Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan, Part 66

Author: Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago H. Taylor & Co.
Number of Pages: 858

USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 66

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In 1881, in company with the late William B. Moran and others, Mr. Hendrie purchased a large tract of marsh land lying between the Detroit water-works plant and Grosse Pointe. They secured from the government a permit to dyke and drain the lands and eventually suc- ceeded in reclaiming about twenty-five hundred acres. Mr. Hendrie has been one of the most enthusiastic developers of Belle Isle, which con- stitutes a park unique in this or any other country. In 1879, in the face of much opposi- tion, he, with eight others, was successful in securing an appropriation for the purchase of the island by the city. It was then a desolate forest tangle, but the foresight of Mr. Hendrie and his associates has long since been justified, and Belle Isle has become a synonym for the ideal city park.

Mr. Hendrie has always been a great lover of horses. In his younger days he was an

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enthusiastic rider and driver, and later he has interested himself in the breeding of blooded stock from the large draft horse to the fleet- footed trotter and thoroughbred. His exten- sive breeding farm, at Royal Oak, has afforded one of his favorite recreations as has his stable of thoroughbreds, which has been quite suc- cessful on the turf. Mr. Hendrie is one of the few who still remain true to the horse in these days of automobiles.

At the present time Mr. Hendrie is an active factor in the financial life of Detroit, with large landed interests and in connection with the following named institutions: The Union Trust Company, the Detroit Savings Bank, the Commercial National Bank, and the Wyan- dotte Savings Bank. He is a director in the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company and president of the Detroit & Buffalo Steamboat Company.

In politics Mr. Hendrie was an admirer of President Cleveland and supported his policy, but since then he has voted independently. He and his wife are communicants of Christ church, representing one of the oldest parishes of the city, and he is a member of St. Andrew's Society, of which he served as local president. He is a Knights Templar Mason, being affili- ated with Detroit Commandery, No. 1, 'and holds membership in the following clubs : De- troit, Fellowcraft, Yondotega, Detroit Driving, and the Country Club.

Genial and kindly, and possessing the canny traits of his native race, Mr. Hendrie has the qualities which beget warm and lasting friend- ships, and he is distinctively popular in busi- ness and social circles in the city which has so long been his home and the center of his in- terests.

On the 31st of October, 1865, Mr. Hendrie was married to Miss Sarah Sibley Trowbridge, daughter of Hon. Charles C. Trowbridge, of Detroit. The eight children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hendrie are as follows: Strathearn, Katharine Sibley, Charles Trowbridge (de- ceased), Jessie Strathearn, George Trow- bridge, Sarah Whipple, William, and Mar- garet.

FORDYCE H. ROGERS.

In the city of his birth Colonel Rogers stands at the head of one of the magnificent manufacturing industries which give Detroit so great commercial prestige; he is in all re- spects a representative citizen, while it was his to render valiant service as a soldier of the Union in the civil war. To him is due in fullest measure the upbuilding of the Detroit White Lead Works, of which concern he is president and general manager.

Colonel Rogers was born in Detroit, Octo- ber 12, 1840, and is a son of George Wash- ington and Jane Clark (Emmons) Rogers, both representative of families established in America in the colonial epoch of our national history. George Washington Rogers was born in Vermont, December 14, 1799, and was a lineal descendant of James Rogers, who im- migrated from England and settled in Con- necticut in 1635. The family removed to Ver- mont and some served in the Revolution from there as well as from Connecticut. George W. Rogers was reared and educated in his native state and previously to coming to the west had been engaged in the manufacture of stoves at Vergennes, Vermont. In 1840 he came to Michigan and after remaining for some time in Detroit established his family home at Pon- tiac, where he conducted a general-merchan- dise business for a number of years and where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1860. Jane C. (Emmons) Rogers was a daughter of Adonijah Emmons and a sister of Judge H. H. Emmons, who was a distinguished member of the Detroit bar and who served on the bench of the United States circuit court. Representatives of the Emmons family likewise were found enrolled as patriot soldiers in the war of the Revolution. George W. and Jane C. Rogers became the parents of seven children, five of whom attained to ma- turity and the youngest of whom was the sub- ject of this sketch. His mother died soon after his birth and the father later married Harriet L. Williams, a daughter of Oliver Williams, who was a prominent fur trader in Detroit prior to the war of 1812. George W. Rogers died April 9, 1860.

