USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 75
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has been practically alone in maintaining it for the last few years. Any poor working girl who came to the city could find a home there. If she was able to pay board she was charged a small amount, but if she was not she paid nothing until she found a location. Then for the cash boys and girls in his store he started a school, furnished the books, a piano, and paid the teachers. In addition to this school Mr. Peck rented a cottage in Fairmount park, where each employe was given a week's out- ing every summer without cost. Many a poor boy and girl were helped by Mr. Peck's chari- ties. Besides all this, he contributed liberally to every established charity of the city. In later years he employed a house physician, whose services were given without charge to the employes of his store. The sufferings of men, women and children appealed to him strongly, and it was his delight to relieve those in distress. His was a fine example of wise benevolence in an age when there is a strong tendency to what may be called impersonal philanthropy,-the endowment of libraries, col- leges and churches.
"Mr. Peck went to the root of things and showed such real goodness and sympathy as to inspire gratitude and affection. Such men do not aim at self-glorification and will not be re- membered by statues of bronze or stone, and yet they shall live in the hearts of the people who have been helped and saved by them."
Of Mr. Peck it may well be said that his was the faith that makes faithful, and he exercised a power for good in every relation of life. Purity of thought and purpose, a desire to be of help to his fellow men, and integrity of the most inflexible order,-these indicated the man and made his life stewardship prolific in good. Overtaxing his physical powers, he finally en- dured an attack of nervous prostration, and the sequel was his death in the very prime of his noble and useful manhood. His memory must ever rest as a benediction upon those who came within the sphere of his personal influence and who have realization that in his comparatively brief life he accomplished more good than is
usually recorded to the credit of those who reach advanced age.
On the 17th of April, 1895, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Peck to Miss Eda M. Bachman, of Kansas City, who survives him, as does also their only child, Eda Marie, who was born in 1904. His venerable father and his two sisters and one brother reside in Detroit.
ELISHA TAYLOR.
In the year following the admission of Michigan to the Union there came to Detroit from the state of New York an ambitious and talented young lawyer, who had just at- tained to his legal majority, and it was his to become one of the pioneers of the little city and one of the distinguished members of its bar. Here he remained until his death, in the fullness of years and honors, and here he made an indelible impress upon the profes- sional, civic and business life of the city and the state. This young man was Elisha Taylor, the subject of this brief memoir and one whose name is deeply graven on the roll of the ster- ling pioneers and public-spirited citizens of Michigan's metropolis.
Mr. Taylor was born at Charlton, Sara- toga county, New York, on the 14th of May, 1817, and he died at his home in Detroit, Au- gust 16, 1906, having thus been nearly ninety years of age and having retained to the last wonderful control of his mental and physical faculties. He was strong, true and noble, and it is veritably true that his strength was "as the number of his days." In the agnatic line the genealogy of the family is authentically traced back to one of the valorous Normans, Baron Taillefer, who accompanied William the Conqueror into England, and this sturdy ancestor met his death in the battle of Hast- ings, on the 14th of October, 1066. His fam- ily was afterward awarded large landed es- tates in county Kent, England, where the baronial. rank and appurtenances were long maintained inviolate.
Edward Taylor, of the ninth generation in direct descent from Baron Taillefer, was the
Elisha Vanglor
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founder of the family in America, to which country he immigrated in 1692, settling at Middletown, Monmouth county, New Jersey, where he became siezed of a large landed es- tate. His great-grandson, John Taylor, re- moved from New Jersey to Charlton, Sara- toga county, New York, in 1774, becoming one of the pioneers of that section of the Empire state and one of the most influential and honored citizens of the community. He was judge of the county court from 1808 to 1818, and he passed the closing days of his life in the home of his son, John W. Taylor, who represented Saratoga county in congress from 1813 to 1833, and who was twice speaker of the national house of representatives. Judge Taylor's death occurred in 1829.
