USA > Michigan > St Clair County > St. Clair County, Michigan, its history and its people; a narrative account of its historical progress and its principal interests, Vol. II > Part 37
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Mrs. Grace is as highly thought of in the community as is her hus- band, and she has been of great assistance to him in the building up of his fortune. Their prosperity has not spoiled them, and they are as charming and courteous to the unknown stranger as to the multi-mil- lionaire.
FRED A. SMITH. It is hard for the youth of the present generation to realize that only a few short years ago the telephone was something absolutely unknown, and that the magnificent system of today, which puts the peoples of the uttermost points in our land in instant touch with one another, had not yet been even established. Great has been the achievement of th men who have had the work in charge, and great is the work being done at the present time, principally by young men who have brought the enthusiasm and enterprise of youth to their work, which have assisted them in overcoming the great obstacles in their paths. Fred A. Smith, manager of the Michigan State Telephone Com- pany at Marine City and Algonac, belongs to this class, and is known ยท as one of the capable business men of St. Clair county. Mr. Smith is a native of Saginaw, Michigan, and was born March 23, 1881, a son of Gustavus and Mary (Conn) Smith, of Ohio.
Gustavus Smith came to Michigan during the early seventies, and settled in Saginaw, where he was married and reared his family. Fred A. Smith's education was secured in the public and high schools of his native city, and after graduating from the latter, in 1898, he entered the drug house of A. E. Tomlinson, where he remained until 1899. At that time he entered the employ of the firm with which he is at present connected, and was sent from Saginaw to Marine City in. 1907, this charge also including the management of the Algonac branch. He has shown himself thoroughly conversant with every detail of the telephone business and entirely able to discharge the duties of his present position, and as a faithful, industrious manager has won the respect of his co- workers and the confidence of his superiors.
On August 19, 1899, Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Miss Mary Jones, of Saginaw, who was born in Ohio, daughter of Charles E. Jones, a mining man. Until her marriage Mrs. Smith was employed as a telephone and telegraph operator, and was acting as such when she became acquainted with Mr. Smith. They have had one child. Mary Ellen, who was born August 19, 1911. Mr. Smith is independent in politics, and his fraternal connection is with the Knights of Pythias.
Rev. .. Collinare
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REVEREND FATHER P. J. CULLINANE, pastor of the Sacred Heart Cath- olie church at Yale, Saint Clair county, is a man of scholarly attainments and of deep religious convictions, his sincerity being evident while all of his works, both spiritual and corporal, are marked by a spirit of wis- dom and thoroughness. He was born in Cass county, Michigan, January 15, 1875, and received his literary education at Assumption College, in Sandwich, Ontario, where he spent five years.
He subsequently continued his studies for two years at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland, and for three years at a theological seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio. Being ordained to the priesthood in 1898, Father Cullinane came immediately to Yale, Michigan, in which there was then no Catholic church, the people of that denomination attending the church at Speaker, Sanilac county. A district, which included Yale, was set aside from Speaker and Emmet, and Father Cullinane imme- diately began the work of organizing a church in Yale, and has since labored untiringly in the interests of the large parish which he has here established. A church and parsonage have been erected under his super- vision at a cost of upwards of $20,000, both being well finished and well furnished, and adding both beauty and value to what was almost worth- less property when the Father came to Yale.
The first mass which Father Cullinane celebrated after coming to Yale was said in what is now the Chrytler Hotel, twenty persons being present. That the Father's labors have been earnest and fruitful is evi- denced by the large congregations of sincere and devont worshipers that gather in the new church edifice.
FRANK J. SMITH, proprietor and manager of the Wolverine Dry Dock, situated at No. 2140 Military street, is one of Port Huron's self- made men, and has been identified with the business interests of the city for a period covering thirty years. He was born November 30, 1853, in Canada, and is a son of Nicholas and Nancy (Osterhont) Smith, the former a native of Canada, where he spent his entire life, and the latter born in the United States of German parents. Mrs. Smith died in 1910, and was buried in Canada.
