The first Homeopathist in Cleveland was W. K. Adams, who succeeded in converting Dr. Hoyt, with whom he formed a partnership. Very soon after, in 1845, Drs. Wheeler and Williams were added to the list. There were but six families in the city having firm faith in the principles of homeopathy, and these were silent followers of Dr. John Wheeler, not willing to be known as such, so strong was public opinion against them. Dr. Wheeler continued unshaken by the strong opposition he met with, and heeded neither sneers nor denunciations. His course was onward and his practice successful, every month adding to his list of converts, and the profits of each year doubling the preceding one. Dr. Wheeler was the first member of the profession to propose that a homeopathic medical college should be located in Cleveland, and he earnestly pressed his theory that Cleveland should be the centre of homeopathy in the West. His name was the first signature to procure a charter, and when the college was organized he was selected as the President, and held the office for the first eleven years of its existence, contributing materially to its success, and resigning only when increasing age rendered its duties too onerous, when added to a large practice.
From the little beginnings in the early days of Dr. Wheeler's practice, homeopathy has grown in Cleveland, until it now reckons a flourishing college, a woman's medical college, two hospitals, an insurance company, twenty-six practicing physicians, and a host of believers in homeopathic principles and modes of treatment.
Prominent among the number of practicing physicians is D. H. Beckwith, M.D., who was born in Huron county, Ohio, in 1826. His father was one of the pioneers of the northern part of the State; emigrating from the State of New York in 1815, and making the journey the most of the way on foot, occupying more than six weeks. He remained a few days in Cleveland, and not admiring the soil for agricultural purposes (little thinking it was the site for a city of its present beauty and magnitude), he journeyed on until he reached more fertile soil in Huron county, where, by economy and industry, in a short time he accumulated sufficient to purchase a small farm, on which he lived until his death, having seen his family of six sons and one daughter arrive at mature age.
[Illustration: Truly Yours, D. H. Beckwith]
The subject of this memoir remained at home during his boyhood, attending school during the winter and working on the farm in the summer season. At the age of sixteen he entered the Norwalk Seminary, pursuing his studies with vigor for a few years, when it became necessary for him to earn his own living. He taught several schools and was among the first in the State to inaugurate the normal school system to elevate the standard of teaching and improve public schools.
Early in life he decided that the medical profession would be his choice, and all his leisure hours were spent in studying medical books. After securing a sufficiency from teaching (as he supposed,) to meet the expenses of a medical education, he studiously applied himself, under the tuition of John Tiff, M.D., one of the most scientific practitioners of the State. During the third year of his studies his money was expended, and not wishing to call on friends for assistance he concluded to commence the practice of medicine. A partnership was offered him in an adjacent town, and arrangements were made for him to commence his professional career. He unfolded his plan to his preceptor, who listened attentively to his future plans, and then rising from his chair, exclaimed with much emphasis: "If there is anything, sir, that I despise, it is half a doctor," and immediately left the office. The brilliant prospect was clouded. With but eight months more study the young student could commence the practice of medicine and be an honor to his preceptor and to himself, but the lack of money was a seemingly impassable barrier. It was a dark day to the student, but he had learned "never to let his energies stagnate." One resource was left him. He determined to open a select school for advanced scholars. In four days from that time he entered the school room with one hundred scholars, many of them his former pupils. Morning and evening he clerked in a drug store, for which he received his board and washing. On Wednesday and Saturday evenings he was examined in his medical studies with two other students who devoted their entire time to their studies. Thus for thirteen weeks he was daily performing the duties of a teacher, so arduous that many would have complained, though they had no other occupation. In addition to this he was several hours each day compounding and dispensing medicine, and at the same time keeping pace with his class in the study of materia medica and botany.
Having already attended one course of lectures in an allopathic college, and not being satisfied with that mode of prescriptions for the sick, he attended the Eclectic College of Cincinnati, where he listened to the first course of lectures ever delivered in any chartered college in the country on homeopathic medicine, by the lamented Prof. Rosa who had no superior in his profession. After receiving his degree he commenced the practice of medicine with his preceptor. The prompt and curative effect produced by homeopathic remedies soon convinced him of its superiority over other systems of medicine and decided him to adopt it as his system of practice for life. The success that has attended his labors ever since has well proved the correctness of his choice.
The first few years of his practice were spent among the acquaintances of his childhood, in the beautiful village of Norwalk. In 1852, he left a large practice and many warm friends to seek a larger field for future work, and located in Zanesville, Ohio, where he continued his profession until the year 1863. The climate not being adapted to the health of his family he moved to Cleveland and soon obtained what he had left in Zanesville--a large and lucrative practice. By close attention to his patients, being always ready to give his services to the poor as cheerfully as to the rich, and his unusual kindness to all persons placed under his professional care, he has won the affection and esteem of his patients to a degree rarely equaled.
He has always taken a lively interest in the advancement of medical science, firmly believing in the immutable principles that govern the administration of homeopathic medicine as well as the curative effect. He has always been anxious to induce young men that proposed to study the science of medicine to follow the example of the illustrious Hahnemann. His lectures in the Cleveland Homeopathic College have always been characterized by practicability. He has not only published a medical journal, but has largely contributed to the pages of many others in this country. He has always been a leading member of county and State medical societies, as well as of the Northwestern and American Institute of Homeopathy, holding the office of Vice President of all the above named societies. In 1866, he was chosen by the American Institute as one of the committee to prepare an essay on Cholera, its nature and treatment.
He was among the first to establish the Hahnemann Life Insurance Company of Cleveland, being one of its incorporators and procuring a large amount of capital stock for its support, besides giving his time in organizing it. He was chosen their chief medical examiner, and the great success of the Company is largely due to his skill in selecting good and healthy risks for insurance.
[Illustration: T. T. Seelye]
Thomas T. Seelye, M.D., was born in Danbury, Connecticut, August 23, 1818. His parents were Seth and Abigail Seelye, of English descent. After preparing for a collegiate course, it became necessary for him to take charge of his father's store. At twenty-one years of age he commenced the study of medicine as a private pupil of William Parker, professor of surgery in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, from which college he graduated in the Spring of 1842. He was then appointed assistant physician in Bellevue Hospital, where he remained one year, when he commenced the practice of his profession in Woodbury, Connecticut. There he remained until the Spring of 1848, when he sold out his business and removed to Cleveland, having previously leased a tract of land just within the suburbs of the city, covered with native forest and such a profusion of real natural beauty in glen, woodland, and beautiful springs of soft water, that it seemed apparent that art only needed to blend with nature to make this one of the most desirable of localities for a great health institution.
