Category: Immigration and Ethnicity

CZECHS

CZECHS. Cleveland's Czech community forms one of the city's oldest and largest ethnic groups. Approximately 37,000 people of Czech birth or background resided in the metropolitan area in the 1990s. The term Czech refers collectively to Bohemians, Moravians, and Silesians. Czechs immigrated to America and settled in Cleveland in three distinct waves.

CZELUSNIAK, MARY ELLEN

CZELUSNIAK, MARY ELLEN (14 Oct. 1935 - 23 Sep. 2020) was a proud deaf woman who ministered to the Catholic hearing impaired community of Cleveland. One of three siblings, Czelusniak was born to Edward Martin and Catherine McDonnell Kenneley.

D'ARCY, EAMON

D’ARCY, EAMON (July 17, 1928 - May 16, 2014) was a master stonecutter and Irish American community leader who created the Irish Famine Memorial in the FLATS.

DALEY, MARY DOWLING

DALEY, MARY DOWLING (July 20, 1923 - February 12, 2010) was a freelance writer who helped create and lead Peoples and Cultures, a group dedicated to fostering mutual respect among Cleveland’s ethnic groups.

DALL, ANDREW JR.

DALL, ANDREW JR. (30 Mar. 1850-4 Feb. 1923) was a building contractor who, with his father, ANDREW DALL SR. (1821-1887), formed ANDREW DALL & SON, prominent building contractors during late 19th-and early 20th-century Cleveland.

DALL, ANDREW SR.

DALL, ANDREW SR. (ca. 1821- 22 Nov. 1887) was a building contractor, stone cutter and mason who, together with his son, ANDREW DALL, JR. (1850-1923) formed ANDREW DALL & SON, building contractors, prominent during late 19th-century Cleveland.

DAWE, CHARLES DAVIS

DAWE, CHARLES DAVIS (16 Mar. 1886-24 Aug. 1958) found a career as a choral conductor in Cleveland, where he was best remembered as founder of the ORPHEUS MALE CHORUS. A native of Port Talbot, S. Wales, he studied music in London and began conducting choirs in Wales by the time he was 18. In 1912 he emigrated to Cleveland with his wife May and infant son, Chas.

DE CAPITE, MICHAEL

DE CAPITE, MICHAEL (13 April 1915-21 Jan. 1958) drew upon his Cleveland background to launch a promising though short career as a novelist. The son of Italian immigrants on the near west side, he played BASEBALL in the shadows of industrial smokestacks in the FLATS and graduated from Lincoln High School. He attended Ohio Univ.

DE SAUZE, EMILE BIALS

DE SAUZE, EMILE BIALS (7 Dec. 1878-11 July 1964), director of foreign languages for the CLEVELAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS from 1918-49 and developer of the conversational teaching method, was born in Tours, France and graduated from the University of Poitiers (1900) before coming to the U.S. in 1905 and receiving a Ph.D. from St. Joseph College.

DEHARRACK, CHARLES PERETZ

DEHARRACK, CHARLES PERETZ (10 Sept. 1881-24 June 1985) was a pianist, composer, and choral director active in both Cleveland and international music circles. He was born in Brest-Litovsk, Russia. Brought to Cleveland at the age of 4, he attended local elementary schools before returning to Europe for musical training which included piano lessons from Xaver Scharwenka and Theodore Leschetizky.

DENIHAN, WILLIAM

DENIHAN, WILLIAM (March 26, 1937-May 23, 2022) was a public servant in the City of Cleveland and the State of Ohio. Born to William Denihan and Sue Ella Wood, he grew up in a housing project in EUCLID. As a young man, he attended St.

DENNICE NOVOVEKU

DENNICE NOVOVEKU was the successor of Pokrok, a Czech (see CZECHS) rationalist weekly that was moved to Cleveland from Chicago in 1871. Brought here by its editor, G. B. Zdrubek, Pokrok (Progress) was located on Croton St. Although he had imported VACLAV SNAJDR and humorist John V.

