USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Memorial record of the county of Cuyahoga and city of Cleveland, Ohio, pt 2 > Part 3
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March 11, 1886, Mr. Millard moved to Cha grin Falls, where he now lives. By his first mar-
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riage there were five children, namely: W. Wel- lington, Mary, Maria and Martha, who were all burned to death in the fire just mentioned; and Martha (second), born June 7, 1844, is the only one now living, and she is the wife of T. W. Scott, of Chagrin Falls, whose sketch is given elsewhere in this volume. For his second wife Mr. Millard married, April 6, 1873, Miss Rosa Robinson, a native of Orange township, Cuya- hoga county, and a daughter of Samnel Robin- son, deceased. She was born near where Presi- dent Garfield was born. By the last marriage one son has been born, by name Creighton, who is living at home with his parents.
As to politics, Mr. Millard was at first a Whig, then a Republican and finally a Prohibitionist, --- a very natural succession, -and in religion he is a member of the Disciples' Church, to which he has belonged ever since 1855. Ile has never used tobacco or drank liquors. lle is a self- made man, accumulating what he has by his own industrions habits and honest dealing. Hle one of only three or four from his native place who has been successful in life.
C ALEB OAKES, the oldest living deseend- ant of one of the oldest families of Brecks- ville township, was born December 8, 1822. ITis father, Carey Oakes, was born in Hawley, Massachusetts, and married Miss Tamar Easton. Mr. Carey Oakes' father, Calvin Oakes, exchanged land in his native State in 1815 for land in Brecksville township, and early the next year his two sons, Carey and William, left New England for the then far dis- tant West, an ox team their means of transpor- tation, and were forty days on their journey. With $11 in money and in a perfect wilderness, Mr. Carey Oakes, with his family, then consist- ing of wife and two children ( Mary and Fran- eis), began to prepare a home. In company with his brother, he began to clear up 200 aeres of the tangled forost, on lot 41, which was cov- ored with bocch, maple, black walnut, ote. With
health and perseverance they succeeded, and finally sowed fields of grain throughout the tract once so densely covered with forest tre s.
Of the two children born in the East, Mary married Doras Lyman and died at Oberlin, Ohio; and Francis, a farmer and a lite-long resident of Brecksville township, who died in 1881, aged seventy years. Those born here in Ohio were: Isaac, who lived until December, 1893, a life-long farmer; the next two in order of birth died in infancy; Caleb, our subject, is the next; Henry, now a farmer of Brecksville; Tamar, who married Townsend Horton and died in Brecksville; Martha, now Mrs. Alfred Green, of Iowa; and Carey, dr., of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
The first habitation of Carey Oakes consisted of po'es and bark, which was shortly afterward supplanted by a more substantial one, being a frame house. On this farm Mr. Oakes lived for a number of years, being a diligent worker. Ile was a man of powerful frame, six feet two inches high when standing in undressed feet, and weighed 210 pounds. During his life here he never changed his residence. He died June 2, 1871, and his wife January 1, 1881, and they now lie side by side in Center cemetery. As to his political views he had been a Whig. Ile was one of the first three voters in the town- ship that voted the Abolition ticket. Ho served as Justice of the Peace two terms. Both hin- self and wife were members of the Congrega- tional Church.
Mr. Caleb Oakes, whose name heads this memoir, was educated partly at Twinsburg, Ohio, when Professor Bissell was president of the school. On starting from home for this in- stitution of learning Mr. Oakes carried all his elothes (excepting what he was wearing) in a red bandana handkerchief, going on foot and crossing the Ohio canal on a log, no bridge being erected at that time.
May 6, 1850, he married Hannah Horton, who was born August 19, 1829, in Bellvale township, Orange county, New York, a daugh- ter of Milton Horton, who came to Milan,
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Huron county, Ohio, in 1834. It was at this place that our subject was married, by Rev. Newton Barrett, a Congregational elergyman. Shortly after his marriage Mr. Oakes exchanged a portion of his place for his present farm, with his brother Isaac, and he has lived here ever since. He has over 200 acres of excellent farm land, which is more than four times the amount he had at first. He is a thorough and systematic farmer, with good business ideas and general good common sense. He is a Repub- liean, but no politician. His wife, who was a member of the Methodist Church, died July 29, 1892, and is buried in Center cemetery. The children are: Lydia, now Mrs. Frank Finch, of Summertown, Tennessee; Emma, at home; Milton, who died at the age of six years; Herbert, who died aged twenty two years; and Benjamin F., also at home.
