|
|
* Source: Portrait & Biographical Record of
City of Toledo and Lucas and Wood Counties, Ohio.
Chicago: Chapman Publishing Company, 1895
† Source: History of Northwestern
Ohio - Vol. II _ 1917 As
Always, Biographies will be transcribed upon request ~
Sharon W.
|
< BACK TO
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX > |
THOMAS
E. BELL. The successful standing of Thomas E. Bell
as a farmer rests upon many years of activity, and for the past ten
years he ahs borne his share of private and public responsibilities
in Sylvania Township, his home being in the western part of that
township.
Mr. Bell was born at Gallipolis, Ohio, January
20, 1852. When he was nine years of age his parents moved to
Oberlin, where they spent the rest of their days. He grew up
at Oberlin, received his education in the schools there, and when
starting out for himself found employment in that city for a year.
He then took up his permanent vocation as a farmer four miles west
of Oberlin. Having sold his interests in Lorain County,
Thomas E. Bell in 1905 moved to Sylvania Township in this county
and located on his wife's father's farm, the old Thomas
homestead. During his residence there he has introduced a
number of excellent improvements, and his fine orchard gives him
special place as one of the fruit growers of Lucas County. His
farm is 1 1/2 miles northwest of Silica.
In 1884 at Oberlin Mr. Bell married Mary
Ellen Thomas, daughter of William Thomas, reference to
whom is made on other pages herein. Mr. and Mrs. Bell
have one child, Dorothy Lucile, born in 1902.
Politically Mr. Bell is an active republican.
During his residence at Oberlin he served as justice of the peace
and as township trustee and town clerk. In Sylvania Township
he is now a member of the election board. |
ALBERT G. BLAIR. So farm
from merely presenting a compilation of statistics and condense
facts showing the resources and business status of Toledo and the
surrounding country, it is considered compatible with the nature of
this work to note the enterprises which exert especial influence
upon the commercial standing of the community, and also to review
the lives of the men most intimately connected therewith. It
is a fact so patent as to require no special comment, that Toledo is
not deficient in that distinctive spirit of enterprise which has
done so much toward the development of this country. The
success with which its industries have met, the prosperity enjoyed
by its citizens, the magnitude of its commercial projects, and the
increasing value of its realty, are due principally to its
railroads. Of these, it has a larger number than any other
city of Ohio, and it is largely through them that it has become
widely known as a commercial center.
No
citizen of Toledo is more intimately connected with its railroad
interests than the gentleman with whose name this brief biography is
introduced, and who is at present filling the responsible position
of General Manager of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Company.
Mr. Blair is a native of New York, and was born in
the city of Syracuse in January, 1844. He passed the years of
boyhood and youth in a somewhat uneventful manner, attending the
public schools near his father's home. At an early age he
learned the habits of industry, perseverance and patience which
aided him in his business career.
It was
not until he was twenty-six years of age that Mr. Blair
entered the railway service. In September, 1870, he became
bill clerk for the Toledo, Wabash & Western Railroad, but served in
that capacity for a short time only. In March of the following
year he became chief clerk of the east-bound department of the same
road, which position he filled until September, 1874, rendering
service that was eminently satisfactory to his superior officials.
At the time last named he accepted a position as agent for the
Diamond Fast Freight Line, with headquarters at Toledo.
In 1875 Mr. Blair became connected with the Canada
Southern Railroad, which he represented as its agent in Toledo for a
number of years. Such was the ability displayed in the
management of its interests, that in January, 1880, the company
promoted him to the position of General Agent. He remained
with them until October, 1882, when he entered the employ of the
Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad Company, and has since maintained his
connection therewith. For a time he officiated as General
Freight agent, but on the 1st of July, 1889, he was promoted to the
position of Traffic Manager, and February 1, 1892, became General
Manager of the road. His successive promotions from the time
he entered the railroad business prove the possession on his part of
a superior order of ability, the existence of which has been still
further verified by the able manner in which he discharges the
duties incident to his present position of trust and honor.
Source:
Portrait & Biological History of Lucas Co., Ohio - 1895 ~ Page 260 |
WILLIAM
E. BRIGHAM, one of the most enterprising young business men
of Toledo, is the junior member of the firm of W. T. Carrington &
Co., with which concern he has been thus connected for the past
three years. This firm is one of the solid companies of the
city, and has a large trade in grain, the dealings being carried on
on the commission plan. The senior member of the firm is a
resident of Chicago, and thus much of the responsibility of the
business devolves on Mr. Brigham.
The father of the gentleman just mentioned, Reed M.
Brigham, was a prominent agriculturist in Monroe County, Mich.
He was a native of Massachusetts, born in 1818. The birth of
William E., his son, occurred in Erie, Mich., in October,
1859. He passed his youth on his father's old homestead, and
was early drilled in various kinds of useful work. He attended
the district school in the neighborhood of his home, and
subsequently pursued more advanced studies in the Toledo High
School.
At the age of seventeen years Mr. Brigham
entered the employ of Carrington & Casey, dealers in grain.
With them he remained for some fourteen years, a part of which time
he was salesman, and the remainder of that period was their
bookkeeper. When Mr. Casey withdrew from the firm, our
subject was admitted in his place. He is a member of the
Toledo Produce Exchange and possesses good financial and executive
ability in conducting his business affairs.
In 1882 occurred the marriage of Mr. Brigham and
Ida M. Woodscot, of Rhode Island. Mr. Brigham is
actively interested in whatever pertains to the upbuilding and
development of this place, and is never slow to use his influence
and means in the proper directions. He possesses the confidence of
all with whom he comes in contact, whether in a business or a social
way. |
CALVIN BRONSON was born in
Suffield, Conn., Dec. 17, 1806, and died in Toledo, Ohio, Jan. 15,
1892. He was a member of a family long identified with the
history of New England. In youth his educational advantages
were very limited, his wide and varied information having been
gained principally by self-culture. On leaving his home he
went to Springfield, Mass., where he was employed as a clerk in a
leading mercantile house, receiving no wages other than his board.
