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 36
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and obliging in his intercourse with all, an excellent organizer of labor, and a successful financier. He is a Republican, and formerly gave much time to politics in the Fourth District, but since coming to Detroit has devoted himself exclusively to business, and to the interests of his family.
He was married November 5, 1855, to Ellen S. Brown, of Kalamazoo, and has three daughters, Elnora, Winifred, and Blanche.
JOHN S. GRAY was born in Edinburgh, Scot- land, on October 5, 1841, and with his parents, Philip C. and Amelia Gray, came to America when he was eight years old. His father was a crockery merchant in Edinburgh, where his ancestors had lived for many generations. They sailed from Liv- erpool on April 6, 1849, and soon after arriving here, settled on a farm in Wisconsin. They soon found that farm life did not agree with them, and therefore sold the property, and in May, 1857, moved to Detroit. John S. Gray, who was now sixteen years old, attended the Capitol School, taught by Professor Olcott, and upon the opening of the High School, was one of the first pupils, remaining until the fall of 1858. In the winter of that year he engaged in teaching at Algonac, and while thus employed, his father purchased a small toy store on the west side of Woodward Avenue, near Larned Street.
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In the spring of 1859, he entered his father's store, and began a business career that has been remarkably successful. In 1861 they sold out the stock of toys, formed a copartnership with C. Pel- grim, under the firm name of Pelgrim, Gray & Company, and manufactured candy in a small way until January, 1862, when the store and stock were destroyed by fire. They immediately reopened at 143 Jefferson Avenue, with much enlarged capacity and increased trade, Soon after this the elder Mr. Gray retired from the business, and Messrs. Pelgrim & Gray received into partnership Joseph Toynton, who had previously been in the employ of William Phelps & Company, wholesale grocers, and in 1865, on the retirement of Mr. Pelgrim, the style of the firm was changed to Gray & Toynton. The busi- ness continued to increase so as to require an enlargement of their building, which was accord- ingly made, and in the spring of 1870, J. B. Fox was admitted as a partner, the style of the firm becoming Gray, Toynton & Fox. In the fall of 1870, the demands of their business compelled them to seek larger quarters, and they purchased and removed to the building on the southeast corner of Woodbridge and Bates Streets, where they still remain, three separate enlargements having been made to accommodate their ever increasing trade. In the spring of 1881 both Mr. Toynton and Mr.
Fox died; the respective interests of the deceased partners were soon after withdrawn, and the firm was succeeded by an incorporated company, under the same name and style. Since 1881 an adjoin- ing store has been required to accommodate the business, which gives employment to from one hundred and fifty to two hundred hands, according to the season, and is the largest establishment of the kind in Michigan. Mr. Gray has been Presi- dent and manager of the corporation since its organization. As a business man, he ranks among the first in the city, both as to efficiency and pro- bity of character. He is careful and economical, yet bold and enterprising, possessing a rare combi- nation of push and conservatism that has made his success certain and continuous. He is well read in general literature, a close student in several lines of thought, and withal an earnest student of the Scrip- tures. In politics he is liberal and independent, and in the old anti-slavery days was an Abolitionist. He has been a member of the Christian Church since 1857, and an active worker in missions and Sunday-schools.
To recruit his health, he made an extended tour through Europe and the East in 1872, visiting Egypt, Palestine, and other parts of Asia Minor, as well as his old home in Scotland. He derived so much benefit that he renewed the trip, in part, in 1883, visiting Scotland, France, and Italy, and his health was greatly improved.
He married Anna E. Hayward, at Beloit, Wis- consin, on October 31, 1864. They have three sons and one daughter. The eldest son, Philip H., is in the office of the company at Detroit; the second son, Paul, is a student in the University of Michi- gan ; the others are at home.
