USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 91
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weight Scale Company, of Chicago. In 1903 Mr. Paine became associated with Sherman R. Miller in the purchase of the control of the Incandescent Light & Stove Company, of Cin- cinnati, of which he has since been treasurer. In 1908 he purchased Mr. Miller's interest. The concern is capitalized for one million five hundred thousand dollars and is the largest of its kind in the world. Mr. Paine has also been instrumental in the organization of several other important industrial corporations. He holds membership in the Detroit Country Club, the Detroit Driving Club, the Huron Moun- tain Club, the Chicago Athletic Club, and the National Arts Club, of New York city. In Oakland county, Michigan, Mr. Paine has a model farm of one hundred and fifty acres, known as "Cherry Tree Farm."
In April, 1893, Mr. Paine was united in marriage to Miss Sadie H. Burnstein, and they have two daughters,-Janet and Dorothy.
GEORGE B. RUSSEL.
A representative of one of the old, prominent and distinguished families of Detroit and rec- ognized as one of the progressive young busi- ness men who are proving potent factors in forwarding the industrial advancement of the Michigan metropolis, George B. Russel is well entitled to consideration in this compilation. He is secretary and treasurer of the Seamless Steel Bath Tub Company, one of the large and important industrial concerns of Detroit, and to this corporation he gives the major portion of his time and attention.
Mr. Russel is a native of Detroit, where he was born on the 8th of June, 1873, and he is a son of George H. Russel, one of the city's prominent capitalists and influential citizens and one to whom a special sketch is devoted on other pages of this work, so that a recapitula- tion of the family history is not demanded at the present juncture. After completing the curriculum of the public schools of his native city Mr. Russel was matriculated in the Uni- versity of Michigan, in which he was grad-
uated as a member of the class of 1895 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1896-7 he was a student in the law school of Harvard University, withdraw- ing at the end of his first year. After leaving Harvard he became the general agent for Michigan of the American Finance & Securities Company, of New York, with headquarters in Detroit, and this incumbency he retained until 1904, when he resigned to become one of the organizers of the Detroit Seamless Steel Bath Tub Company, the promotion of which was entrusted mainly to him. In 1904 he was elected secretary and treasurer of the company, and its financial and general accounting de- partments have since been under his able su- pervision. In business circles he has gained a reputation which is not the result of influential family connections or extraneous prestige. He is a thorough and painstaking administrative officer and has had large experience in the handling of financial affairs. A description of the company and business with which he is identified is given in another department of this publication.
In politics Mr. Russel is aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republican party, and he is identified with the Detroit Board of Commerce, the Detroit Club, the Detroit Uni- versity Club, the Country Club, and the Detroit Automobile Club, besides maintaining affilia- tion with the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity of his alma mater, the University of Michigan.
HENRY J. RENTE.
Elsewhere in this publication appears a re- view of the business of the American Radi- ator Company, with especial reference to its Michigan plant, of which Mr. Rente is the assistant manager, being recognized as an able executive and reliable and progressive business man, so that he is well entitled to consideration in this volume, in which definite recognition is accorded especially to those who are contribut- ing to the upbuilding of the "Greater Detroit."
Mr. Rente is a native of the city which is
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now his home, and was born on the 17th of March, 1862. He is a son of Frederick W. and Augusta (Hoche) Rente, both of whom were born in Germany. Their marriage was solemnized in this city in 1859. The father be- came identified with the manufacturing of wire cloth, being employed in the old Snow Iron Works, which later were operated under the title of Snow & Barnum. He continued to be identified with this line of enterprise until he had attained to the age of sixty-seven years, after which he lived virtually retired until his death, which occurred in 1891. He is survived by his wife and five children.
