USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > History of the city of Cleveland : its settlement, rise and progress > Part 28
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tant fields of service. General McCallum was in command of the Department of Railroads, and he appointed Mr. Devereux as chief of the government railroad lines of Vir- ginia. In this immense work he showed energy, faithful- ness and far-seeing judgment that marked him as a man of no ordinary ability. His magnificent work was deeply appreciated by the government and by the commanding generals whose movements he so well provided for. Near the close of the war he resigned his task, and the resigna- tion was accepted with the deepest regret by those in com- mand as well as by the hundreds of men under his control. After severing his relations to the government he came to Cleveland and accepted the position of general superinten- dent of the Cleveland & Pittsburghrailroad. He was soon made vice-president, an office he held until 1868, when he resigned to accept the vice-presidency of the old Lake Shore road. On his leaving the Pittsburgh road Mr. Devereux carried with him the undivided affection of all the officers and men on the line, and this can be said of him in every position he occupied. From the vice-president of the Lake Shore he became president until the consolidation of all the lines between Buffalo and Chicago, when he was made gen- eral manager of the entire line with executive control thereof -a position of immense responsibility. Under his adminis- tration the lines were very successful and attained a high reputation for safety, public accommodation and prudent and economical management. General Devereux had come forward in railroad circles to be one of the very leading men in the Nation. He had numerous calls to assume charge of roads and he finally accepted the presidency of the Cleveland,
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' Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis, which he had helped to build twenty-four years before. This was in 1873, and it was part of the same arrangement that he was to assume the presidency of the Atlantic & Great Western railroad at the same time. He was also presi- dent and manager of several other minor roads running in connection with these lines. The work before him was of gigantic magnitude, but his comprehensive mind and great mental and physical powers were equal to the duties. He remained at the head of the Cleveland, Colum- bus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis road until his death and brought it into rank as one of the model lines of the coun- try. Few greater railroad men than General Devereux have lived, but while this was his life's work he was also a friend, promoter and worker in the cause of religion, sci- ence, art and education in their highest forms. For years he was a member and senior warden of St. Paul's Episco- pal church. Shortly before his death he ordered that unnecessary Sunday work of all kinds should be dispensed with on the railroad. He did all he could to promote the moral welfare of the men under his control and encouraged the railway branch of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion to that end. One of General Devereux's marked char- acteristics was his love of home and family. It was in 1851 that he married Miss Antoinette C. Kelsey, daughter of L. A. Kelsey, one of the early mayors of Cleveland, of whom mention is made elsewhere in this work. His wife and four children survive him. General Devereux was apparently in good health until shortly before his death. But in July, 1885, he was taken with some malady resem-
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bling lumbago and went to England for treatment. He received the best and most skillful medical aid of London, but only to find that some internal disease was bringing him slowly todeath. He returned to Cleveland in January, with the certain shadow of the end at hand. But he made daily visits to his office to arrange his business affairs until the latter part of February, when he became unable to leave his room. The inevitable end was ap- proaching. He died March 17, 1887.
TRUMAN P. HANDY.
T HE Commercial Bank of Lake Erie was organized and began business in the village of Cleveland in 1816. For four years it struggled for existence but failed. In 1832 it was revived, and the directors called to their aid a bright young man who was then occupying the position of teller in the Bank of Buffalo. He was offered and ac- cepted the position of cashier in the new Cleveland bank. Coming to Cleveland, then a young city in the far West, Truman P. Handy brought his young bride with him, and entered on his business career on the same spot where he will undoubtedly close it. He was almost a stranger to the men who had thus placed their confidence in him. He has seen the banking business of Cleveland broaden and progress from its infancy, and for over half a century he has been one of the very foremost men to bring about and aid in its development.
