(RETURN TO THE MAHONING COUNTY INDEX)





250 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY


District of that state, and as early as 1858 served as collector of taxes.


The married life of Mathew Logan was one of unusual felicity. He married Miss Eliza J. Smith in 1865. Her parents were Enoch and Caroline (Weaver) Smith. Two children were born to their marriage : Carrie, Mrs. John Shaw; and Mary S. Mrs. Logan for many years has been an earnest worker and member of the Episcopal Church, and is loved in Youngstown for her many acts of unostentatious charity. Mr. Logan was a member of the Masonic fraternity and had attained the Knight Templars degree, and was much interested in the order.




GEORGE J. SMITH, M. D. The City of Niles was inexpressibly shocked by The tragic death of Dr. George J. Smith on February 5, 1918, when an Erie train struck his car as he was driving over the North Main Street crossing. His death was a distinct loss to his profession and also to the many important interests with which he had been affiliated at Niles and elsewhere.


Doctor Smith was born at Cincinnati, May 8, 1875, and is a member of an old southern family, son of Col. Henry and Margaret (Lundy) Smith. His parents reside at Birmingham, Alabama, his father having reached the age of seventy-seven and his mother sixty-seven. Colonel Smith served in an Alabama regiment in the Confederate army. For many years he was active in business as a general contractor, and though he had his home in Cincinnati for a time, most of his life has been spent in Birmingham. Colonel Smith had three sons : Harry, a merchant at Birmingham; Charles K., deceased; and George J.


His many friends and associates have always regarded the late Doctor Smith as a perfect specimen of physical, mental and moral manhood. He was a brilliant scholar, but also exhibited a proficiency in practically everything he ever took up. While he acquired his preliminary education in Birmingham, at the age of fourteen he and his brother Harry were sent to Pittsburgh to be given the very best of advantages. He graduated from the Pittsburgh High School, also attended the Curry Institute, and at the age of seventeen completed his literary studies in the University of Pittsburgh. He prepared for his profession in the Western Pennsylvania Medical College, graduating in 1899. Altogether he received four degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and its affiliated schools. He also did much post-graduate study at Philadelphia and elsewhere. Doctor Smith was widely known as a skillful surgeon and able physician, was a member of all the prominent medical societies, and was one of the pension examiners at Niles. After graduating he served as an interne in St. Francis Hospital at Pittsburgh, and then came to Niles, where he had a large and profitable practice.


He was very athletic and was a member of his university football team. He was always known as a skillful and prudent driver, and for that reason his tragic death seems to have been one of those inevitable things connected with human destiny.


July 19, 1900, Doctor Smith married Catherine C. McLaughlin, who was born at Rochester, Pennsylvania, daughter of Patrick and Matilda McLaughlin. Mrs. Smith had the intellectual and social qualifications to be an admirable companion for her talented husband. She graduated from high school, also from St. Xavier's in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Smith was head of a committee and otherwise active in the building of the McKinley Memorial at Niles. She is a member of the Red Cross, the Federation of Women's Clubs, the Pittsburgh Musical Club, and in many ways was a leader in war activities at Niles. Both she and her husband were actively identified with St. Stephen's Catholic Church. Doctor Smith was a republican and was a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Ancient Order of Hibernians.


ORRIN JACOBS. As a coal operator, lumber dealer, Tarmer, stock raiser and a dealer in real estate, Orrin Jacobs, of Youngstown, has accomplished a most satisfactory work, and is now living retired from active pursuits on East Federal Street, near Watt Street, enjoying the fruits of his earlier years of toil. He was born in this city August 13, 1842, a son of Philip Jacobs, who was born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, while his wife, who before marriage was Sallie Kimmel, was a native of Youngstown, being of pioneer stock. Philip Jacobs was one of the early general merchants of Youngstown, having a well stocked store on East Federal Street for many years.


Educated in the common schools, Orrin Jacobs clerked in his father's store until sixteen years old, when his father bought and turned over to him an interest in a coal bank at Hubbard. In 1863 Joe Jackson and Ebenezer Jackson were partners with Mr. Jacobs, and they sold their interests to J. G. Butler and Frank Williams, who bought the interest in the coal bank, and the young operator returned to Youngstown. Subsequently Mr. Jacobs, with his father, opened a coal bank on the Thorn farm, the present site of the Oak Hill Cemetery, and operated it five years, when, in 1870, it was worked out. There having been no railroads in this vicinity at that time,. the coal was hauled by teams to the Eagle and Him- rod furnaces.


Mr. Jacobs, his father, and his brother Millard then opened another coal bank near Hubbard, continuing his residence, however, in Youngstown, and driving back and forth to Hubbard with a horse and buggy, that having been before the day of automobiles. He continued operating in coal until 189o, during which time he and his brother Millard raised, bought and sold horses on their estate, known far and wide as the Jacobs Brothers Stock Farm, which has been platted and subdivided by the Jacobs Realty Company. One of the original stockholders of the Jacobs Lumber Company, which he helped organize, Mr. Jacobs was actively associated with its management until his retirement, as above mentioned, in 1915.


Mr. Jacobs married, October 31, 1867, Malvina Gerwig, who was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but came with her parents to Youngstown when but three years old. Five children blessed their union, namely : Oscar, of Cleveland, a lumber dealer ; Ed-


YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 251


ward, superintendent of the plants of the Union Wholesale Lumber Company, which was organized by Mr. Jacobs as the Jacobs Lumber Company ; Robert, vice president of the same company, now the Union Wholesale Lumber Company; Mrs. Robert J. Mullally, or Betsey K., now wife of Robert J. Mullally, of Youngstown, assistant general manager of the Brier Hill Steel Company; and Minnie G. of Youngstown. Mr. Jacobs is one of the most esteemed and loyal citizens of Youngstown, it being his boast that he was never out of the city more than four years.


Mr. Jacobs has been a Mason for fifty-four years. He has never mixed in politics, is a republican, and since supporting Lincoln in his second term has voted for every republican president.


H. HUGH WICKHAM, who has been a resident of Youngstown since February, 1909, is a lawyer with a broad and varied range of experience and one of the valued members of the firm Henderson, Wickham, Maiden & Barrett.


While his active career has been spent in the Middle East, Mr. Wickham is a native of Iowa, born in Hardin County, that state, September 7, 1880. He is a son of J. W. and Mollie E. (Speer) Wickham, both residents of Des Moines. His father since 1886 has been manager of the Iowa Homestead, one of the oldest agricultural periodicals of the West.


Henry Hugh Wickham grew up from infancy at Des Moines, graduated from the high school there, and finished his literary education in Highland Park College. He took his law course in Yale University, graduating in 1903. For over five years his home was at Pittsburgh, where he had charge of the litigation and claims department of the Central District and Printing Telegraph Company. On coming to Youngstown he practiced alone for two years, and was then associated with the Realty Trust Company until December, 1914. He then practiced alone until January I, 1917. At that date he became a member of his present firm, an organization of lawyers enjoying front rank in the profession and the Mahoning Valley.


Mr. Wickham is a republican in politics and a member of the Masonic fraternity. October to, 1906, he married Miss Anna McGough. They have one son, Pat.


EDMOND H. MOORE is one of the most prominent members of the Ohio bar. Distinguished honors have been bestowed upon him, and he has capably discharged the added responsibilities as few men could, and declined many others offered him, because he felt he could not accept them and do justice to the duties already at hand. He was born in Mahoning County on October 16, 1862, a son of Alexander F, and Elizabeth (Van Dalsem) Moore.


Alexander F. Moore was born at Milton, Mahoning County, Ohio, a son of William Moore, who came from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in 181o, to Mahoning County, Ohio, and was here engaged in farming. It was on his father's farm that Alexander F. Moore was reared, in the meanwhile attending the neighboring schools. He read law at Canfield, the old county seat of Mahoning County, with Samuel Gilson, and after being admitted to the bar practiced his profession at Canfield, Ottawa and finally at Youngstown. During his last year he lived in retirement, dying at Canfield, to which place he returned in 1893. He was prominent in democratic circles and at one time was elected mayor of Canfield on the ticket of his party. A man of exceptional ability as a lawyer and a brilliant orator, he rose to a prominent height in his profession.


Edmond H. Moore is one of the two children born to his parents, and after being graduated from the Rayen High School of Youngstown, when only seventeen years of age, began teaching school, and was so engaged for a period of eleven years. In the meanwhile he read law, and was admitted to the bar when he was only twenty-one years of age. In 1891 he began to practice his profession at Youngstown, and has been so engaged ever since with the exception of the time occupied by him in holding office. At present he is senior member of the legal firm of Moore, Barnum & Hammond. In 1896 Mr. Moore was elected on the democratic ticket mayor of Youngstown, and was re-elected in 1898, serving in all four years. In May, 1911, he was appointed state superintendent of insurance by Governor Harmon, but resigned in February, 1914. He has been democratic national committeeman from Ohio from 1912 to the present time, and is recognized as one of the strongest men of his party in this part of the state. Mr. Moore belongs to the Youngstown Club and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias.


In November, 1890, he was married to Miss Emma McKinney, of Petersburg, Ohio, who died in 1903, leaving two children, Harold T. and Mark E. Both of these boys served in the great war. Harold was a lieutenant of Company A, One Hundred and Thirty- Fifth Machine Gun Battalion, and served in France, participating in the campaigns in the Argonne Forest and Belgium. Mark was a sergeant in the Sixteenth Heavy Coast Artillery, and saw service in the campaigns of Saint Mihiel and the Argonne Forest.


Mr. Moore was married secondly on November 9, 1905, to Miss Martha Reznor, who died on August 26, 1918.


RALPH E. CORNELIUS. It cannot be other than rnteresting to note rn the series of personal sketches appearing in this work the varying conditions that have compassed those whose careers are outlined, and the effort has been made in each case to throw well focused light onto the individual and to bring into proper perspective the scheme of each respective career. The banks of the Mahoning Valley have ever maintained a high standing, and among the able workers in this field of endeavor is Ralph E. Cornelius, president of the Mahoning National Bank of Youngstown. With a natural predilection for this vocation and endowed with an analytical mind and ready faculty of assimilation, he has been peculiarly successful and today is numbered among the leaders in banking circles in this community.


Ralph E. Cornelius was born in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, on May 28, 1869, and is a son of William and Mary (Swisher) Cornelius, whose only other child is a daughter, Sarah, who is the wife of


252 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY


Bert C. Vaughn. William Cornelius was a native of Pennsylvania, where he lived until the subject of this sketch was about a year old, when he came to Youngstown and engaged in business pursuits. Here he was successful and also attained a good deal of prominence in local political circles, being elected to public office, serving as county treasurer of Mahoning County four years, followed by a four-year term as city commissioner. His death occurred in January, 1914. He became a director in banks and various commercial institutions, and was an active member of the First Presbyterian Church. In his relations with his fellow men he was thoroughly upright and conscientious, gentlemanly, considerate and courteous in his personal and social contact.


Ralph E. Cornelius received his educational training in the Youngstown public schools, completing his studies in the Rayen High School. His first employment was as collector in the Second National Bank, with which he became connected in December, 1886, and he has ever since been identified with the banking interests of this city. He was promoted several times during his career with the Second National, finally becoming cashier of that bank, holding that position until the merger of the Second National with the First National, of which joint institution he became assistant cashier. Later, after the First National Bank and the Dollar Savings and Trust Company became affiliated, Mr. Cornelius was elected cashier of the First National Bank and trust officer of the Dollar Savings and Trust Company. In November, 1911, he became president of the Mahoning National Bank, which position he is filling at the present time, also holding the same position in relation to the Mahoning Savings and Trust Company. A man of unusual tact and soundness of judgment, he possesses also to a marked degree those other almost undefinable qualities which contribute to a man's success and make his worth appreciated by those with whom he is associated. He is recognized as a man of strong and alert mentality, deeply interested in everything pertaining to the advancement of the community along material, civic and moral lines, and for years he has been recognized as one of the progressive and representative men of his city and county.


In 1906 Mr. Cornelius was married to Helen Arms, daughter of Warner and Fannie (Wick) Arms. Mrs. Cornelius is of the ninth generation in direct descent from William Arms, a native of England, who settled at Deerfield, Massachusetts, and from whom all bearing that name in this country have sprung.


Politically Mr. Cornelius is a stanch supporter of the republican party, though he does not take an active part in political affairs. He is a member of the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce, the Youngstown Club, the Youngstown Country Club and the Poland Country Club.




WILLIAM B. CARTER. The first foundry in Niles and one of the first in the Mahoning Valley was established by members of the Carter family about three-quarters of a century ago. It is as foundrymen and good business men that the Carters have expressed their best services to this community. One of them still active in the foundry business is William B. Carter, who has lived all his life in Niles.


Not far from the site of his present business he was born, November 8, 1859, son of Thomas and Truth (Bretell) Carter. His parents were natives of England, and with their son George came to the United States in the early '40s, locating at Niles, where soon afterward Thomas Carter established a foundry business. He operated this industry with considerable success for twenty years or more, though he experienced some financial reverses during the panic of 1873. While he was then quite well advanced in years, he had the courage of the Pioneers, and in the hope of rebuilding some of his fortune he started west to the newly-discovered gold fields of the Black Hills of Dakota Territory. He was never heard of again by his family.


In the meantime the foundry business was continued and with ups and downs in former years it has remained in the hands of descendants. The children of Thomas Carter and wife were : George, who died shortly after the family came to America; Edward T., a resident of Warren, Ohio; John, deceased; Thomas L., William B. and Charles J., all of whom remain in Niles.


William B. Carter had rather limited opportunities to attend school during his youth. At the age of fifteen, on account of the panic and reverses in the family fortune, he had to earn his own living, and was soon working in the foundry, a trade and business that has been practically his only pursuit. Mr. Carter is now owner and manager of the Globe Foundry and Machine Company, which historically is the successor of the original establishment founded by his father. Mr. Carter has always been a worker, and outside of the routine of affairs and the performance of duties involved in good citizenship his career has been uneventful. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church and a republican.


In 1880 Mr. Carter married Miss Pauline Getz, of Niles. Five children were born to their marriage: Lida, who died in March, 1919, the wife of Victor Lazier ; Jessie, wife of Wiliam Madlev ; Russell, who lives at Niles and married Viola De Garmo; Florence and William McKee, both in the family home.


NORMAN HEINDEL. Since he left the home farm at North Lima, Norman Heindel has kept his mind and energies devoted to a single line of business, dealing in retail meats, and is now senior member of the very prosperous firm of Heindel Brothers at 1307 Market Street. This busy firm has been at that location for the past thirteen years, and prior to that time was at 1327 Market, Youngstown.


Norman Heindel was born in York County, Pennsylvania, December 20, 1880, a son of Joshua and Emeline (Coley) Heindel. His father, also a native of York County, was a coal miner in early days at Morgantown, where he lost a great deal of property by fire. Later he bought a farm at North Lima, Ohio, in Beaver Township, and made a specialty of growing garden truck. He continued in that business until his death in 1897, at the age of sixty-one. He and his family were members of the Reformed Church. His wife was born in Beaver Township of


YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 253


Mahoning County and died in 1911, at the age of sixty. They had a large family of ten children: George and Clarence, on the home farm; Clark, a farmer at North Lima; Norman and Emanuel, who comprise the firm of Heindel Brothers as above noted; Orville, a physician at Newcastle, Pennsylvania; Daniel A., a Youngstown automobile dealer ; Mary, wife of George Ford, of New Springfield, Ohio; Dorothy, wife of David Whitmore, at New Springfield; and Samantha, deceased.


Norman Heindel was educated in the high school at North Lima and learned a great deal about farming before he left the farm at the age of seventeen. He then learned the trade of butcher with C. T. Geiger, and served a long apprenticeship with very little pay. For three and a half years he was a member of the firm Heindel & Hahn, and since then has had his younger brother, Emanuel, as his business associate.


Mr. Heindel married in 1905 Miss Goldie Sigle, daughter of Charles Sigle, a Youngstown florist. Their son, Earl, is now eleven years of age. The family are members of the Baptist Church and Mr. Heindel is affiliated with the Masonic order, being a member of Western Star Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Youngstown, Youngstown Chapter Royal Arch Masons, also Beuchner Council, and St. John's Commandery Knights Templar, and Al Koran Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of Robert E. Johnson Lodge, Knights of Pythias.


WILLIAM BAKODY. While a resident of Youngstown the great part of his life and himself connected for some years with some of the local industries, William Bakody has contributed his best work and service to the Mahoning Valley through the rare skill and abilities he exercised as a breeder of Holstein cattle. The dairy industry of Northeastern Ohio owes a permanent debt to William Bakody.


Mr. Bakody was born in Akron, Ohio, January 5, 1869, son of John and Elizabeth (Reasen) Bakody, who soon after his birth removed to Youngstown. John Bakody was a native of Hungary, and a member of a titled family of that country and was a participant in the revolution of 1848. When that movement met with defeat he came to the United States with the noted Kossuth. He was well educated, but came to this country practically without means. He lived for some years at Mansfield, Ohio, and later conducted a jewelry business at Akron until his establishment was swept away by fire. On coming to Youngstown he continued the jewelry business, at first in the old Eagle Drug Store, then in the Fisher restaurant, and finally on North Phelps Street. One of his apprentices was John Brenner, well known in Youngstown. John Bakody, who died in 191o, at the age of eighty-two, was one of the promrnent characters of Youngstown. He became well versed in the English language after reaching this country, and enjoyed the friendship of the best people. He was a member of the Brotherhood of Christ, and a very religious man. He was one of the founders of the church of his denomination at Girard and always kept a membership there. His wife, Elizabeth Reasen, was born in Switzerland and was about twelve years of age when her parents came to America and settled at Akron. She is still living at the age of eighty, and her home has been at High Street and West Avenue for the past fifty years. She and her husband had a large family of children. John died at the age of twenty-nine. Emlen has a nation-wide reputation as a photographer and collector of rare violins, and is a resident of Cleveland. Charles is a successful musician at Washington, Pennsylvania. The next in age is William Bakody. Emma is the wife of John Metzger, of Youngstown. Joseph, who died in Youngstown at the age of thirty, was a jewelry merchant in New York City. Sadie lives with her mother. Samuel is a fruit grower at Hamilton, Ontario. Edward is in the jewelry business at Ponca City, Oklahoma, while T. W. Bakody is a well known Youngstown tailor. Gertrude is a talented musician, spent two years in completing her studies in Italy and is a teacher of vocal music in New York City.


William Bakody graduated from the West Side School at the age of sixteen. He spent three years in the laboratory of the Brown-Bonnell plant, and had fifteen years of varied commercial experience both in the South and West. Eventually he discovered and concentrated upon his special genius, as a livestock breeder. He was a constant student of everything connected with his business, and has that rare judgment amounting to genius in the handling of livestock. Mr. Bakody for twenty years continued his business on the Idora place, formerly consisting of 15o acres, and originally the property of the Youngstown pioneer John Lanterman. Four acres of this old farm are now occupied by Idora Park. Eight and a half acres have been acquired by Wick Brothers, while Mr. Bakody retains three and a half acres as his small home place, all the rest having become part of the City of Youngstown.


Here, at the height of his business career, Mr. Bakody owns a Hollanderry herd consisting of registered Holsteins, and famous all over the United States. Mr. Bakody kept in close touch with the State University and agricultural experiment stations and his own experiences and work were a valuable contribution to the researches of these institutions. He has always taken an active interest in local and state politics and is a republican.


In two he married Mrs. Una Simon, daughter of Colonel Foster and widow of Hosea Simon. By her former marriage she has two children. Her daughter, Florence, is now finishing her education at Goucher College in Baltimore. Willard, a student at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, is, like his sister, a graduate of the South High School. Willard during the World war was with the Thirty-Seventh Division, and was on the battle line in France, participating in the Argonne offensive.


JAMES B. KENNEDY. The life of the scholarly or professional man seldom exhibits any of those striking incidents that seize upon public feeling and attract attention to himself. His character is generally made up of the aggregate qualities and qualifications he may possess, as these may be elicited by the exercise of the duties of his vocation or the particular


254 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY


profession to which he may belong. But when such a man has so impressed his individuality upon his fellow men as to gain their confidence and through that confidence rise to important public position, he becomes a conspicuous figure in the body politic of the community. The subject of this review, one of the scholarly and able men of his community, forged to the front in one of the most exacting of professions and also earned an honorable reputation as a leader in business and financial circles. Because of his earnest life, high attainments, well rounded character and large influence, he is eminently entitled to representation in a work of the character of the one in hand.


James B. Kennedy was born in Youngstown on November 20, 1863, and is the son of John R. and Elizabeth (Byrd) Kennedy, and the grandson of James and Sarah (Reed) Kennedy. James Kennedy was a native of Pennsylvania and was a farmer by vocation. In 1804 with his father he came to Ohio and located on the banks of Dry Run in Mahoning County, some three miles from Youngstown. Here he opened up a pioneer farm, which he operated during the remainder of his life. He was known as "Squire" Kennedy, having been elected to the office of justice of the peace. He was a United Presbyterian in his religious belief. His death occurred in 1872.


John R. Kennedy was born in 1820 and died on December 25, 1869. During his active years he became closely identified with the iron industry and helped to build a number of iron works, notably those at Brier Hill, Wheatland, Sharon, Hasleton and elsewhere. In early days he served as a county commissioner. For a number of years he also conducted a cabinet-making and undertaking business under the firm name of J. R. & J. C. Kennedy, under the personal management of the latter. To him and his wife were born two children, David S. and James B.

The former was connected with the Homestead Steel Works of the Carnegie group at Homestead, Pennsylvania, for thirty-five years.


James B. Kennedy was reared in Youngstown until after his father's death, when he went to live with his grandfather, and after the latter's death he was reared by his uncle, Thomas W. Kennedy, his guardian. He received his elementary education in the public schools and in Poland Union Seminary, Poland, Ohio. He completed his educational training in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and then, having determined to devote his life to the legal profession, he read law under the direction of Homer E. Stewart at Warren, Ohio. He was admitted to the bar in 1885 and at once entered upon the active practice of his profession at Youngstown, where he was soon recognized as a keen and sagacious lawyer. In 1889 he was elected prosecuting attorney, serving two consecutive terms, or six years in all. In 1896 he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas, in which position he gained an excellent reputation as an able and just judge, but in 1899 he resigned from the bench and resumed the practice of his profession, in partnership with C. D. Hine, under the firm name of Hine & Kennedy, the firm now being known as Hine, Kennedy, Manchester, Conroy & Ford. Of late years Mr. Kennedy as executive head has been giving his undivided attention to directing the affairs of the Brier Hill Steel Company. He had charge of the legal phase of the organization of that company in 1912, has acted as general counsel continually since that time, and in 1917 ws elected chairman of the board of directors. He is also vice president of the Commercial National Bank and various other institutions, and has been president of the Youngstown Northern Railroad Company since its organization.


Judge Kennedy was married on March 4, 1884, to Roxanna Rice, of Poland, Ohio, and they became the parents of three children, namely: Dudley R., Florence Byrd, who is the wife of H. J. Stambaugh, Jr., and David Francis. Mrs. Roxanna Kennedy died in 1895, and in 1897 Judge Kennedy was married to Mary Swift Young, of Baltimore, Maryland.


Judge Kennedy is an active supporter of the republican party and takes a keen interest in public affairs. As before suggested, Judge Kennedy made a most excellent record while on the Common Pleas bench of Mahoning County. His qualifications for that exalted office are unquestionable, as he possesses, first, integrity of character, and, secondly, the natural ability and essential acquirements, the acumen of the judicial temperament. No labor was too great, however onerous; no application too exacting, however severe, if necessary to the complete understanding and correct determination of a question, and during his altogether too brief incumbency the judge proved himself a distinct man in all the term implies, and its implication is wide. He is considered a safe and sound practitioner, his pleas being eloquent in the clearness of statement, the broad common sense of reasoning, the force of logic, earnestness and power, while he has never been known to fail in that strict courtesy and regard for professional ethics which should ever characterize the members of the bar. He is universally recognized as a splendid citizen and one of Youngstown's leading men of affairs.




JESSE N. BALDWIN of Niles, represents one of the very prominent pioneer families of the Mahoning Valley.


His grandfather, Eli Baldwin, came to Mahoning County, Ohio, in 1800 from New Milford, Connecticut. The lands of the Western Reserve were then just being parceled out and sold, and in the transaction he was special agent for Elijah Boardman, who was agent for the sale of lands in Boardman Township. Eli Baldwin became a man of prominence not only in his immediate locality but in the state. He served as a member of the House and Senate sixteen years, and at one time lacked only a few votes Of becoming governor. He married Mary Newport, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and he spent his last years in Boardman Township.


Eli Baldwin, the second, had a tendency to adventure. He was a California forty-niner, making the trip west to the gold coast by the river route and overland. On the boat going up the Missouri River the party was stricken with cholera and he helped bury many of the passengers. While crossing the plains there were many troubles with Indians, and he and his comrades suffered hunger and other hardships. He made no money in the gold fields of California and returned by way of


YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 255


the Isthmus of Panama, suffering the additional misfortune of being shipwrecked three miles from land. On returning to Ohio he resumed farming and spent his last years at Girard, whither, he moved from the farm near Niles. He was a strong abolitionist, and in many respects had original ideas that set him apart from his fellow men. He married Laura Maria Folsom, and of their six children three reached mature years.


Jesse N. Baldwin was born June 15, 1857, on the farm in Weathersfield Township of Trumbull County, where he lives today. With the exception of a year spent at Seattle his entire life has been lived on that farm. He lacked formal educational advantages during his youth, and it has been largely a result of personal effort that he has become a man of thorough and exact information, and with good all around business abilities. For a time he was in the retail coal business, but his chief interest and occupation has been farrmng and real estate. He is a member of the Niles Real Estate Board, served as secretary of the old Niles Board of Trade about seven years, and is a member of the present Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Christian Church.


Mr. Baldwin married for his first wife Anna Isabel Rogers, who died July 13, 1915. She was the mother of two children, Jessie Natalie, who died in infancy, and Roger Greenwood. Mr. Baldwin's second wife is Margnerite Louise Campbell. They have two sons, John Newport and William Campbell.


G. A. DOERIGHT., president and general manager of the Falcon-Bronze Company, is one of the aggressive business men of Youngstown, who not only has always had original ideas, but the ambition, courage and perseverance to materialize them, so that he has registered astounding achievements not only in the realm of industrialism but also in politics. He was born a son of Theodore and Charlotte (Stein) Doeright, the former of whom, a native of Germany, came with his wife to the United States in 1853, locating at Youngstown, Ohio, where he followed his trade of cabinetmaking and undertaking, so continuing until his death, which occurred in 1884. He was a steady, methodical man, hard-working and thrifty. Through his excellent characteristics he gained and held the respect of those who were associated with him.


After attending the public schools of Youngstown, G. A. Doeright early became self-supporting, for his father had the old German idea of training him to be useful early in his career. Therefore before he left school he became an employe of the Youngstown Sanitary Company, and having an instinctive liking for that kind of work he continued at it following the completion of his schooldays. Working in different foundries, Mr. Doeright specialized in brass mouldings, in all of the shops having brass foundries. The idea came to him that a shop devoted exclusively to brass work would be a paying concern. After being with the Youngstown Brass Works on North Avenue for five years, Mr. Doeright felt that his savings had reached an amount which would justify his carrying out the plans he had matured, and in 1892 he founded the Falcon Bronze Works. A year later he sold a half interest to G. B. Booth, and then in 1895 the business was incorporated with a capitalization of $10,000 as the Falcon Bronze Company, G. B. Booth being the first president, G. A. Doeright, vice president, and John Todd, secretary and treasurer. In 1900 the capital stock was increased to $25,000, and since then a large surplus has been added. The present officials are: G. A. Doeright, president and general manager ; R. H. Doeright, vice president; J. L. Wick, Jr., secretary; and E, E. Miller, treasurer. The company manufactures bronze and brass castings for every kind of machinery, rolling mill brasses, Falcon bronze sheet and tin mill bearings, acid metal pickling cradles, vats, rods, bolts, braces and babbitt metals. From the start the business has been a success, and Mr. Doeright has the satisfaction of proving that his idea not only was an excellent one, but practical as well.


In 1893 Mr. Doeright was united in marriage with Anna L. Evans, a daughter of Henry Evans, a pioneer of the region surrounding Youngstown. Mr. and Mrs. Doeright have one son, G. A., Jr. Mr. Doeright is a member of the Youngstown Club, the Rotary Club, the Youngstown Engineers' Club, the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers and the American Iron and Steel Institute. He is president of the Youngstown Laundry Company, vice president of the Youngstown Auto Club. and vice president of the Youngstown Garmerrt Manufacturing Company. He also belongs to the Lutheran Church, in which he takes an active part and to whose support he is a very generous contributor. Fraternally he is an Elk, and was treasurer of the Elks Building Company. He is prominent in the Society of American Magicians, the National Conjurors Association, and similar organizations. A republican by inheritance and inclination, he became a member of the City Council in 1914, and has been thrice re-elected to that office, and served as chairman of the finance committee of that body three terms, and of the general improvement committee, the two most important committees. Mr. Doeright possesses the characteristics of efficiency, trustworthiness and absolute dependability, and while his road of advancement has not been devoid of battles, he has won out and is always able, when opportunity arises, to play upon the situation with the searchlight of broad, personal experience and knowledge of men and their motives.


