Chapter VI: Front Matter (6)

Mr. Colwell is a native of Madison county, New York, and came to Cleveland in 1852, soon after the opening of the different railroads had given the city an important start in the road to prosperity. Mr. Colwell immediately engaged in the hardware trade, on Ontario street, where he has continued to the present day. As the city grew in size, and its area of commerce extended, the business of Mr. Colwell steadily increased. The retail trade gradually developed into wholesale, and this grew into important proportions, pushing its ramifications through northern Ohio, Michigan, and north-western Pennsylvania.

Mr. Colwell has attended closely to his business, taking no other interest in public affairs than is the duty of every good citizen. But whilst carefully conducting his business he has found time for the gratification of a cultivated taste in literature, and has taken pleasure in participating in every movement designed to foster a similar taste in others. In a recent tour in Europe, undertaken for the benefit of his health, he visited the principal points of literary and artistic interest, and brought back with him many rare and curious souvenirs of travel.

William Bingham.

Whilst few men, if there are any, in the city of Cleveland are more highly respected than William Bingham, there are none less desirous of notoriety in any form. To do his duty to himself, his family, and his fellow men, and to do it quietly and unobtrusively, is the extent of Mr. Bingham's ambition, so far as can be judged by the whole tenor of his life. Did the matter rest with him, no notice of him would have appeared in this work, but to omit him would be a manifest injustice, and would at the same time render the volume imperfect.

Mr. Bingham is a native of Andover, Connecticut, and on his arrival here from the East, became a clerk in George Worthington's hardware store. After a few years' service in this capacity, he set up in the same line for himself, and for about a quarter of a century has carried on business with marked success. The operations of the firm of William Bingham & Co., though at first small, have grown to large proportions, and Mr. Bingham has grown rich, not through lucky operations, but by steady, persistent application to business, aided by sound judgment and powerful will. In addition to his hardware business, he is interested with Mr. Worthington in the Iron and Nail works, and has furnace interests in the Mahoning Valley.

In all his dealings, commercial or otherwise, he has been strictly conscientious, and this has secured for him the esteem of all with whom he has come in contact, and the respect and confidence of the general public. His word is inviolable, and no one has ever uttered a whisper against his unsullied integrity. In all works of genuine charity, his aid is efficaciously, though unobtrusively given, whenever required. To the young men in his employ, he is as much a father in his care of their interests and conduct, as he is an employer.

In politics, Mr. Bingham has steadily acted with the Republican party, but he is in no degree a politician. He has been chosen by the people to places of municipal trust, but always without any desire on his part, and solely because those selecting him considered his services would be valuable to the city; and whenever selected as a candidate, he has been elected, the opposing party having full confidence in his ability and integrity. In his case, the place invariably sought the man, and not the man the place; and it has always been with great reluctance, and because it seemed the good of the people required it, that he consented to hold public office. It would be better for the people were there more men like William Bingham, and sufficient wisdom among political managers to invoke their services on behalf of the public.

William J. Gordon.

A history of the leading commercial men of Cleveland, with no mention of W. J. Gordon, would be not much unlike the play of Hamlet with the part of the Danish prince omitted. Few men in the city have occupied so prominent a position in its mercantile history as has Mr. Gordon; but, from a natural distaste of public notice of any kind, on the part of Mr. Gordon, we are comparatively without data, and obliged to depend upon what we know of his history in general.

Mr. Gordon was brought up on a New Jersey farm, on which the battle of Monmouth was fought, and that had remained for generations, and still is, in the possession of his family. His earliest recollections were of rural life, its boyish enjoyments and boyish tasks. He obtained a good common school education, such as could be obtained in that neighborhood. Whilst yet a lad he manifested a strong taste for business pursuits; and to gratify and develop that taste he was sent to New York, where he became a clerk.

But, young as he was, he reasoned that there was a better chance for a successful struggle in the new West than in the already crowded marts of the East, and that for the young man of energy and enterprise, there was every prospect of achieving distinction and fortune in assisting to build up the business of the new western cities. With this impression he bade adieu to New York in 1838, and started westward on a tour of observation, he being then in his twentieth year. He reached Erie without stopping, and remained there for some time, carefully observing its commercial facilities and its prospects for the future. Not altogether satisfied with these, he moved farther west, and made his next stay in Cleveland. Here he speedily became convinced that a great future was before that city, and he determined to remain and share in its benefits. A wholesale grocery establishment was opened, small at first, as suited his means and the limited requirements of the place, but which more than kept pace with the progress of the city.

Mr. Gordon believed that to shrewdness and persistence all things are possible. His constant endeavor was to discover new avenues of trade, or new modes of doing business, and then to utilize his discoveries to the full extent, by persistent energy and unwearied industry. He was always on the alert to find a new customer for his wares, and to discover a cheaper place to purchase his stock, or a better way of bringing them home. Whilst thus securing unusual advantages in supplying himself with goods, Mr. Gordon was losing no opportunity of pushing his business among the buyers. His agents were diligently scouring the country, looking up new customers, and carefully observing the operations of old customers, to ascertain how their trade could best be stimulated and developed, to the mutual profit of the retailer and the wholesale dealer from whom he obtained his supplies. Men of pushing character and large business acquaintance were sought out and engaged, that they might aid in developing the business of the establishment. As these withdrew, to set up in business for themselves, others took their place. It is a noticable fact that no house has sent out more young men who have achieved success for themselves; and that success was undoubtedly in large measure due to the training received under Mr. Gordon.