Henry J. Rente, the immediate subject of this review, secured his rudimentary education in a parochial school of the Evangelical church and later continued his studies in the public schools of his native city. He also availed himself of the advantages of night schools for some time and in 1884 he was graduated in the Detroit Business University. For a time he was a clerk in the drug store of B. E. Sickler, with whom he remained for about one year, after which he entered the establishment of the E. T. Barnum Wire & Iron Works, where he learned the trade of wire weaving, becoming specially expert and operating one of the first steam looms utilized in the business. After being thus employed for a period of four years Mr. Rente served an apprenticeship at the ma- chinist's trade, in the works of the Detroit Safe Company, and in 1887 he secured employ- ment as a machinist in the plant of the Michi- gan Bolt & Nut Works, of Detroit. In Feb- ruary, 1889, he accepted a position with the Michigan Radiator & Iron Manufacturing Company, in whose plant he became a tool- maker and general machinist. In 1892 he was promoted to the position of foreman of the machine shop. In 1900 he resigned this office and associated himself with Joseph C. Jacques, Edward Wieber and Louis Risser and organ- ized the Detroit Iron Manufacturing Company, of which he became president and general man- ager. The company was incorporated with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars and its
functions were a general jobbing business in the foundry line. In 1901 Mr. Rente retired from this company and became forwarder of the Michigan plant of the American Radiator Company, successor to the Michigan Radiator & Iron Manufacturing Company, with which he had previously been identified. Since 1904 he has been assistant manager of the plant, as is indicated in the article descriptive of the com- pany and its business. He is a loyal member of the Detroit Commercial Club, is a Repub- lican in politics, is affiliated with the Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows and the Loyal Guards, and both he and his wife attend St. James' church, Protestant Episcopal.
In February, 1893, Mr. Rente was united in marriage to Miss Margretta V. Watson, daughter of Edward C. Watson, of Detroit, and they have three children,-Henry Watson, Sidney Raymond, and Edna.
ALBERT H. ROEHM.
A member of one of the prominent and rep- resentative families of Detroit and numbered among the city's enterprising and public-spir- ited business men, Mr. Roehm is incumbent of the office of treasurer and general manager of the Detroit Carriage Company, data concern- ing which appear on other pages of this work.
Mr. Roehm is a native of Detroit, where he was born on the 5th of December, 1863, and he is a son of Herman and Caroline (Rich) Roehm, the former of whom was long and prominently identified with important business enterprises in Detroit, where he still main- tains his home and where he is now living es- sentially retired from active business. His wife is deceased.
The subject of this sketch is indebted to the excellent public schools of Detroit for his early educational training, and he initiated his busi- ness career when sixteen years of age, by en- tering the employ of Roehm & Davison, whole- salers in carriage hardware, of which firm his father was the senior member. He became city buyer for this firm, and he retained this
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position for a period of two years. In 1881 he became entry clerk in the wholesale hard- ware establishment of Ducharme, Fletcher & Company, and in the following year he ac- cepted a position with W. H. Edgar & Com- pany, wholesale dealers in sugars. With this latter concern he served as shipping and billing clerk until 1885, in which year he assumed a position in the stock rooms of the Detroit Elec- trical Works. In 1887 he was promoted to the position of general inspector in the manufac- turing department of this corporation. In 1889 Mr. Roehm became assistant superin- tendent in the factory of the Rumsey Manu- facturing Company, and when the same was succeeded by the Detroit Carriage Manufac- turing Company he identified himself with the latter in the capacity of superintendent, his honored father having been president of the company. This company was in turn succeeded by the Detroit Carriage Company, and as treas- urer and manager of the latter the subject of this sketch has proven an admirable executive officer. He has the general management of the sales and manufacturing departments and has been a forceful factor in promoting the large and substantial business now controlled by the company. He takes pride in the giant strides which his native city is making along indus- trial and commercial lines and is a firm believer in the "Greater Detroit." He is a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce, is a Repub- lican in his political allegiance and is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, in which he holds membership in Palestine Lodge, No. 357, Free & Accepted Masons, and Peninsular Chapter, No. 16, Royal Arch Masons.
In addition to his interests in the Detroit Carriage Company Mr. Roehm is secretary of the Spider Lake Mining Company, in Ontario, Canada, and secretary and a member of the directorate of the Michigan Storage Battery Company, of Detroit. As a business man he is signally alert and aggressive, and his in- fluence is felt distinctively in each of the cor- porations with which he is identified.
On the 2d of January, 1886, Mr. Roehm was united in marriage to Miss Mary Gackle, daughter of Adam Gackle, a well known citizen of Berlin, Ontario.
EDWARD A. SUMNER.