Elisha Taylor, subject of this memorial tribute, was a son of William and Lucy (Har- ger) Taylor and a grandson of Judge John Taylor, just mentioned. His father was a sub- stantial farmer in Saratoga county and Elisha passed his boyhood and youth amidst the scenes of pastoral and agricultural life, receiv- ing his rudimentary education in a district school, which he attended until he had at- tained to the age of twelve years, when he entered an academy at Cherry Valley, New York, and there continued his studies for some time. His collegiate preparatory course was taken in an academy at Hamilton, New York, and in 1833 he was matriculated in Union College, at Schenectady, that state. The presi- dent of this institution at the time was Dr. Eliphalet Nott, who was one of the most dis- tinguished educators of his day. Mr. Tay- lor's health became so impaired in 1836 that he was compelled to withdraw from college, and he passed some time in the south, recup- erating his energies. Upon his return he re- sumed his studies in Union College, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1837, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa fra- ternity in his alma mater. During his collegi- ate life Mr. Taylor also prosecuted the study of law under effective preceptorship, and after leaving college his first employment was as
teacher of a select school at Athens, Greene county, New York.
In 1838, shortly after reaching his legal majority, Mr. Taylor came to Detroit in com- pany with his cousin, a young man of about his own age. His father, a substantial citizen and wealthy farmer of Saratoga county, had previously visited Michigan and had purchased a tract of four hundred acres of land at Grand Blanc, Genesee county, this state. The father died in 1836, at his home in Charlton, New York, and the subject of this sketch came to Michigan primarily to investigate the holdings of the estate here. He arrived in Detroit with a capital of five hundred dollars, and his cousin also was equally well fortified in a financial way. They each purchased an In- dian pony, and then set out for a journey of investigation through the new state, which was still considered on the frontier of civili- zation, though Detroit was then, in a relative way, an old town. They visited the tract of land at Grand Blanc and also passed through Jackson, Monroe, Tecumseh, Adrian, Mount Clemens, Black River (now Port Huron) and other settlements in the eastern part of the state. The cousin finally left for Chicago and young Taylor returned to Detroit, where he determined to take up his permanent abode.
In coming from the east Mr. Taylor had been provided with numerous letters of intro- duction and recommendation, but of these he presented only one. which was addressed to Peter Morey, who was then attorney general of the state. Mr. Morey gave him a cordial welcome and the young easterner became a student in the office of this representative member of the bar of Michigan. Shortly aft- erward C. C. Jackson introduced Mr. Taylor to Governor Stevens T. Mason, who, after some conversation, inquired, "Do you want an office?" Young Taylor answered promptly in the affirmative, and the reply of the boy governor was: "Very well, I'll make you a notary public." In the years far later Mr. Taylor often reverted to this incident with humorous appreciation and he remained a warm admirer of the first governor of the commonwealth.
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In 1839 Mr. Taylor was examined for ad- in New York the sum of eight thousand dol- mission to the bar, by Henry N. Walker, act- lars. This was subsequently repaid, with four per cent interest. ing for the court. He acquitted himself cred- itably and was duly admitted to practice. He then entered into a professional partnership with his former preceptor, Mr. Morey, and under such favorable auspices he soon ac- quired a fairly lucrative law practice. Every year he would lay aside his law work for a time and go to the farm at Grand Blanc, where he applied himself to strenuous manual labor, through which he waxed strong, being able to return invigorated to his office, the while having made progress in the develop- ment of the land. The farm was owned jointly by himself and his nine brothers and sisters, but as he earned money he purchased from time to time the interests of the other heirs and finally became the sole owner of the property, which was gradually appreciating in value and which eventually yielded him large financial returns.
