USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. III > Part 11
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In Detroit the operations of this firm have been very large and important, their sales of Woodward avenue property alone representing transactions ag- gregating several million dollars. Among the more im- portant transfers made may be noted the following: The site of the Washington Arcade to Colonel Frank J. Hecker; the Bresler block to E. L. Ford and B. F. Berry; the Bagley homestead to the Fowler Estate; and other deals in which were connected such men as Albert Stephens, Henry Stephens, E. M. Fowler, William Livingstone and F. E. Driggs.
In 1894 the insurance department of the business was taken into control of the newly organized firm of Warren, Burch & Company, though the business has been consecutive in its history. Charles E. Burch, who became a member of the new firm at the time of its organization, died in 1896, and his interests were pur- chased by Cullen Brown. The title of the firm was then changed to Warren, Brown & Company. In April, 1907, Charles R. Walker was admitted to membership in the original real estate firm of Homer Warren &
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Company and is yet in partnership with Mr. Warren. In connection with their general operations in the handling of both improved and nnimproved realty they have also given special attention to rentals and rent collections. Many of the more important buildings in Detroit have been under the supervision of this firm. In January, 1907, the firm negotiated the sale of the property at the corner of High street and Woodward avenue, one hundred and sixty-five feet on Woodward and three hundred feet on High street.
Politically, Mr. Warren has given his allegiance steadily to the republican party and he has rendered effective service in the promotion of its cause. On Jan- uary 15, 1906, he received his commission as postmaster of Detroit, from Theodore Roosevelt, and he assumed his duties in the following March. He was reappointed by President Taft, December 16, 1909, and served until the expiration of his term on September 1, 1913. Mr. Warren, as an acknowledged leader in realty circles, has served as president of the Detroit Real Estate Board, also as president of the Detroit Board of Com- meree.
On the 9th of December, 1878, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Warren to Miss Susie M. Leach, daughter of the late Colonel Daniel E. Leach, a dis- tinguished officer in the United States army. Mrs. Warren died November 16, 1907, leaving no children. On February 17, 1909, Mr. Warren was married to Miss Flora M. Perry.
In the club life of the city Mr. Warren has been very prominent. He holds membership in the Detroit Club, Detroit Athletic Club, Detroit Golf Club, Detroit Automobile Club, Country Club, Annandale Golf Club and Midweek Country Club of Pasadena, California, and the Young Men's Christian Association of Detroit.
The career and accomplishments of Homer Warren might well serve as a guide to the younger genera- tion of Detroit business men. The spirit of the times has not always been conducive to the better things of eivie life, the development of those things which have nothing to do with the making of personal for- tunc. Mr. Warren came to Detroit as a young man, with little capital, and here he has achieved progress and high position not alone in the making of a dollar, but in public service and the promotion of those fea- tures which have made Detroit a city nnique in the land. He has been liberally rewarded in the esteem and honor in which he is held by his fellow citizens. Mr. Warren is yet active in the real estate business, bnt during the winter months repairs to his home on the ontskirts of Pasadena, California.
JAMES COSSLETT SMITH, a man of exceptional legal and literary talent, whose contribution to the world's thought was of enduring nature, whose notable professional activities were well balanced by a broad humanitarianism, was born in Canandaigua, New York, March 23, 1857. His father, James C. Smith, also a native of the Empire state, was born at Phelps,
Angust 14, 1817, and became a member of the bar, winning fame as an able and greatly respected jurist, serving for ten years as judge of the appellate divi- sion of the supreme court of New York. He married Emily Ward Adams, who was born at Lyons, New York, May 28, 1822, a daughter of John Adams of the Empire state. The death of Judge Smith occurred September 26, 1900, while his wife died July 31, 1896.
Through his two ancestral lines James Cosslett Smith came of English and Welsh parentage. He was educated in the Canandaigua Academy of New York and in Hobart College of Geneva, New York, being graduated from the latter institution in the class of 1878 with the degree of Master of Arts and with valedictorian honors. His broad literary train- ing served as an excellent foundation upon which to build the superstructure of professional learning and he entered the Columbia Law School of New York city, in which he completed his legal course as a member of the class of 1880. In the spring of the same year he was admitted to the New York bar.
