Jump to content

STOWE, JANDUS, ADAMS-BAGNALL and Cleveland OH


Steve Rockwell

Recommended Posts

 

 

 

Jandus Trivia Question

https://www.afcaforum.com/view_topic.php?id=58384

 

When Did Early Jandus Change The Ball Motor Base

https://www.afcaforum.com/view_topic.php?id=57488

 

Jandus Electric Absorbed Early 10

https://www.afcaforum.com/view_topic.php?id=13163

 

National Screw & Tack Co. Absorbed AB On........

https://www.afcaforum.com/view_topic.php?id=17069

 

Base of JANDUS 12" Wiremount

https://www.afcaforum.com/view_topic.php?id=60957

 

Jandus C Frame Info.

https://www.afcaforum.com/view_topic.php?id=43349

 

FF2011 , a couple of shy Jandi

https://www.afcaforum.com/view_topic.php?id=18901

 

Jandus Wire Mount Circa 1912 Restoration Complete

https://www.afcaforum.com/view_topic.php?id=60372

 

Jandus Gyro Evolution

https://www.afcaforum.com/view_topic.php?id=53106

 

GRYO Fan AB National Screw

https://www.afcaforum.com/view_topic.php?id=56765

 

National Screw & Tack Company Gyrofan

https://www.afcaforum.com/view_topic.php?id=40989

 

Turn Of Century Jandus On The Rail

https://www.afcaforum.com/view_topic.php?id=58749

 

For Alison Jandus Arc Light

https://www.afcaforum.com/view_topic.php?id=63725

 

AB/Jandus Centrifugal Motor Designer?

https://www.afcaforum.com/view_topic.php?id=61080

 

Book Written By William Jandus

https://www.afcaforum.com/view_topic.php?id=39169

 

                            Ad Almost Infinitum

 

 

     I want to access a lot of Old Forum threads in this New Forum version, combine information from those old sources and add fresh, come up with a somewhat enhanced timeline for electrical developments in Cleveland. If it’s successful, it will take some while to get there, please bear with me.

     While Charles F. Brush and Swan Lamp are the tap root of so much of what happened in Cleveland's electrical development, we’ll start by tracing William Jandus as the cast of characters largely come together by the 1890’s…

 

 

 

        William Jandus, born Apr 1848, New York City. 

 

     For the timeline, Bernard A. Stowe is born 8 Jul 1870 in VanBuren Co., MI.      Jandus already is 22 years old.

 

        Events of 1870

1637209027_Jandus1870copy.thumb.png.c1c2b2e48d5024d2c675b1ef7fd12c9b.png

 

711802070_1872NYCDirectory-Jandus.png.9aae2659b7d392d5ce594b9a5c5ad462.png

1314479608_1874NYCDirectory-Jandus.png.e19aa5a8c8949f0b7d3de54f285c1caf.png

737916222_1875NYCDirectory-Jandus2.png.11dd1781dec65eb4e5e4b5828b41aaad.png

     According to this, young William resides in Missouri. Safe to infer his Father passes on in the year 1875…

2005349777_1876NYCDirectory-Jandus.png.ae3b2484e6b6df237fa0238eaf507ea9.png

     and son William has left New York 1877

863022406_1877NYCDirectory.png.f305dfc887095d8836d08be8f96baa6f.png

     William Jandus is an unusual name, few others possessed it, a lucky break in research… I happened on a listing, which it seems safe to assume is our person of interest:

1414931151_1877DenverDirectory-Jandus.png.50e6213788bf38f13ba3e32b6283109f.png

747927287_1877DenverDirectory-ChewJandus.png.b034c50d73e1fb47337b388692f43307.png

1746182708_1877DenverDirectory-Photographers.png.b9ff7847aea60b558dfacf722d3111ef.png

   Looks as if Larimer St. was the hotbed of photography, and it looks as if the partnership was a one-year venture, and that some other team had taken over the  business 1878. Chew remained in Denver, and Jandus disappeared from the directory…

2012941475_1878DenverPhotographers.png.38e64238a9d97a0ee434b269f0a5a2d0.png

 

        Timeline: Augustine Ridenour Ayers born 26 Oct 1878 in Toledo OH...

