TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 75 and he has been termed "the most eminent Masonic statesman and the greatest Masonic executive of his time." In every field of labor to which he has directed his efforts results highly satisfactory have been obtained. He never stops short of the successful accomplishment of his purpose and thus it is that he has rendered signal service to mankind, because at all times he has been actuated by the highest principles and most advanced ideals. Few men have so fully realized and met the obligations of life or have realized to a greater degree the opportunity for service. No opportunity of this character has he neglected and throughout the years of his residence in Toledo his course has reflected credit and honor upon the people who have honored him. J. ALEXANDER NAVARRE J. Alexander Navarre, a descendant of one of the honored pioneer families of this section of the country, is prominently connected with the lumber industry and is numbered among Toledo's successful business men and highly respected citizens. He was born in Monroe, Michigan, October 22, 1872, and his parents were Alexander T. and Marietta (Peltier) Navarre. The famous scout, Peter Navarre, was one of the early representatives of the family in the Western Reserve and the subject of this review has in his possession many valuable letters and papers con-cerning the pioneer epoch in the history of this district, which were preserved by his great-grandfather, grandfather and uncles. Among these historic manuscripts are deeds recording the transfer of land from the Indians to the white settlers, many of these documents dating as far back as 1785, while the letters consist of communications between his great-grandfather and persons of high rank. Alexander T. Navarre, the father, was also a native of Monroe, Michigan, and there he was reared, educated and married. For many years he served as county treasurer of Monroe county and he also devoted his attention to the cultivation and improvement of a farm. He was an honored veteran of the Civil war, entering the service in 1863 as a member of the famous Seventh Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and he was discharged at the close of hostilities in 1865, at which time he was holding the rank of lieutenant. He was one of the most highly respected men in his community and filled many public positions of trust and responsibility. Both Mr. and Mrs. Navarre are deceased. Of the ten children born to their union, five are living : George W. C., who is connected with the Detroit Soda Products Company of Detroit, Michigan ; Leo J., who is cashier and manager of The Essexville State Bank, of Essexville, Michigan ; Mrs. Benjamin Dansard, of Monroe, Michigan ; Edith, who is unmarried and is employed by the Valentine & Clarke Company of Spokane, Washington ; and J. Alexander of this review. In the public schools of his native town and a commercial college at Berlin, in the province of Ontario, Canada, Mr. Navarre obtained his education and after completing his course in the latter institution he returned to Monroe, Michigan. where he was connected with business interests for a time. He then came to Toledo and entered the employ of the Bissell Company, manufacturers of electrical fixtures and carpet sweepers. He was placed in charge of their lumber department and remained in their service for nine years, also engaging in the lumber business independently during a portion of that period. In 1913 he resigned his position and has since been manager of sales in the territory- east of the Mississippi 76 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY river, for the Valentine & Clarke Company of Spokane, Washington, of which he is a director, maintaining his headquarters in Toledo. They handle cedar poles and posts and Mr. Navarre is well qualified for the responsibilities of his position, for he possesses a comprehensive understanding of the lumber business, and his intelligently directed efforts have materially promoted the sales of the company in the district of which he has charge. At Sturgis, Michigan, on the 22d of April, 1896, Mr. Navarre was married to Miss Frances Isabelle Skirvin, a (laughter of Mr. and Mrs. Francis Marion Skirvin of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Navarre have five children : Joseph A., who was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1904 and was graduated from the high school at Monroe, Michigan, in 1922 ; Francis James, who was born at Monroe in 1908 and is attending St. John's College of Toledo ; Margaret M., whose birth occurred in this city in 1913 and who is now a student in the schools of Monroe; Mary Jane, who was born in Toledo in 1916 and is also a pupil in the public schools of Monroe ; and John George, born in Toledo in 1919. Mr. Navarre is a member of the Roman Catholic church and he is a Knight of Columbus, in which organization he has taken the fourth degree. He is likewise identified with the Toledo Club, the Monroe Country Club and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, while his political allegiance is given to the democratic party. His business career has been one of continuous advancement and he brings to his various duties in life a keen mind and a broad intelligence, which are the basis of his success. He is a worthy scion of his race and is recognized as a capable business man, a public-spirited citizen and a loyal friend. Since 1920 he has resided in Monroe, but maintains his business in Toledo. MICHAEL JOSEPH OWENS Toledo is proud to include among its citizenship a most famous man in connection with the glass industry of modern times—Michael Joseph Owens. His advanced ideas on matters pertaining to the invention and manufacturing of glass-working machinery have given him world-wide prominence among people interested in that branch of the industry. Mr. Owens is not only an inventive genius but he combines with that gift an exceptionally high executive ability, marked tenacity of purpose, boundless energy and remarkable capacity for hard work ; and the notable success he has achieved is but the natural result of such a combination of qualities. It is to such men as Mr. Owens that the public is indebted for the advancement in his field of manufacture. Each invention is a theory in its embryonic state, but the theories of today are the common practice of tomorrow and thus the world advances in every line of endeavor. Michael Joseph Owens was born January 1, 1859, in Mason county, Virginia, now West Virginia, a son of John and Mary (Chapman) Owens. His parents, who were natives of Ireland, migrated from County Wexford to America, in the early '40s and Michael J. Owens was a lad of ten years when the parents removed to Wheeling, West Virginia. Being one of a large family and his father a laboring man, it was necessary that he seek employment as soon as possible. He began work in the glass factory of the Hobbs-Brockunier Company, assisting in the firing of one of the small furnaces, this boy of ten years performing the hard labor expected of one several years his senior. In the course of time he acquainted TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 79 himself with all of the tasks performed by boys in the factory and at the age of fifteen years had become a glass blower, working by the side of men