USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 103
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tion until the institution was merged with the has served in various capacities since the Dime Savings Bank. founding of the business in 1868.
In politics Mr. Wadsworth has ever given an unqualified allegiance to the Republican party, and he is at all times observant of civic duties, though he has never sought or desired public office. He is one of the appreciative and valued members of Detroit Post, No. 384, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he served as commander in 1894. He is extreme- ly fond of fishing, boating and motoring, and finds much of pleasure and diversion along these lines, while he has also enjoyed the ad- vantages of extensive travel. He is a thorough business man, democratic and affable in his in- tercourse with his fellow men, and he is held in high esteem in the business and social cir- cles of the city in which he has passed the major portion of his life.
On the 15th of November, 1891, Mr. Wads- worth was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Roehl, daughter of the late Charles J. Roehl, who was a prominent wholesale dealer in meats in Detroit for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Wadsworth have one son, Harold Lee, who was born April 20, 1893, and who is now a student in the Detroit University School (1908). The beautiful family home, notable for its gracious hospitality, is located at 741 Jefferson avenue.
GEORGE TAYLOR MOODY.
Success in any line of occupation, in any avenue of business, is not a matter of spon- taneity ; but represents the result of the applica- tion of definite subjective forces and the con- trolling of objective agencies in such a way as to achieve desired ends. Mr. Moody has realized a large and substantial success in the business world and his career has well exem- plified the truth of the foregoing statements. He occupies to-day a large place in the com- mercial life of Detroit, the city in which he was born, and is best known to the public at large from his connection with the corporation of the Newcomb, Endicott Company, of which he is first vice-president, and with which he
George Taylor Moody was born in Detroit, on the 16th of September, 1851, and is a son of Robert and Elizabeth (Broadley) Moody. As a boy and youth he availed himself of the advantages of the public schools, and his initial service in connection with the practical activities of business life was that rendered in the position of errand boy in the retail dry- goods house of James W. Farrell, one of De- troit's leading merchants at that time and a citizen of prominence and influence. Then and later the business training of young Moody was secured under most favorable auspices, for the interested principals in the concerns with which he was thus identified in the formative period of his business life were men of sterling integrity and distinctive ability, and he learned only correct principles and methods. In 1868 Messrs. Cyrenius A. New- comb and the late Charles Endicott purchased the stock and business of Mr. Farrell and es- tablished the firm of Newcomb, Endicott & Company. This title has since been retained and within the long period of years that the business has been conducted under such title the history of the concern has been one de- noting continuous growth and expansion, while its reputation has ever been unassailable. Mr. Moody was seventeen years of age at the time of the organization of the firm and had suf- ficiently proven his value in the original es- tablishment to be assured of a position under the new regime. It is interesting to note that in the forty years in which he has been asso- ciated with the business of this corporation he has filled every position from that of clerk to that of first vice-president. When he entered the employ of the original firm its corps of em- ployes numbered about twelve persons, and what has been wrought in the intervening period may well be imagined when it is stated that at present employment is given to some six hundred and fifty persons, and the business has grown to be the most extensive conducted by any wholesale and retail dry-goods store in
George Jaglan Moody
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Michigan, while the firm name is as well known throughout the state, practically, as Detroit itself. In the sketches of the lives of the found- ers of the enterprise, Messrs. C. A. Newcomb and Charles Endicott, appearing on other pages of this work, is given sufficient description of the growth and development of the business, so that repetition of the data is not here demanded.
In 1887 Mr. Moody was admitted to a part- nership in the firm and on the incorporation of the business in 1903, he was elected first vice-president, of which office he has since re- mained incumbent. He is one of the foremost executives in the active management of the business. With a thorough knowledge of stock values in the manifold lines carried in the great establishment, and with an admirably devel- oped and reinforced executive talent, Mr. Moody may well look with satisfaction upon the results of his labors in connection with the business with which he has been connected since his boyhood days. Since the commencement of his career he has bent his energies definitely to the work in hand and became one of the most valued and trusted employes of the firm while still a youth. The appreciation of his efforts was shown in his advancement through the various grades of promotion, and he event- ually gained a tenacious grasp upon the mani- fold details of the business in all its depart- ments, thereby making himself indispensable. Such loyalty and zeal never fail of tangible recognition, and his career is one that offers both lesson and incentive to the young men of the present generation. It is ever essentially true that "labor conquers all," and that con- secutive industry is the master key which opens the door of success. He whose vanity or apathy holds him aloof from persistent effort will never make for himself a place in connec- tion with the productive energies and activities of life, and this fact can not be too often im- pressed upon the minds of the young men en- tering business or professional careers.
