Lake View Cemetery 8 (10/1/2017)

Sunday, October 1, 2017
Back to Lake View Cemetery, where we wander up and down rows of graves looking for particular names. For each name we are given a section number and most sections are easily found on a map of the cemetery. We are also given a lot number, but those are harder to determine as the lot markers are missing or have been completely grown over. Once we do find a lot number, it is also difficult to to know what pattern they follow. As a result, we are often back-tracking and or heading in totally the wrong direction. Yet it is a fun and interesting way to get some exercise, for us and the dog, Gus.

Frederick Kohler (1864-1934)

Frederick Kohler, a native Clevelander, worked in his father's business, Kohler Stone Works, until his father's death. In 1889, he joined the Cleveland Police Department and after four years he was appointed Chief of Police by Mayor Tom Johnson. Kohler had strong contempt for political favoritism and in 1913, when Johnson was no longer mayor, political opponents had him fired. In 1918, he was elected Cuyahoga County Commissioner as a Republican, serving two terms. He then campaigned for mayor and won without making a public statement, holding a public meeting or using any of the usual campaign tactics in his famous doorbell-ringing canvass, asking people to "Vote for Fred Kohler." He served one term from 1922-1924. As mayor, Kohler concentrated on the economy in city government, cutting payrolls and city services, while persuading private agencies to care for families on relief. When Kohler "cleaned up" City Hall by slashing municipal expenses and firing patronage employees, he again lost popularity and did not run for re-election.

Caponigro mausoleum with Asian designs

Final resting place for A. Charles and Beatrice R,
but the significance of the Asian designs is unknown

Leggett Monument

Plaque on the Leggett Monument outlining the
military career of General Mortimer Leggett

Mortimer D Leggett (1821-1896)

Mortimer Dormer Leggett was born in New York State and moved with his parents to Ohio in 1836. In 1839 he entered the Teachers' Seminary in Kirtland, OH. As an educator he promoted free, graded, public education in Ohio and has been credited with creating the public school system in Akron, OH (1845). He also studied medicine and law, and practiced law in Akron. At the start of the Civil War, he served on the staff of Major General George B McClellan. Leggett helped raise the 78th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was commissioned as its colonel in January 1862. He commanded his regiment at the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Corinth. In November 1862, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers and participated in the Vicksburg Campaign. Later Leggett commanded the 3rd Division of the XVII Corps during the Atlanta Campaign and Sherman's March to the Sea. He was brevetted major general of volunteers in July 1864, and was commissioned as a major general a year later. His last action was in the Carolinas Campaign during the spring of 1865. After the war, Leggett resumed his law practice. In 1880 in Cleveland, with Charles Brush and George W Stockley, he founded the Brush Electric Company, precursor to the General Electric Company.

Toy vehicles left for this young man

Josiah A Harris (1808-1876)

Josiah A Harris was born in Massachusetts and moved to Ohio at age 10 years. In 1832, Harris settled in Elyria, was elected sheriff, and revived Elyria's first newspaper as the weekly Ohio Atlas & Elyria Advertiser. He sold the paper and came to Cleveland in 1837, purchasing the Cleveland Herald & Gazette. Harris firmly established the Herald, paying its debts and providing its own printing office. He won local support by printing marriage, death, and meeting notices, and furnishing free papers to clergymen. He refused to print ads for the more notorious quack medicines, or notices for the return of runaway slaves. In 1847, Harris was elected Mayor of Cleveland for one term. Resources state that Harris is buried in the Erie Street Cemetery, but his family's remains were moved to Lake View Cemetery. There is a vacant Harris mausoleum in Erie Street Cemetery (which we visited on 1/31/2016).

