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 39
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Personally Mr. Rogers is of a frank, open, gener- ous, social disposition, has a wide circle of friends, and is respected and esteemed not only for his busi- ness ability, but for those qualities of mind and heart that distinguish a good citizen and a helpful considerate friend. He is progressive and liberal minded and a sure supporter of every deserving public enterprise. He is a charter member of the Loyal Legion, member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Lake St. Clair Fishing Club, Detroit Club, and a thirty-second degree Mason. Growing out of his former occupation as a bank cashier, one of his amusements has been to collect specimens of all the bank notes of the so-called Wild-Cat banks of 1837, and he has succeeded in obtaining a col- lection numbering several thousand specimens, and by reason of the various facts they exhibit, the col- lection is of great historic value.
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Politically he has always been a Republican, and has been an earnest worker in securing victories for his party, but has never held an elective office. His time has been devoted to business interests with such singleness of purpose, that early in life he has achieved a worthy place among the successful manufacturers of Detroit. He was married in 1868 to Eva C. Adams, a daughter of Dr. Samuel Adams, the pioneer drug merchant of San Francisco, and a niece of Rev. Nehemiah Adams, D. D., for forty-four years a pastor of the old Essex Street Church of Boston, and an author of considerable repute.
FREDERICK STEARNS, for many years a wholesale and retail druggist, and manufacturer of pharmaceutical preparations in Detroit, was born fifty-eight years ago, at Lockport, New York. He is of Puritan blood, being a lineal descendant of Isaac Stearns, who, with Governor Winthrop, and Sir Richard Saltenstall, and other colonists, settled Watertown, Massachusetts. The farm which was occupied by this ancestor is now part of Mount Auburn Cemetery. On the maternal side he is a descendant of Samuel Chapin, one of the earliest settlers of Springfield, Massachusetts. Mr. Stearns early evinced a natural liking for the calling of a druggist. Speaking of his youthful days, he once said : "One of my earliest memories is looking into the windows of Dr. Merchant's Gargling Oil drug store, and wondering at the mystery of the white squares of magnesia and the round balls of cosmetic chalk."
At fifteen years of age he was apprenticed to the drug firm of Ballard & Green, in Buffalo, New York. For two years he was the only help the firm had, acting as errand boy, clerk, soda water maker, etc., and was unquestionably one of the busiest boys of that time in Buffalo. He received no wages the first year, and, because of the failure of the house, the same pay the second year. At the end of his apprenticeship, having read, smelt, and tasted everything that came in his way, he made up his mind that what he did not know about the drug business could not be taught. A better situa- tion, with another and more advanced preceptor, soon took away this conceit. After attending a course of lectures at the University of Buffalo, he entered the store of A. I. Mathews, a prominent retail druggist of Buffalo, with whom he remained several years, during the last three as a partner.
In 1853 he married Eliza H. Kimball, of Mendon, New York, and in the following year, on account of a favorable impression made at a former visit, he decided to locate in Detroit. He arrived at Windsor, January 1, 1855, on a bitter cold day, and walked across the river on the ice. Soon after his arrival here he was joined by his wife, with their
first child, Frederick K. Stearns, and in April fol- lowing, with L. E. Higby, he opened a retail drug store at 162 Jefferson Avenue, in the middle of the block, owned by Zachariah Chandler, where the stores of Allan Shelden & Company are now located. In 1859 they removed to enlarged quarters in the Merrill Block, and in 1863 to the Porter Block, on the southwest corner of Woodward Avenue and Larned Street, and here Mr. Stearns bought Mr. Higby's interest.
