USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Cleveland, past and present; its representative men > Part 6
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 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
.
I. N. Shvilen
جب موسهوه مجـ
بعيد ١٤
بـ
51
ITS REPRESENTATIVE MEN.
ment of permanent camps through the State created a sudden and extensive demand for lumber, to build the numerous camp buildings. At that time the only perplexity of the lumber dealer was to find a supply sufficient for the demands pressing in from all quarters, for certain qualities.
From lumber to ship building is an easy transition, and Mr. Sheldon, five or six years since, became interested in lake craft, and added a fine three masted schooner to the lake marine. With the growth of manufactures in the city, he became interested in that direction also, connecting himself with the Etna Iron and Nail Works enterprise. He also took a deep interest in the formation of the People's Gas Company, for the supply of the West Side with gas, being one of the original supporters of the organization, and at present one of its directors.
In all his undertakings Mr. Sheldon has kept steadily in view the necessity of industry and economy, and it is the practice of these two mercantile virtues that has brought about his success. One trait of his business character is peculiar. He has, so far as possible, avoided recourse to law, holding the doctrine that, in most cases, when a debt could not be collected without the aid of a lawyer, it was not worth spending money for. In religious principles Mr. Sheldon is a Con- gregationalist, and has been connected for more than thirty years with the First Congregational Church, and during most of this time has discharged the duties of deacon, serving the church with fidelity and acceptance, in this official position. He has been identified with Sabbath school labors, as teacher and superintendent, and to his zeal and liberality the Detroit street Mission Sabbathc shool largely owes its prosperity, and its present commodious chapel. In every Christian enterprise Deacon Sheldon has been among the foremost. No benevolent cause, whether local or general, has appealed to him in vain for pecuniary support, or Christian sympathy and countenance.
In 1836, Mr. Sheldon was married to Miss Cordelia H. Buxton, of Cleveland, a descendent of the English Buxtons, of philanthropic memory. Of the family of six children, one, the eldest, Henry A. Sheldon, died in 1842. The only surviving son became a partner with his father in 1866.
52
CLEVELAND, PAST AND PRESENT:
-
.
CHARLES HICKOX.
Whether the conversion of wheat into flour can more properly be classed among manufactures or trade and commerce is a question for casuists to determine. There can be no question, however, that Charles Hickox takes his place, by right, among the merchants and commercial men of Cleveland, whether the grinding of wheat be a manufacture or not, for it is not alone by the milling business that Mr. Hickox has identified himself with the commerce of the city. He has gone through all the phases of Cleveland commercial life, having been connected with the produce and commission trade, owned lake vessels, and otherwise qualified himself for a place among the merchants and "river men," aside from the business in which he is widely known - that of an extensive mill owner.
Mr. Hickox came to : Cleveland in 1837, from the state of New York, making his debut in the Forest City in the year of its greatest depression. For the first two years he engaged as clerk, and served his employers faithfully. Then, gaining confidence, and seeing an opening he struck out boldly for himself, setting up, as was usual in those days, in the commission and produce business. The constantly growing commerce of the place increased his business and made it lucrative. With far-seeing enterprise Mr. Hickox pushed his opera- tions so that his trade rapidly increased and his consignments steadily grew in number and quantity. To accommodate it he purchased interests in shipping on the lake, and eventually became a large ship owner.
Seeing his opportunity, Mr. Hickox turned his attention to milling, and commenced operations at a mill in Akron, which he soon made known to the commercial world by the excellence and reliability of its brand. To this was, in time, added the water mill, on the canal, in Cleveland, near the weigh lock, which he held for five years and then sold. After the sale of the latter mill, he purchased the Cleve- land Steam Mills on Merwin street, with a capacity of about three hundred and fifty barrels per day, and in 1867, he added the National Steam Mills, with a capacity of from five hundred to six hundred barrels daily. Whilst a large capital is invested in these mills, the number of men employed is less than in establishments where labor
C
53
ITS REPRESENTATIVE MEN.
saving machinery has not been brought to such a pitch of perfection. About fifty men are directly employed in the mills, and a large num- ber additional in the manufacture of barrels and sacks. A very large proportion of the flour from these mills is sold in sacks, from the fact that the entire product is sold in the home market, which speaks well for the estimation in which the brands are held. Mr. Charles W. Coe is in active partnership with Mr. Hickox, in the milling inter- ests, the firm name being Coe & Hickox.
