USA > Michigan > American Biographical History of Eminent and Self-made Men.: Michigan Volume > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36
.
65
REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF MICHIGAN.
'RIFFIN, LEVI THOMAS, of Detroit, was born in ! January, 1862, at which time the law partnership of Clinton, Oneida County, New York, May 23, 1837. Moore and Griffin was formed. In the autumn of 1862, he was commissioned, by Governor Blair, supernumerary Second Lieutenant in the 4th Michigan Cavalry, and was mustered into the service, August 13. He was pro- moted to Second Lieutenant, December 18, following, and assigned to staff duty as Brigade Inspector. Feb- ruary 1, 1863, he was made First Lieutenant; and, on April 15, of the same year, Adjutant of his regiment. February 24, 1864, he was commissioned as Captain ; and, September 15, of that year, was assigned to staff duty as Acting Assistant Adjutant-General of the Second Cavalry Division. December 25, following, he was made Acting Assistant Adjutant-General of the Cavalry Corps of the Military Division of the Mississippi, Brevet Major-General James H. Wilson commanding. He was brevetted Major of United States Volunteers by the President, March 13, 1866, for gallant and meritorious service during the war. He belonged to a regiment which has a most enviable record, and participated in all its engagements when not on staff duty. He was mustered out of service, July 1, 1865, at the close of the war. His reputation with the regiment, and among his fellow-officers, was that of an able and gallant officer, and a courteous and honorable gentleman. Returning to his profession, August, 1865, as one of the firm of Moore & Griffin, he remained thus connected until the Ist of September, 1875, when he associated himself with Mr. Don M. Dickinson, under the firm name of Griffin & Dickinson. He has never held, nor been a can- didate for, any office of a political character; devoting every energy to the practice of law. He was President of the Young Men's Society, of Detroit, 1870-72; and, for a number of years, was one of its Directors. Polit- ically, he inherited the prejudices of his father, and has always voted the Democratic ticket in national affairs ; though, in municipal and local affairs, he is quite indif- ferent to party. He was an early and strong advocate of the Greeley movement, in the campaign of 1872, and was firmly of the belief that the acceptance of Mr. Greeley's candidacy was the only hope of overthrowing the domination of the Republican party. In 1858, through the influence of a college friend, now Rev. E. G. Thurber, of Syracuse, he made a profession of relig- ion, connecting himself with Westminster Church, of Detroit,- Henry Niel, D. D., pastor. In 1873, after an extended investigation of church history and polity, he withdrew from the Presbyterian denomination, and was confirmed in St. John's Episcopal Church, Detroit; since which time he has been an ardent, earnest church- man. He was married, October 8, 1867, to Mary Cabot Wickware, a native of Detroit, and a young lady of personal attractions and endowments. They have three He received the name of his maternal grandfather, Levi Thomas, of Utica, New York,-an honest, thrifty, and energetic man, but stern and severe in character and manners. His mother was a woman of great integ- rity, economical and industrious,-remarkably devoted to domestic duties. Of a family of eight children, six lived to manhood and womanhood under her care and training. His father, a gentleman of refinement and culture, especially noted for his social qualities, inher- ited a considerable landed estate, which was conveyed to his paternal ancestor, in 1790, by George Washing- ton, whose signature, with that of De Witt Clinton, as a witness, is upon the title-deed. Owing to various reverses, however, the property has passed out of the possession of the family. From early childhood until his eleventh year, Levi Griffin was reared in the house of his maternal grandfather, and noticeably inherited and acquired very many of the peculiar qualities of that branch of the family, In the fall of 1847, his parents removed to Rochester, Michigan, taking him with them. He evinced great fondness for study; at the early age of fourteen, was prepared for college; and, at sixteen, entered the University of Michigan. Here he main. tained a good position in his classes, and was proficient in all his studies except mathematics, which he never examined sufficiently to appreciate. Graduating in 1857, he found himself without means to study his profession, but having met one of the alumni of the university, Mr. William A. Moore, -now a distinguished member of the Detroit bar,-he was tendered a place in the office of Moore & Blackmar, which he entered, as a stu- dent, the first of July. Through the exertions of Mr. Moore, then Assistant United States District-Attorney, and the kindness of Robert W. Davis, United States Marshal, he secured the appointment of Court Deputy ; and, during the session of the Federal Court, received two dollars per day. With this assistance, he was able to get through the first year of his study. He was accustomed to sleep in the office, on a bed improvised for the occasion, and his habits, at this time, were of the most frugal kind. He was admitted to the bar, May 29, 1858, being a member of the first class admitted by the Supreme Court of Michigan, as at present organ- ized, and was complimented by the judges upon his proficiency. In November, 1858, he removed to Grand Rapids, and associated himself with Lucius Patterson, Esq., who, for a number of years, was one of the fore- most lawyers of Western Michigan. In April, 1860, a disastrous fire destroyed the building in which his office was located, together with the county offices, and nearly the entire records of Kent County. Somewhat discour- aged, he returned to Detroit, and again entered the office |children, -William Wickware, Laura Moore, and Mary of Mr. Moore, where he remained, on a salary, until | McLaren Griffin. At an early age, his ambition was
66
REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF MICHIGAN ..
