Jeptha Wade obituary

SOCIETY AND CLUB NOTES.

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OBITUARY. — J. H. WADE.

Jephtha H. Wade, one of the oldest and wealthiest citizens of Cleveland, died there on August 9, after an illness of only a few days, aged seventy-nine years. Mr. Wade began life as a carpenter, was afterwards a daguerreotype artist, and then a telegraph operator. He built the first telegraph line west of Buffalo along the line of the Michigan Central Railroad. He next built the Wade lines to Ohio. He was the first president of the Pacific Telegraph Company, and the first president of the Western Union, which position he held till 1867. He has since been engaged in banking and other enterprises in Cleveland. He originated Lake View Cemetery where Garfield is buried, and also laid out and donated to the city Wade Park near the cemetery.

Mr. Wade invested in telegraphy at the right time and realized several million dollars from his investment. He was very charitable, among his gifts to the city of Cleveland being the park and an orphan asylum. Mr. Wade was a Democrat and had often been importuned to run for Congress, but always refused. His fortune is said to amount to $8,000,000.

In telegraphic circles, Mr. Wade will be remembered not only as being the first president of the Western Union Co., but as having been one of the chief promoters of the transcontinental lines, and of the projected line to Russia and Europe across the Pacific and Siberia. He showed himself in telegraphic work a man of great force and inventive ability.