USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 88
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JOHN PRIDGEON, JR.
Concerning the family history of this well known and popular citizen and business man of Detroit pertinent data appear in the memoir of his honored father, the late John Pridgeon, Sr., on other pages of this work, so that a re- capitulation of the same is not here required. The subject of this review has been concerned with the lake marine business from his youth to the present time and has valuable interests in this important department of industrial en- terprise.
Mr. Pridgeon has the distinction of being a native son of Detroit, where he was born on the Ist of August, 1852, and in whose public schools and Professor Bacon's private school he secured his early educational discipline. About the year 1871 he assumed the position of clerk on one of his father's boats, and he continued to serve in that capacity until 1874. From 1876 to 1879 he was agent at Port Huron for the Chicago & Grand Trunk line of steamers, running between Chicago and Port Edward, his father having been the owner of
the controlling interest in this line of vessels. When the line was discontinued Mr. Pridgeon returned to Detroit, where he became intimate- ly associated with his father in their extensive business of buying, selling and operating tugs, sailing vessels and propellers. They owned and operated the Detroit & Windsor Ferry line for years. He has since continued his opera- tions in this line and has had full control of the enterprise since the death of his father. He is the largest stockholder in the White Star Line of steamers and is treasurer of the com- pany, and he is a large stockholder in the Dime Savings Bank, of whose directorate he is a member. He has other capitalistic interests of an important order and is one of the city's substantial and representative business men.
Mr. Pridgeon has ever accorded a staunch allegiance to the Democratic party and though he has manifested no office-seeking proclivities he has willingly done his part in connection with the adminstration of municipal affairs, having been a member of the board of police commissioners until the same was abolished and having also served for some time as a member of the board of park commissioners. To the former office he was appointed by the late Governor Begole. He is prominently identified with the time-honored Masonic fra- ternity, in which he has attained to the thirty- second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scot- tish Rite, and he also holds membership in the Detroit Club and other social and civic organ- izations. In 1885 he was elected to a seat in the city council, where he proved a loyal and valuable working member, and in the autumn of 1887 the voters of his native city honored him by electing him to the mayoralty. He gave a most progressive and businesslike adminis- tration, and his record as chief executive of the municipal government is one which reflects credit both upon himself and the city.
In December, 1874, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Pridgeon to Miss Cora Edgar, who was born in the city of Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania, and of this union were born two sons, both of whom died in childhood.
Aolan Predigen for
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ALBERT L. STEPHENS.
The subject of this review is one of the rep- resentative business men of Detroit and has maintained his home in this city since 1887. He was long concerned with lumbering operations in the state, having been associated with his father, the late Henry Stephens, a memoir of whom appears in this work.
Albert L. Stephens was born at Romeo, Macomb county, Michigan, November II, 1857, and he was reared to maturity at Almont and Romeo, this state. He was afforded the advantages of the public schools, and as a young man became identified with his father's extensive lumbering operations. Record con- cerning this lumbering enterprise appears in the sketch of the life of his father, so that a recapitulation is not demanded in this con- nection. After the death of his father Mr. Stephens continued to be associated with his brother, Henry, in the lumber business until 1896, when he withdrew. Mr. Stephens has large and important capitalistic interests in Detroit and elsewhere. He is one of the larg- est stockholders of the O. & W. Thum Com- pany, manufacturers of the celebrated "Tan- glefoot" sealed sticky fly-paper, and is presi- dent of the company, whose manufacturing and executive headquarters are in the city of Grand Rapids. He is also president of the Wabash Cement Company, of Stroh, Indiana, and is a member of the directorate of each the Wayne County Savings Bank and the Union Trust Company, two of Detroit's largest and most substantial financial institutions. He is also a stockholder in the Commercial National Bank and in the Detroit Fire & Marine Insur- ance Company. Mr. Stephens was appointed special commissioner to close up the affairs of the Preston National Bank at the time of its failure and showed marked discrimination in the handling of his exacting and responsible duties in the connection. The political allegi- ance of Mr. Stephens is given to the Republi- can party, in the promotion of whose cause he takes a loyal interest, though never an aspirant for official preferment.
