USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 69
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In 1867 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Bishop to Miss Jennie Gray, daughter of Rich- ard Gray, of Redwood, New York. She was summoned to the life eternal in 1873, being survived by one daughter, Maud, who is now the wife of William J. Burns, of Wyandotte, secretary of the J. H. Bishop Company. In 1876 Mr. Bishop contracted a second marriage, being then united to Miss Ella M. Clark, daughter of Isaac Clark, who was one of the first settlers in Wyandotte and one of the most influential citizens of this section of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop have four children,- Jerome H., Jr., Della, Mabel, and Wallace Clark.
Jerome H. Bishop, Jr., who is vice-presi- dent of the J. H. Bishop Company, was grad- uated in the Detroit School for Boys, as a member of the class of 1896, and in 1896-8 he was a student in the Sheffield scientific school of Yale University. In 1900 he was united in marriage to Miss Helen Chapin, daughter of Charles A. Chapin, who was at one time a resident of Niles, Michigan, and who now maintains his home in the city of Chicago. The children of this marriage are: Helen, Evelyn and Jerome H. (3d).
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BRADFORD SMITH.
There is no need for conjecture or uncer- tainty in determining as to the value and suc- cess of the life of the late Bradford Smith, who was one of Detroit's foremost educators and philanthropists and who realized in the most significant sense that the true success is not that gained through commercial pre-emi- nence or personal aggrandizement, but rather that which lies in the eterenal verities of human sympathy and helpfulness. His was not a worldly success, in the accepted applica- tion of the term, but he left the greater heri- tage of noble thoughts and noble deeds. He was a man of broad intellectuality and viewed life and its responsibilities in their right pro- portions. He was not given to half-views and rash inferences. The leap from the particular to the general is ever tempting to the thought- less, but not to this man of strength and judg- ment and lofty motives. It is well that in a publication of this nature be incorporated a tribute to his memory and to his services as humanity's friend. He died at his home, 100 Maybury Grand avenue, Detroit, on the 8th of September, 1906, one of the honored and ven- erated- pioneers of the Michigan metropolis.
Few men have left such an impress upon public men and institutions in Detroit as had Mr. Smith. Scores of prominent men and women received their early education under his guidance, while in the matter of looking after wayward boys he originated methods thirty years ago that are followed by the juvenile courts to-day. In all the relations of life his devotion to principle and to duty was abso- lutely inviolable, and his was a deep and abid- ing human sympathy and tolerance.
Bradford Smith was born at Moira, Frank- lin county, New York, in 1820, and his earlier educational training was secured in the schools of his native village, after which he continued his studies in Potsdam Academy. Through his own efforts he was enabled to continue his educational work in the higher branches, and in due course of time he was graduated in Oberlin College, at Oberlin, Ohio, from which institution he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts and later that of Master of Arts. He
had been a successful teacher before entering college, and through his pedagogic labors mainly did he secure the funds which enabled him to prosecute his studies at Oberlin.
In 1851 Mr. Smith came to Detroit, and here he was offered the position of principal of the old Eighth ward school, now known as the Houghton school. There he remained for eight years, giving an administration along lines never before introduced in Detroit. In this school he was "guide, counselor and friend" to many who have since become promi- nent in the public, civic and business affairs of the state and nation. He originated the graded system of schools in Detroit, and the Brad- ford Smith school, at the corner of Hunt and Ellery streets, was named in his honor.
Mr. Smith was even better known for his work among street waifs and newsboys of De- troit than for any other feature of his philan- thropic work. His labor among young people led him to advocate a systematic supervision of street boys. The late Hon. John J. Bagley, former governor of the state, became inter- ested in his ideas and in 1875 appointed him commissioner of charities for Wayne county, -an office of which he remained incumbent for several years. Mr. Smith obtained an ordi- nance licensing newsboys and bootblacks and placing them under the supervision of the mayor. He then succeeded in having police officers detailed, in citizens' clothes, to look after the street boys, thus forming the nucleus of the present truant squad. He secured the establishment of the ungraded or truant school and out of his own income provided needy boys with clothes. For many years he spent more in this noble charity than he did for the maintenance of his own family, devoting the greater portion of his time to the work. He was numbered among the early members of the Fort Street Presbyterian church, and for years was a member of its board of deacons. Later he transferred his membership to Calvary church, in the vicinity of his home, and for more than thirty years he was an elder in the same, besides serving for many years as super- intendent of its Sunday school. His principal vocation after laying aside school work was the
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real-estate business, in which he platted many pieces of property which are now thickly pop- ulated. At the outbreak of the civil war he organized a company and started for the front, but received a serious injury to his knee and was incapacitated for active service. He re- turned home but maintained a substitute during the war.