His system of practice, though called water cure, in fact drew assistance from all the experience of the past in relieving physical suffering and curing disease. It was notorthodox, it belonged to nopathy, and in consequence had the opposition of all branches of the profession. His means were quite limited, as were also his accommodations--not so limited, however, but that the expense of construction and furnishing greatly exceeded the length of his purse. Business waited forsuccess, to establish itself, but the sheriffdid not. Debts became due, and nothing with which to pay, but hope in the future, which is rather unsatisfactory nutriment for hungry creditors.
But, by and by, patient labor and persistent effort in the right direction began to bring forth fruit. Business increased, the visits of the sheriff were less frequent, and after about five years he could lie down to rest at night without fear of a dun in the morning.
In ten years he purchased the Forest City Cure, which was started in opposition, the capacity of the old Cure having become altogether inadequate for his increased business. After ten years he sold it to the Hebrews for an orphan asylum, preferring to unite the two institutions under one roof. He then proceeded to complete the plan he had been perfecting for the past five years, for erecting buildings of an extent that would amply accommodate his ever increasing patronage, and supplied with those conveniences and appliances which an experience of twenty-one years had deemed most desirable for the invalid. The architect has furnished us a sketch of this institution, of which, when completed, every lover of our beautiful city will be proud.
In addition to his professional labors he is largely engaged, in connection with W. J. Gordon and others, in the manufacture of the non-explosive lamp, which bids fair to be one of the most successful and extensive manufacturing enterprises ever started in this city.
Within the past three years, Dr. Seelye has purchased the twenty-six acres he originally leased, and twenty-two acres adjoining, making a very valuable tract of real estate, taken in connection with the present and prospective growth of the city.
Although Dr. Seelye is not engaged conspicuously in public charities, few hands are so frequently open as his to the wants of the poor. Great comprehensiveness of intellect, an indomitable energy, a rare penetration and control over other minds, combined with an unblemished integrity of character, have given him a high reputation among physicians in the West.
[Illustration: Water Corm.]
With neither water power nor steam power very little can be done in the way of manufacturing. Cleveland, until the construction of the Ohio canal, was without either of those two requisites for a manufacturing point. The Cuyahoga river, though giving abundant water power along a considerable portion of its course, enters Cleveland as a slow moving stream, winding its sluggish way in so tortuous a course that it seems reluctant to lose its identity in the waters of the lake. Water power, under such circumstances, is out of the question, and, as with no coal, and a rapidly decreasing supply of wood, steam cannot be economically used for manufacturing purposes, the people of Cleveland turned their attention wholly to buying and selling instead of producing.
The construction of the Ohio canal to the coal fields of Summit county opened the eyes of the more enterprising citizens to the possibilities of a great future for Cleveland as a manufacturing city. No sooner had the canal reached Akron, and an experimental shipment of coal been made to the future city--with but poor success, as already narrated--than attention was called to the importance of the new field thus opened to Cleveland enterprise. On the 7th of March, 1828; a letter appeared in the Cleveland Herald, from which the following is an extract:
"We possess, beyond a doubt, decided advantages over Buffalo, or any other town on Lake Erie, in our contiguity to inexhaustible beds of pit-coal and iron ore, very justly considered the basis of all manufacturing. On the one hand, at the distance of about thirty miles, we can obtain any quantity of crude iron of an excellent quality, while, on the other, at about the same distance, we have access by canal to exhaustless mines of coal of good quality. This last most invaluable, and all important article in manufacturing, can not be obtained anywhere else on the Lakes without the extra expense of shifting from canal-boats to other craft.
"When these mines shall have become extensively worked, coal will be delivered in this place very little, if any, above that paid in Pittsburgh, say from four to six cents; and good pig-iron can and is now delivered at a less price here than in Pittsburgh. Doctor Cooper further says: 'The very basis of all profitable manufacturing is, plenty of fuel, easily, cheaply and permanently procurable;--the next desirable object is plenty of iron ore; iron being the article upon which every other manufacture depends. It is to the plentiful distribution of these two commodities that Great Britain is chiefly indebted for the pre-eminence of her manufactures and her commerce.' Surely it need not be thought strange that Cleveland must one day become a great manufacturing place, if we consider,
"First, That the canal will give us access to one of the finest portions of country in the United States, sufficient for vending, to almost any extent, articles such as might be manufactured here;--and,Secondly, That power and materials in great abundance are 'easily, cheaply and permanently procurable.' There is probably not a town in the Western country, Pittsburgh only excepted, that unites these two objects so happily as this place does.
"Every steam-engine wanted for boats on the Lake, for mills and factories near the Lake, and on and near the canal should be made at this point.
"Not a pound of nails, a wagon-tire, an anchor, a cable, a cast-iron stove, pot, kettle, ploughshare, or any article made of cast-iron--a yard of coarse cotton, a gallon of beer, an ax, a shovel, nor a spade, should be sent east for. There ought to be in full operation before the completion of our canal, at least one steam engine manufactory, one establishment for puddling iron, one rolling and slitting mill, and nail factory, two or three iron foundries, in addition to the one now going into operation under very favorable auspices, a cotton factory, a woolen factory, a steam grist and saw mill, a brewery, &c."
On the succeeding week appeared some editorial comments in support of the suggestions in the letter, and for some time frequent references, by correspondents and editorially, were made to the matter. On the 25th of April, 1828, appeared in the Herald a notice of a new iron foundry; the first that had been built, and reference to which had been made in the letter quoted. This was built by John Ballard & Co., and an editorial announcing its opening says it "supplies this place and the surrounding country on short notice and on reasonable terms, with the various articles of cast iron work, for which, before this foundry was established, our citizens were forced to send to a distance, and at the cost of much trouble and expense."
But with all this urging of newspapers, and talking of far-sighted citizens, the cause of manufacturing progressed slowly. To establish manufactories was a costly experiment, requiring capital, patience, and a faith, which, though some might profess, few actually possessed. As is frequently the case in regard to public improvements, those who pressed them most had no funds to invest in them, and those who had the funds were little inclined to heed the suggestions of moneyless advisers.
MacCabe's Directory of Cleveland and Ohio City for 1837-8, says that at that time there were on the east side of the river, in the corporation of Cleveland, "four very extensive iron foundries and steam engine manufactories; also, three soap and candle manufactories, two breweries, one sash factory, two rope walks, one stoneware pottery, two carriage manufactories, and two French run millstone manufactories, all of which are in full operation." A flouring mill was in course of erection by Mr. Ford which, it was predicted, would be, when finished, "the largest and most complete establishment of the kind in the State of Ohio." At the same time Ohio City was described as possessing "among the principal manufactories of the place, the Cuyahoga Steam Furnace, the Saleratus manufactory, and the Glue manufactory." The Cuyahoga Steam Furnace had turned off in the previous year five hundred tons of castings, besides a great quantity of wrought iron work, and gave employment to seventy men. In noticing the description of the iron furnaces and steam engine manufactories on the East side of the river as "very extensive", it must be borne in mind that the standard of size and importance for such establishments in Cleveland was much smaller then than now.