Mr. Hickox has taken deep interest in the railroad affairs of the city, and has been for some time a director of the Cleveland, Colum- bus & Cincinnati Railroad Company. He is still as active and energetic as ever, well preserved in body and mind, and making his positive influence felt in all departments of business in which he becomes interested. He never tires of work, and, as he says of himself, he "holds his own well, at fifty-five."
ALEXANDER SACKETT.
-
Alexander Sackett, son of Augustus Sackett, of Sackett's Harbor, N. Y., was born August 17th, 1814. He received a good mercantile education in New York City, and came from thence to Cleveland in 1835, and at once engaged in the wholesale and retail dry goods line, in the old block of Mr. Weddell, on Superior street. He continued with success in this business until 1854, when he went into commer- cial business on the river, and in which he remained until 1868, when he retired from trade circles to devote his whole attention to his real estate interests.
Mr. Sackett was married in 1836, to Harriet, daughter of Levi Johnson, Esq., of this city. They have five children living, and have lost two. The eldest daughter is the wife of Mr. Virgil T. Taylor, of this city, and the son is in his father's office.
Mr. Sackett is still hale, and may reasonably expect, without accident, to long enjoy the fruit of his labor.
54
CLEVELAND, PAST AND PRESENT:
GEORGE MYGATT.
Mr. Mygatt is a genuine pioneer of the Western Reserve, having come with his father, Comfort S. Mygatt, at the age of ten years, to the new settlement at Canfield, Mahoning county, Ohio, in the year 1807. He was born at Danbury, Ct., on 14th of June, 1797, when that village had not recovered from its conflagration by the British, during the Revolution. There were then visible, and for many years during his boyhood, buildings which were charred by fires kindled by English soldiers.
Mr. Mygatt's father was a merchant and farmer, at Canfield. He was an active, honest and successful man. The year previous to his emigration, his daughter, Polly, was married, at Danbury, to the late Elisha Whittlesey, who removed at once to Canfield, Ohio. Mr. Whittlesey, his son-in-law, took the contract to clear a piece of ground for Mr. Mygatt, laboring on the job with his axe and team.
At, Danbury George had as good an opportunity in school as any Connecticut lad could have, under the age of ten years. At Canfield there was little opportunity for gaining book knowledge. He was engaged with his father as clerk and general helper, until he was twenty years old. In 1S18, he became clerk in the Western Reserve Bank, at Warren, and remained in that position two years, when he engaged in mercantile business in connection with his father-in-law, Mr. A. Adams. This partnership lasted five years, after which he carried on the business alone until 1833.
From 1829 to 1833, he was sheriff of Trumbull county, and had the disagreeable office of executing the murderer, Gardner.
In 1834, Mr. Mygatt became a financier, which may be said to be his profession. He was then appointed cashier of the Bank of Nor- walk, Ohio. In 1836, he was appointed cashier of the Bank of Geauga, at Painesville, Ohio; and in 1846 he became President of the City Bank of Cleveland, holding the last named office until 1850. The firm of Mygatt & Brown was then formed, for private banking, and continued until 1857.
In 1855, he was elected a member of the House of Representatives, from Cuyahoga county, serving two sesssion.
The Merchants Bank of Cleveland, in 1857, became deeply in-
·
SYC
¥
Very Respectfully Georgeallegato
55
ITS REPRESENTATIVE MEN.
volved, by the failure of the Ohio Life and Trust Company, of Cincinnati. Mr. Mygatt was appointed cashier at this time, when a memorable panic in finances was sweeping over the country. The bank sank a large part of its stock, but maintained its integrity, and continued to redeem its notes.
In 1861, he retired from active business, but, with his long habits of employment, it soon became irksome to him to be out of work, and in 1865 he became Secretary of the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad Company, a position he still retains, for the sake of being employed.
A large portion of Mr. Mygatt's time and means have always been devoted to benevolent purposes ; Sunday schools, the annual contri- butions for the poor, the church, industrial schools, and, in fact, all charitable movements have found in him a ready response; be will long be remembered for his work's sake.
