USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 57
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Mr. and Mrs. Walker became the parents of five sons and two daughters. The two de- ceased are: Willis Ephraim, who died in 1886, having been engaged in practice as a solicitor and notary in Detroit; and Jennie Mellisa, who died in 1870, at an early age. The surviving daughter, Elizabeth J., is the widow of Theodore D. Buhl, of Detroit, to whom a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this work. Mrs. Walker was a woman of gentle and gracious personality and was an earnest and devoted church woman. She main- tained a deep interest in charitable enterprises and objects and was one of the founders and zealous supporters of St. Luke's Hospital, De- troit. In her memory the first church edifice in Walkerville was named St. Mary's, as is also its successor, the present beautiful edifice, of which mention has already been made.
Concerning the surviving sons of Mr. Walker the following brief data are consist-
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ently entered. E. Chandler Walker was born in Detroit, in 1851, and since the death of his father he has been president of the distilling company. In 1897 he married Miss Mary E. Griffin, daughter of the late Thomas Griffin, of Detroit, and they reside in Walkerville, where their home, "Willisstead," is recognized as one of the finest residences in Canada. Mr. Walker is a director of the Detroit Museum of Art, which owes much to his generosity. Franklin H. Walker was born in Detroit, in 1853, and was graduated in the University of Michigan as a member of the class of 1873. He is now vice-president and managing di- rector of Hiram Walker & Sons, Limited. In 1874 he married Miss May Holbrook, daughter of the late DeWitt C. Holbrook, of Detroit, and their residence is at 850 Jefferson avenue, this city. Their only child, Ella, is now the wife of Count Manfred von Matuschka, of Bechau, Silesia. J. Harrington Walker was born in Walkerville, Ontario, in 1859, and he now resides at 857 Jefferson avenue, Detroit. In 1883 he married Miss Florence A. Hol- comb, of Bridgewater, Connecticut, who died in 1887 and who is survived by two sons,- Harrington and Hiram. In 1889 Mr. Walker married Margaret Caldwell, daughter of the late William S. Tallman, of Detroit, and they have one son and two daughters. Mr. Walker's entire business career has been one of identifi- cation with the great industrial enterprise founded by his father, and he is associated with his brothers in the conduct and control of the same.
DAVID CARTER.
To have accomplished so notable work as did the late David Carter in connection with lake-marine navigation would prove sufficient to give precedence and reputation to any man, were this to represent the sum total of his efforts; but Mr. Carter was a man of broad mentality, strong initiative and distinct indi- viduality,-one who left not only a lasting impression in the field of enterprise mentioned but was also a most potent, though unostenta- tious, factor in the commercial, religious and social life of Detroit, of which city he became
a resident in the spring of 1861. To him the city is indebted for the establishment and de- velopment of the superb service of the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company, with which company his name is indissolubly linked, the organization of which was the result of his ideas and efforts, and in the conduct of whose affairs, its policies and its operation, his was the controlling spirit from the time of its in- corporation, in '1868, until his death, in No- vember, 1901. The last year saw the accom- plishment of plans which he had long cher- ished,-the organization of a company to en- gage in the passenger and freight business between the ports of Detroit and Buffalo. The company had been incorporated as the Detroit & Buffalo Steamboat Company, two steamers had been built and were to be placed in com- mission the following season, and Mr. Carter had been elected general manager of the line. His death occurred while he was engaged in outfitting the steamers for which he held the contracts. A brief history of the above named companies is published on other pages of the volume, and to this record the reader is referred for supplemental information.
