USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > History of Detroit and Wayne County and early Michigan: A Chronological Cyclopedia of the Past and Present, Vol. II > Part 10
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In 1874 he became a member of the lumber firm of Alger, Smith & Co., which owns extensive tracts of land in Alcona, Alger, Chippewa and Schoolcraft Counties, in the Upper Peninsula, as well as in Can- ada, on the north shore of Lake Huron, and deal very extensively in long timber. Mr. Smith is also one of the directors and treasurer of the Manistique Lumber Company, which was organized in 1882 with a capital of $3,000,000 and owns 80,000 acres of tim- ber land. He is president of the American Eagle Tobacco Company, president and treasurer of the Detroit and St. Clair Plank Road Company, vice- president of the Detroit, Bay City & Alpena Rail- way Company, vice-president of the American Ex- change National Bank, and also vice-president of the State Savings Bank, and a director in the Mich- igan Mutual Life Insurance Company, and in the Woodmere Cemetery Association. In all these various enterprises the force of his personal efforts and wise counsel have been helpful factors and have largely conduced to their success.
Indomitable will and energy, unflagging indus- try and clear perception, have placed him among the foremost of the business men of Michigan. In the conduct of his business he has been always progres- sive, almost to radicalism, and has gained the first and largest profit from the adoption of new lines of policy, in which others followed after their safety had been proven by his success. He possesses the business courage which comes from faith in his own abilities and judgment. A self-made man in the best sense, he is unassuming in demeanor, but firm and persevering in a course he decides to be right. Thorough and earnest in every undertaking, all his affairs are conducted with systematic exactness. There has been nothing sensational or speculative in his career, and he has used his large fortune in ways that have contributed much to the material advancement of Detroit, and is enthusiastic in every undertaking by which the best interests of the city can be advanced. A natural lover of art and a dis- criminating critic, his daily occupation for many years compelled an attention to its details which would have educated a less sensitive eye and he has naturally given generous encouragement to the art movement in Detroit, aiding in securing the erection of a permanent museum.
Personally he is an agreeable, courteous gentle- man, and easily makes warm friends. Generous and warm hearted, and possessing a kindly and sympathetic spirit, he has been a liberal contributor to all worthy and benevolent enterprises. He is a regular attendant at the Fort Street Presbyterian Church, but is in no sense denominational in his sympathies and gifts. In sterling good sense, genuine public spirit, thorough integrity and a pri- vate life above reproach, he is one of the very best
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representatives of Detroit's most honored citizens. He is prominently identified with the masonic fra- ternity and has filled the office of Grand Treasurer of the Grand Commandery of Michigan. His politi- cal affiliations have been with the Republican party, but he has manifested no ambition for politi- cal honors and has never held an elective office. In 1872 he was appointed Police Commissioner to succeed the late Governor John J. Bagley, and has held the position ever since.
He was married in 1862 to Mary E. Judson of Detroit.
WILLIAM H. STEVENS is the grandson of Phineas Stevens and the son of Phineas Stevens, Jr., and was born September 13, 1820. Phineas Stevens served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and after the war settled in the city of Geneva, New York, and there became the proprietor of a large landed estate, upon which he raised his fam- ily. In the war of 1812 he and four of his sons enlisted, served during the war, and were honorably discharged in 1816.
One of the sons, Phineas Stevens, Jr., married Rhoda Glover ; entered into the lumbering business on the Chemung, Canisteo, Conhocton, and Tioga rivers and their tributaries, and from year to year increased his business until he became one of the largest lumber and timber dealers in western New York. His first son Alexander C. Stevens, was born in 1818, and was also engaged in the lumber trade, and about the year 1827, when he had a very large stock of lumber, timber and shingles, a finan- cial panic swept over the country, and his stock, which he had rafted to tide-water, would not bring what it cost at the point where it was manufactured, and within two or three years the falling off in the price of his goods, caused him to lose all that he had made and left him in debt, and under the iniquitous laws of that period, as he could not pay, he was sent to jail, and his family left in such straitened circumstances that his wife was obliged to engage in various sorts of employment in order to support the family.
