George B. Ely is a native of Jefferson county, New York, a county which has contributed many good citizens to the population of Cleveland. He was born in the town of Adams, June 23d, 1817, received a good academical education, and when seventeen left the academy to become clerk with Judge Foster, under whose auspices he came to Cleveland. After serving with Judge Foster one year in Cleveland, he accepted the position of book-keeper in the forwarding house of Pease & Allen, on the river, remaining in this position until 1843. At that date he removed to Milan, Erie county, then at the head of slackwater navigation on the Huron river. Here he engaged in trading in wheat, and in the general forwarding business, and also became interested in lake shipping, doing business under the firm name of Wilber & Ely.

In 1851, the railroad between Columbus and Cleveland was completed, and the course of trade was almost entirely diverted from its old channels. The business of Milan fell away rapidly, and the forwarding trade at that point was completely at an end, Mr. Ely closed up his connection with the place in the Spring of 1852, and removed to Cleveland, where he had engaged a warehouse with the intention of continuing in the forwarding business, but was induced to take the secretaryship of the Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad, many of his old business and personal friends having become interested in that undertaking and desiring the benefit of his business tact and experience. About a year after his accession to the company, the offices of secretary and treasurer were combined, and Mr. Ely assumed charge of the joint offices. Three years later he was elected a director of the company and has continued in that position to the present time. At various times he has been chosen vice-president of the company. In 1868, he was elected president of the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad Company, retaining that position until the consolidation of the company with the Cleveland and Erie Railroad Company, and the formation of the Lake Shore Railroad Company. Mr. Ely is now the oldest officer in point of service in the Consolidated company, and is about the oldest employee. During all his long service he has been an indefatigable worker, having the interests of the line always at heart, and his arduous and faithful services have contributed their full share to the prosperity of the company.

[Illustration: Yours Respectfully, Geo. B. Ely]

Whilst always watchful for the interests of the road with which he was connected, Mr. Ely found time to engage in other enterprises tending to advance the material interests of the city. In connection with Messrs. R. H. Harman, A. M. Harman, and L. M. Coe, he projected and built the Cleveland City Forge and put it into successful operation in the year 1864. This forge has now four large hammers at work, and preparations are making for two others, and it gives employment to about eighty skilled workmen. He was one of the projectors of the Pennsylvania Coal Company, of Cleveland, an organization having five thousand acres of coal lands in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, and now that the Jamestown and Franklin Railroad is completed, the prospects of ample returns for the outlay are good. Sixty tons of good coal are daily delivered in Cleveland, whilst the best markets of the product are found in Erie, Buffalo, and the Pennsylvania oil regions. Of this company Mr. Ely is treasurer and one of its directors.

Among his other business connections he was a director in the old Bank of Commerce from its early days until it was reorganized as the Second National Bank, and is still a director under the new organization. He is also a director in the Citizens Savings and Loan Association, and is interested in the Cleveland Banking Company.

Mr. Ely has been the architect of his own fortune, and attributes his success in life to close application to business and a firm determination never to live beyond his income. He is now fifty-two years old, enjoys vigorous health, and has never been seriously sick. From present appearances he has a fair prospect of a long life in which to enjoy the fruits of his labors, and to pass the afternoon and evening of his life amid domestic comforts earned by industry and the esteem of a large circle of friends to whom he has become endeared by his many social qualities and personal virtues.

In 1843, he was married to Miss Gertrude S. Harman, of Brooklyn, Michigan, and formerly of Oswego, New York. They have one son, now twenty-five years old, who has charge of the Cleveland City Forge, and one daughter, Helen, aged seventeen, who is now at school.