two or three times his age. He continued to serve as a glass blower in Wheeling and vicinity until August, 1888, when he came to Toledo and entered the employ of Edward D. Libbey as a glass blower in the newly established factory of The Libbey Glass Company. That diligence and capability are the rungs of the ladder on which one climbs to success was soon manifest in the record of Mr. Owens, who three months later was advanced to superintendent of the plant, and subsequently when a branch factory was established at Findlay, Ohio, Mr. Owens was made its manager, continuing in the position for two years. During the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893 he had charge of the famous exhibit of the Libbey Glass Company, housed in a beautiful building erected for the purpose, at a cost of more than one hundred thousand dollars, and in which the art of making and cutting glass was carried on in all of its branches. Always glass containers had been blown by human lung power. For generations highly skilled men had endeavored to devise a practicable machine for mechanically blowing glass. A multitude of wrecks was the only result. Nevertheless, in the early '90s the idea invaded Mr. Owens' brain and would not down. He came to believe the problem could be solved. His early experiments encouraged and convinced him. Mr. Libbey also was convinced and aided him. In 1895, having been granted certain letters patent and having pending applications for others, they organized The Toledo Glass Company for the purpose of acquiring, developing and operating the inventions. Tumbler machines and lamp-chimney machines were successfully developed and commercially operated, and, their practical successes and great economies having been fully established, exclusive rights thereto were granted, for the former to Rochester Tumbler Company of Rochester, Pennsylvania, and for the latter to Macbeth-Evans Glass Company of Pittsburgh. The conspicuous successes of the tumbler and lamp-chimney machines brought to Mr. Owens no thought of rest or retirement. On the contrary they spurred him to a much more difficult accomplishment, a completely automatic bottle-machine, in which his initial success was most gratifying. In 1903 he and his associates organized The Owens Bottle-Machine Company, a corporation of New Jersey, having an authorized capital of three million dollars, for the purpose of manufacturing, operating and licensing such machines. That company was conspicuously successful from its very beginning. In 1907 it was reorganized under Ohio laws, and later the authorized capital was increased to fifty million dollars. It has factories at Toledo and Newark, Ohio ; Fairmont, Clarksburg and Charleston, West Virginia ; Glassboro, New Jersey ; Streator, Illinois ; and Greenfield, Evansville and Loogootee, Indiana ; and has large holdings of the capital stock of companies having factories at Cincinnati, Ohio ; Huntington, West Virginia ; and Okmulgee and Checotah, Oklahoma. Having become the largest manufacturer of bottles in the world, its name was changed to The Owens Bottle Company. Successful as was his initial bottle machine, Mr. Owens made successive great improvements and now the Owens Bottle Machine is among America's most wonderful machines and one of the world's mechanical marvels. The present machine, a wonder working giant, weighs over one hundred thousand pounds and is composed of about ten thousand separate parts. A contemporary writer has described it, in part, as follows : "It feeds itself with a fiery fluid of molten glass; sucks it up methodically, clutches it with iron hands, blows its breath into it, re- 80 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY leases its grasp, nonchalantly drops a finished bottle—and moves on to take another fiery gulp. At the rate of one hundred and fifty bottles a minute—for it has fifteen mouths and arms and pairs of hands—it goes on. It is a monster, weighing over one hundred thousand pounds and ten feet high." Improvements are still being made by Mr. Owens further to increase its efficiency. One of the most recent has been the plural mold principle, whereby each of the ten or fifteen heads of the late type machine will blow, not one article as heretofore, but at least two or three, and in all probability more. In 1905 the Owens European Bottle-Machine Company was organized and acquired the European rights for the Owens Bottle Machine, a factory being erected at Manchester, England, under the supervision of Mr. Owens, for the manufacture of these bottles. Subsequently the patents for the eastern hemisphere and for South America were sold to a European syndicate. Mr. Owens also assisted the Apollinaris Company to construct and operate its plant at Rheinahr, Germany. About the year 1911 Mr. Owens prevailed upon his associates in the glass industry to undertake the perfecting of a process of drawing window glass in flat, continuous sheets. This idea was originally conceived by the late Irving W. Col-burn, who, however, was never able to develop his idea on a practical basis. After several unsuccessful attempts he was forced to suspend, and following his final failure Mr. Owens and his associates purchased the patents at a receiver's sale and began a period of expensive experimentation, which has resulted in the present machine, producing glass of suitable quality for the trade. This machine, like the bottle machine, is either in use or being introduced in nearly every country of the world. It is quite as .revolutionary in the manufacture of sheet glass as the bottle machine in its branch of the glass industry. It is fitting to record in connection with the final triumph of the Colburn idea that Mr. Owens in his characteristic way caused Mr. Colburn to be generously rewarded, and the latter remained a loyal associate of Mr. Owens until his death. For a number of years and until 1919, Mr. Owens was vice president and general manager of The Owens Bottle Company, but desiring to relinquish some of his activities he resigned as general manager, though continuing in the office of vice president. He is also vice president of The Toledo Libbey-Owens Sheet Glass Company, the United States Sheet and Window Glass Company, The Canadian Libbey-Owens Sheet Glass Company and other allied companies. His activities extend greatly beyond the inventive and engineering field. He is engaged in the factory organization and production work, and his counsel and keen, logical mind are active in every phase of the affairs of the companies with which he is connected. He has the faculty of looking far into the future and his judgment of what steps are required in his industries to meet future conditions is unusually farsighted and accurate. In 1890 Mr. Owens was united in marriage to Miss Mary McKelvey and they are parents of two children : John Raymond Owens of Los Angeles, California; and Hazel, the wife of A. R. Beesch of Toledo. There are also two grandchildren, Persis Anne Owens and Robert Beesch. The family residence is at 2345 Collingwood avenue. Mr. Owens is a member of the Toledo Club, the Inverness Club, the Sylvania Golf Club, the Country Club at Lancaster, Ohio, and several other social organizations. He is also a member of the Knights of Columbus. Mr. Owens is a man of indomitable will, strong in his convictions, but tolerant and patient in