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 8
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He is especially careful of the interests of others, gives patient consideration to all suggestions of pro- posed improvements and almost by intuition selects those of value. His prompt methods of doing busi- ness, and the rapidity with which he arrives at a decision, causes him to be sometimes misunder- stood, but this, only for a moment, or by those who have no real opportunity of knowing him. Those who are brought into close relationship with him always learn to appreciate his courtesy and the con- sideration which he constantly bestows upon the welfare of all the employes of the road, and they know that he is as lenient as is possibly consistent with wise and judicious management.
Socially, Mr. Ledyard is distinguished for sincer- ity and a thorough devotion to his friends. He has little love for the formal round of fashionable living, prefers home to all other places, and at his own fireside, or with a circle of familiar spirits, his kindly sentiments, genial humor, and rare intellect- ual gifts make him a delightful companion and a universal favorite.
He was married on October 15th, 1867, to Mary L'Hommedieu, of Cincinnati, daughter of Stephen L'Hommedieu, the projector, and for twenty-five years the President of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad. Their children are Matilda Cass, Henry, Augustus Canfield, and Hugh.
JAMES McMILLAN was born May 12, 1838, at Hamilton, Ontario, and is the son of William and Grace McMillan of Scotland, who emigrated to Canada and settled in Hamilton in 1836. William McMillan was a man of exceptionally strong and symmetrical character and of the highest integrity. His business connections were wide and his identi- fication with many important enterprises made his name well known throughout Ontario. From the inception of the Great Western Railway Company until his death in 1874, he was one of its officers.
James McMillan began his educational course in the grammar school at Hamilton, a preparatory institution of the Toronto College, presided over by Dr. Tassie, an able and well known teacher. At the age of fourteen, having acquired a thoroughly practical education, he began his remarkably suc- cessful career. Entering a hardware establishment, he spent four years in learning the detail of the busi- ness, and then removed to Detroit and obtained a situation in the wholesale hardware store of Buhl & Ducharme. At the end of two years' service he was appointed to the position of purchasing agent of the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway. While perform- ing these duties he attracted the attention of an ex- tensive railroad contractor and was employed by him to secure men, purchase supplies, and care for the finances in connection with the execution of a large
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contract. At this time he was only twenty years old, but proved abundantly able to fulfill the duties required of him, and the experience gained during this period was especially profitable as a prepara- tion for his future career. When the contracts upon which he was engaged were completed, he again obtained the position of purchasing agent of the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway.
In 1864 Mr. McMillan associated himself with Messrs. Newberry, Dean and Eaton, in the forma- tion of the Michigan Car Company, from which has grown the immense industrial enterprises which have made the names of Newberry & McMillan famous in financial circles throughout the country. Among the most important of their enterprises are the Detroit Car Wheel Company, the Baugh Steam Forge Company and the Detroit Iron Furnace Company. Of all these immense concerns Mr. McMillan is president and the principal owner. The business of these establishments varies from $3,500,000 to $5,000,000 annually, and the number of employees averages over 2,500. Mr. McMillan's car building enterprises have not been confined to Detroit. He was long prominently connected and heavily interested in car works at London, Ontario, and St. Louis, Missouri, both of which enterprises are indebted largely to his sagacity and administra- tive ability for their success. He is also largely interested in the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railway, and has been its only president. In addi- tion to this line he is actively engaged in the further- ing of other railroad lines that are destined to be of great service both to Northern Michigan and Detroit. He is a large stockholder in the Detroit and Cleveland Steam Navigation Company, in the Detroit Transportation Company, and in other freight and passenger lines, and is a director in the First National Bank, and the Detroit Saving Bank, besides being largely interested in other banks. He is prominently connected with the Detroit City Railway Company, with the D. M. Ferry & Co. Seed Company, the Detroit Railroad Elevator, the Union Depot Company, and with numerous other large enterprises in Detroit and elsewhere. For many years he has owned a large amount of cen- trally located business property, and the business blocks he has erected have added greatly to the architectural beauty of the city. In fact his aggres- sive energies have been felt in many directions and wherever exerted have been rewarded with large and merited success, and thousands of individuals and the city at large have been profited by the re- sults of his sagacity. He has not sought to keep his gains to himself, but has always liberally and judiciously expended a large share of them for the promotion of the public good.
