OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. *********************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 639 Today's Topics: #1 Fw: Bio History--Know your Ohio S. ["Maggie Stewart" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <004001beef2f$69578f80$0300a8c0@local.net> Subject: Fw: Bio History--Know your Ohio S. J. Kelly Newspaper Articles Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: kathi kelley To: Sent: Friday, August 13, 1999 1:18 AM Subject: Bio History--Know your Ohio S. J. Kelly Newspaper Articles Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley August 12, 1999 ********************************************** Historical Collections of Ohio newspaper article by S.J. Kelly, Plain Dealer. Elizabeth (Payne Burton) Corethers sent to Darlene E. Kelley - part 1 *********************************************** Recently, I received a very pleasent surprise, from Elizabeth (Payne Burton) Corethers, who also had inherited some newspaper articles written by S.J. Kelly. She has given me consent to pass them on to you. She writes: " Recently I was able to go through some bags of papers my father had gotten from his (now deceased) brother. Mixed in with other things were some articles Mr. Kelly had written, specifically , with regards to the Clark family of Cleveland. One of whom, Maurice, was the first partner of John D. Rockefeller. In the late 1930's, I think as the articles are undated. My grandfather. Harry Payne Burton, who was the editor of Cosmopolitan at the time, wanted to get copies of those articles from Mr. Kelly. I don't know if he ever did get all the articles, but have copies of the correspondence between Mr. Kelly and my grandfather; if you are interested." I certainly was interested, so she sent them on to me and I will share them with you--- ********************************************** " When Perry Hobbs Proved his Fistic Prowness," by S.J. Kelly. The Professor Many remember Perry L. Hobbs, genial, gentlemanly, wide-awake professor of chemistry in the Western Reserve Medical College from 1889 until 1902. He was born in Cleveland, Sept. 18,1861, on old Huntington Street, now E.18th. His father was Caleb Secum Hobbs, his mother Ada Antoinette (Lynes) Hobbs. The family was of New England stock and back of that was English ancestry. One ancestor fought in the Revolution, the war of 1812, and followed Mad Anthony Wayne in his campaigns against the Indians in Ohio. Lawyer Sturges Lynes settled in Avon, Lorain County, in 1830 and his home became an underground railway station in the sruggle over slavery. Perry Hobbs's father died when he was nine years old, and Perry, having delicate health, was taken on a long trip on the Pacific. Home again, the boy wrote a little book and printed it with a hand press. About 1880, the Hobbses built a handsome home on Euclid Avenue in our neighborhood, nearly opposite E.67th, No.6508. It was of the last landmarks of the old East Cleveland as I knew it. Perry Hobbs went to public and high school, worked for the Star Oil Co. during vacations and arranged the collection of stamps ad coins for Col Whittlesey in the museum of the Western Reserve Historical Society. He attended Case School and received the degree of bachelor of science. He became a scholar in the University of Berlin and was made a doctor of philosophy in 1889, studied bacteriology and took a course from Dr. Koch. The Old school But it was attending Euclid Avenue Grammer school, near what is now E. 82nd, with a genial, smiling Perry Hobbs that I knew him best. It was to the highest grade of the school that we went, and it was held in the wooden annex back of the main brick building , presided over by Miss Julia Sabin as principal. Big Perry Hobbs , Jim Clark Jr.,Leonard Hillman and John Pickering were my particular friends. They were as large as men and looked like men too. Secretly I cultivated those four for I thought that any one of them cold thrash anyone on earth. Cold spring mornings we sat out in back of the school and ate our lunch. There were generally many slces of bread and jelly, boied eggs, pepper and salt and about three slices of cake apiece. Perry Hobbs carried a folding tin lunch box. I would look those fellows over and wonder which could whip the others. Soon I got something like my wish for one afternoon there was the biggest fight the school ever saw. Perry, Jim Clark and Len Hillman would walk home our pretty teacher, Miss Blanche Huggens, who lived on Madison, now E. 79th. I walked behind. Suddenly over the fence of Jaynes's greenhouse leaped a stocky fellow with a mustache, and he went for Len Hillman. There was a fight in a minute. With socks to the eye and nose, and terrific smashes to the face, they fought over the grass by the walk. They clinched and went down with Hillman on top. Then out the front door of that queer