YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 07156 2574

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

History of
DETROIT

Chronicle of its Progress, its Industries, its
Institutions, and the People of the
Fair City of the Straits

BY
PAUL LEAKE

VOLUME III

ILLUSTRATED

THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1912

HISTORY OF DETROIT

Clarence M. Burton. Student, historian, lawyer and man of
affairs, Clarence M. Burton has such status in the Michigan metropolis
that no publication of the province assigned to the one here presented
can be consistent with itself if there is failure to accord to this honored
citizen specific recognition within its pages. No resident of the state has
a wider and more intimate knowledge of Michigan history, even to the
most obscure details, than has Mr. Burton, and his contributions to its
records have been of inestimable value. A man of the highest literary
appreciation, of most comprehensive reading and study, and of distinctive ,
intellectual force, he has given in most generous measure to perpetuating
matters of historic interest in Detroit and Michigan. He is a member of
the bar of the state, though not engaged in the active work of his pro
fession; is a citizen of intrinsic loyalty and public spirit; and is known
as one of the representative business men of Detroit, where he has pro
vided and assembled most complete and authoritative abstracts of land
titles for Wayne county, the same affording the best of reference facilities.
For a number of years he has also been an extensive operator in the local
real estate field.
Mr. Burton is a native of Sierra county, California, where he was
born on the 18th of November, 1853, and he is a son of Dr. Charles S.
and Annie E. (Monroe) Burton, both of whom were born and reared
in Seneca county, New York. In 1855, when he was but two years of
age, his parents came to Michigan and established their home at Hast
ings, the judicial center of Barry county. The father devoted the major
part of his active life to the practice of medicine and both he and his
wife continued to reside in Michigan until their death.
Clarence M. Burton secured his preliminary education in the public
schools of Hastings, and in 1869 he entered the literary department of
the University of Michigan, in which he continued his studies for three
years. In 1872 he became a student in the law department of the same
institution, in which he was graduated in March of the following year,
after a creditable examination. The day succeeding his graduation and
incidental acquiring of his degree of Bachelor of Laws, Mr. Burton
came to Detroit. As he had not yet attained to his legal majority, and
was therefore ineligible for admission to the bar of the state", he entered
the law office of Ward & Palmer, under whose directions he continued
his study, with incidental professional work of a preliminary order,
until the 19th of November, 1874, when he was admitted to practice in
the circuit court of Wayne county, — the day following his twenty-first
birthday. The firm with which he had been associated made a specialty
of extending loans on real estate securities, and his duties had been
largely in the examining of land titles. John Ward, the senior member
of the firm, was also a member of the firm of E. C. Skinner & Com-
843

844 HISTORY OF DETROIT
pany, engaged in the abstract business, and in the well ordered offices
of this latter firm Mr. Burton found employment in otherwise leisure
moments and at night, with the result that he so soon made himself an
indispensible factor in the enterprise, which was one of large propor
tions. -In 1883 he secured an interest in the business, of which he became
the sole manager in the following year. Since that time he has given
the major part of his time and attention to the abstract business, in
which his has recognized priority over all other similar concerns in
Wayne county. He was associated in this enterprise with his former
employer, John Ward, until 1891, since which time he has maintained
the entire ownership and control of the large and splendidly organized
business to the upbuilding of which he has contributed in maximum
degree. It has been said with all of consistency that ' ' a Burton abstract
is considered by all dealers in real estate, either sellers or purchasers
as good as a deed itself. ' ' The perfect system of conducting the business
finds exemplification in simplicity and absolute exactitude, and neither
time nor labor has been denied in the preparation of the abstracts, which
number fully one hundred and fifty thousand. Research and investi
gation have been most careful and exhaustive, so that the business is
founded on a basis absolutely authoritative.
Mr. Burton has an eminently judicial mind and a clear and ample
knowledge of the science of jurisprudence. He has gained no slight
prestige in the practice of law in the earlier period of his independent
career, and success in his profession was practically assured had he not
found it expedient to direct his energies in other fields. He has handled
large and valuable properties in Detroit and Wayne county, and his
real estate operations have been most successful, as may be inferred from
his intimate knowledge of values. To his fine abstract- files recourse is
had by practically all leading real estate dealers in the county, as well
as by those making individual sales or purchases of realty.
While never imbued with political ambition, Mr. Burton has ever
accorded a staunch allegiance to the Republican party, and he has given
effective service in behalf of its cause. He was a member of the state
constitutional convention in the spring of 1908 and had much to do with
shaping the new constitution which was presented to the people of the
state for ratification in the autumn of the same year. He has been an
influential member of the Detroit board of education since 1902, and his
interest in the work of the public schools of the city has been shown in
a determined advocacy of effective measures of control and administra
tion. In the matter of religion Mr. Burton has ever shown a deep
respect for the spiritual verities, but he is not a supporter of creeds or
dogmas, as he bases his opinions upon scientific data and holds prac
tically to the agnostic belief. He recognizes the various religious denom
inations as valuable and worthy moral factors in every community and
has been a liberal contributor to their work, though far from being in
accord with, their canonical tenets.
It is with special gratification that the writer adverts at this point
to a work which has engrossed mueh of the time and intellectual
resourcefulness of Mr. Burton, — that of historical and general literary
research and study. In this field his achievement has been almost
phenomenal, in view of the exactions placed upon him by business affairs.
A mind particularily enriched and illumined by discriminating reading
and study of the best in classical and historical literature, as well as
that of contemporary order, has found its greatest recreation in deep
research work and in the accumulation of a most extensive and valuable
private library, in which are found many rare and unique works of

HISTORY OF DETROIT 845
special value. Mr. Burton's pride in his library, one of the best of
private order in the middle west, if not in the entire Union, is well justi
fied, and no man in Michigan is more intimately informed concerning its
history, from the earliest period to the present time. His interest in
literature has not, however, been hedged in by selfishness or the narrow
reserve of the helluo librorum. This is shown in a significant way by
his presentation to the University of Michigan of a great collection of
works pertaining to the French revolution and of early installments
of that colossal and monumental publication, "Stevens' Facsimiles of
European Archives Relating to American Affairs at the Era of the
Revolution." A fitting recognition of his benefactions to the univer
sity, as well as of his profound delving in the field of literature, was
given by that institution when it conferred upon him the degree of
Bachelor of Arts, which would have been his had he completed his pre
scribed course in the university in his youthful days. Later the Uni
versity also conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts, and it will
be recalled that as a young man he had received from the same institu
tion the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He is now the incumbent of the
office of city historiographer of Detroit. It is deemed consonant to repro
duce in this connection an estimate of Mr. Burton that was given by one
who knew him intimately from his childhood and who has regarded his
career with admiring interest. This estimate originally appeared in the
Cyclopedia of Michigan, edition of 1900, and is as follows :
"Mr. Burton is a man of large physique and dignified bearing, of
pleasing address, of genial disposition and cordial manners; loyal to
his friends, generous to his employes, and courteous to everybody. He
has indomitable energy, good judgment and excellent executive ability.
His mind has a natural legal bent and a fair degree of judicial aptitude,
coupled with a fondness for historical research. He attained to a good
standing while at the bar and would doubtless have grown to a high
position in the profession had he remained in it. He seems to have had
an early taste for the intricate and, knotty problems of realty law, which
may have had something to do with diverting his footsteps into their
present pathway. He has taken hold of the abstract business with an
earnestness that indicates an intention to make it a life work, and with
that purpose in view he has laid his plans on a broad and comprehensive
scale ; every item of the work is planned and carried out not with ref
erence to the immediate profit alone but also with a forecast of future
needs and requirements. Everything that bears on land titles, whether
historical, topographical or biographical, is sure to 'find in him an inter
esting investigator. Working at his desk from eight in the morning
till six at night, or later if need be, he will then sit up till the small hours
come around again, tinkering in his great library upon some literary
scheme that had attracted his attention. His researches have taken him
to the early archives of Canada and France, whence he has unearthed
some very interesting information bearing upon the early history of
Detroit and Michigan. He is never happier than vsdien delving into some
old, musty records of the past. Few men have anything like his knowl
edge of the early history of Detroit in its minute details. He combines
in an uncommon way the qualities of a business man who pursues liter
ary investigations without injury to his business, and of a student whose
business does not interfere with his researches. ' '
On Christmas day of the year 1872 Mr. Burton was united in mar
riage to Miss Harriet J. Nye, daughter of the late Nelson B. Nye of Ann
Arbor, Michigan, and they had eight children. After the death of his

846 HISTORY OF DETROIT
first -wife Mr. Burton wedded, on the 21st of June, 1900, Mrs. Anna
(Monroe) Knox, and they have one child.
Charles Carroll Hodges was identified with one of the greatest
industries of the city of Detroit, the Detroit Steam Radiator Company,
which was later merged into the American Radiator Company and which
he assisted his brother, Henry C. Hodges, in founding. One of the
most energetic, enterprising, upright business men of Detroit, distin
guished for his civic patriotism and broad minded views on all questions,
the late Charles Carroll Hodges left behind him a memory which is
still honored by all those with whom he came in contact. A man of
indomitable energy, strictest integrity and of the most loving disposition,
he was loved and admired by all who knew him, and it was not necessary
for post-mortem praise, as he was accorded the friendship and admira
tion of his associates while he lived.
Born at South Hero, Grand Isle county, Vermont, on July 22, 1830,
he was the son of Nathaniel and Clara (Phelps) Hodges. He received
only the rudiments of a common school education in his native town.
Being of an independent, aggressive disposition, he left the shelter of
the paternal roof at an early age and when little more than a child
sought a means of livelihood, taking a position in a general store in St.
Albans as a messenger and minor clerk. He was a gifted penman and
early showed an adaptability that was remarkable, with the result that
he was soon transferred to the bookkeeper's desk. After performing
his work for several years to the full satisfaction of his employers, he
desired to see the west and become a part of that great army of pioneers
which was to transform a wilderness into a thriving commonwealth
with great cities and greater possibilities. Going to Battle Creek,
Michigan, where he had relatives, he accepted a position in a general
store conducted there by the firm of Wallace and Collier, the latter,
V. P. Collier, later becoming treasurer of the state. Keeping his books
with the neatness and fidelity which won him a splendid reputation in
the east, he remained with Mr. Collier for a short while, when he saw an
opportunity to go info business for himself. He and a Mr. William
Andrus bought out a large drug store at Battle Creek, which they con
ducted with gratifying success until 1862, when Mr. Hodges sold his
interest and in 1863 removed to Detroit, in which city his real career
in the business world was to begin.
In Detroit he and his brother were made general agents for the
Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, with an immense territory
to cover. Their field of operations included the most of Canada, all of
Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and later Ontario was added.
The business, under their careful management, became so large that
they were compelled to sell part of the original territory granted to them.
During this period of successful operations in the insurance field, Mr.
Hodges and his brother entered the real estate business, in which they
were very successful. They bought and platted that portion of the
Woodbridge farm lying North of Grand River avenue at a time when
such a venture was looked upon as risky, but in this they also met with
success, and disposed of the land at a pleasing profit. They founded the
Detroit Lubricator Works, and from its inception the enterprise was a
success. Mr. Charles C. Hodges was treasurer of the firm, and his
brother, H. C. Hodges, was its president.
In 1853 Mr. Hodges was united in marriage with Miss Harriet Pew,
of Battle Creek, and four children were born to them, two of whom,
with their mother survive him: Dr. Rollin C, of Houston, Texas, and
Fanny Hodges Withington, Mr. Withington being one of the prominent
bankers of Cleveland.

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HISTORY OF DETROIT 847
Although Mr. Hodges led the life of a hardworking, tireless business
man, yet he found time to think of other things and to indulge his tastes,
which were of an artistic order. He was a painter of genuine talent,
both in water color and oils, and it was his custom to spend a portion of
the summer in travel every year with his easel. He assisted in the or
ganization of the Water Color Society of Detroit, and was its president
at the time of his death, which occurred on January 8, 1901. He traveled
quite extensively in this country and also in foreign lands, and while
abroad he gathered many art treasures, which now adorn the home of
which he was so proud. He was not only an artist, but was a cultivated
musician and he had a voice of exceptional purity and sweetness of tone.
He was one of the founders of the Philharmonic Society, and was also
one of the original members of the Prismatic Club, and in spite of his
business cares, managed to keep in touch with all that was best in Eng
lish literature. And all this despite the fact that he had received no
early education. He was a self-taught man in the best and highest ac
ceptance of the term.
Mr. Hodges was a devout Episcopalian. 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.
He was a member of the Detroit Club and of a number of philanthrop-
ical and social organizations. In politics he was a strong Republican,
and he attended the meeting "Under the Oaks" at Jackson, Michigan,
at the formation of the Republican party. One of the great business
men of Michigan, he took his citizenship seriously, and believed that in
thus discharging his duty he had done all that was required of him and
asked no reward in the shape of patronage or emoluments of office.
In speaking of him a daily newspaper printed the day after his death,
said: "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 greater variety of interests or lived a more
rounded life than Mr. Hodges. None of his tastes were 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."
Robert Flowerday enjoys a leading position among the florist fra
ternity of Detroit. It is safe to say that no one could be fqund, from
Maine to California, better versed in the details of this delightful enter
prise than he. Three generations of Flowerdays have been florists, his
father having preceded him and tutored him and his son followed in his
footsteps and received the benefit of his tutelage. This prominent gen
tleman was born in county Norfolk, England, in the year 1858 and now,
at the dignified age of fifty-three, he and his son, Robert Flowerday,
conduct a prosperous business at 470-482 John R. street, the same being
one of the most extensive and up-to-date in the country. The subject's
parents were Robert and Mary Flowerday, scions of the best English
stock, and now both deceased. The mother journeyed to the Great Be
yond nine years ago and the father's death occurred three years later.
Both died and are buried in their native England. One of the 'happy
events in their useful lives was a visit they made to their son in this
country. Robert Flowerday spent his boyhood and youth in "the right little,

848 HISTORY OF DETROIT
tight little island," receiving his education in the national schools, Nor
folk county. He was a remarkably good student and was naturally
fitted for a professional life, but chose rather to adopt the calling with
which he had become familiar as an assistant in his father's florist shop.
He spent his summer vacations engaged in this wise until the age of
fourteen years. When a very young man he concluded to try his for
tunes in the newer land across the Atlantic and so severed the home
associations. His first business connections after arriving in the United
States in 1874 was with Davis & Taplin, the leading florists of Detroit,
who at that time were located at the corner of Fort and Twenty-fourth
streets. He worked for them for two years and then in the year 1875
went to New York city. He remained in Gotham, however, but a .com
paratively short time, and then went to Toronto, Canada, where he se
cured employment from David Fleming, a Scotchman. In course of
time he left Toronto and proceeded to East Saginaw, Michigan, where
he remained for a few months. He was then offered the management of
the greenhouses of Julius Strelinger, of Detroit, located on Davenport
street, between Woodward and Cass avenues, and he came back to the
City of the Straits, whose charms had ever remained vivid with him.
He conducted the aforesaid business very successfully until 1883 when
he entered'into business relations with John E. Carey at 470-482 John
R. street. Messrs. Flowerday and Carey conducted, this floral establish
ment with signal success as partners for ten years, and in 1894 Mr.
Flowerday bought out Mr. Carey, and has since had an independent busi
ness, making the Detroit Floral Company a "top-notcher" among its
kind, and being eminent among the followers of floriculture. Last
March he branched out by establishing a retail store at 747 Woodward
avenue. At the age of sixteen Mr. Flowerday became a member of a volun
teer artillery company in England and he remained in service for two
years. He is now interested in public affairs, and that very helpfully.
He is at the present time and for the past two years has been general
superintendent of parks and boulevards of Detroit. This is indeed a
notable distinction, for the city is noted far and wide for its beautiful
parks and their destiny, it goes without saying, would have been in
trusted only to one whose artistic ability, executive force and trust
worthiness were unusual and well-known to be so. The ' choice of Mr.
Flowerday has already been proved a wise one, many improvements
having been inaugurated in the past two years. He is active in politics
and is one of the standard-bearers of the Republican party. He has a
number of affiliations, in all of which he takes great pleasure, for he is
of an essentially social nature. He is a member of the Detroit Floral
Club and one of its ex-presidents. He is a Mason, holding membership
in Ashlar Lodge, No. 91 ; Peninsular Chapter, No. 42 ; Monroe Council,
No. 1; Damascus Commandery, No. 42. He is a Knight Templar and
has "traveled east" with the Shriners. His latter connection is with
Moslem Temple. He is a member of Damon Lodge, Knights of Pythias,
and Bagley Council, National Union of Detroit.
Mr. Flowerday laid the foundation of an independent household by
his marriage in Detroit to Miss Mary Elder, daughter of Henry and
Esther Elder, natives of Ireland and for many years residents of this
city. Her mother still resides in this city, at the age of eighty years.
Robert H. Flowerday is the only child of the subject of this sketch
and his birth occurred August 6, 1881. He is a graduate of the public
schools here and is interested in the floral business with his father. He
was married in Detroit to Miss Ada Peterquinn, January 4, 1911.

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HISTORY OF DETROIT 849
Edward J. Panzner, M. D. As one of the representative physicians
and surgeons of the younger generation in his native city, Dr. Panzner
is distinctively eligible for recognition in this publication, within the
pages of which will be found represented a large percentage of the suc
cessful medical practitioners of Detroit.
Dr. Edward Joseph Panzner was born in Detroit, on the 11th of
January, 1874, and is a son of Frank and Theresa (Pospeshil) Panzner,
both of whom were born and reared in Bohemia, whence they came to
America when young folk, and they were pioneer representatives of
their nationality in the Michigan metropolis, where they continued to
reside until their death and where they were known as persons of sterling
character and assuming worth. Dr. Panzner gained his early edu
cation in private schools in Detroit and in preparation for the work of
his chosen profession he was matriculated in the Detroit College of
Medicine, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1893
and from which he secured his degree of Doctor of Medicine. He was
one of the youngest members of his class, in which he had made an
admirable record as an undergraduate, and he was but twenty-one years
of age when he received his degree. Thereafter he passed eighteen
months as a professional attache of St. Mary's Hospital, in which he
held a position as interne in the department devoted to the treatment
of diseases of the lungs, nose and throat, and after his withdrawal from
this position he took effective post-graduate courses in leading institu
tions in Chicago, Paris and Vienna. While abroad he had the privilege
of attending the most important clinics in the cities mentioned. After
his return from Europe Dr. Panzner engaged in the general practice of
his profession in Detroit, but for the past several years he has special
ized in surgery, in which his business has been notably marked and in
which he has to his credit a large number of delicate and involved opera
tions. With a few other physicians in 1912, he began the erection of
what is known as the Samaritan Hospital. This is a fire-proof building
of steel construction and so planned as to permit additions being made
as required: It is fitted with the latest appliances for the treatment
of medical and surgical cases and has accommodations for about fifty
patients. The structure when completed will cost over $50,000.
The doctor holds membership in the American Medical Association,
the Michigan State Medical Society, the Mississippi Valley Medical
Society, the Congress of American Surgeons and the Wayne County
Medical Society.
Dr. Panzner is most loyal to his native city and takes a lively in
terest in all that tends to advance its civic and material prosperity, the
while his genial personality has here gained to him staunch friends in
professional, business and social circles. He is a Republican in his
political adherency and his religious faith is that of the Catholic church.
The Doctor still remains in the ranks of the bachelors.
Thomas Campau. By the very name itself Detroit pays a tribute of
honor to its early French settlers, and of the old-time French line, so
prominent and influential in the founding and initial development of the
Michigan metropolis, there yet remain many sterling representatives,
while there must ever be held as due a debt of gratitude to those who
have thus wrought nobly in the past and left the gracious heritage of
good lives and good deeds, their names and achievements being a very
part and parcel of the history of the fair "City of the Straits." Here
are found at the present time, representative of the best citizenship and
of definite power in the industrial and commercial world, those who trace
their genealogy through long and distinguished lines of French ancestry,

850 HISTORY OF DETROIT
and in the honored subject of this review is found one of the most vener
able scions of a family whose name has been one of great prominence in
the annals of Michigan. The Campau family was numbered among the
earliest in Detroit, and of the representatives of the older generation of
the same Thomas Campau is one of the few surviving — one of the most
venerable of the native sons of Wayne county. In the generic history
given in this publication will be found adequate reference to this dis
tinguished family and thus it will not be necessary to repeat the data
in the present sketch. The character and services of Thomas Campau
have been such as to add new dignity and distinction to the honored
name which he bears, and as one who has long been numbered among the
leading business men and influential citizens of Detroit he merits, on
this score alone, special consideration in this work.
Thomas Campau was born in Hamtramck township, Wayne county,
Michigan, and the old homestead which was the place of his nativity
occupied a site that is now within the city limits of Detroit — only a short
distance from his present home, at 472 Fort street, East. He is a son
of James and Josette (Chene) Campau, both of whom were likewise born
in Hamtramck township. How far back the identification of the Campau
family with the history of Wayne county may be traced is indicated by
the fact that the old pioneer homestead in which Thomas Campau was
ushered into the world was also the birthplace of his father, his grand
father and his great-grandfather. He was the fifth in order of birth in
a family of twelve children — six sons and six daughters — and of the
number he is now the only survivor, a patriarch in very truth, and one
of the few remaining of those whose memory links the early pioneer
epoch with the present period of opulent prosperity and progress. Many
representatives of the Campau family have been prominent figures in
civic and industrial affairs in Detroit, and the name is perpetuated in
street nomenclature, as is also that of the Chene family, another of the
old French families of Detroit.
Thomas Campau was born on the 6th of February, 1827, and thus
has passed the eighty-fourth milestone on the journey of life. He has
been a resident of Wayne county from the time of his nativity, and well
remembers the conditions and incidents of the territorial epoch. He was
a lad of eleven years when Michigan was admitted to the Union, and he
has witnessed virtually the entire upbuilding of the beautiful city of De
troit, which was a frontier town at the time of his birth. He early began
to assist in the work of the homestead farm, virtually all of which is
now included within the corporate limits of Detroit, and he thus con
tinued to be associated with his father in agricultural pursuits until he
had attained to the age of eighteen years. In the meanwhile he availed
himself of the advantages of the primitive common schools of the period.
He completed a two years' course in .surveying and civil engineering, in
which line he received his instruction at a private school in Detroit kept
by Prof. William F. Hughes, a cousin of Bishop Hughes of New York,
and in 1849 he became assistant to John Almy, who was then civil
engineer for Detroit. In 1852 he himself was elected to this office,
as a candidate on the Democratic ticket, and he retained the incum
bency for ten years, within which he did much important work for
the city. Upon his retirement from this municipal office Mr. Campau
engaged in the lumber business at Manlius (near Kalamazoo), in this
state. In 1884 he became associated with John McLaughlin in civil en
gineering, under the firm name of McLaughlin & Campau. This al
liance continued four years, at the expiration of which Mr. McLaughlin
retired and Mr. Campau admitted his younger son, Thomas Moran Cam
pau, to partnership. During the long intervening years the business

HISTORY OF DETROIT 851
has been consecutively conducted under the firm name of Thomas Cam
pau & Son, and it stands as one of the oldest and most important of its
kind in the Michigan metropolis, with a record for scrupulously fair and
honorable dealings and progressive policies. Thomas Campau continued
to be actively identified with business affairs until 1907, when, venerable
in years, he retired to enjoy that dignified repose which is his just due.
His son has had the active supervision of the business for a number of
years and has well upheld the high prestige of the name which he bears.
Though the enterprise noted engrossed the major part of Thomas Cam
pau 's time and attention for the long period of sixty years, he did not
permit its exactions to withhold him from showing a deep and helpful
interest in all things touching the welfare of his native city, and he has
contributed in generous measure to its civic and material progress,
though he has never had aught of aspiration for public office since his
retirement from that of city civil engineer, in the days of his youth. A
dignified, patrician representative of the gracious "ancient regime,"
Mr. Campau is known and honored of men, for his life has been one
marked by large accomplishment and by the most kindly and generous
of impulses. A thorough gentleman of the old school, his life offers both
lesson and inspiration, and well may he be honored in the city which has
owed so much to those bearing the name of Campau.
In politics Mr. Campau has never wavered in his allegiance to the
Democratic party, and he is a man of broad views and well fortified
opinions — representative of fine intellectuality and broad culture gained
through long years of association with men and affairs. Reared in the
faith of the Catholic church, of which he is a communicant, he has ex
emplified the same in good works and consistent devotion, having long
been one of its most prominent laymen in the city of Detroit. He holds
membership in St. Joachim 's church, on Fort street, East, and is a mem
ber of the local organization of the Society of the Blessed Sacrament,
of which he served as president for several years, besides having held for
some time the office of treasurer. His cherished wife, a woman of noble
character and gracious refinement, was likewise a devout communicant
of the great mother church of Christendom, and in the faith of the same
she passed to the life eternal on the 21st of October, 1897, this constitut
ing the great loss and bereavement in the life of the venerated subject
of this review.
On the 17th of May, 1852, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Cam
pau to Miss Mary Ann Mellon, who was born at Fort Gratiot, this state,
on the 29th of April, 1824, a daughter of Major Charles Mellon and Eliza
(Scott) Mellon. Her father was an officer in the United States army
and was in active service in the Seminole Indian war, in Florida, where
he died. Mrs. Campau was the eldest in a family of five children, all of
whom are now deceased. William Charles James Campau, the eldest
of the children of Thomas and' Mary Ann (Mellon) Campau, emigrated
to Superior City, Wisconsin, and continued to maintain his home there
until his death, in 1906, his life having been sacrificed in a railway ac
cident. He married Hannah Smith, who survives him and still resides
there ; he is also survived by seven children, five daughters and two sons.
He was numbered among the representative business men of his native
city. Eliza Louise Campau is the wife of Byron W. Parker, of Detroit,
manager of the White Star Line of steamships on the Great Lakes and
one of the prominent and popular business men of Detroit. Mr. and Mrs.
Parker have three children — Marie, Aaron and Gladys. Thomas Moran
Campau, younger son of him to whom this sketch is dedicated, continues
the business established by his father many years ago, as has already been
stated in this context. He married Miss Anna Schmidt, of Detroit, who

852 HISTORY OF DETROIT
was born in the town of Miihlhausen, Prussia, where her father died
about thirty-five years ago. She came with her widowed mother to De
troit when a girl, and she has one sister and one brother — Mary, who is
the wife of William L. Barber, of Detroit ; and Augustus, who is a prom
inent business man in the city of Saginaw, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs.
Campau have no children.
Orin D. Kingsley. Distinguished alike for his brave services as
a soldier in the Civil war and for his faithful work as a public officer
in after years, Orin D. Kingsley, late of Detroit, Michigan, is eminently
deserving of mention in this biographical work. A native of Ohio, he
was born November 7, 1841, in Newark, Licking county, but as a boy
came with his parents to Inkster, Wayne county, Michigan, where he
grew to manhood, and was educated, being fitted for teacher.
In the spring of 1862, just ten years after coming to Wayne countyf,
Mr. Kingsley enlisted as a private in Company D, Twenty-fourth Mich
igan. Volunteer Infantry, in which he served until the close of the
conflict, being mustered out as corporal of his company. Locating then
in Detroit, he was made turnkey of the jail, and served as such under
Sheriff Codd for four years. Very soon afterward Mr. Kingsley was
appointed to an official position in the United States Custom House, at
Detroit, and held the office until his death, on January 23, 1909. His
funeral, which was held January 26, 1909, was conducted by Fairbanks
Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was at one time com
mander, and to which he had belonged for many years. Fraternally
Mr. Kingsley was a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order
of Masons, and religiously he was an active and valued member of the
Preston Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. Kingsley was twice married. He married first Julia E. Pull
man, who bore him four children, Damely. Jack, Orin, Mrs. Jennie
Branton and Mrs. Robert Kelsey. Mr. Kingsley married, in 1899, Mrs.
Julia (Isard) Froude, who was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and was
there reared and educated. Her father, the late Frederick John Isard,
whose death oceured in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1901, married Elizabeth
Russell, who is now a bright and active woman of seventy-nine years,
and is still living in Hamilton, Ontario. Mrs. Kingsley married for
her first husband Philip W. Froude, and to them four children were
born, as follows: Mrs. Frances Grove, Philip Froude, M. D., Frederick
Froude and Albert E. Froude.
Mrs. Kingsley is well known throughout the country in fraternal
circles, being an active member of various organizations. She is a
member and national councillor for the state of Michigan, of the Ladies'
National League, and is a member and past president of the local lodge
of the League; is a member and treasurer of the local camp of the
Ladies' National League; a member and also treasurer of Detroit Circle,
No. 1, Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic; a member of the
Woman's Relief Corps; of the Pythian Sisters; and of the Order of the
Eastern Star. Mrs. Kingsley has been a resident of Detroit since 1888,
and is well known and highly esteemed, not only in her home city, but
among the various lodge workers of the country.
George W. Ferris. In the sudden death of George W. Ferris, which
oceured February 16, 1894, Wayne county lost one of its most highly
esteemed and respected citizens, while at Highland Park, which had
long been his home, every house became a house of mourning, his loss
being deeply felt throughout the entire community. A native of the
Empire state, he was born February 15, 1844, in Junius, Seneca county,
and was there brought up and educated. His father, John Ferris, who

'¦'jStFB&Sanr gg-aW

HISTORY OF DETROIT 853
was of English descent, married Harriet Gilbert, who was a direct
descendant on her father's side of Judge Jeffery Gilbert, a distinguished
jurist of Kent, England.
When about twenty years old George W. Ferris, having revolved
in his mind the question of location, decided to come to Detroit Mich
igan, and for sometime thereafter he was in the employ of the Mich
igan Central Railroad Company. Subsequently going still farther west
he visited what is now known as Cripple Creek, Colorado, and was there
a prospector and miner, likewise working for several years in an assay
office. During the time Mr. Ferris made frequent trips to Detroit being
called here occasionally to look after his property interests at Spring
Wells and Greenfield, in Wayne county. An able business man, far-
sighted and progressive, he accumulated considerable wealth, and was
living practically retired from business pursuits at the time of his death,
his time being devoted to the care of his personal interests. He was a
.sunny tempered, genial man, who, quietly, did many deeds of kindness
and won many friends, being popular with the young and the old.
Mr. Ferris married, at Bay City, Michigan, October 22, 1881, Lydia
Loyde Little, who was born in Ontario, Canada. Her father, Thomas
Little, was a son of Peter Little, who was born in Scotland, where the
family name was known as Lytle. Thomas Little was reared in Ontario,
where he was for many years successfully employed in business as a
contractor and builder. His wife, whose maiden name was Eunice
Walton, was born in Ontario, of English ancestry. As a child Mrs.
Ferris was taken to New York state to live, but subsequently was sent
to Peace Dale, Rhode Island, where she grew to womanhood, having
there been brought up by a widowed aunt. Shortly before her marriage
she came to Michigan, and until her union with Mr. Ferris resided with
friends in Bay City and Detroit. To Mr. and Mrs. Ferris three children
were born, namely : Georgia, who married R. J. Dotson, and they have one
child, Ferris Dotson;, Vivian, wife of Alexander E. Sorum; and Thomas
Alden, who is associated with the Jones-Laughlin Steel Company. Mrs.
Ferris and her children are members of Highland Park Presbyterian
church and have been since its days as a mission Sunday School.
In 1893, but a short time prior to his death, Mr. Ferris sold that
part of his estate through which Ferris avenue now passes for the
snug little sum of twenty-three thousand dollars. The panic, which
lasted from 1893 until 1897, caused a depreciation in values, and Mrs.
Ferris, when left a widow, had a hard struggle to straighten out affairs
satisfactorily and is entitled to a great deal of praise and credit for
the able manner in which she managed the estate. Mr. Ferris was ever
actively interested in educational matters, and served for many years
as a member and the secretary of the Highland Park Board of Educa
tion, occupying that position at the time the school building's were
erected. He was very influential as a man and a citizen, and on the day
of his funeral, as a mark of respect, the public schools were closed, and
the City Council passed resolutions of respect and of sympathy for the
family. Several years later, in memory of his labor on the Board, the
new school on Cortland avenue was named in his honor, attesting again
this truth: "Their works do follow them." Rev. 14; 13.
Morse Stewart, M. D. In the life of the late Dr. Morse Stewart,
who died at his home in Detroit on the 9th of October, 1906, there was
indeed shown "the inward surety to have carried out a noble purpose
to a noble end, ' ' and the record of his career as a physician and as a man
among men offers much of lesson and inspiration. In offering in this
publication a tribute to the memory of this distinguished physician and
surgeon, this man of exalted character, this citizen of loyalty and be-

854 HISTORY OF DETROIT
nignant influence, it is considered most consonant to utilize in practical
entirety the appreciative estimate prepared shortly after his death by
one of the honored contemporaries and fellow practitioners in Detroit,
Dr. Leartus Connor, A. B., who. read the memorial before the Wayne
County Medical Society on the 5th of November, 1906. In reproducing
the article there will be slight paraphrase and elimination but the esti
mate will be given virtually unchanged and without formal indications
of quotation. To practice medicine sixty-four years, retaining the confidence of
clients, the affection of friends and the respect of all, is a record worthy
of careful study.
Dr. Morse Stewart's ancestors were Scotch, and representatives were
early found in the north of Ireland, one of the number having been
Alexander Stewart, who came to America in the colonial era. He
settled in Connecticut in 1719 and with his descendants took active part
in events which led up to the War of the Revolution. Early in the
nineteenth century Dr. Stewart's parents migrated to the then wilder
ness of western New York, where, in Penn Yan, Yates county, he was
born on the 5th of July, 1818, so that he was eighty-eight years of age
at the time of his death.
Dr. Stewart fitted for college at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he
had the advantages of an excellent perparatory school. On one of his
journeys from his home to this school he was a passenger on the first
railway train which ran from Albany to Schenectady, one of the first
railways in the United States. Though he was but a lad at the time of
his father's death, strenuous effort enabled young Stewart to complete
a course in Hamilton College, at Clinton, New York, in which he was
graduated in 1838, at the age of twenty years. The following incident
of his college life showed that "the boy was the father of the man."
After he had successfully fulfilled all conditions for the degree of
Bachelor of Arts he accidentally saw some boys commit a boyish prank.
The faculty insisted that he name the perpetrators, but he declined. For
this" inconsistent reason his degree was withheld for many years and his
name omitted from the lists of Hamilton College alumni. After he had
won a distinguished place in his profession the faculty of Hamilton
College made tardy reparation by conferring upon him the degree
of Master of Arts.
He began his medical studies in the office of Dr. Samuel Foote, of
Jamestown, New York; took two courses of lectures in the College of
Physicians & Surgeons of Western New York; and one course at Gen
eva Medical College, from which he received the degree of Doctor of
Medicine in 1841. After spending some time in post-graduate work he
settled, in Detroit, in November, 1842, at the urgent request of several
of his sisters who had married and were living in this city. So slowly
did practice come to him that he was often on the point of giving up the
struggle and moving elsewhere. Finally, as he became quite discour
aged, his close friend, the late William N. Carpenter, went to Rev.
Geprge Duffield and told him that Detroit was likely to lose a finely
educated physician unless he was assisted to get patients. The case
appealed to Dr. Duffield and he took the matter up in such a way that
paying patients began to flock to Dr. Stewart's office, a condition that
continued until his death. His sensitive shyness made it quite impossible
for him to push his way into practice. Dr. Stewart never learned of
Mr. Carpenter's friendly act at this critical point in his career. Ex
cept a year spent in Europe, for study and recuperation, he practiced
medicine continuously until October 3, 1906. On that day he said he
felt weary and he lay down, growing weaker and weaker till he became

HISTORY OF DETROIT 855
unconscious. On October 9th he passed to the land whence no traveler
has returned.
When Dr. Morse Stewart began practice in Detroit, the state of
Michigan and its university were but five years old. Detroit's population
was about ten thousand, eight thousand being French who .lived by farm
ing, hunting, fishing and collecting furs. The rest were army people and
their families, with mechanics needed for such a population. To these
must be added a motley swarm of land-lookers, numbers of the suddenly
rich, boomers, speculators, sharpers, merchants, lawyers and doctors.
By decision of the supreme court any person could become a doctor by
assuming the title. As may be inferred from the character of the popu
lation, the fees of the doctors were meager, if any, and often had to be
taken in "store pay," which meant a discount of twenty-five or more
per cent, for cash. The practice of medicine was quite unsatisfactory,
both from the popular ignorance of sanitary conditions and the absence
of those aids which characterize modern practice. With the practical
application of the discoveries and inventions which transformed Detroit
from a measly little village to the peerless metropolis of to-day, and the
practice of medicine from a series of guesses to accurate knowledge
based on demonstrated facts, Dr. Stewart kept such close touch that at
the close of sixty-four years of continuous labor in his profession his
actual practice was wholly modern. Time forbids proof of the proposi
tion that the medical profession of Michigan has been a very large factor
in the building of the state. Educated, clean, strong physicians like
Dr. Stewart have ever exercised large influence upon currents of state
life and invariably for their benefit.
In 1852 Dr. Stewart married Miss Isabella Duffield, daughter of the
late Rev. George Duffield, D. D., whose name is held in reverent memory
in Detroit, where numerous descendants have given further honors to
the family name. Mrs. Stewart was summoned to eternal rest in 1888,
and upon his death Dr. Stewart was survived by three sons and two
daughters, — Dr. Morse Stewart Jr., Dr. G. Duffield Stewart, Robert S.
Stewart, Mrs. Charles B. Lothrop and Miss Mary Stewart.
To promote the interests of the charitable institutions of Detroit
was one of the great pleasures of Dr. and Mrs. Stewart. How much
the Detroit Orphan Asylum, the Home of the Friendless and the Thomp
son Home for Old Ladies owe this couple the public will never know.
Without them Harper Hospital would never have existed. Briefly, the
story of its inception is as follows : One day as Mrs. Stewart was calling
on her father, he remarked that a parishioner of his, Mr. Harper, had
decided to endow the First Presbyterian church with his entire estate.
This was reported to Dr. Stewart, who at once exclaimed, "The First
Presbyterian church needs no endowment, but the Detroit sick poor
need a free hospital." Mrs. Stewart carried this opinion to Dr. Duf
field, who persuaded Mr. Harper to leave his estate to found a free hos
pital. It was a matter of regret to both Dr. and Mrs. Stewart that the
hospital could not have been entirely free to the sick poor, as was the
mind of the donor and his advisers.
The present generation of physicians has rarely seen Dr. Morse
Stewart in medical society meetings, because deafness prevented his
hearing the reading of papers or listening to their discussion. His last
paper was read before the Wayne County Medical Society, in conjunc
tion with papers from the late Dr. George B. Russel and Dr. Herman
Kiefer, all relating to personal recollections of their past medical ca
reers. That paper showed large mental vigor and a philosophical deal
ing with facts in whose enactment he was an active participant.
Immediately after his arrival in Detroit we find Dr. Stewart a mem
ber of the Michigan Medical Society and he also became identified with

856 HISTORY OF DETROIT
its Wayne county branch when organized. On the dissolution of the
latter he aided in organizing the Detroit Medical Society, in 1853, and he
was its first president. Within the years of his long and active profes
sional career Dr. Stewart contributed many papers and discussions.
They exhibit a ready command of forceful English, close observation,
logical reasoning and tireless devotion to his profession. In illustration
of some of these characteristics are offered the following brief quotations
from an address delivered by him to the graduating medical class in the
University of Michigan :
"The truth is that the better instincts of our nature always brings
us, when yielding to them, into such sympathy with suffering as only a
high valuation of human life will avail to explain, and this way sym
pathy hath its compensations in its reflex influence, developing the purer
and better qualities of our nature. For it is a wise provision that the
more favored class in all communities should feel impelled by their sym
pathies to care for their less favored fellows. Does not the office of
ministering angel in soothing pain tend to the cultivation and develop
ment of the aesthetic and moral nature of man ?
"To you, my young friends, this subject especially addresses itself.
Introduced as you are this day into the fellowship of physicians, the
dignity and honor which this association brings, implies also a con
secration of yourselves and all your powers to the one subject of your
calling. If you come to the discharge of your high and responsible
duties with a due appreciation of them and a proper estimate of the
importance of the great work you have undertaken, then be assured of
a great success awaiting you. In the attainment of this end yours will
be no idle hands, and your brains no indolent, listless workers. Your
rounds with your patients will be but a small part of what you will find
to do and will do, for thought and study will be your constant occupa
tion. It can not be otherwise if you enter earnestly and properly upon
your calling.
"A word of admonition, and I have done. You have made a choice
of a noble profession. There is before you a sphere of great usefulness.
Henceforth your business is to save human life. If your vocation is to
be as tireless and exacting as I have represented, you will need, in order
to gain the fullest success, to begin with a systematic ordering and
managing of all your work. Much is lost in every industry through
want of system. Let not this be your mistake. Remember that to do
well anything you undertake, it should he done thoroughly. Do not
be in haste to complete the matter essayed by slurring over and neglect
ing details. Do anything, and every part of the thing attempted, in
its place and in its order. Have no spare time and do not waste oppor
tunities. With plans all made so as to use any moment, be ready when
one thing is disposed of promptly to apply yourself to its successor.
It is wonderful what an accumulation of work Will in process of years
come of this careful husbanding of the small fractions of time."
In his first paper before the Detroit Medical Society Dr. Stewart dis
cussed "Our Relations and Responsibilities," and though written more
than half century ago its propositions hold now almost as then. In
May, 1854, he read a paper on "The Value of a Knowledge of Medical
History to the Modern Physician." All then claimed for medical his
tory as of exceeding value to the physician, has even greater force to
day. In the same year he read a paper on "Acute Rheumatism" which
shows how little actual progress has been made since that far-off day.
On March 29, 1855, Dr. Stewart gave the valedictory address to the
graduating class of the department of medicine and surgery of the Uni
versity of Michigan. For graceful diction, profound analysis of the

HISTORY OF DETROIT 857
ideals which should mould the young physician, and for persuasive
phrase this address easily takes its place with the best of its class. To
the exuberant discussion on the removal of the medical department of
the University of Michigan to Detroit, Dr. Stewart contributed one of
the most thoughtful and temperate articles. After more than half a
century the question is still unsolved and bids fair to furnish material
for discussion an hundred years hence.
On July 12, 1855, Dr. Stewart read a paper on "Is Scrofula a Tem
perament in which Inflammatory Action Develops Certain Morbid Forms,
or is it a Disease?" The profession is still asking, what is scrofula?
The unpublished papers of Dr. Stewart show that at one time he was an
active worker in medical societies and for other general professional
interests. They awaken a regret that the same scholarly habit, the
same power of forceful writing could not have been continued to our
time. A visitor to the office of Dr. Stewart, from the beginning to the
end of his sixty-four years of practice, would find him employing his
leisure moments in studying the latest medical journals and books, so
that he was able to discuss recent events of practice.
During Dr. Stewart's career many epidemics swept through Detroit.
Thus during the summer of 1849 Asiatic cholera raged three months.
During July there were three hundred and fifty deaths in a population of
less than twenty thousand. Another outbreak of the same disease oceur
ed in 1854, lasting three months, but was milder in type. In the spring
of 1850 a severe epidemic of cerebro-spinal meningitis broke out, attack
ing chiefly children — rapid in course and extremely fatal. As there
had been no reports of similar epidemics elsewhere, the physicians were
bewildered as to its proper management. In a milder form the disease
continued for many years, and even now a sporadic case occasionally
appears. About 1850 the first cases of diphtheria appeared and were
horribly malignant. The helplessness of attending physicians is evident
to all who consider that they were without serum. In connection with
the havoc wrought by cerebro-spinal meningitis, Dr. Stewart's sensitive
nature was much distressed at the death and suffering of the multitudes
of babes, and he did what he could to inaugurate the measures which
stopped these yearly holocausts.
In caring for the victims of these various epidemics Dr. Morse Stew
art was never known to shirk an obligation or to hesitate a moment in
exposing himself to the worst infection. He was tireless in service to
his patients, whether rich or poor, even to exhaustion. In common
with fellow doctors, he incessantly taught the means of preventing these
diseases by proper sanitary provisions and precautions. By reducing
such teaching to practice Detroit has gained a deserved reputation for
healthfulness during the entire year.
Religiously Dr. Stewart was a Presbyterian, a Puritan flavor being
added to the original Scotch-Irish article by long residence -of his an
cestors with the Connecticut Yankees. He was never disturbed by the
onslaught of the higher criticism, but read his Bible, studied the ques
tions involved, associated himself with those of his faith and was ever
ready to give a reason for such faith.
Politically Dr. Stewart was a Democrat of the Jeffersonian type, but
he gave other gentlemen the same liberty of opinion which he claimed
for himself. The only political office he ever held was that of member
of the Detroit board of health, from 1880 until 1886, under the late
Mayor Thompson. In such position he was instrumental in securing
for Detroit as health officer the late Dr. Wight, who did so much in
laying correct foundations for future developments of the service.
Medically Dr. Stewart disliked all "isms" and "pathies," especi
ally homeopathy, but no tribute to his memory was more hearty than

858 HISTORY OF DETROIT
one from a leading homeopathic physician, reciting the occasion when
Dr. Stewart spontaneously expressed warm sympathy with his bereave
ment and misfortunes; thus he often showed himself larger than his
religious, political or medical creeds. He was never a hospital phy
sician, or a medical-college professor, or a post-graduate instructor, or
the editor of a medical journal. In his earlier days such institutions did
not exist, and when they came to Michigan he was fully occupied in his
own professional duties.
Personally Dr. Stewart was clean in* thought, word and deed; a
purifying element in social, civic and professional life. He looked and
bore the manner of the old-time gentleman that he was. His word was
equal to his bond; both inviolable. While genial with his friends he
never sought social position and accepted with unusual modesty that
which fell to his lot. It was foreign to his nature to seek preferment by
emulating the "good fellow" or by the cultivation of clubs or other
festive places. Of extreme nervous temperament, he was sensitively
shy, too much for his comfort. Generally this powerful engine was
kept under perfect control, but occasionally it broke loose, to the dismay
of offenders. Dr. Stewart loved a fine horse, and in his prime he drove
the best obtainable, and drove fast.
What of the financial side of Dr. Stewart's life? He actually prac
ticed continuously about sixty-three years. His clients included all
classes, but, more than in the case of most physicians, they were of
those able to pay for service. He maintained the rate of fees formulat
ed by the old Wayne County Medical Society, and collected with un
usual exactness. He lived well, contributed to the support of many
charitable institutions, to the needy poor and to the assistance of others.
He had no expensive habits. His dress, professional equipment and
home were models of neatness and good taste, but there was no waste
anywhere. From all these years of work the net result did not exceed
fifty thousand dollars; this apart from inheritances of Mrs. Stewart
and himself.
Dr. Stewart had his full share of trials and misfortunes, but with
mien erect, and step firm he trod life's pathway, sustained and soothed
by an unfaltering trust, and on approaching its end, "wrapped the
draperies of his couch about him and lay down to pleasant dreams."
Finally we have seen that he inherited a large capacity for industry,
thrift, honesty and fear of God, as well as a body of exceptional endur
ance. He acquired a full literary training, a medical education of 'un
usual thoroughness for his time, a sympathetic, talented wife, and close
association with the best physicians and educated laymen. He was
crippled by deafness early in his eareer, but this infirmity did not mili
tate materially against his success in his chosen profession, in which
he stood representative as one of the pioneer physicians of the beautiful
city whicn was so long his home and to which his loyalty was on a
parity with his deep appreciation. Those most thoroughly conversant
with the facts agree that for sixty-four years Dr. Morse Stewart ranked
with the leading citizens of Detroit and its best general practitioners;
that his career exhibited those characteristics which make for a medical
profession that shall be the corner-stone of a republic of intelligent,
broad-minded, liberty-loving, God-fearing people.
Such an estimate as that given in the foregoing paragraphs gains in
emphasis and significance when it is known that it represents the
appreciative dictum of one who has long been numbered among the
leading representatives of the medical profession in Detroit and one who
knew Dr. Stewart well during the later part of the latter 's long and
noble career.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 859
Robert S. Stewart. A native son of Detroit and a scion of one of
the city's honored pioneer families, Robert Stuart Stewart holds pres
tige as one of the representative consulting engineers of the state and in
his profession has isecure status as an authority in the profession of
electrical engineering, to which he is devoting practically his entire
time and energies. He is a son of the late and distinguished Dr. Morse
Stewart, who was engaged in the active practice of medicine in Detroit
for more than sixty years and who was one of the pioneer representa
tives of his profession in Michigan, where he established his home
shortly after the admission of the state to the Union. He whose name
initiates this paragraph is a representative of pioneer stock in the
maternal line also, his mother having been a member of the Duffield
family, the name of which has been most prominently and benignantly
linked with the history of Detroit since an early period.
Robert S. Stewart was born in Detroit, on the 10th of September, »
1869, and his early educational discipline was obtained in the public
schools of his native city. After completing the curriculum of the high
school he entered Princeton University, at Princeton, New Jersey, from
which historic institution he was graduated as a member of the class
of 1891, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1894 his alma mater
conferred upon him the degrees of Master of Arts and Electrical En- '
gineer. In his chosen profession Mr., Stewart has gained specially wide
and varied experience, and, as previously intimated, his standing -in
the same is of authoritative order. From 1894 to 1897 he served as
assistant engineer4 of the Public-Lighting Commission of Detroit, and
thereafter he was associated with the Westinghouse Electric & Manu
facturing Company, in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, until 1901. In the
year last mentioned he went to Manchester, England, and assumed a re-,
sponsible position with the British Westinghouse Electrical & Manu
facturing Company, with the affairs of which he continued to be actively
concerned until 1904, in the meanwhile having done a large amount of
important work for that corporation, in various parts of Great Britain.
Upon resigning his position with this company Mr. Stewart returned
to Detroit, and here he has been continuously engaged in business as
a consulting electrical engineer since 1904, his office headquarters being
maintained in the Penobscot building, on Fort street. His success in
his chosen vocation has been on a parity with his fine ability therein
and he now controls a substantial business of broad scope and im
portance. In politics Mr. Stewart gives his allegiance to the Democratic party,
though he has never eared to enter the arena of practical political
activities. He is a member of the American Institute of Electrical
Engineers, and in his home city, which is endeared to him by many
gracious associations and memories, he is identified with such repre
sentative social organizations as the University Club, the Detroit Boat
Club and the Detroit Country Club. He is popular in both business
and social circles and yet remains aligned in the ranks of eligible
bachelors. William H. Cattermole. Prominent among the leading business
men of Northville, Wayne county, is William H. Cattermole, who is
actively identified with the promotion of the mercantile interests of the
village, and by engaging in the manufacture of harness and saddlery,
as a dealer in agricultural implements of all kinds, and of cement, lime,
brick, paints, gasoline engines, etc., has acquired wealth, his patronage
being extensive- and exceedingly remunerative. A native of Michigan,
he was born February 10, 1863, at Saint Johns, Clinton county, where

860 HISTORY OF DETROIT
his father, Arthur Cattermole, was a pioneer settler and the first to en
gage in the manufacture of wagons and carriages.
Having completed his studies in the public schools of his native
village, William H. Cattermole began work with his father, and as a
carriage painter became an expert. Subsequently locating at Detroit,
Wayne county, he secured a position with the Detroit Carriage Wood
work Company, and when that concern, under the name of the Prouty
and Glass Carriage Company, transferred its interests to Wayne, Mich
igan, he accompanied the firm to that place as a painting contractor.
In March, 1892, Mr. Cattermole secured a contract with the Globe
Furniture Company, at Northville, with which he was thereafter con
nected for eight years, in the meantime, in addition to his work with
that company, becoming an extensive dealer in real estate, buying and
selling many valuable pieces of property. When ready to embark in
business on his own account, Mr. Cattermole opened an agricultural
implement shop, and to his original stpck he has since made many ad
ditions, almost everything needed for successfully conducting a farm
after the latest improved and approved scientific methods being found
in his establishment, including rex lime and sulphur solutions for spray
ing purposes, and Buick automobiles, for which he has the agency.
In 1891 Mr. Cattermole was united in marriage with Hattie Collins,
and they are the parents of two children, namely : Ruth Estelle and
Helen Mae. Mr. Cattermole is a trustee of the Northville Building and
Loan Association which has obtained a good standing in the community.
He has served acceptably on the Board of Village Trustees, and is now
a member of the Village School Board. Fraternally Mr. Cattermole
belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons and to the
Woodmen of the World.
Frank A. Miller. One of the prosperous business men of the vil
lage of Northville, and a substantial representative of both the mercan
tile and agricultural interests of Wayne county, Michigan, Frank A.
Miller is a self-made man in every sense implied by the term, his
success in life- being entirely due to his own ability and energy. He was
born, in 1845, in Germany, and in 1851, a lad of six years, came with his
parents to America, locating in the city of Detroit, Michigan.
In 1862 Mr. Miller entered the employ of Peter Eberle, one of
the leading meat dealers of Detroit, and while with him and other
practical men obtained a knowledge of every branch of the meat busi
ness. Coming to Northville in 1881, he opened a meat market, and in its
management met with such good success that he now conducts the lead
ing meat business of this part of Wayne county, his patronage in
cluding not only the residents of Northville, but of the surrounding
country. Mr. Miller has accumulated some property and is identified with
various financial and industrial organizations, and as an agriculturist
owns a valuable farm of one hundred and fifty acres. He is one of
the charter stockholders of the Northville State Savings Bank; and is
a stockholder of the Bell Foundry Company, which is carrying on a
prosperous business. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of
Pythias. Mr. Miller married in 1877, Mary Lercher, a woman of intelligence
and refinement, who presides over his pleasant home with ease and
dignity, welcoming their many guests with a gracious hospitality.
V. D. Cliff. An active and conspicuous factor in -advancing the
interests of Detroit, V. D. Cliff is especially prominent in business,

HISTORY OF DETROIT • 861
and in the social life of his home city occupies an assured position. As
president of the Federal Casualty Company he stands at the head of
one of the leading organizations of the kind in Wayne county, and is
widely known in many parts of the Union. A man of broad capabilities,
energetic and persevering, he is ever ready to take advantage of offered
opportunities, and seemingly has no trouble in carrying forward to
a successful completion whatever he undertakes. He was born at
Zumbro Falls, Minnesota, Dectmber 21, 1866, and although a compara
tively young man has the distinction of being a pioneer in the Health
and Accident Insurance business.
At the age of eighteen years, having asquired a practical education
in tlie public schools, Mr. Cliff became bookkeeper for a mercantile
houst in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1887, and continued thus employed until
1891, when he became a charter member of the Northwestern Benevolent
Society, which was formed for the purpose of carrying on industrial,
health and accident insurance, it being the first organization of the kind
to successfully conduct that line of work. He was elected cashier and
office manager of the company, and filled the position so ably that at
the end of eighteen months he was made secretary and general manager
of the concern. In 1900 the Northwestern and Metropolitan Accident
Association of Chicago, 111., were re-insured by the Metropolitan Cas
ualty Company, which assumed control of the affairs of the former as
sociations, and made Mr. Cliff general manager of the entire organ
ization. During the later months of the same year the Metropolitan
Casualty Company consolidated with the Continental Assurance Com
pany under the name of the Continental Casualty Company, with a capi
tal stock of three hun'dred thousand dollars. Mr. Cliff accepted the posi
tion of general manager of the company, but resigned it in 1901, having
purchased an interest in the United States Health and Accident Insurance
Company, of Saginaw, Michigan, of which he became secretary im
mediately following its incorporation as a stock company. During the
six years that he was officially connected with that organization its
annual premium income grew from $300,000 to nearly $800,000, and
its assets, in addition to the substantial dividends paid out, increasing
from $200,000 to $700,000.
On January 1, 1907, Mr. Cliff tendered his resignation to the United
States Health and Accident Company, retaining, however, his financial
holdings in the same, and became president of the Federal Casualty
Company of Detroit, Michigan, which has since been his home. Re
sourceful and enterprising, Mr. Cliff conceived and put in force the
so-called profit sharing contracts for agents, which has proved especially
popular. Mr. Cliff was one of the founders of the Detroit Conference, an
organization of industrial, health and accident insurance companies,
and served "two terms as its president and has always been a member
of its executive committee. For two terms he was one of the executive
committee of the International Associations of Accident Underwriters,
and in 1906 read before the organization a paper entitled "The Origin
and Development of Industrial Health and Accident Insurance" hand
ling the broad subject in a most interesting and instructive manner.
The Federal Casualty Company, of Detroit, a health and acc.ident
insurance company, was organized and incorporated in 1906, under
the laws of Michigan. It has a capital stock of two hundred thousand
dollars and a large surplus. -Mr. V. D. Cliff is president of the com
pany and Mr. Peter Patterson, secretary. The company is operating
in about thirty states of the Union, and now has about thirty thousand
policy holders, the business having had a strong, healthy growth from
the start.

862 # HISTORY OF DETROIT
Mr. Cliff is connected by membership with various fraternal, sci
entific, and social organizations, being a member of the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks; of the Knights of Columbus; the Academy
of Political Science of the Columbia University; of the Academy of
Political and Social Science of Philadelphia; of the National Geograph
ical Society; of the Detroit Club; the Country Club; the Automobile
Club and of the Detroit Golf Club. Religiously he belongs to the Roman
Catholic church.
William Henry Reddig, general superintendent of the plant of
the Continental Motor Company of Detroit, and also of the plant of
the same company in Muskegon, is entitled to rank as one of the lead
ers in the planning, building and maturing of great concerns in the
United States. Few men have had such a wide and successful experience
in the world of machinery as he has. The mere fact that Mr. Reddig
holds the position he does with this live motor concern, stamps him
as a man of ability and force. Self-made, coming up from the ranks
by the route of his individuality, strict integrity and close attention to
business, he commands the respect of all who know him, and is a
recognized authority on automobile construction.
William Henry Reddig was born at Harrisville, Harrison county,
Ohio, on October 5, 1855. He is the son of John S. and Rachel M.
Reddig, both of American birth, but of German and Scotch extraction,
respectively. The father was a blacksmith and passed his early life
in the pursuit of that industry. In 1877 he moved to Franklin county,
Kansas, where he purchased a large stock farm, and resided there until
his death. The boyhood days of the subject were spent at Harrisville
up to the age of ten years, when his parents moved from Ohio to Lostant,
LaSalle county, Illinois. There he attended public school and worked
with his father at blacksmithing and carriagemaking during his vaca
tions. ,In 1877 his parents again moved, this time to Franklin county,
Kansas, as noted above, where he was associated with his father in stock
raising and farming. This continued until 1883, when he became a stock
holder in a sewing machine manufacturing company with headquarters
at Toledo, and took a position in the tool room of this company where
he mastered all the details of tool-making. A close student and a keen
observer, his rise was steady and in 1886 he was made foreman of the
machine department. Here he remained. until 1888, when he resigned
in order to take a similar position in the machine department of the
Lozier Company, manufacturers of bicycles, and in 1896 he was pro
moted to the office of chief inspector of this company. The next step
upward in his career came in 1900, when he was appointed assistant
superintendent of the Lozier Bicycle Manufacturing Company, which
in 1901 was merged into the International Motor Car Company, and the
name of the plant was changed to the Pope Manufacturing Company,
he becoming superintendent of this concern, which built7 the famous
Pope-Toledo Car. Mr. Reddig remained with this company untill905,
when he accepted a position with the Daimler Automoble Company of
Long Island City, New York, manufacturers of the American-Mercedes
car, and in order to gather ideas for use in the manufacture of the car,
Mr. Reddig traveled extensively through England, Scotland and Ger
many. In 1908 he accepted a most flattering proposition and became
general superintendent of the Olds Motor Works at Lansing, Michigan.
After one year of service with the "Olds, people, he accepted a better
offer and in 1909 became general superintendent of the Chalmers Motor
Company of Detroit. Here he filled the position not only of general
superintendent, but also of construction and tool equipment, having

HISTORY OF DETROIT 863
charge of the placing in this enormous establishment employing thous
ands of men of every piece of machinery now in use. This position he
held up to January, 1912, when he resigned to take his present position.
This concern, which has for some years had a lage plant in Muskegon,
Michigan, where it employs fifteen hundred men, completed in the early
part of 1912 a gigantic factory in Detroit where twelve hundred men
are to be employed. Mr. Reddig came to this building before it was
completed, and, under his immediate supervision the numerous machines
now in successful operation were installed. In this position Mr. Reddig
will have charge of both the Detroit and Muskegon plants, employing
nearly three thousand men and one of the largest concerns of the
kind in the country. It is a position requiring a man of more than
ordinary ability to fill it satisfactorily, but one needs but to look back
briefly over the record of Mr. Reddig to see that he is fully equipped
for the great responsibilities of this position. That he has been called
to fill such a post of importance in the manufacturing world shows con
clusively that he has mastered every detail of mechanics ; first as a black
smith, then winning proficiency in the tool-room of the sewing machine
concern, later as foreman of the mechanical department of a bicycle
house, then assistant superintendent; and at the inception of the auto
mobile business transferring his attention to that line, advancing to the
superintendeney of a motor car works, later rising to the post of super
intendent of one of the largest automobile plants in the country, and
thence to his present high position. All these facts indicate that the
concern with which he is now identified could have found no better
qualified man for so important a place.
Mr. Reddig has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Emma
Hills, and she became the mother of three sons, Orville 0., Charles E.
and John Ray. She died in 1897. In 1900 Mr. Reddig married Miss
Elizabeth Buckelew, of Bryant, Ohio. With regard to his political
views Mr. Reddig is a Republican, but is not active beyond the demands
of good citizenship, having no political ambitions. He is prominent in
fraternal circles, and has attained the thirty-second degree in Masonry,
and is a member of the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic
Shrine. In 1886 he joined the Knights of Pythias and in 1900 joined the
Uniformed Rank of that order. He attends the Methodist Episcopal
church, as do also his wife and three sons.
Alexander L. Waltensperger. Prominent among the energetic and
enterprising men who are actively associated with the development and
advancement of the industrial, manufacturing and commercial interests
of Wayne county is Alexander L. Waltensperger, of Detroit, the secre
tary and treasurer of the Sherwood Brass Works (Incorporated). An
accurate accountant and a skilled machinist, well versed in both theo
retical and applied mechanics, he is a practical business man, with a good
capacity for the handling of many details, and possesses the power of con
centration that readily enables him to make everything work to desired
results A native of Detroit, he was born September 29, 1875, com
ing from thrifty German ancestry. His father, Frederick Waltensperger,
was born in Detroit, Michigan. He has been dead for a number of years.
His wife, whose maiden name was Emily Kull, was born in Michigan, and
was here brought up, educated and married.
Acquiring his elementary education in the common schools, Alex
ander L. Waltensperger, at the age of fourteen years, began learning
the machinist trade with the Grand Trunk Railroad Company, com
pleting his full apprenticeship in the shop. He began the bicycle busi
ness and plumbing at the age of nineteen, afterwards starting the

864 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Sherwood Brass works with Mr. William Sherwood. The Sherwood
Brass Works was organized in 1903, by Messrs. William Sherwood
and A. L. Waltensperger, who began the manufacture of brass and
aluminum goods, the plant being located at No. 1167 Jefferson avenue,
Detroit, Michigan. The firm thus established was successful from
the start, and in 1906 was incorporated, being capitalized at thirty
thousand dollars; William Sherwood was made president of the con
cern; William Sherwood, Jr., became vice-president; while Mr. Walten
sperger was elected' secretary and treasurer, a responsible position which
he has since filled most ably and faithfully, and to the acceptation of
all interested in the business.
In the filling of its numerous orders the Sherwood Brass Works em
ploys three hundred and fifty skilled workmen, the products of its
plant being sold locally and shipped to all- parts of the United States.
Mr. Sherwood, the president of the company, who is a native of Eng
land, learned the trade of a molder when young, and is an expert worker
in brass and metals. He has been connected with the brass business
for many years, and as a man of forceful individuality possesses the
happy faculty of controlling men to their own advantage as well as to
his benefit.
Mr. Waltensperger married, in 1897, Nellie A. Sherwood, a daughter
of William Sherwood, president of the Sherwood Brass Works, and into
their pleasant home three children have been born, namely: Sherwood,
Nellie and Edna, but Sherwood Waltensperger lived but nine, short
years. Rev. James G. Doherty. With the history of few cities of the Union
has the Catholic church, that great mother of Christendom, been longer
of more benignantly connected than with that of Detroit, as the records
of historic old St. Anne's church will indicate, and in the later days
of prosperity and progress the church has kept pace with the demands
placed upon her in the Michigan metropolis. One of the important
parishes is that of St. Vincent de Paul, whose edifice is located at 280
Fourteenth avenue, and of this vital and prosperous parish Father
Doherty is the able and popular pastor, — a representative member of
the Catholic priesthood in Detroit. The church over which he presides
was founded in 1866, by Rev. Father A. L. Bleyenberg, and its history
has been one marked by earnest zeal and devotion on the part of its
priests and people. The church edifice is a fine structure and its
ecclesiastical appointments are of attractive and consistent order. The
parish also has a well equipped parochial school, an academy for higher
educational instruction, a parish hall, and residences for the pastor and
the sisters who have charge of -the schools and other departments of
parish work. The importance of the parish is measurably indicated by
the statement that the average attendance in the schools conducted under
its auspices is eight hundred and fifty, the institutions being in charge
of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The present school
buildings, the parish hall, convent, addition to church, clubhouse for
the young men, pastoral residence, etc., and all church property being
out of debt, have been erected under the regime of the present pastor,
and he has done much to further the spiritual and temporal advancement
of his parish, where he has labored with all of consecrated zeal and
devotion and with marked ability in both sacerdotal and executive
functions. He has held his present pastoral charge for over a quarter
of a century and has an efficient assistant in Rev. M. W. Chawke.
Rev. James Gregory Doherty was born in Danamana, county Tyrone,
Ireland, February 13, 1850. He attended the National School at Dan-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 865
amana until he graduated, and then entered the Agricultural College at
Langhash with high honors after a three years course. After passing
a civil service examination he was offered the position of civil engineer
at Trinidad, but his parents were opposed to his leaving Ireland and
he declined the appointment. He then took up the study of classics
under the famous Professor Kane of Cumberclandy, and later on entered
All Hallows University, Dublin, where, after completing a five years
course in theology, he was ordained to the priesthood for the diocese
of Detroit, June 26, 1876. When he arrived in Detroit he was ap
pointed assistant pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul, Jefferson avenue. In
less than a year he was appointed pastor of St. Patrick's, Brighton,
and St. Johns, Osceola, and the mission of Howell, Livingston county.
During his nine years there he rebuilt Brighton church and built a fine
brick church in Howell and left them out of debt. He was appointed
by Right Rev. Bishop Borgess, D. D., pastor of St. Vincents, Detroit,
July 1, 1886.
Church of Our Lady of Lourdes — Rev. J. Glemet. The church
of Our Lady of Lourdes, River Rouge, Michigan, of which Rev. Emman
uel J. Glemet is pastor, was once a mission of St. Francis Xavier's Ecorse,
Michigan. It was founded as such in 1893 by the Reverend Raymond
Champion. In 1906 the mission was made a separate parish and the
Rev. Emmanuel J. Glemet was made the first pastor. He threw him
self into the work of his parish with a fine faith and inspiring enthu
siasm. Year by year the parish has grown, so that in the short six years
since the parish was established it has been able to enlarge the church
and build a new and attractive rectory.
William A. Hackett, M. D. The large and representative practice
controlled by Dr. Hackett offers the most effective evidence of his pro
fessional ability and personal popularity in Detroit, where he has been
engaged in successful practice since 1894.
William Alexander Hackett, M. D., was born in Huron county,
province of Ontario, Canada, on the 11th of February, 1868, .and is a
son of James and Esther (Reid) Hackett, both of whom were born in the
north of Ireland, but the marriage of whom was solemnized in
Canada, where they have maintained their home from the days of
their youth. Joseph Hackett, grandfather of the Doctor, immigrated
from the Emerald Isle to America in the early '40s and secured a tract
of government land in Huron county, Ontario, where he was a repre
sentative and honored pioneer and where both he and his wife passed
the residue of their lives. In that county James Hackett and his wife
still reside on the old homestead and they are now numbered among the
most venerable pioneers of that section of the province, the while they
are accorded the inviolable confidence and esteem of the community
which has so long been their home and to the civic and material progress
of which they have contributed their quota. James Hackett has been
an energetic and discriminating exponent of the great fundamental in
dustry of agriculture and through his well directed efforts has accumu
lated a competency. He is an octogenarian and is well preserved in
both mental and physical faculties, and his wife is sixty-five years of
age. They are members of the Methodist church. All their children,
five sons and one daughter, are living.
Dr. Hackett passed his boyhood and youth on the old homestead
farm in Huron county, Ontario, and early began to assist in its work,
the while his incidental mental training was secured in the district
schools, after leaving which ( he continued his studies in a collegiate
preparatory school at Goderich, that county, and the normal school in

866 HISTORY OF DETROIT
the city of Toronto. Having equipped himself effectually for success
ful work in the pedagogic profession, he devoted his attention to teach
ing in the public schools of Ontario for three years, and one year in
those of Manitoba.
Having decided to prepare himself for the medical profession, Dr.
Hackett was matriculated in the medical department of the University
of Toronto, in which he completed the prescribed course and in which
he was graduated as a member of the class' of 1894. After thus re
ceiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine from this admirable institution
he came to Detroit, where he has been engaged in general practice as
a physician and surgeon during the intervening period, which has been
marked by large and worthy accomplishment and definite success on
his part. With other physicians he in 1912 began the erection of
Samaritan Hospital, a fire proof building of steel construction and
so planned as to permit of additions being made as required. The hos
pital is fitted with the latest appliances for medical and surgical treat
ment. The structure at completion will cost over $50,000 and will
accommodate fifty patients.
The Doctor holds membership in the American Medical Association,
the Michigan State Medical Society and the Wayne County Medical
Society. He is also a member of the Clinical Society of Surgeons of North
America, and at the meeting of that organization in November, 1911, in
the city of Philadelphia, he was appointed one of its official representa
tives for the First congressional district of Michigan. He is affiliated
with Friendship Lodge, Free & Accepted Masons, and the Scottish Rite
bodies up to and including the thirty-second degree, also Moslem Temple
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is a member of the Detroit Wheel
men's Club, which has a fine club house and which has maintained an
effective organization from the time when bicycles were so much in
favor. In politics he is a Republican and his religious connections are
with the Methodist Episcopal church.
On May 24th, 1897, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Hackett
to Miss Amelia Cronin, who likewise was born and reared in the
province of Ontario, Canada, and she was summoned to the life eternal
March 15th, 1903, being survived by two sons, — Joseph Francis, born
in January, 1899, and James Basil, born in April, 1900.
Isaac A. Bosset. A resident of Detroit for more than two score
years, Isaac Achille Bosset is a scion of one of the patrician French
families of Michigan, which has been his home from his boyhood days,
and his charming wife is a daughter of the late Patrick Marantette,
who was one of the honored and influential pioneers of St. Joseph
county, this state, — a citizen of sterling character, fine talent and marked
public spirit. Thus there are many elements lending interest to a
consideration of Mr. and Mrs. Bosset in this history of their home city,
where they hold secure place in popular esteem and where their beauti
ful home, at 215 West Grand boulevard, is a center of most gracious
hospitality. Isaac Achille Bosset was born in Quebec, Ontario, on October 6,
1841, and is a son of Benjamin and Victoria (Label) Bosset, repre
sentatives of old and distinguished families of Leon, France. Mr.
Bosset received his early educational discipline in his native land and
was a lad of about fifteen years at the time of the family immigration
to America, in 1856. His parents established their home in Chicago,
which was then a straggling city giving slight evidence of becoming
a great metropolis, and he was enabled to continue his educational work
in the celebrated Notre Dame University, at South Bend, Indiana, where

HISTORY OF DETROIT 867
he remained a student until he had attained to the age of nineteen
years. His parents passed the closing years of their lives at Kankakee
county, Illinois, where the father died at the age of sixty-eight years
and the mother at the age of seventy-five, the former having devoted
his attention principally to farming during the years of his active
career in America. The parents were devout communicants of the
Catholic church, and in the faith of the great mother church of Chris
tendom their children were carefully reared. In the family were two
sons and eight daughters, and four children are now living.
From 1858 until 1870 Isaac A. Bosset maintained his home in Kal
amazoo, Michigan, and in 1871 he removed to Detroit, where he secured
a position with the firm of Daniel Scott & Company, one of the largest
tobacco manufacturing concerns in the country. A young man of
1 distinctive energy, ambition and ability, Mr. Bosset soon made his serv
ices invaluable and he thus won rapid advancement. He was finally
made manager of the sales department of the concern and he retained
this important executive office for twenty-eight consecutive years, his
retirement therefrom being incidental to the sale of the plant and busi
ness to the American Tobacco Company in 1893. Since that time he
has lived virtually retired from active business, though he finds ample
demand upon his time and attention in the supervision of his extensive
real-estate and capitalistic interests in Detroit, where he is the owner
of much valuable property, including his splendid home, on one of the
finest boulevards in the fair "City of the 'Straits. " As a citizen Mr.
Bosset is essentially progressive and public-spirited and he takes deep
interest in all that touches the welfare of the beautiful city that has so
long represented his home and in whose leading social activities he and
his wife are popular factors. . In politics, though never manifesting
aught of ambition for official preferment, Mr. Bosset accords a staunch
allegiance to the Republican party and he and his wife are zealous
communicants of Ste. A.nne's church, the oldest Catholic church in the
city of Detroit, where it was founded, fully a century ago. They have
been members of this historic parish since 1872 and have been most
liberal in the support of the various departments of its work. Mr. Bosset
is also affiliated with Branch No. 46 of the Catholic Mutual Benefit
Association, one of the leading church organizations of the Michigan
metropolis. On the 26th of January, 1870, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Bosset to Miss Alice Anne Marantette, the ceremony being performed
at Mendon, Michigan, in which county Mrs. Bosset was born and reared.
She was the sixth in order of birth of the ten children of Patrick and
Frances (Moutaw) Marantette, and concerning these honored pioneers
of Michigan more specific mention is made in appending paragraphs.
Concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Bosset the following brief
record is entered. Marie Eugenie is the wife of Dr. Francis J. W.
Maguire, one of the representative physicians and surgeons of Detroit,
where he graduated in the Detroit Medical College, and he resides at
the corner of Chene street and Jefferson avenue. Isadora Loretta is
the wife of George T. Bader, residing at 54 Westminster avenue, this
city, and Mr. Bader is one of the leading real-estate men of the city;
Mr. and Mrs. Bader have six children, — Mignonne, Beatrice, Loretta,
Dolores, Josephine and Georgia. Rev. Isaac Henry Bosset, a priest of
the Catholic church, is a member of the Society of Jesus. He graduated
in the Detroit College, one of the leading Catholic schools of the state,
was ordained to the priesthood in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, and
is now a member of the faculty of Creighton University, in the city
of Omaha. Walter Alexander, the youngest of the four children, is one
of the leading contractors in the construction of reinforced concrete

868 HISTORY OF DETROIT
buildings and other concrete work in the city, of Grand Rapids, Mich
igan; he married Miss Myrtle Cummings, of Grand Rapids.
Hon. Patrick Marantette, the father of Mrs. Bosset, was one of the
first settlers in St. Joseph county, Michigan, and was one of its most
prominent and influential citizens at the time of his death, which oc
curred at his fine old homestead at Nottowa, near Mendon, St. Joseph
county, in 1878, at which time he was seventy-one years of age. He
came to St. Joseph county in 1829, nearly a decade before the ad
mission of Michigan to the Union, but he did not establish his permanent
home in the county until 1832, having in the meanwhile resided in De
troit, where the family, of staunch French extraction, was one of prom
inence in the pioneer days. Mr. Marantette was present at the great
Indian treaty held at Chicago in 1833, and was a principal in other
treaties negotiated with the Indians by the United States government,
including the historic Pottawatomie treaty, by which members of the
tribes mentioned ceded to the government large tracts of fine land in
St. Joseph and other counties in southern Michigan. In 1846 Mr. Mar
antette was elected a member of the lower house of the state legislature,
in which he made an admirable record for progressive and public-spir
ited service, and he was a member of the body during the last session
held in Detroit, which was then the capital of the state. The mansipn
in which his death occurred was erected by him in 1853, and was in close
proximity to the site of the primitive log house in which he had begun
business as an Indian trader in 1833. He was one of the first white
settlers in this section of the state, was the friend and counselor of
the Indian and spoke their language with marked fluency. He was
born in Sandwich, Ontario, and was a most zealous and devout com
municant of the Catholic church, as was also his noble wife, who sur
vived him by many years.
Concerning the Pottawatomie Indian treaty of 1833 the following
data are worthy of perpetuation in this connection: "In the fall of
1833 the government, having despaired of getting the head men to
relinquish their reservation, induced Sau-aw-quett and a few of his
followers to cede the lands to the United States. They were to receive
about thirty thousand dollars and to be allotted land west of the Miss
issippi, whither they were to go by land, with their ponies, dogs and
other belongings, after two years peaceable possession of their reserva
tion. The first payment of about ten thousand dollars' worth of calico,
beads and other trinkets, was made near the Marantette homestead,
across the river from Mendon village, on the 1st of December, 1833.
For nearly a week the Indians were encampd on the river, casting
longing looks at the bright-colored calicoes, blankets, beads, etc., so
temptingly displayed by the government agents, but refusing to con
firm the treaty by receiving them, as they had consulted among them
selves and had concluded that Sau-aw-quett and his men had no author
ity to sell or cede their lands. Governor Porter had issued a proclama
tion that no liquor should be allowed on or near the reservation, but
parties disobeyed the proclamation and provided the Indians with
plenty of 'fire-water,' until at length patience ceased to be a virtue
and Governor Porter commanded Mr. Marantette to break in the heads
of the barrels of whiskey. This was accordingly done, and the Indians,
in their desire for the liquor, drank it from the ground. Subsequently
Mr. Marantette was sued for the value of the liquor and forced to pay
several hundred dollars, notwithstanding he was obeying the explicit
orders of Govenor Porter, nor was he ever reimbursed for this unjust
payment of money. The Indians, finally accepted the provisions of the
treaty and received their money."

HISTORY OF DETROIT 869
On the 15th of November, 1835, at Bertrand, Berrien county, Mich
igan, was solemnized the marriage of Patrick Marantette to Miss Fran
ces Moutaw, who was born at what is now Grosse Pointe, Detroit, on the
16th of September, 1813, and whose death occurred at the fine old home
stead chateau, on the banks of the St. Joseph river, near Mendon, on
the 16th of October, 1904, at which time she was ninety-one years and
thirty days of age. She was one of the most venerable pioneer women of
her native state at the time when she was thus summoned to the life
eternal and she was held in loving regard by all who had come within
the sphere of her gentle and gracious influence. Concerning this noble
woman the following statements were published at the time of her de
mise: "Mother Marantette 's home was her earthly paradise and she
made it the pride of her husband and the joy of her children, upon
whom she lavished her care and affection, to be honored and revered
in return. Mrs. Marantette was a typical French lady, a descendant of
the brave and patrician Navarre family of France, and all through her
life her social qualities, politeness and charity endeared her to her neigh
bors. Always faithful to her creed and church, many went to her for
counsel and comfort, and she was an inspiration to struggling humanity.
No one in need ever passed hungry from her door, and she passed away,
a blessing during her life and blessed in her death. The funeral was a
large and most representative one, people coming from all over the
state and county to attend the last obsequies. ' '
Patrick and Frances Marantette became the parents of ten children
and of the number six survive the loved and devoted mother, namely:
Mrs. William McLaughlin, of Sturgis; William W. Marantette, of
Mendon; Mrs. Isaac A. Bosset, of Detroit; Patrick H. Marantette, of
Mendon; Mrs. John R. Wilhelm, of Defiance, Ohio; and Louis E. Mar
antette, of Mendon.
Our Lady of the Rosary Parish was established in 1889 by the Rt.
Rev. Bishop Foley as an offshoot of old St. Patrick's, now Sts. Peter
and Paul Cathedral, its first pastor being the Rev. Francis J. VanAnt-
werp. Since its inception it has grown from some forty or fifty families
to something over eight hundred families.
Father VanAntwerp, who has been in charge of this parish for the
past twenty-two years, is a native of Detroit, as was his father and grand
father before him. His classical studies were made at Assumption Col
lege, Sandwich, and his course of philosophy and theology at the famed
St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, Maryland. He was ordained in 1881,
and previous to his charge at Holy Rosary he held pastorates in Hastings,
Grosse Pointe and Battle Creek, Michigan. His present pastorate is one
of the most important in the Detroit diocese, the attendance at the six
masses held in Rosary church every Sunday morning being upwards of
five thousand souls.
Rev. Anthony Peter Ternes. Since July 14, 1896, Rev. Anthony
Peter Ternes has been at the head of the parish of St. Elizabeth of De
troit and has exercised a most enlightened supervision over its spiritual
affairs, his personality being in itself a benediction. Among his congre
gation his character and personality have made him a beloved pastor,
and friend and citizens of all creeds esteem him for his zealous work and
public-spirited attitude towards all movements for the general good.
Father Ternes was born March 1, 1863, at Springwells, a short dis
tance from the present city limits. In 1869 he came with his parents to
the city and the family became affiliated with St. Boniface parish, then
recently established. The boy attended the parish school until his first

870 HISTORY OF DETROIT
communion. He then went to the newly founded Jesuit College to take
up the study of the classics. He remained here only a year, and in Sep
tember, 1878, went to St. Francis Seminary, near Milwaukee, where he
spent five years in preparatory study. In 1883 he went to Assumption
College, Sandwich, Ontario, where he studied philosophy under Father
0 'Connor, later Archbishop of Toronto. The year following he was sent
by the Bishop, together with twenty-two others, to St. Mary's, the famous
seminary of Baltimore, where he finished his theological studies. To
gether with three other candidates he was ordained July 24, 1887, in St.
Boniface church, by Bishop Borgess. On this occasion his younger
brother was ordained deacon.
The young Levite received his first appointment to Port Austin as
pastor of St. Michael's church and its three missions. He remained here
two years and a half and in that time built new churches in Bad Axe and
Ubley. In March, 1890, he was transferred to Gagetown, but remained
there only six months. It was at this time that the Franciscans left the
Detroit diocese, where they had worked for a long time in St. Mary's
and Sacred Heart parishes. At their departure Rev. B. J. Wermers was
appointed to Sacred Heart parish. Existing conditions made his ap
pointment 'most difficult. The people had become accustomed to the re
ligious and wanted none but them. There was absolute need, therefore,
that the priests of this parish should co-operate one with the other. For
this reason Fr. Ternes offered to accept the appointment as assistant with
his old pastor, although he himself had already acted as pastor for three
years. He remained in this parish until January 15, 1892, when he was
appointed pastor to St. Joseph's in Adrian. Here he labored for four
years and in 1896 was appointed successor to the late Father Svensson.
The pastorate of St. Elizabeth's parish at this time was indeed a
position of responsibility. In the years of his incumbency (some fifteen)
the growth of the parish has been extraordinary. In the first years new
buildings were erected every year, and existing buildings enlarged, in
consequence of which the parish debt became exceedingly heavy. The new
pastor on his arrival found the school and convent too small and the
priest's house too small for two priests and inconveniently situated.
Besides there was a debt of forty-five thousand dollars and interest ac
cumulating to the amount of two thousand four hundred dollars yearly.
The outlook was by no means encouraging, as it was a time of financial
depression, when many people were out of employment and a great many
others were receiving only a pittance for their toil. The parishioners all
manifested a willing and generous spirit, though none could really be
called wealthy. Many improvements and innovations were made. The
school was remodeled so as to provide eight rffbms. A hall for meetings
and entertainments was erected at a cost of five thousand dollars. The
basement of the priest's house was enlarged and a heating plant installed
at a cost of $1,400. A new organ suited to the church was built and in
stalled in 1899, at a cost of three thousand dollars. Each year the num
ber of pupils increased and there was a demand for more teachers. The
Sisters' house could not accommodate the number and in 1900 an addi
tion was made and the house completely remodeled.
The parish grew so rapidly that in a few years many other things
were necessary. The convent was removed from Canfield avenue onto
a newly acquired strip of land near the school. One of the houses on this
property was moved over behind the hall to serve as club rooms for the
young men. The other house was sold to the highest bidder. An ad
dition containing eight rooms was added to the school. The school on
Canfield avenue was converted into a rectory and the house then occupied
by the priests was sold. To carry out these plans meant an outlay of
forty thousand dollars.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 871
To quote further from the pamphlet published upon the occasion of
the silver jubilee of the parish:
' ' The grand work accomplished stands as a monument to our parents
and predecessors. It harks back to the sacrifices they have made, to
the hardships they have endured. The day of great financial sacrifice is
almost past. The grounds and buildings necessary to the parish have
been provided and the debt should be entirely liquidated in a few years.
The value of the church property is one hundred and twenty -five thou
sand dollars. When considering this fact we must admire the generosity
of the people of St. Elizabeth's parish. God has been pleased to bless
our work, and it is with feelings of love and gratitude that we resolve to
imitate the noble example of our parents in the performance of Christian
duty." On June 21, 1910, was celebrated with beautiful ceremonies the
twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of St. Elizabeth's parish. If
classified according to the few years of its existence, it belongs among the
younger parishes ; the number of its members, however, entitle it to con
sideration with the largest and best parishes of the diocese. The children
attending school number about eight hundred and the number is con
stantly increasing. During the quarter of the century four sons of the
parish have become priests, namely: Revs. John A. Kessler, Frank A.
Malinowski, John A. Koelzer, and William P. Schulte, the last-named a
nephew of the pastor. Father Ternes' assistants are Rev. Alexander J.
Mayer and Rev. M. E. Halfpenny, talented and promising young priests.
In 1901 and 1906 Father Ternes made extended visits in Europe.
A brief history of St. Elizabeth parish previous to the pastorate of
Rev. Father Ternes is given in ensuing paragraphs.
St. Joseph's parish in 1884 had a membership of over one thousand
families, many of the people being obliged to come long distances in
order to hear mass. This was true especially of those who lived in the
northern part of the city, there being no church in that locality. People
began, therefore, to discuss the advisability of forming a new parish.
Finally, after much consideration, the Bishop, Rt. Rev. Caspar H. Bor
gess, gave orders to Rev. Anthony Svensson to form a new parish. This
was in October, 1884. Father Svensson, the first young man of Swedish
parentage ordained to the priesthood since the so-called Reformation,
went stanehly about the great work and found one hundred and fifty
families ready to support him in his good work. The building of the
church was begun at once, on land given for this purpose in 1882 by Mrs.
Fannie E. Van Dyke, the property consisting of eight lots on the corner
of Canfield and McDougall avenues. A two-story building, forty by
seventy feet, was erected on McDougall avenue. The lower story con
sisted of three school rooms and the upper served as a church. The build
ing was dedicated on June 21, 1885, by the Bishop, 'the sermon being de
livered by Dean Friedland. The building of the priest's house was begun
on March 5, 1885. It was located near the church, on the spot now oc
cupied by the present church. The approximate cost of the two buildings
was eight thousand five hundred dollars. The school was opened in Sep
tember, one hundred and fifty children occupying two rooms, and the
Mallinckrodt Sisters of Christian Charity, of Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania,
assuming direction. The school grew steadily and additions were made.
In December, 1891, Rev. Joseph Spaeth was appointed the first assistant
in St. Elizabeth's parish.
Three masses were now celebrated on Sundays and still the church
was too small to accommodate the large crowds of people desiring to at
tend. A larger church now became an apparent necessity, but to build
one was indeed a great undertaking. Financial burdens weighed heavily

872 HISTORY OF DETROIT
on the parish, since the buildings already standing were not free of debt.
Courage and sacrifice overcame every obstacle and on March 30, 1891,
the first sod was turned in preparation for the building of the new edifice.
The parochial residence occupied a part of the site intended for the new
church. Two lots were procured opposite the school and onto these the
house was moved. The corner stone of the church was laid May 3, and
at the same time a new school was begun.
The new church is purely Roman in the style of its architecture and
is a most imposing structure. It was dedicated on February 14, 1892,
the Rt. Rev. Bishop John S. Foley performing the ceremony of dedica
tion. The two new buildings represented an expenditure of about fifty
thousand dollars. To meet these heavy financial obligations, therefore,
a generosity exceedingly great was demanded on the part of the people,
in order to save the new parish from financial ruin. The health of the
pastor suffered in consequence of his manifold labors and- in the hope of
recovering his health he went to Europe, where he remained six months.
Father Spaeth had charge of the parish in the meantime, being assisted
by Rev. John Reichenbach, the latter remaining after Father Svensson 's
return as St. Elizabeth's assistant. In a short time, however, he was
called away, and owing to the scarcity of priests atHhat time Fr. Svensson
had little assistance. During the week he was alone and had the care of
all the sick, as well as charge of all the financial affairs of the parish.
The parish had grown rapidly and at that time consisted of about five
hundred families. The work of caring for so large a flock "proved too
much for the failing health of the zealous pastor of souls and his physical
health soon became insufficient for the burden. The Bishop learned of
the fact and Rev. Reynold Kuehnel was sent as assistant. Immediately
after the arrival of the young priest, Father Svensson became seriously
ill and on May 27, 1896, departed this life. The parish suffered a heavy
loss in the death of this noble, generous-hearted priest ; the respect and
love of his entire parish was enjoyed by FatheT Svensson to an extent
rarely noted. The Bishop 's task in selecting a priest to take charge of the
parish was not an easy one. Priests were scarce throughout the diocese ;
and this scarcity was especially noticeable among German-speaking
priests. Av short time elapsed, therefore, and during the interval the af
fairs of the parish were conducted by Father Kuehnel aided by the Ca
puchins. The eventual choice of Father Ternes to this important post
has proved of the greatest possible wisdom.
Henry Clay Hodges. One of the important functions of this his
torical work is to accord recognition of specific order to those who have
been influential factors in connection with civic and business activities
in the Michigan metropolis, and to such consideration Henry Clay
Hodges is well entitled, as even the brief data here incorporated will
clearly indicate.
The Hodges family was founded in America in the latter part of
the seventeenth century, when the original progenitor came from Eng
land and established his home in Massachuetts, the lineage being traced
through many generations of staunch English stock. Asoph Nathaniel
Hodges, great-grandfather of him whose name initiates this review,
was born in the historic old town of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1723, and
when a young man he removed to Essex county, New York, where he
became a pioneer settler and where he passed the residue of his life.
His son Ezekiel was born in that county about the year of 1750, and he
was about twenty-four years of age when he tendered his services as
a patriot soldier in the Continental line in the war of the Revolution,
his enlistment having taken place in Washington county, New York.

HENRY C. HODGES

HISTORY OF DETROIT 873
Nathaniel Hodges, son of Ezekiel and father of Henry Clay Hodges,
was born in Washington county, New York, in the year 1787, and was
reared to adult age in the old Empire state, whence he removed to
Grand Isle county, Vermont, in 1813. He was in the government
service during the War of 1812. Nathaniel Hodges was recognized as a
man of strong character, was ever firm and courageous in defense of his
convictions, was broad and liberal in his views, was a deep student of
history, and possessed a remarkable memory. In politics he was a
Henry Clay Whig and he continued to vote the Whig ticket until the
organization of the Republican party, when he gave his allegiance
thereto and became a staunch supporter of the policies of President
Lincoln. He died in March, 1869, in his eighty-third year.
Clarissa (Phelps) Hodges, mother of Henry Clay Hodges, was born
in the town of South Hero, Grand Isle county, Vermont, in the year
1793, and was a representative of 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, and she was ever a devoted student
of the Bible, besides which she was recognized as an able contributor
to the religious papers of the day until she had attained to her eighty-
fifth year. She was ninety-one years of age at the time when she was
summoned to the life eternal, and her memory is revered by all who came
within the sphere of her noble and gracious influence.
Henry Clay Hodges was born in the township of South Hero, Grand
Isle county, Vermont, on the 2d of March, 1828, and was reared under
the invigorating influences and environments of the old Green Mountain
state, where he was accorded the advantages of the common schools of
his native county. It is needless to say that his academic opportunities
were limited in scope, owing to the conditions and exigencies of time and
place, but this early handicap did not prove sufficient to retard in the
least the symmetrical development of his intellectual faculties. At the
age of sixteen years he entered upon an apprenticeship to the trade of
carriage-making, and within the ensuing four years he had so far mas
tered his trade as to enable him to start in business for himself. On the
first day of, December, 1850, as a young man of twenty-two years, he ar
rived in Detroit, and from this city he soon afterward went to Marshall,
the judicial center of Calhoun county, where he became clerk and cashier
of the Michigan Central hotel, which was at that time the most cele
brated between New York and Chicago.
In 1852 Mr. Hodges began the study of law, under the preceptorship
of Judge James R. Slack, of Huntington, Indiana, and while prosecuting
his law studies also taught in the country schools of the vicinity during
the winter terms. In 1853 he returned to Michigan and located at Niles,
Berrien county, where he entered the employ of J. F. Cross and Com
pany, which controlled marble quarries in Vermont. The following
year he was admitted to partnership in the business and removed to
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where the firm established branch quarters.
Mr. Hodges maintained his home in Wisconsin until 1862, when he re
turned to Michigan and entered into partnership with his brother,
Charles C. Hodges, and Edward Barker, under the firm name of Barker,
Hodges & Brother. This firm assumed the general agency for the Con
necticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Hartford, for the states of
Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. In 1864 Mr. Barker retired
and the firm then became Hodges Brothers, with headquarters in De
troit. In addition to their operations in the field of life insurance the
Hodges brothers were among the pioneers in the real-estate business in
Detroit, and they largely handled their own property, which included a
vol. in— 3

874 HISTORY OF DETROIT
large portion of the Woodbridge farm lying north of Grand River ave
nue. In the early '70s they purchased a tract of land in the northern
suburbs of Detroit and on the same they donated for street purposes a
strip seventy feet in width, to which they gave the name of Lincoln ave
nue. Through the efforts of Henry C. Hodges Trumbull avenue, which
was then about sixty feet wide, was increased to eighty feet, ten feet be
ing donated by Hodges brothers on one side and an equal strip by prop
erty owners on the other side of the street. In the same year the broth
ers purchased the property at the corner of State and Griswold streets,
where the Hodges building now stands, ani in which Mr. 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 establishing the boulevard which now
encircles the city. Though a somewhat different route was originally
projected, the interest aroused through the efforts and suggestions of
Messrs. Hodges and Richardson finally culminated in the building of the
present magnificient driveway. In 1879 the Hodges brothers purchased
the busines of John R. Grout, manufacturer of lubricator devices, and
thereupon organized and incorporated the Detroit Lubricator Company,
of which Henry C. Hodges became president. The plant of this com
pany has been enlarged from time to time, until it is one of if not the
most extensive and important of its kind in the world, employing 700
men. In 1872 Mr. Hodges became vice-president and one of the managing
directors of the Wyandotte Rolling Mills, and after the death of Captain
Eber B. Ward he succeeded the latter in the presidency. He was associ
ated with Captain Ward and others in the organization of the Detroit-
Arizona Copper Mining Company and was vice-president of this cor
poration until the death of Captain Ward, when he became president of
both the rolling-mill and mines. The mines controlled by this company
have since gained place among the largest copper-producing mines in
the country. In 1882 Mr. Hodges and his brother effected the incorpor
ation of the Detroit Steam Radiator Company, which eventually became
the American Radiator Company, and this concern was the first to
manufacture the type of cast-iron radiators which have since become the
standard the world over.
Mr. Hodges is still largely interested in real estate in Detroit. In
politics he is a Republican, insofar as national issues are involved. He
attended the convention, in 1860, which nominated Lincoln for the presi
dency. He is, however, essentially a man of independent views, and is
not constrained by strict partisan lines. He is public-spirited to a de
gree and has ever shown a loyal interest in all that touches the well being
of the city in which he has so long maintained his home and in which his
name is a recognized synonym of integrity and honor. He is a member
of the Board of Commerce of Detroit.
Thus far reference has been made to the business phases in the
career of Mr. Hodges. In the world of literature he has gained a position
of prominence. He is an original thinker and has given the world
in his published works a valuable contribution. In the ancient science
of planetary influences he has made extensive researches and he is
known as one of the leading exponents of the same at the present time.
His investigations in this direction have been very thorough and ex
haustive, and the concrete results are shown 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 sub
jects treated. From the prospectus of the "Science and Key of Life;

HISTORY OF DETROIT 875
Planetary Influences," are taken the following extracts: "Some men
are born to honor and others to dishonor ; some to wealth and others to
want ; some in the midst of crime, ignorance and sorrow ; others environed
in happy conditions. When and where is the law of compensation ap
plied to equalize these conditions, or why should these things be ? " The
statements and questions thus put by Mr. Hodges have been thus ex
plained by him : ' ' The necessity for a complete and scientific answer to
the above and like interrogatories, relating to life, its purposes and dest
iny, 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 truths therein elucidated will find
lodgment in many receptive minds which are seeking more light on
these great problems of human existence, that I dedicated 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 concern
ing the publication may be secured by applying to the book department
of the Astral Science Department, Hodges Building, Detroit. Mr.
Hodges is editor and publisher of the ' ' Stellar Ray, ' ' a monthly magazine
devoted to the practical problems of life.
The entire life of Henry C. Hodges has been one of broad usefulness.
A close and appreciative student by nature and possessed of a remarkable
memory, his wide reading has resulted in giving to him a fund of knowl
edge possessed by few men who have been so actively engaged in business
affairs. Practical business still engrosses much of the time and attention
of Mr. Hodges, and in evidence of this it may be noted that he is now
erecting a fine apartment building on John R. and Center street, Detroit,
to which he will give the title of the Henry Clay Apartments. His
residence is at 839 Jefferson avenue. He and his wife attend the Unita
rian church and he has been a member of its board of trustees for many
years. In the year 1854 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hodges to Miss
Julia Bidwell, of Hastings, Michigan. She was born at Kinderhook,
Columbia county, New York, and is a daughter of Horace Bidwell, who
was numbered among the sterling pioneers of Michigan. Mr. and Mrs.
Hodges became the parents of three sons and two daughters, all of whom
are living. The sons are Clarence B., Charles H., and Frederick W.,
and the daughters are Clara D. and Cora Virginia.
Rev. Mathew Meathe, the pastor of St. Leo's church. Something
over twenty-one years ago the Reverend Mathew Meathe organized the
parish of St. Leo. The date was August 27, 1889; and he is still the
pastor of that once small parish. Year by year through his zeal and
faith the congregation has enlarged until it has reached its present
flourishing proportions. The property of the parish is located on the
corner of Grand River avenue, between Hitchcock avenue and Fifteenth
street, and extends back on Fifteenth street as far as Warren avenue.
The church's possessions consist of the well-built and attractive church,
the pleasant rectory building, the school and a power house. The inter
esting work of the parochial school is ably carried on under the tutelage
of the Sisters of Charity, and is at present attended by seven hundred
pupils. The .foundress of the Sisters of Charity was Mother Seton,
and the mother house of the order is located at Cincinnati, Ohio.
Reverend William F. Dooley. It is fitting to preface a brief outline
of the life of the president of the University of Detroit with a few words

876 HISTORY OF DETROIT
concerning the institution whose good fortune it is to secure him as its
head at this important crisis in its successful history.
In 1877 the school was founded by Bishop Miege and four years
later the institution was incorporated according to the general law of
Michigan and received the corporate title of "Detroit College" with
power to grant such literary honors and confer such degrees as are
usually conferred by similar colleges and institutions. Until 1889 the
institution was housed in separate buildings which soon became in
adequate to accommodate the increasing enrollment besides being incon
venient. During the presidency of Reverend M. P. Dowling, from 1889
to 1893, the old separate buildings were replaced by the present hand
some edifice. Until quite recently, this building sufficed. It was only
during the presidency of R. D. Slevin, 1906 to 1911, that the gymnasium
building on Larned street was added to the main building. The new
addition contains four recitation rooms, two lecture halls and two labora
tories, besides the large gymnasium which also serves as an auditorium
for the various public exhibitions and lectures given to the students.
This material expansion was recognized by the many distinguished
Alumni of the college as necessary to the increasing intellectual develop
ment of the institution and it received the loyal support af the eminent
clergymen, physicians, journalists, lawyers and prosperous business men
who have received their, education in the College and who realize its
power and influence.
This growth of the plant, the increasing prominence of its alumni
and most of all the almost unprecedented growth of the city in popula
tion and industrial supremacy, warrant and indeed demand new de
velopments in the educational work of the institution. For this reason,
at the expiration of the charter of 1881, in the year 1911, the authorities
of the school effected a new organization on a broader basis and incor
porated under the title of ' ' University of Detroit. ' '
This means that the different departments of university education
along literary, philosophical, scientific, professional and technological
lines will be built up as rapidly as circumstances permit. At present the
scope of the work of the school is that of a classical education. Its sys
tem is the same as that of all the colleges and universities of the society
of the Jesuits throughout the world. The system of training, based on
the "Ratio Studiorum," modified to suit the changing times and condi
tions, has stood the test of a long and varied experience. The aim of
high school and college courses is to " lay a solid foundation in mind and
heart for the superstructure of professional science, and for the upbuild
ing of moral, civic and religious life. ' ' The ends it aims for, it accom
plishes. The development induced by its prescribed course of languages,
mathematics, science, philosophy and religion in the high school and
college course is broad and complete. Cultural, mental and moral
growth is ensured, while other systems fail or produce a one-sided
development. In the beginning of the year 1911 preparations were completed to
open an engineering department to embrace electrical, .mechanical and
civil engineering. The organization of such a department was impera
tive to meet the demands of the students and the needs of the city. This
school is another step forward in the scheme of extension so persistently
followed since the inception of the college. In the near future, under
the energetic ability of its present head, Reverend W. F. Dooley, a school
of commerce and economics and departments of medicine, law, pharmacy
and dentistry will be added to the University, thus giving to the city
of Detroit an institution fully equipped to supply the manifold needs
of her ever growing population.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 877
President Dooley though the first president of the University of
Detroit, succeeds to the head of an institution whose presidents have
been men of mark and of power. Reverend James Walsh was the first
president of the college, after it was incorporated in 1881. He was
followed by J. P. Frieden; then came Reverend Dowling, mentioned
above ; and between 1893 and 1906 the presidency was held by Reverend
H. A. Schapman, Reverend James F. Foley and Reverend Louis Kel-
linger. Father Dooley is singularly fitted to be the head of such a University
and the work of building it up is one which could fall into no better
hands. He was born in Chicago, March 30, 1872. His early education
was received in the parochial schools of Chicago and he completed his
academic and collegiate training at St. Ignatius College of the same
city. In 1891 he entered the Jesuit order at Florissant, Missouri, where
he spent four years, two of which he devoted to graduate work in the
classics and English Literature. In 1895 he went to St. Louis Univer
sity at St. Louis, Missouri, and gave his undivided attention to studies in
physics, chemistry, logic, psychology and ethics.
At the completion of his course in St. Louis, Reverend Dooley became
a professor in St. Mary's College, at St. Mary's, Kansas. For three
years he taught there and then came to. Detroit College, where he taught
the classics, English literature and public speaking. In 1903 Professor
Dooley returned to St. Louis University and there he made the studies
proper to his ecclesiastic profession. It was not until 1908 Father
Dooley engaged in university administration. In this year he was
elected, dean of the college of arts of the Creighton University. While
there he not only devoted himself to the advancement of the interests
of the university but became closely identified with educational work
throughout the state of Nebraska. He was an active member of the
Nebraska state committee, which gave Nebraska its present requirements,
for state teachers' certificates. On July 2, 1911, he was called to the
presidency of the University of Detroit, where his inspiring work as a
teacher has prepared him a more intimate, though not a more cordial
welcome than should be accorded to the able educator and efficient
organizer he has since become. The past history of the new university
assures its future and with Father Dooley at its head its progress cannot
but be swift and steady.
Reverend John A. Kessler was born in Detroit, August 10, 1868.
His parents were old settlers of the city, his mother having come to it
in 1835, when she was a child of ten, and his father a few years later.
Father Kessler received his primary education in St. Joseph's parochial
school, after which he entered Detroit College, conducted by the Jesuit
Fathers. After completing a six years ' course in this institution, he de
voted two years to the study of philosophy at St. Jerome's College, Ber
lin, Ontario. He then entered St. Mary 's Seminary at Baltimore, Mary
land, where he spent three years in the study of theology. On July 3,
1892, he was ordained to the priesthood by the Right Reverend John S.
Foley, D.D. Father Kessler was first appointed secretary to the Right
Reverend Bishop. After three years spent in this office and three and a
half years as assistant pastor of St. Vincent's, Detroit, and four months
as pastor of St. Mary's, Redford, Michigan, Father Kessler was ap
pointed pastor of St. John the Evangelist church, East Grand Boule
vard, Detroit, over which parish he now presides.
The history of this parish is one of peculiar interest. When the Rev
erend Henry Meuffels, pastor of St. Mary's, Anchorville, was appointed
to the pastorate of St. John 's parish in the spring of 1892, his record of

878 HISTORY OF DETROIT
organization of the parish showed but eighteen families. He immediately
began the erection of a church, services being held in the meantime in a
private residence. When the edifice was completed it was dedicated by
the Right Reverend John S. Foley, D. D., on July 9, 1893. Father
Meuffels was pastor of St. John's until 1898, when failing health made
it necessary for him to resign. Father Kessler was appointed pastor
then and took charge of the parish, December 3, 1898.
The parochial residence was completed in 1899 and was first occu
pied by Father Kessler on March 25th of that year. The following year
the church was removed from the corner of the Boulevard and Sargent
street, where it was originally built, to midway between Sargent and
Griffin streets. The building was then remodeled and enlarged, after
which it was rededicated by the same Prelate who had performed the
ceremony of consecration for it eight years before. The dedication of
the new building took place on December 22, 1901.
On the night of May 9, 1906, a fire visited the church and destroyed
a portion of the structure, which was, however, soon restored. The
work and needs of the parish have grown rapidly and in April, -1908,
ground was broken for the erection of a parochial school on the corner
of the Boulevard and Sargent street. The corner stone was laid July 26,
1908, by the Very Reverend M. J. P. Dempsey, V. G., and when the
building was completed it was dedicated on June 27, 1909, by the Right
Reverend John S. Foley, D.D. The school Was placed in charge of the
Sisters of Christian Charity, Sister Sylvia, Superior. The present en
rollment is about six hundred pupils. A new parochial residence was
erected at 23 Sargent street, the old one being occupied by the Sisters.
From a small beginning of eighteen families, the parish has grown so
that it now numbers between six and seven hundred families. The seed
has fallen upon good ground and has brought forth abundantly, its
growth keeping pace with the material increase of the city and its leaven
permeating not merely its own parish but the entire community.
Thomas M. Hart, M. D. The neighboring province of Ontario, Can
ada, has contributed a specially representative quota to the personnel of
the medical profession in the city of Detroit, and one of the successful
and popular physicians and surgeons who thus reverts to that province
as the place of his nativity is Dr. Thomas Malcolm Hart, and he has been
engaged in active practice in the Michigan metropolis since 1898.
Dr. Hart was born at Shanty Bay, Simcoe county, Ontario, Canada,
on the 14th of July, 1871, and is a son of Thomas and Jane (Flaherty)
Hart, both of whom were likewise born in -that province, the former be
ing of staunch English lineage and the latter of Irish descent. Isaac
Hart, grandfather of the Doctor, was born in England and became the
founder of the Canadian branch of the family. He secured wild land in
the province of Ontario and there reclaimed a productive farm. Both
he and his wife passed the remaining years of their lives in Ontario.
Thomas Hart has long been numbered among the representative agricul
turists and honored citizens of Simcoe county and there both he and his
wife still maintain their home, secure in the high esteem of all who know
them. The public schools of his native county afforded Dr. Hart his
preliminary educational training, which was supplemented along higher
academic lines by a course in the Barry Collegiate Institute, at Barry,
Ontario. In 1893 he matriculated in the medical department of Trinity
College, in the city of Toronto, and in this admirably equipped and con
ducted institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1897
with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, as well as those of Master in Sur
gery and Fellow of Trinity Medical College. In May of the same year

C ^. CV~ct: *. A

HISTORY OF DETROIT 879
the doctor went to Wisconsin and located at New Richmond, St. Croix
county, where he continued in the practice of his profession until 1898,
when he located in Detroit, where he has found ample scope for success
ful work in his profession and where he has gained secure prestige as a
physician and surgeon of fine ability and as a citizen of loyalty and pro-
gressiveness. He controls a substantial general practice and maintains
his home and office at 438 Trumbull avenue. With a few other physi
cians in 1912 he began the erection of what is known as the Samaritan
Hospital. This is a fire-proof building of steel construction and so
planned as to permit of additions being made as required. It is fitted
with the latest appliances for the treatment of medical and surgical cases
and has accommodations for about fifty patients. The structure when
completed will cost over $50,000.
Dr. Hart is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society, the
Michigan State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.
He is an appreciative member of the time-honored Masonic fraternity, in
which his York Rite affiliations are with the Palestine Lodge, No. 351,
Free and Accepted Masons. He has also attained to the thirty-second
degree in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite and in the same is affiliated
with Michigan Sovereign Consistory, besides which he is enrolled as a
member of Moslem Temple, Ancient Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
Both he and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal
church. In his political affiliations he is a Republican.
On the 22d of April, 1903, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Hart to
Miss Catherine A. Gayland, of Baraboo, Wisconsin, and they have one
child, Jane Elizabeth, who was born on the 9th of October, 1911.
James A. Van Dyke. Within a recent period it was the privilege of
the writer to study with care and appreciation the data pertaining to
the character and achievements of the late James A. Van Dyke, and from
the information thus gained to offer an estimate of his services and in
fluence. To this article recourse is taken with liberality in the formulat
ing of the one here presented, that again may a tribute be paid to one of
the really great and noble pioneers of Detroit and the state of Michigan,
where he established his home prior to the admission of the territory as
one of the sovereign commonwealths of the Union. Our later genera
tions may well pause to contemplate his exalted and useful life and to
gain therefrom both lesson and inspiration. Mr. Van Dyke dignified
and honored the state of Michigan, was one of the most distinguished
members of its bar, and as a citizen exemplified the highest loyalty and
public spirit, as well as the fullest measure of civic righteousness.
James Adams Van Dyke was born at Mercersburg, Franklin county,
Pennsylvania, in December, 1813, and his death occurred lat his home in
Detroit on the 7th of May, 1855. He was a son of William and Nancy
(Duncan) Van Dyke, the former of whom was of Holland Dutch lineage
and the latter of Scotch descent. The respective families were founded
in America in the colonial era of our national history, and both William
Van Dyke and his wife were natives of the old Keystone state, where
they passed their entire lives. Of their five sons and one daughter the
eldest was the subject of this memoir.
Under the direction of able private tutors James A. Van Dyke
gained his early educational discipline, and there is ample evidence to
show that he was signally favored in the surroundings and influences
of the parental home, which was one of unmistakable culture and refine
ment. At the age of fifteen years he entered Madison College, at Union-
town, Pennsylvania, and in this institution he was graduated as a member
of the class of 1832. Within the same year he began the study of law,

880 HISTORY OF DETROIT *
under the preceptorship of George Chambers, at Chambersburg, Penn
sylvania. There he continued his professional reading with marked
avidity and earnestness for one year, at, the expiration of which he went
to Hagerstown, Maryland, where he found an able preceptor in the per
son of William Price, a prominent member of the bar of that common
wealth. Later he pursued his technical studies for several months in
the city of Baltimore, where he also availed himself of the privilege of
attending upon the local courts.
In December, 1834, Mr. Van Dyke left his home with the purpose of
locating in Pittsburgh, which was then a small city, but which failed to
prove attractive to him. Under these conditions he determined to re
move to the west, and soon afterward he arrived in Detroit, bearing let
ters of introduction to Hon. Alexander D. Frazer, who was then one of
the leading members of the local bar. He entered the office of Mr.
Frazer, and within six months thereafter he was admitted to the bar of
the territory of Michigan. In a memorial published at the time of his
death appear the following pertinent statements : ' ' From the very out
set of his career Mr. Van Dyke devoted himself with the utmost assiduity
to his profession. It was the calling of his choice, and his peculiar and
rich gifts rendered him entirely fit to pursue its higher, more honorable
and more distinguished walks."
In 1835 Mr. Van Dyke formed a law partnership with Hon. Charles
W. Whipple, and this alliance continued until the election of the latter
to the bench of the supreme court of the state. In 1838 Mr. Van Dyke
associated himself in practice with E. B. Harrington, who continued as
his professional confrere until the relationship was severed by the death
of Mr. Harrington, in 1844. Thereafter Mr. Van Dyke was associated
in general practice with H. H. Emmons until 1852, when both virtually
retired from the active practice of their profession in this generic sense.
In the year last mentioned Mr. Van Dyke became the attorney for the
Michigan Central Railroad Company, in which connection he rendered
valuable service both to the company and the people of the state. Con
cerning his association with this important corporation more specific men
tion is made in later paragraphs. In 1835, and again in 1839, he was ap
pointed city attorney of Detroit, and in 1840 he was appointed prose
cuting attorney of Wayne county. Concerning his administration in
this latter office the following contemporaneous estimate was given : ' ' He
established a new era in the efficiency, energy and success with which he
conducted the criminal prosecutions and cleared the city and county of
numerous and flagrant criminals." In 1843 he was chosen to represent
the Third ward on the board of aldermen, and in the following year he
was re-elected. His effective services as chairman of the committee of
ways and means during this period, when the city's finances were in
deplorable condition, proved specially potent in upholding the financial
reputation of Detroit. In 1847 he was elected mayor of the city, and in
his careful and conservative administration he was able to carry to a log
ical conclusion the policies which he had brought forward in the alder-
manic committee previously mentioned. He was not a figurehead in the
office of mayor, but put forth his best efforts and powers in behalf of the
city. In 1853 he was chosen a member of the first board of commis
sioners of the Detroit water works, and of this position he continued the
incumbent until his death. From Silas Farmer 's history of Detroit and
Michigan, published in 1889, are taken the Mowing extracts touching
the peculiarly prominent association of Mr. Van Dyke with the Detroit
fire department:
"He was best known, however, from his connection with the early
history of the Detroit fire department. His name was enrolled on the

HISTORY OF DETROIT 881
list of members composing Protection Fire Company No. 1, the first duly
organized fire company in Detroit, and until his death no man in the
city took a more active interest in building up and extending the useful
ness of the fire department. He served as president of the department
from 1847 to 1851, and to his financial tact, energy and determination,
no less than to honest pride in the fire department, all citizens are
greatly indebted. In 1840 he framed and procured the passage of the
law incorporating the fire department, and it was largely his efforts that
secured the erection of the first firemen's hall. His death, which oc
curred May 7, 1855, was an especially severe loss to the fire department,
the feling being fittingly expressed in the following resolutions adopted
by its officers :
" 'Resolved, That in the death of Mr. Van Dyke the fire department
of Detroit has lost one of its benefactors ; that his name is so closely in
terwoven with its fortune, from its origin as a benevolent and chartered
organization, through the vicissitudes of its early and precarious exist
ence, until its successful and triumphant development as one of the
prominent institutions of the city, that it may with truth be said that its
history is almost comprised within the limits of his active participation
in its affairs.
" 'Resolved, That as a fireman, beginning and serving his full term
as one of the commissioners of this city, bis aim seemed to be rather to
discharge well the duties of a private than to accept the proffered honors
of this company, save as trustee of the board. But of those duties he
had a high appreciation, deeming it a worthy ambition, as inculcated by
an address to the department, to dedicate one's self to the work with
heart brave and steadfast, tenacious of obedience to law and order, with
an elevated and stern determination to tread only the paths of recti
tude.' "In order to further honor his memory the fire department issued a
memorial volume, containing the proceedings of the department, of the
Detroit bar and of the Common Council, relative to his death, as well as
several tributes to his memory from those who knew him best. ' '
In the domain of his chosen profession Mr. Van Dyke gained pre
eminence. Profound and exact in his erudition, strong in dialectic pow
ers, forceful in the clarity and precision of his diction, and with a most
pleasing personal presence, he naturally commanded a place of leader
ship as a trial lawyer, while as a counselor he was equally secure and
fortified. He appeared in many important litigations and made a repu
tation that was not hedged in by the confines of his home city and state.
This article would stultify its consistency were there failure to advert
to the masterly argument made by Mr. Van Dyke in connection with one
of the most important cases ever presented in the courts of the state of
Michigan. He was one of the counsel for the people in the great railroad
conspiracy case, relative to the Michigan Central Railroad, which was
tried in the circuit court of Wayne county at the May term, 1851.
It may be said without fear of legitimate contradiction that his was the
leading argument advanced in this cause celebre, and the record con
cerning the same has become an integral part of the history of Michigan
jurisprudence. The argument of Mr. Van Dyke occupies one hundred
and thirty-two closely printed pages, and is noteworthy alike for its
cogency, its broadness and fairness, as well as for its absolute eloquence
and its beauty of diction. Of course, it is impossible within the compass
of a sketch of this order to offer more than the briefest of extracts from
the article in question, but the following excerpts, both eloquent and
prophetic, may well be given place here:

882 HISTORY OF DETROIT
"What has been the history of the road (Michigan Central) while
in the hands of the state ? For years it dragged its slow length along —
an encumbrance and a burden. The state needed engines, cars, depots —
every material to prosecute or sustain with energy or profit this impor
tant work; but its credit was gone and it was immersed in debt. Our
population was thinly scattered across the entire breadth of the peninsula.
Engines dragged slowly and heavily through the dense forests. Our city
numbered but twelve thousand people ; our state was destitute of wealth ;
our farmers destitute of markets ; our laborers destitute of employment ;
and so far as the interest of the state and her people were identified witb
the railroad, it presented a joyless present, a dark and frowning future.
In a fortunate hour the state sold the road, and the millions of this de
nounced company were flung broadcast through our community; they
took up the old track, extended the road to the extreme line of the state,
laid down, at enormous cost, over four hundred miles of iences to guard
the property of all, save those who wanted a beef market at each crossing;
multiplied the accommodation seven-fold, quadrupled the speed, increased
traffic and commerce, so that, while in 1845 the state passed twenty-six
thousand tons over the road, in 1850 the company passed one hundred
and thirty-four thousand tons, created markets for our products, snatched
the tide of passing emigration from the hands of a steamboat monopoly,
hostile to Michigan, and threw, it into the heart of our state, until now,
where heaven's light was once shut out by the dense forests it shines over
fertile, fields and rich, luxuriant harvests; and the rivers of our state,
which once ran with wasteful speed to the bosom of the lakes, turn the
machinery which renders our rich products available. With them,
capital made its home among us; our credit was restored; home and
energy sprang from their lethargic sleep ; labor clapped her glad hands
and shouted for joy ; and Michigan, bent for the moment like a sapling
by the fierceness of a passing tempest, relieved from the debts and bur
thens, rose erect and in her youthful strength stood proudly up among
her sister states.
' ' Who shall stop this glorious work which is spreading blessings and
prosperity around us? Who shall dare to say, 'Thus far shalt thou go
and no farther ? ' Who shall dictate to it after doing so much ? Must it
now pause and rest in inglorious ease? No, gentlemen, it shall not be
stayed ; it shall speed onward in triumph ; it shall add link after link to
the great chain that binds mankind together ; it shall speed onward, still
onward, through the gorges of the mountains, over the depths of the val
leys, till the iron horse, whose bowels are fire, 'out of whose nostrils goeth
forth smoke,' and 'whose breath kindleth coals,' shall be heard thundering
through the echoing, solitudes of the Rocky Mountains, startling the In
dian from his wild retreat, and ere long reaching the golden shores of
the far-off Pacific, there to be welcomed by the glad shouts of American
freeman at the glorious event which has conquered time and distance and
bound the freemen themselves by nearer cords to older homes and sister
states !
"A detestable monopoly! These railroads, built by united energies
and capital, are the great instruments in the hand of God to hasten on
ward the glorious mission of religion and civilization. Already is our
Central Road stretching forth its hands and giving assurance that soon
shall its iron track reach across the neighboring provinces from Detroit
to Niagara, and that ere long the scream of the locomotive shall be heard
over the sound of the cataract, which shall thunder forth in deafening
.peals the glorious event. Our brethren on the shores of the Atlantic,
with whom we are bound by every interest, association and affection, will
hail the shortened tie with ardent welcome. ' '

HISTORY OF DETROIT 883
Passing on with his argument, Mr. Van Dyke spoke as follows con
cerning law and its powers and applications :
' ' Gentlemen, all you possess on earth is the reward of labor protected
by law. It is law alone which keeps all things in order, guards the sleep
of infancy, the energy of manhood, and the weakness of age. It hovers
over us by day ; it keeps watch and ward over the slumbers of night ; it
goes with us over the land and guides and guards us through the track
less paths of the mighty waters. The high and the low, each is within
its view and beneath its ample folds. It protects beauty and virtue, pun
ishes crime and wickedness, and vindicates right. Honor and life, and
liberty and property, the wide world over, are -its high objects. Stern,
yet kind ; pure, yet pitying ; steadfast, immutable and just — it is the at
tribute of God on earth. It proceeds from his bosom and encircles the
world with its care and power and blessings. All honor and praise to
those who administer it in purity and who reverence its high behests. ' '
Tbe foregoing quotations are made primarily to show the impas
sioned eloquence of the speaker and his love for right and justice. No
idea is conveyed of the profundity of the argument he advanced on the
occasion, but in even these few words the man, the orator, the patriot,
seems to stand before us in his virile strength.
The generous and noble qualities of Mr. Van Dyke's mind and heart
glorified "a singularly winning personality, and he won and retained
friends in all classes. He touched and appreciated the depths of human
thought and motive, and his charity to his fellow men was spread on that
liberal plane which shows forth the grace of toleration and true human
sympathy. He had fine perceptions of principle, to which he was inflex
ibly loyal. He was one of the most kindly and most courteous and pol
ished of gentlemen, and the story of his life is full to overflowing with
incentive to those who study it.
Mr. Van Dyke naturally became a prominent factor in the political
activities of the new state, and his attitude was that of a conservative
Whig. Towards the close of his life he entered the fold of the Catholic
church. He was generous in his aiding of religious, charitable and be
nevolent objects, and his home life was one whose ideality renders it im
possible for the veil to be lifted to public inspection. Of him it has well
been said : ' ' He left a name dear to his friends and a rich inheritance
to his children, consecrated by the remembrance of the genial qualities
and virtues with which he was so richly endowed." From the resolu
tions a'dopted by the Detroit bar at the time of the' death of Mr. Van
Dyke are taken the following extracts.-
"Resolved, That we, who have been witnesses and sharers of his pro
fessional labors, can best give full testimony to the genius, skill, learning
and industry which he brought to that profession, to which he devoted
alike the chivalrous fire of his youth and the riper powers of his man
hood, in which he cherished a manly pride, and whose best honors and
success he so rapidly and honorably achieved.
"Resolved, That while we bear this just tribute to the fine intellect
of our deceased brother, we turn with greater pleasure to those generous
qualities of his heart which endeared him to us as a companion and
friend ; which have left tender memorials with so many of his younger
brothers, of grateful sympathy and assistance rendered when most need
ed; and made his life a bright example of just and honorable conduct
in all its relations.
"Resolved, That though devoted to the profession of his choice, yet
he was never indifferent to the wider duties which were devolved upon
him by society at large, and he filled the many public stations to which
he was called by the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens, with

884 HISTORY OF DETROIT
an earnestness, purity and ability alike honorable to himself and service
able to the public."'
In the year 1835 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Van Dyke to
Miss Elizabeth Desnoyers, daughter of Hon. Peter J. Desnoyers, another
of the honored pioneers and influential citizens of Michigan. Mrs. Van
Dyke was summoned to the life eternal on the 10th of July, 1896, and of
the eleven children of this union seven attained to years of maturity.
Philip J. D. Van Dyke, the third son, died October 6, 1881, he having be
come a successful lawyer and having served two terms as prosecuting at
torney of Wayne county. George W. Van Dyke died at the age of fifty-
eight years. Rev. Ernest Van Dyke has been for nearly forty years pas
tor of St. Aloysius church, Detroit, and is individually mentioned on
other pages of this work. Josephine is the wife of Henry F. Brownson,
of Detroit. V. D. Casgrain lives in Evanston, Illinois; Madame Van
Dyke, the youngest of the daughters now living, is superior of the Sacred
Heart convent in the city of Chicago. One son of Phillip J. D. Van
Dyke is Reverend Henry Van Dyke, pastor of the Sacred Heart
church, Bad Axe, Michigan. Another son, William Van Dyke, is prac
ticing law in Detroit, associated with E. Y. Swift.
Rev. Ernest Van Dyke. Father Van Dyke has long been one of
the honored and loved members of the clergy of the Catholic church
in his native city of Detroit, where for nearly forty years he has re
tained the pastorate of the important parish of St. Aloysius' church,
on Washington boulevard. Father Van Dyke is an influential figure
in the work and affairs of the diocese and as pastor of the "down
town" or central parish of the church in the Michigan metropolis his
duties and responsibilities have long been varied and exacting, bring
ing him into close touch with all sorts and conditions of men, and gain
ing to him a. peculiarly secure place in the affection and esteem of the
community which has ever represented his home.
Father Van Dyke was born in Detroit on the 29th of January, 1845,
and is a son of that honored and distinguished pioneer, the later James
A. Van Dyke, to whom a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this
publication. In the parochial school of Detroit Father Van Dyke gained
his earlier educational discipline and in June, 1864, he was graduated
from St. John College, at Fordham, New York, with highest honors
and with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, receiving that of M,. A. in
1876. In preparation for the work of the high calling to which he
had determined to consecrate his life, he soon afterward proceeded to
Rome, where he entered the North American Seminary, in which he
completed his philosophical and ecclesiastical courses. On the 25th of
March, 1868, -in St. John Lateran church, at Rome, he was ordained to
the priesthood, at the episcopal hands of Cardinal Patrizi, and his first
pastoral charge was that of St. Mary's church at Adrian, Michigan. In
1872 he was appointed pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul cathedral, Detroit,
and in the following year he was appointed to the pastorate of which
he has since remained the incumbent, at St. Aloysius' church, the build
ing of which had been purchased in that year by Rt. Rev. Caspar H.
Borgess for his pro-cathedral. Like his honored sire, Father Van Dyke
is a man of specially fine scholastic attainments, and in his chosen call
ing he has labored with all of consecrated zeal and devotion, the while
he has been instant in human sympathy and helpfulness, in which con
nection the demands upon his time and heart have long been many and
insistent. No representative of the priesthood in Detroit is better
known or held in more high esteem in the Michigan metropolis and none
has been more prolific in good deeds and high civic ideals.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 885
Henry Spitzley. Length of years of life, esteem of friends and
respect of citizens, and a large sum of accomplishment in business and
material affairs are among the net results of the career of one of De
troit's prominent residents, Mr. Henry Spitzley, who, with the excep
tion of a few years, has lived in this city since 1848. Until recent years
his activity as a building contractor gave Detroit many of its important
public and private buildings. He had had a long and fruitful life, and
his place is secure in the history of representative citizens of Detroit.
From 1885 to 1890 he was city building commissioner and since 1907
he has been building inspector.
Henry Spitzley was born in Mayen, Prussia, Germany, September
19, 1829, so that he is now in his eighty-third year. At his home town
he attended school through his fifteenth year and then began working
for his father, who was a farmer and also conducted a livery business.
This was his occupation until he came to America in 1848. He was the
oldest of the seven children of his parents, Stephen and Agnes (Thomas)
Spitzley, and the entire family made the voyage together, coming in a
sail vessel that was forty-eight days between ports. The family came
direct to Detroit, where Henry started to learn the carpenter trade. His
ability and progress were such that three years later he was in the
building and contracting business. In 1854 he moved to Chicago, where
he was a cabinet maker until 1857 and had a good business, but in the
panic of the latter year he lost everything. In Kansas City he made
a new start as a contractor, and continued successfully in that then new
town until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, when he located near
South Bend, Indiana, where he engaged in the same business until 1867.
Returning to Detroit in that year, Mr. Spitzley purchased a car
penter shop and went into the building and contracting business on a
large scale. For over thirty-five years he was one of the best known
men in this line and he handled a large share of the important contracts
undertaken in this city. A number of the principal churches, the Cen
tral high school buildings, and a dozen other school buildings, besides
many of the finest private residences and stores form the material
record of his enterprise. In 1902 he sold out his business and is now
living retired in his handsome home at 246 Van Dyke avenue with his
son. In St. Mary's church, Detroit, January 10, 1853, Mr. Spitzley was
united in marriage with Miss Margaret Schmitz, who was the companion
of his home and the sharer of his prosperity for more than fifty-seven
years, until her death in January, 1910. She was the third in a family
of seven girls whose parents were Jacob and Barbara (Jungblud)
Schmitz, who were natives of Kaisersesch, near Mayen, Germany, com
ing to America about 1851, and spent the rest of their lives on a farm
near South Bend, Indiana. Five children were born to Mr. Spitzley
and wife, and they are as follows : Jacob Spitzley, who is a resident of
Detroit, married Miss Anna Elise DeMott. They have four children,
sons, three of them are in the automobile business. Matilda Spitzley is
the wife of George W. Rice, of Detroit, and their children are : Grace,
who married Homer Hoyt of Detroit, a mechanical engineer and drafts
man, and has one daughter, Marjorie Hoyt, aged three; and Paulina,
who married Clarence Hills, of Detroit, manager of the Hup Auto-
bile Company. Pauline Spitzley is the wife of Ray W. Jones, of Seat
tle, Washington. Mr. Jones is a former resident of Minneapolis, and
was a prominent figure in the political life of the state, serving two
terms as lieutenant govenor of Minnesota. He now conducts an exten
sive business in timber and mining lands about Vancouver, British
Columbia. Mr. and Mrs, Jones have two sons, Monroe, aged nineteen,

886 HISTORY OF DETROIT
and Ray, aged sixteen, both living at home. During the summer of
1911 Mr. Spitzley visited this daughter and his grandsons in Seattle.
Josephine Spitzley is the wife of Henry Toepp, and they live in South
Bend, Indiana. Their three children are: Paul, aged twenty-two and
now employed in Detroit, and Margaret, aged eighteen, and Francis,
aged sixteen, both living at home. Louise Spitzley, the youngest of the
family, married Gus Conner, who is conducting a large logging business
in Vancouver with Frank Gray, his son-in-law. They are the parents
of five children : Florence, who married Lawrence Walker, of Muskegon,
Michigan, and has one son; Margaret, who married Frank Gray and
lives in Seattle; Zelda, aged twenty, who lives at home; Ruth, aged
eighteen, and Richard, aged sixteen.
On May 24, 1911, was held an unusual and beautiful celebration
at the Harmonie Singing Society of Detroit. The occasion was the
sixtieth anniversary of Mr. Henry Spitzley 's membership as an active
singer in that organization. He entered the society in May, 1851, when
it was only three years old, and for many years he was actively identifi
ed with its work and was one of its largest individual contributors to
its success in promoting the esthetic ideals for which it was founded. For
the past twelve years he has been president of the Maennerchor of the
society. He was also one of the builders of the handsome home of the
society, in which this celebration was held. He was elected as honorary
president of the chorus for his lifetime. He is an active singer to-day and
enjoys singing and music as well as in younger days.
Alexander M. Campau. By the very name itself Detroit pays a trib
ute of honor to its early French settlers, and of the old-time lines there yet
remain within the gracious borders of the Michigan metropolis many wor
thy representatives. There must ever be held as due a debt of gratitude
to those who have wrought nobly in the past and have left a heritage of
worthy lives and worthy deeds, their names being a very part of the
history of the fair ' ' City of the Straits. ' ' Here have been and are still
found representatives of the best citizenship and of definite power in
the industrial and commercial world, those whose genealogy is traced
through long lines of French ancestry, and prominent among such scions
was the late Alexander Macomb Campau, who left a definite and perman
ent impress upon the history of Detroit, and who was a representative
of the oldest and most distinguished French family of the city, with
whose annals the name has been identified since the days -when Detroit
was but an outpost on the frontier of civilization. The career of Mr.
Campau was the positive expression of a strong nature, and in both its
subjective and objective phases constitutes a worthy heritage of the city
with whose material and civic affairs he was so long and closely con
cerned. The first of the Campau family to establish homes in Detroit, and in
fact in the great northwest, were Michael and Jacques Campeau, who
settled on the site of the present city in the year 1710, and during two
centuries the name has been one of prominence in the history of the city
of Detroit and the state of Michigan: History bears record of the worthy
achievement of those who have borne the name as one generation has
followed another on the stage of life's activities, and it is thus specially
consistent that in this publication be entered a memoir and tribute to
Alexander M. Campau, who well upheld the prestige of the family name
Alexander Macomb Campau was born in Detroit, near the site of
the present city water office, on the 13th of September, 1823 and was a
son of Barnabee and Archange (McDougall) Campau. The' McDougall
family, of the staunchest Scotch lineage, was early represented in De-

'&&-/<??? J^L^a

HISTORY OF DETROIT 887
troit and its members long held possession of the now beautiful and cele
brated Belle Isle, one of the finest city parks in the United States. This
island, in the Detroit river, was granted to George McDougall by King
George III, of England, and the island remained in the possession of
representatives of the McDougall and Campau families until it was sold
to the city, in 1879, for park purposes. Alexander M. and Barnabee
Campau and their two sisters, Archange Piquette and Emily Campau,
were the heirs who thus transferred the fine island property to the city,
one of whose greatest attractions it now constitutes. The first white
child born in the Northwest Territory was a Campau and the original
representatives in Michigan came to Detroit from Canada as contempo
raries of Antonie de Laumet Cadillac, the virtual founder of the city, as
he was here the builder of the earliest frontier post, known as Fort Pont-
chartrain. He whose name initiates this review secured his early educational
discipline in the Catholic parochial schools of Detroit and supplemented
this by a course in Georgetown College, at Georgetown, District of Colum
bia, in which institution he was graduated. He had also the distinction
of being a member of the first class in the newly founded University of
Michigan, whose faculty at that time consisted of but two professors, the
while the enrollment of students had a total of only eleven persons. Mr.
Campau studied law, but he never found it expedient to engage in active
practice. Upon his father's death, it devolved upon him to assume the
management of the large family estate, consisting of much realty and
other property, and through his progressive methods and high civic loy
alty he thus contributed much to the development and upbuilding of his
native city, whose every interest lay close to his heart. He became one
of the most influential and honored citizens of the Michigan metropolis,
was a man of high intellectuality and sterling integrity and he ever com
manded secure vantage ground in popular confidence and esteem. A man
of spirit and fine instincts, he was fond of outdoor sports, and he was spe
cially prominent as a patron of turf activities, in which connection he
owned standard-bred and thorough-bred horses and was prominent in
racing circles. He was a charter member of the Detroit Boat Club and
was greatly interested in all lines of legitimate athletic sports, in con
nection with which his sons also became leaders. He and three of his
sons constituted a formidable boat crew in the early days of aquatic con
tests on the Detroit river, and the father and sons won decisive victories
in the various boat races in which they took part. Mr. Campau also
maintained an excellent fishery at Belle Isle, where he lived during a
portion of each year and where he built up in this line a flourishing in
dustry, the same having been founded by his honored father. For many
years this fishery was one of the sights of Detroit and prominent visitors
to the city were invariably given and accepted invitations to visit the
fine place, on which Mr. Campau gave employment to a force of one hun
dred and fifty French Canadians.
There was a distinctive fineness about the entire makeup of Alexander
M. Campau and he was recognized as one of the most cultured men of
Detroit. He had all the elements which make for commanding influence
in the directing of human thought and action and had his wealth been
less and his ambition roused he would have undoubtedly become a power
in statesmanship and diplomacy. He did much for Detroit and Michigan
and his loyalty to the city and state was of the most insistent order. He
was the head of a family whose prominence in the leading social and
civic activities of Detroit has long been undisputed. He never manifested
any desire "for political office, though none was better equipped for posi
tions of high public trust, but he was loyal to all civic duties and respon-

888 HISTORY OF DETROIT
sibilities and in politics was a staunch supporter of the principles and
politics for which the Democratic party has ever stood sponsor in a gen
eric sense.
On the 15th of April, 1849, was solemnized the marriage of Mr, Campau
to Miss Eliza Throop, who was born at Auburn, New York, on the 8th
of November, 1828, and whose death occurred on the 13th of April, 1905.
Mrs. Campau was a daughter of George T. and Frances (Hunt) Throop.
Her father came to Detroit from New York state in an early day and
was connected with the first bank here established under private auspices,
the same having been known as the Farmers' Mechanics Bank. His
brother, Hon. Enos T. Throop, twice served as governor of the state of
New York, where the family early became one of marked prominence,
and influence, many representatives of the same having been distin
guished in public affairs, military activities and professional lines. In
the following paragraph is entered brief record concerning the children
of Alexander M. and Eliza (Throop) Campau.
George T., who was a lawyer by profession, died in Detroit, at the
age of thirty-two years. He married Miss Mary Livingston Woolsey,
daughter of Commodore Woolsey, of the United States navy, and they
became the parents of four children, — M. Woolsey, Alexander Macomb,
Elsie and George T. Alexander, the second son, was a law student at the
time of his death.
Barnabee, who resides on Long Island, New York, is married and
had two sons, — Stephens Vail and Alexander Macomb. Emilie Ange-
lique, who resides in the city of Washington, D. C, is the widow of Cap-;
tain Henry W. Fitch, of the United States navy and she has three daugh
ters, Emily C, wife of Albert P. Gerhard, Alexandrine and Henrietta
W. Montgomery H. died in the city of Denver, Colorado. Frances E.
is the wife of Federick T. Sibley, a scion of one of the old and disting-
ushed families of Detroit, and they have six daughters, — Eliza T., who
is the wife of Horace H. Peabody and who has one child, Charlotte C. ;
Charlotte S., who is the wife of Stephen P. Harwood, of Baltimore,
Maryland, and who has four children, — James Kent, Francis C, Stephen
Paul and Charlotte S. ; Frances C, who married R. B. Alexander ; Doro
thy, who is the wife of Gaylord Gillis, of Detroit, and who has two sons,
Ransom and Gaylord ; Alexandrine, who is the wife of Francis M. Bren-
nan,'of Detroit, and who has one daughter, Margaret S. ; and Frederica,
who is the wife of Lucien S. Moore, Jr., of Detroit. Robert McDougall
Campau, the seventh child of the subject of this memoir, married Lil
lian Bachelor, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and. their children are : Lil
lian C, the wife of George C. Thrall, to whom she has borne two children,
Constance and Robert McDougall, and Vita, the wife of Richard Kirch-
ner, of Detroit. Guy Phillip, the next in order of birth, died in infancy.
Charlotte C, who retains her home in Detroit, is president of the A. M.
Campau Realty Company, which was organized by her father in 1904
and the interested principals in which are all members of the Campau
family. Miss Campau has full supervision of the executive affairs of the
large family estate and is a business woman of marked discrimination
and ability, as well as a most gracious figure in social life.
Underwood Armstrong. The dean of building contractors in De
troit, Underwood Armstrong has spent more than half a century in the
practical achievements of building construction. His record stands fixed
in a long list of buildings, many of them large and important public
edifices. The St. Luke's Hospital, erected in 1868, was one of his earlier
contracts. The Detroit, Lansing & Northern Railroad shops at Iona are
another of his undertakings. The public school buildings of the city

HISTORY OF DETROIT 889
which were erected by him include the Washington, McGraw, Bradford,
Smith, Palmer, McKinster and Bellevue schools. Many private homes
and other buildings too numerous to mention are evidences of his many
years activity. The oldest of Detroit's contractors, he still has on hand
several big contracts, but it is his intention, when these are completed,
to retire from the active ranks of the profession.
The citizen whose work is such permanent and practical character
has thereby rendered some of the most valuable services to his com
munity. But also in the general civic responsibilities Mr. Armstrong
has discharged his duties with a public spirit that places him among the
best representatives of Detroit's citizenship. He has been a resident
of the city for fifty-five years, and has borne an honored part in the prog
ress which has made Detroit one of the best of American cities.
Underwood Armstrong was born in the county of Durham, England,
September 14, 1834. He was reared and educated in the same locality,
and then worked as carpenter, joiner and contractor under his father
until the death of the latter, when he came to America. On the 7th of
July, 1856, he arrived in this country, and a few weeks later began his
residence in Detroit. He followed his trade for several years, and in
1860 began as an independent contractor. Mr. Armstrong lives with his
only daughter, Lillian F. Armstrong, at 763 Brush Boulevard, in an ele
gant home which he built some years since. The old Armstrong home
stead, in which the family lived for thirty years, was located at Clifford
and Washington. He sold this property ten ye%rs ago, and the Mich
igan "State Telephone Company's building now occupies the site.
In 1854, in his native county of Durham, England, he was married tft
Miss Sarah Gray Breckon. Mrs. Armstrong, who passed away in March,
1908, was a native of Scarborough, England. To their marriage, which
endured happily for more than half a century, were born two children.
Arthur Robert, the son, is engaged in the contracting business, with
office of Willis avenue. He married Miss Bessie Clark, of Detroit. Lil
lian F., the daughter, keeps the home for. her father.
During his youth Mr. Armstrong was an expert cricket player, a
charter member of the Peninsular Cricket Club, and interested in
the sports of the time. In later years he has sought quieter diversions,
and is one of the older members of the Detroit Whist Club. Fraternally
he affiliates with Ashlar Lodge, No. 91, A. F. & A. M., and was made a
Knight Templar in 1870. His politics is Republican. He and his fam
ily now hold the oldest membership in St. John's Episcopal church, one
of Woodward avenue's most fashionable congregations. His daughter
is one of the leaders in the activities of this church. Mr. Armstrong,
who is now in his seventy-eighth year, is the last survivor of a family of
eleven children.
Cornelius O'Dwyer. As a former soldier of the Republic and a
citizen of broad and generous activities, probably no resident of Detroit
is better known or held in higher esteem in the city and throughout the
state than Cornelius O'Dwyer. The readiness with which he offered
his youthful services for the defense of the Union has characterized all
his subsequent career in the interests of many organized movements for
the welfare of his fellow men. He is the type of citizen whose career
has an intimate interest to the many who have been associated with him
or have shared in the benefits of his work.
Though an Irishman by birth, Mr. 0 'Dwyer has lived in Detroit since
he was two years old, and no native born resident could be more loyal
to the city and country. He was born in county Limerick, Ireland, Feb
ruary 1, 1846, and the family having moved to Detroit in May, 1848,

890 HISTORY OF DETROIT
he was reared here and attended the local parochial schools until he was
seventeen years old.
Just one month after his seventeenth birthday, on March 1, 1863,
he enlisted at Detroit in the First Michigan Volunteer Cavalry, Custer's
Bold Brigade, one of the finest fighting organizations of the war, and
probably the world has never known a more efficient brigade of soldiers.
General Custer's Brigade was known as the Michigan Cavalry Brigade
and composed of the First, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Michigan Cavalry
Volunteer Regiments. As a member of the first regiment he had unsur
passed opportunities for military service, and as an individual soldier
it is doubtful if any veteran of the war has a longer or more faithful rec
ord of service in so many engagments as Mr. O'Dwyer. At Trevillian
Station in Virginia Custer's Brigade fought five different Confederate
brigades, something that never occurred before in military annals. At
the engagment of Yellow Tavern, Virginia, June 11-12, 1864, Mr.
0 'Dwyer received a scalp wound, but did not allow this to interfere with
his service and continued at the front. In all, though he saw only
the last two years of the war, he was engaged in thirty-two battles,
occupying forty days, these engagements being named as follows: The
Wilderness, Beaver Dam Station, Yellow Tavern, Meadow Bridge, Mil-
ford, Howes Shop, Baltimore Cross Roads, Cold Harbor, Trevillian Sta
tion, Winchester, Front Royal, Leetown, Shepardstown, Smithfield, Ber-
ryville, Summit, Opequan Creek, Port Republic, Mount Crawford, Wood
stock, Ceder Creek, Madison Court House, Louisa Court House, Five
Forks, South Side Railroad, Duck Pond Mills, Sailor 's Creek, Farmville,
Appomattox. After the war was over he served against the Indians on
the plains, leaving the army at Fort Bridger, Utah, then a territory.
For many years Mr. 0 'Dwyer has taken a leading part in the affairs
of the Grand Army of the Republic. He is a past commander of the
General 0. M. Poe Post, No. 433, G. A. R., and is senior aide-de-camp
of the Department of Michigan. During his two terms as commander
he received many letters of commendation for his services from the head
officials of the State Grand Army.
And also while commander of General 0. M. Poe Postf he personally
brought in thirty-six recruits, more than any other one member of the
Grand Army of the Republic in Detroit. He is now one of the directors
of the G. A. R. Memorial Building of Detroit. He served his post as
chaplain in 1908 and was senior vice commander and commander during
1909. He was a charter member of the Detroit Montgomery Rifles, an
exclusive independent Irish military company which existed in Detroit
for many years, and in after years it became a part of the Michigan'
National Guard. He also presented the Rifles a beautiful green silk
Irish flag, which cost one hundred and seventy-five dollars. He is, and
has abundant reason to be, proud of his army record and of his nation
ality. Mr. O'Dwyer was the founder of the Ancient Order of Hibernians
in Detroit. He organized division No. 1 of this order on July 14, 1880.
He started with sixteen members, and the organization now has twenty-
five hundred affiliates in this city. To this work of organization he gave
two years of his time and energy, and he is still a member of the order.
For nine and a half years he. served with the Board of Public Works
of Detroit. In politics Mr. O'Dwyer is a Republican. His church is
the Catholic, and he is a member of Branch No. 5, C. M. B. A.
The home where he and his family reside is a beautiful residence at
669-671 Fourteenth avenue.
Captain Emery Anderson Noble. On the 1st of July, 1910, after a
continuous service of thirty-two years, Captain Emery Anderson Noble

HISTORY OF DETROIT 891
resigned from the Police department of Detroit, and has since lived
retired in the beautiful suburb of Northville. The city has had no more
faithful and efficient public servant than Captain Noble, and in the quiet
of his later years he enjoys the honor and esteem of a host of personal
friends, and his record of service deserves the best honors that a com
munity may bestow.
Captain Noble was born in Farmington, August 30, 1846. The family
moved to Detroit during his youth and he continued his education here,
graduating from the Cass school in 1864, at the age of eighteen. He first
joined the Police force on June 23, 1866, as patrolman, and served till
November 1, 1867. Having begun public service at that early date and
always an interested observer, he is one of the best informed men in
Detroit on many historical scenes of the last fifty years. In 1866 he was
on duty at a circus which spread its tents on the site now occupied by
the city hall.
On resigning from the force he was engaged in the grocery business
until September 5, 1878, when he again assumed the uniform of a public
peace officer. His efficiency won him steady promotion. In October,
1882, he was made roundsman ; in December, 1886, became a detective ;
in August, 1892, was promoted to lieutenant ; and on June 1, 1906, was
given the stripes of captain, which office he held four years before he
retired. He then moved out to Northville, where he bought ' ' The Grove, ' '
a beautiful country residence' comprising eight acres of ground, and
here he and his good wife are spending the evening time of their lives.
On May 19, 1869, Captain Noble, was married to Miss Annie Midg-
ley, in Detroit. Their one child, Annie May, is the wife of William H.
Carpenter, who is a shoe merchant of Pontiac. On the occasion of their
twenty-fifth wedding anniversary in 1894 the Metropolitan Police of
Detroit presented them a silver water service, and as a token of the
esteem in which he has always been held by his associates this gift is
one of their most prized possessions.
Captain Noble affiliates with the Detroit Lodge of Masons, No. 2.
In politics he is a stanch Republican. The family church is the Pres
byterian, at Northville, in which society Mrs. Noble takes an active part
and is a member of the Ladies ' Aid Society.
Francis John Walsh Maguire, M. D. An important name among
those of able and popular representatives of the medical profession in
Detroit is that of Dr. Francis John Walsh Maguire, whose residence in
this city covers a period of twenty years. He has been a close and zeal
ous student, has achieved success as a result of his own endeavors and
well merits the prestige he has won in his chosen field of activity. Dr.
Maguire comes from a country that has given Detroit some of its ablest
professional men; he is a native of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, where
he was born February 16, 1868, a son of Patrick and Margaret (Walsh)
Maguire. • Dr. Maguire received excellent educational advantages, attending pub
lic and private schools in his early youth and being graduated from St.
Lawrence College, Montreal, Canada, when he was only twenty years
old, at which time he received his degree of Bachelor of Science. Sub
sequently he entered the Detroit College of Medicine, from which he was
graduated in 1895, with his professional degree of Doctor of Medicine,
thereafter pursuing post-graduate study in the medical schools and hos
pitals of Vienna and Paris.
On his return to the United States Dr. Maguire was appointed acting
assistant surgeon of the United States Marine Hospital, a position which
he held from 1895 until 1897, and in the latter year came to Detroit.

892 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Here he has built up a general practice of a representative character, al
though the greater part of his time and attention are given to surgical
cases. He is chief surgeon of the Home Sanitarium and the Aetna Acci
dent Insurance Company, and is medical examiner for the Equitable Life
Insurance Company. He also takes great interest in the work of the
various organizations of the profession, belonging to the Wayne County
Medical Society, the Michigan State Medical Society and the American
Medical Association.
Not only is Dr. Maguire keenly alive to all progressive thought in his
professional science, but has contributed not a little to its advancement.
He is the author of the following published articles: "A New Dietetic
and Injection Method of Treating Typhoid Fever, with a Report of One
Hundred and Thirty-Eight Consecutive Cases Successfully Treated in
the Last Ten Years ; " " Intestinal Obstruction and Paralysis of the Bowels
Following Laparotomy"; "The Curse of Miscarriage to Our American
Women, with a Few Suggestions in the Way of a Remedy"; "The Use
of Rubber Gloves as an aid to Prophylaxis in Obstetrics"; "The Maguire
Dropper for the Administration of Saline"; and "The Maguire Diag
nostic Sound."
Dr. Maguire has also shown his ability as a financier and business man
by incorporating and founding the Detroit Garment Manufacturing
Company in 1907, which has today made Detroit the American center
for the manufacture of children's dresses. His concern is doing a busi
ness of a quarter of a million dollars, proving that a busy physician is
not always a failure in the commercial world.
Interests of a socially fraternal nature have always been attractive
to Dr. Maguire, who belongs to the Knights of Columbus, the Fellow-
craft Club and the New York Society of Detroit as well as to the De
troit Board of Commerce.. He was married on June 16, 1897, to Miss
Mignon Bosset of Detroit. The home of Dr. and Mrs. Maguire is at 776
Jefferson avenue, where he also maintains large, well-appointed offices
in addition to those centrally located in the Shurly Building in Grand
Circus Park. With regard to the advanced standing, both personally
and professionally, of Dr. Maguire in the city of Detroit, comment is
superfluous because of the wide recognition of that fact.
Charles Albert Weymouth. For nearly half , a century one of the
active and successful merchants of Detroit and in later years enjoying
a quiet retirement which his early career deserves, Mr. Charles A. Wey
mouth represents the best qualities of Detroit's civic and business af
fairs. He has witnessed the growth and development of the city during
its most important periods, and while his activities belong to the past
he is still interested in the present and as one of the older citizens he
enjoys the esteem of all the younger and more active generations.
He was born at Northberg, York county, Maine, October 26, 1832, and
was the youngest of a family of five children. His parents were Joseph
and Mehitabel (Warren) Weymouth, both natives of Maine. In the
district schools near his home town he began his education, which was
completed at the Southberg Academy when he was sixteen years old. At
the close of school days he went to Boston and began his mercantile career
as a grocery salesman, continuing for five years. In March, 1855, he
arrived at Detroit, where he engaged in the grocery business on his own
account, continuing for three years. He was a successful grocer of this
city until 1870. During the next ten years he conducted a high class cigar
store on Woodward avenue: In 1880 he became associated with the D.
M. Curtin Company, and continued with this well known house until
1900, when he retired from the ranks of the active merchants, and has

HISTORY OF DETROIT 893
since enjoyed a peaceful career at his comfortable home, 231 West Alex
andrine avenue.
Mr. Weymouth was married November 11, 1857, to Miss Mary A.
Coburn. Their married life has been both happy and of remarkable
length, and in 1907 they celebrated that impressive occasion of a golden
wedding. Mrs. Weymouth is a native of Scotland, being the youngest
in the family of Robert and Anna Coburn, who brought her to America
when she was a child. Mr. and Mrs. Weymouth have four children:
Anna R. is a teacher in the Detroit public schools; Frank W. lives at
home and is connected with the D. U. R. ; Mary M. is the wife of Charles
L. Major, who is associated with the Eastman Kodak Company, of Roch
ester, New York; Charles R. lives at home and is connected with the
Globe Tobacco Works.
Olney B. Cook. Among the fine old pioneer citizens of Detroit,
Michigan, Olney Ballou Cook holds prestige as one whose loyalty and
public spirit have ever been of the most insistent order. Although he
has now attained to the venerable age of seventy-four years, he is still
alert and active, a great deal of his attention being devoted to the gen
eral management of his large wholesale merchandise business. He is
descended from a fine old Colonial family, the original representative of
the name in America having been Walter Cook, who immigrated from
England to Massachusetts in 1643, settling first at Weymouth and later
at Mendon. The author of the genealogy of the Ballou family speaks of
Walter Cook as head of one of the three most prominent families in
Mendon, Massachusetts. Walter Cook was twice married, his first wife
having been Experience Holbrook and his second wife Catherine Ballou.
The latter was the maternal ancestor of the subject of this review. In
line of direct descent from Walter Cook to Olney B. Cook were Nicholas,
Daniel, Daniel, Jr., Thaddeus and Fenner, he whose name initiates this
review being a member of the seventh generation of the name of Cook in
America. All of the abovementioned ancestors were reared and lived
in the vicinity of Mendon, Massachusetts.
Mr. Cook through his grandmother, Rhoda Ballou, was related to
the late President James A. Garfield, their mothers being daughters of
the well known Ballou brothers of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and on
the paternal side was a cousin of the late General Cyrus B. Comstock.
Mr. Cook's paternal ancestor, Daniel Cook, fought on the side of the Col
onists in the Revolutionary War. In the Civil War Mr. Cook's brother
William gave up his life for the Union. A much prized relic in Mr.
Cook's possession is the Cook Coat-of-Arms, brought to this country
from England by his ancestor, Walter Cook, in the seventeenth century.
Nicholas Cook, the brother of Daniel, who was Mr. Cook's ancestor, was
Governor of Rhode Island immediately after the Revolutionary War.
Fenner Cook, father of Olney B., was born on the 7th of October,
1799, the place of his nativity having been Bellingham township, Nor
folk county, Massachusetts. He married Miss Miranda Thayer, born in
the same place in 1801. Fenner Cook was a farmer by occupation and he
figured prominently in public affairs in the old Bay state, having been at
one time state representative from Norfolk county. Miranda Thayer
was a daughter of Ebenezer Thayer and a sister of Alanson Thayer, a
well known manufacturer of cotton cloth at Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
Mr. and Mrs. Cook were Universalists in their religious faith and they
took an active part in all philanthropical projects carried forward in
their home community. They were the parents of ten children, three of
whom are living at the present time, in 1911.