EORGE H. WORTHINGTON is seere- tary and treasurer of the Cleveland Stone Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, with which important enterprise he has long been associated. The study of the development of a great industry, with due attention to the per- sonal energy and ability that have conserved such progress, must ever be interesting and profitable to those who make note of the com- mercial and economic problems of the day. The subject of this sketch, who has gained distinet- ive prestige as one of the successful and capable business men of the Forest City, was born in Toronto, Canada, February 13, 1850, the son of John and Mary (Wellborn) Worthington. John Worthington was born in Staffordshire, Eng- land, September 9, 18IS, and his death occurred December 25, 1873. His widow still survives him and is a resident of Toronto. He was reared and edneated in his native place, and on attaining to years of maturity he betook him- self to Canada, where he was married and where he reared his family. He was a contractor and builder, which occupation ho followed for many
years, operating in both the United States and Canada. He erected the Union Depot at Cleve- land and was the contractor for the construction of the Ashtabula & Jamestown Railroad, now a portion of the Lake Shore & Michigan South- ern Railroad, and for the Southern & Central Railroad, now a part of the Lehigh Valley sys- tem, in the State of New York. He was among the first to import building-stone into Canada. About the year 1850 he came to the United States for the purpose of seenring stone for shipment to the province, and it was at this time that he arranged with the Brownhelm stone quarry for its entire output, which of it- self was not sufficient to supply his needs. This fact led him to purchase the quarry, and from it he at once commeneed to quarry and ship stone to Canada. Ile operated the quarry very snecessfully for several years, the entire output being consigned to Canada. Finally he began to place the produet upon the market in the States, in the meantime having associated his son, James M., with him in the business. Later on George II , the subject of this sketch, became a member of the firm, whose title was thereupon changed to Worthington & Sons.
No other contractor of the Dominion of Can- ada was perhaps more prominent than John Worthington, for there he erected many im- portant publie edifices and other fine architect- ural structures, achieving success and renown in his various undertakings. Ile was a man of sterling qualities, strictly honorable, thoroughly persevering, his success in life being well merited.
He had a family of four sons and three daughters, namely: James M., the president of the Cleveland Stone Company; Minnie, the widow of E. Bendelari; George H1., our subject; Fanny, wife of W: W. Keighley, of Toronto; Jane, widow of T. C. Elwood; John H. and Edward E., twins, the former of whom died in Calentta, India, December 7, 1873.
The immediate subject of this review, George II. Worthington, was reared and educated in Toronto, finishing his school work at the age of
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sixteen years, when he entered a wholesale establishment in that city, remaining thus em- ployed for a period of two years. He then en- tered the employ of his father, who was at the time engaged in carrying out contracts for rail- way construction in the State of New York. In this field of labor our subject remained for six months, having charge of the entire work under the contracts of his father, who was then taking a trip abroad by reason of impaired health. After the completion of the contracts noted, Mr. Worthington went to Brownhelm, Ohio, and there entered the employ of Worth- ington & Son, which firm consisted of his father and an older brother. One year later he became a member of the firm of Worthington & Sons. After the death of the father, in 1873, the sons succeeded to the business, but retained the old firm name until the organization of the Cleve- land Stone Company was effected.
Besides holding a half interest in the busi- ness of Worthington & Sons, George HI. Worth- ington was president of the Berea & Huron Stone Company. Upon the organization of the Beeman Chemical Company Mr. Worthington became interested and is now secretary and treasurer of the same. He is also vice-president of the Cleveland Washboard Company and of the Pike Manufacturing Company, of New Hampshire. He has a financial interest in several other important enterprises in the city of Cleveland, is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, a director of the Masonie Temple Association, a director of the West Cleveland Banking Company, and of the Chamberlain Cartridge & Target Company. It may thus be readily understood that Mr. Worthington is an active and representative business man, one whose ability and honor have been thoroughly tried and proved.
In fraternal affiliations he is prominently connected with the Masonic order, being a member of Tyrian Lodge, No. 370; of Cleve- land Chapter, No. 148, and of Oriental Com- mandery, No. 12, K. T., having been made a member of the commandery in 1876. He has
been a thirty-second-degree Mason since 1876, being a charter member of Lake Erie Con- sistory, and of Al Koran Temple, of the Mystic Shrine.
