USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 79
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As much as any contribution to the growth of Detroit and Michigan during the last quar- ter century has been that of the modest gentle- man whose retirement from active service has just been chronicled. For while his service was interrupted by an absence of a few years, the interval of absence was simply a period of exploitation and bankruptcy. The entire real development of the telephone industry of this state, from first to last, as exemplified in the Bell companies, was accomplished by him and through him. When the history of the devel- opment of communication in Michigan comes to be written no kindlier chapter will be made, nor none more deservedly so, than the one which is devoted to the life work of William A. Jackson.
WILLIAM C. COLBURN.
The patent of nobility which rested its hon- ors and distinction in the person of William Cullen Colburn came from the high authority, since it was based upon fine character and marked ability. His life was marked by valu- able and generous accomplishment along prac- tical, productive lines, and his measure of suc- cess was large, but greater than this was the intrinsic loyalty to principle, the deep human sympathy and the broad intellectuality which designated the man as he was. His career in the world of business was such as to ad- vance the welfare of others than himself, and he had a high sense of his stewardship, though at all times significantly free from ostentation.
His was the reserve which indicates fine men- tal and moral fiber, and he was one of De- troit's honored and valued citizens and busi- ness men up to the time of his death, which occurred on Sunday morning, March 12, 1899. In usefulness to the community he surpassed many another man who has attained to more of publicity. Measured by the good he ac- complished, his life was one of far more value than those of men who sought and obtained more prominent place and conspicuous hon- ors. Such a life is a public benefaction, and its usefulness is cumulative to a degree not commonly appreciated.
William Cullen Colburn came of staunch old New England stock and was a representa- tive of a family founded in America in the colonial era of our national history. He was born near Fairhaven, Vermont, on the 6th of August, 1833, and his boyhood and youth were marked by the labors and recreations common to those reared under similar conditions. His scholastic advantages were limited, in an aca- demic sense, but the sturdy ambition and nat- ural intellectual force of the man could not but show forth against the seeming handi- cap, and he broadened his mental horizon to become a person of culture and wide knowl- edge, having profited liberally by self-dis- cipline and by the lessons to be gained under the direction of that wisest of all head-mas- ters, experience. Mr. Colburn was reared to maturity in his native state, and in 1854, soon after attaining to his legal majority, he came to Michigan and took up his residence in De- troit,-a city to whose civic and industrial development he was destined to contribute in no insignificant degree as the fast fleeting years fell into the abyss of time. He had pre- viously passed about one year in Wisconsin, where his father was interested in lead mines. Soon after his arrival in Detroit he became in- terested in the Charles Kellogg Company, manufacturers of iron and combination bridges for railway and highway purposes. This com- pany was eventually reorganized under the title of the Detroit Bridge & Iron Works, and
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with the latter corporation he continued to be actively identified until the time of his death, having first been its secretary and treasurer and later its president, of which latter office he was incumbent until he was called from the scene of life's activities. The intervening years represented large and definite results attained through his ability and active cooperation, and he was one of the foremost factors in the up- building of the splendid industrial enterprise with which his name was so long and con- spicuously associated. Throughout his en- tire business career in the Michigan metrop- olis it may be said that bridge-building repre- sented his chief interest, and he held a high reputation in this important field of enterprise. But his progressive spirit led him to make judicious investments in other lines as his capi- talistic powers waxed stronger. Thus he be- came associated with the late General Russell A. Alger in mining and other enterprises, and in other fields the two were likewise associated with the late Martin S. Smith, another of the representative business men of Detroit. Mr. Colburn was one of the original members of the first board of directors of the Union Trust Company, and he continued incumbent of this office until the time when the company in- augurated the erection of its magnificent new building, on Griswold street, when he resigned from the directorate, in order that the Detroit Bridge & Iron Works, of which he was presi- dent, might take the contract for the construc- tion of the building mentioned. For a number of years he was a valued member of the direct- orate of the State Savings Bank, and for sev- eral years was vice-president of the Detroit National Bank. Of these institutions proper record is given'on other pages of this publi- cation.