Frank J. Smith received a common school education in the schools of his native country, and immediately thereafter started to learn the trade of wagon maker, it being necessary that he should support himself, as his father's family was a large one and financial circumstances were none too good. Ile continued to follow his trade for three years in Canada, and then for seven years he traveled from place to place as a journeyman, accepting employment at his trade where he could find it and practicing economy and frugality in order that he might acquire enough to establish himself in a business of his own. In 1881 he came to Port Huron and established himself as proprietor of the old dry dock, where for some years he was engaged in building vessels, but since 1901 the work there has consisted mainly in repairing vessels. He has had an active and useful career, and his reputation as a business man and citizen is one that is beyond reproach. Like all really successful men, he has been progressive in his ideas and enterprising in the spirit with which he carried them out, and these qualities, coupled with the neces- sary medium of hard work, have given him his present business promi- nence. Mr. Smith is a Democrat in his political views, but has never Vol II-18
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aspired to public office, although he takes a lively interest in all matters that pertain to the welfare of his adopted city. Fraternally he is con- nected with the Elks and the Maccabees.
In 1882 Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Miss Ella Leach, also a Canadian by birth, daughter of James and Anna (McCarty) Leach, who were born at Smith Falls, Canada. Mr. Leach is still living, and makes his home with his sons in Canada, but his wife has been dead for a number of years. Four children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, all born in Port Huron, as follows: Anna, the wife of Frank Morgan, living in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, has two children. Richard and Elinor, twins; Frank J., aged twenty-six years, a graduate of the Port Huron high school, is now assisting his father in the office; Ezella May, a graduate of the Port Huron high school and of Oberlin College, took a course of training in the Ypsilanti Normal School, and intends to become a teacher in the primary schools of Flint, Michigan ; and Clara Elizabeth, who is attending the graded schools. Mr. and Mrs. Smith and their children are all devout members of Grace Episcopal church, Port Huron. The pretty home of the Smiths is located at No. 2140 Military street, where the many friends of the family are always given a hearty welcome.
FRANK BAKER. The advent of the motion pictures has opened a wide field for public entertainment, and all over the country men who up to that time had engaged in almost every other line than that connected with the theater entered the business and became proprietors of amuse- ment enterprises. Only a small proportion of these succeeded, however, for it takes much more than the ordinary ability and knowledge to dis- cover the public's needs and wants, and to be able to satisfy them. Many of the most successful managers of the moving or motion picture theatres were formerly engaged in business of an electrical nature, as it is neces- sary that a man have at least a working knowledge of electricity in order that his complicated apparatus may be kept in the best of order and instantly adjusted when conditions make it necessary and emergencies arise. To this latter class belongs Frank Baker, proprietor of the New Family Theatre, of Marine City, Michigan, and a man whose popularity and managerial ability have been made manifest by the large audiences that daily and nightly crowd his place of entertainment. Mr. Baker was born at Marine City, May 20, 1867, and is a son of Simon Baker.
The boyhood of Mr. Baker was spent in Marine City, and here he attended school until he was old enough to go to work with his father in a stave and heading works. He continued at that kind of employment until he attained his majority, and then, seeking to better his condition, traveled through the western states for a time, and subsequently became a traveling agent. He next added to his experiences that of a sailor on the Great Lakes, being employed as such for one year, and he was next a carpenter in a shipyard. Finally he engaged in electrical work and plumbing, and for five years was in the employ of the Bell Telephone Company, in conjunction to doing wiring for electric lighting. In 1901 he was appointed deputy sheriff of St. Clair county, a position which he held until 1909. On January 1, 1901, he was appointed city marshal of Marine City, holding that office for two years, and in 1905 was again given the same position, which he held during 1905, 1906 and 1907, re-
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signing in the year last named to go to Listowell, Canada, to open a moving picture theatre. He remained there until November, 1908, re- turning then to Marine City, and in the spring of 1909 took charge of the Star Theatre, which he conducted until 1911. At that time Mr. Baker built the cement block theatre known as the New Family Theatre, and this he has carried on to the present time. It has always been Mr. Baker's policy to give an entertainment that is clean, enjoyable and full-value. Nothing has ever been allowed in his house that would in any way offend the finer sensibilities of his patrons and he caters especially to ladies and children. Personally he is popular, every move- ment of a worthy nature being sure to find in him a hearty and cheerful supporter, and as a citizen he has been ready at all times to give his influence or means to those measures calculated to be of benefit to his community. He has not allied himself with any fraternal organizations, and in his political views is independent.
