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MICHIGAN


SPECIAL LIMITED
EDITION..


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CHICAGO
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1915


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James jfreberfirkt            o,HE distinction of having been the prime factor in the
building of more than sixteen hundred miles of railroad
in Michigan alone is of itself sufficient to make the
name of James F. Joy one of the most significant in the
history of this state. From  1836 until his death in
i 896, Mr. Joy was a resident of the city of Detroit.
Beginning his career there as a struggling young attorney, he rose to be one of the foremost business men of the United
States, a recognized authority on finance, and one of the ablest railroad
managers of the middle west. His achievements both in his profession
and in practical affairs is remarkable. With his great executive ability
he combined attributes of character which marked him as one of the most
distinguished of Michigan's citizens. It has been said of him that he was
too honest to be politic, too conscientious to be sycophantic and that his
practice of all times telling the truth often made enemies of small-minded
men, but brought him the friendship, never violated, of the greatest
individuals of his time.
James Frederick Joy was born at Durham, New Hampshire, December 2, I8Io, a son of James and Sarah (Pickering) Joy. His father
was a blacksmith by trade, and at Durham manufactured scythes and also
engaged in ship building. The first ancestor of the name was Thomas
Joy, who left England about I632, locating at Boston. The town records show him to have been a landholder at Boston in 1636. James Joy,
the father, was a man of strong character, of much enterprise and originality, was a Federalist in politics, a Calvinist in religion, and a leader
in both religious and civil life in his community. His character and example were influential in the lives of his children, and from him the
great railroad builder and lawyer inherited some of his best native traits.
The common schools of New England introduced James Frederick
Joy to a knowledge of life, and he completed his education in an academy,
a short distance from his home. He then took up teaching and with
some assistance from his father finally entered upon a collegiate course,
graduating at the head of his class at Dartmouth College, with the
degree of Bachelor of Arts. From Dartmouth he went to Harvard College, and took up the study of law. His finances did not allow him to
continue until graduation, and he supplemented his income by teaching
in the academy at Pittfield, Massachusetts, and for a year as a tutor in
Dartmouth College. Resuming his studies at Harvard, he completed
the course within a year and was admitted to the bar at Boston.


5




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3 amesB jrreberick 3[o


In September, 1836, Mr. Joy arrived at Detroit, and entered the law
office of Hon. Augustus S. Porter, later United States senator from
Michigan. In 1837 he opened a law office of his own, and became associated in practice with George F. Porter, who had a large acquaintance
with prominent moneyed interests in this state and elsewhere. Mr. Joy
took a front rank as an able attorney, and in a few years his professional and business ability were directed into the channels where he
made his greatest success. During the decades of the thirties and forties, Michigan, like many other states had entered upon a great scheme
for internal improvements, and a part of the system was the construction of a railroad line across the southern half of the state. In 1846,
the state treasury had become bankrupt through the attempt to complete and manage this railroad and undertakings of a similar character,
and the result of this disastrous experience was that the state finally
sold what was then called the Michigan Central Railroad to a private
corporation. In the interests of this corporation Mr. Joy framed the
charter, organized the company, and induced capitalists to embark in
the enterprise. The new company undertook to extend the road to Chicago, and in the litigation connected therewith Mr. Joy was busily engaged and from that time forward gradually made railway law his
specialty, and in his time had no superior as a railway attorney in the
entire country. From serving as legal adviser of railroads he was gradually drawn into the management and became prominent in extending
railway connections and new constructions, occupying places of executive
control among the new lines. The last important case in which Mr. Joy
appeared as leading counsel and advocate was that of ejectment of
George C. Bates against the Michigan Central and Illinois Central Railroad Companies in the United States Circuit Court. The case involved
the title of the two companies to the station grounds at Chicago-property valued at that time at more than two million dollars. The arguments of Mr. Joy in this trial have been models for attorneys ever since,
and it was his successful conduct of the litigation that brought to a climax
a career as counsel and attorney which placed Mr. Joy among the greatest of his class during the generation.
The record of the late James F. Joy as a railroad builder and organizer introduces many of the best known transportation systems in
the middle west. He organized the company which constructed the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy at a cost of sixty million dollars, and before
any of the construction work was begun he made a trip on foot over the
proposed route. For many years he was president of the corporation
and under his direction the road was extended to both Quincy and
Omaha. The railroad from Kansas City to the Indian Territory was
another enterprise projected by him, and it was finished along the route
he indicated. Mr. Joy also was chiefly instrumental in constructing the
first bridge across the Missouri River at Kansas City, thus giving great
impetus to the development of that community. About I850 Mr. Joy
became interested with Mr. J. W. Brooks, and they made the contract for
completing the construction of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal. Within two




3lame%  JFreberick 3To?.p


7


years the canal was completed much to the benefit of the navigation interests of the inland seas.
For many years Mr. Joy had been general counsel for the Michigan
Central Railroad, and in 1867 became its president. In that office he
superintended the rebuilding of the line, and the new equipment of every
department, and it was largely owing to his effective labors that the Michigan Central came to rank as one of the leading trunk lines between
the east and middle west. During his presidency the road was doubletracked over a greater part of the distance, and the old style rails were
replaced with steel rails which cost one hundred and thirty dollars
($I30.oo) in gold per ton in England. Mr. Joy promoted and finally secured control of the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw Railroad, which was
built from Jackson to Saginaw and from the latter place to Mackinaw. He
was also instrumental in the construction of the line from Jackson to
Grand Rapids, both of these roads now being parts of the Michigan
Central System. He built the Detroit & Bay City, and the Detroit, Lansing & Northern Railroad, also the Michigan Central's Air Line from
Jackson to Niles, the Kalamazoo & South Haven, and the Chicago and
West Michigan. During the early seventies, Mr. Joy became interested
in a railroad projected to run along the west bank of the Mississippi
River from Dubuque, Iowa, to a point opposite La Crosse, Wisconsin,
and the line completed as the result of his efforts is now a part of the
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul System. His work was an important
factor in securing to Detroit its connection with the Wabash Railroad,
and in the planning and establishment of adequate station facilities at
Detroit. With other influential Detroit capitalists he supplied most
of the money which built the Wabash from Detroit to Logansport, Indiana. He and four other business men constructed the Union Station
and the Western Detroit facilities now enjoyed by the Wabash.
For several years before his death Mr. Joy lived in retirement, but
up to the end of his life his advice and counsel were often sought by
men of large affairs, not only in Michigan, but throughtout the nation.
His death occurred September 24, I896, at the advanced age of eightysix years. It has justly been said of him: "His life was of great benefit to his city and state, as well as to Chicago and the western country.
Few men have guided and invested such vast sums for a number of
years as he did."
Mr. Joy was one of the Michigan capitalists, who, in 1845, bought
the stock of the Michigan State Bank, and that institution paid regular
annual dividends of ten per cent until the expiration of its charter in
i855, at which time its stockholders received one hundred and fifteen
per cent. He was also a director of the Second National Bank of Detroit, when its charter expired. The Second National was succeeded by
the Detroit National, and Mr. Joy was one of its honored directors until
his death. In politics though a vigorous advocate of the principles of
the Republican party, Mr. Joy was never prominent as a practical politician, though he gave serious and beneficial attention to the duties of
citizenship. He was elected a school inspector of Detroit in 1838, and




8


Ricbbara Po 3fopt


in I848 was city recorder. In I86i much against his will, he was induced to accept nomination for the legislature, and was elected by an
overwhelming majority, serving during the Civil war period when patriots
were needed at the helm of the ship of state. Until, business affairs compelled him to resign, he also served as a regent of the University of
Michigan.
James F. Joy was twice married. His first wife was Martha Arger
Reed, a daughter of Hon. John Reed of Yarmouth, Massachusetts, at
one time a congressman and lieutenant governor of his state. Mrs. Joy
at her death left children: Sara Reed, who married Dr. Edward W.
Jenks, both now deceased; Martha Arger, who married Henry A. Newland, both of whom were killed in a railway accident on the Michigan
Central Railroad; and James Joy. By his marriage to Miss Mary
Bourne, of Hartford, Connecticut, Mr. Joy became the father of: Frederick, who died in 1895; Henry Bourne Joy, now at the head of large
business interests in Detroit, including the Packard Motor Company of
which he is president; and Richard Pickering Joy, president of the
National Bank of Commerce of Detroit.
RICHARD P. JOY
While none of his sons has attained to such a pre-eminent position in
connection with such large and varied affairs, as was occupied by the late
James F. Joy —and under the modern methods of business organization
and system, the possibilities of such individual pre-eminence are now
greatly limited-Richard P. Joy has for a number of years been regarded
as one of Detroit's foremost bankers, and has well upheld the dignity and
importance of the family name and fortune.
Richard P. Joy was born in the city of Detroit, January 25, 1870. He
received his education in the public schools and then entered Phillips
Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, where he graduated in I890. His
active business career began in the engineering department of the Fort
Street Union Depot Company, and he quickly demonstrated his individual capacity for business and proved a worthy son of his father.
Mr. Joy was one of the young men of wealth and social prominence,
who early manifested a large interest and took a public spirited part in
civic affairs. He devoted much of his time to the study of municipal
problems, and from I898 to I9OI served as alderman in the city council
from the second ward. In 90o6-07, he served in the office of comptroller
of Detroit.
When there came an advantageous opening for a new bank to afford
more adequate facilities for the commerce of Detroit, Mr. Joy became
interested in the formation of the National Bank of Commerce, of which
he was made president by the unanimous vote of the board of directors.
From its beginning this bank has been exceedingly successful. It was
the first large bank of Detroit to establish its quarters on the second floor
of a building, a situation which caused many firms to predict its early




Ienrp 2ourne 3op                          9
failure. The founders of the institutions believed that business would
go where it was best taken care of, and their judgment was proved sound
when $800,000 was deposited in the National Bank of Commerce on the
opening of the institution. The bank proved one of the strongest of local
concerns during the crisis of 1907, and since that time no Detroit bank
has stood higher in the confidence of the people than the National Bank
of Commerce.
Aside from his duties as president of this bank, Mr. Joy is vice
president of the Detroit Copper & Brass Rolling mills, a director in
the Packard Motor Car Company, director in the Diamond Manufacturing Company, president of the Detroit Union Railroad Depot & Station
Company, and stock holder in many manufacturing enterprises. His
social clubs are the Detroit Club, the Detroit Board of Commerce, the
Yondotego Club, the Country Club, the Old Club, the New York Yacht
Club and others. In 9o08 Mr. Richard P. Joy married Miss Mary Moore
and their three children are Ella H., Richard P., Jr., and William Moore.
HENRY BOURNE JOY
On other pages of this work is a review of the career and a consistent
tribute to the memory of the late James F. Joy, father of him whose name
initiates this review, and thus it is not necessary to offer further record
concerning the family history or to designate the pre-eminent position
held by James F. Joy as one of the most influential and honored citizens
of Michigan, a state in which his sons have distinctively furthered the
high prestige of the family name. Henry Bourne Joy has been one of
the dynamic forces in connection with the great industrial and commercial
progress of his native city, where his capitalistic interests are many and
varied and where he stands forth as an alert, enterprising business man
and a loyal, public-spirited citizen, so that he is fully entitled to specific
recognition in this history of his native state.
Henry B. Joy was born in Detroit, on the 23d of November, I864,
and here his early educational training was acquired in the public schools
and private schools. This was supplemented by attendance in the Michigan Military Academy at Orchard Lake, and the historic Phillips
Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, in which he was graduated as a
member of the class of I883. Thereafter he was a student for three
years in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, from which
institution he withdrew in I886, in his junior year. His business career
began in the offices of the Peninsular Car Company, a Detroit corporation,
and with this company he filled successively the offices of clerk, paymaster and assistant treasurer. From 1887 to I889 Mr. Joy was actively
identified with mining operations in Utah. In November, I890, he was
appointed secretary of the Fort Street Union Depot Company, Detroit,
on the 4th of February, I89I, was made secretary and assistant treasurer
of the company, and on February 7, 900o, was elected director, positions




10


t~enrp 'B15ourne 3Iot


which he held until February 5, I902. He was elected a director of the
Detroit Union Railroad Depot and Station Company February 7, I894,
elected treasurer October 8, I896, vice president and treasurer, February
2, I898, and from February I, I899, to February 5, 1913, was president,
and in the last named year was elected vice president. Specific mention
of the building of the fine union station is made in the sketch of the life
of his father, elsewhere in this volume. From I899 to I906 Henry B.
Joy served as treasurer and director of the Peninsular Sugar Refining
Company, and from I906 to May 25, I9IO, he was a director in the
Michigan Sugar Company, which absorbed the interests of the former
corporation. His most important industrial connection is with the Packard Motor Car Company, which has contributed greatly to the precedence
of Detroit as the leading center of the American automobile industry.
This company was founded by James W. Packard at Warren, Ohio. One
of the earliest purchasers of Packard cars was Henry B. Joy, who later interested Detroit capitalists and the Packard plant was moved to this city
in I903, he becoming a director and the general manager of the company.
In I908 he was elected to the presidency of the same,-a position which
he has since held. From a review of the history of the automobile business in Detroit are taken the following facts:
"On October 12, 1903, the Packard Motor Car Company, which had
operated at Warren, Ohio, opened its new plant in Detroit. Henry B.
Joy had been one of the early owners of a Packard phaeton, and his enthusiasm was so great that a company was formed and a handsome factory was built on the boulevard. An interesting commentary on how
little even the men in the industry anticipated the expansion that would
take place is that the Packard Company did not buy the frontage on the
boulevard, but contented themselves with seven and one-half acres of
ground about two hundred feet off the street, figuring that not for many
years would they need to acquire the piece of ground between their property and the street. Today this company owns all the frontage for
blocks on both sides of the boulevard, and their property covers fifty-two
and one-half acres. The Packard was the first company in the city
to make a motor car with four cylinders, and was one of the pioneers
in the building of six-cylinder cars, which it now builds exclusively."
Mr. Joy has not only been most prominently identified with important
enterprises that have conserved the material progress and prosperity of
the beautiful Michigan metropolis, but he has also entered fully into its
representative civic activities and social life. For five years he was a
member of the Michigan Naval Militia, and he served in the United
States navy in the Spanish-American war, in which he was chief boatswain's mate, the Michigan Naval Reserves, consisting of eleven officers
and two hundred and seventy men, having been detailed on the auxiliary
cruiser "Yosemite" and having seen service in Havana, Santiago and
other points. In all situations they won the approval of the regular
naval authorities and honored the state which they represented. For the
sinking of the Spanish transport "Antonio Lopez," off San Juan, Porto
Rico, June 28, I898, the crew of the "Yosemite" was, in I902, allowed




lenrp 2Sourne 3op                       11
by congress a bounty of fifty thousand dollars. Mr. Joy is a member of
the Navy League of the United States, is affiliated with the Yale University Chapter of the Delta Psi fraternity, and in his home city he holds
membership in and is a director of the Detroit Board of Commerce, a
member of the Detroit Club, the Country Club, the New Detroit Athletic
Club, the Old Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the University Club, the Yondotega Club. He is also a member of the Yale Club of New York and
the New York Yacht Club. He is a director of the American Fair Trade
League of New York and of the American Protective Tariff League, New
York. Mr. Joy's wide interest in public affairs has made his name known
all over America, and as president of the Lincoln Highway Association,
which is building a concrete road from New York to San Francisco, as
a memorial to Abraham Lincoln, his work has won the favorable comment
of the motor enthusiasts and nature lovers of the nation.
On the IIth of October, I892, Mr. Joy was married to Miss Helen
Hall Newberry, of Detroit, and they have two children, Helen Bourne
an Henry Bourne, Jr.




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3Ru2seUL Z. alger
0          ERE one to name half a dozen of the most eminent characters in Michigan's history, there would be no question
as to the inclusion of the late General Alger in the list.
V       General Alger began his career as a lawyer in Michigan
shortly before the Civil war, went out from this state
as a Company Captain, reached the rank of brevet
Major-General, returned home and soon became conspicuous in the lumber operations of Michigan, and when the basis of his
large fortune had been securely laid, he consented to enter the political
arena, where his name soon became conspicuous, not only in his home
state, but in the nation. The late General Alger possessed remarkable
business genius, was a commanding figure in public affairs, and was
equally notable for his beautiful personality and his many kindly and
varied relations with his fellowmen.
Russell Alexander Alger was born in a log cabin in Medina county,
Ohio, February 27, 1836, and died in the city of Washington, where
he was representing his state in the office of United States senator,
January 24, I907. His parents were Russell and Caroline (Moulton)
Alger. The first American settler of the name came from England in
1759, and the ancestral stock has been traced back to the time of William
the Conqueror. His great-grandfather, John Alger, was a gallant soldier
on the American side during the American Revolution. The mother of
General Alger was a direct descendant of Robert Moulton, who came
to the colony of Massachusetts in I627, in charge of a vessel laden with
ship building material, and he brought with him a number of skilled ship
carpenters. The first sea-going vessel built in Massachusetts was built
under his supervision. The family moved from New England to Ohio
early in the nineteenth century, and were pioneers in that commonwealth.
The career of the late Russell A. Alger is notable for the difficulties
overcome during his youth, and that has a place alongside of many other
stories of other eminent men familiar to our American annals. His
parents were in very modest circumstances, and the greater part of their
lives in poor health, so that more than average responsibility fell upon
the shoulders of the boy as he grew from childhood to youth. Left an
orphan at the age of twelve, he was then thrown entirely upon his own
resources, and assisted in providing for his younger brother and sister.
He had little schooling, and nine years of the period of life which modern
youth spend largely in school were devoted by him to work on a farm
in Summitt county, Ohio. In this stern school of necessity he developed


15




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tusell a*. lger


the powers of self-reliance and courage, which stood him in better stead
for the great responsibilities confronting him in after years than college
education. While he was working on the farm, he attended a nearby
academy during the winter months, and studied and progressed in a
manner characteristic of so many whose opportunities are limited, but
whose ambition and energy are apparently inexhaustible.  He finally
qualified himself as a teacher, and followed that vocation and worked
on a farm during the vacation months. In March, 1857, soon after
reaching his twenty-first birthday, he took up the study of law at Akron,
Ohio. In I859 he was admitted to the bar before the Supreme Court of
Ohio, and then found a position in the office of a law firm at Cleveland.
As the result of his arduous study through the preceding years his
health failed, and that event proved the turning point in his destiny,
and led him to the great lumber regions of Michigan.
Coming to Michigan in 1859 he located at Grand Rapids, then a mere
village. The lumber industry was the one great enterprise of that
vicinity, and he was soon on a fair way to large success and prosperity.
His business career was interrupted by the shadow of the Civil war,
and he was among the first to tender his services to the Union.
In August, I86I, Mr. Alger enlisted as a private in the Second Michigan Volunteer Cavalry. The official record of his army service is as
follows: "Captain Second Cavalry, September 2, I86I; Major, April 2,
I862; Lieutenant-Colonel Sixth Michigan Cavalry, October I6, 1862;
Colonel Fifth Michigan Cavalry, February 28, 1863; wounded in action
at Boonesboro, Maryland, July 8, 1863; resigned September 20, I864,
and honorably discharged. Brevet Brigadier General United States
Volunteer for gallant and meritorious services, to rank from the battle
of Trevilian Station, Virginia, June I, 1864; Brevet Major-General
United States Volunteers, June I I, 1865, for gallant and meritorious service during the war." Every advancement in his military career was
honestly and meritoriously won. During the first year of the war he
served in the south and the west, but the largest portion of his service
was with the Army of the Potomac. As colonel of the Fifth Michigan
Cavalry, he entered Gettysburg on the twenty-eighth of June, 1863, his
being the first Union regiment to reach the village. On July I, 1862,
he participated in the battle of Booneville, where he was acting as captain of Company C of the Second Cavalry. General Chalmers, with five
thousand mounted Confederates, made an attack on Booneville, which
was held by Colonel Sheridan, who brought with him at the time only
two small regiments, the Second Michigan Cavalry and the Second Iowa
Cavalry, numbering in all less than nine hundred men. The Second
Michigan were armed with sabers, Colt's revolvers and revolving carbines. So great was the heroism displayed by these two regiments that
General Chalmers was led to believe that he had been deceived in the
strength of the enemy, as he inferred that the slaughter effected by the
Michigan regiment with their carbines must certainly be the work of an
infantry bridage. Sheridan, with his little body of men, was in danger
of being surrounded and captured, and in this emergency he decided




U0geil a. alger                        17
to send out ninety-six men, in command of Captain Alger, to make a
circuit of the enemy and charge upon the rear with "sabers and cheers."
This ruse had the desired effect, for as soon as Captain Alger and his
men charged upon the enemy, numbering at least two thousand men,
they broke and fled, as did also the force directly in front of Sheridan,
leaving one hundred and twenty-five of their comrades upon the field.
The Second Michigan, which had borne the burden of the fight, lost
forty-one dead and wounded. In the official reports of engagements,
General Alger was frequently mentioned for distinguished services,
notably by Custer in his report on the Battle of Gettysburg. On July 8,
I863, he was seriously wounded in the fight near Boonesboro, Maryland,
and did not resume service until September. He served with distinction
during the campaigns of I863-64, taking part in all the engagements of
the Army of the Potomac within this period, and with his brigade accompanied Sheridan to the Shenandoah Valley in 1864. In all General
Alger participated in sixty-six battles and skirmishes, and by bravery
and faithfulness richly merited the distinctions which he gained.
In i866 General Alger established his home in Detroit. In the following year he engaged in business as a member of the firm of Moore,
Alger & Company, dealers in pine lands and lumber. This was the line
of enterprise to which he had directed his energies while at Grand
Rapids. Soon the firm became Moore & Alger, and this was succeeded
by R. A. Alger & Company, and subsequently the business was incorporated as Alger, Smith & Company. Of this corporation General Alger
was president from the beginning until his death. In the lumber field
his operations have probably been as extensive as those of any other
individual concern in the United States. His success in this field led
General Alger's participation in numerous other corporate and individual enterprises, and it would be a large task to enumerate the various
business connections which he held through many years in Michigan
and elsewhere. Through normal and legitimate means he gained a large
fortune, the use and stewardship of which was always a matter of deep
concern to him.
Though one of Michigan's prominent men from the time of the Civil
war, General Alger steadily refused any political honors until his business ambition had been well satisfied. In 1884 he was a delegate to the
Republican National Convention in Chicago, and in the same year was
nominee of his party for governor of Michigan. Though that was a
Democratic year, and Michigan had been Democratic for some time,
General Alger was elected by a plurality of 3,953, and he gave his state
the most capable administration as governor, refusing at the end of his
term to accept the nomination for a second term.
As a favorite son of Michigan, and a man whose name was not
unfamiliar in many states, General Alger was one of the most prominent
among the various candidates in I888 for nomination before the Republican National Convention. His name was presented at the beginning
of the session, and after a number of ballots his strength increased to
one hundred and forty-three votes. On the sixth ballot a break was




18                     tussell a. alWer
made among his followers, and as a result General Harrison was brought
forward and received the nomination. In the national convention of
I892 General Alger was again a popular candidate, though the judgment
of his party conferred the choice upon the then incumbent of the White
House.
Few men reach so high a position in public life as did the late General
Alger without enduring the almost inevitable reverses which attend a
public career. In the life of General Alger that came during his service
in the office of Secretary of the War, under President McKinley, and
at the time of the Spanish-American war. Time has already shown how
unjust were the criticisms directed against this loyal, honorable and
patriotic citizen and able official. In 1896 he was called to the cabinet
of President McKinley, and assumed the duties of his office March 4,
1897. The unpleasantness which marked his administration was the
result of "long existent conditions revealed by the stern test of war."
Practically all citizens who followed the course of events during the
succeeding years understand the source of trouble from which General
Alger was an innocent victim. The conditions were summed up by the
New York Post at the time of his death in the following words: "He
was a victim of the wretched organization of the army and the department which clung to the system of the Civil war that had long been
outgrown." When he resigned his post as Secretary of War in August,
I899, he returned to Michigan to receive one of the most enthusiastic
and sympathetic receptions ever accorded to one who had served faithfully, but against heavy odds, in the public cause.  After General
Alger's death, Mr. Taft, then secretary of war, paid him the following
tribute: "General Alger was patriotic, earnest and most devoted to the
interests of the army and, especially, considered the welfare of the enlisted men. He was a gentle, kindly man, with great confidence in his
friends and associates, and was much beloved by his subordinates. He
was the subject of unjust criticism because of the country's lack of
preparedness for war when war came, although for this he was in no
wise responsible."
General Alger was appointed a member of the United States Senate,
September 27, I902, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Senator
James McMillan, and in the following January was regularly elected to
the office by the legislature. Owing to failing health he declined to
become a candidate for reelection and his first term would have expired
March 4, I9o8. He had been sitting as a member of the senate until
confined to his home by his last illness. An editorial in the Washington
Herald published at the time of his passing containing a few of many
similar tributes paid by the press throughout the country: "General
Russell A. Alger did not live in vain. A kindly, lovable character, he
was helpful to his fellows and served his country well. He was the type
of rich man whom riches do not spoil-a man who had his wealth to
good ends, while material success did not put him out of touch with
humanity. Michigan loved him as he loved Michigan." Many tributes
were paid to him in Congress and elsewhere, but the most distinctive




Bus0ell a. alier                       19
were those enacted at Detroit while his body lay in state at the city
hall, and when the entire community of the city showed its deep sense
of personal loss.
General Alger was a member of the Military Order of the Loyal.
Legion of the United States and of Fairbanks Post No. 17, Grand Army
of the Republic, of Detroit. His affection for and sympathy with his
old comrades in arms endured to the end and one of the last acts of his
life was in connection with securing a merited pension for an old soldier
of his command. In I889, at the National Encampment, General Alger
was unanimously elected Commander-in-Chief of the Order. In the
memorial address given by Hon. Edwin Denby of Michigan in the House
of Representatives in Washington appear the following statements: "If
I were asked to name the qualities of General Alger which more than
others accounted for his remarkable success in political life and for the
devotion of his friends, I would say his kindness, generosity, tact and
sweetness of disposition-the great human attributes which charm and
attract and make the world akin. His course through life was marked
by many deeds of almost unostentatious charity. How much he gave
will never be known, but that his bounties were large is evident from
the occasional instances brought to public notices. In Detroit he was
mourned by none more thoroughly than the newsboys of that city. There
they have a large organization, consisting of six or seven hundred members, called the Newsboys' Association. General Alger helped the boys
in and out of the Association with clothing and other necessaries, and
with his kindly cheer, year after year, until he became the 'Newsboys'
Friend,' a badge of honor he was well worthy to wear. How many other
persons there are who regard his passing as the lost of their best earthly
friends will not be known. His charities he tried to hide, but you will
hear today some instances that could not be concealed. He rendered
back to society in constant benefactions the riches it gave him. He was
one of the kindest, most lovable men in public life."
Said Senator Spooner in the United States Senate at the same
memorial session of Congress: "No man without noble purpose, welljustified ambitions, strong fiber, and splendid qualities in abundance
could have carved out and left behind him such a career. His pathway
was from the beginning upward, and all along it, at every stage of it,
he discharged well every duty which manhood could demand, and all
along he scattered with generous hand seeds of kindness and helpfulness
to those who were in need, sowing the seed which blossomed in fragrance along his pathway and made it beautiful."
General Alger was married in Grand Rapids, Michigan, April 2,
I86I, to Miss Annette H. Henry, daughter of William G. Henry, of
that city. This marriage occurred four months before General Alger
went away to the war. Of the nine children of their marriage, five are
living, as follows: Caroline, wife of Henry D. Sheldon, of Detroit;
Fay, wife of William E. Bailey, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Frances,
wife of Charles B. Pike, of Chicago; Russell A. and Captain Frederick
M. Alger, of Detroit, who have largely assumed the business interests




20


utussell a   alger, 31r.


and responsibilities conducted by their late father. Mrs. Alger, who
throughout their married companionship was a worthy helper to her
husband, and who possessed distinctive social qualities and many notable
attributes of personal character, is still living, and divides her time between her beautiful homes in Detroit and Grosse Pointe.
RUSSELL A. ALGER, JR.
With ample capital and the precedent of his father's great success behind him, the younger Alger has proved himself in every way capable
and worthy of his great heritage, both of name and fortune, and for
some years, practically ever since leaving college, has been an efficient
business man of Detroit.
Russel Alexander Alger, the younger, was born in Detroit, February
27, I873. From the public schools he entered the Michigan Military
Academy at Orchard Lake, and later the Phillips Academy at Andover,
Massachusetts. His admirable business training was largely under the
eye of his father, and he became well prepared for the administration
of the great responsibilities which subsequently devolved upon him.
He has succeeded his father in the presidency of the great lumber corporation of Alger, Smith & Company, with offices at 1213 Ford Building. He is an executor of the large Alger estate, and he and his younger
brother, Captain Alger, are associated in its management. Since 1903
Mr. Alger has also been an independent factor in Detroit and Michigan
business affairs. He is executive head of the Anderson Forge & Machine
Company, vice president of the Packard Motor Car Company, treasurer
of the Duluth & Northern Minnesota Railroad Company, a director in
the Security Trust Company, the People's State Bank, the Manistique
Lumber Company, and the Alger-Sullivan Company. Mr. Alger has
his home at Grosse Pointe Farm.
In politics he gives his staunch allegiance to the party in which his
father was so distinguished. His club membership includes connection
with the Detroit Club, the Yontedoga Club, the Country Club, the Detroit
Yacht Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the Detroit Automobile Club, the
Detroit Racquet & Curling Club, and the Old Club. He is also a member
of the New York Yacht Club, the Automobile Club of America of New
York City, the Kitchi Gami (Dutch) Club of Duluth, and belongs to the
Mount Royal Club of Montreal, Canada. Mr. and Mrs. Alger have
membership in the Fort Street Presbyterian Church of Detroit.
On January 23, 1896, he married Miss Marion Jarves, daughter of
Deming Jarves, of Detroit. Their children are Josephine, Fay and
Russell A., Jr.








1 /


I




milliam        Brttan Caby
ILLIAM Bryan Cady, now a member of the Detroit law
firm of Warren, Cady and Ladd, Mr. Cady has been a
member of the Michigan bar for about thirty years, and
has practiced in Detroit since I897. In real estate and
corporation law, he is an acknowledged leader, and during the last fifteen years few other Detroit lawyers
have handled so large and important interests in these
departments as Mr. Cady.
William Bryan Cady, who was born on a farm in Canton township,
Wayne county, Michigan, February Io, I86I, belongs to one of this state's
pioneer families, and is in the eighth generation of the name since it was
established in New England during the Colonial period. Nicholas Cady,
founder of the American branch of the family, was of an old English
family, and left Kent, England, in 1630 and established a home at Watertown, Massachusetts, about the time of the first permanent settlement on
the shores of Massachusetts Bay. His descendants subsequently became
pioneers in the state of New York. From Nicholas Cady to William B.
Cady the line of descent is direct and through the following heads: James,
born in 1655; John, in I680; Ebenezer, in 1714; David, in I754; Samuel P.,
in I8oo; James B., in I830; and William B., in I86I.
It was David Cady, born in 1754, who founded the family name in
Michigan territory. He was a young man at the beginning of the Revolutionary war, and with his six brothers served with honor and fidelity in
that struggle for independence. A number of years later, when the area
of the Atlantic colonies had been extended across the Alleghanies to the
Mississippi, in 1832 he emigrated to the territory of Michigan. He was
the patriarch of a considerable family colony, including his son Samuel,
and grandson James B., the latter being then about two years of age.
David Cady was one of the early settlers of Wayne county, where he
obtained a tract of wild land and reclaimed it. A portion of his original
homestead is now included in the grounds of the Wayne County Home
Farm. Some years later he returned to his old home at Freeport, New
York, and lived there until his death at the venerable age of ninety years.
James B. Cady, father of the Detroit lawyer, was born in New York state
in I830, and was an infant when the family came to the territory of Michigan and settled in Wayne county. His life was taken up with the activities of agriculture and stock raising, and for many years he was an
influential citizen of Canton township.
On his father's farm in Wayne county William B. Cady started life
23




24


William  2r(pan Qatp


with the excellent advantage of rural surroundings, in addition to his
inheritance of an old American name and the elements of a sturdy lineage.
With such schooling as was afforded in the public institutions of Wayne
county, he entered the Ann Arbor high school, graduating in 1878, and
then began his studies in the literary department of the University of
Michigan, from which he received the degree Bachelor of Philosophy in
1882. After one year in the law department of the university Mr. Cady
continued his studies with the firm of Sawyer & Knowlton at Ann Arbor,
and then for one year was in the offices of Brennan & Donnelly at Detroit.
Soon after being admitted to practice Mr. Cady moved to the northern
peninsula, locating at Sault Ste. Marie, where in a few years he had gained
a leading place in the local bar and had built up a large and profitable business. In January, I897, Mr. Cady, having returned to Detroit, engaged in
practice with the late John C. Shaw under the name Shaw & Cady. In
I9go Charles B. Warren and Herbert K. Oakes were admitted to the
partnership, which was entitled Shaw, Warren, Cady and Oakes until
the death of Mr. Shaw in January, I9II. Mr. Oakes later retired from
the firm to engage in business at Cleveland, Ohio, and Mr. Cady now has
as his associates Mr. Warren and Sanford W. Ladd. Warren, Cady and
Ladd have a large practice at Detroit, and each member of the firm has
some distinctive ability and forte in the law, and together they present
an aggregate of some of the best legal talent to be found in Michigan.
Mr. Cady has brought great strength to the combination by reason of his
admitted ability in real estate and corporation law.
Until the campaign of 1896 Mr. Cady was one of the leading Democrats
in the northern part of the state, but the monetary issues of that year
and the candidacy of Mr. Bryan caused him to leave his party. For six
years preceding he had been a member of the Democratic state central
committee of Michigan. On rejecting the platform of the Democrats in
1896, Mr. Cady gave a vigorous support and stumped a large territory in
northern Michigan in behalf of William McKinley. His political as well
as his legal activities in northern Michigan have naturally brought him a
large acquaintance, and he still has much influence in that section of the
state.
Mr. Cady is a Knight Templar Mason, and his social relations are
with the Detroit Club, the University club, the Country club, and the
Detroit Boat club. On June 30, 1904, he married Miss Myra Post, a
daughter of the late Hoyt Post, one of Detroit's honored citizens. The
one child born to their marriage is Elizabeth Winsor.




I




~,~.                                      ~. i
'"~'~'~,~  ii1111 iU~,..A~~i~,:




]on. peter ]B. Zoomis
H         )HE settlers in Jackson during the early years of the city's
2 —.   \   history are nearly all gathered to their final rest.
|       Among the venerable men who until within the last
1;a  1  [   few years have survived, as reminders of the small
T.    beginnings and rapid growth of the municipality, was
),         the late Hon. Peter B. Loomis, who passed away at his
home at Jackson, December 30, I905, in the eightysixth year of his age. He was full of years, crowned with the fruits of an
industrious life, and with an unsullied reputation for business integrity
and for fidelity to all the public and social relations that surround the
citizen. For a longer period than any other of its citizens he was identified with the history, growth and progress of the city which for sixty-two
years had been his home, and in the welfare of which he took a laudable
civic pride. Among those who were the makers of Jackson he was an
acknowledged leader. It is a notable fact that most of the men to whom
this city owes its largest debt of gratitude were from the state of New
York. Mr. Loomis' name was identified with that of Amos Root, Moses
A. McNaughton, William D. Thompson, Henry A. Hayden, Hiram H.
Smith, Jerome B. Eaton, William H. Withington, Eugene Pringle and
Enoch Bancker, who, while not all natives of the Empire state, showed the
same enterprising spirit in their operations that had made New York the
greatest American commonwealth.
Peter B. Loomis was born at Amsterdam, New York, April 14, I820,
and when a few months of age he was taken by his parents to Rochester.
That flourishing city was then a small village, but five years later the Erie
Canal was finished and modern western progress began. There he received a fair education, and at the age of sixteen years opened a general
store in a village near Rochester. This was the early beginning of his
business career, but dissatisfied with the credit system then in vogue he
disposed of his business in the next year and decided to accept a position
offered him in the government survey of Texas, at that time beloniging to
Mexico. However, on his way there, having reached Little Rock,
Arkansas, he was recalled to Rochester by what seemed a favorable opening, and at the age of eighteen years, in 1838, became a dry goods merchant
in that city, where he carried on a business for about four years. Thus
equipped with seven years of experience, in I843 Mr. Loomis came to
Jackson, and this continued to be his home until the time of his death.
From that time until the year I850 he was a member of the dry goods firm
of Loomis & Dwight, and in the latter year became sole proprietor of the
27




28


2bon. pteter X. Loomis


Kennedy flouring mill in this city, which he operated until 1854. In the
year I856 he embarked in the banking business, and later was a partner
in the banking firm of Loomis & Whitwell. From that time on he was
prominently and continuously identified with banking interests, a period
of almost a half a century. Succeeding this, the firm of P. B. Loomis &
Company was organized, and continued in business until merged with the
City Bank, Jackson's oldest and most prominent financial institution
several years before Mr. Loomis' death. Through all vicissitudes and
panics the Loomis banks retained public confidence in a marked degree.
Taking a leading part in a movement to supply the city with gas, a company was organized in 1857, and Mr. Loomis was the incorporator and
first president of the Jackson Gas Company, a position he held for many
years. In I868, at a citizens' meeting, Mr. H. H. Smith and Mr. Loomis
were requested to take charge of the project to build a railroad to Fort
Wayne, Indiana, a distance of one hundred miles. They organized a
company, of which Mr. Smith became president, and Mr. Loomis treasurer. The men of the present generation know nothing of the persistent
work that was required forty or forty-five years ago, of the diplomacy
that was needed to combine the efforts of the communities, and of the
showing that was demanded to obtain financial assistance from established
companies to insure success. No other movement in the history of Jackson more thoroughly attests the ability of its pioneer citizens than their
successful efforts to make it an important railroad center for all future
time. A little earlier start in these enterprises would have resulted in
failure; a little later would have been of no use. In this work Mr. Loomis
was an essential factor, and the Fort Wayne Railroad was completed in
I871. Mr. Smith retiring to take charge of the construction of the Detroit
& Bay City Railroad, Mr. Loomis succeeded him as president, and also
became general manager, holding these positions until the lease of the
road to the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern. Before engaging in this
enterprise, he had been a director of the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw, and
was a member of the financial committee and treasurer of the Grand
River Valley Company. Earlier he was active in obtaining the extension
of the Jackson branch of the Michigan Southern into the city in 1857,
which was the real beginning of the careers of several of Jackson's citizens as railroad builders. Here it may not be inappropriate to insert an
incident which occurred in 1877, and which indicates the judgment, impartiality, acumen and justice which characterized each of Mr. Loomis'
business methods. During that year of intense labor troubles, a meeting
of prominent railroad presidents and managers was held in New York
City. With them Chief Arthur, of the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers, requested an audience and an interview. At first there was a
disposition to refuse this reasonable request, but President Loomis, who
was present, openly advocated the wiser policy of compliance, with the
result that the railroad presidents and managers held a conference with
Chief Arthur, and the first working agreement with organized railroad
employes was entered into. Strikes were frequent among railroad men




Dton. peter 23. Loomis


29


that year, but there were none on the Fort Wayne road during the presidency of Mr. Loomis.
It is not possible in a sketch of this nature to give more than a brief
outline of a man whose business life extended through the average duration of two generations of the human family. In all spheres of activity,
as a merchant, a manufacturer, a banker, a railroad official, and in public
life, he was clear-headed, efficient and painstaking. Business principles
were with him one thing; charity was another. Beautiful Loomis Park,
on East Main street, was one of his gifts to the city of Jackson. In 1858
he was elected the second mayor of the city, Hon. James C. Wood having
been chosen in I857, the year the village became a city, and in his message
to the council he advocated the improvement of Grand river, then the city's
only sewer, a work which at the time of his death, forty-seven years later,
the municipality had fairly entered upon. In the fall of 1858 he was
elected a representative in the state legislature, and was an influential
member of that body. The same thoughtful attention that he gave to
his private affairs he devoted to the details of legislation.
The year I880 saw Mr. Loomis' retirement from the active management of business, to the details of which he entrusted younger men. In
1883 he took a trip to Japan in company with his friend Robert Harris, of
Connecticut, but upon his return again plunged into the activities of life.
He served a term on the Board of State Charities and Corrections, was
a member of the City Board of Public Works, edited a newspaper, the
Daily Courier, predecessor of the Daily Press, devoted much time and
thought to projects for the benefit of the public; devised plans for advertising the many business advantages possessed by Jackson, with which no
citizen was more familiar, and was the promoter and leading factor of
the "General Welfare Association." Earlier, he served for several terms
as a member of the city council, and for one year was chief of the fire
department. Every public office he accepted as a public trust, and the
public recognized and appreciated his efforts.
The possessor of a retentive memory, an extensive reader and an
independent thinker, Mr. Loomis was an excellent conversationalist.
Socially he was a general favorite. Sham and false pretenses were his
special abhorrence. The same liberty of thought he claimed for himself
he tolerated in others. His mind and his methods were practical. As a
merchant, it was said of him that he made his store attractive; as a mill
owner and manager he made a competence with the poor machinery of
the early 'fifties; as a banker he was prepared for such emergencies as
those of 1857, 1873 and I893; as a railroad manager he operated locomotives at less than half the average cost per mile; and as his crowning
act in that capacity, which originated in his sense of fairness to all men,
he secured a hearing for Chief Arthur which resulted in peace between the
railways and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers; and as a public
speaker he was forcible and direct upon all public questions that called
for an expression of opinion or the elucidation of matters that were under
consideration. Yet, with all of his public service, he was never a politician; for he followed his convictions into whatever new associations they




30


OMn. ]Pter '25. ~Laoomi%


might lead him. With an independence as absolute as that of the Scotch
laird who asserted that "Where McGregor sits is the head of the table,"
he awarded to others all the rights that he claimed for himself. His
conversation was always clean, and in his social life he was as successful
as in his business associations. In public matters, especially in the conduct
of city affairs, he was always a consistent advocate of economy, of permanent improvements, and of civic righteousness-the righteousness of
right conduct. He never used public office to promote private gain. Possessing the courage of his own convictions, ever unwilling to accept any
makeshift policy, and admiring integrity of character and purpose, explains
why he was never, in the ordinary sense of the term, a politician; and
yet no prominent citizen of Jackson was better qualified to serve the public
and promote the general welfare.
In the field of literature Mr. Loomis was a wide gleaner, as well as
a concise and forcible writer. Carlyle was his favorite author, probably
because of his strong and graphic language and his hatred of shams. In
Japanese life and literature, he also felt an abiding interest and his estimate of Japanese character and courage, formed from personal observation, has been fully verified by recent events. His chief pleasures were
found among his friends, in his large library, and among the members of
his family. He was married first in I848 to Miss Harriet Kennedy, with
whom he celebrated a silver wedding anniversary in 1873, and a few
months later she passed away, having been the mother of three children:
Peter Burr and George E., residents of Jackson; and Irene K., who later
became Mrs. N. S. Potter and who died in this city. Mr. Loomis was
married to Miss Emma S. Gilbert, in 1874. She was born at Rochester, New York, June 6, I837. Her father, Grove S. Gilbert, was
a well-known artist and portrait painter of his day, and spent his entire
life in New York state, following his vocation for a great many years in
the city of Rochester. Three children have been born to the second union:
Edna, who is now the wife of Benjamin F. Chase, of Jackson; and Allen
and Gilbert S., both residents of Detroit, and holding responsible positions
with the Packard Motor Car Company.




____~I




/ '27?7(  77') -/  /"   l
I(i




t         iaiam S. Rict monb
ILLIAM A. RICHMOND, Grand Rapids, Kent County,
i  Michigan.*  The Richmond genealogy, compiled by
Joshua Richmond of Boston, traces the family to Wiltshire, England, on the upper Thames. In the little
village of Ashton Keynes is a church of the IIth century, where may be seen several Richmond tombs,
many baptismal records, and in the belfry their coat of
arms. Nearby is the Richmond manor house, which passed out of the
family to the Duke of Cleveland in 1856.
The first recorded Richmond in America was John, who, with his
wife, came from England in 1638 and was one of the founders of the
town of Taunton, Massachusetts. His grandson, Sylvester, born in 1672
at Little Compton, R. I., served as Colonel in the British Army and
commanded at Cape Britton during our French and Indian War. He
located at Westport, Massachusetts, and became an American citizen.
Sylvester Richmond married Elizabeth Rogers, granddaughter of John
Alden and Priscilla Mullens. Their son, Nathaniel, born in I737 at Westport, was educated at Harvard College and designed for the Church, but
was diverted by the Revolutionary War, and served as captain in the
Battle of Bunker Iill, with Pardon Brownell as his first lieutenant. He
married Polly Brownell of Little Compton, R. I., aunt of Thomas
Church Brownell, first Bishop of Connecticut; and some years later they
settled in Ontario County, New York, founding the town of Richmond.
They had nine children, four of whom were boys, John, Samuel, Sylvester
and Jonathan. Jonathan was born at Westport, Massachusetts, July
4, I774.
At eighteen years of age he joined a cousin in Cayuga County, New
York, and took up I50 acres of land bordering the lake at Aurora, developing it into a fine farm, stocked with imported cattle and sheep.
In I806, in his 24th year, he brought his bride, Rebecca Millet Almy,
from Westport. Jonathan Richmond's standing in the community through
a long life was well stated in an article in the Albany Journal at the time
of his death in 1853: "Mr. Richmond was a man of mould and mind, one
before whose strong arm the forest disappeared, and one who helped to
form and fashion the institutions of a growing community; a highminded, honorable gentleman. He held various public offices under Presi*Written by request for State Historical Society of Michigan by Rebecca L.
Richmond, Grand Rapids, May, I914.


33




34


William  3. uticbmont


dent Madison, and Governors Jay, Lewis, Tompkins and Clinton, and
was a member of the i6th Congress, I818-20."
Jonathan Richmond's family consisted of twelve children, eight of
whom reached maturity. Of the four boys, two inherited the pioneer
spirit and pressed further westward in 1836, locating in the Territory of
Michigan, William in the Grand River Valley and Charles at Ann Arbor
on the Huron River. William's son, Jonathan, was in turn a pioneer
explorer in the Territory of Arizona, and Charles, Jr., made his home in
California;-so, in three generations the Richmond family,. under the lure
of the West, spanned the continent, contributing their vitality and enterprise to our advancing civilization.
William Almy Richmond, the subject of this sketch, whose active life
was identified with Michigan, was born at Aurora-on-Cayuga, New York,
January 28, I8o8. The village academy under Professor Salem Town
(of "Speller-and-Definer" fame), furnished the basis of a good education,
supplemented by experience on a well-managed farm, by a superior social
atmosphere, by annual trips with his father to Boston to dispose of the
wool-clip, by visits to Washington where his father was Democratic Congressman for two years, and by mercantile experience in Moravia and in
New York City. Intimate association with a public-spirited father and
with leading men of affairs at the National and State capitals gave
William an insight into the science of government, and a vision of the
possibilities of national extension; therefore, when the Erie Canal had
opened the gateway westward, it was natural that he should in 1836 join
the enthusiastic procession of young men who flocked into the territorial
region between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Detroit, Toledo and Chicago were all inspected, but later, making a friendly call upon
his maternal uncle, John Almy, a surveyor, engineer and lawyer at the
little village of Grand Rapids (then only three years old, with a white
population of perhaps 200), he was so fascinated by the wild beauty of
the region and its apparent natural resources that he decided to make a
location and invest there the funds his father had intrusted to him for
that purpose. Another fascination was in the family of Major Abel Page,
who had recently arrived from Rutland, Vermont, bringing three attractive
daughters, one of whom, Loraine, Mr. Richmond wooed and won in the
following year. Harriet Page became the wife of Dr. Cyrus Knapp of
Cincinnati, and Sophia married Judge Daniel S. Bacon of Monroe,their only daughter, Elizabeth, is the widow of Gen. Geo. Armstrong
Custer, U. S. Army.
No sooner had William Richmond identified himself with Grand
Rapids in 1836 than, he was sent as a delegate from the District comprising the counties of Kent, Ionia and Clinton to the first "Convention
of Assent," meeting at Ann Arbor, which accepted the conditions proposed by Congress for the entrance of Michigan into the Union, and
which drafted its first State Constitution.
In 1837 he was appointed by Governor Mason on the committee, with
Jacob Beeson of Niles and Samuel Axford of McComb, which located
the Penitentiary at Jackson.