894 * HISTORY 0? DETROIT
In the district schools of his native place Olney B. Cook received his
preliminary educational training and that discipline was later supple
mented by a course of study in a private school for boys, the same hav
ing been located at Westminster, Vermont. In 1857, at the age of
twenty years, he severed the ties which bound him to home and came
with an uncle, Colonel Levi Cook, to Detroit. Colonel Cook was thrice
elected mayor of Detroit and during his life time held as many as twenty
important offices of public trust and responsibility in this section of the
state. Shortly after his arrival in this city Olney B. Cook became in
terested in the general merchandise business, eventually establishing a
wholesale mercantile concern, the same being still known and conducted
under the firm name of 0. B. Cook & Company. Through persistency
and a fixed determination to forge ahead Mr. Cook has succeeded in
building up a fine business enterprise and he holds prestige as one of the
foremost pioneer business men of Detroit, where he has resided for over
half a century. Politically he holds to the tenets of protection of our
own industries, but in local affairs believes that the man best qualified
for the position should have it. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with
the time-honored Masonic Order and with the "Old Club" at St. Clair
Flats, of which latter organization he has been a valued and appre
ciative member since the time of organization. He is a fine old man and
his life history is certainly worthy of commendation and emulation, for
along honorable and straightforward lines he has won the success which
crowns his efforts and which makes him one of the substantial residents
of Detroit. In this city, on the 15th of August, 1866, Mr. Cook was united in
marriage to Miss Vashti W. Goldsmith, whose father, Professor James
H. Goldsmith, was the founder of the Goldsmith, Bryant, & Strattoh
Business- College, the predecessor of the present Detroit Business Univer
sity. Mrs. Cook!s great-grandmother on the maternal side was a Den-
niston, sister of Elizabeth Denniston, who was the mother of Charles
Clinton and Governor George Clinton, of New York. Mrs. Cook's
grandfather on the paternal side was the brother of Mrs. Belknap, the
mother of General William Belknap. Concerning the four children
born to Mr. and Mrs. Cook the two eldest are deceased. Of the two liv
ing Charles G. Cook was graduated in the literary and law departments
of the University of Michigan and he is now a prominent attorney in the
city of Detroit, James Clifton Cook, the other .surviving son, was
graduated in the Detroit high school and in the Detroit Business Uni
versity. He is now associated with his father in business and is a fine
representative of the younger generation of progressive business men
in this city. Both sons are married, the former having wedded Mary
Josephine LaDore, of Walkerville, Ontario, Canada, and the latter
having married Marie Madgeline Oldswager, of Flint, Michigan. In
religion Mrs. Cook follows the belief of her ancestors, who were faithful
adherents of John Calvin. Mr. Cook is more liberal in his views, be
lieving in the doctrines of the Universalist Church. They are popular
and prominent citizens and are deeply beloved by all with whom they
have come in contact.
, Frank J. Towar. In any line of business enterprise it is a matter
of the keenest gratification to realize that one's own concern is the best
of its kind in the entire countryside. It mayi be stated without any fear
of contradiction that the Towar 's Wayne County Creamery, located at
73-75-77 Bagley avenue, holds prestige as the finest creamery in Detroit,
where it was established in 1868 by the father of him to whom this
sketch is dedicated. Frank J. Towar is a man of unusual executive

HISTORY OF DETROIT 895
ability and as a citizen his loyalty and public spirit have ever been of
the most insistent order.
A native of Tilsonburg, province of Ontario, Canada, Frank J. Towar
was born- on the 4th of November, 1852, and he is a son of George W.
and Hannah (Mathews) Towar, the former of whom is deceased and the
latter of whom is now living, at the patriarchal age of ninety-nine years,
m the city of Detroit. George W. Towar was born in Wayne county,
New York, in the year 1810, and he was summoned to the life eternal at
his home at No. 81 Ledyard avenue, this city, on the 6th of June, 1895,
at the venerable age of eighty-five years. His father was a promi
nent business man and one of the early settlers in Wayne county, New
York, where he passed the declining years of his life. At the time of his
marriage, in 1832, George W. Towar was engaged in the milling business
in his native state and in 1860 he removed, with his family, to Detroit.
Here he established the Wayne County Creamery in 1868, this concern
being now conducted by the subject of this review. Of the nine children
born to Mr. and Mrs. George W. Towar but four are living at the present
time, namely, — George W., of Detroit; Edgar H, of New York; Albert,
now a colonel in the United States army ; and Frank J., the immediate
subject of this sketch.
Frank J. Towar was a child of but eight years of age at the time
of his parents' removal to Detroit, where he was reared to maturity and
where he was graduated in the Detroit high school as a member of the
class of 1872, the school being then located in front of the Griswold
House. As a youth Mr. Towar began to work, in the capacity of clerk,
for the Hull Brothers grocery and meat concern and was also one year
in the United States Lake Survey. Two years later, in 1874, he entered
the employ of his father, in the latter 's creamery, and he has continued
to be interested in this line of enterprise during the long intervening
years to the present time. In the early days Mr. Towar 's brother George
was also connected with the Wayne County Creamery. 'Since 1906, how
ever, Frank J. Towar has controlled the business individually. The fine
business block occupied by the creamery, at 73-5-7 Bagley avenue, .was
built in 1887 by the father, Frank J. and George Towar but it is now
in the possession of the aged mother. During the year 1910 business
amounting to some nine hundred thousand dollars was handled by the
Company, the same comprising chiefly butter, milk and cream put on
the market in retail and wholesale quantities. Some twenty thousand
pounds of butter are handled weekly and in addition to the main plant
a branch creamery is conducted on North Woodward avenue. A specialty
is made of certified milk, which is prepared and bottled specially for the
the use of infants. Every possible precaution is taken in the barns and
milk houses of the Wayne County Creamery to promote cleanliness and
the best sanitary conditions. For nearly two score years the concern has
been in business in Detroit as purveyors of milk, and the splendid busi
ness now controlled is entirely the result of fair and straightforward
dealings. At Detroit on the 15th of February, 1882, Mr. Towar was united in
marriage to Miss May LaRose Jelly, a native of Pontiac, Michigan, and
a daughter of Richard and Jane (Duncan) Jelly, both of whom are
now deceased. Mrs. Towar was educated in Professor J. M. B. Sill's
Academy of this city and she is a woman of most gracious personality,
her innate kindliness of spirit making her popular with all classes of
people. Mr. and Mrs. Towar are the parents of six children, concerning
whom the following brief data are here incorporated, — Edgar T. is vice-
president of the Wayne County Creamery Company ; Edith is the wife of
Walter L. Hill, of Detroit; Margaret remains at home, as does also

896 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Albert J., who is manager of the north branch store on Woodward
avenue ; and Frank J., Jr., and Marion, are both in school. The two
daughters were graduated in the Leggett School and the two eldest sons
were graduated in the Detroit high school. The family home is main
tained in a beautiful residence at 54 Ferry avenue, East.
In politics Mr. Towar accords an uncompromising allegiance to the
principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor,
and while he is not an active participant in public affairs he gives freely
of his aid and influence in support of all matters projected for pro
gress and development. He is a valued member of the Detroit Board of
Commerce and in a social way is affiliated with the Country Club. In
their religious faith the family are devout members of the Westminster
Presbyterian church of Detroit.
Christopher Richards Mabley. When Detroit named Christopher
Richards Mabley "The Merchant Prince", it named him well. He
was the first man to start a department store in Detroit, and the name
of his institution soon became a household word among the people of the
city and neighboring towns. For many miles Mabley 's store was a
familiar sound to the ear and it was because he gave value received for
the money he took in and dealt fairly with every one. English by birth
and parentage, the son of William and Mary Mabley, he was born at St.
Columb, Cornwall, England, February 22, 1836. When about twelve
years old he came across the ocean with his parents and with them located
at Toronto, Canada, where the elder Mabley was a silk merchant. C. R.
Mabley received his education in the schools of Toronto. Going to Mil
waukee, he engaged in the dry goods business with his brother-in-law,
John Bell. Fire swept their business from the face of the earth, the
stock being a total loss upon which there was no insurance. This natural
ly was a heavy blow to the young man. Not, however, disheartened by
the disaster, he came to Michigan and located at Pontiac where he started
a clothing store in a very small way. He had but little in the way of
furniture and no money, and as the rents were very high he was com
pelled to lease a house supposed to be haunted, because the rent was
within his reach. After seven years at Pontiac where he made and saved
some money, he came to Detroit, leaving his store in Pontiac in charge
of his brother. He sought a location in the City of the Straits near the
old Russell House, and found he could get a storeroom at 126 Woodward
avenue. His friends advised against this as there had been three failures
at that place. Not at all worried by this supposed hoo-do, he rented the
place, started a men's special clothing store and advertised it as "The
Hoo-do Store," even making capital qut of the circumstance of its
former misfortunes, for the idea made a hit and trade fairly flowed in.
He then bought the first full page advertisement ever run in the De
troit Free Press. When he sent in his copy the paper at first refused to
accept it as it had been the custom to have the advertisements in a column
with a line between each. His copy ran quite across the page. There
was a sharp controversy, he claiming that he had bought the page and
the Free Press taking issue. Mr. Mabley claimed that he had bought the
page and that he could make of it whatever disposition he saw fit. After
much discussion, during which he enjoyed a great deal of free advertis
ing, the paper ran the advertisement as he had written it and as he de
sired it to appear. It brought great results. After two years he took
the room on both sides of his original store and materially increased his
business, adding a room once a year until he had control of the entire
block. In the meantime he had taken a store across the street known as
the Hog Block. This he tore down- and built a block of his' own By

Fig i? r <; w/ms ^ jSfc- .Afy

HISTORY OF DETROIT 897
this time he had about a dozen store rooms, six on each side of the street,
and he started a general department store, in which he sold everything
imaginable. This was the first department store in Detroit. He then
established stores at Flint, Michigan, Toledo, Cleveland and Cincinnati,
Ohio, but always retained his old store at 126 Woodward avenue, the
point at which he built up his splendid reputation as a merchant prince.
A number of these stores are known to this day as Mabley 's.
Mr. Mabley was a man of strong and interesting personality. The
word "Fail" was not contained in his lexicon. If any one said to him,
' ' Mr. Mabley, this thing is impossible, ' ' he immediately insisted that the
impossible should be done and it usually was. He had a great heart,
whose sympathies were ever extended to those less fortunate than him
self. One of the finest of many fine acts was his advertising in dull sea
sons, when all other stores were dismissing their clerks, for more em
ployes, and thus keeping many families from want. '
Mr. Mabley was a Mason of high rank and he delighted in out-door
life, belonging to the old Detroit Boat Club and the St. Clair Fishing
Club. In politics he was a Democrat, but was very broad in his views,
voting for the best man regardless of party affiliations. He would never
accept public office, although several times approached with a request
to accept the nomination ' for mayor. He was a valued member of the
Universalist church. The demise of this prominent and fine man
occurred June 30, 1885, and his remains are interred at Pontiac. His
widow survives, making her residence in the city of New York.
Mr. and Mrs. Mabley were the parents of six children. Catherine
Ellenor became the wife of Sidney Corbett, deceased; Helena married
George Granger, deceased ; Maude married Marshal Knight, of New York ;
Edith married Proctor Smith, of Yonkers, New York; Alice married
George Post, of Mt. Vernon, New York ; and C. R. is living Jn New York
City. Sidney Corbett, who married the eldest of Mr. Mabley 's daughters,
was born in Indiana, attended school there and became a prominent news
paper writer on the Chicago Tribune. He came to Detroit in 1887 and
was with the Detroit Free Press and later started a paper for himself,
known as the Critic. Later he engaged in the stock brokerage business
which he followed up to the time of his death, May 19, 1901. At the
time of his demise he was thirty-seven years of age. He was buried at
Woodlawn cemetery. Mr. Corbett was very fond of his home and his
books, always spending his evenings in his own home. He was a great
lover of sport, especially of hunting, thinking the world of his dogs. His
father was an Episcopal minister. Sidney Corbett's marriage to Miss
Mabley occurred May 27, 1890, and they had two children, both of whom
live at home with their mother. His widow after his death removed
from their old home on Ferry avenue and built a handsome terrace on
Champlain street, where she now lives with her children, Sidney Cor
bett III, (the father was Sidney Corbett, Jr.) and Christopher M.
Edward J. Hickey. The study of the career of a self-made man
is always interesting to the biographist or student of human nature.
The persistency and industry which finally terminate in success offer
lesson and incentive to the younger generation and are worthy of admi
ration in every connection. On the 15th of March, 1911, was celebrated
the tenth anniversary of the corporation known as the E. J. Hickey
Company, the same representing one of the largest and most prosperous
mercantile concerns in Detroit.
Edward J. Hickey was born in the city of Detroit, Michigan, on the
18th of November, 1863, and he is a son of Patrick B. and Mary (Ready)

HISTORY OF DETROIT
Hickey, both of whom are now deceased. In the public schools of
Detroit he received his preliminary educational training and in 1873,
when a lad of but ten years of age, he began his active career as a cash
boy in the dry-goods store of George Peck. Subsequently he was in the
employ of C. R. Mabley, a clothing concern, and in 1877 he began to
work for J. L. Hudson, of Detroit. In 1881 he was made general man
ager of the Hudson business, remaining in the employ of Mr. Hudson for
a period of twenty-four years. On the 15th of March, 1901, however, he
decided to launch out into the business world on his own account and at
that time commenced operations as a merchant in a little store at No. 201
Woodward avenue, this city. With the passage of time his business
increased so rapidly that he was kept constantly on the alert enlarging
store rooms. In 1909 he erected a five-story building, whose lateral
dimensions are forty by one hundred feet, the same being specially
designed and equipped for his particular line of enterprise. Even now,
only two years later, he is planning for more commodious quarters.
In 1909 the business was incorporated under the laws of the state with
a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars and those who are finan
cially interested in the concern are E. J. Hickey, E. Wolf el, J. W.
Bolger and M. J. Keveney. Men's clothing and furnishings and boys'
and girls' wearing apparel are the specialties that are handled.
Concerning the admirable success in life achieved by Mr. Hickey,
the following paragraph is here inserted, the same having appeared in
the Detroit Times, under date of March 15, 1911.
"Mr. Hickey when asked what in his opinion most contributed to
his success was prompt" to say: 'The training I received under J. L.
Hudson, and the longer I live the more and more I appreciate that fact.
The detail, knowledge and business methods thus acquired, and carried
out here, have been all important. Then, of course, we have always
made it our special effort to handle only goods of quality. I do not
mean by that only high-price, costly garments, but merchandise of in
trinsic value and merit, that we could safely guarantee to give satisfaction
when put to the test of personal service. The growth of our business,
the fact that our old customers continue with us, and that new ones are
constantly being added to our list of patrons, encourages us in the
belief that our vigorous efforts in this respect have been successful.
There is no foundation on which to build a business equal to a pleased
customer. Reliable, trustworthy, up-to-date merchandise, at honest,
steady prices, appeals to intelligent, discriminating purchasers, makes
for a stable, desirable business and creates a good will of commercial
value. So-called special sales of merchandise made or sold for such
purposes and "Hurrah" advertising methods, are never indulged in
here. It would be detrimental to our business. I know some businesses
seem to prosper when such methods control, but you will find that their
average life is short. Such gains are but temporary, there is no stability
or inherent strength in a business so conducted. It is built on a founda
tion of sand and the first move of commercial depression sees a sudden
and complete change.' "
At Detroit, in the year 1890, was celebrated the marriage of Mr.
Hickey to Miss Mary L. Mehling, a native of this city and a daughter
of Frederick Mehling. Mr. and Mrs. Hickey have four children : Joseph
S., Edward J., Jr., Helen and Frederick. In their religious faith Mr.
and Mrs. Hickey are devout communicants of the Catholic church, in the
different departments of whose work they are most ardent workers. In
a fraternal way he is connected with the Knights of Columbus and in
politics he is a liberal Democrat. In connection with his business in
terests he is a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 899
William Albert Harper, M. D., one of Detroit's rising young physi
cians, was born at Argentine, Genesee county, Michigan, on January 6,
1877, the son of William Harper, M. D., who was born at Norwalk, Ohio,
and who graduated from the medical department of the University of
Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1868, with the degree of M. D., and in 1869
was graduated from Rush Medical College*of Chicago. The elder Doctor
Harper practiced medicine at Argentine from the time of his graduation
until 1886, then practiced medicine at Madison, Michigan, until 1895,
since which time he has been practicing his profession at Byron, Michigan.
The mother of young Doctor Harper was Leah Grace, who was born in
Erenton, Michigan. She is now deceased.
Dr. William Albert Harper attended the public schools of Howell,
Michigan, after which he entered the Michigan College of Medicine and
Surgery in the fall of 1895, graduating therefrom with the class of '99,
with the degree of M. D. He then took a two years' course at the Post
Graduate College at Chicago. He entered the practice of medicine in
Shiawassee county, Michigan, in 1899 and came to Detroit in 1906,
locating at 621 Dix avenue, where he has built up a lucrative practice.
He is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society, the Michigan
State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is also
a member of Owosso Lodge, No. 88, F. & A. M., the Michigan Sovereign
Consistory, Scottish Rite Masons, also of Riverside Lodge, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows. Dr. Harper married, March 13, 1901, Miss Car
rie Fisher, who was born at Byron, Michigan, the daughter of Eleazer
Fisher. They have one daughter, Willabelle, aged seven years.
Christopher Campbell, M. D. Among the number of diligent and
faithful practitioners of medicine in Detroit none stand more deservedly
high than Dr. Christopher' Campbell. The people of Detroit have had
the benefit of his intelligent and conscientious labors for more than twenty
years, he having located among them as a practitioner in 1891, after com
pleting his professional education. He was born near St. Thomas, in
county Elgin, Ontario, Canada, December 6, 1866, and is a son of James
and Veda (Buchanan) Campbell, the former a native of Aberdeenshire.
Scotland, and the latter of near St. Thomas, Canada. The mother passed
away in 1904, at the age of seventy-one years, and her husband, who was
a farmer by occupation, followed her to the grave in March, 1908, when
he was eighty-seven years old.
Dr. Christopher Campbell attended the public schools of his native
vicinity and subsequently supplemented this preparation by attendance
at the St. Thomas Collegiate Institute, spending three years there. He
then entered the medical department of the University of London, Can
ada, where he continued one year, following which he became a student
in the Detroit College of Medicine. He was graduated with the degree of
M. D. in the class of 1891, and for one year remained in the office of Dr.
James Campbell, on Twelfth street, one of the city's oldest practitioners.
He then engaged in the general practice of medicine at No. 404 Baker
street, continuing there until 1901 and then erecting his present hand
some brick residence at No. 318 West Grand Boulevard, where he has
since maintained his offices. He is a member of the Wayne County Med
ical Society, the Michigan State Medical Society and the American Med
ical Association, and is medical examiner for the Detroit branch of the
Illinois Commercial Men's Association, the Western Travelers Associa
tion, the Inter-State Business Men's Association, Star Council of the
Royal Arcanum and the Physician's Casualty Association.
Dr. Campbell was married, August 10, 1886, to Miss Nellie Alice
McElroy, of Detroit, daughter of Martin McElroy, and six children have

900 HISTORY OF DETROIT
been born to this union, of whom four survive : James M., Helen C,
Martha L. and Margaret A. Devoted to the noble and humane work which
his profession implies, Dr. Campbell has proved a faithful exemplar of
the healing art. His understanding of the science of medicine is broad
and comprehensive and the profession and public accord him an honored
place among the medical practitioners of Detroit.
Byron F. Everitt. Among the interesting achievements of prom
inent men chronicled in this work none are more so than that of the
career of Byron F. Everitt, president of the Everitt Motor Car Com
pany, which manufactures the well known automobiles which bear his
name. Mr. Everitt was born at Ridgetown, Ontario, May 3, 1872, and spent
most of his childhood in this little Canadian place, during which time
he attended the schools there. Thirty years ago the provinces of Canada
were just beginning that era of great prosperity and progress which has
proved so remarkable, and the manufacture of wagons and carriages was
one of the greatest industries in the Dominion. Chatham was one of
the places most prominent in this business, and at a comparatively early
age young Everitt left school and home and started for himself in the
world. Going, to Chatham, he entered the service of William Gray &
Son, one of the best known carriage firms of that period and learned the
trade thoroughly. During his apprenticeship he exhibited that close at
tention to detail and intelligent observation which has characterized his
whole career. He rose rapidly from one position to another and when,
a few years later he left Chatham to try his luck in the United States,
he was credited with being one of the best men William Gray & Son
had in their employ. ¦
Detroit was then, as now, the meeca to which country boys turned
their faces, and Mr. Everitt found himself well placed with Hugh John
son, a carriage builder at the corner of Larned and Cass streets. As in
Chatham, the ability and steadiness of the young man won for him speedy
recognition, and he acquired the reputation of a highly skilled and capa
ble workman. The C. R. and J. C. Wilson Carriage Company was then
coming strongly to the front and the ability of the young Canadian car
riage builder being brought to their attention, an attractive offer was
made him which he accepted, and in less than two years after coming to
Detroit he was placed in charge of the trimming and finishing depart
ment of the Wilson establishment, with complete authority over a large
force of men and responsible for many of the most important details of
the business.
With his increasing prosperity he believed the time had come to
provide a home of his own, and on November 28, 1896, he found a faith
ful wife and partner in Miss Donna Shinnick, whose unfailing' interest
m his welfare, good judgment and capable advice have had much to do
with his later success in life.
After remaining with the Wilson Carriage Company for a number
of years Mr. Everitt arranged to go into business for himself As the
success of anything he determined to go into, to which he would bring
his mechanical skill and experience, was deemed certain, capital was
?Uii iyiS8eQCQUre^-++1ThuS Jt ,Was that he Ranched out for himself in the '
tall of 1899 a little over thirteen years ago. His first business venture
was the establishment of a shop under his own name at the corner of
Brush and Woodbridge streets, where he handled all kinds of carriage
trimmings and similar manufacturing materials. Several inventors!
among whom were such men as Olds, Ford and Winton, were conduct
ing experiments with a view of evolving a horseless carriage that would

HISTORY OF DETROIT 901
be practical and prove a commercial success. Mr. Everitt was one of the
few persons who at that time believed there might be a future for a
vehicle of this character, and he watched these experiments with keen
interest and with a growing confidence of a bright future for such an
industry. Naturally it was to him, a skilled carriage builder, that R. E.
Olds in those early days went to have made the first automobile body
built in Detroit. The turning out of this was satisfactory and is what
started the Oldsmobile Works in actual business. It is a flattering com
mentary on Mr. Everitt 's skill to state that as long as the Oldsmobile
factory was located in Detroit, Mr. Everitt made, all of the bodies used
by that company.
About that time Henry Ford started the manufacture of automobiles,
and as Mr. Everitt returned to the manufacture of trimmings and finish
ings for automobile bodies, his shop was the source of supply for the Ford
Company's bodies. With the growth of this industry in a remarkably
short space of time, Mr. Everitt having the only plant with facilities
for work of this character, his business spread to amazing proportions
and he was compelled to seek larger quarters. This resulted in the lease
of the property at 77-79 Brush street, and later to the securing of the
property at 63 and 65 East Fort street. Still more room was soon re
quired and two years later a new plant was built for what was then
known as the Everitt Trimming Business at Clay avenue and the Grand
Trunk Railroad ; the new factory bad a capacity of trimming and finish
ing one hundred automobile bodies a day.
Watching as he did the automobile development, Mr. Everitt realized
there was a splendid field for manufacture of these vehicles, and he be
came interested in the Wayne Automobile Company, having as asso*
ciates such prominent men as Roger J. Sullivan, William Kelly, Dr.
Book and Charles Palms. He soon became a leader in his new field of
enterprise, and it was not long before he was elected president and gen
eral manager of the Wayne Company, which, like many others of the
same period, designed and assembled their cars, having their parts
largely built outside of their own factory.
At this early period of the industry Mr. Everitt saw there would be
a tremendous demand for a medium priced car and took hold of the
Wayne Company with a view of later re-organizing and providing for
the output of a large number of popular priced cars. Shortly after his
election to the presidency of the Wayne Company, he became associated
with William E. Metzger, a prominent figure in the automobile world,
and who for a number of years had been to the front in the bicycle busi
ness. Mr. Metzger brought into Detroit the first electric car ever seen
in the city, and was one of the founders of the Cadillac Automobile Com
pany. He later established the Northern Automobile Company, this
latter company eventually being merged with the Wayne into the E-M-F,
these letters standing respectively for Messrs. Everitt, Metzger and
Flanders. The E-M-F Company was a success from the start, being one
of the first concerns to manufacture successfully a medium priced, full-
sized car. A year later the Studebaker Manufacturing Company of
South Bend, Indiana, was desirous of adding to its interests a success
ful automobile concern manufacturing cars which would appeal to the
popular taste and purse. After careful investigation of the E-M-F prop
erties an attractive offer was made for the interests of Messrs. Everitt,
Metzger and Flanders. This was accepted, it being Mr. Everitt 's inten
tion at that time to retire from active business. It was, however, impos
sible for a man of his youth, energy and fine business attainments to re
main long- away from a business so rapidly developing as the automobile
industry, and soon after the sale of the E-M-F to the Studebakers, he,

902 HISTORY OF DETROIT
with Messrs. Metzger and Kelly, organized a new company under the
name of the Metzger Motor Car Company, with Mr. Everitt occupying
the same position as with the E-M-F, namely, president and general
manager. Later Mr. Flanders separated from the Studebaker company
and became associated with Everitt & Metzger, this again bringing
together the original members of the E-M-F combination. The new
company became known as the Flanders Car Company, Mr. B. F. Everitt
being president and general manager as formerly. The Jacob Maier
Trunk Factory at Milwaukee avenue and the Grand Trunk Railway
was immediately purchased and a force of experts employed to equip
the establishment with all the latest automatic tools and other modern
appliances for the manufacture of automobiles. It was the opinion of
Mr. Everitt and his associates that only by manufacturing a high grade
car complete in one factory by automatic machinery and under personal
supervision could a ear of the desired quality be produced.
As soon as it became known that such men as Kelly, Everitt, Metz
ger and Flanders were behind the new enterprise, orders for their cars
began to pour in from agents all, over the country. It was a great temp
tation for the company to fill these orders with " assembled " cars as other
factories were doing. This could have been done with far less initial ex
pense, but it had been decided from the start that the new "Everitt"
cars were to be manufactured all in one factory with the best of modern
appliances, from materials made under the personal supervision of offic
ers of this company, and an attempt made to build the best medium
priced ears in the market. The result of this policy was that more than
one million dollars was expended in the equipment of the present Metz
ger factory. The work of factory organization and equipment occupied
nearly a whole year, and the product of the company for 1910 was neces
sarily somewhat limited. A sales organization has now been perfected
and the product of the factory is being sought as it never was before.
A man of the most conscientious rectitude, a citizen of public spirit,
energetic, magnetic, broad minded, charitable and of charming manners,
Mr. Everitt stands high in the estimation of his business associates and of
the citizens of Detroit generally. His career is an inspiration for young
men and demonstrates that where there is a will there is a way, and that
a man who has it in him can rise to prominence through his own ability
and energy. '
Edward Louis Brandt, M. D. Although he is yet a young man, the
standing of Edward Louis Brandt is high in the medical profession and
in the good opinion of the people of Detroit. When he first engaged in
practice in 1908, at his present offices and home, No. 166 Twenty-third
street, he was accepted by the citizens. as a young man of great promise
and capacity ; skillful and careful in his business, and of sterling worth
as a citizen. His affability and obliging disposition gained him friends
rapidly and his practice has become large and lucrative. Dr. Brandt
was born at Wyandotte, Michigan, August 13, 1883, and is a son of John
and Anna (Helton) Brandt, both natives of Michigan, the family settling
in Detroit in 1902.
Dr. Brandt acquired his education in the public schools, and graduated
from the Wyandotte high school in 1901. Between that year and 1904
he acted as axle inspector for the American Car and Foundry Company,
and in the later year entered the Detroit Medical College, having decided
to enter the profession. In the class of 1908 he was graduated there with
the degree of M. D., having served during his senior year as an externe for
St. Mary's Hospital. On completing his studies Dr. Brandt .settled at
his present location and is now doing an excellent business. He is a val-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 903
ued member of the Wayne County Medical Society, the Michigan State
Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and holds mem
bership also in the Alumni Association of the Detroit College of Medicine.
Dr. Brandt was married to Miss Cora Gendron, of Detroit, and they
are faithful members of the Roman Catholic church. Dr. Brandt has a
host of warm friends drawn to him by his engaging social qualities. His
future is full of promise professionally and otherwise, and he is contrib
uting essentially and substantially to the progress and development of
his adopted city.
Henry Clay Moore. Lumber in the early days was synonymous
with the word wealth, and was one of the most prominent factors in mak
ing the state famous and Detroit prosperous. The Saginaw Valley of
Michigan was the Mecca toward which ambitious young men turned their
faces, and those with energy reaped rich harvests. This was the case
with Henry Clay Moore, who, combining energy with great business abil
ity and strict integrity, won for himself a most enviable place in the
world of business and a warm place in the hearts of his friends, which
lasted up to the time of his death, in Denver, Colorado, May 9, 1902.
Of old New England stock, Mr. Moore was born at Bedford, New
Hampshire, in June, 1831, the son of Joseph and Nancy Moore. His
mother lived to be very old, but his father died before Henry reached
early youth. The young lad attended school at Bedford and at Man
chester, New Hampshire, where his mother moved after the death of her
husband. Mr. Moore spent his early life on a farm and when a young
man came to Michigan, where he had a half brother, Stephen Moore,
with whom he- engaged in the lumber business. He was later taken into
partnership and for a long time the firm conducted extensive lumbering
operations in the Saginaw Valley and at Bay City and Saginaw. In
1882 he came to Detroit and, following the same business under the name
of the Moore Lumber Company, extended the sphere of his operations
doing an immense business in lumber and shipping the material from
Canada as well as from northern Michigan.
Mr. Moore was a Republican in politics, and a respected member of
the Christ church at Detroit. He was married to Miss Amelia. Mack
Raymond, a daughter of Henry and Mary (Alvord) Raymond. Her
father was a pioneer settler of Michigan, living at Bay City for many
years. He later went to California, and then came to Detroit, where he
died. His first advent in Michigan was in 1829, coming from the state
of New York just after being married and he owned a fine farm near
Detroit, at what is now Grosse Isle. He later .'engaged in the lumber
business at Trenton, where he had a large saw mill. In 1850 he went
to Bay City in the lumber business. During the Civil war he was em
ployed by the government, having an office at Lansing, Michigan. When
he came to Detroit it took twenty-five days to get here from New York.
Upon his arrival at Detroit he stopped at the Mansion House, then the
finest hotel in Detroit, of which Colonel Mack was the proprietor. Many
of the best families of Detroit were fellow guests.
Detroit was very small at that time, as can be seen from the fact
that Colonel Mack's carriage, the first owned in Detroit, rarely went more
than four or five blocks without getting into the country. Mrs. Ray
mond desired to take a ride. In company with other ladies she started
out on Jefferson avenue, but soon came to the end of that street. Return
ing they drove out Woodward as far as to where the Pontchartrain
Hotel now stands, when thev were informed by the coachman they could
go no further, as they would be stalled.
Mr. Moore was married to Miss Raymond at Bay City, December 9,

904 HISTORY OF DETROIT
1863, and as the result of this union three children were born to them :
Henrietta Frances Raymond Moore and Mary Raymond and Katherine
Patten More, twins, now living at home. Mrs. Moore was born at
Grosse Isle and has lived in Michigan all her life. The family are mem
bers of St. Paul's church, and live in a handsome residence on Edmund
Place, which was built in 1887.
George Edwin Gillman. One of the most prominent business men
and loyal citizens of the Detroit of a generation just past was George
E. Gillman, whose demise occurred in this city, in which his interests
had so long been centered, on November 21, 1883. He was a native
of Ireland, his birth having occurred between Cork and Dublin, Decem
ber 16, 1833, and his parents being Edward and Ellen Gillman. He was
a gentleman's son, the families on both sides being of considerable prom
inence, and the connections being most distinguished. His mother was
a woman of great culture as well as charming personality and served as
private tutor in most of the old and prominent families of Detroit. Hav
ing it in her power materially to assist her children in the attainment
of a fine education, she made the most of this advantage. Mr. Gillman
received a thorough and well-advised educational discipline. There was
a large family of children, eleven in number, six of whom were sons and
five daughters. One of the subject's brothers, Henry Gillman, was a
distinguished citizen of the City of the Straits, being at different times
city librarian and United States consul to Jerusalem. One of the daugh
ters became the wife of that well-known citizen, Captain Joe Nicholson,
of the House of Correction. The name of Gillman is, in truth, one whose
identification with the annals of Detroit is at once edifying and inter
esting. When Mr. Gillman entered life as a wage-earner he was still a boy
and was employed in the old Russell House. In later years he became a
trader on the Great Lakes, working first for Mr. Copeland and subse
quently going into business for himself in Detroit. He was a very suc
cessful business man, his fine executive ability winning for him abundant
prosperity. In addition to his Detroit business, he was also interested
in gold and copper mines. He continued as an active factor in the
business world until his death, on November 21, 1883.
In his political conviction Mr. Gillman was a Democrat, giving heart '
and hand to the men and measures of that party from his earliest voting
days. He had, however, no ambitions in the line of office seeking. His
only fraternal association was with the Knights of Pythias, his principal
enjoyment being found at his own fireside. Business and home were, in
fact, the only institutions with which he greatly concerned himself. His
residence was maintained for many years at No. 9 Barkley Place, now
Farmer avenue. He attended the Presbyterian church, to which he gave
generous support.
Mr.- Gillman formed an ideally happy life companionship by his
union with Anna Victoria Borgne, daughter of Joseph A. and Caroline
Borgne, the latter of whom was born in Windsor, Canada, and the
former in France. Mr. Borgne was an educator and assisted in the edu
cation of many of the prominent men of Detroit. He lived in the city
for several years and his demise occurred here when Mrs. Gillman was
very young. His remains are interred at Mount Elliott. The date of the
marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Gilman was October 1, 1876, its solemnization
being in Detroit. The cherished and devoted widow has resided in this
city since she was one year old and is secure in the possession of hosts
of friends. She is one of the prominent lajlies of the city and is a con
siderable property owner. Her church membership is with the First

HISTORY OF DETROIT ' 905
Presbyterian church and her handsome residence is at 47 Montcalm ave
nue, East. There are no children.
Colonel Herman F. Kallman. A few years since Detroit lost from
her midst one of that limited group of men whose service directly and de
finitely and in no slight measure contributed to the preservation of the
coherence of this nation. This really rare distinction (despite the many
who here and there presume to claim it) added to superior ability as a
civil engineer makes well worth while a perusal of Colonel Kallman 's
life and his relation with affairs of significant moment.
In Diegnitz, Silesia, Herman F. Kallman was born on January 12,
1823. His early education was obtained from the public schools of that
place, his completion of this period of general development being marked
by his graduation from the gymnasium and subsequently a university
training fitted him for the profession of a civil engineer. While still a
young man he was appointed as engineer on railway construction work
in southern Germany. At the time of -the insurrection in the Palatinate
and Baden, young Kallman 's sympathies were logically and emphat
ically with the insurgents, and as an officer he was active in the struggle
for their cause. On the repression of the revolution he, like Carl Schurz
and Franz Sigel, was condemned to death. Like them, too, he succeeded
in escaping, and found a new home in a republic that had a welcome
and a future for him, both as a civil engineer and as a soldier.
"From the Fatherland, from all the German States," wrote the
Honorable Thomas C. Fletcher, in a tribute to Colonel Kallman and his
Teutonic confreres, which we note definitely below, "a few enterpris
ing men began coming to Missouri, away back in the thirties. They
were industrious, frugal and law-abiding. They found in the hills bor
dering the Mississippi and Missouri rivers the locations which reminded
them of the Fatherland, the rivers of the old country. The St. Louis
contingent of these estimable people continued to increase so that in
1860 the Germans in Missouri of German birth numbered 88,487. How
many of their descendants might -properly be added is a matter of con
jecture." Among these, then, was Herman Kallman, civil engineer and
sometime army officer. At railroad construction work he again prac
ticed his vocation. He was honored with the appointment to the posi
tion of chief engineer, and he served as superintendent of roads and
bridges on the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, from
which point of vantage his advance to one of considerably higher dis
tinction was easy to foresee. Then, mingling with his professional in
terests and presently taking precedence before them came his loyalty to
his adopted country.
The situation in Missouri in 1861 will be readily recalled by all those
who have been conversant therewith. The plans of the champions of
the Union to defeat the plottings of Claiborne Jackson, Missouri's seces
sionist governor; the minority of the Lincoln vote — of the number of
unconditional Unionists; the appeal of Blair and his associates to the
large number of men who were against both secession and coercion of
secessionists, — these elements are discussed in a comparatively recent
article of reminiscent comment in the Saint Louis Globe-Democrat.
"Franz Sigel and his element," says this editorial, "composed a large
ingredient of the Republican vote. Sigel and the great body of the
Germans were unconditional Unionists from the start. Knowing and
caring nothing about state sovereignty, they saw that their allegiance
was to the nation, and when the nation's life began to be menaced they
instantly sprang to its defence. They composed the bulk of the 'wide
awakes', or the marching campaign clubs of the Republican party dur-
voi. m— 5

906 ' HISTORY OF DETROIT
ing the canvass of 1860, and they kept up their organization in 1861,
got all the arms which they could find and stood ready from the outset to
defend the government, which they saw would soon be assailed. When
Blair holding up the hands of Lyon, organized his home guards, the
majority of those organizations were of Germans. These faithful and
gallant adopted Americans indulged in no metaphysics about what in
dividual delegates to the constitutional convention of 1787 imagined
they had founded when they created the United States, and gave not
the slightest thought as to what Jefferson or Madison aimed at in the
Kentucky and Virginia resolutions, respectively, of 1798. They saw
that the government under which they lived and to which they had
sworn allegiance was menaced and they went promptly and intrepidly
to its defence. In most of the regiments raised by Lyon and Blair for
defence of the Union previous to the capture of Camp Jackson the Ger
mans was largely in the predominance. The names of Sigel, Osterhaus,
Kallman, Stifel, Schuttner, Boernstein, Schaeffer, Hassendeubel and
others of their element were on the roll of the Officers of the Union from
the beginning of the war."
Thus it was that Kallman and his brother Germans played so prom
inent a part. As Hon. Thomas Fletcher-— who was no other than Mis
souri's war governor — puts it in the encomium of which the beginning
was quoted above relative to Kallman 's immigration: "Every man of
the German element at once stood upon the adamantine basis of his man
hood, setting aside all peoples and shores, and flung out the 'Stars and
Stripes' in the faces of the rebels who early began plotting treason, pre
paring to wrest Missouri from the Union. Captain Lyon came to me
with his little company, patriotic, glorious, brave Lyon, with Frank Blair
by his side. It was on 'the 20th of April, 1861, that the first regiment
was mustered in to uphold the national authority, and Blair was named
as the colonel. Then came the regiments under the following com
manders; Franz Sigel, Eberhard Solomon, Herman Kallman, John Mc
Neil, B. Gratz Brown, Charles F. Stifel, Robert Hundhausen, Julius
Hundhausen, Fred Schafer, J. F. Shepherd, P. Joseph Osterhaus, F.
Hassendeubel and others : fifteen regiments, all, or nearly all, Germans.
The rebel Governor 'Clail' Jackson was scheming to seize the arsenal at
St. Louis, where a large quantity of arms and ammunition was stored.
Jeff Davis had written Jackson on the importance of the capture, giv
ing him full details as to how to secure possession of it. In furtherance
of this scheme, Jackson had established a camp at St. Louis called Camp
Jackson, under the pretense that it was an encampment of the State
Guard for purposes of exercise and drill only. Lyon determined to cap
ture it and did so. I well recall the night. I knew the purpose of Lyon.
He had told me. The silence of the night was broken by the steady
march of the Germans to the place of rendezvous. It seemed to me as
the noise of the footfall of Destiny, as it rolled away into the night.
That was before daylight on the morning of the tenth of May.
' ' These Germans had been drilling secretly at night for more than a
month. They were naturally soldiers. Many of their officers had seen
service in the Old country as officers of the 'Brown Hussars ' (Germany) .
I afterward marched and camped with them and was struck with the
facility with which they adapted themselves to the march, the bivouac
and the camp." Prominent among the officers referred to was Herman
Kallman. He was one of the most ardent Unionists among the German
contingent. He was one whose military instincts had been earliest
aroused. He had seen at once that Missouri would be a storm center
early in the coming conflict. "When the Civil war broke out he was one
of the first to respond to the call of General Lyon and raised the second

HISTORY OF DETROIT 907
Missouri Regiment. This was mustered into the U. S. Service with Her
man Kallman as its colonel May 7, 1861." His was one of the first two
German regiments formed and one most thoroughly drilled. His skill
as a soldier-engineer was of especial value. His officership was superior
and his service in the struggle modestly, yet courageously given. Camp
Jackson was saved. ' ' St. Louis was saved, to Missouri, and Missouri saved
to the Union," adds ex-Governor Fletcher, "and thus the Union was
thereby saved ; for no man having knowledge of the situation can doubt
for a moment that if Missouri had seceded and the rebels had gotten
possession of the state, of St. Louis with its arsenals and stores, and its
facilities for transportation, the rebellion could never have been subdued,
and the great river would have marked the boundary between the
Southern Confederacy and the United States. Then, say I, all honor to
the Germans of Missouri for the noble part they bore in that trying crisis
of 1861." Kallman 's regiment was known as the Second Missouri and
served through the war with distinguished bravery.
Upon the re-establishment of peace, Colonel Kallman resumed his
profession. He assisted Henry Flad (during the Civil war colonel of
the Engineer-Regiment of Missouri and Eads ' First assistant) in the con
struction of the famous Eads bridge across the Mississippi at St. Louis.
Soon after this he was appointed to a position in the United States
Corps of Engineers. Among the responsibilities assigned to him as an
assistant in this government engineering service, was the improvement
of the waterways from Lake Erie to Lake Huron. His was the import
ant task of inspecting the contractor's materials. He supervised the
work at the Lime-Kiln Crossing at the head of Lake Erie, and also cer
tain portions of the construction of the St. Clair Ship Canal. He in
spected the stone which was furnished as material for the Weitzel Lock
at the "Soo," thereby earning the enmity of the contractors by reject
ing every block that was not absolutely flawless. But as a result of his
care the Weitzel Lock has been pronounced by one of Howard Gould's
lieutenants to be one of the most perfect pieces of masonry he had ever
seen. Colonel Kallman 's special engineering service to the city of Detroit
has been such as has called forth the gratification and pride of her citi
zens. During 1887-9 the Colonel supervised the erection of the bridge
connecting the city of Detroit with Belle Isle, and several years later
that of the beautiful iron ornamental bridges on the island itself. In
1897 Mayor Hazen S. Pingree appointed him commissioner of public
works of the city of Detroit and this continued until 1901, when the
Colonel's service in this capacity terminated as a result of the famous
"Ripper" bill, establishing boards of one man each. At that time
Herman Kallman, who had well earned his season of leisure, retired to
private life. Yet, though no longer officially a part of government enter
prises he was now and again asked to serve as consulting engineer both
for the government and for many large and important private enter
prises. A man who was widely known as one of the most able engineers
of the United States, it was but natural that he should be consulted by
people from all parts of the country. Colonel Kallman always took an
active interest in his comrades of the Civil war and he was a valued mem
ber of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States,
Commandery of the State of Michigan.
On May 10, 1900, Colonel Kallman was an honored guest at the an
nual exercises at Lyon Park, in St. Louis, at which the capture of Camp
Jackson was commemorated on the date of the thirty-ninth anniver
sary of that event. Special invitations were fittingly extended to the
only two surviving of the ten regimental commanders, General Franz

908 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Sigel and Colonel Kallman. Sigel was unable to attend and Colonel
Kallman was the only one present, and it is needless to say he was the
recipient of courtesy that was little short of reverence. General Sigel
died in 1902, his death eliciting among other tributes that of the editor
of the Daily Globe-Democrat, date and quotations from which have
been incorporated into this sketch. The last of the ten to leave the world
in which he had lived so efficiently, the adopted country he had served
so nobly, was Colonel Kallman.
On the evening of November 1, 1904, he passed quietly and painless
ly from this earthly bivouac, in the arms of his devoted wife and sur
rounded with the affection of a circle of friends almost limitless in extent,
he was silently mustered out of life's service. Germans, German- Amer
icans and Americans without a trace of German blood fraternally
united in regret for his going and in gratitude for the part he had played
in mundane achievement. Among the widespread recognition of his
service was the publication by the German Review of an article that
had been penned by war-governor Fletcher of Missouri. This eloquent
appreciation, published under the title, ' ' A Voice from the Grave : To
the Loyal the Laurel, ' ' has been quoted above in chronological sequence,
with its words of praise for Kallman and his brother Germans, every
one of whom the governor asserted to have been on the right side when
otherwise the dominant spirit was rebel in their community.
A splendid monument in Woodlawn cemetery, chosen by himself,
marks the last resting place of Colonel Kallman and is a fitting tribute
to his profession and character. A beautiful granite boulder of some
six tons in weight taken from the bed of the Detroit river on which Col
onel Kallman had spent much time and energy, rests upon the soil be
neath which had been laid the worn body that his brave spirit had guided
through so much worthy effort. All who see it are thus fitly reminded
that a noble share in the preserving of our national integrity and in the
directing and shaping of our natural resources was accomplished by Col
onel Herman F. Kallman.
Edward Orlando Avery. One of the most prominent representatives
of the lumber business in Michigan was the late Edward Orlando Avery,
whose demise occurred in Detroit, on October 25, 1899. Long identified
with this department of industry, he was familiar with every phase of
it and he was an admired and honored factor in its affairs. Although
eminently successful as a business man, he will doubtless be longest re
membered for that fine public spirit which made him ever on the alert
to advance the best interests of the community in which he lived, for the
was the ardent champion of all just and progressive measures. He was a
veteran of the Civil war, haying enlisted in September, 1864, when about
nineteen years of age, in Company H, of the Third Michigan Infantry,
and served until the close of the war, being mustered out in the south
at Victoria, Texas, May 25, 1866.
Edward Orlando Avery was born October 23, 1844, at Bradley,
Maine, the son of Newell Avery, a pioneer of the lumber business in
Michigan and a most prominent and influential citizen, a sketch of whose
life will be found on other pages of this work. The immediate subject
never resided in this city. His mother was Nancy C. (Eddy) Avery.
When three years of age Mr. Avery -was brought by his parents to this
state, they locating at Port Huron. In that city young Edward received
his education of a preliminary character and then matriculated in the
college at Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he was a student at the outbreak
of the war. Like other young men of his day and generation his early
years were clouded to a certain extent by the approaching great conflict,

HISTORY OF DETROIT 909
but his personal sympathies were warmly enlisted with the cause of the
preservation of the integrity of the Union. At the close of the war Mr.
Avery returned to Port Huron and soon thereafter, in an effort to again
come into touch with civil affairs, he went to Chicago, where his father
had established a large lumber yard, and began a systematic study of
the details of the lumber business. He soon became both proficient and
interested and some two years later he went to Alpena, Michigan, where
he engaged in the lumber business with his father and Mr. C. W. Rich
ardson, the firm being known under the caption of Richardson, Avery &
Company. He continued in the line in which he had so early embarked
throughout the remainder of his life and his success was of the most
noteworthy sort. In addition to his operations in lumber which were of
broad scope and importance, he was also interested in farming property
and owned two fine farms near Alpena. He never resided in the country,
but engaged personally in the management of their affairs, in which he
found great pleasure and relaxation. He was assuredly one of the build
ers of Alpena, and was an able exponent of the progressive spirit and
strong initiative which have caused that city to forge so rapidly for
ward as an industrial and commercial center. In short he did much
to further the material and civic development and upbuilding of the
city in which he elected to establish his home and in which he achieved
success of distinctive and worthy order.
Mr. Avery was a prominent Mason and exemplified in his own life
those ideals of moral and social -justice and brotherly love for which the
order stands. He was a Knight Templar and had attained to the Thirty-
third degree. In his political faith he was aligned with the Republican
party and he took an active interest in politics, although personally he
was not in the least attracted by the honors and emoluments of office.
He was sent as a delegate to the National Republican Convention at
Chicago. Mr. Avery was a member and trustee of the Congregational
church and he took great interest in the campaigns for good of the church
body. The demise of this estimable gentleman occurred in the city of
Detroit, at the home of his mother, Mrs. Nancy C. (Eddy) Avery, and his
remains were interred at Woodmere Cemetery.
He whose name inaugurates this review was happily married on Sep
tember 14, 1869, at Port Huron, his chosen lady being Flora Hunting
ton,' daughter of F. W. and Susan M. (Kingsbury) Huntington, both
natives of the state of New York. The father was for many years a,
prominent druggist of Port Huron. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Avery
was born one daughter, Ruth H., who became the wife of H. K. Gustin,
an attorney of Alpena, and who died at the age of twenty-five years.
The widow of Edward 0. Avery, a lady of rare attainements and high
character, has made her home in this city since 1906.
James Wallace. Among the fine flower of Detroit's citizenship in
the generation just past a conspicuous place was occupied by James Wal
lace, who resided here from the year 1863 until the time of his demise on
July 25, 1885. The passing of the years has not served to obliterate
the memory of this good man, or the beneficent influence of his deeds
and character. He was an able business man, as well as one of eminent
philanthropy and public spirit, and during his residence in the City of
the Straits was identified with the Lake Huron Stone Company as the
head of this great concern. He was particularly active in church and
Sunday school work and a monument to his memory is Wallace College
and Theological Seminary at Berea, which he aided in founding and
which bears his name.
James Wallace was born in Ireland, county of Leitrim, Ballinamore,
on April 9, 1821, the son of John and Jane Wallace. He spent his youth

910 HISTORY OF DETROIT
in his native land, there receiving his education and when quite young
had the misfortune to lose his mother by death. Being able and ambi
tious, the wider opportunity and greater advantages of the New World
appealed strongly to him and at the age of twenty-five years he severed
old associations and crossed the Atlantic to claim his share of the benefits
of America so freely offered to her adopted sons. He was accompanied
by his father and brothers and sisters. Mr. Wallace located first in New
York state, but resided there but a short time, then going on to Berea,
near Cleveland, Ohio, where he embarked in the stone business and
proved eminently successful. He became the possessor of an ample for
tune, which he put to good uses, and he soon assumed a position as one
of the most prominent men of Berea. He was active in church and
Sunday school work, belonging to the Methodist Episcopal church and
for a long time being superintendent of the Sunday school. The atmo
sphere of that interesting college town was indeed congenial to him and,
as before mentioned, his bounty enabled to be built the college and
theological seminary there. And now, although a quarter of a century
has elapsed since he journeyed to the Undiscovered Country, his name
is hallowed and revered in Berea.
In the spring of 1863 Mr. Wallace, realizing that a field of much more
extended opportunity in a business way was presented by this city, re
moved here and assumed the direction of the affairs of the Lake Huron
Stone Company. He continued thus engaged until the time of his
death. His interests were of most important character and under his
able management they grew larger every year. His quarries were situ
ated in the thumb on the shore of Lake Huron and his offices were in
Detroit and Chicago.
Fraternally Mr. Wallace was a prominent Mason. Upon coming to
Detroit he became affiliated with the Central Methodist church in this
city. His political faith was that of the Republican party. More truly
his inclinations were in that direction, but he was not of the type of
man who sacrifices the better man and the better measures to mere par
tisanship. In the issues of the day he took a great interest and any
measure likely to result in benefit to the whole of society was sure of
his support.
The old Wallace home in Detroit was at 990 Woodward avenue and
there he lived for about twenty years. This residence was subsequently
occupied by Governor Pingree. In 1883 the subject built the handsome
and commodious residence on Jefferson avenue where his widow and sons
still reside and which has ever been the abode of culture and hospitality.
He loved his own fireside, caring little for clubs and spending his leisure
within the sacred precincts of his home.
Mr. Wallace was married in Cleveland, August 16, 1848, his chosen
lady being Ellen L. Moe, daughter of Marcus and Sally (Backus) 'Moe,
of the state of Massachusetts. Their, union was blessed by the birth of
four children: Sarah J. died at the age of three years; Marcus died at
five ; and those surviving are the sons James I. and Frank B. Both are
prominent real estate men of Detroit, sharing their father's high ideals
of citizenship. They reside at home with their mother, a venerable and
admirable lady, now eighty-two years of age. Mrs. Wallace was a na
tive of Strongville, near Cleveland, and is a member of the Central
Methodist church.
William Frederick Thompson. Among the men who have been of
signal usefulness to the city of Detroit and who in days past labored
zealously for its upbuilding must be numbered William Frederick
Thompson, a railway contractor who departed this life on July 14, 1878.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 911
Despite the passing of the years his memory remains more vivid than
those of many of his contemporaries who traveled as many years ago as
he to the Great Beyond, and it may be truly said of him,
"The sweet rememberance of the just
Shall flourish when he sleeps in dust."
He was a native of the Emerald Isle, and, like so many of her sons
who found and embraced opportunity in the New World, won prom
inence and prosperity.
Mr. Thompson was born at Newtown Forbes, County Longford, Ire
land, January 14, 1828. When a boy he came to Canada with his
parents and there spent his early life and received his education. As a
youth he worked in his father's saw mill after school hours and became
familiar with and skillful in all branches of mill work. Upon one occa
sion he went with his employer, Mr. Little, to visit another mill owned
by him, and he observed that the men were having considerable trouble
in sawing the long pieces of timber which were to be used in the con
struction of the first bridge over the Niagara river. Part way through
the log, the saw would run crooked and spoil the timber. Mr. Thompson
realized at once that the saw was not "jibed" correctly, in saw-mill par
lance, and he told Mr. Little that if he would let him try he felt certain
he could file the saw properly. Mr. Little inquired of his foreman, Mr.
Chambers, whether he believed it safe to intrust the saw to such young
hands, whereupon Mr. Chambers told him to go ahead. Mr. Thompson
set to work and successfully corrected the fault. He then cut the first
long beams for the first bridge over the Niagara river and continued
with the work until he had cut all the timbers for the bridge. This in
cident is merely an example of the inherent characteristics of thorough
ness and practical ability which he evidenced all through his life.
In the early experience of Mr. Thompson in the field of labor he was
for a time occupied as a clerk and keeper of the post office in the country
town of Caledonia, Ontario, for Mr. Little. In 1858 he had his first
glimpse of Detroit, and he remained there for three years, entering into
the railroad contracting business with Messrs. Sherman and Robinson,
and building the Grand Trunk Railway from Detroit to Mount Clemens.
He then returned to Canada and engaged in the oil business, and also
opened a very extensive country store in company with one Mr. Fish,
in which he handled goods of almost every description, typical of the
then popular general store. Seven years later he sold out and returned
to Detroit, where he engaged in the broom manufacturing business.
For a time he also owned and conducted a store on Jefferson avenue,
where he carried on a grocery business, but eventually disposed of the
business in order that he might devote his whole time to railroad con
tracting. His executive gifts were, such that the utmost success was
his portion. He was associated in a business way with all the prom
inent roads in Michigan, and he also remained identified to some extent
with the broom manufacturing business.
The demise of this estimable citizen occurred, as mentioned previous
ly, on July 14, 1878, and his remains were interred at Elmwood. He
was a Mason, and the last rites were performed by that order. He was
a member of the Presbyterian church, in which he took an active in
terest, and while in Canada he was superintendent of the Sunday-school
connected with that church. In political faith he was a Republican,
but took no active part in politics and office seeking was never among
his ambitions.
Mr. Thompson took as his wife Anna F. Nicholas, a native of Corn-

912 HISTORY OF DETROIT
wall, Canada, the date of their marriage being April 25, 1849. They
became the parents of the following named children: Frederick W.,
deceased ; Anna S., who married James Lenf esty, of Tampa, Florida ; an
infant, Winifred, deceased; Mary E., the widow of Lawrence Monroe,
who since her widowhood makes her home in Berlin, Germany; Thomas,
deceased; Samuel S., of Australia; and Frank J., deceased. Thomas
Thompson, the only one to live long in Detroit, was born in Strathroy,
Canada, July 4, 1858, and received his education in Detroit. His first
experience as a worker was in his father's broom factory, and later he
went into the brokerage business in partnership with D. F. McDonald,
and still later with Mr. Walker in the same business. He eventually
opened an independent office on Griswold street. The death of this
gentleman occurred in the prime of life and usefulness, — on September
9, 1905, and his body was interred in the family lot in Elmwood ceme
tery. He married in Detroit, in 1879, Miss Jennie E. Woolnough, the
daughter of William Woolnough, who was born in England and came to
Detroit at an early day. William Woolnough enlisted in the Union
army at the time of the Civil war, and while in action suffered wounds
which caused his death ultimately. Thomas Thompson was the father
of two children, William Frederick and Mabel Anna.
The widow of William Frederick Thompson, an admirable and vener
able lady, has resided at Jefferson Avenue since 1869, and with her re
sides her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Thomas Thompson and her children.
These ladies are held in high regard by all who come within the circle of
their influence.
Giles B. Slocum. In even a cursory review of the careers of the
honored pioneers and distinguished citizens of Michigan, it is imperative
that an unusual degree of attention be given the life of the late Giles B.
Slocum, who wrote his name large and nobly on the. annals of his time.
He was one of those favored mortals whom nature launches into the
world with the heritage of a sturdy ancestry, a splendid physique, a
masterful mind and energy enough for many men. Added to these at
tributes were extraordinary intelligence and the useful lessons of a
wide and varied experience. He was of patrician bearing and ideals, —
a type of the true gentleman and a representative of the best in the
community. He was dignified and well poised and yet possessed of an
affability that won him warm friends among all classes and conditions
of men. "A strong man and true was this honored pioneer of Michi
gan," says one writer in commenting on his life, "and his labors had
significant bearing upon the material and social development of the
commonwealth with whose history his name was so long and worthily
identified. "
The lineage of the Slocum family is traced back to the staunchest of
English stock and a number of its representatives were among the found
ers of the Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers. The sub
ject of this memoir was a direct descendant of Giles Slocum, who was
born in Somersetshire, England, and who was a resident of the town of
Portsmouth, Newport county, Rhode Island, as early as the year 1638,
a fact and date definitely recorded in the historical archives of that state'.
Jonathan Slocum, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch
was killed while serving as a soldier in the Indian wars ; his death occur
red on the site of the present city of Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, to which
locality he had removed with his family about the year 1774. His son
Giles, grandfather of the Michigan pioneer, was of Rhode Island birth
and was a child at the time of the family removal to Pennsylvania. He
was one of the sixty persons who escaped the frightful onslaught of the

HISTORY OF DETROIT 913
Indians in the historic Wyoming massacre of that state. His sister
Frances, then a child of five years, was held captive by the Indians,
among whom she grew to maturity, eventually marrying one of the tribe.
Her relatives could find no trace of her for sixty years. She was finally,
in 1837, discovered in Miami county, Indiana, with numerous descend
ants about her. She was a woman of intelligence, even under the handi
cap of the conditions under which she was reared; yet in spite of her
gratification at learning something of her kindred she refused to leave
her Indian family or appreciably to change her simple mode of living.
She lived to a venerable age and her name and experiences have been
perpetuated in history, song and story. In the section of Indiana in
which she lived are found today many of her descendants — folk of high
character. Over her grave, which is near the former Miami Indian vil
lage in which she lived, her relatives of direct and collateral lines have
erected a suitable monument. At its unveiling, on the 17th of May, 1900,
the appropriate ceremonies were arranged by a committee presided over
by Elliott T. Slocum, of Detroit, a son of the Giles Slocum to whom this
review is dedicated.
Giles Slocum (II) was a volunteer in Sullivan's expedition against
the Indians in the Genesee valley. Soon after the close of the War of
the Revolution he removed from Pennsylvania to Saratoga Springs,
New York, settling on a farm about four miles distant from the present
town of that name. He became one of the influential pioneers of the
Empire state, where he passed the rest of his life. His land was pur
chased from General Schuyler, the valiant Revolutionary officer, and the
two men were warm personal friends. Jeremiah Slocum, a son of Giles
Slocum II, married Elizabeth Bryan, daughter of an old and prominent
Connecticut family, and of their children the subject of this account was
one. Giles Bryan Slocum was born at the farm homestead near Saratoga
Springs, New York, oh the eleventh day of July, 1808. His early train
ing was that gained in connection with the basic industry of agriculture,
through association with which he grew strong and self reliant in body,
character and mental efficiency. His educational advantages were those
afforded in the common schools of the locality and period, his intellect
ual ability being such that his services were required in pedagogical
work. In the vicinity of his home and at Lockport, New York, he con
ducted winter sessions of school for four successive years. During the
summer of 1830 he was engaged in farming in the northern part of his
native state. The following year — about six years before Michigan's
admission to the Union, he came to this commonwealth, then a territory;
a great part of which was little more than a wilderness.
Mr. Slocum made the journey from New York state hither by way
of the Great Lakes, landing in Detroit, from which point he set forth
on an extensive prospecting trip in the interior country, which was
then in a primitive condition indeed. After making special investiga
tions in the forests above Black River, Giles Slocum settled for the winter
on the site of the present city of Toledo, Ohio. He there aided in lay
ing out the village of Vistula, which later became the nucleus of Toledo.
He opened the first store and also assisted in getting out timber for the
construction of the first dock at that now important harbor of the lakes.
Of special interest and value is a letter which he wrote his father a short
time before the latter 's death, and under the date of January 9, 1832:
Esteemed Father : I wrote you some time ago and have not received
an answer as yet. * * * I have made two purchases of eighty lots
each, one about five miles south of the village of Monroe, on the road
leading from the turnpike west. I have exchanged this lot for one on

914 HISTORY OF DETROIT
the turnpike, about four and one-half miles south of said village. Thus
I have an eighty-acre lot for one hundred dollars, on the turnpike, four
and one-half miles from Monroe. A daily line of stages passes from
Buffalo to Detroit, by the south shore of Lake Erie. My lot is situated
on Swan Creek, a few rods below said turnpike and about nine miles
of Monroe and twenty-eight south of Detroit, on navigable waters for
common-sized schooners of the lake. I am in hopes that the bay formed
by the mouth of the creek will make a smart little town before long. I
have been offered very liberal advances from the first cost of said lots
already. I am located in the town very pleasantly and I think this is a
good business, besides which I am assisting in laying out a new town on
the north bank of the Maumee river, four or five miles from its junction
with Lake Erie. The river to the banks of the town plot is navigable by
the largest vessels of the lake. A Mr. Allen, son of a gentleman of whom
I have heard you or Grandfather speak by the name of ' ' Indian Allen, ' '
is surveying and laying out the town plat. The Maumee River here is
one hundred and forty rods wide, banks good, and convenient for wharf -
ing, and is said to be the best harbor on Lake Erie ; good country, which
will naturally make its markets here. We have seen that some of the
villages in New York have grown up with almost incredible rapidity,
and as a number of the most enterprising men of Lockport have already
engaged in this place and many others are- expected in the spring, I
now give my opinion that this place (on the plat of which there is not
at present a single house) will in the course of ten years be one of the
most important points of Lake Erie. I am well convinced that public
lands, which can now be bought in this neighborhood for ten shillings
per acre, will in a short time be worth half as many dollars. Benjamin
F. Stickney, great-grand-nephew of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, is the ori
ginal proprietor of the land of the town plat, has been Indian agent at
Fort Wayne seven years, etc. There is a pull-in for Detroit, at the land-
office, for land in this section. A race occurs frequently. There is no
mistake in making good advances on money invested in this section. I
think it would be well worth your while to come out and see the country.
The bank of Michigan will cash a draft on them from the Saratoga coun
ty bank, which would be the most convenient way should you come out,
and in that case you could have it arranged to draw a greater or less sum
and would not run the risk of losing it. Steamboats have previously
passed this place and landed immigrants to this country, principally in
Detroit, whose interest it is to advise them to settle on the land in its
rear, and this has left this section comparatively uninvested. From this
circumstance I think it probable that this part offers advantages as good
as any in the territory. There is a grist and saw mill erecting up Swan
Creek of Maumee river, about three miles from this place, and good pub
lic land within a few rods of them at; present no doubt, would be a bar
gain. The utmost endeavors will be made to induce the steamboat pro
prietors to have the steamboats stop at this place. A dock will be in
readiness for the convenience of the boats and should they succeed in
getting them to stop, .the country around here will be searched and the
land will be in demand. Bog ore is found not far from here and it is
expected a furnace will be erected next summer near here. We have had
a severe winter so far, — the inhabitants say more severe than has been
known before. Snow about ten inches in depth at present. The pine
timber of Black and Pine rivers, near Lake Huron, no doubt could be
purchased to advantage. Lumber brings as much in Detroit as in Albany
and I don 't think it is appended with half the expense.
A new steamboat is being built in Detroit this winter. Grain of
every description is high ; wheat worth ten and twelve shillings in some

HISTORY OF DETROIT 915
parts of the territory. Great numbers of hogs are driven from Ohio to
Detroit, there killed and then taken into Canada. Our neighbors kill
wild hogs daily. Wild turkeys and deer are numerous.
I wish you would write me immediately whether you have any idea
of coming or not. If you have, the sooner the better. My expense was
not great in coming out, being thirteen dollars from the time I left home
till I arrived in Detroit. I have since explored the country from Lake
Huron up to the Maumee river.
Further details in the letter do not demand consideration, but Mr.
Slocum, in closing his communication, gives his post-office address as
Port Lawrence, Monroe county, Michigan Territory, — on the site of the
present city of Toledo, Ohio. In the year in which this letter was writ
ten the father of Mr. Slocum died. This necessitated his return to the
old home in Saratoga county, New York, and in the adjustment of the
'affairs of the family estate he purchased the interests o"f the other heirs.
Early in the winter of 1833 Mr. Slocum returned to Michigan and
located at the head of Swan Creek, on the site of the present village of
Newport, Monroe county, where he established a general store and also
became interested in the operation of a stave mill. It is interesting to
record that in the following spring, while making explorations in the
wilds of the northern part of the territory of Michigan, Mr. Slocum
paddled a canoe from the city of Jackson to Grand Rapids, at which
latter place there was little semblance of a settlement at that time.
In the summer of 1834 Mr. Slocum established the first store and
dock at Truaxton, now Trenton, on the Detroit river, where he continued
to be identified with the general merchandise business for a long term of
years with but slight intermission. His operations in Michigan real estate
dated practically from 1837, the year in which the state was admitted
to the Union. He had in the meantime disposed of the old family home
stead in Saratoga county, New York. Among the early purchases of
realty by Mr. Slocum was that of a tract of land with a frontage of about
three miles along the Detroit river, in the vicinity of Trenton ; and for a
score of years thereafter he gave special attention to farming and sheep-
raising, in connection with the latter of which he became one of the most
extensive wool-growers in the state. Each year he added to the area
of his landed estate, and at the time of his death there stood to his
credit about two thousand acres of reclaimed land in the
vicinity of Trenton ; the major part of this he had placed under effective
cultivation. The timber cut on the property was largely used in ship
building at Trenton and in the manufacture of staves, which were
shipped to New York. For several years also Mr. Slocum conducted a
profitable enterprise in the building of docks at Detroit, Windsor,
Springwells, Trenton, Sandwich, Gibralter and Grosse He.
On the 7th of June, 1848, Mr. Slocum entered into a contract with
Wayne county to construct three bridges, — two across the river Rouge
and one over the Ecorse river, — and through the terms of this contract
he came into possession of several large tracts of land in the eastern part
of Muskegon county, said lands having been donated by the state to aid
in the building of such bridges. At a point now known as the village of
Slocum, in the heart of a tract of about five thousand acres of heavily
timbered land in Muskegon county, Mr. Slocum erected a saw-mill, and
there he built up a lumber business which he conducted in company with
his son for many years. They meanwhile made large incidental im
provements in the development of the agricultural resources of the land
as it was gradually reclaimed, and with the extension of railway facilities
this property has become very valuable. In the late 'fifties Mr. Slocum

916 HISTORY OF DETROIT
purchased large tracts of valuable timber land on White lake and in
1859, with Charles Mears of Chicago, he laid out and platted the present
village of Whitehall, on White Lake, Muskegon county.
Mr. Slocum gave hearty co-operation and support in the construction
of the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo Railroad, in 1856. He donated the
company the right of way through his own extensive property and
personally purchased land from others for that purpose. On the com
pletion of the Toledo, Canadian Southern and Detroit, and the Chicago
and Canada Southern Railroads, the junction of the two roads was made
on his property near Trenton. The following estimate of the character
and achievements of Mr. Slocum merits reproduction in this connection :
"Notwithstanding the many commercial changes and business revul
sions of his time, Mr. Slocum always met his obligations, and the fortune
he accumulated was the result of the numerous enterprises which he con
ducted with care- and clear business judgment. His honesty was never
questioned and he possessed the unbounded faith and confidence of those
with whom he did business. None of the early pioneers of this section
was more widely known throughout the state nor more sincerely re
spected and esteemed. He had a kind heart and helped many men to
obtain homes, farms and fortunes. ' ' The last sentence of the above quota
tion clearly indicates the man as a man, and one faithful to the highest
principles. Giles B. Slocum was originally an old-line Whig, but upon the or
ganization of the Republican party he transferred his allegiance thereto ;
he was, indeed, one of its founders, for he was a delegate to the historic
convention, "under the oaks," at Jackson, Michigan, in 1854, where
the party came into existence under its present title. He was a man of
fine intellectual attainments and of broad views as to matters of economic
import, with the natural result that he wielded much influence in pub
lic affairs in the state of his adoption. In several senatorial campaigns
he was especially active. In the first two senatorial elections of the Hon
orable Zachariah Chandler, Mr. Slocum occupied the same room with
him at the senatorial headquarters in Lansing; he did vigorous and ef
fective work in supporting the senator and their friendship became part
icularly close and firm. During the Civil war Mr. Slocum 's aid and in
fluence were freely and loyally given to the upholding of the administra
tion; he did much to assist in raising funds, recruiting and equipping
troops and otherwise helping Michigan to do its part in the great strug
gle to maintain the integrity of the Union. For several years preced
ing his demise Mr. Slocum was a trustee of the Saratoga Monument As
sociation of New York, the president of the organization at that time
being Honorable Horatio Seymour, former governor of New York. And
withal, this pioneer, agriculturalist, business man and builder of towns
found time not only for political, but also for religious interests, being
connected with the Protestant Episcopal church.
At his attractive home on Slocum 's Island in the Detroit river, this
honored pioneer closed his earthly span of existence on the twenty-fourth
of January, 1884, and his mortal remains were interred at Elmwood
cemetery, Detroit. His passing caused a deep sense of personal bereave
ment throughout the state to whose development he had contributed so
much and in which he was so highly valued. The high regard in which
he was held was and is inclusive of the family he had founded in Mich
igan and which has been so worthy of its head.
It was seven years after his coming to the Michigan territory that
Giles Slocum was united to the worthy companion of his long life. To
Colonel Abraham Truax and his wife, nee Lucy Brigham of Hanover
Hills, New Hampshire, a daughter was born on June 18, 1818, at their

HISTORY OF DETROIT 917
home on the banks of the Huron river, near the present site of the Univer
sity of Michigan. Sophia Maria Brigham Truax, as she was named, lived
at that place only until she was about six months old. At that time the
family removed to a property near the present site of the village of
Trenton, which, however, was originally called Truaxton, in honor of
its founder, Abraham Truax. Mrs. Slocum has often recounted her
memories of those pioneer days, of the log school-house she attended;
of the bears, wolves and other animals she was accustomed to seeing ; of
the numerous Indians, she had seen, who often thrust their horribly
painted faces in at the windows of her home, or who stalked in at the
doorways, unannnounced; of the howling of the wolves by night and
the placing of a large bake kettle in front of the door as a protection ; of
the difficulty of getting shoes, which were obtained by annually buying
large quantities of leather and engaging the services of a traveling shoe
maker who lived in the home until he had made each member of it two
pair of shoes.
Having gathered all the learning to be acquired from the log school-
house near the homestead, Sophia Truax was sent to a private school for
girls at Monroe, Michigan. Her trips were made to and from the school
by stagecoach and on one of these journeys, the vehicle having suffered
an accident and time hanging heavily for the passengers while repairs
were being made, the young girl found herself in conversation with some
of the fellow-passengers. Among these was Giles Slocum, then about
twenty-eight, and ten years older than herself. Not many months after
ward, in the year 1838, their marriage was solemnized. She shared his
fortune in every phase, created a home of charming atmosphere, gave
birth and guidance to his three children and survived him by twenty-
seven years; she was ninety-four years of age when she passed from
physical life on April 11, 1912. The last forty years of her life she- had
spent in alternation of seasons at her summer home on Slocum 's Island,
between Grosse He and Trenton, and at her own or her daughter's resi
dence in Detroit. At the memorial services said over her loved and
honored body, the officiating clergyman was Dr. W. H. Thomas, the
pastor of St. Thomas Episcopal church of Trenton — the little church Mrs.
Slocum 's forefathers helped to build and in which she was a life-long
communicant. Mrs. Slocum 's last years and her last living moments were spent at
the home of her only surviving daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth T. Nichols,
who cared for her with the deepest filial affection. Her other daughter,
Alice, had died at the age of twenty -three years. The son is Hon. Elliot
Truax Slocum.
Mrs. Nichols was born and reared in Wayne county ; she received the
best educational advantages; on September sixth, 1876, she was united
in marriage to James B. Nichols of Virginia. Now a widow, she con
tinues to reside in Detroit. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Nichols were
four, all of whom have lived to grow to maturity. Giles B. Nichols —
named in honor of his maternal grandfather, married Miss Martha Barbo
and they reside in Muskegon county, Michigan. Alice S., is the wife of
Frederick E. Church, of New York, and the mother of one child, Char
lotte D. Charlotte S. Nichols became Mrs. Charles F. Church and lives
in New York. Elliott Slocum Nichols, the youngest of the four children,
remains with his mother at the family homestead. Mrs. Nichols is, as
was her mother, a gracious figure in the society of Detroit and a valued
friend of those who prize her father's memory. The portraits of Mr.
and Mrs. Giles B. Slocum found in the pages of this work have been
placed there in loving remembrance of their many estimable qualities
by their daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth T. Nichols.

918 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Abraham C. Truax. In these days of rampant materialism and vault
ing achievement we cannot afford to hold in light esteem the memory of
those who have wrought nobly in the past nor fail to accord honor to
those who have given a heritage of worthy thoughts and worthy deeds.
Among those who have stood as distinguished types of the world's con
structive workers in the days that are past was the late Colonel Abra
ham C. Truax, who was among the earliest settlers in the territory of
Michigan and who exerted large and benignant influence in connection
with the civic and material development and progress of the territory
and state. The name Truax is ineffaceably traced on the history of De
troit and the state of Michigan and figures on the pages of our national
history from the early colonial epoch to the present time. In this con
nection the writer would repeat certain statements given in a sketch of
the career of Colonel Truax prepared by him only a few years ago, as
the words are held to be signally pertinent: "Strong men and true,
gentle and gracious women, have represented the name as one genera
tion has followed another upon the stage of life, and loyalty and patriot
ism have been in distinctive evidence, the while the family escutcheon
has ever symbolized integrity, honor and usefulness. In America there
have been many distinguished citizens to upbear the prestige of the
name, and not the least of these was Colonel Abraham Caleb Truax, the
revered Michigan pioneer."
The genealogy of the Truax family is traced back to patrician French-
Huguenot origin, and heraldic records show that the family has been
one of prominence and influence in France. So far as authentic data
bear assurance, the first of the name in America was Philippe du Trieux,
whose name is found attached to a legal document recorded in "Dutch
Manuscripts," volume II, page 27, in the archives of the department
of the secretary of state of New York, and -bearing date of October 7,
1623. The name has undergone various changes in orthography and
pronunciation within the long intervening years, and it is a singular fact
that the descendants in the state of New York invariably spell the name
Truax, while those of New Jersey usually designate the patronymic as
Truex. The coat-of-arms of the family is preserved by the American
branch and is most interesting in a heraldic sense. The motto is:
"Bien faire et ne rien craindre," and the summary of the arms, as
interpreted from the heraldic symbolism, is that a knight or warrior,
known as Dutrieu de Terdonck, with the rank of a peer, represented
with a stirrup suspended from his dexter hand, won victory on the field
of battle and was rewarded, at different times, by a gold star of six
radiating points. On the escutcheon this star appears thrice, and the
place of honor is held by another reproduction of a stirrup.
The subject of this memoir was a lineal descendant of Isaac du
Trieux, or Truy, son of the original Philippe du Trieux, and said Isaac
was the founder of the branch of the family which was established in
or about Schenectady, New York, in the seventeenth century. He was
one of the first settlers in that locality, where he and his family were
residing at the time of the burning of the town and the massacreing of
its inhabitants by the French and Indians, in 1690. He it was who es
caped and bore the news of the tragic event to Fort Orange, on the site
of the present city of Albany.
Abraham Caleb Truax was of the sixth generation in line of direct
descent from Philippe du Trieux, and was born at Schenectady New
York, on the 11th of February, 1778, a son of Caleb and Fytje (Sophia)
van Patten Truax. He was a cousin of Stephen Van Rensselaer known
as the "Patroon" of Albany, or Rensselaerwick, whose possessions forty-
eight miles long and twenty-four miles wide, extended over three coun-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 919
ties. As a small boy Abraham C. Truax was left in the care of an uncle
in Schenectady, where he was reared to maturity and where hard manual
labor was his portion, with educational advantages of most meager order.
His father was an ensign, or sergeant, in Colonel Abraham Wempie's
regiment during the War of the Revolution, from November 5, 1779,
until October 29, 1781, as shown in the muster rolls of the state depart
ment at Albany.
Colonel Truax is supposed to have arrived in Detroit in the open
ing year of the nineteenth century, nearly forty years prior to the ad
mission of Michigan to the Union. He made the overland trip through
Canada and after establishing his home in Detroit he followed such lines
of enterprise as were possible in the pioneer village on the frontier of
civilization. He accumulated some means and made investments in local
real estate. Concerning the career of this sturdy and honored pioneer
we can not do better than to quote, with slight paraphrase and elimina
tion, from an article prepared by his grandson, Hon. Elliott T. Slocum,
who is one of the representative citizens of Detroit.
"In 1812, when war was declared against Great Britain, being im
bued with that spirit of patriotism which throbs the breast of every
true, loyal Huguenot, he shouldered the old flintlock musket in defense
of his native country. He was with General Hull at the time of the sur
render, and later, for meritorious conduct, he was commissioned cap
tain by General Cass, and in 1838 was commissioned colonel by Governor
Stevens T. Mason. After peace had been declared he resumed his former
vocation, with which the ravages of war had made havoc. On May 30,
1809, he purchased of Elijah Brush, for three hundred dollars, a strip
of ground on Jefferson avenue, between Wayne and Shelby streets,
where stood the new part of the Michigan Exchange and the store next
to it on the west. About 1813 he erected on said ground a building which
for those days was one of the best in Detroit, and which for many years
was known as the Truax Building. On May 11, 1815, he sold the same
to James May, for two thousand nine hundred dollars.
"In 1817 he established himself — against the opposition of many
friends — upon #, plat south of Detroit and on the Detroit river, and this,
after being surveyed into streets and village lots, offered superior in
ducements to buyers and builders alike. Thus, from a former chaotic
wild, arose the beautiful and flourishing village of Truaxton, now Tren
ton, Wayne county, Michigan. He was the first white settler to erect a
house in that locality and was known as a successful Indian trader.
Later in life he occupied many prominent federal and municipal offices.
He was a progressive business man, richly endowed with that quality of
integrity which commanded respect and love from all who knew him.
"The old Truax homestead, familiarly designated in its palmy days
as the 'Tavern' or the 'Half -Way House' — between Detroit and Monroe,
— was the best-known old wayside inn in that section of the country. It
was erected, amid Indian wigwams, early in the nineteenth century, and
stands today as 'an altar mark to a patriot's mind.' "
On the 24th of February, 1817, was solemnized the marriage of Col
onel Truax to Miss Lucinda Melinda Brigham, of Hanover, New Hamp
shire, and she was summoned to the life eternal on the eighth of October,
1838. Of their four children two attained to years of maturity — George
Brigham Truax, who became a representative business man of Detroit.
where his death occurred in the year 1869, and Sophia Marie Brigham
Truax, who became the wife of the late Giles B. Slocum and whose long
life has only recently come to its -peaceful close. Concerning her the
following pertinent words have been written: "She is a stately, gracious
figure, whose mind forms an indissoluble link between the pioneer epoch

920 HISTORY OF DETROIT
and the present day, and reverent affection is bestowed upon her by all
who know her. ' '
Colonel Truax met his death in the explosion that destroyed the
steamboat "Vance," on the Detroit river in 1844, and his remains rest
in beautiful old Woodmere cemetery. Many parts of the city of Detroit
reflect incidents and achievements of Colonel Truax in this locality
where he held valuable possessions. In the noted old picture, "Detroit
in 1820," by George H. Whistler, the "Truax House" is one of the best
and most conspicuous buildings.
William Ker Muir. It will scarcely be gainsaid that Scotland has'
given to America a body of citizens whose priceless value can scarcely
be reckoned and who have made a never-to-be-effaced imprint upon our
national history. To this nation belonged the late W. K. Muir, whose
name is an important one in American railroad history and who, as a
philanthropist, of deep sympathies and fine, original ideas, did much
for less fortunate humanity, ere he,
' ' Gave his honors to the world again,
His blessed part to Heaven, and slept in peace."
This noted financier and railroad man was born at Kilmarnock, Ayrshire,
Scotland, March 20, 1829. His mother was a descendant of one of the
Howies, covenanters of Lochgoyne. While a youth pursuing his studies
he exhibited a two-fold taste for railroad mechanical engineering and
for surgery. As the latter part of each school day was spent in some
engineering establishment, his tastes gradually developed in that direc
tion, although probably, had conditions been different, he might have
become celebrated in the professional world. The Detroit Free Press
of June 24, 1892, has given the ensuing resume and appreciation of his
life and achievements.
"Mr. Muir secured a position in the ticket office of an Ayrshire rail
way and served through all the grades of railroad employment, thus
acquiring a thorough knowledge of all the details of railroad work. He
was promoted in a few years to important positions and served credi
tably. When he again received a promotion in the service of an English
railway, he met C. J. Brydges, managing director of the Great Western
Railway, of Canada, and was offered by the latter an appointment,
which he accepted. Mr. Muir assumed the duties of his new position
in October, 1852, before the first section of the railway between Niagara
Falls and Hamilton was opened. He assisted in opening this line and
remained five years in this service. He then came to Detroit to take
the general management of the Detroit, Grand Havn & Milwaukee
Railroad, in the completion of which to Lake Michigan, the Great West
ern had taken a great pecuniary interest. Under Mr. Muir's manage
ment the road was completed its entire length, equipped with rolling
stock and with two steamships to connect with Milwaukee was placed in
excellent condition for freight and passenger traffic.
In December, 1865, Mr. Muir resigned his management of the Detroit,
Grand Haven & Milwaukee and accepted an appointment as assistant
general superintendent of the Michigan Central Road under R. N. Rice,
the general superintendent. In a very few years he was offered the
office of general superintendent of the Great Western line. He improved
the property while in charge until it was one of the best in the country.
He changed it from the Canadian broad-gauge of five feet, six and one-
half inches to the American gauge of four feet and eight and one-half
inches and thoroughly organized and equipped it as an Eastern and

HISTORY OF DETROIT 921
Western link. Having completed this work . he again, assumed the
superintendence of the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee, but immedi
ately retired to manage a new railroad through Canada, with branches
on this side, known as the Canada Southern Railway lines. He remained
in this position for several years, having retired from more active rail
road life several years ago, but retaining an interest in the latter road.
At the time of his death he was president and general manager of the
Eureka Iron and Steel Works and also president of the Star line of
steamers. ' '
A man of supreme executive capacity, Mr. Muir accomplished much
for any enterprise with which he was connected. But much as he did
in the great field of transportation, his name will longer remain enshrined
in general honor and admiration for his remarkable public spirit and
altruism. He concerned himself deeply with all matters pertaining to
the interest and welfare of the city of his adoption and gave generously
of himself and of his finances to any measure likely to result in benefit
to the whole of society. One of his civic ambitions was to see the river
bridged at Detroit and to a committee he submitted a plan for a low
winter bridge across the river at this point. However, the completion
of the Port Huron tunnel embarrassed the efforts of those in favor of
a bridge. About a decade before Mr. Muir's demise he was a member of the
Poor Commission of Detroit, and while in this office he secured the
adoption of a scheme to furnish lodgings for the wandering members of
humanity. The open door for tramps was at the Woodbridge Street
Station, and they were also fed, compelled to take a bath and their
clothing steamed and dried. The other members of the board finally
opposed Mr. Muir's charitable and sanitary scheme on the ground that
it tended to increase the number of tramps who came to the city. Upon
the abandonment of the plan Mr. Muir resigned his position.
Mr. Muir filled many important and responsible positions, both in
Britain and America, and he has filled them all with credit to himself
and with advantage to the community. His public record of half a
century is without a stain and his private character was always such
as to win for him the regard, esteem and friendship of all good men with
whom he came in contact. He was in thorough sympathy with our
American institutions. For years he was president of St. Andrew's
Society and no native born Scot filled such a place in the public eyes,
or was so loved since the death of brave old Hugh Moffat. He shared
the religious conviction of so many of his countrymen and was an
earnest and generous member of the Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian
church. In the fall previous to his death Mr. Muir had the misfortune to
contract a severe case of la grippe, and althdugh he rallied, he was at
once attacked with muscular rheumatism. Upon the advice of physicians
he took an ocean voyage to Japan. On the eve of June 6th he returned
to Detroit, not improved, and took at once to his bed. Despite all care
he steadily grew worse and developed spinal meningitis, from the
effects of which he died June 23, 1892.
Just before leaving for Japan, Mr. Muir gave sittings to Mr. Ambroise
McNeil, a brilliant young graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy, the
painting being a striking likeness and an admirable work of art. Nearly
a score of years have elapsed since Mr. Muir passed on to the Undiscover
ed Country, but the record of his life is one of Detroit's proudest
traditions and the influence of his progressive and benevolent spirit
will not soon be lost, although the mortal part of him is gone. Mr. Muir
is survived by his widow, Mrs. Christina Muir, by five daughters and
by a son, William Howie Muir, of this city.
vol m— e

922 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Thomas Maybury, Cork, Ireland, was the birthplace of Thomas
Maybury, affectionately styled "Uncle Tommy Maybury" by his many
friends in Detroit. His natal day was the day after Christmas and the
year of his entrance upon this life was 1807. He did not come to America
until after his marriage, when with his bride and two brothers, William
and Henry, he settled in Detroit. Their home was at the corner of
Eighth and Lafayette avenues, but it was then (in 1835) Springfield
township and known as the Scotch settlement.
At first Mr. Maybury busied' himself with farming, but at a later
date he took up contract work, constructing sewers and other public
works. He built the first Woodward avenue sewer to open into the river.
For fifteen years he followed this business and made a decided success
of it. He gave it up to devote himself to real estate dealings at which
he accumulated a large fortune. For many years he was employed as
deputy collector in the custom house. Like most of his nationality, he
took great interest in politics and was an ardent Republican and of the
old Whig party. He was a faithful and interested attendant of St.
Paul's church and later of St. Peter's. In the Masonic lodge of Detroit
he was one of the most influential members, being one .of the very oldest
Knights Templars in the city. In honor of Thomas Maybury, Zion Lodge
(Masonic) placed in St. Peter's church a very large and exceedingly
beautiful window, on which is inscribed, "In Memoriam" Thomas May
bury. His daughter Jane still has in her possession a gold headed cane
which was presented to him on February 24, 1868, by the Brethren of
Zion Lodge. It was for him that Maybury avenue was named and few
men could count so many friends as he. His uprightness of character
was proverbial and he was in every respect one of the most admirable
of Detroit's citizens. He died at his home on Lafayette avenue, November
13, 1882, at the age of seventy-five years.
Margaret Cotter Maybury, the wife of Thomas Maybury, died on
June 9, 1851. She was the mother of eight children, as follows: Eliza,
who married James Denton and both she and her husband are dead;
Henry, of Tampa, Florida; Catherine, the wife of John Guiness and also
deceased ; Thomas ; Mary, Mrs. Jos Webber ; Jane ; William Cotter, whose
life appears elsewhere in this book ; and Margaret. Only Jane and Henry
are now living of the five last named children. All the family are mem
bers of the Episcopal church, in which the father took so vital an interest.
He was senior warden of St. Peter's church, which he had helped to
establish, and the precept and example of his pure and helpful life bore
fruit in the noble character of his children.
Hon. William Cotter Maybury, the distinguished son of an eminent
father, was born in Detroit, on November 20, 1848. His parents were
Thomas and Margaret Cotter Maybury and he was one of a family of
eight children. He graduated from the Detroit high school in 1866 and
four years later completed the literary and the law course at the State
University. He immediately began the practice of his profession in his
native city and in 1876 was elected city attorney. He held this office
for four years and was then elected professor of jurisprudence in the
Michigan College of Medicine, a position he held until 1882. From 1883
until 1887, he was a member of Congress from the first Michigan district.
While at the national capital he did much for his home city. He was a
member of the Ways and Means committee and drew up the bill which
secured the right to build the Belle Isle bridge. His efforts in behalf
of this measure had much to do with its becoming a law and so giving
that great thoroughfare to the people. The site for the federal building
was purchased and work upon the edifice begun while he was in Congress.

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Fry fy£- 6Hmams SSrrZty

HISTORY OF DETROIT 923
Upon returning from Washington, Mr. Maybury resumed his practice
of law in the firm with whom he had been associated since 1882, that of
Coneley, Maybury and Lucking. In 1897 he became a member of the firm
of Maybury, Lucking, Emmons and Helfman. It was in the same year
that mayor Hazen S. Pingree became governor and Mr. Maybury was
chosen to fill his unexpired term as mayor of Detroit. After this he was
elected four successive times, serving until 1905. In 1900 he Avas candi
date for the governorship of Michigan, but was defeated by Aaron Bliss.
In the Masonic fraternity he enjoyed unusual distinction. At the
time of his death, on May 6, 1909, he was the most prominent Mason in
Michigan. He had taken the thirty third degree and had held almost
every office in the order. In 1897 he was made Deputy in Michigan,
which put him at the head of all the Scottish Rite Masons in the state.
Like his father, Mr. Maybury was an earnest worker in the church
and held the same office of senior warden in the same congregation where
his father had served. He was also a director of St. Andrew's Brother
hood. His was a truly religious nature and he was a deep student of
theology. He never allowed anything not exceedingly important to keep
him away from the church services and he was a regular visitor to the
hospitals all his life, making it his appointed task to find the sick and
lonely. Few men have been possessed with such a fund of information
on every subject as was William Maybury. His reading was not con
fined to matters pertaining solely to his legal work, but he was deeply
read in the sciences as well, being especially expert in botany. In 1901
he received the tribute of being made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor
of France. On Mr. Maybury 's sixtieth birthday the representative business and
professional men of the town gave a party in his honor, which was the
most splendid function the city had witnessed for years. A solid silver
loving cup of beautiful design was presented to the guest of honor, in
scribed with these words: "The citizens of Detroit present this cup to
William Cotter Maybury on this sixtieth anniversary in grateful recog
nition of distinguished service to his fellow men and because we love
him. ' ' Such a tribute of affection and esteem has been paid to few men
of the community and it was gratifying to Mr. Maybury to know that he
had filled the measure of his three score years to the satisfaction of all
creeds and classes.
The death of this distinguished citizen was justly regarded as the
sorrow of the whole city as well as of the nearest friends and relatives.
Action in his honor was taken by the many organizations of the munici
pality, including the Council and Citizens, the Detroit Sinking Fund
Commission, of which Mr. Maybury was a member of long standing, the
judges of the Wayne County Circuit Court, directors of the Detroit
Board of Commerce, the Detroit Bar Association, and the Amalgamated
Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers, who were holding their con
vention in Detroit at the time. Such facts indicate the influence and
reputation of the man, which were both wide and well deserved, but no
words nor resolutions could adequately convey a real conception of the
beauty and strength of his life and character. That is written in the
language which transcends all speech of tongue or pen, whose books are
in the hearts of men and whose words are "the little unremembered acts
of kindness and of love."
Walter Buhl. In the civic and commercial history of the city of
Detroit no family name stands forth more brilliantly than that of Buhl.
It has for many years represented the highest type of business ability
and civic patriotism, and is associated in the minds of the people with

924 HISTORY OF DETROIT
many important steps for the greater -development of the "City of the
Straits." From before the time of the Civil war, in fact way back in
the early history of Detroit, at the time of the arrival of Frederick
Buhl, July 28, 1833, there was scarcely a single movement for the public
welfare that did not have connected with it the name of Buhl. At the
outbreak of the war of the rebellion Mr. Buhl stood forth prominently
as one of the most patriotic citizens of the republic. So it has come
down from father to son. Walter Buhl, now deceased, carried out the
traditions of his family and endeared himself to the people.
He was born in Detroit, July 25, 1845, the second son of Frederick
and Martha (Beatty) Buhl. He attended school in Detroit, and after
ward took a course in an eastern academy. After graduating from the
latter institution he went abroad for a year and a half, which he spent
in traveling over continental Europe. Returning to Detroit, he entered .
the hat and fur business with his father, continuing in that line of
commerce until his death. Before his father passed away young Mr.
Buhl bought him out, and the firm was known as the Walter Buhl Com
pany. Afterward this was changed to Walter Buhl & Company. The
firm was made up outside of the Buhl interests of trustworthy employes,
and all of the men now engaged in the furrier business in Detroit
learned their trade in the store of the Buhls, at 158 Jefferson avenue,
where a manufacturing and wholesale business was carried on. The firm
also had a retail store at the corner of Congress street and Woodward
avenue. * *
Walter Buhl retired from active business about ten years before his
death, and spent some time in California for his health. He passed
away May 13, 1910, and was buried in Woodlawn cemetery. He was
one of the charter members of the Young Men's Christian Association,
and as a director thereof took much interest in the progress of the
organization. He was also deeply interested in religious matters and
an active worker in the Fort Street Presbyterian church, of which he
was an honored member and respected deacon. He was also greatly
interested in Sunday school work. Mr. Buhl was a life member of the
Detroit Boat Club, the Detroit Light Guard and the Detroit Golf Club.
He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce during the palmy days
of that organization and took much interest in civic development. In
politics he was strongly Republican, but like a number of other prom
inent business men refused to accept any public office. He was a great
home man and a lover of good books, with the result that he spent most
of his spare time by his own fireside.
At New Brighton, Pennsylvania, March 4, 1875, he was united in
marriage to Miss Eleanor Bradford, daughter of Benjamin Rush and
Margaret (Campbell) Bradford. No children resulted from this union.
Mrs. Buhl's father was from Philadelphia, and her mother came from
Pennsylvania stock. Both families were old and prominent in the Key
stone state, dating from ante-colonial times. Mrs. Buhl was born at New
Brighton, Pennsylvania, her great-great-uncle being first attorney
general of the United States under George Washington, thus being a
member of the cabinet of the ' ' Father of Our Country. ' ' She is a mem
ber of the Colonial Dames, of the Daughters of the American Revolu
tion, and of the Fort Street Presbyterian church, and for thirty years
has been connected with the Protestant Orphan Asylum and for many
years has been one of the trustees.
In speaking of Walter Buhl, this fine type of American citizen, after
his demise the Michigan Presbyterian, a church paper, says: "Walter
Buhl was a gentlemen of the old school, with a gift of friendship of the
finer kind, and the gracious courtesies which bestow upon mere acquaint-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 925
ance the genuine pleasure of friendship. Such was our friend, for many
years deacon in the Fort Street Presbyterian church, a charter member
of the Young Men's Christian Association, and always keenly interested
in its motives and its methods. He gave to his office administration his
detailed thought and study. Few men ever felt more deeply the re
sponsibility of trust in conserving and trust in administering a Dea
con's fund. His father for years was an Elder in'the Fort Street Pres
byterian church ; the son inherited- and learned well his lofty rever
ences. He died Sunday, March 13th, at Grace Hospital, after an oper
ation from which the promise was for speedy and successful recovery.
His 'pastor had been deputed on the day before by the session to con
vey their greetings and well wishes, and to bear their request for con
sent from him to name him to succeed himself as Deacon in the Fort
Street Presbyterian church the following Wednesday. It was a mes
sage of old from a love, heard by St. John the Divine, ' And their works
do follow them.' "
Frederick Buhl, the father of Walter, who passed from earth with
the good wishes of his friends still warm upon their lips, was one of the
pioneer merchants of Detroit, and a citizen of sterling worth, command
ing the confidence and respect of his associates in business and in his
social life during the long period he stood forth as one of the foremost
sons of the City of the Straits. He was a man of forceful individuality,
and played a large part in the business annals of the metropolis and the
state, with whose annals his name and that of his brother, Christian H.
Buhl, were most prominently identified.
Mr, Frederick Buhl was a native of Pennsylvania, having been born
in Butler county November 27, 1806, being the second son in a family
of eleven children. His parents were of sturdy German ancestry and,
as said before, the Buhl family was found in the Keystone state in the
days of the Colonial wars. The parents were both natives of Saxony,
Germany, . where they were reared to maturity and where they became
acquainted, but both immigrated to America before becoming man and
wife. Owing to the exigencies of time and place, the educational facil
ities afforded Frederick Buhlwere meagre, but his strong mentality and
determination to win his way in the world supplied this deficiency and
his keen powers of assimilation and observation enabled him to over
come this handicap. At the age of sixteen he left his native country and
went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the purpose of learning the jew
eler's trade, but his health being poor he did not long follow this voca
tion. In 1833 he came to Detroit, after having first landed at Chicago,
with which place he was not favorably impressed. In Detroit he entered
into partnership with his brother, Christian H. Buhl, in the hat and fur
business, building up a most lucrative business. The firm of F. & C. H.
Buhl continued in existence for more than twenty years, their oper
ations in handling furs broadening so that eventually they embraced
the entire northwest. In 1842 they joined the successors to the Amer
ican Fur Company in the purchase of furs throughout Canada and the
states bordering on the Great Lakes. They carried on this most lucra
tive business under the old firm name until 1855, when Christian H.
Buhl withdrew to enter the hardware business. Thereafter Frederick
Buhl continued the business in an individual manner becoming one of
the largest shippers of furs in the country, as well as a manufacturer
and importer of furs. The enterprise was conducted under the name
of F. Buhl & Company and the concern gained a wide reputation for
reliability and for its wide scope of operations. Mr. Buhl severed his
connection with the business in February, 1887, when he sold out to his

926 HISTORY OF DETROIT
son Walter, after which time the business was conducted in the name of
Walter Buhl & Company until it was sold to Edwin S. George in 1898.
Mr. Frederick Buhl was a man of great business sagacity and of the
most progressive ideas, as citizen standing for all that was loyal and
right. He took an active interest in all that affected the welfare of the
city in which he lived and served the city of Detroit as mayor in 1848,
and the record of his administration is one that lends perpetual honor
to him and the municipality. He was one of the original directors of
the Merchants Exchange and the Board of Trade, which was organized
in 1847, and was active in its work as he was in other organizations to
which he belonged. He was a director of the State Bank for a number
of years and was a director of the Second National Bank at the time of
his death. He was also prominent in affording the city street railway
facilities, and was for some time president of the Fort Wayne & Elm
wood Railroad Company. He rendered valuable services as president of
Harper Hospital, one of the noble institutions of Detroit, and generously
donated large sums toward the success of that institution. In politics
he was a Republican, and he was at all times prominent in the councils
of his party.
At the close of a useful and clean life he passed from earth May 12,
1890, deeply mourned by all who knew him, and left enshrined in the
minds of the people a memory that all men should emulate.'
William Warner. In Mr. Warner and his descendants, as well, are
exemplified the finest traits of American civilization. His ancestors were
those men, nurtured in adversity and steeled by the ever imminent danger
of death, who settled New England and stamped upon American life
for generations the impress of their unquestioning devotion to duty and
their contempt for all small considerations of personal profit or comfort
when a principle was at stake.
William Warner was born at Pittsford, Vermont, on January 28,
1812, the son of Jonathan and Anna Ripley Warner. His grandfather
was one of the first settlers of Pittsford, who went to the town and took
up land before the Revolutionary war. He did not take his family there
at once, because of the danger from Indian attack. In 1783 he built in
Pittsford and a little later moved there with his family and followed the
occupation of farming. He was a soldier of the Revolution and when
the war was over he went back to his farm and brought up his family
there. William graduated from Middlebury College, for next to his reli
gion the old New Englander prized his education. After leaving college
William spent two years at the Theological Seminary at Andover, study
ing for the ministry. He was never able to take up this career on account
of a throat trouble, which developed before he finished his course.
The first position of responsibility which Mr. Warner held was that
of financial agent for the University of Vermont, at Burlington. He suc
cessfully filled this difficult post and later was made treasurer of the
University and held the position for six years. Later he was president
of the Sullivan Railroad Company, of Vermont, and in 1850 became
promoter of the Vermont Central Railroad. After two years of work
for the last mentioned corporation Mr. Warner resigned and came west.
He had an interest in the lead mines of Galena, Illinois, and also in some
northern Michigan mines. In 1854 he came to Detroit and engaged in
the lumber business with Albert Catlin. They bought out the firm of
Smith and Howard and handled lumber until 1861. At this date Mr.
Warner sold out and went into the iron business. In this venture he
was associated with Mr. William C. Colburn and Charles Kellogg. Later
they bought out Mr. Kellogg and the firm was known as the Detroit

HISTORY OF DETROIT 927
Bridge and Iron Works, one of the largest concerns in the city. Mr.
Warner was president of the company and continued to act in that
capacity until his death. He was superintending the building of the
bridges over the Mississippi river at Burlington, Iowa, and at Quincy,
Illinois, at the time of his death on July 29, 1868. He is buried in
Elmwood cemetery.
In politics Mr. Warner was a Republican. He was elected to mem
bership in the state legislature on a Union ticket and served three years,
during the time of the Civil war. His church was that of so many New
Englanders, the Congregational. He was a member of the First church
of that denomination of Detroit and was a worker in it, being for many
years a deacon and always a liberal supporter of its activities.
On February 2, 1842, he was married to Harriet B. Leach, daughter
of Andrew Leach, of Pittsford, Vermont, where the ceremony was per
formed. She died at the age of forty-five, in 1859, and is buried in Elm
wood. Four children were born of this union, three now living. Later
Mr. Warner married his deceased wife's sister, Frances Leach, a lady
well known among all the old Detroit families. She was a devoted worker
in the Congregational church and here as wherever she was known her
loss was keenly felt when she died. Her earthly life was completed on
October 6, 1893.
The eldest child of William and Harriet Warner was Helen F. War
ner, known in this city as Dr. Warner, one of the most skilled of De
troit's women physicians. She was a graduate of Vassar and of the med
ical department of the State University. Her death in 1905 removed one
of the lights of her profession from its midst. Harriet A. Warner became
the wife of William M. Bishop, of Hannibal, Missouri, now deceased.
Since 1878 she has been a teacher in the Detroit Central high school. She
has three children: William W., Helen L., and Elizabeth L. She lives
with mer sister Martha at 74 Pitcher street. The brother, William A.
Warner, is also a resident of Detroit, a retired business man. The home
where the father lived and died was situated where the Light Armory
building now stands. He made valuable additions to the industrial
development of the country but the gift he gave to civilization in the
shape of his character and the high-minded citizens whom he reared up
to pass on the torch of progress is infinitely greater.
Charles R. Walsh, M. D. In choosing among the professions for
one to follow as their life work many young men decide upon that of medi
cine as the most promising. In this, the one among all the learned pro
fessions that makes the greatest demands upon its followers, not all have
the necessary qualifications, without which even the most thorough tech
nical training will not insure success. Others there are, however, who are
eminently fitted for the great work of alleviatina; the ills of mankind,
both by nature and schooling, and in this connection a sketch of the life
of Dr. Charles R. Walsh, one of the prominent young physicians of De
troit, will not be inappropriate. He was born October 16, 1886, in the
old home at No. 112 Alfred street, where he still resides, and is a son of
Patrick J. and Mary A. (Flattery) Walsh. Patrick J. Walsh was one of
the early jewelers of Detroit, and was for vears one of the city's best
known business men and citizens. He was born in Ireland, about 1828,
and came to the United States in 1840. locating in Detroit, where, five
years later, he embarked in the jewelry business by establishing himself
in a stand at the corner of Jefferson avenue and Griswold street. Later
he moved his store under the old Russell House, on Woodward avenue,
and subsequentlv removed to the present site of the Traver-Bird Com
pany's plant on Woodward avenue. His next location was where Kern's

928 HISTORY OF DETROIT
now stands, on Woodward avenue and Gratiot street, and later he went
to the corner of Woodward avenue and Grand River avenue East, the site
now being occupied by the store of Newcomb, Endicott Company, where
he continued in business until his death, in December, 1898. He was
one of the most successful and best known jewelers of Detroit, and at the
time of his death was the oldest jeweler in point of time engaged in that
line in the city. The mother of the Doctor was born in Detroit, of Irish
and Scotch parents.
Dr. Walsh was reared in Detroit and acquired his elementary educa
tion in the public schools. He took a high school course at St. Michael 's
College, Toronto, Canada, and matriculated to the Toronto University in
1904. He took up the study of medicine in the medical department of
the University of Louisville, Kentucky, and was there graduated with
the class of 1908, and received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Fol
lowing his graduation, Dr. Walsh spent eighteen months as house physi
cian at Grace Hospital, Detroit, and since that time has carried on a
general practice, his offices being located at No. 736 Gratiot avenue. Dr.
Walsh is one of the most successful young doctors of the East side and
has already firmly established himself in the confidence of the people of
his community. He is a close and careful student, takes a great interest
in the work of the various organizations of the profession and keeps
fully abreast of all the advancements in the. prolific fields of medicine
and surgery. His skill in his chosen vocation has been supplemented
by a pleasant personality and a kind and sympathetic nature and he has
made and maintained numerous friendships.
William Ross Murdie, M. D. More than a quarter of a century of
successful practice has made Dr. William Ross Murdie one of Detroit's
best-known physicians and surgeons. Like many of Detroit's best citi
zens, Dr. Murdie is a native of Canada, having been born in county Hur
on, Ontario, September 19, 1857. His father, Andrew Murdie, was born
in Scotland, and came to America in 1842, locating in the woods of
county Huron, where he was a pioneer. He followed farming all his life
and died in 1890, at the age of seventy-seven years. His wife, who bore
- the maiden name of Mary Ross, was also a native of Scotland, in which
country their marriage took place. Her death occurred in 1894, when
she was eighty-one years old.
Dr. Murdie was reared on the home farm in Canada, and after at
tending the country schools became a student at St. Catherine's Col
legiate Institute. In order to secure the means with which to further his
studies he then spent several years in school teaching, but eventually
entered the Detroit College of Medicine, where he was graduated with
the class of 1886, securing the degree of Doctor of Medicine. During his
senior year he served as house physician at St. Luke 's Hospital, and after
his graduation was an assistant to the late Dr. H. 0. Walker for one
year. Since that time he has been engaged in a general practice and
now has finely appointed offices at No. 508 Gratiot avenue and has a large
and representative clientele drawn from various sections of the city.
Dr. Murdie possesses the desirable qualification of a sympathetic nature,
giving to each case the beneficial quality of a kindly, genial personality.
The various organizations of the profession find in him an interested
co-worker and in various ways he has shown himself to belong to that
class that maintain the standard of the profession in Detroit.
Martin Maier. In the history of Detroit, German-American citi
zens have not only added lustre to the commercial annals of the city.
but have added much to its manufacturing, artistic and social progress.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 929
Among those born in the Fatherland who have helped make Detroit
what it is today was the late Martin Maier.
Born at Baden, Germany, where his parents died while he was
young, Mr. Maier received his early education in the schools of his
native town, and afterward learned the saddler's trade, at which he be
came a most expert workman, and once made a saddle for the renowned
General Sherman, the hero of the march from Atlanta to the Sea. When
he was about twenty-one years of age Mr. Maier came from Germany
to the United States, and for a while lived with a sister at Monroe,
Michigan. After that he came to Detroit and was engaged by Wolfe
Brothers in the trunk and saddlery and harness business. Later he went
to St. Louis in the same line of business and was at that place when the
war broke out. In company with the loyal Germans of St. Louis, whose
services have been extolled in history, he enlisted in the Union cause and
served all through the Civil war, having been mustered out in 1865.
From sleeping on the cold ground and from the roar of cannon he
became quite deaf, but undeterred by this infirmity he again took up the
pursuits of business life. Coming to Detroit, he and two friends built
a business block on Monroe avenue, each occupying one-third of the
block. Mr. Peters ran a shoe shop, Mr. Geist an undertaking establish
ment, and Mr. Maier a trunk store and harness shop at 55 Monroe
avenue. Here he conducted the manufacturing of trunks as a specialty
and was doing a good business when he was burned out. He then moved
his business to Woodward avenue, but while waiting for the Woodward
avenue store to be vacant and renovated he was obliged to have parts of
trunks made elsewhere. By this time the business had become very large
and he built a fine four-story block on Twelfth street, between Porter
and Abbott streets, where he manufactured the trunks entire. His
widow still owns the property but has rented it to the Scotten Tobacco
Company. Mr. Maier passed from earth November 9, 1893, and his remains now.
lie at rest in Woodmere cemetery. He was a member of the Grand Army
of the Republic; the Harmonie Society; and the German Lutheran
church. In politics he was a Republican, but being a great home man
took no active part in politics.
On May 3, 1866, Mr. Maier was married to Elizabeth Dorman,
daughter of Frederick and Catherine Dorman. Mr. and Mrs. Maier had
six children, all of whom are dead except two. These are: Lissetie C.
and George M., of Detroit. George is connected with the trunk business
and married Miss Alice Webb. He belonged first to the Detroit Light
Infantry. During the Spanish- American war he served as a private in
Company L of the Thirty-second Michigan Infantry.
Mrs. Martin Maier was born and has always lived in Detroit. Her
parents, who were born in Germany, came to this city in 1837, and for
many years lived at 200 Abbott street, which was at that time in the
midst of fields and thickly surrounded by woods. In those early days the
only water they could get was hauled from the river. Mrs. Maier is a
member of Fairbanks Post Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic,
also Ladies of the Spanish war veterans, the National League and the
Detroit Circle. She built the fine large home she now occupies, at the
south-east corner of Trumbull and Abbott streets, in 1891. Mrs. Maier
is a member of the Fort Street Presbyterian church, and is also pres
ident of the Martin Maier Trunk and Bag Company at 100-102 Wood
ward avenue. Like her late husband, she is highly esteemed in business,
social and church circles, and is a woman of charming personality.
John L. Wild. Much of worthy accomplishment is to be attributed
to John L. Wild in connection with business activities in Detroit, where

930 HISTORY OF DETROIT
he is now living virtually retired, after long years of well directed and
successful endeavor, and where he has so ordered his course in all rela
tions of life as to retain the inviolable esteem of those with whom he has
come in contact. He still gives a general supervision to his various
capitalistic interests and is vice-president of the Banner Laundry Com
pany, one of the leading concerns of the kind in the state. Animated
by worthy ambition, energetic and industrious, Mr. Wild began the bat
tle of life on his own responsibility when a lad, and it stands to his credit
that through his personal ability and efforts he gained independence and
prosperity, so that he is enabled to pass the gracious evening of his life
in peace and plenty and surrounded by friends who are tried and true.
Mr. Wild claims as the place of his nativity the kingdom of Bavaria,
Germany, where he was born on the 5th of November, 1830, at Solon-
hofen, which is known the world over on account of the stone quarries
used in lithography. Thus he will have attained to the venerable age of
eighty-two by the time this work is issued from the press. He is a son of
Gustave and Rosana Wild, both of whom were representatives of staunch
old Bavarian families. In 1840 they immigrated to America and es
tablished a home in New York city, where the father engaged in the
practice of medicine. He passed the closing years of his life in New
York city and the mother spent her last days in Detroit. John L. Wild
attended the schools of his native land and thus gained the rudiments
of an education before coming to America. As a man of mature judg
ment and broad information in later years, his advancement along such
educational lines represented the results of self- discipline and of lessons
gained under that wise head-master, experience. When fourteen years
of age he was bound out, as the expression was commonly used, to serve
an apprenticeship to the barber's trade in New York city, and his ap
prenticeship covered the customary period of three years. He there
after worked as a journeyman at his trade until the outbreak of the
Civil war, when he subordinated all other interests to tender his services
in defense of the integrity of the land of his adoption. He had come to
Michigan in 1859 and had established his home at Corunna, the judicial
center of Shiawassee county. In September, 1861, he enlisted in the
regimental band of the Second Michigan Volunteer Cavalry. He thus
served about one year, at the expiration of which the band was mustered
out, by order of the war department. Mr. Wild then enlisted, at Grand
Rapids, in the Tenth Michigan Cavalry, in which he became chief trum
peter and with which he continued in active service until the close of
the war, having been with this gallant command in the many important
engagements and strenuous campaigns in which it was involved. He
took part in more than fifty skirmishes and was never wounded. He
was, however, taken captive by the enemy at Greenville, Tennessee,
through a blunder on the part of the sergeant of his company. He was
sent out in a company of eighteen men to discover as far as possible the
movements of the enemy, and was captured by a Confederate scouting
party. He and some of his comrades were confined in a house in the
vicinity and he noticed a key in the door. He determined to secure this
and if possible to escape with his companions, as he was familiar with
the country thereabouts. He gave instructions to the sergeant and the
other men and in the night, while the guard was asleep, he succeeded in
securing the key and liberating the party. They traveled six days
through the mountains and encountered many privations and hardships.
They came to the home of a woman who was a Union sympathizer, and
she not only permitted them to sleep in a hay-stack on the premise's but
also provided them with breakfast. They finally reached the Union

HISTORY OF DETROIT 931
lines in safety, little the worse for their hazardous adventure. Mr.
Wild during his army service received promotions, first being made
Second Lieutenant, and later First Lieutenant of Company F, of the
Tenth Michigan Cavalry. He was mustered out at Nashville, Tennes
see, and discharged at Jackson, Michigan, with the rank of first lieuten
ant, and was duly given his honorable discharge, having served during
virtually the entire period of the war and having ever been found at the
post of duty, — a faithful and zealous soldier.
After the close of the war Mr. Wild returned to Corunna and after
there continuing in the work of his trade for a short time he removed to
Bay City, which was then a straggling lumber town and a center of
much activity. There he followed his trade and also became identified
with agricultural pursuits, in connection with which he purchased and
sold several farms, the greater number of which he improved to an ap
preciable extent. He also conducted a hotel in Grayling, Michigan,
for some time and there he continued to reside until 1880, when he came
to Detroit and engaged in the laundry business, in the supplying of
clean aprons to butchers, waiters, etc. He at first had his work done
on contract by the Banner laundry, in which he later purchased a con
siderable interest, and he had not little influence in the upbuilding of
the large and prosperous business of the Banner Laundry Company, of
which he still continues vice-president. His only surviving son, William
L., is president of the company and as a citizen and business man is well
upholding the prestige of the honored name which he bears. Charles H.
Wheeler is general manager of the business, which is one of extensive
order, with a patronage of representative character. Mr. Wild is also
a stockholder in the Tax Title Land Company, a prominent corporation
of Detroit. Taking an intelligent interest in public affairs and giving his al
legiance to the Republican party Mr. Wild has ever been known as a
loyal and public-spirited citizen, but he has had no ambition for political
office, the only position of the kind which he has ever consented to hold
having been that of a member of the board of aldermen Df Bay City.
He is a valued and popular member of Fairbanks Post, Grand Army of
the Republic, of which he is a past commander, and also holds member
ship in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.
He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the National Union, and
is a consistent member of the Universalist , church, as was also his
cherished and devoted wife, who was his companion and helpmeet for
more than half a century, the gracious relations being severed when she
was summoned to the life eternal, secure in the affectionate regard of all
who knew her.
In later years Mr. Wild has indulged himself in extensive travel.
He has visited the various sections of the United States and recently
made a trip to his old home in Germany, where he renewed the associa
tions and visited the scenes of his boyhood. He has lived an earnest,
upright and well ordered life and though now venerable in age he has
the vigor and alertness of a man twenty years his junior, the while he
is known and highly esteemed as one of the representative German-
American citizens of the Michigan metropolis.
At Kingston, New York, in the year 1850, Mr. Wild was united in
marriage to Miss Wilhelmina A. Enich, who was born in Germany and
who came to the United States when a child. She proVed a loving and
devoted companion to her husband, aiding him in every possible way
and proving a gracious and devoted mother, so that her children may
well "rise up and call her blessed." Mrs. Wild passed to the life
eternal on the 19th of August, 1909, and this constituted the supreme

932 HISTORY OF DETROIT
loss and breavement in the life of her husband, who is sustained and
comforted by the hallowed memories of their long and sympathetic com
panionship. Mrs. Wild was seventy-eight years of age at the time of
death and her remains were laid to rest in Woodlawn cemetery. In
conclusion of this sketch is entered brief record concerning the children
of Mr. and Mrs. Wild : Julia is the wife of J. C. Merrill, of Detroit,
and they have six children — John H, who is married and has one child,
Honor; Gertrude, who is the wife of William Lowe, and who has one
child, Rose M. ; Edna, who is the wife of Dr. Morgan Parker and who
has three children ; Bessie, who is the wife of John Case ; and the two
youngest, who remain at the parental home. Alfred, the second of
the children, died at the age of twenty-three years. Augusta is the
wife of Charles H. Wheeler, general manager of the Banner Laundry
Company, as previously noted, and their only child, Alfreda, is the wife
of Irwin R. Bacon; they have five children. William L., the only
surviving son of the venerable subject of this review, is president of the
Banner Laundry Company and is one of the progressive and popular
business men of Detroit. He married Miss Anna Brooks and they have
two children, Myrtle, who is Mrs. Blanchard and who has two children,
Bettie and John; and Florence, who is also married. The two other
children of Mr. and Mrs. Wild died in infancy.
Robert McMaster. A strong and noble character was that of the
late Robert McMaster, who maintained his home in Detroit for nearly
two score years and who here gained secure vantage ground in the confi
dence and high regard of all who knew him. He was an efficient execu
tive and conservative business man, and for nearly twenty years prior to
his death he was incumbent of the responsible office of cashier of the
Michigan Stove Company, known as the largest concern of the kind in
the entire world and naturally representing one of the most important
of the manifold industrial enterprises which lend precedence to the
Michigan metropolis. Mr. McMaster was known and held as a friend
by virtually every one of the large corps of employes of the company
with which he was so long identified, and it has been Avell said that
"when Robert McMaster died the working men of the Michigan Stove
Company lost their best friend." His place in the confidence and
esteem of the officials of the great corporation was equally secure, and
his nature was no less gentle and kindly than it was essentially strong,
sincere and earnest. He made life count for good in all its relations
and stood "four-square to every wind that blows," the while he was
steadfast in his convictions, never compromising for the sake of personal
expediency and yet being tolerant in his judgement of others. Though
he never came into the white light of publicity, his influence and his
standing were such as to make him one of the representative citizens
of Detroit and thus eminently entitled to a tribute in this publication.
In Wigtownshire, seagirt and graced with moors and lakes, the
most southwestern of the counties of Scotland, Robert McMaster was
born on the 27th of May, 1820, and the family name has been identified
with Scottish annals from the time "when the memory of man runneth
not to the contrary." Wigtown, the judicial center of this county,
was the birthplace of Mr. McMaster, and there his father, Andrew
McMaster, was a citizen of prominence and influence, having served-
as mayor of his c"ity or borough and having been the first to establish a
gas plant for illuminating purposes. Both he and his wife passed their
entire lives in Scotland and were purposeful, earnest and worthy folk,
known and honored of men and both zealous members of the Presby
terian church.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 933
He whose name initiates this memoir was reared under gracious
auspices, in a home of refinement and culture, and after availing himself
of the advantages of the schools of his native city he there entered a
college, with the intention of preparing himself for the medical profes
sion. After devoting some time to such technical study when a boy, he
decided that his sympathies were too keen to make it expedient for him
to follow a calling that would bring him in constant contact with suffer
ing and sadness, and thus determined to turn his attention to business
- pursuits. When a very young man he went to the city of Liverpool, England,
where he became identified with the grain business, and there, some time
afterward, married Miss Mary Morrison, of Glasgow, Scotland, his
beloved companion and helpmeet during their wedded life. He con
tinued to be identified with the grain business until 1855, when, at the
age of thirty-five years, he came to America, confident that he could find
better opportunities for gaining success and independence through well
directed effort. He had been an appreciative student and reader and
had given special attention to geography and history, so that before
coming to the United States he made .a careful survey of its map and
became so much impressed with the favorable location of Detroit that
he forthwith decided to make this city his destination.
Soon after establishing his home in Detroit Mr. McMaster secured
the position of cashier in the office of the local gas company, and he
retained this incumbency until about 1874, having in the meanwhile
formed wide acquaintanceship and distintive personal popularity. He
severed his connection with the gas company, to assume a similar posi
tion with the Michigan Stove Company, and he served as cashier of
the latter corporation until he was summoned to the life eternal, on the
18th of January, 1893, about five months prior to his seventy-third
birthday anniversary. His devotion to his duties of his position was on
a parity with his marked executive ability, and he was one of the most
valued and honored of the many employes of the great corporation
with which he was so long and worthily identified. A reader of the best
of literature and one who kept in touch with the questions and issues
of the day, Mr. McMaster was a man of broad intellectual ken and well
fortified opinons, drawing upon a vast fund of practical information and
being an intelligent conversationalist upon almost any topic presented.
As one of his friends said of him. "His knowledge would have made
a less modest man famous." He had the mental equipoise and mature
judgment that so invariably testify the Scottish race, and above all he
had a great soul and a heart attuned to deep human sympathy and tole
rance, so that he naturally gained the staunchest of friends in all classes
with which he came in contact. In politics he was a stalwart supporter
of the cause of the Republican party, and while he was loyal and public
spirited in his civic attitude he never consented to become a candidate
for public office of any order. He and his wife were most earnest and
zealous members of the First Presbyterian church, and of the same their
surviving children are likewise active members.
About the year 1884 Mr. McMaster purchased an attractive residence
on McDougall avenue, and he found much satisfaction in living on a
thoroughfare bearing so staunch a Scottish title. In this home, now
owned and occupied by his daughters, he passed the residue of his
long and earnest life, and there also his cherished and devoted wife
died, on the 23d of January, 1906, after having survived him for more
than a decade. The remains of both rest in Greenwood cemetery at
Birmingham, a few miles distant from Detroit, in which vicinity he
owned a valuable farm, though he never gave his personal attention to

934 HISTORY OF DETROIT
the operation of the same. Thus, greatly honored, beloved and highly
respected by all who knew him closed the earthly life of Mr. Robert
McMaster. The surviving son of Mr. and Mrs. McMaster, Mr. Henry McMaster,'
also resides in Detroit with his family, consisting of his wife, three sons
and a daughter.
Major George Clinton Hopper. Both the military service and the
railroad service demand the highest qualities of discipline, efficiency and
steadfast loyalty to duty on the part of all subordinates and officials.
It was the possession of these qualities that made the career of Major
George Clinton Hopper so distinguished in both these lines of service.
When, on November 30, 1909, he retired from active affairs he had
completed a thirty-six years' service as paymaster of the Michigan
Central Railroad system. He had begun as a clerk with this railroad
sixty-three years before, practically at the beginning of the railroad's
existence, and on the merit of his performance had been advanced to
one of the most responsible posts of the system.
The only interruption to his c,areer as a railroad man was his service
during the Civil war. In the army he displayed the virtues which
have gained laurels of fame and promotion in all ages. He fought
for his country three years, was several times wounded, commanded a
company and for a considerable time led his regiment, and came back
to civil life one of the most honored of Michigan's brave soldiers. Major
Hopper has passed his eightieth birthday, and most of his years have
been spent in Detroit, of whose citizenship he is one of the finest repre
sentatives. George Clinton Hopper was born at Jordan, Onondaga county,
New York, March 20, 1831. He was educated in the common schools of
Seneca county and in Waterloo Academy. When he was fourteen
years old he began working for his father, who was a railroad contractor
and at the time engaged in building a portion of the New York Central
& Hudson River Railroad, consisting of the portion called at that time
the Auburn & Rochester Railroad. A year later young Hopper came
to Michigan and began as a clerk with the Michigan Central, which
at that time was a railroad of only a small fraction of the mileage it now
contains and had not yet been extended to Chicago. After five years
as clerk he was promoted to the position of conductor, running between
Detroit and Chicago on the recently completed line connecting those
cities. He was a conductor on this line for ten years, and as a pioneer
railroad man of a pioneer railroad and the chief representative to
thousands of people in southern Michigan of the railroad as an institu
tion he became a familar and popular figure in all the territory traversed
by that line.
When the preliminary struggles between the north and the south
had proved that the war must be a conflict to the end and the country
must be put on a permanent war footing, Mr. Hopper left the railroad
and on August 19, 1861, was mustered in at Ann Arbor as first lieu
tenant in the First Regiment of the Michigan Infantry. The regiment
arrived in Washington on September 15th, and during ten weeks of
the following winter he did guard duty, in command of his company,
at Bladensburg and Annapolis Junction. In April, 1862, ordered to
Old Point Comfort, he participated in the advance on Norfolk and Ports
mouth and the reduction of those cities. On April 28th he was pro
moted to the rank of captain, and about June 20th he joined the Army of
the Potomac at Gaines' Mill. Six days later he was in the battle of
Mechanicsville, and in the fight at Gaines Mill on June 27th he was shot

HISTORY OF DETROIT 935
in the right side. This was his first wound and he was sent to Wash
ington to recuperate. Rejoining his regiment at Harrison 's Landing on
August 10th, he commanded his company, supporting General Averell
in a reconnaissance to the south side of James River, and had a fight
with the Confederate Cavalry. On August 29th he was on the skirmish
line in the second battle of Bull Run, and also on the 30th, while charg
ing the enemy, was shot through the right thigh and taken prisoner.
Being paroled on the field and sent to Washington, he was later exchang
ed and was able to rejoin his regiment on December 20, 1862. He was
in the "Mud March" on January 20th of the following year, and on
March 18th was promoted to the rank of major. At Chancellorsville
Major Hopper was three days under fire. He supported the cavalry at
Kelly's Ford and in its fight at Brandy Station on June 9th. On June
21st he joined General Vincent's brigade at Aldie Gap and fought the
enemy across the valley to Ashby Gap, and in his own, the First, brigade
was at Gettysburg on July 2nd and 3d. On August 20th he was detailed
as president of the board of examination for the promotion of non
commissioned officers of the First Division, Fifth Corps. On November
7th he took command of his regiment and led it during the Mine Run
campaign. He was in command of the skirmish line in its first advance,
May 5, 1864, on the road to Robinson's Tavern. On that day he was
hit by a spent ball and on the next day was struck by a piece of shell, but
continued in action. On the 8th he was engaged at Laurel Hill, and
on the night of the 10th was in a fight on the picket line. On the 24th he
participated at Jericho Ford, North Anna River, and on the 30th of
May was at Tolopotamy. Then succeeded Magnolia Swamp on June
1st, Bethesda Church, June 2nd and June 17th and 18th at Petersburg.
His last important engagement was the fighting on Weldon Railroad,
August 18th, 19th and 21st. On the 26th of September, 1864, with three
full years of arduous service to his credit, he resigned his commission and
left the army. As a soldier his lot was cast in the central scenes of the
war and in some of the greatest campaigns of history. He was one of
the rugged men who never surrendered to any of the physical infirmities
or the difficulties and dangers of outside circumstances, but with unflinch
ing fortitude pursued the path of duty wherever it led.
Returning to civil life, the former major of volunteers resumed his
place as conductor on the Michigan Central. Two years later he was
appointed agent at Jackson, Michigan, where he remained five years.
He was then promoted to assistant superintendent of the road, but
resigned this to take a place of equal responsibility, as paymaster of the
great trunk lines of the country. During his thirty-six years of active
service in this position he disbursed among the employes of the Michigan
Central system the enormous total of $214,411,949.84.
• Major Hopper has been for fifty years a member of the Zion Lodge
of Masons in Detroit, and occupies the honored place of life member of
the lodge. He is a member of the Michigan Commandery of the Loyal
Legion of the United States, in which he has officiated as commander and
junior vice commander. In the Detroit Post of the Grand Army he is a
member of the council and a past senior vice commander. He is one of
the active supporters of the Unitarian society at Edmond Place and
Woodward avenue.
Major Hopper's beautiful home is at 657 Cass avenue, one of the
aristocratic thoroughfares, of the city. On April 11, 1866, he was mar
ried at Newark, New Jersey, to Miss Martha Van Ness. Tliree children
have been born. Miss Kate A. lives at home. James S. is a clerk in
the pay car of the Michigan Central. William C, now deceased, married
Miss Frances O'Connell. His widow and one daughter, Frances

936 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Hopper, live at the Hopper home. Thus the Major and his wife were
comforted in their declining years by the presence of their children in
a happy home.
Thomas Cyrus Starret. Success in any field of endeavor, in any,
avenue of business, is not a matter of spontaneity but represents the con
crete result of the application of definite individual forces and the con
trolling of objective agencies in such a way as to achieve the desired
ends. Mr. Starret has realized a large and substantial success in the
business world and stands as the' architect of his own fortunes, so that
he well exemplified the truth of the foregoing statements. His course
has been marked by excellent initiative and administrative ability and
he has been progressive and energetic in the management of interests
which have reached the scope of importance. For a number of .years
past he has conducted an extensive enterprise in the buying, selling and
development of timber lands in various sections of the Union. As a man
of sterling character and as a loyal and public-spirited citizen he holds
secure place in the confidence and esteem of the community in which he
maintains his residence and business headquarters, and he is essentially
one of the representative business men of Detroit, where he maintains
his offices at 517 Hammond building.
Thomas C. Starret was born at Brampton, the chief town of Peel
county, province of Ontario, Canada, and the date of his nativity was
February 9, 1855. He is a son of Andrew and Fanny (Merigold) Star
ret, both of whom are now deceased, the father having devoted the
major part of his active career to contracting and lumbering. The
paternal grandfather of Thomas C. Starret was a Scotchman who re
moved from his native land to the north of Ireland and settled in county
Tyrone, where he continued to maintain his home until about the year
1813, when he immigrated to America, in company with his brothers,
who settled in Pennsylvania. He himself located in the Dominion of
Canada, where he passed the residue of his life. The maternal grand
father of him whose name initiates this review was of Welsh descent.
He removed from North Carolina to Canada at the time of the war of
the Revolution, as he was a loyalist and found himself practically per
sona non grata in the American colonies when the struggle for indepen
dence was initiated. He first settled at St. John's, New Brunswick,
whence he later removed to Merigold 's Point, on Lake Ontario, a locality
named in his honor.
Thomas C. Starret is indebted to the schools of his native province
for his early educational discipline, and in 1874, at the age of nineteen
years, he came to Michigan and located in Muskegon, where he secured
employment in tallying lumber for his brother Edgar Starret, who had
become actively identified with the lumber industry in that section of
the state. Later he held a clerical position' in the general store con
ducted by the lumber firm of Blodgett & Byrne at Holton, Muskegon
county, where he remained for two years in this capacity. In 1877 he
became bookkeeper and manager of the firm's saw mill at Holton, and
this incumbency he retained until 1880. In the following year he pur
chased the firm's mercantile business at that place and also bought a
saw mill in the immediate vicinity. He conducted the store and was
engaged in the manufacturing of lumber at Holton for three years, and
in the meanwhile he acquired a number of small tracts of pine land. In
1886 Mr. Starret removed to the city of Muskegon, where he served for

HISTORY OF DETROIT 937
a short time as bookkeeper in the main offices of the firm of Blodgett &
Byrne. In 1887 he became associated with the lumber firm of Hovey &
McCracken, with the operations of which he continued to be identified
for eight years. In 1888 he made a trip to Arkansas and in Ouachita
county, that state, he made extensive investments in pine timber. He
continued buying and selling pine lands on a small scale until 1895, in
the meanwhile having continued his association with the firm of Hovey
& McCracken, of Muskegon. He severed his connection with this con
cern in the year last mentioned and thereafter expanded materially his
individual operations in the buying and developing of pine lands in
Arkansas and Louisiana. He finally entered into partnership with
Horatio N. Hovey, one of his former employers, for the purpose of con
ducting operations upon a more extensive scale. In 1906 the firm of
Hovey & Starret purchased a large tract of timber land in Oregon, and
with the exploiting of lumber interests in that and other states Mr. Star
ret continues to be actively and prominently identified, with interests of
broad scope and importance. He maintains his business headquarters
in Detroit, as already noted, and has been a resident of the Michigan
metropolis since 1901. He was one of the principal stockholders in the
Simplex Automobile Company of Mishawaka, Indiana, before its reorgan
ization into the Amplex Motor Car Company. He is liberal and pro-
pressive in his civic attitude and takes a lively interest in all that tends
to further the industrial and social advancement of his home city, where
he is a valued member of that representative and progressive body, the
Detroit Board of Commerce. He holds membership in the Detroit Club,
the Rushmere Club and the Detroit Automobile Club. Concerning him the
following consistent statements have been made: "Mr. Starret is a man
of splendid business ability, is affable and democratic in bearing and in
the varied associations of life he is honored as a man of sterling integ
rity and fine ideals." In polities Mr. Starret is well fortified in his
opinions, and while he has had no desire for the honors or emoluments
of public office he is aligned as a staunch supporter of the principles
and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor. He is
opposed to the initiative and recall policy, especially as pertaining to
members of the judiciary, and otherwise has well maintained convictions
concerning matters of public import. He and his wife attend the First
Congregational church of Detroit and give due support to the various
departments of its work.
At Muskegon, Michigan, on the 2d of June, 1880, was solemnized the
marriage of Mr. Starret to Miss Delphene Anderson, who was born and
reared in this state and who is a daughter of John W. and Mary Stevens
Anderson. The families came from Long Island and Steuben county,
New York to Michigan in 1855. Mr. Anderson, now deceased, was a
merchant and postmaster at Holton, Michigan, for many years. Mr.
and Mrs. Starret have four children, concerning whom the follow
ing brief record is entered in conclusion of this review. Alza, who
was graduated in the University of Michigan as a member of the class
of 1903, is the wife of Dr. Charles Lewis Chambers, a representative
physician and surgeon of Detroit; Howard Andrew, the elder son, is a
graduate in the class of 1912 of Cornell University, at Ithaca, New York ;
John William is a member of the class of 1913 in Yale University ; and
Muriel is attending the Liggett school in Detroit.
Louis Bigelow. One of the well known merchants of Detroit dur
ing his lifetime was Louis Bigelow, a man of upright character and
keen business judgment who passed away in Detroit, February 24, 1902.
Born at Redford, Michigan, a small town near Detroit, in the month
of May. 1851, the son of William Carlus and Sarah (Prindle) Bigelow,
VoL m— 7

938 HISTORY OF DETROIT
he lived upon his parents' farm until he had finished school at Redford.
Coming to Detroit, he finished his education for a business career in Gold
smith 's Business College. After graduating therefrom he entered the
service of his brother, who was in the lumber business, in the capacity
of bookkeeper. Several years later he engaged in the grocery business
for himself on Cass street, where he continued to build up trade with
great success for eight years, when he was forced to sell out and retire
on account of ill health. Feeling stronger after a rest, he opened a
grocery store on Woodward avenue, near High street, which he con
tinued for three years, when he was again broken down in health, and
was once more forced to sell out and retire from active business. This
was the last effort he was able to make and he lived in retirement until
his death, in 1899. His remains rest in Woodmere cemetery.
Mr. Bigelow was never very active in politics, nor was he a great
lover of the lodge meeting nights, being content to spend his time with
his family under his own roof. He was an affectionate husband and
father. He was a member of the Baptist church. He was maried to
Miss Ida Helena Norton, a daughter of John and Helena (McCune)
Norton, early settlers of Detroit. Her father was one of the pioneer
grocery store keepers of this city. He was a prominent Democrat and
served as alderman many years ago. Her mother died on July 24, 1911,
aged ninety-one years. She was born in Belfast, Ireland. Mrs. Bigelow
was married in Detroit, March 26, 1876, and as a result of this union
three children were born: Mable Keir, who married Clayton Riley,
of Detroit; Grace Helena, who married Alexander Northwood, of De
troit, and is the mother of one child, Harold Galey ; and William Carlus,
of Detroit, all of whom were graduates of the Detroit high school.
Mrs. Bigelow was born in Detroit and has always lived here. She
and her children are all members of the Forest Avenue Presbyterian
church. She was, so to speak, born in the woods, at what is now Bagley
and Grand River avenues, in a small grocery store kept by her father.
It was then on the outskirts of the city and was surrounded by stretches
of timber. Charles Wardlow Norton. Of large proportions, mentally and
physically, it is doubtful if Detroit ever had within its borders a more
popular man, and justly so, than Charles W. Norton, the big hearted
grain broker, wit of the Board of Trade, generous friend and estimable
citizen, and when he died, February 18, 1901, it was a shock to the com
munity and a blow to his friends. "The characteristic by which Mr.
Norton was best known was his large-heartedness. ' ' This editorial com
ment of the Detroit Free Press, a single sentence taken from a long
article, expresses the feelings of every one who knew him. Continuing
the tribute, the article says :
"In the old days when his income was as high as that of rich men's
sons, he was free with his money, perhaps too free for the good of his
pocketbook. The poor and needy always met a ready affirmative when
they approached him with an appeal for assistance, and there is little
doubt that he was often imposed upon. He was in his element when
seated at table with a company of kindred spirits, telling stories and
singing songs, at both of which he was an adept. It was from this very
generosity and love of companionship, combined with his skill as an
entertainer, that his income from chartering vessels from this city to
lower lake ports with grain was due. Along the docks he knew all
about the grain schooners without exception, the men who owned them
and the men who sailed them. They all knew him, and liked him too,
and though he had rivals from time to time in the grain chartering busi-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 939
ness, they stood little chance of getting the business if ' Charlie ' wanted
it. "Probably his closest friend in the fifteen years before his death was
John Stevenson, the well known vessel owner and agent. Nature
seemed to have intended them for boon companions, and each sought
the other's company at every opportunity. Mr. Stevenson would get
up steam on his little propeller 'Hattie,' and give an outing to the
North Channel for 'Charlie.' The announcement of Mr. Norton's
death brought forth many expressions of sadness from the bulls and
bears whose associate he had been for many years. He was not a mem
ber of the Board of Trade but his close connection with the organization
for such a long time made him seem like one of them, so much so that a
special session was called by the president William Carson, and a com
mittee appointed to put into proper form the Board's sense of loss."
Mr. Norton was born in Detroit in 1848, the son of Captain John
Norton, one of the best known tug men of the lower lakes. He attended
the public schools of Detroit and graduated from the high school, later
learning to be a telegraph operator. After mastering this he established
an office on the river front as a marine reporter, where he listed the
vessels passages and all news of interest to mariners, for the Detroit
daily papers, and for papers published at other lake ports. At the
age of twenty-three he announced himself as a vessel agent, and this
business he followed almost to the time of his death, chartering vessels
to carry grain from Detroit to Lake Erie and Lake Ontario ports. This
at one time brought him a very large income. He was a versatile man;
in addition to his other accomplishments he was an amateur marine artist
and a fine singer. In the old St. Paul's church his noble voice was easily
the feature of the Sunday musical programs, while in parlor and at other
private concerts he was very eagerly sought after. He was naturally
proud of his gifts, but his income was so large he never sought to utilize
them for money making purposes.
He had a love romance in his early days, and his love was returned,
but parental influences kept the loving pair apart, thus a marriage was
never solemnized. He eventually foreswore the social circles in which
he was so popular, and for the remainder of his life associated only with
men, and thus never married. He loved his mother most dearly and
kept her company in their pretty Warren avenue home up to the time of
death. Mrs. Norton was, in turn, completely wrapped up in her son
and was always happiest when he was with her. This picture of love
between mother and. son was a delightful one to behold, and was an ex
cellent demonstration of his fine character.
Julius C. Clippert, M. D. In famous "Old Defray," now an in
tegral part of the city of Detroit, Dr. Clippert is engaged in the success
ful practice of his profession and merits recognition in this work as one
of the able and popular representatives of the medical fraternity in his
native city. He is a member of one of the honored German families of
Detroit and is a son of the late Conrad Clippert, who was a citizen of
prominence and influence, he having served as sheriff of Wayne county
and having been vice-president of the Central Savings Bank of Detroit
at the time of his death. He long maintained his home in the village of
Springwells, which is now included in the corporate limits of Detroit.
Dr. Julius Casper Clippert was born in Springwells, Wayne county,
on the 27th of June, 1876, and his early educational training was re
ceived in the public schools of that township and in the Central high
school of Detroit. In 1895 he received appointment as a cadet in the
United States Military Academy, at West Point, and he attended this

940 HISTORY OF DETROIT
institution for two years, at the expiration of which he resigned to turn
his attention to the study of medicine, after he had decided that a mili
tary career was not to his liking. He entered the Detroit College of
Medicine in 1897 and applied himself diligently to study, so that he
gained the maximum returns from his prescribed course, upon the con
clusion of which he was graduated, as a member of the class of 1901,
with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. During the major part of the
following year he served as interne in Harper Hospital, whose work and
facilities afforded him most valuable clinical experience and thus further
fortified him for the independent work of his chosen calling. In 1902
the Doctor began the general practice of his profession in the village of
Delray, in partnership with his elder brother, Dr. F. J. Clippert, and
since 1906 he has conducted an individual practice, with residence and
office at 2253 Jefferson avenue. He is one of the leading physicians and
surgeons in the Delray district and his practice is large and substantial,
the while he commands unqualified confidence and esteem in the com
munity. He holds membership in the American Medical Association,
the Michigan State Medical Society, and the Wayne County Medical
Society. Dr. Clippert is well known in his native city and here his circle of
friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances. Though manifest
ing naught of desire to enter the arena of practical politics, he is arrayed
as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republican party, and as a
citizen he is essentially loyal and public-spirited, taking deep interest in
all that concerns the fair old ' ' City of the Straits, ' ' which is endeared
to him by many gracious associations and memories. He is one of the
interested principals in the William Clippert Brick Manufacturing Com
pany, in which he is associated with his brothers. The Doctor has been
an appreciative student of the history and teachings of the time-honored
Masonic fraternity, in the York Rite of which he is affiliated with Zion
Lodge, No. 1, Free & Accepted Masons, and the Royal Arch Masons. He
has also attained to the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted
Scottish Rite, in which he is identified with Michigan Sovereign Con
sistory, and holds membership in Moslem Temple, Ancient Arabic Order
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He also has affiliation with local organi
zations of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of
Pythias. The Doctor still remains in the ranks of eligible bachelors.
Frank H. Bamlet. How greatly the destinies of human life hinge
upon the accidents of time and place was again shown in the tragic
and pitiable death of Frank H. Bamlet, a native son of Detroit, a
member of one of its old and honored families and himself numbered
among the city's representative business men. Proceeding to his beau
tiful summer place near Birmingham, Oakland county, on the evening
of the 20th of April, 1911, in the full strength of vigorous manhood
and with associations and conditions compassing all that makes life
worth living, he was cut down and instantly killed by a fast passenger
train of the Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railroad. The
newspaper account of the accident tells the story briefly in the follow
ing words, and between the lines may be read the sentiments expres
sive of the unintelligibility of the decrees of fate, and there may also
be seen the chalice of grief and bereavement from which the loved
ones were so suddenly called upon to drink deeply. The brief account
here reproduced appears in the Detroit Free Press: "Frank H. Bam
let, the Detroit real-estate man, owner of the Bamlet building and mem
ber of many social and business organizations, was instantly killed a
few minutes before seven o'clock last evening, on the Detroit, Grand

<^^^A^ /^<3ct^d&I-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 941
Haven and Milwaukee Railroad tracks, being struck by the Pan Amer
ican flyer, an east bound train. Mr. Bamlet had just alighted from a
suburban car and was on his way to his summer home, which is located
two miles out of Birmingham, when the accident occurred. The train
was traveling at full speed, and Mr. Bamlet was hurled a distance of
over two hundred feet, the impact being so violent that nearly every
bone in his body was broken. The members of his family were anx
iously awaiting his arrival at his home for dinner, as was the custom,
when the news of the awful accident was brought to them."
Well may we wish to turn from such a record to the more gracious
memories of the man as he was in life, — true and sincere and steadfast,
arfd it is to be hoped that all who knew and honored him will revert
to the latter picture rather than the former.
In the old family homestead which stood on the site of the present
large and modern Bamlet Building, at the southwest corner of Gris-
wold street and Grand River avenue, Frank H. Bamlet was born on
the 18th of April, 1860, the only child of George and Mary A. (Wells)
Bamlet, the former of whom was born in Michigan, and the latter in
England. Joseph Bamlet, grandfather of the subject of this memoir
was born and reared in England and became one of the pioneer settlers
of Detroit, where he took up his residence within a short time after his
immigration to America. When his son George was about one year old
he purchased the ground on which the present Bamlet Building stands
and there erected a small wooden building, the lower floor of which was
utilized by him for a mercantile establishment, while the upper floor
was arranged for the family home. Joseph Bamlet was one of the
representative business men of Detroit in the early days and here both
he and his wife continued to reside until their death. George Bamlet
was reared near Greenville, Michigan, and for many years was identi
fied with its various interests. He served for a score of years as a
clerk. in the postoffice and lived virtually retired during the last twenty
years of his life. On the site of the old home and store he erected a
four story brick block, and about 1894 his son Frank H. erected on
the same site the present substantial Bamlet Building, which is six
stories in height and is used for store and office purposes. Thus three
generations of the family have been represented in the improving of
this valuable property which is located in the business center of Detroit.
George Bamlet was a citizen of sterling character and ever commanded
secure place in popular esteem in the city which was his home during
his entire life.
Frank H. Bamlet received his early educational discipline in the
public schools of Detroit and thereafter prosecuted the study of law
under the preceptorship of William Howell, one of the leading mem
bers of the Detroit bar. His tastes were not in harmony with the dry
formularies of the law, however, and he never engaged in practice.
He turned his attention to business activities, in connection with which
he eventually became a prominent and influential factor in his native
city. At the age of twenty-two years he assumed charge of his fathers
estate, and for a time he was also engaged in the jewelery business, when
a young man.
It was in the domain of real-estate operations that Mr. Bamlet
gained his maximum success and prestige, and along this line of enter
prise he did much to further the civic and material progress of De
troit, his operations becoming broad in scope and importance. He was
especially active and successful in the development of the northern sec
tion of Detroit, now recognized as one of the most beautiful residence
districts of the city, and he also assisted materially in the upbuilding of

942 HISTORY OF DETROIT
what is locally designated as the west end of the city. In the buying
and selling of local realty he was one of the most prominent dealers in
the Michigan metropolis. He erected many dwellings on Fourth Ave
nue. In the same year in which he built the Bamlet Block he erected
his beautiful family residence, at 2420 Woodward avenue, where his
widow still maintains her home.
Alert, far sighted and progressive, Mr. -Bamlet identified himself
with numerous enterprises which have contributed to the industrial
and civic advancement of Detroit, and no citizen could have been more
thoroughly loyal and public spirited. About the year 1891 he severed
his connection with the Mowett Heating Company, in which he had
been the principal stockholder, and of the business of which he had en
tire supervision for some time, this concern having been engaged in
the manufacture of the Mowett Heater. He was also interested with
his cousin, John Post, in the wholesale millinery business in the city
of Chicago. His country home is one of the most beautiful in that sec
tion of Oakland county that has gained so many summer recruits from
Detroit, and he took great pride and satisfaction in the improving and
embellishing of this estate.
In politics Mr. Bamlet accorded unswerving allegiance to the Repub
lican party, and while his eligibility for public offices of trust was well
recognized he never consented to become a candidate for such prefer
ments, with the sole exception of that of member of the Detroit board
of estimates, a position of which he continued the incumbent for two
years. His many friends frequently endeavored to prevail upon him
to become a candidate for other city offices, including that of mayor,
but he invariably refused such overtures. The intrinsic modesty of
the man was further shown by his refusal to accept official preferment
in any of the numerous fraternal bodies and social organizations with
which he became identified. Genial, frank and unassuming, generous,
and kindly in all the relations of life, he gained friends in all classes,
and of these the circle was coincident with that of his acquaintances.
He loved Detroit and was ever ready to lend his influence and co-oper
ation in the support of measures and enterprises projected for the
general good of the community. Mr. Bamlet was a member of the
Central Methodist Church, as is also his widow, and he served as a mem
ber of its board of trustees. The news of the tragic death of Mr. Bamlet
caused a feeling of personal bereavement to his wide circle of friends,
and the entire community was grieved and shocked when he passed
away in the very prime of his manhood and usefulness.
In the Masonic fraternity Mr. Bamlet was affiliated with Oriental
Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; King Cyrus Chapter, Royal Arch
Masons; Detroit Commandery, Knights Templar; and Moslem Temple,
Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He was
an active member of the Detroit Board of Commerce and was in full
sympathy with its high civic ideals and productive activities. He
also held membership in the Detroit Real Estate Board, the Wayne
Club and in a number of the representative clubs of his native city.
Only as through a veil can one outside of the ideal home circle re
alize the poignancy of loss and bereavement that his death entailed to
those nearest and dearest to him, and the greatest measures of consol
ation and reconciliation must come to them in the loving memories of
what he was in the gracious associations of the home. In the city of
Lansing, Michigan, on the 29th of March, 1882, was solemnized the
marriage of Mr. Bamlet to Miss Hattie A. Shank, who was born in
Cayuga county, New York, and who is a daughter of John and Mary
J. Brundage Shank, both likewise natives of the old Empire state.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 943
The mother of Mrs. Bamlet died in New York state and when the latter
was a child of eight years her father removed to Michigan. Mr. Shank
became one of the representative citizens and influential business men
of Michigan's capital city, but for the last ten years of his life he re
sided in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Of his children one son and three
daughters are now living. These children are: Wallace Shank, now
living in Portland, Oregon ; Jennie is the wife of J. M. Ashmer, of Buf
falo, New York; and Jessie Maude married Thomas F. Reid of Milwau
kee, Wisconsin. Mrs. Bamlet has been during her married life a val
ued factor in connection with the social activities of Detroit, and her
popularity is of unequivocal order. She is active in the work of the
Central Methodist Episcopal church, and she is a valued member of
the Twentieth Century Club and the North Woodward Avenue Woman's
Club. In conclusion of this brief memoir is entered record concerning the
children of Mr. and Mrs. Bamlet : Mary Mabel died in 1907, at the age
of twenty -three years; George F. remains with his widowed mother
and has assumed the management of his father's large business inter
ests; Maude E. is the wife of Harry Britmeyer, of Detroit, a son of
Philip Britmeyer, former mayor of the city and one of its prominent
business men; Stanley J. remains at home and is associated with his
elder brother in the handling of the business affairs of the family es
tate; and Vida B. is attending Mary Newman's private school.
Alexander G. Comstock. Genealogical research is of enduring
value in its concrete results, whether in a specific or general sense, and
in the midst of the boundless activities and electrical progress of the
present century there should not be failure to make record of and to
appreciate the worthy lives and worthy deeds of those who have left from
the past so gracious a heritage. The true American has every reason
to take pride if it is permitted him to claim ancestral identification with
the history of our republic through several generations and to trace the
records of those of his line who have done well their part in furthering
the civic and material progress of the nation. Of such appreciation is
the deepest patriotism begotten, and of such gracious heritage he whose
name initiates this article is the recipient. He is a scion of a family
whose name has been identified with the annals of American history since
the early colonial days, when its original representative in the new world
came from England and established a home in New England, that cradle
of so much of our national history. He himself has honored the name
which he bears, through very worthy and appreciable accomplishment,
and he has maintained his home in Michigan for nearly a half a century,
during the major portion of which period he has been a resident of De
troit, where he gained secure prestige as one of the representative mem
bers of the bar of the state and where he is now devoting his attention to
his numerous capitalistic and business interests having virtually retired
from the work of his profession, in connection with which he was known
as a good lawyer and honest counselor.
Alexander Griswold Comstock is a representative of one of the
sterling pioneer families of the old Empire state of the Union and is
himself a native of that commonwealth. He was born at Volney, Oswego
county, New York, on the 22d of June, 1840, and is a son of Charles and
Mary (Griswold) Comstock, the former of whom was born near Water-
town, Jefferson county, that state, and the latter of whom was a native
of Great Barrington,, Berkshire county, Massachusetts. Serajah Com
stock, the paternal grandfather of Alexander G. Comstock, was born in
the state of Connecticut and was a gallant and patriotic soldier in the

944 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Continental line during the entire course of the war of the Revolution.
He immigrated to the state of New York in an early day and became one
of the pioneer settlers of Jefferson county. He was a man of prominence
and influence in his community and both he and his wife continued to
reside in New York until their death. Mary (Griswold) Comstock was
a daughter of Rev. Samuel Griswold, who was an able and honored cler
gyman of the Protestant Episcopal church, in which he continued his
ministrations for many years, with all of his consecrated zeal and devo
tion.. He passed the closing years of his life at Volney, New York, and
passed to his reward in the fullness of years and well earned honors.
His brother, Rt. Rev. Alexander Veits Griswold, bishop of the diocese of
Massachusetts, was at one time presiding bishop of the general conven
tion of the Protestant Episcopal church of the United States. Repre
sentatives of the Griswold family attained to marked distinction in pub
lic affairs in Ne'w England in the early days, and members of the family
served as governors of various states of that historic section of the Union.
Charles and Mary (Griswold) Comstock became the parents of only one
child, the subject of this review, and the latter was but an infant at the
time of the death of his mother, in 1842. The father long survived her
and early removed to the city of Chicago, Illinois, where the greater part
of his active career was one of close identification with the grain and
commission trade, as one of the prominent and influential members of
the Chicago Board of Trade. He established his home at Evanston, one
of the most beautiful suburbs of the western metropolis, and there his
death occurred in 1895, at the venerable age of eighty years. He was a
man of great business acumen and sterling character and he acumu-
lated a substantial fortune within the course of his long and worthy
business career, and at the time of his death was senior warden of St.
Mark's (Episcopal) church at Evanston and had held that position for
thirty-four years.
As already intimated, Alexander G. Comstock was but two years of
age at the time of the death of his mother, and he was reared to adult
age in the home of his maternal grandfather, Rev. Samuel Griswold, who
was at the time a retired clergyman of the Episcopal church. After
completing the curriculum of the public schools Mr. Comstock continued
his studies in Falley Seminary, at Fulton in his native county, and in
1860 he was matriculated in Hobart College, at Geneva, New York, an
institution which was founded in 1824 and which is conducted under
the auspices of the Protestant Episcopal church. He continued his
studies in this college only one year, at the expiration of which he was
compelled to leave the same on account of the death of his grandfather,
Rev. Samuel Griswold, the affairs of whose estate demanded his atten
tion. Within a short time thereafter Mr. Comstock engaged in the
clothing business at Oswego, New York, and in that city he gained his
initial discipline in the reading of law, as he there studied under the
effective preceptorship of Judge Churchill, a representative legist and
jurist of that section of the Empire state. He continued to reside at
Oswego until 1865, in which year he disposed of a portion of his cloth
ing stock and removed the remainder to Holly, Oakland county, Mich
igan, where he continued in the same line of enterprise. In the follow
ing year he was given evidence of popular confidence and esteem in his
new home community, in that he was elected justice of the peace, an
office of which he continued the incumbent for four years. He was
then elected county clerk of Oakland county, as candidate on the Demo
cratic ticket, and in assuming the duties of this office he forthwith re
moved to Pontiac, the judicial center of the county. At the expiration
of his term of two years he was renominated on the ticket of his party,

HISTORY OF DETROIT 945
but as this was the year of Horace Greeley's campaign for the presi
dency, as candidate on the Democratic and liberal Republican ticket,
with consequent disruption of normal partisan lines, Mr. Comstock met
defeat, with the remainder of his party ticket.
During his residence in Holly and while serving as justice of the
peace at that place Mr. Comstock had resumed the reading of law, in
which also he gained valuable experience through the work devolving
upon him in his magisterial position. In 1872, at Pontiac, he was ad
mitted to the bar of his adopted state, and in the following year he came
to Detroit, where he has maintained his home during the long interven
ing period. Here he entered into a professional partnership with Hon.
Levi B. Taft, and this alliance continued about one year, the severance
of the mutually agreeable relations occurring when Mr. Taft was ap
pointed to fill a vacancy on the bench of the circuit court of Oakland coun
ty, where he had his residence on a farm near Birmingham. Thereafter
Mr. Comstock conducted an individual practice of general order until a
partial interruption was caused by his election as justice of the peace,
in 1875, for a term of four years, and by two years incumbency of the
office of deputy sheriff of Wayne county, under George Stellwagon. In
1886 the representative law firm of Moore & Moore, of Detroit, extended
to Mr. Comstock an invitation to become connected with their large and
important legal business, and in accepting this overture, he continued
to be identified with -this well known firm for the following decade.
Soon after the death of his father, which occurred in September, 1895,
Mr. Comstock found it expedient to retire from the active work of his
profession and assume the supervision of his share of his father's very
appreciable estate, as well as to attend to his own large and constantly
expanding business interests, which have since engrossed the major
part of his time and attention. While actively engaged in the practice
of his profession Mr. Comstock figured prominently in many important
litigations in the state and federal courts and numbered among his
clients some of the most important corporations in Detroit. He has a
broad and exact knowledge of the science of jurisprudence and has had
wide and varied experience as a man of affairs, in which connection he
has shown exceptional executive and administrative ability. Though
he has now passed the psalmist's span of three score years and ten he
has abounding vitality and unimpaired mental energy, so that he puts to
blush the years which are tallied to his credit. Not only has he the heri
tage of strong and virile ancestry but his own life has been marked by
right living, so that it is not strange that the years rest lightly upon his
head. It has been stated in an earlier paragraph that his agnatic line
age is traced back to English origin, and it may further be said that his
ancestors on the maternal side were of Holland-Dutch extraction, the
Griswold family having been founded in Virginia in the early colonial
epoch of our national history.
In politics Mr. Comstock has been an independent though leaning to
wards the Democratic party, of whose generic principles and policies he
formerly was an effective advocate, and both he and his wife are most
earnest and zealous communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church,
in which they are members of the fine parish of St. John 's church, at the
corner of Woodward avenue and High street. Mr. Comstock is affiliated
with the time-honored Masonic fraternity and the Sons of the American
Revolution, and Mrs. Comstock holds membership in the Mount Vernon
Society, which was organized many years ago and through the efforts of
which the beautiful old homestead of George Washington was preserved
to the nation against the encroachment of the years. Mr. Comstock is a
man of fine intellectuality, without bigotry or intolerance, and in the var-

946 HISTORY OF DETROIT
ious relations of life he has eyer shown forth a deep and abiding human
sympathy, as well as a high sense of his stewardship, his course having
been guided and governed by inviolable integrity and honor. Broad-
minded and public-spirited, he has proved a loyal and valuable citizen
and has shown a lively interest in all that has tended to advance the
social and material prosperity of the crty in which he has so long main
tained his home, the while both he and his wife, a woman of most grac
ious personality, have given their support to those agencies that con
serve the uplifting and benefiting of human kind. Their attractive
home, at 573 Cass avenue, has long been recognized as a center of re
fined and generous hospitality,' and in the community their circle of
friends is coincident with that of their acquaintances.
At Oswego, New York, on the 30th of April, 1862, was solemnized the
marriage of Mr. Comstock to Miss Clara Miller, who was born in that
city in August, 1846, and who is a daughter of John D. and Catherine
(Gettman) Miller. Her father was long an influential and honored cit
izen of Oswego, where he was engaged in contracting and building, and
both he and his wife passed the closing years of their lives in Oswego.
Mrs. Comstock is a woman of fine social qualities and is a popular factor
in connection with the representative social activities of Detroit. In
addition to many other accomplishments she is a talented artist, and
many fine works from her brush and palette adorn the walls of the fam
ily home and many other homes in Detroit. Mr. and Mrs. Comstock
became the parents of two children, both of whom died in infancy.
Bernard 0 'Grady. More than half a century ago Bernard 0 'Grady
established his home in Detroit and he became a prominent and influ
ential factor in connection with business enterprises of important order,
the while he exemplified the utmost civic loyalty and public spirit and
was held in unqualified esteem in the city that so long represented
his home. His sterling character and his worthy services as a citizen
of the Michigan metropolis 'render it most consistent to accord in this
history of the city a brief tribute to his memory.
Bernard 0 'Grady was born at Shelburne, . Chittenden county, Ver
mont, on the 17th of April, 1828, and his death occurred at the home
of his brother, Judge James 0 'Grady, at Houghton, Michigan, on the
18th of August, 1871. He was the fifth son of Irish parents, both
of whom were born in Queen's county, Ireland. The parents immi
grated from the Emerald Isle to America in the latter part of the second
decade of the nineteenth century and landed at Prince Edward's Is
land, Canada. The father was not successful in securing profitable
employment and the family returned to Ireland, but a year later,
prompted by the restlessness that took possession of them, they made
another start for the new world and located in Vermont, where the
father, John 0 'Grady, secured employment in connection with the con
struction of the Vermont Central Railroad. After this line was com
pleted he secured work by the day, in the employ of Ezra Meech, a
wealthy farmer who resided south of Shelburne. John 0 'Grady's five
sons began their education in the village school at Shelburne, and after
the father purchased a farm two miles nearer the city of Burlington,
where the University of Vermont is located, each of the sons became,
in turn, a student in that institution. For their position and means
all were generously educated.
Bernard 0 'Grady's initial experience in connection with practical
business affairs was gained as an employe in a hotel conducted by one
of his elder brothers in New York City. They kept the old Stevens

HISTORY OF DETROIT 947
House, at the Battery, and there were congregated hosts of persons
distinguished in professional and commercial walks of life.
In 1854, when about twenty-eight years of age, Bernard 0 'Grady
came to Detroit, where he first secured employment in the forwarding
house of F. M. Van Sicklen & Company, in which William Catlin was
the silent partner. A year or two later Mr. 0 'Grady became one of
the interested principals in the firm of John G. Erwin & Company,
at the foot of First street, and at a later date the firm became known
as Whiting & 0 'Grady. There were at that time no railroads penetra
ting the Lake Superior country and a fortune was to be gained in a
brief time through handling of supplies by transportation on the lakes —
the only means of transferring such commodities. Whiting & 0 'Grady
were agents for one of the largest fleets of lake vessels, and through
his well directed operations Mr. 0 'Grady accumulated a goodly sum.
This was during the progress of the Civil war, and as he had little
confidence in the ability of the government to bring the rebellion to a
successful close he was led to make large investments in goods, at in
flated values, with the result that he met with heavy financial losses.
In 1866 he retired from the forwarding business and became agent for
the Merchant's Dispatch Transportation Company. Later he assumed
the agency for the St. Louis Insurance Company, and at the time of his
death he was agent for the South Pewabic mine, at Houghton, Michigan.
On the 23d of February, 1857, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
O 'Grady to Miss Adelia E. Harrington, of Shelburne, Vermont. She
was a granddaughter of Benjamin Harrington, who, in 1788, purchased
from the government the land on which the village of Shelburne now
stands. He added farm to farm and became a rich man, leaving an
appreciable inheritance to each of his ten children. Mrs. Harrington
was the daughter of his youngest son, Henry Harrington. To Mr.
and Mrs. 0 'Grady were born six children, concerning whom the fol
lowing brief record is entered: Clara Horton died in infancy; Henry,
the only son, died a few days before his twenty-second birthday anni
versary; Jane A. became the wife of Grosvenor A. Carrington, in 1883,
and she survived him, her death occurring in 1892; Misses Mary E.
and Margaret 0 'Grady reside in Detroit; and Frances 0 'Grady is the
wife of Charles William Picard, of Detroit, and they have three sons —
Russell Grosvenor, Charles Harrington and Edward Dewey.
The social life of Detroit in Mr. 0 'Grady's time was a happy one.
Associated, as he was, with the Detroit Board of Trade, in which he
was an active member in the truest sense, he entered heartily into
every movement made by that body, along either commercial or finan
cial lines, and his support was given to all measures and enterprises
tending to advance the material and civic welfare of his home city.
When an informal affair was given for the benefit of the state industrial
school he always did his share of the entertaining, having a wealth
of Irish melodies and folklore, taught by a mother who was more than
ordinarily well informed in literary matters for a woman of seventy-
five years ago. She was not of the peasant class and had secured a
number of standard books, religious and historical, as well as the works
of the leading English poets. It was considered a privilege by the vil
lage youths of Shelburne, Vermont, to be asked at evening to pass
an hour or more with her and her family, for the purpose of hearing
her read Shakespeare or recite from Byron or Tom Moore. Her sons
inherited her prodigious memory and were able to recite whole chapters
of favorite books. Judge James 0 'Grady, the second son of the family,
had the same gift in a legal way. Mr. 0 'Grady was a staunch Demo
crat, and served for a short period as alderman of the old first ward.

