USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Cleveland, past and present; its representative men > Part 8
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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
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a packing point, but, contrary to his expectations, he has been able to resume the business here to a moderate extent. From 1862 to 1867, he carried on, in connection with the packing business, a very extensive coopering establishment, employing about fifty men, be- sides a large amount of machinery. Over a hundred and twenty-five men were at the same time employed in slaughtering and packing.
In addition to his ordinary business, and partly in connection with it, Mr. Chapin turned his attention to the question of insurance. It was a favorite maxim with him that the West was able to do its own insurance, and with this idea ever present, he was favorable to the establishment of home insurance companies. Of the Sun Fire Insur- ance Company, of Cleveland, he was for some years the vice-president, and labored earnestly for its success. Being a thorough believer in the principles of Homeopathy, as well as an enthusiast on the subject of western insurance, he was a willing co-worker with a number of prominent citizens engaged in the organization of the Hahnemann Life Insurance Company, of Cleveland. The novel character of this company -it being the first of the kind in the United States-is sufficient warrant for a brief statement of its history. It was estab- lished in 1865, and numbered among its stockholders such leading business men and substantial capitalists as Wm. A. Otis, George Worthington, William Bingham, Stillman Witt, Selalı Chamberlain, Dudley Baldwin, D. P. Eells, M. C. Younglove, and the Hon. B. F. Wade. The leading feature was the offer to insure those whose medical belief and practice were exclusively Homeopathic, at lower rates than those subjecting themselves to Allopathic treatment. The theory on which this offer is based is, that all the evidence goes to show a lower rate of mortality under Homeopathic than under Allopathic treatment. The Honorable William Baines, Insurance Commissioner of New York, in speaking of this company in his report, says : "The Hahnemann Life Insurance Company, of Cleve- land, Ohio, is the first western company admitted into this State. It starts with a paid up capital of $200,000, one-half of which is deposited with the State Treasurer of Ohio, for the protection of policy holders. The company is organized on a basis of strength and capital, even larger than that required of New York corporations; it reduces the rate of premium to Homeopathic members."
Of this company Mr. Chapin was made president, and in the man- agement of this, as in everything which he undertakes, he infused a large amount of his energy, and made the company a complete success. During the present year his almost undivided attention has
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been given to the company's affairs, with marked effect on its rapidly increasing business.
In 1865, Mr. Chapin was elected Mayor of the city of Cleveland. The honor was not only unsought, but he was in entire ignorance of the whole affair until after his election. His name had not been mentioned in connection with that or any other office when he left the city on a business trip that kept him absent for several days. In the meantime the nominating convention of the Union Republican party was held, and there was some difficulty as to a choice between the persons named for the nomination as Mayor. In casting around for a way out of the difficulty, the name of Mr. Chapin was mentioned and instantly met with favor. He was nominated, elected by a strong majority, and the first intimation he received of the movement was reading the election returns in the Cleveland Herald, on his home- ward journey.
He accepted the office in the spirit in which it had been conferred upon him. He understood that the people believed he was disposed and able to manage the affairs of the city vigorously and honestly, and he was not disposed to evade the responsibilities of the office. His time was devoted to the duties of his position, the different de- partments under his charge were carefully scrutinized, and whilst his strictness and vigorous execution of the laws made the offenders complain of his severity, there was no question raised as to his ability, integrity, or honest zeal for the city's interest. He discharged the duties of his office with scrupulous exactness, and he endeavored to make others do the same. During his administration it was no longer a reproach that the ordinances of the city stood
" Like the forfeits in a barber's shop, As much in mock as mark."