In the following summer Mr. Smithi came to De- troit, was admitted to practice in the courts of Michi- gan and entered upon his legal career in this state in the offices of Sidney D. Miller, John H. Bissell and Frederick Sibley in 1881. His progress as a representative of the legal profession in Detroit was continuous and steady. In 1898 he formed a part- nership with Sidney T. Miller, a son of Sidney D. Miller, and this association was maintained until 1902, when the firm was augmented by Charles T. Alexander and Louis H. Paddock, who joined the partnership. In 1908 George Perry came into the firm and prior to the death of Mr. Smith, George Canfield was made a partner in January, 1914. Mr. Smith possessed comprehensive knowledge of the principles of juris- prudence and was seldom, if ever, at fault in the ap- plication of such principles. One writing of him said: "He entertained the highest professional ideals and he constantly put these to practical use in his own conduct. He had, however, such measure of sympathy and tolerance that no erring member of the profession failed to receive from him encouragement and con- sideration. "
On the 12th of April, 1888, in Detroit, Mr. Smith was married to Miss Virginia Ferguson, a daughter of Thomas and Naney Maria (Kilbourne) Ferguson, of the state of New York. Mrs. Smith was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but her father was a native of Kingston, Canada, and her mother of Oswego, New York. Mrs. Smith is descended from one of the finest old American families and is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Society of Colonial Dames, serving on the board of the latter.
In addition to his legal ability Mr. Smith possessed exceptional literary talent and was the author of several stories and essays of merit. He would un. doubtedly have been a writer of note had he given his talents free sweep along literary lines, unhindered
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by legal matters. He was very fond of travel and with his wife spent many happy seasons in foreign lands, combining with their pleasure-seeking many hours of study of the people and customs as well as of the antiquities of the varions conntries which they visited. Mrs. Smith survives her husband, continuing the work left unfinished by him, her own talents well qualify- ing her for taking up the work which he could not finish. He passed away iu Detroit, September 7, 1917. His political allegiance had been given to the republican party and his religious faith was that of the Episcopal church. The Michigan Churchman said of him: "The sudden and unexpected death from pneumonia on Friday, September 7th, of the chancel- lor of the diocese, James Cosslett Smith, brings with it the deepest sense of loss to his large circle of friends, his parish and his diocese. No layman was better known or exerted a more powerful influence in the activities of the church in Michigan than the quiet, lovable chancellor. His counsel and advice, given deliberately and always sane and unbiased, were continuously sought by the bishop and standing com- mittee and always cheerfully rendered. He was never too busy to give his thought, time and energy to the church's work.
"In his parish, Christ church, Detroit, he was an active participant, a member of the vestry and a gen- erous and willing supporter of the rector. His serv- ices to the diocese were of incalculable value. He had served it as the chancellor since November 17, 1904, always in attendance upon the sessions of the diocesan convention. He had been continuously a member of the conventions of the fifth missionary department and later of the province of the Mid-West. In the Diocesan Church Club, of which he was a charter member, he had been active as a member of its board of directors, counsel for its reinforcement fund committee and in other active or advisory capac- ities.
"He had represented the diocese of Michigan as one of its lay deputies to general convention since 1907 and was a provisional deputy in 1898, 1901 and 1904. He leaves a wife to mourn his loss. The fun- eral services were held from Christ church on Monday morning, September 11th, Rev. William D. Maxon, D. D., the rector, and Bishop Joseph H. Johnson of Los Angeles, California, officiating."
Mr. Smith was, moreover, a man of notably social nature. He belonged to the Detroit Athletic Club, Detroit Club, Yondotega, Detroit Boat, Country, Wit- enagemote and Detroit Racquet and Curling Clubs and was a member of the Sigma Phi fraternity at Hobart College.