Added to the strong sense and clear foresight
derived from his Scotch parentage, he obtained a business training that step by step has prepared him for every change and made him master of each successive situation. An executive ability of com- manding character, with wonderful power of concen- tration upon any given subject, capacity for compli- cated details, ability to keep in mind the whole field of his immense interests without losing sight of a single important link in their best and most profitable relation, serve in a measure to explain the results he has secured. He is quick and sure in his judgment of character, trusting fearlessly when he has once given his confidence, thus enlisting the loyal and sympathetic support of those who labor with him. He is ready in decision, broad, clear and liberal in his views and wise and just in administration. Thoroughly quiet and unostenta- tious in manner, he has a heartiness of greeting and a genuine love of humor, that makes him an agree- able friend. Despite the arduous work he has per- formed, he has kept the physical man in the best of conditions, and as a result his natural kindliness of disposition remains unchanged, and he never shows the fatigue or impatience that so often repel. At all times approachable and agreeable, he is an ideal business man. His charities are numerous, un- ceasing and extensive. He is a member of the Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church and is nota- bly liberal, not only to that church, but to other denominations, and indeed to religious and philan- thropic movements of any kind. One of his most recent benefactions is the gift of $100,000 for the erection of a Free Homoeopathic Hospital in De- troit. He is ever ready to lend a helping hand and many young men have cause to remember his time- ly assistance.
A Republican in politics, he has been actively interested and influential in the success of his party, giving freely of both money and time. For several years he was Chairman of the Republican State Committee, and his genius for thorough organiza- tion was a valuable factor in securing party vic- tories. He is regarded not only as a consistent and very valuable party man, but as one of no slight authority upon general political matters. He has thus far refused the proffered nomination by party friends to high and responsible official position, con- tenting himself by aiding effectively in the election of his friends, but it is none the less certain that his abilities admirably qualify him for any position in the gift of the State or Nation.
Although only in middle life, he has reaped a princely fortune and is secure in the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens.
He was married in 1860 to Mary L. Wetmore of Detroit. They have five children living, four sons and one daughter. The eldest son graduated from
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Yale College and is interested in various enterprises in connection with his father. The second son graduated also from Yale and is now studying law.
HUGH MCMILLAN is among the foremost of the comparatively few young business men of De- troit who have won distinction in the establishment of large business enterprises. His business life has exhibited tireless energy, unyielding perseverance, a keen foresight of events and the intelligent use of definite means to accomplish a well defined pur- pose. He was born at Hamilton, Ontario, Septem- ber 28, 1845, and is a son of William and Grace McMillan, both natives of Scotland. His father was born in Glasgow, where for several years he was engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1836 he emigrated to Canada, settling in Hamilton ; became one of the first officers of the Great Western Rail- way Company, and continued as such until his death in 1874. He was a man of broad ideas, great moral courage, perfect confidence in his own judgment, well informed and possessed of a genial sunny dis- position, good presence, and ready natural wit. Through his extensive business transactions he be- came well known throughout Ontario and was everywhere highly esteemed.
