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 22
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WILLIAM AUSTIN MOORE was born near Clifton Springs, Ontario County, New York, April 17, 1823. He was the seventh son and eighth child of William Moore and Lucy Rice. His ancestors. on his father's side were of Scotch-Irish descent. His great-great-grandfather was one of the McDon- ald clan which was slaughtered at the massacre of Glencoe, in Argyllshire, Scotland, on the morning of February 13, 1692. His great-great-grandmother, after the murder of her husband, concealed herself and two daughters in a malt kiln, and on the night following the murder gave birth to a son, whom she named John. The widow, with her children, fled to Ireland, and settled at Londonderry, where they remained until 1718, when they emigrated to America, and were among the first settlers of Lon- donderry, New Hampshire. John subsequently married and had a family of seven children, the third of whom William, married Jane Holmes, on December 13, 1763, and removed to Peterboro, New Hampshire. He was in the War of the Revolution, and fought at the battle of Bennington, July 19, 1777. They had twelve children. The youngest, William Moore, was the father of the subject of this sketch, and was born April 9, 1787. At the age of eighteen he removed to Phelps, Ontario County, New York, where, on November 7, 1806, he mar- ried Lucy Rice, formerly of Conway, Massachu- setts, and who was a niece of the eccentric Baptist preacher, John Leland, of Cheshire, Massachusetts. William Moore was a farmer by occupation, and held various local offices. He was in the War of 1812, and was at the burning of Buffalo and at the sortie at Fort Erie. In the summer of 1831 he removed his family to Washtenaw County, Michigan, and was one of the early settlers of that section. In 1832 he was appointed justice of the peace, which office he held until Michigan became a State, and afterwards held it by election for twelve years. He was a member of the convention called for the preparation of the first constitution of Michigan, a member of the first Senate after
Michigan became a State, and represented Wash- tenaw County in the House in 1843.
William A., during his boyhood, worked on his father's farm, and his earliest educational advan- tages consisted of a few weeks' schooling during the winter. When he was twenty years of age, he determined to follow the profession of law, and in April, 1844, he began a preparatory course of study at Ypsilanti, where he remained two years. He then entered the freshman class of the University of Michigan, and graduated in 1850, a member of the sixth class which left that institution. For a year and a half after graduation he taught school at Salem, Mississippi. In April, 1852, he prosecuted the study of the law in the office of Davidson & Holbrook, and was admitted to the bar on Jan- uary 8, 1853. He immediately entered upon the practice of his profession, in which he has since been actively engaged, and by incessant, persever- ing and painstaking labor, has built up a profitable business. When he began his professional career, admiralty practice formed an important feature in the legal business of Detroit, a branch of work to which he gave special attention and in which he be- came proficient. For many years no important col- lision case was tried in the State of Michigan in which he was not retained, and he was often called to Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago and Milwaukee in his practice.
From deep-seated convictions Mr. Moore has ever been a staunch supporter of the Democratic party, but his tastes do not run in the line of public station or political office. The only offices he has ever held have been those pertaining to local government. From 1859 to 1865 he was a member of the Board of Education, and during this period he served two and one-half years as secretary and three and one- half years as president of the Board. He has been the attorney of the Board of Police Commissioners since 1879. In 1881 he was appointed a member of the Board of Park Commissioners, and was re-appointed in 1884. He was twice elected president of said Board, but resigned before the expiration of his second term, it was thought, because his action on the question of the sale of beer and other intoxicat- ing drinks on Belle Isle Park was not approved by the City Council, which refused all appropriations until the sale of beer should be permitted, although his action was sustained by the best public senti- ment of the city. He was one of the organizers of the Wayne County Savings Bank, and of the De- troit Fire and Marine Insurance Company, and has been a member of the board of directors, and the attorney of both of said corporations since their organization. He is also one of the directors of the American Exchange National Bank. From 1864 to
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1868 he was Chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee, and was the Michigan member of the Democratic National Executive Committee from 1868 to 1876.
During the late civil war he was a warm friend of the Union cause, and while disagreeing with many of the measures and methods pursued by the administration, he never wavered in his allegiance to the government. He gave liberally to aid in secur- ing enlistments and for the relief of the wounded, and since the close of the war has ever been among the foremost in every movement in recognition of the service of the veterans, and is now a trustee of the Soldiers' Monument Association.