house-like cupaloed office shot Mr. Harris Jaynes with his Mark Twain black curling hair. He hovered over the combatants for a moment, then seized Leonard by his hair and lifted him. The mustached fellow got up and went for Perry Hobbs! The smiling Perry looked astonished, but in a second there was a worse fight than the first. They smashed each other. Down off the curb and into the street they fought. Miss Huggins stood aghast. Half the school was there. The whole neighborhood was excited. Jim Clark danced around telling Perry just where to hit the fellow. Perry could only see out of one eye. Suddenly the terrible fighter left him and started for Jim Clark. As he rushed at Jim swinging right and left, Jim buttoned up his long-tailed coat and started running down the middle of the street. Looking back, he shouted: " If you hit me I'll tell my father!" We all knew what that meant! To be hit by James H. Clark, Sr.? The fellow stopped and started for Perry! Two employees of the greenhouse appeared and took Mr. Jaynes's man in. The fight was over. Jim Clark with Hillman and Perry Hobbs, who showed bad bruises, walked with Miss Huggins to Madison Avenue and bade her goodnight. That was only the beginning in the life of Perry Hobbs. I knew him through many years and often went to see him at his laboratory or at the Western Reserve College. John Pickering the day of the fight? He always scooting over the back school fence, home to Brooker Avenue. ********************************************** Continued in part 2-- ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #2 Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 15:26:22 -0400 From: "Maggie Stewart" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <004601beef2f$b741d980$0300a8c0@local.net> Subject: Fw: Bio History--Know your Ohio-- S.J. Kelly, Newspaper Articles- [2] Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: kathi kelley To: Sent: Friday, August 13, 1999 3:10 PM Subject: Bio History--Know your Ohio-- S.J. Kelly, Newspaper Articles- ****************************************** Historical Collections of Ohio newspaper articles by S.J. Kelly, Plain Dealer Elizabeth (Payne Burton) Corethers sent to Darlene E. Kelley part 2 ******************************************** I will continue with the articles sent to me, by Elizabeth (Payne Burton) Corethers. First of all I shall attempt to give you some of the content of Elizabeth's letter and then follow with the Transcripts. She writes: " Robert and Eliza (Neate) Clark had 11 children, 9 of whom survived to adulthood. They were all born in Maimesbury, Wiltshire, England. Charles was the oldest, b.c. 1822-1826. Don't know if he emigrated or not. Maurice B. was b. Sept 6,1827 and d. Mar 9,1901. He came to the US by himself in 1847, via Boston and settled in Cleveand, Ohio. Was first partner of John D. Rockefeller after they met at Folsom's Business College. Had two wives, Mary Clement and Mary Sernlow. Alfred was christened Apr 11, 1830 and died in 1888 in San Diego, CA. He was in the 1860 Cleveland census, 6th ward, with his wife and 3 children. The following children were with their parents in the 1851 Maimesbury, Wiltshire census, so they came to the US after then. James H. was b.c. 1832 and was another partner of Rockefeller with his brother Maurice in the early 1860's. He got quite wealthy and built a mansion in E. Cleveland. He d. Sept. 5th, 1908. Had two wives, Harriet Lancaster and Euretta Smith. Eliza was christened in 1836 and is in the 1860 census wit her brother, age 23, occupation dressmaker. She married someone named Miller and moved t California. Richard was a third partner of Rockefeller, but apparently not for very long. He was b.c. 1839 and d. Jul 4th, 1878; wife was Adelaide. Fanny Amelia Isabelle was my g-g-grandmother, b. Apr. 9,1841 and d. Feb.18,1914. She was first married to Henry William Payne, who was a junior partner in Clark and Rockefeller's firm, but not a principal of the business, He died suddenly at an early age in 1871. Later she married William Audley Reynolds, a fire station Captain in Cleveland. William was b.c. 1844 and d. after 1905. Worthy was b. Feb 4, 1846 and d. Jan. 3,1914. He, hs wife, their two sons and their wives are all buried in the Chardon municipal cemetary in Geauga County. George and Matilda (Huckstep) Payne came to the US from Chatham, Kent, England, together with their 9 children in 1851. I mentoned Henry above, who married Fannie Clark. Another daughter, Minnie (possibly a nickname for Amelia), married Noble Hotchkiss, who was on Cleveland's school board at some point, maybe in the 1870's or 1880's. I don't know what happened to the rest of them, except for Fanny Payne, my g-g-grandmother, who married James Burton in Cleveand. One of their children, Alfred Payne Burton, b. Aug 1859, worked on several Cleveland papers (Rocky River Call