USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 56
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On the 23d of June, 1870, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Barbour to Miss Katherine Hawley, daughter of William H. and Susan (Robertson) Hawley, of Collinsville, Connec- ticut, and they became the parents of two sons and two daughters,-Edwin S., George H., Jr., Grace L., and Estelle. Edwin S. Barbour resides at 1707 Jefferson avenue, Detroit, and George H. Barbour, Jr., at 134 Lafayette ave- nue, this city. Grace became the wife of Joshua Rhodes, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and her death occurred in December, 1906; Mr. Rhodes died June 30, 1908, shortly after arriving, with his two little daughters, for a
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visit at the Grosse Pointe home of his father- in-law, Mr. Barbour. Estelle is the widow of George S. Stillman, of New York city, and now resides at 134 Lafayette avenue, Detroit.
SAMUEL T. DOUGLAS.
The bar of the city of Detroit has as one of its representative members Samuel Town- send Douglas, who is a native of Michigan and a member of a family whose name has been known and honored in connection with the history of the state. He was born in the city of Ann Arbor, on the 2d of August, 1855, and is a son of Dr. Silas H. and Helen (Welles) Douglas, both representing families founded in New England in the early colonial epoch of our national history. The Douglas family was especially prominent in the annals of early New England, where was the cradle of so much of our nation's history, and the subject of this sketch is a representative in the seventh generation from the original American progenitor, who was a native of England.
Dr. Silas Hamilton Douglas was born at Fredonia, Chautauqua county, New York, on the 16th of October, 1816. His native place was the seat of an academy, in the New Eng- land sense of the name, and in this institution, the first of its kind in western New York, the Doctor supplemented the educational training which he had received in the somewhat prim- itive common schools of the locality and pe- riod. His ambition led him to seek a higher academic education, and he was eventually able to enter the University of Vermont, in which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1838, the year after the admis- sion of Michigan to the Union, he came to Detroit, where he took up the study of med- icine in the office of Dr. Zina Pitcher, one of the able and honored pioneer physicians of the city and state. He later pursued his tech- nical studies in the medical department of the University of Maryland and he became speci- ally well fortified in his profession, particularly
in the department of chemistry, to which science he was destined to devote many years of his signally useful life. On the 12th of August, 1844, by action of the board of regents of the University of Michigan, which was then in its infancy, Dr. Douglas was engaged to assume the chair of chemistry in the institu- tion, during the absence of Professor Douglas Houghton, the regular incumbent. On August 5, 1846, after an informal ballot, the board of regents elected Doctor Douglas to the perma- nent professorship of chemistry, whereupon he withdrew from the practice of medicine to devote his entire time to his university work. He was the founder of the chemical laboratory of the university, in whose service he contin- ued from 1844 to 1877,-a period of thirty- three years. From an article read at the exer- cises of Founders' Day in the University of Michigan, on the 22d of February, 1902, are taken the following brief statements in regard to Dr. Douglas: "He was the first to teach the subject of chemistry in this, the earliest of the state universities of the northwest. It was under his charge that chemistry had its successive beginnings on this ground, its growth here for a third of a century, its many- sided applications, and its part in the develop- ment of the laboratory method in education. Professor Douglas was enlisted in the service of the university as a whole. He labored in it for six years before the opening of the first professional department. Besides chem- istry, other branches of science were in his hands, especially in the earlier years. Miner- ology he carried until 1870, and he taught geol- ogy until 1851. He was closely allied to the first president, Henry L. Tappan, through his administration. Of the department of medi- cine and surgery Professor Douglas was, in- deed, one of those who laid the foundations, one who framed substantial supports." From the minutes recorded by the faculty of med- icine in the university at the time of the death of Dr. Douglas, in 1890, are taken the fol- lowing words of appreciation : "To the labora- tory and its development he gave the best
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years and powers of his life. It was due to the ance strongly knit in his nature that labora- tories of science gained an early and vigorous growth in this institution. We remember his service with thanksgiving and write his name with honor."