In 1883 Mr. Stephens was united in mar- riage to Miss Frances Harvey, daughter of Dr. James Harvey, Romeo, Michigan, and they have one child, Marjorie.
THOMAS NEAL.
On other pages of this work appears an outline of the history of one of Detroit's most gigantic and important industrial enterprises, that conducted under the title of the Acme White Lead & Color Works. One of the two founders of this magnificent institution is Thomas Neal, who is secretary and general manager of the company. Of his labors in upbuilding the industry the article in question gives detailed information, so that further reference to the same need not be made in the present article. He is known as one of the veritable "captains of industry" in Detroit and few have done more to further the progress and industrial prosperity of the city in recent years.
Mr. Neal was born in Corunna, Ontario, Canada, September 27, 1858, and is a son of Henry and Mary (Proctor) Neal, both of whom are natives of England. The father came to America as a young man and was for many years actively identified with marine in- terests on the Great Lakes. In this service he was known as an able navigator and executive and he served for a long period as captain on various vessels. He eventually became the own- er of a line of boats and was successful in the operation of the same. He is now retired from active business and he and his wife main- tain their home in Port Austin, Michigan.
In 1866, when the subject of this review was a lad of eight years, his parents took up their residence in Detroit, where he was reared to maturity and where he duly availed himself of the advantages of the public schools, after which he completed a course in a local busi- ness college. His first employment was as messenger boy for the National Pin Company, and he remained with this concern four years, within which period he had risen to a position
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in full charge of the office of the concern. Thereafter he held a confidential position with the Imperial Life Insurance Company and was also engaged in the real-estate business. At the age of twenty-six years he was one of the founders of the present Acme White Lead & Color Works, with which his career has since been inseparably identified, and to the article descriptive of that institution reference should be made for the record of his business life since the year 1884. He is a member of the directorate of each the First National Bank and the Michigan Savings Bank, and is a stockholder of the Security Trust Company, all of which are leading financial institutions of Detroit, and is also a director of the Kemi- weld Can Company.
Mr. Neal is a Republican in his political al- legiance, is a member of Detroit Commandery, No. I, Knight Templar, and holds member- ship in the Detroit Club, the Detroit Boat Club and Fellowcraft Club. He and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church, and he is a member of the vestry of the parish of St. Paul's church.
In 1884, about the time of the initiation of what has been a most extraordinarily success- ful business career, Mr. Neal assumed marital responsibilities. On the 14th of May of that year he was united in marriage to Miss Eliza- beth May Davies, a sister of William L. Davies, who is president of the Acme com- pany and who has been his intimate friend since youth and his co-adjutor in building up the great business of the concern mentioned. Mr. and Mrs. Neal have one son, Kirke Al- bert.
The Detroit Free Press of Sunday, August 4, 1907, gives the following appreciative esti- mate of Mr. Neal : "Thomas Neal, secretary and general manager of the Acme White Lead & Color Works, is another whose name will go down in the industrial history of Detroit as one of the most active factors in its splen- did development. Besides bringing the Acme White Lead Works to such a state of perfec- tion that the product of the factory has gone
hand in hand with stoves and seeds in making Detroit famous in the industrial world, Mr. Neal was one of the most active organizers of the Board of Commerce. Wide-awake, public- spirited and progressive, he has at all times been found arrayed on the side of Greater De- troit, in the broadest sense of the term."
A. JAMES SINGELYN.
He whose name forms the caption of this article is vice-president and treasurer of the Tivoli Brewing Company, whose finely equipped establishment is one of the leading concerns of the sort in Detroit and one whose reputation is indicated by its large and appre- ciative patronage. Mr. Singelyn is actively identified with the management of the busi- ness and is a careful and able administrative officer and enterprising business man. In ad- dition to having the supervision of the finan- cial affairs of the company he also has charge of the sales department, in which connection he has done much to further the upbuilding of the business.