David Carter was born in Ohio City, now included in the corporate limits of the city of Cleveland, Ohio, on the 27th of February, 1832, and was a son of David and Maria Louisa (Davis) Carter. His ancestors, both paternal and maternal, were among the early settlers of Massachusetts colony and num- bered among them were men who achieved dis- tinction in the early history of our country. John Carter, the first of the family to settle in America, was a native of England and an ardent supporter of King Charles I. Upon the execution of that monarch by Cromwell he escaped to America and settled in Salisbury, Massachusetts colony, in 1600. His son Thomas was the next in line of direct descent to David Carter. Thomas Carter was born in Salisbury, in 1610, and died in 1684. He was sent by his parents to England to complete his education, and he received from historic Cam- bridge University the degree of Master of Arts. He returned to America, entered the ministry and became a prominent and highly
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esteemed member of the clergy. He was a with the usually fatal disease and one of the man of fine intellectuality and attained to great influence in the colony. His son Samuel, 1655-1772, was the next in descent. Thomas, 1685-1772, the son of Samuel, was next in line. Samuel, 1734-1821, son of Thomas, was a soldier in the Continental line in the war of the Revolution and was commissioned lieuten- ant. He was an influential citizen of Warren, Connecticut, and his son Samuel, Jr., was the grandfather of David Carter. He married Sarah Newcomb, a member of the historic Newcomb family, and they continued residents of Warren throughout their entire lives. Their son, David Carter, Sr., father of the subject of this review, received his education in the schools of Warren. When a young man he removed to Ohio, then in the early stages of its colonization, and located in what is now the city of Cleveland. Here he experienced the vicissitudes and endured the labors which fell to the average pioneer. He died in 1840, and in 1843 his widow contracted a second marriage, her demise occurring many years afterward.
David Carter passed the first eleven years of his life in and about the city of Cleveland, and there received his rudimentary education in the common schools. In 1843 he accom- panied his mother and stepfather on their re- moval to St. Clair county, Michigan. In 1845 an uncle, Captain John M. Coyle, of Sandusky, Ohio, visited the Carter home, and on his re- turn to Sandusky was accompanied by his young relative, David Carter. In his uncle's family the latter passed the succeeding three years, being employed as clerk in a small lum- ber yard in the summer months and attending school during those of the winter. During the summer of 1848 he first engaged in sailing on the great lakes, a member of the crew of the three-masted schooner "North Hampton," then the most popular vessel plying between Sandusky and Buffalo. On the close of navi- gation he returned to Sandusky and again en- tered the lumber business, filling in order the positions of clerk, bookkeeper and manager. In 1849 the city was visited with the cholera plague. Mr. Carter was among those afflicted
few to recover from its effects. During his connection with the lumber business his ability as an accountant and manager (although a boy in his 'teens) was keenly observed by the lessee of the Mad River Railroad Company. He was tendered and accepted the position of bookkeeper and cashier of this company-in- terests including the railroad docks, warehouses and elevators,-in which position he remained until the death of the lessee, in 1852. His entrance in the lake-marine passenger and freight service of the Great Lakes, in which he was destined to become one of the most suc- cessful, widely known and most highly honored of the many men who have been identified with its growth and development, occurred in 1852, when he was made clerk of the new steamer "Forest City," which had been completed that spring for John Owen, of Detroit, and which was placed on the line between Detroit and Cleveland. He continued in a like capacity on various steamers plying between these ports, virtually managing them, until the close of navigation in 1860. On March 4, 1861, Mr. Carter removed from Cleveland, which had been his home for several years, and located permanently in Detroit. He engaged in the storage, forwarding and commission business, as junior member of the firm of Keith & Car- ter, their place of business being at the foot of Shelby street. He also filled the position of agent of the line of steamers plying be- tween Detroit and Cleveland, at that time a private enterprise, the various boats being owned by different owners, and the allied in- terests, operated under the management of the late John Owen as the Detroit & Cleveland Steamboat Line, and in connection with the Michigan Central Railroad, affording the lat- ter company a water route to Cleveland from Detroit, at that time its eastern terminus. The service was known and advertised as the Michi- gan Central Rail Road Line, operating the steamers "Morning Star" and "R. N. Rice." Mr. Carter was made general agent of this line and at the same time continued the busi- ness of Keith & Carter, in which he had pur- chased his partner's interest. During his con-
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nection with the last named line he conceived the idea of organizing a company to take over its business; a company to be controlled by Detroit capital and with the ultimate welfare of the city and state in view. His reputation as a successful manager of interests intrusted to his care, as well as of his personal business, enabled him to secure the requisite capital, re- sulting in the incorporation of the Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation Company, with an authorized capital of three hundred thou- sand dollars, and of this company Mr. Carter was elected secretary and general manager, which office he retained until his death. The growth and expansion of this company under his direction, a detailed account of which ap- pears under the title of the company on other pages of the work, furnishes an interesting and instructive chapter in the history of the com- merce of the Great Lakes. The results achieved show his remarkable executive and constructive ability, his full confidence in the future, and the implicit trust placed in him by his associates, who from time to time were called upon to furnish large capital which was largely committed to his care and which was necessary for the purchase of added tonnage and equipment. Through his foresight and industry he constantly added to the value of the investment; by his fairness and courtesy he attached to himself the vast number of ship- pers who constantly transacted business with his line. His continued insistence that at all times the vessels of the line should excel in the controlling essentials of safety, speed and comfort, his spirit of enterprise and his confi- dence in the appreciation by the public of the improvements for its benefit, advanced in a very marked degree the commercial develop- ment of the city and state.