DEPAOLO, LOUIS

DEPAOLO, LOUIS (1894-5 Dec. 1977), a businessman and leader who earned the title "mayor of LITTLE ITALY," was born in Italy, son of Alex and Lena (Truisonno) DePaolo. He left Campobasso to join 4 uncles in Cleveland in 1910. He studied 2 years at night school and was trained as a tailor by an uncle.

DICK, MARCEL

DICK, MARCEL (18 Aug. 1898-13 Dec. 1991) provided Cleveland with a link to the Austrian musician Arnold Schoenberg, as head of the advanced theory and composition dept. of the CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF MUSIC.

DINARDO, ANTONIO

DINARDO, ANTONIO (1887-29 June 1948) was an architect active in Cleveland from 1921-48, born in Pennapiedimonte, Italy, son of Domenico and Rosina Augeta Domenica (Guiliante) DiNardo. After coming to America, DiNardo attended the University of Pennsylvania and the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in Philadelphia. He then studied in Europe.

DIRVA

DIRVA (The Field) appeared on 26 Aug. 1916 and became Cleveland's major Lithuanian-language newspaper. Organized by Apolonas B. Bartusevicius, it succeeded a short-lived predecessor named Santaika (Peace). Vincas K. Jokubynas was Dirva's original editor, but Kazys S. Karpius took over by 1918 for what became a 30-year tenure, acquiring a controlling interest in the paper in 1925.

DNIPRO CHORUS

The DNIPRO CHORUS was formed in 1955 by post-WORLD WAR II refugees to continue their native Ukrainian traditions of choral singing. Named for the most powerful river in Ukraine, the group was organized by Eugene Sadowsky, the choir director at St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Church.

DOWLING, VINCENT

DOWLING, VINCENT (September 7, 1929 - May 10th, 2013) served as an actor, director, and artistic director for Dublin’s Abbey Theatre, and as the artistic and producing director (1976-1984) of Cleveland’s Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival (see

DUTCH

DUTCH. Only 161 Dutch-born people lived in Cuyahoga County in 1850, but the Dutch community reached 603 in 1870, with the peak reached in 1910 with 1,076, plus an estimated 5,000 persons of Dutch parentage or ancestry.

EISENMAN, CHARLES

EISENMAN, CHARLES (1865-9 March 1923), clothing manufacturer and organizer and first president of the Fed. of Jewish Charities, was born in New York City, son of Isadore and Caroline (Rosenblatt) Eisenman. He moved to Cleveland as a young man, and cofounded the K & E Co. (later the Kaynee Co.), manufacturing shirts and blouses.

EMERALD CIVIC SOCIETY

The EMERALD CIVIC SOCIETY was established in 1968 to enhance the social and cultural life of the Irish-American community in Cleveland. The organization was founded by a group of Cleveland men who decided to add excitement to Cleveland's annual St.

ENAKOPRAVNOST

ENAKOPRAVNOST (Equality) offered Cleveland's Slovenian residents their first daily newspaper when it began publication in Apr. 1918. A primary impetus behind its appearance was the movement that resulted in the establishment of an independent Yugoslav state in the final months of World War I.

ESPERANZA, INC.

ESPERANZA, INC., Motivating Hispanic Youth, is a youth organization founded in 1983 by a group of community leaders interested in the education of Hispanics. Originally known as the Cleveland Hispanic Scholarship Fund (CHSF), Esperanza promoted post-secondary education in the Hispanic community through "stay in school" and mentorship programs.

ESTONIANS

ESTONIANS. Estonia, situated on the northeastern shores of the Baltic Sea, became a republic in 1918 after winning independence from IMPERIAL RUSSIA.

ETHNIC AND RACE RELATIONS

ETHNIC AND RACE RELATIONS. In 1930 James C. Jones, the manager of a REAL ESTATE office in Cleveland, wrote to a representative of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., regarding the ALTA HOUSE property that Rockefeller owned in LITTLE ITALY.