ASHTABULA COUNTY OHIO - BIO: GLADDING, Charles B. (published 1925)

***********************************************************************
OHGENWEB NOTICE:  All distribution rights to this electronic data are
reserved by the submitter.  Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted
material will require the permission of the copyright owner.  The submitter
has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently
for free access.  

http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/
***********************************************************************
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Gina M. Reasoner
AUPQ38A@prodigy.com 
February 25, 1999
************************************************************************

HISTORY OF OHIO, The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925
Volume IV, page 247

        CHARLES B. GLADDING, executive head of the C.B. Gladding Company,
which maintains the agency for the Ford Automobiles at Geneva, Ashtabula
County, and which has also a well equipped Ford service station in this
vital little city, is a native son of Ashtabula County and a scion of one
of its pioneer families, as is shown when it is noted that his paternal
grandfather, Joseph Gladding, was born in Windsor, this county, in the
year, 1809. Joseph Gladding was reared and educated under the conditions of
the early pioneer days, and as a young man he engaged in farm enterprise
near the Village of Hartsgrove, this county, he having been one of the
extensive agriculturists and substantial citizens of that section of the
county at the time of his death, in 1866. His wife, whose maiden name was
Thankful Norris, was born in Ashtabula County in the year 1798, and here
she passed her entire life, which came to its end in 1878. The lineage of
the Gladding family traces back to English origin, and the first American
representatives settled in Connecticut in the Colonial days, and the family
name having been worthily linked with the history of New England both
before and after the War of the Revolution.
        Charles B. Gladding was born on the old homestead farm near
Hartsgrove, Ashtabula County, and the date of his nativity was April 1,
1868. He is a son of Charles and Mary (Murphy) Gladding, the former of whom
was born on his father's Hartsgrove farm, in the year 1839, his entire life
having been passed in that locality, where he owned and operated a large
and valuable farm and where his death occurred in the year 1897, his widow
having there remained until she too passed to the life eternal, December
25, 1922. She was born in Thompson Township, Geauga County, Ohio, in the
year 1845. Charles Gladding was a staunch republican, served a number of
years as trustee of Hartsgrove Township, was affiliated with the Masonic
fraternity, and he and his wife were earnest members of the Christian
Church. Of the children, Charles B., of this sketch, is the first born;
George A. is a farmer in Hartsgrove Township and is serving (1924) as a
member of the Board of County Commissioners of Ashtabula County; John
Earland likewise is one of the representatives farmers in Hartsgrove
Township; Eldora is the wife of John Graham, and they resided on the home
farm of her parents.
        After receiving the advantages of the public schools Charles B.
Gladding entered New Lyme Institute, at new Lyme, this state, where he
continued his studies until he was seventeen years of age. Thereafter he
taught school during the winter terms assisted in the work and management
of the old home farm until he had attained to the age of twenty-four years.
He then brought portable mills into commission and turned his attention to
the manufacturing of hub locks, his operations having been in Ashtabula,
Lake, Geauga and Trumbull counties, Ohio, and in various districts in the
western part of Pennsylvania. He continued in this line of enterprise until
1913, and in the meanwhile, in 1907, became agent for the Ford automobiles
in his home city of Geneva, where he had established his residence in the
year 1897. He now has the distinction of being, in matter of continuity,
the oldest Ford agent representing the Cleveland branch, and in the sale of
the ever popular cars he has built up the leading Ford agency in Ashtabula
County. He sold the first Ford agency in Ashtabula County. He sold the
first Ford car in this county, and also the first in Lake County. In
addition to the large and prosperous business with which he is thus
identified Mr. Gladdings has been engaged also in the manufacturing of
lumber since the year 1892. The building occupied by the C.B. Gladdings
Company as headquarters of the Ford sales and service station at Geneva was
erected and equipped for the purpose to which it is applied, and is
situated at 28 North Broadway. This building is owned by Mr. Gladding.
        The energy and progressiveness that have characterized Mr.
Gladdings in his business activities have marked also his attitude as a
loyal citizen. He was for twelve years a member of the City Council of
Geneva and also gave two years of splendid administration as mayor. His
political faith is that of the republican party, and he and his wife are
members of the Church of the Diciples. He has been one of the most loyal
members of the Geneva Chamber of Commerce, and was its president four
years. He is a director of the First National Bank of Geneva and also of
the Geneva Savings Bank Company, In addition to his fine modern home
property, at 155 West Main Street, he is the owner of the Broadway Inn, the
leading hotel of Geneva, a house and lot on South Broadway and a large and
valuable farm estate, in Ashtabula County. He was active and influential in
all local patriotic service in the World war period, both in an individual
way and as mayor of Geneva.
        June 15, 1892, recorded the marriage of Mr. Gladding and Miss Abbie
M. McIntosh, daughter of Henry C. and Orcelia (Young) McIntosh. Mr.
McIntosh was a retired farmer at the time of his death in Ashtabula County,
and his widow is now a loved member of the family circle of Mr. and Mrs.
Gladding, the one other member being Henry Harold Gladding, the only child.
Henry H. Gladding is associated with his father, as the junior of the two
principles constituting the C.B. Gladding Company. At the time of the World
war he was a student at Case School of Applied Science, in Cleveland, and
there gave service as a member of the Students' Army Training Corps.


==== Maggie_Ohio Mailing List ====