Samuel Townsend Douglas, the immediate subject of this review, was afforded the ad- vantages of the public schools of Ann Arbor, and in 1869 he was matriculated in the Uni- versity of Michigan, in which he was graduated in 1873, with the degree of Bachelor of Phil- osophy. He then took a post-graduate course, in medicine and chemistry, and upon the com- pletion of this work he came to Detroit and began reading law in the offices of the firm of Douglas & Bowen, of which his uncle, the late Samuel T. Douglas, one of the first mem- bers of the supreme court of the state, was the senior partner. He made rapid advance- ment in his absorption and assimilation of the science of jurisprudence, and in 1879 he was admitted to the bar of his native state. In 1881 he was admitted to partnership in his uncle's firm, whose title was then changed to Douglas, Bowen & Douglas, and this profes- sional alliance continued until the retirement of Judge Douglas, in 1884. Shortly after- ward Frederick W. Whiting was admitted to the firm, and the title then became Bowen, Douglas & Whiting. Upon the admission, at a later period, of James O. Murfin, the present firm name of Bowen, Douglas, Whiting & Murfin was adopted. This is known as one of the leading law firms of the state and to its prestige and precedence Mr. Douglas has contributed in large measure, being recognized as a lawyer of distinctive ability and power in the various departments of professional work, and having been concerned in much important litigation. The firm has always controlled a large and representative practice.
In politics Mr. Douglas gives a staunch al- legiance to the Republican party, and while he has rendered effective service in its cause he has never sought the honors or emoluments of political office. He was the first to suggest the organization of the Detroit Club, the most prominent organization of its kind in the city,
and he drafted its first articles of association, besides being chosen a member of its first board of directors, on which he served until 1894,-a period of twelve years. He is a prominent and valued member of the Michigan Society of Colonial .Wars, of which he was elected governor in 1907. He is a director of the Detroit Trust Company and also of the Central Savings Bank, and is president of the Mount Clemens Gas Company and the Ypsilanti Gas Company. He is progressive and public-spirited as a citizen, and takes a lively interest in all that tends to conserve the advancement and prosperity of his home city. He has served as a member of the board of health for the past eight years, and has twice been elected its president, of which office he is incumbent at the present time (1908).
In 1891, Mr. Douglas was united in marriage to Miss Marion L. Dwight, daughter of the late David F. Dwight, who was for many years a prominent merchant and influential citizen of Detroit. Mr. and Mrs. Douglas have two children,-David Dwight, and Marion Howe.
ALFRED HOOPER.
In the exercise of important administrative functions, Mr. Hooper is identified with one of the great industrial enterprises of Detroit, and is recognized as a progressive business man of advanced ideas. He is first vice-chairman and general manager of the great varnish man- ufacturing institution of Berry Brothers, Ltd., of which specific mention is made in the memorial tribute to its founder, the late Joseph H. Berry, on other pages of this work.
Alfred Hooper was born in the city of Lon- don, England, on the 2d of May, 1855, and is a ·son of Cleeve Woodward Hooper and Myra John (Batty) Hooper, both representa- tives of staunch old English stock. The father was a tanner and leather merchant by vocation, and was for many years engaged in business at Bermondsey, London, Southeast. He retired from active business about five years prior to his death, and his wife likewise is now deceased.
Alfred Hooper was given the advantages of the schools of his native city, but initiated
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his business career when but fourteen years of age. He at that time secured employment in the shipping department of an extensive wholesale house in London, where he remained until 1870, when he came to America. Here he is the only representative of his immediate family. The vessel on which he made the voy- age consumed thirty-one days in effecting the trip, owing to irregularities in the ship's com- pass. This was the maiden trip of the boat, and after its eventful voyage it was finally towed into the port of Quebec. From the historic old Canadian city Mr. Hooper came forthwith to Detroit, and during the interven- ing period of more than a quarter of a century he has been continuously identified with the firm of Berry Brothers, Ltd., to the promotion of whose interests he has contributed most effectively. Under his personal direction have been established the various branch establish- ments of the concern, and all were placed by him on a paying basis before he withdrew from their active supervision. He passed nearly fif- teen years in New York city and other lead- ing cities in thus expanding the business facili- ties of the firm of which he is now general manager, with established headquarters in De- troit. For the past twenty years he has held membership in the Union League Club of New York city.
