Ohio History Journal

KENNETH W. ROSE

John D. Rockefeller's Philanthropy and

Problems in Fundraising at Cleveland's

Floating Bethel Mission and the Home for

Aged Colored People

 

 

 

In discussing attempts to organize charity and philanthropy in the late nine-

teenth and early twentieth centuries, historians have devoted much attention to

the institutions being organized-to the charity organization societies, to phi-

lanthropic clearing houses, or to the new foundations created by such wealthy,

public-spirited citizens as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and Mrs.

Russell Sage-but have given little concern to the impact such organizing

campaigns had on contemporary charity work and existing social welfare in-

stitutions. Two institutions in Cleveland which were affected by local efforts

to organize philanthropy were the Floating Bethel Mission and the Home for

Aged Colored People. In the cases of both of these institutions, records lo-

cated in the Rockefeller Family Archives at the Rockefeller Archive Center in

Sleepy Hollow, New York, provide valuable information about how these in-

stitutions fared around the turn of the century. This material suggests some

of the problems associated with fundraising at a time when donors were care-

ful to give only to worthy projects, and when organizations were being estab-

lished to tell potential donors which projects were, and which were not, meri-

torious.

As the wealthiest Clevelander with a widely known reputation for giving,

John D. Rockefeller was a clear target for organizations and individuals seek-

ing financial support for a wide array of projects. From the time of his first

employment in a Cleveland mercantile house in 1855, Rockefeller had been

making donations to needy individuals and worthy charitable projects, giving

largely through his church.¹ As his income grew with his success in the oil

business, so too did the flow of his charitable giving and his reputation as a

philanthropist.  It was not unusual for Clevelanders to look to the

 

 

Kenneth W. Rose has been the Assistant to the Director of the Rockefeller Archive Center in

Sleepy Hollow, New York, since July 1987. He earned a Ph.D. in American Studies from Case

Western Reserve University in Cleveland, where he also served as a senior editorial assistant

for the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History (1987).

 

1. Rockefeller's first personal ledger, "Ledger A," now preserved in the John D.

Rockefeller Papers at the Rockefeller Archive Center, records his earliest charitable gifts.

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146                                                              OHIO HISTORY

 

Rockefellers for contributions toward projects they deemed favorable. The re-

sult was a steady stream of correspondence between citizens of Cleveland,

Rockefeller, and his staff and advisors in New York and Cleveland. Much of

this correspondence is now accessible to researchers at the Rockefeller Archive

Center in the papers of John D. Rockefeller and in the Cleveland project files

in the welfare series in the records of the Office of the Messrs Rockefeller, the

office Rockefeller established to handle his personal and philanthropic affairs.²

Material related to the Floating Bethel Mission and the Home for Aged

Colored People reveals much about the history of these two institutions,

about the nature of fundraising for charitable enterprises at the turn of the cen-

tury, and about the process of Rockefeller philanthropy.

 

The Floating Bethel Mission

 

The Floating Bethel Mission and its founder, the Reverend John Davis

Jones, have received little attention from Cleveland's historians. Neither the

man nor his mission appears in either edition of the Encyclopedia of

Cleveland History, and William Ganson Rose's Cleveland: The Making of a

City gives only scant attention to the more spectacular aspects of Jones'

work.³ Indeed, there appears to have been little particularly remarkable or dis-

tinctive about the Floating Bethel Mission: it was one of numerous reli-

 

2. Researchers can gain access to the Cleveland material in the John D. Rockefeller Papers

most readily through an unpublished index to Rockefeller's charity index cards, 1864-1903,

and the published name index for the 394 volumes of letterbooks in the collection, Index to the

John D. Rockefeller Letterbooks, 1877-1918 at the Rockefeller Archive Center (1987), com-

piled by Emily J. Oakhill and Claire Collier. The Rockefeller Family Archives, Record Group

2, Office of the Messrs Rockefeller, Welfare Interests series, contains four boxes of material

concerning a number of Cleveland organizations: the Cleveland Associated Charities, the

Cleveland Automobile Club, the Children"s Fresh Air Camp, the Cleveland Community Fund,

the Cleveland-Euclid Avenue Association, the Cleveland Federation for Charity and

Philanthropy, Cleveland"s Federated Churches, the Floating Bethel Mission, Fourth of July

Celebration-Cleveland, Hiram House, John D. Rockefeller, Jr."s contribution to the History of

Cleveland by William Ganson Rose, Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People, the Cleveland

Humane Society, the Children"s Industrial School and Home, the Jones School and Home for

Friendless Children, the Cleveland Medical Library, the Cleveland Orchestra Concerts, the

Cleveland Public Library, the Cleveland School of Art, the Cleveland Foundation, the Phyllis

Wheatley Association, Case School of Applied Science, and a folder entitled "Cleveland-

Miscellaneous Appeals." In addition to this material, there is substantial material at the Archive

Center on the Rockefellers' business interests in Cleveland, real estate holdings in Cleveland,

homes in Cleveland, and contributions to area churches, as well as personal correspondence

with friends and relatives in the area.

3. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, edited by David D. Van Tassel and John J.

Grabowski (Indianapolis, 1987; 2nd edition, 1996), Dictionary of Cleveland Biography, edited

by David D. Van Tassel and John J. Grabowski (Indianapolis, 1996), William Ganson Rose,

Cleveland: The Making of a City (Cleveland, 1950). One local historian who mentions both

Jones and his relationship with John D. Rockefeller is Grace Goulder in John D. Rockefeller:

The Cleveland Years (Cleveland, 1972), 100. "Brother Jones had only to appear at

Rockefeller"s office to receive a good size check," she reports, with exaggeration.