Williams* M. I1cbmOnD


35


In 1838 he was appointed by President Van Buren Receiver of the
Federal Land Office at Ionia, where he was closely associated with Senator Lucius Lyon.
In 1842 he was appointed by Governor Barry Inspector of the 8th
Division of the State Militia.
From 1843 to 1845 he served as Democratic State Senator at Detroit,
and in that capacity obtained an appropriation of 6,000 acres of land to
apply on the construction of a canal for water-power and a bridge at
Grand Rapids. He served on committees for Internal Improvements,
Public Lands, Militia and Agriculture, being chairman of the first in connection with Messrs. Littlejohn of Allegan, Thurber of Monroe and Niles
of Oakland County.
In I845 he was appointed by President Polk, Superintendent of Indian affairs for Michigan and Wisconsin, and for four years he made the
Treaty-payments at LaPointe on Lake Superior; at the Sault Ste. Marie,
where he was entertained by the interesting family of the Rev. Abel
Bingham, Baptist Missionary; at Mackinaw, where his headquarters were
with Mr. Franks of the Mission House; at Cross Village, Saginaw and
Grand Rapids. In all his lonely and perilous journeys through the forests
by wagon, and over the Lakes by the small boats of that period, conveying the government boxes laden with silver specie, he was never molested,
and never met with a serious accident. His attitude towards the Indians
was one of great friendliness, which was fully reciprocated by the prominent Chiefs of the Pottawatomies, the Ojibways and the Ottawas.
In 1848 Governor Ransom appointed Mr. Richmond Brig. General
of the i6th Brigade in the Militia of Michigan, which office he held several
years; and again in I860 he was appointed by Governor Wisner to serve
in the same capacity with the 6th Brigade, 3rd Division.
In September 1854, the Democratic State Convention assembled at
the City Hall of Detroit for the purpose of nominating candidates for state
offices. John S. Barry received the nomination for Governor, and Wm.
A. Richmond for Lieutenant Governor, he having 69 votes, and his nearest
competitor, Andrew Parsons, 50. Barry won in the election, but Mr.
Richmond was defeated by the Whig candidate by a small majority. Gen.
Lewis Cass was an honorary member of this convention; and the other
members from Kent were Robt. P. Sinclair and Thomas B. Church, Mr.
Richmond's cousin.
So much for the honors conferred by his adopted State. "In the discharge of all official duties," it was said of Mr. Richmond, that "he made
a most creditable record for faithfulness and efficiency. He had none of
the arts of the demagogue; his personal presence was commanding and
dignified; his intellectual and moral vigor were convincing; and, with
few words, he was easily a leader. His earnest effort was ever for the
formation and development of his State and his town according to the
highest standards."
In civic service he was ever active and enthusiastic, having unbounded
faith in the future greatness of the isolated little village on the banks of
the Awashtanong. Appreciating the importance and value of transporta



36


William  [. Ricbmont


tion facilities, he applied his influence and personal effort to the construction of bridges and gravel and plank roads, and finally railways. Through
all the stress and strain of these many enterprises, from 1840 to I868, he
never lost heart, but encouraged all concerned in the effort, and the result
in every case was a commentary on his good judgment and wise management. He was a member of the first board of village trustees, operated
a farm at Lyons, twenty miles up the river, the grain crop being brought
to Sweet's grist mill by the little steamer "Hummingbird"; was a charter
member of the Grand Rapids Gas Company, organized in 1855; and he
lent his influence, furthermore, to all religious and educational movements. Dr. F, H. Cuming received his cordial support in the building of
St. Mark's Episcopal Church (where he served many years on the Vestry),
and in the establishment of the flourishing Parish School which bore the
ambitious title of "St. Mark's College."
He belonged to the order of Masons, a member of the Lodge at Auroraon-Cayuga.
During these thirty years of public activity, Mr. Richmond had a home
which always afforded much needed rest and recuperation. His wife was
richly endowed with New England courage, endurance, thrift and resourcefulness, qualities so valuable in the pioneer life-she was his helpmate in every sense of the word.
Literature from New York, Boston and Philadelphia came weekly to
their fireside, furnishing the enjoyment and mental stimulus which offset
the many deprivations incident to a new country. And music was another
fireside pleasure, the combined baritone and contralto voices of father and
mother giving to the children at twilight the songs which still echo delightfully for them down the half century. Of these children, Jonathan
served a year in the navy during the Civil War. In I862 he accompanied
Governor Goodwin and Judge Howell over the Santa Fe Trail to the
newly created territory of Arizona, and later located and spent the balance
of his life on a Kansas ranch. Mary, wife of Charles F. Kendall, lived
in Topeka, Kansas, twenty years, and on the death of her husband moved
to Hollywood, California. Rebecca Loraine lives still (I914) in her native town, and by active participation in civic welfare movements, aids
in the realization of her parents' lofty ideals for the Valley City.
In that paralyzed period after the Civil War, William A. Richmond
retired to his suburban home, "Belle Plaine," on the Plainfield Road
north of Grand Rapids, and there spent in tranquility the last few years
of his life, passing beyond in I870 at the age of sixty-two.




I~
IF






I






(tarlek      Austin
{F^T is most gratifying and consonant to present in this history a record concerning the career of this honored and
I    T        venerable citizen of Battle Creek, and Mr. Austin may
1          well be designated as one of the pioneers of Michigan,
for he has here maintained (I914) his residence for
sixty years and has been prominently identified with
the civic, social, business and political agencies that
have conserved the upbuilding of the state. He was a youth of eighteen
years when he left his native land to establish a home in the United States,
and here he entered fully into the spirit of the great American republic,
his loyalty to and appreciation of which have never faltered. He is now
one of the most venerable citizens of Calhoun county, which has represented his home since 1855 and to the development and progress of which
he has contributed in generous measure, as a broad-minded and publicspirited citizen and as one whose character and ability have well qualified
him for leadership in thought and action. He has been called to various
positions of public trust and responsibility, including service in both
houses of the Michigan legislature, and for many years he has been one
of the leaders of the Michigan contingent of the Republican party. A man
of distinctive intellectual force, of sterling character and of much business
acumen, he has made a deep and enduring impress upon the history of his
county and state, and, now that he has passed the eightieth milestone on
the journey of life, he retains the unqualified affection and respect of the
community in which he has long lived and labored to goodly ends.
Charles Austin was born in the city of London, England, on the I8th
of April, 1834, and concerning him the following pertinent statements
have been made: "He began his active business life when a boy, and his
success came as a result of his own efforts and his force of initiative. His
father was in early life a farmer, later became a boot and shoe merchant
in London, and finally immigrated to New Zealand, where he continued to
be identified with agricultural pursuits up to the time of his death, which
occurred when he was nearly eighty-eight years of age. Both in England
and New Zealand he was active and zealous as a minister of the Wesleyan
church, and his life was one of signal consecration to lofty ideals."
Hon. Charles Austin, known for worthy achievement as a merchant,
banker and legislator, was reared in his native city to the age of eighteen
years, and he was not denied substantial and adequate educational advantages, including those of one of the institutions of the British and Foreign
School Societies. In his father's store in London he early gained practical


39




40


Qebarleo!uatin


experience, and when he had attained to the age of eighteen years his selfreliance and ambition led him to sever the gracious ties that bound him to
home and native land and to seek his fortunes in the United States. He
made the voyage to America on a sailing vessel and landed in the port of
New York city in February, 1852. Concerning the early stages in his
career in the United States the following data have been given and are
worthy of perpetuation: "The metropolis did not at once offer him the
kind of work he desired, so he went up the Hudson river to Albany, where
he soon obtained a position as clerk in a boot and shoe store, the line of
occupation in which he had gained experience in London. In the autumn
of the same year he proceeded to Little Falls, New York, and from that
place he removed to Utica, that state, where he continued to reside until
1854. The year last mentioned was marked by his removal to Michigan,
with which state he has been identified for sixty years."
Upon coming to Michigan Mr. Austin first established his residence
at Concord, Jackson county, but in September, 1855, he removed to Calhoun county, within the borders of which he has maintained his home
during the long intervening years, the while he has witnessed and aided
the development of this section of the state from the status of the pioneer
era to that of twentieth-century opulence and progressiveness. During
the first two years of his residence in Calhoun county Mr. Austin was
engaged in the boot and shoe business in the village of Homer, and his
initial venture as a merchant was one of modest order. At the expiration
of the time noted he removed to the attractive pioneer town of Bedford,
where he expanded his scope of operations by the establishing of a general
store. He was identified with the village of Bedford for many years, and
there he built up a large and prosperous business, based alike on fair and
honorable dealings and upon those personal characteristics that ever beget
popular confidence and esteem. Mr. Austin continued his operations at
Bedford until 1872, when he found a broader field of endeavor by removing to the city of Battle Cheek, which was then, as now, the most important business center of Calhoun county. Here he founded a dry-goods
establishment which long maintained precedence as-the largest in the city,
and he also founded the large mercantile and commission house of Austin,
Godsmark & Durand, which has played an important part in furthering
the commercial prestige of the metropolis of Calhoun county. The business is still continued and Mr. Austin retains an interest in the same, the
present title of the firm being Godsmark, Durand & Company. Mr. Austin
has likewise been an influential force in the upbuilding of that fine and
valued institution, the Old National Bank of Battle Creek, in which he
has been a stockholder for many years and of which he is vice-president at
the present time.
Mr. Austin has been a close student of economic and governmental
affairs and has been fully fortified in his political convictions, even as he
has shown the utmost civic loyalty and public spirit. He has the distinction of being one of those who attended the famous meeting "under the
oaks" at Jackson, Michigan, where the deliberations are conceded historically to have resulted in the birth of the Republican party. He thus








LbarleoE     auzttrn


41


witnessed the organization of this great political party, and he has voted
for every Republican presidential candidate from Lincoln to Taft, his
naturalization as a citizen of the United States having been perfected a
little too late to permit his supporting the first presidential nominee of the
Republican party,-General John C. Fremont. He has been steadfast in
his allegiance to the cause of the Republican party and has been influential
in its various activities in Michigan, a state long known as a Republican
stronghold. Mr. Austin served as justice of the peace while residing at
Bedford, and in 1875 he was elected a member of the city council of Battle
Creek, about one year after here establishing his home. The hold that he
had soon obtained on popular confidence was significantly shown in 1876,
when he was elected mayor of the city, as candidate on the Republican
ticket. He gave a most admirable administration of municipal affairs
during his first term, and appreciation of his efforts was shown by his
re-election at the expiration of his initial term.
In I880 Mr. Austin was elected to represent Calhoun county in the
lower house of the state legislature, in which his loyal and effective service
marked him for higher honors. In 1882 he was representative of his district in the state senate, to which he was re-elected in 1884. He took an
active part in the deliberations and other work of the senate and proved
one of its influential members. He was chairman of the senate committee
on railroads, and also held membership on the committees of finance,
insurance, education, and asylums for the insane. Mr. Austin is a zealous
and honored member of the Independent Congregational church of Battle
Creek, and has been specially prominent in the work of its Sunday school,
his wife likewise having been a devout adherent of this church.
At Concord, Jackson county, Michigan, on the Ist of January, I855, was
solemnized the marriage of Mr. Austin to Miss Lucy D. Taylor, who was
a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of that county and
who remained as his devoted companion and helpmeet for more than fiftyeight years, the gracious ties having been severed when she was summoned
to the life eternal, on the I7th of November, I9I3, and her passing away
having constituted the supreme loss and bereavement that has come to Mr.
Austin in the course of his long and useful life. Mr. and Mrs. Austin
became the parents of five sons, two of whom died in infancy. Oliver T.,
who is a bachelor, is a traveling salesman and maintains his headquarters
in the city of Chicago; Charles J., who is married but has no children, is
manager of a wholesale grocery in the city of Toledo, Ohio; Edward D.,
who is engaged in the art-crockery business in Battle Creek, is married
and has three children,-Helen G., Oliver C., and Darwin E.
Few citizens of Calhoun county are better known than the venerable
man to whom this sketch is dedicated, and few have entered more fully
and worthily into the civic and business life of this section of the state,
where his circle of friends and admirers is coincident with that of his
acquaintances. Mr. Austin has been affiliated with the Masonic fraternity
since 1858, and he holds membership in the York Rite bodies in his home
city, including Battle Creek Commandery of Knights Templars. He has
passed many of the official chairs in the various Masonic bodies with
which he is identified.




I








0




C..?|abter      rn
HE Haberkorn family has lived in Detroit over fifty
years, and during the greater part of the time the name
has been associated with important manufacturing and
t.general business activities. Furniture dealers in all
parts of the United States, Europe and South America
are familiar with the output of the Haberkorn Furniture Factory, and in Detroit the family has also been
prominent in real estate circles and civic and social life.
C. H. Haberkorn, capitalist, president of C. H. Haberkorn & Co., treasurer of the Grosse Pointe Park Corporation and president of the Haberkorn Investment Company, was born in Detroit, July 27, I856. His father,
the late Henry Haberkorn, was born in Altenburg, Hesse-Darmstadt,
Germany, in I831, and was a younger son of the mayor of that place,
descended from an old Bavarian family which had come to Hesse toward
the end of the fifteenth century. The elder Haberkorn came to the United
States in I85I and settled in Detroit, where he was married in the same
year to Margaret Kolby, who had likewise come to this country from
Germany a few years before.
After an education in the public schools of Detroit, C. H. Haberkorn
went to San Francisco early in the '7os, and was engaged in the construction of several of the first large buildings erected in that city. His return
to Detroit was followed by a beginning in the manufacture of furniture,
resulting in 1878 in the establishment of the C. H. Haberkorn & Co.,
which has since been incorporated and of which he is president.
In 1884 Mr. Haberkorn was married to Miss Frances H. Ruehle,
daughter of Frederick Ruehle, who was one of the most prominent figures
in the early city government of Detroit, having been president of the Board
of Public Works and one of the four founders of the old Michigan Democrat. From this marriage there are two children: Christian Henry Haberkorn, Jr., and Adelaide Dorothea Haberkorn. Mrs. Haberkorn died in
I90o, and Mr. Haberkorn in 1913 married Miss Helen Hortance Harvey
of Detroit.
The business energy of Mr. Haberkorn has been devoted chiefly to the
building up of the business of C. H. Haberkorn & Co. in the manufacture
of high-grade furniture and of motor car accessories, and to the improving of real estate in and about Detroit. He is also interested in a number
of the banking concerns and railroads of the country. In additiof to these
business activities Mr. Haberkorn is an extensive traveler, and spends considerable part of each year away from Detroit.


45




46


grebriztiao   entn tlaberkorn, Str,


Outside of practical affairs his associations are as a member and trustee
of the First Congregational church of Detroit, a member of the Detroit
Club, the Detroit Country Club, the Detroit Golf Club, the Wayne Club,
Detroit Board of Commerce, the Geographical Society of America and
The Old Club. His residence is at 45 E. Ferry avenue and his office at 393
W. Elizabeth Street.
CHRISTIAN HENRY HABERKORN, JR.
A son of C. H. Haberkorn, Sr., and of Frances H. Ruehle, whose
family has been prominent in Detroit for four generations, Christian
Henry Haberkorn, Jr., is an example of the aggressive college man in
business affairs, and is a manufacturer, secretary and treasurer of C.
H. Haberkorn & Company, secretary of the Grosse Pointe Corporation,
and secretary and treasurer of the Haberkorn Investment Company.
Born in Detroit, May 24, I889, he received his preparatory education
at the Detroit University School and entered Harvard University in the
fall of I908. At Harvard he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha
of Massachusetts; the Sigma Alpha Phi Society of Harvard University,
the Harvard Mission, the Star Chamber, the Student Council, the Harvard
Cosmopolitan Club, the Cercle Francais, the Deutscher Verein, and the
Harvard History Club. He took his degree of Bachelor of Arts with the
class of I912, holding a John Harvard Scholarship and being First Marshal
of Phi Beta Kappa.
In the spring of I912 Mr. Haberkorn entered into the active affairs of
C. H. Haberkorn & Co., manufacturers of furniture, and is secretary and
treasurer of that important Detroit industry. His other associations with
the large business interests of his father make him secretary of the Grosse
Pointe Corporation and secretary and treasurer of the Haberkorn Investment Company.
In 1913 Mr. Haberkorn was given the degree of Master of Arts by
Harvard University, and besides his membership in the various college and
honorary societies already mentioned, is also a member of the Old Club
and of the American Economic Association. On September 17, I913, was
celebrated his marriage to Miss Charlotte M. Beck, daughter of George
Beck, president of the Beck Cereal Company and a past president of the
Detroit Board of Trade.,Mr. Haberkorn's residence is at Ioo5 Second
avenue and his office is at 393 W. Elizabeth street.








-I




tal iaiam 3arbis aitifeb
NE of the foremost manufacturers and leading men of
p~ affairs of Saginaw, William J. Wickes is president of
3       The Wickes Boiler Co. and officially identified with
E \     several others of the largest and best known industrial
Ht  and commercial enterprises in this part of the state.
Mr. Wickes, like his father, possesses exceptional
mechanical genius. Mr. Wickes, Sr., was the inventor
of what are known as the "gang mills," known all over the world, and the
operation of which is taught in all text books on mechanical engineering
in the United States and Germany.
William Jarvis Wickes was born in Saginaw, August 2, I862, a son of
Henry D. and Ann (Bailey) Wickes. Ann Bailey, a native of Michigan,
was a daughter of Jarvis Bailey, who came from New York State to
Michigan in I840, was an early Indian agent, and built the first saw mills
at Flushing. He was a prominent lumber man, very active in affairs, and
later became owner of extensive ranch lands in Texas, to which state he
moved in 1872, and during the rest of his life engaged in raising cattle on
a large scale near Austin, where he and his wife died. Henry D. Wickes,
the father, came to Flint, Michigan, in 1852, spent four years in a machine
shop, and in 1856 came to Saginaw, where, with his brother Edward, he
built and founded the first local industry for the manufacture of sawmill
machinery. Their machine shops were the nucleus for the large industry
now carried on under the name of Wickes Brothers. Henry D. Wickes
was a man of exceptional business enterprise and a leader in the public
life of his city. His death occurred in 1904 at Saginaw and his name
deserves remembrance as that of one of the pioneer industrial leaders.
William J. Wickes has been identified with Saginaw all his life. After
completing the course in the public schools at the age of eighteen he entered
his father's factory, learned boiler making in all its details, and after the
death of the father he and his brother Harry T. assumed the entire management of the large plant. Mr. Wickes is president of The Wickes
Boiler Co., and its importance in the life and welfare of Saginaw is
indicated by the fact that four hundred men are on the payroll. Mr.
Wickes is also president of the Saginaw Plate Glass Works, employing
four hundred and fifty men; is vice president of the United States Graphite
Company, employing one hundred men on its office staff and two hundred
in the shop and factory; is president of the Consolidated Coal Company
of Saginaw, whose payroll amounts to upwards of one million dollars each
year, and one of the best financed and best operated in the coal industries
-        49




50;parrp Cutbtil    Mickte


of the United States. The product of the United States Graphite Company is sold to all the leading lead pencil makers throughout the world,
especially in Germany, France, England and the United States, and the
graphite is also used for various other commercial purposes. The raw
material is brought from old Mexico. Mr. Wickes was one of the organizers and is president of the Manufacturers' Association of Saginaw, and
is a director in the Bank of Saginaw.
Fraternally his affiliations are with the Saginaw Lodge No. 303, the
Masonic Order, and his family affiliate with the Congregational church,
but is liberal to all other denominations. His father took a leading part
in the building of the First Episcopal church in Saginaw. His political
support is in the interests of the Republican party.
In June, I886, Mr. Wickes married Miss Cornelia Johnson Mershon,
who was born in New York State, a daughter of Augustus H. and Helen
(Johnson) Mershon. The six children of their union are mentioned as
follows: Helen, widow of Melville D. Brooks, of Saginaw; Edward Bailey
Wickes, who is now learning his trade in the boiler shop and machine works
under his father; Ann; William J., Jr.; John Y., and Elsie Mershon. Mr.
Wickes finds his chief recreation in the management and supervision of
his beautiful fifty acre farm near Frankenmuth, on the Big Bend of the
Cass River. The location of this farm is very near the place where Lewis
Cass signed the treaty with the Indians about Saginaw. His city home
is a beautiful residence at IOI6 Genesee Street. Mr. Wickes is a member
of the Saginaw Club, and his place is that of leader in affairs in all this
part of the state. He and his brother have made a splendid business
record in maintaining the prestige and the large industry founded and
built up by their father and uncle, and through three generations the family
has a record in Michigan of which the descendants may well be proud.
HARRY TUTHILL WICKES
The industrial history of Saginaw could not be written without mention of the enterprise of the Wickes family. For many years Saginaw
was the center of lumber manufacturing, had a host of mills for sawing
lumber, but its other industries were insignificant. It was the Wickes enterprise and foresight that perceived an opportunity for the establishment of a factory to supply saw mill machinery of all kinds, and from
establishment of the early machine shop business has been conducted on
an increasing scale until it now ranks among the largest manufacturing
concerns of the state.
Harry Tuthill Wickes, who is in the second generation of this Saginaw
family of manufacturers, was born in Flint, Michigan, November 2, I86o,
the oldest of three children born to Henry D. and Ann (Bailey) Wickes.
The other children in the family were William Jarvis, a prominent inventor and manufacturer, whose career is given elsewhere in this history, and
Mary, wife of Robert M. Randall, general manager of the Consolidated




t~arr putbill Wickte


51


Coal Company of Saginaw. The Wickes family goes back a couple of
centuries or more to three brothers who came from England and founded
homes in New York State. The maternal grandfather, Jarvis Bailey,
came to Michigan in pioneer days, following the trail from Detroit to
Flint, where he was an Indian agent and played a helpful part in settling
difficulties between Indians and the early settlers.
The wife of Jarvis Bailey was a direct descendant from John Carroll,
one of the signers of the declaration of independence.
Harry T. Wickes was educated in the public schools of Saginaw and
at the age of seventeen entered the machine shops conducted by his father
and uncle. His apprenticeship was a thorough one, and he acquired a
detailed experience, not only in the shops, but in the offices of the company. Some years ago, with his brother William J., he acquired the controlling interest in what was originally the Wickes Brothers Company, the
membership of which was Henry D. Wickes and Edward Wickes, father
and uncle respectively of Harry T. and William J. Wickes.
Henry D. Wickes first became identified with Saginaw in I856. During the four previous years he had been employed in the Genesee Iron
Works, at Flint, Mich., and on coming to Saginaw saw a splendid opening
for shops for the manufacture of sawmill machinery. Having some means
of his own, he sent for his brother Edward, who also came on from Flint,
and these brothers cleared off a tract of land, built a small shop, introduced
machinery, and in a modest way began the manufacture of sawmill equips
ment, the first concern of its kind in Saginaw. Since the younger generation, Harry T. and William J. Wickes, took the active management and
control of the business, they have added a boiler works, and at the present
time more than four hundred employed are on the payroll. Besides his
interests in the Wickes Brothers, of which he is president, Harry T. is
vice president of the Consolidated Coal Company, vice president of the
Saginaw and Bay City Railroad and Electric Light Company, a large stock
holder in the Saginaw Glass Works, president of the Merchants & Manufacturers Associations, and a director in the People's Savings Bank.
His politics is Republican, he is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner,
and belongs to the Saginaw and the Saginaw Country Club. Mr. Wickes'
chief recreation is yachting. The Capitola, owned by him, is one of the
finest yachts on the lake, is one hundred and fifty feet in length, has complete furnishings and equipments for both short and extended cruises, and
is a magnificent boat in every line and for every purpose. In September,
I885, Mr. Wickes married Miss Fannie H. Hamilton, who was born in
Ohio, a daughter of William Hamilton. Mrs. Wickes, who is now
deceased, was the mother of five children: Arthur Wickes, aged twentyseven, was educated in Ossining and the University of Michigan at Ann
Arbor, graduating in the engineering department, and is now associated
with his father in the machine and boiler works; Elizabeth Wickes;
Frances Wickes; Randall Wickes, who was educated at Ossining, and in
tlhe Engineering Department of the State University; Helen Wickesall these children living at home with their father. Mr. Wickes built and
owns one of the finest homes in Saginaw, at 324 N. Jefferson Avenue.




I:'




I




AZ'1




perrp        tburrt,,            BD.,, —EGINNING his professional career in Grand Rapids,
Michigan, in I876, the year in which he received his
O               r V  medical degree, Dr. Perry Schurtz has since been enf.  f    gaged here in practice, and few if any, among the profession in Grand Rapids, have a wider practice than
g  he. Special attention to surgery brought him early
into prominence as a result of his exceptional skill and
success, and he ranks today among the leading surgeons of the state.
Dr. Schurtz is distinctly a Michigan product. He was born in St.
Joseph county, on April 19, 1855, and is a son of James and Hanna
(Krebs) Schurtz, both of whom were born in Northumberland county,
Pennsylvania. The father was born in 1812 and died in 1892, while the
mother was born in 181 and died in 1896. They were married in their
native state in 1833 and came to Michigan as early as 1841, settling in
St. Joseph county, where the father bought one hundred and sixty acres
of land and established himself as a farmer. He made his first purchase
from the government, and in later years he accumulated a great quantity
of land in the lower part of the state, becoming one of the richest men in
St. Joseph county. Of the ten children born to these parents nine are
now living, and Perry Schurtz of this review is the seventh in order of
birth. Mr. and Mrs. Schurtz were long members of the Congregational
church and Mr. Schurtz was an active member in the Grange, a society
whose chief aim is the stimulation of progress among the farming element
of the state. He was a Republican in politics, but he never accepted any
political office, though he was often solicited to enter the lists as a candidate for office. An honest man, his word was accepted anywhere without
question, and like many honest men, he suffered from the virtue at the
hands of others less scrupulous than himself. He was a son of Frederick
Schurtz, born in Germany, who came to America as a young man and
settled in New York state. He returned to Germany after a time, married, and brought his wife to America and here spent the remainder of
his life. He came direct from the family of which Carl Schurtz, or Schurz,
the German-American statesman and journalist, was a member.
Perry Schurtz had his early schooling in the schools of Kalamazoo,
Michigan, and in 1869 was graduated from the high school of that city.
He began at once with the study of medicine, to which he had early resolved to devote himself. He entered the University of Michigan in
1873, and in 1876 was graduated M. D., in his last year taking a special
course in surgery and physical diagnosis. In the same year of his gradua

55




56


wlr+etrp 4&Bcbuttl ~, VP* D


tion the young doctor located in Grand Rapids, and this city has been the
scene and center of his medical and surgical activities up to the present
time. Early in his practice he began to devote himself especially to surgical
work and associated himself with Dr. Elliott, of White Pigeon, an old
army surgeon and a most skillful man. Dr. Elliott was of great assistance
to Dr. Schurtz in the early days of his surgical activity, and today, thanks
to his careful training and the sincere devotion to his work that has characterized his entire career, Dr. Schurtz is one of the foremost surgeons
of the state. He operates in all the hospitals of the city and is surgeon of
Butterworth Hospital and chief-of-staff for two years, or up to the time
when he became connected with the U. B. A. Hospital. Abdominal surgery is a specialty with Dr. Schurtz, and he has many critical and successful
operations to his credit.
Dr. Schurtz has identified himself with Grand Rapids, not alone in the
sense of a professional man, but as a citizen of the finest type. He has
been found identified with practically every project that has had for its
object the upward and onward progress of the city, and no service that
he performed in the interests of the community has been regarded by him
other than as a distinct pleasure.
Aside from his local activities, he was a member of the Pure Water
Commission of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, and was a
member of the committee that formed the by-laws of the association,
which has since come to be an international affair. Dr. Schurtz served
on the commission for a number of years, and his work was always direct
and to the point. He is a Republican in his politics, and though he has
not held office, he has been active, and might always be depended upon
to sustain with his influence the proper candidates for office. Dr. Schurtz
was a member of the Grand Rapids Board of Health for four years, and
he was instrumental in building two hospitals in this city, as well as having
assisted in the building of the first tuberculosis hospital here. He is a
member of the Kent County and State Medical Society, and he has served
as president of the Grand Rapids Academy of Medicine on three separate
occasions. He is a member of the National Civic League.
The fraternal relations of Dr. Schurtz are with the Knights of Pythias
and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, and he is a member of the
Peninsula Club as well.
In 1879 Dr. Schurtz was married to Miss Bella Brewer, of Kalamazoo,
and they have one son,-Shelby Brewer Schurtz, an attorney engaged in
the practice of law in this city. He is a graduate of the literary and law
departments of the University of Michigan, and is one of the rising young
professional men of Grand Rapids.




I




N


//. b j. ' ~   -
/  '^       -




Mthicjtaelt t.       ouran
' jHE late Michael E. Houran occupied a conspicuous posi-.(         A    tion among the business men of Flint during a period
of more than forty years. Commencing at the time
5  I   (S   when the little town entered upon an era of most re'            ~\ markable growth in numbers and expansion of business, he took a hand in its busy life, grew in fortune
and business experience with its growth and lived to see
it become one of the leading industrial and manufacturing centers of the
state. He became one of the best known of Flint's citizens and was as
universally respected and beloved as he was known. His life had been
marked by industry, probity and enterprise, and his character was enriched by such high qualities of generosity and kindliness as had made
him popular.
Mr. Houran was born at Rochester county, New York, in 1853, a
son of Dennis and Mary (Broderick) Houran, natives of Ireland. His
father, a farmer of New York, moved from that state of Canada in
1856, and settled on a farm in Ontario, where Michael E. Houran was
reared to the age of sixteen years. At that time, equipped with only a
district school education, he left the parental roof and faced life on his
own account, coming in I869 to Flint, Michigan, where he secured a
position at small wages in the lumber yards of H. C. Crapo, former
governor of the state. Mr. Crapo's business was sold after his death to
Mr. Z. Chase, a large lumber manufacturer of Flint, and Mr. Houran
was given charge of the management and of the shipping of lumber
for the company, continuing in this responsible position until I889. At
that time he decided he had the experience to enter business on his own
account, and, accordingly, formed a partnership with I. W. Whitehead,
under the firm style of Houran & Whitehead Lumber Company. This
connection proved remarkably successful, in spite of the fact that the
company experienced two large fires during operation. The business
was first located at the old stand of the Crapo firm, where they remained
until the plant was destroyed by fire, October i, 1891, then moving to
the McFarland stand, where the second conflagration, almost a total
loss, occurred in I9oo. The plant was rebuilt, however, and resumed
operations, but in I9go the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Houran purchasing the interest of his partner and continuing as the sole owner of
the plant until his death. He developed this into the best saw and
planing mill in this part of the state, prospering because of his honesty,
integrity and reliability. On April 28, I9IO, at his home at No. 723


59




60                   Oi/cbta-te  Q  t ouran
Saginaw street, Mr. Houran was suddenly stricken with apoplexy, and
died shortly thereafter, surrounded by his family and friends. He was
a member of St. Michael's church, and the priest thereof, Father Murphy,
conducted the funeral services, which were said to be the largest attended
of any which have occurred in the city. Friends and acquaintances from
all walks of life came to do honor to the memory of one whom they had
known and loved, and he was laid to rest in Calvary Cemetery. Mr.
Houran was one of the strongest figures in the business life of Flint.
But, while he devoted himself assiduously to the gaining of a fortune
and the building up of a successful business, he was never indifferent
to the needs of his city and his public gifts were many and his public
labors decidedly helpful. No movement had its full share of assistance
until his name was placed upon the list of its promoters; nor did his
activities cease there, for, as in his private affairs, he did not rest until
he had seen the enterprise brought to a successful termination. Such
a man is a welcome addition to any community. Just prior to his demise
he donated to the city a large amount of money for the furthering of
various municipal improvements, including the building of a park system.
His private benefactions were large; probably he himself did not know
their full extent, although his business affairs were always carried on
with the greatest precision and mathematical exactness. He was never
a politician in the generally accepted term of the word, but was a stalwart
Democrat, ever faithful to the best interests of his party, upon whose
ticket he was twice elected a member of the city council. There, as
elsewhere, his labors were helpful. His fraternal connections included
membership in the Knights of Columbus and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. From his childhood he was a member of the
Catholic church, and its movements always found in him an enthusiastic
and liberal supporter.
On January 28, I880, Mr. Houran was united in marriage at Grand
Rapids, Michigan, to Miss Mary M. Ryan, a daughter of Patrick J. and
Mary (O'Connell) Ryan, and a close relative of the Hon. Daniel O'Connell, the great Irish statesman. Mrs. Houran was the eldest of nine
children. There were six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Houran, of
whom three survive: Cornelius A., a resident of Flint, who is ably
carrying on the business which his father founded; Miss Marie, aged
twenty-two years, who is attending St. Mary's College at Monroe, Michigan, a talented musician now finishing her musical course in that institution; and Miss Lucille, aged twenty years, who is attending St. Mary's
Academy, Notre Dame.
Mr. Houran has passed away, but the memory of his kindly, genial
personality remains; his influence, always for good, is still felt in the
circles in which he was wont to congregate; his family has the comforting knowledge of his Christian life, and the priceless heritage from him
of an honored and honorable name.




I




r- N:ik
s                   X
A^:f:0:




31ojn       mitj, Jr.
IL ~ OHN SMITH, JR., who, at the age of eighty-five years,
with the vigorous mind and active step of a man a
t,            score of years younger, still attends to the details of
his interest, and keeps himself in knowledge and sympathy abreast of the new generation among whom he
survives, like a monarch of the forest among the
younger growths that surround it, is the oldest living
banker in the state of Michigan. For a half a century he has been connected with the financial interests of Macomb county, and as president of
the Citizens National Bank of Romeo holds a place of prestige among
the financiers of this part of the state.
Mr. Smith was born twenty miles north of Manchester, England,
June 17, I828. His father, John Smith, was also a native of Scotland,
and was a bleacher by trade in the cotton mills of Manchester, and had
also been apprenticed to the calling of block printer, to put designs on
cloth, work which at that time, about Ioo years ago, was done by hand,
and which method is now entirely in disuse. In 1837, after preparing to
come to the United States, the family rode on the first railroad in the
world running on schedule time, between Manchester and Liverpool, and
at the latter city boarded a sailing vessel for America. After a long
journey they arrived in this country and settled at Hudson, New York,
where the father secured employment at his trade. John Smith, Jr., then
a lad of something more than nine years, was given but few advantages
of an educational nature. He began to be self-supporting when he was
ten years old, at which time he secured a position in the dyeing department of the cotton mills at Hudson, at a salary of two dollars per week.
He was diligent, faithful and industrious and won promotion through
the medium of his earnest efforts, in the meantime carefully saving every
dollar that he could. It was his ambition to see the West, and in I842
he left the parental roof and journeyed to Lake county, Illinois, near the
small town of Chicago, where he was engaged for a time in agricultural
pursuits. His advent in Michigan occurred in June, I844, when he
located in Macomb county, six miles north of Romeo, and there purchased
I6o acres of land. This farm he operated successfully for many years,
and is still the owner of 220 acres, this being devoted to general farming
and to the breeding of livestock.
In 1873, Mr. Smith organized what is now known as the Citizens
National Bank, although previous to this time he had been instrumental
in the founding of the First National Bank, now known as the Romeo
63




64                    3[obn    mftb, 31r*
Savings Bank, and of this latter institution he held a position on the
board of directors for more than fifty years. From the time of the
inception of the Citizens National Bank until I902, Mr. Smith acted in
the capacity of vice-president, and at that time he became president of
this institution. He is, as before stated, the oldest living banker in the
state of Michigan, where his name is synonymous with integrity, probity
and solidity. The Citizens National, thanks to Mr. Smith's wise management and conservative policy, is known as one of the most substantial
in Macomb county. To show that its operations are constantly increasing, it may be stated that the deposits during the year 19I3 increased
$77,024.57, a gain of thirty-five per cent, in appreciation of which the
directors decided to make an equitable distribution of the profits of the
business with its depositors by paying them four per cent. The officers
at this time are John Smith, Jr., president; S. A. Reade, vice-president;
Henry J. McKay, cashier; and R. S. Reade, assistant cashier, all men of
worth and standing in the community. Mr. Smith has given his chief
attention to the management of the bank and of his farm, yet other
enterprises have frequently sought the benefit of his vast experience
and known ability in the furtherance of their prosperity. He has at all
times been ready to discharge the duties of citizenship, and although at no
time an office seeker he has served his district for some fifty years in
the capacity of road commissioner. Since the founding of the Republican
party, Mr. Smith has supported its candidates and principles. At the
outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. Smith showed himself a red-hot Union
man. He at once attempted to enlist, but an accident, some few years
before, in which he had been thrown by a runaway horse and his leg
permanently injured, caused his rejection by the enlistment officers. This,
however, did not prevent him from assisting the Union in every way he
could, and he rendered yeoman service in raising troops, while his means
and his time were ever at the service of the government. Mr. Smith is
a member of the Congregational church and has been active in its affairs.
Himself a successful and wealthy man, he has always rejoiced in seeing
others succeed. His disposition has been to dispense charity with a
liberal hand and he is known to many for his'deeds of benevolence. However, his nature is naturally retiring, he has shrunk from allowing his
charities to be made public, and their extent will probably never be known.
Mr. Smith is a careful and methodical business man, a kind and generous
neighbor. He is a man of the present, despite his ripeness of years,
alike careless of the dead dogmas of the past, and the unsolvable problems
of the future.
On March 3, I854, Mr. Smith was married at Detroit, Michigan, to
Miss Nancy A. Black, a native of Connecticut, and a daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. John R. Black. Mrs. Smith died in 1883, having been the
mother of five children, of whom two survive: Agnes M., who has always
resided with her father, and Florence, who is the widow of Benjamin
F. Wood, and resides in Ogdensburg, New York.


'i








6




Cjarle       Q CarroU jtobge
HE character and achievement of Mr. Hodges had benignant and potent influence upon the civic and material history of the Michigan metropolis, where his name
and memory are held in lasting honor and where he
long lived and labored to righteous ends and worthy
accomplishment in connection with temporal affairs.
He was one of the strong, resourceful and representative business men and loyal citizens of Michigan and there is all of consistency in according to him a specific tribute in this publication. Mr.
Hodges was associated with his brother, Henry C., in the founding of one
of the most important industrial enterprises of Detroit and was closely
identified with its development and upbuilding, and preliminary to more
specific data it is pleasing to reproduce the statements appearing in a
previously written review of his career: "One of the most energetic,
enterprising, upright business men of Detroit, distinguished for his civic
patriotism and broad-minded views on all questions, the late Charles
Carroll Hodges left behind him a memory which is honored by all those
with whom he came in contact. A man of indomitable energy, inviolable
integrity and genial personality, he was loved and admired by all who
knew him."
Mr. Hodges claimed the old Green Mountain state as the place of
his nativity and in his character exemplified the sturdiness ever attributed to that historic commonwealth. He was born at South Hero, Grand
Isle county, Vermont, on the 22d of July, I830, and was a son of Nathaniel
and Clara (Phelps) Hodges. He acquired his early education in the
common schools of his native county, but was a mere lad when he began to depend largely upon his own resources, by assuming a position
as general-utility boy in a general merchandise store at St. Albans, Vermont. He was a gifted penman and was independent and self-reliant
even as a boy. He early showed marked energy and adaptability in
connection with business activities, and the result was that he was soon
promoted to the position of bookkeeper. He continued as a valued and
trusted employe in the store at St. Albans for several years and he then
found means to indulge his ambitious desire to identify himself with
the pioneer activities of the "far west," as Michigan was then designated
in the states of New England. Coming to Michigan he established his
home at Battle Creek, the present thriving metropolis of Calhoun county,
where he had kinsfolk, and there he obtained a position in the general store conducted by the firm of Wallace & Collier, the junior mem

67




68                Cbarles Carroll      ouges
ber of the firm having been V. P. Collier, who later served as state
treasurer of Michigan. The young man from New England soon won
secure place in popular confidence and esteem in the new home and
here he was not long in availing himself of opportunity to engage in an
independent business venture. He became associated with William Andrus in the purchase of an established drug store in Battle Creek, and
they conducted the same successfully until I862, when Mr. Hodges sold
his interest. In the following year he removed to Detroit, in which city
was initiated the larger business career which was to bring to him both
prestige and large prosperity.
In the Michigan metropolis Mr. Hodges and his elder brother, Henry
C., who is still a resident and honored pioneer citizen of Detroit, were
made general agents for the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, with an immense territory in their jurisdiction. Their field of
operations included the greater part of the eastern provinces of Canada,
besides all of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota. Under their effective administration the business was developed to such
extensive administration the business was developed to such extensive
proportions that they found it expedient to sell a part of the territory
originally assigned to them. During this period of successful operations
in the insurance field Mr. Hodges and his brother entered the real-estate
business, and their energy and discrimination enabled them to gain
marked precedence and success in their operations, which were carried forward with distinctive progressiveness, courage and judgment. At
a time when such a venture was looked upon as most precarious, they
purchased and platted that portion of the Woodbridge farm lying north
of Grand River avenue, and in the handling of the new addition their
success fully attested their business foresight as well as their sagacity in
an executive way, as they disposed of the land at a gratifying profit. The
Hodges brothers were also the founders of the Detroit Lubricator Works,
and this enterprise likewise proved a distinctive success, as well as a
factor in fostering the industrial and commercial precedence of Detroit.
Of this company Henry C. Hodges was president and Charles C. Hodges,
treasurer. The plant of this corporation has been enlarged from time
to time until it is now one of the most extensive and important of its
kind in the country. In 1882 the Hodges brothers effected the organization and incorporation of the Detroit Radiator Company, and they were
the first to manufacture the type of cast-iron radiators which have since
become the standard throughout the world. The subject of this memoir
was prominently concerned with the upbuilding of this splendid industrial enterprise, which was eventually consolidated with the present American Radiator Company. Mr. Hodges became the owner of valuable real
estate in Detroit and through improving the same he contributed much
to the development of the city.
Though essentially a zealous and indefatigable business man, Mr.
Hodges did not deny himself those gracious amenities and indulgences
that represent the higher ideals of human existence. He was a painter
of genuine talent, both in oils and water colors, and for many years he




Qa1Jarle    QLCarroll tJobg0e


69


passed a portion of his summers in travel, with his easel and pallette as
prized companions. Many fine specimens of his art work remain to
attest his excellent talent. He was one of the organizers and most
valued members of the Detroit Water Color Society and was president
of the same at the time of his death. In his travels abroad and in his
native land his abiding appreciation was shown by his collecting many art
treasures, and the same now adorn the beautiful home in which his interests and affections ever centered. He was not only an artist but also
a cultured musician, with a voice of exceptional purity and sympathetic
timbre. He was one of the founders of the Detroit Philharmonic Society, as well as a charter member of the Prismatic Club. In the face
of the exections and cares of business he broadened and matured his
mental ken and kept in touch with the best in classical, standard and
periodical literature. Through self-application he acquired the equivalent of a liberal education, though his opportunities in his youth had
been meager.
Mr. Hodges was unswerving in his allegiance to the Republican party
and was a member of the historic company which met "under the oaks"
in the city of Jackson, Michigan, where on that occasion the party had
its birth. A man of large affairs and diversified interests, he had in all
the relations of life a high sense of personal stewardship, and this was
significantly manifest in his civic attitude, though he never sought or
desired the honors or emoluments of public office. He was a member
of the Detroit Club and was identified with representative philanthropic
and social organizations in his home city. His religious faith was of
the deepest order and dominated his course in all relations. He was a
devout communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church. It has well
been said that "There was no ostentation about either his religion or his
charity, but the evidences of both were everywhere apparent, and he
enjoyed the love of his associates in the highest walk of life."
Mr. Hodges passed to the life eternal on the I8th of December,
I9OI, and it is but consistent to offer in reproduction an estimate that
appeared at the time in one of the Detroit daily newspapers:
"By the death of Charles C. Hodges Detroit has lost an excellent
citizen, in all that the term implies. It is doubtful if there was a citizen
of Detroit who possessed a great variety of interests or lived a more
rounded life than Mr. Hodges. None of his tastes was warped or
dwarfed. Personally he was a singularly charming man. Broad in his
religious views and utterly without ostentation or affectation of any kind,
scrupulously honest in all the affairs of life, and charitable in the extreme, he gave gladly and freely, but his was not the charity that loves
to parade itself in the newspapers. All in all, Detroit has sheltered no
kindlier, gentler, nobler, manlier man."
The associations which represented the domestic chapter in the life
of Mr. Hodges were of ideal order, and there can be no wish to lift the
gracious veil further than to enter the briefest of data. In 1853 was
solemnized his marriage to Miss Harriet Pew, of Battle Creek, who




70               eCbarles Carroll boOgez
has been a loved figure in the best social life of Detroit, where she still
maintains her home. Of the four children two survived the honored
father, Dr. Rollin C., a representative physician and surgeon of Houston,
Texas, who died in I907, and Fanny, who became the wife of a prominent
banker of Cleveland, Ohio, Albert L. Withington, who died in 1907.


4;;R- as -ir




_:i








3abib           i fnitne,?r.
HEN David Whitney, Jr., died at Detroit November 28,
I9oo, it was said of him: "He coveted success, but
scorned to attain it except through industry and honest
means. He acquired wealth without fraud or deceit,
and the results of his life are full of inspiration to
the rising generation." His was one of the productive
careers in the citizenship of Michigan during the last
half of the nineteenth century. In the various departments of the lumber
industry lay his chief activities, and his success in that field was sufficient
to place his name alongside that of the great lumber kings of the state.
His business was for many years conducted from Detroit, and the greater
share of his investments was placed in that city.
David Whitney, Jr., was born at Westford, Middlesex county, Massachusetts, August 23, I830. He always wrote his name David Whitney,
Jr., perhaps partly from early usage and partly from respect for his
honored father. David Whitney, Sr., was of the true New England
type of energy, resourcefulness and rectitude of character, was the owner
of a good farm, and also did lumbering and brick making on a small
scale. The activities of the farm and the common school was the chief
sources of training for David Whitney, Jr., in his boyhood. Throughout his life he acknowledged a close fellowship with honest toil, and it
was hard work as much as endowment of masterful ability which brought
him success. On coming of age he left the farm and for three years
was clerk in a lumber firm, which also operated a box factory. That
experience proved of great value to him in his subsequent career. He
proved his worth with the firm, and when he left it was superintendent
of the plant. In 1857, at the age of twenty-seven, David Whitney, Jr.,
came to Detroit. He was western representative and a member of the
firm of C. & D. Whitney, Jr., and of Skillings, Whitneys & Barnes
Lumber Company, which corporation is in existence today and is one
of the oldest corporations in the United States. His brother Charles was
interested with him in those two firms, whose headquarters were in the
east. Mr. Whitney had the immediate management of all the western
business, which was principally the buying and shipping of lumber and
the purchase of pine lands and logs. The two firms mentioned were for
some years among the largest lumber dealers in the United States, and
the work of David Whitney, Jr., covered the states of Michigan, Ohio,
and Pennsylvania, while the eastern partner had supervision over the
business in the northeastern states and Canada. The partnership of


73




74


JDakib   Wbitnep?, 31r,


C. & D. Whitney Jr., was dissolved in the late seventies, and from that
time forward David Whitney, Jr., operated independently, and invested
heavily in the pine lands of Michigan and Wisconsin, but he still retains
his interest in the Skillings, Whitneys & Barnes Lumber Co. He possessed a practical knowledge of lumbering conditions which made him
almost an authority, and with characteristic foresight he realized that
the great forests of Michigan and Wisconsin before the close of the
century would be called upon to supply a large portion of the lumber
consumed in the United States, and his investments were carefully laid
to take advantage of such development. As the owner of magnificent
tracts of uncut timber, and as a manufacturer, his operations were among
the most extensive in the lumber regions of those two states, and eventually made him a millionaire.
Naturally his relations with lumbering led him into many related
commercial fields, and into banking. He owned and had in commission
a large fleet of steam barges and other vessels on the Great Lakes, utilized
chiefly for the transportation of lumber, but subsequently also used for
shipping iron ore from the Lake Superior ports to the manufacturing and
distributing centers on the lower lakes. The proceeds of his lumbering
operations were invested chiefly in Detroit real estate. He was a stockholder and director in many banking institutions, and was officially and
financially identified with several industrial and manufacturing plants,
chiefly in the production of lumber material.
The late Mr. Whitney was a Republican in politics, a member of the
Presbyterian church, and a liberal though unostentatious contributor
to the benevolent work of his home city. While an aggressive and forceful business man, perhaps his most noteworthy characteristic was his
extreme reticence and his avoidance of all public notice. He knew and
estimated the dispositions and character of men almost as unerringly as
he understood the lumber business, and had many close friends among
his business associates. Personally he was straightforward and frank
in all his relations, and with a proper sense of the responsibilities imposed by success and wealth he used his influence and resources for the
substantial improvement and betterment of his home city and state, and
would never have deserved any other tribute to his memory than an
exact measure of what he accomplished in a business way. Mr. Whitney
left four children, as follows: Grace, now Mrs. John J. Hoff, of Paris,
France; David C., of Detroit; Flora, wife of R. A. Demme, of, Detroit;
and Katherine, wife of Tracy W. McGregor, of Detroit.








t,


{nV


h




Col. tenrr. mean
O have lived eighty-four years is of itself an accomplishment in human affairs, but when with length of life
has been combined success in business, honorable participation in public affairs, and patriotic loyalty and
fidelity of service in relation to every responsibility,
such a career is one that deserves more than ordinary
attention. Colonel Henry S. Dean is one of the oldest
and at the same time one of the most honored business men and citizens of
Ann Arbor, which city has been his home since I840. There his name has
been closely identified with merchandising, manufacturing, military and
public affairs.
His membership in the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution indicates the character of his ancestry. Henry Stewart Dean was
born at Lima, Livingston county, New York, June 14, I830, a son of William W. and Elizabeth (Hand) Dean. Members of the family on both
sides were enrolled as soldiers in the war of the Revolution. His father
was born at Albany, New York, and his mother at New Lebanon, Columbia
county, in the same state, and the English ancestors of both the Deans and
the Hands were located in the colonies several generations ago. William
W. Dean was a son of Captain Stewart Dean, captain of a sloop sailing
from New York, and the vessel was commissioned as a sloop of war during the Revolution. Nathan Hand, the maternal grandfather, was a native
of Connecticut.
When Colonel Dean was six years of age the family moved from New
York to the territory of Michigan, which in the following year was
admitted to statehood. His father was a pioneer in Green Oak township,
of Livingston county, and he and his wife spent the rest of their lives
there. Besides hewing a farm from the wilderness, his enterprise was of
even more practical benefit to the community. A man of considerable
means for those days, he erected the first saw and flour mills in the pioneer
country of Livingston county.
Colonel Dean had an education corresponding to the pioneer equipment
and opportunities of early Livingston county. In 1840, at the age of ten
years, he was sent to the village schools of Ann Arbor, attended one year,
spent the following twelve months at Bloomfield Academy, Bloomfield,
N. Y., and then continued his schooling at Ann Arbor until 1846.
His early experiences in merchandising began at the age of sixteen in
the general store of Jonathan H. Lund, one of Ann Arbor's early merchants. From I849 until 1851 he was a clerk for F. J. B. Crane & Com

77




78


CoLt. oentp %o Dean


pany, and with the intention of preparing for college entered the academy
conducted by Rufus Nutting at Lodi Plains, Washtenaw county. Owing
to his poor health his doctor advised a sea voyage. California, with its
gold mines and frontier excitement, was then the lodestone attracting
thousands of young men of the east, and Colonel Dean set out for the new
Eldorado in 1852, going by way of Cape Horn. The following five years
were spent among the gold mines of the Pacific coast, and while there he
became president and manager of the Union Tunnel Company. His return
to Michigan in 1857 was made by the Isthmus of Panama. The capital
acquired in the west was invested in his father's flour and sawmills at
Green Oak, in Livingston county, and he paid cash in twenty dollar gold
pieces for the property. His enterprise was directed to the operation of
those plants either under his personal supervision or by the services of a
hired manager until after the close of the war. While a resident of Green
Oak township he served as justice of the peace and resigned that office to
enter the Union army.
Colonel Dean in 1862 was commissioned as a recruiting officer by
Michigan's governor with the rank of second lieutenant to raise a company
for the Twenty-second Michigan Infantry. This company, known as
Company H, was mustered into service July 31, 1862, and he was commissioned its captain July 31, 1862. Colonel Dean was promoted to major
January 5, I863, being mustered as such two days later; in June of the same
year was made assistant inspector general on the staff of Brigadier
General R. S. Granger at Nashville, and on June I6, 1864, was discharged
to accept promotion, being commissioned lieutenant colonel to date
from July 7th and being mustered under this title July I7th. He assumed
command of his regiment September 27, 1863, and commanded it as major
or lieutenant colonel until 1865. His active service continued until the
close of the war and his muster out at Nashville, Tennessee, June 26, 1865.
In October, 1864, Colonel Dean was granted a thirty days' leave of absence,
and while in Detroit saw a notice that General J. B. Steadman had been
ordered from Chattanooga to Nashville. Supposing that the Twentysecond Michigan Infantry would march with the command of General
Steadman, Colonel Dean started at once for Nashville, arriving in that
city eight days prior to the expiration of his leave of absence. General
George H. Thomas, to whom he reported, called his attention to his leave
of absence, but Colonel Dean stated that he was there for duty and
requested instructions. General Thomas told him to report to General
Steadman, who was on the extreme left. Colonel Dean was on the staff
of the latter commander during the memorable two days' battle of Nashville, and was in the most desperate conflicts waged on that field, his service
having been as a volunteer owing to the non-expiration of his leave of
absence. Earlier in the war, in 1863, Colonel Dean was in the Chattanooga
campaign; was in the Atlanta campaign up to October, 1864, then returning to Chattanooga with General Thomas, at whose headquarters he had
been stationed during the Atlanta campaign. Other service rendered in an
incidental way by Colonel Dean was as a member of the military com



QoI. Denmp 46,0 ean


79


mission to try cotton speculators and as a member of the examining board
to commission officers for the colored troops.
With a record of long and gallant service as a soldier and officer of
the Union forces, Colonel Dean returned to Michigan, actively managed
his business interests at Green Oak until I866, and, having sold his mills,
returned to Ann Arbor in I866. The business of Dean & Company has
been successfully continued throughout the long intervening years and is
the largest of its kind in Ann Arbor. The trade of the city and of a large
surrounding territory know this house as a wholesale and retail grocery,
manufacturers of baking powder, roasters of coffee and grinders of spices.
It is now incorporated under the title Dean & Company, Limited, with
Colonel Dean as president. Though past fourscore years, his more or less
active supervision is still given to the business. His other interests include
the ownership of valuable real estate in Ann Arbor, and he is president
of the Michigan Milling Company and the Forest Hill Cemetery Association at Ann Arbor, and of the Owosso Gas Light Company at Owosso.
For many years Colonel Dean was treasurer and manager of the Ann
Arbor Publishing Company, publishers of a general line of books, and
also of the Ann Arbor Register, the leading weekly paper.
With his old comrades in arms Colonel Dean maintains associations
through the Grand Army of the Republic and the military order of the
Loyal Legion of the United States, having been commander of his post at
Ann Arbor and having served as commander of the Michigan Department
of the order. He is also a past commander of the Michigan Commandery
of the Loyal Legion. His other relations are with the Masonic Order, the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the American Historical Association.
In both local and state affairs Colonel Dean has long been a factor as
a citizen, and for many years was regarded as one of the influential Republicans of Michigan. Governor Luce made him a member of the Board of
Trustees of the state prison at Jackson; from I870 to 1874 inclusive he
was postmaster at Ann Arbor; served as one of the supervisors of Ann
Arbor, and as a member of the board of directors of the Ann Arbor School
of Music. Governor Rich appointed him a regent of the University of
Michigan, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry Howard, and
four years later he was regularly elected for the full term on the Republican ticket for eight years, so that his service with the ruling body of the
State University continued for twelve consecutive years. A noteworthy
political honor came to him in I912, when the Progressive party, by a
plurality of eight thousand, nominated him as one of the presidential
electors in the state. These offices indicate the wide scope of his public
service, and all of it has been accomplished with a public spirit and disinterestedness that never allowed him to make his duties a matter of mere
routine.
The years still rest lightly on this sterling pioneer, and his physical and
mental vigor is that of a man many years his junior. Colonel Dean on
August 6, 1865, married Miss Delia Brown Cook of Detroit. They are the
parents of one daughter, Miss Elizabeth W. Dean, who lives with her
father and mother.




