USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. III > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115
One of the foremost, if not the foremost, of Mr. Joy's public interests has been the work of the Lin- coln Highway Association, an organization which, un- der his direction, has become internationally famous as the foremost highway promotional organization in the world.
The Lincoln Highway Association was organized in Detroit in June, 1913, being incorporated as a non- stock and non-profit sharing corporation under the laws of Michigan for the avowed purpose of "immediately promoting and procuring the establishment of a con- tinuous connected highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific." Several informal meetings had preceded the organization of the association, the general idea of promoting a transcontinental highway as the backbone of an ultimate American arterial system of roads, hav- ing originated in the mind of Mr. Carl G. Fisher of Indianapolis who brought it to Detroit and laid it before Mr. Joy, Mr. R. D. Chapin, Mr. Emory W. Clark, Mr. F. A. Seiberling, Mr. John N. Willys, Mr. Paul H. Deming and others.
Mr. Joy was so keenly interested in the plan and in the highway situation then existing, which decidedly needed the impetus of a live promotional organization, that he at that time, although exceedingly busy, gave up weeks of his time in personally driving various routes across the continent preliminary to deciding finally upon the route of the Lincoln Way. He per- sonally attended the conference of governors in Colo- rado Springs, Colorado, in August, 1913, and presented the plan which was unanimously endorsed by the exec- utives present. So forcefully did Mr. Joy throw him- self into the preliminary work of the association that his unanimous election to the post of president of the organization was most logical. Moreover, his many tours across the continent in testing out cars had given him a very clear conception of the existing routes west and he was in a position to speak of his own knowledge as regards highway conditions in prac- tically every state in the Union.
Mr. Joy served as president of the Lincoln Highway
Association from its inception until his entry into the service late in 1917. During the years between, the Lincoln Highway was ineradicably impressed upon the minds of the people of the country and upon the map of the United States as a great memorial road and as the first and most important main arterial interstate route connecting the two coasts. More than ten million dollars was spent upon the improvement of the Lincoln Highway during the first four years of the organization's work. The route was marked com- pletely from coast to coast and a highly enthusiastic and efficient organization was built up in every state, county and community through which the route passed. During this period the solid foundation for the future success of the Lincoln Highway Association was laid.
Upon Mr. Joy's resigning as president the hoard of directors elected Mr. F. A. Seiberling president of the Association, which post he held during 1918 and again during 1919. At the directors' meeting at the end of 1919, Mr. Seiberling refused again to act as president and Mr. Joy was unanimously elected to the post he had previously held.
From the first Mr. Joy has been actively in personal touch with the work of the association and with con- ditions along the line. He has several times personally driven the route from coast to coast, inspecting the situation and through the press and community organi- zations, urging needed improvement. Mr. Joy's col- leagues on the board of directors of the Lincoln High- way Association and the officers of the organization would be the first to claim that the success of the organization and the great movement for better high- ways in the United States which it inaugurated, and which is now bearing fruit in every section of the Union, can be attributed more to the personal inter- est, hard work and devotion of Henry B. Joy, than to any other man.
With the final passage of federal legislation laying out a national highway system and placing upon the federal government the burden of constructing and maintaining great interstate routes of national im- portanee, the work of the Lincoln Highway Association will be nearly completed, its primary purpose having been largely achieved. The organization was the first of its character and resulted in the formation of doz- ens of other associations promoting other through routes of travel in every section of the Union. The educational work inaugurated in such a small way in 1913 will always be looked upon by the men who ini- tiated it as one of the achievements in which they played a prominent part and in which they can take the greatest pride.
These are the salient points in the carcer of one of Detroit's most representative sons, a career which is yet in its prime and which will embrace many other accomplishments ere the final page of this generation is written. Mr. Joy has always had before him the example of a sterling ancestry. His friends know him as one whose candid and open nature could never be
99
CITY OF DETROIT
altered by wealth, by social honors or by intrigue. With deference and respect for his fellows, Mr. Joy has made and held his friends by his unaffected frank- ness and liberality; he is abundantly supplied with that which Hazlitt calls "the refined humanity which constitutes a gentleman."
JOSEPH BEDALE WOOLFENDEN, for many years an outstanding figure in mercantile circles and one whose opinion is yet sought by the newer as well as the older generation of Detroit's merchants, al- though since 1917 he has lived retired from active business, was born in Belfast, Ireland, on the 23rd of May, 1840, and is a son of James and Anne (Bedale) Woolfenden. His education was acquired in private schools of his native city and of Man- chester, England. He made his initial step into the business world in 1855 at Manchester, England, in the silk and dress goods department of the American shipping house of Firth, Slingsby & Company, with which he was associated until 1861.