and a Lakewood paper, I think), probably knew Samuel Kelly, and his son's Harry Sr. and Audley also worked on at least one of the Cleveland papers-- as did Harry's son Harry, Jr. Harry Sr. was also editor of McCall's in the 1920's and editor of Cosmopolitan in the 1930's and early 1940's, but that was in New York. Alfred married Minnie Payne, daughter of Henry Payne and Fanny Clark. My grandfather. Harry Payne Burton Sr.,wrote to Mr. Kelly in 1938 asking for copies of the articles, mentioning that he was especially interested in the ones about his great-uncle, James H. Clark. Mr Kelly responded with the following letter." Cleveland Plain Dealer, Feb.28,1938. Mr. Harry P. Burton. Editor of Hearst's International and Cosmopolitan, Dear Sir: I was very pleased to recieve your kind letter and thank you for the appreciation it contained. I was also pleasantly surprised to know that you are related to James H. Clark. By the enclosed clippings it can be seen that Mr. Clark is one of my heroes, and he still remains one in my memory. I intend writing again about him and trust that my further recollections of him will be read by you. I knew his brohers Maurice, Worthy, Richard and William almost as well, and his sisters Eliza and Fanny. The former became Mrs. Miller and moved to California. As I remember it, Mr. Clark's other sister married a Mr. Reynolds, but on talking to Mrs. Geo Geuder who was Jennie Clark, she says that her aunt Fannie married Mr. Payne. Of their four daughters, the oldest, Minnie, became Mrs. Alfred Burton, who was your mother. I have many notes made long ago about the family but they are not right at hand. I would like very much to have the complete history of your connection with them. About myself, my name is Samuel J. Kelly and lived near the Clarks before any street had been cut through the neighborhoo except Cedar Street, later when East Prospect, now Carnegie, was put through, our home was there. I have been a reporter for the Herald, Plain Dealer, Press and Leader from the early 80'tys and believe that I saw almost everything that took place in Cleveland since that time. During an earlier period, I knew many business and professional men and pioneers still living. I am working on articles whch I am confident are of nationwide interest, and if agreeable I would like to submit one to you. I inquired about a complete set of these that have been published regarding Cleveland and from what I gather, they would prove very costly, as they have been running over three years. I have what I believe is a full set and will entertain an offer for them but possibly my value of them will prove too large. Thanking you again for your cordial letter, I am, Very truly, S.J. Kelly Room 521 Plain Dealer *********************************************** Continued in Part 3--When James H. Clark Choked John D. Rockefeller. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #3 Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 15:28:52 -0400 From: "Maggie Stewart" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <004c01beef30$10d4c200$0300a8c0@local.net> Subject: Fw: Bio History--Know Your Ohio-- S.J. Kelly-- Newspaper Articles-- [3] Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: kathi kelley To: Sent: Saturday, August 14, 1999 4:37 PM Subject: Bio History--Know Your Ohio-- S.J. Kelly-- Newspaper Articles-- Elizabeth (Payne Burton) Corethers writes: " Here is another transcript from S.J. Kelly. The article is not complete as the bottom of one column is missing and I suspect that another small portion may be missing from the end of it, but probably at least 80% of it is there." When James H. Clark Choked John D. Rockefeller. by S.J. Kelly At Billiards-- The billiard balls are clicking in the billiard house of James H. Clark out on old Cedar Avenue. It is 1872. The house is located a few hundred feet west of his home on his twenty-acre estate. Mr. Clark is telling about John D. Rockefeller and the Standard Oil. I was there and heard the story. I can remember Mr.Clark, one of the three founders of the great oil company,as if he stood before me now. Typically English, medium height, powerfully built, deep chested, voice well modulated, his accent was that of his Malmesbury ancestry. as in everything else, "Jim" Clark excelled in billiards. He was reputed to be a boxer. The neighbors long had heard his splendid solos on the cornet. Mr. Clark was winning as usual and as he leaned his muscular frame over the table he played accurately. If he missed a shot he would slowly draw up one foot. Although one of the founders, he was out of the Standard Oil. He had just sold his one thousand shares in the company to his friend Col. Oliver H. Payne for $113,500. Had he retained those thousand shares until 1899, they would have been worth $700,000 and his yearly income would have been $231,000 by the