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 4
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organizing its successor, the Detroit National Bank, and in 1887 was elected President of the same.
He has large interests in real estate, and has been exceptionally fortunate in securing desirable loca- tions.
Mr. Buhl has been a Republican since the birth of the party, and has taken a strong interest in political affairs, but has never in any sense been a politician. In 1851 he was elected Alderman from the Second Ward, and from 1860 to 1862 was Mayor of the city, and it was during his term that the erection of the present City Hall was begun.
Mr. Buhl has always responded to the demands of charity, and has made liberal donations to De- troit institutions. He also gave a very valuable and complete law library to the University of Michigan. He was one of the original promoters of the Art Museum, a Trustee of the original Detroit Medical College, and is prominently identified with the Fort Street Presbyterian Church.
He was married in 1842 to Miss Caroline De- Long, of Utica, New York. They have had five children, two of whom are now living-Theodore D., who has charge of the firm's interests in De- troit, and Frank H., who lives at Sharon, Pennsyl- vania, and looks after the branch of their business located in that place.
WILLIAM C. DUNCAN was born in Lyons, New York, May 18, 1820. His father's family re- moved from Lyons to Rochester, New York, about 1825, where he remained until 1841, when he secured employment on one of the passenger steamers plying on the lakes. While thus engaged Mr. Duncan aided in taking the " Julia Palmer " across the Portage at the Sault Ste. Marie. She was the first side-wheel steamer that ever floated on Lake Superior.
In 1849 Mr. Duncan became a permanent resi- dent of Detroit and engaged in the brewing busi- ness. He was elected an Alderman in 1853 and served for five years, and in 1861 was elected Mayor of the city, serving in 1862 and 1863. In the fall of 1862 he was elected State Senator.
In 1865 Mr. Duncan engaged in the banking business, the firm being Duncan, Kibbee & Co. They soon dissolved, and he gave his attention to the care of the property he had accumulated, and twice visited Europe for health and recreation. He died December 19, 1877.
KIRKLAND C. BARKER was born September 8, 1819, in East Schuyler, Herkimer County, New York. He was the second son of Mason Barker, who emigrated from Massachusetts to Central New York early in this century. The elder Mr. Barker was a practical builder and a contractor for the
buiding of canals and railroads. He died at the age of seventy-three years. His wife survived him some years, but also died at the age of seventy-three.
The son, Kirkland C. Barker, received the rudi- ments of an English education in the old red school house of his native village, and when fourteen years of age attended a manual labor school at Whitesboro. After leaving this school he entered a store at Frankfort, New York, and served as clerk for about a year, and then went to Utica, where he filled a similar position.
When he was eighteen years of age he went to Cleveland, Ohio, where in the house of a relative he found a home, and obtained employment in a public warehouse. His business ability was soon recognized and he was often sent to New York in charge of a vessel.
Leaving the house in Cleveland, he became a traveling salesman for a tobacco house at Logans- port, Indiana, but lived in Detroit. After becoming well acquainted with the trade he determined to go into business for himself, and while on his way to New York for goods he stopped at Utica and there entered into partnership, and established stores in Detroit and New York and a factory in Jersey City. The business did not prove successful and the part- nership was dissolved. Mr. Barker then concluded to start anew in Detroit. He was successful in his plans, paid off the indebtedness of the old firm, and established the firm of K. C. Barker & Co., the pre- decessor of the American Eagle Tobacco Company.
Mr. Barker served as Alderman of the First Ward in 1863, and in 1864 was elected Mayor of the city, serving two years.
He was married in 1847 to a daughter of Gilbert Bedell, of Ann Arbor. He died on May 20, 1875. His death was in part the result of an accident. While sailing a small yacht opposite his residence at Grosse Isle he had an attack of apoplexy and fell into the water. The boat capsized, and when he was taken out of the river life was extinct. He left a wife, two sons, and a daughter-Mrs. Charles B. Hull.
MERRILL I. MILLS was born November 4th, 1819, in Canton, Connecticut, and was one of the many sons of the far east who have had much to do with the development and prosperity of the city.
In obedience to his father's desire that he should enter a professional life, he took a course at the Connecticut Literary Institute at Suffield, prepara- tory to a course at Yale. He, however, had little taste for college life, and expressed strongly his preference for a business career, and in 1833 he joined his father in the manufacture of gunpowder. For five years he was actively engaged in the prac- tical departments of that business, and in 1838 went
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to Southern Alabama, as the representative of his father in a mercantile establishment there located. In 1840 he was called home by his father's illness, and for the next five years remained in Canton, de- voting himself to the management of his father's business.