Mr. Taylor resided for many years in the old third ward of Detroit, and, as a Democrat, was active in ward and city politics. He be- came well known as a lawyer and as a man of worth and ability, so that it was but natural that he should be called to positions of public trust. He served as master in chancery from 1842 to 1846, was city attorney in 1843, mem- ber of the board of education in 1843-4, cir- cuit court commissioner from 1846 to 1850; clerk of the supreme court in 1848-9 (when Detroit was still capital of the state), regis- trar of the United States land office from 1853 to 1857, and United States pension agent from 1854 to 1870. At the time of the inception of the civil war Mr. Taylor still remained an ardent Democrat, but he eventually felt that the principles of the Republican party more nearly represented his ideas of public polity at the time, and he identified himself with the latter, showing in this instance, as in all other relations and exigencies of life, the courage of his convictions, in which he was ever well fortified. When the govern- ment announced that it needed money to pros- ecute the war Mr. Taylor voluntarily sent as his contribution to the United States treasury
In his religious affiliation Mr. Taylor was originally a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church, but his wife was a Presby- terian and after his marriage he identified himself with that denomination. In 1854, with forty-three other members, he assisted in organizing the Jefferson Avenue Presby- terian church. In 1856 he was elected an elder in the same, and he continuously held this office until his death, a full half century later. He also served as commissioner to the general assembly of the Presbyterian church at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1868; at Sar- atoga Springs, New York, in 1884; and at Detroit in 1891. He was president of the Detroit city mission board in 1879, this hav- ing been a charitable society with extended aims and functions, and in 1866 he was presi- dent of the Presbyterian alliance of Detroit. He was a most zealous and devoted worker in the cause of the Divine Master and ever exemplified in his daily life the "faith that makes faithful."
Mr. Taylor was a man of fine appearance and of distinctive personal graciousness, em- phasized by his culture and great intellectual powers. He was five feet ten inches in height and weighed about one hundred and seventy- five pounds; he was well proportioned, with bluish-gray eyes and medium complexion. His hair, originally brown, turned snowy white, and with his long beard, which he wore during the last fifty years of his life, his appearance became in time truly patriarchal. It has been noted that, perhaps, in recent years he was the only gentleman of the old school who wore upon the streets of Detroit a dress coat.
He possessed a goodly share of material wealth, owning real estate and other interests in Detroit and elsewhere in the state. All through his long and signally useful life he enjoyed a reputation for strict integrity, hon- orable dealing and generous and discriminat- ing kindliness. Further than this, the reputa- tion fully denoted the intrinsic character of the man.
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In the year 1844 Mr. Taylor returned to New York and at Schoharie, that state, was married to Miss Aurelia H. Penfield, the love of his boyhood and youth. She was a daughter of Thomas Penfield, a successful manufac- turer and prominent citizen of Schoharie. He brought his bride to Detroit and here they lived in mutual love and sympathy until her death, which occurred on the 22d of Novem- ber, 1888. Mr. Taylor passed the declining years of his life in the home of their only surviving child, DeWitt H. Taylor, who is now one of the representative members of the Detroit bar and of whom individual mention is made in this volume.
H. BYRON SCOTT.
Among those who have been concerned in the upbuilding of the great retail dry-goods house of Newcomb, Endicott & Company, of Detroit, is Mr. Scott, who is second vice-presi- dent of the corporation and who is known as a reliable, enterprising and substantial business man, and as one who stands essentially repre- sentative in his chosen sphere of effort. Else- where in this volume appear reviews of the careers of the founders of this leading mercan- tile house, Messrs. Cyrenius A. Newcomb and the late Charles Endicott, and in the sketches thus presented is incorporated the record of the development of the business, so that the articles in question should be noted as comple- mentary to the one at hand, and should be read in the same connection.
H. Byron Scott was born at Colborne, province of Ontario, Canada, on the 27th of February, 1848, and is one of the many valued citizens whom that dominion has contributed to Detroit. To the public schools of his na- tive province the subject of this review is in- debted for his early educational discipline, which was effectively supplemented by a course of study in Clark College, at Aurora, Illinois. In 1869 he left school and initiated his busi- ness career, having been twenty-one years of age at the time. He entered the employ of the firm of Barnes & Bancroft, retail dry-goods
dealers, in the city of Buffalo, New York, where he remained as a salesman until 1875, when he resigned his position to accept one of similar order in the leading dry-goods estab- lishment of L. S. Ayres & Company, of In- dianapolis, Indiana, where he eventually rose to the position of buyer and manager.