THOMAS F. GRIFFIN was born in Limerick, Ireland, December 18, 1826. When about eleven years old, he determined to seek his own and a better fortune in the New World. Accordingly, in the spring of 1838, he left Limerick for Liverpool, and at the latter place took passage for America. On the arrival of the vessel at Quebec, he worked his way to Rochester, New York, and that place came near being his permanent residence, for he remained there thirty-five years. His first occupa- tion in Rochester was at general work, in a flour mill. He stayed at this employment about three years, and during the winter months attended the Rochester High School. After leaving the mill, he worked at various occupations, and finally, in 1843, went as an apprentice for Messrs. Traver & Bene- dict, proprietors of the old Rochester foundry, agreeing to remain with them four years. This connection proved a fortunate one. The firm was highly reputable and well known in connection with
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the building of the Rochester & Auburn Railroad. By the time he had served his apprenticeship, he was competent to take charge of the foundry, where he remained for over a quarter of a century. Meanwhile, in 1848, soon after his apprenticeship ended, he married, and has six children, two sons and four daughters.
Mr. Griffin, as early as 1844, within a year from the time he entered the foundry, was engaged in making the old-fashioned split-hub wheels, zinced and banded with wrought bands around the hubs. Three years later, the first solid hub and double plate car wheels were made in Rochester, by Mr. Washburne, of Worcester, Massachusetts, and almost immediately Mr. Griffin's employers pro- cured wheel patterns, core boxes, and chills, and began the manufacture of said wheels. Since that date, the time and thought, the energy and experi- ence of Mr. Griffin have been ceaselessly devoted to the making of chilled wheels, and for many years before leaving Rochester, he made them under con- tract. That he has been remarkably successful in producing superior wheels, and in immense quanti- ties, is a fact well known to all interested in the rolling stock of railroads. His success has not been alone his own; his two sons, after completing their education, preferring the business of their father above any other, entered it with the purpose of fully mastering all the details. With this idea Thomas A. entered the foundry in 1868, and P. H. Griffin the following year. Both of them, by prac- tical, personal work, became thoroughly familiar with the business, and together father and sons have pushed the business to its present large pro- portions.
Mr. Griffin's coming to Detroit grew out of a visit paid to the city by one of his sons. An inter- view with Mr. James McMillan resulted in their removal to Detroit early in January, 1873, under a contract with the Michigan Car Company, to put the Detroit Car Wheel Company's shops, at Grand Trunk Junction, in working order, and manufacture all their car wheels and castings, for a term of five years. Mr. Griffin succeeded in having them in full operation in April of the same year.
After the completion of the shops, he remained with the company four years, and in September, 1877, erected a foundry of his own, in its present location on Foundry Street, adjoining the Michigan Central Railroad tracks. Commencing with only thirty chills and nine men, and turning out but eighteen wheels per day, and no other castings of any kind, the business has steadily increased until the works at Detroit occupy about five acres of ground, with a foundry seven hundred feet long and sixty- ยท five feet wide, besides other buildings, and can turn out all kinds of chilled wheels and castings, of both
iron and brass. Their capacity is two hundred and fifty wheels per day, or seventy-five thousand per year. They also turn out about seven thousand five hundred tons of castings, and employ from two hundred to three hundred men, and sell to the principal railroads in the United States and Canada.
An associated corporation, known as the Griffin Wheel and Foundry Company, of Chicago, is con- trolled and managed by Mr. Thomas A. Griffin, and manufactures about three hundred wheels per day. The Ajax Forge Company, of Chicago, is also under his management, and produces various kinds of railroad necessities, such as frogs, crossings, rail braces, links, pins, etc. This company employs about three hundred men. The extensive foundry in Buffalo, established under the name of Thomas F. Griffin & Sons, which is managed by Mr. P. H. Griffin, is also a part of their system of foundries, and has a capacity of fifty thousand wheels per year and seven thousand five hundred tons of cast- ings, and employs from one hundred and fifty to two hundred men. The St. Thomas Car Wheel Company, of Canada, of which Mr. P. H. Griffin is also manager, is conducted by the Messrs. Griffin, they owning two-thirds interest of the business, and Mr. C. Sheehy, of Detroit, one-third. This estab- lishment has a capacity for two hundred and fifty wheels per day, and about one thousand five hun- dred tons of castings yearly. These concerns have an average capital of $80,000.