Mr. Worthington was married at Mt. Ver- non, Ohio, in February, 1878, to Mrs. Hannah 1 .. Weaver. They make their home at the Stillman, the beautiful Euclid avenue hotel.
ORINDA E. (DEMING)SQUIRE, widow of Charles R. Squire, was born in Brun- son, Huron county, Ohio, July 31, 1822, a daughter of Amos Deming, who was born in Saundersfield, Massachusetts, March 12, 1800. When Mr. Deming was yet very young the family moved to Avon, Livingston county, New York; and when eighteen years of age he bought the remainder of his time from his father and walked thence to Brunson, Ohio, where he worked For Major Underhill, on a farm and in his sawmill, at $10 a month, until he paid for fifty acres of land near that place. Two years later he returned to New York and was married to Miss Fannie Witherell, and with her came back to Ohio, settling on his new farm. lle died there, in 1885: his wife had- died many years previously, namely, in 1850. For forty years he was a member of the Congregational Church, and was beloved by all who knew him, as he was so kindly in his nature and conduct. Politically he was a Republican.
IIe had eleven children, three of whom died in infancy. The living are: Lorinda E., our subjeet; Perry B., of Chicago; Luey, widow of S. B. Fuller, of Norwalk, Ohio; Mary, wife of Warren Buel, of Albert Lea, Minnesota; Amos, of Saugatuck, Michigan; Marana, now Mrs. I. T. Ray, of Norwalk, Ohio; Matilda R., now Mrs. E. C. Johnson, of Milwaukee, Wis- consin; Harriet E., who married John Lamkey, of Rock Falls, Illinois.
Mrs. Squire, whose name heads this sketeh, was married December 17, 1813, to C. R. Squire, of Brunson, Huron county, Ohio, set-
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tled in Wakeman, this State, and a year after- ward moved to St. Charles, Illinois, where for two years Mr. Squire was employed in various occupations. Then they came to Cleveland, where Mr. Squire embarked in the wholesale and retail grocery business. First he was clerk for Lemnel Wick, then started out for himself. After a few years he failed, owing to the perlidy of his bookkeeper and clerk, and then he turned his inventive mind to the invention of ore sep- arators (retorts) and crushing machines. Going to New York he interested enpital in his enter- prise, and spent several years there. Finally he was taken sick and died, October 19, 1891.
Mrs. Squire still resides at. 37 Church street, where she and her husband settled in 1864. They had three sons: Charles A., Frank E. and Willie A. Charles married Miss Mattie Bell Cameron in 1877, and has four children,- Charles R., Fred Engene, LeGrand E. and Katie; Frank married Miss Martha D. Lewis in 1874, and they also have four children, ---- Leora A., Edith M., Luella M. and Leroy Frank; Willie married, in 1884, Miss Mary Virginia Fra- zier, of North Carolina, and has two children, -Lorinda E. and Clara A. The three sons are all engaged in railroad work, and in politics Republicans.
Mrs. Squire's mother, nee Fannie Witherell, was a native of Vermont, and was taken by her parents to New York in their removal to that State; and Mrs. Squire's father was on the first steamer that ever plied the waters of Lake Erie, when it was beached at Erie during a storm, abont 1819 or 1820, and Mr. Squire's father was a Methodist Episcopal minister, and died at the advanced age of eighty-four years.
OHN G. JAMES, assistant freight agent of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Company, is a gentleman who has come into prominence rapidly as a railroad man, rising from a minor clerkship in the freight ollice of this road to the position he now ve-
cupies in less than one decade from the date of his entering the service of the company, and his being an official of the great Lake Shore system in his present capacity speaks more for the char- acter of his service than any article written for the express purpose of describing that service in detail. It was in 1876 that Mr. James' name was entered on the pay roll as an employe of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Com- pany. Two years' service as a freight clerk sufficed to warrant his promotion to the position of chief clerk in the general freight office, and in this capacity he exhibited those characteristics which prompted the management of the road to make him assistant general freight agent seven years later.
Mr. James is an active and influential mem- ber of the following committees of the Central Traffic Association, viz .: Rules and Regulations, Iron and Iron Manufactures, Oil Traffic, Uni- form Bill of Lading, Relation with Western Roads, Relation with Trunk Lines, Eastbound Percentage Basis and Official Classification. This will indicate his standing in the railroad world more fully than we could do in general description and statements.
