History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 46

Author: Upton, Harriet Taylor; Cutler, Harry Gardner, 1856-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago ; New York : The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 886

USA > Ohio > History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II > Part 46

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Outside of his own state Dr. Harvey is chiefly known through his contributions to text book literature. He was author of a series of English grammars, which is still ex- tensively used and well adapted to the needs of

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public schools. Thousands of persons in other states would recognize Harvey's grammar as one of the familiar books of their school days. The grammars were carefully revised in 1878, and again in 1901. He was also author of a series of readers and assisted in the prepara- tion of the Eclectic Geographies and in the re- vision of the McGuffey's readers.

Dr. Harvey retired from the active duties of the school room in 1881, but his heart did not go out with him. It lingered there to help, strengthen and inspire those who came after. During all these years he was a faithful friend of Lake Erie Seminary, serving from 1879 as one of its trustees. Many of his admirable lectures upon scientific subjects have been given to its students, and his interest in Memorial Hall, in which he placed an organ as a memorial to the beautiful life of his daugh- ter, Annie, endeared him to all who gather there.

His home life was beautiful. He found the companion of his life while teaching in the Chardon high school and was married to Miss Louise Beebe on February 6, 1849. He was an affectionate husband and father, and in his home exemplified all the Christian graces. In his library, containing nearly four thousand volumes of his own collecting, he found a solace for his leisure hours in the riches of learning, and literature.

A teacher sows, but must wait long years for the harvest. It was Mr. Harvey's special priv- ilege to live to see much of the fruitage of his toil. He has left the imprint of his integrity. earnestness and scholarship upon the lives of his pupils, "his boys and girls," as he fondly called them ; upon the educational thought and sentiment of this community and the state. No man better served his generation in the great field of education.

FRANKLIN H. KENDALL, superintendent of schools at Painesville, is one of the leading educators of the Western Reserve. Education has been his life work, the field in which his ambition has sought fulfilment, and his career is a record of progress and usefulness.

He was born in Steubenville, Ohio, January 15. 1862. His elementary education was re- ceived in the schools of that town and he was graduated at the age of fifteen. He then be- gan work in a newspaper office, but after five years again entered school to prepare for a larger career. He was a student through his college life in the Ohio Wesleyan University

at Delaware, where he received the degree of A. B. in 1887.

In September of that year he became a mem- ber of the faculty of the Marionville Colle- giate Institute at Marionville, Missouri, and at the close of the year was elected principal of the institute. This position he resigned the same year to accept the principalship of the Second ward school of his native city, and re- mained in that position three years, being prin- cipal of the night schools one year in addition to his regular work. He was then elected teacher of one of the departments in the Steu- benville high school, but soon resigned in order to identify himself with the Painesville schools.

He had been elected principal of the Paines- ville high school and continued in that po- sition eleven years. In this time the high school enrollment was doubled, and the school itself advanced in every department, while his reputation as an executive and administrator became thoroughly established. In 1902 he was advanced to the superintendency of the Painesville public schools, which position he now holds.

In 1893 he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah N. Harvey, daughter of Dr. Thomas W. Harvey, of Painesville.

For a number of years Professor Kendall has been a member of the Lake county board of school examiners and of the Painesville city board of examiners, and is an active member of the National Education Association and of the Ohio State Teachers' Association. For the past eight years he has been president of the Painesville City Library Association. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Painesville.

CHARLES HENRY BUTTENBENDER, secretary of the Hinkson-Buttenbender Company, Incor- porated. contractors and builders, real estate and insurance agents, Elyria, Ohio, dates his birth in New York City, October 7, 1854. Mr. Buttenbender is a son of Henry and Caroline (Bowers) Buttenbender, the father a native of the Mines, and the mother of Alsace, Ger- many. They were married in this country, and the father was in business in New York City until 1860, when he came west and settled in Fort Wayne, Indiana ; he died in Fort Wayne at the age of sixty-six years; his wife surviv- ing him until January 6, 1910, dying in her eighty-third year. at the home of her daughter. Mrs. S. A. Wikel.