A. James Singelyn is a native of Detroit, in which city he was born on the 19th of March, 1874, being a son of Charles and Clementine (Posselius) Singelyn. The ancestry in the agnatic line is traced back to pure French origin and the maternal ancestry is of Flemish extraction. Charles Singelyn was born at Antwerp, Belgium, on the 12th of August, 1840, and he died on the 10th of August, 1904. He is survived by three sons and four daughters. Clementine (Posselius) Singelyn was a daughter of the late Adolph Posselius, a pioneer furniture manufacturer in Detroit and one who held rank as a prominent and influential citizen.
The subject of this sketch completed the curriculum of the Detroit public schools and thereafter continued his studies in Assump- tion College, a well conducted Catholic insti- tution in Sandwich, Ontario. After complet- ing his more purely academic education he took a commercial course in the Detroit Busi-
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ness University, where he well qualified him- self for practical business life. In 1890, short- ly before his sixteenth birthday, Mr. Singelyn entered upon an apprenticeship to the trade or art of wood-carving, in the furniture man- ufactory of A. Posselius & Brothers, of which firm his maternal grandfather was the head. He later passed through the various grades of promotion in this factory, familiarizing him- self with the work of each department, and finally, in 1892, being made assistant superin- tendent of the plant. While incumbent of this position he secured a contract for the manu- facturing of a patented dining-room table, the vested rights in the patent being controlled by" Charles W. Munz and associates. This table Mr. Singelyn introduced on the market with signal success. In 1894, upon the death of John C. Posselius, he was promoted to the of- fice of general superintendent of the plant, and when the business was incorporated, un- der title of the Posselius Brothers' Furniture Manufacturing Company, he became one of its stockholders and continued in the position of superintendent until 1899, when he dis- posed of his stock and retired from all con- nection with the enterprise. The action was taken by him that he might become a stock- holder in the Tivoli Brewing Company, of which he was elected treasurer at that time. For some time also, during the illness of the manager, Louis W. Schimmel, he also as- sumed the general supervision of the business, ably fulfilling the duties that under normal conditions devolved upon Mr. Schimmel. In 1903 Mr. Singelyn was also elected vice-presi- dent of the company, and he has since re- mained incumbent of this office, as well as that of treasurer. He is specially versatile and able as an accountant and the financial inter- ests of the company are most carefully and successfully managed by him, as are also the interests of the sales department,-the center of the productive agencies of the enterprise. He is associated in the ownership of the Burns hotel, one of the popular hostelries of Detroit.
In 1904 Mr. Singelyn was appointed under-
sheriff of Wayne county, by James Burns, sheriff of the county, and he has since con- tinued in tenure of this office, in which he has done most effective work. He is a member of the United States Brewers' Association and also of the Michigan Brewers' Association and the Detroit Brewers' Association. The brewery in which he is interested as a stock- holder and officer is made the subject of a spe- cial sketch in the industrial department of this publication. Mr. Singelyn is a member of Detroit Lodge, No. 34, Benevolent & Pro- tective Order of Elks; Olympic Lodge, No. I, Knights of Pythias; and the Detroit Athletic Club, and he enjoys unqualified popularity in the business and social circles of his native city.
On the 6th of August, 1896, Mr. Singelyn was united in marriage to Miss Johanna Wiehm, daughter of August Wiehm, of De- troit, and she was summoned to the life eter- nal on the 15th day of March, 1907, being survived by two children,-James A., who was born April II, 1898, and August, who was born September 1, 1899. On the 7th of October, 1908, Mr. Singelyn married Miss Edith Fisher, of Detroit, the ceremony being performed at the church of Our Lady of Sor- rows.
GRIFFITH O. ELLIS.
The subject of this sketch is a lawyer by profession and has been successful in the gen- eral practice of law, though he is now giving the major portion of his time and attention to the executive duties devolving upon him as vice-president of the Sprague Correspondence School of Law and as president of the Sprague Publishing Company, both of which are more specifically described in the sketch of the ca- reer of their founder, William C. Sprague, on other pages of this volume.