 

     Supposition now: it’s very possible, though not necessarily so, that Jandus became involved with the Kansas Pacific Railway subsequently or even starting in Denver; he remained active in the railroad arena for the next fifteen years or so.

     Whatever the actuality of the transition, by 1880 he’s living at the other end of the KP outside Kansas City KS, 533 Armstrong Ave. adjacent to the KP railway yards, and clerking for some railroad…

 

1908485291_1880Census-Jandus.thumb.png.3df572e12470a4d12be044cf31237a36.png

 

 

 

1878 Wyandotte Map.png

Edited by Steve Rockwell
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

     In Cleveland Ohio at that time, Charles Brush’s successful demonstrations of illumination via the miracle of electricity created jobs in the just-then burgeoning field of electrical development, fostered manufactories and the businesses supplying, developing, installing, promoting and selling an entire industry.

111829739_BrushHistory.png.4d0dd35a33a19752f2baa491bfeb106d.png

 

     Among those who showed promise and who benefitted from their abilities was Mr. Jotham Potter.

 

  “Jotham Potter was born in 1858, in Cleveland, Ohio. His father was a minister by profession and a president of a female college in Ohio. Jotham Potter graduated from Princeton University in 1877 and received an M.A. from Princeton a few years later. He taught at the Lawrenceville School for a few years, sometime between 1870 and 1883.
     (He was integral for the development of Football, particularly in the college system, and he helped with the development of football in Lawrenceville.)
   In 1881 he began working with Brush Electric Company, and worked as an agent for the company in Japan, China, and a few other Asian countries. He left for Japan in 1882. His work there included making “extensive contracts with the Japanese government for lighting docks, arsenals, warships, etc., and established the first central station electric lighting plants in Japan and China” (Western Electric, Volume 16).

      Potter's professional work in Asia was considered very successful, and then in 1884 he was recalled to Cleveland, Ohio to take the Office of the Treasurer and Director of Brush Electric, and become Vice President of the former and President of the latter.    Potter was also an incorporator of the Swan Lamp Manufacturing company and the Short Electric Railway company. “Until 1893 he took a prominent part in the management of the affairs of these and subordinate companies, and especially administered their finances. After the formation of the General Electric company in New York, Mr. Potter disposed of his interests in enterprises with which he had been identified and retired from the management. In January 1894, he acquired large holdings of the stock of the Buckeye Electric company, and became its President. He [was] also interested as a stockholder in Cleveland banking institutions and manufacturing companies, being a director in several. He [was] a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Union and Country clubs of Cleveland, the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, the University Club of New York, and president of the Cleveland Alumni association of Princeton University”.

164342657_PotterJothamBiographyOne.thumb.png.26d72e3b3fc6b33b1dff555711bf2e83.png

1130950435_PotterJothamPortrait.png.97f2a36c07ae5a479ddaef2bbc1f65bd.png

1613092091_1887ClevelandDirectory-Potter.png.55b0603fdf8f9001cd5e7a3628d66eb9.png

 

  Other figures important to the long-term story appeared in Cleveland at that time, the mid-1880s...

1391571095_1884ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.498405f2e4b165bc529be45d3c0d7cf8.png

1333336289_RockwellCharlesBio.png.3ba766dd20d612ea68f32a916de75006.png

942086035_AlexanderWilliamDavidBrownBio.png.9acf6c8443adba0bbbd8b667ec9afc0c.png

 

     1884 is the first documented year I've found for Jandus' residence in Cleveland, and for years he remained with the N.Y., C. & St. L. Ry., popularly known as the "Nickel Plate Road"

1801255883_1884ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.a668929d92e19c9fc1f1506604fa3056.png

516963055_1886ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.8c24da8f2675027b7843c1128ac44fb3.png

1522569162_1887ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.512f85daab9c929c236fd4c27aa96867.png

1375712456_1888ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.5915f9cdc021a6bf4e4cb7f0968dd140.png

200493729_1891ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.69179b1b5d55cdf146ca96c085157be2.png

1806095741_1892ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.757f3af276c825e4fa02913ea3ccc403.png

104180051_1894ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.7d01abe0dbabc11da7df5f8bcb5db5c8.png

     It appears that 1894 is the year Jandus made the clear break to electrical/inventive work only...  46 years of age.....

