USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Chronography of notable events in the history of the Northwest territory and Wayne County > Part 43
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On the bench the Judge is dignified but courteous, firm but kind, quick in his apprehension of and in deciding a law point, and careful of the respective rights of litigants and witnesses. Off the bench he is genial and pleasant, and prefers to discuss literary, rather than law questions.
He has made the tour of Europe several times during his vacations and thus been able to gratify that taste for fine arts so early in life acquired, and add to his knowledge of the higher order of literature which he so much delights in.
July 13th, 1864, he married Caroline, daughter of the late Samuel Pitts, a sketch of whose life will be found elsewhere in this volume.
Judge Brown was a member, and at one time Secretary of the Historical Society, since merged into and now the Pioneer Society.
BENJAMIN F. STAMM.
One of the characteristics of the subject of this sketch is "that through all the difficulties he may have encountered in life he has always met them in a serene manner and with entire confidence that if he could not successfully surmount them, he would patiently submit to the consequences accompanying them."
Benjamin F. Stamm was born in Washingtonville, Columbia county, now Montour county, Penn., June Ioth, 1819. As his name indicates, on the paternal side he is of Swiss descent. His father, John
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W. Stamm, was born in Bern township, Berks county, Pennsylvania, on the 30th day of August, 1791. His mother's maiden name was Catherine Elizabeth Kissinger. She was born in Elsass township, Berks county, Pennsylvania, in 1795.
Mr. Stamm's parents were married as Kissinger's church or Tolmers, in Pennsylvania, in 1817. They had nine children, of whom eight are living to-day. His father died at Northumberland, Pa., in 1868, and his mother died in Monroe county, Iowa, in 1873.
When not quite eleven years of age he was apprenticed in a general store " for bed and board" for two years. He then worked at the same business for a short time at four dollars per month and bed and board. He next was bound boy to the tinner's trade and com- pleted that course in 1837. In 1838 he began to keep school in the township where his forefathers had lived ever since they emigrated, and finally began to teach, having acquired knowledge sufficient in a sort of itinerant way. He next went to Meadville Theological School, in 1850, and graduated as a Unitarian minister in 1853. He labored thus in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa as also in Detroit, Mich., during the winter of 1855-6 under the auspices of the Unitarian Society of this city. In December, 1856, he brought his family to Detroit and entered the service of the Michigan Central Railroad Company and remained in their service nine years. He then entered mercantile life in a small way and still continues in the same occupation. He has never failed to pay one hundred cents on the dollar, together with lawful interest. One debt he paid, the interest amounted to more than the principal. He never held office except in a few instances where boodle was out of the question. He was always a thinker and a student, and although reared in the German Lutheran and Reformed churches he afterwards became a Presbyterian, but continued to evo- lute until to-day he stands outside of all churches, believing what to him seems true in all, but technically belonging to none. He has been a student, teacher and preacher, but always faithful to his highest con- victions. In politics he was cradled in that Democracy that still con- tinues to vote for Andrew Jackson and voted the straight ticket from 1840 to 1852. He then voted Free Soil (John P. Hale, standard- bearer). In 1854 he was a delegate from Green county, Wisconsin, that adopted a Republican platform at Madison, Wis., voted that ticket until 1876, when Peter Cooper (the noblest Roman of them all) ran as the Greenback candidate for the presidency. He also voted for Weaver, but finding nothing to suit him better, he yields to the inevit- able and votes the Republican ticket.
He was an earnest and working member of the Union League of America during the recent Civil War.
As a moral and intelligent citizen his walk in life has been upright, frugal and industrious.
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FRANCIS ADAMS.
Francis Adams, born at Ellsworth, Maine, in 1831, came to Detroit in 1851, and engaged in the lumber business with the late N. W. Brooks, under the firm name of Brooks & Adams, and on the death of Mr. Brooks, under the name of Adams & Ferguson. Mr. Adams was one of the original corporators of the Congress and Baker Street Rail- way Company, and its first President; he is also a director in the Wayne County Savings Bank. Has been Alderman several times, a member of the Board of Estimates and of the Park Commission.
GEORGE C. LANGDON.