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Problems in Fundraising                                           147

gious-based charitable works undertaken by Clevelanders to save the souls of their fellow citizens, to keep them from sin, and to help them in sickness and in need. Its reports invariably recounted the statistics of its services, report- ing the number of souls touched by its work, if not necessarily saved. For the first six months of 1887, for example, the Mission reported that "117 vis- its were made to the bedside of the sick at their homes...; provisions, medicine and clothing were furnished in all cases when needed. Thirty-two tons of coal were given, and rent paid in seven cases; twenty-two visits were made to the City Hospital and Invalids Home, four sick persons were assisted to their homes, two hundred and fifteen Bethel and funeral services were held, 7299 attended our Bethel services, 1367 arose for prayers." The mission's special task was to serve sailors in the lake shipping trade, and in 1887 it boasted "the largest Sailor Congregation" and "the best located and patronized" reading room on the lakes. So well attended was the reading room that its floor gave way under the strain.4   4. "Floating Bethel & City Mission Work, June 1887," leaflet located in the JDR Papers, Office Correspondence, box 21, folder 166. The collapse of the reading room floor is reported in an undated fundraising card, printed apparently in early 1889: "Our reading room floor

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148                                                               OHIO HISTORY

 

Although this "independent unsectarian work" was under the direction of a

board of trustees, with a president, a secretary, and a treasurer, the main force

behind its work was the Rev. John Davis Jones. Indeed, it is the longevity

and dedication of "the one-armed Missionary" that provides the Floating

Bethel Mission with much of its distinctiveness. For more than five decades,

the Rev. Jones enjoyed the financial and moral support of some of the city's

leading citizens for his work along the docks and among the poor.⁵

The Rev. John Davis Jones (April 30, 1845-April 5, 1926) became a well-

known figure on the streets of Cleveland as he ministered to the sick and

needy along the lakefront and in the flats. The founder of the Floating Bethel

Mission and "a pastor-at-large to the poor of the city,"⁶ the Rev. Jones was a

native Clevelander, one of eight children born to David Jones, one of the

founders of the area's first rolling mill. According to his obituary, Jones first

went to sea as a cabin boy, later advancing to mate, before enlisting in the

 

 

gave way owing to the great numbers visiting it, [and] we were compelled to put new timbers

under and refloor a part of it." Other costs that year included construction of "a new dock on

our river front and, owing to the building adjoining us being raised a story higher than ours,

made it necessary to extend our three chimneys...." See "Summary of Current Expenses,"

which lists the amount of debt for January 1, 1888 and January 1, 1889, signed by William H.

Doan, treasurer, and W. D. Rees, secretary and treasurer, board of trustees.

5. The Floating Bethel"s work is described as independent and unsectarian in the June 1887

circular described above. Jones is described as the one-armed missionary in much of the lit-

erature about him, including one printed card, dated June 10, 1887, that illustrates the nature of

the support for his work. It reads: "We, the undersigned, are acquainted with and help to sup-

port the Bethel and City Mission Work that Rev. J. D. Jones, the one-armed Missionary has

been engaged in for the past twenty years, and cheerfully recommend his worthy work to the

support of the benevolent." The undersigned included local political and civic leaders (the

mayor of Cleveland, B.D. Babcock; the president of city council, W. M. Bayne; the port collec-

tor, William J. McKinnie; the county treasurer, D.H. Kimberley; and the state senator from the

25th district, George H. Ely); the managers of the leading newspapers (E.H. Purdue of the

Leader & Herald; and George F. Prescott of the Plain Dealer); many businessmen associated

with the shipping industry and lake trade (ship chandlers J.W. Grover & Son, and Upson,

Walton & Company; vessel owners Thomas Wilson, M.A. Bradley, and Palmer & Benham; and

Cleveland, Brown & Company, iron merchants); and other prominent citizens: Charles H.

Beardslee (with the Cleveland Gas Company); William H. Doan, a local oil producer and one

of Rockefeller"s partners; and Rufus P. Ranney, a prominent local lawyer who had served in

the Ohio Supreme Court. The card is in the JDR Papers, Office Correspondence, box 21, folder

166.

Shipping interests played a major role in supporting the Bethel, although that role appar-

ently declined along with business in the first decade of the twentieth century. When the

Mission incurred a debt of $467.76 in 1901-1902, Jones explained that "the consolidation of

several Steamboat and Dry Dock and Ship Building Companies has cut down our annual sub-

scriptions over $500.00, and at the same time our work and expenses have increased." (Jones

to Rockefeller, June 19, 1902, OMR/Welfare, box 28.) In 1908, when Rockefeller was the

major contributor to its work, the next largest supporter was the Pittsburgh Steamship Company,

which reduced its annual subscription from $300 in 1908 to $100 in 1909. N.A. Quilling to

Rockefeller, January 22, 1909.

6. The Rev. E. R. Wright, writing in his "Church News" column in the Cleveland Leader,

September 26, 1912, offered this description of Jones. "Everybody in Cleveland" knows his

story, the Rev. Wright wrote.

