USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 55
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Mr. Moore was always amply fortified in his convictions as to matter of public polity, and was unswerving in his allegiance to the Demo- cratic party, in whose cause he was a zealous worker, though never a seeker of official prefer- ment. From 1864 to 1868 he was chairman of the Democratic state central committee, and from the latter year until 1876 he was the Michigan representative as a member of the Democratic national executive committee. Mr. Moore withheld not his influence and services in connection with the administration of public affairs of a local nature. From 1859 to 1865 he was a member of the Detroit board of edu- cation, and for three and one-half years of that period he was president of the board. He served for many years as attorney of the board of police commissioners; in 1881 he was ap- pointed a member of the board of park com-
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missioners, to which position he was reap- pointed in 1884. He was twice elected presi- dent of this board, but resigned before the expiration of his second term.
Mr. Moore was one of the organizers of the Wayne County Savings Bank and of the Detroit Fire & Marine Insurance Company, of both of which he served many years as di- rector and attorney. He was also a member of the directorate of the American Exchange National Bank. He was ever appreciative of the spiritual verities of the Christian faith and was a zealous member and supporter of the Baptist church.
December 5, 1854, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Moore to Miss Laura J. Van Husan, daughter of the late Caleb Van Husan, of Detroit, and she survives him, as does also their only child, William V., of whom indi- vidual mention is made in this work.
HAZEN S. PINGREE.
He gave the best of an essentially strong, noble and loyal nature to the service of the people of Michigan ; his life course was guided and governed by the highest principles of in- tegrity and honor; he was humanity's friend and labored with all of zeal and devotion for the uplifting and aiding of his fellow men. It is then but a matter of imperative consistency that every publication touching the history of Detroit and the state of Michigan should give due measure of recognition to Hazen S. Pin- gree, former governor of this commonwealth and former mayor of the metropolis of the state. Both in public life and in connection with industrial affairs was Mr. Pingree a dis- tinct force, and his name is honored by all who had cognizance of the true worth of the man and the great value of his services.
Mr. Pingree was born on the parental farm- stead, at Denmark, Maine, on the 30th of Au- gust, 1840, and was a scion of that staunch Puritan stock which settled New England and made that section the cradle of so large a part of our national history. The direct founder of the Pingree family in America was Moses Pingree, who came from England in 1640, just twenty years after the landing of the Pil-
grims at Plymouth Rock. He settled at Ipswich, Massachusetts, and in that locality the family continued to reside for nearly one and one-half centuries. In 1780 representatives of the name were identified with the settlement of colonies at Rowley and Georgetown, Massa- chusetts, and from the old Bay state finally went members of the family to establish homes in the wilds of the state of Maine.
The future governor of Michigan was reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm and his educational advantages in his youth were confined to the somewhat primitive common schools of the locality and period. When but fourteen years of age he initiated his independ- ent career by going to Saco, Maine, where he secured employment in a cotton factory. Two years later he went thence to Hopkinton, Massachusetts, where he learned the trade of cutter in a shoe factory. Here he remained several years and here he gained an intimate knowledge of the branch of industry in which he was destined eventually to gain so much of prominence and commercial success.