In 1877 George Curtis Langdon was elected as a Democrat Mayor of Detroit. His administration of his functions, was entirely devoid of anything of a partisan character, and in this respect it was somewhat distinguished. He was opposed to monopolies, rings, or combinations favoring the few, at the expense of the taxpayers, and exercised the veto power to crush all measures partaking of the least semblance of corruption. He aimed to select his appointments from those of his own party, but did not hesitate to remove them, when his judgment determined them to be unworthy or dishonest, and in all his acts was bold, fearless and independent of either party or popular favor.
In all his walk before the people of his adopted city, George C. Langdon is recognized as a firm friend, to all that is honorable and upright in business or politics, and a warm friend or determined enemy in social life.
He was born at Geneva, N. Y., in 1833. His antecedents are American. His father, A. M. Langdon, was a native of Geneva, N. Y., whose ancestors on the paternal side were French, or rather Norman French. His father was born at Farmington, Conn., and his mother, whose maiden name was Adeline Tracy, was born at Beaufort, North Carolina. They had five children, of whom George was the first son.
George attended school at Batavia, between youth and manhood, and subsequently finished his education at Farmington, Conn. At the age of eighteen, he, desiring to learn practical merchandising, entered the establishment of Messrs. Lord, Warren, Salter & Co., New York. After a short trial, the business not proving congenial, and his father having land interests in Michigan, he decided to try the west, landing at Detroit in 1852, and on completing his investigations in regard to the land interests of his father, he entered Gregory's Commercial
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College, graduating therefrom as master of the science of accounts and bookkeeping. His first practical experience as bookkeeper was with the Detroit and Lake Superior Copper Company, remaining with it for some time. He accepted a similiar position in the Banking House of A. Ives & Co., and after continuing with them for some time, formed a partnership with the late Captain Cary in the general grain and commission business.
In 1864, in company with N. G. Williams, he purchased the Dun- can Central Brewery, conducting the business under the firm name of Langdon & Co. for six years.
In 1870 he bought the malt house and business of E. E. Duncan, No. 37 to 42 Woodbridge street, and has continued dealing in barley and malt from that to the present time.
The social bearing of Mr. Langdon is that of the frank, indepen- dent man, his genial manners, combined with a generous disposition, have won for him a host of steadfast friends.
In 1859 he married Miss Fanny Vallee. She was born at Detroit and departed this life in May, 1887, leaving two daughters, a loving husband, and a large circle of friends to mourn.
Her death was a great blow to Mr. Langdon, especially as it fol- lowed within a short time, that of one of his daughters. These domes- tic afflictions for a time made it necessary to contract his business some- what, and seek to recover from their effects by travel, and, accom- panied by his daughter, he has visited all parts of the continent.
HENRY A. NEWLAND.
In 1854, there came to Detroit a young man barely nineteen years of age, who entered the wholesale establishment of F. Buhl & Company as a clerk, and subsequently, in 1858, became a partner, and was assigned the important position of buyer of all goods dealt in by the house. This position demanded skill and a practical knowledge of a class of articles considered as the most valuable of any known to commerce, Furs, in which the house of F. Buhl & Company were large dealers. He was also required to make frequent visits to the fur markets of Europe, and attended the annual sales of furs in London and Leipsic, for the purchase of manufactured, in exchange for raw furs.
That he discharged the duties imposed by his responsible position, with profit to himself and the firm, is evidenced by the fact that its business increased to such proportions that at the expiration of the time limited in the co-partnership, the credit side of their balance sheet was
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so large, that the subject of this sketch- was able to establish the house of Henry A. Newland & Company and the senior partner of F. Buhl & Company to retire from active business, and turn his interests , over to his sons, constituting the firm of Walter Buhl & Sons.
Henry A. Newland was born at Hammondsport, Steuben county, N. Y., March 17, 1835. While still young his parents removed to Palmyra, Wayne county, New York. When but twelve years of age he entered a store as clerk, where he remained until he came to Detroit, in 1854.
Mr. Newland, from the time of his advent into Detroit, has, among the young men of the city, been prominent in his interests for the estab- lishment of influences calculated to improve the moral tone of the com- munity. In 1866 he was chosen President of the Young Men's Chris- tian Association, having for several years previously been one of its Directors. In 1865, he was appointed by Governor Crapo, a member of the State Military Board, serving as Aide-de-Camp with the rank of Colonel for four years. In 1862, he married Miss Emily A. Burns, daughter of the late Hon. James Burns, whose sketch appears in this work. She died in June, 1871, leaving two children. He married the second time March 7, 1877, Miss Mattie Joy, daughter of the Hon. James F. Joy, a sketch of whom also appears elsewhere.