I_








I


/




Carl (Cberle
ARL EBERLE, who has lived in Jackson since 1882, was
born in Bavaria, Germany, on April I, 1859. He is a
son of Andreas and Catherine (Glass) Eberle, German
born people who passed their lives in their native land.
Their son Carl was one of their seven sons, seven
daughters also making up the family group. Of this
goodly family four sons and five daughters are yet living, and though the subject is the only one of the sons living in the United
States, he has two sisters here, Mrs. Lent Freitag and Mrs. Marie Schnell,
both of Jackson, Michigan.
Carl Eberle was fourteen years old when his father apprenticed him
to a brewer to learn the business. He served three years as an apprentice, receiving no pay for his work. On the contrary, his father paid
the brewer one hundred dollars for teaching the boy the business, in
addition to the work he had from the youth. When he completed his
apprenticeship, however, he was thoroughly proficient in his work, and
he worked at his trade in Germany until 1882. In that year he came
to the United States and located in Jackson, where he has since continued to reside. Here for four years Mr. Eberle was in the employ
of the Haehnle Brewery, and in I886 he purchased the old Frey brewery
at the corner of Bridge and Water streets, and there he established
what is now the Eberle Brewing Company. The old Frey brewery was
a small affair, but the present brewery is a fine plant and is thoroughly
modern in every respect. There is nothing left of the old building
today, every part of the Eberle Brewing Company's plant having been
erected by Mr. Eberle since he engaged in business. The main building
is a four-story brick, erected in 1891, and the equipment and fitting of
the plant is most complete and modern. The business was incorporated
as the Eberle Brewing Company in 1898 and its capital fixed at $Ioo,ooo.
Since that time Carl Eberle has been president and treasurer. His
wife, Mrs. Sophie Eberle, is secretary, and their eldest son, Carl Eberle,
Jr., is vice president and manager, while Miss Sophie C. Eberle, a graduate of the Jackson Business University, is bookkeeper of the concern.
The stock of the company is owned entirely by Mr. Eberle and members
of his family.
Mr. Eberle is a man of considerable public spirit, and he is an active
member of the Chamber of Commerce. He is a Democrat but has never
been an office holder or seeker. He and his family are members of the
German Lutheran church. Mr. Eberle is an Elk and is also a member


83




84                       Carl Qoberle
of the Royal Arcanum, and he is a member of the Michigan State
Brewers' Association, the National Brewers' Association and the German
Arbeiter Verein.
On May 31, I886, Mr. Eberle was married to Miss Sophie Cherier,
born in Jackson on April 29, 1862, and a daughter of Frederick and
Augusta Cherier, who were married in Germany and came to Jackson
in 1854. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Eberle: Frieda
Augusta, who died at the age of thirteen years; she was born on October
i6, 1887, and died on August 6, 19go; Carl, Jr., born January 15, I89o;
Sophie Carolina, born November I8, I89I; and Erwin Andreas, born
October I6, 1893, the last named is now superintendent of the bottling
works department of the Eberle Brewing Company.




I




7 l I7.




3o14n ~toutgton iebiberrp
ITH the strongest incision and clearest definition must
be limned the depicture of the character and services of
the late John S. Newberry, whose name was prominently and inseparably linked with the history of Michigan and its metropolis for more than thirty years and
to whom is due for all time a tribute of honor, by reason of his fine intellectual ken, his sterling integrity, his
distinctive business and professional ability and his liberality and loyalty
as a citizen. He contributed in generous measure to the progress and prosperity of Detroit, and the versatility of his genius could not lack for objective recognition. As a lawyer he won definite prestige and honor; as a
business man he produced results of most benignant and positive order and
as a public official he served with signal fidelity and ability. He accumulated a substantial fortune and made good use of the same, with
naught of selfishness or parsimony and with a high sense of stewardship,
his civic liberality having been potent in furthering the best interests of
his home city, where his name and memory are held in lasting honor. His
strength was as the number of his days and the record of his noble career
offers both lesson and inspiration.
John Stoughton Newberry was born at Waterville, Oneida county,
New York, on the I8th of November, I826, and at his home in the city
of Detroit he was summoned to eternal rest on the 2d of January, I887.
He was a son of Elihu and Rhoda (Phelps) Newberry, both of whom
were natives of Connecticut and representatives of families that were
founded in New England in the colonial era. Thomas Newberry, grandfather of Elihu, immigrated from England to America in I625 and
settled at Dorchester, Massachusetts, whence members of the family
later removed to Connecticut. John S. Newberry was a lad of five
years at the time of his parents' removal to the territory of Michigan,
and the family home was established at Romeo, Macomb county, where
he availed himself of the advantages of the pioneer schools. He thereafter
continued his studies in the schools at Ann Arbor, where he finally entered the literary department of the University of Michigan, in which
he was graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1845 and from which
he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the meanwhile he had
acquired a practical knowledge of civil engineering and surveying, and
after his graduation he attached himself to the construction department of the Michigan Central Railroad, in which service he continued
tw~o years, thereafter passing one year in traveling through the west

87




88


3Jobn %tougbton J1ietltrt?


ern territories. Upon returning to Michigan Mr. Newberry located in
Detroit and began the study of law under the preceptorship of the
well known law firm of Van Dyke & Emmons. In 1853 he was admitted
to the bar, and in the practice of his chosen profession he became a member of the firm of Towle, Hunt & Newberry. After the dissolution of
this alliance he entered into partnership with Ashley Pond, under the
title of Pond & Newberry, and a little later the firm was augmented by
the admission of Henry B. Brown, who finally became an associate justice of the supreme court of the United States. After the withdrawal
of Mr. Brown from the firm, Messrs. Newberry and Pond continued to
be associated in practice until 1863, when Mr. Newberry decided to
abandon the work of his profession, in which he had confined his attention almost exclusively to the trial of admiralty cases in the federal
courts. It is worthy of special note that before his retirement from the
bag he compiled a valuable work on admiralty law and practice-a work
that has continued to be recognized as a standard authority in its province.
In 1863, in company with Messrs. McMillan, Dean and Eaton, Mr.
Newberry assumed a government contract to build railway cars for army
purposes, and this venture proved highly remunerative, with the result
that, in the following year, the Michigan Car Company was organized
and incorporated, with Mr. Newberry as president and one of the largest stockholders. From this enterprise have sprung some of the most
important manufacturing industries of Detroit, including the Baugh
Steam Forge Company, the Detroit Car Wheel Company, the Fulton
Iron & Engine Works, and many kindred concerns, in each of which
Mr. Newberry was president and had large financial interests. Under his able administration the several industries transacted an average
volume of business ranging from three to five million dollars annually,
and employment was given to nearly three thousand persons. Mr. Newberry was also largely interested in car-building enterprises at London,
Ontario, and St. Louis, Missouri. At the time of his death he was a
director of each of the following named corporations: The Detroit &
Cleveland Steam Navigation Company; the Vulcan Furnace Company,
at Newberry, Michigan, a village named in his honor; the Detroit National
Bank; the Detroit, Bay City & Alpena Railroad Company; the great
Detroit seed house of D. M. Ferry & Company; and many other prominent corporations of Michigan.
Mr. Newberry was distinctively a careful and conservative man of
affairs-so much so, in fact, that his death caused no cessation of business in any of the corporations in which he was financially interested and
which had felt the strength of his directing influence. He was a large
investor in real estate during the later years of his life, especially in
centrally located business property in Detroit, and wherever his money
was thus placed it has proved of metropolitan benefit.
Upon attaining to his legal majority Mr. Newberry identified himself with the Whig party, the cause of which he continued to support
until the organization of the Republican party, when he transferred his
allegiance to the latter. He was the first person to be appointed by




3[obn %tougbton      elbet errp                89
President Lincoln to the office of provost marshal of Michigan, and he
served in that capacity during 1862 and 1863, with the rank of captain
of cavalry. During this period of the Civil war he had charge of the
drafts for military service in his jurisdiction, and he personally attended
to the forwarding of the drafted men and the substitutes to the stage
of polemic activities. In I879 Mr. Newberry was elected to represent
the First District of Michigan in the United States congress, in which
he served during the session of 1879 and i880. As a member of the
house committee on commerce he accomplished a splendid work in the
advancement and protection of the commercial interests of the nation.
He served also on other important committees, to the labors of which
he devoted himself with characteristic earnestness and ability.
Realizing that his personal business affairs demanded his attention,
Mr. Newberry positively declined a renomination for congress, and until the hour of his death he thereafter devoted his great energies toward
the development and supervision of his vast business interests. In early
life Mr. Newberry was a member of the Congregational church, but
upon establishing his home in Detroit he united with the Jefferson Avenue
Presbyterian church, upon whose services he continued a regular attendant, besides contributing with marked liberality to the support of the various departments of its work. In contributions to charitable and philanthropic causes he had few equals in Detroit, and his crowning act in this
direction transpired after his death, when it was found that he had bequeathed $650,000 to charitable institutions. Within the last years of
his life, in company with his honored business associate, the late Hon.
James McMillan, he founded Grace Homeopathic Hospital, one of the
noble institutions of Detroit, and to this worthy cause he contributed
more than $I50o,ooo.
Mr. Newberry's abiding interest in his alma mater, the great University of Michigan, was shown in no uncertain way, and Newberry
Hall, a magnificent modern structure erected at Ann Arbor by Mrs.
Newberry, as a memorial to him and for the use of the Students' Christian Association, constitutes an enduring monument to his memory. A
second consistent memorial erected in honor of Mr. Newberry is the
Newberry Memorial Chapel, which was erected by his widow, in 1887,
at a cost of about $7o,ooo, and which was presented to the Jefferson
Avenue Presbyterian church. This unique edifice is located at the corner
of Larned and Rivard streets, Detroit, and is utilized for church purposes.
In the year I855 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Newberry to
Miss Harriet N. Robinson, of Buffalo, New York, and her death occurred early in the following year. She was survived by one son, Harry
R. Newberry, who died in October, I910, who was one of the representative capitalists and business men of Detroit. On the 6th of October,
1859, Mr. Newberry wedded Miss Helen P. Handy, daughter of the
late Truman P. Handy, who was one of the pioneers and most honored
and influential citizens of Cleveland, Ohio. Mrs. Newberry survived her
honored husband until the I7th of December, 19I2, and until her death
maintained her home in Detroit, a$ do also their three children-Truman




90            3Tobn    tougbton jQetouerrp, II
H., John S., and Helen H. The only daughter is now the wife of Henry
B. Joy, son of the late James F. Joy, of Detroit, who was one of the most
prominent citizens of the state and who served as president of the Michigan Central Railroad Company. Truman H. Newberry was assistant
secretary of the United States Navy, to which office he was appointed
in I905, by President Roosevelt, and in November, I908, he was advanced to the position of secretary of the navy, since his retirement
from which office he has continued to reside in Detroit. John S. Newberry II is individually mentioned on other pages of this publication.
JOHN STOUGHTON NEWBERRY, II
An effective exponent of the progressive spirit and stalwart initiative
power that have caused Detroit to forge so rapidly forward as an industrial and commercial center, Mr. Newberry holds secure place as one
of the representative business men and loyal and public-spirited citizens
of the metropolis of his native state, where he is president and general
manager of the Detroit Steel Castings Company, besides having other
capitalistic interests of important order. A memorial tribute to his father,
the late Hon. John S. Newberry, appears on other pages of this publication, and thus it is not necessary to again incorporate the family data.
Mr. Newberry was born in the beautiful old family homestead, at
483 Jefferson avenue, Detroit, on the 2Ist of July, I866, and after
availing himself of the advantages of the public schools he continued his
educational discipline in the Michigan Military Academy, at Orchard
Lake, an admirable institution whose recent obliteration should be a
matter of uniform regret throughout the state. After leaving this academy Mr. Newberry attended for two years the excellent military school
at Chester, Pennsylvania, and in 1890-9I he was a student in Cornell
University, at Ithaca, New York, where he completed a special course
in the engineering department. Upon his return to Detroit Mr. Newberry became assistant manager of the Detroit Steel & Spring Company and in this connection he gained valuable experience. In 1902 he
was associated in the organization of the Detroit Steel Castings Company, of which he was assistant manager until 1905, since which time
he has been president and general manager of the important corporation,
the affairs of which he has administered with marked discrimination and
ability. He is a director of the National Bank of Commerce, Detroit,
and is a trustee of Grace Hospital, of which his father was one of the
founders. He has given unswerving allegiance to the Republican party,
but has had no aspiration for political preferment. He is a valued member of the Detroit Board of Commerce, and holds membership in such
other representative organizations as the Detroit Club, the Yondotega
Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the Detroit Country Club, the Detroit Automobile Club, and the Lake St. Clair Shooting and Fishing Club, which
is familiarly known as the Old Club. Concerning him the following




3.lTon Q3tougbton Bctuberrp, 11


91


pertinent and consistent estimate has been offered: "Mr. Newberry
exemplifies, in his courteous bearing and democratic ways, the gracious
and cultured influences under which he was reared, and he enjoys marked
popularity in the business and social circles of his native city, to the
interests of which he is insistently loyal, even as he is fully appreciative
of the city's manifold attractions and advantages. Mr. Newberry has
been prominently identified with the Michigan Naval Reserves, with
which he continued in active service from I894 to I899, both dates inclusive. During the Spanish-American war he was chief quartermaster
on the United States cruiser 'Yosemite,' which made an admirable record at Havana, Santiago and other points and the crew of which received from the government a bounty of $50,000 for the sinking of the
Spanish vessel, 'Antonio Lopez,' off San Juan, Porto Rico. At the present time Mr. Newberry is a member of the Gilbert Wilkes Command,
Naval War Veterans, besides which he is identified with the Society of
Colonial Wars."
On the 30th of September, I908, was solemnized the marriage of
Mr. Newberry to Mrs. Edith Stanton Field, daughter of Alexander M.
Stanton, a representative citizen of Detroit and a member of one of the
old and honored families of this city. Two children have been born to
this union, John Stoughton, Jr., and Rhoda Phelps.


------,,.-%. N   ~r
-           0~
t.0 ~~~z ~~~H   ~,




*




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ti4L;I




Sufitiam A. Cuiott,OMONG the merchants of Michigan few had a record
['S-   that compares as favorably with that of the late WilA /    f   liam H. Elliott, who in 1864 was working as a clerk
in a small store at Detroit, and many years before his
death had built up another enterprise, which in size
'g   '   and scope of its trade was second to none in the city.
Mr. Elliott was a fine example of the self-made man,
who attained an enviable position by means of his own unaided ability.
In addition to his keen business talent, he was of the type of business man
who believed that the best method of doing business is to give value for
values. He therefore won the trust and friendship of every one with
whom he came in contact, and for this reason he outdistanced many competitors who started their careers under far more favorable circumstances. The large trade establishment on Woodward Avenue, as it
stood was conducted during his lifetime, represented to a large number of
Detroit citizens the business home of a man of sterling character and ofttested civic leadership.
William H. Elliott was born near Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada,
October I3, I844, and in his fifty-seventh year, when at the climax of
his successful accomplishment as a business man, he died May I, I9OI.
The ancestors of the Elliott family were Americans for many generations. The first was Andrew Elliott, who came from England in I640,
and was a settler at Beverly, Massachusetts. His descendants were
prominent in their local community, and various members of the name
fought as soldiers in the Continental Line during the war of the Revolution. The parents of Mr. Elliott were James and Elizabeth (Pastorius) Elliott, both of whom spent most of their lives in Kingsville,
Essex County, Ontario, where the father was for many years a storekeeper and operator of a grist mill, also occupying a farm in that vicinity. James Elliott was a son of Thomas Elliott, who settled at Amherstburg, Ontario, early in the nineteenth century.
It was on the home farm and in the stimulating atmosphere of country life that William H. Elliott grew to young manhood. Up to the time
he was fifteen years of age, he had more or less regular attendance at
the common schools, and then started out in life as clerk in a general
store in his home town. After several years of experience in this line,
he sought a larger city, and in I864, came to Detroit, where he found
employment in a small dry goods store. The most influential association of his early career was with that noted old Detroit merchant George
95




96                  William    a' Elliott
Peck, who took young Elliott as an employee in I866. It was a tribute
to the character of the young man and showed Mr. Peck's appreciation
of his ability that in 1872, Mr. Elliott was admitted to the firm of
George Peck & Company. In i88o, Mr. Elliott had advanced so far as
to have confidence in his own ability as aX merchant, and retiring from
his association with Mr. Peck established a dry goods house of his own
at I39 Woodward Avenue. His business prospered, and in a short time
two stores were added to the original site. From about the middle of
the decade of the eighties the Elliott store came to stand for the highest
qualities of excellence and reliability in the minds of thousands of
patrons in Detroit and elsewhere. In 1895, to meet the demands of a
constantly expanding business the fine six-story building at the northwest corner of Woodward and Grand River Avenues was erected for
his occupancy, and the new building was opened with an extensive
metropolitan stock of dry goods, carpets, draperies, and children's clothing.  Mr. Elliott continued at the head of this successful business
which he had founded until his death. Since that time the enterprise
has been continued, at first under the title of the William H. Elliott
Company until I909, in which year it was consolidated with the TaylorWoolfenden Company, another large mercantile house of the city. The
title of the establishment since then has been the Elliott-Taylor-Woolfenden Company. In I9IO, Mrs. Elliott erected as a memorial to her
husband, a substantial modern building at the southwest corner of
Woodward Avenue and Henry Street, and this structure is now the
home of the Elliott-Taylor-Woolfenden Company.
In I870 Mr. Elliott married Miss Lena Caverley, who died in March
1871. April 21, I875, Miss Susan Fidelia Hogarth became Mrs. Elliott.
Miss Hogarth was born at Geneva, New York, a daughter of the late
Rev. William Hogarth, D. D. Both Mr. and Mrs. Elliott were active
and liberal members of the Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church of
Detroit, of which Mrs. Elliott's father was so long the pastor. The one
child born to Mr. and Mrs. Elliott, William Hogarth Elliott, born January 20, I876, died on July 24 of the same year.
As to politics the late Mr. Elliott was a vigorous supporter of the
Republican party, though he never consented to accept any official
honors. In at least one instance he took an office where the opportunity
for service was great, but without corresponding reward in public
esteem or money remuneration. Governor Rich appointed him a member of the State Prison Board, and he brought to his duties in that connection the same ability and faithfulness which he had shown in the
management of his business enterprises. For some time he served as
president of the Michigan Club, one of the most influential political
organizations in the state, and during his later years was well known
among Republicans throughout Michigan. He served as a delegate to
the National Convention of the party at Minneapolis in 1892. Though
essentially a business man, Mr. Elliott possessed the finest of social
qualities, and was known in the most exclusive circles of Detroit social
life. He belonged to the Detroit Club, the Fellowcraft Club, the Detroit




ROO W ~dillitrm   I~looattbl Do DO0


97


Boat Club, the Country Club, the Lake St. Clair Fishing and Shooting
Club, commonly known as the Old Club. In Oakland County he was the
owner of a fine stock farm, and that place afforded him his principal
diversion from business.
Concerning the career and accomplishments of the late Mr. Elliott,
the Detroit Free Press said editorially at the time of his death: "While
Mr. Elliott was essentially a business man and devoted his time and
energy to the building up of the business which bears his name, he nevertheless found time to take an active part in the city's general commercial and political life. His large knowledge and experience in handling
financial problems naturally drew him into the banking business, and he
was one of the original directors of the Preston National Bank, a position which he long retained. He also served in a similar capacity for the
Union Trust Company, and the State Savings Bank. Outside of this line
of work, he has represented the Thomson-Houston Electric Light Company as treasurer and director, and acted as trustee of Harper Hospital."
REV. WILLIAM HOGARTH, D. D.
The late Rev. William Hogarth was a venerated character in the
Presbyterian ministry of Michigan, and so great was his prominence and
influence that he was often called "Bishop of Michigan." He became
pastor of the Jefferson Avenue church of the Presbyterian denomination
at Detroit, in 1858, and continued his duties there for fifteen years.
He was born at Geneva, New York, April 3, 1814, a son of Judge
Richard and Julia (Seymour) Hogarth, both of old English and American stock. The late Dr. Hogarth was liberally educated, graduating
from Union College with his Bachelor's degree, and completing his
theological course in the Auburn Theological Seminary, in the class
of 1841. Ordained to the ministry, his first charge was at Wilmington,
Delaware, and while there he married Fidelia Hastings, and they were
the parents of five children.
He remained there until 1846, and then assumed the pastorate of the
First Presbyterian church in his native town. In 1855 he succeeded
Rev. Samuel Cox as pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Brooklyn, New York, and it was while there that the University of New York
conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. In March 1858,
Dr. Hogarth began his long and beneficent pastorate at the Jefferson
Avenue Church in Detroit, and in the next fifteen years he became preeminent in the Presbyterian ministry of this city and state.
In 1873, resigning his work at Detroit, he returned to his native city,
where he built up a church which continues to be a lasting monument
to his noble character and untiring endeavors. His retirement came in
I886, and he died in August I887, in the fullness of years and honor.












-                    t
^</^/^t^<^^^




ton. Bon           l. BDitcin on
OR forty years one of Michigan's most distinguished
lawyers and public men, Don M. Dickinson has many
achievements to his credit, and in Detroit, which has
been his home city for so many years, he enjoys a place
of peculiar esteem.
Don McDonald Dickinson was born at Fort Ontario,
Oswego county, New York, January 17, 1846. The
fine old American family to which he belongs has a residence ante-dating
the Revolutionary war, and numbers among its members, patriot, statesmen, judges, lawyers, and educators. The father, Col. Asa C. Dickinson,
in I820 explored the shore of Lake Erie, Huron and Michigan in a canoe,
and in 1848 moved his family from New York and bought and settled on
Dickinson's Island in the Delta of St. Clair River. In 1852 the home was
transferred to Detroit. Col. Dickinson married Minerva Holmes, a daughter of the Rev. Jesseniah Holmes of Pomfret, Connecticut.
Don M. Dickinson attended both public and private schools in Detroit. He was graduated LL. B. from the law department of the University of Michigan, with the class of I866. Not having arrived.at his
majority at the time of his graduation he was not admitted to the bar
until the following year, starting practice in Detroit, he soon took rank
as one of the leading young lawyers of Michigan, and in the course of
a few years his position was impregnable as one of the ablest and
most brilliant lawyers of a bar which at that time numbered many distinguished men, and for general ability, has perhaps never been surpassed. Mr. Dickinson as a lawyer has gained many splendid successes,
not only in the local and state but in the Federal Court, and Supreme
Court of United States, his practice having been especially large and
important in the latter. While Detroit has always been his home, much
of his practice has been in the cities of New York and Washington, and
he is equally well known in all these cities. In politics and in public
affairs, Mr. Dickinson has long enjoyed conspicuous prominence. From
his early manhood, an active Democrat, he was in 1872 Secretary of the
Democratic State Central Committee, and in the memorable campaign
of 1876, when Hayes and Tilden contested for the presidency, he was
chairman of the State Central Committee. In I880 he was delegate at
large from Michigan to the Democratic Convention of Cincinnati, and
at that convention was unanimously chosen chairman of the Michigan
delegation. In 1884 he presided over the Michigan State Convention
when delegates were chosen to the St. Louis National Convention, and
101




102


oon.- Don VA, Dickinofnon


was made Michigan representative upon the national Democratic ticket.
He served as chairman of the Democratic National Campaign Committee
in I892.
In October, 1887, President Cleveland tendered the position of postmaster general to Mr. Dickinson upon the formation of his cabinet,
but Mr. Dickinson declined. But in October, upon the personal appeal
of Mr. Cleveland, he accepted the position and as a member of the cabinet
the relations of the president and the postmaster general were of a very
intimate character and the later was throughout that administration a
very close adviser of this great statesman. In I888 Mr. Dickinson's name
was, without his knowledge, mentioned for vice president on the ticket,
but he personally supported Mr. Thurman of Ohio. In 1893 Mr. Dickinson declined the offer of a cabinet position.
In I896-97 on appointment by the president, Mr. Dickinson served as
senior counsel of the United States before the International High Commission on Behring Sea claims, under the fur seal arbitration. Later he
was a member with Rt. Hon. Henry Strong of the British Privy Council, and Senor Dr. Don Pacas of Salvador, of the court of arbitrations,
to adjust the controversy between the United States and the Republic
of Salvador and wrote the opinion of the court which was in favor of
the United States, this being in 1902.
In his social and civic relations, Mr. Dickinson is well known in
many bodies, both in Detroit and elsewhere. He is an ex-president
and trustee of the Detroit Museum of Arts, vice president of the Jefferson Memorial Association; trustee of the Detroit University school;
president of the Senator McMillan Memorial Association; member of
the Detroit Board of Commerce; a director of the First National Bank
of Detroit; member of the National Geographical Society; the American
Historical Association; the American Bar Association; the Michigan
Bar Association; Detroit Bar Association, of which he is an ex-president. He belongs to the Chi Psi Fraternity and his principal clubs are
the Pilgrims of London, the Manhattan, the National Democratic, the
Pilgrims of United States, these last named clubs being in New York
City; the Huron Mountains, the Detroit, of which he was the first
president, the Bankers, the Detroit Boat, the University, and the Country Club of Detroit.
Mr. Dickinson has his residence at Trenton in Wayne county. He
was married at Grand Rapids, Michigan, on June 15, I869, to Miss
Frances Platt, a daughter of Dr. Alonzo Platt, a celebrated physician
of western Michigan.




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I11~(1






/ -L  7;-> 7 )I  i  j




1    detp 3I. 31epnolbs
R^}S\HE career of the late Wiley R. Reynolds, who in his day
M  z        was one of the foremost citizens of the city of Jackson,
T        was a most uncommon one. In the capacity of banker,
T 1            merchant, manufacturer, real estate owner, railway
promoter, and builder of business blocks, he was, for
X":        more than a generation, one of the pillars of his
adopted city and one of the leading spirits in every
movement which had for its object the city's civic welfare and advancement. His career was remarkable, not only for the prolonged activities
made possible by long residence, but even more so by the quality and
range of its accomplishments. From the resources contained in his own
character he built up a net work of business interests such as only a master
mind and commercial genius can control. He fairly earned the title
"Captain of Industry," which has been applied to men of smaller calibre.
During his long residence in Jackson he took an active part in placing the
city in the position it now occupies as an important railroad and industrial
center, being closely identified with the building of several of its railroads
and the prime mover in the establishment of many of its principal business
enterprises. His influence throughout the state at large was also felt in
various ways.
Wiley Richard Reynolds was born of English parents in Essex County,
New York, on July 7th, 1822, so that when death called him on October I5,
I902, he was more than eighty years of age. The first sixteen years of his
life were spent on his father's farm in the state of New York, and his
book education was obtained during the same period by attendance at
public schools. In I838, having resolved to try his fortunes in the West,
he made the slow journey from the state of New York to Plymouth, Wayne
County, Michigan, where he arrived with but twenty-five cents in his
pocket. During the few months following he paid his way by clerking in
a grocery store, but could not see much opportunity for advancement in
that position, so he gave it up, and came to Jackson, arriving on the fourth
day of July, I840. Here he became agent for two stage lines, one of them
being operated between Jackson and Benton Harbor and the other between
Jackson and Ann Arbor. In that day staging was the only mode of public
travel in any direction out of Jackson, since the first railroad, the Michigan
Central, was not completed and opened to travel for several years after
that. Through his agency for the stage proprietors Mr. Reynolds acquired
an extensive acquaintance, which later on became useful to him when he
embarked in a business of his own.
105




106


Wiefe tR. Ulepnolbz


It was in the fall of 1840 that Mr. Reynolds began his independent
career as a business man in Jackson by opening a small grocery store in a
building on the north side of the Public Square. In about six months he
found it necessary to increase his facilities for business, and accordingly
he moved to a building on Main Street known as the "Checkered Front."
This building, which later became an old landmark, stood on the site now
occupied by Woolworth & Company. About that time George F. Gardner
became his partner, and the firm of Reynolds and Gardner continued for
one year, when they sold their stock to Henry H. Gilbert. Mr. Reynolds,
however, soon acquired another stock of goods and re-embarked in the
same business at the same old stand. In 1844 he added a stock of dry
goods, and in I851 he became associated in business with his brother,
William B. Reynolds, who afterward became a well-known citizen of
Tecumseh. In I856 he sold his interest in the business to his brother
Sheldon, but in 1857 he bought his brother William's interest, and the two
brothers, Wiley and Sheldon, soon made of it a first-class dry goods store.
The new firm in the course of time became widely known under the name
of W. R. and S. C. Reynolds, a combination of letters and sounds that
soon became familiar to the eyes and ears of the people of Jackson and
surrounding counties. The business grew rapidly until its sales reached
almost incredible figures. Especially was this true during the last three
years of the Civil War. Meanwhile, on the fourteenth day of February,
1855, the new "Marble Front Block," having been especially constructed
and completed for its use, the scene of their operations was changed to it,
and for more than twenty years the name of "Marble Front Block" and
that of "W. R. and S. C. Reynolds" were quite as familiar to the people
of this part of Michigan in a dry goods sense as is that of L. H. Field
today. They occupied that location until I868, when the stock was sold to
L. H. Field, and thus became the basis of the latter's present store.
Mr. Reynolds was never satisfied with one kind of business at a time.
When he was running a grocery store he was also buying and selling wheat.
In 1848 he formed a partnership in the grain business with H. A. Hayden.
Somewhat later the firm of Hayden and Reynolds bought the old Ford,
or Aetna Flouring Mills, and engaged in the manufacture of flour. In
1853 the firm bought the Kennedy Steam Flouring Mills from the late
Peter B. Loomis, and with the two milling properties in operation it became
the largest purchasers of wheat and manufacturers of flour in this section
of Michigan, the output reaching one hundred and fifty thousand barrels
a month. Most of the flour from the two mills was sold in New England
and North Carolina.
On June 5th, I865, the People's National Bank was organized and
established in Jackson, and it has since had a continuous business career of
nearly fifty years. It was one of the earliest national banks established in
Central Michigan. Wiley R. Reynolds may be said to be the "father" of
that well-known institution, which is today one of the landmarks of Jackson
and one of that city's strongest and most popular banks. It was Mr.
Reynolds who took the initiative in its organization, and it was he who
made its establishment possible by becoming its largest stockholder. It




milep no Repnoloo~lbs


107


was also Mr. Reynolds who, with his own personal funds, erected on the
corer of Maine and Mechanic Streets the stately Peoples National Bank
Building, which has been the bank's home for a long period of years. Mr.
Reynolds served as a director of that bank from the date of its organization until the date of his death, and throughout that full period of thirtyseven years he largely controlled its financial policies and helped to guide
it in the pathway of safe and sane banking. In addition to being a director,
Mr. Reynolds served as the bank's vice-president from 1865 to I898, and
fr6m the latter date until his death he was its president. No bank in this
section of Michigan has had a more uniformly successful career than the
People's National, of Jackson. Whether in prosperous times or in panic,
its doors have never been closed. So thoroughly established has been the
public confidence in the bank under the guidance of Mr. Reynolds and his
associates that a "run" on it has never been precipitated among its patrons.
So long as he lived the public had the utmost confidence in his business
ability and in his conservative and "safety first" financial policies, and,
happily, that confidence was never misplaced. Since his death the same
conservative policy has been maintained by the bank's present officers and
by Mr. Reynolds' widow and two sons, who jointly own a majority of the
stock, and who also own in fee simple the splendid building which it occupies. It has been truthfully said that the good works of any man will live
on after his death. This has been especially true in the case of Mr.
Reynolds and the Peoples National Bank, for, though he died a dozen
years ago, the splendid financial institution which he founded still lives
and, with half a century of uninterrupted prosperity to its credit, it continues to grow in the confidence and patronage of the public, and is an
enduring monument to the memory of its founder, Wiley R. Reynolds,
who shaped its policy and destiny for more than a third of a century.
A few years after establishing the bank Mr. Reynolds became one of
the organizers of the Fort Wayne and Jackson Railroad Company, and
of the Jackson. Lansing and Saginaw Railroad Company. He was also
interested in the Peninsular Portland Cement Company of Cement City,
and was its president. At the same time, he was a stockholder or director
in many of the leading manufacturing concerns of Jackson, among them
being the Jackson Starch Company, The Michigan Paper and Bag Company and The Jackson Paper Company. He was also a large owner of
valuable real estate in both Jackson City and Jackson County, his city
holdings including a number of the most valuable income properties on
Main Street, among them being the Peoples National Bank Building,
The Model Block, in which is located Jackson's principal clothing and
gents' furnishing store, the Cook & Feldher block, in which is conducted
one of the leading dry goods stores; The Reynolds Block,' and the Woolworth Block. He also owned several large and valuable farms near Jackson, and it was generally conceded that he paid the largest tax on real
estate of any man in Jackson County. In addition to his extensive holdings in Jackson and Jackson County, he owned twenty-two thousand acres
of timbered land in the state of Tennessee, and for some years prior to
his death he had been exploiting that large holding.




108


Wile p utI tlepnolob


The late Mr. Reynolds was regarded as one of Jackson's far-seeing,
optimistic and enterprising private citizens. While the preceding paragraphs give somewhat in detail the outlines of his career, and are a fairly
accurate measure of his accomplishments, it is deemed proper to include
in this review portions of editorials which appeared in the local press at
the time of his death. These were written by men who had known Mr.
Reynolds for years, and who had had an opportunity to observe their
fellow citizen, and to study his important relations to the community.
From the editorials the following quotations are made:
"Down to the close of his life Mr. Reynolds gave personal attention
and direction to all of his various interests. He was richly endowed
with what may properly be called business intuition. He saw the merits
of a proposition quickly, and acted accordingly. Those associated with
him learned to respect his clearness of perception. He was a man of few
words. He listened attentively to the opinions of his associates, and then
promptly made up his mind what course was best to pursue. If results
were not as anticipated, he found no fault. A Democrat in politics, he
would not allow his name to be mentioned for any political office, but he
frequently aided and promoted the political ambitions of some worthy
friend, while declining all such honors himself. Reserved and reticent
in conversation generally, he talked freely about business matters with
those who had his confidence. His whole life was that of a practical man
of affairs. Whatever the situation he accepted it with patience, and kept
right on doing his best. In buying real estate, it was his rule to obtain
that which would yield a sure income. Main Street property was his
preference. His mind did not revel in the illusions of speculative values.
He was intuitively practical. It was natural that a man of his qualities,
coming to Jackson when it was a small village, and engaging in business
at once, and at all times keeping pace with its growth, should acquire a
comfortable fortune, practically all of which came from investments and
business enterprises in this city."
Coming to Jackson when the place was a mere hamlet, with no capital
whatsoever, and with nothing to aid him but willing hands and an honest
heart, he pursued the most honorable and conservative business methods,
and died a millionaire. In spite of his quite unusual success, Wiley R.
Reynolds was never accused of an unrighteous act. No stain of dishonor
was ever coupled with his good name. All through life his rugged honesty and his correct business methods were known to all who enjoyed his
acquaintance, and these qualities helped to aid his success, rather than
to hinder or retard it. It will be conceded by all who knew him that
Wiley R. Reynolds was one of the builders of Jackson, and that City has
a number of substantial monuments in the way of business blocks erected
by him, which will long perpetuate his memory.
No sketch of Wiley Reynolds, no matter how brief, would be complete, if it failed to make suitable mention of his surviving widow, Mrs.
Mary H. Reynolds, and of his two surviving sons, Wiley R. Reynolds,
Jr. and Herbert S. Reynolds. The widow, Mrs. Mary H. Reynolds, is
quite as remarkable a woman as Mr. Reynolds was a man. For twenty



Mlilep a. Kepnol13                      109
five years prior to his death, she was the devoted companion and loving
wife of Wiley R. Reynolds, and since his death, she has just as consistently
honored his name and memory by remaining his widow, despite the fact
that she is a woman of rare personal charm, and in her extensive travels
both at home and abroad, she undoubtedly has been obliged to give a negative reply to many admiring suitors. In truth, men of distinction at home,
as well as titled noblemen abroad, have attempted to win her heart and
hand, but in vain. To all such, she has thus far turned a deaf ear, electing to remain the devoted, faithful widow of her late husband, and in so
doing she signally honors his name and memory. But unusual as is this
trait in her character, it by no means is her chief accomplishment. Her
dominant characteristic rests in her business ability, which has been shown
to be quite the equal of that of the late Mr. Reynolds. Even for several
years before his death, during which period failing health incapacitated
him to some extent, Mrs. Reynolds, under his direction and advice, began
gradually to familiarize herself with the vast and intricate Reynolds
estate, and to learn how to administer its affairs. Since his death its full
management, for the most part, has rested on her shoulders, though in
more recent years, as her two sons have grown older, much of the burden
of detail has been transferred by her to them. Under her care and management the great estate has made signal and substantial increase, showing
conclusively that she possesses business ability of a high order. Though
she spends much of her time abroad, she constantly maintains a firm
grasp on the management of the large estate left by her husband, and, in
truth, she is its directing head all the time, no important move being made
without her full assent and approval. For the most part, the Reynolds
properties still remain intact as a part of the undivided whole, just as they
did at Mr. Reynolds' death, except that the widow has made many substantial improvements and has greatly increased their value, with the net
result that the estate is far more valuable now than it was when she took
charge of it. Both of the sons, Wiley R., Jr. and Herbert S., are prominent young business men of Jackson, and both are directors of the Peoples National Bank, and the latter is its vice president.




II








A1-Baw




Ztiltam bfenrp JMaon
EJ}NEEN-SIGHTED, progressive and energetic, William
Henry Mason occupies a place of prominence and influence among the leading citizens of Battle Creek. At
J['.   J the age of seventy-two years, with the active mind and
vigorous step of a man of sixty, he still attends to the
details of his vast interests and keeps himself in knowledge and sympathy abreast of the new generation
amongst whom he survives, like a monarch of the forest among the
younger growth that surrounds it, one of the oldest survivors of the great
business men who claim the city as their birthplace.
Mr. Mason comes from substantial New England stock, and was born
at Battle Creek, November 8, 1842, his parents having come here when the
now thriving city was a mere hamlet. His father, Alfred Mason, was born
and reared in Vermont, where he learned the trade of a carriage and wagon
maker, received a liberal public school education, and grew up amid the
sturdy New England surroundings. As a young man he heard and
answered the call of the West, and, migrating to Michigan, settled first in
Kalamazoo county, where he wooed and won a bride. Iu I834 he established himself as a wagon maker at Verona, Michigan, but in 1840 transferred his residence and activities to Battle Creek, Calhoun county, then
in its infancy and giving but little promise of the metropolis which it was
to become. Upon the organization of the manufacturing firm of Nichols
& Shepard, he sold out to this concern, as did other wagon shop owners
of this part of the county, although he continued as a resident of Battle
Creek until his death in November, I880. Mr. Mason was married in
Kalamazoo county, Michigan, to Charlotte Goodrich, who was born of
German ancestors, in Connecticut, while he was of English descent. Mrs.
Mason passed away in Battle Creek in i880, leaving four children, as follows: Mrs. M. M. Hodskin, of Saginaw, Michigan, widow of Captain
Hodskin; Margaret M., who is the widow of Hiram Tobey, of Battle
Creek; William Henry, the special subject of this brief biographical
review; and Charles, who is now deceased. The daughters were born at
Verona, Michigan, but both sons were born at Battle Creek, and the oldest
daughter was graduated from the Battle Creek High and graded schools.
William Henry Mason received his education in the common schools
of his native place, and was still a student and eighteen years of age when
the Civil war broke across the country in all its fury, and with youthful
patriotism he enlisted, April 21, I86I, for a period of three months, in
Company C. Second Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry. Ere his


113




114               Wiilliam    lentp    @agon
term of enlistment had expired he re-enlisted, May Io, 1861, for three
years in the same company, in which he served bravely until mustered out
of the service in May, 1864. He saw active service in numerous hardfought engagements, and at all times proved himself a faithful and dependable soldier. During the following four years Mr. Mason was variously
employed, and in I868 embarked in business on his own account, as senior
member of the newly-organized firm of Mason & Rathburn, lumber manufacturers and dealers, with a plant at the corner of McCamly and West
Main streets. The firm subsequently, by the admission of a third partner,
became Mason, Rathburn & Company, and this style was adhered to until
January, 1899, when the business was sold to the firm of Rathburn & Kraft.
In I88I Mr. Mason became identified with the Advance Thresher
Company, of Battle Creek, of which he was at first a director, and later,
for three years, served as its president, and of which, since the presidency
of Mr. Ammi Wright, he has been a member of the directing board. He is
also officially connected with other enterprises of great magnitude, being
a director of the American Steam Pump Company, of Battle Creek; of the
Citizens Electric Company, of this city; president of the Michigan Carton
Company, of Battle Creek; a director of the Oconee Timber Company, of
South Carolina; and president of the Alma Oil Company, a San Francisco,
California, concern.
Politically, Mr. Mason has been prominent in the ranks of the Republican party, and has represented both the Second and Third Wards in the
Battle Creek city council. He has served as a member of the local board
of education, and under the administration of President Benjamin Harrison was postmaster of the city. He was an active member of the commission which drafted a new charter for the city. In supporting Republican principles, Mr. Mason but follows in his father's footsteps. He has
been prominent in social and club circles, and is a member of the Country
and Athelstan Clubs, having served the latter as president for one year.
He delights in meeting his old army comrades in their reunions, and is a
valued and popular member of Farragut Post No. 32, Grand Army of the
Republic.
On October 26, I870, in Montgomery county, New York, Mr. Mason
was united in marriage with Miss Tryphena J. Kneeland, who was born,
reared and educated in that county, being a daughter of the late Ozias H.
Kneeland, who, after the death of his wife, came to Michigan and spent
the last years of his life at the home of his son, E. O. Kneeland, in Battle
Creek. Mr. and Mrs. Mason have one child, Cora Belle, who attended the
Battle Creek High school and afterwards Alma College and a young
ladies' school at London, Canada. She is now the widow of the late Harry
H. Flint, of Chicago, Illinois, and is the mother of one child, Barbara
Mason Flint. In 1912 Mr. Mason was unanimously elected president of
the Battle Creek Chamber of Commerce, a position which he has since
retained. He is a man of the present, despite his ripeness of years, alike
careless of the dead dogmas of the past and the unsolvable problems of
the future.




