USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Memorial record of the county of Cuyahoga and city of Cleveland, Ohio, Pt.1 > Part 27
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His administrative abilities are of a high order. This he has shown in his work in the positions of pastor and Presiding Elder, as a member of the Board of Trustees of the North- western College during the trying times of the history of that institution, as a member of im- portant epunnittees of General Conference, and as one of the agents of the Publishing House with which he has been connected since 1887.
The last few years of the life of Rev. Martin Laner, senior publisher, the greater part of the work of overseeing and managing the affairs of the Publishing House devolved upon Mr. Mat- till, on account of the frequent illness of his colleague. He showed himself equal to the occasion, managing affairs with tact and energy.
One of the results of the connection of Mr. Mattill with the Evangelical Publishing Ilonse is the introduction of new and improved machinery, enabling the house to do better work as well as to secure enlarged profits upon the work done. His knowledge of machinery and his skill at invention are especially scen in the very practical and highly satisfactory gath- ering machine now in use in the book bindery, of which he is the inventor.
P M. SPENCER, vice president of the Cleveland National Bank, and one of the best known financiers of the Forest City, is a worthy representative of that cele- brated Spencer Family numbered among the Pilgrim Fathers aboard the Mayflower, and whose landing at Plymonth Rock was the initial stroke in the establishment of American settlements and civilization. A history of the
offspring of this family would present an array of progressive business men representing vari- ous callings and challenging all America to prodnee its superior.
The genealogy of this family will begin with Phineas Spencer, a son of the " Empire State," born near Albany in 1773. His civil life was spent in agricultural pursuits. He emigrated to Washington county, New York, about the year 1800, and when England made war on ns For the second time he was commissioned a Captain in the army and served through the struggle. Phineas Spencer married Elsie Farns- worth, a descendant of the Holland Dutch, and they had four sons and eight danghters.
Lyman M. Spencer, the oldest son, and father of P. M., was born in Washington county, in 1505, was commissioned a Captain of volun- teers for service rendered in the Mexican war, emigrated to Ohio in 1868, locating in Portage county, and died at Ravenna, in March, 1873. Ile married Phebe, a danghter of James and Phebe (Jenkins) Kingsley. Her grandmother was a Luther, a direct descendant of the great religious reformer, Martin Luther. Mrs. Spen- eer's death occurred at Ravenna on August 12, 1886. Lyman M. Spencer and wife had the following children: The late A. K. Spencer, Mrs. J. C. Prentice of Ravenna, C. F. Spencer and Mrs. C. E. Poe of this city.
P. M. Spencer was born on a farm in Fort Ann, Washington county, New York, March 1, 1844. He secured a fair intellectual training from the district schools, and from an academy, excelling as a student. The breaking ont of the Civil war gave him an opportunity to be- come not only a student of events, but also an actual participant in them. August 11, 1862, he enlisted, at Fort An, in Company D, One Hundred and Twenty-third New York Infan- try, as a private. fle was sworn in on Septem- ber 4th, and was ordered to Washington, Dis- triet of Columbia, where another order soon placed him with his regiment in front of the Confederates at Sonth Mountain and Antietam, which was followed by the bloody battles of
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Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettys- burg. Mr. Spencer contracted a fever while in the service and after a long siege in the hos- pital was taken home on leave of absence. Not becoming able to rejoin his regiment and endure the hardships incident to heavy campaigning, he was mustered out of service in November, 1863, by a special order of E. M. Stanton, then Secretary of War.
Mr. Spencer came to Cleveland as soon as his health was restored and entered the First Na- tional Bank as office boy. He rose rapidly by promotion through the various minor positions, becoming assistant cashier of the institution, which position he filled most acceptably for ten years. At this time Mr. Spencer con- ceived the idea of organizing a new bank, and he was instrumental in bringing into existence the Cleveland National Bank, which was char- tered on May 20, 1883, and opened its doors for business on the 28th of that month. Ile was made a member of the board of directors of the new institution, and was by the board ap- pointed to the responsible position of cashier and active manager, resigning his position with the First National to accept the same. In May, 1892, le resigned the position as cashier and was elected vice president of the bank; and the success of this bank is due in a large measure to his marked financial ability, keon foresight and nnerring judgment. llis dealings with the bank's customers have always been unchal- lenged for fairness and squareness, and have created for the institution an enviable repnta- tion as a solid and safe banking honse. llis rapid advancement from the position of cashier to that of vice president was a just recognition by the directory of his superior fitness for the guidance of this progressive and popular con- cern. Among the financiers of Cleveland he long ago secured recognition as a man of fine ability, possessing those progressive ideas and that enterprising spirit that were doing mueh for the banking interests of Cleveland.