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Mr. Handy was born in Paris, Oneida county, New York, in 1807, and passed his youthful days in attending the country schools and, more particularly, in vigorous farm work. His history is part of the history of banking in Cleveland. Like the steady progress of a systematic, prosperous bank, it requires but few words to outline its career, but the benefit . which the business and social interests of Cleveland have received from it can never be fully written. The charter of the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie expired in 1842, and under the then existing laws of the State could not be re- newed. During the ten years of its existence it had made money and kept its credit. Mr. Handy's careful and energetic management of the institution had given him the confidence of the community. Being placed in charge of the affairs of the defunct bank by the stockholders, he at the same time carried on a private banking house under the firm name of T. P. Handy & Co. In 1845, three years later, the Legislature passed a law authorizing the estab- lishment of the State Bank of Ohio, and of independent branches thereof. Under this law Mr. Handy organized a banking enterprise under the name of the Commercial Branch of the State Bank of Ohio. W. A. Otis was made president and Mr. Handy cashier. He was the acting manager of the institution, and was so successful in his conduct of its affairs that the bank paid its stockholders an average of nearly twenty per cent. dividend during the period of its existence, and until the expiration of its charter in 1865.
In 1861 Mr. Handy was elected president of the Mer-
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chant's Branch of the State Bank of Ohio, and when it was transformed into a National bank he still continued at its head. In 1885 the charter of the Merchant's Na- tional Bank having expired, the Mercantile National Bank became its successor, with Mr. Handy its president; and to-day, though crowned with four-score years, he retains his place as its honored and respected chief. Few men have seen so long and so successful a career as Mr. Handy. He has accumulated a reasonable wealth, which has been a source of aid to many institutions of charity and educa- tion. In addition to his close attention to business, he has long been identified with educational work. He served several years in the Board of Education and is a trustee of Lane Theological Seminary, Adelbert College and Ober- lin College. For forty years and more he has been an elder of the Second Presbyterian church and prominently identi- fied with its Sunday-school work. In religious and benev- olent circles his influence is a power. All his life's work has been in an upward direction, doing good to others, enriching and making better the community he has seen grow up about him.
A. K. SPENCER.
N TO name is more widely known or more favorably mentioned in the banking circles of Cleveland than that of the late A. K. Spencer. Beginning here when Na- tional banking was in its infancy, he grew with it and by
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his broad and cautious management aided very largely in establishing the stability of more than one local bank- ing house. He was born in Fort Ann, Washington county, New York, December 15, 1830, and died February 21, 1881. He was of best Puritan stock, and added to his common school education the physical culture which hard work on his father's farm afforded him. He thus became well equipped for the mental application of later years. After serving as clerk in various offices, he began his banking career as teller in the old Bank of Whitehall, in 1854. His brother-in- law had previously come to Cleveland and sent back glow- ing accounts of this thrivingcity. Young Spencer decided to try his fortune here also and came on in 1856. He was equipped with good letters from his former employers, and by them was easily enabled to secure a good position as cashier with the Northern Transportation company. His desire for the banking business, however, led him to seek it again, and he secured a position with the banking house of S. W. Crittenden & Co. He remained with this insti- tution until it grew into the First National Bank of Cleve- land and the Seventh National Bank of the United States. He became cashier, a position he continued to hold until his death, though several times offered the presidency. This bank under his active management became, and still is, one of the most stable and influential in the city.
In public life Mr. Spencer also was an important figure. For eight years he was a member of the Board of Educa- tion and served two successive terms in the City Council, for three years in the capacity of chairman of the committee on finance. He was for years one of the directors of the
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Citizens' Savings and Loan Association and a trustee and treasurer of the Mahoning Valley railroad. He was iden- tified with all public enterprises that aided in the better- ment of the city, State or Nation, and his sudden death was a blow to the business interests of the city from which it did not soon recover.
LEMUEL ARTHUR RUSSELL.
