched with interest its gradual development and lent his generous assistance to raise it to the highest standard.
In the duties of citizenship Judge Williamson was at all times alert and active in the advocacy of that which he judged best in civic life. He was, moreover, a liberal-minded man of affairs-in touch with varied lines of industry and commercial activity. He acted on the directorate of the Merchants Bank of Ohio, as the suc- cessor of his father, who in turn had been preceded in the directorate by the grandfather of Judge Williamson at a time when the insti- tution was known as the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie. He would
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have stood in the foremost rank in any business calling as easily as he became primate among his associates at the bar. He was also a member of the board of trustees of the Society for Savings in Cleve- land and he was likewise identified with various corporate inter- ests. He became a director and vice president of several of the cor- porations connected with the New York Central's system of railroads and he was also a director of the Western Reserve Trust Company.
Judge Williamson long held membership in the Presbyterian church and in his faithful adherence thereto was found the real motive spring of his character and his conduct. He was the presi- dent of the First Presbyterian Society of Cleveland, and to the church of his chosen allegiance he was for years a pillar of strength for all which made for her success in good works. He took an active interest in the various movements which have their rise in the Christian religion and its teachings concerning humanity. He was one of the trustees and a liberal donor to the Lakeside Hospital, giv- ing generously thereto of his time and money. His name is asso- ciated with the beautiful park and boulevard system of Cleveland as one of its most energetic projectors and friends. The place which he held in the community is perhaps not better illustrated than by his repeated selection as a testamentary executor or trustee. Estates, great and small, were for years, with striking frequency, left to his keeping. He was named in the Huntington will as one of the execu- tors and trustees of the munificent sum which was left for charity and art in this city.
Judge Williamson was also truly appreciative of the social amen- ities of life. He found pleasant association in the Union Club, Coun- try, Golf and Castalia Clubs of Cleveland, in the Metropolitan, the University and Transportation Clubs of New York and in St. An- drews Golf Club of Westchester county, New York. He was also a member of the American, Ohio State and the Cleveland Bar Asso- ciations and the Association of the Bar of New York. He was also a member of the Eastern Railroad Association and served on its executive committee and when he was called from this life the asso- ciation placed upon its records a minute that was a fitting memorial to his business ability and his worth as a man.
There was in Judge Williamson not only great ability but a pe- culiar fineness of moral fiber, utter abhorrence of all sham and wrong doing, a Christian faith that deepened with the years and was the secret of all that he was and did; and a strength of affection that was the marvel while it was the most precious possession of the inner circle of his friends and more especially of his own family. His broadness of vision on all matters was often remarked upon by men
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high in professional life. High above all intellectual capacities and legal attainments there towered in him a singular power of charac- ter. Able as he was and equal to every position of life in which he was placed, his character seemed as simple and transparent as a child's. With him everything was open, direct, unaffected. “We honor his memory," said one of his associates, " for his integrity, for his faithfulness, for the kindly gentleness of his great heart. There was no disguise, no guile in him. He gladdened all by the sunshine of his disposition; and the sweetness of his manner, the purity of his private life, the integrity of his public career are examples for us to praise and to emulate." Following his death Arthur G. Eddy, of Chicago, between whom and Judge Williamson there existed a warm friendship, wrote concerning him: " To be respected for one's attainments is much, to be loved for one's qualities is more, to be respected and loved by one's fellowmen is about the best this prac- tical life can give and this was his in overflowing measure."
alpolige.
ofMas dugh
D. A. Mchugh
P. A. MCHUGH, a self-made man in all that the term implies, the exigencies of the case demanding econ- omy in his youthful days so that he gained real knowl- edge of values and the worth of opportunities, is now connected with the industrial interests of Cleveland as a manufacturer of chairs and seats. He was born at Summit Hill, Pennsylvania, March 26, 1864, his parents being John and Mary (Gildea) McHugh. His father came from Ireland at the age of seventeen years and opened up the first coal mine in Ohio. His mother's ancestors were among the first settlers of Penn- sylvania who went to that state after the founding of the colony by William Penn.