For five terms Mr. Spencer was a member of the City Council of Cleveland, having been
elected in 1877 and again in 1882, serving on most important committees and rendering val- nable service to the city. In polities he is a Republican, and was Chairman of the Republi- ean Congressional Committee and also of the City Central Committee, for a number of years.
Jannary 30, 1873, he married llarriet E., a daughter of James Pannell, who came to Cleve- land from Herkimer county, New York, in 1831. In early life Mr. Pannell was a con- tractor and builder, but in later life a banker, and at his death vice president of the Cleveland National Bank of Cleveland. His wife was Miss Amelia Newell of Pittsfield, Massachu- setts. Mr. Pannell died in December, 1888, and his wife in August, 1890. Mr. and Mrs. Spencer are the parents of one child, Clara Lonis, aged seventeen.
Mr. Spencer is an affable, agreeable gentle- man, contributing to all worthy objects and en- terprises, true to his friends, and a pillar of strength in sustaining the eredit and reputa- tion of his city. Fraternally, Mr. Spencer is a thirty-second-degree Mason, and a member of the Amny and Navy Post, G. A. R. Ile is also a trustee of the Homeopathic Medical Col- lege.
OSEPII F. HOBSON, M. D., who ocen- pies a position of unmistakable prominence among the disciples of Esenlapius in the city of Cleveland, has his headquarters at No. 129 Prospect street. He was born in Belmont county, Ohio, Angust 30, 1861, a son of Stephen and Margaret (Bailey) Hobson, both of whom were natives of the Buckeye State. The father was a well known merchant in Finshing, Belmont county, for more than three decades, and was honored and esteemed by all as a most able business man and excellent citizen. He was favorably known throughout Belmont and contiguous counties and was prominently con- cerned in all measures that looked to the con- servation of the best interests of the community
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Edin B. Hle
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and the furtherance of its legitimate progress. Ilis life was one of activity and usefulness, while his nature was one swayed by noble im- pulses. He was a member of the Society of Friends, a man of quick sympathies, broad in- telligence and notable intellectuality. II completed his education at Mount Pleasant Academy, in Jefferson county, Ohio. Ile died in 1887, at the age of fifty-seven years; his wife, who survives him, is also a zealous and devoted member of the Society of Friends.
The subject of this review is the third in a family of six children, of whom four are living, all residing in their native town save him to whom attention is here directed. Dr. Hobson received his literary training at the Friends' school, at Barnesville, Ohio, and then, having determined to make the practice of medicine his life work, he commeneed a course of road- ing under the preceptorship of Dr. J. Hobson, a talented practitioner at Finshing. He finished his medical studies in the medical department of the Western Reserve University, at Cleve- land, graduating in 1886. IIe served for a term and a half as house physician in Lakeside Hospital, proving a very efficient officer and incidentally gaining most valuable experience. Ile then opened an office on Eric street, in Cleveland, and there remained from 1887 until 1891, when he removed to his present and more convenient quarters. IIc carries on a general practice of medicine and surgery and has a representative patronage. He is Professor of Casualty and Minor Surgery in the medical de- partment of the Wooster University, Cleveland, Ohio, is surgeon to the outdoor department of the same institution, is surgeon for the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company, and chief surgeon of the Valley Division of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company. In addition to these hon- orable preferments, all of which stand in evi- dence of his professional ability, the Doctor is also visiting physician and surgeon of the Cleveland City Hospital. He is medical ex- aminer for those well known insurance com- panies, the National Union of Ohio and the
State Mutual of Massachusetts. Ho is a mem- ber of the city, county and State medical so- cieties, of the American Medical Association and of the National Association of Railroad Surgeons.
November 9, 1892, Dr. Hobson was united in marriage to Miss Ann Schlather, danghter of Leonard Sehlather, one of the old and honored citizens of Cleveland. In his political procliv- ities the Doctor strongly advocates the princi- ples advanced by the Republican party, and he has maintained an active interest in the enuse.