In spite of all the attempts made to stir up an interest in manufactories, slow progress was made until a comparatively late period. One great obstacle in the way was the opposition or indifference of the land-holders, who directly rebuffed the proposals of intending manufacturers, or placed a value on their land so high as to require an amount of capital sunk in the soil that rendered the chances of profit very hazardous. There was also a strong prejudice against factories on the part of very many persons because they were "so dirty," and would tend to make the neat and trim residences and door-yards of Cleveland as smutty as those of Pittsburgh.
It was not until the breaking out of the war for the Union called into existence manufactories all over the land to supply the needs born of the war, that manufactories found a home and cordial welcome in Cleveland. The exigencies of the time, and the intense feeling excited, scattered to the wind all the prejudices against the dirt and smoke of iron manufactories, and establishments of this kind sprang up on all sides, calling into existence a host of other manufactories dependent on and contributing to the successful conduct of iron foundries and iron mills. The war found Cleveland a commercial city, whose trade, if not languishing, threatened to soon reach its turning point; it left Cleveland a busy, bustling manufacturing city, over a great part of which hung a perpetual cloud of dense smoke, and with a population nearly doubled in numbers and greatly changed in character owing to its change from a commercial to a manufacturing city. The petroleum discovery in North Western Pennsylvania and the coincident opening of direct railroad communication between Cleveland and the oil regions, contributed greatly to the rapid increase of the population and wealth of the city. Oil refineries grew up rapidly like mushrooms in the valleys and ravines around, and lined the railroad tracks, but, unlike mushrooms, did not disappear with equal rapidity. A great number of people found employment in this new industry, and wealth poured in with greater volume from this source than had ever been known to flow from any species of trade or manufacture hitherto established. From this time the future of Cleveland was assured. Year by year it has grown with astonishing increase and new manufactories of every description are springing up on every side. The flats that had lain deserted and of but little value were brought into requisition for iron furnaces and iron mills, and wherever lands could be had at reasonable rates in convenient neighborhood to transportation lines, factories of some kind were established.
The four or five small iron manufactories in and about Cleveland in 1837, have grown to fourteen rolling mills, having two hundred puddling furnaces and a daily capacity of four hundred tons of finished iron, not including the nails spikes, nuts, bolts, horseshoes, &c. Several of these mills own their own blast furnaces, and nearly all have coal mines of their own. There are also five stove foundries; one malleable iron works; one axe and tool company; half a dozen boiler plate and sheet iron works of large capacity; nearly as many factories of steam engines of all descriptions, and other machinery; three foundries for making car wheels and castings for buildings; one large manufactory of cross cut, circular and other saws, and several saw and file works of smaller dimensions.
Although the operations of domestic iron works were seriously affected by the large increase of importations from Europe, the following amount of iron was produced from the mills of Cleveland in 1868:
Pig Iron 11,037 Tons.Rail Road Iron 22,344 "Merchant Iron 11,396 "Boiler, Tank and Sheet Iron 2,676 "Forgings 4,125 "Nuts, Washers, Rests, Nails and Spikes 5,607 "Machinery Castings 18,250 "Wire 865 "
Making a total of 76,300 tons. To produce this it is estimated that 225,000 tons of coal and coke were consumed. The stove foundries produced nearly 35,000 stoves, with the attendant hardware and stove furniture; requiring nearly 10,000 tons of metal, and 4,000 tons of coal and coke, and giving employment to about five hundred persons.
The planing mills and wooden ware manufactures give direct employment to six hundred and fifty persons, and the year's business exceeded a million dollars.
The growth and magnitude of the petroleum business of Cleveland can be seen by the reports of receipts and shipments during the past four years:
Date. Crude Received Refined Forwarded1865 220,000 bbls. 145,000 bbls.1866 613,247 " 402,430 "1867 693,100 " 496,600 "1868 956,479 " 776,356 "
Between three and four millions of dollars of capital are invested in this business in Cleveland, and the annual product will not fall short of ten or twelve millions of dollars. The rapid increase of the business created an urgent demand for barrels. The receipts of staves in 1868, mainly to supply this demand, were nearly three times in excess of the previous year. Some 3,000 tons of hoop iron were required for barrels.
It is impossible to give, in the absence of any recent exact census, full and correct statistics of the number and classification of the manufactories of Cleveland, the capital invested, and the value of the product. It has, however, been estimated from the best data that could be procured, that the grand total value of all the manufactories of the city in 1868, was not less than sixty millions of dollars, and it is daily increasing.
William B. Castle was born in Essex, Crittenden county, Vermont, November 30, 1814. Immediately on the conclusion of the war, his father removed to Toronto, where he had been engaged, as an architect, to superintend the construction of the first Parliament buildings there. In 1827, he removed with his family to Cleveland, William B. Castle being then thirteen years old. His father had taken a farm about thirteen miles from the city, and there the lad spent most of his time until 1832, when, in company with his father and Mr. Charles M. Giddings, he established the first lumber-yard in Cleveland. The business was carried on for a couple of years, when Mr. Castle, Sen., died, and the son removed to Canada, engaging in merchandizing and in manufacturing lumber for the yard in Cleveland. In 1839, he abandoned the Canada branch of the business, and in the following year the partnership with Mr. Giddings was dissolved.
A new partnership was formed with a brother-in-law, under the name of Castle & Field, for carrying on the hardware, in connection with jewelry and watch making, business, on the west side of the river, then known as Ohio City. In 1843, he left the business and entered the Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Company, with which he has ever since been connected. So thoroughly identified has Mr. Castle been with the history of that establishment during the past quarter of a century, that this is a fitting place for a brief sketch of the nature and history of the pioneer iron company of Cleveland.
In 1830, Mr. Charles Hoyt projected the works which were erected and put in operation under the firm name of Hoyt, Railey & Co. In 1834, the firm was changed to an incorporated company under the name of the Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Company, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, of which three-fourths were paid in. The principal stockholders at the time of the incorporation were Josiah Barber, Richard Lord, John W. Allen, and Charles Hoyt. The managing officer was Charles Hoyt. Soon after the incorporation the works were burned to the ground, but the company were energetic, and soon a substantial brick structure, two hundred and thirty-five feet front, with a wing of ninety feet deep, was erected on the site of the destroyed building. The pig metal for the use of the works was obtained at the company's blast furnace at Dover, twelve miles west, and was considered equal in quality to the best Scotch pig. In 1840, Mr. Hoyt was succeeded in the management by D. Cushing, who had been secretary of the company. In 1843, Mr. Cushing gave place to Elisha T. Sterling, who remained the head of the concern until his untimely death, in 1859.