Charles H. was a small child when the fam-

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ily went to Indiana, and he was reared in Fort Wayne. Leaving school at the age of twelve years, he went to work for a grocer, at $2 per week, and from this small beginning worked his way up. He soon got a better job in an up- town store. But the grocery business was not to his liking, and at the age of sixteen he left it and went to work for J. B. Harper, a silk- hat manufacturer who had gone from Phila- delphia to Fort Wayne. This trade the young man soon mastered, and for a time worked as a journeyman hatter. Silk hats, however, went out of style to the extent that the business was no longer profitable for Mr. Buttenbender, and he turned his attention to the moulder's trade, at which he worked in Fort Wayne until about 1886. That year he engaged, in the flour and feed business, on his own account, and while thus occupied, in 1887, he was elected a mem- ber of the city council from the Eighth ward, the famous Democratic ward of the city. As showing his popularity there at this time, we record that the Eighth ward gave to Cleveland a majority of 500, while Mr. Buttenbender, on the Republican ticket, carried his ward by a majority of 150 votes. He served on the coun- cil two years. Also he was deputy county as- sessor of Allen county, having charge of the office after leaving the council. In the mean- time he sold his flour and feed store, and bought and shipped hay, doing a wholesale bus- iness in this line. In 1889 he entered the postal service, as railway postal clerk on the line be- tween Cleveland, Ohio, and Syracuse, New York, and a short time after this he moved to Elyria. He continued in the mail service until 1906, when he resigned his position in order to organize the Hinkson-Buttenbender Com- pany, of which he has since been secretary. In November, 1909, Mr. Buttenbender was elected councilman-at-large in Elyria, and on the organization of the council January 3, 1910, he was elected president pro. tem. of the council.

For many years Mr. Buttenbender has been prominent and active in lodge work. In 1879, he joined Fort Wayne Lodge No. 14, I. O. O. F., and at the time of the building of the Odd Fellows temple in that city he was one of the trustees of the lodge ; he passed all its chairs and served as representative to the Grand Lodge; was captain of Canton Fort Wayne Patriarchs Militant, for a number of years, and was elected and served as major of the Second Battalion, First Regiment. He joined the Knights of Pythias at Fort Wayne, in 1883. and after removing to Elyria he transferred

his membership to Chevallier Lodge No. 316. In this lodge he passed all the chairs, was chancellor commander twice, and served as representative to the Grand Lodge. He as- sisted in organizing Uniform Rank, Company No. 117, Knights of Pythias ; was elected cap- tain, and held the position fifteen years. In Elyria, in 1907, he joined King Solomon's Lodge No. 56, F. & A. M. He was raised a Master Mason November 21, 1907, and No- vember 6, 1908, received the thirty-second de- gree Scottish Rite. At this writing he is cap- tain general of Elyria Commandery. Also he is a member of the Mystic Shrine. For years Mr. Buttenbender has belonged to the Volun- teer Firemen's Association, of which for six years he has been president.

Both he and his wife are identified with the Congregational church of Elyria. Mrs. But- tenbender before her marriage was Miss Estella C. Grout. She is a native of Franklin county, New York, and a daughter of William Grout.

JAMES C. SMITH, vice president and man- ager of the Elyria Machine Parts Company, Elyria, Ohio, is a native of the Empire State. He was born at New Hartford, Oneida county, New York, November 16, 1861, and is de- scended from English and Scotch ancestry. His father, Edward B. Smith, was born in England, son of Jonathan Smith. 'The latter lived and died in England. Mr. Smith's mother, Helen (Cunningham) Smith, was a native of New Hartford, New York, and of Scotch descent. Her grandfather, James Cun- ningham, was born in Edinburg. Being a Rad- ical and expressing his views too freely, he was thrown into prison. Influential friends, however, secured his release and he was sent to Canada, from whence he came across the border into the United States, where he lived for many years. His wife was a native of Glasgow.

Edward B. Smith was by trade a tool maker. and during the Civil war he was in the employ of the Remington Arms Company, at Ilion. New York. From there he came west to Mead- ville Pennsylvania, where he was in the serv- ice of the Atlantic & Great Western (now the Erie) railroad, and from whence, in the fall of 1867, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio. After living in the last named city for about twelve years, he came to Elyria, but he remained here only a year and a half, at the end of that time returning to Cleveland, where he died in 1884. His wife died in 1880.