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Problems in Fundraising                                                149

 

Union army in 1861. He served in the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry dur-

ing the Civil War until he was discharged with a disability; then he re-enlisted

in the navy. While serving on the gunboat Yantic, he was rendered partly

deaf by a cannon explosion during a battle. Following the war, Jones worked

on the lakes during the summers and with the railroads during the winter sea-

son. His work on the railroads led to further disability: an accident "cost him

an arm and part of a foot."⁷

Jones' religious work reportedly began following his own conversion in

1867 "at a noonday service conducted by the Young Men's Christian

Association." Jones began distributing religious tracts along the docks, but

soon extended his work into hospitals and local prisons.⁸ By the early 1870s,

he was preaching in a Methodist church; in 1876 he was ordained a sailor

evangelist; and on December 12, 1877, he was ordained minister of the

Woodland Avenue Presbyterian Church, where he served until failing health

forced him to retire in 1924. When and how the Rev. Jones came to establish

the Floating Bethel Mission is unclear, but the name he chose for his mis-

sion clearly proclaimed its original intent: he used a boat to take the word of

God to men who made their living on the open waters of Lake Erie. By the

late 1870s, Jones had, according to William Ganson Rose, "fitted an old scow

in grand style" to attract sailors to his ministry; by the mid 1880s, the

Sailors Floating Bethel and City Mission Chapel was in operation on land at

165 River Street, with Jones as chaplain and superintendent. A powerful

speaker, Jones reportedly combined material service with his religious ser-

vices, giving tickets to his Sunday prayer meetings that permitted their col-

lectors to redeem a certain number for shoes or clothing.⁹ In addition to his

own work on behalf of the sick and needy, the Rev. Jones was active in the

founding of the Jones' Home for Friendless Children. He claimed to have in-

fluenced his uncle and aunt, Carlos L. and Mary B. Jones, to donate their land

and home for the orphanage.¹⁰

Throughout its history, the Floating Bethel Mission had trustees and offi-

cers in addition to the Rev. Jones, but it remained largely a one-man opera-

tion. The Rev. Jones not only held the services and ministered to those in

 

7. This brief biographical sketch relies heavily upon his obituary in an unidentified

Cleveland newspaper, an undated copy of which is located in the correspondence in the

Rockefeller Family Archives, Office of the Messrs Rockefeller, John D. Rockefeller series,

box 15, folder 113. Laura W. Jones, his second wife and widow, sent the obituary to

Rockefeller with a letter dated April 9, 1926. This record group and series will hereafter be

cited as OMR/JDR. For the date of Jones" death, see the entry for Jones in the list of deaths in

Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 7, 1926.

8. Wright, "Church News," Leader, September 26, 1912.

9 . Wright, "Church News," Leader, September 26, 1912; and Rose, Cleveland, 414, 554.

10. Jones to Rockefeller, June 19, 1902, in a letter that appeals for aid on behalf of both the

Floating Bethel and the Jones Home, in OMR/Welfare, box 28, folder "Floating Bethel

Cleveland." For the history of the Jones Home, see "Jones Home of Children"s Services,"

Encyclopedia of Cleveland History (1987), 580-81.

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150                                                            OHIO HISTORY

 

need, but was also the Mission's fundraiser. Among those he solicited for aid

was an old acquaintance, John D. Rockefeller. According to Jones, he and

Rockefeller were classmates together at both the Brownell School and "the

Baptist Church Sunday School" at the corner of Ohio and Erie streets.11    For

the most part, the preserved correspondence between Jones and Rockefeller is

very businesslike, with few personal touches. But there are strong indications

of a personal relationship. When the Rev. Jones' daughter died in July 1904,

Rockefeller sent his sympathies; and when he learned that Jones was ill in the

fall of 1905, Rockefeller instructed his secretary to send him $250 for his per-

sonal use, along with Rockefeller's best wishes for his recovery of health,

"the suggestion that he look into the question of osteopathic treatment," and

Rockefeller's personal recommendation of a specific physician in Cleveland.¹²

It is likely that Rockefeller began making donations to the Rev. Jones'

missionary work in a casual way during the 1870s, but exactly when he made

his first charitable contribution to the Floating Bethel Mission is not clear.

Rockefeller's charity recording cards show that by the mid-1880s he was a

regular supporter of the mission. Between 1882 and 1888, Rockefeller made

annual contributions of $50 to the mission; he increased his annual subscrip-

tion to $100 in 1889; to $200 in 1899; and to $500 in 1903. By about

1908, Rockefeller was the largest contributor to its work.¹³

During the 1880s two exceptions to these annual donations occurred, excep-

tions which set a pattern for future Rockefeller gifts to the Mission. One oc-

curred in 1889, when Rockefeller made two $100 payments: one to help clear

up the mission's debts, pledged conditionally upon the remainder of the debt

being pledged "by good and responsible parties" before a certain date, and the

other a payment toward current expenses.¹⁴ This became a regular pattern for

Rockefeller donations to the Mission: distinguishing between an annual sub-

scription for general support of the work and donations to meet special needs.

Rockefeller also made occasional gifts of money to the Rev. Jones for his

 

11. Jones to J. D. Rockefeller, October 22, 1923, OMR/JDR, box 15, folder 113. In his letter

to Jones' widow on April 9, 1926, Rockefeller also noted the length of their friendship.

12. See Jones to Rockefeller, February 28, 1905; and Rockefeller to George D. Rogers,

October 17, 1905, in the Rockefeller Family Archives, Record Group 2, Office of the Messrs

Rockefeller, Welfare series, box 28, folder entitled "Floating Bethel Cleveland," hereafter

cited as OMR/Welfare. The osteopathic doctor that Rockefeller recommended was a Dr.

Richardson, "of whom I think well"; his office was in the Rose Building. On December 13,

1909, the Rev. Jones began a letter of appeal to Rockefeller by acknowledging "Your kindness

in giving my wife and myself that long, pleasant auto ride," apparently to a picnic in or near

Royalton. See OMR/Welfare, box 28.