By this time New England methods had ceased to suit his ambition. He had gained practical expe- rience as a merchant and manufacturer, and turned to the west as an inviting field for more extended enterprises. He carefully studied the field and its prospects, and, determining to give his attention to merchandising through the west, he set out in 1845 for Fort Wayne, Indiana. The close of navigation stopped the transit of his goods at Detroit, and this fact caused a radical change in his original purpose. He saw in Detroit a promising city, and without much delay decided to locate here. Establishing himself as a dealer in Yankee Notions, he pushed the business energetically, and extended his trade to many points in the west. He employed a number of teams and wagons, and they traversed the inte- rior of several western States, and especially the fur regions. He exchanged his goods largely for furs, and incidentally built up a fur trade of extensive proportions, shipping liberally to foreign markets. Prosperity attended his efforts and he became one of the best known traders in the States of Michi- gan, Ohio and Indiana.
About 1850 he began the manufacture of cigars, sold large quantities throughout the west, and con- tinued the cigar and fur business, in connection with later and more important enterprises, up to the time of his death. In 1861 he joined the late Frank Nevin in the manufacture of tobacco. This enterprise was prosperous from the beginning, and the firm contin- ued until the death of Mr. Nevin in 1878. Mr. Mills then took as an associate the late W. H. Tefft, and organized the Banner Tobacco Company, of which he was chosen president and manager.
He was also prominently identified with other manufacturing interests. In 1867, with W. H. Tefft and Jeremiah Dwyer, he organized the Detroit Stove Works, and in 1872, with Charles Ducharme and Jeremiah Dwyer, the Michigan Stove Company. He was made vice-president of each company and held both positions until his death. He organized and was for many years president of the Detroit Transit Railway Company. He was also vice-president of the Frankfort Furnace Com- pany, the Detroit Fire and Marine Insurance Com- pany, and president of the Eldredge Sewing Machine Company of Chicago, and was for many years a director of the First National Bank of Detroit.
He was active in public affairs whenever his aid and counsel were needed. In politics he was a staunch Democrat, and was a prominent factor in
the political field. In 1857 and 1858 he was chair- man of the Democratic State Committee. During the late war he was among the most earnest workers in the cause of the Federal Union. His means, his influence and his time were all enlisted in the recruiting and equipment of regiments in Detroit. He served as Mayor of the city in 1866 and 1867, and his administration was marked by watchfulness and a conscientious regard for the promotion of all measures that promised to benefit and develop the best interests of the city. In 1868 he was the Democratic nominee for Representative to Congress from the First District. The District had. in 1866, given a Republican majority of four thousand five hundred. Mr. Mills was not elected, but he won a notable triumph in reducing the Re- publican majority to fifteen hundred. He was sub- sequently a member of the Board of Estimates, and in 1876 was a delegate-at-large to the Democratic National Convention which nominated Samuel J. Tilden for the Presidency. The same year he was appointed by Governor Bagley one of the Centen- nial Commissioners for the State of Michigan, but except that in 1881 he served as one of the first Board of Park Commissioners, the Centennial year marked his retirement from politics. He had partici- pated to the full extent of his inclinations, and was content thereafter to leave to others the winning of honors in that field.
About 1880 the cares of a busy life brought indi- cations of failing health, but, like all active spirits, he protested against yielding to the statement that his physical infirmities called for a halt. He did, however, in obedience to the advice of his physician, journey to Manitou Springs, Colorado. The journey proved a fruitless one, and he returned home in a feeble condition, and, amid his family and friends, passed away, September 14th, 1882, leaving as sur- vivors his wife and two children.
The extended and important business interests left by Mr. Mills fell at once in charge of his son, Merrill B. Mills, who had entered upon a business career at an early age, and his father's death con- sequently found him fully equipped for the duties which had devolved upon him. He is president of the Banner Tobacco Company and Frankfort Fur- nace Company; treasurer of the Michigan Stove Company ; vice-president of the Detroit Stove Works; a director in the Detroit Transit Railroad and in the Detroit Fire and Marine Insurance Com- pany.