Indomitable will and energy, unflagging in- dustry and clear perception, placed Mr. Col- burn among the leading business men of Mich- igan. He possessed the business courage which comes from faith in one's own abilities and judgment, and thus he was always pro- gressive in his attitude. A self-made man in
the best sense, he was unassuming in demeanor but firm and persevering in the course which he decided to be right. Thorough and earnest in every undertaking, all of his affairs were conducted with systematic exactness. There was nothing sensational or spectacular in his career, and he used his large fortune in ways that contributed much to the material advance- ment of Detroit. In sterling good sense, genu- ine public spirit, thorough integrity, and a pri- vate life above reproach, he stood as one of Detroit's honored and valued citizens and rep- resentative business men. He was an agree- able, courteous gentleman, and won and re- tained inviolable friendships, though, as be- fore stated, he was somewhat reserved, never having been given to speaking much of him- self, even in the precincts of his ideal home. In politics, while never an active factor and never a seeker of official preferment of any description, he was a loyal supporter of the principles and policies for which the Repub- lican party stands sponsor. In Detroit he was identified with representative clubs and other social organizations, and it should be noted in particular that he was one of the founders of the Lake St. Clair Fishing & Shooting Club (commonly designated the Old Club), of which he became the first president,-an office which he retained consecutively until the time of his death. This club was organized in 1872, and associated with Mr. Colburn in ef- fecting the organization were N. D. Lapham, A. M. Van Duser, E. B. Smith and Dr. George L. Field. Mr. Colburn found much pleasure and agreeable recreation through his identifi- cation with this organization, and also with the Turtle Lake Club. It is but consonant that in this brief review of the career of Mr. Col- burn be perpetuated the text of the memorial adopted by the Lake St. Clair Fishing & Shoot- ing Club :
William C. Colburn, the president of this club, died in this city, March 12, 1899. In the prime of life and in the maturity of his pow- ers, with an apparent prospect of many years of activity and usefulness, the sudden and un-
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expected death of Mr. Colburn has brought sorrow to many hearts.
By those who knew him only as the man of affairs, prompt, energetic, courageous and de- termined in matters of business, wise and sagacious in counsel, patriotic and public spir- ited in furthering the interests of the city and state, his premature removal will be regretted as the loss of a good citizen and an honorable and high-minded man who could ill be spared by the community. But to us who have known him in the intimacy and good-fellowship of club life, the sense of bereavement is far deeper and more personal.
Mr. Colburn was the first and only presi- dent of this club. For twenty-seven years he has gone in and out among us, participating in our pleasures, guiding us with his wisdom and sparing neither time nor trouble in furthering the best interests of the organization. To his sagacious and able leadership we feel that a very large part of the success of this club is due. To its affairs he brought the same en- ergy, wisdom and decision which so eminently characterized him in business life.
A natural leader of men, he was ever mod- est in his pre-eminence, and while firm in his convictions as to matters of club policy and management, he was temperate in his judg- ment and considerate in his treatment of oth- ers. He was a true lover of nature and by choice sought his recreation "far from the madding crowd," in the woods and by the waters of the state of his adoption. He was a sportsman in the best sense of the term, and his voice and example were always to be found on the side of honor and true manliness. He was a most companionable man, and, although he was not a great talker himself, he was a welcome addition to every circle. Genial and courteous, the passing years served only to in- crease the respect and esteem of his fellow members, and in his death we feel that this club has sustained an irreparable loss.
On the 21st of December, 1864, Mr. Col- burn married Miss Mary Augusta Standish, daughter of the late John Dana Standish, of Detroit, and she survives him, as do also their three sons and two daughters, concerning whom the following brief data are given: Evelyn E. is the wife of Charles G. Waldo, of Bridgeport, Connecticut; Mary E. is the wife of William Lawrence Keane, of Yokohama,
Japan; Burnham S., of Detroit, is secretary and treasurer of the Canadian Bridge Com- pany, Limited, of Walkerville, Ontario; Fred- erick S. is treasurer of the Carbonic Dioxide Corporation in the city of Chicago; and Will- iam B. is treasurer of the Pierce Cycle Com- pany, in Buffalo, New York.