At an early age P. A. McHugh accompanied his parents on their removal from Summit Hill to Rolla, Missouri, where he attended the public schools and after he had ceased to be a student he engaged in teaching near Rolla for two terms. In the meantime he worked on the farm with his father and early became familiar with the tasks incident to the development of the fields. He afterward entered the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy, in which he pursued a three years' course. Returning to the north at the age of twenty-two years, he settled in Cleveland and went to work for Henry Slatmyre, with whom he continued for a year. He was afterward with Horace W. Power, who was state agent for the Travelers' Insurance Com- pany, and remained in the insurance business for six years. He next secured a position as sleeping car conductor, acting in that capacity for a year, after which he removed to Buffalo where he engaged in the insurance business with the Railway Official Employes Com- pany. Because of a railroad strike he returned to Cleveland and ac- cepted the position of shipping clerk with the firm of Likely & Rocket, trunk manufacturers. At the end of a year he became buyer for the W. A. Banks Company and for Haas Brothers in the produce business. About this time he conceived the idea of engaging in the
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seating business which he entered, making seats for tents and circuses. He afterward invented a portable grand stand which was later adopted by circuses. His first large contract was in furnishing seats for the Grand Army encampment in Cleveland, but owing to the death of President McKinley he lost considerable money. He is still engaged in business as a chair and seat manufacturer. This is the only industry of its kind in the world, Mr. McHugh originating and building it up himself. He contracts for seating large audiences all over the United States, manufactures the seats for all the circuses in the United States and is known all over the country as " McHugh, the Seat Man."
In 1891 Mr. McHugh was married to Miss Marie Jeavons, a daughter of W. A. and Sarah Newman Jeavons. Her father, now deceased, was a prominent manufacturer of Cleveland. Mr. Mc- Hugh is identified with several social organizations, including the Travelers' Club, the Tippecanoe Club and the Cleveland Athletic Club. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias fraternity and his life is in harmony with the beneficent purposes of the order. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he was at one time probate clerk. He takes great delight in hunting and target shooting and is a member of the National Rifle Association. As the years have gone by he has met many difficulties and obstacles, but his perseverance has enabled him to push on in spite of these. In his early manhood he was for eight years without a home; in his youth- ful days he had the experience of farm life where rigid economy was practiced, but this gave him knowledge of the real value of a dollar; he also learned that the only success worth having is that which is earned, and his entire life has been characterized by laborious, per- sistent effort. Eventually, however, he solved the problems that con- fronted him and is now conducting a productive and profitable busi- ness in the manufacture of chairs and seats.
SEVies
bessere 1
Daniel Edward Giessen
D ANIEL EDWARD GIESSEN has since 1897 been engaged in the hardware business on his own account in Cleveland and since 1905 has been located at No. 215 Prospect avenue. Since entering commercial circles he has been almost continuously connected with this line of trade and therein lies one factor of his success for he has not dissipated his energies over a wide field but has concentrated his efforts on the work of thoroughly acquainting himself with the trade and of studying the public taste so as to handle the most salable articles. He is now accorded a liberal patronage that is indicative both of his progressive methods and the reliability of the policy which he pursues.
Mr. Giessen is a native son of the Forest city, born June 25, 1867. His parents, Frederick and Appolonia (Hoffman) Giessen, were both natives of Bavaria, Germany, but in early life sought the free- dom, appreciation and opportunities of the growing western world. Becoming residents of Cleveland, they here reared their family, and Daniel E. Giessen attended the public schools until he had reached the sixth grade, when he put aside his text-books to provide for his own support. He was first employed in a humble capacity by H. A. Stevens & Sons, remaining with that firm for two years, after which he entered the employ of the Lockwood & Taylor Hardware Com- pany as order boy. This was a wholesale hardware establishment, with which he was connected for two years. He was afterward em- .ployed in several retail hardware stores, spending much of the time, however, with the firm of H. W. Luetkemeyer & Sons, whom he rep- resented as city salesman for several years. This brought him broad knowledge of the trade and the demands of the public and when in- dustry and careful expenditure had secured for him capital sufficient to enable him to engage in business on his own account he started for nimself in 1897 at Nos. 28 and 30 Broadway, dealing in cabinet hardware and upholstery supplies. On several occasions he has out-
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