2015063881_1895ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.74984fc00510115a7c04389472e2887c.png

 

     The others who were mentioned earlier:

1734490987_1895ClevelandDirectory-Potter.png.5a30a791f6dd8b1db12f1e333614e9dc.png

1469721285_1894ClevelandDirectory-Rockwell.png.369b647993c19c869a5d6e1c93be09e6.png

916135087_1894ClevelandDirectory-Alexander.png.098beed8c99aaba700bcd33d186b152e.png

 

     One other to throw in the mix.....

365491544_1887ClevelandDirectory-Adams.png.3bd636f56f6d455740cad5d9a51ef9f2.png

 

 

Edited by Steve Rockwell
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi guys it's Robert Brandon I just love reading the history of how the fans and electrical equipment evolved such a long time ago great info thanks for posting best regards Robert

Link to comment
Share on other sites

          Back to William Jandus and the 1880's...

     Perhaps the most remarkable thing to me from above is that Jandus' life's work, his true calling so to speak, seems to have begun at roughly age thirty-eight and bore fruit really when he was aged 44-46... not your typical life's arc, pun moderately intentional.

   I don't yet know precisely what brought him to Cleveland; the railroad job would have been proximate cause, but beyond that, there may be a gap to fill. However, the electrical story is told clearly (if incompletely) in this excerpt:

1173395625_1895OmahaDailyBee-JandusLight.thumb.png.6c8fbd0ac7c66436a4a77f1f442fbddf.png

                                                              This is of real importance.....

 

        And by then, all these other parties mentioned above have begun a process of developing new companies to continue the work begun under the auspices of Charles Brush who had sold out his interests and joyfully retired from the cut-throat business world. He was wealthy, continued in his own way to be an original (built a giant wind turbine for home electrical consumption)... seems to me his is one of the cool stories in electrical history, an acknowledged innovator who made it big and got out...

        It's time to recognize the companies which did spring up in the aftermath of the Brush takeover, and of course there are yet to come more contributory individuals... The Buckeye Electric mentioned initially in relation to Charles H. Rockwell has to have been the locus around which the Jandus company emerged; the shared quarters and phone and the geographic pattern evidenced in the directory listings make it difficult to differentiate the two in days of formation, but the timeline makes it plain that Buckeye preceded Jandus as a corporate organization. It's speculation to what degree Jandus worked with and through the Buckeye Electric. It was extremely well-advised of William Jandus to pursue international patent protection at the same time he waited for US patent office approval, because his arc lamp, its production and marketing is the significant precursor to any Jandus Adams-Bagnall National Screw & Tack fan story, and I can only imagine that the licensing of his arc light improvement left him in the position thereafter to be an independent inventor...

  793498211_23Feb1895WesternElectrician-Buckeye.thumb.png.390bc5c3c290eba739e1f784c7d04848.png

1593391034_BuckeyeElectricA.thumb.png.1acb6420d7ed809ecc53f608cfbaf97d.png

144954374_1892ClevelandDirectory-Buckeye.png.c9794527b81e912735a3f8f4209cd8bb.png

445466399_1894ClevelandDirectory-Buckeye.png.8cbccddf9e8f5e99770334a6f620eaa3.png

 1645301915_1896ClevelandDirectory-Buckeye.png.80976923287a2da40c9b26fbb822d145.png

180140218_1898ClevelandDirectory-Buckeye.png.21d9886f4a21ff5827c25b6ff52ad442.png

     There is Charles H. Rockwell always running the financial end of the business, as he continued with his other enterprises... Note the office addresses in 1891...