13. See the charity recording cards, "Cleveland Floating Bethel," card #1, in the John D.

Rockefeller Papers, hereafter cited as the JDR Papers. The 1903 increase is described in a

letter from John D. Rockefeller, Jr., to Jones, March 14, 1903, in OMR/Welfare, box 28.

Writing on his father"s behalf, the younger Rockefeller explained the larger check as an effi-

cient means of avoiding two appeals and two considerations during the year.

14. See Rockefeller to Jones, June 10, 1889, vol. 20, p. 112, in the letterbooks in the JDR

Papers.

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Problems in Fundraising                                           151

 

own personal use.

The second exception to the annual gift came earlier and illustrates the care

with which Rockefeller made donations, even if they were to old acquain-

tances. In 1886, Rockefeller gave $300 to the Mission, in addition to his

regular $50 subscription for current expenses. This significant departure from

prior practice is revealing. While in New York, Rockefeller received an ap-

peal from the Rev. Jones explaining the $1800 in debts the Mission had in-

curred for its land and buildings. "I want to share in the good work" of the

Floating Bethel, Rockefeller replied, but he asked to see "a list of contribu-

tions already obtained." When the list was received, he advised the Rev.

Jones to call upon L. H. Severance, the Standard Oil Company cashier, for an

answer to his appeal. Rockefeller, still in New York, turned to Severance in

Cleveland as his agent and advisor in this matter: "You may pledge for me

$200.00 or $300.00, and, if your judgment approves, I will add $100 or $200

more, but kindly ascertain, in the conversation with him, if others cannot be

found to join and make up the balance. The more contributors, the better for

the work, for the present and the future. I would want you to feel assured

from Mr. Doan [treasurer of the Floating Bethel], also, that their financial af-

fairs are all honestly and carefully managed."¹⁵

Here are several emerging principles of Rockefeller philanthropy: he is

careful not to be the sole supporter of the project, wanting others to be found

to join in this work; and he relies on the expert advice of someone on the

scene who is able to investigate its soundness more thoroughly than he him-

self could. This reliance on the advice of others figured prominently in the

fate of later Rockefeller gifts to the Mission.

As Rockefeller philanthropy became more and more the function of experts

and advisors rather than the work of Rockefeller himself, more and more peo-

ple were relied upon for advice with regard to the Floating Bethel Mission.

Their suggestions varied according to their opinions of the Rev. Jones and

new ideas about the nature of effective philanthropy. Their descriptions of the

Rev. Jones and his work, however, remained remarkably consistent over time.

"His big heart keeps him poor and his nose on the grindstone all the time,"

wrote L.M. Bowers of the Rev. Jones in 1902. "He cannot keep a dime when

he sees suffering and his pocket is of course empty most of the time." One

of Rockefeller's closest advisors, Starr J. Murphy, gave his approval to the

Rev. Jones' work in both 1905 and 1906. Noting that the number of contri-

butions fell from 256 in 1902 to 212 in 1905, Murphy argued that while "the

work is not of a kind which makes a general appeal to modern ideas of philan-

thropy...the work seems to be one which carries a ministry of love and com-

 

 

15. See the letters from Rockefeller to Jones, April 14, 1886, vol. 10, p. 74; and April 19,

1886, vol. 10, p. 124; and Rockefeller to L. H. Severance, April 19, 1886, vol. 10, p. 122, in the

letterbooks in the JDR Papers.

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152                                                       OHIO HISTORY

 

fort to many people." "I should think it worth maintaining," Murphy re-

ported, "at least during the lifetime of Chaplain Jones.... [who is] a man of

advanced years, and of lovable personality." Murphy, whose own father en-

gaged in city mission work similar to that of Rev. Jones for twenty-five

years, recommended continued support at $500 a year for the Floating Bethel

Mission. 16

Not everyone was so favorably impressed by the Rev. Jones or the Floating

Bethel Mission. As it spearheaded efforts to promote greater efficiency and

cooperation among the various charitable organizations working in the grow-

ing city, the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce established a Committee on

Benevolent Associations to assess the work of each charitable organization

and to endorse those it believed were doing worthy work.¹⁷ Such endorsement

was denied to the Floating Bethel Mission on two grounds. According to

Howard Strong of the Chamber in a letter to one of Rockefeller's Cleveland

advisors, the Committee on Benevolent Associations found that the Floating

Bethel Mission "absolutely refused to cooperate in its relief-giving work with

the other relief organizations of the city." Moreover, he noted, the Floating

Bethel "seems rather to consider these organizations as its rivals and to vie

with them for support." Both of these tendencies ran counter to the commit-

tee's belief "that cooperation is a fundamental principle of all charities." The

committee also determined that the Floating Bethel's "administration of char-

ity...is not always of the wisest and most effective character, tending occa-

sionally to pauperize rather than to uplift."¹⁸ The charge that its actions

tended to pauperize rather than uplift the poor was perhaps the most damning

charge that could be leveled against a charitable organization according to the

tenets of modern charitable work at the turn of the century.

The Chamber's refusal to endorse his work was the beginning of a long and

bitter dispute between the one-armed missionary and the proponents of orga-

nized charity in Cleveland.  The Rev. Jones believed, according to one

Rockefeller agent, "that all charitable organizations opposed him and were us-

ing desperate methods to injure his work in order that they might get his sup-

porters and contributions. He gave me proof." "Bitter feeling" had been

 

 

 

16. L.M. Bowers to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., December 26, 1902; Starr Murphy to F.T.

Gates, March 16, 1905; and Murphy to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., May 1, 1906, in

OMR/Welfare.

