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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND 19
Ohio. As a little lad of six summers he entered the public schools and afterward
enjoyed the benefit of instruction in the New Lyme Academy and in Oberlin College,
which he attended for two years. He then went to Chicago, where he spent
a year in the sale of a patent ink well, opening an office for that purpose and conducting
the business with good success.
In 1899 Mr. Hall came to Cleveland and after a year devoted to other business
opened a real-estate office in connection with his father under the name of
Hall, Gaensslin & Hall. Two years later the father retired but the firm continued
a successful business until Fred L. Hall sold out. About that time he invented
a building and traffic brick, utilizing the slag of steel mills for its base together
with lime and other ingredients, formulating a process which is used today
throughout the entire country. Thereby is produced a brick which for cheapness
and durability has never been surpassed. Mr. Hall went to Pittsburg, interested
capital in the enterprise and built a large brick plant, which he operated
under the name of the Hall Pressed Brick Company, becoming manager and president.
Over a million bricks were sold, after which Mr. Hall disposed of his rights in
Pennsylvania and returned to Cleveland. Here he promoted the Smokeless Heat
& Power Company in connection with J. W. Keenan for the purpose of manufacturing
a machine to produce gas for city use. The gas is made from crude
oil at much less cost than from coal. This has immense possibilities and developed,
will prove a most profitable enterprise. Mr. Hall well deserves his place
as the foremost promoter of business undertakings. He organized the Ohio-Cuba
Fruit Culture Company, owning seventeen thousand acres of the best land
in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba, ninety miles west of Havana, at the town
of Consolacion. This is now being developed, the land having excellent possibilities
for the production of tropical fruits.
In 1901 occurred the marriage of Mr. Hall and Miss Edna Lucille Morey, a
daughter of L. J. Morey, of Columbus, Ohio, and they have one son, Stanley
Harold. Mr. Hall in politics is an independent republican. He has no political
aspirations, preferring to concentrate his energies upon business undertakings,
his keen discrimination enabling him to recognize possibilities and to coordinate
forces until splendid results are achieved. On all questions of finance and organization
he has brought to bear a clear understanding that has readily solved
complex problems.
DANIEL JONES.
Daniel Jones, who during the years of his residence in Cleveland was engaged
in the real-estate business save for the last few years of his life, when he
lived retired, was born in Herefordshire, England, February 14, 1829. He lived
to a ripe old age, his life's span covering almost seventy-nine years, his death occurring
March 10, 1908. His parents, John Thomas and Catherine (Evans)
Jones, were also natives of Herefordshire. The father was a man of considerable
mechanical ingenuity who could turn his hand readily to any trade and
from the age of eleven years he made his own living. His father was once
drafted to serve in the Peninsular wars with the English forces against Napoleon,
but was never in active duty.
Daniel Jones in his early youth spent five days a week in a little schoolhouse
in England where instruction was given in the fundamental principles of learning
by the Rev. William Stanley, a Baptist minister who engaged in preaching the
other two days in the week. His text-books consisted of the Bible and an arithmetic.
Although he attended school only until eleven years of age he was an apt
student and made good use of his opportunities. He was also noted for his skill
in athletics during his boyhood days. After leaving school he was employed by
different farmers in England until nineteen years of age, when he carried out his
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