The intrinsic loyalty and patriotism of young Pingree was signally manifested when he tendered his services in defense of the Union, whose integrity was jeopardized by armed rebellion. In the early part of 1862 he enlisted as a private, to fill a quota of forty- seven in the little town of Hopkinton, and with his comrades he proceeded to Virginia, where he became a member of Company F, First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, which was at that time assigned to duty in the defense of the national capital. The regiment was ordered to the front during Pope's Virginia campaign and took an active part in the battle of Bull Run. It then returned to duty in defense of Washington, taking a position at Arlington Heights, Virginia, where it remained until May 15, 1864, when it was again ordered to the front, being assigned to duty as infantry in the Second Brigade of Tyler's Division, Sec- ond Army Corps. With this command it par- ticipated in the fights at Fredericksburg Road, Harris's Farm, and Spottsylvania Court House. In the memorable battle at the point last mentioned the regiment opened the engage-
ENG BY HENRY TAYLOR JR.CHICAGO
H.S. Pinguee
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ment, during which it lost in killed and wounded many of its men. It was then as- signed to the Second Corps, Third Division, in the Army of the Potomac, with which it took part in the battle of North Anna, May 24-5. While on special duty on the latter day of this fight Private Pingree and some of his companions were captured by a detachment from Mosby's command, and Mr. Pingree was thereafter held at various southern prisons, including the notorious Andersonville, where he remained six months, finally being taken to the stockade at Millen, Georgia, at the time of Sherman's march to the sea. From this prison he was returned to the Union lines under parole, having gained his liberty by clever sub- terfuge, and in November, 1864, his exchange was effected, whereupon he rejoined his regi- ment, in front of Petersburg. From that time forward his command was engaged in almost ceaseless fighting by day and marching by night, and it was present at the surrender of General Lee, after which it took part in the Grand Review of the victorious troops in the city of Washington. The regiment made an admirable record and was complimented in special orders from Generals Mott and Pierce, "for gallantry in the last grand charge on Petersburg, in which it held a leading position and was greatly depleted in numbers." It is a matter of official record that of all the regi- ments in the Union service there were only fourteen whose total loss in battle exceeded that of the First Massachusetts Heavy Artil- lery. The regiment was mustered out on the 15th of August, 1865.
After the close of the war Mr. Pingree re- turned to his home, but shortly afterward he started for the west. He came to Detroit, where he secured a position as salesman in the boot and shoe establishment of H. P. Baldwin & Company, of which the late and honored Henry P. Baldwin, likewise a former governor of Michigan, was the head. Shortly afterward he engaged in buying produce and shipping the same to the east; in this connection he was associated with C. H. Smith. In 1866 the firm of Pingree & Smith was formed, and in that year was laid in a most modest way the
foundation for the great shoe manufactory which was so long conducted under this title, and which still perpetuates the name of Mr. Pingree, in the operations of the Pingree Com- pany, one of the largest concerns of the kind in the United States. In instituting their new venture Pingree & Smith purchased a small quantity of inferior machinery from H. P. Baldwin & Company, who had found it un- profitable to continue the manufacturing of boots and shoes, and the entire capital of the new firm did not exceed fifteen hundred dol- lars. At the start the force of employes num- bered only eight persons, but with the forceful and intelligent policy brought to bear, the sales for the first year reached the notable aggregate of nearly twenty thousand dollars. From the Cyclopedia of Michigan published in 1900, prior to the death of Governor Pingree, are taken the following statements regarding the upbuilding of the fine industry with which the subject of this memoir was so prominently con- cerned during a long period of years : "The growth of the business has been steady and gradual, until now the output of the factory is exceeded by that of few factories in the entire country. Several removals to larger quarters were from time to time found neces- sary to do the increasing business. In 1883 Mr. Smith retired from the firm and Messrs. F. C. Pingree and J. B. Howarth, who had been the senior member's right-hand men, were admitted to partnership. A disastrous fire in March, 1887, which destroyed the entire plant, threatened to sweep the firm out of existence, but the indomitable energy of the members enabled them to recover, and they now stand at the head of all western shoe manufacturers and occupy their own immense new building, fitted with every modern appliance. Over this very extensive business Mr. H. S. Pingree had supervision from the beginning, and it is owing principally to his wise and faithful control that the firm made such a remarkable success in a field where so many others have failed."