JEREMIAH RICHARD WOOLLEY. The gentleman whose name heads this sketch has long enjoyed prestige as a leading citizen in the community where he resides, and as an official against whose record no word of suspicion has ever been uttered. For many years Mr. Woolley has been a factor in the business affairs of the Mahoning Valley. His prominence in the community is the legitimate result of genuine merit and ability, and in every relation of life, whether in the humble sphere of private citizenship or as a trusted official with many responsibilities resting upon him, his many excellencies of character and the able and impartial manner in which he has discharged his every duty have won for him an enviable reputation as an enterprising and progressive


256 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY


man. In Mr. Woolley's veins flows the blood of a long line of sterling Welsh ancestors—in fact, he himself is only of the second generation of his family in the United States.


Jeremiah Richard Woolley, first vice president of the Home Savings and Loan Company and secretary of the Tod estates at Youngstown, is a native son of the old Keystone state, having been born at Brady's Bend, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, in March, 1847. He is the son of Richard and Rachel (Williams) Woolley, the former of whom was born in Montgomeryshire, Wales, in 1802, and the latter in Monmouthshire, Wales, in 1810. They were married in their native country in 1840, and shortly thereafter immigrated to the United States. Their first permanent location was at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but after a few years they moved to Great Western, later known as Brady's Bend, in Armstrong County, that state, where Richard Woolley was employed in the coal industry until 1847. He then removed to Youngstown, Ohio, where, and in the vicinity of which, he passed the remaining years of his life, his death occurring on November 9, 1874, when seventy-two years old. From 1856 to 1867 he resided on a small farm located between Brier Hill and Girard, and it was while operating that farm that he became a partner of John Stambaugh in coal mining, which they carried on extensively and successfully, and during this time he was also employed to look after the coal mining interests of Governor David Tod. He was a man of splendid qualities of character, backed by excellent business judgment, a combination of characteristics which bore fruit in the material success which rewarded his efforts in a business way. He enjoyed the admiration and respect of his busrness associates and the good will of all who knew him. He was survived by his widow until November I, 1885. They were faithful and active members of the Welsh Baptist Church.


The seventh child born to these worthy parents was he whose name appears at the head of this review. Until fourteen years of age Jeremiah Richard Woolley attended school, the daily routine of his life being much the same as the average boy of that period. His first employment was as a clerk for David Johns & Company, in which concern his father had a financial interest, and later he was employed in the same capacity by John Jehu & Company, which position he resigned in order to enter a private military school at University Heights, Cleveland, Ohio. Notwithstanding his youth, he had expressed a strong desire to enter the army, and it is possible his shrewd father believed a course in a military school might satisfy that ambition. It probably did, for his subsequent career has been confined entirely to commercial pursuits. On February 4, 1867, when not yet twenty years old, he was employed by Governor Tod to take charge of the office at Tod Furnace, where he remained until 1873. In the following year he became night founder at Grace Furnace for Julian Kennedy, the great furnace and steel mill builder. Later he became superintendent of the Kline coal mines, and subsequently served as paymaster for the Brier Hill Iron and Coal Company. In 1881 Mr. Woolley became bookkeeper for Nelson Crandall, the treasurer of the Brier Hill Iron and Coal Company, and was later sent to the Kline mines as superintendent, retaining that position until the closing of the mines in 1883. During these years Mr. Woolley had demonstrated himself the possessor cf business acumen and discrimination of high order, so that when he was selected by the executors and trustees of the estate of the late Governor Tod as private secretary he was peculiarly well qualified for the position, and this position he has since filled. He has had under his supervision large and important interests, entailing an enormous amount of detail work, but his long retention in the position is all the evidence needed as to his satisfactory discharge of the trust placed in his hands.


Mr. Woolley was one of the prime movers in the organization of the Home Building and Loan Company, and he is the present first vice president of the successor of that organization, now known as the Home Savings and Loan Company, one of the strong and influential financial institutions of Youngstown.• He has always shown a deep interest in the public affairs of Youngstown and has consistently given his support to every movement which had for its object the advancement of the city's normal and legitimate interests. He has been closely in touch with public affairs and has known intimately many of Ohio's greatest men, including the late President McKinley, but he has steadfastly refused to accept any public office that would in any way interfere with his duties of a private character.


While living at Brier Hill Mr. Woolley was, on the recommendation of Congressman William McKinley, appointed postmaster there, under the administration of President Benjamin Harrison, his being the first republican appointment to a postoffice in Mahoning County in that administration. For five terms of two years each he served as a member of the Youngstown City Council, being president of that body during the last year. He also rendered efficient and appreciated service as a member of the Board of Education, the Board of Elections and the Board of Public Safety. Socially he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having served his lodge as noble grand, is a member of Youngstown Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of the Knights of the Golden Eagle, of St. David's Society and is president of the Welsh Pioneer Association of the Western Reserve.


On December 24, 1877, Mr. Woolley was married to Marian Kane, who was born in Wisconsin on July 4, 1858, but who was mainly reared and educated at Brier Hill, completing her educational training at Villa Maria Girls' Academy at Bedford, Pennsylvania. They are the parents of two daughters, namely : Rachel Edna, who is the wife of John R. Perkins and the mother of a son, Jere R., and Jane Elizabeth. Mr. Woolley is a man of many sterling characteristics of head and heart, and amcing his contemporaries it would be hard to find a record as replete with toilsome duty faithfully and uncomplainingly performed in all the walks of life, while his career in the humble sphere of private citizenship has been such as to commend him to the favorable consideration of the best people of the city and • county where he has so long maintained his residence.


YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 257


JOHN H. MIDDLETON, secretary of the estates of William and David Tod and D. B. and Margaret Stambaugh, is one of the reliable, responsible and highly trusted men of Youngstown, whose knowledge of the work he is carrying on is thorough, and whose efforts are such as to work out to the satisfaction of all parties concerned. Mr. Middleton was born at Youngstown on September 23, 1871, a son of John H. and Mary (Irwin) Middleton. The elder John H. Middleton was born in Pennsylvania, and was employed in the iron mills of the Mahoning Valley. About r872 he located at Youngstown, and was accidentally killed when twenty-two years of age. His widow survives him and makes her home at Youngstown. They had two sons, John H. and Harry I.


John H. Middleton, the younger, has spent practically all of his life at Youngstown, receiving his educational training in its public schools. At the beginning of his business career he was connected with railroad work, and later went with the Republic Iron & Steel Company, and still later was with the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company. For one and one-half terms he was a member of the Youngstown City Council, but resigned to accept the position of clerk of Mahoning County, to which office he was elected in r9o5 and which he held for two elective terms. Following that Mr. Middleton was associated with David Tod in his activities, and after his death became secretary of the estates of William and David Tod and D. B. and Margaret Stambaugh.


On April 8, 19o8, Mr. Middleton was married to Miss Alice Foster, a daughter of Lemuel T. Foster, a veteran of the war between the states, who came from pioneer stock. Mr. and Mrs. Middleton became the parents of two children, John H. and Betty A. Mr. Middleton is a member of the Youngstown Club. His fraternal connections are maintained with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. For some years he has been an attendant of the Presbyterian Church. Since casting his first vote Mr. Middleton has been a republican, and the offices he has filled have come to him as the candidate of his party. He is a man in whom implicit confidence can be placed, and has been given attributes which make him strong in mental equipment, quick in perception and a natural leader of men.




BENJAMIN FRANKLIN PEW. Besides being one of the oldest business men of Niles, Benjamin Franklin Pew has undoubtedly been one of the most constructive factors in the development of the city. The community was fortunate in the fact that he and a few others were able to look and plan ahead, and work unitedly for the future as well as the present.


Mr. Pew was born April 10, 1850, at Lordstown, about four miles from the present City of Niles, a son of Horace and Nancy Ann (Osborne) Pew. His grandfather, Thomas Pew, was a prominent pioneer character in Trumbull County, establishing his home in Warren Township, 2 1/2 miles from Warren. Horace Pew, who was born and reared on his father's farm there, continued identified with agriculture until 1865, when he and John Ohl became partners in a general mercantile business at Niles under the firm name of Pew, Ohl & Company. After 1873 he removed to Cleveland, where he spent his last days.


Benjamin F. Pew was reared on the home farm owned by his father, now included in the corporation limits of Niles. He had a public school education, and when only fifteen years of age was made the responsible manager of the store in which his father was a partner. This business transacted sales to the value of between $75,000 and $100,000 a year. It and many other concerns went down in the panic of 1873, and Benjamin F. Pew was compelled to begin all over again. For the next ten years he was in the livery business and in 1884, thirty-six years ago, engaged in the retail grocery business, which he has continued to the present time. Fifty years of hard work have brought him competence and independence. Since he was a young man he has been interested in the real estate business. He recently has laid out the Pew addition on North Main Street. There were fifty acres in his original farm and the trees thereon were set out by himself in 1894. He still owns seventeen acres.


Mr. Pew and R. G. Sykes were the chief organizers and assumed most of the responsibilities in connection with the first board of trade at Niles. This organization, with Mr. Pew as leader, had much to do with attracting some of the early industries to the city, and it also planned and carried out the campaign resulting in a waterworks and lighting system. These undertakings were carried out against the general apathy or active opposition of many local citizens. While the first board of trade practically revolved around the energies of these two men, the subsequent boards of trade and the present Chamber of Commerce were born out of the ashes of the Pew-Sykes organization. In all the later business organizations Mr. Pew has been an indefatigable worker, and his willingness to aid has been counted on as one of the chief instrnments in making Niles a prosperous manufacturing and commercial center. He served as president and secretary of the second board of trade, and as an active member of the present Niles Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Pew is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and is a Methodist.


In 1872 he married Miss Sarah A. Harris, of Niles. Their only child, Edna H., is the wife of F. W. Caldwell.


JAMES L. WICK. For many years Wick has been. an honored and significant name in Youngstown life and affairs. The late James L. Wick, who died October 2, 1919, was primarily a merchant. By nature he was quiet and unassuming, but was noted for his integrity and moral worth, and Youngstown is much indebted to such men as he for the enviable position the city now enjoys in commercial affairs.


Born at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 27, 1848, James L. Wick was a son of John Dennick and Emily (Lippincott) Wick, and a grandson of Henry and Hannah (Baldwin) Wick. He was reared at Youngstown, attended the common schools, and finished his education at Hudson Academy, now a part of Oberlin College. For a time he was a coal op-


258 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY


erator at Church Hill. His longest association, however, was in mercantile lines, and for many years he was proprietor of a store under the firm name Wick, Arms & Bloxon on the present site of the George L. Fordyce Company at West Federal and Phelps Streets.


Mr. Wick was a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason. He married Julia Manney, and their living children are Dennick M., James L., Jr., Elbridge A. and George L.


Dennick M. Wick, the oldest son, was born in Youngstown July 13, 1880. He had a public school education, and as a youth found employment as a messenger with the Dollar Savings & Trust Company. He has been with that corporation throughout his business career, and on his merit and ability has won advancement to treasurer. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Youngstown Club and the Youngstown Country Club.

May 27, 1914, he married Miss Margaret Howells. They have two children: Alice Julia and Robert Dennick.


SHIRLEY S. FENCH, vice president and general manager of the General Fireproofing Company at Youngstown since June, 1917, has had a widely diversified experience in the iron and steel and kindred industries of Eastern Ohio.


Mr. French was born at Garrettsville, Ohio, May 2, 1881, son of Samuel and Mary (Johnston) French, and grandson of Schuyler French, who came to Ohio from Connecticut in 1830 and settled on a wild tract of land near Garrettsville. Samuel French was born in Connecticut in 1816, and spent his active life as a farmer at Garrettsville and died at the age of eighty-four.


Shirley S. French grew up on the home farm, learned its duties, and in two graduated from the Garrettsville High School. On the death of his father he went to work to help support his mother. His first employment was with the Brown-Bonnell plant of the Republic Iron & Steel Company at Youngstown. He began as tally boy and remained with the Republic Company for six years, eventually having charge of the shipping and order departments of the Toledo plant.


Mr. French was one of the large staff of company offrcials who were on the ground during the laying out and early development of the great steel city of Gary, Indiana. In 1906 he went there in the office of the chief engineer of the United States Steel Corporation. Two years later he was transferred to the accounting department, where he was frequently assigned the duty of estimating and figuring on special work. At the beginning of the construction of the coke plant he was sent to the plant as chief clerk of the coke plant division.


After six years of residence at Gary Mr. French returned to Youngstown in 1912 as chief clerk of the steel plant of the Brier Hill Steel Company. In 1915 he became assistant general manager of the William Tod Company, and five months later was made general manager. In June, 1917, he took up his present duties as vice president and general manager of the General Fireproofing Company.


Mr. French was one of the organizers of the first Masonic Lodge at Gary. He is also affiliated with both of Youngstown's clubs. April 4, 1909, he married Miss Maude Jenness, of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Their four sons are Charles, John, James and Shirley.


REV. JOHN R. MALONEY, The eight years' pastorate of Father Maloney at St. Patrick's Catholic Church at Hubbard has been a very prosperous period, and the church has grown in power and influence fully in proportion to the increasing population of the parish. This is one of the older Catholic Churches in Trumbull County, the first church having been built in 1868. A parish school was organized in 1870. The present church edifice is comparatively new, having been erected a short time before Father Maloney came to the parish, and his administration has been marked by the building of a new parochial school, where more than 200 pupils are under the instruction of the sisters in charge.


Rev. John F. Maloney was born at Niles, November 29, 1876, a son of Patrick and Bridget (Quinlan) Maloney. His father was a native of County Clare, Ireland, and as a young man came to the United States. For a time he was a railroad worker, but at Niles he served for twenty-five years as a puddler in the iron furnaces. He is still living at Niles, and has been a resident of that city for half a century. For a number of years he was on the council of St. Stephen's Catholic Church at Niles. The children in the family are: John F.; Simon J., a merchant and real estate dealer just outside Niles; Mary A. a teacher in the schools at Youngstown; and Catherine, a stenographer employed in an office at Niles.


Rev. John F. Maloney received his classical education at Notre Dame University, graduating with the class of 1896. He was trained for the priesthood at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Cincinnati and was ordained at Cleveland June 6, 1904, by Bishop Horstman. For two years he was assistant at St. Edward's in Cleveland and six years at the Church of the Immaculate Conception at Youngstown. His first regular pastorate was at Akron, where he spent a year, and on March to, 1912, he assumed his duties at St. Patrick's in Hubbard. At that time this congregation numbered about ninety families, while now 150 families are enrolled in the church membership, comprising several nationalities. Father Maloney has given all his time to the parish and his pastoral work, is greatly beloved by his people, and is also esteemed among non-Catholics as a companionable and genial gentleman and a thoroughly American citizen.


WILLIAM PARKER Played a useful and influential part in the industrial community of Youngstown, where he lived for over fifty years.


He was born at Dowlais, South Wales, July 7, 1843, son of Evan Parker, who brought his family to America about eight years later, beginning the voyage April 20, 1851, and reaching Youngstown on the 19th of June. Evan Parker had all the good qualities of a typical Welshman, and was an honest citizen and skillful factor in the industrial community for many years. The family soon moved to a farm and home at the corner of Emma Street and Gar-


YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 259


land Avenue, a part of Youngstown that has known the Parker family for over sixty years. It was at his home at Emma Street and Garland Avenue that William Parker lived for thirty-five years, and he died there in March, 1907, at the age of sixty-four.


He acquired most of his early education in Youngstown. In 1864 at the age of twenty-one, he enlisted in the 1o5th Ohio Infantry, and among the organizations which paid tribute to his life was Tod Post of ihe Grand Army, of which he was a member many years. After the war and prior to his army service he worked as a coal miner, and later was a faithful employe in the puddle department of the Valley Mill of the Republic Iron Works. The last sixteen years of his life he served as car inspector for the Lake Shore Railroad.


In his business relations he proved dependable, and the quality of his usefulness was greatly admired. He was also constant to his other duties and obligations. From boyhood he was a faithful member and attendant at church and Sunday school services of the Elm Street Congregational Church, and ,ubsequently became identified with the Plymouth Church at the time of its organization, serving on its irst building committee. He was also deeply interested in the Emma Street Mission, and contributed noth his means and his personal work to the welfare ,f that Mission. He was known by his friends and associates for his devotion to his family, his honesty, his upright dealing and his kindliness and considerateness as a neighbor. For many years he was a member of the Ivorite Fraternity.


December 17, 1865, he married Miss Margaret Lewis. They became the parents of three sons and wo daughters. Mr. Parker was survived by Mrs. Parker and four children, Thomas L., J. Howard, James E. and Sarah.


THOMAS H. KANE. While by no means one of the oldest in point of years, Thomas H. Kane in experience is one of the veterans of the iron and steel industry of the Mahoning Valley. He has been in Youngstown since 1908 and is vice president and works manager of the Truscon Steel Company.


Mr. Kane was born at Toledo, Ohio, September 15, 1872, son of Henry and Elizabeth (Mack) Kane. His parents were also born in Northwestern Ohio, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Henry Kane was an ensign in the navy during the Civil war, being with the Mississippi River fleet.


Spending his boyhood at Toledo, Thomas H. Kane acquired a public school education and has been carving his own destiny since he was about fifteen years of age. For practically thirty years he has been in some phase of the steel industry. While he never attended a technical college, the school of experience has given him a most thorough, practical and scientific knowledge of the industry.


He is one of the members of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and at Youngstown belonged to the Country Club and the Chamber of Commerce. He married Alice R. Bumgardner, of Toledo. Their four children are Frederick C., Thomas Carlton, Alice Rachel and Thomas Henry. The son, Frederick, was an American soldier in the war with Germany..


MELVIN J. HORNBERGER. In past ages the history of a country was comprised chiefly in the record of its wars and conquests. Today history is largely a record of commercial activity, and those whose names are foremost in any community are those who have become leaders in business circles. Melvin J. Hornberger, who is recognized as one of the leading coal dealers of Youngstown, is characterized by tireless energy, keen perception and honesty of purpose, qualitres which will insure success in any undertaking.


Melvin J. Hornberger is a Hoosier by nativity, having been born at Waterloo, Indiana, on January to, 1866, and is the son of Joseph and Anna (Ray) Hornberger, the former a native of Dekalb County, Indiana, and the latter of Dayton, Ohio. The father, who was a harnessmaker by trade and also followed railroading, died when the subject of this sketch was but an infant. He was killed while in the employ of the Lake Shore Railroad Company. The widowed mother later married Ward Diehl, and the family moved to Trumbull County, Ohio, when Mr. Hornberger was seven years old. The mother died in 1909.


The subject's educational opportunities were somewhat limited, but he availed himself of every chance to gain knowledge, a trait which has remained with him, so that he has become possessed of a wide fund of general information. In 1887 Mr. Hornberger came to Youngstown, and his first employment here was with E. M. McGillen, whose industry enjoyed the distinction of being the first business enterprise of the town. Later he entered the employ of Smith Crawford, dealer in feed, with whom he remained for eleven years. He was then with the Pittsburgh Coal Company for five years, being in charge of the retail yards in the West End, where he handled coal and building supplies. In 1904 Mr. Hornberger started in business on his own account at his present location, No. 524 West Federal Street, and has literally grown wrth the town, the yard now comprising two hundred and eighty-eight feet of ground betweep Federal Street and the Erie Railroad tracks. He handles coal and all kinds of building material, and has been remarkably successful in anticipating the public demand in the way of certain materials. Mr. Hornberger has also been very successful as a builder of homes, which he has erected to sell. In all his enterprises he has shown soundness of judgment and keen perception, which have in themselves been guarantors of success.


In 1889 Melvin J. Hornberger was united in marriage with Laura Bishop, the daughter of William Bishop, of Poland, and to this union have been born two children, Jay, who is associated with his father in business, and Hazel, who died at the age of ten years. Dnring the World war Jay W. was in active service for eleven months, having been on the firing line in Italy with the Three Hundred and Thirty-Second Infantry when the armistice was signed. He was married May 22, 1917, to Miss Laura Belle Parkin, a daughter of J. W. and Sophia Parkin.


Mr. Hornberger and his family are members of the Belmont Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is a member of the building committee recently selected by the congregation to oversee the erection


260 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY


of a new church building. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Chamber of Commerce and the Automobile Club. Politically he is a stanch republican and gives his support to every movement that promises to promote the public good.




WILLIAM B. MASON has lived in and around Niles for nearly eighty years, is a veteran of the Civil war, and his career has been one of usefulness and honor in that community, where several others of his family were prominent.


His grandfather, Ambrose Mason, brought his family to Trumbull County, Ohio, about 1836. In former years he had served as a judge in Essex County, New York. On coming to Ohio he located at Niles. His wife was Jemima Turner, and when they came to Ohio they were accompanied by their sons Dean Edson, Hiram T. and Henry Harrison and their daughters Louisa, Amanda, Lucy, Harriet and Electa. Of their children Hiram T. became a successful farmer and was an early county commissioner of Trumbull County. Henry Harrison was a Niles merchant and one of the early postmasters of the city. Dean Edson bought a farm now practically within the city limits of Niles, though in 1849, at the age of thirty-four, he had well established his position as a business man are good citizen. He married Bertha Minerva Holcomb.


Dean Edson Mason and wife had three children: Amanda, who became the wife of R. W. Jackson; Frank Holcomb, who became well known in Ohio public affairs and whose sketch appears elsewhere; and William B.


William B. Mason is the only son of his parents now living. He was born on the homestead at Niles, Angust 4, 1842, and completed his education in Hiram College. For seventy-six years he has lived under one roof and his energies have been worthily directed as a farmer. He enlisted in April, 1864, in Company B of the One Hundred and Seventy-First. Ohio Infantry. That regiment was first under fire at Keller's Bridge, Kentucky, and the entire command was captured by General John B. Morgan. William B. Mason soon afterward was paroled, and that ended his army career. He was discharged at Sandusky, Ohio, Augnst 20, 1864. He is the present commander of McPherson Post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Niles. For twenty years Mr. Mason has been local correspondent of the Cleveland Leader, and has contributed to various other periodicals. He is regarded as an authority on local history in Niles and that section of Trumbull County. He is a republican and a member of the Christian Church.


January 25, 1872, Mr. Mason married Mary E. Russell. She died Christmas morning of 1917, the mother of three children: Russell E.; Bertha R., wife of Thomas H. Wilson, Jr., and Mary H., wife of R. F. Kiefer.


ALONZO G. SHARP is general manager of the A. G. Sharp Lumber Company, doing a general lumber and mill work business at the old Dingledy plant in Youngstown.. Mr. Sharp has made the lumber industry practically his life work, and his business experience ranges from the Mahoning Valley into the far Southwest.


He was born in Montgomery City, Missouri, January 6, 1873, son of R. A. and Henrietta Sharp. Both his parents are deceased. His father, who was a general contractor, died at the age of seventy-eight, on June 11, 1920. He was a Confederate veteran, having fought on the Southern side during the Civil war.


Alonzo G. Sharp is one of a. family of seven children. He attended the schools of his native city, finished a business course in the Bryant & Stratton Business College at St. Louis, and as a young man worked as a carpenter. He became associated in the lumber business with different firms at Montgomery City, Missouri, Marion, Indiana, and Las Vegas, New Mexico. In 1906 he became general manager for the B. C. Tibbett Lumber Company, and was similarly associated with the Union Wholesale Lumber Company. He organized and since April, 1919, has been general manager of the A. G. Sharp Lumber Company.


In 1903 Mr. Sharp married Miss Lelia M. tail, of Montgomery City, Missouri. They are members of the First Christian Church, in which he is a trustee. He is affiliated with the Elks and the Youngstown Club.


JOHN W. KUHNS came to Youngstown when its position as an industrial center was by no means as secure as it is today. That was nearly forty years ago. He has long been a prosperous and enterprising business man, and in late years has given much of his time to public affairs.


Mr. Kuhns was born in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, September 4, 1864, son of Emanuel B. and Mary (Hunsberger) Kuhns. His parents were of that stock described as Pennsylvania Dutch, and their families came from Bucks County. Emanuel B. Kuhns was a Civil war soldier, serving in the Nineteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry. His active life he spent as a farmer, and in politics he began as a democrat, but in later years voted as a republican. He and his wife were active members of the First Christian Church in Youngstown. He died in January, 1919, at the age of eighty-three, while his wife passed away at seventy-six. They were the parents of seven children, and six are still living. The family record is almost unique. John W. Kuhns was forty-five years of age before he attended a funeral of an immediate relative. The children are: Jacob B., superintendent of the Oil City Trust Company's oil lease at Alliance, Ohio; Mrs. Emma Wesner, who occupies the old homestead farm in Pennsylvania; John W.; George W. and Frank B., of the Kuhns Plumbing Company of Youngstown; Henry J., who for twenty years was in partnership with his brother John in the carriage manufacturing industry; and Pearl, who died at the age of thirty-four.


John W. Kuhns acquired his early education in the country schools of Clarion County, Pennsylvania. At Monroeville in his native state he learned carriage painting, and was still only a boy about seventeen when he came with the family to Youngstown in January, 1881. Here he went to work for Sheldon Jacobs and later was foreman of the paint department


YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 261


of Kalenbaugh & Robison, whose plant was on the ground where the Maloney Block now stands. He was foreman in their painting department nine years. In 1891 Mr. Kuhns went to Wood County and represented the Standard Oil Company there two years. In 1892 he established a shop for the making of wagons and carriages on North Walnut Street, and for twenty years he and his brother Henry conducted a very prosperous and productive industry. Their output was heavy vehicles, trucks, grocery and brewery wagons, and that type of wagon construction.


Among his various enterprises it should be noted that Mr. Kuhns was associated with George J. Renner, Louis Liebman and Herman Duesing in developing oil properties in Columbiana County and is still interested in the production of oil in the same locality. He was also in the real estate business and was secretary and treasurer of the West Side Land Company, which developed the site of the old City Hospital, building houses on the ground vacated by that institution.


Mr. Kuhns was drawn into politics as candidate for an offrce without his knowledge or consent, when some of his friends put his name on the democratic ticket as candidate for president of the City Council. His name did much service to the party, though he was defeated. Mayor Craver, in making up his cabinet, selected Mr. Kuhns to serve as director of public safety. He held that office for a year, when he was made director of public service, holding this position until the present administration took up the reigns of city government. His business experience, his connection with large affairs, and his personal integrity eminently qualify Mr. Kuhns for participation in public affairs. He is a member of the English Lutheran Church, and fraternally is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, Elks and W00dmen of the World. He and his family reside at 410 Oak Hill Avenue. He married Miss Effie Bayer in 1889. Her parents were Capt. John S. and Elizabeth Bayer. Mr. and Mrs. Kuhns have three children: Carl W., Caroline E. and Helen M.


EDWARD E. EMERY has had active associations with the business life of Youngstown for over thirty years. He is proprietor of the Edward E. Emery Company, automobile accessories. This business was formerly known as the Anderson Vulcanizing Company.


Mr. Emery was born in New Castle, Pennsylvania, January 31, 1869, son of John B. and Mary A. (Kennedy) Emery, the former a native of Butler County and the latter of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. John B. Emery, who died in 1898, at the age of sixty-four, was for three years a Union soldier, most of the time as a noncommissioned officer in the Tenth Pennsylvania Reserves. He was in many of the great battles of the Civil war, and on the second day of the Gettysburg engagement was severely wounded. He was a member of Tod Post of the Grand Army of the Republic. A saddler and harness maker by trade, he removed to Youngstown in 1872 and worked in the Business establishment when it was located where Lustig Brothers now sell shoes. From Youngstown he went to Greenville, Pennsylvania, where he conducted a business of his own, then was in New Castle again for a period, and about 1881 returned to Youngstown and was employed in the DeNormandy establishment. He and his family were members of the Trinity Methodist Church. His wife, who died in 1914, at the age of fifty-seven, was the mother of three children: Anna Belle, wife of W. E. Warner, of 1611 Elm Street, Youngstown; Edward E.; and Caroline O., wife of Alf Waters, of Detroit.


Edward E. Emery acquired his early education partly in New Castle and partly in the Wood Street School in Youngstown, and in 1886, at the age of seventeen, went to work in the freight office of the Lake Shore Railroad under Captain Pierce. His longest business association was the twenty-four years he put in with Carroll Thornton in the Youngstown Laundry. He held practically every position in that establishment, and was an important factor in its success. He bought his present business in 1916, and while looking after the general business management he relies upon his son William B. Emery for the chief technical skill and supervision.


