USA > Michigan > Men of progress : embracing biographical sketches of representative Michigan men with an outline history of the state > Part 70
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he went to Chicago to buy cattle, buying in Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City. His operations in this line embraced seventeen years, up to 1888, a fact of itself quite con- clusive as to his adaptation to a work involv- ing large transactions. In 1888 the present concern, the Michigan Beef & Provision Co., of which Mr. Beek is president and treasurer, was formed, they confining their purchases to Michigan, doing a business amounting to about $600,000 annually. As related to Michigan interests in the live stock line, Mr. Beck made a record for himself in 1887 in fighting through the Legislature at Lansing (at least in the effort to do so) the bill known as the "Inspection on Hoof Bill." The power of combination, however, was too potent and the bill failed by a single vote. This bill, if passed, would have been worth an hundred million dollars to Michigan, as most of the meat used in the state today is raised and owned by the "trust," and is largely raised in the states west of us, thus to a great extent driving Michigan breeders out of the market.
Mr. Beck represented the Eighth Ward of Detroit, three terms (six years), successively, in the Common Conneil, and during that time was two years its president and was one of the most useful members of that body. He is a Republican in politics. Mr. Beck has been twice married, March, 1865, to Miss Minnie A. Miller, of Detroit, daughter of David Miller, of Greenfield. She died at Ashville, N. C., December 3, 1893. There were two daughters by this marriage, Mande E., wife of Charles Wynn, of New York city, and Minnie E., wife of II. B. West, of Detroit. In 1895 he was married to Miss Jennie M. Smith, of Detroit. Mr. Beck is a Thirty- Second Degree Mason, is a member of the Royal Arcanum, the Detroit Wheelmen, the League of American Wheelmen, the German Salesmen's Association, the Donglas League, the Detroit Yacht Club, the Detroit Bowling Club, Felloweraft Club, and the Michigan and Lincoln Clubs, the two latter Republican,
525
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
DURANT, WILLIAM CRAPO. Mr. Durant is the senior partner in the Durant- Dorp Carriage Co., of Flint, which is the pioneer of that industry in that city, and the common expression in Flint is that he is the business man of Michigan, as he has as many business institutions to superintend as any two men in the state. And his business quali- fications are hereditary as well as cultivated, his father, William C. Durant, having been a banker in Boston, though a native of New Hampshire, his mother, Rebecca Crapo, being a daughter of the late Governor Henry HI. Crapo, of Michigan, one of the most saga- cious and enterprising business men of Flint, forty years ago, who developed the Immber in- dustry in that region and built the railroad from Flint to Holly, which now forms part of the Pere Marquette system. Mr. Durant was born in Boston December 8, 1861, the family coming to Detroit when he was nine years old, and subsequently removing to Flint. The son passed the curriculum of the local schools, and might have had any position that inflnen- tial relations could secure, but he was ambi- tious to do for himself, and at the age of 17 he became elerk in a drug store at $3 per week, then for a time aeting as salesman and bookkeeper for a cigar manufacturing firm in Flint. He received a thorough training and discipline in practical business by a three years' service as lumber shover and inspector in the mills and yards of his unele, W. W. Crapo, after which he engaged for a time in the real estate and insurance business. In 1886 he began in a very small way the busi- ness that has since grown to gigantie propor- tions. When road carts were first introduced in the west, he secured an option on the patent owned by a party in Coldwater. He formed a partnership with J. D. Dort, another young man of keen business attributes, and with a limited capital, all borrowed, they began the manufacture. Their first year's output reached some four thousand, proving the venture a success. The firm now employs 1,200 men and does a business amounting to three millions annually, their output embrac-
WILLIAM CRAPO DURANT.
ing carriages of all descriptions. Their fac- tories turn out 400 buggies complete each day. They are interested in four carriage factories at Flint and own the Imperial Wheel plant at Jackson, the largest in the world, together with an axel plant and 7,000 acres of southern timber, with mills for converting the timber into lumber. The Durant-Dort enterprise has brought several similar factories to Flint, and the city is known as one of the principal carriage centers of the world and their pro- ducts have a world-wide reputation.