his relations with others. When he seeks an objective it is only after he has assured TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 81 himself. it is a right one, and it can be said he almost invariably reaches it regardless of the obstacles. By no means the least of his accomplishments is that of being a wonderfully clear, fluent, pleasing and convincing speaker. In an argument upon a matter in .which he is deeply interested, he rarely fails to convert his adversaries. His is a nature th,at inspires absolute loyalty with the people under him, and as a student of military strategy, its effect is reflected in his organizations. Absolute discipline and full authority are extended to subordinates within their particular sphere. His contribution to the world's work is immeasurable. He has aided in pushing forward the wheels of progress and is an acknowledged leader among those whose inventions have revolutionized glass manufacturing. His mechanical genius is evidenced by the fact that a multitude of patents have been granted him, either alone or in association with others, in almost every jurisdiction of the world having patent laws. Machinery has been made to replace much arduous man labor and in every section of the world where civilization is planted, the fruits of his inventions are known. He has, indeed, been a dynamic power in the world of invention and manufacture, yet withal is a modest, unassuming gentleman, intensely loyal to his friends, whose personal qualities aione entitle him to the high regard and popularity which he enjoys. CHARLES S. BURGE One of Toledo's successful business enterprises is that controlled by the S. W. Flower Company, of which Charles S. Burge is the president, and his present enviable position has been won through industry, ability and persistency of purpose. He was born in Maumee, Ohio, November 24, 1868, a son of Robert and Margaret (Shoemaker) Burge, the former a native of England and the latter of Maumee, Ohio. The father became a resident of Ohio when ten years of age and on entering business life he engaged in building and contracting in Maumee, until 1883, when he removed to Toledo. He retired from active business in 1892, and in this city he continued to make his home until his demise. The mother has also passed away. In their family were six children : Rudford L., Robert S., Mrs. Lorena Smith, Mrs. Nellie Fisher, Mrs. Honor Hoffman, and Charles S. In the acquirement of an education Charles S. Burge attended the grammar schools of Maumee, Ohio, and the Toledo Central high school. His initial business experience was obtained with the S. W. Flower Company, with which he has been connected since March 25, 1882, and starting in a humble capacity, he advanced through each department, mastering every detail connected with the operation of the undertaking. Mr. Burge was taken in as a partner in the business in 1888, before he was of age. He relates that the proudest day of his life was that on which he was sent from his home in Maumee to Toledo to deliver a basket of eggs to Mr. Flower, who forthwith offered him a position in the establishment. He has since devoted himself to the development of the business and it was owing to his foresight and sound judgment that its founder was led to purchase the land on which the present building was erected, which has greatly increased in value until the property today is worth a fortune in itself. Upon the death of 82 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY Mr. Flower, on November 13, 1908, the business was turned over to Mr. Burge, who has since been its president, and he has greatly enlarged the scope of the en-terprise, which has become one of the leading houses in its line in this section of the country. The business of wholesale seed dealers has been continued under the original style of the S. W. Flower Company. In addition to their Toledo store, where they utilize twenty employes, they are also operating a branch establishment at. Indianapolis, under the name of the Indiana Seed Company. Mr. Burge has never dissipated his energies over a broad field, but has concentrated his efforts upon the seed business, of which he has gained an expert knowledge, arid in the control of his interests he displays initiative, determination and marked executive force. On the 15th of June, 1892, Mr. Burge was married to Miss Leonora Clara Barks, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Barks of Toledo. In religious faith Mr. Burge is a Presbyterian. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, and he is a member of the Toledo Traveling Men's Association, the Toledo Club, the Toledo Commerce Club, the Toledo Yacht Club, the Inverness Club and the Rotary Club and in Masonry he has taken the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite Consistory, and is a Shriner. He is also connected with the Modern Woodmen of America and the \Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He has nev6r neverd that laborious attention to business which must precede ascendancy and has focused his energies in directions where fruition is certain. He is a self-made man who has. been both the architect and builder of his success, and his more than forty years identification with Toledo's business interests have been characterized by straightforward business methods. Mr. Burge resides at No. 2447 Scottwood avenue. GEORGE DENISON WELLES George Denison Welles, one of the foremost representatives of the Toledo bar and a member of the well known law firm of Tracy, Chapman & Welles of this city, was here born November 21, 1881, and is a son of General George E. and Julia E. (Smith) Welles, the former a distinguished officer of the Civil war. General Welles was born in Elyria, Ohio, July 4, 1840, and pursued his education in the country schools to the age of fourteen, when he entered a drug store. In 1859 he removed to Toledo, where he secured a clerkship in the wholesale grocery house of West & Truax, with which he remained until he volunteered for service in the Civil war. There are few men who possess the soldierly qualities, the perseverance, the determination and the spirit of patriotism and loyalty which carried George E. Welles from the ranks to the position of brigadier general. He was one of the first to respond to President Lincoln's call for troops, following the firing on Fort Sumter. George E. Welles enlisted April 14, 1861, as a private in Company E, Fourteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was then being organized in Toledo. Before his regiment was sent to the front he was appointed first lieutenant and detailed for duty with the paymaster general of Ohio. He served in that connection during the three months for which he had enlisted and was discharged August 3, 1861, and returned to Ohio. On the 29th of October following he received from the governor a commission as first lieutenant and adjutant of the Sixty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which he assisted in raising. Early in January, 1862, his regi- TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 85 meat joined the army of General Grant, then operating on the Cumberland river in Tennessee. On the 5th of July, 1862, he was promoted over ten senior captains to the rank of major and on the 16th of May, 1863, he became lieutenant colonel. His ranking officer was