To be a manufacturer of such pharmaceutical preparations, both official and non-official, as were in use as medicine, was always Mr. Stearns's ambition. and in 1856 he commenced as a manufacturer in a very limited way, with one room, a cooking stove, and one girl, as a helper. It was his custom at that time, with a small hand bag, filled with samples of his products, to canvass towns on the railroads leading west from Detroit, obtain- ing such orders as the druggists of the interior were willing to give to a young house struggling to establish a trade for its productions, in a market completely filled with Eastern and foreign brands. From this small beginning has gradually grown a manufacturing business which now reaches large proportions. During these early years, much of the time which otherwise would have been leisure was given to investigation in the line of his profession, and many papers, the result of these studies, were published in various pharmaceutical journals and society transactions. Introducing steam power, and milling and extracting machinery, much of which was of his own design, he commenced manu- facturing on a larger scale. It was at first difficult to introduce his products in the place of goods already established, but these difficulties were gradu- ally overcome. In 1871, Mr. Stearns's manufacturing establishment was twice destroyed by fire, the second fire resulting in considerable financial loss, but the laboratory was established a third time, on part of the property owned by the Detroit Gas Light Com- pany, on Woodbridge near Sixth Street. During all this period he continued his business as a retail druggist and dispensing pharmacist, retaining, by choice, a prominent interest in his profession, and being vitally alive to its promotion. In pharmacy, however, as in other arts and trades, abuses are liable to creep in ; the want of suitable legislative control, the then lack of protection for the educated pharma- cist from the uneducated or unqualified person, who might choose to enter upon the business of selling drugs, and the employing of irregular means, thus lowering the standard and the dignity of the calling, were all hindrances to the best development of the art of pharmacy. The practice of quackery, the supplying of secret or so-called patent medicines, which forced upon the druggist the keeping of
Futebol Saynature
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numberless worthless and high cost compositions, of little profit to the pharmacist, were also evils stultifying the professional attitude of the druggist, and rendering him to a great extent, a mere trader in quackery. In the correcting of these evils, which have threatened to overwhelm pharmacy as a profession and a means of livelihood, Mr. Stearns has rendered valuable service. When he opened his first store in Detroit, he determined not to sell any secret quackery in the way of patent medicines, looking for the ready support and sympathy of the regular medical profession in so doing ; but after one year's trial, he found the public had become so accustomed to buying patented medicines, that it was impossible to conduct his business without supplying everything or any article which the pub- lic looked to find in a drug store. He was, there- fore, compelled to deal in patent medicines, but he always sought, by every means in his power, to lessen the evil. In 1876 it occurred to him that one means for destroying patent medicine quackery would be to put up ready made prescrip- tions, suitable and useful for common ailments, in neat and portable form, without secrecy ; to put the receipt plainly on the label, with simple direc- tions and explanations, and to trust to the good sense and intelligence of the customer to take such ready made medicines, rather than secret nostrums. This idea, acted upon, was an immediate success in his own retail trade, and in that of his near friends and neighbors. This departure was then, and is still, known as the "New Idea." The development of this system has resulted in the establishment of an immense trade, and to-day nearly every retail drug- gist in good standing in the United States and Canada, representing over sixteen thousand estab- lishments, are customers of the Stearns's laboratory. The one room, 12x12, of 1858, has been increased to four acres of flooring in the works now occupied on Twenty-first Street; the one helper to over four hundred helpers ; instead of the occasional traveler, with his little grip, and that one himself, there are now thirty-five traveling agents constantly employed; from a retail business of $16,000 per year, the busi- ness has grown to sometimes more than that daily : the area visited for trade has expanded from a small portion of Michigan to the " whole unbounded con- tinent," and sales are also made in the Spanish American Republics, the West Indies, and in many English colonies, and notably in Australia. The works on Woodbridge Street, above alluded to, became too stinted in room, even after every avail- able building in the vicinity was obtained, and in 1881 and 1882 the new works now occupied were erected, and are described in another portion of this work. After forty years of an active business life, with its usual cares, disappointments, and with
some success, Mr. Stearns, in 1887, retired from the management of the business, leaving it in the hands of his sons, Frederick K. and William L., and of the younger associates, who have been with him many years. If he is proud of one thing, it is of the establishment on a firm basis of a legitimate and extensive business, which is an active and practical opponent of quackery in medicine.
He has led a remarkably busy life, and his success has been the result of hard work, united to clear and well poised judgment. A man of the most positive conviction, he pursued a purpose believed to be right, regardless of consequences, with a force and directness liable to arouse the antagonism of men of narrow views and prejudices. He is among the first to depart from established custom or practice when new and better methods of procedure are discovered, and it makes but little difference to him whether he is followed or not. Convinced that he is right, he has the moral cour- age to fight alone, and this admirable quality has been the main secret of his success. To him nothing is more distasteful than sham and super- ficiality. He is a man of liberal opinion, and has taste and culture, without a trace of pedantry or touch of imperiousness. He is a natural critic, but his criticisms are intelligent, penetrating, and just. He has been a public benefactor, because he has been a creator and promoter of enterprises which have aided in many ways the public good, and is liberal minded toward every good project to advance the best interests of Detroit.