At the breaking out of the war, Mr. Chapin took an early and active part in stirring up the people to defend the Government of the Union. Wherever his money, influence, or active energy could be made serviceable, there he was always to be found. Having obtained the appropriation for the Twenty-Ninth Regiment, he worked dili- gently in raising, equipping, and sending it to the field, and spent much of his own time at the front in various capacities. The ladies who worked diligently for the comfort of the soldiers and the care of the sick and wounded, through the medium of the Ladies' Aid Asso- ciation, found in Mr. Chapin an indefatigable assistant. He was ever ready with suggestion, active aid, and money, laboring day and night,
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either at the front, in the hospitals, or at home, in behalf of the soldier.
The Cleveland Library Association was another field in which Mr. Chapin's energy and business tact were manifested. In 1854, he was elected president of the Association, which had struggled along, a feeble organization, contending against numerous difficulties. Under his vigorous management the Association was brought to a higher degree of prosperity then it had ever witnessed; the income was largely increased, the number of books increased one-half, and a lively interest excited in the public mind concerning it. Mr. Chapin retired at the close of his term of office, and the affairs of the Asso- ciation gradually lapsed into their former unsatisfactory condition. In 1858, an attempt was made to save it by revolutionizing its consti- tution and management. A new constitution was adopted, and under it Mr. Chapin was again elected president. The result was even more marked than in the previous instance. The number of members was nearly doubled, a load of debt that had accumulated through a num- ber of years was removed, a large number of books added to the library, and the reading-room enlarged and improved. Again, after the lapse of ten years, Mr. Chapin has been called to the presidency of the Association, under circumstances precisely similar to those under which he had twice before assumed the duties of the position.
Mr. Chapin was married October 15th, 1849, to Matilda, daughter of John Fenno, of Boston. Of this marriage have been born six children, the oldest of whom, a son now nineteen years of age, is in the wholesale grocery of Edwards, Townsend & Co .; the others are all attending school.
MOSES WHITE.
Moses White, now one of the very few remaining early citizens of . Cleveland, was born at Warwick, Hampshire county, Mass., February 25th, 1791. His father's name was Jacob White, a native of Menden, Mass., who traces back his ancestors as natives of that town, to as early a date as 1665.
Moses White, the subject of this memoir, being deprived, at a very early age, of his mother, by death. went to live in Mendon, with his
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maternal grand-father, Peter Penninian. Afterwards he went to Boston, where he learned the merchant tailor business, with one John Willson. From Boston he went to Providence, R. I., where he remained about two years, and where he became acquainted with Miss Mary Andrews, whom he afterwards married.
In 1813, being desirous of settling further west, he first went to Utica, N. Y., and after remaining there a few months, he proceeded. with a horse and buggy, to Cleveland, where he arrived in October. 1816, the population of the place then being only about 150.
He established himself here as a merchant tailor, and pursued the business steadily about twenty years, and with success. He after- wards established a store at Chillicothe, Ohio, which, not being under his own care, did not prove successful.
From his arrival in Cleveland, he was forward in all the moral and religious enterprises of the place, first in union with all the religious denominations represented, and afterwards he was more particularly identified with the Baptist Church, in which he has been for nearly forty years a deacon.
He now enjoys more than usual health and vigor for one of his age, and has the respect, confidence and esteem of every person who knows him.
His wife having died in 1858, he has since that date made it his home with his daughter, Mrs. J. P. Bishop, of Cleveland, with whom he now resides.
In many respects Deacon White's history furnishes an example worthy of imitation. In the times of his boyhood, in New England, when a boy did not possess the means for establishing himself in business, or of educating himself for some professional calling, and particularly if he was an orphan, he was required to learn some trade. In his case, his friends not only recommended this, but he was desirous himself, of doing it. He accordingly went from Mendon to Boston, a distance of about forty miles, where, alone and among strangers, he sought a place where he might serve as an apprentice. For days he wandered about seeking such an opportunity and finally fell in with John Willson, the merchant tailor before mentioned, who received him as an errand boy, and finally as an apprentice, in which . position he continued, passing through all the grades incident to such employment, till he was twenty-one years of age.
Without father or mother, or friends to look up to for counsel and advice, he persevered, and preserved his integrity, having the confi- dence of all with whom he was associated.