He is a man of comprehensive general in- formation, a close student in the line of his profession and has won an enviable reputation as a careful, conscientions and painstaking physician. He is over in pace with the advances made in the science of medicine and may con- grnonsly be designated as a fin du siècle type in the line of his profession, one in whom con- fidence may implicitly be reposed.
E DWIN B. HALE .- The late Edwin B. HIale, who for nearly forty years was closely identified with the banking in- terests of Cleveland, was one of the city's ablest financiers and most prominent and deservedly honored citizens.
Mr. Hale sprang from an old and honored English family, his ancestors having held num- erons positions of trust and responsibilty in En- gland as far back as the thirteenth century. One of the best known members of the family was Sir Matthew Hale, who was known in his- tory as the " just and upright judge," and the official records of Great Britain show that the Hlales came in for a large share of both military and civic honors. Members of the family were among the early settlers of New England, Samuel Hale (Hales) settling in Hartford, Con- nectient, in 1635; and they there displayed the same energy that distinguished the family in the mother country. They were prominent in the skirmishes with tho savages in the French
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and Indian wars, and especially so in the war of the Revolution, Connectient furnishing to the American army no less than sixteen brave soldiers by the name of IIale, all heads of fam- ilies and all from the same section.
The father of Mr. Hale was Philo Hale, who was a man of remarkable energy and enter- prise, and was the first to engage in and estab- lish the business of ship-building on the Con- nectieut river, which he carried on successfully until the outbreak of the war with England in 1812. This war ruined his business and in- volved him in serious loss. He afterward trav- eled extensively abroad, but later returned to his native country and became a prominent pioneer citizen of central Illinois, where he re- paired his broken fortunes, and where he died in 1848.
Edwin B. Hale was born on the 8th day of February, 1819, in the city of Brooklyn, New York, but his parents, during his infancy, re- moved to Glastonbury, Connecticut, where he was reared and given the advantage of the best schools. IIe had a leaning toward classical studies, and it was intended that he should enter Yale College. The death of his mother, two brothers and a sister, however, broke up the home and prevented the carrying ont of this plan. He came to Ohio, and in 1837 entered Kenyon College, at Gambier, where he gave his entire attention to his studies and graduated with the honors of his elass in 1841, having won the personal friendship of every member of the faculty and the kind regard of his fellow students. He then determined to follow the life of a scholar, to which his literary tastes strongly inelined him; and there can be no donbt but that in that field honor awaited him had he entered it. But at the request of his father he entered the legal profession, associat- ing himself with the firm of Goddard & Con- verse, of Zanesville, and in 1843 was admitted to the bar. Several years following his ad- mission to the bar he resided in Illinois, where his business required his presence, and up to the time of his death his landed interests in
that State demanded a share of his attention.
In 1852 Mr. Hale became a citizen of Cleve- land, and began his career by engaging in the private banking business, associating with him- self Stephen Sturges, and doing business under the firm name of Sturges & Hale. Shortly afterward he bought out the interests of Mr. Sturges, and for a time continued the business alone. A few years later Mr. W. II. Barriss, who had entered the office in 1859, was taken in as a partner, and the firm name was changed to that of E. B. Hale & Company, Messrs. Hale and Barriss constituting the same until 1879, when Mr. Ilale's eldest son, Willis B., after hav- ing been with the firm nine years, was admitted as an equal partner, the firm name remaining unchanged. This partnership remained im- changed until the successor of E. B. Hale & Company-the Marine Bank Company -- was organized, in the spring of 1891, Mr. E. B. Hale becoming president, Mr. Barriss cashier, and Mr. W. B. Hale assistant cashier of the new company.
The banking house of E. B. Hale & Com- pany had the reputation, and justly so, of doing the largest business of all private banking con- eerns in the State, keeping their own accounts in London, Paris and Dublin, and drawing drafts on all points in the world, as well as issuing letters of credit payable at any point of the globe. The institution has successfully passed through every panie since its establish- ment, never refusing to pay certificates of deposit or demand checks on sight. Very shortly after the reorganization of the bank Mr. Ilale died, suddenly, at his desk, on the 9th day of July, 1891, without warning and with no member of his family present except his son Willis B. Mr. Barriss succeeded to the presidency of the bank after Mr. Hale's death, and Willis B. Hale became cashier,-positions they hold at the present time. Mr. Barriss, as has been stated, entered the office of Mr. HIalo in March, 1859, and has been intimately connected with the business continuously from that time to this.