Somewhat reserved among strangers, with trusted friends he is a congenial companion. His business career has been honorable, and no one holds more securely the confidence and respect of Detroit's commercial community.
JOSEPH TOYNTON was born July 26, 1839, at Brothertoft, four miles west of Boston, Lincoln- shire, England. He was the son of William and Elizabeth (Ketton) Toynton. His father was a well-to-do farmer, and he received a good common school education. His mother died in 1852, and his father in 1873.
On March 3, 1853, he left England for the United States, and for about one year after his arrival here he made his home near Rochester, New York. In 1854 he came to Detroit, and entered the employ of William Phelps, then a prominent manufacturer of confections, where he remained eleven years, and acquired a thorough practical knowledge of the business. In 1865 he resigned his position and the house of Gray, Toynton & Fox was established, which at once became the leading establishment of the kind in the West.
In 1860 he married Margaret Hayes, daughter of
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John and Mary (McMarrah) Hayes. He died July 6, 1881, after a very brief illness. Mr. Toynton was a man of strict integrity in all the relations of life. His genial nature made him a large circle of friends, and his unswerving honesty made his word as good as his bond.
He was a leading member and for many years one of the trustees of the Central Methodist Episco- pal Church.
He was a prominent Mason, a member of Union Lodge of Strict Observance, and of Detroit Com- mandery. One of his Masonic brethren, in speak- ing of his death, has well said : "He came to this country, and to this city, poor in purse, but rich in the qualities which go to make up the successful business man, the honest citizen, the faithful clerk, the humane employer, the loving and indulgent husband and father, and the consistent Christian.
The lesson of his life is one of fortitude, industry, fidelity, humility, charity, kindness, and humanity in all the relations of life. Follow him wherever you would, in the family, the church, in his social rela- tions, or into the counting-house, and you would find the same elements of character dominating his life work. Rising from poverty to a condi- tion of comparative wealth, from the position of servant to that of proprietorship in a large and successful business enterprise, he never, in his treat- ment of others, forgot the hardships of either poverty or service."
JOHN HILL WHITING, grandson of Dr. J. L. Whiting, an early physician and merchant of Detroit, and the eldest son of John Talman Whiting and Mary S. (Hill) Whiting, was born at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, October 11, 1852. His parents removed to Detroit in 1855. Mr. Whiting received the best education that the public schools afforded, and in 1869 became assistant salesman, at Ecorse, for the Detroit River Lumber Company. He remained there one year and then came to Detroit, where he was employed for a short time by the lumber firm of D. A. Ross & Company.
In 1870 he entered the employ of the Detroit Car Wheel Company, for the purpose of learning the business of moulding and casting car wheels, and general foundry business. He, at first, acted in the capacity of timekeeper and general assistant in the office, devoting a portion of each day to work in the foundry, moulding, pouring iron, and in other mechanical labor, devoting his evenings to office work. About three years after he entered the employ of the company, the Moulders Union, of which he was not a member, raised objections to non-union men being employed, and Mr. Whiting, not wishing to antagonize the company, stopped
work in the foundry until, through change of Super- intendents, the influence of the union became so weakened that he returned to the foundry without opposition. The output of the company was at first quite small, but under skillful management it became a very large and important enterprise. Mr. Whiting kept pace with its growth, developing talents and aptitudes unthought of at the beginning. In one sense it may be said that the business made him what he is, for it gave him the opportunity to develop his peculiar genius for organizing and directing labor. On the other hand, his skill, ingenuity, and practical judgment, made him an important factor in the success of the corporation.
In 1880 he was appointed Assistant Superin- tendent, and later, in the same year, under the trying circumstances of a strike, which took out the Superintendent, he was selected to fill the vacancy. His naturally retiring disposition led him to shrink from the responsibility, and he accepted it with many misgivings; but having accepted it he soon proved equal to his task, and has since shown him- self equal to all the duties which the position imposed upon him, and has remained in charge of the works, as Superintendent. The growth of the business may be indicated by the fact that in 1870 the capacity of the works was about sixty-five car wheels a day, and fifteen tons of castings; now it is four hundred and twenty-five car wheels a day, and one hundred tons of castings, and the corpora- tion employs between seven and eight hundred men.