Mr. Carter was known for his fairness to his employes. If he had a grievance, either real or fancied, no man occupied a position too lowly to get the ear of the general manager, who was held in affectionate esteem by those who, under his direction, were filled with loy- alty and zeal by being made to feel that they were integral parts of the institution they served. In 1900 the directors of the company,
in appreciation of the long and highly satis- factory service performed by Mr. Carter, ap- pointed him to the rank of commodore and presented him with the regulation commodore's pennant. The policies which he inaugurated, the system which he established for the con- duct of the business and of its employes, and the esteem in which these are held by the di- rectorate of the company, are well illustrated in the following extract from resolutions passed by the directors at the time of his death: "To those who follow him in his position of great responsibility we can offer no better advice than that they follow in his footsteps and be guided by his principles. In no more certain way can they promote the interests of this com- pany and insure for themselves the confidence and esteem of this community."
Mr. Carter was an interested principal in the . commercial activities of Detroit and an in- fluential but unassuming member of its social and religious life. He was president of the Leonard & Carter Furniture Company for ten years, during which time he was one of the leading spirits of that successful enterprise. The company was known particularly in the matter of high-grade office furniture, of which it made a specialty. Mr. Carter resigned the presidency of the company and subsequently disposed of his stock, in 1895. During his career he contracted for and outfitted eight steamers for the lines of which he was general manager, as well as the steamers "City of Buffalo" and "City of Erie," of the Cleveland & Buffalo line. He had partly completed his contract for the new Detroit & Buffalo line boats, "Eastern States" and "Western States," at the time his death occurred, the completion of the outfitting devolving upon his son, David S. Carter, of whom individual mention is made in this work. Mr. Carter was an influential member of the Republican party, and, while having neither time nor inclination for office, he never neglected his civic duties. In 1855 he was commissioned judge-advocate, with the rank of major, by Governor Bingham, and served with credit to himself under Colonel Saunders, then commander of the Michigan state militia. In the same year he became a
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member of the Masonic order, joining the Lodge at Trenton, Michigan. He was a mem- ber of the Country Club, the Detroit Golf Club and identified with the Pointe au Barque Sum- mer Resort Association, besides other social and business organizations. In religious faith he was a Presbyterian. Shortly after his ar- rival in Detroit he was made leader of the choir of the First Presbyterian church and continued its head for twenty-six years. He was an ac- complished vocalist, possessed a most excel- lent tenor voice, and the organization of which he was the leader was one of the most popular and efficient in the city. He served as chair- man of the building committee of the First Presbyterian church previous to and during the erection of the present edifice on Woodward avenue, and its construction was made possible and is largely due to his persistent efforts and generosity. He served as a member of the board of trustees of this organization for twenty years. Shortly before his death the highest office in the gift of this church was tendered him, that of ruling elder, but he in- stantly declined with the characteristic reply, "I am not worthy." In his charities Mr. Carter was a generous and unostentatious giver. In the giving, however, he preferred to work through the agency of others. For many years he devoted considerable time to the affairs of the Home of the Friendless, in whose work he was deeply interested.
On Christmas day, 1856, Mr. Carter mar- ried Miss Fannie J. Leonard, daughter of Rev. R. H. Leonard, D. D., of Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Carter is survived by his widow and two children : David S. Carter, who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume, and Jessie J., the wife of Murray W. Sales, of Detroit.