REV. JAMES WHEELER, pastor of the Church of Our Lady of Help, is one of the best known repre- sentatives of the Roman Catholic faith in Detroit, having labored in his present connection since the 1st of September, 1887. He was born in Pompton,
New Jersey, May 11, 1848, a son of Michael and Mary (McQueeney) Wheeler, who were of Irish birth and whose family numbered eight children. The parents removed from New Jersey to Kalamazoo, Michigan, when their son, James, was a young lad and there he attended the public schools. He afterward became a student in St. Thomas College at Bardstown, Ken- tucky, and subsequently went abroad, spending nine years in study in the American College at Louvain, Belgium, a city whose tragic history has awakened the sympathy of the entire world. Rev. Mr. Wheeler completed his course there in 1873 and returning to America was ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic church by Bishop Borgess in Detroit. His first ap- pointment was to the church at Fentonville, Michigan, where he labored for four years, and in 1877 he be- came pastor of St. Patrick's church in Brighton, Mich- igan, where he continued for two years. In 1878 and 1888 he had charge of St. Paul's church at Owosso, and on the 1st of September, 1887, assumed the pas- torate of the Church of Our Lady of Help in Detroit. The church was established in 1867 and consecrated on the 8th of December of that year. The Rev. G. E. M. Linpens became the first pastor and was suc- ceeded by J. C. Pulcher, while later the Rev. J. Savage took charge and was followed by Father Wheeler, who for more than thirty-two years has labored zeal- ously and earnestly in the upbuilding of the church iu all the branches of its work, witnessing the steady growth of the parish both in numerical and spiritual advancement.
CHARLES BROWNE CALVERT. For fifteen years prior to his death Charles Browne Calvert lived retired in Detroit but for many years previous to that time was a well known figure in the business circles of the city as the head of the Calvert Lithographiug Company. He was born June 3, 1848, in Liverpool, England, and was brought to the United States by his parents when but four years of age, the family settling first in Philadelphia, later in Minneapolis, and afterward removing to Detroit. Here Charles Browne Calvert was educated as a public school pupil and was reared to manhood in this city. His father, Thomas Calvert, was the proprietor of an extensive plant that he had established and which was operated under the name of the Calvert Lithographing Com- pany. Charles Browue Calvert of this review became connected with the establishment and, showing thor- oughness and capability, was soon afterward promoted and became treasurer of the company and later vice president, holding the latter position until his retire- ment. This business became one of the leading litho- graphing establishments of the country. Mr. Calvert was a director of the Michigan Fire & Marine Insur- ance Company.
On the 27th of April, 1870, Mr. Calvert was united in marriage by the Rev. Mr. Lightner to Miss Louise M. Bethune, a daughter of Donald Bethune, who was
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boru in Canada, and was a member of the Canadian bar and later of the Detroit bar, passing away in De- troit in the early '80s. To Mr. and Mrs. Calvert were born two sons and a daughter: Lucie P. B .; Charles B., who was born September 14, 1875, in Detroit and is now engaged in the real estate business in this city; and Edward B., born July 4, 1880. The family circle was broken by the hand of death when on the 4th of November, 1920, Mr. Calvert was called to his final rest at the age of seventy-two, his remains being interred in Elmwood cemetery of Detroit. Mr. Calvert was well known in many connections. He had attained high rank in Masonry, was a life member of Oriental Lodge and a Knights Templar and Con- sistory Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine. He also belonged to the Old Guard of Detroit Com- mandery. He was a member of St. John's Episcopal church, while of St. Luke's Hospital he served as a trustee. He took a keen interest in everything that tended to advance public welfare or to uplift the individual and he was constantly extending a helping hand where aid was needed in order that he might ameliorate the hard conditions of life for the unfortunate. The sterling worth of his character was attested by all who knew him and at his demise he left behind him a circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintance.
HENRY BOURNE JOY. When, in the process of becoming "dynamic," Detroit lost something of her homogeneous character, she yet clung to the prin- ciples which have given beauty and artistry to her structure. The mighty industrial growth naturally created a new type of citizen, one who was prone to lose sight of all but the gain of power and who subor- dinated every other interest to the attainment of financial strength. Business, finance and trade, based chiefly upon the motor car industry and intensified by the manufacture of war equipment, overshadowed such other factors as promote civic development along in- tellectual lines as well as industrial. These are requi- sites as much as the others.
However, Detroit was the fortunate possessor of a group of men, "native here, and to the manner born," whose love for their home town and its memories en- abled them to attain the crest of financial success with- out forgetting the wonderful traditions of Cadillac's village-the culture, the refinements, the charitable impulses and the advancement of social standards. These men-and it is with one of them, Mr. Henry B. Joy, that this particular sketch has to do-formed the keystone of Detroit's commercial arch, for they were men of broad conceptions, modern methods and sane procedure.