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Fordyce H. Rogers passed his youth in Pon- tiac, in whose schools he secured his early edu- cational training. In 1856, at the age of six- teen years, he returned to Detroit, where he was employed for the first year in the whole- sale drug house of T. H. & J. A. Hinchman; the following year he was a clerk in a local clothing store. His adventurous spirit next led him to California, in 1858, his elder brother, George E., having preceded him. He made the trip by way of the isthmus of Panama, and in the Golden state he was vari- ously employed, remaining there until the fall of 1859, when he returned to Pontiac. There- after he was identified with mercantile enter- prises in Lapeer and Detroit until the outbreak of the civil war, when his intrinsic patriotism led him to tender his services in defense of the Union. In June, 1861, he was the first man to join Colonel Thornton F. Broadhead, and as- sisted in raising the First Michigan Cavalry, which was mustered into the United States service in the following August. Colonel Rog- ers, who was at the time still a minor by a few months, was commissioned a second lieu- tenant, and soon after the regiment arrived in the national capital he was appointed first lieutenant and battalion adjutant.

The First Michigan Cavalry was assigned to the Army of the Potomac, under General Banks, and lay in camp at Frederick, Mary- land, during a considerable part of the ensuing winter. Its principal operations thereafter during the time Colonel Rogers was with the command were on the upper Potomac, in the Shenandoah valley, and near the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge. The regiment saw par- ticularly active and hazardous service in the summer of 1862, in Beauford's brigade, of Pope's army. Lieutenant Rogers, ever ready to face any peril and fond of excitement, was frequently entrusted with scouting parties, at his own request, and was otherwise in special service, including patrol duty. On more than one occasion he showed an intrepid daring and courage that not only gained him official ad- miration and commendation but that also proved of incalculable value to the cause in

which he was enlisted. He participated with his regiment in all its engagements until he was mustered out of service at Washington, September 11, 1862. Shortly afterward he was tendered the rank of major in both a Michigan and a New York cavalry regiment, but declined the overtures. Colonel Rogers has maintained a deep and lively interest in his old comrades in arms and signifies the same by his membership in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, in which he is a charter member of the Michigan commandery, and in the Grand Army of the Republic. He has served as commander of the Michigan Commandery just mentioned and his title of colonel was gained from staff duty since the war.

After receiving his honorable discharge from the army Colonel Rogers returned to Califor- nia, in fall of 1862, locating in San Francisco, where he followed various avocations until 1865, when he became bookkeeper in the Pa- cific Bank of that city, which was the first in- corporated bank on the coast, with a capital stock of a million dollars. He was soon pro- moted paying teller, and from 1867 to 1872 was cashier of the institution. He then be- came interested in mining and stock brokerage, and at one period he was incumbent of the office of secretary and treasurer of thirty different mining companies. In 1879 he came again to the east, and for about two years he held membership on the American mining board of New York city.

In 1880 Colonel Rogers again took up his residence in Detroit, where he secured control of the Detroit White Lead Works, of which he is now president and general manager and of which a specific mention is made elsewhere in this volume. To his energy and keen busi- ness acumen is due the upbuilding of this great enterprise, one of the largest in the world and one whose plant is unexcelled. It has been consistently said of him that, "He is possessed of great executive force, is shrewd and careful in his business habits, and the evidence of his work is seen in every branch of the business.

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He is of frank, open, generous, social dispo- sition, has a wide circle of friends, and is re- spected and esteemed not only for his business ability but also for those qualities of mind and heart that distinguish a good citizen and a helpful, considerate friend. He is progres- sive and liberal-minded and a sure supporter of every deserving public enterprise."

Colonel Rogers has ever been aligned as a stalwart advocate and supporter of the prin- ciples and policies of which the Republican party stands exponent and he has been an active worker in the cause, though he has never been an aspirant for political office. He is identified with the Old Club on Lake St. Clair, the North Channel Club and other social organizations, and has attained to the thirty-second degree in Scottish Rite Masonry, being also identified with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. The colonel enjoys un- reserved popularity in both business and social circles and is numbered among the representa- tive manufacturers of Detroit.