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In those early days, nothing was more common than to emigrate to the West, leaving the principles of New England education, in religion and morality, behind. Judging from accounts of society in Cleveland in very early times, such must have been the case of some, at least.
But such was not the case with the youthful Moses White. Though he found not many congenial spirits in this far-off western region, yet whenever, in the little village of Cleveland, he heard of a place of prayer, or a meeting, or association for the promotion of temperance or morality, thither he bent his footsteps. Now in a ripe and happy old age he enjoys, not only the retrospect, but also the present - and not only these, but he is constantly looking for a consummation of perfect happiness, beyond what either the past has, or the present life can afford.
Finally, so far as accumulating wealth is concerned, he has not been as fortunate as some, and yet less unfortunate than many others, and now enjoys a competence abundantly sufficient to provide for all his wants and to transmit something to his children. Well may worldly ones say, " O that my last days might be like his !"
DAVID H. BEARDSLEY.
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Mr. Beardsley does not claim to be a pioneer, but an early settler of the second class, having arrived in Cleveland with his family in June, 1826. Cleveland is supposed to have then had about five hun- dred people. He was of Quaker origin, and lived at New Preston, Connecticut, before he removed to Ohio. He was of course anxious to obtain employment, and being a beautiful penman, a contract was soon made with the late Judge Willey, who was the county auditor, to serve as his clerk, at one dollar per day. He was employed about thirty days in making the county duplicate. The taxable property of the county at that time amounted to the sum of two hundred and sixty-eight thousand, seven hundred and seventy-one dollars. When Mr. Beardsley was deputy auditor, all the public business centered in the old log court house, on the northwest quarter of the Square.
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On the fourth of July, 1827, the Ohio canal was opened to lock seventeen, near Akron, and the canal commissioners, prominent among whom was his friend Alfred Kelley, were in need of a scrupu- lously honest man, and a good clerk, for the purpose of collecting tolls. They found all the necessary qualifications of integrity, assi- duity, and accuracy in Mr. Beardsley, who was therefore appointed. the day not having arrived when qualification for office should be the last of recommendations. The collectorship may be said to have been Mr. Beardsley's profession. He spent in the office most of the period of active life, in twenty-three years, undisturbed by the changes of administration. To our ears this may sound incredible.
Mr. Beardsley's salary was at first three hundred dollars per annum, increasing to twelve hundred before the close of his services. He collected the sum of one million, three hundred and ninety-eight thousand, six hundred and forty-two dollars and sixty-eight cents. His accounts were models of nicety as well as accuracy, errors and discrepancies being equally unknown.
Being a gentleman of simple tastes and habits, with few wants, he has acquired a comfortable competence, without acquiring a thirst for gold, and without withholding his substance from charitable and public purposes. He is highly esteemed by all who know him, for a life-long consistency of character, and sterling qualities as a man and a friend. The writer occasionally sees him on our crowded streets, although quite feeble, with a mind perfectly serene, and well aware that his race is almost run. His record is worthy of emulation.
THOMAS AUGUSTUS WALTON.
When the genial countenance and kindly voice of T. A. Walton were missed from the customary gatherings of the river merchants, it was felt that something had been lost which not even a lucky speculation, or a good run of trade, could not restore. When the news of his sudden death, whilst on a foreign tour for the restoration of his health, was received, there was genuine sorrow among his old business associates, and poignant grief with many who had learned
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to look on him not merely as a successful merchant, but as a man of tender heart and open hand when suffering and distress appealed to him for sympathy and aid.