In 1851 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Smith to Miss Lucia Weston, of New York city, and her death occurred about 1865. In 1869 he married Miss Julia Spencer, and her death occurred in 1889. Surviving the honored subject of this memoir are four sons and one daughter, of whom three are children of the first marriage. Frederick B. (individually men- tioned on other pages of this work), Joseph W. and Lucia Weed Smith still reside in Detroit; A. Weston Smith is a resident of New York city, and Henry S. Smith of Chicago.
In several lines the ancestry of Mr. Smith can be traced to Pilgrims, Puritans, Huguenots and other early settlers of the New England colonies. His great-grandfather, Eleazer Smith, was a valiant soldier in the Continental line in the war of the Revolution and was wounded in the battle of Bunker Hill. His father, Captain Bradford Smith, was an officer in the war of 1812, though only a boy at that time. In a more remote way the lineage is traced to Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, and Henry de Bohun, the last named having been one of the feudal barons who secured the passage of the Magna Charta of England. A line of descent from Edward I of England has been published, and is based upon manuscripts in the British Mu- seum.
In conclusion are offered extracts from an editorial which appeared in the Detroit Free Press of September 10, 1906: "Bradford Smith was one of Detroit's foremost educators and philanthropists. It is more often that we have citizens to honor who have achieved commer- cial success. Here was a man who gave to the city more than he received. He cut off from himself all hopes of worldly advancement. He demonstrated how a citizen may be a philan- thropist without having wealth. The methods
which he initiated years ago in the treatment of wayward boys and neglected waifs outlined the policies of the juvenile courts of to-day. There was something of the Froebel about him. Long before modern teaching methods had been fixed or even recognized, he put them to use. Our schools were first graded by him. His pupils at the old Houghton school give ample testimony in their frequent remembrances of his lovable character. It is much to have lived this life of pre-eminent usefulness in the com- munity and to have died greatly respected at the ripe age of eighty-six years. The eighty- six years of Bradford Smith's strong, courag- eous, cheerful life attest that the return in pleasure has been greater than the decimal sys- tem can account."
At the time of the death of Mr. Smith for- mer mayor William C. Maybury, who had been his pupil in the old Houghton school, spoke of him in the following words of appreciation : "Our old master is gone, but there is great comfort in the fact that he lived so long, was so much loved and will be so long remem- bered."
GEORGE BECK.
The subject of this memoir was recognized as one of the leading representatives of the live-stock and wholesale meat interests of De- troit, and at the time of his death, on the 12th of March, 1908, was the only person conduct- ing individual operations in his particular line of industry in the city, where his business was one of high relative importance and scope. He had been a factor in political affairs in the city and as a member of the common council he made a record redounding in credit to himself as a loyal and progressive citizen and to the welfare of the city itself and its people. He was well and favorably known in Detroit, with whose business interests he first identified him- self more than half a century ago, so that he was entitled to classification with our pioneer business men.