IA




6




|enrp,Clap,|obges
MAN of distinct individuality, of fine intellectual attainments, remarkably successful in business, and with
a civic loyalty and progressiveness which have been
demonstrated many times, this venerable and honored
citizen of Detroit has exerted an influence far above
that of the ordinary citizen in connection with the social
and material advancement of the city, and is one of the
most representative men of affairs in the state. While his own life has
been one of exceptional accomplishments, it is also noteworthy that he
represents a family whose name has been long and worthily identified with
the annals of American history.
The Hodges family was founded in America in the latter part of the
seventeenth century, when the original progenitor came from England
and established his home in Salem, Massachusetts, the lineage being
traced through many generations of staunch English stock. Asoph
Nathaniel Hodges, great-grandfather of the Detroit business man, was
born at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1723, when a young man moved to
Essex county, New York, and was one of the pioneers and spent the
rest of his life in that locality. His son Ezekiel was born in the county
about I750, and when twenty-four years of age enlisted from Washington county, New York, his services as a soldier in the Continental line
during the Revolution.
Nathaniel Hodges, son of Ezekiel, and father of Henry Clay Hodges,
was born in Washington county, New York, in 1787, was reared in his
native state, but in 1813 moved to Grand Isle county, Vermont. During
the war of 1812 he was in the government service. He was known as a
man of strong character, firm in defense of his convictions, broad and
liberal in views, a thorough student of history and possessed of a remarkable memory. In politics he was a Henry Clay Whig, voted the
Whig ticket until the organization of the Republican party, and thereafter was a stanch supporter of the policies of President Lincoln. His
death occurred in March, I869, in his eighty-third year. His wife, whose
maiden name was Clarissa Phelps, was born in the town of South Hero,
Grand Isle county, Vermont, in 1793, and represented the Connecticut
branch of the Phelps and Pearl families, which settled in Hartford county
and vicinity in the colonial days. At the early age of twelve years she
became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, was throughout
life a devoted student of the Bible, and was for many years a regular
contributor to the religious papers, a service which was continued un

117




118


Ienrt? Qclapt 0btge%


til she reached her eighty-fifth year. Her death occurred at the venerable
age of ninety-one.
Henry Clay Hodges was born in the township of South Hero, Grand
Isle county, Vermont, March 2, 1828, and was reared under the invigorating influences and environment of the old Green Mountain State. The
common schools of his native county furnished the only regular opportunities for an education, but his native endowment and the work of a
practical career resulted in the symmetrical development of his intellectual faculties. At the age of sixteen he began an apprenticeship to
the trade of carriagemaker, and at the end of four years had so far mastered his trade as to start a business for himself. On the first day of
December, 1850, a young man of twenty-two years, Mr. Hodges arrived
in Detroit, soon afterwards went to Marshall, county seat of Calhoun
county, and became clerk and cashier of the Michigan Central Hotel,
at that time the most celebrated place of public entertainment between
New York and Chicago.
Mr. Hodges in 1852 took up the study of law under Judge James R.
Slack of Huntington, Indiana, and in the meantime taught country schools
in the vicinity during the winter. Returning to Michigan in 1853, at
Niles he found employment with J. F. Cross & Company, whose partners, the Field Bros., controlled marble quarries in Vermont. In 1855
Mr. Hodges was admitted to partnership, and went to Fond du Lac,
Wisconsin, to take charge of the business. His home remained in Wisconsin until 1862, when he returned to Michigan and became a partner with his brother, Charles C. Hodges, and Edward Barker under the
name of Barker, Hodges & Brother, which took the general agency for
the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company of Hartford, for the
states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. In 1864 Mr. Barker
retired, and the new firm of Hodges Bros. established headquarters in
Detroit.
In addition to their operations in the field of life insurance, the
Hodges Brothers were numbered among the pioneers in the real estate
business in Detroit, handling chiefly their own property, which included
a portion of the Woodbridge farm, lying north of Grand River avenue.
In the early '70s they purchased a tract of land in the northern suburbs
and from it donated for street purposes a strip seventy feet in width,
which they named Lincoln avenue. Through the efforts of Henry C.
Hodges, Trumbull avenue, which was then sixty feet wide, was increased
to eighty feet, ten feet being donated by Hodges Bros. on one side and an
equal strip by Avery & Murphy on the other side. In the same year the
brothers purchased the property at the corner of State and Griswold
streets, where the Hodges building now stands and in which Henry
C. Hodges still retains a half interest.
To Mr. Hodges and the late David M. Richardson Detroit is indebted for the conception of the idea of the magnificent boulevard which
now encircles the city. Though a somewhat different route was originally projected, the interest aroused through their suggestions and efforts finally culminated in the building of the present driveway.




Ienrp QLap ototge


119


In 1879 Hodges Bros. purchased the business of John R. Grout, manufacturer of brass goods, and thereupon organized and incorporated the
Detroit Lubricator Company, with Henry C. Hodges as president. The
plant of this company has been enlarged from time to time, and is now
one of the largest, if not the most extensive and important, of its kind
in the world, employment being given to more than one thousand men.
In 1872 Mr. Hodges became vice-president and one of the managing directors of the Wyandotte Rolling Mills, and succeeded the late Captain
Eber B. Ward in the presidency. He was associated with Captain Ward
and others in the organization of the Detroit-Arizona Copper Mining Company, was vice-president of the corporation until the death of Captain
Ward, and then became president. The company controls mines that are
among the largest copper-producing mines in the United States. In 1882
Mr. Hodges and his brother effected the incorporation of the Detroit
Steam Radiator Company, which was the first to manufacture the type of
cast-iron radiators that has since become the standard the world over,
and the Detroit business is now included in the American Radiator Company.
Mr. Hodges is still interested in Detroit real estate, and throughout a
long career has shown his public spirit wherever the welfare of the community is concerned, and his name is a recognized synonym for integrity and civic progressiveness. In national politics he is Republican,
and has the distinction of having attended in I86o the national convention at Chicago which nominated Lincoln for the presidency. He is
one of the Detroit Board of Commerce most honored members.
Many incidents might be related of Mr. Hodges' influential part in
public affairs, but this sketch will recall only two such cases. During
the first term of President Cleveland an appropriation was made by congress for the erection of a postoffice building in Detroit. A contest at
once arose as to the site, many contending that the ground occupied by
the old postoffice was not the proper one. Mr. Hodges, George Brady,
D. M. Richardson, Judge C. I. Walker, George Barbor, with many
others, were opposed to the old location as being away from the direction
of the city's growth and for other substantial reasons. Many influential
property holders were strongly in favor of the old site, and through their
influence a supervising architect was sent to Detroit. On his return to
Washington he reported that the site of the postoffice should not be
changed. When this news was received at Detroit numerous petitions
were put in circulation and signed by many people protesting against the
old location. The government then appointed a commission composed of
men from different parts of the country, who came to Detroit and reported in favor of the present site on Fort and Lafayette, a location
which subsequent events have proved to be a wise choice.
In 1874, soon after the election of Hon. John Bagley as governor of
Michigan, a movement was started to purchase lands to be used as parks,
on the Owen & Burns farm to the west of the present waterworks overlooking the Detroit river. A bill was quietly introduced into the legislature enabling the city of Detroit to make the purchase without refer



120


t~nrp QClap t)ObCge0


ence to the vote of the people. Thomas W. Palmer, afterwards United
States senator, and Mr. Hodges, together with many others, held that
this purchase should not be made unless ratified by a majority vote of
the people. Their opposition was a signal for a general sentiment of
protest against the project. At a meeting in the Young Men's hall a
committee of twenty was chosen to conduct a campaign against the movement, and senator Palmer and Mr. Hodges went to Lansing to oppose
the bill and remained two weeks, but were unable to effect the defeat of
the measure in the legislature, the bill being strongly favored by the governor. Governor Bagley accompanied these gentlemen on their return to
the depot for Detroit, and remarked "Boys, you can go home, this bill
is going to pass and I will sign it as governor." To this Mr. Hodges replied, "John, you'll beat us in the legislature, but we'll beat you in the
supreme court." In fact, the matter was subsequently taken to the
supreme court, which pronounced the act unconstitutional.
Thus far reference has been made to the business and public phases
of the career of Mr. Hodges. In the world of literature he has gained
a position of prominence. An original thinker, in his published works he
has given to the world a valuable contribution. In the ancient science
of planetary influences he has made extensive researches, and is one of
the leading exponents of that department of knowledge. His investigations have concrete results in his published work of seven volumes, entitled "Science and Key of Life; Planetary Influences," as well as in
other books on astrological science. These works show the wide scope
of his investigations and his profound knowledge of the subject. From
the prospectus of the "Science and Key of Life" are taken the following
extracts:
"Some are born to honor and others to dishonor; some to wealth and
others to want; some in the midst of crime, ignorance and sorrow and
others environed in happy conditions. When and where is the law of
compensation applied to equalize these conditions, or why should these
things be?" The statements and questions thus put by Mr. Hodges have
been thus explained by him: "The necessity for a complete and scientific
answer to the above and like interrogatories relating to life, its purposes and destiny, is my excuse for presenting to the world the data
contained in my published work, 'Science and Key of Life; Planetary
Influences,' and it is with a consciousness that the great truth therein
elucidated will find lodgment in many receptive minds which are seeking
more light on these great problems of human existence, that I dedicate
these volumes to the welfare of humanity." A review of this comprehensive work, born of exalted ideals and broad humanitarian spirit
and marked by profound thought as well as scientific knowledge of wide
scope, can not, of course, be given in a sketch of this order, but full information concerning the publication may be obtained by applying to
the Astro Publishing Company, 409 Hodges building, Detroit. The entire life of Henry C. Hodges has been one of broad usefulness. By
nature a close student, possessed of a prodigious memory, his wide reading has given him a fund of information and knowledge possessed by




Denrp Clap      oIDOgeC                 121
few men who have been actively engaged in business affairs. Though
now venerable in years, he has the vigor and bearing of a man many
years his junior, and practical business still engrosses much of his time
and attention, as is shown by the fact that he recently completed the
erection of the fine fireproof Apartment Hotel known as the "Henry
Clay," at the corner of John R. and Center streets, Detroit. His residence is at 839 Jefferson avenue. For many years he was one of the
leading workers and one of the trustees of the Unitarian church.
In 1854 Mr. Hodges married Miss Julia Bidwell, of Hastings, Michigan. She was born at Kinderhook, Columbia county, New York, a
daughter of Horace Bidwell, one of the sterling pioneers of Michigan.
Mr. and Mrs. Hodges became the parents of three sons and two daughters, all of whom are living, namely: Clarence B., Charles H., Frederick W., Cl-ara D. and Cora Virginia.








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tetpXen Olin 3ofrns0on
)jE          ETROIT has produced and attracted from other parts of
^      -. the country many industrial leaders, men of preemi|      e   nent executive and organizing ability, and the industrial. _     prosperity of the city largely represents the practical
^~,- _       ideals and character of such men, prominent among
3           whom for nearly thirty years has been Stephen Olin
Johnson, president of the Penberthy Injector Company.
From a small plant, hardly more than a shop on a by-street, the Penberthy
Injector Company has developed until it is recognized as one of the largest
individual industrial plants of Detroit, and in the manufacture of injectors
it is the largest in the world.
While the record of this enterprise is in itself sufficient to make Mr.
Johnson known as one of the able business men of a great industrial
center, he has also played a prominent part in the wider fields of business
in that city. Most persons acquainted with the recent industrial history
of Detroit will recall the important part taken by the Employers' Association in making Detroit an "open shop" manufacturing center and a brief
recital of facts should be stated in this article. Up to I902 Detroit was,
industrially, in the complete grip of the unions, and strikes were called
by delegates on the slightest pretext. In that year the Brass Manufacturers' Association, of which Mr. Johnson was president, and the Metal
Manufacturers' Association were amalgamated under the name of Detroit
Employers' Association, of which organization Mr. Johnson became the
first vice president. With five other prominent manufacturers, composing the executive officers of the organization, they worked at different
periods for five years with later organizations in settling labor disputes,
until finally, on the amalgamation of the two associations, they came out
boldly and declared that Detroit was henceforth to be an open shop town.
The details of the subsequent struggle cannot be told here, but it is a fact
that through the efforts of Mr. Johnson and his associates open shop conditions were established, and have since been maintained by the Employers' Association. The value of this work had the broadest application to
Detroit's remarkable prosperity in the past decade. It should be remembered that about the time the Employers' Association was organized the
automobile industry was in its infancy, and there has been no one fact of
greater importance in Detroit's growing prestige as a center of automobile
manufacture than in the maintenance of the open shop principles in labor
circles. And what was done by this comparatively small group of men
working together in Detroit was not without its beneficial effect on industry


125




126


%tepben fDlfn 3lobnzon


throughout the state, and extended to many manufacturing cities in the
immediate vicinity of Detroit.
Stephen Olin Johnson is a native of Massachusetts, born at Westfield,
June 15, 1847, and descended from notable American ancestors. His
great-grandfather, Samuel Johnson, was born in Massachusetts, in which
state he remained until his death, and served in the war of the American
Revolution. Grandfather William Johnson, a native of Massachusetts,
married Parmelia Dudley, a descendant of Sir Thomas Dudley, who was
the second colonial governor of Massachusetts. In I630 he emigrated
from England to Massachusetts as deputy governor under Winthrop.
He served thirteen years as deputy governor and was four times governor
of the colonies, in I634-40-45-50. The father of the Detroit manufacturer was Philo Johnson, who was born in Massachusetts and who married
Eliza English. Both died in Brooklyn, New York, where Philo Johnson
for many years had been prosperously engaged in merchandising.
Mr. Johnson's education was acquired in the public schools of New
York, and his business career began in I865, at the age of eighteen. He
was employed in the counting room of a large New York tobacco manufactory until 1871, and that experience was followed by his connection
with a large toy manufacturing concern in New York. In 1873 he was
given an interest in the latter business and continued with the house until
I877. Failing health terminated his career as a toy manufacturer in New
York city, otherwise he might probably have continued in business in the
eastern metropolis throughout his active years. For recuperation he went
to Denver, Colorado, where he lived several years. In 1879 he began
manufacturing and handling toys and kindred lines of goods in Denver,
where his enterprise continued on a modest scale until 1884. In that
year he located in Detroit, which has since been his permanent home.
In Detroit Mr. Johnson became manager of the Detroit Knitting and
Corset Works, and directed the business management of that concern
until 1887. In the meantime, in I886, Mr. Johnson had become associated
with Homer Pennock and William Penberthy, three men who organized
and incorporated the Penberthy Injector Company for the purpose of
manufacturing an improved form of steam injector invented by Mr. Penberthy. Of the new company Mr. Johnson became secretary and treasurer. The Penberthy injector was by all odds superior to anything at the
time in use, but the three associates had only moderate capital, and they
proceeded cautiously with investment in plant and machinery, but exploited
the sale and distribution of the product most vigorously. In a few
years the Penberthy Injector had an established reputation as a mechanical
appliance, and the factory at Detroit grew in proportion. Since that time
it has become the largest concern of its kind in the world, and supplies
all markets with the Penberthy Injector and other steam appliances. Its
plant at Detroit occupies several acres of ground, with a large branch
situated at Windsor, Canada. For fifteen years Mr. Johnson was president and general manager of the plant and company, and to his management during that period has been due much of the success of the enter



Stepben 9Dlin 3lobnoon


127


prise. His son, Homer S. Johnson, who succeeded him as manager, has
continued in that position ever since with wonderful success.
Besides his influential leadership and work with the Detroit Employers' Association, as already related, Mr. Johnson is a member of the Detroit
Board of Commerce, the Detroit Club, the Country Club, the Detroit
Athletic Club, the Old Club, the Au Sable Fishing Club, and in Masonry
has taken thirty-two degrees in Scottish Rite and belongs to the Mystic
Shrine.
In New York City on June 5, 1873, occurred the marriage of Mr.
Johnson to Miss Lilla Louise, daughter of George and Sarah (Bissell)
Sturtevant of New York City. Mrs. Johnson is a niece of George H.
Bissell, the discoverer of petroleum in America, and who donated to Dartmouth College the gymnasium which bears his name on the campus of that
institution. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are: Homer S. Johnson, Alice G. Johnson, Claire Olin Johnson, and Charles B. Johnson.


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Cfartlee. warren
HARLES B. WARREN has had a career as a lawyer
of worthy effort and accomplishment in the City of
Detroit, and his name is well known in the State; he
is an authority on commercial and international law
and as one of the leaders in the Republican party he
has a large acquaintance that is not confined to the
limits of his home state.
Charles Beecher Warren was born at Bay City, Michigan, April Ioth,
I870. His parents, Hon. Robert L. and Caroline (Beecher) Warren, were
born in Michigan and their respective families were among the pioneers of
the State. Robert L. Warren, after spending his youth in Flint, graduated
from the University of Michigan and became prominent as an editor and
publisher. He had no small influence in upbuilding of the Saginaw Valley,
where he was one of the first to publish a daily newspaper. Robert L.
Warren founded the Bay City Journal and the Saginaw Daily Enterprise,
and for a time was owner and editor of the daily newspapers in the city
of Ann Arbor, where he consolidated the competitive journals under the
ownership of a single company. He is now living in retirement at Ann
Arbor. He served in the army, leaving the University of Michigan when
he was a student, but returned later and continued his studies until graduation. During his earlier life he served as a member of the State legislature, and has always taken an active part in Republican politics, and in
I908 was a delegate from the second congressional district to the Republican National Convention. For a number of years he has served as president of the board of trustees of the Michigan School for the Deaf at Flint.
When Charles B. Warren was about fourteen years old the family
moved to Albion, where he was a student in both the preparatory and the
regular academic department of Albion College. He was president of the
Freshman class, and during his sophomore year was managing editor of
the college paper. In I889, leaving Albion, Mr. Warren entered the junior
class of the University of Michigan, where he graduated in I891 a Bachelor
of Philosophy. In the university he specialized in history, philosophy and
constitutional law, and was the first editor in chief of "The Inlander," the
literary magazine of the university.
With the law as his chosen vocation, he went from the University of
Detroit and studied in the office and under the direction of Hon. Don M.
Dickinson. He also carried on his studies in the Detroit Law School, an
institution at that time under the management of Professor Floyd Mechem,
who subsequently was one of the ablest members of the faculty in the law
131




132                 CbarIes   25. 'Marren
department of the university. Mr. Warren graduated with the class of
I893 and was admitted to the bar, and then for a few years continued
as a law clerk in the office of his honored preceptor, Mr. Dickinson. In
I897 came his admission as a partner in the firm of Dickinson, Warren &
Warren. There was hardly a stronger or more successful law firm in
the city of Detroit. In January, 900o, Mr. Warren became associated with
John C. Shaw and William B. Cady in the organization of the firm of
Shaw, Warren & Cady, and after Mr. Shaw's death, in I9II, Mr. Warren
became senior member of the present firm of Warren, Cady, Ladd and
Hill, one of the large and strong legal organizations of Detroit. While
Mr. Warren has participated in many notable cases and made a distinctive success in the general field of law, he has from the first been considered an expert and an authority in international law, and achieved the
record of having twice represented his country in great international controversies. In I896, when twenty-six years of age, he was appointed
associate counsel for the United States before the joint high commissioners who adjudicated the claims of Great Britain against the United States
in the long drawn out controversy affecting the rights of these two nations
in the Behring sea. Mr. Warren delivered one of the important arguments
before this tribunal. His work in that connection was of such character
as to give him a place among the ablest younger members of the Michigan
bar. Subsequently President Roosevelt appointed him one of the lawyers
for the United States in the controversy with Great Britain over
the North Atlantic waters and fisheries.  The two powers subsequently agreed to submit the matters in dispute to The Permanent
Court of Arbitration at the Hague, and before this Court of International
Arbitration Mr. Warren appeared in I9IO to make one of the arguments
in behalf of his country. Mr. Warren is a member of Phi Beta Kappa,
the honor society of the literary department of American colleges; a member of the executive committee of the American Society of International
Law, and is regarded as an authority in both legal and diplomatic affairs
affecting international relations. Mr. Warren is a director of many companies of which he is legal adviser and in which he is financially interested,
including the Detroit Stove Works, the Michigan Sugar Company, the
Paige-Detroit Motor Car Company and The National Bank of Commerce
of Detroit, and others.
Mr. Warren was signally honored in 1914 by being elected president of
the Detroit Board of Commerce.
For a number of years Mr. Warren has been one of the influential
Republicans in Michigan. In I908 he was a delegate at large from the
State to the National Convention, in which his father also sat as a delegate, and was chosen the Michigan member of the Republican National
Committee, and is now serving as a member of the executive committee
of the Republican National Committee and as chairman of the committee
on the revision of the rules regulating the organization of and basis of
representation in the National Convention. He drafted the new rules and
resolutions cutting down the southern representation, and making provision for the recognition of delegates elected in accordance with the




Cbarles     5,. Warren                   133
primary laws of the several States, and in the reorganization of the
party has always stood for the progressive and liberal policy.
The social organizations in which he has membership include the
Detroit, the Country and the Yondotega and University Clubs, the University Club of New York City, the Metropolitan Club of Washington,
D. C. He served as vice chairman of the University of Michigan Alumni
committee which had charge of the erection of the beautiful memorial
building on the University Campus. On December 2, I902, Mr. Warren
married Miss Helen Hunt Wetmore, daughter of Charles Wetmore of
Detroit, and a niece of the late United States Senator James McMillan, of
Detroit. Mr. and Mrs. Warren have four children-Wetmore, Charles
B., Jr., Robert, and John Buel.




dI












T enjamin        franklin Cotjarin
-         HAT Flint is a city of so many and varied resources,
both commercially and industrially, has been due not
so much to its geographical location and natural advantages as to the presence in its citizenship of men
<    who possessed an ambition to improve and make a
Xt(g~     better and larger city, who were willing to sacrifice
their personal advantage and give time and labor to
the promotion of movements and enterprises which would bring wealth
and advancement in all lines. In that little group of men who did so
much to lead the city out of its village condition and make of it one of
the flourishing centers of the state, the late Benjamin Franklin Cotharin
had a very prominent place, and there are many reasons why he should
long be held in grateful memory at Flint, and his career was as a character which justifies its records in a history of the state.
Benjamin Franklin Cotharin was born in Springfield, Michigan,
March Io, 1850, and died in the city of Flint, January 23, 1905, at the
comparatively early age of fifty-five years. He was one of a family
of seven children born to Benjamin and Eliza (Carter) Cotharin. His
father was born in 1812, at the foot of the Catskill Mountains, was
reared and educated in the same locality, and came to Michigan and
settled in Oakland county in I857. His occupation was farming, but in
his later life he became prominently identified with business affairs. He
conducted a store a number of years at Flushing, and later came to Flint,
where he was a merchant, banker, and prominent citizen up to the time
of his death in I898. Eliza Carter was a native of the same vicinity
in which her husband was born, and her life span ran from 1822 until
March, I888. She and her husband were married in New York State,
and from that section of the east came west and settled in Michigan.
The late Mr. Cotharin spent his boyhood at several different localities. He began his education in the schools of Flushing, and his equipment in training for business life was completed at the Detroit Business
College. Returning to Flint, at the age of twenty-two, he became actively
identified with the mercantile interests which absorbed his energies the
greater part of his career. He was engaged in the furniture business
with William Charles, and after a few years bought out his partner and
then expanded the business into a large general store. That was one
of the central institutions in the shopping district, and was conducted
by Mr. Cotharin until he sold out, November 30, I904, only a few weeks
before his death. His father had been one of the organizers of the


137




138


-21enfamin Jtanklin QCotbarin


National Bank of Flint, and was one of its directors until the time of
his death, and the son likewise became interested as a director, and his
name remained on the directorate until the close of his life.
Perhaps the work for which Mr. Cotharin deserves most credit was
the exploitation and development of what is known as Oak Park. His
associates in platting this suburban property were Mr. Dort of the
Durand-Dort Carriage Works, and Mr. Crawford. Oak Park has since
grown to be the industrial center of Flint. Its grounds are practically
covered with industries which have a national reputation, including the
immense automobile works of the Weston-Mott, the Buick-Cheverlot,
the Walker-Weiss Axle Company, the Flint Varnish Works, The Stewart
Carriage Works, and others. These industries in themselves employ
enough labor to constitute a good-sized city.
The late Mr. Cotharin was a Knight Templar Mason and also had
attained thirty-two degrees in the Scottish Rite. He was affiliated with
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and took a great deal of
interest in and spent much time in the organization of the Knights of
the Loyal Guard, of which he was treasurer at the time of his death.
In politics he was an Independent Democrat, and at one time was candidate of his party for the office of mayor.
On October I2, 1874, the late Mr. Cotharin married Miss Elnora A.
Behee, a daughter of George and Elizabeth Behee.  Mrs. Cotharin's
parents were both born at Waterloo, New York, were early settlers in
Flint, Michigan, where her father was known for many years as a successful mason and contractor. He built one of the first stone houses in
Flint, and it was in that home that Mrs. Cotharin was born and married.
Her father died in September, I888, at the age of sixty-six years. Her
mother is living, aged eighty-one. Mrs. Cotharin was the oldest of
three children. She grew up in Flint, received her education in the
local schools, and both before and after her marriage has been one of
the active members of local society and in recent years has given much
attention to public philanthropic movements. Mrs. Cotharin is treasurer
of the hospital board, and organized the Women's Auxiliary of the
Board. She is one of the organizers of the Young Women's Christian
Association, being a member of its board and the Children's Hospital
and other institutions have greatly benefited by her counsel and assistance. Mr. and Mrs. Cotharin were the parents of two children, one
of whom died in infancy. Margaret Elizabeth, born in Flint in I885,
is now the wife of B. F. Miller, Jr., and they have two sons: Benjamin
Franklin Cotharin Miller, born at Flint, April 20, I909; and Fritz Duntley Miller, born at Flint, February 3, 1912.




I




6b    2




deter Srbjutte
)OR more than half a century Peter Schulte, one of De~,. troit's oldest and most highly respected citizens, has
been identified with the growth and development of
the city and its institutions. A native of the Fatherland, he has been a resident of Detroit since the age
-   L  ~.[   of seventeen years, and his career has been one of
tireless industry characterized with well-known business success. Mr. Schulte was born in the village of Bremschied, province
of Westphalia, Germany, November 22, 1833, and is a son of John and
Christina (Berens) Schulte.
The Schulte family was founded in Detroit in 1850, although one of
Mr. Schulte's sisters had resided here for five years previous to that
time. He had secured an ordinary education in the public schools of
his native land, and after coming to Detroit attended the public schools
here in order to perfect himself in the English language. Here he also
learned carpentering, a trade which he followed for several years,
and gradually drifted into the business of contracting. While thus engaged he also entered the retail grocery business, and is at this time
vice-president of the Michigan Wholesale Grocery Company, a large
and flourishing industry which has been built up to large proportions
under his able direction. His contracting and building operations resulted in his establishing a factory for the manufacture of sash, doors
and lumber, which he later converted into a box factory, one of the
two first to manufacture boxes in Detroit. In those early days Mr.
Schulte was also extensively interested in banking, and became one of
the organizers and an officer of the American Savings Association. He
also held interests in the old Ward line of steamships in the Lake
Superior ore-carrying trade, and for two years was engaged in an agricultural venture on his fine farm in Springville township. Farming,
however, did not prove a congenial occupation, and eventually he returned to the city, where he became a half owner in the Schulte Soap
Manufacturing Company, with his brother-in-law, Casper Schulte. He
continued in the soap business for about five years, and then re-entered
the grocery business and resumed building operations, being thus engaged for a long period on his own account. In I879 he became
associated with Mr. Anthony F. Grosfield, another of Detroit's old and
highly esteemed citizens, and they entered into the real estate business
on a large scale, buying, platting and building and selling in different
parts of the city. Among other large tracts they handled was the land


141




142


JjCetet  a; cbulte


known as the "Retreat" tract, the first site of the retreat for the insane,
now located at Dearborn. This tract, running from Michigan avenue
to the Michigan Central Railroad, was purchased by Messrs. Schulte
& Grosfield, platted, improved and placed on the market, and became
one of the finest residence districts in the city. They donated to the
city the right-of-way for West Grand Boulevard, a donation which
represented a net loss of $60,ooo. Eventually Messrs. Schulte & Grosfield added fire insurance, and for a number of years this firm was considered one of the leading insurance and real estate firms in the city.
These two partners and friends mutually dissolved the partnership some
years ago, but their friendship remains as cordial as ever, and they still
have business interests in common to some extent.
Mr. Schulte is a devout member of the Roman Catholic church. He
was one of the trustees of St. Boniface church and a member of the
building committee when the present church was erected, and is also
a member of St. Joseph's Society, which is one of the oldest church
organizations in Detroit. Mr. Schulte's life has been a long and eventful
one, filled with constant endeavor, and the success which comes to the
deserving is his. He has done his full share toward the building up of
his beautiful adopted city, and has contributed liberally to the institutions of the community, and now, inr his eighty-first year, in the full
enjoyment of health and faculties, he is reaping the reward of a well
spent and useful life.
Mr. Schulte has been twice married. His first wife was Catherine
Ternes, daughter of Christian Ternes, who was an early German settler in the vicinity of Detroit. She was born in Germany, May 17, I839,
and died November 26, 1892. The nine living children of this marriage
are as follows: Mary, Christina, Katherine, Peter W., Anthony P.,
Elizabeth, Joseph N., Cecelia and Caroline. Mr. Schulte's second wife
was Mary Karschna, who was also born in Germany, the daughter of
Anthony Karschna, an old German citizen of Detroit. Two children
have been born to this marriage, Irmengarde M. and Margaret. Mr.
Schulte has never sought nor cared for political office.




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C                                        '.!!! l -   -
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3Robert A.            tanbart
9! I    d     OBERT W. STANDART, chairman of the Standart
r "        Brothers Company (Ltd.), of Detroit, one of Michigan's largest wholesale hardware concerns, whose in-. R x           tense and well directed activity has resulted in the
upbuilding of one of the largest commercial enterprises
I    S      of the city, has made a record in the business world
such as any man might be proud to possess, and one
which excites the admiration of his fellow townsmen and the respect of
those who have in any way been connected with him in business transactions. Never incurring obligations he has not met, nor making engagements that he has not filled, he has won the unqualified trust of the business public and his name has become a synonym for commercial integrity
and enterprise.
Mr. Standart is a native of the Empire State, having been born at
Auburn, New York, June 12, I846, a son of the late Henry W. and Ann
(Gardner) Standart. His father and brothers, George and Joseph G.
Standart, came from Auburn, New York, to Detroit, Michigan, in June,
1863, for the purpose of establishing themselves in business, and founded
here the hardware firm of Standart Brothers, now grown into the wholesale line and still being carried on under the original name. Robert W.
Standart attended the public schools of Auburn, New York, and was
seventeen years of age when he came to Detroit to join his father and
brothers. Entering the store as a clerk, he worked his way steadily upward
in the growing business until, ten years after his advent therein, he was
admitted to a partnership with the older members. Upon the incorporation of the company, in 900o, he became treasurer, a capacity in which he
acted until I912, and then became chairman, a position which he has since
filled. Standart Brothers Company (Ltd.) from a small beginning has
grown into one of the largest enterprises in its line in the state of Michigan, and is known to the trade all over the United States. The men who
have been at the head of this enterprise have wrought along modern business lines, keeping in advance of the trade sufficiently to make the object
of patronage a desirable one to the retailers, while the house, wherever
known, is honored for its unassailable business methods and straightforward dealing. From the beginning of his connection with the house
Robert W. Standart has worked earnestly and persistently, has formed his
plans readily and has been determined in their execution. Endowed by
nature with sound judgment and an accurate, discriminating mind, he has
not feared that laborious attention to the details of business so necessary


145




146                1Kobtet W. Wtanbart
to achieve success, and this essential quality has ever been guided by a
sense of moral right which tolerates the employment only of those means
that will bear the most rigid examination by a fairness of intention that
neither seeks nor requires disguise. A man of philanthropic views, for
many years he has been active in his assistance of the Detroit Newsboys'
Association, and for a number of years served as its treasurer. It is but
just and merited praise to say that Mr. Standart as a business man ranks
with the ablest, as a citizen is honorable, prompt and true to every engagement, and as a man holds the esteem of all classes of the people.
At Brookline, Massachusetts, in I876, Mr. Standart was married to
Miss Harriet C. Hyde, and they have two sons: William E. and Robert
W., both of whom are connected with the firm of Standart Brothers.






I
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[ere     C. jutcbtnn
'4E~HE president of the Detroit United Railway has been a
r..:   railroad man since the minor beginnings of his very successful career. Before assuming the heavy responsi1     I    [9   bilities of his present executive office, Jere C. Hutchins,
as a railway engineer, was identified with the construc" tion and improvement of various lines in different parts
of the state, and at one time mingled with his profession
several years of active newspaper work, and that experience has probably
not been without its practical value in connection with railway management. For twenty years Mr. Hutchins has been identified with the street
and interurban railway interests of Detroit and vicinity and has been at
the head of the Detroit United Railway almost from the time the various
companies were consolidated under that management.
Jere C. Hutchins is a native of the south, born in Carroll parish,
Louisiana, October 13, I853. His parents were Anthony W. and Mary
B. (Chamberlin) Hutchins, the former a native of Mississippi and the
latter of Pennsylvania. Anthony W. Hutchins for many years was a
successful planter in Louisiana, but soon after the birth of Jere C. moved
to Missouri, and both he and his wife spent the rest of their lives in that
state.
Prepared for his career in the public schools of Lexington, Missouri,
and by study under private tutor, Jere C. Hutchins at the age of seventeen
took up the study of civil engineering under Major Morris, one of the
leaders of his profession at that time in Missouri. His early experience
as a civil engineer identified him with construction work on the Missouri
division of the Gulf and Lexington Railroad, with engineering departments of the Kansas Pacific, the Kansas and Texas, and the Texas Pacific
railroads, and he was a construction engineer with each of the last three
mentioned. It was while in Texas that he was drawn temporarily away
from his profession into the newspaper field. In 1876 he found work as
reporter on the Waco Examiner at Waco, Texas, and subsequently became editor of that journal. He was also Texas political correspondent
for New York and New Orleans papers. After five years of newspaper
work, Mr. Hutchins in I88I resumed his profession as engineer, and
the following thirteen years were spent successively in the engineering
department of the New Orleans and Pacific, the Missouri, Kansas and
Texas, and the Illinois Central railroads.
Having already established a reputation as an engineer, Mr. Hutchins
in I894 moved to Detroit, where he became vice president of the Citizens


149




150.31re C Q t~utcbino


Street Railway Company, and one of the large stockholders in that enttrprise. About the same time he was made president of the Detroit, Fort
Wayne and Belle Isle Railway Company and vice-president of the Detroit Electric Railway Company. Those were the three corporations that
at that time controlled nearly all the street railway transportation in and
about Detroit and the responsibilities of their successful management devolved upon Mr. Hutchins more than upon any other one official. While
known among his associates as a duly conservative business man, Mr.
Hutchins pursued a liberal policy in increasing the facilities and good
service of the different lines, and finally was one of those most instrumental in bringing about the organization of the Detroit United Railway
Company in I9OI, and the consolidaion of the various street railways of
Detroit. His position as vice president of the new corporation was vacated in January, I902, when the directors elected him president, and his
technical and administrative ability has been employed for twelve years
in the improvement and extension of the great system of urban lines
now controlled by the United Railway. It is conceded that Detroit now
has one of the best systems of urban transportation among all the cities
of America, and those who are in a position to know ascribe this achievement to Jere C. Hutchins, the president. While he has been loyal as
representing immense financial interests invested in the property, Mr.
Hutchins has likewise been guided by a due sense of responsibility to
the public, and has afforded the best service and facilities consistent
with the rules of business economy and stability. Mr. Hutchins has a
number of other business interests in Detroit, and among them he is a
director in the People's State Bank of this city.
Essentially a business man, he has had no ambition for public office,
but takes an active interest in civic and professional organizations. He
belongs to the Detroit Board of Commerce and various city clubs and
social organizations, is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, affiliates with the Masons and the Knights of Pythias, having
reached the Knight Templar degree in the York Rite and has taken
thirty-two degrees of the Scottish Rite.
Mr. Hutchins in April, I88I, married Miss Anna M. Brooks of Waco,
Texas. Her death occurred in July, I9oo. In June, I903, Mr. Hutchins
was united in marriage with Miss Sarah H. Russel, daughter of the late
Dr. George B. Russel, the Detroit pioneer, physician and business builder
whose career is sketched elsewhere in this work. Mrs. Hutchins is one
of the prominent social leaders in the city.








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jranL C(.           almer
\  3      RANK E. PALMER has a place today among the foremost citizens of Jackson. As president of the Pening          sular Portland Cement Company, vice president of the
[       d  Central State Bank of Jackson and for thirty-six years
eH      |i prominently identified with the McCormick Harvesting
Machine Company and its successor, the International
Harvester Company of America, he has a wide acquaintance and a representative following in business circles of the city
and state, so that he is in every way entitled to the position he occupies
in the ranks of Jackson's leading citizens.
Mr. Palmer was born on a Lenawee county farm, this state, on November 18, 1853, and he is a son of Marvin E. Palmer. This farm the
elder Palmer had entered from the government as early as 183I, he being
one of the pioneers of Lenawee county. He came to the state in 1831
from Ira, Cayuga county, New York, where he was born in ISi8. His
father, Jarius Palmer, had been in his day a pioneer of Cayuga county,
and he was a veteran of the War of I812.
The Lenawee county farm which Marvin E. Palmer entered from the
government in 1831 lay six miles west of Adrian. In 1857 Marion Palmer
removed from Lenawee county to St. Johns, in Clinton county, Michigan,
and there for something like a half dozen years he continued to be identified with mercantile pursuits. He also became the first president of St.
Johns village, and while residing there held other offices in the community.
In I863 he returned to his Lenawee county farm, which, though he had
sold it in 1857 when he moved to Clinton county, he was obliged to take
back owing to the inability of the purchaser to pay for it. In the fall of
I863 Mr. Palmer disposed of his farm on more satisfactory terms, purchasing another place that was more to his liking in Liberty township,
Jackson county. On this place he continued to live for a good many years,
but in 1882 the desire for change impelled him to sell the place, and he
removed to Jackson, where he died on October 12, 1899, at the ripe age
of eighty-seven years.
In about 1849 Marvin E. Palmer married Phoebe Beals, in Dover
township, Lenawee county. She was born at North Adams, Massachusetts, and she died in Jackson when she had reached the exact age at which
her husband passed out, her death occurring on May I8, 1909.
Since 1878 Frank E. Palmer has made this city his home and the center
of his business activities. He came here after completing his studies in
the Michigan Agricultural College at Lansing, and it should be mentioned


153




154


jrank C. Iaalmer


here that while he pursued his studies there, he alternated his duties as a
student with periods of work as a teacher. It was thus that he earned the
money that made possible his college education, four terms of pedagogic
work representing his activities in that field. When he had finished his
junior year at the Agricultural College, Mr. Palmer came to Jackson, and
straightway entered the employ of C. H. and L. J. McCormick, who later
became known to the world as the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. In 1902 it was merged in the enormous concern known as the International Harvester Company, with headquarters in Chicago. He entered the employ of the company in a subordinate capacity, advancing from
the post of book-keeper to that of state collection agent, and for more
than twenty-five years he was thus connected, until the forming of the
International Harvester Company, in I902, since which time he has continued in the same capacity. His combined service with the McCormick
Harvester Company and its successor, the International Harvester Company, has extended over a period of thirty-six years, and the past quarter
century has been spent in his present position of state collection agent, a
post he has filled with the utmost efficiency.
In addition to his service with this great concern, Mr. Palmer has long
been a prominent man of affairs in Jackson, and is officially identified with
numerous important concerns here. He is president of the Peninsular
Portland Cement Company, and vice president of the Central State Bank,
as well as having the interest of a stockholder in various other important
enterprises of the city. In the way of public service, Mr. Palmer has held
a number of offices of considerable import, and his activities along these
lines have been of a worthy nature, entirely in keeping with the general
character of the man.
Before coming to Jackson, and while yet a resident of Liberty township, Mr. Palmer served as township superintendent of schools and he
was also a member of the county board of supervisors. After his removal
to Jackson he held the offices of alderman and president of the city council,
and he also served one term in the office of mayor of Jackson. He was
never an office seeker, nor did he wish to precipitate himself into public
affairs in the city and county, but he was a man whose fitness to serve was
so obvious as to make it impossible for him to avoid being chosen to fill
those offices, and he further manifested the character and quality of his
citizenship in accepting the duties placed upon him at the will of the public
without resistance, rendering the best possible service on every occasion.
Mr. Palmer is a member of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce and
the Jackson City Club, and he is a prominent Mason as well, with Knight
Templar and Shriner degrees. He is an Elk, and is prominent and popular
in all his fraternal relations.
On May 20, 1874, Mr. Palmer was married to Sarah E. Palmer, a native daughter of Liberty township, but not of blood kin to her husband.
No children came to Mr. and Mrs. Palmer. They have a pleasant and
commodious home at No. 422 West Wilkins street, in Jackson.




I








ostep           aateb
ALTHOUGH no longer considering himself in the active
ranks, Joseph Walsh, among Michigan's prominent
lumbermen, has an enviable position, gained by many
years of activity in every department of the industry.
In the early days he followed the lumber camps in the
~i_         woods, was a skillful driver on the river, and was
regarded as one of the best all-around workers in the
business. His success has many sources. Singular ability and skill in the
rough and arduous business of the woodman, a faculty for the control and
direction of others, a resourcefulness of both body and mind, and a splendid integrity of character-all these and much more are the explanations
offered by his associates and friends for his rise to commercial prestige
and power. Mr. Walsh has been associated with many important developments in the Michigan lumber industry, and his experiences would make
an epitome of Michigan lumbering from the close of the Civil war until
the end of the century. Though now living retired at Flint, Joseph Walsh
has still large business interests and investments both in that city and
elsewhere.
County West Meath, Ireland, where Joseph Walsh was born, had been
the home of his family for many generations. When he was three years
old, in 1848, the family, consisting of his parents, Michael and Elizabeth
(Fox) Walsh, and other children, arrived in Detroit. His father was an
expert boiler maker, and possessed special skill in the rebuilding of boilers.
He followed his trade in Detroit and elsewhere until I86I, and then
moved to Lapeer county, and made settlement in Burnside township on
a tract of wild government land, the only improvement on which was a
log cabin with not an acre of ground in cultivation. Besides farming
Michael Walsh continued to work at his trade, and did a great deal of
opportune and valued service for the millers in that vicinity. The old
homestead in Lapeer county, now comprising two hundred and eighty
acres of land, is still occupied by the youngest of the family, Louis Walsh,
who has owned the place since the mother's death. From Lapeer county
the family moved to Flint, where Michael Walsh died in I894 at the age
of eighty-two. His wife died February I, I9oo, and her last years were
spent in the home of her daughter, Ellen, in Detroit. The daughter, Ellen,
died in I902.
Michael Walsh, the father, was born in October, I814, and the place
of his birth was known as Killgar Parish, Killallon Barony of Castletown
Delevin, in County West Meath. He had two brothers, William and
157




158                     3osepb aala    b
Patrick, and two sisters, Mary and Ann. Mary was married in Detroit
to Thomas Sullivan, and Ann married James Mackin and died in Ireland
in I847. Michael Walsh married Elizabeth Fox, who was born in Kilpatrick, Parish of Collinstown, County West Meath, in 1814, a daughter
of Peter and Elizabeth (McGram) Fox. Her one brother, Louis Fox,
married Elizabeth Shirden, and had a son, Peter Fox; and her one sister,
Margaret, married Bryan Sutton. Michael Walsh with his wife and four
children sailed from Dublin, Ireland, June 6, 1848, on the ship Juno,
bound for New York. The record of the children of the family is briefly
as follows: Mary, born August 16, 1838; Bridget, born in I839,
who died when three years old; Elizabeth, born June 3, 1841; William, the first of the name, who was born August 14, 1843, and died
when nine months old; Ambrose, born June 2, 1847; William, second of
the name, born October I6, I849, in Detroit; Margaret, born December
15, 1851; Louis, born July 6, 1855; and Ellen, born August 13, I857.
It will also be appropriate to mention some further details concerning
the earlier generations of the family. Michael Walsh was a son of
Ambrose and Bridget (Guillick) Walsh, the latter a native of Stonefield
Parish of Ballin Lough in County Meath. Ambrose Walsh, in turn, was
a son of William and Ellen (Ward) Walsh, and a grandson of Ambrose
and Ann (Russell) Walsh. All the various members of this family lived
and died in Killgar, and are buried in Archstown churchyard, and on the
stones which mark the family plot are the names of many of the family.
It is evident that Joseph Walsh began life with one distinct advantage,
the possession of a good family heritage. His education was acquired
chiefly in the Christian Brothers school in Detroit, until he was fifteen
years old, and also by night school in that city, under the direction of
Martin O'Brien, one of the early educators of Detroit. When the family
moved to Lapeer county and settled on the tract of wild land, his services
were at once brought into requisition in assisting to clear the timber and
bring the land under the plow. For a number of years he contributed his
earnings to the support of the family, and worked in the harvest fields,
and for several seasons was employed by Jerome D. Butler of Burnside
township, and while still a boy got his active training in the lumber camps.
Few men have had better natural qualifications for the varied branches of
logging and lumbering than Joseph Walsh. An expert in all its branches
at an early age, his capabilities were such that he was paid the highest
wages in his special line. His skill in the handling of tools was of great
advantage to him and his employers, and he was often assigned to tasks
in which his skill had a free scope. His leisure time was also employed
in carving out ox yokes, ax handles and other useful articles. For many
years Mr. Walsh was employed by Silas S. Lee in the lumber business.
Many exciting experiences were his lot in those days, while in the depths
of the woods in the winter, or on the river drive during the spring
freshets. As a capable and reliable man he was often kept in Flint to
assist in clearing up the shipments. His early experience was so broad
that he was well prepared to meet all contingencies when it became his
time to become a lumber operator.






3[osepb tgalob


159


A short sketch cannot possibly enumerate his many ventures and enterprises as a lumberman, and only some of the more important facts in his
career can be briefly set down. His reputation as a logger and lumberman had a wide vogue among the lumber kings of Michigan thirty or
forty years ago, and he was frequently offered double the salary for work
as a scaler and buyer of logs. For some time the Crapo Lumber Company had his services, and later he became associated with various lumbering interests over the state, and to a large extent his operations were
conducted in the heavy timber tracts near the Great Lakes. In some of
these enterprises different companies sent him out as an expert investigator, entrusting him with the duty of making personal examination of
the timber, and the estimates which he submitted to his superiors were
in every case accepted without question as to their reliability. Mr. Walsh
had few equals in authoritative knowledge of timber conditions, and his
judgment was as nearly infallible as is possible in human affairs. In a
number of enterprises he often took a personal interest as an investor,
and at an early date became a part owner in milling and logging enterprises which represented investments as high as one hundred thousand
dollars in a single venture. In I880 Mr. Walsh represented the Delta
Lumber Company in locating and laying out the site of the present thriving and prosperous village of Thompson in Schoolcraft county. In I881
he laid out the first logging railroad in the upper peninsula, and that is a
distinction which ought to make his name memorable in the history of the
Michigan lumber industry for all time. Though showing ability in every
branch of the business which he undertook, Mr. Walsh was especially
successful in supervising lumber camps and in handling large companies
of men in the woods, along the rivers, and at the mills. These items of
his career indicate that he is and has been a leader of men, and among
old-time lumbermen in Michigan and elsewhere the name of Joseph Walsh
stands for authority and inspiring leadership.
Finally, on account of failing health, Mr. Walsh was compelled to
abandon the active work in the timber regions and moved to a farm near
Flint. This land, purchased from C. A. Mason and located two and a
half miles from the city, containing one hundred and six acres, for many
years had been the prize farm, so designated by official award at the
County Fair Association through eighteen years. After it came into the
possession of Mr. Walsh it was made one of the finest country estates in
Genesee county, and it remained his home for a number of years. For
the past ten years Mr. Walsh has been living in a beautiful residence in
the city of Flint at 627 Begole street. The farm, though still a part of
his business assets, and maintained at a high standard of cultivation and
equipment, has been under a lessee for several years.
In I904 Mr. Walsh secured an option on a tract of timberland in the
state of Oregon, and after his investigations made the purchase. His
associate in the ownership of that property being R. J. Whaley of Flint.
The Oregon lands, which contain sixteen hundred and eighty acres, and
are said to have merchantable lumber aggregating one hundred million
feet, are being held by Mr. Walsh and Mr. Whaley for future develop



160                     1ogepb Waisb
ment. Mr. Walsh also has extensive mining interests in the northern
part of Ontario, and is identified with a number of local enterprises at
Flint. He is a stock holder in the National and Citizens Commercial Bank
of Flint; member of the executive committee of the Board of Commerce;
stockholder in the Industrial Savings Bank and the Federal Bank of Detroit; stockholder in the Imperial Wheel Works at Flint. Mr. Walsh
also owns what is known as Moon Island in the Flint River.
A successful business man, he has not neglected his obligations to the
community. While his home was on the farm in Flint township he served
as supervisor several terms, and since moving to the city has had membership in the city council and always has manifested a public-spirited
activity in local affairs. As to politics he is what might be called an independent Democrat. Mr. Walsh takes much interest in the affairs of the
St. Michael's Catholic church, is a member of the Knights of Columbus,
at one time was president of the local branch of the Catholic Mutual
Benefit Association, belongs to the Loyal Guards and the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks. Among his valuable property interests should
also be mentioned the Walsh Block, an office building on North Saginaw
street.
On May 20, I870, Joseph Walsh was married at Flint to Miss Ellen
Donovan, who was born at Landsdowne, Ontario, and later came to Flint.
The family of Mr. and Mrs. Walsh contain the following children: Joseph
L., of Flint; S. Francis, of Detroit; Ernest V., of Flint; Agnes at home;
and Edmund. Edmund married Lena A. Mallen, a native of Kingston,
Ontario, and their three children are: Marian, a daughter; Mallon, a
son; and infant born November 5, 1913, named Agnes Ellen. The son,
Joseph L., married Sarah O'Hare, daughter of the late Frank O'Hare,
a former prominent lumberman at Mount Morris in Genesee county. S.
Francis lives in Detroit, and by his marriage to Louisa Snyder, had the
following children: Joseph; Ruth; Elizabeth, who died in July, I912;
and Ellen.
The career of Joseph Walsh has been a long and successful one, and
in this article it has been possible to sketch it only in outline. A volume
might easily be filled up with the accounts of the varied experiences and
enterprises of such a man, and it is noteworthy that his success has been
such as to benefit the community and others as well as himself.