L EMUEL ARTHUR RUSSELL, attorney and coun- selor-at-law, has title to recognition in these pages as one of the leading members of the bar of Cuyahoga county. He was born in Westfield township, Medina county, Ohio, September 11, 1842. His father, the Rev. William Russell, was a Congregational minister, and, as usual in those days, no wealthier than most of his profes- sion. When his son was eleven years old the family came to Cleveland, and young Russell entered Rockwell Street school, continuing his studies through the various grades until 1858, when he graduated from the Central High School as valedictorian of his class. During his school days he supported himself by carrying to subscribers the old Evening Herald. Young Russell began his law studies as soon as he left school, under the guidance of Judge R. F. Paine. He then was offered a position in the law office of Adams & Canfield, where he could earn his living and study law at the same time. He passed two years under this excellent training, and on September 10, 1863, at the
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age of twenty-one, he was admitted to the bar. When he entered the bar he had no means with which to begin practice. He therefore began teaching district school in Rockport, Cuyahoga county, but had been thus engaged only a few weeks when he was offered and accepted a clerkship in the office of the disbursing quartermaster of the Department of the Cumberland, located at Chat- tanooga. He was subsequently transferred to the mili- tary railroad bureau, and thus remained until the close of the war, becoming chief clerk to the superintendent of several railroads in the military division of the Mississippi. While never engaged in any battle or ever becoming a soldier, he acquired a fund of information not only of the details of war but of that other important department, the railroad transportation operations of war. At the close of the rebellion Mr. Russell opened a law office in Nashville, Tennessee. But he had no practice. Being a Northern man, he was shunned by the citizens of the South, and he shunned the carpet-bag element. After a profitless year, as far as practice was concerned, in this Southern capital city, Mr. Russell gave up his office and leased a coal mine in Muhlenburgh county, Kentucky - which he successfully operated for three years. The prop- erty then being sold, he returned to Cleveland and for one year superintended the oil refinery of W. G. Williams. " Here he remained until the works were swallowed up by the Standard Oil Company. Mr. Russell now turned his attention once more to his chosen profession. It was not long before his services were called upon by his former friend, Mr. J. M. Adams, to assist the latter's firm in the
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preparation of a cause of defense for a great civil case brought against Robert B. Potter, then receiver of the Atlantic & Great Western railroad. So pleased were Mr. Adams and Mr. Otis with Mr. Russell's work that they offered him employment at a salary, and one year later associated him with them as a partner. Mr. Otis has since died, but Mr. Russell has for fourteen years been a member of this firm. He rapidly came to the front in his profession. He is distinguished for the courage of his opinions and the persistency and ability he displays in their promotion. In politics Mr. Russell is an old-time Democrat and an ultra-free trader and in favor of a single tax on land values only. He is independent, however, in all his views and opinions, yielding to no party in his ex- pression of them. On November 22, 1877, he was married to Miss Estelle S. Rawson, of Fremont, Ohio. His wife was and is a Roman Catholic in her faith, as are their children, but Mr. Russell pays homage to no religion or creed but to do right because it is right. He is an orator of exceptional merits, and an attorney whose counsel is much sought and whose legal fighting abilities are in great demand because of their success in legal controversy.
JOEL SCRANTON.