HIRAM WALKER.
Measured by its beneficence, its rectitude, its productiveness, its unconscious altruism and its material success, the life of the late Hiram Walker counted for much, and in this history of Detroit, in which city he long maintained his home and to whose progress and prosperity he contributed in large degree, it is but con- sonant that a review of his career be incorpo- rated. His name is perpetuated in the town of Walkerville, Ontario, which he founded, and through the great industrial enterprise which owes its inception and upbuilding to him. It is not the name alone but the man himself that it is hoped this article will reveal, so that a tribute of honor may be perpetuated where honor is well due.
Hiram Walker was born in Douglas, Mas- sachusetts, on the 4th of July, 1816, and was the third child of Willis and Ruth (Buffum) Walker. In the records of the history of "Early New England Families" at Boston, his descent is traced back to Thomas Walker, who lived in Boston in 1661, and who moved in 1664, to Sudbury, Massachusetts, where the records state that "he received encouragement to keep a free school," and where he died in 1699. Mr. Walker's ancestry seems to have been entirely English with the solitary excep- tion of Pierre Chamois, a French Huguenot who, as Peter Shumway, came to Oxford, Massachusetts, about 1650. Another of Mr. Walker's lineal ancestors was a soldier and was wounded in the great Narragansett fight in 1675. In fact, the lines of his family his- tory run into some of the oldest families of New England and carry the right of admis- sion to the Society of Colonial Wars, Sons of the American Revolution, etc. Beyond the first immigrant, Thomas Walker, already men- tioned, the family genealogy has not been defi- nitely traced by representatives in America.
Hiram Walker's early years were uneventful. He was afforded the advantages of the public school in his native town and later was em- ployed in a dry-goods store in Boston, but, having made up his mind to "go west," he came to Detroit in 1838, being then twenty- two years of age. Here his first employment was in a store on Atwater street, and some- what later he ventured into business on his own account, opening a grocery store on At- water street near Bates street. Not meeting with success, he then entered into partnership with Jeremiah Ingersoll, establishing a tannery on Dequindre street and engaging in dealing in leather. The tannery was finally destroyed by fire and the partnership was dissolved, after which Mr. Walker again engaged in the gro- cery business, on the lower part of Woodward avenue. Here he again met financial disaster, in the panic of 1857, but repeated misfortune seemed merely to prompt renewed effort, and he resolved to enter business in Canada, where his prosperous career was initiated and where
ENGRAVED BY HENRY TAYLOR JR . CHICAGO
Huan Walker
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success continuously rewarded his efforts from that time forward.
In 1857 Mr. Walker purchased the land across the river from Detroit forming the site of the present town of Walkerville, and there built a steam flouring mill and distillery. In 1858 active business operations were instituted in the new plant, and the enterprise rapidly as- sumed large proportions under his effective guidance. The products of the distillery thus established by him are now known in every part of the world. The flour-mill branch of the business was continued for more than a score of years, and was then closed, as Mr. Walker found that his distillery required the greater part of his time and attention. The now flourishing manufacturing town of Walkerville, on the Canadian side of the De- troit river, opposite the eastern part of the city of Detroit, is the concrete outcome of Mr. Walker's indomitable perseverance and un- tiring energy.
In March, 1859, Mr. Walker removed with his family from Hamtramck, the eastern sub- urb of Detroit, to Walkerville and took up his residence in "The Cottage," a frame house on the river bank. This house was built about 1840 and at the time he purchased the prop- erty it was surrounded by a large garden,- the site of the present distillery offices. Here he lived until 1864, when he resumed his resi- dence in Detroit.