Mr. Beck claimed as the place of his nativity the "right little, tight little isle" of England, having been born at Tiverton, Devonshire, on
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the 27th of August, 1843, and having been a son of William B. and Anna (Lee) Beck, both representative of staunch old English families. In 1850, when the subject of this sketch was a lad of seven years, the family immigrated to America, first settling in Memphis, Tennessee, whence shortly afterward they removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where they remained until 1852, when they took up their residence in De- troit, where the parents passed the remainder of their lives, the father having followed as his principal vocation, the trade of stone mason. Mr. Beck's early educational advantages were limited, but he fully availed himself of such privileges as were accorded, having secured his rudimentary training in his native land and supplemented this by attending the common schools in America when opportunity offered. As a boy he secured employment in the meat market of Smith & Coles, of Detroit, with which firm he remained four years, gaining practical knowledge of the business in which he later was destined to attain so marked individ- ual success. In 1857 Mr. Beck entered the em- ploy of William Wreford, who at that time conducted a retail meat market in the old Cen- tral market building, on the present Cadillac Square, and who was practically the first to en- gage in the wholesale meat business in Detroit. In 1862 Mr. Beck began buying cattle in the Chicago stock-yards, for Detroit, Buffalo and Albany delivery, still remaining in the employ of Mr. Wreford, who entrusted him with most responsible duties aud reposed in him implicit confidence. Mr. Beck later covered the St. Louis market also, and in the meanwhile he maintained his home for the major portion of the time in Detroit.
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In 1890 Mr. Beck, who had in the mean- while become a well known factor in the live- stock trade, effected the organization of the Michigan Beef & Provision Company, in which he became the heaviest stockholder, holding the offices of president, treasurer and general man- ager of the company. The business showed a steady and substantial expansion under his direction and in 1905 he purchased the inter- ests of all other stockholders and assumed full
control of the enterprise, of which he contin- ued the owner, until his death, the business having been conducted under his name after the change noted. The annual transactions of the concern now represent an average aggre- gate of fully one million dollars, and the well equipped abattoirs, modern in all accessories and sanitary arrangements, are eligibly located at the juncture of Dix and Waterman avenues, convenient to the stock-yards. Mr. Beck gave employment to a force of about sixty men and paid out annually in wages more than fifty thousand dollars, so that his business has had a direct as well as reflex value in connection with the industrial activities of the city and state. The original plant was erected in 1886, but has since been remodeled, and enlarged and equipped with the most approved machinery and facilities. An average of two hundred and fifty cattle, five hundred sheep and one hundred and fifty calves are handled in the abattoirs and packing house each week. Mr. Beck was a member of the National Butchers' Association for many years, and had the distinction of be- ing elected treasurer of the organization the night after he identified himself therewith, in 1888. In the following year he was chosen as his own successor in this office, and he long continued active in the affairs of the associa- tion.
For many years Mr. Beck was a zealous worker in the cause of the Republican party, of whose principles and policies he was a stal- wart advocate. He was one of the staunch friends and supporters of the late Governor Hazen S. Pingree, whom he aided materially in his work both as governor of Michigan and as mayor of Detroit. In 1892 Mr. Beck was elected a member of the common council, and he was re-elected to the body in 1894 and 1896, thus serving three consecutive terms. He was independent and loyal in his labors as a mem- ber of the municipal body and made his influ- ence felt in no uncertain way,-always for the benefit of the city and its people. The esteem in which he was held in the council was shown in his election to the presidency of the same in 1894 and again in 1897, on which latter occasion
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balloting was repeated ninety-seven times be- fore a decisive choice was made. Mr. Beck was the first Republican alderman elected from the eighth ward of the city, and in this office he rendered efficient and timely service. As pre- siding officer in the council he won distinctive commendation for his ability and his impreg- nable honesty of purpose, being firm in his be- liefs and working earnestly to conserve the welfare of the city, while he was a strong advo- cate of the somewhat unique policies introduced by Mr. Pingree when mayor,-policies which in the end justified themselves most fully in the popular mind. Mr. Beck was a delegate to the Republican state conventions of Michigan in 1892, 1894 and 1896. He attained to distin- guished advancement in the time-honored Ma- sonic fraternity, having been affiliated with Union Lodge, No. 3, Free & Accepted Masons; Monroe Chapter, No. I, Royal Arch Masons; Damascus Commandery, No. 42, Knights Templars; and Michigan Sovereign Consist- ory of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Ma- sonry, in which he attained to the thirty-second degree; he also held membership in Moslem Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He was a life member of the Detroit Yacht Club, and a director of the German Salesmen's Society and the Detroit Bowling Club. He gave freely to churches, and to charitable objects.
