USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 60
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115
York city, withdrawing on account of impaired health, resultant upon over-application to study. He then returned to Detroit, where, in the autumn of 1843, he was admitted to the bar.
In the spring of 1844 Mr. Duffield entered into a professional partnership with the late Hon. George V. N. Lothrop, who was later United States minister to Russia, and the firm gained precedence as one of the foremost in the state, the alliance continuing until 1856, when a dissolution took place. Mr. Duffield thereafter continued his practice in an individ- ual way until after the close of the civil war, when his youngest brother, Henry M., became his professional confrere, this association con- tinuing about a decade. In 1885 Mr. Duffield admitted to partnership in his large and impor- tant legal business his younger son, Bethune, of whom individual mention is made in this volume, and they continued to be thus asso- ciated, under the title of Duffield & Duffield, until the relations were severed by the death of him whose name initiates this memoir. That Mr. Duffield attained eminence in his profes- sion was due not less to his thorough knowl- edge of the law and his forceful presentation of
374
DETROIT AND WAYNE COUNTY
causes, with great dialectic strength, than to the time and labor he expended in the prepara- tion of his cases. He discussed legal questions with marked clearness of illustration and full- ness and variety of learning, while he ever commanded the respectful hearing of court or jury and the admiration of his professional associates.
At no time in his career did Mr. Duffield show aught of inclination for public office, and he remained signally free from affliction in this line, though in 1847 he was elected city attor- ney and for many years was a commissioner of the United States court. These were the only official positions of which he was ever in- cumbent in a purely public sense, and both were practically allied to his regular professional work. As a citizen his zeal and public spirit found no prescribed bounds, his loyalty being of the most unequivocal type. In 1847 he was elected a member of the board of education, and in this capacity none has ever rendered more effective and timely service, his in- cumbency of the office being almost contin- uous until 1860, while he was president of the board for several years. Through his efforts the entire work of the public schools was thor- oughly systematized and he was specially zeal- ous in establishing the high school, of which he has been often designated the father. He also did much to promote the interests of the city public library, then as now under control of the school authorities. A most consistent recognition of his labors in behalf of education in Detroit was that shown in naming the school on Clinton street in his honor, this tribute having been paid in 1855.
In his daily life Mr. Duffield ever exempli- fied the abiding and deep Christian faith which was his, and he was particularly active in the various departments of church work and in be- half of the cause of temperance, having been the first president of the Detroit Red Ribbon Society, organized at the time of one of the most memorable temperance crusades in the history of the nation. For many years prior to his death he had been an officer in the First Presbyterian church, of which his revered father was pastor for so many years, and he
was, indeed, one of the pillars in this church, faithful and zealous. He was one of the founders of Harper Hospital and was for sev- eral years secretary of its board of trustees. In the earlier years the Young Men's Society of Detroit was a prominent social and literary organization, and he was active in its affairs, having been its president in 1850.
In politics Mr. Duffield was originally ar- rayed as a supporter of the principles of the Whig party, but upon the organization of the Republican party he allied himself therewith and ever afterward continued an effective ad- vocate of its cause, which he furthered through effective work as a public speaker in various state and national campaigns, though he in- variably refused to permit the consideration of his name in connection with political office. In the climateric period leading up to the civil war he was an avowed and uncompromising abolitionist, and while the war was in progress he did all in his power, as a writer and public speaker, to uphold the hands of the govern- ment and to encourage enlistments, as well as to provide for the soldiers and their families. From his youth Mr. Duffield contributed with somewhat of liberality to the press, both news- papers and periodicals, and he gained a definite and admirable reputation in literary circles. Much of his work has been lost to sight, as he was averse to the publication of literary pro- ductions, both prose and verse, save as they might contribute to the advancement of some worthy contemporaneous cause or defeat some ignoble proposition.