Hugh McMillan, the fifth son in a family of six sons and one daughter, began his educational course in the public school and continued his stud- ies until he graduated in Phillips' Academy, at Ham- ilton. Early in life Mr. McMillan determined to devote his energies to a business career and at the age of fourteen obtained a clerkship in the Great Western Railway, and after two years' experience as bookkeeper was induced in 1861 to go to Detroit. Here he became a clerk in the office of the General Superintendent of the Detroit and Milwaukee Rail- way, and remained in the employ of the road for three years, and then thinking that a mercantile life offered greater inducements than a railroad career, he became a clerk in the hardware store of Du- charme & Prentice. In 1872 he became associated with his brother, James McMillan, accepting the position of Secretary of the Michigan Car Company, which was just beginning to assume large propor- tions. Those essential qualities of executive ability, good judgment and quick perception, so requisite in the building up of extensive enterprises, were soon manifested, and his indefatigable exertions contrib- uted greatly to the success of the company. Some years after he became connected with the company he was made Vice-President and General Manager, positions which he still retains. In the Detroit Car Wheel Company and the Baugh Steam Forge Com- pany, established about the same time, connected with the Michigan Car Company and virtually under the same management, he has been greatly influen-
tial. He is Vice-President and Manager of the former and Vice-President and Treasurer of the last. named corporation. In every stage of the rapid growth of these establishments, the personal energy and arduous labors of Mr. McMillan have been manifest. A fair idea of the growth and present condition of the three enterprises with which Mr. McMillan is so inseparably connected can be gained by the fact, that during the first year of his connec- tion with the Michigan Car Company 2,000 cars were built, while of late years the yearly product has averaged over 7,000. The business of the establishments named aggregates several millions of dollars yearly, and thousands of employees are con- stantly engaged.
In the construction of the Detroit, Mackinac & Marquette Railroad, Mr. McMillan was a leading spirit. This road is 150 miles in length, extends through a large part of the upper peninsula of Michigan, and opened up a tract of country prac- tically a wilderness, and to-day flourishing vil- lages exist and valuable land is being rapidly devoted to profitable farming purposes, greatly aid- ing the material wealth and prosperity of the State. It was commenced in 1877 and finished within two years, and from its inception Mr. McMillan was a director, secretary and treasurer. During 1886 a syndicate of Chicago, Detroit and New York capitalists formed the Duluth, South Shore & At- lantic Railway Co., with a capital of $10,000,000, for the purpose of purchasing the road and con- structing some two hundred miles of additional road in order to connect it with the western ter- minus of the Northern Pacifie line at Duluth and eastern railroads at Sault Ste. Marie. As the finan- cial agent of the syndicate, Mr. McMillan in Octo- ber, 1886, completed the negotiations for the pur- chase of the Detroit, Mackinac & Marquette Rail- road of the bondholders for a sum exceeding $3,000,000. This undertaking is opening for busi- ness and settlement a large area of new country and cannot fail to be of great benefit to the State of Michigan.
In the organization and development of the Michigan Telephone Company in 1877, Mr. Mc- Millan was actively engaged, and by his personal exertions obtained, fortunately for those who lis- tened to him, many subscriptions to its stock when doubts were entertained of the success of the undertaking. Of this corporation, which owns and controls the entire telephone business of the State of Michigan, he is secretary and treasurer.
The establishment and prosperity of the Com- mercial National Bank of Detroit is also largely owing to his business sagacity and financial direc- tion, and he has been its President from the begin- ning. When the establishment of this bank was
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determined upon, few were able to foresee the suc- cess which has accompanied it during the seven years of its life, a success accompanied by so large a share of public confidence that it has been for some time past recognized as one of the leading institutions of Detroit. Mr. McMillan feels a natural pride in the establishment and develop- ment of this bank, and it is not among the least of his successes. He is also an active director and large stockholder in the State Savings Bank of De- troit, an institution which is recognized as one of the most reliable and conservative in the country, and is the depository for thousands of mechanics and working people in the city of Detroit and throughout the entire State of Michigan.
