Cleveland Past and Present: Its Representative Men Part 57

Mr. Benedict was married June, 1839, to Miss Sarah R. Rathbone, of Brownsville, Jefferson county, New York, and has three children, the oldest, George S. Benedict, being one of the proprietors and in the active business management of the Herald.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Yours Truly, J. H. A. Bone]

J. H. A. Bone

John H. A. Bone is a native of Cornwall, England, having been born in that county October 31, 1830. He received a good education, being first intended for the army, but an accident having permanently crippled his right arm, that purpose had to be abandoned. He resided awhile in London and Liverpool, during which time he was connected with the press of those cities, and contributed to periodicals. Having married in his native place, he left England in the Autumn of 1851, for the United States, and after a brief stay in New York, arrived in Cleveland in October of that year.

Early in the Spring of 1857, he joined the editorial staff of the Cleveland Herald, to the columns of which he had for some years previous been a frequent contributor. At the same time he had contributed to the pages of the Knickerbocker Magazine, G.o.dey, Peterson's, the Boston Carpet Bag, then conducted by B. P. s.h.i.+llaber ("Mrs. Partington,") and G. C.

Halpine ("Miles O'Reilly,") and other literary papers of Boston, New York and Philadelphia, as well as to a Cleveland magazine, the New American Monthly, and was a regular contributor to the Cincinnati Pen and Pencil, a handsome weekly magazine of more than ordinary merit that was run for some time under the editors.h.i.+p of W. W. Warden.

Mr. Bone, on joining the Herald, took charge of its commercial, local, amus.e.m.e.nts and literary departments. As the business of the paper increased he resigned those departments, one after another, to others, and on the retirement of Mr. Harris, transferred his labors to the leading editorial department, retaining charge of the literary department also.

In addition to his daily duties on the Herald, Mr. Bone has found time to furnish papers to the Atlantic Monthly on matters of scholarly interest and historical importance, has for the past three years been on the regular staff of Our Young Folks, contributing to it a number of historical articles, prepared with much care and research, and is an occasional contributor to other periodicals.

Mr. Bone published, about sixteen years ago, a small volume of poems, mostly written in boyhood. His after verses, of various characters, are scattered through newspapers and magazines and have never been collected.

With the exception of a few political squibs, he has for some years abandoned verse. A work on the oil regions was issued in 1864, and a second, enlarged edition, was published in Philadelphia, in 1865.

Aside from his professional duties as a journalist and the fulfilment of his engagements as a magazine writer, Mr. Bone's literary tastes are chiefly with the older works of English literature. He is a close student of what is known as Early English, delighting in his intervals of leisure to pick from the quaint and curious relics of the earliest English literature bits of evidence that serve to throw some light on the actual social and intellectual condition of our English ancestors four or five centuries ago. He has been for years, and still is, connected with English literary societies for the bringing to light and publis.h.i.+ng for the use of the members, unpublished doc.u.ments of historical and literary value. Of what is know as Elizabethean literature he has been a diligent student. At present he is connected with the management of the Cleveland Library a.s.sociation and Western Reserve Historical Society.

William W. Armstrong.

William W. Armstrong, one of the present proprietors of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, is a native Buckeye, having been born in New Lisbon, Columbiana county, Ohio, in 1833. In his fifteenth year he removed to Tiffin, Seneca county, with the purpose of learning the printing business.

In 1852-3, he was appointed to the position of Registrar of the Bank Department in the State Treasurer's office at Columbus. In 1854, he returned to Tiffin and purchased the Seneca County Advertiser, which he made noticeable among the Democratic papers of the State for its vigor and ability. He was recognized among the Democrats of the State as one of their rising men, and in 1862, he was chosen as the Democratic candidate for Secretary of State, and was elected.

In 1865, having completed his term of office and returned to editorial life, he purchased the material and good will of the Plain Dealer, which had suspended publication, and set about bringing it back to its old prosperity and position among the journals of the State. His efforts were crowned with success. The reputation of the paper for boldness and ability, which had been affected by the death of its founder, was restored, and the business knowledge and tact which Mr. Armstrong brought to bear upon its management before long put its affairs in a healthy state and established the journal on a good paying basis. Although a strong partisan in politics, Mr. Armstrong recognizes the importance of fairness and courtesy, and hence he has the personal good will of his professional and business rivals as well as a.s.sociates.

In 1868, Mr. Armstrong was elected delegate at large to the Democratic National Convention which nominated Horatio Seymour for the Presidency.

Frederick W. Green.

Frederick W. Green, the a.s.sociate of Mr. Armstrong in the proprietors.h.i.+p and editors.h.i.+p of the Plain Dealer, was born in Fredericktown, Frederick county, Maryland, in 1816. In 1833, he removed to Tiffin, Seneca county, Ohio. Becoming identified with the Democratic party he was elected by that party Auditor of Seneca county, and retained that position six years. In 1851, he was elected to Congress from the Seneca district, and in 1853, was re-elected. At the close of his term he was appointed Clerk of the newly organized United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. In this position he remained twelve years.

In 1867, he purchased an interest in the Plain Dealer, and at once entered upon editorial duties on that paper in connection with Mr. Armstrong.

Their joint labors have made the paper the Democratic organ of Northern Ohio. Mr. Green, during his fourteen years residence in Cleveland, has been reckoned among its most respectable citizens, and possesses many warm friends irrespective of political differences of opinion.