After having served an apprenticeship of a year, he went to New York
City, and from there to Augusta, Ga., where he remained eighteen
months.
Believing, however, that in the
great Northwest were opportunities that the South could not offer,
Mr. Bronson came to Ohio in 1830, and embarked in
the mercantile business at Avon, Lorain County, but five years later
removed to Centerville, St. Joseph County, Mich., where for years he
carried on a general dry-goods trade. In 1847 he began the
manufacture of tobacco at Centerville, having the pioneer
establishment west of Detroit. For some time his products were
sold by peddlers, who traveled in wagons from place to place.
As his business became more extensive and he realized that a larger
field for operations was necessary, he decided to come to Toledo,
and this he did in May, 1851. From the first his trade here
was encouraging, and as the returns became larger he increased his
facilities accordingly. Soon his establishment gave employment
to about one hundred and seventy-five hands, and eleven cutting
machines were in constant use.
After
nearly twenty years spent in the management of his tobacco business,
Mr. Bronson retired, having accumulated a handsome
property, the result of his judicious management and enterprise.
His trade had increased to such an extent that in 1865 he paid on
his sales a Government tax of $250,322.89, the value of the goods
then sold having been $560,400. The tree leading products of
the factory were "Bright Chewing," "C. Bronson's Indian Brand" and
"F. G. Smoking Tobacco." His first factory in Toledo was on
Water Street, at the foot of Lagrange, where he remained until 1856.
During that year he removed to Nos. 118-128 Summit Street, where he
occupied a building with a frontage of eighty feet, a depth of one
hundred and fifty feet, and five stories high. Subsequently he
erected a building at the corner of Summit and Lynn Streets, and in
1873 removed his plant there. It contained eleven cutting
machines, with a daily capacity of eleven thousand pounds of
chewing, or eighteen thousand pounds of smoking tobacco, all
operated by a single engine of about twenty-horse power. Upon
his retirement from active business the factory passed into the
hands of Charles R. Messinger, a son-in-law, who
had become practically familiar with the business. Mr.
Messinger continued until 1875, when he became the sole
proprietor, and he in turn was succeeded by William Harrison in
1886.
At Centerville, Mich., June 26,
1837, Mr. Bronson married Miss Lucretia C.
Sutphen, who was born in 1811, and was a descendant of
Holland-Dutch ancestors. She died June 17, 1888, having had
three children. Aletta M. became the wife of
William H. Simmons, and died eleven months after
her marriage, leaving no children. Agatha E.,
the only survivor, was married in November, 1863, to Charles
R. Messinger, by whom she had four children:
Isabella B., wife of J. J. Barber, of
Toledo; Rosewell E., also of this city;
Agatha E., the wife of J. T. Ravelle, of
Toledo; and Charles R., the youngest.
Virginia, the third daughter, married M. C. Warn,
and died in 1877, leaving two daughters, Aletta B.
and Zorah I.
From the
time of his retirement from business until the date of his death.
Mr. Bronson gave his attention largely to the
improvement of the real estate he had previously purchased, and at
different times erected a number of substantial and valuable
business blocks. He also invested liberally in the promotion
of manufacturing enterprises in the city. In politics he was
first a Whig, and on the organization of the Republican party became
one of its most earnest supporters. He was ever a stanch Union
man, and during the war he lent his aid whenever possible to the
Union soldiers. His good wife, who was a woman of bright
intelligence and pure Christian character, joined him in every
enterprise calculated to advance the moral and material benefits of
the community in which they lived. On coming to Toledo she
became a member of the Trinity Episcopal Church.
The success that crowned the efforts of Mr. Bronson
was especially remarkable when we consider the fact that in early
life he had few advantages, but what he made of himself was due to
his energy and industry, unaided by extraneous circumstances.
He was a man of acknowledges business sagacity, one whose reputation
for business acumen was known throughout the entire country.
At the close of a long and honorable life he passed to the rest that
awaits mankind.
~ Page 233 - Portrait & Biological History of
Lucas Co., Ohio - 1895 |
REV. H. BUSHKUHL is one of the active ministers of the
Catholic Church in Northwest Ohio, and is now pastor of St.
Elizabeth Parish at Richfield Center in Lucas County.
This parish was organized in 1914 from a part of Rabb
Parish. The cornerstone for the church and school building was
laid May 24, 1914. The first pastor appointed was Rev.
Francis Schmuck, whose appointment was dated August 28, 1914.
Mass was celebrated in the new building for the first time September
20, 1914, and four days later the school was opened with fifty-five
pupils enrolled. This has since been the average enrollment.
The building was formally dedicated October 6. 1914.
Besides St. Elizabeth Parish, Father Bushkuhl
has a mission at Sylvania. He was born at St. Louis, Missouri,
and later his parents removed to Tiffin, Ohio. He attended the
common, and high schools in St. Louis and the choice of his career
having been definitely settled he entered St. Francis Seminary at
Milwaukee, where he took a classical course, and studied philosophy
and theology in St. Mary's Seminary at Baltimore. He was
ordained to the priesthood October 15, 1913, and sent to Fremont,
Ohio, as assistant in St. Joseph Church, and later was transferred
to Edgerton, Ohio, and on August 20, 1915, was appointed to his
present work in St. Elizabeth Parish. He is a man of
constructive ability and is well qualified for the task of building
up this new parish, where he has already acquired a host of warm
friends. |
| |
| |
|