Mr. Emery married in 1897 Lucinda B. Moore, daughter of W. H. Moore of Youngstown. The son William is their only child. Mr. Emery has always been a faithful voter, though independent in politics. He is.an Elk and he and his family are members of the Richard Brown Memorial Church.


LOUIS L. RICE. The First National Bank of Youngstown rs one of the old and powerful financial institutions of Ohio. Established seventy years ago, its oldest active employe and offrcial today is Louis L. Rice, purchasing agent. Mr. Rice has been with the First National Bank forty-one years, and he has enjoyed the complete confidence of its officials throughout this period, including some of the earlier presidents and directors.


Mr. Rice, who is also treasurer of the Union Safety Deposit Company, was born in Youngstown, on West Federal Street, November 14, 1861, son of Herman and Leah (Heisler) Rice. His parents came from Hungary and settled at Youngstown in 1861, being the third Jewish family in the city. The father was a cabinet maker by trade, conducted a shop on West Federal Street and for a time was employed by the firm of Parish & Nash on East Federal Street on the present location of the Standard Market. Soon after reaching America he made application for citizenship, and was awarded his final papers before the removal of the county seat from Canfield to Youngstown. He was also one of the organizers of the Rodef Sholem Congregation. He died at the age of sixty-four and his wife is also deceased. They were the parents of one son and five daughters, and all except the one married daughter live in the Rice home on Arlington Street. The children are : Emma H., Sallie, Louis L., the only son, Rose, wife of Louis Hirsch, of Pittsburgh, Mariam and Claire B. Louis L. Rice acquired his early education in the Wood Street and Front Street schools, and spent two years in the Monroe School at Warren. During his school vacations he worked at the Jewell Drug Store, but on November to, 1879, entered upon his long continued service with the First National Bank as a messenger boy. Later he was bookkeeper, and now


262 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY


for, a number of years past he has been purchasing agent and treasurer of the Safety Deposit Company. When he entered the First National it had only five employes besides the executive officers. Now there are 200, a large and busy personnel, who regard with every mark of esteem the senior in consecutive service.


Mr. Rice has always been an active member of the Rodef Sholem Congregation and at one time was secretary. He is a past master of Hillman Lodge of Masons, is a member of Youngstown Chapter and Council, and Grand Rapids Consistory, thirty-second degree Scottish Rite, and a member of the board of directors and on the house committee of the Masonic Temple. He is also affiliated with the Elks and in politics is a republican.




DR. ARCHIBALD F. SWANEY While he came to Niles to practice medicine and surgery and did so successfully for fifteen years, Doctor Swaney now devotes all his time and energies to manufacturing, as president and general manager of the Niles Forge and Manufacturing Company.


He was born at New Cumberland, West Virginia, December 13, 1875. His father, Thomas R. Swaney, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, was a Union soldier in the Civil war and spent the greater part of his active life as a merchant.


Archibald F. Swaney, who was reared at New Cumberland, graduated from the high school of that town, read medicine privately, attended lectures and in 1903 graduated from the medical department of the Ohio State University. After a brief period of hospital training at Wheeling he located at Niles in the same year, and practiced steadily until 1918, when he gave up his professional duties to become president and general manager of the Niles Forge and Manufacturing Company.


Doctor Swaney is a member of the Niles Club, Trumbull Country Club and the Christian Church. In 1898 he married Bertha M. Robbins, daughter of G. B. Robbins. Their two sons are George Robbins and Thomas C.


SAMUEL DRABKIN, president of the Bolotin-Drabkin Furniture Company, has been a successful business man of Youngstown for the past sixteen years, and has also made his increasing prosperity a source of direct benefit to the community.


Mr. Drabkin was born in Russia in 1874. His people were engaged in the wholesale flour and grocery business. He was given a liberal education, completing his early training in a gymnasium, which ranks with an American college in curriculum.


However, when Mr. Drabkin arrived at New York in 1892, at the age of eighteen, his capital resources amounted to only $26. For several years he lived in White County, Illinois, where he followed commercial lines, and in 1904 brought his capital and experience to Youngstown. He was unable to speak a word of the English language when he reached this country, but has studied language as well as business and affairs, and has a fluent command of English. In 1904 he established the business of which he is now president, and that firm has grown and prospered with the passing years. The first store was on Himrod Avenue, where the branch postoffice now is, and later was moved to Federal Street. In 1911 a branch was opened in East Youngstown, and two years later still another branch at Niles.


Mr. Drabkin is widely known for his integrity in business, possesses a very charitable nature, and has accepted many opportunities to do good both through church and other organizations. He was for two years president of the Emanuel Congregation, is a member of the B'Nai B'Rith, and is affiliated with the order of Elks.


In 1894 he married Rebecca Prodkin, also a native of Russia. They have two children: Saul G. and Sarah A. The son, Saul, completed his education in the Morgan Park Military Academy at Chicago and is now associated with his father in business.


WILLIAM J. SCHOLL, For nearly thirty-five years William J. Scholl, president of the W. J. Scholl Company of Youngstown, has been actively connected with the plumbing and heating interests of this section of Mahoning County, and by paying prompt and careful attention to the details of his business has won the confidence and good will of the people and built up an extensive and highly remunerative patronage, his services being in constant demand throughout the city. A son of John and Sarah Scholl, he was born in 1856, in Youngstown, Pennsylvania.


Born and bred in Germany, John Scholl was well educated, and became while young a good linguist, speaking three languages, German, French and English. In 1844, disliking the conditions in his native land, he immigrated to the United States, locating first in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where with a brother he engaged in the butcher business. From there he moved to Bradenville, Pennsylvania, and in 1865, accompanied by his family, came in a canal boat to Ohio, landing in Youngstown on the ninth day of April. In partnership with his brother Michael he opened a cabinet making and furniture establishment on Federal Street, and was there located for awhile. For several years he was bookkeeper and collector for the firm of D. Theohold & Company, and at one time was an active member of the city council. He lived to a ripe old age, passing away in 1904. His wife, who was born in America, died many years ago. They were the parents of two children, William J., the subject of this sketch; and George, who lived but sixteen years.


Coming to Youngstown, Ohio, in boyhood, William J. Scholl attended the public schools, and at the age of twelve years was working for Ned Jones in the nail factory. Later he entered the employ of George Turner, proprietor of a spike factory, and for a time, while yet but a boy, drove a wagon for the old McKelvey firm. Entering the establishment of Kelley & Stambaugh in 1873, he served an apprenticeship at the .plumber's trade, and having become familiar with its details worked for awhile in Chicago, and later entered the employ of the Santa Fe Railroad Company, being stationed in Topeka, Kansas.


Returning to Youngstown, Mr. Scholl in 1886 started an establishment of his own in the basement of a building on East Federal Street, under the tin shop of James Squire & Son, Succeeding well in his venture, he purchased the Squire business, which


YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 263


he moved into Doctor Buechner's building on Federal Street. In 1897, his business being constantly increasing, Mr. Scholl built a shop on Market Street, on the site now occupied by the Mahoning County courthouse. Subsequently selling that lot to the county, he moved his building from that location to the present site of the City Market. The building was afterward burned, and Mr. Scholl moved to Boardman Street, taking possession of the building that had for years been occupied by the Natural Gas Company, and there remained until the completion of the new Tod House, when he moved to his present advantageous location.


The business of the W. J. Scholl Company has had a rapid and natural growth from the start, and is constantly increasing in volume and value. The firm has filled many contracts of note, among others having installed the plumbing in the Mahoning County courthouse ; the New Tod House; the Stambaugh Building; the Mahoning National Bank Building; the Home Savings & Loan Building; and many other prominent structures in and near the city.


Mr. Scholl married Della, daughter of Abram Davis, of Sharon. Their only child, Mamie, is the wife of Morgan Whitehead, a member of the Civil Service Commission, and who served with the Young Men's Christian Association in France. Mr. Scholl is a member of the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce, and of the Builders' Exchange. His home, a most attractive one, is in the country.


DAVID J. SCOTT, a native of Youngstown, Ohio, and at present the efficient director of public safety in that city, has had a commendable record of industry and worthiness of public service since as a boy of twelve he entered energetically upon the serious occupations of life. He is well placed among the aggressive younger generation of responsible Youngstown citizens, and by his decade of capable service in the police department of the Republic Iron and Steel Company, which necessarily brought him into close association with the city police department, he is especially fitted for the appointment to which he was preferred by Mayor Warnock in the city administration.


He was born on Oak Street, Youngstown, July 27, 1890, the son of James and Jane (Bevan) Scott. The Scott family is of British origin, and the parents of Safety Director Scott were married in South Wales. They, James and Jane (Bevan) Scott, came to Youngstown in 1887, and from that year until that of their death, 1902, they were respected and responsible residents of that place. The demise of Mrs. Scott came seven months earlier than that of her husband, and they were respectively fifty-seven and sixty-one years old what death came. James Scott was for many years a stationary engineer in Youngstown, and had many friends. He was an earnest Christian and a member of the Welsh Baptist Church of Youngstown. Politically he was a republican, and was identified with the -fraternal order of Red Men. After coming to Youngstown the Scott family lived on Oak, Fairmount and Garfield streets, and Mr. and Mrs. Scott had many sincere friends among the older residents of those neighborhoods. They were the parents of twelve children, eight of whom, however are now deceased. The living are: Edward J., who is connected with the safety department of the Republic Iron and Steel Company; Henry, who is an engineer by profession, and is also connected with the same company ; Mrs. David J. Morgan, of Granite City, Illinois, where her husband is identified responsibly with the granite industry of that place ; and David J., the subject of this article.


David J. Scott was only twelve years old when his parents died. He had been attending schools on Fern and Market streets, but soon after being orphaned was forced to close his schooling and take to business life. He began as a messenger boy in the employ of the Western Union Telegraph Company, Youngstown, later working in the grocery store of F. A. Scott on Market Street. He was evidently an energetic boy of independent spirit, capable of making his way unaided. At fifteen years he was oiling engines at the Republic Iron and Steel Works. From that time until he entered the city administration he was in the employ of the Republic Company. He did not oil engines for long, being transferred to the hospital service in the safety department of the plant, and for the last nine years of his service was a member of the police department of the company, latterly as sergeant. It was because of his efficient work in this connection that Mayor Warnock was induced to offer him the directorship of the police department of the City of Youngstown. As a police officer David J. Scott was effective, resolute and fearless, his authority was respected, and he rendered signal service on many occasions, both to the Republic Company and to the city. Since he has been a member of the city administration he has undoubtedly proved his fitness for the office of safety director, the city police department under his direction coming especially into creditable public record by its eradication of deplorable vice conditions in the city.


Mr. Scott is a consistent churchman, member of the Epworth Methodist Church, and a substantial supporter thereof. Politically he is a republican, and fraternally is identified with many organizations, including the Masonic order. He is a member of the Western Star Blue Lodge, the Youngstown Chapter, and the Buechner Council of the Masonic order, the R. E. Johnson Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, and the Knights of the Golden Eagle.


In 1912 he married Fanny E., the daughter of William Price, a well-known Youngstown resident, and superintendent of brick masonry at the Republic Iron and Steel Works. Mr. and Mrs. Scott have two children, sons, Robert E. and Russell H.


GEORGE BODE, one of the substantial men of the Mahoning Valley, is successfully engaged in a stone and brick contracting business at Youngstown, where he has won the confidence of the people by his fair and honorable methods of carrying out his contracts. He was born in Germany on September 22, 1858, a son of Henry and Barbara (Bode) Bode, the former of whom was a mason contractor upon an extensive scale.


George Bode learned his trade under his father's careful supervision, and after giving his country the obligatory military service he came in 1883 to the United States. The first words in the language of


264 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY


his new home he heard spoken upon his landing at Baltimore, Maryland, but he has been apt in learning since then, and is now a very well informed man. He came direct to Youngstown, Ohio, and his first employment was secured under James Morris at the Brown-Bonnell plant. One year later he entered the employ of Christ Mauser, one of the old-time contractors, becoming a foreman, and as such had charge of the construction of the high school in Girard, Ohio, a church on Oak Street, the William 'Tod Machine Shop, an addition to the Tod House (Hotel), and the street car power house. From 1899 until 1902 Mr. Bode was foreman for Henry Niederrneier, and supervised the building of the United Presbyterian' Church on Himrod Avenue, the Standard Oil Cloth Plant on Girard Road, the Bessemer Plant for Brown-Bonnell and the old Union Seminary at Poland, Ohio. He then went into the contracting business on his own account and built the Gallegher and Renner buildings at the corner of Hazel and Commerce streets, the Stambaugh Building on Glenwood Avenue, and for ten years was doing work on the United Engineering Building Company's contracts. He also built the Weaver Building on Market Street, the Scott and Jones buildings on Federal Street, the Charles S. Geiger Building on Oak Hill Avenue, and addition to the school in East Youngstown, the Gorden School in East Youngstown, the Mercantile Building and the Pugh & Howells Block in Girard, the Kings Block at Girard and many other business blocks. Mr. Bode has also erected residences for John Brenner, B. F. Thomas, Otto Shuman, Frank Tucker, Henry Butler and many others.


When Mr. Bode came to the United States he took advantage of the opportunities offered by night school and attended its sessions to learn English and bookkeeping. His instructor was Professor Steiner. While he had but little money when he arrived, his skill and industry s00n placed him in comfortable circumstances. Having come to this country with the intention of remaining here, he t00k out his papers and became a citizen as soon as it was possible for him to do so, and his first vote was cast for Benjamin Harrison for President, and he has continued to support the candidates of the republican party ever since.


In 1884 Mr. Bode Was united in marriage with Anna Elizabeth Fiehler, a daughter of a school teacher. She was born in Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Bode became the parents of five children, namely : Henry, who is chief engineer at the McIntosh & Hanfield Plant of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Rev. Dietrich, pastor of the Reformed Church at Rochester, New York; George, who is with the Republic Iron and Steel Company ; Fred, who has been athletic director of the Young Men's Christian Association, received training for his work at Springfield, Massachusetts, has been physical director at the Marion Young Men's Christian Association and is now at home ; Anna, who is her father's bookkeeper, lives at home. The family all belong to the Reformed Church, in which Mr. Bode is a deacon and financial secretary, having held these offices for sixteen years. He is very generous in his contributions to this church, and he and Mrs. Bode take an active part in church work of all kinds. Mr. Bode belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Protected Home Circle, and the Chamber of Commerce. The Bode family is a fine one, the children having developed so as to do credit to their excellent parents, and to be valuable additions to the several communities in which they have located. Mrs. Bode is a charming wcman and rs held in affectionate regard by all who know her. From the beginning of his career at Youngstown Mr. Bode has proved his worth, and no man of the city is regarded as a better citizen than he.




ELMER T. MCCLEARY, whose work with the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company began fourteen years ago, is a well known expert in chemical and metallurgical engineering. Daring the World war the Government Ordnance Department appointed him a member of a committee to confer on the chemical and physical specifications of shell steel, and he was also one of a committee of three appointed by the same department to advise on the sections for artillery shells.


Mr. McCleary was born at Pine Grove Furnace in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, August 27, 1878, son of John E. and Isabel (Marks) McCleary. His father's people were from Dundee, Scotland. John E. McCleary enlisted when sixteen years of age as a drummer boy in the Union army in the Civil war. Much of his life after the war was spent in railroading. He was a locomotive engineer when killed in an accident on the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad.


Elmer T. McCleary grew up at Carlisle and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of the high schools of both cities. Later he entered Pennsylvania State College, graduating in 1901 with the degree Bachelor of Science after specializing ill chemistry and metallurgy. His first professional work was with the Diamond State Steel Company at Wilmington, Delaware, as chemist, and later was in a similar capacity with the Carnegie Steel Company and also in blast furnace work. Mr. McCleary came to the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company in 1906 as chief chemist, was promoted to assistant superintendent of blast furnace and steel department in 1909, and since 1912 has served as assistant general superintendent of the plant.


He is a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, the American Iron and Steel Institute and the American Society of Testing Material; is a member of the Youngstown Club and the Youngstown Country Club, a director of the Aetna Foundry and Machine Company, and president of the Auto Supply Company. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the Himrod Avenue Baptist Church.


February 1, 1904, Mr. McCleary married Anna Jenkins, of Youngstown. Their two children are Dorothy May and Elmer T., Jr.


HERBERT V. TUTTER. A well known and exceedingly prosperous general merchant of Youngstown, Herbert V. Tutter is held in high repute as a citizen, and by his excellent character and upright business course in life has fully established himself in the esteem and confidence of his associates and neighbors, winning an extensive and lucrative patronage in this


YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 265


vicinity. A native of Youngstown, he was born March 16, 1882, on West Rayen Street, a son of the late George W. Tutter.


Born in Gratz, Austria, in 1839, George W. Tutter remained in his native land forty-five years. First settling in Youngstown, he followed his trade of a tailor for many years, his first employment in this city having been with George McNab. He was afterward a member of the firm of Hoteau & Tutter, and was later associated with Frank L. Brown, who was at one time mayor of the city, having been junior member of the firm of Brown & Tutter, which was located on West Federal Street, between Phelps and Hazel streets. An experienced and skilful workman, he continued at his trade until death, which occurred at his home, 337 Martin Street, in 1911. He was an attendant of the Reformed Church, and belonged to the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His wife, whose maiden name was Carrie Hoffman, was born seventy-four years ago, and is now residing at 32o Sherwood Avenue, Youngstown. Three children were born of their union, as follows: G. W., engaged in the postal service in Youngstown; Gertrude L., wife of Burr H. Easterbrook, who is likewise employed in the Youngstown postoffice ; and Herbert V., of whom we write.


A pupil when young in the Covington Street School, Herbert V. Tutter insisted upon giving up his studies while yet a boy to accept a job in the Gairings Brothers grocery. Leaving that firm, he then was employed in Peter Deibel & Sons Store on West Federal Street, and still later with the G. M. McKelvey Company store. Having acquired a broad knowledge of mercantile affairs, Mr. Tutter decided to start m business on his own account, and opened a store on Market Street, near the bridge. With the very limited capital of $75.00, he spent a part of it in buying a horse and buggy, necessary assets in those days. In the establishment of his trade his inler helped him by taking charge of the store while was out soliciting business or delivering goods. With "a square deal" for his watchword, Mr. Tutter met with encouraging success from the veil first, his straigh forward, honorable transactions, genial courtesy to all, and evident desire to please his customers winning him a valuable and lucrative trade. In October, 1912, he moved to his present location, 1823 Hillman Street, where he has met with characteristic success.


Mr. Tutter married, in 1912, Lenora Clark, daughter of the late Lewis W. Clark, of Youngstown. Religiously Mr. Tutter is a member of the First Reformed Church, while Mrs. Tutter belongs to the First Baptist Church. Fraternally Mr. Tutter belongs to Western Star Lodge, Free and Accepted Order of Masons; to Youngstown Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; to Buechner Council, Royal and Select Masters ; to Lake Erie Consistory, thirty- second degree Scottish Rite and to Al Koran Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine of Cleveland, Ohio. He is also a member of the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce.


J. HOWARD TAYLOR, treasurer of the Taylor-Duffey-Waid Company of Youngstown, and a former president of the Youngstown Real Estate Board, has a definite place among the business leaders of that thriving city. The operations of the firm of which he is a member are of considerable extent, and his active interest in the development of the city has for long been known. He has given his time unselfishly upon many occasions to affairs of consequence to the city, and especially in the advocacy of the inland water project has he been prominent in public service.


He was born February 14, 1876, in Trumbull County, Ohio, the son of Thomas M. and Melzina (Boone) Taylor, and comes of one of the pioneer families of Ohio. His father, Thomas M. Taylor, was born in Trumbull County ; so also was his mother, Melzina Boone, who died in 1892. Thomas M. Taylor, who is now seventy-one years old and is vice president of the Taylor-Duffey-Waid Company of Youngstown, lived the first fifty years of his life upon the Taylor family farm in Trumbull County. In about the year 1898 he went to Cleveland, and there became associated with J. W. Taylor, a relative, in real estate operations. In 19r5 he came to Youngstown, and with other associates of the Cleveland firm entered extensively into the real estate business, so that today the Taylor-Duffey-Waid Company has an enviable standing in the vicinity. The four members of the firm were formerly connected with the Cleveland house, and have shown much enterprise since becoming established in Youngstown. Until they moved to their present quarters in the Home Savings and Loan Building their offices were at 37 Central Square, and as allotment specialists, handling their own properties exclusively, have of recent years done considerable business with Youngstown people. The company owns and has been developing land in Youngstown, Cleveland, Elyria, Warren, Niles, Alliance, Tiffin and Mansfield in the State of Ohio, and its operations are enlarging rapidly. They also maintain offices at 1429 Williamson Building, Cleveland, Ohio.


J. Howard Taylor, son of Thomas M., attended the common school of his native place in Trumbull County, and eventually entered the Gustavus High School, from which in due course he graduated. He supplemented this educational training by attending the New Lyme Institute at New Lyme, Ashtabula County, Ohio. When eighteen years old he became a salesman in a Youngstown store, the Youngstown Dry Goods Company. With that firm he remained for eighteen months, earning the small salary of $4.50 per week, most of which earning was absorbed by his board bill. Then followed two years of service in the Kinsman Meat Market, and some time as a salesman in the carpet department of the Globe Store. He clerked in various other stores for short periods, eventually entering the employ of J. N. Envers Sons Company, the changes being generally to his advantage. He was of commendably steady characteristics, and spent very little in useless luxuries. Consequently, with an ever-increasing salary, he became in course of time possessed of some capital. For a year he was in Cleveland with his father, and in the employ of J. W. Taylor gained his first experience in real estate operation. However, he appears to have found his former line more lucrative, for he returned to Youngstown and for six or seven years thereafter


266 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY


was connected with the J. N. Envers Sons establishment, during the last year or so of his service with that firm doing some real estate selling in his spare time. He was, as might have been expected after so many years of such varied trading, a convincing salesman, and in the larger real estate sphere was so successful that he decided to devote all his time to it. At a weekly salary, he successfully sold much property for Mrs. J. E. Comstock, of Warren, and soon afterward he formed a business partnership with Mr. Duffey to develop the Tobias Kimmel tract at Struthers. Since that time his connection with real estate expanded, as has been herein explained. The Taylor-Duffey-Waid Company, of which he is treasurer, owes much of its present standing to his business ability. He is a recognized business leader in Youngstown real estate circles ; has been president of the Real Estate Board; in fact, he was one of those responsible for the establishment of that hoard; and was a member of the committee named to represent the Youngstown Real Estate Board in Washington when Congress was considering the inland waterways project, which sought to connect the Lakes and the Ohio by a canal.


Mr. Taylor is a member of the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce, and also the local Kiwanis Club, in both of which organizations he is active. And in many ways he has shown his interest in the advancement of Youngstown. He is an able, aggressive, optimistic man, and is taking his place well among the responsible citizens of Youngstown. He is a member of the Automobile Club, and politically is a republican. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of Al Koran Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine of Cleveland, Ohio. He is affiliated with the Blue Lodge of the town of his boyhood days. He is a consistent churchman, earnest in church work, which may he inferred by the fact that he is deacon of the First Christian Church of Youngstown.


In 1905 Mr. J. Howard Taylor married Julia H. daughter of Joseph Ribgy, and of the old Youngstown family of that name. Three children have been born to them, by names Ermlin, Robert and Carol Jeanne. The family has a large circle of friends among the better people of the city.




GEORGE T. SWANTON. Among the old and honored employes 61 the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company at Youngstown, one who is a veteran in the iron and steel industry is George T. Swanton, superintendent of the puddle mill. His experience in this country has been varied, but for a number of years he has been connected with his present concern, to the development of which he has been an important contributing factor.


Mr. Swanton was born in Surrey, England, July 25, 1848, one of the eleven children of George and Jane (St. Clair) Swanton, the former a yeoman farmer in England. One of the sons went to Australia, where he became a prosperous sugar planter at Cordoba in the Isis district, Queensland, and to that point the parents moved about the year 1879, The father passing away there at the age of ninety- toone years, while the mother attained the remarkable ..age of one hundred and three years.


George T. Swanton grew up in his native vicinity, where he attended the country schools, and after completing his education at Cardiff began his business career as office boy in a pottery concern at Bristol. Later he returned to school, and then began working in a sheet mill at Cardiff. He did not accompany the family to Australia, but for some ten years served in the English army under Lord Napier, and saw service on the northeast frontier of India. In 1877 Mr. Swanton came to the United States, first making his home at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, later being employed by the Phoenix Iron Company at Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, and subsequently for about a year was in the rolling department of the Hugh E. Steele Company at Newcastle, Delaware. In 1879 he returned to Lancaster and later went to Columbia, Pennsylvania, and then was with the Catasqua Manufacturing Company at Ferndale. In 1887 he went to Birmingham, Alabama, where he was employed by the Thomas Iron Company and later by the Birmingham Railroad Supply Company in the capacity of assistant superintendent. When he left the latter concern it was to accept a foremanship with the successor of the Birmingham Rolling Mill Company. When the United States declared war against Spain Mr. Swanton assisted to raise Company L, First Alabama Regiment, of East Lake, but his regiment got only as far as Miami, Florida, and Mr. Swanton, on receiving his honorable discharge, resumed work with the Birmingham Rolling Mill Company, subsequently becoming foreman of the finishing and puddling department for the Pullman Palace Car Company at Anniston, Alabama.


In 1901 Mr. Swanton came to Youngstown, Ohio, as puddle boss and night foreman in the Valley Mills, and in January, 1903, entered the employ of the Yonngstown Sheet and Tube Company as foreman of the puddle and sheet bar departments. He has been with this concern ever since, and his work has been continuously in the puddle department. Mr. Swanton is one of the oldest of the employes of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company. Few men have seen and been a part of the building of this great organization from infancy to the present, but it is Mr. Swanton's distinction to he one of them.


On February 6, 1881, Mr. Swanton married Miss Mary Jane Haddock. of Ferndale, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, and they became the parents of five children, namely : John, Thomas, George (deceased), William and Albert.


GEORGE E. ROSE. No citizen of Mahoning County occupies a higher position in the esteem of the people than does George E. Rose, one-time lawyer, ex-judge of the Probate Court of Mahoning County, and the president and general manager of the Realty Security Company at the present time. During his years of legal practice he built up a large and representative clientele, being regarded as an extremely safe counselor in all matters pertaining to legal questions. It speaks well for any man who may have the confidence of the people to such an extent that he is regarded as specially adapted to the settlement of estates and matters of equity. Since retiring from


YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 267


the practice of law and entering the field of business and finance he has achieved as pronounced a success and gained as high a reputation as was his in the field of law.


George E. Rose was born December 9, 1859, at Carlisle, Lorain County, Ohio, and is the son of Elijah and Lucy A. (Bacon) Rose. He was reared on the paternal farmstead, his early years being much like those of the average farmer boy of that period, consisting in attending the district schools during the winter months and helping cultivate the farm during the summers. After completing his common school studies Mr. Rose prepared for college at Oberlin, after which he entered Dartmouth College at Hanover, New Hampshire, where he was graduated in 1881. The profession of law had an attraction for him early in life, and he had, at intervals, read some law, but on completing his college work he began a systematic study of Blackstone and Kent in the office of Metcalf & Webber at Elyria, Ohio. He was admitted to the bar in 1883 and in January of the following year he opened an office and entered upon the active practice of his profession in Youngstown, Ohio, with which city he has remained identified ever since. Although the profession was already overcrowded here, he soon took rank among the ablest lawyers in the city and exemplified the old adage that "There is always room at the top." In the spring of 1888 Mr. Rose was elected city solicitor and two years later was elected to succeed himself, serving four years in that position. In 1893, about ten years after locating in Youngstown, Mr. Rose was elected probate judge of Mahoning County, and officiated in that position until February, 1901, his official tenure being characterized by promptness and dispatch in the handling of official business, legal ability of a high order, and a keen sense of justice which permeated all his acts. Shortly after his retirement from the bench Judge Rose resumed his law practice as a member of the firm of Norris, Jackson & Rose. Sometime later, however, he retired from the active practice of the law in order to devote Ins attention to the Realty Security Company, of which he was the organizer and of which he has been the president and active manager from that time to the present. The Realty Security Company is one of the sound and influential financial institutions of Youngstown and has had an important part in the development and upbuilding of the city. He was also one of the organizers of the Real Estate Security Company, of which he is vice president, and he is a director of the mercantile house of Strouss-Hirshberg Company.


George E. Rose was married to Louise H. Baxter, the daughter of Heman Baxter, and to them has been born a daughter, Louise M., who is now the wife of Robert J. Eppley. The family are members of the Presbyterian Church, while politically the judge is an active supporter of the republican party. Socially he is identified with the Youngstown Club, the Youngstown Country Club and the Poland Country Club. As a citizen Judge Rose is public spirited and enterprising; as a friend and neighbor he combines the qualities that win confidence and command respect, and as a business man he exhibits those elements which are nearly always a guarantee of success. His life and labors have been worthy because they have contributed to a proper understanding of life and its problems, and while advancing his own interests he has performed his full share in promoting the public welfare.