Mr. Pingree gained a high reputation as a business man of sterling integrity and great administrative ability, and he early won the confidence and esteem of the people of Detroit,
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8
though he was so immersed in his business affairs that he did not become a factor in public life until after many years of residence in the Michigan metropolis. His interest in civic matters had, however, been deep and helpful, and he was known as a citizen of great public spirit and of progressive civic ideas. In 1869, after having refused many previous overtures to become a candidate for municipal office, Mr. Pingree was made the unanimous nominee of the Republican party for the office of mayor of Detroit. His acceptance of the nomination was prompted by a sense of civic duty and fealty, since at this election was made the attempt to overthrow the corrupt "ring" ad- ministration in municipal affairs. He was ac- corded the support of the better class of citi- zens, irrespective of partisan affiliations, and was elected by a splendid majority over all other candidates. As has been stated, "his inclination to decline the nomination was headed off by the importunities of some of the best men in both parties. He then practically delegated his private business to his partners, Mr. F. C. Pingree and Mr. J. B. Howarth, and threw himself heart and soul into the duties of his new office. He set about righting wrongs and reforming many of the antiquated ways of doing the city's business. He especial- ly confronted the street-railway companies and the city gas companies, and secured for the people many valuable concessions. He exerted a favorable influence in settling the great street-car strike which occurred shortly after his inauguration. He also, by his veto, averted the extending of the street-railway franchise, which would have been most detrimental to the city. In 1891 he received a renomination for mayor, and was again triumphantly elected. In 1893 the same thing occurred, and in 1895 he was once more persuaded to accept the nom- ination for mayor, and was again triumphantly elected. His entire incumbency as mayor of Detroit was devoted largely to the opposition. of monopolistic corporations. During this time also the city entered upon many modern improvements, very notably in the case of pav- ing many of her more important thoroughfares with asphalt, and Detroit has come to be
known as one of the cleanest and most beauti- ful cities in the Union."
Mayor Pingree was essentially loyal and fearless in his administration, which was marked by the insistent policy of securing the greatest good to the greatest number. He was sure in his premises as to matters of civic con- trol; was the friend and protector of the rights of the people; and to him was accorded the most unequivocal popular endorsement, though, as a natural sequence, he had the an- tagonism of strong and influential corporate interests which had long fed at the people's ex- pense. No mayor of Detroit has given a more clean, business-like and able administration, and the Pingree standard is one invariably referred to as representing the ultimate of ex- cellence. Public charities and benevolences gained from the mayor careful consideration and aid, and he did a noble work in alleviating the distress and suffering of the poor within the gates of the fair metropolis of Michigan.
To a man who had thus proved himself and shown such illuminating ideals, it was but natural that higher honors should come in the gift of the people. His reputation had now permeated the state, and in 1896 he was made the nominee of his party for the office of gov- ernor of Michigan. He was elected by a large majority, and in 1898 similar mark of popular approval was given in his being chosen as his own successor in the gubernatorial office. It is scarcely necessary to say that in his admin- istration of state affairs he held the same en- lightened and progressive policy that had marked his regime as mayor of Detroit. Re- form, protection of the rights of the people, determined antagonism of monopolistic inter- ests working against the general welfare,-all these gained to him a secure place in the con- fidence, esteem and affection of the people of Michigan. He labored earnestly to secure equal taxation and to protect the rights of the individual. His fame can not be other than enduring, for it rests upon the broadest plane of humanitarianism. The hold Governor Pin- gree had upon the people of Michigan is meas- urably typified in the magnificent bronze statue, of heroic size, which stands in Grand Circus
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Park, Detroit, and which represents the con- tributions of all classes of citizens throughout the Wolverine commonwealth. The inscrip- tion on the bronze entablature is as follows : "The citizens of Michigan erect this monu- ment to the cherished memory of Hazen S. Pingree, a gallant soldier, and enterprising and successful citizen, four times elected mayor of Detroit, twice governor of Michigan. He was the first to warn the people of the great danger threatened by powerful private corporations, and the first to initiate steps for reforms. The idol of the people. He died June 18, MDCCCCI, aged sixty years."
During the administration of Governor Pin- gree occurred the Spanish-American war, and he showed the greatest solicitude for the Mich- igan soldiers who were arrayed for the serv- ice. Another memorial has said of him in this connection : "Governor Pingree was known as the soldiers' friend, for day and night he de- voted himself and all of his energies to the welfare of the troops that Michigan supplied ; he saw to their proper clothing and other equipment, claiming that the state had a right to provide her men with the best of every- thing that they required; he visited the camps and individually looked after the welfare of the Michigan troops; when many were lying in southern hospitals, sick of the deadly south- ern fevers, he caused a thoroughly equipped hospital train to be sent to the southern camps to bring home all of those who were able to travel, and thus was probably the means of saving the life of many a man who had nobly offered himself to the service of his country."
