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FRED J.
WARNOCK, Youngstown's present mayor was for ten years before
his induction into that office one of the very able attorneys of the
Mahoning Valley and had become known for his all around
qualifications as an able executive and clean, public spirited
citizen, with the welfare of his community first in his heart and
mind.
He was born in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, on a farm
lying just east of New Castle, June 27, 1878. His grandfather
was born in the north of Ireland and as a young lad came to the
United States, settling in Pennsylvania. The father of the
Youngstown mayor was Hugh H. Warnock, who was born and reared
in Lawrence County. During the Civil war he ran away from home
to enlist, but on account of his youth was rejected and sent home.
Subsequently he located at New Castle and built up a successful
business as a paint contractor, but lost his business and
practically all his accumulated resources during the memorable
panic of 1873. Subsequently buying a tract of land near New
Castle, he followed farming until his death, in 1895, when but
fifty-two years of age. He was a republican in politics, was a
member of the order of Masons and the Presbyterian church.
Hugh H. Warnock married Mary J. Rose, who
was born in Western Pennsylvania in 1847 and is still living at New
Castle, at the age of seventy-three. Her father, ISAAC P.
ROSE, was an early plainsman and trapper and as a companion of
Kit Carson took part in many battles with the Indians, by
whom he was wounded. Giving up life on the plains, he returned
east and for forty-six years was a prominent teacher in Western
Pennsylvania. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hugh H.
Warnock all six are now living. Harry R., who
started railroading as a brakeman, is now general superintendent of
the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. Louis C., a
resident of Youngstown, is an engineer on the Pittsburg and Lake
Erie Railroad. The third is Fred J. George C. is
a prominent physician and surgeon of Youngstown, Mabel
is the wife of James Banks, an engineer with the Baltimore &
Ohio Railroad, living at New Castle, Pennsylvania. Edwin H.,
the youngest, formerly with the Ingersoll-Rand Company of Pittsburg,
manufacturer and dealers in compressed air tools, served during the
World war in the Three Hundred and Twentieth Infantry, Eightieth
Division, was wounded in the Argonne Forest, Sept. 26, 1918, and is
now with a firm in New York City as sales representative for the
Northeastern Territory.
Obtaining a practical education in the Warnock
School in his home district, Fred J. Warnock grew up familiar
with the tools and practices of farming. Being the oldest boy
at home at the time of his father's death, he remained to assist his
widowed mother on the farm until entering Mount Hope College in
Rogers, Ohio, where he is a student two terms. Returning home
, he taught during the winter season, carried on the farms summers,
at the same time advancing his knowledge by careful reading and home
study. In 1904, having graduated in the classical course from
Westminster College at New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, soon afterward
he located at New CAstle and employed his days as a claim agent for
the local department of the Street Railway Company, and at night
studied law in the office of his cousin, Hon. George T.
Weingartner. In 1905, Mr. Warnock came to
Youngstown, read law with Theodore A. Johnston, and was
admitted to the Ohio bar in 1910. At that time he formed a
partnership with Robert J. Nicolson, and was soon launched in
an active and successful practice and handled a large business until
he assumed the office as mayor on Jan. 1, 1920.
Mr. Warnock has always stood for the clean,
honest and decent in both politics and business, and after his
nomination on the republican ticket for mayor in the fall of 1919 he
took as his platform a decent and liberal policy of municipal
government, with the parks, playgrounds and picture houses upon on
Sundays to an eighty-five per cent population of working people, who
cannot attend such places at any other time, but, beyond that, "Woe
to the Transgressor." On this platform he was elected by a
handsome majority, and while his administration at the outset was
involved in many extraordinary difficulties, he has handled his
office both with tact and efficiency such as to justify the
commendation of the best classes of citizenship.