Mr. Walton was born in London, and to the last he looked with affection to the city of his birth. His education was gained at the City of London School. After leaving school he was brought up to mercantile pursuits, and in 1830, concluding that there was a better opening in that line in America, he came to this country, bringing with him a considerable amount of money. For a few years he remained in New York, loaning his capital, for which he always found ready customers, but unfortunately they were not all as ready to pay as to borrow. He lost large sums, and was driven to the conclusion that for a man of his openness of character and confiding honesty. New York was an unprofitable location. The representations of a friend, combined with dissatisfaction with his experience in the com- mercial metropolis, determined him to seek his fortune in the West. Evansburg, Ohio, had been represented to him as a desirable place in which to live, a thriving business point, and adjacent to good hunting ground. This combination of attractions determined him, and he set out for Evansburg with what remained of his capital.
But the attractions of Evansburg soon wearied him. Neither his social, commercial, nor sportsmanlike hopes were fulfilled by the facts, and Mr. Walton speedily turned his back on the place of so much promise and so little realization. Cleveland was the rising place of the West, and to Cleveland he came, and established himself, as was the custom with new comers of a commercial turn, in the produce and commission trade. Following the old maxim, he stuck to his business and his business stuck to him. The old frame warehouse in front of which he hung out his sign in 1838, was occupied by him for twenty-five years, until January, 1863, when he retired from active business and was succeeded in the same building by his nephew. Thomas Walton, who still retains the business and the old location.
Mr. Walton's nice sense of honor commended him to a large circle of customers in the interior and in Michigan, whilst nearly all the Canadian business with Cleveland passed through his hands. His Canadian customers relied implicitly on his word, and the fact that he always retained his old friends, and received constant accessions of new, sufficiently proved that their confidence was not misplaced.
In the Spring of 1863, soon after his retirement from business, he went to England with the intention of staying a year or two and then returning to enjoy the remainder of his life in ease in this country.
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Whilst in England he paid a visit to some friends in Southampton, and whilst taking a bath in a movable bathing-house on the beach, probably was seized with cramp and suffocated by water getting into his lungs. The news of his death caused a painful shock in business, social, and religious circles, where he had been so well known and so highly esteemed.
For a long term of years Mr. Walton was the presiding officer of the St. George's Society of Cleveland, and that benevolent institution owed its usefulness in great measure to his indefatigable zeal in the cause, and to his unstinted liberality. To the distressed of any nation he never turned a deaf ear, but to the needy and suffering of his native country he was ever liberal, and accompanied his unostentatious charities with kind words and manifestations of sincere interest that were frequently as beneficial to the recipient as the money itself. Ile was also a valued member of the Masonic Order.
In religious belief he was an Episcopalian, and was long one of the leading members of Trinity Church. His devotion was unaffect- edly sincere, and though he made no vaunt of his religious principles or hopes, there could be no question of his deep, earnest convictions. Kind, courteous, ever thinking of the good of others, and wholly unselfish, Mr. Walton was a good specimen of the true Christian gentleman.
Although of English birth, and clinging affectionately to all that reminded him of his native land, he was a thorough supporter of American institutions, and an admirer of the American character. Deeply and warmly as he loved the land of his birth, his affection was even stronger for the land of his adoption, and it was his purpose to have returned from his visit to his boyhood's home and settle down in peaceful content in the chosen home of his manhood, until death should lay him in an American grave. When the war broke out he was an earnest and unshrinking supporter of the Government, and his means were freely used for its support, and for the comfort of the soldiers who were fighting its battles. Though alien born, and asso- ciated intimately with people of like birth, there was no native American that could surpass him in love for the Union, and few that exceeded him, in proportion to his means, in contributions to the defence of the Union.
In the language of his favorite Shakespeare, it might be said of him
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him, that nature might stand up And say to all the world, This was a man !
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GEORGE WORTHINGTON.
Prominent among the business firms of Cleveland, is that of George Worthington & Co., a house which stands in the front rank both on account of the business done, and of its integrity and honor- able dealing.