948 HISTORY OF DETROIT
As has already been stated, Bernard 0 'Grady passed away at the home
of his brother, in Houghton, Michigan, on the 18th of August, 1871.
His cherished and devoted wife survived him by more than thirty years
and was a resident of Detroit at the time of her death, which oceured
on the 15th of August, 1903. She was a woman of most gracious pres
ence and possessed a charity that prompted her not only to give but
to share with any one in need. Her memory is revered by all who came
within the compass of her gentle influence. The remains of both Mr.
and Mrs. 0 'Grady find resting places in beautiful Elmwood cemetery,
in Detroit. Mr. 0 'Grady was reared in the faith of the Catholic church, in
which his father had belonged and to which his mother had been con
verted. He withdrew as a communicant of the church when he was still
a young man and for many years he was affiliated with the Masonic
fraternity. His funeral was conducted under the auspices of the Masons,
and at the time of his death the Detroit Board of Trade passed the fol
lowing resolutions:
Whereas, It has pleased an All-wise Providence to remove by death ¦
Bernard 0 'Grady, for many years a member of this association, therefore,
Resolved, That in the death of Mr. 0 'Grady we mourn the loss of one
who possessed the most genial qualities and many noble traits of char
acter, a manliness that impressed itself upon all within the circle in which
he moved; a fortitude which no reverse could conquer; a faithfulness
which never forsook a friend nor forgot a favor ; a charity circumscribed
by no conventional boundaries of party or sect.
Resolved, That we tender the family of our deceased friend our heart
felt sympathy, and humbly trust that ' ' He who tempers the wind to the
shorn lamb" will be their stay and comfort in this dark hour of their
affliction. Resolved, That we will attend the funeral in a body, and that, as a
further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, this board will
now adjourn.
Robert A. Jamieson, M. D. Prominent among those who have lent
dignity and distinction to the medical profession in the state of Michigan
and city of Detroit was the late Dr. Robert Andrus Jamieson, who was
here engaged in active practice for more than forty years and who left
a benignant impress on the community, both as a citizen of the highest
character and as a physician and surgeon of exceptional ability. Duty
was the inspiration of his life and from its noble course he never wavered
in the least, the while he labored with. all of zeal and ability in the allevia
tion of human suffering and for otherwise the aiding and uplifting of
his fellow men. His character and his services constitute his most
enduring monument, and it is most consonant that in this history of
the city in which he so long maintained his home should be entered a
tribute to his memory and brief record of his earnest career as one of
the essentially representative physicians and surgeons of the state.
Dr. Jamieson was of staunch Scotch- American lineage and was born
at Brock, province of Ontario, Canada, on the 16th of June, 1843, his
death occurring at his beautiful home in Detroit, on the 9th of August,
1910, after an illness of several months' duration. He was a son of
Rev. Andrew and Lois (Andrus) .Jamieson. The father was for more
than forty years a missionary among the Indians and passed much of
this time on Walpole Isle, in the St. Clair River. He was a clergyman
of the Episcopal church and was a man of deep piety and self-abnega
tion, consecrating his life to the noble work which so long engrossed his
time and attention. Both he and his wife continued to reside in the

HISTORY OF DETROIT 949
Dominion of Canada a great many years, finally removing to Algonac.
Dr. Jamieson ever referred with reverent affection to his devoted and
loved parents, the major part of his early educational discipline having
been received under the instruction of his father, who was a man of
fine intellectual attainments. His academic training was supplemented
by a course in McGill University, in the city of Montreal, in which he
was graduated, and in 1866 he was graduated from the medical depart
ment of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he received his
well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. He ever continued a close
and appreciative student of medical science and thus kept in close touch
with the advances made in medicine and surgery. ,He served his pro
fessional novitiate and in 1870 he came to Detroit, where he continued
in active practice during the residue of his long and useful life. He
built up a specially large and representative practice and he subordi
nated all else to the demands of his profession, of whose best learning
and highest ethics he was a distinguished exponent. He served for a
number of years as professor of clinical medicine in the Detroit College
of Medicine, of whose faculty he was one of the most honored and
valued members at the time of his demise. His very character was cast
in a staunch and noble matrix and he was large of heart and large of
mind, so that he naturally gained and retained the high regard of those
with whom he came in contact in the various relations of life. When
the "silver cord was loosed" and he passed to eternal rest there was
sorrow in many hearts, and those to whom he had ministered as family
physician for many years felt that they had lost a guide, counselor and
friend. Dr. Jamieson was identified with the American Medical Asso
ciation, the Michigan State Medical Society and the Wayne County
Medical Society, in the activities of each of which he took a deep inter
est, as did he also in the affairs of the Detroit Medical Library Associa
tion, with which he was identified from the time of its organization and
to whose work and facilities he made generous contributions. He served
on the medical staff of St. Luke's hospital and also on that of St. Mary's
hospital, the latter a Catholic institution. He was for many years
state medical examiner for the Ancient Order of United 'Workmen, of
which fraternal order he was a prominent and influential member. He
was one of the charter members of the Quarter Century Club, whose
organization has now lapsed, the personnel of its membership having
been made up of physicians who had been engaged in the practice of
their profession in Detroit for twenty-five years or more.
Broad-minded, .loyal and public spirited as a citizen, Dr. Jamieson
gave his support to those agencies that make for moral, educational and
general civic advancement, and while he never had any desire to enter
the arena of practical politics, he was known as a staunch advocate of
the principles and policies of the Republican party. The only municipal
office he ever held was that of city physician, of which he was the in
cumbent for several years. A thorough and consistent churchman and
a man whose reverence for the spiritual verities was of the deepest
order, Dr. Jamieson was a zealous communicant of the Protestant Epis
copal church, as are also the surviving members of his family, and his
faith was one of good works. In the earlier years of his residence in
Detroit he was superintendent of the Sunday-school of St. Mary's parish,
but he later transferred his membership to St. John's church, at Wood
ward avenue and High street, in whose various activities he took a
prominent part. He was a member of the Men's Club of this parish
for many years and was specially earnest in bringing young men into
the church, besides otherwise aiding them with wise admonition and
counsel. The funeral of Dr. Jamieson was held from St. John's church

950 HISTORY OF DETROIT
and a large assemblage of citizens of all classes attested to the affection
and esteem in which he was held in the community. His remains were
interred in Woodlawn cemetery. His heart was attuned to sympathy
and he virtually consecrated his life to the service of his fellow men,
being ever mindful of those "in any ways afflicted, or distressed, in
mind, body or estate."
On the 22d of April, 1875, was solemnized the marriage of Dr.
Jamieson to Miss Emma L. Thompson, who was born in the city of
Liverpool, England, whence her parents, Joseph M. and Mary (Jervis)
Thompson, came to America in 1852. They were for many years resi
dents of Detroit, where they died, the father having been a representa
tive business man of this city and for many years secretary of the
Woodmere Cemetery Association. Mrs. Jamieson has been a resident
of Detroit from her girlhood days and has long been a prominent and
popular figure in its representative social activities. She resides in a
beautiful home at 147 Park street, the residence having been erected
by her husband about the year 1893. In conclusion is entered brief
record concerning the children of Dr. and Mrs. Jamieson: Mary J.
is the wife of Dr. J. J. Delbridge, a representative physician of Detroit,
and they have two children — Helen and Alice; Louisa A. is the wife
of William Duncan, of this city, and they have two children — Louisa
and Robert; Dr. Robert C, who was graduated in the Detroit College
of Medicine, and who is well upholding the prestige of the family name
in the work of his profession, is engaged in practice in Detroit and he
married Miss Carolina Poppleton; and Andrew J.,' who remains with
his widowed mother, was graduated in the University of Michigan as a
civil engineer, to which profession he is now giving his attention.
Arthur C. Lee, M. D., is a native son of Michigan and a represen
tative of families whose names have been identified with the annals of
this commonwealth since the early pioneer epoch in its history. His
paternal grandfather, Horatio Lee, was one of the prominent and in
fluential pioneers of Oakland county, where he established his home
upon his immigration from his native state of Vermont and where he
reclaimed a farm from the wilderness, as did also the Doctor's mater
nal grandfather, John Waters, who was a native of the state of New
York. Dr. Arthur Chalmers Lee was born in the village of Franklin, Oak
land, county, Michigan, on the 28th of April, 1868, and is a son of
Volney H. and Cornelia M. (Waters) Lee, both of whom were likewise
born and reared in that county, with the civic and material development
and progress of which both families have been prominently concerned.
Volney H. Lee became the owner of a fine landed estate in Royal Oak
township, Oakland county, and was one of the leading exponents of
the basic industry of agriculture in that favored section of the state.
He was a man of sterling attributes of character, commanded unqualified
confidence and esteem in his native county and was an influential fac
tor in public affairs of a local order. He was called upon to serve in
various township offices, including that of supervisor, and was ever
ready to lend his influence and co-operation in the support of measures
and enterprises advanced for the general good of the community. His
political allegiance was given to the Democratic party and both he and
his wife held membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. They
continued to reside in Oakland county until their death, the father hav
ing passed away in November, 1910, at the age of seventy-two years,
and the devoted wife. and mother having been summoned to the life

6L. &.6^r^y

HISTORY OF DETROIT 951
eternal in July, 1908, at the age of seventy years. Of their children
two sons only are living.
The public schools of his native county afforded Dr. Lee his prelim
inary educational advantages, which included the curriculum of the
Birmingham high school, in which he was graduated in the spring of
1889. A youth of definite ambition and clearly formulated plans for
a future career, Dr. Lee set vigorously to the work of preparing him
self for the exacting profession in which he has achieved so marked suc
cess and prestige. In the autumn of the same year in which he was
graduated in the high school at Birmingham he was matriculated in the
Detroit College of Medicine, and in this admirable institution he was
graduated as a member of the class of 1893, with the coveted degree of
Doctor of Medicine. During his senior year in the college he also served
as apothecary and interne in Harper Hospital, and his special ability
along professional lines even thus early received distinctive recogni
tion, as he held the position of medical director of the Harper Hospital
polyclinic in 1894-5 and during a part of the year 1896. In the mean
while he instituted the private practice of his profession in the year of
his graduation, and his success has been cumulative, as he has exempli
fied full and accurate knowledge of the sciences of medicine and surg
ery and marked facility in the application of this knowledge in a prac
tical and beneficent way. His practice is of general order and is widely
disseminated, as it is based on a well earned reputation for skill and
discrimination and for that broad human sympathy which transcends
mere sentiment to become an actuating motive in the relief of suffering
and distress. In the early years of his practice, Dr. Lee maintained his
home and office at 175 Field avenue, and from this location he removed
to his present fine, modern residence at 455 Helen avenue, which he
erected in 1908 and where he also has his well equipped and handsomely
appointed office. Dr. Lee is well known in his profession and as a cit
izen of marked progressiveness and public spirit, the while his wide
circle of friends attest his sterling personal' qualities. He is a mem
ber of the American Medical Association, the Michigan State Medical
Society and the Wayne County Medical Society. In the Masonic fra
ternity he is affiliated with Detroit Lodge, No. 2, Free and Accepted
Masons; Michigan Sovereign Consistory of the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite, in which he has received the thirty-second degree, and
a member of Moslem Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the
Mystic Shrine. He also holds membership in the Independent Order of
Foresters, the Knights of the Maccabees and other fraternal orders. He
is a member of the Detroit Yacht Club and avails himself appreciat
ively of the manifold attractions of the beautiful Detroit river. A
citizen of high civic ideals, he takes a deep interest in all that touches
the welfare of his home city, and is found arrayed as a stalwart sup
porter of the cause of the Republican party; he was a member of the
school board from 1905 to 1909.
On the 4th of April, 1899 Dr. Lee was united in marriage to Miss
Beatrice Crawford, of Detroit, and they have a fine little son, Volney
Chalmers Lee, who was born on the 15th day of May, 1901.
James McDonnell. For thirty-six years a member of the Detroit
police and for the past sixteen years captain of the detectives, James
McDonnell's career in this city has had sufficient service and incident
to make it noteworthy and deserving of record in the history of Detroit.
But for a number of years previous to the time he joined the "force"
he lived in the midst of scenes and activities that have furnished mate
rial for thousands of pages in the history of the country, comprising

952 HISTORY OF DETROIT
an era of eventfulness that can never happen again in the life of this
nation. Few men now living have seen and acted among such varied
scenes as Mr. McDonnell. He has spent nearly fifty years in what may
properly be termed the military service of the country, for the city police
is no less a soldier than one who fights in company and regiment and
spends his time in barracks and tented fields.
Captain McDonnell is a Canadian by birth and of Irish parentage.
He was born at Hamilton, Ontario, September 6, 1845, a son of Michael
and Rose (Carolan) McDonnell. His father came to Philadelphia at
an early age, but on account of illness returned to Ireland, where he
married, and then returned to this country with his bride, settling in
Hamilton, Ontario, and in later years moving to Detroit. James is
the third of six children, three sons and three daughters. His early
education was obtained in the public schools at Hamilton.
One day in the summer of 1862, when he was seventeen years old,
he went sailing as member of the crew of a schooner that landed at
Oswego, New York. This was the first stage in a long wandering that
continued many years before he returned to the old home. From Oswego
he went on to Albany, and there on the 13th of October, 1862, he enlisted
in the One Hundred and Seventy-fifth New York Volunteers, under
Colonel M. J. Bryan and Major Gray. From Albany to Camp Scott
on Staten Island, where they were attached to Corcoran 's Irish Legion,
and thence in November to the front, they arrived at Newport News.
In January following his company was sent to New Orleans to join
the other companies of his regiment. A full-rigged sailing vessel, the
"Wm. Woodberry of Portland," was the means of transportation. A
fierce storm drove the vessel into the West Indies, and it was thirty-
three days before the thirteen hundred soldiers on board were landed
at New Orleans. On April 13, 1863, he participated with his company
in its first battle, and was in the thickest of the fighting at the siege
of Port Hudson, which surrendered a few days after the fall of Vicks-
burg in July. Among other engagements in which he participated with
his regiment was the battles of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, and other
engagements in that vicinity. On May 8, 1864, leaving his regiment
at Alexandria, he was transferred to the U. S. gunboat Lexington, on
which he served during the remainder of the war. He was honorably
discharged June 15, 1865, at the Mound City navy yards near Cairo,
Illinois. Having served through most of the war, though he was still under
age at the time of his discharge, he then returned home to see his people
(his mother died when he was eight), who in the meantime had come
to Detroit. In 1865 when he was twenty, he went to New York, and
he joined the regular army January 25, 1867. It was the Fifth U. S.
Cavalry to which he was assigned, this regiment being afterward dis
tinguished as the "Fighting Fifth." For two and a half years this
regiment was stationed in the south, in the states of Tennessee and
Mississippi. From there he was detailed for duty on the western plains
in fighting the Sioux Indians. As those familiar with the history of
the west know, it was still many years before Indian hostilities were
brought to a final close, so that the service of the army in the west
was by no means as uneventful as it now is. Mr. McDonnell, entering
the regular army as private, was promoted to corporal and then to
sergeant. Along with the regiment in its western campaigns was the
famous scout, Buffalo Bill. During his five years' service with the
regiment he had many adventures and experiences that might adorn
a military, biography, and yet he came through it all without a wound.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 953
Among the many encounters with the Indians in which he was engaged
was the battle of Summits Springs, Colorado, July 11, 1869.
At the end of his five years' service with the regular army he re
ceived his honorable discharge on January 25, 1872. Returning to
Detroit, he was here in time to participate in the building of the Canada
Southern Railroad, now part of the Michigan Central. He was the
conductor of the first train run between Blissfield Junction, Michigan,
and Fayette, Ohio. After the road was completed he held the position
of yardmaster until 1875.
On the 30th of June, 1875, Mr. McDonnell joined the Detroit Police.
For six years he was a patrolman, and then was transferred to the
detective branch August 1, 1881, and for the past sixteen years has
been captain of this department. He has displayed remarkable efficiency
in the service and has won all his promotions by merit.
Captain McDonnell is a thirty-second degree Mason. His local affilia
tions are with Palestine Lodge, No. 357, A. F. & A. M., and also with
the Consistory and Shrine. He is a member of Fairbanks Post of the
Grand Army of the Republic. He and his family are communicants of
the St. Paul Episcopal church in Detroit. He was married September
11, 1875, soon after joining the police, to Miss Emma Hill. Her parents,
Peter and Mary (Goodsill) Hill, came to Detroit from New York state,
where they were born. The three children of Mr. McDonnell and wife
are as follows: Delia is the wife of William L. Granger, one of the
assistant superintendents of the Edison Illuminating Company of De
troit, and they have one daughter, Elizabeth Granger, aged two years.
Clara is the wife of Dr. B. J. Keenan, a graduate of the University of
Michigan and now a successful dentist at Butte, Montana, and they
have two children, Margaret, aged six, and James, aged five. Miss
Laura, the youngest daughter, is living at home.
Louis Blitz. The late Louis Blitz signified much to Detroit and
his was a life marked by large and worthy accomplishment, by the high
est integrity and honor and by an abiding human sympathy and tol
erance. His was, indeed, a "triumphant life," and under this title was
dedicated the beautiful tribute published at the time of his death. He
was one of whom it may well be said, in words of the psalmist, "Blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose
spirit there is no guile. ' ' He brought to bear the powers of a strong and
splendid manhood in the furtherances of business enterprises which
conserved the general welfare; he was loyal and public-spirited as a
citizen; was devout and of indefatigable zeal in religious activities; he
was generous and kindly in his association with all classes and condi
tions of men; he was one to whom friendship was inviolable; and he
made his life count for good in every relation. Few citizens of the
Michigan metropolis have been more emphatically entitled to adequate
recognition than Louis Blitz, the honored, subject of this brief memoir.
From the reports of Mr. Blitz as president of Temple Beth El, of
Detroit, are taken the following statements written by him and well
indicating his attitude as a man and as a citizen: "Let it admonish us,
that we build monuments for ourselves during our lifetime, so that we,
too, may be gratefully remembered as having endeavored, each in his
humble way, to lend a hand toward the uplifting and the upbuilding
of his fellow men."
Louis Blitz was born in the historic old city of Frankfurt-am-Main,
Germany, on the 2d of March, 1850, and died on the 15th of February,
1905. He was a son of Israel Blitz, a man of fine character and ability.
and was ^bout two and one-half years of age at the time of the family
vol. in— s

954 HISTORY OF DETROIT
immigration to America. The father established a home in Louisville,
Kentucky, and there the son gained his early educational discipline,
which included the curriculum of the high school, in which he was grad
uated. Soon afterward the family removed to Detroit. In formulating
plans for his future career Louis Blitz determined to prepare himself
for the legal profession, so he accordingly entered the law department
of the University of Michigan, where he continued his technical studies
about three years and where he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws.
After graduation he turned his attention to industrial enterprise, in
which he eventually achieved success and high prestige. For thirty-five
years he was a prominent and influential figure in connection with
business affairs in Detroit and Michigan, and concerning his career the
following statement appeared in the Detroit Journal at the time of his
death, the local estimate being one well deserving of perpetuation in this
connection :
' ' His most important business undertaking was the establishment of
the Detroit City Glass Works in what is now the thickly settled district
of Delray. It was the first plant of the kind in this section of the
country. He thus became the pioneer manufacturer of Delray, a district
in which he always had the utmost confidence, being the first to predict
its development and the growth of which he lived to witness. The glass
works covered all branches of that trade, the commercial ware and the
artistic products as well. About 1895 the plant went into one of the
first of the large combinations and thereafter Mr. Blitz gave his atten
tion to varied interests, including large real-estate holdings. He con
tinued, however, to maintain a considerable investment in Delray prop
erty, which included many homes occupied by the workmen of that
district. He was vice-president of the German- American Bank and was
a director of the Empire Coal Company, Pittsburg, of which he was
local representative in Detroit. He was one of the founders of the
Detroit Stock Exchange and did his best to make it the power in local
business affairs which he thought it ought to be.
"The business relations of Mr. Blitz, however, indicate only a part
of his activities. Among his friends he will perhaps be best remembered
for his work in the Temple Beth El, of which he was president fotr
eight years prior to his death. His friends give him credit for the
building of the beautiful new temple and say that it would have been
impossible to secure it but for his valuable work and assistance. It is
said in the connection that his advice was more valuable than that of
a high-salaried expert." A further estimate of Mr. Blitz is the following,
given by Fred M. Butzel, a representative member of the Detroit bar:
"Mr. Blitz believed that he could best serve the interests of his people
by taking an active part in the affairs of the community as a whole.
His efforts, therefore, were not narrowed by sectarianism. He was a
man of very equable temperament, and if I were going to characterize
him in a few words I would say that he combined with the modern
spirit of progress of the young American all of the old-time spirit of
kindliness and courtesy."
The memorial sermon delivered by Rabbi Leo M. Franklin, at Temple
Beth El, was a noble tribute to a noble man, and from the same is made
the following brief excerpt : "He could be in spirit a young man among
young men, an inspiration to them, though never a moralizer ; that, him
self a devotee of progress whose face was ever toward the sun, he
could yet realize the attitude of old men and indulge them — that man,
I say, was rare, and by the power of his personality compelled appre
ciation. In a word, it was above all the deep human sympathies of
Louis Blitz that made him the man beloved in life as he is now revered

HISTORY OF DETROIT 955 *
and honored in memory. That human sympathy manifested itself in
every relation of his life. To his children he was not only the father —
he was the companion, who shared their hopes and their disappoint
ments and entered with their own zest into their studies and their sports
alike. Among his friends he was always more than other friends, for
he had that something in his nature which turned them to him as a
wise counselor and a true adviser. He seemed to have the ability, only
too rare with most of us, to put himself into the attitude of the other
person, and so to judge every case clearly and fairly. He had a keen
judicial mind, but the coldness of mere intellectual judgment was offset
by the warm humanity of his being."
A less formal but equally appreciative estimate given by Rabbi
Franklin and published at the time of the death of Mr. Blitz was as
follows: "Louis Blitz was a man of such sane temperament, such great
heart, such a keen sense of right, that 1 know of no other man in my
experience with whom to compare him. His heart was full to over
flowing with love for his fellows, yet weak sentimentality never ran
away with his better judgment. If there was one characteristic of his
nature more pronounced than others it was his deep sense of justice.
He always seemed to know what was the right word to speak and the
right thing to do, and he never lacked the courage to speak or to do.
Personally, I have lost my dearest friend and best counselor, but all
personal losses sink into insignificance before the irreparable loss which
our Jewish community has sustained in the passing of Louis Blitz — a
man of heroic instincts and a leader by the grace of God. ' '.
Mr. Blitz was large in his charities and benevolences, and these
transcended mere denominational lines. He "remembered those who
were forgotten," and his great heart pulsed in sympathy for all who
were in affliction or distress. This sympathy was practical, as many who
have received help from his hands can well testify. At the time of his
death resolutions of bereavement and of honor were passed by many
organizations. A beautiful memorial tablet in Temple Beth El attests the love and
appreciation of the congregation for Mr. Blitz and has the following
as a portion of its inscription : ' ' He was a loyal Jew, a patriotic Ameri
can, a just and righteous man. This temple, erected during his adminis
tration, is an enduring reminder of his loyalty, his enthusiasm and his
wise leadership." He was president of Congregation Beth El from
1897 until his death, in 1905.
Through his varied enterprises Mr. Blitz gave employment to hun
dreds of men, and his relations with them were those of a true friend,
so that they manifested a deep sense of personal bereavement when he
was summoned from the scene of life's mortal endeavors. He ever
manifested a deep concern in all that touched the welfare of his home
city and though he could never be prevailed upon to become a condi-
date for public office he was a staunch adherent of the Republican party
and was admirably fortified in his opinions as to governmental policies
and economic measures. He served as a director of the Detroit Republi
can Club, was a member of the Detroit Golf Club and the Phoenix Club,
was affiliated with the Phi Delta Phi college fraternity and was a valued
member of various Masonic bodies in his home city. At the time of his
death he was a member of the board of directors of the Union of Amer
ican Hebrew Congregations, and this office was one of special distinc
tion, as the board, covering the entire United States, is comprised of but
seventeen members. He was a student of the best in literature, an
appreciative patron of the fine arts, a forceful and pleasing public
speaker and a man of broad intellectual ken — one well equipped for
leadership in thought and action.

956 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Only one other quotation can be indulged in this brief article, and the
¦same is from the Detroit Evening News of February 6, 1905 : ' ' Through
the sudden death of Louis Blitz there has been taken from the business
community of Detroit an active, alert, enterprising and far-sighted
manager whose initiative was responsible for the founding and expan
sion of large and important industrial plants, the village of Delray
being, in large part, a monument to his genius for productive under
takings. Financial circles are deprived of an energetic intelligence that
counted for much in the local banking world and always on the side
of safe, sound and conservative counsels. The civic body is called upon
to part with a broad-minded, public-spirited citizen, deeply concerned
in the progress and prosperity of the community and equally alive to
its moral and intellectual needs. The Hebrew population especially
must mourn a conspicuous and trusted leader always foremost in its
religious and charitable enterprises. Mr. Blitz's death will be sincerely
regretted in many quarters. ' '
A brief record concerning his marriage and children is as follows:
On the 20th. of November, 1878, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Blitz to Miss Ottilie Kaichen, who died November 4, 1912. She was a
representative of an old and honored Detroit family. She was born
in Albany, New York. When she was two years of age the parents
moved to Detroit. She was a daughter of the late Arnold Kaichen, who
was long a prominent and honored member of the Detroit bar and who
served four years as government land agent in this city, after which
he was for -eight years United States pension agent for Michigan, his
death having occurred in 1873. Mr. Kaichen was born in Germany,
where he received the best of educational advantages, including a law
course in the University of Giessen. He came to American at the time
of the German revolution of 1848-50, having been identified with that
movement. Mrs. Blitz proved an earnest coadjutor of her husband in
his many religious and benevolent activities, and she was specially prom
inent and influential in such worthy lines, being president of the Ladies'
Aid Society of Temple Beth El, until the time of her death, an organi
zation now nearly an half century old, and having served for eighteen
years as member of the board of trustees of The Children's Free Hos
pital and four years as its president.
In conclusion is entered brief record concerning the children of Mr.
and Mrs. Blitz: three daughters, Marian, now Mrs. John Heaverich,
Grace and Helen Blitz and one son, Frank Blitz, survive them. The
daughters are graduates of Vassar College and the son was a student
at the Houghton School of Mines and the University of Michigan.
Charles Kamman. Among those who have made distinctive contri
bution to the industrial and commercial advancement of the Michigan
metropolis is Charles Kamman, who was for many years actively engaged
in the meat-packing business in this city, where he was the founder of
the Kamman Beef Company, which is still one of the most important
industrials concerns of this kind in Detroit and which has as its head
one of the sons of the founder. Mr. Kamman 's career shows the value
and concrete results of well directed enterprise and honorable business
methods, and he has been in the most significant sense the architect of his
own fortunes. After many years of earnest and fruitful endeavor as
one of the world's workers he retired from active business, since which
time he has been enjoying the repose and general comfort which consti
tute a just reward for former application to productive industry. He is
well known in the city that has so long represented his home and here
commands secure vantage ground in popular confidence and respect.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 957
Charles Kamman was born in the province of Hanover, Germany, on
the 7th of March, 1841, and is a son of Henry and Mary Kamman, who
immigrated to America when he was a lad of nine years and established
their home in Buffalo, New York, where two elder sons had previously
located. The parents passed the closing years of their lives at Buffalo
and the father devoted the major part of his active career to the vocation
of a wholesale butcher. He whose name introduces this review gained
his rudimentary education in his native land and after the family immi
gration to America he continued his studies in the schools of Buffalo
until he was fourteen years of age, when he assumed practical responsi
bilities by entering upon an apprenticeship at the butcher's trade, to
which he continued to devote his attention in Buffalo until 1859, when
he came to Detroit and became associated with his brother Frederick in
the establishing of a retail meat market on Grand River avenue west.
Later he formed a partnership with Phineas Massmore and engaged in
the same line of enterprise, at both wholesale and retail, with headquar
ters on Grand River avenue. This alliance continued four years and
Mr. Kamman then initiated his individual and independent operations
as a wholesale dealer, at the King stock-yards, on Elizabeth street. A'
few years later he purchased a tract of land on Bagley avenue and there
established a general beef-packing industry, the operations of which he
conducted with marked progressiveness and good judgment, with the
result that the enterprise rapidly expanded in scope and importance and
eventually became one of the large packing industries of the city, — a
precedence that is still retained. For more than thirty years Mr. Kam
man gave his undivided attention to this extensive business, through
the medium of which he gained a substantial competency, and the busi
ness has continuously been conducted under the title of the Kamman
Meat Company. In 1905 Mr. Kamman retired from active business and
was succeeded by his son, Frank B. Kamman, who is now the sole owner
of the business and general manager of its general operations.
Steadfast and upright in all the relations of life, Mr. Kamman ap
plied himself with all of diligence and energy and through very virtue
of his well directed industry gained prestige as one of the representative
business men of the Michigan metropolis. Impregnable integrity has
characterized his course and his word in the business world has been as
good as any bond that was ever signed. Though never desirous of enter
ing the arena of practical politics, Mr. Kamman is a staunch supporter
of the cause of the Democratic party, and he has been signally loyal to
all civic duties and responsibilities. His religious faith is that of the
Roman Catholic church, of which his wife likewise was a devout member.
In the city of Detroit, on the 26th of February, 1864, was performed
the marriage ceremony that united the life destinies of Mr. Kamman and
Miss Anna Butler, who was born in the province of Quebec, Canada, on
the 27th of November, 1843, and who was summoned to the life eternal
on the 1st of December, 1902. Her parents were natives of Ireland and
upon their immigration to America established their home in Quebec.
They passed the closing years of their lives in Quebec. Since the death
of his loved and devoted wife, who was a true companion and helpmeet,
Mr. Kamman has lived in the home of his son Frank B., at 381 Maybury
avenue, where he receives the utmost filial solicitude. In conclusion of
this review is entered a brief record concerning the children of Mr. and
Mrs. Kamman.
Charles, the first born, died at the age of twenty-seven years. Mary
is the wife of Charles T. Hayden, of Detroit, and they have two sons,
William K. and Preston H. William K. Hayden married Miss Blanche
Best and they have one son, William Kamman Hayden, Jr. Louise mar-

958 HISTORY OF DETROIT
ried John Kline, of Detroit, and they now reside in the city of Columbus,
Ohio. They have one child, Anna, who is the wife of Robert Klute, of
Detroit, and Mr. and Mrs. Klute have one child, Helen Marie. William
Kamman is engaged in the wholesale butcher business in Detroit. He
married Miss Kate Kinney, and they have two children, Charles and
William, Jr. Frederick Kamman died in 1905, at the age of thirty-
three years. Frank Butler Kamman, the next in order of birth, suc
ceeded his father in business, as has already been noted in this sketch,
and he is one of the progressive and essentially representative business
men of his native city. On the 23d of July, 1897, was solemnized his
marriage to Miss Evelyn Destow, daughter of William and Mary (Hal-
lock) Destow, who reside at 393 Maybury avenue, Detroit, to which city
they came from the province of Ontario, Canada. Mr. and Mrs. Frank
B. Kamman have a winsome little daughter, — Helen. Anna, the next
in order of birth of the children, is the wife of Norman Henwood, of
Detroit, and they have two children, — Anna Alvilia and Ford. John
Henry Kamman, the youngest of the children, is now a resident of
Australia, and he has one son, Marvin, who lives in Detroit. From the
data above incorporated it will be seen that the subject of this review,
Charles Kamman, has nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, so
that he may well take patriarchal pride in the status of the family of
which he is the head.
George L. Koessler, M. D. Maintaining his residence and office at
549 Junction avenue, Dr. Koessler controls a substantial general prac
tice and is one of the popular representatives of his profession in the
Michigan metropolis, where he has found an attractive field of endeavor.
George Leo Koessler, M. D., was born in the city of Pittsburg, Penn
sylvania, on the 10th of March, 1878, and is a son of John and Eliz
abeth (Hammersmith) Koessler, the former of whom was born in the
province of Alsace-Lorraine, France, now a part of the German empire,
and the latter of whom was born in Germany. As a young man, and
prior to his marriage, John Koessler gave significant evidence of his
loyalty to the land! of his adoption, as he tendered his services in de
fense of the Union and rendered gallant service as a soldier in the Civil
war. He became a member of Knapp's battery and served in turn
in the Twenty-eighth and One Hundred and Forty-seventh regiments
of Pennsylvania Volunteers, his entire period of service in the ranks
covering three years. After his marriage in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, he
removed to Beaver Falls, that state, where he long followed the voca
tion of stationary engineer and where he died in 1898, at the age of
fifty-seven years. His devoted wife survived him by more than a de
cade and was sixty-two years of age when she was summoned to the
life eternal, in 1910, both having been devout communicants of the
Catholic church. Of their children five sons and one daughter are
living. John Koessler always manifested his interest in his old com
rades in arms by maintaining membership in the Grand Army of the
Republic during his lifetime
Dr. Koessler was afforded the advantages of the parochial schools
of Beaver Falls, where he also completed the curriculum of the high
school. His father having engaged in the mercantile business the
son, after leaving school, became a bookkeeper in the establishment.
His inclination, however, did not lie along the line of commercial enter
prise and he decided to prepare himself for the medical profession.
In 1901 he was matriculated in the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical
College, in Cleveland, Ohio. There he remained two years and then
came to Michigan and entered the Detroit Homeopathic Medical Col-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 959
lege, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1905
and with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. During his senior year
he gained excellent clinical experience as an interne in Grace Hospital.
He then entered private practice, locating at the corner of Dix and
Junction avenues, whence he later removed to his present location,
— a property which he owns. He is a member of the staff of Grace
Hospital, and is identified with the American Institute of Homeopathy,
the Michigan State Homeopathic Medical Society, and the Detroit
Homeopathic Practitioner's Society. He is lecturer and demonstrator
of anatomy in the Detroit Homeopathic Medical College, and also
lectures in the training school for nurses maintained in connection with
Grace Hospital. Both he and his wife are members of the Church of
the Holy Redeemer. He also holds membership in the Catholic Mutual
Benefit Association.
On the 23rd of April, 1906, was solemnized the marriage of Dr.
Koessler to Miss Edith M. Naylor, daughter of William Naylor, of Wal-
kerville, Province of Ontario, Canada, and she presides most graciously
over their present home.
Thomas Washington Ferguson, M. D. Five years of professional
activity in Detroit have served to establish Dr. Ferguson in that city,
and to secure for him a field of labor in which he has become well and
favorably known as a physician of skill, as well as a man of sterling
character who is able to win and hold the respect and esteem of all with
whom he comes in contact in the performance of his duties in the profes
sional world.
Thomas Washington Ferguson was born at Smith's Falls, county of
Lanark, Ontario, Canada, on September 22, 1874, and is the son of
Thomas and Maria (Ferguson) Ferguson. The parents were both born
in Ontario, while the paternal and maternal grandfathers Ferguson, —
James and Arthur, — were both natives of Ireland. The mother of Dr.
Ferguson died in March, 1910, at the age of sixty-eight years, while the
father, now in his seventieth year, still lives. The early education of
Dr. Ferguson was acquired in the public schools of Smith's Falls,
Ontario, following which he spent two years in the literary department
of Trinity University, Toronto, Canada, then entering the medical de
partment of the same institution. He was graduated from the Univers
ity, with the degree of M. D., with the class of '01.
The first move of the young doctor after receiving his degree took him
to Moosejaw, Canada, where he spent perhaps six months, then returning
home to Smith's Falls. From that time his work was confined princi
pally to the larger hospitals of New York city, where he received careful
training, and an experience which he could not have attained in many
years of private practice. In May, 1906, Dr. Ferguson settled in Detroit
and he is practicing today in the same neighborhood in which he located
five years ago, or more nearly six years ago. Recently the Doctor pur
chased the handsome residence at 53 Maybury Grand avenue, where he
now maintains both office and home. Dr. Ferguson is a member of the
Degree of Honor, of the Home Guards of America and of the American
Insurance Union, and is connected with various organizations pertaining
to his profession.
On March 25, 1902, Dr. Ferguson married Beatrice Wood, also a
native of Smith's Falls, and the daughter of William A. Wood of that
place. Mr. Wood was a son of the founder of the well known firm of
Frost & Wood, manufacturers of agricultural implements. Dr. and
Mrs. Ferguson have one son, James Alexander, born January 1, 1903.

960 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Charles W. Knaggs, M. D. With office and residence at 1560 Grat
iot avenue, Dr. Knaggs is numbered among the representative physicians
and surgeons of the Michigan metropolis, and is one of a very appreci
able number contributed to the medical profession in Detroit by the
neighboring province of Ontario, Canada, in which both his paternal
and maternal grandfathers settled in the pioneer days, both having been
prominently and worthily identified with the development and upbuild
ing of Oxford county, that province.
Dr. Charles Warren Knaggs was born in the village of Vandeear,
Oxford county, Ontario, on the 25th of March, 1877, and is a son of
Thomas and Marie Anne (French) Knaggs, both of whom are likewise
natives of that county, where the former was born in 1840 and the latter
in 1843. The lineage of the Knaggs family is traced back to staunch
German origin and that of the French family is of sterling Norman-
French extraction. For more than half a century the father of Dr.
Knaggs devoted his attention to the raising of high grade live stock on
his fine estate in Oxford county, where he and his wife still maintain
their home and where both have strong hold on the confidence and esteem
of the community Which has ever been their place of abode. Thomas
Knaggs has been a citizen of prominence and influence in his native
county and he is now living virtually retired from active business, in
the enjoyment of that peace and plenty which justly reward a life of
well directed endeavor. Both he and his wife are communicants of the
Methodist church and both have long been popular factors in the social
activities of their home community.
Dr. Knaggs was reared on the fine old homestead farm of his father
and is indebted to the public schools of his native county for his early
educational advantages, after duly availing himself of which he completed
an effective course of study in the Woodstock Collegiate Institute, one
of the excellent educational institutions of the same county, of which it
is the metropolis and judicial center. In the autumn of 1899 Dr. Knaggs
was matriculated in the Detroit College of Medicine, in which he com
pleted the prescribed course and was graduated in 1903, when he received
his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. In 1903-4 he served as
house surgeon of St. Mary's Hospital in this city) and this year of work
in the extensive and admirable institution gave to him most valuable
preliminary experience. In December, 1904, he initiated the independ
ent and general practice of his profession in Detroit, with office head
quarters at the corner of Field and Gratiot avenues, — half a block
distant from his present home and office. He has had ample reason to
be satisfied with his choice of location, as his success in the work of his
chosen calling has here been of unequivocal order and has given him
prestige as one of the leading practitioners in this section of the city.
His practice is now of substantial order and is constantly expanding in
scope and importance, the while he gives his undivided attention to. the
same and is known as a close and appreciative student who keeps in close
touch with all advances made in both departments of his profession.
The Doctor holds membership in the Wayne County Medical Society,
the Michigan State Medical Society and the American Medical Associ
ation. He is loyal and public-spirited in his civic attitude and is grati
fied to call Detroit his home. He is affiliated with Palestine Lodge, Free
and Accepted Masons, and Talbort Camp, Modern Woodmen of America,
in which latter he is the medical examiner.
On the 1st of September, 1909, Dr. Knaggs was united in marriage
to Miss Edith Read, who was born at Catheart, Brant county, Ontario,
and who is a daughter of James Read, a representative citizen of that
place. Dr. and Mrs. Knaggs have a fine little son, Warren Donald, who
was born on the 15th of November, 1910.

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HISTORY OF DETROIT 961
Karl George Dubpernell, M. D. One of the prominent medical
practitioners of Detroit, who has won recognition as a well-read and
skillful physician and surgeon and who possesses the essential qualities
and disposition requisite for successful practice, is Dr. Karl George
Dubpernell, of No. 35 Twenty-eighth street, West Side. He has spent
his whole professional career in Detroit, where he has won an enviable
reputation, and at present is acting as one of the city physicians. Dr.
Dubpernell was born at Wellesley, Waterloo county, Ontario, Canada,
March 31, 1872, and is a son of Rev. F. and Augusta (Heinemann) Dub
pernell. The father of Dr. Dubpernell was born in France, of French parents,
and upon the death of his mother, when he was but a lad, was taken to
Germany. There he was reared until his sixteenth year, at which time
he came to the United States and entered a German Lutheran seminary
at St. Louis, Missouri, being prepared for the ministry of that church.
He held numerous pastorates in the state of Pennsylvania, but was sub
sequently given a charge in Ontario, and there he has spent recent years.
He is still active in ministry and is residing at Desboro, Grey County,
Ontario. His wife, who is a native of Buffalo, New York, is also living.
Dr. Dubpernell received such educational advantages in his youth as
were afforded by the public schools of Canada, after leaving which he
turned his attention to the jeweler's business. He took special courses
in ophthalmology, and for four years was employed as optician by a
large firm in St. Louis, Missouri, subsequently going on the road for two
years for the same firm. Deciding to enter the field of medicine, Dr.
Dubpernell entered the Physio-Medical College, at Indianapolis, Indiana,
from which he graduated in 1896, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine,
and being thus thoroughly fortified for his profession, engaged in prac
tice in Detroit, where he has since continued. He has had no reason to re
gret his choice of location, for he has established a most satisfactory
professional business, his skillful work and marked success having given
him a wide reputation. In July, 1911, he was appointed one of the city
physicians of Detroit. His handsome residence, in which he main
tains well appointed offices, is located at No. 35 Twenty-eighth street.
The Doctor enjoys marked popularity and esteem in professional, fra
ternal and social circles, and is connected with the Wayne County
Medical Society, the Michigan State Medical Society and the American
Medical Association.
Dr. Dubpernell was united in marriage with Miss Bessie Thompson,
of Washington Court House, Ohio, and they have had four children, as
follows : Frederick Karl, George, Edward and Ruth Elizabeth.
Henry Duncan. When the territory comprised in the state of Mich
igan was little more than a wilderness on the frontier of civilization John
Leslie Duncan, a Scotch-Irishman of Dublin birth, established himself
at the frontier settlement on the site of the present thriving city of
Sault Ste. Marie. Throughout the surrounding part of Michigan he
was very active in trade with the Indians and in minor civic services.
He married and founded his home in the locality he had selected, and
there in the little frontier settlement of Sault Ste. Marife, Henry
Duncan, his son, was born on August 4, 1828.
The environment and influences of the pioneer epoch in northern
Michigan compassed the childhood days of Henry Duncan, whose rudi
mentary education was secured in a school maintained in the settlement
where he was born. When he was a lad of about eight years his father
died and he then came with his widowed mother to Detroit, where he
was enabled to continue Jiis studies under the direction of the same

962 HISTORY OF DETROIT
instructor who had been his teacher in the "north country." In pre
paring for the active work of life he entered upon an apprenticeship
at the trade of harnessmaker, under the direction of Cullen Brown, one
of Detroit's pioneers in this trade. Having become a skilled workman
in his craft, Mr. Duncan while still a young man removed to the little
village of Orion, Oakland county, where he opened a small shop and en
gaged in business on his own responsibility. There he continued to fol
low the work of his trade for several years. Having married in the
meantime, he presently sought a broader field of independent endeavor.
As a master craftsman in his line he returned to the city of Detroit,
where he located his business in a building at the corner of Woodward
and Jefferson avenues. His energy and discrimination soon earned for
his establishment a very high reputation. The demands for his supplies
which the Civil war occasioned were such as to tax the facilities of his
business to the utmost. Large contracts came to him for fitting out with
various accoutrements the troops that were proceeding to the front. His
harness and saddlery supplies went to the providing for the first volun
teer regiment sent to the front from Michigan.
After Mr. Duncan had for several years conducted his business in
dividually he admitted his brother to partnership. The establishment
known under the firm name of Duncan Brothers was for a number of
years the largest of its kind in the city. Through his long activity in
his vocation Mr. Duncan gained what in those days was a very gratifying
degree of prosperity. To him also belonged the honor of being a mem
ber of the first volunteer regiment to go from Michigan for service in the
war with Mexico.
Mrs. Duncan was before her marriage Miss Harriet S. Cady, a des
cendant of the notable New York families of Cady and Babcock, both of
which lines were represented by her father. John Babcock, her fath
er's maternal grandfather, was a New Yorker of pre-Revolutionary
days, whose son, Avery Babcock, was a general in the Continental
army in the Revolutionary war. The latter 's sister, Annie Babcock,
became Mrs. Ebenezer Cady and the mother of Alpheus Cady, father
of Mrs. Duncan. Four Cady brothers, including Alpheus, came with
their families to Michigan in 1839, while it was yet a territory. Here
they all took up tracts of government land in Lapeer county, where
they all established their homes. Alpheus Cady's wife was Miss Patty
Chambers, of New York. Their daughter's (Mrs. Duncan) birth had
taken place in the Empire state before the western migration of the
family. In the town' of Cadyville, named for the enterprising and suc
cessful members of this family, Harriet Cady's youth was spent and
there her father died. Her marriage to Mr. Duncan was solemnized
on May 31, 1853. Her life in Detroit has for many years been charac
terized by activity in social circles. She is a member of the local chap
ter of the Daughters of the Revolution and a communicant of St.
John's church, Protestant Episcopal, in which for forty-five years ^ she
has given devoted service to various departments of work in her own
parish, as well as in the diocese at large.
The years of Mr. and Mrs. Duncan's marriage brought them one
son, who was named Leslie H. and who was born in Orion, Oakland
county, in 1858. His early education was that provided by the advan
tages of Professor Bacon's school for boys in Detroit, and his later
courses were pursued in a similar institution located above New York
City. He entered the business of pharmacy, in which for a time he
engaged at Mt. Clemens, Michigan. He later retired to a farm which
he owned in that vicinity and there with his family spent the remainder
of his life. To him and his wife, nee Gertrude McCall, two daughters

HISTORY OF DETROIT 963
were born. Harriet, the elder, became Mrs. Samuel Coombs, of Pitts
burg, Pennsylvania, and the mother of a son named Duncan Shafer;
he was born on the 15th of November, 1907, and is Mrs. Duncan's only
great-grandson. His father, Samuel Coombs, is now deceased. The
second daughter of Leslie Duncan, named Jessie, married Homan Hal-
let, of Los Angeles. He holds large mining interests in Old Mexico,
but the present revolution in that land has resulted in the family re
siding temporarily in Detroit. Mr. Leslie Duncan's own death occurred
in 1888, nineteen years before the birth of his only male descendant.
The Duncan family is nobly represented by Mrs. Duncan, who lives
to enjoy an old age that is beautiful and rich in the truest sense of the
word. Not only is her nobility of character and mind of an enviable
degree, but she also enjoys a material prosperity of gratifying quality.
For forty-five years or more she occupied the fine residence property
which her husband had bought and which is located at the corner of
Woodward avenue and Winder street. This homestead, where Henry
Duncan died on the 17th of March, 1865, his widow finally sold, pur
chasing her present and spacious modern residence, at 39 Woodward
Terrace. There she still resides, interested in the life about her and in
the activities of her descendants, but ever keepng alive the memory of
her husband, whose service to his community and country, like his deep
integrity of character, are commemorated in this brief tribute.
John Henry Neary, M. D. One of the young men whose career in
the medical profession has brought him early distinction and success
is Dr. John Henry Neary, whose office and residence are at 654 Grandy
avenue. He has spent most of his life in Detroit, having graduated
from the local colleges and professional schools, and after a thorough
preparatory experience entered upon the practice of his profession.
Dr. Neary, who was born at Adrian, Michigan, January 14, 1876,
is a member of a family which have been identified with this state for
three quarters of a century. His grandfather, Patrick Neary, a native
of Ireland, came to America about 1835, and was married at Monroe,
Michigan, to Bridget Rider, who was also a native of the Emerald Isle.
Patrick Neary was a very active and enterprising man. He had a con
tract for building one mile of the old Erie canal out of Toledo. With
the discovery of gold on the Pacific coast he became a California forty-
niner, and remained in the west until 1862.
Dr. Neary 's parents were William E. and Mary E. (Fallen) Neary.
The father was born in Adrian, in 1844, and the mother was born in
Ireland, in 1846, a daughter of Michael Fallen, and her death occurred in
1908. The family moved from Adrian to Detroit in 1887, and here the
son obtained his education in the public schools, from which he entered
the Jesuit College, now the Detroit University. He also attended a
business school for a time, but on finally determining upon a career of
medicine he entered the Michigan College of Medicine and Surgery at
Detroit in 1896 and was graduated with the degree of M. D. For some
time he was connected with the U. S. Marine Hospital in this city, and
then began the general practice, with two offices, one at the corner of
Park and High streets, which he discontinued in 1901, and the other at
his present location at 654 Grandy avenue.
Dr. Neary made a very creditable record as Detroit city physician
during the years of 1903-04-05. He is a member of the Wayne County
and the Michigan State Medical Societies and the American Medical
Association, and among his associates is known as a man of advanced
ideas and progressive both in theory and practice. With a few other
physicians in 1912, he began the erection of what is known as the Samari-

964 HISTORY OF DETROIT
tan Hospital. This is a fire-proof building of steel construction and
so planned as to permit additions being made as required. It is fitted
with the latest appliances for the treatment of medical and surgical
cases and has accommodations for about fifty patients. It will cost over
$50,000. Dr. Neary is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and
the Knights of Equity, and he and his family have membership in St.
John the Evangelist Catholic church. Dr. Neary was married in 1898
in Detroit, to Miss Mary Jeffers, daughter of Patrick Jeffers.
William Savage Moore. At this 'time, when the blue and grey
fraternize, when the bitterness of sectional issues has given way to a
patriotic love of the stars and stripes, the flag for which the sons of those
who fought under the stars and bars gave up their lives to protect in
our latest war, it is a pleasure to give the homage due to those who
wore with bravery the livery of the Confederate army. This praise
is today given without stint and without mental reservation, and it is
particularly gratifying to be able to introduce it in this history of
Detroit, a city which has won reknown for its unswerving loyalty to the
Union cause, and for the self sacrifice of its inhabitants during the un
happy struggle of the Civil war.
Among the honored citizens of Detroit was one who served under the
Confederate flag with distinction. William S. Moore was ever in the
front ranks of the army opposed to that in which served the men who
were in time to become his warm friends and admirers, and he brought
to Detroit that high sense of honor and southern chivalry which char
acterized him until the day of his death, which occurred June 22, 1906.
A man of the most upright character, lie was universally respected and
was deeply mourned by a host of real friends.
Born at Richmond, Virginia, May 17, 1846, the son of James and
Louisa Moore, who were of English descent and who came from the
oldest families in Virginia, Mr. Moore received his early education in
the schools of Richmond, and when very young he enlisted in the South
ern army with two brothers, serving all through the war. His first
service was with Parker's Battery, which he joined March 18, 1862,
at the age of sixteen years. After serving a year with this branch of
the Light Artillery, he was transferred to the First Company of the
Richmond Howitzers, during the winter of 1863. He was wounded at
Pale Green Church May 3, 1864. Late in that year he was transferred
to Wise's Brigade. He was wounded and captured at Sailor's Creek
April 3, 1865, and was imprisoned at Washington, D. C.
After peace was declared he went to New York City, where he became
engaged with A. T. Stewart, who at that time was the merchant prince
of the great metropolis, and who owned the largest dry goods store in
the city. He then went into the life insurance business, in which he
remained for the rest of his life, first in New York and coming to Detroit
in 1882 as a representative of the Equitable Life Insurance Company of
New York. About a year later he was sent to Europe by the New York
Life Insurance Company, where he remained about a year. Returning
to the United States, he was sent south by the New York Life, remaining
there for about five years. He did an enormous business for the com
pany, which was very anxious for him to remain in the south, but he
liked Detroit and refused most flattering offers to remain. Mrs. Moore
did not like the south and he returned to this city, continuing in the
insurance business with the greatest success until he was called from
earth, and was laid to rest in Woodlawn cemetery June 22, 1906.
He was considered one of the greatest life insurance men in the
United States, and was known as "Colonel Moore" — a title he had

HISTORY OF DETROIT 965
earned by hard service — by all his friends. He was a member of the
Sons of the American Revolution and of the Country Club. He was
very liberal in his political views and always voted for the man he
deemed best fitted to fill the position for which he was nominated, re
gardless of party affiliations.
Mr. Moore was a devoted husband and father, taking the greatest
interest in his home. He was a member of the First Presbyterian church
of Detroit. He was united in marriage to Mrs. Miranda Heflebower,
widow of Abraham Heflebower, a soldier of the Union army, who died
from the results of hardship and exposure in the field. Mrs. Moore is
the daughter of John and Rebecca Paffinburger, who were of German
descent. Her ancestors settled in Maryland and later went to Urbana,
Ohio, where Mrs. Moore was born. Mr. and Mrs. Moore were married
May 17, 1882, at Springfield, Ohio. Three children were born to Mrs.
Moore: Rhea M., who lives at home. Dr. John W. is a graduate of the
Detroit College of Medicine and is at present surgeon of the Atlantic
Mines at Houghton, Michigan. Dr. Moore married a daughter of the
president of the mines, Miss Helen Stanton, and they have one child,
John S. Sarah H. married Dr. Allan McLean, surgeon in the United
States navy, stationed at Washington, D. C. Mr. and Mrs. McLean have
one child, William Moore McLean.
Mrs. Moore and her family are faithful members of the First Pres
byterian church and at present reside in the handsome residence at 82
Putnam avenue. The old home built in 1885 was located on Garfield
avenue. Oscar E. Janes. The first appointment to the civil service made by
the late President McKinley during his first term was to fill the office of
United States Pension Agent at Detroit Agency, and the appointee was
Colonel Oscar E. Janes, who still holds that office and is one of the best
known men in the city and state. Immediately following the adjourn
ment of the first cabinet meeting, March 8, 1897, President McKinley
sent his nomination to the senate, where it was at once referred to the
committee in executive 'session. Within five minutes and six seconds
from the time it was received a messenger was dispatched to the Presi
dent to inform him that the nomination had been confirmed.
The office of United States Pension Agent at Detroit, for which Colo
nel Janes is so admirably qualified, is one of the most important federal
positions in Michigan, and is conducted under the rules laid down by
the civil service commission. On June 30, 1911, the books of the agency
showed an enrollment of 36,917 pensioners, and an annual disbursement
of $6,746,023.14, making a total disbursement during his incumbency of
the office to November, 1911, of $98,986,211.19, for every dollar of which
the agent is accountable, though under the civil service rules he is not al
lowed to name his subordinates, upon whom he must necessarily rely for
a correct handling of this vast sum of money. Since he took charge of
the office its duties have been administered with signal ability. The
quarterly payments have been made in less than one-half the time here
tofore taken. With the Bureau of Pensions he has gained a record of
conducting one of the best agencies in promptness, accuracy and neat
ness of reports.
The appointment made by the President as the first act of his admin
istration was an honor fittingly bestowed upon a career that had already
been marked by long and distinguished service in the state of Michigan.
The greater part of his life Colonel Janes had spent in the city and coun
ty of Hillsdale, but he was born at Johnstown, Rock county, Wisconsin,

966 HISTORY OF DETROIT
July 6, 1843. His family before him has contained members of promi
nence and interesting history.
Of English ancestry, he is descended from William Janes, who im
migrated from England to America in 1637 and was a member of the
colony of Rev. John Davenport. The colony crossed in the ship Hector,
and after a short stay in Boston journeyed south and founded the pres
ent city of New Haven, Connecticut. Elijah Janes, the great-great
grandfather of Colonel Janes, was one of the minute-men of the colonial
wars and also served as lieutenant of dragoons during the war of the
Revolution. This branch of the family settled in Vermont, and in Grand Isle,
that state, was born John E. Janes, father of Colonel Janes. From Ver
mont his parents moved to Wayne county, New York, and in 1838 he set
tled at Johnstown, Rock county, Wisconsin, where he became a substan
tial farmer and for many years was prominently identified with the
growth and development of that section of the state. He was a strong
abolitionist, and in the years preceding the outbreak of the Civil war
his house was one of the well-known stations on the "Underground
Railway. ' ' Here he harbored many runaway slaves, and Colonel Janes,
himself, when a boy, drove a carriage containing black fugitives from
his father's home to the next station. In this way the runaways were
helped, stage by stage, in their flight from the south to Canada, where
they were secure from pursuit. At the same time bills were posted
about the country offering a thousand dollars reward for the detection
of anyone harboring or assisting the escaping slaves. Colonel Janes'
mother was Esther (Bagley) Janes.
During his boyhood spent in Wisconsin, he devoted himself to farm
work during the summer and to attending district school in the winter.
After finishing at the Milton Academy, Wisconsin, he entered college at
Hillsdale, Michigan, in the class of 1863. After spending two months
in college he laid aside his books, and at a time when it was known there
was danger at the front and the services of every loyal son were needed,
he was mustered into the United States service on November 15, 1863, as
as a private in the Fourth Michigan Infantry.
His army record shows that in battle he was always in the forefront,
taking part in numerous engagements, among which were the battles of
the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, Petersburg
and Jerusalem Plank Road, Virginia. At the last named engagement,
just as the day was merging into night on June 22, 1864, he received a
wound which cost him his arm and left him as dead on the field of battle.
The next morning the orderly sergeant and Sergeant Dickerson of his
company, going out to seek him among the slain of the previous day,
found and buried what they believed to be his body, erecting over him a
headboard, to the memory of Oscar A. Janes. Furthermore, on the
muster roll of his regiment he was recorded among the "Killed in Bat
tle, ' ' and a letter was forwarded to his parents in Wisconsin informing
them of their supposed bereavement. In the meantime the subject of
these mortuary records had been picked up by the ambulance corps,
though nothing of this was known at the front for several days, until it
was announced in the New York papers that he was then in Haddington
Hospital, Philadelphia. An incident connected with the supposed bur
ial of Comrade Janes occurred at a reunion of the veterans of the Fourth
Michigan, held at Hudson five years after the close of the war. Colonel
Janes met Sergeant Dickerson, and, extending to him his only remaining
hand, said: "How are you, Dick?" The Sergeant replied: "I am all
right, but I don't seem to know you; who are you, anyway?" "Why, I
am Janes, of your company, don't you know me?" To this astounding

HISTORY OF DETROIT 967
statement Sergeant Dickerson answered, saying: "My God, I buried you
at Petersburg. ' '
After being mustered out of service Colonel Janes returned to Hills
dale College, from which he graduated in 1868. He at once began the
study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1871. In 1873 he married
Miss Vinnie E. Hill, of Hillsdale. Her death occurred two years later.
In 1878 he was married to Miss Julia M. Mead, of Hillsdale. This union
was blessed with three children: Marie E., Henry M. and John F.
In private life Colonel Janes is recognized as a cultured, courteous
gentleman, who cherishes friends and enjoys their companionship. In
public affairs his influence has always been large both in his home com
munity and the state. He possesses rare gifts as an orator, and has the
tact and integrity which are demanded in public life. His title he re
ceived in 1885, while on the staff of Governor Russell A, Alger. He
served the Union Veterans' Union as its department commander, and
was department commander of the Grand Army of the Republic of
Michigan in 1883, and was inspector general of the National Grand
Army in 1887. He was for four years secretary and treasurer of Hills
dale College, of which he has also been trustee and auditor. He has
held high rank in the orders of the Knights of Pythias and the Inde
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the latter of which he served as grand
master of the Grand Lodge of Michigan and also as grand representative
of the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the United States. He is also a mem
ber of the Knights of the Maccabees ; of Detroit Lodge, No. 34, B. P. 0.
E. ; of Detroit Post, No. 384, G. A. R, ; and of the Michigan Society of
the Sons of the American Revolution.
The citizens of Hillsdale city and county, where he so long resided,
have often honored him with positions of public trust, including the
offices of city clerk, city attorney, alderman, circuit court commissioner,
judge of probate eight years, and state senator. In politics Colonel
Janes has always been a Republican, casting his first presidential vote
for General Grant, and he has given to the party the advantages of his
fine oratorical gifts in the exposition of its principles. He enjoys the
distinction of having been chairman of the Michigan Republican State
Convention, which elected delegates to the National Republican Conven
tion at St. Louis, where McKinley was nominated for the presidency.
He has been many times a delegate to state conventions.
In the Michigan legislature of 1895-96 Colonel Janes, representing
the counties of Hillsdale, Branch and St. Joseph in the senate, served
on a number of its most important committees, including the committees
on judiciary, school of mines, constitutional amendments, and soldiers'
home. As chairman of the last he made a report which caused a special
investigation of the management to be made by the succeeding legis
lature. Also in that session he was author of the Flag act, which pro
vides that during school hours the flag of our country shall float over
every public school building in the state; and also of the joint resolu
tion appropriating ten thousand dollars for a statue of Michigan's war
governor, Austin Blair. He also made masterly efforts in opposition to
the capital punishment bill, which was finally defeated by a narrow
margin of votes. For his earnest and successful championship of the
pure food law he received the thanks of the farmers of his district in a
set of resolutions adopted by Pomona Grange of Hillsdale county.
Seldom has a federal appointment been more felicitous and in ac
cordance with the highest test of merit than in the case of Colonel Janes
to the office of Pension Agent at Detroit. For half a century his career
presents an unblemished record of personal integrity and public service,

968 HISTORY OF DETROIT
and among the living survivors of the great war for the Union he is eas
ily one of the most distinguished.
Nels L. Olson. Among the worthy citizens of Detroit, one who has
become an important factor in the manufacturing world is Nels L. Olson,
president of the Swedish Crucible Steel Company and the inventor of
that extremely valuable aid to agriculturists, the Olson Adjustable Plow
Point. An account of the development of his career will be of especial
interest to his business colleagues and other acquaintances, as well as
to those to whom his achievements in invention and manufacture have
made his name more familiar than his personality.
Mr. Olson is a conspicuously superior example of his racial type — :
that people of remarkable physical vigor, whose reserve force less often
fails them in the strenuousness of American life than does the stamina
of more volatile races ebb away under the strain of ambitious effort.
Of their unassuming faithfulness and their careful craftsmanship he
is furthermore an admirable exponent. In the somewhat rigorous sur
roundings of his native Swedish home Nels Olson's birth occurred on
October 15, 1868. His parents were Ola and Inga Christofferson, both
of whom were born in Sweden and whose lives were spent in agricul
tural pursuits, the father living all his earthly days on the same trim
and well-tilled farm. His death occurred in 1883 and his wife followed
him to the great beyond in the year 1905.
In the Swedish public schools Nels Olson gained his early knowledge
of life through the lore of books and the training of teachers. When
he had reached the age of fourteen years he was apprenticed to that
useful trade which is possible only to men of fine physique, the voca
tion of blacksmith. By the time he had reached the age of seventeen
he had gazed into the future with the eyes of hope and ambition. In
distant America he believed his success lay, for Nels Olson had a quiet,
steady faith in his own ability. He crossed the Atlantic ocean and came
to the midle west, where he first settled in Chicago. From- here he
sought the far west and for a year made his home in the Sacramento
Valley in California. His interest in, the different phases of western
life next led him to Portland, Oregon, where for a number of years
he profitably pursued the business for which he had been trained. In
1890 he removed to ¦ Butte, Montana, where he opened a blacksmith
shop, thereafter conducting it for several years.
During this period of work Nels Olson's activity had not been, merely
physical. His mind, observant and independent, had been at work,
and plans were formulated which presently he began to put into execu
tion. In 1897 he established the Olson Implement Company, which,
after he had conducted it individually until 1901, was incorporated
under the laws of Montana with a capital of twenty thousand dollars.
Mr. Olson himself was president of the company; Mrs. Olson secre
tary and treasurer ; and Arthur Brown, also a stockholder, besides being
a member of the board of trustees. With offices located on Wyoming
street in the city of Butte, the Olson Implement Company has ranked
as the largest business of its kind in the entire state of Montana. It
is needless to say that the business has been a very extensive and profit
able one. The fact that Mr. Olson's interests as a manufacturer and
inventor have assumed such heavy proportions as they now hold has
made it necessary for him to withdraw from the Butte business.
Nels Olson's understanding of agricultural problems, combined with
his mechanical ingenuity, has made him a genuine benefactor of the
great class of farmers who mean so much to the country in their invalu-
ble capacity as producers. Realizing the disadvantages in the decreas-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 969
ing fertility of much-used soil; recognizing the fact that below a given
level,. undisturbed elements of fertility must lie; understanding that the
average plowing implement has limitations of effectiveness, Mr. Olson
brought a great boon within reach of the farmers by his invention, pat
ented in 1910, of the Olson Adjustable Plow Point. The fact that this
point can be adjusted to any depth and can be set at gradations of the
one hundredth part of an inch have given it an immense value in the
eyes of the agriculturists.
This invention of Mr. Olson's is manufactured by the Swedish
Crucible Steel Company, whose factories are located in Detroit. Of
this company he is the president and the largest stockholder. Its vice-
president is A. J. W. Nixon and its secretary and treasurer is J. H.
Tobin, Junior. The importance of this company is steadily growing
and it is taking high rank as one of Detroit's most useful enterprises.
To Mr. Olson, therefore, as its head and most active member, great
credit is due and he is worthy of remark as one more excellent demonstra
tion of the value of the Swedish-American in our population of many
mingled sources.
Mrs. Olson is also of European birth. As Ina Mickleson she was born
in Finland, and came in early girlhood to America in company with
her parents. Their subsequent home was in Michigan, where she was
reared and educated. In Butte, Montana, in November of 1899, she
was united in marriage to Mr. Olson. In that city also were born the
three children of Mr. and Mrs. Olson — Florence, Norman and Blanche.
Mr. Olson and his family are connected with the Swedish-Lutheran
church. Politically he does not commit himself to partisan limitations.
He belongs to the Swedish chapter of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows. Captain Owen Courtland Linsday. On the 1st of May, 1912,
Captain Linsday will have rounded out thirty years of service with the
police department. More than half his lifetime he has given to this
public service, and he has had a varied career marked by interesting inci
dents and high usefulness. He joined the force as patrolman May 1, 1882.
About this time Detroit was the Mecca for dangerous crooks, and a
crusade begun by the late Superintendent E. F. Conely to rid the com
munity of them found in patrolman Linsday a faithful and fearless
subordinate, who for months was stationed at the doors of thieves' resorts
and did his full share toward abating those evils. Upon the adoption of
the police signal system he was appointed the first operator and served
three years and five months in that capacity. He was then attached to the
bank squad, was crossing policeman two years and five months at Con
gress and Woodward avenues, and in 1892 was made roundsman, serving
in the Central precinct five years in that capacity, two years of the time
in charge of the old Woodbridge Station. In 1897 he was promoted
to lieutenant, being stationed at the Canfield Avenue Station, Fourth
Precinct. After being in the latter precinct about eleven years he was
appointed by Commissioner Croul and Superintendent Downey as lieu
tenant of all the parks and boulevards of Detroit. Under Commissioner
Croul he proved one of the most efficient in carrying out certain reforms,
and was promoted on October 1, 1910, to captain, being in charge of the
sixth precinct. Captain Linsday has probably done more than any
other individual to regulate the scorcher evil in automobile traffic. Dur
ing the last season he arrested two hundred and sixteen scorchers,
chasing them with a Hupmobile, and he covered over nine thousand
miles in his machine.
Vol. Ill— 9

970 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Captain Linsday was born in St. Clair county, Michigan, February
28, 1859. He attended school in Bay City, but school days ended when
he was twelve years old, and he went on the Great Lakes. He was a
lake sailor until he was twenty-three years old, and left that occupation
to join the police department. Captain Linsday married Miss Anna
McKenney, of Amherstburg, Canada. Her parents were Augustus
and Matilda (Grondin) McKenney, her father being a native of Ireland
and her* mother a native of Canada and of French stock. Mrs. Linsday
is a niece of the late Sir John Schultz, for many years a Dominion
senator and was appointed by Sir John Macdonald as lieutenent-gover-
nor of Manitoba, and his weath occurred while he was in the latter office,
Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Linsday: John, now
deceased; Allan, who is second mate on the steamer Western States
between Detroit and Buffalo, married Miss Mary Miller of Tonawanda,
New York ; Raymond, who lives at home, is a conductor on the D. U. R. ;
Mildred, aged eighteen, at home; and Helen, aged ten. The family
reside at an attractive home at 199 Connecticut avenue.
Captain Linsday affiliates with the Grand River Tent of the Mac
cabees. He is one of the intelligent and public-spirited citizens of
Detroit, and has done much to influence action and opinion through his
writings on economic and political subjects of interest to this locality.
He is a good writer and frequent contributor to the columns of the daily
press. Lucien F. Webb, M. D., has gained secure prestige as one of the
able and essentially representative physicians and surgeons of his native
city, where he has a large and prosperous practice, with residence and
office at 379 Campbell avenue. He is a scion of the staunchest of colonial
stock, in both the paternal and maternal lines, in either or both of which
have been found representatives in every war in which the nation has
been involved from the time of the conflicts with the Indians in the
early colonial epoch to the Spanish-American war. The Doctor is a
direct descendant of Hannah Ripley Webb, who was a daughter of that
historic character, Governor Bradford, of Massachusetts colony. The
original progenitors of the Webb family in America came to this country
from Devonshire, England, on the "Mayflower."
Dr. Lucien Fletcher Webb was born in Detroit, on the 12th of Dec
ember, 1877, and is a son of John Fletcher Webb and Emily Adelia
(Fisk) Webb, the former of whom was born at Evans, Erie county, New
York, and the latter of whom was born at Kirkland, Lake county, Ohio,
in 1839. John F. Webb, who bore the same name as his father, was
reared and educated in his native state and thereafter maintained his
home in Buffalo, New York, until 1868, when he came to Detroit, where
he became a member of the city police force in 1872. He first served as
patrolman, later as detective and finally became a court officer, a position
which, he retained continuously for many years. He retired from active
service, secure in the high regard of all who knew him, in May, 1903, and
and he died in 1909, at the venerable age of seventy-eight years. His
cherished and devoted wife was summoned to the life eternal on the 10th
of June, 1898. She was a daughter of Ira and Lucretia (Trask) Fisk,
who were born in Massachusetts and who became early settlers in Ohio,
in which state they continued to reside until their death. The lineage
of the Fisk family is traced back to staunch English origin and its
founders in America established a home in Massachusetts in the early
colonial days. Concerning the children of John F. and Emily A. (Fisk)
Webb the following brief data are entered: Ellsworth R. is master
mechanic in the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad Company and

HISTORY OF DETROIT 971
resides at St. Thomas, Ontario ; Miss Sylvia L. remains at the old home in
Detroit ; Abbie C. is the wife of William R. Winn, of Columbus, Michi
gan ;Dr. Lucien F. was the next in order of birth; and Harry N. resides
at New Smyrna, Florida.
The public .schools of Detroit afforded Dr. Webb his early educational
advantages, which included those of the Central high school. In 1900
he entered the Detroit Homeopathic Medical College, in which admirable
institution he was graduated in 1904, with the well earned degree of
Doctor of Medicine. He has since been engaged in the active practice
of his profession in his native city and has proved an able and popular
exponent of the effective Homeopathic school of practice. He is a
member of the staff of Grace Hospital and is doing effective service in
the educational work of his profession as a lecturer on materia medica "
in his alma mater, the Detroit Homeopathic Medical College. The
Doctor is a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy, the
Michigan State Homeopathic Medical Society, and the Detroit Homeo
pathic Practitioners Society. He is affiliated with the Alpha Sigma
college fraternity, is a stalwart Republican in his political allegiance,
and both he and his wife hold membership in the Baptist church.
On the 28th of October, 1908, Dr. Webb was united in marriage to
Miss Alice Louise White, who was born at Tyra, province of Ontario,
Canada, and who is a daughter of John and Ann (Potter) White, the
former a native of Cornwall, England, and the latter of Nova Scotia,
both being now deceased. Dr. and Mrs. Webb have two children, —
Ellsworth R. and John Fletcher.
John T. Spillane. One of the noblest veterans of the Civil war in
southern Michigan is John T. Spillane, who is now serving as captain
of the police force in Detroit. He was a drummer boy in the far-famed
Seventh Michigan Volunteer Infantry, having enlisted in Company K
of that regiment on the 19th of June, 1861, at which time he was a youth
of but fourteen years of age. Concerning his career as a young soldier
further data will appear in ensuing paragraphs in connection with an
item on the movements of the Seventh Michigan Regiment. After the
war Captain Spillane returned to Detroit, which beautiful city has since
represented his home. He is essentially loyal and public-spirited in his
civic attitude and no measure or enterprise advanced for the well being
of this section of the state has ever failed of his heartiest support and
co-operation. Captain Spillane of this notice was reared to adult age in the Fair
City of the Straits, to whose private schools he is indebted for his prelim
inary educational training. During the strenuous days preceding the in
ception of the Civil war he became fired with boyish enthusiasm to par
ticipate in the coming conflict. Being but fourteen years of age he could
not enlist as a regular soldier but on the 19th of June, 1861, his services
were acepted in the capacity of drummer boy for the valiant Company K
of the Seventh Michigan Infantry. In the following September his
regiment moved to Monroe, Michigan, to organize and then moved to
Washington, and in the winter of 1861 it camped near Poolesville, Mary
land, doing picket duty on the north bank of the Potomac river and
engaging in the battle of Ball's Bluff, on the south side of the river.
The regiment then moved on to Alexandria, Virginia, later engaging in
the Peninsular campaign with the Army of the Potomac, then partici
pating in the siege of Yorktown, and eventually participating in its
first heavy engagment — the battle of Fair Oaks. During his military
career Captain Spillane participated in as many as forty engagements,
among them being the battles of Yorktown, Fair Oaks, Peach Orchard,

972 HISTORY OF DETROIT
White Oak Swamp, Savage Station, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Chantilly,
Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the Wilderness campaign, Cold Harbor and
Petersburg. During the battle of Antietam he was shot in the left side of
the neck, the bullet first passing through his blanket roll on his shoulder.
As a memento of this battle the Captain has in his posession a star from
Old Glory. In this engagment several of the color bearers were shot
down and the flag was in tatters. The Captain was in the act of reaching
for a star from the flag which was hanging by a thread, when the afore
mentioned bullet struck him. When he came to after receiving his in
jury he was clinching the bit of cloth in his hand.
In the siege of Petersburg the Captain was wounded in his right side
and in the right arm. He was sent to the hospital at Fort Schuyler, New
York, and after convalescing for six weeks he was able to proceed to the
front again. On the 11th of December, 1862, General Burnside com
manding the Army of the Potomac, wished to cross the Rappahannock
river at two different points. At Fredericksburg, the engineers who
were laying the pontoon bridges were shot down so rapidly by the
Rebel sharpshooters that they refused to make further attempts to build
the bridges, with the result that the army was at a standstill. Colonel
Hall, commanding the brigade of which the Seventh Michigan was a
part, told General Burnside that he thought he had a regiment who would
volunteer to go across in boats and dislodge the sharpshooters so that the
engineers could continue their work. Accordingly the Seventh Regi
ment, of which Captain Spillane was drummer boy, crossed with a
frightful loss of men but succeeded in dispersing the rebel sharpshooters
and in capturing a number of them. The bridges were then constructed
and after the army had crossed the terrible battle of Fredericksburg took
place, concerning which the following extracts are here inserted, the
same being taken from "Michigan in the War," which was compiled
by John Robertson: Dark rolled the Rappahannock's flood,
Michigan, my Michigan.
The tide was crimson with thy blood,
Michigan, my Michigan.
Although for us the day was lost
Yet it shall be our proudest boast
At Fredericksburg our Seventh crossed
Michigan, my Michigan.
At ten o'clock General Burnside gives the order: "Concentrate the
fire of all your guns on the city and batter it down ! ' ' You may believe
they were not loth to obey. In a few moments thirty-five batteries, one
hundred and seventy-nine guns, opened on the doomed city. It lasted
for upwards of an hour without intermission, fifty rounds being fired
from each gun.
The congregated generals were transfixed. Mingled satisfaction
and awe were upon every face. But what was tantalizing was, that
though a great deal could he heard, nothing could be seen, the city be
ing still enveloped in fog and mist. Only a denser pillar of smoke
defining itself on the background of the fog indicated where the town
had been fired by our shells. Another1 and another column showed itself,
and we presently saw that at least a dozen houses must be on fire.
Towards noon the curtain rolled up and we saw that it was indeed
so. Fredericksburg was in conflagration. Tremendous though this
fire had been and terrific though its effect obviously on the town, it
had not accomplished the object intended. It was found by our gun-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 973
ners almost impossible to obtain a sufficient depression of their pieces
to shell the front part of the city and the rebel sharp shooters were
still comparatively safe behind the thick stone walls of the houses.
During the thick of the bombardment a fresh attempt had been
made to complete the bridge. It failed and evidently nothing could
be done till a party could be thrown over to clean out the rebels and
cover the bridge ahead. For this mission General Burnside called for
volunteers and Colonel Hall (Seventh Michigan), of Fort Sumter fame,
immediately responded that he had a regiment that would do the busi
ness. Accordingly the Seventh Michigan, a small regiment, was select
ed for the purpose.' The plan was that they should take the pontoon
boats of the first bridge of which there were ten lying on the bank of the
river, waiting to be added to the half finished bridge, cross over in them,
and, landing, drive out the rebels.
Nothing could be more admirable or more gallant than the execu
tion of this daring feat. Rushing down the steep bank of the river the
party found temporary shelter behind the pontoon boats lying scattered
on the bank and behind the piles of planking destined for the covering
of the bridge, behind rocks etc. In this situation they acted some
fifteen or twenty minutes as sharp shooters, they and the rebels observ
ing each other. In the meantime new and vigorous artillery firing was
commenced on our part and just as soon as this was fairly developed,
the Seventh Michigan rose from their crouching places and rushed for
the pontoon boats, and, pushing them into the water, rapidly filled them
with twenty-five or thirty each.
The first boat pushes off. Now, if ever, is the rebel's opportunity.
Crack! Crack! from fifty lurking places go rebel rifles at the gallant
fellows, who, stooping low in the boat seek to avoid the fire. The
murderous work was well done. Lustily, however, pull the oarsmen.
Having passed the middle of the stream, the boat and its gallant freight
come under cover of the opposite bluffs.
Another and another boat follows. Now is their opportunity. Noth
ing could be more amusing in its way than the result. Instantly they
see a new turn of affairs. The rebels pop up by the hundreds, like so
many rats, from every cellar, rifle pit, and stone wall, and scamper off
up the street of the town. With all their fleetness, however, many of
them are much too slow. With incredible rapidity the Michigan boys
sweep up the hill, making a rush for the lurking places occupied by the
rebels and gaining them, each man captured his two of three prisoners.
The pontoon boats on their return trips took over more than a hundred
of these fellows.
You can imagine with what intense interest the crossing of the first
boat load of our men was watched by the numerous spectators on the
shore, and with what enthusiastic shouts their landing on the opposite
side was greeted. It was an authentic piece of human heroism, which
moves men as nothing else can. The problem was solved. This flash
of bravery had done what scores of batteries and tons of metal had
failed to accomplish. The country will not forget that little band.
(1862). Captain Spillane is the proud possessor of a solid gold medal of
honor from the citizens of Detroit. Inscribed on one side are these
words: "The Drummer Boy of the Rappahannock December 11, 1862."
On the other side are the most important battles in which he participat
ed. When the great struggle for union had ended and peace was again
established throughout the country, Captain Spillane returned to De
troit, where he entered the employ of the government survey on Lake

974 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Superior. After two years identification with that line of enterprise he
began to learn the carpenter's trade. On the 1st of June, 1870, he
abandoned all other projects and joined the police force, continuing
a member of that department during the long intervening years to the
present time. In 1886 he was promoted to the office of roundsman ;
six years later he was made sergeant; and on the 7th of June, 1897, was
promoted to the rank of captain. He has proved a most valuable
adjunct to the police force of Detroit and as a citizen he is everywhere
accorded the confidence and high regard of all who know him.
Captain Spillane retains a deep and abiding interest in his old
comrades in arms and signifies the same by membership in the Grand
Army of the Republic, in which he is a past commander of Fairbanks
Post, one of the largest posts in Michigan. At the coming state G. A. R.
meeting to be held at Port Huron, Michigan, in the summer of 1912
he will become a candidate for the office of department commander,
the highest honor the state branch of the organization can offer. His
chance of election to this office is splendid and if he becomes its incum
bent he will discharge the duties connected therewith with all of honor
and distinction. In politics he accords a staunch allegiance to the princ
iples and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor and
while he has never manifested aught of desire for political preferment
of any description he is ever on the qui vive to advance progress and
improvement. Captain Spillane is genial in his associations, affable
in his address, generous in his judgement of his fellow men, and court
eous to all. As a citizen and enthusiast of his town, it is but just to
say that communities will prosper and grow in proportion as they put
a premium on men of his mould.
Traugott Schmidt. It has previously been the privilege of the writer
to prepare a memoir concerning the honored citizen whose name intro
duces this article and of whose character and services he is deeply ap
preciative through personal knowledge. Under these conditions there
can be no inconsistency in reproducing, with but minor paraphrase, the
tribute originally prepared.
The great empire of Germany has contributed a most valuable ele-
' ment to the cosmopolitan social fabric of our American republic, which
has had much to. gain and nothing to lose through this source. Among
those of German birth and lineage who have attained to success and
precedence in connection with productive business affairs in the city of
Detroit was the late Traugott Schmidt, who was a citizen of sterling
character, honored by all who knew him and influential -in both civic
and commercial life.
Mr. Schmidt was born in the province of Reuss, Germany, in the
year 1830, and was a son of Carl C. and Susanna (Plarre) Schmidt, who
likewise were natives of the same province, where they passed their entire
lives. There the Schmidt family had been engaged in the tanning busi
ness +'or more than twelve generations, and the family was founded in
the province of Reuss in the fourteenth century of the Christian era,
the original orthography of the name having been Czemicz.
The subject of this memoir was afforded the advantages of the ex
cellent schools of his native land but early began to acquire experience
in connection with the practical affairs of life. As a boy and youth he
learned the tanner's trade in his father's establishment, where he re
mained until he had attained to the age of nineteen years, when, in*
1849, he came to America, as he had become convinced that here were
offered better opportunities for the achieving of success through personal
effort along normal lines of enterprise. After passing one year in the

ft w

HISTORY OF DETROIT 975
city of Baltimore, Maryland, Mr. Schmidt -ame to Michigan and estab
lished his residence at Flint, the judicial center of Genesee county,
where he started a small tannery. Six months later, however, he came
to Detroit, to accept a position in the employ of Gottlieb Beck, who was
then one of the most influential German citizens of the Michigan me
tropolis. In 1853 Mr. Schmidt engaged in business for himself, and thereafter
his career was one of consecutive advancement, the while he so ordered
his course as to retain at each stage of progress the unqualified confi
dence and esteem of his fellow men. In short, an honorable, straight
forward, energetic and successful business career is what stands to the
enduring credit of this well known citizen, who passed from the scene
of life's mortal endeavors in the fulness of years and well earned hon
ors. In the year last mentioned Mr. Schmidt established a modest busi
ness on Monroe avenue, between Beaubien and Antoine streets, and
from this small concern he built up one of the most extensive business
enterprises of the kind in the middle west. In the early days his opera
tions were largely confined to dealing in deer skins, and in time he se
cured agents throughout the northwest and bought upon an extensive
scale, shipping his products principally to Germany. For a number of
years he was also a heavy buyer and shipper of wool, as well as hold
ing distinctive prestige as a fur merchant. As his business increased
in scope he made good use of his opportunities and showed his determin
ate business acumen by establishing a branch house in Gera, Germany.
For many years he made annual visits to his native land and he main
tained personal supervision of his interests in Gera.
Mr. Schmidt's early experiences as a buyer of hides and furs were
of a kind that gave him full appreciation of the life of the pioneer.
During his earlier business career in Detroit he traveled along the entire
lake shore from this city to Saginaw bay, and even made his way across
Lake Michigan into Wisconsin, traveling when possible with a horse
and wagon and buying from the various Indian tribes. He gained the
good will of the red men, and their confidence in him was of no slight
importance in furthering his success in the earlier stages of his inde
pendent business operations. Mr. Schmidt was one of the first to come
to an appreciation of what Detroit's future might be, and he showed
the courage of his convictions by making judicious investments in city
realty. He erected the Valpey block, on Woodward avenue, and the
Schmidt block, on Monroe avenue. The latter was finally destroyed by
fire, but he erected other business buildings and also numerous dwell
ing houses in the city. From the gradual appreciation in the value of
Detroit real estate he reaped large financial returns.
Mr. Schmidt was one of the organizers and incorporators of the
Wayne County Savings Bank, of which he was a trustee for -a number
of years, but he finally disposed of his stock in this institution. In poli
tics he was a stalwart in the camp of the Republican party, and he was
a zealous supporter of the cause of the Union during the Civil war. As
a citizen he was loyal and public-spirited, and he was well known and
distinctively popular in the city in which he long maintained his home.
He died on the 17th of May, 1897, on the steamer "Trave," while en
route home from Germany. He was identified with the Harmonie So
ciety and the Germania Bowling Club. The business established by the
honored subject of this memoir is still continued. In 1889 it was incor
porated, with a capital stock of two hundred thousand dollars, and he
remained president of the company until his death.
in 1856 Mr. Schmidt was united in marriage to Wilhelmina Beck,
daughter ot Gottlieb Beck, one of the honored pioneer citizens of De-

976 HISTORY OF DETROIT
troit, and she passed away in 1863. She is survived by two children, —
Carl E., who is individually mentioned in succeeding paragraphs, and
Miss Ida W., who still resides in Detroit. For his second wife Mr.
Schmidt married Miss Mary R. Beck, a sister of his first wife, and she
survives him, as do also their four children, — Edward J., of Detroit;
Clara, the wife of HugoScherer; Alma L., wife of William Hoffman,
of Leipzig, Germany; and Albert H., of Detroit.
Carl E. Schmidt, eldest of the children of the late Traugott Schmidt,
has well upheld in his native city the prestige of the family name and
is now numbered among the representative business men of the Michi
gan metropolis, where he is head of the firm of Carl E. Schmidt & Com
pany, which conducts a large and substantial tanning business of wide
ramifications, with headquarters at 54 Macomb street.
Carl Ernest Schmidt was born in Detroit, on the 31st of December,
1856, and thus became a right welcome New Year's guest in the family
home. He received his early education in the German- American Semin
ary in Detroit and in the excellent schools of Germany, where he pur
sued his studies from 1870' to 1875, at intervals. He learned the tan
ning business in his father's establishment and became familiar with
every detail of this line of enterprise. He continued to be associated
with his father in business until the death of the latter, in 1897, and he
soon afterward founded an independent business of the same order,
under the present firm name of Carl E. Schmidt & Company. As the
head of this concern he has brought it forward to a status of large and
definite prosperity, and in the meanwhile he has stood at all times ex
ponent of loyal and progressive citizenship, with a deep interest in all
that -touches the welfare of his native city. He accords an unswerving
allegiance to the Republican party and has been called upon to serve
in various positions of public trust. From 1892 to 1894 he was a mem
ber of the board of police commissioners of Detroit, and in 1897-8 he
was a member of the state board of arbitration and mediation. In 1907
he was appointed and served as a member of the state board of forest in
quiry. He is identified with the Detroit Club, the Harmonie Society and
the Fellowcraft Club, all representative organizations of the Michigan
metropolis, and in his home city he has a wide circle of friends.
In the year 1880 Carl E. Schmidt was united in marriage to Miss
Alice M. Candler, daughter of Homer W. Candler, a prominent busi
ness man of Detroit. The three children of this union are : Emma, who
is the wife of Walter E. Oxtoby, a representative member of the Detroit
bar ; Alice M., who is the wife of Preston W. Smith, of Syracuse, New
York; and Ida, who is the wife of Alfred B. Moran, of Detroit.
Angus L. Cowan, M. D., is one of the representative physicians
and surgeons of the fair metropolis of Michigan, where he has been
engaged in general practice for the past decade. The Doctor is of
staunch Scottish lineage on both the paternal and maternal sides, and
was born near the city of London, Middlesex county, province of Ontario,
Canada, on the 10th of September, 1865. He is a son of David and
Elizabeth (Campbell) Cowan, the .former of whom was born in the
north of Ireland, of Scotch descent, and the latter was born in Mid
dlesex county, Ontario, on a farm adjoining that which was the birth
place of her son Angus L., subject of this review. David Cowan was a
lad of about thirteen years at the time of the family immigration from
the Emerald Isle to America, and his father, Robert Cowan, became
one of the early settlers of Middlesex county, Ontario, where he re
claimed a farm from the wilderness and where both he and his wife

HISTORY OF DETROIT 977
passed the residue of their lives. John Campbell, maternal grandfather
of the doctor, was likewise one of the first settlers of Middlesex county,
where he established his home on his immigration from Scotland. He
lived up to the full tension of the pioneer epoch in Ontario and develop
ed a fine farm, which continued to be the place of his abode until his
death. His old homestead is still standing, in an excellent state of
preservation, and is one of the historic landmarks of Middlesex
county. David Cowan was reared to manhood in Middlesex county
and throughout his active career he never wavered in his allegiance
to the great fundamental industry of agriculture, in connection with
which he gained definite success. He was one of the representative
farmers and honored and influential citizens of his community and he
continued to reside on his homestead farm until his death, in 1905, at
the age of seventy-eight years. His devoted wife survived him by about
six years and was summoned to the life eternal in February, 1911, at
the age of seventy-five years, her memory being revered by all who came
within the compass of her gentle influence. Both she and her husband
were zealous members of the Baptist church. Of their children two
sons and one daughter are living.
The sturdy discipline of the home farm compassed the boyhood and
youth of Dr. Cowan and after completing the curriculum of the public
schools of the locality he continued his studies in Strathroy Collegiate
Institute, an excellent academic institution. Here he gained the train
ing which made him eligible for pedagogic honors, and for three years
he was a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of his
native province. This work was held to be but a means to an end, as he
had determined to enter the medical profession. In March, 1888, he
came to Detroit and entered the Detroit College of Medicine, in which
he completed the prescribed course and was graduated in 1891, with
the degree of Doctor of Medicine. During his senior year in college
he gained valuable clinical experience by serving as interne in St.
Luke's Hospital.
In initiating the practice of his profession Dr. Cowan went to
Missouri and located in the town of Granby. In that state he con
tinued in practice fourteen years, at the expiration of which, in Feb
ruary, 1901, he returned to Detroit, where he has since found ample
demands upon his time and attention in connection with his large
general practice. He maintains his residence and office at 549 Four
teenth avenue. The doctor is a member of the American Medical As
sociation, the Michigan State Medical Society, and the Wayne County
Medical Society. While a resident of Missouri he maintained member
ship in its State Medical Society. He is affiliated with the Masonic
fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his
wife attend Brewster Congregational church.
At Granby, Missouri, in the year of 1894, was solemnized the mar
riage of Dr. Cowan to Miss Effie Sweet, who was born and reared in
that state.
Archibald Duncan McAlpine, M. D., was born in the village
of Glencoe, Middlesex county, province of Ontario, Canada, on the
24th of January, 1882, and is a son of Peter J. and Mary (Mclntyre)
McAlpine, the former a native of the province of Ontario and the latter of
Scotland. The father was for many years engaged in the hotel business in
his native province and was one of the honored citizens and repre
sentative business men of Glencoe, that province, at the time of his
death, which oceured in 1899. His widow now resides in the home
of her son, Dr. McAlpine, to whom this sketch is dedicated, and of the

978 HISTORY OF DETROIT
other children two sons and two daughters are living. Dr. McAlpine
was afforded the advantages of the excellent public schools of his native
town, where he was graduated in the high school as a member of the
class of 1900. He then matriculated in Toronto University, and in 1905
was graduated in the medical department of the Detroit College of
Medicine, with the degree of M. D.
In 1905, Dr. McAlpine established his home in Detroit, where he
secured a position as interne in Harper hospital, with whose staff he
continued his services as interne in 1905-06, during which time he
acquired effective clinical experience of wide scope. He is also a mem
ber of the medical staff of the Children's Free Hospital and is surgeon
of the clinic of the Jewish Hospital, also surgeon to the outdoor depart
ment of Harper Hospital. In the practice of his profession in a general
way he is favored in being associated with Dr. Max Ballin, one of the
most eminent surgeons of Michigan. Dr. McAlpine is a member of the
American Medical Association, the Michigan State Medical Society and
the Wayne County Medical Society. He has gained the confidence and
esteem of his professional confreres in Detroit, and his circle of friends
is coincident with that of his acquaintances. The Doctor is progressive
and loyal as a citizen and signifies this by his membership in that ad
mirable organization, the Detroit Board of Commerce. He is affiliated
with local bodies of the time-honored Masonic fraternity and also
holds membership in the Fellowcraft Club, one of the representative
organizations of the city. In politics he is a Republican and his religous
connections are with the Presbyterian church. He is also a member
of the Nu Sigma Nu medical fraternity. The Doctor is a bachelor and
his devoted mother, a woman of most gracious personality, presides
over their home.
Robert Albert Carl Wollenberg, M. D., As one who has attain
ed distinction in his profession and who has been an earnest and dis
criminating student and holds due relative precedence among the practi
tioners of Detroit stands Dr. Robert Albert Carl Wollenberg, clinical
assistant in dermatology at the Detroit College of Medicine and assist
ant dermatologist to St. Mary's Hospital and dermatologist to Provi
dence Hospital. Although comparatively a young man, Dr. Wollen
berg has had a vast and active experience, and the duties of his pro
fession have called him to many positions, but he has ever labored
faithfully in his chosen field and today has the esteem of his professional
confreres and the confidence of his community. Dr. Wollenberg was
born in Loitz, Pomerania, Germany, June 26, 1881, and is the son of
Carl Wollenberg. The family came to the United States the same year
the Doctor was born and located in, Detroit, where for over twenty
years the father was engaged in the coal business.
Dr. Wollenberg secured his early education in St. Mark's Evangelical
school, which he attended until he was twelve years of age, and then
continued his studies in the public and high schools of Detroit, being
graduated from the latter in 1901. In that year he entered the medical
department of the University of Michigan, and after spending two
years there left to enter Georgetown University, District of Columbia,
where he was graduated in 1905 with the degree of M. D.' Subsequent
ly, in 1906, Dr. Wollenberg became an interne at the United States
Marine Hospital, in Detroit, and then became assistant surgeon in the
United States Public Health and Marine Hospital service until 1910.
During the years 1906 and 1907 he was stationed at Ellis Island, New
York, in the quarantine service, and from there was sent abroad in
the foreign service, being first at Naples, Italy, where he was in charge

HISTORY OF DETROIT 979
of the United States government's interests, and later going to Rotter
dam, the Netherlands, during the cholera epidemic of 1907-1909. Dr. Wol
lenberg was then engaged in immigration duty at San Francisco dur
ing the years 1909 and 1910, and in the latter year came' to Detroit to
engage in general practice. In addition to holding the positions above
mentioned, he has been a member of the United States board of pension
examining surgeons for Wayne county since 1910, and is first lieu
tenant in the United States Army Medical Reserve Corps. Dr. Wollen
berg is a close student, keeps fully abreast of the very rapid and startling
advancement in the sciences of medicine and surgery, observes most
closely the ethics of the unwritten professional code and is invariably
courteous to his fellow practitioners. He is a valued member of the
Wayne County Medical Society, the Michigan State Medical Society
and the American Medical Association, and also belongs to the Phi
Beta Pi college fraternity.
The wife of Dr. Wollenberg, who is a native of Detroit, bore the
maiden name of Florence Zoe Allen, and they have had three children :
Robert Allen, Gretchen Ellen and Florence Zoe. Both Dr. and Mrs.
Wollenberg are well and favorably known in social circles of Detroit,
and have many warm friends in the city.
Edward J. Corbett. Within the pages of this work will be found,
as exemplifying one of its most important incidental functions, records
concerning many of the representative business men who are doing
well their respective parts in upholding and furthering the commercial
prestige of the Michigan metropolis, and well worthy of such considera
tion is he whose name introduces this article. With offices in suite
1014-17 Majestic Building, Mr. Corbett is now one of the leading whole
sale coal dealers of the city and state, and he largely represents mining
companies in which he himself holds extensive interests. Marked energy
and circumspection have defined his course as a business man, and
his pronounced success stands as the direct result of his own ability and
efforts. He is an effective exponent of that progressive spirit that has
so significantly vitalized Detroit along commercial and industrial lines
within the past decade and a half, and is a citizen whose loyalty and
public spirit can not be gainsaid.
Edward Joseph Corbett was born at Groveport, Franklin county,
Ohio, on the 23rd of March, 1865, and is a son of Michael and Honora
(McGrath) Corbett, whose marriage was solemnized in the year 1851.
Michael Corbett was born in county Limerick, Ireland, in 1829, and
was there reared and educated, as was also his wife, who was born in
the year 1833 and who is a daughter of Patrick and Mary McGrath.
In the year of his marriage Michael Corbett came with his young wife
to America, and in 1853 he purchased and established his home upon a
farm near Groveport, Ohio, later removing to that village, where he
and his wife maintained their home as honored pioneer citizens of that
section of the Buckeye state until 1901, when Mr. Corbett died. Mrs.
Corbett and daughters reside in the old home. In that locality he fol1
lowed agricultural pursuits and public contract work for many years,
and he gained large and definite success through his well directed in
dustry and wise business policies. He was and the estate now is one
of the largest tax-payers in the village of Groveport, where he estab
lished his home many years prior to his retirement from active busi
ness. Michael Corbett was one of the prominent and influential citi
zens of Franklin county, where he commanded unqualified popular es
teem, and he was the virtual founder of the Catholic church in Grove
port, of which both he and his wife were devout communicants and

980 HISTORY OF DETROIT
liberal supporters. He was a stalwart supporter of the principles and
policies of the Democratic party and showed a deep interest in public
affairs of a local order.
Concerning the children of Michael and Honor a (McGrath) Cor
bett the following data are entered: William J. was a representative
farmer of Franklin county, Ohio, at the time of his death, in 1905 ; Han
nah, who became the wife of Thomas H. Teegardin, of Pickaway county,
Ohio, was summoned to eternal rest in 1898; John F. is a prosperous
farmer near Groveport, Ohio ; Mary is the wife of Lucian Lindsay, of
Columbus, that state ; Edward J., of this review, was the next in order
of birth; M. Leo is secretary of the Capital City Dairy Company, of
Columbus, Ohio ; Misses Katharine T. and Nora remain at the parental
home; and Frank P. is branch manager of the United Motor Colum
bus Company, in Ohio's capital city. Just before the close of the Civil
war Michael Corbett enlisted in an Ohio regiment, but his command
was not called into active field service, as victory soon afterward crowned
the Union arms.
Edward J. Corbett completed the curriculum of the public schools
of his native town of Groveport, where he was graduated in the high
school as a member of the class of 1882. He supplemented this dis
cipline by a course in the Columbus Business College, in the capital
city of his native state, in which institution he was graduated in 1884.
In 1885, when twenty years of age, he became secretary to the general
superintendent of the Columbus & Cincinnati Midland Railroad, and
he retained this position three years, at the expiration of which, in
1888, he resigned the same to accept that of secretary to the north
western manager of the Columbus & Hocking Coal & Iron Company, at
Ashland, Wisconsin, where he remained one year. The office of the
manager was then transferred to Chicago, in which city Mr. Corbett con
tinued to serve as secretary for two years. He then resigned his posi
tion and became one of the organizers of the firm of H. D. Turney &
Company, coal operators, with offices in the Temple Court building,
Chicago. One year later, in 1891, he organized the firm of Arthur
Connor & Company, as a branch of the original firm, and as a member
of this new concern he opened offices in the Hodges building, Detroit.
In 1894 Mr. Corbett severed his association with this firm and engaged
independently in the wholesale coal business under his own name, with
offices at 114 High street, East. Two years later he removed his head
quarters to the Union Trust building, where he remained until May 1,
1907, when he secured his present fine offices in the Majestic building,
which is one of the largest and most imposing of the modern "sky
scrapers" in Detroit. He has given close and careful attention to his
business affairs and now controls a large and important trade as a whole
sale dealer in coal. Since establishing his independent business, in
1894, he has purchased interests in several coal-operating companies,
and the major part of his business is now in handling the products
of the concerns, with which he is thus identified.
' In politics Mr. Corbett is generically a Democrat, but in local affairs
he is independent and gives his support to the men and measures meet
ing the approval of his judgment. He is an active and valued member
of the Detroit Board of Commerce, as well as its transportation com
mittee, and shows lively interest in the work and affairs of this ad
mirable organization, which has done much to further the commercial
and civic advancement of the Michigan metropolis. He is affiliated
with the Knights of Columbus, and holds membership in the Detroit
Club, the Country Club, Detroit Automobile Club, and the Detroit
Yacht Club, — identification with which representative organizations well

HISTORY OF DETROIT 981
vouches for his popularity in his home city. Both he and his wife are
communicants of the Catholic church, in which 'they hold membership
in the cathedral parish of St. Peter and Paul.
Mr. Corbett was married on October 23, 1890, to Miss Margaret
Gertrude Kelley, of Columbus, Ohio, who died December 24, 1904, and
on July 25, 1907, he was married to Miss Anna Dyer, who was born at
Palms, Sanilac county, Michigan, and who is a daughter of John and
Mary (Mahon) Dyer, both of whom are now deceased. Mrs. (Dyer)
Corbett was educated in the Academy of the Sacred Heart, Detroit, is
a woman of distinctive culture and charming personality, and is a
popular factor in the social activities of her home city. Mr. and Mrs.
Corbett have two children, — Edward Joseph, Jr., who was born on the
12th of May 1908, and Katharine Anna, who was born on the 12th of
December, 1910.
Robert Milton Richards, M. D. No vocation in life offers greater
opportunity for genuine service to mankind than that of doctor of
medicine, and the physician who fully appreciates his responsibilities
and conscientiously responds to every call made upon him is a public
benefactor in the highest sense of the term. One of those who holds
in high estimate the duties which his position involves, and who is more
than ordinarily successful as a medical and surgical practitioner, is
Robert Milton Richards, M. D., whose well-appointed suite of offices
are located at No. 602 Gas Office Building, Detroit. Born at Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania, September 24, 1868, Dr. Richards is a son of Samuel J.
and Hailnah E. (Johnson) Richards, both of whom belong to old and
honored families of the Keystone state. The father of the Doctor died
in 1892, at the age of fifty-two years, and his wife having passed away
in 1886, when but forty-three years old.
Dr. Richards acquired his early educational training in the public
schools of East Liverpool, Ohio, and in 1884 completed his studies in
the high school at that place. Until September, 1891, he was engaged
in commercial business at Pittsburg, and at that time entered the Cleve
land (Ohio) Homeopathic Medical College, where he was graduated
with the class of 1894 and received his degree of M. D. Immediately
after he was graduated Dr. Richards was appointed to the resident
medical staff of Grace Hospital, Detroit, a position which he held until
October of the same year, and then entered upon a general practice of
his profession in the city of Detroit. Dr. Richards is visiting obstetri
cian to Grace Hospital, lecturer on obstetrics to Grace Hospital Training
School for Nurses and professor of obstetrics in the Detroit Homeo
pathic College. For ten years he held the position of treasurer of the
Michigan State Homeopathic Medical Society (1899-1909), was in 1910
elected vice-president and in 1911 was choseh president, a position which
he still holds. He is also a valued member of the American Institute
of Homeopathy, and the Detroit Homeopathic Practitioners Society,
serving as secretary of the latter for a number of years and as vice-
president since 1911. Fraternally he is affiliated with Oriental Lodge,
F. & A. M., and Michigan Sovereign Consistory, No. 320 of Masonry,
and in addition holds membership, in the Fellowcraft Club, the Detroit
Board of Commerce and the Business Men's Club of the Y. M. C. A.
He is a faithful member of Scoville Memorial Presbyterian church,
where he acts as president of the board of trustees, and is also president
of the Presbyterian Brotherhood of Detroit. Dr. Richards is one of
those men of whom it may be said he has chosen well. Possessed of a
kind, sympathetic nature, a keen sense of discrimination and a natural
taste for the various branches of the medical profession, he has made

982 HISTORY OF DETROIT
a signal success, and no man stands higher in his calling or in the esteem
and respect of his fellow citizens.
Dr. Richards was married in 1895, to Miss Emma Fundis, of Pitts
burg, Pennsylvania.
William T. McGraw. For many years William T. McGraw has
been connected with the upbuilding of Detroit, Michigan, and he has
just reason to be proud of the fact that to his efforts can be traced many
a substantial enterprise or advancement contributing greatly to the
growth and prosperity of this section of the state. In every sense of
the word he is a representative citizen and a business man of marked
capacity. It is to the inherent force of character and commendable
ambition and the unremitting diligence of Mr. McGraw himself that
he has steadily advanced in the business world until he now' occupies
a leading place among the active and representative men of Detroit.
He organized the Detroit Tobacco Company, with which he is still con
nected and he is vice-president of the Mexican Crude Rubber Company
and National Twist Drill Company in addition to which he is also fi
nancially interested in a number of other important business concerns.
William T. McGraw was born in Lavonia township, Wayne county,
Michigan, the date of his nativity being the 9th of September, 1860.
His parents, Richard and Jane (Chapman) McGraw, were likewise
born and reared in the fine old Wolverine state and the father was
identified with agricultural pursuits during the greater portion of his
active business career. The younger in a family of two children, Mr.
McGraw, of this notice, was reared to maturity on the old homestead
farm and his preliminary educational training consisted of such ad
vantages as were afforded in the public schools of Plymouth, Michigan.
Subsequently he was a student for a time in the Detroit Business Uni
versity, in which he pursued a commercial course. He initiated his
active business career as a clerk in the First National Bank at Plymouth,
where he remained for a period of two years, at the expiration of which
he removed to Detroit, where he accepted a position as traveling sales
man for the Globe Tobacco Company. About the year 1884 he became
instrumental in the organization of the Detroit Tobacco Company, a well
known concern of which he is still a member. He is vice-president of
the Mexican Crude Rubber Company and is a director and vice-presi
dent of the National Twist Drill Company and the Globe Tobacco
Company. In his political affiliations Mr. McGraw is a stanch supporter of the
principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor.
He has ever manifested a deep and sincere interest in all matters affect
ing the well being of the community in which he resides and in 1898 he
was honored by his fellow citizens with election to the office of state
senator, continuing as such for a period of one term. In the time-
honored Masonic order he has passed through the circle of the York
Rite branch, holding membership in the Knights Templars and being
also a valued and appreciative member of the Ancient Arabic Order
of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. In a local way he is affiliated with
the Detroit Club, the Country Club, the Detroit Boat Club and the
Automobile Club. He is a great lover of out-of-door sports and is an
enthusiastic supporter of the various clubs to which he belongs.
At Plymouth, Michigan, on the 15th of June, 1897, Mr. McGraw was
united in marriage to Miss Harrietta Fuller, who was born in Detroit
and reared there and in Plymouth, and is a daughter of John Fuller,
long a representative citizen of Plymouth and at one time a judge of
the court. Mr. and Mrs. McGraw have no children. Mr. and Mrs.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 983
McGraw maintain their home at the Plaza Hotel. They hold a high
place in the confidence and esteem of their fellow citizens and are ever
on the alert to do all in their power to advance every project forwarded
for the good of the general welfare.
DeWitt Lloyd Sherwood, M. D. A faithful exemplar of the
healing art, and one whose devotion to his profession has not only earned
the due reward of his efforts in a temporal way, but has proved him
worthy to exercise the important functions of his calling, DeWitt Lloyd
Sherwood, M. D., of 1330 Military avenue, is known and respected
among Detroit's medical men. His understanding of the science of medi
cine is broad and comprehensive and the profession and public accord
him a prominent place among the practitioners of the city, while his
abiding sympathy and earnest zeal have won him a place in the esteem
and confidence of his fellow citizens. Dr. Sherwood was born at Mor-
enci, Lenawee county, Michigan, July 21, 1878, and is a son of George
R. and Sarah (Wilson) Sherwood, of Seneca county, New York.
The paternal grandfather of Dr. Sherwood, Montgomery Sherwood,
was a native of New York, and his parents were born in Connecticut,
while on the maternal side the Doctor is descended from a soldier who
lost his life in the Civil war while serving with a Michigan regiment.
George R. Sherwood also served in the Civil war, with a New York
regiment, and after its close came to Michigan. He now lives at Ypsi-
lanti, Michigan, having attained the age of sixty-eight years while his
wife, who also survives, is sixty.
Dr. DeWitt L. Sherwood was reared on his father's farm, and receiv
ed his early education in the district schools near thereto, as well as in
the public schools of Ypsilanti. In 1899 he graduated from the
pharmaceutical department of the Detroit College of Medicine, and for
some time thereafter was employed in a drug store. During this time
he earnestly prosecuted his medical studies, and eventually entered
the Detroit College of Medicine and was graduatd in 1904, with the
degree of M. D. During the year 1903 he served as interne at the
Harper Hospital, and after graduating from college began the practice
of his profession on the West Side, but during November of the same
year moved to his present fine home, where he maintains well appointed
offices. Dr. Sherwood is a member of the Wayne County Medical So
ciety, the Michigan State Medical Society and the American Medical
Association, and is also connected with the Alumni Association of the
Detroit College of Medicine. Since engaging in his profession here
Dr. Sherwood has retained a representative support, controlling a large
business, his skill and discrimination being not less popularly appreci
ated than his unfailing courtesy and sympathy. He is essentially a
student, and keeps abreast of the advances made in medicine and sur
gery, while he devotes much time to original research and investi
gation. Dr. Sherwood was married to Miss Mabel Clark, of Denton, Mich
igan, daughter of Spencer Clark, a well known citizen of that place, and
three children have been born to this union : Lloyd Clark, Mildred Irene
and George Edwin, of whom Mildred Irene and George Edward are
, deceased. Dr. Sherwood has manifested a lively interest in all matters
pertaining to the advancement of his profession, and is also in the front
ranks of those whose object it is to further the interests of his adopted
city. John Person Clark. The late John P. Clark was for many years
one of Detroit's most conspicuous and most successful citizens. He was

984 HISTORY OF DETROIT
a pioneer in the fishing business in both the Maumee and Detroit rivers,
as well as a pioneer ship-builder, with a yard at Spring Wells. His
whole life was filled with active endeavor and he was pre-eminently
successful in every line he entered. He died possessed of an estate ex
ceeded by few others of his time in this section.
John P. Clark was born near Catskill on the Hudson river, New
York, April 10, 1808, the son of John and Sally (Person) Clark. The
father lost an eye while serving as a soldier in the War of 1812. On
April 18, 1813, the mother (Sally Person) died at Black Rock, New
York and in November, 1813, he married Sally Swayne, and two chil
dren were born to that marriage at Black Rock, New York. In 1818
the father determined to move west, take up government land and estab
lish a home for his boys, and in that same year the family came to
Michigan by boat from Buffalo and landed on the south end of Hickory
Island. So impressed was the boy, John P. Clark, with the beauty of
Sugar Islands and Hickory, where they camped out, that he then and
there decided to some day own those beautiful islands. It is char
acteristic of the man that with his first surplus money he did purchase
the islands, which he continued to own and they were a part of his
estate. John Clark, the father, established the family on the farm in
Brownstown, Wayne county, and there spent the remainder of his
life, dying February 22, 1827, aged fifty years.
The first employment of John P. Clark secured away from home
was at Toledo, Ohio, where he worked for a firm for fifty cents a week
and board. In 1826 he began his fishing business, with fishing grounds
in the Maumee river, subsequently removing his operations to the De
troit river. He was successful from the very start, and as his trade in
creased he employed both a day and a night crew, and even then was
barely able to supply the demand for the fish ; for, although Detroit at
that time was merely a trading post, he found a market for tons of
his daily catch, and it was here he laid the foundation of his ample
fortune. For ten years after inaugurating his fishing enterprise he
fished the Maumee river in conjunction with the Detroit river, and he
shipped large quantities of Maumee . catfish to New Orleans until the
Civil war came on. While on the Maumee river he supplied cargoes
of wood to the canal boats as a side issue. In 1833 he bought a steam
barge and began the towing business. Three years later he went on
an exploring tour around the coast of Lake Michigan, with Indians
for pilots, who pointed out to him their choicest fishing grounds, and
with fifty men he located at White Fish Bay, Wisconsin.
In 1837 Mr. Clark came to Detroit to make his home. To his mani
fold enterprises he added that of ship -building, in that year building
a dry-dock at Spring Wells (now in the city limits), where he built
and owned many boats, notably the steamers "Alaska," "Jay Cooke,"
"Pearl," 'Gazelle" and "Riverside," all well remembered by many
citizens of today. In this line of business, as in all others in which he
engaged, he met with success, and prosperity continued to smile upon
him. Among his properties were Sugar, Hickory and Celeron Islands
in the Detroit river, an island in the Maumee river, Ohio, also Horson
Island at the mouth of Huron river, and he owned the upper end of
Grosse Isle, all of which he held for years, finally disposing of them at
a handsome profit. His holdings of Detroit real estate were large in
cluding the house at the corner of Fort and Cass streets, where he first
resided on coming to the city, and his old homestead on the river road.
He also at one time was largely interested in Michigan and Wisconsin
timber lands.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 985
Mr. Clark was a man of marked individuality and was known widely
in his time. In the operation of his business he combined rare fore
sight and sagacity with the strictest integrity. His rugged honesty was
universally known and his credit was unlimited. He possessed none
of the speculator 's spirit, yet was not too conservative to branch out into
new lines, and when once interested in a new business to push it to the
utmost. But he never made an investment until he was absolutely cer
tain as to its ultimate outcome. At an age when most men retire from
active life he continued in the harness, and was as active almost as in
his prime, never content to give over the direction of his large interests
to others. He died on September 3, 1888, after- a long, successful and
useful life of four-score years. He had endured the hardships of pioneer
life and lived to see the little trading post grow to a mighty city, in
which he and his enjoyed the comforts and luxuries of modern civiliza
tion, procured by his own toil and talent.
Mr. Clark married Susan E. Booth on February 20, 1838. She was
born in England, the daughter of a Yorkshire yeoman, and she died
May 18, 1860. The children of this marriage were : Mrs. J. A. Heek-
ing, who for a long period resided in Paris, France, and is now de
ceased, dying in that city ; Mrs. George Atcheson, of Detroit ; Alvin S.
deceased ; Mrs. W. 0. Ashley, residing in California ; Arthur J., also de
ceased ; Walter B. and Norman S., both deceased. On Feb. 9, 1863, Mr
Clark married Eliza W. Whiting, who died January 14, 1883. Mrs
Atcheson, who was Alice E. Clark, married in Detroit, September 25
1866, Captain George Atcheson, who was a native of New York state
born in 1841. While Captain Atcheson never attended school, after he
was ten years old, he, by his own efforts, attained more then ordinary
learning and culture, and among other accomplishments became fluent
in both the Greek and Latin languages, being self taught in both. He
was an inveterate student, both of the Bible and Shakespeare, and knew
them thoroughly. , At the age of eighteen he enlisted in the Fourth
United States Regiment of Infantry and served through the Civil war,
first as private, then corporal and sergeant, and was later brevetted
captain. After the war he continued in the army until 1872, when he
resigned from the service and made his home in Kansas. In 1889 he
came to Michigan and died in Detroit in 1893. To the marriage of
Captain and Mrs. Alice Clark Atcheson were born three sons, as fol
lows: Walter C, now of Kalamazoo, Michigan, married Alice Wil
liams, and they have two children. Arthur W. and Eliza M. ; George
W., who died April 13. 1908; and Norman S., a well known architect of
Detroit, who married Daisy Kellman, and they have one son, Douglas.
Captain Patrick Hogax. On June 30. 1875, there joined the De
troit Police force as patrolman a young machinist named Patrick Hogan,
who now for thirty-six years has been conspicuous for his courageous and
faithful service whether on the beat or in command. His work has re
ceived its proper merit of promotion from one grade to another, and
he now wears the stripes of captain. He is one of the oldest in point
of service in the department, and for many years has been one of the
esteemed citizens of Detroit and known as a faithful friend and kindly
head of his own family.
Captain Hogan was born in this city on the 18th of December, 1852.
His parents had located in the city four years before. His father was
Michael Hogan, now deceased, who was born in county Limerick, Ire
land, and his mother was Frances (Flood) Hogan, who was born in
Dublin, and now lives with her daughter, Margaret MeMahon, in De
troit, she being now eighty-five years of age.
Vol. Ill— 10

986 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Captain Hogan, who was the oldest of the family of four sons and
two daughters, received his early education in the Detroit public schools.
He left school when about fourteen and began preparation for making
his way in the world. Learning the machinist's trade, he followed that
vocation until he entered the Police force at the age of twenty-three.
Captain Hogan is a member of the Catholic Mutual Benefit Associa
tion, Branch No. 3 of Detroit, and also of the Knights of Equity, of
this city. He and his family are members of the St. Joachim church.
His residence is at 816 Champlain street. He was married in Detroit,
November 4, 1879, to Miss Louise Trombley. Her parents, who are both
deceased, were Ferdinand and Mary Ann (Cronin) Trombley, her
father born in Quebec and her mother in Kingston, Canada. Seven
children have blessed the marriage of Captain Hogan and wife, namely :
Fannie, deceased; Irene, deceased; Estella, at home; Lawrence, de
ceased; Marian, Lillian and Harold, all at home.
William Charles Groesbeck. On the 21st of March, 1910, at the
beautiful old home at 675 North Second street in Detroit a family
gathering of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren celebrated
the eightieth anniversary of the birth of William Charles Groesbeck, a
native son of Detroit and one of the city's oldest and most honored
residents. Though such celebrations occur not infrequently in every
community, they lose thereby none of their impressiveness. Apart ffom
the intimate associations of such an occasion, it is a distinction of general
interest that an individual has passed so many of the milestones of
life, each one marked by honorable records of activity, and that he
has produced for the worthy activities of succeeding generations a
family both numerous and individually worthy.
William Charles Groesbeck, whose long life began in this city on March
21, 1830, is one of the few living pioneers who have witnessed practically
all the modern growth and development of Detroit. He comes of one
of the oldest families of French descent that settled here early in the last
century. His father was Charles Groesbeck, a native of New York state.
His mother was Lenore (Rivard) Groesbeck, herself a native of Detroit
and of a family long settled here and prominent socially and in business.
During the years when Mr. Groesbeck was growing to manhood,
school facilities in Wayne county were very limited. His father owned
a large amount of land in this vicinity, and when a boy the son began
assisting him in developing this property. He continued, in fact, to live
in the country near Detroit until thirty-four years ago, when he moved
into the city and soon afterward occupied the attractive place on North
Second street that has been the family home for thirty years. In the
handling of his own extensive real estate interests in Detroit and also
to some extent engaging in general real estate dealing, most of the time
since then has been spent. For several years past he has lived retired,
his daughter Clara Josephine keeping his home for him.
His wife after a companionship of more than half a century was
separated from him on May 15, 1911, their marriage having occurred
at Detroit, January 30, 1854. Her maiden name was Margaret Rivard,
and she was the oldest of six children. Mr. and Mrs. Groesbeck reared
a large family of children, who are mentioned in the following para
graphs :
Columbus Benjamin, now deceased, married Miss Emma Larglois,
her residence being at 233 Greenwood avenue. The five children are:
William, Gregory, George, Lawrence and Ildafonse.
Richard Frank married Miss Charlotte Reaume, and they reside at
84 Frederick street. They have four children : Margaret, who married

HISTORY OF DETROIT 987
George Lucey, of Detroit; Elsie, who married Charles A. Gilligan, a
grocery merchant of Detroit; Irene, who is married; and Robert, who
married Miss Lynch, of Saginaw, and they now live in Portland, Ore-
gob. Mary married David Rose, now retired after eighteen years of active
and meritorious service on the Detroit Police. They have one daughter,
Alice Rose.
Alice married Rudolph Meeker, of Detroit, and both are now de
ceased. Their children are: George B. Meeker, who married Viola
Pomeroy, of Detroit, and has one adopted daughter, Alice; Charles
Meeker, who married Anna May Conners and has one son, Charles W.
Jr. ; Elmer Meeker, who is married and has one daughter, Roberta.
Henry lives at home with his father, and is engaged in the real
estate business.
Bernard married Catherine Kergan, of Detroit, who died several
years ago in California. Their children are: Genevieve, Adele, Helen,
John and Kergan.
Rose is a Sister in the Good Shepherd Convent of St. Louis, Missouri.
Agnes* is the wife of Charles G. Blodgett, a grocery merchant of
Detroit. Their children, all at home, are Grace, Margaret, Charles, Be
atrice and Marie.
Clara Josephine is in charge of the old home for her father.
Delia Margaret is the wife of George B. Gill, of Detroit, and their
two children are Una Clara and George B. Jr., both at home.
Three other sons, Theodore, George and Oliver, are deceased and left
no families. There were thirteen children born to Mr. Groesbeck and
wife, and those now living, with their children and grandchildren, com
prise a goodly company. Those living in Detroit are all communicants
of the Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic church.
George W. Fowle. A resident of Detroit for nearly two score
years, Mr. Fowle has given his splendid powers to the furtherance of
the business interests and civic prosperity of the Michigan metropolis,
where he has achieved large and worthy success and is the owner of
much valuable realty and where he has also given most effective services
in municipal offices of distinctive trust and responsibility. He stands
exemplar of the most loyal and progressive citizenship and his popu
larity in the city that has so long been his home is of the most unequi
vocal order, based as it is upon his sterling character, his genial person
ality and his worthy achievement in business and civic affairs.
George Willis Fowle takes due pride in reverting to the fine old
Empire state of the Union as the place of his nativity and he is a scion
of a family whose name early became identified with the annals of that
commonwealth. He was born at Clyde, Wayne county, New York, on
the 15th of April, 1850, and a son William K. and Charlotte (Mitch
ell) Fowle, the former of whom was born at Geneva, New York, and
the latter in Somerset, England. He was the second in order of birth
in a family of six children, and of the others three sons and one daugh
ter are now living. William K. Fowle devoted the major part of his
active career to the vocation of a publisher.
George W. Fowle gained his early educational discipline in the
public schools of Geneva, Ontario county, New York, to which place
the family removed when he was about one year old. Under these
conditions he continued his studies until he had attained to the age of
fifteen years, when his youthful and fervid patriotism would not
longer be denied and found definite exhibition through his enlistment,
in the closing months of the Civil war, as a member of Company D,

988 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Fiftieth New York Engineers.- He proceeded with his command to
the front and was afforded his full quota of active and arduous service,
which included the hazardous work of assisting in the construction' of
the forts about Petersburg, Virginia, then the stage of the fiercest of
polemic contest. His command was one of the first to enter the city
or Richmond after its evacuation, and he was there stationed at the
time when President Lincoln made his visit to this capital of the Con
federacy after the surrender. At Fort Barry, Virginia, Air. Fowle
received his honorable discharge on the 13th of June, 1865, and he
retired with the honors of faithful and loyal service as one of the valiant
young defenders of the nation's integrity. He has ever retained a deep
interest in his old comrades in arms and manifests the same by his affilia
tion with Swift Post, No. 94, Grand Army of the Republic, in Geneva,
New York.
At the close of the war Mr. Fowle returned to his native state,
after which he gave his attention principally to merchandising until
.1872, having in the meanwhile maintained his home at Geneva, New
York. In 1872 at the age of twenty-two years, he came to Detroit,
and here he found ample opportunity for successful effort in connection
with normal business activities. He soon became junior member of the
firm of Dudley & Fowler, which conducted a prosperous retail furniture
-business for a number of years, with a well equipped establishment at
125, 127 and 129 Jefferson avenue and which became one of the repre
sentative concerns of the kind in the city. Mr. Fowle disposed of his
interest in this enterprise in 1889, and since that time he has given
his attention principally to the handling and improving of local real
estate, in which he has made large and judicious investments and in
connection with which he has accumulated a substantial fortune. He
has extensive holdings in various parts of the city, and among the more
noteworthy properties owned by him are the Marlborough and Savoy
apartment buildings, two of the finest structures of the kind in Detroit.
Mr. Fowle has shown marked discrimination and great civic loyalty in
the improving of his realty and has thus contributed materially to the
progress and upbuilding of the fair metropolis of Michigan.
Taking a lively interest in public affairs of a local order and enroll
ed as a stalwart in the camp of the Republican party, Mr. Fowle 's eligi
bility for public office has not failed of recognition, and in those posi
tions to which he has been called he has shown the same progressive
ideas and exemplified the same careful policies that have conserved
his individual success. His most important municipal service was un
doubtedly that rendered by him during his two terms' incumbency
of the responsible and exacting offices of police commissioner of Detroit.
He was first appointed to this office on the 29th of June, 1897, by the
late William C. Maybury, who was then mayor of the city and who
was one of Detroit's most loved and honored citizens. Insistent upon
thorough systematization and discipline in the police department and
bending every energy to securing the highest efficiency in the same,
Mr. Fowle gave so admirable an administration during his first term
of office as to gain unqualified popular commendation and to insure
his re-appointment, on the 10th of February, 1902, under the regime
of Mayor William C. Maybury. He instituted* many reforms and im
provements in the constabulary system of Detroit and his policies have
since that time largely served as a model for those who have followed
him in the office of police commissioner, from which he retired in July,
1905. On February 10, 1902, he was appointed commissioner of public
works, and in this capacity his services also proved most valuable, as
the records of this department of the municipal government well in
dicate.

Jte^^J—rtj^^

HISTORY OF DETROIT 989
An appreciative student of the history and teaching of the time-
honored Masonic fraternity, Mr. Fowle is one of its prominent and in
fluential representatives in Michigan, as is measureably shown by the
fact that he has attained to the thirty-third degree of the Ancient Ac
cepted Scottish Rite, this ultimate degree being conferred only upon a
limited number. Mr. Fowle has completed the circle of both the
York and Scottish Rites and has maintained a deep interest in the work
of each of the many Masonic bodies with which he is affiliated. In the
York Rite his ancient-craft affiliation is with Oriental Lodge, No. 240,
Free and Accepted Masons, and his maximum with Detroit Com-
mandery, No. 1, Knights Templars. He has been an active and influential
factor in the Michigan Sovereign Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scot
tish Rite, of which he has .served as commandant for many years. He
also had the distinction of organizing the celebrated Arab Patrol of
Moslem Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic
Shrine, and this body has gained national reputation as one of the best
drilled in the entire Union, its splendid evolutions having gained to it
the highest commendation at the various assemblies of the imperial
council of the Mystic Shrine held in different cities. In the equipping
and disciplining of this magnificent organization Mr. Fowle has been
the dominating power. He is a member of the Detroit Masonic Temple
Association, and assisted generously in contribution of time and means
to the erection of the fine Masonic Temple building. He is also affiliated
with Detroit Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, with
Detroit Lodge No. 34, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and holds a
life membership in the Fellowcraf t Club, one of the leading social
organizations of Detroit.
Robert Yerkes is a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of
Michigan, of which he is a native son and with whose history the family
name has been identified since the - territorial epoch. The Yerkes fam
ily is one of the oldest and most prominent in the vicinity of North
ville and has been one especially influential in connection with the in
dustrial and civic and development and upbuilding of this section of
the state, in both Wayne and Oakland counties. Mr. yerkes was born
September 26, 1829, and was the fifth son of William and Hester (Den
nis) Yerkes, who in May, 1826, removed from near Ovid, Seneca county,
New York, and located on the southern boundary of Oakland county,
Michigan, in what later became the township of Novi. At that date
the locality, like vast stretches of Michigan up to the last quarter cen
tury, was unbroken forest. William Yerkes and his wife were represen
tatives of families founded in Pennsylvania and New Jersey during the
Colonial era, and they were among the first settlers in the vicinity of
the present thriving town of Northville. The family name has been
linked with the history of this section during the long intervening
period, within which has been compassed the development and upbuild
ing of the great commonwealth of Michigan. In 1825 William Yerkes,
in company with his cousin, Thomas Pinker ton, set forth from their old
home in Seneca county, New York, to select a place of abode in the
wilds of the territory of Michigan. They made their way on foot
through Canada and each located a tract of land in Oakland county.
After selecting his land Mr. Yerkes returned to his old New York home
and he and his cousin came back in the following spring in company
with their families to make a permanent location. Mr. Yerkes erected
a rude log house on his land, and this primitive domicile was that in
which the subject of this review was born. Upon arriving in Detroit
they purchased ox teams, so necessary in the reclaiming of the new
land, and with these teams they made the remainder of their journey.

990 HISTORY OF DETROIT
William Yerkes had secured three hundred and twenty acres — a half
section — of government land, the same being heavily timbered, and
here he set himself vigorously to the herculean task of reclaiming a
farm from the wilderness. As may well be # understood, the family en
dured its full share of the privations and hardships ever attendant upon
the life of a pioneer, but peace and contentment found dwelling in the
little log house, whose hospitality was unbounded and whose associa
tions were those of mutual affection and helpfulness. Wild game of
all kinds was plentiful and did much to reinforce the none too ample
larder of the household. William Yerkes became one of the leading
citizens of this section of the state and was an influential factor in
public affairs as well as in furthering the settlement and attendant
development and progress of southern Michigan. He selected land for
other settlers, and his compensation for such service was at the rate of
five dollars for each eighty acres thus secured through his interposi
tion. He was closely concerned also with the upbuilding of the village
of Northville and was a leader always in thought and action, being a
man of inflexible integrity and strong individuality. He served as a
member of the first legislature after the admission of Michigan to
statehood in 1837, and was again called upon to represent this body in
1856-7. He also held for a number of years the office of commissioner
of the poor for Oakland county and supervisor of Novi township
for several years, and was constant in good works and kindly and con
siderate for others. He was a lifelong member of the Presbyterian
church and he and his wife were constituent members of this church
in Northville, in the founding and upbuilding of which he was one of
the most influential factors, the original church edifice having been
erected in 1843.
William Yerkes was born in Moreland, Montgomery county, Penn
sylvania, on the 29th of September, 1794, of staunch German lineage,
and after his migration to Michigan he continued to reside on his home
stead farm near Northville until his death, which took place on the 5th
day of January, 1884, but a few months prior to his ninetieth birth
day anniversary. He was one of the sterling pioneers of Michigan and
his name merits an enduring place of honor on its recorded annals.
His devoted wife, -a loving companion and helpmeet ever and the gracious
mother of his children, was born in New Jersey, on the 21st day of
March, 1799, and passed away on the 11th day of September, 1881,
secure in the reverent affection of all who had come within the circle
of her gentle influence. The remains of these honored pioneers rest in
the- Yerkes Family Cemetery near Northville. Of their ten children
but three are now living; — Robert, one of the venerable and honored
pioneer citizens of Northville, who is the immediate subject of this
review; Charles; and George, a resident of Grand Junction, Colorado.
Robert Yerkes was born on September 26, 1829, as stated in a pre
vious paragraph of this sketch. In his early youth the school system
of Michigan was practically non-existent, and the children of William
Yerkes were given private instruction in the fundamentals of education
in their own home, under the direction of a hired tutor. Later, when
the select schools came into vogue, Robert attended them and still later
he attended the public schools when they came into operation. The
educational equipment thus received was sufficient to start Mr. Yerkes
in life, and though he ever felt the lack of a higher education, he con
tinued all through his life to study consistently and gain such knowl
edge as he might. It may be said here that had Robert Yerkes been able
to name his own vocation he would probably have chosen law or litera
ture, for his natural gifts and inclinations ever leant in those directions,
but he could not choose, and when he chose the role of agriculturist, he

HISTORY OF DETROIT 991
did so with no mental reservations or misgivings. Perhaps his resolu
tion at that time can best be measured by an article which he wrote
many years afterward, published in the Detroit Tribune, on "How I
Earned My First Fifty Dollars." The, article is quoted below: "The
last of September, 1850, I attained my majority, and graduated from a
large family into a larger world. A few days before this event, a
friend living some miles away visited my father's place and made me
an offer to work on his farm for the coming year. The wages of a farm
hand at that time were ten dollars per month and board. I had some
how gained the reputation as a rapid and tireless worker, and his offer
was one hundred and fifty dollars for one year's work. He was a
good man, I liked his family and the consideration was quite a tempta
tion. I asked a week to consider it, and at its close declined the offer.
Some of my friends criticized my action, but they did not know my
plans. A mile away as an eighty acre tract of uncleared land which,
at the owner's demise, had been divided among his heirs in five equal
shares of sixteen acres each. One of these was in the market for two
hundred dollars, with several eager buyers who lacked nothing but the
money. ' ' If, in some way, I could earn the price of this land, it would place
me in a position to negotiate for the remainder as the shares were one
by one placed on the market; for I had dreams of a cottage and a
home amid the stumpy acres of the 'eighty.'
"Two or three second class farms close by were open to work on
shares'. I figured on the cost of an outfit. A pair of four year old
steers, father's first gift to each of his sons at majority, would be ready
for me in the spring; a second hand Avagon would cost twenty -five dol
lars; a plow and harrow, log chains, a scythe, grain cradle, hand rakes
and a few other indispensable tools swelled the total to about fifty-
five dollars. How could it be earned in the short days of the winter
ahead? I began at once to look about for ways and means.
"A neighbor wanted a hundred cords of four-foot hard maple wood
cut, for which he would pay me twenty-five cents a cord, — not an
alluring proposition and somewhat out of my line of farm work, but I
closed the bargain at once. Some money could be made at hunting and
trapping. Game and fur bearing animals were more plentiful then
than now, but the product low in price, — quails ten cents per dozen;
partridges four and five cents apiece at first hand, while raccoon, mink
and muskrat — I drew the line at skunk — were fairly remunerative. An
arrangement was made by which my board was settled for by 'choring.'
"Every morning at four o'clock I was up and ready for business.
A flock of sheep of one hundred and fifty were among the animals
that it was my lot to care for; chores all done and breakfast at half
past' five o 'clock. Daylight often found me three miles from home car
ing for my traps and shooting now and then a partridge budding on
the high bare branches of the maple, where it would stand silhouetted
against the morning sky.
"Returning, my dinner pail would be ready, and then to my task of
cutting, splitting and piling the hard maple until dark; then the
chores; supper, and an hour in the workshop, manufacturing ox-yokes,
sleds and many articles of use on the farm. What sore feet, what
blistered hands kept me company that winter, I need not tell; but
when the spring opened and the snow melted away from the upland
farm, which I had leased, with my tools all paid for, I was driving
my four-year old steers over the hilly fields, plowing and sowing for
crops, my share of which when sold would pay for the acres mentioned,
with quite a surplus for the purchase of another share.

992 HISTORY OF DETROIT
"The land itself was not of much value, was uncleared, and one
part blocked by a swamp, incapable of easy drainage ; yet in the vicissi
tudes of a long and busy life, no material thing, the result of labor or
ambition, has excelled, or even equalled, the elation or sense of riches
that came with the possession of that sixteen acres of woodland and
malaria." Though his description of the land does not suggest it, the piece of
real estate that Mr. Yerkes described in the history of his earliest ven
ture — a story that perfectly illustrates the mettle of the man, was never
theless the nucleus around which he wound the threads of the fortune
which he was slowly weaving. He persevered until the coveted ' ' eighty ' '
was his in fee simple, but after building a barn and making other im
provements, he found that eighty acres was not enough for his ambi
tion. An opportunity opening, he disposed of his quasi-farm and pur
chased a one hundred and sixty acre tract a mile farther distant from
his father's home. This placed him somewhat heavily in debt for one
of his limited means ; but by hard work, commenced early and continued
late, in a little more than a year the mortgage was given an indefinite
leave of absence, and he was sole owner of the property.
Mr. Yerkes next set about to systematically improve his possessions
and at the same time, "make money in farming." The success of the
undertaking was equal to his most sanguine hopes. During this period
of his career, since coming of age, Mr. Yerkes had fought his battles
alone; but on the 7th of October, 1856, he was married to Miss Sara
Holmes, of Plymouth, Wayne county, Michigan. She was the daughter
of Rosecrans and Salome (Wekaman) Holmes, who had removed from
the western part of New York state in 1827, and settled on land located
a short distance from the home of Robert Yerkes. Although a farmer's
daughter, with but limited means for obtaining an education, Sara
Holmes had been a marked success as a teacher. She followed teach
ing until she laid aside the work to assume larger duties and to share
the home and fortunes of her husband, proving by her cooperation and
ability a worthy companion in the journey of life they made together.
Five sons were born of this union : — John Gaylord, William H., George
B., Donald Purdy and Robert C. The eldest died at the age of three
years and his passing was the first cloud that came into their married
life. William H. lived and operated a flouring mill business at Seville,
Ohio, for some years, but returned to Northville,. where he is engaged
to some extent in farming. He married Miss Helen Blackwood. George
B., a prominent lawyer in the city of Detroit, was a member of the
firm of Haug and Yerkes; the former is now deceased and the firm
is Merriam, Yerkes & Simon. He married Miss Jennie Butterfield, and
they had one daughter, Fanny B., who died in 1899, aged seven years,
and one son, named for his grandfather, Robert. Donald Purdy is
engaged in the milling business at Northville and Milford. He married
Miss Nellie McRobert and they became the parents, of five children: —
Donna Lucile, who died December 20, 1907, aged five years; Margaret
A., Donald P. N., Aletha and Ruth. Robert C. is superintendent of the
Globe Furniture Company. He married Miss Mary Simmons and they
reside at Northville.
In 1870 Mr. Yerkes disposed of his farm in Central Novi and re
moved to its southern boundary, opposite the village of Northville,
Wayne county, and erected the dwelling where he now resides. The ad
vantages to be gained for his children in the schools at Northville was
the incentive for the change. His farming interest had not relapsed,
the acreage under his control rising to more than five hundred acres of
land.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 993
Soon after his removal to Northville, Mr. Yerkes became interested
in the formation of the Globe Furniture Company of that place. He
was a charter member of the firm, a member of its board of directors
and its president for the first twelve years of its existence. In carry
ing on his business he had few rules ; promptness was his watchword, and
he scarcely ever allowed sleep to overcome him without reviewing the
work of the day just over and making a mind map of the morrow's
operations, carried to the minutest details. The holidays of his life
were not many, yet he had time for recreation, — ball-playing, trapping
and fishing being among the things which gave him pleasure. Up to
forty years of age he was an all around athlete; the wrestling match,
the pole vault, the standing and broad jump, hopskip, etc., rarely find
ing him outdone. Even now, though eighty-three years of age, some of
his old prowess remains to show another generation what the men of
his pioneering days were in physical strength and accomplishment.
Though not caring for official life, never asking a single vote at
either caucus or convention, Mr. Yerkes has yet filled several elective
offices. He was at one time treasurer of Oakland county, and he has
been justice of the peace and inspector of schools in Novi township,
besides having many times . held positions of trust in connection with
the settlement of estates. In his tastes he is literary. He has always
loved nature in her primitive condition, her quiet and unquiet moods,
and he has always loved the running waters and the beautiful lakes
with which she has dotted his native county. Her uplands and her
dales, which at his birth were parts of a boundless forest, are now har
nessed to the world's car of progress and moving in her van.
Among Mr. Yerkes' writings, which have never been the productions
of leisure, but the result of time wrested from his hours of unusually
busy life, are as follows: An historical essay read at the dedication of
the town hall at Novi, September 9, 1876, and published in the second
volume of the Pioneer Collections of Michigan; a number of articles
upon the questions of the day appearing as a rule in the Detroit Tribune
and many short stories for local use. From the time he was twenty-
three years of age he was a forceful and eloquent speaker and gained
a local reputation as an orator. In addition to the writings above men
tioned, Mr. Yerkes was the author of an interesting poem, written on
the occasion of the golden wedding anniversary of his father and
mother, on November 5, 1867, and read by him at the gathering in the
home on that date. It is here quoted in full:
We meet, my friends, on this November day,
1 Recalling time full fifty years away;
Time when these whose fading locks proclaim their age,
First ventured on the matrimonial stage;
And, waiving each their sep'rate hopes and fears,
Joined hand and heart, for all their future years.
And as we gather round this roof-tree old,
Let us the story of their passing life unfold;
Even as the far landscape, the wide prairies through,
Lifts no deep chasm or rugged mountain into view,
And as the traveller's feet glide o'er the many miles
At first the plain is bright with springtide's joyous smiles.
But soon a deep ravine has cleft his road in twain,
And then an ascent, up which the toil seems vain,
And briery untried paths go all the region through,
And cutting winds, where fancy's softest zephyrs blew.

994 HISTORY OF DETROIT
' Tis so in life ; and he who in its morning forward peers
Sees nought but green old age undimmed by falling tears;
Aud when he backward glances as strength gives place to age
Sees the whole voyage writ on sorrow's sombre page.
The words that made these twain one flesh as long as life shall
last
Are mingled now with things that make the far off past;
But Memory, flying back, has gathered one by one,
Their trials past, their little victories won,
And holds them on her fleeting wings to-day,
That we may weave them in our unpretending lay.
When once they faced the scenes of active life,
They waged with poverty's relentless strife;
Hard labor as their lot, they could but deem;
Which way they looked there came no answering gleam
That bade them on life's ocean idly drift
To wait for fortune without work or thrift.
To earn a livelihood, the wife her shuttle plied;
The husband pushed his boat upon the Mohawk's tide;
And next a small, wild farm they try to tame, —
A farm so small it scarce deserved the name ;
This sold, with small accretions, served a larger farm to buy
Close where Cayuga's sparkling waters lie;
On this, although enough for present wants they gain,
They ne'er could httpe a rising family to maintain.
Their little children from their native hearth must roam,
Or, they must seek in western wilds a more productive home.
Not then as now; the curtain of the wilderness was down;
And all the west lay deeply shaded in its frown.'
None ventured there, save hunter free and wild,
Or yeomen, strong with hope of future home beguiled;
But stern necessity in nature knows no law,
And often serves on those who grieve a happier fate to draw.
To build a woodland home the husband goes before;
And soon the wife comes after with her children four;
Upon Lake Erie's wave ten days her strength was tried;
Her sickened children tossed from side to side
With ceaseless cry, nought but a mother's love could bide.
And when they landed on that strange wild shore,
Although their friends were there, their trials were not o'er;
The rutted road, unlike the smooth laid rail,
The woodland road, soon ending in an Indian trail,
Was the highway through which their future home they found,
Where densest forests stretched and lowered around.
And now against the mighty woodland foe
Whose close-drawn lines, outstretching row on row,
Held the broad acres with his ruthless ban,
The tug of stern, relentless war began.
A hopeless war it seemed, and hard to brook,
For those who on that stately forest looked.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 995
Just where we meet beneath this sheltering roof
High up the oak trees threw their web and woof;
Where yonder golden-fruited orchard stands
The wildwood held in thickly plaited bands;
Out on yon fields, now of their vendure bare,
The grey wolf made his ambuscade and lair.
But lo ! the woodman 's axe, with steady peal
Makes the dense ranks in wild confusion reel;
The cumbrous trunks are thrown in many angled aisles;
The brush is tossed in hugh, fantastic piles.
The blazing fire, like sea of molten brass,
Next turns to ashes the rough chaotic mass ;
While round the stumpy field the zigzag fences rise,
And springing grain quick greets the farmer's eyes.
Thus year by year, when for the furrow space they lack,
With skillful hands they push the forest back;
Until the fraction left is saved for future use,
When to the sylvan war they bid a lasting truce.
Think not this drudgery fast binds the pioneer,
For country pastimes oft served his lot to cheer;
The bee lined straight from where his robber instinct led,
That larger thieves might share his winter's bread.
The hunter's stealthy step along the bushy swale,
The noiseless deer, back gazing on his trail;
The fevered thrill, defying doctor's laws,
The rifle's crack,_ the instant breathless pause,
The disappointed scowl if he bounds unhurt away,
Or exultant cry if staggering marks the bullet's prey.
The sturdy neighbors, gathered far and near,
The log house raising and the housewife's cheer;
The husking bee drawn late into the night,
The hearty laugh, the healthy, happy faces bright.
These and kindred pastimes, mingled with their toil,
Kept guard against despondency's recoil.
In some or most of these they had their share,
Whose guests today we freely welcome are;
Perhaps they had their share of sorrow,too,
Although to right their hearts were leal and true
For up the long course through which their lives have spun
Full many a day of anxious care has run.
And deep affliction drove its furrow through,
Hiding three children from th'eir earthly view.
But thanks to Him we give whose spirit's power
Upheld them in the pain of trial's gloomy hour;
Thankful stern poverty led not their feet astray,
Or affluence lured them in the worldling's gilded way;
Thankful not o'er much sorrow turned them to despair,
Or joy made them oblivious of other's need and care.
And thankful to Him who year by year has held disease at bay,
Till now we greet them on their Golden Wedding Day.