[Illustration: Yours Truly, W. B. Castle]
From the advent of Mr. Sterling and the consequent re-organization of the staff of officers of the works, dates the connection of Mr. Castle with the establishment. Mr. Castle took the position of secretary, and held that post until the death of Mr. Sterling, when he was appointed to fill the position of manager. At the time when the sole charge of the works devolved upon him the company was in a deplorable financial condition. The prospect was sufficient to daunt a less resolute and hopeful spirit, but Mr. Castle at once set about the Herculean task of bringing the concern through its difficulties and establishing it on a firm financial basis. The struggle was long continued, and more than once the advance gained seemed suddenly to be again lost, but eventually it was pulled through without having compromised a single debt, and without having but a single case of litigation under his management. This case was not properly chargable to the administration of the works, as it arose from the supplying of a defective beam strap, which, there being then no forges in Cleveland, had been ordered from Pittsburgh. This unusual exemption from litigation was, doubtless, owing to the invariable rule adopted by Mr. Castle, to reduce all contracts to careful writing and to live strictly up to the letter as well as spirit of the contract.
The heavy work of the establishment in its early years was the supplying of most of the mills in Ohio and the new States of the West with mill gearing, and the manufacture of agricultural implements. In 1840, was commenced the manufacture of stationary and land steam engines. In 1843, the manufacture of marine engines was commenced by building the engine for the first propeller on Lake Erie, the "Emigrant." About the same time work was commenced on engines for the large side-wheel steamers, the largest of their day being fitted out with machinery from these works. Among the steamers thus equipped, and which were in their successive days the wonders of the lakes, was the Europe, Saratoga, Hendrick Hudson, Pacific, Avon, and Ohio. Among the propellers receiving their engines from the Cuyahoga Works were the Winslow, Idaho, Dean Richmond, Ironsides, S. D. Caldwell, Meteor, and a very large number of others, besides a great many first-class steam tugs plying on Detroit river.
In 1853, the introduction of the manufacture of locomotives added a new feature to the manufacturing industry of Cleveland. The Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad was supplied from these works, and locomotives were also made for the Cleveland and Pittsburgh, Lake Shore, Cleveland and Toledo, and Bellefontaine and Indianapolis Railroads, besides several other railroads in the west. In 1857, this branch of the business was sold out to the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad Company, who now use the locomotive works for the manufacture and repair of their own engines.
In addition to the marine engines, for which the establishment has become famous, the company have lately entered upon the manufacture of first class engines and blowing machines for blast furnaces. These have been supplied to the furnaces in the Mahoning Valley and Wisconsin, and to furnaces elsewhere, even supplying Pittsburgh, the home of the iron manufacture. A very large engine has been constructed for the Atlantic Docks, in Brooklyn, New York. Rolling mill engines and machinery have been made for mills at Alliance, in the Tuscarawas Valley, at Harmony, Indiana, and at Escanaba, in the Lake Superior iron district. Various engines have been supplied to the Newburgh works, including the blowing engines and hydraulic cranes for the Bessemer steel works, among the most perfect of their kind in America. Railway tools manufactured by the company's works have been ordered from so far east as New Jersey.
The Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Company have employed at times two hundred and fifty men, and will probably average one hundred and fifty. Year after year the company have been compelled to enlarge their facilities, until now their property occupies the two corners of Detroit and Centre streets, and one corner of Centre and West River streets. The buildings extend three hundred and fifty feet on the river, and to a greater length on Detroit street. The capital employed amounts to about a quarter of a million dollars. The importance of these works in attracting attention and capital to Cleveland, in giving employment to the people, and in assisting to build up the business of the city, can hardly be overestimated. Taking its nature, extent and history together it may probably be said with safety that nothing in the city has had a more important influence in shaping the future of Cleveland and contributing to its present prosperity, and much of this influence is due to the labor and wisdom of Mr. Castle. At present the works are organized under the presidency of Mr. Castle, with Josephus Holloway as superintendant and designing engineer; S. J. Lewis, secretary; W. W. Castle, book-keeper. From 1843 to 1857, the superintendent and designing engineer, was Mr. Ethan Rogers, who by his knowledge and skill added very much to the celebrity of the works.
In 1853, Mr. Castle was elected mayor of Ohio City, and during his term of office the consolidation of the two cities was effected. To bring about this desirable end he labored diligently, and was one of the commissioners for settling the terms of annexation. In 1855, he was elected mayor of the Consolidated city, and his rule was marked by vigor, justice, and a strict regard for the rights and interests of the citizens. For six years subsequent to his mayoralty he held the office of commissioner of water works.
Mr. Castle was married in December, 1836, to Miss Mary Derby, who died in Canada in the following year. In 1840, he was married to Miss Mary H. Newell, of Vermont, by whom he has had one son and three daughters. The son, W. W. Castle, now twenty-six, is book-keeper of the Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Company. The oldest daughter is wife of Mr. Robert R. Rhodes, of Cleveland. The youngest daughters are still at school.
The success of Mr. Castle has been achieved by a persistent struggle against adverse circumstances and with but little to aid him but a resolute will and good constitution. At an early age he was left with the care of his father's family on his hands, and has had to fight, not only his own battles, but to struggle with the difficulties into which circumstances had thrown the company with which he became connected. Out of the struggle he has come with a spotless reputation, the esteem of his friends and the respect of his fellow-citizens, financial prosperity, and the blessing of good health and undiminished vigor.
On the sixth of August, 1869, the citizens of Cleveland were surprised and pained at the announcement of the death, on the morning of that day, of Charles Jarvis Woolson, one of the most active and respected business men of the city. Few were aware of his illness, and even by those acquainted with the facts his death, up to within a very short time of the event, was wholly unexpected.
Mr. Woolson was born in Chester, Vermont, and received careful educational training, the family being in good circumstances. His father was engaged in various manufacturing enterprises, including cotton and wool fabrics, and the making of machine and hand cards. He was one of the very earliest manufacturers of cooking stoves in the country.
At the age of nineteen, Mr. Woolson went into business on his own account, choosing the newspaper profession instead of manufactures for hisdebut.His first venture was as editor and publisher of a newspaper in Grafton county, New Hampshire. Two years later, he sold out and removed to Virginia, where he assumed charge of the Charlotteville Advocate. But the political and social atmosphere of the South was uncongenial to one born and bred in the free air of Vermont. He could neither feel nor affect to feel anything but abhorrence of the "institution," and so he soon terminated his connection with the press of Virginia, and returned to the land of churches, free schools and free speech. In 1830, he married Miss Pomeroy, of Cooperstown, New York, and removing to Keene, New Hampshire, engaged in mercantile business; but he who has once dabbled in journalism imbibes a taste which it is difficult afterwards to eradicate. Mr. Woolson was not at home in a mercantile store, and before long he purchased the New England Palladium, a Boston daily newspaper, and conducted it for two years, when he bade a final adieu to journalism as a profession, disposing of his property in the Palladium and removing to Claremont, New Hampshire, where he engaged with his father in the manufacture of stoves. Here he remained until 1840, when he removed to Cleveland, taking with him the patterns and materials connected with the stove business, and commenced on his own account in a small way, his capital having been seriously crippled by the financial convulsion of 1837.