He tolerated no sluggards around his establishment. A hard worker himself, those around him were stimulated to hard work. He was at the warehouse with the earliest clerk and left it with the latest. He demanded unflagging industry from his employees, but asked no more than he manifested himself. It was through this persistent energy that he achieved success where others might have failed.

When Mr. Gordon's capital had increased to such an extent as to warrant his employment of some of the surplus in investment outside of his regular business, he made some highly profitable operations of this kind. Among them was his uniting with some others of like foresight in the purchase of a tract of mineral land on Lake Superior, and the formation of iron mining companies which, though not immediately profitable, eventually yielded an enormous percentage on the original outlay, and bids fair to be equally profitable for many years to come, besides being a source of immense wealth to the city.

In 1857, Mr. Gordon's health failed, and since that time he has paid but little personal attention to business, but by an extended tour to Europe, it has been in a great measure restored, and being still in the meridian of life, he has the prospect, unless some mishap occurs, of long enjoying the fruits of his far-sighted intelligence and unwearied industry.

Henry Wick

Lemuel Wick, the father of Henry, was among the early settlers of Youngstown. The Rev. William Wick, his uncle, preached from time to time as a missionary of the Presbyterian church, in the settlements on the border of Pennsylvania and Ohio, as early as 1779. Henry's father was a merchant, in whose store be became a clerk at the age of fifteen. At twenty-one he engaged in the project of a rolling-mill at Youngstown, which proved successful. In company with a brother, his father's interest in the store was purchased, and, having a successful future in prospect, Mr. Wick married, about that time, Miss Mary Hine, of Youngstown, whose father was a prominent lawyer of that place. In 1848, he became a citizen of Cleveland, disposing of the rolling mill to Brown, Bonnell & Co., who have since become leading iron men of the Mahoning Valley.

After a few years of mercantile business at Cleveland, the banking house of Wick, Otis & Brownell was formed, and was successfully managed for two years, when the brothers Wick purchased the interest of the other partners, and continued together until 1857, when the firm name was changed to Henry & A. H. Wick, father and son, and has thus continued until the present time.

Mr. Wick is a man of more than ordinary business ability, and has, throughout his long commercial life, so directed his talent as to preserve an unsullied character, and enjoy the unlimited confidence of his fellow citizens, in addition to a handsome competence. Speculations were always avoided by him, because he believed that, in a young and healthy country like this, men may accumulate property fast enough in the legitimate channels of trade, coupled with frugality, temperance and industry. Many of his employees, by following his example, have become eminently successful in business.

Mr. Wick was born February 28, 1807, and, consequently, is in his sixty-third year, although he has lost little of the elasticity of his step or his business faculty.

William Edwards

The firm of Edwards, Townsend & Co. now ranks among the leading houses in the city, doing an enormous business, and respected everywhere for its enterprise and integrity. The head of the firm, William Edwards, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, June 6, 1831. At the age of fifteen, he entered mercantile life as a clerk, and remained in that position in Springfield six years. In 1852, he came to Cleveland, that year having brought many New Englanders here on account of the recent opening of the railroads. His first year was spent in clerking for W. J. Gordon, who then had by far the most important wholesale grocery establishment in the city.

At the end of the year Mr. Edwards, having two thousand five hundred dollars capital, resolved on setting up a jobbing grocery establishment for himself, and in company with Mr. Treat, opened a store on Canal street, doing business in a small way, and being their own accountants, salesmen and porters. The first year's business footed up sales to the amount of thirty-seven thousand dollars only, but the young firm was not discouraged. The next year opened with brighter prospects. The first year's customers were pleased with the firm, and satisfied that they were honest, as well as active and energetic, they returned to buy again and brought new customers. Orders came in rapidly, and by the middle of the third year the sales had grown to the rate of sixty thousand dollars per year. At that point, Mr. Edwards purchased the interest of his partner and looked about for a new associate in business.

Mr. Hiram Iddings, of Trumbull county, became partner, and with his accession, the business increased more rapidly than before. Both members of the firm used every honorable means to push their business, and with almost unvarying success. New fields were sought out and the old ones carefully canvassed. As before, nearly every new customer became a constant purchaser, being thoroughly satisfied with the treatment received, and new customers were added. The territory served widened, and the reputation of the house for enterprise and fair dealing spread. In 1862, the sales had grown to two hundred and forty thousand dollars. More aid was necessary to attend to the business of the firm, and on the first of October, in that year Mr. Amos Townsend was added to the firm, which then became Edwards, Iddings & Co. A year from that time Mr. Iddings died, and on the first of January, 1864, a change was made in the title of the firm to Edwards, Townsend & Co., Mr. J. B. Parsons being admitted as the third partner. Under that title and organization it still continues.