W HEN Joel Scranton struck out for Ohio, then on the western edge of civilization, and in 1819 anchored before a little hamlet at the mouth of the Cuya-
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hoga river, he left behind him in his primitive Massachu- setts home but few evidences of modern progress, and on reaching Cleveland he found far less. His father, Stephen Scranton, was a man ahead of his age in enterprise, acute- ness and mechanical ability. He was the firstto introduce cut nails into New York. He was a skilled workman (for those days) in steel and iron, and with great enterprise built works among the Otsego hills to carry on a prosper- ous business. But the crudity of things in those days, the primitive way of living, together with fire after fire, closed the elder Scranton's business. Joel was born in Betchertown, Massachusetts, in 1793, and after as good an education as could be had in his locality, he found him- self, at the age of twenty, thrown upon his own resources and with no opportunity of bettering himself in the fields about his early home. So he turned his eyes to the West, to the fertile valleys of the Ohio, from which had reached his ears vague tales of prosperity and happiness. So after a long month or more of traveling by boat, by stage, on foot and on schooner, he at last found himself, as stated, at the mouth of the Cuyahoga. The little hamlet called Cleveland had at that time about one hundred and fifty souls and but few evidences to encourage an ambitious young man. On the sloping and thickly wooded banks of the river were scattered the cabins of the villagers. But the fields were green, the sheep and cattle which grazed on the banks and drank from the clear waters of the Cuya- hoga were sleek and fat, and young Scranton with no less than a prophetic vision caught a glimpse of the possibili- ties. He purchased a farm on the river bluffs and enjoyed
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the rural pursuits of his fields. It was a quiet scene then, with waving verdure on the hillsides and an occasional farm house in the midst of the woods-and grazing sheep and lowing cattle. Mr. Scranton lived to see all this give way to the greatness of the present. He planned for the future and lived to share in the rewards of his own discern- ment. He took a leading place among the people of the village. He had a rich and plentiful fund of humor, and yet was independent in thought and action. His opinions were convictions. He was cool, even calculating and shrewd, yet his heart was kindly and his deeds generous. He was a keen reader of men, and possessed great mercan- tile abilities. He judged of the future of the village and judged wisely. He knew how, when and where to buy, when to sell and when to hold. With the growing place he became a substantial man, and as the years went on became a wealthy man. On June 27, 1828, he was married to Miss Irene P. Hickox, the former preceptress of a ladies' seminary, and a lady of unusual cultivation, refinement and Christian piety. Five children were born to them, all but one of whom, together with their mother, preceded him to the tomb. Mrs. Mary S. Bradford, of Cleveland, is the only surviving child of Joel Scranton. To her his wealth descended, and through her it has cheered hundreds of hearts, alleviated suffering, lightened burdens, and aided many worthy institutions.
Joel Scranton died on the ninth day of April, 1858, at the age of sixty-five. He had become one of the venerated citizens of the then great city. Heavily built, a noble head, keen eye, a face suggestive of great reserve force, he
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was stricken down in his health by apoplexy and died in the midst of his life's prosperity.
P. M. SPENCER.
A MONG the younger bankers and business men in Cleveland none have attained greater success in life through their own efforts than the subject of this sketch. His ancestry is of sturdy and honorable English descent. Mr. Spencer was born March 1, 1844, in Fort Ann, Washington county, New York, and reared on his father's farm. He attended the district schools until seventeen years of age, at which time the breaking out of the war transformed the boy into the man, and he early enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-third New York Infantry. He followed the fortunes of his regi- ment in a number of severe engagements, principally the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. In 1863, however, protracted illness led to his honorable discharge, and he went home to recover his health. Not long afterward he secured a position as messenger in the First National Bank of this city, and it was with this institution that he early evinced talents which led to his successive progress in the various positions of the bank until he occupied the office of assist- ant cashier. This position he held many years. He saw, however, that there lay before him broader fields, and with a commendable ambition he set about quietly organizing
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a new banking house. He enlisted the aid of a number of leading business men, and the result of his effort led to the establishment of the Cleveland National Bank, an institu- tion which has in a few years taken high rank in the State. Mr. Spencer was elected cashier and one of the directors. To his credit it can be said that by his energetic but cau- tious policy is largely due the extensive business of the bank and its confidence and friendship with business men.
Mr. Spencer always took an active and patriotic interest in public affairs. For five successive terms he has repre- sented his ward in the City Council, the last three years as vice-president. His most important work has been done on committees having to do with the financial, judi- cial and legislative interests of the city, where his thorough business training and skill proved most valuable both in checking vicious or encouraging proper municipal legisla- tion. As chairman of the Committee on Finance, he per- haps gave to the community his most valuable counsel. In active work for his party, he served three years as chairman of the Republican City Committee, being, in his control of the canvass, bold, shrewd and successful. He is identified with other public institutions, among which may be mentioned his membership of the Board of Trustees of the Homoeopathic College. Mr. Spencer was married on January 30, 1873, to Miss Hattie E. Pannell, daughter of the veteran banker, James Pannell, of this city.
