USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 89
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Mr. Davies comes of sturdy and worthy Welsh lineage and is himself a native of the south of Wales, having been born at Aber- dare, on the 14th of February, 1858, and be- ing a son of Daniel and Catherine (Davies) Davies, representatives of old and honored families of Wales. The father, who was a tailor by trade and vocation, immigrated to America with his family in 1861, and he took up his residence in Wisconsin, where he joined two brothers of his wife. He engaged in busi- ness at Oconto, that state, where he remained until his death, which occurred in 1875. His widow later removed with her children to De- troit and here she still maintains her home, be- ing now venerable in years.
William L. Davies, the immediate subject of this review, was afforded the advantages of the public schools of Wisconsin, where he was prepared for college. However, he decided to turn his attention to active business rather than to continue his higher academic studies, as he was offered a good position in Detroit, to which city he came in 1872. Here he entered the employ of the wholesale drug house of Farrand, Williams & Company, in a clerical capacity, and he remained with this old and well known firm until 1886, with the exception of one year, during which he was in the em- ploy of James E. Davis. He became familiar with the work of the various departments of the business and while still connected with this house, in 1884, he assisted in effecting the organization of the Acme White Lead & Color Works, instituting operations on a very mod- est scale. The company was incorporated with a capital stock of five thousand dollars and Mr. Davies became president. A small factory was opened at the corner of Fourth street and Grand River avenue, and the concern here be- gan manufacturing paint, making the policy of the business to turn out a product of su- perior excellence. This policy, as fortified with the aggressive attitude of the interested principals, is what has brought about the de- velopment of the present splendid business controlled by the Acme White Lead & Color
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Works, of which a detailed description is given on other pages of this work.
On the Ist of January, 1886, Mr. Davies found it expedient to resign his position with Farrand, Williams & Company, in order that he might give his undivided attention to the rapidly expanding business of the paint works, whose trade at that time was confined almost entirely to Michigan. What the growth of the institution has been is measurably shown in the fact that the corporation now operates upon a capital stock of two millions of dol- lars and that its trade extends throughout all sections of the Union and into foreign lands. Mr. Davies has assisted in directing the affairs of this company with consummate skill and discrimination and through his labors has done much to further the commercial and industrial prestige of Detroit. He is a member of the directorate of the National Bank of Com- merce, and is a stockholder in the Kemiweld Can Company and other Detroit corporations, though he still devotes his personal attention almost exclusively to the great manufacturing industry at whose head he has been from the start.
Mr. Davies gives allegiance politically to the Republican party, and he is a thirty-second- degree Mason and a member of the Detroit Club and Detroit Boat Club. Both he and his wife are zealous communicants of St. Paul's church, Protestant Episcopal, and he is now junior warden of its vestry.
On the 4th of January, 1888, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Davies to Miss Su- san V. Dougell, of Windsor, Ontario, a mem- ber of one of the old and prominent families of the dominion. They have two children,- Llewellyn R. and Marjorie.
EDWARD J. RONEY.
One of the native sons of Detroit who has here attained to a position of prominence in industrial and general business circles is Mr. Roney, who is vice-president of the Sterling & Skinner Manufacturing Company, president of the Detroit Motor Castings Company, and
vice-president of the Manufacturers' Power Building Company, each of which concerns is made the subject of specific mention on other pages of this volume.
Mr. Roney was born in Detroit, on the 28th of February, 1863, and is a son of John and Rose (Hawkins) Roney, both of whom were natives of the city of Belfast, Ireland. The father was born in 1830 and was reared and educated in his native land, whence he immi- grated to America as a youth, about the year 1850. He soon afterward took up his resi- dence in Detroit, where he passed the remain- der of his life, his death occurring in 1882. His first occupation after locating in this city was that of driving on an omnibus for the old Biddle House, which was then the leading hotel of the city. Later he became the owner of a transfer and draying line, building up a successful enterprise and continuing to be iden- tified with the same until his death. His wife survived him by a decade, being summoned to the life eternal in 1894. They are survived by six children, concerning whom the following brief record is consistently entered in this con- nection : Edward J., the third eldest of the family, is the immediate subject of this sketch ; Daniel W. is a locomotive engineer by voca- tion and resides in Detroit; John J. is super- intendent of and a stockholder in the Detroit Motor Castings Company ; Miss Rose A. main- tains her home in Detroit; Mary E. is the wife of Otto Beyer, of this city; and Katherine is the wife of Adelbert Allen, engineer at the shops of the Detroit Motor Castings Company.