The Griffin Car Wheel Company, of Detroit, was organized in October, 1877, with a capital of $30,000, all paid in. On March 20, 1880, it was increased to $50,000; in July, 1881, to $100,000; and in January, 1884, to $150,000. The officers, from 1877 to 1881, were: Thomas F. Griffin, President ; Dr. D. O. Farrand, Vice-President ; Thomas A. Griffin, Secretary ; and P. H. Griffin, Treasurer.
After the death of Dr. Farrand, T. A. Griffin became Vice-President, and P. H. Griffin, Secretary and Treasurer. In 1886, Mr. P. H. Griffin removed to Buffalo, to take charge of the interests there and at St. Thomas, and since then Thomas F. Griffin has been President and Treasurer ; Thomas A. Griffin, Vice-President : E. A. Wales, Secretary ; and-Joseph P. Cullen, Superintendent. The suc- cessful management of large business operations has naturally increased Mr. Griffin's native self- reliance. He has, however, been conservative in his plans, but also quick to take advantage of favor- able opportunities, and has been especially favored in having in his sons the help of capable and pro- gressive coadjutors. He is a member of the Catholic Church, but liberal in his feelings towards those of another faith, and socially, as well as in his family, is a warm-hearted and appreciative companion and
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friend. As a business man, his record is without reproach, and is a notable example of success achieved by individual exertion.
GILBERT HART was born at Wallingford, Rutland County, Vermont, August 11, 1828, and is the son of Irad and Lucinda (Wright) Hart. His American ancestors were natives of New England, his grandfather, Amasa Hart, was born at Walling- ford, Connecticut, and went to Vermont prior to the Revolution.
The early life of Gilbert Hart was spent on a farm. His father died when he was fifteen years old, but his health had been so feeble for many years before his death, that the care of the house- hold devolved in part upon his sons. Gilbert Hart remained in Vermont until the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, and then in November, 1861, he enlisted for three years in the Third Company of Vermont Sharp-shooters, of which he was elected Captain. This company, after its muster in the Union service, became Company H, of the Second Regiment of United States Sharp-shooters, and formed a part of the Army of the Potomac. Cap- tain Hart served through the campaign of 1862, and a portion of the winter of 1863. His health then failed, and being physically unfit for service, he was honorably discharged in January, 1863.
After his discharge he returned to East Dorset, Vermont, and in 1865, came to Detroit. He pos- sesses natural mechanical genius, and his attention being directed to the manner of producing emery wheels, he worked out several improved methods of manufacture, securing various patents, including one for a process of strengthening, which has proved superior to all other methods in execution of work and durability. He commenced the manufacture of emery wheels in a limited way in 1871, and the business has steadily grown in extent until at the present time it is the largest emery wheel manu- factory in the United States, and the only one west of Pennsylvania. The plant on Field Avenue, fur- nishing employment to about fifty men, is complete in every particular, nearly all the appliances used in the manufacture of emery wheels and the machinery connected with their use, being the result of Mr. Hart's ingenuity. The productions are sold all over the United States, wherever metal is worked. Mr. Hart is the sole proprietor, and in the de- velopment of this field of industry has labored persistently and arduously, and his success is alike creditable to his mechanical ingenuity and business ability.
In 1884, with C. A. Strelinger, he founded the large retail hardware store of C. A. Strelinger & Com- pany; he has also become financially interested in various business enterprises in Detroit, and in 1888,
was elected the first president of the newly organized Central Savings Bank. His time and energies, however, are chiefly given to the manufacturing interest of which he is the creator, and in which he takes a pardonable pride.
He is a strong Republican in politics, but is not an active participant in political affairs. He is a member and a regular attendant at the Unitarian Church, is an appreciative friend, has a generous nature, is devoid of all pretense or show, naturally retiring in disposition, thoroughly domestic in his tastes, and possesses the fullest confidence of all who know him.
He was married in February, 1858, to Calista Giddings, of Cavendish, Vermont. They have but one child, Frederick P., born in July, 1875.