Mr. Carter was in all respects a high type of the conservative, unostentatious American, diligent in business, and conscientious in all things. The tributes of respect, and in many cases affection, called forth by his death, have seldom been equaled in the city of Detroit under similar conditions. His own standard of life was high and it was seen in the devel- opment of what grew to be under his direc- tion one of the most successful transportation
companies in the country. What may be termed his life work was finished; it had met the fullness of his ambition. But infinitely more precious and of personal consequence to him was the fact that he died rich in the pos- session of a well earned popularity, in the es- teem which comes from honorable living, and in the affection that slowly develops only from unselfish works. In his business life he was the embodiment of honor, as in his social and domestic life he was the perfection of love and gentleness.
HENRY P. BALDWIN.
Taking just pride in bearing the full name and being a nephew of that honored pioneer and distinguished citizen of Michigan, the late Governor Henry Porter Baldwin, of Detroit, to whom a memorial tribute is paid elsewhere in this publication, the subject of this sketch has himself been a resident of Detroit for forty years and has long been numbered among its honored citizens and representative business men, well upholding the prestige of the name which he bears.
Mr. Baldwin was born in Albany county, New York, on the 24th of January, 1845, and is a son of Samuel H. and Sarah B. (Wheeler) Baldwin, the former of whom was born in Rhode Island and the latter in Massachusetts. The mother was a daughter of Nathaniel Wheeler, a prominent pioneer cotton manufac- turer of Massachusetts. An outline of the gen- ealogical history of the Baldwin family is given in the memoir of Governor Baldwin, to which reference has been made above. Samuel H. Baldwin was reared at Dansville, Massachu- setts, where he received a common-school edu- cation, and as a young man he learned the trade of machinist. He finally took up his resi- dence in Cohoes, New York, where he engaged in the manufacturing of machinery for knit- ting mills, besides turning out other mechan- ical products. He later removed to Sandy Hill, New York, where he continued to be engaged in business until his death, which occurred in 1848. His wife survived him by a number of years, and of their three children two are liv- ing,-Henry P. and Catherine B.
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The subject of this review was reared to ma- turity in the old Empire state, where he was afforded good educational advantages in his youth, having prosecuted his studies for some time in private schools at Sand Lake. In 1866, shortly after attaining to his legal majority, he came to Detroit and took a clerical position in the wholesale boot and shoe house of his uncle, return of the family to America he entered the late lamented governor. In 1870 he was admitted to the firm, and thereafter he grad- ually assumed all the executive cares and bur- dens which had previously rested upon his uncle in connection with the concern. The busi- ness was amplified into that of manufacturing shoes, and the factory was the first of the sort west of the Niagara river. In 1896 a reorgan- ization took place and the title became Bald- win, McGraw & Company, which has since been retained. Since that year also the business has been exclusively of the jobbing order, man- ufacturing having been abandoned. The con- cern controls a large and representative trade, extending throughout Michigan and into Ohio and Indiana. Mr. Baldwin is still actively iden- tified with the management of the business, and is also interested in other local enterprises of important order. He was one of the organizers of the Detroit Trust Company and is a member of its board of directors, has been a director of the Old Detroit National Bank since 1893, and is a member of the directorate of the Detroit Fire & Marine Insurance Company. Practical- ly his entire business career has had Detroit as its scene of action, and it is scarcely necessary to state that Mr. Baldwin has a definite loyalty and affection as touching all things pertaining to the welfare of the city. He is a believer in and has aided materially the promotion of the larger industrial Detroit, and the advancement has been a source of unalloyed gratification to this earnest, straightforward business man and public-spirited citizen.
Mr. Baldwin's political allegiance is given to the Republican party, but he has never sought to enter the field of practical politics. Like his honored uncle, he is a communicant of St. John's church, Protestant Episcopal, and is prominent in its work. He has been a member
of the church vestry and its treasurer contin- uously for thirty-five years and senior warden for the past six years. He is identified with the Masonic fraternity, in which he has advanced to the degree of Knight Templar, being a mem- ber of Detroit Commandery, and he is a mem- ber also of various local organizations of a social or semi-business character.