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Mr. Barriss is also interested in the large con- cern of The Martin Barriss Company, of Cleve- land, which is a corporation dealing in hard and foreign woods. He is also a director and treasurer of the Cuyahoga Building and Loan Association, and has charge of various trust funds of large estates. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and is recognized as one of the city's leading representative men. Ile is a man of fine literary taste, and owns one of the few choice libraries and collections of valuable manuscripts in the city.
Mr. Willis B. Hale was born in Decatur, Illinois, on the 17th of June, 1847. He was prepared for college at Phillips Academy, An- dover, Massachusetts, and entered Union Col- lege, Schenectady, New York, in 1866, graduat- ing in the class of 1870, and delivering the vale- dietory address of the Philomathian Society of that institution. He at once entered the house of E. B. Hale & Company, where he has remained to the present, giving most of his time and at- tention to the interest of the business. He is also interested in other important enterprises, and is a director in some of them. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce.
In 1846 Mr. E. B. Hale was married to the daughter of S. N. Hoyt, Esq., of Chardon, Ohio, and to this union three sons and five daughters were born, all of whom, with the ex- ception of the youngest daughter, with their mother, survive. The children are Willis B., Edwin, Cleveland C., Mrs. Ellen Bolton, Mrs. Florence Russell, Mrs. Alice M. Cowles, Edith and Caroline, the last mentioned deceased.
In 1879, in company with Judge Stephenson Burke, Mr. Hale made an extended trip abroad, forming personal acquaintance with the heads of various banking institutions with which his house held business relations.
Mr. Hale was a man of strong character and marked ability. lle was quiet and unassuming by nature, yet was firm in his convietions and of strong and decided tastes. In his business habits he was shrewd, cautions and conserva- tive and always conscientions. He was never
exaeting or oppressive in his demands, and never willing to take advantage or profit by the misfortunes of another. He was quiek to ap- preciate the legitimate, financial necessities of his surroundings and prompt to aet. For nearly forty years he was a leading and prominent member of Cleveland's banking fraternity, and during all that time was an important factor in financial circles. The banking house of which he was for so many years the head always en- joyed the highest credit and commanded the entire confidence of other financial institutions, both at home and abroad. He was always ready to aid in every proper way to the extent of his ability the development of the commercial and industrial interests of Cleveland, and did a great deal in his way toward making the city what she is to-day. As a citizen he was progressive, and broad and liberal in his views, and was to be found on the right side of all mnove- ments having for their object the building up of his adopted city and her institutions. While his charity was unostentations it was generous, and he ever had a warm heart and helping hand for the poor and needy, and a kind and eneour- aging word for the despondent and unfortunate. He was a liberal contributor to the charitable and benevolent institutions, and was a liberal supporter of the church, although not a mem- ber of any congregation. ITe had in his ehar- acter many elements of strength, and one could not associate with him without recognizing the sagacious intelligence, kindly charity and the inany evidences of human sympathy which marked his life among men. Ilis deep domes- tic devotion was one of his strongest character- isties. He was devotedly attached to his wife and children, and it was in the home cirele where he found his greatest pleasures. He de- lighted to be surrounded by congenial friends, and derived great pleasure in dispensing hospi- tality and discharging the duties of host. Every banker and business man who knew Mr. HIale bears willing testimony to his sterling in- tegrity of character, his eminent ability as a financier, and to the uniform courtesy and kind-
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ness which marked his relation to his business associates and was so conspienous in his social and domestic life, and all of his acquaintances stand ready to testify to his worth as a man, a citizen and a friend.
H ENRY CLARK BRAINARD, M. S., M. D., was born in Randolph, Portage county, Ohio, June 28, 1845, the only son of Joseph C. and Elizabeth (Clark) Brainard, and gradnated at Mount Union Col- lege, Ohio, in 1867, with the honors of his class. During the war of the rebellion he was a member of the National Guards, with the rank of Lieutenant, being the youngest com- missioned officer in his regiment.