The business of the firm has kept fully abreast with the progress of the city. The members are shrewd, enterprising, always on the lookout for new openings for trade, and ready to take instant advantage of them. They each have a happy faculty of making friends, and still happier faculty of retaining them. The proof of this is seen in the increasing sales, which now amount to one million dollars a year, the customers being scattered through northern Ohio, Pennsylvania, and a portion of Michigan. Their extensive stores on Water street are constantly busy with customers and with the receipt and shipment of goods.

Mr. Edwards has attained prosperity, not by the favor of others, but by fighting his own battle of life with indomitable perseverance and imperturbable good humer. He has worked hard and persistently, but at the same time acted on the belief that "care killed a cat," and that "a light heart makes work light." His hearty good humor has had no small share in attracting and retaining customers, and has at the same time enabled him to rationally enjoy the prosperity his labors have brought him. But his good humor never leads him to abate a jot of his shrewd watchfulness in business matters, and to his prudence and keen observation are owing the fact that he has almost wholly escaped litigation. At thirty-eight years old he takes rank among the foremost and most successful marchants of Cleveland, whilst his frank, hearty manners, his warm friendship, and his liberal unselfish benevolence which distributes charity with an unstinting, though intelligent hand, rank Mr. Edwards among the most valued and most valuable of citizens.

Amos Townsend

Amos Townsend was born near Pittsburgh in 1831, and received a good common English education. At fifteen years old, he left school and entered a store at Pittsburgh, in which he remained three years, and then removed to Mansfield, Ohio, where, young as he was, he set up in business for himself, retailing goods, and remaining a citizen of that town during the greater part of nine years.

During his residence in Mansfield, the Kansas troubles broke out and arrived at such a pitch that a Congressional committee, comprised of Messrs. John Sherman of Ohio, W. A. Howard of Michigan, and W. A. Oliver of Missouri, was appointed to proceed to Kansas and investigate the facts in regard to General Stringfellow's opposition to Governor Reeder's administration. Mr. Sherman procured the appointment of Mr. Townsend as United States Marshal, and he accompanied the commission to the scene of disturbance. He was on a hill near Lawrence when he saw the _passe comitatus_ of the United States Marshal of the Territory batter down the Free State Hotel, it having been indicted as a nuisance by the Grand Jury. Shortly afterwards, Mr. Townsend was taken prisoner by General Stringfellow, but on ascertaining his position he was released.

In 1858, he came to Cleveland, having been engaged by Gordon, McMillan & Co. In that establishment, he remained nearly five years, and then became partner in the firm of Edwards, Iddings & Co., which, on the death of Mr. Iddings, became Edwards, Townsend & Co. The operations of that firm have already been spoken of.

Mr. Townsend has served a full apprenticeship to the business in which he is now engaged, and is familiar with all its details from the cellar to the counting-room. As a skillful financier, he has few superiors, and the large operations of the firm bear evidence to this in the regularity and safety with which they are conducted.

In 1866, the Republicans of the Third Ward chose him as their candidate for member of the City Council, of which he was afterwards chosen president. He not only polled the full vote of the party, but drew a large number of Democratic votes, and was elected by a good majority, although the ward has generally been considered Democratic, and has retained his seat to the present time, his personal popularity among all classes, combined with the unexceptionable record he made in the Council, overcoming all opposition. At the organization of the new Council for 1869, he was unanimously re-elected president, a fact as complimentary as it is rare, it being the almost invariable custom for each party to vote for its own candidate, even where the result of the election is a foregone conclusion. He was in the same year suggested as the Republican candidate for Mayor, and would undoubtedly have been chosen to that office had he not considered it incompatible with proper attention to the large and rapidly increasing business of his firm.

David A. Dangler.

David A. Dangler, like scores of other successful men in Cleveland, is a conqueror of adverse circumstances. In taking a cursory glance at the early history of representative Clevelanders, noticed in this volume, it will be readily seen that our business firms are largely composed of men who, in early life, were compelled to divide their time between work on the farm and attendance at the district school. Much of the debilitating dissipation common in cities has been escaped by them; and hence, they have both sound minds to project, and vigorous bodies to execute.

Mr. Dangler found it necessary, at the early age of seven years, to do something towards carrying on his father's farm in Stark county, Ohio. During the Winter months, he had the benefit of a district school until 1838, when, at the age of fourteen, he was employed in a dry goods store at Canton, as boy of all work. Here, he won the confidence of his employers, and by closely saving his limited wages, was able to attend school six months more, which completed his education. With this exception, he continued to serve in the same store until 1845, when, with a very limited capital, the savings from his wages, he commenced on his own account, in the same business.

In 1850, he left the trade in dry goods and took up that in hardware. The late Mr. John Tennis, who was also a Stark county man, and Mr. Dangler, in 1853, formed a partnership for jobbing in this line at Cleveland. The success of the concern was all that reasonable men could expect. Their connection continued until 1867, when it expired by limitation. They were among the first wholesale firms on Water Street, and this enlarged field of commercial operations gave full exercise to the talent and energy of Mr. Dangler. Trade was pushed in all directions, and in a remarkably short time they succeeded in building up a lucrative business.

