USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Memorial record of the county of Cuyahoga and city of Cleveland, Ohio, Pt.1 > Part 32
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Of his private life be it recorded that Mr. Jackson was married at Medina, Ohio, Decem- ber 15, 1855, to Ann Calvert, a native of Medina county, Ohio. Her mother was twice married,-first to a Mr. Cotingham, by whom she had three children,-Margaret, Christopher and Elizabeth. By her marriage to Thomas Calvert she had four children, -- Ann, Jane, Mary and Thomas. Mr. and Mrs. Calvert came with their family to America in 1830. He died at the age of forty-eight and she lived to be sixty. Mr. Calvert was a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson have four children: Frank D., Alice, Walter C. and Nelly A. Alice is the wife of Elias Stoneman, of Chagrin Falls township, this county.
Mr. Jackson has long been an active worker in the ranks of the Republican party. He has filled various positions of prominence and trust, the duties of every one of which he has per- formed with the strietest fidelity. Ile served as Constable one year, seven years as Assessor, eighteen years as Justice of the Peace, three terms as County Commissioner, and eight years Township Clerk; was administrator for many estates, and is now member of the Board of Education, and has been identified with the same more or less for many years. For twenty- five years he has been a member of the Masonic
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fraternity, having his membership in Golden Gate Lodge, No 245, at Chagrin Falls. Person- ally he is a man of fine physique, is frank and jovial with his fellow-men, and is as popular as he is well known.
E DECKER, a leading photographer of the city of Cleveland, with his gallery at No. 143 Enelid avenne, has resided in this city since 1857. Ile engaged almost immedi- ately in this calling upon coming here, and from that day to this his time and energy have been given to this line of business. He is through- out a proficient in his business, and confines his work to photographie and portraiture produc- tions.
He was born in the State of New York, de- scending from worthy parentage. Upon investi- gation of his ancestral history we are enabled to go back as far as the year 1669, to the birth of one Jacob Decker, of Holland. The subject of this sketch is a representative of the eighth generation descending from this progenitor. At a very early day those who first represented the family in the United States came to this coun- try, and lived in New York and New Jersey, where they have figured conspicuously in the various vocations of life, and their descendants have been many, and have scattered to many portions of the conntry. The paternal great- grandfather of Mr. E. Decker was Reuben Decker, who served as a soldier in the Revolu- tion. He had a son, the grandfather of our subjeet, who was a captain of militia, and en- listed, and is known to have started to the seat of war in 1812, but for some cause unknown to the writer he was detained and we have no knowledge of his service in that war.
. The subject of this sketch is a son of David S. and Hannah (Van Aken) Decker, both of whom are deceased, having died in New York, where they lived many years. Ilis yonth was spent upon a farm, attending the district schools and gaining a fair common school education. lle was a close student at school and carly de-
veloped a fondness for books; and being of ex- ceptional native ability he was, by means of elose application to his studies, enabled to grasp a comprehensive knowledge of the subjects studied, and in subsequent life he gained, thirongh the avennes of books, papers and busi- ness experience, a wide and extended knowledge of subjects of general interest.
At the age of thirteen years he accepted a position as clerk in a mercantile establishment. Seven years was spent as a clerk, then he em- barked in business for himself. Four years was spent in merchandising.
Very early he developed artistic talent, and becoming interested in photography took up the art upon the elose of his four years' ex- perience as a merchant. Until 1859 he re- mained in the employ of others, when becoming proficient in photography he embarked in the business for himself. From the above named year he has continuously remained in this busi- ness. lle is one of the oldest in the profession in the city of Cleveland, and no other photog- rapher, perhaps, has done a greater volume of business and executed better work.
Ile is a prominent member of the A. F. & A. M. He was made a Mason in his native State on Christmas eve, 1854, the Rondout Lodge conferring upon him the degree. ' Subse- quently to his coming to Cleveland he demitted to Iris Lodge of this eity, No. 229, and also be- eame a member of Webb Chapter, No. 14, and of Cleveland Council, No. 36. He was an or- ganizer of the Masonic Chib of this city. He is a member of the National Photographie As- sociation, of which he is a director, and he was its president in 1887.