In conclusion of this sketch of an honored citizen, it is but congruous that there be per- petuated a few lines from an appreciative esti- mate of the man which appeared in a history of the bench and bar of the state issued by the Century Publishing and Engraving Company : "D. Bethune Duffield was a lawyer whose con- science never juggled with the right for the sake of the retainer, and was a man whose heart was always young. He excelled in his profession, though he never sank the man in the attorney. He had mastered the wisdom of the schools, and also knew men. His success at the bar was immediate and pronounced, and
375
DETROIT AND WAYNE COUNTY
a long and useful life overflowed with gener- ous and humane deeds. And now that he has emigrated to a better land his name is a sweet memory in many hearts." Mr. Duffield was summoned to the life eternal on the 12th of March, 1891, and the city of Detroit mourned its dead.
On the 25th of June, 1854, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Duffield to Miss Mary Strong Buell, who was born in Rochester, New York, a daughter of Eben N. Buell, who was until his death a prominent and influential business man of the city of Rochester. Mrs. Duffield survived her husband until February 27, 1898, when she too passed away, secure in the love of all those who had come within the sphere of her gentle and gracious influence. They are survived by two sons,-George, who is one of the representative physicians and sur- geons of Detroit, and Bethune, who is indi- vidually mentioned in this publication.
ELISHA H. FLINN.
Elisha Herbert Flinn was born in Riga, Monroe county, New York, on the 16th of December, 1843. His early childhood days were passed on his father's farm at that place. In 1854 the family removed to LeRoy, Gen- esee county, in the same state, where he at- tended school and where he was graduated in the local academy or high school. Deciding to enter the legal profession, he studied law in the office of Judge Bangs, a prominent attor- ney in western New York. Here he remained until 1865, when he concluded he would come to the west. Having a friend and former class- mate in Detroit, he settled in this city, where he took a position in the law office of Robin- son & Brooks. He continued the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1866. He soon built up a practice and later, in 1876, he formed a partnership with Charles C. Hickey, under the firm name of Hickey & Flinn. The firm was very successful, but within two years the partnership association was severed by the death of Mr. Hickey. Mr. Flinn continued in individual practice thereafter for a few years, but, having become interested in timber land,
he gradually withdrew from the active work of his profession.
In the meantime, in 1871, Mr. Flinn had formed a partnership with his former employer, George O. Robinson, for the buying and sell- ing of pine timber land, both on commission and independently as a firm. The business prospered and the firm continues in existence to the present day. Messrs. Robinson and Flinn have traded in pine lands in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Their joint holdings have now dwindled to practically nothing, although the individual members of the firm continue to be interested in redwood lumbering operations in California. The firm held large tracts of pine on the Mesaba range in Minnesota, jointly with Simon J. Murphy, and on these lands were discovered the Adams, Fayal, Genoa, Spruce, Cloquet, LaBelle, Hobart, and other and smaller iron mines, so that Mr. Flinn's principal interests gradually changed from timber to iron, in which latter line they remain rep- resented to the present time. He is also in- terested in the Lake Superior Iron & Chemical Company, of which he is president. He is also president of the Farrand Company, is vice-pres- ident of the Old Detroit National Bank, and a director of each the Wayne County Savings Bank, the Detroit Trust Company, the Pacific Lumber Company, and the F. A. Thompson Company, of Detroit. He is president of the board of trustees of Grace hospital, and is also a trustee of the First Presbyterian church. In politics he is a Republican, but he has never taken any active part in political work.
On the 20th of September, 1871, Mr. Flinn married Miss Samantha Whitwood, daughter of Deodatus C. Whitwood, vice-president of the Wayne County Savings Bank. The maiden name of Mrs. Flinn's mother was Caroline Farrand. This union, marked by mutual de- votion, was ended by the death of Mrs. Flinn, on the 12th of February, 1906. Two children are living: James Harmon Flinn, and Mary Whitwood Flinn. The former married Miss Ethel Garretson, of New York city, and they reside in Detroit.
Elisha H. Flinn, the immediate subject of
-
376
DETROIT AND WAYNE COUNTY
this sketch, is a son of Captain James Rich- ardson Flinn and Mary (Harmon) Flinn, whose marriage was solemnized on the 15th of April, 1838. Captain Flinn was the grand- son of John Flinn, who came from Dublin, County Mayo, Ireland, and took up his resi- dence in the state of New York, in 1750. There the latter married into the Vrooman family, who were New Amsterdam Dutch. Peter Flinn, a son of this marriage, was the owner of a large tract of land in western New York, and the old homestead is still in the possession of the family. Peter Flinn mar- ried Castilla Richardson, and their son, James R., was the father of him whose name initiates this article.