~




I
I
I




~::,:: ~iit:i - t0::




tiram           altker
HE late Hiram Walker was one of the notable pioneers
of Detroit and was the founder of Walkerville, located
T          across the river from this city, in Canada, a town
named in his honor. He was a native of Massachusetts
and was descended from some of the oldest and most
honored families of New England. His earliest American ancestor was Thomas Walker, who lived in Boston
in I66I and who removed to Sudbury, Massachusetts, in 1684, where he
taught school for a time and where he died in 1699. Another ancestor was
a soldier and was wounded in the Narragansett fight during King Philip's
War in I675. The Walkers were all of English stock, and the only ancestor
of Mr. Walker of any other nationality was Pierre Chamois, a FrenchHuguenot who as Peter Shumway came to Oxford, Massachusetts, in
about I650. The parents of Hiram Walker were Willis and Ruth (Buffum) Walker, natives of Massachusetts. Hiram was born in the town of
Douglas, that state, July 4, I816, and there attended the public schools.
Upon the completion of his education he was employed for a time in a dry'
goods store in Boston, but in 1838 decided to cast his fortunes with the
growing West and accordingly came to Detroit. Here he soon established
himself in the grocery business, and this was later followed by a tannery
and leather business, but the plant of the latter was destroyed by fire just
when its success seemed assured. Mr. Walker then returned to the
grocery business, but the money panic of 1857 spelled disaster for him
and he decided to cross the line and engage in business in Canada. Accordingly, in I857, he purchased a tract of land forming the present site
of the flourishing city of Walkerville, and there built a steam flouring
mill and distillery, and from 1858, when the plant went into operation
Mr. Walker's great success began, to be continued the balance of his life.
The flour mill branch of the business was continued for about twenty
years, when the increasing demands for the product of the distillery
caused Mr. Walker to close out the flour mill and devote his energies to
the distilling of what is now a world-wide-known product, and which
business, largely expanded, is still in operation under the corporate name
of Hiram Walker & Sons Limited.
In 1859 Mr. Walker removed his family to Walkerville, but returned
to Detroit in 1864, where he resided during the balance of his life. He
was always the leading man of Walkerville, even though a resident of
Detroit, and was the guiding spirit in the making of that little city a
model one in improvements and an industrial center of great importance.


163




164


ifram Walker


St. Mary's Church, built in Walkerville in 19o4 to the memory of his
wife and himself by their sons is regarded as one of Canada's finest
church edifices. Mr. Walker was one of the trustees of the original
school board. He invested largely in farm lands and was also closely
connected with numerous Canadian enterprises, whose success was largely
the result of his efforts and wise guidance. Mr. Walker's Detroit interests were also numerous and of great importance. As an evidence of
the class of corporations with which Mr. Walker was connected, the following partial list is given: Detroit Car Works, Detroit Transit Railway,
Detroit and Bay City Railway, Detroit National Bank, Hamtramck Iron
Works, Detroit College of Medicine, Detroit Chamber of Commerce
and Wayne County Agricultural and Industrial Society. He was also a
shareholder and member of the Detroit Club, the Grosse Point Club, the
North Channel Club and the Detroit Driving Club.
Mr. Walker's charities were large and varied and he ever was a
generous contributor to any worthy enterprise. In 1896 he built the
Detroit Children's Free Hospital, in memory of his daughter, Jennie
Melissa, who died in I870. He not only gave the land and building for
this notable institution, but liberally endowed it. Thus was evidenced
his love for and sympathy with children, a prominent characteristic of
his nature. He also endowed a room and bed in Harper Hospital, and
gave generously to that institution, giving likewise his support to the
training school for nurses connected therewith. He gave liberally to the
old St. Paul's Episcopal church, where for many years he served as a
vestryman.
Mr. Walker decided to retire from active business life in 1895 and
turn his business interests into the hands of his three surviving sons.
To this end he executed deeds of sale to them of the greater part of
his real estate, including all situated in Detroit and the bulk of his
Canadian holdings and also transferred to them his shares in the different corporations in which he was interested, his daughter also participating in the distribution of his Detroit property. Among various conditions attached to these deeds and transfers was one which provided
that within three years of his death his sons should pay $2o,ooo, to
Harper Hospital, which payment was made in 1902. Mr. Walker died
at his Detroit home January 12, 1899. By will he bequeathed to the
Children's Free Hospital seven-eighths, and to Harper Hospital oneeighth, of all the property of which he might be possessed at the time of
his death.
On October 5, 1846, Mr. Walker was married to Miss Mary Abigail
Williams, daughter of Ephraim Smith and Hannah Melissa (Gotee) Williams, of Silver Lake, Michigan. Mrs. Walker, born in I826, was the
first white child born in the Saginaw Valley, where her father was
serving as paymaster for the Indians. She was descended from Robert
Williams, of Welsh lineage, who sailed from Norwich, England, in 1638,
and settled at Roxbury, Massachusetts. On the maternal side she was
a descendant of James Harrington Gotee, who served as a soldier in the
Continental line for seven years during the Revolutionary War. Mrs.




Oiram  Walker


165


Walker died in 1872. To Mr. and Mrs. Walker were born five sons
and two daughters, as follows: Julia Elizabeth is the widow of the late
Theodore D. Buhl, one of Detroit's most prominent and highly honored citizens. Willis Ephraim, who died in I886, was a solicitor and
notary in Detroit. E. Chandler, born in Detroit in 1851, married Miss
Mary E. Griffin, daughter of the late Thomas Griffin of Detroit. He is
president of Hiram Walker & Sons, Limited, and resides at Walkerville, Canada, and is a director of the Detroit Museum of Art, in which
institution he has long been deeply interested and to which he has lent
substantial financial aid. Franklin H., born in Detroit in 1853, graduated from the University of Michigan with the class of I873, and is
vice president and managing director of Hiram Walker & Sons, Limited,
and a resident of Detroit. He married Miss May Holbrook, daughter
of the late DeWitt C. Holbrook of Detroit, and their only child, Ella,
married Count Matuschka, of Bechau, Silesia. Jenny Melissa died in
I870, at an early age. J. Harrington, born at Walkerville, Canada, in
I859, is a resident of Detroit and an official of the firm of Hiram Walker
& Sons, Limited, a member of the board of trustees of the Detroit College of Medicine and a member of the Detroit Club and popular in other
social organizations. He was married in 1883 to Miss Florence A. Holcomb, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who died in I887, leaving two sons,
Harrington and Hiram, and married second in I889, Margaret Caldwell,
daughter of the late William S. Tallman, of Detroit, and has by this
union one son and two daughters.




I:




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Horatio A. Robe,
OT only by reason of his individual achievement and his
personal prominence as a representative citizen and,T            business man but also on account of his being a scion
l       of one of the honored pioneer families of Michigan
does Mr. Hovey merit specific recognition in this history of his native state, the family name having been
linked with the annals of Michigan since the territorial
epoch in its history. Mr. Hovey has marked the passing years with large
and worthy accomplishment and has proved himself one of those valiant
souls to whom success comes as a natural prerogative. He is known as one
of the substantial capitalists and representative business men of his native state, and his gaining of this status has been the direct result of his
own ability and efforts. He has been long and prominently identified with
the lumber industry, in connection with which his interests are now principally in the south and west and in which his operations in Michigan were
formerly of broad scope and importance. He has also lent his admirable
executive and administrative powers to the furtherance of other lines of
business enterprise, and he is today one of the influential citizens of Detroit, where he has entered fully and loyally into the progressive spirit
that has conserved the upbuilding of the "Greater Detroit." A man of
broad mental ken and of sterling integrity, he has a secure place in the
esteem of all who know him, and he has made his life count for good in
its every relation.
Horatio N. Hovey was born in Oxford township, Oakand county,
Michigan, on the 20th of February, 1853, and is the youngest of the
twelve children born to Horace and Hannah (Scribner) Hovey, the
former of whom was born at Albany, New York, and the latter in the
state of Maine, both being representatives of families that were founded
in America in the colonial era of our national history. Horace Hovey
was reared- to adult age in the old Empire state, and in 1828, when a
young man, he immigrated to the wilds of southern Michigan, his trip
to the new home having been partially made on the vessel "William
Penn," which was the fifth steamboat to be placed in commission on the
Great Lakes. He disembarked in Detroit, which was then little more
than a frontier village, and soon afterward he made his way into Oakland county, where he obtained a tract of heavily timbered land, in Oxford township, and turned his attention to reclaiming a farm from the
wilderness. Thus establishing his home in Oakland county nearly a
decade prior to the admission of Michigan to the Union, Mr. Hovey


169




170                   toratfo n1. totep
became one of the honored and influential pioneers of that part of the
territory, and there he long continued to be actively identified with agricultural pursuits, in connection with which his independence and prosperity represented years of arduous toil and endeavor. He passed the
closing period of his life in western Michigan, where he died in the
spring of i884. In politics he was originally a Whig and later a Democrat, and he served in various local offices of public trust, the while he
ever commanded the high regard of his fellow men. His cherished and
devoted wife, who was a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal
church, was summoned to the life eternal in I870, at Muskegon, and
of the twelve children three sons and one daughter are now living.
To the public schools of his native county Horatio N. Hovey is indebted for his early educational training, which was later supplemented
by an effective course in the Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie,
New York. In the meantime, at the age of fourteen years, the alert and
ambitious youth obtained employment in a grocery store at Muskegon,
Michigan, and one year later he became a clerical assistant in the postoffice at that place. He thus served until I870, when he was appointed
deputy postmaster, and of this position he continued the incumbent several years. In 1875 Mr. Hovey engaged in the retail hardware business
at Muskegon, as junior member of the firm of Merrill & Hovey, in
which his associate was his father-in-law, Elias W. Merrill. In I88I
Mr. Hovey became identified with the lumber industry in that section
of the state, as a member of the firm of McCracken, Hovey & Company,
manufacturers of lumber. Two years later the title of the firm became
Hovey & McCracken, and this concern long controlled a large and prosperous enterprise in the manufacturing of lumber, dealing in timber
lands, etc. Mr. Hovey retired from the lumber manufacturing business
in Michigan in I899, after the available supply resources had been practically exhausted, and since that time he has given the major part of
his time and attention to the management of his extensive timber properties in the south and west, where his exploitations along this line of
industry have been widely extended and eminently successful.
Mr. Hovey continued to maintain his home in the city of Muskegon
until I903, and he had been for many years one of the influential and
public-spirited citizens of that section of the state. In the year last
mentioned he removed with his family to Detroit, where his business and
social interests have since been centered, though he still has large capitalistic interests at Muskegon and in other parts of the state, as well as
in the south and west. He is president of the Muskegon Savings Bank
and was for several years vice president of the National Lumberman's
Bank of Muskegon, where he also served three years as president of the
Muskegon Chamber of Commerce. There he is still a director of the
Shaw-Walker Company, engaged in the manufacture of office filing devices, etc., and he is a member of the board of directors of the Grand
Rapids Muskegon Power Company, a most important corporation, with
valuable properties, concessions and franchises. While a resident of
Muskegon he served ten years as treasurer of the city board of educa

I




Doratio JT:+)* 0013ep


171


tion. He has been since I908 a director of the Dime Savings Bank of
Detroit. He has shown rare initiative and constructive ability in the
course of his long and signally successful business career and he stands
exemplar of the best type of citizenship-loyal to all civic duties and
responsibilities and zealous and versatile in the domain of business activities. In politics, though never a seeker of public office, Mr. Hovey
has been unswerving in his allegiance to the Republican party, and he
is identified with various fraternal and social organizations of representative order.
On the ist of June, 1874, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hovey
to Miss Nellie Merrill, who was born and reared at Muskegon and who
is a daughter of Elias W. and Sarah A. (Titcomb) Merrill. Her father
was born and reared in the state of Maine and thence came to Michigan
in 1837, the year which marked the admission of the state to the Union.
Mr. Merrill first located at Grand Rapids, whence he removed to Muskegon in I844. He was a pioneer in the lumbering operations of Michigan and became a citizen of prominence and influence. He represented
Muskegon county in the state legislature for several terms and was for
many years postmaster at Muskegon, where he died at the patriarchal
age of ninety years, his wife having preceded him to eternal rest by a
number of years. Mr. and Mrs. Hovey have four children, concerning
whom the following brief data are given in conclusion of this sketch:
Annie Merrill is the wife of Charles F. Patterson, of Detroit; Eleanor
Merrill is the wife of Dr. John E. Gleason, of the same city; Sila Merrill is the wife of Dr. Herbert W. Hewitt, of Detroit; and Willard Merrill
Hovey, the only son, is associated with his father in business activities.




I








C\
L i::                                  i:::\j




frebericck       otlorb ]olt
n     J     S PRESIDENT and treasurer of the Williams Bros.
Company of Detroit, Mr. Holt is at the head of the
largest pure-food manufacturing concern in Michigan,
and is also district manager at Detroit for the Jones &
Laughlin Steel Company, and has official connections
with other business corporations. Now a leader in
local business affairs, Mr. Holt began his career at
Detroit more than thirty years ago as a messenger boy for a local bank.
Frederick Holford Holt was born in the city of Manchester, England,
January I8, 1867, a son of James Robert and Mary (Holford) Holt. His
father died in England in 1878, and the mother is now living in that country in venerable years. Frederick H. Holt attended the Manchester grammar school and one year at Victoria University at Manchester, then known
as Owen's College, and a local college of the Oxford group of colleges.
In 1884, at the age of seventeen, he came alone to the United States, and
after reaching Detroit found work as a messenger boy with the Michigan
Savings Bank. His continued service of sixteen years with that institution brought him from time to time better pay and greater responsibilities,
and it was with a thorough experience in the banking and general business
field that he finally resigned his post as assistant cashier in I9OI to become
treasurer and manager for the F. A. Goodrich Company. At the same time
the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company of Pittsburgh appointed him their
local representative at Detroit, and he looked after the business not only
of that concern but of several other independent steel interests. In I9II
the F. A. Goodrich Company and several other concerns represented by
Mr. Holt, were absorbed by the Jones & Laughlin Company, who at once
made Mr. Holt district manager at Detroit. In the meantime his business
relations have extended to various other fields. He is president and treasurer of the Williams Bros. Company, already mentioned; is one of the
large stockholders and secretary of the C. M. Hayes Company, dealers in
photographic supplies at Detroit, and is director for C. W. Warren & Company, one of the large retail jewelry houses of that city. His successful
progress in business Mr. Holt credits, with a modesty characteristic of the
man, to the many friends he made during his banking career. Without
friends, in the opinion of Mr. Holt, a really important and successful
career is impossible, and it was to the large and influential connections he
made in Detroit banking circles that brought him his position as district
manager for the Jones & Laughlin Company. A successful business man,
Mr. Holt also has identified himself with civic and welfare work. Most of
175




176


jtrelecrick Dt olorbi I~olt


this has been accomplished through his membership with the Detroit Board
of Commerce, of which he is a charter member, has served as director
and vice-president, and as chairman of nearly every important committee
of the organization. Practically every movement, whether initiated under
the auspices of this board or from some other source, in behalf of general
welfare work in Detroit, has enlisted the sympathy and support of Mr.
Holt. He is now serving as chairman of the playground committee of the
Board of Commerce, a committee which is instrumental in planning for
and providing for the maintenance of playgrounds in different parts of
the city. Mr. Holt is a director in the Detroit Club; has been president of
both the Detroit Golf Club and the Michigan State Golf League, being an
enthusiastic follower of that sport; is a director in the newly organized
Detroit Athletic Club; and a member in the Detroit Country Club, the
Detroit Boat Club and the Detroit Fine Arts Society. He is a trustee of
the Detroit Museum of Arts and of the Detroit School of Design. For
about twenty years he has served on the board of trustees of the Unitarian
Church in Detroit, the only organization of that denomination in the city,
and including among its members many representative families.
In Detroit on November 20, I89o, Mr. Holt married Miss Lillian Silk.
Mrs. Holt is a leader in club and social welfare and charitable work in
Detroit, is a member of the Woman's Club and the Twentieth Century
Club, is president of the Woman's Hospital of Detroit, and is a worker in
practically every one of the larger and broader benevolent movements.
Mr. Holt and wife have two children: Dorothy Elizabeth and Frederick
Farrington. The daughter is a graduate of the Liggett School of Detroit
and a member of the class of I9I5 in Vassar College. The son is now a
student at Hackley School, Tarrytown, New York.




I








1talbo Z. Xberp
ELDOM has the passing of an individual severed more
IS  business ties and more extensive associations with
men and affairs than the recent death of Waldo A.
Avery, who died at his home at Grosse Point Farms,.    __     '  May 9, I914. He was regarded as one of Detroit's
millionaires, and the chief source of his wealth had
been the lumber interests of Michigan, but for many
years his name was also closely identified with banking, manufacturing,
real estate ownership and the social life of his home city.
For a period of sixty years the name Avery has been prominently
associated with the lumber interests of Michigan, and it was the activities of the late Mr. Avery that made it so well known in the varied business and financial affairs of Detroit and other sections of the state. In
1852 the firm of Eddy & Avery moved out from the state of Maine and
began the purchase of Michigan pine timber. Another well-known Michigan lumberman, the late Simon J. Murphy, became an associate of the
senior Avery about 1865, after the death of Mr. Eddy. As Avery &
Murphy the firm was among the largest operators in the pine regions and
continued an uninterrupted prosperity until the death of Mr. Avery about
I877. Among old-time lumbermen, few names are held in higher esteem
than the heads of the firm just mentioned.
The pioneer Michigan lumber operator above mentioned was the
father of Waldo A. Avery, of Detroit. The latter was born in the state
of Maine at Bradley, Penobscot county, May 14, 1850, lacking at the
time of his death only five days of the age of sixty-four. His parents
were Sewell and Eliza H. (Eddy) Avery. The family in both the
paternal and maternal lines had been established in New England during
the colonial epoch. Sewell Avery in 1854 moved his family from the
Pine Tree State to Michigan, establishing his home at Port Huron,
which was then a small village. It was at Port Huron that Waldo A.
Avery lived until fourteen, and his education came from the schools of
Port Huron and Saginaw. His best preparation for life, however, was
through the practical school of experience, in association with men and
affairs, and particularly in different branches of the great lumber industry. As a boy in Port Huron he had worked about the mills and in the
offices, and when the family moved to Saginaw in I865 he soon became
a worker in the woods, on the river, and in practically every department
of operations from the felling of the trees in the forest to the making
of the finished product and its distribution in the mills and lumber


179




180


Walto a. aierp


yards. It was in that way he laid the foundation for his own career of
success and usefulness. In a few years he was engaged in lumbering on
his own responsibility and his success is largely due to the fact of his
close familiarity by practical experience with nearly every detail of the
business.
In I876, at the age of twenty-six, Mr. Avery became interested in
the ownership and operation of a number of tugs and lumber vessels
engaged in the handling of logs and lumber on the Saginaw river. These
interests he retained and managed until I883. The business was then
extended and several large lake vessels were added to the fleet, and the
entire establishment was operated under the name of Hawgood & Avery
Transit Company, with headquarters in the city of Cleveland. This
company is still in existence and has a large fleet of vessels in commission in general freight transportation on the Great Lakes.
After I9o6 Mr. Avery had retired from practical lumbering, but
remained in the timber land business, and was a member of the firm of
Richardson & Avery of Duluth, Minnesota, dealers in pine lands and
large manufacturers of lumber. Formerly Mr. Avery was president
of the Alabaster Company of Detroit, Chicago and Alabaster, Michigan.
When the interests of the company were merged into the United States
Gypsum Company, he continued as a stockholder in the latter corporation
and was also a director. His oldest son is president of the United States
Gypsum Company. The gypsum mines of the original company are
located at Alabaster, Iosco county, Michigan, and it was this company
which furnished the plaster for the staff utilized in the construction
of the buildings of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in I893.
In I887 Mr. Avery removed his home and business headquarters to
Detroit, and lived in a residence on Woodward avenue until 1902. In
that year he occupied a beautiful suburban home at Grosse Pointe Farm,
where his death occurred. During his residence in Detroit Mr. Avery
manifested notable public spirit in helping along many measures designed
for the welfare and progress of the city. His accumulated interests made
him prominent in banking, real estate and constructive enterprise. From
I899' he was president of the American Exchange National Bank of
Detroit until its merger with the old Detroit National Bank. Other best
business interests were directorships in the United Limited Bank and
the Second National Bank of Saginaw. Of his holdings in Detroit the
most noteworthy is the Majestic building on the Campus Martius, one
of the most modem and imposing business blocks in the entire country.
Mr. Avery owned that building jointly with E. H. Doyle.
The source of his general success in life may be ascribed almost
entirely to his own ability and efforts. As a business man of integrity
and high principle he stood second to none in the great commercial
center of Detroit. Mr. Avery was a traveler as well as a business man,
and especially in later years never denied himself an opportunity for
culture and enjoyment which comes through a broad knowledge of the
world and its people. In outdoor sport he was especially enthusiastic,




Sialo a. taerp                        181
and it is said that his last illness was caused by over exertion at his
favorite game of golf while in Florida. At Detroit he held membership
in the Detroit, the Country and Old Clubs. In politics his support was
always given to the Republican interests, though never allowing his name
to be used in connection with the candidacy for any public office.
Mr. Avery is survived by his widow and sons: Sewell L., president
of the United States Gypsum Company, with headquarters in Chicago;
and Waldo A., Jr., whose home is in Portland, Oregon, and who is
prominently identified with the timber land business on the Pacific
coast.




-
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3




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114
P:
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14:. Ii
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tiliam        C. anlttester
~NE of the younger members of the Detroit bar, where
',   his practice has been continuous since the close of his
university career, Mr. Manchester has enjoyed the rewards of professional success and also the distinctions
_   of public life, having for a number of years been an
influential factor in the Republican party of Michigan,
and having served in the last constitutional convention
of the state.
William C. Manchester was born at Canfield, Mahoning county, Ohio,
on Christmas day of I873. His parents, Hugh A. and Susan Rosannah
(Squire) Manchester, still live at Canfield. The father, who began his
career many years ago as a public school teacher, later became successfully
identified with farming and banking, is now retired from active affairs
and lives in comfort and plenty during his declining years. Of seven
children of the family, four sons and two daughters are living.
The public schools of Canfield gave William C. Manchester his early
training, which was followed by the regular course of the Northeastern
Ohio Normal College, where he graduated in I894 Bachelor of Arts. His
law studies were pursued in the University of Michigan, which graduated
him Bachelor of Laws in I896. After an extended tour of the west his
active practice began at Detroit, where he has continued in the general
practice of his profession. He is now the senior member of the firm of
Manchester & Freud.
His part in Republican politics and in public affairs is one of the
features of his career. During 1907-o8 he sat as a delegate in the state
constitutional convention, and as a member of the judiciary committee
exerted much influence in formulating that constitutional provision providing for a juvenile court as a regular branch of Michigan judiciary, not
to mention other valuable services in the convention. In I908 Mr. Manchester was a delegate to the Republican National convention, and in I910
was given a place on the Republican state central committee, where his
services have been directed to the welfare of the party in this state up to
the present time. His Masonic affiliations are with Corinthian Lodge,
A. F. & A. M.; King. Cyrus Chapter, R. A. M.; Detroit Commandery
No. I, K. T.; Michigan Sovereign Consistory, and Moslem Temple, A. A.
O. N. M. S., of Detroit. Mr. Manchester is a Kappa Sigma in college
fraternity circles, belongs to the Detroit Board of Commerce, and with
his wife is a member of the Fort Street Presbyterian church. While his
time is taken up with his profession and with his varied public interests,
185




186                William   Q. t   ancbezter
Mr. Manchester is a great lover and student of literature, and much of
his leisure time is spent in his library.
At Bay City, Michigan, December 27, I899, Mr. Manchester married
Miss Margaret MacGregor, who was born and reared in Bay City, a
daughter of Duncan and Martha (MacDonald) MacGregor. Mrs. Manchester, who graduated from the University of Michigan in I896 with
the degree Bachelor of Philosophy, is the mother of six children, namely:
Hugh A., second, who was named in honor of his paternal grandfather;
Mary Katherine; William C., Jr.; Helen Margaret; Susan Rosannah;
and Francis.




II








e/y:::
-..i-




Carltes iebtois
T HAS been truly said that the Lewis Spring & Axle
Company is the monument of the late Charles Lewis,
as well as being Jackson's largest single industry, and
in writing of those men who have contributed in small
or greater measure to the fortunes of the city, it would
be wholly out of keeping with the spirit and purpose of
this work to omit mention of him whose name initiates
this sketch, and whose destinies were coincident with the destinies of Jackson for a score of years. It would scarcely be possible, in the brief space
that is available here to touch more than lightly upon the salient points in
the career and activities of Mr. Lewis, but an effort will be made to outline
in some degree his life and works, so as to present a concise and comprehensive record of his achievements, with some facts as to his early
life.
Charles Lewis was a native of Winscombe, a town in the steel manufacturing district of England near Leeds. He was born on April Io,
1853, and he came to America as a boy of fourteen years. For some
years he lived in Auburn, New York, and later he went to Amsterdam,
New York, where he became the superintendent of a spring manufacturing plant.
In the early nineties the late Samuel B. Collins, of Jackson, Michigan,
was engaged in the manufacture of vehicles, under the firm name of the
Collins Manufacturing Company. Mr. Collins visited the Amsterdam
factory, and there he met Charles Lewis.
Mr. Collins was at that time associated with certain other progressive
Jackson men in the promotion of the Jackson Land and Improvement
Company. It was planned to buy some extensive tracts of outlying
land, sell lots to members of the company at a profit, and use the gains
in building factories, the stockholders to be reimbursed by the increase
in value of the lots, due to the establishments of the factories. In pursuance of that plan, Mr. Collins, of the Jackson Land and Improvement
Company, entered into an arrangement with Mr. Lewis whereby the
Aspinwall Manufacturing Company of Three Rivers and a bridge manufacturing company were to establish themselves in Jackson, on condition
that the land company furnish a site and build factories. The Aspinwall
company and the bridge company were established south of the city,
and the spring factory was established on the site of the present location
of the Lewis Spring and Axle Company, at the eastern city limits.
Some $5,ooo were expended in the building of the spring factory,
189




190


eLbarlez IItui%


it is recalled, and Charles Lewis, the practical mechanic in charge of
the Amsterdam plant, came to the city and began the manufacture of
carriage springs, under the firm name of Lewis & Allen, the second
member being an accountant who came from the eastern plant with Mr.
Lewis, and who had charge of the office end of the business of the new
and struggling concern.
It would be a failure in veracity to say that the firm was prosperous
from the start. It had its full measure of lean years, for the cash capital
which the partners brought into the newly organized business did not
exceed $3,ooo. That fact spelled hard sledding for the affairs of the
business. After two or three years Mr. Lewis purchased his partner's
interest. He was a far-sighted business man, and he knew how to make
a good steel spring. The result was that after a season of ups and downs,
the business began to grow. The year I893 saw it planted firmly on a substantial basis, after the plant had been shut down because of a lack of
cash capital to meet the running expenses, and from then to the present
time the plant has made a yearly increase in its business.
In 1897 they added an axle department, and in I898 Mr. Lewis
allowed himself to become interested in the automobile business, the
upshot of it being that he organized the Jackson Automobile Company
in that same year. In that venture they experienced a pleasing measure
of success, and for ten years or more he continued in the business,
though he finally decided to withdraw and devote all his time to the
spring and axle end of his enterprise. In the autumn of I9II he consolidated his several factories for the making of automobile axles in
one splendid new factory on Horton street, and at the time of his death
he was planning the construction of another factory which would have
exceeded in size any of the former plants.
At the time of his death the Lewis Spring & Axle Company, engaged
in the manufacture of automobile springs, front and rear axles, brake
lever assemblies, transmissions and forgings, in its factory, occupied a
floor space of 320,000 square feet. It employed, and still does, a force
of seven hundred men, and it is a safe statement that "Lewis Quality"
in trade is a term that stands for excellence in workmanship and construction wherever automobiles are made and sold.
Mr. Lewis was always active in city affairs, and his activity took
the form of promoting the best interest of the community at all times.
As a member of the board of public works he gave much valuable time
to the matter of improving the county roads and the public utilities of
the city. He expended generous sums in providing equipment for the
better building of roads, and was a pioneer in Jackson in that phase of
its education. It was his aim and ambition to get the city to that place
where it would employ business methods and progressive ideas in its
administration, and he gave of his time and of his money to that end.
It is safe to say that none ever realized, unless it might have been other
members of the board of public works, the full value of the services
he contributed to the city as a member of that body.
Mr. Lewis also served as a member of the Fire Commission for some




gbartleor     %12ku10


191


time, and as a member of the State Board of Corrections and Charities,
he gave much time to the improvement of conditions in the prisons and
other correctional institutions of the state. Any institution for the relief
and maintenance of the indigent old people of the community found a
stanch supporter in him. The Odd Fellows' Home, in Cooley Park,
made a strong appeal to his benevolent instincts, and he did all in his
power to aid in securing the grounds for that purpose. It is a further
tribute to his business acumen that he succeeded, despite the fact that
the grounds were wanted by an opposing faction for a public park. He
was also a liberal contributor to the Jackson Friendly Home, an institution for aged women exclusively, and he personally solicited a good
share of the funds which made the home a possibility.
Mr. Lewis, though a man temperate in all things, was not in favor
of local option. He favored regulation of the saloon business, but he
did not believe that the saloon should be abolished. The local optionists,
however, won their fight, and the saloons went out of Jacksn. One
season was sufficient to convince the man that his position had been
wrong, and he came out openly in favor of the temperance faction.
Only a few weeks prior to his passing his name was found heading a
subscription list for the carrying forward of anti-saloon work. Thus
he was ever found to be. Did he cherish a conviction, he held it firmly.
But he was always ready to be shown that he was in error in his opinion
if facts could be produced to support the refutation of his ideas. It has
been said that "A wise man changes his mind; but a fool, never."
And Charles Lewis was one who knew how to change his mind when
he found himself basing his arguments on a wrong idea.
Mr. Lewis was long a member of the Haven Methodist Episcopal
church and served on its board of trustees for some years. He was a
Mason, with Knight Templar affiliations, and also was a Shriner and
was a member of the Jackson lodge of Elks.
Mr. Lewis was married in Auburn, New York, on December 31,
1874, to Elizabeth A. Hollier, who survives her husband and has her
residence in a fine old colonial home at I609 East Main street, built
by Mr. Lewis not more than five years prior to his death, which occurred
on February 24, 1912.
Mrs. Lewis was born at Skaneateles, near Auburn, New York, on January 12, 1853, being a daughter of William J. Hollier and his wife,
Mary Ann (Lewis) Hollier. Both were natives of England, where
they were married in I845. The Hollier family had its origin in Wales.
The five children of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis are: Minnie Belle, now the
wife of E. F. Lyon, of Detroit; Fred H., now managing head of the
large manufacturing plants in Jackson founded by his father, and a
prominent citizen of this city; Jessie May, who married Fred Bowman,
of Buffalo, New York; Mary Frances, the wife of George Tygh, of
Jackson, and Miss Alice Winifred Lewis, who is now a senior in the
Jackson high school.
Among the many articles that have been published in local journals
with reference to the life and work of Mr. Lewis, one is quoted here,




192


from the pages of The Jacksonian, a journal published by the Chamber
of Commerce of Jackson. It follows: "Charles Lewis was an admirer
of young men and he always believed in giving the young man a chance.
He felt that the future greatness of Jackson depended upon the younger
generation; and he helped them with his money, with his advice and
with valuable words of encouragement. His optimistic spirit was one
of his greatest assets. His absolute and fearless honesty was another.
There was no side of his great nature that did not breathe wholesouled
geniality and inspire absolute confidence and trust. A growing community cannot be blessed with too many men of Charles Lewis' type.
We wish there were more of them in Jackson.
"Charles Lewis was one of the incorporators of the Chamber of
Commerce. From the date of its organization he served on its important committees and as one of the trustees of the Guaranty Association.
The high regard in which he was held by every member is perhaps best
attested by the following resolution adopted by the directors and later
ratified by the entire membership at the annual banquet, by a rising
vote taken in silence: 'But yesterday the Jackson Chamber of Commerce
was proud to claim among its active working members a man of whom
today, in the midst of his labors, has laid down the working tools of life.
"'We as an organization and to a man, individually, shall deeply
and sincerely mourn the loss of Charles Lewis. We shall long feel
the want of his enthusiasm, his ready moral and financial support and
his wise council in all that pertained to the general welfare.
"'But while we shall miss the cheery smile, the happy greeting and
the frank and friendly converse with him, we must still realize that all
these were but the mere outward attributes of a life so lived among
us as to long leave their firm impress for good upon this community.
"'Be it resolved, therefore, that this slight tribute to his memory be
made a part of the records, and together with our heartfelt sympathy,
be communicated to his family.' "
The mayor of the city, on the day following the death of Mr. Lewis,
issued the following proclamation: "A sudden death has taken from us
the Hon. Charles Lewis. In his vigorous personality was embodied the
highest type of our citizenship. A life like his is an example, and Jackson had no nobler son. His wide sphere of beneficent activity is adorned
at every point by the grateful remembrance of all our people of the
good he did. In the business life of the city he was a sturdy pillar that
stood square to every storm. In private life he was a devoted husband
and father, and a faithful friend. In public life his zealous, disinterested and untiring service accompanied at all times by personal kindness,
endeared him to all and inspired the confidence and affection of his associates. It is the lot of few men to be loved as he was.
"As a mark of respect to his memory, it is ordered that on Tuesday
afternoon the public offices in this city be closejrso that the city officers
may attend the funeral in a body. All city officials will meet at one
o'clock P. M. at the recorder's officer for that purpose.
"D. C. SAUER, Mayor of Jackson."




CQbarles  jLeWfo                     193
The Union Bank of Jackson, of which Mr. Lewis was long a director,
also closed during the hour of the funeral, and other local establishments showed similar courtesy to the family and respect to the memory
of a man who was much beloved in his own community.








PI




d~n~iwrulc-yie/-tC c




latarence        ri e
RAWRENCE PRICE, of Lansing, has been a citizen of
1:".      i') Michigan for nearly half a century, and for the major
X  I          portion of that long period has been closely identified
with the commercial, industrial and public affairs of
'l.  Lansing and the state. As a soldier, public official,
'. j   citizen, business man and manufacturer he has won
success and honor, and has done his full share
toward contributing to the community's growth and that of its institutions.
Mr. Price is a son of Erin's Isle, born May 27, 1842, at Templemore,
County Tipperary, the son of Martin and Ann (Egan) Price, both of
whom were natives of County Tipperary. Martin Price, the father,
farmed in Ireland until I849, in which year he brought his family to
America, landing at Quebec, Canada, and going from that city to Lewiston, Niagara county, New York, where they made their first settlement.
In 1867 Martin Price came to Michigan and settled in Ingham county,
buying a farm in Lansing township, where he passed the last years of
his life, dying March 20, I895, while the mother survived him until
May 2, 1901.
Lawrence Price received his education in the common schools and
at the Lewiston (New York) Academy. He was nineteen years of age
when, in August, 1862, he enlisted in Battery M, First New York Light
Artillery, which was assigned to the Army of the Potomac. Subsequently, with this organization, he participated in the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, in the last of which he was
wounded by the explosion of a shell. He was also at Gettysburg, where
he was again wounded, but was with his regiment in the pursuit of the
Confederates into Virginia as far south as Raccoon Ford on the Rapidan
River. From that point his battery was ordered to Washington City
and was then sent to Tennessee to reinforce General Rosecrans at Chattanooga. The battery saw active service at Wahatchie and Missionary
Ridge, wintered at Bridgeport, Alabama, and the next spring joined the
forces of General Sherman in Georgia and went with him on his famous
"March to the Sea," taking part in the engagements at Resaca, Dallas,
Ringgold, Pumpkin Vine Creek,,Culp's Farm and Kenesaw Mountain.
Mr. Price was among the first troops to enter the city of Atlanta, and
with the army entered Savannah soon afterwards. On the way north
the battery was in the engagements in North Carolina at Averysboro and
Bentonville, and at the latter point Mr. Price was again slightly wounded
and was captured and sent to Libby Prison, at Richmond. The fall of
Richmond. occurred soon thereafter, however, and Mr. Price was re

197




198


Latruence ]price


leased with the other Union prisoners and sent into a parole camp in
the state of Maryland, where he was given a furlough of thirty days,
but, desiring to be near his command when the end came, did not make
use of his furlough and six days later was again with his regiment,
taking part in the Grand Review in Washington City. He was mustered out at Rochester, New York, June 29, 1865.
Returning from the war with an enviable record as a brave and faithful soldier, Mr. Price spent a short time at his old home at Lewiston,
and then went to the oil fields of Pennsylvania, where he remained until
the following spring, then coming to Michigan and reaching Lansing
April 26, I866. His first employment in this state was on a farm which
was really within the city limits. Later he purchased I60 acres of
unimproved land in Bath township, Clinton county, which he reclaimed
and put under cultivation, continuing as an agriculturist with much
success until I880. In that year he turned his attention to mercantile
pursuits, entering the grocery business at Flint as a retailer. Three
years later, however, he came to Lansing and located permanently. Engaging in the buying and shipping of stock, Mr. Price subsequently
became interested in the lumber business and later secured large interests
therein, being one of the organizers of the Capitol Lumber Company,
of which he was vice-president and manager, and is still an important
factor in this business, being president of the Rikerd Lumber Company,
of Lansing. For a time Mr. Price was engaged in the hardware business as a member of the firm of Price & Smith, and later entered the
dry goods trade as a member of the firm of Rork & Price, a combination
which is still in business after a period of twenty-five years. Among
other enterprises, he is identified with the Lansing Auto Body Works,
one of the city's largest industries, of which he has been president since
its inception; the Acme Motor Company, of which he is president, and
the City National Bank of Lansing, of which he is a director. He still
owns his old farm, to which he has added I6o acres, now owning 320
acres, all joining. He has one of the best improved farms in the state,
and the residence is equipped with both water and gas.
Mr. Price has been prominent in Democratic politics for many years.
He has been a delegate to many city, county and state conventions; in
I890 was appointed chief of police and marshal of the city of Lansing;
has been superintendent of public works of the city, a member of the
city council for four years from the Fourth Ward, and was the first
chairman of the Ingham county board of supervisors elected from the
city of Lansing. Mr. Price is a member of Charles T. Foster Post, No.
42, Grand Army of the Republic. He is a leading member of St. Mary's
Roman Catholic Church, and was chairman of the building committee
when that magnificent edifice was erected.
In 1867 Mr. Price married Mary Ann Ryan, of New York state, who
died in I883. His second union occurred in I888, when he was married
to Miss Julia Bradford. She was born in Pontiac, the daughter of
John Bradford, who came to Lansing as an attache of the state auditor
general's office when the capitol was located in this city. The family
home in Lansing is at No. I00oo3 Washington avenue.




Willianm         ustin Moort
7         OT too often or through the medium of too many his-. i      torical publications touching the state of Michigan can
p  G        be accorded to any citizen a greater meed of distinc1       tion and respect than is due to the late William A.
Moore, who long held prestige as one of the leading
members of the bar of the state and who was one of
the honored and influential citizens of Detroit at the
time of his death, which here occurred on the 25th of September, I906. He
was engaged in the active practice of his profession in Detroit for more
than half a century, and his labors in the chosen vocation which he dignified and honored by his exalted character and eminent services came to an
end only when death set its seal upon his mortal lips, after he had passed
the age of four score years. Mr. Moore was a man of fine intellectual and
professional attainments, of high ideals and of utmost loyalty in all of the
relations of life, and thus it is that his name merits a place of honor in
every publication that notes the personnel of the Michigan bar in the
past or has to do with the history of Detroit.
William Austin Moore was born on a farm near Clifton Springs, Ontario county, New York, on the I7th of April, 1823, and was the seventh
son of the William and Lucy (Rice) Moore, the former of whom was born
in the vicinity of Peterboro, Hillsboro county, New Hampshire, on the
9th of April, I787, and the latter of whom was a native of Massachusetts,
both families having been founded in New England in the colonial era
of our national history. William Moore was reared and educated in his
native state and at the age of eighteen years he went to the state of
New York, where he became a prosperous and representative agriculturist of Ontario county. There his marriage was solemnized and there
he continued to reside until his immigration to the territory of Michigan.
He not only served in various public offices in Ontario county but was
also a valiant soldier of the New York troops in the War of I812, in
which he was present at the burning of Buffalo by the British, besides
taking part in the engagement at Fort Erie.
In the summer of 1831 William Moore came with his family to Michigan and numbered himself among the early settlers of Washtenaw
county, where, in the following year, he was appointed justice of the peace,
an office of which he continued in tenure until the admission of Michigan to statehood, in I837. He was not permitted to retire from this
local magistracy at that time, however, and by successive re-elections he
continued to serve as justice of the peace for the first twelve years in
the history of the new state. He became one of the most honored and
199




200             Walliam Austin o oore


influential citizens of his county, was a member of the first constitutional
convention of the state, served as a member of the first state senate,
and in 1843 represented Washtenaw county in the lower house of the
legislature. He was a man of superior intellectual and business ability
and his character was the positive expression of a strong, noble and
loyal nature. Both he and his wife continued to reside in Washtenaw
county until their death and their names have place on the roll of the
honored pioneers of Michigan.
In tracing more remotely the history of the Moore family, it may be
stated that it is of sturdy Scotch-Irish extraction, and that the subject
of this memoir was of the fifth generation in line of descent from a
member of the historic Douglass clan which was virtually exterminated
at the massacre of Glencoe, Scotland, on the I3th of February, I692.
The widow of this valorous ancestor fled with her children to Ireland,
where the family remained until I718, when a number of its representatives came to America, where they were among the first settlers of
Londonderry, New Hampshire. The youngest son in this original American family was John Moore, who married and became the father of
seven children. The third child, William, was reared to maturity in
New Hampshire, and in December, I763, he wedded Miss Jane Holmes.
They finally removed from the Londonderry district to Peterboro, Hilsboro county, from which place William Moore went forth as a patriot
soldier in the War of the Revolution, records extant showing that he participated in the battle of Bennington, on the g9th of July, I777. Of
the twelve children of William and Jane (Holmes) Moore the youngest
was William, who became the founder of the Michigan branch of the
family, as already noted in this context.
William A. Moore was eight years of age at the time of the family immigration to the wilds of southern Michigan, where he was reared
to the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm and where he availed himself of the advantages of the common schools. When twenty years of
age he determined to prepare himself for the legal profession, and he
initiated his incidental studies at Ypsilanti, where he remained two
years. He then entered the literary department of the University of
Michigan, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of I850,
with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, his having been the fifth class
to be graduated in that now famed institution of learning. After his
graduation Mr. Moore went to Salem, Mississippi, where he devoted
about eighteen months to teaching school. In April, 1852, in consonance
with his original plans for a future career, he began reading law, under
the preceptorship of the firm of Davidson & Holbrook, of Detroit, and
in January of the following year he was admitted to the Michigan bar.
He forthwith engaged in the practice of his profession in Detroit, and
here he continued his labors in this exacting vocation until the close of
his long and useful life. He eventually built up a large and representative
law business, in connection with which he was ever known for his close
application and his broad and exact knowledge of the science of jurisprudence. In the early years of his practice Mr. Moore gave special attention to admiralty law, which then constituted a most important phase






ailliam    austin Qoore                    201
of legal business in Detroit, and he became a recognized leader and authority in this field of practice, in which he figured in nearly all of the
important cases brought before the courts in Michigan, besides which
he was frequently called to Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago and Milwaukee
in connection with important admiralty issues. He became known as
an able trial lawyer, but his tastes and inclinations, coupled with his fine
technical knowledge and mature judgment, made him especially strong
as a counselor, in which department of practice his services were much
in demand at all stages of his professional career. Concerning Mr. Moore
these pertinent words have been written by one who knew him long and
well: "He united a judicial and independent character of mind, long
familiarity with the principles of law, excellent foresight, sound judgment and, above all, unquestioned integrity-qualities which admirably
fitted him to act the part of conciliator and harmonizer of conflicting interests. His convictions were not reached without careful investigation
and consideration, but a stand once taken was not abandoned for any
mere question of policy or expediency. All his interest was cast on the
side of morality, good government, obedience to law and the elevation of his fellows. No responsibility laid upon him was ever neglected
or betrayed. Many persons of far less worth have attracted a larger
share of public attention, but few have done more to conserve, in various ways, the best interests of the city."
Mr. Moore was a well fortified and stalwart supporter of the cause
of the Democratic party, though he never sought political office. From
I864 to I868 he was chairman of the Democratic state central committee,
and from the latter year until 1876 he represented Michigan as a member of the Democratic national executive committee. From I859 until
I865 he was a member of the Detroit board of education, and for three
and one-half years of this period he served as a president of the board.
He was for many years attorney of the board of police commissioners
of Detroit; in I88I he was appointed a member of the board of park
commissioners, to which position he was re-appointed in 1884, and he
was twice elected president of the board, a position which he resigned
before the expiration of his second term.
Mr. Moore was one of the organizers of the Wayne County Savings
Bank and also of the Detroit Fire & Marine Insurance Company, of
each of which important corporations he served as director and attorney
for many years. He was ever appreciative of the spiritual verities of the
Christian faith and both he and his wife were zealous members of the
Baptist church.
On the 5th of December, I854, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Moore to Miss Laura J. Van Husan, who was born at Saline, Washtenaw
county, on the I2th of March, 1837, and who was a daughter of the late
Caleb Van Husan, long a prominent and influential citizen of Detroit.
Mrs. More survived her husband by about five years and was summoned to eternal rest on the 30th of July, I9II, secure in the reverent
memory of all who had come within the sphere of her gentle and gracious
influence. 'William V. Moore, the only child, is specifically mentioned in
the article immediately following this memoir.




I




II




^^^-I




tifliam T. MBloore
N THE article immediately preceding this is given a
tribute to the memory of the late William A. Moore,
father of him whose name initiates the sketch at hand,
I i          and in the same connection appear data that indicate
how prominently and worthily has the name of the,Moore family been identified with the development, upbuilding and generic history of Michigan. In the profession that was significantly honored and dignified by the character,
ability, and services of his honored father, William V. Moore, himself
has achieved definite precedence, as has he also as a citizen of influence and
as a man of affairs. No one in the least familiar with his career can but
realize that he has added further honors to the name which he bears and
that he is entitled to recognition as one of the representative men of his
native city and state. He is engaged in the active practice of law in Detroit,
stands exemplar of the most loyal and liberal citizenship and a brief review
of his career is consistently given in this work, especially in view of the
fact that he is now the only representative of the third generation of the
Moore family in Michigan, with whose history the name has been closely
linked since the territorial epoch. Concerning him the following well
merited statements may be made: "William V. Moore stands as one
of the leading members of the Detroit bar and is also identified with
various industrial and financial interests that have had marked influence
in furthering the generic precedence and prosperity of his native city,
which has been his home from the time of his birth and to which his
loyalty is of the most insistent order."
William Van Moore was born in the old family homestead on Congress street, Detroit, on the 3d of December, i856. After due preliminary
discipline in the public schools he was matriculated in the University of
Michigan, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1878,
with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the same year he began the
study of law under the able preceptorship of his honored father, and
this training was supplemented by a course in the law department of
Boston University, in which he was graduated in I880 and from which
he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He then returned from
the Massachusetts metropolis to Detroit, where he was admitted to the
bar and initiated the active work of his profession, in which he was continuously associated with his father until the death of the latter, on the
25th of September, I9o6. He was thus identified with the law firm of
Moore & Canfield, which was succeeded by that of W. A. & W. V. Moore,


205




206                WUlliam    austin   0oore
and later he continued as a member of the firm of Moore & Goff until
I905, when the firm of Moore, Standart & Drake was formed. After
the death of his father, in the following year, he continued as senior member of this firm until I909, since which time his practice has been of independent order. He has devoted his attention principally to corporation
law and is legal representative of a number of banks and insurance companies in Detroit, where he is recognized as a representative corporation
lawyer and controls a large and substantial practice.
Mr. Moore is a director and general counsel of the Wayne County
Savings Bank and is identified in a similar way with that old and important institution, the Detroit Fire & Marine Insurance Company. He
is vice president of the Northern Engineering Works and has other
capitalistic interests, many of which were promoted and fostered by
his father. With naught of desire for the honors or emoluments of
political office, Mr. Moore accords a staunch allegiance to the Democratic party. He served from 1885 to I889 as a member of the Detroit
board of education, of which he was president during the last two
years of this period, and in this position he rendered most earnest and
effective service, even as had his father in the same office. He served
continuously as a member of the city board of fire commissioners from
April I, I905, until April I, 1913, when he retired and apropos of his
zealous advocacy of the basic principles for which the Democratic party
has ever stood sponsor it may be noted that he was a delegate to the
Democratic national convention of I896, in the city of Chicago. He and
his wife are attendants and liberal supporters of the Woodward Avenue
Baptist church and in the same he is a trustee, as successor of his
father.
On the 28th of June, 1883, Mr. Moore wedded Miss Jennie C.
Andrews, who was born and reared in Michigan and who is a daughter
of the late Harry S. Andrews, a resident of Fenton, Genesee county,
at the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Moore have two children-William Van Husan Moore and Mary. William Van Husan Moore married Stephanie Moran, a daughter of John V. Moran, of this city, April
II, 1912; Mary, the daughter, married Richard P. Joy, son of James F.
Joy, of this city, in I908.