Success did not make a miser of Mr. Dangler. On the breaking out of the rebellion, he entered with all his native enthusiasm into the home duties of the war. In August, 1862, he took a prominent part in the organization of ward committees for raising recruits and providing for the familles of soldiers. A large part of his time during the war was devoted to this work, and will ever be remembered with gratitude by scores of families for timely assistance rendered during that trying ordeal. In the Fourth ward, where he lives, there never was a man drafted to fill its quota.

In 1864, he was elected a member of the City Council, and in 1865, a member of the House of Representatives for Cuyahoga County, by the Republican party. These public trusts were so well filled that in 1867, he was returned to the Senate, representing the most important commercial district of the State except one, and at all times being watchful and active in the interests of his constituents. Among the important measures originated by him in the Legislature, are the Metropolitan Police, State Charities, State Gas Inspection, and the Building and Loan Association Acts. The last mentioned act has been very extensively taken advantage of among his immediate constituents. No less than ten societies have been organized in this city, under it, and have already been productive of much good among the laboring class, by enabling them to obtain homesteads on easy terms. The capital stock of these societies amounts to over three million dollars, and if the act is as highly appreciated throughout the State as it is here, the benefit accruing therefrom will be almost incalculable, inasmuch as the monthly payments would, in many cases, be squandered; whereas, now, they are not only saved, but secure a share of the profits of the association in proportion to the stock held. The successful working of these institutions must be exceedingly gratifying to Mr. Dangler. He is an active, energetic and impulsive member, though not without considerable tact, and generally successful in putting his measures through. As a speaker he is clear-headed, terse and forcible, and on subjects appealing to patriotism, really eloquent.

Mr. Dangler is liberal with his means, with broad plans, not for himself alone, but for the public; indeed, we have few men among us more public spirited than he. To this new element of self-made and successful men, the city owes much of the unparalleled development of the few past years. Their energy and commercial intelligence have inaugurated a new order of things here, placing Cleveland in the front rank of western cities.

Mr. Dangler has recently formed a new partnership, and is again engaged in the hardware business, having established the new firm of Dangler & Bowman, on Superior Street. He is still young and vigorous, and has it yet in his power to accomplish much.

T. S. Beckwith.

In speaking of the mercantile interests of Cleveland as developed by her prominent operators, it is with pleasure we produce a brief notice of Mr. T. S. Beckwith, one of our well known and most successful merchants. He was born in Lyme, CT, Jan. 11, 1821. Until he was fourteen, he remained on the farm with his father, at which time he commenced clerking in a store in Brownville, Jefferson Co., N. Y., and remained four years. He then came to Cleveland and at once engaged as a clerk with Alexander Sacket, who was then carrying on business on Superior Street, precisely where Mr. Beckwith's carpet store now stands. After two years with Mr. Sacket, he went as clerk with P. M. Weddell & Co., in which capacity he served four years, when he was taken into partnership with P. M. Weddell, Dudley Baldwin and W. E. Beckwith, his brother, and in this firm did business in the dry goods line for about four years, when he and his brother, alone, carried on business several years, and finally Mr. Henry Wick became associated with them and another store was started. Both stores were continued about four years, when the firm dissolved, and another formed under the name of Beckwith, Sterling & Co., composed of T. S. Beckwith, F. A. Sterling and G. Clayes. This firm was dissolved after two or three years and the subject of this sketch left the dry goods business and opened the first store for the exclusive sale of carpets in Cleveland. After five or six years, his former partner, F. A. Sterling, again became associated with him. The firm of Beckwith & Sterling existed three years when they admitted two young men in their employ, O. Baker and W. R. Havens.

Mr. Beckwith is a thorough business man, quick to form judgment and quick to act upon it. He is among our best financiers, nearly always makes an investment pay. When he was regularly employed as a salesman, he was hard to match, and one great secret of his success as such was his courteous demeanor to all, whether rich or poor, and an industrious effort to please. We recommend those of our young men who desire to succeed in business to study one of the principal keys to T. S. Beckwith's success--a polite attention to all. It will pay.

Mr. Beckwith's business has grown with the city, and the profits with it, and although he has only attained to the meridian of life, and in the full enjoyment of mental and physical energy, he has acquired a handsome competency.

Besides his mercantile interest, Mr. B. has aided in giving to Cleveland the character of a manufacturing city, having invested largely in the white lead factory of this city, which is under the management of Mr. J. H. Morley, an account of which will be seen in the Manufacturing Department of this work.

Business has not, however, engrossed the whole of Mr. Beckwith's time and talents. He is as thorough a worker in the cause of religion, morality and benevolence as in trade. For a number of years, he has been an active member of the Second Presbyterian church of this city, always taking a lively interest in the Sunday school connected with the church. He was also as indefatigable in the interests of the Bethel Church and Sunday school of this city, and which is now doing a noble work in the city.