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In the public schools of Cleveland James C. Smith received his education. He left his studies when he had reached the second year in high school and became an apprentice to the machinist's trade. His first work was for the White Sewing Machine Company in Cleveland. He accompanied his parents to Elyria, and dur- ing their residence here he was in the employ of Topliff & Ely. When they returned to Cleveland, he worked for I. N. Topliff. After- ward he was with the Cleveland Telegraph Supply Company, (now the Brush Electric Light Company), and still later with the Chapin Nut Bolt Company. Then he came back to Elyria. Here he worked for Mead & Wallace, carriage hardware manufacturers, and subsequently for James Hollis, who had a machine shop on the site now occupied by the Elyria Machine Parts Company. Next we find him at Lorain, in the employ of the brass works, where for three and a half years he had charge of the iron valve department. Again returning to Elyria, he went to work for H. K. Day, who had bought out Mr. Hollis, and a year or so later he again entered the employ of the Topliff & Ely Company, which was then making the Garford saddles. December I. 1892, he took charge of the manufacture of the Garford saddles for the Garford Company, and was thus occupied until May, 1905. And in this connection, it is worthy of note here, that when Mr. Smith severed his connection with this company he was the recipient of a handsome gold watch and chain and Masonic charm. from the men in the factory, a token of their high regard for him. Mr. Smith then took the management of what at that time was known as the Rochester Valve Company, owned by Rochester people, and which a year later became the Elvria Machine Parts Com- pany, an Ohio corporation, of which Mr. Smith was made vice president.

Mr. Smith has for years been active in public affairs, especially taking a deep interest in mu- nicipal matters, and for nearly five years, up to January, 1908, was a member of the Board of Public Service, the last term being presi- dent of the board. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and in the Masonic order he has received the degrees up to and in- cluding that of Knight Templar.

Mr. Smith has a wife and three children: Brenton Arthur, Helen Elizabeth, and Theo- dore Howells. Mrs. Smith was before her marriage Miss Elizabeth Howells. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland, daughter of

Thomas and Elizabeth Howells, natives of Wales, who came to the United States in their childhood.

MYRON VALPAU LONGSWORTH .- One of the large landholders of Leroy township, and one of its most progressive and practical agri- culturists, Myron V. Longsworth displays ex- cellent judgment in his operations, everything about the premises indicating the care and su- pervision of a good manager, and a thorough- going farmer. He was born June 6, 1849, in Oberlin, Ohio, a son of the late Dr. William N. and Rebecca Ann (Doolin) Longsworth.

William N. Longsworth was born in Mary- land, February 13, 1818, and about 1848 lo- cated as a physician in Lorain, Ohio, then a small hamlet with a dozen or so houses. In 1854 Dr. Longsworth moved to Van Wert. Ohio, where he built up an extensive prac- tice, which he continued until 1875. Opening then a drug store, he managed it successfully until his retirement from active pursuits. He died May 12, 1903, in Convoy, Van Wert county, Ohio.

After completing his early education, Myron V. Longsworth learned the harness maker's trade, serving an apprenticeship beginning with F. B. Shoope and finishing with a Mr. Stran- dler. Subsequently forming a partnership with J. D. Lloyd, he located at Delphos, Allen county, where for ten years he was busily en- gaged in the manufacture of a patent harness back pad, the pad, which proved very popular, being sold throughout the east and the middle west. This was patented by Mr. Longsworth and known as the Sensible Harness Pad. On December 8, 1906, Mr. Longsworth, who had become sole owner of the manufacturing busi- ness, exchanged it for the old Garrett farm, in Leroy township, where he has since lived. His farm contains 216 acres of choice land, and is well improved, having two sets of sub- stantial buildings.

Mr. Longsworth married. in 1870, Mary Ellen Mauk, who was born in Perry county, Ohio. a daughter of Michael Mauk, and to them six children have been born, namely : William Alden, with the Standard Oil Com- pany, in Marion, Indiana; Harry M., living in Delphos, Ohio ; Emery died in infancy ; Otis, living on the home farm: Mabel died at the age of nineteen years ; and Effie, a vocal and instrumental music teacher, lives at home. Po- litically Mr. Longsworth is a Republican, and

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Mary & Fangswas the

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fraternally he belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He is fond of out-door life, and takes especial pleasure in fishing.

