USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Memorial record of the county of Cuyahoga and city of Cleveland, Ohio, pt 2 > Part 57
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Ile is also at the head of one of the most active brokerage offices in the eity as well as one of the executive committee of the Cleveland Real Estate Board.
Ile is the acknowledged hustler in his line of work in Cleveland and is found at his work from early morn until late at night. His business abilities and operations have led him into the confidence of all who know him.
Mr. Van Tine was married in 1878, to Katie Strong, and they have three daughters: Ray, Katie and Nellie. The family residence is at 1549 Enelid avenue.
A LFRED SMITII, general foreman of the Globe Iron Works ship yard, was born at Pembroke Dock, Pembrokeshire, Wales, April 15, 1853. IIe is a son
of Thomas and Mary Ann (Williams) Smith, who were the parents of ten children, Alfred being the seventh son. Thomas Smith was a ship carpenter and died in Wales.
At sixteen years of ago Alfred Smith, ac- companied by his brother, John 11., now super-
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intendent for the Globe Company, came to the United States and stopped first at Buffalo, where he learned his trade of fine shipbuilding, with the Anchor Line people. On leaving Buf- falo Mr. Smith went to Pittsburg, and a few months later on to Crown Point, New York, and was there employed in a blast furnace two years. He then returned to Buffalo, and after a stay of about a year went to Point Edward, Can - a'la, where he was engaged in the building of the steamer Iluron for the Grand Trunk Rail- road Company. His next employment with this company was in the building and repair- ing of iron bridges, and he covered in his trav- els most of the territory of western Canada. In 1880 Mr. Smith came to Cleveland and secured employment with the Globe Iron Works as foreman and filled that position till he was promoted as general foreman.
Mr. Smith married, April 17, 1875, at Sarnia, Canada, Ester, a daughter of Henry Nash, a ship carpenter. Of this union have been born, Henry (deceased), Charles G., William, Al- bert, and Irene, besides one other deceased.
C A. ENNIS, Mayor of Bedford, Ohio, was born on the site where he now lives, December 13, 1840. His father, Solo- mon Ennis, was left an orphan at a very early age, married Miss Jemima Turner, had but one child, and died in 1846. Mrs. Jemima Ennis was born at Newburg, Ohio, in 1818, and died in 1878. Iler father, Abraham Turner, was born in Hebron, New York, in 1783, was one of the first settlers of Newburg and a Sergeant in one of the early Indian wars. He married Susanna Gibbs, December 29, 1808, a daugh- ter of Hiram Gibbs, who was one of six broth- ers that emigrated from England to America in 1760. The Gibbs family are known to be the legatces of a very large estate held in trust by the Bank of England; and but for the absence of a link or two in the genealogical chain it could undoubtedly be recovered. Hiram and
all of his brothers enlisted in the Continental army, and were engaged in many of the princi- pal battles of the war of the Revolution, and were present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
C. A. Ennis was reared and educated in his nafive town, engaged in teaching for a time, and married, December 7, 1865, at Solon, Ohio, Miss Isabella Cuthberson, a lady of education and previously a successful and popular teacher. She was born October 29, 1839, in Auburn, New York, a daughter of James and Margaret
(Billsland) Cuthberson, natives of Scotland, who came to New York in 1838 and to Cuyahoga county in 1848; the father now lives in Kansas, and the mother is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Ennis have one daughter, Margaret, a success- ful and popular teacher, who graduated at the Bedford high school in 1856, and has been teaching in the grammar school of the town for some time.
Mr. Ennis is a strong and ralical Republican. Has been Justice of the Peace for twenty-four years, and Mayor of Bedford for fourteen years. Is a member of the Masonic order, Bedford
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Lodge, No. 375, and of Summit Chapter, No. 74, and he is a member of the Disciple Church, in which he serves as Trustee, and has been an Elder, and is an active worker in the Sunday- school.
Mr. Ennis is frank and cordial in his manner and address, and firm in his convietions of right and wrong.
OIIN E. DARBY, a physician and sur- geon of Cleveland, was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, August 20, 1835, a son of William and Eleeta (Edwards) Darby, both of English descent, and the latter a native of Rhode Island. The father was a blacksmith and farmer by ocenpation. Both he and his wife were regular attendants of the Baptist Church. They were the parents of seven chil- dren, three now living: Ahoa, wife of E. Blakeslee, of Cleveland; W. Frank, who was an officer in the late war, is now Postmaster nt North Adams; and John E., our subjeet.