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RUFUS K. WINSLOW.
T HE distinguished father of the subject of this sketch was one of the very first, as he was one of the most successful, among the early vessel owners on the lakes. The merchant marine interests established by the elder Winslow have grown under his and his son's careful man- agement also to be one of the largest on the lakes. Richard Winslow was born in Falmouth, Maine, in 1769, and after making a visit of what was then the far Northwest, decided to locate in Cleveland. In 1831 he purchased property on the river and vicinity which he saw was to be a valuable business locality in the future. He brought ample capital and invested it liberally. He first engaged in the mercantile business on Union Lane, and shortly after became agent for a line of vessels between Cleveland and Buffalo. In 1833 he became personally interested in the vessel business, and with others built the brig North Caro- lina. In 1836 he was largely interested in the building of the famous passenger steamer Bunker Hill, which gained a historical record in those early days. From this date on he rapidly increased his business and added boat after boat to his line. At his death in 1854, at the ripe old age of eighty-eight, the Winslow fleet was one of the largest on the chain of lakes. Since 1848 his sons N. C., R. G., H. J .. and R. K. had been interested with him, and at his death the great interests fell upon them. They continued to give their personal attention to the business and greatly increased it in every way, paying at that time particular attention to the passenger and freight business.
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The business increased until the Winslows owned and controlled over a hundred vessels, many of them being the largest and finest on the lakes and being seen and known in every shipping port. H. J. Winslow went to New York in 1860 and died in 1863; R. G. died in 1854, and N. C. died in 1880. The control of the Cleveland business has long been in the hands of Rufus K., the brothers some years before operating their interests from other points, principally Chicago and Buffalo.
Rufus K. Winslow was born in Ocracoke, North Carc- lina, and came to Cleveland in 1831. At twenty-one he became associated in the vessel business with his brothers, N. C. and H. J. Winslow. With the increased demands of commerce, the firm enlarged their interests, and from that day to this the Winslow fleet has been one of the prominent features of lake trade. While confining their business almost entirely to the lakes, the brothers in 1859-60 dispatched some vessels to the Black Sea. The operations since, however, are mainly on fresh water. In 1851 Mr. Winslow was married to Miss Lucy B. Clarke, daughter of the late Dr. W. A. Clarke, of Cleveland. Mr. Winslow has ever been a public-spirited, conservative, pa- triotic citizen, interested in public enterprises and affairs, but declining the honor of public office. By his means he aided and encouraged the cause of the government during the rebellion. A man of refined tastes, he has pursued his classical and scientific researches, and has become one of the leading scholars in ornithology. He was also for many years an active and energetic member and president of the Kirtland Academy of Natural Sciences, and is to-day a
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liberal patron of the highest forms of art. A modest, un- assuming gentleman, his public worth is highly appreciated by the community of which he has so long been a part.
L. E. HOLDEN.
L E. HOLDEN was born in Ravmond, Cumberland . county, State of Maine, June 20, 1834, and passed his early life in Sweden, Maine. His ancestors were of the Puritan stock ; his maternal ancestor, Isaac Stearns, came to Boston, Massachusetts, in May, 1630, with Governor Winthrop. His paternal an- cestor in this country came from England to Massa- chusetts in 1634. Both of these families were of the best of English blood, old and respected. The subject of this sketch inherited much of physical and mental strength; he was born in New England at that period of our coun- try's history when the air was full of memories of the rev- olution, and high scholarship and statesmanship were the standards of honor which were presented to boys. En- dowed with a strong desire for learning, he took advan- tage of all sources of instruction. Born on a farm and bred to work, every book that hecould borrow or buy was eagerly devoured. At the age of fifteen he became a teacher in the common schools, and at eighteen taught select schools in the neighboring villages, at twenty taught district schools in Massachusetts, and at twenty-one was prepared for college, entering Waterville College in Maine.
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