USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Chronography of notable events in the history of the Northwest territory and Wayne County > Part 28
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His time and means were not withheld when needed to promote
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benevolent, moral or educational enterprises, and all measures tending to encourage public improvements have always received his active support.
A work entitled Banks and Banking in Michigan, with historical sketches, and copious extracts from the Banking Laws of the Nation and State, together with personal sketches of prominent bank officers, claims Theodore H. Hinchman as its author. It should be upon the desk of every business man in Michigan, if they would understand the true principle of banking, and the obligations to the public of those engaged therein.
In politics, until 1860, he was a Whig; during the war, Independent, but earnest, aiding the government. Since 1867 he has been a Demo- crat.
In business he is practical and methodical, a man of acts and deeds, rather than words, never over-reaching, nor undertaking more than he feels certain he can accomplish; kind and courteous but somewhat retiring in manner, always respectful to others, be they high or low, and of unquestionable integrity.
He is a Presbyterian in his religious views, having received his early impressions from that persuasion.
CHARLES G. HAMMOND.
There are few of the residents of Detroit of fifty years ago but remember the energetic, enterprising and large-hearted man who is the subject of this sketch, Charles G. Hammond. He was born at Smyrna, New Nork, and came to Detroit in 1834, and at once took an active part in promoting enterprises of a religious, educational and benevolent character, as well as those tending to the material growth of the city and the west.
At the organization of the First Presbyterian church he became an elder thereof in November, 1835.
Judge Walker, in his memorial of the First Congregational church, after alluding to its organization, says: "But to Charles G. Hammond, more than to any other man, we are indebted for the preliminary steps that led to its organization, although others rendered great and invalu- able aid." In 1836 Mr. Hammond removed to Union City and there joined a Congregational church. He represented Branch county in the Legislature of 1841. In 1842 he was appointed auditor general and returned to Detroit, and while still retaining his membership of the Congregational church at Union City he attended the Presbyterian church. Becoming convinced that the rapid growth of the city
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demanded increased church organization, upon his invitation a number of Christian men and women met at his house November 25th, 1844, for the purpose of considering the subject of the organization of what became the First Congregational church of Detroit. He resigned the office of auditor general in 1845 and took charge of the construction of the Michigan Central railroad, and subsequently of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad, and became its principal executive officer, and afterwards general manager of the Union Pacific railroad. When Chicago was almost entirely destroyed by fire he was made chairman of the Relief Committee which disbursed and distri- buted millions to relieve the unfortunate sufferers by the fire.
Mr. Hammond, until death, cherished his love for Detroit, and always maintained a warm interest for its improvement and the welfare of its citizens. He was a member of this Society and also of the Young Men's Literary Society.
DAVID B. HERRINTON.
David B. Herrinton was born in Truxton, Cortland county, New York, May 17th, 1814. He came to Michigan in 1820 with his par- ents, who died soon after arriving here. In 1834 he went to Milford, Michigan, and engaged in the furniture business. His first wife was Elvira Burrington, whom he married at Milford, November 8th, 1842. She died March 31st, 1845, at DeRuyter, New York. They had one child, Albert B. Herrinton, who now resides at Daleville, Penn.
After the death of his wife Mr. Herrinton moved to Tyrone, Livingston county, Michigan, where he married Fanny Park, of that place, October 15th, 1850. In 1851 they moved to Springfield, Jackson county, Michigan, where he started a pottery, and for several years he manufactured all kinds of pots, crocks and jugs. In 1860 he sold out the pottery and came to Detroit, where he engaged in the grocery business at the corner of Catherine and Chene streets, but during the war, business being dull, he sold out the grocery and purchased the property corner of Farmer and Bates streets (where is now a four story brick). In 1862 he went into the sewing machine business on Jefferson avenue. He introduced the first sewing machine in Detroit (the old hand machines with a wheel and handle on the side to run it by). He was the only person in the State who repaired machines, and he had them sent to him from all over the country. He removed from Jeffer- son avenue to the corner of Michigan and Woodward avenues and enlarged his business to a general agency, when he had agents on the road all over the United States and Canada. Later he moved to the corner of Farmer street and Monroe avenue, where he was associated
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with J. E. Boylan. At the State fair Mr. and Mrs. Herrinton took first premium for the finest work done on a sewing machine. In 1866 he bought out J. E. Boylan's interest in the Domestic Sewing Machine Company's branch at Detroit and for a number of years he was located on State street, between Woodward avenue and Farmer street. In 1874 he patented a spring for running a sewing machine without the use of the treadle and applied it to the machines for use in tailor shops, etc. In 1880 he started the Excelsior bakery at 779 Woodward avenue, with his son, William W. Herrinton. After continuing in business in the bakery for three years he sold out, on account of his health failing.