Dec. 15, 1904, Mr. Warnock married Jean I.,
daughter of Robert Lawrence, of Lawrence County,
Pennsylvania. Mr. Warnock was born in Alabama, but her
father was a Pennsylvanian. They have two sons, Harry L.
and Fred J., Jr. Mr. Warnock is an active member of the
Evergreen Presbyterian Church. His pastor, Rev. W. C. Press,
who served as a chaplain with the Expeditionary Forces in France, is
one of his old school mates and now his pal. Mr. Warnock
is a member of all the local bodies of Masonry, being an officer
in many of them, and is likewise a member of the Modern Woodmen
of America, and belongs to the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce and
the Kiwanis Club.
~ Page 57 - History of Youngstown & The Mahoning Valley, Ohio
- Vol. II - Publ. American Historical Society - Chicago & New York - 1921 |
COLONEL CALEB
B. WICK. The name of Wick has been identified
with Youngstown from a very early day. One of the first, if
not the first, minister of the gospel of any denomination who held
religious services in the infant settlement, and was for many years
afterwards pastor of the Presbyterian church, and who there
solemnized a marriage as early as November, 1800, was Rev.
William Wick, an uncle of the subject of this memoir, and elder
brother of his father, Henry Wick, who came in 1802 and was
one of the earliest merchants.
The family is of English origin. An early
ancestor in the United States was Job Wick, of Southampton,
Long Island, New York. He was married, as appears by a family
record, to Anna Cook December 21, 1721. They were the
parents of eleven children, of whom Lemuel, born April 16,
1743, was the ninth. Lemuel was married to
Deborah Lupton about 1763. They were the parents of five
children, of whom William, the pioneer minister above named,
born June 29, 1768, was the third, Henry, the pioneer
merchant, born March 19, 1771, was the fourth.
Henry removed, while a young man, from
Southampton, Long Island, to Washington county, Pennsylvania, and
was there married December 11, 1794, to Miss Hannah Baldwin,
daughter of Caleb Baldwin, of that county. They were
the parents of eleven children, of whom Caleb Baldwin Wick,
born October 1, 1795, was the eldest.
Henry Wick was engaged in mercantile business in
Washington county, Pennsylvania, after his removal there. He
first came to Youngstown in 1802, probably at the instance of his
father-in-law, Caleb Baldwin, who removed there about 1799.
A deed record shows that on April 29, 1802, Henry Wick
purchased of John Young the square bounded on Main (now West
Federal), Hill (now Wood), Phelps, and Hazel streets, and a lot of
thirty-seven acres outside of the town plat for $235. He
erected buildings for residence and store, commenced mercantile
business soon after his purchase of land, and removed his family
then consisting of his wife and four children: Caleb B, Thomas
L., Betsey and Lemuel, in the spring of 1804 to
Youngstown. He died November 4, 1845. Mrs. Hannah B.
Wick, his widow, died April 10, 1849.
Caleb B. Wick was in the ninth year of his age
when he came to Youngstown. The settlement at that time, as he
related in his after years, consisted of only a few scattered log
cabins. On the ground now occupied by the main part of the
city the timber had been burnt off by the Indians, and there were
only bushes and thick bunches of hazel. Wild deer were
frequently to be seen running where are now the most populous and
active business streets.
He received such an education in the ordinary branches
as was attainable in the schools of that day, and at times assisted
his father in his store and other business. In the fall of
1815, in partnership with the late Dr. Henry Manning, he
commenced a country store, connecting with it a drug store, the
first in this part of the Reserve. This store stood on the
north side of West Federal street, next west of the (present) large
store building of E. M. McGillin & Co., in a frame building
now occupied by J. F. Hollingsworth as a stove and hardware
store. He continued in partnership with Dr. Manning in
this building about ten years. He continued the mercantile
business in another building, next east of the present Excelsior
block, part of the time without a partner, and at times with
different partners until 1848, when having been a merchant for over
thirty years he retired from that business, being then the oldest
merchant in business in Youngstown.
During his active life he was honored, at different
times, by election and appointment to positions of public trust and
honor. On June 2, 1817, having been elected by the company to
the office, he was commissioned by Governor Worthington,
lieutenant of the Third company, First battalion, First regiment,
Fourth division Ohio militia, and qualified by taking the official
oath before Hon. George Tod, judge of the common pleas.