While Mr. Newland is not one of the early pioneers, he has been long enough a resident of Michigan to contribute much to the estab- lishment and development of its commercial interests, adding thereby to its material wealth and growth.
BERNARD O'REILLY.
"The block of granite which was an obstacle in the pathway of the weak, becomes a stepping stone in the pathway of the strong."-Carlyle.
The block of granite in the early pathway of the subject of this sketch, was the disability of comparative poverty, which, at a very early age, compelled him to rely upon his own exertions, for the bread he ate, for the clothes he wore, and for the education he obtained; and in the process of surmounting these he has acquired a self-reliance and strength of will, which has enabled him to discharge the duties imposed by his positions of honor and trust to the satisfaction of his peers, and the credit of himself and the public generally.
Bernard O'Reilly is a native of the Emerald Isle, and was born in Westmouth county, Ireland, May 20th, 1832. He attended the parish schools when a boy, as opportunity offered, and at the age of fifteen years, came with his parents to Kingston, Canada; subsequently, in 1848, removed with them to Oswego, N. Y., where for a time he
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attended a school taught by Mr. J. B. Poncher. In 1849 he went on board a vessel and sailed the lakes until 1859, when he entered a ship- yard, and has continued to work as a ship builder from that time until the present. He located his family in the western part of Detroit in 1855, while he still followed sailing. He engaged in shipbuilding, first with the late John P. Clark, and soon became one of his trusted employes in his shipyard.
He has served his ward in the Common Council for one term, and in 1886 was elected to the State Senate on the Democratic and Inde- pendent Labor ticket. As a senator he was distinguished for the practical and common sense measures introduced and advocated by him, which secured for him the confidence and respect of his fellow members of the Legislature and the commendation of his constituents.
In 1860 he married Miss Ellen Carley, of Detroit. She was born in County Meath, Ireland, on the first day of August, 1833.
They have five children, four sons and one daughter, to whom they give all the advantages of the schools of Detroit, and such wise counsel and advice as will tend to make them good and useful citizens of this great country.
JOHN HEFFRON.
John Heffron, was born in the city of Cork, Ireland, and came to Detroit in 1856, and engaged in the oyster trade, and also kept an eating house on the corner of Woodward and Jefferson avenues, succeeding the late George Beard. He was a candidate for Congress on the Greenback ticket in 1878, but was defeated. Has for a number of years been one of the Commissioners of Ionia House of Correction. He is a genial, active business man; always has a kind word and joke for all. The following is related of him: That while sitting one day in his office, a man entered the store and said he wanted to see Heffron, "the self-made man." John, stepped to the front, saying: " You see Mr. Heffron; what will you have ?" "I want to see how a self- made man looks, and if you are one, why didn't you make hair on your head ?" John called the drinks.
WYANDOTTE.
Among the enterprising villages established in Wayne county, which are of more recent organization than those heretofore men- tioned, and therefore should have a place in the fourth period, is that of the city of Wyandotte. Its name is that of an old Indian chief, angli- cised and meaning Walk-in-the-Water, after whom the first steamboat which navigated the western waters was named.
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Wyandotte is situated on the favorite hunting grounds of the old chief, and subsequently became the farm owned by Major John Biddle.
October, 1854, an Iron Company was organized, of which the late Captain E. B. Ward, was President, T. W. Lockwood, Treasurer, George S. Thurber, Secretary. The principal stockholders were E. B. Ward, Harmon DeGraff, Silas N. Kendrick, U. Tracy Howe, Silas M. Holmes, Philip Thurber, Elijah Wilson, Thomas W. Lockwood, Francis Choate and Sylvester Larned. The style or name was " The Eureka Iron Company."
The Company purchased from Major Biddle, the site for their works, and his entire farm, consisting of 2,200 acres. Since that period they have purchased as much more, from which they cut the timber for charcoal, and much of the land has been disposed of in town lots and small farms.