His son, William H. Stevens, at the age of eleven engaged with a farmer and worked for his board for two years. When thirteen years old he com- menced to learn locomotive engineering ; served four years in the shop and on the road and was soon promoted to run a wrecking train. He then secured a freight train, and finally, before he was eighteen years old, ran a passenger train. After- wards he served as head fireman on a steamboat ply- ing between Horseheads and Geneva, and followed that occupation during the season. At the close of navigation he commenced to learn the business of a locomotive fireman on a railroad running between
Geneva and Rochester, New York, and in the spring of 1839 was again employed as fireman on a steamboat running between Buffalo and Chicago. In all these operations Mr. Stevens was not merely learning a business, but was employed in solving the problem of burning Blossburg bituminous coal for steam purposes on locomotives and steamboats, and he solved the problem so successfully that the Blossburg coal interests became of immense value.
During the year 1839 he quit steamboating and in the spring of 1840 began taking cattle and horses from Ohio, Indiana and Illinois to Wiscon- sin. In the winter of 1841 he returned with the remnant of his herd to Chicago, and wintered them on prairie hay. After selecting and breaking a team for his own use, he traded off the remainder of his herd for land warrants and located government lands near Chicago and also near Big Foot Prairie, on Geneva Lake. At the last named place he broke up the prairie and farmed for about three years, and then went on an exploring expedition in the North- west, and finally settled in the Lake Superior region, where he remained for twenty years, being em- ployed in exploring timber lands and in mining. After being identified with explorations as a woods- man and axeman for some time, he became an ex- plorer of pine lands, becoming acquainted with scientific and experienced men and gathering valua- ble information in regard to timber, minerals and the geology of the district. His abilities were soon recognized, and he entered into an arrangement with several parties, under which he was to explore for, select and obtain the title to valuable lands and become jointly interested with the parties who fur- nished the capital, they agreeing to give him twenty-five per cent. of the profits arising from said explorations. This arrangement continued until 1861, during which period he gave his undivided time and attention to the exploring, working, open- ing and developing of the mines that he had discov- ered. Between 1861 and 1864 he closed up his accounts after a faithful service of about twenty- five years with the parties forming the association, his proportion of the profits during the period amounting to about $300,000. In the meantime, in 1857, he was married to Ellen Petherick, and in 1862 he concluded to wind up his mining business and remove to Philadelphia, his wife's first home in this country. After living a retired life for a year or two, he again entered into active business, and hearing very favorable representations of the mines and minerals in the Oregon mountains, and after study- ing the mineralogy and vein phenomena of that great range, he again entered the field, and with rare energy and determination he for many years en- dured great risks, privations and dangers in making geological examinations in search of metalliferous
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zones, mineral deposits and lodes, examining a range of country extending north and south from Oregon Territory to Old Mexico, and east and west from Colorado to Nevada, traversing a range of moun- tain country of an area of about a thousand miles in length by about six or seven hundred miles in breadth, which for the most part was an unbroken mountain wilderness. During his explorations he met with many hostile tribes of Indians, with whom he had to contend for the right of way through their country, and he was often involved in skirmishes with their war parties, greatly delaying his plans and sometimes reducing him almost to starvation. During his travels for weeks and months he de- pended for his support entirely upon his pistol and fish-hook. He was also oftentimes in great peril from the desperadoes of the West, who lie in wait upon the trails, and who do not stop at murder if neces- sary to secure their booty. In what was literally the " wild West," he traveled hither and thither in search of mineral deposits with varied success, experiment- ing with various kinds of minerals, gold, silver, lead and copper, and considering their accessibility and prospective value, sometimes settling down at cer- tain points for one, two, or three years, and mak- ing it profitable, and