John Dana Standish, father of Mrs. Col- burn, was a lineal descendant of Captain Miles Standish, the most striking figure of that age of the Pilgrims which Rufus Choate so fitly describes as the American heroic period. Of the six children of this sturdy Puritan soldier, Josiah, the third son, after passing the greater part of an active and influential life in eastern Massachusetts, finally removed with his fam- ily to Preston, Connecticut. The latter's great- grandson, Samuel, removed to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and was a valiant patriot sol- dier in the war of the Revolution, after the close of which he removed to Vermont, whence he later removed to North Granville, New York, where was born his only child, Samuel, who became an influential citizen of northern New York, where he held many local offices of trust, including that of surrogate of Wash- ington county. The youngest of his children was John Dana Standish, who was born in North Granville, New York, October 1, 1817, and who was of the seventh generation in di- rect descent from Captain Miles Standish. John Dana Standish received a good academic education in his native state, where he re- mained until 1837, when he came to Michigan, which was admitted to the Union in that year. For three years he conducted a select school at Birmingham, Oakland county, and in 1841 he engaged in business in Pontiac. At this time he married Miss Emma L. Darrow, of Lyme, Connecticut, and they journeyed side by side along the pathway of life until their death, both having been summoned to the life eternal in the year 1884. They were survived by four children,-Mary Augusta, widow of the subject of this memoir ; Eva, widow of the late Charles K. Backus, of Detroit ; James D., of Detroit; and Frederick D., of Detroit.
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John Dana Standish took up his residence in Detroit in 1856, and here he became a prom- inent and influential business man, having con- ducted large operations in the produce and wool trade, and having had large lumbering and real-estate interests. He was the founder of the village of Standish, Arenac county, and established and operated the first saw mill in Otsego county, while he was a stockholder in numerous and important Detroit corporations at the time of his death, which occurred in July, 1884. In 1869 he was the Republican . nominee for mayor of Detroit, but was de- feated, though he ran much ahead of his ticket. He later served as a member of the board of estimates and in 1880 was appointed city as- sessor. Three years later he was made a mem- ber of the new board of assessors, of which body he was the first president. He was a prominent and valued member of the Baptist church, and at the time of his demise he was president of the board of deacons of the La- fayette (now Woodward) Avenue Baptist church. He was a man of exalted character and his name is revered in the city which was so long his home.
EDWIN H. NELSON.
Within the pages of this work will be found definite recognition of many of the representa- tive business men who are aiding in maintain- ing the commercial prestige of the fair old "City of the Straits," and to such recognition Mr. Nelson, who is president of Nelson, Baker & Company, manufacturing chemists, is emi- nently entitled. Special mention of the con- cern of which he was the founder and of which he is now president will be found in this work.
Mr. Nelson is a native of Brighton, Ontario, Canada, where he was born on the 27th of June, 1856, being a son of John and Eliza (Thayer) Nelson, the former of whom was born in Ireland and the latter in Massachusetts. When the subject of this brief sketch was an infant his parents removed from Canada to Arkansas, where the father became the owner of a plantation, which he operated successfully
up to the time of the civil war, during the progress of which the property was used much of the time for hospital purposes, by the Union army. After his return to Canada the father lived retired from business and he and his wife are now deceased.
Edwin H. Nelson, to whom this review is dedicated, was reared to maturity in his native province of Ontario, where he was afforded the advantages of the public schools, after which he became a student in the Ontario College of Pharmacy, in Toronto, being graduated in this institution as a member of the class of 1878 and coming forth specially well equipped for the profession which he had chosen. In 1879 Mr. Nelson came to Detroit and entered the employ of the old and well known concern of Frederick Stearns & Company, whose name has been so long and prominently connected with the manufacturing of pharmaceutical preparations in Detroit. With this concern he remained until 1890, when he initiated inde- pendent operations in the same line of enter- prise, with which he has since been contin- uously and successfully identified. For record concerning Nelson, Baker & Company refer- ence may be made to the article previously mentioned. In addition to being president of this company Mr. Nelson is a director of the National Bank of Commerce and the National Can Company, besides being a stockholder in other local corporations.