In addition to the superintendency of this estab- lishment, Mr. Whiting is Superintendent of the works of the Detroit Pipe and Foundry Company, which produce about fifty tons of cast iron pipe daily, and employ about one hundred and fifty hands. He is also Vice-President of the Detroit Foundry Equipment Company, which controls sev- eral patents particularly adapted to the improved manufacture and handling of car wheels. He is the inventor of the "Improved Cupola," the "Overhead Steam Crane," a " Transfer Truck," a " Device for Operating Foundries," and a "Revers- ible Friction Gearing," patented in 1884 and 1885. He is a stockholder in all the companies above mentioned, and also in the Michigan Car Company, the Detroit Iron Furnace Company, and the Vulcan Iron Furnace Company, located at Newberry, Michigan.
During the seventeen years of his connection with the Detroit Car Wheel Company, he has shown a character for manliness, integrity, and generosity, which has won the esteem and confidence of all his associates. He has for years made the question of the successful handling of labor a study, and has also studied to devise methods and appliances to facilitate profitable production. As his responsibilities have
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increased, with the enlargement of the business intrusted to his care, he has developed a capacity adequate to meet them, and now handles a large force of men with as much ease as he formerly controlled a small number. He, however, attributes much of his success to the suggestions, appreciative courtesy, and generosity, with which he has been treated by the chief stockholders in the corporations in which he is engaged, whose confidence has been fully and cheerfully given.
Mr. Whiting is a Republican in political faith, but has been too closely identified with business to take any part in political affairs.
He was married February 7, 1883, to Carrie Florence Spence, daughter of Dr. T. R. Spence, formerly of Detroit. They have two daughters, Florence Hill and Barbara. He and his wife are members of the Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church.
CHAPTER XCVI.
LAND DEALERS, LUMBER MANUFACTURERS, VESSEL OWNERS, INSURANCE AND RAILROAD MANAGERS, ETC.
FRANCIS ADAMS is a descendant of the Adamses of Braintree, Massachusetts, and is the son of Moses and Nancy (Phillips) Adams. He was born at Ellsworth, Maine, September 13, 1831, and at the age of eight years began to care for himself, with such varied experiences as commonly fall to the lot of energetic boys when thrown upon their own resources. When he was nineteen he came to Michigan, but returned to Maine the same year, and in 1853 went to California, where he was engaged in mining and other operations for nearly four years.
In 1857 he settled in Michigan and entered into partnership with N. W. Brooks in the lumber busi- ness. The firm did a large and successful business, operating mills at Detroit, Saginaw, and Jackson, until the death of Mr. Brooks in 1872. Mr. Adams then retired from the lumber business, and has since been engaged in caring for his property, with occasional ventures in lumber, real estate, and building. He is a stockholder in the Detroit Na- tional Bank and Wayne County Savings Bank, and has been a director in the latter corporation since its organization.
He has always been a Republican, and while in California voted for John C. Fremont, there being but thirty-seven Republican votes out of over seven hundred in the precinct. The only public offices he has held have been in connection with the city government. From 1873 to 1876, and in 1879 and 1880, he was a member of the Board of Estimates. In 1868, and again in 1871 and 1872, he served as a member of the Board of Aldermen, and has also served as one of the Board of Park Commissioners. His services in the Council were highly appreciated for his knowledge of municipal law, and his sound, practical judgment.
As a business man, he ranks above the average ; possesses a good deal of natural energy, and his self-reliance has been developed and strengthened
by the experiences through which he has passed. He investigates for himself, is firm in his opinions, and yet, when convinced of an error, no one yields with readier grace. He is honorable and upright in his dealings, and of unimpeachable integrity.
He was married in February, 1862, to Annie M., daughter of James Graves, of Holden, Maine, and has three daughters, Evelyn F., Annie G., and Mary L. His wife died April 3, 1885, and on November 17, 1887, he married Isabella Duncan, of Detroit.
JAMES A. ARMSTRONG, the eldest son of Orrin M. and Beulah (Hine) Armstrong, was born in Washington, Litchfield County, Connecticut, on November 21, 1805. When a boy, he lived part of the time with his grandfather, James Armstrong, after whom he was named. He attended a common school, and soon after the death of his father, entered a store at Newburgh, on the Hudson River. There and in that vicinity he spent his time until 1832, when he came to Detroit.
