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40 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
that others have passed by heedlessly he has noted and improved to the betterment of the city and the state in many ways. While modest and unostentatious in manner, all who know him speak of him in terms of praise. In his life are the elements of greatness because of the use he has made of his talents and his opportunities, because his thoughts are not self centered but are given to the mastery of life problems and the fulfillment of his duty as a man in his relations to his fellowmen and as a citizen in his relations to his city, state and country.
CHARLES A. MAHER.
On the honor roll of those who have been prominent in the development of the industrial interests of Cleveland is found the name of Charles A. Maher, who is the vice president of the National Car Wheel Company, an enterprise that is today of world-wide fame. He started upon the journey of life in 1867, and in the forty-two years which have since come and gone he has made steady progress toward the goal of prosperity, which is the objective point before every well balanced business man. As the name indicates, he comes of Irish ancestry. His parents, Thomas and Helen (Watson) Maher, were both natives of Ireland, the former bora near Dublin in County Carlow in 1829. When about nine or ten years of age he crossed the Atlantic with his parents and became a resident of Cleveland. After attaining his majority he gained for himself a position of distinction among the leading business men of the city. He was one of the early manufacturers of Cleveland, becoming one of the founders of the car -wheel business here, which was then conducted under the name of the Bowler & Maher Company. Later Mr. Brayton was admitted to a partnership, and his name was added to the firm style. A subsequent change in 1880 led to the adoption of the name of Maher & Brayton, a copartnership in the manufacture of car wheels and gray iron castings, while later it became the Maher Foundry Company, for Thomas Maher, by buying out the stock from time to time, became the sole owner of the business. In 1903 he sold the plant to the National Car Wheel Company, which took over five large concerns from Qeveland, Pittsburg, Rochester, New York city and Sayre, Pennsylvania. The plant here was one of the oldest in the country and one of the most substantial in this line of trade. After selling to the National Company Thomas Maher retired from active business. In the meantime, however, he was one of the founders of the Riverside Foundry Company and also of the Columbia Iron & Steel Company of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. He thus operated extensively along industrial lines, and his enterprise and business discernment were of such a character as to gain him notable prominence in this field of labor. His wife was brought to Cleveland during her early girlhood, her father being engaged in the rolling-mill business in this city during the pioneer epoch of industrial development here. In fact both the Maher and Watson families were among the early settlers. The death of Mrs. Maher occurred in 1876.
Bora in Cleveland, Charles A. Maher spent his time between the ages of seven and twelve years in the parochial school and afterward attended Brooks Military Academy, which later became the University School. On putting aside his text-books he became connected with the Britton Iron & Steel Mills, which he represented as shipping clerk for a time, and when he left that company he was serving as assistant night superintendent of the mill. He then went abroad, where he remained for six months, and upon his return he entered the foundry of the Maher & Brayton Company, going right into the works that he might thoroughly master the business. He served in every department, acquainting himself with the, trade, and after the firm became the Maher Wheel & Foundrv Company he was made secretary and general manager, thus continuing until the business was merged into the National Company. At that time he was elected
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