In the work necessary to the building up of the local Young Men's Christian Association,
Mr. Moody has given liberally of his means and time. His first employer, James W. Far- rell, was the first president of the Detroit or- ganization. Mr. Moody was finally elected president of the same organization and served for six years. He has been a member of this association since a boy and has served as a member of its board of directors for over twenty years. He is also a member of the Michigan state committee of the association. His efforts in behalf of the organization have been productive of most satisfactory results. He was one of the most active factors in pro- moting the movement for the erection of the new association building, now in course of con- struction, and which it is expected will be com- pleted within the year 1908, and in all phases of the work he maintains an abiding interest. A history of the local organization was written by him and a copy of the same is enclosed in the strong box which was sealed by Hon. Will- iam C. Maybury, mayor of Detroit, January I, 1901, on the occasion of the two hundredth anniversary of the founding of the city and which is to remain unopened until a century from the date mentioned. Many other inter- esting documents were likewise placed in this historic receptacle.
No citizen of Detroit is more distinctively loyal, enthusiastic and public spirited than is George T. Moody, and this fact is emphasized in his active association with the work of that well ordered and progressive body, the Detroit Board of Commerce, through whose agency has to a large extent been conserved the rapid industrial advancement of the city within the past few years. He has been especially active in the work of this organization and his labors received due recognition in his election to the office of first vice-president on April 9, 1907. He is president of the organization in 1908. He has been a life-long Republican. Essen- tially a business man, he has neither the time nor inclination for office, though he never neg- lects his civic duties and obligations. He is a member of the Detroit Club, and of its direc- torate; a life member of the Detroit Boat Club
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and the Fellowcraft Club; is vice-president and director of the Harbor Beach Association of Harbor Beach, Michigan; a member of the Merchants' Central Club and the Aldine Asso- ciation of New York City, the latter a literary and social club, and a member of the Detroit Country Club and the Detroit Automobile Club. He is a member of Corinthian Lodge, F. & A. M., of Detroit. He and his wife are valued and zealous members of the Woodward Avenue Baptist church, of which he is a trustee, and he is also a member of the board of trus- tees and of the finance committee of Kalamazoo College, an institution conducted under the auspices of the Baptist church.
Mr. Moody is well known to the citizens of Detroit, where his circle of friends is coinci- dent with that of his acquaintances, as he is thoroughly democratic, genial and social. Progressiveness and energy have ever marked his management of the various affairs in which he has been concerned; he has the finesse of the intuitive business man, being diplomatic and ever maintaining control of himself, so that he is able the more effectively to direct and control the work of others. He holds a secure position in the confidence and esteem of the community and has contributed in large measure to the advancement and development of the city in whose still greater commercial and civic pres- tige he is a firm believer.
Mr. Moody married on the 13th of August, 1879, Miss Lena C. Riker, daughter of James Riker, a prominent citizen of Clintonville, Michigan. To them have been born two daughters,-Olive R., who was graduated from the Detroit Home & Day School and who fin- ished at Miss Cooper's School, New York city. She married, in June, 1906, George A. Wor- den, of Detroit. Marjorie E., the second in order of birth, was also educated in the Detroit Home & Day School and attended for a time Dana Hall at Wellesley, Massachusetts.
The family have long been prominent in the best social circles of the city and the attractive home on Elliot street is known for its gracious hospitality.
ALFRED E. COUCH.
One of the leading restaurateurs of Detroit is Alfred E. Couch, who successfully caters to an appreciative and extensive patronage through his fine system of restaurants.