1757123368_Overlaps1Buckeye-WesternMineralWool.png.0022f38c13652742fac1f332cf8bdb4a.png

          I'll return to his importance later...

2109103903_1896ClevelandDirectory-Rockwell.png.c2b1613d384a72d5fef1cfbd3ebae8c4.png

324856859_1898ClevelandDirectory-Rockwell.png.bc22a47c460220d50a1a930e7951451f.png

 

            Historical footnote to the Buckeye Company:

1393377744_8Apr1893ElectricalReview-Buckeye.thumb.png.15373b6bab36c9099e4665c4f858b720.png

 

 

                            Here is where the Jandus Company literally began, albeit this individual branched off into mining work, as did many other early electricans (engineers)...

319932835_1888ClevelandDirectory-CuyahogaMnfg..png.db9f74e5f3ad4f8f6c6d333a6e85704a.png

1773440401_1891ClevelandDirectory-CuyahogaMnfg..png.256e5a9bed19566322d7671d8f0110e4.png

1530305454_1891ClevelandDirectory-Garlick.png.dfe1e8f8bb7be592b5372e42eed9fbe7.png

855846366_1894ClevelandDirectory-Garlick.png.bf069ac63ec9a6c21e1817b8d51506a0.png

190161165_GarlickPatent.png.a7458eea61541dfa9608743bde8b7dde.png

        Whatever the sequence of events, Garlick's electrical business faltered, and was subsumed................

                                                                ..............By..............

2059154003_JandusIncorporation.png.bb4c2566759e6cf3c9c6c56b2b922b9e.png

 

     In using directory listings, written histories and magazine excerpts discretion needs to be exercised to keep from overemphasizing incorrect or misleading information... just a note of caution... which will be evident in any number of items presented here...

          As mentioned, William Jandus lay the foundation for international exploitation of his invention...

44072688_Jandus1891Patent.thumb.png.35964432f040ab1f0169b15066140cd5.png

1405074739_BritishJandusIncorporation.thumb.png.05c50f0fced772dcdf2a1d33ad07f491.png

 

and, we should all keep in mind that the backdrop to all electrical developments, company organizations, expansions and financing was a catastrophic economic downturn which lasted for years, into 1897 if I'm recalling correctly--- the panic of '93...

 

          So here is William Jandus listed individually in 1896 as the Jandus Company begins to appear in listings as well as print...

645560530_1896ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.5b34fcb17ffb2a24f1c9b113e1022526.png

615206520_1897ClevelandDirectory-JandusElectric.png.326dd5d26e754b969c326fe14d4e622c.png

          And there it is again, same address, same phone, same office...

2097722580_1898ClevelandDirectory-ElectricLamps.png.ecadcd7c70d4561551baf854783ca964.png

 

          Through the years, Jandus appears to have had an existence independent of the Company--- it's reflected in the patent record... and the directory listings support this observation. His son Herbert begins to appear in 1906, at which time Jandus is 58 years old...

1289057886_1899ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.c6e11ed129941ee558be383784fd7232.png

702491972_1900ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.89ffbca51ef9dbaa719a937ecb0eafc3.png

669859083_1901ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.3d55fd78241fc66e26ece4d136a90e7c.png

1760530593_1902ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.b824bc94cd6f88ad318d3c3106080396.png

791073867_1903ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.4b97d32648dbc22d54d4fd3013dec6a4.png

2048651533_1904ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.ac180fb69b734e6ff4d2a5ab074602d7.png

85812717_1905ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.7b6cbb4aa6ad129bdd3e1fc4c1225bbc.png

94796012_1906ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.73326dc5da1936807a4a369cdadb998e.png

801027548_1907ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.14574a48598aba891103bd6615948d2b.png

1534021846_1908ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.d1f712ecf2e17fc61810c618c5891ce0.png

354753771_1909ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.b468d4c5549639e220682d12861d267c.png

615822951_1910ClevelandDirectory-Jandus.png.3d9a44d334d7675e5ee3be1e9ae896eb.png

         

        The Jandus family, all of them, eventually moved to Detroit having gotten into the automobile business, and it's there they spent the rest of their days...