As a young man, he had a bright intellect, and was strictly moral and industrious, and on his arrival here, obtained a situation in the forward- ing and commission house of Oliver Newberry, where he remained many years, and subsequently went into the forwarding and commission business on his own account. He afterwards formed a part- nership with A. H. Sibley, and later on became junior partner in the firm of Nickles, Whitcomb & Arm- strong. In 1846 he organized the forwarding house of James A. Armstrong & Company, and for many years did a large business.
From 1857 to 1862 he was the General Freight Agent of the Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad Com- pany, and at the close of his term of service the officers of the company presented him with a token of their appreciation and esteem, in the shape of a fine gold chronometer watch, bearing an appropriate inscription, and dated May 29, 1862. Soon after
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this he closed his business in Detroit, and went to Buffalo, where, with Henry P. Bridge, of Detroit, he engaged in the business of forwarding and com- mission. The relation continued until 1866, when he returned to Detroit, as the General Agent of the Western Insurance Company, and remained such until the Chicago fire of October, 1871, broke up the company. After this, and until his death, he held the offices of Secretary and Treasurer of the Detroit Car Loan Company, the Detroit Car Com- pany, and of the Marshall Car Company.
He was an active member of the Detroit Board of Trade, and one of its original organizers.
He possessed superior business capacity, and was scrupulously honest and exact, his accounts showing that when he used the company's stationery and stamped envelopes, for personal correspon- dence, he charged them to himself at their full price, a little account book, in his own writing, furnishing curious evidence of his exactness in these matters. It is the uniform testimony of those who knew him most intimately, that as a business man, husband, father, and citizen, his character was without re- proach, and few men in social or business circles have commanded more fully the esteem and confi- dence of their contemporaries, or left behind them a brighter example.
He was eminently a charitable man, and showed his kindness to the poor in many practical ways, and was always ready to serve a friend, spending much time, for which he received no compensation, in looking up and locating lands in Michigan for parties desiring to purchase or settle in the State. From about 1842, until his death, he was a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and was a zealous and consistent churchman.
He was married in the autumn of 1839, to Augusta, daughter of Judge Solomon Sibley. She lived only until March, 1841, and on February 10, 1847, he married Mary E. Bates, daughter of Phineas P. Bates, of Canandaigua, New York, and sister of George C. Bates, of Detroit. He died March 13, 1874, leaving his widow and three chil- dren.
STEPHEN BALDWIN was born July 31, 1834, in Lincoln, England, and is the son of Thomas and Hannah (Pickering) Baldwin. Thomas Baldwin, with his family, came to New York in 1835, and went to Chautauqua Lake, where they remained until the summer of 1836, when they removed to Oakland County, Michigan, where they made their permanent home.
Stephen Baldwin lived on the farm, attending the best schools of Pontiac until he was seventeen years old, and then for a short time taught school in Oakland County, and subsequently attended Cor-
son's Select School, at Birmingham. In 1861 he entered the establishment of Messrs. Flower & Newton, dealers in agricultural implements at Pon- tiac, where he remained for a short time, and in the fall of the same year engaged in the produce and commission business in Pontiac, continuing therein until 1864, when his love of enterprise took him to the oil regions, and he engaged in various successful ventures until 1866. Meantime, in 1865, he assisted in organizing the Second National Bank of Pontiac, in which he was a large stockholder and director, continuing his connection therewith until 1869, when he withdrew. During most of this time Mr. Bald- win was also engaged in buying pine lands, in lum- bering, and for a time, in the manufacture of cloth. In 1870, in connection with Leander S. Butterfield, he bought the stock and interest of the Detroit Paper Company, and removed to Detroit, where he has since resided. In 1872 he dissolved his con- nection with the Paper Company, and in February of that year he helped to organize the wholesale dry goods house of Edson, Moore & Company, in which he has since been a special partner. It is one of the largest and most successful business houses in Michigan. In 1883 he aided in organizing the wholesale millinery house of Black, Mitchell & Com- pany, now W. H. Mitchell & Company, in which he was a special partner until July 1, 1887. During all the time since 1867, he has retained his lumber business, handling large tracts of pine land, both in Michigan and in Canada, and is at present a member of the firm of Baldwin & Nelson, his part- ner being Ephraim Nelson, of Cheboygan, Michigan. Mr. Baldwin is also largely interested in the Mineral Land Company of the Upper Peninsula.
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