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Biographies
Source:
History
of Cuyahoga Co., Ohio
Published by D. W. Ensign & Co.,
1879
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BIOGRAPHICAL INDEXES FOR CUYAHOGA COUNTY >
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ELBERT IRVING BALDWIN.
So far as circumstances go to make men what they are, a happy
combination of them is to have been born in New England of a
race possessing Puritan blood and instincts; to have one's youth
guided by the wisdom of pious and judicious parents; to recieve
an education in the midst of those favorable influences that
exist in Eastern college towns; to be trained in business
affairs by sturdy and capable merchants, and then to remove in
early manhood to the West, where native generous impulses may be
enlarged and where the most comprehensive views will find ample
scope. Western cities are largely indebted for their
enterprise and thrift to the presence and influence of such men,
and Cleveland is especially favored in being the home of many
who not only add to its importance as a commercial center, but
contribute much to make it "the most beautiful city west of the
Alleghenies."
In the fall of 1853 the block on the corner of Superior
and Seneca streets was completed, the largest and most important
business building then in the city. Here Messrs. E. I.
Baldwin & Co. began the dry goods business, the manager and
active partner, Elbert Irving Baldwin, coming hither from
New York to reside. He had spent his early life in New
Haven, Connecticut, where he was born in 1829, and where he
received the best educational advantages until about nineteen
years of age, when a more active life seemed necessary, and he
commenced his mercantile career with Sanford and Allen, a
leading dry goods house of that city. Determined to know
by experience every phase of the business, he "began at the
beginning" and passed through all grades to the position of
confidential clerk. Removing to New York city in order to
obtain a knowledge of more extended commercial pursuits, he was
there employed by the old firm of Tracy, Irwin & Co.
When Mr. Baldwin came to Cleveland he found the
field well occupied, there being a very large number of dry
goods houses in the city, most of them doing business on the old
fashioned credit system, and failures of course being common.
The outlook was not favorable - the store he had engaged was
said to be on the "wrong side" of the street, older merchants
prophesied a speedy failure, and competition was strong and
unprincipled, going so far in its efforts to injure the young
merchant as to circulate false reports concerning his credit.
Yet his business constantly increased, and in a few months was
firmly established. Its history from that period to the
present time, has been one of continued progress, every year
witnessing a marked increase over the former. From the
beginning this firm possessed the entire confidence of the
largest and best merchants in the East, and has never been
obliged to ask the slightest extension or favor in the way of
credit.
The first direct importation of foreign dry goods to a
Western city was made in 1857, by Messrs. Baldwin & Co.
and to them is largely due the introduction of modern and
improved methods of conducting business which are now very
generally adopted by all good merchants. The rapid
expansion of their retail business, some years since, decided
them to abandon the general jobbing trade and devote more
attention to the distribution of goods among consumers, a stroke
of policy which proved eminently successful. Perhaps no
business requires greater talent to prosecute with profit than
the management of a large emporium of dry goods. Natural
ability, self-reliance, good judgment and quick perception are
necessary, and must be supplemented by the close application and
unswerving integrity.
It is shown by the experience of this firm that an
establishment for the sale of merchandise can be so conducted as
to prove a pecuniary benefit to the city, and a means of
elevating the tastes of the community, besides giving permanent
and useful employment to large numbers of persons, who are
surrounded by good influences, and instructed to regard honesty
not only as the "best policy" but as absolutely essential to the
holding of any position in the house.
During the first three years of existence of the firm,
Mr. Silas I. Baldwin was associated with it as
capitalist, and in the selection of active partners Mr.
Baldwin has been extremely fortunate. Mr. Harry R.
Hatch is widely known in this connection, a man of sterling
worth and untiring energy, now representing the house in Europe.
Mr. Baldwin has never enjoyed vigorous health,
but he has been able to carry the burden of this large business
and has a thorough knowledge of its details. Of a
naturally retiring disposition, and with a distaste for
publicity, he has, while attending to the active duties of his
business, taken time to continue his acquaintance with books, to
cultivate his aesthetic tastes, and to travel extensively in
this country and in Europe. An attendant of the Second
Presbyterian church, of which he is an elder, he is not lacking
in liberality to promote its usefulness, and every philanthropic
and Christian enterprise has his hearty and generous sympathy.