I




I j




George WtiUfiams bates?
ORTY years as an active member of the Detroit bar is
the record of George Williams Bates. His practice as
a lawyer has been in connection with a large volume
of litigation in both the state and federal courts, and
for years he has been regarded as one of the ablest
counselors and attorneys of his home city. Mr. Bates
is a native of Detroit, and his ancestry includes many
of the most notable lines of family stock in old and modern New England history.
The Bates family in America was founded by three brothers, James,
Clement and Edward Bates, who were among the Puritan settlers in the
Massachusetts Bay colony, coming from England. A direct ancestor
of the Detroit lawyer was James Bates, who settled at Dorchester, Massachusetts, in I634, while Clement resided at Hingham, and Edward at
\Veymouth, and the descendants of these three brothers are now found
in all parts of the United States. Robert Bates, a son of James, followed
the leadership of the Rev. Thomas Hooker into Connecticut and became
one of the landed proprietors of Wethersfield, but moved from there in
I640 to the colony that founded Stamford, Connecticut. In the collateral lines of the Bates ancestry are found many other notable characters, including the following: William Cross, a soldier in the Pequod
Indian war and a participant in the fight of Narragansett Swamp, and
subsequently a representative of Wethersfield in the general court at
Hartford; Robert Chapman, one of the founders of Saybrook, Connecticut, a deputy to the general court, a commissioner, and one of the
largest landholders in Saybrook; also Gershom Lockwood, soldier, judge
and legislator of Greenwich, Connecticut; Jonathan Selleck, a brave Indian fighter, legislator and liberal churchman; Richard Law, a distinguished Connecticut jurist in the early days; David Smith, one of
Washington's soldiers during the Revolution; the family of Weeds
in Connecticut and New York. Through the Bucknam family Mr. Bates
claims relationship with Nicholas Stowers, Captain John Sprague and
Lieutenant Ralph Sprague, who were among the original settlers of Newtown or Charlestown, Massachusetts, in I628, and Ralph Sprague was
one of the first selectmen of that village. On his mother's side, George
Williams Bates is descended from Roger Williams, a cousin to the
famous Roger, who was the founder of Rhode Island; this Roger Williams, whose home was in Connecticut, came to America in 1635, was
deputy representative of Windsor in the general court at Hartford,
served as selectman, and was a member of the famous organization, the
Ancient and Honorable Artillery of Boston.
209




210


oeorge  M.tfrfam0 W2Eate0


George Williams Bates, who was born at Detroit November 4, 1848,
is a son of Samuel Gershom and Rebecca (Williams) Bates, who were
early settlers at Detroit, which remained their home during the rest of
their lives. Samuel G. Bates was a merchant and for many years a
public-spirited citizen of Detroit. The Detroit public schools gave Mr.
Bates his early training; in 1870 he graduated A. B. from the University
of Michigan, and in recognition of his continued attainments the same
institution gave him the degree of Master of Arts in I875. On leaving
the university he was for about a year a representative in Detroit of the
publishing house of James R. Osgood & Company of Boston. His study
of law began in the fall of 1871 in the offices of Newberry, Pond &
Brown, and was continued with another well-known Detroit law firm
of that time, Meddaugh & Driggs.
Since his admission to the Michigan bar in 1874, Mr. Bates has had
a continuous practice at Detroit, and since the first few years has enjoyed a business that has been both profitable and of more than representative character. His hard-working ability, his conscientious devotion
to the interests of his clients, and his special skill in handling complicated
cases has long been recognized and has brought him many distinctive
and worthy honors in the profession.
Outside a period of service as estimator at large for Detroit, Mr.
Bates has never held public office. However, he has long been one of
the influential workers in the Republican party of the state, and has
served as a delegate to many state conventions. Before the convention
at Grand Rapids in 1894 his name was presented as candidate for attorney
general, but he subsequently withdrew in favor of another candidate.
Mr. Bates has membership in the Detroit and Michigan Bar Associations,
of the American Bar Association, has taken thirty-two degrees in Scottish Rite Masonry and is a member of Michigan Sovereign Consistory,
and in the York Rite is affiliated with Oriental Lodge No. 240, A. F.
& A. M., King Cyrus Chapter No. 133, R. A. M., and Monroe Council
No. I, Royal and Select Masons. His own distinguished ancestry has
caused Mr. Bates to take great interest in organizations of colonial and
early American character, and he has served as treasurer and registrar
of the Michigan Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, as
Historian General of the national organization and one of its vice president-generals, and for many years has attended as a delegate the national
congresses of the Sons of the American Revolution. Mr. Bates is also a
member of the New England Society. His interest in American history
is indicated by his former service as president of the Detroit Archaeological Society and as councilor of the American Institute of Archaeology
and of the American Historical Association. Among other social and
civic organizations to which he belongs are the University Club of Detroit,
the Bloomfield Hills Country Club, the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan, and his church is the First Presbyterian.
On April 26, 1887, Mr. Bates was married to Miss Jennie Marie
Fowler, daughter of the late Richard Essyltyne Fowler, of Clayton, New
York. Their two children are: Stanley Fowler Bates, a graduate of
Cornell University, class of I9II; and Virginia Williams Bates.




I




4o4                                             7


J




ailliam oienrpt ocock
EARLY thirty-five years ago William H. Pocock established himself in Detroit as a general contractor, and
^          his work, carried on continuously since that time with
I  1  '  growing success and demand, has included many valuable contracts, including a number of the better known
apartment buildings of the city.
William Henry Pocock was born in St. Catherines,
Ontario, Canada, December 4, 1851. His parents were Gabriel and Emily
(Rhodaway) Pocock. Gabriel Pocock, who was born in the city of Bristol,
England, in 1833, was a general contractor in that city, and in 1858
crossed the Atlantic in a sailing vessel, and after a voyage of three months
arrived in Canada and settled in St. Catherines, Ontario. There his
contracting business was continued on a large scale for a number of
years, but about I898 he moved to the city of Hamilton, Ontaria, where
his death occurred in I9oo. His wife was born in Somersetshire, England. They were married in Wales, and her death occurred just two
days before that of her husband, and both were buried on the same
day in the same grave.
St. Catherines was the home of Mr. Pocock's early youth, and its
common schools gave him his preliminary education. Under his father's
direction he learned the trade of mason, and at the age of twenty was
taken in as a partner to the senior Pocock in the line of general contracting. From Canada he came to Detroit in the fall of I880, and
without attempting to describe in detail his long business record, it will
illustrate the character of his work to mention the following noteworthy
buildings erected by him: The Victoria flats, the Morris flats, the Pickwick flats, the Regina flats, besides many of the better residences of
the city.
Mr. Pocock is a member of Corinthian Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and
of Michigan Consistory, thirty-second degree Scottish Rite, and the
Moslem Temple of the Mystic Shrine. His wife was Zittella McClaren,
who was born in St. Catherines, Ontario, daughter of Robert and Mary
(Facer) McClaren. Mrs. Pocock died January 17, 1913, leaving one
son, William S.
William S. Pocock, who like his father and grandfather followed
the building trade, is one of the prominent young contractors of Detroit.
He was born in this city June 9, 1882, was educated in the Detroit
schools, learned the mason's trade, and in I902, at the age of twenty,
began contracting on his own account and under his individual name.


213




214               aalliam    bentp Pocock
Since then his services have been employed in the construction of the
Prince Albert flats, the Patona flats, the Espinosa flats, and at the present
time his staff of workmen are engaged in constructing an apartment for
forty families and another for thirty families, and also the building of
the Knights of Pythias Temple at Grand River. Mr. William S. Pocock
was married to Regina Bessinger, who was born in Detroit, a daughter
of George Bessinger. They are the parents of three children: Bryant
Walker, William Stephen and George. Mr. Pocock is an active member
of the Detroit Traders' & Builders' Exchange, the Detroit Board of
Commerce and the Detroit Motor Boat Club.








No
aRM
l-epasai~tl ~  li ~:~ ~i~_ ~   IB1U V




'Tjomas 1toobfietb;, NE of the largest and best known firms in the city of
1',2    Jackson today is the Hartwick-Woodfield Company,
wholesale and retail dealers in lumber, wood and coal,
and operators of a modem and complete planing mill
where all kinds of interior finishing materials are manu-: factured. Thomas Woodfield, whose name introduces
this brief review, is the president of this thriving concern and as one of the progressive and prosperous business men of Jackson, he is especially deserving of mention in these columns. Mr. Woodfield is especially fitted for the enterprise to which he has in recent
years devoted his time and attention, for he spent twenty years in the
lumber woods of Michigan in the days when that was the main industry
of the state, so that he has no lack of understanding of lumber and of the
many details that enter into the successful conduct of his business.
Thomas Woodfield is a native of England, born on October 19, 1858,
and he is a son of John and Mary (Chambers) Woodfield. Both are now
deceased. Neither of them ever left their native heath, but spent their
lives in England. Mr. Woodfield, their son, came to the United States
when he was twenty years old, and another of their sons, William, came
later. He is now a resident of Grayling, in Crawford county, Michigan,
a well known lumber town of the state. It was in the year 1878 that
Thomas Woodfield came to Michigan, and beginning then he spent more
than twenty years of continuous service in the lumber woods of Crawford
and Mackinaw counties. During all those years he identified himself with
the lumber business in its many phases, so that he gained a familiarity
with the enterprise that has brought him success and prosperity in his
present venture.
It was in the year I9OI that Mr. Woodfield came to Jackson and here
identified himself with his present firm as one of the incorporators of the
Hartwick-Woodfield Company, becoming vice president at the outset and
retaining that office up to I906, when he succeeded to the presidency. The
first president of the firm was Nels Michelson, of Grayling, Michigan.
The first secretary and treasurer was Edward E. Hartwick, then of Jackson, but now of Detroit, and prominent in lumber circles of that city.
Harvey T. Woodfield, son of Mr. Woodfield, is the present secretary and
treasurer of the company, and the able assistant of his father in the
business.
Mr. Woodfield is a Mason of Knight Templar and Shriner affiliations,
and he is also a Scottish Rite Mason. He is a director of the Jackson
217




218                  Cbomas      1oobtielW
Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Jackson City Club. A Republican, Mr. Woodfield has been more or less active in local politics, and
in his religious affiliations he is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal
church of Jackson.
On October I, I88I, Mr. Woodfield was married to Miss Marion Johanna Mickelson, and they are the parents of four children. Harvey
T., the eldest, is associated with his father in business, as has been stated
previously; Elsie M. is the second, and Marion Ella and John R. are the
others. The eldest son was married on June 17, I913, to Miss Louise
Gridley of Jackson. Mr. Harvey T. Woodfield, like his father, is prominent in local circles, both business and social, and he is secretary and treasurer of the Hartwick-Woodfield Company. He is also thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight Templar and a Shriner.




No






I —,1t 7&


/n-    7 X




Dr.       ti larb M. Burleton
HILE the professional career of Dr. Burleson has been
spent in the city of Grand Rapids, his family was first
a VJ        identified with the northeastern section of the state,
principally in Saginaw county. The Burlesons were
among the early settlers in Rhode Island and Connecticut, and the descendants of the original emigrants are
now very numerous and found in most if not all the
states of the Union. Many have attained prominence in the professions,
in business, and in public affairs.
The lineage of Dr. Burleson back to the first American ancestor lacks
one link of complete authenticity, but from the best information available he is a descendant from John Burles, who came to America in
I632 in the ship Blessing. He settled in Rhode Island, and it is believed
that one of his sons, Edward, took the name of Burleson, instead of
Burles. Edward Burleson married Sarah, and one of their children was
John Burleson, born in I677. John became the father of John, who
was born in I70I. In the next generation is Edward Burleson, who was
born in I737. Edward was the father of John Burleson, who was born
at West Greenwich, Rhode Island, June 8, I776. He was the greatgrandfather of Dr. Burleson, and migrated west from New England and
became one of the early settlers in Chenango county, New York. Grandfather Alfred Burleson, who was born at Greene in Chenango county,
New York, in I8II, learned the trade of shoemaker at a time when all
shoes were made to order, and often by traveling cobblers, who went
through the country and stopped long enough at each house to make all
the boots and shoes needed by the family for the next six months.
Alfred Burleson set up a shop and did a considerable business as a
manufacturer of custom shoes. When a young man he started west,
lived a few years at Steuben county, New York, and in I840 set out for
the new state of Michigan. After a brief residence at Pontiac, where
he followed his trade, he went on to the still newer country of Shiawassee county, where he bought land and settled down to the occupation of
farming. During the winter months he continued to make boots and
shoes, and thus combined two very useful and profitable employments.
He lived in Shiawassee county until his death, and his remains now rest
at Elsie, in Clinton county. Alfred Burleson married Lois Baker. Her
brother, Hiram Baker, was a farmer near Paw Paw, and her brother
Charles became a physician, and was in active practice in Decatur for


221




222            DDt. aillarttIb,  1urlegon
half a century. He died in I9I4. Lois Baker Burleson survived her
husband a few years. They reared two sons and five daughters.
Charles Burleson, father of Dr. Burleson, was born at Howard, in
Steuben county, New York, October 12, 1832. He was about eight
years of age when the family moved to Michigan, and he made the best
of his limited opportunities to secure an education. When a young man
he went south and found employment as clerk and bookkeeper in the
Pulaski House, a well-known pioneer hotel of Savannah, Georgia. He
was there during the trying times that preceded the war between the
states, and, though a northern man, was called out to drill with the
local, militia. The last boat which left Savannah previous to the outbreak of the war carried him north, and soon after his return to Michigan
he was married and took up his residence in Saginaw. There he was
given charge of a flour mill belonging to his father-in-law, and was also
later clerk and bookkeeper at the Bancroft House. He was agent for
the Tittabawassee Boom Company, and managed the affairs of that company at Saginaw for nine years. Finally he bought the interest of the
other heirs in his father's farm, and spent ten years as a practical farmer.
Then, returning to Saginaw, he entered the employ of C. Merrill and
Company, and was thus engaged until his death in I894. The maiden
name of his wife was Elizabeth Spalding. She was born at Hornell,
New York, a daughter of Dr. Erastus and Eliza (Walker) Spalding.
Dr. Spalding came from New York state to Michigan in 1841, making
the trip by way of the Erie canal as far as Buffalo, and from that city
driving all the way around the Great Lakes with horse and buggy,
passing through Cleveland and Toledo, which were then very small cities.
The wife of Charles Burleson died in 1902, and she reared seven children, namely: George S., Frank A., Willard M., Jesse C., Mae E.,
Fred E., and John F.
Dr. Willard M. Burleson, who was born at Saginaw, Michigan, March
20, I868, received his early education in the public schools of Shiawassee county and at Saginaw. His career has been one of varied experience. When he was eighteen years old he enlisted in the United States
regular army, and saw much service in the west before the close of
Indian hostilities. He was in campaigns in New Mexico and the Dakotas,
and during I890-91 was engaged in the campaign which concluded with
the death of the famous old Indian chief, Sitting Bull. While in the
army he was promoted to the grade of Sergeant, and served five years
altogether, until he obtained his honorable discharge. Returning home,
he took a commercial course, and soon after took up the study of medicine. In I896 he entered the Saginaw Valley Medical College, and was
graduated M. D. from that institution in I899. Dr. Burleson set up his
practice at Grand Rapids, and has since enjoyed a large and profitable
clientage. His brother, John F. Burleson, is associated with him in
practice, and they have a suite of offices in the Burleson Hotel building,
property which they own.
Dr. Burleson married Mary M. Comstock, who was born in Grand
Rapids, the only child of Tileston and Ellen Elmira (Turner) Comstock.






aaron 2'eaman Curner


223


Dr. Burleson and wife have one daughter, Ellen Elizabeth. Dr. Burleson has taken thirty-two degrees in Scottish Rite Masonry, and is also
affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. The family
attend worship at the Baptist church.
AARON BEAMAN TURNER
In the venerable and honored citizen who died at his home in Grand
Rapids in I9o3, at the age of eighty-one, western Michigan possessed
not only one of its pioneer residents, but a man who represented in his
long career the prominent social and civic elements which made this
community distinctive from its growth out of the wilderness to a modern city. He is best remembered as a journalist, and for many years was
an editor and the founder of the Grand Rapids Eagle. He was one of
the originators of the Republican party, and had the distinction of serving as clerk of the first city council at Grand Rapids.
Aaron Beaman Turner was born in Plattsburg, New York, August
27, 1822. His father was Isaac Turner, born in Clinton county, New
York, where he was reared and married, and in 1836 came west to Michigan accompanied by his family. He followed the Great Lakes as far
as Detroit, and there took his household goods and his wife and children
in a wagon and drove across the swamps and through the woods to Grand
Rapids. Grand Rapids was then only a village, and a small collection of
pioneer homes was the only thing to distinguish it from the wilderness
which closed it in on all sides. Isaac Turner had learned the trade of
mill-wright in his younger days, and for a number of years after locating
in western Michigan he was employed in the building of many flour
mills and grist mills throughout the country around Grand Rapids, and
thus assisted in the erection of some of the first manufacturing institutions in that part of the state. At Grand Rapids he had a prominent
place in affairs, and was a member of the first board of aldermen. His
home was on the west side, and there was no bridge across Grand river
for some years, so that all citizens in passing from one to the other side
of the city had to use canoes. Isaac Turner died at the age of seventyeight years. He married Eunice Bullis, who was born at Plattsburg,
New York, and lived to be about eighty years of age. They were the
parents of four daughters and three sons: Aaron B., Alzina M., Lydia
H., Clara B., Theresa N., Willard D. and Chester. By a second marriage he was the father of one son, Isaac.
The late Aaron B. Turner was seventeen years old when the family came west to Grand Rapids. He made the best of his limited opportunities to acquire an education, and in I837 began learning the printer's
trade in the office of the Grand River Times, which was the first newspaper published in Grand Rapids, and one of the first in all western
Michigan. He acquired a.thorough proficiency in the art of printing, and
was almost a natural newspaper man, so that he always occupied a con



224


bon. Cbarles C. Comstock


genial field in newspaper work. In I844 he bought an old-fashioned hand
press, and sufficient type and other material to enable him to set up a
small print shop. From that little office in Grand Rapids on Christmas
day of 1844 was issued the first number of the Grand Rapids Eagle, and
no history of Grand Rapids journalism would be complete without some
account of this paper and of its veteran editor. In I856 Mr. Turner
brought out the first daily paper published in Grand Rapids, at that
time the only means of illumination in the homes and in the offices of
Grand Rapids was by the tallow candle, and practically all the work on
the Daily Eagle, from typesetting to presswork, was performed by this
dim and wavering light. In 1864 the old office was destroyed by fire, but
Mr. Turner soon had it in running order again, and his paper was an
exception to the general rule of newspaper mortality in Michigan. Up
to 1852 his papers championed the Whig party, and at that date, the
old Whig organization having become decadent, he was one of the first
editors to make public call for the formation of a new and vigorous party
which might uphold and put into operation the new principles of political life which were already recognized and which only required organization to be made effective in national affairs. When Mr. Turner came
out boldly on the platform of a new party, many of his subscribers
dropped his paper, but he continued to advocate the new principles until
the Republican party was formed. He was one of the organizers of that
new party, and met his associates under the oaks at Jackson in I854, an
occasion and convention which gave the first formal existence to the
Republican party. He became prominent in public affairs, served as
secretary of the State Senate, and was a man of influence either through
his editorial writings or as a citizen. During the war he held the post
of sutler in the Fourth Michigan Infantry, and was through a number
of campaigns with his regiment.
The late Mr. Turner lived at Grand Rapids until his death at the
age of eighty-one years. He married Sally Sibley, who was born in
Clinton county, New York, December 7, 1824. Her father was Captain
Willard Sibley, a native of New York state who came out to Michigan
in 1834 and was one of the first pioneers to locate at Grand Rapids. He
was for some time engaged in boating up and down the Grand river,
and commanded the first steamboat that ever run the current of that
stream. He followed the river traffic many years, and lived in Grand
Rapids until his death. Captain Sibley married Elmyra Burt, who survived him, and for her second husband married Asa Pratt, another
Grand Rapids pioneer. The Sibley children were: Nathan, Willard
and Sally C. Mrs. Sally Turner died in her sixty-ninth year. She
reared seven children, namely: Ellen E., Amelia, Geneva, Martha, Grace,
Aaron B. and Willard S.
HON. CHARLES C. COMSTOCK
The name of the late Hon. Charles C. Comstock is one that deserves
remembrance and memorial in the history of the state. He was for many




AtIen. 4a oflon


225


years prominent in public affairs, and one of the early manufacturers at
Grand Rapids, a city which benefited by his presence and activities in
many ways.
Charles C. Comstock came to Grand Rapids from New Hampshire
in I853. He at once identified himself with the manufacture of lumber,
a line of industry in which he had much previous experience, and built
up a large industry, and also established a plant for the manufacture of
furniture, and pails and tubs. Always a Democrat in politics and an active worker in the organization, he was a nominee of the party for
various offices, including those of Governor and Congressman, in times
when the Democratic party was in the hopeless minority, and later when
the Democrats and Greenbackers fused their organization. He was honored by the united elements and elected for Congress from his district.
After serving a term in the National House of Representatives, he refused all further political honor, and thereafter was retired until his
death, February 20, I9oo, at the venerable age of eighty-two years.
Charles C. Comstock married Mary Winchester, who was born in
New England and was of old and honored revolutionary ancestry. She
died when quite a young woman, and Mr. Comstock married a second
time. The four children of his first marriage were Alzina, Tileston, Julia
and Mary Ella. The children of his second marriage were Clara and
Etta. Alzina, deceased, married Albert Stone; Julia, married John
Goldsmith, and he is deceased; Mary Ella is the widow of Franklin
Konkle; Clara is the wife of Huntley Russell; and Etta married L.
Boltwood.
ELLEN E. WILSON
One of the oldest residents of Grand Rapids is this venerable woman,
now seventy years of age, who was born in Grand Rapids when it was
a village on the western frontier, April 29, I844.
Ellen Elmira Wilson is a daughter of Aaron B. and Sally (Sibley)
Turner. Data concerning her father, one of the prominent pioneers of
Grand Rapids, will be found elsewhere in this work. She attended school
in the old stone building which in the early days stood on the top of the
hill and was used for various other purposes besides that of school.
When she was fifteen she entered the Michigan Female College at
Lansing, and was graduated there in 1863.
At the close of the Civil war, in I865, the citizens of Kent county
tendered the returning soldiers a banquet. Food was solicited and contributed in abundance by citizens all over the county, and it was served
to the honored guests in a dining hall which is unique in the history of
banquets. The place for the banquet was the covered bridge at the foot
of Pearl street. A table extended through the center of the bridge for
the entire length, and as all traffic was suspended for the time, a more
appropriate banquet hall could hardly have been devised. Mrs. Wilson




226


Q.Mlln QE, Wioion


was one of the many Grand Rapids young ladies who waited on the
table and who served the veterans and assisted in welcoming them home
after their long service in the cause. She was for many years active in
the social affairs of the city, and at one time was a member of the
Ladies' Literary Club and one of the founders of the Union Benevolent
Hospital.
When she was twenty-one years of age she married Tileston A.
Comstock, a son of Hon. Charles C. and Mary (Winchester) Comstock.
Tileston A. Comstock was born in New Hampshire, came to Grand
Rapids with his parents when he was a boy, acquired a good education,
and took up the manufacture of furniture, which he followed until his
early death at the age of twenty-six years. He left one daughter, Mary,
now the wife of Dr. Willard M. Burleson, of Grand Rapids. Mrs.
Comstock later married Robert Wilson. Robert Wilson was born in
Dumfries, Scotland, and when ten years of age came to America with
his widowed mother. While still young he took service with Aaron B.
Turner, under whom he learned the printing trade and the publishing
business in all its details. Later he was associated with Mr. Stevens in
publishing the Grand Rapids Democrat. At the outbreak of the war
he enlisted in Company B of the Twenty-first Regiment of Michigan
Infantry, and was promoted to the rank of Captain. At Bentonville,
North Carolina, he was severely wounded and has never fully recovered
from his injuries. He died in 1878, leaving Mrs. Wilson a young
widow. She now lives with her daughter and husband, Dr. and Mrs.
Willard M. Burleson. Mrs. Wilson is a member of the Sophie DeMarsac
Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and her religious
connection is with the Fountain Street Baptist church.




I




4  '/  I    '//


r




~I "       N the great lumbering industry which long constituted
the basis of civic and material prosperity in Michigan,
e I  e    a strong, resolute and resourceful figure in the pioneer
days was the late Newell Avery. A loyal, liberal and
influential citizen of the state, not only through his
operations in the field of lumbering, but as a man of
affairs and strong personal character, he left a definite
and worthy impress upon the history of the state.
Newell Avery was born in Jefferson, Lincoln county, Maine, on the
12th of October, I817, and passed the closing years of his life in the city
of Detroit, where his death occurred on the I3th of March, I877. He was
a son of Enoch and Margaret (Shepherd) Avery, both of whom were
natives of Maine, but their parents were natives of Massachusetts and
representative of staunch old colonial families of that commonwealth,
whence they removed to the state of Maine before the war of the Revolution. The respective families settled in that part of ancient Pownalborough, now called Alna, in Lincoln county, Maine, and both became
worthily identified with the social and industrial development and progress
of that section of the old Pine Tree state. Newell Avery was a branch
of the staunchest of Puritan stock, a descendant of Edward Rossiter, one
of the assistants of Governor John Winthrop; of William Hilton, of the
Fortune, the second trip to Plymouth, in 1621; and of John Brown of
Pemaquid, whose deed of land from the Indians is the first recorded deed
in Maine, if not the first such deed in New England. His training and
inheritance therefore equipped Newell Avery for the vicissitudes and
responsibilities of pioneer life, a life that has always demanded selfreliance, resourcefulness, and absolute integrity of purpose. The best
type of the New England spirit was manifest in and dominated the course
of Mr. Avery, and he proved himself master of circumstance and of the
opposing forces which would have baffled a man of less vigor, self-reliance
and determination. To such valiant spirit Michigan owes much of its
early development, and the state was fortunate in having his cooperation
in its affairs in the earlier period of its industrial advancement.
The father of Newell Avery had been actively identified with lumbering in Maine, and thus the son early gained the practical experience with
the industry which was to become the medium of his own large and worthy
success. Eleven years of age at the time of his father's death, there thus
fell upon his shoulders when a boy the heavy responsibilities of family
support. His widowed mother was left with ten immature and dependent
229




230


JOectue I atew


children, and under such conditions Newell Avery accepted the heavy lot
of attempting to provide for the support of the household, and thus came
to share in hard and incessant labor and almost manifold privations. The
gold of his character was thus tried in the fire of adversity, and from the
storm and stress of those early years was developed his many admirable
powers, although his education so far as books were concerned was of
the most meager order. With a strong and engaging personality, keen
perception and an unusual memory, he was never at a disadvantage in his
intercourse among men, and his varied achievements were those that constituted true success. At the age of fourteen years Newell Avery was
working in a sawmill in the Maine woods, and by hard and self-sacrificing
labors was showing his devotion to his mother and the younger members
of the family. One of the greatest regrets of his later years was that his
loved and unselfish mother was not permitted to live to witness and participate in the results of the great success he eventually acquired, but she
had for several years been the pleased witness of his advance toward
larger success and had enjoyed every comfort which his care and means
could suggest.
Mr. Avery's independent business career began with the purchase of a
small tract of pine land, from which he cut the timber and sold it to some
of the larger contractors in the lumber trade. With the growth of his
limited capital and his extending reputation among the lumber interests,
he found it possible to rent sawmills and to engage as an individual manufacturer of lumber. His progress after his independent start was rapid,
and the success which met his practical ventures and the shrewd judgment
which characterized every undertaking soon gave him a prestige and every
assurance of final success.
In 1849 Mr. Avery became associated with his brother-in-law, Jonathan
Eddy, and Simon J. Murphy, two other ambitious young men who were
destined to become representative citizens of Maine, and one of them of
Michigan. They organized the firm of Eddy, Murphy & Company, Mr.
Avery being the silent partner of the firm. Soon after its organization
the firm began operations in the great pine forests of Michigan, and in
I853 Mr. Avery removed with his family to Port Huron, of which city
he was a prominent man and civic factor in the years preceding and during
the Civil war. He served as president of the village board at one time,
and in 1859 was one of the first mayors of the city. His lumber operations were at first confined to St. Clair county, but gradually extended
until they covered a very considerable part of the entire lower peninsula
of the state. Thousands of acres were bought by him, comprising some
of the finest pine lands in the Saginaw valley, and the firm extended its
activities until they could be estimated as immense even among the greatest
timber operators in the United States at that time. Mr. Avery gave evidence of his mature judgment and his appreciation of the worth and value
of others by admitting to partnership in the firm certain of his trusted
employees, a system which brought forth effective co-operation and eventually the maximum of profit. At one time he was the executive head of
thirteen large lumbering concerns which were operating simultaneously in




231


different parts of Michigan. Mr. Eddy, the senior member of the original
firm, died in I864, and the surviving partners purchased his interest in the
business. About that time all of the firm's operations in Maine were
brought to a close, and Messrs. Murphy & Avery established their home
in Detroit, where the firm of Avery & Murphy became one of great prominence and influence. The firm bought large amounts of Detroit real estate
and held extensive properties in other parts of Michigan, and from the
lumbering business as well as from their dealings in real estate Mr. Avery
and Mr. Murphy acquired a place among the most substantial capitalists
of Michigan, and both were of a valued and useful influence in connection
with the civic and material prosperity of their home state.
Though he never manifested any inclination to enter into the arena of
practical politics, Mr. Avery was an active influence in the political life of
Michigan. He was a delegate to some of the national Republican conventions, and had the distinction of being one of the organizers of his party
as a member of the historic company which met "under the oaks" at Jackson in I854. His political influence was important to the party both in
Maine and in Michigan, and James G. Blaine of the former state and
Zachariah Chandler of the latter frequently consulted with him. While
he was constantly urged to let his name be presented for the highest honors
the state could confer, Mr. Avery was very self-depreciating, his business
cares were great, and he steadily refused to yield to all such solicitations.
Broad-minded and public-spirited, he had a clear comprehension of the
great questions of government and economic policies, and his convictions
were of a character where he could always give "a reason for the faith
that was in him." All that touched the general welfare was a matter of
moment to him, and none had a higher sense of personal stewardship. He
was distinctly anti-slavery in his convictions and had a great admiration
for President Lincoln. An earnest and liberal supporter of the cause of
popular education, Newell Avery did all in his power to further the
growth of the public school system of Michigan, and was a liberal contributor to the Olivet College, maintained at Olivet under the auspices of
the Congregational church. The late Newell Avery was a man of positive
character, steadfast and true in all the relations of life, liberal in his
religious views and always tolerant and kind in his attitude to others. He
commanded respect because he deserved it, and gained confidence and
affection by virtue of his sterling attributes. His success, which was great
from whatever point of view it might be regarded, was the direct result
of his own well ordered efforts, and he wisely used the generous fruits of
his long years of earnest endeavor, giving to the world assurance of strong,
noble and useful manhood. Both he and his wife were valued members
of the Congregational church.
In the year I843 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Avery to Miss
Nancy Clapp Eddy, who was born in the state of Maine, a daughter of
Ware Eddy. She was born at Eddington, Penobscot county, a town named
in honor of her illustrious ancestor, Colonel Jonathan Eddy, who was a
gallant officer of the patriot forces in the war of the Revolution. The
ground on which the town is situated was granted to Colonel Eddy by the
government in recognition of his services during the struggle for national




232                    Jlleoet ll atiep
independence. After the death of Newell Avery, in 1877, Mrs. Avery was
left with a large family, only two of whom were married. Her husband's
confidence in her wisdom was amply justified in the years that followed,
as she was instinctively business-like and just, and always tolerant. The
divisions of many interests was made without recourse to law, to her great
satisfaction.
A much younger but devoted personal friend familiar with her life
history wrote of Mrs. Avery as follows: "Madam Avery was a woman of
strong and unique personality and filled a large place in the towns where
she lived. She had a wide acquaintance and much influence, and at the
time of the great fires of Michigan and of Chicago it was she who helped
to meet the appalling situation with a quick and practical decision and
with thorough arrangement of the work of relief in her own state. She
was generous and unstinted in her service to the poor, sick and sorrowing;
to her friends, to her church and to the various organizations in which she
was actively interested. Her strong common sense, her executive ability,
her clear-cut honesty of spirit, her shrewd insight, her sense of justice,
were qualities which made her associates lean on her. Modest and absolutely without pretence, she was fearless in the face of difficulty. A New
Englander, descended from many lines of early settlers in New England
(John and Priscilla Alden, the Adams family of Quincy, the Fairbanks
of Dedham, etc.), she was naturally a notable housewife and keen thinker.
The flavor of her native state was in her colloquialisms and sincere manner, making her interesting to the last. Loyal to her friends, hosts of
friends were bound to her and sought to brighten her last wearisome years
of feebleness."
She lived to the great age of over eighty-six years, retaining to the last
a spirit of energy and helpfulness in spite of a weak body. Her brave
spirit was an inspiration to all who knew her. Her death occurred at the
family residence, 47 Eliot street, Detroit, April I9, I9II. Her loss was
especially mourned by a large circle of devoted relatives who had looked
upon her as the venerated head of their family for many years. The
children of Newell and Nancy (Eddy) Avery were as follows: Edward
Orlando, born October 23, I844, and who married Flora T. Huntington;
Darius Newell, born January Io, 1846, and who married Elizabeth Holbrook Dole; Leonard Cooper, born October I8, 1847, and who died
November I4, I853, at Port Huron, Michigan; Clara Arlette, born January 12, I850, who was liberally educated in Detroit and New York and
became the compiler of a genealogy of her own family and its important
branches; Nancy Margaret, born May I6, 1852, who married Henry W.
Skinner; George Edwin, born April I8, 1854, married Fannie E. Tarbell;
John Herbert, born July 29, 1855, who married Ella Smith; Horace
Waters, born April 12, 1857, married Luella West; Nellie Jane, born
April 29, I860, married Walter Wheaton Augur; a child born August 20,
1862, died unnamed; Arthur Ware, born October 21, 1864, at Port Huron,
and died there September I6, I865; Kittie Murphy, born September 13,
I866, and died August 27, I867; and Harry Eugene, born December 13,
1867, at Detroit.






Ir




(cr\
i~


J




George Mflorrit west
5;,  RESIDENT of Detroit since I891, Mr. West is identi-.      fied with the business community as a broker in the
A           handling of high-grade securities, with office in the
Union Trust building. In local financial circles Mr.
c^           West has long been prominently known, and in the past
twenty years he has probably handled as great a volume
of investments in commercial and industrial securities
as any other brokerage office in Detroit.
Born at Indianapolis, Indiana, April 7, I869, a son of George H.
and Susan V. (Stritchor) West, Mr. West is descended from one of
the oldest New England families. The founder of the name on this side
of the Atlantic was Francis West, a native of Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, where he was born in i6o6. He came, in 1628, to Duxbury, Massachusetts, which colony remained his home until his death in I692. He
married Margery Reeves and his son, Samuel West, was born at Duxbury in 1643, and married Trythosa Partridge, whose grandfather,
Stephen Tracy, related him to another prominent New England family.
Samuel West died at Duxbury in I689 and his wife in I701. Francis
West, son of Samuel and Trythosa, was born at Duxbury in 1669, died
in May, I739, and was known in his community as Deacon Francis West.
His marriage to Mercy Minor connected him with an old Massachusetts family. Samuel, a son of Deacon Francis, was born at Stonington,
Connecticut, in I699, and died at Tolland in the same colony in February,
I779. The maiden name of his wife was Sarah Delano, of the old
colonial family of DeLanoy, of French origin. To Samuel and Sarah
was born a son, Samuel, at Tolland in March, 1732, and who died at
his native town in November, 1792. His wife was Sarah Lathrop,
who was born at Tolland in I740 and died at Pittsfield, Massachusetts,
in May, I784. Their son Frederick was born at Tolland in April, 1767,
and died there in October, 1813. Frederick West was married at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to Anna Cadwell, who was born at Pittsfield in
March, 1776, a daughter of Major Daniel and Anna (Dwight) Cadwell,
her father having gained his title by service in the war of the Revolution.
Anna (Cadwell) West died at Pittsfield in 1839, long after the death
of her husband.
Henry Franklin West, a son of Frederick and Anna, and grandfather
of the Detroit business man, was born at Pittsfield in March, 1796, and
died at Indianapolis, Indiana, in November, 1856. At the time of his
death he was mayor of Indianapolis. As one of the early settlers of


235




236


oteorge Coprtdo Wa  ot


Indianapolis, he had long been an influential citizen, had established and
conducted the first book store there, under the name of H. F. West &
Co., and that business became the nucleus from which was evolved the
present extensive publishing house of Bobbs, Merrill & Company. One
other fact of his progressive citizenship at Indianapolis deserves mention. It was he who introduced the teaching of elocution into the public
schools throughout Indiana, and in many other ways his influence was
felt in that early city. Henry F. West married Betsey Mitchell, who
was born at Southbury, Connecticut, in April, I795, and who died at
Dayton, Ohio, in April, 1842. Her parents were Jared and Sarah Ann
(King) Mitchell.
George Herman West, son of Henry F. West, was born at Pulaski,
Oswego county, New York, November 22, 1830. In I840 moved to
Dayton, Ohio, after leaving Rochester, New York, and in 1844 established his home at Indianapolis.  In the latter city he received the
greater part of his education, and for many years was engaged in the
wholesale and retail queensware business, and subsequently became secretary and treasurer of the Masonic Mutual Benefit Society, an insurance organization at Indianapolis. Resigning that work in I895, he
moved to Detroit, which city remained his home until his death on
October 13, I903. George H. West married Susan Virginia Stritchor,
who was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 29, 1834, a daughter of Joseph Innis and Almira (Fitler) Stritchor. Mrs. West died at
Detroit May 15, I906. Their three children were: Frank, now deceased, who was for twenty-three years in the brokerage business at
Detroit in the firm of Baird & West; George Morris; and Miss Bessie
Mitchell West is historian of the Mayflower Society of Detroit.
The school days of George M. West were spent in Indianapolis, his
high school course having been followed by study in Sewell Military
Academy of that city. Since taking up his residence at Detroit, in I891,
he has been continuously in the brokerage and investment business, has
built up a fine clientage, and gives special attention to the handling of
high-class securities. Mr. West belongs to the Detroit Board of Commerce, the Detroit Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the Country Club, the
Automobile Club, and by reason of his New England ancestry has membership in the Society of the Sons of the Revolution and in the Mayflower
Society.




*A




IV,    / ("?.1:7   /    -, _, " t  -1
I                 4




Ifreberichk Mortimer Cobole
INCE the founding of Lansing as the capital of Michigan
the Cowles family have been one of the most prominent in that locality, and the name is still represented
in that city by Mrs. Nelson F. Jenison, Miss Lizzie
B. Cowles and Miss Lucy D. Cowles, daughters of
the late Frederick M. Cowles.
Frederick M. Cowles was born at New Berlin,
Chenango county, New York, February 3, I824, and died at Lansing,
Michigan, January I6, I9Io. He married Delia L. Ward, who was
born at Middlebury, New York, August I3, 1835, and died at Lansing,
July I, I895.
In 1833 the Cowles family moved from New York to the Western
Reserve of Ohio, settling at Chardon. In 1842, with his brother, Joseph
P., Frederick M. Cowles came to Alaidon, Ingham county, Michigan,
where the brothers erected a sawmill. This they conducted during the
summer months, while in the short winter terms Frederick taught school.
When the legislature, sitting in Detroit, voted to locate the capital at
what is now Lansing, in I846-47, Mr. Cowles was teaching school at
Ionia, and living with the family of Alonzo Sessions. As soon as spring
opened he started on foot for the new capital, arriving April o1, 1847,
the same day on which the capital commissioners, who were to lay out
the grounds and buildings, also arrived. At that time there was but one
house, a log structure, occupied as the home of Mr. Page and his family.
In the rear of what is now the Franklin House was a barn, in which Mr.
Cowles slept for the first two weeks. At Lansing Mr. Cowles engaged
in building and contracting and taking advantage of the wonderful opportunities presented in that field and during the next several years, in
addition to his assistance in building the capitol, erected many of the first
structures of the city. Subsequently he turned his attention to the mercantile business, and later became largely interested financially in the
early enterprises at Lansing. During his time there were but few ventures
with which he was not connected, and not a church was erected that did
not receive his generous financial and moral support. He was associated
in the building of the Lansing Opera House, and few men did more in
contributing to the growth, development and welfare of his adopted city.
Mr. Cowles served as alderman at Lansing for many years, and was
known as one of the active members of the board of aldermen, being the
leader in the fight for the restoration of the many city bridges that were
swept away in the floods of 1875. He also introduced and had passed
239




240


Jrteterlck 0ortimer QCtuoluI


the city ordinance compelling people to plant shade trees, and where that
became a burden for people to meet the expense he furnished their tolls,
so that in the hundreds of stately shade trees along the streets in the
older section of Lansing, Mr. Cowles has an enduring monument.
Both Mr. Cowles and his wife, Delia Ward, were descended from
some of the oldest New England families, and the following paragraphs
are devoted to a brief sketch of the principal lines in his genealogy.
Eliot Cowles, father of Frederick M. Cowles, was born at Litchfield,
Connecticut, March 5, 1783, a son of Joseph Cowles, who was born in
Staffordshire, England, and came to America when about nineteen years
of age. On landing, Joseph at once enlisted in the Continental army for
service in the Revolutionary War. He married Jerusha Frisbie, daughter
of Jabez Frisbie, a Revolutionary soldier.
The mother of Frederick M. Cowles was Sarah Salome Phelps, daughter of Oliver Phelps, who was born at Goshen, Connecticut, March 17,
1764, was a Revolutionary soldier, and died at St. Johnsbury, Vermont,
in 1843. Oliver Phelps was married February 5, 1783, at Norfolk,
Connecticut, to Sarah Miner. Oliver Phelps was an ensign in the
Revolutionary army. He was the son of Elkanah Phelps, who was
born in Goshen, Connecticut, February 3, 1742, and married Abigail
Phelps, who was born at Harwinton, Connecticut, November Io,
1741, and died at Winstead, Connecticut, June II, 1813, she being
the daughter of Lieutenant Samuel and Ruth      (Phelps) Phelps.
Elkanah Phelps, Revolutionary soldier, was the son of Captain Abel
and Mary Pinnack Phelps.    Captain Abel was born at Windsor,
Connecticut, February I9, I705, received his title during the French
and Indian war, and on July 6, 1737, married Mary Pinnack, of
Hebron, Connecticut. Captain Abel was the son of Joseph Phelps, who
was born at Windsor, Connecticut, September 27, i666, and on November
I8, I686, married Sarah Hosford. Joseph was the son of Lieutenant
Timothy Phelps, who was born at Windsor, Connecticut, September I,
1637, and married Mary Griswold, daughter of Edward Griswold, of
Killingsworth, Connecticut. William Phelps, the emigrant of the family,
was born at Gloucestershire, England, August I9, I599, came to America
in I630, in the ship Mary and John, which was the first of the Winthrop
fleet to arrive, and first settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts. In the fall
of 1635, with others of the Dorchester colony, he came through the woods,
enduring many hardships, and founded "Old Windsor," the first town to
be founded on Connecticut soil. He was a member of the first court held
in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1636, and was also one of the first magistrates
appointed. The first election held in the colony was in April, 1639, at
which time John Haynes was chosen governor, and Roger Ludlow, George
Wyllys, Edward Hopkins, Thomas Wells, John Webster and William
Phelps, Esquires, were chosen magistrates. Previous to this election he
was one of the six magistrates governing the colony. William Phelps
in 1636 was married in Windsor, Connecticut, to his second wife, Mary
Dover.
The genealogy of the Ward family and its connections is as follows:




Jrteberitk -ortimet qoWICeO


241


Delia L. Ward, wife of Frederick M. Cowles, was the daughter of Alanson
and Olive (Perkins) Ward, of Warsaw, New York. Alanson Ward,
who came to Lansing in May, 1847, and was the first justice of the peace
in that town, was born at Pittsfield, Otsego county, New York, October
17, 800o, and died at Lansing, Michigan, February I9, I870. He was the
son of Caleb Ward, a native of Buckland, Massachusetts, who married
Ann Rice. Caleb was a son of Josiah, who was born at Upton, Massachusetts, January 20, 1748, and married Polly Wiswall, who was born
at Upton, October 6, I744. Josiah died a soldier during the Revolutionary war, September 25, 1780. He was a son of John and Molly (Torrey)
Ward, the former of whom was born at Newton, Massachusetts, August
I2, I720, and died at Buckland, Massachusetts, in 1805. He was likewise
a Revolutionary soldier. His father, John Ward, whose wife's name was
Deborah, was born at Newton, Massachusetts, February 23, I69I, and
died May 24, 1747, at Grafton, Massachusetts, where he was a schoolmaster for many years. He was the son of William Ward, who was
born at Newton, November I9, 1664, and on December 31, I689, married Abigail Spring, who was born February 20, I667, a daughter of
Lieutenant John Spring, of Watertown, Massachusetts. William Ward
was a son of John Ward, who was bprn in England in 1625, was a proprietor of Sudbury in I65I, and married Hannah Jackson, whose father,
Edward Jackson, bought the old Simon Bradstreet farm and gave it to
help found Harvard college. John Ward was the first selectman of
Newton when that town was set off from Cambridge in I685. He was
also the first representative from Newton to the general court, and died
July 8, 1708, while his wife passed away April 24, I704. His military
record included service in King Philip's war, and his house was used as
a garrison house during King Philip's war. It was taken down in
1821, after having stood 170 years and having sheltered seven generations.
John Ward was the son of William Ward, who was born in England,
came to Sudbury, Massachusetts, in I639, was one of the incorporators
of Sudbury and Marlborough, Massachusetts, and represented Sudbury
in the general court in 1644, removing to Marlborough in I660, and
dying August Io, 1687. This last William was the founder of the Ward
family in America.
Alanson Ward was married January 13, 1823, to Olive Perkins, who
was born at Rutland, Vermont, April 24, 1807, and died at Lansing,
April I, I89I. She was a daughter of Philip Perkins, who was born at
Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in I770, and died August 25, 1847, at
Owosso, Michigan. He was married at Boston, Massachusetts, December 3, I790, to Sallie Gibson, who was born there in I771. Philip was
the son of Charles Perkins, who was born at Bridgewater in 1732, and
died at Middlebury, New York, in 1828, having been a soldier of the
Revolutionary war. He married Abigail Waterman, daughter of Perez
Waterman (see below). Charles Perkins was the son of Nathan Perkins, who was born at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1710, and Nathan
was the son of Nathan Perkins, born at Bridgewater, September 13,
I685, and died in 1728. Nathan senior was married November 9, I709,




242


JR+9e!on jT etcber 3Tenifon


to Martha Leonard. Nathan was the son of David Perkins, who was
born at Hampton, New Hampshire, December 28, 1653, and established
the first ironworks at Bridgewater, was the first representative of the
town to the general court at Boston in 1692, serving also in I694, I696
and I704, and died in I736. He was a son of Abraham and Mary (Wise)
Perkins, the former born in England in I613 and died in I683. Abraham
was admitted a freeman of Hampton, New Hampshire, May 13, I640,
and was marshal thereof in 1654.
Perez Waterman, mentioned in the last preceding paragraph, was
born October 8, I7I3, at Plympton, Massachusetts, and died at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in I793. His wife was Abigail Bryant. He was
a son of John Waterman, who was born September 23, 1685, at Marshfield, Massachusetts, was married December 29, I709, to Lydia Cushman, thus introducing another lineage of especial interest. Lydia Cushman was a daughter of Eleazer Cushman who was born February 20,
I656, and married Elizabeth Coombs, January 12, 1687. Thomas Cushman, father of Eleazer Cushman, was born in England, and came with
his father, Robert Cushman, in the ship Fortune. Robert Cushman, who
was one of the proprietors of the Plymouth Company which sent out
the Mayflower and other ships, remained in America only a month,
and preached the first sermon ever delivered in New England, his text
being "Self Denial." When he returned to England he left his son
Thomas in the care of Governor Bradford, in the family of Elder
Brewster, and upon the death of the latter succeeded him as elder
and continued to serve as such until his death in I689. Thomas Cushman
was married in 1635 to Mary Allerton, who was eleven years old when
she came over in the Mayflower in I620. She died in I699 and was
the last survivor of those who came on the Mayflower. She was the
daughter of Isaac Allerton, of London. Isaac Allerton was married
in Leyden, Holland, in I6II, to Mary Norris, of Newbury, England.
Isaac Allerton was the fifth signer of the Mayflower compact, and when
William Bradford was chosen governor, after the death of Carver in 1621,
Allerton was made assistant or deputy governor. He was one of the
undertakers in 1627, subsequently made five voyages to England as
agent of the colonies, and died at New Haven, Connecticut, well advanced
in years.
NELSON FLETCHER JENISON
The business relations and the public spirit manifested by Nelson
Fletcher Jenison during a residence in Lansing for thirty-six years were
such as to make him known as one of his.adopted city's most substantial
and influential men. Mr. Jenison identified himself with Lansing in 1871,
and his death on November 3, I907, was a distinct loss to the community.
Nelson Fletcher Jenison was born at Eagle, Clinton county, Michigan, December I6, 1855, of a pioneer family, and was the son of William
Fletcher and Janet (Berry) Jenison. The parents, who were married




Jf els on jFIetcber 3l[enizon


243


at Portland, Michigan, January 3, 1841, were both natives of New York
state, the father born at Byron December 19, 1812, and the mother at
Geneva, Seneca county, April 15, I819. The former died at Eagle,
Michigan, June 14, I898, and the mother at the same place on November
30, 1906.
The genealogy of the Jenison family reaches back to colonial days
in the history of this country, and is traced directly as follows: William
Fletcher Jenison was the son of Fletcher Jenison, who was born at Lancaster, New Hampshire, August 22, 1780, and died July 3, I868, at Eagle;
Michigan. His first wife was Alma Alzina Root, who was the mother
of all his children, and his second wife bore the maiden name of Polly
Bolton. Fletcher Jenison was the son of Hopstill Jenison, who was born
at Barry, Massachusetts, September 2, I751, and on December I6, 1773,
married Relief Fletcher, daughter of Captain Fletcher, a Revolutionary
soldier from Massachusetts. Hopstill Jenison and wife had a son who
was born while the battle of Bunker Hill was being fought, and on
that account was named Victory. Hopstill Jenison likewise served as
a soldier of the Revolution as a sergeant in Captain Stearns company of
a Massachusetts regiment. He was a son of Nathaniel Jenison, born
April 5, 1709, at Watertown, Massachusetts, and married October 23,
1729, Abigail Mead of Weston, Massachusetts. Nathaniel Jenison, who
had the distinction of being the last man in Massachusetts to hold slaves,
was also a Revolutionary soldier. He was the son of Samuel Jenison,
born at Watertown, Massachusetts, October 12, I673, and died December
2, I730. Samuel married Mary Stearns, who was born April 5, I679,
at Watertown. Samuel was a son of Ensign Samuel Jenison, who was
born at Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1643, died October 15, I70I, and
on October 30, i666, married Judith Macomber, who died March I,
1722. Samuel Jenison was a son of Robert and Grace Jenison, the latter
of whom died November 26, I686. Robert Jenison was born in England
and died at Watertown, Massachusetts, July 4, I69o. The original
Jenison farm is now a part of Mount Auburn cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts.
Fletcher Jenison and his son, William Fletcher Jenison, came to
Michigan in 1838, and located the old Jenison homestead at what is now
Eagle, in Clinton county, where Fletcher Jenison and his wife passed
the remainder of their lives. At that time Michigan was an unbroken
wilderness, and had been a state only one year. The log house was
built by Fletcher Jenison, and he was a soldier in the War of 1812.
The William Fletcher Jenison house was a very large frame house, a
tavern in fact, and one room was used as the postoffice. The Jenison
farm was cleared and a log house built, and there William Fletcher
Jenison continued to engage in agricultural pursuits during the remaining
years of his life, passing away on the old homestead June I4, 1898.
He was one of Clinton county's oldest pioneers, was one of the first
teachers in the schools of that county, filled various public positions
within the gift of the people, and was one of the first postmasters of the
county, at Waverly, which became known as Eagle when the township




244


Jt eloon Jfletcber 3lenioon


of that name was organized. He was elected sheriff of the county for
two terms, was supervisor of his township, and was a member of the
Michigan legislature during the session when the state appropriated so
much swamp land for the benefit of the highways. He was a director
of the Ionia & Lansing Railway, a prominent member of the Masonic
order, and in every way one of the leading men of his community during
his day. Mr. Jenison's home was one of the landmarks of Michigan
for many years. It was built in 1841, and until its destruction by fire
only a few years ago was for a long time kept as a hotel and was the
stopping place for hundreds of travelers during the days before that
section had a railroad. Mrs. Jenison, the wife of William  Fletcher
Jenison, came to Michigan in 1833 with Mr. and Mrs. A. Newman, the
latter a sister, the family settling at Portland. During the early thirties
and forties Mrs. Jenison taught in the country schools, and for sixtyfive years was a resident of the old Jenison homestead place.
Nelson Fletcher Jenison left the home farm in 1871, at the age of
sixteen, and at Lansing entered the employ of B. F. Simons, an early
merchant of that city. Subsequently he found employment in the store
of Frederick M. Cowles, his future father-in-law, and continued with
him until entering business in partnership with Mr. Simons. Mr. Jenison gained sole control of this enterprise, and conducted it successfully
until I896. In that year he retired from mercantile lines to concentrate
his attention upon his growing real estate and insurance interests. He
was the owner of much improved and unimproved city property, including the well-known Jenison block. A man of fine business attainments,
he won well-merited success in each of the fields in which he labored,
and his associates at all times had every reason to place confidence in
him and to rely upon his leadership and counsel.
The late Mr. Jenison was married April 3, I879, to Miss Alice Glendora Cowles, daughter of the late Frederick M. Cowles, a prominent
Lansing pioneer whose sketch and interesting ancestry are found elsewhere in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Jenison had one son: Frederick
Cowles Jenison, now a leading real estate and insurance man of Lansing.




