Category: Immigration and Ethnicity

BELGIANS. Belgians form one of Cleveland's smallest immigrant groups. As of 1970, only 124 foreign-born Belgians resided in the city. Belgian immigration to Cleveland began in the 1870s. The 1880 census listed 75 Belgians in the city. The pre-World War I peak was reached in 1910, at 90.

BELLEFAIRE-JCB is the oldest Jewish social-service agency in Cleveland. It was established in 1868 by the B'NAI B'RITH Grand Lodge #2 to care for Jewish Civil War orphans from 15 states. A large building on 4 1/ 2 acres, formerly Dr.

The BHUTANESE were one of the largest refugee groups ever resettled in Northeast Ohio. They became a major immigrant group in the early 2000s, forming a steady and unexpected migration stream to Cleveland and Akron. Several thousand Bhutanese men, women, and children arrived between 2008 and 2018, bringing Himalayan culture and traditions to a region that had never seen the like.

BIRINYI, LOUIS KOSSUTH (19 Apr. 1886—3 Sept. 1941) was a prominent member of the Cleveland Hungarian community. Author, journalist, and lawyer, Birinyi was an articulate spokesman on behalf of his native Hungary.

BOIARDI, HECTOR (1897-21 June 1985), known to millions as Chef Boy-ar-dee, began as a local restaurateur. Boiardi, son of Joseph and Mary (Maffi) Boiardi, began cooking in Italy at 10. He left for New York about 1914 to work at the Ritz Carlton. He came to Cleveland 3 years later as chef at the Hotel Winton, where his spaghetti dinners became the talk of the Midwest.

BONE, JOHN HERBERT ALOYSIUS (J.H.A.) (31 Oct. 1830-17 Sept. 1906) upheld literary standards on 2 Cleveland newspapers for half a century. The son of a British army officer, he was born in Penryn, Cornwall, and diverted from a similar career by a boyhood accident which left his right arm crippled. He married Ellen Carpenter and brought her directly to Cleveland in 1851.

BRAVERMAN, SIGMUND (22 May 1894-27 Mar. 1960), was a prominent Jewish architect who designed more than 40 synagogues in the U.S. and Canada, and many diverse structures in Cleveland. Born in Austria-Hungary, to Bernard and Fannie (Weiss) Braverman, he came to the U.S. at age 10 and settled with his family in Pittsburgh. Braverman received a B.S.

BRITISH IMMIGRATION. Immigrants from England, the Isle of Man, Scotland, and Wales were among the earliest to arrive in Cleveland. Because American society was, and is, culturally and linguistically derived from Great Britain, they found in Cleveland a home that was familiar and into which many readily assimilated, leaving few traces such as neighborhoods, churches, or clubs.

BROEMEL, CARL WILLIAM (5 Sept. 1891-23 May 1984) was noted as a watercolorist associated with the Cleveland School of artists. The son of Anna (Vlasteck) and Fred Charles Broemel, an architectural sculptor, Carl was born in Cleveland's old German district around Scovill and East 22nd St.

BRUDNO, EZRA (1877-12 Dec. 1954), attorney and author, was one of the most notable Jewish writers in Cleveland during the first 2 decades of the 20th century. Born in Lithuania to Isaac and Hannah (Model) Brudno, he was educated in a private European school and brought to America in 1891 by his parents.

BULGARIAN immigration to Cleveland divides into three periods: turn-of-the-century immigration (1880-1924), post-World War II refugee immigration, and immigration following the fall of communism in 1990. Most arrived during the first period and may be further divided into immigration prior to, or after, the Balkan War of 1912. Bulgarians arriving before 1912 represented every social and economic class.

BYELORUSSIANS. See BELARUSIANS.


CALLAHAN, DR. KENNETH R. (November 7, 1928 - June 12, 2011) was an oral surgeon, alumni fundraiser, and amateur historian. One of three siblings, he was born to Nelson J. Callahan and Mary Mulholland. His brother, REV. NELSON J.

CALLAHAN, REV NELSON J. (1927-January 15, 2013) was a priest for 60 years; a pastor, archivist, historian who wrote about ethnicity and the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, and author of Irish Americans and Their Communities of Cleveland (1978), the first book-length study of the Irish in Cleveland. He was one of three children born to Nelson J. and Mary (Mulholland) Callahan.

CANKARJEV GLASNIK (Cankar's Herald) was a Cleveland-based national literary monthly published in Slovenian, featuring fiction, essays, plays, and reviews. Most SLOVENES settling in the U.S. were literate and sought to continue their language here with newspapers and other publications.

CARPATHO-RUSYNS. See RUSYNS.


CELEBREZZE, ANTHONY J. (4 Sept. 1910 - 29 Oct. 1998) served the public for 45 years as Ohio state senator, mayor of Cleveland, Cabinet member in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and federal judge. He was born in Anzi, Italy, to Dorothry (Marcoguiseppe) and Rocco (Cilibrizzi), a shepherd who moved his family to Cleveland after securing work on the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad as a track laborer.

CHAMBERS, WILLIAM F. (January 21, 1932 - May 31, 2004) was a community leader and operator of the family-owned Chambers Funeral Homes, Inc for almost 50 years. He was the oldest of four born to William F. Chambers, Sr (an Irish immigrant and founder of the Chambers Funeral Home in West Park) and Agnes (Chambers) Chambers.

CHINESE. Cleveland's Chinese population began to grow only after the 1860s. However, their numbers were small; in 1880 they were counted in the census with the Japanese, totaling 23. The 1890 census showed 38 Chinese, and by 1900 their number exceeded 100. The settlers were all Cantonese—from China's southern province of Guangdong (Kwangtung), of which Canton, now Guangzhou, is the capital.

CHISHOLM, HENRY (22 April 1822-9 May 1881), known as the "father of the Cleveland steel trade," was one of the leading iron and steel manufacturers in the United States during the nineteenth century. Henry Chisholm was born in Lochgelly, Fifeshire, Scotland, the son of Stewart Chisholm, a mining contractor, who passed away when Henry was ten years old.

CLARK, MAURICE B. (6 Sept. 1827-9 March 1901) was a Cleveland businessman remembered chiefly as the first partner of JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER. Clark was a native of Malmesbury, Eng., who emigrated to America in 1847 and soon made his way to Cleveland via Boston. In 1853 he married another English immigrant, Mary Clement.

CLEARY, MICHAEL J. (November 12, 1934 - December 31, 2015) was a leader in organizing bodies of collegiate and professional sports, serving as executive director of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), from 1965-2011.

CLEAVELAND, MOSES (29 Jan. 1754-16 Nov. 1806), founder of the city of Cleveland, was born in Canterbury, Conn. In 1777, Cleaveland began service in the Revolutionary War in a Connecticut Continental Regiment, and graduated from Yale. Resigning his commission in 1781, he practiced law in Canterbury, and on 2 Mar. 1794 married Esther Champion and had four children.