In 1868 was celebrated the marriage of Colonel Rogers to Miss Eva C. Adams, a daughter of Dr. Samuel Adams, the pioneer druggist of San Francisco, and a niece of Rev. Nehemiah Adams, who was for nearly half a century pastor of the old Essex Street church in the city of Boston. Mrs. Rogers was sum- moned to the life eternal in 1895, and the colonel was united in marriage on May 7, 1895, to Miss Grace J. Haynes, who was born in Patten, Maine, and was lady principal of Olivet College, Michigan. The colonel was elected trustee of Olivet College in the summer of 1907.

HOYT POST.

To have been for more than forty years a representative member of the bar of the state of Michigan and the city of Detroit, in itself bears evidence of unmistakable ability and power of leadership. This is true of Hoyt Post, who has dignified his profession by his character and services and who is now one of the pioneer members of the bar of the Michi-

gan metropolis. He has used his intellect to . the best purpose, has directed his energies along legitimate channels, and his career has been based upon the assumption that nothing save industry, perseverance, sturdy integrity and fidelity to duty will lead to success, which is, indeed, the "prerogative of valiant souls." The profession of law offers no opportunities ex- cept to such determined spirits. It is an arduous, exacting, discouraging vocation to one who is unwilling to subordinate other in- terests to its demands, but to the true and earnest devotee it offers a sphere of action whose attractions are unrivaled and whose re- wards are unstinted. The name of Mr. Post is familiar in the general practice of his pro- fession and especially in the department of cor- poration law; he served six years as reporter of the supreme court of Michigan in the earlier years of his professional endeavor, from 1872 to 1878; and he has been a valuable contributor to the literature of his profession, both stand- ard and periodical. He is not alone a man of profound erudition in his profession, but he has also been for many years prominent in business affairs, as a strong factor in industrial and public-service corporations.

Hoyt Post is a scion of the staunchest of New England stock and is a native of Tin- mouth, Rutland county, Vermont, where he was born on the 8th of April, 1837,-a son of Edmund R. and Almira M. (Collins) Post. The founder of the Post family in America was Stephen Post, and from him the line of direct descent to the subject of this sketch is indicated below by names, with Roman numerals to designate the succeeding gen- erations. (I) Stephen Post was born in England and came with the Higginson fleet to the colony of Massachusetts, in 1630. He located at Newton (now Cam- bridge), that colony, where he was allotted twelve acres of land on the south side of the river. In 1635 he removed to Hartford, Con- necticut, where he remained until 1648, when he took up his abode in historic old Saybrook, that colony, where he passed the residue of his

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life : his death occurred on the 16th of August, 1659. (II) Abraham Post, son of Stephen, was born at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1640, and was there reared and educated, becoming a man of prominence and influence in his sec- tion. In 1680 the general court appointed him a lieutenant of the Saybrook train band, or militia, and in the following year he was chosen to confer with Chief Uncas, of the Mohegan tribe of Indians, regarding boundary disputes. The will of Chief Uncas, chief sachem of the Mohegans, executed in 1683 and recorded at Norwich, Connecticut, bequeaths four thousand acres of land in the present counties of New London and Windham, Con- necticut, to Abraham Post (written Past in the document). This will was drawn by Captain Thomas Stanton, a maternal ancestor of Hon. Thomas W. Palmer, of Detroit. (III) Abra- ham Post, son of Abraham, was born in Say- brook, Connecticut, June 9, 1669, and his death occurred in 1742. He occupied various posi- tions of honor and trust in town and church. (IV) Abraham Post, son of Abraham (III), was born in Saybrook, in 1689. No definite data concerning his career seems available. His son Abraham (V) was appointed ensign in the Second Company of Colonel Heman Swift's battalion, in 1774, and rendered valiant service as a soldier of the Continental line dur- ing the war of the Revolution. His brother Nathan commanded the armed brig "Martial"' and armed sloop "Revenge" in the same great struggle for independence. (VI) Roswell Post, son of Abraham (V), served as lieuten- ant in the French and Indian war, and he also held a similar office in the regiment commanded by Colonel James Mead, engaged in guarding the frontier of Vermont. He settled in Rut- land, Vermont, in 1778, and became influential in both civic and church affairs in that section. (VII) Elias Post, son of Roswell, and grand- father of him whose name initiates this re- view, was a member of Captain Allen's com- pany, in the regiment commanded by Colonel James Mead, in the war of the Revolution. He married Martha Porter, daughter of Judge Thomas Porter, of Rutland. Elias Post was