Mr. Baldwin was married, in 1855, to Miss
Mary Jeannette Sterling, daughter of Oliver L. Sterling
of Lima, Livingston county, New York. four of their
children are living: the eldest, Elbert Francis Baldwin,
being connected with his father's firm.
Source: History
of Cuyahoga Co., Ohio -
Published by D. W. Ensign & Co., -
1879 - Page 328 |
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MALANCTHON BARNETT
came to Cleveland in 1825, and for fifty-four years has been one
of its best known citizens, his prominence as a business man and
public official enduring to the day of his retirement from
active life. He was born in Amenia, New York, in 1789, and
after a brisk experience in business in that State, during which
he became a successful merchant, he removed in 1825 to
Cleveland, in company with a Mr. May, with whom he became
associated in storekeeping. In 1834 May & Barnett
gave up their mercantile business and embarked in land
speculations, which they carried on through many successful
years. In 1843 Mr. Barnett was chosen treasurer of
Cuyahoga county, and held the office continuously for six years;
attending meanwhile to his real estate business, and also
filling for a portion of that time the station of justice of the
peace.
Upon retiring from public office, he was called to be a
director of the City Bank. For several years past he has
been a director of the Merchants' National Bank, and, although
now aged upwards of ninety, he is still active and visits the
bank daily.
He was married at Cherry Valley, New York, in 1815, to
Miss Mary Clark, who died in Cleveland in 1840. Of
their five children, there survive but two, Augustus Barnett,
of Watertown, Wisconsin, and Gen. James Barnett, a member
of the hardware firm of George Worthington & Co., of
Cleveland.
Source: History of Cuyahoga Co., Ohio - Published by D. W.
Ensign & Co., - 1879 - Page 330 |
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GEO. A. BENEDICT Source: History of Cuyahoga Co., Ohio -
Published by D. W. Ensign & Co., - 1879 - Page 330
Portrait Source: History of Cuyahoga Co., Ohio -
Published by D. W. Ensign & Co., - 1879 - Page 188a |
H. F. Biggar |
HAMILTON FISK BIGGAR
Source: History of Cuyahoga Co., Ohio - Published by D. W.
Ensign & Co., - 1879 - Page 331 |
Wm. Bowler |
WILLIAM BOWLER
Source: History of Cuyahoga Co., Ohio - Published by D. W.
Ensign & Co., - 1879 - Page 332 |
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ALVA BRADLEY. Captain
Alva Bradley, one of the leading ship-owners of the West,
has resided in Ohio since 1823 and in Cleveland since 1859.
He was born of New England parents Nov. 27, 1814, in Ellington,
Tolland county, Connecticut, and when nine years old accompanied
his parents to Ohio; whither his father, Leonard, turned
his footsteps as to a place offering richer inducements to the
agriculturist than could he found on the hills of New England.
The journey was made by wagon to Albany, thence by canal to
within fifty miles of Buffalo, and from that place on a sailing
vessel, from which the family landed at Cleveland in September,
1823. Without delaying in the then embryo Forest City they
passed on to Brownhelm, Lorain county, and settled upon a farm.
Alva spent the years until he was nineteen in laboring
upon his father's place - receiving but a limited school
education meanwhile - but becoming inclined for a sailor's life,
he left the farm and shipped aboard the schooner "Liberty," of
about fifty tons, owned by Norman Moore and plying
between Buffalo and other Lake Erie ports.
A life on the lakes suited him so well that he
determined to stick to it. he sailed successively after
that on the "Young Leopard," "Edward Bancroft," "Express" and
"Commodore Lawrence," and so prospered that in 1841 he
undertook, in company with Ahira Cobb, now of Cleveland
the construction of the schooner "South America" of one hundred
and four tons. They built her on the Vermillion river, and
Captain Bradley, taking command, sailed her in the Lake Erie
trade for the ensuing three seasons. This venture in
ship-building he followed with others of a similar character,
after transferring the "South America" to his cousin, Sheldon
Bradley, who sailed her one season, and the next, with all
on board, went down with her in a storm.
Captain Bradley and Mr. Cobb built on the
Vermillion - after the "South America" - the sailing vessels
"Birmingham," "Effington" and "Oregon," and the steam propeller
"Indiana," and Captain Bradley successively
commanded them. His last service as a lake captain was
performed on board the schooner "Oregon," from which he retired
in 1852, after a continuous experience on the lakes, between
Buffalo and Chicago of fifteen years. In the last named
year he made his home at the mouth of the Vermillion, where he
continued the business of ship building, solely, however, as
heretofore, for the purpose of putting the vessels into the lake
trade on his own account or in joint interest with others.
