Cleveland Past and Present

M >> Maurice Joblin >> Cleveland Past and Present

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Levi Haldeman.

Levi Haldeman is a representative of another class of our citizens than
refiners, who have taken advantage of the petroleum enterprise, and are
spending their money in building up the prosperity of the city, turning
its energies into channels that cannot fail to give an impetus to all
branches of trade, and aid in establishing our financial institutions on a
basis of unrivalled strength, and who, at the same time, reap their reward
by putting money into their own pockets.

[Illustration: Respectfully + Truly, L. Haldeman]

The subject of this sketch was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, Dec.
14, 1809, received a good common school education, and removed with his
father to Columbiana county, Ohio, in 1819. Until he was about twenty-five
years of age he spent his time with his father on his farm, and in
teaching school. He then commenced reading medicine with Drs. Robertson
and Cary of that place; after which he attended lectures at Cincinnati,
and was a private student of Drs. Gross and Parker--the former being now
Professer in Jefferson College, Philadelphia, and the latter Professor in
the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. Mr. Haldeman commenced
practice alone in 1839, at Minerva, Ohio, although he had practiced from
1837 with his old preceptor. He soon obtained an excellent practice in
medicine, and was noted for his skill in surgery, performing nearly all
the operations in that part of the country, among them tractreotomy, or
opening the windpipe and extracting foreign matter from it, and difficult
cases of lithotomy.

In 1860, Mr. Haldeman, in connection with Messrs. Hussey and McBride, of
Cleveland, bought the McElhenny Farm, in the Pennsylvania oil regions,
which proved to be very valuable. For the whole farm of two hundred acres
the sum of twenty thousand dollars was paid, subject to some leases, which
were renewed to the lessees. Mr. Funk leased a hundred and thirty acres of
the farm, subdivided it in into acre lots, and sub-lot them to a number of
oil companies, representing an aggregate capital of millions of dollars.
Messrs. Bennet and Hatch, the sub-lessees of one sub-lot, struck the
largest producing well yet found in the oil region the Empire, a three
thousand barrel well, which is estimated to have produced no less than six
hundred thousand barrels of oil and the whole farm is estimated to have
produced two millions of barrels. At the present time the sub-leases have
nearly all been forfeited, through breach of covenant, and the farm has
reverted to the owners, Messrs. Hussey and Haldeman. It is not now worked,
the wells having been flooded by the unexpected influx of water, against
which there had been no provision made by the owners of the wells. It is
expected to remedy this misfortune by plugging the wells below the water
veins, and pumping, with the hope of thus restoring the value of the farm.

The next enterprise was the purchase of the A. Buchanan farm, of three
hundred acres, in connection with others, subject, also, to a lease, but
giving the owners of the farm a royalty of one sixth of the oil produced,
free of cost, and retaining the use of the land for other purposes. On
this farm the town of Rouseville has been built since the purchase. This
has proved a very lucrative investment. The first well struck on it in
1860 is still producing. In company with others, Mr. Haldeman also bought
the royalty of the John McClintock farm for ten thousand dollars in gold,
the Irishman owning it thinking nothing but gold worth having. Mr.
Haldeman sold his thirty-second part of the same for a hundred thousand
dollars; another partner sold his for forty-thousand dollars, the
purchaser subsequently re-selling it for one hundred thousand dollars.
Besides this, Mr. Haldeman became half owner of two hundred acres not yet
developed, and he and his sons own about four hundred acres, supposed to
be excellent oil land. He has also invested about forty thousand dollars
in iron tanking, in the oil region, and has now tankage for four hundred
thousand barrels, in connection with others.

Mr. Haldeman was married in 1840 to Miss Mary Ann Gaves, of Columbiana
county. The oldest and second sons, L. P. and W. P. Haldeman, are engaged
in business with their father, and by their energy, foresight, and close
attention to business, have aided materially in the later successes of the
firm. Mr. Haldeman has, as is evident from the record here given, won for
himself considerable wealth, but it has been secured only by the exercise
of sound judgment and intelligent enterprise, which deserves, though it
does not always achieve, success.