Mr. Henry B. Joy, whose family and career have been so close to the people of Detroit, merits distin- guished praise in any written record of the city, for he is one of those in whose hearts the interests of Detroit are enshrined. The fundamental purpose of
this sketch is the authoritative statement of fact, but no biographer can write upon a career so replete with successful accomplishment without imparting something of the personality and character of the subject. Without this history would not be honest.
Henry B. Joy was born at Detroit, Michigan, No- vember 23, 1864, the son of James Frederic and Mary (Bourne) Joy, of whom more is written upon another page of this work. Mr. Joy was reared in Detroit and received his early education in the public and private schools, also at the Michigan Military Acad- emy. Supplementing his school work and, in fact, the strongest influence moulding the young man's thoughts and ideas, was the teaching of his distinguished father, a man noted for his legal and executive ability, also his love for literature and the classics. Mr. Joy's forefathers were Calvinists; strong, upstanding men of rigorous thought and action, and these principles of right and wrong were passed on to his sons in im- pressionable manner by the elder Mr. Joy. After com- pleting his elementary education in Detroit, Henry B. Joy began his study at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, graduating there with the class of 1883. Thence he entered the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, which he attended until his junior year, 1886.
Returning to his home in Detroit, prepared to enter upon his business career, Mr. Joy secured employment as an office boy with the Peninsular Car Company. His close application to his work and his boundless enthusiasm for the task in hand quickly carried him upward, past the positions of clerk and paymaster to assistant treasurer. Then for two years, from 1887 until 1889, he followed the mining business in the state of Utah. Returning to Detroit he became assist- ant treasurer and a director of the Fort Street Union Depot Company, a connection which he retained until about 1910. In 1896 Mr. Joy also became president of the Detroit Union Railroad Depot & Station Company.
During his work with the above named companies Mr. Joy also became associated with other interests, prominent among which was the Peninsular Sugar Refining Company. He was one of the organizers of this company in 1899 and was treasurer and a director of the same until 1906, when the company was sold to the Michigan Sugar Company. Mr. Joy remained as a director of the latter concern for a very short time, resigning under the increasing responsibility of his work as the Packard executive.
The development of the Packard Motor Car Com- pany will always rank as Mr. Joy's greatest contribu- tion to Detroit's industrial growth, no matter what successes fall to his lot in the years to come. The building of this great manufactory of high-priced anto- mobiles, in fact its very existence in the city of Detroit, is directly attributable to the efforts of Mr. Joy. In 1903 the Packard automobile was manufac- tured at Warren, Ohio, by J. W. and W. D. Packard, under the name of the New York & Ohio Company.
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The car they produced was an excellent one, but it was not being marketed in most advantageous manner. Mr. Joy first saw a model of the automobile while visiting the annual exhibition in New York city and immediately recognized its potentialities. With char- acteristic initiative and purpose he soon visited the Ohio plant, with the intention of buying into the company. However, the owners at that time were loath to become partners with outside capital, but were impressed at the same time with Mr. Joy's ideas concerning the production and distribution of their product. His methods were those of. the big business man and it was not long before he had entered the company as general manager and one of the directors. Immediately new methods were forthcoming, the first steps of the great development of the Packard were taken and brought material response; efficiency, as applied by Mr. Joy, soon rendered him indispensable to the Packards and he was allowed practically un- limited latitude in his work.
At this time Detroit was becoming known as the automobile center of America and offered far greater advantages than Warren, Ohio, for manufacture and distribution. Consequently Mr. Joy succeeded in hav- ing the plant moved to this city, J. W. Packard at this time still being president of the concern, which was then the New York & Ohio Company. The fac- tory having been constructed and the actual manufac- ture started Mr. Joy was repeatedly solicited by the Packards and other officers to accept the office of presi- dent of the company. Accordingly, in 1905, when the name of the concern was changed from the New York & Ohio Company to the Packard Motor Car Company, he was formally chosen chief executive, which position he held until 1916, and for one year after this was chairman of the board of directors, resigning to enter the service of his country.