HAROLD H. HULL, attorney, of Youngstown, Ohio, is an able and rrsmg member of the legal bar of Mahoning County. A graduate of the law department of Harvard University, he has since 1910 practiced law in Youngstown, and has upon many occasions, and in important causes, come prominently before the people of the county as an able advocate. His merit in legal conduct is evidenced in his recent promotion to the office of prosecuting attorney for Mahoning County, Ohio, after three years of service as assistant to Prosecutor Huxley. And facts concerning his early years, and the handicaps he had to surmount in order to continue at school through his college years and until his graduation as an attorney, stamp him as a man of strong purpose.

He was born on a farm near Grove City, Pennsylvania, August 23, 1885, the son of Charles H. and Isabel (Beveridge) Hull, and was born in the log house, of only one room, in which his father, Charles H. also was born. The birth of his father, Charles H., was in 1865 and three years after his own birth his youthful parents removed in 1888, to Greenville, Pennsylvania, where the boy was reared, and where his parents still live. His father, Charles H. Hull, is still actively following his lifetime occupation, that of locomotive engineer. He has served the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad Company in that capacity for thirty-five years, and among locomotive engineers is known widely; in fact he was a charter member of the now powerful Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. Charles H. Hull is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks ; and politically gives allegiance to the republican party. For very many years he and his wife have been members of the First Presbyterian Church of Greenville.


Harold H. Hull graduated from the Greenville High School in 1903, and having resolved to prepare himself for professional life, he took the academic course at the Allegany College at Meadville, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1907, soon after which graduation he entered upon the study of law at the nation's foremost law school, that of Harvard University. In clue course, in 1910, he was creditably graduated therefrom, and thus fitted to immediately enter upon the practice of law. It was praiseworthy result of commendable determination and resolute persistence through discouraging circumstances, for his college and university courses were made possible only by his own strength of will and manly purpose. During vacations for practically the whole of the period young Hull provided himself with the means wherewith to continue his studies by applying himself manfully to hard labor, that of locomotive fireman. He was admitted to practice law at the legal bar of Mahoning County, Ohio, in 1910, in which year he established himself in a law office in Youngstown of that state. His decade of practice in that city has been such as to indicate that he ranks well among the professional leaders of that city and county. He is well-regarded professionally, and has


268 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY


taken prominent part in many local movements. For three years he was assistant prosecuting attorney for Mahoning County, succeeding Mr. Huxley in 1919 in the office of prosecuting attorney. In many important cases Attorney Hull has clearly demonstrated his ability as prosecuting counsel, and he has the confidence of an ever-increasing number of responsible Mahoning County people.


He is a republican in politics, and has actively interested himself in national affairs. Fraternally he is a Mason, a member of the Western Star Blue Lodge, Youngstown, and of the local Chapter and Council. He is also an active Elk.


On May i6, 1916, in Greenville, Pennsylvania, Attorney Hull married Mary, daughter of William Tunnison, a retired merchant of that place. Both are members of the First Presbyterian Church, Youngstown, and active in church work.




HERMAN F. KLING. The business record of Herman F. Kling as an architect and builder at Youngstown goes back more than thirty-five years. He and his associates and his organization have been the medium for the planning and conception of many score of handsome structures which adorn Youngs- town and the M ahoning Valley.


Mr. Kling was born at Wetter-on-Rnhr, Westphalia, Germany, April 21, 1858, son of Fred and Amalie (Einhaus) Kling. His father was a stone contractor and owned some extensive stone quarries in Germany.


Herman F. Kling, who received a common school education, had attained to the status of a competent stone mason when only fifteen years of age. An apprenticeship in Berlin gave him a complete knowledge of the building trade, and he also attended the technical schools at Holzminden. For two years he was a soldier in the German army.


Mr. Kling came to America in 1881 and at once located at Youngstown, where he was employed by Henry Niedemeyer, one of the early stone contractors here, and helped build St. Paul's Church at Brier Hill. For two years he was associated with A. Kannengeiser, architect. After one year in St. Paul, Minnesota, he formed in 1886 a partnership with his former employer, Mr. Kannengeiser, and their association was continued until the death of Mr. Kannengeiser in 1899. Since 1904 Mr. Kling has been in business with Mr. Zenk. As an architect he has made plans for many of the leading churches, schools and residences of Youngstown. Just a few to indicate the representative character of his work are the Helen Chapel, St. Anne's Church at Brier Hill, Grand Opera House at Sharon, the Vindicator Building, the Washington School, the McKinley School and many others.


Mr. Kling went back to Germany to claim his bride, Miss Ida Bertram. She died in 1899, the mother of four children: Margaret, wife of Edward Sittig, of Youngstown; Fred W., a mechanical engineer at Pittsburgh, who served with the Motor Transport Corps in France ; Otto J., an architect associated with his father, and who received a complete technical training in the Carnegie School of Technology at Pittsburgh, and Freda, who died in 1905, at the age of sixteen. Mr. Kling married for his present wife Miss Ida Fribertshauser, daughter of August Fribertshauser. They have two children, Herman, Jr., and, Virginia. Mr. Kling and family are members of the Methodist Church, and he is affiliated with the Elks and was a member of the Rayen Club during its existence.


ALBERT N. BUTLER. From his schooldays actively engaged in industrial life and with business experience in several lines, Albert N. Butler, proprietor of the South Side Ice Company, is well and favorably known at Youngstown. Since making this city his home he has taken much interest in its welfare and is numbered with its representative citizens.


Albert N. Butler was born at Westfield, Illinois, January 8, 1868, and is a son of Calvin and Rebecca (Nixon) Butler, the former of whom was born at Uniontown, Ohio, and the latter at Sardis, Ohio. The father was a miller by trade and lived in different sections while operating mills. He enlisted for service in the Civil war and was detailed for a time as a cook, but on contracting rheumatism was discharged on account of that disability. In 1864 he went to Springfield, Illinois, and later to Westfield, and then to Shelbyville, Indiana, where he died in 1893, at the age of sixty years.


Albert N. Butler was the third born in the family of three children. He was educated mainly at Shelbyville, Indiana, and was graduated from the high school there in 189o, shortly afterward coming to Belmont County, Ohio, where he entered the employ of the Aetna Iron & Steel Works, remaining until the strike of 1896. Mr. Butler then accepted a position as brakeman on the local railroad, and during the seventeen years he remained in railroad service, was promoted to fireman and then to engineer. Upon retirement from the railroad he entered the employ. of the M. A. Hanna Coal Company of Cleveland, Ohio, but as he is a skilled mechanic, he preferred another line and on coming to Youngstown entered the Sheet & Tube Works, going from there to the Brier Hill Plant, and subsequently to the Republic Rubber Company. His career there was terminated by the explosion in which he lost an eye. After sufficiently recovering from this very serious injury Mr. Butler went into business for himself, organizing the South Side Ice Company, which he has so capably managed that it is one of the city's prosperous business enterprises.


On January 12, 1890, Mr. Butler was united in marriage to Miss Suella Corey, a daughter of David Coy, of Flushing, Ohio, who is a veteran of the Civil war. Mrs. Butler has more than a local reputation as an accomplished artist. They have three children, namely: Mary R., who is a trained nurse, and a graduate of the Youngstown Hospital; Ruth A., who is also a graduate of the Youngstown Hospital, is the wife of C. H. Landahl, teller of the City Trust and Savings Bank and treasurer of the South Side Ice Company; and David, who is yet in school. Mr. Butler and his family are members of the Christian Church. He is a zealous republican and is active in

political circles as an interested, well-meaning citizen, but has had no desire at any time to take upon himself the grave responsibilities that he believes should he borne by office-holders, high as well as low.


YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 269


EUGENE WILSON SKINNER, of Warren, Ohio, was born at Van Wert, Ohio, October 4, 1883. The Skinner family was prominent in the early history of the City of Buffalo, New York. One of the family was at one time mayor of that city. The great-grandfather of E. W. Skinner was born in Buffalo and later moved to Ohio. The grandfather, Lorenzo E. Skinner, was born in Granville, Ohio, while the father, Lorenzo E., Jr., was born at Newark, this state. All these generations of the family were identified with the sheet metal business. Lorenzo E. Skinner, Jr., was in business first at Newark, then at Van Wert and subsequently moved to Warren. When he retired from business he went to Iowa, where he died in 1914, and his widow is still living, residing in Florida. Lorenzo E. Skinner, Jr., married Jennie R. Reynolds. Her ancestry goes back to the time of the Plymouth Rock Colony of Massachusetts.


Eugene Wilson Skinner was reared and educated in Warren from the age of six years and after leaving school he spent an apprenticeship of five years learning the sheet metal roofing and warm air furnace work. For three years he was a traveling representative for the Genuine-Bangor Slate Company at Easton, Pennsylvania, and in 1913 he bought his fathers' business at Warren. As owner he has operated it on a growing and extensive scale, and now does all kinds of sheet metal roofing and warm- air furnace work. This business has given him an intimate connection with the modern constructive movement in Warren. He also organized the Warren Home Building Company, incorporated in 1916. He is treasurer of the company, which performs a general service of home building and development. He also organized and is owner of the Builders' Hardware Company. Another concern which he helped organize and incorporate is the Warren Home Development Company, of which he is a director and vice president. Mr. Skinner was one of the founders and organizers of the Warren Builders' Exchange, and is still a very active member of the organization. Ile is a member of the Warren Board of Trade, and rn Masonry is affiliated with Old Erie Lodge No. 3, the Council and Chapter degrees, Warren Commandery No. 39 of the Knights Templar, and is a member of Warren Lodge of Elks and the Sons of Veterans. He had six years of service with the Ohio National Guard.


He married Miss Adaline Van Wye a native of Howland Township, Trumbull County, daughter of Homer W. and Lena (Lemley) Van Wye. Her father was born in Howland Township and her mother in Warren. Homer Van Wye was a farmer, but later engaged in the livery and automobile business and died in the summer of 1919.


GRANT W. BYARD, a resident of Warren forty-five years, was ormerly a manufacturer, but in recent years, with his son, since the latter's return from the World war, has been active in the insurance business as a member of the Byard Agency.


Mr. Byard was born at Sharon, Pennsylvania, February 24, 1864, and has lived in Warren since he was nine years of age. His father, David Byard, was born at Troy, New York, of French lineage, and from Troy went to Sharon, Pennsylvania, and in 1873 located at Warren, where he died six years later at the age of forty-six. His wife, Margaret (May) Byard, was a native of Scotland and died at Warren March 4, 1920, at the advanced age of eighty-five.


Grant William Byard achieved success through the medium of hard work. After leaving the Warren public schools he followed several lines until 1888, when he entered the service of the Winfield Manufacturing Company. He learned the business from the standpoint of the common laborer, and on his merit was promoted from one grade to another until he was secretary of the company. He resigned that office in 1918 to engage in the insurance business with his son William D., establishing the Byard Agency. They are insurance brokers, making a special and personal service to buyers of insurance and representing all classes of the business.


Mr. Byard is a member of the Warren Board of Trade, the Warren Rotary Club, the Trumbull Country Club, and the First Baptist Church. He married Miss Grace Winfield, daughter of William C. Winfield, president of the Winfield Manufacturing Company and long one of Warren's prominent men.


The only child of their union is William David Byard, who was born June r, 1888. He was liberally educated, first in the Warren public schools and later at Colgate University. Early in the war with Germany he was commissioned a first lieutenant, and served at Camp Sherman. After leaving the army he became associated with his father in the Byard Agency.


GEORGE. JOHN MAX. By length of service, variety of experrence and expert skill, George John Max has all the qualifications of a master machinist, and for nearly forty years has given his services to some of the important industries of Warren.


Mr. Max, who is also prominent in public affairs and a present member of the city council, was born in Warren August 29, 1867, son of Adam and Frederica (Zebe) Max. His parents, natives of Germany, came to this country when young people, and were married in Warren. Adam Max was left an orphan as a child, and grew up in the family of a German farmer. After coming to Warren he learned to work in marble and granite, and that was his trade the rest of his life. Both he and his wife died at Warren.


George J. Max was educated at Warren, his schooling being confined mainly to the common schools. Before completing a high school course he began an apprenticeship at the machinist's trade. He was only fourteen years of age when he was accepted as an apprentice by the Spangenburg-Pendelton Company, now the Trumbull Manufacturing Company. With that institution and industry, as boy and man, he has been connected ever since, a period of forty years. He learned all branches of the machinist's trade, including tool and die making, and for the past four years has been foreman of the company's shops.


His skill as a worker, his good judgment in all matters affecting his relations with his fellow man and his community, have made Mr. Max a citizen of influence in Warren for many years. This esteem finally resulted in his election as a member of the


270 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY


city council from the Fourth Ward in 1918. He has been one of the most useful members of the city government. The Fourth Ward is probably the best ward in the city, comprising all the terrrtory south of Market Street and east of the Mahoning River, embracing the Trumbull Steel Company's works and many other large industrial establishments and also numerous banks and business houses on East Market Street. Mr. Max was re-elected to the council for another term of two years. During 1918-19 he served as president of the committee on sewage. During that time more miles of sewers were constructed than ever before in any ten previous years. This is a very favorable showing considering all conditions and is a fair index to the rapid progress of Warren and also the strenuous efforts put forth by Mr. Max. He is also a member of the committee on buildings, grounds and sidewalks. As a result of his persevering effort a contract has been let for a fifteen-foot sidewalk on both sides of Pine Street extending from East Market to the Trumbull Steel Company. This contract calls for an expenditure of over $30,000. An even larger project to be credited to his labors was bringing to the attention and approval of the voters the proposition for building an over-head bridge at the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks on East South Street. Other members of the City Council regarded the measure as inopportune, but the voters emphatically ratified the project by a vote of two to one. The plans contemplate a substantial concrete viaduct at an approximate cost of between $800,000 and $900,000. Many will recall the fatal accident that occurred on Thanksgiving Day, 1918, on East Market Street at the railroad crossing, and this tragedy was utilized by Mr. Max as the occasion for introducing and pushing through an ordinance reducing the speed limits of trains through the city to four miles an hour, and also requiring the railway company to maintain watchmen at all principal crossings. As his record indicates, Mr. Max is a representative of the common people in the city government, and his viewpoint and judgment are largely determined by the interests and welfare of those who make up the big majority of the community.


Mr. Max is affiliated with Old Erie Lodge No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons, with Mahoning Chapter No. 66, Royal Arch Masons, Warren Council No. 58, Royal and Select Masters, and Warren Commandery No. 39, Knights Templar. Mr. Max and family are members of the First United Presbyterian Church. On December 29, 1894, Mr. Max married Miss Emma Lintern. She was born at Orwell, Ohio, daughter of John and Emma Jane Lintern, natives of England. Mr. and Mrs. Max have two children: Emma Ruth, born in 1902, and George Donald, born in 1914.




CHARLES B. LOVELESS, one of Warren's leading citizens and manufacturers, is one of the men of the city who is essentially a director of men and affairs, and no better evidence of the value of the place he holds in the estimation of his associates can he found than that afforded by his successful career as both a business man and citizen.


He was born at Warren on January 14, 1864, and is of the third generation of two of the old families of Trumbull County. Samuel Loveless, grandfather of Charles B., came to Trumbull county, Ohio, from New England when he was still a hoy, settling near Price's Mills. He married Hulda Martin, whose father was one of the early settlers of the county, having located near Newton Falls, Trumbull County.


Martin D. Loveless, father of Charles B., was born at Price's Mills, Ohio, in 1831, and died at Warren in 1898. He married Malinda Wilson, who was born in Paris Township, Portage County, in 1833, a daughter of Austin Wilson, a native of Connecticut, who brought his family and household goods in an ox-cart from Connecticut and settled in Trumbull County in pioneer days. Mrs. Loveless died at Warren in 1917.


Charles B. Loveless began his business career in 1882 as a clerk in the hardware store of S. W. Park at Warren, and during the time he remained there he was noted for his thoughtfulness, courtesy and quick observation. Five years later he left the store to enter the Warren Packard Lumber Company, where he remained from 1887 until 1897, during that period acqniring a thorough knowledge of the lumber industry. In the latter year he became a member of the firm of Wood & Loveless, lumber merchants, and two years later he became one of the organizers of the Western Reserve Lumber Company, and was its secretary and superintendent from 1899 until 1901, when he became secretary and general manager of the Warren Manufacturing Company, which concern manufactures furniture. Still later Mr. Loveless was made its president and still holds that office.


In 1908 Mr. Loveless was one of the organizers and incorporators of the Warren Iron and Steel Company, was its secretary and treasurer until 1918, in which year he was elected its president and general manager, and holds these offices today. Mr. Loveless has other interests as well, for in 1913 he was one of the men who incorporated the Warren Lumber Company, of which he was president from the time of its incorporation until it was sold to the East Ohio Lumber Company on January 1, 1919, He is president of the American Lumber Company of Cleveland, Ohio; president of the York Coal and Coke Company, of which he was one of the organizers in 1911 ; president of the Reserve Realty and Mortgage Company, Warren, Ohio; a director of the Shelby Coal Mining Company of Kentucky; a director of the Western Reserve National Bank; vice president and director of the Trumbull Securitive Company; a director of the Dana Musical Institute; a director of the Warren Board of Trade and a member of its executive committee; a director of the Warren Building and Investment Company; and is identified with many other industrial and civic corporations. Fraternally Mr. Loveless belongs to the Masons and Odd Fellows. He was active in local war work, giving freely of his time, money and his four sons to the Government in her supreme effort. He is also a director in the Trumbull Red Cross Society.


Mr. Loveless was married to Irene Campbell, who was born at Warren, a daughter of Jerome T. Campbell, whose father was a merchant of Warren fifty years ago, and her grandfather was an operator of coal mines at Oldtown, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Loveless


YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 271


became the parents of the following children: Gertrude Irene, who is society editor of the Warren Tribune; Mary L., who married William James Kerr, of Warren; Ellen M., who married William Wolford, of Warren, and they have a daughter, Mildred Irene; Charles C., who married Theresa Tweeddale, of Rochester, Pennsylvania, has a son, Charles III. Philip M., who married Mabel Stine, of Niles, Ohio ; and Lucy Packard, who married David Howe, of Warren. Mr. Loveless makes his home on his fine 070-acre farm on North Mahoning Avenue Extension, upon which farm, just across the street from the parental home, each of the children have built their residence, the entire family living In what is known as the "Loveless Colony."


The war record of the Loveless family and its connections during the great war is one of which to be proud. Charles C. Loveless volunteered for service and was commissioned a lieutenant of infantry, serving at Camp Bowie, Texas. Philip M. volunteered and served at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, both young men being prevented from overseas' service by the signing of the Armistice. One son- in-law, William James Kerr, volunteered and served as sergeant of a motor truck unit in the American Expeditionary Forces, spending eight months in France. Another son-in-law, David Howe, volunteered and served in the radio department at Norfolk, Virginia. Fortunately none of the stars on the service flag of the Loveless family was turned to gold during that mighty conflict, and Mr. and Mrs. Loveless are happy to have their dear ones back home once more and living close to them after the heartbreaking separation.


SAMUEL CHRISTIAN GRABER. Among the members of the Trumbull County bar who have firmly established themselves in the confidence of the people of the county within the last few years is Samuel C. Graber of Warren, who has been in active and successful practice in that city since 1916.


He was born at Parkman, Geauga County, Ohio, on June 19, 1882. His ancestry is a composite of several rugged stocks that have done much to develop America in the past century. His great-grandfather, Ulrich Graber, a native of Switzerland, was the founder of the American branch of the family. In 1844 he bought a farm in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and that land remained in the continuous and uninterrupted possession of the Graber family until 1918. Christian Graber, a son of the pioneer Ulrich, was born in Tuscarawas County and married Anna Camp, also of Swiss descent. They spent all their lives on the old Graber farm. William Graber, father of Samuel C., was born in Tuscarawas County, on the old homestead, and in March, 1880, moved to Geauga County, where he followed farming until his death in February, 1913. His wife died August 23, 1911. William Graber married Samantha Miller, a native of Holmes County, Ohio, and daughter of Samuel and Anna Miller, both natives of the United States. Michael Miller, father of Samuel, and great- grandfather of Samuel C. Graber, was born in Germany, and established the Miller family in the United States many years ago. They first settled in Stark County, and later moved to Wayne County, Ohio. Michael Miller's wife was Margaret, either a native of Ireland or of Irish descent.


Samuel Christian Graber grew up on his father's farm in Geauga County and acquired his early education in the district schools, graduating from the Parkman High School in 1899 and attended the Western Reserve Seminary at Farmington in Trumbull County. In 1907 he graduated from the Warren Business College. The following three years he pursued farming at home, and in the fall of 1910 removed to Warren, where he was employed at different places until 1913.


As early as 1904 Mr. Graber had registered as a law student in the office of W. G. King at Chardon, Ohio, but had little time to devote to study under the direct supervision of his preceptor. He borrowed and bought some of the classics of legal literature, and after that worked at his law books while on the farm and in Warren, practically without a tutor. He persisted in his course, following the plan of study mapped out by Mr. King, and on December 18, 1913, he was admitted to the bar at Columbus. Almost immediately he hung out his shingle at Chardon and was in practice there until November, 1915. January I, 1916, Mr. Graber returned to Warren and has since been engaged in practice here. The first three years he was associated with Warren Thomas, and since then has practiced alone. Mr. Graber was admitted to practice in all the courts of the State of California on November 29, 1915. He had visited that state in that year, with some expectation of locating there permanently. He was admitted to the federal courts May 13, 1919.


For the past three years Mr. Graber has given some valued public service as a member of the Warren Civil Service Commission. He is a member of the Ohio State Bar Association, is affiliated with Chardon Lodge of Knights of Pythias, and Carroll F. Clapp Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons of Warren. June 3, 1908, he married Miss Florence Newcomb, of Nelson, Portage County, Ohio, daughter of George W. and Emma (Colton) Newcomb.


SHERMAN EUGENE LEET, is one of the oldest men in point of service in the employ of the Erie Railroad Company. His experience as a railroad man, beginning as a telegrapher, would cover forty years at least. For twenty-six years he has been a resident of Warren, where he has had the important responsibilities of freight and passenger agent for that road since 1893.


Some four or five generations of the Leet family have lived in the Ohio Western Reserve. Mr. I.eet was born in Fowler Township of Trumbull County September 4, 1855, son of James Warren and Elizabeth (Rutledge) Leet. His paternal grandfather, Sherman Leet, was born in Connecticut, and was only a child when brought West by his parents, who cleared up some of the virgin land in Vienna Township. Mr. Leet's great-grandfathers, both paternal and maternal, were soldiers in the War of the Revolution and in the War of 1812. The Leets are of English ancestry. George Leet was one of the early governors of Connecticut, and a town in that state is named in honor of the Leet family.


272 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY


James Warren Leet was born in Vienna Township of Trumbull County; and as a youth employed his energies with his father in clearing up some new land. He was a soldier in the Civil war, serving three years in the One Hundred and Twenty-Fifth Ohio Regiment. Prior to entering the service he learned the carpenter's trade, and after the war followed carpentry and contracting in Hamilton County, Ohio. However, he returned to Vienna Township and died there in 1871, at the age of forty. His wife, Elizabeth Rutledge, who was born in Vernon Township of Trumbull County and died in tqi3, at the age of seventy-six, was the daughter of Rev. Emmons Rutledge, a Methodist minister, also a native of Vernon Township and whose parents had come over from England, settling first in Connecticut and later in Trumbull County.


During the period of the Civil war the Leet family lived at Jeffersonville, Indiana, where Mrs. Elizabeth Leet had relatives. After the war, when rejoined by the father, they located near Cincinnati, where the boyhood days of Sherman Eugene Leet were spent. He was about fifteen when the family returned to Vienna Township. His education was comprised in the advantages offered by public schools in these different localities. Mr. Leet was about nineteen when he began learning telegraphy. Within a year he was made agent for the Erie Railway at Austintown, near Youngstown. After a year he was transferred to Canfield, where he remained as agent seven years and then was given duties at Lisbon and later at Girard, where he spent the period from 1883 to 1893.


Mr. Leet has been a resident of Warren since 1893, for more than a quarter of a century. For twenty-three years he was local freight and passenger agent of the Erie, and since then has confined his attention to the position of passenger agent. He is affiliated with the Royal Arcanum and the American Insurance Union and has taken all the degrees in the Knights of Pythias, though not at present active in the order. He is also a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church and the Warren Board of Trade.


Mr. Leet married Miss Ida May Clark, who was born at Canfield, a daughter of William H. and Lois P. (Carroll) Clark. The Clarks are an old Connecticut family while the Carrolls were from Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Leet have four children. Frank Rutledge, the oldest, is a newspaper artist and advertising expert, living at Cleveland. He married Nellie Wallis, a daughter of W. J. Wallis, of Youngstown, and they have three children : Jean, Dorothy and Robert W. Emmons Eugene, who married Mary Manning of Cleveland, is a pharmacist and is assistant manager of the Standard Drug Company's store in Cleveland. They have two children, Mary and William. Warren W. is in the savings department of the Cleveland Citizens & Trust Company. He married Irene Young, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Yonng, formerly of Cleveland. To them one daughter has been born, Evaline. Edna A. is the wife of W. C. Ward of Warren, vice president and general manager of the Peerless Electric Company and an ex-mayor of the city, as was his father before him.




JOHN M. ELDER. M. D. The distinguishing quality of Doctor Elder's service as a physician and surgeon at Mineral Ridge and Niles during the past twenty years has been his exceptional ability as a surgeon. He is associated in practice at Niles with Dr. Curtis C. Williams, both of whom rank among Ohio's leading surgeons.


John M. Elder was born at Fayette, Pennsylvania, October 24, 1872. His parents, James and Sarah (Ream) Elder, still living in Pennsylvania, spent their active lives on a farm. Doctor Elder likewise had a rural environment during his youth, attended district schools, and completed his college education with the scientific course at Westminster College, graduating in 1895. . He studied medicine for a brief time with Dr. Robert Wallace at New Castle, Pennsylvania, and in the fall of 1895 entered the Miami Medical College of Cincinnati, where he continued nntil graduating in 1899. He was one of the first class to receive his degree under the four years' course. Doctor Elder began practice at Mineral Ridge in 1899, and remained there until the beginning of the war between the United States and Germany. When Doctor Williams of Niles entered the army Doctor Elder removed to that city in the summer of 1917, and at his headquarters in this city many difficult surgical cases have sought his talents.


Doctor Elder is a member of the County and State Medical societies and the American Medical Association, is a republican in politics, and keeps in touch with political events and economical issues, though he is in no sense a practical politician. He is a thirty-second degree and Knight Templar Mason, and a member of the Mystic Shrine, and belongs to the Niles Clnb, the Trumbull Country Club and the Niles Chamber of Commerce. He is first vice. president of the Home Savings & Loan Company of Niles.


July 24, 1891, Doctor Elder married Miss Edna Leitch, daughter of John and Frances (Wilson) Leitch. Her father is a former commissioner of Trumbull County. Doctor and Mrs. Elder have one son, Paul, who graduated in 192o from the Niles High School.


LURN ELVERGNE MOORE has been identified with the Warren Rubber Company since that company was reorganized eighteen years ago. His abilities as a salesman and as a general manager have been the chief factor in the growing success and prosperity of that local industry.


Mr. Moore, who is now secretary and general manager of the company, was born at Windsor, Ashtabula County, October 17, 1874, son of DeWitt C. and Chloe E. (Cook) Moore. His father, born in New Jersey in 1845, spent four years as a Union soldier dnring the Civil war, being one of the younger men in the ranks at the beginning of that struggle. When the war was over he came to Ohio and located at Windsor in Ashtabula County, and was married there, but spent his last days in his native state of New Jersey, where he died in 1914. Chloe E. Cook, his wife, was born at Windsor, Ohio, in 1853, and died there in 1898. Her father was Elmer Cook, born at Windsor in 1815. The father


YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 273


of Elmer came from Connecticut and was one of the first settlers at Windsor. The Cooks through the different generations have been farmers.


Mr. L. E. Moore spent his early life at Windsor, attended the public schools there and the New Lyme Institute, and at the age of twenty began his commercial career as clerk in a country store in his native village. Coming to Warren in 1895, he was for six years clerk under W. T. Griswold, proprietor of the Racket Store. In 19or he removed to Youngstown and was employed a year by J. W. Smith & Sons.


Mr. Moore returned to Warren in 1902 to take an active part in the reorganization of the Warren Rubber Company. During the following two years he built up a large business for the company as a traveling salesman. In 1904 he was made a fixture in the main offices as secretary of the company and office manager, and since January, 1915, has been secretary and general manager and a member of the hoard of directors.