17. For a history of the business community"s efforts to organize more efficient charity and

philanthropy in Cleveland, see Brian Ross, "The New Philanthropy: The Reorganization of

Charity in Turn of the Century Cleveland" (Ph.D. dissertation, Case Western Reserve

University, 1989).

18. Howard Strong, Assistant Secretary of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, to N.A.

Quilling, December 21, 1909. One apparent source of tension, disagreement, and lack of co-

operation was Jones" refusal to reveal the names of the recipients of his charity. See Wright,

"Church News," Leader, September 26, 1912.

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Problems in Fundraising                                             153

 

aroused and other organizations had made "ugly charges" against Jones.¹⁹

These charges included an attempt by the Chamber of Commerce to blame

Jones for the criminal acts of some of the people he had tried to help. Nathan

A. Quilling, Rockefeller's agent in Cleveland, reported that "the Chamber of

Commerce made specific charges against Chaplain Jones and insisted that I

make an investigation through the police department. I found the charges

groundless as Chaplain Jones is not responsible for the conduct of the low

class of people he is trying to help."²⁰

The Chamber's refusal to endorse the Floating Bethel Mission apparently

led Rockefeller to reconsider his own support for it, and he asked Quilling to

investigate the Mission, its work, and the nature of local support for it.

Quilling met with the Rev. Jones on January 21, 1909, and reported on his

meeting and investigation to Rockefeller in two letters during the next week,

with an additional report in May. Quilling agreed with earlier assessments of

Jones and his work, including that of the Chamber: "He may be overly gen-

erous, and some families helped a year ago are no more self-respecting or self-

supporting to-day." Still, Quilling was impressed by the religious nature and

value of Jones' work, as well as its vastness: "Chaplain Jones is 90% of the

energy of the Floating Bethel; I do not think it would last long without him.

He is widely known throughout the City and it is impossible for him to meet

the demands of calls to the bedsides of the poor, sick, and dying people....

With one helper I cannot understand how he gets over so large a territory."

The Rev. Jones apparently gave a rousing account of his work and its increas-

ing strength and support, and won Quilling's moral support: "My sympa-

thies are decidedly with Chaplain Jones in his fight with the Chamber of

Commerce and other organizations." Despite his admiration for the Rev.

Jones, however, Quilling determined that the local donations were sufficient

to support the Mission's work and that Rockefeller should eventually cease

his contributions: "I recommend that you do not contribute to last year's

Bethel deficit..., and that you gradually decrease your contribution, or, discon-

tinue entirely after this year. The Bethel is in good shape financially. The

Widlar Estate²¹ left them $3,000 last year to be used as they saw fit. Part of

this sum was used in repairing their building, and $2,000 of the amount re-

mains on hand." Clevelanders, he believed, "would amply take care of the in-

stitution and...others would give more if you gave less." Rockefeller's an-

nual donations to the Mission decreased from $500 between 1904 and 1909 to

 

 

19. Quilling to John D. Rockefeller, January 22, 1909 and January 27, 1909.

20. Quilling to Rockefeller, May 9, 1910.

21. Apparently a reference to the estate of tea and coffee merchant Francis Widlar, a direc-

tor of the Floating Bethel Mission who died on June 3, 1907. According to Widlar"s obituary in

the Plain Dealer (June 4, 1907), he and the Rev. Jones were "lifelong friend[s] and boyhood

chum[s]." In addition to the obituary, see the entry for Francis Widlar in The Cleveland

Directory of Directors 1905 (Cleveland, 1905).

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154                                                     OHIO HISTORY

 

$400 in 1910 and $325 in 1911, with an additional $50 for a new Bethel dock

in October 1911. By that date, Rockefeller had contributed a total of $10,260

to the Floating Bethel Mission.²²

By September 1912, however, the Bethel was $1,500 in debt and needed

another $2,500 for repairs on its building "demanded by the City Building in-

spectors." Jones was discouraged by the various battles he was waging. "It

is now a serious question whether I had not better give up the Bethel work

and seek some other employment," he wrote to Rockefeller. Money was a

constant headache, and he was growing weary of the task of raising it. "I find

by past experience that many people are just as willing to give their money

to our work as they are to give their teeth to the Dentist. If I was only

skilled in the art of giving laughing gas I might succeed in getting some of

their money." He vowed to "make another effort to make a financial success

of the work," and embarked on another fundraising campaign.²³

Asked for his opinion of the Bethel in 1912, Quilling recommended that

Rockefeller "make no further contributions to this object." A contribution

would not be "a wise and judicious expenditure of your money," he wrote to

Rockefeller. Much more than in the past, Quilling now relied upon and

echoed the ideas of organized charity in assessing the Floating Bethel's work.

The Mission's board took little interest in its work, knew "little of the chari-

table needs of our poor," and placed all of the funds at the discretion of one

man, a poor administrator who was likely to incur deficits repeatedly in the

future. Moreover, Quilling reported, "the Bethel is playing a lone game.

There is no co-operation with any organization. No investigation is made to

determine the actual needs in giving, nor an after-investigation to learn

whether the expenditure was helpful or harmful. I find that no commendation

is made of the charity end of the Bethel work by disinterested charity work-

ers."²⁴

Less than a year later, the Rev. Jones reported to Quilling that the Bethel

was "in better physical and financial condition than ever before." A new dock

had been built, a new roof put on, the building had been made fireproof, and,

above all, the Mission was debt-free, thanks to better financial support from

its own trustees. For his part, Rockefeller continued to make annual contri-

butions of $250 to the Mission through the 1910s into the 1920s, with occa-

sional special gifts to the Rev. Jones or for special needs within the

Mission.²⁵

 

 

22. Quilling to Rockefeller, January 22, January 27, and May 9, 1910; the figures for

Rockefeller's annual donations come from his charity index cards, correspondence, and office

memoranda that summarize his contributions to the Floating Bethel Mission.