On the maternal side, Mr. Flinn is descended from the Harmon family of English origin. The founder was John Harmon, who was born in England, in 1617. His grandson, Nathaniel Harmon, born in 1686, came to America and settled in Connecticut, whence the family later removed to Massachusetts. Representatives afterward settled in Bennington, Vermont, and from there descendants moved to Monroe county, New York. Rawson Harmon, the maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a large landholder in western New York, and was a man of prominence and in- fluence in that section during the first half of the last century.
THEODORE H. EATON.
In even a cursory review of the careers of the honored pioneer business men of the city of Detroit, there is eminent consistency and, in fact, imperative demand that recognition be had of Mr. Eaton, who wrote his name large and nobly upon the annals of his time. He was a dominating figure in local business life and through his well directed energies accumulated a modest fortune. Progressive in both private and public affairs, he proved a most valuable citizen, and he so ordered his course as to re- tain at all times the inviolable confidence and esteem of his fellow men.
Theodore H. Eaton was born in the historic old town of New Brunswick, New Jersey, in October, 1815, and was a son of Horatio
Woodruff Eaton and Maria S. (Montgomery) Eaton. He was a scion in the fourth genera- tion in direct descent from Thomas Eatton, of Eatonton, New Jersey, which place was named in his honor and of which he was virtually the founder. Thomas Eatton immigrated from England to America about 1660, or perhaps earlier, and for a brief interval he resided in Rhode Island, whence he later removed to New Jersey, where he established his permanent home and where he became a citizen of promi- nence and influence. When the subject of this memoir was a child his parents removed from New Jersey to Lowville, New York, and there he was reared to maturity, receiving a good academic education. As a youth he was ap- prenticed to learn the drug business, in the es- tablishment of John and William Williams, of Utica, New York, and upon the completion of the Erie canal this firm established a western branch in Buffalo, to which city young Eaton was transferred after the great fire which vis- ited that place in the early '30s. In 1834 he was admitted to a partnership in the firm, upon the retirement from the same of Robert Hol- lister. The panic of 1837 seriously crippled many western merchants, and through an inci- he was able eventually to acquire the estab- dental financial embarrassment of this nature lished drug business of Riley & Ackerly, of De- troit, in 1838. He remained a partner with the Williams Brothers in Buffalo, however, until 1842, when he retired from the firm, and in May of that year he took up his residence in Detroit, having been married to Miss Anne Gibbs, of Skaneateles, New York, in 1839.
Mr. Eaton had thoroughly familiarized him- self with the "frontier" country, of which Michigan was then considered a part, as he had made several winter tours on horseback through the west, making collections for the Buffalo house in which he was an interested principal. Under his able direction the modest business established by the firm of Riley & Ackerly was rapidly developed into an enter- prise of no inconsiderable scope and impor- tance. After his purchase of the business and prior to his removal to Detroit it had been under the effective supervision of David A.
The: N. Eaton
377
DETROIT AND WAYNE COUNTY
McNair, his agent, who likewise had done ex- cellent work in expanding the business. For a brief interval subsequently to 1842 Mr. McNair was a partner in the business, but in 1843 he retired from the firm and removed to Kala- mazoo, where he became prominent as a merchant.
Mr. Eaton was a man of fine intellectual powers and great pragmatic ability, and defi- nite success early crowned his efforts in De- troit. He was one of the largest losers in the great fire which swept away much of the busi- ness section of Detroit in 1848, his establish- ment, at the corner of Jefferson avenue and Randolph street, having been destroyed. In 1849 he removed into his new brick store, at the corner of Woodward avenue and Atwater street, where he continued in business until his death, which occurred in 1888. For the major portion of the long intervening period the en- terprise was conducted under the firm name of Theodore H. Eaton & Son, which still obtains, the concern now occupying the original quar- ters and also with warehouse and railway sid- ing in Franklin street. This may well be pointed out to-day as one of the pioneer busi- ness places of Detroit.