WILLIAM W. WHEATON was born in New Haven, Connecticut, April 5, 1833, and is the son of John and Orit C. (Johnson) Wheaton, and a direct descendant of Captain William Wheaton, of Revo- lutionary celebrity. He attended school in Hart-
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ford and also in New Haven, and at the age of sixteen entered the wholesale house of Charles H. Northam & Co., of Hartford.
In 1853, when twenty years old, he came to De- troit, and entered the employ of Moore, Foote & Co., wholesale grocers. In 1855 he became the junior partner of the firm of Farrand & Wheaton, wholesale druggists and grocers. From 1859 to 1862 Mr. Wheaton was in business by himself. In 1862 the firm name was Wheaton & Peek, and in 1863 he established the firm of Wheaton, Leonard & Burr, the firm changing in 1869 to Wheaton & Poppleton.
In 1867 Mr. Wheaton was elected Mayor of the city, and re-elected in 1870, serving two terms. He subsequently served as chairman of the Democratic State Convention.
In 1873 and for several years following he served as treasurer and general agent of the Marquette and Pacific Rolling Mill Company, and of late years has been engaged in a variety of enterprises.
HUGH MOFFAT, late Mayor of Detroit, was born at Coldstream, Scotland, in the year 1810. Early in life he migrated to the United States, settling first in the City of Albany, New York. In the year 1837 he sought to better his fortune by moving to the City of the Straits. Commencing business here as a carpenter, he soon achieved emi- nence in his employment through the erection of many of the prominent buildings of other days. Some of these structures still stand as monuments of his honest skill. In later years he was the architect and superintendent of the elegant and substantial building that bears his name.
From the building business he, in 1852, drifted naturally into the lumber trade, purchasing large tracts of pine land and in his own mill transforming the rough logs into lumber, continuing alone in the business in 1878, when he formed a copartnership with his son Addison, and Florance D. Eatherly, the latter having been, for many years previous, a confidential employee and faithful friend. In con- nection with his business, one of his last enterprises was the erection of a very extensive and complete saw-mill, one of the best in the State. It occupies the same site as his two previous mills, the first of which was burned, and the second removed to make room for the new structure.
In the lumber traffic Mr. Moffat was even more successful than in his previous occupation, and year by year he saw his wealth increase. This, how- ever, did not have the effect of making him either haughty or vain. He always retained a pro- found sense of a common brotherhood with all sons of toil. Connected with this feeling was an abhor- rence of all sham or pretense. If a man was really
willing to work and could prove his willingness. he could always depend on fair treatment and honest compensation; but if there seemed a disposition to shirk a duty or conceal indifference, it was sure to be reproved in words that would scorch and wither.
He was an early and active member of the old Fire Department Society, and influential in the Mechanics' Society when it was in its best estate. He was also a leading member of and served as president of St. Andrew's Society.
A typical Scotchman, he was as sturdy and strong as one of the oaks in his native land. He had little sympathy with the weak and vacillating, but once convince him that a person or a cause was worthy or deserving and his sympathies were warm and active. Always acting upon the idea that what was worth doing was worth doing well, all who did business with him found that his part was honestly performed-that his word was as good as his bond.
He possessed unbending courage, high intelli- gence and marked firmness of purpose. Enjoying his privileges as a responsible citizen, he acted with the Republican party, but he was in no sense a politician, and his party fealty never interfered with or hindered him in the discharge of any public duty. These characteristics specially fitted him for the position he was destined to occupy.
In 1871 his fellow-citizens elected him Mayor, because they thought his firmness and integrity were then particularly needed. It certainly seemed as though he came "to the kingdom for such a time." A crisis was at hand in municipal affairs, and it is certain that no Mayor, before or since, had so good an opportunity to serve the taxpayers of the city, and also to serve the best and purest of all faiths, and no one could have more fully and per- fectly met the responsibility than did Mr. Moffat.
During the first year of his service as Mayor he undoubtedly saved hundreds of thousands of dollars to the citizens by reason of his numerous vetoes of resolutions for paving the streets, the resolutions vetoed being clearly drawn in the interest of those who would have made large fortunes by foisting upon the public a score of new-fangled and untried methods of paving.