Mr. Couch was born in the city of Toronto, province of Ontario, Canada, on the 17th of May, 1876, and is a son of Dr. Walter J. and Harriet J. (Kane) Couch, who are natives of Ontario, Canada, and who have been residents of Detroit since 1891. The father is a rep- resentative physician and surgeon of this city, where he has a large practice and where he is held in high esteem by his professional con- freres. The subject of this sketch attended the public schools of his native city until the re- moval of the family to Detroit, at which time he was fifteen years of age. For the ensuing two years he continued his studies in the De- troit schools, and he then, in 1893, secured a clerical position in the establishment of L. Black & Company, the well known and pioneer opticians and dealers in optical goods. With this concern he remained until 1896, and there- after he was in the employ of Traub Brothers, jewelers, 118 Woodward avenue, until 1898. In the year last mentioned Mr. Couch initiated his connection with the line of enterprise in which he has attained to so noteworthy suc- cess and prestige. He at that time became manager of the store and restaurant of J. C. Kuhn, and in the following year assumed the practical management of the restaurant con- ducted by the Morton Baking Company in the Loyal Guard Building, at the corner of Grand River avenue and Griswold street, where he gained still wider experience.
On the Ist of October, 1899, Mr. Couch leased a room twenty-five by forty-five feet in dimensions at the corner of Rowland and State streets and there opened a popular-priced res- taurant. He made this first independent ven- ture practically without capitalistic reinforce- ment, but his technical knowledge, his energy and discrimination, and the effective service which he instituted and maintained, soon brought to his place a most desirable class of
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patronage. He began operations with only six employes and his receipts for the first day were summed up in eighteen dollars and thirty- five cents. He has since continued in the same location, having enlarged and otherwise im- proved the quarters from time to time, to meet the ever increasing demands of his trade. and at this location he now has a seating capacity for the accommodation of two hundred guests. This is distinctively one of the best equipped and most popular restaurants conducted at moderate prices to be found in the city, and every detail of the service is made as immacu- late as possible, while the cuisine is maintained at a particularly high standard. In this res- taurant employment is now given to forty-two persons. In 1904 Mr. Couch purchased of the Morton Baking Company the equipment of the restaurant in which he himself had pre- viously been employed, in the Royal Guard building, and in this eligibly located place he has since conducted a very successful business, as adjunct to the restaurant previously men- tioned. He refitted the new place in most attrac- tive style and here employment is now given to fifteen persons, Mr. Couch has given constant and scrupulous attention to every detail of his business, and the result is seen in the large trade controlled and in the high standing which is his in this line of enterprise.
In politics Mr. Couch is independent, and in the Masonic fraternity he is affiliated with the following named bodies in Detroit: Kil- winning Lodge, No. 297, Free & Accepted Masons ; King Cyrus Chapter, No. 133, Royal Arch Masons; Monroe Council, No. I, Royal & Select Masters; Detroit Commandery, No. I, Knights Templars; and Moslem Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also identified with De- troit Lodge, No. 34, Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks; the Knights of Pythias; Har- monie Society, and the Detroit Golf and De- troit Automobile Clubs. He is one of the loyal and appreciative member of the Detroit Board of Commerce, in whose promotive work he is emphatically interested.
On the Ist of January, 1900, Mr. Couch was united in marriage to Miss Helen Andrew Morton, daughter of Robert Morton, presi- dent of the Morton Baking Company, of De- troit, and they have two children,-Margaret Phyllis, and Alfred Walter. Mrs. Couch is a member of the First Presbyterian church, and is prominent in its work and in the social life of the city.
RALPH B. WILKINSON.
A representative member of the bar of Michigan and senior member of the well known legal firm of Wilkinson & Younglove, was born in the city of Detroit, Michigan, on the 28th of September, 1868, and is a son of Hon. Albert H. and Elvira M. (Allen) Wilkinson. Personal mention of his father appears in this work and contains a brief record of the family in Michigan.
Ralph B. Wilkinson acquired his early edu- cation in the public schools of the city of De- troit and was graduated from the high school in 1887. Subsequently he entered the law offices of Wilkinson & Post, of which his father was senior member, as clerk, and during his service in this capacity read law. In 1888 he was appointed deputy clerk of the United States circuit court, under Walter S. Harsha, continuing his law studies meanwhile, and he was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1890. From 1890 until 1895 he was again associated with the firm of Wilkinson & Post, his duties being the care of the real-estate business of that firm. From 1895 until 1898 he practiced his profession on his individual account, mak- ing a specialty of real-estate law and meeting with success. In 1898 he formed with Lyle G. Younglove the firm of Wilkinson & Younglove, and they have since engaged in general practice. The firm is recognized as one of the most representative among the younger ones of the city and numbers among its clients several of the important insti- tutions of the city. They are attorneys for the Commercial Milling Company, Louis Peters & Company, Detroit Show Case Com-
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pany, Grace Harbor Lumber Company, C. W. Restrick Lumber Company, Lowrie & Rob- inson, H. H. Harding Lumber Company, and the Bradstreet Agency, Detroit district.
