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Clyde
Calvin Miner |
Clyde Calvin Miner was born on March 5, 1875 at Kirkersville, Licking County, OH, the only son of Frederick and Emma (Moore) Miner Jr. He was a successful business executive in Ohio and St. Louis. A history book once called him "one of Dayton's substantial and thoroughly capable men of affairs … well known in business circles, and particularly among credit men, this being a branch of business work in which he has had wide experience, and for which he is well fitted."
Clyde grew up with several
half-siblings. There was a 27-year difference between him and his eldest
brother, John "Gilbert" Miner.
Early in his adult life, Clyde resided in Greenville, OH and was a newspaper carrier for the Greenville Tribune. He also taught school at Washington Court House, and that may be where he met his wife, Bertha Smith (1879-1961). She was a native of Washington Court House, the daughter of Hamlin and Catherine (Foster) Smith.
They had four children -- Marie Violet Horn, Frederick Foster Miner, Sarah Elizabeth Harrison-Taussig, and Richard Smith Miner.
Clyde got his start with the Steely Millinery Company. He then moved to Springfield to accept a position with Robbins and Meyers, a fan company which later reorganized in Dayton under the name Dayton Fan Motor Company (nicknamed "Day-Fan."). With this change, Clyde moved his family to Dayton. He is named among others involved in the formation of Day-Fan, capitalized at $700,000, in the Department Reports of the State of Ohio, Volume X, in 1919. The other investors were E.O. Waymire, Lee Warren James, J.E. Coolidge and E.D. Moore
Downtown
Dayton is seen here circa 1910, about the time the Miners moved
there.
In 1916, Clyde made an investment in Lucas Pump Company. It was a small manufacturer of "pumps for general service and fire protection, compressors, tools, dies and jigs," said Hover's 1919 Memoirs of the Miami Valley. After Clyde's investment, the company was renamed Lucas-Miner Pump Company, and he was elected President.
Active in the profession, he was a member of the Commission on Standardized Accounting of Electrical Industries. He also was a guest speaker at the annual convention of the National Association of Credit Men in Kansas City, "on the subject of the war and its effect on our industries," reported the association's Bulletin. In June 1919, the Bulletin printed his comments regarding "trade acceptance," an effort to avoid issues with slow and troublesome accounts by writing certain clauses into every contract.
Though also serving Day-Fan as secretary-treasurer, according to family stories, his honesty and guilelessness caused him to be railroaded out of the company.
In 1921, Clyde relocated to St. Louis to
become treasurer of the Wagner Electric Company, a division of General
Electric.
He also served as President of Victor X-Ray Corporation, another GE subsidiary.
One of these companies may also have been known as Inland Products Company.
In 1921, his first year with Wagner Electric, he wrote a Christmas letter to employees. This excerpt gives a sense of his optimism and energy:
The year 1921 closes with hopes for a better 1922 -- better because we have all planned to make it better -- because every sign points to better conditions. What will be our share, what is your share, what is my share? We all know it will be hard work, requiring the best of management, the best of salesmanship, the best of PRODUCT and SERVICE. Can we not approach the New Year with determined minds, aggressive spirits and the knowledge gained from experience that our efforts properly applied will bring the results we most desire?
Clyde's tenure as president and general manager of Inland Products came to an end in 1924, when he resigned. He commented that he "has no plans for the immediate future," and the remarks were printed in The Commercial Car Journal.
In the early 1930s, Clyde served as manager of the manufacturers department of the Securities Investment Company.
Clyde died of pneumonia at age 59 on April 7, 1934. He is buried at Oak Grove in St. Louis.
Bertha outlived him by more than a half-century, passing away of heart problems on Aug. 31, 1961. She is buried with her husband.
Copyright © 2001, 2009 Mark A. Miner