Public-spirited and progressive, he readily aids every movement designed to advance the welfare of his fellows. He was one of the promoters of the Art Loan Exhibition, was one of the founders and a contributor for the erection of the Museum of Art, and is now its treasurer.
As a lawyer he has achieved success in the trial of cases, but is especially in demand and appre- ciated as a counselor. He unites to a judicial and independent character of mind, long familiarity with the principles of law, excellent foresight, sound judgment, and above all, unquestioned integrity- qualities which admirably fit him to act the part of conciliator and harmonizer of conflicting interests. His convictions are slowly formed, but a stand once taken is not abandoned for any mere ques- tion of policy or expediency. All his influence has been cast on the side of morality, good govern- ment, obedience to law, and the elevation of his fel- lows. No responsibility that has ever been laid upon him has ever been neglected or betrayed. Many persons with far less of worth have attracted a larger share of public attention, but there are few who have done more to conserve in various ways the best interests of the city. Reared in the Chris- tian faith, he has always had deep reverence for religious principles, and since 1877 has been a mem- ber of the Lafayette, now the Woodward Avenue, Baptist Church. His friendships are strong and en- during, and in both public and private life he is a cultivated, genial Christian gentleman.
He was married December 31, 1854, to Laura J. Van Husan, daughter of the late Caleb Van Husan. They have one son, William V., who is now asso- ciated with his father in the practice of his profession.
GEORGE F. PORTER, for many years one of the leading lawyers of Detroit, was born in the town of Broome, New Hampshire, in 1803. The educational privileges of his youth were limited to the district schools of his native town. At an early age he left home to begin life's battles for himself, and from the savings his industry acquired, he se-
cured the means for obtaining a liberal education, studied law, was admitted to the bar and soon after, in 1829, emigrated to the Territory of Michigan, and settled in Detroit. Here he immediately secured a responsible position in the counting room of Dorr & Jones, at that time one of the leading mercantile houses of Detroit. In this establishment he ac- quired those accurate business habits which dis- tinguished him through life. After spending some years with Dorr & Jones, he was employed by the old Bank of Michigan, and for several years was cashier of the branch at Kalamazoo.
In 1837 he became associated with James F. Joy in the well remembered legal firm of Joy & Porter, which continued for nearly twenty years, and dur- ing that period was represented in most of the important litigations in the courts of Detroit and Michigan. Mr. Porter's commercial accuracy, ex- cellent business methods and high attainments as a lawyer were of great value to the firm, and were in a large degree the cause of its success. His portion of the work of the firm pertained almost solely to office practice, and as a counselor and interpreter of intricate, difficult and close questions of law, requiring deep penetration, a wide general knowledge and a certain judicial quality of mind, he particularly excelled. He was an indefatigable student, and was naturally of an analytical and critical mind-qualities which made his opinion much sought and esteemed. The firm of Joy & Porter became the oldest legal partnership in De- troit, and was not dissolved until Mr. Porter's health began to fail and Mr. Joy became prominently con- nected with railroad management. Mr. Porter was one of the agents of the State in negotiating the sale of the Michigan Central Railroad; was promi- nent in the reorganization of the Michigan State Bank in 1845, and was one of the first directors of the first free school system established in Detroit. He was also one of the original anti-slavery men of Michigan, having been one of the organizers and officers of the first anti-slavery society formed in the State. His interest in the great political ques- tion was deep, and during the days when to be opposed to slavery was to arouse the popular preju- dice, he manfully and unequivocally took sides against a state of affairs the existence of which he believed to be a national disgrace. He did not live to see slavery abolished, but in the beginning of the national struggle which it aroused, and which he foresaw meant its downfall, he gave his loyal support to the Union cause.
He was a firm believer in Christianity, a consist- ent supporter of every good cause, and in every relationship of life an exemplary citizen, husband and father. For several years before his death his health had been gradually failing, and his death,
Sincerely Yours Ralph thees for.
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which occurred on August 21, 1862, was lamented as a public calamity. His prudence, energy, and close attention to business, enabled him to acquire a competency, but he left a name more precious than his fortune, and the record of a life of punctil- ious honesty in spirit and deed, a business and per- sonal career without spot or shadow, and an exam- ple worthy of imitation.