 

          But to bring the subject back to fans... as mentioned by Russ Huber, George Lean was prominent in the Company during its first years... I think he included some obituary...

358517653_1896PatentstoJandusA.thumb.png.de1da8153a2be5852403b8ef1595a386.png

1611365858_1896PatentstoJandusB.thumb.png.e40757c83f7b4e6dd0e9fc7662e48770.png

1827042731_LeanGeorgeObit.thumb.png.9dbb75161aa5dd77b1aa523b14be394d.png

 

 

 

          Next, the other, remaining, Company needs to be highlighted, and that's where I will resume........

 

         

 

Edited by Steve Rockwell
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

     Adams-Bagnall

1974150023_AdamsThomasE_Bio.thumb.png.ef5f706152c60c284fc7082f6b4ea822.png

1659245407_BagnallErnestBio.thumb.png.54d878d1333a1d1ef9868b8488268d40.png

203029157_4Mar1893WesternElectrician-Bagnall.png.0c5be19dccb6c40465c035f953275108.png

        The electrical journals tell it so nicely and so concisely that I’ll let them provide the biographies and business arrangements.

2021198296_8May1895ElectricalRecord-Adams-BagnallD.thumb.png.d51e3a48b9b44e75246ad2780197047f.png

 

     In case that’s not easily read, I’ll break it into segments:

857943948_8May1895ElectricalRecordAdams-BagnallA.thumb.png.928884666241588a5103ecea5600b0d8.png

1307706429_8May1895ElectricalRecord-Adams-BagnallB.thumb.png.5262c97aa985b303658abc14b925397d.png

139833346_8May1895ElectricalRecord-Adams-BagnallC.thumb.png.e694204b009348461aad3372721d5d37.png

 

 

 

 

1971623756_11May1895WesternElectrician-Adams-BagnallStory.thumb.png.aa1a4061b75b969cad14825c4442b16d.png

2042657859_15May1895StreetRailwayGuide-Adams-Bagnall.png.99545ddde1a0cdbc052a19831af096b3.png

1312353739_May1895StreetRailwayJournal-Adams-Bagnall.thumb.png.4f63adbe0ab0dbde830dc7b6d90de85b.png

          I wish a lot of other historic companies were documented as thoroughly as the above…

 

         I’d judge Adams-Bagnall to have been a better funded company, one reason for their eventual absorption of Jandus. Charles Hickox and William Alexander of Adams-Bagnall were genuine financial powerhouses in Cleveland. Another reason would be mortality… not just of Jotham Potter (d.1910), but of Charles H. Rockwell (there’s that name again, d.1907), who was such a steady presence in the Buckeye/Jandus companies.

