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 21
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Six months' work in 1835, at eight dollars a month, furnished the first instalment of funds to pay the cost of a higher education, and his alternate labors as a stone mason and as a country school teacher supplied him with funds until in 1843 he was gradu- ated with high standing.
Mr. Hall has had little to do with party politics, but has always taken a deep interest in the great reformatory agitation which resulted in the over- throw of slavery. As early as 1841, and while a student, he canvassed the State as an anti-slavery lecturer, and again, in 1844, when studying law, he went on the stump as a volunteer champion of Birney, the candidate of the liberty party.
In political economy, however, he was trained as a free trader and in consequence a Democrat. But the great anti-slavery uprising could not for any length of time leave an Oberlin student on any low plane of party politics. Still, it was as a Democrat that he was chosen to the only office he ever held, that of School Inspector in the Board of Education of Detroit, from 1859 to 1863.
He studied law in the office of George E. Hand, was admitted to the bar in 1847, and began practice in company with Judge Hand, but subsequently practiced for many years alone, until the increasing demands which his varied real estate investments and other business enterprises made upon his atten- tion rendered professional labor impracticable.
While in the Board of Education he did the pub- lic a very distinguished service as one of the principal agents in the establishment of a free public library upon the constitutional and statutory basis of the fines collected in the Police Court. The police judge had regularly absorbed the fines he had imposed, so that there was a heavy deficit for which, as matters stood, the county was accountable to the city. The supervisors would not make good the squandered fund unless compelled to, and pro- ceedings were instituted in the Supreme Court to compel them. The Board of Education was the moving party, and their case was successfully pre- sented in a brief drawn up by Mr. Hall. The critical character of this proceeding,-for a lower court had already ruled against the library,-fairly entitles him to such credit as belongs to one of the founders of a great public institution. He was Secretary of the Board the same year, and the records of that body show an elaborate plan which he drew up for the working of the library.
It was at about this time that he began his lum- bering operations. His principal camp is in Isabella county, though he has large interests in pine lands in the northern part of the State, besides a mill and salt works at Bay City. He keeps a large farm, well stocked with Jerseys and short horns, at Gib- raltar, where he first landed as a boy, and there he
Edmund Kace
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has a country house where he spends the most of each summer.
He has been twice married, first in 1846, to Miss Emeline Cochran, of Frederick, Ohio, who died in 1879, leaving a married daughter, Mrs. Henry A. Chaney. Her only son, George Edmund Hall, died in 1875. In 1881 Mr. Hall married Mrs. Mary H. Vreeland. They have had one child, whose name is Frederick.
DE WITT C. HOLBROOK was born in Riga, Monroe County, New York, on August 22, 1819. His father, Benajah Holbrook, was formerly a resi- dent of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, and emigrated to New York early in the century. His son, D. C. Holbrook, received the usual education supplied through the district school, and in August, 1832, came to Michigan, and was engaged in his brother's store in Plymouth. In June, 1836, he came to Detroit a total stranger in search of employ- ment, served as clerk in a dry goods store until July of that year, and then obtained a situation in the Detroit postoffice, where he remained until December, 1837. He next became a teller in the Detroit City Bank, remaining until 1840, when he entered the office of the late Alexander D. Fraser as a law student. Mr. Fraser stood in the very front rank of lawyers composing the Detroit bar, which, in those days, was almost entirely composed of men of finished education, nearly every one being a graduate of an Eastern college. Mr. Fraser was a severe legal instructor, eminent as a chancery lawyer, and in his office and under his eye Mr. Holbrook, by the time he finished his term of study, had ripened into an accomplished lawyer, and he has maintained that reputation through a professional life of forty years or more.
Soon after his admission to the bar in 1843, he was appointed Assistant Register of the old Court of Chancery, which office he held until January I, 1847, when he became County Clerk. He was nominated for the last office without his knowledge, and was the only candidate elected on the Whig ticket. He served in this capacity for two years, and, under the law, was also at the same time Clerk of the Circuit Court, and when his term ceased he had an extensive knowledge of the practice of the courts of chancery and of law. On January I, 1849, he entered into partnership with Alexander Davison, and commenced the practice of law. He subsequently engaged in practice in connection with William A. Howard and Levi Bishop. Mr. Howard withdrew in 1860, and for some five years the busi- ness was carried on by Holbrook & Bishop. In 1872 Mr. Holbrook was appointed City Counsellor, which office he creditably filled for six years.