996 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Mr. Yerkes has lived a life of the utmost usefulness to himself and,
to the community in which he has for so many years made his home.
No good work has ever been put forward to which he has not contributed
his unbounded strength and ever ready enthusiasm. He has been a
lifelong member of the Presbyterian church, and for many years was
an elder in the same. He early organized the Republican party in
Novi township. Ably seconded by his father, who had been an old-
time Whig, Mr. Yerkes took upon himself the calling of a meeting at
Novi Centre, when the organization was effected. From that time on
he took an active part in the campaigns, stumping the county, and act
ing as delegate at many conventions.
The further literary productions of Mr. Yerkes include the poem
"I've come to Eighty-Three," the beautiful thoughts depicted herein
being some of the reflections which came to him on his birthday anni
versary, which, on account of a severe cold, he was obliged, to spend in
bed. The poem is as follows:
Another year of wintry months and summer skies
Has passed for me,
And now, in early autumn days,
I've come to eighty-three.
What good, what ill, the year has borne
Is scattered on its trail;
The ill will go upon the wind,
The good can never fail.
The "Great Unknown" comes slowly on,
Its mingled clouds are near;
Never before in the span of life
Has its borders seemed so clear.
The countless ways that take us hence
Are. numbered in the Book of Fate;
Yet no one knows which one is his
Until the awful words, "too late."
A tiny speck upon the brain
Will make the strongest mortal reel,
Or deep emotion's flash disclose
The "cistern's broken wheel."
What time the message comes to me,
'Twill find me at my Savior's side;
I have no other Priest or King,
In Him I must abide.
Charles Yerkes, the son of William and Hester (Dennis) Yerkes,
of whom more specific mention is made in the biographical sketch of
Robert Yerkes, elder brother of the subject, was born on the 19th day of
April, 1833, on the homestead farm of his father in Novi township, Oak
land county, Michigan. The place of his nativity was a primitive log
house of the type peculiar to the pioneer days, the same having been
erected by his father in 1825, more than a decade prior to the admission
of Michigan to statehood.
In his childhood and youth Charles Yerkes was compassed about by
the scenes and conditions of the pioneer farm on which he was born, and
his preliminary education was secured in the private or select schools.
In later years a schoolhouse was erected on his father's farm and in this

HISTORY OF DETROIT 997
primitive institution he continued his' studies during the winter terms
until he had attained the age of sixteen years, contributing, meanwhile,
his due quota to the arduous work of the home farm. He continued to
be associated with his father in the work and management of the place
until he reached his legal majority, when his father gave him a tract of
eighty acres of land, located one" mile north of the home farm. The land
was heavily timbered and no improvements had been made on the
property, so there was no dearth of opportunity for sturdy labor on the
part of the young farmer. He soon took unto himself a wife and built
on his place a frame house, which continued to be the family heme until
1865, when he sold the farm and removed to Maple Rapids, Clinton
county, a section of the state which was at that time in the earlier
stages of development. There he became associated with his brother-in-
law in the general merchandise business, but after ab6ut a year of
experience in this occupation he sold his interests in the business and
returned to Oakland county. Soon afterward he purchased his present
homestead of one hundred and forty acres, and this he has developed into
one of the model farms of southern Michigan. His homestead now com
prises sixty-two and one-half acres, the remainder of the place having
been platted into village lots and sold. Thus his commodious and substan
tial residence, erected by him in 1871, is just outside corporate limits
of the village, and he has done much to foster the upbuilding of North
ville, which in his boyhood days was a mere hamlet in the midst of a
forest. In Novi township, about two and one-half miles east from his
present residence Mr. Yerkes is the owner of another valuable and well
improved farm, which comprises two hundred and fourteen acres, and
which he rents to. desirable tenants. He was a stockholder in the Lap-
ham bank in Northville, and after having served many years as a mem
ber of the directorate of the bank, he resigned his office, owing to his
advanced age, and later sold his stock.
In politics, Mr. Yerkes belongs to the Republican party, and while he
has ever given his influence and cooperation in support of all things
tending to advance the best interests of the community, he has never
sought public office. From his youth he has been a zealous member of
the Presbyterian church at Northville, and was a trustee of the same for
twenty-one years, his devoted wife also having been earnest in the various
departments of church work.
On the 6th of October, 1858, Mr. Yerkes was united in marriage with
Miss Evalina Wells, born near Plymouth, Wayne county, Michigan, in
1838. She was a daughter of Deacon William J. Wells, who was one of
the prominent pioneer farmers of that locality, where he took up his
residence when a young man, having emigrated to Michigan from his
native state, New York. He was a member of the Presbyterian church,
in which he long served as deacon. He died in 1876, aged sixty-nine
years. His wife was Esther Marsh, a native of the old Empire State,
and she died in her eighty-fifth year of life. Of their children, Mrs.
Yerkes is the only one living. To Mr. and Mrs. Yerkes were born three
children : William G., a representative business man of Northville, mar
ried Miss Georgia Simmons and they have one child, Frances ; Carl A.,
remains at the parental home and is engaged in farming; and Grace E.,
is the wife of Rosa B. Dusenberry of Detroit ; they have one child,
George A.
Joseph Edward George Waddington, M. D. Recognized as an able
physician and surgeon and prominent citizen of Detroit, and as one
who has won prestige through his own efforts, Dr. Joseph E. G. Wad
dington, of No. 1080 West Warren avenue, holds the es+eem and respect

HISTORY OF DETROIT
of a large number of the people of this metropolis. He is a native of
Manchester, England, was born April 28, 1865, a son of John Hick
and Ann Eliza (Jones) Waddington.
After attending Stamford Terrace Academy, Manchester, and the
Manchester grammar school, he passed an examination as matriculate of
the British Pharmaceutical Society, and then attended lectures for one
year at Owen 's College, Victoria University, Manchester. He graduated
in medicine from the Indiana College of Medicine and Midwifery in
1886, during which year he returned to England, and in 1887 went to
Australia, where he spent two years as surgeon with the Cross survey
party, laying out government lands in New South Wales and Victoria.
Subsequently he returned to England, went thence to Winnipeg, Canada,
and on to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he practiced for ten years. In 1899
Dr. Waddington came to Detroit, traveling the first year as detail man
through Michigan and in Chicago and Pittsburg for Lambert & Lowman,
wholesale druggists. In 1900 he entered the practice of his profession in
Detroit, where he has since attained a representative clientele. A well
read and skillful physician, he possesses the essential qualities and dis
position requisite for successful practice, and his success in a number of
complicated cases has stamped him as one of Detroit's leading medical
men. Dr. Waddington is a member of the American Association of Orificial
Surgeons, the National Eclectic Medical Association, Michigan State
Eclectic Medical and Surgical Society, of which he was first vice
president in 1906 and president 1907-8, and secretary the last three years,
and of the American Red Cross Society. He holds honorary membership
in the following societies : The Illinois State Eclectic Medical Society,
the Ohio State Eclectic Medical Society, the Vermont State Eclectic Med
ical Society, the Maine State Eclectic Medical Society, the New England
Eclectic Medical Society and the Chicago Eclectic Medical Society. He
received the degree of LL. D., Chicago National University, 1908.; Ph. B.,
National Medical University, Chicago, 1908 ; A. M., Potomac University,
1909, and M. D. and C. M., Bennett Medical College, medical department
Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois, 1911, and is ex-public vaccinator
and medical inspector of public schools and a member of the board of
health. He is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society, the
Michigan State Society, the American Medical Association, and also
of the Detroit Board of Commerce. His fraternal connections are
with the lodge and chapter of Masonry, including the Knight Templar
Commandery and the Eastern Star; with the Knights of Pythias; and
with the Court of Honor. He is also a member and the lodge physician
of the Sons of St. George.
George V. Brown, M. D. A sterling and popular representative
of the medical profession in the city of Detroit is Dr. George Van Amber
Brown, who is here, established in successful general practice and who
is known as a physician and surgeon of fine ability along both theoretical
and practical lines.
In the town of Leamington, Essex county, Ontario, Canada, about
forty miles distant from Detroit, Dr. Brown was born on the 27th of
May, 1870, and he is a son of Richard A. and Victoria Adelaide ( Setter-
ington) Brown, both natives of Canada. The parents of the doctor
still reside in the province of Ontario and the greater part of the active
career of the father has been devoted to farming. After duly availing
himself of the advantages of the public schools Dr. Brown continued
his studies in the Collegiate Institute at St. Thomas, Ontario, where he

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HISTORY OF DETROIT 999
gained academic discipline that well fortified him for the taking up the
study of the profession for which he had determined to prepare himself.
He accordingly entered the Detroit College of Medicine, which fine in
stitution has drawn many students from the province of Ontario, and in
the same he was graduated as a member of the class of 1894. After thus
receiving his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine he established
himself in active practice at Falmouth, Missaukee county, Michigan,
where he built up a large and successful practice and amply matured
his professional powers. In 1903 Dr. Brown returned to Detroit, after
having completed in the preceeding year an effective post-graduate
course in the medical department of the Johns Hopkins University,
in the City of Baltimore, Maryland. It may be noted also that his
determined ambition to keep fully in touch with the advances made in
the sciences of medicine and surgery was further manifested by his post
graduate work in the medical department of the University of Michigan,
in 1906, and by special study and research, in the summer of 1910, in the
Charity Hospital and the Baer Polyclinic, in the city of Berlin, Germany.
The Doctor is now specializing in the domain of abdominal and pelvic
surgery, both male and female, and in this line he has gained authorita
tive reputation, as his study and research has been directed very care
fully in this important field of practice. He is gynecologist and
cystocopist to the German polyclinic of Grace hospital, Detroit, and is
one of the valued members of the staff of this fine institution, aside from
his large and representative private practice. Dr. Brown is identified
with the American Medical Association, the Michigan State Medical
Society and the Wayne County Medical Society.
At Manton, Wexford county, Michigan, on the 6th of August, 1894,
was performed the ceremony which united the destinies of Dr. Brown
and Miss Carrie Adell Sloat, who has proved a devoted wife and help
meet. She was born at Manitou, Michigan, and is a daughter of George
S. Sloat, who was a representative business man of Wexford county.
Dr. and Mrs. Brown have three children, Ruth Amber, Helen Vic
toria and Jean Amelia. The family home is located at 55 Gladstone,
where the doctor has office headquarters, and also has a downtown office
on Grand Circus Park, in the Shurly Building.
Rain Berry. Though more than ninety-four years of age, this hon
ored and patriarchal citizen of Detroit retains the mental and physical
vigor of the average man twenty years his junior, and he keeps in
close and appreciative touch with the events and topics of the day. He
is undoubtedly one of the few men of his age in the state, and it is al
together probable that he is the most venerable of all the pioneers of
this favored commonwealth of the Union. Mr. Berry has been a resi
dent of Michigan for nearly sixty years and for many years was actively
identified with business activities in Detroit, where he has lived vir
tually retired for the past quarter of a century. Aside from mere long
evity his life is an interesting one, and, as may well be imagined, his
reminiscences of the days long past read like a revelation, for his fine
intellect has not waned and he recalls with graphic description many
events and incidents that to the younger generation of the present day
seem like a part of remote history. Revered by the circle of loyal
friends he has gathered about him, though few of his contemporaries
now remain on earth, this venerable gentleman is now enjoying the
gracious evening of his life with the zest of comparative youth and
bids fair to round out a century with strength and dignity, revealing to
others the results of right living and right thinking. It is a matter of

1000 HISTORY OF DETROIT
especial satisfaction to the publishers of this work to be able to in
corporate within its pages a brief review of the career of so notable
and worthy a patriarch.
Near the ancient town of Preston, Lancashire, England, Rain Berry
was born on the 25th of September, 1818, and he is a scion of the
staunchest of Angle-Saxon stock. He is a son of Thomas and Sarah
(Harker) Berry, both of whom were born and reared in Lancashire,
with whose annals their respective family names have been identi
fied for many generations. The Berry family rose into prominence in
Devonshire, where they engaged in splendid tournament and possessed
one of the most picturesque castles in that county. The Berry coat-of-
arms is made up of a red shield, upon which are blazoned the familiar
three bars of Berry. Above this shield stands the Griffin's head Crest,
while the entire work is completed with the motto of the family. This
coat-of-arms has been in continued use since the reign of Henry the
Third and is an emblem that stands for sterling honor, true aristocracy
and noble lineage.
Thomas Berry, father of the subject, was long identified with the
cotton-manufacturing industry in Preston, where he held the office of
superintendent of a large factory for a number of years prior to his
immigration to America. The subject of this review was afforded the
advantages of an excellent school maintained under the auspices of the
Church of England, commonly known as the Established Church, and
his academic training, which was of superior order, has been supple
mented by the experiences of a signally prolonged and active life.
After leaving school he found employment in the factory of which his
father was superintendent, and he continued to be thus identified' with
cotton manufacturing in his native town until 1835, when he came
with his parents, his two brothers and four sisters to America, he being
about seventeen years of age at the time. The voyage was made on a
sailing vessel of the type common to that period, and eight weeks, lack
ing one day, elapsed before the members disembarked in the port of
New York, on the 29th day of May, 1835, — an English bank holiday. .
The family home was established at Paterson, New Jersey, and there
the father became identified with the manufacturing of cotton machinery.
He passed most of his life there and died in Buffalo on November 15,
1870, his devoted wife having preceded him to her long home on No
vember 27, 1854. Both were devout and zealous members of the Wes-
leyan Methodist church, in which the father was a local preacher, as
the office was then designated.
In the same establishment with which his father was identified Rain
Berry served a thorough apprenticeship at the machinist's trade, and
after becoming a skilled artisan in this line he secured employment in
the locomotive shops of the extensive manufacturing concern of Rodgers,
Ketcham & Grosvenor, of Paterson, where he continued as a journey
man machinist until 1852. Three years prior to that time Mr. Berry
had visited Michigan and had become greatly impressed with its climate,
resources and many attractions. Upon leaving the employ of the firm
mentioned he decided to establish his home in the Wolverine state, and
in 1852 he purchased a farm of one hundred and five acres in Wash
tenaw county, about four miles distant from Ypsilanti. About eighty-
five acres of the tract had been cleared and the place had improvements
in the way of buildings of somewhat' primitive order. There Mr. Berry
gained his initial experience in connection with the great basic in
dustry of agriculture, and it may be said that he rigidly adhered to
the demands of the adage that "He who by the plow would thrive him-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1001
self must either hold or drive. ' ' He found the work far from sybaritic
but did not abate his industrious efforts in the cultivation and improve
ment of his farm until the expiration of eight years, when 'he sold the
property and removed to Ypsilanti, where he conducted a boot and shoe
store for the ensuing two years. He then sold the stock and business
and came to Detroit, where he has maintained his home since the early
'sixties. Here he resumed the work of his trade, and for many years
he was a skilled and valued employe in the establishment of Flowers
Brothers, manufacturers of stationery and marine engines. He here
continued to follow his trade for about twenty-five years, and the final
business association maintained by him was that of machine superin
tendent in Richards' Planing Mill on Woodbridge street. He retired
from active labors more' than thirty years ago, and has in the mean
while, through well directed industry and judicious investments in
real estate, accumulated a substantial competency.
For more than forty years Mr. Berry occupied his old homestead at
149 Park street, and he still retains considerable property in that local
ity, the same now being very valuable and in close proximity to the
business center of the city. He now resides in the home of his grand
daughter, Mrs. Joseph L. Williams, at 70 California avenue, where
he is accorded the deepest solicitude and affectionate attention by the
various members of the family.
Mr. Berry is the oldest member of Ashlar Lodge of Free and Ac
cepted Masons, with which he has been affiliated for many years. In
politics he generally supported the Whig party, as an adherent of which
he cast his first presidential vote for General William Henry Harrison,
in 1841. He espoused the cause of the Republican party at the time of
its organization and has ever since accorded unequivocal allegiance to
its cause. Mr. Berry has been a member of the Methodist church since
he was a lad of ten years, and he has been a most earnest and zealous
worker in the same, as was also his cherished and devoted wife. For
many years he held, membership in the Central Methodist church of
Detroit, in which he held various official positions in the earlier years
of his residence in the city, and he is now enrolled asi a member of
Trinity church, in Highland Park, one of the attractive residence sec
tions of the city, and one in which he resides.
Mr. Berry is a remarkable man in his mental and physical alertness
at so venerable an age, and within recent years he has visited his sister,
Mrs. Margaret White, who was more than ninety years of age and who
resided in Buffalo, New York, until her death in May, 1912. He also
visited his sister, Mrs. Isabelle Nichols, in Los Angeles, California,
whom he considers a mere girl, she being only about seventy-six years
of age. In September, 1912,- Mr. Berry completed a trip to Iowa and
Nebraska of over 1,200 miles. With- his granddaughter, Mrs. Williams,
he passes the summer seasons at the beautiful home of the latter on
Cass Lake, near Pontiac, in Oakland county, Michigan. Mr. Berry is
still able to read without the use of glasses and he walks about with the
alertness of a man of sixty years. He takes a vital interest in the
questions and events of the day, reads the daily papers with the utmost
regularity, and devotes much attention to the reading of other litera
ture of the better class. His mind is a storehouse in which are placed all
the records of achievements and progress along the lines of material and
social development, and the tales which he is able to tell of the days
long past read like a romance in this twentieth century of opulence and
prosperity and manifold facilities, which were in his early days con
sidered to be in the realm of the impossible.
vol. m— i i

1002 HISTORY OF DETROIT
At Paterson, New Jersey, on the 11th of February, 1838, was solem
nized the marriage of Mr. Berry to Miss Catherine Tice, who was born
near that place in 1814, and who was a daughter of Peter and Hannah
Tice, both of staunch Holland Dutch lineage. Mrs. Berry proved a
devoted wife and helpmeet and shared the joys and sorrows of her
husband as they passed down the pathway of the years during nearly
half a century, her death having occurred on the 11th of March, 1887,
about one year prior to their golden wedding anniversary. This con
stituted the maximum loss and bereavement in the life of Mr. Berry, but
he is sustained by an abiding Christian faith and fortitude and looks
forward with benignant calm to the hour when there will be a re-union
with his loved companion in the "land of the leal." The remains of
Mrs. Berry rest in beautiful Elmwood cemetery, in Detroit, and her
memory is revered by all who came within the compass of her gentle
and gracious influence. Of the two children of this ideal union the
elder was Sarah, who was born in Paterson, New Jersey, on the 6th
of June, 1839, and who died at Detroit, on the 30th of April, 1881.
She became the wife of Herman Fairchild and is survived by two chil
dren, — Henry and Emma. Henry Fairchild married Miss Leona Hack-
enbeck, and they reside in Orleans, Nebraska. They have five chil
dren, — Rain Berry, Eva L., Leona E., Evelyn P. and Jessie. Emma
Fairchild is the wife of Cyrus P. Rogers, of Lake City, Iowa and they
have four children, — Anna M., who is the wife of William Gundrum,
of Des Moines, Iowa, and who has two children, Rain and Grace. Her
man C. married Miss Maude Alice Chase, and they have two children,
Lorna Altavine and Donald Evert; Claud C, who is a bachelor; and
Grace B., who is the wife of Banjamin Overton. John H. Berry, the
younger of the two children of Rain Berry of this review, was born at
Paterson, New Jersey, on the 5th of June, 1844, and died in Detroit,
on the 2nd of April, 1886, having followed the vocation of a machinist
during the greater part of his active life. He married Miss Jennie
Kaler, who was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, on April 16,
1846, the daughter of Abraham and Sophia (Patterson) Kaler. Both
parents are now deceased. Mrs. Berry came to Michigan after the
death of her mother and was married in Detroit in 1864 by the Rev.
Dr. Buckley. She has been a member of Mr. Berry's family since she
was seventeen years of age, and has never been separated from her
venerable father-in-law in all that time. She resides with her only
daughter, Mrs. Joseph Williams, as does also the venerable gentleman
to whom this sketch is dedicated.
John H. and Jennie (Kaler) Berry became the parents of two chil
dren, — Harry R. and Catherine I. Harry R. died on the 28th of July,
1898, at the age of thirty-one years. Catherine I. was united in mar
riage on the 7th of October, 1891, to Joseph L. Williams, who was born
in England, and who is department manager of the establishment of
Ernest Kern, of Detroit. They have two children, — Catherine B. and
Harry C. The daughter married, in June, 1913, Roy Lee Blake, of Al
bion, New York, while the son is employed in the Acme White Lead
Works. From the foregoing date it will be seen that Mr. Berry has not
only grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but also great-great
grandchildren, and he may well view with pride the numerous pro
geny that has been given to perpetuate the family name and maintain
its honors. Both his wife and his children have passed to the life eternal,
but by his grandchildren and their children he is shown every mark of
love and tender solicitude, so that he may well feel that, as the shadows

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1003
of his life begin to stretch far our toward the golden west, where the
sunset gates are opened wide, his lines are, indeed, cast in pleasant
places. Captain Allan B. Wallower, one of the representative younger
members of the bar of the city of Detroit, is bringing to bear in his
professional practice the same determined purpose and enthusiasm
that have signally conserved his success in other fields of endeavor. In
view of the fact that his father was a soldier of the Union in the Civil
war and thereafter continued to serve with distinction and honor in
the United States Regular Army, it is specially pleasing to note that
Captain Wallower himself has well upheld the military prestige of the
name he bears. He enjoys marked popularity in the business, pro
fessional and social circles of the Michigan metropolis, where he has
maintained his home since the year 1903.
Captain Wallower claims the fine old Keystone state as the place
of his nativity and is a scion of one of its oldest and most honored
families. He was born at Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, on
the 15th of August, 1875, and is a son of Benjamin F. Wallower. The
latter was a son of John Wallower, who was one of the representative
agriculturists of Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, where he was born
and reared and where his father, Leonard Wallower, had settled in the
early pioneer days of that region. On July 25, 1844, Benjamin Wal
lower was born at the old homestead which was the abode of the family
for three generations. He was reared to the sturdy discipline of the
farm and was afforded the advantages of the common schools of the
locality and period. He was about seventeen years of age at the out
break of the Civil war and promptly gave evidence of his youthful
loyalty- and patriotism by tendering his services in defense of the
Union. He responded to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers
and later enlisted in the Twentieth Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry,
with which he continued in active service until it was mustered out,
meanwhile participating in a number of the important engagements
which marked the progress of the conflict between the north and the
south. On the 9th of February, 1864, he became a member of Battery
F, Third United States Artillery, and with this he served during the
remainder of the war, continuing his connection with it until February
9, 1867, when he received his honorable discharge. On the twentieth
of the following May he re-enlisted in Company G, Twenty-third United
States Infantry, with which he continued in active service in the far
west, taking part in many conflicts with the Indians. With this com
pany he remained until the close of his term of enlistment, when, on
May 20, 1870, at Fort Colville, Washington, he was mustered out with
the rank of sergeant, an office to which he had been promoted and- in
which he had served two and one half years. His discharge contained
the following significant words: "A good soldier and an excellent
sergeant." After the close of his military career, Sergeant Wallower
turned his attention to railroad activities and with this line of enter
prise he continued to be identified until his death, which occurred at
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on the twenty-seventh of July, 1883.
Benjamin Wallower married Margaret Herron, who was born in
Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of June, 1851, a daugh
ter of Levi Herron, a representative of a family founded in that state.
They were the parents of four children: Estella E., who died at Phila
delphia in December, 1900 ; Allan B., the facts of whose life are given
in detail below; Roland C, born July 16, 1879, who holds a responsible

1004 HISTORY OF DETROIT
position with the Frick Company of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania; and
Charles W., who was graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Boston, and who is an electrical engineer in the employ
of the American Telegraph and Telephone Company, with headquarters
in Boston. Mrs. Benjamin Wallower died on the 15th of December,
1888. Allan B. Wallower was reared in his native city of Harrisburg.
There he attended school at Camp Hill, Cumberland county, and at
Chester Springs, Chester county. After leaving the public schools at
the age of sixteen years, he took a business course at Eastman's Busi
ness College in Poughkeepsie, New York.
On the 18th of April, 1894, at Sunbury, Northumberland county,
he enlisted in the Pennsylvania National Guard, in Company E, Twelfth
Regiment Infantry. In November, 1896, he was commissioned second
lieutenant of his company. He was the incumbent of this office when,
in September of the following year, his regiment was called out to aid
in suppressing the riots incidental to the great strike of miners at Hazel-
ton, Pennsylvania.
At the inception of the Spanish- American war Captain Wallower
was commissioned with his regiment, which was mustered into the
United States Service as the Twelfth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry,
in which he retained the office of second lieutenant of Company E. The
regiment went into camp at Mount Gretna, Pennsylvania, and later was
in the Second Army Corps, retained at Camp Alger, the command not
being called to the front. Captain Wallower was mustered out of the
United States, service on the 30th of October, 1898. In August of the
following year he was appointed captain and regimental adjutant of his
original command, the Twelfth Regiment of the Pennsylvania National
Guard. He retained this office until June 15, 1900, when he resigned
it in order to go to Trinidad, Venezuela, in the service of the New Trini
dad Lake Asphalt Company. After spending three years in South
America and the West Indies, Captain Wallower returned to the United
States. In October, 1903, he came to Detroit, where he continued in
the employ of the asphalt corporation, his connection being with the
Barber Asphalt Paving Company. On September 30th, 1904, he re
signed his position, and later became associated with the Manufacturers '
Commercial Company, a branch of an important New York financial
corporation. While in the employ of the above-mentioned company, and located
in its Detroit offices, Captain Wallower pursued a course of study in the
Detroit College of Law. He was graduated from this institution, as
a member of the class of 1908, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws.
At a session of the supreme court of Michigan held at Lansing on June
27th of that year, he was admitted to the bar. He thereupon opened
an office in Detroit, where he has since given his undivided attention
to his chosen profession, proving his powers as a trial lawyer and as
a well fortified counselor.
In politics Captain Wallower is a Republican. He is a member of
the Detroit Lawyers' Club; Zion Lodge, No. 1, Free and Accepted
Masons; and of the First Presbyterian church. He still retains his in
terest in military affairs and is (1912) recorder of the Michigan Com-
mandery of the Naval and Military Order of the Spanish-American
War. Ford S. Smith is a man of unusual enterprise and initiative. Self-
made and self-educated in the most significant sense of the words, he
has progressed steadily toward the goal of success until he is recognized

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1005
as one of the foremost business men and citizens of Detroit, where he
conducts the enterprise known as the Smith Chandelier Company and
where he has resided during the greater portion of his life.
At Howell, Michigan, on the 23d of November, 1877, occurred the birth
of Ford S. Smith, who is a son of George A. and Henrietta (Savery)
Smith, both residents of Detroit, their home being maintained at 250
Vinewood avenue. The Smith family was one of old standing at Howell,
Michigan, and George A. Smith came to Detroit in 1879, at which time
the subject of this review was a child of but two years of age. The
father was identified with the business during the major part of his
active career but for the past fifteen years he has lived in virtual retire
ment. After making the most of such educational advantages as were
afforded in the public schools of this city, Ford S. Smith assumed the
active responsibilities of life by beginning work for the Detroit Heating
& Lighting Company, at a salary of five dollars per week. His close
application to business gradually won him promotions so that at the time
when he left the employ of the company he was the efficient incumbent
of the office of assistant general manager of the concern. In 1906 he
founded the Smith Chandelier Company, which was immediately incor
porated under the laws of the state, with a capital stock of five tbousand
dollars. At the present time, in 1911, Mr. Smith owns ninety per cent of
the'istoek of the company and he holds the offices of secretary and treas
urer and general manager. The Smith Chandelier Company, located at
2665-7 Grand Boulevard, Detroit, is strictly a wholesale concern and
manufactures all kinds of lighting fixtures, the market being the United
States and Canada. A force of twenty men are employed the year
around and four traveling salesmen represent the company on the road.
Inasmuch as Mr. Smith has built up the splendid business enterprise
which he now controls his success is the more gratifying to contemplate.
His present plant was erected in 1906 but in 1912 he plans to erect a
plant of twice the capacity of his present one. Mr. Smith is also finan
cially interested in a number of other important business enterprises and
he is treasurer of the National Lighting Fixture Association. He is
connected with various electric organizations and is a member of the Mil
waukee Junction Manufacturing Company. In a fraternal way he
holds a high place in Masonry, being affiliated with Palestine Blue Lodge,
Free & Accepted Masons; King Cyrus Chapter, Royal Arch Masons;
Monroe Council, Royal & Select Masters; and Detroit Commandery,
Knights Templar. He is likewise a member of Moslem Temple, Ancient
Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. In politics he is a stalwart
Republican, and while he has no ambition for the honors of public office
of any description he is ever ready to give of his time and influence in
support of all measures advanced for the good of the general welfare.
On the 17th of October, 1904, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Smith to Miss Clara Maud Plumb, who was born and reared in Detroit,
where her education included a course in the high school. Mr. and Mrs.
Smith have two children, Francis Gerald and Marjory Lucile, both of
whom were born in this city. The Smith home is maintained at 177 Be-
thune street, East, and there is dispensed the most gracious and gener
ous of hospitality. Mr. Smith is a great automobile enthusiast and most
of his spare time is devoted to motoring.
Robert Kirke Young, M. D. One of the able and progressive
citizens of Detroit, who is contributing materially to the growth and
development of his city through his activities in his chosen field of
endeavor, is Dr. Robert Kirke Young, an honored member of the De
troit medical fraternity and a man who has achieved distinction in his

1006 HISTORY OF DETROIT
profession through his own individual efforts. Dr. Young was born
at Lurgan, in county Armagh, Ireland, April 17, 1871, and is descend
ed from two good old Irish families. His paternal grandfather was
Kirke Young, gentleman, while his maternal grandfather was Thomas
Lavery, a linen manufacturer of Lurgan, Ireland. The father of the
Doctor is James Kirke Young, who was born in Lurgan, county Arm
agh, and the mother was Arabella Lavery, also a native of Lurgan.
The parents came to the United States in 1891, settling in Detroit,
where the father followed his vocation as a decorator and now lives
retired from active business. The mother passed to her reward in
1899. The early education of Dr. Young was acquired in the National
schools of Ireland, where in 1883 he received the silver medal. He
received his scientific education under private tutors, preparing for the
civil service of Ireland. He came to the United States in 1888, preced
ing his parents to this country by three years, and coming direct to
Detroit. Here he entered the service of the Western Union Life In
surance Company as stenographer and continued in that line until
September, 1891, when he matriculated in the Detroit College of Medi
cine. He graduated from that institution with the class of 1894, as
gold medalist, degree of M. D. That same year he entered the general
practice of medicine, but the following year entered newspaper work
with the Evening News Association, continuing in that field for one year
and at the same time acting as assistant editor of the newspaper, The
Herald of Commerce. Returning to the practice of medicine in 1906,
he has since continued with success, giving special attention to surgery,
in which department he has become very well known. He located at
his present place, No. 603 Fourteenth avenue, where he maintains of
fices and residence, in 1907. Since that time his practice has extended
ramifications and is of a representative character, and the Doctor's
skill and kindly nature have gained for him public confidence and
affection. He is a member of the Wayne County and Michigan State
Medical Societies, the American Medical Association, and the Alumni
Association of the Detroit College of Medicine. Fraternally he belongs
to Friendship Lodge, No. 417, F. & A. M. He is medical examiner for
the Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Company, the American Temper
ance Life Insurance Company and the National Union.
Dr. Young married Miss Georgina Muriel Winstanley, of Moncton,
Ontario, Canada, and they have had two children, namely: Marguerite
and Madeline.
Dr. John Marcus Swift. When on August 30, 1897, Dr. John
Marcus Swift was taken from friends and family in Northville to the
life everlasting, a great and enduring sorrow was laid upon the com
munity. His life had been one of service to all, and inspiration to
the young, and a comfort to the weary. Few men have gone out from
this life so sincerely mourned or so profoundly missed.
Dr. Swift was a man of unusual talents, combining the rarely sym
pathetic nature of the minister with the cool intellect trained in the
ways of science, so that in the course of his life he gained everywhere
respect and influence among the people with whom he came in contact.
He came of stern and courageous stock for he was a grandson of Gen
eral John Swift, who made a name for himself as a soldier in the Amer
ican Revolution and was later, as a leader of a band of pioneers, the
founder of Palmyra, New York. He lost his life in the War of 1812.
On the mother's side, Dr. Swift was the grandson of another Revolu
tionary soldier and Palmyra settler, Weaver Osband. In 1825, his

history of Detroit ioo7
father, the Reverend Marcus Swift, finding himself no longer able to
countenance the feelings of his brethren on the subject of slavery, left
Palmyra, New York state, and sometime before 1830 settled in Nankin;
Michigan. It was at Nankin, February 11, 1832, that Dr. John M.
Swift was born. When he was a boy of ten, his mother died and his
father married Huldah C. (Peck) who became to the boy all that an own
mother could be, for she understood the boy and gave much of her
time to directing his education. A year at the district school at Ply
mouth, three terms in Griffin Academy, Ypsilanti, and' a part of a year
at Leona College, comprised his school privileges. For the rest, his
education consisted of a wise reading done at home. It is interesting
to note also that a great deal of his reading was done from books fast
ened to his plow handle. In 1851 he commenced the study of medicine
at the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, from which institution
he was graduated in 1853.
On February 11, 1852, his twentieth birthday, Dr. Swift was united
.in marriage to Miss Emily Barker, of Grand Rapids. She was a daugh
ter of Captain George J. and Maria (Peck) Barker, who came from
Dutchess county, New York, and located in Manchester, Michigan, where
they took up a large tract of land. After farming for some years he
retired and» moved to Grand Rapids where he and his wife both died.
After obtaining his degree Dr. Swift and his wife made their home in
Northville, where he at once began the practice of his profession. His
name soon began to stand for something in the surrounding country for
he brought to the practice of his profession not only a remarkable
ability to diagnose and fight all kinds of obscure physical disorders,
but he was gifted with a sympathy that gave him an unusual insight into
human nature. In 1864 the Rush Medical College of Chicago honored
him with its degree in recognition of his valuable contributions to the
literature of medicine and his treatment of diseases, especially of diph
theria. He is well known to the profession for his advocacy of diphtheria
as a constitutional and not a local disease, and he published in a local
paper his theories that tuberculosis should be treated as a germ disease
long before that theory found favor with the profession at large. Dr.
Swift was always interested in whatever tended to make the medical
profession more useful. He assisted in the organization of the Union
Medical Society of Oakland, Wayne, and Washtenaw counties, and
was a member of the state and national medical societies, as well as hon
orary member of several American societies, besides having been elected
to the Sydenham Medical Society of England.
Next to his profession, Dr. Swift gave his greatest interest to his
church work. He was the leader of the choir and superintendent of
the Sunday school and frequently was even called upon to fill the pulpit.
He was never absent when Christian comfort was needed.
Dr. Swift's talent as a lecturer was well known and he was fre
quently called upon to deliver addresses. At the death of President
Garfield, it was he who was asked to give the local commemoratory ad
dress. Dr. Swift was intensely interested in the welfare of the village
and was never absent when any movement for the betterment of con
ditions was put forward. He considered political responsibility and
participation in the political life of the community as every man's
duty. He was an enthusiastic Republican, and in 1864, was elected to
the Michigan state legislature, the only representative of his party from
Wayne county, a circumstance which caused the Detroit Free Press
to give him the title "The Lone Star of Abolition."
Dr. Swift was the father of one daughter, Mary Elizabeth, a woman
of rare musical gifts. She became the wife of George Milne, an east-

1008 HISTORY OF DETROIT
em man. They went to make their home in Texas. There she died in
1884, leaving three children. The youngest, a daughter, soon followed
the mother into the life beyond. The two sons, Swift and Alexander,
made their home with their grandparents for several years. The loss
of his daughter was a blow from which Dr. Swift was never able to
recover. Dr. Swift's home also became that of the orphaned children
of his brother Rev. Dr. 0. R. Swift. They lived in the doctor's house
hold until they founded homes of their own; M. G. B. Swift going to
Fall River, Massachusetts, where he became an eminent lawyer, and
Camilla Swift becoming Mrs. James A. Dubuar, of Northville. His widow
still makes her home in Northville, surrounded by many friends that
she and her husband made and kept through many years.
It is but fair to say that no man in the county ever left a more
honorable record of useful service and high devotion to the best and
noblest sentiments than Dr. Swift, and his name will long be revered
among the people who knew and loved him. »
Russell A. Alger. In the annals of the state of Michigan no name
merits a place of greater prominence or more enduring honor than
that of the late General Russell A. Alger, who gave the best of an
essentially strong, noble and loyal nature .to the service of his kind and
who dignified and honored the city and state in which he so long lived
and labored. His life course was guided and governed by the loftiest
principles and highest ideals; he was humanity's friend and labored
with all of zeal and devotion as a man among men, with the strength
and simplicity and directness characteristic of his great heart and great
mind. Both in public life and in connection with industrial and other
business activities of the broadest scope it was given General Alger
to mark the passing years with large and worthy accomplishment, and
his distinction rests on the firm basis of work well done, of honors well
won. His influence transcended mere local limitations to permeate the
national life, and he was one of the distinguished men of America, as well
as an honored and loved citizen of Detroit, where his affections and in
terests centered. The writer of this memoir knew General Alger and
has ever retained the deepest appreciation of exalted character and ser
vices. It was permitted the writer also to secure in person from the
General the data for a review of his career a short time before his death,
and from the article prepared at that time, with appreciative interest,
much of the following context is derived, as .such indulgence seems to be
the more consistent in view of the fact that General Alger himself gave
his approval of the completed and revised article, the statements of
which did not too greatly transcend the bounds set by his characteristic
modesty. He rendered to the state and nation service to the fullest ex
tent of his splendid powers ; his labors were unsparing, and his integrity
of purpose beyond cavil. The reflex of the high honors conferred upon
him was the honors he in turn conferred, and his life was conspicuous for
the magnitude and variety of its achievement.
Russell Alexander Alger was born in a pioneer log cabin in Lafay
ette township, Medina county, Ohio, and the date of his nativity was
February 27, 1836, so that he lacked only a few weeks of being seventy-
one years of age at the time of his death, which occurred on the 24th of
January, 1907. He was a son of Russell and Caroline (Moulton) Alger,
and the genealogy in the agnatic line is traced back to staunch English
origin, the original American progenitor having come from England in
1759. Through distinguished English channels the line is traced back
authoritatively to the time of William the Conqueror. John Alger,
great-grandfather of him to whom this memoir is dedicated, was a val-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1009
iant soldier of the Continental line in the war of the Revolution and par
ticipated in many of the battles marking the progress of the great con
flict through which oppression was hurled back and the boon of liberty
gained. The name bears honored place in the annals of New England,
that staunch matrix in which was cast so much of our national history.
The mother of General Alger was a direct descendant of Robert Moulton,
who arrived in the colony of Massachusetts in 1627, in charge of a vessel
laden with valuable ship-building material, and he brought with him a
number of skilled ship carpenters. The first seagoing vessel built in
Massachusetts was constructed under his supervision. The Moulton
family has had many distinguished representatives in succeeding gen
erations. Early in the nineteenth century the Alger family was founded in
Ohio, and its representatives thus became identified with the pioneer
history of that staunch old commonwealth. The boyhood of Russell A.
Alger was passed under the conditions common to the locality and per
iod, though he was early called upon to assume greater responsibilities
than fell to the lot of the average boy, as his parents were in ill health
and in most modest financial circumstances. He was but twelve years
of age at the time of the death of his parents, and was then thrown upon
his own resources, the while he assumed most bravely the burden of
providing for his younger brother and sister. He had, as a matter of
course, received but meager educational advantages, and when he thus
faced the stern battle of life at the age noted he lost no time in securing
such employment as came within the compass of his powers and abilities.
He found employment on a farm near Richfield, Summit county, Ohio,
where he remained nine years, within which he felt most fully the lash
of necessity, the while he never lost courage, ambition or self-reliance.
Within the period of his work on the farm he attended a neighboring
academy during the winter months. His marked facility in the absorp
tion and assimilation of knowledge caused him to make rapid progress in
his studies, and he finally was able to secure a position as teacher^ in a
district school, though he still continued at farm work during the sum
mer seasons. How radically different was all this from the later years of
General Alger's life, when he found himself compassed with "smiling
plenty and fair prosperous days. ' '
In March, 1857, shortly after attaining to his legal majority, and with
character well moulded in the stern school of necessity, General Alger
began the study of law, under the preceptorship of the firm of Wolcott &
Upson, of Akron, Ohio. In 1859 he was admitted to the bar, by the su
preme court of his native state, and he then removed to the city of Cleve
land, where he secured a position in the law office of Otis, Coffinberry &
Wyman. After a few months his health became impaired, owing to
close confinement and arduous study, and he was compelled to abandon
the work of his chosen profession.
The year 1859 recorded the removal of General Alger to Michigan,
but how little could he have imagined all that fate had in store for him,
a poor young man, in connection with the history of this state and that of
the nation. Soon after his arrival in Michigan he located at Grand
Rapids, which was then a mere village, and there he identified himself
with the line of industrial enterprise along which he was destined to
achieve his greatest financial success. In a business way his affairs were
prospered in the climacteric period just prior to the inception of the
Civil war, but when the conflict between the North and South was pre
cipitated he subordinated all personal interests to the call of patriotism
and was one of the first to voice his loyalty to the Union by tendering his
services in its defense. One of the phases of his distinguished career

1010 HISTORY OF DETROIT
that will ever redound to his honor is that involved in his gallant and
brilliant services in the Civil war. In August, 1861, General Alger en
listed as a private in the Second Michigan Volunteer Cavalry, in which
he was commissioned captain when his regiment was mustered into the
United States service, and he was forthwith assigned to the command of
Company C. The record of his army service as given by Adjutant Gen
eral Robertson 's ' ' Michigan in the War, ' ' an official work, is as follows :
"Captain Second Cavalry, September 2, 1861; major, April 2, 1862;
lieutenant colonel Sixth Michigan Cavalry, October 16, 1862; colonel
Fifth Michigan Cavalry, February 28, 1863 ; wounded in action at
Boonesboro, Maryland, July 8, 1863; resigned September 20, 1864, and
honorably discharged. Brevet brigadier general United States Volun
teers, for gallant and meritorious services, to rank from the battle of
Trevilian Station, Virginia, June 11, 1864 ; brevet major general United
States Volunteers, June 11, 1865, for gallant and meritorious services
during the war. ' '
From private to brevet major general within so short a period is,
indeed, a creditable record. The advancement did not come through
favoritism or other fortuitous agencies, for each successive promotion
was honestly and gallantly won. The qualities that had distinguished
General Alger in civil life were brought to play in the field and made
him one to whom others naturally turned in hours of emergency or
danger. The limitations defined in this publication preclude the giving
of a detailed history of General Alger's army career and relating the
stirring events of danger and heroism that are woven therein. In the
earlier years of the war he was active in the south and west, but the
larger portion of his service was with the Army of the Potomac. As
colonel of the Fifth Michigan Cavalry he entered Gettysburg on the 28th
of June, 1863, his being the first Union regiment to reach the village, and
there he and his men received a most noteworthy ovation on the part of
the loyal citizens.
One of the most important engagements in which General Alger par
ticipated was the battle of Booneville, on the 1st of July, 1862, at which
time he was serving as captain of Company C, Second Michigan Cavalry.
General Chalmers, with five thousand mounted Confederates, represent
ing nine regiments,' made an attack on Booneville, which was held by
Colonel Sheridan, who had with him at the time of the attack only two
small regiments, the Second Michigan Cavalry and the Second Iowa
Cavalry, numbering in all less thah nine hundred men, the Second Mich
igan having been armed with sabers, Colt's revolvers and revolving car
bines. 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 brigade. Sheridan, with his little body of men, was in danger
of being surrounded and captured, and in this emergency he decided
to send out ninety picked 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 reserve of 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 the 8th of July, 1863, he was seriously

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1011
wounded in a hot fight near Boonesboro, Maryland, and he did not re
sume service until September. He served with marked distinction dur
ing the campaigns of 1863-4, took part in all of the engagements of the
Army of the Potomac within this period, and with his brigade accom
panied Sheridan to the Shenandoah valley in 1864. In all, General Al
ger participated in sixty-six battles and skirmishes, and by bravery and
faithfulness he richly merited the distinction which he gained.
At the close of the war General Alger returned to Michigan, and
early in 1866 he established his home in Detroit, where, in the following
year, he engaged in active business, as a member of the firm of Moore,
Alger & Company, dealers in pine lands and lumber. This was the same
line of enterprise along which he had previously directed his energies,
while residing at Grand Rapids. The title of the firm was soon changed
to Moore & Alger, and this firm was eventually succeeded by that of R.
A. Alger & Company, which was finally merged into a corporation that
has since been known as Alger, Smith & Company. Of this corporation
General Alger was president from the beginning until his death. This
has long held prestige as one of the leading lumber concerns in the
Union and its transactions have been enormous in extent. General
Alger was also interested largely in various other companies in the
lumbering industry and also in important mining corporations.
Such was the multiplicity of his capitalistic investments that even men
tion of the same can not be given in detail in as circumscribed an article
as the one at hand. He did a great work in connection with the civic and
industrial development of Michigan, and through normal and legitimate
means he gained a large fortune, the use and stewardship of which was
ever a matter of deep concern to him. He had large and productive in
vestments in the west and south, though his interests continuously cen
tered in Michigan.
Unwavering in his allegiance to the Republican party and an able
and effective exponent of its principles and policies, General Alger never
permitted the use of his name in connection with any political office un
til 1884, when he was elected a delegate to the Republican national con
vention held in Chicago. In the same year he was the nominee of his
party for governor of Michigan, and was elected by a plurality of 3,953,
thus returning the state to Republican rule, after a period of defection.
As chief executive of a great state his administration compares favorably
with that of any of Michigan's governors. In a publication of this kind
it is impossible to dwell at any length upon the details of his guberna
torial and general political career, crowned though it was with high
honors and distinguished preferment. These matters are a very part of
the history of the state and of the nation, and thus are given due record
in works of more generic scope than the one here presented. At the ex
piration of his term as governor General Alger positively refused to
become a candidate for a second term, owing to the demands and exi
gencies incidental to his private affairs.
At the Republican national convention of 1888 General Alger was
one of the most prominent of the presidential candidates, and with the
continuous balloting he increased his strength in the convention to one
hundred and forty-three votes. In the sixth ballot, however, a break
was made in the ranks of his followers, and General Harrison, then sec
ond choice, was brought forward and received the nomination. In the
autumn of the same year General Alger's name headed the list of presi
dential electors from his state. In the national convention of the Re
publican party in 1892 he was again a popular candidate for nomination
and again showed his strong hold upon the confidence and esteem of the
leading members of his party.

1012 HISTORY OF DETROIT
The one feature of his political career that brought its chalice of
regret and sorrow to the lips of General Alger was that connected with
his service in the office of secretary of war in the cabinet of President
McKinley and at the time of the Spanish- American war. Time has al
ready 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, in the portfolio of secretary of
war, and he assumed the duties of the office on the 4th of March, 1897.
The unpleasantness which marked his administration was the direct re
sult of ' ' long existent conditions revealed by the stern test of war. ' ' It
is not necessary here to record the history of the case, but naught
of vindication is demanded for General Alger, concerning whom, in
this connection, the New York Post spoke as follows, at the time of his
death : "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." He resigned his post as secretary of war in
August, 1899, and gratifying to him must have been the enthusiastic
and sympathetic reception which was given him by the people of his own
state after the criticism which had been leveled at him with so great
injustice. When he passed from the scene of life's mortal endeavors
his successor in the office of secretary of war, Hon. William H. Taft, now
president of the United States, gave the following appreciative estimate
of his services in the office: "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. ' '
On the 27th of September, 1902, Governor Bliss appointed General
Alger a member of the United States senate, to fill the vacancy caused
by the death of Senator James McMillan, and on the 20th of the follow
ing January he was regularly elected to the same office, by the legislature
of the state. Owing to failing health he declined to become a candidate
for re-election and his term of office as senator would have expired
March 4, 1908. He distinctively honored his state by his services in the
United States senate, of which he was a member at the time of his death,
which occurred in the city of Washington, on the 24th of January, 1907,
as the result of oedema of the lungs. His summons was sudden, as
the attack which terminated his life came only about ten minutes before
he succumbed. He had long suffered from valvular disease of the heart,
and his health had been delicate for some time. The following extract is
taken from an editorial article which appeared in the Washington,
D. C, Herald at the time of his demise and which is but one example of
many thousands of appreciative estimates appearing in the press of the
nation at that time : ' ' 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." Glowing tributes to his worth were paid in both house of
Obngress and in the legislature of his home state, while in Detroit there
was such an outpouring of citizens of all classes to render a last mark of
affection and respect as to establish anew his wonderful claim upon the
love and appreciation of the city to whose welfare he had so largely con
tributed. His body lay in state in 8the city hall from two until five
o'clock on the Sunday following his death, and the entire community

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1013
showed that it felt a deep sense of personal loss and bereavement. The
funeral was held from the family home and the simple services of the in
terment, in the Alger mausoleum, were conducted under the auspices
of the military organizations of which the deceased had been an honored
member. General Alger was a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Le
gion of the United States and of Fairbanks Post, No. 17, Grand Army of
the Republic, in Detroit. In the latter he was ever an enthusiastic
worker. His affection for and sympathy with his old comrades in arms
was of the most insistent type, and one of the last acts of his life was in
connection with securing a merited pension for an old soldier of his own
command. In 1889, at the national encampment of the Grand Army of
the Republic in Milwaukee, General Alger was unanimously, and with
out opposition, elected commander in chief of this noble patriotic order.
In the memorial address given by Hon. Edwin Denby, of Michigan, in
the house of representatives in Washington, appear the following state
ments: "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 that
charm and attract and make the world akin. His course through life
was marked by many deeds of utmost unostentatious charity. How
much he gave will never be known, but that his bounties were large is
certain from the occasional instances brought to public notice. In De
troit 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 loss of
their best earthly friend can not be known. His charities he tried
to hide, but you will hear today some instances that could not be con
cealed. 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." The address of Hon. John C. Spooner, of Wisconsin, in the United
States senate, contained the following tribute: "No man without noble
purpose, well justified ambition, 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 deeds of kindness and
helpfulness to those who were in need, sowing the seed which blossomed
in fragrance along his pathway and made it beautiful. ' '
In Grand Rapids, Michigan, on the 2d of April, 1861, was solemnized
the marriage of General Alger to Miss Annette H. Henry, daughter of
William G. Henry, of that city, and about four months later he left his
bride to go forth as a soldier of the Union. Of the nine children of this
union, whose every relation was ideal, five are living, namely: Caroline,
who is the wife of Henry D. Shelden, of Detroit ; Fay, who is the wife of
William E. Bailey, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Frances, who is the
wife of Charles B. Pike, of Chicago; and Russell A. and Captain Fred
erick M., of Detroit, who have largely assumed the large business inter
ests and responsibilities of their honored and venerated father. Mrs.
Alger survives the General and divides her time between her beautiful
homes in the cities of Detroit and Grosse Pointe. Like her husband, she

1014 HISTORY OF DETROIT
is a member of the Presbyterian church, in whose work and support she
has been most zealous. A woman of gracious personality and distinctive
culture, she complemented in every respect the career of her husband,
and in the tender and hallowed memories and asociations of their mar
ried life lies her greatest measure of consolation and compensation.
Russell A. Alger, Jr. Taking just pride in bearing the full name
of his honored and distinguished father, the late General Russell A.
Alger, Russell Alexander Alger, Jr., is a native son of Detroit and here
has gained for himself a position of prominence and influence as a rep
resentative business man and a loyal and public-spirited citizen, so that
he has done his part in upholding the prestige of a name that has been
signally honored in the history of Michigan and in the annals of the
nation. Since the death of his father he has eliminated the suffix
"junior" from his name, but the same is retained in this sketch for the
purpose of clear designation in the index. Mr. Alger is his father's
successor in the presidency of the great lumber corporation of> Alger,
Smith & Company, with offices at 1213 Ford Building, and he maintains
his home at Grosse Pointe Farms. He became closely associated with
his father's extensive and varied business interests prior to the death of
the latter and is an executor of the estate, in the management of the af
fairs of which he is associated with his only and younger brother, Cap
tain F. M. Alger. He has conducted also independent business opera
tions since 1903, and in adition to being executive head of Alger, Smith
& Company, wholesale manufacturers of lumber, he is President of the
Anderson Forge & Machine Company and Vice-President of the Packard
Motor Car Company; treasurer of the Duluth & Northern Minnesota
Railroad Company; and director in the Security Trust Company, the
People's State Bank, the Manistique Lumber Company and the Alger-
Sullivan Company.
Russell Alexander Alger was born in Detroit,on the 27th of February,
1873. He attended the public schools of Detroit, including the high
school, the Michigan Military Academy, at Orchard Lake, and later Phil
lips Academy, at Andover, Massachusetts. His business training under
the direction of his father was of the best order and through the same
he admirably developed his administrative and executive powers, thus
becoming well fortified for the heavy responsibilities that were eventual
ly to devolve upon him. He is a popular and valued factor in the busi
ness and social activities of his native city and is a staunch supporter of
the Republican party, of which his father was a distinguished repre
sentative. He holds membership in many leading social organizations
of his home city, including the Detroit Club, the Yondotega Club, the
Country Club, the Detroit Yacht Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the De
troit Automobile Club, the Detroit Racquet & Curling Club, and the Old
Club. He also holds membership in the New York Yacht Club and the
Automobile Club of America, in New York City, and in the Kitchi Garni
(Dutch) Club, Duluth, besides which he is identified with the Mount
Royal Club, of Montreal, Canada. Both he and his wife are members
of the Fort Street Presbyterian church in their home city.
On the 23rd of January, 1896, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Alger, to Miss Marion Jarves, daughter of Deming Jarves, a representa
tive citizen of Detroit, and she proves a most gracious chatelaine of their
beautiful home, which is a center of generous hospitality. Their chil
dren are Josephine, Fay and Russell A., Jr.
William Tafft. There are many points which render consonant the
according of special recognition in this publication to the late William

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1015
Tafft, who was long numbered among the representative farmers of Ply
mouth township, Wayne county, and who was a scion of one of the
prominent and honored pioneer families of this county, — that in which
the city of Detroit is situated. He was a child at the time the family
home was established in the forest wilds of Plymouth township, more
than a decade before the territory of Michigan had gained representation
as one of the sovereign commonwealths of the Union, and he here gained
his full quota of experience in connection with the labors, conditions
and influences which marked the early pioneer days, the while, like his
father before him, he contributed much to the development and upbuild
ing of the county that represented his home during practically the en
tire course of his useful life. Mr. Tafft was a man of exalted integrity,
fine mentality and utmost loyalty, and he marked the passing years
with large and worthy accomplishment along normal lines of productive
..enterprise. He was one of the pioneers of the county at the time of his
death and his reminiscences touching the early days were most graphic
and interesting. He commanded high vantage ground in the confi
dence and respect of his fellow men, and now that he has passed away
it is most consistent that in this publication, which touches much of tht
history of Wayne county, should be entered a tribute to his memory.
William Tafft was born at Palmyra, Wayne county, New York, in a
section that contributed a most valuable element to the early settlement
of southern Michigan, and ,the date of his nativity was September 26,
1821. He was a son of James and Marina (Thaver) Tafft, representa
tives of families founded in America in the colonial days, and he was a
child of four years at the time of his parents' immigration to the terri
tory of Michigan, — about twelve years antecedent to the admission of the
state to the Union. James Tafft secured from the government a home
stead claim of one hundred and sixty acres of heavily timbered land in
Plymouth township, Wayne county, about two miles west of the present
thriving village of Plymouth. He made a clearing in the woods and
there erected his primitive log house, for which not even doors or win
dows were supplied for some time, the openings being covered in the
meantime with blankets. He set himself valiantly to the herculean task
of reclaiming his land to cultivation, and with passing of the years a
due measure of success attended his arduous labors. He became one
of the staunch and influential citizens of Plymouth township, did well
his part in the development and upbuilding of the same and there both
he and his noble wife continued to reside until his death, — secure in
the high regard of all who knew them and worthy representatives of that
intelligent, industrious and God-fearing class of citizens who thus laid
broad and deep the foundations of the future superstructure of ad
vanced civilization and opulent prosperity. The names and deeds of
such worthy pioneers well merit enduring place on the pages of Michigan
history. The boyhood and youth of William Tafft were compassed by the
scenes, influences and labors incidental to the pioneer epoch, and he soon
gained distinct fellowship with earnest toil and endeavor, the while he
found his educational advantages limited to the primitive schools of the
locality and period. His ambition for higher educational opportunities
were not, however, denied, as he was finally enabled to attend a well con
ducted academic institution in the city of Jackson, which was then a
mere village. That he made good use of the advantages thus gained is
assured by the fact that he proved himself eligible for pedagogic honors,
and for several terms he was a successful and popular teacher in the
schools of the village of Plymouth.

1016 HISTORY OF DETROIT
When about twenty-four years of age Mr. Tafft gave evidence of
his continued allegiance to the great fundamental industry under whose
benignant influences he had been reared, as he then purchased one hun
dred and eighty-five acres of well improved land in Plymouth township.
He secured the property from his cousin, Hiram Tafft, a son of Job
Tafft, who had secured the land from the government. In the mean
while he had assumed connubial responsibilities, and thus was favored in
having the companionship of a devoted young wife when he established
his home on his newly acquired farmstead. He gave himself with char
acteristic energy and circumspection to the operation and improvement
of his farm which he developed into one of the valuable landed estates of
Wayne county, and upon this fine homestead, about two miles west of
the village of Plymouth, he continued to reside until his death, on the
2nd of July, 1872, at which time he was about fifty-one years of age, —
the very prime of his worthy and useful manhood. His accomplishment^
however, was one that would have been a creditable life work, no matter,
how long his life may have been prolonged, and he had proved himself
one of the world's noble army of productive workers, — a man of stabil
ity, rectitude and noble impulses, and a citizen whose loyalty was shown
in manifold ways. His death was deeply deplored in the community in
which he had so long lived and labored and in which none knew him
but to honor him. His remains were laid to rest in beautiful Riverside
cemetery, at Plymouth, and his memory is revered by all who came within
the sphere of his generous and kindly influence.
, As a farmer and stock-grower Mr. Tafft was exceptionally progressive,
as he availed himself of the best methods and facilities and was ever fore
most in introducing the same. His business and executive ability also
was of superior order, and he made his farm a veritable model, in evi
dence of which fact an article in the Michigan Farmer, one of the lead
ing agricultural papers of the country, suggested to its readers that this
farm was one which should be visited and inspected, as an example of
progressive and up-to-date farming methods. In connection with other
departments of farm industry Mr. Tafft had the good judgment to give
special attention to fruit-growing, in connection with which he was
most successful and gained more than local reputation. On his farm he
set out more than fifteen hundred fruit trees, and he developed one of the
finest orchards in the state, giving to the same most scrupulous attention
and making a specialty of the "Canadian Red" fine winter apple, in the
successful propagation of which in Michigan he had great confidence.
Mr. Tafft brought his progressive ideas and fine powers to bear also
in the furtherance of undertakings and measures projected for the gen
eral good of the community, and he was distinctly liberal and public-
spirited in his civic attitude, the while he was recognized as one of the
influential citizens of his home township as well as one of the most en
terprising and successful representatives of agricultural industry and
allied lines in the state. He took great interest in the work of the Mich
igan State Agricultural Society and was a member of its executive com
mittee for four years. At the time of the Civil war he served as super
visor of Plymouth township, and he likewise gave effective service as a
member of the board of county auditors. All enterprises tending to ad
vance the general progress and prosperity of his home county and state
received his earnest support, and he was among the foremost in his town
ship in promoting the building of the line of the Pere Marquette Rail
road through this section of the state, and he was liberal in the giving
of his influence and financial aid in the furthering of many other ob
jects for the good of the community at large.

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HISTORY OF DETROIT 1017
In politics he gave unfaltering allegiance to the cause of the Repub
lican party and was affiliated with the Plymouth lodge of Free & Ac
cepted Masons. His widow, now venerable in years, has been a life-long
member of the Universalist church.
The domestic relations of Mr. Tafft were of ideal order, and in his
home his interests and affections ever centered themselves. At the home
of the bride 's parents in Plymouth township, this county, on the 21st of
May, 1846, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Tafft to Miss Hannah M.
Root, who was born at Mehtz, New York, on the 11th of August, 1825,
and who was but six weeks old at the time of her parents' removal to
Plymouth township, Wayne county, Michigan, where she has resided dur
ing the long intervening years and where she is now one of the oldest
surviving representatives of the early pioneer families of this county.
She is a daughter of Roswell and Phoebe (Ward) Root, who, as already
intimated, established their home in Plymouth township in the year
1825. Here the father secured four hundred acres of government land,
the major part of which he reclaimed from primeval forest, thus de
veloping one of the valuable farm properties of the county. Both he
and his wife remained on the old homestead until their death and he
was one of the most substantial and influential citizens of his town
ship, where he held various public offices and where he was known as a
man of the highest character. Mrs. Tafft, who is now eighty-seven years
of age (1912) has maintained her residence in the village of Plymouth.
since 1902 and here she receives the solicitous and loving care of her
children and children's children, who may well "rise up and call her
blessed." Mr. and Mrs. Tafft became the parents of five children, con
cerning whom brief data are offered in the concluding paragraph of
this memoir.
Mary F. is the wife of George Holbrook, who was likewise born and
reared in Plymouth township and who is a representative of another of
the honored pioneer families of Wayne county. He is now engaged in
the oil business in the south but the family home is still maintained at
Plymouth, Michigan. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Holbrook was
solemnized on the 30th of December, 1869, and they became the parents
of four children, namely.: William B., who died at the age of fifteen
years; Edna M., who is the wife of William G. Davidson, of Medford,
Oregon ; and George F. and Florence, who remain at the parental home.
Mrs. Holbrook 's venerable mother resides with her and is a loved and
gracious figure in the household circle, where her many friends come
to pay her honor and affectionate greetings at frequent intervals, the
while the younger generation find unfailing pleasure in listening to
her many reminiscences of the pioneer days — "the dear, dead days
beyond recall" save through the gracious link formed by the memories
of such venerated pioneers, of whom but few now remain. Ella M., the
second daughter, is the wife of Harrison Peck, of Plymouth, and they
have three children : Dexter, Harry and William. James W. Tafft, the
only son, is engaged in business in the city of Jackson, Mississippi, and is
well upholding the honors of the name which he bears. He has been
twice married, his first union being with Miss Anna Poole, who is sur
vived by three children : Gertrude, Camilla and Bessie. For his second
wife Mr. Tafft married Miss Mamie Coppick,.and they have one child,
Esther. Two of the children of Mr. and Mrs. William Tafft died in child
hood, Charles at the age of ten and Marina when but three.
George McMillan. A publication 'of this nature exercises its most
important function when it takes cognizance, through proper memorial
tribute, of the life and labors of so honored and valued a citizen as the
Vol. Ill— 1 2

1018 HISTORY OF DETROIT
late George McMillan, who maintained his home in Detroit for a period
of forty years and who left a worthy impress upon the civic and business
history of the Michigan metropolis. He was long associated with his
younger brother, Robert McMillan, in the wholesale and retail grocery
trade in this city, and the name of the firm is perpetuated in the G. &
R. McMillan Company, which continued the business at the location
so long maintained by the original firm, at the corner of Woodward
avenue and Fort street. On other pages pf this work is entered a
memoir to Robert McMillan, and reference may be made to said article
for certain other data concerning the family history and the close and
harmonious business relations maintained by the two brothers until the
death of him whose name initiates this review. George McMillan ever
stood as an exponent of the most loyal and public-spirited citizenship,
and he arose to prominehee and prosperity through his own well di
rected efforts along normal lines of business enterprise. He coveted
success, but scorned to gain the same save by worthy means, and he
and his brother built up an enterprise of broad scope and importance,
— the largest of its kind in Detroit, — with the result that the name of
the firm became to the citizens of Detroit virtually as familiar as that
of the city itself. A gracious, true and noble personality was that of
George McMillan, and his memory will long be cherished and venerated
in the beautiful city in which he so long made his home. He had gone
abroad for the benefit of his health, which had become seriously im
paired, and he died in the city of Wurzburg, Bavaria, on the 5th day of
August, 1889, his remains being brought to Detroit, where they were
laid to rest in Elmwood cemetery.
George McMillan was born in the parish of South End, Kintyre,
Argylshire, Scotland, on the 20th day of August, 1823, and thus he
lacked only a few days of being sixty-six years of age at the time of his
demise. He was a scion of one of the. stanch and representative old
families of Argylshire, where his parents continued to reside until their
deaths, and where he was afforded excellent educational advantages in
his youth. In 1847, at the age of twenty-four years, he severed the ties
that bound him to home and native land and set forth for America, as
he had become thoroughly convinced that in this country were to be
found better opportunities for the gaining of success and independence
through personal endeavor. For two years after his arrival in Amer
ica Mr. McMillan was connected with the mercantile establishment of
Thomas Hope & Company, wholesale grocers of New York city, and
there he gained valuable experience in regard to means and methods of
business in the land of his adoption. In 1849 he came to Detroit and
entered into a partnership with his younger brother, Robert McMillan,
with whom he became associated in the wholesale and retail grocery
business under the firm name of G. & R. McMillan, than which none
has borne higher reputation in the business history of the Michigan
metropolis. The enterprise was continued under the original title until
shortly before the death of the subject of this memoir, when a partial
reorganization of the firm was effected and the present title, the G. & R.
McMillan Company, adopted. During the first sixteen years of opera
tions the firm maintained its headquarters on the site of the present
Metropole hotel, on Woodward avenue, and at the expiration of this
period they erected the substantial building in which the business has
been continued during the long intervening years, at the corner of Wood
ward avenue and Fort street. From an appreciative estimate of the
character and labors of Mr. McMillan published in the Detroit Free
Press at the time of his death, are taken the following pertinent ex
tracts, which are well worthy of perpetuation in this more enduring

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1019
form: "As a business man, Mr. McMillan was a model worthy of imi
tation. He was careful and prudent in all business dealings, and his
success in accumulating an immense estate was due entirely to his
sterling honesty and his close attention to the small details of his work.
The firm had as clean a business record as could be possible, having
passed through many financial panics without the slightest mar to its
credit, and had built up a reputation which was the envy of many more
pretentious concerns. In the city of Detroit the name of the firm was
as familiar as that of the street on which the establishment was lo
cated. ' '
Mr. McMillan's affection and loyalty for Detroit were of the most
insistent and appreciative order, and he entered fully and generously
into its social and business activities, the while his aid and influence
were ever given most liberally in the furtherance of measures and en
terprises tending to advance the material and civic interests of the
city. At the time of his death he was a member of the directorates of
the Old Detroit National Bank, the Michigan Savings Bank and the
Detroit Fire and Marine Insurance Company. He was a member of the
Detroit Club, the Grosse Pointe Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the Coun
try Club and the Lake St. Clair Shooting Club, commonly known as the
Old 'Club. Both he and his wife were zealous members of the Fort
Street Presbyterian church and were liberal in their support of its
various activities, as were they also in the furtherance of charitable
and benevolent work outside the church. Mr. McMillan was a man
whose sincerity, frankness and integrity inspired confidence and gained
to him many inviolable friendships.
On the 23d of November, 1859, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
McMillan to Miss Isabella Gray Moffat, who was born in Detroit on the
18th day of September, 1837, and who was thus seventy years of age
at the time of her death, which occurred on the 8th day of September,
1907. She was a woman of the most gracious personality and her memory
is held in enduring affection by all who came within the sphere of her
gentle influence. She passed her entire life in Detroit and here her
circle of friends was coincident with that of her acquaintance. She was
a daughter of Hugh and Margery (McLachlan) Moffat, who were among
the early Scotch settlers of Detroit, where Mr. Moffat became a citizen of
distinctive prominence and influence. He was one of the leading lum
bermen and contractors and builders of this city in the early days, and
made valuable contributions to the civic and material upbuilding of
Detroit, where he erected the1" Moffat block and many other buildings,
his real estate holdings having been large and important. The fine
old homestead which he erected on Jefferson avenue is still held by the
estate, as are also many other valuable city properties. Mr. Moffat
was a man who held the confidence and esteem of the community in
which he so long continued to reside. He served for two terms as mayor
of Detroit. Here he died on August 5, 1884, his wife having pre
ceded him on June 16, 1856.
Mr. and Mrs. McMillan became the parents of three daughters and
two sons as follows : Mary Isabella ; Annie : Elizabeth Ker ; Robert Ker
and George Moffat. Robert Ker died on April 14, 1903, at the age of
twenty-four years; George Moffat died on July 1, 1907, aged thirty-
three years. He married Mrs. Eva Wendell MacKinnon, and was the
father of two children, — Margery Isabella and George Moffat, Jr.
Thomas B. Henry, M. D., A man of high scholarship and broad
general information, Thomas B. Henry, M. D., of Northville, Michigan,
wisely chose the profession of a physician and surgeon, and as a practi-

1020 HISTORY OF DETROIT
tioner he has steadily worked his way upward, his career having been
one of continued progress. A native of Canada, he was born September
16, 1874, in Barrie, Ontario, where he spent the days of his boyhood and
youth. His father, James Henry, a native of Ireland, married Mary
Dunn Averill, who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Reared in his native city, Thomas B. ¦ Henry there acquired his pre
liminary education, completing the course of study in the public schools,
and subsequently being graduated from the Collegiate Institute at Bar
rie. As natural to men of his mental caliber, he chose a professional
career and began the study of medicine, in 1897 being graduated from
the Detroit Medical College, in Detroit, Michigan. The following five
months Doctor Henry took charge of the medical practice of his brother,
Doctor F. M. Henry, who left Detroit for a brief vacation, and while thus
employed gained valuable experience and confidence in his ability' and
efficiency as a physician. In the fall of 1897 Dr. Henry located at
Northville, Wayne county, and has here built up a large and extensive
patronage, being now one of the leading physicians and surgeons of
this section of the county. In 1899, on account of failing health, the
Doctor decided to take a rest and, giving up his practice, traveled for
a year, visiting the more important places of interest in the south, and
in Old Mexico, his trip being of great benefit to him. Following the
tendency of the present age towards specializing, Dr. Henry, who had
success in the treatment of .diseases of women and in the practice of
abdominal surgery, has made these his specialty, and has now a large
marked and constantly increasing practice along that line of work.
Doctor Henry married, in 1897, May Hoisington, of Detroit, Michi
gan, and into the household thus established two children have
been born, namely: Bernice M. and Averell B. Socially the Doctor
belongs to both the Wayne County and the State Medical Societies,
and takes an active interest in each. Fraternally he stands high in
Masonry, in which he has taken the thirty-second degree, being a mem
ber of the Blue Lodge, at Northville; Northville Commandery, Knights
Templar; Michigan Sovereign Consistory; and of Moslem Shrine, of
Detroit. He is also a member of Pontiac Lodge, No. 810, Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks; of the Woodmen of the World; of the
Independent Order of Foresters and of the Knights of Pythias. In
1909 the Doctor was elected president of the Northville Driving Club,
and served until 1910, when he resigned the position. He has taken an
active part in the management of public affairs, having been president
of the village of Northville in 1900; deputy game warden of Wayne
county in 1903 and 1904 ; and health officer at Northville from 1903 until
1909- Richard P. Joy. In every community men of wealth and social
standing who take their citizenship seriously are scarce. An exception
which proves the rule is Richard P. Joy, president of the National Bank
• of Commerce of Detroit and former comptroller of the city of Detroit.
The son of one of the most illustrious, citizens Detroit has known,
James F. Joy, Richard P. first saw the light of day in Detroit, January
25, 1870. In the public schools of his native city he received his early
education. Graduating therefrom, he attended the Phillips Academy
at Andover, Massachusetts, from which he graduated in 1890. He
began his active business career in the engineering department of the
Fort Street Union Depot Company, and from the beginning he has
been most active in civic affairs, devoting much of his spare time to
the study of municipal problems. Notwithstanding his widespread
business connections, he found time to devote to public matters and

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1021
was elected, by an overwhelming majority, alderman of the Second
ward of the city of Detroit, serving from 1898 until 1901. He was
then chosen as comptroller of the city, a position he filled to the full
satisfaction of the people during the years 1906 and 1907.
It was seen that the banking facilities of Detroit were inadequate
to supply the demands made upon them, and as there was an excellent
opening for another financial institution, 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 inception the bank has been a success. Starting on the second floor
of the Union Trust Company, predictions were made that it was too
far from the street level to be a success, but the judgement of its
founders, and their opinion that business will go where it is best taken
care of, was vindicated, for upon the opening of the bank there were
more than a half million in deposits. Steadily working its „way into
the estimation of the people, its conservatively energetic course dur
ing the crisis of 1907, placed it firmly in the confidence of the people,
and the name of R. P. Joy will for all time be inseparably connected
with that of the National Bank of Commerce.
Possessing marked excutive ability, a trait inherited from his father,
Mr. Joy by no means confines his business activity to the bank. He is
vice-president of the Detroit Copper & Brass Rolling Mills, a director
of the Packard Motor Car Company; a director of the Diamond Man
ufacturing Company; a director of the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw
Railroad Company ; vice-president and treasurer of the Detroit Electric
Railroad Depot and Station Company ; and is a stockholder in a number
of other manufacturing enterprises. He is a member of the Detroit
Club ; the Detroit Board of Commerce ; the Yondotega Club ; the Country
Club ; The Old Club ; the New York Yacht Club and other clubs.
Mr. Joy was united in marriage to Miss Mary Moore in 1908.
He comes honestly by his executive ability, as his father, the late
James F. Joy, was one of the foremost business men of the United
States, a recognized authority on finance and one of the most able
railroad managers of the middle west. His productive genius was
gigantic, and his life was one of impregnable integrity and honor.
James Frederick Joy, who left behind him a reputation to be proud
of, was born at Durham, New Hampshire, on the second of December,
1810, and was a son of James and Sarah (Pickering) Joy. Too honest to
be politic, too conscientious to be sycophantic, he at all times told the truth
as he saw it, thus making enemies of small men, and corralling for all
time the friendship of men of affairs. His word was as good as his
bond, and those who came in close contact with him had the opportunity
of witnessing the fineness of his character, with a result that he was
loved for himself by those who knew him best.
Nearly a quarter of a century ago the writer had occasion to see
him with regard to the then new plan for a union depot. Being in
the newspaper business, the writer, as he was accustomed to do in all
cases of emergency, did not hesitate to intrude upon the privacy of
Mr. Joy at his home on West Fort street.
"Well, young man," exclaimed Mr. Joy, "I have guests to enter
tain and can spare no time for idle interviews, so I beg you will excuse
me." "One moment, Mr. Joy," I exclaimed. "This is no idle interview.
I know you have m your possession the plans for the new Union Depot,
also a profile picture of the new building. ' '
"Who told you so?"
"That is neither here nor there: I never divulge the sources of my
information. ' '

1022 HISTORY OF DETROIT
"Then by George you will not get the picture nor the information."
"Very well, I will then print the story I have. It is good enough
for me."
"One moment, young man, do you really mean to tell me, that
rather than give away who has been talking about this scheme pre
maturely, you will lose the chance of getting the picture and an ex-
¦ elusive story ? "
"That is the case in a nutshell."
"Then, by George, -you shall have it all. Come up to the library.
That is the kind of talk I like. Stand to your guns like a man under
all circumstances and you will win. Any time you want anything
from me, come and get. it. ' '
The plans and pictures were forthcoming and an exclusive story
as well, and during the remainder of the lifetime of this "Grand Old
Man," he was ever a friend of the obscure reporter. This incident is
given as throwing a side light on the character of Mr. Joy. All through
his business career he would cut his own pleasure or leisure to assist
any one he deemed worthy of his effort.
His father was a blacksmith by trade, and later in life was a man
ufacturer of scythes and a shipbuilder at Durham. The original an
cestor in America in the agnatic line was Thomas Joy, who immigrated
from England about the year 1632, locating at Boston, where he be
came a landholder in 1636, as shown by the town records of the Hub
city. From Boston his descendants moved to various portions of the
country, more especially in New England.
The father of Mr. James F. Joy was a man of strong character,
much enterprise and originality, and possessed of much intellectuality;
he was a Federalist in politics, a Calvinist in religion, and a leader in
both religious and civil life- His influence was potent in fixing in the
minds of his children correct principles, which have since descended
from father to son, there being no one enjoying the name of Joy who
is not looked up to with respect.
The early education of James F. Joy, who passed into the shadow
of the dark valley on September 24, 1896, was secured in the common
schools of New England, and in an academy in a nearby town, a two
years' course in the latter institution completing his educational en
deavors as far as regular tuition went. He then engaged in teaching
school, and through the remuneration received for this work, supple
mented by an allowance from his father, he realized his ambition and
entered upon a collegiate course, and graduated at the head of his
class at Dartmouth College, which conferred upon him the degree of
Bachelor of Arts. After leaving Dartmouth he entered the law school
at Harvard College at Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he made rapid
strides in the accumulation and assimilation of technical knowledge.
His pecuniary status, however, was such that he was compelled to
withdraw from the law school at the expiration of the first year. He
was, thereafter, for several months a preceptor in the Academy at
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and was for a year a tutor in Dartmouth Col
lege. He resigned the latter position to resume his law studies at
Harvard, where within a year he completed the prescribed course and
was admitted to the bar at Boston. He decided to locate in the west,
and in September, 1836, arrived in Detroit, where he entered the law
office of Hon. Augustus S. Porter, "One of the noblest men who ever
represented Michigan in the United States Senate.'.' In May of the
following year he opened a law office of his own and formed a pro
fessional partnership with George F. Porter, who had an extended
acquaintance with prominent capitalists. Thus the firm secured a foot
ing at the bar in the very beginning and from that time on Mr. Joy was

HISTORY OF DETROIT ' 1023
uniformly successful. It secured a clientage of a representative order
and became known as one of the leading legal partnerships in the west
ern country. During the height of the speculative craze in Michigan,
during the late 30s and the early 40s, the state had established the
internal improvement system, under whose operations the common
wealth had purchased the Detroit & St. Joseph railroad. In 1846,
through the operation of this railroad and the furtherance of other
schemes, the state became bankrupt, and as a means toward solvency
proposed to sell this railroad, whose name had been changed to the
Michigan Central. In the interests of a corporation formed for the
purpose of purchasing the property, Mr. Joy framed its charter, organiz
ed the corporation and induced capital to embark in the enterprise.
The sale of the road restored the state of Michigan to solvency, and
general business resumed normal conditions.
The new company undertook to extend the road to Chicago, and
in the important litigation connected therewith Mr. Joy was so busily
engaged that he was drawn away from his practice at Detroit, being
much in Indiana and Illinois. He gradually made railway law a
specialty and for a long time was one of the foremost figures in rail
way litigation in the United States, his practice being both extensive
and lucrative. From being the legal adviser of railroads he was drawn
into the management, and becoming prominent in extending railway
connections and new construction, was placed in executive control of
the new lines.
The case in ejectment of George C. Bates against the Michigan
Central and Illinois Central Railroad companies in the United States
circuit court was the last very important cause in which he appeared
as leading counsel and advocate. This case involved the title of the
tw'o companies to the station grounds at Chicago — property valued at
that time at more than two millions of dollars, and in this celebrated
case Mr. Joy's remarkable powers were so exemplified as to gain his
unprecedented prestige. The necessarily prescribed limitations of this
publication precludes a detailed review of this cause celebre, which is a
matter of historical record and is pointed out by lawyers in many cases
when seeking strong points of argument or to establish precedents.
Mr. Joy became extensively identified with the railway interests
of the country and was largely engaged in the extension into new terri
tory of existing lines. He organized the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy,
rlnce famous as one of the greatest lines in the United States, whose line
cost sixty millions of dollars, and before construction was instituted "he
made a trip on foot over the proposed route. For many years he was
the honored executive head of that corporation, and under his direction
the line was extended to Quincy and Omaha. The line from Kansas
City to the Indian Territory was another enterprise projected by him,
and since finished along the lines he indicated. Incidentally, he built the
first bridge across the Missouri river at Kansas City, thus giving great
impetus to the development of that community. About 1850, Mr.
Joy became interested with Mr. J. W. Brooks and with him entered
into a contract to complete the construction of the Sault Ste. Marie
Canal. This work was pushed forward with the greatest vigor and
within two years from the time Mr. Joy undertook the task it was finish
ed, much to the benefit of the navigation interests of the inland seas.
In 1867 Mr. Joy became president of the Michigan Central Railroad
Company, of which he had been general counsel for many years. As
chief executive of that road he superintended the general rebuilding of
the line and every department thereof, and made it adequate to meet

1024 HISTORY OF DETROIT
the demands made upon it. These improvements were naturally made
at great expense, double track being laid for most of the line and the
steel rails costing one hundred and thirty dollars in gold a 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 and
an influential factor in the road from Jackson to Grand Rapids, both
of these lines now being a part of the Michigan Central System. He
also built the Detroit & Bay City and the Detroit, Lansing and North
ern Railroads, as well as the Michigan Central's air line from Jackson
to Niles, the Kalamazoo & South Haven, and the Chicago and West Mich
igan lines. He was the prime factor in the building of more than six
teen hundred miles of railroads in Michigan alone, and the beneficence
of this work is being realized' by the present generation. \
In the early seventies Mr. James F. Joy became interested in a railroad
projected to run along the western bank of the Mississippi river from
Dubuque, Iowa, to a point opposite La Crosse, Wisconsin, and through
his efforts the line was completed and is now a part of the 'Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul System. He was also largely instrumental in
securing to Detroit its connection with the Wabash Railroad, and in se
curing adequate station facilities for this line. He and other influential
Detroiters furnished most of the money which built the line from De
troit to Logansport, Indiana.
With four other business men and capitalists Mr. Joy built the Union
station and the western Detroit- facilities now enjoyed by the Wabash,
by which that road can handle its immense freight tonnage to advantage,
He was also one of the organizers and attorneys for the Sault Ste.
Marie Ship Canal Company (in 1852-3 and 4), thus making possible
the navigation of Lake Superior by vessels from lower lakes.
For several years before his death Mr. Joy lived in retirement, rest
ing on his well earned laurels, and, as 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." In 1845 he was one of those
who purchased the stock of the Michigan State Bank, which regularly
paid annual dividends of ten per cent up to the expiration of its charter
in 1855, at which time its stockholders received one hundred and thirteen
per cent. He was a director of the Second National Bank of Detroit
when its charter expired. This bank was succeeded by the Detroit
National Bank, of whose directorate he was an honored member up to
the time of his death.
Though never active in the domain of politics, and never a seeker
after office, Mr. Joy set an example for his sons by taking his citizenship
seriously and exerted his influences for the promotion of good citizen
ship. He was an uncompromising advocate of the principles of the Re
publican party. In 1838 he was elected a school inspector and in 1848
was elected city recorder. In 1861, much against his will, he was in
duced to accept the nomination as member of the legislature from his
district. He was elected by an overwhelming majority and served with
honor during the stirring times of the Civil war, when patriots were
needed at the helm of the ship of state. He also served for some time as
one of the regents of the University of Michigan but resigned from that
position owing to the press of business affairs.
Mr. Joy was twice married. He first wedded Martha Alger Reed,
daughter of Hon. John Reed, of Yarmouth, Massachuetts, a member
of Congress for many years, and also lieutenant governor of his state.
Upon her death Mrs. Joy left the following children: Sara Reed, who

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1025
married Dr. Edward W. Jenks, both of whom are now deceased ; Martha
Alger, who married Henry A. Newland, both of whom were killed in a
railroad accident on the Michigan Central, and James Joy. His sec
ond wife was Miss Mary Bourne, of Hartford, Connecticut, and the
children of this union were : Frederick, who died in 1895 ; Henry Bourne,
who is at the head of some of the largest business interests in Detroit,
among which is the Packard Motor Company, of which he is president;
and Richard Pickering" Joy, the president of the National Bank of Com
merce and an honored citizen of the city of Detroit.
Albert McMichael, M. D. A representative physician and surgeon
of Detroit, and one who both professionally and* non-professionally
has received many and varied evidences of popular esteem, is Dr. Albert
McMichael, who has been successfully established in this city for thirty
years. Of Scotch origin is the worthy Doctor, his parents having sprung
from the old families of the land of hills and heather that seem to foster
so many of the sterling virtues of man. There Abraham McMichael
and his wife, nee Mary Dow, were born. Both were children at the
time of the immigration of their respective families to the province of
Ontario, Canada. In that region each was reared and in that locality
they were married. Abraham McMichael was graduated from the Ralfe
School of Medicine and thereafter practiced his profession in the town
of Gorrie in Huron county, until the time of his death, which oceured
in 1881. His widow, who is still living, has made Toronto the home of
her later years.
Their son, who is the subject of this biography, was born at the
Canadian town of Gorrie, on the twelfth day of December, 1860. In
the public schools of that place his education was begun and was further
pursued at the Collingwood Collegiate Institute, until he was ready
to enter upon the courses of study of his profession, which was the
same as that his father was following. Albert McMichael entered
the Medical College of Pennsylvania, located in Philadelphia, the class
of this graduation being that of 1878, in which year he received his degree
of Doctor of Medicine. He subsequently took a post-graduate course
in the University of Toronto. A number of years afterward, when
Dr. McMichael visited the land of ancestors, he added to his scientific
equipment additional courses in the fine medical schools and hospitals of
Edinburgh, Scotland.
Since the year 1882 Dr. McMichael has been continuously engaged
in the general practice of medicine and surgery in the city of Detroit.
He has kept in close touch with all lines of advance made in his profes
sion and his large practice is based on both accurate knowledge and
successful experience.
As a citizen Dr. McMichael is loyal and progressive and unfailingly
interested in those things which pertain to the actual betterment — '¦
physical, mental and moral — of city conditions.
He is now representing the Fourth ward as a member of the Detroit
board of education, a position to which he was elected in the spring of
1911. In politics he finds the principles and policies of the Republican
party worthy of his support. He is a member of the Palestine Lodge of
the F. & A. M.
Mrs. McMichael was formerly Miss Minnie Hough, of Ontario,
Canada, and her marriage to Dr. McMichael was solemnized on the
eleventh of February, 1887. Their home is at 157 Brainard street and the
Doctor's office is located at 10 Tuscola street.

1026 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Rodney D. Hill. One of the most consistent and important func
tions of this publication is to take cognizance of the lives and labors of
those who have been prominent in professional, business and civic af
fairs in Detroit in the years long past, and such memorials can not fail
of enduring value, as they offer both lesson and incentive. He whose
name initiates this review came to Detroit about two years before the
admission of Michigan to statehood and he soon achieved distinction as
one of the most able and versatile members of the bar of the new com
monwealth. Within a few years, however, he turned his attention largely
to other lines of enterprise, through which he eventually gained a sub
stantial fortune. He was influential in civic activities and did much to
further the development and upbuilding of the Michigan metropolis,
the while his sterling character and gracious personality gained and
retained to him the unequivocal confidence and esteem of the community
in which he was a pioneer lawyer and progressive and public-spirited
citizen. The only representative of the immediate family now resid
ing in Detroit is Mr. Hill's daughter, Miss Sarah B. Hill, who still oc
cupies the family home at 60& Jefferson avenue and to whom the pub
lishers of this work are indebted for the brief data presented concern
ing the career of her honored father, whose name well merits place
on the roll of the representative pioneers of Detroit. Like many others
of the sterling pioneers of Detroit, Rodney Dewey Hill claimed New
England as the place of his nativity, and he was a scion of one of the
old and honored families of that section of our national domain, in
which was cradled so much of the history of our great American re
public. The family was founded in New England in the early colonial
epoch and representatives of the same were influential factors in colonial
affairs, besides which members of the same were found enrolled as
patriot soldiers 'in the War of the Revolution. Mr. Hill was born at
Vergennes, Addison county, Vermont; on the 22d of July, 1805, and
was there reared to adult age. He received the best of educational ad
vantages, as gauged by the standards of the locality and period, and
he developed to the full his fine intellectul powers. He was graduated
in the University of Vermont, at Burlington, as a member of the class
of 1827, and he then took up the study of law, in the minutiae of which
he thoroughly informed himself, with characteristic zeal as a student.
He was admitted to the bar of his native state and there was engaged
in the practice of his profession until 1835, when he indulged the wander
lust to the extent of coming to the territory of Michigan and establish
ing his home in Detroit. Here he engaged in the work of his profes
sion and he soon gained distinctive prestige as -one of the most brilliant
advocates of the local bar. His parents likewise established their home
in Detroit in the territorial days, and his father, Warren Hill, became
one of the prominent and influential business men and representative
citizens of the city, where both parents passed the residue of their
lives. Rodney D. Hill built up a substantial law business and was one
of the prominent and valued members of the Michigan bar in the early
days of statehood. After a few years, however, he practically withdrew
from the work of his profession and turned his attention to other occu
pations, including the handling and improving of local real estate, the
while he was an influential factor in public affairs in the city and
state. In politics Mr. Hill was a stalwart supporter of the cause of the
Democratic party, but he never sought or held public office. Both he
and his wife were devout communicants of the Protestant Episcopal
church and were prominently identified with the work of the parish
of Christ Church, in which they held membership until their death.
Mr. Hill was a man of fine mind and large soul, tolerant in his judg-

^<^<^--^3t

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HISTORY OF DETROIT 1027
ment and ever ready to aid those "in any ways afflicted, or distressed,
in mind, body or estate." His private charities and benevolences were
extended with kindliness and entire lack of ostentation and he was in
deed one of those noble spirits who would "do good by stealth and
blush to find it fame." He "remembered those who were forgotten,"
and many a poor family had cause to bless him for generous aid. He
ordered his, life on the highest plane of integrity and honor and gave to
the service of the world the powers of broad intellectuality and inviol
able integrity, so that he left the heritage of a good name, — to be valued
above all others.
Mr. Hill was united in marriage to Miss Mary Baldwin Bacon, daugh
ter of Dr. Alvan Bacon, of Scarborough, Maine, who was born July 6,
1808, and whose death occurred in 1889. He himself attained to the
age of sixty -one years and six months and was summoned to eternal rest
on the 6th of January, 1867, secure in the lasting regard of all who
had come within the sphere of his gracious influence. His cherished
and devoted wife was a woman of most attractive personality and her
memory is revered in the city that was so long her home and in whose
social circles she was a popular figure. Mr. and Mrs. Hill became the
parents of two children, — George B., of whom more specific mention
is made in later paragraphs, and Miss Sarah Bacon Hill, who still re
sides in the beautiful old homestead erected by her father many years
ago, at 605 Jefferson avenue. His father, Warren Hill, erected, in
1845, a four-story brick business block on Woodward avenue, between
Fort and Congress streets, and the same was for many years one of
the most imposing business structures in the city.
George Bacon Hill, the only, son of Rodney D. Hill, was born in De
troit, on the 24th of July, 1842, and here he passed his entire life, his
death having occurred on the 17th of May, 1894, and his remains being
laid to rest in beautiful Elmwood cemetery, beside those of his hon
ored parents. He received excellent educational advantages and be
came one of the essentially representative business men of his native
city, where he admirably upheld the prestige and honors of the family
name. He was the founder of the Michigan Bolt & Nut Works, whose
plant was established in the suburb of Hamtramck, and he was the
president and principal stockholder of this important industrial cor
poration at the time of his death, besides which he was an interested
principal in other leading enterprises in his home city, where he ever
commanded secure place in popular confidence and esteem. He twice
served as president of the Detroit Boat Club and was identified with
other representative social organizations. In politics he was aligned as
a staunch supporter of the principles of the Democratic party and, like
his parents and his only sister, he held earnestly to the faith of the
Protestant Episcopal church, in which he was a prominent and zealous
member of the parish of Christ Church. From a tribute paid in a
local paper at the time of the death of Mr. Hill are taken, with slight
paraphrase, the following extracts:
"Mr. Hill was born and reared in Detroit and he always cherished
a sincere and enthusiastic attachment for his native city. Here he
lived and pursued a very active and successful business career until
impaired health compelled him to retire. He had a rare faculty for
business and added to this a persistent and unyielding determination in
the prosecution of all undertakings. Such qualities could not fail of
success. He was a most genial and loyal companion and friend and
endeared himself to all of his large circle of acquaintances. In his
church relations he was a most useful and generous Christian gentle
man, and as a citizen he was conscientious and public-spirited. In all

1028 HISTORY OF DETROIT
his dealings with his fellow men he was a man of high honor and in
tegrity. He was domestic in his tastes and loved and enjoyed his home
and the society of those near and dear to him. He was an affectionate
and helpful son, and a most loving and devoted brother. To take from
life a man of so many noble attractions and lovable qualities of mind
and heart as Mr. Hill possessed is not 'only a sad and irreparable pri
vate bereavement but also a public loss. ' '
The Cobb Family. -Of so distinctive interest and historical value
are the data given in an article written by the late Friend Palmer,
long an honored citizen of Detroit, that the same are worthy of per
petuation in more enduring form than the unstable medium of the
newspaper in which they originally appeared, under the title of ' ' Earlier
Days in Detroit," and thus the article is reproduced, with certain eli
minations and other changes in this volume. The record touches es
pecially the life histories of Dr. Hosea Cobb and his son, Dr. Lucretius
H. Cobb, honored factors in the social and professional activities of
Detroit in the early days and citizens whose names merit recognition in
this history of Detroit. Owing to the changes made in context, formal
quotation of the same is not imperative in this connection.
Dr. Hosea P. Cobb, who built and lived so long in- the second house
still standing next this side of the flat on the southwest corner of Jef
ferson avenue and Riopelle street, was a well known physician here.
He was born in Woodstock, Vermont, in 1796, and in that state was
solemnized his marriage to a daughter of Warren Hill and sister of
Rodney D. and Bristol Hill, all of whom came to Detroit before the
admission of Michigan to the Union. Mrs. Cobb died after a brief
married life and left one son, Lucretius H. Dr. Cobb then removed to
Detroit with his father-in-law and the other members of the Hill family
and here established himself in the practice of his profession, in which
he was successful. He was, Jiowever, unsuccessful in a venture in the
drug business, in which he asosciated himself with C. W. Wickware.
Their store was next below the offices of the Cincinnati, Hamilton &
Dayton Railroad, at the corner of Jefferson and Woodward avenues.
Mr. Wickware was quite a prominent citizen here in the early days.
He held many offices of trust besides the business association with Dr.
Cobb. He married the sister of Mr. Townsend, of the firm of Martin &
Townsend. When Dr. Cobb first came to Detroit he had his office in the corner
building on the southwest corner of Jefferson avenue and Bates street,
and later he occupied quarters in the wooden addition to the American
Hotel (the Biddle House in later years), where he and his son boarded:
They remained in this hotel until the great fire of 1848, which swept
the building and its surroundings away. After this disaster the Doctor
established his office in his new dwelling, on Jefferson avenue, which
was fortunately completed about that time. He and his son kept bach
elor's hall in the new residence for a brief period, until the advent of
the second Mrs. Cobb. The latter was a charming lady and a great
acquisition to the social side of Detroit. Along in 1845 Lucretius Cobb,
who had studied medicine with his father, attended a medical college
in Cleveland, Ohio, and after the usual time had elapsed he secured
his "sheepskin" and returned home a full-fledged doctor of medicine.
He was successful and built up a large practice, but he was not in love
with his profession to any great extent and sighed for other paths to
fame and fortune. He and William B. Wesson were engaged quite
extensively in real- estate and building operations and must have made
considerable money. After a while the Doctor associated himself with

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HISTORY OF DETROIT 1029
Freeman Norvell, H. N. Walker and others in the Spur Mountain iron
mine, in the Lake Superior district. The venture at the outset was
successful and gave great promise for results in the near future. I
know that at one time Norvell himself and the others could have sold
their interests at a large advance on cost. They waited too long, how
ever; the ore began to give out, disaster overtook them and the mine
was abandoned. Dr. Cobb spent about two years at the mine oversee
ing it, etc. While in charge there one winter he entertained the Michi
gan legislature, on their Lake Superior trip, with lavish hospitality.
After quitting the Lake Superior district Dr. Cobb returned to De
troit and took charge of the Hargreaves Manufacturing Company. Mr.
Hargreaves, the original head of the concern, had resigned and its
affairs were found to be in a terrible muddle, financial and otherwise.
After a brief period the Doctor brought order out of the chaos, put
the concern on a satisfactory basis, and at the time of his death it was
in a flourishing condition.
Dr. Lucretius Cobb died May 4, 1879, and on the day of the funeral
the entire force of the manufacturing establishment just mentioned, a
very large number, attended the funeral in a body, besides the fire de
partment and a host of personal friends, making an imposing spectacle.
He made a gallant fight for life, as he had not arrived anywhere near
the "sear and yellow leaf," but was in the full strength of intellect
and manhood. The locomotor ataxia, the result of the rupture of a
nerve by an accident, clung to him with unrelenting tenacity until he
was forced to succumb.
Dr. Cobb joined the fire department on the 13th of August, 1842, and
ran with Engine Company No. 2. He was one among the younger
members of the department who was full of the fire of youth, daring
and courageous. He was a leading member of the old fire department,
of which he was chief engineer in 1850-51 and of which he was presi
dent from 1864 to 1866. He was one of the first commissioners of the
paid fire department, having been' appointed in 1867, just after its or
ganization and having served in that capacity until his death, in 1879.
He also served for some time as^county physician and in 1858-9 he was
school inspector for the old Seventh ward.
From his advent here as a youth until his demise Dr. Cobb was a
conspicuous figure in the leading social activities of the city. In that
gay Fort street circle of femininity he was most welcome and with the
rest of the younger set of masculines disputed the supremacy of their
elders, who sought to push them to one side. He was always in favor
with the fair daughters of Detroit and could easily have had his choice
from among them, yet he never married. It is useless to conjecture why,
yet I am satisfied he passed away heartwhole. In the giddy whirl that
dominated society here in the early days, from 1838 to about 1851 (and
it seems to me it has never been repeated) Dr. Cobb was ever a promi
nent figure and always on hand, never needing a second call. From al
most the day he came here with his father, to establish a permanent
home, until his death, the closest relations existed between the writer
and himself, and never a shadow clouded our friendship.
, The father, Dr. Hosea P. Cobb, just after, he was admitted to prac
tice and prior to his marriage, was invited by an invalid friend to
accompany him to Europe, in the capacity of companion and medical
advisor. They traveled quite extensively in the British dominion and
on the continent, and this was at a time when American tourists abroad
were very few. The Doctor and his friends spent much time in Rome
and the Doctor brought back many souvenirs from "the eternal city,"
particularly engravings of some of its most prominent structures, —

1030 HISTORY OF DETROIT
the Coliseum, Pantheon, Castle of St. Angelo, etc. He would often
grow enthusiastic in dilating on the wonders of this ancient city, as
well as those of other historic places he had visited.
Charles Herbert Ellis. Few men have left greater imprint upon
the history of the state and the metropolis of Michigan than did the
late Charles H. Ellis, an eminent civil engineer and railroad builder.
His achievements have been perpetuated, having both assisted in the
development of the state and added materially to the prosperity of the
city. He was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where his parents
John Ellis, a manufacturer of bobbins and other cotton and woolen
mill necessities, and Amy A. Ellis, were residents. In the high school of
Woonsocket he was prepared for his more advanced education and was
graduated from Tufts College in 1863. He then entered upon his
work as civil engineer in railroad survey and construction, his first em
ployment being that of assistant engineer on the Boston, Hartford and
Erie Railroad from Waterbury west through Southford, Sandy Hook,
Danbury and Hawleyville, Connecticut, under the direction of A. R.
Field. In August, 1865, locating at Montague, Massachusetts, he en
gaged as assistant engineer in the construction of a railroad from Am
herst to Grouts Corners, now Millers Falls. This position he held until
1867, when he became resident engineer of the eastern end of the Hoosac
Tunnel, which was then in course of construction. He directed this
work until the appropriation which had been made for it was exhausted
and the building was necessarily stopped. Mr. Ellis then went as chief
engineer to conduct the work on the Ware River Railroad from Palmer
to Gilbertsville, remaining in charge until the construction was com
pleted. In 1871 he removed to Aurora, New York, from which point he
supervised the building of the Cayuga Lake Railroad — now a branch of
the New York Central — then being placed along the east shore of that
lake. In 1874 Mr. Ellis came to Detroit, which was his home throughout
the rest of his busy and widely effective life. His first work here was
that of city and county surveying. Some of the maps then made by
him, as one feature of his practical activity, were used in Silas Farmer's
History of Detroit. Railroad engineering again required his skill in
1877, when for James F. Joy, the well-known pioneer railroad man,
Mr. Ellis began the survey for the Detroit and Bay City Railroad. The
division in charge of Mr. Ellis was that extending from Vassar to East
Saginaw, Michigan, this road, together with the terminal at the latter
place, being finished in 1879. In that same year he made a survey of
the Wabash Railroad from Detroit to Toledo, also acting as chief en
gineer on the Carrolton Valley Railroad, which position he relinquished
because of other important business. He was during this year engaged
by Messrs. Joy, Buhl, Sheldon and others to make a survey from Detroit
to Butler, Indiana. This task he had satisfactorily accomplished and
had made his report for the same by December 3, 1879. In 1880 he was
engaged as chief engineer for the surveying and construction of the
Detroit, Butler and St. Louis Railroad. Starting the location of the line
on April 12 of that year, he made a contract June 21 with General Case
ment for the building of the road, which was actively begun three days
later. On July 21 of the following year it was completed, Mr. Ellis'
services being retained until October of that year, 1881.
The next professional interests of Mr. Ellis lay to the westward. In
November of 1881 he started to drive over the country from Mont-
pelier to Chicago. He covered the territory and made reports as to the
feasibility of building extensions and new lines of railway from Detroit

^Z^ j?&r s?^

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1031
to what is now the greatest city of the middle west. His reports were
accepted and the work of building the road now known as the Wabash
was begun. Mr. Ellis' next undertaking was his commission from
Russell A. Alger, James F. Joy and others to examine the route from Bay
City to Alpena.
On May 28, 1881, he began the surveys for the ' ' Union Railway Depot
Company," extending from Twelfth to Eighteenth street and the Tran
sit Railroad survey from Dearborn road to Twelfth street. On Decem
ber 12 of the same year he began supervising the driving of piles for the
elevator. This large contract was completed May 1, 1883. During
March and April of that year he also made a survey for the Grand
Trunk Railway Company from South Lyons to Royal Oak; in the same
year, too, he was engaged on the proposed line to Chicago from Mont-
pelier — a line now comprised in the Wabash— and gave estimates as to
the cost of construction. In 1885 he surveyed for an extension of the De
troit, Bay City and Alpena Railroad, from Ausable to Black River. In
1886 he had charge of the rebuilding of a bridge for the Detroit, Bay
City and Alpena, and also of an extension of that road.
During the year 1887 Mr. Ellis made two trips west of the Rockies,
investigating some placer mines and locating a ditch along the Salmon
River. Upon his return to Detroit he was placed in charge of the pre
liminary work for the new Union Depot at Fort and Third streets. As
chief engineer, he conducted this work from August 24, 1889, to Feb
ruary 1, 1893, which included the construction of the viaduct from
Twelfth street to Third street. During that period he also — from May
20, 1890, to January 15, 1891, — surveyed and located the Chicago ex
tension of the Wabash road. From September 1 to November 15, 1893,
he superintended the erection of the trainsheds at the Union Depot.
This was Mr. Ellis' last active work.
In 1867 Charles Herbert Ellis was married to Miss Jennie L. Bangs.
Ten years later she died, leaving a son, Charles William, who grew to
maturity, wag graduated from the engineering department of the Uni
versity of Michigan and is now a resident of Los Angeles, California.
In December of 1879 Mr. Ellis was married to Miss Mary E. Cram.
Their eldest son, Herbert Cram, is a graduate of Tufts College and a civil
engineer, now living at White Plains, New York, where he is connected
with the New York Water Supply Board; Roy Arthur, the second son,
claims the same alma mater as his father and brother, and is now with
the Edison Company at Detroit; Amy Elizabeth is a student at Smith
College. Mr. Ellis was, in spite of the breadth of his professional operations,
distinctly a citizen of Detroit. Not only was he at one time city engineer
of Detroit, but he held continuous non-professional affiliations here. He
was a member of the Detroit Club and also of the Chamber of Commerce
in this city. When his death came so suddenly, from apoplexy, on No
vember 30, 1894, sincerely high estimates of his character and profes
sional superiority were expressed by voice and pen. None was more
significant than that of James F. Joy, Detroit's "grand old man," who
said :
' ' He was a careful man, a good engineer, and one of his great merits
was that his estimates always covered the cost of work which he did. He
was an upright and conscientious man, and a faithful and capable
engineer. ' '
Harry G. Bevington, M. D. One of the representative exponents
of the admirable Homeopathic school of medicine in Detroit is Dr.

1032 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Bevmgton, who here controls an excellent private practice, and who is
also junior* attending physician on the staff of Grace Hospital.
Dr. Harry Graves Bevington claims the fine old Buckeye state as the
place of his nativity and in the agnatic line he is a scion of one of the
old and honored pioneer families of that commonwealth. He was born
at Ashtabula, Ohio, the judicial center of the county of the same name,
• and the date of his nativity was March 7, 1877*. He is a son of William
Henry and Alice W. (Graves) Bevington, the former of whom was
born at Alliance, Stark county, Ohio, and the latter in the historic old
city of Richmond, Virginia, the Graves family having been founded in
the Old Dominion in the early period of its history. William H. Bev
ington was one of the first conductors of the Pennsylvania Railroad
running into Ashtabula, Ohio, in which city he now resides. The mother
died in 1909.
In the excellent public school's of his native city Dr. Bevington
gained his early educational discipline, which included the curriculum
of the high school. In preparation for his chosen profession he entered
the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College, in Cleveland, Ohio, one of
the leading institutions of Homeopathy in the Union, and in the same
he was graduated as a member of the class of 1898, with the well earned
degree of Doctor of Medicine. In 1898 he came to Detroit, and for two
years thereafter he served as house physician of Grace Hospital, a posi
tion which afforded him the most valuable clinical experience and thus
more fully fortified him for the general work of his profession, in which
he has been engaged, with success since 1900, the while, as already stated,
he still continues on the staff of physicians of Grace Hospital. The Doc
tor is a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy, the Michigan
Homeopathic Medical Society, and the Detroit Homeopathic Practi
tioners' Club. He is state examiner for the Royal Arcanum, with which
fraternal order he is affiliated, and he also holds membership in the De
troit lodge of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, and in the
Mendelssohn Society, one of the leading musical organizations of the
- city. He takes a lively interest in all that tends to advance the welfare of
his home city, and while having neither time nor inclination for political
activities he accords a staunch allegiance to the Republican party.
On the 1st of June, 1905, Dr. Bevington was united in marriage to
Miss Charlotte. M. Reaume, of Amherstburg, province of Ontario, Can
ada, and they have two children: William Henry and Margaret Alice.
John Gilmore Kirker, M. D., was born in Westmoreland county,
Pennsylvania, on the 11th of August, 1846. His father was George
Kirker and his mother was Mary (Gilmore) Kirker. His father was
born in Westmoreland county, in 1814, and his mother was also a native
of this county, being born here in 1824. The parents of Dr. Kirker
were highly respected members of this old Pennsylvanian community,
hi^s father being a successful farmer. They were both active members
of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Kirker was for many years an
elder in this church. He died in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, where he
had been living for a number of years, having given up his active agri
cultural life. He died in 1896 and his wife died in 1875.
Dr. Kirker was reared on his father's farm and attended the dis
trict school. He then entered the College of Pharmacy in Pittsburg,
from which he later graduated and, returning to Greensburg, opened a
drug store which he conducted successfully for some years. He then
determined to enter the medical profession and in 1886 began the study
of medicine, matriculating in the Medical College of Columbus, Ohio
After attending this institution for two years he came to Detroit, where

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1033
he entered the Detroit College of Medicine, from which he was graduat
ed in 1889 with the degree of M. D. He entered the practice of general
medicine and surgery in the city during this same year, locating on
the West side, on Fort street. Here he continued to practice very
successfully until October, 1911, when he sold his west side property
and bought a fine home on Bethune street, in North Woodward, to which
he moved, at the same time opening offices in the Detroit Opera House
Block down town. The change has proved to be wise by his increased
practice during the past year.
Professionally Dr. Kirke is a member of the Wayne County Medical
Society, the Michigan State Medical Society, and the American Medical
Association. Dr. Kirker has always been very active in the Presbyterian church,
of which he is a member. He was one of the organizers of the Emmanuel
Presbyterian church, on the West side, and was an elder of that con
gregation until his removal to North Woodward. Since that time he
has been a member of and an active worker in the Woodward Avenue
Presbyterian church.
Dr. Kirker has been twice married. His first wife was Louise Mc
Afee, of Greensburg, Pennsylvania. She was a daughter of the late
Honorable James R. McAfee, a well known lawyer and editor in Penn
sylvania, who at the time of his death was secretary of state of Penn
sylvania. Louise McAfee Kirke died in 1876, leaving three children.
Annette, the eldest of these, is now Mrs. Bert Long, of Ithaca, Mich
igan, and James Ross and George are her brothers. The Doctor's sec
ond marriage was to Miss Isabelle Richardson, a daughter of William
Richardson, of Detroit. To this marriage have been born three children :
Gilmore, Oswald and Isabella.
Martin John Schwanz, M. D., is well known in the medical and
social circles of the city of Detroit, and his reputation as a reliable
and trustworthy practitioner rests chiefly on his ability as a surgeon.
He is one of the younger members of the medical profession in the
city, and while he has only been practicing for eight years, he has suc-
seeded in building up a reputation that is based on the solid foundation
of real ability and skill, with a thorough medical training as the corner
stone. Although devoted heart and soul to his professional work Doctor
Schwanz also takes a deep interest in all the affairs of the country and
of the city in which he lives.
Martin John Schwanz was born on the 6th of September, 1871, in
Colburn, Huron county, Ontario, Canada. He was the son of the late
Martin John and Annie (Nie) Schwanz. The father, Martin John
Schwanz, was a native of Germany, who had come to Canada and settled
in the province of Ontario with his parents, he being at the time a lad
of twelve. When. he grew to manhood he took up the study of vet
erinary surgery, and became one of the well known veterinary surgeons
in Canada, and he later came to Michigan. Here he still maintained
his reputation up to his death, which occurred in Harper Hospital, De
troit, in March, 1912. The mother of Doctor Schwanz was born in
Chyahoga, Ontario, Canada, and was the daughter of William Nie.
She only survived her husband a few weeks, dying on the 14th of
April, 1912.
The boyhood days of Doctor Schwanz were spent in Saginaw, Mich
igan, for shortly after his birth his parents came into this country, and
his father located in this thriving lumbering town. Here he was sent
to the public schools and to the high school, and later attended the
Michigan State Normal School at Ypsilanti, Michigan. Then followed
three years of splendid training as a teacher in the rural schools of the
vol. m— is

1034 HISTORY OF DETROIT
state, for though the way of a country school teacher may he hard, yet
it offers the best of preparation for any profession or business that life
may offer. Perhaps there is no other form of training so conducive to
self -discipline, or one that teaches so thoroughly the old saying, "Know
thyself." He then entered the Detroit College of Medicine and was
graduated from this institution with the degree of M. D. in 1904. He
also during this period of study was a special student under the eminent
surgeon, the late H. 0. Walker, M. D.
Doctor Schwanz entered the general practice of medicine in Detroit
in 1904, but in 1906 he established the hospital at the corner of Fort
and Vinewood streets, which institution he incorporated under the
name of the Detroit General Hospital. He conducted this with increas
ing success, winning the praise of his associates through his ability
as a surgeon, and the admiration of business men for the way in which
the practical end of the hospital was managed. In 1909 he voluntarily
relinquished the above name of the institution, though in so doing he
sacrificed himself. This was done at the request of the promulgators
of the new Detroit General Hospital, since they were very desirous of
the name and could not use it because the hospital which Doctor Schwanz
had founded was incorporated. He cheerfully gave his consent, however,
willing to make the sacrifice for his profession, and from 1909 until
May, 1911, he conducted the hospital under the name of the Vinewood
General Hospital. Since this date he has been in private practice,
limiting his work to general surgery and to office work. While at the
head of the hospital he did considerable work in abdominal surgery, and
since retiring from the hospital work he has continued to specialize in
this very difficult branch and has become widely known for his skill
and success in this work, which takes the steadiest of nerves, the most
skillful of hands and the quickest of brains. The importance of his work
can scarcely be . overestimated, for- a large proportion of surgical cases
to-day are of this description, and some of the greatest advances in
modern surgery have been made along these lines.
Doctor Schwanz is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society,
of the Michigan State Medical Society, of the American Medical As
sociation and of the Mississippi Valley Association, as well as being an
honorary member of the Saginaw Valley Medical Society. In his
fraternal relations he is a member of the Order of Elks and of the
Knights of Pythias, and is also a member of the Y. M. C. A. His
fondness for the out-of-doors led him to become a member of the De
troit Automobile Club, and automobiling is more than a convenient
method of travel for him. He may be found during his office hours in
suite 404 in the Whitney Opera House Block.
Louis C. Baribault, M. D. There are definite branches in the science
of medicine and surgery which alone may challenge the entire thought
and attention of any one man for the entire period of his life, and thus
it is that practitioners of marked ability in general lines have seen fit
to direct their course to specialties, perfecting themselves in knowledge
pertinent thereto and the practical work implied. Among the practi
tioners in this class in Detroit may be mentioned Dr. Louis C. Baribault,
who, while one of the representative physicians of his section, has given
particular attention to special surgical cases, with such success as to give
him marked prestige among his confreres. Dr. Baribault was born
July 15, 1874, in New Haven, Connectieuit, and is a son of Jules and
Mary (Lanouette) Baribault, natives of the province of Quebec, Canada,
and children of native-born French parents of Normandy, France.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1035
Dr. Baribault was reared in New Haven, where he attended the
public schools. At the age of eleven years he entered a classical boarding
school in Three Rivers, province of Quebec, Canada, and he next entered
Montreal (Canada) Seminary, where he spent eight years, graduating
from that institution in 1897, with the degree of Bachelor of Sciences.
He next matriculated in medicine in Yale University, where he spent one
year, and then returned to Montreal, Canada, entering Leval University,
whefe he was graduated in 1901, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
During that year the Doctor entered practice in Lewiston, Maine, where
he was engaged in the practice of general surgery for eight years, most
of this time as surgeon to St. Mary's Hospital, of Lewiston, with which
institution he became connected at its completion and helped to build up
to be the leading hospital in that part of New England, and of which he
became secretary of the staff. During 1906 and 1907 Dr. Baribault
spent one year in the study of surgery in the University of Paris, France.
He continued in surgery in Lewiston, Maine, until 1910-11, which year
he spent in Paris, France, studying genito-urinal surgery. On his re
turn Dr. Baribault located in Detroit, and here he was soon acknowledged
to be a man well trained in his profession, possessed of skill, good judge
ment and ability, and as a consequence soon built up a lucrative practice,
having the .full confidence of both the profession and the laity. He is
now well known throughout the state, having successfully performed
some of the most difficult operations known to his branch of surgery.
When Dr. Baribault left Lewiston, Maine, he was vice-president of
the County Medical Scrciety, and he is now a member of the Wayne
County Medical Society, 'the. Michigan State Medical Society and the
American Medical Association, and takes great interest in the work
of all these organizations. Fraternally he is a popular member of the
Knights of Columbus, the St. John the Baptist Society, the Order of
Moose, the Woodmen and the Knights of the Maccabees. He and his
family belong to St. Joachim's Roman Catholic church.
Dr. Baribault was married to Miss Ida Campbell, who was born
in Lewiston, Maine, daughter of John Campbell, and she died in 1909,
leaving the following children: Louis, Mary and Claire. His second
marriage was to Miss Fabiola Beaudet of Victoriaville, Canada.
Harry D. Trask, M. D., D. O. One of the well known of the younger
medical practitioners of Detroit, Harry D. Trask, who has offices in
suite No. 603, Scherer Building, and a residence at No. 146 Philadelphia
avenue, West, was born on a farm in Putman county, Ohio, April 27,
1879, a son of John and Rachel (Kidd) Trask, natives, respectively, of
New England and Ohio. John Trask went from New England to the
"Western Reserve" section of Ohio when he was a young man, settling
first in Trumbull county, and going next to Putman county, where he
engaged in farming and fine stock raising, being extensively interested
in the breeding of fine-blooded horses. He was the owner of several fine
stallions which he imported from Europe and throughout his life was an
acknowledged judge of horse-flesh. His death oceured in 1893, at the
age of fifty-seven years, his widow still surviving and residing on the
old homestead in Ohio.
. Harry D. Trask obtained his preliminary education in the common
and high schools of Ohio, and following this had a three-year course in
college. He then took up Osteopathy, graduating from Still College of
Osteopathy in 1902, and then practiced that branch of medicine for two
years in New York. In 19P4 he entered the Michigan College of Medi
cine and Surgery, of Detroit, which college went out of existence, how
ever, before he completed the full course. He next entered the Detroit

1036 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Homeopathic College of Medicine, where he was graduated with the
degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1907, and in that year entered upon the
practice of his profession in Detroit, where he has since met with mark
ed success. He has won the complete confidence of the people of his
community, not only as an able physician but as a public spirited citi
zen who has the welfare of his city at heart. Knowing that the science
of medicine is a progressive one, he is a zealous student of its literature
and takes active interest in the organizations designed to promote its
advancement. He is a member of the Detroit Practitioners Society, and
of the City of the Straits Lodge, F. & A. M., and has attained 'to the
Knight Templar and Mystic Shrine degrees.
Tobias Sigel, M. D., one of the well known physicians in the city
of Detroit, came to this country alone, a poor orphan boy, but even in
early youth he felt instinctively drawn toward the profession which he
has since made his own. Had he not been a lad of firm character, with
a nature that knew not discouragement, he would never have reached
his goal, for his obstacles were many.
In the old state of Wurtemberg, in southern Germany, on the 14th
of May, 1862, Tobias Sigel was born. He was the . son of Jacob and
Rosine (Wegenast) Sigel, and both of his parents died when he was
a small boy not yet in his teens. Having nothing to keep him in Ger
many, he determined to seek his fortune in the new world and sailed for
America, landing in New York City on the 10th of February, 1879. A
stranger in a new country, he scarcely knew where to turn, but wishing
to get away from the rush and roar of the big city he crossed the river
and went to Newark, New Jersey. There he found employment, and
spent six and a half years. The ambition of the lad and his determina
tion to rise in the world is shown by the fact that during this time he
was a regular attendent at the Cooper Institute in New York City. In
1885 he came west and located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and there
attended a normal school known as the North American Gymnastic
Union Seminary. He spent a year in this school and then came to De
troit, where he became director of physical culture for the Detroit Turn-
verein and at last was enabled to take up his medical studies, which
he did as a student in the Detroit College of Medicine. He was gradu
ated from this institution on the 24th of March, 1889, with the degree
of M. D. and during this same year he entered the general practice of
medicine in this city. His success was not long in coming to him, for
he was not only an able practitioner, but he also possessed the sympa
thetic instinct and calm self-confident manner that means so much to
a physician. Doctor Sigel has many connections with fraternal organizations of
various kinds. He is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society,
of the Michigan State Medical Society and of the American Medical
Association. He also belongs to the Great Lake's Arbitration Society,
and holds membership in many other societies and fraternities, the
principal one of which in The Detroit Esperanto Society, Member of
the Esperantists of the World and their "Deligito" of Detroit.
The marriage of Doctor Sigel to Miss Ella Dreyer took place on
the 10th of March, 1889. She was a native of Germany and the daughter
of Mr. William Dreyer. The Doctor and his wife are the parents of
three children. The eldest, Paul, was born in 1889, and is now a student
in the Detroit College of Medicine, being a member of .the class of 1913.
Edna, who was born in 1892, is a graduate of the Detroit Central high
school. Otto, the youngest, born in 1896, is at present a student in the

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1037
Detroit Central high school. The family residence is at 2916 North
Grand Boulevard and the Doctor has his offices in the Breitmeyer
building. Francis Xavier Zinger, M. D. Among the younger members of the
medical fraternity of Detroit, Doctor Francis Xavier Zinger holds an
enviable position. He has only been in practice in the city for five years,
but in this time has built up a reputation for thorough and careful work.
He is blessed with a sympathetic nature, and a cool head which gives him
the self confidence so necessary to younger physicians. He has not only
spent all of his active professional career in this city, but also studied
here and held an interneship in one of the Detroit hospitals, so he is
bound to the city by all the ties save those of birth. He is conse
quently deeply interested in all that concerns the welfare of his fellow
citizens, though the demands of his practice prevent his entering actively
into either the business or the political world.
On the 23rd of April, 1883, Francis Xavier Zinger was born in
Teeswater, Bruce county, province of Ontario, Canada, being the town
of his birth. He is the son of William Zinger and Pauline (Batte)
Zinger, both of whom are natives of Ontario, though of different counties,
the father having been born in Waterloo county, and the mother being
a native of Bruce county. The paternal grandfather of Dr. Zinger was
Alois Zinger, who was a native of Germany and who came to Canada
when Ontario, where he settled, was young. Here he followed farming
as his vocation, and was a person of importance in these early days.
His son William has been engaged in the hotel business for many years,
at present being the owner of a hotel at Berlin, in Waterloo county,
Ontario. He was born in 1844 and his wife was born in 1850, both of
them being devout members of the Roman Catholic church. The ma
ternal grandfather of the Doctor was Henry Batte, a native of France,
who came to this country and settled near the present site of Rochester,
New York, when the Five Nations were still familiar with this part of
the country. He later moved to Ontario, where he was also a pioneer.
He located in Bruce county, and the quiet life of a farmer must have
seemed strange to him, for he was bred to the seas and was a salt sea
sailor. The boyhood days of Doctor Zinger were spent in Teeswater and
Exeter, Ontario, and in Detroit, Michigan. He came to the latter city
when a lad of thirteen, and has lived here ever since save for a short
time when he was in school at St. Jerome's College in Berlin, Ontario.
Previous to this he had received some education in the public and high
schools of his native county. At the age of twenty, in 1903, he took up
the study of medicine, matriculating as a student in the Detroit College
of Medicine, and in 1907 he received the degree of M. D. from that insti
tution, which has graduated so many of the best physicians and surgeons
in Detroit. During his senior year he received the practical experience
so necessary to a professional man of any description, through his in
terneship in Grace Hospital in this city.
He entered the general practice of medicine in the neighborhood
where he is now located in 1907, and in 1911 he built his handsome resi
dence at 423 Humboldt avenue, where he now lives and where he main
tains his offices. His success has been spoken of and it only remains to
prophesy a brilliant future for the young doctor, which his fellow prac
titioners agree will surely be his if he continues to devote himself so
whole-heartedly to his work, and to spare neither himself nor his time in
the attempt to alleviate the suffering which he faces daily.

1038 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Doctor Zinger is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society
and of the Michigan State Medical Society. He is a firm believer in the
great good to be derived from fraternal organizations and is a member of
the Royal Arcanum and of the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association.
Both the Doctor and his wife are communicants of Saint Leo's Roman
Catholic church.
On the 24th of May, 1909, Doctor Zinger was married to Josephine
Marie Parent, of Grosse Isle, Michigan, the daughter of Charles F.
Parent, who was a native of France. Two children have been born to
Dr. and Mrs. Zinger. Geraldine Marie is two and a half years old and
Ailene Winnifred, who is a year old, is the baby.
Dr. Leo H. Herbert. Among the many foreigners who come to our
shores we often find men of brilliant attainments, splendidly educated,
and we welcome such with open arms, for they can help us as can no
'others to find the best way of assimilating this immense foreign popula
tion that is crowding our great cities. Such a man is Doctor Leo H.
Herbert, though in his case he is welcomed on his own account as well as
for the good he may do for humanity. Although he has only been in this
country for nine years, no one could be more interested in its future,
or more eager to lend a helping hand towards its growth and develop
ment. . He has many of the qualities of the research man, he does care
ful, scientific work, is a close observer, letting no detail, however minute,
sli]S past his eye, and he has cultivated unlimited patience. He has
spent considerable time in study and experiment, and is one of the best
examples of the foreign schools, having in his short residence in Detroit
won the regard of all with whom he has been brought in contact.
Doctor Herbert was born in Austria-Hungary, on the 20th of Jan
uary, 1864. He is the son of Herman Herbert, who for many years
had been a well-known and prosperous business man in Vienna, Austria.
His home life was spent amid the refined surroundings of a cultivated
family of the Austrian upper-class, and thus early in life were instilled
into him that love and admiration for all that is fine and noble. His edu
cation was begun in the schools of Vienna, where he was graduated from
high school of the city. He then entered the medical department of the
University of Vienna, from which he graduated in 1887. His first prac-
practical work in his profession was as a member of the medical corps of
the Army of Austria-Hungary. He served in the corps with the rank of
captain surgeon until 1891. He then resigned from the army, but took
a similar position with the reserve corps. At this time he also entered
the field of private practice, and with such fine preparation both in the
way of practical experience and in theoretical knowledge, he was quite
successful. Feeling the necessity of keeping in touch with the im
provements in his profession, he returned to the University of Vienna
for a year of post-graduate work, and finally decided to take the step
that he had been contemplating for some time, that is, to go to America.
It was in 1903 that he finally bade good-by to his native land and
sailed for the United States. He first came to Indianapolis, and spent
three years in this city, winning a good sized practice before he left there
in 1906. It took considerable courage for a man to give up an es
tablished position and come to a strange country, where he not only
would have to contend with new conditions, and a different people, but
also with the fact that he was not of the blood of the people among whom
he was to live. How much greater is his success, therefore, than is that
of men who have had none of these things to fight against. It it plain
proof that he is of unusual ability and worth. He came to Detroit in
1906, and opened his offices in Delray station, in the Peninsular State

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1039
Bank Building, at 2225 Jefferson avenue, West. He has been here ever
since, in the general practice of medicine.
He is in close sympathy with the efforts of his brother physicians,
and is an enthusiastic member of the associations which tend to destroy
that rivalry that is harmful to good results. He belongs to the Wayne
County Medical Association, to the Michigan State Medical Society, and
to the American Medical Association. He is also a member of the Ma
sonic order, being affiliated with Palestine Lodge.
Doctor Herbert was married in June, 1892, to Eugenia Fechtdegen,
the daughter of a prominent lawyer of Austria. She and Doctor Her
bert are the parents of two sons, Julius and Victor. Both of these boys
are graduates of the Western high school of Detroit, and the eldest is at
present a student at the University of Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the lit
erary and law department, class of 1913.
Frederick N. Blanchard, M. D. Born in Deseronto, Ontario, Can
ada, on the 15th of December, 1878, Dr. Frederick Norton Blanchard is
another of the able physicians and progressive citizens contributed to
Detroit by that favored province, and in the Michigan metropolis he
has gained high professional standing and definite success. The Doc
tor is a son of Charles Norton Blanchard and Octavia (Wiekham)
Blanchard, the former of staunch French lineage and the latter of Eng
lish extraction. Harrison H. Wiekham, maternal grandfather of the
Doctor, was an American soldier in the War of 1812, in which he served
in the historic Niagara valley campaign, with the rank of major. The
maiden name of his wife was Tyler, and she was a member of the well-
known English family of that name.
Charles Norton Blanchard was born in the state of New York and
his wife, in Michigan, where her parents established their home in the
early pioneer epoch. Charles N. Blanchard was long prominently iden
tified with the lumber industry, with residence and business headquar
ters in Binghamton, New York, and in connection with this line of enter
prise he and his wife were temporarily sojourning in Canada at the time
of the birth of their son Frederick N., whose name initiates this review.
In 1881 the family home was established at Lansing, capital of the state
of Michigan, and the father continued to be actively concerned with lum
bering enterprises, in which he operated mills at Lansing, Ionia and Big
Rapids. In a mill accident he met his death, in 1885, and his widow,
Mrs. M. J. Manning, is now living in Detroit.
To the public schools of Michigan and the province of Ontario,
Canada, Dr. Blanchard is indebted for his early educational advantages,
and in 1895 he was graduated in the Windsor Collegiate Institute, at
Windsor, Ontario, just across the river from Detroit. In the same year
he came to Detroit, where he was engaged in the insurance business for
the ensuing four years. He then entered the Detroit College of Medi
cine, Of whose excellent advantages he availed himself with the utmost
earnestness and ambition, and in 1903 he was graduated with the cov
eted degree of Doctor of Medicine. He has since continued in active
general practice in Detroit, where his success has been on a parity with
his close application and unequivocal loyalty to his profession, and he is
also a valued factor in connection with the educational work of his pro
fession, — as lecturer on and demonstrator of anatomy in the Detroit Col
lege of Medicine. Availing himself of all means tending to further his
technical knowledge and efficiency, the Doctor is a close student of the
best and most advanced literature of his profession and holds member
ship in the American Medical Association, the Michigan State Medical
Society and the Wayne County Medical Society. In politics he is found

1040 HISTORY OF DETROIT
aligned as a stalwart in the camp of the Republican party, but he has
had no predilection for the activities of so-called practical politics. He
is affiliated with City of the Straits Lodge, No. 452, Free & Accepted
Masons, also with the Detroit Motor Boat Club, and both he and his wife
are members of the Fort Street Congregational church.
On the 10th of April, 1907, Dr. Blanchard was united in marriage to
one of Detroit's fair and popular daughters, Miss Alice E. Osgood,
who was born and reared in this city and who is a daughter of David
H. Osgood, a representative citizen and business man of the Michigan
metropolis. Dr. and Mrs. Blanchard have a winsome little daughter,
Alice. George Henry Scriber, M. D., one of the successful members of the
medical profession, whose field of practice for the past five years has
been the city of Detroit, was bom November 6, 1869, at Petersburg, Mich
igan, and is a son of George W. and Ellen (Seaman) Scriber, natives of
New York state.
The great-grandfather of Dr. Scriber was a soldier during the Rev
olutionary war, fighting in the ranks of the Colonial army under General
George Washington, but the hardships of that struggle did not seem to
have broken his health, as he/ lived to reach the remarkable age of 114
years. The Scriber family was founded in Michigan by George W.
Scriber, father of Dr. Scriber, who is still living, in his eighty-sixth
year, and makes his home in Detroit, in which city the Doctor's
mother died in 1905.
The early education of George Henry Scriber was secured in the
public and high schools of his native place, and after leaving the latter
he took up the study of medicine. After some preparatory work he en
tered the Michigan College of Medicine and Surgery, Detroit, and in
1891 was graduated therefrom with the degree of M. D. For two years
following his graduation he had charge of the Emergency Hospital, but
eventually resigned his position to enter upon a private practice at
Monroe, in the state of Washington, where he continued his labors five
years. Since his return to Detroit, in 1897, Dr. Scriber has met with
pleasing success, and he now has a representative practice in this city,
his thorough equipment as a physician and surgeon soon gaining him a
pleasant reputation. He is a member of numerous professional organi
zations, such as the Wayne County Medical Society, the Michigan State
Medical Society and the American Medical Association. In all of these
bodies Dr. Scriber maintains an active interest, and through them and
assiduous study and personal investigation he keeps in touch with the
highest professional thought of the day. A thorough master of his pro
fession, he has made a number of contributions to leading medical jour
nals on pertinent subjects.
Dr. Scriber was married to Miss Clara Garretson, who was born in
Detroit, the daughter of Albert T. Garretson, a well-known resident of
this city and a veteran of the Civil war, in which he served as a member
of an Ohio regiment. Dr. and Mrs. Scriber have had one son : David A.
Mrs. Scriber also comes of distinguished ancestry, her grandfather, a
well-known inventor of his day, securing the patent for the first nail
machine made in the United States. The letters patent, signed by
President Washington, are still in the possession of the family.
Walter Porter Manton, M. D., is one of the able representatives
of medicine and surgery in Detroit. He has been identified with the
profession here for more than a quarter century, in which time he has
attained a leadership among the physicians of the city.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1041
Born at Providence, Rhode Island, on the 3d of August, 1857, he is
a descendant of old New England stock. His original ancestor was a
contemporary of Roger Williams in the founding of Rhode Island
early in the seventeenth century. His father, Walter Bartlett Manton,
gave the supreme sacrifice for his country during the Civil war. He
was serving as quartermaster of the Third Rhode Island Heavy Artil
lery, and died while stationed at Hilton Head in South Carolina.
His preparatory education was in a private English and classical
school of Providence. Poor health during his youth interfered with con
tinued study, and he gave up college attendance and spent a year in
private study in Germany. In 1875, at the age of eighteen, he began to
study for his profession. In 1876 he entered Harvard Medical School,
from which he was graduated in the class of '81 with the degree of M.
D. During 1880-81 he served as house surgeon to the Free Hospital for
Women at Boston. From 1881 to 1884, in post-graduate study, he
worked under the instruction and in the clinics of some of the most
noted of the world's surgeons in Germany, Austria and England. In
1884 he was offered the chair of obstetrics and gynecology in the Amer
ican Medical College at Beirut, Syria, but declined in order to return
and take up private practice. He located at Detroit, and here his pri
vate practice is large, though he has not allowed it to absorb all his pro
fessional time, as he considers some of the larger phases of professional
work to have equal claims on his attention.
Dr. Manton was formerly professor of clinical gynecology and ob
stetrics in the Detroit College of Medicine. He is now gynecologist to
Harper Hospital and to the Eastern and Northern Michigan Asylums
for the Insane; consulting gynecologist to St. Joseph's Retreat; and
president of the medical board of the Woman's Hospital. His member
ship affiliation with professional organizations include the American
Medical Association, the American Gynecological Society, the Amer
ican Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Michigan State
Medical Society, the Michigan Academy of Sciences, the Detroit Acad
emy of Medicine, the Wayne County Medical Society and the Tri-State
Medical Society. He also holds membership in the following foreign
societies — being a fellow of the British Gynecological Society, the Zoolog
ical Society of London, and formerly of the Royal Microscopical Soci
ety of London. His social connections are with the Detroit Club, the
Detroit Boat Club and the Kinney Creek Association.
Dr. Manton has been an active contributor to the literature of his
profession. He is the author of "A Syllabus of Lectures on Human
Embryology;" "Helps to Natural History Series" (six manuals);
"Epitome of Obstetrics" (1903). For five years he was associate ed
itor of Sajou's Annual Universal Medical Sciences, and was at one time
editor of Harper Hospital Bulletin. He prepared chapters in Jewett's
Obstetrics and Peterson's Obstetrics, and is the author of many fugitive
articles of professional interest.
In 1879 Dr. Manton married Miss Clara M. Williamson, of Lake
City, Minnesota. They have two children: Dr. Walter W., who grad
uated from Harvard University in 1905 and is now practicing with his
father in Detroit, and Helen, a graduate of The Leggett School of De
troit. Andrew Porter Biddle, M. D. The Biddle name is one that has
been long and conspicuously identified with American history and in
each successive generation its representatives have been found confer
ring honor and dignity upon their several communities. Among the
distinguished members of this family is numbered Dr. Andrew Porter

1042 HISTORY OF DETROIT "
Biddle, a physician and surgeon of more than a quarter century's stand
ing, who has attained prestige by his marked ability and unwavering
devotion to his profession. He was born February 25, 1862, in Detroit,
Michigan, and is a son of the late William S. and Susan Dayton (Ogden)
Biddle. Major John Biddle, the grandfather of Dr. Andrew1 P. Biddle, was a
native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, born in March, 1792, the son of
Charles Biddle, vice-president of Pennsylvania during the Revolution
ary war, and the nephew of Commodore Nicholas Biddle, of the Revolu
tionary navy. Major John Biddle was graduated at Princeton College
and entered the United States army. During the War of 1812 he
served under General Winfield Scott on the Niagara frontier, being
attached for a time to that general's staff, and promoted from captain
of artillery to major. A brother, Major Thomas Biddle, served in the
United States army with the rank of major in the campaign of 1812,
while an elder brother, Commodore James Biddle, was a noted officer
of the United States navy at that period. At the close of the War of
1812 Major John Biddle was stationed at Detroit, but a few years later
resigned his commission and returned to the east. In 1819 he married
Eliza F. Bradish, of New York, and, returning to Detroit, made a per
manent settlement here and purchased large tracts of land. In 1823
he was appointed register of the United States land office for the_ dis
trict of Detroit and held the office until 1837, when he resigned. He
served by election as mayor of Detroit in 1827-29; was delegate from
Michigan to Congress in 1829-31; later he became a candidate for the
United States senate before the Michigan legislature, receiving a ma
jority of four votes in the senate, while John Norville received a major
ity of seven votes in the house thus defeating Major Biddle for the high
honor ; he served as president of the Michigan constitutional convention
in 1835, and in 1841 was elected to the state senate. He was president
of the original corporation which built the Michigan Railroad, and in
1835 became the first president of the St. Joseph (Michigan) branch of
the Farmers' and Merchants' Bank, in 1838 becoming president of the
bank itself in Detroit. His death occurred at White Sulphur Springs,
Virginia, August 25, 1859, following his return from a trip abroad.
William S. Biddle was born in Detroit, in 1830, and after graduation
from the Harvard Law school practiced his profession in New York
City for one year with his brother-in-law, Aaron Ogden, then returning
to Detroit. During the Civil war he aided the local government in
raising and drilling troops. In 1867 he removed to Grosse Isle, where he
lived the life of a gentleman of leisure until his death in 1912. Mr.
Biddle married Susan Dayton Ogden, who was born in 1831 and died in
Detroit in 1878. The children of William S. and Susan D. Biddle were
as follows: Susan Dayton, Eliza Bradish, Colonel John, Stratford
Bradish, Margaret Porter, Dr. Andrew Porter, Captain William S. and
Ann Eliza. Miss Susan Dayton is a talented musician and a prominent
member of the Daughters of the American Revolution; she resides in
Washington, D. C, at the home of her brother, Colonel John Biddle.
Miss Eliza Biddle married Rev. G. Mott Williams, D. D., who later be
came the first bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Marquette, and is still
serving in that high office. Colonel John Biddle was born in Detroit,
in 1859. His early education was acquired in Europe, and after one
year at the University of Michigan he entered West Point Military
Academy, from which he was graduated with the class of 1881. He
served in the Spanish-American war as chief of staff of the Eighth
Army Corps, seeing service with General Nelson A. Miles in Porto Rico,
and he is now colonel of engineers on the general staff of the United

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1043
States army at Washington, D. C. Stratford Bradish Biddle is a mine
drilling engineer who spent about ten years in South Africa, near Jo
hannesburg, and is now employed in mine drilling in the states of Ore
gon and Texas. He married Marguerite Heyerman, daughter of Com
mander 0. F. Heyerman, of the United States navy. Margaret Porter
Biddle married Benjamin Douglas, son of Judge Samuel T. Douglas,
of Detroit. Mr. Douglas, who was a prominent bridge engineer in the
employ of the Michigan Central Railway for twenty years, built the
tunnel for that company under the Detroit river. Andrew Porter
Biddle, M. D., (see sketch below), was the sixth child of his parents.
Captain William S. Biddle was born in Detroit, in 1863, and was grad
uated with the class of 1885 from the West Point Military Academy.
He served with distinction in the Spanish-American war and during
the campaign in the Philippines. Subsequently he served as United
States military attache at Berlin, Germany, for four years and then
resigned from the army. Ann Eliza married Alexander W. Copeland,
son of A. M. Copeland, who was at one time postmaster of Detroit; she
died in 1911.
Andrew Porter Biddle attended the public schools until 1872, and
in that year was sent abroad to further advance his studies in Geneva,
Switzerland. From 1874 to 1877 he attended public school in Heidel
berg, Germany, and in the latter year returned home and attended the
Detroit high school until 1880. In that year he entered the United
States Naval Academy at Annapolis, as a member of the class of 1884.
However, an affliction of the eyes caused him to resign from the naval
academy in 1882, and, returning to Detroit, he entered the Detroit
College of Medicine, from which he was graduated with the class of
1886, receiving the degree of M. D. During his senior college year and
the year subsequent to graduation he was resident physician to Harper
Hospital. In 1887 he entered general practice in Detroit, and in 1890
took special post-graduate work in dermatology in Leipzig, Germany.
He was appointed assistant to the chair of Dermatology in the Detroit
College of Medicine in 1892 and at present is professor of dermatology
in that college. He is consulting dermatologist to the Detroit board of
health, dermatologist and secretary to the medical board of St. Mary's
Hospital and dermatologist to the Children's Free Hospital and the
Woman's Hospital and Infant Home and consulting dermatologist to
the Protestant Orphan Asylum. Dr. Biddle is a valued member of the
American Dermatological Association, a former member of the Amer
ican Roentgen Ray Society, and a member of the American Medical
Association. He was general secretary of the Michigan State Medical
Society from 1900 to 1906 and editor of the journal of the society dur
ing that time. He is also a member of the Wayne County Medical So
ciety and a fellow of the Detroit Academy of Medicine. From 1893 to
1897 he was a member of the board of the United States pension examin
ing surgeons during President Cleveland's second administration. He
served for many years in the medical department 6f the Michigan
National Guard, and at the beginning of the Spanish- American war was
appointed by Governor Hazen S. Pingree as major and surgeon of the
Thirty-first Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, serving with that
regiment during the war.
On October 20, 1892, Dr. Biddle was married at Boston, Massachu
setts, to Miss Grace Wilkins, and one daughter, Beatrice, was born to
them in 1897.
Dr. Biddle has been distinctively unselfish in his observation of the
professional ethics, and has never been reluctant to give his fellow
practitioners the benefits of his researches and experience, aiding them

1044 HISTORY OF DETROIT
through his published articles and his active association with medical
organizations. He has won the respect and esteem of the members of
his profession, is regarded as a progressive and public-spirited citizen,
and he and Mrs. Biddle occupy a position of prominence in connection
with the social activities of their home city.
James V. Campbell. Not too often and not through the agency of
too many vehicles can be recorded the life history of one who lived so
honorable and useful a life as did the late Judge James V. Campbell —
a man, a lawyer and a jurist of signal exaltation and purity of purpose,
recondite in the learning of his profession and imbued with the fullest
appreciation of its dignity and responsibility ; well disciplined in mind,
eminently judicial in his natural attitude as touching men and measures ;
guided and governed by the most inviolable principles of honor and
integrity; simple and unostentatious in his self-respecting and tolerant
individuality. Such a man could not prove other than a dynamic power
for good in whatsoever relation of life he might have been placed. Every
publication that has to do with Detroit and Michigan in an historical
sense is in duty bound to take special recognition of the eminent services
and the noble character of this distinguished legist and jurist, who was
for nearly two score years a judge of the supreme court of Michigan, to
which tribunal he received appointment at the time of its reorganization
in 1857, and in connection with which,he continued his services until the
close of his long and useful life. Concerning him one of the leading
members of the bar of the state has written, with all of consistency, the
following words: "He exercised more influence in settling and fixing
the jurisprudence of this state than any other man, and to him we are
indebted more than to any one of his associates for the high reputation
obtained by the Michigan supreme court." This is, indeed, high en
comium, and its significance lies in its absolute truth.
The writer of the present article had previously offered the following
estimate of the character and services of Judge Campbell, and the state
ments may be consonantly be reproduced : "A man of prodigious learn
ing in the law, especially that of constitutional order ; peculiarly familiar
with the minutiae of the English law, on which is based that of America ;
he yet spared neither time nor labor in his legal investigations, and dis
cussed all relevant questions with marked clearness of illustration,
strength of argument and fullness and variety of learning. »Of exalted
character, appreciative of the sources from which issue all human motives
and actions, his was essentially and primarily a judicial mind, and fortu
nate it is for the state of Michigan that his services were enlisted on the
bench of her supreme court for so long a period. He was engaged in the
practice of his profession in Detroit for some time and had already gained
a high reputation among his compeers of an exceptionally brilliant bar,
but he was not long permitted to remain in the private work of his
profession, as he was still a young man when he was called to the supreme
bench, whose work thereafter demanded his time and attention until he
answered the final and inexorable summons of the one supreme Judge
of all." Judge James Valentine Campbell was ushered into the world with
the gracious heritage of sterling ancestry, as his genealogy is traced
through a long line of the historic Campbell clan in Scotland. The
sturdy integrity and mental strength characteristic of the line were
signally exemplified in the person of his great-grandfather, Duncan
Campbell, who served as an officer in a Highland regiment and who
figures as the founder of the family in America. This worthy ancestor
settled on the Hudson river, in the eastern part of the state of New York,

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1045
in which state he passed the residue of his life. His son Thomas, grand
father of the subject of this memoir, well upheld the prestige of the
family name and was an influential citizen of Ulster county, New York,
at the time of his death. His son Henry M. was born in that county, on
the 10th of September, 1783, and was there reared to adult age. In early
manhood Henry M. Campbell removed to Buffalo, which was then a mere
village, and at the inception of the War of 1812 he promptly enlisted in
a company of artillery, of which he was made captain. In October, 1812,
he married Miss Lois Bushnell, a representative of an old and honored
New England family, and, leaving his bride in Buffalo, he was absent
with his military command at the time when that embryonic city was
burned by the British, in 1813. His own home was destroyed and his
wife and her kinsfolk found refuge in the adjacent forests before the
English troops arrived.
After the close of the war, in which he made a gallant record, Captain
Campbell returned to Buffalo and eventually he became one of the
representative business men of that place, where he commanded unquali
fied confidence and esteem and was influential in public affairs. He
served for some time as judge of the Erie county court, an office to
which laymen were then eligible. This sterling patriot came to Mich
igan more than a decade before the admission of the territory as one
of the sovereign states of the Union. He established his home in De
troit in the year 1826, and here he passed the remainder of his life, se
cure in the high regard of all who knew him, the while his wife, known
for her gracious and winning personality, was a popular factor in the
social life of the community. Judge Campbell, as he was familiarly
known, became a successful merchant in the Michigan metropolis and
later engaged in the real-estate business, in which he was prosperous
though he eventually encountered somewhat severe financial reverses,
owing to normal business exigencies. He was called upon to serve in
various positions of public trust, including those of associate justice of
the county court, county supervisor, city alderman, director of the poor,
etc., and he was also president of one of the early banking institutions
of the city. Both he and his noble wife were devout communicants of
the Protestant Episcopal church and were prominent members of old
St. Paul's-parish, the first of this denomination in Detroit. He became
senior warden of the vestry of the parish soon after allying himself
with the organization and he retained this incumbency until his death,
his wife surviving him many years. Of their children six attained to
years of maturity and all of these were given superior educational ad
vantages, besides which all became devout communicants of the Prot
estant Episcopal church. Two of the daughters married lawyers who
attained to distinction at the Detroit bar and another daughter was
for nearly twenty years at the head of a successful school for girls in
this city. The fourth daughter died, unmarried, at the age of twenty-
five years, and Henry M.. who was born in 1821, was drowned in the
Detroit river, in 1836.
James Valentine Campbell was born in Buffalo, New York, on the
25th of February, 1823, and was thus about three years of age at the
time of the family removal to Detroit, which then had a population of
about two thousand. His father died in 1842 and left, as has been
written, "little to his family save a name unimpeachable for integrity
and public spirit." The devoted wife and mother survived her husband
by more than thirty years and was of venerable age at the time when
she was summoned to eternal rest, in 1876,— one of the revered pioneer
women of the "City of the Straits." After duly availing himself of
the advantages of the local schools James V. Campbell continued his

1046 HISTORY OF DETROIT
higher academic studies in an excellent institution at Flushing, Long
Island, conducted by Rev. William A. Muhlenburg, a distinguished
clergyman of the Episcopal church and an educator of high repute.
This school was amplified into a college and in the same Judge Camp
bell completed the academic course. He was graduated as a member of
the class of 1841 and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
Upon his return to Detroit Judge Campbell began the study of law
in the office of Douglas & Walker, and in 1844 he was admitted to the
bar, at the age of twenty-one years. He forthwith became a partner
of his honored preceptors, Samuel T. Douglas and Henry N. Walker,
who were at the time leading members of the bar of the state. Mr.
Douglas, who married a sister of Judge Campbell, was editor of the
reports of the supreme court of Michigan from 1843 to 1847, and Mr.
Walker reported the decisions of the state chancery court from 1842
to 1845. About this time Judge Campbell, the aspiring young lawyer,
was appointed secretary of the board of regents of the University of
Michigan, and he retained this office several years. Prior to his eleva
tion to this branch of the supreme court he was engaged in the success
ful practice of his profession in Detroit for a period of about thirteen
years, within which he had appeared in connection with many important
litigations in both the state and federal courts, with resultant prestige
of high order. In 1857 he was elected one of the four justices of the
reorganized supreme court of Michigan, and thus was one of the first
on this bench under the new judicial regime. His associates, Judge
Manning, Martin and Christiancy, were all many years older than he,
and all had been chosen by the recently organized. Republican party.
By successive re-elections Judge Camp*bell continued on the Supreme
bench until his death, on the 26th of March, 1890, at the, age of sixty-
seven years. His summons came without premonition or prior illness,
since he died suddenly, from syncopation of the heart action, while
sitting in his library. In further review of the career of Judge Camp
bell recourse will be taken largely to the article previously prepared by
the present writer, who had given careful study to the character and
achievements of the distinguished jurist in formulating the original
sketch. When the law department of the University of Michigan -was estab
lished, in 1858, Judge Campbell was called to the Marshall professorship
in that department, an incumbency which he retained for a quarter of a
century. A history of that department of the great university which
is Michigan's pride must ever bear recognition of the large and power
ful influence exerted by Judge Campbell in upbuilding the law school,
in maintaining it at the highest standard, and in imparting to students,
from his great fund of technical knowledge, that wise admonition and
instruction which could not but bear fruitage in their subsequent pro
fessional careers. In 1866 the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was
conferred upon Judge Campbell by the university, — the first degree
of this order granted by the institution. His interest in educational
matters was insistent and unflagging, and he was a member of the De
troit board of education from 1854 to 1858. One of the public schools
of this city has been consistently named in his honor. In the early days
Judge Campbell was a member of the Young Men's Society of Detroit,
a forceful literary and social organization, of which he served as presi
dent in 1848. The nucleus of the present fine library of Detroit was
that formed by this society. In 1880, when the public library was
placed under the control of a board of commissioners, Judge Campbell
was made president of that body.
Judge Campbell's definite life work, however, was that of jurist,
and upon his record in this domain rests his greatest distinction. His

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1047
opinions appear in the state reports of the supreme court decisions
from the fifth to the seventy-ninth volumes, and the opinions thus cred
ited to him number about three thousand. This record is an integral
part of the history of Michigan and must bear to future generations
the evidence of the patient and conscientious labors of a noble man and
honest and able jurist. From an appreciative sketch of Judge Camp
bell's career written by Hon. Charles A. Kent, of Detroit, who was long
associated with him as a member of the faculty of the law department of
the university and who long practiced before him in the supreme court
the following extracts are made :
"Judge Campbell had great learning, not only in the American
and English cases and text-books, including admiralty law, but also
in the history of our institutions, local as well as general. He knew much
of Roman law and the law of nations and of early French customs and
something of other continental law. He was remarkably free from
political bias or fear of public opinion or subservience to any temporary
wave of public passion. The trust in his absolute integrity of motive
was justly perfect. He was very independent in his opinions. He had
a very strong sense of the justice of a case, and was very reluctant to
yield his views of justice to the opinions of his associates or to any
precedents. He wished to decide every case as appeared to him to be
right, but perhaps he never manifested that love of arbitrary power,
that disposition to have one's own way at all hazards, which is natural
to almost all human beings and appears occasionally on the bench. He
had great faith in the people and in popular institutions, and in all the
great maxims and traditions of the common law, but he had not the
slightest trace of the demagogue. He had strong prejudices, but they
were generally good prejudices, of a kind necessary to stability of
character in the best men. He had no subtle theories nor much refined,
abstruse reasoning. In all of his opinions he appears to have had chiefly
in view the effect of the decision on what he thought the merits of the
case before him. I think he seldom made a decision likely to strike
the average mind as unjust." In conclusion of the same article ap
pears the following words : "Perhaps the largest bar meeting ever held in
Detroit attested the shock at his sudden death and the universal feeling
that a great and good man, a learned and upright judge, had passed
away. His memory is lovingly cherished by all who knew him. His
fame as a judge will depend on the number and importance of the
legal principles established in his opinions. His life is a worthy model
for imitation by all lawyers who would be governed by the highest
ideals in private and public life."
In 1876 Judge Campbell published a volume of several hundred
pages and gave to the same the title of ' ' Outlines of the Political History
of Michigan." His other publications, not numerically great, were
articles in law magazines and addresses on various public occasions.
In polities Judge Campbell gave a staunch allegiance to the cause of
the Republican party, and he was an able exponent of its principles and
policies, though he had no predilection for the tumult and subtleties
of so-called practical politics.
Reared in the faith of the Protestant Episcopal church, in which his
honored father was one of the original members of the first standing
committee of the diocese of Michigan, Judge Campbell ever remained
a devout and zealous churchman. He was influential in parish and
diocesan affairs and took a lively interest in the work of the church at
large. For many years prior to his death he had served as a member
of the vestry of St. Paul's parish, and for more than thirty years he
was secretary of the standing committee of the diocese of Michigan.

1048 HISTORY OF DETROIT
On the 9th of November, 1849, was solemnized the marriage of Judge
Campbell to Miss Cornelia Hotchkiss, who was born at Oneida Castle,
Oneida county, New York, on the 17th of August, 1823, of staunch
New England lineage, and who died in Detroit on the 2nd of May, 1888,
her memory being revered by all who came within the sphere of her gen
tle and gracious influence. Of the children of this union six attained
to years of maturity and five are now living. Henry M. and Charles
H., the two eldest sons, are representative members of the bar of De
troit. James V. Campbell, Jr., was born in Detroit on the 8th of July,
1856, and here he eventually became a successful stock-broker, with
which line of enterprise he continued to be identified until his death,
in September, 1894. In 1887 he wedded Miss Ellen A. Piatt, of Lyons,
New York, who survives him, as does also their only child, Lois B.
Miss Cornelia Lois Campbell, eldest daughter of Judge Campbell, re
mains at the old homestead in Detroit. Douglas H. Campbell, who was
born on the 16th of September, 1859, was graduated in the University
of Michigan in 1882, and in 1886 he received from this institution the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy. He passed two years in post-graduate
study in the leading unversities of Germany, and in 1888 he accepted
the chair of botany in the University of Indiana. Since 1891 he has held
a similar chair in the Leland Stanford University, in California. Ed
ward D. Campbell, the youngest son, was born on the 8th of September,
1863, and was graduated in the state university in 1885, with the degree
of Bachelor of Science. In 1891 he became a member of the faculty of
his alma mater, in which he is now director of the chemical laboratory.
In 1888 he married Miss Jennie Ives, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and they have
six children, Cornelia H., Edward D., Jr., Mary Ives, Jane, James
Valentine and Charles D.
Henry Munroe Campbell was born in Detroit April 18, 1854, the
eldest son of the late James V. Campbell and Cornelia Hotchkiss. His
father was one of the judges of the supreme court of Michigan from
1857 until his death in 1890, and perhaps more than any other member of
that court established and determined the system of jurisprudence now
prevailing in this state. His mother, Cornelia Hotchkiss, was a daugh
ter of Chauncey Hotchkiss, one of the builders of the Erie Canal. In
the fifth generation he is a descendant of Duncan Campbell, an officer
of a Highland regiment, who came to America during the French and
Indian wars ; and in the direct line of his ancestry appear such famous
New England names as Hotchkiss, Bushnell, Ensign and Sedgwick.
He received his early education in the public schools of Detroit and
graduated from the literary department of the University of Michigan
in 1876, with the degree of Ph. B., and from the law department in
1878, with the degree of LL. B. Upon leaving the university he com
menced the practice of law, in partnership with Mr. Henry Russel,
now general counsel for the Michigan Central Railroad Company. This
association continued until 1912, when Mr. Campbell's present firm —
Campbell, Bulkley & Ledyard — was formed, in which he holds the posi
tion of senior member, Mr. Russel being associated with the firm as
counsel. In 1880 he was appointed master in chancery of the United
States circuit court, which office he held until the circuit court was abol
ished, January 1, 1912. Earnest devotion to his profession has resulted
in his becoming one of the leading lawyers in the state of Michigan, and
he is today recognized as one of the authorities in the many matters re
lating to corporation law. He is general counsel for many of the more
important financial and industrial houses of Detroit and has for many
years numbered various prominent eastern interests in his clientele.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1049
Concerning his professional standing and activities it has been said of
him : ' ' He is a lawyer of broad and comprehensive knowledge of the sci
ence of jurisprudence and is strong in the presentation of causes before
a court or jury, but he has given his attention more specifically to cor
poration law, in which branch of his profession he is a recognized au
thority and in which his services have been retained by many of the
most important corporations in Detroit, as well as by others which are
not of local order. ' '
Mr. Campbell has always maintained his association with the Uni
versity of Michigan. He is counsel for the Board of Regents, and when
the literary society, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized at the University,
he was made one of the members from the class of 1876.
Notwithstanding his devotion to his strictly professional activities,
Mr. Campbell is prominently and officially associated with the business
interests of his native city. Among many other directorships and
offices he holds the position of vice-president of Parke, Davis & Com
pany and director of The Peoples State Bank.
Mr. Campbell has been always a faithful supporter of the Republican
party, and although he has not sought public office, his work for the
party and for the state has been of great value. In 1908, when the
constitutional convention to revise the state constitution was held, he
ran as a delegate and was elected by the largest vote cast for any candi
date in the city of Detroit and county of Wayne. He became one of the
leaders of the convention, and in that body was made chairman of the
committee on permanent organization and order of business, which af
terwards became a permanent committee, and chairman of the commit
tee on the legislative department. He was also made a member of the
committee on schedules, and was added to the committee on phraseology
and arrangement toward the close of the convention, when that com
mittee was required to put the general revision in its final form. When
the convention determined that the revised constitution should be sub
mitted to the people for ratification at the November election, instead of
April as the legislature had provided, Mr. Campbell represented the con
vention before the supreme court of Michigan and secured a decision
sustaining the action of the convention. In 1911 he was appointed by
the United States circuit court of appeals for the Sixth circuit a mem
ber of the committee to revise the rules of equity practice in the federal
courts. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Michi
gan Bar Association and the Detroit Bar Association. He was an
original member of the Michigan Naval Brigade and was president of
the Detroit Naval Reserves during the Spanish war. He belongs to
the Yondotega Club, the Detroit Club (of which he was president
for three years), the Country Club, the University Club, the Detroit
Boat Club, the Witenagemote Club and Prismatic Club, all of Detroit;
and to the Huron Mountain Club. He has been a life-long member of
the Episcopal church and for many years a vestryman of Christ church.
November 22, 1881, he married Caroline B. Burtenshaw*, a daugh-
of James Burtenshaw, a well known Detroit merchant. They have
have two sons, Henry Munroe Campbell, Jr., and Douglas Campbell,
both of whom are following in the footsteps of their father and grand
father in the practice of law.
Mr. Campbell has published various essays and studies of consti
tutional questions and theories of government, and in particular has
written many leading articles attacking the expediency and legality
of the initiative, referendum and other forms of so-called direct legisla
tion and political action.
vol. in— 1 4

1050 HISTORY OF DETROIT
George H. Boynton. One of those thriving and well-managed con
cerns Which add in material fashion to the general prosperity and com
mercial prestige of the city is the firm of Osborne, Boynton & Osborne,
wholesale dealers in crockery and glassware, of which George H. Boyn
ton, immediate subject of this review, is a member. He is a man of most
unusual business ability, which has been apparent from his early youth
and in the legitimate channels of trade he has won the success which
always crowns well directed labor, sound judgment and untiring per
severance, while at the same time he has concerned himself with the
affairs of the community in an admirably public-spirited fashion.
Mr. Boynton was born in Marine City, Michigan, May 17, 1867.
His father was the late Major N. S. Boynton, of Port Huron, famous as
' ' The Father of the Maccabees, ' ' of whose history mgre detailed mention
is made in succeeding paragraphs. His mother was Anna Fidelei, of
Cincinnati, who is now living at Port Huron. When Mr. Boyn
ton was about two years of age his parents removed from Marine
City, Michigan, to Port Huron, where he received his education and
where the greater part of his life has been passed, his identification
with Detroit dating from 1903. When he was eighteen years of age he
started in business for himself on a capital of five dollars. Upon one
certain circus day in Port Huron, the elder Mr. Boynton presented
his son with five dollars to spend as he wished. With the money he pur
chased a number of bunches of bananas from a party who was afraid
that they would spoil on his hands. Blind and deaf to the many circus
day allurements to be encountered on every hand, he set about disposing
of the fruit and succeeded so well that at the end of the day he dis
covered that he had cleared up thirty-five dollars on his five dollars'
investment. With the thirty-five dollars Mr. Boynton laid the foundations of his
fortunes. He started in the bazaar goods business in a small way,
securing his stock from Butler Brothers of Chicago. The business
grew steadily and healthily and was incorporated in 1891, the firm
becoming known under the caption, of Boynton & Son Company and
doing a business of $100,000 each year. In course of time a department
devoted to glassware and crockery was added. This concern was carried
on in Port Huron for about twenty-four years. Attracted by the wider
field and greater opportunity presented by Detroit, Mr. Boynton re
moved here in 1903 and embarked in a new line of enterprise, namely,
the advertising business and dealing in comic post-cards. Operations
were carried on under the firm name of Ely, Boynton & Ely, and the
business proved eminently successful, continuing until 1908. In that
year the subject, with his partners, the Messrs. A. L. and H. F. Osborne,
succeeded to the business of Jenness & McCurdy, wholesale dealers in
crockery and glassware, under the firm name of Osborne, Boynton &
Osborne. H. L. Jenness, from whom they purchased the business, had
been an important factor in commercial circles here for over thirty
years and he still retains desk room in the office of his successors. The
business retains its old prestige and success under the new management
and is rapidly increasing in size. Mr. Boynton is also a stockholder
in the Whitney Scenic & Costume Company of Detroit.
Mr. Boynton, is a member of the Knights of the Modern Maccabees,
of which his father was the founder; his association with the order
dates from his eighteenth year. He likewise belongs to the Masonic
order and the Modern Woodmen, all of Port Huron. He is also a mem
ber of the Board of Commerce and the Fellowcraft Club. When a resi
dent of Port Huron he was a member of the National Guard of which his

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1051
brother, C. L. Boynton, was colonel and afterward general, accompany
ing the regiment to Cuba at the time of the Spanish- American war.
On October 22, 1903, Mr. Boynton was united in marriage to Mary
Ten Eyck, of Detroit, scion of one of the old families of the city, where
she was bom and educated. Mr. and Mrs. Boynton^ have no children
and reside at the Charlevoix Hotel. Among those who best know them
they are held in high confidence and esteem.
Major Nathan S. Boynton, father of the foregoing, died at his home
in Port Huron, Michigan, May 27, 1911. He was a man of much dis
tinction, a veteran of the Civil war, nestor of fraternalism in Michigan,
pioneer resident of Port Huron and a man whose name was a household
word over the entire 'United States. He was a native of St. Clair county,
Michigan, his birth having occurred at Port Huron, June 23, 1837. His
father, Granville F. Boynton, was a native of the state of New York
and came here about the year 1827. He died in 1846. His mother,
Frances Rendt Boynton, was a daughter of Captain Lewis Rendt,
for a long time of the British army and one of the early pioneers of
this county, well known to the early settlers. Major Boynton when a
boy attended the primitive district schools during the winter months.
In 1852 he went to Waukegan, Illinois, and passed through the high
school in that city. He was practically a self-educated man. Before
reaching his majority he engaged in mercantile business, the firm being
Inslee & Boynton. In 1859 he went to Cincinnati where he married
Annie Fidelei of that city and in 1862 he returned to this county and
enlisted as a private in Company C, Eighth Michigan Cavalry. He was
soon promoted to first lieutenant of Company L, then to captain, and for
meritorious service in the capture of the rebel General John Morgan
in Ohio and gallant conduct in the east Tennessee and Georgia cam
paigns, was commissioned major of his regiment.
After a service of three years, at the close of the war, he was mus
tered out and returned to this county, making his home in Marine City.
Soon after his return he was appointed deputy assessor of internal
revenue and postmaster of that village. In the fall of 1868 he was
elected to the lower house of the state legislature. He held the office
of village clerk in 1866 and that of president in 1867. The following
year he was elected supervisor of the township. In 1869 he returned to
Port Huron and engaged in newspaper business until the summer of
1874. He then engaged in insurance and real estate business for
some years. In 1874 he was elected mayor of Port Huron and was
re-elected in 1875. He was president of the board of education for
two years, serving as a member four years. He invented the Boynton
fire escape and hook and ladder truck and the Boynton system of wire
rope trussing for fire ladders, which are used in some of the principal
cities of this country and Canada.
These facts are only incidental to that part of Major Boynton 's
life which made him prominent among the leading men of the country.
As founder of the reorganized order of the Knights of the Maccabees
no man was better known in the fraternal world and his immense en
thusiasm, great executive ability and remarkable skill as an organizer
placed that order upon a firm and solid basis, so that to-day it has
reached out, extending its sheltering wing to the poor and rich alike —
a great fraternal, co-operative society, with a bright future and worthy
purpose. The parent order, Modern Maccabees, and its three branches
now number over half a million men and women with large annual addi
tions to their ranks.
Major Boynton became a charter member of Diamond Tent, K. 0.
T. M., of Port Huron, in 1878, which was then under the jurisdiction

1052 HISTORY OF DETROIT
of the Canadian order of the name. The spring following he attended as
a delegate the general review of the order in Buffalo. Here he found
two warring factions, which culminated in a division, one withdrawing
and one adopting a new constitution and electing Major Boynton su
preme lieutenant commander of the order. Soon afterwards by res
ignation of the supreme commander, he was prevailed upon to take up
the burdens of the chief executive office. His efforts were directed to
bringing the two factions together, which he accomplished at a review in
Port Huron in January, 1881, and then retired from the position of su
preme commander.
But his work had just begun. It was to be his lot to perpetuate the
the order of his founding. Upon his retirement the management was
poor, the system of collecting dues was impracticable and the whole
affair was in crude shape. The order was on the eve of dissolution when
he again came to the rescue by obtaining a separate endowment juris
diction for the state of Michigan. The Great Camp of Michigan' was
organized with Major Boynton as great record keeper and from that
time dates the growth of the parent order. In 1883 the supreme tent
was instituted. Men outside the state kept writing Major Boynton,
importuning him to find some means of extending the order into other
states, and this was the result. Major Boynton was elected supreme rec
ord keeper and he retained both offices up to 1*894, when he withdrew from
the office of great record keeper and was elected great commander.
He attended the first national fraternal congress in 1886 and had at
tended every "congress since that time. To him belonged the credit for
securing for the K. 0. T. M. national recognition among the fraternities.
He was unanimously elected vice-president of the congress in 1892 and
president in 1893 and was until his death a life member of that organi
zation. To go over this chapter in the life of Major Boynton with but passing
mention would, however, give one but a faint idea of one of the most
painful, and at the same time, one of the most heroic incidents in the
life of the "Father of the Order." He worked steadily with that
wonderful enthusiasm which always characterized him and when the
order's growth demanded his attention elsewhere he looked about to
find a man to take up a small portion of the work. His choice fell upon
D. P. Markey, then a country lawyer, and now at the head of the
supreme tent, who sought to introduce a higher scale of rates and create
a greater reserve fund. He and others with him in this desire were
warmly opposed by Major Boynton, who viewed with distrust the idea
of forcing commercial and speculative features on the order. He con
tinued his opposition and because of his great strength among the
membership the men who fathered the scheme of higher rates became
alarmed. It was then that they proceeded to do a remarkable thing.
At the meeting of the supreme tent in 1891 the father of the order was
legislated out of office.
Following this Major Boynton severed every tie that bound him
to the supreme tent except his individual membership and he again put
forth all his energies in behalf of the parent body, the Modern Macca
bees, which under his guiding hand became entrenched in nearly every
state of the union, conducted on fraternal co-operative lines, eschewing
everything of a speculative or commercial nature.
At the great camp of the Modern Maccabees for Michigan in 1900
he was again elected to the position of great commander against opposi
tion by a decisive vote of 1,520 to 561, and the compliments showered
upon him on his personal triumph were of the most flattering nature.
His return to his native city and the reception he received were inei-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1053
dents in his life of which any man would be justly proud. But even
after all this it remained for Nathan S. Boynton, in the sixty-fifth
year of his life, to make the battle which marked probably the most
important era in the history of the Maccabees. The strain under which
this grand old man of the order worked can never be fully realized by
those who were not closely in touch with him. He was battling for a prin
ciple that he knew was right and the opposition was, great. By day and
by night he worked and planned. , All over Michigan he expounded his
doctrine of expansion and the whole state was aroused to the issue.
Newspapers published columns of it and were eager for more. Major
Boynton was working, as he had worked for more than twenty-six
years, for the best interests of the order and when that great camp at
Marquette overwhelmingly endorsed him and his policy, and, almost
exhausted, he lay on his back at the hotel in that city receiving the
handshakes and congratulations of the delegates, no word or pen can
ever fully record the feeling of the affectionatly termed, "Father of
the Maccabees. ' '
From that time until the great camp review in Toledo in June, 1908,
he was actively identified with the cause of Modern Maccabeeism. At
that review he was forced on account of physical inability to. give up his
conduct of affairs of the order. , Never after that time did the great
commander recover his health.
Major Boynton did not confine himself to the Maccabees. Aside
from this order he was a member of the following clubs and societies:
Masonic, Knights of Pythias, Ancient Order of United Workmen, Inde
pendent Order of Foresters, Modern Woodmen of America. Woodmen
of the World, National Fraternal Congress, Elks, Order of Khorassen,
Fellowcraft Club, Michigan Club, Grand Army of the Republic, Military
order of the Loyal Legion and several other societies. He is survived by
his widow, his sons C. L. and George H, of Detroit; and three daughters
— Mrs. J. D. Patterson and Mrs. H. A. Wright of this city and Mrs. A. E.
Parker, of Boynton, Florida.
A. Milton Humber, M. D., who has been successfully identified
with the medical profession in Detroit for the past twenty years,
has his offices and residence at 24 Pasadena avenue in Highland Park.
He has been one of the influential and well known citizens of this sub
urb for a number of years, and here much of his practice is now con
centrated. A native of Canada, Dr. Humber was born in Keene, Peterborough
county, Ontario, February 28, 1865, a son of the late Charles Austin
Humber and his wife, Alice Ann (Amey) Humber. The Humbers'
original seat was in the Isle of Wight, and the Doctor's paternal grand
father, David Humber, was one of the first citizens of that English isle
to immigrate to Canada. He was among the pioneer settlers of Peter
borough county, Ontario, where he spent the rest of his life, dying at an
advanced age. Charles A. Humber was born on the Isle of Wight and
was only a boy when the family came to Canada. He was married in
Peterborough county to Alice Ann Amey, who was a native of Kings
ton, Ontario, and a daughter of Jeremiah Amey. This family furnishes
one of the prominent Spanish names in that part of Canada and through
marriage with a Gonzales. About 1870 Charles Austin and family
moved to Goderieh, Ontario, where he was for many years one of the
prominent citizens. He was a college-bred man, had taught school dur
ing his early career and served as principal of schbols in Peterborough
county. At Goderieh he was police magistrate under two different
municipal administrations. He was very prominent in Masonry in On
tario, being a thirty-second degree member of the order. His death re-

1054 HISTORY OF DETROIT
suited by accident in 1896. The sudden death removed a citizen with
extensive personal and business connections from his home ¦city, and was
especially serious to his immediate family. His aged father died two
days after learning of his death, and the wife, the mother of the Doctor,
survived her husband only six months. The following children sur
vive : A. Milton, of Detroit ; Frank Austin, who is head watch-maker for
Rolshover & Company, jewelers, of Detroit, and is watch-making in
structor at the Detroit Y. M. C. A. ; Agnes Clark is the wife of Rodney M.
Castles, of Hamilton, Ontario ; Charles H. is a jeweler at Goderieh, On^
tario; Henry N. is in the jewelry business at Red Deer, Alberta; Alex
ander Maitland is directing draftsman for the Grand Trunk Railway
Company at Stratford, Ontario.
During his boyhood A. Milton Humber was a student in the Goderieh
Collegiate Institute of Ontario, and in 1882 entered the University of
Toronto. His preparation for his professional career was very thorough
both in his academic and technical studies. From this university he
became a student in the medical department of the University of Mich
igan, and was graduated M. D. with the class of 1890. During his
medical course he had special advantages of instruction in his capacity
of assistant to Dr. Corydon L. Ford, the professor of anatomy at the
college. He also had considerable practical experience in the hospitals
at Ann Arbor.
Dr. Humber began the general practice of medicine at Bay City in
1890, and three years later moved to Detroit, where he has been one of
the successful and prominent physicians. In Highland Park he bought
property of a hundred feet frontage on Pasadena avenue, extending to
Woodward avenue, and there about three years ago he erected a fine
brick building. In addition to his general medical practice, Dr. Humber
has done considerable work in minor surgery, especially in his capacity
as surgeon to the Ford Automobile Works. For a number of years he
has enjoyed fine professional and business connections in the city. For
fourteen years he has been a member of the examining board for the
Sun Life Insurance Company, and is also examiner for the Detroit Life
Insurance Company, the Old Colony Life Insurance Company of Chi
cago, and the Connecticut General Insurance Company of Hartford.
The Doctor is a member of the Wayne County and the Michigan Medical
societies and the American Medical Association. Fraternally he affili
ates with the Ashlar Lodge and the Peninsular Chapter of Masonry,
with Damon Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and is past noble grand of the
Independent Order of Odd 'Fellows.
Dr. Humber has been twice married. His first wife, who died in
1906, at the age of thirty-nine, was Miss Mary Belle McPherson. She
was bom near St. Thomas, Ontario, a daughter of Alexander and Agnes
(Crawford) McPherson, both of whom represented old Canadian families.
At her death Mrs. Humber left two children, Olive and Maybelle. The
present Mrs. Humber before her marriage was Miss Ruth Massey. She
is a native of Milwaukee, is the daughter of Thomas Massey, who was
of old English stock, coming to America and settling in Milwaukee,
of which city he was one of the very successful self-made men, where
he resided until his death. His wife was related to the Livingstons,
connected with the Dime Savings Bank of Detroit, who were one of the
prominent families there. She now maintains her home on Westminster
avenue, Highland Park, Detroit. Mrs. Humber is a finely educated lady
of high musical attainments. Mr. and Mrs. Humber are the parents of
one son, Austin Milton, Jr., who is two years of age.
William E. Barker. Among the useful and esteemed citizens whom
Detroit has been called upon to mourn within the past few years, none

jfeftjUL^-VtUZ-

. HISTORY OF DETROIT 1055
has been more genuinely missed than William E. Barker, whose death
occurred November 28, 1905, at his home, No. 254 Warren avenue, West,
for his demise was regarded as a loss not only to his immediate family
and friends but to the entire community. Born in Norfolk, England,
in 1847, he was brought to America by his parents when he was an in
fant and was reared and educated in Lockport, New York.
Coming to Michigan in early manhood, he opened a retail and
wholesale furniture establishment on Woodward avenue, Detroit, where
he built up an extensive and lucrative business, being also for twelve
years the manager and principal owner of the Mills and Barker furni
ture manufacturing business. Mr. Barker was one of the best known
furniture men of Wayne county, and at the time of his death was con
ducting a furniture store in his own building on Michigan avenue in
this city.
Mr. Barker was very prominent in Masonic circles having taken
the thirty-third degree in Masonry and being a member of the Ancient
Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He was also president
of the Masonic Temple Association at the time of his death. He was
liberal in his religious views and was connected with the Universalist
church of Detroit; he was a member of its first board of trustees and
for many years served the church in that capacity, being for many years
president of the board. During his career of business activity Mr. Bar
ker met with many successes and but few failures. Whichever way the
current of fortunes turned, he was the same honest, upright man, one
whose word was as good as his bond, and who could be trusted at all
times. In 1869 occurred Mr. Barker's marriage to Miss Anna Eveland, who
was born in Ontario, Canada, and who was a daughter of Abram Eve-
land. Since 1866 she has been a resident of Detroit. During the united
life of Mr. and Mrs. Barker three children were born to them, but the
home was again and again invaded by the reaper Death, the mother
giving "In tears and pain,
The flowers she most did love ;
She knew she should find them all again
In the fields of light above."
Anna, the first born, was taken at the age of nine years; Edward,
at seven ; and Jennie, when but three month* old.
For twenty-six years Mr. and Mrs. Barker resided at 63 Adams
street, in a beautiful home erected by Mr. Barker, and they removed to
the residence now occupied by Mrs. Barker only a short time before Mr.
Barker's death. Many phases of the social life of Detroit have claimed
Mrs. Barker's attention. A woman of marked refinement and culture,
she is still active and still a favorite member of the community in which
she and her husband were for so many years notably important factors.
August F. Diederich. Detroit has every reason to be proud of the
German element contributed to her populace, and here have been
many prominent and influential citizens of German birth or lineage, —
men of sterling character, utmost loyalty and high civic ideals. One of
the honored German pioneers of Detroit and one who ever commanded
secure place in the confidence and esteem of this community was August
Friedrich Diederich, who here maintained his home for many years,
who was here prominently identified with business activities, and who
here attained to the patriarchal age of ninety years.