The subject of this sketch was afforded the advantages of the parochial and public schools of his native city and at the age of seventeen years he entered upon an apprenticeship at the brass moulder's trade, becoming an expert arti- san and beginning his work as a journeyman at his trade in 1884, when he entered the em- ploy of Henry C. Hart, manufacturer of hard- ware specialties, railway-car trimmings, etc. He was finally advanced to the position of su- perintendent of the foundry and he continued in the employ of Mr. Hart until 1890, when he
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accepted the position of superintendent of the Detroit Electrical Works, with which concern he was thus identified until 1893. He then be- came superintendent of the foundry of the McRae & Roberts Company, retaining this po- sition until 1902, in which year he became as- sociated with Ruluff R. Sterling, F. G. Skin- ner and J. C. Danziger in organizing the Ster- ling & Skinner Manufacturing Company, of which he has since been vice-president. In 1906 the same gentlemen, together with John J. Roney, organized the Detroit Motor Cast- ings Company, of which the subject of this sketch has been president from the beginning. He is vice-president of the Detroit Power Building Company, which was organized in the same year, and is a stockholder in the Clark Wireless Telegraph & Telephone Company and the American Smelting & Refining Company, both of which are Detroit concerns of impor- tant order.
In politics Mr. Roney is a staunch adherent of the Democratic party and he is a communi- cant of the Catholic church, being a member of St. Anthony's parish. He is affiliated with the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association and the Knights of Equity.
On the 3d of May, 1893, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Roney to Miss Isabel S. Singelyn, daughter of Charles and Clementine (Posselius) Singelyn. Her father was a mem- ber of the firm of Posselius Brothers, of De- troit, and was known as one of the city's rep- resentative business men. He is now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Roney have five children, whose names, with respective years of birth, are here noted : Edward C., 1895; Celestine M., 1899; John J., 1901 ; Isabel C., 1905 ; and Charles W., 1908.
WALDO A. AVERY.
A prominent and dominating figure in the industrial and financial affairs of the state of Michigan is this well known citizen of Detroit, where his interests are of varied and important order and where he is recognized as a progres- sive and public-spirited citizen.
Waldo A. Avery was born at Bradley, Maine, on the 14th of May, 1850, and is a son of Sewell and Eliza H. (Eddy) Avery, both representative of staunch colo- nial stock in New England, where the re- spective families were early founded. When the subject of this review was but four years of age his parents removed to Michigan and located in Port Huron, which was then a small and obscure village, and there he re- mained until he was about fourteen years of age. His father followed the vocation of lum- berman and both of his parents continued to reside in Michigan until their death. The com- mon schools of Port Huron and Saginaw af- forded Mr. Avery his early educational advan- tages, but his broader education has been se- cured in the practical school of experience, by personal application and by active association with men and affairs. As a boy in Port Huron Mr. Avery secured employment at intervals in connection with the lumbering industry, in which he was later destined to attain to suc- cess and prominence. In 1865 he removed from Port Huron to Saginaw, where he con- tinued his identification with the lumber busi- ness and laid the foundation for a career of marked success and usefulness as one of the world's sturdy army of workers. He soon be- gan lumbering operations on his own account, and his success in this field is due to his inti- mate knowledge of all details of the industry, in which he has long been a recognized author- ity. In 1876, when but twenty-six years of age, Mr. Avery became interested in the own- ership and operation of a number of tugs and lumber vessels, the same being in commission for the handling of logs and lumber on the Saginaw river. These interests he retained and successfully administered until 1883, when he expanded the scope of his operations by se- curing an interest in several large lake vessels, and these were operated under the title of the Hawood & Avery Transit Company, with headquarters in the city of Cleveland, Ohio. This company is still in existence and has a fine fleet of vessels, used in general freight
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transportation on the Great Lakes and han- dling a large tonnage during the navigation season each year. He is also a member of the firm of Richardson & Avery, of Duluth, Min- nesota, which has had very extensive dealings in pine lands and the manufacturing of lumber. The business has wide ramifications and the products find sale throughout a wide territory in the western and middle states. He was for- merly president of the Alabaster Company, of Detroit, Alabaster and Chicago, and when the interests of this concern were merged into the United States Gypsum Company he continued as a stockholder of the latter corporation, of which he is now a director. The fine gypsum mines of the original company are located at Alabaster, Iosco county, Michigan. This com- pany furnished the plaster of Paris for the staff utilized in the construction of the beauti- ful buildings of the World's Columbian Expo- sition, held in Chicago in 1893.