His industry, faithfulness and loyalty to his clients,
accompanied always with a fearlessness that quailed before no opposition, and a spotless integrity, not only endeared him to his clients but commanded, at all times, the respect of his fellows, and the confi- dence of the entire community.
Added to these traits of character there might also be accredited to him those graces that are born of a generous heart, and which adorn every man who wears an open genial nature. No one who knows Mr. Holbrook well would hesitate to bear testimony to the uprightness of his character, the industry of his daily life, his faithfulness to all trusts and duty, and all would award him the record of an able lawyer, upright citizen, and honorable man.
Mr. Holbrook was married to Mary A. Berdan, September 26, 1850. She died in 1858, leaving one son, De Witt C. Holbrook, Jr., of Montana Terri- . tory, and three daughters, Mrs. Col. F. W. Swift, Mrs. Frank Walker, of this city, and Mrs. White, wife of Rev. John H. White, of Joliet, Illinois.
GEORGE H. HOPKINS, the son of Erastus and Climene (Clark) Hopkins, was born in the township of White Lake, Oakland County, Michigan, November 7, 1842. His ancestors were among the earliest settlers in Connecticut, coming from Coventry, Warwick County, on the Sherbourne, England. The name was originally spelled Hop- kyns. The family, according to Burke, was of estab- lished antiquity and eminence, enjoyed for a long series of years parliamentary rank, served a suc- cession of monarchs, and acquired civil and mili- tary distinction. In the sanguinary wars of York and Lancaster, which for thirty years devastated the fair fields of England, this family is tradition- ally stated to have taken a prominent part, and to have experienced the inevitable consequences-incar- ceration, decapitation and confiscation. They were prominent in the affairs of Coventry in the latter part of the sixteenth century, one William Hopkins, Jr., having been Mayor in 1564, and persecuted for heresy in 1554. He had two brothers, Richard and Nicholas, both Sheriffs of the same town in 1554 and 1561 respectively. Richard had two sons, Sampson, his heir, and William, proprietor of the lordship of Shortley. Sampson was Mayor in 1609. He had three sons, Sir Richard, Sir William, and Sampson, the latter being Mayor of Coventry in 1640. The eldest became eminent at the bar, at- tained the rank of Sergeant at Law, was Steward of Coventry, and represented that city in Parlia- ment at the Restoration. Their estate, by inter- marriage, passed to General Northey in 1799, and he assumed the surname and arms of Hopkins upon inheriting the estate of his maternal ancestor, who was known as Northey Hopkins of Oving House.
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The early Hopkinses of New England are of this family.
The date of the arrival of John Hopkins, the progenitor of the Connecticut line, is not definitely known, but it was not far from the year 1632. About that time the increasing numbers of the colonists suggested the formation of new settlements farther westward, and as a result Hartford colony was established, and in the colonial records John Hop- kins is spoken of as the original owner of the lands then settled. The line of genealogical pro- gression from John Hopkins to Erastus, the father of the subject of this sketch, is as follows: John Hopkins, who was made a freeman of Cambridge March 4, 1635, removed to Hartford the same year, and died in 1654, leaving a widow, Jane, and children, Stephen, born about 1634, and Bertha, about 1635. The widow married Nathaniel Ward, of Hadley. Bertha, in 1652, married Samuel Stocking, of Middletown, and subsequently James Steele, of Hartford. Stephen married Dorcas, a daughter of John Bronson, He died in October, 1689, leaving six children, John, Stephen, Ebenezer, Joseph, Dorcas, wife of Jonathan Webster, and Mary, who married Samuel Sedgwick. His widow died May 13, 1697. The son John had eight chil- dren, one of whom, Samuel, was a graduate of Yale College in 1718, and a minister of West Springfield. Another son, Timothy, was the father of Samuel Hopkins, the celebrated divine, known as the founder of the Hopkinsian School. He was the author of several well-known works, and a prominent charac- ter in Mrs. Stowe's "Minister's Wooing." The widely known Mark Hopkins, President of Wil- liams College, was of the same family. Another son was named Consider. He had a son, Consider, Jr., whose son Mark was the father of Erastus Hop- kins and grandfather of George H. Hopkins. Three of his uncles were in the Continental army during the Revolutionary War. One was captured by the British and starved to death in the " Jersey Prison Ship " in New York harbor, and another was killed by Tory "Cow Boys" while at home on a furlough.