Mr. Moore is a member of the Warren Board of Trade, the United Commercial Travelers, Maboning Lodge No. 29, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a member of the official board of the First Methodist Episcopal Church.


October 14, 1903, he married Miss Bessie E. Hopkins. She was born at Nelson, Geauga County, Ohio, September 28, 1878, and a few years later her parents, Philo and Alice M. (Sutliffe) Hopkins, moved to Kansas, where the family resided for five years, and then returned to Illinois, Philo Hopkins dying in that state a few months later. Following the death of her husband the widow returned with the family to Garrettsville, Ohio, but later removed to Cleveland, where she now resides. Mr. and Mrs. Moore had three children: Leland Everett, born March 29, 1905; Ruth Alice, born March 29, 1911, and died Jnne I, 1913; and Gordon Hopkins, born November 14, 1915.


WILLIAM OTTO SPIETH. For eighteen years William Otto Spieth aims enjoyed an ever increasing dental practice at Warren. He is a dental surgeon of exceptional qualifications, and has also actively identified himself with the public spirited citizenship of Warren.


He was born at Murphysboro, Illinois, August 3, 1877, son of Benjamin and Marietta (Cumings) Spieth, his father a native of Pennsylvania and his mother of Ohio. His parents were married in Illinois, and in 1882 removed to Wood River, Nebraska, and in 1903 located in Cleveland, Ohio, where the father died January 8, 191o. The mother died while visiting in Florida in June, 1919.


Doctor Spieth acquired his early education in Nebraska, and is a graduate in dental surgery from the Western Reserve University of Cleveland with the class of 1902. His only preceptor in dentistry was Dr. John F. Stephan. In Jnne, 1902, he began practice at Warren. He is a member of the Northern Ohio and Ohio State Medical societies, the CorydenPalmer Dental Society and the National Association of Dentists. He is also a member of the Warren Board of Trade and of Old Erie Lodge No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons. Doctor Spieth married Myrtle I. Unger, of Warren, daughter of John and Sarah (Cover) Unger. They have one daughter, Ruth Genevieve, born December 19, 1913. Dr. and Mrs. Spieth are members of the Central Christian Church.


LUCIEN LUTHER JONES, secretary and treasurer of the Warren Iron and Steel Company, has had an active part in business affairs at Warren for twenty years, a period in which his record has been one of steady progress from minor to important responsibilities.


Mr. Jones was born on a farm in Wayne Township, Ashtabula County, Ohio, January 13, 1880. His great-grandfather was a native of Connecticut and a very early settler in the Western Reserve of Ohio. His grandfather was Linus H. Jones. His father was Linus B. Jones, also a native of Wayne Township, Ashtabula County. He spent his life there as a farmer and died in 1910 at the age of sixty-seven. Linus B. Jones married Rhoda M. Woodworth, whose father, Dr. Luther Woodworth, was a pioneer of Ashtabula County, where his name is held in grateful remembrance because of his unselfish work as a physician carried on for many years. His daughter, Mrs. Linus Jones, died in 1911 at the age of sixty-six.


Lucien Luther Jones spent the first twenty years of his life on his father's farm. He acquired his education in district schools, in the New Lyme Institute and the Warren Business College. His service in commercial affairs began in 1900 as bookkeeper for the firm of L. P. Gilder & Son, dealers in coal and builders' supplies. In 1902 he became bookkeeper for the Warren Manufacturing Company, of which Mr. Charles B. Loveless was then the head. As bookkeeper and in other capacities of trust he remained with that business until 1915. He then joined the Warren Motor Truck Company, and in 1918 became identified with the Warren Iron & Steel Company, soon being elected secretary and has since taken the additional duties of treasurer. Mr. Jones has acquired other financial and business interests both in Warren and elsewhere.


He is a member of the Warren Board of Trade, the Warren Kiwanis Club, the United Commercial Travelers and the First Presbyterian Church. December 25, 1904, he married Miss Jennie M. Alling, daughter of Charles and Anna (Moran) Alling, of Johnson Township, Trumbull County.


WILLIAM JAMES KERR. Three generations of the Kerr family have been active in Warren business affairs, the first two in connection with carriage manufacturing, while William James, representing the third generation, has developed a notable business in Warren as a commercial sign painter and outdoor advertising agency.


The first of the Kerr family in Warren was William J. Kerr, a native of Scotland, who on coming to this country settled first at Philadelphia and later in Warren. In this city for a number of years he was in the carriage manufacturing business, first as a member of the firm Henderson & Kerr, and later with his son under the name W. J. Kerr & Son. William J. Kerr married Helen Beaston, of an old Warren family.


Edward G. Kerr, who was born at Warren in


274 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY


1866, learned the trade of carriage trimmer. Upon the death of Mr. Henderson, head of the firm of Henderson & Kerr, he bought the Henderson interests and with his father reorganized the business as W. J. Kerr & Son. They continued the manufacture of carriages for a number of years but Edward G. is now living retired. He married Eleanor Gibson, who was born at Warren in 1869, daughter of James and Elizabeth Gibson, who came to Warren from St. Louis, Missouri. James Gibson was a mural decorator of more than ordinary talent, while his wife was an accomplished musician.


William James Kerr therefore inherits both mechanical dexterity and artistic genius from his parents. He was born in Warren November 22, 1890, and acquired a good education in the public schools and in Hiram College. He engaged in the sign and advertising business in 1910, and in subsequent years has extended his enterprise from the scope of a one-man concern to an important establishment, doing all classes of commercial fine work and also outdoor advertising. It is in fact the leading business in Warren. For a time Mr. Kerr operated two shops, one on Dana Avenue and the other on West Market Street. The business headquarters are now on West Market Street.


Mr. Kerr had an interesting record as a soldier. He volunteered in 1917 and on the 5th of December reported at Camp Sherman. He was assigned to the Three Hundred and Eighth Motor Supply Train in the Eighty-Third Division. From February to April, 1918, he was engaged in taking Packard trucks from Detroit to Baltimore. During that service he held the non-commissioned rank of corporal. After returning to Camp Sherman he was ordered on Jnne 4th to Camp Mills, Long Island, and on the 13th of that month was sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where on June 19th he embarked for "somewhere in France." He reached England June 28th, then took passage at Southampton for Havre, arriving on French soil July 1st. Two days later he and his comrades were forwarded to St. Biez, France, near LeMans, headquarters for General Glenn, commander of the Eighty-Third Division. After thirty days in that camp Mr. Kerr was detailed for special work in charge of the sign and automobile painting department in the garage at LeMans. At the same time he was given rank as sergeant, and continued this special service to the Expeditionary Forces until New Year's Day of 1919. Orders then reached him to return home, and sailing from Brest, January 23d, he arrived at New York City, January 31st, and was discharged at Camp Sherman, February 15, 1919. At the latter date he returned home and took charge of his business, which in the meantime had been kept going by Mrs. Kerr, who showed herself an able business woman and did some real war work.


October 20, 1913, Mr. Kerr married Mary Louise Loveless. Her father is Charles B. Loveless, president of the Warren Iron & Steel Company. Mrs. Kerr is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, while he is a member of the Second Christian Church and is affiliated with the Warren Board of Trade, the Warren Rotary Club, the Masonic Club, the Wesleyan Club and Old Erie Lodge No. 3, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Mahoning Chapter No. 60.




CHARLES E. SHRIVER when a child at school played at undertaking. As he grew up he freely asserted his desire and ambition to learn the undertaking business. Other members of his family did not favor his choice of a profession. He finished his education, and taught school for several years. Finally he realized his boyhood's ambition, and since coming to Yonngstown seventeen years ago has given that city one of the best services of the kind.


Mr. Shriver was born in Seneca, Ohio, September 9, 1874, son of William and Ann (Nighswander) Shriver. His father was born at Frederickstown, Maryland, and his mother in Pennsylvania, and both represented what is known as Pennsylvania Dutch stock. As children they were taken by their respective parents to Seneca, Ohio, where they married and where they spent the rest of their lives on a farm. They were members of the Reformed Church. Their three children were: William, who died at the age of twenty-six ; Mrs. Emma Heaton, of Tiffin, Ohio ; and Charles E.


Charles E. Shriver attended the home schools, spent one year in Heidelberg College at Tiffin, and for twelve terms gave the best that was in him to the conduct of various schools. He then engaged in his present profession and business, and was an undertaker at Tiffm, later at Sycamore, Ohio, and in 1902 established his business at 7 Wick Avenue in Youngstown. Mr. Shriver moved to his present quarters in February, 1919. He has always been progressive in his work, has kept the very best of equipment, and conducted the first automobile funeral in Youngstown. He is a member of the National Funeral Directors' Association and is a director of the Citizens Savings and Loan Company. He is also a member of both the York and Scottish Rite bodies in Masonry, and belongs to Al-Koran Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine of Cleveland, Ohio. He is also identified with the Knights of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a member of the Board of Stewards of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church.


On February 26, 1896, he married Clara A. Norris, daughter of John T. Norris of Tiffin, Ohio.


WALTER GLENN ALEXANDER first became identified with the Mahoning Valley as a school teacher and principal, but for nearly ten years has played an active part in business, most of the time in Warren, where he has enjoyed a number of interesting relations with the business and civic affairs of the community today.


He was born on a farm in Guernsey County. Ohio, October 29, 1884, son of John P. and Dorcas B. (Niblock) Alexander. His parents were born in Harrison County, Ohio. His paternal grandfather, James Alexander, was also a native of Ohio, while his wife, Margaret, was born in Pennsylvania. Warren is the present home of John P. and Dorcas B. Alexander.


Up to the age of eighteen years Walter G. Alexander lived on a farm in Guernsey County. He


YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 275


graduated in 1903 from the high school at Freeport, Ohio, then taught for a year, and received his advanced education in Muskingum College, where he obtained the Bachelor of Science degree in 1908. That year he became principal of the high school at Girard, Ohio, and remained in charge of that school for three years.


In November, 1911, Mr. Alexander embarked his capital and his experience in the clothing business at Warren. He sold out in 1913 in order to take charge of the commercial department of the law firm of Dolan & Hoffman at Youngstown, but in 1915 returned to Warren and has since handled a prosperous and growing brokerage business, stocks, bonds and real estate. He is a director in the Trumbull Realty & Investment Company, an incorporator of the Valley City Mortgage & Loan Company, and up to January 1, 1920, was secretary, treasurer and general manager of the Trumbull Coal Company.


At different times in the last ten years his name has been actively associated with various civic and educational movements. He was manager of the Trumbull County Dry Federation, and contributed in an important measure to the state-wide prohibition movement. He waA manager of the Federation when the state law went into effect. He is vice president of the Warren Board of Education and a member of the Warren Board of Trade. Mr. Alexander is a steward in the First Presbyterian Church, and for three years was superintendent of its Sunday school. He is affiliated with Carroll F. Clapp Lodge of Masons, being a charter member, and is a member of the Masonic Club and the Knights of Pythias.


He married Miss Ada Frances Goodman, who was born at Piedmont in Harrison County, Ohio, a daughter of John and Matilda (Frizzell) Goodman. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander have two children, Robert Glenn and Richard Lee.


WILLIAM H. B. WARD. The Ward family has been closely associated with the history of the Mahoning Valley for three-quarters of a century, and three of its generations have played important parts in the development of the valley into one of the great industrial centers of the world. One of its first generation built the first rolling-mill in the valley and in the State of Ohio, and so far as record goes was the first man in the valley to practically use pig-iron made from raw coal and also the first to practically utilize the blackband ore of this region ; one of the second generation was active in the successful operation of iron mills ; and one of the third generation was a factor in the founding of one of the valley's great steel mills of the present day.


James Ward (I), grandfather of the present generation, and the pioneer builder of rolling-mills, was an Englishman by birth, but with the exception of his first four years his entire life was spent in this country, the last fifty years of it in the Mahoning Valley. He was born near Dudley in Staffordshire, England, on November 25, 1813, and came from a family of iron-workers. He was but four years of age when he came with his parents to America in 1817. The family located at Pittsburgh, and it was in that city that young James was reared, and where he laid the practical foundation for the successful career which was to follow. He left school at the age of thirteen years to go to work in assisting his father in the making of wrought-iron nails by hand. When he was nineteen years of age he took up engineering. In 1841 he came into the Mahoning Valley, and in 1842 he built and put in operation the James Ward & Company's rolling mill at Niles, which was the pioneer mill of the valley and of Ohio. After a long and active career he died at Niles on July 24, 1864, leaving as a heritage to his posterity a name known not only all over Ohio but to the country at large—the name of an honorable and liberal man, one endowed with remarkable business genius and business enterprise, and one who won and held the love of his intimates and gained the respect and admiration of all who knew him personally, and of many who did not have the pleasure of personal acquaintance.


James Ward (II) was born at Pittsburgh and following in the footsteps of his father, became a manufacturer of iron. For a number of years he was identified with his father's interests at Niles, and later owned and operated rolling mills at New Philadelphia, Ohio. He wedded Lizzie_ B., the daughter of William H. Brown, of Pittsburgh, who was long a prominent and successful operator and shipper of coal, and as such was known all up and down the Ohio Valley.


William H. B. Ward, of the third and present generation, son of James and Lizzie B. Ward, was born at Niles, Ohio, on September 17, 1866. As a boy he attended school and spent his odd hours and vacation days at minor tasks in the Ward Mills. Later he was associated with his father's mills at New Philadelphia. At about that time either he or his father decided that he should prepare for the legal profession, and he read law at Niles and Warren for three years. But the lure of business life, especially for the making of iron and steel, was strong in him, and he did not qualify for admission to the bar, but gave up his legal studies and went to Kentucky, where he spent the next five years in association with an uncle, S. S. Brown, who was engaged in developing and operating large coal interests in that state.


In 1900 Mr. Ward was made superintendent of the Struthers plant of the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company. Six years later, however, he resigned that position, returned to Niles and became identified with the interests of Jonathan Warner of Youngstown, first as superintendent of the Empire Iron & Steel Company, owned by Mr. Warner. That property was sold in 1912, and in that year Mr. Ward joined Mr. Warner, Mr. Hardesty and other well-known local steel men in the promotion and organization of the Trumbull Steel Company and in the building of its great plant at Warren. He was in charge of the building of the plant, which is one of the largest and most modern steel plants in the world, and as vice president of the company he continues in charge of its practical operation.


Aside from the making of steel products Mr. Ward is, and has been for some years, very active and prominent in civic affairs. Especially was he active during the period of the great war, and he rendered to his country patriotic and valuable services when


276 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY


the nation was making its supreme effort, subordinating for the time being his business and private interests to the Government. He served as chairman of the Trumbull County Draft Board and as a trustee of the local War Chest and on various committees. Wherever and whenever he saw opportunity for war work of any kind he willingly and enthusiastically entered upon such work, and his efforts, as much as those of any other one man, helped make possible the glorious record established by old Trumbull County in service to the nation—a record not surpassed by any other county in the Union.


Since Mr. Ward has been a citizen of Warren he has taken a keen interest in civic affairs, and has lent his support to all public movements inaugurated for the advancement of the city and for the welfare of the community. He is a trustee of the Warren Public Library, and is very much interested in the Warren City Hospital of which he is also a trustee, and, in fact, in all of the city's institutions.


As a high-minded, practical and able business man, and as a patriotic, useful and worthy citizen, Mr. Ward has won and holds the esteem of his fellow citizens, who admire and honor him for what he is, for what he has done and for what he is doing.


In 1897 Mr. Ward was united in marriage with Earlie Hice, who was born at New Castle, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Samuel Hice, a successfnl traveling salesman for many years of- that city. To this marriage two children have been born: Mary Warner Ward and William H. B. Ward, Jr., the latter of whom died in 1917.




ROBERT T. IZANT. Closely identified with the banking history of the Mahoning Valley for over forty years, and as an attorney for even a longer period, Robert T. Izant has exerted a constructive influence over the affairs of Warren, and is probably one of the most thoroughly representative men of this region.


The branch of the Izant family to which Mr. Izant belongs came to the United States from Somersetshire, England, in 1872 and located at Warren, Ohio, that same year, and in this city, Mr. Izant's parents, Walter and Martha (Rossiter) Izant, passed the remainder of their useful lives. Walter Izant was an iron-worker and died in 1900. His widow survived him until 19r2, when she died at the extremely old age of ninety-five years.


Robert T. Izant was born at Great Elm, Somersetshire, England, on March 18, 1855, and was in his seventeenth year when the family came to Warren. He began his business career in the fall of 1873 as clerk in the law office of the late John M. Stull of Warren, who later became his preceptor in the study of law. Mr. Izant was admitted to the bar in April, 1878, following which he embarked in a general law practice at Warren, and continued it very successfully for twenty years, when he gave it up to enter the banking business.


Mr. Izant was the principal, if not the sole, organizer of the Trumbull Savings & Loan Company of today. He became secretary and attorney of that company, and continued to be secretary through its changes in organization to January 1, 1920, at which time he was elected president and is one of the three living founders.


As an attorney Mr. Izant was a success, but it is as a financier that he has developed genius out of the ordinary, and to this genius is due in a very great measure the growth of the Trumbull Savings & Loan Company from a financial institution with assets of $34,311.30 in 1890 to one of the solid financial institutions of the state, with assets of $4,467,285.53 in 1919. The Trumbull Savings & Loan Company is the oldest savings institution in Trumbull County, and its career has been one of steady growth, expansion and popularity. In the fall of 1906 this company established a branch under the parental name at Girard, Ohio, and in 1918 it organized the Trumbull Banking Company, also of Girard, with Mr. Izant as vice president of the latter. He is also a director and secretary of the People's Ice & Cold Storage Company of Warren, and a member of the executive committee of the State League of Home Building & Loan Associations. He is and has been for forty- eight years a member of the First Methodist Church of Warren, and belongs to the Rotary Club, also of Warren. In his fraternal relations he maintains membership with the Masons, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias. In 1888 Mr. Izant was united in marriage with Sadee M. King, a daughter of James M. King, of Kinsman, Trumbull County, and to them has been born one son, James R., on June 18, 1894 who was educated at Hobart, College of Geneva, New York, and in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and is now secretary of the Trumbull Savings & Loan Company. He married Margaret Wilhelm, a daughter of J. C. Wilhelm of Warren, and they have one daughter, Margaret G.


JULES VAUTROT, JR., of Warren, has been identified with the history of this city for half a centnry and he still maintains his identification with its business as president of the Vautrot & Myers Company, the oldest and leading jewelry store in Trumbull County.


The Vautrot family is of old Huguenot stock, and was founded in America in 1832 by Francis Vautrot, grandfather of Jules Vautrot, Jr., who was driven out of the French province of Lorraine by the persecution of the Huguenots in 1832. Upon reaching America he went to the French settlement at Mead's Corners, six miles distant from Meadville, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, where he bought land and established his home and followed farming. Two of his sons had come to the United States prior to his arrival, one going to Oppalassa, Louisiana, where he married a southern woman, became a large slave- holder and ardently espoused the cause of the South when war was declared. The other son settled at Mobile, Alabama, where he became editor of the Mobile Advertiser and Register, which newspaper is still being published. This American ancestor of the Vautrot family lived the remainder of his active days in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, and then came to Warren, where he died and is buried.


Jules Vautrot, son of Francis and father of Jules, Jr., of Warren, was born at Nancy, France, in 1819, and was a boy thirteen years of age when the family came to America. He learned the silversmith trade at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and after working at it in that city for a time he with six other young men voyaged down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers in


YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 277


a scow, drifting with the currents, to New Orleans, Louisiana, from which city Jules Vautrot went to Oppalassa, Louisiana, and there spent the next six years, working at his trade, also manufacturing by hand gold rings, scarf pins and other articles of jewelry. Returning to the North, he worked for a time at Meadville, Pennsylvania, and then, in 1847, he came to Warren Ohio, and went to work for Ashbel King, the pioneer jeweler of this city. At Mead's Corners he married Rosalie Gaudilott, who was born in Lorraine, France, and came to America when young with her parents and eleven other children of the family, settling on their large farm at Meadls Corners, Pennsylvania.


The elder Jules Vautrot made the trip from Pennsylvania to Warren, Ohio, with his family in a wagon, as was quite customary in those days. In 1849 he engaged in business on his own account in a :Juan frame building on Market Street, a few doors west of the present store of his son. He met with success and soon built up a good business, and continued in active charge of it for many years, gradually, as he grew older, however, relinquishing the store to the management of his son, Jules, Jr. In 1890 he permanently retired from active business, and died rn 1902. His wife died in 1856. He was an uncompromising member of the republican party from its organization, and during the war between the states, although two of his brothers were in the South and strong sympathizers with its cause, he was ljust as strong in his support of the North, and an abolitionist, and what is more he had the courage of his convictions and the disposition to air his opinions. Many prominent men of Warren were his friends and well remember him.


Jules Vautrot, Jr., was born at Mead's Corners on September 21, 1845, and was two years old when he was brought to Warren by his parents. His sister, Miss Julie, who is his junior by sixteen months, is still living and makes her home in the family residence on Mahoning Avenue. He was educated in the public schools of Warren, which he left in 1862 to erlist in the Eighty-Fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry for three months service, but saw a service extending over four months and twenty days, mostly in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. After receiving his honorable discharge he returned to Warren and to school in 1863. His father needing his assistance in the store, the young soldier once more left school and took up an apprenticeship at watch repairing. Soon, however, he became salesman and then buyer, and following his father's death he succeeded to the business, and took as partners his son Phil and Charles Myers, under the firm name of Vautrot & Myers Company, which was incorporated in 1910, with Mr. Vautrot as president and his son as secretary and treasurer. Mr. Vautrot now confines his business activities to being the financial man of the company. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Western Reserve Bank; vice president of the Peoples Ice and Cold Storage Company; vice president of the Warren & Niles Telephone Company, and for the last twenty years has been vice president of Oakwood Cemetery Company.


Mr. Vautrot is a member of Old Erie Lodge No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons; Warren Chapter and Commandery ; Lake Erie Consistory, and Al Koran Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and was the first candidate initiated by Warren Lodge, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, after the latter lodge had obtained its charter. He is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and belongs to the Warren Board of Trade. Mr. Vautrot served as director of safety for Warren, and during his incumbency of that office was active in installing the motor equipment of the fire and police departments.


The maiden name of Mrs. Vautrot was Frances Richards, and she is a daughter of William Richards, who built the first blast furnace at Brier Hill, where Mrs. Vautrot was born. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Vautrot : Grace, who married Fred Byard, a druggist of Warren, and they have two children, Mary Frances and Julie; Phil R., who is secretary and treasurer of the Vautrot & Myers Company, is unmarried; and Louis R., who is an electrical engineer with a large concern in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, married Mae Chryst, a daughter of Solomon R. Chryst of Warren.


GEORGE M. TAYLOR. Salesmanship is something which cannot be taught to anyone unless he has a natural aptitude for the work, and the most successful men in the business are those who have acquired their skill through practical experience. One of the men who has brought salesmanship up to the highest possible standard is George M. Taylor, now representing Clawson & Wilson in the Mahoning Valley, his territory extending from Warren to New Castle, and from East Liverpool to Sharon, Pennsylvania.


George M. Taylor was born at Delta, Ohio, July 1, 1881, a son of George A. and Christiana Taylor, the former now a resident of Youngstown. George A. Taylor was born in the Highlands of Perth, Scotland, and his wife was born in Inverness, Scotland. When still a young man came to the United States, and she followed a little later, and they were married on her arrival in this country. George A. Taylor became a freight engineer on the New York Central Railroad, making his home first in Cleveland, Ohio, and later at Youngstown, where he located permanently in 1905. Their children were as follows : Mary, who was a teacher in the public schools of Cleveland, Ohio, married William G. Gilmore, and they live in California ; Wallace P., who is employed at the William Pollock Plant of Youngstown ; James D., who was a salesman, died in 1919; and George M., who was the youngest born.


George M. Taylor attended the Central High School at Cleveland, Ohio, and then served an apprenticeship of three years learning the dry goods business with Root & McBride of Cleveland, and next held a position as city salesman for Cleveland in the employ of William Taylor & Sons Company. In 19o5 he came to Youngstown and for nine years was a salesman for the Youngstown Dry Goods Company, but severed his connections with that establishment to form his present ones with the Clawson-Wilson Company. Mr. Taylor has his offices in the Federal Building. He has built up a wonderful trade and has many friends of long standing.


In 1908 Mr. Taylor was married to Elizabeth O'Rourke, a daughter of John L. O'Rourke, of an old


278 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY


family of Niles, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have two children, Ruth and Martha.


Mr. Taylor belongs to Western Star Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the United Commercial Travelers, the North Side Club, organized to advocate the building of Belmont Avenue Bridge, and the Lakes and Ohio Canal Commission. He has always taken a constructive interest in the advancement of Youngstown since coming here, and is in every way worthy the confidence which is placed in him by his fellow citizens.




CHARLES B. CUSHWA, general manager of the Brier Hill Steel Company, has been a resident of Youngstown since 1901, and since early youth has been identified with some phase of the iron and steel business.


His Americanism is the product of more than two centuries of residence on the part of his ancestors. The family was founded by a John Cushwa, who immigrated from the French Province of Alsace in 1685 and located at Womelsdorf in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Members of the Cushwa family fought on the American side in the Revolutionary war. John Cushwa, great-grandfather of Charles B., was in the War of 1812 and was wounded in the engagement at Bladenbnrg near Baltimore


Charles B. Cushwa was born at Williamsport, Maryland, November 15, 1873, son of George C. and Ella A. (Clarke) Cushwa and a grandson of David Cushwa. George C. Cushwa moved to Pittsburgh in 1883 and for a number of years was superintendent of the Republic Iron Works, now a part of the National Tube Works.


From the age of nine years Charles B. Cushwa lived in Pittsburgh, received his education in the parochial and public schools of that city, and at the age of eighteen went on the pay roll of the Republic Iron Works as a bill clerk. He was with that concern and the National Tube Works until 1901, and had been promoted to assistant general superintendent. On coming to Youngstown he was made general superintendent of the Youngstown Iron and Steel Company, and continued with its successor, the Sharon Steel Hoop Company, until September I, 1918. Mr. Cushwa has been general manager of the Brier Hill Steel Company since May I, 192o. He is one of a group of exceptionally able technical experts who in recent years have made the Brier Hill Company one of the most effrcient and progressive organizations of the kind in the country.


Mr. Cushwa is also a director of the Commercial National Bank. He is a member of the American Iron and Steel Institute, the Engineers Club, the Youngstown Club, the Knights of Columbus, is a republican voter and a Catholic. October 15, 1901, he married Miss Mary Coll, of Pittsburgh. Their two children are Raymond C. and Charles B., Jr.


JONATHAN WARNER. The Mahoning Valley is the birthplace of a number of men whose achievements in different lines of endeavor and whose worth as citizens have reflected great credit upon the valley and earned for them honorable mention in the history of the community. One of them is Jonathan Warner, founder and guiding genius of the great Trumbull Steel Company at Warren.


He was born at Mineral Ridge, Ohio, August 2, 1867, son of the late Jacob B. and grandson of Jonathan Warner, first. The Warner family was established in America during the sixteen hundreds, and the men of the succeeding generations have borne their full responsibilities as citizens. One of them was a soldier and died in the Continental line during the Revolutionary war, and another was a soldier and died in the War of 1812.


The Mahoning Valley pioneer of the family was Jonathan Warner, first, who settled at Youngstown during the early '40s. He was born at Sodus Point, New York, where he married Elizabeth Field, first cousin to Cyrus West Field, who laid the first Atlantic cable. The Fields came over from England on the Mayflower. Jonathan Warner as a Youngstown merchant at one time had a store on the present site of the George Fordyce Block on Federal Street. Later he became active in industrial affairs, building and operating glass furnaces in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and also operated coal mines which he opened at Mineral Ridge. After a long and successful business career he retired from active life in 1875 and died at Youngstown in 1892.


Jacob B. Warner, his son, was born at Sodus Point, New York, and became associated with his father in coal mining at Mineral Ridge, but in 1879 removed to Colorado and for several years owned and operated a smelter at Denver. He died in Florida in 191o. He married Maria Lewis, daughter of John Lewis, a native of London, England, who surveyed and opened up the first coal mine at Mineral Ridge.


Jonathan Warner, second, was but a boy when his father removed to Colorado. He was educated in the public schools of Denver, in the Rayen High School at Youngstown and at Williams College. He left college in his junior year to go to work in the shops of the Falcon Iron and Nail Company at Niles. In 1895, in company with others, Mr. Warner built the Struthers Sheet Mill, which property was absorbed by the United States Steel Corporation in woo, Mr. Warner remaining as general manager of the corporation's mills, with headquarters at New York City.


He had visions of an independent career and of an organization of his own, and possessed ample faith in himself to attempt the realization of his ambition. Returning to Youngstown in 1907, he in that year purchased the Empire Iron & Steel Mills at Niles, which he later sold to the Brier Hill Steel Company.