1056 HISTORY OF DETROIT
August Friedrich Diederich was born in the town of Wiedenbriick,
on the river Ems, in the province of Westphalen, Prussia, and the year
of his nativity was 1819. He was a scion of one of the old and in
fluential families of that section of the great empire of Germany, and
his father, Philip Anton Diederich, served for a number of years in
an important government office at Gottingen, in the kingdom of Hanover.
He was a man of prominence and wielded much influence in connection
with civic affairs, the while he exemplified the highest integrity and com
manded unequivocal esteem, both he and his wife, who was Baroness
Wilhelmine von und zu Gilsa, continuing to reside in their native land
until their death.
In the excellent schools of his fatherland August F. Diederich, to
whom this memoir is dedicated, received a liberal education, and it was
the wish of his parents that he should enter the Prussian army and make
his career one of military order. His tastes and ambitions, however,
did not lie in this direction, though he received military training, and in
1846, when about twenty-seven years of age, he severed the home ties
and set forth to seek his fortune in America, as he had become convinced
that in this country were to be secured for better opportunities for the
winning of advancement through personal endeavor. He first establish
ed his residence in New York City, and there he engaged in the cigar
and tobacco business, in which he built up a prosperous enterprise.
He successfully continued this business for a period of six years, at
the expiration of which, through the destruction of his establishment by
fire, he lost virtually all he had accumulated. Under these conditions
he decided to seek a new field of endeavor in the west, and as very
many of his countrymen had settled in Wisconsin he started forth with
the intention of locating in the city of Milwaukee, that state. En route
he passed through Detroit, where he tarried for a short time and where
he became greatly impressed with the attractions and advantages of
the city, but he continued his journey to Milwaukee. Soon afterward,
however, he decided that he greatly preferred to establish his home
in Detroit, to which city he returned in 1852. Here he finally engaged
in the wholesale liquor trade in company with his brother Wilhelm,
and they established their business on Woodward avenue. Later his
brother removed to the 'west and was succeeded by Edward Melchers,
a relative of the subject of this review, the two having been associated
in a prosperous business for a number of years. Finally Mr. Melchers
sold his interest in the enterprise to Leo Breisacher, and the partner
ship thus formed proved of the most grateful order, as the two inter
ested principals were brothers-in-law as well as business associates. The
firm of Diederich & Breisacher became one of the foremost in its line of
business in the city and controlled a large and successful trade
under the above title until the death of the junior partner in 1887.
The loss of Mr. Breisacher was a severe blow to Mr. Diederich and
rendered disconsolate he soon retired from active business. He had
previously suffered the maximum bereavement of his life, in that his
cherished and devoted wife had been summoned to eternal rest in 1879,
her death having occurred in Germany, where she had accompanied her
daughters Emmy and Adele to visit her daughter Minnie, who was
at the time attending the leading conservatory of music in the city of
Leipzig. After the death of his wife, Mr. Diederich, though unobtru
sive in his sorrow, depended more and more for consolation and compan
ionship upon his friend and business associate, Mr. Breisacher, so it may
well be understood that he was grievously bereft when the latter, too,
passed away, though in his venerable age he bore himself with fortitude
and resignation, the while he retained to a marked degree his physical

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1057
and mental faculties. He was summoned to the life eternal on the
6th of June, 1909, in the fullness of years and secure in the high regard
of all who knew him, and during the gracious evening of his long and
worthy life he received from his daughters Emmy and Minnie the deep
est filial solicitude and utmost attention. His remains were incinerated
in the Detroit crematory, in accordance with his own wishes.
Mr. Diederich was a man of strong mentality and independent
opinions. As a citizen he was liberal and public-spirited, and he ever
showed a deep interest in all that touched the welfare of the city in which
he so long maintained his home. His political allegiance was given to
the Republican party and he was identified with various representative
German social organizations.
In the year 1855, in Detroit, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Diederich to Miss D'Amelie Petit Benoit, who was of French lineage
and who came to Detroit in company with one of her brothers when she
was seventeen years of age. Her death occurred on the 3rd of Novem
ber,- 1879, and her husband ever remained true to her memory, he having
survived her thirty years. Concerning the four children of this union
the following brief record is given: Emmy and Minnie reside in an at
tractive home at 103 and 105 High street, east, and the latter there
conducts a most excellent and popular private school for instruction
in artistic pianoforte playing, she being recognized as one of the most
talented musicians of her native city, where both herself and sister are
popular factors in its social activities; William, the only son is also a
musician; and Adele, who died in the city of Philadelphia, on the 30th
of November, 1910, was the wife of Professor Samuel L. Herrmann, who
survives her, as do also two children, Manfred H. and Woldemar S.
Mrs. Herrmann likewise was a cultured musician and won high reputa
tion in this field of art. She also composed the lyrics for a number of
effective songs, including a most effective hymn, .entitled "Mother's
Day Hymn," and dedicated to Miss Anna Jarvis, the musical score for
the same having been written by Claude R. Hartzell. This hymn has
gained great popularity and is widely used in connection with public
observances of "Mother's Day."
Manfred H. Hermann, the eldest son of the late Mrs. Edele von
Gilsa Herrmann, is engaged in the realty and investment business in
the city of Detroit, the firm he is interested in being known as The M.
H. Herrmann Company; and he attributes his success in his field to
following the sound and reliable business methods of his grandfather —
the late August F. Diederich.
Mr. M. H. Herrmann married, May 29, 1907, O. Mildred, daughter
of James Parke, a contractor of Terre Haute, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs.
Herrmann have one child, Adele V., born July 23, 1908. Mr. Herr
mann's brother is an electrical engineer. He married, January 1, 1912,
Marie B. Weaver of Detroit.
Simon Jones Murphy. The Michigan lumber industry during its
high tide of activity brought together and developed many remarkable
men, in many respects the most noteworthy figures in the citizenship
of the state during that period. One of these, who would be mentioned
in any group of the leading lumbermen of the last half century, was the
late Simon Jones Murphy, for many years prominent in Detroit
and whose death removed a forceful personality and a public spirit
ed citizen. Engaged from youth up in one of the most picturesquely
rugged of industries, he had developed those fine qualities which we
like to associate with the forests and the woodsmen, and at the same time
the active forces of his career were permeated by a solid integrity and

1058 HISTORY OF DETROIT
thoroughgoing honesty that were as typical of himself as his more
superficial characteristics.
Simon Jones Murphy was born at Windsor, Lincoln county, Maine,
April 22, 1815, he and a twin sister being the second birth in a family
of twelve children. His family on both sides had long been associa
ted with New England. His paternal grandfather, James Murphy,
was a native of the north of Ireland and on coming to America, set
tled at Westborough, Maine. The father's name was Edmund Mur
phy. The mother was a Jones, a daughter of Jonathan Jones, and a
granddaughter of Jonathan Jones, who was a representative in the
Massachusetts colonial assembly from the town of Powellborough. Mr.
Murphy's grandfather and great-grandfather were both lumbermen at
Damariscotta Pond, Maine, so that the occupation may be said to belong
in the family.
Simon J. Murphy, when four years of age, went to live with his
maternal grandfather at the latter 's farm on what was known as Jones'
Hill, and remained there until he was eighteen, when he struck out for
himself. His youth was spent in a period of American history when
the hardier and self-reliant qualities in manhood were often put to the
test. Difficulties never deterred him from any enterprise as long as
he lived, probably because he was well practiced in them from the start
of his career. When he was eighteen he and a cousin walked from
the village of Whitefield to Bangor and Milford, a distance of eighty
miles, and at their destination began work in a sawmill at seven dollars
a month. The work was hard and the wages small, but he stuck to
his post for eight years. One of his practical principles was to allow
no man to do more work than himself, and this incentive to industry
together with his remarkably painstaking study of all details of the
business laid a foundation for business success that could not fail to
be followed with large accomplishment. His practical experience gave
him a knowledge of lumber that was hardly surpassed by any man in
America during his lifetime. He had spent his years of preparation
in swinging an axe in the forests, in cutting the timbers to lumber in
the mills, in selling the product, and during his experience along the
Penobscot and in^the mills he mastered the details of one of America's
greatest industries. It was said that with his thorough mastery of the
technical matters of his business, he was also one of the keenest judges
of character in men. In later years his choice of means and men was
always the best. His quick, and unerring decisions were the admira
tion of his friends, but his decisiveness in affairs was the fruit of his
thorough and patient study and experience during his youth.
His first business venture was in 1840, when he entered a partner
ship with James Thissell, putting into the business his savings to the
amount of fifteen hundred dollars. • His part of the business was the
practical work of cutting out the timber and rafting it to the mills, and
he remained buried in the heart of the forest during most of the year.
His partner had the business management, and after three years Mr.
Murphy found that his original capital had been swept away and be
sides he was in debt four hundred dollars to a friend, and his strenu
ous work had impaired his health. The partnership was accordingly
dissolved, and he was afterward more fortunate in his choice of as
sociates. Mr. Franklin Adams then advanced him money to go into
business for himself, and during 1843-44 he did a fairly successful
business. He was then offered the superintendency of the Adams'
mills, at a salary of one hundred dollars a month, a sum then consid
ered almost fabulous as a salary.
It was during these beginnings of prosperity that he took a partner

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1059
for success and adversity. On September 21, 1845, he was married to
Miss Ann M. Dorr. Then in the next year Mr. Adams having failed
in business, Mr. Murphy entered into a partnership with Charles E. Dole,
and they rented the Adams property and operated his mills. Jonathan
Eddy and Newell Avery later became his business associates, and their
lumbering interests in Maine were carried on under the name of Eddy,
Murphy & Company. In 1852 Eddy and Avery moved to Michigan and
began the purchase of Michigan pine. In 1865 Mr. Eddy died sudden
ly, and in the next year Mr. Murphy moved out to Michigan with his
family, and about this time the firm name was changed to Avery &
Murphy. They were among the most extensive operators in the pine
regions and the firm had a period of uninterrupted prosperity until the
death of Mr. Avery in 1877. It had been the policy of both partners
to recognize and reward the ability and services of all their young em
ployes, so that when they earned it, they were given an interest in the
business. The result of this policy was illustrated at the funeral of
Mr. Avery when at least thirty partners of the two older heads of the
firm were present to participate in the ceremony.
Mr. Murphy always held that a man's word should be as good as
his bond. For himself he was slow to make a promise, but when his
word had been given it was adhered to at any cost. It was this char
acteristic that held men to him with a confidence that was never shaken.
His energy and executive ability were wonderful, and up to his last
birthday he gave personal supervision to his business. In addition to
his interests in Detroit he owned a fine fruit ranch in California, on
which he spent his winters from 1886 up to and including 1902. In
his personal life he followed the routine of simplicity in all things,
kept regular hours and was frugal in his tastes and pleasures. For
the wastrel he had a supreme contempt, yet for the ordinary mixtures
of weakness and strength as found in most men he showed a charity
and kindness of heart that were often applied in material forms of as
sistance. He was slow in making friendships, but it required a great
deal to shake his faith in those to whom he had once given his trust.
As was natural with a man of such positive character, he could not
easily be moved from opinions and convictions once formed.
In Detroit he had extensive real estate holdings. He was also an
investor and director in the American Exchange National Bank, the
Michigan Fire & Marine Insurance Company, the Standard Life &
Accident Insurance Company, the Edison Electric Light Company,
and the Union Trust Company, besides other corporations. He was a
Universalist in faith, a trustee of the Church of Our Father, and to
the erection of the edifice he contributed fifty thousand dollars. Mr.
Murphy was the father of twelve children. For a number of years
prior to his death, he and his son William H. were actively interested
in Detroit real estate and commercial institutions. They purchased
the site of the old Case building in Congress street, West, between
Griswold and Shelby streets, and erected a fine power building for light
manufacturing. The father then bought the property on the south side
of Fort street, adjoining the State Savings Bank. On this he erected
the handsome thirteen-story Penobscot building, named in honor of
the river .alongside of which he had laid the foundations of his life's
success. Harry J. Dingeman. Taken all in all, it would be difficult to find
a city where the members of the bar stand higher than they do in De
troit. One of the substantial lawyers of this city is Harry J. Dinge
man, whose advent into this world occurred in Detroit July 27, 1881.

1060 HISTORY OF DETROIT
He is one of the energetic, younger attorneys who give tone to the
practice of the law.
He is a son of John F. and Gertrude (Jeup) Dingeman. His father
was a native of Holland, born there April 5, 1857, and came to Detroit
in 1869, with his uncle, Peter Dingeman. The elder Dingeman was for
some time engaged in the manufacture of cigars, but is now superin
tendent of the Globe Cigar Factory at Detroit. Harry J. Dingeman ?s
mother was born in Detroit. She is a daughter of John Jeup, who was
a native of Germany and one of the pioneers of Detroit.
The subject of this sketch was reared in Detroit and attended the
St. Joseph parochial school. Following his early education he attended
St. Joseph's commercial college for three years,then put in three years
as a student at the Detroit College of Law, graduating therefrom June
12, 1903, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws! On the day following
his graduation he was admitted to the bar of Detroit, and at once en
tered upon its practice, associated with James D. May, his present
partner. Young, energetic, and an estimable citizen, he has from the begin
ning of his career taken great interest in civic affairs, and in 1910 was
elected to the Board of Estimates. He is secretary of the Association
of the Bar of Detroit, and a member of the Detroit Law College
Alumni and the St. Joseph's College Alumni. He also holds member
ship in the Modern Woodmen of America, the German Salesmen Asso
ciation, Order of the Red Men and Order of the Amaranth.
Shortly after entering upon the practice of his profession, Mr.
Dingeman was united in marriage to Miss Bessie S. Shafer, daughter of
John P. Shafer, of Detroit.
Conant Bulkley, member of the law firm of Campbell, Bulkley &
Ledyard, was born at Monroe, Michigan, March 7, 1870. He re
ceived his early education in the public schools of his native town and
then attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he
entered the literary class, graduating therefrom with the class of 1892,
with the degree of A. B. ¦ He then entered the law department and
graduated in 1895 with the degree of LL. B.
Mr. Bulkley came to Detroit .the year of his graduation and admis
sion to the bar and became associated with the firm of which he is now
a member. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the De
troit Bar Association, the Michigan Bar Association, the Detroit Club,
the Yondptega Club, the University Club and the Country Club. He is
also a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan.
Curt Hoffmann, Twenty-five Years an Editor. Few men in the
history of Detroit have maintained records of such long, continuous serv
ice in a high calling as Curt Hoffmann. On the 29th of May, 1912, Curt
Hoffmann completed his twenty-fifth year as managing editor of the De
troit Abend Post. His associates on that paper and his many friends
chose that date to tender him a celebration to commemorate the anniver
sary of his connection with one of the best German newspapers in the
country, and also to celebrate his fifty-third birthday anniversary. He
was born in Oppeln, Upper Silesia, the son of an old and distinguished
German family. His parents desired him to enter the Imperial navy, and
after the completion of his fine education he served an apprenticeship in
the mercantile fleet. He then followed his parents ' wishes, and, entering
the German navy, was an ensign at the time of the Franco-Prussian war.
In 1871 he determined to try life in the broader field of a new country,

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1061
and coming to the United States settled in. the city of Chicago. No
sooner had he made plans for the future than the great fire of that year
destroyed much of the city and financially ruined many citizens, in
cluding Mr. Hoffmann. Just before the alarm was sounded, a fellow-
boarder was admiring a beautiful ring which Mr. Hoffmann always
wore. He had handed the treasure to the other man when the sudden
panic came. Mr. Hoffmann was obliged to run for his life. The end
of the story is not unexpected. Neither the ring nor the stranger ever
were seen by Mr. Hoffmann again.
The fire destroyed both the property and prospects of Mr. Hoffmann,
and so, leaving Chicago, he came to Detroit, from which he shipped for
two years, sailing as a mate on the Great Lakes for the Peter Ralph
Company. It was in 1874 that Mr. Hoffmann joined the Abend-Post,
hardly thinking perhaps that he had found his "Field of Service".
It is interesting to quote, as a commentary on the esteem and affection
with which he is regarded by all who have dealt with him in any way,
the words of George Gagel : ' ' During the twenty-five years of his con
nection with the Abend-Post, Mr. Hoffmann has achieved great suc
cess as an able editor. He has brought that paper out from its com
parative obscurity into a leading position among the German dailies of
America, so that to-day the Abend-Post wields an influence among its
large number of readers second to no other daily paper in the city.
"He is known as a bold and incisive writer, a fearless advocate of
the rights of the people, and a relentless enemy of hypocrisy and intol-
eration. "Socially, he is a man of great popularity and cheerful disposition;
his presence at social functions is much sought after and highly prized.
A man of sterling character and integrity, capable of deciding import
ant affairs quickly and accurately, he has a host of friends. The
Abend-Post has become an important factor in state and local affairs
and its influence is very perceptible."
To the foregoing may be added what August Marxhausen himself,
the proprietor of the Abend-Post, says of his assistant: "I do not re
gard Hoffmann as an employe. He is my friend, — perhaps the best I
have. During all the twenty-five years that I have been associated
with him, I have never had a cross word — not even a disagreement with
him." On the night of the celebration of the joint anniversary the offices
of the Abend-Post looked like a vast conservatory. Congratulatory
messages from all over the country poured in from friends who were
unable to wish him well in person. Among the beautiful presents
which marked the occasion Mr. Hoffmann was especially proud of a
large hall clock, the gift of his fellow employes.
Leonard Frederick Charles Wendt, M. D. Among the younger
representatives of the medical profession in Detroit is Leonard Fred
erick Charles Wendt, M. D., who was born in Detroit, November 8,
1875, and is the son of Henry R. and Julia (Guenther) Wendt, natives
of Danzig, West Prussia, Germany.
Henry R. Wendt was a carpenter by trade and was in charge of
the furnishing department of the Pullman Car Company when that
industry was located at Detroit, and when it removed to Chicago he
became connected in a like capacity with the Michigan Central Rail
road. Mr. Wendt later retired from the activities of business life and
his death occurred in Detroit, October 1, 1905.
Dr. Leonard F. C. Wendt attended the Detroit public schools and

1062 HISTORY OF DETROIT
was graduated from the German Wallace College, at Berea, Ohio, in
1896, in which year he also completed his studies in Baldwin's Business
College at the same place. Turning his attention then to the tech
nical work of preparation for his chosen profession, he entered Grace
Hospital Training School for Nurses, and after his graduation there
from, in October, 1898, became a student in the Detroit Homeopathic
Medical College, from which he received the degree of M. D. in 1902.
The Doctor was married on May 15, 1901, to Miss Edith Reed, of
Coldwater, Michigan, who was born in that city. She is a daughter of
the late Ebenezer M. and Helen (Rooks) Reed, the father a native of New
ark, New York, and the mother of London, England. ¦
In 1902 Dr. Wendt entered upon the general practice of his pro
fession in Detroit, where he has continued to reside. At present he is lec
turer on the 'diseases of children at the Detroit Homeopathic Medical
College, which chair he has held for four years ; he is junior attending
physician to Grace Hospital and in March, 1912, was' appointed diag
nostician (special) to the same institution. For three years past he
has been secretary of the Detroit Homeopathic Practitioners Society,
and belongs to the American Institute of Homeopathy and the Mich
igan Homeopathic Medical Society.
Dr. Wendt has been very prominent in fraternal matters, being
affiliated with Palestine lodge, F. & A. M., King Cyrus Chapter, Mich
igan Sovereign Consistory and Moslem Temple of the Ancient Arabic
Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; the Knights of the Loyal
Guard; and the Foresters of America, of which he is physician. Dr.
Wendt is popular with all who have come within the circle of his ac
quaintance, and is highly esteemed by his confreres throughout the city.
Claude M. Stafford, M. D. One of the clearly designated func
tions of this history of Detroit is to accord recognition to those who
here stand as able and valued exponents of the sciences of medicine and
surgery, and well entitled to such consideration is Dr. Stafford, who
gives special attention to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of
women, and who has achieved noteworthy prestige and success as a
gynecologist and as a factor in the educational work of his exacting
profession. He has been a resident of Detroit since his early childhood
and his standing in the community is such as to set at naught any ap
plication of the scriptural aphorism that "a prophet is not without
honor save in his own country."
Dr. Claude -Maurice Stafford was born in the town of Essex, pro
vince of Ontario, Canada, on the 7th of November, 1881, and is a son
of John and Ida (Williams) Stafford, the former a native of Ontario
and a scion of staunch English stock, and the latter a native of Mich
igan. In 1885, when the Doctor was about four years of age, the family
removed from Canada to Detroit, and here the parents have since main
tained their home, the father being president of the Stafford Printing
Company, one of the leading concerns of the kind in the city, where
he is known as a representative business man and progressive and pub
lic-spirited citizen. The public schools of the Michigan metropolis
afforded Dr. Stafford his early educational advantages and he was
graduated in the Western high school of Detroit as a member of the
class of 1900. He then entered the academic or literary department
of the University of Michigan, in which great institution he was gradu
ated as a member of the class of 1904 and from which he received the
degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1907 Detroit University conferred
upon him the degree of Master of Arts, in recognition of his splendid

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1063
efforts along the line of original research work of professional and gen
eral scientific order.
In preparation for the work of his chosen profession Dr. Stafford
was matriculated in the Detroit College of Medicine, in which he was
graduated in 1906 and from which he received the degree of Doctor of
Medicine, after having proved a most ambitious and assiduous student,
.characteristics which have continued to mark his course during his
practical work in his profession. After his graduation Dr. Stafford
served for two years as interne in St. Mary's Hospital, one of the lead
ing institutions of the kind in Detroit and one in which he gained most
valuable clinical experience. In 1908 he initiated the general practice
of medicine and surgery, and he has, as already stated, made a specialty
of gynecology, in which his success has been of unequivocal order, with
resultant reputation of which he may well be proud. For two years
he served as instructor in embryology in his alma mater, the Detroit
College of Medicine, in which institution he is now clinical assistant to
the chair of gynecology. He is also attending surgeon to Providence
Hospital, and as a skilled bacteriologist and original investigator along
scientific lines, he is retained as a co-worker in the research laboratories
of Parke, Davis & Company, of Detroit, the largest pharmaceutical
concern in the world. The Doctor is a member of the American Medi
cal Association, the Michigan State Medical Society, and the Wayne
County Medical Society, besides which he is affiliated with the Phi
Beta Pi college fraternity. His political allegiance is given to the
Republican party, and both he and his wife are zealous communicants
of the Protestant Episcopal church, in which they hold membership
in the parish of St. Philip's church.
On the 26th of June, 1906, was solemnized the marriage of Dr.
Stafford to Miss Fannie Cottom, daughter of George Cottom, of Detroit,
and they have a winsome little daughter, Velma Charlotte, and a sturdy
little son, Claude Maurice, Jr.
William E. Metzger. No branch of manufactory is more conspic
uous to-day than that of automobiles, and the men who are leaders in
that particular branch are regarded as the real "captains of industry",
and as such their lives and achievements are of world-wide interest.
Prominent among the leaders in the automobile world is William E.
Metzger, of the Metzger Motor Car Company, who by reason of his
being a pioneer dealer and manufacturer of automobiles not only in
Detroit but in the country-at-large, and also by reason of the success
he has achieved both as an organizer and brilliant operator, is recog
nized as one of the leaders in industrial circles, at home and abroad.
Mr. Metzger is a fine example of the self-made man, for he began
life at the bottom of the ladder, and aided only by his native talent
for business and his wonderful perseverance and capacity for hard work
has reached the high position which is his today. He was born in Peru,
Illinois, on September 30, 1868, and is the son of Ernest F. and Maria
(Bosley) Metzger, the former a native of Frankfort-on-the-Maine, Ger
many, the latter of Ohio. The father came to America in 1859, when
a lad of fourteen years, going direct to Illinois. He was in that state
when the Civil war broke out and, though he was still in his teens, he
enlisted in the Twenty-fourth Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry,
and served as a soldier until the close of that great struggle. Both he
and wife are now residents of Detroit.
William E. Metzger was reared in Peru, Illinois, until 1879, and
there attended the common schools. Later he attended a German
school at Ann Arbor one year, and then coming to this city he complet-

1064 HISTORY OF DETROIT
ed the public school course in 1884 by graduating from high school.
The same year he went to work for the old firm of Hudson & Syming
ton (the late Joseph L. Hudson) and with that house he continued un
til 1891. In the meantime, in 1889, while still an employe of the above
firm, he engaged in the bicycle business at 13 Grand River Avenue as
a member of the firm of Huber & Metzger, and it was there he began
laying the foundation for his subsequent brilliant career in the indus
trial world. After 1901 he gave all his attention to the bicycle busi
ness, which was augmented by a line of Remington typewriters. In
1895 he branched out by himself and established a house at 252 Wood
ward avenue, where under his own name he established a bicycle and
cash register business, which is yet successfully in operation at High
and Woodward avenue, and is still owned by him. In 1897 he took
his first step in the automobile business, by buying some electric auto
mobiles, which were the first cars ever offered to the people of Detroit,
and he at this time opened the first exclusive automobile store in this
city, which was located at 254 Jefferson avenue, east, in what was known
as the Biddle House Block. In 1901 he had built for his use, the six
story brick business block at the corner of Jefferson avenue and Brush
street, where he conducted a general wholesale and retail automobile
business until 1905, when he sold his interests to the Cadillac Motor
Car Company. In 1900 Mr. Metzger, together with William Barbour,
Jr., and G. M. Gundeson, organized the Northern Motor Car Company,
which they owned and continued as a manufacturing organization un
til it was amalgamated with the Wayne Automobile Company in 1908,
the two forming what was known as the "E. M. F. Company". In
October, 1902, Mr. Metzger- assisted in organizing the Cadillac Motor
Car Company, which organization he entered as general sales manager,
director and stockholder, and where he continued for six years. In
1908 Walter E. Flanders, Byron F. Everitt and Mr. Metzger organ
ized the " E. M. F. Company, ' ' which took over the amalgamated North
ern and Wayne Automobile Companies, and so continued until the
following spring (1909), when Mr. Everitt and Mr. Metzger sold their
interests in the "E. M. F. Company" and organized the Metzger Motor
Car Company, of which Mr. Metzger became secretary and treasurer.
In July, 1912, Messrs. Flanders, Everitt and Metzger became re-united
in business by forming the Everitt Motor -Car Company, of which Mr.
Metzger is secretary. This combination of automobile brains, experi
ence and general ability beyond question forms one of the strongest
organizations in the world today, and its possibilities are unbounded.
Mr. Metzger has always been an enthusiast in everything pertaining
to automobile interests, and has been a strong advocate of the organiz
ation of such interests. During the years of 1911 and 1912 he served
as president of the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers,
which is the one organization of the kind in this country. He is also
a member and was one of the organizers of the Automobile Club of De
troit. He is a member of the Rushmere, Wolverine, Motor Boat, Yacht,
and other clubs, and is a thirty-second degree Mason and member of
the Shrine.
Mr. Metzger married Miss Grace, the daughter of the late George
Kimball, of Detroit. She died in 1907, leaving one daughter, Grace
Elaine, aged seven years.
Henry Martyn Leland. Conceded by all to be one of the able
manufacturers and business men, Henry Martyn Leland occupies an
especially prominent place in the automobile world, having successfully
managed the Cadillac Motor Company, in which corporation he still

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1065
holds an executive and advisory position, having been succeeded by
his son, Wilfred C. Leland, as general manager,
Mr. Leland is one of the fine examples of self-made men in the Uni
ted States. He is universally admired and respected by all who know
him. He is a product of the Green Mountain state, having been born
at Danville, Vermont, February 16, 1843, and is a direct descendant
of Henry Leland, who was born4n England in 1625, and who having
married Margaret Babcock, came to America in the year 1652. The
founder of the Leland family died at Sherbom, Massachusetts, April
14, 1680. The father of Henry Leland, Leander B., was a farmer and
for twenty years before the advent of the railroads, drove an eight
horse team between Montreal and Boston.
Coming from such hardy stock it is not surprising that Mr. Leland
carved out for himself so enviable a career. He secured his early edu
cation in the little red school houses of Vermont and Massachusetts,
when the school year comprised thirteen weeks. Before leaving school
he worked several months each year at shoemaking. After finishing
his course in the country schools he worked one year at Worcester,
Massachusetts, making carriage wheels. He was then apprenticed to
learn the machinist's trade with the George Crompton Loom Works at
Worcester, in November, 1859. The Civil war broke out when he was
eighteen years of age and within one year of the termination of his
apprenticeship. While Mr. Leland did not go to the front, he still served his country
well during the struggle. Going to Springfield, Massachusetts, he en
tered the United States armory there and was engaged in making tools
utilized in the manufacture of rifles required by the "Boys in Blue".
After the close of the Civil war he entered the service of the Colts
Firearm Company at Hartford, Connecticut, where he remained a year,
subsequent to which he returned to Worcester and worked as machinist
and tool maker in several shops. These experiences stimulated a love
for manufacturing, and concluding that the Brown & Sharp Manufac
turing Company of Providence, Rhode Island, represented the highest
type of manufacturers, he moved to Providence, and there entered
their employ as a tool maker. His rise from thence on was steady and
he was soon placed in positions of responsibility. In a few years he
was given the foremanship of the large sewing machine department
operated by this company. This enabled him to fully develop his splen
did mechanical talent.
The appeal of the growing west led him to move to Detroit, Mich
igan, in 1890, where he entered the machine business for himself.
Shortly after starting in business he took as. his partner Mr. R. C.
Faulconer and organized the firm of Leland & Faulconer Manufactur
ing Company, makers of special machinery. Success attended their
efforts from the outset and the company became widely known as lead
ers in their lines of products. This period gave rise to the, popular
naptha launch, and Leland & Faulconer became extensive builders of
internal combustion engines. Being an engine builder, at the birth of
the automobile business Mr. Leland became an authority on the build
ing of automobile engines, and to secure a larger market for his en
gines he helped to organize the Cadillac Automobile Company in 1902.
In 1905 the Leland & Faulconer Manufacturing Company became con
solidated with the Cadillac, Mr. Leland becoming general manager of
the merged companies, under the name of the Cadillac Motor Car Com
pany. Wilfred C. Leland succeeded his father as general manager, but
Mr. Leland continues with the corporation as advisory manager.
During his long, active life, Mr. Leland 's associations have led him
closer to the Republican party than any other, though he always de-
voi. ni— 1 5

1066 HISTORY OF DETROIT
termines for himself his political issues, and invariably supports the
candidate of cleanest character, regardless of party. He has been a
member, since its organization, of the National Manufacturers Associa
tion, the National Founders Association, the National Metal Trades
Association, and the United Order of the Golden Cross. He is also
active in numerous trade and benevolent organizations. While in the
east he was a member of the Pearl Street Baptist church of Providence,
Rhode Island, but has been a member and official of the Westminister
Presbyterian church since first coming to Detroit.
Mr. Leland was married September 25, 1867, at Millbury, Massachu
setts, to Ellen R. Hull, daughter of Elias Hull,an enterprising and suc
cessful farmer of Millbury. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Leland
are: M. Gertrude, Wilfred Chester and Miriam (deceased). Gertrude is
the wife of Anson C. Woodbridge of Detroit.
Wilfred Chester Leland. Quiet, unassuming, yet possessed of
splendid insight and judgment, Mr. Leland is a good type of the clean
cut, modern business man. A master organizer and an indefatigable
worker, he has risen to his present well merited position of general man
ager of the Cadillac Motor Car Company, recognized as one of the most
prosperous automobile concerns in the country.
Born at Worcester, Massachusetts, November 7, 1869, Mr. Leland
has already carved out a notable business career, and as he has probably
many years ahead of him, he will emulate his father, having many of the
characteristics which so conspicuously contributed to the success of the
elder Leland. Wilfred C. Leland laid the foundation of an excellent
education in the public schools of Worcester, Massachusetts, and Prov
idence, Rhode Island, later attending the Ohio University and Brown
University. Upon finishing his course at the university Mr. Leland associated
himself with his father, Henry M., in the manufacture of machinery,
particularly marine and automobile engines. An apt scholar under so
capable a teacher, he soon mastered all the details of the business and
became thoroughly capable. By successive stages the business in which
he was interested developed into the Cadillac Motor Car Company of
the present day, with Mr. W. C. Leland as its general manager and lead
ing spirit.
He is popular in business and social circles; a member of Zeta Psi
fraternity, Corinthian Lodge, No. 241, F. & A. M. ; Detroit Club, Detroit
Boat Club, Detroit Automobile Club; Detroit Board of Commerce; and
is also a member of the Westminister Presbyterian church, as well as
being upon the official board of the National Young Men's Christian
Association. On June 27, 1907, he was united in marriage to Blanch Millineau
Dewey, daughter of the late Judge Dewey, of Detroit. Mr. and Mrs.
Leland have one child, Wilfred Chester, Jr., born April 6, 1908.
Cadillac Motor Car Company. The Cadillac bears the distinction
of being the oldest manufacturer of motor cars in Detroit, the world's
center of the motor car industry. Its inception dates back to June in
the year 1902, only a few years ago in point of time, yet "in the long
ago" in motor car history. At that time several of Detroit's prominent
citizens and capitalists, Messrs. Clarence A. Black, Lem W. Bowen, Wil
liam H. Murphy, A. E. F. White and a few others organized, with Mr.
H. M. Leland, the Cadillac Automobile Company. The company pro
ceeded at once with preparations to manufacture cars on a somewhat
more extensive scale than had heretofore been undertaken. They had a

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1067
plant thoroughly equipped with all facilities excepting for the manu
facture of motors.
The Leland and Faulconer Manufacturining Company had acquired
an enviable reputation for manufacturing marine and automobile motors
as well as high efficiency machinery, gears, etc. Their co-operation was
sought and a ^contract was consummated for the making of three thou
sand Cadillac single cylinder engines. The size of this contract caused
the automobile world to gasp. It was looked upon as little short of
idiocy. But the automobile world did not for some time begin to
appreciate the far sightedness of the Cadillac organizers.
Before the close of the year 1902 a number of cars were built and
tested out. The following year about 2,000 cars were made and sold.
The remainder of the original 3,000 motors were used within a few
months thereafter and a second large order placed. It is the pride of
the Cadillac Company that everyone of those cars, so far as they are
able to learn, is still in service.
In April, 1904, the company suffered a disastrous loss by fire, in
which a considerable portion of the plant was destroyed. But they were
not to be disheartened and before the smoke had cleared away plans had
been formulated for continuing work and in less than one week the ship
ping of ears was resumed.
The company continued the manufacture of the one cylinder cars
for some five years and produced in all 'about 20,000 of that type. In
the meantime, however, in 1905, the company placed its first four
cylinder model on the market.
By this time the interests of the then Cadillac Automobile Company
and the Leland and Faulconer Manufacturing Company had become so
closely identified that a consolidation of the two was effected under the
name of the Cadillac Motor Car Company, and the general manage
ment of the new organization was assumed by Mr. Henry M. Leland, in
which he was most ably assisted by his son, Wilfred C. Leland, who was
elected secretary.
In 1906 a new model was added to the line, and another in 1907.
While the Cadillac Company had always been recognized as one of the
largest producers both as to quantity of cars and volume of business, the
fall of 1908 marked the beginning of a new era, in their career. At
that time a sensation was created in automobile circles by the announce
ment of a new car, the Cadillac ' ' Thirty " to be sold at $1,400, a hither
to unheard of price for a car of its type, size and power, and some
7,000 of the cars were made and marketed. For 1910 the car was en
larged all around and refined, several additions made to the equipment,
and exactly 8,000 were manufactured and sold at $1,600.
For 1911 the ear was still further enlarged and refined and prepar
ations made for the manufacture of 11,000 at a price of $1,700 for the
standard model.
In March of 1911 the Cadillac Company recorded its largest business
having shippe'd and received payment for 1912 cars during that month,
amounting to, including extra equipment sold with the cars, approx
imately two and one half millions of dollars. The largest shipment in
a single day was 141 cars.
The personnel and management of the active organization of the Cad
illac Company is, with the exception of a few minor changes, much the
same today as for a number of years. About July 1, 1909, however, Mr.
Wilfred C. Leland assumed the general managership of the company to
succeed Mr. Henry M. Leland, who is still actively associated with the
company in an executive and advisory capacity. -

1068 HISTORY OF DETROIT
The history of the Cadillac is one continuous round of success and
its cars are found in practically every country of the globe.
John R. Stirling. In the death of John R. Stirling, which occurred
at his home at No. 73 Ledyard street, April 14, 1912, the city of Detroit
lost a man who assisted in forming the policies by which many great
ventures were governed, one whose years were spent in orderly and
abundant work, in the acquiring of wealth and the sane enjoyment
thereof, and in securing and preserving the good will and esteem of all.
Mr. Stirling lived an active life that gained him prominence in many
ways and was indefatigable in his services to his community, his friends
and his family, although it is probable that he was best known and his
worth most fully appreciated in theatrical circles and as the owner of
one of Detroit's finest hotels. He was born at St. Joseph's Island,
Canada, June 16, 1851, a son of John and Agnes Stirling, and was two
years of age when brought to Detroit by his parents, who settled in a
cottage where the Lyceum Theatre now stands, that entire block at the
time being known as the Brush Gardens. He secured a public school
education, and was graduated from the Cass-Union school in 1865, and
after a course at the Bryant & Stratton Business College entered his
father's employ in a clerical capacity, the senior Stirling being repre
sentative for the forwarding and commission firm of Henry J. Buckley
& Company, at the foot of First street. Three years later Mr. Stirling
drifted into the theatrical business, for which he had much natural tal
ent, and for some years had experience in both black and white-face
business, but at the request of his parents, Who did not look with favor
upon the stage as a vocation, he returned to Detroit and studied law with
the firm of Wisner & Speed, being admitted to the bar by the supreme
court of Michigan in April, 1879. This business, however, did not
appeal to the young man, and he subsequently became a tenor with the
Holman English Opera Company, later becoming one of the managers
of the Acme Opera Company.
Mr. Stirling's father had been the first secretary of the board of park
commissioners, and when he died the son was appointed to succeed him,
holding the position until his resignation in 1892 to become secretary
of the Citizens' Street Railway, now the Detroit United Railway. He
remained until the sale of that company, when he again entered the
theatrical business, as a member of the firm of Whitney, Stair & Stirl
ing, proprietors of the Star, Teck and Academy Theatres in Buffalo,
and was resident manager for ten years, when he came back to Detroit.
It was during his membership in this firm that he became manager for
Sis Hopkins (Rose Melville), and their highly successful partnership
continued for a period of thirteen years. A few years prior to his
death, Mr. Stirling became proprietor of the Hotel St. Claire, being as
sisted in its management by his eldest sons. He was one of the founders
and first secretary of the Detroit Lodge of Elks, afterwards serving as
exalted ruler for two terms, and was also connected with Detroit Lodge,
No. 2, F. & A. M., Peninsular Chapter, Detroit Commandery and Mystic
Shrine of Masonry. His funeral was conducted by the Knights Temp
lar, and he was laid to rest in beautiful Woodlawn cemetery. Men of
Mr. Sterling's worth are all too rare. Every form of wise charity had
his practical support, his every act was actuated by public-spirit, and
his good judgment and high purpose in life may well serve as examples
to be emulated.
In January, 1880, Mr. Stirling was united in marriage to Carrie Lil
lian Bateman, a resident of Detroit, but a native of Adrian, Michigan,
and they had three sons: John M. and Robert B., who are conducting

g,9^

^.<y

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1069
the hotel business; and Dr. Alex M., one of Detroit's well known young
practicing physicians and surgeons.
Edward S. Snow, M. D. The late Dr. Edward Sparrow Snow, who
died at his home in the village of Dearborn, on the 18th of July, 1892,
at the age of seventy-two years, was long numbered among the leading
representatives of the medical profession in Wayne county, and was one
of its old and honored practitioners at the time of his demise. In his
exacting calling he labored with all of ability and self-abnegation in the
alleviation of human suffering, and his name is revered in the many
families to whom he ministered. He maintained an office in Detroit and
controlled a large and representative practice in the community in which
he lived, the village of Dearborn being now virtually a suburb of the
Michigan metropolis. He was a man who wielded much influence in con
nection with the civic and industrial development and upbuilding of
Wayne county and as a citizen he was ever loyal, progressive and public-
spirited. His life was ordered upon a lofty plane of integrity and
honor, was characterized by broad humanitarian spirit and human help
fulness, as well as by high intellectual and professional attainments, and
no citizen held more secure place in popular confidence and esteem. His
ability and productive energy led him into various fields of enterprise
aside from the work of his exacting profession and he achieved large
and worthy success, which he scorned to gain by any save honorable
means. He was one of the early settlers of the village of Dearborn,
which is located about ten miles from Detroit, and was a prominent
factor in the development of that section of the county, where he con
tinued to reside until he was called from the scene of life's mortal en
deavors, in the fulness of years and well earned honors.
Dr. Edward Sparrow Snow was born at Austinburg, Ashtabula
county, Ohio, on the 5th of July, 1820, and this date bears evidence of
the fact that his parents, Sparrow and Clara (Kneeland) Snow, were
numbered among the pioneers of the historic old Western Reserve. They
were also representatives of families, of English extraction, that were
founded in New England in the colonial days, and both were natives of
the state of Massachusetts, where the Kneeland family was long one of
special prominence and influence. Sparrow Snow was reared and edu
cated in his native state and removed to Ohio in the second decade of
the nineteenth century, becoming one of the early settlers of Ashtabula
county, where he reclaimed a farm and also became interested in other
lines of enterprise. He was a citizen of sterling character and marked
ability and was an influential figure in connection with industrial and
civic activities in Ashtabula county, where both he and his wife con
tinued to reside until their death.
Dr. Edward S. Snow was indebted to the common schools of his
native county for his early educational discipline and his ambition to
secure a liberal education was not denied fulfillment. His parents gave
him all the assistance in their power and through his own exertions he
finally was enabled to prepare himself thoroughly for the profession in
which he was destined to gain so marked success and prestige. After
duly availing himself of the advantages of the pioneer schools he con
tinued his studies in Grand River Institute, an excellent academic in
stitution at Austinburg, Ohio, in which he was graduated as a member
of the class of 1842. Thereafter he devoted his attention for some time
to teaching in the common schools of Palmyra and Jackson, Ohio, and
finally he began reading medicine under the able preceptorship of Dr.
0. K. Hawley, of Austinburg, one of the leading physicians and sur
geons of Ashtabula county. In further prosecution of his technical
studies he entered the medical department of the famous old Western

1070 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Reserve University, in which he was graduated in 1847 and from which
he received his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. In the same
year he came to Michigan and located at Dearborn, where he continued
in the work of his profession until the time of his death, ever keeping
in touch with the advances made in both medicine and surgery and min
istering with all of devotion to those who were in need of his services.
He was more than a mere purveyor of pills and powders. He was a
true friend, a dispenser of good cheer, a safe and wise counselor in all
matters affecting the happiness and welfare of the family and the com
munity. His calling was to him something more than a cold-blooded
science, without soul, heart or sympathy. It had to do with mind as
well as matter, with mental as well as physical conditions. Professional
ethics and ideals were sedulously inculcated at the school in which he
received his training and personal honor was held to be of prime im
portance in the equipment for professional work. This personal honor
and this high sense of stewardship were chief endowments of Dr. Snow
and were made manifest in all his intercourse with his fellow men. His
entrance to the sick chamber was like the coming of a gleam of sunshine,
and his words of encouragement and sympathy were powerful aid to
nature in restoring normal healthful conditions. His dominating pur
pose was to alleviate suffering and distress, and his reward was based
upon honest and conscientious service. Where there was poverty or in
ability to pay, he found his reward in the consciousness of professional
duty willingly performed. Under these conditions can it be wondered
that the memory of the noble man and excellent physician is held in
reverence in the community in which he so long lived and labored?
Honesty of purpose, gentleness, chivalry, charity and good cheer were
dominating characteristics of Dr. Snow, and the world is better for his
having lived.
During the early years of his residence at Dearborn Dr. Snow took
great interest in military affairs, as had he previously in Ohio, where
he had served as adjutant of the First Rifle Regiment of the Second
Brigade ,of the state militia. After coming to Dearborn he was
appointed assistant surgeon of the Detroit arsenal, which was located
at Dearborn, and he continued the incumbent of this position for some
time. A short time after his initial retirement he was reappointed by
Jefferson Davis, who was the secretary of war of the United States, and
he continued in service as assistant surgeon until 1879, his duties having
been specially onerous during the climacteric period of the Civil war. In
the year mentioned the arsenal at Dearborn was abolished by the govern
ment, and thereafter the Doctor gave his undivided attention to his
large and representative private practice. He was a prominent and
valued member of the Wayne County Medical Society, the Michigan
Medical Society, and the American Medical Association, and he attended
a number of the conventions of the last mentioned organization, — at
Cleveland, Baltimore, Washington, Buffalo, New York City, Louisville
and other places. In 1876 he was elected an honorary member of the
alumni association of the medical department of the University of Mich
igan, as he had shown great interest in furthering the success of this
important department of the great institution.
Dr. Snow manifested a specially vital and helpful interest in all that
touched the welfare of his home village and was a valued factor in con
nection with its business, public and social activities. He served for
some time as president of the Dearborn Literary Society, to which office
he was elected in 1874, and he did all in his power to foster educational
interests in the village, county and state. Dr. Snow allied himself with
the Republican party at the 'time of its organization and ever afterward
gave a staunch allegiance to its cause, though in local affairs, where no

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1071
generic issues were involved, he gave his support to men and measures
meeting the approval of his judgment, without regard to strict partisan
lines. In the spring of 1860 he removed with his family into the fine
brick residence which he had erected and in which his widow still main
tains her home, the place being endeared to her by the. gracious associa
tions and hallowed memories of many years. The Doctor, by successive
purchases of land in Dearborn township, ultimately became the owner
of a fine farm of about three hundred acres, and he found great satis
faction in supervising the improvement and general affairs of this estate,
on which he erected several small dwellings for the families of the men
whom he employed to direct its work. He made a specialty of raising
high-grade live stock and his sales of stock reached as high an aggregate
as several thousand dollars in a single year. The Doctor was an attend
ant of the Protestant Episcopal church, of which his widow is a member,
and they were liberal supporters of the work of the local parish of this
church, with which Mrs. Snow is still actively identified, though now
venerable in years. Dr. Snow made many judicious investments in real
estate, including a large tract of land which is now known as Snow's
subdivision of the city of Detroit. He was a man of broad views and
mature judgment and through his well directed efforts he acquired a
substantial competency, — the just reward of years of earnest and faith
ful endeavor. When he was summoned to the life eternal the entire
community manifested a deep sense of personal loss and bereavement,
for no citizen of Dearborn had been better known or more uniformly
loved and esteemed. The remains of Dr. Snow rest in beautiful North-
view cemetery at Dearborn, where a stately monument has been erected
as a memorial, but his best monument is that of his worthy life and
kindly deeds.
In his native town in Ohio, on the 22d of October, 1851, was solemn
ized the marriage of Dr. Snow to Miss Elizabeth Austin, who was there
born and reared and who is a daughter of Lucius Montgomery Austin
and Melissa (Whiting) Austin, both born in Connecticut. The town
of Austinburg, Ashtabula county, Ohio, was founded by Mrs. Snow's
great-uncle, Judge Eliphalet Austin. Mrs. Snow, a woman of most
gracious personality, proved a devoted companion and helpmeet to her
honored husband and is held in affectionate regard in the community
that has so long been her home. In conclusion of this brief memoir is
entered brief record concerning the children of Dr. and Mrs. Snow :
Herbert Montgomery Snow, who was born on the 26th of July, 1858,
attended the Grand River Institute at Austinburg, Ohio, and later
graduated from the Detroit high school. He then entered the law de
partment of the University of Michigan, in which he was graduated as
a member of the class of 1883. Thereafter he was engaged in the prac
tice of his profession in Detroit for a short time, and he then engaged
in the real-estate business, in which he gave major attention to the man
agement of the land which his father had purchased in that city, with
an office in the Hammond Building. He platted the subdivision prev
iously noted and continued to be actively identified with the real estate
business until his death, which occurred on the 27th of October, 1897.
In the meanwhile he continued to reside at Dearborn and was an influ
ential factor in public affairs of a local order. He was a most earnest
and consistent churchman of the Protestant Episcopal church and at
the time of his demise was treasurer and a member of the vestry of the
parish of this church in Dearborn. He was a staunch Republican in
politics but the only public office in which he consented to serve was that
of school inspector. He was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and
held membership in various social organizations of representative char
acter. On the 12th of September, 1883, at Ann Arbor, Michigan, Her-

1072 HISTORY OF DETROIT
bert M. Snow was united in marriage to Miss Mary L. Martyn, daughter
of Thomas and Mary (Dark) Martyn, of that city, and she survives her
husband, as do also their three children, — Harry A., who is a graduate
of the University of Michigan ; Clara L., who was graduated in the same
institution; and Gertrude, who was graduated in the Detroit high school.
Edward Auchmuty Snow, the younger of the two children of Dr. and
Mrs. Snow, was born on the 9th of March, 1863, and passed to the life
eternal on the .8th of September; 1884, shortly after attaining to his
legal majority. He had attended Grand River Institute and at the time
of his death was studying medicine under the preceptorship of his
father, to whom the death of the son was a most severe blow. The beau
tiful old family homestead in Dearborn has long been known as a center
of most gracious and refined hospitality and it has been the stage of
many of the principal social events of the community.
Jasper -Calvin Gates, a lawyer, was born at Pleasantville, Pennsyl
vania, March 23, 1850, the son of the Rev. Aaron and Amanda M.
(Cross) Gates. He is a direct descendant of Sir Thomas Gates, gov
ernor of Virginia from 1609 to 1618. He is also a descendant of
Governor Bradford, governor of Plymouth Colony for thirty-seven
years. All of his ancestors were in America before 1660, and he has
proved seven of his ancestors who served in the Revolutionary war.
The paternal grandfather was Aaron Gates who served as Captain in
the War of 1812.
Rev. Aaron Gates, the father of the subject, was born in Warrens-
burg, New York, was educated at what is now Colgate University, New
York, and became a Baptist minister. The mother of the subject of
this sketch was born at Georgetown, New York, the daughter of Calvin
Cross, a soldier of the War of 1812. The great-grandfather was Uriah
Cross, who was a double second cousin of Ethan Allen and served in the
Green Mountain Boy Regiment during the Revolutionary war. The
original name of the family of the mother of our subject was De la Croix
and they were French Huguenots.
Jasper C. Gates, who has become one of the most successful lawyers
of the Detroit bar, was educated in the Pleasantville, Pennsylvania,
Academy and was graduated at Union College, Schenectady, New York,
with the degree of C. E. in 1872, and received the degree of A. B. in
1873, and in 1893 the honorary degree of A. M. was conferred upon
him. In 1874 he graduated from the Albany (N. Y.) Law School, with
the degree of LL. B. Coming to Michigan in 1875, he entered upon the
practice of the law at Kalamazoo. In 1876 he came to Detroit and be
came a member of the law firm of Frazer and- Gates, which firm con
tinued until 1895. He became a professor in the Detroit College of Law
in 1893, lecturing on Evidence, Real Property, Trusts, Landlord and
Tenant, Domestic Relations, Partnerships and Agency. He proposed leg
islative bills which became laws with slight amendments, as follows:
1891 — Civil Service examination of prospective jurors of the Wayne
circuit court, limiting appeals from justice courts in Wayne County,
caucus law for Detroit ; 1903 — Primary Election Law for Wayne county.
Mr. Gates is a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce; of the
Executive Committee of the Detroit Municipal League; was President
of the Detroit Baptist Union for ten years. He was also President
the Michigan Baptist Convention in 1909-1910. He married Lulu
Foster, daughter of Colonel John Foster, of Kalamazoo. She is de
scended from Edward Foster, a lawyer who came over to the Plymouth
colony in 1635.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1073
Abram W. Sempliner. Like many another ambitious young man,
Abram W. Sempliner, born at Bay City, October 15, 1881,. gravitated
to Detroit as the centre of legal activity of the state, and casting his
fortunes with the City of the Straits, has more than made good, occupy
ing a prominent position in the estimation of his fellow citizens.
The son of William and Hedwig (Alexander) Sempliner, he was
reared and received his education in the public schools of Bay City.
Graduating from these, he passed through high school and then went to
Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he entered the law department of the Uni
versity of Michigan and where he was graduated with the class of '02,
degree of LL.B. In 1902 he came to Detroit and entered the law office
of Alexander J. Groesbeck, where he has since continued, although en
gaged in the general practice of the law for himself.
On June 26, 1907, Mr. Sempliner was united in marriage to Miss
Ida M. Tippling, of Detroit, the daughter of Thomas and Ann Tippling.
To this union one son has been born, William Myron Sempliner.
Mr. Sempliner 's father was a native of Hungary, and his mother
was born at New York City. The elder Mr. Sempliner located in Bay
City in 1865 and for thirty-five years was engaged in maintaining a
general merchandise store in that city.
Edward J. Kendall, M. D. The neighboring province of Ontario,
Canada, has contributed a most liberal and valued element to the citizen
ship of the Michigan metropolis, and among those of Canadian birth
who now occupy secure place in connection with the varied activities
of Detroit stands Dr. Kendall, who is one of the representative phy
sicians and surgeons of the city.
Dr. Edward James Kendall was born in the town of Welland, On
tario, the judicial center of the county of the same name, on January 20,
1861. He is a son of John and Sarah Ann (Badger) Kendall, both of
whom were born and reared in England, whence they came to the prov
ince of Ontario, Canada, about the year 1856, their marriage having
been solemnized at St. Catherines, that province. The father was a tal
ented artist and decorator and as such he found employment for his
abilities during the greater part of his active career. Both he and his
wife continued to reside in the province of Ontario until death. Both
were zealous communicants of the Church of England, in whose faith
they reared their children, of whom one son and one daughter are now
living. Dr. Kendall was a child at the time of the family removal to Niagara
Falls, Ontario, at which place he attended the common and high schools.
He then entered the Ontario College of Pharmacy, at Toronto, in which
he was graduated as a member of the class of 1881, after which he
had the management of a drug store in the city of Rochester, New York,
for a time. He finally engaged in the same line of business on his own
responsibility and continued his residence in Rochester until he had
formulated plans for entering the medical profession, for which his
pharmaceutical training had given him valuable discipline in a prelim
inary way. He had closely studied the pharmacopeia and had become
especially well informed in materia medica and therapeutics. He early
became impressed with the Homeopathic school of medicine, and his
later success and prestige have amply justified his choice of the same as
his sphere of earnest and effective endeavor. He entered the Hahne
mann Homeopathic Medical College in the city of Philadelphia, in which
admirable institution he completed the prescribed course with high
honors. He was graduated as a member of the class of 1895 and duly
received his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. The same year
he established his home in Detroit, and here he has since continued in

1074 HISTORY OF DETROIT
the active general practice of his profession, in which he has gained
precedence as one of the leading representatives and exponents of
Homeopathy, the while his clientage is of extensive and representative
character. From 1898 to 1901 Dr. Kendall gave most effective and dis
criminating service as inspector for the city board of health, and his
devotion to his profession has not been shown- alone in his private prac
tice, for he has become a valued factor in its educational work, as a
member of the faculty of the Detroit Homeopathic College of Medicine,
in which he holds the chair of materia medica. He is also a member of
the medical staff of Grace Hospital. His study of the best in the stand
ard and periodical literature of his profession has been carried to the
ultimate bounds, his contributions to the same have been many and val
uable, and his original research and investigation have done mneh to
further the progress of his school of practice. A man of fine person
ality and unfailing courtesy, he has gained the high regard of his pro
fessional confreres and a secure place in popular confidence and esteem
in the community which is his home. He is a member of the Inter
national Hahnemannian Association, the American Institute of Home
opathy, the Michigan State Homeopathic Medical Society, and the
Detroit Practitioners' Society, of which last mentioned he served several
years as secretary and one year as president. Convinced of the legit
imacy and great superiority of the Homeopathic system of medication,
which serves primarily to "remove or annihilate disease in its whole
extent in the shortest, most reliable and most harmless way on easily
comprehensible principles rather than to produce physiological reac
tions by the use of heavy drug-dosage, ' ' Dr. Kendall holds closely to the
best teachings of his school and his personal success in practice offers
the strongest argument in favor of the system. He has one of the finest
private Homeopathic and general medical libraries in the state, and the
same includes many rare books long since out of print. He has effectu
ally covered the entire domain of Homeopathy and is one of its leading
exponents in Michigan.
Loyal and progressive as a citizen, Dr. Kendall has shown a lively
interest in public affairs of a local order. He is affiliated with Ashlar
Lodge, No. 91, Free & Accepted Masons, and with Wayne Lodge, No
104, Knights of Pythias.
In Detroit, on the 29th of April, 1908, Dr. Kendall was united in
marriage to Mrs. Marjorie B. Austin, daughter of Richard Hart.
Glenn E. Macklem, M. D. Distinctively eligible for recognition in
this publication as one of the representative younger members of the
medical profession in his native city, Dr. Glenn Edrie Macklem is a
scion of a family whose name has been identified with the civic and bus
iness interests of Detroit for more than half a century. He was born
in this city on the 27th day of May, 1883', and is a son of Stephen B.
and Ella T. (Pursell) Macklem, the former of whom was born at Ham
ilton, province of Ontario, Canada, and the latter at Waterford, that
province. Stephen B. Macklem was a lad of about fifteen years at the
time of the family removal to Detroit, where his father, John Macklem,
became a prosperous business man and passed the residue of his life.
Here the son was reared to maturity and here he has continuously main
tained his home since the later '60s. He was for many years one of the
leading representatives of the real-estate and insurance business in
Detroit, and he is now living virtually retired, after years of earnest and
fruitful endeavor. He has, through his business operations in past
years, contributed much to the upbuilding and progress of the Michigan
metropolis, and he has ever commanded secure vantage ground in the

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1075
confidence and esteem of the community that has so long represented his
home. He is a liberal and public-spirited citizen, is a staunch Repub
lican in his political proclivities, and both he and his wife hold member
ship in the Methodist Episcopal church.
The unrivaled public schools of Detroit afforded Dr. Macklem his
early educational advantages and he was graduated in the Central high
school as a member of the class of 1897. In the autumn of the same year
he was matriculated in the academic or literary department of the Uni
versity of Michigan, in which great institution he was graduated in
1901, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In preparation for the work
of his chosen profession Dr. Macklem did not avail himself of the
advantages of the institutions of his native state, but entered the med
ical department of the University of Louisville, Kentucky, — a depart
ment whose facilities and curriculum are of the highest standard, and
in the same he was graduated as a member of the class of 1905, with
the well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. He served as House
Surgeon of the Louisville city hospital in 1905-6 and then returned to
Detroit, where he gained further and most valuable clinical experience
in the office of house surgeon of Grace Hospital, an incumbency which
he retained during 1907-8. He is. now a member of the visiting staff of
this noble institution and also that of Providence Hospital. In the
meanwhile he had established a sucessful private practice and early in
the year 1912 he showed his professional progressiveness and civic enter
prise by opening the private institution known as the Convalescent
Hospital. This institution has the best equipment throughout, with
modern sanitary provisions and other accessories, and it can not but
prove a most valuable addition to the list of hospitals in the Michigan
metropolis, the while it can claim many special advantages and facil
ities not known in the general hospitals of public order. Of this new
institution Dr. Macklem has direct supervision and is Surgeon in Chief.
He is specializing in Abdominal Surgery and Diseases of Children, and
in his hospital will give particular attention to the treatment of abdom
inal disorders. He is a member of the American Medical Association,
the Michigan State Medical Society, the Wayne County Medical Society
and the Phi Chi medical fraternity. In politics the doctor is aligned
as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republican party and in his
native city he is identified with various representative fraternal and
social organizations, besides which he is a member of the alumni asso
ciation of the University of Michigan and that of the University of
Louisville. The church relations of himself and his wife are with the
Methodist denomination.
On the 31st of October, 1908, Dr. Macklem was united in marriage
to Miss Charlotte Cora Pohl, who was born and reared in Detroit, where
her father, Frederick B. Pohl, is a representative business man. Dr.
and Mrs. Macklem have a winsome little daughter, Olive Virginia.
David J. Levy, M. D. The beautiful city of Kalamazoo, Michigan,
figures as the native place of this alert and representative young phy
sician of Detroit, and he is known for his fine general scholarship as
well as for marked professional attainments. Dr. Levy was born on the
8th of February, 1881, and is a son of Jacob and* Alice (Desenberg)
Levy, the former of whom was born in Alsace-Lorraine, Germany, and
the latter in Davenport, Iowa. The father was a representative business
man of Kalamazoo, and there both he and his wife continued to reside
until their death.
Dr. Levy made good use of the advantages afforded him in the public
schools of his native city, where he was graduated in the high school as
a member of the class of 1898. Thereafter he continued his studies for

1076 HISTORY OF DETROIT
one year in Kalamazoo College, after which he was matriculated in the
literary department of the University of Michigan, in which he was
graduated in 1902 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor
of Arts.. In 1903 he held a scholarship in Rockefeller Institute of Med
ical Research, under Professor Novy, at Ann Arbor, Michigan. During
the ensuing two years he was assistant in bacteriology in the University
of Michigan, and in the medical department of this great institution he
was graduated as a member of the class of 1906, with the degree of
Doctor of Medicine. He later did effective post-graduate and original
research work in leading institutions of Boston, and New York City. In
1907 he began the practice of his profession in Kalamazoo, Michigan,
and he served two years as health officer of his native city. In 1910 the
Doctor went to Europe, where he served as volunteer assistant to Profes
sor Finkelstein, of the Municipal Infants ' Hospital in the city of Berlin,
and to Professor Schlesinger, of the General Hospital in Vienna. His
experience in this association with these renowned German scientists
and physicians was of inestimable value to him, and it may readily be
.understood that he brings to the work of his profession a specially fine
training and a well disciplined mind.
In March, 1911, Dr. Levy established his residence in Detroit, and
here he is meeting with gratifying success, the while he confines his at
tention to internal medicine and the treatment of the diseases of chil
dren. He is pediatrician to the United Jewish Charities of Detroit, to
the dispensary of the Franklin Street Settlement, a social center, and to
the Salvation Army. The Doctor is identified with the American Medical
Association, the Michigan State Medical Society, in which organization
he is secretary of the medical section, the Wayne County Medical Society
and with the Detroit Society of Neurology and Psychiatry. He is a
member of the Phoenix Club, and holds membership in Congregation
Beth El. The Doctor is an enthusiast in his profession and as a scient
ist, and his humanitarian spirit and broad sympathies are destined to
make his angle of influence constantly widen in beneficence.
William Brodie, M. p., who died at his home in the city of Detroit,
on the 30th of July, 1890, was one of the favored mortals whom nature
launches into the world with the heritage of a sturdy ancestry, a splen
did physique, a masterful mind and energy enough for many men.
Added to these attributes were extraordinary intellectual attainments
and the well stored lessons of a wide and varied experience. Such a
man could not be obscure, and it was given him to achieve high stand
ing in the medical profession, which he dignified and honored by his
character and services. He came to Detroit more than sixty years ago,
in 1851, and for many years he held prestige as one of the most able and
honored representatives of his profession in Michigan. He was a dis
tinguished factor in the educational work of his profession, was broad-
minded and public-spirited as a citizen, was a force in connection with
those agencies that touch the general welfare, and his life counted for
good in its every relation. He was a type of the true gentleman and a
represenative of the best in the community, — dignified and yet possessed
of an affability and kindliness that won him warm friends among all
classes and conditions of men. In a publication of the circumscribed
order of the one at hand it is impossible to enter into minute details con
cerning the career of this honored pioneer and distinguished physician,
but the brief review here offered will, it is trusted, prove adequate to
denote the man as he was and to indicate somewhat of his large and
worthy accomplishment.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1077
Dr. William Brodie was born at Fawley Court, Buckinghamshire,
England, on the 28th of July, 1823, and thus he had just entered upon
his sixty-eighth year at the time of his death. He was a scion of the
staunchest of English-Scotch stock, his father having been a horticul
turist of some note in Buckinghamshire. He came to America in 1833
and was reared to adult age on a farm near the city of Rochester, New
York and m the meanwhile duly availed himself of the advantages
afforded m the common schools of the locality and period. Of alert and
receptive mind and distinctive ambition, he was not to be satisfied with
merely a common-school education, and his ambition was one of self-
reliance and definite purpose, as is shown by the fact that through his
own resources he maintained himself for three years as a student in
Brockport College, in which he was graduated with honors. It was his
father's desire that his son should prepare himself for the ministry, but
owing to an accident to his brother, about that time, whose wound had
not been treated as successfully as our subject thought it should be and
believing he himself could have done better, he conceived the idea of pre
paring for the medical and surgical profession:
In 1847, when twenty-four years of age, Dr. Brodie came to Mich
igan and established his residence at Pontiac, where he began the study
of medicine under the effective preceptorship of Dr. Wilson, who was at
that time one of the representative physicians of the state. He applied
himself earnestly to his technical studies and finally returned to the east
and entered the College of Physicians & Surgeons, in New York City.
In this representative institution, which now constitutes the medical de
partment of Columbia University, he was graduated as a member of the
class of 1850 and duly received his degree of Doctor of Medicine.
Soon after his graduation Dr. Brodie returned to Michigan and
established his home in Detroit, which city was destined to be the scene
of his earnest and fruitful labors during the remainder of his long and
useful career. Through the influence of that honored pioneer physician
and surgeon, Dr. Zina Pitcher, he obtained the position of house surgeon
at St. Mary's Hospital, and he soon became also examining physician
for the St. Andrew's and St. George's Societies. That the young phy
sician early proved his powers and established high professional reputa
tion is significantly shown by the fact that in 1855-6 he served as sec
retary of the American Medical Association. He also became editor of
the Peninsular Journal of Medicine & Surgery, which was published in
Detroit and which was at that time one of the leading medical period
icals of the. west. His private practice soon became substantial and rep
resentative, and he held precedence as one of the representative mem
bers of his profession in Michigan until the time when he was summoned
from the scene of life's mortal endeavors.
At the inception of the Civil war Dr. Brodie was appointed surgeon
of the First Michigan Volunteer Infantry and soon after going to the
front, by request of the Surgeon General, he took the examination for
brigade surgeon, to which position twenty were to be appointed, and he
was one of the first ten appointed. He failed to receive his commission,
however, and applied to President Lincoln for the reason. It was found
that the Michigan Senators, for political reasons, were holding up the
appointment. President Lincoln then appointed Dr. Brodie brigade
surgeon in. the Sixth Division of the Army of the Cumberland, but the
appointment was not confirmed by the senate, and the doctor returned
to Detroit. He then resumed the active practice of his profession. Soon
afterward he was elected alderman from the First ward, and two years
later he was made chairman of that body. In 1866 Dr. Brodie became
a member of the board of health of the city of Detroit, and he retained

1078 HISTORY OF DETROIT
this position until 1871. In 1887 he was again elected a member of this
important municipal body and he continued to give most earnest and
effective service in this capacity until the illness which terminated in
his death. He was president of the board when the final summons came.
He was most zealous in the promotion of .sanitary measures and in the
general safeguarding of the public health. He was a valued member of
the American Public Health Association, and from 1871 until the close
of his life he held the office of surgeon to the fire department of the
city of Detroit, besides which he was chief medical officer for the lines
of the Grand Trunk Railway system west of the Detroit river. He was
a delegate to the first convention of the International Medical Congress,
in 1876, and in 1888 he was first vice-president of this organization, at
the meeting held in the city of Washington. In 1886 he was president
of the American Medical Association, of which he had previously served
as secretary, as has already been noted in this context. In 1870 he was
vice-president of the Michigan State Medical Society, and in 1875 he
served as its president. He continued one of the active and influential
members of this society until his death. Dr. Brodie was one of the
founders of the Wayne County Medical Society and served six years as
its president, though not in a continuous way.
In all that touched the advancement of the profession which he sign
ally honored by his life and labors Dr. Brodie took an abiding and in
sistent interest, and he was specially earnest in furthering its educational
agencies as well as in aiding young men who were striving to achieve
worthy success as physicians and surgeons. He was prominently identi
fied with the organization of the Michigan College of Medicine, in 1879,
and in this institution he held the chair of clinical medicine until its
consolidation with the Detroit Medical College. In the amplified insti
tution he was elected a member of the board of trustees and also emer
itus professor of the. principles and practice of medicine and clinical
medicine, which positions he retained until the close of his life. From
1878 to 1880, inclusive, he was a member of the examining board of the
medical department of the University of Michigan. For many years he
was editor of the Therapeutic Gazette, published in Detroit, and con
cerning his work in this connection that publication spoke as follows in
a memorial given at the time of his death: "That Dr. Brodie succeeded
in establishing the position of the Gazette as an independent journal,
one appreciated and needed by the profession, is shown by the subscrip
tion list, which during his editorial management increased from less than
one thousand to eleven thousand five hundred bona fida subscribers. We
can but not feel that the continued prosperity of the Gazette is mainly
due to a close following of the policy mapped out by Dr. Brodie. The
death of Dr. Brodie will come with the shock of a personal bereavement
to a much wider circle than his immediate family. Few had a greater
list of acquaintances, no one more loving friends. Although he relin
quished with his editorial work the onerous duties also of the practicing
physician, he still kept a warm interest in the doings of the medical
world, while his unfailing good nature, rare attainments and warm heart
endeared him to all who came in contact with him. ' '
During the last six years of his life Dr. Brodie was a member of the
board of United States pension examining surgeons for Wayne county,
and he was at all times a prominent figure and valued counselor in mat
ters touching the medical profession and its work in his home city and
state. When this loved and honored physician was summoned to the
life eternal the various organizations with which he had been identified
gave earnest testimonials of esteem and appreciation and marked their
sense of loss and bereavement. To reproduce these estimates in an

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1079
article of this order is impossible, but there is a demand that a few of
such evidences be given attention. Leonard's Illustrated Medical Jour
nal^ published m Detroit, spoke as follows:
"In his death there has been removed from the ranks of the med-
™ P^0!,e.sslon one of Detroit's most cultured and sterling physicians.
Of unfailing good nature, rare attainments and whole-souled, noble per
sonality, Dr. Brodie endeared himself to the hearts of all who came with
in the circle of his influence, and it is but giving expression to a wide
spread sentiment to assert that this beloved physician will long be
missed, while the unique place he held can not but long remain unfilled
He will be remembered as the special friend of the struggling young
student of medicine, for his deep and abiding interest in young men was
a trait that remained with him to the last."
From an editorial estimate which appeared in the Detroit Free Press
are taken the following excerpts: "The death of Dr. William Brodie
will have to a very much wider circle than his immediate family the
shock of a personal bereavement. Though he relinquished some time since
the more onerous duties of his profession he has still maintained with a
large number of families the close and intimate relations built up dur
ing long years of successful practice. He was guide, counselor and
friend as well as physician, and was one of the largest hearted members
of a profession which does more work than any other for 'sweet char
ity's sake.' He had, therefore, a host of friends among the poor, and
the news 6f his death will bring sorrow to many an humble home. Dr.
Brodie was quite as prominent in non-professional as in professional life.
Without being a politician in the ordinary acceptation of the term, he was
deeply interested in public affairs and had the welfare of his city, county
and state very much at heart. He served the public for many years in
different capacities and always faithfully and well. He was a good
man, a good physician, a good citizen; and the sympathy of the public
goes out in generous measure to his bereaved family. ' '
Before the Wayne County Medical Society a special memorial was
read by Dr. John J. Mulheron, and from the same the following extracts
are taken: "In the case of our departed friend, geniality and sociabil
ity were so pronounced as to make it appear to the casual observer that
the professional or more strictly scientific was secondary. To those who
knew him best, however, this was only seeming, for back of his great
humanity there was the deep stratum of qualities essential to the suc
cessful physician. There was nothing pedantic about him, but from the
storehouse of his large experience and correct observation, his opinions
were evolved with a freedom and celerity which made them seem intui
tive. His conclusions were so quickly drawn at times as to make it
appear that they came through the straight, short cut of intuition, rather
than by the slower process of reasoning, step by step, from obscure cause
to more tangible effect. They were, however, generally correct, and
when proved by the outcome of the ease were found to be somewhat more
than the results of shrewd guessing. Few men can as quickly and cor
rectly reach diagnosis, and especially in the matter of therapeutic diag
nosis, as could Dr. Brodie. Few, however, possess the faculty of mix
ing confidence with their drugs to the degree which distinguished our
dead friend. His patients felt instinctively that his diagnosis and ther
apeutics were correct. His social nature was of the effervescent, spon
taneous type, which made it contagious and thus aided in definite re
sults which drugs alone could not effect.
"Dr. Brodie was a man of very pronounced individuality and had
the courage of his convictions to such a degree as to have caused many
to regard him as of combative disposition. He was fearless in the ex-

1080 HISTORY OF DETROIT
pression of his convictions, and none more than he enjoyed keen and
honorable opposition. * * * A more kindly and sympathetic heart
has seldom throbbed in human breast. There was nothing mean in his
composition, and although in conflict his blows may have been hard and
fast they were invariably upon his opponent's front. If the sun ever
went down on his enemy's wrath, the fault was not our friend's. Dr.
Brodie had well nigh reached the patriarchal three-score years and ten
when the summons came ; but in spite of his years we will long remem
ber his youthful heart. Seldom, indeed, does the heart remain so youth
ful in a body over which have passed the weight and experiences of so
many years. Up to the end he retained the heart of the impulsive, im
pressionable, ingenuous youth. I never saw a man whose thoughts, con
versation and deportment so belied the years which weighed the body
down. He preferred the companionship of young men, and young men
were in turn drawn to him. It was his delight to entertain them and
enter into their projects and aspirations, and nothing made him happier
than for the young man to make him his confident. His vivacity of
mind and the singular combination of the old and the young, of the man
and the boy, in his composition, drew to him a large circle of the younger
men in the profession, who were profited as well as entertained by his
social qualities. It will be many years before the memory of Dr. Brodie
is effaced, and in the years to come those who knew him in their, youth
will cherish a kindly recollection of this unique old man. They will have
met very few in whom the elements were more pleasantly combined, and
none who took a more philosophical view of life. ' '
Another appreciative estimate was that given by Leartus Connor in
his paper, the American Lancet and himself one of the most disting
uished representatives of the medical profession in Detroit and Mich
igan. From this estimate it is possible to give only brief quotation : ' ' He
was an especially happy man, inclined to look upon the bright side of
things ; and that part of the world or its people that came into personal
contact with him he regarded as simply perfect. It must be said that
his personality is closely united for or against every medical move
ment made in Michigan during his entire life ; and the same personality
is entwined in much of the action, on other than medical science, taken
by the American Medical Association. He will be remembered for his
strong personality, his great kindness to countless persons in and out
of the profession, his unswerving devotion to his profession and his tire
less efforts in its behalf. He loved to promote his views by recourse to
the polemic arena, calmly accepting the result, be it for or against him.
He was firm in his devotion to his friends, and so made and retained
hosts of them. All in all, Dr. Brpdie was a unique figure in the profes
sion, a type of much of the material that rescued Michigan from the
dominion of the destructive malaria, cleared the forests and drained
the soil, and made it the servant of man. Personally we shall greatly
miss his cordial welcome and encouraging words of cheer. ' '
The affectionate regard in which Dr. Brodie was held by his profes
sional confreres and by his home community in general was significantly
shown on the occasion of the public memorial services held in his honor
and attended by many of the representative citizens of Detroit. On this
occasion were delivered appreciative addresses by leading members of
the medical profession and by others who had known and honored the
deceased physician. It is not necessary to enter into details concerning
this memorial service, since the very holding of the same offers abundant
testimony to the love and esteem in which Dr. Brodie was held in the
community that had long represented his home and been the stage of his
earnest and devoted labors as a friend of all humanity.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1081
In politics Dr. Brodie gave his allegiance to the Democratic party,
and he was a zealous and earnest communicant of the Protestant Epis
copal church, in which he was long and prominently identified with the
parish of St. Paul's church. He was affiliated with the Masonic fra
ternity and was identified with other civic organizations of representa
tive Order, including the Detroit Audubon Club, of which he had served
as president. The home life of Dr. Brodie was one of ideal order and there can be
no wish to touch this phase of his career save to give simple statement
concerning its relations. In November, 1851, at Pontiac, this state, was
solemnized his marriage to Miss Jane Whitefield, who was born in Hamp
shire, England, and who was summoned to the life eternal on the 5th of
July, 1897, at the age of seventy-five years. Three children survive the
honored parents, — Charles A., who is a resident of Detroit; Dr. Benja-
•min P., who succeeded his father in practice and is one of the representa-
ative physician and surgeons of Detroit ; and Miss Jane W. Brodie, who
still resides in this city.
Benjamin P. Brodie, M. D. It is gratifying to note that both in his
profession and in his civic relations Dr. Brodie has well upheld the
prestige of a name long honored in Michigan and its metropolis. He is
a son of the late Dr. William Brodie. He whose name initiates this par
agraph is known as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of
Detroit, and in his native city it may consistently be said that his cir
cle of friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances. The old home
stead in which he was born was situated at 253 Woodward avenue, ad
joining the site of the present Washington Arcade Building. In 1871 his
father erected a handsome residence at the corner of Lafayette boulevard
and Wayne street, and there the honored father continued to reside until
his death. In 1905 Dr. Benjamin P. Brodie sold this old homestead to the
Detroit Board of Commerce, where that organization maintained head
quarters, the building having been remodeled for this purpose, until 1911,
when it was razed to permit of the handsome new home of the Board,
now in course of construction.
Dr. Benjamin Pitcher Brodie was born in Detroit on the 6th of April,
1859, and his early educational discipline was received in the public
schools of his native city and in P. M. Patterson's private school in
Detroit. He entered the literary or academic department of the
University of Michigan, in which he was graduated as a member of the
class of 1882 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
In preparation for the work of the profession which had been signally
dignified by the services of his honored father he then entered the Mich
igan College of Medicine, in Detroit, and in this institution he was grad
uated in 1884, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He at once
became associated with his father in general practice and this grateful
alliance continued until the death of the father, in 1890, since which
time the son has continued in independent practice, in which he has
admirably upheld the honors of the family name. In 1885-6 he
took post-graduate work in New York City, where he availed himself
of the best of clinical advantages, and he has at all times kept in touch
with the advances made in both medicine and surgery. He is a member
of the medical staff of St. Mary's, Harper and Woman's Hospital and
Infants' Home, besides which he is consulting surgeon to the Solvay
General Hospital, chief surgeon of the Detroit & Toledo Shore Line Rail
road, and chief surgeon of the Detroit United Railway. He is assistant
chief surgeon of the Grand Trunk Railway, Western Division, and
surgeon of the Detroit fire department, a position in which his father
had served for many years.
Vol. Ill— 10

1082 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Dr. Brodie is identified with the American Medical Association, the
Michigan State Medical Society and the Wayne County Medical Society.
He also served for some time as assistant surgeon of the Michigan Naval
Reserves. In politics he is with the Democratic party, he and his wife
are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church, and he holds
membership in the Detroit, the Yondotega, the University and the
Detroit Boat Clubs, as well as the Harmonie Society, — all of these being
representative social organizations of his native city. The doctor takes
a lively interest in all that concerns the welfare of his home city and is
essentially progressive and public spirited.
On the 14th of November, 1907, was solemnized the marriage of Dr.
Brodie to Mrs. Anne (Tallant) Tubbs, of San Francisco, California.
James Renwick Neill, one of the most popular and successful of
the younger members of the Detroit bar, was born in Oakland county,'
Michigan, March 7, 1875, the son of Alexander and Margaret (McBride)
Neill. Alexander Neill was born in Londonderry, Ireland, in 1805, and
came to the United States in 1823. He settled first at Sparta, Illinois,
from where in 1849 he came to Michigan, settling in Oakland county.
He drove a yoke of oxen all the way from Sparta to his new Michigan
home. He was preceded to this state by his brother James, who was a
pioneer Covenanter preacher and established the Old Covenant church
in Oakland county, on land which later became a part of the farm of
Alexander. Alexander Neill established the first steam circular saw mill in Oak
land county. He cut down the timber and cleared eighty acres by him
self, and from Flint, by team, hauled the shingles with which his house
was covered. The mother of our subject, who is still living near Lon
donderry, Ireland, was the daughter of James McBride. The family
came to the United States in 1840, locating at Troy, Oakland county,
Michigan, where they were pioneers.
James R. Neill was reared on the farm in Oakland county and at
tended the district schools. He also attended the Detroit College of
Law, graduating therefrom with the class of 1899, with the degree of
DL.B. He came to Detroit in 1894. In 1897 he became connected with
the law offices of Charles W. Casgrain, and in 1899 became a member of
the law firm of Brown & Neill, which continued for one year, since which
time he has practiced for himself, building up a most profitable business.
Mr. Neill is a member of the Wayne County Bar Association; the
Oakland County Society of Detroit, of which he was secretary, and is
also treasurer of the Frazer Paint Company of New York.
Joseph Henry McCann, M. D. One of the younger members of
the medical profession of Detroit, who is gaining an enviable reputation
and who bids fair to achieve marked success in the practice of that pro
fession, is Joseph Henry McCann, who has an office at 1905 Michigan
avenue. He is not only a product of the state, but of the farm as well,
having been born on a farm in Ingham county, Michigan, on January
12, 1884, the son of Matthew and Rosy (Marks) McCann, both natives
of Ingham county and both of whom are living. The paternal grand
father of the Doctor, Owen McCann, was a native of Ireland, settling in
Ingham county in the early 'forties, when the county was in the wilder
ness. He died at the age of ninety years. The maternal grandfather
was Joseph Marks, a native of Germany and a pioneer of Ingham county.
He died at the age of fifty-two, in 1851.
Dr. McCann was reared on the farm in his native county, where he
attended the district schools. He attended the Jackson, Michigan, high

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1083
school for about three years. He then put in two years in the literary
department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, afterward
entering the medical department of that institution, from which he
graduated with the class of '09, with the degree of M. D. He then spent
one year in the hospitals of the state. He entered the general practice
of his profession at Detroit in 1910, in his present location. He is a
member of the Wayne County Medical Society, the Michigan State Med-
icaieSociety and the American Medical Association. Dr. McCann is ex
amining physician for the Modern Woodmen of America, and is also a
member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is also
health officer for the township of Springwells, Wayne county.
Arthur Lefebvre, M. D. Not a few of the native sons of the
Dominion of Canada have attained prominence as members of the med
ical profession in the city of Detroit, and among the number is Dr. Le
febvre, who is recognized as one of the representative physicians and
surgeons of the Michigan metropolis and who maintains his offices in the
Gas Office Building.
Dr. Lefebvre was born in the fine old city of Montreal, Canada, on
the 19th of November, 1868, and, as his name indicates, he is of staunch
French ancestry, his forebears in both the paternal and maternal lines
having early established their residence in Canada, whither they immi
grated from France. He is a son of Remi and Elizabeth (Du Moulin)
Lefebvre, both of whom were born in lower Canada and both of whom
passed their entire lives in that dominion. The father became one of
the representative contractors and builders of the Dominion and made
a specialty of the erection of church edifices of the finer order. He
passed the closing years of his life in Montreal, where his death occurred
in 1875, and there his widow continued to maintain her home until she
too was summoned to the life eternal, in 1887, both having been devout
communicants of the Catholic church.
In the parochial schools of his native city Dr. Lefebvre gained his
early educational discipline, and this was supplemented by higher studies
in Ste. Therese College, in the vicinity of Montreal, and he completed
his literary or academic course in Assumption College, where he was
graduated as a member of the class of 1900, and from which he receives
his degree of Bachelor of Arts. Dr. Lefebvre was fortunate in having
gained a liberal collegiate education before he turned his attention to
that of technical order, and his preliminary training has been of dis
tinctive value to him in enabling him to make the best use of his pro
fessional advantages, the while it has contributed materially to his success
in the practical work of his chosen and exacting vocation. In prepar
ation for the work of his profession he entered the medical department
of Laval University, in his native city, and in this fine institution he was
graduated in 1904, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
Thus admirably fortified Dr. Lefebvre came to Michigan soon after
his graduation and located in the village of Ecorse, a suburb of Detroit
and one that has long been known for its large percentage of citizens
of French extraction. The Doctor himself claims the French language
as his vernacular, and his principal object in initiating practice in Ecorse
was that he might gain a proper mastery of English under favorable
conditions, that community being one in which both French and English
are commonly spoken. In 1905 Dr. Lefebvre began the general practice
of his profession in Detroit. He opened an office at the corner of La
fayette avenue and Nineteenth street, near Ste. Anne's church, repre
senting the first Catholic parish of Detroit. There he remained until
January, 1910, when he found it expedient to establish an office in the

1084 HISTORY OF DETROIT
center of the city, as his practice was rapidly expanding outside the sec
tion in which he had located. He accordingly opened a fine suite of
offices at 408 Gas Office Building, and he now maintains his residence
at 323 West Grand Boulevard. He is identified with various profes
sional organizations of representative character and both he and his wife
are communicants of the Catholic church, in which they hold membership
in the parish of Ste. Anne church.
On the 17th of April, 1895, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Le-
fevre to Miss Cora Salliotte, eldest daughter of the late A. M. Salliotte,
of Ecorse, Michigan, her father having been one of the most honored
and influential citizens of that place, where he was engaged in the lum
ber business for many years. Dr. and Mrs. Lefevre have three sons —
Armand, Erwin and Reginald.
Fred Charles Harvey. This history would be incomplete without
reference to Mr. Fred C. Harvey, one of the leading admiralty lawyers
of the country, a highly esteemed citizen of Detroit and a distinguished
member of the Detroit bar.
Mr. Harvey was born at Mendon, Michigan, June 1, 1858, the son of
Noah S. and Lydia (Cole) Harvey, both of whom were natives of the
state of New York. He received his early education in the public
schools of Detroit, and after graduating therefrom attended the law de
partment of the University of Michigan during the years 1876 and 1877.
He then returned to Detroit and was admitted to the bar in 1879, asso
ciating himself with the firm of Wisner & Speed, later becoming a mem
ber of the firm which was then known as Wisner, Speed & Harvey.
This firm continued for about five years, when it was changed to Wisner
& Harvey, and thus continued until the death of Mr. Wisner in 1900.
Since that time Mr. Harvey has been in practice for himself and has
built up a large business in admiralty law, to which he has paid espec
ial attention.
He is a stockholder and director in the Raleigh Steamship Company,
the Ferguson Estate Company, Limited, and the E. Ferguson Company,
Limited. He is a member of the Detroit and State Bar Association;
Oriental Lodge, F. & A. M. ; King Cyrus Chapter, R. A. M. ; Munroe
Council ; Detroit Cribbage Club ; Detroit Curling Club ; and Windsor
Club; He was married to Miss Mary E. Adams, of Detroit, a daughter
of Samuel Adams, and as a result of this union the following children
were born to them : Fred Percival, Helen Hortense, Bessie May and L.
Marguerite. The father's and mother's families lived in New York for several
generations, and were both of English descent. The Harvey family'
was brought to Michigan by the grandfather of Mr. F. C. Harvey in
the pioneer days of the state, locating at Mt. Clemens. Mr. Harvey's
father was a contractor and builder, and came to Detroit in 1855, carry
ing on the business of a builder in this city up to the time of his re
tirement in 1892. Mr. Harvey's mother died in 1892, and his father's
death occurred six years later.
Horace Byron Williams, M. D. is well entitled to recognition in
this publication as one of the able, progressive and successful physi
cians of the Michigan metropolis, where he has been engaged in active
general practice since 1906, and where his clientage is constantly ex
panding in scope and importance.
Dr. Horace Byron Williams claims as his own an ancestral record
that denotes long and worthy identification of the Williams family
with the history of the great American republic, and the original pro-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1085
genitor came from England and established his residence in New Eng
land in the colonial days. The Doctor was born at Newark, Wayne
county, New York, on the 26th of March, 1875, and is a son of Byron
Crane Williams and Caroline (Pierce) Williams, the former of whom
was likewise born at Newark, New York, and the latter of whom was
born in the city of Rochester, that state, both families having been early
founded in the old Empire commonwealth. The Williams family has
been one of marked distinction in professional and public affairs and
most interesting and unusual are the data which it is possible to here
incorporate concerning the father and grandfather of Dr. Williams.
His father was graduated in both the literary and law departments of
Harvard University, and has long been a representative member of
the bar of western Nei^ York. He is a son of Hon. Stephen K. Wil
liams, likewise a graduate of Harvard and now one of the most vener
able and distinguished members of the New York bar. This noble pat
riarch, now ninety -four years of age, (1912), is still engaged in the
practice of his profession, at Newark, New York, as the senior member
of the firm of Williams, Williams & Williams, representing three gene
rations of the family. The son, Byron C, father of the subject of this
review, is the second member of the firm and his son, George Edward,
is the third member of this notable legal alliance. George E. Williams
was graduated in Union College, of which the venerable grandfather
has long been a trustee. Dr. Stephen Keyes Williams, a younger
brother of him whose name initiates this article, is likewise engaged in
the practice of medicine in Detroit.
Hon. Stephen K. Williams has been a man of marked prominence
and influence in the old Empire state and is now one of its most hon
ored and most patriarchal citizens. He has been distinguished in his
chosen profession and also in public offices of high trust, as well as in
connection with various agencies through which have been compassed
the development and upbuilding of the fine old state in which he has
maintained his home for the greater part of a century. He served three
terms as a member of the New York state senate, and he had the dis
tinction of editing the reports of the United States supreme court, a for
midable work and one demanding great legal and executive ability. He
thus edited one hundred and eighty volumes of such reports and his
work in this connection will remain a permanent and valuable part of
the nation's history. He was president of the corporation which built
the line of the Northern Central Railroad from Elmyra to Sodus Point,
New York, one of the early roads of the western part of the state, and
he was otherwise prominent in the furtherance of measures and enter
prises making for industrial and civic progress. He has been known
for more than what is commonly considered a generation, as one of the
strong and versatile members of the bar of New York, and when eighty-
seven years of age he argued, with characteristic vigor and ability, an
important case presented before the New York appellate court. He
is more than a nominal head of the firm of Williams, Williams & Wil
liams, as he still serves in an advisory capacity and retains a mental
alertness and surety that are wonderful. His political allegiance is
given to the Republican party and he still takes a lively interest in the
questions and issues of the day. Byron C. Williams likewise holds high
standing at the bar and the firm of which he is a member controls a
large and important professional business. He likewise holds tenac
iously to the principles and policies of the Republican party and has
been an effective and valued worker in behalf of its cause. Both he and
his wife are members of the Episcopal church.

1086 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Dr. -Horace Byron Williams gained his early educational discipline
in the public schools of his native city, where he was graduated in the
high school as a member of the class of 1892. Thereafter he was for
two years a student in the academic or literary department of Union
College, at Schenectady, New York, and in 1894, at the age of nineteen
years, he came to Detroit and began the study of medicine in the office
of the late Dr. Hal C. Wyman, one of the city's most distinguished
physicians and most loved and honored citizens. Under such effective
preceptorship Dr. Williams made substantial advancement in his tech
nical studies and he finally entered the Michigan College of Medicine
and Surgery, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of
1900 and from which he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine.
His prior study and practical work under the -guidance of Dr. Wyman
had given him more than usual reinforcement prior to his entering
college, and thus his preparation was of the best type when he finally
engaged in the active work of his profession in an independant way.
His ambition in the line was not yet satisfied, however, and in 1901 he
took an effective post-graduate course in the College of Physicians &
Surgeons in New York City, the medical department of Columbia Uni
versity. His study at this institution continued about a year and he
also availed himself of the clinical advantages afforded in leading hos
pitals and other institutions of the national metropolis. Upon his re
turn to Detroit he established his home and opened an office at Grosse
Pointe, an attractive suburb of the city, and about six months later he
removed to Marlette, Sanilac county, this state, where he built up an
excellent practice and where he remained until 1906, when he returned
to Detroit, which city has since been the stage of his earnest and suc
cessful work in his exacting profession. He served about one year as
medical and surgical superintendent of King's Hospital, in 1910, but
virtually his entire time and attention are now demanded in connection
with the large and constantly expanding private practice which he has
built up. He is identified with the American Medical Association, the
Michigan State Medical Society, and the Wayne County Medical So
ciety, the while he is known as a stickler in the observance of the highest
ethical code of his profession, and thus holds secure place in the esteem
of his confreres. The Doctor gives his allegiance to the Republican
party and is identified with various social and fraternal organizations.
He is a member of the Episcopal church.
On the 16th of May, 1899, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Wil
liams to Miss Rose Michels, a daughter of Peter J. Michels, of Detroit,
and they have two fine little sons, — Byron Horace and George Keyes.
Glenn Wiley Stockwell, M. D., is a native son of Michigan and
a scion in the third generation of honored pioneer families of the state,
within whose gracious borders both his paternal and maternal grand
parents established their abode in an early day, the .respective names
having thus been long and worthily identified with the annals of this
commonwealth. In view of these facts there is the more interest attach
ing to the definite success and prestige which Dr. Stockwell has gained
as one of the representative physicians of the younger generation in the
metropolis of his native state, and he is specially entitled to recognition
in this history of Detroit.
In the attractive village of Birmingham, Oakland county, Michigan,
Dr. Glenn Wiley Stockwell was born on the 29th of October, 1879, and-
he is a son of Judge Joseph S. and Ellen (Wiley) Stockwell, who now
reside in the city of Pontiac, the judicial center of that county. Judge
Stockwell is likewise a native of Michigan, as is also his wife, and he has

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1087
been a prominent and influential citizen of Oakland county for many
years, and he has served with distinction on the bench of the Probate
court of Oakland county, a preferment well indicating the high esteem
in which he is held in his home county. He is a stalwart Republican
in his political adherency and both he and his wife hold membership in
the Baptist church.
Dr. Stockwell was a child at the time of his parents' removal from
Birmingham to Pontiac, and to the public schools of the latter place he
is indebted for his early educational discipline, which was supplemented
by a course in the Ferris Institute, an excellent institution at Big
Rapids, this state. Imbued with a definite ambition touching his fu
ture career, the Doctor determined to enter the medical profession, and
with this end in view he entered the Detroit College of Medicine, which
has given to Michigan and other sections of the Union many able phy
sicians and surgeons, and in this admirable institution he was gradu
ated as a member of the class of 1903, with the well earned degree of
Doetor of Medicine. As an undergraduate he had manifested his am
bition and his capacity for hard work by serving also as an assistant
to Dr. Henry 0. Walker, who occupied the chair of surgery in the col
lege, and for two years after his graduation he was house physician at
Harper Hospital, in which he found the best of opportunities for initial
work in his profession, as the clinical advantages of this fine hospital
are of the best. Since 1904 Dr. Stockwell has been engaged in the gen
eral practice of his profession and he has well proved his powers as a
physician and surgeon of skill and discrimination. He is assistant sur
geon on the staff of Harper Hospital and also has the distinction of being
assistant surgeon for both the Detroit fire department and the De
troit United Railway, which latter corporation controls the street and
interurban electric lines of Detroit. For this company and also the
fire department Dr. Benjamin F. Brodie is chief surgeon, and to this em
inent physician and surgeon Dr. Stockwell also serves as assistant in
the former's capacity as surgeon for the Grand Trunk Railway. Dr.
Stockwell is also surgeon for the Standard Accident Insurance Com
pany of Detroit and he is known as a specially skillful surgeon. He
holds membership in the American Medical Association, the Michigan
State Medical Society and the Wayne County Medical Society. As a
citizen he is especially progressive and public-spirited. He holds member
ship in the Fellowcraft Club.
On the 16th of June, 1906, Dr. Stockwell was united in marriage to
Miss Elizabeth Heron, of Wilmington, Illinois, where her father, D.
Heron, is a representative and influential citizen. Dr. and Mrs. Stock-
well have twin sons, Benjamin Wiley and William Hume, who were born
on the 27th of April, 1907, and also Richard Glenn, born on the 27th
of November, 1911.
Thomas William Payne. A career of large business success and
many distinctions of varied service has given Thomas William Payne
a place of prominence among the representative citizens of Detroit, al
though he is one of the younger citizens and in age is only at the begin
ning of his career as a member of the Detroit bar ; he has been active and
prominent. Mr. Payne was born at Lee, Massachusetts, September 10*, 1876, a
son of Michael and Elizabeth (Kennedy) Payne. His father was a
native of Queen's county, Ireland, and a son of Thomas Payne, who
spent his active life in the English army in India and Africa. Michael
Payne came to America just prior to the Civil war, locating at Lee,
Massachusetts. He married Elizabeth Kennedy, who was a native of

1088 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Washington, Berkshire county, Massachusetts. Both parents moved
to Detroit in 1910, the father being now in his sixty-fifth year and the
mother in her fifty-sixth. Their children besides Thomas W. are as
follows: John C, of Plainfield, New Jersey; Francis M., who gradu
ated from the Detroit College of Law as president of the class of '08,
is now manager for the White Sewing Machine Company for the state
of Colorado, his headquarters being at Denver ; Joseph A. is a member
of the class of '13 of the Detroit College of Law; Leo C. is connected
with the White Sewing Machine Company at Detroit; Lambert M. is
general purchasing agent for the Northway Motor and Manufacturing
Company. All of the sons have a genius for business life and several
have gained remarkable success for their age. All the sons mentioned
except John C. were graduates of the Lee Academy in their native town
of Massachusetts. Thomas W. Payne went through the public schools and graduated
from the academy at Lee in 1895. As a boy of fourteen he had begun
newspaper work at Lee, and he continued this work throughout his acad
emy course. When he left home in 1895, at the age nineteen, it was
with the intention of studying law at Jackson, Michigan, under the pre
ceptorship of Lyman B. Trumbull. He carried on his studies with dili
gence and success, and only a few weeks remained before his final exam
ination for admission to the bar when the Spanish- American war broke
out. For some time he had been a member of Company D. of the First
Michigan National Guard, and he went to the front with this regiment
afterward known as the Thirty-first Michigan Volunteer Infantry. Most
of the time he was out of this country was spent at Havana. He con
tinued his newspaper correspondence and sent back a number of special
war articles for local publication. On his return to Michigan after the
war his entrance to, the ranks of the law was again deferred. Instead
he became a- solicitor in the telephone business, and later was chief oper
ator and chief inspector of the Michigan Telephone Company at Jackson.
As special agent for the company he was located at Detroit in 1902, and
he continued this until 1903, when he resigned and once more took up
his legal studies.
In 1895, when he left his old home at Lee, he had declared with all
the solemn enthusiasm of youth that he should never return until he
could show his certificate of admission to the bar. First "the war and
then other things prevented him from obtaining the coveted honor, and
ten years elapsed before he could return home. In 1902 he entered
the Detroit College of Law, and three years later graduated with the
class of '05, winning the degree of LL. B. and being class orator. On
the day following his admission to the bar he took a train to Massachu
setts, having fulfilled the promise he made to himself and family. He
then returned to Detroit and has since been enrolled among the lawyers
of this city.
In 1907, as a representative of ex-Mayor William C. Maybury, he
went to Spokane, Washington, for the purpose of investigating some
deeds. While there he organized the Panhandle Electric Railway and
Power Company of Idaho, with headquarters at Spokane. A. J. Smith,
who was then with the Great Northern Railroad, has since been general
manager of this company. Mr. Payne was the first president and is
still a member of its board of directors. In addition to the work of
business organization, he also located the water power now being de
veloped by the company. It is the largest water power project in the
northwest, and for a young lawyer to have undertaken and carried the
enterprise through with such success is proof of his keen vision for op
portunities and his resourcefulness in making the visions become re-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1089
alities. Besides this company he has other important interests in the
northwest. Mr. Payne is an eloquent speaker and his services have been in de
mand during all the political campaigns of recent years. He is com
mander of the General Henry M. Duffield Command of Spanish War
Veterans of Detroit for the year 1911. He is also president of the
Thirty-first Michigan Volunteer Infantry Society, having been elected
at the meeting in Lansing in 1911. He is a member of the Knights of
Columbus, of the Detroit Board of Commerce, the Detroit Motor Boat
Club, the National Geographic Society of Washington, D. O, the Knights
of Equity, the Lawyers Club, the National League of Veterans and Sons,
and Jackson Lodge of Elks, No. 113. Mr". Payne married Miss Grace M.
Smith, of Hillsdale, Michigan. She is a daughter of Thomas and Mary
Smith, who were formerly of Troy, New York.
Daniel Evans Binning, M. D., as one who has attained distinction
in his profession, and who has been an earnest and discriminating stu
dent, holds due relative precedence among the medical practitioners of
Detroit, and now maintains well-appointed offices at No. 602 Gas Office
Building. He is a native of Syracuse, New York, and was born June '
30, 1874, a son of Wallace and Emma (Grassman) Binning, natives of
Onondaga county, New York, the father born on a farm in Clay township
and the mother in the city of Syracuse.
The Binnings are of good old English stock, the founder of the
family in the United States being the grandfather of the Doctor, John
Binning, Sr., who came from his home in Somersetshire in 1848, settling
first at Baldwinsville, Onondaga county, New York. Subsequently he
purchased an estate in Clay township, to which he removed, but later
in life returned to Baldwinsville, where he now lives in retirement, at
the advanced age of eighty-five years. The Grassmans are of German
stock and were early settlers of Syracuse. The father of the Doctor is
an expert mechanic. In 1871 he entered the service of the New York
Central Railroad at Syracuse as an expert and continued with that cor
poration for nineteen years. For the next fourteen years he was with the
Solvay Process Company at Syracuse, and is now and has for the last
eight years been with the Franklin Automobile Company at Syracuse
as an expert mechanic. The mother is also still living.
Daniel E. Binning was graduated from the Syracuse high school in
1893 and then spent three years at Cornell University, in special prep
aration for medicine. In 1901 he was graduated from Hahnemann
College and Hospital, Chicago, and that same year entered upon the
practice of his profession at Schoolcraft, Michigan, from whence he came
to Detroit in 1909. He has been successful in his practice, has a most
extensive medical and surgical business, and has attained a marked
reputation among his confreres and the general public. He is a close
student, keeping abreast of the very rapid and startling advances in the
sciences of medicine and surgery, and gives a great deal of attention
to personal investigation, experiment and research. He is on the aux
iliary staff of Grace Hospital and holds the chair of Bacteriology in the
Detroit Homeopathic Medical College. He is a member of the Detroit
Practitioners Club, of the Michigan State Homeopathic Medical Society,
the American Homeopathic Institute, the Wayne County Medical So
ciety, the Michigan State Medical Society and the American Medical As
sociation. Dr. Binning has interested himself also in fraternal work,
and belongs to Ashlar Lodge, F. & A. M., Detroit ; Schoolcraft Chapter,
R. A. M., Three Rivers Commandery, K. T. ; Grand Rapids Consistory,
No. 32, S. R., and Saladin Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., Grand Rapids.

1090 HISTORY OF DETROIT
a
Dr. Binning married Miss Nellie Spencer Ross, daughter of A. B.
Ross, of Syracuse, New York, and they have one daughter, Lois Mae, born
May 23, 1903.
James Ritchie. Among the pioneer citizens of Detroit, who by
reason of their long and useful lives and by reason of their worth as
men and citizens and of their many sterling traits of character are
worthy of honorable mention in any history of Detroit and her people, was
the late James Ritchie, who was a well-known citizen for over half a
century. Mr. Ritchie was born near Portadown, Ireland, in 1839, and died
in Detroit on December 22, 1911. When fourteen years of age he be
came apprenticed to the ship-building trade, and was employed by a
ship-building firm on the river Clyde for several years. However, be
fore reaching his majority, he determined to seek his fortunes in America,
and accordingly crossed the seas, locating first in Canada. He came to
Detroit in 1858, and here spent the remainder of his life. He entered
the service of the old D. G. H. & M. Railway, now the Grand Trunk
Railway, soon after coming to Detroit, and later was made fireman on
' a locomotive, spending several years in that capacity. His aptitude for
mechanics was early recognized by his superiors in office, and he was
given a position in the shops. In less than a year he was made foreman
of the boiler and blacksmith departments of the railroad, which posi
tion he held for twenty-five years, at the expiration of which period he
was promoted to boiler inspector for the lines of the Grand Trunk.
By his long and faithful service in the above positions he earned a po
sition in the history of railroads in Michigan, but as an inventor of
valuable appliances he earned a place in the history of railroading
throughout the land. Among his important inventions, which in a way
revolutionized the building and running of locomotive engines, are the
dump ash-pan, now in universal use ; the cone smoke-stack and the flue-
plugger, both in general use by railroads.
After his retirement from an active railroad life, Mr. Ritchie became
identified with the Detroit City Fire Department, of which he was an
enthusiastic member for a number of years. He was interested in all
things pertaining to his adopted home city, and- stood always ready and
willing to do his full share towards the upbuilding of the city's in
stitutions and to promote the progress and well-being of the community.
He was a charter member of St. Andrew 's Society in Detroit and was an
old and valued member of Zion Lodge, F. & A. M. He was one of the
first men to become interested in the organization of the "Brotherhood
of the footboard," and in the powerful organization known as the
"Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers." As a man and citizen, the
life of Mr. Ritchie was full to repletion of activity and well doing, and
his friends were legion. His interest in the welfare of his family, his
friends and his home city was intense. Possessed of the strong and
sterling characteristics of his Scotch-Irish ancestors, endowed by nature
with a strong personality and rugged character, he spent his long life
in useful endeavor, and the world is the better for his having lived in it.
In Detroit, Mr. Ritchie married Jennie Henderson, who was born in
Scotland, in 1847, and who came to America with her parents, the fam
ily settling at St. Johns, Michigan. She died in January, 1910, aged
sixty-three years. To Mr. and Mrs. Ritchie the following surviving chil
dren were born : James H., of Detroit ; Robert W., of Detroit ; Benjamin
H., Battle Creek, Michigan; Mrs. R. A. Allan, Detroit; and Mrs. William
Allan, of Detroit.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1091
William Gilbert Povey, M. D. Devoted to the noble work that his
profession implies, Dr. W. Gilbert Povey, well known among the physi
cians of the West Side of Detroit, where he has offices and residence at No.
1114 Michigan avenue, has proved a faithful exemplar of the healing art,
and has not only earned the due reward of his efforts in a temporal way!
but has proven himself worthy to exercise the important functions of his
calling through his ability, his abiding sympathy and his earnest zeal in
behalf of his fellow men. His understanding of the science of medicine
is broad and comprehensive, and the profession and public afford him an
honored place among the medical practitioners of Detroit He was born
November 1, 1873, in the city of Brooklyn, New York, son of the Rev
Jesse and Sarah Elizabeth (Poole) Povey, both parents being natives of
England, the father of London and the mother of Malsmbury. They
were married in England, and the family came to the United States in
1865, locating in Brooklyn, New York, where the father served as pastor
of a Congregational church until 1889. At that time he came to Detroit
to take charge of the Fort Street Congregational church as pastor, and
subsequently acted in a like capacity at the "Red Jacket" Congrega
tional church at Calumet, Michigan, where" he now resides, being still
active in the" ministry.
Dr. Povey attended the Brooklyn, New York, public and high schools,
graduating from the latter, and next entered the literary department of
the University of Michigan, from which he received the degree of Bach
elor of Arts in 1895. He then engaged in teaching school, and from
1895 to 1896 was principal of the high school at Iron Mountain, Mich
igan. At that time he took up the study of medicine, and entered the
medical department of the University .of Michigan, from which he was
graduated with the class of, 1899, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine,
having been in the regular or allopathic department. Subsequently Dr.
Povey took post-graduate work at Sloane Maternity Hospital, New York
City, and at the Pennsylvania General Hospital, Philadelphia, giving
special study to gynecology. He was gynecological house officer at
Lakeside Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio, from 1892 to 1898, and during that
same time gynecologist in charge of the Lakeside Hospital Dispensary
and demonstrator in gynecology at the medical department of the West
ern Reserve University, Cleveland. For some time while in Cleveland
Dr. Povey also served as first assistant to the noted physician, Hunter
Robb, M. D.
In 1908 Dr. Povey came to Detroit and opened offices at No. 1114
Michigan avenue, where he has since been located. During this time he
has carried on a large general practice, but has paid special attention to
gynecology, and has won an enviable reputation in this field. He has
retained a representative support, controlling a large business in his pro
fession, his skill and discrimination being not less popularly appreci
ated than his unfailing courtesy and sympathy. He has shown a decided
and active interest in the work of the various medical organizations estab
lished to advance the profession, he being a member of the Wayne County
Medical Society, the Michigan State Medical Society and the American
Medical Association. When he can find leisure from his arduous pro
fessional duties he interests himself in fraternal matters, and is at pres
ent a popular member of City of the Straits Lodge, F. & A. M., having
been connected with that order of Masonry since its organization.
Dr. Povey was married to Miss Florence Edna Lennan, of Chillicothe,
Ohio. James Henry Boulter, M. D. One of the best known men in
Detroit, who is popular not only on account of his medical skill and
knowledge, but also on account of the strength of his personality, is

1092 HISTORY OF DETROIT
, Doctor James Henry Boulter. A man of brilliant attainments in an in
tellectual way, he has not had the misfortune, as have so many of his
fellows, of making a distinguished name for himself in the theoretical
work, and then of failing in the actual test of practical experience. The
bright future which his professors in the medical school predicted for
him has been more than fulfilled, and he is rapidly becoming one of the
successful men of Detroit. Well educated, widely read, and a charming
conversationalist, the Doctor is a favorite wherever he may be, and his
personal popularity adds greatly to his success as a physician and sur
geon, the latter branch of his profession being his special work.
James Henry Boulter was born in Prince Edward county, in the
province of Ontario, Canada, on the 12th of January, 1877, the son of
Wellington and Nancy Helen (Sprague) Boulter. The Boulter family
is of sturdy old English stock, the founder of the family on this conti-
ment having come direct to Montreal, Canada, from his English home.
George Boulter, the grandfather of the Doctor, was born in the city of
Montreal, and after he was grown* removed to Prince Edward county,
where he was one of the early pioneers. The Sprague family is also of
English descent, and had settled in Long Island* some time prior to the
Revolutionary war. They were of the United Empire Loyalist party in
Colonial days and removed to Canada rather than take up arms against
the mother country. It is high time that credit should be given to these
men and women who were willing to sacrifice everything, their homes,
the respect and regard of their neighbors, their property, both landed
and personal, for the sake of what they believed to be their duty, and in
a spirit of patriotism go out from the country they had come to love, as
exiles. Although we may think they were in the wrong, yet they were
brave and had the courage of their convictions, while many of the men
who reviled King George the fiercest did so not because of principle, but
because of cowardice. Therefore if we have any Tory ancestors let us
be proud of them, for they were of the finest class of men in the country.
The grandfather of the Doctor on the maternal side was Stephen
Sprague, who Avas born in Hastings county, Ontario, and later removed
to Prince Edward county, where the mother of Doctor Boulter was born,
on the 1st of April, 1843. She is still living, as is also her husband, Wel
lington Boulter. The latter was born on the 14th of February, 1842,
in Prince Edward county, Ontario. He was the pioneer manufacturer of
canned goods in Eastern Canada, and he carried on this business with
great success for many years.' He is now retired from active business,
but takes a prominent part in the affairs of his section of the country.
He is a member of the Masonic order, being a Knight Templar and a
Noble of the Mystic Shrine.
The farm was the birthplace of Doctor Boulter, and under its healthy
influences he greW up, attending the district school and later graduating
from the Picton high school. He then matriculated in McGill Univer
sity, where he spent six years, receiving his A. B. degree in 1901, and in
1903 taking the degree of M. D. C. M. Going thence to Minnesota, he
took the examinations offered by the state board of medical examiners,
and passed these with a brilliant record. It was his intention to locate
in Minneapolis, but changing his mind he came to Detroit, and during
this same year of 1903 took the examination before the state medical
board here. This examination took place in October, and during the fol
lowing month he passed the examination at the College of Physicians and
Surgeons of Ontario, at Toronto, Canada, winning laurels at both of
these examinations as well as the one in Minneapolis. These medical ex
aminations are perhaps the severest tests of the kind that are given in the
country to-day, and it really means something to be able to pass one. He

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1093
next took three months of hospital work in Montreal, Canada, and in
1904 entered the professional field in Detroit, and has since continued.
In the summer of 1910 Dr. Boulter took post-graduate work in surgery
in the hospitals of London, England ; Berlin, Germany ; and Vienna,
Austria. He is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society, of the
Michigan State Medical Society and of the American Medical Associa
tion. He is a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon Greek letter frater
nity. He is a charter member of the Tau Alpha Chapter of this frater
nity at McGill University. He is also a member of Corinthian Lodge of
the Masonic order. In his religious affiliations he is a member of the
North Woodward Presbyterian church, to which his wife also belongs.
His offices are in the Grand Circus Park Building, 271 Woodward
avenue, and he has a beautiful and attractive home at 12 Atkinson
avenue. Docter Boulter was married on the 12th of October, 1910, to Evelyn
C. Crawford, the daughter of George E. Crawford, a well known architect
and contractor in Denver, Colorado.
Peter J. Livingstone, M. D., is one of those representative members
of his profession who have realized the expediency of concentration or
specializing in the exacting work of his chosen vocation, and he is devoting
his attention primarily to the diagnosis and treatment of the diseases
of the eye, ear, nose and throat, in which field of practice he has gained
authoritative reputation and distinctive precedence. He is one of the
well known and highly esteemed physicians and surgeons of the Michigan
metropolis and is well entitled to recognition in this history of the city.
Peter John Livingstone, M. D., was born in the village of Nairn, Mid
dlesex county, Ontario, Canada, on the 30th of July, 1865, and is a son
of John and Catherine (Jamieson) Livingstone, the former of whom was
born in the seaport town of Obay, Argyleshire, Scotland, and the latter
of whom was a native of the same county, her birthplace having been
Islay, one of the larger islands of the inner Hebrides. Both were rep
resentatives of the staunchest of Scottish lineage and the names of the
respective families have been identified with the annals of Argyleshire
for many generations. The marriage of the parents of the Doctor was
solemnized in their native land and in 1856 they immigrated to America
and established their home in Middlesex county, Ontario, where the
father engaged in agricultural pursuits, under the benignant influences
of which line of industry he had been reared. Peter and Mary Jamie
son, the parents of his wife, accompanied them to America and passed
the residue of their lives in Ontario. In 1881 John Livingstone disposed
of his property in Middlesex county and removed with his family to San
ilac county, Michigan, where he continued his identification with farm
ing enterprise. Later he removed to Cass City, Tuscola county, and he
passed the closing years of his life in Detroit, where he died in 1911, at
the venerable age of eighty-two years, his loved and devoted wife having
been called to eternal rest in 1889, at the age of fifty-six years, and both
having been devout members of the Presbyterian church.
The boyhood and youth of Dr. Livingstone were compassed by the
conditions and influences of the home farm and he early gained fellow
ship with hard work, the while he did not fail to avail himself of the
advantages of the public schools of his native county and later those of
Sanilac county, Michigan. That he made good use of such scholastic
opportunities as were thus accorded to him is evident from that fact that
in 1884 he began teaching in the district schools of Sanilac county, where
he proved a successful and popular representative of the pedagogic pro
fession. From 1886 to 1889 he was a valued teacher in the public schools
of St. Clair, this state, and in the meanwhile he carried his own academic

1094 HISTORY OF DETROIT
studies into the more advanced lines. In 1889, in harmony with well
matured plans and definite ambition, he entered the medical department
of the University of Michigan, and from this great institution he received
his coveted degree of Doctor of Medicine at the time of his graduation,
as a member of the class of 1892.
Dr. Livingstone initiated the practice of his profession in the thriving
little city of Caro, the judicial center of Tuscola county, and there his
success was of most unequivocal order. He there continued his profes
sional work until 1905, in which year he went to New York City, where
he passed six months in effective post-graduate work in the treatment of
diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. In the following year he made
a trip abroad, where he passed a year in special study and research in
leading hospitals and medical institutions in the cities of London and
Vienna. In November, 1907, he began practice in Detroit, as a specialist
in the treatment of the diseases noted, and he has gained marked success
and prestige in this field of practice, in which he has received a substan
tial and representative support. He is identified with the American
Medical Association, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Mich
igan State Medical Society, the Wayne County Medical Society and the
Detroit Society of Oto-Laryngologists.
Jere C. Hutchins. There is no one agency that contributes more
distinctively to the prestige of Detroit as a metropolitan center than does
the fine service accorded by the Detroit United Railway, whose admirably
extended system will compare more than favorably with those of other
cities throughout the Union. In the development and maintenance of
this all-important public utility, comprising both city and interurban
lines, Detroit is favored in having secured the interposition of so pro
gressive and effective an executive as Mr. Hutchins, who is president of
the corporation designated and who has ordered its affairs upon the high
est plane. On other pages of this publication is given sufficient record
concerning the operations of the Detroit United Railway, and at this
juncture there is all of consistency in offering a brief review of the career
of the representative citizen who is so effectively administering its af
fairs. Jere C. Hutchins was born in Carroll parish, Louisiana, on the 13th
of October, 1853, and is a son of Anthony W. and Mary B. (Chamberlin)
Hutchins, the former a native of Mississippi and a scion of staunch old
southern stock, and the latter a native of Pennsylvania. The father was
for many years numbered among the successful planters and honored and
influential citizens of Louisiana, where he continued to reside until
shortly after the birth of the subject of this review, when he removed to
Missouri, where he continued in the same line of enterprise and where
both he and his wife passed the residue of their lives.
To the public schools of Lexington, Lafayette county, Missouri, Jere
C. Hutchins is indebted for his early educational discipline, which was
effectively supplemented by higher academic study under the preceptor
ship of a private tutor, the while he also had the advantages of a home
of signal refinement and other gracious influences. At the age of seven
teen years he began the study of civil engineering, under the direction of
Major Morris, one of the leading representatives of this line of profes
sional endeavor in Missouri, and he threw himself with all of fervor and
earnest ambition into the work of preparing himself for his chosen voca
tion, for which he seemingly had much natural predilection and in which
he was destined to achieve high reputation. Mr. Hutchins assisted in
construction work on the Misouri division of the Gulf & Lexington
Railroad and was later identified with engineering work on the Kansas

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1095
Pacific, the Kansas & Texas, and the Texas Pacific Railroads, for each
of which he served as construction engineer.
In the year 1876, when twenty-three years of age, Mr. Huchins re
moved from Missouri to Waco, Texas, where he made a radical change
of vocation, by assuming a place on the reportorial staff of the Waco
Examiner, of which he later became editor. He also acted as political
correspondent in Texas for New York and New Orleans papers, and he
proved distinctively versatile and successful in the field of practical
journalism, the discipline of which has been of marked value to him in
the defining and controlling of public service utilities, as he is enabled
to view the agencies employed from the popular standpoint as well as
from that of the interested principal. In 1881 he again identified him
self with the work of his profession, and for the ensuing thirteen years he
continued to be actively engaged in railroad engineering work. He was
connected in turn with the New Orleans & Pacific, the Missouri, Kansas
& Texas, and the Illinois Central Railroads, with each of which he made
a record that greatly enhanced his professional reputation.
In 1894, at the expiration of the period noted above, Mr. Hutchins
came to Detroit, where he became vice-president of the Citizens' Street
Railway Company, in which he had become a large stockholder. He also
became president of the Detroit, Fort Wayne & Belle Isle Railway Com
pany, and vice-president of the Detroit Electric Railway Company.
These three corporations controlled at the time the principal street rail
way properties and interests in Detroit, and he at once became a domin
ating force in their control and management. Concerning his further
activities in this connection the following pertinent statements have been
made : " In his executive capacities Mr. Hutchins aid much to institute
improvements in facilities and service, and his policy has ever been of the
most liberal and progressive order, yet tinctured with due conservatism.
Upon the consolidation of the various street-railway interests of the city,
coincident with the organization of the Detroit United Railway company,
in 1901, Mr. Hutchins was elected vice-president of this important cor
poration, and in January of the following year, in recognition of his fine
technical and administrative ability, came his election to the office of
president, of which he has since continued the incumbent and in which
he has accomplished a great work in extending and perfecting the com
plex system controlled by the company and including extended interurban
lines. He has been animated by distinctive public spirit and has done
all in his power to conserve through legitimate means the interests of the
stockholders of the company, while advocating liberality in all extension
and equipment work. The citizens of Detroit and other points touched
by the system of the Detroit United Railway have a full appreciation
of the facilities afforded, and adverse criticism can come only from
those moved by political motives or lack of knowledge." He is also a
director of the Peoples State Bank of Detroit.
Though loyal to all civic duties and responsibilities, he has been
essentially and primarily a business man and has never been imbued
with any ambition for the honors or emoluments of public office. He is
an active and appreciative member of the Detroit Board of Commerce,
which has exerted potent influence in furthering the industrial and civic
progress of the Michigan metropolis, where he is also identified with rep
resentative clubs and other social organizations. He is a member of the
American Society of Civil Engineers and is affiliated with the Masonic
fraternity and the Knights of Pythias, in the former of which his max
imum York Rite affiliation is with Detroit Commandery, No. 1, Knights
Templar, besides which he has completed in this time-honored organiz
ation the circle of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite.

1096 HISTORY OF DETROIT
In April, 1881, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hutchins to Miss
Anna M. Brooks, of Waco, Texas, and she was summoned to the life
eternal in July, 1900, leaving no children. In June, 1903, Mr. Hutchins
wedded Miss Sarah H. Russel, daughter of the late Dr. George B. Russel,
who' was one of the most honored pioneers and influential citizens of
Detroit, and Mrs. Hutchins is most prominently identified with the lead
ing social activities of her native city. No children have been born of the
second marriage.
J. W. Rothacker, M. D. In modern days it seems to be as necessary
that the successful doctor should have a certain business and executive
ability as that he should be broadly educated in the theory and practice
of his profession. This is especially true in what may be termed met
ropolitan practice, where many of the activities of the profession are eon-
ducted through great institutions, such as sanitariums and hospitals.
Dr. Rothacker, of Detroit, has evidently conformed to those standards
in every particular, as an examination of his career will fully indicate.
Jacob William Rothacker was born in Detroit, February 11, 1873, and
is the son of Jacob and Marian (Weiss) Rothacker, natives of Switzer
land and descendants of an old Swiss family. They were married in that
country, after which, in 1869, they came to the United States and located
in Detroit. The father was an industrious man, a good husband and
family provider, and was for many years before his death, in 1896, en
gaged in the wholesale meat business. The wife and mother survived
him until 1907.
The early education of Dr. Rothacker was obtained in the Detroit
public schools, after which he completed a course in the Detroit College
of Pharmacy, from which he was graduated in 1894, with the usual
degree of Ph. D. For several years thereafter he was engaged in the
drug business, which is a very practical preliminary step to the study
and practice of medicine. Entering the Detroit College of Medicine,
the Doctor was graduated therefrom in 1897, with the degree of M. D.,
and for seven years thereafter served as doctor of clinics in St. Mary's
Hospital. At the same time he was conducting a growing general
practice, and becoming well known from his official and professional
connections with the city and county. For five years he served as city
physician of Detroit and subsequently was appointed to fill out the
unexpired term of Dr. Bennett as county coroner, and in 1910 he
assumed that office by popular election, and served his full term of
two years.
Naturally, Dr. Rothacker is intimately identified with various profes
sional organizations which advance the interests of his profession as a
whole and bring its members into helpful co-operation, being a member of
the Wayne County Medical Society and the Michigan State Medical As
sociation. He is also a member of the Nu Sigma Nu medical fraternity,
and is ciuite widely known as an enthusiastic fraternalist. In the latter
connection he has for some years been identified with Corinthian Lodge,
No. 24, A. F. & A. M., and with the order of Odd Fellows and Knights
of Pythias and the Moose.
Dr. Rothacker 's wife was formerly Miss Wilhelmina Quandt, daugh
ter of August Quandt, an old and well known tobacco merchant of
Detroit. They have one daughter, Wilhelmina Marion.
Carl C. G. Brumme, M. D. At the time of his death, on the 11th of
May, 1900, Dr. Brumme was one of the most venerable and honored
representatives of the medical profession in Detroit, where he had main
tained his home for nearly half a century and where he had ever held

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1097
secure place in popular confidence and esteem. He was one of the dis
tinguished members of his profession in Michigan but had been virtu
ally retired from active practive for ten years prior to his death. He was
a man of sterling character and fine intellectual attainments, and -as a
citizen his loyalty was of the most insistent order. He was one of the
leading representatives of the German element in the population of
Detroit and engrafted the best traditions of his Fatherland in his per
sonality and activities, so that his influence was on a parity with his
popularity in the city that was so long his home and in which he achieved
large and worthy success.
Dr. Brumme was born in Gottingen, in the kingdom of Hanover,
Germany, on the 21st of June, 1817, and was a scion of one of the old
and patrician families of that part of the empire, where his parents
passed their entire lives. He was afforded the best of educational
advantages ! in his native land, including a professional training of the
highest type. He was graduated in the celebrated University of Got
tingen, from which he received his well earned degree of Doctor of Med
icine, in which he had the privilege of prosecuting his studies under the
preceptorship of Dr. Edward Casper Tac von Siebold, one of the most
distinguished physicians and surgeons of Germany at that time. After
his graduation Dr. Brumme gained most valuable clinical experience
through his association with the work of the hospital conducted in con
nection with the university, and continued to be identified with the work
of his profession in his native land until 1852, when he came to America
and, soon after his arrival, to Detroit. In looking about for an eligible
location he was persuaded by one of his German friends, who had estab
lished a home in Howell, Livingston county, to go to that village, but soon
afterward he found it expedient to return to Detroit, which offered a
wider and more attractive field for professional endeavor. In the year
1852 he thus initiated practice in Detroit, establishing his home on Fort
street, East, between Rivard and Russell streets, and in the following
year he purchased the substantial brick residence at the corner of Fort
street, East, and Riopelle street, where he maintained his home and offices
during the years of his active practice, which became one of large and
essentially representative order, and he soon gained prestige as one of
the most able and skillful physicians and surgeons of the city. In 1872
he announced his retirement from the active work of his profession, but
for many years thereafter he found it impossible not to respond to the
earnest solicitations of many families to whom he had previously min
istered and who refused to avail themselves of the services of any other
physician. Thus he continued his labors in a restricted way for a
number of years after his practical retirement. His name and mem
ory are revered in many homes in Detroit, for his professional ability
and abiding sympathy and kindliness gained to him the affection and
high regard of all to whom he ministered. He made judicious invest
ments in various lines and accumulated a competency, so that his declin
ing years were compassed by most grateful surroundings and influences.
He was a valued member of the American Medical Association, the Mich
igan State Medical Society and the Wayne County Medical Society, be
sides other professional organizations, and his contributions to medical
literature of a periodical order were numerous and valuable. At the
venerable age of eighty-two years and eleven months this honored citizen
and talented physician was summoned to the life eternal, and his remains
were laid to rest in Woodmere cemetery.
Broad-minded and public-spirited as a citizen, Dr. Brumme was ever
ready to lend his support to all measures and enterprises advanced for
the general good of the community, and his political allegiance was given
to the Republican party. Upon the organization of the Detroit board of
Vol. Ill— 1 7

1098 HISTORY OF DETROIT
health Dr. Brumme was appointed a member of the same and he served
in this capacity, with marked efficiency, for three years. He took a lively
interest in public affairs, was admirably fortified in his political convic
tions, and was at one time nominated by his party for representative of
Wayne county in the state legislature. He was a charter member of -the
Harmonie Society, the leading German musical and social organization
of Detroit, and he ever took a deep interest in its affairs.
In 1851, shortly prior to his immigration to America, Dr. Brumme
was united in marriage to Miss Emilie Augusta Henrietta Steiniger, who
was born in a small village in the same part of Hanover in which he
himself was born and who was a daughter of a representative physician
of that section, besides which two of her brothers entered the medical
profession. Soon after his marriage Dr. Brumme came with his young
bride to America, and their ideal companionship was severed by the
death of the devoted wife and mother, who passed to the "land of the
leal" in 1873, at the age of fifty-nine years. She is survived by three
children, concerning whom brief record is made in conclusion of this
memoir. Minnie is the wife of Edward Stange, of Detroit, and they have
five children, namely: Emilie, who is the wife of Edward Thurber; Dor
othy, who is the wife of Otto Anger; and Meta, Frederick and Hugo,
who remain at the parental home. Miss Lillie Brumme, the younger
daughter, resides at 293 Fort street, East. Carl L., youngest of the three
children, is engaged in business in Detroit. He married Miss Stella
Krebbs, and they have two children, Elizabeth E. and Carl W.
Charles Conrad Hildebrand. The life history of Charles Conrad
Hildebrand is of peculiar interest, not only because of the prominent
place he occupies in the automobile industry of Detroit, but because of
the strong and admirable character it portrays. He has been able to
accept the worst which Fate could deal and to win courage from the en
counter — the truest definition of success. At an age when most boys find
their chief interest in life in giving vent to their buoyant spirits in play,
he was facing its sternest realities and it has been entirely through his
own efforts that he has arrived at his present success and high standing.
It was at Loutre Island, Missouri, on July 28, 1865, that Charles C.
Hildebrand was born and in him are united the German and American
elements, his father, August R. Hildebrand, a surveyor by occupation,
being a native of Frankfort, Germany, and his mother, Carolina Lefholz
Hildebrand, of the state of Missouri. , Hildebrand is a name which has
been famous in the history of Germany since the Middle Ages and the
family was one of consequence in the Fatherland. Young Charles Con
rad received his early education at Marthasville, Missouri. As the pop
ulation of this hamlet numbered only about three hundred, half of whom
were negroes, the educational advantages of the place were by no means
excellent. Conditions were decidedly primitive and in the little log
school house the boy learned in a rather haphazard manner the elements
of arithmetic, writing and reading. However, he subsequently went to
St. Louis, where in the J. Toensfeldt Institute he had the benefit of two
years of much better instruction. He never went to college, but being
ambitious to learn and having a receptive mind, he has effectually re
paired such deficiencies as may have been his in the matter of formal
instruction. When Charles was only eleven years old he was bereft of his mother,
and the following year the death of the father left eight orphans home
less. What made the situation particularly pitiable was the youth cf the
little group. Charles was the oldest in that family of five sisters and
three brothers. The baby was given to the old colored nurse of the family

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1099
to rear and *he others were disposed of in the best way which those who
took charge of their fortune could devise. Charles Conrad, by reason of
having arrived at the mature age of eleven, was sent out to shift for him
self and for two and a half years worked on a farm for his board and
clothes, the latter consideration being by no means impressive. In 1881,
when sixteen years of age, he went to work for the John Wahl Commis
sion Company, of St. Louis, Missouri, a concern dealing in produce, grain
and pig lead. He remained with this house for seven years but in 1888
had to make room for the proprietor's son, who was coming out of school.
When he first began to work here his salary amounted to two and a half
dollars a week. _ From there he went to work for August Ziock & Com
pany, a St. Louis company whose specialty was yarns and hosiery. Here
he was bookkeeper from 1888 until 1890, when the failure of the concern
left him again out of a position. He was next associated with the E. C.
Meacham-Arms Company, dealers in sporting goods and bicycles. He
was given charge of the bicycle department and remained there until
1895. He sold Cleveland bicycles for this company for the most part
and in the latter part of 1895 went on the road as traveling salesman for
H. A. Lozier & Company of Cleveland, leaving his family temporarily
in St. Louis. Subsequently he removed to Buffalo, where he opened a
branch establishment for H. A. Lozier, of which he was in charge during
1896 and 1897.
Mr. Hildebrand was then sent to Philadelphia to straighten out a
branch which was being mismanaged and while there he sold bicycles,
motor boats and engines and made a beginning in the automobile busi
ness, selling Toledo Steamers, Waverly Electrics and Cleveland Tricycles.
This was during 1898-9, at about the time the American Bicycle Com
pany was formed, and, like many others, H. A. Lozier sold out. Among
the subsidiary companies that were formed during the history of the
American Bicycle Company was the International Motor Car Company
and Mr. Hildebrand was sent to take charge of their branch at 11 Fifth
avenue, New York.
This was the entrance of our subject into the automobile business.
During the next two years he was engaged in selling machines made by
old bicycle factories, forced into the new field by the falling off in the
demand for bicycles, and none of them having any experience in the
manufacture of the new product. The cars which Mr. Hildebrand sold
were the Toledo Steamer, the Toledo three-cylinder gasoline car — some
of the first that were built in the Toledo plant,— the Rambler Hydro-Car,
manufactured by GormuUy & Jeffrey; the Cleveland Tricycle and the
Crescent Tri-Motor, manufactured by the Western Wheel Works, and the
Waverly Electric. The Tri-Motor was very similar in appearance to a
child's tricycle, only larger in size and provided with a motor on the
front wheel, ignited by a hot tube.
The International Motor Car Company eventually went out of busi
ness and then Mr. Hildebrand accepted a position with the Stevens-
Duryea Company of Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, as sales and general
business manager. This new step was taken in December, 1902. Mr. Hil
debrand marketed no fewer than nine hundred two-cylinder Stanhopes
and a little later'he disposed of their four-cylinder car, which sold for
$2,500 and was the most popular car in the country at the time. In 1904-
5 they brought out a six-cylinder car and Mr. Hildebrand had the distinc
tion of being the first man in America to sell cars of this type, and, what
is more, an entire year before any of the other manufacturers were
marketing them. His services to this company cannot be measured, as
in his hands their business grew from nothing to $4,000,000 a year. The
dealers established were some of the best in the business and Mr. Hilde-

1100 HISTORY OF DETROIT
brand was a representative from the company on the License Associa
tion of Automobile Manufacturers.
After eight years with the Stevens-Duryea people, Mr. Hildebrand
resigned in June, 1910, and took a position as assistant general manager
of the Chalmers Motor Company of Detroit, Michigan. The reputation
of this firm is world-wide and Mr. Hildebrand is one of the best known
men in the business. He was admirably equipped to be one of the head
men of such a concern, as he possesses marked executive ability, tireless
energy, and genius for the broad combination and. concentration of avail
able forces. These qualities combine to make a gift for exploiting any
thing in which he believes, such that seems sufficient to assure the fortune
of whatever he directs his energies to promote. He induced this com
pany to build a six-cylinder car. In March, 1912, he resigned from the
Chalmers Motor Company and accepted a position with the Ford Motor
Company, of Detroit.
In April, 1890, Mr. Hildebrand began his happy wedded life, his
bride being Lena Heege, daughter of Theo. Heege, who was for many
years a judge of St. Louis county, Missouri. The wedding was celebrated
in Kirkwood, Missouri, where the only child of this marriage, Lillian,
was born, in October, 1902.
Mr. Hildebrand is a prominent Mason. He joined the Blue Lodge
in 1909 in Chieopee Falls, Massachusetts, and later in the same year the
Chapter, Council and Commandery in Springfield, Massachusetts. In the
same city he became a member of the Melha Temple of the Mystic Shrine.
Allen L. Lamphere. Among those thrown in the lime light of pub
licity through the enforcement of the laws of the state, and who have well
and faithfully carried out their duty as public officers, is Allen L. Lamp-
here, assistant prosecuting attorney for Wayne county.
Mr. Lamphere was born at Vassar, Michigan, May 25, 1877, the son
of Leman B. and Helen S. (Mclntyre) Lamphere. His early life was
spent upon the farm in Tuscola county, to which his parents moved before
he was born, and attended the district schools and later the high school
at Vassar, the place of his birth. He engaged in farming, then followed
other pursuits until 1901, when he located at Redford, Michigan, where
he operated a hotel. He afterward went into the wood, lime and cement
business at the same place. While thus engaged he took up the study of
the law, attending the Detroit College of Law, and graduated therefrom
with the class of 1909, receiving the degree of LL.B. In October, 1909,
he was appointed assistant prosecuting attorney for Wayne county, a
position he has filled with great ability and faithfulness, and he was reap
pointed in 1911 for another two-year term.
He is a member of the Detroit Bar Association, of the Detroit
Lawyers Club, and belongs to Redford Lodge, No. 152, F. & A. M., Pen
insular Chapter, R. A. M. ; Detroit Commandery, No. 1, Knights Temp
lar; and Moslem Temple, Order of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a
member of the Elks, the Maccabees, the Social Order of Moose, Lions and
Eastern Star fraternities. He married Mary E. Sturgis, who was also
born at Vassar, Michigan, the daughter of Horris Sturgis.
Mr. Lamphere 's father, Leman B., was born in* New York state,
December 29, 1832, the son of Ezekiel Lamphere, who came to Michigan
in 1835, locating in Wayne county, where he followed farming. The
mother of the assistant prosecuting attorney was born in New York state,
October 30, 1838, the daughter of Joseph Mclntyre, also a native of New
York, who came to Michigan in 1849, settling at Novi, on the Grand
River Road, Oakland county, where he became a pioneer hotel keeper. The
father of Allen L. was a blacksmith for more than forty years, then in

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1101
later years became a farmer. He now resides with his son at Redford,
Michigan. The elder Mrs. Lamphere died September 7, 1908, at the age
of sixty-nine years.
William Francis Kahl, M. D., with residence and offices at 637
Mount Elliott avenue, is one of the representatives of the younger physi
cians and surgeons of the East Side.
Dr. Kahl was born in Detroit, on the 28th of September, 1882. His
father was born in Ohio, of German-French stock, and his mother was
born in Germany. Their marriage was solemnized in Detroit, to which
city they came when young folks, and in which they have continued to
maintain their home during the long intervening years. The father has
long followed his trade, that of machinist-moulder, and he commands
unqualified confidence and esteem in the city that has so long been his
home and the scene of his earnest and well directed endeavors. He takes
a loyal interest in local affairs of a public nature. They are members of
the Lutheran church. The Doctor is their only child.
Dr. Kahl had advantages of the public schools of his native city.
After completing his work in the high school he entered the Detroit Col
lege of Medicine, where he was graduated as a member of the class of
1907, with degree of Doctor of Medicine. In May, 1907, he passed the
examination before the state board of medical examiners, and in the fol
lowing September he began the practice of his profession at his present
place. His close application, marked ability and personal popularity
have contributed to his success, and he now enjoys a large and growing
practice. In his senior year in college he gained practical experience
through service in Harper, St. Mary's, and the Children's Free Hospitals.
The Doctor is a member of the American Medical Association, the Mich
igan State Medical Society, and the Wayne County Medical Society. He
is assistant surgeon in the Michigan Naval Reserves, in which he serves
in the First and Third Battalions, taking much interest in the affairs of
the organization. He is affiliated with the Phi Epsilon high-school fra
ternity and the Alpha Beta medical fraternity. He is also a mem
ber of Friendship Lodge, F. & A. M. Dr. Kahl is the inventor of what
is known as the W. F. Kahl medical spoon, an admirable device for the
accurate graduation and administration of medicines, the superiority
of which is recognized by the profession, and the demand for which is
showing a constant increase as the merits of the spoon become better
known. In politics he is found arrayed under the banner of the Repub
lican party and he is loyal to his native city, in the progress and pros
perity of which he maintains the deepest interest.
On the 26th of December, 1905, was solemnized the marriage of Dr.
Kahl to Miss Mary Hansten, of Detroit, a daughter of Albert Hansten,
who has been connected with the government light-house service on the
Great Lakes for nearly forty years. Dr. and Mrs. Kahl have one son,
William Francis, Jr., who was born on the 11th of May, 1908.
John B. Morin, M. D. The admirable Homeopathic school of med
icine has an able and popular representative in Detroit in the person of
Dr. Morin, who maintains his offices in suite 403, Bowles Building, on
Griswold street, and who has built up a large and substantial practice.
He is a scion of staunch French stock, and the family was early founded
in the Dominion of Canada, with whose annals the name has been identi-
• fied for several generations.
Dr. Morin was born at Belle Prairie, Morrison county, Minnesota, on
the 2d of February, 1867, and is a son of Michael and Julia (Lavigne)
Morin, who were pioneer settlers in that section of the state, where they
took up their abode in 1865, upon their removal from their old home in

1102 HISTORY OF DETROIT
the province of Quebec, Canada, where they were born and reared. From
Minnesota they removed, in 1868 to Chippewa Falls, the judicial center
of Chippewa county, Wisconsin, where they still maintain their home, as
venerable pioneer citizens of the community, in which they hold the
high regard of all who know them. Both are octogenarians and are well
preserved in both mental and physical powers, and both are zealous com
municants of the Catholic church. The father of Dr. Morin learned the
carpenter's trade in his youth and followed the same for a number of
years, but from the early '70s onward to the time of his retirement from
active labor he gave his attention to agricultural pursuits, in connection
with which he developed a fine farm in Chippewa county, Wisconsin. He
has been liberal and progressive as a citizen and his political support is
given to the Democratic party.
Dr. Morin was an infant at the time of the family removal to Wis
consin, and he gained his early educational discipline in the public schools
of Chippewa Falls, where he also learned the carpenter's trade and that
of stationary engineer after he left the home farm. He was employed
as a building superintendent in Wisconsin until after he had passed the
age of thirty years, and in the meanwhile his ambition prompted him to
seek a broader field of endeavor, with the result that he began the study
of medicine under effective private preceptorship. Finally he came to
Detroit, where, after passing most creditably a written examination, he
was matriculated in the Detroit Homeopathic Medical College, in which
he completed the well ordered course of study and was graduated in
1908, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. During his last three years
in this institution he was identified with the work of its free dispensary,
in which he gained experience of wide range and distinctive value. From
the time of his graduation to the present he has been engaged in active
practice in Detroit, where his success has been of unequivocal order and
where he is known as a well qualified physician and surgeon. He is a
member of the Detroit Homeopathic Practitioners' Society, a member
of the alumni association of the medical college in which he was grad
uated, and a member of the Medical Auxiliary staff of Grace Hospital.
He is affiliated with Ashlar Lodge, Free & Accepted Masons, and is also
identified with and is medical examiner for the Knights of the Modern
Maccabees, the Knights & Ladies of Honor, and the American Insurance
Union. Though he has had no desire for public, office, the Doctor is
aligned as a staunch supporter of the principles and policies for which
the Republican party stands sponsor. He is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church and his wife is a member of the Christian church.
Clayton William Burge, M. D. Among the younger members of
the medical profession of Detroit who have firmly and successfully estab
lished themselves in practice is Dr. Clayton W. Burge, whose offices are
at No. 58 Cadillac Square.
Dr. Burge was born in White Cloud, Michigan, August 2, 1880, and
is a son of Frederick A. and Belle (Kellogg) Burge, the former of whom
was born in Paw Paw, Michigan, the son of a Michigan pioneer who died
when the father of the Doctor was a child. Frederick A. Burge was for
many years engaged in the lumber business in Michigan, but after retir
ing from active life made his home in Detroit until his death, on June 5,
1912, at the age of fifty-six years. The mother of the Doctor was born
in Vermont, the daughter of William H. Kellogg, also a Michigan
pioneer, and she resides in this city.
Clayton W. Burge secured his early education in the public schools
and graduated from the Gladwin (Michigan) high school in 1899. He
then spent two years in the lumber business in Saginaw, Michigan, after

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1103
which he took up his technical studies, entering the Detroit College of
Medicine, from which he graduated with the degree of Doctor of Med
icine in the class of 1906. On the morning after his graduation he
opened. an office and entered upon the practice of his profession in
Detroit, where he has since continued. In April, 1912, he took the super-
mtendency of the Edmund Sanitarium, 120 Edmund Place, Detroit. He
is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society, the Michigan State
Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is prom
inent in Masonry as a member of the Ashlar Lodge, F. & A. M., and Pen
insular Chapter, R. A. M., and the Loyal Guards.
In October, 1910, Dr. Burge was united in marriage with Miss Stacie
Burke, of Brown City, Michigan, the daughter of Daniel Burke.
Frederick Gustavus Buesser, M. D. One of the representative
young professional men of Detroit, who has gained marked prestige as
an able and discriminating physician and surgeon, controlling a repre
sentative practice and being held in the highest esteem in professional,
business and social circles, is Dr. Frederick Gustavus Buesser, of No.
310 Washington Arcade. He was bom at Troy, New York, April 27,
1881, and is a son of Gustavus D. and Nellie (Connors) Buesser, natives
of New_ York state. Dr. Buesser 's parents came to Detroit in 1903 and
are residing in the city at the present time.
Dr. Buesser received his preliminary educational training in the
public schools of Troy, later attended the University of Vermont, and
graduated from the Detroit College of Medicine with the class of 1905,
receiving the degree of M. D. He entered general practice in Detroit in
1905, and in 1906 was appointed on the staff of Harper Hospital, as
assistant attending physician. In 1908 he was appointed attending phy
sician to the polyclinic staff of Harper Hospital, a position which he holds
at the present time, and he is also assistant to the chair of practice of
medicine in the Detroit College of Medicine, of which he has been the
incumbent siuce 1906. He served as secretary of the Alumni Associa
tion of the Detroit College of Medicine for some time, and is now vice-
president of the Harper Hospital Polyclinic Society, a member of the
Wayne County and Michigan State Medical Societies and of the Amer
ican Medical Association, and a valued and esteemed member of the pro
fession. He is also connected with the Knights of Columbus and the
Fellowcraft Club, and is well known in fraternal and club circles.
Dr. Buesser has well appointed offices at No. 310 Washington Arcade,
fitted with the largest and most highly improved appliances of his pro
fession. He has ever been a close student, keeping in advance of the
progress made in the sciences of medicine and surgery, and giving all
of his spare time to advancing this progress by personal research and in
vestigation. Gifted with a love for his chosen calling, and possessing a
kind and sympathetic nature, he has won the confidence and gratitude of
his patients and the respect and esteem of his fellow practitioners.
Frederick J. Sober, M. D. A representative of the third generation
of the family in Michigan, Dr. Sober bears a name that has been worthily
identified with the history of this favored commonwealth since the early
pioneer epoch, and as a citizen and a physician and surgeon of fine pro
fessional ability he has honored the state of his nativity. He has been
engaged in the active practice of his profession in Detroit since 1901 and
maintains his home at 408 Seyburn avenue, where he has an office, as
has he also one in the Detroit Gas Company Building, in the central
business district of the city.

1104 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Dr. Frederick James Sober was born on the old homestead farm in
Salem township, Washtenaw county, Michigan, on the 20th of July, 1876,
and is a son of Sylvester C. and Lydia (Dennis) Sober, the former of
whom was born in Salem township, Washtenaw county, Michigan, and
the latter in the state of New York. Sylvester C. Sober was a son of
James Sober, who was born and reared in the state of New York and
who served as a valiant soldier in the War of 1812. He came to Mich
igan in the early pioneer days and settled in Detroit, where he became
identified with various business activities. Both he and his wife con
tinued to reside in this state until their death and their names merit en
during place on the roll of the honored pioneers of Michigan. Sylvester
C. Sober became one of the representative farmers and stock-growers of
Washtenaw county and was a citizen who ever commanded secure place
in the confidence and esteem of his fellow men. His marriage to Miss
Lydia Dennis was solemnized in the state of New York, and the latter 's
father, Frederick Dennis, passed his entire life in the old Empire com
monwealth. Sylvester C. Sober brought his bride to the farm in Salem
township, Washtenaw county, Michigan, and there both passed the res
idue of their lives. He was a man of influence in local affairs, was called
upon to serve in various positions of public trust, and both he and his
wife held the unequivocal esteem of all who knew them, both having been
consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church and the father
having been a staunch Republican in his political adherency. Of the
children, one son, the Doctor, and twq daughters are now living.
To the public schools of his native county Dr. Sober is indebted for
his preliminary educational discipline, which was supplemented by at
tendance in the high school in the city of Ann Arbor. There he finally
entered the medical department of the University of Michigan, in which
he continued his studies for one year, at the expiration of which he was
matriculated in the old Michigan College of Physicians & Surgeons, now
the Detroit College of Medicine, in which he was graduated as a member
of the class of 1901 and from which he received his well earned degree
of Doctor of Medicine. In the same year he initiated the practice of his
profession, with residence and office on Joseph Campau avenue, near
Monroe street, where he remained until he purchased his present attrac
tive home, at 408 Seyburn avenue, at the corner of Kircheval avenue.
To facilitate the work of his large and substantial practice he also main
tains a downtown office, as has already been noted in this context. Dr.
Sober is thoroughly en rapport with his profession and subordinates all
other interests to its demands, the while he continued a close and appre
ciative student of its most advanced standard and periodical literature.
He further manifests his energetic interest in the vocation in which he
is doing such successful work by retaining membership in the American
Medical Association, the Michigan State Medical Society and the Wayne
County Medical Society. In politics Dr. Sober is aligned as a stalwart
supporter of the cause of the Republican party and as a citizen he is pro
gressive and public-spirited. He is affiliated with Detroit Lodge, No. 2,
Free & Accepted Masons, and in Michigan Sovereign Consistory, Ancient
Accepted Scottish Rite, he has attained to the thirty-second degree, and
he also holds membership in Moslem Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of
the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. The Doctor and his wife attend the
Presbyterian church.
On the 17th of September, 1898, was solemnized the marriage of Dr.
Sober to Miss Mayme A. Bussey, daughter of William. Bussey, a repre
sentative citizen of Salem, Washtenaw county, and the two children of
this union are Dorothy and Donald.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1105
Stephen K. Williams. Of the many physicians and surgeons of the
younger generation in Detroit it is not too much to say that Stephen
Keyes Williams has established for himself a place in the very front rank
of his profession, a fact that is due not only to his personal popularity
and sterling qualities as a gentleman and friend, but more particularly
to his professional ability, which goes unchallenged by those who are
• most familiar with his work and success. His residence and office are at
395 Clark avenue.
Dr. Williams is a native of New York, having been born at Newark,
Wayne county, that state, on the 11th day of January, 1881, and is a
descendant of one of the honored pioneer families of that great common
wealth, in which the family name has attained to marked distinction in
the various avenues of learning, especially in the legal, medical and surg
ical professions. Dr. Williams is a son of Byron C. Williams, who is
one of the representative members of the legal profession of New York,
and who is at present counselor for the Pennsylvania Railroad System,
with residence in Newark. Dr. Williams' paternal grandfather was the
Hon. Stephen Keyes Williams, whose name was for many years familiar
among the leading members of the legal profession in the state of New
York, and who served as senator in the legislative assembly of that state,
besides having been otherwise an influential figure in public affairs gener
ally. It is with a pardonable degree of pride, therefore, that Dr. Stephen
Keyes Williams of Detroit bears the name of this grandparent.
Having graduated in the Newark high school as a member of the class
of 1898, Dr. Williams, in 1899-1900, devoted his attention to a special
course of study in the Mercersburg College, at Mercersburg, Pennsyl
vania, and during the ensuing year he held the office of assistant super
intendent of St. Luke's Hospital in the city of Chicago. Here he had a
wide and varied experience in hospital practice, which is so essential to
one about to engage in the practice of medicine and surgery. In 1902
Dr. Williams entered the Michigan College of Medicine, Detroit, and
from this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1906,
and was elected as class sponsor. He duly received his well-earned
degree of Doctor of Medicine, and his ambition in the matter of equip
ping himself fully for his chosen vocation was indicated by his having
served as an interne in the Detroit Emergency Hospital, the Red Cross
Hospital and the Home Sanatorium, during the time when he was pros
ecuting his studies in the medical college.
During the earlier part of his term at Mercersburg College, Dr. Wil
liams served as a special reporter, during the summer months, for a
number of the Rochester and Syracuse papers at the famous summer
resort known as Sodus Point, New York. In the latter part of his col
lege career the Rochester Railway, of Rochester, New York, asked him
to serve as their special summer representative along the line of getting
out their summer advertising; and it was during this period that Dr.
Williams first conceived the idea of establishing a trolley magazine, which
should have free distribution among the trolley passengers journeying to
various resorts near Rochester. In this he brought forth the first 'trolley
magazine ever issued. The Trolley Topics gave not only valuable time
tables to the travelers, gossip of the different resorts, etc., but contained
short stories to amuse the reader. The magazine was self-sustained
through beneficial advertising, paid for by the various firms in the city
and small towns along the electric line. This magazine was copied by
most all of the lines of electric railway companies throughout the United
States. In 1903 that noble woman, Miss Clara Barton, founder of the Red
Cross Society, proposed the name of Dr. Williams at a meeting of the
American Red Cross Society, held in the city of Washington, D. C, in

1106 HISTORY OF DETROIT
connection with his candidacy for admission as an active member of the
organization, to which he was admitted at her personal instance. He
represented this organization throughout the state of New York until
Miss Barton withdrew from the society.
On the 31st day of January, 1906, Dr. Williams was appointed Mich
igan state secretary of the National First Aid Association of America
(Miss Clara Barton's new organization), and on the 30th of December
of the following year he was further honored by being appointed a rep-
resentative-at-large for this worthy organization, in which he thus became
attached to the headquarters staff. In behalf of this organization he
began the initial work in Detroit by delivering effective and timely
"First- Aid" lectures before the assemblies of the local Young Men's
Christian Association, the Young Women's Christian Association, the
Salvation Army, the executives and employes of the Detroit Edison Com
pany, and the Railway Young Men's Christian Association in West
Detroit. He also organized, in the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, a
class to which he gave careful instruction and discipline in the work of
giving "First Aid" to injured persons, and his services in this field of
activity have been productive of great good in the saving of life and in
affording proper and prompt ministration to injured persons. In his
lectures in Detroit marked interest was shown by the executives of var
ious prominent corporations, and it may be noted, that among these who
sent representatives to attend these lectures were: The Edison Electric
Light Company, Detroit City Gas Company, Russel Wheel & Foundry
Company, Buhl Malleable Company, Detroit White Lead Company, Pack
ard Automobile Company, Cadillac Motor Car Company, Great Lakes
Engineering Company, and the Hugh Wallace Company. The Doctor
gave concise and careful instructions and effective illustrations of the
means and methods of offering succor to the injured, and the results of
his lectures and other work in this important field have proved of great
and lasting value, which is shown by each of the large plants at once
establishing Emergency Rooms, after the ideas expressed and shown in
the lectures.
In 1906 he organized and established an admirable field hospital at
the Michigan State Fair Grounds, Detroit, and he had direct supervision
of the same during the Fair of that year and of the Fair of 1907. The
splendid work on his part was shown when he turned over to the Mich
igan State Fair Association a report of the number and wide scope of
the cases taken in during the few days of each fair. The Michigan State
Fair Association, in recognition of the splendid services of Dr. Williams,
awarded him a medal of considerable value ; and the National First Aid
Association of America further advanced him by taking from him the
office of Michigan state secretary and appointing him the national rep
resentative of the Association, giving him entire supervision of a number
of the western states.
In 1908 Dr. Williams was physician in charge of the celebrated
Colonial Hotel and Sanitarium at Mount Clemens, Michigan, and there
he gained most valuable experience and varied practice, the while he
devoted careful attention to the study of special diseases which he was
called upon to treat.
Besides giving close attention to his large and representative practice,
Dr. Williams is physician and surgeon for the Timken-Detroit Axle Com
pany, one of the city's largest and most extensive industrial concerns —
one of the largest factories in the world, manufacturing automobile axles
exclusively. He was first to establish in this plant an emergency room
and doctor's office, and here he spends a few hourji of his time each day,
giving special care to those injured while at work in and about the exten-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1107
sive shops. He is also special medical examiner for the Michigan depart
ment of the State Life Insurance Company of Indianapolis, Indiana.
In the past year Dr. Williams induced Commissioner Croul of the
police department to recognize a special emblem that would distinguish
a doctor's automobile when on hurry calls through the streets of Detroit.
Although Dr. Williams' particular design was not adopted, a similar one
was. His ideas and purpose brought every doctor in the city of Detroit
a privilege they had not' previously enjoyed.
Dr. Williams is actively identified with the Wayne County Medical
Society, the Michigan State Medical Society, and the American Medical
Association. He is a progressive, loyal and public-spirited citizen. His
idea is to do something of value each year for the benefit of those with
whom he is associated. His political alliance is given to the Republican
party. On the 14th day of June, 1905, was solemnized the marriage of Dr.
Williams to Dorothea H. Hebert, daughter of Louis Hebert, who was
long and prominently engaged in the lumber and coal business in Detroit,
where he is now living a retired life. Dr. and Mrs. Williams have one
child, Stephen Keyes Williams, who was born on the 6th day of May,
1906. Arthur John Jones, M. D., was born in Detroit, on the 17th of
April, 1881, the son of Dr. John R. Jones. The father was born in
county Wexford, Ireland, on the 29th of June, 1847, the son of John and
Eliza (Stevenson) Jones, who were both natives of county Wexford. The
Jones family went into Ireland from Wales, and had been in Ireland for
six generations before the birth of the Doctor. The family of Dr. Jones'
mother went into Ireland from Scotland and his maternal grandfather
was quite an unusual man. He was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, and after
having finished his education at Trinity College became a minister in the
Church of England. His father was a farmer, and both he and his wife
spent their whole lives in county Wexford, where they died.
The early education of Doctor Jones was acquired in the schools of
county Wexford, and upon completing the studies there offered he at
tended an educational institute, where he took a classical course. He
came to the United States in 1866, and soon after reaching Michigan
took up the study of medicine at Jonesville, Michigan, with Doctor W. B.
Hawkins. He had an able teacher and was a good student, so he covered
ground- at a rapid rate, in spite of the fact that he was teaching school
during two years of this time. He was now advised to go to the Univers
ity of Michigan for the completion of his course, and did so, taking one
course in the medical department of that institution. He then found it
necessary to earn some money if he wished to study further, so he took
a position in a drug store at Ann Arbor) and while thus employed took a
course in pharmacy in the university. In 1870 he graduated from the
pharmacy department of the University of Michigan, with the degree of
Ph. G. He then continued in the drug store, at the same time carrying on
his medical courses at the university. This meant the hardest kind of
work, a strain on both mental and physical powers of endurance, but in
1872 he reached his goal and was graduated from the university with the
degree of M. D. He then came to Detroit, where he took a position in
the old drug store of John Harvey. He remained in his employ for a
year and then took charge of the drug store of Frank Inglis, where he
remained for over two years, and then entered the practice of medicine,
locating on Gratiot Road, in the then village of Leesville, now within the
city limits of Detroit, where he has since continued.