Erastus Hopkins was born in Oneida County, New York, in 1804, and moved with his family from Steuben County, New York, to White Lake, Michi- gan, in 1834, going in an emigrant wagon the whole distance. He cleared a farm in the wilderness, and lived to see the entire neighborhood settled, remain- ing upon the farm until his death in 1876. His wife died in 1864. His son, George H. Hopkins, was at home till his eighteenth year, and then be- came a student at the Pontiac Union School for two terms, and in the winters of 1860-61 and 1861-62 taught a district school in Oakland County. In April, 1862, he entered the Michigan State Normal School, but in August of the same year left that
institution to enter the Union army, enlisting in the Seventeenth Michigan Infantry in a company largely composed of students of the University and of the Normal School, and remained with his regiment until the close of the war. It was known as the " Stonewall " regiment, and saw as severe cam- paigning and fighting as any regiment in the Union service. Mr. Hopkins's brother, Dan G. Hopkins, a member of the same company, was mortally wounded in the celebrated charge of the regiment at South Mountain, September 14, 1862. Another brother, William W., was a member of the Fifth Michigan Cavalry. The Seventeenth Michigan was in active service in Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, at the siege of Vicksburg and Knox- ville, Tennessee, and again in Virginia during the last year of the war.
Soon after the close of the Rebellion, Mr. Hopkins returned to the Normal School and graduated in the class of 1867. He afterwards entered the Michigan University, remained one year in the Literary Department, and graduated in the Law Department in 1871. In 1870 he was Assistant United States Marshal, and took the United States census in one representative district of Washtenaw County, and in a portion of a district in Lapeer County. After his admission to the bar he entered upon the practice of his profession in Detroit, and for eight years was assistant attorney of the Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad Company. During Gover- nor Bagley's term of four years he was his private Secretary, and at Governor Croswell's request served again in the same capacity.
At the State election of 1878 he was nominated by the Republicans on the legislative ticket, made an exceptionally strong run and was elected, though the city went Democratic on the State ticket. In the legislative session of 1879 he was Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, and also served on the Committee on Railroads. He was re-elected to the Legislature in 1880, and served through the session of 1881 and the special session of 1882, and was again re-elected in 1882. In the session of 1881 he was Chairman of the Committee on the University and a member of the Committee on Railroads and Apportionment. On the organi- zation of the session of 1883 he was chosen speaker pro tempore, and as presiding officer made a most commendable record as an able parlia- mentarian. He was also Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and member of the Committees on State Library and the State Public Schools. During his legislative career Mr. Hopkins was an active and earnest worker, and recognized as a safe and careful leader. His previous services in the office of the chief executive made him familiar with the needs and requirements of the State, and his experience
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in State affairs caused his counsel to be often sought. As Chairman of the Committee on Mili- tary Affairs he was prominently instrumental in securing the passage of the laws by which in- creased provisions were made for the maintenance of the State militia under which it is now so admirably organized. He also rendered valuable aid in the passage of the law for the erection of a new University library building. On all local measures his actions were wise and liberal, and revealed a painstaking interest and good judgment. He was the author of the bill for the purchase of Belle Isle, and secured its passage against the most strenuous opposition of many of the leading citizens of Detroit.
Although largely interested in corporations, he has always insisted that corporations should bear their full share of the burden of taxation, and is the author of several laws which have put many thou- sands of dollars annually into the treasury, and thereby reduced the taxes to be paid by individuals.
The law providing for the jury commission of Wayne County, which has done much to improve the jury system for the city and county, is one among many of the acts of a local nature which he secured for his constituency.