On January 23, 1889, Mr. Baker was united in marriage with Miss Nellie Duke, of Gray township, Canada, daughter of Adam and Agnes (IIolmes) Duke, farming people. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Baker, namely : Gertrude, born in 1892, who lives with her parents.
NAPOLEON ROBERTS, a citizen whose career as business man and public official has reflected honor upon himself and his community, is now living in comfortable retirement in his home at No. 809 Park street, Port ITuron, and has been a resident of this vicinity for sixty years and at this same location for twenty years. Mr. Roberts is a native of Oswego, New York, and was born April 20, 1844, a son of Nelson and Rose (De- Bruhl) Roberts, the former a native of Oswego, New York, and the latter of Montreal, Canada. Nelson Roberts came alone to Michigan in 1848, sent for his family in 1852, and here spent the remainder of his life in lumbering.
Napoleon Roberts received his education in the schools of Port Huron, after leaving which he worked in the lumber woods with his father for twelve years, and was also the latter's partner in a wood and lumber yard for many years. He then became the proprietor of a summer re- sort at Forester, Sanilac county, Michigan, and for six years successfully conducted this place, but at that time met with a serious accident which caused his retirement from active affairs. Although his injury was a bad one, Mr. Roberts is at the present time a very well preserved man with a clear and retentive memory, and his reminiscences and anecdotes of the early days of Michigan make him a very pleasing conversa- tionalist. He takes an active interest in public matters and has been prominent in Democratie politics, serving as tax collector, sidewalk in- spector. supervisor and member of the board of education. all to the greatest satisfaction of his constituents. Fraternally he is a member of the K. O. T. M .. and he and his wife are consistent attendants of the Catholic church. Mr. Roberts' home, which is pleasant and attractive, was built in 1856 by his father, and was the first one and one-half story here, being known for a number of years as "the big house in the Third Ward." Here the many warm friends which Mr. Roberts has made through many years of honest and upright business dealing will find a hearty and sincere welcome.
On February 13, 1872. Mr. Roberts was married to Miss Ellen Tracy,
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who was born in Sandusky, Ohio, daughter of Patrick and Ellen (Ryan) Tracy, natives of Ireland, who came to America at an early date and settled in Ohio, where both died. Mr. Ryan was for a number of years employed in railroad work. Four children have been born to Mr. and . Mrs. Roberts, namely : Mary, the wife of Sumner Smith, of Port Huron. who has three children, Laura, Edward and Bessie, the latter a theatrical singer; Nora, the wife of John McArthur, a real estate dealer of Sacra- mento, California, and formerly a river captain here, who has two chil- dren, Helen and Ted; Rose, the wife of Carl Bourbonnius, manager of the phonographic department of Gunnell's Music Store in Port Huron, who has two children, James and Mary; and Ida, who is clerk of the Maccabees Temple.
EDWARD GOODRICH ACHESON, JR., vice-president and manufacturing manager of the Acheson Oildag Company, one of the prominent indus- tries of Port Huron, Michigan, with plant at Washington avenue and Black river, was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, January 25, 1887, and is a son of Edward Goodrich and Margaret (Maher) Acheson.
