Youngstown biographies

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — General Thomas W. Sanderson

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General Thomas W. Sanderson

Civil War hero, lawyer, and one who both made and wrote Youngstown history. In a nutshell, that’s General Thomas W. Sanderson, and yet most of us have never heard of him. As far as I know, no Youngstown streets or buildings are named after him (there is a Sanderson Avenue in Campbell, once East Youngstown) and yet Youngstown wouldn’t have been the county seat of Mahoning County without him.

Thomas W. Sanderson was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania on October 17, 1829. His father, from Scotland, was a farmer. His mother’s family came from Wakefield, England, the setting of Oliver Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield. The family moved to Youngstown in 1834, where they continued to farm. Sanderson was educated in Youngstown’s schools, attended college in Bardstown, Kentucky, and then read law in the office of William Ferguson and was admitted to the bar in a district court in Canfield, then the county seat, in 1852. After a brief stint as a civil engineer, he formed a law partnership with his brother in law, F.E. Hutchins, Hutchins and Sanderson.

Civic leadership followed quickly. Appointed county prosecuting attorney in 1856, he had to delay beginning this work to serve out an unfinished term as Mayor of Youngstown. However, the Civil War interrupted his legal career after one term as prosecuting attorney.

Sanderson entered the Army as a second lieutenant of the Second Ohio cavalry. By war’s end, he was a Brigadier General, having fought at Stone River, Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga, marching with General Sherman on Atlanta and to the sea. One example of his gallantry and leadership was an engagement south of Atlanta at Bear Creek where, leading one brigade, he held off three divisions of General Wheeler, achieving victory.

On return to Youngstown, he served four terms as solicitor beginning in 1868. During this time, the fight took place to move the county seat from Canfield to Youngstown. It turned on the constitutionality of a law passed in 1874 in the state legislature, and whether a previous law in 1846 could make Canfield the “permanent” county seat. The case finally ended up in 1879 in the United States Supreme Court where Sanderson faced future president James A. Garfield, arguing for Canfield. Sanderson won and thus Youngstown’s standing as county seat was confirmed.

In his time, he was considered the best trial lawyer in the state of Ohio. He represented Chauncey Andrews in the Hocking County railroad case, where he won a judgment of $15 million, the largest settlement won in Ohio up to that time. He also took up smaller cases. In one, in 1872, he represented Herman Brandmiller, a brewer, charged with selling a young man a drink, violating “dry” laws enacted in that period. He succeeded in proving that the ordinance had never properly been recorded, making it invalid, leading to acquital of Brandmiller.

The one grief in an otherwise successful life struck in his family. He married Elizabeth Shoemaker of New Castle on December 19, 1854. They had two children, a son who died in infancy and a daughter, Louise, a highly educated and accomplished young woman. Sadly, she died June 21, 1901, predeceasing her parents, a difficult blow for them.

Sanderson had always been a writer and in his last years, he wrote the 20th Century History of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, published in 1907. The work offers a history of the city and county and brief biographies of leading citizens of the area up to that time. I’ve used it as a source for many articles and it may be accessed at the Internet Archive. This was the first such history, preceding that of Joseph Butler.

General Thomas W. Sanderson appeared in court up to the last year of his life. He was in declining health over the previous year and passed on Sunday, January 26, 1908. He was buried on January 29, 1908 after lying in state at First Christian Church with funeral services at 1 pm that day. The Tod post provided his final escort to his burial site at Oak Hill Cemetery, where he was buried with full military honors.

A number of Youngstown leaders have living family who carry their memory to this day. This was not the case for General Sanderson. Yet his name is among the “greats” in our city, serving with distinction in the Civil War, offering leadership and capable advocacy to effect the move of Mahoning County’s county seat to Youngstown, serving clients great and small as a trial lawyer, and writing the first local history of the area. If you take a tour of Oak Hill Cemetery, be sure to visit his tomb. He is worthy of memory.