Further reference to the administration of Mr. Pingree as governor and mayor is to be found in the department of this work devoted to general history.
There can be no impropriety in recording the fact that the determined policy, fearless- ness and independence of Mr. Pingree in the offices of mayor and governor gained to him bitter antagonisms on the part of those whom he attacked with implacable vigor, for their nefarious practices and their self-aggrandize- ment at the expense of the people, nor should it be inconsistent to state also that these antago-
nisms, emanating in many cases from high sources, led to petty persecution of Mr. Pin- gree in his business and social relations and even extended to the members of his family,- actions worthy of only execration and denun- ciation.
Hazen S. Pingree was a man who kept the needle of life true to the pole-star of hope, and he guided his course with a full sense of his responsibilities and with the strength of con- scious rectitude. His name merits a large place in the annals of the state and city to which he gave so great and fruitful service. He completed his second term as governor and then returned to Detroit to resume his control of business affairs. His death here occurred on the 18th of June, 1901, and it may well be said that "his works do follow him." He was a stalwart advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and he attained to the thirty-second degree in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Masonry. He was an appre- ciative and valued member of Detroit Post, No. 384, Grand Army of the Republic, and was identified with various social and civic organizations of a representative order.
In the year 1872 was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Pingree to Miss Frances A. Gil- bert, of Mount Clemens, Michigan, who died in 1908. They became the parents of three children, two of whom are living,-Hazen S., Jr., and Hazel, who is the wife of Sherman L. Depew, of Detroit. The family still maintain their home in Detroit.
GEORGE H. BARBOUR.
One of those especially deserving of the title of captain of industry in the city of Detroit figures as the subject of this sketch. His in- fluence has permeated in many directions but more especially in the building up of the mag- nificent industrial enterprise conducted by the Michigan Stove Company, recognized as the largest and most progressive concern of the kind in the world. A record of the company appears elsewhere in this work, with due de- scription of the plant and business. Mr. Bar- bour is first vice-president and general man-
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ager of the concern and is also an interested principal and officer in a number of other im- portant industrial and financial concerns which are factors in maintaining the high commercial prestige of Detroit and the state.
George Harrison Barbour comes of the staunchest of New England stock, the original American progenitor having been Thomas Barber, who immigrated from England to America in 1634, reaching his destination on the 20th of June. From that early date to the present time the name of Barbour has been prominently identified with the commercial, political and civic annals of New England. especially of the state of Connecticut, where yet remain many descendants of the ancestor mentioned as being the founder of the Ameri- can branch of the family. Of later years, how- ever, the city of Detroit has gained many mem- bers of the younger and more active genera- tion, and even the pages of this work will clearly indicate to how marked a degree the prestige of the honored name has here been upheld.
He to whom this sketch is dedicated was born in Collinsville, Hartford county, Connecticut, on the 26th of June, 1843, and is a son of Samuel Thompson Barbour and Phœbe (Beckwith) Barbour, both of whom were likewise natives of Connecticut, where the former was born in the year 1800 and where he continued to live until his death, in 1860, his wife surviving him by a number of years. Of their three sons and three daughters only George H. is now living. The father was a well known and successful merchant in the above named town and was prominent and in- fluential in connection with the growth and development of the section in which he so long lived and labored. He was an upright busi- ness man and in all the relations of life was dominated by the highest principles of in- tegrity and honor. He retired from active business in 1857 and was succeeded by his youngest son, George H., subject of this sketch, who later became associated in the business with his brother-in-law, Julius Earl Goodman, under the firm name of Goodman & Barbour. Mr. Barbour secured his early edu-
cational training in the common schools of his native town and early began to assist his father in his business affairs, so that his youthful dis- cipline was of a sort to foster self-reliance, pragmatic ability and energy. None can doubt that Mr. Barbour has reason to feel that his life has counted for much and that he has had the prescience to grasp and improve oppor- tunity, thereby wresting from the hands of fate a large measure of success and a reputation indicative of the most sterling attributes of character. Mr. Barbour continued in the gen- eral merchandise business at Collinsville, Con- necticut, until 1872, when he was tendered the office of secretary of the Michigan Stove Com- pany, having been well known to a number of those concerned in founding the new enter- prise. He promptly disposed of his business interests in his native town and accepted the position tendered him in Detroit, where he has maintained his home since the year mentioned. He has never had cause to regret the change which he made in the connection noted.