Mr. Porter was married October 26, 1828, to Eliza Smith Gove, of Rutland, Vermont, who died in January, 1879. The result of this marriage was eight children, but two of whom survive, Arthur C. Porter and Mary J. Throop, widow of the late Gen- eral William A. Throop, of Detroit, Michigan.
RALPH PHELPS, JR., was born in Detroit, on November 14, 1859. He is the son of Ralph and Jane Phelps, and his ancestry in America dates back to the time of the War of the Revolution. He was educated in the public schools of Detroit, graduated from the High School, subsequently going to Ann Arbor, where he attended the law department of the University of Michigan and graduated in March, 1879. He immediately entered upon the practice of law and rapidly acquired a large client- age. In 1883 he was elected by the largest majori- ty of any member to the Upper House of the old Common Council, and two years after taking this posi- tion was unanimously elected President of that body, fulfilling the duties of the office in a manner highly satisfactory to his colleagues and creditable to him- self. Whilst President of the Council he was called upon to act as Mayor for a considerable time on account of the illness of Mayor Chamberlain. During his term as President of the Council plans for a new post-office building were submitted to the people of Detroit. These plans showed a very common-place building proposed to be erected upon half of the block bounded by Fort and Lafayette, Wayne and Shelby Streets. Much dissatisfaction being generally expressed both on account of the plans and site, Mr. Phelps, as acting Mayor, called a meeting of the citizens to protest against them and to take steps to secure a structure in keeping with the demands and necessities of Detroit. As a result of this meeting a Citizens Post-Office Com- mittee of ten persons, with Mr. Phelps as one of the number, was appointed to take charge of the matter, and by their activity and persistence in " Washington, together with assistance they received from the members of Congress of this district, they succeeded in having the appropriation largely in- creased, secured the whole of the block for a site, and had new plans prepared. Much credit is due Mr. Phelps for the great assistance he rendered in securing these results.
In 1886 he was elected Treasurer of Wayne
County, receiving the largest majority of any can- didate of either party, and two years later was re- elected by a majority nearly four times larger, hav- ing a majority of 5,833 votes. His management of the office has given universal satisfaction, and almost any political office seems within his reach.
In the fall of 1889, he went to London, England, as the representative of large Detroit brewing in- terests, and successfully closed negotiations for the sales of several of the breweries of this city, a busi- ness transaction which had been long pending be- tween Detroit brewers and English capitalists. He is now a director and legal adviser for the Goebel Brewing Company, which controls four breweries, and is also a director and counsel for the Detroit Electric Light and Power Company, which has secured the contract for lighting the city for the next three years.
He is a prominent secret society man, and belongs to nearly all the leading organizations. He is a member of Detroit Lodge, No. 2, F. & A. M .; Mon- roe Chapter, R. A. M .; Monroe Council, No. 1, R. & S. M .; Detroit Commandery, No. I, K. T .; Michi- gan Consistory, A. & A. S. R., 32°, and a Mystic Shriner, and is also Treasurer and leading member of the benevolent order of Elks of this city.
He is also a member of the Detroit Board of Trade, and of the Rushmere and other Clubs. For five years, from 1884 to 1889, he was President of the Detroit Light Infantry, the crack military company of Michigan, and during his term of office the agitation for a new armory was started which resulted in the erection of the fine and commodious quarters which the company now occupies on Congress Street.
Mr. Phelps possesses an accommodating spirit, and a frank, open-hearted disposition that makes him exceedingly popular. These traits of character, coupled with strong purpose, and much more than average ability, make him a leader in whatever project he becomes interested. He possesses strong financial instincts, which have been trained from an early year by the management of large business interests, which, owing to his father's poor health, had devolved in a great degree upon him. His integrity as a business man and lawyer is un- questioned, and his fidelity to friends and uniformly polite treatment of all with whom he comes in contact, has secured to him a host of friends. He is progressive and enterprising, and is always warmly interested in anything that concerns the welfare of his native city, and his success in the past gives promise of greater achievements in the future.
JAMES ANDRUS RANDALL was born in Detroit, on December 15, 1848, and is a son of
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James Janeway and Caroline M. Randall. He was educated in the old Capitol School, near which the home of his father stood, and at the Goldsmith, Bryant & Stratton Business College. He gradu- ated from the latter when but sixteen, and went to Nashville, Tennessee, for a visit. While there, Governor Brownlow took a great fancy to him, and, despite the disparity in their years, the two became fast friends. As an evidence of esteem the Gover- nor issued to young Randall a commission as Major in the Sixth Tennessee Volunteers, and later de- tailed him to serve on the executive staff.
