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 27
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Commencing with a small retail and custom trade, the latter branch of his business has grown to such proportion that at the present time he probably manufactures more of the finest grade of custom boots and shoes than any other concern in the United States. On the site where he began business, a five-story building, 22x100 feet in dimen- sions, was erected in 1875. In 1881 he bought out the boot and shoe establishment of A. R. Morgan, successor to Rucker & Morgan, located at 106 Woodward Avenue, and from that date until 1885 conducted a branch establishment at that location. At the latter date he opened a branch store at 183 and 185 Woodward Avenue, and at these two establishments about one hundred persons are employed. Since 1873 Mark B. Stevens has been a partner in the business, under the firm name of R. H. Fyfe & Co. Mr. Fyfe's success in business, although rapid, has been healthy and natural. He has been both progressive and practical, giving his whole time and attention to building up, enlarging the scope and improving the character of his work.
He was married October 27, 1868, to Abby Lucretia Albee Rice, daughter of Abraham W. Rice. She was born in Marlboro, Massachusetts. A member of no religious denomination, Mr. Fyfe is in hearty sympathy with all church work. For the last twelve years he has been a Trustee of the Westminster Church, and has been largely instru- mental in promoting the financial welfare of that organization. He served for a number of years as a Trustee of the Michigan Medical College, in the success of which he took great interest, and did much towards strengthening that institution by aiding in introducing practical business methods into its management. He was instrumental in effecting its consolidation with the Detroit Medical College, which resulted in the establishment of the prosper-
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ous and successful Michigan College of Medicine, of which he is also a Trustee.
Politically Mr. Fyfe has generally acted with the Republican party, but aside from representing his party in State and other nominating conventions, he has had little to do with party management. Socially, he is a pleasant and affable gentleman, and a prominent member of the Detroit, Lake St. Clair Fishing, and the Grosse Pointe Clubs, but is best known as a successful, self-made business man, and one who extends willing and ready aid to all projects that pertain to the advancement of the city.
RUFUS W. GILLETT was born at Torring- ford, Litchfield County, Connecticut, April 22, 1825. On the paternal side his ancestors were French Huguenots, while his mother represented one of the early Puritan families. John Gillett, the first of the name in America, came from England and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1634, and was the founder of a family which has given to New England and other parts of the country a large num- ber of enterprising business men, and a number of prominent and influential members of the clerical and medical profession. Mr. Gillett's grandfather, John Gillett, was a minute man at the battle of Bennington, and served as Lieutenant of a company until the close of the War of the Revolution.
John Gillett, the father of Rufus W. Gillett, was born in Torringford in 1776, and died there in 1857. He was a farmer, but engaged in numerous other business enterprises, possessed rare good judgment, and was a prominent factor in the poli- tical history of his native town and county. He was a man of sterling integrity, his judgment was consulted in all local public affairs, and he held the most important town offices, and for twenty years represented the county in the State Legislature. For many years he was the home agent for a land company in Ohio. His wife's maiden name was Mary Woodward. She was a daughter of Dr. Samuel Woodward, for many years a leading phy- sician of Torringford, whose ancestors settled in Massachusetts in 1632. Four of his sons were physicians, and all of them became well known in New England as possessing a high degree of pro- fessional ability. The family was also related to Judge A. B. Woodward, at one time Chief Justice of the Territory of Michigan.
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The boyhood days of Rufus W. Gillett were passed upon a farm. He was educated at the com- mon school and public academy of his native town, and at the age of seventeen years, became a clerk in a country store at Litchfield, Connecticut, where he remained two years. The next five years were spent as a merchant and farmer in his native town, and for the three years following he served as
agent of New York and Connecticut cutlery manu- facturing companies. In 1856 he was appointed Secretary and Treasurer of the Woolcotville Brass Company, retaining the position until January, 1862, when he came to Detroit. Here he embarked in the grain commission business, as a partner of A. E. Bissell, under the firm name of Bissell & Gil- lett. This partnership was continued for six years, after which Mr. Gillett, with Theodore P. Hall as partner, founded the well known grain commission house of Gillett & Hall. The business interests of this firm have grown in volume from year to year, until at the present time the extent of their opera- tions excel those of any firm in the same line in the State. Besides their regular commission business, they buy large quantities of corn and oats in Missouri, Kansas, and other Western States, for eastern sale and for export.