The Detroit plant of the American Radiator Company is one of the important departments of this great concern, having a force of six hundred men, and the local business of the company has as its able manager Edward A. Sumner, who is one of the aggressive and en- terprising business men of the Michigan me- tropolis.
Mr. Sumner was born in the city of Jackson, Michigan, on the 26th of Otcober, 1874, and is a son of Edward A. and Florence (Bingham) Sumner, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Michigan. The father was for many years identified with the Withington & Cooley Manufacturing Company, one of the leading industrial concerns of Jackson, and he was treasurer of the company until 1889, when he formed the Detroit Radiator Company and removed to Detroit.
The subject of this review was accorded the advantages of the public schools of his native city, and in 1893 he entered the celebrated Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the city of Boston, in which institution he was enrolled three years.
In 1896 Mr. Sumner located in Detroit and served an apprenticeship in the foundry, core, machinery and laboratory departments of the plant of the Radiator Company. In 1899-1900 Mr. Sumner had charge of placing in operation the company's plant at Dole, France. In Au- gust, 1900, he returned to the United States and was given a position in the general offices of his company, in Chicago. Later he was made secretary of the operating board of the company, and in this office he had general charge of the foundry end of the various plants owned by the company. On the Ist of Decem- ber, 1901, he was appointed manager of the Detroit plant, and of this office he has since
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remained incumbent. Under his effective su- pervision the output of the plant has been in- creased twenty per cent., and the business has otherwise been brought up to a high standard. The annual disbursement of the Detroit plant in wages aggregates three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
In politics Mr. Sumner gives his allegiance to the Republican party, and he is identified with a number of representative social and business organizations in Detroit, including the University Club, the Detroit Club, the Country Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the Racquet and Curling Club, the Loyal Legion, and the Board of Commerce, of which he is second vice-presi- dent. He and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church, and are mem- bers of the parish of Christ church, on Jefferson avenue.
On the 28th of October, 1905, Mr. Sumner was united in marriage to Miss Ernestine D. Tappey, daughter of Dr. Ernest T. Tappey, one of the leading physicians and surgeons of Detroit. .
Reverting to the late Edward A. Sumner, Sr., father of the subject of this sketch, it may be said that he came from Massachusetts to Michigan in 1865, and located at Jackson, where he became a prominent and influential factor in industrial and civic affairs. He had rendered loyal service as a defender of the Union in the civil war, having been first lieu- tenant of his company in the Forty-third Mas- sachusetts Volunteer Infantry. In 1889 he re- moved to Detroit, where he became associated with George H. and Walter S. Russel, Charles Stinchfield and Charles H. Hodges in the or- ganization and incorporation of the Detroit Radiator Company, of which he was treasurer and general manager until the plant and busi- ness were purchased by the American Radiator Company. Of this company he was elected second vice-president and a director, and he re- tained these offices, together with that of man- ager of the Detroit plant, until 1900, when he retired from active business. He died at St. Augustine, Florida, on the 21st of April, 1905.
He was a man of sterling integrity and dis- tinctive ability. His life was one of usefulness and honor and he ever commanded the confi- dence and esteem of his fellow men. His po- . litical support was given to the Republican party. He was a member of the Detroit Club, the Prismatic Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the Country Club, the Grand Army of the Republic and the Loyal Legion.
ANTHONY SEEGER.
One of the native sons of Detroit who has here found ample scope for the exercise of his abilities and energies and who has here attained to a position among the representative young men identified with the city's industrial inter- ests, is Mr. Seeger, who is secretary and treas- urer of the Posselius Brothers Furniture Manu- facturing Company, of whose plant and busi- ness description is given in another department of this compilation. In its respective field the concern is one of the most important in the city, and it is most consonant that this work take cognizance of those who have executive control and direction of the enterprise.
