VAIL, HARRY LORENZO (11 Oct. 1860-27 Feb. 1935), journalist, lawyer, and politician, was born in Cleveland to Judge I.C. and Clara Van Husen Vail. At 19, Vail received his B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan and over the next 5 years studied law at intervals, being admitted to the bar in 1884, although he did not begin practicing until 1888. Following college, Vail worked for the Cleveland Herald, Cincinnati Enquirer, and Cincinnati Times, where he was managing editor. In Cleveland, he was also city editor of the SUNDAY VOICE, which, as the first Sunday paper in Cleveland, drew criticism from clergymen. In 1894 Vail became clerk of the court of common pleas and circuit courts, a position he held until 1900. He was then a county commissioner (1904-13), helping initiate some of the city's largest public building projects, including the new courthouse and DETROIT-SUPERIOR BRIDGE. In 1917, Mayor HARRY L. DAVIS appointed Vail secretary of the War Advisory Board, and in 1921 the governor appointed him to an advisory committee for the state's Div. of Americanization. Vail devoted his later life to real-estate interests, as director of Lawmer Land Co. and vice-president of Warner Land Co. He continued to be active in the Republican party. Vail married Sarah Wickham, organizer of the Cleveland YWCA and a founder and president of the Cleveland Art Assoc., on 18 Sept. 1894. They had one child, HERMAN LANSING VAIL.
Herman Lansing Vail Family Papers, WRHS.