On September 3, 1818, he was commissioned captain of the same
company. On March 22, 1822, he was commissioned
lieutenant-colonel of the First regiment, and in the fall of the
same year colonel of the regiment, which office he held for a few
years.
In 1820 and again in 1824 he was elected township clerk
of Youngstown, and subsequently was elected trustee, and held other
township offices. During the exciting Presidential campaign of
1840 Colonel Wick was an active supporter of General
Harrison, and on November 17, 1841, was commissioned postmaster
of Youngstown, which office he held until March 10, 1843, when, not
being a supporter of President Tyler, he was removed.
After retiring from mercantile business, in 1848, he
did not enter into any active business, but devoted his attention to
the care of his estate, which had become large. He died June
30, 1865, aged nearly seventy years. At that time he was, and
since the death of Colonel William Rayen, in April, 1854, he
had been, the oldest citizen or resident of Youngstown.
He was married, January 1, 1816, to Miss Rachel
Kirtland, daughter of Jared Kirtland, of Poland, Ohio.
They were the parents of two children, one of whom, Henry K.,
for some time a merchant of Youngstown, died at about the age of
twenty-two years; the other died in infancy. His wife died in
1820. He was again married, November 3, 1828, to Miss Maria
Adelia Griffith, of Youngstown, formerly of Caledonia,
Livingston county, New York. They were the parents of ten
children, seven of whom - Rachel K., intermarried with
Robert W. Taylor, late first comptroller of the United States
Treasury; Hannah B., intermarried with Charles D. Arms,
of Youngstown; Laura E., Caleb B., Henry K.,
Charles E., and Eliza M. - are now living.
His character as a citizen and in his various relations
to the community is sketched in an obituary notice, prepared shortly
after his death, by one who knew him well, from which we make
extracts:
In social life, as a citizen, a neighbor, and a friend
Colonel Wick was liberal, kind and warm-hearted. In his
house everyone felt at home, and his hospitality knew no limit.
Indulgent to his own family in social joys, and cheerful to the
last, he had great delight in the society of the young as well as
the old.
He united with the First Presbyterian church of
Youngstown, on profession of faith, on April 6, 1835. For more
than thirty years he had been known as a Christian man, devising
liberal things for the church of his choice. He had been an
invalid for several years, but his end came suddenly and though it
came with little warning, yet he was awaiting the summons from on
high and peacefully fell asleep. |
CALEB
B. WICK, one of the leading citizens of Youngstown, who for
years has been closely identified with its most important commercial
interests, belongs to one of the most honored pioneer families of the
Mahoning Valley. He was born Apr. 24, 1836, at Youngstown, and
is a son of the late Col. Caleb B. and Maria Adelia (Griffith) Wick.
The early history of the Wick family may be found in the sketches of
Col. Caleb B. Wick and his brother, Hugh Bryson Wick, appearing
elsewhere in this book.
Mr. Wick completed
his educaiton in the schools at Youngstown and began his long and
successful business career as a clerk in the Mahoning County Bank,
when he was 17 years of age. By the time he was 23 years old he
had risen to the position of cashier of this institution and served as
such until 1862. His association as a member of the banking firm
of Wick Brothers & Company, at Youngstown, gave him an acknowledged
standing and he soon became interested in other financial enterprises,
these including the founding of the first bank at Sharon,
Pennsylvania, under the name of Wick, Porter & Company. In
connection with his large financial operations, Mr. Wick early became
interested in the building of railroads and was a very important
factor in the organization and completion of what is now the
Pittsburg, Youngstown & Ashtabula Railroad, having been one of the
incorporators of the company. He still retains his position on
the directing board of this road and is the only surviving member of
the original board. He was the first president of the Youngstown
& Sharon Steel Railroad Company.
For the
past half century Mr. Wick has been largely interested in real estate
in this section, being a large holder and the owner of iron and coal
properties. His commodious offices are located at Nos. 404-405
Dollar Bank Building, Youngstown. His beautiful home is situated
at No. 524 Wick avenue.
Source: 20th Century History of
Youngstown & Mahoning Co., Ohio
and Representative Citizens - Publ. Biographical Publ. Co. -
Chicago, Illinois - 1907 ~ Page 502 |
COL.