Returning to the north in 1866, Mr. Randall read law in Larned & Hebden's office, was admitted to the bar in 1869, and began practicing before he was a voter. He had always been fond of politics, and when he had made a namne by handling suc- cessfully several large cases, he found himself agreeably drawn into the fascinations of political life. He was a Democrat, and, in 1874, his party made him Circuit Court Commissioner. He so well fulfilled the duties of the office that he was twice re-elected, each time by largely increased majori- ties, and in 1881 his friends wished to present his name to the Democratic nominating convention as one of the judges of the Third Judicial District, to fill a then existing vacancy, but he declined.
A year later, however, he came before the regular convention called to nominate a candidate for the full term, but he was not its choice. In the spring of 1887 he was chosen by an overwhelming major- ity of the hundred and twenty delegates to the Democratic judicial convention, called for the pur- pose of placing in nomination a bench of four judges, and was nominated three successive times, but was counted out by unscrupulous tellers, and the officers of the convention, which had been organ- ized against his candidacy.
In the fall of 1887 he was chosen a member of the Board of Estimates, and in 1888 elected to the lower house of the State Legislature, where he at once became leader of the Democratic minority.
Mr. Randall has always been a firm believer in the splendid possibilities of Detroit, and has labored unceasingly to make those possibilities realities. His chief work has been for public improvements. In 1884 he took hold of the almost unknown Boulevard project, and was chiefly instrumental in advancing it to its present state.
A prejudiced Council, ignoring the claims of the grand Boulevard, considered $15,000 to be suffi- cient for the work of improvement during the year 1888, while they allowed $231,000 for continuing the improvements on Belle Isle Park. As a member of the Board of Estimates, Mr. Randall denounced the disparity between the two appropriations, and despite the fact that a large majority of the Board
had been elected as anti-boulevarders, and the per- sistent opposition of one of the leading journals of the city, his masterly and eloquent presentation of the merits of the Boulevard as a necessary public improvement, and the unjust discrimination made against it in favor of Belle Isle Park, he had the Park estimates cut down to $15,000 to harmonize with the Boulevard allowance.
Mr. Randall next went to the Legislature and passed a bill consolidating the Park and Boule- vard Commissions so as to avoid future antagonism between those two public improvements ; intro- duced and passed a bill authorizing Detroit to issue bonds to the amount of $500,000 for the purpose of improving the Boulevard, and drafted the bill authorizing the issue of $400,000 in bonds to com- plete the improvements of Belle Isle Park. But Mr. Randall's legislative labors were not concentrated upon these measures alone. The Democratic mi- nority in the House of Representatives, recognizing his fitness, nominated and voted for him as their candidate for speaker of the House.
He was the means of passing the bill allowing Detroit to issue $500,000 in bonds for constructing new trunk sewers. He introduced and passed the new registration law for Detroit ; he framed and in- troduced a general election law for Detroit, the adoption of which would insure pure elections, the registration feature of which passed the House. He fought hard for the passage of his bill repealing the law taxing mortgages and other mere evidences of debt, and fought valiantly for its adoption ; and, in short, gave intelligent attention to all meas- ures of importance that came before the Legislature, and rendered capable service on the judiciary and municipal corporations committees.
Mr. Randall, though a lawyer, has many other business interests. He is a large holder of real estate, is Vice-President of the Cole Conduit Com- pany, of Detroit, also of the Detroit Graphite Electric Company, a director in the Put-in-Bay Hotel Company, First Vice-President of the Home Loan and Building Association, and is a director in and large owner of the Kansas City News.
Personally he is of a jovial disposition, accepting both reverses and success with philosophic calm. He is the personification of frankness in everything, a strong speaker, and effective ; a ready debater, a · logical thinker, a good fighter and a hard hitter. The secret of his success lies in his steady perseverance and resolute determination. Of a portly build, he has a fresh blonde complexion, a pleasant face and distinguished appearance. Although compara- tively a young man, he has attained prominence both in the professional field and in business pur- suits.
W. C. G.
C. I Walk .
JUDGES AND) LAWYERS.