In 1859 he changed his residence to Cleveland, but continued
ship building on the Vermillion until 1868, when he removed his
ship yards to Cleveland, where between 1868 and 1874 he built
twelve vessels - including those propelled by sail and steam.
As already observed, Captain Bradley placed his
vessels in trade as fast as constructed, and became in the
course of a brief time, an important ship owner. He
transacted a large and valuable business as a freight carrier on
the great lakes, and in that department of commerce has been
conspicuously identified with the lake marine since 1841.
His interests in that line, now of considerable magnitude,
engage his active attention, and he gives to all his
undertakings his closest personal supervision. He is of a
truth one of Cleveland's busiest workers, and, although verging
toward three score and ten, retains in a remarkable degree the
energy and watchfulness that have been the principal causes of
his success.
Captain Bradley's parents died in Brownhelm upon
the old homestead, where a brother and sister still reside.
He was married in1851 to Miss Ellen M., daughter of
John Burgess, of Milan, Ohio, and of the children born to
them there survive one son and three daughters.
Source: History of Cuyahoga Co., Ohio - Published by D. W.
Ensign & Co., - 1879 - Page 333 |
Francis Branch |
FRANCIS BRANCH,
son of Seth and Rachael (Hurd) Branch, was born on the
5th of June, 1812, at Middle Haddam, Connecticut. His
father, Seth Branch, was a native of the same place,
having been born on the 21st of March, 1779, and having been
married in 1805 to Rachael Hurd. He removed to Ohio
in 1818, and settled on what is now known as Brooklyn Hights,
Cleveland. There were but few houses in the neighborhood
at that time, and Mr. Branch was considered very
fortunate in scouring shelter for his family in the home of
Judge Barber, until a dwelling could be erected. His
trade was that of a ship0carpenter, which he, however, did not
follow after coming West; being engaged in clearing and
cultivating his farm. He died on the 11th of August, 1825,
at the premature age of forty-six; leaving as a legacy to his
family only their home in the forest and a name respected by
all. He had five children born in Connecticut, viz:
John S., born Jan. 9, 1806; Mary, born Oct. 21, 1807;
Susan M., born May 5, 1810; Francis, the subject
of this notice, and Jane, born Mar. 4, 1815. Of
these, Mary and Susan M. died in infancy, and two
other children born in Ohio received their names, viz.:
Mary H., born Dec. 21, 1817, and Susan M., born Sept.
3, 1822.
Francis Branch remained at home until the death
of his father, after which he was apprenticed to a
ship-carpenter; John, his elder brother, taking charge of
the farm. He followed this trade until 1837. In that
year he was married (on the 21st of October) to Sarah Slaght,
daughter of Abraham D. Slaght, and, his brother dying, he
soon afterward removed to the homestead on Brooklyn Hights.
He then engaged in agriculture and dairying; meeting with fair
success in both. He was also one of the first milk-sellers
in that locality, and, after a time, carried on quite an
extensive traffic in that line.
In 1850 Mr. Branch sold the farm, which had
become quite valuable, and in May, 1851, removed to a residence
on Scranton avenue, where he lived until his death, which
occurred on the 4th of November, 1877.
Mr. Branch was eminently a self-made man.
Losing his father when only fourteen years old, he was thus
thrown upon his own resources, and with a limited education
acquired a fortune and won an honorable place in the community.
He was Republican in politics, and held various township
offices, besides serving three terms as county commissioner.
In public improvements he always took an active interest, and
was a liberal contributor to all local enterprises.
Throughout life he maintained a high character for integrity and
honor, while his many excellent qualities and unassuming manners
won the respect of all. Mr. and Mrs. Branch have
but one child - Josephine L., born Nov. 10, 1838.
She was married to J. S. Hartzell on the 20th of May,
1865. They also have an adopted son, who was born May 28,
1849, and was married Nov. 8, 1876, to Miss Mary A. Cornwall,
of Cleveland.
Source: History of Cuyahoga Co., Ohio - Published by D. W.
Ensign & Co., - 1879 - Page 334
Portrait Source: History of Cuyahoga Co., Ohio - Published by D.