Mr. Gillett has been prominent in the manage- ment of the affairs of the Chamber of Commerce, and has served as President for several successive years. He has been President of the Preston Na- tional Bank since its organization. He is Vice- President of the Detroit Copper and Brass Rolling Mill Company. He is also Vice-President of the Gale Harrow Manufacturing Company, a Director in the Standard Insurance Company, and is con- nected with several other business interests in Detroit. He was one of the corporators and is President of the Woodmere Cemetery Association.
Politically he has always been a Democrat, but although interested in the maintenance of good government, has preferred to discharge his political duties as a private citizen. Repeatedly offered party nominations in the municipal government, he has always refused to become a candidate. He has, however, served on the Board of Estimates, and, in 1880, was appointed one of the Board of Fire Com- missioners, which position he still occupies.
During his quarter of a century's residence in Detroit, he has been eminently successful in busi- ness, and has the full confidence of the business public. His evenness of temper and natural affability attracts friends, making him socially popu- lar and his company desirable. In business matters, that person is fortunate indeed who can command his esteem and co-operation. He comes from a long lived ancestry, from whom he inherited a robust constitution, and he continues so hearty and vigor- ous that he has seemingly many years of active life before him.
Mr. Gillett was married May 26, 1847, to Charlotte M. Smith, a daughter of Nathaniel Smith, a mer- chant of Torringford, who was postmaster for over forty years. He held many other responsible posi- tions, and was a prominent citizen of that part of the State for many years. Mr. Gillett has had three
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children. The eldest, Mary Woodward, married Henry K.Lathrop, Jr., of Detroit ; the second, Charles Smith, died at Detroit, October 18, 1876, at the age of twenty-six years. The youngest daughter, Hattie Winchell, married William R. Ellis, of Detroit.
HENRY GLOVER was born April 30, 1812, in De Ruyter, Madison County, New York, a State to which Michigan is indebted for a large portion of its staunch and sturdy citizens. His mother died when he was but two years of age ; his father was a mechanic in moderate circumstances but gave his sons a good common-school education. His best gift, however, was a robust and sound constitution, and the invaluable principle of early self-reliance, with habits of industry and strict integrity, which were instilled by example, as well as by precept.
At twelve years of age, Henry Glover was apprenticed to the tailors' trade, and by the time he was twenty-two, by close application and economy he had saved $700-no small amount for a young man to have earned and saved in those days when wages were so light. Feeling the necessity of a better education than he possessed, which feeling he attributes to the early adoption of the Christian faith, and which has permanently influenced his life, Mr. Glover determined to add to his prospects of usefulness and success by securing such intellectual discipline as was within his reach. He therefore entered the academy at Homer, New York, and spent several years in diligent study, paying his way with the money he had saved. After his academic course he went to Syracuse, and engaged in the dry-goods business, but did not meet with much success, owing to his lack of capital and his limited mercan- tile experience. Believing that he possessed the elements of success, he determined to seek new fields where the outlook was more encouraging, and consequently embarked at Buffalo for the West, on the steamer De Witt Clinton.
After a trip of three days' stormy weather, Mr. Glover landed in Detroit, on October 15, 1836. The town then numbered but six thousand in- habitants. He put up at the American Hotel, kept by Petty & Hawley, located on the present site of the Biddle House, and at once commenced business as a merchant tailor, determined from the start to keep the best goods only and to do the best work. He often saw dark days, but little by little he added to his small savings and laid the foundation of a comfortable fortune. He had no inclination for political honors, the only office he ever held being that of School Inspector. In 1843 he became a member of the firm of Smith, Glover & Dwight, the firm doing a large business in handling general merchandise and lumber. After about two years Mr. Glover withdrew from the firm and resumed
his former business. In religious belief he has ever been a staunch Baptist, having united with that denomination in Ithaca, New York, in 1831. He has been steadfastly loyal to the truth as held by that denomination, but gladly fraternizes with all Christian believers. He possesses strong convic- tions of truth, and conscientiously adheres to what he believes to be right, whether popular or not. During all the years of his residence in Detroit he has been looked to and relied on for contributions to denominational and other charities, both in the city and in the State.