Griffith Ogden Ellis was born in the city of Urbana, Ohio, on the 19th of November, 1869, and is a son of Griffith and Jane H. (Woods) Ellis, the former of whom was born in Wales and the latter in Ohio, in which state
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they still maintain their home. Griffith Ellis was eleven years of age at the time of his par- ents' immigration to America and was reared and educated in the old Buckeye state. He became one of the representative merchants of Urbana, where he was for many years en- gaged in the dry-goods business, and he has long been a prominent and influential figure in the political and public affairs of Ohio. He represented his district in the state senate and was twice a candidate for congress, but met defeat with the remainder of the party ticket. He also served in the offices of clerk and treas- urer of Champaign county, as a member of the board of governors of the state peniten- tiary, in Columbus, and as the financial offi- cer of the Ohio state hospital for the insane, at Dayton.
The subject of this sketch is indebted to the public schools of his native city for his early educational training, and he was graduated in the high school as a member of the class of 1888, after which he pursued the higher academic studies for two years in Urbana Uni- versity. While yet a student he was for six months identified with the Urbana Evening Herald,-first in the capacity of city editor and finally in that of managing editor. In August, 1890, Mr. Ellis went to Washington, D. C., where he received appointment as expert sta- tistician in the agricultural department of the United States census bureau. While in the national capital he also attended the law school of Columbian University, the name of which has since been changed to George Washing- ton University, and there he made excellent progress in the assimilation of the minutiæ of the science of jurisprudence. In 1891 Mr. Ellis came to Detroit, where he became man- aging clerk in the law offices of the firm of Lodge, Sprague & Ashley, and in the mean- while he continued the study of law under ef- fective preceptorship. In the autumn of 1892 he was matriculated in the law department of the University of Michigan, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1893, duly receiving his degree of Bachelor of Laws.
He then returned to Detroit and here was forthwith admitted to the bar of the state. He has done effective work in his profession and has shown himself to be a counsellor well for- tified in the technical learning of the law and in familiarity with precedents.
The connection of Mr. Ellis with the Sprague Correspondence School of Law has been of most intimate order and he has done much to further the success of the institution, both as an executive officer and as an instruc- tor. He identified himself with the school in 1891, in which year he accepted the position of correspondence clerk, and in 1893 he was made chief examiner of the examination pa- pers sent in by the students of the institution. He continued in active service in this depart- ment until 1897, when he was made general superintendent of the school and head of the instruction department. In 1894 he became one of the stockholders of the corporation owning and conducting the school, and he has served as vice-president since that year. He is also one of the chief stockholders of the Sprague Publishing Company, of which he is president, and he is one of the active adminis- trative officers of the company, which controls a flourishing and substantial business.
In politics Mr. Ellis is a stalwart supporter of the principles of the Republican party, and he was an active worker in its cause while re- siding in his native state. He is a life mem- ber of the Fellowcraft Club and is also iden- tified with the Detroit Boat Club and the Ohio Society of this city, being popular in the busi- ness and social circles of Detroit as well as in the local ranks of his profession.
On the 21st of April, 1897, Mr. Ellis was united in marriage to Miss Ellen Winifred Scripps, daughter of William A. Scripps, one of the representative citizens of Detroit. They have no children.
ABNER E. LARNED.
As president of the Larned & Carter Com- pany, manufacturers of overalls, Mr. Larned has been a distinct factor in promoting the in-
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dustrial growth of Detroit and has exempli- fied the force and initiative which have made the younger generation of business men in Michigan's metropolis so potent factors in its advancement within the last decade.
Mr. Larned is a native of the Wolverine state, having been born in the village of Fen- ton, Genesee county, Michigan, on the 31st of January, 1871, and being a son of Horace J. and Flora (Roberts) Larned. The Larned family was founded in America in the early colonial epoch, and the name was prominently identified with the early annals of New Eng- land. Elisha Larned, grandfather of the sub- ject of this review, was a native of Massa- chusetts, whence he eventually removed to the state of New York. From the old Empire commonwealth he came to the wilds of Michi- gan and became one of the pioneers of Genesee county,-in fact, having been the second white settler in what is now Fenton township, that county. He lived up to the full tension of the pioneer days, having secured from the gov- ernment a tract of wild land, and having de- veloped from the same, by herculean labor, a productive farm. He continued to reside in Fenton until his death, and the old homestead which he first secured from the government is still held in the possession of the family. Flora (Roberts) Larned, mother of him whose name initiates this article, was a daugh- ter of Abner Roberts, who likewise removed from New York state to Michigan and be- came one of the very early settlers of Genesee county. He built in the village of Fenton a hotel, the Fenton House, which is still stand- ing, in an excellent state of preservation, and which is one of the landmarks of that section of the state. Mr. Roberts was a man of prom- inence and influence and remained a resident of Genesee county until his death. Horace J. and Flora (Roberts) Larned resided in Fen- ton, where for many years Mr. Larned was engaged in the agricultural-implement busi- ness, retiring in 1890. Mrs. Larned died in 1894.