It is not absolutely certain in what year the name of Walkerville first came into use. At the first the place was familiarly known as Walkerstown, and it is within the remembrance of several now living that Walkerton would have been selected as the name had there not already been a place of that title in the same province. It may be taken as certain, how- ever, that the name Walkerville was decided upon prior to 1864, and it is probable that the name was adopted at the time the Great West- ern Railway built a switch into Mr. Walker's yards,-about 1862. The first government ac- ceptance and recognition of the name came March 1, 1869, when a postoffice was estab- lished under the name of Walkerville. Prior to this time Windsor was the nearest and, in-
deed, the only postoffice within reasonable dis- tance. Mr. Walker's place of business was known for many years as the Windsor Distil- lery & Flouring Mills. Until 1863 the business was carried on under his own name alone, and he then admitted to partnership Mr. McBride, of Detroit, who had been in his employ as a traveling representative, but in 1867 the part- nership was dissolved and Mr. McBride re- turned to Detroit and engaged in business for himself. During the continuance of this part- nership the firm name was Hiram Walker & Company; from 1867 to 1871 it was again Hiram Walker, and in the latter year, upon the admission of Edward Chandler Walker to partnership, the title of Hiram Walker & Son was adopted. Later, as the younger sons were admitted, the firm became Hiram Walker & Sons. In 1890 the distillery business was or- ganized as a joint stock company, under the name of Hiram Walker & Sons, Limited, and still so continues. Outside interests remained the property of the partnership existing be- tween Mr. Walker and his sons, being dis- tinguished by the name of Walker, Sons & Company until 1895, when Mr. Walker retired and the present firm title of Walker Sons was adopted.
Upon Mr. Walker's arrival in Walkerville the place was part of an early settled but thinly peopled township, known as Sandwich East. The future town had no name and consisted of but a very few dwellings, and until 1890, when the town of Walkerville was incorporated by a special charter, Mr. Walker was a somewhat unique municipal figure, being practically mayor, council, board of works, controller of fire, water and light department, and board of education,-all in one. As the distilling busi- ness grew and advanced, Mr. Walker en- couraged and associated himself with other manufacturing interests, besides the different industries growing out of his own distilling business, and all of these stand to-day as evi- dences of his ceaseless energy and marked busi- ness ability. He built a church and when a new public-school section was organized he acted as one of the original trustees. He in- vested largely in farm lands, and became one
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of the largest land-owners in the dominion of Canada; he engaged in the growing of hops, the raising of cattle and horses, had a tobacco plantation of more than one hundred acres, and built a railway and the summer-resort hotel known as the Mettawas, at Kingsville, on Lake Erie. Even these enterprises did not exhaust Mr. Walker's wonderful capacity for work. The Ontario Oil & Gas Company, which for years furnished natural gas to Wal- kerville, Windsor and Detroit, was organized and made a success by him, and in other numerous enterprises he was the guiding spirit. But from 1858 forward the distillery business occupied his chief attention, and by it he was most widely known. His success in this line of enterprise was not due to accident or so- called luck, but was the result of many years of close attention, hard work and careful man- agement, on the part not only of Mr. Walker, but also of his sons.
Mr. Walker's interests in Detroit were many and varied. In a number of concerns he was the controlling stockholder, while his name was sought by and he held shares in many enter- prises to which he was unable to give his per- sonal attention. Among the enterprises with which he was thus connected may be mentioned the following: The Detroit Car Works, De- troit Transit Railway, Detroit & Bay City Rail- way, Detroit National Bank, Detroit Chamber of Commerce, Hamtramck Iron Works, De- troit Medical College, Wayne County Agricul- tural & Industrial Society, Minong Mining Company, Cove Land & Mining Company, Michagamme Company, Detroit & Ontonagon Mineral Lands Company, Michigan Land & Immigration Company, St. Clair Mining Com- pany, and Valverde Mining Company. He was also a member and shareholder of the De- troit Club, the Grosse Pointe Club, the North Channel Club, and the Detroit Driving Club. This list, imperfect as it is, shows that his large interests in Canada by no means absorbed the whole of Mr. Walker's time and thought, and affords strong evidence of his enterprising spirit. His real-estate holdings in Detroit were also very large, including much valuable prop- erty in the central business district of the city.
