Saturday, November 11, 2017
Happy Veteran's Day!
Cold but sunny, a great day for parades to honor our military veterans.
However, we took advantage of the weather to walk through Lake View Cemetery once again.
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| Charles W Somers (1868-1934) |
Charles W Somers came with his parents to Cleveland in 1884 and attended business school before working for his father's bituminous coal operation, the J H Somers Company. Charles established his own coal business, then after selling out, he rejoined his father's company as general manager. Along with John F Kilfoyle, Somers purchased League Park from Frank Robinson in 1900 and founded a team in the newly established American League. Somers was the vice president and main financier, and later succeeded to the presidency upon Kilfoyle's retirement in 1908. Somers also invested his money to start teams in Philadelphia and Boston. As the owner of the Cleveland Baseball Company, he acquired Napoleon Lajoie, the team's first superstar player, who became a player/manager that led to the team being called the Cleveland Naps. In 1915 the name was changed to the Cleveland Indians. Somers also organized a farm system to develop young players. Because of declining attendance, growing competition from the Federal League, and bad business investments, Somers was forced to sell the team in 1916. He continued to own the New Orleans Pelicans in the Southern Association.
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| Gustavus A Hyde (1826-1912) |
Gustavus Adolphus Hyde was born in Massachusetts. He became interested in meteorology at age 17 through Dr. James Pollard Espy, pioneer of scientific weather study in America. In 1843 Hyde became one of Espy's original 120 volunteers forming a national network of weather observers. Hyde came to Cleveland in 1850, serving between 1859-1907 as an engineer of Cleveland Gas Light & Coke Co. Hyde wrote for the newspaper, reporting the local weather and explaining other natural occurrences. He took daily weather observations in Cleveland continuously between 1855-1906, recording observations at 7 a.m., 2 p.m., and 9 p.m., and forwarding a monthly report to Espy at the Smithsonian Institution. Of the 120 original observers, he kept the longest uninterrupted record. Hyde was the only official weather observer in Cleveland until 1870, when the signal corps established a weather station here. In 1896, Hyde wrote
The Weather in Cleveland Ohio, What It Has Been for 40 Years.
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| Interesting memorial for the Possons |
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| The Royer couple and their crosses |
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| Jacob W Schmitt (1829-1893) |
Jacob Schmitt was born in Germany and came to the United States after the 1848 revolution. In Cleveland, he was appointed Constable in 1857, City Marshal in 1865, and Chief of Detectives the following year when a metropolitan police system was introduced. In 1871 he was appointed as Superintendent of Police at which time the new Board of Police Commissioners was organized and seven precincts established. Until he resigned in 1893, Schmitt improved police coverage of the growing city by expanding the number of patrol officers, installing call boxes to connect them with the station house, and introducing patrol wagons to take lawbreakers to jail.
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| Little Julia's marker with a weathered rose |
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| Edward W McFarland (1873-1959) |
Edward William McFarland was a catcher for the baseball Cleveland Spiders in 1893. He also played for the St Louis Browns, the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox (winning the 1906 World Series), and the Boston Red Sox.
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| A little autumn color, much of it on the ground |
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| Charles F Thwing (1853-1937) |
Charles Franklin Thwing was born in Maine, attended Harvard University and graduated from the Andover Theological Seminary in 1879. He served as pastor in churches in Massachusetts and Minnesota. In 1890 he became the president of the Western Reserve University. In this position he signed a petition to President William McKinley to mediate the conflict between Great Britain and the Transvaal and the Orange Free State (Second Boer War). In 1909 was a member of the National Negro Committee, the precursor to the NAACP. Thwing also published over 400 articles and 50 books.
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Meloe americanus/American Oil Beetles were out in
great numbers as this is their mating season |
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| Dockstader family monument |
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| Nicholas Dockstader (1802-1871) |
Nicholas Dockstader was born in the state of New York, and moved to Cleveland in 1826. He was a leading fur trader, and later became treasurer of the Cleveland & Newburgh Railway. In 1835 Dockstader became the treasurer of the village of Cleveland. After the city was incorporated in 1836, he was elected alderman for two terms. Dockstader was elected mayor in 1840, for one term.
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Heinrich C Schwan (1818-1905); his marker sits
amidst fallen gingko leaves and smelly fruit |
Heinrich (Henry) Christian Schwan was born in Germany, and he and his wife immigrated to the United States in 1850. They came to Cleveland in 1851, where he was the pastor of the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church. During his first Christmas, he introduced a lighted Christmas tree into his church service, considered to be one of the country's first public Christmas tree displays. In 1878, Schwan became president of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States.
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Another different headstone,
and another very young one |
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| The Luehrs family's unusual monument |
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| Still some snow left after our first snowfall yesterday |
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| Maclura pomifera/Osage Orange or Hedge Apple fruit |
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| Osage oranges litter the ground |
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| Captain L A Kelsey (1808-1890) |
Captain Lorenzo A Kelsey was born in the state of New York. He moved to Youngstown to work in the lumber industry, and came to Cleveland in 1837 when he became manager of the Cleveland House Hotel. Next he became captain of the USS Chesapeake, a three-masted wooden frigate of the United States Navy. He was elected as Mayor of Cleveland in 1848 for one term. Kelsey was originally buried in the Erie Street Cemetery, but his remains were moved to Lake View Cemetery in 1903.