at other times losing. He also often experimented with new methods of separating, refining and treating ores of various kinds and fre- quently made a perfect failure of what was repre- sented as a very available process. His success in the discovery and development of argentiferous lead mines in Montana was quite satisfactory in quality and in value, but not quite so in points of accessi- bility, as it was about four hundred miles over the mountain ranges, valleys, canyons and rocks, and the locality could be reached only with mule teams. Concluding to make further researches for minerals more accessible, he left the Montana mines for future consideration and development and visited Utah, New Mexico and Colorado. While in Colorado he discovered several valuable locations and in 1873 located the most accessible and promising one near Ore City, now known as Leadville, and between the years 1873 to 1876, he built an extensive canal or ditch, some fourteen miles in length, for the pur- pose of placer mining. In the meantime, in 1875, he discovered the so-called carbonate of lead mines in that district. In 1875-6, he continued his ex- plorations in the placer mines and also to some extent developed his carbonate of lead mines. The development proving satisfactory, he made applica- tion to the government for title, made expenditure sufficient to comply with the law, secured his gov- ernment title and began to ship ore from the mine. When it was discovered by others that he had se- cured the title to mineral lands of value, opposition began to be manifested by the bunkos, mine-jumpers
and highwaymen who had flocked to that country during the war. Their endeavors caused much liti- gation and heavy expenditure to defend the rights of the legal and moral owners of the mining estates, as well as of the corporations which succeeded them. In the end, however, the company which had been organized was successful not only in defending their rights, but in the management and working of the mine.
The company which Mr. Stevens organized is known as the Iron Silver Mining Company, and has realized from the sale of ore over six millions of dollars. Over $2,444,000 of this amount has been earned profits and dividends, and has been di- vided among its shareholders. In the meantime, during all the period alluded to, Mr. Stevens was engaged in various other enterprises. He is a large land proprietor, with heavy interests in steam- boats and in manufacturing concerns, and has an extensive stock farm near Detroit. He is also a leading stockholder and the President of the Third National Bank.
Notwithstanding the great amount of hard work that he has performed and the many privations he has endured, he is still active and vigorous, and while he has accumulated a large fortune he has exercised so much self-denial in obtaining it that he is entitled to all the satisfaction and comfort it can bring. Personally he is rather blunt in his address, but is thoroughly reliable and is using his means in a way that is an advantage to others as well as to himself.
WILLIAM BRIGHAM WESSON was born in Hardwick, Worcester County, Massachusetts, March 21, 1820, and is the son of Rev. William B. Wesson, who for many years was pastor of the Congrega- tional Church of Hardwick. The family is easily traced for two hundred years in New England, and some of the name have lived in the same town, and in the same homestead, for nearly a century. The English ancestors are traced for several centuries. The ancient records of the English cathedral of Ely show their names in regular order back to the twelfth century. The American branch of the fam- ily dates from the arrival of Wm. Wesson, who came from Ely in 1636, and settled in Hopkinton, twenty miles from Boston. His descendants parti- cipated in the French and Indian wars, and in the war of the Revolution, and were engaged in many skirmishes with the Indians, and as the country grew prosperous and settled, numbers of the family established new homes here and there in various parts of New England and the west.
Mr. W. B. Wesson's connection with Detroit dates from the year 1833. He came when a lad of thirteen with his brother-in-law, the late Moses F.
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Dickinson. Soon after his arrival he attended a private school taught by D. B. Crane, in the old University building, on Bates Street, and when a branch of the University was opened in the same building, he continued his studies under the same roof, and, in 1841, entered the literary department of the University at Ann Arbor, being the first member of the Sophomore class, and the only one that year. Before he had completed his studies he was taken ill and compelled to take a rest at his old home in Hardwick, where he remained for six months.