soon afterward assigned to command a brigade and the lieutenant colonel became acting commander of the regiment, continuing as such until the close of the war. In January, 1865, he was commissioned colonel and on March 16th following, a few weeks before the end of the war, was brevetted brigadier general for "gallant and meritorious conduct." In few instances did so young a volunteer soldier receive such rapid and important promotion and each advancement made solely upon merit. Throughout the army of the Tennessee he was known as the "boy colonel" and Major General Leggett, his division commander, said of him : "That boy never made a mistake." A contemporary biographer, writing of his military history, said : "His service led him into some of the hottest fighting and most protracted campaigns of the war. The record beginning at Fort Donelson was continued in the advance up the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, including the battle of Shiloh, the siege of Corinth, the operations around Vicksburg, including the battle of Champion Hill, and the siege and capture of that Mississippi stronghold, after the campaigns and battles from Chattanooga to Atlanta. From the latter city his regiment went with Sherman on his march to the sea and from Savannah north to the Carolinas and was a part of Sherman's army present at the surrender of the last great fragment of the Confederate army, the troops under Joseph E. Johnston. Some weeks later General Welles led his regiment in the Grand Review at Washington and then proceeded with his regiment to Louisville, Kentucky, where on July 10, 1865, his faithful followers were mustered out and given their discharge. In one of the great battles around Atlanta, General Welles was wounded. In this same engagement the gallant General McPherson was killed and the regiment of Colonel Welles was close by when that intrepid leader fell. In that same fight the cool judgment and prompt action of Colonel Welles succeeded in extricating his regiment, when almost surrounded by the enemy, and placing it in a position where it continued an effective fighting unit. This splendid handling of his troops brought him high compliments from his superior officers." After receiving his discharge General Welles returned to Toledo and shortly afterward was appointed assistant postmaster of this city. He also engaged for a time in the grain and shipping trade with A. W. Colton & Company. Later he was associated with his brother, A. K. Welles, in the grain business under the firm name of Welles Brothers. In the meantime he .was appointed assessor of internal revenue by President Grant and continued to act in that capacity until the office was discontinued. In 1887 he was called to Duluth, Minnesota, where he became secretary of the Duluth Board of Trade, but returned to Toledo in 1894 and for several years was local representative of the New York Life Insurance Company. He later served as deputy county clerk of Lucas county under two administrations but was compelled to retire from public life in 1903 on account of ill health and passed away April 27, 1906, in Toledo. We again quote from a former biographer, who said : "General Welles was one of the most substantial citizens of Toledo. His interests included a number of business enterprises, and every duty of' a public nature he discharged with singular fidelity and straightforwardness of purpose. He was distinguished by a great modesty and courtesy of demeanor, and a gentleness of disposition which made him greatly beloved among his wide circle of friends. It is said that General Welles never showed the slightest propensity to boast of his 86 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY army record. In fact, it required considerable questioning to draw him out on that subject, and many of his later day acquaintances never realized that he was one of the most brilliant soldiers northwestern Ohio had furnished to the Union army." General Welles took a prominent part in Masonic affairs, belonged to the Loyal Legion and was a very active and zealous member of Toledo Post, No. 107, of the Grand Army of the Republic. His work and keen interest in this organization was recognized by an act of his surviving comrades when after General Welles' death, they conferred an honorary membership in Toledo Post, No. 107, Grand Army of the Republic, on General Welles' son, George Denison Welles. General Welles was married May 24, 1877, to Miss Julia E. Smith, a native of Toledo and a daughter of Denison B. Smith and granddaughter of General John E. Hunt. She survived her distinguished husband more than five years, passing away in Toledo, November 26, 1911. She was an active and devoted member of the Trinity Episcopal church and greatly interested in all work for the general good. General and Mrs. Welles are survived by two sons : William B., a member of the real estate and insurance firm of the Welles-Bowen Company of Toledo, who is more fully mentioned elsewhere in this work ; and George Denison, whose name introduces this review. George D. Welles is indebted to the public school system of Toledo for the early educational opportunities which he enjoyed. He afterward attended the summer sessions of the law department of the University of Michigan and likewise studied in the law office of the firm of King & Tracy at Toledo. In 1921 he received the honorary degree of LL. B. from the University of Michigan. He was admitted to the bar in 1903 and later was admitted to practice in all the United States courts. He continued in active association with the firm of King & Tracy until 1908, when he became a partner in the firm of King, Tracy, Chapman & Welles. No change occurred in the personnel of the firm until 1914, when Mr. King withdrew, leading to the adoption of the firm style of Tracy, Chapman & Welles, and in this connection Mr. Welles still practices. He has always prepared his cases with great thoroughness and care and his developing powers have brought him to a prominent position in the front ranks of the lawyers of this city, enjoying an exceptionally high-class clientele which he has represented in some of the most important litigation that has come before the courts of northern Ohio. Holding to the highest ideals and standards of his profession, he commands and receives the respect of his fellow members at the bar. On the 11th of September, 1907, Mr. Welles was married to Miss Mae E. Hunker of Toledo and they have a son and a daughter : George Denison, Jr., born in Toledo, December 26, 1908; and Virginia. In his professional connection Mr. Welles is a member of the Lucas County and the Ohio State Bar associations, the American Society of International Law and the Lawyers Club of Toledo, of which he is president for the year 1923. His other club connections are extensive and important and include membership in the Toledo Club, the Country Club, the Sylvania Golf Club, the Toledo Yacht Club, the Optimist Club of Toledo, of which he was president from May, 1922, to May, 1923, the Bankers Club of New York and the Congressional Country Club of Washington, D. C., of which he is a life member. He is also prominently identified with the Chamber of Commerce, being a trustee of that organization for the years 1922 and 1923. Notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Welles' professional work