The latter, after graduating at the Williams College, in the class of 1858, came to Cleve- land, Ohio, where he read medieine with Dr. Proeter Thayer. IIc also attended the old Cleve- land Medical College, now the Medieal Depart- ment of the Western Reserve University, graduating at that institution in February, 1861, and immediately beginning the praetiee of his profession in this eity. During the late war Dr. Darby served as Assistant Surgeon of the Eighty-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infan- try, afterward of the One Hundred and Twenty- fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry; in 1864 was promoted to the position of Surgeon, and served in that capacity in the Army of the Cumberland until the close of the struggle. Ile then returned to this city and resumed the practice of medicine. Before going to the war, the Doctor had served as demonstrator of anatomy in the university two years, and after his return was elected to the chair of materia medica and therapeutics, which position he still
holds. Dr. Darby has written for medical journals; has been connected with the Lakeside Ilospital for many years, and for the past five years has been a member of its consulting board, and has served as railroad surgeon for the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad for over twenty years. That long-continued service speaks well for the high esteem in which he is held by those who know the value of efficient serviee. Ile is fond of the study of natural history, to which he has devoted much study, and makes it a recreation from professional toil.
Dr. Darby was married in April, 1862, to Miss Frances, a daughter of Thomas Wright, of Summit county, Ohio. The wife died in 1867, having been a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church. She was a graduate of the Cleveland Institute, and was a teacher before her marriage. In 1872 the Doctor was united in marriage with Miss Emma M. Cox, a dangh- ter of Charles L. Cox, of this eity. They had two children,-John Charles, astudent in Adel- bert College; and Maybell Claire, attending the city schools. Mrs. Darby departed this life June 2, 1888. Dr. Darby votes with the Re- publican party, and in professional relations is a member of the State and County Medical Societies. He carries the respeet and confidence of the profession, has led a busy and useful life, and his extensive knowledge in all the affairs of life makes his friends as numerous as his ac- quaintances.
A D. WALWORTHI, vineyardist at Not- tingham, Cuyahoga county, was born in Jefferson county, New York. Ilis father, a farmer, during the last war with Great Britain, literally left his plow in the furrow and hastened to Saekett's Harbor, then besieged by the British, and manfully defended the place for two weeks, when the conflict there was over and he returned to his plow.
Mr. A. D. Walworth, whose name introduces this sketch, moved from New York to Ohio,
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settling in Euelid township, this county, where he now owns a flourishing vineyard. In his political views he is a Jacksonian Democrat. Ile has been Justice of the Peace for nearly twenty years, and, though in advanced life, he is hale and hearty. By his temperate habits he has well preserved his inherited constitu. tional vigor.
RUMAN P. HIANDY was born in Paris, Oneida county, New York, January 17, 1807. After gaining a liberal English education he accepted a clerkship in the Bank of Geneva, at Geneva, New York. Sub- sequently he removed to Buffalo, where he assisted in organizing the Bank of Buffalo, in which he held the position of teller for one year. In 1832 he came to Cleveland, Ohio, to accept the position of cashier in the re-organized Commercial Bank of Lake Erie, which had lately been purchased by George Bancroft, the eminent historian. The bank was prosperons under the excellent management of young Ilandy until 1842, when the State Legislature refused to renew the expired charter.
In 1843, Mr. Handy organized a private banking house under the firm name of T. P. Handy & Company, whose business was a pru- dent and successful one. In 1845 the State Bank of Ohio was established and thereupon Mr. Handy organized the Commercial Branch Bank. Ile was greatly the largest stockholder, and was its chief exeentive during the entire period of his connection with it. Its charter extended through a period of twenty years, during which it prospered, paying on an aver- age more than twenty per cent. upon the capital stock. The Commercial National Bank sne- ceeded to its business in 1865.