1108 HISTORY OF DETROIT
He is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society, of the Mich
igan State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association.
He was married to Miss Elizabeth Hunt, who was born in Wayne county,
on the 15th of August, 1858, the daughter of Peter Hunt, who was a
native of England. Mrs. Jones died on the 30th of October, 1901, leav
ing four children. These are Dr. Arthur John Jones ; Eliza Ann, who
married Norman D. Cooper, of Detroit; Jessie Ellen and Charlotte C.
Dr. Arthur J. Jones was educated in Detroit, graduating from the
Eastern high school in 1900. He then entered the University of Mich
igan, where he pursued the classical course, from which he was grad
uated in 1905, with the degree of A. B. He matriculated in the medical
school of the same university and received his M. D. degree with the
class of 1907. His first practical work as a physician was done as a
member of the medical staff of the Copper Range Mining Company, into
whose employ he went as soon as he was in possession of his diploma. He
remained in their employ until 1910, when he returned to Detroit and
entered the practice in association with his father, while at the present
time he also maintains offices in Washington Arcade Building, in the
business centre of the city. He is a member of the Wayne County Med
ical Society, of the Michigan State Medical Society and of the American
Medical Association, also a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity
and of the medical fraternity of Nu Sigma Nu.
On the 14th of June, 1911, Dr. Jones was married to Corrinne Suther
land, a daughter of Reverend J. W. Sutherland, of Lansing, Michigan.
John Taylor Watkins, M. D. Among the younger members of the
medical profession of Detroit who are fast attaining prominence is Dr.
John Taylor Watkins, who maintains offices in Washington Arcade. John
Taylor Watkins was born at Whitmore Lake, Michigan, on the 31st of
July, 1883, the son of James J. and Mary Gordon Watkins, both of whom
were of Irish parentage. The paternal grandfather, James Watkins, was
born in the north of Ireland, in 1798, and came to the United States in
1832, coming to Michigan and settling on a farm in Oakland county. He
was one of the very first settlers of that county and 'lived on this farm,
which he owned, until within a few years of his death, which occurred
in Milford in 1872. At Milford, Michigan, he married Catherine Taylor.
The maternal grandfather of the Doctor is Thomas Gordon, who was
born in the north of Ireland, and there married Sarah Stevens. They
came to Detroit in 1848. After living here for a time they moved to
Milford, Michigan, then returned to Detroit, and thence moved again to
Howell, Michigan, where he resides, being now in his ninety-second year.
James J. Watkins, the father of the Doctor, was born in the town of
Milford, Oakland county, on the 13th of August, 1845. He is an able
business man, of an upright character, full of honor and integrity. For
the last sixteen years he has been engaged in' the coal, grain and lumber
business at Hamburg, Michigan. His wife was born in Detroit on the
14th day of May, 1855, and she and Mr. Watkins were married in
Howell, Michigan, in 1875.
Dr. Watkins received his elementary and college preparatory educa
tion in the public schools of Milford and Howell, Michigan. He matric
ulated in the department of medicine of the University of Michigan in
1902, and was graduated with the degree of M. D. in the class of '06.
The year that he graduated he began practice in association with Dr.
Edward T. Abrams, of Dollar Bay, Houghton county, Michigan, where
he continued until 1907, then located in Detroit, opening his office on the
corner of Forest and Second avenues. For a year and a half he re
mained at that location, and then moved to his present offices in the
Washington Arcade.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1109
Dr. Watkins has for several years been identified with different char
itable institutions in a professional way, having always cheerfully given
his services in that direction when called upon. He was at one time
physician to 'the Salvation Army of Detroit and has served as one of the
consulting physicians to the United Jewish Charities. He is a member of
the Wayne County Medical Association, the Michigan State Medical
Association, and of the American Medical Association.
Dr. Watkins was married on the 15th of October, 1910, to Grace
Mildred Deats', of Detroit. She is the daughter of the late William
Deats, M. D., who was a well known physician of Rochester, Michigan,
and who had also spent many years in the practice of his profession near
Easton, Pennsylvania. He was born near Easton, in 1850, and after re
ceiving his preliminary education near home entered Lafayette Univers
ity, at Easton, Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated. He later
attended Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, where he received
his degree of M. D. He entered upon the practice of his profession in
Rochester, Michigan, later returning to his old home near Easton, where
he continue'd to practice until his death in 1891. He was quite a young
man at the time of his demise, but his life and work left a deep imprint
on the community, and his death was universally regretted by all who
had ever come in contact with him. He married Harriet Sprague, of
Rochester, Michigan, who died in 1889, at the age of twenty-seven. Mrs.
Watkins is of a medical family, for her maternal grandfather was Dr.
Rollin Sprague, who was for many years in active practice in Rochester,
Michigan. He was born in North Bloomfield, New York, on the 2d of
April, 1806, and was graduated from a medical college in his native state,
but most of his years as a physician were spent in the west. He died in
Rochester on the 6th of August, 1872. Dr. and Mrs. Watkins have one
son, David Deats Watkins, who was born on the 18th of December, 1911.
Edwin C. Hinsdale. In the death of Deacon Edwin Charles Hins
dale, on the 12th of June, 1894, there passed away one of the best known
and most highly honored of the pioneer citizens of Detroit, where he had
maintained his home for nearly forty years and where he had gained dis
tinction in connection with civic affairs and as a representative member
of the bar. His exalted character and unvarying kindliness gained to
him friends in all classes, and his influence was ever benignant. He was
a man of fine intellectual attainments, marred by naught of bigotry, and
the spiritual flame that burned within and illuminated his mortal tene
ment was of the purest and brightest, while his abiding Christian faith
was shown in goods works and kindly deeds. This faith was an intrinsic
part of his very character and he made his life conform to the teachings
of the Great Master whom he served with humility and consecrated devo
tion, ever striving to aid and uplift his fellow men. Deacon Hinsdale
was a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of Michigan and had
his full quota of experience in connection with the conditions and in
fluences of the early period of development in this commonwealth, to
which he came with his parents several years prior- to the admission of
the state to the Union. Measured by its beneficence, its productiveness,
its altruism and its nobility, his life counted for good in its every rela
tion, and there is special consistency in the offering of this memoir m
the history of a city in which he so long maintained his home and in
which his name is held in lasting honor.
The Hinsdale family was founded in New England in the colonial
epoch of our national history, and the lineage is traced back to staunch
English origin. Deacon Hinsdale himself was a native of that historic
section of the country, and in his life he represented the best traditions

1110 , HISTORY OF DETROIT
of his New England ancestry. He was born at Hinesburg, Chittenden
county, Vermont, on the 30th day of July, 1820, and was the eldest son
in a family of ten children, six sons and four daughters, born to Judge
Mitchell and Dorothy (Weed) Hinsdale, both of, whom were bom and
reared in that state, where the father continued to be identified with
agricultural pursuits until about the year 1832, when, in order to secure
better opportunities for his children, he located in Michigan, though that
section of the country was yet in a most primitive state and continued
under territorial government for a period of about five years after his
removal from the east. He secured a tract of government land in Kal
amazoo county, near the present beautiful city of the same name, and
there he literally hewed out a farm from the virgin forest. He reclaimed
much of his land to cultivation and both he and his wife passed the re
mainder of their lives on this old homestead, their remains being laid to
rest in a family lot which he secured for the purpose many years ago
and in which, in accordance with his expressed wish, the other members
of the family have been given burial, one by one, as they passed from the
stage of life's mortal endeavors. These worthy pioneers were earnest,
industrious and God-fearing folk, sterling types of that fine element of
citizenship contributed to Michigan by New England in the early days.
Edwin C. Hinsdale was a lad of twelve years at the time of the family
migration to Michigan, and he had previously gained a rudimentary edu
cation in the schools of his native state. He was reared to the sturdy
and invigorating discipline of the pioneer farm, and thus early learned
the lessons of practical industry. As the eldest son, he assumed much
responsibility and did much hard work, but he ever reverted to this
period of his career with pleasure and satisfaction, as the social relations
of the early settlers were of the most generous and kindly nature and
not hampered by fictitious conditions or standards. It may readily be
understood that educational facilities at that time were most meager in
that section of Michigan, but the ambition of Mr. Hindsdale was not to
be curbed by such seeming handicap. Even as he gained temporal suc
cess and prosperity through his own efforts, so did he amplify and
round out a symmetrical education by means of self application,
appreciative study and the reading of such books as he could secure.
His literary tastes were of high order and until the close of his long and
useful life he found much gratification and solace in reading and study,
with access to a specially well selected private library of comprehensive
order. He assisted the younger children in securing proper education
and in time he himself gained a liberal academic training, including that
afforded by one year of study in the University of Michigan, which was
then in its incipiency. He familiarized himself with the French lan
guage and also became one of the early exponents of shorthand, or
stenography, in Michigan.
His first work aside from that involved in the operations of the home
farm was that of teaching school, and in this field he showed that he had
made good use of such scholastic advantages as had been his. One of
his aunts on the paternal side was at that time residing in the state of
Mississippi, and upon visiting her he secured a position of teacher in a
school in that state. Soon afterward his devoted mother, a woman of
marked ability, came for a visit and taught in the same school. This
pedagogic service was rendered just prior to the inception of the Civil
war, and the opinions of the mother and son were such that they became
persona non grata in that section and found it expedient to return to
the north. Soon after they arrived at the old home, war was declared,
and shortly afterward occurred the death of the honored husband and
father. The subject of this memoir thereupon assumed charge of the es-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1111
tate and after bringing the same into proper order he went to Battle
Creek, Calhoun county, where he engaged in teaching school and also
began the reading of law. He finally entered the office of Benjamin F.
Graves, who was at that time engaged in practice at Battle Creek and
who was one of the leading members of the bar in Michigan, as is indi
cated by the fact that he later became a justice of the supreme court
of this state. Under the effective preceptorship of Judge Graves Mr.
Hinsdale continued his technical studies until about 1857, when he came
to Detroit and entered the law office of Charles I. Walker, a prominent
attorney and influential citizen of the Michigan metropolis and in the
next year was admitted to the Michigan bar. He continued in the prac
tice of his profession in Detroit until his death, nearly forty years later.
He was known as a lawyer of broad and exact knowledge of the science
of jurisprudence, as a skilled and versatile advocate and safe conserv
ative counselor. He long retained a representative clientage and was
concerned with much important litigation in the state and federal courts
' in Michigan. At the time of his death he was, in point of continuous
practice, one of the oldest members of the Detroit bar, and his close ob
servance of the unwritten code of ethics gave him secure place in the
confidence and respect of his professional confreres, who, like all others
who knew him, honored him alike for his fine talents and his impreg
nable integrity of character. Though he was virtually an invalid during
the last quarter century of his life, Deacon Hinsdale would not indulge
in supine inactivity, but bravely continued to devote himself to his pro
fession, in which he often tested his powers of physical endurance, and
he visited his office each day, notwithstanding his infirmities, which would
have discouraged a man less resolute and less hopeful and courageous.
The mental ken of Deacon Hinsdale was especially broad, and he was
well entrenched in his convictions as to matters of public polity and im
port, taking a deep interest in political affairs and according a stalwart
allegiance to the Republican party from the time of its organization until
his death. At one time "the affairs of the city treasurer of Detroit be
came seriously involved through his malfeasance, and when discovery
of his irregularities became imminent he committed suicide. Mr. Hins
dale was at the time visiting in the east, and he was at once importuned
to return to Detroit and assume charge of the tangled fiscal affairs of
the city. He brought order out of the chaos in the office of the city
treasurer, and at the ensuing election, in response to manifold importun
ities on the part of other leading citizens, he consented to become a can
didate for the office in which he had thus served by appointment. _ He
was elected by a large majority and gave a most admirable adminis
tration, as the records of the city clearly indicate.
Deacon Hinsdale's most dominating interest was that of the cause
to the furtherance of the work of the Divine Master. He was one of the
veritable pillars of the First Congregational church of Detroit and was a
deacon of the same for a number of years prior to his death. Instant
in good works as a true Christian, he found countless opportunities for
doing good, and his charity was boundless, marked by tolerance of spirit
and by an earnest desire to aid his fellow men. He served for a number
of years as superintendent of the Sunday-school of his church and was
most -zealous and liberal in the support of its work and its collateral be
nevolences. About the year 1870 he entered a fine home at No. 139
Lafayette boulevard, choosing his location because of its proximity to
the church of which he was a member, and here the remainder of his
long and useful life was passed under most gracious surroundings and
influences. Deacon Hinsdale took great interest also in the Young
Men's Christian Association and did much to foster the interests of the

1112 * HISTORY OF DETROIT

**

local organization, of which he was an officer for a number of years.
When he ceased from his labors and passed forward to the "land of the
leal" his mortal remains were taken to Kalamazoo for interment beside
those of his parents and other members of his family, in accordance with
the desire of his father, as previously noted. There also rest the re
mains of his loved wife and two of their three children. Mrs. Hinsdale
was a woman who in every way complemented the services and ideals
of her husband, — a gracious, kindly gentlewoman, a devoted wife and
mother, and an earnest worker in the Congregational church, of which
she was virtually a lifelong member.
There can be no desire to reveal aught of the ideal influences of the
home life of Deacon Hinsdale, but consistency justifies the following
brief record in conclusion of this memoir :'
At Hopkinton, St. Lawrence county, New York, on the 25th of April,
1849, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hinsdale to Miss Ellen Jane
Kent, who was born at Hopkinton, New York, on the 22nd day of De
cember, 1823, and who was a daughter of Artemas and Sarah Kent.
Her parents were natives of Vermont and were numbered among the
early settlers of western New York, where they continued to reside un
til the close of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Hinsdale became the parents
of three daughters, — Dorothy M., Mary C. and Genevieve S. Dorothy
M. and Mary C. are deceased; Miss Genevieve Hinsdale still resides in
the old homestead on Lafayette boulevard. The loved and devoted wife
was summoned to eternal life on the 22nd of April, 1902, and her mem
ory is revered by all who came within the sphere of her gentle influence.
Robert A. Allan. On New Year's day of 1870 was born in Glas
gow, Scotland, Robert A. Allan. His parents were Henry A. and Mary
J. Malcomson Allan. The Scotch love of learning was a quality which
Robert Allan possessed in a high degree and he took the medal and cer
tificate for the best scholarship while attending school in Glasgow. He
had an uncle in Detroit, and at the age of sixteen he came to America
alone and began his business career in this city. He was first employed
in the firm of Joseph Walker & Son, as bookkeeper, and he retained this
position for three years. He left it to engage in business for himself
and he and his brother William started a grocery known as Allan Broth
ers' grocery, located at the corner of Jefferson and Meldrum streets.
Until February they continued to conduct this establishment, but on the
sixth of that month Mr. Robert Allan was married to Miss Jennie Mof-
fatt Ritchie and at the same time entered the Detroit Savings Sank as
commercial bookkeeper. Shortly afterwards he sold his interest in the
grocery. Mr. and Mrs. Allan took a trip to Scotland as their wedding journey,
spending several months there. Upon his return he again went into
business with his brother in the grocery at the corner of Eighth and Mich
igan streets. For five years this partnership coatinued and then it was
dissolved. Mr. Allan then started a store of his own at the corner of
Hubbard and Dix avenues. Before long he branched out and had sev
eral other stores. He built up an extensive trade among the best fam
ilies of the town and also supplied the soldiers at Fort Wayne for the
government. At the time of his death he owned several stores, the prin
cipal one being at 1120-1122 Fort street, West.
Although devoted to his business, Mr. Allan found time and oppor
tunity for many cultural interests. He was especially fond of fine
pictures, and had a rare collection. He never gave up the habit of study
but was all his life a reader and a thinker. The broadening influences

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1113
of travel, too, were his. His death on June 16, 1906, took from Detroit
one of her deepest students as well as one of her best business men.
The marriage of Mr. Allan to Miss Ritchie was a most happy union,
as their tastes were such as to make their companionship most satisfac
tory. Miss Ritchie was principal of the Johnson school before her mar
riage. She is a graduate of the Central high school and of the- Detroit
Normal School. She studied art and music at the Thomas Normal
School and has ability in these lines, as well as a broad general culture.
During her husband's life she helped him very much in his business
as well as taking an interest in his intellectual pleasures. She is now
teaching in the Detroit schools. Robert Moffat Allan, the only child
of their marriage, was born December 23, 1896, and is at present a
student in high school. I
Charles Stoebler. Of the many sterling German citizens who were
identified with business activities in the Michigan metropolis, few were
better known than the late Charles Stoebler.
Mr. Stoebler was born in the city of Stuttgart, the capital city of
Wurtemburg, Germany, on the 19th of November, 1856, and was a scion
of one of the prominent old families of that province, where his
parents continued to reside until their death. Charles Stoebler
was afforded the advantages of the excellent schools of his native land,
where he received a liberal education and where he served his due
period in the German army. In the Fatherland he also served a thor
ough apprenticeship to the baker's trade and when about twenty-six
years of age he severed the home ties and set forth in search of experi
ence and fortune in America. Soon after landing in New York City he
made his way to Michigan and after following the work of his trade
for a short time at Ann Arbor he came to Detroit, — about the year 1880.
Here he was employed for a time at his trade and in the meanwhile he
gained the friendship of one of the city's leading brewers, who recog
nized the business capacity and ambition of the young man and assisted
him in starting in an independent enterprise. Thus for about six years
he conducted a hotel and liquor business on Larned street, and in this
connection he laid the foundation for his very substantial competency.
After selling his business at the expiration of the period noted he made
a visit to his old home in Germany and upon his return to Detroit he
purchased Columbia Hall, at 235 Gratiot avenue, the same being the
headquarters for a number of the leading trades unions of the city and
having received its name from that of an Italian union which was the
first to meet there. To the management of this property and business
Mr. Stoebler continued to devote his attention for about ten years, and
he then sold the same and went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he purchased
a retail liquor establishment, at 991 Payne avenue. He soon sold this
place and business at a profit and returned to Detroit, where his inter
ests centered and to which his loyalty was ever of the strongest type.
For the ensuing two years he conducted business. at 361 Russell street,
and he then removed to 251-7 Beaubien street, where he purchased and
improved the place long and popularly known as Stoebler 's Hall. There
he continued in successful business until his death, which occurred on
the 6th of November, 1907. Genial, buoyant and kind-hearted, he
gained a wide circle of friends in the city that was so long his home
and he was specially popular among its German citizens.
Mr. Stoebler was always the friend of the working man and the one
in need or distress never appealed to him in vain. He was staunch in
his support of union organizations and continued an active member of
the baker's union until his death. His funeral called forth a large as-
voi. in— 1 8

1114 HISTORY OF DETROIT
semblage, including representatives of the various unions,German so
cial organizations and other societies, the while more than two hundred
fine floral pieces testified on this sad occasion the regard in which he
had been held. In politics he was a Republican. His loved and devot
ed wife was to him a true helpmeet, and he attributed much of his suc
cess to her good business judgment and wise counsel. After his death
she continued his business until she was able to dispose of the same.
On the 27th of July, 1892, Mr. Stoebler was united in marriage to
Miss Marie Ehemann, who was born in the city of Buffalo, New York,
but who was a child at the time of her parents' removal to Detroit,
where she was reared and educated and where she has continuously
maintained her home. She is a daughter of Matthew and Marie (Rite)
Ehemann, who were old citizens of Detroit. The father died in 1902,
and the mother still survives. t Mr. and Mrs. Stoebler became the parents
of two children, Hilda and Carl, who remain with their widowed mother
and constitute her chief interest and solace.
Robert H. Brown. The honors of large and worthy accomplish
ments rested upon the late Robert Hamilton Brown, who brought to
bear in the world's work the sterling qualities of a sincere and upright
character and the well matured powers of a discriminating and broad-
minded man of affairs. He was long and prominently identified with the
insurance business, to which he devoted the major part of his time and
attention during the years of his residence in Detroit, where he was also
one of the principals in the Brown Brothers Tobacco Company, .the man
agement of which rested in the hands of his brother, J. H. Brown, who
still resides in this city. Robert H. Brown was a man who had no de
sire for the spectacular in life and his career was one of quiet and un
assuming order, but there was no obliquity in his vision as a man of
business and practical application, so that, placing true valuations upon
men and affairs, he pressed surely forward to the goal of large and defi
nite achievement, the while he ordered his course upon a high plane of
integrity and honor and thus gained and retained the confidence and
esteem of those with whom he came in contact.
Robert Hamilton Brown claimed the' fine old Buckeye state as his
place of nativity and was a representative of one of its sterling pioneer
families. He was born on the homestead farm of his parents near
Rushsylvania, Logan county, Ohio, on the second day of November,-
1844, and was a son of Robert and Jane (Aiken) Brown, both of whom
were born and reared in the north of Ireland and both of whom traced
their lineage to stanch Scottish origin. Robert Brown removed with
his family to Ohio in an early day, having come to America when a
young man, and he first located near Steubenville, Jefferson county,
when he later removed to the vicinity of Rushsylvania, Logan county,
where he reclaimed a farm from the wilds and where he and his wife
continued to reside until their death — persons of steadfast purpose
and sterling character.
He to whom this memoir is dedicated found his boyhood and youth
compassed by the environment and sturdy discipline of the home farm
and he early began to contribute his quota to its work, while he attended
the district schools during the winter terms and thus laid the founda
tion for the comprehensive knowledge and 'broad information which he
later gained through well directed reading and through close associ
ation with men and affairs. He was a man of most alert and receptive
mentality and thus he effectually overcame the educational handicap of
earlier years and attained to distinctive culture. Mr. Brown continued
to be actively identified with the great basic industry of agriculture
until he had attained the age of eighteen years, when he severed the

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1115
home ties and set forth on an independent career. Very soon after
ward, however, he responded to the call of higher duty, as he tendered
his services in defense of the Union, whose integrity was in jeopardy
through armed rebellion. His youthful loyalty and patriotism thus
prompted him to enlist as a private in an Ohio regiment of volunteer
infantry, with which he went to the front and with which he gave
faithful and gallant service until the expiration of his one hundred
days' term of enlistment, when he received his honorable discharge.
In later years he manifested his continued interest in his old comrades
in arms by retaining membership in the Grand Army of the Republic.
After the close of his military career Mr. Brown located at Belle-
fontaine, the judicial center of his native county, where for a time he
was employed as clerk in a dry goods store. He finally purchased the
business and after conducting the same for a considerable period he
removed to Rushsylvania, near his old home farm, where he engaged in
the same line of enterprise. After a short time he disposed of his
stock and store and turned his attention to the life-insurance business.
Later he took up the fire insurance line, and in this field of business
he attained unqualified success and high reputation. He became known
as an authority in the matter of fire insurance and both as an under
writer and adjuster was identified with leading insurance companies
for many years, this important line of enterprise continuing to consti
tute his principal vocation until the close of his active career and his
retirement having come only when impaired health demanded a cessa
tion of his activities.
About the year 1885 Mr. Brown removed to Detroit, where he passed
the remainder of his life and where he became one of the most promi
nent and influential factors in the field of fire insurance, in connection
with which his services were much in requisition as an adjuster. Soon
after he established his home in Detroit, Mr. Brown became associated
with his brother J. H., who had previously located here, in the organi
zation of the Brown Brothers Tobacco Company, in which concern he
was not an active executive, as his brother, a practical man of business,
assumed the supervision of the enterprise. The company erected a
large factory building on Monroe avenue and built up a large and
substantial business, the products of the establishment finding a wide
sale throughout various sections of the Union. Mr. Brown continued
to be one of the interested principals in this important industrial enter
prise until the same was sold to the American Tobacco Company, about
the year 1900.
During the last eight years of his life Mr. Brown was virtually an
invalid, and he bore his sufferings and enforced inactivity with char
acteristic fortitude and equipoise until death released the weary spirit
and he was summoned to the life eternal, on the 23rd of February,
1903, secure in the high regard of all who knew him and with a record
for high achievement as one of the world's noble army of productive
workers. Through his well ordered endeavors he accumulated a com
petency, but he had none of the bigotry and intolerance of the average
"self-made" man, as he was too broad-minded, kindly and generous to
permit the assumption of such attitudes. He was a man of buoyant,
genial and optimistic qualities, and his was the faculty of winning to
himself stanch and appreciative friends. His death occurred at St.
Augustine, Florida, where he had passed the winter, and his remains
were brought to Detroit for interment in Woodmere cemetery, where
a fine monument marks his last resting place.
Though never animated by aught of ambition for the honors or
emoluments of political office, Mr. Brown was insistently progressive
and public-spirited and took a lively interest in all that touched the

1116 HISTORY OF DETROIT
welfare of his home city. He was a member and liberal supporter of
the Cass Avenue Methodist Episcopal church, of which his widow is an
earnest and zealous member. In the time honored Masonic fraternity
Mr. Brown completed the circle of both the York and Scottish rites,
in which latter he attained to the thirty-second degree, besides which
he was identified with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the
Mystic Shrine. After establishing his home in Detroit he beeame
affiliated with Fairbanks Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and he
took much interest in its affairs. Mr. Brown was a great lover of
home, and in the precincts of the same he found his maximum solace
and satisfaction, his domestic relations having been of ideal character.
For many years the demands of his business caused him to travel exten
sively, and thus he found the attractions of his home the greater when
he was permitted to be within its gracious confines. In 1890 he and
his family removed into the beautiful home still occupied by Mrs.
Brown, at the corner of Cass and Alexandrine avenues, and this has
become known as a center of most gracious hospitality, its chatelaine
being a popular factor in connection with the best social activities of
the city. This residence was erected by Mr. Brown and is one of the
fine homes which lend prestige to Detroit as a city of homes.
On the 24th of October, 1866, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Brown to Miss Jane Elizabeth Miltenberger, who was born at Franklin,
Warren county, Ohio, a daughter of Thomas and Mary Jane Milten
berger, who were of stanch German lineage and both of whom continued
to reside in the old Buckeye state until their death. Mr. and Mrs.
Brown became the parents of three children, of whom two died in
infancy. Mary Jane, the surviving child, is now the wife of John
Henry James, a representative business man of Detroit, and they have
one daughter, Jane Elizabeth, named in honor of her maternal grand
mother. Bruno Schroeter. The extensive greenhouses at Elmwood avenue
and Hendricks street and the well known retail florist' shop at 56 Broad
way represent the sustained business enterprise of a Detroit citizen
throughout his active career. To construct the business and to keep
it going up to date for year after year and the stress of modern com
petition is an achievement more worthy of admiration than some of
the quick successes which receive more conspicuous attention.
Bruno Schroeter, the proprietor of these greenhouses, has been a
resident of Detroit forty years, and the entire time he has been identi
fied with his present business. He is a native of Prussia, Germany,
born in the province of Saxony, July 27, 1841, a son of Gottfried and
Emilie Schroeter, both of whom lived and died in the Fatherland. Up
to the age of sixteen he attended the German schools and obtained a
good practical training. Then leaving school he began learning the
floral business and was engaged in that line in Germany until 1872,
when he came direct to Detroit, being then a young man about thirty
years old. For the first six months he was in the employ of William
Adair, who. conducted a greenhouse on Jefferson and Adair streets.
Having in this time sufficiently familiarized himself with conditions
and possessing all the ability needed for the business, he established his
owu business at the corner of Elmwood avenue and Champlain street. For
twenty-two years that location in the minds of thousands of Detroit
citizens was identified with this floral business. He then moved to his
present location at the corner of Elmwood avenue and Hendricks street.
In 1893 he opened a retail branch of his general establishment, this
down-town store having since been at 56 Broadway, at the corner of
Wilcox.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1117
Mr. Schroeter throughout his career in Detroit has always been
known as a progressive citizen, supporting the best ideals of civic life,
but has never taken active part in politics, being a Republican voter.
He is a member of the Harmonie Society of Detroit.
In August, 1877, he was married in Detroit to Miss Anna Werner.
Her birthplace was Silesia, Germany, and she came to this country in
1874, with her mother and one brother, Herman Werner. Her father
died in Germany in 1873. Three children were born to Mr. Schroeter
and wife : Hugo, the eldest, has for some years been associated with his
father in the conduct of the extensive business, and is also secretary
of the Detroit Floral Club. He married Miss Aurellia Russell, of De
troit, and they have one son, Russell, three years old. Miss Clara, the
only daughter,, lives at home. Bruno, Jr., was graduated in the spring
of 1911 from the engineering department of the University of Michigan
at Ann Arbor.
Gustave H. Taepke. One of the most thoroughly authoritative rep
resentatives of the art of floriculture in the Michigan metropolis and
one whose training for his chosen vocation has been of the highest order,
Gustave H. Taepke holds precedence as one of the leading factors in
this line of enterprise in the city that has been the field of his well
directed endeavors for nearly forty years. His success has been of
unequivocal order and has been gained through close application, pro
gressive policies and fair dealing, so that his reputation stands as ,his
most valuable business asset. He is well known and held in unqualified
esteem in Detroit, and no citizen exemplifies more distinctive civic
loyalty. His standing in the community is such as to render most
consonant a brief review of his career in connection with this historical
work, one of whose leading functions is to accord such recognition to
those who stand representative in their various spheres of endeavor.
Like many another who has exemplified the maximum of success in
connection with floriculture in America, Mr. Taepke is a native of the
great empire of Germany. He was born in the picturesque province
of Pomerania, Prussia, on the 13th of June, 1854, and is a son of
Carl Taepke and Johanna Steinke, both of whom were members of old
and sterling families of that section of the German empire. The father
devoted the major part of his active career to farming and he continued
to reside in his native land until 1873, when he came with his family
to the United States and established his home in Detroit, where Gustave
H., of this review, had located in the preceding year. Here the honored
father continued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1896, and
here the venerable mother still remains, she being eighty-seven years
of age at the time of this writing, in 1911. Carl and Johanna Taepke
became the parents of seven sons and three daughters, and Gustave H.
was the first born. Herman is a resident of Detroit, as was also Carl,
who died in December, 1910; Albert also resides in this city; Henry
established a home in Spokane, Washington, where he died in 1907;
and the other surviving children, Edward, Mrs. Minnie Schunck, Mrs.
Augusta Blatt and Mrs. Ida Lenx, all reside in Detroit. The father
was a zealous member of the German Lutheran church, as is also his
widow, and the children have all clung to the religious faith in which
they were carefully reared.
Gustave H. Taepke secured his early educational training in the
excellent schools of his native place, where he was afforded the advan
tages also of the Botanical Garden College, in which he gained scientific
and practical knowledge which has proved of inestimable value to him
in his chosen field of enterprise. At the age of seventeen years he sev
ered the gracious home ties and went to the city of Berlin, where he was

1118 HISTORY OF DETROIT
identified with the florist's business for some time, as he was later in
Erfurt. In 1872, when eighteen years of age, he set forth to seek his
fortunes in the United States, whither he came with excellent equipment
in the way of industrious habits and thorough knowledge of floricul
ture in all its departments. On April 21st of that year he arrived in
Detroit, where he secured employment in the establishment of William
Gladewitz, who was at that time one of the leading florists of the city.
He remained thus engaged for one year, and after passing a few months
in the city of Ypsilanti he secured a position as traveling salesman for
a nursery. He was successful in his work and continued to be thus
engaged until 1877, when, upon the death of his former employer, Mr.
Gladewitz, he was given charge of the large and well established busi
ness of the deceased. He continued in this position until 1880, when
he engaged in the same line of enterprise on his own responsibility,
at 450 Elmwood avenue. Close and careful attention and effective
_ service gained to him liberal support and his business rapidly expanded
to substantial proportions. In 1893, to meet more effectively the de
mands placed upon his establishment, Mr. Taepke opened a down-town
store, at 95 Gratiot avenue, and by the expiration of another decade the
enterprise had so continued to expand in scope as to justify the open
ing of an exclusive place for the growing of cut flowers, this being
located at 1336 McClellan avenue. His extensive conservatories are
still located on Elmwood avenue and he gives a general supervision to
the three departments of his extensive business. When he initiated
business in Detroit his greenhouses had only two thousand square feet
of glass, and the growth of the enterprise is measurably indicated when
it is stated that at the present time its finely equipped conservatories
have a glass area of about seventy-five thousand feet.
In the midst of the cares and exactions of a large and prosperous
business Mr. Taepke has not permitted himself to be hedged in by the
same, but has stood exponent of the best type of civic loyalty and pro-
gressiveness, taking a lively interest in all that touches the welfare of
his home city. He served two years, 1895-7, as a member of the city
board of estimates and he has ever been ready to assume his due share of
civic duties and responsibilities, though not ambitious for public office.
His political allegiance is given to the Republican party and he is well
fortified in his opinions as to matters of public import. He is a valued
and appreciative member of the Society of American Florists, of which
national organization he served four years as vice president for Michi
gan, and he also holds membership in the American Carnation Society
and the Detroit Florists ' Club, of which last organization his son Walter
has been treasurer for the past several years. In the Concordia Sing
ing Society, one of the representative musical and social organizations
of Detroit, Mr. Taepke has long been an active member and he has
served the same in the various official positions, including that of
president. He and his wife are members of the St. Paul German Luth
eran church, located on the corner of Jay and Joseph Campau avenues,
and are liberal in support of its various activities.
On the 28th of December, 1880, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Taepke to Miss Katharina Waltz, who was born and reared in Detroit,
as were her parents, Frederick and Katharina Waltz, who are both
dead. Frederick Waltz came to Detroit in 1849, and was one of the
leading florists and nurserymen in this city from that time until his
death in 1896, and had a national reputation. Mr. and Mrs. Taepke
have four children, concerning whom the following brief data is given :
Laura Charlotte remains at the parental home; Walter Gustave, who
was married to Miss Grace Price on the 23rd of June, 1910, is associated
with his father in business ; Amanda is the wife of Bernhardt Haberkorn,

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1119
and they reside at 438 Fourteenth street, Detroit; and Selma was mar
ried on June 19, 1912, to Omar Rockwitz, of Detroit. The parental
home is the center of gracious and generous hospitality. Mr. Taepke
has gained definite success and prestige through his own well directed
energies and is one of the sterling factors in connection with the busi
ness activities of the Michigan metropolis, where his personal popu
larity shows that he has measured up to the best standard of citizen
ship. Captain Robert Simon Palmer, whose efficiency and long service
have won him promotion through the different grades to his present
high ,position as chief of detectives, began his practical career when a
boy and has gained success against many difficulties. He has had a
varied career and many interesting experiences.
A native of Canada, he was born in Howard township, county Kent,
Ontario, June 30, 1859, and attended school at his home village until
he was fifteen. His parents, who were farmers, were William Jonathan
and Matilda (Walter) Palmer. His mother died in 1873. Soon after
ward he moved to Rockwood, Michigan, and began working as a farmer
for Sam F. Smith at four dollars a month. He also chopped cord wood,
and earned his living by the sweat of his brow. In 1879, at the age
of twenty, he came to Detroit and began work for the old-time horse
street railway. He was one of the first conductors who drove cars up and
down Michigan avenue. The trip took half a day at that time. He con
tinued at that work three years, and then joined the police department on
October 19, 1883. He was patrolman for several years, until 1891,
when he was promoted to precinct detective, and in August, 1894, to
central detective sergeant. He was later made lieutenant, and in July,
1910, was promoted to captain inspector, being located at headquarters
and having the inspection of the entire department. On July 1, 1912,
he was made chief of detectives.
On the 27th of June, 1884, he was married at Detroit to Miss Maud
Sherlock. Her parents were James and Cynthia (Day) Sherlock, her
mother a native of Rochester, New York, and her father of Virginia.
The families on both sides moved to Canada, and thus her parents met
and were married, and then began farming on the old Day homestead.
This couple had a remarkable length of happy married life. On their
fiftieth wedding anniversary their children gathered from far and near
and celebrated the event at the old homestead in Canada. It was agreed
that all the family should come together every five years thereafter as
long as the old folks lived. Just one month before the fifty-fifth anni
versary the mother was taken away, in January, 1911. James D. Sher
lock died at his old home in Newberry, Ontario, in May, 1912, aged
ninety-three years. Mr. and Mrs. Palmer have one child, Monta Atelka,
aged twenty-five. She is now in the Harper Hospital training for the
nurse's profession. The family are members of the Asbury Methodist
church at Detroit, and Mr. Palmer is a stanch Republican in politics.
Ira Mayhew, LL. D. There is no need for conjecture or uncer
tainty in determining as to the value and success of the life of the late
Dr. Ira Mayhew, who was one of Michigan's foremost educators, who
had much to do with the defining and upbuilding of the admirable
public school system of the state and who realized in the most signifi
cant sense that the true success is not that gained through commercial
pre-eminence or personal aggrandizement, but rather that which lies
in the eternal verities of human sympathy and helpfulness. He left
the heritage of noble thoughts and noble deeds. He was a man of
broad intellectuality and viewed life and its responsibilities in their

1120 HISTORY OF DETROIT
right proportions. He was not given to half-views and rash inferences.
The leap from the particular to the general is ever tempting to the
thoughtless, but it was not to this man of strength and judgment and
lofty motives. He wielded much influence in educational and civic
affairs in Michigan, and it is well that in this publication be incorpo
rated a tribute to his memory and to his services.
Ira Mayhew was born in Ellisburg township, Jefferson county, New
York, March 22, 1814, and was a lineal descendant of Thomas Mayhew,
the original governor and patentee of Martha's Vineyard, Massachu
setts. He was a son of Wadsworth and Anna (Cooper) Mayhew, both
of whom were born at Cambridge, Washington county, New York,
where their marriage was solemnized in 1805, and they continue'd to
maintain their home in the old Empire state until their death, the
father having devoted the major part of his active career to agricul
tural pursuits and where he was a citizen of prominence and influence
in his community — a man of superior mentality and sterling character.
To the common schools of his native township Ira Mayhew was in
debted for his early educational discipline, which was effectively sup
plemented by a course of study in Union Academy, at Belleville, in
the same township. At the age of eighteen years he was engaged to
teach school in the district in which he was born and reared, and he
thus put to practical test and utility his scholastic attainments, the
while he initiated his work in a profession in which he was destined to
achieve great success and high reputation. After completing his work
as a teacher in his home district Dr. Mayhew passed a year in the west —
in Ohio and Michigan. In 1839 he was appointed to the office of common-
school visitor of his native county, a position involving a general super
vision of the various schools of the county. In 1843 he removed with
his family to Monroe, Michigan, a place which at that time vied with
Detroit in commercial, industrial and social prominence. There he
became a teacher in a branch of the newly established University of
Michigan, and within a year he was nominated by Governor John S.
Barry for the office of state superintendent of public instruction. He
forthwith assumed the duties of this important position and at the
expiration of two years of most zealous and effective service he was
chosen as his own successor, thus serving four consecutive years. In
the autumn of 1853 he was elected principal or president of Albion Col
lege, at Albion, Calhoun county, still one of the leading educational insti
tutions of the state and maintained under the auspices of the Methodist
Episcopal church, of which Dr. Mayhew was a devout member from his
youth until his demise. The Doctor did not long remain at Albion,
as in 1854 he was again elected state superintendent of public instruc
tion, an office in which he had significantly proved his value during his
previous administration. He continued the incumbent of this posi
tion for four years and in 1859 he was engaged for an interval in the
private banking business, at Albion, Michigan. In 1860 he organized
and assumed the personal supervision of the Albion Commercial Col
lege, to which he continued to give his attention after he had been ap
pointed, in March, 1863, by President Lincoln, to the office of United
States collector of internal revenue for the Third district of Michigan.
In 1868 Dr. Mayhew removed his college to Detroit, where he greatly
expanded its facilities and raised its standard, and the same long held
precedence as one of the best business colleges in the entire west, re
ceiving a large and appreciative support. Dr. Mayhew continued to be
actively identified with business-college work for a quarter of a century
after his retirement from connection with the public schools, and under
his careful and earnest preceptorship many young men were fitted for
lives of practical usefulness. In 1878 representative men identified with

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1121
business colleges throughout the Union formed a national association,
and Dr. Mayhew had the distinction of being chosen the first president
of this notable body. When venerable in years- he retired from active
labors and he passed the residue of his life in Detroit, where his death
occurred on the 7th day of April, 1894.
Dr. Mayhew was long a valued factor in educational affairs in
Michigan and his interest in his chosen professioin never waned. He
was the author of a number of valuable school text-books, which were
adopted in many states of the Union, and he received from Union
College, Schenectady, New York, the honorary degree of Doctor of
Laws. As a man -of great public spirit and broad views, he took a
deep interest in governmental affairs in his home city and state and was
a staunch adherent of the Republican party, with which he united at
the time of its organization. He was identified with various educa
tional, fraternal and social organizations of representative order and
both he and his wife were most devoted and consistent members of the
Methodist Episcopal church. The Doctor was a man of courtly pres
ence and unfailing affability, and these, with other sterling attributes
of character, gained to him the unequivocal confidence and esteem of
all with whom he came in contact. He was well known to the leading
men of Michigan in the early days and his influence in public affairs
was of no uncertain order.
On the 26th of August, 1838, was solemnized the marriage of Dr.
Mayhew to Miss Adeline Sterling, daughter of Joseph and Emilia Ster
ling, of Adams, Jefferson county, New York, in which state she was
born and .reared. Mrs. Mayhew was summoned to the life eternal in
the fiftieth year of her wedded career, her death having occurred on
the 11th of October, 1887, at which time she was seventy-four years
of age. She was a woman of most attractive social qualities and gained
the affectionate regard of all who came within the .sphere of her gra
cious and gentle influence. The children born to Dr. and Mrs. May
hew are as follows: Ellen Sterling Mayhew was born on the 18th of
March, 1840, and is now living at 3716 Lake avenue, Chicago, Illinois;
Emma Jane Mayhew was born on the 23rd of February, 1842, and died
on the 4th of July, 1907, in Detroit; and Frances Adeline Mayhew
was born on the 9th day of June, 1844, married Hiram Hamilton Sut
ton on the 14th day of September, 1863, and died on the 20th of
January, 1870. Mr. Hiram H. Sutton, born on the 8th of January,
1840, died in Dresden, Missouri, May 8, 1887.
Henry Leo Ulbrich, M. D. A name which stands prominent among
the medical men of Detroit is that of Henry Leo Ulbrich, M. D., of No.
564 Joseph Campau avenue, a physician and surgeon who has estab
lished himself in an excellent practice through the exercise of ability
and talent. He is a native of Detroit, having been born on the east
side of the city, July 20, 1883, a son of Henry Otto and Caroline
(Bachert) Ulbrich, natives of Germany.
Henry Otto Ulbrich came to the United States in 1855, settling in
Detroit in 1869, and for many years has been engaged in the tobacco
business. He was married here to Caroline Bachert, who died in her
thirty-fifth year in 1885, a Christian woman and faithful member of
St. Peter's German Lutheran church. The Doctor was reared in his
native vicinity and first attended St. Peter's German Lutheran paro
chial school, but subsequently became a student in the grammar schools
for one year and in 1904 was graduated from the Eastern high school.
During that same year he entered the Detroit College of Medicine, where
he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in the class of 1908, and

1122 HISTORY OF DETROIT
following his graduation he was on the staff of the Children's Free
Hospital for one year, in the out-door clinic. Subsequently he entered
the general practice of his profession at his present location, where
he has since continued to enjoy unqualified success. Dr. Ulbrich has
been a close and zealous student, has achieved success as the result of
his own efforts and well merits the prestige which he has gained as a
physician and as a man among men. His personal popularity is of
unmistakable and unequivocal character. Fully abreast of the various
changes and discoveries in his profession, he has been a constant sub
scriber to the leading medical journals, and shows a great interest in
the work of the Wayne County Medical Society, the Michigan State
Medical Society and the American Medical Association, in all of which
he holds membership. He is also a member and medical examiner of
the Lutheran Bund, of Michigan.
Dr. Ulbrich was married to Miss Ida Radtke, of Detroit, the daughter
of Rudolph Radtke, who was connected with the Michigan Stone Works
for many years. Dr. and Mrs. Ulbrich are well-known members of
St. Peter's German Lutheran church.
Gilbert P. Johnson, M. D. A representative physician and highly
esteemed citizens of Detroit, Dr. Johnson has here been engaged in the
practice of his profession for twenty-one years, and this period has shown
large and worthy achievment on his part, giving him definite professional
prestige and- the unqualified confidence and regard of the community in
which he has thus lived and labored. As a citizen he is loyal and public-
spirited and he has served in various positions of public trust within
the time of his residence in the Michigan metropolis.
In the town of Allisonville, Prince Edward county, Province of
Ontario, Canada, Dr. Johnson was born on the 26th of June, 1863, and
he is a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of that county, with
whose history the name has been identified since the year 1776, the line
age of the Doctor, both paternal and maternal, being traced back to
the sturdiest of Scottish origin. He is a son of William H. and Sarah
A. (Pette) Johnson, both of whom were likewise born in and reared in
Prince Edward county and the latter 's father having been a native of
the state of New York, where he was born in the Colonial era. William
H. Johnson was a carriage maker by trade and he was for many years
engaged in business along this line in his native county, where he passed
his entire life, secure in the unequivocal confidence and esteem of all
who knew him. He passed to the life eternal in 1909, and his venerable
widow now resides in the city of Toronto, where she makes her home
with one of her children. Her father died in 1910 at the patriarchal
age of eighty-nine years. The religious faith of the family is that of the
Protestant church, and of the children of William H. and Sarah A.
Johnson one son and one daughter are living.
In the common schools of his native village Dr. Johnson found
proper advantages for the early development of his mental powers and
he carried forward his studies through the curriculum of the high school.
As a youth he fixed his ambition on the medical profession as the vocation
of his choice, and in 1888, at the age of twenty-five years, he came to
Michigan and entered the Detroit College of Medicine, in which he was
graduated as a member of the class of 1891. He proved himself well en
titled to the honors thus conferred upon him in the gaining of his degree
of Doctor of Medicine, and prior to his graduation he was fortunate in
gaining two years' of practical and valuable clinical experience through
his association with the work of St. Luke's Hospital, in which he served
as interne and as a member of the house staff. He thus came forth

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1123
admirably fortified for the work of his chosen profession, which has here
engrossed his attention, as a general practitioner, since the spring of
1891, and he has long retained a representative clientage, with a practice
of wide and substantial order. From 1898 to 1903 he served as county
physician of Wayne county, and he gave a most admirable adminstration
of his duties in this office, which he held to be worthy of most scrupulous
care and attention. In 1889 he was given further preferment, in that he
was elected a member of the Detroit board of education, a position which
he retained until 1897, and for some time he had the further distinction
of being president of the board. His interest in educational matters has
been of the deepest order and as a member of the board he did much to
further progressive movements and effective adminstration. He is a
member of the Alumni of the Detroit College of Medicine and is
identified with the American Medical Association, the Michigan State
Medical Society and the Wayne County Medical Society. He has been
medical examiner for Detroit of the John Hancock Life Insurance Com
pany for the past seventeen years. He maintains his office at his fine res
idence, which he erected in 1900 and which is located at 621 Sixteenth
street. In politics the Doctor gives his support to the cause of the Republi
can party. He is affiliated with Ashlar Lodge, Free and Accepted
Masons, Michigan Sovereign Consistory of the Ancient Accepted Scottish
Rite Masonry, besides which he holds membership in the adjunct
organization, Moslem Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the
Mystic Shrine. He is also identified with the American Order of For
resters and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and he is an appreciative
and valued member of the local St. Andrew's Society, of which he has
served as president.
On April 22, 1884, Dr. Johnson was united in marriage to Miss
Fedora M. Quick, who was born at Brighton, province of Ontario,
Canada, and they have one son, Clinton D., who is now a draftsman in
the employ of the Hup Automobile Company, Detroit.
Henri Belanger, M. D. By very name itself Detroit pays tribute
of honor to its early French settlers, and of the old-time lines there yet
remain many worthy representatives. Dr. Belanger is of the same
sterling French stock that has been so long and prominently concerned
with the history of Michigan, though he himself is a native of the
neighboring province of Ontario, Canada. His maternal grandfather,
Pierre Houle, was numbered among the early French residents of De
troit, whither he came from Canada, where the family had been early
founded, and he was thus a resident of Detroit at the time of the
regime of Governor Cass, concerning whom adequate information is
given in the general history appearing in this publication. Pierre Houle
was for a time in the employ of General Cass and he became the owner
of several acres of land in what is now the heart of the city. He
finally returned to Canada, however, and located at Chatham, Ontario,
in which province he passed the residue of his life. Joseph Belanger,
paternal grandfather of the Doctor, was a member of one of the old
and honored French families of Montreal, whence he removed to Chat
ham, Ontario, about eighty years ago. He became one of the pioneer
farmers of that locality, where he passed the remainder of his life.
Dr. Henri Belanger has gained precedence as one of the successful
and popular physicians and surgeons of Wayne county and has a spe
cially comprehensive practice in the suburban village of River Rouge,
the village being now an integral part of the city of Detroit. His home

1124 HISTORY OF DETROIT
is at 3197 Jefferson avenue and his office at 38 Dearborn. He was born
at Chatham, Ontario, on the 17th of October, 1872, and is a son of
Leander and Genevieve (Houle) Belanger, the former of whom was born
in the vicinity of Montreal, Canada, and the latter in Detroit, Mich
igan, whence her parents later removed to the neighborhood of Chat
ham, Ontario, as already noted in the preceding paragraph. Leander
Belanger devoted the major part of his active career to farming and
was a man of sterling character, ever commanding the confidence and
esteem of his fellow men, the while both he and his wife were devout
communicants of the Catholic church. He passed to the life eternal,
at Chatham, Ontario, in 1903, at the age of seventy-two years, and his
wife died in May, 1908, at the age of seventy-six years. Of their chil
dren four sons and three daughters are living.
In the schools of his attractive little native city Dr. Belanger gained
his rudimentary educational discipline, and at the age of thirteen years
he entered Ottawa University, where he continued a student for four
years, pursuing the classical course. Thereafter he continued his stu
dies for one year in Assumption College, at Sandwich, Ontario, and in
1891, in harmony with well defined plans, he entered the Detroit Col
lege of Medicine, in which he was graduated as a member of the class
of 1894 and with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In the same year
he began the active practice of his profession in the village of River
Rouge, where he has since remained and where he has the strongest
hold upon popular confidence and affection, as is shown in the broad
and substantial scope of his professional business. He is one of the
influential citizens of that suburban section of Detroit and is a friend
and counselor as well as a physician to many of the representative fam
ilies of the district. He was an instructor or lecturer in the school for
nurses maintained in connection with the fine Solvay Hospital. He
served for fifteen years as health officer of Ecorse township, a position
from which he retired in the spring of 1911, but was appointed again
in 1912. He has served continuously as health officer of the village of
River Rouge since 1898. The Doctor keeps in close touch with the
advances made in medical and surgical science and is identified with
the American Medical Association, the Michigan State Medical So
ciety, and the Wayne County Medical Society.
In politics the well fortified convictions of Dr. Belanger lead him
to accord allegiance to the Democratic party, and both he and his family
are communicants of the Catholic church. He is affiliated with and
medical examiner for the Knights of Columbus, the Knights of. the
Modern Maccabees, the Modern Woodmen of America, the National
Union, the Modern Brotherhood of America, the Catholic Order of
Foresters, and the Union of French Societies of the United States.
On the 2d of September, 1894, was solemnized the marriage of Dr.'
Belanger to Miss Clara E. Reaume, who likewise is a native of Chat
ham, Ontario, and of French lineage, her father, Richard Reaume, be
ing a prosperous business man. Dr. and Mrs. Belanger have six chil
dren, whose names are here noted: Clara A., Angeline M., Leander H,
Annie G., Rosalie E., and Ernest E. The Doctor is a lover of horses
and has owned a number of fine animals.
General Luther S. Trowbridge. It is a thing unknown in almost
any country, with the exception of the United States of America, for a
man trained in one profession to fill in the course of his life other posi
tions requiring different training and other talents, and to discharge
these duties in an effective manner. It is safe to say that Michigan
supplies more instances of such versatility than can be furnished by

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1125
most of the older nations with histories running far back in the past.
Such men are needed in a nation like ours, where history is made so
rapidly, and where changing conditions make it necessary for the citi
zens to discharge duties for which they have had no previous training.
The progress of the nation is due largely to the splendid adaptability
of its citizens to the requirements of the situation. Such a man was
the late General Luther S. Trowbridge, lawyer, soldier, public servant,
diplomat and able business man. Added to this combination was a
charming personality which endeared him to those with whom he had
been associated during his long and useful life. Living in retirement,
he had as company the good will, respect and love of the community
in which he lived and the admiration and gratitude of the nation for
eminent services rendered to it.
General Trowbridge was born on a farm in the .township of Troy,
Oakland county, Michigan, July 28, 1836. His father, Stephen Van
Rensellaer Trowbridge, came to Michigan from Albany, New York. His
mother, Elizabeth (Conklin) Trowbridge, was from the village of
Horseheads, Chemung county, New -York. He was one of the eleven
children born to his parents, seven sons and four daughters making
up that number. Their father, a well-to-do farmer and a gentleman
of some education, gave to his large family educational advantages that
were but seldom available to families settled in a new country. Luther
S. Trowbridge went to school at an exceptionally early age. He was an
apt pupil and gave remarkable evidence of his precocity in school com
positions while in his seventh year. At that time spelling matches were
more in vogue than they are at this time, a fact which is properly de
plored by many, and it was arranged to have a contest between a num
ber of schools in Oakland county. Luther Towbridge successfully
"spelled down" the entire company, thus proving himself the superior
of many older and more advanced pupils than he in that especial
branch. He had what was considered a remarkable verbal memory,
a fact which stood him in good stead all through his school years. He
continued in the district school until his sixteenth year, when he went
to an academy at Lodi Plains, Washtenaw county, Michigan, and from
there he entered Yale College, where he pursued a literary course. At
the end of his junior year he was compelled to give up his studies, as
the result of a trouble he experienced with his eyes. His work had
reached such a point, however, that the college conferred upon him the
degree of A. M., and he returned to his father's farm and his boyhood
home, there to remain until he was completely recovered from the
trouble which had brought a termination to his university studies.
In 1856 he began the study of law in the office of Sidney D. Miller,
of Detroit. He was admitted to the bar in 1858, and in 1859 formed a
partnership with Hon. Alexander W. Buel, an association which con
tinued until 1862.
When the Civil war broke out he was urged to take command of
the Second Michigan Infantry, but this he declined to do, believing
that he lacked sufficient military training or experience to fit him for
the command. Very soon thereafter a company was formed for the
study of military tactics. It secured a graduate of West Point, one
G. W. Rosem, son-in-law of the late Governor Baldwin, to instruct them.
The company was composed of professional men and young business
men who felt that the time might soon come when their services would
be needed in the field, and the progress of the company was rapid, so
greatly were its members impressed with the exigencies of the times.
Even as they had anticipated, the time came when their services'
were needed, and their training became of great value to the country.

1126 HISTORY OF DETROIT
In 1862, under the second call for 200,000 men, Luther S. Trowbridge
was offered a commission as major in the Fifth Michigan Cavalry, a
post which he promptly accepted. The regiment went to the field in
December, 1862, and was engaged in outpost duty in front of Wash
ington, with occasional raids into the enemy's country, until June,
1863. The regiment was in the meantime brigaded with the First,
Sixth and Seventh, all Michigan regiments, which afterward gained an
enviable reputation as the Michigan Brigade.
Colonel Copeland, who organized the Sixth Michigan Cavalry, was
promoted to the rank of brigadier general in command of the Michigan
Brigade in the early part of June, when General Lee was moving his
army into Pennsylvania. The Michigan Brigade was then attached to
the Army of the Potomac. On June 28th, the Fifth and Sixth Michi
gan Cavalry entered Gettysburg and were able to send reliable informa
tion of the movements of a portion of General Lee's army to the com
mander of the Army of the Potomac, General Elwell's, corps having
passed through Gettysburg on its march to New York. Upon the re
turn of the Fifth and Sixth Michigan Cavalry to Emmetsburg, they
learned of a general reorganization of cavalry corps under General
Custer, then newly appointed to the command of the Michigan Bri
gade, which was then attached to General Kilpatrick's division.
The Brigade became engaged with Stuart's cavalry and prevented
their communication with Lee's headquarters, a fact which proved most
embarrassing to General Lee. On the night of July 2d the Brigade
approached the battlefield of Gettysburg, and the victory at that battle
was largely due to the gallant fighting of the Michigan Cavalry. It
was while leading his battalion against Stuart's batteries in the face
of almost certain death that Major Trowbridge had his horse shot under
him close to the* guns of the enemy. In speaking of this incident, Gen
eral Trowbridge said: "I only escaped capture through the coolness
and courage of my orderly, who dashed up with a second horse, which
I mounted, thus enabling me to escape." The brave orderly was re
warded for his action by Major Trowbridge, who secured his appoint
ment as captain of the Tenth Michigan Cavalry, in which post he con
tinued until the end of the war.
In the early morning of the day following the battle of Gettysburg,
the Brigade went into bivouac at Two Taverns, amid the roar of the
guns of the artillery of the Twelfth Corps as General Williams was
making his splendid fight to recover ground Johnston had wrested from
him the night before. About 8 A. M., as the brigade took its position
with the division on the left flank of the Army of the Potomac, be
yond the Round Tops, General Gregory anticipated a severe fight on the
right flank of the army and ordered General Custer to take his posi
tion on that flank, where his presence proved to be of great value.
In the month immediately preceding Gettysburg, and in the month
following, the Fifth Michigan Cavalry was almost constantly engaged
in fighting. Major Trowbridge was taken sick and came home, where
he remained for six weeks. While at home he was offered the position
of colonel of the Tenth Michigan Cavalry, which he accepted and went
with his regiment to Kentucky and Tennessee. In April, 1864, he was
sent to destroy an important railway bridge over the Wantenaga river
at Carter's station. The affair, though not in itself important, had a
great effect on the future of the regiment, as it enabled it to drive a
superior force from an entrenched position.
When the army moved on to east Tennessee to join General Sher
man in the Atlanta campaign, Colonel Trowbridge's regiment was left
as the only Union cavalry regiment in Tennessee, with headquarters

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1127
at Strawberry Plains. While stationed at this point an incident oc
curred which showed the versatility of Colonel Trowbridge. He was
requested to finish fortifications to protect the railroad bridge at that
place. The work was something entirely new to him, but he set out
with the aid of a small book on fortifications. In looking over the work
already done and studying the topography of the country, he came to
the conclusion that the work was not well laid out. He reported the
results of his observations to his superior officer, who said he did not
think there had been any mistake, as he had laid out the work him
self. Colonel Trowbridge made diagrams of the work done and sketched
the topography of the country, indicating where an enemy could plant
his batteries and would be likely to use his artillery in ease of attack.
Thus prepared, he went to Knoxville to call on the commanding officer,
General David Tilson, and he soon convinced that officer of the in
adequacy of the fortifications. General Tilson agreed that the engineer
to whom the work had been entrusted had made a mistake and in
structed Colonel Trowbridge to finish the task according to his own
plans. He did so, and had the satisfaction of seeing the correctness of
his ideas tested by a continuous attack of the enemy's artillery, which
might have blazed away until doomsday without any serious damage
being done.
In January, 1863, Colonel Trowbridge was appointed provost mar
shal of east Tennessee. This position he held for two months, when he
was relieved at his own request in order that he might join his regiment
in an expedition under General Storm into North Carolina and Vir
ginia. General Trowbridge said it was doubtful if any expedition dur
ing the war accomplished so much and attracted so little attention.
For a distance of one hundred and twenty-five miles the Virginia &
East Tennessee Railway was most effectually disabled, and every bridge
destroyed. After the surrender of Johnston's army, Colonel Trowbridge was
engaged in the pursuit of Jeff Davis until his capture. When the com
mand reached Tennessee he was assigned to the command of a brigade,
with the rank of brigadier general, and held that position until mus
tered out in 1865.
At that time east Tennessee gave great promise of the development
of its natural resources, and General Trowbridge was persuaded to cast
his lot with the loyal people of Tennessee, among whom he had made
many friends. He remained there until 1868, when he was called to
Michigan by the failing health of his father-in-law. While at Knox
ville he took an active part in the election which resulted in giving the
state Governor Brownlee.
Upon his return to Detroit in 1868 General Trowbridge established
himself once more in the practice of law, and rapidly regained his old
time position in that profession. In the fall of 1875, without solicita
tion, he was appointed collector of internal revenue for the eastern dis
trict of Michigan, the appointment being made in recognition of his
splendid services to his country. His administration of that office was
of the highest order and received warm commendation at the hands of
the head of that bureau. He held that post until 1883. On July 1st
of that year he was appointed city comptroller, which position he held
for eighteen months, when he resigned to become vice-president of the
Wayne County Savings Bank of Detroit. On July 1, 1889, he ac
cepted the position of confidential secretai<y to Luther Beecher, which
position he held until the death of the latter, in September, 1892.
After the death of Mr. Beecher, General Trowbridge acted as one of
the administrators of the estate. A few years ago President Roose-

1128 HISTORY OF DETROIT
velt appointed General Trowbridge general appraiser of customs, and
for a number of years thereafter his venerable military figure was
associated with the old government building on Griswold street.
In politics General Trowbridge was always a Republican. He nailed
the Republican flag to the flagpole in front of his father's house the
year that John C. Fremont ran for president, and from that time until
the close of his life the party might always depend upon him to do good
works in its interests. He always did considerable public speaking dur
ing the campaigns, and his clear, incisive voice carried conviction with
each simple statement of facts. He was the direct antithesis of a
demagogue, and he worshipped regularly in Christ's church, on Jeffer
son avenue, as do also his family.
In April, 1862, General Trowbridge was united in marriage with
Miss Julia M. Buel, the daughter of his partner, Alexander C. Buel.
They had seven children: Clara Buel, now deceased, married Charles
M. Swift, an attorney of Detroit; Mary E., living at home; Alexander
Buel, an architect of New York City, where he is a member of the
firm of Trowbridge & Ackeman, married Miss Gertrude Sherman, daugh
ter of John T. Sherman, a merchant, and they are the parents of four
children, Sherman, Buel and Alice, twins, and Stephen V. R. ; Mar
garet Riggs, the fourth child of General Trowbridge, married Charles
A. Ricks, the son of Judge Ricks ; Luther S., Jr., attorney-at-law of
Detroit, with Gray & Gray, married Mable Hartsuff, daughter of Gen
eral Hartsuff, and they have two children, Albert and Luther S., third;
Julia A. married Daniel Quirk, Jr., of Ypsilanti, Michigan, and they
have three children, Trowbridge, Buel and Julia Buel; a fourth son,
Edmund Buel, died when fourteen years of age. Mrs. Luther S. Trow
bridge passed away on January 3, 1909, and rests in Elmwood cemetery,
and on Friday, February 2, 1912, her honored husband, General Luther
S. Trowbridge, was called from this life.
Of his sudden passing, a Detroit publication said in part: "General
Luther S. Trowbridge, appraiser of the port of Detroit, veteran of the
Civil war, comrade of the gallant Custer, by whose side he fought with
distinguishing bravery, and a prominent citizen of Detroit, died this
morning at 4:30 o'clock at his home at 609 Jefferson avenue, where he
had lived for more than forty years. General Trowbridge was seventy-
five years old. Though the General suffered a nervous shock of paral
ysis two years ago, his death was entirely unexpected. Only the day
before his death he was about, seemingly in the best of health and spirits.
Though General Trowbridge was a heroic figure throughout the war,
he was distinctly a man of peace, — kindly, placid, unassuming and sym
pathetic. He had an aversion for war, but deemed it due to his coun
try that he go to the front. He was extremely averse to the wearing
of gaudy uniforms, and when inspector general of the state militia
under Governor Bagley, he wore a uniform only when absolutely nec
essary. General Trowbridge was very proud of the fact that President
Grant appointed him collector of customs at this port without consulting
him. He took an active part in politics and was at the head of many
political marching parties that were so popular after the war. After
severing his connection with the state militia, General Trpwbridge was
appointed city comptroller by Mayor William G. Thompson, an office
which he held for a year and a half, resigning to take a place of im
portance with the Wayne County Savings Bank."
General Trowbridge was a man of musical talent and inclination,
and was a most influential member of the Philharmonic Society, being
at one time its president. When he died there passed away the last
member of the "Early Risers," one of the first base ball teams Detroit

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1129
ever had. He was ever an enthusiast in that sport, and when the base
ball season opened in Detroit two years ago General Trowbridge raised
the pennant for the Detroit Club.
Julius Burghard. For a dozen years the late Julius Burghard
was widely and favorably known among the people of Detroit, both in
his eminent capacity as manager of the Abend-Post, of which his dis
tinguished father-in-law was proprietor, and also in his highly esti-
-mable private life. He is remembered as one holding high rank among
those Germans of sound character and breeding who become the worth-
' iest of American citizens. In one of those districts of the German Em
pire which adjoin the picturesque and far-famed Rhine lived the Burg
hard family, whose head was Frederick Burghard, a man of fine calibre
and for many years the president of a prominent insurance company,
and his wife, Eliza Burghard. In their home, on February 13, 1848,
the son was born who was named Julius. He received careful rearing
and adequate educational advantages, with which equipment the age
of seventeen found him keenly alive to the possibilities of success in
a new land. Gaining the reluctant, yet bravely encouraging, consent
of his parents, he took passage to the United States, armed with the
hope and determination so necessary for capable achievement. After
his landing he sought employment in New York, where he soon accepted
a position in the wholesale lace-importing house of the Miiser Brothers.
Such were his ability and his faithfulness that he was soon made
manager of the department in which he was first engaged. It was al
ways Julius Burghard 's ambition to do thoroughly and skillfully what
ever task he had in hand rather than to be constantly seeking positions
of greater prominence. Some one has said of him that "Instead of
always hunting the biggest job, he chose always to be bigger than his
job." There is surely no higher ambition thah that.
Serene in the able performance of his daily vocation, Mr. Burghard
remained with the Miiser Brothers for about eighteen years, with grati
fying pecuniary profit. At the end of that time it chanced that his par
ticipation in a social function led to circumstances eventually changing
the current of his life. At the home of a New York friend he met Miss
Louise Marxhausen, of Detroit, a dahghter of August Marxhausen, who
was a prominent editor of the latter city. Their acquaintance cul
minated in a marriage between Miss Marxhausen and Burghard, who
celebrated the significant event by a honeymoon trip abroad. They
returned to New York, where Mr. Burghard resumed his connection
with the importers' house of Miiser Brothers. After two years, how
ever, Mr. Burghard consented to accept a position for which his busi
ness experience had rendered him amply efficient — that of manager of
the Detroit Abend-Post of which August Marxhausen, Mrs. Burghard 's
father, was the proprietor.
Mr. and Mrs. Burghard came to Detroit in 1885, and from that
time throughout his life Julius Burghard became an increasingly im
portant factor in the affairs of the famous German-American news
paper, which during the period of his management attained its reputa
tion of being the greatest periodical of its kind in the middle west. He
was about to be admitted to a full partnership in the firm of publishers
when a physical malady of long standing cut short his useful life.
That Julius Burghard had endeared himself to a large and appre
ciative circle of friends is evidenced by the comments of his confreres
published in the Abend-Post on the occasion of his demise. "His abil
ity, integrity and charming personality," we quote from that article,
"won him many friends who remained such throughout his life." He
vol. ru— 19

1130 HISTORY OF DETROIT
is remembered with special affection by the members of the Harmonie
Society and with deep respect by the politicians who were privileged
to know him. Although a Republican in theory, he always refused
public office and his choice of a preferred candidate always depended
on his conception of the individual's fitness for the proposed office.
Mr. Burghard still lives in memory, through the publication he so
ably assisted, through the influence of his character on those about him
and through the family which survives him. Mrs. Burghard and the
two children, Elsa and Robert, remain in Detroit, occupying the beau*
tiful home at 199 Adams avenue, east. Both the son and daughter 'are
now students in one of the high schools of Detroit.
Ernest Schorr, M. D. Other men's services to the people and the
state can be measured by definite deeds, by dangers averted, by legis
lation secured, by institutions built, by commerce promoted. The work
of a doctor is entirely estranged from the above lines of enterprise, yet
without his capable, health-giving assistance all other accomplishments
would count for naught. Man's greatest prize on earth is physical
health and vigor; nothing deteriorates mental activity so quickly as
prolonged sickness, — hence the broad field for human helpfulness af
forded in the medical profession. The successful doctor requires some
thing more than mere technical training, — he must be a man of broad
human sympathy and genial kindliness, capable of inspiring hope and
faith in the heart of his patient. Such a man is he whose name forms
the caption for this review.
Dr. Ernest Schorr was born in Holmes county, Ohio, January 22,
1861. He is a son of George and Barbara (Henes) Schorr, both na
tives of Germany, where the former was born in 1836 and the latter in
1842. The father was reared to the age of sixteen years in his native
place of Hesse-Darmstadt and was educated in the public schools. In
1852 he immigrated to the United States in an old-style sailing vessel,
the trip consuming a period of three months. The mother was born
and reared in Wurtemberg, Germany, and came to America with her
widowed mother and brother and sister in 1851. The sister died after
reaching America and was buried in Cleveland, Ohio. George and
Barbara Schorr were married at Middletown (now Mt. Hope), Holmes
county, Ohio, and there he was engaged in farming and stock-raising
and in the grocery business until his death, December 29, 1880. The
mother passed away November 18, 1887, and her body was brought to
Detroit for cremation, it having been held in a vault until the comple
tion of the crematory, December 10, 1887, the first cremation in Detroit.
Mr. and Mrs. Schorr were the parents of eight children, four of whom
are living, in 1912.
To the public schools of Holmes county, Ohio, Dr. Schorr is in
debted for his rudimentary educational training and at the age of
fifteen years he began the study of medicine, under the able preceptor
ship of Dr. Joel Pomerene, of Millersburg, Ohio. He worked and stud
ied in the office of Dr. Pomerene until he was ready for graduation in
the College of Physicians & Surgeons of the Western Reserve at Cleve
land, Ohio, as a member of the class of 1882. Prior to receiving his
degree of Doctor of Medicine he had attended a course of lectures in
the Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia. He began the practice
of medicine in 1882, at Frazer, Macomb county, Michigan, where he re
mained for a little more then three years and where he built up a large
and lucrative practice. In November, 1885, he came to Detroit, where
he has since resided and where he has gained precedence as one of the
best physicians and surgeons in this section of the state. He has been

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1131
located in various parts of the city but since 1894 has had his offices
and residence at No. 114 East Elizabeth street. He is a member of
the Wayne County Medical Society, the Michigan State Medical So
ciety and the American Medical Association.
The Doctor's spare time is all devoted to the perfecting of in
ventions he has made along the line of automobile improvements, and
recently he has patented a device that is destined to revolutionize
automobile building in the future. He is independent in his political
convictions and while he has no time for active participation in public
affairs is ever on the alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with all
measures and enterprises projected for the good of the general welfare.
On July 26, 1889, Dr. Schorr was united in marriage to Miss Anna
Hobbs, who was born and reared in Canada and who is a daughter
of William Hobbs. Dr. and Mrs. Schorr are the parents of one daugh
ter, Flora Viola, whose birth occurred in June, 1890.
Joseph C. Tufford, M. D., who at the present time holds prestige
as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of the Michigan
metropolis, like a goodly number of other able members of his profes
sion in Detroit claims the neighboring province of Ontario, Canada, as
the place of his nativity, his maternal and paternal ancestry being of
staunch English stock.
Dr. Tufford was born in the town of Aylmer, Elgin county, On
tario, on the 25th of October, 1866, and is a son of Rev. John C. and
Catherine (Yokome) Tufford, the former of whom was born in the
township of Malahide, Elgin county, Ontario, and the latter in the
town of Welland, that province, opposite the city of Buffalo, New York.
The father labored for forty years in the work of the ministry and
was one of the representative clergymen of the Methodist Episcopal
church in his native province, where he continued to reside until his
death, in 1893, at the age of seventy-six years. He was a man of fine
intellectuality and his life was one of signal consecration to the work
of his Divine Master and the aiding and uplifting of his fellow men.
His cherished and noble wife passed away in 1896, at the age of sixty-
six years, and of their children five are yet living.
To the public schools of his native town Dr. Tufford is indebted for
his preliminary educational discipline, which was there supplemented
by attendance in the Aylmer Collegiate Institute. In 1891 he entered
the Western Medical College, a branch of the University, and there he
continued his technical studies for three years, at the expiration of
which he came to Michigan and entered the Detroit College of Medicine.
He was graduated from that institution as a member of the class of
1894, and at that time received his degree of Doctor of Medicine.
Shortly after his graduation Dr. Tufford located at Goodrich, Gen
esee county, Michigan, where he continued in the practice of his profes
sion for three years, within which time he admirably developed his
technical powers and won a success that justified him in assuming
broader responsibilities in the line of his profession. After complet
ing an effective post-graduate course in the New York Polyclinic he
established his home in the city of Owosso, Michigan, where he attained
a marked popularity and built up a substantial and representative
practice. He remained in Owosso for a period of eight years and then
went abroad for the purpose of still further fortifying himself in his
profession. He did comprehensive post-graduate work in leading in
stitutions in the cities of London and Berlin, where he attended many
important clinics, and after his return to the United States he continued
his professional endeavors in Owosso until 1906, when he removed to

1132 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Detroit. In this city his success in the work of his profession has been
of the most unequivocal order and he is known as a physician and
surgeon of high attainments and distinctive practical ability.
Dr. Tufford is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society, the
Michigan State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.
In his political tendencies he is inclined to the Independent party.
On September 18, 1895, Dr. Tufford was united in marriage to Miss
Estelle Witt, daughter of Arthur Witt, a representative citizen of
Almont, Lapeer county, Michigan. Two children were born to Dr.
and Mrs. Tufford, one of whom is now living, — Walter Witt Tufford,
born July 3, 1903.
Michael A. Adams, one of Detroit's well-known and most highly
esteemed retired citizens and business men, was born in county Mona-
ghan, Ireland, in 1836. He is the son of Colonel Adams, an officer of
, the English Army, who was sent to Ireland to take command of an
Irish regiment. There he met and married an Irish girl and became
the father of two sons, our subject and brother.
Life at home was too dull for the two boys, and when about fourteen
Mr. Adams took counsel with his brother and they determined to see
the world and carve out their own careers. Taking their shoes in their
hands to save the foot wear, the high spirited boys, bare-footed, crossed
the border and walked to Glasgow, Scotland. Michael, who is now
enjoying the sunset of his life in his comfortable and handsome home,
which he built in 1887, at the corner of Cass and Putnam avenues in
Detroit, secured a position in a shoe store on the Bazaar in Glasgow.
In 1851 the wanderlust again seized young Adams and he crossed the
ocean to the United States. He landed at New York City, but the
metropolis was not to his liking and he went to Albany, the state capital,
where he entered a shoe store, as he had in Scotland.
He was employed there one winter when he thought Canada would
offer a greater field for his energies. He visited several towns, and be
ing an expert shoe salesman, had no difficulty ' in securing positions.
But Canada did not suit him and he returned to the United States, going
to Buffalo and later to Cleveland, and in 1852 came to Detroit, where
he was destined to make his future home. He accepted a position with
Alfred McKnight, who had a shoe store at the corner of Shelby street
and Jefferson avenue, and remained with him about one year. During
the next few years he was with several other firms, and thus he con
tinued until he decided to go into business for himself.
He bought a stock of dry goods from Chandler & Shelden, which
he took with him up into the north country, as the shores of Lake
Superior were then termed. He visited the mining districts and placed
the goods on sale, with the result that his wares were soon disposed of.
In the spring of 1855, with a moderate capital accumulated as a result
of his northern trip, Mr. Adams returned to Detroit and entered the
grocery business at 17 Griswold street, where he remained until 1858,
when he built a store room on Michigan avenue, at the corner of Na
tional, where he conducted the grocery business during the winter.
He found the location to be too far out for business at that time, and
moved to the corner of Third and Michigan avenues, where he built
the store room at 157 Michigan avenue, and in 1865, built another at
178 Michigan avenue, where he conducted a crockery store. He re
mained in the crockery business at this stand for more than forty-five
years, and in 1909 sold out and retired from active business. In ad
dition to his other holdings he built the fine brick double flat build
ing at 162-164 State street about thirty-five years ago.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1133
On October 14, 1884, Mr. Adams was united in marriage to Miss
Dorothy Hughes. Mrs. Adams was born in Ireland. She died April
10, 1902, and her remains are now at rest in Mt. Olivet cemetery. As
a result of this happy union there were born to them four children:
Isabelle A. is a talented artist who lives at home with her father. Mary,
who married A. J. McLaughlin, of London, Ontario, is the mother of
five children, namely, Theodore, Hubery, Ruth, Isabelle and Catherine.
Ella married R. F. Reaume, of Detroit, and is the mother of three chil
dren — Mary, who married Thomas H. Doyle and is the mother of two
children, Ritchie R. and Mary; Richard F. ; and Veronica. John J. is
living at home. The family are all members of the Catholic church.
Alfonso Baker. One of the finest defenders of her lives and prop
erty that Detroit ever had is the present captain of the central precinct
and deputy superintendent of the police force, Captain Alfonso Baker.
He has been a member of the Detroit police force for twenty-eight years
and has risen to his present position, not through pull but through merit
and sheer force of character. In addition to the physical strength and
personal bravery that all members of the police force should possess he
is also morally brave, and his reputation for honesty and uprightness
in these days of graft and crookedness among those who are supposed to
be the guardians of the public welfare, is of priceless value.
Alfonso Baker was born in Rochester, New York, on the 18th of
July, 1849, the youngest son of Richard Baker and Adelaide (Leake)
Baker. His parents were old settlers of Dutchess county, New York,
his mother being a native of the county, and his father coming hither
shortly after his arrival in the United States, a frightened little boy, come
from the far off lowlands of Holland. Richard Baker served in the Civil
war, being a member of General Banks' expedition and participating in
a number of important engagements.
An interesting story is related concerning Alfonso Baker and his early
enthusiasm for anything that bordered on the military. He was a little
chap of twelve at the time of the Civil war, but war was in the air ; he
heard nothing else and his youthful heart burned with the desire to do
something for his country. Knowing that in order to go to the front
one first had to get the authority, he made his way to a recruiting office
in Rochester and slipping through the crowds of men that had gathered
in the place, he was presently standing before the sergeant's desk.
Here he announced in his high, child's voice that he wanted to go to
the front. The big sergeant laughed down at him, "My lad, you're
too small!" he said. A bit taken aback, size didn't seem to matter so
much when he was sure he could do just as much for his country as
could lots of bigger men and he proceeded to explain that he could
beat a drum even if he couldn't, shoulder a musket, and shoot a rifle,
and that drummer boys could sometimes help the soldiers a lot when
things , were going wrong and they were terribly discouraged. His
earnestness and the ardor in his little voice won the sergeant's heart,
and he said that he would accept his offer of enlistment Drovided his
father gave his consent. This was out of the question, for the lad's
father was far in the southland, fisrhting even then for Old Glory, but
he was then told that if his grandfather with whom he was living would
give his consent, he could ero to the front. But the old gentleman, who
was the only one left on the farm, was adamant, for. having willinsrly
given all the others to the cause, he felt that this his youngest should be
left to him. Therefore the brave cantain has no military record, and who
knows what this record might have been, for in other walks of life, he has
given such evidence of courage, fidelity and devotion to duty.

1134 HISTORY OF DETROIT
His early education, Captain Baker received in the public schools
of Rochester, from which he graduated at the age of seventeen. He
then took up the vocation of gardening, and inaugurated a market gar
den of his own, which he ran for four years as an independent venture.
When he was twenty-two, he came to Battle Creek, Michigan, and here
he was married. It was only a few weeks later that he removed to ' ' the
fair city of the straits" and here he again took up gardening, raising
in particular, small vegetables. For three years he was very successful,
but in the spring of 1875, he was visited by a severe hail storm, which
completely ruined the twelve-acre crop of seed onions that were -at
the time in the very "pink of condition." The storm caused him a
loss of between five and six thousand dollars, and he determined
to go into some less hazardous business. At this time onions were
bringing in the market a price of a dollar and a half a bushel and it
was very hard to see the work of a whole year thus destroyed in a few
hours. After the sad chapter of the hail storm, Mr. Baker bravely turned
his attention to another field, and coming into the city, bought a
milk route, but the milk business is not all cream, as the captain
soon discovered, and so he made another change, this time embarkirjg
in the timber business. He manufactured mast hoops and black ash
barrel hoops, and this time his energetic and progressive spirit brought
him success. In time he was able to sell his business at a fair profit.
and at last was free to turn to a vocation that had always attracted
him, that of police service. He made application for a position on the
Detroit police force, and was appointed patrolman on the 8th of
March, 1884. After three months of this duty, he was assigned to
special work, and was shortly afterwards graduated into full-fledged
detective work. He made an excellent officer for this sort of duty,
and at the end of nine years was appointed chief of detectives, and a
little later was given full charge of the east side as captain of police.
On the 1st of April, 1911, he celebrated . his sixth anniversary of his
appointment as captain of the central precinct, and on July 1, 19l2,
was promoted to be deputy superintendent of police. He has done
splendid work throughout these years, and his district always bore
the reputation as being one of the best policed in the city. His men
know that in spite of his many duties he has a pretty fair idea of how
each one of them is doing his work, and his head for organization
and systematized work is well exemplified in the way his district was
managed and in the performance of his present duties as deputy super
intendent. Captain Baker is a member of Detroit Lodge, No. 2, Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons, and he is also a Royal Arch Mason. His family
belong to the North Woodward Avenue Methodist church.
Captain Baker was united in marriage to Miss Martha O'Hara, of
Battle Creek, December 24, 1873. She was living in Battle Creek with
her mother at that time. Her father was a native of England and her
mother, of New York, but they are both now deceased. Captain and
Mrs. Baker became the parents of five children. Daniel A. is deceased.
Mark Harry Baker married Miss Margaret Hill, of Detroit, and he and
his wife have two children; Alice Margaret Baker, who is now nine
years old, and Ralph, a lad of five. Mark Baker is following in his
father's footsteps and is one of the most efficient members of the
Detroit police force. He also has an admirable military record, having
served in the Thirty-first Michigan Regiment during the Spanish-
American war. Ralph Baker is deceased. Roy Baker chose as his wife,
Miss Letitia Finney, of Detroit. Like his father and brother, he is con-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1135
nected with the police force, being engaged in special duty. Grace
Baker became Mrs. Potts and is the mother of one little daughter, Edna
Potts, aged two years.
Captain Baker is known throughout the city as a man who is un
flinchingly devoted to duty and to the improvement of . the service.
More men like him and it were better for the improvement of the
government and safety of our American cities.
Cyrenius Adelbert Newcomb, Jr. In all walks of business life,
individual genius and ability leave their impress upon the history
of the times, and in every community there may be found commercial
and mercantile establishments which so become a part and parcel of the
growth of that community as to become inseparably connected in the
public mind with each step of progress. Among firms which have held
such a position in Detroit, may be mentioned Newcomb, Endicott Com
pany, and one who has had much to do with the perpetuating of the
splendid reputation gained by this representative concern is Cyrenius
Adelbert Newcomb, Jr., who is secretary of the company.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, on January 14, 1871, Mr. Newcomb is
the son of Cyrenius Adelbert and Mary E. (Haskell) Newcomb. The
father was born on November 10, 1837, and is the son of Col. Hezekiah
and Nancy (Rounds) Newcomb, both of whom were born in Franklin
county, Massachusetts. The family is an old and honored one in the
annals of American history, and traces its genealogy back through
authentic records as far as the twelfth century, the Harlein Manuscripts
in the British Museum recording the names of the Newcombs of
Devonshire from the year 1189. A full account of the parents of the
subject, with more comprehensive details concerning the family origin
and records of its line of descent, may be found in the biographical
sketch of Cyrenius Adelbert Newcomb, Sr., in other pages of this
volume, so that it is not deemed necessary to further elaborate upon
the family of the subject in the brief space which is permitted.
Mr. Newcomb was educated in the public schools of his native city,
and was graduated from the Central high school with the class of '89.
He thereupon entered the University of Michigan, from which fine old
institution of learning he was graduated in 1893, with the degree of
B. L. He soon thereafter entered the employ of the firm of Newcomb,
Endicott Company, and in 1897, less than four years after leaving col
lege, he had so far advanced in the knowledge and understanding of
the business that he was promoted to the position of department buyer.
In 1903, having further demonstrated his ability and capacity as a man
of keen business judgment and acumen, he became secretary of the
concern, a position which he still retains.
Mr. Newcomb is a member of various organizations of a social na
ture, among which are the University Club of Detroit, of which he was
secretary for three years, retiring from the office in February, 1911;
the Detroit Boat Club, of the Detroit Country Club ; the Fine Arts So
ciety; the Aldine Association of New York City; and the Psi Epsilon
fraternity. He is a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce, and
has taken an active interest in the work of that body, which includes
the live and representative business men of the city.
On December 16, 1896, Mr. Newcomb was united in marriage with
Miss Brownie Jenness Kellie, of Detroit, and to them have been born
three children: Cyrenius Adelbert, 3d; Alice Jenness, and John
Jenness.

1136 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Thomas Joseph Dowling, M. D. Among the able and popular
representatives of the medical profession in Detroit is Dr. Thomas
Joseph Dowling, a close and zealous student, who has achieved suc
cess as a result of his own efforts and well merits the prestige which
he has gained as a physician and surgeon. He belongs to the younger
generation of physicians, having been born at Chatham, Ontario, Can
ada, January 12, 1881, the son of John and Sarah (Dowling) Dowling.
John Dowling was born at Mount Clemens, Macomb county, Mich
igan, in 1842, the son of Irish-born parents who were pioneers in that
part of Michigan. Subsequently, he removed to Chatham, Ontario,
where for many years he was engaged in the contracting business, and
in which little city he is now living a retired life. Sarah Dowling, the
mother of the Doctor, was born in Ontario, Canada, of Irish parents,
and is still living.
Dr. Dowling received his elementary schooling in the public schools
of Ontario and also attended Assumption College, the well-known edu
cational institution of Sandwich, Ontario, where he took the literary
course. In 1898 he entered the medical department of the University
of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where he spent two years, at that time be
coming a student at the Detroit College of Medicine, and there gradu
ated in the class of 1904, receiving the degree of- Doctor of Medicine.
Upon graduation, Dr. Dowling entered the general practice of his
profession in Highland Park (Detroit), but the following year located
in his present offices down town, at No. 197 Gratiot avenue, where he
has since continued. He has been very successful in Detroit practice
and controls a large and representative business, while his personal
popularity is of unmistakable and unequivocal character. Since his
graduation, in 1904, he has been a lecturer on physiology at the Detroit
College of Medicine and specializes to some extent. He is a member
of the Wayne County Medical Society and the Michigan State Medical
Society, and is fraternally connected with the Elks, the Moose and the
Red Men.
Rudolph Leo Pfeiffer. No nation has contributed to the complex
composition of our American social fabric an element of more sterling
worth or of greater value in fostering and supporting our national
institutions than has Germany. Germany has given us men of sturdy
integrity, indomitable perseverance, and high intelligence, the result
being the incorporation of a firm and strength-giving fiber, ramifying
through warp and woof. One of Detroit's able physicians, Rudolph
Leo Pfeiffer, is a native of Germany, his birth having occurred in
Prussia, on March 19, 1879, the son of Albert and Therese (Hatcher)
Pfeiffer. The family came to the United States in 1881, when young
Rudolph was about two years of age, and located in Detroit where
the parents are living at the present time.
Thus almost the entire life of the subject has been passed in the
beautiful City of the Straits. His early education was received in
St. Paul's parochial schools and he also attended Capitol University at
Columbus, Ohio, but did not complete his course in that institution on
account of his health. Subsequent to the completion of his college edu
cation he went West, but after spending a year there he returned to
Detroit and in the fall of 1899, entered the Detroit College of Medi
cine, from which he was graduated with the class of 1903, receiving the
degree of M. D.
Ever since his preparation for the profession was finished, Dr.
Pfeiffer has continued in general practice in this city, winning a well
deserved success. He is affiliated with a number of organizations, be-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1137
ing a member of the Michigan State Medical Society, the Wayne County
Medical Society, and the American Medical Association, the Schiller
Bund and the Iowa Society. His religious conviction is that of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church, his membership being at St. Paul's.
In the year 1904, Dr. Pfeiffer laid the foundations of an independent
household by his union with Martha Krause, of Detroit, daughter of
Otto Krause. They share their home with a cmartet of interesting
children, namely; Gertrude, Agatha, Elmira and Milton.
John P. Oldani, M. D., is the leading Italian physician and sur
geon of Detroit, and is one of the prominent and influential citizens of
the East Side. His services have been devoted almost as much to the
philanthropic side of his profession as to his own interests as a young
physician, and he is a fine type of the efficient, disinterested and pub-
lie-spirited professional man. Dr. Oldani 's home and offices are at
489 Rivard street.
A native of this city, where he was born on January 1, 1885, the
Doctor is a son of one of Detroit's leading merchants^ Charles Oldani
and wife Rose (Avata) Oldani. Both parents were born in Italy, com
ing to this country during their youth, and were married in Detroit.
Charles Oldani is a successful shoe merchant, one of the longest estab
lished in the line in the city, and for the past thirty-five years his
store on Monroe street has been one of the best patronized shops in
the business district.
Dr. Oldani is a highly educated man, and brought to his professional
work a thorough preparation and able talents. His early training was
in the Detroit public schools and the parochial schools, and as a boy he
entered the Jesuit College, now Detroit University, where he spent six
years in the academic and college courses. He left college before grad
uation in order to enter the Detroit College of Medicine in 1904, and
continued there until his graduation as Doctor of Medicine with the
class of 1908. During his senior year he had served as externe at the
Harper Hospital. At the present time he is assistant director of St.
Mary's Hospital outdoor clinic, and for the past four years has been
assistant in surgery to Dr. William J. Seymour, one of Detroit's fore
most surgeons. Dr. Oldani has been engaged in general practice at
his present location since 1908, the year of his graduation, and not only
has an extensive practice in the East Side district but with a growing
reputation is extending his services to other parts of the city.
Dr. Oldani is a member of the Wayne County and the Michigan
State Medical societies, and belongs to the Alumni Society of the De
troit College of Medicine. He is affiliated with the Catholic Order of
Foresters and various other fraternal organizations. Dr. Oldani has
an attractive home. Mrs. Oldani before her marriage was Miss Julia
Breen, a native of this city and daughter of Michael Breen. They are
the parents of one son, William J. Oldani.
Louis William McClear. Eminently qualified by literary and
legal attainments, professional experience and success, integrity of char
acter and praiseworthy qualities of mind and heart, Louis W. McClear
stands as one of the representative and able members of the bar of De
troit. He was born at Gregory, Livingston county. Michigan, May 29,
1872, and is the son of Terrence and Ann (McCarthy) McClear. The
father was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1821 and died in 1894.
The mother was born in 1834 and died in the month of July, 1910. She
was the daughter of Laurence McCarthy, a pioneer of the Wolverine
state. When a very young man, Terrence McClear, facing meagre

1138 HISTORY OF DETROIT
prospects in his native county, Ireland, harkened to the call of Oppor
tunity from the shores of the New World and crossed the Atlantic to
claim his share of American advantages. He first located in Hartford,
Connecticut, and in 1837 came to Michigan and took up his abode in
Livingston county. There he took up land and assisted in the con
struction of the first house in Ingham, just across the line from Livings
ton county. No one' tasted more fully the experiences of the pioneer
citizen. In the early '50s he walked across the plains, driving an ox-
team to California where he spent about a year engaged in gold min
ing. The charms of Michigan remained vivid with him, however, and
he returned to the state and located on his farm. In addition to farm
ing he engaged in teaching, being admirably fitted for his pedagogical
duties. He was a teacher for thirty years and more and continued in
the honorable and useful calling after two of his children were en
gaged in the same work. The subject is one of a family of twelve chil
dren, all of this goodly number surviving at the present time.
Louis McClear enjoyed the peculiarly pleasant and wholesome ex
perience of spending his boyhood and youth upon his father's farm, in
whose manifold labors it was his to take a hand. His early education
was secured in the district schools and subsequently he taught school
for eight years. < While engaged in teaching he arrived at a decision as
to his life work, and before he bade farewell to the percep tor's desk he
had for one year read law under the direction of his brother, James L.
McClear. He subsequently entered the Detroit College of Law and
was graduated with the class of 1897, receiving the degree of LL. B.
Even after his qualification for the bar, he taught school until the
spring of 1899, and then entered the professional lists in this city. It
was his fortune to become associated with Mr. Brooke, subsequently
judge of the Michigan Supreme Court, and this association continued
until Judge Brooke went to the bench. Mr. McClear 's ability was at
once recognized and he is generally recognized as one- who adds in
definite fashion to the professional prestige of the community. He is a
prominent and popular member of the Detroit Lawyer's Club.
In religious conviction, Mr. McClear is a communicant of the great
Mother Church, the Catholic, holding membership in Cathedral parish.
He is affiliated with the Catholic fraternity the Knights of Columbus.
He has served as president of the Wayne County Federation of Catholic
Societies and as vice president of the National Federation of Catholic
Societies. The Order of Maccabees also claims his membership.
"in the year 1904, Mr. McClear married Anna Deane, daughter of
Patrick Deane, of Livingston county, Michigan, where their union was
celebrated. They are the parents of one son, Robert, aged six years.
Robert McMillan. In even a cursory review of the careers of the
honored pioneer business men of Detroit there is eminent consistency
and, in fact, imperative demand that special recognition be accorded to
Robert McMillan, who was a dominating figure in local business life, a
man of impregnable integrity and honor, a loyal citizen and pure in all
the relations of life. He came to Michigan within the first decade after
its admission to the Union and during practically the remainder of his
life maintained his home in Detroit, where he was associated for many
years with his brother George in the retail grocery trade, under the
firm name of G. & R. McMillan, which is nerpetuated in the present
title of the company which conducts the business at the old stand, at the
corner of Woodward avenue and Fort street. Robert McMillan in
delibly impressed his influence upon the civic and material activities of
Detroit, where he achieved large and worthy success through his own

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HISTORY OF DETROIT 1139
responsibility and well directed energies. He was deeply appreciative
of all that represents the higher values of human existence ; he realized
the responsibilities which canopy life ; he was indefatigable and earnest
in his stewardship, and he ordered his course upon a lofty plane of
integrity and honor. A gentle, noble and exalted character represented
the man as he was, and his name is revered in the city that so long
represented his home and the center of his interests. He made the
most and the best of his life and it is gratifying to be able to present
in this history of the Michigan metropolis even a brief review of his
career and a tribute to his memory.
At his fine old homestead at No. 77 Washington avenue, in Detroit,
Robert McMillan answered the inexorable summons of death on the
2nd day of May, 1902, and he did not long survive the gracious wife
who had been his loyal and devoted companion and helpmeet in a
home life that was ideal in its every relation. Mrs. McMillan was sum
moned to the life eternal on the 15th of the preceding March, and the
bereaved husband seemed thereafter to release his grasp upon the mortal
life, so that he passed forward to the "land of the leal" a 'few weeks
later without seeming protest or regret. His was the faith that makes
faithful in all things, and, at the venerable age of seventy-seven years,
he went to his reward, secure in the Christian's hope and trust.
Mr. McMillan was a scion of the stanchest and bravest of Scottish
stock, and was himself a native of the land of hills and heather.
He was born in the parish of Southend, Campbelltown, Argyleshire,
Scotland, on the 7th of June, 1825, and was reared to adult age in his
native land, where he received good educational advantages in his
youth. In 1842, at the age of seventeen years, he severed the home
ties and came to America. He went to Rochester, New York, where he
remained until the autumn of the following year, when he came to
Michigan and became associated with his elder brother, George, in the
purchase of a tract of wild land in St. Clair county. In 1844 he came
to Detroit and on the 1st of May he secured a position in the employ of
Henry Doty, one of the early merchants of the city, at a salary of fifty
dollars a year. Of this incident the following statement has been
made: "He was considerably elated over this good fortune and was
accustomed to look back on it as one of the turning points of his life. ' '
He continued to be associated with Mr. Doty's affairs until 1847, when
he engaged in the grocery business in partnership with John Moore,
another young and ambitious man. This alliance continued until 1849,
when the firm of G. & R. McMillan was formed, with his brother George
as senior member. The original location of the concern was at No. 110
Woodward avenue, and in 1864 the business was removed to the corner
of Woodward avenue and Fort street, where the names of the original
members of the firm still appear over the establishment, — long the
largest and leading retail grocery of the city. At the time of the death
of Robert McMillan a local newspaper referred to him in the following
words: "Robert McMillan had a long and successful career in Detroit,
and the store at the corner of Woodward avenue and Fort street is the
oldest on the avenue, as far as continuous existence under one firm name
is concerned." Sincere, earnest and ambitious, Mr. McMillan devoted himself as
siduously to his business interests, which engrossed the major oart of
his time and attention for many years, but he never failed in the broader
outlook and was at all times ready to lend his influence and cooperation
in the furtherance of measures for the general good of the community
and the welfare of his fellowmen. He early manifested his progressive
ideas and public spirit, and in 1870-71 he was an active member of the

1140 HISTORY OF DETROIT
old volunteer fire department. For a number of years he represented
the old Eagle fire company No. 2, on the board of trustees of the depart
ment. At the time of his death he was one of the three trustees of the
old department interest fund of twenty thousand dollars. He found
with the cumulative success of the passing years opportunity to. extend
his interests and his field of beneficence. He was a member of the direc
torate of the Detroit Fire & Marine Insurance Company and the Elison
Illuminating Company at the time of his demise, and was the owner of
valuable real estate in Detroit, where he has made careful and judicious
investment from time to time. No man had more secure place in the
confidence and esteem of the business community of the people of the
city at large, and his personal popularity was reinforced by his excep
tionally winning social qualities. He was a valued member of the De
troit Club and the Country Club, two of the leading social organizations
of the city, and was also identified with other civic organizations. Both
he and his wife were most devout and zealous communicants of the
Protestant Episcopal church, and he served for thirty years as a mem
ber of the vestry of St. John's parish, of which he was senior warden
at the time of his demise. He was a. trustee of St. Luke's hospital and
a member of the Wayne. County Historical Society, in the affairs of
which he took a deep interest, as he did in all touching the history of his
home city and state. The funeral of Mr. McMillan was held from St.
John's church and called forth a representative assemblage of the lead
ing citizens of Detroit, the community as a whole manifesting . a sense
of personal loss and bereavement. The remains of the deceased were
laid to rest beside those of his loved companion, in beautiful Elmwood
cemetery, where a stately monument has been erected to their memory.
On the 27th of July, 1857, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Mc
Millan to Miss Agnes Linn, who was born in Albany, New Yorkj on the
23d of June, 1832, and whose death occurred on the 15th of March,
1902, about two months prior to his death. She was an infant at the
time of her parent's removal to Detroit and was a daughter of Robert
Linn, one of the honored pioneers of the city and of sterling Scotch
lineage. Mrs. McMillan was a woman of gentle and gracious personality,
a devoted wife and mother and a popular factor in the social affairs of
the city, in which she so long maintained her home. Of the two children,
Mary died Jan. 13, 1896. Margaret, is the wife of Dr. Arthur D.
Holmes, one of the representative physicians and surgeons of Detroit,
where he has maintained his home for nearly a quarter of a century,
and where he is a specialist in the treatment of the diseases of children.
Dr. Holmes was born at Chatham, province of Ontario, Canada, on the
19th of July, 1864, and was graduated in the medical department of
McGill University, one of the leading educational institutions of the
Dominion of Canada. His marriage to Miss McMillan was solemnized
on the 3d of February, 1898, and they have two children, Margaret Mc
Millan and Agnes May. Dr. and Mrs. Holmes have a beautiful home
at 666 Jefferson avenue, and the same is the center of much social activ
ity of a representative order, with Mrs. Holmes as a gracious chatelaine.
Reverend James Stapleton, Church of the Annunciation. The
parish of the Annunciation was established six years ago, in 1906, under
the Reverend James Stapleton, and he is still the priest in charge. His
earnest enthusiasm and inspiring faith, in a measure, account for the
rapid growth of the congregation, and the substantial character of the
work it has so far accomplished. The parish of the Annunciation prom
ises to become one of the most active in Detroit. The parochial school
is attended by over four hundred pupils and is presided over by the

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1141
Sister-Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, of Monroe, Michigan.
The Reverend J. Stapleton is assisted in his work by Reverend T. J.
Bourke. Captain Eugene Sullivan. On September 30, 1912, Captain Eugene
Sullivan rounded out a period of forty-two years' service in the Detroit
police department. For more than half a lifetime he has stood represen
tative of law and order for this city. In length of service he is the
oldest captain in the department, and his remarkable record probably
finds few parallels in the country. A brave and efficient officer, faith
ful in the discharge of his individual duties and an energetic and re
sourceful leader of others, Captain Sullivan of the police is one of De
troit's most esteemed citizens.
From the years of boyhood he has had a remarkably active and re
sponsible career. Born in Fall River, Massachusetts, September 20,
1843, son of Daniel and Mary (Sullivan) Sullivan, both natives of
County Cork, Ireland, when he was four years old his parents came west
and took up a claim seventeen miles west of Milwaukee, paying six shil
lings an acre for the land. When Eugene was fourteen years old his
father died, and being fourth in the family of eleven children, a consid
erable part of the responsibilities of managing the farm and supporting
the family devolved on his young shoulders. Those duties he discharged
with the same spirit of promptness that he has always displayed in later
years in the service of the city. In 1862, when he was nineteen, going
to Springfield, Missouri, he entered the quartermaster's department of
the Union army, but a year later was forced by illness to take his dis
charge and return home. He spent several years in strenuous labor,
and among other things assisted in clearing off thirty acres of timber.
More strongly than other youths he was attracted by things of martial
character, and this inclination led him into the regular army service. On
July 11, 1867, he enlisted at Milwaukee, and was assigned to Light Bat
tery G, Fourth Artillery, stationed at Fort Wayne, Michigan. Later
he was sent to Smithville, North Carolina, where he remained in the reg
ular service until honorably discharged, July 11, 1870. He then came to
Detroit and on the 30th of September following joined the police. Dur
ing his forty-one years of service, he was for thirteen years lieutenant in
charge of the recorder's court, and was also sergeant-at-arms in -the
city council a number of years. He has been closely identified with the
events and activities that have made the history of the department, and
his efficiency long since won him promotion through the grades to the
captain's stripes.
Captain Sullivan resides with his wife and one daughter in a de
lightful home at No. 1527 Third avenue. He was married on January
1, 1882, to Miss Ellen Tobin. She is a native of Marlborough, Massa
chusetts. Their daughter, Miss Nellie, has made a specialty of kinder
garten work and has devoted her time to that as a profession. At home
she has been the comfort and pride of the veteran captain, and the ties
of domestic happiness that bind this family are of the closest. Captain
Sullivan, while Democratic in political beliefs, has usually given his sup
port to the man he considers best fitted for office.
Raymond Bernard Glemet, M. D. Prominent among the younger
members of the Detroit medical profession is Dr. Raymond Bernard
Glemet, of No. 528 Baker avenue. Dr. Glemet is a native of Bordeaux,
France, where he was born April 21, 1884, a son of Henri and Martha
(Champion) Glemet. The father died in France in 1889, and three
years later his widow came with her children to America, locating first

1142 HISTORY OF DETROIT
at Sandwich, Ontario, Canada, and moving to Detroit in 1902. Father
Raymond Champion, pastor of St. Xavier s Catholic church at Ecorse,
Wayne county, Michigan, one of the best known and most beloved
pastors of the section, is an uncle to the doctor, while Father Emanuel
U-lemet, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic church, River Rouge,
Wayne county, is a brother to the doctor.
Raymond B. Glemet received his early educational training in the
public schools of Sandwich, Ontario, which he, attended for two years,
and subsequently put in four years at Assumption College, Sandwich.
After his graduation from that institution, he continued his literary
education at Detroit University (Jesuit College), where he spent three
years. In 1903 Dr. Glemet turned his attention to medicine, and after
some preliminary study entered the Detroit College of Medicine, from
which he was graduated with the degree of K. D., class of 1907. Subse
quently he took postgraduate work at St. Mary's and Providence Hospi
tals, and entered the practice of his profession at his present location,
where he maintains his office and resides at No. 218 W. Grand Boule
vard in 1910. He is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society,
the Michigan State Medical Society and the American Medical Associa
tion, and also holds membership in the Detroit Medical College Alumni
Association, the Phi Beta Phi Society, the Knights of Columbus, and
the C. M. B. A. and Degree of Honor.
On July 11, 1912, Dr. Glemet married Helen Dillon, who was born
in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of M. W. Dillon, of the firm of Scot-
ten & Dillon, tobacco manufacturers.
James Noble Garber, M. D. Among the members of the Detroit
medical profession who have won success and distinction is Dr. James
N. Garber, whose offices are located in the new Smith building, at the
corner of Griswold and State streets, and also at the corner of Lincoln
and Kirby avenues. Dr. Garber was born at Roaring Springs, Blair
county, Pennsylvania, on November 2, 1868, and is descended from two
old families of the Keystone state. His father, John B.. Garber, was
born in Blair county, Pennsylvania, in 1825, and died in that state on
May 19, 1889. The mother of the doctor, Catherine Daniels, was born
in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1826, and died on December 19, 1889,
only a few months intervening between her decease and the death of her
husband. The Daniels family were in Pennsylvania before the present
city of Philadelphia was laid out.
Dr. Garber was reared in Blair county until his nineteenth year.
He received his early education in the public schools of his home town,
and then learned the cabinet maker's trade at which he worked for
a number of years. When still a young man he went to Ohio and spent
some time at Mount Vernon and Bowling Green. He then became a
student at the Ohio Northern University at Ada, Ohio, where he took
the four-year course and was graduated with the degree of B. S. He
also took a course in chemistry at the University, but left college a fort
night prior to the time when he would have been graduated in that
branch. Leaving the University, the young man entered Lima (Ohio)
College, there spending one year, and in 1903 he entered the Detroit
College of Medicine, from which he was graduated with the class of
1907, with the degree of M. D. While a medical student he served as an
externe to Harper Hospital in 1906-07. In 1907 he entered the general
practice of medicine in Detroit, first locating his offices at No. 437 Com
monwealth avenue, later removing them to No. 488 Lincoln avenue, cor
ner of Kirby avenue, and still later opening his main offices in the
Smith building.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1143
Dr. Garber is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society and
the American Medical Association. Fraternally, he belongs to the
Consistory, thirty-second degree, and the Mystic Shrine branches of
Masonry. ,
On December 25, 1890, Dr. Garber married Anna L. Meeker, of
Bowling Green, Ohio, who was born at Amelia, Ohio, near Cincinnati,
on March 10, 1872. She is the daughter of Jabez and Elizabeth (Ire
land) Meeker, both of whom were natives of Ohio. The father was born
in 1814 and died in 1886, while his wife was born in 1831 and died in
1896. Mrs. Garber was a school teacher prior to her marriage. She stu
died expression at the Ohio Northern University and was well and
favorably known as a public reader. Even as a child of four years she
made frequent public appearances in public, which evidenced the splen
did talent and ability she manifested in later years. She was a student
of voice and piano at both the Michigan and Detroit Conservatories of
Music, attaining marked proficiency in both, for which she possesses
more than mediocre talent. To Dr. and Mrs. Garber one son has been
born : James Ralph, born July 18, 1898, and now at Bowling Green,
Ohio. He passed through the Tilden graded school and is now a student
at the Central high school.
Dr. Garber is what may well be termed a self-made man, as he has
by his own unaided efforts made his way through life since boyhood.
He earned the money which made it possible for him to follow both his
literary and medical courses in college, later taking up the practice of
his profession without fear or favor of any, and winning a place in the
front ranks of the medical profession, backed alone by his skill, efficiency
and determination.
Edward Dorcy DevinE. Self-made men are prominent at the bar of
Michigan, and especially at that of Detroit. They are acknowledged
to be among the leaders of the profession, a most honorable one and
which calls for the exercise of the highest order of talent. Among those
who have forged their way to the front is Edward Dorcy Devine.
Mr. Devine was born in Detroit, December 15, 1872, the son of Ed
ward and Anna (Dorcy) Devine. The foundation of his, education was
laid in the public schools of which he was an attentive scholar. After
graduating therefrom, he attended the Detroit College, now the Uni
versity of Detroit, where he graduated in 1893 with the degree of A. B.,
afterward securing his A. M. degree from that institution in 1895. In
1895 he entered the law department of the university and secured the
degree of LL. B. also in 1895, and was admitted to the bar the same
year, immediately entering upon the practice of his profession in De
troit; first in partnership with Judge Connolly, a relationship which
continued until the election of the judge to the bench of the Recorders
Court. After this he practiced his profession alone for a time when he
formed a partnership with Emil W. Snyder under the firm name of
Devine & Snyder.
Mr. Devine is a member of the Wayne County and Michigan Bar
Associations, of the Detroit Board of Commerce, and the Knights of
Columbus. He married Cornelia Rochford who was also born in De
troit, the daughter of Thomas and Josephine Rochford. They have the
following children: Edward! Temple, born May 22, 1901, died 1902;
Alan Rochford, born October 30, 1903 ; Warren Downe, born September
12, 1905, and Josephine Dorothy, born July 3, 1907.
Mr. Devine 's father was born in Ireland and when a child came to
the United States with his parents, who settled at Brattleboro, Vermont.
There he remained until he was fourteen years of age, when he settled

1144 HISTORY OF DETROIT
in Detroit, where he died in 1884. He was for many years foreman of
the Pullman Car works. Edward's mother was born in the state of
New York. Mr. Devine 's parents were married in Detroit.
Frederick B. Burke, M. D. One of the able and popular younger
members of the medical profession in the Michigan metropolis, Dr. Fred
erick Beach Burke applies to his chosen calling excellent technical skill
and learning, the energy and progressiveness that are the invariable
concomitant of success in any vocation, and the abiding human sympathy
which transcends mere sentiment to become an actuating motive for
helpfulness. The doctor is a native of the national capital and his father
has long been identified with government service, in connection with
which he still resides in Washington, though he maintains Detroit as his
home and the place in which he exercises his right of franchise.
Dr. Burke was born in Washington, D. C, on the 24th of November,
1882, and is the son of Dr. Thomas W. and Nellie Margaret (Beach)
Burke, the former of whom was born in Ireland and the latter in Ken
tucky. He was their only child. Dr. Thomas W. Burke received excel
lent educational advantages in his native' land and came to America
when a youth. He first located in the city of Philadelphia, and he soon
gave evidence of his intrinsic loyalty to' the land of his adoption by
promptly tendering his services in defense of the Union upon the incep
tion of the Civil war. He enlisted in the Tenth Pennsylvania Volunteer
Cavalry, and served during virtually the entire period of the great con
flict through which the nation's integrity was perpetuated. His con:
tinued interest in his old comrades in arms is shown by his active iden
tification with the Grand Army of the Republic. After the close of the
war he continued in the government service, in connection with which
he came to Detroit in the weather bureau service. His professional
education was secured in the medical department of Georgetown Uni
versity, at Georgetown, D. C, in which he was graduated as a member
of the class of 1883. He came to Detroit in about 1870 and here con
tinued to reside until 1876, when he was appointed to an office in the
medical division of the United States pension office, in Washington,
where he and his wife have since resided and where he is also engaged in
the private practice of his profession. He is a Republican in his polit
ical adherency and both he and his wife are communicants of the
Episcopal church.
Dr. Frederck B. Burke gained his early educational training in the
public schools of his native city, the Georgetown (D. C.) Preparatory
School, and the Michigan Military Academy, at Orchard Lake, Michi
gan, in which last mentioned institution he was graduated as a member
of the class of 1902. In preparation for the profession dignified by the
services of his honored father, he entered the latter 's alma mater, the
medical department of Georgetown University, in which he was grad
uated as a member of the class of 1906, in which year this admirable
institution conferred upon him his coveted degree of Doctor of Medicine.
After his graduation Dr. Burke passed nearly three years as a member
of the medical staffs of the Washington Asylum hospital and the Wash
ington Children's hospital and in these connections he gained most val
uable and diversified clinical experience, through which he was the more
effectively fortified for the private practice of his profession. He has"
been engaged in general practice as a physician and surgeon in Detroit
since December 26, 1908, and here his success offers the best voucher
for his ability and his assiduous devotion to the work of his exacting
calling. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the
Michigan State Medical Society and the Wayne County Medical So^

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1145
ciety, and both he and his wife are communicants of the Episcopal
church. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Benevolent
Protective Order of Elks, and in his home city he enjoys marked popu
larity in professional, business and social circles.
On the 24th of July, 1908, Dr. Burke was united in marriage to
Miss Louise A. Miller, daughter of Christian Miller, of Washington,
D. C, and they have one son, Frederick Thomas, who was born on the
26th of June, 1910.
' Oscar LeSeure, M. D. Among Detroit's leading surgeons and gyn
ecologists should be mentioned Oscar LeSeure, M. D., senior surgeon
and president of the medical board of Grace Hospital.
Dr. LeSeure was born at Danville, Illinois, January 27, 1851, and
is the son of Prosper and Elizabeth (Wilhoit) LeSeure. The father, a
native of Nancy, Meurthe et Moselle, France, was born in 1820, and
came to the United States at the age of eleven, his parents locating at
Covington, Kentucky, across the Ohio river from Cincinnati. In 1842
he removed to Illinois and three years later located at Danville, where
he became a prosperous merchant and for many years was engaged in
business there. His death occurred in Danville in 1897, although for
the last few years of his life he had spent the greater part of his time
in California. His wife, a native of Virginia and a member of one of
the honored families of the Old Dominion, died in 1858.
Oscar LeSeure attended the public schools of Danville, after leaving
which he entered the University of Michigan and was graduated from
the medical department in 1873. For the six months following, he
served as house physician in the United States Marine Hospital at De
troit, and in March, 1874, he took a degree at Bellevue Hospital Medical
College, New York City. Returning in that year to Danville, he en
tered the practice of his profession in that city. In 1886 he went abroad
and spent a year in the study of surgery, and for six months of that
time was on the staff of the eminent Paul Reclus, in the Hotel Dieu,
Paris, France. On his return to the United States, in 1887, he located
in Detroit and entered practice, giving special attention to surgery and
gynecology, and when Grace Hospital opened was appointed surgeon
and gynecologist of that institution, with which he has been connected
ever since. In 1892 Dr. LeSeure again went abroad, attending hos
pitals in Edinburg and London, and when he had returned to this coun
try, Governor Rich (in 1895) appointed him a member of the Detroit
Board of Health. During June of the same year he was appointed pro
fessor of surgery in the homeopathic department of the University of
Michigan, and he held this until 1900 when he resigned. In 1894 he
was elected president of the Homeopathic Society of Michigan and was
chosen a member of the Prismatic Cult of Detroit the same year. In
1897 he was elected president of the Detroit Board of Health and when
the Spanish-American war broke out President McKinley appointed
him major and brigade-surgeon of United States Volunteers and as
signed him to duty at Sternburg Field Hospital, afterwards Sternburg
General Hospital, at Chickamauga Park, where he became executive
officer of the hospital and so remained until it was closed in November.
1898. He received his honorable discharge the following month. Dr.
LeSeure was next appointed by Governor Bliss, a member. of the State
Board of Registration in Medicine of Michigan, on which he served for
four years, and in 1906 was its president. In 1905 he took another trip
abroad, spending seven months in the hospitals of London, Berlin and
Vienna, and again returned to Detroit, where in March, 1907, he was
appointed surgeon-in-chief to the Michigan Central Railroad. Since
¦ vol. m— 20

1146 HISTORY OF DETROIT
1904 he has been president of the Medical Board of Grace Hospital,
where he is senior surgeon. He is a member of the Practitioners So
ciety of Detroit, and is also connected with the Michigan State Homeo
pathic Medical Society, the American Institute of Homeopathy, the
American Association of Military Surgeons, the American Association
of Railway Surgeons, and the Wayne County Medical and State Medi
cal Societies.
On December 24, 1874, Dr. LeSeure was married to Miss Caroline
Stransbury of Danville, a native of Prnckney, Michigan.
Elliott Grasette Stevenson. One of the members of the Detroit
bar who has carved his way to fame in his profession is Elliott G. Ste
venson, whose name is as familiar to the public as to the members of his
profession. Given all the honors the city where he spent his childhood
could bestow, he came to Detroit and at once entered into a career which
has since been full of most interesting events.
Elliott G. Stevenson was born in Middlesex county, Canada, the son
of William and Mary (McMurray) Stevenson, and with his parents
located at Port Huron when he was a young child. There he laid the
foundation of a most thorough education by attending the public
schools of the city. After graduating he attended an academy at Lon
don, Ontario. Returning to Port Huron after his graduation from the
academy he entered upon the study of law. He was admitted to the
bar in 1877 and became a member of the law firm of Atkinson and Ste
venson, which firm in 1885 became that of Stevenson & Phillips.
In 1878 Mr. Stevenson was elected prosecuting attorney of St. Clair
county of which Port Huron is the county seat, and as a prosecuting
officer he earned the reputation of being one of the greatest cross exami
ners of the bar of the state of Michigan. He seemed to grasp in a mo
ment all the weak spots in the testimony of a witness and drew forth by
adroit questioning, the truth which otherwise would have been dis
torted, or completely hidden. His record as a prosecutor made those
who broke the law fearful, and did much toward the maintenance of
peace and good order in the county. He was reelected prosecuting at
torney in 1880 without effort upon his part. In 1885 the city of Port
Huron placed upon his shoulders the highest honor within its province,
and he was elected mayor. Strongly Democratic, he became the chair
man of the state central committee of that party, serving in that capa
city during the years of 1894-1895 and 1896, and was a delegate to the
national Democratic convention at Chicago in 1896. Seeking a larger
field for his splendid legal attainments, he removed to Detroit in
1887 and became a member of the law firm of Dickinson, Thurber &
Stevenson, and during his connection with this firm, Hon. Don. M.
Dickinson became postmaster general under President Grover Cleve
land. From 1896 to 1899, Mr. Stevenson was alone in the practice of his
profession. He then became the senior member of the firm of Steven
son, Merriam, Eldridge and Butzel, and in 1902 he became a member
of the firm of Dickinson, Stevenson, Cullen, Warren and Butzel, and
in 1907 became senior member of his present firm, Stevenson, Car
penter & Butzel.
During the practice of his profession in Detroit he has been en
gaged as counsel in most of the important litigations that have been
before the courts and generally has taken a leading position in his pro
fession. Another honor bestowed upon Mr. Stevenson was his selection as
supreme ranger of the United States of the Independent Order of

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1147
Foresters, an exalted station he filled with honor to himself and to the
satisfaction of the organization. So great was the appreciation of his
services in this position, they have continued him in office ever since.
Mr. Stevenson is a member of the Detroit Bar Association, Detroit
Board of Commerce, Free Masons, Knights of Pythias, Detroit Club,
the Country Club and the North Channel Fishing Club. In 1897 he
was united in marriage at Port Huron to Miss Emma A. Mitts.
Manley D. Caughey, M. D. At Crofton, Prince Edward county,
province of Ontario, Canada, Dr. Manley Dufferin Caughey one of the
able representatives of the medical profession in Detroit, was born on
the 8th of October, 1876, and he is a son of William and Sarah (De-
Long) Caughey, the former of whom was born in the city of Belfast,
Ireland, and the latter in the province of Ontario, Canada, where their
marriage was solemnized and where they still reside. The father has
long been a representative farmer of Prince Edward county, where he
is a citizen of prominence ami influence and one who has a secure place in
the confidence and esteem of his fellow men. He is a son of John
Caughey and was eleven years of age at the time of the family immigra
tion from the Emerald Isle to America, in 1852. His father settled in
Ontario and there devoted the residue of his life to the great basic in
dustry of agriculture. The mother of Dr. Caughey is a daughter of the
late Simon DeLong, who was an early settler in Prince Edward county,
Ontario, and who was of French-Huguenot lineage, his ancestors having
fled from France to Holland to escape the persecutions incidental to the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The parents of the doctor are zeal
ous members of the Presbyterian church, in whose faith they reared
their children, of whom three sons and two daughters are living.
Dr. Caughey 's early experiences were those gained on the homestead
farm and after completing the curriculum of the public schools of the
vicinity he continued his studies in the Picton Collegiate Institute, at
Picton, Prince Edward county, Ontario. For three years after leaving
this institution he devoted his attention to the pedagogic profession, as
a successful and popular teacher in the graded school of his native
province. Thereafter he gained valuable preliminary experience
through his service of two and one-half years in the New York City
Hospital and six months in the Presbyterian Hospital, in the same
city. This hospital experience promoted in him a desire to enter the
medical profession, and his original preparatory work was done in the
medical department of the University of Nebraska, where he continued
his technical studies for one year. He then came to Detroit and was
matriculated in the Michigan College of Physicians and Surgeons, in
which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1905, with the de
gree of Doctor of Medicine. Through his previous experience and
close application he came to the work of his profession especially
well fortified, and from the time of his graduation until the Mich
igan College of Physicians and Surgeons was merged into the present
Detroit College of Medicine, he served as assistant to the chair of path
ology in his alma mater. The first two years of his active practice
were in association with Dr. Edgar B. Smith, of Detroit, and he was
during this time the valued assistant of this representative physician
and surgeon. ¦ Since 1907 he has been engaged in individual practice,
with residence and office at 1531 Chene street, corner of East Grand
Boulevard, and he has built up a most successful professional business,
of representative order. He is the owher of his fine residence property,
which includes a well equipped and handsomely appointed office. The
doctor holds membership in the American Medical Association, the

1148 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Michigan State Medical Society, and the Wayne County Medical So
ciety. , At Ameliasburg, Ontario, he is affiliated with Lake Lodge No.
215, Free & Accepted Masons. The doctor is a member of the Meth
odist church and a Republican in politics.
On the 27th of September, 1905, Dr. Caughey was united in mar
riage to Miss Mary Gertrude Herman, of RednersviUe, Prince Edward
county, Ontario, and they have two sons, — Edgar Herman, and Royal
William and one daughter, Gertrude Frere.
James E. Casey, M. D. Holy Writ has given the aphorism that
"a prophet is not without honor save in his own country," but in con
tradistinction to the wider application of the statement stands the suc
cess which has attended the efforts of Dr. Casey in the practice of his
profession in his native city, for it may be said with all of emphasis that
he is most esteemed by those who know him best. He resides in the
house which was the place of his birth, at 218 Porter street, and the
community that knew him as a boy accords- to him a stanch and appre
ciative support in his professional work, for he has proved his ability
and also his personal worthiness, so that his circle of friends is coinci
dent with that of his acquaintances.
In his present place of abode Dr. Casey was born on the 29th of
December, 1876, and he is a son of Jeremiah and Mary (McCavey)
Casey. Jeremiah Casey was born in Ireland, where he was reared to
adult age, and as a young man he severed the ties that bound him to
home, and native land and came to America in search of better oppor
tunities for the gaining of independence through individual effort.
Soon after his arrival he came to Detroit and here he proved himself
one of the world's worker and a man of stable character, so that he
was not denied the fullest measure of popular confidence and
esteem in the city which so long represented his home. For many
years he had charge of the shops of the Detroit. Gas Company
and was one of the honored and valued employes of this corpora
tion. He died in 1906, at the age of seventy-three years. His
cherished wife, who had been a true companion and helpmeet, was sum
moned to the life eternal in 1893, at the age of forty-nine years. Their
family consisted of five sons and four daughters, of whom three sons
and three daughters are living. • The mother was born at Royal Oak,
Oakland county, Michigan, as was also his father, James McCavey,
who was a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of that
county. Jeremiah Casey was a Democrat in his political proclivities
and both he and his wife, were devout communicants of the Catholic
church, in which they were for many years members of the parish of
Trinity church. ,
Dr. Casey gained his preliminary education in the parochial school
of the church just mentioned and then entered Detroit University, a
fine institution long conducted under the control of the Jesuit order of
the Catholic church. In this university he was graduated as. a member
of the class of 1898. In the meanwhile he had formulated definite
plans for his future career and his characteristic energy and ambition
were manifested during his prosecution of the full course in the De
troit College of Medicine, in which he was graduated as a member of
the class of 1902 and from which he received his well-won degree of
Doctor of Medicine. He was favored in securing forthwith a posi
tion that afforded him the best of clinical experience, as he became
house physician in St. Mary's hospital, an office of which he continued
the incumbent until the close of the year 1903. He then entered upon
the general practice of his profession, and in the same his success has

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1149
been of unequivocal order, well justifying his choice of vocation. In
June, 1903, he was appointed assistant laryngologist in St. Mary's
hospital and this position he has since retained. He is a member of the
American Medical Association, the Michigan State Medical Society, and
the Wayne County Medical Society, and he has the high regard of his
professional confreres in his native city. He is a "member of the alumni
association of Detroit University and also of that of the Detroit Col
lege, of Medicine, and takes a lively anl loyal interest in all that touches
the welfare of his home city, which is endeared to him by many gracious
memories and associations. He and his family are communicants of
Trinity church, under whose benignant influence he was reared.
On the 14th of June, 1905, was solemnized the marriage of Dr.
Casey to Miss May E. Leahey, who was born and reared in Detroit and
who is a daughter of the late Thomas Leahey, long a citizen of the
Michigan metropolis. Dr and Mrs. Casey have three children, — Eliza
beth Aileen, Cathleen Eveline, and Janice.
Fred Sanders. ' The successful career of Fred Sanders is a noble
illustration of what independence, self-faith and persistency can ac
complish in America. He is a self-made man in the most significant
sense of the word, for no one helped him in a financial way and he is
self-educated. As a young man he was strong, vigorous and self-reliant.
He trusted in his own ability and did things single-handed and alone.
Today he stands supreme as a successful business man and a loyal and
public-spirited citizen. His present beautiful place, known as the
Palace of Sweets, is considered one of the finest concerns of its kind.
He is interested in a number of other important enterprises and is a
director in the Detroit Creamery Company, in which he is one of the
heaviest stock-holders.
A native of Buhl, in Baden, Germany, Fred Sanders was born on
the 1st of July, 1848, and he is a son of Alvin and Caroline (Conrad
Sanders, both of whom are now deceased. In 1850 the Sanders family
immigrated to America, settling at Peru, Illinois, where Alvin Sanders
was long identified with the baking business. Mr. and Mrs. Sanders
became the parents of six children, of whom the subject of this review
was the second in order of birth. A child of but two years of age at
the time of his parents' removal to America, Fred Sanders was reared
to maturity at Peru, Illinois, to whose public schools he is indebted for
his preliminary educational training. As a youth he learned the candy-
making trade, working along that line first at Peru and later at
Chicago. In 1865 he went to Germany, where he perfected himself in
the work of his trade and where he continued to reside until 1871.
Returning in the latter year to the United States, he eventually located at
Chicago, where he was engaged in the confectionery business from
1872 until 1875. In 1875 he located permanently at Detroit, where
he has since maintained his home and business headquarters and where
his admirable success in life has been on a par with his well directed
endeavors. Mr. Sanders has the distinction of being the originator of
the ice-cream soda and the first to put it on the market. His present
place of business, widely renowned as the "Palace of Sweets" is one of
the most attractive stores of its kind in the world. It is located at Nos.
141-145 Woodward avenue, Detroit. He is a shrewd business man and
a citizen whose public spirit and loyality have ever been of the most
insistent order.
At Karlsruhe, Germany, in the year 1869, was solemnized the mar
riage of Mr. Sanders to Miss Rose Conrad, who was bom and reared
in Germany and who is a daughter of Theodore Conrad. Mr. and Mrs.

1150 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Sanders have four children, whose names are here entered in respective
order of birth, Fred, Charles, Edwin and Ella. Mr. and Mrs. Sanders,
attractive home is maintained at Nb. 996" Woodward avenue, the same
being a center of most gracious refinement and hospitality.
While not an active participant in public affairs Mr. Sanders is a
stanch supporter of the principles and policies for which the Republi
can party stands sponsor. He stands high in Masonry, having passed
through the circles of both the York and the Scottish Rites; and is also
affiliated with Moslem Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also connected with the Indepen
dent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Benevolent & Protective Order
of Elks. His principal recreation is traveling.
Edwin Cornue Hoff. Among the ablest and most prominent of
Detroit physicians and surgeons of the younger generation must be
numbered Edwin Cornue Hoff, M. D., engaged in general practice in
this city. Dr. Hoff specializes in surgery and since 1906, has held the
office of junior attending surgeon at Grace Hispital. He is a con
stant student of the profession to which he has devoted gifts of
an unusual order and makes every effort to keep in touch with the lat
est scientific discoveries in his field. Dr. Hoff is a native of Ohio, his
birth having occurred in Carey, Wyandot county, April 20, 1874. He
is the son of the late Charles D. and Laura Ann (Beebe) Hoff, the fa
ther, a native of Auburn, New York, and the mother of Carey, Ohio.
On both sides of the house he represents excellent American stock, his
forbears having been good citizens and stanch patriots. The Hoff
family runs back to the time of Governor Schuyler in New York state,
while the Beebe family was identified with the Empire state in early
days. Dr. Hoff's grandfather, Buel S. Beebe, was a Wyandot county
pioneer. Charles D. Hoff, father of the Doctor, was a contractor and a promi
nent and highly esteemed citizen of Carey, where he died in 1907, aged
fifty-nine years. His widow survives.
Dr. Hoff received his early education in the schools of Carey and
in early youth came to the decision to adopt the medical profession as
his life work. He accordingly entered the> Homeopathic Medical * Col
lege, of Cleveland, Ohio, and was graduated from that institution in
1901, with the degree of M. D. He served as interne at the Cleveland
Maternity Hospital for one year (1900-01) and following that (from
October, 1901, to 1903), as house surgeon of Grace Hospital, Detroit.
He then located in Detroit, where he began the general practice of
medicine, and where he has enjoyed no small amount of success.
Dr. Hoff is prominently identified with all those organizations of his
school calculated to unite and advance his profession. During the years
1910 and 1911 he served as president of the Detroit Practitioners' So
ciety and he held the office of secretary of the same from 1907 to 1910.
He is also affiliated with the Michigan State Homeopathic Medical Soci
ety and the American Institute of Homeopathy. He is a Mason, belong
ing to Carey (Ohio) Lodge F. & A. M. and to King Cyrus Chapter and
Detroit Commandery.
Richard T. Mason, M. D. To occupy a status of relative priority
in the medical profession as represented in the metropolis of the state of
Michigan implies much, for the standard here maintained is one of
high order and the city has every reason to be proud of the personnel of
its corps of successful physicians and surgeons, of whom Dr. Mason is
one. He has built up an excellent practice, is known as a physician of

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1151
fine attainments and discrimination, and is a citizen whose character
is such as to justify the unqualified confidence and esteem reposed in
him by the community in which he has found ample scope for accom
plishment in his chosen calling.
Dr. Richard Thomas Mason was born in the beautiful little city of
London, province of Ontario, Canada, on the 19th of March, 1878, and
is a son of Denis and Kate (Busby) Mason, the former of whom was
born in the city of Dublin, Ireland, and the latter in London, Ontario.
Denis Mason was reared and educated in the fair old Emerald Isle and
as a young man he immigrated to America and established his home in
Ontario, Canada. For many years he has been a successful manufac
turer and representative business man of London, that province, and he
is a citizen whose standing in popular confidence and esteem' is unas
sailable. His cherished and devoted wife was summoned to the life
eternal in 1909, and of their children one son and two daughters survive
the mother.
The native city of Dr. Mason is one of the prominent educational
centers of the province of Ontario and in its exceptionally well ordered
public schools he secured his early intellectual discipline, which in
cluded the curriculum of the high school. Thereafter he continued his
higher academic studies for two years in Western University, at Lon
don, Ontario. In preparation for the work of his chosen profession he
followed the example of many other native sons of Ontario, in that he
came to Michigan and entered the Detroit College of Medicine. In this
institution he was matriculated in 1896, and he duly completed the
course, so that he was graduated as a member of the class of 1900 and
received his coveted degree of Doctor of Medicine. In 1900-1, for the
purpose of gaining clinical experience, he served as house physician in
Harper Hospital, and in the latter year he initiated the general prac
tice of his profession in Detroit. He preferred to win his professional
spurs in a metropolitan center rather than in some obscure rural dis
trict, and his success has admirably justified the wisdom of his course.
In 1902-3-4 the doctor served as director of the polyclinic of Harper
Hospital, one of the most important of the kind in the city, and in ad
dition to his general practice he is retained as surgeon to the Ford Auto
mobile Company, one of the largest in the world and one that has a gi
gantic corps of employes. He is also physician attached to the Detroit
city board of health. The generic interest maintained by Dr. Mason in
his profession and its representatives is shown by his membership in
the American Medical Association, the Michigan State Medical Society
and the Wayne County Medical Society. He is also affiliated with Nu
Sigma Nu medical college fraternity and is a member of the alumni as
sociation of Harper Hospital. He is a naturalized citizen of the United
states and in politics gives his support to the principles and policies
for which the Republican party stands sponsor. He is a member of
the Episcopal church, his wife, of the Roman Catholic church.
On the 16th of July, 1902, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Ma
son to Miss Maude McDonald, who, like himself, was born and reared in
the city of London, Ontario, and they have two children, — Shirley
Catherine and John Richard. The family home is located at 2930 East
Grand Boulevard, where the Doctor maintains office headquarters.
James Alexander MacMillan. In no profession is there more con
stant progress than in that of medicine and surgery, thousands of the
finest minds the world has produced making it their one aim and ambi
tion to discover more effectual method for the alleviation of suffering,
some more potent weapon for the conflict with disease, some clever de-

1152 HISTORY OF DETROIT
vice for repairing the damaged human mechanism. Ever and anon the
world hears with mingled wonder and thanksgiving of some new con
quest of disease and disaster which a few years ago would have been
placed within the field of the impossible. To keep in touch with these
discoveries means constant alertness, and while there may be in some
quarters great indolence in keeping pace with modern thought, the high
est type of physician believes it no less than a crime not to be master of
the latest devices of science. To this type belongs Dr. James Alexander
MacMillan, his constant thought and endeavor being devoted to the
profession of which he is so admirable an exponent.
Dr. MacMillan was born at Strathroy, Ontario, Canada, April 15,
1863, the son of James and Margaret (Bently) MacMillan. His educa
tion was acquired in the Str.athroy public schools, the Toronto Normal
School and the Toronto University, from which he was graduated with
the class of 1887, when he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts and
with the class of 1893, when he received the degree of Doctor of Medi
cine. He took post-graduate work in the hospitals of London, England,
and began the practice of medicine in Detroit in 1893. In the in
tervening years he has acquired success and high prestige and at the
present time is professor of clinical practology and adjunct professor
of ^therapeutics in the Detroit College of Medicine; Clinical prac-
tologist to Harper Hospital and professor of rectal surgery of the Ger
man Polyclinic of Detroit. Being an original investigator of note and a
writer of force, he is particularly valued as a contributor to medical
journals. His articles have in fact, appeared in nearly all of them and
a volume on "Intestinal Surgery" of which he is the author is held in
high esteem by the profession.
Dr. MacMillan is a member of the American Medical Association of
the American Practological Society, of the Michigan State Medical So
ciety, the Michigan Academy of Sciences, the Wayne County Medical
Society and the Detroit Medical Club. He is a thirty-second degree
Mason and a Shriner.
In the year 1897 Dr. MacMillan was united in marriage to Anne
Romeyne Butterick, daughter of Frank Butterick, the well-known De
troit insurance man and granddaughter of the late Theodore Romeyne,
one of Detroit's most distinguished pioneer lawyers. Mrs. MacMillan 's
mother, Susan Romeyne, was one of the city's brilliant and well-
known women. Dr. and Mrs. MacMillan share the charming home with
two sons, — Alexander Romeyne and Francis Butterick.
Fred Mussel. Worthy of representation in this history as one of
the able and popular exponents of the art and industry of floriculture
in Detroit, Mr. Miesel here maintained his home for nearly forty years,
within which it was his to gain independence, success and definite
prestige in connection with the line of enterprise in which he received
thorough training in his German fatherland. He conducted a large and
prosperous business and his finely equipped conservatories were eligi
bly located at 1679 Mack avenue, in the beautiful St. Clair Heights dis
trict of Detroit.
Fred Miesel claimed the fine old kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, as
the place of his nativity, and he was a scion of one of the sterling old
families of that section, of the great empire. He. was born on the 14th
of January, 1853, and was the fourth in order of birth of the nine chil
dren of John Philip and Juliana (Ehrhardt) Miesel, both of whom
passed their entire lives in Germany, where the father devoted the major
part of his active career as a stone mason. Since the death of Fred
Miesel there are but three representatives of the immediate family in

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1153
America; Philip, an elder brother, resides at Delray, a suburban dis
trict of Detroit, and the two sisters, Mrs. Barbara Mahren and Mrs.
Christine Tieman are residents respectively of Detroit and Topeka,
Kansas. The early educational training of Fred Miesel was secured in
the schools of his native land and at the age of fourteen years he began
learning the art of floriculture, in one of the admirably conducted estab-
' lishments of this order for which Germany is celebrated. It may readily
be understood that his training was of the most thorough and intimate
kind, and he was recognized in Detroit as an authority in all details
of his chosen line of business.
In 1873, when twenty years of age, Mr. Miesel came to America,
and he made St. Johns, the judicial center of Clinton county, Michigan,
his destination. There he visited for a few months in the home of his
uncle, Frederick Keehler, and he then came to Detroit, where he entered
the employ of Frederick Waltz, who was at that time one of the leading
florists of the city, with a well equipped greenhouse on Elmwood ave
nue. Mr. Miesel was thus engaged for two years, at the expiration of
which he engaged in the same line of enterprise on his own responsi
bility. He opened an establishment on Elmwood avenue, between Gra
tiot avenue and Waterloo street, where he continued operations for six
years, within which his close application, thorough knowledge and ex
cellent service to the public gained to him a substantial patronage. At
the expiration of the period noted he purchased thirteen and one-half
acres of land at his late location, Mack avenue, where he conducted one
of the largest business enterprises in his line in Detroit, with facilities
and products of the best order.
Mr,. Miesel was thoroughly in harmony with the customs and in
stitutions of the land of his adoption and was a progressive business
man and loyal and public-spirited citizen. Though never caring to
identify himself with political activities of practical order, he accorded a
stalwart allegiance to the Republican party and took a lively interest
in local affairs as well as the questions and issues of the hour. He was a
popular factor in connection with the German social circles in his home
city and there had a wide circle of friends. He was a member of the
Detroit Turnverein.
On the 19th of April, 1875, Mr. Miesel was united in marriage to
Miss Susanna Zinkgraf who was born and reared in Bavaria and whose
parents were numbered among the prominent German citizens who set
tled here in an early day. They passed the closing years of their lives
in the home of Mrs. Miesel and were there accorded an utmost filial
solicitude in the gracious evening of their day.
In conclusion of this sketch is entered brief record concerning the
children of Mr. and Mrs. Miesel (Katherine) is the wife of Louis Fisher,
of Detroit; Fred B. is associated in the extensive floral business estab
lished by his father; Anna Christene Elizabeth, who married Harry
Etzler, of Detroit was an efficient and popular teacher in the public
schools of Detroit, employed in the Williams school near Mount Elliott
avenue; John married Miss Nettie Diebel; Robert who married Miss
Bessie Trumble, resides on Hamilton avenue and is engaged as a florist
he having purchased his father's business before the latter 's death;
Victor Hugo, who remains at the parental home, is bookkeeper in the
offices of the Tivoli Brewing Company ; George likewise remains at home
and is associated with the business established by his father; and Ru
dolph was graduated in the Detroit high school, as a member of the class
of 1911. Fred Miesel, the father, passed from this life on the 9th of
March, 1912.

1154 HISTORY OF DETROIT
John Conlon. A lifetime of eighty years' duration, a business career
of success and integrity, and the lasting esteem of family and friends
are the lot of John Conlon, for many years a contractor of Detroit. He
has made his own success in the world, for he began as a lad without
money or influence, and has never had fortune's favors except as he
earned them by compelling work and business ability. N
Born in 1831, in Kilrona, Ireland, he was the fifth in the family of
seven whose parents were James and Bridget (Gaffnay) Conlon. Of
all this family now, John is the only survivor. He was reared and spent
a number of years of his early career in Ireland, where he attended
school only to his twelfth year, and then began the labors of a farm. He
continued to follow this vocation, earning a modest livelihood, and
married, but in 1867 he brought his family to America. It was a voy
age of forty-five days, an event more memorable in the lives of travelers
then than in this rapid age of rapid travel. His first home was at Dexter,
Michigan, where he was in business as a brick-mason contractor. This
was a trade he acquired in the old country, and it has been the
basis of a successful business. He has always been a hard worker, and
with the aid of his faithful wife and many years of steady effort he
has made a competence. No one has deserved the rewards of enterprise
more than he, for he has held to the strictest ideals of honor throughout
his life and has never asked any favors of the world. Since 1889 he has
been a resident of Detroit and has been a brick contractor here. He is
not identified with any secret organizations, and outside of family and
business he has given his steadfast allegiance only to the Catholic
church. Mr. Conlon was married in Kilrona, Ireland, in 1857, and is the fa
ther of four children; Catherine, a resident of Chicago; Mary, who
lives at home, Teresa, at home; and Eliza, at home.
William Edmund Scripps. Head of one of the greatest daily pa
pers of Michigan at the early age of thirty years, handling an immense
marine engine industry, and a director in other enterprises, besides
keeping a close watch on real estate interests, William E. Scripps, a
most estimable citizen, worthily carries on the business founded by his
father, James E. Scripps, vice president of the Detroit News Publishing
Company and the guiding spirit in the Scripps Motor Company.
Born at Detroit, May 6, 1882, the son of James E. and Harriet Jo
sephine (Messenger) Scripps, he received his early education in the
public schools of this city. He then attended the University School of
Cleveland, Ohio, and later the Michigan Military academy at Orchard
Lake, Michigan. He began his active business career in 1900, when he
served as treasurer of the Evening News Association, as secretary of
the James E. Scripps Corporation, and president of the Scripps Motor
Company, manufacturers of gasoline marine engines. In all of these
various enterprises he has exhibited an executive ability seldom found
in men of greater age and larger experience. He inherits his fathers
love of literature and art, and also his business acumen, and is looked
up to as one of the leading young citizens of this city. He is a member
of the Board of Commerce; of the Associated Press and is Commodore
of the Detroit Motor Boat Club.
Mr. Scripps was united in marriage to Miss Nina A. Downey, of
Detroit, June 27, 1901, and their children are : James E. Scripps, born
in January, 1903, and William J. Scripps born in August 1905.
Charles H. Jasnowski. Among the many members of the legal
profession who have reflected great credit upon the bar of Detroit and

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1155
Michigan is Charles H. Jasnowski, assistant prosecuting attorney and
one of the most prominent lawyers in Detroit.
He was born March 3, 1882, on Howard street in the tenth ward of
the city of Detroit. His father, the late Philip Jasnowski was well
known as one of the best cigar manufacturers in the city. The elder
Jasnowski was born in London, England, in 1847, and came to the
United States with his parents in 1850, settling in Detroit. He passed
from earth in September 1910, leaving behind him a record of a useful
and well spent life. The mother of the assistant prosecuting attorney
was Nora Kane, who was born at Belmulet, county Mayo, Ireland, and
was nine years of age when she came with her parents to Detroit. She
died July 22, 1910.
The distinguished son of this couple, Charles H. Jasnowski, who has
by the force of his own energy and ability risen to the front rank of the
legal profession, attended the Webster Grammar School, and later grad
uated from the Western high school with the class of 1902. He then
entered the literary class of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor,
where he spent one year. After that he entered the law department of
the university, graduating therefrom with the class of 1906 and re
ceiving the degree of LL. B. He engaged in the practice of law in De-
' troit in 1906, associated with Charles T. Wilkins. On January 1, 1909,
he was appointed assistant prosecuting attorney for Wayne county,
a position he has since held with honor to himself and to the full satis
faction of the citizens of the county.
He is a member of the Detroit Bar association, of the Lawyers Club
of Detroit, and also belongs to Ashlar Lodge, F. & A. M., Peninsula
Chapter, R. A. M., and is a member of Detroit Lodge, No. 34, Benevo
lent and Protective Order of Elks, as well as of the Western High
School Alumni, and was for three years president of the scholarship
association of the Western High School. In addition to these affiliations
he is a member of the Alumni Association of the University of Michi
gan. Mr. Jasnowski married Euphemia Brotherton, who was born in De
troit. As a result of this union there was born to them one son, Charles
Ford Jasnowski aged two-and-a-half years, and a daughter, Regina,
born January 4, 1912.
John Blake, M. D. There is no line of human endeavor which de
mands of its votaries a more scrupulous preliminary training and dis
cipline, or requires a heart and mind more deeply in touch with deter-
inate sympathy than that of the medical practitioner. He who would
essay the healing art must be endowed with a broad spirit of humani-
tarianism and must hold himself and his talents in constant readiness
and willingness to succor those in afflictions. The profession has in
Detroit a worthy representative in John Blake, M. D., of No. 324 Hilger
avenue, who is recognized as one of the leading physicians and surgeons
of the Fairview District, and who has won precedence by his high
professional talents and personal geniality. Dr. Blake was born
at Brussels, county Huron, Ontario, Canada, July 7, 1882, and is a
son of William and Bridget (Rowland) Blake. The former a native of
Ireland, came to America in his youth, settling in county Huron, where
he followed farming until his death, in June, 1910, while his widow, who
still survives, is a native of Ontario.
The early education of Dr. Blake was acquired by attendance at the
public schools of county Huron. He was graduated from the Seaforth
high school in 1900 and then attended the Model Teachers' School at
Goderieh, Ontario, for a time, following which he taught school in

1156 HISTORY OF DETROIT
county Essex. In 1903 he entered the Detroit College of Medicine, and
was there graduated with the degree of M. D., class of 1907. For three
years while in medical college and for six months following graduation,
•Dr. Blake was connected with St. Mary 's Hospital, Detroit, and in 1907 he
entered practice in the Fairview District, where he has since con
tinued with much more than ordinary success. In 1910 he completed
his handsome brick residence and offices at No. 324 Hilger avenue, and
there he has since made his home. He has attained marked prestige
among his confreres and has built up a representative practice, is very
popular in professional and social circles, and commands the respect
and esteem of those with whom he comes in contact in the various rela
tions of life.
In 1908 Dr Blake was united in marriage with Miss Bertha B.
Byrne, daughter of James Byrne, of county Essex, Ontario, and two
daughters have been born to this union, namely: Catherine and Flor
ence. Frank A. Kelly, M. D. One of the representative younger physi
cians and surgeons of Detroit, who claims Michigan as the place of his
nativity is Dr. Kelly, who is a scion of one of the sterling pioneer fam
ilies of the northern part of the state and who has found within the con
fines of his native commonwealth the opportunities for successful en
deavor along the line of his chosen and exacting profession.
Dr. Kelly was born at Alpena, Michigan, the judicial center of the"
county of the same name, and the date of his nativity was May 8, 1880.
He is a son of John F. and Anna (Hand) Kelly, the former of whom
was born in the province of Ontario, Canada, and the latter of whom
was born in Michigan, where her parents established their home in the
pioneer days. John Kelly, 'grandfather of the Doctor, was one of the
early settlers of Alpena county, Michigan, and was one of the promi
nent and influential citizens of that section of the state, where he com
mands unqualified popular esteem and was called upon to serve in
various public offices of trust, including that of register of deeds of the
county, a position of which he continued the valued incumbent for many
years. He continued his residence in that county until his death. The
maternal grandfather of Dr. Kelly was Cyrus A. Hand, who settled at
Coldwater, Branch county, Michigan in the pioneer days and who was
actively concerned with the civic and material development of the state.
John F. Kelly was a man of sterling character and marked energy and
was identified with business activities in Alpena until his death, which
occurred when he was comparatively a young man and when his son
Frank A., of this review, was a lad of nine years. The devoted mother
is Anna Kelly, who resides at 433 Hart avenue, Detroit. Of the chil
dren, four sons and one daughter are living.
Dr. Kelly gained his early educational discipline in the district
schools of his native county, the family having there resided on a farm
during his boyhood days, and this training he supplemented by higher
academic study at Alpena College. Shortly after the death of the
father the widowed mother removed to her old home in Cpldwater, this
state, and there the Doctor continued his educational work in the ex
cellent public schools of that beautiful little city, the judicial center of
Branch county.
Dr. Kelly was eighteen years of age at the inception of the Spanish-
American war, and he forthwith manifested his youthful patriotism by-
enlisting as a member of Company A, Thirty-second Michigan Volun
teer Infantry. This regiment was mustered into the United States
service on the 12th of May, 1898, and on the 19th of the same month,

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1157
under command of Colonel William T. McGurrin, departed for Tampa,
Florida. It was thereafter in active service and Dr. Kelly remained with
his command until it was mustered out, in November, 18,98, at Cold-
water. His continued interest in his comrades of this conflict is shown
by his membership in the Spanish War Veterans' Association. After
the close of the war Dr. Kelly was identified with newspaper work in
Coldwater for a period of about one year, and he then abandoned this
activity to begin the work of preparing himself for his chosen profes
sion. He entered the Detroit Homeopathic Medical College, in which
he completed the prescribed course and was known as a thorough and
ambitious student. He was graduated as a member of the class of 1903,
and duly received his degree of Doctor of Medicine. While a student
in this institution he added to his financial resources by securing em
ployment on vessels on the Great Lakes during the summer seasons,
and his college work was somewhat interrupted on this account. For
two years after his graduation Dr. Kelly served as interne in Grace
Hospital, one of the leading institutions of the kind in Detroit, and since
his retirement from this position he has been significantly successful in
the private, practice of his profession, in which he has built up a sub
stantial business of cumulative tendencies. He is still retained as a
valued member of the medical staff of Grace Hospital and is an instruc
tor in anatomy in his alma mater, Detroit Homeopathic Medical Col
lege.' He holds membership in the American Institute of Homeopathy,
the Michigan State Homeopathic Medical Society, and the Detroit
Homeopathic Practitioners' Society, of which last mentioned and essen
tially representative organization he served as president for three years,
1907-9, an incumbency denoting the high regard in which he is held by
his professional confreres in Detroit. In the Masonic fraternity he has
received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite,
in which he is identified with Michigan Sovereign Consistory. He also
is found enrolled as an appreciative and popular member of Moslem
Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and
is affiliated with Detroit Lodge, Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks.
His political allegiance is given to the Republican party and he is liberal
and public-spirited as a citizen.
On the 29th of June, 1909, was solemnized the marriage of Dr.
Kelly to Miss Merle Brock, daughter of William D. Brock, a well known
citizen of Windsor, Ontario. The one child of this union is William
John Kelly, bom May 31, 1912. The family reside at 2359 Jefferson
avenue. George 0. Pratt, M. D. Various counties of Michigan have con
tributed a valuable quota to the personnel of the medical profession
in Detroit, and to the adjoining and beautiful county of Oakland does
Dr. Pratt revert as the place of his nativity. He has gained a secure
place as one of the successful and popular physicians and surgeons of
the metropolis of his native state and is well entitled to recognition in
this publication.
Dr. George Oscar Pratt was bom in the city of Pontiac, judicial cen
ter of Oakland county, Michigan, on the 12th of July, 1866, and is a son
of Oscar C. and Caroline E. (Hall) Pratt, both of whom were bom at
Ashtabula. Ohio, representatives of honored pioneer families of the his
toric old Western Reserve. Oscar Clark Pratt, who devoted the greater
part of his active .career to newspaper work, represented his native state
as a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil war enlisting as a member
of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which
he participated in various battles and skirmishes of important order

1158 HISTORY OF DETROIT
and with which he lived up to the full tension of the great conflict
through which the integrity of the nation was perpetuated. He was
a stalwart Republican in his political adherency and both he and his
wife held membership in the Presbyterian church. The Doctor is their
only child. After the close of the war Oscar C. Pratt removed from
his native state to Pontiac, Michigan, where he engaged in the practice
of law and a few years later he came to Detroit. His death occurred in
the year 1872 in Omaha, Nebraska. His wife survived him by nearly
forty years and was a resident of Detroit at the time of her death, in
the summer of 1910.
Dr. Pratt was reared to maturity in Detroit, where his early educa
tional discipline was secured in the Bishop schools, and the old Capital
High school, one of the oldest of the public schools of the city. After
leaving school he secured a position as clerk in the drug store of Robert
J. Hutton, and he gained a thorough knowledge of pharmacy and other
details of this line of enterprise. In 1888 he engaged in the drug busi
ness, on his own responsibility, after having been in the employ of Mr.
Hutton for five years and after having passed fifteen months in the
state of California. His business place in Detroit is located at 720
Antoine street, and he built up a prosperous enterprise, to which he
continued to give his supervision in addition to the regular work of his
profession. In 1901 Dr. Pratt was matriculated in the Detroit College of Medi
cine, in which he completed the prescribed curriculum and was grad
uated as a member of the class of 1905, with the degree of Doctor of
Medicine. During his senior year in college he served as interne in
Harper Hospital, and in this connection gained most valuable clinical
experience. In the Detroit College of Medicine he is now assistant in
structor in the department of experimental pharmacology, a position
for which his close study and long practical experience eminently qualify
him. In his private practice Dr. Pratt has met with gratifying success
and his professional business is constantly expanding in scope and im
portance. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the
Michigan State Medical Society, and the Wayne County Medical So
ciety, besides which he is a fellow of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, a member of the Detroit Medical Club, and
affiliated with the Nu Sigma Nu medical college fraternity. The Doctor
also holds membership in Palestine Lodge, No. 357, Free & Accepted
Masons, and both he and his wife hold membership in the First Pres
byterian church.
On the 26th of February, 1891, Dr. Pratt was united in marriage to
Miss Alice E. Beedzler, daughter of Joseph Beedzler, of Detroit, and
they have three children,- — Kenneth, Alice E. and Glenn. Kenneth
is a member of the class of 1915 in the Detroit College of Medicine.
Dr. Robert L. Schorr, M. D., who was born in Millersburg, Ohio,
April 12, 1873, well-known among the younger members of the medical
profession of Detroit, is a son of George and Barbara (Henes) Schorr,
both of whom were born and reared in Germanv, the former born in
Hesse-Darmstadt in 1836, and the latter in Wurtemburg in 1842.
George Schorr came to the United States in 1852. making the voyage in
an old sailing vessel, and his wife came across with her widowed mother
and two other children a few years later. Mrs. Schorr's sister died
while the family were en route for Holmes county, Ohio, and was
buried in Cleveland. Mr. and Mrs. Schorr were married in Holmes
county and there resided during the remainder of their lives. He was
engaged in farming during the greater part of his active career and

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1159
died December 29, 1880 ; she passed away November 18, 1887, and was
brought to Detroit for cremation, this having been the 'first cremation
in this city.
Dr. Schorr was but seven years of age at the time of his father's
death, and but fourteen years of age when he was bereft of his mother.
His preliminary educational training was obtained in the public schools
of Millersburg, Ohio, and subsequently he attended the Detroit high
school. While attending high school he also studied pharmacy, and
after passing the examination before the state board of pharmacy en
tered the employ of Hinchman & Sons, druggists in Detroit. In the
meantime he began study for the medical profession as a student in the
Detroit College of Medicine. He worked his way through college, being
employed in the drug store part of the time and for one summer was
ambulance surgeon for Harper Hospital. Later he had charge of the
dispensary at St. Mary's Hospital. He entered upon the active prac
tice of his profession immediately after receiving his degree of Doctor
of Medicine, in 1893, and his first location was on the corner of Gratiot
avenue and Antoine street. Thence he removed his offices to No. 18
John R. street and in 1909 moved to his present place, No. 291 Harper
avenue, this being also his residence. He is a member of the Wayne
County Medical Society, the Michigan State Medical Society and the
American Medical Association. He is also a member of the Nu Sigma
Nu college fraternity and of the Alumni Association of the Detroit Col
lege of Medicine. He is a member of Palestine Lodge, Free and Accepted
Masons; King Cyrus Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Michigan Sovereign
Consistory and Moslem Temple of the Mystic Shrine. In politics he is
Republican. Dr. Schorr was married, in 1905, to Miss Mabel Stanley Leonard,
a daughter of Dr. C. H. Leonard, who is one of the old and most promi-
ment medical specialists of Detroit and who was for many years a
member of the faculty of the Detroit College of Medicine. He is one
of the best known scientific writers of his day, giving most all of his
time to the latter occupation at the present. To Dr. and Mrs. Schorr
have been born three children, namely : Robert William, George Lincoln
and Mabel Cornelia.
Ezra Bruce Keeler, M. D. Ih a profession where success is won
not through good luck or money but through individual merit, Ezra
Bruce Keeler, a member of the medical profession of Detroit, holds, a
place among the representative physicians of the city. He has been in
the profession in the city for fourteen years and during this time has
built up a very satisfactory practice. He has always continued in the
same location, and he has become as familiar a friend to the people of
this section of the city, as though it were a country district, for the
Doctor attempts to be more to his patrons than some one to cure their
ills, he wishes to be their friend, and his popularity shows that he ia
usually successful.
Ezra Bruce Keeler was born in Disco, Macomb county, Michigan,
on the 25th of December, 1860. His father was Major Alonzo M. Keeler,
who was a native of the same county, having been born in Washington,
Macomb county, Michigan, on the 4th of September, 1826. The father
of Major Keeler was John Keeler, a native of New York, who came to
Macomb county in pioneer davs. Major Keeler was educated in an
Iowa college, and taught school in Macomb county, where he founded
the Disco Academy, which was one of the pioneer educational institu
tions of Michigan. With the outbreak of the Civil war he threw him
self heart and soul into the cause of the Union, and raised Company

1160 HISTORY OF DETROIT
B, of the Twenty-second Michigan Regiment of Infantry. He was com
missioned captain of this regiment and led it into battle. He was taken
prisoner and was incarcerated in old Libby prison, at Richmond, Vir
ginia, a dungeon famous for the horrors in the way of lack of food,
improper sanitation and filthy quarters which the prisoners there had
to endure. He was also imprisoned at Charleston, South Carolina, and
at the end of the war was mustered out as major. The old soldier was
three times register of deeds for Macomb county, and compiled the
abstract of that county. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church and fraternally gave his allegiance to the Masonic Order. Major
Keeler married Lucy Ann Church, who was born in Vermont, but came
to Michigan with her parents at an early age. Her father, Chauncey
Church, was one of the pioneers settlers of Macomb county. Mrs. Keeler
is still living, having reached the unusual age of eighty-one, the date of
her birth being 1831.
The early education of Doctor Keeler was acquired in the public
schools of his home town. He determined when he was quite a youngster
that he would some day become a physician, and therefore when he was
sufficiently prepared he entered the Pulte Medical College, at Cincin
nati, Ohio, and was graduated from this institution in 1891. He lost no
time in going into active work, and began to practice in Richmond,
Michigan. He was an indefatigable worker and soon had a remunera
tive practice, but after practicing in this section he concluded to move
to a city, and naturally selected Detroit. It was in 1897 that he came
to this city, and he located on Russell street, in the same neighborhood
where he is now in practice. He lives at present at 413 Clay avenue,
and his offices are in his residence. He has been in this location for
the past nine years. He is both a physician and surgeon but he has
never cared to specialize, which is probably just as well, for the spe
cialist has to sacrifice some of that broadmindedness that is so necessary
to the physician who would give his patrons the best of service. Doctor
Keeler is therefore a practitioner of general medicine. He is a member
of the Wayne County Medical Society, of the Michigan State Medical
Society and of the American Medical Association. Fraternally he is
a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, being
a member of the Richmond lodge. He is also a member of the Protected
Home Circle.
Russell Percival Wixom, ML D. Undoubtedly the laws of
heredity should be taken into consideration in considering the success
of Doctor Russell Percival Wixom, of Detroit, Michigan, for he comes
of a family of professional men, and his grandfather was one of the
most remarkable men the medical profession in the state of Michigan
has ever known. Doctor Wixom, however, is not purely a physician and
surgeon, though the greater part of his time and interest is given to
his profession. He unites with the mind of a scientist that of a business
man, and he has been very successful as such, owning some valuable
property in the city and taking an active part in the business affairs
of the community in general.
Dr. Wixom is the son of Martin Van Buren Wixom, who was born in
Farmington, Oakland county, Michigan, on the 14th of January, 1842,
the son of Dr. Isaac Wixom. The latter was a native of Scotland, hav
ing been born in the land of the heather in 1805. He received his edu
cation, both literary and medical, in Scotland, coming to the United
States in 1834. He located here at Farmington, Oakland county, Michi
gan, where he practiced medicine until 1848. He then removed to
Argentine, Genesee county, in the same state. With the outbreak of the

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1161
Civil war he was commissioned surgeon major of Colonel Fenton's inde
pendent regiment, known officially as the Sixteenth Michigan Regiment
of Infantry, and served throughout the war. After the war was over
he located in Fenton, Genesee county, where he practiced until his death
in 1882. During the war he had seen the weakness of surgery as it was
then practiced. He realized that the great foe of the surgeon was blood
poisoning, and he was one of the very first surgeons to take up aseptic
surgery, being really the first in this section of Michigan. In fact he
was ahead ef his time in the practice of surgery, and the ideas which he
had on the subject, and which people and even members of his profes
sion descried as absurd, and are now well established facts. He per
formed the first hip-joint major operation ever executed. As a member
of the Michigan State Medical Society and the' local medical societies
he exerted a powerful influence on the minds of the medical men of the
state during his time. Not content with giving to the public his profes
sional services, he also served them as their representative in the Michi
gan state senate from Genesee county.
Martin Van Buren Wixom was graduated from the Michigan State
Normal School at Ypsilanti, and also from the Ann Arbor Law School,
a department of the University of Michigan. He was admitted to the
bar of Genesee county in 1876, and opened up his first law office in Fen
ton, Genesee county. He practiced here for a time and then went to
Bancroft, Shiawassee county, Michigan. From 1874 to 1898 he was
proprietor of a tented circus, known as "Mat Wixom 's Great Show."
This circus traveled all over Michigan, visiting every town in the state,
and its owner achieved wide popularity. This peculiarly Michigan in
stitution was turned over to the two youngest sons of the founder ahd is
still in existence, showing as usual. Mr. Wixom was a member of the
Masonic order, being a Knight Templar, and was one of the organizers
of the second Michigan commandery of that order. He was prominent
in public affairs, taking an especial interest in politics. A strong
" Greenbacker, " he stumped the state for this cause many times, and
being possessed with a natural eloquence, which his legal training had
intensified, he was an influential speaker. He married Celia Bradley,
who was born in Buffalo, New York, on the 24th of July, 1844. She
was the daughter of Franklin Bradley, a native of New York state, his
birth having occurred near Buffalo. His parents were natives of Con
necticut. He located in Argentine, Genesee county, Michigan, in 1858,
and engaged in the hotel business. His old hotel is still standing in
Argentine. Mrs. Wixom still resides in Bancroft, but her husband
passed away on the 4th of November, 1907.
Russell Percival Wixom was born in Argentine, Genesee county,
Michigan, on the 7th of January, 1868. He was reared in the town of
his birth and in Bancroft. His elementary education was obtained in
the Bancroft and Corona high schools. He later attended the Fenton
Normal College and Alma College, and was graduated from all of them.
This completed his literary education and he then turned to his profes
sional work, entering the Michigan College of Medicine and Surgery at
Detroit. He was graduated from the latter with the degree of M. D. in
1896 and the day after his graduation a fresh sign, Dr. Russell Per
cival Wixom, was hanging from an office window in Bancroft. He
practiced in this town of his boyhood with great success until the 18th
of December, 1905, when he came to Detroit, in search of a larger field.
He located at 273 Euclid avenue, East, where he is now situated, and has
been in active practice ever since.
In the spring of 1906 the Doctor completed ' a large business block
on the northwest corner of Euclid and Oakland avenue, and estab-
voi. in— 21

1162 HISTORY OF DETROIT
lished a drug store in one of the stores. He conducted this himself in
connection with his practice for five , years, at the end of this time sell
ing out in order to give more time not only to his increasing practice
but to his other interests. He is at present building another business
block on the northeast corner of the same streets, adjoining his resi
dence which he purchased in 1911.
Dr. Wixom married Louisa MeGarvey, who is a native of England,
having been born in London, the daughter of Charles Miles and Matilda
(Burt) Miles. Mrs. Wixom came with her family to America in 1871,
and they located in Ottawa, Canada. In 1881 her father went to Qu'
Appelle, Assinniboine, now Saskatchewan, western Canada, where he
became a pioneer wheat grower in what is now one of the greatest wheat
countries in the world. He died in June, 1910, but his wife is still liv
ing. Dr. and Mrs. Wixom have one daughter, Helen Louise.
Dr. Wixom is prominent in fraternal societies, being a member of
the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Elks and the Modern
Woodmen of America. He is very active in public matters and was
the organizer and the first president of the Northeastern Business Men 's
Association of Detroit, an organization which has been of great benefit
to that section of the city.
Joseph Beisman, M. D. As an example of patience under disap
pointment, and courage in the face of defeat, the life of Doctor Joseph
Beisman, of Detroit, Michigan, is well worthy of note. Born in that
hot bed of oppression, southern Russia, coming to America as a poor
immigrant lad, with little education, struggling along, working at va
rious trades for a number of years, but all the while studying during
every minute and finally accomplishing his purpose, and becoming a
doctor. Such in brief is the life history of one of the best known
physicians and surgeons in Detroit. He is a man greatly honored and
admired by all who knew him, and to those who know his story he must
be regarded with something more than admiration, for rarely is suc
cess won in the face of such odds. That he should succeed as a practi
tioner is not surprising, for the patience, self-reliance and determination
to win, all qualities developed in him during his struggle to obtain a
foothold in the world, have aided him in his professional career.
Joseph Beisman was born in southern Russia on September 23, 1863,
his parents being Mordeeai and Jenny (Schwartz) Beisman, both of
whom were natives of Russia. The boyhood of Dr. Beisman was spent
in the land of his nativity, he being eighteen years of age when his
father determined to immigrate to America. This important event in
his career took place in 1881, and upon their arrival the family located
in Brooklyn, New York. Two years later they moved to the south and
settled at Newport, Arkansas, near which town Mordeeai Beisman en
gaged in farming. The move proved to be most unfortunate, for the
climate of that section was at that time, the country being new, very
malarial, and Mr. Beisman removed to St. Louis, Missouri, where he
spent the remainder of his life.
The Doctor did not accompany the family to Arkansas, but remained
in Brooklyn, New York. There he took up the cigar trade, serving what
in older days would be termed an apprenticeship. This occupation not
being to his liking, he next went to work making basket bottoms, but
this also proved not only unprofitable but distasteful to him. He event
ually went to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he found employ
ment in the cotton mills. Here his ambition to make something of
himself received its first encouragement, fori he was able to attend night
school. In 1883 he went to St. Louis and joined his father, and while

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1163 •
there took up the study of bookkeeping, following this occupation for
the next three years. During this time he kept on with his studies and
saved his money rigorously until in 1886 he found himself ready to take
up the study of medicine, and matriculated in the medical department
of Washington University. As difficult as medical study is to the
American boy who has perhaps been educated with this profession in
view, it may readily be understood how .arduous was the work to this
young foreigner who had been in this country only five years. He suc
ceeded in attaining his goal, however, and was awarded the degree of
M. D. in 1890, from the above mentioned St. Louis institution. In
April of the same year he came to Detroit and located at the corner of
Adams and Hastings streets. After he was firmly established and well
on the road to success he moved his offices to his present location at 630
Brush street, where he also maintains his home.
Dr. Beisman is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society, of
the" Michigan State Medical Society and of the American Medical
Association. The marriage of Dr. Beisman occurred on the 23d of September,
1900, his wife being Hildegarde Levyson, of San Antonio, Texas. They
have one daughter, Gertrude.
Victor Charles Doherty, M. D. No line of human endeavor de
mands of its votaries a more scrupulous preliminary training and dis
cipline, or requires a heart and mind more deeply in touch with deter
minate sympathy than that of the medical practitioner. He who would
essay the healing art must be endowed with a broad spirit of humani-
tarianism and must hol4 himself and his talents in constant readiness
and willingness to succor those in affliction. The noble profession has
in Detroit a worthy representative in Dr. Victor Charles Doherty, who
is recognized as one of the leading younger physicians and surgeons of
the city, and who has won precedence by his professional talents and
genial personality. Victor Charles Doherty was born at Belfast, Alle
gany county, New York, February 26, 1876, and is a son of M. E. and
Mary A. (Miley) Doherty. His father, a native of Kingston, Ontario,
Canada, was for many years extensively engaged in the lumber busi
ness, and died in 1903, while the mother, who still survives at an ad
vanced age, makes her home in Ohio.
Dr. Doherty was reared in his native vicinity and received his pre
liminary education in the public and high schools of Belfast. After
graduating from the latter institution he completed his more purely
literary training in Genesee Valley Seminary, where he took a course
in Latin and Greek, and from which he was graduated in 1894. At that
time he turned his attention to the study of medicine, and soon entered
the medical department of the University of Michigan, from which he
was graduated with the class of 1898, receiving jthe degree of Doctor
of Medicine. During that same year he entered upon the active practice
of his profession at Grand Maris, Upper Michigan Peninsula, where for
ten years he was surgeon for the Manistique Railroad and Lumber Com
pany, but in 1910, desiring a wider field for his activities, came to De
troit, where he has since gained a position in the front ranks of his
profession as exemplifying the modern sciences of medicine and surgery.
It is scarcely necessary to state that a gratifying success has attended
his efforts, for his zeal and ability renders this a natural sequence. He
occupies well-appointed offices in the Goldberg Building, at the corner
of Woodward and Warren avenues, where he has a valuable medical
library and all modern appliances for the successful practice of his
profession. Dr. Doherty is a valued member of the Wayne County

1164 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Medical Society, the Michigan State Medical Society and the American
Medical Association, and his fraternal relations are with the Knights
of Columbus. Dr. Doherty was married to Miss Helen Green, of Saginaw, Michi
gan, daughter of James Green, a well known lumberman, and to this
union there has been born one bright and interesting child Victor
Charles, Jr., who is now eight years of age.
Francis T. McGann. Probably in no line of life's work are there
so many self made men as in the profession of the law. This is prob
ably due to the fact that fame and fortune are bestowed only upon those
who demonstrate their superiority and are the reward of personal ability
and not favors from others. Success at the bar means not only hard
study in preparation, but the exercise of all one's intellectual faculties
almost continually.
Among those who have risen to prominence at the Detroit bar* is
Francis Thomas McGann, of the law firm of McHugh, Gallagher & Mc
Gann. Mr. McGann is a product of Detroit, having been born in this
city March 4, 1888, the son of Thomas F. and Catherine (Dolan) Mc
Gann. He received his early education in the parochial schools of this
city, after which he entered the Detroit College, now the University of
Detroit, from which he graduated in 1907 with the degree of A. B. He
then entered the Detroit College of Law, graduating therefrom with
the class of 1910 and receiving the degree of LL.B.
His recognition as one of the rising young lawyers of Michigan was
speedily recognized, and on December 1, 1910, he was appointed assist
ant attorney general for Michigan, a position he most acceptably filled
until July 1, 1911, when he resigned to become a member of the law firm
of McHugh, Gallagher & McGann. He is a member of the Detroit Col
lege Alumni, the Pheta Lambda Phi, the Greek letter fraternity of the
college, and of the Young Men's Order. He is also a member of the
Detroit Bar Association.
Mr. McGann 's father was born at Milford, Massachusetts, July 14,
1857, the son of Cornelius McGann, a native of Ireland, who came to
the United States in the early forties, settling in Massachusetts. The
mother of Francis T. McGann, the talented subject of this sketch, was
born at Marshall, Michigan. The elder McGann came to Detroit when
fifteen years of age and up to four years ago was engaged in the retail
meat business. At that time he retired. He and his wife are members
of the Holy Rosary Roman Catholic church.
Carl Francis Muenz, M. D., whose high standing in his profession
and in the confidence and esteem of the people of his community is but
the natural result of long years of faithful labor in alleviating the
ills of mankind, is recognized as one of the leading -physicians and
surgeons of Detroit's East Side, where he maintains offices and residence
at No. 421 Baldwin avenue. Dr. Muenz has been a resident of this
community throughout his life, having been born on the East Side, not
far from his present home, October 31, 1867, a son of Anthony and
Margaret (Grones) Muenz. The parents of the Doctor were both
born in Germany, but were married in Detroit, whence they had
come as young people. The father, who was a carpenter by trade, was
for many years engaged in contracting in Detroit, and here his death
occurred in 1894, when he was seventy years of age, the mother passing
away in 1911, having attained the advanced age of eighty-five years.
They were consistent and well-known members of the Roman Catholic
church, belonging to St. Mary's congregation.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1165
Dr. Muenz was brought up to city life, being reared in Detroit,
and here as a youth he secured his preliminary educational training
in the parochial schools of the Roman Catholic church. Early deciding
upon a professional career, as a young man he assiduously devoted his
time to the study of medicine, and in 1892, after extensive preparation,
entered the Detroit College of Medicine, from which he was graduated
vith the class of 1896, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
Locating at once in Detroit, he was soon accepted by the citizens of his
native city as a young man of great promise and capacity, skillful and
careful in his profession and of sterling worth as a citizen. His af
fability and obliging disposition gained him friends rapidly, and his
practice soon became one of the largest and most lucrative in his
part of the city. It has had a steady and continuous growth, increased
by his success in the treatment of a number of difficult cases, and he is
now recognized by his confreres as a man o.f exceptional ability and
thorough knowledge. A close and careful student, he keeps abreast of
the various advancements and discoveries in the sciences of medicine and
surgery, being a constant reader of medical literature, and taking a
great interest in the work of the Wayne County Medical Society, the
Michigan State Medical Society and the American Medical Association,
of all of which he is an active and valued member. He is also con
nected with the Detroit College of Medicine Alumni Association, and
is a popular member of the Elks. With his family he attends St.
Mary's Roman Catholic church.
Dr. Muenz was united in marriage with Miss Rose Estelle DeGalen,
who was born in Detroit, the daughter of Frank DeGalen, of this
city. Matthew A. Layton, M. D. Among the well fortified, successful
and popular representatives of the medical profession in Detroit who
can claim the fine old province of Ontario, Canada, as the place of his
nativity is Dr. Layton, who is engaged in general practice and who has
built up a large and representative professional business in the Michi
gan metropolis, with residence and office at 1980 Fort street, West.
Matthew Alexander Layton was born at Tottingham, Simcoe county,
province of Ontario, on the 9th of February, 1866, and he is a son of
Charles and Isabella (Allen) Layton. Charles Layton was born in the
neighborhood of Niagara Falls in the state of New York and his father,
Francis Layton, was a native of Yorkshire, England, whence he came to
America and established his home in the vicinity of Tonawanda, Erie
county, New York. He later removed to the province of Ontario, Can
ada, where he passed the residue of his life and where his son Charles
was reared to manhood. The latter became one of the representative
agriculturists and influential citizens of Simcoe county, Ontario, and
there he died in 1899, at the age of fifty-six years. His devoted wife
preceded him to eternal rest by about a decade, as she passed away in
1889, at the age of fifty years. She was bom in the city of Belfast, Ire
land, and she was a girl at the time of the family immigration to Amer
ica, her father, Richard Allen, having established his home at Totting
ham, Ontario, where he and his wife passed the remainder of their
lives. The sturdy and invigorating discipline of the home farm com
passed the childhood and youth of Dr. Layton, and he made good use
of the advantages offered in the public schools of the locality, including
the high school at Owen Sound, Ontario. He then entered the Ontario
College of Pharmacy, in the city of Toronto, and in this excellent institu
tion he was graduated in 1887, with the degree of Doctor of Pharmacy.