is extensive, important and extremely exacting, his cooperation has always been available in any movement or project TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 87 involving civic betterment or the general good, which is indicative of his manifest anu tangible interest in all questions and issues vital to the welfare and progress of the community. During the World war he was one of the Four-Minute speakers, was also a Liberty Loan precinct chairman and volunteered for service in the United States Field Artillery, being under orders to report at the Officers Training Camp at Camp Taylor at the time the armistice was signed. Mr. Welles' residence is at No. 2237 Collingwood avenue. JOHN HENRY O'LEARY John Henry O'Leary, who occupied a position of distinction at the Toledo bar, passed away on the 5th of October, 1920, and the city thus lost one of its valued and representative residents. He was born at Stony Ridge, Ohio, October 20, 1877, a son of Dennis and Elizabeth (Luddington) O'Leary, whose family numbered four children. Reared in Wood county, Ohio, John H. O'Leary attended the public schools there and later entered the Ohio Northern Preparatory School, from which he was graduated with the class of 1901. A review of the broad field of business, with its limitless opportunities along agricultural, industrial, commercial and professional lines, led him to the determination to enter upon the practice of law as a life work and with tnis end in view he became a student in the University of Michigan, which he attended from 1902 until 1905, receiving there his professional degree upon the completion of a course in law. Be was a member of the leading campus society, the Micha Gamma, during his college days and was popular with his fellow students, who esteemed him highly by reason of his capability, his honor and his genial comradeship. Following his graduation Mr. O'Leary came to Toledo and here entered into association with the law firm of Tabor & Clapp, which subsequently became Tabor & O'Leary. Some time afterward the junior partner assumed the entire practice of the firm and he long occupied an eminent position at the Toledo bar. Though he continued in the general practice of law, he devoted much of his time to corporation work, being legal counsel for many of the leading business houses and firms of this city. His knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence was comprehensive and exact and he prepared his cases with great thoroughness and care. He maintained his offices at No. 1112 Nicholas building and there received his many clients, whose interests he carefully safeguarded in the courts, always presenting his cause with clearness and force, so that he seldom failed to win the verdict desired. In 1908 Mr. O'Leary was united in marriage to Miss Anna Metzger, a daughter of Louis A. and Julia (Chapuis) Metzger. They became the parents of four children : John Henry, Jr., who died in. 1910 ; Jane ; Ruth ; and David Arthur. Mr. O'Leary was well known in club and social circles. He held membership in the Toledo Club, also in the Toledo Yacht Club, in the Chamber of Commerce, in the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and in the Knights of Columbus and was also identified with a number of legal societies. Mrs. O'Leary is very active in club circles also, belonging to the Woman's Club, the Educators Club and the Cathedral Parish Club. Step by step, throughout his life, Mr. O'Leary advanced and his capability won for him a commanding position at the bar, while the sterling 88 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY traits of his character gained for him the high respect and enduring regard of alt. with whom he came into contact. Mr. O'Leary's residence was at No. 2829 Collingwood avenue. JAMES W. McMAHON Various corporations have benefited by the cooperation and business judgment of James W. McMahon, but with no enterprise is he more closely associated than with the Northwestern Ohio Natural Gas Company, nor have any of his interests con-tributed in larger measure to the progress, development and welfare of the city of Toledo than this. The life story of Mr. McMahon is an interesting one, as it is the record of steady progress consistently and intelligently directed, representing a fit utilization of those opportunities which others have passed heedlessly by. Mr. McMahon was born November 13, 1856, at Ellicottville, Cattaraugus county, New York, and there at the usual age he began his education as a public school pupil, while later he enjoyed the advantage of study in Niagara University, where he was gradu-ated with the class of 1876. He then entered business circles in his native city and for a quarter of a century remained a factor in the business development of the Empire state becoming well known as a - merchant and lumber dealer. On the 1st of July, 1902, Mr. McMahon arrived in Toledo to become the general manager of the Northwestern Ohio Natural Gas Company, which supplies natural gas, throughout a distance of three hundred and fifty miles from West Virginia fields, to more than fifty thousand customers and it is said that about one hundred and seventy-five thousand people in this city and vicinity secure heat and fuel from this company. The same corporation supplies Bowling Green, Maumee, Perrysburg and other places accessible to its pipe lines from the West Virginia fields. The business in Toledo has been most wisely directed by Mr. McMahon as general manager, working in full cooperation with the officers of the Crawfordwho are George W. Craw.ford, president, John M. Garard, vice president and Ralph J. Burkhalter, assistant secretary and supplying. The business of supPlying Toledo with natural gas has been continued here since 1887, at whichfrme the supply was piped fomrom Wood county, Ohio, but since 1902 this has been secured from West Virginia fields. The plant is an extensive one, including three pumping stations and a vast sum is represented in other equipment of the company. Mr. McMahon has had long experience in this business and his direction of affairs has been highly satisfactory to the corporation which he represents and to the purchasing public. Toledo has greatly benefited by the introduction of natural gas as a fuel, for thereby fuel prices have been reduced and, moreover, it has contributed toward making Toledo a notably clean and, therefore, beautiful city. Mr. McMahon has also figured in other connections, being now one of the directors of the Ohio Savings Bank & Trust Company. Mr. McMahon has always been a close student of political history and of current events which have to do with world politics. He votes with the democratic party and was a delegate to the convention in Baltimore, where Woodrow Wilson was nominated and in the campaign of that year was one of the. presidential electors from Ohio. Long before he had been a delegate to the national convention of his party, when in 1884 Grover Cleveland was nominated for the presidency, and again he was a delegate when Cleveland was nominated in 1892. During his residence in TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 91 New York he served as dairy commissioner, was also a member of the state committee of his party for several years and for a considerable period represented his district in the general local assembly. On the 