Mr. Woolson had, in 1845, succeeded in getting his business into a flourishing condition, when, through the defalcation of a trusted partner, he was very nearly ruined. But he did not stop his works one day on account of this disaster. Collecting together his scattered resources, he set to work all the harder, and as the Fall of the year approached, had succeeded in accumulating a fine stock of wares for the Fall trade, which he had stored in a warehouse at the rear of his factory, but which he neglected to insure. A fire broke out, and the building, with its contents, was completely destroyed, resolving the valuable stoves into a heap of old iron. Even this did not stop the works. With his characteristic energy, Mr. Woolson had the ground cleared and set to work with redoubled zeal, making new stoves out of the old iron, and succeeded in doing a tolerable business that winter, in spite of his accumulation of disasters.
When Mr. Woolson commenced business in Cleveland, it was but a lively village. His stove foundry, the first of importance in northern Ohio, when running to its full capacity, employed but ten hands, and its trade was limited to the immediate vicinity, and a few towns on the canal. But few of the farmers then used cooking stoves, the fire on the hearth serving for all purposes of cooking and warming. The works now employ about one hundred hands when running full, and the customers are found in Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa. The firm was changed several years since to Woolson & Hitchcock, and subsequently to Woolson, Hitchcock & Carter. Death removed the senior and junior partners of the firm within a few months of each other.
Mr. Woolson's death was caused by erysipelas, brought on by debility; after an illness of two weeks the disease yielded to medical treatment, and he seemed to gain strength rapidly. On Saturday, the 31st of July, he joined a party of friends and drove in his buggy twenty miles into the country, believing that the fresh air would invigorate him as it had done many times before when his health gave way. But the old remedy failed, and, leaving his horse behind, Mr. Woolson took the cars and reached home in the evening very much exhausted. After lingering five days, typhoid symptoms appeared, and at eight o'clock Friday morning he died, unconscious, and without suffering, after a life of 63 years and one month.
Mr. Woolson possessed a very genial and sociable disposition, was highly intelligent and well informed, and in spite of an infirmity of deafness was a charming companion. His business qualifications are proven by the success of the establishment he founded, in spite of the succession of unforeseen and unavoidable disasters with which it had to contend. He was a man of very domestic habits, and these habits were mellowed and refined by many family losses that might have crushed one less hopeful, and less patient and uncomplaining. To his family he was entirely devoted, and all the affection of a loving household clustered around him with an intensity that made the blow of his sudden loss one peculiarly hard to be borne.
Mr. Woolson had long been connected with Grace Church (Episcopal), of which he was senior warden, and very tender domestic ties, sundered by death some years since, made that church peculiarly dear to him.
William Hart, son of Judah Hart, of English descent, was born in Norwich, Connecticut, in the year 1811. About the year 1821, Judah Hart removed to the West with his family, settling in Brownhelm, Lorain county, where he died two years after, and one year from this time, William changed his residence to Cleveland. Soon after the arrival of the Harts in Cleveland, Governor Clinton, of New York, came to Ohio to formally commence the work of constructing the Ohio Canal, which was begun on the fourth of July, 1825. Governor Clinton landed in Cleveland in June, and one of the principal incidents of Mr. Hart's recollection of his early days in Cleveland, was the general turning out of the people to receive and welcome the father of internal improvements. Cleveland was then but an insignificant village, a place "six miles from Newburg, where steamboats stopped to wood and water," but great, and well-founded hopes were entertained of the benefits to flow from the opening of the canal, and the people were therefore much elated at the arrival of Governor Clinton, who was to commence the important work, and whose influence had done so much to aid the enterprise.
[Illustration: Yours Truly, Wm. Hart]
About this time young Hart went to live with Asabel Abel, to whom he was apprenticed for the purpose of learning the business of cabinet making. When the term of his apprenticeship had expired, he set up in business on his own account, at first opening his modest store and workshop on the site of the present Birch House, and subsequently, after five or six years of business, removing his location to the opposite side of the street, on the spot now occupied by his present warehouse.
In 1852, a fire swept away his entire establishment, destroying ware-rooms, factory, and all the appurtenances, and throwing out of employment the twenty hands of which his force of workmen then consisted. In the succeeding year, he rebuilt the warehouse and factory on a greatly enlarged scale, and has since still further enlarged and improved the buildings, until, in size and commodiousness, they are not excelled in the city. At present, seventy-five hands are employed in the establishment, aided by the most improved descriptions of labor-saving machinery adapted to the business, and the annual sales reach nearly two hundred thousand dollars.
Mr. Hart believed in always putting his shoulder to the wheel, though on one occasion a too literal adherence to this principle came near costing him his life. In attempting to give some aid in the factory, he came in contact with a circular saw, and his right arm was nearly severed from the shoulder. This was in the year 1850. On his partial recovery, the citizens, to show their sympathy with him in his misfortune, elected him City Treasurer, an office then of but little value, requiring only a small portion of his time and paying him two hundred dollars a year. For nineteen years he held this office uninterruptedly, being elected by both parties term after term, and witnessing the growth of the city, under his financial administration, from an annual revenue of forty-eight thousand dollars to nearly two millions. The emoluments of the office have risen from a salary of two hundred dollars to a salary of fifteen hundred dollars, and a percentage on special taxes collected. During his nineteen years of service, Mr. Hart has negotiated all the loans, sold the school bonds, and collected the special taxes, occupying nearly the whole of his time, and employing the services of a clerk in transacting the business of his office.
When William Hart became City Treasurer, the credit of the city stood rather low, city warrants being hawked about at seventy-five cents on the dollar. This unsatisfactory state of things was put an end to, mainly through the exertions of the Hon. H. B. Payne, then in the City Council, who procured the funding of the outstanding debt, and brought the credit of the city up to the high standard at which it now stands.
When Judah Hart reached Cleveland, the then far West, a part of the family slept in the Mansion House, occupying the site on which now stands Cooper's hardware store, but young William and some other members of the family slept in the covered traveling wagon, under a shed standing on the site of the present Atwater Block. With the revolution of years the then poor boy has now become part owner of the splendid block standing where a part of the Harts slept, homeless wayfarers, forty-five years ago.