1166 HISTORY OF DETROIT
He continued to be actively identified with the retail drug business
until 1894,-*— first at Tara, Bruce county, Ontario, later at Markdale,
Grey county, that province, and thereafter at Gladstone, Delta county,
Michigan, whence he came to Detroit.
In 1894 Dr. Layton was matriculated in the Detroit College of
Medicine and he completed the prescribed course in this institution,
the while his previous experience as a skilled pharmacist proved of
great incidental value. He was graduated as a member of the class
of 1897 and duly received his degree of Doctor of Medicine. In the
same year he engaged in active general practice in the neighborhood in
which he now resides, and his clientage is of distinctively representa
tive order, the while his success has demonstrated his fine technical
ability and facility in the application of the same. The Doctor erected
his present attractive residence and office in 1907, and the home is one
known for its cordial and refined hospitality. Dr. Layton is a member
of the American Medical Association, the Michigan State Medical So
ciety and the Wayne County Medical Society. He is local medical
examiner for the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen & Locomotive Fire
men, is a Republican in his political adherency, and he and his wife
are communicants of the Catholic church.
On the 12th of September, 1899, was solemnized the marriage of
Dr. Layton to Miss Florence Roulo, of Detroit, and they had one child,
Ursula Florence who was born January 7, 1902, and died June 2,
1912. Wesley J. Reid, M. D. Another of the sterling citizens and repre
sentative physicians contributed to Detroit by the neighboring Canadian
province of Ontario is Dr. Wesley John Reid, who was born at Gode
rieh, Huron county, that province, on the 18th of December, 1875, and
who is a son of Jamieson and Ruth (Orr) Reid, both of whom were
born in the north of Ireland, to which section of the Emerald Isle
their ancestors removed from Scotland in an early day. The parents
of the Doctor were reared and educated in their native land, where they
continued to reside until 1861, when they came to America and estab
lished their home at Goderieh, Ontario, where the father has been for
many years a successful contractor and representative business man.
The devoted wife and mother was summoned to the life eternal in
1906, and of the children three sons and three daughters are living.
She was a devout member of the Methodist church, as is also her hus
band, who still resides at Goderieh, where he commands secure place in
popular esteem.
Dr. Reid is indebted to the public schools of his native city for his
early educational training and was there graduated in the high school
as a member of the class of 1894. In the same year he came to Michi
gan and entered the Detroit College of Pharmacy, in which he was
graduated as a member of the class of 1897. In the meanwhile he had
also devoted careful attention to the study of other lines relative to
medicine and surgery, and in 1896, while still a student in the school
of pharmacy, he also entered the Detroit College of Physicians & Sur
geons, in which he completed the prescribed course and was graduated
in 1898, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. His ambition and
close application to study are well indicated by the ground covered by
him in the two institutions mentioned, as he virtually did double work.
as compared to that accomplished by the average student of either
school. Such determination and valiant ambition are the inevitable
concomitants of success, and it can thus be readily understood that Dr.
Reid has early secured substantial vantage ground in his chosen pro-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1167
fession,' of which he has been one of the able and popular representa
tives in Detroit from the time of his graduation. His interest in all
that pertains to the sciences of medicine and surgery is of the most
insistent order and he is a close and appreciative student, determined to
keep in line with the progress made in both departments of his chosen
vocation. He holds membership in the American Medical Association,
the Michigan State Medical Society, and the Wayne County Medical
Society. In the time-honored Masonic fraternity he is affiliated with
Detroit Lodge, No. 2, Free & Accepted Masons.
On the J19th of October, 1902,. Dr. Reid was united in marriage to
Miss Emily Young, who was born in the historic old city of Edinburgh,
Scotland. Her parents never came to America both dying in Scotland.
Dr. and Mrs. Reid have two children, — Wesley Grattan and Margaret
Sarah. The family home is located at 185 Bethune avenue. The Doc
tor maintains office headquarters at 166 Bethune avenue.
Jay M. Burgess, M. D. For more than a decade Dr. Burgess has
been engaged in the practice of his profession in Detroit, and his suc
cess in his exacting calling has been of unequivocal order, based as it is
upon sterling personal characteristics and fine technical ability. He
has from the beginning of his practice here maintained his residence
and office headquarters at 125 Bethune avenue, East, and he controls a
practice that is of generous proportions and of essentially representa
tive type. He is a scion of families that were founded in America in
the early colonial era and at the time of the Revolution his ancestors
on both the paternal and maternal sides were loyal to the British crown,
being of the class of citizens known as united empire loyalists. Their
allegiance to their native land led them to leave the New England
colonies and establish homes in the Canadian provinces. Thus the
Burgess family was founded in the province of New Brunswick, Can
ada, in the early pioneer days, while the Rounds family, of which Dr.
Burgess is a representative on the maternal side, settled in the province
of Ontario about the same time. George Burgess a great-grandfather
of the Doctor, was an officer in the English army in America during
the progress of the Revolution, and his military sash, of silk, is now in
the possession of Dr. Burgess who treasures the same as a family
heirloom and historic trophy. Representatives of both the Burgess and
Rounds families were early settlers in Oxford county, Ontario, and
the respective names have been prominently identified with the develop
ment and progress of that favored section of the province.
Dr. Jay Macdonald Burgess was born at Drumbo, Oxford county,
Ontario, on the 27th of May, 1873, and is a son of Joseph L. and Har
riet (Rounds) Burgess both of whom were likewise born in that county,
where they also died. Joseph L. Burgess was long one of the repre
sentative merchants of the town of Drumbo, where he also served as
postmaster for many years, an honored and influential citizen and a
man of strong character. Both he and his wife were communicants
of the Baptist church. Of their children four sons and two daugh
ters are living.
In the graded and high schools of his native county Dr. Burgess was
afforded excellent educational advantages in his boyhood and youth
and he early began to assist in the work of his father's mercantile es
tablishment, in which he gained diversified and valuable experience.
In 1893, at the age of nineteen years, he went to the city of Chicago,
where he secured employment in the great wholesale house of Marshall
Field & Company with which he continued to be thus connected for a
period of four years, within which he formulated his plans for en-

1168 HISTORY OF DETROIT
tering the medical profession. With this laudable ambition he consulted
ways and means and finally decided to avail himself of the advantages of
the Michigan College of Medicine & Surgery. He accordingly, in
the year 1896, came to Detroit and entered this excellent institu
tion. He devoted himself earnestly to his study and clinical work and
was graduated as a member of the class of 1900, with the coveted
degree of Doctor of Medicine, the honors and dignity of which he has
since splendidly upheld in the work of his profession. Detroit has
been his field of labor from the beginning and his ability, earnest ap
plication and personal popularity have been the factors that have
conserved his noteworthy success as a physician and surgeon. The
Doctor is identified with the American Medical Society, the Michigan
State Medical Society, the Wayne County Medical Society, and the
Michigan Surgical & Pathological Society. For four years he did ef
fective service as lecturer on materia medica in his alma mater, the
Michigan College of Medicine & Surgery. The political convictions of
Dr. Burgess are in harmony with the principles and policies for which
the Republican party stands sponsor ; he is affiliated with the Independ
ent Order of Odd Fellows ; and both he and his wife are communicants
of the Protestant Episcopal church.
On the 25th of October, 1902, was solemnized the marriage of Dr.
Burgess to Miss Mabel Bastedo, of Toronto, Canada. She is a rep
resentative of one of the old and honored families of the Dominion of
Canada, where her ancestors, who were staunch loyalists, took up their
residence at the time of the Revolution, removing to Canada from the
New England colonies. Dr. and Mrs. Burgess are popular factors in
the social activities of Detroit and their attractive home, at 125 Beth
une avenue, East, is known for its generous hospitality, the while it is
brightened by the presence of their two children, — Harriet Gladys and
Charles Macdonald.
Michael Conner. The late Michael Conner was a resident of Wayne
county from his childhood days until the time of his death and was a
representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of this section of
the state. A man of fine character and marked ability, he gained dis
tinctive success in connection with the practical activities of life and
he was long one of the prominent merchants and influential citizens of
the village of Plymouth, where his name is held in lasting honor as
one of the worthy pioneers of the county and state.
Mr. Conner was born in Ireland, on the 16th of November, 1829,
and he died at his home in Plymouth, in November, 1895. He was a
child at the time of his parents' immigration from the Emerald Isle
to America, and the family located on a pioneer farm near Plymouth,
Wayne county, Michigan, where the father died while still a young
man, the mother living to the venerable age of ninety years. Michael
Conner was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and early learned
the lessons of practical industry, the while he availed himself of the
advantages of the somewhat primitive schools of the locality and period.
An alert and receptive mind enabled him to overcome most effectually
this educational handicap and he became a man of broad and varied
information, as well as one of independent views and distinctive busi
ness acumen. In 1852 he was one of the adventurous spirits who made
the journey across the plains to the New Eldorado in California. The
hazardous journey consumed more than six months, and during the
greater part of the time Mr. Conner was ill, so that the trip was doubly
enervating and tedious to him. In California he pursued the quest
for gold for a period of about four years, and his success was appre-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1169
ciable. He made the return trip to the east by way of Cape Horn, and
came back to his old home in Wayne county. Soon afterward he pur
chased the hardware store of Henry Bennett, which was the only
establishment of the kind in the village of Plymouth at that time, and
with this enterprise he continued to be actively identified until his
death, about forty years later, at which time he was the oldest mer
chant of the village in point of consecutive business activities. Through
fair and honorable dealings and scrupulous care in supplying the de
mands of his trade he built up a most prosperous enterprise, which is
still continued by his only surviving son.
In all that makes for good citizenship Mr. Conner was long a lead
ing figure in his home village, and his benignant influence had much
to do with furthering the material and civic progress and prosperity
of the same. There he commanded high vantage ground in popular
confidence and esteem, and he left the gracious heritage of an untar
nished reputation. Generous^ genial and kindly, he gained the staunchest
of friends, and he was most companionable, with characteristic humor
and with a rare fund of reminiscences and anecdotes. In politics Mr.
Conner gave unqualified allegiance to the Democratic party and he
was well able to "give a reason for the faith that was in him." He
took an active part in public affairs of a local order and was called upon
to serve in various offices of public trust, including that of president
of the village council of Plymouth, — a position in which he gave a most
progressive and businesslike administration. His public spirit was
manifested in many ways, and in none more worthily and influentially
than in the establishing and improving of the beautiful cemetery in
which rest his own remains. He purchased the land for this "God's
acre" and personally superintended the platting of the same. He was
liberal and tolerant in his religious views and, with his family, attended
and supported the Universalist church in his home village. His life
was one of signal usefulness and honor and his name merits enduring
place on the roster of the sterling pioneers of Wayne county and the
state of Michigan.
On the 18th of February, 1858, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Conner to Miss Jane Woodruff, who was born in Wayne county, New
York, on the 3d of July, 1832, and who was a child at the time of
the family removal to Wayne county, Michigan, where she has
ever since maintained her home and concerning the pioneer days of
which she retains vivid memories. She resides with her one surviving
daughter in the beautiful homestead which was purchased by the de
voted husband and father about five years prior to his death and
which is one of the finest residence properties in Plymouth, even as
it is a recognized center of gracious and refined hospitality. In con
clusion is entered brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs.
Conner: Catherine died on the 19th of April, 1863, in childhood.
William T., who was born at Plymouth on the 14th of July, 1862, suc
ceeded his father in the hardware business.' in the management and
control of which his sister is his effective coadjutor. As a business man
and progressive citizen he is well upholding the honors of the name
which he bears, and he is one of the representative men of his native
place. He is a Democrat in his political allegiance and is affiliated with
the Masonic fraternity. He married Miss Catherine Wilcox and they
have two children, — Hazel and Catherine. Louis E., the third of the
children, was born on the 24th of July, 1866, and died on the 30th of
July of the following year. Mary E., who resides with her widowed
mother in the family home, is associated in the management of the
business so long conducted by her honored father and is a popular

1170 HISTORY OF DETROIT
factor in the social activities of her native place, where her circle of
friends is practically coincident with that of the population.
Jacob B. Bromfield. One of the early settlers of Plymouth was
Jacob Bromfield, a native of New York state. He was born in 1803,
educated in the state of his birth and after learning the blacksmith
trade, came to Plymouth and carried on that business here for many
years. He served as deputy sheriff under Peter Fralick. Mr. Brom
field was a man of lofty Christian character and was one of the most
enthusiastic and faithful workers in the Methodist church. For many
years he was superintendent of the Sunday school and the example of
his upright life made him specially adapted for such a position. He
lived to the age of eighty-three and was buried in Plymouth, where
he had lived so long and- had won such respect and affection from all
who knew him. He was married to Katherine Fralick, whose father,
Abraham Fralick was a pioneer of Plymouth and also the first person to
be buried in the old Plymouth cemetery. Katherine Fralick was also
born in the state of New York. The date of her birth being June 17,
1807. She was married on the first of March, some three months be
fore she was eighteen years old, in the year 1825. Seven children were
born to Mr. and Mrs. Bromfield, all of whom are dead except one daugh
ter, Mrs. Nichols, of Plymouth.
The Fralick family was one of the oldest and best known of Ply
mouth. They came through the trackless forests with ox teams and
took up land near the town. Peter and Henry Fralick were the first
merchants of Plymouth and the family was, always prominent in the
history of the town. Peter served as sheriff for two terms. In public
office, as in his business, he was efficient and conscientious and gave
his best efforts to fulfilling the duties devolving upon him.
TDr. Harrison Nichols was born in New York state, on October 26,
1845. He graduated from Ann Arbor and for many years kept a
drug store and practiced at Saline, Michigan. Later he moved to
Plymouth, where he built the fine home in which his widow now re
sides. It was here that he died on March 29, 1909, having retired from
active business some years previously. He was a member of the Ma
sonic order and a Knight Templar. His marriage to Ellen Bromfield
took place in April, 1889. She was born in Plymouth and has always
lived here.
Rt. Rev. John S. Foley. In a publication of the province assigned
to the one in hand there is no necessity for bearing a brief to deter
mine as to the status of the distinguished and revered bishop of the
diocese of Detroit in the affections and esteem of the people of Michigan
and its metropolis, the while his high ecclesiastical preferment indi
cates the scholarly attainments and fine executive ability which he
brings to bear in administering the spiritual and temporal affairs of
its important see. He stands high in the American councils of the
great mother church of Christendom, and his consecration in his holy
office is on a parity with his great intellectual and administrative
powers. Bishop John Samuel Foley, head of the Catholic diocese of Detroit,
was born in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, on the fifth of November,
1833, and is a son of Matthew and Elizabeth (Murphy) Foley, both
natives of Enniscbrthy, county Wexford, Ireland.
Bishop Foley gained his preliminary educational discipline in the
parochial schools of his native city, where he thereafter continued his
higher academic studies in St. Mary's College. In preparation for

HISTORY OF DETROIT ' 1171
the work of his chosen and holy calling he prosecuted philosophical and
classical studies in St. Mary's College, Baltimore, in which institution
he also secured his earlier ecclesiastical training. In 1853 he was sent
to Rome by Archbishop Kenrick, to prepare for his ordination to the
priesthood, and in the ' ' Eternal City, ' ' on the 20th of December, 1856,
he received the holy orders in St. John's Lateran, Cardinal Patrizzi
officiating at his consecration. In November of the following year he
returned to America, where his first charge was in St. Bridget's church
in Baltimore. In 1858 he was transferred to the parish of St. Paul's
church at Ellicott City, Maryland, where he continued his labors for
five years, at the expiration of which he returned to Baltimore as assist
ant pastor of St. Peter's church. In 1865 he was assigned to the work
of founding and building St. Martin's church in that city, and this
work he accomplished with characteristic vigor and earnestness. He
developed a vital and prosperous parish and in the meanwhile was
active in the generic work of the church, the establishing of new schools
and the developing of the charitable institutions of the church.
Well merited recognition of the exalted character and services of
Bishop Foley came in 1888, when he was made bishop of the diocese of
Detroit. The great work which he has here accomplished in the in
tervening years is a very part of the religious history of Detroit and
the state, and it is not necessary to enter into details concerning his
resourceful, constructive and progressive administration of the temporal
affairs of his diocese, or say that his quickening influence has been rich
in its spiritual fruitage in all departments of church work. In 1910,
to enable him the more effectively to administer the ever increasing
functions of his high office, he was granted the assistance of an auxiliary
bishop, the Rt. Rev. E. D. Kelley, of Ann Arbor, who has proved his
able and devoted coadjutor in handling the great responsibilities of the
diocese. Harry Wilkerson Ford. Turn which way one will, one will always
find former newspaper men filling positions of trust and prominence
in the business world outside of the profession in which they made their
start in life. A notable example of this is Harry Wilkerson Ford, sec
retary of the Chalmers Motor Company.
Mr. Ford was born on his father's farm near Knob Noster, Mis
souri, on May 1, 1880. He secured his early education in the public
schools of Knob Noster, from which he graduated in 1897. In 1900
he entered the South Division high school at Chicago, and graduating
from there in 1900, after which he entered the University of' Chicago.
While at college he took up newspaper work, which he continued dur
ing his studies, ending in 1905. Immediately after his graduation from
the University Mr. Ford became associated with the National Cash
Register Company in the advertising department, where he remained
until 1907, when he accepted the position of advertising manager of the'
Sheldon Correspondence school. He remained with the Sheldon con
cern until 1908, when he accepted the position of advertising manager
of the Chalmers Motor Company of Detroit, a post he filled with success
until 1909, when he took another upward step and became secretary for
the Chalmers Motor Company.
On October 6, 1908, Mr. Ford was united in marriage to Miss Lola
Woolfington, of Muncie, Indiana. As a result of this union there are
two daughters, Jane and Mary.
In politics Mr. Ford is an independent Democrat.
Walter E. Flanders. The organizer and present head of the
E-M-F Company, Walter E. Flanders, arrived at his comprehensive

1172 ' HISTORY OF DETROIT
knowledge of the various details of his business through carefully
planned stages of training and thorough experience.
In Rutland, Vermont, in the year 1871, Walter E. Flanders was
born. He was the son of a country physician, whose fees often con
sisted merely of gratitude, or when paid in more substantial manner
took the form of food and provisions rather than money. The Doctor's
son left school at the age of fifteen and became an apprentice in a
machine-shop, where he not only performed his regular work, but took
advantage of every opportunity to learn new and difficult operations
with the machinery of the shop. At the end of the year he had learned
every mechanical process there performed.
Having not only worked, but planned, young Flanders realized that
the most efficient machinists are those who have worked in many shops
of numerous kinds and localities. He therefore made a point of gain
ing the experience to be had from frequent changes. One of the posi
tions he held in this series was with the Singer Machine Company,
where he learned many of the principles and methods that he has since
applied to his manufacturing of automobiles.
His next step was the learning, also through experience, of the
merchandise phases of his business. He became a salesman of machinery.
Those who knew him in this work and who analyzed his method say
that economy of talk, with a point in every word, characterized his
salesmanship. During this work he sold machines to many of the
largest concerns in both the United States and Europe.
While engaged in the marketing of machinery and subsequent to
that time, Mr. Flanders was engaged in designing and manufacturing
special automatic tools for special purposes, thus mastering mechanical
execution of a constructive type.
Having thus attained a broadly practical knowledge of a very
promising field of business, he was ready for positions requiring super
vision and management of large plants and a succession of such posi
tions came to him. For years he was manufacturing manager for the
Ford Motor Company, and he held the position of manager and vice-
president of the Studebaker Corporation.
He organized and is the head of the E-M-F Company, one of the
most successful and progressive organizations of its kind.
Those who have been associated with Mr. Flanders find profit in
pointing out certain qualities that have made his work a success. Clear
sighted analysis of situations, a directness and swiftness of operation
that might be considered rash if not so carefully prepared for, a per
sonal interest in his men and always a largeness of purpose best ex
pressed by his maxim, "The limit is the sky," — these are among the
characteristics which have brought about his successes.
Other phases of Mr. Flanders' activity which are of interest in
cluded his movements in promoting the new hotel at Pontiac and his
interest ih the country estate of 1,200 acres which he owns in Oakland
county. His financial ranking and the effect of his business opera
tions upon commercial circles, are matter for daily comment or for
the personal interest of his friends and business associates. Mr.
Flanders' demonstration in his career of what a practical, self-directed
education may lead to in a life's success is perhaps his most valuable
contribution to the social good. There seems, however, to be a large
human purpose in his attitude toward work and workmen which is not
to be expressed in any words of idle comment but rather in the yet
potential facts of the years that are yet to be lived.
John F. Cotter. Among the younger members of the bar in Detroit,
is John F. Cotter, who, in spite of the fact that he has only been prac-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1173
ticing for eight years, has already built for himself an enviable repu
tation as a keen and able lawyer, and a practice which is constantly
growing. He inherits from his Irish ancestry a facility of speech, and
his training in one of the best law schools of the country has given
him a mastery of logic and of the technicalities of the law that renders
him more competent than many of his seniors.
John F. Cotter was born in Detroit on the 14th of July, 1879, the
son of Morris and Mary (Roche) Cotter. Both of his parents were
natives of Ireland, his father having come to the United States as a
young man. He settled first in Boston, Massachusetts, but in the early
fifties came to Michigan and located in Detroit. He was a railroad
man, and for many years was connected with the Michigan Central
Railroad Company. His death occurred when John F. Cotter was only
three years of age so he was obliged to forego the care of a father,
and came to know early in life what responsibility meant. His educa
tion was born in the public schools of Detroit, where as a member of
the class of 1897 he was graduated from the Central High School. He
then matriculated at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, and
here he was graduated in 1902, with the degree of A. B. Having de
termined to make the law his profession, he entered the law depart
ment of his alma mater and for a year continued his studies there. At
the end of this' time he returned to Detroit, where he continued his
reading of law in the Detroit College of Law. He was graduated
from this institution in 1904, receiving the degree of LL. B., and he
was admitted to the bar during the same year. He began the practice
of his profession in Detroit, for one year alone and then as an associate
of Henry C. Walters.
Mr. Cotter is an active member of both the Detroit Bar Association
and of the Lawyers' Club, of Detroit. He is interested in fraternal
affairs to the extent of being a member and present master of Friend
ship Lodge, No. 417, of the Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons. He
married in 1908, on the 29th of September, Miss Lillian Whitman, the
daughter of H. A. Whitman, of Ann Arbor.
Taking into consideration that Mr. Cotter has not passed the thresh-
hold of his profession by a great distance, and that he has the best
years of his life still before hini, the future, judging by his success in
the past, looks very bright indeed, and could one judge a% man's
prosperity by the number of his friends, as some philosophers' would
have us do, then Mr. Cotter would undoubtedly be called a very suc
cessful man, for his friends are many.
Octave Courville. By very name itself Detroit pays lasting honor
to those of French birth or extraction who have played an important
part in her history, and many are the families of this sterling lineage
who have figured most worthily and conspicuously in the annals of the
city from the time of its founding to the present day. In noting the
records of such families and others of the French who have been
valued and honored factors in connection with business and civic affairs
in the Michigan metropolis, there is all of consistency in according
special tribute to Octave Courville, who was for many years a repre
sentative merchant of Detroit and who was a citizen well worthy of
the high regard in which he was held in the community.
Octave Courville was born in France, on the 21st of July" 1833,
and was a child at the time of the family immigration to America. His
father, Joseph A. Courville, who was a tanner by vocation, established
a home at Napierville, province of Ontario, Canada, where he became a
prosperous business man and where he continued to reside until his

1174 HISTORY OF DETROIT
death, in 1849, his wife also passing ^the closing years of her life in
Canada. The subject of this memoir secured his early educational
discipline in the schools of the town just mentioned and in 1849, at
the age of sixteen years, shortly after the death of his father, he came
to Detroit. There he secured employment as clerk in a drygoods
establishment and continued thus engaged for a decade, at the expira
tion of which, in 1859, he made his first independent venture by form
ing a partnership with Louis Perrault, who was a personal friend and
also of stanch French lineage, and they engaged in the grocery business
on the river front, near the foot of Riopelle street. By energy, correct
dealings and careful management they built up a prosperous enterprise,
and much of their business was in the furnishing of supples to vessels
engaged in transportation service on the great lakes. After having
conducted a successful business for many years, the partnership was
dissolved by the retirement of Mr. Perrault, and about the year 1883
Mr. Courville purchased the old Stephen Mack property on Jefferson
avenue, where he opened a retail grocery and built up a large and
flourishing trade. In the meanwhile he maintained his residence in
a portion of the same building, — now a very valuable property. There
he continued to devote his attention to business affairs until he met
with an accident which resulted in his death, on the 9th of August,
1889, his. remains being cremated, in accordance with his own wishes.
Mr. Courville was a man of strong personality and well fortified
opinions, and was significantly loyal and public-spirited as a citizen,
the while his sterling integrity of character gained and retained to him
the implicit confidence and esteem of his fellow men. His political alle
giance was given to the Republican party, as he was independent in
thought and action and gave his support to men and measures meeting
the approval of his judgment. He was affiliated with the Masonic
fraternity and was identified with no religious organization, as he was
broad and tolerant in his opinions, though maintaining a deep respect
for spiritual verities. He left a spotless reputation and the record not
only of large and worthy accomplishment, but of kindly thoughts and
kindly deeds.
On the 15th of August, 1860, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Cour
ville to Miss Catherine Barlage, who has been a resident of Detroit from
the time of her birth, which there occurred on November 21, 1841, so
that she has now reached the span of three-score years and ten. Her
father, Anthony Barlage, of stanch German ancestry, established his
home in Detroit in the early days and was there engaged in the meat-
market business for many years, — a citizen of sterling worth and one
who commanded secure place in popular esteem. He and his wife con
tinued to reside in that city until his death, and of their children
one son and eight daughters are living. Detroit is endeared to Mrs.
Courville by the hallowed memories and associations of many years,
and there she has a wide circle of friends, to whom her attractive home,
at 1883 Jefferson avenue, is a grateful retreat. Mr. and Mrs. Cour
ville became the parents of nine children, concerning whom brief record
is made in the concluding paragraph of this sketch.
Louise is the wife of Frederick Blum, of Detroit, and they have
three children, Nelda, Bessie and Marceau; Elizabeth remains with
her widowed mother and is the efficient and popular principal of the
Monteith school; Ida is engaged in the drug business in Detroit and
likewise remains with the widowed mother ; Cora is the wife of William
J. Keenan, of Detroit; George W., who holds the position of paymaster
in the city treasurer's office, married Miss Charlotte Mann; Alice is
the wife of Frank S. Chalmers, chief auditor of the Michigan Central

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1175
Railroad, of Detroit, and they have one daughter, Catherine; Lillian
is the wife of William J. Hyne, of this city, and they have two chil
dren, Dorothy and Frederick; Jessie is the wife of Fred S. Dean, of De
troit; and Catherine is the wife of Dr. Theodore L. Chapman, a repre
sentative physician and surgeon of Duluth, Minnesota.
David E. Heineman. Prominent in civic and legal circles of Detroit,
justly admired for his keen intelligence, unquestioned honesty and fear
lessness of purpose, David E. Heineman is a representative member of
the Detroit Bar, and is most acceptably filling the office of Comptroller
of the City of Detroit.
The son of Emil S. and Fanny (Butzel) Heineman, early citizens of
Detroit in its pioneer days, David E. Heineman was born in this city,
on the 17th of October, 1865. His parents were native Bavarians, and
their respective families are old in name and honorably established in
their native land for many years. The city of Schesslitz, Bavaria, has
for centuries represented the ancestral home of the Heineman family,
and there they were land and mill owners up to the Seven Years War,
when their entire possessions were swept away. Thereafter the little
town of Burg Ellen was their home. The grandfather of the subject,
as a small boy, went to North Germany and located in Neuhaus, near
Hamburg, where in time he came to be regarded as the leading citizen
of the place. The family residence and the warehouses which he there
erected are yet standing. His eldest son became mayor of the city, and
of his younger sons, Emil S., the father of David E. Heineman, came
to America following the revolution of 1848, and in 1851 located in
Detroit, which city was his home until his death in 1896. He was a
successful business man, and ever held a prominent place in the esteem
of the leading citizenship of Detroit. The family of Mrs. Emil S. Heine-
man, came to America in the early fifties, locating in Peekskill, New
York. David E. Heineman was the youngest boy who attended the famous
old Philo Patterson school. He afterwards attended the public schools
and entered the high school, graduating in 1883 as president of his
class. He then spent a year in European travel and at the close of that
time, in the fall of 1883, entered the literary department of the university
of Michigan, completing a four years' course in three years and securing
his degree of Ph. B. in 1887.
Returning to Detroit, Mr. Heineman studied law in the offices of
Walker & Walker, after which he spent a year in the law department of
the University of Michigan. He was admitted to the bar on May 4,
1888, since which time he has been occupied in the practice of his
profession in Detroit. From the inauguration of his legal career he has
been prominent in civic affairs. From 1893 to 1896 he served as as
sistant city attorney, during which time he had charge of the court
work in connection with the office of the city attorney, and he also
revised and compiled the present city ordinances of Detroit. Governor
Pingree persuaded him to enter the race for the- state legislature, and
he was elected in 1889, leading the legislative ticket. While at Lansing
in his capacity as legislator, he projected the Belle Isle Aquarium, a
feature of the beautiful city of Detroit for which its people are pro
foundly grateful. He also introduced and consistently worked for
the passing of the present state tax bill. In 1903 he 'was elected to the
common council and served the citizens of Detroit with energy and
faithfulness. In 1907 he was elected to the office of president of that
body and has done excellent work in his capacity as member and presi
dent. His special attention was directed to matters of a fiscal nature,

1176 HISTORY OF DETROIT
and among other official acts of his for which he will be remembered
was his procuring of the acceptance of the Carnegie library gift of $750,-
000, which had been given up as lost to the city. He redeemd the
county debt at a rate of interest lower than then prevailed, and was
the author of the first sane Fourth of July ordinance known to the
city, as well as being the author of the present traffic ordinance. A
minor matter is his originating and designing the official flag of the city.
In 1903 the governor appointed him to membership on the State Board
of Library Commissioners and he has since been honored with two
reappointments. In addition to his many local activities of a civic nature, Mr. Heine-
man has been prominent in many outside municipal organizations. He
has been a director, vice president and twice president of the Michigan
League of Municipalities, and in 1909 he was chosen at Montreal as
president of the American League of Municipalities, the leading organi
zation of its kind in America whose membership is made up from the
more prominent city officials of the United States and Canada.
In July, 1910, Mr. Heineman was appointed controller of the city
of Detroit, which office he still retains. The position is a high one,
and one which has been dignified by men of prominent standing in the
financial and commercial world.
Mr. Heineman is a member of numerous representative organizations
and clubs of the city, among which may be mentioned the University
Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the Old Club at St. Clair Flats, the Detroit
Tennis Club, the Acanthus Club, the Fine Arts Society and the Scarabs.
He was at one time president of the Bohemian Club and in more recent
years became the founder of the Robert Hopkins Club. He is a Mason
of high rank, being a member in the Blue Lodge, of Zion No. 1; of
Monroe Chapter, Monroe Council, Michigan Sovereign Consistory and
Moslem Temple of the Mystic Shrine. His other fraternal affiliations
are with the Elks, the Odd Fellows, the Foresters and the Maccabees.
Since the foundation of the Detroit Society of the American Institute
of Archaeology Mr. Heineman has been a member and an officer. He is
also a member of the Palestine Exploration Fund and the 'Michigan
Historical Society, being deeply interested in their work and having
contributed on various occasions to the literature of the organizations.
He was long a member and an officer of the Unity Club, as well as of
the executive committee of the Detroit High School Alumni, and
chairman of the board of directors of the University of Michigan Alumni
Association of Detroit.
Mr. Heineman has long been a student of municipal economics, and
has delivered many addresses and published a large number of pamph
lets along the line of this subject. He is a Republican in his political
faith, and is a member of practically all the prominent political clubs
of that party in Detroit and Michigan. He is a director of the Detroit
Fire & Marine Insurance Company, the leading insurance company of
the state, and is a director of the Merz Capsule Company, as well as
president of the Heineman Realty Company. He is a director and a
life member of the State Anti-Tuberculosis Society, and at one time
was secretary of the D'Arcambel Home Association.
Of the Jewish race and religion, Mr. Heineman is unusually well
informed in matters of Jewish history and polity, and was the founder
of the first Young Men's Hebrew Association organized in Detroit.
Thus far the life of Mr. Heineman has been largely given to public
service, and in recognition of his excellent work along civic lines the
University of Michigan, at its seventy-fifth anniversary in June, 1912,
conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1177
Eugene Ludwig Mistersky. Not only as a successful member of the
Detroit bar is Eugene Mistersky prominent, but also as an active and
successful politician. From his boyhood days, that most fascinating
of all games interested him deeply, and he has played a prominent
part in the affairs of the Republican party in his home county. He is
a man of education and consequently takes a keen interest in various
phases of the city's life, not only politically but also socially and com
mercially, and his knowledge of economic and social conditions has
rendered him a valuable member of such organizations as the Business
Men's Club.
Eugene L. Mistersky is a native of Detroit, having been born here
in 1877, on the 26th of February. His parents were Ignatz and Hen
rietta (Uhl) Mistersky, both of whom were born in Germany, the
birthplace of the father being the old university city of Brumberg, and
that of his mother being Kuhlm. It was in the early fifties that Ignatz
Mistersky came to the United States, settling at once in Detroit. He
lived there until the day of his death, July 20, 1902, and in that city his
widow yet resides.
Eugene L. Mistersky had the superior advantages afforded by the
grammar and high schools of Detroit, and on completing his preparatory
work by graduating from the high school he entered the Detroit College
of Law. He completed his work in the college of law in 1899, being
graduated with the degree of LL. B., and in the same year was admitted
to the bar. Since this time, with the exception of the time which he
has given to politics and to other matters of public interest, he has
devoted himself to the building of what has become a good practice.
Mr. Mistersky has always been a loyal member of the Republican
party, and had no sooner cast his first vote than he began an active
fight in behalf of his party. He managed with signal success the cam
paign of Judge John W. Donovan, when the latter was the nominee
for the judgeship of the circuit court of Wayne county. In 1911 he
became the manager of the campaign of Philip Van Zile, who was the
candidate against Judge Donovan.
In fraternal affairs Mr. Mistersky takes a great interest and holds
a prominent place. He is a member of the. Ancient, Free and Accepted
Masons, affiliating with Friendship Lodge, and is also a member of
Monroe Chapter and of Monroe Council. He is a member of the Social
Order of the Moose, of the Concordia Society, of the Harmonie Society,
and is active in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association.
He is a member of various commercial organizations, such as the Detroit
Board of Commerce, the Business Men's Club and the German Sales
men's Society, and is also a member of the Detroit Yacht Club. ,
On the 4th of September, 1901, Mr. Mistersky married Miss Flor
ence Adel Holland, of Detroit, a daughter of Ferdinand, and Julia Hol
land, and they have one daughter, Florence Henrietta Mistersky.
Robert Gibbons. One of the oldest and best known representatives
of the journalistic profession in Michigan at the present time and one
whose name became widely known in connection with the publication
of the Michigan Farmer, of which he was editor for virtually a quarter
of a century, as well as one of the owners of this most excellent and
popular weekly, Robert Gibbons has made valuable contribution to the
development and civic advancement of the Wolverine state, and is one
of the sterling and honored citizens of Detroit, where he has maintained
his home for more than a half century and where he is now living
virtually retired, after long years of earnest and worthy endeavor. He
has been in the most significant sense the artificer of his own fortune
V< 1. Ill— 2 2

1178 HISTORY OF DETROIT
as he became dependent upon his own resources when a mere boy, and
as a man of broad intellectual ken and marked administrative abil
ity he has shown the consistency of the statement that the discipline
involved in continuous association with the "art preservative of all
arts" is equivalent to a liberal education. No man identified with
newspaper work in the Michigan metropolis has been better known, or
more highly esteemed, and none has stood exponent of greater civic
loyalty and progressiveness. Further than this, there stands to the
lasting honor of Mr. Gibbons the record of valiant and faithful service
as a soldier of the Union in the Civil war, and his status as a citizen and
business man of Detroit render most consonant the brief record here
incorporated concerning his career.
Robert Gibbons was born at Pottsdam, St. Lawrence county, New
York, on the 20th of April, 1839, and is a son of Benjamin and Mar
garet (McPhee) Gibbons, both of whom were born in Scotland, whence
the Gibbons family came to America in 1818 and the McPhee family
in 1811. Benjamin Gibbons was reared to adult age in his native land
and there received good educational advantages, besides which he
served a thorough apprenticeship to the silk- weaver's trade, in the city of
Paisley. As a young man, he accompanied his parents on their im
migration to America and with them settled in the state of New York.
He could not find in this country occupation at his trade and therefore
turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, besides which he did a
considerable amount of contract work in connection' with the construc
tion of the old Erie canal. In the meanwhile he married, and in the
late thirties removed with his father and other members of the family
to the province of Ontario, transportation being afforded by the char
tering of a small vessel, by which they proceeded to Goderieh, that
province, a port of entry on Lake Huron, in which vicinity the father
took up a tract of land, the same being virtually unimproved. This
was just after the close of the Canadian rebellion of 1837, and Benjamin
Gibbons enlisted in the regular Canadian army, in which he served
at various points on the border. In 1842 the dominion parliament
granted to all such soldiers tracts of land, and Benjamin Gibbons settled
with his family on land thus secured by him, near Goderieh, Huron
county, — the same being a part of what was known as the Canadian
Company's grant, and having been opened to settlement in 1843. Two
years later Benjamin Gibbons met with an accident, in which one of his
legs was broken, and he died from the effects of the injury, as London,
the only town in the locality from which proper medical attendance
could be secured, was sixty miles distant. He left his widow to provide
for their six fatherless children, of whom Robert, of this review, was
then five years of age. The widowed mother struggled bravely to
maintain her family and endured many hardships, including the loss
of her land. She lived to attain the age of over seventy years and
passed the closing days of her life in Detroit. Of the six children
three sons and two daughters reached years of maturity and of the
number only Robert is living. The parents were folk of sterling char
acter, honest, industrious and God-fearing and endowed with superior
mentality. Both were zealous members of the Presbyterian church, in
whose faith the children were carefully reared by the devoted and
self-abnegating mother.
As may well be understood from the foregoing statements, the early
educational advantages in the purely academic sense were exceedingly
meager, as he began early to depend upon his own resources and to
.assist in the support of his mother and other members of the family.
His entire attendance at school did not exceed four years in duration,

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1179
and when but twelve years of age he entered upon an apprenticeship
in a printing office, that of the Huron Signal, at Goderieh, a paper
which Was then published by Thomas McQueen and which is still is
sued under the same title. Thus Mr. Gibbons initiated his business
career in the dignified and autocratic position of "printer's devil," and
it is safe to say that he exercised to the full the prerogative of his of
fice. He learned the printer's trade with thoroughness and continued
in the employ of Mr. McQueen until 1857, when he came to Detroit,
which city has represented his home and been the stage of his activities
during the long intervening years, which he has marked with generous
accomplishment. Upon establishing his residence in Detroit, Mr. Gib
bons promptly united with the local printers' union, of which William
Graham was president at the time. He entered the employ of the firm
of Hosmer & Kaw, who conducted a job-printing office on State street,
and in the autumn of the same year he secured a position in the com
posing room of the Detroit Evening Tribune. He continued to be thus
engaged until he felt prompted .to respond to the call of higher duty, by
tendering his aid in defense of the Union, whose integrity was jeopar
dized by armed rebellion. With others of the employes of the Tribune
he enlisted in Company B, Twenty-fourth Michigan Volunteer Infantry,
on the 24th of July, 1862. The enlistment was made in a small wooden
building used as a plumbing shop, and the proprietor was one of those who
enlisted in the same company, of which Isaac W. Ingersoll was made
captain. The regiment went into camp at the old state fair grounds, and
there received instructions in military tactics, besides marching about
the city to encourage the enlistment of more recruits.
Mr. Gibbons continued in the Union service until the close of the
war, and received his honorable discharge in June, 1865, having been
mustered out with his command at Washington City. He lived up to
the full tension of the great conflict through which the integrity of the
nation was perpetuated, met with many hazardous experiences and
campaign hardships, and participated in a large number of important
battles, besides innumerable skirmishes and other minor engagements.
His regiment was assigned to the Army of the Potomac and with it he
took part in the battles of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness,
Spottsylvania and others, his brigade having opened the fight on the
field of Gettysburg. In the engagement at Spottsylvania, Mr. Gibbons
was wounded in the right arm and after passing a few days in the
hospital he was granted a furlough. He returned to Detroit, where he
remained about thirty days, within which he virtually recovered from
the effects of his wound, and he then went to Washington, D. C, where
he was placed in charge of a company of about one hundred men, in
the position of captain. The command saw much active service in
and about the national capital and was associated with other forces
in defending the city until the arrival of Sheridan's cavalry. Mr.
Gibbons then rejoined his regiment, which was in front of Petersburg
at the time, and he was with the same in the vigorous campaign from
that time forward. At the battle of Hatcher's Run the Fifth Army
Corps, of which his regiment was a part, took a position on the wrong
side of the river, having lost its way, and Mr. Gibbons, who was then
serving as sergeant, was sent out to scout around prior to making any
decisive movement. About four o'clock in the afternoon of a dark
November day, while thus scouting, he was captured by Confederate
soldiers, who "were in most a pitiable condition, with tattered clothing
and no food. Mr. Gibbons argued with his captors and told them that
in their condition it would be better for them to give up the struggle
and accompany him into the Union lines, as there was no chance for

1180 HISTORY OF DETROIT
them to escape capture within a short interval. About seven in the
evening they decided to follow his advice, and they accordingly went
back with him to the Union lines the next morning. They were at the
point of starvation, and before starting out he gave them the three days'
rations he had in his knapsack. Mr. Gibbons was then ordered to re
port to the commissary department of his brigade, and he served
in this connection about two months. In the meanwhile his regiment
had lost so many of its numbers that he and several other sergeants
were sent back to Detroit for the purpose of recruiting its ranks. They
succeeded in bringing the regiment up to about eleven hundred men,
and soon afterward President Lincoln fell a martyr to the assassin's
bullet. Mr. Gibbons' regiment went to Springfield, Illinois, as guard
of honor of the noble president, and at the close of the war Mr. Gib
bons returned to Detroit, being mustered out with the rank of first
sergeant. After having thus served faithfully and loyally in defense of a
righteous cause, Mr. Gibbons again entered the employ of the old
Detroit Tribune. In the following spring Chandler Ward and others
founded the Detroit Daily Post, and in the office of the new paper Mr.
Gibbons was night foreman for three years, at the expiration of
which, in May, 1869, he became associated with Robert F. Johnstone in
the purchase of the plant and business of the Michigan Farmer. They
continued the business successfully under the firm name of Johnstone
& Gibbons, until the death of Mr. Johnstone, when Benjamin J. Gib
bons, brother of the surviving partner, became a member of the firm.
He likewise had given gallant service in the Civil war, having been in
service under Admiral Porter in the gunboat fleet on the Mississippi
river, and having later been a member of the regular United States
cavalry, with which he served in New Mexico and Arizona after the
close of the war. He continued to be one of the interested principals
in the publication of the Michigan Farmer until his death, which
occurred in 1907, and he was one of the well known and highly es
teemed citizens of Detroit. In 1893, after having been editor of the
Michigan Farmer for virtually a quarter of a century, Robert Gibbons
sold the property to the Lawrence Publishing Company, which has
since continued the publication, which was brought to high standard and
gained remarkably wide circulation under the effective administration
of Mr. Gibbons, who has long been a recognized authority in matters
pertaining to farm life, as he has been a close student along both
scientific, and practical lines. He continued as editor of the Michigan
Farmer for ten years after the same was acquired by the Lawrence
Publishing Company, and thereafter was in charge of the agricultural
department of the Detroit Free Press for a period of about eighteen
months. He was general manager of the live stock department of the
Zenner Disinfectant Company until 1909, when, upon attaining the
age of seventy years, he retired from active business connections, secure
in the confidence and esteem of the community that has so long been his
home. In politics, Mr. Gibbons has been an ardent and effective advocate
of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands
sponsor, and his religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church, of
which Mrs. Gibbons likewise was a zealous member. He has ever re
tained a vital interest in his old comrades of the Civil war and was a
charter member of both Fairbanks and the Detroit posts -of the Grand
Army of the Republic, with the latter of which he is still affiliated. It
may be added that Mr. Gibbons was appointed by the governor of the
state the Chairman of the first Grade Crossing Commission.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1181
In the fall of 1866, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Gibbons to
Miss Helen J. Thornburn, who was born and reared in Detroit and
was a daughter of Andrew Thornburn, one of the early Scotchmen to
settle in Detroit. The great loss and bereavement in the life of Mr.
Gibbons was that which came when his loved and devoted wife was
summoned to eternal rest, in October 1, 1908, her gentle and gracious
attributes of character having endeared her to all who came within the
sphere of her influence. Her remains rest in beautiful Elmwood cem
etery. Mr. and Mrs. Gibbons became the parents of eight children, all
of whom survive the loved mother, their names being here entered in
respective order of birth : Robert T. ; Andrew W. ; Edward B. ; George
M. ; Charles D. ; John F. ; Helen and Lillian. The elder daughter is the
wife of Andrew T. Dempster, of Detroit, and the younger daughter,
Miss Lillian, has presided over the family home since the death of her
mother. The other members of the family also are residents of De
troit; Robert T., is a printer by trade; Andrew W. is deputy
United States collector of customs; Edward B., manager of The
Pathfinder; George M., also a printer ; Charles D., with the Gray Motor
Company; and John F., superintendent of the Motor Wagon Company.
Mr. Gibbons has been distinctively one of the world's workers, and
his course has been guided and governed by those high principles
which, as thus evidenced, ever beget objective confidence and respect.
He is a man of broad views, is generous and kindly, tolerant in judg
ment; and in Detroit, it may well be said that his circle of friends is
coincident with that of his acquaintances, while his name is known and
honored throughout the state by those who have read and profited from
the Michigan Farmer, in which his work and interests so long centered.
Adolph E. Schlesinger. A native son of Michigan and one who
gained precedence as a prominent manufacturer and representative
business man of its metropolis, Adolph E. Schlesinger won large and
worthy success through his own well directed endeavors, and his life.
and character were such as to give him secure place in the confidence
and high regard of his fellow men. In the manufacturing of various
lines of garments, he built up one of the leading industries of the kind
in Detroit, and he continued to be actively engaged in the supervision
of this large and prosperous enterprise until his death, which occurred
on the 17th of July, 1909. He was a citizen of marked, public spirit
and progressiveness and took a lively interest in all that tended to ad
vance the material and civic prosperity of his home city. A man of in
trinsic honor and steadfast principles, he left the heritage of a good
name, and there is all of consistency in according in this publication a
brief review of his career and a tribute to his memory as one of the
representative business men of Detroit.
Mr. Schlesinger was born in the city of Ypsilanti, Michigan, on the
25th of September, 1855, and was a son of Emmanuel and Rosalia
Schlesinger, who removed to Detroit when the subject of this memoir
was but two years of age. William Schlesinger, the grandfather of
him to whom this sketch is dedicated, was one of the pioneer mer
chants of Detroit, where he conducted a small general store for many
years on Fort street, East, near the corner of St. Antoine and Hastings
streets. He was nearly one hundred years of age at the time of his
death. The parents of Mr. Schlesinger continued to maintain their
home in Detroit' until their death and the father was for many years
actively identified with business interests in this city.
Adolph E. Schlesinger gained his early education in the public
schools of Detroit and as a youth he secured employment in the mer-

1182 HISTORY OF DETROIT
cantile establishment of the late C. R. Mabley, who was a founder of the
first department store in this city. A few years later Mr. Schlesinger
went to Cincinnati, where he associated himself with the firm of Mabley
& Carew, conducting a large department store in that city. He rose to
a most responsible executive position with this concern and continued to
be identified with the same about ten years, at the expiration of which
he returned to Detroit, where for a few years he was associated with
his two brothers in conducting the retail clothing store known as "The
Famous" on Monroe avenue.
About the year 1895 Mr. Schlesinger engaged in the manufacturing
of white duck clothing, with headquarters at 125-7 Jefferson avenue,
and with this line of enterprise he continued to be identified until his
death. Through careful and progressive policies, reinforced by most
scrupulous fairness in dealing and by the high grade of products put
forth, he built up an industry that is one of wide scope and importance.
He gradually amplified the enterprise and- augmented the facilities of
his establishment, to meet the ever increasing demands placed thereon
by an appreciative trade, and the business is still conducted by his
widow, who has full supervision of the same, under the original firm
name of A. Schlesinger & Company. The trade of the concern is widely
disseminated and in connection with its operations employment is given
to a large force of men and women. All kinds of duck and drill eoats,
jackets, vests, etc., are manufactured, as well as butcher frocks, au
tomobile coats, men's sailor blouses and pants, girls* and ladies' blouses,
and serge and flannel coats and jackets, for waiters, barkeepers, etc.
In the midst of the exactions of his large and prosperous business
Mr. Schlesinger was never neglectful of civic responsibilities and
though he had no desire to enter the arena of practical politics he was
a stanch supporter of the cause of the Republican party and was ever
ready to lend his cooperation in the furtherance of measures and enter
prises advanced for the general good of his home city. He was an active
member of the Harmonie Society, the Masonic fraternity, and the Royal
Arcanum, and at the time of the illness which terminated in his death
he had just been elected a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce.
He was a prominent and influential member of the Temple Beth El,
from which his funeral services were held, interment being made in
Woodmere cemetery.
On the 19th of February, 1884, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Schlesinger to Miss Feannie Burton, who was born and reared in Detroit,
which city has ever been her home. She is~a daughter of Nathan and
Rebecca (Nymark) Burton, who here established their residence more
than half a century ago, and the venerable mother now resides with
Mrs. Schlesinger in the latter 's beautiful home, No. 470 Brush street.
The father was for many years a successful business man in Detroit
and was a citizen who ever commended unqualified esteem in the city
that was so long his home. Mr. and Mrs. Schlesinger had no children.
Mrs. Sehelsinger assumed heavy responsibilities at the time of her
husband's death and in the management of the extensive industrial
enterprise which he founded she has shown marked ability and dis
crimination, being known as a business woman of special executive
ability and progressive ideas. She is a prominent* factor in Jewish
circles in her native city and also in its general social activities. She is
a zealous member of Temple Beth El, is treasurer of the Jewish Women's
Club, is a director of the United Jewish Charities, is a member of the
Jewish Widows' & Orphans' Association, and is identified with other
representative charitable, benevolent and social organizations, in each
of which her influence and active interest have not lacked appreciation.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1183
Henry Adelbert Davis. The war of 1861-65 called to the field of
war in the south the flower of Michigan's manhood. While attention
has often been called to the catastrophes wrought by the war in the
southland, it is true that the northern states were depleted of the best
of the vital forces of manhood which were needed to propel the activities
of commerce and industry. Michigan's response to the appeal for
volunteers was prompt, and the very first call brought out hundreds of
vigorous young men who went to war without any of the urgings and
influences that impelled many later recruits. At Lincoln's call for
seventy-five thousand men, issued April 17th, 1861, the regiment of
three-month men known as the First Michigan Three Month Volun
teers quickly enrolled, containing two companies formed in Detroit.
Company B of this regiment was the ' ' Jackson Grays ' ' which originated
as an independent company formed in Jackson and vicinity. Among
the members of this company, one of the survivors and a prominent
citizen of Detroit is Henry A. Davis, No. 165 Rosedale court. He saw
a long and arduous service in the war for more than three years, was
in the thickest of the fighting in Virginia, having been in forty-two
battles, was several times wounded, and made a record as a faithful
soldier which deserves lasting memory from the state and nation.
Henry Adelbert Davis was born at Leona, Jackson county, Michi
gan, October 2, 1844, youngest of seventeen children, so that he was
not seventeen years when he enlisted for the war. He attended school
there during his youth, and then on the 15th of April, 1861, joined the
Jackson Grays. They went to Detroit, where they were mustered in on
May 1st, and. lettered as Company B of the First Michigan Three
Months' Regiment. Thence he went with the regiment to Washington,
and on the night of. May 23rd the regiment crossed Long Bridge in the
march on Alexandria. In the streets of that town his company cap
tured Captain Ball's Confederate cavalry. Mr. Davis and other mem
bers of the company were placed on guard over the Marshall house.
His regimental flag was the first to fly over Alexandria. He partici
pated in the first great and disastrous battle of Bull Run, and on July
21st received his first wound, in the left side, a flesh wound that did
not keep him from the firing line. After the battle he was separated
from his regiment and for two days was inside the rebel lines. In
the meantime the report went home that he was among the slain. His
regiment came back to Detroit on August 5th, and was there mustered
out. On September 15th following, Mr. Davis reenlisted and became a
member of the First Michigan Infantry in the three years' service, part
of the time being in Company C and part of the time in Company G.
As a part of the Army of the Potomac, which bore the brunt of the
rebellion, he participated with his regiment altogether in forty-two
battles, some of them the greatest conflicts of arms known in history. He
fought at First Bull Run, the seven days battle in front of Richmond,
the Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, the Wilderness, Gettys
burg, the siege of Petersburg, and in many lesser engagements. At
Gaines' Mill on June 27, 1862, he was wounded in the left leg and received
a wound in the right side at Shady Grove Church. After three years
and three months in the army he was mustered out in front of the Yel
low Tavern at Petersburg, September 15, 1864.
Mr. Davis has taken a very prominent part in Grand Army affairs
both in Detroit and elsewhere, and has held the chief official honors of
both local and state organizations. In 1886, Governor Pennoyer, of
Oregon, commissioned him lieutenant colonel and assistant adjutant
general of the militaia of that state.. Mr. Davis affiliates with the

1184 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Masonic order, and his membership is with Denver Lodge No. 5, A. F.
& A. M., and Denver Chapter No. 2, R. A. M., of Colorado. His travels
have taken him to all parts of the world so that his associations have
been varied and interesting. In politics he has never taken an active
part, though he is a good Republican.
Mr. Davis represents an old family of Jackson county and through
out its residence in America the family record has been noteworthy.
His grandfather was Peter Davis, who was born in Wales, and as a boy
was brought to this country during the closing years of the colonial
period of history. The settlement where the family lived was exposed
to the attacks of hostile Indians and in one of these all the members
of the family except Peter and his sister were slain by the savages and
he himself was carried away into captivity. He spent fifteen years
among the tribes, and finally was released through the intercession of
a priest at Montreal and through a money payment by the priest.
After the Revolutionary war, as a reward for his sacrifices and ser
vices, he was granted by the government twelve thousand acres of land.
This land was in western New York, and for a pair of leather breeches
he traded his right to an entire section on the site now occupied by the
city of Ithaca.
James Eager Davis, son of this frontier veteran and father of Henry
A., was born in New York and was old enough to participate in the
War of 1812. A number of years afterward he joined the westward
movement and sought a home in Michigan. He brought his family in
the spring of 1844, with wagon and ox team, and settled in Jackson
county in time to do his share of pioneer work in the development of
that region. His first settlement was along the old government road
between Detroit and Chicago, and on this famous thoroughfare Henry
A. Davis was born in the fall following the arrival of the family.
Few American families have furnished more members to the mili
tary service of the country than this one. Besides the services already
described, James H., a brother of Henry and now deceased, was a soldier
in both the Mexican and the Civil wars. George W., another brother,
lost his life at James Island, South Carolina, June 16, 1862, during the
War of the Rebellion. Thus in all the great wars of the nation the
Davis family has been represented.
Henry A. Davis was married to Frances M. L. Olney at Bay City,
Michigan, January 21st, 1871. Two children, a boy and a girl were born
of this marriage. Mrs. Davis died in Denver, Colorado, in 1901, and Mr.
Davis was married at Jackson, Michigan, June 6, 1903, to Mrs. Georgie
Robinson. William C. Claxton. There was naught of indecision, apathy or
indifference in the career of this honored citizen, for his character was
the positive expression of a strong and steadfast nature which found
exemplification in productive industry and impregnable integrity of
character. He first came to Detroit when a young man, more than sixty
years ago, and here he made his home during the greater portion of the
intervening period, save for a short time passed in Missouri and the in
terval given to loyal and gallant service as a soldier of the Union in the
Civil war. He was long numbered among the leading contractors and
builders in Detroit and here he lived and labored with all of ability and
earnestness until physical infirmities brought a .cessation of effort. Here
he attained to the venerable age of eighty-two years, and he was sum
moned to the life eternal at his home, 1075 Fourth avenue, on the 21st
of May, 1911, secure, in the high regard of all who knew him or were
conversant with his long and useful career. He was a man of fine in-

WILLIAM C. CLAXTON

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1185
tellectual and business powers, and as loyal in the "piping times of
peace" as he was in that climacteric period when he did yeoman service
on the field of battle in the great strife for the perpetuation of the in
tegrity of the nation, and he contributed his quota to the civic and mat
erial advancement and prosperity of the city which so long represented
his home and the center of his varied interests.
William C. Claxton was born in the village of Bethlehem, England,
on Christmas day of the year 1828, and was a son of Francis and Nancy
Claxton, both representatives of staunch old English stock. When he
was four years of age his parents immigrated to America and established
their home in the province of Ontario, Canada, where they passed the
residue of- their lives and where he was reared to adult age, in the mean
while being afforded the advantages of excellent schools of the locality
and period. As a youth he there entered upon an apprenticeship to
the trade of brickmason, at which he became a skilled artisan. In 1845,
at the age of seventeen years, Mr. Claxton came to Detroit, where he en
gaged in the work of his trade as a journeyman and where he gave
evidence of his ambition by continuing his educational work in a night
school, through the medium of which and later self -discipline of the most
effective order he gained a liberal education. He finally engaged in
contract work at his trade and was identified with the erection of many
prominent buildings in Detroit in the early days, as was he also in later
years of broadened activities as a contractor and builder. In 1859 Mr.
Claxton removed to Missouri, where he was engaged in the manufactur
ing of fruit baskets until his intrinsic loyalty was quickened to respon
sive protest and decisive action by the outbreak of the Civil war. He
promptly tendered his aid in defense of the Union by enlisting as a pri
vate in. the Twenty-fifth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, from which he
was later transferred to the First Missouri Regiment of Engineers. He
participated in many engagements, principally in connection with the
operations in the Trans-Mississippi department, and lived up to the
full tension of the great fratricidal conflict, the while his gallant and
meritorious services brought him promotion to the office of lieutenant,
of which he continued the incumbent until victory had crowned the Union
arms. He duly received his honorable discharge and his continued in
terest in the affairs of his old comrades in arms was later indicated by
his affiliation,' for more than a quarter of a century before his death, with
the Grand Army of the Republic. After his return to Detroit he be
came one. of the early members of Fairbanks Post, Grand Army of the
Republic, and he was one of its most valued and honored adherents until
the close of his life. He had the distinction of serving as commander
of this post in 1895, and he was among the first to urge the erection of
the Grand Army building in Detroit. He devoted himself earnestly to
the promotion of this enterprise and was actively identified with the
erection of the fine building, in the furtherance of the erection of which
various other members of the leading Civil-war organizations of the
city likewise gave zealous and liberal co-operation. Mr. Claxton also
held membership in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United
States and was active in its affairs.
Within a short time after the close of the war Mr. Claxton returned
to Detroit, where he soon established himself in strong vantage place
as one of the representative contractors and builders of the state. He
erected many large buildings in Detroit and other cities and upon his
entire business career there rests no blemish, for his fidelity and ability
were never questioned and his work was ever a work of honor, whether
great or small. He continued actively engaged in business until about
1890, when he retired from active labors, and he passed the residue of

1186 HISTORY OF DETROIT
his life in peace and contentment at his attractive home, bearing with
fortitude his physical infirmities, which included total blindness during
the last four years of his life. He was a man of most genial and gra
cious personality, with strong mentality and contemplative spirit, and
he was an appreciative reader of the best in literature until blindness
made such indulgence impossible. He was specially earnest in his study
of religious matters and had a deep reverence for the spiritual verities.
Though at all times tolerant of the views of others, he was liberal in his
religious convictions and was a regular attendant and generous supporter
of the Church of Our Father, the leading Universalist organization of
the city. In 1903 Mr. Claxton erected, at the corner of Ferris street
and Fourth avenue, the fine modern residence in which his widow still
maintains her home, and here were continued until his demise the ideal
domestic associations that had proved his greatest comfort and solace
during the long years of a cheerful and mutually sympathetic married
life. Though he was an octogenarian at the time of his death, Mr. Clax
ton retained his mental powers practically unimpaired to the last, and
continued to manifest a lively interest in current topics and public af
fairs. Though he never manifested any ambition for public office, he
was liberal and progressive in his civic attitude, was ever ready to lend
his co-operation in support of those agencies that tended to further the
social and material prosperity of his home city, and his political alle
giance was given to the Republican party. Upon the celebration of the
eightieth birthday anniversary of Mr. Claxton, on Christmas day, 1908,
there were present at his home to do him honor twenty of his children,
grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The funeral services of this
honored pioneer citizen were held from the family home, in charge of
Rev. Lee S. MeCollister, pastor of the Church of Our Father, and inter
ment was made in Woodmere cemetery. The death of Mr. Claxton was
a source of sincere bereavement to his wide circle of friends, and the
military organizations with which he was identified passed appropriate
resolutions of regret and sorrow.
By his first wife, whom he wedded when a young man, he is survived
by five children, — Frank W., Frederick L., William B., Walter K. and
Luman E. In the city of Buffalo, New York, on the 21st of April, 1881,
was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Claxton to Mrs. Mary (Robson)
Brooks, widow of Lester Brooks, who was a resident of Massachusetts
at the time of his death and who is survived by one son, now a resident
of Detroit. No children were born of the second marriage. Mrs. Clax
ton was born in Yorkshire, England, as were also her parents, Robert
and Sarah Robson, who came to the United States when she was a girl,
her tenth birthday anniversary having been celebrated on shipboard
while the family were thus en route.

Joseph Lowthian Hudson. A place among Detroit's foremost men
has long since been universally accorded the late Joseph Lowthian Hud
son, who during his long and intensely active career accomplished so
much and exerted so beneficial an influence along the lines of the civic,
commercial and benevolent development of the city.
Mr. Hudson was born at Neweastle-on-Tyne, county of Northumber
land, England, on the 17th of October 1846, and died at Worthing,
England, a watering place on the English channel, on the 5th of July,
1912, his death having resulted from pneumonia within little more than
a fortnight after he had gone abroad for the purpose of recuperating
his physical energies. He was a son of Richard and Elizabeth (Low
thian) Hudson, both natives of England. Richard, the father, was for

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1187
many years engaged in the wholesale tea, coffee and spice business in
Newcastle, England, but encountering business reverses he came to Am
erica in 1853, his family joining him two years later. He located at
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, whence the family removed to Grand Rapids,
Michigan, thence to Ionia, that state, and still later to Pontiac, Michi
gan. At Pontiac he was in the employ of the Detroit & Milwaukee Rail
road Company until the late Christopher R. Mabley then a clothing
merchant of that city, bought out a rival store and placed Mr. Hudson
in charge of the establishment. Joseph L., the son, at that time was
and had been for some time employed as a clerk in Mr. Mabley 's ori
ginal Pontiac store. Later Mr. Mabley bought out a store at Ionia, Michi
gan, and placed the senior Mr. Hudson in charge of that business. He
continued to reside at the latter place until his death, which occurred
in February, 1873, his wife's death having occurred in April, 1863, at
Pontiac, just previous to the removal of the family from that place to
Ionia. Of the children of Richard and Elizabeth Hudson, seven at
tained to years of maturity, all of whom are still living with the excep
tion of him to whom this memoir is dedicated. The eldest son, Profes
sor Richard Hudson, is one of the leading members of the faculty of the
University of Michigan; James B. Hudson is vice president of the J. L.
Hudson Company of Cleveland, Ohio; William Hudson is vice presi
dent of the J. L. Hudson Company of Buffalo, New York; and the sur
viving daughters are Mrs. Robert B. Tannahill, Mrs. Joseph T. Webber
and Mrs. William Clay, of Detroit.
Joseph L. Hudson acquired his educational training in the schools
of Newcastle, England, Hamilton, Ontario, and Grand Rapids, Michi
gan. His first employment outside of the home was as clerk in a grocery
store in Hamilton, and his next was on a fruit farm near Grand Rapids.
After the family removed to Pontiac he entered the employ of the late
C. R. Mabley as clerk in his clothing store, where he continued for
nearly five years. Then going to Ionia, he assisted his father in the
management of the Mabley store at that place, which they purchased
later. This business alliance continued with success until the death of
the senior member of the firm, which was styled R. Hudson & Son. At
the time of the death of the elder partner the Ionia business was ap
praised at a valuation of $40,000, half of which belonged to Mr. J. L.
Hudson, who continued the enterprise under the old firm name. Dur
ing the financial panic of 1873 Mr. Hudson, though careful and conserva
tive, was overtaken by disaster and found himself unable to meet the
demands placed upon him, and his business became insolvent in 1878,
with liabilities of about $68,000 and with assets greatly depreciated. At
this juncture was significantly shown the inpregnable honesty and loy
alty of Mr. Hudson. He had so gained the confidence of his creditors
that they extended him aid in continuing his business, which enabled
him to survive the panic and eventually make his business a permanent
success. Though no legal obligation rested upon him to pay any amounts
over the stipulated sixty cents on the dollar, yet he in 1879, a year after
he removed to Detroit, paid all his local creditors the extra forth per
cent, together with interest. In Attgust, 1888, he paid in full his east
ern creditors, and stood square with the world to his own satisfaction,
he having expended at least $25,000 in carrying out his rigid ideas of
honesty and square dealing. So rare, if not unprecedented, was such
an exhibition of scrupulous honesty and integrity under the circum
stances that Mr. Hudson's course caused absolute amazement in trade
circles. He never, however, claimed any credit for his action, but
simply maintained that he took the right course, as he did later in many
other instances, where he wrought good works and "blushed to find
them fame." >

1188 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Mr. Hudson was the founder of not only the great business enter
prise which perpetuates his name in Detroit, but also of important mer
cantile establishments, which likewise bear his name, in the cities of
Cleveland, Toledo and Buffalo, but to his friends and admirers it has
always been a source of especial gratification that his most brilliant and
important achievements in business were in Detroit, his home city, and
one to which he was ever loyal in the extreme at all times. In 1877 he
came to Detroit to assume the management of the large clothing busi
ness of his old employer, Mr. C. R. Mabley, with whom he continued
until December, 1880, when the business relations of these two gentle
men were severed after a very successful period of three years of mutual
profit. The rupture of the partnership was followed by a memorable
struggle between the younger and the older merchant. Mr. Hudson
opened, on April 2, 1881, a clothing, store in the old Detroit Opera
House building. Six years later, in April, 1887, he removed to the
Henkel building, numbers 141-145 Woodward avenue, where he re
mained until September, 1891, when he moved into the magnificent build
ing he had erected on the site of the old Presbyterian church and ad
jacent property, on the northwest corner of Gratiot and Farmer streets,
which property he had bought for that purpose. To this building a
large addition was made in 1907, carrying it farther to the north, and
in 1911 another handsome addition was made, giving a Woodward ave
nue frontage. Originally a clothing store, the establishment became
upon removal to the present location a general department store that
compares more than favorably with the leading concerns of the kind in
the largest metropolitan centers of the country, and does an annual
business of several million dollars. Several years ago the business was
incorporated as the J. "L. Hudson Company, with Mr. J. L. Hudson as
president/ Mr. Hudson's place in the company is now taken by his
nephew, Mr. R. H. Webber, who was associated with his uncle for many
years and was prior to Mr. Hudson's death vice-president of the com
pany. The subjoined editorial from the Detroit Free Press shows the esteem
in which Mr. Hudson was held by the people of Detroit: "The death of
Joseph L. Hudson is a civic disaster. He was unquestionably Detroit's
most genuinely public-spirited citizen, her sanest philanthropist. If it
may be said of any man who has lived in this city it may be said of him
that his place can not be filled. There was nothing which Mr. Hudson
believed to be for the substantial betterment of his city, his state or his
country in which he failed to interest himself actively, and this state
ment extends to the religious, philanthropic and business worlds. He
was never deaf to any call for assistance for a worthy cause. He gave
his time and his money liberally and ungrudgingly. He never feared to
stand for principle; he never failed to champion a cause because it
chanced to be unpopular, if he believed it to be a righteous cause. Many
such a cause gained dignity and standing through the mere fact that he
was behind it. He was, of course, criticized at times by unthinking
opponents and by those ruled by the passion of the moment, but per
sons who came into close touch with him and knew him respected him
and admired him for his whole-souled manliness and courage, even
when they most disagreed with him.
"A man of strong convictions and aggressive nature, Mr. Hudson
was absolutely devoid of bigotry. He had the widest charity for the
faults of others and the widest tolerance for honest beliefs which con
flicted with his own. His charitableness did not stop with the giving
of money, time and counsel; it extended to unfailing consideration for
the feelings and rights of others. He was invariably courteous and con-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1189
siderate, a man who disliked useless and pointless strife as thoroughly
as he believed in battle for principle or for a worthy object. His ability
to maintain an impartial attitude made him almost invaluable as a
settler of disputes and as a healer of factional bitternesses. His demo
cracy was of the sensible, unassuming sort which frowned upon any dis
tinction between persons because of differences in social position or fin
ancial condition. There was at no time need to announce that he was in
the strict sense of the term a gentleman; one felt the fact almost in
stinctively upon entering his presence.
"If any man in this city ever deserved business success Mr. Hudson
deserved it. He had what sometimes seemed to be an almost limitless
capacity for work. His probity was beyond question. He was known
all over the country for his high ideals of business honor and the strict
ness with which he lived up to them. It is a matter of record that three
times he voluntarily assumed large indebtednesses which he was under
no legal obligation to assume and which many persons might have
avoided without feeling that they had slighted moral obligations. The
natural result was, of course, that Mr. Hudson had hosts of friends to
aid him on one or two occasions when he found himself in financial
straits. From this, however, it may not be gathered that his honesty
was ever of the calculating sort, for these transactions, so much to his
credit, became matters of common knowledge only through accidents for
which he was in no way responsible. How much Mr. Hudson and others
with similar business ideals have done to raise ethical standards in the
business world of Detroit can not be estimated.
"Mr. Hudson was a man any municipality might be proud to ac
knowledge before the world as its leading citizen and as the person most
thoroughly representative of its best social, business and political ideals.
The sorrow of Detroit over his death will be deep and lasting."
In all lines of public enterprise Mr. Hudson gave his influence and
co-operation with the utmost liberality. He served as president of the
Detroit Board of Commerce and did much to foster its high civic ideals.
He was president of Harper Hospital at the time of his death and also
of the Associated Charities of Detroit. He likewise held the presidency
of the Provident Loan Society ; was vice-president of the Dime Savings
Bank; a trustee of the Central Methodist Episcopal church; a member
of the advisory board of the Detroit Young Men's Christian Associa
tion and also of the Young Women's Christian Association; and chair
man of the board of trustees of McGregor Institute.
Mr. Hudson was a beliver in the basic principles of the Democratic
party, but in local affairs he gave his support to the men and measure
meeting the approval of his judgment, irrespective of party and affilia
tions. He was an uncompromising foe of the liquor traffic, but in this
direction, as in other relations of life, his abiding human sympathy
ever made him tolerant of the failings of others. He was most liberal
in his contributions to charitable and benevolent institutions and objects,
and his private benefactions were innumerable, with ever a touch of
personal interest and a desire to aid in the most consistent way. That
he was essentially humanity's friend has been proved on so many occa
sions and in such definite ways that further affirmation of the fact is
not demanded. Of him it may well be said that he "remembered those
who were forgotten."
Mr. Hudson was never unmindful of his civic duties, and in the midst
of the manifold exactions of his great business interest's he consented to
serve in such unsalaried municipal offices as member of the water com
mission and the electric lighting commission. He never married, but his
home life was ideal through its close association with the members of

1190 HISTORY OF DETROIT

r

his immediate family who were of his household. In conclusion of this
memoir it may not be amiss to state that the various business, social
and other organizations with which Mr. Hudson was identified passed
resolutions of loss and bereavement, such evidences of appreciation hav
ing been given by the employes of the J. L. Hudson Company, by the
Dime Savings Bank, by the Detroit Real Estate Board by the Detroit
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, by the Detroit Board
of Commerce, by the official board of the Central Methodist Episcopal
church, by the board of directors of the Detroit Museum of Art, by the
trustees of Harper Hospital, and by the trustees of both the Young
Men's Christian Association and the Young Women's Christian Asso
ciation, as well as by many other organizations which had received per
sonal interest and liberal support from him. The mortal remains of
this honored citizen were brought back to Detroit for interment in
Woodlawn cemetery, where they were laid to rest on the 19th of July,
1912. The funeral, at the Central Methodist Episcopal church, called
forth a vast assembly of all sorts and conditions of citizens, who came
to pay a last tribute to a friend and to a man whose noble personality
will cause his name to be held in enduring honor in the city that was
so long his home and the center of his interests. Of Joseph L. Hud
son one who knew him well gave the following estimate: "He would
go further out of his way to show kindness to weak or needy persons
than any man I have ever known. Detroit has lost one of her chief
citizens." Harry L. Schellenberg. Among the well known and successful
members of the Detroit bar who have by continued hard work and
persistency, backed by native talent and developed ability, won a recog
nized position, is Harry L. Schellenberg, who maintains offices in Suite
No. 69 of the Home Bank Building.
Mr. Schellenberg was born on the parental farm in the county of
Perth, Ontario, Canada, on October 30, 1868, and is the son of Nicholas
and Catherine (Vietor) Schellenberg. Nicholas Schellenberg was a
native of Germany, the son of Jacob and Catherine (Gnau) Schellen
berg, the former having been a soldier under Napoleon, and he had
three horses shot from under him in battle, he himself escaping without
injury in each instance. The old gentleman brought the family to the
United States when his son Nicholas was a boy in his sixth year. Land
ing at New York city, the family was there advised to seek a home near
the German settlement known as Berlin in Ontario, and it was thus
they settled in Canada instead of the United States. Jacob, the pioneer,
secured land in the county of Perth, cleared and improved a farm, and
there lived until his death, which occurred when he had reached the
patriarchal age of ninety-one years. Catherine, the mother of the sub
ject, was born in Hessen, Germany, and was the daughter of John Vietor.
Her family came to the United States when she was a young lady of
sixteen years, and, like the Schellenbergs, after reaching New York they
sought the German settlement in Ontario, locating in Perth county,
where John Vietor passed the remainder of his life, dying at the ad
vanced age of ninety-three years. Nicholas Schellenberg and three of
his brothers became pioneer settlers of Fullarton township, Perth county,
Ontario, going there and engaging in farming when that section was
yet a wilderness, and before the Grand Trunk Railroad was constructed.
There he continued to live, following farming as his vocation until his
death in 1905. His widow still lives on the old farmstead, and is now
in her eighty-sixth year of life, enjoying a fair measure of health and
the full control of all her faculties.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1191
Harry L. Schellenberg was reared to farm life and for a time at
tended such schools as the community afforded. Later he was a student
in a German school for some two or three years, and with that schooling
as a foundation, he has developed himself especially well in an educa
tional way. He read law in the office of Frank T. Lodge in Detroit,
attending night school while pursuing his law studies, and was admitted
to the bar on April 17, 1890. He practiced his profession for two years,
then in 1893 was elected justice of the peace, which office he held for a
period of four years, thereafter returning to the general practice of
law, and since continuing with excellent success.
Mr. Schellenberg married Miss Plum Bateson, who was born in To
ronto, Ontario, and who is the daughter of Samuel R. Bateson. She
came to Detroit with her parents when an infant of one month. One
son has been born to Mr. and M]rs. Schellenberg, Earl Bateson Vietor,
born January 16, 1897.
Ida Loose Zacharias Corbett. Without having attributed to herself
any of the prerogatives of the so-called "new woman," Ida L. Zacharias
Corbett has shown most emphatically her capacity along initiative and
constructive lines and now stands at the head of an industrial enterprise
of broad scope and importance. She is president of the corporation con
ducting business under the title of Zacharias and Mason Company and
figures as the founder of the enterprise, the functions of which are the
manufacturing of women's and misses' dresses and other apparel. The
business is entirely of wholesale order and its products have at all times
constituted it's most effective advertising as well as its best commercial
asset. The concern has been built up from a modest inception to one of
distinctive magnitude, and the result is due to the well directed efforts
and sound business judgment of Ida L. Zacharias Corbett and her sis
ter, Mrs. Lucy A. Mason, who have thus been associated since 1889, when
they began operations on a very small scale in a private residence on
Henry street. They carried on the business here for a short time only, .
soon removing to larger quarters on Grand River avenue. In 1894,
owing to the expansion of the business, adequate headquarters were taken
in a new brick building at the corner of Grand River avenue and Fifth
street, where the two top floors were fitted up for the use of the firm.
At this time a number of electric sewing machines were installed, and
so rapidly did the business increase that in 1896 it was found necessary
to secure larger quarters, with the result that the firm moved their estab
lishment to the Scripps building, on Grand River avenue, where they
occupied three entire floors, utilizing, in fact, all of the space they could
secure in the building. More machines were installed and the force of
operatives was increased. Continuous growth attended the enterprise
under the able management of the ambitious sisters, and on the 31st
of January, 1900, they moved into their own substantial and modern
building, at 11-13 Pine street. Here they purchased the ground and
erected a brick and stone building two stories in height, with a base
ment, and containing twenty-five thousand square feet of floor space.
The entire building is utilized by the company and there are now in
commission in the establishment from two to three hundred sewing
machines, operated by electricity, with all other facilities and acces
sories of the best modern type. Employment is given to a corps of
about two hundred and fifty operatives, assigned to the various depart
ments, and the output of the establishment now reaches a large mag
nitude each year. The trade extends throughout the middle and the
western states to the Pacific coast, this territory being covered regu
larly by representatives of the firm. The enterprise has proved a valu-

1192 HISTORY OF DETROIT
able contribution to the commercial prestige of Detroit, and it stands
as a monument to the energy, progressiveness and keen business sagacity
of the two sisters who have brought it into being and developed it, and
who are held in unequivocal esteem in the local business community, as
well as in social circles. In 1901 the business was incorporated under
the laws of the state, with a capital stock of $100,000, and the annual
business now reaches an aggregate of fully $200,000. Ida L. Zacharias
is president of the company and her sister, Mrs. Lucy A. Mason, is vice-
president. The latter 's son-in-law, John M. Biles, is secretary of the
corporation and gives to the same his entire time and attention. He is
a keen and energetic business man and is a fine adjunct to the enter
prise. These three officers also constitute • the board of directors, and
Ida L. Zacharias Corbett is also president of the Grand Rapids Uphol
stering Company, which conducts a prosperous business in the city of
Grand Rapids, Michigan. She has been a resident of Detroit for nearly
a quarter of a century and has shown a loyal interest in all that has
tended to advance the material and civic prosperity of the city, in which
she and her sister have gained such marked success and business preced
ence. Ida L. Zacharias Corbett is a member of the First Presbyterian
church, and Mrs. Mason and Mr. Biles are members of the Central Meth
odist Episcopal church, while all three are identified with the Young
Women's and Young Men's Christian Associations. Each of the sisters
have beautiful homes on Avery avenue and they also own other real
estate aside from their residence and business properties.
Both Ida L. Zacharias Corbett and her sister were born in Monroe
county, Michigan, and are representatives of one of the honored pioneer
families of that section of the state, where their paternal grandfather
secured large tracts of government land within a short time after the
admission of Michigan to the Union. They are daughters of Peter K. and
Barbara (King) Zacharias, both of whom continued to reside in Monroe
county until their deaths, the father having given the major part of
his life to agricultural pursuits. Of the seven sons and four daughters
born to the parents, two daughters and one son survive. Besides Ida L.
Zacharias Corbett and Mrs. Mason is their brother, Peter H. Zacharias,
who has now retired from active business and resides in Detroit. Mrs.
Mason is the widow of Allen Mason, who died' nearly a quarter of a cen
tury ago, and their only child, Jennie E., is now the wife of John M.
Biles, secretary of the corporation of Zacharias & Mason. Mr. and Mrs.
Biles have three children, — Allen M., Grace L. and Helen E. In October,
1910, Ida L. Zacharias was married to the late William P. Corbett, who
was a prominent and brilliant attorney of Detroit, with offices in the
Hammond building. His death occurred during the same fall as their
marriage. Mr. Corbett was born in St. Albans, Vt, of an old New England fam
ily. He was graduated from the St. Albans High School. In the year
1887 he came to Detroit and here was graduated from the Detroit Col
lege of Law with the class of '93, and in the same year was admitted to
the bar in Michigan. He was for a time in the law office of the late Col.
John Atkinson, then in the office of Maybury and Lucking, where he
continued until he opened offices for himself in the Hammond building.
He was a ripe scholar, a close student and a brilliant man, and was a
most successful lawyer. He was prominent in the Independent Order of
Foresters and the Loyal Guards, and was also a member of the New
England Society.
Charles J. Troester. At the death on September 11, 1906, of
Charles J. Troester, Detroit lost a citizen who was high in the esteem

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1193
and affection of the community and was especially well known among
the old German residents of the city. He was born in Detroit, at the
corner of Pipale and Franklin streets, on the 2nd of September, 1862.
He was the son of John and Katherine Troester, who were of German
descent and had been among the early settlers in the city. Charles
Troester received his early education in St. Mary's Catholic school
and in the public schools of Detroit, but for the most part he was a
self-educated and self-made man, for it was to his own keenness of
observation and to his wide reading after his school days were over that
he really owed the firm basis upoh which his character was built. He
first entered the world of work at the age of fifteen, when as a bell boy
he was employed for a short time in the Windsor Hotel. After this
taste of the joy of earning money he went to work in real earnest in
his father's business. He stayed in the grocery store with his father,
learning the business, until he was nineteen years of age. He then
bought out his father and became the sole owner of the business, which
was a combination of grocery and saloon, located at the corner of Ripale
and Franklin streets. For fifteen years thereafter, he conducted the
business with great success, and then he sold out to his brother George,
who is now the owner and manager of the business.
After disposing of the business which he had bought from his father
Mr. Troester went into the real estate business and for six years bought
and sold property, with varying success, but taken as a whole these
were years of prosperity. At the end of this time he built a business
block at the corner of Ripale and Congress streets, and here he installed
a grocery and saloon business which he operated for about three years.
He then sold out and from this time until his death in 1906, lived in
retirement. After his death on the 11th of September, he was laid to
rest in Mount Elliot cemetery. He left many friends who knew him
as a kind and loyal friend, marked by the sterling German attributes of
industry and honor. He was a member of the American Insurance
Union, the Order of Foresters and of the Catholic Court.
Politically Mr. Troester was a Democrat, but though he took a great
interest in political issues, he could never be prevailed upon to run for
office. On the 24th of June, 1891, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Troester to Miss Josephine Pulto, the daughter of Anthony and Mary
Pulto. She was born in Detroit and represented two of the oldest and
most distinguished German families in the city. Her father was for
many years a wholesale grocer and liquor dealer in Detroit, and was
well known for his progressive business methods. The union of Mr.
and Mrs. Troester was 'blessed with three sons; John Harry, Marshall
F. and Charles J., all of whom make their home with their mother. The
Troester family are all communicants of the Roman Catholic church.
Mrs. Troester now makes her home in the attractive residence she bought
after her husband's death on East Grand Boulevard,
The Daisy Manufacturing Company. One of the leading, industrial
enterprises of Wayne county is the Daisy Manufacturiig Company, of
Plymouth, which, in the manufacture of the "Daisy" air rifle, and a
small toy pop gun, gives employment to nearly two hundred people,
it being the largest manufacture of air rifles in the world, each year
making more than all the other factories combined. This company is
in reality a continuation of the old Plymouth Iron Windmill Company
which, in 1882, was established in Plymouth, Michigan, by H. W. Baker,
the present president of the Daisy Manufacturing Company, and L. C.
Hough, father of E. C. Hough, now treasurer of the Daisy Manufactur-
Vol. 111—23

1194 HISTORY OF DETROIT
ing Company. For eight years after its establishment the original com
pany manufactured iron windmills with more or less success, but in
1890 gave up that work, although it continued to make the "Daisy"
air rifle, the manufacture of which it had begun in 1888. In 1895 the
firm name was changed from the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company
to its present form, the Daisy Manufacturing Company, and has con
tinued operations on an extensive scale, having built up a business of
immense proportions, the products of its factory being known all over
the world as the very best of the kind. The officers of the company,
all men of tried and trusted ability, are as follows: H. W. Baker, pres
ident; C. H. Bennett, vice-president; G. W. Hunter, secretary; and
E. C. Hough, treasurer.
Henry W. Baker, president of the Daisy Manufacturing Company,
and one of its founders, was born February 10, 1833, in Richmond,
Ontario county, New York, a son of Samuel and Maria (Marshall)
Baker, who came to Wayne county, Michigan, in the spring of 1842,
locating on a farm two and one-half miles west of Plymouth, in the
locality of Cooper's Corners. Having completed his studies in the
schools of Wayne county, Henry W. Baker learned the photographer's
trade, and during the Civil war worked with his cousin as a photo
grapher in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Returning to Plymouth about 1866, Mr.
Baker was for eight years engaged in mercantile pursuits, being head
of the firm of Baker and Crosby. The following two years he was em
ployed in the lumber business after which he became one of the founders
of the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company, which, as mentioned above,
has been merged into the Daisy Manufacturing Company.
Mr. Baker has been twice married. He married first Flora Brom
field, and married second, Angeline C. Myers. Mr. Baker has been
eminently successful in business, and occupies a position of note among
the more highly esteemed and respected residents of Plymouth, where
he has a beautiful home, a costly brick structure.
C. H. Bennett, vice-president of the Daisy Manufacturing Company,
was born in Plymouth, Michigan, June 27, 1865, a son of Lewis H. and
Caroline (Baker) Bennett. After his graduation from the Plymouth
high school, he entered' the employ of his father as a collector and sales
man; his father haying been a manufacturer of windmills and fanning
mills, and continued, thus employed for six years. Entering then the
employ of the Daisy Manufacturing Company, he acted as traveling
salesman for the firm for a time, and is now its vice-president and man
ager of its sales force. He is also actively identified with one of the
enterprising industrial firms of New York city, owning half the stock
of the Baker & Bennett Company, a toy and sporting goods commmission
house. On June 24, 1891;iMr. Bennett was united in marriage with Carrie
L. Peek, of Plymouth,' Michigan. Fraternally Mr. Bennett is a member
of the Masonic fraternity, in which he has taken the thirty-second
degree. He belongs to Detroit Commandery, No. 1, Knights Templar;
to the Michigan Consistory; and is a member of the Ancient Arabic
Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
E. C. Hough, treasurer of the Daisy Manufacturing Company, of
Plymouth, was born on the old Hough homestead in Canton township,
Wayne county, Michigan, March 17, 1872, a son of L. C. Hough, who
was born on the same farm and in the very same house, his birth having
occurred in 1846.
Ira M. Hough, Mr. Hough's grandfather, was born and reared in
Vermont. Migrating to Michigan in 1825, he took up government land
in Canton township, Wayne county, and having cleared and improved

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1195
a fine homestead was there engaged in tilling the soil during the remain
der of his active life.
Reared on the parental homestead, L. C. Hough obtained a good
education when young, and for several years taught school in the rural
districts in the winter season and worked on the farm during seed time
and harvest. In 1877 he embarked in the wholesale produce business
at Plymouth, Michigan, and for five years bought and sold apples and
potatoes, carrying on an excellent trade. In 1882 he purchased the
Pere Marquette Elevator in Plymouth, and in 1889 admitted to part
nership his son, E. C. Hough, the firm name becoming L. C. Hough &
Son, and its office becoming, also, the home of the office force of the
Plymouth Iron Windmill Company, which was carrying on but a small
business at that time, and of which L. C. Hough and E. C. Hough were
official stockholders.
In 1901 the business of the successors of the Plymouth Iron Wind
mill Company, the Daisy Manufacturing Company, had grown to such
.proportions that L. C. Hough & Son were forced to dispose of their
elevator interests, and devote their entire time and energies to it. At
that time Mr. L. C. Hough was treasurer of the Daisy Manufacturing
Company and E. C. Hough was its secretary. On January 11, 1902,
Mr. L. C. Hough died and the duties of treasurer of the firm were as
sumed by his son, E. C. Hough. L. C. Hough was a man of eminent
ability, and of prominence and influence, being very active in public
affairs, having served one term as a member of the state legislature.
The maiden name of his wife was Mariette Baker.
Coming with his parents to Plymouth, Michigan, when five years
old, E. C. Hough was here educated, being graduated from the Ply
mouth high school with the class of 1889. He immediately embarked
in the grain business with his father, as previously mentioned, and has
been officially connected with the Daisy Manufacturing Company since
its inception, and has been an important factor in promoting its affairs.
E. C. Hough married, October 14, 1896, Marie Louise Sheffield, of
Mobile, Alabama, and to them three children have been born, namely:
Marie Athalie, Cass Sheffield and Corette Kingsley.
Mr. Hough is identified with various enterprises, being president of
the Wayne County Telephone Company and secretary and treasurer
of the Gray Motor Company, of Detroit. For the past nine years he has
rendered efficient service as president of the Plymouth board of educa
tion. Socially, Mr. Hough is a member of the Detroit Club and of the
Detroit Automobile Club. Fraternally, he is a member of the Plymouth
Rock Lodge, No. 47, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, of
Plymouth; of Union Chapter, No. 55, Royal Arch Masons, of North
ville; of Northville Commandery, No. 39, Knights Templars, of North
ville ; of the Michigan Consistory ; and of Moslem Temple, Mystic Shrine,
of Detroit. Ira L. Grinnell. As senior member of the well known firm of
Grinnell Brothers, piano manufacturers, music dealers and jobbers of
talking machines, Ira L. Grinnell holds distinctive precedence as one
of the ablest and most successful business men in Detroit where he has
maintained his home since 1882. Through persistency and a well form
ulated determination to forge ahead he has made of success not an
accident but a logical result.
Mr. Grinnell was born in Niagara county, New York, oh the 1st
of March, 1848, and is a son of Ira and Betsey (Balcome) Grinnell, the
former of whom was born and reared in Herkimer county, New York,
and the latter at Niagara, New York. The father was engaged in farm-

1196 HISTORY OF DETROIT
ing during the major portion of his active career and died in New York
in 1865, his wife having passed away in the same year, only a month
later. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Ira Grinnell two sons and
two daughters are living at the present time.
Ira L. Grinnell received his educational training in the public
schools and the Albion Academy, at Albion, New York. He came to
Michigan in the year 1866, locating at Manchester. In 1867 he engaged
in the sewing machine business at Ann Arbbr and he continued to be
identified with that line of enterprise until 1880. He entered into a
partnership with his brother Clayton A., in the fall of 1882, engaging
in the music business in Detroit. In 1901 a venture was made along
the line of manufacturing pianos, and during recent years such success
has been achieved in that connection that now, in 1911, two factories,
one at Detroit and one at Windsor, Ontario, are in constant operation.
Twenty-two branch stores are maintained in Michigan and Canada,
in addition to the splendid headquarters of the concern at Detroit, the
latter being located at 243-7 Woodward avenue, with a large branch
store on Monroe avenue. To quote from the piano catalogue of the
Grinnell Brothers the following good points are brought out in connec
tion with the instrument manufactured.
"The Grinnell Brothers Piano is the product of our large factories
in Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario. These manufacturing
plants are second to none in equipment and class of workmen employed.
Every facility and mechanical appliance that would tend to promote
further excellence in the production of this piano is provided. Our
workmen are experts, each skilled in the highest degree in the work
receiving his attention. A rigid inspection is maintained at all stages
of construction, and the thorough test to which each piano is subjected
before it is permitted to leave the factory, makes certain that the high
standard of quality adopted shall be fully maintained in every instru
ment we produce. Thoroughness is the predominating feature — no
part is too minute, no detail too insignificant to be considered good
enough until it cannot be further improved.
"This instrument represents the concentrated experience of more
than thirty years in the handling and manufacture of high grade
musical instruments. Correct application of the knowledge thus ac
quired, combined with the natural creative ability of the men at the
head of this manufacturing establishment, could not result in other
than a magnificent production. The Grinnell Brothers Piano is a per
fect instrument in all that the term implies ; embodying all that is artis
tic in tone and design and representing the extreme of value in dur
ability." The following is a testimonial from the great prima donna, Lillian
Nordica, in regard to the excellent qualities of the Grinnell Brothers
Piano. The same is here incorporated verbatim.
"Gentlemen: — It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge your
courtesy in sending me such a nice instrument (the Grinnell Brothers)
to the hotel for my private use. For nice singing quality of tone and
smoothness of action it certainly ranks among the best uprights I have
ever used. Very truly yours,
Lillian Nordica."
Mr. Grinnell is a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce, is con
nected with the. Municipal League and in politics is a member of the
Republican party. In a social way he and his wife are affiliated with
Wayne Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star.
Mr. Grinnell was married in 1871 to Ellen Park, of Ann Arbor, Mich
igan, who died in 1884, leaving two sons: E. W., who is now manager

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HISTORY OF DETROIT 1197
of the Grinnell Electric Auto Company, and C. L., manager of the
Kalamazoo branch of the Grinnell Company. In 1892, Mr. Grinnell
married Emily Lightfoot, of Detroit, formerly of Strathroy, Ontario,
and two daughters have been born, Hazel and Gladys.
Clayton A. Grinnell, junior member of the firm of Grinnell Bro
thers, was born at Albion, New York, in December, 1859, a son of Ira
and Betsey A. (Balcome) Grinnell, both of whom died within a month
when he was but five years of age, he being the second youngest of seven
children. He was educated in the district schools of Orleans county,
New York, and subsequently was matriculated as a student at Ann
Arbor, Michigan, leaving school and entering business in the spring
of 1879. In 1880 he entered into a partnership with his brother, Ira
L. Grinnell, and for two years they conducted business at Ann Arbor.
In 1882. the firm located in Detroit and in 1901 plants were opened in
Detroit and later also at Windsor for the manufacturing of pianos.
He is vice-president of Grinnell Brothers' twenty-four retail music
stores, of the Grinnell Realty Company and of the Grinnell Electric
Auto Company — all with headquarters and offices in the Grinnell Block,
243-5-7 Woodward avenue.
Mr. Grinnell is one of the most prominent and influential members
of the National Association of Piano Dealers of America, having been
accorded the highest honor possible, namely, that of president of that
organization. He is a valued member of the Detroit Board of Com
merce, and is a director and active worker in several charities, churches
and clubs of Detroit. In politics he is a Republican, and in religious
matters he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
In a fraternal way he is affiliated with all the Masonic orders in De
troit, being a member of Corinthian Blue Lodge, Michigan Sovereign
Consistory, the Commandery and the Shrine. He is a member of the
Knights of the Maccabees. Loyal Guards, etc. His principal recrea
tions are hunting and fishing ; he also -travels extensively.
On the 21st of May, 1904, at Detroit, was solemnized the marriage
of Mr. Grinnell to Miss Myrta Gay, who was born and reared in Michi
gan. Mr. and Mrs. Grinnell have one daughter, Geraldine.
Robert Stead. An honored representative of a family whose name
has been identified with the history of Detroit for more than a century,
the late Robert Stead made for himself a secure place in connection with
business and civic activities in this city, which was his home during
practically the entire period extending from his boyhood to his death,
at the patriarchal age of ninety years. He was long a prominent and
influential figure in local business affairs and was a man of the most
exalted ideals, his noble character gaining and retaining to him the
unqualified confidence and esteem of all who knew him. As one of the
sterling pioneer business men and representative citizens of the Michi
gan metropolis, it is most consonant that in this publication be entered
a tribute to his memory and record concerning his long and worthy life.
Robert Stead was born in the city on London, England, in the year
1809, and was a son of Robert Stead, a representative of one of the
stanch old families of the ' ' tight little isle. ' ' He gained his rudimentary
education in the schools of his native city and was eleven years of age
at the time of the family immigration to America. In 1820 they made
their advent in Detroit, which was then little more than a frontier
village in the territory of Michigan, which was not admitted to state
hood until seventeen years later. Benjamin and Joseph, Stead, brothers
of Robert Stead, Sr., had previously established their home in Detroit,

1198 HISTORY OF DETROIT
and the former was actively identified with the erection of the old city
hall, the first erected in Detroit. Joseph purchased a tract of wild' land
near the present village of Utica, Macomb county, where he passed the
residue of his life, — one of the honored pioneers of that section of the
state. Robert Stead, Sr., was a man of robust physique and fine pres
ence, having weighed more than two hundred pounds, and he and his
two brothers became prominently identified with the development and
upbuilding of Michigan. Benjamin Stead was especially conspicuous
in connection with the enterprises of broad scope and importance, and
was associated with Colonel Stephen Mack and other representative citi
zens in the old Pontiac Land Company, which had marked influence in
furthering the settlement and development of the southern part of the
state. At the time of coming to Detroit, in 1820, Robert Stead, Sr., was ac
companied by his wife, four sons and one daughter. From the Atlantic
coast they made their way to Buffalo, New York, where they secured
passage on the historic old schooner "Red Jacket," of which Brandon
Gillett was captain. They had anticipated taking the even more famous
vessel, "Walk-in-the-Water," — the first steamboat to. plow the waters
of the great lakes and the first to enter the Detroit river, in 1818. Upon
arriving in Buffalo, Mr. Stead found that this vessel had been put in
commission to transport government troops to Green Bay, on the, Wis
consin shores and the passage on the little schooner previously mentioned
was a rough and perilous experience. Upon arriving at Maiden, On
tario, Robert Stead, Sr., suggested to the other members of the family
that they make the remainder of the journey to Detroit on foot. They
accordingly started forth on the overland trip and on arriving at Sand
wich they found no one who could speak English. After some time a
boy directed them to the ferry across the river and when they found
that the ferry-boat was merely a canoe dug out from a large log the
family hesitated to entrust themselves to the primitive mode of trans
portation, but in the same they were finally landed in safety on the
present site of Fort Wayne, the government military post at Detroit.
They passed the first night at Woodworth's hotel or tavern and the fam
ily home was finally established on the shore of Lake St. Clair, in the
beautiful residence district now known as Grosse Pointe. There Robert
Stead, Sr., purchased a tract of land and engaged in agricultural pur
suits, and there both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives.
He whose name initiates this review was reared to maturity at Grosse
Pointe and in the meanwhile availed himself of the advantages of the
somewhat primitive schools of the locality and period. After the death
of his father he became associated with his brother William in estab
lishing a wholesale grocery business in Detroit, and their original head
quarters were on Atwater street, which was then the principal business
thoroughfare. Later they removed to the site of the present Christ
church, on Jefferson avenue, where they successfully continued the busi
ness until 1844, when removal was made to Woodward avenue, where
Robert Stead, the elder of the two brothers, had purchased five acres
of ground. Woodward avenue was then known as Pontiac turnpike and
between the land purchased by Mr. Stead and the old homestead of
Colonel Winder, at the present corner of Woodward avenue and High
street, there was not a single dwelling. Mr. Stead continued to be
actively engaged in the wholesale grocery trade until the death of his
brother, March 24, 1873, when he disposed of the business in which they
had been so long and profitably associated and retired from active af
fairs. Thereafter he devoted much of his time and attention to the
cultivating of 'flowers, of which he was a great lover and which he

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1199
propagated for his own pleasure and that of his neighbors. He had
accumulated a competency through his well directed endeavors and was
a man of fine intellectuality and broad views. His reminiscences in
regard to the pioneer days in Detroit were most graphic and interesting,
after he had attained to venerable age, and he greatly enjoyed these
retrospective views of his early life and experiences in the city which he
saw develop from a straggling town into a metropolitan center, his
affection for and loyalty to Detroit ever having been of the most ardent
order. He was well known to the older residents of the city and his
genial and gracious personality endeared him to those with whom he
came in contact. He retained his mental and physical faculties to a
wonderful degree in the gracious evening of his long and worthy life
and was especially fond of riding about the city in his carriage, to note
improvements and greet old friends. His heart was attuned to sym
pathy and kindliness and he was generous and charitable, as well as
tolerant in his judgment. His interests centered in his home, whose
every relation was ideal, and he enjoyed the amenities or refined social
life, though he never had any desire to identify himself with clubs
or fraternal organizations. Both he and his loved and devoted wife
were zealous members of the Westminster Presbyterian church, with
which he became identified in 1874 and to the support of which he con
tributed most liberally. He was a member of the old volunteer fire de
partment of Detroit and ever manifested a lively interest in all that
touched the welfare and advancement of his home city. A few years
before his death Mr. Stead erected a fine brick residence on the corner
of Woodward avenue and Woodward terrace, where he owned a con
siderable tract of land, and there, in 1896 he and his wife celebrated the
sixtieth anniversary of their wedding, a noteworthy assemblage com
ing to the home to do honor to the occasion and the venerable couple,
then numbered among the oldest pioneer citizens of the city. More than
four hundred relatives and other friends attended the celebration and
the same marked a notable event in the social annals of Detroit. Mr.
Stead was summoned to the life eternal on the 23rd of December, 1899,
at the venerable age of ninety years and six months, and his name
merits an enduring place on the roll of the honored pioneers of the
Michigan metropolis.
In the year 1836 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Stead to Miss
Mary A. Keal, of Detroit, to which city she accompanied her parents
when a child of four years, her birth having occurred at Cincinnati,
Ohio and her family having come from London, England. She was
a woman of most gentle and gracious personality and her memory is
revered by all who came within the sphere of her influence. She sur
vived her husband by about a decade and was eighty-nine years of age
at the time of her death, which occurred on the 19th of September,
1908. This venerable couple became the parents of four children: —
Miss Sarah A. Stead, who remains in the old homestead and is a popu
lar factor in the social activities of her native city ; Hattie, who is the
widow of Charles Williams, of Detroit, where she still resides; Mary,
who became the wife of William H. Henderson, of New York state, and
who is now a widow, maintaining her home in Yonkers, New York ; and
Alice, who is the wife of George W. Fisher, a prominent contractor and
builder of Detroit.
At the time of his demise Robert Stead was the oldest citizen in
Detroit, where he had resided for a longer period than any other person
living at the time. In earlier years he made judicious investment's in
local real estate and effected many improvements upon his various
properties, thus aiding materially in the progress and upbuilding of

1200 HISTORY OF DETROIT
the city that so long his home and in which he was honored by all
who knew him.
A. Arthur Caille. An enormous amount of vital strength has been
used in the upbuilding of the city of Detroit, and this dynamic or ener
gizing force has been the means through which the name and prestige
of the city and the state have been carried to the furthermost corners
of the world. The industrial growth of the Michigan metropolis has
been on the whole one of somewhat slow but substantial order, but
within the past decade the advancement has been almost marvelous,
though it stands as the direct result of the combined efforts and powers
of its representative business men, among whom the subject of this
review occupies a prominent and secure place. He is a native son of
Detroit, and his rise to a position as one of its essentially representative
business men of the younger generation has been effected through his
own ability and well directed efforts. His position may be understood
when it is stated that he is president and general manager of the Caille
Brothers Company, the most extensive manufacturers of coin-controlled
machines in the world and president of the Caille Perfection Motor
Company, manufacturers of marine gasoline motors, which are known
and have a large sale all over the United States and the entire world.
The magnificent plants of these companies are located in Detroit and the
concerns have proved a valuable contribution to the industrial and com
mercial supremacy of the Michigan metropolis. He also has varied
important interests in Detroit and other cities, all of which justify most
fully a brief review of his career in this history of his native city.
Mr. Caille was born in Detroit on the 1st of April, 1867, and is a
son of Joseph M. and Catherine (Moret) Caille. The father was born
in one of the French-speaking cantons of Switzerland and there learned
the trade of cabinet-maker. In 1851 he came to America and established
his home in Detroit, where he engaged in the work of his trade, in which
he was a specially skilful artisan. Finally he established himself in
the retail furniture business on Gratiot avenue, where he continued in
business for a number of years. He then removed to Owosso, Shia
wassee county, and from that place he transferred his residence to the
city of Saginaw, where he continued in the same line of enterprise. He
retired from active business in 1897 and the' closing years of his long
and useful life were passed in Detroit, where he died in 1907, at the
age of seventy-six years. His wife likewise was born and reared in the
fair little republic of Switzerland and she was summoned to eternal
rest in 1885. Of their children three are living, — Adolph A; and A.
Arthur, who are the interested principals in the Caille Brothers Com
pany, and Louise M., who is the wife of Robert C. Yates, identified with
the operation of machines manufactured by the same company. The
father was a stanch Republican in his political adherency and both
he and his wife were devout communicants of the Catholic church.
A. Arthur Caille passed the first decade of his life in Detroit. The
family removed to Owosso, whence they shortly afterward went to Sagi
naw, where he was reared to adult age and where he duly availed him
self of the advantages of the public schools. In 1883 he entered upon
an apprenticeship at the woodworking trade, under the effective direc
tion of his father, and he early gave evidence of that distinctive mechan
ical skill and inventive ability which has been the prime conservators
of his remarkable success in the field of independent manufacturing. He
was the inventor of the cash-carrier system for use in mercantile estab
lishments, having secured patents on his invention in 1889, and having
instituted manufacture of the same in that year. His invention met

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HISTORY OF DETROIT 1201
with ready approval and the Caille system was by him installed in lead
ing stores in all sections of the Union.
In 1893 Mr. Caille brought out his first patents in the coin-controlled
slot machines, and in the placing of the same he was successful from
the start. From a modest nucleus has been evolved the gigantic indus
trial enterprise of which he is now the executive head and principal
stockholder. Unlike the average inventor Mr. Caille has shown great
executive and administrative ability, coupled with mature judgment
and discrimination in the handling of affairs of broad scope and im
portance. The original factory was at Saginaw, from which city he
removed his headquarters to Detroit in 1895. Here operations have since
been continued and the plant of the company is now the largest of its
kind in the world. In 1906 Mr. Caille also became interested in the
conducting of theatres devoted to vaudeville and moving pictures, and
in this line also his success has been most pronounced. In the enterprise
he is associated with J. H. Kunsky, under the title of the Casino Com
pany, and the firm now controls a series of well equipped theatres in
Detroit, Toledo and other cities. The success achieved by A. Arthur
Caille stands to his credit and honor and he has gained secure vantage
ground as a progressive business man of great capacity and of impreg
nable integrity of purpose, the while his genial personality has won to
him a wide circle of friends in both business and social circles.
In politics Mr. Caille maintains on independent attitude and in a
fraternal way he is affiliated with Detroit Lodge No. 34, Benevolent and
Erotective Order of Elks, of which he is a life member. He is also an
enthusiastic member of the Detroit Yacht Club and takes- much interest
in nautical affairs in connection with which he has owned and placed in
commission a number of fine motor and sailing craft.
Ebenezer Jenks Penniman. For a full half century did Hon.
Ebenezer J. Penniman maintain his home in Wayne county, and he was
one of its most honored pioneers at the time of his death, which occurred
at his home in the village of Plymouth, on the 12th of April, 1890, as
the result of the general debility incidental to advanced age. He was one
of the earliest merchants of Plymouth and here he became a prominent
and influential business man, a citizen who was a benignant factor in
public affairs, as shown by the fact that he was called upon to represent
his district in the United States Congress, and a practical philanthro
pist whose charities and benevolences were large and generous, though
ever bestowed with the utmost unostentation. His was a great heart,
his a strong mind, and the nobility of his character made his influence
of ever broadening power for good in all the relations of life. He did
much for his home town and county and honored the state of his
adoption by his exalted character and services. He gained definite
success in connection with the productive activities of life and mind
ful of the responsibilities such success should impose, he lived up to
the highest ideals of stewardship, and his name and memory are revered
in the community which so long represented his home.
Ebenezer J. Penniman was born at Lansingburg, Rensselaer county,
New York, on the 11th of January, 1804, and was not only a represen
tative of a pioneer family of the old Empire state, but also a scion of one
whose name has been identified with the annals of American history
since the early colonial days, the original progenitor having immigrated
from England and settled in New England. His parents were early
settlers of Rensselaer county, New York, in which state they continued
to reside until their death. The subject of this memoir was afforded
the advantages of the primitive schools of the pioneer days, and early

1202 HISTORY OF DETROIT
began to assume practical responsibilities. It has consistently been said
that the discipline of a printing office of the olden days was equivalent
to a liberal education, and in the career of Mr. Penniman was given
ample justification of this statement. He served an apprenticeship to
the "art preservative of all arts" in the office of the New Hampshire
Sentinel, at Kenne, New Hampshire, and continued to devote his atten
tion to the work of the printer's trade for a period of five years. At the
age of eighteen years he went to New York City, where he became iden
tified with the drygoods business, and while in the national metropolis
he there met and soon afterward married, Miss Marietta Austin, daugh
ter of Calvin P. Austin, of Salem, New York. His bride had formerly
maintained her home at Orwell, Addison county, Vermont, and soon
after his marriage he removed to that place, where he formed a part
nership with others and engaged in the drygoods business.
In 1840, after disposing of his interests in Vermont, Mr. Penniman
came to Michigan and established his home in the little hamlet of Ply
mouth, Wayne county, where he opened a general store, in the con
ducting of which he became associated with Messrs. Austin & Fralick,
and he thus continued to be actively and successfully identified with the
mercantile business in this village for fully thirty years, at the expira
tion of which, in 1871, he sold his interests to his partners. He had gain
ed high reputation as an honorable and conservative business man and
as a liberal and public-spirited citizen, with the result that the trade con
trolled by his establishment became widely disseminated and proved
very profitable. After his retirement from this line of enterprise he
conducted a general brokerage and loan business until the time of his
death, and in this field of endeavor, which offers so many opportunities
for oppression and injustice, he pursued a course diametrically opposed
to such methods, as he was ever considerate and liberal and did all in
his power to aid rather than to afflict those who came to him for finan
cial favors. The worthy and industrious man was assured of his earnest
support in efforts to gain independence, and the fatherless and the widow
found in him a generous and sympathetic friend. Concerning him in the
following pertinent statements have been made and are worthy of per
petuation in this memoir : ' ' He acquired through honest means a large
fortune and he deemed this the chief value of his success in the possi
bility it afforded him for the aiding of others less fortunate. Thou
sands of dollars from his purse went to aid the unfortunate, — those
destitute or otherwise afflicted — and for years it was his custom to give
to every child who extended a Christmas greeting to him a silver quar
ter. The poor and needy of the community lost a friend, when he
finished his course in life, and there was sorrow in many a home which
had been largely maintained through his kindly counsel and generous
benefactions." Mr. Penniman did much to further material and civic
progress in his home village and county and was broad minded and
well fortified in his opinions concerning public policies, both generic and
local. He was primarily instrumental in the organization of the First
National Bank of Plymouth and was president of the same at the time
of his death, besides which he had other large and varied capitalistic
interests. He served in various local offices of public trust and in 1850
there came to him well merited honor when he was elected to represent
his district in the United States Congress, as a candidate on the Whig
ticket. He served throughout the thirty-second congress, and in this
body exerted emphatic influence in settling the many important ques
tions and problems which confronted the national legislature at the
time when the institution of slavery was a matter of national strife,
when the fugitive slave-law was in operation, and when political lines

&. <&.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1203
were being disrupted by these and other issues. He served his one term
with marked ability and characteristic loyalty, and then returned to his
home to devote his attention to his private business interests. He joined
the Republican party at the time of its inception and ever afterward
continued a stalwart supporter of its principles and policies. He was
one of the venerable and revered pioneer citizens of Plymouth at the
time of his death and he retained to the last a marked control of his
mental powers. His final illness was of but five days' duration and
death resulted from the infirmities attendant upon advanced years, he
being eighty-six years old at his death. His life was gentle, kindly,
earnest and productive, and his name and deeds well merit this tribute
in a history that touches so closely the county which was his home for
so many years.
The first wife of Mr. Penniman died in 1841, soon after their immi
gration to Michigan, and the two children of this union died in infancy.
His second marriage was to Miss Eliza Connor, a sister of Michael Con
nor, another of the sterling pioneers of Plymouth. Of the second mar
riage three children were born, — Marietta and Julius being deceased,
and Katherine, the widow of William 0. Allen. She resides in the old
Penniman homestead — a house erected by her father nearly half a
century ago.
William Oscar Allen. The late William Oscar Allen was a scion
of one of the old and influential pioneer families of Wayne county, with
whose history the name has been identified from the territorial epoch,
and here he was a representative of the third generation of the family,
a fact that implies that he himself was a native son of the county. He
became one of the most prominent and influential factors in furthering
the material upbuilding and civic advancement of his native village
' of Plymouth and in all the relations of life he well upheld the prestige
of the honored name which he bore. Mr. Allen had varied and important
capitalistic investments at the time of his death and his success in
temporal affairs was but equal to his sterling characteristics as a man
and as a loyal and public-spirited citizen. Such was his standing and
such his achievement as one of the world's workers that he is well
entitled to representation in this publication, the text of which touches
most closely the history of his native county.
William Oscar Allen was born in the village of Plymouth, Wayne
county, Michigan, on the 13th of August, 1856, and his death occurred
on the 23d of March, 1909, at the Alexandrine Hotel, in the city of
Los Angeles, California, whither he had gone in company with his
devoted wife in the hope of recuperating his health, which had been
impaired for the two preceding years. Mr. Allen was the son of John
and Mary (Cady) Allen. His grandfather,, Moses Allen, came from his
native state of New York to Wayne county, Michigan, in the early
pioneer days. This worthy ancestor secured from the government a
tract of heavily timbered land in Plymouth township, where he estab
lished his home in a log house of the type common to the locality and
period and where he eventually reclaimed a productive farm. He passed
the remainder of his life in Michigan and here today may be found many
of his descendants in the third and fourth generations, as well as an
appreciable number in the fifth.
William 0. Allen was reared to adult age in his native town and
after duly availing himself of the advantages of its public schools he
was enabled to secure higher academic training in Detroit and in the
state normal school at Ypsilanti. After leaving school he was associated
in the work and management of his father 's fine farm in Plymouth town
ship for a number of years. He then went to the present state of North
Dakota, where he was identified with farming pursuits for several years,

1204 HISTORY OF DETROIT
after which he passed some time in the south where he associated him
self with progressive movements at various points. Returning to Ply
mouth he thereafter continued as a valued and influential factor in the
promotion of those measures and enterprises through which had been
compassed the splendid advancement of this most attractive little city.
He became prominently concerned with real estate operations, and these
included the successful handling of various properties of the estate of
his father-in-law, the late Hon. Ebenezer J. Penniman. A tract of
ninety acres owned by Mr. Penniman and adjoining Plymouth on the
west was platted by Mr. Allen as an addition to the town and was most
effectively exploited by him. He not only sold many lots in this addition
but also made building improvements of excellent order. He erected
many, fine residences which he sold on contract, and by this means he
built up the entire west section of the town, thereby developing one of
the most beautiful residence districts in this part of Wayne county.
Nothing that touched the material, social and governmental welfare
of Plymouth failed to enlist the earnest support of Mr. Allen and he was
recognized as one of the most progressive and influential of it's citizens,
as well as one eminently entitled to the unreserved confidence and esteem
reposed in him in his native county. He had no predilection for public
office, but his sense of civic pride and duty prompted him to serve for
some time as a member of the village council, in which he was a stanch
advocate of progressive policies, but of conservative administration of
municipal affairs! He was unswerving in his allegiance to the Republi
can party and was well fortified in his political convictions and opin
ions. In addition to the varied interests of financial order in his home
village, where he was a director of the Plymouth Savings Bank, he was a
stockholder in the Buick Motor Company, at Flint, this state, as well
as being a director, and he was also a stockholder in the Dime Savings .
Bank and the Scotten-Dillon Tobacco Company of Detroit. He also
had other large financial interests and was known as a business man
of marked initiative and executive ability.
In the Masonic fraternity Mr. Allen completed the circle of both the
York and Scottish Rites, in the former of which his ancient-craft
affiliation was with the Plymouth Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and
his maximum with Detroit Commandery, No. 1, Knights Templars, while
in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite he received the thirty-second
degree in Michigan Sovereign Consistory; in Detroit, where he also held
membership in Moslem Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is survived by two brothers, David
and Charles, both of whom reside in Plymouth, and by an adopted
sister, Nellie, who is the wife of A. M. Boice, of Lansing, this state. The
death of Mr. Allen was an irreparable loss to his home town and
county, where his circle of friends was coincident with that of his ac
quaintances and where he was ever instant in the promotion of those
things which tend to conserve the general welfare, his whole hearted
interests in the advancement of his native place having found most
practical and beneficent expression and having been potent in the fur
therance of its material and civic prosperity.
On the 18th day of August, 1896, was solemnized the marriage of
Mr. Allen to Miss Katherine Penniman, who was likewise, born and
reared in Plymouth and who is a daughter of the late Hon. Ebenezer
J. Penniman. Mrs. Allen is a popular and valued factor in the leading
social activities of her native village and county and occupies the
beautiful old homestead in the western part of Plymouth that was
erected by her father nearly half a century ago, the atmosphere of which
has ever been one of peace, prosperity and gracious hospitality. Mr. and
Mrs. Allen had no children.

HISTORY OF DETROIT , 1205
William Bryan Cady, well known and successful member of the
Detroit bar and member of the prominent legal firm of Shaw, Warren,
Cady & Oaks, was born in Canton township, Wayne county, Michigan,
on February 10, 1861, the son of James B. Cady.
The Cady family is an old one in Michigan, having been founded in
the state by David Cady, the great-grandfather of William Bryan Cady,
in 1832. The family is of English stock and has been in America for
eight generations. Nichols Cady, founder of the family in this
country, came from Kent, England, in 1620, settling in New England.
The direct line of descent from Nichols Cady is James, born in 1655;
John, born in 1680; Ebenezer, born in 1714; David, born' in 1754;
Samuel P., born in 1800; James B., born in 1830, and William Bryan
in 1861. David Cady served in the Revolutionary war and came to Michigan
1832, bringing with him three generations of the family. He settled in
Wayne county, on land which is the site of the present Wayne County
Home farm. He returned to the old home at Freeport, New York, late
in life, and there died, living to reach the age of ninety years.
William Bryan Cady attended the public schools of Wayne county
and the Ann Arbor high school, graduating from the latter in 1878.
He was graduated from the University of Michigan in 1882, with the
degree of Ph. D., after which he attended the law department of the
University of Michigan for one year, being admitted to the bar soon
thereafter. Following his university experience he studied in the offices
of the law firm of Sawyer & Knowlton, in Ann Arbor, then came to
Detroit. In this city he entered the law office of Brennan & Donnelly,
but a year later located at Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, where he engaged
in independent practice until January, 1897. Returning to Detroit at
that time, Mr. Cady entered into partnership with John C. Shaw, under
the, firm name of Shaw & Cady. In 1901, Mr. Charles B. Warren and
Mr. Herbert K. Oaks were admitted to the firm of Shaw & Cady, the
firm becoming that of Shaw, Warren, Cady & Oaks, and so continued
until the death of Mr. Shaw in January, 1911. After the death of Mr.
Shaw, Mr. Sanford W. Ladd became a member of the firm, Mr. Oaks
retiring from practice to enter business in Cleveland. Mr. Cady had
made a specialty of real estate and corporation law.
Previous to the campaign of 1896, Mr. Cady was an active member
of the Democratic party. In that memorable campaign, however, he
broke away from the supporters of Mr. Bryan, bolted the Democratic
ticket and stumped the Northern Michigan district for McKinley as a
Gold Democrat, although he had been a member of the Democratic
State Central Committee for the previous six years.
Mr. Cady is a member of the Detroit, University, Country and
Detroit Boat Clubs, and is a Knight Templar in the Masonic order.
On June 30, 1904, Mr. Cady married Myra, the daughter of the late
Hoyt Post of Detroit, and to them have been born one daughter,
Elizabeth Winsor Cady.
George Willis Dunham, is vice-president and consulting engineer
of the Chalmers Motor Company of Detroit, a leading member of the
Society of Automobile Engineers, and one of the organizers of the
Detroit branch of that society. As the designer of the Chalmers ' ' Thirty-
six" and the Chalmers "Six," he occupies a prominent place in the
automobile industry and is a well known figure among the widespread
manufacturing interests of Detroit.
Mr. Dunham is one of the few leading automobile engineers prac-

1206 HISTORY OF DETROIT
tically all of whose life since the completion of his schooling has been
spent in the motor manufacturing industry. He was born in Cleveland,
Ohio, May 4, 1876, and is the son of W. H. H. and Mary E. (Adams)
Dunham. His maternal grandparents were George H. and Margaret
Adams, while on the paternal side he is the grandson of John Willis
Dunham, who, in his day, was one of the leading physicians of Cin
cinnati, Ohio.
In Cleveland, Mr. Dunham studied in the public schools and the
Cleveland University School. This preliminary education was- followed
by a course at Swarthmore and later at Kenyon College. He was a
member of the class of 1898 at Kenyon, but left there in 1895 to take an
apprenticeship course in the shops of the Warner-Swasey Company,
Cleveland, Ohio. This practical course lasted until 1897, when Mr. Dun
ham went to Alaska to engage in mining and prospecting. Returning to
Cleveland in 1900, with two others, he organized the American Motor
Carriage Company of Cleveland, and had particular charge of all
engineering work.
Mr. Dunham continued in this position until 1904, when he became
associated with the Olds Motor Works as assistant chief engineer. This
position he held for two years, being promoted to chief engineer of the
Olds Motor Works in 1906. This position was resigned in 1909, when
Mr. Dunham assisted in the organization of the Hudson Motor Car
Company, with which concern he had charge of the engineering and
manufacturing departments of the business. After one year in that
position, he severed his connection with the Hudson Motor Car Com
pany to accept the position of vice-president and consulting engineer of
the Chalmers Motor Company. Since 1910 he has been associated with
the Chalmers Company, and the notable work he has done as a designer
of the well-known Chalmers cars has amply justified his selection for
that position. 'He is respected as one of the leading designers in the
automobile industry, and his past work is a sufficient indication of a
most successful future.
Mr. Dunham is a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon, the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Society of Automobile En
gineers. He was married in 1904 to Mary Norton Clarke of Mt. Vernon,
Ohio, and has one child, a daughter, Mary Ellen, aged seven months.
David E. Heineman, son of Emil S. and Fannie (Butzel) Heineman,
was born in Detroit, October 17, 1865, at the well-known family home
stead on Woodward avenue where he has made his home ever since. The
family on the father's side has resided for centuries in the City of Sches-
slitz, Bavaria, where up to the period of the Seven Years War in 1756
they were land owners and mill owners. The war swept away their pos
sessions and the family retired to the small neighboring town of Burg
Ellern. His grandfather subsequently, as a small boy, went to North
Germany, locating in the city of Neuhaus, at the junction of the Elbe
and Oste Rivers, near the city of Hamburg. Here he became the leading
citizen of that place. His family residence and the warehouses erected
by him are still standing. His oldest son became mayor of the city.
Of the younger sons, the father of the subject of this review came to
America after the Revolution of 1848 and located in Detroit in 1851,
residing there until his death in 1896. He was a successful business man,
an educated gentleman and an honored citizen.
His mother's family were also from Bavaria, residing at an early
date at Maineck, then at Burg Ellern and about 1830 at Schesslitz, com-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 12Q7
ing to this country during the early '50s and locating at Peekskill, New
York. He is of Jewish descent from both parents and is a well informed
and loyal student of his race and religion.
Mr. David E. Heineman, as a youth, received an excellent education
in private schools and with tutors. He was the youngest of the pupils
of the old-time Patterson School. He entered the Detroit high school,
where he graduated as president of his class in 1883. He spent the en
tire subsequent year in European travel, entering the University of
Michigan in 1884, where he took his degree in philosophy in 1887. He
was subsequently made an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa fra
ternity, Michigan Chapter. He studied law both at the University Law
School and in the offices of Walker & Walker in Detroit and was ad-i
mitted to the bar May 4, 1889, and subsequently to the Federal and
United States Supreme Court practice. He is a member of the Michi
gan State and Detroit Bar Associations.
Aside from his profession Mr. Heineman devoted himself with con
stant interest to the betterment of civic conditions. The year he became
of age he became head of the committee of his ward, redeeming the poli
ties of the ward from a notoriously bad condition. From 1893 to 1896
he was chief assistant city attorney of Detroit, having charge of all the
court work of the office. During this time he completely revised and
compiled the ordinances of the city. In 1899, at the urgent request of
Governor Pingree, Michigan's great reform governor, who was in sore
need of disinterested and loyal legislators, he became a candidate for
the state legislature from the city at large and of the ten legislators so
elected he received the highest number of votes throughout the city.
He served for one regular and three special sessions, all of them the
most strenuous in the history of the state. When the battle for tax re
form was won, Governor Pingree showed his appreciation by having him
introduce the tax law at the last special session called for that sole pur
pose and which embodied the hard won results of the struggle. While
in the legislature he secured the passage of many laws of general and
local interest.
A lasting monument of his legislative service is the public aquarium
on Belle Isle Park, which was originated by him. It is the pioneer pub
lic aquarium in this country, as well as the most beautiful, its reputa
tion being world-wide and its annual patronage being over a million.
After his legislative service he announced his retirement from official
work, but local conditions compelled him to enter the Common Council
and he was elected from his home ward, the most representative residen
tial district of the city. In 1907 he was elected president of the com
mon council. His special attention was given to fiscal matters, seeking
to maintain the city's reputation which in this respect is recognized as
foremost among the larger American cities. Among other recent matters
he procured the acceptance of the Carnegie Library gift of seven hun
dred and fifty thousand dollars, which had been given up as lost to the
city; he redeemed the county debt at a lower rate of interest, saving a
large sum for the next twenty years; was the author of the first sane
Fourth of July ordinance ahd of the present model traffic ordinance.
Of minor matters, perhaps the most interesting is the adoption of the
official flag of the city, which he designed.
In 1903 the governor of the state, recognizing his interest in matters
of general education, appointed him a member of the state board of li
brary commissioners, which exercises state supervision over all the li
braries of the state. He has served as president of this board and is still
a member, being the only incumbent who has ever served on the same

1208 HISTORY OF DETROIT
under three separate gubernatorial appointments. Mr, Heineman has
been very active in many municipal organizations other than local. Be
sides being director and vice-president he has been twice chosen as presi
dent of the Michigan League of Municipalities. In 1909, at Montreal,
he was elected president of the American League of Municipalities, the
leading organization of its kind in America, the membership of which
is made up from the leading cities of the United States and Canada.
In July, 1910, Mr. Heineman was appointed controller of the city of
Detroit, of which office he is at present incumbent. As is generally
known, the position is one of very high repute, the list of men who have
served therein being made up of persons standing high in the commer
cial and financial world. For a number of years he has been a member
of the National Civic Federation, has been connected with municipal
publications and published a large number of articles and addresses.
He belongs to many organizations and clubs, among them the Univer
sity Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the Old Club at St. Clair Flats, the
Detroit Tennis Club, the Acanthus Club and the Fine Arts Society. He
was formerly president of the Bohemian Club and in more recent years
became founder of the Robert Hopkin Club. He is a thirty-second de
gree Mason, being a member of the pioneer Blue Lodge of Michigan,
Zion No. 1; of Monroe Chapter; Monroe Council; Michigan Sovereign
Consistory and Moslem Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He belongs to
the Detroit lodge of Elks ; Detroit Lodge of Odd Fellows, No. 128 ; Wood
ward Court of Foresters, and Banner Tent of the Maccabees. He also
belongs to the Board of Commerce and Detroit Real Estate Board.
In societies occupying special fields he has been a member and officer
of the Detroit Society of the American Institute of Archasology since its
foundation, a member of Palestine Exploration Fund, the Egypt Ex
ploration Fund, and of the Michigan Historical Society, to whose publi
cations he has contributed. He was for many years a member and
officer of the Unity Club, of the executive committee of the Detroit High
School alumni and chairman of the board of directors of the University
of Michigan Alumni Association of Detroit.
Mr. Heineman is a director in the Detroit Fire & Marine Insurance
Company, the leading insurance company of the state, and also a direc
tor of the Merz Capsule Company, and president of the Heineman Realty
Company. He was formerly managing director of the Fort Wayne &
Belle Isle Railway Company. He is a director and life member of the
State Anti-Tuberculosis Society. At one time he was secretary of the
D'Arcambal Home Association.
Mr. Heineman leads a very active life, disposes of business quickly
and is thus enabled to get results. He is absolutely democratic in his
ways, taking every man on his merits and asking no odds himself. He
has one of the largest acquaintances in the city and a very large one
throughout the state. A ready speaker, he is in demand on civic, politi
cal and social occasions and it is a quiet year when he does not average
at least one address a week. He has traveled a great deal abroad and
is conversant with the German, French and Italian languages, in all of
which he has made public addresses. He belongs to the Alliance Fran-
caise. Mr. Heineman in his busy career has not stopped to enjoy matri
monial bliss, but is still an eligible bachelor.
George Maurice. On May 8, 1905, there was removed in the prime
of life and usefulness George Maurice, one of those substantial and
honorable citizens who, although not identified with public life in any.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1209
manner, yet contributed in a quiet, forceful way his share to the best
interests of the city. It is safe to say that the memory of this esteemed
citizen will long live in the hearts of the many who knew and loved him.
His particular sphere of activity' was as cashier of the firm of Baldwin
& McGraw, dealers in boots and shoes, and in whose regard and confi
dence he held highest place, as evidenced by his long term of service with
them. Mr. Maurice was a native son of Detroit, his birth having occurred
on Woodward avenue, near Grand River avenue, August 25, 1845. He
was the son of George and Margaret Maurice, who came to Detroit from
Scotland, of which country they were natives. Here they established a
grocery store which they conducted until about the time of the Civil war,
when the father retired from business. George Maurice, the younger,
was reared in Detroit and received his education in the old Patterson
school. When a very young man he became bookkeeper in a foundry in
Detroit and not long subsequent became identified with his life-long pa
trons, the H. P. Baldwin Company, later known as the firm of Baldwin
& McGraw. He was eventually advanced to the office of cashier, in
which he was serving at the time of his demise.
John Jacob Marker, M. D. One of the well known physicians of
Wayne eounty is Dr. John J. Marker, medical superintendent of the
Wayne County Hospital for Mental Diseases, at Eloise. Dr. Marker
was born in the town of Wayne, Wayne county, Michigan, on August
30, 1863, and is descended from one of the pioneer families of the county.
His grandfather is Jacob Marker, who was a native of Germany, where
he married Elizabeth Orth, and they came to America in 1830, coming
direct -to Detroit, where he became a, pioneer blacksmith. Later in life
he removed to Ruth, Michigan, and there, he died. His wife died in
Detroit. The father of Dr. Marker was Frederick F., who was born in
Detroit, on January 9, 1838, and he married Martha A. Norton, who was
born in Huron township, Wayne county, Michigan, on November 15,
1839, the daughter of Abel and Judith (Watkins) Norton, the former a
native of New York state and the latter of Connecticut. They died
respectively in Wayne county in 1841 and 1862. Frederick F. Marker
removed with the family to the town of Wayne in 1856 and followed
his father in the blacksmith trade, dying in that place on November 7,
1911. His widow yet survives him.
The early education of Dr. Marker was obtained at the high school of
Wayne. He entered the medical department of the University of Mich
igan in 1887 and was graduated with the class of 1890 with the degree
of Doctor of Medicine. He entered practice in 1890, in Wayne, with
the late Dr. Thomas Morrison, but after a year in private practice he
became house physician to the county house. In 1893 he was appointed
assistant medical superintendent to the Wayne County Hospital for
Mental Diseases, and in 1900 was appointed medical superintendent of
that institution. The only comment as to the doctor's success in his
official capacity is his record of twenty years' continuous service in the
Eloise Hospital, twelve years of which time he has been in full charge
of the medical department.
Dr. Marker is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society, of
the Michigan State Medical Society and the American Medical Associ
ation. He is also a member of Alpha Chapter of Nu Sigma Nu frater
nity. Vol. in— 24

1210 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Dr. Marker married Anna P. Morrison, who was born in Wayne,
Wayne county, Michigan, the daughter of the late Dr. Thomas Morrison,
a pioneer physician of the county. Dr. Morrison was a native of Pais
ley, Perthshire, Scotland. He was graduated in mjedicine from the To
ronto (Canada) University in 1860, and began the practice of his pro
fession in Perrinsville, Wayne county, later removing to Wayne, where
he continued his professional work through the remainder of his life,
dying there in the spring of 1894. He served a term in the house of
representatives and in the senate of Michigan. He married Sarah A.
Perrin, who was born in Perrinsville, Wayne county, Michigan, the
daughter of Abraham Perrin, a Wayne county pioneer. She died in
1901. To Dr. and Mrs. Marker two children have been born, as follows:
Janet, born June 5, 1894, and Morrison, born June 23, 1901.
Cummings Davis Whitcomb. The death on August 8, 1909, of
Cummings Davis Whitcomb marks the passing of one of Detroit's old
time railroad men. He was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, in 1840,
and was the son of Elijah and Mary (Simons) Whitcomb, both of whom
were of New England descent. Mr. Whitcomb received his early edu
cation in Fitchburg and Boston, in which latter city he had his first
business experience as a clerk for the Boston and Worcester Railroad.
At the beginning of the Civil war Mr. Whitcomb enlisted in the
Forty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry. After being mustered out of
the service he returned to his work on the Boston and Worcester Rail
road, ultimately becoming general ticket agent. Later on he accepted a
similar position with the Union Pacific at Omaha, and still later with
the Michigan Central in Detroit. Subsequently he was general Passen-t
ger agent for the Detroit Navigation Company.
On May 10, 1865, Mr. Whitcomb was united in marriage to Mary G.
Webber, daughter of Israel and Mary Ann (Gorhan) Webber, of Damar-
iscotta, Maine. Their only child, Edgar B., was born at Newton, Massa
chusetts, and received his education in Detroit.
Mr. Whitcomb cared little for lodges', clubs or politics, but was
greatly attached to his home life.
Mrs. Cummings D. Whitcomb still makes her home in the residence
on Henry street which the family have occupied for over forty years.
Mr. Whitcomb was buried at Woodmere cemetery.
Milton Carmichael, secretary of the Detroit Convention and Tour
ists' Bureau was born in Muncie, Indiana, on February 4, 1868, and is
the son of Oliver and Martha (Losh) Carmichael, both natives of Indi
ana, where the family is an old and highly esteemed one. Both parents
are still living.
Mr. Carmichael was reared in Indiana and received his education in
the public schools of his community. He learned the printing trade and
followed newspaper work for many years, principally on the staffs of the
different Indianapolis newspapers. He first came to Detroit in 1889,
spending some time on the city newspapers, and then sought other
fields of journalistic work, but returning to Detroit in 1893, since which
time he has made his home in this city. He was engaged in newspaper
work in Detroit chiefly on the staff of the Evening Journal until about
ten years ago, when he gave up the work, entering the civic organization
field in Detroit and Milwaukee, being three years in the latter named

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1211
city. He became secretary of the Detroit Convention and Tourists'
Bureau in 1904. He was the organizer of the Bureau, and, indeed, is
the pioneer of the entire country in convention work of this sort, being
recognized as an authority in the work and being consulted by civic
organizations throughout the country.
Mr. Carmichael is secretary of the American Association of Commerce
Executives, which is an organization of all the commercial associations
of the United States and Canada ; he is a member of the American Play
Grounds Association; a member of the American Civic Association; a
member of the Central Association of Commercial Secretaries ; secretary-
treasurer of the Michigan Association of Agriculture and Commerce;
member of the executive committee of the ' ' See America First" Congress ;
member of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, and a member
of the Detroit Ad-Craft Club.
Mr. Carmichael married Isabelle, the daughter of John C. Sullivan,
of Detroit. They have one daughter, Isabelle Frances.
Milton G. Goff, M. D. Within the pages of this work will be found
individual mention of many of the representative Detroit physicians
and surgeons of the younger generation, and to such recognition is Dr.
Milton Guy Goff well entitled. He claims the fine old Keystone state of
the Union as the place of his nativity and is a scion of one of its old and
honored families, the Goff lineage tracing back undoubtedly to stanch
Scottish origin. Dr. Goff was born in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsyl
vania, on the 31st of December, 1880, and thus became a right welcome
New Year's guest in the home of his parents, Albert and Kate (Leach)
Goff, both of whom were likewise born and reared in Pennsylvania.
The Goff family was founded in America in the Colonial era of our
national history, and the Leach family has long been one of prominence
in Pennsylvania. Albert Goff has devoted the major part of his active
career to real estate and contracting, and he and his wife still maintain
their home in Pittsburgh.
The public schools of his native city afforded Dr. Goff his early edu
cational advantages and the discipline included the curriculum of the
high school. Thereafter he was a student for a time in Alleghany College,
at Meadville, Pennsylvania, and in 1901 he came to Detroit for the pur
pose of entering the Detroit Homeopathic Medical College, in which
admirable institution he completed the prescribed course and was grad
uated as a member of the class of 1905, with the degree of Doctor of
Medicine. On the very day of his graduation he opened an office in the
village of Inkster, Wayne county, where he proudly displayed his pro
fessional sign and prepared to serve his novitiate. He soon secured ex
cellent vantage ground in the confidence and esteem of the community
and thus was enabled to build up a substantial practice, to which he con
tinued to devote his attention for three years, at the expiration of which
he felt justified in seeking a broader field of professional endeavor. He
accordingly returned to Detroit and opened an office at 683 Chene street,
where he maintained his headquarters until April, 1911, when he re
moved to his present location, at 515 Mack avenue. His success in the
work of his profession in Detroit has been such as to justify amply his
removal to this city, and his practice shows a constant tendency to expand
in scope and importance, as he is energetic, hard-working and self -abne
gating and most earnest in his devotion to the vocation of his choice.
Dr. Goff holds membership in the Homeopathic Practitioners' Society
of Detroit, and Wayne County Medical Society, is a stanch Republican

1213 HISTORY OF DETROIT
in his political adherency,.and is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of
America. On the 29th of May, 1902, Dr. Goff was united in marriage to Miss
Ethel Armstrong, of Butler, Pennsylvania, afid she presides most gra
ciously over their pleasant home. They have two children, one son aged
nine and a daughter, aged one and one half years.
Charles W. Restrick. By force of his own energy and perseverance
Charles W. Restrick has carved for himself a career which should stand
as an example to young men starting out in life. Self-made, overcoming
seemingly insurmountable difficulties, and never for a moment thinking
of giving up, Mr. Restrick has earned his laurels and the respect of his
fellow men.
Born at Otterville, Canada, December 6, 1856, he was taken to Eng
land at the death of Ms father in 1858, in which country he was educated.
When fifteen years of age Mr. Restrick returned and settled in Detroit.
This occurred in 1872 and his start in life was made as a messenger boy
in the general offices of the Grand Trunk Railway. Shortly after this,
however, W. D. Morton, a banker, being favorably impressed with the
boy, offered him a position in his bank as clerk. The offer was accepted
and Mr. Restrick remained with the Morton bank four years, at which
time he was appointed teller in the Peoples Savings Bank, a position held
by him for four years when ill health compelled him to seek outdoor
employment. About this time Mr. W. D. Morton having become en
gaged in the lumber business again sought the services of his former
clerk, who accepted a position, remaining with him for four years.
In 1884 Mr. Restrick embarked in the lumber business for himself
on Vinewood avenue on the west side of the city, where his main lumber
yard is still located, doing business at that time under the firm name of
C. W. Restrick. The business having expanded very greatly, necessitat
ing the establishment of extensive yards and mills on both sides of the
city, it was in 1908 incorporated under the name of the Restrick Lumber
Company, of which Mr. Restrick is president, Charles F. Meagher first
vice president, James Hannon second vice president, and Robert C.
Restrick secretary and treasurer.
Mr. Restrick is extremely popular in business and social circles.
He holds membership in the Fellowcraft Club, Detroit Cribbage Club,
Detroit Curling Club, Detroit Golf Club, Detroit Board of Commerce,
Milwaukee Junction Manufacturers' Association, and attends the West
minster Presbyterian church. In polities Mr. Restrick is a Republican.
On 'October 12, 1882, he was united in marriage to Miss Jane Cowie,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Cowie, one of the oldest families in
Detroit. John E. Moloney. One of the best known attorneys in Detroit is
John E. Moloney, who is personally popular and successful in the prac
tice of his profession.
The son of William E. and Mary Gertrude (Fey) Moloney, he was
born in Detroit, October 3, 1868. The foundation of his education was
laid in the parochial schools of this city. Graduating from these, he
attended Canisius Jesuit College at New York City from 1882 to 1885.
Returning to Detroit he took up the study of the law and graduated from
the Detroit College of Law, class of 1893, with the degree of LL. B. He
was admitted to the bar in 1892, and was in the office of Brennan &
Donnelly until 1893, when he opened an office of his own, practicing his

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1213
profession alone until 1895, when he formed a partnership with Charles
Flowers, under the firm name of Flowers & Moloney. From 1904 to
1910, the firm was that of Moloney & Bishop, and he is now in practice
alone. Mr. Moloney is a prominent and popular member of Detroit Lodge
34, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is identified with the
Knights of Pythias and the Detroit Yacht Club. He has been interested
in several business enterprises, is considered a successful and able attor
ney and commands the friendship of those with whom he comes in
contact. Thomas P. McCullough, M. D. One of Detroit's able specialists
in the medical profession is Dr. Thomas P. McCullough, whose offices
and residence are located at No. 737 Twenty-fourth street. His skill
as a physician and surgeon is to some extent hereditary, his father,
John Robert McCullough, having been a medical practitioner of note.
The latter was a native of Ireland, where he was born in 1812. He was
a graduate of the medical college of the University of Dublin, but soon
after receiving his degree he came to America, where he became one of
the pioneer surgeons of Ontario. He subsequently removed to the state
of New York, where he conducted the practice of his profession, until,
in November of 1863, he commissioned by Governor Horatio Seymour,
surgeon of the Eighty-second regiment of New York Volunteer Infantry.
During the progress of the war he was made a surgeon in the United
States navy, and upon the conclusion of the Civil war returned to
Ontario, where he continued in the practice of his profession until his
death in 1900, at which time he was the oldest medical practitioner in
Ontario. He was a member of the Presbyterian church and of the
Masonic order. Mrs. McCullough was in her girlhood Miss Lizetta
Potter, a daughter of Elias Potter, who was a scion of the old Potter fam
ily, which being allied with the Empire Loyalist element at the time of
the War of the Revolution, had retired from New York to Ontario during
that period. Mrs. John Robert McCullough died six years after the
passing of her husband.
Thomas P. McCullough was born in the county of Dunham, Ontario,
on May 11, 1860. He received his earliest schooling in the rural dis
tricts of that section of Ontario and later pursued further educational
development in the Bowmanville high school. His first medical studies
were those of the courses given in the Royal College of Physicians of
Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. After a year as a student
there he transferred his enrolment to Trinity Medical College at To
ronto, from which institution he received in 1888 his degree of M. D. C. M.
The initiatory field of Dr. McCullough 's practice was the village of
Arthur in Wellington county, Ontario, where he settled in 1888 and re
mained for two years. At the end of this time he went to New York
city to take advantage of the opportunities for post graduate study pro
vided by the medical college of Bellevue Hospital. He next located in
Port Huron, Michigan, where he was rewarded with such success that
he sought the larger field for professional activity to be found in the
metropolis of the state. While in Detroit, he has been even more success
ful, his specialty being that delicate and complex one of obstetrics and
the diseases of women and children.
Not only professionally and socially is Dr. McCullough prominent
in Detroit circles. He is a member of Friendship Lodge A. F. & A. M.
and of Monroe Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; he is also a member of the
Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America and of the
Degree of Honor.