Having confidence in the future of the city, he invested in real estate, and was soon able to retire from mercantile life. He was among the first, if not the first, to see the possibilities of Jeffer- son Avenue as a wholesale and jobbing street, and in 1865, when the greater portion of the avenue was lined with mediocre stores and shanties, he bought of Daniel Scotten a lot corner of Jefferson Avenue and Wayne Streets, then covered with rookeries of the worst possible character. These were cleared away and a substantial brick block erected. It was first occupied by John James & Son, hardware dealers, who were probably the first jobbing firm in that neighborhood, if not on the avenue. Mr. Glover also built a four story building on the oppo- site side of the avenue, and a large brick dwelling on the corner of Fort and Sixth Streets, and a sub- stantial dwelling-house on Edmund Place, where he resides.
During the fifty-one years that he has been iden- tified with Detroit, he has seen it grow from little more than a village to the most beautiful metropo- lis of its size in the country, and to-day may take a pardonable pride in reflecting that he has been, to some considerable extent, influential in its growth and prosperity, and it can be conscientiously said of him that what he has done, he has tried to do well.
He was married, in 1839, to Miss Laura Dwight, an estimable lady, who nobly discharged the duties of wife and mother, and who actively engaged in all works of charity. They began housekeeping at the corner of Lafayette Avenue and Griswold Street, where the McGraw building now stands, directly in front of which was the Michigan Central Depot. He has had seven children, two of whom died in infancy, and two others, Frank D. and Arthur Y. Glover, in early manhood, when full of promise for the future. Three children are still living. Two of them, James H. and George D. Glover, being engaged in drug manufacture. The daughter, Clara, is the wife of John M. Nicol, cashier of the American Banking and Savings Association. All of the children are residents of Detroit. He was married the second time, in 1885, to Miss Imogene
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S. Dimmock, of Maine, a cultured and Christian woman.
JEREMIAH GODFREY, who was one of the oldest and most respected citizens of Detroit, was born in Thompson, Sullivan County, New York, February 16, 1814, and was the seventh son of a family of thirteen children, all of whom lived to mature age. His ancestors were English, and came to America prior to the Revolution.
Mr. Godfrey came to Detroit in 1835, and en- gaged in the painting business, forming a partner- ship, in 1838, with John Atkinson, under the firm name of Atkinson & Godfrey. They were located at the corner of Larned Street and Jefferson Ave- nue until the year 1850.
At an early day Mr. Godfrey connected himself with the volunteer Fire Department, and performed active service until the present system was organ- ized. In 1843, nearly ten years before his retire- ment from active business, he was selected as Assessor for the Sixth Ward. In 1853, the year after he retired from business, he served as Collec- tor for the Fifth Ward. The satisfactory way in which he performed the duties of these offices, his excellent judgment in the valuation of real estate, and his superior business ability, caused him, in 1861, to be selected as one of the members of the first Board of Review, under a new system of assessing property. He held this position until 1863, when, on the invitation of the late Francis Eldred, then City Assessor, he entered that office, and remained during that gentleman's administra- tion, a period of three years, and continued in a simi- lar relation with Mr. A. A. Rabineau for the five years following. Upon the resignation of Mr. Rabineau, Mr. Godfrey was unanimously chosen by the coun- cil to fill the unexpired term, and was afterwards appointed by the Mayor as the head of the depart- ment, remaining three years longer, thus making in all some twenty years' continuous service in that office. In the administration of public affairs Mr. Godfrey applied the same rules of economy that he practiced in his private business. His broad and correct judgment, his unswerving integrity, and his excellent business habits, rendered his services in municipal affairs of great value, and the City of Detroit never possessed a public servant who labored more conscientiously than did Mr. Godfrey for nearly a quarter of a century. He seemed to have a genius in real estate matters, and his judgment in that line of business was regarded as infallible. While looking over his paper one morning in January, 1851, he noticed that the property on the southwest corner of Woodward and Grand River Avenues was advertised for sale. He immediately started out, and, within an hour, purchased the property,
and soon after began the erection of the block which bears his name.