W. Ensign & Co., - 1879 - Page 384a |
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GAIUS
BURK. The father of Gaius Burk was among the
first of that little band of hardy pioneers who penetrated into
northern Ohio about the beginning of the nineteenth century, and
of its wilderness made a fruitful garden. The youth and
early manhood of Gaius were passed amid the struggles and
hardships of the frontier, while his entire life, save ten of
its earliest years, was closely identified with the rise and
growth of Cuyahoga county, which was yet a thing of the future
when the boy of ten set foot in Ohio.
He was born of old New England stock, in Northampton,
Massachusetts, June 21, 1791, and thence journeyed at a tender
age with his parents to Herkimer county, New York.
Sylvanus Burk, his father, was a farmer, and, turning a
wistful eye toward the great West, which was then beginning to
invite attention to its boundless acres, he determined to be a
Western pioneer. Setting out from his New York home with
his wife and ten children, bestowed in a two-horse wagon, he
steered his course for Cleveland, and traveled without eventful
incident until Erie was reached, when, one of his horses dying,
he abandoned the highway, and with all his family save two
children - Gaius and a daughter - whom he left in care of
Reed, the Erie landlord, he made the rest of the trip
via Lake Erie in an open boat. Without tarrying long
in Cleveland they proceeded to Euclid, where, in the spring of
1802, they received the two children who had remained at Erie -
the little ones having made the journey from that place across
the country on horseback, in company with a band of Western
travelers.
Once more complete, the family were soon again on the
move, turning toward what is now Independence township, in which
they were the first white settlers, and in which, it may be
remarked, they were all prostrated on the same day, soon after
their arrival, with fever and ague. This was emphatically
a disheartening commencement, but they bore it doubtless with
the philosophic resignation common to pioneer days. A
three-years stay in Independence, however, brought a desire for
a change of location, and so, in 1805, they moved to what is now
the village of Newburg, where Mr. Burk purchased one
hundred acres of land for which he agreed to pay two dollars and
a half an acre. This payment has two sons, Brazilla B.
and Gaius, undertook to make for him by carrying the
government mail over the route from Cleveland to Hudson,
Deerfield and Ashtabula. Gaius was a lad of
fourteen and his brother but a trifle older, and that they had
the spirit to undertake and the courage to fulfil the
arduous task is convincing proof that the pioneer boys were
composed of the material that made men, and men too of
the sort much needed then. Once a week for three years the
boys carried the mail afoot, and during their entire term
of service faithfully performed every detail of their contract,
albeit their journeys were not only laborious and tiresome ones
through an almost unbroken wilderness, but were beset moreover
with sufficient dangers to appal much older persons.
After completing his mail contract Gaius busied
himself at clearing land, and it was while engaged in that work,
in 1815, that by the fall of a tree upon him he lost his leg,
and was otherwise so crippled that ever after he was deprived
also of the use of his right arm. Discouraged, mayhap, but
not disheartened, he set himself thereafter to do the best he
could, and, entering the public arena, was chosen constable.
His services were appreciated, his popularity waxed strong, and
after serving as collector under Treasurer Baldwin for
several years, he was in 1828 elected county treasurer for two
years, (being the second to hold that office) and at the
expiration of that time was re-elected for another term.
Mr. Burk was a man of decided intelligence and
answering integrity, and kept in every respect not only abreast
but ahead of the time in which he lived. The Whig party
claimed his staunch adherence until its dissolution, and after
that he was a faithful follower of Republicanism, to whose
principles he was attached until his death. Having by
active participation in the events which marked the wonderful
progress of his adopted home, earned the luxury of rest, he
passed the evening of his life upon the old homestead in Newburg
in quiet ease, and died there on the 20th of August, 1865, where
his father and mother had passed away before him.
He was married in 1819 to Sophia, daughter of
Philo Taylor, a pioneer settler of Rockport as well as of
Dover. Of the seven children born of the union, the four
survivors are Oscar M. and Augustus M., chief
proprietors of the Lake Shore Foundry in Cleveland, and Lucy
J. Webster and Helen Burke, both residing in Kansas.
The eldest son, Harvey, was elected treasurer of Cuyahoga
county in 1860, and died in 1861, while holding that office.
A daughter, Mrs. Justina M., wife of Dr. P. H. Worley,
died in Davenport, Iowa, in 1875.
Source: History of Cuyahoga Co., Ohio - Published by D. W.