Mr. Avery has maintained his home at Grosse Pointe Farms since 1902, and from 1887 to 1902, on Woodward avenue, Detroit. He has wielded much influence in forwarding the march of progress which has brought the city to the fore-front as an industrial and commer- cial center. He has been president of the American Exchange National Bank of Detroit since 1899, is a director of the Second Na- tional Bank of Saginaw, Michigan, and is one of the principal stockholders and a director in the Detroit United Bank. He has other impor- tant capitalistic investments, one of the most noteworthy of which is in connection with the magnificent Majestic building, on the Campus Martius, Detroit,-one of the most imposing and attractive business blocks to be found in the entire Union. Of this building he is half- owner.
Fully appreciative of the attractions and broadening influences of travel, he has found great satisfaction in indulgence along this line, and has made extensive foreign tours in com- pany with his family, besides having visited the most diverse sections of the United States. In his political allegiance Mr. Avery is found
arrayed as a staunch supporter of the princi- ples of the Republican party, but he has in- variably refused to permit the use of his name in connection with candidacy for public office. As a citizen he is intrinsically loyal and pro- gressive, and he manifests a specially lively interest in all that pertains to the welfare of the city in which he maintains his home. Mr. Avery has two children,-Sewell L., who is now president of the United States Gypsum Company, of Chicago, and Waldo A., Jr., who resides at Portland, Oregon, and is engaged in the timber-land business.
JOHN C. SPRATT.
Within the pages of this work will be found a description of the magnificent enterprise conducted by Parke, Davis & Company,-an enterprise that probably has done more to bring the name of Detroit into commercial apothe- osis than has that of any other single concern, -and it is certainly consistent that in this con- nection be given mention of those men who have fostered the upbuilding of the business and those who are at the present time identi- fied with the management of its affairs. One of the number thus distinctively worthy of consideration is Mr. Spratt, who is the man- ager of the sales department of this greatest of all concerns of the sort in the world.
Mr. Spratt was born in the city of Pough- keepsie, New York, on the 31st of March, 1856, and is a son of William and Mary A. (McDermott) Spratt. The lineage of the spratt family is traced back to staunch Irish origin, and of the immediate line the grand- father of the subject of this sketch was John Spratt, who was born in county Down, Ire- land, whence he immigrated to America and finally removed to Poughkeepsie, New York, in which vicinity he successfully followed the vocation of market gardening. His son Will- iam, father of him whose name initiates this article, was reared and educated in the Emer- ald Isle, where he learned the trade of wagon- maker, to which he there devoted his attention until 1845, when he joined his parents in
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Poughkeepsie, New York, where he secured employment at his trade. Later he entered the employ of Brewster & Company, the fa- mous carriage makers, on Broome street, New York city, remaining with the same until 1887, when he permanently retired from active busi- ness.
John C. Spratt was afforded the advantages of the public schools of his native city, being graduated in the Poughkeepsie high school as a member of the class of 1870. In 1872 he entered the employ of Peter M. Howard, a retail druggist, and in due time he thoroughly informed himself in the technicalities of the business, finally passing an examination and receiving a certificate as a pharmacist, from the state pharmacy board, in 1880. He be- came chief prescription clerk in Mr. Howard's establishment and later was made manager of the business. In 1888 Mr. Spratt made an ex- tended trip through the west and while en route home he stopped in Detroit and made a tour of inspection through the great plant of Parke, Davis & Company. Incidentally he formed the acquaintance of one of the officers of the company and was offered a position, which he accepted, becoming chief clerk in the order department, where he soon made his value known. In 1897 he was placed in charge of the department of traveling service, and when, in 1900, this department and that of the general sales business were merged into what is designated as the sales department, he became head of the same, an incumbency which he has since retained and one in which he has shown marked executive ability and distinctive capacity for the facile handling of multifarious details.