Mr. Hopkins has always been a Republican, and has for many years been an active spirit in party management. During the political campaigns of 1882 and 1884, he was Chairman of the Wayne County Republican Committee, and proved himself an efficient organizer and manager. He also served, in 1878, as Chairman of the State Central Commit- tee, and again, in 1888, conducting the campaign in Michigan, which closed so successfully for the party by the election of General Benjamin Harrison as president. He has always taken a warm interest in military matters, and served as one of the military staff during the administration of both Governors Bagley and Alger. For several years prior to the death of Governor Bagley he was intimately asso- ciated with him in the management of various busi- ness enterprises, and by his will was made one of his executors and trustees. The duties connected with this trust are so onerous that he has been obliged to retire from the general practice of his profession, and most of his time is now devoted to the care of the Bagley estate. He is interested in numerous busi- ness projects in Detroit, being director and treasurer of the John J. Bagley & Co. Tobacco Manufactory, and the Detroit Cyclorama Company ; director in the Detroit Safe Company, Standard Life and Accident Insurance Company, Michigan Wire and Iron Works, Lime Island Manufacturers' Company, the Woodmere Cemetery Association, and the Longyear Iron Mining Company, and was one of the incor- porators and a director of the American Banking
and Savings Association, and of the American Trust Company.
In the management of the complicated business enterprises with which he has been entrusted, Mr. Hopkins has displayed singularly good judgment and commendable faithfulness and integrity, and the honorable position he holds has been justly won by personal worth and a high degree of business tact and ability.
WILLARD MERRICK LILLIBRIDGE was born at Blossvale, Oneida County, New York, April 26, 1846, and is a son of Ira and Sophronia (Merrick) Lillibridge, whose ancestors settled in Rhode Island and Connecticut as early as the year 1700. His great-grandfather, Rev. David Lillibridge, was a Baptist minister at Willington, Connecticut, and served in the French and Indian War, and his grand- father, Clark Lillibridge, was a soldier in the War of the Revolution. His father settled at Blossvale about 1824, and reared a large family. Willard M., the youngest but one, attended school at Bloss- vale, prepared for college at Whitestown and Caze- novia Seminaries, entered Hamilton College in 1865, and graduated in 1869. Soon after graduat- ing he accepted the position of Superintendent of Public Schools at Plattsburgh, New York, which position he held for two years. In 1871 he went to St. Louis, where he spent one year in the study of law and then came to Detroit, completed his studies in the office of Walker & Kent, and was admitted to the bar in 1873. He entered at once upon the practice of his profession, and has continued it ever since, practicing alone until 1880, when he became the head of the firm of Lillibridge & Latham, and so continued until 1887, when the firm was dis- solved, and Mr. Lillibridge has since practiced by himself.
He has been almost uniformly successful, and has built up a prosperous law business, having a large clientage among the business firms and cor- porations of the city.
He is a studious, hard-working lawyer, is well read in all the principles of law, and familiar with books and authorities. He has a clear and forcible style, and a pleasing manner at the bar, and suc- ceeds by the thoroughness of his preparation and his devotion to the interest of his clients. He has been engaged in many important cases, among which may be mentioned the Southworth will case, tried in the United States Circuit Court at Milwaukee in 1883, and the mandamus case of Richardson against Swift, argued in the Court of Errors and Appeals of Delaware, in 1886.
Mr. Lillibridge is a diligent student of classical and general literature, believes in a broad culture, and is liberal in his opinions.
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In political faith he is a Republican, but not a politician. In 1874 and 1875 he served as a mem- ber of the Board of Education of Detroit, but has not sought nor desired office.
He is quite largely interested in real estate, is a stockholder in several corporations, and Vice-Presi- dent of the corporation of Samuel F. Hodges & Co., foundrymen and machinists.
He was married December 5, 1882, to Katharine Hegeman, daughter of Joseph Hegeman, of New York. They have one daughter, Aletta A. Lilli- bridge. He and his family attend St. John's Epis- copal Church.
