Person:Joseph Free (2)

Joseph L. Free, of German-Irish ancestry, was born March 7, 1873, in Crawford county, Pennsylvania. His parents were Joseph P. and Helena Free. The father, with the aid of his three sons, cleared and developed a new farm in the midst of the forest and the sons were all reared to the most rugged toil—such as is incident to clearing the land and cultivating hitherto undeveloped soil.

Joseph L. Free always performed his full share of the labor of the home farm. His early education was acquired in the district school and he afterward attended the State Normal School at Clarion, Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in the class of 1895. He afterward spent two years in college at Grove City, Pennsylvania, pursuing normal and classical studies with a special view to teaching. His experiences in youth were those common to a poor boy unable to have clothing and advantages such as were enjoyed by the sons of more well-to-do fathers, but he possessed a natural taste for learning and manifested such aptitude in his studies that he stood first in his classes, not only in the district school but also in the normal school and college. When he ceased to be a student he became a teacher, spending four years as school principal—two at Hydetown, Pennsylvania, and two at Springboro, that state. At the end of that time, however, he resolved to enter the commercial field and became engaged in a general mercantile and farmers' produce business in a country location. After three years he sold out and engaged in the real-estate business at Barberton, Ohio, entering the field as a buyer and seller. In the meantime he acquired holdings in the city of Cleveland and eventually located here about 1906. Under wise direction and through close application and watchfulness he has reached a prominent position in real-estate circles, being now secretary and treasurer of the Cleveland & Pittsburg Realty Company, secretary of the Phoenix Realty Company, secretary and treasurer of the Prospect Land Company, a director in The J. L. Free Land Company and president of the East Ohio Land Company. These different organizations indicate something of the scope of his activities and the prominent position to which he has attained through his own efforts.

In 1896, in Oil City, Pennsylvania, Mr. Free was married to Miss Enna E. Lamb, a former classmate at the Clarion State Normal School, both having been graduated there in 1895. Both Mr. and Mrs. Free have taken active and helpful part in church and Sunday school work, holding membership in the Parkwood Avenue Methodist Episcopal church. He is now district president of five counties, including Cuyahoga, in the Ohio Sunday School Association, is a member of the executive committee of the Cuyahoga County Sunday School Association and teacher-training superintendent in this work for the city and county. He is also dean of the Sunday School Teacher-Training Institute of Cleveland and his wife is primary superintendent in the Cuyahoga County Sunday School Association. They have three children: Helena, Lucile and James, aged twelve, ten and four years respectively.

Mr. Free is also an exemplary member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Woodward Lodge, F. & A. M., and Cleveland Chapter, R. A. M. He is likewise, a member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce and of the Cleveland Real Estate Board, and through those agencies is taking active part in the city's material development and progress. In politics he has always been a republican and served as postmaster of Westford, Pennsylvania, during President McKinley's administration. In 1902 he was elected county auditor of Crawford county, Pennsylvania, but resigned after serving one year because of the demands of his business. He is not unknown as an entertaining after-dinner speaker and his alert and receptive mind is evidenced in the ready word, which is spoken as aptly and effectively in his Sunday school work, in social and fraternal relations as well as in the conduct of business affairs.

Id#: 0105645
Name: Free, Joseph
Date: Sep 16 1929
Source: Source unknown; Cleveland Necrology File, Reel #027.
Notes: Free-Joseph Laverne, beloved husband of Grace A., father of Sallie, Gene and Richard, Mrs. John C. Moore, Mrs. Howard Henn, James L. and Joseph P., suddenly, at Burton, Ohio, Saturday morning, Sept. 14, 1929. Funeral services at residence at Burton, 1 p. m. Monday. Burial at Jamestown, Pa. Friends of the family are invited.

Name: Joseph Laverne Free
Event Type: Death
Event Date: 14 Sep 1929
Event Place: Burton, Geauga, Ohio
Residence Place: Burton, Geauga, Ohio, U.S.A.
Address: Spring ST.
Gender: Male
Age (Original): 56y 6m 7d
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Occupation: Real Estate Operator
Birth Date: 07 Mar 1873
Birthplace: Little Cooley, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Birth Year (Estimated): 1873
Burial Date: 16 Sep 1929
Burial Place: Jamestown, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Father's Name: Joseph P. Free
Father's Birthplace: Scioto, Ohio, U.S.A.
Mother's Name: Helena Hopkins Free
Mother's Birthplace: Townville, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Spouse's Name: Grace A. Mullian Free
File Number: fn 58297
GS Film number: 1991910
Digital Folder Number: 4019641
Image Number: 1798

Independence Township, ED 215, Pg 5, Sheet 330A, Dwelling 32, Family 33, Lines 7-10, NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 392

Professor J. Laverne Free, of Springboro, was born near Little Cooley, Athens township, this state, on March 7, 1873. In 1878 his parents moved to Kansas, but after over three years' residence in that state returned to this county, making their home in Townville. Until he was nine years old the lad's education was supervised by an able and devoted mother, who laid an excellent foundation for the subsequent intellectual advancement of her son. He was then placed at school and made rapid progress. For nine successive winters he was an apt and diligent student and then joined the ranks of professional teachers. He has shown ability, giving satisfaction, and now honorably fills the responsible office of supervising principal of the schools of Springboro.

Mr. Free's father, Joseph P. Free, was born in southern Ohio, the youngest of five children. In 1870 he was married to Helena, daughter of Daniel and Margaret Hopkins. They had three children,--J. Laverne, Victor J., a prominent teacher of this county, and Charles H., a student of the Springboro high school. On August 27, 1896, Professor Free married Enna, daughter of James Lamb, Sr., also a teacher in the Springboro school. Her father, born in Venango county in 1832, married Maria Gates (born in Rockland, Venango county) about the commencement of the Civil war. Of their ten children nine are now (1898) living,--Mrs. John Boyd, of Boone county, Iowa; Delma; Mrs. Augustus Wenzel, of Tionesta, Pennsylvania; Emma, Samuel, Harry, Bessie, George and James.

Professor and Mrs. Free have been enthusiastic workers in the cause of education, and are prominent in the Methodist Episcopal church and the ranks of the Prohibitionists. The ancestry of the family is German and Irish.

Name: Joseph Laverne Free
Event Type: Draft Registration
Event Date: 1917-1918
Event Place: Cleveland City no 14, Ohio, United States
Gender: Male
Birth Date: 07 Mar 1873
Birthplace: , , United States
Nationality: United States
Affiliate Publication Title: World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards
Affiliate Publication Number: M1509
GS Film number: 1831858
Digital Folder Number: 005256015
Image Number: 02887

Cleveland Ward 26, ED 387, Dwelling 58, Family 58, Lines 46-50, NARA microfilm publication T624, roll 1176