In 1834, Mr. Hart was married in Cleveland, to Miss Elizabeth Kirk, daughter of John Kirk, who had left England about a dozen years previously. No children were born of this marriage, but the pair have adopted four, giving them all the advantages and rights of children born to themselves, and three of these are now married.
Still in vigorous life, Mr. Hart has, to a great extent, retired from active business, his establishment being carried on mainly by his sons through adoption or marriage. This partial rest he has earned by a life of labor and enterprise, in which he has watched narrowly his opportunities, and availed himself of every chance of improving his facilities for manufacture, and enlarging his field of business, has faithfully performed his official duties, and has secured the respect alike of his business acquaintances, his political constituents, and the public at large.
The wooden ware manufacture of Cleveland is an important part of its industry, the manufacturing establishments being the largest within the United States and doing a business that covers the entire west. Large as the industry now is, it is of but very recent growth, and Cleveland is chiefly indebted for its permanent establishment, in spite of a series of discouraging disasters, to the enterprise and determination of John Bousfield.
[Illustration: Yours Truly, John Bousfield]
Mr. Bousfield was born at Stockport, in the county of Cheshire, England, July 22, 1819. After serving an apprenticeship to the saddle and harness business for seven years, he engaged in that business on his own account, adding to it the manufacture of whips. Four years were thus spent, when he decided on removing to America, leaving his native land in December, 1843. Having brought two of his workmen with him, he established himself in the same business in a small way in the city of New York, but his health failing after a few months, he determined on leaving for the west, hoping that a change of atmosphere, and possibly of business, would be of benefit.
His first stay was at Kirtland, Lake county, Ohio, where he purchased a farm and at the same time carried on the harness business. At this he continued until about the year 1850, when he purchased a factory and water power, put in a pail-making machine, and commenced, in a small way, the manufacture of pails. In 1854, he removed to Fairport, in the same county, where he purchased a larger building and carried on pail manufacturing upon a larger scale. In March, 1855, he sold out the establishment, taking in pay for it a note which he still holds.
In May of that year he came to Cleveland and organized the Cleveland Wooden Ware Manufacturing Company, built a factory on the ground now occupied by the present firm of Bousfield & Poole, and commenced manufacturing in the following September. The first operations of the company were on a small scale, making tubs, pails, washboards, and similar articles in a limited way, but gradually increasing the business until it reached what was then considered respectable proportions. In July, 1857, the company sold out to Greenman & Co., of Massachusetts, and Mr. Bousfield was retained by the new owners as superintendent of the works, until January 12, 1859, when the factory was destroyed by fire.
In March of that year, Mr. Bousfield rented a building on the West Side and commenced manufacturing again on his own account. Five months afterwards he was burned out. Nothing daunted, he immediately purchased the ruins of the Greenman & Co. factory, rebuilt it, and in January, 1860, associated with him Mr. J. B. Hervey, of Cleveland, and in the following month resumed work.
The new partnership was very successful. The business increased rapidly, the area of their trade enlarged until it comprised all the principal cities and towns in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin. A planing mill was added to the factory, and this, too, was highly profitable. In 1864, the works were greatly enlarged to meet the rapidly increasing demand for their wares. In 1865, Mr. John Poole, of Harmer, Ohio, was admitted to the partnership, thus bringing in additional capital and experience gained in the management of a similar factory at Harmer. Mr. Poole has devoted himself principally to the financial and sales departments of the business, and has proved himself a man of more than ordinary business ability.
Thus far everything had been going on prosperously, but the old enemy, fire, was as relentless as ever. On the 23d of March, 1866, the whole of the extensive establishment was reduced to ashes, and the unfortunate proprietors sorrowfully contemplated the ruins of years of labor and enterprise, whilst a host of workmen stood still more sorrowfully by, and saw their daily bread swept from them by the pitiless flames. Seventy-five thousand dollars of capital were converted into valueless ashes in a few hours.
The owners of the factory wasted no time in fruitless sorrow. An old wooden building had partially escaped the flames. This was hastily patched up, and within thirty days they were making pails and tubs as earnestly as if they had never known a fire. Mr. Hervey sold out his interest to the other partners, Messrs. Bousfield & Poole, who went to work with almost unparalleled enterprise and energy, built one of the largest and most substantial factories in the country, and entered upon the work of manufacturing wooden ware upon a larger scale than had ever before been attempted. The factory has two hundred feet front on Leonard and Voltaire streets, with a depth of sixty feet, and five stories high; attached to the main building are the engine and boiler rooms. The cost of the building was forty-five thousand dollars. The present capacity of the works is twenty-five hundred pails per day, six hundred tubs, a hundred and twenty-five churns and other small ware, and a hundred dozen zinc washboards.
In May, 1867, the firm commenced the erection of a match factory which was ready for operation in September of that year. A superintendent was engaged who, unfortunately, was unqualified for his position and did much harm to the enterprise, but on his removal, Mr. Bousfield took personal charge of the match factory, and has succeeded in building up an extensive trade. The daily capacity of the factory is two hundred and ninety gross, which, if run to the full capacity throughout the year, would yield to the United States government a revenue of over a hundred and twenty thousand dollars.
The trade of Messrs. Bousfield & Poole extends from Buffalo through the principal cities of the central, southern and western States, to New Orleans on the south, and Salt Lake City on the west, two bills having been sold to the son-in-law of Brigham Young in that city. A branch warehouse has been established in Chicago as an entrepot for the supply of the vast territory of which Chicago is the source of supply.
The manufactory of Messrs. Bousfield & Poole is the largest in the country, and for the past three years has turned out about fifty per cent. more work than any other in the United States. It consumes ten millions of feet of lumber and logs annually, besides other material, and gives employment to from three hundred to three hundred and fifty persons, men women and children. Its influence on the population and prosperity of the city can therefore be judged. The money for the support of these people, and for the purchase of the materials employed, is almost wholly brought from abroad, the amount of the wares used in Cleveland being, of course, a very small fraction of the amount produced and sold. The same is true to a greater or less extent, of all the manufactories of Cleveland, and serves to account for the rapid growth of the city in population and wealth within the few years past, in which Cleveland has entered in good earnest on its career as a manufacturing centre.
Mr. Bousfield was married January 1, 1855, to Miss Sarah Featherstone, of Kirtland, by whom he has had ten children, six of whom are yet living. The oldest son, Edward Franklin Bousfield, is engaged with his father in the factory.
The secret of Mr. Bousfield's successful career can be found in his indomitable perseverance. He has been wholly burned out three times, and had, in all, about twenty fires, more or less disastrous, to contend with, but each time he seemed to have gained new strength and vigor in business as his works rose phoenix like from the ashes. Coupled with his perseverance is a remarkable mechanical ingenuity which has served him to good purpose in the construction and management of his factories. Whilst in England, he invented a machine for braiding whips that would do the work of fifteen women working by hand, as was the usual practice.