               ONE of the leading business men and best known citizens of Cleveland, Ohio, of a past generation, was the late Charles G. Hickox, who, for many years, ranked as one of the State's foremost captains of industry, as did also his honored father. He is remembered, by those who knew him well, as a man of strong personality, but he never forced his convictions upon any one, and he was notably undemonstrative. His energy, perseverance, and application enabled him to accomplish much more than the average man of business. His high sense of honor restrained him from directing his activities toward any but worthy objects. He was a man of fine presence and pleasant address, and his appearance denoted the intellectual, forceful, manly man. He had in him the elements that make men successful in the highest degree. Permanent among his qualities was that sound judgment which is ordinarily called common sense. He had the ability to grasp facts and infer their practical significance with almost unerring certainty. Few men, in the circles in which he moved, were more sought for counsel than Mr. Hickox by those admitted to his favor, and the correctness of his opinions in practical matters was almost proverbial. His good judgment extended to men as well as measures, for he had a keen insight into human nature, whether of men singly or in masses. For these reasons he was a thoroughly practical man, self-reliant, firm, resolute. To this was added the one thing necessary for the ideal business man—a scrupulous honesty in all his relations with his fellowmen.
             Mr. Hickox was born in Cleveland, January 14, 1846, and here he spent his life, being thus identified with the city's growth for over a half-century, seeing it develop from a small, insignificant town to one of the principal lake ports, with half a million souls, and in this wonderful transformation he played an important part. He was a son of Charles and Laura (Freeman) Hickox. Owing to the prominence of the father, the biographer deems it advisable here to give his personal history at length.
            Charles Hickox was born in Washington, Litchfield County, Connecticut, in 1810, being the youngest of four brothers. His parents were natives of Connecticut, in which State they resided until 1815, when they removed to Canfield, Mahoning County, Ohio, where Charles Hickox resided until he was seventeen years of age, then joined two of his brothers at Rochester, New York. He came to Cleveland in 1837, the town at that time numbering only five thousand inhabitants. He made his debut in the Forest City in the year of its greatest depression. For two years he engaged as clerk and served his employers faithfully, then, gaining confidence and seeing an opening he struck out boldly for himself, setting up, as was usual in those days, in the commission and produce business. The constantly growing commerce of the place increased his business and made it lucrative. With far-seeing enterprise he pushed his operations so that his trade rapidly increased and his consignments steadily grew in number and quality. To accommodate it he purchased interests in shipping on the lake and eventually became a large ship owner.
             Subsequently Mr. Hickox turned his attention to milling and commercial operations along other lines. He purchased a large flouring mill in Akron, Ohio, which he soon made known to the commercial world by the excellence and reliability of its brand. To this was in time added the water mill on the canal in Cleveland near the weigh lock, which he sold after operating it five years, then purchased the Cleveland Steam Mills on Merwin Street, with a capacity of about three hundred and fifty barrels per day, and in 1867 he added the National Steam Mills, with a capacity of nearly six hundred barrels per day. A large capital was necessarily involved in these mills, and a large number of men were constantly employed in the mills proper and in the manufacture of barrels and sacks. A very large proportion of the flour was sold in sacks. Although the products of these mills was very large, nearly the entire amount was sold in local markets, indicating the superior quality of the flour, in fact, there was a demand for it that could scarcely be met.
            In 1872, Mr. Hickox turned his attention to other lines of investment other than the flouring-mill business, among them iron ore mines of Lake Superior and coal lands of central Ohio. By the sale of these later to the Hocking Valley and the Toledo and Ohio Central Railroad companies, he became identified with those companies, being active in the general management of both corporations. He was also one of the founders of the Society for Savings, was a member of the Board of Sinking Fund Commissioners; he was also president of the Republic Iron Company, and a director in a number of other important corporations. At various periods he owned considerable real estate in Cleveland, and at the time of his death he was constructing the substantial Hickox Building at the corner of Euclid Avenue and Ninth Street, Cleveland. He took a deep interest in the city's railroads, and he was for some time a director of the Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati Railroad Company. He made his influence felt in all departments of business, in which he became interested, up to the last. He never tired of work. It was in 1848 that the Cleveland Board of Trade was organized and he was one of the best-known early members of the same. Mr. Hickox