The crowning achievement of his career at the present time is the creation of the great Trumbull Steel Company at Warren, from the inception of which project until its consummation his genius was exemplified at every point. He promoted it, perfected the organization, built the plant and put it in successful operation, and to him is due the credit for bringing into existence one of the big industrial enterprises of the Mahoning Valley, an enterprise which has greatly promoted the progress and development of the entire district and especially the City of Warren. If for no other reason than what Mr. Warner and the Trumbull Steel have done and are still doing


YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 279


for this section of Ohio, his name should be written high on the scroll containing the names of distinguished men and public benefactors of the Mahoning Valley.


Mr. Warner's success in life may be traced to his inherent qualities of both mind and heart, to his genius for organization, his ability as an executive and to the courage of his convictions. Born in the Mahoning Valley, reared in the haze and smoke of its industries, he has always been an enthusiastic believer in the valley and has an unwavering faith that it will become one of if not the greatest industrial centers of the world, and has always cherished likewise an ambition to make his individual influence count in the web of events that will bring about such an end.


He has other extensive interests outside of iron and steel. He is a director of the First National and the Dollar Savings Bank and the Realty Guarantee & Trust Company of Youngstown and the Union Commerce National Bank of Cleveland. For a number of years an institution that has deeply interested him has been the Young Men's Christian Association, and he has served as president of the Youngstown branch of the association. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church, the Youngstown Club, the Duquesne Club of Pittsburgh, and is a thirty-second degree Mason. Relaxatron from business he finds on his fine farm near Youngstown, where he is a successful grower of blooded cattle.


Mr. Warner married Mary B. Ward, daughter of the late James B. Ward, second, of Niles, and sister of Capt. W. H. B. Ward. At her death in 1906 she left a daughter, Elizabeth Brown Ward Warner, who is the wife of Edwin Ford Clark of Youngstown, president of the Newton Steel Company at Newton Falls, Ohio.


ELMER EUGENE NASH, one of the commanding figures in the industrial life of the Mahoning Valley, has been prominent in the business affairs of Warren for nearly thirty years and since 1901 has been treasurer of the Peerless Brilliant Lamp Company, and is also interested in a number of other local concerns to which his sagacity and capability give added strength. Mr. Nash was born on the family farm in Portage County, Ohio, July 11, 1848, a son of Abraham B. Nash, a native of New York State, who followed farming in Portage County from young manhood until his death in 1874. He married Jane Clark, a native of Portage County, Ohio, the daughter of Robert Clark. She died about 19o2.


Elmer Eugene Nash was reared in Portage County, and attended the district schools and Miami Commercial College at Dayton, Ohio. In 1870 he began his business career with the wholesale grocery house of Babcock, Hurd & Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, but after a year in the store he became one of its traveling salesmen, and so continued until 1877, when he purchased a general store at Burton, Ohio, and for over thirteen years conducted the largest merchandising business in Geauga County.


In 1892 Mr. Nash came to Warren and assisted in establishing the wholesale grocery firm of Graham, Nash & De Voe, in which he retained an active interest until 1901, when he resigned, although he retained his stock, in order to accept the position of sales manager of the Warren Electric & Specialty Company, manufacturers of incandescent lamps. Later on that concern was merged into the Peerless Brilliant Lamp Division of the General Electric Company, of which he was made treasurer, and he has acted in that capacity ever since. For more than twenty years he has been a director of the Second National Bank of Warren, and has always been active in the industrial and financial affairs of Warren. He was one of the organizers and first president Of the Trumbull Club of Warren, and is a member of the Rotary Club and of the Warren Board of Trade.


For years he has been active in the Masonic order, and is a member of Old Erie Lodge No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons; Warren Commandery No. 39, Knights Templar, and Al Koran Temple, Mystic Shrine, of Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Nash was commissioned in 1884 a colonel on the staff of Governor George Hoadley of Ohio. He is a member of the First Christian Church of Warren, of which he has long been a trustee.


In 1876 Mr. Nash was united in marriage with Miss Jennie Harmon, of Aurora, Ohio, a daughter of Edward C. Harmon. Mr. and Mrs. Nash became the parents of the following children: Fred H., who is vice president and treasurer of the O'Donohue, Knight & Gage Company, wholesale dealers in teas, coffees and spices at Cleveland, Ohio, married Louise Jackson, and they have one daughter, Marjory ; Ralph C., who served as lieutenant of artillery in the American Expeditionary Force, as a member of the Three Hundred and Nineteenth Field Artillery, is now sales manager of the Peerless Brilliant Lamp Division at Warren; and Ada L., who is at home.


FREDERICK KLIPPERT, Thorough training and wide experience alone could Have

 brought Frederick Klippert to his responsible position of superintendent of the Warren plant of the General American Tank Car Corporation, where vast capital is involved and important interests are served, twelve tank cars a day being the output. A man of great executive ability, with tact and judgment combined with knowledge and skill, Mr. Klippert is undoubtedly just the right man in the right place.


Frederick Klippert was born at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, February 23, 1872. He is a son of John and Catherine (Eckstein) Klippert, the latter of whom died in 1916. She was born in Germany but spent all but ten of her eighty years of life in America. The father of Mr. Klippert was born at Chambersburg in 1849, followed the trade of tinsmith during his active years and now lives retired. His father, John Klippert, was born in Saxony, Germany, and was the founder of this branch of the family in America. He was a blacksmith for the Cumberland Valley Railroad at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.


Frederick Klippert obtained his education in the public schools of Chambersburg, and when sixteen years of age began an apprenticeship to the machinist's trade and served three years, and one year as a journeyman. He then entered the Pennsylvania Railroad shops at Altoona, where he worked steadily


280 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY


for nine years, after which for ten years he was on the road under the engineer of tests, and was in charge of the work at different plants for five years of that time. In icao he came to Warren on business for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and while here became identified with his present company as assistant superintendent, soon being made superintendent. At that time the concern was employing not more than thirty men, but after Mr. Klippert took charge expansion began and at the present time the company has 175 well paid men on its payroll, and production has climbed to the very large percentage of twelve tank cars daily.


Mr. Klippert was united in marriage to Miss Missouri Wambaugh, who was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, and was teaching in the public school at Altoona when she first met Mr. Klippert. They have three sons, namely : John Frederick, Walter Edward and Donald Sylvester. Mr. Klippert and his family belong to the First Presbyterian Church. He is a member of the Warren Rotary Club and is active in all that concerns the welfare of the city. For many years a Mason, he belongs to Old Erie Lodge No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons, Chapter, Council and Commandery at Warren, and Al Koran_ Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is not .a man who has ever permitted himself an undue amount of relaxation, as he has always placed business before pleasure, but since coming to Warren he has become an active member of the Rotary Club and also has become associated with the Trumbull Country Club.




THOMAS M. PHILLIPS, former superintendent of the waSlitirietal department of the Brier Hill Steel Company, and since January 1, 1920, vice president and manager of the Youngstown Steel Company, and Experimental Mechanical Puddling plant, is a practical expert in the iron and steel industry and was associated with the business of the present Brier Hill Steel Company for fully a quarter of a century.


He was born at Pottstown, Pennsylvania, March 26, 1868, son of Robert and Katherine (Davis) Phillips. His parents were born and married in Wales and soon afterward came to this country, living for a short time in New York and afterward going to Pennsylvania, where Robert Phillips entered the iron industry. By a thorough apprenticeship he acquired a practical knowledge of the iron business, and he held many posts of responsibility. At one time he was connected with the plant at Wheatland, Pennsylvania, 'again at Cleveland, Ohio, and for three years lived at Springfield, Illinois. Through the influence of Edward L. Ford, superintendent of the plant at Springfield, he returned east to Youngstown and helped build the first furnace of the Youngstown Steel Company. Later he built the washed metal plant for the same company at Brier Hill, the plant of which his son became snperintendent. Robert Phillips was superintendent of this washed metal department until a short period before his death, which occurred in January, 1907.


Thomas M. Phillips, who succeeded his father as superintendent in 1903, received his early education in Cleveland and at Springfield, Illinois. One of his youthful experiences was clerking in a store. At the age of eighteen he began mastering the steel industry, and under the guidance and with the encouragement of his father made good use of his exceptional advantages. At the age of eighteen he was put to work on a twelve-inch rolling mill. He also learned furnace building under his father, and while at that gained his first knowledge of puddling. He IN as employed in various mills, and in 1889 went to Colorado and built and operated the puddling furnace at Pueblo.


Mr. Phillips returned to Youngstown and in 1895 entered the service of the Youngstown Steel Company. When this plant was merged with the Brier Hill Steel Company he continued with the latter organization and became one of the oldest men in the service of the company.


Mr. Phillips is a member of the Engineers Club of the Youngstown district. He also belongs to the Youngstown Country Club, is an Elk, a republican and a Presbyterian. October 19, 1897, he married Miss Minnie A. Garrison, of Niles, Ohio. They are the parents of one daughter, Martha J.


FRANK DANA MCCLUER. While his home and business interests have been centered at Warren for the past ten years, Frank Dana McCluer has met the successive problems of life under a great variety of circumstances, time and place, and in pursuit of business has covered a large part of this country. For the greater part of his active career he has been a practical lumberman, and is now president and general manager of the McCluer Lumber Company at Warren.


Mr. McCluer was born at Franklinville, Cattaraugus County, New York, December 18, 1864. His branch of the McCluer family was established in America in 1711 by John and James McCluer, brothers, who settled at Charlestown, Massachusetts. A few years later John moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania. James, the other brother, remained in Massa. chusetts and was the ancestor of the New York branch of the family. His direct descendant, Col. Joseph McCluer, great-grandfather of the Warren business man, moved to New York State in 1806. He was a surveyor in the employ of the Holland Land Company, and thereafter made his permanent home at Franklinville. He served with the rank of colonel in the regular army during the War of 1812, and in after years was commissioned a major general of militia. His son Samuel McCluer married Eliza Carpenter. Samuel died at Franklinville, when his son Frederick was only four years of age. Frederick McCluer, father of Frank Dana McCluer, was born at Franklinville, was a farmer in that community, and later entered the lumber industry in Pennsylvania and Minnesota. He and his brother erected the first saw mill on the site of the city of Albert Lea in Minnesota Territory in 1852. Frederick McCluer died at Franklinville about 1900. He married Parmelia Nichols, who was born at Eldred, McKean County, Pennsylvania. Her father, Samuel Nichols, was a native of Northern Vermont, and was a direct descendant of Colonel Nichols, who was an officer in the British army under General Burgoyne during the Revolutionary war, but after that struggle re-



YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 281


mained in America and located in Vermont. Mrs. Frederick McCluer died in 1912.


Frank Dana McCluer was reared at Franklinville, where he attended the old Ten Broeck Academy. Leaving school in 1880, at the age of sixteen, he went into the Bradford oil country of Pennsylvania. Two years later he became an employe of the prominent Dusenberry Lumber Company at Portville, New York. Thereafter for three years he made his headquarters in New York, and for seven years was in Wyoming, engaged in operating Star Route stage freight contracts and also prospecting. On his return home to New York in 1892 he remained a year or so, and in 1894 engaged in the lumber business in Pennsylvania. He was in the mills and also on the road, with headquarters at Pittsburgh, most of the time until 1911.


Mr. McCluer came to Warren on January 1, 1911, and in the latter part of 1913 organized the Home Lumber Company. He withdrew from that organization in February, 1919, and in March established the McCluer Lumber Company, which was incorporated March 3d with a capital stock of $50,000. Mr. McCluer is its president and general manager. The company has established warehouses and yards on Summit Street, and the business has had a flourishing record from the very beginning, Mr. McCluer is also president of the Warren Builders Exchange.

He is an active member of the Warren Board of Trade, the local Rotary Club, the Warren Automobile Club and the United Commercial Travelers.


He married Alice Vosburgh, daughter of William and Mary (Simms) Vosburgh, of Bradford, Pennsylvania. They have two children : Frederick William, who is a student in Allegheny College at Meadville, Pennsylvania, and Frank Dana, Jr., in the Warren High School.


FREDERICK THOMAS STONE, principal of the Burnett and Stone Insurance Agency, Warren, Ohio, and formerly county auditor, has lived practically his whole life in the City of Warren and its environs. He is one of the best known residents of Warren, and has an enviable record in all phases of its life and activities. For over thirty years he has been active in the business, public, and church life of the community, and is generally well regarded by the people of the city and county.


The Stone family is a historic one of Warren. At the old family homestead just beyond the city limits Frederick Thomas Stone was born August II, 1863. The Ohio members of the family are directly descended from Thomas Stone, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. During the latter years of the eighteenth century there lived at Bristol, Connecticut, a hatter named Nathaniel Stone. His son Roswell Nathaniel, better known in Ohio as Gen. Roswell Stone, was born at Bristol in 1793. He had excellent educational advantages, graduating with honors in the class with Rufus P. Spalding at Yale College in September, 1817. In 1821 he received the degree Master of Arts at Yale College. For about a year he taught school at Port Tobacco, Maryland, but did not find that vocation suited to his ambition. Turning his eyes to what was then called the far West, he came to Warren in 1822. He was commissioned to sell land for the Connecticut Land Company, but soon established a law practice and was appointed prosecuting attorney in 1823. He served as prosecuting attorney in the trial of Ira West Gardner, who was convicted and hanged, this being the only case of capital punishment recorded in Trumbull County. General Stone has been described as "a lawyer of learning and distinction and of fine personal appearance." He was an able lawyer, was elected to the Legislature from Trumbull County and was commissioned a general during the old militia training days. His wcrk as a lawyer and his personal character were held in high esteem by many prominent men. One of his stanch admirers was David Tod, who studied law with General Stone. David Tod, afterward governor of Ohio, was administrator of the Stone estate and legal adviser to the widow. Governor Tod's bond as administrator, signed by David Tod, Charles Smith and Henry Smith, is now in the possession of Frederick Thomas Stone.


General Stone had been in Warren only a short time when he returned East and on September 16, 1822, married Caroline N. Merriman, daughter of Dr. Titus Merriman of Bristol, Connecticut. She was a friend and classmate of Harriet Beecher Stowe in college, and always cherished her recollections of that great American woman. General Stone and bride came to Warren to live, and their four children were born in the city. General Stone died in 1833. His widow survived until 1892. They were the parents of four children, Henry Roswell ; Frederick Nathaniel, who never married; and two that died in childhood.


Henry Roswell Stone was born in 1825 and spent his active 1ife as a farmer, living for the last four or five years at Warren, where he died in 1892. He married Catherine L. Pew in 1853. She was a daughter of Thomas and Polly (Dunlap) Pew of Lordstown, Ohio. She was the mother of two sons and two daughters: Henry Merriman, who was born in 1858, is a wholesale and commission merchant of Denver, Colorado, and first married Minnie Allen, of Akron, Ohio, and after her death Maora Cole, of Norwalk, Ohio ; Caroline L., who was born in 1854 and died in 1903, became the wife of Henry Milton Harsh, of Warren, and left two children, Kenneth M. Harsh, of Canastota, New York, and Paul R. Harsh, of Ravenna, Ohio; and Frederick Thomas Stone, the youngest.


Frederick T. Stone passed his early school days in the public schools of his home district, and eventually he took the collegiate course at Hiram College. He appears to have decided to enter commercial life, for in 1886, he being then twenty-three years old, he entered the store of Kneeland Brothers of Warren as a clerk. For nine years he remained as a salesman with that firm, after which, in 1895, he ventured into independent merchandising business in Warren. He remained independently established in such business until 1901, when he sold the business to good advantage. He was influenced in doing so, to some extent, by the offer he had received from the county auditor, C. C. Clauson, who soon afterward appointed Mr. Stone his deputy. Mr. Stone continued as deputy county auditor until 1909, when he was elected to



282 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

 

the county auditorship. He was re-elected at the termination of his first two years in office. He vacated the office in September, 1913, and immediately thereafter established himself in business as an insurance agent in partnership with A. C. Burnett, the firm name being Burnett and Stone. The partnership continued until June, 1919, when Mr. Stone acquired Mr. Burnett's interest and has since conducted the agency singly, under the name of the Burnett and Stone Insurance Agency. He writes considerable business, being very well known in the city and county. His offices are in the Western Reserve Building.

 

Mr. Stone has always shown much interest in the development and advancement of Warren, and of late years has been an active member of the Warren Board of Trade. He has also been prominently identified with the functioning of local branches of fraternal orders. He is a prominent Mason, member of Old Erie Lodge No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons, and belongs to Warren Commandery No. 39, Knights Templar. He is a past master of Old Erie Lodge and past high priest of the Mahoning Chapter. He is also a member of Mahoning Lodge No. 29, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows.

 

His record in church work is an enviable one. He is an elder of the Central Christian Church and for thirty-five years has served continuously as a member of its choir. On September 7, 1892, he married Carrie Silliman, of a well known Ohio family. She was born in Fowler, Trumbull County, the daughter of Addison R. and Lucy (Baldwin) Silliman, and granddaughter of Abija Silliman, one of the founders of the old First National Bank of Youngstown.

 



GEORGE R. PERKINS, who has lived his life in the industrial atmosphere of Youngstown and district, was born at Weathersfield in Trumbull County, March 21, 1862, son of Richard and Mary (Jones) Perkins. His father was a native of England and his mother of Wales. They came with their respective families to the United States and were married at Weathersfield, Ohio. Richard Perkins grew up in the coal districts of England, and in Eastern Ohio was superintendent of several mines, including the old Hogue mine at Youngstown.

 

George R. Perkins had a public school education and with the exception of one year spent at Hamilton, Ontario, has lived in the three Ohio industrial cities of Youngstown, Girard and Niles. His first experience in the steel business was in the rolling mills at Niles, and was shipping clerk for James Ward at the time of Ward's last failure in business. Coming to Youngstown, he was employed in the Valley store about two years, and in 1885 became an employe of the Brier Hill Iron & Coal Company in a clerical capacity, and for about twenty years he was superintendent of the Yonngstown Steel Company. He has been with the Brier Hill Steel Company since its organization and for sev- eral years has been secretary to the general man- ager. Mr. Perkins is also vice president of the Perkins Hardware Company.

 

He is a member of the Engineering Club of Youngstown, the Chamber of Commerce, is a republican, and is affiliated with Hillman Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Youngstown, Ohio, with the Elks, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

 

May 31, 1888, he married Frances E. Anderson, of Church Hill. She died in 19̊6, the mother of three children: Harry, Mary Anderson and Dorothy Frances. Harry was a graduate of the Rayen High School and died at the early age of nineteen, just at the promise of young manhood. The daughter Mary is the wife of Arthur Purnell, a New York salesman for the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company, and they have one daughter, Martha Frances Purnell.

 

BENJAMIN WOODFORD EDWARDS, secretary-treasurer of the Warren Crty Tank and Boiler Company, of which he was one of the organizers and which is one of the important manufacturing industries of Warren, Ohio, is a public-spirited man of creditable record. He is an active member of the Warren Board of Trade, and is interested in many industrial and financial organizations of consequence to the city. He is a consistent churchman, trustee of the First Presbyterian Church of Warren; and his war record is especially creditable. He gave valuable assistance to the various war committees organized to achieve the purposes of the nation in the prosecution of the. war, and especially was of service as a member of the manufacturers' committee on war work. He has enviable repute in the City of Warren both as a. business man and as a citizen.

 

He was born in Niles, Trumbull County, Ohio, on June 15, 1875, a son of John F. and Nancy (Martin) Edwards. It is of interest here to note in this history of the Mahoning Valley that he comes of a family which is among the Mahoning Valley pioneers. Originally of British descent, the Edwards family was early in the Virginia colony, and later the name is encountered in the records of Butler County, Pennsylvania. Benjamin Edwards, great-great-grandfather of Benjamin W., appears to have been the first of the family to have settled in Butler County, Pennsylvania. His son John was born there, and his. grandson Samuel was also of Butler County birth.. He was born in 1812, and when a young man came into Ohio, settling in the Mahoning Valley, at Niles,. Trumbull County, where three succeeding generations of the Edwards family have had residence. John F., son of Samuel, and father of Benjamin W., was born in Niles, and lived there for the greater part of his life. He was for many years connected with the iron mills at Niles, and was well-respected as a man of industrious responsibility. He retired from business in 1892, and thereafter until his death in September, 1904, lived in the City of Warren. He married Nancy Martin, daughter of Benjamin Martin, a Kentucky planter. She lived for the greater part of her life in Niles, although she was born in Lexington, Kentucky, coming to live with her sister in Niles after the death of her father, which occurred when she was quite young. After a widowhood of six months, death came to her in Warren, Ohio, in March, 1905.

 

Benjamin W., younger son of John F. and Nancy (Martin) Edwards, attended the elementary and high schools of Niles, leaving the latter, however, before

 

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 283

 

graduation, to enter business. He was only eighteen years old when he was in good business, having in July of 1893 joined his elder brother, William F., and Alfred R. Hughes, in establishing a manufacturing enterprise in Warren. The brothers have been connected with that enterprise and with the City of Warren ever since, and during the twenty-seven years to the present have developed the business until it is now a consequential factor in the industrial activities of that city. At the outset the plant established by the partners became known as the Warren City Boiler Works, but in 1908, when the company was incorporated, it took the corporate name of the Warren City Tank and Boiler Company. Mr. Benjamin W. Edwards has been its secretary-treasurer since its incorporation, and has been one of the active managing executives. As a man of good executive ability and organizing capacity he has been sought by other industrial and financial corporations, and is connected with many such, but he has never accepted official position in any of these outside enterprises for the reason that the affairs of his own company, the Warren City Tank and Boiler Company, have been sufficiently important and voluminous to need the whole of his working hours. But he has at various times co-operated actively in matters of public or community interest. He is a leading member of the Warren Board of Trade, and has sought every opportunity to further the prosperity of the city, and as a member of the manufacturer's committee on war work he rendered good service to his district and to the nation during the progress of the World war. He has been liberal in support of local charities and other organizations of public character in Warren, and has been an active member of the First Presbyterian Church of Warren, of which he is a trustee. Mr. Edwards has not concerned himself actively in political movements, preferring to give first thought to matters of production ; and he has never at any time sought political office, either in local affairs or national. But he has been somewhat prominently identified with the functioning of local branches of fraternal bodies. He is a Mason of the thirty-second degree, Scottish Rite, and belongs to Old Erie Lodge No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons, Warren, to the Warren Commandery No. 39, Knights Templar, to the Cleveland Consistory, and to Al Koran Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Socially he is a member of the Trumbull County Club, the Youngstown Country Club and the Cleveland Athletic Club.

 

In 1898 Mr. Edwards married Lottie A., daughter of Robert J. and Emma C. Smith, of Warren. They have one child, a daughter, Evelyn Elizabeth, who was born August 6, 1906.

 

CLARE HILLS BARKER a thoroughly educated and we group e lawyer, has specialized ever since admitted to the bar in real estate and abstract of title work, and is one of the best qualified authorities on that subject in Trumbull County. Mr. Barker is president of the Trumbull County Abstract Company.

 

He was born at Granger, Ohio, May 13, 1876, son of William and Lelia (Hills) Barker. His paternal grandparents, Jared and Eleanor (Munson) Barker, were natives of Ontario County, New York, previous generations of the family having lived in Connecticut. William Barker was born at Bath, Summit County, Ohio, in 1849, was a graduate of Western Reserve College then at Hudson, Ohio, and spent his active life as a practical farmer. He died in 1904. The mother, now making her home with her son at Warren, was born at Granger in 1851, daughter of Dr. Stacy and Naomi (Gooding) Hills, both natives of New York State. Doctor Hills was of Connecticut ancestry and practiced medicine at Granger, Ohio, for over thirty years, until his death in 1875.

 

Clare Hills Barker graduated from the Medina High School in 1895, took his literary course in the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, graduating with the class of 1900, and in the meantime, in December, 1899, had been appointed private secretary to Congressman Phillips. He spent the greater part of two years at Washington, and made good use of his opportunities while in the capital city, taking up and pursuing a course of law in the National University Law Sch00l. He graduated in 1902 with the degrees LL. B. and LL. M., and in the same year was admitted to the bar of the District of Columbia. Returning to Medina in the summer of 1902, he moved to Youngstown the following fall, and while pursuing his law studies with Wilson, McNab and Hamilton he also did work for the Mahoning County Abstract Company. He determined to specialize in real estate law, and has done little work in his profession outside of that specialty. June 1, 1904, he was admitted to the Ohio bar, and continued law and abstract work at Youngstown until 191o. In that year he was made secretary of the Realty Trust Company and the Realty Guaranty and Trust Company of Youngstown. Failing health compelled him to resign in 1913, and in the fall of 1914 he removed to Akron, where he remained six or seven months, and then for a time was with the Guaranty Title and Trust Company of Cleveland. Mr. Barker located at Warren in July, 1917, at that time purchasing the stock of the Trumbull County Abstract Company, the leading business of its kind in Trumbull County.

 

He is also an active member of the Warren Real Estate Board, the Warren Board of Trade, and by his ancestry is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. He is affiliated with the Sigma Alpha Epsilon college fraternity. In 1905 he married Miss Mary M. Burt, of Medina, daughter of Elroy and Addie (Young) Burt. They have one daughter, Mary Lucretia Barker, born August 5, 1912.

 

AMBROSE BENJAMIN MANNIX. Forty years of uninterrupted business and official activity preceded the retirement of Mr. Mannix, who is a resident of Warren, and has been identified with that city since his first term as county treasurer of Trumbull County. At one time Mr. Mannix was a farm laborer, and he has achieved success and general esteem both by the faithfulness and persistency of his efforts through a long period of years.

 

He was born in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, October 11, 1854. His father, Timothy Mannix, a native of Ireland, married in that country Margaret Hickey, and in 1834, accompanied by his wife and two sons, came to the United States. At Boston he followed mercantile lines until 1856, and then bought a farm near Malone, New York, where he lived until

 

284 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

 

his death in 1883. After his death his widow and some of her family moved into the Town of Malone, where she died in 1884.

 

Ambrose B. Mannix was a boy of between four and five years when his parents moved to the farm. He grew up in a New York rural atmosphere, attended country schools and the Malone Academy, and remained at home to the age of twenty. The first summer off the farm he spent as a watchman on a lake vessel plying between Ogdensburg and Chicago, and made five round trips on the boat. Mr. Mannix came to Ohio in 1875, and after a brief time in Cleveland went to work on the farm of Judge Stone at North Newbury in Geauga County. Leaving there two years later, in 1877, he entered the service of the Andrews Coal Company in Vienna Township, Trumbull County, thus beginning his permanent relations with Trumbull County. He began business for himself as a meat dealer in Vienna Township in 1878, and after ten years expanded his enterprise to general merchandising, and was one of the honored business men of Vienna for twenty years. He served as postmaster for twelve years, appointed by President McKinley. He always took an active part in local affairs, and was honored with the office of township treasurer nineteen years. In too8 he was elected on the republican ticket as treasurer of Trumbull County and re-elected in Iwo. His official term began January I, 1909, and soon afterward he removed his family to Warren. At the close of his second term he continued in office as deputy under his successor, who had been previously deputy under Mr. Mannix. In 1914 Mr. Mannix resumed his career as a merchant, this time at Warren, and was in business until July 15, 1919, when he formally retired.

 

Mr. Mannix served as president of the city council of Warren four years, and then filled out an unexpired term of a year and a half in the council. He is a former president of the Trumbull County Merchants Protective League, a member of the Warren Board of Trade, is a director of the Trumbull County Agricultural Society and a member of the Board of Directors of the Masonic Temple Society. His Masonic affiliations are with Old Erie Lodge, Royal Arch Chapter, Council and Knights Templar Commandery, and he is also identified with the Elks. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church, of which he was an elder for five years.

 

February 22, 1882, Mr. Mannix married Carrie Chamberlain. She was born in Vienna Township, March 13, 1859, representing an old and prominent family of the county. Her parents were George and Mary (Wheeler) Chamberlam. Her father was born in New Jersey, July II, 1829, son of William and Mary Chamberlain, natives of the same state. Her mother was born in Brookfieid Township, Trumbull County, September 8, 1834. Mrs. Mannix died July 7, 1917. There are no surviving children.

 



CURTIS C. WILLIAMS M. D. While the thirty years o 1s continuous practice at Niles constitute a worthy professional distinction for Doctor Williams the appreciation of his abilities is by no means confined to his home community, since his work as a surgeon in many difficult operations has brought him a name and reputation such as are enjoyed only by the foremost men in that field in the state. He placed his professional abilities at the service of the Government during the World war period.

 

Doctor Williams was born at Lisbon, Ohio, May 13, 1863, son of Samuel and Isabel (McCurdy) Williams. He is a lineal descendant of Roger Williams, the famous dissenter who established the colony of Rhode Island. Doctor Williams' grandfather, Levi Williams, came to Columbiana County, Ohio, in pioneer days and founded Williamsport, named in his honor. Samuel Williams spent his life as a farmer, and Doctor Williams grew up on his father's farm three miles south of Lisbon.