Mr. B. was married in 1849, to Miss Sarah Oliphant of Grandville, Washington Co., N. Y. Two children of this marriage are living and a third dead.

Elias Sims.

Although Mr. Sims has not been strictly a man of commerce among us, his life labor has been one wholly devoted to enterprises that are strictly conducive to that foundation of a commonwealth. Properly placed, he would be with general contractors, but as we have not material sufficient for a department under that head, he must take rank among the men whose trade has been facilitated by his enterprise.

Elias Sims was born at Onondaga, New York, August 4. 1818, and is another striking instance of the value of early dependence on one's own resources. Until he was fifteen years of age, Elias worked on a farm, when he concluded to leave it, and strike out for himself on another line. He worked as a laborer on the New York canal for some time, and being a lad of great force of character with a keen eye to business, he was very soon selected as an overseer. He held this situation for about two years when he became deputy superintendent of the works, being at the time only in his eighteenth year. After considerable experience in this business, he concluded there was an opportunity to make more money by contracting than by working on a salary, and consequently resigned his office and commenced on a work for which he was eminently adapted by nature, and one in which he subsequently became remarkably successful, as, indeed, was his first contract, for it resulted in a profit of several thousand dollars. Men did not become millionaires in such short order then as now, and so much money so easily obtained almost unbalanced the young contractor. It made him less careful in his estimates, and, as may be easily judged, his next job swallowed the whole of his capital, and compelled him to become overseer again.

The next speculation he engaged in was the building of a tug, in connection with two others, and which proved a success. After some time, he obtained a dredging contract at Port Stanley, Canada, and being very successful in this he entered into it as a permanent business, and appeared among the live men of Cleveland in 1856, as a contractor for dredging the "old river bed". From year to year, this contract for dredging at Cleveland has been continued, and in addition to this, he has executed some immense jobs at Grand Haven, Mich., Erie, Pa., and Milwaukee, Wis., in which he has been uniformly successful. He also contracted largely in the construction of the Great Western Rail Road, in Canada, and canal locks in Iowa. He is interested in propellers on the lakes, and has two tugs and three dredges in this harbor.

Mr. Sims may well be styled a pioneer in the system of dredging, by means of which all the lake harbors have been able to receive vessels of double the old tonnage. Although of a quiet, he is not by any means of an indolent temperament, and has exhibited business energy in a way that did not make much noise, but which led to sure results. Mr. Sims was one of the contractors and one of the proprietors of the Rocky River Rail Road and Hotel. He is also interested in the People's Gas Company of the West Side, and we are driven to the conclusion that such a long series of successes in such undertakings cannot be due to accident; there must be for foundation, a clear, calculating mind, and the ability to execute well what is well planned. Projects in which others had failed became profitable under his management. He is still in the vigor of life going on as usual with his contracts.

In 1838, Mr. Sims married Miss Fosburgh, of Onondaga Co., N. Y.; of the marriage three children were born, Mrs. Sloane of Buffalo, Mrs. Evatt of Cleveland, deceased, and Mrs. Wm. Starkweather of Cleveland.

Joseph Perkins.

One of the most noticeable mansions on the north side of Euclid Avenue is the tasteful and substantial stone building a little west of Sterling Avenue, which, from its general style of architecture and its handsome surroundings of lawn and shrubberies, resembles the comfortable country home of a family of wealth and taste in England. This is the residence of Joseph Perkins, and in its neat, home-like beauty, gives at once a good idea of the character of its owner, and a perpetual invitation to repose.

Mr. Perkins was born July 5, 1819, in Warren, Ohio, his father being Simon Perkins of that place. His educational advantages were food, and after leaving school he entered his father's office. Born to comfortable circumstances he never had occasion to struggle for an existence as have so many of the now wealthy citizens of Cleveland, but, on the other hand, the acquisition of riches without hard labor for it did not, as in so many other cases, prove his ruin, nor did he spend his days in idleness. On his father's death, he was one of his executors and gave his whole attention to the task of closing up the estate. That duty performed, he came to Cleveland and found abundant occupation in managing his own estate and in executing the duties devolving upon him through his appointments to places of trust in banks, railroads, and other organizations. For several years, he was a director of the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad Company and took an active part in its affairs. On the death of Governor Tod, he was chosen president of the company, a position he still retains and the duties of which he performs with scrupulous fidelity. He is also president of the Second National Bank. During the building of the Euclid Street Presbyterian Church, he was a member of the building committee, and has taken an active interest in the affairs of that church for many years. He was also a member of the building committee of the Savings Bank Society and of the building committee of the National Bank Building.

In 1837, Mr. Perkins united with the Presbyterian Church, of which he has since remained an active and influential member, the scene of his profession being in Marietta, where he listened to the teachings of the Rev. Mr. Bingham.

In October, 1840, he married Miss Martha E. Steele, of Marietta, by whom he has had six children, four of whom still survive.