1st of January, 1910, he was made a member of the civil service board of Toledo and continued to act in that capacity until 1913. His interest in public affairs has been always of a valuable character, being prompted by a public-spirited devotion to the general good. He belongs to the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association and to the Knights of Columbus and he also has membership in the Toledo lodge of Elks. In club circles, too, he is well known, his membership being in the Toledo Commerce Club, the Toledo Automobile Club, the Toledo Club and the Toledo Yacht Club—associations which indicate much of the nature of his interests and activities outside the strict path of business. JAY WALL WILLIAMS Jay Wall Williams, vice president of the W. F. Broer Company, wholesale and retail jewelers of Toledo, has throughout the greater part of his life been connected with the jewelry trade, entering upon that line of business after leaving school. Steadily he has advanced as his powers have been developed and expanded and today he is a prominent figure in connection with the wholesale jewelry trade of the city. Mr. Williams was born June 8, 1884, in Circleville, Pickaway county, Ohio, and is a son of Samuel and Ella (Christy) Williams, the former a farmer by occupation. Jay Wall Williams' early education was acquired in the schools of his native city and during his third year in the high school he decided to put away his textbooks and learn the watchmaking trade. For this purpose he entered the jewelry store of L. W. Lewis and gradually working his way upward, became manager of the business, continuing to serve in that capacity until the death of the proprietor, when the store was sold. Mr. Williams then removed to Toledo and accepted a position as traveling salesman with Robert Nelson & Company, jewelers, who at that time were doing business in the Chamber of Commerce building. He remained with the latter company until the business was discontinued, after which he traveled for a year in Pennsylvania and New York as representative of the Hull Umbrella Company. This has been the only period throughout his business career in which he has not been identified with the jewelry trade. In 1909 he accepted a position as traveling salesman with the Merrill & Broer Company, owners of a wholesale and retail jewelry house in Toledo, which he represented on the road for eleven years, or until the business was reorganized in 1920, under the name of W. F. Broer Company, at which time Mr. Williams became the vice president and has so continued. Through the intervening period he has given his attention to administrative direction and executive control and his comprehensive knowledge of the jewelry trade and of business conditions affecting the trade has been one of the potent elements in the continued and growing success of the house. In 1915 Mr. Williams was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Marie Rowe, a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. George Taylor Rowe of Circleville, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have one child, Marjorie Anne. Fraternally Mr. Williams is connected with the Masons, having become a member of Sanford L. Collins Lodge, No. 396, F. & A. M., in January, 1912 ; f Fort Meigs Chapter No. 29, R. A. M., and of the council, R. & S. M., in 92 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY March, 1912 ; St. Omar Commandery, No. 59, K. T., in April of the same year ; and Zenobia Temple of the Mystic Shrine in the following November. On the 23d of January, 1920, he attained the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite Masonry in Toledo Consistory. He has been a member of the United Commercial Travelers since December, 1908, and he is identified with the Toledo Elks Lodge, No. 53. He also belongs to the Toledo Yacht Club, which indicates much concerning the nature of his recreation, and his devotion to public welfare ,is attested by his fellow members of the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Williams certainly deserves much credit for what he has accomplished. Starting out in the business world without capital, learning the watchmaker's trade and preparing himself for further duties and responsibilities, he has advanced through an orderly progression until he now occupies a central place on the stage of mercantile activity in his adopted city. CAPTAIN JOHN CRAIG Captain John Craig has lived to see various business enterprises with which he has been identified carried forward to successful completion, has lived to celebrate his sixty-first wedding anniversary and has lived to witness a notable development in Toledo and take active part in bringing about the present day progress and prosperity. He has passed the eighty-third milestone on life's journey and through a third of a century has made Toledo his home. He is a native of New York city and it is said that he entered this world on the stroke of twelve that terminated Christmas eve and ushered in Christmas day of 1838. His parents, George and Catherine L. (Campbell) Craig, were both natives of Scotland and many of the sterling traits of his Scotch ancestry seemed to have been inherited by Captain Craig. His father was born in 1809 and was about eighteen years of age when he crossed the Atlantic to the new world. He was married in New York city to Catherine L. Campbell and they spent their after life in the Empire state, where the father died at the age of eighty-seven years, while the mother was about fifty at the time of her demise. George Craig devoted his attention to the ship sawyer business in early life but afterward became identified with the lumber and coal trade in New York. He exercised considerable influence in politics among his fellow countrymen but never sought nor desired political preferment as a reward for party fealty. To him and his wife were born three children, the two daughters being Mrs. James Gorley and Mrs. A. R. Linn, both of whom became residents of Detroit. The only son and the eldst of the family was John Craig, who. supplemented his public school education in New York city by study in the College of the City of New York. He early served an apprenticeship to the work of ,ship construction and during the Civil war period he was engaged in fitting out schooners and steam- • ers, which were remodeled from merchant vessels into gunboats, thus having charge of the construction of twenty-three different gunboats. One of these was the Winona, which was built and delivered to the government within sixty-three days after the contract was signed. Captain Craig also fitted out a number of mortar boats for the Porter expedition at Beaufort, North Carolina, and continued his relations with the government. in this line of work until early in 1864. It was in 1866 that Captain Craig became a member of the firm of Linn & Craig, shipbuilders, at Gibraltar, Michigan. They were pioneers in that field of TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 95 labor and constructed a number of the large merchant vessels which plied the lakes for many years. In 1882 they removed their business to Trenton, Michigan, where it was continued under the firm name of John Craig and later of John Craig & Son. It was with difficulty that the firm could employ adequate labor, however, at Trenton and this led