1882-1939

John Teyral (Russian/American, 1912-1999 after William Edmundson (American 1868-1966)

Union Club of Cleveland

Chester C. Bolton was born in Cleveland to a prominent Cleveland businessman and philanthropist, Charles C. Bolton and Julia Castle Bolton, daughter of former Cleveland mayor William B. Castle. After attending Harvard College and initial business experience with the Bourne-Fuller Company (a steel brokerage) he served in the War Industry Board under Secretary of War Newton D. Baker during World War I.

After the war Bolton returned to Cleveland where he was engaged in several businesses, and operated a dairy farm in Lyndhurst on the family estate.

Bolton began his political career on the Lyndhurst City Council, was elected to the Ohio Senate in 1922, and as representative to the House of Congress in 1928. As Chairman of the Republican National Congressional Campaign Committee he was responsible for bringing the Republican Convention to Cleveland in 1936. Upon his death, his wife, Frances Payne Bolton was elected to serve out his term. She was repeatedly re-elected to Congress throughout the 1960’s. Frances Payne Bolton was the grand-daughter of William Bingham whose portrait hangs in the Reading Room.