A second occasion in which he demonstrated his fitness for the position of Mayor occurred in con- nection with a proposal and effort to compel the city to purchase grounds in Hamtramck for a park. It seemed clearly evident that a majority of the citizens did not approve of the proposed purchase; and although a majority of the Common Council favored the proposition and ordered the issue of bonds to make the purchase, Mayor Moffat, with true Scotch grit, refused to sign the bonds, declared that the Council could not compel him to do so, and when legal process was invoked to compel him to sign
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them, he, at his own expense, carried the case to the Supreme Court, and a decision was rendered which clearly stated that the Legislature had no power to direct that the city issue bonds for a purpose not necessarily connected with the government or good management of the city, and that the Council were in error in assuming that the issue of the bonds was mandatory. Mayor Moffat was thus triumphant and unjustifiable legislation was very properly re- buked.
The question of Sunday observance and a decent respect for the proprieties of American civilization was also a leading issue during his mayoralty. The subject came up in the form of a resolution passed by the Common Council authorizing the saloons to keep open on Sunday afternoons. Al- though repeatedly passed, Mayor Moffat did not dodge the issue, but each time vetoed the resolution which authorized and attempted to legalize the business of selling liquors on Sunday. For his action on this question he merits grateful remem- brance from all who have at heart the best interests of the city.
After having served two terms as Mayor, Mr. Moffat's characteristic traits became so well known that citizens generally spoke of him as "Honest Hugh Moffat," and this cognomen is one of the noblest legacies that he left.
He died August 6, 1884. Several of the courts immediately adjourned as a mark of respect and various associations passed resolutions testifying to his worthy life.
Mr. Moffat was married three times. His first wife, whose maiden name was Margery Mclachlan, was of Scotch descent, and her parents came from Callander, Stirlingshire. They were married at Albany, November 23, 1836. She died June 16, 1856. His second wife, a cousin of the first, was Miss Isabella Mclachlan. They were married on July 14, 1859, at New York. Ten years later, in August, 1869, she passed away. Her remains were taken to Greenwood, Long Island. On January 21, 1879, he married Mrs. Julia E. Hubbard, sister of Thomas W. Palmer. She died November 20, 1880.
His son, Addison Moffat, died about two months before his father, leaving as his widow Mrs. Grace Buhl Moffat.
Hugh Moffat left three daughters and one son, viz., Mrs. George McMillan, Mrs. Edward W. Bis- sell, Miss Alice E. Moffat and William Moffat, all of them residents of Detroit.
ALEXANDER LEWIS was born at Sandwich, Ontario, October 24, 1822, and is the son of Thomas and Jeanette (Velaire) Lewis. The family on the father's side were originally from Wales and came to this country early in the seventeenth century.
The mother's family, as the name shows, were from France.
Thomas Lewis was born at Three Rivers, Cana- da, and his wife at the locality formerly known as Ottawa, part of which is now Windsor.
Alexander Lewis came here when a boy of fif- teen on May 1, 1837, and began clerking in the store of E. W. Cole & Co., on the corner of Wood- ward avenue and Atwater street, remaining about two years, and then entering the employ of G. & J. G. Hill, Druggists, on Jefferson avenue, between Woodward avenue and Griswold street.
Two years later he left this firm and went to Pontiac, where he remained until 1843, when he re- turned to Detroit and entered the forwarding and commission warehouse of Gray & Lewis, the firm consisting of his brother Samuel Lewis, and Hor- ace Gray. Two years later, in 1845, he went into the forwarding and commission business with H. P. Bridge, under the firm name of Bridge & Lewis. They began at the foot of Bates street on the east side, and from there removed to the foot of Ran- dolph street. The firm continued seventeen years, and then, in 1862, Mr. Lewis established himself in the flour and grain business at Nos. 44 to 48 West Woodbridge street, and continued there until 1884, when he gave up active connection with that line of business, and since then has devoted himself to the care of various property interests.
He is one of the directors of the Detroit Fire and Marine Insurance Company and of the Detroit National Bank, is President of the Detroit Gas Light Company, and is largely interested in real estate.
He served as President of the Board of Trade in 1862, as Police Commissioner from 1865 to 1875, as Mayor of the city in 1876 and 1877, and as one of the Commissioners of the Public Library from 1881 to 1887.