Albert B. Herrinton, the eldest son of David B. Herrinton, was one of the first persons in Springfield, Michigan, to enlist in the army, and was a drummer in Company I, 14th Regiment, Mich. Vet. Vol. Infantry, Ist Brigade, 2d Division, 14th Army Corps, and served through the entire war. He still retains his drum as a memento of the war.
David B. Herrinton, being too old to enlist in the regular army, was enlisted as a minute man, but was not called upon. The minute men were liable to be called upon at any hour of the day or night, during the latter part of 1861 and of 1862-63, to protect the frontier against the raids of southern refugees in Canada. On one occasion over one thousand were called and met at the rendezvous in thirty minutes. The call was made at the request of Mayor K. C. Barker, he having received information that an organized body were about to cross for incendiary purposes. The information that there was an organized force proved true, and some fifty actually landed, but returned when they learned preparation had been made to receive them. The following morning the steamer Philo Parsons was boarded at Malden by a portion of the refugees. What followed is known and is a matter of history. It was a great surprise to Mayor Barker that so large a number of men could be assembled in so short a time.
In politics Mr. Herrinton was a Republican, and for two years held the position of market clerk in the eastern market.
He was a member of the old Congress Street Methodist church, and at the time of the burning of the church he was a member of the choir. Later he was a member of the Central M. E. church on Wood- ward avenue. Both he and the members of his family were prominent workers in the church. His name and that of his wife are among the names on the parchment in the corner stone of the Central M. E. church. He was one of the charter members of the old Third Avenue Mission church (now Unity church).
Mr. Herrinton was confined to his house for nearly two years before his death, which occurred June 14th, 1886, at the age of seventy-
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two years. His children by his second wife were: Elvira, who married J. M. Chilson; Fannie, who married Dr. J. P. Corcoran; Wm. W., foreman at the Hargreaves Manufacturing Company; Charles A., also employed at the same place, and Frank S., foreman of the book depart- ment of O. S. Gulley, Bornman & Company, the printers of this book.
JACOB SHAW FARRAND.
Jacob Shaw Farrand is a native of Cayuga county, New York, and was born May 7th, 1815. When a lad of ten he removed with his father to the then Territory of Michigan and settled at Ann Arbor, Washtenaw county, in the fall of 1825, having tarried during the sum- mer in Detroit. He worked on his father's farm for a year or two, but during a portion of the time carried the mail between Ann Arbor and Detroit, was one year in the drug store of Lord & Denton at Ann Arbor, and came to Detroit and entered the employment of Messrs. Rice & Bingham, druggists. This house was first established in 1819, when Detroit was but an Indian trading post. The subsequent changes have been as follows: Originally under the name of C. Penni- man, then to Penniman & Rice, Rice & Bingham, in 1830 Edward Bingham; in 1836 Mr. Farrand purchased an interest and the firm became E. Bingham & Co., which continued until 1841, when Mr. Farrand was appointed deputy collector of United States Customs under Edward Brooks, collector. Mr. Bingham, meanwhile, remained at the head of the house until January Ist, 1842, when the establish- ment was destroyed by fire, but in 1845 he restored the enterprise and continued the business alone until 1855, when he associated Mr. W. W. Wheaton with him under the firm name of Farrand & Wheaton. In 1858 Mr. Wheaton withdrew, when he again was alone for a year, and Mr. Alanson Sheley purchasing an interest, the firm passed to Farrand & Sheley. Subsequently Mr. W. C. Williams, Harvey C. Clark and James E. Davis, former employees, were taken as partners, and the house to-day is known as Farrand, Williams & Company.
Mr. Farrand early took an interest in associations and enterprises for the improvement of the morals and correcting the evils of society, as we find that in 1836 he was a member of the Executive Committee of the Young Men's State Temperance Society, that Stevens T. Mason, George E. Hand, John Chester, John Owen and A. S. Kellogg were his associates, that in 1840 he was secretary of the Detroit City Temperance Society, and at the same time was also an active member of the First Presbyterian church, and since 1856 has been a ruling elder of the same; was commissioner to the General Assembly at Dayton, Ohio, in 1863, at New York in 1869, and at Detroit in 1873; in July, 1877, was a delegate to the Presbyterian Alliance, held at Edinburgh, Scotland.