Mr. Perkins is a man of no ordinary character, and it is unfortunate for the world that there are so few of his mould in comparison with the whole number of people. The governing principle of his life is religion, his actions are directed by his conscience. Although rich and controlling large means, he is utterly free from the sin of avarice, and, though fully appreciating the value of money, he respects it mainly for the power of doing good it gives the possessor. His liberality is great, but is guided by a wise caution instead of being squandered indiscriminately. He dislikes being imposed upon by unworthy petitioners, and therefore narrowly investigates alleged cases of distress before relieving them. When satisfied that the object is worthy, his aid is generous and ungrudging. His ear is ever open to the tale of distress, his hand ever open when the distress is found to be real instead of simulated to impose upon the charitable. He has been known to leave his mails untouched all day that he might trace out and relieve cases of genuine affliction or suffering. His time and best judgment are given to the widow and fatherless, nor is his counsel empty-handed. In business matters, the rule of his life is not to claim the lion's share, although furnishing the means for an enterprise, but to deal with others as he would have done by him under similar circumstances. He believes that by pursuing this policy, he has reaped greater material advantages than if he had pursued a grasping policy, whilst his conscience is the easier for his forbearance. His firm determination to do right in every transaction and under all circumstances has in his case given fresh proof of the truth of the adage that "honesty is the best policy."

Nor, though among the wealthy of the city, is he an aristocrat in feeling. To him, the poor soldier's widow, the laborer's wife, and the wife of the millionaire are equal in their claims upon his courtesy and his attention. He is in feeling one of the people, yet utterly innocent of the arts of the demagogue, and repudiating with firmness any attempt to bring him forward into political life, against the heats and confusion of which his modest and quiet character revolts.

Although not of robust health, he is enabled to get through a large amount of work by methodical habits and by a strict avoidance of injurious haste and worry. His leisure is spent in the enjoyments of his beautiful home and in the cultivation of a fine artistic taste which has been developed and gratified by a tour among the principal art centers of Europe.

Hinman B. Hurlbut.

Himnan B. Hurlbut, a lineal descendant of Governor Hinman, of Connecticut, was born in St. Lawrence County, New York, July 29, 1818. In his boyhood, he received such education as the common schools provided, and the time not spent in the school room was employed on his father's farm, he being the youngest of a large family and required to help along with the others.

At the age of fifteen, he left the farm and engaged as clerk in the mercantile business in Washington, St. Lawrence County, where he remained about three years.

In 1836, he removed to Cleveland and commenced the study of law with his brother, H. A. Hurlbut, then practicing law here. On August 7th, 1839, he was admitted to practice, and at once went to Massillon, Stark county, where he opened an office for the practice of his profession. His cash capital when he started for his prospective field of labor, consisted of three dollars and twenty-five cents. The disbursement of this sum was as follows: three dollars for his packet fare to Massillon; twenty-five cents for three sheets of paper and two packets of tobacco. His worldly goods were all contained in a hair trunk; the most valuable item of which was his law library, comprising two volumes, Blackstone and Kent's Commentaries. Our readers may well be assured that Mr. Hurlbut was dreadfully in earnest about that time to commence business. He soon succeeded in making a commencement; his talent and industry were rewarded by one of the largest and most lucrative practices in that section, extending through Wayne, Holmes, Tuscarawas, Carroll, Columbiana, and Summit counties. As a lawyer he was very successful. He continued the practice of his profession until 1850, four years of which time he was the law partner of Hon. D. K. Cartter.

Some three years before retiring from his law practice, he became interested in banking at Massillon, and in 1850, organized the Merchants Bank, of Massillon, with a capital of $100,000. This was in connection with Dr. I. Steese, who is still president of the bank, with the capital increased to $200,000. It was and is a very successful enterprise.

In 1852, still retaining most of his interest in the bank at Massillon, he came to Cleveland, and commenced a private banking business, under the firm name of Hurlbut & Go., under the American House, and continuing about one year, when he purchased from the directors of the Merchants Bank the charter of the Bank of Commerce, and at once commenced business under it, with Mr. Parker Handy as president, and himself as cashier. About a year afterwards Mr. Handy resigned, and Mr. Joseph Berkins became president. The stock was increased from time to time till it reached $250,000, and then reorganized under the name of the Second National Bank of Cleveland, with the same officers, and nearly the same board, with a capital stock of $600,000, and its success may be judged when we say that it has a reserve fund of over $400,000, and it may well be characterized as one of the strongest, if not the strongest bank in Ohio.

Mr. Hurlbut was cashier from the commencement, and labored assiduously in its interests, so that the Second National Bank of Cleveland is eminently the fruit of his labor and skill. Mr. Hurlbut was obliged to resign his position January 1, 1866, on account of failing health, induced by excessive mental application, and was succeeded by the assistant cashier, J. O. Buell, who still retains the office. On resigning, he was made vice president, which position he still retains. He took a trip to Europe, where he remained two years, returning much improved.

Besides his official duties here, in 1864, in connection with Messrs. J. Perkins, A. Stone and S. Witt, he purchased of the Board of Control, the charter of the Toledo Branch of the State Bank of Ohio, which also proved a great success, paying in the neighborhood of twenty-five percent per annum. It was reorganized under the National Bank Law. Mr. Hurlbut held no official position in this bank, but assisted in its management.