stimulated and encouraged by his elde-t sister, after- ' life to aid in the support of the family. He attended wards Mrs. HI. F. Warner, now residing in Scranton, the common schools until ten years of age, when he Pennsylvania; and to her counsel and sympathy, he began working for Mr. Barrett at Ashburnham, Massa- justly attributes much of his success. In the profesion chusetts, a few miles from his native place, at making of law he may be regarded as standing in the front , leather pocket-books, in which he soon became quite rank, commanding the entire respect of his legal breth- ; expert. A short time after, his employer gave up the ren ; in fact, as a nisi prius lawyer, he has few equal, business on account of failing health, and, under his and no superior in the bar of Michigan. A man of advice, Mr. Hammond, then only ten years old, contin- pronounced individuality and indefatigable industry. ned to carry it on. Buying a small stock of leather his opponent, in the trial of a cause, is never certain from his employer's father, on credit, he took it to his but that his case will be tried on questions entirely own home, and, with the assistance of about a dozen new, and he himself led in the contest upon ground girls whom he employed, manufactured his goods. Ile which, to him, is terra incognita. Mr. Grittin is of me- found a ready market for them, and was very successful, dium height, of attractive personal appearance. and | financially. After a year, however, steel porte-mounaies winning address, indicating by word and act the Chris commenced to supersede the leather goods, and he con- tian gentleman. Those who are favored with his con- Icluded to retire from the business. For a few months, fidence hold him warmly in friendship, but he i, he was employed in the butcher-shop of a neighbor, and disinclined " to these familiarities which reader sincere liked the work very well. After this, he secured a place regard and esteem very cheap." He is ever ready to with Milton Frost, now of Detroit, at that time manu- welcome his friends to his pleasant home with cordial factoring mattresses and palm kaf hats at Fitchburg. hospitality. Although enjoying sosial pleasures and He received. at first, a salary of forty dollars a year, holding a somewhat prominent portion in the society with the privilege of going to school for three months of Detroit, his ambition and aspirations contine lam in the winter. After working three years for Mr. Frost, closely to his professional duties. Generous with his he again entered the service of the butcher, and, at the means, no worthy cause over appeals to him in vain; jend of nine month-, on the failure of the latter, pur- and he occupies, as he deserves, an enviable place in chased his effects and carried on the business himself; the good opinion of his fellow-citizen -.
being then bent fifteen years of age, and having a capital 'of only five dollars. He was quite successful for six mi rele, when, at the solicitation of Mr. Frost, who had moved to Detroit. he sold out, and came to that city in
GODWIN, HON. DANIEL. Upper Peninsula, 1 1554. For two months after his arrival, he worked in a was one of the early emigrant, to the Tenitor baschet shop. and, for the next two years and a half, for ^of Michigan, where he entered upon the pr. eric. Mr. First. in the manufacture of mattresses and furni- of the legal profession. He was for many years I ante : I tante. He then started in business for himself, manufac- States District Attorney for Michigan; was subsequently tuing chairs, at the corner of Farmer and State streets. About six months later, his establishment was burned
a District Judge: served repeatedly in the State Legi- lature; and wa- President of the Constitutional Conven- font; leaving him, after settling with the insurance com- tion of 1850. He appeared for the people in the great ; paties and paying his debt-, with a cash capital of trial of 1851, known as the .. Railroad Conspiracy Case :" and is at the present time Judge of the Circuit Court for the Northern Peninsula of Michigan.