Among the elements that have contributed to the prosperity of Cleveland, copper and oil hold no inconsiderable place. Not only has the cupriferous wealth of Lake Superior directly enriched many Cleveland citizens who interested themselves in its production, but it has led to the establishment of a large and steadily increasing commerce between Cleveland and Lake Superior. In the other direction, the enterprise of Clevelanders in the petroleum region of Western Pennsylvania has built up large fortunes for themselves and has established in Cleveland one of the most extensive and remunerative of its industries. One of the earliest to be identified, first with the copper and afterwards with the oil interest, was J. G. Hussey.
Christopher Hussey, the father of the subject of the present sketch, emigrated from Baltimore and settled in Cincinnati, in 1804, subsequently removing to Jefferson county, Ohio, where J. G. Hussey was born in 1819. Young Hussey received such an education as the facilities of a rural neighborhood at that early day afforded, and added to his school knowledge the practical details of business by becoming clerk in a village store. Here he acquired those correct business habits that stood him in good service in after life. In 1840, he opened a store on his own account in Hanover, Ohio, and was very successful. From Hanover he removed to Pittsburgh, where he operated in provisions until 1845. In that year there was much excitement over the mineral discoveries on the south shore of Lake Superior. The Indian titles to the mineral lands on that lake had been but a short time before completely extinguished, and the surveys of Dr. Houghton were bringing the cupriferous riches of the region into notice. Mining permits were issued under the authority of Congress, those permits giving the applicant a lease for three years, with a conditional re-issue for three years more. The lessees were to work the mines with due diligence and skill, and to pay a royalty to the United States of six per cent, of all the ores raised. Early in the Spring of 1845, Mr. Hussey formed a company of miners and explorers, with whom he went to Lake Superior and opened several copper veins, some of which proved highly productive and are still successfully worked. In some of these he has retained an interest to the present time.
[Illustration: Yours Truly, J. G. Hussey]
In the Spring of 1847, he became a member of the private banking firm of Hussey, Hanna & Co., in Pittsburgh, which did a successful business for several years. At the same time he became interested in a banking establishment in Milwaukee under the firm name of Marshall, Hussey & Ilsley. In 1850, he removed to Milwaukee, to attend to the interest of that firm, but the climate proving injurions to his health, he sold out and removed to Cleveland, where he took up his residence in 1851. From that time he became thoroughly identified with the business interests of the city.
His first act was to establish the Forest City Bank, under the regulations of the Free Banking Law of Ohio, and during his connection with the institution it was eminently successful. During the same summer, he built and put in operation a copper smelting and refining works, under the firm name of J. G. Hussey & Co., engaging at the same time in the produce commission business, under the firm name of Hussey & Sinclair, which afterwards changed to Hussey & McBride. It is a matter of fact, on which Mr. Hussey justly prides himself, and to which in great measure he attributes his success, that he confined himself strictly to the legitimate conduct of his business as a commission dealer, never speculating in produce when selling it for others.
In 1859, Mr. Hussey became interested in the discoveries of petroleum in the creeks and valleys of Venango county, Pennsylvania. With his characteristic energy he went to the scene of the excitement just breaking out over the discoveries, and becoming satisfied of their importance, he immediately commenced the work of exploration, in company with others, who purchased the McElhenny Farm, on which was struck the noted Empire well, one of the most famous wells on Oil Creek, that by its extraordinary yield first added to the petroleum excitement, and then broke down the market by a supply far in excess of the then demand. The tools were no sooner extracted than the oil rushed up in a torrent, equal to three thousand barrels daily. The good fortune of the adventurers was disastrous. It was more than they had bargained for, and was altogether too much of a good thing. The demand at that time was very limited, the uses to which petroleum had been applied being few, and science had not yet enabled it to be converted into the cheap and useful illuminator it has now become. One day's flow of the Empire would supply all the demands of the United States for a week. Barrels, too, were scarce, and when those at hand were filled tanks were hastily improvised, but were speedily overflowed. Pits were dug and rapidly filled, until at length the well owners, cursed with too much good luck, were compelled to turn the oil into the river. Then it rapidly fell in price, owing to the superabundant supply. It fell, in the autumn of 1861, to ten cents a barrel, and the oil interest was, for the time, ruined.
At this juncture Mr. Hussey was induced to erect works for refining the oil and preparing it as an illuminator. The first establishment was a small one, but as the demand increased and the oil interest revived, the capacity was increased until it reached its present limit of from three hundred and fifty to four hundred barrels per day.
When the second oil excitement broke out in 1864, Mr. Hussey was again one of the leading explorers and adventurers in the oil regions of Pennsylvania. Successful wells were put down in Oil Creek and on the Allegheny river, and a large proportion of the product was brought to Cleveland to be refined. His interest in this department of industry became so great and important, that after fifteen years of active connection with the produce and copper smelting business of Cleveland, he sold out his interest in both the commission house and smelting works and devoted his entire attention to oil.
Mr. Hussey is a good example of the success attending faithful, intelligent and conscientious attention to business. A self-made man, he never lost sight of the fact that the same scrupulous honesty which gave him success was necessary to retain it. Debt he looked upon as the road to ruin, and he scrupulously shunned it. He never bought an article for himself or his family on credit. His business paper was always good and never was protested. His engagements were ever punctually kept. His two cardinal principles were "Time is money," and "Honesty is the best policy," and these rules of action he carefully impressed on the young men whom he brought up in business life. The value of his teachings and example is shown in the fact that those brought up under his business care during the past twenty years have come to hold a place in the front rank of business men, and have, by their energy and integrity, accumulated competence, and even affluence.
[Illustration: Yours Truly, A. B. Stone]
Andros B. Stone was born in the town of Charlton, Worcester county, Massachusetts, June 18, 1824. He is the youngest son of Mr. Amasa Stone, (now a hale, old man, ninety years of age, in possession of all his faculties,) and brother of A. Stone, Jr., whose biography has been sketched in an earlier portion of this work. Mr. Stone's boyhood was spent in the various occupations of country farm life, where he received in common with other boys the advantages of a public school education. In his sixteenth year he left home to try the world for himself, and for a year and a half worked industriously at the carpenter's trade with his elder brother, to whom he was apprenticed for four years, to receive thirty-five dollars the first year, forty the second, forty-five the third, and fifty the fourth. An unconquerable desire for a better education forced him to leave this occupation for a time, and enter an academy, the expenses of which he met in part by teaching a public school in the winter season, and which left him only five dollars with which to make another start in the world.