In 1869 he graduated in the medical depart- ment of the University of Michigan, and in the same year was married to Emma G. Coe, only daughter of Deacon James P. Coe, of Randolph, Ohio. Ile immediately settled in Cleveland, where he has been continuously in the practice of medicine to this time, and has acquired a very large practice. In 1881 he was appointed physician to the Cleveland Protestant Orphan Asylum, one of the largest and finest asylums in the country, which position he still retains.
In polities he has been more attached to prin- ciples than party, and has never been a " party politician," but always a pronounced temperance advocate and generally a Republican.
In 1882 he was elected a member of the Cleveland Publie Library Board and took an active interest in the development of the library. He was re-elected for eight conseen- tive terms, and was honored with the presidency of the board for five continuous years. He was one of the organizers of The Arcade Savings Bank Company in 1890, and has been president of that bank since its organization. Religionsly, he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church: has been a trustee for twenty-five years and a Sunday-school superintendent for ten years.
One son, Frank C., and two daughters, Edith and Edna, complete the family circle.
Dr. Brainard all his life has been a close student and a hard worker, possessing a splen- did physical constitution and indomitable en- ergy, has been prominent in many progressive movements, and in all his relations has dis- played that integrity of character which wins and holds the confidence of all who know him.
S AMUEL FRIEDMAN, Superintendent of the Sir Moses Montefiore Kesher Home for the Aged and Infirm Israelites, located on the corner of Woodland and Wilson avenues, was born in Hungary, October 18, 1845. His father, B. Friedman, resides in the city of New York. Samuel received his com- mercial education in Buda Pesth, Hungary, and was afterward engaged in the lumber busi- ness and other occupations in his native place. Ile came to America in 1872, and for the fol- lowing seventeen years was engaged in busi- ness in New York. Then, in 1889, he secured his present position in this city, as successor to his brother, Dr. Adolph Friedman, The latter became superintendent of the institution in 1885, remaining there until his death four years later, at the age of thirty-eight years. He received his literary education in Europe and graduated as physician and surgeon in the medical department of the Western Reserve University of Cleveland, in the class of 1888. Dr. Friedman was a man of good promise; was never troubled with sickness until his last, which continned from Sunday until Thursday. His widow, nee Fannie Webber, resides in Cleveland. They had four children: Helen, Isadore, Walter and Oscar.
The Home for Aged and Infirm Israelites contains thirty-four sleeping rooms, one sick ward, one reading and smoking room, one re- ception room, a chapel, kitchen, dining room, all the necessary store houses, etc. It is built oľ brick, fire-proof, heated by steam, and con-
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tains all the modern improvements. The home is supported principally by voluntary contribu- tions. The exeentive offieers are: president, Adolph Freund, of Detroit, Michigan; vice- president, Sammel Grabfelder, of Louisville, Kentucky; treasurer, Jacob Mandlebaun; chair- man of local board, Myer Weil; secretary, M. A. Marx, of Cleveland; superintendent, S. Friedman; physician, N. Weidenthalent. This is one of the few institutions of the kind in the State, and a visit through the different depart- ments is a convincing proof that the home is in good hands, and that the superintendent and matron are the right persons in the right place. Mrs. Friedman, the matron, is a cultured lady, of pleasing presence, and is the ideal mother of more than n score who are very much her senior in age.
Mr. Friedman, the subject of this sketch, was married in 1572, to Miss Ernestine Webber, a sister of Fanny Webber and a daughter of Jacob Webber, natives of Hungary. The father still resides at his native place. Mr. Friedman is a member of the I. O. B. B., the American Legion of Honor, the First Ilunga- rian Society of New York, and has passed all the chairs in the I. O. O. F.
S AMUEL J. BAKER, County Surveyor of Cuyahoga county, Ohio, was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and was brought to Cleveland by his parents when only three years of age. After receiving an ednea- tion in the grammar and high schools of the eity, he entered the eity civil engineer's office, at the age of sixteen years, under Charles II. Strong, and served successively as ehainman, rodman and level-man in various kinds of field engineering work, and then for several years as transit-man and assistant with Charles A. Wal- ter, the assistant city engineer in charge of surveys, being engaged on all kinds of surveys for the city, including that for the Superior street viadnet, and gaining knowledge and ex-
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