was married in 1843 to Laura A. Freeman, a daughter of Judge Francis Freeman and wife, a prominent old family of Warren, Ohio. To this union four children were born, namely, Frank F., Charles G., Ralph W., and Mrs. Harvey H. Brown. They all established their homes in Cleveland and became well known here. Politically Charles Hickox was a Republican but he never sought office or political leadership; but he had the interest of his city at heart, and never spared either time or money in promoting whatever he deemed would make for the general welfare of the same, as well as for the State and Nation. He traveled extensively and was a well-read and well-informed man, keeping up with the times in every respect. He was called to his reward April 17, 1890, after a most commendable career, one fraught with great good to the people of Ohio. The death of his wife occurred April 3, 1893.
            Charles G. Hickox, the immediate subject of this sketch, grew to manhood in his native city, and he received his early education in the schools of Cleveland, later taking a full course in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he made an excellent record and from which institution he was graduated with the class of 1867. Upon his return home from college, he began his strenuous and successful business career, his father having started his sons, Charles G. and Frank F. Hickox, in the flouring-mill business, known as the Cleveland Milling Company, of which our subject was secretary and treasurer. This venture was a great success, owing principally to the fine business ability and close application of our subject. The products of their mills were in great demand over a vast territory. Having accumulated a competency, the younger Hickox had retired from the active affairs of life some years before his father's death in 1890, but was compelled to take up the extensive railroad and other interests left him by his father. This he did in a manner that reflected much credit upon himself and to the satisfaction of all concerned, displaying an executive genius and fortitude, courage and business acumen that even surpassed similar attributes of his father. He kept all lines of the affairs entrusted to him going successfully, gradually building them up as the times and general conditions demanded, and increased several fold their earning powers. He remained actively engaged in his extensive interests until about the year 1910, when he again retired to private life and spent his last years as quietly as possible in his attractive and well-appointed home in Cleveland; this was necessary owing to the fact that he was in failing health several years before his death.
            Charles G. Hickox was a director of the Columbus, Hocking Valley, and Toledo Railroad, was also a director of the Toledo and Ohio Central Railroad, also was vice president of the latter road. He was second officer of the Adams-Bagnall Electric Company, also of the Lakeview Cemetery Association, and the Gordon Electric Drill and Machinery Company; also a director in the Kanawha and Michigan Railway Company, the Cleveland and Mahoning Railway Company, and the National Acme Company. He was interested in the Litchfield Company which operates the Hickox Building in Cleveland, built by our subject's father, as stated in a preceding paragraph. The elder Hickox and Judge Stevenson Burke owned large coal fields in Ohio and West Virginia, and thus they became leading spirits in the Hocking Valley Railroad and the Toledo and Ohio Central Railroads. These and other extensive holdings were inherited by the Hickox children upon the father's death. Only one of the children now survives, Frank F. Hickox.
            Charles G. Hickox was married on December 16, 1902, to Alice M. Chrystal, a daughter of Peter and Hannah (Clinton) Chrystal. Her father was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, of a sterling, old New England family. He grew up and was educated in his native State, but in early life crossed the continent to the Pacific coast, being one of the pioneers of California, where he located in the early fifties, in the gold-fever days, and there became successful in business and prominent. The mother of Mrs. Hickox was a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, and was the possessor of that inimitable Southern charm of manner which made her a favorite everywhere. These parents have long since passed to their rest. To them ten children were born, only two of whom were born in this country. Mr. and Mrs. Chrystal lived a number of years abroad, where the children were educated. The -children now surviving are James B., Eugenie, Alice Al., and Cecelia. Mrs. Hickox was born in Paris, France, and enjoyed the advantages of an excellent education. She is a lady of culture and has long been a social favorite in Cleveland, where she continues to make her home.
            Politically Charles G. Hickox was a Republican and was ever loyal in his support of the party. He was a close personal friend of Senator Mark Hanna. He was a member of the Union, Country, and Roadside clubs, also the Sigma Phi fraternity of his college—the University of Michigan. He was a worthy member and liberal supporter of the Euclid Avenue Presbyterian Church, of which his parents were also members.
Mr. Hickox was summoned to his eternal rest on April 23, 1912, leaving behind him a record of which his city and family may well be proud—a record after which any young man, starting out on his career, might well pattern.