0




'Il




3 on *btroeber
2           DETROIT citizen who long enjoyed the esteem of that
t   >   '   community, and whose life was an example of sucA   i  cess well won, and from   difficult beginnings, was
the late John Schroeder, whose career had those
S  attributes of accomplishment and individual character
which well merit a place in the history of the state.
He was born in Detroit, lived his entire life in that
city, and to the growth and development of its interests contributed
his full share. Entering the paint business as a boy of fourteen, he
worked his way up until at the time of his death he was at the head
of the Schroeder Paint & Glass Company, which was the largest jobbing
firm in that line in Detroit. He was also president of the Michigan
Smelting & Refining Company.
John Schroeder was born in Detroit, July 26, I860, the son of John
and Christina (Vogt) Schroeder. His early training was acquired
in the parochial schools, and later while working during the day he
attended the Goldsmith Business College at night, and in that way gained
the commercial training necessary for his advancement. His first practical services were rendered as a clerk in the store of William Reid,
a dealer in paints, oils, glass, etc. His employment began in 1874, and
during the following years he conquered many difficulties, won the confidence of his employers, and became a master of his particular line of
business. In I897 Mr. Schroeder and James H. O'Donnell formed a
partnership and organized the Schroeder Paint & Glass Company, wholesale and retail, with Mr. Schroeder as president, an office he continued
to hold, directing and building up a splendid business, until the day of
his death.
Mr. Schroeder was a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce,
and very prominent in Detroit business circles. His genial disposition
and sterling character won him a wide circle of friends, and once his
friend always his friend. He was active and prominent in city affairs,
and served as a member of the city board of water commissioners from
I902 to I907. In fraternal circles he had a varied relationship. He was
a fourth degree member of the Knights of Columbus and a charter member of that organization in Detroit, was one of the oldest members of
the Harmonie Society, and also belonged to St. Joseph's Society, to
Westphalia Society, the Detroit Lodge of Elks, the Catholic Mutual
Benefit Association, the Detroit Athletic Club, and the Detroit Paint,
Oil & Varnish Club.
247




248                    3folbn  cbtroete
On June 3, 1884, Mr. Schroeder married Mary Antoinette Lebens,
who died July 3, I9o8, leaving the following children: Antoinette A.,
who married Fred Schaemig, of Detroit; Edwin A., who married Amy
Diedrich, of Detroit; William G.; Marie F.; Frances J.; and Viola A.
Mr. Schroeder on September 27, I9II, married Mary M. Peters. Mrs.
Schroeder, a native of Detroit, is a daughter of Richard and Bridget
Peters. Her parents were born in Detroit, and her grandfather was
Antoin Peters, a pioneer French settler in the Grosse Pointe neighborhood.




I




% 4' r: fhYS




jfreberict       C.      ringg,nNE of Detroit's oldest and most prominent citizens and
i honored members of the legal fraternity was the late
~ y~ | Frederick E. Driggs, who was born in New York
/  ~  {    City, New York, August 20, I838, and died at his
home in Detroit, June I6, I913, after a continued
'f,     residence in this city of over a half a century, during
which he was actively identified with the law, business
affairs and religious and philanthropic movements.
Mr. Driggs was descended from an English ancestor who came to
America in 1716, settling in Connecticut, while his parents were S. Beach
and Adelaide (Desnouise) Driggs, natives of New York, to which state
the family had removed from Connecticut. Mr. Driggs received his literary education in private schools in New York, and his legal training
was procured under special preceptors and at the Poughkeepsie (New
York) Law School, where he received his degree of Bachelor of Law
in I859. During that same year Mr. Driggs came to Michigan, locating
in Detroit, where he continued the prosecution of his legal studies in the
office of D. C. Holbrook, and in I86o was admitted to the Michigan
bar after an examination before the Supreme Court, and began the
practice of his profession at Detroit. A short time later Mr. Driggs
formed a partnership with E. W. Meddaugh, which firm, known as
that of Meddaugh & Driggs, was for many years one of the leading
legal combinations of Michigan. Subsequently Henry A. Harmon was
admitted to the firm, which then became Meddaugh, Driggs & Harmon.
As a legist, Mr. Driggs was known to be capable, well read, and a
reliable counselor. In his professional advice he was strictly honorable
and honest, consulting in every possible way the interests of his clients,
and being noted for the care and attention which he gave to every
detail. His connection with cases of an important character brought
him prominently before the people, but he was also widely known in
business and financial circles for many years, being identified with such
well-known financiers as the late U. S. Senator James McMillan, Francis
Palms, Hiram Walker, Allan Sheldon, Governor Baldwin and H. P.
Baldwin. He assisted and took a prominent part in the building of the
Detroit, Mackinac & Marquette Railroad, and for thirty years was
with Francis Palms and Senator McMillan a trustee in the management
of the land grant received by that road. He was also a director in the
Detroit Trust Company and in the Detroit Marine and Fire Insurance
Company, and held various important offices in Detroit corporations.
251




252              Iattbetu Ieale abittlesep
Mr. Driggs was much interested in church and philanthropic work
and gave freely of his time and means in that direction. For over thirty
years he was a member of the board of trustees and for many years
president of the board of St. Luke's Hospital and Church Home; he
was president of the board of trustees of the Mariners' Church, and a
vestryman of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Mr. Driggs was a member
of the American Bar Association, the Michigan State Bar Association
and the Detroit Bar Association, and retained his interest and prominence at the bar to the last. He belonged also to the Detroit, Country
and Bankers Clubs. Mr. Driggs' life was spent in such a manner that
he won the respect and honor of all with whom he came in contact,
made and retained a host of warm and sincere friends, and will long
be remembered by the community as a man of strong character and much
legal and financial ability, and as one who bore his full share of labor
in the building up of Detroit and its institutions.
MATTHEW BEALE WHITTLESEY
Engaged in the practice of law at the Michigan bar since I900, Matthew Beale Whittlesey, of Detroit, has achieved prominence and popularity, as well as the material rewards that go with a large and representative practice, gaining his success through a quick grasp of salient
points, an impressive manner, inherent ability for his profession and considerable oratorical gifts. Likewise, aside from his activities in the
ranks of his calling, he has interested himself in movements that have
made for civic betterment, and has done more than his share in advancing morality, religion and good citizenship.
Mr. Whittlesey is a native of Michigan, born at Detroit, June 25,
1876, a son of John Jacob and Agnes (Martine) Whittlesey. He belongs
to an old and honored American family, the founder of which, John
Whittlesey, emigrated to this country as early as I635, settling in New.England. The family has long been known there and has contributed
of its members to the various professions and to high places in military
and civic life. Matthew B. Whittlesey received his early education in
the public schools of Detroit, following which he went to the high school
at Green Bay, Wisconsin, and after some further preparation became a
student in the University of Michigan, graduating therefrom in I899
with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. In I899 and I9oo he attended
the law department of the same institution, and in the latter year embarked in practice at Detroit, although he subsequently attended the Detroit College of Law, from which he was graduated in I9oI with the
degree of Bachelor of Laws. When he first began practice Mr. Whittlesey was associated with the firm of Bowen, Douglas & Whiting, but
since I9OI has been engaged in practice alone. He has been successful
in building up a practice typical of the best kind of work which may
be entrusted to the lawyer, and at no time has he failed to demonstrate




~attbeW   ~teale    fbittleet                253
his complete ability in the handling of his legal business. The success
which he has won is a sufficient testimonial not only to the possession
of superior natural abilities, but also to the exemplary perseverance and
industry which has been shown in every stage of his career. He is a
firm believer in the doctrine that work will tell. Mr. Whittlesey has
shown more than ordinary interest in enterprises calculated to make for
advancement and city welfare, and is a member and secretary of the board
of trustees of St. Luke's Hospital Church Home and Orphanage. He is
active in religious circles, being a vestryman of St. John's Episcopal
church. He also holds membership in the Psi Upsilon College fraternity,
the Detroit Board of Commerce and the University, Detroit Boat, Detroit Club, Detroit Tennis, Detroit Athletic and Church Clubs.  He
maintains offices at Nos. 915-16 Hammond Building.
Mr. Whittlesey was married April 25, I908, to Miss Ellen Ruth Hargreaves, of Detroit, and three children have been born to them: Frederick Driggs, George Hargreaves and Matthew Beale, Jr.




I1








-7            -...           If




William W. Maannan
S a recognized authority on real estate, William W.
Hannan, President of the Detroit Realty Company,
and head of the widely known Hannan Real Estate
Exchange, is known in many sections of the United
States. Though educated for the law, and for some
3 5         time engaged in its practice, Mr. Hannan soon realized
that his forte was in business affairs, and in his particular sphere no one has made a more notable success. The Detroit
Realty Company owns and controls a number of the largest and most
modern apartment buildings in Detroit-notably the Lenox, the Madison and the Pasadena. During the past thirty-one years there has been
hardly any event of importance in the civic and industrial history of
Detroit with which Mr. Hannan's name has not been connected in some
public spirited manner.
William W. Hannan was born in the city of Rochester, New York,
July 4, I854. When he was about two years old his parents came West
and settled at Dowagiac, Cass county, Michigan, where his boyhood and
early youth were spent. After graduating from the Dowagiac High
School in 1873, he was a student at Oberlin College in the preparatory
school in Ohio, till 1876, then entered the University of Michigan, and
graduated from the classical department in i880. His university career
was continued in the study of law until 1883, when he graduated LL. B.
from the State University. While at the university, Mr. Hannan made
a good record in scholarship and in athletic and social circles, and his
fellow students esteemed him all the more for the fact that he had to
pay most of his expenses, which he did chiefly through organizing excursions to summer resorts during the vacation. In the old sporting records
of the university his name is found as a winner in track events. While
pursuing his law studies in I881-83, he was engrossing and enrolling
clerk in the lower house of the State Legislature, and his qualifications
and experience were such that he was admitted to the bar, on examination before the circuit court of Washtenaw county in 1882, before graduating from the university.
Since 1883 Mr. Hannan has made his home in Detroit. His first
practice as a lawyer was as an associate of Judge William L. Carpenter,
but at the end of one year the firm of Carpenter & Hannan was dissolved,
and the younger member has since practically neglected his profession in
favor of real estate. With the late Herbert M. Snow, he engaged in that
business under the name of Hannan & Snow Company for a few months,
257




258


William 0. Oannon


and then founded the Hannan Real Estate Exchange. The Exchange
was the business intermediary for the handling of many large central
business and subdivision properties in Detroit, during a number of years
following its founding. It grew and prospered as a business, and its
operations were extended to the general fire insurance and loan fields.
Mr. Hannan continued at the head of the Hannan Real Estate Exchange
and thirty-one years of active experience have given him a close and
and intimate knowledge of realty values in Detroit that make him a
convincing authority on the subject. His operations have also extended
into the State, and the Hannan Exchange has done business of a large
and varied order. Besides opening and improving many subdivisions,
it has erected several apartment buildings and still retains the ownership
and management of a number of them. More than a million dollars were
invested in five of these apartment buildings, and besides them Mr.
Hannan has built a large number of private residences for sale on the
installment plan. Some brief outline of the more notable deals handled
by Mr. Hannan is afforded by the following statements: He was instrumental in effecting the deal whereby the Ford interests of Toledo bought
the land at the corner of Griswold and Congress streets, where now
stands the eighteen-story Ford building, one of the finest office structures in the city; the sale of the Hammond building and the Hodges
building; the erection and management of the Pasadena, the Lenox and
the Madison apartment buildings, three of the finest apartment houses
in the middle West; the handling of a score of subdivision properties
in the North, the Northwestern and Northeastern sections of the city,
embracing Park Hill, Medbury, Baldwin Park and Dailey Park subdivisions; and an even greater distinction attained by Mr. Hannan is the
fact that more industries and home builders of moderate means have
been able to secure a home through his agency than through any other
source. Mr. Hannan has a special reputation as a leader in the construction of apartment buildings West of New York City. Through all
these varied business experiences and enterprises he has been guided
by a fine sense of community values, and his public spirit is as noteworthy as his private enterprise.
In a public and social capacity he has been active and for eight years
gave invaluable service as a member of the Detroit Board of Estimates,
of which he served as president for one term. In politics he is a Republican, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, is a member of the
Detroit Club, the Detroit Country Club, and the Detroit Board of Commerce, and other social and civic organizations.
Mr. Hannan's activities in the real estate field have by no means been
confined to his own city or his own personal interests. Very early in his
business life he realized the necessity for and the great benefits to be derived from co-operation between men of like interests. Following out
this idea, Mr. Hannan was instrumental in organizing not only the real
estate operators in Detroit into a local Real Estate Board, of which he
was a charter member, but he was also one of the originators and second
president of the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges.




William    m. Iannan                     259
For years Mr. Hannan has spent much time and energy visiting the
various cities trying to promote the interests of the National Association.
He took the initiative in publishing the "National Real Estate Journal,"
and was its financial sponsor during the experimental stage.
Mr. Hannan has always been a valued contributor to the columns of
the "National Real Estate Journal," and a popular speaker at the meetings and banquets of Real Estate Organizations in all the leading cities
of the United States.




I
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Dr. QbtWin Ctapin captor
R. EDWIN CHAPIN TAYLOR comes of a well estab< 1       i  lished American family of New York state, and was
himself born in Elmira, New York, on January 4, I859.
Jj       He is a son of George H. Taylor, a teacher, who died
' V,       in i86o, when his youngest son, Edwin Chapin, was
1    only a year old.
The family is one to which considerable interest attaches, and it should be stated here that the paternal grandsire of Dr.
Taylor came from Scotland, his native land, to the United States when he
was a young man, and he became the first Methodist preacher in Elmira,
New York. He was the father of six sons, and all of them, with the single
exception of the father of the subject, gave his life to the ministry of the
Methodist church. George H. Taylor was likewise educated for the ministry, and he, too, would in all likelihood have devoted himself to that
calling but for the fact that he became associated closely with Dr. Edwin
Chapin, then world famous as a pulpit orator of the Universalist faith,
and this association resulted in a conversion of Mr. Taylor to the church
of the Universalists. So great was the influence of Dr. Chapin on Mr.
Taylor, and so deep his reverence for the man, that he named his son,
Dr. Taylor of this review, for the renowned preacher. The mother of
Dr. Taylor was Nancy R. Breese, whose grandfather, Silas Breese, was
the first settler in Chemung county, New York. Sarah Breese, an aunt
of Mrs. Taylor, was the first white child born in that county.
Dr. Taylor had his early education in the old Horse Head Academy at
Elmira, New York, and in 1879, when he was twenty years old, he was
graduated from the Medical Department of the University of Buffalo.
He has been engaged in the active practice of his profession continuously
since that time, with the exception of two years.
From 1879 to I886 Dr. Taylor was engaged in his profession in Elmira.
From the latter year to I899 he conducted a thriving practice at Kalamazoo,
Michigan. Since 900o he has devoted a good deal of time to post graduate
work, carrying on his studies in the best known clinics of Baltimore, New
York and Chicago, with some attendance at the famous Mayo Hospital
at Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Taylor has given especial attention to
surgery and is now on the staff of the Jackson City Hospital. He is a
member of the Board of United States Pension Examiners and has a wide
and lucrative private practice in Jackson, in addition to his many other
duties in line with his profession.
Dr. Taylor is a member of the American Medical Association; he is
263




264             eDrl, OUtbifn Cbapin Caolor
vice president of the Michigan State Medical Society and is also a member
of the Jackson County Medical Society. Fraternally, Dr. Taylor is a
Mason, and he has membership in the Jackson City Club and the Meadow
Heights Country Club.
The doctor has been twice married. His present wife was Miss Annie
Dodge, of Imlay City, Michigan, a sister of Dr. William T. Ddoge, of Big
Rapids, Michigan. They were married on June 23, I898, and two children
have been born to them. Nancy Ann, born September 22, 1899, is generally known as "Nana" and is a junior in the Jackson high school. William Dodge Taylor was born January 6, I902, and is now a student in the
freshman class.




I




II




Sanforb Wetbb              abb
Y            ROBABLY no member of the Detroit bar has a higher
*             * standing for ability and success in connection with
public utility and corporation law than Sanford Webb
Ladd, who has in recent years confined practically all
*         J     of his practice to that class of work. He belongs to
one of Michigan's old families, the name having been
established in the territory nearly eighty years ago, and
having been prominently associated with business and the professions.
Sanford Webb Ladd, who is a member of the law firm of Warren, Cady
& Ladd, of Detroit, was born at Milford, in Oakland county, Michigan,
December 2, 1877. His father, Frank Montgomery Ladd, was born at
Milford, Oakland county, in April, I849, a son of David Montgomery and
Martha (Hartwell) Ladd. David Montgomery Ladd was born just outside of Concord, New Hampshire, in 1814, and came to Michigan in 1835,
at the age of twenty-one. This was two years before Michigan became a
state of the Union. His first settlement was at Northville, in Wayne
county, but soon afterward he moved to Milford, in Oakland county, and
there established himself in business as a pioneer merchant. For many
years he continued as one of the leading business men at Milford. He and
his wife both died there, he in I909, at the great age of ninety-three years,
while his wife passed away in I88I. A few years after he moved to
Michigan he was followed by his parents, who settled at Dearborn, in
Wayne county, where they lived until death.
Frank Montgomery Ladd, father of the Detroit lawyer, was reared at
Milford, where he attended the public schools. Becoming associated with
his father in merchandising, he later succeeded to the business, which was
carried on under father and son for a period of more than seventy years.
Mr. Ladd is now retired from active affairs, and still lives at Milford. He
was married to Mary Elizabeth Webb, who was born at West Liberty,
Ohio, in I857, a daughter of Jacob Webb. Mrs. Ladd is also living.
At Milford, where he spent his boyhood and youth, Sanford Webb
Ladd attended the public schools and completed his early education by
graduation from the Ann Arbor high school in I897. Entering the literary
department of the University of Michigan, he was graduated with the
degree of A. B., in the class of I9OI. He then studied law in the University
of Michigan Law School, and in the year I902 was admitted to practice
in Michigan. He first had his office at Port Huron, where he became junior
member of the firm of Moore, Brown, Miller & Ladd. From Port Huron
he moved to Detroit in I908, and was for several years a member of the
267




'%anfotb Webb Labb


268


firm of Merriam, Yerkes, Sinons & Ladd. In I9II, upon the death of Mr.
Shaw, the firm of Shaw, Warren, Cady & Oakes was reorganized under
the present firm of Warren, Cady & Ladd. For the past eight years Mr.
Ladd has been counsel for what is now the Michigan United Traction
Company, and he has looked after that corporation's interests throughout
the state.
He is well known in club life at Detroit and elsewhere. He has membership in the Detroit Board of Commerce, the Detroit Club, the Detroit
Athletic Club, the University Club of Detroit, the University Club of Chicago, the University of Michigan Club, and belongs to the Detroit, the
Michigan and the American Bar Associations. He is a trustee of the
North Woodward Avenue Congregational church.
Mrs. Ladd before her marriage was Miss Nina Axtell Truesdell,
daughter of Philo and Helen (Axtell) Truesdell, of Port Huron. They
are the parents of three children: Helen Elizabeth Ladd, Virginia Mary
Ladd and Elizabeth Ladd.
aR~)(L)










:.
i




IT enrp     Jartpn      lelanb
HOUGH he recently turned over to his son the general
management of the great Cadillac Motor Company,
the name of Henry M. Leland is recognized as one
of the best known in motor manufacturing circles of
the country. That Detroit is now the "hub" of the
automobile industry in America is perhaps due as
much to the enterprise of Mr. Leland as to any other
single individual. His life has been one of exceptional experience and
achievement. During the Civil War period, years before modern
inventions, including the automobile, were dreamed of, Henry Martyn
Leland was employed in one of the government armories in making
tools used in the manufacture of army rifles. His mechanical genius
in its development from that time had many turnings, until twenty
years ago he engaged at Detroit in the manufacture of naphtha and
other internal combustion engines, used principally for the propulsion of
motor boats. From that the transition to manufacture of engines for
automobiles was natural enough.  These facts show an interesting
genesis in the career of a man who has been one of the principal factors
in the growth of the automobile business at Detroit.
Henry Martyn Leland was born at Danville, Vermont, February i6,
I843. He is a direct descendant of Henry and Margaret Badcock Leland,
natives of England, who came to America in I625, becoming the founders
of the Leland name on this side of the Atlantic. The original emigrant
died at Sherburne, Massachusetts, April I4, I680. The parents of
Henry M. Leland were Leander and Zilpha (Tifft) Leland, and both
were natives of Rhode Island. Their death occurred at Worcester,
Massachusetts, the father in 1881, and the mother in I896.
Reared in Vermont and Massachusetts, Henry M. Leland was
educated in the public schools, and was about eighteen years old when
the war broke out among the states. Completing his apprenticeship
at that time, he contributed his services to his country by service in the
United States Armory at Springfield, Massachusetts, and there became
actively attached to the mechanical work which has practically been his
profession ever since. At Springfield he assisted in making the tools
utilized in the manufacture of rifles for the army, and at the close of
the war entered the employ of the Colt's Fire Arms Company at Hartford, Connecticut. After a short time there he returned to Worcester
and was variously employed as expert tool maker and machinist. At
Providence, Rhode Island, the Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Con

271




272


Ittfnt  tartpn   2elanbt


pany had become known as leading manufacturers and there Mr. Leland
became employed as a tool maker, and with that Company he served
for 12 years as superintendent of the sewing machine department.
When Mr. Leland moved to Detroit in I890 he established a machine
business for himself. A little later Mr. Robert C. Faulconer was taken
in as a partner, under the firm name of the Leland & Faulconer Manufacturing Company, makers of special machinery, and the firm soon
came to be regarded as a leading one in its department of special manufacture. About that time the naphtha launch came into vogue, and the
Leland & Faulconer Company came to devote much of the operations of
its plant to the building of internal combustion engines. Their experience in that line paved the way for the next development in motor
vehicles, the automobile.
At the time of the birth of the automobile Mr. Leland had well
won a reputation as one of the most skillful engine builders in the
United States, and that reputation quickly extended into the field of automobile engine construction. In order to secure a larger market for
the engines produced in his plant, he assisted in the organization of the
Cadillac Automobile Company in 1902. In I905 the Leland & Faulconer Manufacturing Company was consolidated with the Cadillac Automobile Company under the name of the Cadillac Motor Car Company,
Mr. Leland becoming general manager. This was the position which
he recently relinquished in favor of his son, Wilfred C. Leland, who is
also vice-president of the company. However, Mr. Henry M. Leland
continues with the company as president and advisory manager, and is
now recognized, as he has been in the past, as a pioneer and leader of the
American motor industry. He is now president of the American Society of Automobile Engineers.
Mr. Leland is a charter member of the National Association of
Manufacturers, the National Metal Trades Association, the National
Founders Association, the United Order of the Golden Cross, and is
identified with innumerable trade, professional and social organizations.
During his residence in Detroit he has taken much interest in civic
and benevolent work, and is the founder and president of the Detroit
Citizens League. While living in the East he was a member of the
Pearl Street Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island, but since
moving to Detroit his membership has been in the Westminster Presbyterian Church, of which he is an official and active member.
On September 25, 1867, Mr. Leland married, at Millbury, Massachusetts, Miss Ellen R. Hull, who died January I5, 1914. Their children
are: M. Gertrude, wife of Angus C. Woodbridge, of Detroit; Wilfred
Chester, general manager of the Cadillac Motor Car Company, who
married Blanche Mollineau Dewey, daughter of the late Judge Dewey,
of Detroit; and Miriam, deceased.




t
ItI
rI




~,~41




;urt 3RuoeUll Sburlt, ^. B.
Y HIS knowledge of medicine, medical judgment and
skill, and by his prominent relations with hospital and
a               local and national medical organizations, Dr. Shurly is
one of Michigan's most prominent physicians. It is in
the specialty of laryngology, otology and clinical medicine that he has for several years concentrated his
efforts, and his qualifications and record entitle him to
rank among the best known specialists along those lines in the country.
Dr. Shurly is dean and professor of rhinology, laryngology and otology
in the Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery; is laryngologist to Harper
Hospital and Providence Hospital and the Children's Free Hospital; attending laryngologist and otologist to the Woman's Hospital; and is secretary of the Detroit Post-Graduate School of Medicine.
Dr. Shurly was born in Chicago, Illinois, a son of Edmund R. P. and
Augusta (Godwin) Shurly. Dr. Shurly received most of his college education in the Northwestern Military Academy and the University of
Wisconsin, and was graduated M. D. from the Detroit College of Medicine in the Class of I895. Subsequently he took post-graduate work in
the University of Vienna. His practice began at Detroit in I895, and the
succeeding years have brought a large and profitable practice together
with many honors in professional positions and relations. During the late
war with Spain Dr. Shurly served as assistant surgeon and apothecary in
the United States navy on board the U. S. S. Yosemite with the Michigan Naval Reserves. The record of the Michigan Naval Reserve in that
war was such as to reflect credit upon every one of its members. It will
be recalled that the Reserve was assigned to duty on the Auxiliary Cruiser
Yosemite, and did a great deal of important duty in Cuban waters.
Among other achievements the Yosemite captured a Spanish vessel, and
some years later Congress voted a large bounty which was distributed
among the officers and crew. Dr. Shurly enjoys many pleasant relationships with old comrades in the Reserve, and is a member of the Military
Order of Foreign Wars.
Dr. Shurly has membership in the American Laryngological, Otological
and Climatological Associations, the Michigan State Medical Society, the
American Medical Association, the American Academy of Medicine, the
American Association of Military Surgeons, the American Academy of
Ophthalmology and Oto-Laryngology, the American Association of Rhinology, Laryngology and Otology. He also belongs to the Military Order
of the Loyal Legion, is a Republican in politics, a member of the Episcopal
275




276           I2Urt     use[lIl tburlp, 09. PD
church, and identified with the Masonic order. His clubs are the Detroit,
the University, the Country, the Detroit Racquet and Curling. By his
marriage to Viola Palms, of the old Detroit family of that name, Dr.
Shurly has four children: Marie, Beatrice, Burt Russell, Jr., and Edmund.


-~










NI




ot n. 3loot
},ROM the Mohawk Valley of New York came a number
'k  of the early settlers of Jackson, who were for years
prominently identified with the business interests,
steady progress, and the uninterrupted growth of the.. _    city, and helped to make it one of the first cities in
population among the southern counties of Michigan.
Among these were Paul B. Ring, Walter Fish, Marvin
Dorrill, Michael Shoemaker, Ira C. Backus, Allen Bennett, Sr., with his
sons, Allen and Alonzo Bennett, and Amos and John M. Root. The last
named was the youngest of the settlers from that section, but he was one
of the first to rise to high position, and with the business men of the city
for years held as intimate and confidential relations as any other citizen,
and his death, June 13, I898, came as a distinct shock to the city.
John M. Root was born at Fort Ann, Washington county, New York,
April 21, 1824, and a portion of his early life was spent at Mohawk, Herkimer county, where two of his older brothers were engaged in the mercantile business. Desiring a better education than the country schools of
a half century ago afforded, he attended the academy at Granville, New
York, and was graduated from the state normal school at Albany, in 1846.
Two years later he came to Jackson. Here he taught school for a time
and subsequently became clerk in the dry-goods store conducted by his
brother, Amos. As early as 1856 and I858 he was elected register of
deeds for the county, later served as alderman in the city council for two
years, was deputy postmaster during about four years and in that time
had entire charge of the postoffice, and in April, 1865, when the People's
National Bank was organized, he was chosen its first cashier, serving in
that capacity for five years and then being elected president to succeed
Hon. H. A. Hayden. For twenty-eight successive elections he was the
unanimous choice of the board of directors for that responsible position.
During this long service the confidence of officers and stockholders of the
bank, and also of the public generally, in Mr. Root's integrity and judgment remained unimpaired. For nearly six years in addition to his own
business, Mr. Root had the care and management as executor and trustee
of the estate of the late Amos Root and in the performance of this trust
displayed rare judgment and fidelity. He succeded Amos Root as president of the Grand River Valley Railroad Company. Such are the meager
details of a public and business career covering a full half century in the
village and city of Jackson.
Those who knew Mr. Root best had the greatest confidence in him. In
279




280                    3robn   @P. Root
his later years, especially, many people went to him for advice. He had
a remarkable intuitive perception, and above everything else he exalted
personal integrity, and made private or class interest subservient to general
welfare. As a banker, he stood almost alone among bankers in supporting the cause of silver. He conscientiously believed that the restoration
of silver to its old position in our coinage system would benefit the mass
of the people, result in greatest good to the greatest number, and his business position and manifest sincerity made him influential in the cause he
advocated. Mistaken or not, he had the courage of his convictions.
One rarely meets the pleasing combination of business and financial
supremacy with aesthetic qualities as exemplified to such a high degree
in Mr. Root. His literary taste gave him an unusual familiarity with the
best authors in American literature. In educational matters his model and
guide was the late Horace Mann of Massachusetts, and he could quote
many of his typical utterances with verbal accuracy. Ralph Waldo Emerson was another favorite author, many of whose terse and Platonic
utterances he quoted with pleasure. He kept in touch with the foremost
writers of modem times who have discussed social and industrial questions from an altruistic point of view. He would cull from newspapers
striking passages, in which some noble sentiment was felicitously expressed, and take delight in calling the attention of others to them. Great
thoughts condensed into single sentences found in him a constant admirer,
as for example: "The only way to have a friend is to be one."-Emerson.
On April 25, 1855, Mr. Root was united in marriage with Miss Eliza
P. Cole, who still survives. She resides at No. 719 West Main street,
Jackson, and for many years has lived in this city. Among her friends
she is admired for her charming manner, gracious character and kindly
disposition. She was born at Booneville, Oneida county, New York, July
15, 1833, and came with her parents in I837 to Jackson, which city has
since been her home. There were three children born to Mr. and Mrs.
Root: Mary Louise, Mrs. W. L. Benham, of Portland, Oregon; Ruth,
Mrs. John George, Jr., of Jackson, Michigan; and Bertha, who has always resided with her mother.
In an article which appeared in a Jackson paper some time after Mr.
Root's death, the writer says: "Not only to his own children, but to all
young people, his constant advice was: 'Be honest; be true to yourselves,
and you will do no wrong to others,' and his conduct enforced this wise
counsel by personal example.
"Doing well that portion of the world's work which came to him,
achieving success by honest effort, and making society better by what he
has said and done during an active life of a half century, his example is
worthy of emulation by the young men of our time. While not intolerant,
Mr. Root's integrity of character made him an honest hater of shams,
whether of a business, social, political or religious nature.
"While belonging to no church and accepting no creed, he believed in
the religion of right conduct. Of the unbroken sequence of cause and
effect, whereby men must reap as they have sown, he had no doubt. He
saw no way of escape from the moral and spiritual consequences of vio





31obn VP. uoot


281


lated law. Integrity was his test of manhood. He believed in the religion
of free thought and right action-the religion of character, of honesty, of
upright endeavor, of the home made happy and the life made better-an
every-day religion for the world in which we live now, rather than for a
dim and distant future-the religion of liberty, love and truth. He was
sincere, and therefore made no profession of faith which he did not comprehend. *     * *The measure of his years was full, the work of this
life finished, and in the evening of the day and of his earthly career he fell
asleep, but the awakening was in another morn than ours."
_ab




0 El fES:   X




I




- /  _ ---
^"-"




Capt. Stepfen 3kuseltl Iirbp
S ONE of Michigan's pioneer mechanical and construction engineers, whose name and work identified him
A              permanently with Saginaw and Detroit as well as other
places around the Great Lakes, the late Captain Stephen
Russell Kirby deserves mention in the list of Michigan's
representative citizens of the past. His son, Frank E.
Kirby, of Detroit, is one of the ablest marine engineers
in America, and another son is Fitz A. Kirby, of Wyandotte, Michigan,
a retired ship builder.
Captain Stephen R. Kirby was born at Spring Port, on the shore of
Lake Cayuga, New York, in 1824. When a boy he began sailing the
Great Lakes and by the age of twenty-one had risen to the command of
a sailing vessel. At the age of twelve, in 1836, he shipped on the
schooner "A. P. Starkey" and made his first voyage on Lake Erie. He
continued to sail on the lake until 1842, which year saw his entrance
into the service of the American Fur Company, sailing the brig "Ramsey
Crooks," trading between Detroit and the Soo. In 1843, when in the
"Brewster," he brought down the first copper (2,Ioo-lb. chunk) from
Lake Superior. This specimen is now in the National Museum at Washington, D. C.
In 1845, when twenty-one years of age, he obtained his first captaincy
and learned the art of navigation by astronomical observations. In 1846,
he was placed in command of the steamer "Chicago," one of the three
first screw-steamers on the lake, her dimensions being 95x19 feet and 9
foot load draft. In 1848 he sailed the brig "Eureka," the largest vessel
on the lakes at that time, and too large to pay. She was sold and went
to California, arriving there after a voyage of five months.
In 1853 Captain Kirby went to Saginaw and entered the ship building
and general mercantile business, being associated with and financially
supported by the late Jesse Hoyt, of New York city. Under Mr. Kirby's
supervision a number of large vessels were built at Saginaw, both steam
and sailing. These included the barques "Jessie Hoyt" and "Sunshine,"
the latter a full rigged vessel having square sails on both fore and main
mast. He sailed her until I856, when he built the side-wheel tug "Magnet," and sailed her one season, which ended his experience as a sailor.
He then became a citizen of East Saginaw, took an active part in local
affairs as a member of the city council, chief engineer of the fire department and city civil engineer. While there he built the old Bancroft House
and several other buildings and mills, also the steamboat "Reindeer,"
285




286                Jfrank e. litrbp


which afterwards was famous on the Detroit river, and the schooner
"Newsboy," the "Wenona" and several other vessels and tugs.
Captain Kirby had the distinction of fitting out the first salt well
plant and works in the Saginaw valley, inaugurating an industry which
has been one of the largest in later years in that part of the state. During
the Civil war, in association with the late E. M. Peck, he built the
steamers "Fessenden" and "Sherman," ostensibly revenue cutters, but
actually gun boats, designed to overawe the rebel sympathizers then
residing in Canada. The field of his enterprise was by no means confined to Michigan. In I866 he crossed the plains to Montana, which
was then a new territory, only three or four years having elapsed since
the first discovery of precious metals in its hills and valleys. He engaged
in gold mining as chief engineer in charge of the Montana Land & Mining Company. Returning in 1867, in I868 he built a copper mill on Lake
Superior for Mr. Hoyt, and in 1870 purchased an interest in the shipyards at Detroit now owned by the Detroit Ship Building Company, and
in 1871 became general superintendent of the Detroit Dry Docks. This
latter enterprise was originally conducted by Campbell, Owen & Company,
in which Mr. Kirby held a large interest, and he continued as one of its
executives and held a large financial interest when it was organized as a
stock company as the Detroit Dry Dock Company.
In I872 Captain Kirby went to New York to build the great grain
elevator in New York Harbor for the Erie Railway Company. This
was for the time the largest and most complete elevator in the country,
and presented many difficulties in its construction to the contractors,
calling for special engineering skill. Captain Kirby successfully completed his task, and the elevator still stands as an evidence of his skill
both as an engineer and builder. He also built the elevator at Newport
News, Virginia, for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company, which
work closed his actual business career. From that time until his death
on January 29, I906, Captain Kirby made his home in New York City,
passing away at the age of eighty-three. He had traveled extensively
over the United States and Europe.
At Cleveland, Ohio, Captain Kirby met and married Martha Ann
Johnson, who was born and reared near Dover, Cuyahoga county, Ohio.
She died in New York City in November, I913.
FRANK E. KIRBY
Michigan can take proper pride in the fact that for more than forty
years it has been the home of one of the ablest marine engineers and
architects of the nation, Frank E. Kirby, of Detroit. Born at Cleveland,
Ohio, July i, I849, a son of Captain Stephen R. Kirby, whose career is
described in preceding paragraphs, he is descended both on the paternal
and maternal side from the Puritans of the seventeenth century, his
father and his mother (Martha A. Johnson) being lineal descendants of






Srank C. MOPtfit


287


English families who emigrated to America about the year I670 and settled in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
His preliminary education, fitting him for the practical work which
he has so successfully performed and in which he has so distinguished
himself in later life, was gained in the public schools of Cleveland, Ohio,
and at Saginaw, Michigan, supplemented with a course at the Cooper
Institute in New York City. His first professional venture was made
when quite young by joining the engineering staff of the Allaire Works,
New York, then engaged in constructing machinery for ships of war.
After a brief connection with the Morgan Iron Works, in I870 he came
to Detroit with his older brother, Mr. F. A. Kirby, and superintended
the establishment of the iron ship yards at Wyandotte for the late Captain
E. B. Ward. With his brother he conducted an extensive business in
Detroit as consulting marine engineers until 1882, and then joined the
Detroit Dry Dock Company, which since the purchase of the Wyandotte
Yards in 1877, control the most complete and perfect establishment of its
kind on the lakes, employing hundreds of men to put into tangible form
the ideas conceived in the fertile brain of Mr. Kirby, who, as its
chief engineer and designer, has long contributed to this company's
unbounded success and commanding position. Over one hundred of
the largest crafts upon our rivers and lakes are of his architecture and
design; marvels of their kind and monuments to his ingenuity and skill.
The floating palaces of the Detroit and Cleveland Steam Navigation
Company; those superb passenger vessels plying between Mackinaw
Island, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland and Buffalo, the famous Hudson
River steamers, "Hendrick Hudson," "Robert Fulton" and "Washington
Irving," marvels of marine swiftness, comfort and elegance, with the
mammoth freighters flying the stars and stripes from their mastheads,
are examples in which the companies who own them, the designer who
designed them and the public who patronize them, have a just admiration
and pride. The great ice-crushing railroad ferry steamers, St. Ignace
and St. Marie, which ply between Mackinaw City and St. Ignace with
whole trains of loaded cars, are products of Mr. Kirby's inventive
genius and skill. The building of these vessels solved the enigma of
railroad connections with the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, their peculiar
construction enabling them to work their way through the heavy packed
ice which forms in Straits of Mackinaw, and which before had constituted an unsurmountable barrier and defied the ingenuity of man. The
"Frank E. Kirby," known as the flyer of the lakes, and one of his earlier
designs, built for the Detroit and Sandusky route, was named in his
honor.
Mr. Kirby has devoted much of his time to careful study and extensive travel in perfecting himself in his profession. In 1872 he visited
the great engineering and shipbuilding establishments of Europe, and
again in I886, I889, 1903 and I913, and attended the Paris exhibition
and extended his trip to Italy and Switzerland. He spent the winter of
1893-94 in again visiting engineering works in Great Britain and Belgium,
and in 1895 toured Russia, Austria and Germany. During the Spanish



288                    Jrtank C. i frtb
American war Mr. Kirby served as consulting engineer for the United
States war department.
He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers,
the American Society of Naval Engineers, the American Society of Naval
Architects and Marine Engineers, the Naval Institute, the Institution
of Naval Architects of London, England, the Royal Society of Arts of
London, and a member of the Institution of Naval Architects and Engineers of Scotland, the Engineer Society at Detroit, and the Engineers
Club of New York. Mr. Kirby served as a member of the Detroit Board
of Water Commissioners from I892 to I896, but has no predilection for
political preferment, being ardently devoted to his profession-its calling
has bounded his ambition. In I908 the degree of Doctor of Engineering
was conferred on Mr. Kirby by the University of Michigan.




I




^co^^c^^V




tlexanber         tb kteron
HE banking business of Michigan has no more honored
representative and perhaps none older than Alexander
McPherson, president of the Old Detroit National
Bank until its consolidation with the First National
in 1914, making this one of the strongest banking institutions in the United States, and of which he
is chairman of the board. His record as a banker
covers practically half a century, and began in the little city of Howell,
where the private banking concern of Alexander McPherson & Company,
established in I865, is still in prosperous existence. Mr. McPherson
was president of the Old Detroit National Bank from January o1, I901,
when the institution was incorporated under that title, and from I891
has been president of the Detroit National Bank, the name under the
previous charter.
Alexander McPherson was born in the village of Aberchirder, County
of Banff, Scotland, June 7, 1836. The mental and physical traits of his
character well exemplify the sturdy race from which he sprung. William and Elizabeth (Riddle) McPherson, his parents, had eight children, of which he was the third, and the others are mentioned briefly as
follows: William, a banker at Howell and a member of the State Railroad Commission of Michigan, while the late General Russell A. Alger
was governor; Martin J. and Edward G., merchants at Howell, where
they continue the business founded by their father in 1843; Isabella,
who married Henry H. Mills, of Kalamazoo county; Elizabeth, who
married Edward P. Gregory of Howell; Mary L., who became the wife
of Henry T. Browning of Howell; and Ella, who married Frederick
A. Smith of Howell.
Concerning the founder of the McPherson family in Michigan, it
has been said: "William McPherson is remembered and described in
the pioneer annals of Michigan as a striking, rugged and thoroughly
manly figure who came in the early days and gave the best part of his
life to the upbuilding, advancement and betterment of the community
in which he long held a commanding place." Born at Davoit, Scotland,
January I6, I804, and dying at Howell, Michigan, March I6, I89I,
he lived in Scotland until 1836, when with his family he came to America
and on the I7th of September in the same year arrived at what was
then known as Livingston Center, a little settlement in the forest and
the largest group of population then in Livingston county. His log
house was the second dwelling to be constructed on the site of Howell,


291




292                 aleran er    cIPberoon
which city was his home the rest of his life. At Livingston Center
he continued to work at the trade learned in Scotland, as blacksmith,
but in 1841 acquired a half interest in a small general store, and for
many years was independently engaged in merchandising. The large
general store which has been conducted under the family name for more
than sixty years was founded by him. His intelligence, integrity and
energy brought success to his own business and made his services and
influence valuable in behalf of the general welfare of the community.
On the organization of the Detroit and Howell Railroad Company in
1864, William McPherson became a director and treasurer of the company, and it was largely due to his efforts that funds were raised sufficient to complete the railroad between Howell and Detroit. That line,
which was of inestimable service to the people along its route during
the early days, is now a part of the Pere Marquette system. William
McPherson was a man of great local prominence and public spirit, though
not as a political office holder, and was a Republican from the organization of that party until his death. Elizabeth Riddle, who became his
wife on April 17, 1831, endured with him the trials of pioneer life in
Michigan, and passed away on September 7, I874. Both were constant and faithful members of the Presbyterian church, and were active
in the charter organization of the church at Howell in 1838.
Alexander McPherson was six weeks old when the family emigrated
from Scotland to the United States, and his early days were spent in
a pioneer environment, and his education came from the village school
of Livingston Center, as Howell was then known. His business career
began in his father's store when he was a boy. The early years of his
manhood were employed in looking after various business interests at
Howell, and in 1865 he founded and became the executive head of the
private banking firm of Alexander McPherson & Company. No change
of title has ever occurred in that old and honorable banking house, and
Mr. McPherson is still at its head. His prominence as a banker made
him well known outside the limits of his home county, and in I89I he
was called from Howell to become president of the Detroit National
Bank, where his services have been such as to maintain that institution
in the front ranks of Detroit financial establishments. Mr. McPherson
succeeded the late Christian H. Buhl as president of the Detroit National,
and when the first charter expired and a reorganization took place under
the present charter in I902, Mr. McPherson continued as president of the
Old Detroit National Bank. Thus his service in this office has been
continuous for more than twenty years. As a successful financier few
Michigan bankers have had a more noteworthy record than Mr. McPherson. Outside of banking his interests extend to the ownership of
large tracts of pine land in the upper peninsula of Michigan and in the
states of Mississippi and Louisiana. Near his old home in Livingston
county he maintains a fine stock farm, and it has been a matter of both
recreation and profit to keep this up as a model farm. Its equipment
comprises a number of substantial brick buildings, all the land is under






aleanber eqcpterson                      293
a high state of cultivation, and many fine thoroughbred draft and driving
horses have been raised on the McPherson farm.
Though a Republican since casting his first vote, Mr. McPherson has
steadfastly refused to enter politics or become a candidate for office.
The names of himself and wife are on the rolls of membership in the
First Presbyterian church of Detroit, and since I894 he has been a
trustee. Some of his social relations are with the Detroit Club, the
Country Club, the Michigan Club, and the Lake St. Clair Shooting and
Fishing Club, or the Old Club. His stock farm, his club, travel and
home furnish him the relaxation and recreation from his business responsibilities, and though he has reached a time in life when most men
are willing to retire, his judgment in financial matters is just as keen
and is as much trusted by his associates as it was twenty years ago.
In September, I86o, Mr. McPherson married Miss Julia C. Ellsworth,
of Greenville, Montcalm county. Mrs. McPherson was born at Salina,
Wisconsin, in I840, a daughter of Dr. William H. Ellsworth, who was
a pioneer of Greenville, Michigan.