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — The Hitchcock Family

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William J Hitchcock and his sons William J. and Frank

Previously, I have written of Chauncey H. Andrews, one half of the Andrews & Hitchcock Iron Company and Youngstown’s first millionaire. The other half of this combination was William J. Hitchcock. The two complemented each other’s strengths. Andrews, from reading of the two seemed the more entrepreneurial of the two, while Hitchcock seemed the more savvy when it came to running the business, serving as its president for the remainder of his life.

William James Hitchcock was born in Granville, New York on May 16, 1829. Growing up on an uncle’s farm, he moved around, visiting Cleveland, working one winter in Buffalo, and training as a machinist in Detroit. He worked for a period as a bookkeeper in Pittsburgh, then served as a receivers agent for an iron mill in New Castle. From there, it was short jump to become associated with Andrews in the start up of a coal mining operation at Thorn Hill Bank, near the Lansdowne Airport. In 1858, they formed a partnership, Andrews & Hitchcock. To use the coal they were producing, they built two blast furnaces, Number 1 in 1869 and Number 2 in 1873, located in Hubbard. In 1892, they incorporated these into the Andrews & Hitchcock Iron Company.

On November 9, 1858, he married Mary Johnson Peebles. Two of their sons, Frank, who was born May 24, 1862, and William J., born July 19, 1864, both played key roles at Andrews & Hitchcock. One daughter, Almira, became the wife of Myron Arms. The other Mary (“Mollie”) Peebles Hitchcock became the wife of George Dennick Wick, a founder of Youngstown Sheet & Tube. She lost her husband on the Titanic, surviving along with Caroline Bonnell.

William J. Hitchcock came president of the newly formed company. He also had interests in the Foster Coal Company, on Youngstown’s South Side, McKelvey’s, and served as a director of the Commercial National Bank. He was a charter member and vestryman at St. John’s Episcopal Church. When he died in 1899, the presidency of Andrews & Hitchcock passed to Frank Hitchcock (Andrews had died in 1893). William J, the son, served as operating manager for the operation. They both continued in this capacity until the plant was sold to Youngstown Sheet & Tube in 1916. They had never made the conversion from iron to steel production and so were absorbed into the larger orbit of the growing steel industry in Youngstown.

The impact of the Hitchcock family was felt long after the end of Andrews & Hitchcock. The family provided major funding for the Hitchcock Operating Pavilion at Northside Hospital, which later became Hitchcock Auditorium. Frank Hitchcock gave heavily to the Community Fund, which became the Youngstown Foundation, along other Youngstown industrial pioneers: John Stambaugh, Philip Wick, Henry Butler, and L.A. Manchester. It now has assets of over $120 million that continue to be invested in philanthropic causes benefiting the Youngstown community, including more recently, the Youngstown Amphitheatre.

Both brothers passed away in 1936, both in New York State. William J. died March 3, 1936 in New York City of complications from a sinus ailment for which he left Youngstown to seek treatment the evening after the previous Christmas. His brother followed him in death later that summer. Frank had been living for many years in the Boardman area, suggesting to me the possibility that Hitchcock Road is named after him or the family. In the years preceding, he’d given up, for health reasons, many of the causes and interests in which he’d been engaged. Like many families of some means, he spent summers in upstate New York, at a summer home in Alder Creek, New York. It was here that he died on August 29, 1936, having been reasonably well until his last week.

So ended the last connection with one of the early iron companies in Youngstown. But their civic investment in the city lasts to this day, whether seen in the beautiful St. John’s church or the Youngstown Foundation and its work throughout the community.

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Bales M. Campbell

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Bales M. Campbell, Photo courtesy of Christine Leddon, used with permission.