books of the company. But something had happened between Jim Clark and John D. Rocefeller. The shares that Clark had sold to Payne, he had received for the Clark, Payne & Co., an independant oil refining concern, which they had established and sold to the Standard Oil Company. He offered part of the same stock to a member of our family for a certain frontage on E.71st Street. Standard Oil The great Standard Oil Corp., originating wholly in Cleveland, and from which up to 1936 permanent public foundations amounting to $800,000,000 have their source, has an early history that is being lost in oblivion. John D. Rockefeller dismissed the subject with these words; " In the early sixties we organized a firm to refine and deal in oil. It was composed of Messrs. James and Richard Clark, Mr. Samuel Andrews, and the firm of Clark & Rockefeller." The latter firm was Maurice Clark and himself. But there is more to the story. Behind the statement of Mr. Rockefeller, and the few hazy items given by contradictory historians of the Corporation, is the real origin of the Standard Oil Co. It is doubtful if stockholders of Cleveland and their descendants who have shares in its dividends for the past sixty years know the beginning, always the hardest part, of their worldwide concern. In 1862, the striking of great oil wells in the east was at its height. [ Here, part of the bottom of the article is missing.] ----firm of Clark & Rockefeller at Nos 39,41,43,and 45 River Street. Rockefeller was the junior member and attended to the bookkeeping and finances. Maurce Clark was the buyer. James H. Clark and Richard Clark were men of all work of the firm. They had prospered and in 1862, Clark and Rockefeller had each received $ 17,000 as profits of the business. At the time there came to the office another young Englishman, Samuel Andrews. He had erected a small still on Walworth Run, one of several that had been built there, housed in flimsy shacks. He had but little money and urged Clark and Rockefeller to invest. The tidal wave of the boom in the oil regions had reached Cleveland. Rockefeller had visited Titusville. He and the Clark brothers invested several thousand dollars in Andrew's hillside shanty distillery and converted his ten-barrel-a-day plant into a refinery. Rockefeller was only a silent partner. The firm was Clark & Andrews! "Jim " Clark, active and shrewed, was delegated to represent their interests at the plant. Three More Years In three years the Clarks and Rockefeller had drawen $1000,000 each from the profits and each had an investment valued at that sum in the refinery. The first barrels of oil of the massive Standard Oil Co., of New Jersey that in 1903 paid $81 on every $100 worth of stock owned, were distilled at that plant. Cleveland, although two hundred miles from an oil well, was destined to become the center of the refining business with 26 plants pouring their wastes into the Walworth and Kingsbury Runs. John D. Rockefeller attended to the financial end of the growing Clark & Andrews Oil Refinery in the office of the Clark & Rockefeller commission house. He kept well in advance of the money demands of the company by a system of borrowing and he was casting longing eyes on the ownership of the oil refinery to the exclusion of the Clarks. He had already made overtures to Andrews that they become owners of the plant. Distrust had entered the hitherto friendly relations of th firm. As Mr. Clark told the story, he says that Rockefeller sent him out to collect $5000 for the comany. This had taken several days and he did not report until he had the money. Rockefeller had become suspicious and when he entered the office he acted uneasy. Finally he approached Clark in a determined manner and demanded what he had collected and in a choking voice upbraided him. Battle This was a signal for fight with "Jim" Clark. He grasped Rockefeller, swung him from his feet and threw him to the floor. All his bulldog nature aroused, Clark seized Rockefeller's necktie and half choked him. Maurice and Richard Clark were present and dragged "Jim" from the prostate Rockefeller.The future oil magnate arose, adjusted his clothes and went on with his accounts as if nothing had happened. But the first gun had been fired. Rockefeller himself says, " I had already arranged to get financial accomodation to buy the Clark-Andrews plant." He aproached Maurice Clark but he demurred against selling. At a meeting it was proposed off-hand to auction off the plant. Maurice Clark, thinking the bid would not go beyond $ 40,000, quickly assented. The bidding quickly ran up from $500 to $50,000. Rockefeller had quietly secured financial backing beyond the resources of Maurice, Jim, and Richard Clark. They bid $72,000. "$72,500," said Rockefeller. The brothers saw their investment of three years gone. " I can go no higher. The plant and