In New York city Mr. Scott formed the ac- quaintance of Cyrenius A. Newcomb, of De- troit, and thereafter they frequently encoun- tered each other while in the eastern market for the purchase of goods. The final result was that, in 1881, Mr. Scott was tendered and accepted a position with the firm of Newcomb, Endicott & Company, with whose interests he has since continued to be closely identified. In 1887 he was admitted to partnership in the business, a merited recognition of his value to the concern, and upon the organization and incorporation of the stock company, under the original title of Newcomb, Endicott & Com- pany, in February, 1903, Mr. Scott became second vice-president of the corporation, an executive office of which he has since remained in tenure, while his entire time and attention are given to the affairs of the concern, which is one of the largest of the kind in the west. He is known as one of the most thoroughly informed men in the retail dry-goods trade, having a broad and comprehensive knowledge of the multifarious lines of goods handled and being especially discriminating in the selection of stock. He is the foreign buyer for the house and in the establishment itself he has direct charge and supervision of the second floor, devoted to women's suits, cloaks, coats, lin- gerie, etc. He is essentially and typically a business man, alert, vigorous and far sighted, so that he proves a valuable coadjutor in the handling of the magnificent mercantile enter- prise with which he has been identified for more than a quarter of a century.
Mr. Scott passes the major portion of the year at his beautiful estate, Halcyon Place, on Grosse Ile, and his is one of the finest of the many beautiful country seats on the island. There he owns a tract of one hundred and forty
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acres, and he maintains a fine herd of the highest grade of imported Guernsey dairy cattle, in which he takes much pride and in- terest and through which his place has gained a wide reputation. In politics Mr. Scott gives support to the cause of the Republican party, and he is a member of the Detroit Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the Detroit Automobile Club, and the Old Club, at St. Clair Flats. He and his family hold membership in the St. James church, Protestant Episcopal, Grosse Ile, and he is a member of its vestry.
In the year 1877 was celebrated the mar- riage of Mr. Scott to Miss Harriet C., daugh- ter of the late John Cane, a representative citi- zen of Indianapolis, Indiana, and they have one daughter, Grace Louise. The family is prominent in the social life of Detroit.
C. H. HABERKORN.
It is gratifying to the publishers of this work to be able to present within its pages a review of the career of this representative business man of Detroit, where he has attained distinct- ive success through his own well directed ef- forts and, incidentally, built up an industrial enterprise, which adds to the economic and commercial precedence of the fair "City of the Straits."
He is the founder of the business conducted under the title of C. H. Haberkorn & Com- pany, and the exclusive product of his fine es- tablishment is parlor and library tables of the highest grades. This is an age of specializing, and Mr. Haberkorn had the prescience to real- ize that much was to be accomplished by thus limiting the variety of goods produced in his factory, the results having fully justified the wisdom of his course, as his products are now in demand not only in the most widely sepa- rated sections of the United States but also in foreign countries. A description of the busi- ness and plant appears elsewhere in this volume and reference should be made to the article in question in connection with this brief sketch of the life of the founder.
Mr. Haberkorn has the satisfaction and dis- tinction of claiming Detroit as the place of his nativity, since he was born in this city, on the 27th of July, 1856. He was afforded the ad- vantages of the excellent public schools of De- troit, and, when but eleven years of age, he became concerned with the practical affairs of life. At the age noted he entered upon an apprenticeship, at the trade of carpenter and joiner, and in due time he became a skilled artisan. After completing his apprenticeship he was in the employ of the contracting firm of Morehouse & Mitchell, of Detroit, until 1873, and somewhat later. he went to San Francisco, California, where he secured profit- able employment as a journeyman at his trade and where he assisted in the erection of the Palace Hotel. He then returned to Michigan.
In 1876 he was employed in connection with the building of the court-house at Sault Sainte Marie, in the upper peninsula of this state, and thereafter he returned to his native city, Detroit, where he has since maintained his home, and where, in 1878, he founded the man- ufacturing business of which he has since been the proprietor, and which, as before stated, is specifically mentioned in this publication, so that a repetition of the data is not demanded. It is interesting and pertinent, however, to state that of the eight men who entered his em- ploy at the time he founded his factory, three still remain with the concern, having the un- qualified esteem of their employer and accord- ing to him confidence and affectionate regard, as may be inferred from the association which has continued during a period of thirty years.