On his return he entered the law office of Van Dyke & Emmons, at Detroit, and two years later was admitted to the bar. His attention, however, was almost immediately attracted to the possibilities connected with the real estate business, and he soon formed a partnership with Albert Crane, and entered actively upon an uninterrupted career of success. Their business early assumed such proportions that, practically, they had no competitors. They became the pioneers in the business of subdividing large tracts of land and disposing of the lots, and were the first to sell lots upon long time, with only a small payment down. This method not only created a brisk demand for their property, but by encouraging persons of limited means to become lot holders, they stimulated habits of thrift and industry, and thereby greatly served hundreds of their fellow- citizens. There are many persons in Detroit to-day owning comfortable homes who probably would not be so well situated but for the opportunities offered them by Messrs. Crane & Wesson.
Their methods also greatly aided the manufactur- ing interests of the city, because of the encourage- ment afforded to laboring men to obtain a home, and many were drawn hither and remained here because of these opportunities. So widely and favorably known did their firm become, that they soon had their hands full of business, investing for others as well as for themselves. They operated not only in Detroit, but in Chicago as well; and after twenty years, when they dissolved partnership, Mr. Wes- son's share of the business amounted to over half a million dollars.
Mr. Crane removed to Chicago and Mr. Wesson retained the Detroit business, and continued it with constant success, increasing his capital several times over. He has himself erected over a thousand buildings, and probably owns more improved and productive property than any other person in Detroit.
The names of scores of streets, dedicated with- out cost to the city, fitly perpetuate the record of his extensive landed transactions. His long experi- ence in real estate matters has made his judgment almost infallible as to present and prospective values of real estate in any part of Detroit or its vicinity,
and his knowledge is frequently utilized in the set- tling of landed estates, and in the determining of values for various purposes. His investments, how- ever, have not been wholly in the line of real estate, and he has found time to engage in various public enterprises. He was for several years president of the Detroit, Lansing & Howell Railroad, and aided materially in securing its completion, and it may be stated, as a remarkable fact, that his services were rendered to the company for a series of years with- out drawing the salary attached to the office, and he declined to receive any pay for his services. He was also prominent in the building of the Grand River and Hamtramck street railroads. He has served as president of the Wayne County Savings Bank and of the Safe Deposit Company since the organization of these corporations. He is also president of the Detroit Safe Works, and director and large stockholder in the First National Bank. He is also a large holder of railroad stocks, and owns both wild and farming lands in many counties in Michigan, besides real estate in other States, and hundreds of pieces of valuable property in Detroit, which he is continually improving.
His political faith is that of a strong Republican, but he takes little active part in political life. He has been frequently solicited to run for Congress, and could have easily secured a nomination if he would have accepted. In 1872 he was nominated for State Senator, and although the district was strongly Democratic, he was elected by a large majority, carrying every ward and town in the dis- trict. As State Senator he proved so useful a friend to the University that the faculty, without his pre- vious knowledge of their purpose, conferred upon him an honorary degree.
Notwithstanding the care of his varied and ex- tensive business interests, Mr. Wesson never seems to be hurried; each item of business receives its proper share of attention, and each caller as well; he treats all with uniform courtesy, and no one is ever made unpleasantly conscious of the fact that he is dealing with a person possessed of large wealth. He is apparently always even-tempered, friendly, and has no hard lines in his face or dispo- sition. He is always liberal, kind-hearted, gener- ous, and scrupulously unostentatious. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
In his intellectual life he keeps pace with the best thought of the day, and his library gives abundant evidence of personal and skilled selection. His residence at Wessonside, on the river, in the extreme eastern part of the city, is unsurpassed by any in Detroit in its elegance and in the beauty of its loca- tion. The grounds embrace eight acres, slope gently towards the river, and include all that one could wish in way of trees and flowers, with boat-
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ing facilities and various other enjoyments amply arranged for.
Mr. Wesson married Lacyra Eugenia Hill, eldest daughter of the late Lyman Baldwin, in 1852. His only surviving child is Mrs. Edith W. Seyburn, wife of Lieutenant S. Y. Seyburn, of the Tenth United States Infantry. Mr. Wesson died June 18, 1890.