I never heard of him until a descendent of his, Christine Leddon, brought him to my attention. Yet he played a major role in civic affairs throughout Youngstown, and especially in the development of the South Side. His obituary in the January 7, 1937 Youngstown Vindicator opens with these words, summing up his contribution to the city:

“Bales M. Campbell, banker, lawyer, politician, developer of the South Side, a man with a warm heart under a plain jacket, a blunt-spoken man who never learned diplomacy, and whose honest opinions were valued more than many persons’ tact, is dead”

What a story is wrapped up in those few words! They suggest a civic leader of Youngstown whose story ought be remembered among other leaders of the city. It should be mentioned that he is no relation to James Anson Campbell, of Youngstown Sheet & Tube, after whom Campbell, Ohio is named.

He was born April 21, 1854 in Pleasant Unity, Pennsylvania to Matthew Campbell and Caroline McColley Campbell, his full name being Matthew Bales McColly Campbell, but he was always known as “Bales.” At age 11 he move to Pittsburgh with his older brother David, working various jobs selling gas mantles, women’s dress patterns, and serving as a boot black on a train. He was proud of always having worked for himself. He attended St. Vincent’s Academy in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and then went on to Mt. Union College. He moved to the Youngstown area in 1878, working in Berlin Center and other communities as a teacher, “boarding around.” Meanwhile, he studied law with a fellow teacher, Edward Moore, passing the bar in 1884, joining the law practice Charles Maurer in the old Howell Block, later the site of the Union Bank Building.

He quickly became active, running for mayor in 1886 on the Democratic ticket, and losing, although he was popular and garnered a significant part of the vote. Apart from voting against FDR in 1936, he was a lifelong Democrat, serving as an Internal revenue collector during the Grover Cleveland administration. He organized one of the greatest political rallies ever held in Youngstown for William Jennings Bryan, packing Central Square with people who took trains from both Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Mrs. Bryan had to be carried in on the shoulders of some “husky men.”

He was one of the first people to realize the development possibilities of the South Side when most of the city still lived north of the Mahoning River. He formed a real estate company with Warren P. Williamson, Sr., and was responsible for platting and developing many of the residential districts of the South Side, at a time when industrial growth was leading to a population explosion in the city.

He was a leader in banking affairs, starting the South Side Bank in 1914, the South Side Savings and Loan in 1921, serving as its president, as chairman of the First Federal Savings and Loan, and as a director City Trust and Savings Bank. He was also a director of the Commercial National Bank before its merger with First National Bank. In addition to his banking interests, he was involved in the lumber business as president of Jacobs Lumber Company and later organized the Union Wholesale Lumber Company

When the growth of the South Side made it evident that a school south of the Mahoning would be needed, he sold his property, an 8 acre tract at Market and Warren Avenue for $48,000 in 1909. It became the site of South High School. He also led the movement to donate South Side Park to the city. He provided storage space for the Youngstown Playground Association’s equipment and led campaigns to build the South Side Library and various hospital building projects.

He was known as a practical joker, a storyteller, and debater. It was said of him that “when he was sold on a proposition he could sell anybody else.” Even in his declining years in the mid-1930’s, he was called on to persuade a particularly tough customer of the plan to re-open City Trust and Savings.

For the last twenty years of his life, he suffered debilitating arthritis. But in his 80’s he did not let that stop him from buying his wife a new car for Christmas. Sadly, they were involved in an accident, skidding into a pole on W. Indianola. He suffered a broken knee cap. Then pneumonia set in, which he was not able to fight off, dying on January 7, 1937 at 82 years of age. He was buried in his birthplace of Pleasant Unity, Pennsylvania.

Bales Campbell with the mother of Christine Leddon. Photo courtesy of Christine Leddon.

He lived long enough to see the South Side become a thriving community with schools, a library, parks, a hospital and a number of residential communities that he helped build. And through his great-granddaughter, I had the privilege to learn of his story.

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — François Clemmons

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François Clemmons in Oberlin College’s 1967 yearbook Hi-O-Hi, The Stofan Studio, Public Domain

I did not realize until last week, through comments on my article on “Distinguished Black Citizens,” that François Clemmons grew up in Youngstown. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama, but the family migrated north and settled in Youngstown when he was young. It wasn’t an easy childhood. His parents were abusive. From kindergarten on, however, people recognized that he had a beautiful voice. In his own words, he came to realize that “Singing was the key out of the ghetto.” He sang in many churches, community groups and even a rock group called the Jokers.