to the removal of the business to Toledo in 1889, at which time the Craig Shipbuilding Company was organized with Captain Craig as president, continuing at the head of the company until 1906, when they sold to the Toledo Shipbuilding Company. In the following year another Craig Shipbuilding Company was incorporated under the laws of Maine and its plant and business headquarters were established at Long Beach, California. In the new undertaking Captain Craig was again the president, while his son, John F. Craig, became vice president and general manager. The business was successfully conducted until the fall of 1913 and was then sold to the California Steamship Building Company, also a Maine corporation, but in the interim the Craig Company had built about ten ocean going boats on the Pacific coast. Throughout his active career Captain Craig was constantly expanding his business interests and connections, becoming president of the Toledo Steamship Company, also of the Adams Transportation Company and of the Monroe Transportation Company, which operates a fleet of freight boats on the Great Lakes. He was elected one of the directors of the First National Bank of Toledo and is now dean of all bank officials in that institution. He also became the vice president of the Toledo Metal Wheel Company, while in various other important corporations he acquired stock. That he was most prominently associated with the navigation interests of the middle west is indicated in the fact that before the Craig Shipbuilding Company sold to the Toledo Shipbuilding Company it had constructed one hundred and seven vessels, a good portion of them being the largest on the Great Lakes. In April, 1916, Federal Judge John M. Killits appointed Captain Craig receiver of the Toledo Railways & Light Company, a position for which he was splendidly qualified by reason of his highly developed business powers, administrative ,ability and executive force. Opportunity has ever been to him a call to action and one to which he has made ready response. During the World war Captain Craig was a "dollar-a-year man," serving as assistant to the director of the wooden ship department. On the 4th of November, 1861, Captain Craig was united in marriage to Miss Annie Eliza Losee of New York city, and a half century later they celebrated their golden wedding, amid enjoyment and good wishes of children, grandchildren and many friends. Their family numbered six children, two of whom died in infancy, the others being: George L. and John F., both of Long Beach, /California ; Catherine, the wife of D. 0. Douglass of Toledo ; and Mamie R., the wife of Alfred J. Merrill of Adrian, Michigan. The eldest son, George L., born in New York city, May 11, 1864, acquired a public school education and served an apprenticeship as a wood and ship carpenter with his father at Gibraltar, Michigan, and also with the eminent naval architect and shipbuilder, Frank Kirby, at Detroit, spending three years in Mr. Kirby's office as draftsman. He then became one of the organizers of the firm of John Craig & Son at Trenton, Michigan, in 1882, and came to Toledo with the removal of the business to this city in 1889, acting as general manager and consulting engineer of the Craig Shipbuilding Company until the business was sold in 1906. He has since been interested in a number of large corporations and he is well known as a member of the Toledo Yacht Club, the Engineers Club of New York and the Society of Naval Architects and Engineers, while in both Toledo and Long Beach, California, he has many friends. The younger son, John F., 96 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY was born in Gibraltar, Michigan, May 18, 1868, and attended the State Normal School at Ypsilanti, Michigan. He then started out in the business world with the firm of John Craig & Son at Trenton, being thus employed from 1887 until 1889 and on coming to Toledo he was made secretary of the Craig Shipbuilding Company, while in 1900 he was elected both secretary and treasurer. In 1906 he became the vice president and treasurer, so continuing- until the business was sold. He has become a director in various corporations with which his father is identified and like his brother he makes his home in California. Fraternally he is a consistory Mason. While controlling and directing mammoth business affairs Captain Craig has always found time for cooperation in those projects and interests which look to the civic upbuilding and development of the city and the advancement of moral progress. He has long been a valued member of St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal church, in which for many years he served as a trustee. He also became a member of the board of trustees of the Flower Hospital of Toledo and his position on the temperance question is evidenced in the fact that he was formerly president of the united dry campaign of Lucas county. Since attaining his majority he has voted with the republican party and has been untiring in his efforts to secure the adoption of its principles, yet has never been a politician in the usually accepted sense of office seeking. Prominent clubs of Toledo have claimed him as a valued and representative member, including the Toledo Club, the Toledo Commerce Club, and the Toledo Yacht Club and he also has membership with the Society of Naval Architects and Engineers of New York. Yachting has always been one of his delightful sources of recreation and he was long recognized as one of the most skillful commodores of sailing yachts on the Great Lakes. A contemporary writer has said of him : "He has sailed over practically the entire stretch of these inland waters, and has associated with and has been on terms of intimacy with all the great master shipbuilders and shipowners in the middle west. Due to his high position in the shipbuilding world and his long experience as a business man Captain Craig's wisdom and counsel have always been highly appreciated in Toledo. Though ad-vancing in years he has always kept abreast of the trend of the times in modern thought and progress and ha§ been a close student of questions and issues vital to the city in its upbuilding and development. In March, 1916, in an address delivered before the Toledo Real Estate Board, he called attention to the enormous destruction of property in the great World war and that the United States supplies only about forty per cent of the world's consumption of metals, asking the pertinent question where Toledo would appear on the world's industrial map and counseling the busi-ness men of the city to lay plans for more furnaces and rolling mills in order that Toledo might be known as the center of the metal industry." When he was ap-pointed receiver of the Toledo Railways & Light Company one of his biographers commented upon this, speaking of the responsibility of a position that involved not only the safeguarding of an immense investment but also the rehabilitation of one of the largest public utilities of Ohio. Captain Craig was at one time a candidate for the republican nomination for mayor and upon the realization of factional differ-ences in the party he threw the weight of his influence to Samuel M. Jones, resulting in the first nomination and election of "Golden Rule Jones" as chief executive of Toledo. Captain Craig was a delegate to the republican