The Company erected their works and began the manufacture of pig iron in 1854, and were very successful. The capital stock at first was $500,000. The business so increased that the whole capital or balance of the stock was paid up from the profits in 1873. The erec- tion of these works, and the establishment of a mill for rolling railroad iron, soon led to an accumulation of the population. The sale of town lots, and corresponding improvements in educational and moral enter- prises, have made Wyandotte a busy and thriving city.
NORRIS.
Norris is another modern village in Wayne county, not before referred to in this compilation.
The plat of this was recorded in 1873. It is located on section 9, town I, south range 12, east, in the township of Hamtramck, parti- ally between the 10,000 acre tract and the old Marsac French Grant at the forks of Connor's Creek, about six miles north of the City Hall, Detroit.
The famous Prairie Mound, embracing about four acres, which is enclosed in the plat, is said to have been the chosen ground of the hunters, trappers and Indians, for their camp, in the early days of Detroit, when the surrounding country was called a swamp. That it was so considered a swamp was fortunate for the city of Detroit, otherwise Congress might not have donated 10,000 acres for the build- ing of a Capitol and County Jail. About 11,000 acres of that adjoining this tract was held for many years in trust for the Connor's Creek Land Company, of which the late Shubal Conant was the Trustee, and for half a century was used for pasturage and hunting, as in the days of Pontiac. The town or village was laid out and the improve- ments developed by the late Col. P. W. Norris and Seymour Brownell. It has a population of five hundred, and is a thrifty, enterprising town.
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PATRICK BLAKE.
This name is significant, and is associated with an enterprise which provides for the unfortunate stranger who may die away from home and friends, that considerate care and respect which pertains to the love and remembrances of those who are related either by the ties of blood or friendly relations. He was the first to establish, in the city of Detroit, a place where the remains of the stranger and the unfortunate could be placed, advertised and identified.
Patrick Blake is a native of the Emerald Isle and was born in Dublin, November 5th, 1833. His father decided to come to the Western Continent, and left Ireland, bringing Patrick with him, land- ing first at Quebec in 1834, from whence he proceeded to Montreal, where he died while Patrick was but nine years of age. Then com- menced the struggle for life with Patrick, as well as his mother. She must have been a mother in every sense, for we find that she looked after his moral and business education, which developed good results and induced his emigration from Montreal to Detroit, and his establishment of an enterprise therein, which has given him a prominent position, not only in Detroit, but throughout the whole United States, as one to care for and provide for the last rites to departed friends.
Patrick Blake has done much for the living as well as those whose remains it has been his office to provide for after death.
In 1855 he married Miss Elizabeth O'Rafferty. She was born at Armagh, Ireland, in 1830. They have twelve children, Harry, James B., Sylvester A. V., William, Elizabeth, Eliza, Frank, Lucy, Kitty, Charles and Nelson, the last named being the son of Harry Blake, whom they have adopted.
Mr. Blake has been successful in business, and by the practice of frugality and industry has accumulated a competency.
Mr. Blake's mother, whose maiden name was Catherine McCune, died at Detroit in 1860. His father, John Blake, died in 1834.
JAMES LOWRIE.
Among the oldest merchants of Detroit, as well as those of the present day, James Lowrie was recognized for his fine business quali- ties and sound judgment in all matters pertaining to the buying and selling of merchandise. His pleasant and genial manners won for him the respect and confidence, as well as the personal regard of his numerous customers, and also of the general community in which he did business for nearly half a century.
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Mr. Lowrie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1813, and came to America at the age of twenty. He first engaged as clerk with Mr. James Dougal, of Windsor, Canada. In 1842 he formed a partnership with a Mr. Hall, went to New York, and purchasing a large stock of goods shipped them by the Erie canal. Unfortunately the boat sunk with the goods on board, and he was compelled to purchase another stock, which he succeeded in landing at Detroit, where the firm opened a store on the south side of Jefferson, near the corner of Woodward avenue. After continuing in business a short time together, Mr. Hall drew out his capital and Mr. Lowrie removed to the corner of Jeffer- son avenue and Bates street.