Mr. James was born in Belmont county, Ohio, December 24, 1846. His father, William James, was a farmer, born in the same State, but re- moved to Bureau county, Illinois, in 1852. There he spent the remainder of his life, dying in 1884, at seventy-six years of age.
Maryland was the original American home of the Jameses. A remote ancestor of our subject emigrated to Pennsylvania and settled at Union- town, and from that point Charles James, the paternal grandfather of our subject, emigrated to Ohio, settling in Tuscarawas county, where he died. William James married, in 1833, Miss Eliza A. Maginnis, a daughter of Daniel Magin- nis, formerly of Loudoun county, Virginia. Seven of the eleven children born of this union are yet living, namely: Jacob, at Wyanet; Charles, at Princeton; Albert, at Ohio; Hiram, at Malden, and Mrs. Sammel Conner, of Ohio, - all in the State of Illinois; and Mrs. Orrin W.
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Zibble, of Olathe, Kansas, and the of subject this sketch. Two of the deceased are: Harrison W., who died at Glenwood Springs, Colorado, in 1890; and Wesley W., who died at Mendota, Illinois, from injuries received while an employe of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company. The two others died in infancy.
John C. James grew up in the country, em- ployed on his father's farm, until the age of seventeen. The breaking ont of the war offered a novel experience, and at the same time an opportunity of going beyond the confines of home, and he took advantage of the opportu- uity. lle enlisted in the Fifty-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Company B, commanded by Captain Van Steenberg, and was attached for service to the Army of the Tennessee, par- ticipating in the battles of the campaign from Chattanooga to Atlanta. After the fall of At. lanta he was engaged at the battle of Allatoona, Georgia, where he received three wounds, one of which caused the amputation of his right foot and ended his military service. His position was on the right flank of the skirmish line, which was driven by a charge of French's Con- federate division, the flower of Johnston's army, and fell wounded among the tents of the eamp of the Ninety-third Ilinois Infantry, where he lay for three hours between two lines of battle, receiving three wounds and four addi- tional balls through his clothes, and 231 bullet holes were found in the officers' tent into which he had crawled! Ile was confined in hospitals in Rome, Georgia, Chattanooga, and Nashville, Tennessee, and Chicago, Illinois, being dis- charged from service at the last named place in July, 1865.
Mr. James next turned his attention to getting an education. He passed through the junior year in Western Union College at Fulton, Illi- nois, teaching in the meantime to secure funds to delray his necessary expenses. He gave up pedagogical work in a short time and turned his attention to abstract work and the examina- tion of land titles, assisting in writing up a set of abstracts for Cuyahoga county, Ohio, having
returned to this State in 1870. He was inter- ested also in the preparation of an abstract of titles for Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, and condneted the business about five years when he took up railroad work, as before stated.
Mr. James married, in May, 1874. Annie E. Black, a daughter of John C. Black, an early settler in Cleveland, and by occupation a builder and contractor. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. James are: Lawrence W., in the employ of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Rail- road Company at Kansas City, Missouri; Frank T .; Walter M .; and William C.
W ILLIAM J. AKERS, one of the pro- prietors of the Forest City Hotel, Cleveland, was born in Laneashire, England, August 2, 1845, and was an infant when his parents emigrated to America, settling in Cleveland, November 1, same year. llis father, John Akers, was a civil engineer by pro- fession, which he followed for years. After ar- riving in this city he turned his attention to building, and left many monuments of his labors throughout Ohio, in the form of the best build- ings of the time, the old jail in Cleveland being one. As he was a man of ind. pendent means, he was prepared to take and fulfill large con- tracts. In 1857, however, he suffered financial ruin, consequent upon the general panie of that year, and soon afterward, in the same year, he died, leaving a wife (nee Catherine O'Learie) and four children, the latter being: William J., whose name introduces this sketch: John M., proprietor of the Russell House at Alliance and also of the dining hall at the Cleveland depot; Martha A .; and Mrs. II. A. Bushea. Their mother died in Cleveland, in 1893.