In January, 1862, Mr. Handy accepted the presidency of the hitherto unprosperous Mer- chants' Branch Bank. Soon after he assumed control of the bank it began to gain a new and
better business, and old losses were soon made good; and in a little more than one year it was upon a solid, dividend-paying basis, and in 1865, at the expiration of its charter, it was one of the most prosperons banks in the State. From the organization of the Merchants' National Bank, in February, 1865, to this date, Mr. Handy has been its president. Its management has been characterized by the exercise of prudence and wisdom, and it has from the first continued one of the foremost national banks of the country. It has been a United States deposi- tory from its organization, and to the govern- ment it has rendered much aid in negotiating all its loans. This bank has paid regular divi- dends, averaging nearly ten per cent. per annum, and at the same time it has accumulated a sur- plus of more than thirty per cent. of its capital. Ilis careful management, his sapient business qualities, his success as a banker, have placed him among the most eminent of bankers and financiers. Hle will always be best known as a banker, but he has also been largely identified with railroads, mining, and manufacturing en- terprises. He was an influential friend of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad. Ile was its treasurer from its organization till 1860, when he resigned, and since that time he has been a director and member of its executive committee. For many years he has been a stock- holder and director in the Cleveland Iron Min- ing Company, also a large stockholder in the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company, and other in- dustrial concerns.
Mr. Ilandy has always been a Republican in politics, but has uniformly declined to accept any political preferment. He has always advo- cated the system of protecting our domestic industries against foreign competition, and of es- tablishing just relations between labor and capital. During the progress of the Civil war he was a steadfast supporter of the policy of President Lincoln, and rendered much aid to the sick and disabled soldiers then and since. From the organization of the Cleveland branch of the Sanitary Commission he served as treasurer.
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Ile has always been a warm friend of the church, education and charity. For ten or more years he was a member of the Board of Educa- tion, and with others rendered much aid in organizing the present system of graded schools in Cleveland, and establishing the Central High School. Ile has been for many years a trustee of the Western Reserve College. IIe is also a trustee and liberal benefactor of Lane Theologi- cal Seminary. Very largely through his efforts was built the present elegant and commodious building of the Homeopathic Hospital, of which he is president.
Since boyhood he has been a devoted member of the Presbyterian Church, of which he has been an Elder for nearly fifty years. For many years he was a corporate member of the Ameri- can Board, which position he resigned at the reunion of the old and new branches of the Presbyterian Church. IIe was a very earnest advocate of that re-union, and was a member of the joint committee which framed the articles of union.
Mr. HIandy married, in March, 1832, Miss Harriet N. Ilall, of Geneva, New York. There were born to them two children: a son who died in infancy, and a daughter, who married IIon. John S. Newberry, of Detroit, Michigan. Mrs. HIandy died July 5, 1880.
AMES HIOSSACK, Secretary of the Board of Control and Mayor's Secretary, was born in Cobourg, Canada, March 5, 1841. Ile secured a collegiate edneation, graduating from Victoria University in 1860. Upon leav. ing college Mr. Ilossack set about preparing himself for the law, and in November, 1864, was calle'l to the bar, and engaged actively in practice there until his removing to Cleveland, when he opened an office here. Mr. Ilossack identified himself at once with the Democratic party and became a strong advocate of Demo- eratie principles and a leader and moulder of public sentiment. Upon the accession of De-
mocracy to power in Cleveland in 1883, Mayor Farley appointed Mr. Hossaek his private see- retary, and on the expiration of his term of of- fice was appointed private secretary to Senator II. B. Payne, serving till 1891, when he again entered law practice. In 1893 Mayor Blee in- vited Mr. Hossack to become his private secretary, and he acceptod, assuming his duties in April. In 1879 Mr. Hossack was a candidate for City Attorney, but the Republican strength was too invincible and he met defeat.
Mr. Ilossack is a son of James IIossack, born in Scotland. Ile came to Canada when a young man and engaged in farmning. Ile mar- ried Miss Bethune, born in Edinburg, and be- came the father of eleven children, five of whom are now living.
Our subject became attorney for the Cleve- land Mutual Investment Company, in Febru- ary, 1893. Ile is a Knight Templar.
RANK HESOUN, JR., city salesman for A. J. Wenham & Sons and a mem- ber of the City Council, was born in Bo- bemia, June 29, 1862. His father was a baker in the old country. He came to the United States in 1865, making Milwaukee his home till 1869, when he brought his family to Cleve- land. He married Rosa Schacha, who bore him four children, Frank, Jr., being the oldest.
