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14 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
C. W. Noble and T. C. Willard under the firm name of Noble, Pinney & Willard,
which connection was continued for four or five years. He has since been alone
and in his practice has demonstrated his worth to rank with the leading members
of the legal fraternity. His professional integrity stands as an unquestioned fact
in his career, and he has gained an enviable reputation as a strong advocate and
safe counselor. He is a well known trial lawyer, eloquent, logical and forceful,
with ability, to present so clearly and cogently his cause that he never fails to impress
court or jury and seldom fails to win the verdict desired.
At Jefferson, Ohio, on Christmas day of 1869, Mr. Pinney was united in
marriage to Miss Mary E. Gist, a daughter of Dr. D. D. Gist, and they have had
four children: Don G., who died at the age of five years; Tunie Dot, now the
wife of Frank P. Coulton, of Cleveland; Sadie G., well known in this city as an
elocutionist; and Webb G., who is engaged in the insurance business in Cleveland.
He married Bertha Cooper and they have one son.
The Pinney family are members of the Baptist church and are allied with many
movements for intellectual and moral progress. Mr. Pinney belongs to the Good
Templars Society, serving for six years as grand chief templar of the state. He
has voted the prohibition ticket for a quarter of a century and has been nominated
at different times for the office of governor, lieutenant governor and supreme
judge. He labors earnestly for the success of the party and rejoices in the growing
temperance sentiment which has recently been manifest in many sections of
the country. Mrs. Pinney is also in thorough sympathy with him in this work
and for five years was county president of the Woman's Christian Temperance
Union, during which time the membership was greatly increased. The family are
prominent in social circles where intelligence is regarded as a necessary attribute
to congeniality.
Mr. Pinney was one of nine children and it is a notable fact that but with one
exception all have engaged in teaching and many of the second generation have also
been identified with educational work. He deserves great credit for what he has
accomplished, for by manual labor he provided the funds that enabled him to acquire
a collegiate and professional education. His entire life has been marked by
continuous progress, and advancement and patriotism might well be termed the
key note of his character, for they have guided him in all things, stimulating him
to put forth his best efforts for his own good and for the good of the country at
large. He belongs to that class of whom the philosopher has said they are "Such
men as constitute a state—-a state worthy of the name."
WASHINGTON H. LAWRENCE.
Washington H. Lawrence, deceased, is numbered among those whose labors
were of the utmost benefit to Cleveland through the promotion of the industrial
and commercial activities of the city. He was among the first to take up electricity
when it became a factor in commercial life and in this connection he established
and developed one of the most important business enterprises of Cleveland. He
manifested splendid powers as an organizer and manager and, with no special
advantages at the outset of his career, made a steady progress along lines demanding
intellectual force and ability until he stood as one of the foremost manufacturers
of the Forest city.
Mr. Lawrence was born in Olmsted, Cuyahoga county, January 17, 1840, and
was a representative of an old New England family, the line being traced back to
John Lawrence, one of the early members of the Massachusetts Bay colony, who,
arriving in the year 1635, settled at Wolverton, Massachusetts. He was a descendant
of that Robert Lawrence of Lancashire, England, who was knighted by Richard I
for bravery displayed at the siege of Acre. Joel B. Lawrence of Pepperell,
Massachusetts, married Catherine Harris, whose parents were residents of Little
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