SAMUEL F. HODGE was born in Cornwall, England, March 6, 1822. His father was head blacksmith in a notable mine, and the son naturally gravitated into, and, in fact, grew up in the same line of business. Educated under the eye of his father, he was early initiated into active work, and when but seventeen, was at the head of one of the shops in his native place, and continued in Cornwall until 1849, and then, being determined to better his condition, he bid a temporary adieu to his wife and his two children, and emigrated to America, landing at New Orleans in the early part of the year. At New Orleans he took passage on a steamer for the north, and made his first stop of any moment, at Toledo. He soon decided to leave there and came to Detroit.
Soon after his arrival here, on November 19, 1849, a fire destroyed the officers' quarters at Fort Wayne, near the city, and Mr. Hodge was engaged to demolish the walls, in order to prepare the way for a new structure. His work was satisfactorily per- formed, and, his abilities becoming known, he was engaged to make the wrought iron work used in connection with the building of the fort, and was so employed until 1851, and in the meantime he sent over for his wife and children. He was next em- ployed as foreman in the iron foundry of DeGraff & Kendrick, located on the corner of Larned and Fourth Streets, remaining with them until 1854, and then engaging with their successors, the Detroit Locomotive Works. He remained with this estab- lishment until 1858, when he left to go into business on his own account. The time was favorable for such an adventure. The development of the Lake Superior mines had begun to assume importance, and there was an active demand for improved methods of reducing the ore. Mr. Hodge's early experience now served him well, and being familiar with mining methods in Cornwall, he resolved to devote his attention to mining machinery. Opening
JamieHodge
James The Gregor.
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an office, he was soon supplying various mines with their mining equipment, and, in fact, served as mining expert, and filled the place of a consulting engineer for several companies.
In 1863, the business changes incident to the War with the South led him to discontinue his business as a contractor, and he engaged directly in manufac- turing. With William Cowie, T. S. Christie, and William L. Barclay, he organized the firm of Cowie, Hodge & Company, and commenced the manufacture of steam engines and heavy machin- ery, at the corner of Atwater and Rivard Streets. After two years the firm changed to Hodge & Christie, and four years later Mr. Hodge became sole proprietor of the establishment. His business was continuously prosperous, and in 1876 he erected, on Atwater Street, the very extensive and complete establishment known as the Riverside Iron Works. It has a plant second to that of none other in the city, and possesses the advantage of an extensive river frontage, and all modern appliances for the speedy and perfect execution of work. For seven years after the completion of this establishment he conducted it alone, and then, desiring relief from some of the responsibility of its management, he secured the formation of a corporation, under the name of Samuel F. Hodge & Company, and served as President of the same. Meantime, from 1871 to 1879, he served as one of the Board of Water Commissioners, and could have had other important offices had he been willing to accept them. The story of his life clearly indicates great force of character, and mental endowments of a high order. He mastered easily all details connected with the science of mechanics, thought his way clear through the most difficult problems, and was practically, as well as in theory, acquainted with the various details of his business. He was quick to notice any carelessness on the part of his workmen, and equally ready to commend and reward those whose endeav- ors were worthy of notice. His business success was almost unvarying and entirely the result of his own patient and diligent endeavors.
He was not only a worker but a student, and kept abreast of the times in the reading pertaining to his occupation ; he was also a lover of the old Eng- lish classics, and his close reading gave him rare powers of language, and in a controversy upon mechanical subjects, with any foeman worthy of his steel, there was no uncertainty as to the result. He was fearless in his advocacy of what he deemed the truth, scrupulously honest, and his business life was without a stain. He died on April 14, 1884, leaving a wife and five children, his son, Harry S. Hodge, succeeding him as President of the foundry corporation.
FREDERICK A. HUBEL was born at Noerd- lingen, Bavaria, January 1, 1846. His parents, John and Lisette (Moetzel) Hubel, came to America during the year 1852, and soon after their arrival settled in St. Clair, St. Clair County, Michigan, re- maining there until the spring of 1853, when they moved to Missouri, near Council Bluffs, Iowa. They remained there only about a year, returning in 1854 to St. Clair, where the elder Mr. Hubel engaged in the grocery business. He died in 1871, leaving a widow and five children, Frederick A., Charles, Barbara, John, and Augusta. Frederick A. at- tended the public school at St. Clair until 1862, and then, at the age of sixteen, engaged as an apprentice in a prescription drug store in Detroit, and during the summer and fall of the following year served as cabin assistant on a lake surveying vessel. The following winter he attended the high school at Ann Arbor, Michigan, preparatory to entering the University, but his health failed and he was obliged to give up his studies, and by the advice of his friends, in the spring of 1864, he engaged as an apprentice at sheet metal work, remaining four and a half years. In the fall of 1868 he again engaged as clerk in the drug business in Detroit, and in 1871 returned to Ann Arbor University to take a special course in chemistry. After his return to Detroit, in July, 1873, he began, in a limited way, the manufac- ture of perfumes and extracts.