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In addition to his being the head of the house of Farrand, Williams & Company, he is one of the principal stockholders and directors of the First National Bank, Wayne County Savings Bank, Detroit Fire and Marine Insurance Company, trustee of Harper's Hospital, member of the Board of Water Commissioners, president of the Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Company and trustee of the East- ern Asylum for the Insane at Pontiac, and for a number of years president of the Board of Police Commissioners. In all these various positions he has held, so faithfully has he discharged the duties im- posed, as to be recognized as the father of all enterprises which have contributed to make Detroit substantial, in religious, moral, charitable and educational, and in pecuniary responsibility.
Mr. Farrand married Miss Olive M. Coe, of Hudson, Ohio, in August, 1841. They have four children, two sons and two daughters.
HENRY FRALICK.
Hon. Henry Fralick, now of Grand Rapids, was an early pioneer and long a resident of Wayne county, and hence as he has always been considered as belonging to this county, a history of it, or of the men who contributed much towards its present condition would seem incomplete should he be omitted.
Mr. Fralick is descended from an old revolutionary family, his grandfather being one of fifteen boys, eleven of whom served in the War of Independence, four being killed and seven wounded. His father, Abraham Fralick, was a captain in the war of 1812, serving with distinction until its close. He was born in Columbia county, New York, September 5th, 1784, from which he removed to Montgomery county, marrying, May 4th, 1806, Miss Mary E. Keller, a daughter of Hon. Henry Keller, member of the New York Senate and House from that county.
Mr. Fralick was born at Minden, Montgomery county, New York, February 9th, 1812. In 1827 he removed with his parents to the then Territory of Michigan, settling in Plymouth, Wayne county. He received his early education at the district schools, and at the age of seventeen years went to New York, serving as captain of a canal boat until 1832, when he shipped on board a whaling vessel from New Bedford, Massachusetts, for the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans. He was gone two years. On his return he shipped as third mate on a merchant vessel for Rio Janeiro. At the end of seven months' voyage he came to Detroit in 1836 and engaged as a clerk in the Michigan Exchange for nine months, when he returned to Plymouth and the store of Henry Holbrook, whom he, in 1838, bought out and continued
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the business on his own account for three years, and then, selling to Messrs. Austin & Penniman he built a flour and saw mill. He carried on this business two years, then selling his mill to Mr. Austin he again engaged in the mercantile business until 1860, when he sold his store and went to Grand Rapids, where he has since resided.
While a citizen of Wayne county he held many public positions of honor and trust. He was supervisor, Justice of the Peace, county auditor three years, member of the Legislature in 1847, the year the capital was moved to Lansing; in 1850 was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention, in 1853 was State senator, and has always been recognized as one of the prominent men of the State and county. During the late Civil War he, in conjunction with his brother and Mr. Penniman, raised, equipped and filed the muster rolls of the first com- pany in the State, which enlisted for three years and throughout the continuance of the war. He was of great service in aiding the gov- ernment in its prosecution. His brother, Peter, was also well known and respected in the county, and for a term of years was sheriff of the county. He was born at Minden, Montgomery county, New York, September 25th, 1809, and died at Plymouth in 1868.
Since Mr. Fralick's residence in Grand Rapids he has been engaged in manufacturing, banking and real estate, and has held prominent public positions in the county for a long time; has been president of the State Agricultural and State Pioneer Societies, served thirty years as a school officer, and was president of the Board of Edu- cation of the city of Grand Rapids four years, trustee and treasurer of Olivet College thirteen years, president of the Board of Trustees of the Congregational church, served nine years as United States Jury Commissioner and was one of the State Board of Managers at the Centennial of 1876, in all of which he has demonstrated those traits of character for integrity, efficiency and energy, which gained him the merited confidence of the citizens of his almost native county.
May 23, 1837, he married Corinna A. Lyon, daughter of Hon. Henry Lyon, one of the earliest settlers in Plymouth. Mrs. Fralick was born at Plymouth, May 17th, 1819. She died October 16th, 1840. On April 22d, 1842, he married Mrs. Jeanette Woodruff.