On the 7th of June, 1871, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Baldwin to Miss Mary E. Walton, who died September 13, 1883, and who is survived by no children.
GEORGE B. RUSSEL, M. D.
Dr. George'B. Russel was one of the favored mortals whom nature launches into the world with the heritage of a sturdy ancestry, a splen- did physique, a masterful mind and energy enough for many men. Added to these at- tributes were extraordinary intellectual attain- ments and the useful lessons of a wide and va- ried experience stored away. Such a man could not obscure himself. Planted in a me- tropolis, he would have used his talents in com- peting with and uplifting his fellow men. Planted in the wilderness, he used them in de- veloping the things that the environment needed. He was the type of a true gentleman, and a representative of the best of the com- munity, dignified and yet possessed of an affa- bility that won him warm friends among all classes and conditions of men. A compilation of this nature could not commend itself with- out due tribute to this sterling pioneer of the city of Detroit and state of Michigan.
Dr. Russel was born in the cross-roads vil- lage of Russelville, Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, March 7, 1816, in the house built by his grandfather's father prior to the war of Inde- pendence. His paternal great-grandfather, Hugh Russel, was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1726, and fought at Culloden for Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1746. After the disastrous defeat of the Scotch patriots he escaped to Ire- land with a number of his countrymen. From Ireland he immigrated to America with three brothers, also patriot refugees, and took up his residence in Russelville, Pennsylvania. An- other of the brothers went to Kentucky and
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founded there the town of the same name. His son, Alexander Russel, was born July 4, 1756, at Russelville, and died there in 1799. His son Francis, the Doctor's father, was born in Russelville, June 14, 1783, and died there in 1859, having been a colonel in the United States troops in the war of 1812.
Dr. Russel's mother was a Whiteside, and her mother a Ross, both of which families emi- grated from Ireland to America in 1718 and settled in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania,- at Coleraine and the city of Lancaster. His uncle, John Whiteside, was a member of con- gress from Lancaster district, predecessor of James Buchanan.
Dr. Russel's early schooling was obtained in Lancaster. His intellectual capacity was early manifested. He was a student in West Ches- ter Academy, where he came under the in- struction of Professor Fuller, to whom he ever afterwards gave credit for the systematic train- ing of his mind and the remarkable knowledge of languages which he acquired. This school was one of no little celebrity at the time and famous for its corps of teachers, yet such was Dr. Russel's proficiency that he was permitted to act as a tutor when he was only fourteen years of age and to give instructions in mathe- matics and Latin. At the age of seventeen he completed the course at Franklin and Marshall College, and could read the Bible in five differ- ent languages. In 1836, at the age of twenty, he received his degree of M. D. from Jefferson College, Philadelphia, since absorbed into the University of Pennsylvania. His favorite pro- fessor was Dr. McClellan, the father of Gen- eral George B. McClellan. He studied under and became the intimate companion of Dr. Humes, the most celebrated physician in Lan- caster. The city of Lancaster was then the largest inland town in the United States. He also was closely associated, and in reality be- gan actual practice with, the famous Dr. John L. Atlee. One of his friends, with whom he was associated during the years 1831 to 1834, was General George B. Porter, afterwards gov- ernor of Michigan Territory, and the governor invited him to come to Michigan to practice when he had finished his education.
After his graduation, in 1836, Dr. Russel, being still under age and too young under the laws of the state of Pennsylvania to carry on his profession there for himself, determined to come to Michigan in accordance with the invi- tation of Governor Porter, although Governor Porter had died of cholera in 1834. After an adventurous trip by stage coach and canal, and by vessel from Cleveland, Dr. Russel arrived in Detroit April 24, 1836, and at once-almost on the same day-began a busy and successful medical career. He found here Drs. Chapin, Rice, Porter, Hurd and a number of others. After two years of busy practice, especially in combating the dreadful smallpox epidemic, he returned to Philadelphia in 1837-38 and took a post-graduate course (1837-8), listened to lectures by the most famous practitioners of the country, and added largely to his store of professional knowledge. He returned to De- troit in 1839 and was associated in practice with Dr. Adrian R. Terry and established the intimate friendship which lasted through life with Dr. Zina Pitcher.
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