Mr. Godfrey was a staunch Democrat and al- ways acted with that party, with the single excep- tion of the campaign of 1860, but held in supreme contempt all arts of the politician which looked toward personal advancement. He always mani- fested a keen interest in everything that affected the public welfare ; his purse was always open to calls for charity, and he contributed to many public enterprises. He was married December 29, 1836, to Mrs. Sophronie Fletcher, of Detroit. He died March 9, 1882. His wife, one daughter, Mrs. Jesse H. Farwell, and one son, Marshall H. Godfrey, sur- vive him.
BRUCE GOODFELLOW, the present head of the widely known house of Mabley & Company, has contributed largely, by his energy and enterprise, to the successful progress of mercantile interests in his adopted home. He was born October 6, 1850, in Smith's Falls, Ontario. His paternal grandfather (William), the pioneer of the family in America, was born in Scotland, in 1783, came to this coun- try in 1822, made a settlement at Smith's Falls, Canada, and died in 1855. His son, Archibald, was born in Hawick, Scotland, in 1811, and lived in Canada from 1822 to his death in 1877, and was for many years a well known government contractor, in charge, mainly, of canals. He was married, in 1836, to Martha Kramer. She was a native American, but of German ancestry. Her father, Laurence Kramer, was born in Germany, in 1745, was an officer in the German army, and later in the British army. He saw General Wolfe fall at Quebec, and served under General Burgoyne during the American Revolution. He died in 1839. She has resided upon the old homestead at Smith's Falls fifty-three years.
Bruce Goodfellow, the son of Archibald, even in his youth, had a stirring, restless, and ambitious spirit. He chafed under the restraints of school discipline, and at the age of fourteen left home rather than remain under the control of the peda- gogue who taught the Smith's Falls Grammar School. Having somehow conceived a desire for work connected with machinery, he induced the proprietor of a woolen mill to give him employment, and his experience of woolen fabrics dates from that time. His father, however, soon appeared upon the scene, intending to compel his return home. Bruce begged to be allowed to stay and earn his own living, and the mill proprietor joined in the appeal, promising that if the boy was left with him he would make a man of him. His father finally consented, and Bruce entered fully upon an inde- pendent career, and from that day depended for a
for mich Grafing
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livelihood solely upon himself, and refers with par- donable pride to the fact that, since he reached his fourteenth year, he has not owned a dollar that he did not earn himself. For eighteen months he divided his time at the mill between carding and bookkeeping, and then, tiring of the business, he determined to seek his fortune elsewhere. His father desired and offered to give him a classical education, but Bruce preferred to enter active life at once, and journeyed by canal to Kingston, where his courage was sorely tested, for he tramped the streets of Kingston two days vainly searching for work, and finally, almost disheartened, he set out for Toronto in search of what he had failed to find in Kings- ton. This time he was successful, but the position was neither lucrative nor pleasant, it being that of a bundle boy in a store, at three dollars a week, and as it cost him four dollars a week for board, it was apparent that at that rate his fortune would be long on the way. Faithful service, however, soon brought increased compensation and valu- able experience, and when his employers failed he immediately obtained a place as salesman with a haberdasher, and subsequently served as salesman in the same line of business in Toronto, Coburg, and Peterboro, and having risen to the dignity of a salary one thousand dollars a year, he began to look toward the States as a field big with promise of larger reward, and decided to go to Chicago. While on the way thither, he turned aside at Detroit, to look up a brother then living here, and was so pleased with the city that he decided to remain here permanently. His brother being the only person in Detroit known to him, the finding of employment was a difficult as well as a discouraging task, but he was bound to have work, and for want of some- thing better, became a peripatetic vender on the streets of a patent ink eraser, and was afterwards the first salesman in Detroit of the patent folding dinner basket, now in common use. Although fairly successful in these ventures, the business did not suit him, and he was glad of a chance to work as clerk, at eight dollars a week, for George Gassman, a Jefferson Avenue tailor, and it is an interesting fact that, a few years later, Mr. Gassman was in his employ.