business is yours, Rockefeller," said Maurice Clark meekly. The Clarks were out of the future Standard Oil in which, if they had been able to retain their interests, they would have been one of the largest stockholders. Rockefeller says that as the bidding mounted higher he almost feared he could not buy the plant and pay for it, but at the finish he blandly said, "Shall I give you a check for it now?" ******************************************* ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #4 Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 15:33:32 -0400 From: "Maggie Stewart" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <005f01beef30$b7a0f400$0300a8c0@local.net> Subject: Fw: Bio History --Know Your Ohio-- John D. Rockefeller Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: kathi kelley To: Sent: Sunday, August 15, 1999 2:14 AM Subject: Bio History --Know Your Ohio-- John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller was the guiding force behind the creation and development of the Standard Oil Company, which grew to dominate the oil industry and became one of the first big trusts in the United States, thus engendering much controversy and opposition regarding its business practices and form of organization. Rockefeller also was one of the first major philanthropists in the U.S.,establishing several important foundations and donating a total of $540 million to charitable purposes. Rockefeller was born on a farm at Richford, in Tioga county, New York, on July 8, 1839, the second of the six children of William A and Eliza (Davison) Rockefeller. The family lived in modest circumstances. When he was a boy, the family moved to Moravia and later to Owego, New York, before going west to Ohio in 1853. The Rockefeller's bought a house in Strongsville, near Cleveland. He was then thirteen and he attended school in Cleveland for three years. In 1855 it became necessary for him to earn his own living. It was a hard year in the west and the boy walked the streets for days looking for work. He was about to give it up and go to the country when, to quote the story as Mr. Rockefeller once told it to his Cleveland Sunday-School. "As good fortune would have it, I went down, to the dock an made one more application, and I was told that if I would come in after dinner [our noon day meal was dinner] they would see if I could come to work for them. I went down after dinner and got the position, and I was permitted to remain in the city." The position, that of a clerk, and bookkeeper, was not to lucrative. According to a small ledger which has figured frequently in Mr. Rockefeller's religious instructions, he earned from Sept 26, 1855, to January, 1856, fifty dollars. "Out of that," Mr. Rockefeller told the young men of his Sunday-School class, "I paid my washerwomen and the lady I boarded with, and saved a little money to put away. He proved an admirable accountant-one of the early-and-late sort, who saw everythng, an forgot nothing and never talked. In 1856 his salary was raised to twenty-five dollars a month, and he went on always saving a little money to be put away. In 1855 he took a business course at Folsom Mercantile College attending at night. he completed the six-months course in three months. It was here he met Maurice B. Clark and they became friend's. Maurice was older than Rockefeller by twelve years and had had a hard life in England. When Maurice was twenty he left England to seek his fortune in America. He had landed in Boston in 1847, without a penny and it had taken three months for him to earn money to get to Ohio. Here he had taken the first job at hand, as man of all work, wood-chopper, teamster and etc. He found his way to Cleveland and had become a valuable man in the houses where he was employed and here too went to school at nights and had saved his money. In 1859, Rockefeller, with $1000, he had saved, and another $1000, borrowed from his father at 10% interest, formed a partnership in the commission business, with Maurice B Clark. Maurice was already married to Mary (Clement) and had worked on a job on the Ohio and Erie Canal, which led him into the grocery and grain business, when he went to work for the commission house of Otis Brownell & Co. on River Street. It was there he learned the commision business and he was exceptionally good at it. He and Mary were very thrifty and saved as much as they could. The partnership with Rockefeller, was very profitable, with Maurice doing the work and Rockefeller keeping the books and managing the money. Maurice had invested $4000 in the business and Rockefeller $2000. By the end of one year they had made a profit of over $ 17,000. *********************************************** to be continued in part 2-- -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V99 Issue #639 *******************************************