23. Jones to Rockefeller, September 11, 1912 and October 8, 1912.

24. Quilling to Rockefeller, October 17, 1912.

25. Quilling to Rockefeller, June 17, 1912; on annual giving during this period see the corre-

spondence in OMR/Welfare box 28.

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Problems in Fundraising                                           155

The creation of Cleveland's Federation for Charity and Philanthropy in 1913 renewed the battle between the Floating Bethel Mission and the propo- nents of organized charity. At Rockefeller's urging, the Rev. Jones reported to his old friend his view of the Federation. For him, the Federation, chaired by a member of Cleveland's Jewish community, represented a coalition of in- terests opposed to the Christian gospel: "Jews, Roman Catholics and liquor dealers have no use for our gospel work," he wrote. "Many of their people and customers have been converted to Christianity through our instrumental- ity." The Bethel's exclusion from the Federation hampered its fundraising by implying that "something [was] wrong" with its work, Jones complained.26 Jones clearly resented the intrusion into the charity field of these "latter day scientific Charity workers." "They have come to Cleveland and want to dom- ineer over those of us who were engaged in the work before they were born," he complained in 1916. "They have succeeded in getting the charity givers to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel," and in the process "made it very hard for me to continue my work." Moreover, he hurled back at these intruders the same charge of pauperizing the poor that they leveled at him, only he returned the charge on a much grander scale. He was convinced that the well-publi- cized work of these new scientific charity workers brought into Cleveland     26. Jones to Rockefeller, October 23, 1913. For similar criticisms of other evangelical charities against the organizers of modern secular philanthropy in Cleveland, see Ross"s Chapter 4, "Modern Philanthropy and Denominational Enterprises," in "New Philanthropy," 210-62.

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156                                                   OHIO HISTORY

 

"many hundreds of paupers...from Canada and other countries and all parts of

our own country.... A number have confessed to me that because of letters

and newspaper clippings they had received from people who had come here

from their old homes, telling how easy it was to get relief, they, too, came."

The result was a system that "so humiliates the best poor of our City, that

they would rather suffer than be registered with the many paupers." In addi-

tion to attracting paupers to Cleveland and humiliating the worthy poor,

Jones argued, the system often failed those most in need. The new scientific

system rendered "poor work": "we have found sick and dying people in the

greatest distress who have confessed to us they were already registered by this

Clearing House organization." Accused often of duplicating the charity of

other organizations, the Rev. Jones operated from the point of view that ser-

vice to the needy was paramount over concerns about jurisdiction in specific

cases. He provided assistance first and asked questions later. He claimed that

Solon Severance, a local banker and philanthropist, had examined a complaint

that Jones had acted improperly in one instance, sided with Jones in the han-

dling of the affair, and then withdrew from the Associated Charities.²⁷

The Rev. Jones' charges and complaints against organized charity in

Cleveland suggest that these movements did not proceed smoothly and un-

challenged. More was at stake than merely the shape and form of charity in

Cleveland, for what emerged was a new view of the poor as social problems

that needed to be fixed. The Rev. Jones understood the poor and needy as dig-

nified individuals deserving of help, with few questions asked. The one-armed

missionary, a veteran charity worker with a clear religious point of view, and

with ties to some of the oldest families and wealthiest individuals in

Cleveland, was certainly a formidable opponent for the younger scientific

charity workers. His Floating Bethel Mission was exactly the kind of work

they sought to force from the field of charity, but only failing health in 1924

and death two years later could drive him from the field. In the spring of

1925, the Floating Bethel's board of trustees notified donors that Jones's

"increasing physical disability" had prompted them to sell the property at

1322 West 1th Street and "give up the Charter of the Institution."  Jones,

the trustees argued, was "in no condition mentally or physically to carry on

any work": poor eyesight due to cataracts on both eyes, a failing memory,

and fainting spells made it "dangerous for him to be on the streets." Yet he

continued to try to raise funds and minister to the needy, and the trustees felt

compelled to urge his former supporters to refuse his appeals: "Former sub-

scribers sympathetically inclined will be doing the Chaplain a great kindness

if they hereafter refuse his appeal of funds." Proceeds from the sale of the

 

 

27. Jones to Rockefeller, August 31, 1916. For a biography of Solon Severance (1834-

1915), see The Dictionary of Cleveland Biography, edited by David D. Van Tassel and John J.

Grabowski (Bloomington, 1996), 408.

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Problems in Fundraising                                                157

 

Floating Bethel property had been used to pay the debts Jones had incurred on

the institution's behalf, and the remainder was used to establish a trust fund

for Jones and his wife. Jones died in 1926.28

 

The Home for Aged Colored People

 

The Home for Aged Colored People fared much better with the proponents

of organized charity than did the Floating Bethel Mission, enjoying the sup-

port of the Federation for Charity and Philanthropy. It also has fared better

with local historians, who have recounted its story in the standard works on

local African-American history, and it has fared better over time:  the first

non-religious institution organized by Cleveland blacks continues to serve the

community as the Eliza Bryant Center.²⁹

Efforts to organize the Home were begun by a long-time resident of

Cleveland, Eliza Bryant. Her mother, a freed slave from North Carolina, es-

tablished residence in Cleveland in 1858, and her home became a well-known

refuge for blacks coming north until they could establish their own resi-

dences. Raised in a household that regularly provided service to other African

Americans, Bryant in 1893 undertook efforts to organize local women to cre-

ate an institution for poor elderly blacks who were denied aid and service by

existing old-age homes. By 1895 they had elected a president and established

a board of trustees, and in September 1896, the Home for Aged Colored

People was incorporated. On August 11, 1897, the Home opened at the cor-

ner of Giddings Street (E. 71st) and Lexington Avenue. Purchase of the

$2,000 home left the officers with a debt of $1,400, which they undertook to

raise through benefit parties, socials, fairs, and appeals to local blacks and to

at least some of Cleveland's white wealthy elite.³⁰

The Rockefellers were early supporters of the Home for Aged Colored

People. Records indicate that the first appeals were directed to Mrs. John D.