The various interests enumerated comprise but a small part of the complicated and varied enter- prises in which he is engaged. He is Vice-Presi- dent and Treasurer of the Detroit Iron Furnace Company and of the Newberry Furnace Company ; Vice-President and General Manager of the De- troit Pipe and Foundry Co., Vice-President of the Detroit Iron Mining Co., and of the Fulton Iron and Engine Works, and President of the Ham- tramck Transportation Co., and Red Star Line of steamers. Mr. McMillan is also officially, or as a director, connected with and largely interested in the following substantial and successful corpora- tions: The Detroit Railroad Elevator Company; Detroit Electrical Works; Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation Co .; Duluth & Atlantic Trans- portation Co .; Mackinac Transportation Co .; and the Detroit Transportation Co. The qualities which have contributed to his success embrace not only the highest order of executive ability, but quick appre- hension, easy grasp of details, a retentive memory and keen sagacity. The ability to thoroughly systema- tize every department of large enterprises and to select capable subordinates has had much to do with his success. Naturally unostentatious, a lover of books and society, his friends find him at all times an affable and agreeable companion. He was Presi- dent of the Detroit Club for three years. His home on Jefferson avenue and country residence near Lake St. Clair reflect a cultivated and artistic taste. He is a member and officer in the Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church, and takes an active interest in its welfare. He was married May 2, 1867, to Ellen Dyar. They have one daughter and three sons.
JOHN STOUGHTEN NEWBERRY, for many years one of the chief factors in the industrial affairs of Detroit, was born at Waterville, Oneida County, New York, November 18, 1826, and was the son of Elihu and Rhoda (Phelps) Newberry, both of English parentage and natives of Windsor,
Connecticut. His father was a descendant of Thomas Newberry, who emigrated from England in 1625, and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts. John S. Newberry, at the age of five, accompanied his parents to Detroit, and a few years after to Romeo, Michigan. His rudimentary education begun at Detroit was continued at Romeo, where he prepared for the Michigan University, and graduated in 1845, taking the honors of his class. He early developed a taste and aptitude for the practical sci- ences, and following the natural bent of his mind acquired a thorough knowledge of civil engineering and surveying, and for two years was employed in the construction department of the Michigan Central Railroad, under Colonel J. M. Berrien. He subse- quently spent a year in traveling, and then entered the law office of Van Dyke & Emmons. He was admitted to the bar in 1853, and at once com- menced practice with that energy and ability which distinguished him in all his undertakings. At that time the commerce of the lakes was just beginning to assume an importance in maritime affairs, and appreciating the future possibilities of admiralty business, he devoted his attention to that branch of practice, and as the maritime interests increased in importance, he acquired a large practice in the United States Courts. He was one of the first to contribute to the legal literature of the West an authoritative compilation of admiralty cases arising on the lakes and western rivers. This volume was of great practical use, and still serves a valuable purpose as a standard work of reference. At different times Mr. Newberry was associated with several prominent practitioners of the Detroit bar. He was first a partner in the law firm of Towle, Hunt & Newberry, later on he was associated with Ashley Pond, under the firm name of Pond & Newberry, and then as Pond, Newberry & Brown, the latter member being Henry B. Brown, the present judge of the United States Circuit Court at Detroit. After Mr. Pond withdrew from the firm, the style was changed to Newberry & Brown. It was while a member of this firm that Mr. New- berry's attention was turned to manufactures. In 1863 James McMillan, then purchasing agent of the Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad, became associated with him in a contract with the Government for the building of a large number of cars for use in the Southern States for the transportation of soldiers and munitions of war. This venture proved a suc- cess, and was the beginning of the several immense industrial enterprises with which he became con- nected.