Mr. Durant is certainly one of the keenest, most successful and thorough-going business men of the state. He is a director of the Citizens' Commercial Savings Bank, of the Flint Electrie Light Company, Diamond Buggy Company, Flint Top & Gear Company and Webster Vehicle Company, all of Flint. Though a strong Republican in politics, he has studiously avoided seeking or accepting public office, believing that politics and busi- ness cannot be successfully mixed. His reli- gious connection is Presbyterian and he is a member of the Order of Elks. Miss Clara Miller Pitt, daughter of Ralph S. Pitt, of Flint, became Mrs. Durant, June 17, 1885. Two children, Margery, aged 13, and Russell Clifford, aged 9 years, have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Durant.
526
MEN OF PROGRESS.
HAMILTON CARHARTT.
CARHARTT, HAMILTON. Mr. Car- hartt is in direct descent from Thomas and Mary (Lord) Carhartt, who came from Eng- land in 1600. His parents, George W. and Lefa Jane (Wylie) Carhartt, were residents of Macedon Locks, Wayne county, N. Y., where the son Hamilton was born August 27, 1855. The parents removed to Detroit, where the mother died in the son's carly child- hood. The father, who was a physician, at once removed to Jackson, where he enjoyed a wide practice and where the son's early life was passed. In 1884 Mr. Carhartt moved to Detroit, where he has since resided. In 1889 the business of which Mr. Carhartt is the head (the manufacture of clothing for the wholesale trade, corner of Michigan avenue and Tenth street, Detroit), was established by him under the firm name of Hamilton Car- hartt & Co. He had previously represented eastern business houses as a commercial agent
in the middle west. Mr. Carhartt has intro- duced into prosaie clothing manufacture the spirit of congeniality. His workshop remind the visitor at once of a large family gather- ing, so absent is the usual awe and formality, but nevertheless every one of the 600 and more workers performs his or her task with a willingness and cheerfulness which is in con- trast to what prevails in similar places. Mr. Carhartt recognizes in his great business that labor has its equities. Like as every man should, he has a mission in life, and the man- agement of a large industry is considered but a means of promoting industrial reform. The following from a recent business announce- ment is quite a sermon in itself : "Our manu- facturing business was not started to do the gainful thing alone, but the just and honest thing first, gainful if possible. There is a Moslem maxim that, 'one hour in the execu- tion of justice is worth seventy years of prayer.'"
Mr. Carhartt is a member and vice-presi- dent. of the Detroit Publie Lighting Com- mission, president of the Ophir Mining Com- pany, Stateline, Utah, a director of the Mer- chants and Manufacturers' Exchange, and president of the Detroit Valve & Washer Works. He is a member of Christ Church (Episcopal), of the Detroit Club, Detroit Athletic Club, Detroit Country Club, De- troit Boat Club, Archaeological Society, the Comedy Club and Sons of the American Revolution. On December 21, 1881, he was married to Miss Annette Welling, daughter of Stephen A., and Emma (Polar) Welling of Jackson. Three children are the fruit of the marriage: Hamilton, Jr., aged 18; Wylie Welling, 16, and Margaret Welling, 14.
527
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
BOUTELL, BENJAMIN. Mr. Boutell enjoys the prefix of captain, from his connec- tion with marine interests centering at Bay City. His father, Daniel Boutell, was of Scotch descent. His mother, Betsy Adams, was of New England origin and a niece of President John Quincy Adams. The par- ents came to Michigan from Syracuse, N. Y., in 1827, settling in Deerfield township, Liv- ingstone county, where the son was born Au- gust 17, 1844. Ilis first essay at productive labor was riding a horse to plow eorn at a stated compensation, when he was six years old, so that he early became self-supporting. When 12 years old his parents moved to Birch Run, leaving him in charge of the farm. The parents removed to Bay City in 1859, and opened a hotel, in which Ben, as he is familiarly ealled, was their assistant. The hotel burned down in 1865 and the son so- eured a position as "wheelman" on the tug "Wave," and the next year was promoted to the position of mate. In 1867 he was cap- tain of the steamer Ajax, owned by the First National Bank of Bay City. The boat had been a losing investment and Capt. Bontell's pay was dependent upon what financial results he could show from its management. By close financing he was enabled to turn over to the owners some $6,000 that year and he dates his success in life from that time. In 1868 he sailed the passenger boat Reynolds, and in 1869 the tug Union. In 1869 he formed a co-partnership with one Mitchell, as Mitchell & Boutell, doing a general towing and coal business. The business enjoyed a marked increase in the number and style of vessels until 1886, when the partnership was dis- solved, Capt. Mitchell continuing the vessel and coal business and Capt. Boutell the raft towing. He that year organized the Saginaw Bay Towing Co., sixteen tugs now comprising the company's fleet. The raft towing has lat- terly extended to Georgian Bay and Lake Michigan, from having been at first local to Saginaw Bay. Many of the log rafts contain from 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 feet, and Capt. Boutell is credited with having handled more timber in this way than any man living. He has handled every year, for thirty-five years, 1,000,000 feet and upwards, necessitating a heavy labor and expense account.