Mr. Eaton was the chief promoter, if not, indeed, the virtual founder of that noble insti- tution, St. Luke's hospital, and he maintained a deep and abiding interest in the same until he was summoned from the field of life's en- deavors. He was a devout communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church and did much to further its progress in Michigan, having been influential in diocesan as well as local affairs in his church. For many years prior to his death he held the office of senior warden of old St. Paul's parish. He made many and liberal benefactions to the church, though always in a most unostentatious way. He was a Whig and later a Democrat in his political allegiance, and was essentially public-spirited, giving his sup- port to all enterprises projected for the general welfare of his home city and its people. He was one of the pioneers in building up Detroit, and many of the better class of buildings still standing were erected by him. In 1852 he completed the erection of his residence, on Jef-
ferson avenue, the same having been one of the most modern in Detroit and still being con- sidered one of the fine old homesteads. It is now occupied by his son and is one of the oldest houses in Detroit. It is worthy of note that at the time of building his mansion Mr. Eaton brought from New York city John Riley, a skilled mechanic, who installed the plumbing and also piped the house for gas, though it was three years later ere a gas plant was installed in the city. He was one of the organizers of the first gas company, in 1852, known as the Detroit Gas Light Company, and was one of the large stockholders of the local gas com- pany up to the time when its plant and business were sold to the present owners. He never accepted any office in the company, however. He held a large block of the stock of the De- troit Locomotive Works and the Peninsular Iron Works.
Mrs. Eaton preceded her husband to the life eternal, her death having occurred in 1879. They became the parents of two children,- Theodore H., Jr., who succeeded to his father's various business interests; and Mary M., who became the wife of Lieutenant Thomas W. Lord, of the United States army, and who died in Texas. The son is recognized as one of the representative business men of Detroit and is ably upholding the prestige of the honored name which he bears. He still continues in the business established by his father so many years ago and also has other and important capitalistic interests in Detroit.
The maternal grandmother of the subject of this memoir was Mrs. Mary Montgomery, who was a daughter of Judge John Berrien, lineal ancestor of Colonel Berrien, of Detroit, civil engineer of the Michigan Central Railroad, and the man in whose honor Berrien county was named. It is said that General Washing- ton wrote his farewell address to the army while a guest in the home of the widow of Judge Berrien, at Rocky Hill, near Princeton, New Jersey, December 1, 1783.
As a citizen and business man the name of Theodore H. Eaton merits a place of distinc- tion on the roll of the honored pioneers of Detroit.
378
DETROIT AND WAYNE COUNTY
FREDERICK STEARNS.
Among those who have stood as distin- guished types of the world's workers was the late Frederick Stearns, who indelibly im- pressed his influence upon the civic and indus- trial life of Detroit, who was deeply appreci- ative of all that represents the higher values of human existence, who proved a force in the commercial world, who realized the responsi- bilities which success imposes, and who ordered his course upon the highest plane of honor and integrity. This gentle, noble, exalted char- acter was revered and loved by the people of Detroit, and while a sketch of this nature can but touch lightly upon the more salient points in his life history, it is imperative that in a pub- lication of such province as the one at hand a tribute of respect and honor be paid to one who thus made the most and best of his life.
Frederick Stearns came of staunch Puritan stock, being a direct descendant of Isaac Stearns, who was one of the coreligionists and colonists with Governor Winthrop and Sir Richard Saltenstall, who arrived at Plymouth in 1630 and who founded Watertown, Mas- sachusetts. In the maternal line he traced his genealogy to Samuel Chapin (1642), who was one of the early settlers of Springfield, Mas- sachusetts.
Mr. Stearns was born in Lockport, New York, on the 8th of April, 1831, and was a son of Samuel and Philena (Chapin) Stearns. Such were the exigencies of time and place that Frederick Stearns had but limited educa- tional advantages in his boyhood days. His parents were in very modest financial circum- stances and he early assumed the active re- sponsibilities of life. In 1846, when but four- teen years of age, he was apprenticed in the drug store of Ballard & Green, in the city of Buffalo, New York, where he remained about a year. He there found himself taking the first steps toward the fulfillment of his cher- ished ambition to become a pharmacist. While working assiduously and faithfully, for a mini- mum wage, he managed to improve his spare time by taking a course of lectures in phar- macy and chemistry in the University of Buf- falo. In 1848 he became associated with A. I.