Anthony Seeger was born in Detroit, on the 6th of July, 1870, and is a son of Frederick and Elizabeth Seeger, both of whom were na- tives of Funke, Germany, whence they came to America when young folk. Frederick Seeger left his native land in 1846 and immigrated to the United States. He located in Detroit in the year mentioned and here learned the car- penter's trade, to which he devoted his atten- tion for many years, during about a decade of which he was engaged in contract work in the copper regions of the upper peninsula of Michigan, where he passed the major portion of his time between the years 1860 and 1870, in which latter year he returned to Detroit. Here he was for some time in the employ of the Voigt Brewery Company, and he was also engaged in the retail liquor trade at the corner of Second street and Grand River avenue. He was a staunch and enthusiastic supporter of the cause of the Democratic party, and did efficient
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service for the same, though he never sought the honors or emoluments of public office of any kind. He was well known in Detroit and was honored for his sterling integrity and loyal citizenship. His death occurred on the 30th of June, 1907, and he survived his devoted wife by about ten years, since she passed away in 1897. Of their children the following brief data are given : Theresa is the wife of Frank Schoenherr, a successful cigar manufacturer of Detroit; Josephine is the widow of John C. Posselius, who was one of the interested prin- cipals in the Posselius Brothers Furniture Man- ufacturing Company; Anna is the wife of David Hunt, a contracting brick mason of De- troit; Clara is the wife of Oscar L. Buchler, traveling salesman for S. Rothschild & Brother, of Detroit; Louise G. is the wife of John S. Thomas, a traveling representative for the Pos- selius Brothers Furniture Manufacturing Com- pany ; Frank is a successful farmer in Deerfield township, Wayne county, this state; and An- thony is the immediate subject of this review.
Anthony Seeger secured his early educa- tional training in the public schools of Detroit, and later attended the Detroit Business Uni- versity, where he completed a commercial course. Prior to entering this institution, how- ever, he had, when but thirteen years of age, become an apprentice to the trade of wood carving, in the establishment of A. Posselius & Brother. After leaving the business college he again identified himself with the same con- cern, being employed in the factory about six months and then becoming a salesman in the company's store, in 1887. When a reorganiza- tion of the firm was made under the title of F. Posselius & Brothers, on the Ist of January, 1890, he again found employment in the fac- tory, and later he became bookkeeper of the concern, at the time of its incorporation under the present title, August 1, 1890. This office he retained until 1900, when he was elected secretary and treasurer of the company,-a preferment which he had justly earned through his able and assiduous efforts. This dual office
he has since retained and his executive talent comes into play to the furtherance of the in- terests of the company in every department, including that of sales, of which he has direct charge. Since the incorporation of the com- pany the business has increased in volume by fully four hundred per cent.
Mr. Seeger is aligned as a stalwart supporter of the principles and policies of the Democratic party, and he is affiliated with Kilwinning Lodge, No. 297, Free & Accepted Masons, of which he is senior warden at the time of this writing, in 1908.
On January 24, 1895, Mr. Seeger was united in marriage to Miss Betha L. Gibbings, daugh- ter of Thomas P. Gibbings, a well known con- tractor and builder of Detroit. The children of this union are: Edith G., who was born November 18, 1895; Florence L., who was born May 24, 1901 ; and Marion H., who was born August 22, 1905.
ERNEST G. SWIFT.
In another department of this publication is entered a review of the history of the great concern of Parke, Davis & Company, the larg- est manufacturers of pharmaceutical prepara- tions in the world, and it is needless to say that the corporation is one which has had a ponder- ous influence in furthering the commercial ad- vancement and priority of Detroit. In the same connection it is but consonant that men- tion also be made of those prominently identi- fied with the management and control of the great enterprise. Of this number Mr. Swift is one, since he is the incumbent of the re- sponsible and exacting position of general manager of the institution.
Ernest G. Swift was born at Rawdon, prov- ince of Quebec, Canada, on the 14th of Feb- ruary, 1861, and is a son of Thomas and Alice (Sadler) Swift, of English ancestry. Thomas Swift was a farmer in the province of Quebec, where he was reared and educated and where his entire life was passed. His ancestors were numbered among the early settlers in the
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vicinity of Rawdon. Ernest G. Swift received the advantages of the public schools of his na- tive town, and when fourteen years of age he entered the employ of the wholesale drug house of Lymans, Clare & Company, of Montreal. In 1878, while thus engaged, he was matricu- lated in the Montreal College of Pharmacy, from which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1882.