thirteen dollars, and the note of a citizen of Detroit for fifty dollars. Upon this note he borrowed forty dollars, and, nothing daunted by his misfortune, at once opened a meat-shop on the corner of Howard and Third street. In 1Soo, from the proceeds of his trade, he erected a brick building for a shop on the opposite corner, after which his business steadily in-
AMMOND, GEORGE H., of Detroit, Michigan, ; crea-ed until, in 1865, he removed to No. 38 Michigan was born at Fitchburg, Masachusetts, May 5. Grand avenue, in the center of the city, and soon was 1838. His parents, John and Sarah (Hu-ton) I the proprietor of a large and prosperous establishment. Hammond, were of old New England stock, his He became interested in pork and beef packing ; and, paternal ancestors being among the earliest settlers of having engaged in the transportation of fresh dressed this country. Hi- maternal grandfather was a native of "meat, his busine-> grew to such an extent that, in 1872, Maine, and served eight years as a soldier in the war be associated with him J. D. Standish and S. B. Dixon, of the Revolution, living to the age of ninety four years, "the latter of whom had been his clerk for many years. Mr. George Il. Hammond is one of twelve children. [ The firm increased their facilities for meat-packing, His father being a mechanic, he was obliged early in i erecting a large packing-house on Twentieth street,
67
REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF MICHIGAN.
where they pack upwards of four thousand hogs, and | the interior of the State to work at his trade. He do a business amounting to nearly a million dollars a had occupied his leisure, while an apprentice in New year. In 1869 Mr. Hammond began sending dressed beef to the Eastern markets in refrigerator cars, which has proved a most successful venture, and has revolu- tionized the transportation of fresh meats. In that year, Mr. Davis, the patentee, built his first refrigerator car, and tried in vain to induce several parties to trans- port perishable articles in it, until Mr. Hammond con- sented to load the car with dressed beef for shipment to Boston, Mr. Caleb Ives being his partner in this venture. The beef reached Boston in excellent condition, found a ready market, and netted large returns. A second ex- periment was made in midsummer, with a like success- ful result. Mr. Hammond then, in partnership with two others, had ten cars built, established a slaughter-house near Chicago, and engaged in transporting dressed beef to the Eastern States. At the end of six months, ten more cars were added, and the demand has steadily in- creased, until now, in 1878, one hundred and eighty cars are employed; ten thousand pounds of beef are shipped daily to Boston, and thence distributed through New England. In addition to this, vast supplies of dressed hogs, eggs, butter, and other perishable produce, are forwarded in these cars to the Eastern markets. The success of this vast business, which amounts to about three million dollars annually, is due to the enterprise and sagacity of Mr. Hammond, who has had the entire management of it from the first. From it he has ac- cumulated a handsome fortune. Mr. Hammond . has been too attentive to his business to take an active part in politics, and has no ambition for political distinction. He votes the Republican ticket. He married, in 1857, Miss Ellen Barry. They have had eight children, five of whom are living. Mr. Hammond is a true type of the active, energetic, and successful -though modest and retiring -business man.
York, in studying and reading, with an ambition to become something more than a mechanic; and, after a few weeks spent in Michigan, he obtained a situation as teacher, during the winter months, in a country school. The following summer, he was steward and clerk of the Railroad Hotel at Marshall, Michigan, which position he held for a year, and then resumed teaching. After remaining about two years in Michi- gan, he was so prostrated with fever and ague that he was obliged to seek another climate. Ile went to Wis- consin, became interested as partner in marble manufac- turing works, and remained there several years. In 1862 he returned to Detroit, as State Agent for the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company. Hle asso- ciated his brother, Charles C. Hodges, with him in this business; and, a few months afterwards, Hodges Brothers became agents of the above company for the States of Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. The busi- ness was prosecuted with such tact and energy as to become, in a few years, large and prosperous. In 1868 they sold the agency for Iowa and Minnesota to the company; and, in the subsequent year, the province of Ontario was added to their general agency. Since they have conducted the business, it has amounted to nearly ten millions of dollars in receipts of premiums. In 1865 they began operating in real estate, buying property on the corner of Lafayette and Tenth streets; and, after- wards, sixty feet front on Woodward avenue, upon which they have recently erected a magnificent five-story block for business purposes. In 1871 they purchased twenty- four acres of land on the old Woodbridge estate, to which they added forty-two