As a business man he was characterized by the strictest integrity, always preserving a quiet, considerate policy, and by incessant industry accomplished a great deal. For one who has reached the age of seventy-two, he possesses remarkable vigor, and we should judge, from the position he occupies, that his mental faculties are little impaired.
Mr. Mygatt was married in March, 1820, to Miss Eliza Freeman, of Warren, who is still living. Of their six children, four of whom arrived at mature age, and were married, only Mrs. F. T. Backus now survives.
MARTIN B. SCOTT.
Among the name's of those who have done business on the river during the past quarter of a century, that of. M. B. Scott, until his retirement a few years since, held a foremost place. Mr. Scott is a native of New York, having been born at Deerfield, near Utica, in that State, in March, 1801.
Mr. Scott is of Quaker stock; a lineal descendent in the sixth generation from the first American Quaker, (Richard Scott, one of the first settlers of Providence, R. I.,) and in the nineteenth genera- tion from William Baliol Scott, of Scotts-Hall, Kent, England, in the
1
56
CLEVELAND, PAST AND PRESENT:
line of Edward I. His Quaker ancestors suffered persecution at the hands of the Boston Puritans in 1658. The daughters of Richard Scott were cast into prison by Endicott, for avowing their Quaker faith, and his wife Katharine (ne Marbury, youngest sister of the famous Mrs. Anne Hutchinson) was publicly scourged in Boston by order of court, for visiting and sympathizing with her Quaker brethren in prison.
One of the maxims of Mr. Scott's life, was to despise no honest employment, however laborious ; if he failed to obtain such business as he desired, he took the next best opportunity that offered, a prin- ciple that might be profitably practiced by many young men of the present day. Deprived of a liberal education, by the pecuniary embarrassments of his father, who had a large family to support, he left the Utica Academy in 1820, and made an effort to learn a mechan- ical trade, with only partial success. He, for a time, alternately taught a country school in winter, and was engaged for the remainder of the year in internal commerce, as master of a boat, or as forward- ing clerk, in the then prominent houses of De Graff, Walton & Co., and Cary & Dows, on the Mohawk river and Erie canal. This early training in the elements of commerce and navigation was the nucleus of his subsequent pursuits, and the foundation of his commercial success, although his operations were not on the gigantic scale of many others, who either amassed great fortunes, or sank into bank- ruptcy; he managed his affairs with such prudence, sagacity and integrity, that he never had occasion to compound with his creditors, or even ask for an extension.
Mr. Scott was interested in the first line of canal boats that ran through from Utica to New York. In the outset of Erie canal opera- tions it was supposed that canal boats could not sail down the Hudson, and the freight was consequently transhipped at Albany. Experiment proved the fallacy of this belief, and thenceforward canal boats ran through to New York. A new line of steam tow-boats on the North river, called the Albany & Canal Tow-Boat Company, was formed, and Mr. Scott was appointed principal manager, first at Albany and then at New York.
In 1836, his health failed, owing to his close application to business, and under medical advice he performed a horseback journey through Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. On his way westward he stopped at Cleveland and was favorably impressed with what was then a small but flourishing town. In 1837, he returned from his western journey and resumed business, but again his health failed,
57
ITS REPRESENTATIVE MEN.
and he was ordered to permanently abandon Albany and seek a more favorable climate. Remembering the advantages of Cleveland both for business and residence, he concluded to remove to that point.
Here he continued his connection with the forwarding business by opening an agency for the American Transportation Line of canal boats on the Erie canal, his office being at the foot of Superior street. In 1841, he engaged in the purchase and shipment of staves, the markets for which were Albany and New York. This branch of business he continued for about five years.
In 1844, he built a steam elevator on River street, near his old stand, it being the first brick building erected on the river front. With the completion of this building he turned his attention more particularly to grain, receiving it by canal from the interior. On the opening of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati railroad, his elevator was easily connected with that line, and the first load of railroad wheat stored in Cleveland was received into his elevator.