They have four children, one son and three daughters, all living.
JAMES CULLEN.
James Cullen, well known as a hustler prior to and during the recent Civil War, was born in Ireland in 1820, came to Michigan in 1832, and married Abigal McSweeny, at Detroit, in 1846. She was born at Killarney, Ireland, in 1826. They have nine children, four daughters and five sons; all except the eldest daughter are now living.
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At the breaking out of the rebellion, Captain Cullen was among the first to offer himself for service, and leaving his business, raised a company for the 24th Michigan Infantry, accompanied it to the seat of war, and participated with it in the battles of Gettysburg, Fredericks- burg, and others.
In 1863 he resigned as Captain in the 24th Infantry, and returning to Detroit recruited a company for the Ist Cavalry, of which he was appointed Captain, and again went to the front with his regiment, which was attached to Custer's Brigade, and was in all the engage- ments from Winchester through the campaign of that year, when on account of physical disability he resigned and returned to Detroit, where he has since resided. Captain Cullen is a generous-hearted, honorable man; anything he undertakes he prosecutes enthusiastically and earnestly. When he entered the army he was in good circum- stances, and did not withhold his money to aid in raising men. He made great sacrifices in business, abandoning it to engage in vindicat- ing the honor of the Government, for all of which he has been poorly rewarded. He is a true friend, and a generous foe, but too proud to seek favor for personal services. This is his only fault.
ALEXANDER LEWIS.
" There are men moving in life who, without show or ostentation, influence and shape circumstances to an end favorable not only to themselves but for the good of the community."-Dryden.
None who have observed and known the Hon. Alexander Lewis as, during the past fifty years he has moved in the business and social circles of Detroit, but will concede that in his life, and its practical and material results, the truth of the foregoing sentiment has been demon- strated by him.
Mr. Lewis came to Detroit at the age of fourteen years, and avail- ing himself of the opportunities for obtaining a preparatory education, he was soon able to take a high position among the business men of the times, and at the age of twenty-one became associated with the house since known as Bridge & Lewis, and subsequently as Alexander Lewis & Company, their business being operating in grain and flour.
Mr. Lewis has been a member of the Board of Trade of Detroit since its first organization and was its president in 1862.
Although never seeking public positions he has never shrunk from the responsibilities they imposed when his conscience and sense of duty seemed to demand their acceptance, and therefore in 1875 he was induced to permit the use of his name as a candidate for mayor of his native city on the moral reform ticket, to which position he was elected
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by a large majority. His administration of the duties of this office gained for him the confidence, respect and esteem of all classes irres- pective of party, and was characterised by the wise and liberal measures advocated by him to encourage education and the promotion of public health, morals and the material growth of the city.
Mr. Lewis has been identified with a number of manufacturing and building industries, and is president of the Detroit Gas Light Company.
In manner he is retiring but courteous, inclined somewhat to reti- cence in words, evidently relying on action and result as the better rule of measurement. He is polite to all, rich and poor, giving respectful attention to whatever is presented for his consideration, and generous with his means and sympathies for all worthy objects.
Alexander Lewis was born at Sandwich, in the Province of Canada, in 1822, and is the fourth son of Thomas Lewis, who was born at Three Rivers, Canada. He was the son of Thomas Lewis, who married Josette DeSonne, April 3d, 1804. Thomas Lewis, the father of the subject of this sketch, married at Ottawa (near what is now Walkerville, Canada), Jeanne Villier, daughter of Louis Villier and Charlotte Requindeau, and a granddaughter of Louis Villier, who was born at Tours, France, in 1747, came to Quebec while a young man, and from thence to Detroit, where he married Marguerite Morin April 26th, 1770. He was named St. Louis on account of his piety.
There were eight children born to Thomas Lewis and Jeannette Villier, as follows: Joseph, who married Fanny Sterling; Sophie, who married Narcissus Tonomeur; Thomas, known as the Governor; Ann, who married Rich. Godfroy; Charlotte, whose first husband was Dr. Fay, and who married the late Hon. H. P. Bridge for her second husband; Samuel, long and well known as a successful business man of Detroit and a gentleman in every sense of the word, and Alexander, the subject of this sketch, who, in 1850, married Elizabeth, the daugh- ter of the late Justice Ingersoll and Ann Buckley. They have had thirteen children, eight of whom are living.
SAMUEL W. DEXTER.