G. Westlake.

The firm of Westlake, Hutchins & Co., composed of G. Westlake, H. A.
Hutchins, C. H. Andrews and W. C. Andrews, stands high among the oil
refining establishments of Cleveland, not only for the extent of their
operations but for their fair dealing in business matters. The firm
commenced the erection of their works in October, 1866, and in June of the
succeeding year began operations with a capacity of two hundred barrels of
crude oil per day. The business improved, and the works had to be enlarged
to keep pace with it, until the present capacity of the works is seven
hundred and fifty barrels per day. In the enlargements, the latest
improvements in the appliances for the refining of oil have been put in.
One still now employed has a capacity of eleven hundred barrels, which is
charged twice a week, and was the first of the kind in the State. Besides
this are ten stills of thirty barrels each, one of two hundred and fifty
barrels, and one, recently completed, forty feet in diameter, of the same
pattern as the monster still just mentioned, and which is calculated for
two thousand barrels. The total capacity of the works, including this
still, is fourteen hundred and sixteen barrels of crude per day, which
will yield, if running to full capacity, two hundred and eighty-eight
thousand barrels of refined oil in a year, or between three and four
millions of dollars in value at the stills. Connected with the works are a
twenty thousand barrel tank, a fifteen thousand barrel tank, two of ten
thousand barrels each, one of six thousand barrels, and several from two
thousand barrels down. When all its improvements in progress are completed
it will be one of the largest refineries in Cleveland and in the United
States, and with enterprise corresponding to the size and importance of
its works. A large number of men are employed, either at the works or in
direct connection with it by providing cooperage and other necessaries for
the business.

Mr. Westlake, the senior member of the firm, was born in Chemung county,
New York, January 11, 1822, received a good education and when a young man
was employed as a clerk in a lumber business for a couple of years. In
1847, he went into the lumber trade on his own account, remaining in that
business until 1866, when he removed to Cleveland, and finding that the
oil refining business held out reasonable prospects of profit, he embarked
in it, and by his energy of character and enterprise has achieved
flattering success, although the time in which he has been engaged in the
business is short. He is still in the prime of life.

Mr. Westlake was married in 1848 to Miss Hatch, of Elmira, Chemung county,
and has three children.

Stephen Buhrer.

Stephen Buhrer, the subject of this sketch, is of immediate German
descent. His father, a native of Baden, and his mother of Wirtemburg,
emigrated to this country in the year 1817. Their acquaintance was first
formed on board of the emigrant ship on their passage hither, and they
were married soon after their arrival in this country. After remaining in
the State of Pennsylvania about two years, they came to make their home
in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, where, on the 26th day of December, 1825,
their son, Stephen Buhrer, was born. That region at that time (fifty
years ago) was remarkably wild and rough, and inhospitable, but since, by
the thrifty German population, by whom it was mainly inhabited, it has
become scarcely inferior to any other part of the State in agricultural
wealth. But the father of Stephen Buhrer was not destined to live to see
this prosperity. He died in the year 1829, leaving his widow and two
young children, Stephen and Catharine, dependent on themselves to make
their way in the world.

From the severe discipline to which Mr. Buhrer was subjected in early
life, and from the difficulties which he had to overcome, he acquired that
energy and force of character which have given him success and by which he
has attained to a high rank as a self-made man.

Mr. Buhrer does not remember that he was privileged to attend any school
after he was ten years of age. All the education which he subsequently
acquired he obtained on Sundays and in evenings, after his day's labor was
over. He has been a citizen of Cleveland since the year 1844. His first
business in this city was at his trade, as cooper, and afterwards he
became extensively engaged, and with success, in the business of purifying
and refining spirits.

In the Spring of the year 1853, he was elected a member of the City
Council, and was twice thereafter re-elected to the same office, the last
time almost without opposition.

