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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND 13
Said one who knew him well: "I do not know any one who had a keener,
more delightful sense of humor than Judge Stevenson Burke. No one ever
enjoyed a good story more than Judge Burke, no one was a more delightful
host or a more delightful conversationalist."
While Mrs. Burke now spends a great deal of her time at Clinton, New
York, she is still enrolled among Cleveland's most estimable ladies, greatly interested
in charitable work and in aiding institutions which Judge Burke befriended
during his lifetime. She is president of the board of trustees of the
Cleveland School of Art, in which her interest is keen and constant. She is a
most charming lady, whose kindness of heart none question, while her culture
and refinement are an innate attribute-—as much a part of her nature as her
kindly spirit or her appreciation of the beautiful. She possesses a deep love of
music and art, is interested in historical research and is a member of the Daughters
of the American Revolution. When in Cleveland she attends the Second Presbyterian
church, of which Dr. Sutphen is the pastor, and is very much interested
in its work. Whatever her hand finds to do she does with all her might
and with a sense of conscientious obligation. Realizing fully that the ennobling
force of life is that which finds its root in Christianity, her influence is
on the side of those things which lift the individual to a higher plane.
EDWIN JAY PINNEY.
Edwin Jay Pinney is not only prominently known as a distinguished lawyer of
the Cleveland bar but also as one of the most prominent temperance workers of
Ohio, occupying for many years a position of leadership in connection with the
prohibition party in the state. He was born May 26, 1847, Hartsgrove, a son
of Philo and Delia (Griswold) Pinney, residents of Hartsgrove, Ashtabula county,
Ohio, in which locality the father engaged in farming. The son pursued his preliminary
education in the district schools and later attended the Geneva (Ohio)
Normal and the Grand River Institute at Austinburg, Ohio. Dependent upon his
own resources from the age of fourteen years, his earnest labor and the wise utilization
of every hour enabled him to meet the expenses of his academic course in
both board and tuition. He availed himself of every opportunity to earn an honest
dollar to even working Saturdays at piling lumber in a railroad yard to pay for his
school books. He also for a time acted as assistant to the jailer in Jefferson, his
compensation being sufficient to enable him to pay his board. For one term he
engaged in teaching in the district school at Windsor, Ohio, was for two terms a
teacher at Cherry Valley, two terms at West Andover and two terms at Andover
Center, Ohio. He also spent three terms as a teacher in a select school, and for
one year was principal of a high grade school at Rock Creek. Later he spent two
years as principal of the high school in Jefferson, Ohio, but regarded all this
merely as an initial step to other professional labor.
It was his purpose to become a member of the bar and to this end Mr. Pinney
studied law in the office of Northway & Ensign in Jefferson. On the 30th of August,
1869, he was there admitted to the bar and on the 29th of March, 1876, was
licensed to practice in the United States court. Opening an office in Jefferson, he
practiced there from the 7th of April, 1870, until the 9th of April, 1890, or for a
period of twenty years. He became recognized as one of the most able members
of the Jefferson bar and was accorded a large clientage. During his practice there
he also took an active and prominent part in the public life of the community, serving
as a member and president of the board of education and was secretary of the
Ashtabula County Agricultural Society for seventeen years.
The year 1890 witnessed Mr. Pinney's arrival in Cleveland, where he formed
a partnership with Minor G. Norton, with whom he continued for three years.
He was then alone for a short time, after which he entered into partnership with
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