 

He acquired a good literary as well as professional education, receiving his Bachelor of Science degree from Mount Union College in 1887. For a short time he read medicine under an uncle, Dr. L. O. Williams, and in the fall of 1887 entered the medical department cf the University of Michigan, where he remained until graduating, June 25, 1890. Since the fall of 1891 Doctor Williams has been in practice at Niles. He was the first man to leave Niles for the World war. He spent five weeks at Camp Riley, was commissioned captain of the Medi. cal Reserve Corps and from Camp Riley went to the base hospital of Camp Pike, Arkansas, where he was on duty the remainder of the war period. He is now commander of McKinley Post No. 14)6 of the American Legion.

 

Doctor Williams is a member of the Trnmbull County and Ohio State Medical societies, the American Medical Association, the Association of Erie Railway Surgeons and the Pennsylvania Railway Surgeons, being surgeon for both these railways at Niles. Fraternally he is a Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason, a Mystic Shriner and his wife is worthy matron of the Eastern Star. He is also identified with the Niles Chamber of Commerce.

 

July 20, 1890, Doctor Williams married Miss Clara J. Foust, daughter of Wililam R. and Mary P. Foust, of Leetonia, Ohio. Mrs. Williams is president of the local branch of the Federation of Women's Clnbs, was the first president of the Women's Lycenm of Niles, and is an active member of the Presbyterian Church. They have two daughters, Dorothy M., the older, graduated with the degrees Master of Arts and Bachelor of Science from Hood College at Frederick, Maryland. The other daughter, Josephine, is a graduate of the Niles High School and is now a sophomore at the Ohio College at Athens.

 

HARRY BENTON TURNER became superintendent of the Warren city schools September 1, 1916. In the face of the most trying and adverse conditions that have ever confronted the American system of public education it is important to note what has been accomplished at Warren since Mr. Turner began his duties as superintendent.

 

The results have in fact amounted to a practical reorganization of the entire city school system. Two new school buildings have been erected, two others definitely planned, and by the adoption of the so- called "duplicate system" the seating capacity has been made available to 4o per cent increased enrollment. The city kindergarten system has been

 

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 285

 

made available to all the younger children, and manual training and domestic science have been made integral parts of the course of instruction. The Junior High School organization has been completed and night schools have been operated for three years. During 1919 the total attendance at the night schools was 800. Departments of tests and measurements have been introduced and the scope of the health work has been greatly enlarged. A special class for backward children is another new feature, and special classes have been arranged for industrially inclined boys. Under the plan approved in the Smith-Hughes Federal appropriation legislation, Warren now has "continuation" classes, so that boys engaged in some remunerative labor can continue their education in the intervals of their employment.

 

Mr. Turner has made a notable record as an educator. He was born at Freeport, Harrison County, Ohio, September 2, 1880, a son of John D. and Atha (Kirby) Turner, who were also born in the same town. His paternal grandfather, James Plummer Turner, was a native of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. A millwright by trade, he built many of the old time mills in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and was an early settler in Harrison County of the latter state. He was noted for his great physical strength. During the Civil war he was with an Ohio regiment, and was wounded at the battle of the Wilderness, and all the rest of his life suffered impaired health. James Plummer Turner married Harriet Rankin, whose family also lived in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and moved to Harrison County, Ohio, where many of the name are still found and where the Rankin Presbyterian Church is a memorial to them. John D. Turner has spent his active life as a blacksmith and for the past thirty-five years has lived at Flushing, Belmont County, Ohio. Atha Kirby, the mother of Harry B. Turner, was a daughter of Thomas Kirby, whose family moved to Ohio from the vicinity of Winchester, Virginia. The Kirbys for several generations had been seafaring folk, but Thomas Kirby spent his active life as a farmer. However, he was well versed in sailor songs and the lore of the sea and was also a keen student of history. Harry Benton Turner from the age of six years grew up at Flushing in Belmont County, attended public schools there and graduated from high school at the age of sixteen. Because of his efficient student record his father rewarded him with a gold watch, and he still carefully cherishes and carries that timepiece. Mr. Turner is a graduate of Hiram College, receiving his A. B. degree with the class of 1903. Between his first and second years he taught a district school in Belmont County, and during the last half of his senior year he was principal of the Mantua high school. While there he gave the first demonstration of his capability as a school administrator by placing the Mantua schools on a plane where they were entitled to a first-class school charter. After leaving Hiram College he was principal of the high school at Garrettsville, Ohio, one year, and then returned to Mantua, serving three years as superintendent. For seven years he was principal of the high school at Ravenna, Ohio, the outstanding feature of his work there having been the large number of pupils who went from that high school to college. In 1914, under the new school law, he became county superintendent of schools for Portage County for a term of two years. A feature of his record as county superintendent was the centralization of the schools of fifteen townships and the building of several modern schools.

 

Mr. Turner was elected superintendent of the Warren schools in August, 1916, and was released from his duties by the Portage County Board to accept his new position. Mr. Turner is a member of the Northeastern Ohio Teachers' Association, is a member of the Committee on Education in the Ohio State Teachers' Association, is a member of the National Education Association, and is the leader of the Conference of Teachers of cities under 25,000. Fraternally he is affiliated with old Erie Lodge No. 3, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Mahoning Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and is a member of the Warren Rotary Club and the Warren Board of Trade. Both as a private citizen and in his official position he was a tireless worker in behalf of the various patriotic movements during the war. He was a member of the Liberty Loan Committees, was county chairman of the War Camp Community Service, and is remembered as one of the most effective speakers of the local speakers' bureau. He had charge of the sale of War Savings Stamps in sch00ls, and is now a member of the executive committee of the Red Cross and chairman of the Trumbull County Chapter of the American Red Cross Society. He served as a member of the Roosevelt Memorial Fund Committee for this county, and was a member and vice chairman of the Young Men's Christian Association War Committee of the county.

 

Mr. Turner married Blanche Kent, who was born at Chagrin Falls, Ohio, daughter of Eugene and Lucinda (Bayard) Kent. They have one son, Clarence Eugene, born August 28, 1908.

 

JOHN J. GILLEN at the age of fourteen years started busrness with a one-horse express wagon. While the equipment was an humble one, he made it the medium of a genuine and efficient service and soon saw his affairs grow and prosper until he was at the head of a livery business with twenty head of horses. By 1910 automobiles began to replace horses, and in 1916 the Gillen Transfer Company was incorporated with John J. as president and his brother Peter C. as vice president and secretary.

 

In 1918 the Gillen Transfer Company acquired a completed equipment of motor vehicles, and this is now one of the leading business concerns of its kind in the Mahoning Valley, performing a large essential service in transfer, taxicab, touring car and baggage handling. The office and headquarters are at Main and Dawson streets, a site which has been the business center for John J. Gillen's operations for over twenty years.

 

John J. Gillen was born at Youngstown, son of Charles and Anna M. (Lannahan) Gillen. His parents were natives of Ireland, came to this country when young and were married at Youngstown, where Charles Gillen for a number of years was in the grocery and baking business. His widow came with her family to Warren in 1897 and is still living in

 

286 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

 

this city. Mr. Gillen is a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church. He is also a member of the Warren Board of Trade, Warren Rotary Club, Warren Lodge of Elks and Knights of Columbus.

 

Peter C. Gillen, vice president and secretary of the Gillen Transfer Company, was born at Youngstown. He was educated in the public schools of Warren, and has been actively associated with his brother all his life. He is a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church, of the Warren Board of Trade, the Elks and the Knights of Columbus.

 



WILLIAM C. REILLY general superintendent of the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company, was born in Youngstown February 6, 1868, his parents being Charles M. and Emily (Woods) Reilly, the latter a granddaughter of Daniel Sheehy, one of the two first men to locate in Youngstown. Mr. Reilly was educated in the common schools and at an early age entered the mills of the Brown-Bonnell Company, where he obtained a practical knowledge of the iron business. After the organization of the Republic Iron & Steel Company, at which time he was connected with the Mahoning Valley Iron Company, he became assistant to J. A. Campbell, then district manager for the Republic Iron & Steel Company. When the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company was organized Mr. Reilly was elected auditor of that company and soon afterward placed in charge of its operating department as general superintendent.

 

He is known as one of the thoroughly practical men in the steel industry, to which he has devoted his attention exclusively, so far as business is concerned, although he has always taken an active interest in public affairs and has been connected with most of the movements of a public character in his native city in a helpful but unobtrusive way. He was married in 1889 to Cecily Muldoon, whose death occurred in 1916. They had nine children, these being Helen, wife of Dr. Thomas W. McNamara, Naomi, Cecil, Wilma, Carl, Frederick, Edwin, William and Cecily.

 

Mr. Reilly is a member of the American Iron & Steel Institute, the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, the Youngstown Club, the Youngstown Country Club, and other organizations. He resides with his family at Florencedale and Woodbine avenues, Youngstown.

 

WILLIAM NEIL LOCKE, whose chief business experience has been in the building line, has made his private enterprise valuable in the great expansion of Warren in recent years, and also does a large business in connection as a real estate broker.

 

He was born at Youngstown October 11, 1885, a son of William and Ellen (Neil) Locke. His parents were born in Scotland, were married there, and came to this country about 1860. Their first settlement was in the mining district at Austintown, Trumbull County, whence they removed to Lansingville, two miles east of Youngstown, and conducted a grocery and meat shop for about twenty-five years. William Locke, Sr., died in May, 1895, and his wife is now living at 318 Sherwood Avenue in Youngstown. Of their seven children, four sons and three daughters, all are living except the oldest son.

 

William N. Locke is the youngest of the children. He was educated in the schools of Lansingville and Haselton, but at the age of fifteen became self- supporting. His first regular employment was as a shipping clerk at the National Tube Works in Youngstown, where he remained six months. He was then made appraiser for C. F. Nevill, Youngstown, and ;then became manager for William A. Zumphe at Sharon. Later he engaged in business for himself at Wheeling, West Virginia, and in 1917 removed to Warren, where he has carried on building operations, resulting in the construction on the average of half a dozen residences a year. He has also added a real estate brokerage business to his enterprise.

 

May 25, 1907, Mr. Locke married Miss Anna Ruff, daughter of Isaac and Emma (McGonnell) Ruff, of Niles. They have two children: Donald Lyle, born March 7, 1910, and Emma Ellen, born April 1, 1915. The family are members of the First Presbyterian Church.

 

DANIEL W. PECK. While the railroads carry to and from Warren of Immense volume of traffic, one of the most essential features of the transportation system employs the streets and highways of the city, and the largest single private enterprise engaged in that business is Peck's Transfer Company.

 

The proprietor of this business was born March 8, 1875, in the old Peck borne which occupied the

of the Peck's Transfer Company headquarters today. The Pecks are an old and honored family of Warren. Mr. Peck's grandfather, Caleb Peck, was an early day merchant of the city. Like other merchants, he handled a general stock of goods, including whiskey, which retailed at that time at three cents a glass. In the absence of railroads all goods were hauled to Warren from Cleveland, the trip requiring one day in going and one day to return.

 

Aaron Peck, father of Daniel W., was born at Warren in 1843. In early life he was also a merchant, but for many years handled and developed a large livery business. He died in 1915. His wife was Delilah Medley, who was born at Warren in 1844 and died in 1913.

 

Daniel W. Peck as a boy attended the Warren public schools and also worked for his father and later became his active associate in business. Therefore, he has practically grown up in the industry of handling and transferring goods and passengers within the city limits. January 7, 1898, he bought out the business, and has carried it along for twenty-two years, constantly adding to and expanding it to keep it abreast of the wonderful growth of the city. In 1911 he added a taxicab service to his livery and transfer business, and now has a large organization requiring a number of men and a large amount of invested capital.

 

Mr. Peck is a member of the Warren Board of Trade, is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, Loyal Order of Moose and the Order of Eagles.

 

He married Miss Daisy Hopkins, of Newton Falls, Ohio. Her father, Robert Hopkins, was a prominent character in Northeastern Ohio. At one time he owned 600 acres of land in the Mahoning Valle near Youngstown. Many of the iron and steel in-

 

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 287

 

dustries of the city are now on land originally owned by Mr. Hopkins. When he sold his land to the mills he put the money in an old carpet bag and traveling to Newton Falls, reinvested it in other lands in that vicinity. He remained a resident of Newton Falls until his death.

 

WILLIAM F. CORBIN. For more than half a century the Corbin family have had their residence at Warren and in Trumbull County, and their enterprise has been forcefully demonstrated in connection with several business institutions, and the name represents all that is honorable in good citizenship.

 

The Corbins of Warren are of Norman extraction. The family went from France to England about the time of William the Conqueror. Later generations were known as extensive land holders, with family seats in both Staffordshire and Warwickshire. Representatives of the original stock were found as colonial settlers in both Massachusetts and Virginia early in the eighteenth century. The family at Warren traces its kinship to the Massachusetts branch.

 

The great-grandfather of the present generation at Warren was Philip Corbin. Born at Dudley, Massachusetts, on September 13, 1764, he married, November 26, 1789, Rhody Healey Dudley, and in 1793 with his wife moved to Connecticut and at Union in that state purchased large tracts of land. Besides farming on an extensive scale he became one of the leading manufacturers of potash, a commodity he sold at Norwich, Connecticut. A man of good principles, sound business ability, he was equally influential in civic affairs at Union, served as selectman, and represented his town in the Connecticut Legislature in 1814-15. He died May 2, 1845, and his wife on June 15, 1840.

 

Their fifth child was Augustus Corbin, born at Willington, Connecticut, September 18, 1801. He married Pamelia Preston, and of their five children the third was Silas A. Corbin, who was born at Willington, Connecticut, February 12, 1839.

 

Silas A. Corbin came West in 1862 and for a time was agent for the Wheeler & Wilson Sewing Machine Company at Pittsburgh. A few months later he moved to Warren and was local representative for the Wheeler & Wilson Company until 1867. His business enterprise then took a new direction, when he opened the first livery business ever established at Niles. He was a man of undoubted efficiency and great popularity, and while at Niles was elected on the republican ticket as sheriff of Trumbull County in 1872. He was reelected in 1874 and had the honor of being the first sheriff of the county to serve two consecutive and complete terms.

 

When he retired from this office in 1876 he became associated with Sidney Bartlett, under the name Bartlett & Corbin, in the manufacture of carriages. Their shop was one of the first of its kind in Warren, and the business grew and prospered. In 1885 Mr. Corbin disposed of his interests to Mr. Bartlett, and then t00k up the insurance business. For a long period of years his chief business was the Warren Marble & Granite Company, which he organized and incorporated in 1890, and which he served as secretary and treasurer until his death on July 6, 1917. Silas Corbin earned a high place among Trumbull County's business men and citizens. He was a charter member of the Niles Masonic Lodge, and demitted to Old Erie Lodge at Warren. He was also affiliated with Warren Commandery of the Knights Templar and with Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Cleveland.

 

Silas Corbin married for his first wife Amanda Dimmit, of Connecticut. She died leaving one son, Fred E., also deceased. His second wife was Emma Folsom, who was born in Weathersfield Township, Trumbull County, October 20, 1844, daughter of Jonathan and Jane (Scott) Folsom. The children of Silas and Emma (Folsom) Corbin were William and Cyrus N. Corbin, the latter being assistant secretary-treasurer of the Warren Marble & Granite Company. Jonathan Folsom, a native of Essex County, New York, was an early arrival in Trumbull County, and at one time owned the land on which were built the Trumbull Steel Mills at Warren. Jonathan Folsom's first wife was Milicent Dunlap, who died leaving two children, Nathan and Omar. Nathan is still living. Omar's son, Nathan B., is now treasurer of the Brier Hill Steel Company of Youngstown. Jane Scott, who was the second wife of Jonathan Folsom, and the mother of Mrs. Silas Corbin, was born in Vienna Township of Trumbull County, a daughter of Mathew and Rebecca Scott, Trumbull County pioneers. The children of Jane Scott Folsom are : Cyrus B., of the drug firm of Thayer and Folsom; Mrs. L. H. Thayer, of Youngstown ; and Mrs. S. A. Corbin, of Warren.

 

William Folsom Corbin, son of Silas A. and Emma (Folsom) Corbin, was born at Niles, April 22, 1869. He finished his education with his graduation from Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1889 and for the past thirty years has been one of the hard working and earnest business men and citizens of Warren. The first year after leaving college he was collector for the Youngstown Ice Company. Upon the organization of the Warren Marble & Granite Company in 189o, he kept the books of the concern, later was promoted to assistant secretary-treasurer, and in 1910 became secretary and treasurer. He is also vice president of the Western Reserve Lumber Company of Warren.

 

Mr. Corbin is a member of the Warren Board of Trade of Old Erie Lodge No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons, Warren Commandery No. 39, Knights Templar, and Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Cleveland, and belongs to the Trumbull Country Club, Golf Club and the Buckeye Club.

 

He married Miss Marion Stewart. Mrs. Corbin was born in Quebec, Canada, daughter of John and Emma (Pridham) Stewart, the former a native of Scotland and the latter of Ottawa, Canada. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Corbin are : Dorothea Folsom and Philip Stewart Corbin. Dorothea is a graduate of Russell Sage College, New York, class Of 1920.

 

MARTIN LEROY WILLIAMS M. D. Notable alike or many years he as spen m e cotiktenti4ns service of mankind as a physician and surgeon, arid ' also for his effective citizenship in Trumbull County,

 

288 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

 

and his relationship with some of the old-time families, Doctor Williams is today the oldest active member of the medical fraternity in point of continuous service at Warren.

 

His paternal grandfather, Stephen Williams, was of Connecticut birth and New England ancestry, and one of the earlier settlers of the Western Reserve. He located in Vienna Township, Trumbull County, and made a tract of land responsive to his toil, reclaiming it from the wilderness. He married Elizabeth Medley, who was born in Ireland, but was reared in Highland Township, Trumbull County, where her father was a pioneer settler. One of the children of this pioneer couple was John Stephen Williams, who was born on the old home farm in Vienna Township in 1817. In early life he was a carpenter and builder. Later he moved to Vienna Center, where for over twenty years he kept a hotel. After selling this property he bought a farm in Vienna Township and spent the rest of his days in the quiet vocation of agriculture. He died at his old homestead in 1901. He married Lorinda Ruth Sanford. Her birthplace was the Sanford Farm north of Payne's Corners in Brookfield Township, Trumbull County. She was born in 1820 and died in 1905, at the age of eighty-five. Her father, Samuel E. Sanford, was a native of Connecticut, and was likewise identified with the pioneer element in Trumbull County.

 

Martin Leroy Williams, son of John S. and Lorinda Williams, was born in Vienna Township February 9, 1849. Most of his boyhood was spent at Vienna Center. He acquired his education in the district and the Warren city schools and Hiram College, and graduated from the University of Michigan with the degree of M. D., class of 1871. That year saw him introduced in the general practice of medicine to his home community at Vienna Center, where his natural aptitude and skill brought him a high reputation. Since 1888 he has practiced medicine at Warren, and has served fully a generation of people in this city. He has given much of his time to the public side of his profession. He has been a member of the staff of the Warren City Hospital since the institution was organized; has served as health officer and city physician of Warren for five years ; was county coroner six years ; and member and secretary of the Board of United States Pension Examiners of Trumbull County for a period of fourteen years. He is a member of the Trumbull County Medical Society, the Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Fraternally Doctor Williams is a member of Old Erie Lodge No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons, Warren Commandery No. 39, Knights Templar, Cleveland Consistory of the Scottish Rite, Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Cleveland, and the Masonic Club of Warren.

 

While Doctor Williams represents the third generation of the family in Trumbull County, he is himself the head of a family comprising three generations. He married Frances L. Prindle. She was born at Girard, Ohio, which was also the birthplace of her father, Charles W. Prindle, while her grandfather, Nelson L. Prindle, came from the state of Connecticut as a pioneer settler in the Mahoning Valley. Doctor Williams and wife have one daughter, Blanche C. She is the wife of Frank H. Cannon of Cleveland, now of Warren. Mr. and Mrs. Cannon have two daughters, Elizabeth and Virginia.

 



ALBERT CURTIS TAYLOR. The Mahoning Valley as a great industrial center is naturally the home of much inventive genius. To Albert Curtis Taylor of Warren are due some of the processes which have practically revolutionized the method of electric welding, and he is connected officially with two companies that manufacture his inventions now of worldwide use.

 

Mr. Taylor was born at Leavittsburg, Trumbull County, son of Alfred C. and Josephine L. (Sturgill) Taylor. His father was a native of New York state and his mother of Missouri, and during the seventies his parents lived in the latter state. They located at Leavittsburg about 1878, and had their home there for sixteen years. Alfred Taylor was local agent of the Erie Railroad. He went out to Oklahoma Territory in 1892 and was one of the home seekers at the opening of the Cherokee strip. He died in the West in 1893, his widow and children then returning to Leavittsburg, and in 1894 the family took up their residence at Warren.

 

Albert Curtis Taylor acquired his early education in the public schools of Leavittsburg and Warren and also by home study. Beginning at the age of sixteen he served an apprenticeship of three years as a machinist with the Trumbull Manufacturing Company at Warren. During his apprenticeship his first creative ideas were put into execution when he built an electric motor and generator, also a gasoline engine and talking machine. At the close of his apprenticeship he entered the service of the Packard Automobile Company, which then had its headquarters at Warren, but soon afterward went with the Winfield Manufacturing Company as a machinist. After six months he was made foreman of the company and had charge of its drafting room. He had carried on the study of mechanical drawing under John McNutt. Mr. Taylor's success has undoubtedly been due to a habit of utilizing every spare moment of his time in study, observation and experimentation. While with the Winfield Company he began work on the development of an electric welding machine. He perfected the first "spot welding" machine in this country. Patents were issued to him and the Winfield Electric Welding Machine Company was organized for its manufacture.

 

However, the industrial world is most indebted to Mr. Taylor for a patent he secured October 16, 1917, on a device described as "covering the use of two currents which are caused to cross the path of each -other in a diagonal direction, concentrating the heating effect at the place of intersection." This welding process is fully protected by patents issued to Mr. Taylor, and the welding machine in the past three years has been manufactured and sold all over America and in foreign countries. For its manufacture the Taylor Welding Company was organized and incorporated January I, 1918, and Mr. Taylor is president of this organization.

 

Fraternally he is affiliated with Mahoning Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr.

 

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 289

 

Taylor married Lenore Stringer, daughter of the late Thomas Stringer of Girard, Ohio. They have three children, Alvin C., Irving I. and Frederick.

 

JUDGE GEORGE H. GESSNER, judge of the Municipal Court of Youngstown, began practice in this city about five years ago, and his achievements to date are the basis upon which his friends predict for him a splendid future as a lawyer and jurist. Judge Gessner has that breadth of sympathy and liberal view only possible to the man who has earned his way by direct contact with life at its source. He still is a lover of country life and farming, which was his occupation for several years, and he also gained much knowledge of human nature during the years he spent as a teacher in the school room.

 

Judge Gessner was born at Gambier in Knox County, Ohio, September 13, 1878, son of John and Lucy (Ashburn) Gessner. John Gessner was a native of Richland County, Ohio, was a blacksmith by trade, and followed that occupation in Mount Vernon and Gambier. He was also a Union soldier, having served for three years during the Civil war. He died May 21, 1885, at the age of fifty-three. Lucy Ashburn, his wife, was born February 23, 1848, and after the death of John Gessner became the wife of William Green, and she is now living at Baltimore. Judge Gessner was the youngest son in a family of six children. The others are: Frances, wife of Lawrence Dermondy, of Portland, Oregon; Albert, a horseman at Los Angeles, California, where he died at the age of thirty-five; Catherine, wife of George F. Malone, of Baltimore; Clinton H., a railroad man, living at Massilon, Ohio; and Mabel, who lives with her mother at Baltimore.

 

George H. Gessner when fourteen years of age accompanied the family to a farm in Milton Township of Mahoning County. He acquired his education in district schools, and spent two years in Hiram College. For about a dozen years his time was alternated between farming and teaching. Milton Township has seven schools, and Judge Gessner taught six of them. Many of his old pupils are now his fast friends and admirers. By teaching and farming he earned the money to complete his legal education. He attended the Law School of Western Reserve University at Cleveland, graduating in 1913. After his admission to the bar he removed to Youngstown and began practice with Perry Robison. In 1914 he was made assistant city solicitor under George J. Carew, serving two years. Then followed a period of rapidly growing general practice. April 23, 1917, Governor Cox appointed him municipal judge at Youngstown, and at the ITrst regular election he was a popular choice for that office. Judge Gessner is a Master Mason, being a member of Palmyra Lodge No. 533, Free and Accepted Masons. He is also a member of the Grange.

 

August 28, 1917, he married Miss Ruth Robison, daughter of Frank and Nora Robison. They have one son, John Franklin.

 

WARREN A. LAWRENCE, county commissioner, well-known resident of Newton Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, a successful and enterprising farmer, is a man of marked ability as a farmer, and a public worker of proved faithfulness and efficiency. He is well known and generally well regarded in his home district, and for many years has actively interested himself in public affairs. For several years he was township assessor ; he served on the school board for thirteen years; and for many years he has been one of the leading republicans of his district. He owns the old Strock family homestead, and lives in the dwelling that was erected by George Strock more than a century ago. That house, which is situated about two and a half miles to the southward of Newton Falls, is in excellent condition, although its fittings have necessarily been modernized, and it has to some extent been enlarged; but, generally speaking, it serves now as usefully as it did a century ago.

 

Warren A. Lawrence was born in Lordstown Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, on February t, 1867, the son of John and Mary A. (Fulk) Lawrence. The Lawrence family is one of the colonial families of America, colonial generations having had residence in the Dutch settlement of Pennsylvania. Warren A. Lawrence is in the fourth generation of Ohio residence, the Lawrence family being among the pioneer families of the Mahoning Valley, his great-grandfather and grandfather Jacob, and also a brother of the former, having come into the Western Reserve, and settled on wild land near Cornersburg, which is near Youngstown, on the Canfield Road. Later Jacob, grandfather of Warren A., settled in Lordstown, Trumbull County. Jacob married into the Bailey family, and both he and his wife died in Lordstown in 1861. They were both of equal age, and about fifty years old in the year of their death, the circumstances governing which were somewhat singular and tragic. The pestilential trail of war was directly responsible for their deaths, both contracting smallpox from contact with infected soldiers furloughed and visiting friends in their vicinity during the first year of the Civil war. Two of the sons of Jacob Lawrence, John, father of Warren A., and Daniel, went in the Union Army during the Civil war, and went through some very hard campaigning, losing many of their comrades. John Lawrence's brother-in-law, Solomon Fulk, and a cousin, Henry Lawrence, were killed almost at his side; in fact, of the three brothers of Mary A. Fulk, wife of John Lawrence, and mother of Warren A., who went to war, only one returned, Solomon and Uriah Fulk being killed, the surviving brother, John A. Fulk, being still alive, living in comfortable circumstances in Warren. The children of Jacob Lawrence were: Daniel, a veteran of the Civil war. He died not many years after the close of the war, leaving a widow and two daughters, now resident in Cleveland, Ohio; John, of whom more is written below; Henry, who is a retired farmer and lives in Warren; Samuel, who died at the age of eighty-two years, in the home of his nephew, Warren A.

 

John Lawrence, son of Jacob and father of Warren A., was born in Lordstown Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, and for the greater part of his life has been an industrious farmer. With the exception of the period of "the Civil war, during which his record as a patriot and a soldier is an honorable one, he has lived almost all his life in Lordstown, latterly retiring to Newton Falls, where he now is quietly

 

290 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

 

living, comfortably circumstanced. He was a man of industrious habits, had not much inclination for public life, and gave most of his life to matters connected with the proper operation of his farm, and to the rearing of his large family. He is a man of strong religious spirit, and was early a member of the Reformed Church, to which his wife, Mary A. Fulk, also belonged. Politically, he has for many years been a steady supporter of the republican party, and in their general life and contact with the people of Lordstown Township, both John and Mary A. (Fulk) Lawrence were esteemed by their neighbors. Their seven children were: L. Wallace, who was a druggist at Newton Falls for the greater part of his manh00d years, and died there at the age of fifty-seven years; Warren A. the present county commissioner, whose life will be reviewed later herein; Charles M., who was a farmer, independently established near Niles, Trumbull County, but who is now deceased; Anna, who married John Hults, but died at the age of thirty-three years; Peter, a well-known resident in Lordstown Township; Edward, a successful farmer of Newton Township; and Bert, who is operating the old Lawrence homestead in Lordstown.