In the meantime, Mr. Stone's brother, to whom he was apprenticed, had been employed by Mr. Howe, the patentee of the "Howe Bridge," and to Andros was assigned the keeping of the time of the workmen, and other similar duties, instead of the more direct labors of the shop. In the autumn of 1842, Mr. Howe purchased Mr. Stone's unexpired time from his brother, advanced his pay, and kept him in the same employment as time-keeper, and adding to this duty that of making estimates, drawing bridge plans, etc., allowing him in the winter an opportunity of increasing his finances by teaching school. Subsequently, Mr. A. Boody and Mr. A. Stone, Jr., purchased the Howe Patent for building bridges in New England, and A. B. Stone, then about nineteen years of age, made an engagement with the new firm. At first he was given the charge of a few men in framing and raising small bridges, but an opportunity soon occurred which enabled him to exhibit his capabilities in a most advantageous light. Messrs. Boody and Stone were constructing a bridge over the rapids of the Connecticut river at Windsor Locks, about fifteen hundred feet in length, in spans of one hundred and eighty feet. One day the superintendent, who had the immediate charge of the work, went to Mr. Stone and complained of being so ill that he was obliged to go home, and desired him to take temporary charge of the men. Mr. Stone alleged his unfitness for the duty of taking charge of so many men at the commencement of so important a work, but as the superintendent said he could not stay longer, Mr. Stone was compelled to assume the responsibility, against his wishes.
On examining the condition of the work the cause of the superintendent's severe illness was made manifest. The lower chords or stringers, of about two hundred and sixty feet in length, had been packed without being placed opposite each other, one being placed several feet too far in one direction, and the other about the same distance in the opposite direction. Here was a dilemma and a difficulty, and an ability in the mind of the young mechanic to meet it, so that, in a very short time, the chords were properly adjusted. He then proceeded with the work, and in three days had nearly completed the first span, when his brother paid a visit of inspection to the bridge. Not finding the regular superintendent in charge, he naturally inquired the cause, and when the circumstances were explained, examined the work very minutely. Without any comments upon what had been done, Mr. Stone left the place, leaving his younger brother in charge, a tacit expression of confidence which was most gratifying, and gave him a self-confidence he had not previously possessed. About this time Mr. Stone was advanced to the general superintendence of construction, which position he retained between two and three years, when his brother admitted him as his partner in the construction of the bridges on the Atlantic & St. Lawrence railroad. A year was successfully spent in the prosecution of this work, when a partnership was formed with Mr. A. Boody for constructing the bridges on the Rutland & Burlington railroad in Vermont, which, although accompanied with grave difficulties, resulted in success.
In 1850, Mr. Stone extended the field of his operations by forming a new partnership with Mr. Maxwell, and purchasing the Howe Patent for building bridges in the three northern New England States. For two years this field was profitably and creditably filled, when, dazzled by the ample resources of the West, New England was abandoned for Illinois. Here another partnership was formed, with his brother-in-law, Mr. Boomer, and under the stimulating effect of an undeveloped country, the new firm of Stone & Boomer soon took a high and honorable rank throughout the entire Western States. The total amount of bridging built by this firm from 1852 to 1858 was not less than thirty thousand feet. They constructed the first bridge across the Mississippi river, the longest span of a wooden truss that had up to that time ever been built. This was done under the most trying circumstances, the thermometer at times marking 30 degrees below zero. The longest draw-bridge of its period was also erected by this firm across the Illinois river, it having a length of two hundred and ninety-two feet, the whole structure revolving on its centre, and capable of being opened by one man in one and one-half minutes. During this time they built the roof of the Union Passenger House, in Chicago, which was of longer span than had hitherto been built. The organization for the carrying on of their work was so complete, that it was a common remark among the engineers of western railroads, "If we want any bridges put up on short notice, we can get them of Stone & Boomer; they have them laid up on shelves, ready for erection!" In connection with their bridge business the firm carried on the manufacture of railroad cars.
In the Spring of 1858, Mr. Stone gave up his home and business in Chicago for his present residence in Cleveland and his present business as an iron manufacturer. After carefully investigating the advantages which Cleveland afforded for such a purpose, and realizing the present and prospective demands for an increased development for the manufacture of iron, Mr. Stone availed himself of the opportunity of identifying his interests with that of the firm of Chisholm & Jones, who at that time had just put in operation a small mill in Newburg. Here at once opened a new and delightful opportunity for Mr. Stone to develope his natural love for the mechanical arts. To manufacture iron required knowledge--was a science, and to be master of his business was both his duty and his pride, and claimed all his unflagging energy, his undaunted courage and determination. Thus the small mill at Newburg grew from the capacity of turning out thirty tons of re-rolled rails to its present capacity of sixty tons, beside the addition of a puddling mill, a merchant bar mill, a wire rod mill, two blast furnaces, spike, nut and bolt works. In the meantime the small beginning had grown into such large proportions, and so many railroad corporations had centered here, that it was thought best to form the same into a stock company, embracing another rolling mill on the lake shore, within the city limits. This was done, Mr. Stone filling the office of President of the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company. In 1868, the Company put into successful operation extensive steel works which they had been engaged in erecting with great care and expense for nearly two years. During that time Mr. Stone had made two visits to Europe for more thorough investigation into the process of making Bessemer steel, and the success of this undertaking so far has been admitted by all who have visited the works to be without parallel in the American manufacture of steel. In addition to this heavy and extended business, Mr. Stone is president of another rolling mill company in Chicago, in which he is largely interested, also of a large coal mining company in Indiana, and vice President of a large iron manufacturing company at Harmony, Indiana, also president of the American Sheet and Boiler Plate Company.
Mr. Stone is eminently known, and justly so, as a mechanic, and is widely known as a man who crowns his thoughts with his acts. Still in the prime of manhood, he stands connected with manufacturing interests, furnishing employment to thousands of men, all of which has been the outgrowth of scarcely more than ten years. This eminent success has not been the result of speculation, or of luck, but the legitimate end of his own hands and brain. Neither can it be said he has had no reverses. At one time the failure of railroad companies left him, not only penniless, but fifty thousand dollars in debt. With an indomitable will he determined to liquidate that debt, and how well he succeeded need not be told. Mr. Stone at present stands at the head of iron manufacturing companies, second to none in the country, possessing almost unlimited credit. This extraordinary success has by no means affected Mr. Stone's modest nature for which he is so noted. Gentlemanly and affable in his intercourse with all ranks and conditions of men, he has won universal respect, and an enviable position in the business interests of our country.
Mr. Stone was married in 1846 to Miss M. Amelia Boomer, daughter of Rev. J. B. Boomer, of Worcester, Massachusetts.
[Illustration: Yours truly, Henry Chisholm]