OREN FRANKLIN CARTER .- No citizen of Lorain county is held in higher popular esteem or has served with more efficiency in offices of public trust than Oren F. Carter, the well- known citizen and representative business man of the thriving little college city of Oberlin, which owes to him much of its civic and ma- terial progress and prosperity.

Mr. Carter was born at Napoli, Cattaraugus county, New York, on June 3, 1838, and is a son of Thomas and Abbi ( Hotchkiss) Carter, the former of whom was born in Connecticut, in October, 1798, and the latter of whom was born in the state of New York, March II, 1804. Berry Carter, the paternal grandfather of Oren F., was born in Connecticut July 28, 1773, and died on September 2, 1854. He mar- ried Lydia Hackley, who was born November 25, 1776, and whose death occurred on May 10, 1817. Thomas Carter was a tanner and currier by trade and in 1854 he came with his family to Lorain county, Ohio, settling on a farm in Russia township, where he continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits dur- ing. the residue of his active career. His life was prolonged to a patriarchal age, as he was nearly ninety-seven years old at the time of his death, which occurred at Riceville, Pennsyl- vania, in June, 1895. His wife, Abbi ( Hotch- kiss) Carter, died at Oberlin, Ohio, on Decem- ber 31, 1864. Of their six children two are now living, the other being William L. Carter, of Los Angeles, California.

Oren F. Carter received his early educa- tional training in the common schools of New York and Ohio, and after the removal of the family to Lorain county he attended Oberlin College for three terms. He continued to be associated in the work and management of the home farm until the death of his mother, and he then, in 1865, purchased the farm from his father. He continued to devote his attention to this homestead until 1867, when he sold the property and removed to Randolph, New York, where he was for a short. interval engaged in the hardware business. He then returned to Lorain county, Ohio, and located in Oberlin, where he opened a hardware and agricultural- implement store. Here he continued to be successfully identified with this line of busi- ness enterprise for the long period of thirty years, the while maintaining an inviolable hold upon the confidence and esteem of the people

of this section. For one year also he operated a coal mine in Coshocton county, this state.

In 1897 Mr. Carter was elected county treasurer of Lorain county, in which position he served two consecutive terms, the first two years of which he resided in Elyria, the ju- 'dicial center of the county. Upon his return to Oberlin he became a member of the village council, of which he was chosen president pro tempore, and upon the death of Mayor Fauver he succeeded the latter as chief executive of the municipal government. At the ensuing election, in November, 1905, he was formally chosen mayor of the city by popular vote, serv- ing. two years. He cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, and has voted for every presidential candidate of the Republican party since that time, taking a lively interest in the cause of the party and in all matters of public concern, both local and general. In 1908 he was chosen chairman of the Repub- lican executive committee of Lorain county. of which office he continues incumbent at the present time. In November, 1909, he was again elected mayor of Oberlin. He has served as village and township treasurer, was a mem- ber of the Oberlin board of education for six years, and for a number of years was a valued member of the city council. Upon the death of Judge Steele he succeeded the latter as a member of the board of trustees of the Lorain county children's home, a position of which he is still incumbent, and he is also a member of the Lorain county commission for the care of the blind. He is a member of the board of park commissioners of Oberlin and his activi- ties and valuable co-operation touch all that conserves the material and social well being of the community. He was a member of the directorate of the old Citizens' National Bank of Oberlin until the organization of the State Savings Bank, when he became one of the lead- ing stockholders of the latter, of which he is now a director and a member of the finance committee. His religious faith is that of the Congregational church, of which both he and his wife are members, and they are held in affectionate regard in the attractive little city that has so long been their home and the center of their interests.

On February 29, 1860, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Carter to. Miss Emily M. Brown, who was born at Port Sterling, Minne- sota, a daughter of Rev. William and Mary J. (Little) Brown, who were at the time acting as missionaries among the Indians in that state. Mr. and Mrs. Carter have one daugh-

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ter, Carrie Jane, who is now the wife of Elmer M. Rice, of Elyria, Ohio, cashier of the Elyria Savings and Banking Company, and they have one son, Robert H., who graduated from Ober- lin College in 1907, and is now attending Co- lumbia law school, New York.