Burton monument

Theodore Elijah Burton (1851-1929)

Theodore Burton was a prominent Cleveland attorney, who served in the United State House of Representatives for a term (1889-1891) where he co-sponsored the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, then again for seven terms (1895-1908). In 1908, Burton was elected to the United States Senate for one term (1909-1915). President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him chairman of the Inland Waterways Commission in 1907 and the National Waterways Commission in 1909. Burton also sponsored the legislation authorizing construction of the Panama Canal. After a stint working in New York City in banking, he returned to Ohio and was elected in 1920 to the United States House of Representatives, serving for four terms, until 1928. He did not seek re-election to the House, but instead won a special election to the Senate for the unfinished term of Frank B Willis. Burton served in the Senate from December 15, 1928 until his death on October 28, 1929. (Black Tuesday was October 29, 1929.)

Garfield Memorial (KSS)

Edward S Flint (1818-1902)

Edward Sherrill Flint was born in Ohio, but was raised by his grandparents in Vermont because of the early deaths of his parents. He and his family moved to Cleveland in 1851, where Flint started a real estate firm. He also served as the superintendent of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway from 1859-1878. Flint became a member of the Cleveland board of schools in 1860 and was elected mayor in 1861. He supported the North's cause during the Civil War. He retired after being defeated for re-election, continuing the railroad business.

The Roberto Father must have been the Full Blooded Italian

"Lady Pearl" Mitchell (1883-1974) (KSS)

L Pearl Mitchell was a civil rights activist who graduated from Wilberforce (OH) College. After her father's death, she worked as a typist to finance her siblings' education, coming to Cleveland in the 1920s. In 1923 she joined the Cleveland branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People/NAACP, eventually serving as president (1936-37), executive secretary (1945), national vice-president (1959), and national director of membership campaigns. Locally, Mitchell led protests against the school system's discriminatory operation of special-activity schools and against segregated public-housing projects. She mobilized newspaper support for the employment of black nurses at City Hospital. Mitchell was elected the third national president of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc, the first Greek letter sorority for African-American women. She was a member for over 50 years and was known as Miss A.K.A.

Peter J Hotaling (1856-1928)

Peter James Hotaling, was a Major League Baseball center fielder from 1879-1888. He played in both the National League and the American Association, with six different teams. Hotaling suffered an eye injury when hit by a foul tip, and was out of the lineup for a month. When he returned, he came equipped with a mask, which he had commissioned from the Remington Arms Company as a protective piece. When Hotaling donned the mask, he became the first professional ballplayer to do so (similar masks had been worn in college games). Wearing the "cage" caused him to be nicknamed "Monkey," a name that followed him throughout his baseball career. He played for the Cleveland Blues in 1880, 1883-1885 (during which time he married an Ohio City girl), and 1887-1888.

A sweet lamb on a baby's grave marker

Frey family monument

Frank/Franz Frey (1837-1900)

Frank Frey's actual grave marker

Franz (Frank) Xavier Frey was born in Switzerland and emigrated to Cleveland. He enlisted in the 37th Volunteer Infantry at Cleveland in October 1861 and was promoted to corporal in July 1862. Frey participated in the campaign to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi, as one of 150 volunteers who stormed the Confederate earthworks north of the city. Frey received the Medal of Honor in August 1894 for gallantry during the assault.

Gertrude Harrison (1871-1938)

Gertrude Harrison was the first female golf professional in the United States. She is credited with inventing the golf ball return machine that was used in teaching golf.

McKisson family monument

Robert E McKisson (1863-1915)

Robert Erastus McKisson, an Ohio native, came to Cleveland in 1887 to study law in the offices of Theodore E Burton. McKisson was elected to the Cleveland City Council in 1894 and was a critic of the Democratic administration of Mayor Robert Blee, whom he succeeded as mayor in 1895. During McKisson's two terms, construction began on a new city water and sewer system, the Cuyahoga River was widened and straightened to facilitate steamer traffic, and five new bridges were built across the river. In 1898, he and Marcus A Hanna were rival candidates for the United States Senate, and McKisson came very close to defeating Hanna. McKisson was defeated for re-election as mayor in 1899, after which he returned to practicing law.