Much of the success of the Michigan Stove Company is directly due to his indefatigable efforts and aggressive business policy, and for more than a quarter of a century he has been a potent factor in commercial circles in Michi- gan. He has made judicious investments of his capital and by personal influence as well has done much to further the upbuilding of many prominent commercial and financial cor- porations in his home city. Of him it has been said that "he possesses the rare faculty of being able to separate the chaff from the wheat and of connecting himself with only meri- torious and successful enterprises, while he has the reputation of being most conservative and acute in all matters pertaining to the lines of business which have enlisted his executive and financial support." As a banker he is widely and favorably known and has been conspicu- ously successful. A few of his more promi- nent associations are here noted: He is first vice-president and general manager of the Michigan Stove Company; president of the Ireland & Matthews Manufacturing Company ;. vice-president and director of the Dime Sav -: ings Bank; president of the Michigan Copper
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& Brass Company; and a member of the di- rectorate of each the People's State Bank, and the Michigan Fire & Marine Insurance Com- pany. He served as secretary of the Michigan Stove Company for the first five years, since which time he has been incumbent of his pres- ent dual office in the corporation. He was president of the National Association of Stove Manufacturers in 1888-9 and was the first president of the Michigan Manufacturers' As- sociation. He has long been active also as a member of the National Association of Manu- facturers, of whose legislative committee he was chairman in 1902, in which connection he appeared several times before various commit- tees of both houses of congress, in connection with pending legislation pertaining to the regu- lation of manufacturing enterprises, and more especially in connection with the consideration of a measure then pending in reference to the eight-hour labor law. He was the first presi- dent of the Detroit Board of Commerce and has at all times shown himself to be a loyal and progressive citizen, doing all in his power to forward the advancement of Detroit along all normal lines. He was one of those actively concerned in organizing the Detroit Expo- sition, which was for a number of years most successful and creditable and which passed out of existence only when it had fulfilled its mis- sion. He is a trustee of the Detroit Museum of Art, of which he formerly served as presi- dent, and he has been a liberal supporter of the said institute from the time of its inception to the present, having distinctive appreciation of those elements which make for the higher ideals in life. He was a member of the Michigan board of commissioners of the World's Co- lumbian Exposition in 1893, and in 1897 was chairman of the Michigan commission at the Pan-American exposition, in Buffalo. In this connection he had the distinction of returning to the state treasury after the close of the ex- position somewhat more than ten thousand out of the fifty thousand dollars originally appro- priated by the state. All expenses of the com- mission had been paid and the refunding of
such a sum to the state was practically unprecedented in the history of such affairs.
Mr. Barbour is a staunch Democrat of the Cleveland type, unswerving in his advocacy of the basic principles of this historic old or- ganization. He has, however, never been in the least ambitious to enter the arena of prac- tical politics or to become incumbent of public office. In 1888, while he was absent from home, he was made the party nominee for rep- resentative of the fourth ward on the board of aldermen, and was later elected, though the normal Republican majority in the ward was about one hundred and seventy-five votes. He served two years as a member of the board and was its president the first year. He has since been importuned by personal and party friends to accept the nomination for mayor of the city, but has invariably refused the honor, feeling that the exactions of his many business interests were too great to justify him in as- suming any official position to which he might be elected in the municipal government. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, is ex- president and a popular member of the Detroit Club, a life member of the Fellowcraft Club, a member of the Country Club, at Grosse Pointe Farms, and is identified with other so- cial organizations. He is chairman of the board of trustees of the Fort Street Presby- terian church and also chairman of the music committee of the board.
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