Under the supervision of this department are directed the labors of three hundred and forty-five salaried traveling representatives, and the growth of the business is indicated by comparing this efficient corps in a numerical way with that of 1897, when Mr. Spratt as- sumed the management. At that time only forty traveling men were employed. The rep- resentatives of Parke, Davis & Company now
cover all parts of the civilized world, and on the force are those capable of speaking the various modern languages, while twenty-five per cent. of the number are graduate physi- cians, whose work is chiefly among the mem- bers of their profession, in the introducing and exploiting of the innumerable and stand- ard preparations of the company. The outside emissaries are thoroughly trained by work in the laboratories of the company, three classes being held each year,-two in mid-summer and one during the Christmas holidays. Care- ful instruction is given in technical and scien- tific principles and work, and knowledge con- cerning all details of preparation of goods is imparted, so that the salesmen are thoroughly fortified for giving the most lucid explanations to the trade and to put forth the claims of their concern as being unexcelled by any other in the world. It has long been recognized that the products of the laboratories of Parke, Davis & Company designate the ultimate standard of excellence, and the reputation of the concern for reliability and fair and honorable busi- ness methods has never been assailable from any source. The traveling representatives are men of fine intellectuality, upright in charac- ter and thoroughly en rapport with their work, while all take pride in representing so great and far famed a concern.
In the division of the work of the sales de- partment the branch in London, England, cov- ers China and Japan; Spanish America and the Philippines are covered from the export department, in New York city; Australia and New Zealand, from the branch at Sidney, Aus- tralia; and the Canadian provinces from the branch at Walkerville, Ontario. Mr. Spratt has shown rare discrimination in the selection and training of the salesmen and representa- tives whose efforts are directed through his department, and has been particularly success- ful in handling his men, retaining their confi- dence and respect, and has proven a distinctive force in the administrative affairs of the mag- nificent concern with which he is identified in so prominent and responsible a capacity. He
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enjoys marked popularity in the business cir- cles of Detroit, is liberal and public-spirited in his attitude as a citizen, and is one of the fore- most workers in the Detroit Board of Com- merce, through which the industrial and com- mercial advancement of the city has been so notably promoted. He is a stockholder in the corporation of Parke, Davis & Company. He and his family are communicants of the Catho- lic church, being members of St. Charles' par- ish. He is a member of the Detroit Club and the Detroit Boat Club, and is a valued mem- ber of the Municipal Art Commission of De- troit, to which office he was first appointed in 1906, by Mayor Codd. The family residence is at 253 Field avenue.
In 1881 Mr. Spratt was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Shanahan, daughter of Mich- ael Shanahan, of Poughkeepsie, New York, and they have two daughters, May E. and Marjorie K.
JOHN F. ANTISDEL.
A man of sterling character and one who left a definite impress upon the civic and busi- ness annals of the city of Detroit was the late John F. Antisdel, who was for many years one of the best known and most highly es- teemed hotel men in the northwest and whose name and personality are held in grateful memory by all who knew him and had appre- ciation of his worthy life and worthy deeds.
John F. Antisdel was born in Paris, Oneida county, New York, on the 13th of June, 1829, and was a scion of a family founded in Ameri- ca in the colonial epoch of our national history. The original progenitors in our great republic came hither from England, where the name was originally spelled Antisdale, and in the many generations have been found men who have stood exponent of the best citizenship in the land with whose history the name has so long been identified. The father of the sub- ject of this memoir was a farmer by vocation and came to Michigan with his family in the territorial days, having settled near Brooklyn,
in 1835,-about two years prior to the admis- sion of the state to the Union.