Matthews, then one of the leading druggists of Buffalo, with whom he remained about six years, within which he was admitted to part- cause he hoped that it might be of some pleas- nership in the business. It was here that he became familiar with the details and manage- ment of a well ordered pharmacy, and he con- tinued to be identified with the business until the close of the year 1854, at which time he sold his interest in the enterprise and came to Detroit, arriving here on January 1, 1855. He had previously visited Detroit and had decided that there was a favorable opening here for a new drug store. Mr. Stearns later summed up conditions at that time in six words,- "little money, fair credit, high hope." His re- tail business was conducted with a fair degree of success and soon he began to carry out his idea of manufacturing for the trade. His first laboratory was a back room twelve feet square and equipped with a cook-stove. He made up samples of a few pharmaceuticals of merit, and from time to time he made trips through the state, where he found a ready market among the druggists, who were not only in need of goods but also glad to aid the struggling young manufacturer. On his return from such trips he made up the required goods and shipped them to his customers.
Concerning his labors and advancement the following statements have been written: "Some idea of his activity at this time may be gathered from the facts that while carrying on his retail business and endeavoring to develop its manufacturing side he was also editing and publishing the Peninsular and Independent, a monthly medical journal of sixty-four pages, having associated with him several of the prin- cipal medical professors of the University of Michigan; he was contributing scientific papers to drug and medical journals, and was already prominent in the affairs of the American Phar- maceutical Association, of which he later became president.
"Then came the civil war, and Mr. Stearns, as purveyor of medical supplies for the state of Michigan, handled large quantities of drugs He also carried on quite an extensive whole- sale business, and his store was known all over
379
DETROIT AND WAYNE COUNTY
the middle west, at least, as probably the most completely stocked institution of its kind in the country. Old residents of Detroit yet speak with pride of the Stearns drug store, which was in those days regarded as a model, and it was generally known that if anything in the medical line was to be had at all it was to be found there. At the close of the war Mr. Stearns equipped his laboratory with steam, milling and extraction apparatus, thus enabling him to handle a much larger volume of busi- ness than previously.
"Twice in 1871 his store was destroyed by fire, entailing a loss of over eighty thousand dollars, but, undismayed, he at once began preparations for manufacturing on a still larger scale, and established a laboratory en- tirely separate from his store. This stood on Woodbridge street, near Sixth, and although it would appear very diminutive in comparison with the present establishment, or even with some single departments, it was considered quite a credit to the city then."
Mr. Stearns' retail drug establishment con- tinued as the largest and most successful in the state and he conducted the same until 1881, when he sold the business, in order to devote his entire time to his manufacturing enter- prise, which was constantly expanding in scope and importance and which was destined to be- come, as it is to-day, one of the greatest of the sort in the world. In 1882 he incorporated the business under the name of Frederick Stearns & Company, with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars. At the annual meeting of the company in February, 1887, Mr. Stearns announced to the directors his intention of re- tiring from business and devoting the remain- der of his life to travel and study. Interesting data are these, gained from an appreciative tribute published in The New Idea of Feb- ruary, 1907, regarding him, whose death oc- curred in the preceding month : "As he occa- sionally expressed it in later years, he began to educate himself then as he never had the time to do when he was young. With Mr. Stearns, however, travel was never undertaken merely as a recreation, but as another form of study, and few men have traveled so exten-
sively and to such purpose as he had during the past twenty years. He visited at one time or another every part of the civilized world, and brought back with him thousands of ob- jects of educational or artistic value. One of his earliest collections comprised about sixteen thousand Japanese and Korean curios and other objects of oriental art, such as pottery, lacquers, swords, Japanese, Korean and Chinese costumes, enamels, bamboo work, embroideries, etc. This collection, which could not have been duplicated for less than forty or fifty thousand dollars, was presented by Mr. Stearns to the Detroit Museum of Art.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.