Attracted by the opportunities and business con- ditions of the new world Mr. Woolfenden determined to try his fortune on this side of the Atlantic and, severing home ties, he sailed for America. From August until December, 1861, he was associated with the dry goods house of James Davis in Kingston, Ontario, and then removed to Brockville, Ontario, where for about a year he was in the employ of J. & R. Blyth. He came to Detroit in 1862, at the request of James W. Farrell, then a leading merchant of. Detroit. The latter's father, John J. Farrell, had been associated with James Woolfenden, the father of Joseph B., in Manchester, England. Joseph B. Woolfenden continued with Mr. Farrell until 1869 and remained with the house when his employer sold out to the firm of Newcomb, Endicott & Com- pany, continuing in the store until 1877, when he resigned his position to engage in business on his own account. Mr. Woolfenden went to Saginaw, Michigan, and took over the dry goods business of A. W. Wright, establishing the firm of J. B. Woolfenden & Company, with Mr. Wright remaining a partner. This business was conducted in Saginaw until 1880. In September, 1879, while Mr. Woolfenden was in New York, where it was his custom to go several times a year, he met David Burnham, to whom he expressed a desire to dispose of his lease in Saginaw as he was desirous of transferring his busi- ness to Detroit if his partner, Mr. Wright, would consent to the change of business location. Mr. Burn- ham at once replied that he would purchase the lease. Upon his return at this time to Michigan, Mr. Wool- fenden stopped off in Detroit to confer with Frank D. Taylor, who had shortly before severed his con- nection with Newcomb, Endicott & Company, rela- tive to entering into a partnership in the business if it should be transferred to Detroit. Mr. Taylor read- ily consented and the following day, in Saginaw, in
consultation with Mr. Wright, the details of the trans- action were completed even to adoption of a firm name-the Taylor-Woolfenden Company, which was decided by tossing a coin. Mr. Taylor won and his name thus appeared first in the firm name. The sale of the Saginaw lease to Mr. Burnham was followed by the establishment in Detroit of the Taylor-Wool- fenden Company, which opened its doors for business on the 1st of October, 1880, at the northwest corner of State street and Woodward avenue, in a building that was especially erected for the firm by William B. Wesson. From the beginning the new undertaking prospered. The long experience of the proprietors in connection with the dry goods trade well qualified them to carry on business of this character, and their enterprise and progressive methods were soon manifest in the growth of their patronage. To all the employes the firm's instructions were: "When you are dealing with a child or with a person unfam- iliar with merchandise, give him the benefit of your judgment and supply him with the best value in the store." Year after year the business grew in volume and importance. On the 1st of February, 1910, the Taylor-Woolfenden Company and the William H. Elliott Company were consolidated under the name of Elliott-Taylor-Woolfenden Company and occupied the William H. Elliott building on the northwest cor- ner of Woodward and Grand River avenues, until the new building erected for the firm by Mrs. William H. Elliott, on the southwest corner of Woodward avenue and Henry street, was completed. The removal of the store to the latter location took place early in May, 1911, and on May 7th it was opened for busi- ness. From the beginning Mr. Woolfenden took a leading part in shaping the policy and directing the activities of the house. The firm always maintained the highest. standards in its personnel, in the line of goods carried and in the treatment accorded pat- rons, and it was not long before the business became one of the most important commercial interests of Detroit, retaining a position of leadership to the present time. In 1917 Mr. Woolfenden retired from active business and now holds the position of honor- ary president.
It was after coming to Detroit in April, 1862, that Mr. Woolfenden was married to Miss Elizabeth Agnes Lumsden, who passed away in 1878. In this city he was married again in 1880, his second union being with Miss Rachel J. Lumsden. His living children are five in number: Annie Rachel, Mrs. Josephine Elizabeth Mills, Henry Lumsden, Florence May and John Joseph, James, the youngest, having died in infancy.
Mr. Woolfenden has always been a pioneer, in business as well as in private life. The firm was the first to occupy a building of any magnitude, north of State street, and after the consolidation with the Elliott Company was the first to move north of the Grand Circus Park, a location in which many citizens
100
CITY OF DETROIT
gave them about six months to live. There is now an almost unbroken line of business for several miles north of the company's store.
In 1870 Mr. Woolfenden had an option on several lots on Woodward avenue, or as it was then called, the Pontiac Plank road. The lots were one hundred feet front and about five hundred feet deep, running through to the line where Cass avenue was opened later. The location was nearly half a mile beyond any city residences and the Plank road elevated about three feet above the adjoining land. Mr. Woolfenden transferred part of his options to Mr. Charles Endicott and building operations were commenced in the spring of 1871. Application was then made to the Water Board, asking it to extend the main to the new buildings. One of the members of the board said we would have no city improvements in ten years. Mr. Woolfenden told them if they would come around in the fall he would show them what city improve- ments we could get. He then carried petitions around to all the property owners and when the houses were finished September 1st they had water, gas, sewer, cedar block pavement and sleepers for the street car rails. Other residences and subdivisions quickly fol- lowed. Antoinette street is now opened through Mr. Woolfenden's former lot and it is largely sur- rounded by places of business.