He had to exercise determination to resist the ways Blacks were “tracked” in those days. A guidance counselor pressed him to sign papers to go to vocational school. He refused. A social worker, Mary Lou Davis, agreed to pay for voice lessons as long as he stayed out of trouble. His music teacher was Ron Gould who conspired to get him an audition at the Oberlin Conservatory. He was accepted and awarded a scholarship by the Oberlin alumni association, facilitated by the efforts of his principal at The Rayen School, an Oberlin alumnus. This was a huge boon because he could not afford the tuition. After gdraduating from Oberlin, he went on to pursue a Masters degree at Carnegie-Mellon University.

The year 1968 was significant for Clemmons. He won auditions to the Metropolitan Opera. This led to performances with a number of orchestras including those in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. This eventually led to a Grammy winning recording of Porgy and Bess in 1976. But 1968 was also the year he met Fred Rogers. Fred’s wife Joanne sang in the same choir at Third Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh as Clemmons. After a particularly moving concert of spirituals, everyone came up to say how much they appreciated Clemmons. The last in line was this self-effacing man who turned out to be Fred Rogers. In his memoir, he writes:

“My clearest memory of that occasion was of Fred Rogers’s sincerity and the deep look, bordering on passion, in his gentle blue eyes. He nailed me when he took my hand, turned his head slightly, and paused, as though he was waiting for me to say something. I waited too, because it was he who had come over to talk to me. He took his time and spoke of my lovely voice, my compelling interpretations, and the genuine effect the songs had had on him during the service. I smiled and returned his warmth and sincerity. It was easy to accept his praise. There was something serious yet comforting and disarming about him. His eyes hugged me without touching me.”

Rogers followed up by inviting him to lunch and a visit to the studio. Eventually, he asked him to sing and then offered him a part as Officer Clemmons. Clemmons struggled with this because of the perception of police in the Black community. Rogers convinced him that he could change the perception of police. They did more than that together. This was still a time when swimming pools were segregated (this was true at one time in Youngstown). There is a famous scene, filmed in 1969, in which Mr. Rogers invites Officer Clemmons to cool his feet with Rogers in a small child’s pool, and even share Rogers towel to dry them. You can see the scene in this clip of scenes with François Clemmons on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018) – Officer Clemmons Scene (5/10) | Movieclips

Clemmons had realized he was gay during college but remain closeted. He discussed this with Rogers who continued to be warmly accepting personally, but warning him that he could not be “out” or wear an earing on the show and continue on the show. Clemmons went so far in following Rogers’ advice that he entered into a brief, disastrous marriage. Rogers always welcomed Clemmons gay friends and later encouraged him to pursue a stable gay relationship. This challenged the trust they had built but reflected societal realities of the time. Rogers worried that Clemmons’ sexuality could actually put Clemmons in danger.

Clemmons was on the show for 25 years until 1993. In that year, he reprised the pool scene with Rogers drying his feet. In 1988, he formed the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble to preserve Black spirituals. Then in 1997, he artist in residence and director of the Martin Luther King Spiritual Choir at Middlebury College, in which he continued working until his retirement in 2013. Middlebury awarded him an honorary Doctor of Arts degree.

He still lives in Middlebury, Vermont and has published a volume of spirituals, children’s books, and a memoir, Officer Clemmons in 2020. Like many other Blacks growing up in the 1950’s in Youngstown, racial prejudice resulted in barriers he overcame through his determination, his singing and the help of a social worker, teacher, and principal. His work on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood contributed to changing racial perceptions and exposed people to his splendid voice. He realized his dreams of singing at the top levels. His work in creating the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble preserved our rich heritage of spirituals.