acres by a later purchase; opened through the property two fine avenues,-Lin- coln, seventy feet wide, and Trumbul, eighty feet wide; planted shade-trees; and introduced all necessary im- provements to make them attractive. The property was subdivided into lots, and part of it sold on condition that the purchaser erected thereon a fine brick resi- dence; while the Hodges Brothers themselves built a number of elegant dwellings, which found a ready sale. In the course of some six years, from thirty to forty houses were put up, and the avenues are now two of the finest in the city of Detroit or its suburbs. In 1878 they completed the Brunswick Hotel, on the corner of Griswold and State streets, one of the most complete and convenient hotels in Michigan. Mr. Hodges has served one term as a member-at-large of the Board of Es- timates, for the city of Detroit; having been appointed to fill a vacancy occasioned by the death of Captain E. B. Ward, in '1875. He is a liberal and public-spirited citizen, and has done much towards beautifying, im- proving, and building up Detroit. He has voted with
ODGES, HENRY C., Insurance Agent and Real Estate Operator, senior member of the firm of Hodges Brothers, of Detroit, was born in Grand Isle County, Vermont, March 2, 1828. His an- cestors were New Englanders, but his father was born in Washington County, New York; and his mother, a descendant of the Phelps family, of Connecticut, was born in Vermont. Ile received a common-school edu- cation; and, at the age of twelve years, began to earn his own living by working upon a farm. When six- teen, he commenced to learn the trade of carriage- making, and worked at it until he was twenty-two; when, in November, 1850, he started for the West. He spent a short time in Detroit, and then went into | the Republican party, but has never taken an active
GS
REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF MICHIGAN.
part in politica. Ile is a liberal Christian, and has for ! Gardner, of East Cleveland. They have had eight several years been trustee of the Unitarian Church of | children, of whom three sons and three daughters are Detroit. Ile was married, October 10, 1854, at Hast- | living. Mrs. Hawley is engaged in many benevolent ings, Michigan, to Julia A. Bidwell, a native of Kinder- | works; to her effort is mainly due the e-tablishment of hook, New York, and a daughter of the late Judge the Women's Hospital, and Foundlings' Home. She Horace Bidwell, of Hastings. has been, in every sense, a helpmeet to her husband; and he feels that much of his success may be attributed to her. Mi. Hawley, during the session of 1877, has identified himach with some measures on law reformis for the benefit of working-men. He stands high, in AWLEY. RICHARD, of Detroit, Michigan, was the community which he represents, as a man of sound born in Shrewsbury, England, December 10., judgment and liberal opinions. He has read much, 1815. Ile is descended from an old English land has formed habits of study. His sturdy honesty family which carly settled in Shew-barv. The, and good faith are the outgrowth of a consistent Chris- family property. Cause Castle, is mentioned in De Sind than character. Museum of the World, by Charles Hulbert. published in ; Shrewsbury in 1825. Cause Castle, near Westbury, wa- one of the twenty-four lead-hips held by Roger det orbit from Roger de Montgomery. A few years ago the ! castle and estate were the property of Thomas Hawky. of Germantown, Pennsylvania. Mi. Hawley's father was induced by financial embarrasmeat : emigrate to. America in 1818. He was enabled to give bis mos a
5 AND. GEORGE E., of Detroit, was born in East Guided, Low Malison, Connecticut, in ISog. He graduated from Yale College in 1829, and som after weat to Detroit. He studied law in common-school education, bat nothing ma : and. a. the office of Judge Fletcher, who was then Attorney- the age of seventeen. Richard Hawky commenced bu-i- General, and Match Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. ness on his own account, as a fever, in Cleveland. Immediaich on his almi-i'm to the bar, he took the Under his careful management, the bo ires propered; position of a chance and accurate practitioner. In 1835 but he entered into sp culation. and att he passed he was apgwint I Judge of Probate for Wayne County; was swept away in the ; anie of 1837. He was advicel'an.l. notwithstanding his youth, discharged the duties to take advantage of the bankrupt las, but passteathy of the office satisfactorily. During his term of service, refused. Removing to Erie, Pennsylvania, he com- in no case was an apped taken from his judgment. In menced life anew ; and, before long, was enabled to 1Sp he represented the city of Detroit in the State pay both principal and interest of his debt -. In 1543, Legislature, and wa. Chairman of the Committee for he established a brewery in Detroit, and continued in the Sale of Public Works. He drafted and had oversight the work until 1855. In that year, the Prohibitory, of the bills for chartering the Michigan Central and Liquor Law was enacted in Michigan, and he di-con- Michigan Southern Railroad companies. In these bills tinued the business, and turned his attention to malting. which were pa-ed under strong