GORDON S. MEEK .- One of the able repre- sentatives of the profession of civil engineering in the Western Reserve is Mr. Meek, who holds the responsible and important position of superintendent of the Pennsylvania & Lake Erie Dock Company, in which connection he has the supervision of the company's fine docks and other accessories at Fairport Harbor, Lake county, and who maintains his residence in the city of Painesville, which is three miles distant, on the line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, as well as on an effective electric interurban line.

The original docks at Fairport Harbor were erected by what was known as the Pittsburg, Painesville & Fairport Railroad Company, which maintained a narrow-gauge line and had its terminal at the mouth of the Grand river. The dock property later came into the ·possession of a corporation known as the Con- sumers' Forwarding & Storage Company, and still later a competing company constructed about an equal amount of dock, about one mile farther up the river, making a total of approximately one mile of docks of the ordi- nary type of construction. In 1895 the various interests were consolidated, under the corpo- rate title of the Pennsylvania & Lake Erie Dock Company. On the river the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company also has a dock for the handling of coal, and this property is owned and operated by the Pittsburg Coal Company.

The Pennsylvania & Lake Erie Dock Com- pany instituted the building of one-half mile of dock of the best modern type of construction. Work was begun in February, 1906, and the dock, of concrete construction, is unexcelled by any on the Great Lake system. This new dock has six automatic, electrically operated ore unloaders, with a capacity of handling 3.000,000 tons of iron ore from lake vessels in one season. These are mounted on tracks of steel, laid in the concrete of the dock, and power is supplied from an electric plant cap- able of generating two thousand kilowatts and thoroughly modern in every detail. The com- pany has here invested half a million dollars since 1906. The entrance to the harbor is pro- tected by two concrete piers built by the gov-

ernment, and a fine breakwater has been con- structed by the government to protect the har- bor from drifting sand.

The Pennsylvania & Lake Erie Dock Com- pany give employment to a force of 350 men during the navigation season. In 1908 nearly one and a half million tons of ore were un- loaded at its Fairport Harbor docks, and, based upon this record, the harbor now stands about fourth in the volume of ore handled at all ports on the Great Lakes. In loading the ore on the railway cars from dock storage piles the same devices are utilized as for unloading, as well as two steam shovels, and six revolving der- ricks with automatic grab-buckets. The gen- eral supervision of all mechanical appliances and all practical operations is given to Mr. Meek, who has proved himself fully equal to all emergencies, whether technical or in refer- ence to volume of business handled. He came here as engineer of construction, to install the new plant, including both power and dock mechanisms, and in the spring of 1907 he was made superintendent, in which permanent office he succeeded William Truby, who had the po- sition for twelve consecutive years and who resigned soon after the installation of the new equipment. The work during the navigation season demands an office force of six assistants to the chief clerk, and in the outside corps are demanded a master mechanic, an electrician, and a machine foreman, and in the operating organization a general foreman and from two to ten assistant foremen are employed.

Gordon S. Meek was born at Walton, Dela- ware county, New York, on September 9, 1873, and is a son of Stafford W. and Adelaide E. Meek, who are now residents of Rootstown, Ohio. When he was five years of age his par- ents removed to Bellevue, Huron county, Ohio, and he has since been a resident of the West- ern Reserve. After duly availing. himself of the advantages of the public schools, includ- ing the high school at Ravenna, Portage coun- ty, in which he was graduated in 1892, Mr. Meek entered the Case School of Applied sciences, in the city of Cleveland, in which celebrated technical institution he completed the prescribed course in the department of civil engineering, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1896, with the de- gree of civil engineer. His success in his chosen profession offers the most effective attest to his ability, and he has been connected with work of important character from the inception of his professional career. In 1898 he became a civil engineer for the dock com-

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pany at Conneaut, Ohio, where he had charge of the construction and development work of the harbor, which is controlled by the Carnegie interests. This position he resigned to take up his work with the Pennsylvania & Lake Erie Dock Company, as already noted. He is an enthusiast in his profession, and is a pro- gressive and alert young business man as well as a loyal and public-spirited citizen. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, in which he has passed all of the official chairs of the blue lodge, and he represented his lodge in Conneaut in the Ohio grand lodge in 1906.

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History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 46

Author: Upton, Harriet Taylor; Cutler, Harry Gardner, 1856- Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago ; New York : The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 886

Author: Upton, Harriet Taylor; Cutler, Harry Gardner, 1856-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago ; New York : The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 886