Frank Hesoun, Jr., attended the city schools of Cleveland till thirteen years of age, when it became necessary for him to lend a helping hand in the maintenance of the family. He secured employment in the cooper shops of the Standard Oil Company and remained there for four years. At this time he entered the em- ploy of A. J. Wenham & Sons as packing clerk, and later on as city salesman, which position he has now filled most acceptably thirteen years. Mr. Ilesonn has had a fancy for politics since his youth, and on becoming of age cast his for- tunes and his first ballot for Democracy. IIc was elected to the Council in 1888, served
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through that year, 1889-'90 and a part of '91, when a change to the Federal plan created a vacaney in all the offices. April 4, 1893, he was again elected to represent the district, re- ceiving a majority of 850 votes and suceceding a Republican in office, Mr. Hesoun is chair- man of the committee on lighting, and is serv- ing on the committee on public works.
Mr. Ilesoun married, in 1885, Elizabeth, a daughter of Peter Malley. Their children are: Frank, Jr., Gracie and Lilly.
Mr. Ilesoun is P. C. of K of P., is a mein- ber of the Bohemian Turning Society and of the Drummers' Association.
W Il. WEBBER, superintendent and treasurer of the Iluron Street Ilospi- tal, 66 Huron street, Cleveland, Ohio, was born on the island of Malta, October 7, 1866, a son of John II. and Ann (Lecudi) Webber; his mother was the daughter of a Greck sea captain. Ilis father was a pay- sergeant in the English army. There are four children living: W. II .; Joseph W., an actor; Susanah, wife of F. Lopez; and James. .
Mr. Webber came to Cleveland in 1880 and entered the Rockwell school, where he was a pupil until twelve years of age. Ile then be- gan to take care of himself, and for some years worked for $3.50 a week, attending sessions of the night schools whenever practicable. Ile was employed as clerk for R. Arnold five years, and filled the same position with l'. O'Brien during a like period. In 1891 he assumed the duties of the position he has since so ably filled. The Huron Street Hospital was founded in 1867, and was supported mainly by subscrip- tion for many years. A vast amount of charity work is done, almost one-half the accommoda- tions being devoted to the poor. Since the office of superintendent has been created the usefulness of the hospital has been widely ex- tended, and the services of Mr. Webber are highly appreciated by the Board of Managers.
IIe is a man of excellent judgment and gener- ons impulses, is a careful financier, and under his management the establishment has been placed upon a most satisfactory basis.
The staff of physicians and surgeons is with- out a superior in the State, and patients ure treated according to any desired school of medi- cine. The training-school for nurses is recog- nized as one of the most thorough, the attend- ance at present numbering twenty-five.
Mr. Webber was married in 1889 to Miss Ida E. Hutchins, and of this union three chil- dren have been born: Philip II., who died at the age of three and one-half years; the second child, Edna G., lived only one year; Dorothea M. is the youngest. Mr. and Mrs. Webber are members of the Euclid Avenne Baptist Church. Mr. Webber is active in the work of the Y. M. C. A., to which he has belonged since he was a lad of twelve years. He is a Mason, being now Junior Deacon of Cleveland City Lodge; be- longs to Cleveland Council, No. 36, R. & S. M., and to the commandry; he also belongs to the Independent Order of Foresters.
JOHN MURPILY, Lake Shore & Michigan Southern yard-master at the Union Depot; has given twenty-one years of continuous service in the yards of this company. IIe on- tered the service as yard brakeman in 1872, and was promoted to conductor three years later, serving until his elevation to yard-master in 1880. His faithfulness and devotedness to duty is testified to by the fact of his having been ab- sent from his post only five weeks during that long period, and that, to take much needed and deserved vacations. Mr. Murphy was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, March 31, 1853. Ifis father was a lake captain, who was lost in 1860 by tho boiler explosion on The Lady of the Lake. Ile was of Canadian birth and of Irish parentage, his father locating in Toronto, on leaving the Emerald Iste,
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In 1840 his father came to the United States -then sixteen years of age-and located in Cincinnati, becoming a steamboat captain on the Ohio river. In 1857 he removed his family to Buffalo, New York, where they remained . till 1859. He married Miss Gleason, a daughter of Thomas Gleason, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and of the children born to them, John, our subject, is the only one living.
John Murphy left the graded schools at the age of fifteen and became an employee of Taft's shingle mill on Center street; leaving this ser- vice he entered the Novelty Iron Works, where he commenced his trade. He joined Me Narry & (lafflin's Works; eighteen months later com- pleted his trade and then came to the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Company.
Mr. Murphy married in 1881, in Cleveland, Miss A. O'Connor, a daughter of James O'Con- nor, a mechanic, an old resident of Irish birth. Four children resulted from this union: Charles, Raymond, Richard and Sarah.