It is not the intention here to take up in detail the history of the Packard Motor Car Company; suffice to say that the story of the Packard motor car and its development during the fifteen years under Mr. Joy's direction is internationally known. The type of car itself suggests strongly the character of the man. To such accomplishments as this Detroit owes her place in the world today-the place as the great- est automobile manufacturing city. Through the Pack- ard car, as with the Cadillac, the Ford, the Hudson, Paige, Maxwell and many others, the city of Detroit is intimately known wherever civilized man lives. Truly Detroit's greatest assets are not the dollars, but the men behind the dollars.
Although gradually withdrawing from active par- ticipation in large business affairs, Mr. Joy retains a hold upon his commercial interests. For two years he was a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chi- cago and is now a director and member of the execu- tive committee of the Wabash Railroad, is president of the Lincoln Highway Association, a member of the American Protective Tariff League, also the American
Fair Trade League. His own interests are represented by the Joy Realty Company, of which he is president and Mrs. Joy is vice president. In the work of the Detroit Board of Commerce Mr. Joy has always been interested and is now one of the directors.
Like his father before him, perhaps the keenest pleasure he has is the enjoyment of his home and family. Mr. Joy was married October 11, 1892, to Miss Helen Hall Newberry of Grosse Pointe Farms, who is also descended from one of Detroit's oldest and most notable families. Mr. and Mrs. Joy are the parents of two children now living: Helen, who is the wife of Howard B. Lee of Detroit and the mother of one daughter, Helen Joy Lee; and Henry Bourne, Jr. Two other children, Marian and James Frederic, are deceased, the former at eleven years of age and the latter at five.
Under the stars and stripes Mr. Joy has given meritorious service on two occasions-in 1898 and in 1917. In the war with Spain in 1898 Mr. Joy served as chief boatswain's mate on the U. S. S. "Yosemite," in company with a number of other representative De- troiters. Within a few weeks after the United States entered the World war in 1917 Mr. Joy completed arrangements to enter the service, hoping to get into active work overseas. In July, 1917, he was mustered into the U. S. Signal Corps with the rank of captain, and before his honorable discharge, July 28, 1918, had been promoted through the different ranks to that of lieutenant colonel. Notwithstanding the fact that the opportunity for overseas service never came, Mr. Joy gave unstintedly of his ability and resources for the cause, a part of which was the organizing of four motor mechanic regiments for foreign service. In the various drives for funds-the Liberty Loans, Red Cross, Y. M. C. A., Salvation Army and other relief measures-Mr. Joy gave liberally, with the desire to aid to the extent of his means. A significant fact is that when the National Society for the Advancement of Patriotic Education was organized in New York city in January, 1916, Mr. Joy with elected vice president. The purpose of this society was the "trans- lation of the patriotic impulses of the American people into an effective national spirit."
Mr. Joy also holds memberships in the following clubs and organizations: Detroit Athletic Club, Yon- dotega, Detroit Club, Country Club, Old Club of St. Clair Flats, Detroit Boat Club, Detroit Motor Boat Club, Detroit Motor Club, Detroit Automobile Club, Bloomfield Hills Country Club, Larchmont Yacht Club, Delta Psi (Yale Chapter), Detroit Y. M. C. A., Detroit Rifle and Revolver Club, Point Judith Polo Club (N. Y. C.), Toledo Club, New York Engineers, New York Yacht Club, Yale Club, Automobile Club of America, Bankers Club and the Navy League of the United States, being the vice president of the latter association.
With Mr. Frederick K. Stearns, Mr. Joy was one of the first men of Detroit to advocate a downtown ath-
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letic elub for the city fully thirty years ago and, in recent years, when the Detroit Athletic Club was or- ganized, his influence and prestige behind the move- ment were great factors in its prompt success. Back in the '80s, when the suggestion was first made, the idea of an athletic club met with considerable opposi- tion, but despite this fact Mr. Joy never lost the desire to organize a club of this character for Detroit. He was simply a few years ahead of the times. The ques- tion was brought up again in 1912, and Mr. Joy became one of the strongest backers of the movement, was one of the two largest buyers of the elub bonds after the organization had been completed, and through his wide acquaintanceship and personal popu- larity was the means of securing as members a great number of the best citizens of Detroit. He was chosen vice president of the club at the time of its organi- zation and now holds the position of president.
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