Politically, Mr. Decker has always been a stanch Republican. From the old Fourth ward he served as a member of the City Council from the year 1878 to 1882. Thus we see that in more than one way Mr. Deeker sustains promi- nent relations. In his profession as a photog- rapher he has been conspienons and also in a fraternal way, and besides he has served his people in important positions of trust.
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In February of 1857 Mr. Decker married Miss Jnlia English. Her father was Alexander English, a Scotchman of attaiment. Mr. and Mrs. Decker have one surviving child, whose name is Grace E. The family worship.at the Second Presbyterian Church of this city.
OHIN L. JOHNSON, a retired merchant of South Brooklyn, Ohio, is a man who by dint of his own energy and good man- agement rose to a position of wealth and in- finenee, and is to-day ranked with the promi- nent men of the town. A brief sketch of his life is follows:
John L. Johnson was born in Dntehess county, New York, February 20, 1825. ITis father, John Johnson, a native of Germany, came to America when he was about thirteen years old and settled in New York State, from whenco in 1836 he came to Ohio and took up his abode on a farm in Parma township, Cuyahoga county. Hle cleared and improved 100 acres of land there, and on that farm spent the rest of his life. At the time of his death he was ninety years of age. He was a member of the Free- will Baptist Church, and his political views were thoso of the Democratic party. Previous to his coming to Ohio he had married Margaret Lewis, a native of North Wales, but who was reared in Dutehess county, New York. She passed away some years ago. They were the parents of nine children, three daughters and six sons, all of whom grew up and married and reared families.
The subject of our sketeh was the third born in this family, and was eleven years old when he eame to Cuyahoga county. Being reared on the frontier, his educational advantages were, of course, limited; but his log-schoolhouse eduea- tion has been supplemented by a useful store of valuable information gained in the practical school of experience. When he was only fourteen years old he started out in lifo on his own account, his only capital being his willing hands and his determination to succeed. At
first he worked by the month on farms, re- eciving $7 per month. Then he went to Cin- cinnati and ran a huckster wagon, and later a eanal boat. Finally, coming back to Parma township, he turned his attention to work at the cooper's trade.
April 13, 1847, ho married Angenette Acker, a sister of Mrs. Charles Gates and daughter of Nathan and Sarah (Kyser) Acker, who were of German descent and early settlers of Parma township. Mrs. Johnson was born in Livings- ton, New York, May 13, 1829, and was quite small when they moved here.
In 1850 Mr. Johnson was one of the gold- seekers who crossed the plains to California, making the trip with paek-horses and walking 1,200 miles of the distance. For two years he was engaged in mining in the various eamps of the Golden State, and in 1852 returned East by way of Panama, landing at New York city and going from there to Philadelphia, where he had his gold dust converted into currency. Ile then joined his wife in South Brooklyn. In the meantime she had supported herself by her needle, working at the tailor's trade, and thus proved herself equal to the emergency, as did many other brave women during thoso days. In 1859 he went to Pike's Peak, and spent the summer there. In 1861 Mr. Johnson was en- gaged in farming. That year he turned his attention to the mercantile business in South Brooklyn, and for a period of twenty-four years successfully conducted a general merchandise store. Prosperity attended his efforts in almost everything he took hold of. To him much is dne for the part he has taken in improving South Brooklyn. Ile owns in Cuyahoga county 215 aeres, in four farms. He built and owns the Jolinson House, a credit both to him and to the town. Ile also built his own elegant resi- denee, and the one adjoining it for his son. This son, David M., is his only child.
Politically, Mr. Johnson is a Demoerat. He has served as Township Trustee, and has also filled other local offices. Fraternally, ho is a member of Glenn Lodge, No. 263, 1. O. O. F.
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In speaking of his California experience, Mr. Johnson remarks that in 1875 he made a second trip to the Pacific coast, this time behind the iron horse, the journey being accomplished in six days, while he was months in crossing the plains and monntains the first time.
F E. NOW, superintendent of telegraph and purchasing agent for the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling Railway Company, is one of those men whose genins and energy in various departments of railroad work have won them a place in the conncils of the officials of the road.