In politics he accords allegiance to the Re- publican party, and he is prominently identified with various business and social organizations in his home city. He is a member of the board of directors of the Detroit Club, of which he was secretary in 1907; is a member of the directorate and the executive committee of the Board of Commerce; holds membership in the Merchants' & Manufacturers' Exchange, and is identified with the Detroit Manufacturing Club and the Masonic fraternity, in which latter he has attained to the Knights Templar de- gree. He and his wife are communicants of St. Paul's church, Protestant Episcopal.
In 1884 was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
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Nelson to Miss Anna Louise Gilkeson, daugh- ter of Dr. Benjamin F. Gilkeson, of Rochester, New York, and the two children of this union are Frank T. and Nathalie G. The family holds a secure place in connection with the best social life of the city and Mr. Nelson is a popu- lar and valued business man and loyal and progressive citizen.
HENRY M. LELAND.
A business man of prominence and large ca- pacity in technical and administrative affairs is Mr. Leland, who occupies the responsible of- fice of general manager of the Cadillac Motor Car Company's factories, the largest of the kind in the world, as shown in the specific ar- ticle concerning the company appearing on other pages of this volume.
Mr. Leland is a representative of a family founded in America in the colonial epoch, and the name has been one of no little prominence in the annals of the nation. He reverts to the old Green Mountain state as the place of his nativity, having been born at Danville, Ver- mont, on the 16th of February, 1843, and being a son of Leander B. and Zelphia (Tifft) Le- land, both of whom were born in the state of Rhode Island. The father, who was a farmer by vocation, removed from Vermont to Mas- sachusetts when the subject of this sketch was but an infant, and he located at Worcester, where both he and his wife passed the remain- der of their lives,-folk of unassuming ways and sterling attributes of character.
In the common schools of Worcester Henry M. Leland received his early educational disci- pline and there he was reared to maturity. He was eighteen years of age at the time of the outbreak of the civil war, and though he did not enter the ranks of the "boys in blue" he did effective service in upholding the Union, since he went to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he was employed in the United States armory, making tools utilized in the manufacture of rifles which were required by the Union sol- diers. He continued to reside in the old Bay
state, devoting his attention to mechanical pur- suits, until 1872, when he went to Providence, Rhode Island, and entered the employ of Brown & Sharpe, manufacturers of fine tools and also sewing machines. For many years he remained with this concern, having charge of the sewing-machine department during the major portion of the time and developing to the full his fine mechanical talent.
In 1890 Mr. Leland came to Detroit and es- tablished a small factory for the manufacture of milling machinery. Success attended the en- terprise from the start and at the end of the first year he had in his employ a force of sixty- five men. In 1891 Robert C. Faulconer was admitted to partnership in the business, under the firm name of Leland & Faulconer, and they eventually expanded their enterprise to include the manufacture of all kinds of marine engines and later of automobile engines. In 1905 the enterprise was absorbed by the Cadil- lac Motor Car Company, in which Mr. Leland became a stockholder, and from that time to the present he has served with signal efficiency as general manager of the fine works of the company mentioned. His former business as- sociate, Mr. Faulconer, likewise became inter- ested in the Cadillac Company, with which he was connected until his death, in 1907.
Mr. Leland is a member of the American Mechanical Engineers' Association and the National Founders' Association, of which latter he was one of the organizers and in which he was an active factor for many years. He is also identified with the National Metal Trades Association. His political proclivities are in- dicated by the staunch support which he ac- cords to the Republican party and both he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian church.
In the year 1867, at Millburg, Massachu- setts, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Le- land to Miss Ellen R. Hull, who was born and reared in that state, and they have two chil- dren,-Wilfred, who resides in Detroit; and Gertrude, who is the wife of Anson C. Wood- bridge, of this city.
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THOMAS MAYBURY.
The life and labors of the late Thomas May- bury, one of the honored pioneers of Detroit at the time of his death, are well worthy of study, for the record pertaining thereto is fecund in lesson and incentive. It is but in justice due also that in a compilation of the province assigned to the one at hand be given a review of his career, that the record may be perpetuated now that he has passed from the scene of life's temporal labors.