Mr. Wilkinson has attained no little prom- inence in his profession, and has appeared in connection with important litigations in both the state and federal courts. His methods are clean and forceful and his knowledge of the law broad. He is interested in a number of manufacturing enterprises, in two of which he is a member of the board of directors, and he has been identified with the development of his native city. He is a Scottish Rite Mason, a member of Detroit Commandery, the Detroit Bar Association and the Detroit Credit Men's Association.
Mr. Wilkinson married, on the IIth of April, 1893, Miss Isabelle Leadley, daughter of the late Hon. John Leadley, who for many years was prominent in the mercantile and civic life of Detroit. Mr. and Mrs. Wilkin- son are the parents of two children-Ruth and Albert G.
JACOB COTNER, JR.
On other pages of this work appears a re- view of the career of William C. Sprague, founder of the Sprague Correspondence School of Law and the Sprague Publishing Company, of both of which he is the head and of the same corporations the subject of the present sketch is secretary and treasurer. Mr. Cotner has proved an able coadjutor of Mr. Sprague, and his genius and initiative have helped make possible the upbuilding of these two splendid Detroit institutions, so that his work and personality demand recognition in this publication.
Like his two executive associates in the en- terprises mentioned, Mr. Cotner is a native of the old Buckeye state, having been born on a farm near the city of Mansfield, Richland county, Ohio, on the 14th of September, 1860. He is a son of Jacob and Katherine ( Hartman) Cotner, natives of Bavaria, Germany. They came to America as children and were early
settlers and pioneers of Ohio. His father was a farmer by vocation and on retiring was an honored and influential citizen of Mansfield, where he continued to reside until his death, as did also his devoted wife. The subject of this review is indebted to the public schools of his native city for his early educational dis- cipline, and when fourteen years of age he left high school and initiated his business ca- reer by securing employment in a hardware store in Mansfield. With characteristic energy he applied himself to the duties which devolved upon him and made the most of the experi- ence gained, so that his advancement was as- sured. For five years he was in the employ of the firm of Wagner & Forney, of Mansfield, jobbers in hardware, and at the age of seven- teen years he became a traveling salesman for the firm, being thus engaged for two years and making for himself a record that gained to him similar employment with the wholesale hardware house of the McIntosh-Huntington Company, of Cleveland, Ohio. He was trav- eling representative for this concern for a period of two years, at the expiration of which he severed his connection with the same and organized the Mansfield Bolt & Nut Com- pany, which was incorporated with a capital stock of twenty thousand dollars and which engaged in the manufacturing of bolts and nuts, by an improved process. Mr. Cotner was the first president of this company, but re- tired after being its head for one year, hav- ing disposed of his interest in the enterprise. After his retirement from this company Mr. Cotner was employed for one year as travel- ing salesman for the Warren Packard Com- pany, of Warren, Ohio, wholesale iron deal- ers. During the succeeding two years Mr. Cotner represented the Simmons Hardware Company, of St. Louis, Missouri; the next year he devoted to the Baxter Stove Company, of Mansfield, Ohio, for which he was a trav- eling salesman; and later, for two years, he was similarly engaged with the Fletcher-Jenks Hardware Company, of Detroit, and the Pen- insular Stove Company, of Detroit.
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In 1889 Mr. Cotner made a radical change in occupation,-one which has inured to his success and prestige in no insignificant degree. He identified himself with the educational and publishing interests of William C. Sprague, in Detroit, and was made secretary and treasurer of the Collector Publishing Company, the nucleus of the extensive business now conduct- ed by the Sprague Publishing Company, which now publishes in Detroit The American Boy, the American Legal News, the Law Students' Helper, and a list of technical books compris- ing nearly one hundred titles. Since the in- corporation of this company Mr. Cotner has continued as its secretary and treasurer, and this dual office he likewise holds with the Sprague Correspondence School of Law.