IIe was left an orphan in infancy, and while living with an uncle near Whipple, Ohio, he was in the habit of visiting the little station honse of the Cleveland & Marietta Railway at Whipple, and of picking up waste paper and carrying it home to use in his practice of pen- manship. On one occasion a piece of this paper contained the Morse telegraphic alphabet com- plete, and he set about whittling ont a wooden key with which to practice his self-imposed les- sons of learning that alphabet. IIe mastered the system without an instructor and at length surprised the agent of the station by calling him with the company key one day in a mysterious manner. He was then invited by the agent, M. L. Palmer, to remain about the station and at- tend the instrument, which he did, with greater proficiency than did Mr. Pahner himself. In the course of time Mr. Now succeeded Mr. Palmer as agent at Whipple, and on leaving that point was transferred to Canal Dover as operator and agent's clerk. A later transfer took him to Massillon, in the same capacity, and still later, in 1880, he came to Cleveland, as operator and private secretary to General Manager Oscar Townsend. Ile remained in that service till 1882, when he joined the West- ern Union Telegraph Company. In the office of his old employer matters were not in a satis-
factory condition, and after one year's absence he was invited to resume his foriner duties, which invitation he accepted.
January 1, 1886, a special notice was issued from the office of the general manager naming Mr. Now as superintendent of telegraph. This placed him in charge of all agents and telegraph operators. June 1, 1893, he received a new honor and greater responsibility by being ap- pointed purchasing agent for the company, the appointment anthorizing him to contract for all supplies excepting stationery; the authority to purchase that was also given in a later notice. In reference to this matter the Cleveland Leader said:
" In addition to Mr. Now's duties as superin- tendent of telegraph of the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling Railway, he has been appointed purchasing agent, a well merited promotion; and while he is yet a young man he is almost a veteran in service, having been continnonsly in the harness for twenty years, the last twelve of which have been spent in the office of the gen- eral manager. Under the former management Mr. Now had charge of responsible work unus- ual to superintendents of telegraph, and he held the higher position in the operation of the road than his title would lead one to expect. ITis good qualities are evidently appreciated by his company."
The Massillon American said: "Official notice has been issued, from the office of the general manager of the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling Railway Company, of the appointment of Mr. F. E. Now to the position of superintendent of telegraph, with headquarters at Cleveland. IIe will, under the direction of the proper officers of the Western Union Telegraph Company, have charge of all business of that company over his lines, and of all the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling telegraph offices, operators, sup- plies and repairs. It is only a few years since Fred handled the key at the company's office in this city and assisted the agent with his grace- Ful pen and executive ability in conducting the passenger and freight business. Ilis proficiency
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and manly qualities were noticed and appre- ciated, and this last is only another step on the ladder of assured future prominence in his chosen sphere."
Mr. Now was born in Marietta, Ohio, July 4, 1859, received a meager school training, and was only thirteen years old when he began his railroad career. Ilis ancestors were German.
Mr. Now is a member of the Masonic frater- nity, belonging to Iris Ledge, Webb Chapter and Holy Roed Commandery, and also to Al-Koran Temple. Ile is nomarried.
E DWARD D. HAYES, Secretary of the Department of Charities and Correction ' of the city of Cleveland, was born in this city, October 11, 1854.
Ilis father, Timothy Hayes, was born in county Limerick, Ireland, in 1831, came to America and established himself at Troy, New York, where he was employed for a time in the Troy arsenal. In 1849 a notion to move West took possession of him and he came to Cleve- land and was engaged in the grocery business for a time, and following this he was in the employ of the Western Union Telegraph Com- pany until the outbreak of the war, when he responded for service and was assigned to dnty in the repair and construction line in the tele- graph department. He was Captain of a com- pany of men for this service and remained in it till the close of hostilities. ITis was a most dangerous work, having to invade the enemy's country as a Federal soldier withont protection, frequently, from the Federal army. He was twice captured, once by General Morgan.
For many years since the war Mr. Hayes has been an officer of some Cuyahoga County Court as a Deputy, and was Superintendent of Censtruetion for the Western Union Telegraph Company, building lines between Cleveland and Toledo.
He married, in this city, Mary Ann O'Nei!, whe was born in Herkimer county, New York,
and now living at fifty-nine years, being four years her husband's junior. Their children are fourteen in number, Edward D. being the sec- ond, and nine are living.
Edward D. Hayes secured a grammar-grade education at the city schools, and at seventeen became an employe of Talbot Winslow & Com- pany. On leaving this company he began learn- ing graining and hard wood finishing, complet- ing the trade and following it ten years. E. M. McGillin & Company sought his services next, with whom he remained ten years as shipping clerk and salesman. He accepted a position with Gallagher, Kennedy & Company in 1891, and remained till his acceptance of the secre- . taryship above mentioned.