The subject of this sketch, although at his death, not a resident of this county, yet being a pioneer and a resident in its early history, and becoming identified with its subsequent developments, as well as with the growth of the State, it is with much satisfaction that we use this opportunity to preserve a record of the man, and the part he took in making Michigan what it is to-day.
Judge Dexter, as known to the compiler, exemplified and demon-
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strated in his life and character what Calmet defines as mercy: "a virtue which inspires compassion for others, and inclines us to assist in their necessities." It is one of the noblest attributes of the deity (speaking after the manner of men, and explaining what by supposition may pass in the mind of God, by what passes in the human mind). The object of mercy is misery, so God pities human miseries and forbears to chastise severely-so man pities the miseries of fellow man and assists to diminish it. All that knew Judge Samuel W. Dexter, in life, we think, will confirm and agree to the diagnosis of his personal character as demonstrated by his acts.
Samuel W. Dexter, was the son of Samuel Dexter, who was born in Massachusetts in 1761, was United States Senator in 1798, and subse- quently held the position of Secretary of War and Secretary of the Treasury. Samuel W. (the subject), was born in Boston, Mass., in 1792. After a preparatory course he entered Harvard, from which he graduated at the age of twenty, and then took up the study of law, which he prosecuted, and was admitted to the bar, but its practice not being to his tastes, he never made it the business of his life. In 1816 he married Miss Augusta Provost. She lived but a few years. June 10, 1824, he came to Detroit, where he resided and married Miss Susan Dunham, in 1825, and in the fall of 1826, moved to Dexter, Washtenaw county. He had previously located a tract of land where Saginaw is now situated, and where the county and town are established. He gave a whole square of four acres upon which the county buildings were subsequently located. He had also in 1825 located 1,700 acres, near and upon the present site of Dexter, and had built a large log house, and had also improved the water power, by erecting a saw and grist mill.
On fixing upon this portion of the State for a permanent location, he immediately began to improve and make the locality enticing to other settlers, and it soon becoming populated, the township and village were organized, and named after him as the projector.
Shortly after removing to Dexter his wife Susan (Dunham) Dexter, died. Neither his first or second wife left children to survive their decease.
In 1828 he married Miss Milicent Bond. The children which survive him are: (Mary) Mrs. L. H. Jones; Wirt Dexter, of Chicago; Mrs. Catherine Donaldson, (Hannah) Mrs. Dr. Godman, and Mrs. Julia Dexter Stannard, of Dexter, President of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Second District of Michigan. Mrs. Dexter, nee Bond, is still living at the old homestead, and is a woman of remarkable energy, perseverence, and purity of thought and deed.
Judge Dexter received his title by being appointed Chief Judge of Washtenaw county, by Governor Cass, in 1826. He served as such
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until the enactment of the law providing for the election of judges by the popular vote, and never having a desire for political position he declined to be a candidate.
The Judge, during his whole life, was anti-slavery in sentiment. He acted with the Whigs until the Abolition party was organized, when he united with it until the Republican party was organized in 1854.
A purer man than Judge Dexter is rarely to be found. He sympathized with human suffering, and hated wrong-doing, and never counted cost, either in money or time, in righting the subject of wrong, and punishing and correcting the cause.
He died at his home in Dexter, February 6, 1863.
FUDGE GAMES WITHERELL.
Although frequent allusions have been made to James Witherell and B. F. H. Witherell, inasmuch as both have been so prominently identified with Michigan and Wayne county, yet a history of either State or county, would be incomplete without special reference to them.
James Witherell was born in Mansfield, Mass., June 16th, 1759. His ancestors emigrated from England and settled in the Province of Massachusetts in 1630.
It is inferred that the subject of this memoir availed himself of such educational advantages as the times and circumstances surround- ing afforded. We find that soon after the battle of Bunker Hill he enlisted in a Massachusetts regiment and served at the siege of Boston and through the War of the Revolution, until the army was disbanded at Newbury in 1783. He rose from a private to the rank of an adju- tant. At the battle of White Plains he was severely wounded. He participated in the battles of Long Island, Stillwater, Bemis Heights and at Saratoga, where Burgoyne surrendered. He encountered the pri- vations and hardships of the winter quarters of the army at Valley Forge, and the following summer fought at the battle of Monmouth, New Jersey, witnessed the execution of Major Andre, and when the war closed found the net result (in cash) of his eight years' service to be eighty dollars in continental scrip.
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