Mr. William J. Akers was a lad of twelve years when his father died, and, being com- pelled to be industrious at some employment for the support of his mother and the rest of the family, he had little time for schooling or ree- reation. However, he received considerable aid in his studies at intervals from his mother, a
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lady of education and general culture. Among his early eares was the building of the fires at the school building he attended, for which he received $8 a month. Ile also secured an old horse and wagon and hanled chips to town for sale, thus earning a little sum worth mention- ing. Later he obtained a place behind the lunch counter at the depot restaurant, where he was soon promoted clerk, and ere long possessed an interest in the business, and continued to pros- per until he became sole proprietor. From the very beginning he was determined to build a fortune, and therefore bent all his energies in that direction. As hotel work seemed best adapted to his tastes, he applied himself to that, and he has owned and managed varions hotels and eating houses, as the Cleveland Depot eat- ing house, Russell House at Alliance, the Con- tinental and Gibson Hotels at Crestline, Ohio, and the dining cars over the Bee Line system. In some of the above he was associated with his brother.
In 1889 he formed a partnership with S. T. Paine, formerly for years clerk of the Forest City Hotel. They leased this house, which they have ever sinec conducted: remodeled it, and are now running the institution according to all the demands of the times, which they know well how to do.
It will be interesting to notice in brief review the past history of this site. First, as early as 1817 the ground was sold for fifty cents; in 1893 an offer of $750,000 was refused for it! The first hotel on this site was the Cleveland Hotel, built in 1525; in 1849 the name was changed to Dunham House, and in 1858 to Russell's Forest City House; in 1868 the name Russell was dropped, and ever since then no change has been made. During the summer of 1893 Messrs. Akers and Paine con- ducted the Eureka Springs Hotel, one of the favorite resorts of the Keystone State.
In benevolent work Mr. Akers has been one of the most enthusiastic and conspicuons in Cleveland. When the Chicago fire sufferers were in their greatest need of help, he was seere-
tary of the relief committee and a member of the executive committee for the Michigan fire sufferers the same season; was chairman of the Ohio river flood relief committee; member of the relief committee for the sufferers of the Johnstown flood; chairman of the relief com- mittee for the sufferers from the Oil City flood an! fire. This list is a record of labor, and many sleepless nights has Mr. Akers had during the past ten years in connection with the Bethel Associated Charities, being a member of the executive committee and of the Board of Man- agers of Bethel Union.
Two of the most satisfactory undertakings with which Mr. Akers has been connected were the erection of the Masonic Temple at Cleve- land and the Masonic Home in Springfield, this State, of both of which he is a trustee. He is a thirty-third-degree Mason: has been Com- mander-in-Chief of Scottish Masonry for north- ern Ohio. He has served in all the offices of the Grand Lodge of Masous excepting that of Master of the Grand Lodge,-which, indeed, by the way, was tendered him. Initiated into Masonry in 1868, he received the thirty-third degree in 1886, in which year he was also appointed representative to the Grand Lodge of Kentucky. More locally, he has for three years been president of the Cleveland Masonic Club; is an honorary life member of the Cleveland Grays, and he has been president of the Cleve- land Hotel-Keepers' Association ever since its organization. In 1891 he was elected vice-pres- ident of the National Ilotel Keepers' Associ- ation. Politically he is a prominent Republican. For four years he was a member of the Board of Education, for six years a member of the Li- brary Board, and two years a member of the Board of Control of the House of Correction; and he is stockholder in a number of business concerns in this city.
In 1893 he was unanimously nominated (by acclamation) at the Republican Convention as their candidate for Mayor of Cleveland, but was defeated in the election by a small number of votes.
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January 2, 1883, is the date of Mr. Akers' marriage to Miss Maud Miller of New York city, who is a member of the Dorcas Society and a member of the Board of Managers of the Old People's Home of Cleveland, and is active in all benevolent movements. Their residence is at 384 Lake street.
W ILLIAM HOYT, one of the familiar figures connected with the operating department of the Lake Shore & Mich- igan Southern Railroad, first began in the service of this line when it was operated west of Cleve- land as the Cleveland & Toledo Railroad. Ilis first day's work was completed on the evening of November 5, 1855, as a brakeman under Conductor Simon Woodbury, the first on the division. About fifteen months afterward Mr. Høyt was capable of running the train, and he was given charge of a freight crew over the same division. In 1868 be received his final promo- tion, and twenty-five years have now passed since he entered the passenger service. The miles he has passed over in these thirty-eight years would run up into the millions, and the number of passengers he has carried would almost equal the population of the whole United States.
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