From an article published in the Detroit Free Press and written by that honored and veteran journalist, John H. Greusel, are taken the following pertinent extracts: "J. Cotner, Jr., secretary and treasurer, has for eighteen years been in charge of the school and the pub- lishing company. He deals with their patrons in all money and business matters. His busi- ness experience has been wide, his fitness for the work is unquestioned. He began life as a chore boy in a hardware store. His pay for the first year was $75.00, but by diligence and adaptability he advanced from one depart- ment to the other until he went on the road. He was known as one of the best salesmen in the hardware and stove industry. He early learned to handle an immense amount of de- tail, and carries himself with the ease of a man who does large things well. Mr. Cot- ner's knowledge of advertising has been of im- portance in building up the 'American Boy.' He traveled throughout the country, met and convinced many agency men who were skep- tical of the field for a boy's paper. Cotner is a dynamo of industry, and his ideas are safe and sane. The columns of the American Boy reflect many of his plans for attracting and keeping the interest of young America."
In political matters Mr. Cotner is found ar- rayed as a stalwart supporter of the principles
and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor, and as a citizen he is intrinsi- cally loyal and public-spirited. For eight years he was a director of the Detroit Young Men's Christian Association, in whose work and ob- jects he maintains a deep interest, and for the past eight years he has also been a member of the board of trustees of the First Congre- gational church of Detroit. He was one of the active factors in effecting the organization of the Ohio Society of Detroit, was its first sec- retary and treasurer, and was the third to be called to the presidency of the society. He is fond of out-door sports and is an enthusiastic golfer, being a member of the Detroit Golf Club.
In the year 1889 was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Cotner to Miss M. Etta Trow- bridge, daughter of Demetrius N. and Dor- othy M. Trowbridge, of Toledo, Ohio. Mrs. Cot- ner died in Detroit, in 1899, and is survived by three children,-Emerson Trowbridge, Dor- othy Katherine, and Russell Murray. In No- vember, 1901, Mr. Cotner contracted a second marriage, being then united to Miss Cecilia L. Burke, daughter of William Burke, during his life a representative citizen of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
HARRY F. CHIPMAN.
To have attained to success and prestige in a profession which has been dignified and hon- ored by the services of his ancestors in at least three generations, either on the bench or in the active practice of law, or even in both, cannot be other than a satisfaction to the subject of this review, who is a son of one of Michi- gan's most honored jurists and legists, the late Hon. J. Logan Chipman, of Detroit, who presided on the bench of the superior court in this city for eight years and who laid aside the judicial ermine only when called upon to rep- resent his native state in congress, of which he was a member at the time of his death. A memoir on other pages of this volume briefly re- views the life history of this distinguished citi- zen, offering also data concerning the family
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genealogy, and thus it is not demanded that such subject matter be again touched upon in this sketch of the life of his son, who is well upbearing professional and civic honors of the name.
Harry F. Chipman was born in Detroit, on the 29th of June, 1859, and he has never fal- tered in his allegiance to and love for his na- tive city, which has been his home thus far in his life and which is hallowed to him by the gracious memories and associations of the past. He is indebted to the public schools of De- troit for his early educational discipline and in 1878 he assumed a position with the Paris, Cumberland Gap & Southern Railroad. When he returned to Detroit he began the study of law, having as his preceptors his father and the Hon. Don M. Dickinson. Mr. Chipman was admitted to the bar of his native state in 1880, and a few months later, within the same year, he was elected to the office of circuit- court commissioner, of which position he re- mained incumbent for two years, gaining val- uable experience and proving a most satisfac- tory official. He has since that time been called to other positions of public trust and re- sponsibility, and in each has been faithful and efficient. In 1894 Governor Pingree appoint- ed him a member of the board of police com- missioners of Detroit and in 1896 he resigned this office to become the Democratic candidate for sheriff of Wayne county. He was elected to the shrievalty by a gratifying majority and held the office during 1897-8, giving a force- ful, diligent and successful administration and making a splendid record in a field of labor far removed from that for which he had tech- nically trained himself. In 1900 he was made the candidate of his party for the office of cir- cuit judge, but met defeat, as did the other candidates on the Democratic ticket. He now gives his undivided attention to the work of his profession, being recognized as a strong trial lawyer and safe and conservative coun- sel, and having been retained in many impor- tant cases, with a regular counsellor clientage of distinctively representative character. He
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