Mr. Maybury was born in Bandon, county Cork, Ireland, in the year 1809, and in his native town he was reared to maturity, receiv- ing good educational advantages in his youth. In Bandon was solemnized his marriage to Miss Margaret Cotter, in 1832, and in the year 1834 the young couple severed the ties which bound them to their native land, whose fair shores they left to emigrate to America, where Mr. Maybury's near neighbors had come the preceding year, locating in Lockport, New York. Thomas Maybury and his wife re- mained a few weeks in Lockport and then came to Detroit, making the journey by way of the Erie canal and the Great Lakes. Prior to their coming to the United States one child had been born to them, but this child died at sea and was buried in a little cemetery near the mouth of the St. Lawrence river,-a sad event to mark the arrival of the young couple in America. Soon after his arrival in Detroit Mr. Maybury engaged in the trucking busi- ness. He was compelled to initiate operations in a most modest way, as his financial re- sources were very limited. In the early days he received one cent a barrel for hauling flour to the docks at the foot of Woodward avenue, and this thoroughfare and others were so muddy in the spring season that two barrels of flour was considered a load for a truck and two horses. As Detroit increased in popu- lation and acquired more commercial impor- tance Mr. Maybury extended the scope of his draying and general trucking operations, to which he had from the start devoted himself with unflagging energy and ambition. He
continued in this line of enterprise for many years and built up a very successful business, based upon the implicit confidence and unre- served esteem reposed in him.
Finally he became associated with his two brothers in the purchase of tracts of timber , land near the city of Detroit, and this property they reclaimed to cultivation, developing the same into three excellent farms. Roads in Wayne county at that time were few and of the most primitive order, and to make the trip from these farms to Detroit three days were often consumed. At the present time two hours prove adequate to negotiate the same distance and traverse essentially the same route. The first house occupied by Mr. May- bury after his removal to his farm was a log cabin of the pioneer type, and roving bands of Indians often stopped at the little domicile to rest and seek refreshment. The family's first Christmas dinner on the embryo farm had as its piece de resistance a shoulder of venison, though a flock of wild turkeys came into the clearing about the house on the morning of the Christmas holiday. Mrs. Maybury, fear- ing that the turkeys were tame and the prop- erty of some neighbor, persuaded her husband not to shoot any of the number. Not until some hunters put in an appearance and stated that the fowls were of the wild variety did Mr. Maybury realize that he had permitted a good Christmas dinner to literally fly away from him. After clearing and otherwise im- proving his farm Mr. Maybury returned to Detroit, where he engaged in contracting in public work,-principally the construction of sewers and the improving of streets. He eventually became the owner of a large amount of real estate in Detroit and vicinity, and through the appreciation in the value of the same he became a wealthy man. During the civil war he was an ardent supporter of the Union, and contributed most liberally to the maintenance of the soldiers in the field and the widows and orphans at home. His son Thomas enlisted in Company C, Eighth New York Light Artillery, to which he was trans-
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ferred from a Michigan regiment. This son participated in the battles of Gettysburg, Mis- sionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain and many others of the important engagements of the great internecine conflict, and he was twice wounded in action. He was mustered out with the rank of Captain and he met his death by drowning, in the state of California, a few years after the close of the war.
Of the eight children born to Thomas and Margaret (Cotter) Maybury four are now living,-Mrs. Catherine Genness, Mrs. J. F. Weber, Miss Jane, Henry and William C. William C. is one of the representative citi- zens of Detroit, of which he served as mayor for four terms, and of him individual men- tion is made on other pages of this work. Thomas Maybury and his wife were devout communicants of St. Paul's church, Protestant Episcopal, and were active workers in the old and historic parish, whose center was for many years the beautiful old church edifice on Con- gress street west, in the heart of the city,- a church whose demolition was viewed with regret by church people throughout the city. In politics Mr. Maybury was originally aligned as a supporter of the Whig party, but upon the organization of the Republican party he allied himself therewith, voting for the party's first presidential candidate, General John C. Fremont, and thereafter continuing a stalwart advocate of the principles of the party until his death, which occurred on the 13th of No- vember, 1882. His devoted wife preceded him to eternal rest by many years, her death having occurred in 1851.
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