Mr. Lewis was elected as Mayor of the city under circumstances of the highest possible honor. The distinct issue in the election was as to whether the laws should be observed, and especially whether the law providing for the proper observance of the Sab- bath, should be enforced. Mr. Lewis, as the candi- date of those who favored law and order, was sup- ported almost unanimously by the religious and moral elements of the community, was triumphantly elected, and fully and squarely and repeatedly op- posed the violation of law, successfully carrying out the desires of those who elected him. As a leading and influential member of the Democratic party, he thus conferred upon it a lasting laurel.
He believes in his party, but evidently holds that the title of true manhood and good citizenship is a higher title than that of a partisan. He is eminently a reliable and responsible citizen, and compels the
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respect of all with whom he comes in contact. He is a member of the Roman Catholic Church and one of the oldest members of the original parish of Ste. Anne's.
He was married on June 10, 1850, to Elizabeth J. Ingersoll, daughter of Justus Ingersoll. They have had thirteen children, eight of whom are living : Ida Frances, wife of W. P. Healy, of Marquette ; Edgar L., of Detroit ; Josephine, wife of Clarence Carpenter ; Hattie I., wife of Cameron Currie ; Harry B., Julia Velaire, Marion Marie and Alexan- der Ingersoll.
GEORGE C. LANGDON was born in Geneva, New York, in 1833. He attended school in Batavia, New York, and afterwards in Farmington, Connec- ticut, where he remained until he was eighteen years old. He then became a clerk in the wholesale dry goods house of Lord, Warren, Slater & Co., of New York. After about a year he returned to Geneva, and his father, who was largely interested in Mich- igan lands, sent him to Flint to engage in farm- ing. He remained there three years and then came to Detroit and entered Gregory's Commercial Col- lege, where he soon mastered the art of bookkeep- ing. After leaving the college he obtained a position as bookkeeper in the Copper Smelting Works at Springwells, and was afterwards bookkeeper for S. H. Ives & Co., bankers. From there he went into partnership with Captain Carey in the commission business.
In 1864, with N. G. Williams, he purchased the Central brewery, which was operated under the name of Langdon & Co. In 1870 he became sole proprietor of the business, and a few years later he sold out and engaged in business as a maltster.
In 1877 he was elected Mayor of Detroit and served during 1878 and 1879.
He married Miss Fannie Vallee, of this city. She died in May, 1887, leaving two daughters.
WILLIAM G. THOMPSON was born in Lan- caster, Pennsylvania, July 23, 1842. His father was a lawyer in that city. Mr. Thompson was educated at Amherst College, Massachusetts.
In 1861, at the age of nineteen, he enlisted in the Fourth Pennsylvania Cavalry for three months. When his term of enlistment expired he removed to Toledo at his mother's request, who imagined that he would have less chance of contracting the war fever in a western city. But when Colonel Arthur Rankin organized a lancer regiment he came here, received a commission as First Lieutenant, and spent the winter of 1861-62 in Detroit. The lancer regiment was disbanded and he went back to Lan- caster, and was subsequently appointed an aide-de- camp with the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Sixth
New Jersey Infantry. He was severely wounded at Chancellorsville and won his grade as First Lieutenant by gallantry on the field.
When his regiment was mustered out in 1864 he studied law in New York for a time, and then came to Detroit and entered the law office of D. B. & H. M. Duffield. In 1867 he was admitted to the bar, and in the same year he married Adelaide Mary Brush, daughter of the late E. A. Brush. Mrs. Thompson died in 1875, leaving one daughter.
In November, 1878, Mr. Thompson married Adele Campau, daughter of the late D. J. Campau.
He served as one of the first Board of Estimates in 1873, as Alderman of the Third Ward in 1874 and 1875, and as Mayor of the city from 1880 to 1884.
STEPHEN BENEDICT GRUMMOND, of Detroit, widely known in connection with extensive interests in lake navigation, was born near what is now Marine City, on the St. Clair river, September 18, 1834, and is the son of Stephen Benedict and Mary (Harrow) Grummond. His father, who was born in the western part of New York State, came to Michigan in 1807 and settled near Marine City, where he was engaged in farming, and kept a general store, the first on the river. He was successful in business, accumulated a competency, and was respected as an influential and useful citizen. He died in 1856. His wife, who died in 1877, was of Scotch descent, and was the daughter of Alexander Harrow, who came to Michigan while it was under British rule. For many years he was connected with the English navy as commander of His Majesty's sloop " Wel- come " and other war vessels. He became one of the best known navigators of the lakes, and ren- dered efficient services to the English government.
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