For some years, he has been a director of the Bellefontaine Railroad Company, and on the consolidation of that company with the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad Company, was made a director of the consolidated line. He has added to his interests in banks and railroads some important investments in the iron interests of the city, and through his shrewd observation and extensive business knowledge, has managed to make his investments profitable. For fifteen years, he was a member of the State Board of Control of the State Bank of Ohio. From the organization of the Protestant General Hospital of Cleveland, he has been its president.

Mr. Hurlbut's sole official connection with politics was his serving as a delegate from the Seventeenth Ohio District in the Philadelphia Convention that nominated General Taylor. He is in no degree a politician, but always takes an active interest as a private citizen and voter, in the discussion of political questions. His tastes are elegant and refined, and since his virtual retirement from the pressing duties of business, he has found enjoyment in the cultivation of those tastes. His manners are affable and genial, his disposition frank and generous. In business matters, he has always been prompt, and has never allowed his engagements to lie unfulfilled or be postponed.

Elbert Irving Baldwin.

The dry goods establishment of E. I. Baldwin & Co. is one of the best known business houses of Cleveland. Its reputation extends widely beyond the limits of the city, and throughout a large portion of the State it is known as one of the places to be visited whenever a shopping excursion is made to Cleveland.

Elbert Irving Baldwin, the founder and head of the firm, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, May 13, 1829. He received excellent early educational advantages, in preparation for a literary life, but as his health was not equal to this, he turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, when about eighteen years of age, by engaging as clerk in the dry goods house of Sandford & Allen, in his native town. With the firm he remained several years, and then engaged for about two years with a dry goods firm in New York city.

In October, 1853, Mr. Baldwin came to Cleveland, and on the completion of Northrup & Spangler's Block, commenced the retail branch of the dry goods business, his father, S. I. Baldwin, being a partner in the business for the first three years. Mr. Baldwin opened out with a stock of goods costing sixteen thousand dollars, and at the close of the first year had made sales to the amount of forty-three thousand dollars. This was an encouraging result for those times, and he correctly judged that it was but the foundation of a large and lucrative business. Each succeeding year, without any exception, has brought an increase of business, till the annual sales of the firm are in the vicinity of a million dollars, which, in a retail business, in a city of Cleveland's size, is very large; and fairly entitles him to be regarded as the most successful dry goods merchant Cleveland has ever had. Having from the first conducted business in a strictly honorable manner, selling only good articles at reasonable profits, and allowing no misrepresentations, the result is, that many of the customers of the house are of fifteen years' continuance. This, in conjunction with the natural growth of the trade growing out of an increase in the population, now gives his house the appearance of a central dry goods market.

Besides endeavoring to deal faithfully with customers, he inaugurated the one price and cash system of trade, so as to be faithful to himself and his creditors, and the result of all is--immense success.

To meet the demands of trade, in 1868, his firm purchased a piece of land whereon stood part of the well known City Buildings, on Superior street, and erected the elegant store now occupied by them, at an expense of over one hundred thousand dollars. It has been selected by us as a symbolic title page, representing Cleveland present, and is at once an ornament to the city, and a monument to untiring industry and integrity. The building has a frontage of forty-two and a half feet, a depth of one hundred and fifty feet, and a height of eighty feet, overtopping all the blocks in the city. The front is of Amherst sandstone. The building is divided into five stories, with a basement; the ground floor, occupied by the store, having five hundred feet of counter-room. Without, the architectural taste displayed was unexceptionably good, the building having an appearance of lightness and elegance, whilst at the same time conveying an idea of strength and solidity. The store is fitted up in the most sumptuous manner, and is of itself an attraction to visitors, to say nothing of the rich wares always there displayed.

On the retirement of his father, Mr. Baldwin associated with himself his brother-in-law, H. R. Hatch, and in 1863, Mr. W. S. Tyler, an employee, was admitted to an interest in the business, and in 1866, Mr. G. C. F. Hayne, another employee, became a partner. This is an excellent custom, and we are glad to see so many of our heavy merchants acknowledging the integrity and ability of their clerks in the same way.

Mr. Baldwin has now the general superintendence of the whole business; and, although he is not, nor ever has been, physically strong, is very active, and there is little that escapes his observation.

He was married, August, 1855, to Miss Mary Janette Sterling, of Lima, Livingston county, New York. The fruits of the marriage were three children now living, and one daughter who died.

Mr. Baldwin has been connected with the Second Presbyterian church about thirteen years, and has taken an active interest in the Sunday school. He was trustee of the church for several years, and has always been found ready to aid in the furtherance of every good work.

Grove N. Abbey.

The trade in stoneware is a very important branch of the business of Cleveland, and this lies in the hands of one firm, of which Grove N. Abbey is the leading member. As the West generally is supplied from the parent house of the Abbeys, or from one or other of the branch establishments through the West, in which Mr. Abbey holds an interest, it would be manifestly out of place to omit, in a work of this character, a reference to him and his operations.