born at Saybrook, Connecticut, January 27, 1763, and died at Mount Holly, Vermont, Sep- tember 4, 1851. (VIII) Edmund Russell Post, son of Elias, and a representative of the seventh generation in direct descent from Ste- phen Post, the original American progenitor, was born in Tinmouth, Rutland county, Ver- mont, February 3, 1808, and his death oc- curred in Birmingham, Michigan, on the 5th of November, 1891. In June, 1836, he married Mrs. Almira M. (Collins) Chaffee, who was born at Schaghticoke, New York, on the 22d of December, 1805, and who died at Birming- ham, Michigan, on the 20th of October, 1896. Edmund Russell Post had five children, of whom Hoyt was the eldest. Dr. James A. Post, of Detroit, secretary of the Association of Charities, was second, and there are three daughters, Verona L., Julia L., and Xenia, all of whom are living at Birmingham. Verona was for many years a teacher in the Detroit , public schools.

Hoyt Post, to whom this sketch is dedicated, was about four years of age at the time of his parents' removal from Vermont to the state of New York, and in the city of Rochester he gained his earliest educational training. In 1847 the family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and afterwards to Dayton, Ohio, and in the fall of 1849 came to Michigan and located in De- troit, where he continued his studies in the public schools. He finally entered an academy at Birmingham, this state, where he prepared for college. In 1857 he was matriculated in the literary department of the University of Michigan, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1861, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the autumn of the same year he entered the law department of the university and was graduated in 1863 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws : his disploma also entitled him to admission to the bar of Michigan. Shortly after his graduation in the law school Mr. Post became a clerk in the offices of Maynard & Meddaugh, one of the leading law firms of Detroit at that time. He remained with this firm until 1865, when he formed a professional partnership with John

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H. Redmond, but on January I, 1867, he be- came associated in practice with Albert H. Wilkinson, under the title of Wilkinson & Post. This alliance has virtually continued through all the intervening years, though others have been members of the firm at inter- vals. In 1872 Mr. Post was appointed reporter of the decisions of the supreme court of the state, and in the following year Mr. Wilkinson assumed the office of judge of the probate court of Wayne county. In 1875 the official duties of Messrs. Wilkinson and Post became such that they found it expedient to dissolve their partnership for the time being, but in May. 1877, they again became associated in practice, in connection with Mr. Wilkinson's brother, Charles M., under the firm name of Wilkinson, Post & Wilkinson, which was retained until 1884, when the original title of Wilkinson & Post was resumed. In 1898 James V. Oxtoby was admitted to partnership, and since that year the present title of Wilkinson, Post & Oxtoby has been the designation of this repre- sentative law firm of the Michigan metropolis.

While incumbent of the office of reporter of the supreme court (1872-8) Mr. Post arranged the compilation of volumes 23 to 36, inclusive, of the Michigan supreme court reports, and the same bear his name as reporter. He also acted as court reporter of the Detroit Free Press for several years and was editor of "The Lawyer" during his earlier years of practice: the latter periodical was published by the well known firm of Richmond & Backus, of Detroit. Mr. Post has gained distinctive recognition and a high reputation by reason of his broad and exact knowledge of the science of jurispru- dence and his ability in applying this informa- tion effectively both as a trial lawyer and as a counselor. His firm has had to do with large interests and with important litigations in the state and federal courts, and personally he has represented his firm largely in the corporation branch of its business. He has thus acted for a number of years as attorney for the Michi- gan Savings Bank, and he was attorney for the Detroit & Northwestern Railway Company from the time of its incorporation until its

property was sold to the Detroit United Rail- way, in 1902 : in the meanwhile he also served as treasurer of the company, of whose organi- zation he was one of the promoters.

Mr. Post is president of the Peninsular Elec- tric Light Company, of Detroit; and also of the East Side Electric Company, of this city; the St. Clair Edison Company, of Mount Clemens; and the Grosse Pointe Water Works. He is vice-president of the Detroit Steel Coop- erage Company and of the Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Company, and is a member of the directorate of each of the following named corporations : The Michigan Savings Bank, of Detroit; the Plymouth United Savings Bank, of Plymouth, Michigan; the Standard Tie Company, the Detroit Graphite Company, the Telfer Coffee Company, the Edison Illumi- nating Company and the Huetteman & Cramer Company, of this city, and the Washtenaw Light & Power Company, of Geddes Michigan. He is a stockholder in the Brown & Brown Coal Company, the United States Heater Company, the Detroit Iron & Steel Company, and the Detroit Creamery Company, all Detroit cor- porations. He is a director of the Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Company, of which he has also been second vice-president since 1895, and is also a director and member of the execu- tive committee of the Michigan Fire & Marine Insurance Company. He has been attorney for the Edison Illuminating Company, of Detroit, from the time of its incorporation and is a member of its board of directors. He served several years as a director of the Edison Light Company, of Grand Rapids, and also of the Ideal Manufacturing Company, of this city, and was president of the Detroit Sulphite Fiber Company. His capitalistic investments, as may be inferred from the above representations, are of large and important order and place demands upon a considerable portion of his time, but he never wavers in his devotion to the profession in which he has attained to so much success and prestige. He served several terms as president of the Detroit Bar Library Association, of which he was one of the most