Dr. Edward Goodrich Acheson, Sr., was born at Washington, Penn- sylvania, March 9, 1856, a son of William and Sarah Diana (Ruple) Acheson, and grandson of David Acheson, who came to this country from Belfast, Ireland, in 1788, and settled at Washington, Pennsylvania, where he entered into partnership with his brother John. He was mar- ried to Mary Wilson, became successful in business, and at the age of twenty-five was elected to the Pennsylvania legislature, to which he was re-elected three times. One of his sons, Marcus W. Acheson, served as a circuit judge in the third district of the United States Circuit court. Another son, William Acheson, who was born in 1818 and died in 1873. the father of Edward G., was a merchant and an iron manufacturer and a man of scientific tastes. Dr. Acheson received his education in the Bellefonte Academy, Pennsylvania, and in 1872 was taken from school and employed at his father's blast furnace until the latter's death. He engaged in various occupations and finally became attached to a survey- ing party in Pennsylvania as chairman. During this time, however, his chief interest was in electricity and chemistry, and all his spare time and money were spent in studying and experimenting. At the age of seventeen he had invented a drilling machine to be used in coal mining, and later he designed a dynamo, which subsequently proved to be ident- ical with the Siemens apparatus. He also wrote papers on various scien- tific and engineering subjects, one of which was upon the protection of oil tanks from lightning, and was the first to advocate connecting the lightning conductor with the oil tank instead of insulating it, as was then the practice. He served an apprenticeship in Thomas A. Edison's Menlo Park Laboratory for a year, 1880 to 1881, as assistant engineer of the Edison enterprises in Europe, 1881 to 1883, as superintendent of the Consolidated Lamp Company of Brooklyn, 1884 to 1885, and as electrician of the Standard Underground Cable Company, of Pittsburg, 1886 to 1889.
An opportunity was now presented to continue the experiments he had begun in the Edison laboratories, and in March, 1891, he discov- ered the chemical compound "carborundum," the trade name for silicon carbide. Carborundum is made from a mixture of coke, sand and salt,
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fused in an electric furnace at a temperature slightly below that of the electric are, which, on cooling, takes the form of crystals of great brillianey and exceeding hardness and sharpness. It is the hardest sub- stanee known, except the diamond, and is used as an abrasive, being superior to emery or corundum, and as a substitute for ferro-silicon in the manufacture of steel and in foundry work. Carborundum is manu- factured in all forms-grains, powders, wheels, cylinders, sharpening stones, knife sharpeners, paper cloth, etc. The name is formed from carbon and corundum. Ilis process was patented February 28, 1893. In September, 1891, Dr. Acheson organized the Carborundum Company (of which he was president for ten years), for the purpose of manufacturing his new product, and a small plant was constructed at Monongahela, Pennsylvania. In 1895 a larger plant was built at Niagara Falls, New York, containing the largest electrical furnace in the world, and there carborundum was manufactured at the rate of over 3,000,000 pounds per year. The company was then capitalized at $200,000, employed 200 hands, and used 3,000 horse-power electrical current in its furnaces. On January 1, 1910, the company was using 10,000 horse-power, em- ployed about 800 hands and was manufacturing over 10,000,000 pounds of carborundum per year.
In the early stage of the manufacture, Dr. Acheson found in his furnaces a form of carbon which had all the properties of graphite. This was formed by the decomposition of carborundum, the silicon being vaporized and the carbon remaining as graphite. Further experiments demonstrated that graphite could be obtained in the same way from other carbides, and on July 23, 1895, Dr. Acheson obtained a patent for producing graphite from amorphous carbon in the electric furnace. At first he devoted himself to the manufacture of graphite electrodes for use in electrolytes where amorphous carbon would be rapidly disin- tegrated, and in 1897 over 162,000 pounds of graphite were manufac- tured and marketed in this form. Meanwhile he continued his experi- ments in the production of graphite in bulk, and worked out a method of using anthracite coal which proved to be the best carbonaceous ma- terial for this purpose, and additional patents were granted him. In January, 1899, the Acheson Graphite Company was organized for its manufacture under his patents, and in the following year it was merged with the International Acheson Graphite Company, of which Dr. Ache- son is president. The company's works are located at Niagara Falls, and January 1, 1910, were producing over 10,000,000 pounds of graphite per year for use as electrodes, paints, pencils, foundry facings, stove polish, lubricants and other lines in which natural graphites are used. This manufactured product, known as Acheson-Graphite, is much su- perior to the natural graphite, owing to its greater purity and uni- formity.
Dr. Acheson is a skillful experimenter and an ingenious inventor, to which is combined a courage that no failures or adverse conditions can daunt. He is a member of the American Institute of Electrical En- gineers, the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, the American Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science, the American Electro-Chemical Society, of which he is a past president, Society of Arts, London, Eng- land, and the Buffalo and Park Clubs of Buffalo, New York. The John Scott medal was awarded him by the city of Philadelphia in 1894 for
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the discovery of carborundum, and again in 1900 for his process of manu- facturing graphite, and he received the Grand Prize at the Paris Expo- sition of 1900 for the same inventions.