About the year 1840, Mr. Scott became interested in the lake marine by the purchase of the brig Amazon, of 220 tons, then con- sidered a craft of good size. At the time of the purchase, the West was flooded with wild-cat money, and specie was very scarce. The brig was sold by order of the Chancellor of Michigan, and specie demanded from the purchaser, a condition that made buyers shy. In 1842, Mr. Scott purchased the schooner John Grant, of 100 tons, and in the following three years added to his little fleet the schooner Panama, of 100 tons, and the brig Isabella, of over 300 tons, the latter being something highly respectable in the way of lake shipping.
Prudence, foresight, and careful enterprise made all his ventures reasonably successful. In 1865, he resolved to quit business and enjoy the competence he had acquired, first in foreign travel, to free himself more thoroughly from business cares, and then in lettered ease at home. In pursuance of this purpose he spent six months in Europe, returning with recruited energies to the enjoyment of the well stocked library of rare volumes collected during his years of active business, and largely added to during his foreign travels.
A few facts in Mr. Scott's life, exhibiting his thorough confidence in the Government and the cause of the Union, should not be passed over. The first investment in the original War Loan taken in Cleve- land, if not in Ohio, was made by Mr. Scott, August 12th, 1861. He still retains and exhibits with justifiable pride, a certificate from the Acting Secretary of the Treasury, dated August 29th, 1861, stating that five thousand dollars had been received from him on account of
58
CLEVELAND, PAST AND PRESENT:
the three years' treasury notes, and promising that they should be sent him as soon as prepared. From that time to the present he has invested freely in Government securities, being fully convinced of their safety.
Since his retirement from business and return from European travel, he has employed his leisure in literary pursuits, especially in genealogical and historical studies, and has frequently contributed to the journals of the day curious and interesting facts relating to the early settlers in New England, in correction of erroneous beliefs regarding them.
In 1840, Mr. Scott was married to Miss Mary Williamson, by whom he has had seven children, of whom three still live.
J. P. ROBISON.
Among the soldiers present at Braddock's defeat at Fort Duquesne, near Pittsburgh, was John Decker Robison, an American of Scotch descent, who also did good service during the Revolutionary war. When the war was over he married a Hollander living on the North River, and when a young family grew up about him, moved to western New York, where, building the first house in Canandagua, he received a patent of six hundred acres of land and settled down as a farmer in Vienna, N. Y. One of his family was a boy, Peter Robison, who stuck to the farm until the ex-Revolu- tionary soldier had gone down to the tomb, and until he himself had reached several years beyond the meridian of life, when he obeyed the general law of American human nature, and moved toward the setting sun. Years before this step was taken he had married Miss Hetty H. Havens, of Lyons, N. Y., and raised a family of children, among them J. P. Robison, the subject of this sketch, who was born in Ontario county, on the 23rd of January, 1811.
1
Like his father, young Robison spent the earlier years of his life in working on the farm, and it was not until his sixteenth year that it was decided to give him a good education. He was then sent to Niffing's High School, at Vienna, N. Y., where he attained consider-
MouEl Truly
59
ITS REPRESENTATIVE MEN.
able proficiency in his studies, including Latin and Mathematics. Having developed a taste for medical studies he was admitted as a private pupil of Professor Woodward, of the Vermont College of Medicine, and graduated in November, 1831. Immediately on the completion of his studies he moved into Ohio and commenced practice in Bedford, Cuyahoga county, in February, 1832. IIe soon succeeded in building up a good practice, and for eleven years continned in the exercise of his profession.
Then Dr. Robison concluded to change his business. In company with W. B. Hillman he engaged in mercantile business at Bedford, opening a store and at the same time carrying on other descrip- tions of trade, such as milling, packing provisions, dealing in land, and other operations such as the speculative American is always ready to engage in. Among other things he started a chair factory and a tannery, and his active mind was always revolving projects for the increase of business, and, of course, of business profits.
