Transcript:Orth, Samuel P. History of Cleveland, Ohio/v3p034

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34                            HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

ways secured him employment with E. V. Jewel brokerage firm as an office boy.
For nine years he remained with them, rising gradually through sheer perseverance
and ability to be one of their street salesmen. By this time he was prepared
to go into business for himself and so with their goodwill and regret at
losing him, Mr. Van Rooy established his tea and coffee brokerage house in 1900.
He has built up a very good trade, confining his efforts to Cleveland and vicinity
for the most part.

  In 1901 Mr. Van Rooy married Agnes Boehmer, who was born in Germany,
being brought here in childhood. Mr. and Mrs. Van Rooy are the parents of
three children: Agnes, Evelyn and John.

  In the very prime of life, Mr. Van Rooy has many years of useful activity
stretching out before him and it is safe to say that he has not finished his work
for there is much for him yet to do. Men of his caliber do not stand still. With
the same spirit that prompted the little office boy of nearly twenty years ago to
do more than his appointed tasks and to ever reach out for more knowledge, Mr.
Van Rooy is advancing steadily and carrying with him the good wishes of those
who have watched his progress with such interest for a decade or two and respected
his pluck and perseverance.

                            JOHN G. W. COWLES.

  The specific and distinctive office of biography is not to give voice to a man's
modest estimate of himself and his accomplishments but rather to leave the perpetual
record establishing his character by the consensus of opinion on the part
of his fellowmen. Throughout Cleveland Mr. Cowles is spoken of in terms of
admiration and respect. His life has been so varied in its activity, so honorable
in its purposes, so far-reaching and beneficial in its effects that it has become an
integral part of the history of the city and has also left an impress upon the annals
of the state. In no sense a man in public life, he has nevertheless exerted an
immeasureable influence on the city of his residence: in business life as a financier
and promoter of extensive business enterprises; in social circles by reason of a
charming personality and unfeigned cordiality; in politics by reason of his public
spirit and devotion to the general good as well as his comprehensive understanding
of the questions affecting state and national welfare; and in those departments
of activity which ameliorate hard conditions of life for the unfortunate by
his benevolence and his liberality.

  Further investigation into the history of John Guiteau Welch Cowles indicates
the fact that he comes of an ancestry honorable and distinguished. The Cowles
family is of English lineage and was founded in America by John Cowles, who
in 1635 left England, his native land, and became a resident of Massachusetts,
whence he later removed to Hartford, Connecticut. His descendants are now
numerous and included the late Edwin Cowles of the Cleveland Leader. The
father of J. G. W. Cowles was the Rev. Henry Cowles, D. D., who left the impress
of his individuality and activity upon the religious and educational development
of northern Ohio through a period of many years. He was born in Norfolk,
Connecticut, April 24, 1803, of the marriage of Samuel and Olive (Phelps)
Cowles. Determining to devote his life to the work of the church, he became
a clergyman of the Congregational faith and in 1828 was ordained as a missionary
to the Western Reserve. He graduated at Yale in 1826 and Yale Theological
School in 1828. For a time he engaged in preaching the gospel in Ashtabula
and afterward in Sandusky, Ohio, while subsequently he became pastor of the
Congregational church of Austinburg. There he remained for five years and in
1835 allied his interests with the Oberlin movement, which had been originated
two years before and which has resulted in the development of one of the strongest
denominational schools of the country. He was elected professor of Greek

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