Mr. Worthington, the founder and head of the firm, was born in Cooperstown, N. Y., September 21st, 1813. He received a good com- mon `school education, and then entered on a business career by becoming clerk in a hardware store in Utica, in 1830, remaining in that position until 1834, when he came to Cleveland and commenced business as a hardware dealer on his own account. His first store was on the corner of Superior and Union lane, on the site of the clothing store of Isaac A. Isaacs, and the first goods received by him were drawn by oxen owned by a man who did all the carting at that time. Cleveland was then but a small town, and most of the trading was done with the teamsters that came from Wooster and other points south, bringing pork, grain, and other products, and taking back merchandise. Trade was brisk, but cash scarce, nearly all the opera- tions being more in the nature of barter than of purchase and sale.
After remaining three years in his first store, he removed to the corner of Water and Superior streets, on the site of the present National Bank building, and in that location he remained thirty years, during which time he witnessed the growth of Cleveland from a small town to a large and prosperous city.
When he had been established about fifteen years, Mr. Worthing- ton began rapidly to enlarge his business, and he associated with him Mr. James Barnett and Mr. Edward Bingham, at present members of the firm. About that time they commenced wholesaling, and gradu- ally built up a business from five thousand dollars the first year, to a million dollars. This, however, involved a vast amount of labor, and an indomitable determination to succeed by driving business. Mr. Worthington, in the absence of railroads or other public conveyance. traveled through the adjacent townships and counties on horseback. introducing his wares, and obtaining orders which would be filled by the carriers' wagons.
Yours Truly 1
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Railroads revolutionized trade and gave an impetus to everything, and establishments that were on a firm footing before were prepared to take advantage of circumstances. This was the case with Mir. Worthington. His wholesale business has grown enormously, especi- ally since 1860.
Abont 1862, Mr. Worthington projected the Cleveland Iron and Nail Works, and, in connection with Mr. W. Bingham, matured the plans and got the works into successful operation in about one year from broaching the project, the work turned out being of the best quality. The owners of the works can sell readily all they make, and furnish active and steady employment for about two hundred men.
Mr. Worthington has also been extensively interested in blast furnaces and coal mining, in the vicinity of Cleveland, and has been very successful in them also.
At the present time the Cleveland Iron and Nail Company is erecting the first blast furnace within the city limits, calculated for a capacity of about three hundred tons per week. The firm have also built works on their grounds for the manufacture of gas pipe, which have been in successful operation for about a year, with the excep- tion of a delay caused by a fire. This is an important work in a city so rapidly growing as Cleveland, and will retain many thousand of dollars formerly sent to Philadelphia and other points.
On the passage of the National Bank Law, Mr. Worthington and a number of other capitalists of the city, organized the First National Bank of Cleveland, with a capital of four hundred thousand dollars, which has been very successful. Mr. Worthington was elected president on its organization, and still retains the office. He is a director of the Ohio Savings and Loan Bank, of this city. He is also largely interested in the local insurance interests ; vice-president of the Sun, and also interested in the Cleveland and Commercial, and is a director of the Hahnemann Life Insurance Company. He is also president of the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, one of the most successful organizations of the kind in the country.
No one man, probably, has done more towards building up the business portion of the city than has Mr. Worthington. His first building was erected on the corner of Ontario and St. Clair streets, now occupied by H. Johnson. Since that time he has erected fifty dwelling houses, and fourteen stores.
In 1840, he was married to Miss Maria C. Blackmar, of Cleveland, by the Rev. Dr. Aiken. Of the marriage six children have been born,
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two sons and four daughters, all living. The oldest son, Ralph, is now a member of the firm.
In 1862, Mr. Worthington became interested in the wholesale dry goods business in New York City, and has been quite successful in the enterprise.
Mr. Worthington is a good specimen of a self-made man, who was not spoiled in the making. Hard work did not harden his character, nor has prosperity turned his head. Coming to Cleveland without a dollar, he has built up a large fortune by sheer hard work, close application to business and strict business habits. He at the same time built up a fine reputation by his integrity of character and scrupulous honesty in his dealings. At fifty-six years of age, his health is now, as it has always been, remarkably good; he has never been detained from business on account of sickness.
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