I’ll leave you with this performance of a Mr. Rogers favorite by Clemmons:

François Clemmons sings There Are Many Ways (to Say I Love You)

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Distinguished Black Citizens

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Pictured: Top Row (L-R) Betty Allen, P. Ross Berry, Simeon Booker, Alfred L. Bright, J. Maynard Dickerson, Bottom Row (L-R) Hugh Frost, Hon. Nathaniel R. Jones, Rev. Lonnie K. A. Simon, William R. Stewart

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to learn about the many people who came from, and made Youngstown a great place to live. Among these are a number of Black citizens who distinguished themselves in the arts, in community leadership, politics, law, spiritual life, education, and journalism. This is hardly an all-inclusive list–only the ones whose lives I’ve been able to research and write about! But I thought with the upcoming Juneteenth Holiday on Monday, June 19, celebrating the end of slavery in the United States, that it would be fitting to celebrate these distinguished citizens who have made us proud and added so much to our community. Here is the list of those I’ve written on with a link and preview to the article:

Betty Allen. She performed in operas as a mezzo-soprano on stages around the world to standing ovations. She was part of the first generation of Black opera singers, along with Marian Anderson to achieve wide success, breaking down racial barriers with her voice. She collaborated with the foremost American composers of her generation: Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Ned Rorem, and Virgil Thomson, among others. And it all began in the Mahoning Valley on the streets of Campbell.

P. Ross Berry. He was involved in building most of the buildings in downtown Youngstown at one time. The Rayen Building on Wick Avenue is an enduring example of his work. His stature in the community was such that a number of white bricklayers worked under his direction, something very uncommon in the day. As black soldiers migrated to the Mahoning Valley after the Civil War, he also trained many of them to work as bricklayers and was responsible for founding the Brick Masons Union, Local 8. 

Simeon Booker. Jet was a pocket-sized news magazine that could be found in barber shops, beauty salons, doctors’ and dentists’ offices in the Black community and in many black homes. In the early 1950’s, it chronicled the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement, culminating in an article in 1955 showing the brutally beaten and mutilated body of 14 year old Emmett Till and his mother’s determination to awaken the nation’s conscience. Jet covered the subsequent trial and acquittal of his murderers in the Jim Crow South. Booker wrote those articles, and covered every president from Eisenhower to George W. Bush.

Alfred L. Bright, Jr. Discriminated against at a Youngstown swimming pool as a boy, he went on to college, became an accomplished artist and taught art at Youngstown State before establishing the Black Studies Program. In his lifetime, his art was exhibited in over 100 exhibitions and received the university’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2006.

J. Maynard Dickerson. Mentor of Nathaniel R. Jones, his was an equally distinguished career as a civil rights leader, publisher, attorney and city prosecutor in Youngstown, and civil servant in Ohio’s State government. He launched Youngstown’s only black newspaper, The Buckeye Review, was president of the local NAACP chapter and served as chairman of the Ohio Industrial Commission.

Hugh A. Frost. He was a member, and eventually vice president of the Youngstown Board of Education and an assistant to the president at Youngstown State. Three times he ran for mayor of the City of Youngstown. He made history during his first run in 1967 as the first Black Republican candidate for mayor of a U.S. City. He also served in leadership roles in a number of community organizations, including serving as Executive Director of the McGuffey Centre, presiding over construction of new facilities and a growing staff.

The Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones. He grew up in Smoky Hollow. His father worked in the mills and later did janitorial work. His mother took in laundry. As a high school youth, he wrote for a local newspaper and organized a boycott of a segregated roller skating rink. He rose from working class beginnings to become a judge in the second highest court in the land as a justice on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth District. The new Federal Building and Courthouse in downtown Youngstown bears his name. Nathaniel R. Jones.

Reverend Lonnie K. A. Simon. He was both a spiritual and a community leader who gave crucial leadership in Youngstown at a racially volatile period of our history. Like many in Youngstown, his father worked in coal mines and he worked in steel mills before his call to ministry. He was a peaceful advocate for civil rights, surviving a car bombing. He served on the Youngstown Board of Education. The character of his leadership is evident in the enduring presence of the church he pastored and a son who is carrying on that work. He pursued peace, but not at the expense of justice nor without personal risk. 