But, whilst his hands were full of all kinds of business enter- prises, Dr. Robison found abundant leisure for a different kind of occupation. He was an intimate friend and associate of Alexander Campbell, the leader of the Disciple movement, and organized a congregation of this faith in Bedford, which he preached to for
sixteen years. When he commenced his ministerial labors in Bedford, (from whom, at no time, did he receive fee or reward. ) his congregation numbered less than a dozen, but when he closed his term of service as a voluntary minister he left for his successor a congregation numbering four hundred and forty, showing conclu- sively that his ministering had not been in vain. Nor was his zeal for the faith as understood by the Disciples content with preaching during this long term of service. His purse was always ready for the calls of the church, and, in company with Alexander Campbell, he traveled from place to place throughout a great part of Ohio, address- ing the vast concourses called together by the fame of the Disciple leader, then in the plenitude of his power and influence as a preacher and teacher. In these gatherings and in such company Dr. Robison enriched his mind and developed a great talent for extemporaneous address and discussion. Of a positive nature he brought strong earnestness and unflagging energy to the work in which he was engaged, and carried his hearers with him, as he himself was frequently borne away by the enthusiasm of his subject. The same earnestness and energy which made him so successful as a preacher served to make him popular and effective on the political platform,
1
60
CLEVELAND, PAST AND PRESENT:
and in the cause of the soldiers of the Union in recent years. During the war he was active in procuring volunteers for the Union army, and whenever an effort was made to aid the cause of the Union Dr. Robison was among the foremost in the work. In politics Dr. Robison was an old Clay Whig. After the demolition of that party he voted with the Domocrats. In 1861, he was chosen to the State Senate by the union of the War Democrats and Republicans, receiving the largest voterfor any senator from this county. Since that time he has voted with the Republican party. His Senatorial career was highly honorable to himself and of value to his constituents, who found in him a faithful, active and intelligent representative.
It is as a packer of provisions that Dr. Robison has been for many years chiefly known. For twenty-five years he had been associated with General O. M. Oviatt in the packing business at Cleveland, and the brand of the firm had grown to be recognized everywhere as thoroughly reliable. In 1865, this partnership was dissolved, and Dr. Robison continued the business at first alone and afterwards in company with Archibald Baxter of New York. The scarcity of fat cattle in this vicinity compelled him in 1866 to remove his principal packing house to Chicago, where he continues to operate heavily, the amount paid out for cattle during the last season being over $300,000. In addition to the Chicago packing he has continued the work in Cleveland, and also for several years did something in that line at Lafayette, Indiana. The firm's brand, "The Buckeye", is well known and highly esteemed both in the United States and England, to which provisions bearing that mark are largely shipped.
Had Dr. Robison continued his practice as a physician he would undoubtedly have attained eminence in his profession, a leading physician having frequently borne testimony to his extraordinary . skill in diagnosing disease, and urged him to devote his entire attention to his profession. But he preferred curing beef and pork to curing human bodies, and, so far as financial results are con- cerned, probably made a wise choice, though the judgment of human nature and insight into men's motives to which he attributes his success, would have served him in good stead in either line. At the age of fifty-eight, Dr. Robison is found in possession of a hand- some competency, although he has all through life dealt with marked liberality toward all worthy objects of charity and patriotism. He is still in possession of much of the vigor that has characterized his business career, and we trust his life of usefulness may yet be long.
Mans tonly
61
ITS REPRESENTATIVE MEN.
TRUMAN P. HANDY.
The oldest banker in Cleveland, and probably the oldest active banker in the State, is Truman P. Handy, now president of the Mer- chants National Bank. He has been identified with the banking business of Cleveland from his first arrival in the city, thirty-seven years ago, and throughout the whole time has been a successful financier, managing the institutions under his charge with unvarying skill and good fortune.
Mr. Handy was born in Paris, Oneida county, New York, January 17th, 1807. He had the advantage of a good academical education, and made preparation for entering college, which, however, he did not do, and at the close of his school term, spent the remaining time, until his eighteenth year, upon his father's farm, with the exception of two winters in which he taught school.
On reaching his eighteenth year it was decided that he should enter on a commercial life, and a year or two were spent in stores in Utica and New Hartford, N. Y., leaving the latter place in October. 1826, to take a position in the Bank of Geneva, Ontario county, N. Y .. of which the Rev. H. Dwight was president. With this commenced Mr. Handy's long banking career. Five years were spent in this bank and then he accepted an invitation to remove to Buffalo, for the purpose of assisting in the organization of the Bank of Buffalo, of which he was made teller, and remained one year in that position. In March, 1832, the young banker married Miss Harriet N. Hall, of Geneva, and with his bride set out on the wedding tour, which was also one of business, to Cleveland.
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.