By the manner in which he discharged his duty as a member of the City
Council, public attention was directed toward him as a suitable person for
the responsible office of Mayor of the city, to which he was elected, at
the April election, in the year 1867, by a very large majority, although
he did not belong to the dominant political party. It is conceded by all
that he has discharged the duties of Mayor, with a zeal and a devotion to
the interests of the city which have had few examples. Turning aside, on
his election, from the business in which he was engaged, he has allowed
the affairs of the city to monopolize his attention. Placed by his office
at the head of the Board of City Improvements, and having in charge public
works of great magnitude, involving the expenditure of vast sums of money,
invested with the sole control and management of the large police force of
the city, and therefore made responsible for its fidelity and efficiency,
and exercising a supervision over all the departments of the city
government, to promote economy and to lessen taxation, Mayor Buhrer has
found his office to be no sinecure. Among the distinguishing traits of his
official conduct has been his impartiality, his exemption from favoritism
and partizanship, when in conflict with the public interests, and
especially his well-known hostility to "cliques" and "rings," such as
resort to a city government as a rich placer, where they may work to
enrich themselves at the expense of the people. The rigid discharge of
duty which he has required of the police under his charge, and the
avoidance, at the same time, of everything like oppression, or the
exercise of undue severity in office, have received the public
approbation.

[Illustration: Yours Respectfully, Stephen Buhrer]

One of the most prominent institutions of Cleveland will be the House of
Correction, now in progress of construction, and which is humanely
intended to reform and reclaim, as well as to punish, the vicious and the
criminal. To Mr. Buhrer much credit will be awarded for the active and
leading part he has taken in the establishment of such an institution.

At the expiration of his term of office, it was his wish to be relieved
from public care and to devote all of his time to his private pursuits,
and which, the more he expected to do, as no one of his predecessors had
ever been re-elected, or had entered again upon a second term. But
yielding to the solicitations of friends, he again became a candidate, and
at the April election, in 1869, was again elected Mayor of the city of
Cleveland, by nearly three thousand majority. Such a demonstration by the
people is a sufficient commentary upon his character as a citizen, and
upon the public estimation of his official services.

M. B. Clark.

M. B. Clark was born in Malmsbury, England, September 6, 1827. From early
boyhood until he was nearly of age he was employed in all the various
occupations of an agricultural district. About this time the United
States, as a promising country for the working man, was attracting
considerable notice in his native village, and young Clark, being
favorably impressed with reports from America, secretly resolved to
husband his means and follow the example of those who had recently gone.

In the Spring of 1847, he left home with but barely sufficient means for
the expenses of the journey. On the 17th of June in that year he landed at
Boston, amidst martial music and parade of military, celebrating the
battle of Bunker's Hill. This, however, was but poor consolation to the
English lad, who found himself penniless and friendless. He used every
effort to find employment without success, and in the meantime was obliged
to sleep wherever night overtook him. At last he obtained work on a farm,
in the little town of Dover, Massachusetts, at ten dollars per month. He
remained in this situation until October, when, with the regrets of his
employer, he left for the West.

On arriving in Ohio, he first obtained employment at chopping wood and
teaming, in Lorain county. In the following Spring he returned to
Cleveland and obtained a situation as helper in a hardware store. Here it
became apparent to him that he was sadly deficient in an educational point
of view, and that it offered an almost insuperable barrier to his
advancement in life. To remedy this, so far as possible, he devoted all
his leisure hours to study, and on the establishment of the evening
schools the following winter, he availed himself of them, and the
advantage soon became apparent.

With a view to the improvement of his circumstances, in 1851, he engaged
himself to Hussey & Sinclair, with whom he remained six years, when he
returned to his former employers, Otis & Co., and remained with them three
years longer.

In 1859, he established himself in the commission business, associating
with him John D. Rockefeller, the firm name being Clark & Rockefeller;
both young men of limited means. By strict attention and honorable conduct
they soon built up a lucrative business. In 1860, G. W. Gardner became a
member of the firm, and continued as such for two years, when he retired.

In 1863, Mr. Clark's attention was attracted to the manufacture of
petroleum oils, a business then in its infancy. In connection with his
partners, he erected a factory on the Newburg road, the capacity of which
was about fifty-six barrels of crude oil per day. They soon discovered
that there was money in the enterprise, and before the end of the year
they had increased the capacity of their works four-fold; and the
enterprise of this firm has aided materially in making Cleveland what it
is to-day, the successful rival of Pittsburgh in the manufacture of
petroleum oils. In 1865, the manufacturing branch was purchased by his
partner, and the general commission business was continued by Mr. Clark
until 1866, when he sold out his interest, remaining nominally out of the
business until June of that year, when he wearied of idleness and sought
active business once more. Purchasing the controlling interest in another
refinery, he set to work, vigorously, enlarging the capacity of the works
and bringing capital and energy to bear with such effect upon the business
of the firm, that it now ranks among the leading oil refining
establishments of the country.