The marriage of Mr. Beck was solemnized on the 5th of November, 1863, when he was united to Miss Minna A. Miller, daughter of David Miller, who was a well known farmer of Wayne county, Michigan. Mrs. Beck was summoned to the life eternal on the 3rd of December, 1893, and she is survived by two daughters -- Minna E., who is the wife of Hal B. West, a cigar manufacturer in Detroit; and Maude E., who is the wife of Raymond D. Aldrich, and who resides in Detroit.
CLAUDIUS H. CANDLER.
Forty years of continuous business stands to the credit of that important Detroit institu- tion conducted under the name of the Calvert Lithographing Company. It is known as one
of the largest concerns of the sort in the west and is one whose reputation extends through- out the entire Union. On other pages of this work appears a specific history of the com- pany, and thus it is not necessary to enter into further resume in the present sketch, which has to do with the life record of the able president of this corporation, which has done much to extend the fame of Detroit in a com- mercial way.
Mr. Candler is a native of the city of Lon- don, England, where he was born on the 10th of March, 1845, being a son of William and Letitia (Thomas) Candler, both of whom were born and reared in England, where the father died. In 1853, the mother, accom- panied by her two youngest sons and one daughter-four elder sons having already made their home here-came to America, lo- cating in Detroit, where she passed the residue of her life, being summoned into eternal rest in 1871. The subject of this sketch was about eight years of age at the time when the fam- ily home was established in Detroit, and here he was afforded the advantages of the public schools, including the high school. His entire business career has been one of consecutive identification with the line of enterprise with which he is now so prominently connected.
In 1863 Mr. Candler entered upon an ap- prenticeship to the trade of lithographic en- graving, under the direction of John Gibson, a lithographer of distinctive talent in this line. Mr. Candler has been with what is now the Calvert Lithographing Company during the entire period of its existence. On the 16th of March, 1867, when the Calvert Lithograph- ing & Engraving Company was incorporated, he was chosen vice-president and secretary of the same, remaining incumbent of this po- sition during thirty years of its corporate life. Upon the death of Thomas Calvert, the hon- ored founder of the business, in 1900, Mr. Candler succeeded him in the presidency, and he has since remained the executive head of the great corporation in whose upbuilding he has been one of the most important factors.
Mr. Candler has long been recognized as
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one of the representative business men and progressive citizens of the Michigan metropo- lis, where he has varied capitalistic interests aside from those in the Calvert Lithographing Company. He is president of the Detroit Casket Company, vice-president of the Roe- Stevens Manufacturing Company, and a mem- ber of the directorate of the Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Company. He is president of the National Association of Employing Lith- ographers and is a valued member of the De- troit Board of Commerce. In politics he has ever accorded allegiance to the Republican party, and while he has never sought official preferment he has ever shown a deep interest in the conserving of effective municipal gov- ernment in his home city. He is affiliated with the time-honored Masonic fraternity and is past commander of Detroit Commandery of Knights Templars. He and his wife are com- municants of the Protestant Episcopal church, holding membership in the parish of Grace church, of whose vestry he is senior warden.
In 1871 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Candler to Miss Mary V. Kaple, daughter of the late Hon. John H. Kaple, of Detroit, and they have one child, Gertrude M., who is now the wife of Alexander K. Gage, of this city.
JAMES McGREGOR.
The honored president of the Home Savings Bank is, as the name implies, of sturdy Scotch ancestry, the lineage being traced in all of au- thenticity to the historic clan McGregor, whose name has been one distinguished in song and story in the land of heath and heather. Mr. McGregor himself has the distinction of being a native Scotsman, having been born in Kincardineshire, Scotland, on the 10th of March, 1830, and being a son of James Mc- Gregor. His mother, whose maiden name was Burnet, died when the subject of this review was a child. The father came to America in 1857 and located at Hamilton, province of Ontario, Canada, where he gave his attention to agricultural pursuits, in connection with general contracting and building. He was also
a millwright and did no little contract work in connection with this trade. He continued a resident of Ontario until his death, which oc- curred in 1876, his home having been on a farm in the vicinity of Hamilton.