William R. Stewart. He was the son of one of the first African-American families to settle in Youngstown. He was the first African-American legislator from Youngstown. He helped secure the funding to build the first Market Street Bridge and secured taxpayer funding for Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital. After returning from two terms in the state legislature, he worked another six decades as an attorney in Youngstown and at his death in 1958 was called the “dean of the Mahoning County Bar.”

As I read over these biographies again, I’m struck by the courage and grit and hard work and excellence of character demonstrated by each person here. They represent not only the best of Youngstown’s Black community but are among the best of Youngstown. Period. Happy Juneteenth!

I’d love to hear if there are others you would include in this list!

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — The Starr Family

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Henry Neff Starr and his longest surviving daughter, Maude Starr

Growing up in Youngstown, you might drive through Starr’s Corner on the way to the Canfield Fair. Starr’s Corner is the intersection of Route 224, Tippecanoe Road and Lockwood Boulevard. This five way intersection was at one time (and perhaps still is) considered one of the most dangerous intersections in the area.

Like many locations around the city and county, its name traces back to an early Youngstown family. I first was put onto this when I wrote a few weeks ago about the Shields family, from whom Shields Road gets its name. James Howard Shields married Lois Starr, the sister of Henry Neff Starr, pictured above. We’ll come back to Henry in a minute.

It turns out that his and Lois’s great grandfather was Ethel Starr (yes, his name was Ethel, married to Sarah). In May 1809, he moved from Newtown, Connecticut and bought land as one of the earliest settlers in Boardman Township. He was one of the founding members of St. James Episcopal Church in 1809 as a member of the Vestry and later Warden of the church, conducting services in the absence of a minister. He lived until December 3, 1861, almost 93 years of age at death.

By contrast, his son Russell, also listed as a subscriber to the newly formed St. James Parish died young, in 1817 at age 28. He had moved with his parents to the Western Reserve, served as a corporal in the War of 1812, and died of a “prevailing fever” in 1817. Before that, he married Mary Ann Fitch. His son, Russell Fitch Starr was born, January 29, 1818, a month and a half after his father’s death. His obituary states:

“Russell F. Starr died at his home in this place Monday evening of infirmities incident to old age. He was born in Boardman, but had long resided in this township. His age was 77 years. Mr. Starr was a very active man in his younger days and held many positions of honor and trust. He leaves a widow and three children – Mrs. J.H. Shields of Youngstown, H.N. Starr of Boardman and John Starr of this place. Funeral services held Wednesday afternoon from his late residence, were conducted by Rev. Wm. Dickson. The remains were laid to rest in the village cemetery.” “Russell Fitch Starr” at Find-a-Grave

H. N. Starr was Henry Neff Starr. He was born September 24, 1851 in Boardman Township. Later, he moved to Canfield Township, acquiring property at what became Starr’s Corner, and was well-known as a farmer and community leader throughout the county. He married Sara Moherman on January 1, 1879. He had a son named Clifford who moved to California and two daughters, Stella, born in 1880 and Maude, born in 1882, who never married. Later, in 1912, he moved the family to a property on the southeast corner of Boardman Center, on the site of the current Southern Park Mall.

He shared many memories of the early days including when passenger pigeons darkened the skies, when a tavern stood on the northeast corner of Boardman Center and when members of the Boardman family lived on the northwest corner. He farmed most of his life, living until March 27, 1941. Stella lived until January 1969, at 88. Her younger sister outdid her. Maude lived until August of 1984, at the age of 101. I can only imagine all the changes she witnessed.

All five generations mentioned here are buried in Canfield Village Cemetery in sections B and C

The Starr family, many of them long-lived, played important roles in the early years of both Boardman and Canfield townships, and the farm property they owned close to the border between the two townships became a busy crossroads that bears the family name.

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!