Abner E. Larned was afforded the advan-
tages of the public schools of Fenton, in whose high school he was graduated as a member of the class of 1889. After leaving school he en- tered the employ of the wholesale dry-goods firm of Strong, Lee & Company, of Detroit, which concern he represented in the capacity of traveling salesman for a period of three years, at the expiration of which, in 1893, he resigned, to accept the position of manager of the de- partment of domestic goods in the wholesale dry-goods house of Edson, Moore & Company, of Detroit, resigning this position in 1896 to associate with David S. Carter in the founding of the firm of Larned, Carter & Company, manufacturers of overalls, and he has been president of the company from its inception. The industry represented has grown to be one of wide scope and much commercial impor- tance, and data concerning its upbuilding ap- pear in the sketch of the career of Mr. Car- ter, the secretary and treasurer, on other pages of this work. Mr. Larned assumed the per- sonal supervision of the sales, shipping and buy- ing departments of the business, and the up- building of the fine enterprise has been largely due to his able efforts as its sales representa- tive. In introducing the goods of the concern he has visited every state and territory in the Union, and in the meanwhile Mr. Carter had charge of the factory and office details of the business. A most significant fact in connection with the business is that practically all of the original customers gained by the company still remain its patrons, and the list is constantly increasing in numerical and appreciative strength. Mr. Larned is amply justified in his claim to knowing in a personal way fully ninety per cent. of the patrons of his concern, and this means much when recognition is had of the large and far-reaching trade controlled.
In his political allegiance Mr. Larned is a Republican, taking a loyal interest in the party cause but never having been an active political worker. For many years he has been identi- fied in an active way with the Young Men's Christian Association, and he has done effec- tive service in the promotion of the interests
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of the Detroit organization of this noble body. He was made chairman of a committee dele- gated by the Detroit Young Men's Christian Association to raise the funds necessary for the erection of the new association building, which is now in course of completion ( 1908), and the committee of which he was chairman succeeded in raising a larger amount-some twenty-five thousand dollars-for the purpose designated than did any other committee of solicitors. The total amount thus placed to the credit of his committee was thirty-five thousand dollars. Mr. Larned is a member of the Board of Commerce and the Detroit Club.
In the Board of Commerce he is a member of the board of directors and also of the exec- utive committee. He was chairman of the fifth-anniversary committee of this splendid Detroit institution, and the committee men- tioned had charge of the outing of the body on the magnificent new steamer "City of Cleve- land," June 4-7, 1908,-the most successful and interesting gathering of Detroit business men ever brought together. The occasion also practically represented the dedicatory voyage of the steamer mentioned.
Mr. Larned was married, in 1893, to Miss Minnie K. Kellogg, daughter of Rev. Fred- erick A. Kellogg, a clergyman of the Congre- gational church and at that time incumbent of a pastoral charge at Adrian, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Larned have two children,-Brad- ford York, and Cortland Kellogg.
WILLIAM L. DAVIES.
One of the splendid industrial enterprises which has had important bearing in the de- velopment of the "Greater Detroit" is that con- ducted under the corporate title of the Acme White Lead & Color Works, and of this mag- nificent manufacturing concern the subject of this sketch is the president. He is essentially a man of initiative power and progressive ideas, and his confidence in the claims of Detroit as a manufacturing and distributing center has been shown in no unmistakable way, even aside from the connection here noted.
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