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Col. frankt Joepf)                eeher
DISTINGUISHED citizen of Detroit and Michigan,
Col. Hecker has conferred honor upon his native state
as a soldier in two wars, as a railroad builder and manager, as a director of large business affairs, and by his
active and public-spirited work in several important
3 official bodies, including membership on the Isthmian
Canal Commission, during the early preliminary work
in the construction of the Panama Canal.
Col. Frank Joseph Hecker, born on a farm near Freedom, Washtenaw
county, Michigan, on July 6, I846, a son of Frank and Cynthia (Shield)
Hecker. His parents were of sturdy German stock, and settled in Michigan during the pioneer era. In I850, the family moved to St. Louis,
Missouri, where Frank Joseph grew up and got his education from the
local schools. In 1864 at the age of eighteen years he aided in organizing
Company K of the Forty-first Regiment of Missouri Infantry, being appointed first sergeant of his company, and later detailed for special duty
at department headquarters under General Granville M. Dodge. In 1867,
Col. Hecker began his career as a railroad man, and it was in the construction and operation of railways that he laid the foundation for his
generous prosperity and achievement. In the service of the Union Pacific
Railway Company, then being constructed from Omaha to the Pacific
Coast, he was at first in the construction department, was then assistant
traveling auditor, became general agent at Cheyenne, and afterwards acting superintendent of the Laramie division. In I870 Col. Hecker was
appointed superintendent of the Rondout & Oswego Railway, then under
construction in New York state. He held that office until August, 1876,
and in the meantime was also superintendent of the Wallkill Valley and
the Rhinebeck & Connecticut Railroad. In I876 came his appointment as
general superintendent of the Detroit, Eel River & Illinois Railway in
Indiana. When this road in December, I879, was merged with the Wabash system, Col. Hecker retired from railroading, and locating in Detroit
organized the Peninsular Car Works, continuing with that corporation as
president and general manager until 1884. In that year the Peninsular
Car Company succeeded the Peninsular Car Works, and Col. Hecker was
elected president of the new company. In I892 occurred the consolidation
of the Peninsular with the Michigan Car Company, and Col. Hecker became president of the consolidated company, and so continued actively
until I9oo.
Few business men of Detroit have been more closely connected with
297




298


Col. JFrank 3oseepb Itecker


large local enterprises. He is at the present time a director in the People's
State Bank, the Union Trust Company, the Detroit Copper & Brass Rolling Mills, the Detroit Lumber Company, and with various other local industries and businesses.
During the war with Spain in 1898, Col. Hecker served as colonel of
the United States Volunteers and chief of the division of transportation,
under commission from President McKinley. His resignation from office
was handed in on April I, 1899, and the formal order mustering him out
of service took effect May I, 1899. From March to December, 1904,
Col. Hecker served as a member of the Isthmian Canal Commission, from
which he resigned at the latter date. In I888 Col. Hecker was appointed
Metropolitan Police Commissioner of Detroit, by Governor Cyrus G. Luce,
and was president of the commission for two years. In the fall of 1892
he was nominated as the Republican candidate for congress in the First
Congressional District, while absent from the city and against his wishes,
and was defeated at the ensuing election, though he very materially lowered the usual Democratic majority in his district. Now retired from
his larger business activities, Col. Hecker's influence is still a vital factor
in his home city, and his accomplishments and success have made his name
well known throughout the state. He has membership in the New York
Yacht, the Detroit, Yondotega, Country, Old and Detroit Boat Clubs,
is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Detroit Post, G. A. R., and the
Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and belongs to the Fort Street Presbyterian Church.
On December 8, I868, Col. Hecker married Anna M. Williamson, of
Omaha, Nebraska. To their marriage have been born three daughters
and two sons: Frank Clarence Hecker, Anna Cynthia, Louise May, Christian Henry and Grace Clara.




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S            dT IS a precedent of long standing that from the ranks of
)      t the bar are recruited many of the ablest civic leaders,
F           and in more recent times men of the law have also
gained almost equal prominence in business circles. In..$         h both cases the practice has been confirmed by William
'       "   J. Gray, who for more than thirty years has been identified with the DItroit bar, and who is both an able
lawyer and a banker of that city.
William J. Gray was born in Detroit on July 9, I857, a son of William
and Mary (Stewart) Gray. During his boyhood, spent in Detroit, Mr.
Gray was a student in the grammar and high schools, after which he
entered the literary department of the University of Michigan, where
he was graduated an A.B. with the class of I877. In the office of R. P.
Toms, of Detroit, he pursued his law studies until his admission to the
bar of Michigan in 1879. His practice began in the same year, and he
rapidly rose to a place of prominence in the profession. But in June of
1912, while senior member of the firm of Gray & Gray, he retired from
active practice in order to give his entire time to the affairs of the First
National Bank of Detroit, of which well known institution he is an active
vice president. Mr. Gray's legal counsel and business ability have served
to promote the prosperity of a number of local concerns. He is a director
of the Security Trust Company, of Detroit, a director in the Michigan
Savings Bank of Detroit and a director in the Belle Isle and Windsor
Ferry Company.
Mr. Gray has membership in the Detroit Club, the University Club, the
Country Club, the Yondotega Club and the Detroit Boat Club. At Detroit,
on June 2, 1887, he was married to Hannah Van Vechten Hammond, of
this city.


301




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ebbtarb C auncep jtinman.  BATTLE CREEK banker, manufacturer, and leading
citizen, Edward Chauncey Hinman represents a family that became pioneers of Michigan at Bellevue before the territory was admitted to the Union and since
^',,    ^   185i has been identified with Battle Creek.
Edward Chauncey Hinman was born in Battle
Creek, March I, 1852, a son of John F. and Harriet E.
(Hayt) Hinman. The first American ancestor of this branch of the family was Sergeant Edward Hinman, who was born in England in I609, was
a member of King Charles First's body guard, and during the time of
Oliver Cromwell escaped from England and became a resident of Stratford, Connecticut, in I650. From him the line of descent comes through
Benjamin Hinman, Judge Noah Hinman, Abijah and Adoniram Hinman,
both of the latter being Connecticut soldiers in the War of the Revolution.
A son of the latter was Truman H. Hinman, who lived and died at Castleton, Vermont, where he followed the occupation of farmer.
A son of this Vermont farmer was the late John F. Hinman, who was
born at Castleton, March 17, I816, grew up there, and in 1836, when a
young man of twenty years and at a time when southern Michigan was
beginning to fill up with the first tide of settlers, came west and settled
at Bellevue in Eaton county. He was one of the early merchants of
that community and remained there until 1851, when he sold out and
moved to Battle Creek. Here he and his brother established a large
store under the firm name of B. F. & J. F. Hinman. Both in business
and in public affairs John F. Hinman was successful and influential. He
was recognized as one of the strong adherents of the Republican party
from its first organization, but was never a candidate for office. The
Hinman Block, erected by himself and brother, contained the old Hinman Hall in which the first Republican meetings in Battle Creek were
held. After a long and honored career John F. Hinman passed away
February 6, I9oo. He and his wife were counted among the members of
the Presbyterian church for half a century or more.
Harriet E. (Hayt) Hinman, who died March 17, 1907, was the daughter of John Tompkins Hayt. Her lineal descent from the famous John
Alden of New England is as follows: John Alden and Priscilla Mullens' daughter, Elizabeth, became the wife of William Paybody. Their
daughter, Rebecca, married William Southworth. Joseph Southworth,
their son, wedded Mary Blake. To them was born a son, Constant, who
married Rebecca Richmond. A son of the last named, Major William


305




306             Cttoarb Ctauncep tinnman
Southworth, who won his title by valued service in the Revolution, married Mary Throop, and their daughter, Harriet, became the wife of Ira
Tillotson. Harriet Tillotson, a daughter of this marriage, was the wife
of John Tompkins Hayt of Patterson, New York, and the mother of Mrs.
Hinman. Mr. Hayt brought his family to Bellevue, Michigan, where his
daughter and John F. Hinman were married April 23, I845. Six of their
children reached mature years.
Edward Chauncey Hinman was reared and received his early schooling at Battle Creek. His college days were passed at the University of
Michigan, where he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science
in I874. He is a member of the Chi Psi college fraternity. His first
active work was in the Government engineering service on the Fox and
Wisconsin rivers improvement, at which he was employed from 1874 to
I880. For the next two years he was in the grain business at Port Huron,
and since 1882 has been permanently identified by residence and business
with his native city. Until I888 he was senior member of Hinman &
Ward, millers. In I890 Mr. Hinman bought an interest in the Battle
Creek Machinery Company. That was then one of the smaller factories
of the city, with about fifty men on the payroll and its output restricted
in amount and in extent of sales territory. With Mr. Hinman as secretary and treasurer of the company, the business was greatly increased
until in I898 it was re-organized and incorporated under the name of
the American Steam Pump Company with capital stock of five hundred
thousand dollars and no indebtedness. In this new company Mr. Hinman continued to hold the office of secretary and treasurer until he was
made president, and still retains this position.
Edward C. Hinman organized the Central National Bank of Battle
Creek, now the largest bank in southwestern Michigan. Mr. Hinman has
been its president since it was organized in I903. This bank started with
a capital stock of two hundred thousand dollars and has had a prosperous, progressive record during every year of its history. In March, I912,
the capital was increased to three hundred thousand dollars with surplus of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars and in January, 1914,
the surplus was increased to two hundred thousand dollars, with total
resources of more than $5,500,000. The fine offices of the bank are at
the corner of Main street and Jefferson avenue.
Besides these two enterprises which have foremost places in a business summary of Battle Creek, Mr. Hinman has many other interests.
Successful in business, he has also given his energies and civic spirit for
the betterment of his home city. It was largely through his instrumentality that the appropriation for the federal building was obtained. A member of the Athelstan Club, during his two years as president the elegant
club rooms were opened in the Post building. Fraternally his affiliations
are with Metcalf Lodge, A. F. & A. M., with the Chapter, Council and
Commandery in Battle Creek and with Saladin Temple of the Mystic
Shrine at Grand Rapids. Mr. Hinman also belongs to the Mayflower
Society, Sons of the American Revolution, Society of Colonial Wars
and Colonial Governors.






aI~Otoarb QCbauncep tinman                   307
As a Republican but more as a good citizen, he has served as Alderman from his home ward, the Fourth, but has refused to run for all
other offices, including Member of Congress and Governor when the
nomination insured the election. Mr. Hinman was one of the organizers of the Battle Creek Theater Company, and has always been active
in projects for the betterment of his home city.
The Hinman residence at 303 Maple street is the most attractive home
in the city. Mr. Hinman married in 1876 Miss Carrie L. Risdon, who
died in 1887, leaving two daughters, Gertrude B. and Belle R. Mrs.
Hinman was reared at Ann Arbor and was educated in Dr. Gannett's
institute of Boston. Her parents were Lewis C. and Gertrude B. (Judd)
Risdon, the latter a descendant of Thomas Judd, who came from England in I633. Another of Mrs. Hinman's ancestors was Thomas Hastings, who settled in Boston in 1652. On her father's side her ancestry
went back to Orange Risdon, Josiah Risdon and David Risdon. The
present Mrs. Hinman before her marriage was Miss Isadore M. Risdon,
of Ann Arbor, Michigan, a sister of the first Mrs. Hinman.












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franE        i. w*    alkler,      R.  - D.
ORE      than any other profession that of the physician is
one of social service, and the environments and conditions of private practice often obscure the real value of
such work from the public. Of the many able members
|,         ~of Detroit's medical fraternity, one whose attainments
and interests in the broader work of the profession give
him a special distinction is Dr. Frank B. Walker.
Besides a large private practice, Dr. Walker has important relations and
positions of service with institutions and organizations of the profession.
He is secretary and treasurer of the Detroit College of Medicine, which
has had a successful career for thirty years, and is secretary also of its
successor, the newly organized Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery.
He was one of the founders of the recently organized American College
of Surgeons.
Frank Banghart Walker was born at Hunter's Creek, Michigan, April
25, 1867, the son of Roger Thomas and Harriet Lucinda (Banghart)
Walker. His education he has made of a liberal character. The course
in the Lapeer schools was completed ini I883 and followed in I885 by
graduation from the Flint high school. He afterward entered the University of Michigan and received the degree of Ph. B. in I890. Having
in the meantime taken some work preparatory to a medical career, he
continued a student in the Detroit College of Medicine until graduating
as M. D. in the class of I892. In April of the same year he began practice at Detroit, where during the last twenty years he has taken rank
as one of the leading physicians and surgeons. Dr. Walker has served
as professor of operative and clinical surgery, as registrar and secretary
of the Detroit College of Medicine, as professor of surgery in the Detroit Post Graduate School of Medicine and of the Detroit College of
Medicine and Surgery, as attending surgeon to St. Mary's and Providence
Hospitals, and was editor, from I889 to 1903, of "The Physician and
Surgeon," published at Detroit and Ann Arbor. He is a member of the
Wayne County and the Michigan State Medical Societies, the Tri-State,
the Mississippi Valley and American Medical Associations, and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He belongs to the Masonic
Order, and is a member of the university, Detroit Boat and Detroit
Athletic Clubs.
Dr. Walker was married at Monroe, Michigan, September 4, I894,
to Hattie Belle Venning, who died June 28, I902. On June 26, 1905, Dr.
Walker married Kate Huntington Jacobs. There were two children by the
first marriage: Roger Venning, now attending the University of Michigan, and Margaret Alice.


311




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HEN a young man, in 1844, Henry Stephens came to
Michigan and at Romeo in Macomb county became a
V 7 v   pioneer merchant and for some years did business on
16  W    fL    a moderate scale. His success gradually broadened,
l..,     resulting in the opening of a branch store at Almont,
I           Lapeer county, and from one point to another his enterprise spread until few names suggested more power
and none was more honored in the great lumber industry of Michigan.
Henry Stephens was born in the city of Dublin, Ireland, March 14,
1823, and died at Mission San Jose, Alameda County, California, February 22, 1884. His great-great-grandfather, James Stephens, gave to the
city of Dublin that part which is now called "Stephens' Green," being
about in the center of the city. His mother, Emily O'Brien Stephens,
died at his birth. His father, Robert L. Stephens, brought him to Kingston, Ontario, when he was six years old, to leave him with his half-sister,
Mrs. Thomas Marrah, who, with her husband, had established their
home in that city some years previous. His father then returned to Ireland. His father was three times married and had children by each wife,
and his death occurred while at sea enroute to Dublin.
Only limited educational opportunities were presented to Henry Stephens as a boy, but by his alert intelligence and remarkable industry
and enterprise more than made up for such a handicap. Soon after
reaching his majority in 1844 he came to Michigan and invested his
capital of three hundred dollars in a stock of merchandise at Romeo.
His business grew and in 1856, on moving to Detroit, the firm of Stephens
& Marvin was established in the hardware business, but Mr. Stephens
soon became sole proprietor. The panic of I857 brought him reverses,
but these were largely due to his efforts to assist his half-brother, James,
who at that time conducted the old "Checkered" store in Detroit. Soon
afterwards Mr. Stephens closed his business career in Detroit and in I86I
moved to Almont and took personal charge of the branch store which
had previously been established by him in that town.
In the year preceding the Civil war Mr. Stephens was active in the
abolition cause and served as station-master on the underground railway, assisting many negroes to freedom across the Canadian boundary,
the cellar of his home at Almont having been a place of refuge for many
slaves in escaping the tyranny of their southern owners. At Jackson in
1854 Henry Stephens was one of the delegates who met "under the
Oaks" and organized the Republican party, and his support was given


315




316                  albert %L.   tepbens   ^
to that party in a financial way at a time when it was most needed.
Though a man of prominence in the state and in the party, and although
offered some of the highest honors in the gift of his political organization, he never accepted public office, but continued to contribute in a
financial way and as one of the active leaders in the Republican ranks
until his death. When civil war was declared he bought nails and
cotton. His foresight led him to recognize the value of Michigan pine
lands at the time when they were almost unbroken, and his purchases
began as early as i868, with his acquisition of large tracts in Lapeer and
adjoining counties. His first mill was a shingle factory at Clear Lake
in Lapeer county. In a large tract of land north of Lapeer which had
been purchased by him there was operated under his financial control
the largest lumber plant of its kind south of Saginaw, and he also did a
large business in handling lumber purchased from other mill operators
in that section of the state. Subsequently his capital and enterprise
brought about the establishment of large plants at St. Helen in Roscommon county, and at Waters in Otsego county, which were among
the largest and best equipped lumber mills in the state. The logging,
milling and general operating and sales department of the lumber business developed by Henry Stephens gave employment to an average of
four thousand men, and he was also the builder of many miles of logging railway through his property. In 1882 Mr. Stephens organized the
stock company, under the title Henry Stephens & Company, in which
he associated his two sons, Henry Jr. and Albert L., and twelve of his
old and trusted employes. The management of the large lumbering industry conducted by this company was continued by Henry Stephens
until his death two years later.
At a time when the lumber business in Michigan was at its high tide
and far and away the largest and most valuable resource of the state,
the name of Henry Stephens suggested a leadership and power hardly
second to none. At his mills at St. Helen alone more than a billion feet
of lumber were manufactured within a period of fourteen years. The late
Mr. Stephens was a man of great executive ability, and from a beginning which was practically one of poverty rose to success that was as
honorable as it was great.
On September 20, 1853, Henry Stephens married Miss Clarinda
Leete, whose father, Dr. Albert Leete, was a pioneer physician and early
citizen of Macomb county, establishing his home there in 1830. Mr. and
Mrs. Stephens became the parents of three children: Henry Jr., who
died in I910; Albert L.; and Catherine. Albert L. lives in Detroit, and
the daughter, who became the wife of Charles McIver, died in 1898, in
California. Mrs. Henry Stephens has reached the venerable age of
eighty-three years, and spends part of her time in California and the remainder at the old home at Romeo, Michigan.
ALBERT L. STEPHENS
Bearing a name which has been worthily identified with the annals
of Michigan for nearly seventy years, and a son of Henry Stephens, who




!albert ~L, %tepbenz


317


in his time was one of the lumber kings of this state, Albert L. Stephens
has since 1887 been one of the leading men of affairs at Detroit, and his
business interests are of a varied and important nature. During his
earlier years he was identified with the lumber industry which his father
had developed.
Born at Romeo, Macomb county, Michigan, November II, 1857, a
son of Henry and Clarinda (Leete) Stephens, Albert L. Stephens attended the public schools of his native town, and in 1874, when about
seventeen years old, became actively associated with his father in the
latter's extensive lumbering operations. The senior Stephens died in
1884, and Albert and his brother Henry then assumed the care and management of the large holdings and factories previously acquired by their
father, and continued business together until 1895. Since that date Albert L. Stephens has given most of his attention to the management of
the affairs of several important corporations in which he is a stockholder
and official. Of the many enterprises which now claim a share of his
attention the more noteworthy are as follows: the Wabash Portland
Cement Company of Stroh, Indiana, of which he is president, the 0. &
W. Thum Company, manufacturers of the celebrated "Tanglefoot" flypaper, with headquarters in the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, of
which Mr. Stephens is one of the largest stockholders; The Hugh
Wallace Company of Detroit, of which he is vice president; the Quincy
Gas Company of Quincy, Illinois, of which he is president; and a director
in the Wayne County Savings Bank, in the First National Bank and the
Union Trust Company, a director of the Detroit Fire & Marine Insurance Company, and was special commissioner in charge of the closing up
of the affairs of the old Preston National Bank after its liquidation.
His part in the community has been that of a public spirited citizen,
although like his father never an aspirant for public office and content
to do his duty as an individual. He was one of the first appointed of
the Mackinac Island State Park Commission when the Island was turned
over to the State of Michigan by the United States government. He
was one of the state commissioners for three years of the Home for the
Feeble Minded and Epileptics and was a member of the Detroit Board of
Water Commissioners in 1894-97. His social relations are with the Detroit Club, the Yondotega Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the Lake St.
Clair Shooting and Fishing Club, better known as the Old Club, and the
Caledon Mountain Club of Canada. In March, 1884, Mr. Stephens
married Miss Frances Harvey, daughter of the late Dr. James Harvey
of Romeo. Mrs. Stephens, who died March i6, 191o, was the mother of
one child, Marjorie. In October, 19I2, Mr. Stephens married Mrs. Mary
(Loree) Sheldon, of Guelph, Ontario.




1)




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George a. filattje)S,, LEADING figure in the industrial development of Jackson, a pioneer of the automobile industry, and a staunch
supporter of the religious and educational affairs of
his community-the late George A. Matthews was a
man who richly merited the high esteem in which he
was held by his fellow-citizens and business associates.
George Adelman Matthews was born in Thompson, a small village
in Geauga county, Ohio, November 23rd, 1852. His father, Charles
Matthews was a farmer, and his mother's maiden name was Ellen
Daniels. The early years of Mr. Matthews' life were spent in the village
school and in helping with the farm work at home. In his boyhood he
developed the ambition and tireless energy which was a potent factor in
his successful business career. He was known among his acquaintances
as a boy who could pitch the most hay and harness a team in the shortest
time, and his enterprise and initiative made him leader among his associates. After finishing the course of study which was provided, he
taught for two years, working on the farm outside of school hours and
during the summer vacation. By continuous application he was able to
put aside enough money to take a course in a commercial college in
Cleveland, where he laid the foundation of his business knowledge. At
the completion of his commercial course, he entered the employ of a
large coal company, in Cleveland, where he had valuable experience in
the details of business, and was able to learn the principles of successful
management.
On December I5th, 1875, Mr. Matthews married Esther Charlotte
Hulbert, whom he had known since childhood and who was still a resident of Thompson. Mrs. Matthews was born December 2ist, I850,
and was a daughter of Frederick and Charlotte Cibelia (Talcott) Hulbert. After his marriage, he returned to Thompson and purchased a
farm, but his business instincts did not permit him to limit his efforts to
farming, and he built up a thriving business in the wholesale marketing
of eggs and dairy products. Seeking a larger field for his activities, he
entered the employ of a carriage wheel manufacturing plant, at Madison,
Ohio. He continued to live on the farm and have it worked under his
supervision, driving each day five miles to his work in Madison and
five miles home each night. His employers soon recognized his ability
and integrity, and in a short time he was sent out to buy the material
for their plant. This work he pursued with marked success, making
321




322                       eotorge a3.     attbews


trips on horse-back through the timber districts of West Virginia and
the surrounding states in search of stock which could be used to the best
advantage in the manufacture of carriage wheels. Eventually, this
work brought him into contact with the officials of the American Wheel
Company, and, appreciating his ability, they took him into their organization and sent him to Shortsville, N. Y., to take charge of a carriage
wheel factory, at that place. He was next moved to Gallon, Ohio, where
he spent three and one-half years as general manager of a larger plant.
At this stage of his career, Mr. Matthews, having proven his ability
as a successful director of manufacturing enterprises, determined to
strike out for himself. He borrowed money and added to it what he
had been able to save from his salary, and with this capital, in I89I,
bought stock in the Fuller Buggy Company, of Jackson, Michigan. A
year later, at the death of Mr. Fuller, who had been the chief stockholder, Mr. Matthews took over the entire business. The fact that the
financial backers of the Fuller Company were willing to advance the
money to finance the transfer of the stock, speaks volumes for the reputation of Mr. Matthews as a competent and thoroughly dependable executive. Their confidence was abundantly justified, and during the next
ten years, the Fuller Buggy Company was transformed from a small
plant of moderate promise into a nationally known factory for the production of carriages and vehicles. This company built up a large and
thriving business which extended throughout the United States.
It was at about this time that Mr. Matthews, foreseeing the change
which was destined to come into the field of transportation, began to
direct his attention toward the production of motor cars. It was a
natural step from the production of horse-drawn vehicles to the development of the automobile, and the rise of the industry has been due, in
a considerable measure, to his efforts, for his unfailing faith in the
future and untiring energy directed the development of one experiment
after another until success was achieved. Mr. Matthews first started
the Jackson Automobile Company in 1902 and devoted a generous share
of his time and ability to its fortunes. In the beginning, the steam engine
seemed to be the logical equipment for the automobile, and the first cars
produced by the Jackson Company were of this type. The gasoline
motor was in its infancy, and it was only after repeated trials and costly
experiments that it was proven to be a suitable motive power. During
the first two years, the outlook was dark, and there were times when
the other stock-holders in the Company were ready to give up the
undertaking. With his wonderful energy and unfailing patience, Mr.
Matthews brought the Company through the experimental period, and
in I903, produced a gasoline car which would give practical service in
the hands of the average owner. In I904, the Jackson Company produced a touring car, and in 1905, the output of the Company was largely
increased. Cars were shipped to all parts of the United States, and their
success built the foundation of an industry which has grown to national
and international prominence. In I907, the Jackson Automobile Company purchased property at the corner of East Main and Horton Streets,






Oeorge a. ~(attbetos                     323
which more than doubled their capacity. It seemed at the time like a
big move, but the faith which Mr. Matthews had in the Jackson car and
the future of the automobile industry guided him in the right direction,
and the business of the company in I9o8 and 909o made it necessary to
erect new buildings, which again doubled the floor space of the factory.
In 19IO, Mr. Matthews acquired all of the stock in the Jackson Company, and the success of the business since that time has been a matter
of common knowledge, not only in Jackson, but throughout the United
States and abroad. At his death, the business was left to his family,
Mrs. George A. Matthews and four children, Charles Frederick
Matthews, Howard Adelman Matthews, Harry Eugene Matthews and
Miss Mary Elizabeth Matthews. All three of the sons are officials and
stockholders in the company, and all of them have given their active
attention to its affairs for several years past. In financial circles Mr.
Matthews was known as a "dependable man." His business associates
and backers felt that his word was as good as his bond; that he spoke
with a full knowledge of the details involved in the execution of his
plans, and that he possessed a broad knowledge and indomitable will to
carry through his projects. He was for many years a director of the
Jackson City Bank, and was associated in several other industries in
different parts of the country.
Mr. Matthews was a man of broad interests-a good citizen-who
recognized a duty, not only to himself and family, but to the community in which he lived. He gave generously of his energy and ability
to the institutions which make life easier and better for the world at
large. In his support of the Haven Methodist Episcopal Church, he not
only rendered financial assistance in every emergency, but gave generously of his time and strength for the furtherance of Church work. For
a number of years he taught the Bible Class in his Church, and has
always been faithful in its support. At the time when the school system of Jackson was in the process of development, Mr. Matthews took
an active part in the work and served for many years as President of the
School Board. He gave much of his time to the advancement of education in his community. He was prominent in the fraternal orders and
was for many years a Mason, being both a Knight Templar and a
Shriner. He was also a member of the Elks. In every department of
the life of the community in which he lived, he took his part, and among
all of his associates and acquaintances he was respected and loved.
Mr. Matthews was an unassuming man, whose generosity, though
not ostentatious, was, nevertheless, ready and sympathetic. In his dealings with those who needed help, he was always ready to extend not
only material aid, but to give his time and his attention to the solution
of their troubles. It is rare indeed to find a man whose character has
been so broadly and evenly developed-a leader in education, a staunch
supporter of religious work, and of national prominence in commercial
life. His many friends feel that to have been associated with such a
pioneer for right, a man of such untiring energy and unselfish principles
was both a privilege and inspiration, and his passing has left a great
void.








I




A V




n*on.       osWep) CbWarrb babtpter
ON. JOSEPH EDWARD SAWYER. Oakland County,
and especially that part which embraces the city of
Pontiac, has experienced a wonderful growth during
the past two decades. This section owes its prosperity
and development to such men as Joseph Edward
Sawyer, who in the promotion and organization of
companies for the improvement and settlement of
various locations, the platting and selling of numerous additions to the
city, and in the inducing of large industries to locate in the city or its
environs, has rendered invaluable service. It is not alone in the line of
real estate, however, that Mr. Sawyer has been a forceful figure in his
community, for other business activities have received the benefit of his
ability and experience. Prominent in politics and in fraternal circles, few
men in the county are better known.
Joseph Edward Sawyer was born January I, 1847, at Piermont, Grafton county, New Hampshire, the seventh child and only son of Hon.
Joseph and Mary (Dole) Sawyer. He is a lineal descendant of Thomas
Sawyer, a native of England, born about the year I615, who emigrated
to the American colonies among the early settlers of the New England
states and died at Lancaster, Massachusetts. For generations this family
has been known for the remarkable longevity of its members, notably the
Rev. John Sawyer, of Bangor, Maine, who reached the age of 103 years
and five days, and at the time of his death, October I4, 1858, was possibly
the oldest minister in the United States.
Joseph Sawyer, the father of Joseph Edward Sawyer, was born in
Grafton county, New Hampshire, in which county he continued to reside
until his death, which occurred July 4, 1858, at the age of seventy-three
years. From numerous notices in the press of New Hampshire, and other
New England states, we quote the following:
"Mr. Sawyer was a man known all over the state, and respected where
he was known to an extent seldom equaled. He was one of 'Nature's
noblemen'-a perfect type of the independent, intelligent farmer, cultivating his broad acres on the banks of the Connecticut, and devoting himself to the good and the happiness of his race, with a noble-heartedness
which won the love of all who came in contact with him."
"It was our fortune to make his acquaintance many years ago, and it
has been our pride to number him among our friends ever since. He has
filled many places of public trust with honor as well as ability, and as a
member of the old Whig party he stood among the first in the rank of its
esteem, while we venture to say that no opponent ever questioned his perfect integrity-and only the fact that that party was a minority party,
327




328            bon, 3[osepb bCt1ito   b %atpter
prevented him from sharing the highest honors of the state. In him a
good man has fallen, but 'like a shock of corn, fully ripe.'"
"The death of no individual in our county would excite more painful
sympathy throughout the state, for he was known to most of the prominent citizens of the state, and universally respected by all who knew him,
for the possession of those sterling qualities of head and heart that command private regard and public esteem. He was a man in the noblest
sense of the term-a man everywhere and always, and most faithfully
discharged all the duties and obligations of responsible manhood in all
the varied relations of life. To do good to all-to advance the happiness
and prosperity of everybody about him, and to support every movement
and cause that promised good to his state and country, seemed the study
and aim of his life."
"Mr. Sawyer was a man of great natural abilities and varied attainments, indeed, rarely accomplished considering his advantages and lot in
life. He has filled many public offices and all with honor and ability, and
the party to which he was so long and honorably attached, only lacked
the power to advance him to the most honorable within its gift. His first
term in the legislature as the representative from Piermont, dates back
as early as I809, and we served with him in the same body in 1856, when
we had more than ever occasion to admire his exhibition of those sterling
qualities of heart and head that won for him influence and esteem from
all sides."
"In his own county the deceased was universally known and respected.
Simple in his habits, frugal in his expenditures, he was of Republican
tendencies through the impulses of a generous spirit, and known as one
of those unostentatious, well-bred citizens who, not always reaching
public stations they would adorn, obtain, nevertheless, a lodgement in
public remembrance that men do not wish should become obliterated."
Mr. Sawyer was married to Mrs. Mary (Dole) Plastridge, daughter
of Captain Moses Dole. Her father, shortly after his marriage to Lucy
Poor, of Charlestown, New Hampshire, moved to Canaan, in the same
state, in I802. During the Revolutionary War, Captain Dole was a member of the famous New Hampshire Rangers, and following the close of
that struggle was selected by his fellow citizens to fill various important
public offices, ever holding the respect and esteem of his fellowmen. He
is remembered as a courteous gentleman of the old school, while his wife
was well known during her day for her many social graces and refinement.
She died in 1826, while the Captain followed her to the grave two years
later, and was buried with Masonic honors by his brothers of Mount
Moriah Lodge. There were two children born to Captain and Mrs. Dole;
Joseph, who died in 1817, at the age of sixteen years; and Mary, who
married Dr. Charles Plastridge, who died October I6, 1824, at twentynine years of age. In I829 Mrs. Plastridge married Hon. Joseph
Sawyer, who took her to a new home, which he had prepared for her in
Piermont, in said county, on the Connecticut River road, at the intersection of the road leading to Bradford, Vermont. Here their seven children
were born, they were: Mary Dole, born August 22, 1830. She married
John Calloway of Cambridge City, Indiana, where she died in October,




Ion, 3lozepb Lcbouart ~a  wper


329


I888. Elizabeth, born August 12, 1832, and now living in Cambridge City,
Indiana. Catherine Lucy, born December 31, I834. She married Colonel
C. F. Kimball, who died in Pontiac, Michigan, October 30, I906, where she
still resides. Eleanor, born September I6, 1837, who married Evan
Hughes of Cambridge City, Indiana, where she still resides. Isabella,
born December 9, I840, who married Abram Schutt, and died near Dowagiac, Michigan, May 5, I877. Zelanda Poor, born January Io, 1844, who
married James Newby, with whom she is now living in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, and Joseph Edward, the subject of this sketch, who was
born January I, I847. His mother was a member of the Congregational
church from I816 until her death, and was widely known and greatly
beloved. She died February I, 1885, aged eighty-two years, at the home
of her daughter, Mrs. C. F. Kimball in Pontiac, Michigan. All her children, with the exception of Mrs. Schutt, who had previously died, were
at her bedside.
Joseph Edward Sawyer received his early education in the public
schools of Piermont, New Hampshire, and the Academy at Bradford,
Vermont, and when sixteen years of age removed to Michigan City, and
later to Cambridge City, Indiana, and continued his education there and
at Dublin in the same state. In 1865 he entered the literary department
of the University of Michigan, and in I867 he commenced the study of law
with Hon. George C. Hazelton in Boscobel, Wisconsin. The same year,
when twenty years of age, he formed a law partnership with Benjamin
Shearer, and under the firm name of Shearer & Sawyer opened offices
in Boscobel. In January, i8'68, Mr. Sawyer came to Pontiac, Michigan,
and entered the law office of Hon. M. E. Crofoot. He was admitted to
the Oakland county bar September 29, I869. He was elected Circuit
Court Commissioner in I872, and in 1875 was appointed United States
Commissioner for the Eastern District of Michigan. In I885 he was
appointed a member of the board of trustees of the Eastern Michigan
Asylum, now Pontiac State Hospital, by Governor Alger. He was again
appointed by Governor Luce and later by Governor Rich, serving fourteen
consecutive years, during which he was present at every meeting of the
board and the joint boards of the state, except one.
In I891 he assisted in organizing the Pontiac Land & Improvement
Company, of which he was secretary and general manager. This was
the first organized effort to attract attention to the advantages of Pontiac,
and this company did much to promote the healthy growth which this
city has since enjoyed. To further advance the interests of Pontiac,
Mr. Sawyer in I902 purchased the D. M. Ferry & Company seed farm in
the southeastern part of the city, and conveyed the same to the Pontiac
Investment & Promotive Company, of which he is secretary and manager.
Mr. Sawyer has also platted and sold some twenty other sub-divisions
in the city, and his activities in this line have built up and developed every
part of the city. One of the most recent operations of this kind is at Cass
Lake, just outside of the city, where a few years ago he purchased the
farm formerly owned by Hon. B. G. Stout on sections one and two in the
town of West Bloomfield, which included what was known as Dollar Lake,
which Mr. Sawyer connected with Cass Lake by a canal, making the little




won* 3fozepb eybtuarb %atuper


lake a safe harbor to which Mr. Sawyer gave the name of Keego-that
being the Indian name for fish. After selling several small parcels, Mr.
Sawyer in June, I912, platted a sub-division on the south side of the
Orchard Lake gravel road opposite this harbor, which he named Keego
Harbor sub-division. On this sub-division there are already fifty permanent homes, and including sales made by Mr. Sawyer from this property
outside of the plat, about seventy-five homes. A standard school with two
teachers and fifty-four scholars, three boat liveries, a store, laundry,
cement block factory, etc., are already established there, and Mr. Sawyer
is still actively interested in the development of this thriving village.
He has always been an active member of the Republican party, in
which he has served as secretary and chairman of the county committee
and other capacities. He represented the sixth district of Michigan in
the national convention of I884, supporting Senator Edmonds until it
was evident that he could not be nominated, after which he gave his support to Senator Blaine. His father, just forty years before, as a delegate
from New Hampshire, aided in the nomination of Henry Clay.
On October 17, 1877, Mr. Sawyer was united in marriage with Miss
Lizzie V. Satterlee, who was born in Bloomfield township, Oakland
county, Michigan, daughter of George H. and Jane Flower Satterlee.
When three years of age Mrs. Sawyer was taken to Keweenaw county,
Michigan, where she resided until the death of her father in 1875, when
she moved to Pontiac with her mother and sisters. Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer
became the parents of the following children: Lizzie Belle, born August
8, 1878, and now the wife of Judge Ross Stockwell of Pontiac. Mary
Lucile, born April 12, I880, wife of George A. Drake of Detroit. Kate
Eleanor, born November I8, 1884. Joseph Satterlee, born July 25, I890,
now associated in business and practice with his father, and Thomas Dole,
born January 27, I90I.
The Sawyer family has long been prominent in Masonry-Colonel
Edward Sawyer, the uncle of Joseph Edward, was initiated at the age of
twenty-one years, and at the time of his death, February 2, I885, when
ninety-seven years of age, was the second oldest Mason in the United
States. He was implicated in the Morgan Conspiracy in 1826 and suffered greatly in the persecution which followed that unfortunate affair.
Joseph Edward Sawyer was initiated May 27, 1870, in Pontiac Lodge
No. 2I, F. & A. M., of which he became Master. He was exalted January
29, 1875, in Oakland Chapter No. 5, R. A. M., of which he became High
Priest. He received the Cryptic degrees in Pontiac Council No. 3, R. &
S. M., June 28, 1875, and became Thrice Illustrious Master. He was
anointed January 15, 1884, in the Council of High Priest of the State of
Michigan. He received the orders of Christian Knighthood in Pontiac
Commandery, the order of the Temple being conferred March 7, 1876;
was elected prelate March 6, 1877, captain general in I88o, and eminent
commander in 1885. He is a past chancellor of Pontiac Lodge No. I9,
K. of P., and has served as deputy grand chancellor. His reports as
chairman of the committee on foreign correspondence, especially that of
I89I, received much favorable notice from the reviewers of other grand
domains. In the military branch of the order he has held the rank of




Dton. 3fozEpb ebtuaro gatuper                 331
colonel since I892. He has been venerable sheik of Mecca Temple No. 56,
D. O. K. K., since the institution of the Temple in I896.
Mr. Sawyer is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, to which
the members of his family also belong. He was for many years a vestryman of Zion church of Pontiac, and a lay reader under Bishop Harris.
In I887 he established a flourishing mission at Clintonville. Mr. Sawyer
has always been a friend of morality, education and charity. He is deeply
interested in all that pertains to public progress and his aid and co-operation can always be counted upon to assist in measures for the public good.
His life has been actuated by high and honorable principles, and his business career has been characterized by laudable ambition and watchfulness
of all details and indications pointing to success. In all of his dealings
he has been strictly reliable, so that his is an honored name in business
circles.




f::   \  fI








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t             -; —l-i*
-~~:-i~:  --:;::::-:




ton. fames; %Munrot                  urmer
HE late Hon. James M. Turner, of Lansing, was one
of Michigan's most distinguished men. A native born
E    F         son of the Wolverine state, he was descended from an
3  j        old and honored American family, and was a lineal
descendant of Humphrey Turner, who emigrated
from  Devonshire, England, in 1628, settling at
Plymouth, Connecticut. The grandfather of Mr.
Turner was Francis S. Turner, who married at Middlebury, Vermont,
in the year 1799 Deborah Morton. His great-grandfather was Jonathan
Turner, who married Bridget Arthur in I772. His great-great-grandfather, Paine Turner, was married at New London, Connecticut, November 3, 1745, to Eleanor Haines.
James Turner, the father of the late James Munroe Turner, was born
at Cazenovia, New York, April I, I820, and came to Michigan in 1840,
only a few years after the state was admitted as such to the Union.
He first settled at Leoni. In I84I Mr. Turner gathered together his
means and established himself in business as a merchant at Mason, and
there continued until the removal of the state capital to Lansing, when he
located in the latter city and erected the first frame house in the city.
There Mr. Turner's labors continued to be concentrated upon the mercantile business until his identification with the building of the Lansing
& Howell plank road, he being treasurer and manager of the company
which built that highway. In I860 Mr. Turner became deputy state
treasurer under Hon. John Owen, and for six years had exclusive control of the affairs of that office. In 1864 Mr. Turner's labors resulted
in the building of a railroad from Jackson, which he conceived and
planned, and which later became known as the Jackson, Lansing &
Saginaw Railway, this now being a part of the Michigan Central system.
As treasurer and land commissioner for that line Mr. Turner had much
to do with its successful operation. Later he was treasurer, superintendent and a director of a railroad from Ionia to Lansing, and for
many years was also agent for eastern holders of Michigan lands and
for the Society of Shakers for the investment of money in this state.
In I866 he was elected state senator, was chairman of the finance committee of that body and also of the committee on the asylum for the
insane. Mr. Turner was at all times greatly interested in the cause of
education, was one of the founders of the first Union school of Lansing
and of the Michigan Female College, and was a member of Lansing's
first board of education, continuing as a member thereof throughout the
remainder of his life. For over twenty years he was superintendent
335




336


I"on, 31ameo Ounroe   turner


of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday-school of Lansing, and was also a
staunch and active friend of the cause of temperance. In politics he was
identified with the Republican party from its organization. On October
I, I843, Mr. Turner was married to Marion, the daughter of Jesse
Munroe, who was a pioneer of Michigan. He died October Io, I869.
James Munroe Turner was born at Lansing, Michigan, April 23, 1850,
attended the Lansing public schools and completed his educational training in the Oneida Conference Academy at Cazenovia, New York. At
the age of sixteen years he entered upon his business career as a clerk
in the store of ex-Auditor-General Daniel L. Case, at Lansing, and two
years later became identified with the land office of the Jackson, Lansing
& Saginaw Railway, of which office his father was then at the head.
Less than twenty years of age at the time of his father's death, in I869,
Mr. Turner displayed his ability by taking full charge of the elder man's
affairs, which he closed most successfully and satisfactorily. In I869
he was appointed paymaster and assistant treasurer of the Ionia & Lansing Railroad Company, which, with a number of other corporations, was,
in 1871, merged into the Detroit, Lansing & Northern Railroad Company.
Mr. Turner continued to fill these positions until the general offices of
the company were removed to Detroit, when he resigned, and soon afterwards opened a general land office in Lansing in partnership with Mr.
Dwight S. Smith, formerly of Jackson, under the firm name of Turner,
Smith & Company. The partnership was continued until the retirement
of Mr. Smith in I875. Mr. Turner continued to conduct this business,
confining his transactions principally to the buying and selling of timber
and mining lands in both the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan
until his death. In 1876 Mr. Turner was instrumental in organizing the
Chicago & Northeastern Railroad Company which built a line from Flint
to Lansing, he being the president of the company as well as the general
superintendent of the road, continuing in this dual capacity until 1879,
when the road was merged into the Chicago & Grand Trunk Railroad
Company, it becoming the middle division of the company. In the year
1876 James M. Turner became a member of the Michigan legislature.
He was made mayor of Lansing in I889 and in I89o was the nominee of
the Republican party for governor of the State. At this time he was
acting as president and treasurer of the Michigan Slate Company; president of the Iron Star Company, which owned the great western iron
mine located at Crystal Falls, Michigan; vice-president of the Ingham
County Savings Bank and president of the Michigan Condensed Milk
Company, of Lansing, which he had established. In 1888 James M.
Turner was elected a member of the electoral college and had the honor
of voting for General Harrison as president of the United States. He
was interested in general and stock farming, and was the owner of
what was known as Springdale Farm, a tract of 2,000 acres of valuable
land located near Lansing. Mr. Turner was widely known among the
agriculturists of the state, and served capably for two terms as president
of the Michigan State Agricultural Society, succeeding Hon. Thos. W.
Palmer in that office. In I895 he was elected mayor of Lansing for a
second term, and in addition served as a member of the board of directors




tron. 3fameo Munroe turner


337


of the Michigan School for the Blind for many years. His life was a
fortunate, an active and a happy one. His acquaintances esteemed and
respected him; by his friends he was beloved. Upon him was bestowed
as much public honor as he was willing to accept. Diligent in business,
his ventures prospered under his hand. He witnessed the marvelous
growth of one of the great cities of the land, of which he himself had
placed some of the foundation stones. When he died, July 7, I896,
Lansing lost one of its most helpful and public spirited men.
On September 30, I876, Mr. Turner was married to Miss Sophie
Porter Scott, who was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of the
late Ira and Esther (Kennedy) Scott, natives of Saratoga County, New
York. Ira Scott was a graduate of Harvard Law School and removed
to Chicago in 1848, practicing his profession in that city until his removal
to Lansing in 1882, where he lived retired from active affairs during the
remainder of his life, and where Mrs. Scott also died. To Mr. and Mrs.
Turner were born two sons: James, now a successful practicing attorney
of Detroit; and Scott, who is interested in coal mining in Spitzbergen, in
which country he spends his summers. Mrs. Turner survives her husband and resides at No. 609 Washington Avenue, North, Lansing.




Iu




I
I




.9
4


(i-a  ((-1'/',.
- - ^

'04




Jame to. jc^ieerEin, R# B., QC. A.,
$. a. C. S.
DISTINCTIVE position as a physician and surgeon
has long been held by Dr. McMeekin, whose home has
been in Saginaw since I89o, and who is one of the leading surgeons and X-ray and radiology specialists in the
Saginaw Valley. The successful practice of a number
of branches of modern surgery and medical science
requires a very complicated outfit of instruments and other facilities,
and Dr. McMeekin has the finest professional and private library and
the most complete set of mechanical facilities for his work in the city
of Saginaw, and there is no physician in the state whose equipment is
better or more modern. James W. McMeekin was born at Oxford, Ontario, October 31, I859. His father, Samuel D. McMeekin, was born in
Castle Douglas, Scotland, while his mother, whose maiden name was
Elizabeth Mitchell, was a native of Devonshire, England. Samuel D.
McMeekin was a man of considerable education, and after moving to
Canada and locating at Oxford he became prominent as a land owner
and farmer, and was an authority on many lines of agricultural activity
and often sought for advice and expert assistance in his line. He died
in Oxford in I90I, at the age of eighty-two years, and his widow still
lives in the old home at Oxford. All the ten children are living, are well
educated and are people of distinction in their respective callings.
The first born of these children was Dr. James W. McMeekin. His
early years were spent at Oxford, where he received a primary and a
college education, and he also attended high school at Woodstock, the
Toronto University at Brantford, where he was graduated B. C., and
St. Catherine's College Institutes. His professional studies were pursued
in the noted McGill University at Montreal, where he was graduated in
medicine in I885.
After obtaining his diploma from the University at Montreal, Dr.
McMeekin began practice at St. Catherines, Ontario, and became superintendent of the general hospital in that city. Later, in order to better
equip himself for the largeo career opening before him in medicine and
surgery, he attended the famous St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London,
England, graduating in surgery in I895. He took two separate special
courses in X-ray work and radiology in the New York Post-Graduate
School.
After the death of his first wife at St. Catherines, who died four
days after the birth of her daughter, on the 27th of December, I885,
Dr. McMeekin decided it was necessary to make a change in his home
341




342  3faofmee   I. f!I%5creekin, D... c. Owl, Ir. a. C# %.


relations in order to overcome his sad affliction. He traveled and studied
for three years, and finally settled in Saginaw in December. In a few
years he laid the foundation for a success which has been steadily growing to the present time. His work is largely surgery and X-ray special
practice, and all his time and energies are required by his practice in
Saginaw and the Saginaw Valley.
Dr. McMeekin in I9IO was one of the founders of the Clinical Congress of Surgeons, organized in Chicago in that year. On November 13,
I913, the American College of Surgeons, at its first meeting in Chicago,
conferred the degree of fellowship. He has membership in the Saginaw
County and the State Medical Societies, is a past president of the County
society, and is a fellow of the American Medical Association and the
British Medical Association of London, England. As an authority on
X-ray and radiology, he has contributed various articles to medical journals. Dr. McMeekin is an enthusiast in the line of his profession, concentrates all his time and energy on his profession, and it is easy to
account for his splendid success when his steady devotion to it through a
long period of years is considered. He has the best equipped laboratory
in Saginaw, and there is none better in the entire state of Michigan. The
Doctor is affiliated with the Masonic order, the Mystic Shrine, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks and other lodges and fraternities. His
church is the Presbyterian, in which denomination all his family are
members.
Dr. McMeekin was first married in 1882, at St. Catherines, Ontario,
to Miss Sulta H. Emmett, who was born at St. Catherines and died there,
as already noted, in I885. The only child by that marriage is Sulta H.,
wife of Lloyd Avery, of Hamilton, Ontario. Dr. McMeekin, in I9OI,
married Miss Anna Kosanka Opperman, of Saginaw. Their children are
three in number: Elizabeth, aged eleven; Helen, aged nine; and James,
Jr., aged six. Dr. McMeekin owns a pleasant home and other valuable
real estate in Saginaw, and has acquired considerable property in the city
of Detroit.




INDEX


Alger, Russell A., 15
Alger, Russell A., Jr., 20
Austin, Charles, 39
Avery, Newell, 229
Avery, Waldo A., 179
Bates, George W., 209
Burleson, Willard M., 221
Cady, William B., 23
Comstock, Charles C., 224
Cotharin, Benjamin F., 137
Cowles, Frederick M., 239
Dean, Henry S., 77
Dickinson, Don M., 101
Driggs, Frederick E., 251
Eberle, Carl, 83
Elliott, William H., 95
Gray, William J., 301
Haberkorn, C. H., 45
Haberkorn, Christian H., Jr., 46
Hannan, William W., 257
Hecker, Frank J., 297
Hinman, Edward C., 305
Hodges, Charles C., 67
Hodges, Henry C., 117
Hogarth, William, 97
Holt, Frederick H., 175
Houran, Michael E., 59
Hovey, Horatio N., 169
Hutchins, Jere C., 149
Jenison, Nelson F., 242
Johnson, Stephen 0., 125
Joy, Henry B., 9
Joy, James F., 5
Joy, Richard P., 8
Kirby, Frank E., 286
Kirby, Stephen R., 285
Ladd, Sanford W., 267
Leland, Henry M., 271


Lewis, Charles, 189
Loomis, Peter B., 27
Manchester, William C., 185
Mason, William H., 113
Matthews, George A., 321
McMeekin, James W., 341
McPherson, Alexander, 291
Moore, William A., 199
Moore, William V., 205
Newberry, John S., 87
Newberry, John S., II, 90
Palmer, Frank E., 153
Pocock, William H., 213
Price, Lawrence, 197
Reynolds, Wiley R., 105
Richmond, William A., 33
Root, John M., 279
Sawyer, Joseph E., 327
Schroeder, John, 247
Schulte, Peter, 141
Schurtz, Perry, 55
Shurly, Burt R., 275
Smith, John, Jr., 63
Standart, Robert W., 145
Stephens, Albert L., 316
Stephens, Henry, 315
Taylor, Edwin C., 263
Turner, Aaron B., 223
Turner, James M., 335
Walker, Frank B., 311
Walker, Hiram, 163
Walsh, Joseph, 157
Warren, Charles B., 131
West, George M., 235
Whitney, David, Jr., 73
Whittlesey, Matthew B., 252
Wickes, Harry T., 50
Wickes, Henry D., 49
Wickes, William J., 49
Wilson, Ellen E., 2253
Woodfield, Thomas, 217


343




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