Mr. Abbey was born in Portland, Connecticut, August 19th, 1818. He was the eleventh of a family of thirteen, of whom seven yet live. The father, Asaph, died at the age of fifty-five. The mother, Ruth Hollister, survived her husband thirty years, the last twenty-two of which were spent in the family of her son Grove N., and died February 20th, 1868, at the advanced age of eighty-six. As before said, she had thirteen children, twelve of whom married, and thus enabled her to remark, as she repeatedly did, that she had had twenty-four children. Before her death she had seventy-one grandchildren added to the list of her descendants, besides fifty-seven great-grandchildren, and one of the fourth generation, making in all one hundred and forty-two descendants.

At the age of sixteen, G. N. Abbey bade adieu to his New England home and set out for the West. A good portion of his first year after leaving home was spent in Pittsburgh, which he then left for Ohio, where he has since resided; twenty-one years in Akron, and the remainder of the time in Cleveland. His first experience in Akron was as a clerk, from which he rose to the position of merchant on his own account, carrying on business until 1856. In the Spring of the preceding year he commenced business on River street, Cleveland, in the sale of Akron stoneware, in which he had become interested, and in 1856, removed his family to Cleveland, where he has since that time resided, retaining his mercantile interests in Akron until 1858.

When Mr. Abbey was carrying on a mercantile business in Akron, his attention was called to the growing importance of the manufacture and trade in stoneware, made from the clay of the Springfield clay-bed, which has since become famous for the superior quality of stoneware made from it. The pioneer in the business was David Abbey, a brother of Grove, who died in Chicago, in 1856. The extension of railways to Akron rapidly developed the trade in stoneware, and the Abbey family turned their exclusive attention to it. The trade grew to importance wherever the articles found their way. To obtain greater facilities for sale and distribution, Mr. Grove N. Abbey came to Cleveland and obtained storage privileges in a warehouse on River street, at the foot of St. Clair hill. Soon the increase of business justified the engagement of the whole building, and from that time the growth of the trade has been rapid and permanent. Brandi houses were established in Chicago, Indianapolis, and St. Louis, and the parent houses in Akron and Cleveland have been kept busy in supplying the needs of these branches as well as of their own. The character of the article dealt in became known throughout the West, and wherever introduced the trade soon increased in importance. The result has been a gratifying success to the Abbeys, and the addition of a large revenue to the county of Summit.

In all their various ramifications of business, Mr. Abbey has occupied an important position. In addition to providing for the home trade, he has exercised constant personal supervision over the supplying of the western branches. The negotiations between dealers and manufacturers have mostly been managed by him, and the importance of these negotiations may be judged from the fact that the requirements of the customers of Abbey & Co. regulate the amount of stoneware manufactured in Summit county, and thus affect the business and revenues of the county.

The business of the Cleveland house of G. N. Abbey & Co. has gradually been increased by the introduction of other articles of a kindred nature, such as the brown and yellow ware, manufactured at East Liverpool, Ohio, glassware from Pittsburgh and New York, and fire-brick and fire-clay. The position of Cleveland renders it the natural distributing point for those wares, and the extensive facilities possessed by Mr. Abbey, and his long experience in the business, place the monopoly of the trade in his hands. That nothing but good has grown out of this virtual monopoly, is seen in the fact that the business is steadily increasing, that no dissatisfaction is expressed by the customers, and that no litigations have taken place during the long business career of the house, extending over a hundred years in Cleveland.

During the last six years the firm has had some interest in vessels on the lakes, and these interests have been carefully watched by Mr. Abbey, who has entire control.

It will be rightly inferred from what has already been said, that Mr. Abbey has achieved success in business. That success is due to no lucky accident or extraneous circumstances, but is the natural result of devoted attachment to business, keen insight, and a determination to follow, as far as practicable, the golden rule of doing as you would be done by, and of a desire to avoid all misunderstandings.

If there be one business faculty more than another, prominent in Mr. Abbey, it is that of ability to do a large business, on a small capital; having, like nearly all of our merchants, commenced business with nothing that his own hands had not earned, and passing through all the trials incident to mercantile life in a young country, he has become an excellent financier. Naturally of a genial temperament, and inclined to look on the bright side of things, he glides over reverses and difficulties easier than some people, yet he has always keenly felt, and often deplored, the want of such early advantages as children of the present day possess.

Being early interested in the cause of temperance, he has persistently endeavored to spread its beneficial effects by means of temperance organizations, and in April, 1869, he was nominated as temperance candidate for Mayor on the first strictly temperance municipal ticket ever put in nomination in Cleveland. The result was the polling of a temperance vote of about ten per cent, of the whole vote cast.

Twenty-seven years since, whilst in business at Akron, he was induced to make a profession of faith and be received into the Congregational church. The faith then professed has never been renounced, and he is now an active member of Plymouth Congregational church in Cleveland.

On November 4th, 1844, Mr. Abbey married Miss Sarah Goodale, of Kent, Ohio, but who came originally from Massachusetts. Of this marriage there were four children, three of whom are still living; the oldest being married to Charles H. White, of Chicago, Illinois. The other daughter and a son remain with the family at home.

B. W. Jenness.