national convention which nominated Taft and at all times his influence has been a potent force for progress and improvement in municipal affairs and righteousness in public rule. Of Captain Craig it might well be said, "Though the snows of winter are on his head the flowers of spring are in his heart." In his activities and in his interests he seems a TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 97 much younger man but time chronicles him as an octogenarian. His career has been one of vast usefulness and worth in the upbuilding of the city in a material way, in the advancement of its standards and in the upholding of those legal and moral forces which make for public betterment and the uplift of the individual. Since 1889 Captain Craig's residence has been at the northwest corner of Madison avenue and Twenty-first street, Toledo. HOWARD R. HUNTINGTON Howard R. Huntington, president of the Sandusky Cooperage & Lumber Company, with headquarters in Toledo, is ably carrying forward the interests established by his father, displaying the same enterprising spirit and marked executive ability which ever characterized the latter and enabled him to develop a business of large proportions. He was born in Sandusky, Ohio, August 15, 1875, and his parents were Henry C. and Josephine (Warner) Huntington, the former a native of New York state and the latter of Ohio. In early life the father came to the Buckeye state, settling in Sandusky, where he continued to reside until his demise, which occurred in 1905, when he was sixty-five years of age. He was a very capable business man and became the organizer of the Sandusky Cooperage & Lumber Company, which he continued. to manage successfully for many years, building up a large undertaking. The mother passed away in New York city in 1917, at the age of sixty-four. The second in a family of six children, Howard R. Huntington attended the grammar and high schools of his native city and when seventeen years of age he became a student at Oberlin College at Oberlin, Ohio, afterward entering Harvard University, from which he was graduated in 1898. He then went to Alaska on a prospecting trip and after leaving that country he spent four years in Idaho, being engaged in the work of supervising the erection of sugar beet factories for a Cleveland construction firm. At the end of that time he returned to Sandusky and following his father's death Mr. Huntington became connected with the business founded by the latter, purchasing all of the stock in the Sandusky Cooperage & Lumber Company in 1907. This he conducted as an independent concern until 1918, when it was incorporated, and he has since been president of the company. On the 1st of August, 1919, they established their headquarters in Toledo and their offices are now located in the Nasby building. Mr. Huntington gives his close personal attention to every detail of the business and has succeeded in keeping it not only in line but rather in the lead of the progressive enterprises of this character in the city, being watchful of every indication pointing to success. At Heise, Idaho, on the 29th of December, 1904, Mr. Huntington was married to Miss Katherine Heise, a daughter of Richard C. Heise, in whose honor the town was named. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Huntington : Helen, whose birth occurred in Sandusky in 1907 and who is now attending high school in Toledo ; Kathryn, who was born in Galion., Ohio, in 1910, and is a student in the public schools of this city ; and Howard, who was born in Galion in 1912 and is also a public school pupil. Mr. Huntington is a member of the Congregational church and his political support is given to the republican party. He is a valued member of the Toledo Chamber of Commerce and he is also connected with the Toledo Club and the 98 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY Inverness Club. He is a Knights Templar Mason, being identified with the commandery at Mansfield, Ohio. In the conduct of his interests he is alert, energetic and progressive and in his business career he has ever held closely to the rules which govern strict integrity and unabating industry. His record measures up to the full standard of honorable manhood and he has always found time to participate in those movements which have for their object the upbuilding and advancement of his city. JOHN M. BOUR John M. Bour, who in his public and, private relations alike lived a life above reproach, was the founder and president of the large tea and coffee house conducted for many years under the name of the J. M. Bour Company and later he became the organizer of The Star Hardware & Supply Company. His high standing in business circles is shown in the fact that he was chosen the second president of the Toledo Chamber of Commerce. There is no biographical record of a Toledo citizen that indicates more clearly what can be accomplished through individual effort, initiative and intelligent industry than that of Mr. Bour, and it seems that he should have been spared for years to come, as he had only passed the fifty-eighth milestone on life's journey when called to his final rest. John M. Bour was born in Detroit, Michigan, November 18, 1863, and was the son of one of the prosperous merchants of that city. He acquired a public school education and when still a youth in his teens became a factor in the business world by providing for his own support. He was but twenty years of age when he came to Toledo and throughout his remaining days continued a resident of this city. Here he engaged in the wholesale tea and coffee trade, opening a small store on Monroe street. The excellent line which he carried and his progressive and reliable business methods soon led to a steady and substantial growth in his trade, necessitating a removal to larger quarters, which were obtained in Summit street. This later was given up for a third factory in Ontario street and year by year the business continued to grow and expand until in 1904 it had reached such volume that the company purchased ground at Smith street and Spielbusch avenue and there erected a large five-story concrete fireproof structure, which was the first of the kind in Toledo. The business was incorporated under the name of the J. M. Bour Company and branch sales offices were established in many of the larger cities of the United States. In time the company came to own three large warehouses besides the main factory. Mr. Bour was a pioneer in the wholesale handling of teas and coffees in Toledo and enjoyed a very wide reputation in this connection. He was regarded as an expert concerning the value of teas and coffees and his house also became sole importers of the Royal Garden Japan teas. A contemporary writer said of him : "Singleness of purpose, combined with intelligence and ability to seize opportunities, was a marked characteristic of J. M. Bour. The success of his life was due to no inherited fortune, nor to any happy succession of advantageous circumstances, but to his own sturdy will, steady application, studious habits, tireless industry and sterling integrity." He remained as president and general manager of the J. M. Bour Company until he sold his interest in the business in 1910 and a little later he organized The Star Hardware & Supply Company, developing, as before, one of the largest enter-