Mr. Hayes is a member of Washington Com- mandery of the Knights of St. Jolin, and for the past eleven years its Secretary; he is also Secre- tary of the Cathedral Branch of the C. M. B. A .; and is president of the Knights of St. Jolm Life Insurance Association. He has frequently represented his lodge at national and other con- ventions of the order.
Mr. Hayes was married, November 22, 1882, in Cleveland, to Miss Anna, a daughter of Will- iam Gorman, of Hudson, Ohio. The result of this union is William, an only child.
R A. BUTLER, Superintendent of the Cleveland Work-honse and House of Refuge and Correction, was born in Lansingburg, New York, January 21, 1855. After attending public school there, at the age of fifteen years he moved with his par- ents te Columbus, Ohio, where he learned the trade of his father and grandfather, making brushes, and also teok charge of brush contract at the Ohio penitentiary. Subsequently he connected himself with the Cincinnati House of Refnge, where he introduced to the prisoners the art of brush making; and in 1877 he camo to Cleveland as foreman of the Work-house brush factory until 1891. In May, that year,
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he went to Jeffersonville, Indiana, where he was Superintendent of the State prison; and in the snmmer of 1893 he returned to Cleveland, where he now holds tho position named at the begin- ning of this sketch.
W AREIIAM J. WARNER, deceased, a gentleman who was for many years most prominently identified with Cleveland's growth and development, and who was widely known and universally re- spected, was born in Burlington, Vermont, Jannary 25, 1808. He was a son of Justus Warner, born in Hardwick, Massachusetts, in 1774, who was a cabinet-maker by trade, emi- grated to Burlington, Vermont, but died in his native place, in 1866. Justns Warner was a son of Wareham Warner, of Hardwick, Massa- chusetts, after whom our honored subject was named. Justns Warner was twice married, for his first wife wedding Lovey Lane, and they had two children: Franklin, deceased; and Emily, now Mrs. Curtiss, of Hazelgreen, Wisconsin, the only surviving child. For his second wife he married Polly Sperry, and they have had four children, viz .: the late Mrs. Jane Giflin, of this city; the late Mary A. Warner, of Paines- ville, who left a donation of $5,000 toward a fine-art gallery in Cleveland; the late Jolin F. Warner, of the old firm of Warner & Handy, one of the first commission houses in the city and the man who sent the first vessel, the John F. Warner, from Cleveland to England, and the man who bronght the first canal-boat load of coal into the city, on which occasion it is stated he wheeled a barrow load np Superior street in celebration of the event; and the fourth and last child was Wareham J. Warner, our worthy subject.
The last named obtained sufficient knowledge of books to enable him to engage in the business of teaching, which he did on one or two occa- sions as a livelihood during the long New Eng- land winter months. He was apprenticed to
learn the mason's trade and served his three years, becoming an efficient and reliable work- man. Becoming possessed of a desire to see the West, he started hither and in 1830 got as far as Black Rock near Buffalo, New York, where he was appointed superintendent of a glass works; and while there he met Elislia Sterling, who prevailed on him to come to Cleveland and erect a building for him. He consented, and in 1831 came hither, and as a result the Cleveland and Sterling Block, where the National Bank Building now stands, came into existence. In 1832 he married Miss Jane A. Morse, born January 18, 1812, a danghter of Benoni Morse, of Burlington. They returned to Cleveland, Mr. Warner became a permanent resident here, and his career as a builder began in earnest. From then until 1866, when he retired, Mr. Warner pursued his vocation nninterruptedly and with marked success. Much of his work still stands, and at this late date many of his buildings are among the important ones of the city. The custom house, erected in 1856; the First Presbyterian Church, in 1853; the Case Block, in 1866; the Payne Block, in 1854; the Oviatt Block, in 1835; the American Honse, in 1836; the Kennard Honse, the Old Stone Church, the Lyman and Perkins Block, and the resi- dences of Younglove, Shelly, Hickox, Perkins and Payne, on Euclid avenue, all attest to his skill as a mechanic and a master builder.