 

Warren A. Lawrence, second child of John and Mary A. (Fulk) Lawrence, was reared on the home farm in Lordstown Township, Trumbull County, attended the district and graded schools, and after leaving school for some time assisted his father in the operation of the home farm. When he was twenty-one years old, however, he appears to have decided to take up commercial work, for he then became a clerk in a drug store. So employed, in stores at Newton Falls and Warren, Ohio, he passed five years. Then he acquired the farming property he has ever since lived on,,the original homestead of the Struck family in Newton Township, the association of which with the development of the Mahoning Valley is the subject of a special article written for this edition (see Joseph Strock, Sr.). George Strock, grandfather of Winifred Sutton, who eventually married Warren A. Lawrence, is supposed to have settled on the land about the year 1812 (although other data, supposedly authentic, regarding the settling of the Struck family in the Mahoning Valley, gives the year of their coming as 1815, although there is good reason to support the earlier date from the fact that at the time of the coming of Joseph Strock and nine of his eleven sons, the other two sons were on active service with the forces raised for the War of 1812, and it is not reasonable to suppose that, as emergency troops, their units would be held in the national service for so long after the passing of the emergency). Aaron Strock, son of George, is, according to this record, also supposed to have been born in Ohio on the same farm, in 1812. Aaron later in life was for some time employed in hauling hog ore from deposits found on the farm into Youngstown, where it was used in the early furnaces of that city. That vein of ore was of much consequence to the iron and steel industry of those early days in the Mahoning Valley, and its exploitation was for some years profitable to the Strock family. Aaron Struck lived in Newton Township for the greater part of his life, although in younger manhood he spent some time in the states of Michigan and Missouri. Among his six children was Anna Strock, who became the wife of William Sutton, who owned the farm adjoining the Struck property, to the southward. The Sutton family was also from Eastern Pennsylvania, and William Sutton spent all his life on the Newton Township farm, where he died in 1891, at the age of sixty-six years. His widow died in 1910, aged sixty-three years. Their five children were : Rolla, who is now in possession of the old farm; Bertha, deceased, who married Clyde Mower, but died at the age of thirty- two years; Winifred, who married Warren A. Lawrence, and has since lived in the home which was once that of her maternal grandfather; Ray, who died at the age of twenty-four years; Bernice, who married Ross Lee, of Chicago, Illinois.

 

John Lawrence was with his son on the Struck farm for seven years, but since the retirement of the former to Newton Falls, the farm, which is 123 acres in extent, has been operated and occupied by Warren A., who has shown much enterprise in his farming. He was married on November 2o, 1902,. and owned the farm for about seven years prior to that. His farming has been of general character, potatoes being perhaps his leading crop; and of that commodity he has grown as much as 1,400 bushels in a season. He has prospered well by his energetic and intelligent farming, and in addition has property in Newton Falls, in the future of which place he has much faith. He has throughout his life shown a helpful interest in public affairs, and has been elected to many township offices. For two terms he was township assessor; for thirteen years he has been a member of the school board; and he has been township trustee. He has now come into the larger public responsibility, as county commissioner, with F. E. Rose and A. O. Burnett, and is showing a sincerity and capability in public office such as confirms the confidence his fellow townsmen have in him. He has been a republican since early manhood, and has always taken energetic and forceful part in party work in his district. Fraternally, he is identified with the Knights of Pythias order, being a charter member of the lodge at Newton Falls. He has passed through all the chairs of that lodge, and has been a delegate to the General Lodge of the order.

 

Warren A. Lawrence is a man of active habits, and is an enthusiastic sportsman; he has made many big game hunting trips to Northern Michigan, and into Pennsylvania.

 

To Warren A. and Winifred (Sutton) Lawrence have been born three children: Warren, who is now in high school; John and Blaine, who are now students in the graded school.

 



FRED W. STILLWAGON. Among bankers and men of affairs of the Mahoning Valley who have had a more consecutive progress and have achieved a higher quality of that success which is expressed not so much in money as influence is Fred W. Stillwagon of Warren. For a quarter of a century he has been a factor in the banking interests of the valley, and aided only by native character and close application, from a beginning in the modest position

 

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 291

 

of a hank collection clerk he has become president of two old and solid banking institutions.

 

He is a product of this valley and his business career reflects credit not only on the man himself but on the entire community—a community noted for its able men. He was born on his father's farm in Weathersfield Township, Trumbull County, November 5, 1873. His father, Samuel H. Stillwagon, a native of Butler, Pennsylvania, but reared from boyhood in Trumbull County, has spent his life on the farm and has developed and still owns one of the best equipped farms and country homes in Trumbull County. S. H. Stillwagon married Calistia Hake, who was born on her father's farm located in Vienna Township just across the line from the Stiliwagon farm. Her father, Daniel Hake, was one of the early settlers of Vienna.

 

Fred W. Stillwagon grew up on the home farm, but like two of his brothers early chose a commercial career. After attending the district schools he continued his education in the Niles High School and Hiram College. Soon after leaving college he became collection clerk for the First National Bank of Girard in 1895. Just a quarter of a century later he has the interesting and gratifying distinction of being president of that bank. Leaving Girard he was made bookkeeper and teller of the City National Bank of Niles July 1, 1896, and less than five years later, on January 1, 1901, was promoted to cashier. When the City National and the First National Banks of Niles were consolidated Mr. Still- wagon resigned as cashier to become secretary-treasurer of the Dollar Savings Bank of Niles. He had organized this bank, having in ten years' time reached a position of influence where he could command and influence capital. The Dollar Savings Bank was opened for business January 11, 1905. In September, 1911, Mr. Stillwagon resigned to become cashier of the Union National Bank of Warren. Upon the reorganization of the Union National into the Union Savings & Trust Company on January 1, 1912, he became secretary and treasurer of the new organization, and continued to fill those posts until the death of Capt. William Wallace, the president, on September 29, 1917. The directors immediately chose Mr. Stillwagon as successor of Captain Wallace, and he has since been executive head of this institution.

 

In the meantime, in September, 1904, while with the City National Bank of Niles, Mr. Stiliwagon purchased a controlling interest in the First National Bank of Girard, becoming in that time vice president, and since a year later has been its president.

 

This in brief is the banking career of Mr. Stillwagon and the positions he has held and the institutions he has helped upbuild are of themselves sufficient conclusive evidence of his ability as a banker. Practically unregarded save by his immediate superiors in 1895, he has met every successive lest of responsibility and has well earned the honor of being president of two banking institutions, while he has organized one bank and assisted in the reorganization of two others.

 

His position in the financial system of the Mahoning Valley has naturally placed many demands upon his judgment, advice and co-operation in other business undertakings and several well known enterprises owe much of their success to him. He is one of the original directors and vice presidents of the Standard Boiler and Plate Iron Company of Niles ; is a director in the Akron Maderite Tire & Rubber Company of Newton Falls ; is a director in the D & M Cord Tire Company of Warren; a director and vice president of the Storage, Transfer & Supply Company, with offices and warehouses at both Warren and Niles; and is a director of the Ohio Corrugating and Manufacturing Company of Warren.

 

As a citizen of Warren he has naturally allied himself with many movements involving the general welfare of the community and on several occasions has furnished the motive principle and power to enterprises that later have come to be looked upon as cornerstones in the city's great growth and development. While his business interests are divided among several communities, and while he has been a resident of Warren only a few years, he has again and again demonstrated his loyalty to the city, particularly so as one of the original stockholders in the Trumbull Steel Company, since through his personal influence must be credited the location of that great plant at Warren. After organization the Trumbull Steel Company planned a location at some point in the valley. Its officers visited Warren and practically decided on locating the plant in the city. However, they met with but little encouragement from the people, and for that reason a decision was practically reached to go elsewhere. Understanding the tremendous advantage that the community was neglecting, Mr. Stiliwagon personally presented the situation before the Warren Board of Trade, urging immediate action, and was at once appointed and empowered by the Board as a committee of one to take charge of the negotiations. He carried forward the matter with characteristic good judgment and skill, with the result that the Trumbull Steel Company has its home at Warren and is now the largest industrial plant in the city.

 

Among other interests Mr. Stiliwagon is a director in the Fort Smith Smelter Company at Fort Smith, Arkansas, a director in the American Zinc Products Company at Newcastle, Indiana, and is still a director in the Dollar Savings Bank at Niles and a director in the Girard Home Savings & Loan Company.

 

He is a member and director in the Warren Board of Trade, a member of the Country Club, and the Warren Lodge of Elks. He belongs to the Central Christian Church of Warren and is active in many other directions. Mr. Stillwagon married Miss Grace May Mackey, daughter of E. H. and Melvina (Mills) Mackey of Vienna Township.

 

DAVID FITCH ANDERSON. Of the many lawyers who within the past twenty years have honored the Ohio bar, David Fitch Anderson, of Youngstown, occupies a place of prominence, his broad, keen and lucid legal exposition having won him a high position among his professional co-workers, while his fine legal attainments, his forceful arguments, and his many successes in his field of endeavor have given him a wide and well merited reputation. He was born, June 3, 1864, in West Austintown, Mahoning County, a son of David and Hannah L. (Shaw) Anderson. His father came from Ireland to the United

 

292 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

 

States when a lad of sixteen years, settling first in Philadelphia, and later coming to Youngstown. He died when seventy-four years of age.

 

After completing the course of study in the common sch00l of his native town, David Fitch Anderson attended Poland Seminary and Mount Union College. Subsequently reading law in the office of Gen. A. W. Jones & Anderson, he was admitted to the bar June 1, 1891, and immediately began the practice of his chosen profession in Youngstown. His advancement has been rapid, and each step taken has been highly creditable to him both as a lawyer and as a man of integrity and worth. Mr. Anderson's practice in the federal courts has been extensive, and he has had his share in the important litigation of city, county, state and nation. Mr. Anderson has been admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States; the United States Court of Cleveland; the United States Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati; the United States Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ; the Federal Court of Pittsburgh; and to the Federal Court of Buffalo, New York.

 

Mr. Anderson entered into partnership with Venice J. Lamb and Clyde W. Osborn and the high success attendant upon his professional labors bears speaking evidence of his ability and integrity, while the frequency of his calls to act as consultant with other lawyers is visible proof of the regard in which he is held by his professional brethren. As a delegate to the Constitutional Convention from Mahoning County, Mr. Anderson assisted in drawing up the present constitution of the state. He takes intelligent and thoughtful interest in politics, being an active member of the republican party. He is affiliated with the national and state bar associations, and was employed by the Ohio Federation of Labor to draw up the Employers' Liability Law. Socially he is a member of Youngstown Country Club and Poland Country Club, and religiously he belongs to the First Presbyterian Church.

 

Mr. Anderson married Hallie Johnson, daughter of Monroe and Hettie (Johnson) Johnson, and they have one child, Henrietta H. Anderson. Mrs. Anderson's father was formerly a prosperous attorney of Youngstown.

 

CHARLES SNELLING ROBINSON, vice president in charge of operations for the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company, has been prominent in industrial affairs in Youngstown since he assumed that position in 1906. He was born at Boston, March 1, 1864, his parents being Theodore and Susannah Snelling (Powell) Robmson. Mr. Robinson is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but his knowledge of the iron and steel industry might well have been inherited, as both his father and grandfather were prominent in the management of the historic Old Colony Iron Works, which, under the direction of Charles Robinson, the grandfather, was an important source of material for the Government at Washington during the Civil war.

 

Mr. Robinson entered the service of the Joliet Steel Company after graduating from the "Boston Tech," in the year 1884, remaining there two years. He then became chemist for Mather, Morse & Company at Bessemer, Michigan. Later he returned to Joliet as chief chemist for the Illinois Steel Company at that place, occupying this position until 1892, when he was made manager of blast furnaces for the Dunbar Furnace Company. He resigned this position later to become assistant general superintendent and afterward general superintendent of the Minnequa Works of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company. From 1899 to 1906 he was general manager of the iron department of the Colorado Fuel. & Iron Company, having in this position charge of the exploration work, mining and manufacturing.

 

In 1906 Mr. Robinson became vice president in general charge of operations for the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company, in which position he has seen this company become the largest industrial corporation in Ohio and has attained wide reputation as an industrial executive.

 

He is a member of the American Iron & Steel Institute, the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the British Iron & Steel Institute and other prominent technical societies. During the World war he served as a state director for the United States Naval Consulting Board and was a member of the Ohio State Advisory Board of the national employment service organized by the Department of Labor. He has served as vice president of the Community Service Society and a member of the executive committee of the Community Corporation; vice president of the Chamber of Commerce, director of the Mahoning Bank and secretary and treasurer of the Mill Creek Park Commission. He is a member of the Youngstown Club, the Youngstown Country Club, the Duquesne Club of Pittsburgh and the Union Club of Cleveland.

 

Mr. Robinson was married on December 8, 1887, to Miss Viola B. Salter, of Joliet, Illinois. They have five children: Margaret. wife of Myron Arms II; Frances M., wife of 'Wilbur Newton; Alice Elizabeth, Snelling Salter and Katherine W. The Robinson home is on Old Furnace Road and is one of the attractive places in that section of the city.

 

WILLIAM I. DAVIES. Occupying a position of prominence and influence among the representative men of Youngstown. William I. Davies was for many years officially connected with the management of municipal affairs, and as cashier of the Mahoning National Bank is identified with one of the successful financial institutions of Mahoning County. He was born, September 30, 1876, in South Wales, a son of the late William D. Davies.

 

But four years old when he crossed the ocean with his parents, William I. Davies was educated in Youngstown, attending the Front Street and the Oak Street schools. In September, 1892, having previously been employed in some of the city stores, Mr. Davies entered the city clerk's office, and served in a minor position under J. Howard Edwards and Fred C. Brown until 1896, when he became assistant clerk under Fred C. Brown and continued in that position until the retirement of Mr. Brown in moo, in the month of February. Mr. Davies was then elected by the City Council city clerk to fill out the unexpired term of Mr. Brown. Seven weeks later

 

PAGE 293 THRU 296 ARE MISSING

 

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 297

 

ders. William, a machinist living at Cleveland, married Mabel Double, of Warren. Catherine is the wife of Rev. Edwin H. Laubach, a minister of the Reformed Church living at Scottdale, Pennsylvania.

 

In 1906 Mr. James Schout married Miss Glenna L. Dewar, a lady of intelligence and superior character, . who has proved an able home maker. She was born near Pittsburgh and at the age of fifteen came to Warren with her parents, George L. and Frances (Seetin) Dewar. Her mother died in 1904 and her father, a former railroad man, is now living with Mr. and Mrs. Schout.

 

The farm of Mr. Schout was land secured by his father during his lifetime. James Schout also bought what remained of the old homestead where he was born. More than seventy acres of this land had been appropriated for the rights of way of three railroads running through it. Some of the old farm was also platted as an addition to DeForest, a former railroad junction near Niles. Much of this land has been sold as industrial sites. The present Schout home includes a portion of the attractive elevation known as Bolin Hill, which stands about 1,000 feet above sea level and is very desirable for residence purposes.

 

Mr. Schout is a democrat in politics, has served as a member of the school board and election board, and has been an elder in the Reformed Church at Warren. Mrs. Schout is active in the Presbyterian Church and its societies at Warren.

 

CHARLES A. GIFFORD. A keen-sighted, wide-awake, and able business man of Youngstown, Charles A. Gifford, keeps abreast with the requirements of the general public, and is officially associated with various industrial organizations of this and adjacent cities. He was born, November 22, 1875, in Erie County, Pennsylvania, on the farm of his parents, James P. and Ellen L. (Green) Gifford who are still residents of Erie County

 

After leaving the rural schools of his native district Charles A. Gifford took a course of study at the State Normal School in Waterford, Pennsylvania. Entering the employ of the Constable Brothers, lumber dealers and contractors, in 1893, he served as collector for the firm seven years, beginning work at $1 a day, and in 1903 was made manager of the mill. Subsequently, in partnership with Robert Constable, Mr. Gifford came to Youngstown and established the Youngstown Glass & Paint Company, Edward W. Constable and Charles A. Constable also becoming members of the firm. Robert Constable's interest was bought out by the remaining members, and at the death of Edward W. Constable, in 1917, Mr. Gifford secured his interest in the concern. On January 1, 1918, the business was incorporated, with Mr. Gifford as president and treasurer, and Charles A. Constable as vice president. The Warren Window Glass Company was organized at Warren, Ohio, in May, 1917, Mr. Gifford being made president, and David S. Lansdowne, treasurer. Mr. Gifford is also president of the Hoffmaster-Gifford Motor Company, organized in 1915, Lawrence T. Hoffmaster being vice president and treasurer ; and likewise president of the Hoffmaster-Gifford Tire Sales Company.

 

Mr. Gifford married in 1906, Addie W. Constable, of Erie, Pennsylvania, and they have one child, Bettena, born in 1907. Mr. Gifford belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and the Builders Exchange, being active in each organization. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, belonging to the Youngstown Lodge, Chapter, Council and Commandery, and belongs also to Cleveland Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

 

BERT H. PRINTZ. Although born on foreign soil, Bert H. Printz, Of Youngstown, was brought up and educated in this country, imbibing in his youth the respect for American methods and institutions, and the knowledge and patriotic spirit, that have made him a loyal and valued citizen of the United States. A native of Austria-Hungary, he was born November 29, 1859, a son of Abraham and Rosa (Wohlgemuth) Printz. His father immigrated with his family to the United States in 1864, and the same year established himself in the tailoring business at Youngstown, where he and his wife spent their remaining days.

 

Completing his early studies in the public schools of Youngstown, Bert H. Printz found work at Hornell, New York. Two years later he went to Sharon, Pennsylvania, where he was employed as a salesman in the clothing store of Mr. Traxler from February 28, 1878, until 1886, when on the first day of April he started in business in that city for himself, opening a clothing and furnishing store. Succeeding well in his venture, Mr. Printz in company with his brother, A. A. Printz, opened a branch clothing store in Franklin, Pennsylvania in 1888. Enlarging. their operations, Messrs. Printz established a clothing and furnishing store at Warren, Pennsylvania, in 1894, and subsequently opened stores in three other cities, Oil City and Kane, Pennsylvania, and Jamestown, New York. A branch store was established in Youngstown in 1917, in the early part of that year the Printz Company having been organized with a capital stock of $250,000, Bert H. Printz being made president of the concern. This firm is conducting an extensive business, with a profit sharing policy in force that is very pleasing to its employees, and largely responsible for their loyalty.

 

On January 20, 1899, Mr. Printz was united in marriage with Mildred G. Hayes of Wichita, Kansas. She died September 16, 1907, leaving one child, Gertrude Rose Printz. Mr. Printz married for his second wife, July 8, 1915, Mrs. Bella N. Cahn, of Youngstown.

 

Fraternally Mr. Printz is a member of Sharon, Pennsylvania, Lodge No. 250, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; and of Franklin, Pennsylvania, Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He takes great interest in the welfare of children, and is serving on the Board of Fresh Air Fund. He has served as president of Rodef Sholem Temple, and was president of the Congregation while the temple was in process of construction.

 

FRANK E. CAILOR of the Cailor-Beight Realty Company, of Youngstown, is intimately associated with the development, improvement and upbuilding of this section of the Mahoning Valley, and as a man

 

298 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

 

of ability and sound judgment has become officially connected with both financial and industrial organizations. A native of Ohio, he was born, December 6, 1871, in Woodworth, Mahoning County, a son of Noah and Louisa (Wittenberger) Cailor, both of whom were natives of the same county. The father, a carpenter by trade, died in 1880.

 

Left fatherless at the age of nine years, Frank E. Cailor had very limited educational advantages, and no high school training at all. Although thus handicapped in early life, he made excellent use of his time and natural talents, by study, reading and observation acquiring a practical knowledge that has been of inestimable value to him in his active career. Coming from North Lima, Ohio to Youngstown in 1895, he first worked as a laborer for Pollock & Company and later accepted a position at the Erie Railroad Freight House, where he was for seven years employed as a freight handler and clerk. The ensuing three years he was storage man for the Youngstown Dry Goods Company performing the duties devolving upon him faithfully and ably.

 

In March, 1905, Mr. Cailor became salesman for Pfau & Faunce, real estate dealers, and in i906 embarked in business on his own account, opening an office on Wick Avenue, and selling city property on commission. Continuing the business, he was in partnership with William Beight from 1908 until 1914, when the Cailor-Beight Realty Company was incorporated, with William Beight as president, George Gluck, vice president, and Mr. Cailor as secretary and treasurer. Many important transactions in realty have passed through the hands of this company, which is carrying on business with gratifying results.

 

Mr. Cailor assisted in organizing the South Side Savings Bank, and the South Side Savings Loan Company, in each of which he is a director, and he is likewise one of the directors of the Reed Drug Company. During the World war, he was clerk on the Draft Board for Mahoning County, serving in that capacity seven months for the Third District.

 

Mr. Cailor married, December 27, 1894, Emma S. Mentzer, of North Lima, Ohio, and of their union six children have been born, namely : Marvin L., who died at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, of meningitis, in x918; Earl H., of Youngstown ; La Verne; Elizabeth; Howard and Junior. Religiously Mr. Cailor is a valued member of Saint Lukes Lutheran Church, and a member of its council. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

 

 

WILLIAM BEIGHT,. who for a number of years has been a promrnent factor in real estate activities at Youngstown, particularly in subdivision work, has lived in this city since i9o7 when he transferred his residence from New Middletown, where for a number of years he was a merchant.

 

He was born in Springfield Township of Mahoning County, January 11, 1866, and is member of a family that has lived in this section of Eastern Ohio for more than a century.

 

It was established here in 1802 by his great-grandfather and grandfather, both named John Beight.

They came from Hagerstown, Maryland, and paid the usual government price of $1.25 an acre for a half section upon which they built their first rude log cabin home. Some of that land is still owned and occupied by the Beight family.

 

In this locality was born Jonathan Beight, father of the Youngstown business man in December, 1828. He also followed farming on the old homestead acres and married Bietta Lipp, who was born in 1828 in Stuttgart, Germany, and was brought to Mahoning County when five years of age. Jonathan Beight and wife had a family of ten children and they and their descendants are still numerously represented in Ma- honing County.

 

William Beight spent his early life on his father's farm, and was educated in district schools, in the Northeastern Ohio Normal School at Canfield and in the Spencerian Commercial School at Cleveland. His early business experience was with a mercantile firm at New Springfield, and in 1887 he began business at New Middletown and for twenty years conducted a large and well patronized general store, supplying most of the families living in that vicinity. For several years one of his brothers was his partner.

 

Selling his business at New Middletown in 1937, Mr. Beight came to Youngstown and became associated with Frank E. Cailor in real estate subdivision. They opened an office in the Dollar Bank Building and in 1914 the firm was incorporated with Mr. Beight as president and Mr. Cailor, secretary and treasurer, George Gluck being vice president. Some notable work stands to the credit of this organization. They developed the Bentley Plat near the Republic Works, Earle Avenue on the south side, Ferne Cliffe at Boardman, forty acres at Poland Avenue known as Hunter Plat, and also the Osborn Plat south of Market Street. In politics he is a democrat, is affiliated with the Masons at East Palestine and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Youngstown.

 

In the year 1887, he married Miss Emma Fauser, who was born in Mahoning County, a daughter of Frederick and Lucy (Martm) Fauser. Mr. Beight's only son is Judson Frederick Beight, born February 11, 1888, and now in the grocery business on Hillman Street in Youngstown. He married Miss Hattie Good of Poland.

 

 

GEORGE D. GLUCK. Well trained in modern business ways and methods, George D. Gluck is conspicuously identified with the advancement of the mercantile prosperity of Youngstown, and as a successful hardware merchant, and an officer in various industrial and financial organizations is well known and influential in the business circles of his community. A native of the Keystone state, he was born, January 18, 1874, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a son of Louis and Caroline (Lenz) Gluck.

 

Born in Germany, Louis Gluck came to the United States in early manhood, making his way directly to Ohio. Settling in Poland, he was for many years employed as boss blacksmith at the Brier Hill Furnace, later being the pioneer merchant of that village. Subsequently moving to Coitsville, there he bought land and improved a highly productive farm.

 

But six years old when his parents moved to Coitsville, George D. Gluck was brought up on the home



Picture of R. Wm. Dimond must have been in the missing pages.

 

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 299

 

farm, and educated in the rural schools. Coming from there to Youngstown in 1891, he served for upwards of five years as a clerk in the grocery department of G. M. McKelvey Company. In 1896, in company with his brother Albert, he established himself as a grocer at 209 East Federal Street. The company liquidated in 1903, and Mr. Gluck opened a hardware store at 1011 Market Street, which he operated alone until 1906, when John G. Spatholt became his partner, continuing with him for a year. In 1907, again becoming associated with his brother Albert, Mr. Gluck established a general hardware house at 1005 Market Street, purchasing the property, and has since carried on a very satisfactory business, his annual sales being large and remunerative. Mr. Gluck is officially connected with several corporations, being vice president, and a director, of the Cailor-Beight Realty Company; president and a director of the Landscape Realty Company; a director of the Citizens Bank and of the South Side Savings Bank.

 

Mr. Gluck married, in 1896, Ida Spatholt, a daughter of Charles Spatholt, a pioneer settler of Youngstown, and they are the parents of three children, namely: Carl A., with the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Works ; George J. and Fred L. Mr. Gluck is an active member of the German Lutheran Church, which he has served in an official capacity.

 

October 1, 1919, he sold his hardware interest to his brother and since that time has entered into the real estate business by himself.

 



JOHN DINGLEDY. A trustworthy and highly respected citizen of Youngstown, John Dingledy has attained a position of prominence in mercantile circles, and as one of the leading hardware merchants of the city is carrying on a prosperous business. A native of New York, he was born in Buffalo, in February, 1866, being a son of the late Jacob Dingledy.

 

Born in Germany, Jacob Dingledy immigrated to the United States in early life, and after living a short time in New York City migrated to Buffalo, where he acquired considerable property as a brick and stone contractor, having been considered a pioneer in that line of industry. He died while yet a comparatively young man, his death having occurred August 23, 1896, at the age of sixty-three years. He married Lina Korfman, who was born in Germany, and died in Buffalo, New York. Of the twelve children born of their union, but five are living, as follows: Mrs. Lillian Benz and Edward, of Buffalo; Charles L., William and John of Youngstown.

 

Spending the days of his boyhood and youth in Buffalo, John Dingledy there acquired his early education, attending first the public schools, and later completing a business college course. His first salaried employment was as a clerk for the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company. After leaving that position, he traveled in different parts of the country, eventually joining his brother George, who was engaged in the lumber business in Youngstown, being associated with the Dingledy Lumber Company. In 1887 these enterprising brothers formed a copartnership, and opened a hardware store at 448 East Federal Street, assuming possession of the building erected by George H. Dingledy. Larger quarters being demanded as the business grew, the Messrs. Dingledy moved in 1895, to the Mauser Block, where their trade constantly increased. After the death of George L. Dingledy, in 1911, Mr. Dingledy, the subject of this sketch, bought his widow's interest in the firm, and the following year, in 1912, moved to his present fine location at 203 East Federal Street, where he carries a large and well assorted stock of hardware, and a choice line of house furnishings, his store being one of the most complete of its kind of all in the city, requiring in its management the aid of six employes.

 

Mr. Dingledy married in 1888 Celia McAnany of Youngstown, and of their union five children have been born, three of whom are living, namely : Aubrey, of Youngstown ; Caroline and Howard. Fraternally Mr. Dingledy belongs to Hebron Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and religiously he is a member of Grace English Lutheran Church.

 

DR. JAMES NELSON WHITESIDE, Having been actively engaged m the practrce of dentistry for nearly half a century, Dr. James Nelson Whiteside, of Youngstown, has kept apace with the swift advance of dental science, following faithfully in the path of those who by intelligent study, patient investigation, and careful experiment have done so much toward banishing the barbarous methods necessarily used by dentists of years long gone by, and modifying to so large an extent human pain and suffering. He was born, November 27, 1847, in Harmonsburg, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, a son of James and Martha (Nelson) Whiteside, both of whom have passed to the, life beyond, his father having died at the age of eighty-nine years, in 1899.

 

Laying a substantial foundation for his future education in his native town, James N. Whiteside was graduated from the Kansas City Dental College, and was subsequently certified in the State of Ohio. In 1876, in partnership with his brother, Thomas H. Whiteside, he opened a dental office in Jamestown, Pennsylvania, and was there successfully engaged in the practice of his profession for four years. In 1882, desirous of broadening his field of action, the doctor located in Youngstown, and joined his brother Thomas, who came in 1880, and with whom he continued in partnership until 189o. Skilful in his profession, he has established an excellent reputation as a dentist, and built up an extensive and profitable patronage.

 

Dr. Whiteside married, in 1889, Mary Campbell, of Mercer County, Pennsylvania, a woman of culture and refinement. She died in 1918, leaving three children, namely : Nelson, one of Youngstown's successful attorneys ; Mary, of Youngstown; and John, of Youngstown, now with the Bessemer Lime Stone Company. Religiously the doctor is a member of the Westminster Presbyterian Church and is a member of the Masonic order since 1874; also belongs to the Knights of Pythias.

 

CHARLES B. KLINGENSMITH. Possessing undoubted business judgement and tact, Charles B. Klingensmith is actively associated with the mercantile affairs of