Mr. Murphy is a careful, industrions and am- bitions man, popular with his men and favored by his company, and will receive his share of the good things as they are passed around.
T HEODORE A. CLOSSE, an importing merchant tailor, with his business place at 138 the Arcade Building, Cleveland, Ohio, has been engaged actively in this business since 1868, becoming successor to his father's business in the year 1883. Before passing to a review of his career it will be ap- propriate to make mention of his father, Andrew Closse, who was born in Lothringen, Germany, July 26, 1822, a son of P. and Elizabeth (Reim) Closse. He was sent to school until he was fourteen years of age and at this age he began his career at the tailor's trado. He worked three years in his native town and then went to Mitz, Nasse and Paris. In the city of Paris he spent four years. He was then called to the German army, in which he served three years,
in the Ninth Hussars regiment, known as the Light Cavalry. Upon the close of his army service he came to America, landing in New York city, where he spent a few days, and then visited several of the principal cities of the East, finally deciding to come westward. Ile landed in Cleveland in the winter of 1845 and since that date has been a resident of the city. For the first twenty-two years of his life here he was engaged as a entter for various tailoring es- tablishments in the place, but in 1867 he opened up a business of his own, at the corner of Superior and Union streets. Later he opened an establishment just opposite the Weddell Hotel; there he was burned out in 1886 and since that time he has assisted his con as a cutter. He has been an active business man of the city of Cleveland for forty-eight years. Ile married in this city in 1850, wed- ding Miss Hannah Eckerman, who is still liv- ing. Unto this marriage eleven children have been born, of whom six survive, and the fol- lowing are their names: Eugene, Theodore A., Lydia E., Emma, Willie F. and Ilannah G. At first Mr. Closse affiliated with the Democratie party, but later became convinced that the principles of the Republican party were safer and went over to it. Ile and his good wife are consistent members of the German Reformed Church.
Theodore A. Closse, the immediate subject of this personal sketch, was born in Cleveland, March 20, 1855, and in this city and in its schools he was brought up and educated. Early in life he learned the business of his father, that of a merchant tailor, and while rather young became associated with him in the same business, in which he has been engaged ever since. For a number of years he and his father were located opposite the Weddell House, where they operated a large tailoring und clothing establishment, their business taking rank as one of the leading concerns in the city. In 1886 the same was destroyed by fire, and thereafter the father decided not to resume business again. However, in 1886 the son
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opened up a merchant-tailoring establishment on the Public Square and in 1890 located in the Areade, in room 138, and here he eonduets and . enjoys a large remunerative business, Ile em- ploys a very great deal of help in the proseen- tion of his work.
Mr. Closse is one of the progressive and act- ive workers in the ranks of the Republican party, and at the recent writing he is a popular candidate for the nomination of his party for the office of County Clerk.
Fraternally he is a member of the A. F. & A. M., belonging also to the Cleveland Chapter, No. 148; Iloly Rood Commandery, No. 32. IIe is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, Lake Shore Lodge, No. 10; also of the Cleve- land Athletic Club, of the Cleveland Wheel Club, and many other social elubs in the city.
lle was married in 1876 to Miss Nellie Sterling, a native of Troy, New York, and a danghter of George Sterling. Mr. and Mrs. Closse have one daughter, Gertrude by name. They are members of the Disciple Church.
W ILLIAM WILLIAMS .- The life of the late William Williams, of Cleveland, Ohio, was filled with many incidents that illustrate life in the wilderness at an early day in western New York. He was born on June 2, 1803, in East Windsor, Conneetient, the son of Ebenezer Williams, of a family long and well known in New England. His early days were passed in the sheltering care of a comfortable home until he was eight years of age, when his father decided upon a change of location that had an effect of some consequence upon all the after life of his son. That step and the reasons leading to it are referred to in the following language of Mr. Williams, in a note prepared a few years previous to his death, in obedience to the request of his chil- dren: "It was in the fall of the year after my eighth birthday, that my father deter- mined to remove with his numerous and grow-
ing family of children to New Connecticut, as it was then ealled in contradistinction to the term Old Connectient. That he had in view, mainly, the well-being of his family, in a ven- ture so serious at that time, cannot be ques. tioned. The subject of removal must have been pondered by him for some time previous, and all its serious duties well weighed. The well-being and prosperity of his family was doubtless the mainspring of action. Ilis character was such as to insure his fidelity to his trust, and noth- ing, I am sure, could induce him to put it in jeopardy for a moment."
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