Capt. Boutell has been a busy man in ont- side enterprises. In 1899 he organized the Marine Iron Co., of Bay City, and has been its president from the first. In 1891 he or- ganized the Boutell Transit Co., of Bay City,
BENJAMIN BOUTELL.
owning the steamer Hiram W. Sibley and schooner Twin Sisters. In 1895 he organized the Boutell Towing & Wrecking Co., of Sarnia, Ont., of which he is president. In 1896 he bought the Hampton Transit Co., of Bay City, operating the steamer Charles A. Eddy, and is president of this company. In 1899 he, with others, organized the Bontell Towing & Transit Co., of Boston, Mass., for salt water coastwise towing, being viee-presi- dent of this company. He has other vessel interests aside from those mentioned. Hle is vice-president of the Michigan Chicory Co. and a director and heavy stockholder in the Commercial Bank, both of Bay City. Through faith in the beet sugar industry, Capt. Boutell helped to organize the Michigan Sugar Co. and the Bay City Sugar Co., both of Bay ('ity, the latter, the largest in the state, and of which he is vice-president, he being a heavy stockholder in both. He is also a stockholder and director in the Marine City Sugar Co., and owns large tracts of coal lands and several beet raising farms near Bay City.
Capt. Boutell is a member of the Masonie fraternity and a trustee of the Methodist Church.
His wife, to whom he was married Decem- ber 21, 1869, was formerly Miss Aurelia C. Duttinger, of Pine River. Two sons, Fred- erick E. and William H., both married, and in business together at Bay City, are the fruit of the marriage.
528
MEN OF PROGRESS.
GEORGE WILLIAM MOORE.
MOORE, GEORGE WILLIAM. There is no more striking figure seen in Detroit than George William Moore. Six feet two in height, well proportioned, check bones some- what prominent, giving a slight look of angu- larity to the countenance, hair and whiskers divided between brown and sandy-while it cannot perhaps be said that he resembles Lin- coln in his make-up, there is about him that element which may be termed homely hon- esty, and a tendency in his relations with men to go straight to the matter in hand, that leads one involuntarily to associate him in thought with the Great Emancipator. While from his personal appearance, an observer would assign to Mr. Moore a high rank among his fellows, he is by air and manner simply plain Mr. Moore, and though a head taller than some other, corporeally, if his moral and in- tellectual stature exceeds the average, it must appear from his acts, and not from any as- sumption of superiority on his part.
Mr. Moore's ancestors came from the Brit- ish Isles, his paternal grandfather, William Moore, from London, his paternal grand- mother, Elizabeth Barnes, from Tyronne county, Ireland, and his mother from Leiees- tershire, England.
Mr. Moore is a native of Wayne county, Michigan, having been born in the township of Romulus, September 9, 1847, son of George Washington Moore (retired), a New Yorker by birth, and a resident of the village of Romulus. He was educated in the schools at Ypsilanti and later in the Law Department of the State University, from which he gradu- ated in 1872, and was admitted to the bar the same year. IIe having become a resident of Detroit, at once formed a business connection with his present partner, George Whitney Moore, under the firm name of Moore & Moore. The similarity of their names, both having the same initials, leads them in their personal relations to give the middle name in full as a means of identity. The firm of Moore & Moore is familiar in legal circles in Michigan and adjacent states. Their prac- tice is confined to the civil courts and is varied and general, and includes constitutional, cor- porate and commercial law.
Mr. Moore has never stood for public office of any kind. He is, however, a Democrat from the ground up. He is potential in the counsels of the party and is at present a mem- ber of the State Central Committee, from the First Congressional District. He is an elo- quent, logical and forceful speaker before the court and jury and at the listings in political campaigns. He is also an occasional contrib- utor of political articles to the daily press. In 1885 Mr. Moore was married to Miss Kath- erine M. DeMill, daughter of the late Peter E. DeMill, of Detroit. They have one daughter, who bears her mother's name.
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