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JOHN WINDER, of Detroit, was born at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1805, His father, James Winder, was a native of Virginia, and his mother a native of New Jersey. He received a thorough English education in his native town, and in 1824 left home for Detroit, in the employ of Major Thomas Rowland, who was then United States Marshal. In 1826 he was appointed Clerk of the Supreme Court of the Territory, and held the office until 1840 In 1837 he was appointed Clerk of the United States Circuit and United States District Courts for Michigan. He held one of these offices until 1870. He is a man of robust constitution, is social and genial in nature, and has a host of friends.
CHARLES I. WALKER, one of the best known and most prominent lawyers of Detroit, was born at Butternuts, Otsego County, New York, April 25, 1814. He is a descendant of a sturdy old New England family, admirably fitted for the furnishing of such elements as are needed to command success amid the hindrances of a new and growing country. His grandfather, Ephraim Walker, was born in 1735, and married Priscilla Rawson, a lineal descendant of Edward Rawson, who graduated from Harvard College in 1653, and for nearly forty years was secretary of the Colony of Massachusetts, and while holding the office took a bold stand against the usurpation of Governor Dudley. He built a family mansion on the corner of Westminster and Walker streets, at Providence, Rhode Island, and there, during the year 1765, Stephen Walker, the father of C. I. Walker, was born. In 1790 he married Polly Campbell, who died in 1795, leaving two children. In the follow- ing year he married Lydia Gardner, a Quakeress of Nantucket, who became the mother of eleven children, of whom C. I. Walker was the ninth in order of birth. Of this large family, the youngest had reached the age of twenty-one before death invaded the household. Stephen Walker was a house builder, a man of thrift, energy and high principle, who gave his children every advantage in his power. A writer in the " Book of Walkers" says: " He was a man of fair abilities, sterling good sense, honest, temperate, and remarkably industrious. He labored for the good of his family, and his ambition was to train them in the path of honor, usefulness and piety." His wife "was strong in person and character ; a woman of inex- haustible energy and resources, and the care of thirteen children set lightly upon her." The family resided at Providence until 1812, when they re- moved to Butternuts, where the boyhood of Charles I. Walker was passed.
He obtained his primary education in the district school in his native village, supplemented by one
term at a private school at Utica, New York. At the age of sixteen he became a teacher, and a few months later entered a store connected with a cot- ton mill at Cooperstown, New York, where he remained four years. In 1834 he left this employ- ment and made his first journey to the West, going as far as St. Joseph, and on his way passing through Detroit. In the spring of 1835 he returned to Cooperstown, and on his own account engaged in mercantile business, but sold out the following year to remove to the West. In prospecting for a home he visited Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, and finally settled at Grand Rapids, where he became a land and investment agent and built up a good business, but the suspension of specie pay- ment and the period of financial depression which ensued, compelled him to discontinue. In Decem- ber, 1836, he was elected a member and was chosen secretary of the Territorial Convention to consider the question of the admission of Michigan into the Union. He was subsequently for two years editor and proprietor of the Grand Rapids Times, the only paper then published in that now thriving city. In 1838 he was elected justice of the peace, and then left journalistic life and began the study of law under the guidance of the late Chief Justice Martin. In 1840 he was elected a member of the State House of Representatives from the dis- trict comprising Kent, Ionia, and Ottawa Counties, and the territory to the northward not yet included in any county organization. In the fall of the fol- lowing year he removed to Springfield, Massachu- setts, in order to complete his law studies. He became a student in the law office of Henry Morris, afterwards a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, remained in Springfield until the spring of 1842, and then studied law under the preceptorship of Dorr Bradley, of Brattleboro, Vermont. In the following September he was admitted to the bar, and at once entered into partnership with Mr. Bradley. In 1845, Hon. Daniel Kellogg, of Rock- ingham, Vermont, having been elected justice of the Supreme Court, Mr. Walker obtained his prac- tice and business, remaining in Rockingham three years, and upon the completion of a railroad to Bellows Falls, Vermont, he removed to that place. By this time he had acquired a large and growing practice, extending into the adjoining counties, but the West attracted him, and in 1851 he returned to Michigan and settled in Detroit, where his brother, E. C. Walker, had already established a successful legal business. They entered into partnership, and in July, 1853, Alfred Russell was admitted as a partner, the firm name being Walkers & Russell. Their practice was principally in collections and commercial business. and Mr. Walker, desiring to devote himself principally to trial of causes and
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