GEORGE VAN NESS LOTHROP was born in Easton, Bristol County, Massachusetts, August 8, 1817. He received a classical education and gradu- ated at Brown University, in 1838, and the same year entered the Harvard Law School, then in charge of Judge Story and Professor Greenleaf. Within a year, his health becoming somewhat impaired, he left school, came to Michigan to recu- perate, and made his home with his brother, Edwin H. Lothrop, of Prairie Ronde, Kalamazoo County. He remained two or three years, occupying himself partly in farm work. In the spring of 1843 he came to Detroit, and resumed the study of law in the office of Joy & Porter.
While yet a student, and before his admission to the bar, by special permission of the Supreme Court, on the application of James F. Joy, he appeared in the celebrated case of the Michigan State Bank against Hastings and others. So ably was his side of the case presented that the Judges openly ex- pressed their admiration of the effort, and predicted for him a brilliant career. In the spring of 1844 he was appointed a Master of Chancery for Wayne County, and in company with D. Bethune Duffield commenced to practice in Detroit, the firm continu- ing until 1856. In April, 1848, he was appointed Attorney-General of the State, and held the office until January, 1851.
About this time the subject of a division of the public school moneys between the public and Cath- olic schools was quite actively discussed, and the regular nominees of the Democratic party at the city election of 1853 were generally believed to be in favor of such division. In opposition to any such plan, Mr. Lothrop was nominated on an independent Democratic ticket, and elected by a large majority.
He was one of the Michigan delegation at the Charleston National Convention in 1860, and was active and earnest in support of the Douglas senti- ment in that body.
From July, 1863, to May, 1872, he served as one of the inspectors of the Detroit House of Correction. In 1867 he was a member of the State Constitutional
Convention; in 1873 he was tendered, but declined, an appointment as a member of the Constitutional Commission, and from 1880 to 1886 served as one of the Commissioners of the Public Library of Detroit.
In May, 1885, soon after President Cleveland was elected, he nominated Mr. Lothrop as United States Minister to Russia, and he was duly confirmed by the Senate. His acceptance of this office, and con- sequent temporary departure from Detroit, called forth many expressions of regret. He was so universally esteemed as a high-minded citizen and friend, and his eminent legal and social qualities so generally known and appreciated, that his absence made a noticeable vacancy both in legal and in social circles. Many evidences of this feeling were manifested, and it is certain that no United States Minister ever went abroad accompanied with warmer . or more hearty good wishes, and no one ever left behind a greater number of appreciative citizens, neighbors, and friends. In the fall of 1888 he re- signed his position, and on his return to Detroit was tendered a public reception, and warmly welcomed.
Mr. Lothrop has always been zealously interested in whatever concerns the moral or literary welfare of the city. In 1853 he served as President of the Young Men's Society, and for several years served as President of the Detroit Association of Chari- ties.
During a quarter of a century he was attorney of the Michigan Central Railroad Company, and at various periods of time was counsel for the Detroit & Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, and Detroit, Lansing & Northern Railroads.
He is a holder of considerable real estate, both in Detroit and in the neighboring townships, and has besides some investments in bank, railroad, and other stocks.
His reputation as a lawyer is not confined to his own State, but is really national. In Michigan he has few peers. It seems almost needless to say that such a reputation has not been gained without reason ; indeed there are many reasons for his standing at the bar. With a mind clear and pene- trating, with ability to grasp great questions, and at the same time consider the smallest details, with a graceful and fluent vocabulary of the purest and most classical English, and with physical vigor and a presence and manner that would command atten- tion in any place, he is both naturally, and by study, fitted for the position he occupies. In addition to all these qualities, he is so transparently sincere, courteous, kind, and genial, that he easily wins esteem.
In all literary matters his taste and discernment are highly cultivated, and he aims to keep abreast with the progress of scientific research.
He has frequently been the choice of his fellow
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citizens of the Democratic party for the highest politi- cal honors, and all who know him must concede his ability to fill any position in the gift of the people.
He was married at Detroit, on May 13, 1847, to Almira Strong. They have four sons and two daughters; the sons, George Howard, Charles Bradley, Henry B., and Cyrus E., all living in De- troit and well known in its society. The daughters are named Anne and Helen. The first named in October, 1888, became the wife of Baron Barthold Hoyningen Huene, First Lieutenant of the regiment of Chevalier Guards of Her Majesty, the Empress of all the Russias.
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