Early in 1874 his attention was called to empty gelatine capsules, as an article which might possibly be profitably manufactured in connection with his other products. He immediately began to experiment in their manufacture by hand, with the assistance of one boy, and continued in this way for over a year, and in 1875 invented and completed the first machine for the manufacture of capsules. He continued to improve his meth- ods of manufacture, adding from time to time new machinery for various details. of the work, all of which he designed and protected by letters patent. In 1876 he employed six persons, and in 1888 employed one hundred and fifty. In his fac- tory, shown elsewhere in this work, he manufactures ten sizes of capsules, and sells his entire product to Parke, Davis & Company, who supply the trade.
Mr. Hubel is progressive but cautious in his business methods, and remarkably successful, and is justly entitled to credit as the originator and patentee of valuable machinery for the rapid manu- facture of a valuable product, by which one can take medicines without of necessity tasting any of their disagreeable compounds.
He was married to Camilla Scholes, of Detroit, in 1878. They have four children, Maud, Fred- erick, Gertrude, and Camilla.
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JAMES McGREGOR was born at Kincardine, Scotland, May 10, 1830, and bears the same name as his father. On the paternal side he is descended from Highland ancestry. His father who was a farmer, pursued the trade of millwright and joiner in connection with his farm labors, and emigrated to Canada in 1858, settling on a farm near Hamilton, where he remained until his death in 1876.
The boyhood of his son, James McGregor, was passed at Kincardine, where he obtained a thoroughly practical education in the excellent par- ish schools of that place. He then, under his father's direction, commenced a regular apprentice- ship as a millwright and joiner. After acquiring his trade he worked at different places in Scotland and England until 1855, and then came to America and settled in Hamilton, Ontario, where he obtained employment in the car department of the Great Western Railroad, remaining four years, the last two as foreman. He then went to Sarnia and took charge of the car department of the Great Western Railroad at that place, where he remained until March, 1860, when he came to Detroit and became superintendent of the car department of the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad, then under the general management of W. K. Muir, retaining this position until March, 1879, when he was made general superintendent of the Michigan Car Works, a post he has since most ably filled. With long practical experience in the line of his present work, great natural mechanical skill, and unusual executive force in the management of a large body of men, he has become a valuable factor in the prosperity of the concern with which he is connected. During the period he has held his present position, the capacity of the works has been many times enlarged, at first manufacturing but three cars per day ; the works now produce thirty-two per day. Mr. Mc- Gregor is interested with the direct general manage- ment of the entire working force of over two thousand men, a work requiring a perfect knowl- edge of every detail of the business, and the exercise of constant thought and care, as well as the posses- sion of rare judgment and tact. In the performance of these complicated duties, he has been conspicu- ously successful, and has gained an enviable repu- tation among the car builders throughout the United States. His time is entirely given to his work with a singleness of purpose and aim which, in a measure, accounts for the high degree of success he has attained.
He is financially interested in several business enterprises, and is the owner of a large farm near St. Clair, on the river, in the cultivation of which he takes great pleasure, and which forms his chief diversion. He is thoroughly identified with Detroit,
not only by residence and prominent connection with its greatest manufacturing interest, but in numerous ways has shown himself a public-spirited citizen, and an eminently worthy representative of Scotch manliness, thrift, and persistent energy, and has achieved a position alike honorable to his ances- try and to himself. Socially, he is an agreeable, affable gentleman. He is a member of the St. Clair Fishing and Shooting Club, has been for many years a member of the Central Presbyterian Church, and for the last twelve years one of the trustees.
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