Other honors conferred upon Dr. Acheson are as follows :
Grand Prize, Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Missouri, 1904, for carborundum and artificial graphite; Count Rumford premium, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston, Massachusetts, 1908, for new industrial products of the electric furnace; the degree of Sc. D. was conferred upon him by the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, February 12, 1909; the Perkin Medal awarded by Perkin Medal Com- mittee, January 21, 1910.
On December 15, 1884, Dr. Acheson was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Maher, daughter of Thomas Maher, of Brooklyn, New York, and they have a family of nine children, namely: Veronica Belle, Edward Goodrich, Jr., Raymond Maher, Sarah R., George W., John H., Margaret I., Jean E. and Howard A.
Edward Goodrich Acheson, Jr., was about three years old when his parents moved to Monongahela City, Pennsylvania, was about seven years old when the family went to Buffalo, New York, and was thirteen years old when they went to Niagara Falls, Ontario, where the parents now reside. He had attended public school in Buffalo for three years, and later a private school, and he then went to Bellefonte, where he prepared himself for college. After going into the works with his father he familiarized himself with the details of the business, starting in the International Acheson Graphite Company as a common laborer, and being later promoted to assistant superintendent of the company. When the Acheson Oildag Company was organized, in 1906, he became vice- president, and in September, 1910, moved to Port Huron to take charge of the business here. The company purchased forty acres of ground here, and the temporary frame buildings used at present are to be torn down and replaced with permanent brick structures four or five stories in height. At present about twenty men are employed. The company has patents in twenty-three countries, and instead of extending any one factory they have installed plants in various parts of the world, branches being located at Sarnia, Ontario, Canada; Plymouth, England; at Epinal, France; Nerviers, Belgium; and Novara, Italy. There is only one stockholder in this company, Dr. Acheson. The Acheson Oil- dag Company manufactures a new lubricant, made of deflocculated Acheson-Graphite diffused in oil. It is used not only in oiling powerful machinery of all kinds, steam cylinders and printing presses, but has been found valuable for motor boats, motorcycles and automobiles, and has even invaded the aeroplane field. The oil has numerous adherents among racing automobilists, and has received numerous testimonials from automobile clubs all over the country. The vice-president of this company has proved himself a business man of sterling ability, and he has also inherited much of his eminent father's inventive ingenuity. He stands for all things that are progressive, and is a decided addition to the business men of this city.
On February 8, 1910, Mr. Acheson was married at Rochester, New York, to Miss Margaret Whittle, a daughter of Thomas and Mary Whittle, and one son has been born to this union, Edward Goodrich Acheson III.
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LEWIS T. BENNETT. Especially fortunate in the character and sta- bility of her citizens, Port Huron has no more worthy name enrolled upon her list of representative men than that of Lewis T. Bennett, who is prominent not only in business cireles, but in the social, fraternal and political world. He was born in Saginaw, Michigan, February 23, 1867, a son of Daniel M. and Helen M. (Sheldon) Bennett.
Brought up in Port Huron and educated in the public schools of this city, Lewis T. Bennett passed his boyhood and youth much as did the other youth of his period. For thirteen years after leaving school he was a bookkeeper in the Port Huron Savings Bank, an office which he resigned to accept his present position as manager of the St. Clair County Abstract Company, which position he has held for eleven years. For seventeen years Mr. Bennett was also manager of the Opera House, and for two years manager of the Majestic Theatre. He is also president of the Michigan Abstractors' Association, and is at present manager of the Bennett Bill Posting Company, as well as being president of the Michi- gan Bill Posters' Association. In the management of his multitudinous affairs Mr. Bennett has two handsome and conveniently arranged offices, his advertising office being on Military street, over the Opera House, and his abstract office on Water street, over the Commercial Bank.
Active in politics, Mr. Bennett is a good Republican, but he never fails to cast his ballot in favor of the best men and measures, regardless of party lines or sentiment, and has rendered excellent service to the city as police commissioner. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, in which he has taken the thirty-second de- gree and he belongs both to the commandery, being a Knight Templar, and to the Ancient Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; he is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
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