CALEB WICK, whose long, eventful and useful life was almost
entirely spent in Youngstown, may well be classed with that band of
notable men, whose patriotism, energy, ability and integrity ushered
in the conditions which have resulted in the wonderful development of
this city along every line. Caleb B. Wick was born Oct. 1, 1795,
in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and was the eldest son of
Henry and Hannah (Baldwin) Wick.
Henry
Wick came, through several generations of Americans, and most
worthy residents of Long Island, from an English ancestor. His
father and his grandfather were born and reared at Southampton, Long
Island, where his birth took place Mar. 19, 1771. On Dec. 11,
1794, he married Hannah Baldwin, who was a daughter
of Caleb Baldwin, a prominent resident of Morristown,
New Jersey. In Washington County, Pennsylvania, Henry
Wick went into business and carried on merchandising until
1801, when he followed his father-in-law to Youngstown, Ohio, then in
its infancy. Here Henry Wick Established a home
and re-embarked in business and in the following year brought his
family here, Caleb B. being then in his seventh year.
A successful and honorable business career followed, Mr.
Wick's store on the southeast corner of the Diamond, on the
corner of Federal and Phelps streets, being a landmark for over forty
years. He died Nov. 4, 1845, and was survived by his wife until
1849.
Henry Wick and wife
were the parents of twelve children, all of whom have passed away.
One of the sons, the late Henry Wick, a capitalist of
Cleveland, resembled i character, as well as in name, Youngstown's
honored pioneer citizen.
Caleb
Baldwin Wick was given the best educational advantages that
the little town of Youngstown afforded, and received an excellent
business training under his father, one which equipped him for a
mercantile business of his own. In 1815, in association with
Dr. Henry Manning, he embarked in a general
mercantile business at Youngstown, his stock including drugs, and from
this beginning grew the city's large drug business, it being the first
departure in this line of all this section of Western Reserve.
When Mr. Wick retired from mercantile pursuits, in
1848, he was the oldest merchant in this city. He was interested
in the various industries which gave employment to his
fellow-citizens, encouraged the influx of capital and proved his
public spirit by investing much of his own. In 1846, in
association with other men of means, he erected the first of the great
rolling-mills which formed the nucleus of the extensive plant of
Brown, Bonnell & Company, one of the main industries of he
Mahoning Valley.
For many years of his
life, the late Caleb Baldwin Wick was known as
Colonel Wick, a title given him in 1822, as colonel
of the First Regiment of Ohio State Militia, with which he had been
connected as an officer since 1817. He served as township clerk
and trustee, and as postmaster of Youngstown under the administration
of President William Henry Harrison. To the
developing of the educational and religious influences of his city,
Col. Wick was a large contributor, not only of his
means but of his time, which was always a valuable asset. Many
of the present well-developed charities of the city had their
inception under his fostering care, and many a struggling enterprise
was placed upon a sound basis through his helpfulness. This
honored and beloved citizen passed from this life June 30, 1865, being
survived by a number of his children and by his second wife, whose
death occurred in 1887.
Col. Wick
was first married Jan. 1, 1816, to Rachel Kirtland,
who was a daughter of Jared Kirtland, of Poland,
Ohio. Two children of this marriage are deceased, and
Mrs. Wick died in 1820. On Nov. 3, 1828, Col.
Wick married, second, Maria Adelia Griffith,
who was born at Caledonia, New York. Of this marriage ten
children were born, seven of whom reached maturity. Two of his
sons, Caleb B. and Henry K., rank
with the leading business men of Youngstown. The former is
largely interested in real estate, coal and iron, and ahs offices, as
has his brother, Henry K., at Nos. 404-405 Dollar
Bank building, Youngstown. Henry K. Wick is
president of the great coal firm of H. K. Wick & Company.
Both brothers have handsome residences on Wick
avenue.
Source: 20th Century History of
Youngstown & Mahoning Co., Ohio
and Representative Citizens - Publ. Biographical Publ. Co. -
Chicago, Illinois - 1907 ~ Page 474 |
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