1016833193_AlexanderWilliamDavidBrownBio.png.7f2212dee132cf6e2d10abef76a691af.png

1381285703_MoodysNationalScrewAdams-Bagnall.thumb.png.952c0dffe7b57d2168c7c65d4719de0e.png

 

          Adams and Bagnall both seem to have largely concentrated their own efforts on arc lighting, which is reflected in their patent filings… Public lighting was big business, very important to even the biggest fish in the electrical industry… For example, a substantial  percentage of Thomson-Houston’s efforts was concentrated in two realms: arc lighting and street transit. In Cleveland, the successors to Brush continued to improve and to expand. Cleveland was such a center for lighting developments that it was the logical location for the National Electric Light Association when it organized… with Adams-Bagnall and Buckeye in the mix… but N.E.L.A. is another story, and a very involved one.

          Thomas Adams and Ernest Bagnall, much like William Jandus, did not particularly make headlines, though their labors were apparently focused within their namesake company, whereas Jandus seems to have had a career at least somewhat more independent of the Jandus company.

          Both the Jandus and Adams-Bagnall companies provided an assortment of electrical goods to market, though it’s only Jandus, in the time prior to confederation, which produced fans. This can be substantially attributed to the young Michigan engineer mentioned earlier in Russ’ clipping, who came to the them mid-eighteen nineties.

246498515_StoweBernardEducation.thumb.png.949bb5f54d1e24eda5b7b56fb40f71e4.png

          Bernard A. Stowe graduated from Western Michigan in 1892, and appears to have spent his entire life, prior to Cleveland, in the corridor from Kalamazoo west to Lake Michigan.

2058028392_1872MichiganMap.thumb.png.582f3f3a3d602f161880e5a526dc013e.png

 

         He grew up in Hartford MI, attended college in Kalamazoo, married in 1896 a woman from Benton Harbor MI.

 

        The earliest patent I've located is US506208... If anyone can provide one prior top that, it would help fill in the missing gap in his record...

   Information regarding that period between college and gainful employment is absent; after graduation did he continue at college (or teach?), return home to Hartford, or did he go out in the wide world to seek his fortune…? A fresh graduate would have found numerous closer opportunities before he ever headed the distance to Cleveland… Grand Rapids, South Bend/Elkhart, CHICAGO, Fort Wayne, Detroit or Toledo all a good deal closer to home than that lighting hotbed Cleveland…

 

   He married May 1896 and his first child was born in May 1897 at Benton Harbor MI. Since his first patent lists him as residing in Cleveland as of Dec 1896, the wife may possibly have returned home for the birth, not an uncommon practice, or he may have boarded in Cleveland solo while he got a toehold, with her still living full-time in Benton; the record can’t confirm either possibility at present. His first Cleveland directory listing was 1898

934180311_1898ClevelandDirectory-Stowe.png.8a69d5ac35c0ee43b8f3f567de5ac661.png

and by 1899 he’s assumed the superintendency,

1148630260_1899ClevelandDirectory-Stowe.png.913965cdedd0e4f5b16f01ecbd14fdf9.png

          a man of promise indeed… and being established in Cleveland, the family could now be with him for the 1900 census

346957771_1900Census-Stowe.thumb.png.97a052101130d38762f9b9e344d0e0e3.png

 

          Again, how then did he arrive so serendipitously in Cleveland?

        Whether or not he had stops en route, he possessed qualifications which, apparently, recommended him to his new wife’s uncle…..

21850268_CharlesH.Rockwellsignage1.thumb.png.156de601dbe0de71edc2efeaf0e5dadb.png

2088987700_1899ClevelandDirectory-Rockwell.png.b38458f892712cfc56ea5b8d702397b3.png

1670660386_StoweFirstPatent.png.310800fb4dd645663f603df77f843235.png

925369647_StowePatentSignatories.png.4f0522819dce6bd7da78e8bbef5ceb58.png

          Soon enough Hewlett C. Rockwell, Charles’ brother and Stowe’s father-in-law, relocated in Cleveland and was involved in various businesses with his brother, who always seems to have been the money behind their companies… Florence B. Rockwell Stowe died 1905, and Bernard A. Stowe married her sister Caroline in 1907 two months after Uncle Charles’ death, so the Stowes and Rockwells of Michigan were thoroughly intertwined in Cleveland, for years to come…

 

          and Bernard Stowe got busy with motors early in the century, which is what makes him the person of interest in this thread……

 

 

Edited by Steve Rockwell
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Steve Rockwell changed the title to STOWE, JANDUS, ADAMS-BAGNALL and Cleveland OH

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...