He married, while at Windsor, Miss Harriet Dowling, who was not only intellectual, but also a woman of fine business capacity, and was thus able to contribute to his success. After remaining in business for over twenty years or more, he purchased Bishop McCorsky's farm on Grosse Isle and devoted himself for a time to its cultivation and improve- ment. He, however, soon found that farming was not his forte, and returned again to merchandising, locating himself at the old site, 150 and 152 Woodward avenue, which he occupied for nearly thirty years prior to his decease, and where his sons still continue the business. Meanwhile his son, Fred C., took charge of the farm, while his two sons, George P. D. and William C. D., assisted and were associated with, and succeeded him in the business of merchandising at the same locality.
At this writing, the newspapers announce the death of Mrs. Lowrie at her home on Grosse Isle, January 19th, 1890, leaving four children, Miss Marion, Mr. Fred C., who remains upon the farm, and George P. D. and William C. D., who carry on the mercantile business at the old site, and are esteemed as worthy successors of their respected sire.
Mr. Lowrie was a member of this Society from 1871 to the time of his death, which occurred at his home on Grosse Isle on the 26th day of August, 1888.
MARTIN f. DUNN.
Ancients represented integrity and firmness by a pillar of wood, metal or stone, standing upright on a strong foundation, with this inscription: "Let no one despair under his trials, when his strivings are for good." The man determined to advance in any legitimate enterprise which tends to benefit himself or his fellows, must be firm as a well founded pillar, even when it is broken about half through.
The subject of this sketch, in the objects and purposes of his life, has exhibited a determination to succeed without having resort to
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anything dishonorable or dishonest, and though having to contend with many adverse circumstances, and almost broken down by their weight, has nevertheless, owing to the strength of the base upon which his hopes and aspirations were fixed, been able to bear the burdens imposed, and in the sphere of life chosen, has in a degree, reached a realization.
Martin J. Dunn is of American birth and Irish ancestry. His father, William Dunn, was born in the county of Kings, Ireland, in 1810. His mother, Sarah Flanigan, was born in the same county as her husband in the year 1820. They were married in 1838 and soon after emigrated to the United States, locating in the town of Oxford, Chenango county, N. Y., in 1840, where they still reside.
Martin J. was born at Oxford, July Ist, 1851. In boyhood he attended the public school of his town, and at the age of twelve was sent to the Oxford Academy, from which, at the age of fifteen, he started to make his own way in the world. Being a great lover of the horse, he decided, partly through pecuniary necessities, but mainly chosen, to practically study the means likely to most benefit the noble animal (man's best friend), and pursuant thereto apprenticed himself to a horse shoer and learned the practical part of the art, and studied all the works he could obtain on veterinary subjects, for a knowledge of the physiology of the horse. In order to make himself more perfect, he traveled over a number of the States, and on reaching Detroit engaged with Mr. Wm. McCarthy, one of the best known horse-shoers of Detroit. He remained with him from 1879 to 1881, when he opened a shop for himself, first on Brush street and subsequently at 237 Griswold street, which he occupies at the present time and where he has done a successful business and has acquired a reputation for skill in the art of horse shoeing, as well as in that of making a perfect shoe in the shortest time, which is not confined to Detroit alone but extends all over Michigan and to many of the cities and towns of other States. He still holds the championship as the most rapid turner of a perfect horseshoe, won at Detroit in the contest with John Campbell, of Buffalo, February 8th, 1888.
The Neverslip Horseshoe Company, of Boston, having full confi- dence in Mr. Dunn, constituted him its sole agent in Detroit for the sale and use of their goods, and notwithstanding the opposition encountered, he has been successful in establishing their general use in the city.
Mr. Dunn is well read and possesses a familiar knowledge of other mechanical arts and sciences in addition to that of properly shoe- ing a horse.
On Thanksgiving day, 1882, he married Miss Delia Sweeny, of Detroit. She is a native of the city and was born in April, 1859. They have three children, two boys and one daughter.
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JOSEPH H. LESHER.
It is said of some, when dead, they leave no vacuum, because they filled no space while living; that is, they accomplished no results by which the future can know they ever existed.
This cannot be said of the subject of this sketch. True, he may not have lands, or brick and mortar, as evidences, but will leave a repu- tation for business integrity, fidelity to friends, consistency in the prac- tice of what he professes, and earnestness in maintaining the rights based upon the " golden rule," and thus having exemplified them by his daily life and conduct during the past twenty-six years' residence in Detroit, his absence from it must leave a remembrance.
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