Rockefeller, but it is unclear whether there was any personal acquaintance be-

tween her and the leaders of the Home. On July 29 and again on September

27, 1898, the Rockefellers contributed $50 to the Home; in 1898 they made

 

28. Memorandum of May 27, 1925, Re: Chaplain J.D. Jones and the Floating Bethel by C.W.

Brand for the Board of Trustees of the Floating Bethel, in OMR/JDR, box 12, folder 87.

Jones"s "health broke down two years ago," reported his obituary, and prevented him from

continuing his duties at the Woodland Avenue Presbyterian Church, and, presumably, his duties

with the Floating Bethel Mission. In his last letter to Rockefeller"s advisors, Jones reported that

he had been "sick with heart trouble." See Jones to W.S. Richardson, July 11, 1924,

OMR/JDR, box 15, folder 113.

29. For overviews of its history, see Russell Davis, Black Americans in Cleveland

(Cleveland, 1972), 192-94, 390; Kenneth Kusmer, A Ghetto Takes Shape: Black Cleveland,

1870-1930 (Urbana, 1976), 105, 148; and the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History (1987), 371.

30. See Davis, Black Americans in Cleveland, 192-94, and Encyclopedia of Cleveland

History, 311.

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158                                                    OHIO HISTORY

 

two payments of $100 each; and they gave a total of $175 in 1900; $100 in

1901; and in 1902 paid a $500 pledge toward a mortgage for a new building

for the Home, to which they soon added $200 on the strength of the fundrais-

ing work of the Home's leaders. By the spring of 1904, the Rockefellers had

donated more than $1,305 to the Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People.³¹

The Rockefellers were thus major supporters of the Home in its first two

locations, donating a total of $700 to the $2,275 debt that remained from the

purchase of a new location on Osborne Street (E. 39th Street) in late 1901.

They also made occasional donations for current expenses of the Home.

Other white donors during this period included Samuel Mather and L.C.

Hanna.³² Leaders of the Home succeeded in paying off the debt on the

Osborne Street house by March 1903, and the Home enjoyed a stable period

at that location for the next decade. But when a new home became desirable

in late 1913, the Home's officials once again looked to the Rockefellers for

aid.

The letters of appeal to John D. Rockefeller and his advisors from the

Special Fund Committee for the Home for Aged Colored People clearly

spelled out the need for a new home, described in some detail the new prop-

erty to be purchased, and explained the limitations on their fundraising. The

old home housed twelve elderly residents, with three more applicants awaiting

admission in the new larger house. The plumbing, bathrooms, and ventila-

tion were poor at the old home, which needed extensive repair and renovation.

Moreover, the old site at East 39th Street near Woodland was located next to

an unsightly barrel factory and was "somewhat away from the people we want

to visit our institution and take an interest in its welfare." By contrast, the

new home at 4807 Cedar was a large, fifteen-room, three-story brick house

"in excellent repair," with "a full cemented cellar [and] an almost new fur-

nace," located such that it "will put us in direct contact with the colored peo-

ple of our city."³³

By 1913, the Home for Aged Colored People had the endorsement of the

Federation for Charity and Philanthropy, but this meant little in terms of rais-

ing funds for a new home. The Federation provided support for current ex-

penses, but did not contribute to building funds. Indeed, being a member or-

ganization of the Federation was something of a hindrance in raising a build-

ing fund, as the Home's leaders explained: "We, as one of the Institutions in

 

 

31. See the memorandum on the "Home for Aged Colored People, Cleveland, Ohio," un-

dated, in the file for the Home in OMR/Welfare box 29, and see also the following correspon-

dence in the letterbooks in the JDR Papers: vol. 56, p. 416; vol. 58, p. 192; vol. 65, p. 305; vol.

75, p. ²⁰⁸, vol. 75, p. 269; vol. 76, p. 19, and vol. 81, p. ³⁵⁶.

32. Cornelia F. Nickens and Marie Perkins to N.A. Quilling, June 29, 1914.

33. Mrs. Hattie Fairfax, Mrs. Lethia Fleming, and Mrs. Marie Taylor Perkins to John D.

Rockefeller, December 14, 1913; and Marie Taylor Perkins to W.S. Richardson. December 15.

1913. Quotes are from the first letter.

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Problems in Fundraising                                        159

the Federation are not permitted to solicit from...subscribers to the Federation, unless there is a special canvas on for us by this same body.... We have so far got very little or no encouragement from the Federation as there seem to be so many greater institutions who have deficits and need more building room that our work seems small and our representative given little encouragement." Support from within the black community was forthcom- ing through "various entertainments" and a general canvass organized by women's clubs, but, as the fundraising secretary put it, "the various colored societies as well as individuals of Cleveland have said WHEN you buy we will help you but we must have money to buy." The home was purchased in January 1914 with a down payment of $5,000 and a $4,000 loan from the Cleveland Trust Company.34 These appeals impressed one Rockefeller advisor, W. S. Richardson, "as worthy." "Such homes for aged colored people, when well managed, are very useful," he reported. "I think Mr. Rockefeller may wisely help. A contribu- tion of $300 would meet with my approval."35 No action was taken, how-   34. Marie Taylor Perkins to W.S. Richardson, December 15, 1913, and N.A. Quilling to John D. Rockefeller, January 29, 1914. Quilling described Perkins, the secretary for the fundraising drive, as "a very bright woman" who for seventeen years had worked as the private secretary in the home of Rockefeller's personal physician, Dr. Hamilton F. Biggar. 35. W. S. Richardson to Starr J. Murphy, December 23, 1913.