Mr. Walker's charities were large and varied, and as a citizen he was moved by deep public spirit. He was a generous contributor to the support of the cause of the Republican party. At one time he contemplated endowing a school for manual training in Detroit, but his daughter suggested to him the need of some hospital for helpless little ones. From this suggestion resulted the Children's Free Hospital, on the corner of Farnsworth avenue and St. Antoine street, which was built by Mr. Walker in 1896, in memory of his daughter, Jennie Melissa, who died in 1870. He not only gave the land and the admirable building but also left a substantial endowment for the sup- port of the institution. He also endowed a room and, in addition, a bed, in Harper Hos- pital, and his donations to that institution were most generous. The training school for nurses in conection with this hospital always had his deep interest and loyal support. The Child- ren's Free Hospital stands as a noble and last- ing memorial to the man who made it possible, -an evidence of his generosity, a proof of his deep human sympathy and kindliness of heart, -and while it represents only a part of Mr. Walker's benefactions it is sufficient to mark his life a success. The town of Walkerville, which was practically created by Mr. Walker and which-though it has grown and improved immensely since its owner passed away-was moulded and fashioned on his plans, may well be called a model town. It has been called the "Birmingham of Canada," but it is noted as much for its comfortable homes as for its fac- tories. It has well paved streets, lined with beautiful shade trees; it has a splendid water system; it has one of the best school buildings on the continent; and St. Mary's church, built in 1904, as a memorial to Hiram Walker and his wife, by their sons, is one of the most beau- tiful church edifices in Canada. This church was consecrated in 1904 and presented as a free gift, with an ample endowment, to the Angli- can diocese of Huron. The town of Walker- ville as it exists' to-day bears strong evidence of the wisdom and energy of the man to whom it owes its existence, and here his memory is cherished by all who knew him. After so
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strenuous a career and so successful a life as Mr. Walker's, it may be asked,-what re- mains? Such a life must always leave marked results, and in this instance there is no diffi- culty in pointing out what those results were; they are clearly indicated in the statements of this all too brief memorial tribute.
Mr. Walker was an Episcopalian, having been a pew-holder in old St. Paul's church of Detroit, and having served for many years as a member of the vestry of this historic parish. Not only did he give largely to the church it- self, but its affairs could always rely on his substantial aid for any worthy object at home or abroad.
Personal power was the strongest trait in Mr. Walker's character, and this, coupled with a phenomenal capacity for work, was the secret of his success. He never occupied any public position, but he was a natural leader in thought and action. Warm-hearted to a degree, a lov- ing husband and father and a loyal friend, he lived to a good old age. Both in Detroit and Walkerville he will long be remembered for strength of character which would have made him a man of mark anywhere, and for personal qualities which attracted and held all with whom he came in contact. He died at his Detroit home on the 12th of January, 1899, at the age of eighty-three years, and his remains rest in beautiful Elmwood cemetery.
In 1895 Mr. Walker decided to retire from active participation in the various business en- terprises he had organized and, for so many years, controlled, and to entrust them to his three sons, of whose business capacity he had full knowledge. He therefore executed deeds of sale to them of the greater part of his real estate, including all situated in Detroit, besides the bulk of his lands in Canada. He also transferred to them his shares in the various incorporated companies in which he was inter- ested. Among various conditions attached to these deeds and transfers was one that within three years of his death his sons should pay twenty thousand dollars to Harper Hospital, and this payment was made in 1902. His sum- mer residence, Isle aux Peches, and his yacht, "Lurline;" he left to his daughter, Mrs. Buhl,
and he provided generously for a number of relatives and family connections. By his will he bequeathed to the Children's Free Hospital seven-eighths and to Harper Hospital one- eighth of all property of which he might be possessed at the time of his death, "to be used by said hospitals for the care and maintenance of the worthy sick poor," except household furniture and other personal property, which he devised to his four surviving children.
It is most gratifying to enter brief record concerning Mr. Walker's domestic life, which was one of singularly idyllic order. On the 5th of October, 1846, he married Miss Mary Abigail Williams, daughter of Ephraim Smith Williams and Hannah Melissa (Gotee) Will- iams, of Silver Lake, Michigan. Mrs. Walker was born in 1826, the first white child born in the Saginaw valley, where her father was serving as paymaster for the Indians, and her death occurred in 1872. She was a descendant of Robert Williams, of Welsh lineage, who sailed from Norwich, England, in the year 1638 and settled at Roxbury, Massachusetts. On the maternal side Mrs. Walker was a di- rect descendant of James Harrington Gotee, who served seven years as a patriot soldier in the war of the Revolution.
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