In September, 1870, while Mr. Goodfellow was at C. R. Mabley's store on a business errand, Mr. Mabley noticed him and said : " Young man, where are you from, and where have you worked ?" "I'm from Canada, and have worked for Hughes & Co., of Toronto." "Well enough, my boy; if you are good enough to work for Hughes, you're good enough to work for me." As the result of that conversation, he entered Mr. Mabley's employ the same month, as a clerk in the furnishing department, and within two weeks was placed in full charge of
the department. Mr. Mabley was evidently increas- ingly pleased with his protégé, and when he opened the furnishing store under the Russell House, in 1875, Mr. Goodfellow was given full charge, and was afterwards appointed general manager of the entire concern. In February, 1884, when the firm of Mabley & Company was incorporated, Mr. Good- fellow was chosen Secretary and Treasurer. On June 30, 1885, C. R. Mabley died, and Mr. Good- fellow succeeded him as President of the company. The estate retained Mr. Mabley's interest in the business until May 3, 1886, when it was purchased by the stockholders, Mr. Goodfellow remaining at the head of what is well known as one of the best and most important business enterprises in Detroit or Michigan. The trade of the house reaches into the far and near portions of the State, and attracts many thousands of people yearly to the metropolis. The successful administration of its affairs requires great judgment, energy, and business nerve, and in these Mr. Goodfellow is not lacking. He was nurtured and trained under watchful eyes, came rapidly forward in the grades of promotion, and being ever mindful to improve the opportunities of expe- rience, was peculiarly competent to fill the place made vacant by the death of Mr. Mabley. The con- tinued prosperous management of the business of Mabley & Company afford ample evidence that no similar house is more ably or safely directed. Mr. Goodfellow has conducted the affairs of the com- pany so successfully that the business has steadily increased, the sales for the year 1887 amounting to upwards of a million and a quarter of dollars. In 1887 he was appointed one of the Commissioners of the Detroit Fire Department, succeeding Jerome Croul.
Mr. Goodfellow was married April 7, 1884, to Mrs. T. W. Davey, of Windsor, Ontario. Although his early life was a constant struggle, his ambition and indomitable will showed him the road, and urged him forward, and he has been remarkably and deservedly successful. His spirit is of the sort that would make him a leader everywhere and in everything, and all who have business or social intercourse with him willingly concede that he well deserves all the good that has or may come to him.
THEODORE PARSONS HALL was born at Rocky Hill, near Hartford, Connecticut, December 15, 1835. He is a lineal descendant of John Hall, of Coventry, Warwickshire, England, who arrived at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1634, joined Rev. Mr. Davenport's New Haven Colony in 1638, and be- came one of the founders of Wallingford, Connecti- cut, when that town was "set off " from New Haven in 1669. The cemeteries of Wallingford and its adjoining town, Meridan, bear abundant
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testimony to the number and worth of John Hall's descendants in the past, and Yale College has in- scribed among her honored graduates the names of a score or more of them. In recent days N. K. Hall, Postmaster - General under President Fillmore ; Admiral A. N. Foote, Professor Asaph Hall, the astronomer, and many others of like note have traced their descent from this early settler of Con- necticut.
His grandson, John Hall, one of the Colonial judges and governor's "assistant," was one of the wealthiest and most influential of the early Colonists. Among the children or grandchildren of the latter, were Lyman Hall, Governor of Georgia, and signer of the Declaration of Independence ; Benjamin and Elihu Hall, Kings' attorneys, judges, and prominent in the Revolution ; Colonel Street Hall and Rev. Samuel Hall (Yale, 1716), first minister of Cheshire, Connecticut.
Eunice Hall, sister of the preceding, was the wife of the Colonial Governor, Jonathan Law. Rev. Samuel Hall married Anne Law, daughter of the Governor by his first wife, Anne Eliot (a grand- daughter of Rev. John Eliot, the Apostle, and of Wm. Brenton, Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island). Brenton Hall, founder of Meriden, was a son of Rev. Samuel Hall and father of Wm. Brenton Hall, M. D. (Yale, 1786). The latter resided at Middletown, Connecticut, where he is remembered for his heroism during an outbreak of yellow fever. He married Mehitable, daughter of Major-General Samuel Holden Parsons, a descendant through her mother, Mehitable Mather, of the families of Rev. Cotton Mather and Governor Mathew Griswold, of Connecticut. General Parsons was in command of the Connecticut troops during the Revolutionary War, and later was appointed by Washington first Chief Judge of the Northwest Territory. He set- tled at and was a founder of Marietta, Ohio.
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