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valued members, and he is also identified with the Detroit Bar Association, the Michigan State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He was a member of the Michi- gan Fish Commission from January 1, 1889, to January 1, 1895. Mr. Post holds member- ship in the Board of Commerce, the Old Club, the University Club, the Bankers' Club, Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, the University of Michi- gan Association, the New England Society, and the Prismatic, Acanthus and Wayne Clubs, and is a member of the Michigan Bankers' As- sociation. As an appreciative adherent of the Detroit Board of Commerce, he is chairman of its committee on laws and ordinances. In politics Mr. Post has ever given an unequivocal allegiance to the Republican party, and he has given of his time and influence in furthering its cause. He was a prominent figure in the old Michigan Club, which strong Republican organization has recently been revived. He has a secure place in the esteem of the people of Detroit, where he has so long maintained his home and where his professional, business and social relations have ever been of repre- sentative character.

On the 7th of February, 1867, Mr. Post was united in marriage to Miss Helen D. Hudson, daughter of George W. Hudson, of Detroit, and they have four children, namely: Fanny H., who is the wife of John P. Robison, of Detroit; Myra M., who is the wife of William B. Cady, a successful attorney of this city; Helen, who is the wife of Walter D. Steele, of Chicago; and Hoyt, Jr., who is a member of the class of 1909 in the engineering department of the University of Michigan. They have lost two children : Sarah M., who was the wife of John Collins, and was born January 25, 1870, and died July 27, 1896; Elon, born Sep- tember 29, 1875, died September 17, 1898.

HENRY B. LEWIS.

In the matter of definite accomplishment and high personal integrity Detroit has ever rea- son to be proud of her native sons who are lending their aid and co-operation in forward-

ing her industrial, commercial and civic ad- vancement. As a member of one of the old and distinguished families of the Michigan metropolis and as one of the representative business men of the younger generation in his native city, Henry B. Lewis is specially eligible for consideration in a publication of the prov- ince assigned to the one at hand. He is a son of the late and honored Alexander Lewis, to whom is dedicated a memorial tribute on other pages of this volume, so that further resumé of the family history is not demanded in the present connection. Mr. Lewis is the pro- prietor of the structural-iron works which bear his name and is known as one of the most progressive of the younger manufacturers in Detroit.

Henry Bridge Lewis was born in the fine old family homestead on Jefferson avenue, Detroit, on the 18th of November, 1865, and is the sec- ond son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Inger- soll) Lewis. The public schools of Detroit afforded him his early educational discipline, and at the age of sixteen years he entered Trin- ity College School, at Port Hope, Ontario. In this institution he continued his studies for a period of four years, at the expiration of which he was matriculated in Trinity College, in the city of Toronto, Canada, where he remained a student for three years, pursuing the classical course. After leaving college Mr. Lewis re- turned to his home, in Detroit, where, in 1885, he entered the employ of the wholesale hard- ware firm of Ducharme, Fletcher & Company. He remained with this concern until 1887, when he removed to Seattle, Washington, where he engaged in the manufacturing of lumber, in which connection he owned and op- erated a sash, door and blind factory. He built up a large and profitable business and be- came one of the well known and popular citi- zens of Seattle. In 1893 Mr. Lewis disposed of his interests on the Pacific coast and re- turned to Detroit, where shortly afterward he formed a partnership with James T. White- head, under the firm name of Whitehead & Lewis, and engaged in the manufacturing of structural iron. The enterprise was pushed

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Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan, Part 66

Author: Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932 Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago H. Taylor & Co. Number of Pages: 858

Author: Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago H. Taylor & Co.
Number of Pages: 858