[Illustration: Yours Respectfully, M. B. Clark]

Mr. Clark has been no niggard with the wealth that has accrued to him
from his business. During the war he contributed liberally and was active
in aiding the cause of the government by giving every practical measure
his cordial and generous support. In other matters he has manifested a
like liberal spirit. In politics he has acted with the Republicans, and
has been active in furthering the success of that party. In 1866, he was
elected member of the city council from the fourth ward, and was
re-elected in 1868. In religions matters he has always connected himself
with the Wesleyan Methodists, and has been a leading supporter of that
congregation in Cleveland.

Still in the vigor of life, Mr. Clark has the opportunity of doing much
more for the prosperity of the city by increasing the manufacturing
business, and this his practical nature leads him to do.

It will be seen that Mr. Clark has been the architect of his own
fortune. His sympathies are with the industrial classes, from which he
sprang, and in return he has the confidence and good will of a large
portion of that class.

Mr. Clark was married in 1853, and has a family of five children.

Jacob Lowman.

Jacob Lowman was born in Washington county, Maryland, Sept. 22, 1810. He
worked with his father on the farm until he was eighteen, at which time he
became an apprentice to the smithing department of the carriage building
trade. At the expiration of his apprenticeship, in 1832, he came to Ohio.
He stopped in Stark county for a few months, and then came to Cleveland,
in search of work, which he readily obtained, with Elisha Peet, on Seneca
street, where Frankfort street now intersects it. He worked about a year
and a half, for which he received nine dollars per month and board. Being
of steady habits, he saved in that time about seventy-five dollars. Mr.
Lowman then bought out his employer, and commenced at once on his own
account, at the same place. After two years, he built a shop where the
Theatre Comique now stands, and remained there eight years. At first he
labored alone, after awhile he had one journeyman, soon adding still
another, and another, till, at the end of the eight years, he employed
about fifteen men. He then removed to Vineyard street, having built shops
there to accommodate his increasing business. This was about the year
1842--3. After moving to the new buildings, his business constantly grew
with the city, and more men were employed. In 1851, Mr. Lowman commenced
the erection of a still larger building to meet his increasing demands; he
was then employing from thirty-five to forty men. About this time too, he
associated with him Mr. Wm. M. Warden, who had then been in his employ for
about ten years. Their facilities were sufficient till about the time of
the war, when they erected a large brick building on Champlain street, now
occupied as a smith shop, trimming shop, store room, etc., since which
they have employed about sixty men. Mr. Lowman, for a number of years, did
little beside a local trade, but for the last five or six years he has
built up quite a large foreign trade, shipping West extensively--
Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Indiana and Kentucky, being
the principal markets.

Mr. Lowman has been strictly temperate all his life. He has taken a lively
interest in the Sunday schools of the city, in connection with the
Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he has been a member nearly since he
came to the city.

He was married in 1841 to Miss Minerva E. Peet, by whom he had four
children, three of whom are now living--the oldest son being in business
with his father. He suffered the loss of his partner in life in 1857. He
married again in 1863, to Mrs. Sarah D. Goodwin, of Lorain county, Ohio,
formerly of Vermont.

He attributes his success in business to the fact that he had an object in
view, and endeavored to attain it, strict attention to business, economy,
and studying to give satisfaction by his work.

He is only fifty-eight years of age, and well preserved, and in all
human probability will live to enjoy the fruit of his labor for many
years to come.

[Illustration: Yours Truly W. G. Wilson]

W. G. Wilson.

W. G. Wilson, now president of the Wilson Sewing Machine Company of
Cleveland, was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, on the first of
April, 1841. His education was obtained at a village school house. When he
was in his thirteenth year his parents removed to Ohio, and the lad
remained with them until his eighteenth year, when he left home with a
somewhat indefinite idea of doing something for himself, although
possessing neither money nor friends to aid him in his start in life.
Until the year 1864, he wandered from place to place, turning his hand to
various employments, but was dissatisfied with them all, being convinced
that he had not yet found his right vocation or location.