In 1883 he identified himself with Parke, Davis & Company, and here he won steady ad- vancement, receiving several promotions prior to 1892, when he was awarded the office of manager of the Canadian business of the con- cern, with headquarters at Walkerville, On- tario. Under his direction the Canadian or- ganization developed and prospered to such an extent that upon the death of William M. Warren, in November, 1903, he was elected to succeed the latter as general manager of the corporation.
The institution has a corps of thirty-five hun- dred employes, besides three hundred and fifty traveling representatives, and a strong and sure directing hand is needed at the helm. Without special advantages or influence Mr. Swift has won his advancement, and withal he has shown himself signally free from ostentation and un- due show of authority. He has the confidence and good will of the army of employes and is recognized as a sane, careful and conscientious business man of marked executive ability. He is a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce and is in full sympathy with its high civic ideals and commercial co-ordination of work. In politics he gives his allegiance to the Repub- lican party, and he holds membership in the Detroit Club, the Detroit Country Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the Old Club at St. Clair Flats, the New York Drug Club, and the Chi- cago Drug Club. He and his wife are mem- bers of the Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian church.
In July, 1887, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Swift to Miss Alice C. Cope, daughter of Phillip Cope, a representative contractor of
Rome, New York. They have three children, -Herbert D., Clarence B., and Leroy E.
In conclusion is entered the following es- timate which appeared in one of the leading Detroit daily papers of recent date: "It re- quires no small amount of ability and energy to successfully manage the affairs of a con- cern of such magnitude as Parke, Davis & Company. Add to this the functions of secre- tary, and life becomes more strenuous. In spite of the burdens thus imposed Ernest G. Swift finds time to devote to editorial duties, being publisher of the Bulletin of Pharmacy and the Therapeutic Gazette."
CYRENIUS A. NEWCOMB.
In the enlisting of men of so notable enter- prise, ability and integrity in the furtherance of her commercial and industrial activities is mainly due the precedence and great material prosperity of Michigan's metropolis, and the Newcomb, Endicott Company has been espe- cially prominent and potent in its sphere of operations, building up an enterprise which is paramount in extent and importance to any other of similar character in this favored com- monwealth of the Union. The great retail store conducted by this firm dates its founda- tion back nearly two score of years, and the subject of this brief sketch was one of the founders of the business, with which he has been actively identified from the time of its in- ception to the present. The firm has not only kept pace with the march of progress but has been a leader in the advancement, its establish- ment standing at the forefront at each consec- utive stage of development in the civic and commercial affairs of the city in which it is located. The reputation of the firm extends throughout the entire state, into the most diverse sections of which its trade penetrates. It has become trite in later years to speak of the young man as the dominating force in business, but in the light of sober investigation it will be found that the substantial business interests of the country have been conserved
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and broadened under the control of men of ample experience and past the stage of com- parative youth. Thus Mr. Newcomb, still in the harness, has attained to the psalmist's span of three score years and ten, but none can doubt that his powers to-day show no diminu- tion, but rather have been strengthened and matured by his long years of faithful and able service in the commercial field. He has never been inferior to any emergency confronting him, is positive as an individual and has clear- ly shown the qualities of leadership. As sub- stantial voucher for this stands the magnifi- cent business enterprise with which he is iden- tified.
The lineage of the Newcomb family is of ancient and distinguished order, and authentic records trace the genealogy in England back to the twelfth century. The Harlein manu- scripts in the British Museum record the names of the Newcombs of Devonshire from the year 1189. So far as reliable data are ob- tainable, the first representative of the family in America was Captain Andrew Newcomb, who was a resident of Boston, Massachusetts, in 1663, having probably immigrated to the new world either from Devonshire, England, or from Wales. The name became prominent- ly identified with the annals of New England and eastern Canada in the colonial era, and in later generations have been scions who have attained to distinction in public life, in the professions, as scientists and as business men of exceptional acumen and strength. In an early day the family were seized of large tracts of land at Martha's Vineyard and other sec- tions of New England, even including historic Arcadia, to which point they were drawn by reason of the attractions offered under the pro- visions of the English monarch's proclamation of 1761, the French having been driven from their homes in that idyllic region without re- gard to their inherent rights. The sternest Puritanism was represented by the Newcombs of the early days, but in later years members of the family became identified with the Pres- byterian and Methodist churches, while at the
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