WILLIAM WOODBRIDGE was born in Nor- wich, Conn., August 20, 1780. His father, Dudley Woodbridge, was a graduate of Yale College, and educated for the bar, but the breaking out of the Revolutionary War about the time he was ready to practice, closed the courts of justice, and he aban- doned his profession, and became one of the " minute men " of Connecticut. After the war he emigrated from Norwich, Conn., to the Northwest Territory, and became one of the earliest settlers of Marietta, removing his family there as soon as a residence could be provided. Three of his children, including William, were left at school in their native State, until a few months before St. Clair's defeat in 1791, when William was brought to Marietta, and for a time attended a school in the Block House, taught by a Mr. Baldwin. He remained four or five years in the Territory, spending a year at school among the French colonists, at Galliopolis. From there he went back to Connecticut, where he remained until 1799. He then returned to Marietta to assist his father, who was then engaged in mer- cantile affairs. As the population increased his father's business enlarged, and he constructed a ves- sel, loaded it with furs, and, taking advantage of the freshets, sent it to France, making a successful voy- age. This ship was the first square-rigged vessel that ever descended the falls of the Ohio.
In 1802 William commenced reading law and sub- sequently entered the celebrated Litchfield, Conn., law school, where he remained nearly three years, and was then admitted as a member of the bar of Connecticut, and soon after, upon his return to Ohio, he was admitted to the bar of that State, and immediately commenced his professional ca- reer.
In 1807 he was sent as a Representative to the General Assembly of Ohio, and took a leading part in the discussion of many important questions. Early in 1808 he was appointed Prosecuting Attor- ney for the county in which he resided, and held the office until he removed from the State. In 1809 he was elected a member of the State Senate, an office which he continued to occupy for five years. . Late in the autumn of 1814 he received notice of his appointment, by President Madison, as Secretary of the Territory of Michigan, and in addition was also appointed Collector of Customs at Detroit.
In 1819 he was elected delegate to Congress from the Territory of Michigan, and during his term in Congress the project of fitting out an expedition for exploring the Indian country around the bor- ders of Lake Superior and along the valley of the upper Mississippi was matured and determined upon. Through his efforts also, Congress made ap- propriations for the Chicago and Grand River Roads, and for the road through the Black Swamp. After his return to Detroit in 1820, he again became Sec- retary of the Territory of Michigan, holding the office altogether for eight years, and oftentimes in the absence of Governor Cass, performing the duties of Governor.
In the beginning of 1828, Judge James Witherell, who had been for many years the presiding Judge of the Territory, resigned his position, and Mr. Woodbridge was appointed by President John Quincy Adams as his successor. Mr. Woodbridge entered upon his duties in 1828, was made the pre- siding Judge of the court, his associates on the Bench being Henry Chipman and Solomon Sib- ley, both of whom were men with whom it was a source of gratification to be associated, and it has been said that the Bar of Michigan, at that particular period, was not surpassed in ability by that of any State in the Union. The term of office of Mr. Woodbridge expired in January, 1832, and he resumed the practice of his profession.
In 1835 he was elected a member of the conven- tion to form a State constitution, and was the only Whig elected in the district in which he resided, and one of the only four members of that party in the convention. He was also a member of the first State Senate of 1837, and two years later was elected Governor of the State. He entered upon his duties as Governor in January, 1840.
In 1841 he was elected as United States Senator from Michigan, and took his seat on the fourth of March. From the beginning of the session he en- tered with activity into its proceedings. He was made chairman of the committee on the Library of Congress, and was appointed a member of the standing committees on Agriculture, Claims, Com- merce, Manufactures, and Public Lands. The re- ports submitted by him on various subjects were numerous and invariably commanded attention, and the Journal of the Senate shows that during his six years of service, he was attentive and industrious. His senatorial term ended in 1847, and he returned to Detroit, resumed his professional pursuits and cultivated the extensive farm that still bears his name. In addition to the offices named, he held various city, county and State offices and served as Trustee of the University. He was always inter- ested in the educational and religious welfare of the city, was one of the first officers of the local Bible
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