In 1864, he was visiting some friends at Madison county, Ohio, when his
attention was attracted by a cheap sewing machine. Believing that money
could be made by the sale of such machines he purchased one, mastered its
mode of operation, and took a traveling agency. Finding this a more
profitable business than any he had yet undertaken, he prosecuted it with
vigor, and being of an inquiring mind, soon picked up important facts
concerning the business, the manufacture of the machines, and the profits
of the manufacturers and dealers. He discovered that the largest profits
were not made by those who retailed the machines, and, therefore, he set
to work to change his position in the business and so enlarge his profits.

In Fremont, Ohio, he formed the acquaintance of a young man in the grocery
business, who had thought at times of entering on the sewing machine
trade. A partnership was formed. Mr. Wilson contributed his whole
available means, sixty-five dollars, to which he added the experience he
had gained, whilst his partner contributed to the common stock three
hundred dollars. With this slender cash capital, but abundant confidence
in their success, the new firm came to Cleveland, which they selected as
the base of their operations on account of its superior shipping
facilities, and opened a wareroom in Lyman's Block, having previously made
arrangements with manufacturers in Massachusetts to make machines for
them. The new firm of Mather & Wilson were successful beyond their
expectations.

About a year had been passed in this way when suits were brought against
Mather & Wilson, in common with a number of other parties throughout the
West, for an alleged infringement of a sewing machine patent. Under the
pressure of these suits, which were prosecuted with a large capital to
back up the litigating parties, Mr. Wilson endeavored to secure the
co-operation of the more powerful of the defendants, but without success,
each party preferring to fight the battle singly. After a hard fight in
the courts, a compromise was effected, the suit against Mather & Wilson
withdrawn on each party paying his own costs, and they were allowed to
carry on the business unmolested.

Shortly afterwards Mr. Wilson sold out his interest in the firm. A few
weeks subsequently he made an agreement with H. F. Wilson, whereby the
latter was to perfect and patent a low priced shuttle machine, and assign
the patent to the former. In two months the machine was in the patent
office, and in 1867 the manufacture was commenced in Cleveland. No money
or labor was spared in perfecting the machine, which achieved an instant
success and became exceedingly profitable.

In 1868, the Wilson Sewing Machine Company was organized with a paid up
capital of one hundred thousand dollars, the principal portion of their
stock being owned by Mr. Wilson, who is president of the company. The
business of the concern has grown until it now reaches five hundred
machines per week, and branch houses have been established in Boston and
St. Louis, with general agencies in the principal cities of the United
States. Through the rapid development of their business the company have
recently purchased a tract of land at the junction of Platt street and the
Pittsburgh railroad crossing, in Cleveland, for the purpose of erecting a
large building for the manufacture of their sewing machines, that will
give employment to between two and three hundred men.

The Wilson Sewing Machine Company is one of the latest established
manufactories in Cleveland, but promises to take rank among the most
important. It deserves especial mention among the record of Cleveland
enterprises, as producing the first local sewing machine that has
succeeded, although many attempts have been made.

Albert C. McNairy.

This department of the present work would be imperfect without a reference
to the firm of McNairy, Claflen & Co., which ranks among the heaviest and
most important contracting firms in the country.

Albert C. McNairy, the head of the firm and a man of great enterprise and
energy of character, was born June 14, 1815, at Middletown, Connecticut,
and was early engaged in work of a similar character to that now
undertaken by the firm. In 1848, he constructed the famous Holyoke Dam,
across the Connecticut river at Holyoke, which is over a thousand feet
between the abutments, and thirty feet in height. In 1851, he became a
member of the bridge building firm of Thatcher, Burt & Co., of Cleveland,
whose operations in the construction of bridges were very extensive. In
1864, the firm name became McNairy, Claflen & Co., by the admission of
Henry M. Claflen, who had been in the employ of the firm since 1854. In
1866, Mr. Thatcher and Mr. Burt retired and Harvey T. Claflen, (who had
been connected with the establishment since 1852,) and Simeon Sheldon
were admitted.