Mr. Haberkorn's aim, at all times, has been to turn out from his factory the best articles possible, and to give his customers even better values than they expected. His adherence to this rule has been potent in building up the thriving enterprise of which he is now the owner. Mr. Haberkorn is also a director of the Pressed Steel Sanitary Manufacturing Company, and has other investments in connec- tion with local industrial enterprises. He fol- lows a progressive policy in his business af-
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fairs, and as a citizen is essentially public- spirited. His standing in the business circles of his native city is one of marked security and popularity, and he is a true type of the self- made man-the type of which America is ever proud.
In politics Mr. Haberkorn has never been an active factor, though he is true to all civic duties and responsibilities, and is independent of partisan lines in the exercising of his fran- chise, preferring to support the men and meas- ures which meet the approval of his judgment. He and his family are members of the Con- gregational church. He is also a member of the Detroit Club, the Country Club, the Wayne Club, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Archaelogical Society, the Tuberculosis So- ciety, the William A. Davis Brotherhood, and the Geographical Society of America, besides being eligible for, and associate member of, Detroit Post No. 384, Grand Army of the Republic.
Mr. Haberkorn is an extensive traveler, passing a portion of each year in travel, and is an enthusiast in the operation of the auto- mobile. He is fond of golf, and thoroughly appreciative of the out-door life, with its bene- ficent recreation. For many years he main- tained a summer home at Grosse Pointe. His city residence is located at 45 Ferry avenue, and is one of the attractive homes of that sec- tion of the city.
On the 24th of October, 1884, Mr. Haber- korn was united in marriage to Miss Fannie H. Ruehle, daughter of Frederick K. Ruehle, an honored and well known citizen of Detroit, of whose board of aldermen he was a member for about twenty years, and of whose board of public works he was president for twelve years. Mr. and Mrs. Haberkorn have two children,-Christian H., Jr., and Adelaide D. The son, who was born on the 26th of May, 1889, secured his preliminary education in the public schools, and had the distinction of being the first student to be enrolled on the member- ship list of the Detroit University School at the time of its opening. In this institution he
was graduated in June, 1907, and, in the fall of the same year, he was matriculated in the Master of Arts department of historic old Har- vard University, where he is now a student.
WILSON S. KINNEAR.
The dual office of which Mr. Kinnear is in- cumbent stands in significant evidence of his technical and administrative ability, and it will readily be understood that great responsibili- ties devolve upon him in connection with the supervision of the construction of the gigantic tunnel which the Michigan Central Railroad Company is placing under the Detroit river. He is Chief Engineer of the Detroit River Tunnel Company and Assistant General Man- ager of the Michigan Central Railroad. The building of the tunnel mentioned represents one of the gigantic engineering feats of the twen- tieth century and the work is being rapidly pushed forward to completion under the gen- eral supervision of Mr. Kinnear. He has gained a high reputation in his chosen profes- sion and is one of its leading representatives in the Union. On other pages of this work will be found definite mention of the tunnel which is now being constructed under the Detroit river for the accommodation of trains on the Michigan Central and New York Central lines, and it is needless to say that the undertaking is one which will have a great and beneficent in- fluence in furthering the civic and industrial precedence of Detroit.
Mr. Kinnear was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, on the 25th of May, 1864, and is a son of Richard and Mary (Crow) Kinnear, both of whom were born in the state of Pennsyl- vania. The father was a civil engineer and surveyor by profession and for a number of years he held the office of county surveyor of Pickaway county, Ohio, where he was a citi- zen of prominence and influence and one hon- ored by all who knew him. His grandfather and great-grandfather also were surveyors. In 1868 Richard Kinnear removed with his fam- ily to Franklin county, Kansas, where he de- voted the remainder of his life to the work
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of his profession and where he served many years as county surveyor. He died in that county and his widow now maintains her home in Kansas City, Missouri.
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