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160                                                   OHIO HISTORY

 

ever, partly because Rockefeller's agent in Cleveland believed no outside aid

was necessary. "The home for aged colored people is undoubtedly worthy of

support," Quilling argued, "but it does seem to me that the sense of duty and

pride of the colored people might be sufficiently stimulated to support... [the

Home] without outside aid."³⁶

Another factor in delaying action was that further investigation had revealed

a more troubling issue:  the question of improper expenditure of past

Rockefeller gifts. In April 1914, Marie Taylor Perkins, the secretary for the

fundraising drive and a private secretary in the home of Rockefeller's personal

physician, appealed directly to Mrs. Rockefeller for aid. She was told that

"Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller had a very unfortunate experience in connection

with contributions to this Home some years ago, through Mrs. Belle Bolden,

who had been very highly recommended to them."³⁷

This news shocked the new leaders of the Home for Aged Colored People,

raised the concerns of the Federation for Charity and Philanthropy, and

prompted an investigation by Rockefeller's advisors.  Perkins responded

promptly with a sense of outrage and regret, taking pains to make clear that

the Home was under new management: "We younger women who are taking

and have taken up the work have only the deepest regret that those who have

gone before or particularly Mrs. Bolden, has so conducted business that we

who are now working must lose subscriptions or any particular subscription

thru dishonesty on the part of a former President.... It is deplorable." Word

of the apparent scandal soon reached the Federation for Charity and

Philanthropy, which asked the leaders of the Home for a report. "This partic-

ular incident...is holding up donations of which we are sorely in need,"

Perkins explained to Rockefeller, asking for the help of his office in clearing

up the matter.³⁸

The money in dispute proved to be a loan from the Rockefellers to a former

officer of the Home, and did not involve the operation of the Home for Aged

Colored People. Belle Bolden had been president of the Home at the turn of

the century, but her relationship with the Home was ended in 1903 "on ac-

count of discrepancies which were at that time reported," according to Perkins.

Rockefeller's main Cleveland agent during this period, Nathan Quilling, de-

scribed Bolden as "Cassie Chadwick Number 2," referring to the celebrated

female con artist who posed as the illegitimate daughter of Andrew Carnegie

and swindled local banks out of thousands of dollars between 1897 and 1905.

Quilling's first assignment for Rockefeller was to investigate a letter Bolden

had written "begging for money to pay off some pressing debts." She had

 

 

36. Quilling to Rockefeller, January 29, 1914.

37. Harry D. Sims to Mrs. Marie T. Perkins, April 9, 1914, in reply to her letter to Mrs.

Rockefeller, April 7, 1914.

38. Perkins to Sims, April 11, 1914, and Perkins to Rockefeller, April 27, 1914.

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Problems in Fundraising                                           161

 

been recommended to the Rockefellers by Mrs. Martha Tuttle, Mrs.

Rockefeller's secretary.  Bolden had established a relationship with the

Rockefellers through her work with the Home, and, according to Quilling,

"continued to write pitiful letters to Mrs. Rockefeller."  Since his wife

"seemed to be anxious to help her, Mr. Rockefeller finally decided to place

with the Superior Savings & Trust Company $3500, the amount we believed

to be her total indebtedness, and this money to be used to pay off mortgages

and debts in order that she might save her home." Instead, she defaulted on

the monthly payments, according to Quilling, and "we finally sold the

home."³⁹

The confusion between the personal loan to Bolden and the administration

of the Home was undoubtedly a costly one for the Home; indeed, it may well

have cost it further financial support from the Rockefellers, for there is no in-

dication that they contributed to the Home in response to the appeals of 1913-

1914. It was just this concern about the proper and efficient appropriation of

donated funds that the proponents of organized charity sought to address, seek-

ing to assure donors that their money would be used well and effectively. The

Home apparently never lost the trust of the Federation for Charity and

Philanthropy and enjoyed its status as a financial participant in the Welfare

Federation in subsequent decades,⁴⁰ but it still had to expend energy and time

to overcome the burden of Belle Bolden's administrative and personal financial

problems.

Thus, the cases of the Floating Bethel Mission and the Home for Aged

Colored People illustrate two kinds of concerns for donors and their organiza-

tions: first, that the work be effective, efficient, and as useful as possible,

and secondly, that the administration of the charity be trustworthy and ac-

countable. These cases also illustrate the dynamic interplay between donors,

charitable institutions, and organized philanthropic clearinghouses such as the

Cleveland Chamber's Committee on Benevolent Associations and the

Federation for Charity and Philanthropy, an interplay that necessitates histo-

ries of charitable organizing efforts that examine the impact of these efforts

on the charitable institutions and charity workers who were as much their tar-

gets as the poor and needy of the lower classes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

39. Quilling to Harry D. Sims, May 21, 1914. For a brief review of the life and career of

Cassie Chadwick, see the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History (1987), 170.

40. Davis, Black Americans in Cleveland, 193-94.

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