James McGregor, the subject of this sketch, was reared to maturity in his native county of Kincardine, where he was afforded the ad- vantages of the well conducted school of his own parish, laying a solid foundation for the successful career which was to be his in con- nection with the practical affairs of life. Under the direction of his father he served a thorough apprenticeship at the trades of millwright and joiner, and after perfecting himself in the same he worked as a journeyman in different places in Scotland and England, being thus engaged until 1855, when he came to America and took up his residence at Hamilton, Ontario, to which place his honored father came two years later. In Hamilton he secured employment as a me- chanic in the car department of the Great Western Railroad, now known as the Grand Trunk, and there remained four years, at the expiration of which he was sent by the same company to Sarnia, Ontario, to assume charge of the car department at that point, where he continued to reside until March, 1860, when he came to Detroit, which city has since repre- sented his home and been the scene of his suc- cessful endeavors as a business man.
Soon after locating in Detroit, nearly half a century ago, Mr. McGregor assumed the dis- charge of his duties as superintendent of the car department of the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railroad. He proved a most val- uable executive and was retained in service as superintendent of the car department until March, 1869, when he became superintendent of the Michigan Car Works, which position he held until 1892, when, upon the reorganization of the company, of which he had become a stockholder, he was continued in the office of general superintendent, of which he remained incumbent until 1897, when he retired, having so directed his course as to gain for himself a competency in the intervening years and hav- ing at all times commanded the implicit con- fidence and esteem of those with whom he was
Hammer the Gregus
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associated in a business or social way. His administrative ability in the offices which he thus held was on a parity with his mechanical skill and thus made him a particularly valuable factor in connection with the great industrial concern with which he was so long and inti- mately identified. He has made judicious in- vestments in real estate, including a valuable farm on the St. Clair river, near the city of the same name, and he is financially interested in important business enterprises in Detroit. He has been president of the Home Savings Bank since 1899, is a director of the Detroit Trust Company, and vice-president of the Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation Company. His various capitalistic interests demand the major portion of his time and attention and his marked physical and mental vigor belie the years which have passed over his head. He has achieved success through personal effort and by worthy means, exemplifying that thrift and energy so characteristic of the race from which he sprung. He has been the artificer of his own fortune and realizes to the fullest ex- tent the method by which temporal success is to be gained. Now and then, to be sure, we hear of chance effects and happy accidents, but they are the exception rather than the rule. The "royal road" to success is the lazy man's dream, the easy explanation of the envious.
In politics, as a loyal and public-spirited citi- zen, Mr. McGregor takes a deep interest in the generic sense, and he exercises his fran- chise in support of the principles for which the Republican party stands sponsor. He and his wife have been for many years zealous mem- bers of the Central Presbyterian church, and for twelve years he served as a member of its board of trustees. He is identified with the St. Clair Hunting and Fishing Club, the St. Andrew's Society and other social organiza- tions.
In the year 1851, in Scotland, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. McGregor to Miss Susan Christie, who was born and reared in Kincardineshire, that country, and of their seven children six are living,-two sons and four daughters.
EDWARD H. DOYLE.
If success be predicated from the mark of definite accomplishment in the utilization of one's individual powers and ability, then Ed- ward H. Doyle, certainly has achieved suc- cess. Looking into the clear perspective of his career there may be seen the strong line of courage, persistence, determination and self- confidence which alone work to the point of sovereign power. Detroit has reason to take pride in claiming him as a citizen, even if consideration is taken of nothing further than his great work in connection with the Majestic, building, the first, greatest and most imposing of all the distinctively modern business and office buildings in the city. Mr. Doyle's thor- ough confidence in the ultimate demands for such a building was the one force that made possible its completion in its present form, and it will ever stand as a monument and memorial to his name. He is owner of one-half interest in this fine structure and has other capitalistic interests in the city to whose material and civic progress he has contributed in so splendid a way. It is certainly consonant that at least a brief review of his life history be entered in this compilation, whose province is to afford due consideration of those who have been founders and builders of the "Greater Detroit,"-a title whose justification is assured.
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