In 1864, Mr. Newberry assisted in the establish- ment of the Michigan Car Works, and at that time withdrew from the practice of law, that his time and energies might be fully devoted to this
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interest. In this great enterprise his business ability was tested in many ways, and aided by his strict surveillance the business grew rapidly, and at the time of his death was the largest manufac- turing establishment in Detroit. He was also largely and influentially interested in the various industrial undertakings operated in connection with the Michigan Car Company, such as the Detroit Car Wheel Company, the Baugh Steam Forge Works, the Fulton Iron and Engine Works, the Missouri Car Company of St. Louis, the Detroit Mining Company, and the Vulcan Furnace Com- pany, at Newberry, Michigan. He was also a direc- tor and treasurer of the Detroit, Bay City & Alpena Railroad, a director in the Detroit, Mackinac & Marquette Railroad Company, as well as in the De- troit and Cleveland Navigation Company, the Ham- tramck Navigation Company, the Detroit Transporta- tion Company, and the Detroit National Bank, and had a financial and advisory connection in numerous other interests. As a business man he possessed rare ability ; his judgment concerning the merits of new and untried enterprises was seldom at fault ; his intuitive power of foreseeing the possibilities of every venture, gave him boldness in the execution of plans which needed only time to vindicate their wisdom. His self-control was perfect; he never lost his balance, and no matter how harassed or perplexed he might be, he held himself beyond any exhibition of temper or impatience. He had that magnetic power over men which commands esteem, and is only possessed by men of great character and force. His name was the synonym of business strength and integrity. So well managed were all his business ventures, involving millions of invested capital, that at his death they were in a condition to be continued without change.
In political affairs he was at first a Whig, but from 1856 was a member of the Republican party. In 1862 he was appointed by President Lincoln the first Provost Marshal for the State of Michigan, with the rank of Captain of Cavalry. This position he held for two years, and during that time he had charge of two drafts, and enrolled and sent to the field the drafted men and substitutes. During his busy life he had little time had he possessed the ambition for political position. He sought political preferment but once, when he was elected to Con- gress from the First District, and served with credit for a single term, his most notable effort being an able speech on the national finances. At the end of his term of service he declined a renomination, and from that time until failing health compelled him to desist, his time, energies and ability were given entirely to the management of his various business interests.
About two years before his death, Mr. Newberry
was attacked by a complication of ailments, which baffled medical skill. After traveling extensively to van. us health resorts, in hope of receiving relief, he returned home, where the last few months of his life were passed, surrounded by his family and friends. He died on January 2, 1887. The death of one who had been so thoroughly identified with the greatest industrial enterprises of his city and State, called forth widespread expressions of genuine sorrow; and this was especially true in Detroit. For many years his life had been closely interwoven with the city's growth and pros- perity, while his active mind, tireless energies, and rapidly accumulating wealth gave him a prominent place among the citizens of Michigan, and his hon- est and high-minded business methods inspired unlimited confidence and trust. At the age of fourteen he united with the First Congregational Church of Romeo, but during the entire period of his residence in Detroit he was a member of the Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church, to which denomination he was a most liberal contributor, and for many years a worker in benevolent enterprises.
He accumulated one of the largest estates in Michigan, and his wealth was invested in channels which gave prosperity and comfort to thousands of his fellows. He was generous in support of every public enterprise, and one of the last acts of his life was to join with James McMillan in the establish- ment of a Homoeopathic Hospital in Detroit, to the endowment of which he contributed $100,000. By his will more than half a million was bequeathed to various charitable objects. Of his personal charac- teristics much indeed might be said. He was a man of fine attainments, and by study and extensive travel had acquired a wide and varied education. In social life he was generally regarded as austere and unapproachable, but those who enjoyed his friend- ship knew that he possessed a kindly disposition, and his family life was pleasing in its love and de- votion. He lived a pure and noble life ; was brave, generous, and true to his convictions of duty, and the work he accomplished for the good of his city and State gives him a worthy place among the most distinguished citizens of Michigan.
He was twice married, first in 1855 to Harriet Newell Robinson, of Buffalo, who died within a year, leaving one son, Harry R. Newberry. In 1859 he married Helen P., daughter of Truman P. Handy, of Cleveland, by whom he had three children, Tru- man H., John S. and Helen H. Newberry.
JOHN OWEN was born near Toronto, Canada West, March 20, 1809, His father died when Mr. Owen was quite young, and in the year 1818, with his mother, he came to Detroit. Soon after coming here he began to attend school in the old University
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