John F. Antisdel was about six years of age at the time of the family removal to Michigan, and his early educational ad- vantages were those afforded in the common schools of the locality and period. Before he had attained to years of maturity his father died, and as he was the eldest son in the fam- ily he became the main support of his mother and his several brothers and sisters.
In 1850, shortly before attaining to his legal majority, Mr. Antisdel came to Detroit, as his younger brothers had by this time become old enough to assume the management of the home farm. In the Michigan metropolis he found employment as clerk in a hotel. His en- ergy and gracious personality soon gained him many friends and aided materially in his start- ing of a peculiarly successful hotel career.
In Detroit, on the 6th of June, 1855, Mr. Antisdel was united in marriage to Miss Sarah J. Parshall, a beautiful and noble daughter of Joseph Parshall, who was a well-to-do farmer of Drayton Plains, Oakland county, Michigan. This marriage was the direct sequel of verita- ble "love at first sight," and the beautiful ro- mance continued throughout the life of Mr. Antisdel, than whom few men have found greater happiness than did he in his family re- lations.
In 1857 Mr. Antisdel and his brother-in- law, James Parshall, became proprietors of the Finney hotel, which stood where the Kern store is now located, at the southeast corner of Gratiot and Woodward avenues. They were successful from the start and about one year after the initiation of their hotel enter- prise Mr. Antisdel became proprietor of the Railroad hotel, which was located on the pres- ent site of the Detroit Opera House and which was long a landmark of the city. Prosperity attended this venture likewise, and within a few years Mr. Antisdel purchased the hotel property. He conducted this popular hostelry for many years, and in the meanwhile accumu- lated all the property running through from
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the hotel to Gratiot avenue. Finally he was offered fifty thousand dollars for the prop- erty, and although he was at the time in ex- cellent financial circumstances and found no necessity for disposing of the property, the price offered was considered so phenomenal as touching Detroit real-estate values that he ac- cepted the offer made. He then bought the Blindberry hotel, on the corner of Michigan and Washington avenues, where the Cadillac hotel now stands, and this building he remod- eled, giving it the name of the Antisdel House. From this location he finally removed to the old Biddle House, which is still standing, on Jefferson avenue. He leased the Biddle House and conducted the same successfully for sev- eral years. This was at the time one of the largest hotels in the west and was known all over the country. It reached the zenith of its fame and popularity while under his man- agement and control.
Being wealthy at this time, Mr. Antisdel re- tired from business and entered a life of leis- ure, in his attractive home on Jefferson avenue. But being in the prime of life and endowed with dominating ambition, he decided to re- enter active business. He accordingly removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he became proprietor of the Newhall House, which was then the finest hotel in the Badger state. Here he lost a large part of his fortune in the years following the panic of 1874.
In 1884 Mr. Antisdel returned to Michigan and leased the Fraser House in Bay City, where he remained until 1894. In that year he returned to Detroit, and he then effected a lease of the celebrated summer resort, the Met- tewas, at Kingsville, Ontario, Canada. Here he was successful, and he continued to be the lessee of the hotel up to the time of his death, which occurred on the 15th of May, 1900.
Mr. Antisdel was a devout and consistent Christian and was a member of the First Bap- tist church of Detroit for nearly a half century. For many years he was a trustee of this church and also superintendent of its Sunday school. He was a very liberal donor to all charities, al-
though his benefactions were invariably of the most unostentatious order. Kalamazoo College, a Baptist institution, was the recipient of many valuable gifts from him, and he was a member of its board of trustees for a long period. He was very domestic in his tastes and habits, having no inclination for public life, notwithstanding the semi-public nature of his vocation, and the only public office he ever held was that of fish commissioner of Wiscon- sin, an appointment conferred by Governor Smith and one of which he continued in ten- ure up to the time of his departure from the state. His business constantly brought him in contact with all classes of people, and his genial nature and generous disposition won him loyal and enduring friendships, while the essential nobility of the man gained to him unequivocal confidence and esteem. Mr. An- tisdel is survived by his widow, Sarah J. An- tisdel, and by four children,-James F., who is engaged in newspaper advertising business in New York City; John P., who is engaged in the practice of law in Detroit; and Ella M. and Minnie Blanche, who, with their mother, reside in Detroit.
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