Ensign & Co., - 1879 - Page 334 |
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STEVENSON
BURKE. Hon. Stevenson Burke was born in St.
Lawrence county, New York, Nov. 26, 1826. In March, 1834,
his father removed from New York to Ohio, and settled in North
Ridgeville, Lorain county, where he resided till the time of his
decease, in August, 1875. The subject of this sketch had
in early life such facilities as the common schools of the time
afforded, which consisted of about ninety days of very
indifferent instruction in the winter, and none during the rest
of the year. At about the age of sixteen he had the
benefit of instruction in a very good select school at
Ridgeville Center; afterwards he studied several terms in a
private school, conducted by T. M. Oviatt, at Elyria.
Later still, he studied a year or so at Delaware University, and
at Delaware, in 1846, he began the study of law with Messrs.
Powell & Buck. In the spring of 1848 he returned to
Elyria and completed his studies, preparatory to admission to
the bar, under the instruction of Hon. H. D. Clark, being
admitted by the supreme court on the 11th of August, 1848, when
he commenced practice at Elyria. In April, 1849, Mr.
Clark, who was then one of the most prominent and successful
lawyers at the bar of Lorain county, admitted him into a
copartnership, which continued till May, 1852.
We have thus in a few lines sketched the career, until
the time when he commenced the practice of the law alone, of one
who for more than twenty-five years has occupied a very
prominent position t the bar in northern Ohio. From 1852
to February, 1862, Mr. Burke devoted himself to the
practice of his profession with such zeal and devotion to the
interests of his clients, as to merit and command success.
There were few cases tried in the court of common pleas or
district court of Lorain county, in which he was not engaged.
His industry and attention to business were quite remarkable.
He spent no time in idleness, and his patrons were always sure
to find him in his office in business hours, unless engaged in
his duties elsewhere. His close attention to business and
sedentary habits seriously affected his health, and in 1861 he
found it so very much impaired as to render a change of
occupation necessary; and his friends having secured his
election as one of the Judges of the court of common pleas of
the fourth judicial district of Ohio, he gave up his practice
and entered upon the discharge of his duties as judge.
After serving a term of five years to the satisfaction
of the bar and the people, he was again elected in 1866 to the
same office. He served, however, but two years of his
second term, when, having regained his health, he resigned his
position as judge, on the 1st of January, 1869, and at once
commenced the practice of law in Cleveland, in partnership with
Hon. F. T. Backus and E. J. Estep, Esq. Mr.
Backus died in 1870 but the partnership with Mr. Estep
continued until the spring of 1875, since when Judge Burke
has practiced alone. His practice in Cleveland has been a
very successful one. He has been constantly engaged in the
courts and in his office, and during the last ten years has
probably tried as many cases of importance, involving large
amounts of money or property, as any lawyer in northern Ohio.
He has during that period argued many cases in the supreme court
of the State of Ohio, several in the United States supreme
court, and also in the supreme courts of adjoining "States.
The history of the profession in northern Ohio furnishes few
examples of a more successful practice.
In addition to his professional business, Judge
Burke has devoted much attention to other matters; he is
now, and has been for several years past, a director, and
chairman of the finance and executive committee, of the
Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway
Company, and is its general counsel. He has held for
several years and still holds the position of director, general
counsel, and chairman of the finance and executive committee, of
the Cleveland and Mahoning Valley Railway Company, and he is
also the representative in this country of all the stock of the
last-named company; it being owned in Europe. He is
likewise the representative of the owners of the stock of the
Shenango and Allegheny Railroad Company, and also of the Mercer
Mining and Manufacturing Company, and a director in both of the
last-named companies. He has been for some time a director
of the Cincinnati, Springfield and Indianapolis and the St.
Louis railroad companies. He has also for several years
been a director of the Lake Shore Foundry, and a director and
the president of the Cleveland and Snow Fork Coal Company, both
large corporations.
The foregoing is a brief outline of an extremely active
professional and business life. It is two early yet to
compare the subject of this sketch with others, or to go into
detail in regard to his professional, judicial and business
career; he is still in the prime of life. Time has dealt
gently with him, and his appearance indicates that he has many
years of activity still before him.
Source: History of Cuyahoga Co., Ohio - Published by D. W.
Ensign & Co., - 1879 - Page 335
Portrait Source: History of Cuyahoga Co., Ohio - Published
by D. W. Ensign & Co. - 1879 - Page 78 |
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