1214 History of Detroit
Mrs. Thomas McCullough was formerly Miss Susan M. Savigny,
who was of Canadian birth and Scotch ancestry. Dr. and Mrs. McCul
lough have one daughter, Sarah Maude, and four sons, John Robert,
William Hugh, Thomas and Wallace.
Peter Henkel. In studying a clean-cut, sane, distinct character like
that of the late Peter Henkel, interpretation follows fact in a straight
line of derivation. There is small need for indirection or puzzling. His
character was the positive expression of a strong nature, and his strength
was as the number of his days. His name looms large in connection with
the industrial and civic history of Detroit, where his course was marked
by admirable achievement and governed by the highest personal integrity
and honor. In Detroit he built up industrial enterprises of broad scope
and importance and he was a citizen who was ever ready to lend his aid
in the promotion of measures advanced for the general good of the
community. He held various offices of public trust. For more than
sixty years he was identified with business activities in Detroit and his
success, which was large, represented the tangible results of his own
well directed energies.
Mr. Henkel was a native of the province of Westphalia, Germany,
on the 30th of January, 1824, and he died at his home in Detroit, on the
23d of May, 1904, at the venerable age of eighty years and four months.
His father was a wool-dyer and was engaged in this line of enterprise at
Beilstein, Germany, to whose schools the subject of this memoir was
indebted for his early educational discipline, which was limited in scope.
At the age of thirteen years Mr. Henkel entered upon an apprenticeship
to the trade followed by his father. He was soon made a representative
of the concern as a salesman on the road and later held a clerical position
with the same. At the age of twenty years he was conducting a business
of his own, and thus was shown the industry, initiative energy and ambi
tion which marked so significantly his later career in Detroit. As he often
said, he left Germany because of the despotism he there encountered
during his career as a salesman, 'and it may well be understood that his
loyalty to American institutions became of the most insistant order.
In 1842, when eighteen years of age and accompanied by his parents
and his younger brother, Mr. Henkel embarked on a sailing vessel and set
forth to seek his fortune in America. The family landed in New York
city and thence came" to Detroit, where the venerable parents passed the
. remaider of their lives — subjects of his deepest filial solicitude. Concern
ing the career of Mr. Henkel the Detroit Free Press gave a most appreci
ative estimate at the time of his death, and, with certain paraphrase, the
statements thus given are 'found worthy of perpetuation in this sketch.
Mr. Henkel's business life in America began by his engaging in the
retail grocery trade in Detroit, in partnership with Anthony Pulte.
They occupied two stores — one opposite the city hall and the other on
Woodbridge street. Mr. Henkel started in with a cash capital of one
hundred and ten dollars, and the competition was keen. Strict attention
to business won, however, and within the next twenty years he became
successively wholesale grocer, pork packer and miller. He was the first
in Detroit to do pork packing, though many others tried it later. His
rise was rapid and during the period between the '60s and '80s,
inclusive, he did a business of a million dollars a year. He was the
pioneer miller of the city and was the founder of the great milling
business now conducted under the title of Commercial Milling Company.
His success was worthily won and was of the most substantial order,
while his incidental contribution to the industrial and commercial pres
tige of Detroit was such as to give lasting honor to his name. As the

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HISTORY OF DETROIT 1215
years passed and his financial standing became secure, Mr. Henkel retired
from the more active responsibilities of business, relegating the same
largely to his sons, and in 1878 he began making annual trips to Europe.
The secret of Mr. Henkel's long life and exceptional strength lay in his
abstemious habits and the good care he took of himself. He was of
robust constitution, and though never considering himself an athlete
he could, when a young man, hold out a barrel of flour with his two
hands. It is related that on one occasion a prize-fighter entered his
store and made himself disagreeable, whereupon Mr. Henkel caught
him by the shoulders, dragged him to the door and thumped his head on
the sill until he promised to be good. Heart failure was the immediate
cause of the death of Mr. Henkel, although his health had been impaired
for some time prior to his demise, which took place at his home, 706
Fort street, west, at eleven o'clock on the night of May 23, 1904. He
was one of the sterling pioneer business men of Detroit and his loyalty
to the city was shown in manifold ways. No citizen was more progressive
and public-spirited, and none more ready to aid worthy objects — religious,
charitable and benevolent.
In politics Mr. Henkel gave stanch allegiance to the Democratic party,
and in 1865 he was elected a member of the city board of aldermen.
Later he was a delegate to the constitutional convention of the state
and for eleven years served as a member of the board of fire commissioners
of Detroit. Prior to this, in 1847, he had joined the old volunteer fire
department, in which he took deep interest. He served as president
of the board of fire commissioners in later years and upon his retirement
from this office he was presented with a gold commemorative medal, which
he ever afterward prized most highly. Though a stalwart Democrat in a
generic way, he was independent in local affairs and gave his support to
men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment, irrespective
of partisan lines. He erected a fine mansion of thirty rooms on West
Fort street, and after his death his widow disposed of this property and
built her present beautiful home, at 340 East Grand boulevard, in one
of the most attractive residence districts of the city. A man of fine
social instincts and genial personality, Mr. Henkel won and retained
friends in all classes. He was appreciative of the refining influences of
life, especially music, and was a lifelong member of the Harmonic Society,
the leading German social and musical organization of Detroit. He
also held membership in the German Bowling Club and the Detroit
Board of Trade. In his death the city mourned the loss of one of its
sterling citizens and pioneer business men, and his name merits enduring
place on the roster of those who have contributed much to the develop
ment and upbuilding of the "fair metropolis of Michigan.
On the 27th of January, 1859, Mr. Henkel was united in marriage to
Miss Julia Mordhorst, who was born and reared in Germany and who is
a daughter of John and Anna Nordhorst, her parents passing the closing
years of their lives in Detroit. Mrs. Henkel came to America when
seventeen years of age, in company with her brother John, and her
marriage was celebrated in a frame house that stood on the site of the
present county building. She has been a resident of Detroit since her
girlhood and is now one of the venerable and loved pioneer women of the
city in which she and her husband lived their wedded life of nearly a
half century and which is endeared to her by 'the gracious memories and
associations of the past. Mr. and Mrs. Henkel became the parents of
eleven children, of whom four died in infancy. Concerning those who
attained to years of maturity the following brief record is given in
conclusion of this memoir: Robert, who is one of the representative
business men of Detroit, married Miss Athene Yemans and they have

1216 HISTORY OF DETROIT
three children — Robert Y., Athene Julia and Frederick; Julia H. is
the wife of Albert H. Sternberger, of Detroit, and they have two
children — Elsie, and Albert H. ; Walter, who likewise is a prominent
business man of his native city, married Miss Minnie Kenzie and they
have one child — Julia ; Herman married Miss Anna Salmon and is like
wise identified with prominent business interests in Detroit; Louis D.,
died in Germany, at the age of twenty-three years; Julius F., another
son who is well upholding the prestige of the name in Detroit, married
Miss Emeline Liehtenberg; and Lillian Martha is the wife of Julius H.
Haass, president of the Home Savings Bank, of Detroit, their only child
being a daughter, Constance.
Hudson Motor Car Company. To organize a new business and
market four million dollars' worth of product the first season is a rather
remarkable record. So far as is known, it has never been equalled even
in the automobile industry, and the Hudson Motor Car Company is the
corporation that accomplished this unusual feat.
The company, which was organized in 1909, produced first a low
priced roadster model, and gradually since that time has increased the
size and improved the quality of its output until now it stands as one of
the dominant producers in the class of moderate-priced cars. The re
markable thing about the company's progress is that it is operated on
"inside capital." There are ten stockholders and they are all actively
engaged in the work of expanding the company's business. This means
that every man's heart is in his work, and the unusual growth of this
institution is indicative of such a policy. The company is essentially
a young man's organization. At the present time, the average age of
its officers is thirty-six years, and the aggressiveness that goes with youth
has surely characterized the yearly growth of the company.
The business was first started in a small, rented factory, but the de
mand for Hudson cars quickly necessitated more room. It was decided
to purchase a large plot of land, and twenty-five acres were secured on
Jefferson avenue, across from the old Grosse Pointe race track. A mod
ern, concrete plant was built, and additions to this factory have been in
progress almost continuously ever since. Today the factory has 341,525
square feet of floor space and a manufacturing capacity of fifty machines
a day. It has been the policy of the officers of the company to obtain a
commanding place in a certain field of the motor car industry and con
tinue in that field. Each new season has served to more strongly en
trench them, and a radical increase in the volume of business over the
original four million of the first year has been annually attained.
A great specialty has been made of bringing together unusual en
gineering brains within the Hudson organization. It is felt that how
ever good air the other departments might be, the company must stand or
fall upon the design of its cars. Engineers have been secured from all
of the reputable automobile makers in the world and an engineering
board formed composed of specialists in every line of motor car structure.
At the head of this board of engineers is Howard E. Coffin, perhaps the
most famous designer within the industry, and vice president of the
Hudson Company. Complete and thorough organization necessitates
that every department be well rounded out, and running through the
whole institution is to be found a class of men who have had long expe
rience in their own particular line of endeavor. There is essentially
ah esprit de corps among the Hudson employees that is invaluable. This
very spirit of satisfaction and helping one another certainly argues much
for the successful future of this corporation.
The officers are Roy D. Chapin, president; Howard E. Coffin, vice

HISTORY OF DETROIT • 1217
president and consulting engineer; Frederick 0. Bezner, secretary; Ros-
coe B. Jackson, treasurer and general manager, and E. H. Broadwell,
vice president. Messrs. Chapin, Coffin, Bezner and Jackson have been
intimately connected with several of the well known motor car companies,
and their experience runs back practically with the beginning of the in
dustry, all of them having started with the Oldsmobile Company when
it produced the extraordinarily successful curve-dash roadster, many
of which are running even yet on the streets of Detroit.
Mr. Chapin was general sales manager of the Olds Company, Mr.
Coffin chief engineer, Mr. Bezner, purchasing agent, and Mr. Jackson,
factory manager. Mr. Broadwell was for years identified with one of
the larger tire companies, and in this way came closely in touch with the
needs of the motor car user. Through this early experience it may be
seen that an unusual diversity of ability has been gathered together
among the Hudson officials.
Popular approval has stamped the worth and attractiveness of the
Hudson motor cars, and Detroit has emphatically gained by having this
concern added to its long and splendid list of manufacturing industries.
Howard E. Coffin. Fortified through fine technical knowledge
and skill, comprehensive practical experience and marked facility and
resourcefulness as an executive, Mr. Coffin has. won for himself a promi
nent place in connection with the automombile industry, and is now iden
tified with one of the important concerns of this line in Detroit, where
he is vice president and consulting engineer of the Hudson Motor Car
Company, concerning which due mention is made elsewhere in this pub
lication. His status as a business man and as a progressive citizen well
entitle him to recognition in this history of Detroit, where he has achieved
success worthy of the name.
Howard Earl Coffin reverts with a due measure of pride and satis
faction to the fact that he can claim the fine old Buckeye state as the
place of his nativity. He was born on the homestead farm of the family,
near the village of West Milton, in Miami county, Ohio, and the date of
his nativity was September 6, 1873. He is a son of Julius Cestal Coffin
and Sarah E. (Jones) Coffin. The genealogy of Mr. Coffin is traced
back to the well known Coffin family of Nantucket, Massachusetts, where
Tristram Coffin the original American progenitor settled, upon his im
migration from England early in the seventeenth century. The name
has been one of no little prominence in the annals of New England and
other sections of the United States.
Reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm, Howard E. Coffin gained
his rudimentary education in the district schools, and after leaving the
same he continued his studies in the public schools of the village of West
Milton, where he partially completed the curriculum of the high school.
In November, 1889, in pursuance of a natural predilection for a line of
activity radically different .from that to which he had been reared, he
came to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and entered its admirable high school,
in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1893. In the same
year he entered the department of mechanical engineering in the Uni
versity of Michigan, where he continued his studies, until 1896, when
he withdrew from the University to enter the United States civil serv
ice, with which he continued to be actively identified until 1901. He
then resumed his studies in the university, and he left this institution
six months prior to the completion of his course in mechanical engineer
ing, but in June, 1911, the university conferred upon him the degree of
Mechanical Engineer, in recognition of his practical accomplishment and
marked ability in his profession.
In leaving the university six months prior to graduation, Mr. Coffin

1218 HISTORY OF DETROIT
took this action in order to accept, in 1902, employment in the shops of
the Olds Motor Works in Detroit, and in the following year he was ad
vanced to the position of engineer in charge of the experimental shops of
this company. This incumbency he retained until 1905, when he be
came chief engineer of the concern. In the spring of 1906, however,
Mr. Coffin severed his connection with the Olds Company and assisted
in the organization of the E. R. Thomas-Detroit Company, which engaged
in the manufacturing of automobiles and of which he became vice presi
dent and chief engineer. In the following year he further amplified
his duties and responsibilities by assuming the position of consulting en
gineer to the E. R. Thomas Motor Company of Buffalo, New York. The
Detroit concern was reorganized as the Chalmers Motor Company in
1908, and Mr. Coffin continued as vice president of this company until
1910, in which year he instituted operations of a more independent order
in the same line of industrial enterprise. In January, 1910, he became
vice president and consulting, engineer of the Hudson Motor Car Com
pany, and this dual position he has since retained. It is mainly due to
his fine professional skill and executive ability that the Hudson car has
been brought up to so high a standard and gained that distinctive popu
larity which makes for cumulative success. The company now has one
of the finest automobile plants in the world, with the best of modern
appliances and facilities, and the products of the same attest the skill
of Mr. Coffin and his able corps of assistants in the practical details of
the industry. In 1910 Mr. Coffin had the distinction of serving as presi
dent of the Society of Automobile Engineers. He was chairman of the
rules committee of the Automobile Manufacturers' Contest Association
for 1911. He has been a member of the executive committee of the Amer
ican Automobile Association since 1909, is a member of the council of the
Society of Automobile Engineers, and was for five years chairman of the
committee on tests of the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufac
turers. These connections amply indicate his high standing in the auto
mobile world, and also offer assurance of his enthusiasm in his chosen
field of endeavor. In a more localized way Mr. Coffin is identified with
the Wolverine Automobile Club, the Detroit Automobile Club, the Detroit
Motor Boat Club and the Michigan Aero Club ; besides which he is iden
tified with the Aero Club of America and the Engineers' Club of New
York City. In his home city he holds membership in the Detroit Club,
the Country Club, the University Club and the Detroit Boat Club.
Aside from, his connection with the Hudson Motor Car Company, he is
a stockholder in the Detroit Metal Products Company and several other
manufacturing concerns.
In politics Mr, Coffin is arrayed as a stalwart advocate of the prin
ciples and policies of the Republican party, but he is essentially a busi
ness man, and political office has had no allurement for him. He is
affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, in which he now holds member
ship in Palestine Lodge, Free & Accepted Masons, of Detroit.
In November, 1907, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Coffin to
Miss Matilda Vary Allen, daughter of Edwin A. Allen, a representative
citizen of Battle Creek, this state. The Allen family in America was
founded by Samuel Allen, who emigrated from Dorchester, England,
in 1630, and settled at Windsor, Connecticut. The father of Mrs. Coffin
is a direct descendant of Joseph Allen, who was father of the illustrious
patriot, Ethan Allen. Mr. and Mrs. Coffin have no children.
Roy D. Chapin. Well worthy of recognition 'in this work as one of
the representative business men of the younger generation in Detroit,
where he fully exemplifies that progressive and vital spirit that has made

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1219
the city forge so rapidly to the forefront along industrial and commercial
lines, Roy D. Chapin, president of the Hudson Motor Car Company, is a
native son of Michigan and a scion of one of the old and honored families
of the state. His grandfather, Rev. Seth S. Chapin, was an early rep
resentative of the clergy of the Protestant Episcopal church, in connec
tion with the work of which he was long rector of churches, at Grand
Rapids, and St. Johns, Michigan, and at other points within the state.
Roy Dikeman Chapin was born in the city of Lansing,. Michigan,
on the 23d of February, 1880, and is a son of Edward Cornelius and Ella
(King) Chapin, who still maintain their home in the capital city of the
state, where the father has long held prestige as one of the representa
tive members of the Michigan bar. He has been a resident of Lansing
for forty-five years. He whose name initiates this review gained his
early educational discipline in the public schools of his native city and
thereafter prosecuted his higher academic studies in the University of
Michigan, where he remained a student for two years.
Mr. Chapin has been identified with the automobile industry since
the virtual inception of the same in its practical form. In February,
1901, he left Ann Arbor and identified himself with the Olds Motor
Works, in Detroit, in 1904 becoming the first sales manager for this well
known concern, which was at the time the largest manufacturer of auto
mobiles in the world. In 1906 he severed his connection with the Olds
Company and, with Edwin R. Thomas of Buffalo, New York, organized
the E. R. Thomas-Detroit Company, for the manufacturing of the
Thomas-Detroit automobile. He established his home in Detroit in the
year mentioned, and later he was the principal factor in securing to this
concern the cooperation of Hugh Chalmers, whereupon the title of the
corporation was changed to the Chalmers-Detroit Motor Company. With
the new company, as with its predecessor, Mr. Chapin held the dual office
of treasurer and general manager. While still maintaining his con
nection with the Chalmers-Detroit Company he became concerned in
the organization of the Hudson Motor Car Company, and in January,
1910, he was associated with Howard E. Coffin and Frederick O. Bezner
in purchasing control of the business of this new company, of which he
became president. He simultaneously severed his connection with the
Chalmers Company, and, as president of the Hudson Motor Car Company,
has brought to bear his fine executive and initiative powers in the up
building of one of the most important and successful of the many auto
mobile-manufacturing enterprises centered in the Michigan metropolis.
Concerning the company specific mention is made in the preceding
article, in which likewise appears a brief review of the career of the vice
president and consulting engineer of the company, Howard E. Coffin.
Mr. Chapin has found other fields for the exercise of his energies and is
identified with a number of other representative industrial institutions
of Detroit, where he is also a stockholder in several banks, and a director
of the Old Detroit National Bank. He is president and a director of the
Eastern Realty Company, is treasurer and a director of the Sterling
Realty Company, and is a member of the directorate of the Detroit
Metal Products Company. Resourceful, vigorous and progressive as a
business man and loyal and public-spirited as a citizen, Mr. Chapin
takes a lively interest in all that touches the welfare of his home
eity and state, and his personal popularity, of unequivocal order,
testifies to the sterling personal characteristics of the man. He
is a member of the executive committee and also secretary of the National
Association of Automobile Manufacturers, and is a member of the Auto
mobile Board of Trade, in each of which organizations he is chairman of
the Good Roads committee, besides which he is a member of the Good
Roads board of the American Automobile Association and treasurer of
the Central Good Roads finance committee.

1220 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Though never desirous of the honors or emoluments of public office,
Mr. Chapin is loyal to all civic duties and responsibilities, and his political
allegiance is given to the Republican party. He is a communicant of the
Protestant Episcopal church, in whose faith he was reared, and he is
affiliated with the Phi Delta Theta college fraternity. In addition to
his supreme interest in automobile affairs, he has also taken a lively in
terest in air navigation, in connection with which he is identified with
the Aero Club of America and the Michigan Aero Club. He holds mem
bership in the Wolverine Automobile Club, the Detroit Automobile Club,
the Detroit Boat Club, the Detroit Racquet & Curling Club, the Uni
versity Club, the Country Club and the Detroit Club, his identification
with which essentially representative organizations vouches for his popu
larity in both business and social circles. Mr. Chapin is a bachelor.
Mention has already been made that he is a representative of one of the
sterling pioneer families of Michigan, and it may be further noted that
he is a direct descendant of Deacon Samuel Chapin, who came to America
from England in 1639 and who later became the founder of the city of
Springfield, Massachusetts.
Charles Sill Witbeck. In the death of Charles Sill Witbeck on
January 22, 1882, there passed away one of the ablest hotel men of this
country and a citizen who for many years had been prominently identi
fied with the city of Detroit. During his active career in this city, from
about the close of the war until his death, he gave a reputation to the
old Russell House which still lingers as pleasant reminiscence among
old travelers and local citizens. As the leading hotel of the time the
Russell House was known far and wide, and Mr. Witbeck as one of the
proprietors shared in its large popularity, and his ability was deservedly
credited with the successful prestige which the hotel maintained during
the eighteen years of his connection with its management. The Russell
House, the site of which is now occupied by the Pontchartrain, was an
important institution of earlier Detroit and was associated with many
of the historic events of the time.
Charles Sill Witbeck was born in Lockport, New York, in 1835, and
belonged to a prominent family of New York state. The original Amer
ican settler, Johann Witbeck, of Holland, was among the first of that
sturdy people to come to the Dutch colony, and during his lifetime owned
Berwick Island. For a great many years the members of the family
have lived in and about Albany. Mr. Witbeck 's parents were John and
Harriet (Lockport) Witbeck. His father owned hotels in Albany and
Lockport, while his uncle was proprietor of a hostelry in Buffalo.
Coming thus of a family of hotel men, Mr. Witbeck, after receiving
a good education in his native city of Lockport, began his career as a
hotel clerk, and, as the business of his life, mastered all its details, in
later years being regarded as one of the most efficient hotel managers in
America. During his early life he went west and was clerk of the old
Linden Hotel in St. Louis at the time of the Civil war. He soon after
ward located in Detroit, where he was clerk of the old Biddle House for
some time. With William J. Chittenden he then leased the Russell
House, which continued under the management of Witbeck & Chitten
den for eighteen years, and during that time attained its greatest distinc
tion as a hotel. On account of ill health Mr. Witbeck spent the last year
of his life retired from active business, and his final resting place is
the beautiful Elmwood cemetery.
The deceased was a prominent Mason, having taken most of the
degrees in that order. Broad-minded and .progressive, he gave his
support to the best interests of his home community, and was always
esteemed one of the leading citizens. An independent Democrat in

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1221
politics, he would never accept public office for himself, but gave his
assistance to men and movements that he considered best for the general
welfare. He was an attendant of the Episcopal church.
Mr. Witbeck is survived by his widow and two sons. Mrs. Witbeck
before her marriage, which occurred in Detroit, June 25, 1867, was Miss
Harriet E. Strong, a daughter of Josiah and Cloey L. (Rogers) Strong,
who were New England people. Josiah Strong, her father, was a
prominent merchant in Canada, beginning business there in 1835, and
during the last years of his life was a resident of Detroit. Mrs. Witbeck
has been a resident of Detroit since 1864. Her present home is an
elegant residence on Jefferson avenue, and she still owns the old home-
place where she lived for thirty years on West Fort street, the Saturday
Night Publishing Company's building being now located on that site.
She is a member of the Episcopal church.
Charles Strong Witbeck, the older of her two sons, after graduating
from Yale, studied law in the University of Michigan, was admitted to
the bar at Detroit, and is now legal adviser in the United States Reclama
tion Service, being stationed at Phoenix, Arizona.
Ernest Strong Witbeck, who lives at home with his mother, is a
construction engineer and one of the able representatives of his pro
fession in Detroit. He is also a graduate of Yale, having taken the
scientific course. During the Spanish-American war he served as gun
ner's mate with the Michigan Naval Reserves.
Charles M. Gulden. For more than half a century Mr. Gulden has
maintained his home in Detroit, to which city he came with his parents
when he was a young man. He has been long and prominently identi
fied with business interests in the Michigan metropolis, the greater por
tion of the time as an efficient and valued employe of the Grand Trunk
Railroad Company, and after years of earnest and well directed endeavor
he is now living virtually retired, at No. 226 John R. street, corner of
Adelaide. Mr. Gulden is well known in the city that has so long been
his home and here he holds a steadfast place in the confidence and
esteem of all who knew him. He gave to the land of his adoption the
most loyal and meritorious service as a soldier of the Union in the Civil
war and is one of the influential and valued members of the Grand Army
of the Republic in his home city.
Charles M. Gulden was born in Germany, on the historic Rhine,
son of Gottlieb and Mary Gulden. In 1854 the family emigrated to
America and landed in Quebec, Canada, whither the memorable cholera
scourge of that year had penetrated, and the mother was attacked with
the dread disease, with the result that the family had to tarry in Quebec
until she was convalescent. They then set forth for Chicago, which city
had been selected by the father as a permanent place of abode, but upon
arriving in Detroit he met friends who prevailed^ upon him to establish
his home in this city. Here he engaged in the work of his trade, that of
cabinet-maker, and here both he and his wife passed the residue of
their lives, secure in the high regard of all who knew them and popular
in the leading German social circles of the city. Both were devout
communicants of the Catholic church and were members of the cathedral
parish of Sts. Peter and Paul. The children comprised two sons and
a daughter. Anthony, Mr. Gulden's brother, serving in the Civil war as
a member of the Ninth Michigan Cavalry.
Charles M. Gulden secured his early educational discipline in the
excellent schools of his native land and after the family home had been
established in Detroit secured employment as clerk in the retail hard-

1222 HISTORY OF DETROIT
ware store of Limbrock & Barnes, of that city, remaining with this
representative firm for twenty years.
When the Civil war commenced Mr. Gulden was an earnest Union
man, and his enlistment was the result of sudden inspiration, if not an
accident. On the 16th of October, 1861, he had gone to Fort Wayne,
the government military post at Detroit, for the purpose of viewing the
recruiting and other military operations. He. had accompanied friends
to the fort and while there his loyalty was quickened to decisive action,
as he forthwith enlisted as a private in Battery B, First Michigan Volun
teer Artillery. His name was incorrectly given on the roster, as the
result of misinterpretation of the same, and he thus went to the front
under the name of Carl Golden. His record as a valiant and faithful
soldier is one that will redound to his lasting honor. His command was
assigned to the Army of the Potomac and in the battle of Shiloh, Tenne-
see, on the 6th of April, 1862, he was shot in the neck, the injury being
so severe that he was sent to a hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he
remained about two weeks, after which he returned to his home in
Detroit, on furlough. Here he remained about three months, within
which period he recuperated from his wound, and he then rejoined his
command, at Memphis, Tennessee. On the 21st of February, 1863, he
was made bugler and on the first of the following November was pro
moted to the office of corporal. On the 24th of December, of that year,
at the expiration of his original term of enlistment, he reenlisted as a
veteran, at Pulaski, Tennessee, and at this time was enrolled under his
proper name. He continued in active service with his regiment until
the close of the war and participated in many of the important engage
ments that marked its progress. He was mustered out, at Detroit, on the
14th of June, 1865, and duly received his honorable discharge.
After the close of the war Mr. Gulden reentered the employ of
Limbrock & Barnes, and was subsequently identified with the Grand
Trunk Railroad, being connected with the latter corporation at the
time of his retirement from active business.
Retaining a deep interest in his old comrades of the Civil war, Mr.
Gulden is one of the influential and popular members of Parker Post,
Grand Army of the Republic in which he has served as officer of the day.
He is also a member of the board of directors, having in charge the mag
nificent Grand Army building in his home city. Mr. Gulden is a
patriotic and good citizen. As a churchman he is one of. the earnest
and zealous communicants of the parish of the cathedral of Sts. Peter
and Paul, and his deceased wife was likewise a devoted communicant
of that church. In the year 1867 was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Gulden to Miss Mary Malkumus, a native of the province of Ontario,
Canada, of German parentage, whose death occurred in September,
1908. Mrs. Gulden was a women of gentle and unassuming ways and
won and retained the affectionate regard of all who came within the
compass of her influence. She is survived by two children — Anthony
S., who is a traveling salesman and who resides in Detroit; and Miss
Theresa B., who presides over her father's houshold.
Nathaniel Brewster Webber, M. D. We cannot refuse to believe
that the doctrine of inherited characteristics is a true one, for where-
ever we turn we find proof of it. The Webber family of Detroit is a
very striking instance. The late Dr. Nathaniel Webber was one of
the leading medical men in the city, prominent not only as a physician
but as a surgeon, and noted as one of the instructors in the Detroit
College of Medicines. His son, Dr. Nathaniel Brewster Webber, has
followed closely in his father's steps, and seemingly has inherited the

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1223
traits that made the elder doctor so successful. The son seems to
possess the strength of character of the father, and, through his close
association with him, has gathered wisdom and experience beyond his
years. Dr. Nathaniel W. Webber was one of the most popular lecturers
in the College of Medicine, because he not only was a thorough master
of his subjects, but had the dominating intellect and will that enabled
him to hold the interest of his classes. It is easily seen that a man of this
kind would make a successful physician. This trait is also to be seen
in the son and he has established himself in the confidence of the people,
as is evidenced by his success in his profession and the number of
official positions which he has been called upon to fill. His friends and
fellow practitioners all predict for him as brilliant a future career as the
life of his father presented.
Nathaniel Brewster Webber was born on the site of the Detroit
Moose Temple, which is on Rowland avenue, now in the heart of the
business district. The date of his birth was the 11th of September, 1882.
He was the son of the late Nathaniel W. and Catherine (Brewster)
Webber. He grew up in the city of his birth, watching its phenomenal
growth and the rapid encroachment of the business district upon the one
time residence portion, and he received his education in the public
schools of the city, followed by a two years' literary course in the
University of Michigan. He took his medical degree from the Detroit
College of Medicine, graduating from that institute with the class of
1902. During the year in which he was graduated, Dr. -Webber began his
practice as assistant surgeon for the Sante Fe Railway Company at
Raton, New Mexico. He remained there for a year and then, having
acquired considerable experience in surgery, returned to Detroit and
entered into partnership with his father. He was wise in having spent
his first year in practice by himself, for it gave him confidence in his
unaided abilities. Dr. Webber continued to practice with his father
until the death of the latter in 1907. The value of these few years of
association is inestimable to the younger physician.
In 1906 Dr. Webber was appointed health officer of the Village of
Highland Park, and he has held this position ever since. He is likewise
surgeon to the village police and the fire departments. The people who
placed him in these positions discovered that he was not only capable,
but that he was conscientious about his duties, and so they further
showed their confidence in him by electing him school inspector. He is
also medical examiner for the United States Marine Corps at Detroit.
He is a member of the Wayne County Medical Association, of the State
Medical Society and of the American Medical Association. He is much
interested in the work of these various bodies and keeps in close touch
with all the recent developments in his field. His wife was Miss Bessie
Rippon, of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada.
Nathaniel Wilbur Webber, the father, was an eastern man, born at
Gardiner, Maine, on the 9th of February, 1839. He was a son of Nathan
iel Webber, and his mother was a Miss Wadsworth previous to her
marriage. His parents came to the west at an early date and settled at
Chicago. At that time the city did not possess more than ten thousand
inhabitants and life was exceedingly crude and seemed very strange
to these_ easterners. They sent their son to the public schools, and
after finishing his work in Chicago, he was sent to Rock River Seminary.
He had always cherished an ardent desire to study medicine, and he was
not more than twenty when he assumed it. This was in 1859, and he
attended the first two courses of lectures that were offered at what is
now the Medical department of the Northwestern University, Chicago.

1224 HISTORY OF DETROIT
After completing these courses he was compelled to reside for a time
in Colorado, and while living there was appointed hospital steward in the
Third Regiment of Colorado Infantry.
After a time spent in the west Dr. Webber returned to Chicago on
a furlough, and while here he went before the board of examiners, from
whom he received the appointment as assistant surgeon in the Sixteenth
Regiment of Illinois Cavalry. Later the surgeon of this regiment was
forced to resign on account of poor health, and Dr. Webber received his
promotion to fill the vacancy. He served with this regiment until the
close of the war in 1865, when he was mustered out of the service. He
was a most successful army surgeon, because of his courage and coolness
which he never lost in the most crucial circumstances. He was as daring
as any soldier in the regiment and never hesitated to go into the thickest
of the fight if his duty called him there. He always chafed at the
necessity that kept him beyond the range of fire, for, although he knew
that upon his safety depended the lives of many, it was hard for him to
realize that while others were giving away their lives for their country
that he could not be with them. He did not have time for many regrets,
however, for the life of an army surgeon during that period was very
strenuous — indeed, it was work all day, and ofttimes all night, with
snatches of sleep at intervals. He was with his regiment through all
the campaigns of General Sherman, and during this period was once
taken captive and held as a prisoner of war for a time. He was under
the command of General Thomas at the siege of Nashville. At the
close of the war he returned to his home in Chicago and took his third
and last course at the Northwestern University; but, although still the
student, he had probably seen more actual suffering and death than
many of his instructors, and after his years of practical surgery it must
have been at least a novel experience to become again a regular pupil.
In 1866 he was graduated, with the degree of M. D., and immediately
assumed the practice of his profession, in Chicago.
Dr. Webber rapidly rose to prominence in his profession and gained
a reputation for self-sacrifice and courage (which after his war experience
were ingrained in his nature); when he had charge of the cholera hos
pital of Cook county during the epidemic of 1866. He served one term
as county physician of Cook county, Illinois, and in a very short period
his reputation had spread beyond the limits of Chicago. In fact, he
became so well known that in 1869 he was invited by the Detroit College
of Medicine to take the chair of anatomy in that institution, and he
willingly accepted the hohor. He then moved to Detroit and took up
his work in that city. Upon the death of the late Dr. Edward W. Jenks,
the first president of the Detroit College of Medicine, as well as its
founder, Dr. Webber was appointed to succeed him in his position of
professor of gynecology. He continued to fill this chair until his death,
and was undoubtedly one of the ablest men of the college faculty.
In addition to the above honors, Dr. Webber was many times honored
with various public positions. In 1885 he was appointed health physi
cian of the city of Detroit. He held this position for only a few months,
and then resigned on account of his physical condition which was none
too robust at the time. The work of the office was -not congenial to him,
and his own constantly growing private practice made such demands
upon his time that he found it impossible to do justice to the office;
hence his resignation. For sixteen years he was a member of the Board
of Pension Examining Surgeons for Wayne County, and he was always
interested in this work, through his old-time connection with the army.
For many years he was medical examiner for the Mutual Benefit Life
Insurance Company of Newark, New Jersey, and for the last few years

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1225
before his death he was state referee of that company in the state of
Michigan. These duties were arduous and, together with his failing
health, forced him to partially relinquish his private practice. In 1905
he removed to Birmingham, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, and there he
lived quietly until his death in 1907.
Dr. Webber was a member of the Masonic order and past master of
the Oriental Lodge of Detroit. He was a firm believer in the principles
of Masonry, as was shown by his own life, and, more than most men,
had an opportunity to see the practical good that this ancient order does
among all classes of people. He was married to Miss Catherine Brew
ster, a native daughter of Detroit and the child of the late Captain
Brewster, who for many years was in charge of the Hudson Bay Trading
Post for the state of Michigan. Mrs. Webber died in 1901.
Hon. William Louis January. It is not an unusual situation in
America to find that the most successful public men have been drawn from
the ranks of the law, and neither is it remarkable, for political problems
are of infinite importance to every nation, and to their solving should
come the trained understanding and broadened method of view that are
necessary to the successful practice of the law. Many of these men of
eminence in professional life consent to publicly serve their fellow
citizens from a sense of duty, others from the natural desire for a wider
field of effort, but very few, indeed, from a financial view, for the
emoluments of the law are far more satisfactory, and that the life is
more congenial may be inferred because so many lawyers, after a period
of political struggle, even when successful in their efforts, return to
their profession with apparent satisfaction.' One of the leading mem
bers of the Michigan bar, whose determined efforts in the state legislature
have resulted in the passing of many admirable bills particularly valu
able to Detroit, is the Hon. William Louis January.
Mr. January was born on a farm near Xenia, Greene county, Ohio,
January 9, 1853, and is the son of George Wadman and Mary Standifore
(Garnett) January. He acquired his elementary education in the dis
trict schools of his native* county, and then entered the University of
Michigan, taking first an elective course. He was graduated from the
law department of the above university with the class of 1883, degree
of L. L. B., and in that same year was admitted to the Michigan bar
and began the practice of his profession in Detroit. Later he was ad
mitted to practice in the United States circuit, district and supreme
courts. In the fall of 1896 Mr. January was elected to the lower house
of the Michigan legislature and in that session was the only member
from Detroit on the committee on city corporations, a most important
body at that time. He introduced bills for the amendment of the
Detroit city charter and the first measure providing for the general
primary election reforms throughout the state and abolishing caucuses
and conventions. This latter bill was not passed, but formed the
nucleus for other similar measures which resulted in a primary election
law for the city of Detroit. He also introduced and secured the passage
of a bill for the protection of parks and boulevards of the city, notably
the Belle Isle bridge approach, making it a part of the city park and
placing it under the control of the park board. He was also active in
the reduction of taxation and the repeal of the Michigan Central charter.
In 1905 Mr. January was a candidate for circuit judge, and in 1907
was a candidate for delegate to the Michigan State Constitutional Con
vention. He was a delegate to the World's Congress of Lawyers and
Jurists at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1904, and was appointed by the Detroit
City and Michigan State Bar associations to compile and edit a me-
Vol. HI— 25

1226 HISTORY OF DETROIT
morial of the John Marshall Day celebration. Mr. January has been
prominent in Republican party politics for many years and has ren
dered valuable aid to his party both on the stump and in the press,
being both a brilliant speaker and a fluent writer. He is a member of the
Wayne County Bar Association, Michigan State Bar Association, Amer
ican Bar Association, International Law Association, University of
Michigan Association, Ohio Society of Detroit, and the Detroit Yacht
Club. His le'gal abilities, which are unquestioned, are warmly appre
ciated by his personal and business associates, and he is recognized as
a man of sound business judgment and sterling integrity.
Mr. January was married May 25, 1886, at Shelby, Ohio, to Miss
Carrie B. Brucker.
•Arthur Bennett, M. D. The personal records incorporated in this
publication as touching the representative physicians and surgeons of
Detroit indicate how remarkable a quota the province of Ontario, Can
ada, has contributed to the personnel of the profession in the fair ' ' City
of the Straits, ' ' which has manifold interests in common with its neigh
boring Canadian province. Dr. Bennett is one of the popular physicians
who thus claims Ontario as his birthplace, and in the paternal line is of
stanchest English stock. He was born in the little city of Chatham, the
judicial center of Kent county, Ontario, on the 5th of February, 1864,
and is a son of Farmer and Charlotte (McLeod) Bennett, the former of
whom was born in Southampton, England, and the latter on the Isle
of Skye, Scotland, the largest island of the Inner Hebrides. Thomas
Bennett, grandfather of the doctor, was a member of the band main
tained by the Duke of Wellington on the ducal estate and was skilful
in the playing of both fife and drum. He received a collegiate education
and held in England the title of esquire, together with a landed estate.
He came to America about the year 1851 and established his home in
Ontario, Canada. He passed the closing years of his life at Red Wing,
Minnesota, where he died at the patriarchal age of one hundred and
one years, his wife having preceded him to eternal rest by a number
of years. Farmer Bennett, father of him whose name initiates this review, was
but one year old at the time of the family immigration to America and
was reared to maturity in the province of Ontario, where he has con
tinued to reside during the long intervening period and where his active
career has been one of close and successful identification with agricul
tural pursuits. Though he is now an octogenarian he is alert, mentally
and physically, and occupies his time with the activities of business and
the management of his finely improved landed estate in Kent county,
Ontario. His religious faith is that of the Church of England, of which
his wife also was a devout communicant, the latter having passed to the
life eternal in 1910, secure in the loving regard of all who had come
within the sphere of her gentle influence. She was a child at the time
her parents came from Scotland to America, and her father, Malcolm
McLeod (a sailor), established the family home on Prince Edward
Island. He was one hundred years old at the time of his death, and
from the data thus noted concerning him and Thomas Bennett it may be
seen that Dr. Bennett comes of long-lived stock and has the heritage
of a sound mind in a sound body.
In the public schools of his native place Dr. Bennett gained his early
education and graduated from its high school, winning the scholarship
prize of his class. After leaving the high school the doctor applied the
most effective test to his scholastic attainments by engaging in teaching
in the public schools of his native province. In that field he continued

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1227
for a year. He then entered the medical department of the University
of Michigan, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of
1887, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In the same year he opened
an office in Detroit, and there he has since engaged in general practice,
meeting with substantial success in every way. The doctor is a member
of the Michigan State Medical Society and the Wayne County Medical
Society, and holds membership in the alumni association of the Uni
versity of Michigan. He has also been an earnest supporter of the work
of the Detroit Young Men's Christian Association, of which he has
long been a member. In short, he is both a physician and a citizen of
high standing.
William Stuart Grimes, M. D. prominent physician and surgeon
of Detroit, with offices and residence at No. 120 Edmund Place, where
he is superintendent and proprietor of the Edmund Sanitarium, was
born in Des Moines, Iowa, October 19, 1870, and is a son of the late
Dr. William Stuart and Julia (Kramer) Grimes. The former was a
native of West Virginia (then Old Virginia) , whence he went to Ohio
when a young man; was graduated from the medical department of
Miami University, Cincinnati, class of 1857, and practiced in Ohio until
his removal to Des Moines, Iowa, previous to the Civil war. He served
as surgeon with the rank of major of the Twenty-ninth Regiment, Iowa'
Volunteer Infantry, and after the close of hostilities returned to the
practice of his profession in Des Moines, and later opened and conducted
free eye and ear dispensaries in that city and Council Bluffs. In 1870
he removed to Denver, Colorado, and there practiced until his death in
1889. He was surgeon to both St. Luke's (Episcopal) and St. Joseph's
(Roman Catholic) hospitals in Denver, was well known in public circles
(being fast friends with a number of the prominent men of his time),
and was related to the Taft family of Ohio.
The early education of William Stuart Grimes, Jr., was secured in
the public schools, at Orchard Lake Military School, near Pontiac
(Mich.) and at Cornell University. He was graduated in medicine from
the University of Buffalo, New York, with the class of 1901, receiving
the degree of M. D., and also took post-graduate work at that university.
He began the practice of his profession in 1901 in Buffalo, where for a
time he was assistant surgeon to the Hospital for Women. Dr. Grimes
was county physician of Wayne county in 1908 and 1909, and in 1911
was a candidate for county coroner before the primaries, but was de
feated by only 119 votes. In October of the same year he opened the
Edmund Sanitarium in the old Cheany Strong residence, at No. 120
Edmund Place, which property he remodeled into one of the best and
most complete private hospitals in Detroit, to which he now gives all
of his professional attention. He has three wards, twelve private rooms
and two operating rooms, the latter being removed from the wards and
private rooms and has accommodations for thirty-seven patients. The
sanitarium is a modern and homelike hospital for the medical and sur
gical treatment of women and children, and is patronized by a large num
ber of the leading physicians and surgeons of the city.
Dr. Grimes is examining physician for the Detroit Order of Eagles,
the American Annuity Association and the Endowment Rank, Knights
of Pythias, and is professionally connected with other fraternities. He
is a member of the Wayne County and Michigan State Medical societies
and the American Medical Association, and also holds membership in
the Alumni Association of the University of Buffalo. He stands in the
front rank as exemplifying the modern sciences of medicine and surgery,

1228 HISTORY OF DETROIT
and it is scarcely necessary to say that success has attended his efforts,
for his zeal and ability render this a natural sequence.
Dr. Grimes was married to Miss Gertrude Smith, of Pontiac, Michi
gan, and they have two children — William Stuart III and Dorothy
Burry. Claud Allen Smith, M. D. Even in an age which expects much of
its young men and from which the professional men of the younger gen
eration can secure ready recognition of their abilities, few have gained
the success in so short a period as that which has come to Dr. Claud
Allen Smith, of No. 14 LeRoy avenue, River Range, Detroit, a physi
cian and surgeon who during the six years of his residence here has
displayed such marked ability in his profession at a comparatively early
age. He has the further distinction of being a native son of Michigan,
and on both the paternal and maternal sides of his family is descended
from pioneer residents of the state. Dr. Smith was born on the old
Smith homestead farm in Genessee county, Michigan, March 11, 1883,
and is a son of Arretus Allen and Susan (Baldwin) Smith.
William Smith, the paternal grandfather of the doctor, who came
from New York state during the early 'forties bought a farm in Genesee
county, Michigan, and for many years was engaged in clearing and cul
tivating it, reclaiming the land from the wilderness and establishing
a home for his family. At the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted as
a private with a Michigan regiment, and gave his life in defense of his
country, dying in battle in the south. The maternal grandfather of the
Doctor was Morgan Baldwin, also a native of New York state and the
.son of a Revolutionary soldier. He came to Michigan as early as 1834,
being the first white settler in Genesee county, where he spent his life
in agricultural pursuits and died at an advanced age. Arretus Allen
Smith, father of the Doctor, was engaged in farming on the old family
homestead, where he had been born, but died when still a young man,
in 1887. His widow still survives, and lives in Genesee county.
Dr. Smith was only four years of age when his father died, and
when he was still a lad the family removed to Flint, Michigan. There
he was reared, his early education being secured in the public schools
¦of Flint. He prosecuted his technical studies in the Detroit College
•of Medicine, which he entered in 1902, and from which he was graduated
in 1906 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Being fully prepared
to begin his professional career, he did not waste any time, but on the
morning after his graduation opened an office in Detroit, where his
success was almost immediate. He came to his present location in 1908,
and River Range has since known him as one of its leading practitioners.
He has built up a large and representative professional business, giving
to each feature of his work careful and conscientious attention, and
always displaying a courtesy and grace of manner that wins all who
•come in contact with him. The Doctor is, and has been for more than
four years, physician and surgeon to the Great Lakes Engineering
Company 's plant in Detroit, and to the Detroit Bridge and Steel plant,
both of these being large and important industries of the city. He is a
member of the Wayne County Medical Society, the Michigan State
Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and is well
known in Masonic circles as a valued member of Union Lodge, F. & A. M.
Dr. Smith was married to Miss Nettie Brewer, the daughter of Alex
ander Brewer, a well-known resident of Jackson, Michigan.
Alexander Kloka. A native son of Detroit and one who gained for
himself secure place as a progressive and reliable business man and

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1229
loyal citizen, Alexander Kloka was in the very prime of his useful man
hood when he was removed from the scene of life's activities. He died
at Harper Hospital, on the 17th of August, 1911, following an operation
for appendicitis, and passed away with an untarnished reputation as
a citizen of sterling worth and a young man who had won worthy suc
cess through his own well ordered efforts. At the time of his death he
was engaged in the retail grocery business at the corner of St. Joseph
avenue and Dequinder street, where he had built up a large and repre
sentative trade, based upon fair dealings and excellent service to an
appreciative patronage.
In the family home at 677 Riopelle street, Detroit, Alexander Kloka
was born on the 11th of May, 1878, and thus he was but thirty-three
years of age at the time of his death. He was a son of Anthony and
Anna Kloka, who were born in Austrian Poland; and who established
their home in Detroit about forty years ago, continuing their residence
in this city during the long intervening years, the father having been
employed much of the time in railroad work. Of their seven children,
all of whom were born in Detroit, the subject of their memoir was the
eldest son.
Alexander Kloka gained his rudimentary education in a Polish school
in the vicinity of his home and later attended the public schools of
Detroit, after which he served a thorough apprenticeship at the tailor's
trade, under the direction of his paternal grandfather, who was long
engaged in this line of enterprise in Detroit. Finally he purchased
the grandfather's business in this city and for a period of about six
years he continued to conduct a tailor shop at 677 Riopelle street. He
then sold the place, and having carefully conserved his financial re
sources purchased the substantial brick building at the corner of St.
Joseph and Dequinder streets, where he opened a retail grocery store, to
the conducting of which he devoted the remainder of his all too brief
young life. His experience in the grocery business was attended by
signal success, and had he but lived, would undoubtedly have reached a
high place in the business life of the city.
Mr. Kloka was both loyal and progressive as a citizen, and he mani
fested deep interest in all that in any way touched upon the welfare of
the city. He was a member of the Michigan Good Roads Association and
was a stanch adherent of the Democratic party. He was a devout com
municant of the Catholic church, in whose faith he was reared, and
held membership in the parish of St. Albertus, from which church his
funeral was conducted, interment being made in Mount Olivet cemetery.
He was affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks,
Royal Arch, the Polish Roman Catholic Union and the Catholic Mutual
Benefit Association. Besides his parents he is survived by two brothers
and four sisters.
On the 23d of September, 1903, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Kloka to Miss Martha Grubba, who likewise was born and reared in
Detroit, to which city her parents, John and Marcella Grubba came
from Austrian Poland more than thirty years ago. Mrs. Kloka has
assumed full charge of the business established by her husband and is
showing marked ability in the management of the same. Mrs. Kloka,
as was her husband, is a devout communicant of St. Albertus church and
is active in the work of that body. Mr. Kloka is survived by two chil
dren, Anna and Clarence, to whom the widowed mother is giving the
best of educational advantages in a preliminary way, with the attention
of affording them further opportunities which shall properly fit them for
the fuller duties and responsibilities of life.

1230 HISTORY OF DETROIT
William J. Howard. Among the prominent citizens of Detroit, now
gone on to that Undiscovered Country, was William J. Howard, for
many years active in business circles of the city as president of the
Howard & Northwood Malting Company. Although his demise occurred
on May 10, 1895 — more than seventeen years ago, his memory remains
undimmed in those circles of life in which he was active and where
he was pleasantly known for his high civic ideals. Mr. Howard was
a Canadian, born at Amherst Island, Ontario, in 1839, and his years
numbered fifty-six at the time of his death. He was reared and educated
in his native locality and as a young man went to British Columbia,
where for a period of something like ten years he was engaged in the
somewhat adventurous and varied occupation of a miner. Eventually
he returned to Canada, locating at Chatham, there embarking in the
malting business in which he was destined to continue for the remainder
of his life.
The identification of Mr. Howard with the City of the Straits dated
from 1880 in which year he opened a large malting business in that
place. He proved an aggressive and enterprising man of business and the
splendid success of the firm which bore his name was due largely to his
executive capacity and tireless energy. He was president of the Howard
& Northwood Malting Company at the time of his death, and had been
for a considerable period.
Mr. Howard was for many years an active member of the Detroit
Board of Trade. He was well advanced in Masonry and was past master
of the lodge at Chatham, Canada, his old home, while in his daily life
he exemplified all those ideals of moral and social justice and brotherly
love for which the order stands exponent.
In 1870 Mr. Howard married Miss Mary Jane Degge at Chatham and
they have three children, as follows: Mrs. Gertrude Hazen, of Cincin
nati, Ohio; Frank C. Howard, of Detroit; and W. Bruce Howard, a
graduate of the Detroit University and well and favorably known in
business circles in Detroit, where he is president of the Detroit Foundry
Supply Company. He is unmarried. Mrs. Howard, the widow of
William J. Howard, maintains her residence at No. 26 Elliott street, and
enjoys the high regard and confidence of a wide circle of friends and
acquaintances throughout the city.
Roland S. Everitt, factory manager of the Briggs Manufacturing
Company, of Detroit, was born in Ridgetown, Ontario, Canada, on
February 12, 1879, the son of Seth and Florence (Haskins) Everitt.
The Everitts are of Irish stock. Roland S. Everitt was educated in
the Ridgetown public schools, and as a boy entered the employ of T. S.
Agar, decorator of Ridgetown, with whom he learned decorating and
painting. He continued with Mr. Agar until 1893, when he came to
Detroit and entered the employ of the J. C. & C. R. Wilson Body
Company. He next became foreman painter for the Economy Wall
Paper Company, where he continued for about four years.
Mr. Everitt then became identified ' with his brother, Byron F.
Everitt, in the latter 's automobile business and has ever since continued
that association, passing through the positions of painter, foreman
painter, assistant superintendent, superintendent and factory manager
of the Briggs Manufacturing Company, which is one of the large
and important industries of the city. Mr. Everitt is a member of the
Detroit Board of Commerce.
Mr. Everitt married Miss Nancy Barr, of Ridgetown, Ontario.
Dr. Edwin Stanton Sherrill, is one of the best known physicians in
Detroit, being especially well known through his activity in the move-

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HISTORY OF DETROIT • 1231
ment for the prevention of tuberculosis. Dr. Sherrill was born in Pike
county, New York, on the 8th of November, 1854, the son of Abram P.
and Elizabeth (Saxton) Sherrill. He received his early education in
the public schools of Detroit, and then matriculated at the University
of Michigan, from which he was graduated in 1880, with the degree of
Bachelor of Arts. He next went to the College of Physicians and
Surgeons in New York City, and was graduated from- that institution
with the M. D. degree in the class of 1885. He went abroad immediately
following his graduation and took post-graduate work in Vienna,
Austria, and upon his return to this country located in Detroit, where he
has been a successful practitioner ever since.
Much of Dr. Sherrill's time is given to the work of the various
professional societies of which he is a member. He belongs to the
Wayne County Medical Society, American Medical Association, Michi
gan State Medical Society and the American Academy of Medicine.
When the law was passed in the early 'eighties, creating a board of
health for the city of Detroit, Dr. Sherrill was made its first secretary
and health officer. He served on the medical legislation committees
which assisted in securing the passage by the legislature of the present
medical registration law. He was a member of the legislation com
mittee of the State Medical Society which secured the appropriation for
the state sanatorium at Howell for the treatment of incipient tuber
culosis. He has also been active in the fight against tuberculosis carried
on in Detroit, having been secretary of the Detroit Society for the Study
and Prevention of Tuberculosis, during the four years preceding and
leading to the establishment of the Detroit Tuberculosis Sanatorium.
Dr. Sherrill is also a member of the Detroit Club and of the Fine Arts
Society. He served five and one-half years as school inspector from
the second ward, from 1904 to 1908 serving by right of election, and
during the other year and a half holding the office through appointment.
Hon. Morse Rohnert. Very often death aims at a noted mark pre
maturely. When it removed the Honorable Morse Rohnert, judge of
the Wayne circuit court, it took from among the citizens of Detroit, a
high-minded, whole-souled gentleman, an honor to the bar and an
ornament to the bench.
Judge Rohnert, son of Franz L. and Eleonore (Sichler) Rohnert,
was born in Detroit, February 29, 1864. He was educated in the pub
lic schools of the city and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor,
graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Arts at nineteen years of age.
Two years later he completed the study of law and was admitted to the
bar in Detroit. In June, 1886, he was made clerk and register of the
probate court under Judge Durfee, continuing in that office until 1896
Four years thereafter he was elected judge 6f the Wayne circuit court,
and at the expiration of his term, six years later, he was reelected.
Judge Rohnert was married February 20, 1895, to Miss Emma Uih-
lein, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, daughter of Henry Uihlein, president
of the Schlitz Brewing Company of that city. She and three daugh
ters, Eleonore, Helen and Kathryn, survive him. Two sisters, Mrs.
J. Henry Carstens and Miss Louise E. Rohnert, and a brother, Mr.
Frederick Rohnert reside in Detroit and another brother, Waldo Roh
nert in Gilroy, California. ,
Judge Rohnert was an honored member of the Knights of Maccabees
of the World; Detroit Lodge No. 34, Benevolent and Protective Order
of Elks; Detroit Boat Club; Harmonie Society; Country Club; Detroit
Club ; and many more. At one time he served on the supreme court of
the Elks, and held several high offices in the local organization. He

1232 HISTORY OF' DETROIT
was an indefatigable worker and his surprising energy was the marvel
of his associates on the bench. In the court room, his manner was short
and brusque without being harsh, and because of this, uselessly pro
longed litigation was unknown when he heard a case. His delight, in
hard work and dislike for slipshod methods drove him to a character
istic outburst of energy to clear his docket before he placed himself
under the care of surgeons to undergo an operation. His death occurred
March 26, 1911, at Rochester, Minnesota, where he had gone for treat
ment. Not until he had gathered and settled all the loose ends of busi
ness would he consent to go.
In speaking of the Judge, his colleagues on the bench were profuse
in their praise of his splendid qualities. ' ' Coming as it does, the news
of his death is a terrible shock, so much so, that I scarcely know what
to say," remarked Judge John W.. Donovan. "We all thought a great
deal of him — we who were brought in contact with him in our official
life." "Judge Rohnert was an exceptionally good judge," said Judge
George S. Hosmer. "A man of earnest convictions who strove to do that
and only that which he thought right. I was associated with him
to a large extent, and learned to know and admire him."
"Judge Rohnert 's death is a distinct loss to the bench," said Judge
Henry A. Mandell. ' ' He had a keen appreciation of the dignity of the
bench and strove to do his duty in an honest and straightforward way. ' '
In addition to the personal tributes paid him by his friends and
associates, the Detroit Free Press had the following 'to say in an edi
torial, and, as it voiced the public sentiment, it is here reproduced:
"Few recent deaths have brought so keen a sense of loss as that of
Morse Rohnert. The dramatic coincidence of his removal, just at the
moment when he was on the point of being reelected to the place he
had filled so well — for there can be no doubt that he would have been
one of the six judges to be chosen — added to the feeling of shock oc
casioned by the unexpected news from Rochester, Minnesota; but, in
any event, the realization that Judge Rohnert was dead would have
evoked the most sincere sorrow in the city where he was a part of its
every-day life. He was distinguished by many admiring traits of char
acter, but perhaps his untiring industry, and his unswerving impartial
ity in his judicial duties most commended him to those with whom he
came in contact. Conscientiousness was a predominant trait in his
personality. He left nothing undone which would enable him to deter
mine justly the matters that came before him, and spared himself no
labor to discharge his duties to the full satisfaction of his oath.
"His associates in the law have the fitting methods of testifying to
their high regard for his memory, and their recognition of the loss to the
entire community in his death. Their words were not mere formulas
in this case. The vacancy on the bench will be filled, but, whoever his
successor may be, or however able, some qualities that were peculiarly
Judge Rohnert 's own cannot be supplied by another. He takes away
with him an identification that was counted high in our judicial coun
sels, and in both the official and private circles in which he moved he
will be sadly missed. Untimely as was his death, his friends have the
compensating thought that his life was crowned with greater public
recognition than comes to most men. He had not only occupied places
of the highest honor by the choice of his fellow citizens, but he had been
chosen president of the Circuit Judge Association of the state, a testi
mony to the regard in which he was held by his associates that must
have meant much to him. It mingles some degree of satisfaction with

y/.^^^^Jiff^

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1233
the sentiments oi sorrow over his death that his worth had not been
without' reward during his lifetime, and that the generous tokens -of
appreciation now being heard merely confirm those that he himself had
experienced during the busy days of his active career."
Harry A. Shafor, M. D. With an excellent practice to represent the
concrete results of "his professional ability, personal popularity and
effective work, Dr. Shafor is well entitled to consideration in this publi
cation. Dr. Shafor claims the fine old Buckeye state as the place of his
nativity and is a scion of one of its sterling pioneer families, in fact of
two, as his maternal ancestors likewise were early settlers of that common
wealth, the paternal grandparents, who were of stanch German lineage,
having removed to Ohio from Pennsylvania in an early day. Dr. Harry
Andrew Shafor was born at Amada, Bulter county, Ohio, on the 24th of
May, 1875, and is a son of Peter M. and Christina (Law) Shafor, who
removed to Trenton, in that same county, when he was a boy. The
parents are deceased, and the father devoted the major part of his
active career to carpenter work. He was a Republican in politics and
both he and his wife held membership in the Methodist church. Of
their children, three sons and one daughter are living.
Dr. Shafor gained his early educational discipline in the public
schools of his native county, where he was graduated in the Trenton
high school as a member of the class of 1893. Shortly afterward he went
to the city of Cincinnati, where he secured employment in connection
with a commercial house, in the meanwhile residing in the home of Dr.
E. T. Behymer, under whose able preceptorship he began reading medi
cine while giving his attention to his daily work. He finally entered the
Cincinnati Eclectic Medical Institute, now the Eclectic Medical College,
in which he was graduated in 1899, and from which he received his degree
of Doctor of Medicine. He had manifested distinctive ambition and
energy in his work as a student, and these qualities offered emphatic
presage of the success which he has since gained as an able and pro
gressive representative of his exacting profession. For eighteen months
the doctor served as an interne in the Cincinnati City Hospital, having
held this position during his senior year in college. In the autumn of
1899 he came to Detroit, where he has since devoted himself with earnest
ness and zeal to the work of his profession. In 1908 he built his handsome
residence at 2363 Woodward avenue, in one of the most attractive resi
dence districts of the city, and here he maintains his fine office, fully
equipped with every appliance and convenience for his work. He holds
membership in the Michigan State Eclectic Medical Society and takes a
lively interest in its affairs. He is an enthusiast in the use of the auto
mobile and holds membership in the Wolverine Motor Club. His poli
tical allegiance, though not marked by any desire to enter into so-called
practical politics, is given to the Republican party, and both he and his
wife hold membership in the North Woodward Methodist Episcopal
church. On the 30th of October, 1902, Dr. Shafor was united in marriage to
Miss Helen Wyrick, who was born and reared in Detroit, where her
father, Charles S. Wyrick, is a prosperous merchant. Dr. and Mrs.
Shafor have one child, Helen Ethel, born October 15, 1905, whose win
some presence lends added attraction to their pleasant home.
Eber B. Ward. He who serves is royal, and such patent of nobility
can justly be claimed for the late Captain Eber B. Ward, who stood as
one of the distinguished types of the world's workers and who wrote his

1234 HISTORY OF DETROIT
name large upon the civic and industrial history of Detroit and the
state of Michigan. His life was characterized by impregnable integrity
of purpose and a high sense of his stewardship. -He was a typical
American citizen, thoroughly in harmony with the spirit of the Re
public, and he made the most of his opportunities, through which he
worked his way upward to the plane of large and worthy success. It
is even short of the facts to assert in the words of one of his admirers,
"he did more to open up this western country than any ten men in it."
Like other representatives of the family, Captain Ward was especially
prominent and influential in connection with navigation interests on
the Great Lakes and his fine powers were also directed along other lines
of legitimate enterprise which touched the general welfare. A man
steadfast and true in all the relations of life, he left a definite impress
upon the activities of the city that so long represented his home, and
it is most consonant that in this publication be entered a brief tribute
to his memory, though it is to be regretted that more ample data con
cerning his career could not have been secured in the preparation of
this memoir.
The only son of Eber and Sally (Potter) Ward, and a brother of
"Aunt" Emily Ward, a noble woman to whom special tribute is dedi
cated in other portions of this review, Eber Brock Ward was born at
New Hamburg, Waterloo county, province of Ontario, Canada, on the
25th of December, 1811. His parents were born and reared in Vermont
and soon after their marriage they removed to Onohdaga county, New
York, whence they later transferred their residence to Waterloo county,
Ontario, not far distant from the present site of Toronto, Canada.
They remained in the Dominion until the inception of the war of 1812,
and, leaving Canada on the day hostilities were declared between Eng
land and the United States, they returned to their old home near Rut
land, Vermont, where they remained five years. They then started for
Kentucky, but the devoted wife and mother died while en route, at
Waterford, Pennsylvania. The stricken father then diverted his route
from his original destination and established his home at Conneaut,
Ashtabula county, Ohio, in which state he maintained his home for a
number of years. He passed the closing years of his life at Newport,
now Marine City, and was well advanced in years at the -time of his
death. Remaining faithful to the memory of the wife of his youth, he
never contracted a second marriage. Of their four children, the eldest
was Emily, who remained a spinster until her death and who lived a life
of signal self-abnegation and graciousness. Sallie was the second child,
Eber Brock the third, and Abbie the youngest.
When the tragic death of the mother occurred, Emily Ward was but
nine years of age, and henceforth she assumed the duties and responsi
bilities of a mother, as well as elder sister to the young children.
In the meanwhile the family home had been established at Marine City
(then Newport), St. Clair county, Michigan, and after the younger
children had reached maturity and been established in homes of their
own, she resided for a number of years at Newport. In 1845, after the
death of her two sisters, both of whom left large families, Aunt Emily
again found her mission in the caring for and proper rearing of these '
motherless children, for whom her solicitude was as enduring and as
gracious as it had been for her younger brothers ahd sisters. She made
men and women of the second generation entrusted to her care and at
one time there were to be found ten children in the old homestead at
Marine City, a place of peace and comfort and one of not a few attrac
tions, as the grounds were large, the gardens productive of both fruit
and flowers, and the home atmosphere of a most grateful order. Aunt

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1235
Emily reared fourteen children to years of maturity and also had many
others in her care for periods of several years. What sacrifices she
made to her high sense of duty can never be known, for she made no
protest and seemed to think that her course of self-abnegation was the
one and only way to pursue. Her reverence for the spiritual verities
were of the deepest order, and hers was indeed the faith that makes
faithful in all things. She was a devout attendant of the Methodist
church and "she went about doing good" for all those in any ways
afflicted or distressed. Though literal motherhood was not vouchsafed
to her, yet there were children and children's children who might well
"rise up and call her blessed."
In 1867, Aunt Emily Ward came to Detroit, where her brother, the
immediate subject of this memoir, had established his home some years
previously, and in 1869, this only brother manifested his love and solici
tude by erecting for her a large, old-fashioned home at 807 Fort street,
West, where she passed the remainder of her long and beautiful life,
whose later years were made happy through the love and kindly minis
trations of those to whom she had been a veritable mother.
She was born on the 16th of March, 1809, and she died at her home
in Detroit on August 28, 1891, secure in the affectionate regard of all
who had been privileged to know her.
Sallie Ward became the wife of Malachai Brindel ; and Abbie married
Benjamin F. Owen. Both sisters died in early married life, leaving their
young children to the loving care of their devoted sister, Emily, as men
tioned previously.
Eber Brock Ward was a boy of about six years when his family
removed to the west, and his early experiences touched the trials and
hardships incident to pioneer life, the while he was carefully reared by
his father and elder sister. As a boy and youth, Eber B. Ward worked
at gardening and farming, fishing and trapping, and it may well be
understood that his educational advantages were limited in so far as
regular attendance at school was concerned. The pioneer schools were
of meagre order and he attended them during the short winter terms
only. His father, a man of excellent intellectual powers, gave him sup
plementary instruction, and thus he was enabled to lay the foundation
for the broad and accurate knowledge which eventually made him a
man of liberal information and well fortified views. He learned also the
valuable lessons of industry, frugality and honesty in all things, and
was thus worthily equipped for fighting the battle of* life on his own
responsibility. He left the paternal home soon after attaining his legal
majority and in 1832, when twenty-one years of age, came to St. Clair
county, Michigan, to enter the employ of his uncle, Samuel Ward. His
father at that time expressed much regret in that he was unable to give
his only son financial aid at the initiation of his independent career,
but he gave to the young man the most timely counsel, in the following
words,' which the son ever afterward recalled with sentiments of deep
appreciation: "You are going, my son, without money, but you have
hands hardened with labor, a mind inured to thought, and good and well
established principles. Stick to these, my boy, and your success in life
is assured." In 1836, Captain Ward secured a one-fourth interest in a small
schooner, and thus he initiated the partnership with his uncle that con
tinued until the death of the latter. In 1840, they built their first
steamer for river service .and they soon owned and operated a fleet of
twenty. boats. In 1845, Captain Ward placed in commission two steam
ers, in connection with the western terminus of the Michigan Central
Railroad at Marshall, from which point of transportation was made by

1236 HISTORY OF DETROIT
stage to St. Joseph, the most available port oh Lake Michigan. In 1846,
the road was completed to Kalamazoo, and the same connections by
steamer were continued from that point instead of Marshall. The fare
from Detroit to Chicago by this route was six and one-half dollars. In
1849, the road was completed to New Buffalo and the Ward steamers
made their connections with the line, being placed in commission on the
lake route to Chicago and Milwaukee. In the same year the Ward
steamers also connected the Michigan Central with Buffalo, New York,
and the eastern railroad running from that point. In 1852, the Michigan
Central entered Chicago and in 185.6, the Great Western was completed
and formed connections with the former road at Detroit. The Ward
boats afterward did good service in connection with passenger and
freight transportation on lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior. The
first steamboat that ever sailed on Lake Superior was built and operated
by Captain Ward. There being no canal at that time from St. Mary's
river, it was placed on rollers and in that manner was brought across
the country to Lake Superior, covering the same course as that now
covered by the canal. No misfortune ever discouraged Captain Ward,
as he had the great reserve forces of a strong and self-reliant nature and
always pursued his course with energy and power and with abiding hope
and confidence. He made many investments in Michigan pine lands, and
owned several large tracts of land which he purchased in the early six
ties. He also operated a number of saw mills. In addition to his Michi
gan timber lands, he owned large areas of timber land in Ohio. He
established the first glass factory in the United States in Crystal City,
near St. Louis. He built a rolling mill at Wyandotte near Detroit,
which was the first mill of its kind in the United States west of Pitts
burgh. He began operating it in 1857, and finally constructed and
placed in operation rolling mills both in North Chicago and Milwaukee,
all erected and financed out of his own capital. He was one of the
pioneers in these lines of industry and was one who did much to fur
ther the material and social upbuilding of Michigan. He established
his home in the city of Detroit in the year 1850, and there he continued
to maintain his residence and business headquarters until his death,
which occurred on the second of January, 1875, his remains being in
terred in Elmwood cemetery. Concerning him the following pertinent
and appreciative words have been written: "He believed in God, in
universal law, in the communion of spirits, in life everlasting and in
eternal progress*. His heart was large, his charity abundant, his fore
sight wonderful. A host of friends and kinsfolk remember with grati
tude his kind heart and open purse. ' ' Though he had no desire for the
activities of practical politics, Captain Ward' was essentially liberal,
broad-minded and public-spirited as a citizen, and his influence and co
operation were freely given in support of measures projected for the
general good of the community. His allegiance was given to the Repub
lican party and he was well fortified in his opinions as to matters of
public polity. He made his life count for good in all its relations and his
name merits enduring place on the roster of the hundred pioneers of
Michigan, within whose borders he took up his abode several years prior
to the admission of the state to the Union.
In 1837, was solemnized the marriage of Captain Ward to Miss Mary
McQueen, who died in 1869. They became the parents of five sons and
two daughters, of which number one daughter, Elizabeth Virginia, is
now living.
Emily Ward. One of the loved and venerated representatives of a
sterling and influential pioneer family of Michigan was the late "Aunt

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1237
Emily" Ward, as she was "familiarly known to a wide circle of friends
and to her many relatives, and it is a matter of gratification to be able
to enter in this publication a brief memorial in recognition of her gra
cious and gentle life, which was given unreservedly to the service of
others and which was animated by the finest spirituality and the most
generous motives. She never married and was, indeed, "guide, coun
selor and friend" to her only brother and her younger sisters, to their
children and to others who came within the sphere of her gentle influence.
Emily Ward was born at Manlius, Onondaga county, New York, on
the 16th of March, 1809, and she passed the closing years of her long
and noble life in a fine old residence erected for her many years ago,
at 807 Fort street, West, Detroit. There she was summoned to eternal
rest on the 28th of August, 1891, secure in the affectionate regard of all
who had known her. "Aunt Emily" was the eldest of a family of four
children, and the others were Sallie, Eber Brock, and Abbie. Sallie
became the wife of Malachai Brindel; Eber B. is the subject of an in
dividual memoir on other pages of this work ; and Abbie became the wife
of Benjamin F. Owen. The father, Eber Ward, was born in Vermont
and was a son of a pioneer Baptist clergyman of that state, the family
having been founded in New England in the early colonial days and the
lineage being traced back to stanch English origin. The maiden name
of the mother of "Aunt Emily" was Potter and she was a daughter of
Captain Potter, a retired English shipmaster who had established his
home in Connecticut. Eber Ward was reared to manhood in his native
state and there his marriage was solemnized. He was a trader and within
a short time after his marriage removed to Onondaga county, New
York, and engaged in mercantile pursuits, in the vicinity of the pres
ent city of Syracuse. Later he removed to the province of Ontario,
Canada, and engaged in trading. near the site of the present city of To
ronto, where his only son was born. On the day when war was declared
between England and the United States — the war of 1812 — he set forth
with his family for his former home near Rutland, Vermont, where the
family continued to reside for the ensuing five years, or until the close
of the war.
In December, 1817, Eber Ward started with his family, in a canvas-
covered wagon, for the long overland journey to Kentucky, where he had
decided to establish his permanent home. While en route he was stricken
with pleurisy and the journey was interrupted, as he was ill and incapaci
tated for six weeks. Further misfortune was in store for the little fam
ily, as the burden involved in caring for her husband during his critical
illness and for her little children, when many miles from home and
friends, proved too much for the strength of the devoted wife and mother,
and after the journey was resumed she was threatened with a danger
incident to motherhood. At Watertown, New York, her death occurred,
after a few hours' illness, and this great loss and bereavement caused a
radical change in the plans of Mr. Ward. With his motherless children,
he diverted his course from Kentncky to Conneaut, Ashtabula county,
Ohio, where he brought his journey to a close. He passed the closing
years of his life at Newport, and never contracted a second marriage.
He reared his children with the utmost solicitude and care, though his'
resources were very limited under the conditions and influences of life
on the frontier. The daughter Emily became housekeeper for her father
when she was but nine years of age and she also assumed the duties and
loving responsibilities of mother, as well as elder sister of the other
children. Concerning this noble, woman the following appreciative
statements have been made : "Aunt Emily's character was earnest, prac
tical and just, and she reared the younger children in an old-fashioned

1238 HISTORY OF DETROIT
way, enforcing homely truths and virtues which they never forgot and
which gave her great influence with them through life. ' '
In the meanwhile the family home had been established at Marine
City, then Newport, St. Clair county, Michigan, and after the younger
children had attained to maturity and been established in homes of
their own she resided for a number of years at the place named. In 1845,
after the death of her two sisters, both of whom left large families, Aunt
Emily again found her mission in the caring for and proper rearing
of these motherless children, for whom her solicitude was as enduring
and gracious as it had been for her brother and sisters. She made men
and women of the second generation entrusted to her care and at one
time there were to be found ten children in the old homestead at Marine
City, a place of peace and comfort and one of no few attractions, as
the grounds were large, the gardens productive of both flowers and
vegetables, and the home atmosphere of the most grateful order. Aunt
Emily reared fourteen children to years of maturity and also had many
others in her care for periods of several years. What sacrifices she made
to her high sense of duty can never be known, for she made no protest
and seemed to think that her course of self-abnegation was the one and
only way to pursue. Her reverence for the spiritual verities was the
deepest and hers was, indeed the faith that makes faithful in all things.
She was a devout attendant of the Methodist church and "went about
doing good" for all those in any ways afflicted or distressed. Though
literal motherhood was not vouchsafed to her, yet there were children
and children 's children who might well ' ' rise up and call her blessed. ' '
In 1867, Aunt Emily Ward came to Detroit, where her brother had
established his home several years previously, and in 1869 this only
brother manifested his love and solicitude by erecting for her a large,
old-fashioned home at No. 807 Fort street, West, where she passed the
residue of her long and beautiful life, whose later years were made
happy through the love and kindly ministrations of those to whom she
had been a veritable mother.
Fitz Albert Kirby. Among the men who have won success and dis
tinction in their line of endeavor and are entitled to a conspicuous place
in these annals is Fitz Albert Kirby, of Wyandotte, who for nearly thirty
years was closely identified with the shipbuilding interests of Wayne
county. The father of Mr. Kirby was the late Captain Stephen Rogers Kirby,
who for years was prominently connected with shipping interests of the
Great Lakes, and as a pioneer and very successful mechanical engineer
of Michigan, and later of New York City. Stephen R. Kirby was born
at Spring Port, New York. As a boy he began sailing the lakes, and by
degrees rose to the command of a sailing vessel with his headquarters at
Cleveland, Ohio, and was thus engaged when he married Martha Ann
Johnson, who was born and reared near Dover, Cuyahoga county, near
Cleveland. Becoming acquainted with the late Jesse Hoyt, the New
York and Saginaw millionaire, in 1854 Mr. Kirby was induced by that
gentleman to locate in Saginaw, where he entered the ship building and
¦general mercantile business in Mr. Hoyt's interests. Under his super
vision a number of large vessels were built, among them the well re
membered steamer "Magnate," and various other craft, both steam and
sailing. At Saginaw he also built the old Bancroft Hotel and other
structures, and sunk the first salt well in that vicinity. In 1865, backed
by Mr. Hoyt, he bid on the work of building five revenue cutters for the
United States government, was awarded the contract for two of the cut
ters, and successfully built the "Fessenden" and "Sherman." In 1866,

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1239
he was sent by Mr. Hoyt to Montana as chief engineer in charge of the
Montana Mineral Land and Mining Company, of which Mr. Hoyt was
president. Returning from Montana, Mr. Kirby built a copper mine on
Lake Superior for Mr. Hoyt, and in 1871, became general superintendent
of the Detroit Dry Docks. This enterprise was originally the Campbell,
Owen and Company Yards, in which Mr. Kirby bought a large interest.
Later it became a stock company known as the Detroit Dry Dock Com
pany. Under the latter name the company built the passenger steamer
Detroit I," in the Wyandotte shipyards, leased for that purpose from
the late E. B. Ward. Later the Wyandotte yards were absorbed by the
Detroit Dry Dock Company, which corporation became the Detroit Ship
building Company, and this latter corporation subsequently became amal
gamated with the corporation now known as the American Ship Building
Company. When the great Erie elevators were to be erected in Jersey City,
New Jersey, Mr. Kirby went east, secured the contract for the same, and
carried that stupendous task to a successful completion, notwithstanding
the fact that expert engineers had pronounced the building of the eleva
tors at that particular location, impossible. Mr. Kirby thenceforth made
his home in New York City, occupying apartments in the Hotel Mar
tinique, where he died on January 29, 1906, leaving a large and valu
able estate. His widow, now in her eighty-ninth year, continues to re
side in New York City, occupying the same apartments in the Hotel
Martinique. Fitz Albert Kirby was born eleven miles from Cleveland, near the
town of Dover, on December 30, 1847. He received his early schooling in
the public schools of Saginaw, where his parents moved when he was a
boy. He finished his education at the University of Michigan. Being
a natural mechanic and a mathematician of more than average ability,
Mr. Kirby naturally followed in the footsteps of his father in mechanical
engineering. He succeeded his father as head mechanic for the Mon
tana Mineral Land and Mining Company and spent four years in that
state. He returned from the west in 1870, and the following year, in
company with his brother, Frank E. Kirby, who had just completed his
studies at Cooper Institute, New York City, located at Wyandotte, to
superintend the ship yards above mentioned, and became general super
intendent, with Frank E., as general designer. Under the superintend-
ency of Mr. Kirby, one hundred and one vessels were built at the Wyan
dotte yards, the "City of Detroit I," being number thirty-one on the
books, and the numbers following from that on. The ' ' Frank E. Kirby, ' '
one of the most familiarly known steamers in the passenger business of
Detroit, and named for his brother, was among the boats built in the
Wyandotte yards under the supervision of our subject. Mr. Kirby also
became a stockholder in the yards, and so continued until their sale in
1904, when he resigned his position as general superintendent and
practically retired from active business.
On November 26, 1874, Mr. Kirby was married to Elizabeth Robin
son, who was born in Wyandotte, Michigan, the daughter of John Robin
son. She died May 8, 1884, leaving the following children: Stephen
R. and Lafayette 0., president and cashier, respectively, of the First
National Bank, of Hibbing, Minnesota; Albert, engaged in the insur
ance business at Duluth, Minnesota, and Myrtle, wife of M. E. Trummer,
of Minneapolis, Minnesota. On June 9, 1886, Mr. Kirby married Maria
Carter Elder, who was bora in Rochester, New York, and reared and
educated in Detroit, where her father, .the late Adam Elder, was a well
known business man for many years. To this second marriage one son
was born, Frank C, who died in 1900, at the age of twelve.

1240 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Hon. Robert Young Ogg. Among the younger men of Detroit who
are prominent both in business and public life is the Hon. Robert Young
Ogg, well known and, successful manufacturer 's agent, and a member of
the Michigan State Senate. From boyhood Mr. Ogg has worked his
way upward in life. He has advanced from the status of a newsboy to
that of a senator practically by his own efforts, climbing the ladder from •
one position of honor and responsibility to another, each higher than the
other, until he has fully established himself and won recognition in a
city noted for its progressive and able men.
Mr. Ogg was born in Dundas, Ontario, on July 22, 1860, 'and is of
Scotch parentage, both his father and mother having been natives of
Aberdeen, Scotland. They came to America in 1832, locating in Ontario,
where the father followed the vocation of gardening. He died in 1884,
and the mother survived him until 1906.
Robert Y. Ogg received a common school education and began life as
a newsboy. He learned the printer 's trade and worked as a journeyman
printer for a number of years in twenty cities and in a score of states.
He came to Detroit in 1879, because Detroit looked better to him than
any city he had yet visited, a view which he holds very strongly at the
present time. He worked on the Detroit Free Press, the Post and Trib
une, also the Journal, as a journeyman printer, and in the days of hand
composition was among the fast typesetters. He was always active in
union matters, joining the Typographical Union at Worcester, Massachu
setts, in 1878, and upon his arrival in Detroit in 1879, he deposited a
traveling card from Buffalo, New York. He was elected a member of
the executive committee of the Detroit union, and for two years served
as recording secretary of that body. In the years 1886 and 1887, he
was president of the union, during which time two of the big dailies
were brought into the fold of the union. In the summer of 1886, at a
convention of trade unionists and Knights of Labor, Mr. Ogg was
nominated for the Michigan State Legislature, and elected to that office.
As a member of the legislature he was active in labor, prison and reform
legislation, and he secured the passage of several bills along those lines.
Mr. Ogg worked for years as newspaper reporter on the Tribune, and
later on the News in the same capacity, incidentally being a contributor
to a number of labor papers and magazines. He served as delegate to the
International Typographical Union and was elected delegate to two
conventions of the American Federation of Labor held at St. Louis
and Boston. For two years Mr. Ogg was president of the Trades and
Labor Council and assisted in the organization of the State Federation
of Labor. While doing the municipal beat for the News, Mr. Ogg was
appointed to the position of secretary of the Board of Public Works of
Detroit, a position he held through changing administrations for five
years. He was elected to the State Legislature for the session of 1909
and reelected in 1911, leading the Republican ticket at the primaries in
a list of thirty candidates. During the latter session of the legislature
Mr. Ogg figured in much the same kind of legislation as in the session
of 1887, and he was particularly prominent in the battle against contract
labor and corporal punishment in prisons, his work being rewarded by
the wiping out of both these evils. In the election of 1912, Mr. Ogg
was elected state senator from the Fourth senatorial district ; which com
prises the eighth, tenth, twelfth and fourteenth wards of the city of
Detroit. For the past eight years, or since resigning his position as secretary
of the Board of Public Works, Mr. Ogg has maintained an office in the
Majestic building, in Detroit, as manufacturers' agent for paving ma-

V
ROBERT Y. OGG

HISTORY OF DETROIT . 1241
terial, representing four large companies and handling the sale of pav
ing brick, creosoted wood blocks, Medina curbing and granite blocks.
Mr. Ogg is married, but has no children. He lives comfortably in his
own home at No. 291 Avery avenue, Detroit.
John Walker. Among the men of Detroit who have won success
in business and standing among her foremost citizens is John Walker,
general manager and principal owner of the Walker Manufacturing and
Supply Company, which is one of the leading concerns in its line in
Michigan. Mr. Walker was born at Sterling, Scotland, in August 21, 1853, the
son of James and Margaret (Sharp) Walker, both natives of Scotland.
The family came to America in 1859, locating in Detroit the same year,
where James, the father, became one of the city's pioneer copper and
sheet iron manufacturers. He is still living, at the age of eighty-five
years, in the enjoyment of good health and the use of his mental and
physical faculties. His wife is deceased.
John Walker graduated from the Detroit public schools and the old
Capitol High School of that city, and then attended a commercial col
lege. He finished his education at the University of Michigan, which he
entered in 1870. He began his business career in the hardware line, and
in 1876 engaged with his father in the manufacture of metal goods. Mr.
Walker organized the Walker Manufacturing and Supply Company,
which was incorporated in 1905 and of which he is the guiding spirit
and chief owner. Under his able management that company has flour
ished from year to( year until it now ranks as one of the leaders in its
line. As a citizen Mr. Walker has always been interested in all move
ments having for their aim civic improvement and the general welfare,
and has ever given cheerful support to such. He is prominent in civic,
social, business and fraternal organizations, being a member of the De
troit Board of Commerce, Detroit Golf Club, Fellowcraft Club, and
the Royal Canadian Yacht Club. He has twice been president of na
tional trade organizations in his line.
The Republic of Paraguay, wishing to extend its commercial rela
tions with the United States, requested, in 1902, our government to
designate a man to act as vice-consul at Detroit. The choice fell upon
Mr. Walker, and his appointment followed, his exequator having been
among the first documents signed by Mr. Roosevelt upon his succession
to the presidency. Mr. Walker still continues as vice-consul of Paraguay.
In Masonic circles Mr. Walker is very active and prominent. He
has attained the greatly desired and most highly honored thirty-third
degree in Scottish Rite Masonic, belongs to Detroit Commandery, No. 1,
Knights Templar, and to Moslem Temple of the Mystic Shrine.
Mr. Walker's career as a business man has been one of constant
endeavor and merited success. He is essentially a self-made man, one
who began his operations in a necessarily small way, and has climbed
the ladder rung by rung, relying solely upon his own ability, enter
prise and unflagging industry to attain his present position in the
business world, a position which has been gained without the sacrifice
of any of his inherited Scotch ideas of fair dealing and rugged integrity.
In 1880 Mr. Walker was united in marriage with Miss Isabel Paton,
who was born in Detroit, the daughter of the late Alexander Paton, who
during the fifties and sixties was one of Detroit's leading grocers.
James Williams. One of the interesting figures in the early history
of Detroit was James Williams, a pioneer merchant and loyal and hon
ored citizen who came to the city from Massachusetts about the year
Vol. m— 26

1242 HISTORY OF DETROIT
1811, when a young man, and it is indeed appropriate that a review
of his life should be incorporated in this work devoted to past and pres
ent-day makers of the city, for he contributed substantially to its civic
and commercial standing. The Williams family is one of the earliest
founded in America and its record is adorned with many distinguished
names. It is also related to the Adams family which produced John
Adams and John Quincy Adams, presidents of the United States. This
particular branch of the Williams family is now represented by Miss
Cornelia D. Williams, a lady of high standing in Detroit and well
known here by reason of life-long residence within its pleasant borders.
James Williams was born at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, January 17,
1789, and is the son of Oswald and Mary (Brattle) Williams. The
father was likewise born at Pittsfield and was a Revolutionary soldier.
The mother's family, the Brattles, came to the United States from
Scotland and brought the first organ to America. Brattle church and
Brattle street in Boston, Massachusetts, are named after this family.
James Williams was the youngest member of a family of seven children
and he attended school at his native Pittsfield. He was married at Ba-
tavia, New York, in 1810, to Olive Whipple, daughter of Nathaniel and
Lavina (Cummings) Whipple, who was born at Washington, New
York. James Williams was about twenty-two years of age when he followed
the tide of immigration westward and came to Detroit. His first busi
ness venture was a tannery and he later engaged in the forwarding and
transportation business and shipped the first flour out of Detroit to the
east. His wife followed shortly after his arrival, having taken about
two weeks to make the journey which was accomplished by rail, boat
and wagon. Subsequently Mr. Williams opened a grocery and feed
store on Woodward street, between Congress and Fort streets, and after
ward removed the scene of his activities to State street, opposite the old
Capitol. While located there he was burned put and lost not only al
most all his stock, but also the building which he owned. Nothing
daunted, he opened a store on Woodward street and after conducting a
thriving business there for some time, removed to Griswold street, which
was his last business location. He was a successful, enterprising man,
and one with the highest principles, sharing with his Colonial ancestors
their stanch ideas of citizenship. His health failed when in the prime
of life and he was compelled to give up business, but lived retired for a
number of years, his lamented demise occurring in August, 1864. He
erected the first brick buildings in Detroit, these being located where
the Ford building stands at the present time. His residence of brick
was on one side of the alley and his brick store on the other. He at
tended the Presbyterian church and was helpfully interested in the
many-sided life of the community. His admirable wife survived him
for nearly twenty years, her death occurring in 1883, and the remains
of both are interred in the city which was so long their home. In a
Detroit directory, published in 1837, and which is in the possession of
his daughter Cornelia is entered: "Williams, James. Grocer. No. 44
Woodbridge street."
James Williams and his wife were the parents of five children. The
eldest, Harriet, now deceased, married Colonel Pinkney Lugenbeel, also
deceased, and became the mother of five children. Her daughter and
namesake, Harriet, the only one of the family living, married Mr. Gruber,
an attorney of Portland, Oregon. Eliza, second daughter, is deceased.
James died young. Mary, now deceased, married Henry Buckley, an
early resident of Detroit (deceased), and had four children, namely:
Mary, who married Homer Sawyer, of New York ; Henry, of California ;

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1243
Cornelia, who married Wilson Cressie, of Bay City, Michigan ; and James
of Detroit, who married Lillian Bogart. Cornelia D., the only living
child of James Williams, was, born in Detroit where the Moffit block
now stands and has always made her residence in this city.
In this connection it cannot be otherwise than appropriate to give
some account of the Williams family which is of very ancient and inter
esting lineage, and the following history by Eleanor Lexington is here
appended: "The name of Williams is very ancient. Most of the orig
inal members of the name were doubtless of Welsh extraction. They
form a large portion of the principality of Wales — somewhat like the
O's of Ireland and the Mac's of Scotland. Not a few of the name in
Wales trace their lineage as far back as Adam, thereby making a gene
alogical tree of imposing proportions. It seems to be well established that
the family is lineally descended from Marchudel, who belonged to one of
the fifteen tribes of North Wales. He lived in the time of Roderic the
Great, King of the Britons, about 849. The royal house of Tudor is
descended from him.
The earliest form of the name is Wilhelm, which is composed of Will
and Helm. It is a little tautological to say that 'will' means 'will,' but
not quite so to say that 'helm' signifies 'helmet,' it being the diminutive
form. Originally then Wilhelm meant something very like 'stout war
rior.' William the Conqueror spelled his name Wilhelm, though the
form Pillelm occurs most often on his coins, which bear the legend,
'Pillem Rex,' or 'Pillelm Rex.' The P stands as the old English form
of W, but his great seal reads Willelmus.
Another distinguished member of the Williams family was Oliver
Cromwell, the protector and pretender. His ancestor in the fourth re
move, was Morgan Williams, or rather Morgan ap Williams, a Welsh
gentleman of considerable property, whose father, William ap Yevan,
held a position of honor in the house of the Duke of Bedford, and even,
it is said, in the house of his nephew, King Henry VII. Morgan Wil
liams married a sister of Lord Thomas Cromwell, afterward Earl of
Essex, and his descendant assumed the name of Cromwell. Carlyle
says that Cromwell descended from General Williams of Berkshire, or
from Morgan Williams. 'Cromwell, alias Williams,' he has it. One
encyclopedia says that the genealogy of Cromwell is traced to Richard
Williams, who assumed the name of Cromwell from his maternal uncle,
Thomas Cromwell, secretary of state to Henry VIII, and through Wil
liam of Yevan, back to the barons of the eleventh century. Roger Wil
liams, the founder of Providence in Rhode Island, was an intimate friend
and contemporary of Cromwell's, and some say, a relative. Both were
born in 1599.
Robert Williams is the common ancestor or pioneer of the family in
America. He was born in Great Yarmouth, England, in 1593. With his
wife, Elizabeth Stratton, he came to America in the ship Rose, in 1835.
He settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and lived to the age of one hun-
.dred years. There is a tradition that his wife, Elizabeth, was much
opposed to coming to this country, but, being strangely impressed by a
dream that if she came she would be the mother of a long line of men
who would become prominent in church and state, she consented, fully
believing that her dream would be realized. As the fame of many
Americans of the name of Williams is world wide, her dream has appar
ently been fulfilled. Prominent in church and educational matters, they
have left enviable records. They were also ready with pen and sword
to lead the way to independence. William Williams, fifth in descent
from Robert Williams, was a member of the American congress in 1776
and 1777, and as such was one of the signers of the Declaration of In-

1244 HISTORY OF DETROIT
dependence from Connecticut. In confirmation of the patriotism of
Mr. Williams the following anecdote is told: 'Toward the close of the
year 1776, the military affairs of the colonies had such a gloomy aspect
that strong fears began to prevail that the contest would go against them.
In this dark time the council of safety for Connecticut was called to
sit at Lebanon.
" 'Well, if success crowns the British arms,' said Mr. Williams, with
great calmness, 'it is pretty evident what will be my fate. I have done
much to prosecute the contest, and one thing I have done, the British
will never pardon. I have signed the Declaration of Independence. I
shall be hanged. '
' ' One member of the council observed, that, in case of ill success, he
should be exempt from the gallows, as his signature was not attached, to
the declaration, nor had he written anything against the British gov
ernment. To this Mr. Williams replied, his eyes kindling as he spoke :
' Then, sir, you deserve to be hanged for not having done your duty. ' ' '
In the War of the Revolution, many Williamses were enrolled in
various branches of the service, from colonels to drummer boys. Major
General Joseph Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill, was fifth in descent
from Robert Williams, a grandson of Deborah Williams. General Otto
Holland Williams was a distinguished officer and a confidant of Wash
ington. David Williams was one of the captors of Andre, the spy. The
offer of money and the splendid gold watch of Andre could not bribe the
incorruptible soldier, and a county in Ohio is named for him in commem
oration of this event. One of the most distinguished and learned men
of the name of Williams was Colonel Jonathan Williams. He was re
lated to Benjamin Franklin and was in France with him about the
commencement of the Revolution. His father was chairman of the meet
ing which voted to throw the tea into Boston harbor in the year 1774.
Colonel Jonathan Williams was a major in the United States artillery
and was afterward appointed colonel in the corps of engineers at West
Point. He was a discoverer of the marine thermometer, by means of
which, by showing the difference of temperature of the water in the
Gulf Stream and the surrounding ocean, marines could readily tell when
ever they were in the stream.
Colonel Ephraim Williams, who was born in 1715, took part in the
colonial wars. In his regiment, at one battle, the chaplain and surgeon
and quartermaster were his relatives, all Williams by name, and his
brother Joseph, was an ensign. By his will, Colonel Williams made a
liberal donation for a free school at Williamstown, Massachusetts, called
after his name, which was the foundation of the college at that place.
Colonel Williams' body rests where he fell in battle, at the head of Lake
George. A large rock bears his name. The trustees of Williams College
have more than once proposed to erect a monument to him. A tablet
to his memory is seen on a wall of the chapel of the college. One of the
distinguished presidents of Williams College, Mark Hopkins, was a con
nection of the Williams family.
One family of prominence to which the Williamses are allied by mar- *
riage is the Gallup family. Captain John Gallup, the pioneer — or Gallop,
as it was then spelled — fought the first naval battle on the Atlantic coast,
July, .1636, capturing and destroying a large number of Indians. The
Williamses also claim relationship to John Alden and Priscilla, who
have been immortalized by Longfellow in his poem, "The Courtship of
Miles Standish."
The Williams' arms bear a lion rampant argent, on a sable field. The
crest is a cock. The motto is "Y Fyno Dwy y Fydd (What God willeth
will be)*. The side motto is "Cognosce Occasionem" (Watches his op-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1245
portunity). Different coats-of-arms have been borne by various branches
of the Williams family. The lion is confined to families of Welsh
descent. Other heraldic columns are the stag, fox, greyhound, wolf, boar,
horse, eagle, dragon and griffin.
Charles C. Chene. For eighty-seven years the late Charles C.
Chene called Detroit his home, his birthplace and his personal property
having, as the years passed, become closely merged into the life of the
city. He was the son of a long line of French ancestors who settled in
Detroit at the beginning of the eighteenth century. His grandfather
bought from Jean Baptiste Campeau, a French-Canadian pioneer, a
valuable farm of river frontage, narrow but very long — as was the
desirable arrangement in those days when conditions demanded water
transportation for necessary trade and close proximity to neighbors
in case of Indian attacks. This farm became by inheritance the property
of Gabriel Chene and his wife, Calisty (Sanguine) Chene, both of whom
had been born in Detroit; and there, in the little house on the Detroit
river, in the year 1825, Charles C. Chene was bora. He was one of eleven
children, of whom only three — Isador, William and Charles, are now
living. With his brothers and sisters, Charles Chene- attended a country
school in a rough log building in which the benches were also of the
same crude material. He subsequently carried his education somewhat
further by attendance at Mr. Marsach's school in the town. His school
days were ended, however, when he was thirteen years of age, and for
more than a dozen ensuing years Mr. Chene gave his time and energies
to the cultivation of his father 's farm. His frequently expressed interest
in the life of the lakes led his father to purchase a boat for his use, and
for three years Charles Chene sailed the inland r eas in partnership with
an uncle. By that time he realized that the paternal acres held a
stronger attraction for him than the water, and that the manipulation
of landed property was a truly promising vocation. He sold his boat
and returned to the farm, on which he remained, engaged in its numerous
and varied activities, until the death of his father in 1864.
By that time the growing city had already began to absorb the
Chene estate, which became a vast one when considered as to value and
its city proportions. As its administrator and chief heir, Charles Chene
found it necessary to give his entire time to handling the continuous
negotiations, by means of which the city of Detroit gradually and com
pletely encompassed and claimed the Chene acres. It is interesting to
note that on the site of the little house in which Mr. Chene was born
and which was long ago destroyed by fire, today stands — at what is now
the corner of Chene and Atwater streets — the structure of the Northern
Engineering Works. The greater part of the farm is now a portion of
the city which is occupied by many of Detroit's finest residences.
A goodly part of this very valuable real estate remains the property
of the Chene family, although, as we have indicated above, most of it
has been sold. After settling the immense amount of business necessary
in the transference of so many acres of property, Mr. Chene lived a
retired life in his Jefferson avenue home.
Through the commercially eventful years of his life, Charles Chene
had reared a creditable family. When about twenty-eight years of age
he had married Miss Elizabeth Parent, a direct descendant of that
General Parent, who was a distinguished French officer in the early
period of the sixteenth century. His family was represented in French
military activities until the time of Cadillac, when its chief members

1246 HISTORY OF DETROIT
accompanied the chevalier to New France and settled in Detroit. An
thony Parent, a Detroit pioneer, was Mrs. Chene 's immediate, progenitor.
She and Mr. Chene became the parents of seven children, four of whom
lived to reach the years of maturity, as follows : James Chene, a citizen
of Detroit; Daniel M., who married Miss Laranger, settled in Detroit and
reared one son, Daniel A., who is married and the father of a son named
Daniel M. ; Felix L., of New York, who is married, but without children ;
and Marie H, who has devoted her life to the care of her father. Mr.
Chene was a second time married, the wife of his later years being
Catherine Baby, whose only child was a daughter, Frances, who married
Matthew Finn.
The public interests of Detroit were always of great moment to Mr.
Chene, who in his younger days was notably active in them. A marked
line of his civic activity was his membership in the Volunteer Fire Com
pany of Detroit. He was a sincere churchman, being a veteran member
of St. Anne's Roman Catholic church, and later of St. Joachim's church,
with which he was prominently identified, as well as devoted to the spir
itual interests of the Blessed Sacrament Society. Mr. Chene 's last days
were quiet ones, closing peacefully on July 4, 1912, at his home, No. 783
Jefferson avenue. The last sacred services were said over his body, at
St. Joachim's church. Though he is no longer a participant in the
city life, of which he had so large a part, his name is a permanent one in
Detroit, where memories of him will long endure.
August Marxhausen. Few men who finish their course in this life
leave so many still in the conflict who feel that a friend and helper has
been taken from them, as did August Marxhausen. Hisvdeath on Decem
ber 27, 1910, was felt as a personal loss not only by the circle of his
relatives and by the larger and scarcely less intimate one of his asso
ciates in the newspaper, but by hundreds of his fellow citizens who knew
him personally in various relations and by others who knew only his
many good offices to the community.
Mr. Marxhausen was born in Kassel, the old capital of the princi
pality of Hessen, in 1833. Educated in the German schools, he early
identified himself with the business which has been his life-work. In
1852, he came with an older brother to America and found work on a
New York paper. After a year in that city, he was called to Detroit
where he and his brother were offered positions on the Michigan Demo
crat. The brothers accepted the offer, but as they were not in sympathy
with the politics of the paper they severed their connection with it and
founded a new news sheet, the Michigan Journal. This the brothers
conducted for thirteen years and then dissolved partnership. Two
years later, August Marxhausen founded the Detroit Abend-Post which
he so ably conducted to the time of his death.
Persecution did not spare Mr. Marxhausen. In 1872'he found him
self in the ranks of the Liberal Republicans who had selected Horace
Greeley as candidate for the presidency. The citizens of Detroit had
selected Mr. Marxhausen as delegate to the national convention at St.
Louis. He knew that this decision to leave the regular wing of the
party would be a costly one for him, but that did not weigh against his
convictions. In those days party lines were much more strictly drawn
than at present, and he was called upon to endure defection of his fol
lowers and slander and misunderstanding. However, he was not dis
couraged ; he built up his business without being turned aside from the
path of his convictions and finally they who had distrusted him came
not only to believe in his sincerity of purpose, but to agree with the
wisdom of his choice. From that time his influence and popularity have

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HISTORY OF DETROIT 1247
steadily increased. The Republican party have twice chosen him to
represent them in their national conventions ; when McKinley was nom
inated and again in Chicago in 1908. His attendance of the latter con
vention was prevented by the serious illness of his wife.
Mrs. August Marxhausen was Miss Marie Eberts before her marriage
in 1857. The union of August and Marie Marxhausen was an ideal one.
For fifty-one years they were loyal and loving companions and his life
was almost literally bound up in hers. He would not consider leaving
her at the time of the convention which nominated Taft, as she was seri
ously ill, and when two weeks later she drew her last breath he was at her
side — a fact which consoled him for the rest of his life, as far as any
thing could console for an irreparable loss. Grief for her was the real
cause of his own death two years later.
In the affairs of the city, .Mr. Marxhausen was as active as in national
concerns. He was a member of the famous "four M's," the commission
which gave Detroit its beautiful island park, Belle Isle. The place is a
monument to the commissioners who planned it and the city is for
tunate in having these plans carried out so well. Upon this as upon
every other matter in which he was engaged, Mr. Marxhausen worked
unremittingly and conscientiously. It was said of him that in his mind
"duty" was always written in capitals. Any public office with a salary
he would never accept. ' ' Give it to some one that needs it ; I don 't want
it," he would say when offered such a post. His service to the com
munity was rendered without money and truly without price.
In his association with the members of his newspaper staff, Mr.
Marxhausen was as a father in the last days of his life and always his
relations with them were the most cordial. He had asked them to a
' ' bef ore-Christmas Trinkf est, ' ' and had given out his gifts to them before
the day, fearing no doubt that he might not be there to make merry
with them at the time. The paper which he has made into such a power
in Michigan will be carried on under the able management of his son,
but the loss of the "founder and original proprietor of the Abend-Post
will be felt by the journalistic fraternity, as well as by Mr. Marxhausen 's
personal friends. At the time of his death, he was the oldest active news
paper man in the United States.
Mr. Marxhausen leaves two children : Mrs. Louise Burghard, widow
of Julius Burghard, and August Marxhausen, Jr., proprietor and man
ager of the paper which his father founded more than forty years ago.
Besides his children, five grandchildren survive the departed: Elsa
and Robert Burghard, and Erna, Curt and Thelma Marxhausen.
President of the Harmonic Society, and a member of nearly every
German society in Detroit, as well as of the Lutheran church, Mr. Marx
hausen 's loss in one which the whole city must feel, even as the whole
city had a share in the many good offices of his life. It is well
said of him: "He has brought us the proof that a good German can
also be a good American; something which is questioned by so many
who have not heart enough to love both mother and wife devotedly at the
same time. To August Marxhausen, Germany was the mother, America
the wife."
Henry W. Rickel. Measured by its sterling worth and large and
definite accomplishment, the life of the late Henry W. Rickel counted
for much. For more than half a century he was identified with business
interests in Detroit, and here he rose through his own efforts to a
position of marked prestige as one of the most substantial and successful
business men of the Michigan metropolis. He came to America as a
youth, without any financial resources and dependent entirely upon hiq

1248 HISTORY OF DETROIT
own exertions in facing the problems and obstacles of life. He coveted
success, but scorned to attain it through any means but honesty and in
dustry. The results of his life are full of inspiration and incentive.
His was a valiant, kindly and noble soul, and upon the record of his
life there rests no spot or blemish. He was true to himself and to
high ideals, and thus he could not be ' ' false to any man. ' ' In the city
that was so long his home and the stage of his productive activities he
held the secured vantage ground in popular confidence and esteem, and
here his passing was deeply deplored when he was summoned to the
life eternal, on the 12th of November, 1910, secure in the high regard of
all who knew him.
In noting the demise of Mr. Rickel one of the leading Detroit
daily papers spoke as follows: "Henry W. Rickel, founder of H. W.
Rickel & Company, Detroit, one of the best known malt' houses in
the middle west, died at his home, 95 Adelaide street, at two o'clock
this morning, after a few days critical illness from asthma. The sudden
death of the retired manufacturer and business man, so long a prom
inent figure in this city, was a great shock to his -former business as
sociates and many friends. Mr. Rickel was in his seventy-eighth year
of life. Fifty-five of these years were lived in Detroit. Hotel manager,
grocer, malt-maker and grain dealer, the deceased was one of the most
industrious and most successful business men of the city."
Henry W. Rickel was born in the vicinity of the city of Cassel, cap
ital of the province of Hesse-Nassau, Germany, on the 18th of February,
1833, and his mother died at the time of his birth. Due to need of hard
work, he gained but little educational discipline in the excellent schools
of his native city, his education being entirely self-acquired. At the
age of seventeen years, finding the home surroundings somewhat un
pleasant, he decided to leave the Fatherland and seek his fortune in
America, whither he came without capital or other fortuitous influences,
save those of personal ambition, self-reliance, honesty of purpose and a
determination to win success through individual endeavor. He crossed
the Atlantic on a sailing vessel and after a weary voyage of many
weeks' duration he kuded in the port of New York City. His cap
italistic resources at the time of reaching. Castle Garden were summed
up in the amount of twenty-five cents, and this quarter of a dollar he
paid to the ferryman who rowed him over from Castle Garden.
Both necessity and ambition prompted immediate effort on the part
of the young immigrant, and he found in New York city employment
through which he was enabled to earn enough money to pay his transpor
tation to the middle west, which he had chosen as his ultimate desti
nation. At Erie, Pennsylvania, his first stopping place, he secured
employment in sawing wood for use on locomotives, afterwards working
on steamboats and later on farms, and in 1854, at the age of twenty-
one years, he came to Detroit from Ohio. Better to understand the
difficulties Mr. Rickel had to overcome, it might be stated here that
he was never a robust or large man, physically. These early experiences
at wood-sawing, farming and steamboating on the lakes made him
wiry, but his constitution was such that he was ever obliged to be on
guard as to his health.
Here in Detroit he found employment in various capacities, and the
first definite position of independent trust assumed by him was that of
manager of the then famed Mauch hotel, on Cadillac Square. Colonel
Mauch, the proprietor, had gone forth as a loyal soldier of the Union
and had sacrificed his life in the first battle of Bull Run. The hotel was
thus left in the care of Mrs. Mauch, and young Rickel, as manager, saved

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1249
it from bankruptcy by exceptionally careful and effective management.
He made the hotel turn a fortune for Mrs. Mauch and gained to it
distinctive popularity with the general public, who accorded to it sub
stantial and appreciative patronage. Of his connection with this hotel,
the following pertinent statement has been made: "He always cher
ished the success he made of his first venture more than any other. ' '
After resigning his management of the hotel Mr. Rickel engaged
in the retail grocery business at the corner of Monroe avenue and
Riopelle street, and on this site, after having built up a flourishing enter
prise, he finally erected a fine three story brick block.
In 1876 he purchased the Mueller malt house, on Antoine street, at
a time when failure had attended the enterprise. Here again his initi
ative and constructive powers came into play with marked effective
ness and he thus laid the foundation for one of the most important in
dustrial enterprises of the kind in the middle west. After one year
of business in this original location Mr. Rickel erected at the corner
of Clinton and Hastings streets a malt house of thrice the capacity of
the old one. This new establishment had a capacity of sixty-five thou
sand bushels, and year later Mr. Rickel leased the Hawley malt house,
at the corner of First and Congress streets, with a capacity of seventy-
five thousand bushels. Shortly afterward he enlarged the capacity of
the establishment on Hastings street to one hundred and twenty-five
thousand bushels, and later he also secured control of the Duncan malt
house, at Champlain and Beaubien streets, while still later he further
expanded the field of work by the temporary operation of the malt house
of the Goebel Brewing Company. In 1893 he erected the new-method,
pneumatic malt house at the crossing of Adelaide street and the tracks
oC the Grand Trunk Railroad, and the capacity of the plant 'was event
ually increased to five hundred thousand bushels. In 1906 he found it
expedient to handle his extensive malting interests by the incorporation
of the business, which was done under the present title of H. W. Rickel
& Company, and now, venerable in years, he felt justified in assigning
the active affairs of the business to the management of others. He ac
cordingly turned over his entire business, including funds in banks,
to his children, and thereafter he lived virtually retired until his death,
enjoying the rewards of former years of earnest toil and endeavor and
the gracious association of his many friends in the community to whose
industrial and civic advancement he had contributed in generous meas
ures. At the time of the" incorporation of the business his son Carl
became president of the company, an office of which he continued the
incumbent until his death, in 1908, when the next younger son, Harry,
assumed the presidency, which Tie still retains, and the youngest son,
Armin, the executive head of the Rickel Realty Company, organized for
the management and handling of the extensive real-estate interests of
the family, became secretary. The sons have well upheld the prestige
of the honored name and the two surviving are numbered among the
progressive business men and loyal citizens of their native city.
While ever ready to give his earnest co-operation in the furtherance
of measures and enterprises tending to advance the best interests of the
community and while a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republican
party, Mr. Rickel had naught of predilection for public office of any
description. He was a popular and valued member of the Harmonie
Society and of the Germania Bowling Club.
On the 11th of April, 1859, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Rickel to Miss Martha Immel, of Sandusky, Ohio, and she survives him,
sustained by the gracious memories of their long association in a wedded

1250 HISTORY OF DETROIT
life covering more than half a century. Of the children, three sons
and three daughters survive the honored father, namely : Anna, who is
the wife of Louis Henze, of Iron Mountain, Michigan; Shiloh A., who
is now a resident of Chicago; Elise, who is the wife of George Osius,
of Grosse Pointe, one of the beautiful suburbs of Detroit ; Harry, who is
president and active manager of the extensive malt and grain business
founded by his father; Martha, who is the wife of William Eurich, of
Minneapolis; and Armin, who is associated in the management of the
various interests of the extensive family estate in Detroit, and is sec
retary of the malt corporation of H. W. Rickel & Company.
Fidelity and scrupulous fairness characterized every detail of the
long and successful business career of Mr. Rickel, and his reputation was
unassailable from every standpoint. His varied charities were per
formed quietly and with such lack of ostentation that his "left hand
never knew what his right hand gave." He was a man who stood
"four-square to every wind that blows," and it is most consonant that
in this history of Detroit be entered an enduring tribute to his memory
and this brief record of his life and labors.
Delivered at the funeral of Henry W. Rickel, by Lee S. McCollester,
D. D., November 15th, 1910 : We gather in this home of sorrow to do
honor to a good man and bring our sincere sympathy to the members
Df this sad home. This is not an occasion for false consolation and
fulsome words, but for a sincere expression of appreciation and sympathy.
If it is ever true that fact is often stranger than fiction, it is surely
so in the life of this man, whose death brings us here today. He was
born across the sea, and in his birth his mother died. He never knew
a mother 's love, not even as a child the love of a motherly woman. The
early years were sad, heartbreaking years. To wish he might sink be
neath the stream that flowed nearby his home is but a hint of the
extreme despair of the boy's soul. Fleeing from his own home, find
ing no sympathy in the homes of kindred, he at last, at that age
when a boy needs mothering and fathering, — took ship for the far away
land of America. When he had paid the landing charges at New York,
he was penniless; friendless, penniless, a stranger in a strange land,
he still had ideals and visions.
As another is to tell you, as you gather at the cemetery, of the busi
ness career of this man, I will say of his business life only this: He
started at the bottom and worked up. • Integrity characterized his busi
ness career. Success rewarded his efforts. " He arose to a position of
respect and influence in the business circle of this big city.
My part today is to tell you some of the other phases of this
man's life. He was a business man, But more; he came here without
money, but he also came without education. The barren life in the old
country had prevented his enjoyment of the schools, but no sooner was
he landed in this free land than he began to study. He sought to master
German and English. He had a passion for knowledge. He strove to
educate himself broadly and deeply. It was a long, hard road of learn
ing that he traveled. His passion for books was not an aside to busi
ness, but in answer to that passion of his soul to know history, science,
philosophy and life. His education was life-long and thorough and to
the end that he might solve the real problems of life and know the latest
phases of philosophy and science. If you would know the friends of his
mind, you should go through his library and into his upstairs den. In
his library are books of reference; volumes on science and philosophy.
Upstairs, hanging on the walls, are his friends; the great minds of
many lands and different epochs. His search for knowledge carried

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1251
him to the conclusions of evolution, and one of his favorite friends
of later years was a renowned scientist and philosopher, whose de
ductions seemed sane and wholesome to him. Nor did he want education
for his own joy and enrichment alone. He planned carefully that his
children should enjoy in early life what he missed. Their education
was his ambition, and only a few days ago, he talked with one of his
sons on the latest ideas of philosophy as one who is abreast of the latest
and awake to the finest.
Some things that one has missed in early years are the most precious
in value in later life. So it was with him. Never having known in
his early years love and friendship, he made home, when it was given
to him, the dearest spot on earth. You who have come within his home
circle have felt the gentle spirit of this fine man. He was truly a ' ' gentle
man" in the highest sense of that word. He was hospitable; he loved
his friends; he went out of his home to make friends of those he re
spected and valued. Here in his home he presided with a quiet gentle
ness which made all of us who entered here wish that we might often
visit with him and with his own.
Around father and mother grew up children and grandchildren, and
happy was he when, on a day three years ago or more, without a word
from him, all his sons and daughters gathered in this home to congratu
late these two lover hearts on fifty years of fellowship. Tnen it seemed
to him as if his cup of joy was full. Fifty years of comradeship, a mem
ory joyous and inspiring, and round about him the children of his heart.
This man was brought up in the old world church. In that stiff
and rugged faith he came to this country. The traditions and dogmas
of that cnirch for a long time thoroughly enchained him. He was not
satisfied, but why he did not know. As his reading and study of science
and philosophy increased, he gradually dropped the old opinions and
left the old forms. For a time he was disturbed and unsettled, and then,
gradually, out of science and philosophy he built a faith by whieh he
lived. In a word, his faith was that of the evolutionist. He believed
in law and order, justice and truth, honor and friendship: To a certain
extent these lines of the evolutionist poet, Carruth, suggest his faith,
for where some spoke of God, he spoke of "evolution" and of "longing"
and of "consecration."
The poet says :
A fire-mist and a planet,
A crystal and a cell,
A jelly-fish and a saurian
And caves where the cave-men dwell ;
Then a sense of law and beauty,
And a face turned from the clod —
Some call it Evolution,
And others call it God.
A haze on the far horizon,
The infinite tender sky,
The ripe, rich tint of the cornfields,
And the wild geese sailing high ;
And all over upland and lowland
The charm of the golden-rod —
Some of us call it Autumn.
And others call it God.

1252 HISTORY OF DETROIT
Like tides on the crescent moon beach
When the moon is new and thin,
Into our hearts high yearnings
Come welling and surging in ;
Come from the mystic ocean
Whose rim no foot hath trod —
Some of us call it Longing,
And others call it God.
A picket frozen on duty,
A mother starved for her brood,
Socrates drinking the hemlock,
And Jesus on the rood ;
And millions, humble and nameless,
The straight, hard pathway plod ;
Some call it Consecration
And others call it God.
His was a faith that found reality in life. He directed his conduct
by firm belief in the desirability of. righteousness, in the holiness of
friendship, in the kingliness of kindness, in the divinity of the Golden
Rule. Once when we were talking of faith, he led me to his upper
room, and, pointing to a frame which hung upon the wall, he said:
' ' That describes the church to which I belong, ' ' and what I read was this :
' ' I belong to the Great Church
That holds the world with its starlit aisles,
That claims the great and good in every race and clime,
That finds with joy the grain of gold in every creed,
And floods with light and love
The germs of good in every soul. ' '
Such a creed as this is good enough for anyone to live by and to die
by; by it he lived, and by it he died. He could not go with some in'
their worship, but he always honored sincerity, gave to everyone the
privilege to think his own thoughts and sympathized with those who
tried to work out a faith of reason. Did he believe in another life ? He did
not say. No One knows. He was not afraid to live, and he was equally
unafraid to die. If there is another life he knew it could be nothing
else than a fulfilling of what already had been found good. If there
was no other life, he had lived here his best, had left a name of honor,
had loved many and been loved by many, and he could not do more or
other than he had done. Thus unafraid he died. He was always a lover,
of Nature ; the trees were temples, their branches were cathedral arches,
and the blowing of the wind through their branches made sweet music
amid their dim aisles. Loving nature and trusting her, he said to those
who were to make his grave, "Lay me at rest some day at the foot
of a great tree, and maybe something of me shall live again in the upper
world, in the branches and the leaves."
It is a well known fact that when fruit is nearly ready to drop from
the branch there is a "process of letting go" that takes place. It seems
as if in the human there is also a "process of letting go," when age is
calm and fearless. This man seemed to feel the loosing of the moorings
for the final "letting go." He arranged his business; he looked anew
on life and death. He threw out of his soul all dread of death, and
filled his mind with calm thoughts. The other night he retired to his

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1253
room; members of his family would have been glad to stay near by.
He would not have it so. He had no fear. The dark was friendly, and
should death come he would not say him "No." So, he said "Good
Night," as on other nights, "drew the mantle of his couch about him
and lay down as for pleasant dreams." In the morning there was a
look of peace upon his face and a deep sense of loss was in the hearts
bf those who came to call on him. It was the fit closing of a noble
life. We all have lost a friend. We all have in possession the mem
ory of a noble man. To the friends within his home we bring our
sympathy. They are rich in the memory of what he was, and that
he was so good a husband, so wise a father, so brave and noble a soul
is now their comfort.
With another- we say —
"He is not dead, he is just away.
With a cheery smile and a wave of the hand
He has wandered into an unknown land,
And left us dreaming; how fair it needs must be
Since he lingers there."
James Rene Adam, M. D. Regarded as one of the leading physicians
and surgeons of his adopted city, standing high in social circles of his
community, and having an influential voice in all matters of public
interest, James Rene Adam, M. D., of No. 185 Chene street, holds
prestige among the professional men of Detroit, where he has been
engaged in general practice for upwards of sixteen years. The Doctor
is a Canadian, having been born at Sandwich, Ontario, March 17, 1870,
and is a son of Mathew and Julienne (LaFerte) Adam.
Mathew Adam was born in France, in 1830, and was graduated from
Louvine College, and later from Paris University. He came to the
United States in 1855, locating in Detroit, where he taught the old St.
Ann school, but subsequently removed to Ontario, Canada, where he
established the Windsor high school. During the remainder of his life
he made his home in Sandwich, where his death occurred in 1880. The
mother of the Doctor was born in Ontario, and died in Sandwich, in
December, 1911, at the age of seventy-nine years.
James Rene Adam was reared in his native place, and there attended
the public schools, supplementing this by attendance at the high school
and two years in the University of Toronto. Between his collegiate and
university courses he taught school for about three years in order to
secure money with which to pursue his studies, and in 1893 entered the
Detroit College of Medicine, from which he was graduated in 1896 with
the degree of Doctor of Medicine. During his senior year Dr. Adam
served as externe at St. Mary's hospital. At the time of his graduation
he entered general practice in Detroit, where he established himself in
well-appointed offices at No. 185 Chene street, removing thence to his
handsome new residence and office at No. 649 Clinton street, corner of
McDougal avenue. He now controls a large and representative practice.
Dr. Adam is highly respected for his worth as a man by a host of
warm friends drawn to him by his engaging social qualities, his future
is full of promise professionally and otherwise, and he is contributing
essentially and substantially to the progress and development of the best
interests of the city. He is a member of the Wayne County Medical
Society, the Michigan State Medical Society and the American Medical
Association, and his fraternal connection is with the Knights of Columbus.
Aside from his professional business, he has invested to some extent in

1254 HISTORY OF DETROIT
real estate ; at this time owns some city property and is erecting a hand
some brick residence at the corner of McDougal and Clinton streets.
Dr. Adam was married (first) to Miss Charlotte Sallicotte, of Ecorse,
Wayne county, Michigan, daughter of Joseph Sallicotte* Mrs. Adam
died in 1904, having been the mother of two children, namely : Geraldine
and James. Dr. Adam's second marriage was to Miss Alice Mogg, of
West Lawn, Ontario, Canada, the only child of Robert Mogg, a retired1
merchant of West Lawn. Dr. and Mrs. Adam are consistent members
of St. Joachim's Roman Catholic church, and are well known in social
circles of the city.
Guy B. Stall, M. D. Engaged in the successful practice of his profes
sion in Detroit, with residence and office at 215 Chamberlain street, Dr.
Stall is one of the able and popular physicians and surgeons contributed
to the Michigan metropolis by the old Buckeye state, of which he is a na
tive son and a scion of one of its honored pioneer families.
On the old family homestead in North Jackson township, Mahoning
county, Ohio, Dr. Guy Burwell Stall was born on the 31st of March, 1872,
and he is a son of John and Alice (Pocock) Stall. John Stall was like-i
wise born in North Jackson township and is a son of Andrew Stall, who
was a. native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, a scion of staunch Ger
man stock and a valiant soldier in the War of 1812. He was one of the
pioneer settlers of Mahoning county, Ohio, where he established his home
about 1812, and in North Jackson township, that county, he reclaimed a
farm from the forest wilderness. There he passed the residue of his long
and worthy life, as did also his wife, whose maiden name was Susan Simon,
and who shared with him the hardships and vicissitudes of the pioneer
days. The mother of Dr. Stall was born in Antwerp township, Paulding
county, Ohio, and is a daughter of Jesse Price Pocock and Clara (Bur-
well) Pocock, who were honored pioneers of that county, to which they
removed from their native state of Maryland. Prior to her marriage Mrs.
Clara (Burwell) Pocock secured the first teacher's license ever issued in
Paulding county, and thus her name merits enduring place on the pioneer
representatives of the pedagogic profession in that now opulent section of
the Buckeye state. John Stall, father of the Doctor, was born on the 17th
of January, 1837, and his wife on the 12th of October, 1847, and they still
reside on the old Stall homestead, which Andrew Stall reclaimed from
the wilderness. John Stall has long been numbered among the represen
tative agriculturists of his native county and his landed estate is now one
of the valuable and finely improved places of North Jackson township. He
holds to the fullest extent the confidence and esteem of the community
in which he has lived from the time of his birth and to the civic and mate
rial progress of which he has contributed his quota. He is a staunch Dem
ocrat in politics. Of their children four sons and three daughters are
living. On the ancestral farmstead mentioned in the foregoing paragraph Dr.
Stall passed the days of his boyhood and early youth, and he thus gained
definite communion with "nature in her visible forms" as he early began
to assist in the work of the home farm. After duly availing himself of the
advantages of the public schools he continued his studies for two years in
the normal school at Canfield, in his native county, and for a time he was
engaged in teaching in the district schools. In i889 he entered the Homeo
pathic medical department of the University of Michigan, where he re
mained a student for one year, at the expiration of which he transferred
himself to the Detroit Homeopathic Medical College, in which he com
pleted the prescribed course and was graduated as a member of the class
of 1904, with the well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. For the en-

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1255
suing year he served as house physician in Grace Hospital and in October,
1906, he entered upon the general practice of his profession in Detroit,
where his success has effectually demonstrated his professional ability,
personal popularity, and good judgment in selecting a field of labor. He
holds membership in the United Brethren church, the while Mrs. Stall is
a member of the United Evangelical church.
On the 9th of May, 1904, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Stall to
Miss Jennie E. Overmeyer, who was born at Lindsey, Sandusky county,
Ohio, on the 8th of November, 1874, a daughter of Edward and Susan
(Boyer) Overmeyer. Dr. and Mrs. Stall have twin children, Jonathan
Edwards and Crystal Dorothy, who were born on the 20th of March, 1910.
David M. Kerr. As general manager of the power plant equipment
of the Kerr Manufacturing Company, one of the foremost industries of
the city of Detroit, David M. Kerr is an important factor in promoting
the business growth and prosperity of this section of Wayne county,
his achievements along that line entitling him to honorable recognition
among the citizens of influence and prominence. He was born in October,
1878, at Detroit, Michigan, a son of Alexander M. Kerr, whose birth
occurred in Scotland sixty-five years ago. His father has been a resident
of this beautiful city for the past thirty-five years, the greater part of the
time having been employed in the manufacture of pumping machinery,
in 1905 having organized the Kerr Manufacturing Company.
Receiving his first knowledge of books in the primary schools of
Detroit, David M. Kerr passed through the grammar grades with a
creditable record for scholarship and was afterwards graduated from
the Detroit high school. Starting then upon a business career, he was
for awhile salesman for the Kerr Company, of Detroit. Going to Chi
cago, Illinois, in 1898, he was for sometime in the employ of Fairbank,
Morse & Company, having charge of one of the firm's branch stores.
Giving up the position, Mr. Kerr returned to Detroit, and for awhile
was here in business on his own account. In 1905 he organized the Kerr
Machinery and Supply Company, of which he was made general man
ager and treasurer, and engaged in the manufacture of centripetal
machinery. In 1907 the Kerr Manufacturing Company, of which Mr.
Kerr's father was the promoter, was incorporated with a paid-up
capital of $20,000, Alexander M. Kerr being made president ; Frederick
T. Bancroft, vice-president; Benjamin F. Mulford, secretary; and
David M. Kerr general manager of the power plant equipment. This
enterprising firm, which has a finely-equipped plant at No. 43 Congress
street, are manufacturers and jobbers of steam and electric driven pumps,
and during the busy season employs a large force of men in filling the
orders which come not only from all parts of our Union, but from Canada.
Mr. Kerr married, in 1902, Mary L. Baggs, a daughter of Albert W.
Baggs, an old and highly esteemed resident of Detroit, noted as one of
the founders of the Detroit Free Press, a journal well known through
out the country. Fraternally Mr. Kerr is a member of Palestine Lodge,
No. 357, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; of King Cyrus
Chapter, No. 133, Royal Arch Masons; and of Detroit Commandery,
No. 1, Knights Templars.
James Cleland, Jr., M. D., a prominent and successful physician
of the city of Detroit, which has represented his home from his infancy,
was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on December 17, 1863, and is the son
of James Cleland, Sr., who has been known in Detroit as a" practicing
dentist for the past half century, or, since 1864, which year marked the
advent of the Cleland family in America and in the city of Detroit.

1256 HISTORY OF DETROIT
The mother of the subject was Jane Inglis, born in Scotland and died in
1902 at the family heme in Detroit. It was after the family had located
in Detroit that Doctor Cleland, Sr., studied dentistry, his professional
education being secured in the Philadelphia School of Dentistry, after
which he established a practice in this city which has with the passing-
years assumed large proportions and brought him, a reputation of no
little significance in his profession.
James Cleland, Jr., passed through the public schools of Detroit,
and was graduated from the Detroit high school in 1880. In 1884 he
was graduated from the Detroit College of Medicine, with the degree
of M. D., after which he took post graduate work at Columbia College,
in New York City, in the same year. He established himself in practice
in Detroit in 1885 in association with his paternal uncle, the late Henry
Cleland, M. D., with whom he continued for eleven years. At the end
of that time he began independent practice, ' in which he has since
continued. In 1907 Doctor Cleland further fortified his already wide knowledge
of his profession by taking a thorough course in internal medicine at
Edinburgh, Scotland, in which subject he has specialized throughout
his career.
Doctor Cleland is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society,
the Michigan State Medical Society and the American Medical Asso
ciation. In 1911 he was chairman of the medicine section of the Wayne
County Society, and has been active in the work of all three fraternities
since he became connected with them. He is a member of the Board of
Commerce, and is also affiliated with the Masofiie fraternity.
Doctor Cleland married Anna Seibert, of Detroit. Both are members
of St. John's Episcopal church, and popular factors in social circles
throughout the city.
Thomas E. Robinson. On January 10, 1862, was born to John and
Mary Wheeler Robinson a son, Thomas E. Robinson. The parents had
come to Detroit from England two years before, and the other three
children of the family were born in their parents' native country. At
the time of Thomas' birth, the family were living on Orleans street.
The boy received his education in the city attending the grade schools
and the old high school. At the completion «of his work in school, he was
employed with the Bradstreets, as an office assistant. Later he took up
the hardware business and was soon put at the head of M. A. McPher
son 's store. This gentleman had a foundry too, and as he liked Mr.
Robinson's effective methods of handling business, he selected the young
man to be superintendent and to manage the office and the foundry.
As long as Mr. McPherson was in business, Mr. Robinson held this posi
tion. This was for about five years and at the end of that time, he took
charge of the finances of the American Heater Company and was man
ager of that concern for four years.
When Mr. Robinson left the American Heater Company, he went
into business for himself, first on Lyman place and then on Milwaukee
junction. Here he established and conducted the plant known as the
Northwestern Foundry. and Supply Company, remaining in this business
until his death on January 10, 1908, his forty-sixth birthday.
The life cut off in its midst was one of singular power and influence.
To unusual business ability, Mr. Robinson added the qualities of social
and political leadership. He was a Republican of great influence in his
party organization, but he would never consent to be candidate for any
office. In the Methodist church — the North Woodward congregation —
he was a valued communicant and. in the lodge circles of Detroit, no
man was more widely known.

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<lA4?Tiy

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1257
Mrs. Robinson's father and mother, David P. and Catherine Hicks
Hartford, came to Detroit from Canada about 1880, and their only
daughter, Wilmot, became the wife of Thomas Robinson December 16,
1886. There were four children born of this union as follows : Edwin,
who is advertising manager of the Penberthy Company ; Regina Pearl,
now Mrs. Arthur Gibson, her husband being a representative of one of the
oldest families of Detroit ; and Leroy Percival and Russel Alger, who are
still at home. The family are members of the church to which the
father belonged, the North Woodward Methodist. Mrs. Robinson is a
member of the Rebekah lodge and of the Keystone Chapter.
Clarence A. Ppepper, treasurer of the Chalmers Motor Company,
was born in Dayton, Ohio, March 30, 1886. He obtained his education
in the public schools and at Steele high school, where he became the
organizer of the Gaval Literary Society, which has developed into one
of the most influential organizations of that institution. At the end
of his junior year he left high school to enter the Jacobs Business Col
lege of Dayton.
Mr. Pfeffer began his active business career in 1904, when he entered
the employ of the Piatt Iron Works in a minor capacity. In less than
two years, he had worked up to the position of cashier and assistant
auditor of this company. In 1906 he severed his connection with the
Piatt Iron Works to become traveling auditor for a public accounting
firm. He resigned from this position two years later' and went to Detroit
as assistant auditor of the E. R. Thomas Motor Company. When this
firm was reorganized as the Chalmers Motor Company in 1908, Mr.
Pfeffer was made auditor of the new company, and in the fall of the
following year was elected treasurer and a member of the board of di
rectors, which position he holds at the present time. Mr. Pfeffer is also
a director of the Metal Products Company and of the Fairview Foundry
Company of Detroit.
Mr. Pfeffer was married at Dayton, Ohio, October 7, 1909.
Hon. Edwin Denby, prominent lawyer and public man of Detroit,
is a native of southern Indiana, born in the city of Evansville, Vander-
burg county, on February 18, 1870. He is the son of the late Hon.
Charles Denby, who was for many years prominent at the Indiana Bar,
and later in life was a distinguished member of our diplomatic corps.
Colonel Denby was a native of the, Old Dominion, born in Botetourt
county, and was descended from an old Virginia family. He was edu
cated at the Virginia Military Institute, at Lexington, and Georgetown
University, District of Columbia. He taught school for a time in Ala
bama, then located in Evansville, Indiana, where he continued teaching
for a period, till in 1854 he was elected a member of the Indiana House
of Representatives. Thereafter he fitted himself for the legal profession
and was admitted to the bar and entered upon the practice of law in
Evansville. When the war between the states came on Colonel Denby,
like many another Southern born man of southern Indiana, espoused
the cause of the Union, and enlisting, was commissioned in 1861 lieuten
ant-colonel of the Forty-second Regiment of Indiana Volunteers. In
the battle of Perryville he was twice wounded and had his horse shot
from under him. In 1863 he .was commissioned colonel of the Eightieth
Regiment, Indiana Volunteers Infantry, and commanded it until retired
for disability. Returning to Indiana after the war he resumed the
practice of law, and soon became one of the leading lawyers and public
men of Indiana. In 1885 President Cleveland appointed Colonel Denby
United States minister to China, where he continued for a period of thir-
Vol. Ill— 27 ¦ r

1258 HISTORY OF DETROIT
teen years, gaining distinction and high reputation in the diplomatic
corps, and reflecting great credit upon his government. He died at
Jamestown, New York, in 1904, while on a trip through the east.
Colonel Denby married Martha Fitch, who was born in Indiana,
the daughter of United States Senator Graham N. Fitch.
Edwin Denby attended the Evansville public schools, and as a boy
of fifteen years went with his parents to China, in 1885. Completing
his education in that country, he entered the customs service of China
under Sir Robert Hart, in 1887, and remained in the service in China
for seven years. Returning to the United States, Mr. Denby entered the
law department of the University of Michigan, from which he was gradu
ated with the class of '96, with the degree of LL. B. Upon his admission
to the bar he began the practice of law in Detroit, and for a time was
associated with the law firm of Keena & Lightner. After a period of
individual practice he became a member of the law firm of May, Denby
& Webster, now the firm of Chamberlain, May, Denby & Webster.
During the Spanish- American war Mr. Denby volunteered and served
for a period of four months, in 1898, as gunners' mate, third class, on
the United States Steamship "Yosemite, " receiving his honorable dis
charge on August 23, 1898, and returning to his profession.
In 1902 Mr. Denby was elected a member of the Michigan House of
Representatives, in which body he served one term. In 1904 he was
elected to the lower house of Congress for the First Michigan Congres
sional District, and was twice re-elected to that body, serving with dis
tinction and honor. In May, 1908, Mr. Denby was chosen one of two
American representatives on the commission appointed to effect a settle
ment of questions in regard to prices and titles of lands held by private
parties in the Panama Isthmian Canal zone, and with the commission,
passed a portion of that summer on the Isthmus.
Since his retirement from congress, Mr. Denby has devoted himself
to hi's profession and to various business interests with which he is
associated. On March 18, 1911, he married Miss Marion B. Thurber,
who is the daughter of the late Henry T. Thurber, of Detroit, formerly
a member of the firm of Dickinson & Thurber, and private secretary to
President Cleveland, 1892-96. They have one son, Edwin Denby, Jr.
Oren Scotten. Not only in the development of the western end of
the city, but of the central business portion as well is the name of
Scotten prominent. Daniel Scotten, whose tobaccos were known from
one end of the United States to the other, and whose real estate enter
prises were talked of in Detroit and across the river, had an able lieu
tenant in his nephew, Oren Scotten, who hot only carried the mantle cast
upon his shoulders by Daniel Scotten, but wrested from the tobacco
trust the Scotten plant, restored to Detroit a most important industry
and carved for himself a niche in the hall of local fame.
Born at Palmyra, New York, July 15, 1850, the son of Walter and
Almeda (Parker) Scotten, when a young child he came with his parents
to Quincy, Michigan, where he attended the public schools. He came to
Detroit when about sixteen years of age and entered the tobacco busi
ness with his uncle, Daniel Scotten, whose sketch will be found else
where in this work. He learned the business thoroughly in all depart
ments and was a trusted aide to the originator of the immense business,
and when about twenty-five years of age toOk entire charge of the prop
erty. The business was about to go under and his uncle told him to take
it and make what he- could out of it. By hard work and ceaseless effort
he rebuilded it upon a firm foundation and worked up a splendid trade,
a trade that had never been excelled in the palmiest days of the enter
prise.

-^^-^^^^-v^.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1259
About three weeks before the death of his uncle, Daniel Scotten,
the business and plant were sold to the American Tobacco Company and
Olren Scotten temporarily retired from active business life. In response
to the earnest request of Detroit business , men, and from a feeling that
the hundreds of employes would be benefited by the reopening of the
plant, which was shut down when purchased by the American Tobacco
Company, he negotiated for the repurchase of the plant and formed
what was then known as the Scotten-Dillon Company. It was uniformly
successful from the start, and he continued in active charge of the busi
ness up to the time of his death which occurred September 23, 1906.
The business, under the old name, is still in active and successful opera
tion. Mr. Scotten, whose remains now rest in Woodmere cemetery, was
a prominent member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
He served as fire commissioner and was much interested in the depart
ment, doing much toward bringing it up to its present splendid state of
efficiency. He was also a valued member of the Detroit Board of
Estimates. He was a Baptist by profession and was greatly interested
in all benevolent and charitable work, being a liberal contributor in that
direction. His main interest centered in his splendid home on Fort
street near Vinewood avenue. . It is a work of art and his grounds and
greenhouses are the admiration of all who pass by and through them.
He was united in, marriage to Mary Clark McGregor, daughter of Alex
ander and Rebecca (Brown) McGregor, who were both born at Glasgow,
Scotland. The marriage took place at St. Joseph, Missouri, May 15, 1873.
As a result of this happy "union eight children were born as follows :
Rebecca, married Paul M. Day, and one daughter, Ruth, was born to
that union; seven years after the death of Mr. Day the widow married
Dr. Angus McLean, and to that marriage were born two daughters,
Marion and Bessie, of whom the latter died on July 13, 1912.
Walter, who succeeded his father in the Scotten-Dillon Company,
married Miss Edith Morton, and they have one daughter, Virginia Mary.
Bessie Marjorie, married Edwin S. George.
Daniel lives with his mother, and is interested in the Scotten-Dillon
Company. Marion Clark married Harold H. Emmons, and they have two chil
dren, Harold Hunter, Jr., and Mary Margaret.
Oren, who died at the age of thirteen years. Priscilla at home with
her mother, and Robert McGregor, a student at Yale University.
Mrs. Scotten has been a resident of Detroit since 1873, and has lived
in her present stately mansion for twenty years, ever since it was built
under the personal direction of Mr. Scotten. It is situated in the central
front of five and one-half acres of land and is considered the finest resi
dence in the west end of the city.
Mr. Scotten 's death was sudden and unexpected. He was seized with
an attack of pneumonia when out with a hunting party about forty miles
north of Perth, New Brunswick, which resulted fatally.
The Detroit Free Press in commenting upon the death of Mr. Scotten,
says: "From the starting point of nothing for capital excepting pluck
and sense, he reached the rank of millionaire, of an esteemed citizen and
brilliant business man. He was the first man at work in the factory in
the morning and the last to leave at night, thus developing a knowledge
of tobacco that excited the admiration of the growers, expert in all
respects. In addition to his interest in political and municipal affairs,
he was devoted to art and a thorough sportsman. His beautiful home on
Fort street is filled with art treasures, skins, and other trophies of the
chase. Mr. Scotten held the presidency of the fire commission for two
years and there was a genuine friendship between him and the men. He

1260 HISTORY OF DETROIT
was universally liked and respected and his loss is a serious one to the
city of Detroit. ' '
John J. Whirl. For the past ten years John J. Whirl has been
connected, with the Employers ' Association of Detroit in the capacity
of secretary, a position for which he is especially well qualified by rea
son of his rounded character, his comprehensive viewpoint, and his
general understanding and sympathetic nature. He is a man of
splendid integrity, who enjoys the friendship and respect of all who
know him, and his connection with the organization has proved of in
calculable value and far reaching benefit to both capital and labor.
John J. Whirl was born at Coshocton, Ohio, on July 30, 1860, and is
the son of John and Annie Whirl. John Whirl, the father of the sub
ject of this sketch, enlisted and served nearly four years during the
Civil war, and, as a result of that service, contracted the disease which
so decimated the ranks, and died at St. Louis, Missouri, while on his way
home from the front.
In the year 1865 the family, consisting of John J. Whirl and his
mother, removed from Ohio to Chicago and thence to Kankakee county,
Illinois, where young Whirl received his early education in the public
schools. In 1868 the mother of Mr. Whirl married Capt. Randolph
Grimes, of Michigan, who had also served with distinction throughout
the War, and the family continued to reside in Kankakee county until
1878, when they removed to Lincoln, Nebraska, where Mr. John J. Whirl
remained until 1881. He learned his trade at the tinner's bench prior
to the latter date, when he went to Chicago and became connected with
John D. Bangs & Co., a general house furnishing firm, one of the oldest
and most substantial in the metropolis of the middle west. Remaining
with this firm one year, he became identified with Mason & Davis
Company of Chicago, with whom he remained fifteen years until failure
of the firm, when he was appointed receiver. His administration of its
affairs resulted in the preferred creditors receiving one hundred cents
on the dollar, and the other creditors ninety cents on the dollar, after
which Mr: Whirl reorganized the firm on a sound basis and remained
with it a year. In 1898, John J. Whirl came to Detroit with the Ideal
Manufacturing Co., in charge of the gas stove department of that com
pany. He continued in that capacity until the summer of 1902 when
he became secretary of the Employers' Association of Detroit, an or
ganization that was inaugurated at that time with but sixteen mem
bers, but which today is conceded to be the strongest organization of
its kind in the country, and is further conceded by those who have
looked into the matter, to have done more perhaps than any other one
factor in the business life of the city to regulate industrial conditions,
and which has secured to the city a stage of industrial quiet which has
radiated a benign influence throughout its length and breadth.
Mr. Whirl was married at Chicago, Illinois, on October 9, 1884, to
Miss Emma Sparks, and as a result of that union they have four children
now living as follows :
Carl Johnson Whirl, aged 27, who is married and has a daughter.
He is successfully engaged in general commercial business in Detroit.
Harry Randolph Whirl, aged 25, who is married and is connected
with the employment department of one of Cleveland's leading manu
facturing industries.
Alvin Mason Whirl, aged 22, who is at Phoenix, Arizona, connected
with the beet sugar industry of that place.
Helen Sparks Whirl, aged 17 years, who attended Liggett College
for two years, and who is now attending the National Park Seminary
at Forest Glen, Maryland.

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HISTORY OF DETROIT 1261
John J. Whirl is a member of the Detroit Golf Club, Fellowcraft
Club, Detroit Board of Commerce, Detroit Automobile Club, Wolverine
Club, Young Men's Christian Association, Dearborn Lodge 310, F.
& A. M. of Illinois, Palestine Chapter and Lafayette Chapter, R. A. M.
of Chicago, Chevalier Bayard Commandery, Knights Templar, Chicago,
and by demit of Detroit Commandery No. 1 of Detroit. He is also a
member of the Michigan Sovereign Consistory, Scottish Rite Masons,
and of Moslem Temple, Noble Order of the Mystic Shrine, of Detroit.
William C. Manchester. The world instinctively pays deference
to the man whose success has been worthily achieved and whose promi
nence is not the less the result of an irreproachable life than of natural
talents and acquired ability in the field of his chosen labor. For the
past fourteen years William C. Manchester has been actively engaged
in the practice of law at Detroit, where he is a man of mark in all the
relations of life. He has been eminently successful as an attorney of
recognized ability, served as a member of the constitutional convention
of 1907-08 and has ever manifested a deep and sincere interest in all
matters pertaining to the good of the Republican party, of whose prin
ciples he has long been a zealous and active exponent. Mr. Manchester
was a member of the National Republican convention, which nominated
President in 1908, and in 1911 was a member of the Republican State
Central committee.
A native of the fine old Buckeye state of the Union, William C. Man
chester was born at Canfield, in Mahoning county, Ohio, on the 25th of
December, 1873. He is a son of Hugh A. and Susan Rosannah (Squire)
Manchester, both of whom are now passing the declining years of their
lives at Canfield. The father began his active career as a rural school
teacher and later became interested in farming and banking. Through
shrewd management he built up a competency and he is now living in
virtual retirement at Canfield, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Hugh A. Man
chester became the parents of seven children, six of whom are living at
the present time, namely, — two girls and four boys.
William C. Manchester obtained his elementary educational training
in the public schools of Canfield, Ohio, and as a youth he attended the
Northeastern Ohio Normal College, at Canfield, being graduated in that
excellent institution as a member of the class of 1894, with the degree of
Bachelor of Arts. Subsequently he was matriculated as a student in
the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in the law department of
which he was graduated in 1896, duly receiving his well-earned degree
of Bachelor of Laws. Immediately after completing his collegiate course
he took an extended tour throughout the west, and upon his return to
the east he decided to establish his business headquarters at Detroit,
where he is recognized as a versatile lawyer and a well-fortified counselor.
From 1902 to 1907 Mr. Manchester was a member of the law firm of Man
chester & Prentis but since the latter year he has practiced alone. In
politics he is a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Republican party,
in the local councils of which he has long been an active factor. As a
valued and appreciative member of the constitutional convention of 1907-
08 he helped draw up the new state constitution and as a member of the
judiciary committee of that body he was largely influential in bringing
about the conditions that resulted in the founding of the juvenile court.
In 1908 Mr. Manchester was further honored in a political way by elec
tion to membership in the National Republican convention, which met at
Chicago and nominated William Taft for president. Since 1910 he has
been a member o"f the Republican State Central committee and in every
manner possible has forwarded the good of the Republican party ^

1262 HISTORY OF DETROIT
At Bay City, Michigan, on the 27th of December, 1899, was celebrated
the marriage of Mr. Manchester to Miss Margaret MacGregor, a native
of Bay City and a daughter of Duncan and Martha (MacDonald) Mac
Gregor. Mrs. Manchester was graduated with the degree of Bachelor
of Philosophy from the University of Michigan in 1896, the same year
in which Mr. Manchester completed his law course in that institution.
Their college friendship later ripened into love which led to consumma
tion in marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Manchester are the parents of five chil
dren, whose names are here entered in respective order of birth, — Hugh
A., II, Mary Katherine, William C, Jr., Helen Margaret and Susan
Rosannah, all of whom were born in Detroit except Hugh, a native of
Canfield, Ohio. The attractive Manchester home is maintained at No.
219 Vinewood avenue avenue and there is dispensed the most gracious of
hospitality. In Masonic circles Mr. Manchester is affiliated with Corinthian Lodge,
Free & Accepted Masons; King Cyrus Chapter, Royal Arch Masons;
and Detroit Commandery No. 1, Knights Templar. He is also connected
with the Kappa Sigma college fraternity and is a prominent member
of the Detroit Board of Commerce. He is a man of splendid intellect
and broad information; is a great lover and deep student of literature,
all his leisure time being devoted to extensive reading and research work.
In their religious faith Mr. and Mrs. Manchester are members of the
Fort Street Presbyterian church and they are popular and prominent
factors in connection with the best social activities of the community in
which they reside.
Thomas H. Simpson. This is the age of the man with initiative — of
the man who not only has ideas but knows how to develop them for
practical use, and at the same time has the ability to organize and carry
forward any enterprise he may inaugurate. Such a man is Thomas H.
Simpson, president, treasurer and general manager of the Michigan
Malleable Iron Company of Detroit, whose genius as an organizer and
splendid ability as an executive have so materially contributed to the
prestige held by Detroit in the industrial world. His work is, and has
always been, along the line of iron and steel manufacture, and he has
been a potent factor in giving to Detroit her fame as a manufacturing
city from which some of the finest products of iron and steel are sent
broadcast throughout the world, while his work has earned for himself
recognition as one of the city's most successful men of large affairs and
a reputation as an iron and steel authority which extends all over the
country. Mr. Simpson is a native of Ohio, born at MeConnelsville, that state,
in 1859. He received his education in the public schools, and early in
life became interested in the manufacture of iron and steel, and became
an expert iron master. Coming to Detroit he became identified with
such men as Theodore Buhl, Wells W. Leggett, Allan Bourn, C. H.
Davison and H. B. Joy, who were then the officers of the old Michigan
Malleable Iron Company. Later he was joined by Senator James and
'William C. McMillan in the reorganization of the present Michigan
Malleable Iron Company, and the Delray plant was built under Mr.
Simpson's supervision, which plant has become the greatest of its
kind in the United States, with an international fame for the quality of
goods turned out. It was not long before Mr. Simpson won his way to
the front rank among iron and steel manufacturers, a place rightfully
his, and he is today recognized by all men in that line as an authority.
Combined with this deep knowledge of his profession is a marked genius
for organization, a remarkable executive ability and a shrewd business

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HISTORY OF DETROIT 1263
sense which destines Mr. Simpson to become one of the greatest, iron and
steel men in the United States.
Keen in pursuit of all knowledge that would be useful to him, Mr.
Simpson early saw the value of seamless steel tubes, and he organized
the Detroit Seamless Tubes Company, of which he was vice-president.
The result of this venture was that the tubes manufactured in the De
troit plant are used in the boilers of the battle ships of the American
navy, in the battle ships of foreign nations, in the boilers of the highest
types of locomotives in this and other countries, and in the mines of the
United States, of the Canadian northwest and of South Africa.
Mr. Simpson has never been a promotor in any sense of the word,
but as an organizer he has done as much, if not more, than any other
one Detroit man to build up and develop the industrial interests of the
city. Aside from his great work as the head of the Michigan Malleable
Iron Company, he has either organized or assisted in the organization of
the following manufacturing companies: The Michigan Sprocket Chain
Company, of which he is president ; the Monarch Steel Castings Company,
with which he is still identified ; the American Chain and Foundry Com
pany, of which he was president; the Walkerville (Canada) Malleable
Iron Company, which he built and of which he was vice-president; the
Monarch Brake Beam Company, of which he was vice-president ; the De
troit Stoker Company, of which he was president; the American Motor
Casting Company; the Detroit Foundry Company; the Wilson Safety
Gate Company, and the Detroit Valve Fitting Company. He was also
one of the organizers and a director of the Delray Savings Bank.
Possessed of great civic patriotism, Mr. Simpson has been connected
in some manner with every movement for the betterment of Detroit that
has been started, and those movements he has been most active in have
almost invariably been successful. A man of very strong character, he
is a fast friend where friendship is deserving and a number of success
ful men owe their opportunities to that friendship. Broad minded, he
has toleration for the faults of others, and thus exercises a charity that
is not always found in the churches.
Now possessed of a comfortable fortune, and surrounded by lieu
tenants who are able and faithful, Mr. Simpson is enabled to take a little
enjoyment, and almost every year he takes a trip abroad with Mrs.
Simpson, to whom he is most devotedly attached. A constant and intel
ligent reader, he is one of the best informed men on general subjects to
be found. He is especially interested in ancient history, and has trod
the historic spots of the Orient with additional pleasure, having absorbed
much knowledge of them from his wide research. He is a lover of art, and
he seldom returns to his native land without bringing with him some
treasure to adorn the walls of his handsome home, or some piece of statu
ary to be placed where it will be pleasing to the eyes of his many friends.
Hospitable, generous, a man of fine sensibilities and of the strictest
honor, Mr. Simpson is loved by his friends and respected and admired
by the fellow citizens of the community in which he lives.
In New York, on March 28, 1898, Mr. Simpson was united in marriage
with Miss Christine McDonald, and their married life has been an ideal
one. Henry Guernzie Hubbard. This late distinguished scientist, whose
work was of national importance and extent, nevertheless claimed no
other home than Detroit throughout the forty-nine years of his effec
tive life. In reviewing his career, it is worth while first briefly to con
sider the notable facts in the history of his father, Bela Hubbard, whose
association with the life of this city has been both close and significant.

1264 HISTORY OF DETROIT
The Hubbard family is of English descent and of early residence in
the eastern states. Thomas and Phoebe Hubbard, the parents of Bela
Hubbard became a student at Hamilton College, preparing himself for
New York. In about 1825 they removed to Utica in the same state. Bela
Hubbard became a student at Hamilton College, preparing himself for
the profession of a civil engineer and at the same time mastering geolog
ical science and familiarizing himself with technical law. In 1835 he
came with his older brother, Henry, to Michigan. They were later fol
lowed by another brother, Frederick, also a civil engineer, who with Bela
Hubbard assisted in the construction of both the New York Central and
the Michigan Central railroads. His activities in this creative period of
Michigan also included his practicing of law in those early days and his
services were furthermore called in requisition for geological investiga
tion in the upper peninsula. He was a member of the bpard of control
in the state asylums, in which work he took great interest. Bela Hub
bard was one of the first settlers in what is now the west end of De
troit, owning a farm on the bank of the river. He later built a home on
Vineyard avenue, a part of that property, and in his desire that the
west end should become the attractive residence part of the city, he
gave a part of his farm to the city for the Grand boulevard and planted
many of the elm trees which are now standing in that part of Detroit.
Bela Hubbard and his wife — nee Sarah Baughman and the daughter of
the Rev. J. C. Baughman, a pioneer Methodist minister of Detroit —
were the parents of the following sons and daughters: Henry G., the
special subject of this biographical record; Collins B., of New York;
Thomas Hill, deceased; Edward King, also deceased; Mary — Mrs.
Charles Jacobs of California; Robert, deceased; Alice — Mrs. Frederick
Fowler, of Detroit, and Sarah — Mrs. Lancing Brooks, of Detroit. Sarah
Baughman Hubbard, the mother of this family, died in 1871; Bela
Hubbard's life closed in 1896. They were connected with the old St.
Paul's church, of which Bela Hubbard was a charter member. Scarcely
any phase of Detroit's advancement in that vital mid-century epoch was
untouched by his interest and aid and his name is permanently associated
with her growth and achievement.
At the early home of Bela and Sarah Hubbard in Detroit, their
eldest son, Henry Guernzie Hubbard, was born on May 6, 1850. He was
sent for educational opportunities to Mr. Patterson's school — later Pro
fessor Chalier's, a French school of New York. He next attended Pro
fessor Josiah Kendall's famous , school at Cambridge, after which he
entered upon an unusually thorough and extended period of advanced
and specialized study. After four years spent in Harvard University,
he pursued further research and investigation in post-graduate work
under the direction of that brilliant scientist, Professor Agassiz.
Mr. Hubbard then engaged in special entomological work for the
United States Department of Agriculture, which he continued through
out his remarkably efficient life. His biological erudition was so inclu
sive and reliable and his methods of research so accurate that he became a
recognized authority in various lines of his science. His data and dis
coveries regarding citral fruits in America were of particular service and
he also did important work in connection with the cotton plants of the
south. As a biological and horticultural authority he became widely
known, especially among scientific scholars.
Although his duties required much and varied travel, Mr. Hubbard
always retained his old loyalty to the local and social relations of his
youth. He was a member of the college fraternity of Xsi Upsilon, in the
Harvard chapter of that organization. His religious affiliation was
with the St. Paul's church of Detroit.

HISTORY OF DETROIT 1265
Mr. Hubbard's useful life came to its close on December 25, 1899,
and his passing is marked by the memorial shaft in the family burial lot
in Detroit. His memory is worthily represented by the family which
survives him, including Mrs. Hubbard and four children, who are
rapidly developing their own abilities and advancing to their own
careers. Mrs. Hubbard was formerly Miss Katie Lasier, a daughter of Fred
erick L. and Martha (Garrison) Lasier. Mrs. Hubbard is of French
ancestry and represents early Detroit families in both paternal and
maternal lines. Her great grandfather, John Garrison, was a pioneer
farmer and country merchant of Detroit; his son, John J. Garrison,
was born in Detroit. His daughter, Martha Garrison— who lived to be
come the mother of Katie Lasier Hubbard— is a resident of Birmingham,
near Detroit. Her husband, Frederick Lasier, had come to Detroit when
a young man and had been active as a commission merchant. He became
a commercial force in Detroit, where he was at one time president of
the Board of Trade. Katie Lasier was born in Detroit and her marriage
to Henry Guernzie Hubbard was solemnized in 1848. The sons and
daughters who were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard are the following :
Bela Hubbard, now a student at the University of Wisconsin ; Margaret,
at school in Virginia; Henry G., at school in Asheville, North Carolina,
and Alice, who is at home with her mother, Mrs. Hubbard.
Percy D. Dwight certainly deserves representation among the men
who have been instrumental in promoting the welfare of Detroit, where
he has resided during the greater portion of his life time thus far. He
has done much to advance the wheels of progress, aiding materially in
the development of business activity and energy, wherein the prosperity
and growth of the state always depend. He has found in each transition
stage opportunity for further effort and broader labor and his enter
prise has not only contributed to his individual success, but has also
been of marked value to the community in which he makes his home.
For a number of years past Mr. Dwight has been interested in the manu
facturing business at Detroit, and at the present time, is secre
tary and treasurer of the C. R. Wilson Body Company and vice-presi
dent of the Lavigne Manufacturing Company.
A native of Detroit, Michigan, and a scion of an old and honored
family of the Wolverine state, Percy D. Dwight was born on the '26th
of October, 1862, son of David and Lucretia (Howe) Dwight. To the
public schools of Detroit the boy was indebted for his preliminary
educational training and in 1881 he was matriculated as a student in
the celebrated Harvard College, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, being
graduated therein as a member of the class of 1885 with the degree of
Bachelor of Arts. After the completion of his college course he returned
to Detroit, where he began to read law and where he was admitted to
the bar of the state in the year 1887. For the ensuing five years Mr.
Dwight was engaged in the practice of his profession at Detroit, but in
1892 he became interested in the manufacturing business. In 1897,
upon the incorporation of the C. R. Wilson Body Company, manufac
turers of carriage and auto bodies, he was elected secretary and treas
urer of that concern, continuing as the efficient incumbent of those
offices to the present time. He is also vice-president of the Lavigne
Manufacturing Company of Detroit. He is a valued and appreciative
member of the Detroit Board of Commerce and is recognized as a busi
ness man of great shrewdness and remarkable executive ability.
At Troy, New York, in the year 1898, was solemnized the marriage
of Mr. Dwight to Miss Grace A. Buel. Mrs. Dwight is a woman of
Vol. Ill— 2 8

1266 HISTORY OF DETROIT
most gracious personality and she and. her husband are devout com
municants of the Protestant Episcopal church in their religious affilia
tions. Mr. Dwight was formerly a member of the Boston (Mass.) Cadets
and he is now connected with the Michigan Naval Reserves. In a social
way he is affiliated with the Detroit Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the.
Country Club, and the Harvard Club of Michigan. In politics he is
a Republican and while he does not take an active part in local affairs
he is ever ready to contribute of his time and means to all matters
projected for the good of the general welfare. The beautiful residence
of the Dwight family is located at No. 220 Burns avenue and tSere is
dispensed the most generous hospitality. . 0