He could submit estimates with accuracy on excavations, woodwork, finishing, painting, glaz- ing, etc., as well as on mason work, and could execute the plans for all these departments without tho assistance of a boss workman, if necessary. During the twenty-five years of his operations he was a member of the firm of Warner & Eldridge, Warner & Witheral and Warner & HInrd, the last firm being the most prominent, and will be the best remembered of them all.
Mr. Warner came to Cleveland with very little means. His contracts yielded him good profits and his capital grew into large figures rapidly, so that at his death his estate was esti-
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mated at $150,000. He found time to devote to matters not connected with his private inter- ests. Ile was for many years a member of the Discount Board for the Society for Savings. LIe was an officer in the volunteer fire depart- ment of Cleveland when water in buckets was passed down a line of men to the burning build- ing and empty buckets came back by the same means. Ile was one of the first members of the Cleveland Grays, now a prominent military or- ganization. Politically lie was an ardent Whig and later a radical Republican. He was elected once Street Commissioner of the city, was two terms Infirmary Director, by popular vote, and in 1841 was elected to the Common Council from the Second ward, when Thomas Bolton was president of the council.
By nature Mr. Warner was a sympathetic and' and charitable man. He was generous with his means toward all worthy objects. During the severe winter of 1858, when the financial condi- tion of the country forced the laboring man to apply for public aid, he was active in organizing a relief society and in establishing a " Poor Store," where supplies were dealt out after the manner of 1893-'94. He was one of the founders of St. Paul's Episcopal church, erected in 1845, at the corner of Seneca and St. Clair streets, and was for many years a church Warden.
It was Mr. Warner's good fortune during his eventful life to meet and shake hands with many prominont men, among whom was General Lafay- ette, whom he assisted in laying the corner stone of the Vermont University at Burlington, during his visit to this country in 1824-'25, which ceremony Mr. Warner again participated in nearly fifty years afterward; and he was also personally acquainted with Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Charles Sumner, Abraham Lin- coln, General Grant and especially his own fel- low townsman, the lamented President Garfield.
Mr. Warner was a powerful, robust, blunt, outspoken man. Ile had opinions on matters of public moment and expressed them without fear or favor when occasion demanded. Ilis integrity was of such undoubted character as to
justify financiers in advancing him large sums with which to complete contracts without the formality of security or personal indorsement. Ilis nature was exceedingly domestic. His greatest personal loss was occasioned by the death of his wife, August 6, 1882, who had been an invalid for seven years. She was a devont Christian, and had been an active church worker; was the mother of ten children, only three of whom survive, namely: Mrs. Lydia Elvira Rees, who was born in 1834, and Febru- ary 7, 1855, married J. II. Rees, and became the mother of three children; Ella, the wife of Charles P. Scoville, son of Oliver and Adaline (Clark) Scoville: their two children are Olive and Kate; William F. Rees, born March 22, 1858, was educated in Cleveland's public schools and in Brooks' military, and afterward read law with M. B. Keith, but never applied for admis- sion. In 1880 he went West to Colorado, and was engaged in the cattle business at River Bend, being associated with Captain J. E. Wet- zel, secretary of the Colorado Cattle Grower's Association. He returned to Cleveland in July, 1881, and entered the Society for Savings as a book-keeper, and is now a teller of the institution. Hle married, in 1883, in this city, Miss Abbie Champney, a daughter of Mrs. Julia Champ- ney. His two children are Julia E. and Mil- dred D. Mr. Rees has been for a number of years actively and prominently identified with the Cleveland Grays, and has served in every official capacity except as Captain. Ile was one of tho organizers of the Philharmonic Orchestra and of the Cleveland Mandolin Club. Frater- nally he affiliates with the Royal Arcanum.
Mrs. Rees' third child was James W., who died February 15, 1890, aged twenty-four years. Others sons of Mr. Warner are Theodore M. and Fred S., whose sketches are given elsewhere; and Dr. E. S. and Charles H., both deceased.
Wareham J. Warner married for his second wife, December 20, 1882, Mrs. L. Mott, who still survives. He spent most of the following year traveling in the East, visiting his old home and other interesting points, and on his return
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.
home was called on to be present and act as pall- bearer at the obsequies of an old friend and pio- neer banker, Mr. Hartness. IIe did so and con- tracted a cold, from the effects of which he died, December 1, 1883, after a brief illness. He was laid to rest in Lake View cemetery.
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