opposition, were em- He was, perhaps, the only brewer in the State who- bodied the terms of sale of the railroads, then owned by strictly obeyed the law to the injury of his purse. In ! the State, to the pre-ent Michigan Central and Michigan 1873 he retired with a handsome fortune, leaving as Southern Railroad companies. Three things were kept his successor his son Thomas, who had been associated with him since 1860. Mr. Hawley has always taken an active interest in public affairs, and has been able to prominently in view, in shaping this legislation; first, the completion and extension of the Central Road to Lake Michigan, to be built of heavy T rail, in place of render important public services. He has been a proto- the old strap hon ; second, the extinguishment of the inent member of the Detroit Board of Trade for many the State debt, some tive million dollars, upon which no years, and was, for several terms, its representative inpinterest had been paid for years previous; third, the the National Board ; he has also repeatedly represent l'creation of a corporation > trong enough to crush the steam- the latter in the Dominion Board of Trade. In 1864, boat combination which had controlled, for a number of he served a term in the State I egislature. He has served year-, nearly every steamboat on Lake Erie and the upper a> City Councilor: as Alderman of the Fourth Ward: lakes, with dictatorship at Buffalo, exercised in such an and as member of the Board of Estimates of Detroit. arbitrary manner as to be of great injury to Michigan. He was again appointed to the State Legislature at the The significance and success of this legislation may be recent election. Until 105g, he acted with the Whig-t seen in its results, immediate and remote. Among the since then, he has been a prominent Democrat. He former, were the speedy completion of a first-class railroad married, in 1839, Eliza Gardner, daughter of Charles, across the State; the bringing into the State some eight
1v
-
1. since married, 1.
6. Hand
Gro.
UNIK
La Haye
UNIV. OF MICH
UNIV.
OF WICY.
69
REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF MICHIGAN.
millions of Eastern capital,-the first considerable amount | After serving eighteen months, ill health compelled him of sea-board capital which ever was invested west of to resign this position, just at a time when a Captain's commission was tendered him. He then went to Swit- zerland, for the purpose of regaining his health, and fully completing his architectural studies. He visited the principal cities of the continent, and returned after a year and a half. He has since practiced his profession with marked success. After several removals, he decided to make Detroit his home. Among the most prominent of the buildings designed by Mr. Hess may be men- tioned the Michigan Centennial Building, constructed on the Centennial Exhibition ground, at Fairmount Park, Philadelphia; St. John's Evangelical Protestant Church, Detroit; the parsonage of St. Mary's Catholic Church; the Harmonic Society Building; the Concert Hall, which is considered one of the finest in the State ; as well as public school buildings, and private dwellings in the city of Detroit, and in different sections of Mich- igan. Mr. Hess married, in January, 1868, Mary E. Ilall, of Detroit. She is a lineal descendant of Hannah Duston, of Haverhill, near Boston, who is famous for having killed ten Indians, with the help of her nurse- girl and a captive English lad, in March, 1697, on Duston Island, six miles above Concord, New Hamp- shire, where they had been carried captives. the mountains; and, within two years, raising the credit of the State to par, from forty per cent. discount. For a time the steamboat combination defied the Mich- igan road; but, within three years, was crushed by it ; and, greatly to the satisfation of the Michigan people, dissolved. Judge Hand was Chairman of the State Democratic Committee in 1848, and zealously supported the claims of General Cass. He was always a close personal friend and political advocate of that dis- tinguished statesman. In 1853 Judge Hand was ap- pointed United States Attorney for the district of Michigan, and held the position throughout President Pierce's administration. During his attorneyship, the extensive depredations upon Government lands on the western side of the State were broken up, by effective prosecution. No less than seventy-five indictments were pending, at the time, against timber tresspassers, some of whom were leading lumbermen of Chicago. A com- bination was formed, by the defendants, to defeat these prosecutions, and a strong section of the bar of Detroit was retained on their side, supported by prominent counsel from other localities. The District Attorney, how- ever, ably assisted by Hon. A. D. Frazer, succeeded in se- curing a conviction in every case that was tried. After a few examples had been made, the combination gave way, and the defendants threw themselves on the clem- ency of the Government, under pledges to respect its rights in the future. This put an end to timber steal- ing in Michigan as a safe and lucrative employment. Since retiring from this office, Judge Hand has held no public position.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.