Mr. Woolfenden's political allegiance is given to the republican party and his religious faith is that of the Episcopal church. He has ever been a great lover of flowers and has found his chief source of recreation in their cultivation. With his wife and two daughters he occupies a home of comfort, enjoy- ing the rest which has come to him after so many years of active and prominent connection with the com- mercial life of Detroit. He is still a man of influence in its mercantile circles, despite the fact that he is retired. His old associates and many representatives of the newer generation of business men in the city manifest their respect for his sound judgment, dis- played through a half century of commercial activity. Throughout his business career he followed construc- tive methods, seeking success along the legitimate lines of trade and winning an honored name to leave as a heritage for his family.
JACOB S. FARRAND. When a lad of thirteen years Jacob S. Farrand rode into the little town of Detroit, carrying the mail from Ann Arbor. Two years later, when a youth of fifteen, he became a permanent resident of the city and from that time until his death his efforts constituted a most essential and valuable factor in the upbuilding and develop- ment of Detroit, especially in connection with its commercial and financial interests, and was founder of one of the best known business establishments of Detroit, the wholesale drug house of Farrand, Williams & Clark. Business, however, was to him only one phase of activity, for at all times he stood for those
interests which make for the intellectual and moral as well as the material welfare of the community and was particularly known for his many benevolences and wide charities.
Mr. Farrand was born in Mentz, Cayuga county, New York, May 7, 1815, and was a representative of one of the old American families, the ancestral line being traced back in this country through seven gen- erations to stanch French Huguenot stock. The first of the name were compelled to flee from their native France to escape religious persecution there in the sixteenth century and the early part of the seventeenth century. Some of the family seem to have settled in England, on the border of Wales, while others went to the north of Ireland, and from that branch of the family is traced those who came to America at an early period in the colonization of the new world. The name was originally spelled Ferrand, but passing generations have adopted the present orthography. As early as 1645 Nathaniel Farrand was a resident of Milford, Connecticut, where his son, Nathaniel Far- rand (II), also maintained his home. The latter was the father of three sons, one of whom was Samuel Farrand, the direct ancestor of the. Michigan branch of the family. His son Ebenezer was the ancestor in the fourth generation and was born in 1707, while his death occurred in 1777. He married Rebecca Ward and they were the parents of Bethuel Farrand, who was one of the Revolutionary war heroes, command- ing a company of New Jersey troops in the struggle for independence. To him and his wife, Rhoda, there were born six sons and five daughters, which number included Bethuel Farrand, Jr., the father of Jacob'S. Farrand of this review. It is related that Rhoda Farrand, the grandmother of Jacob S. Farrand, bore her full share in the work that contributed to the success of the Colonial troops in the Revolutionary war. It is stated that on one occasion she received a letter from her husband, telling her that the troops were to be encamped at Morristown through the win- ter and that the men were marking their tracks through the snow with bloody footprints, so greatly did they need stockings and shoes. Turning to her daughters, she instructed each one of them to set up a stocking and then, calling to her son, she told him to yoke up the steers to the wagon, in which was placed a chair on which she sat knitting, while her boy drove from point to point to tell other women of the conditions. The women responded with equal alacrity and through the efforts of Mrs. Rhoda Farrand was thus met the need of the army for warm woolen socks, Mrs. Farrand knitting on continuously as she rode from house to house. The story of the manner in which she met this exigency has been told in a most interesting poem, written by Eleanor A. Hunter in 1876.
Bethuel Farrand, father of Jacob S. Farrand and the founder of the family in Michigan, married Ma- rilla Shaw and following her death wedded Deborah
JACOB S. FARRAND
103
CITY OF DETROIT
Osborne. The children of his first marriage were: Lucius S., Jacob Shaw, Caroline E., Clinton Bethuel and Anna Marilla. Those born of the second marriage were: Sarah, Aaron Kitchel, James B. and David Os- born. The father developed expert skill as a civil and mechanical engineer and when he removed from the state of New York to the territory of Michigan in 1825 he had secured the contract for installing a private system of waterworks in the little frontier town of Detroit, where the family arrived in the month of May. In 1827 a removal was made to Ann Arbor and with Michigan's admission to the Union, Bethuel Farrand was elected the first probate judge of Wash- tenaw county, continuing a prominent and honored citizen of Ann Arbor to the time of his death. He constructed the first waterworks system in Detroit and afterwards his son, Jacob S., served on the De- troit board of water commissioners.
Jacob S. Farrand spent the first ten years of his life in the empire state and then came with the family to Michigan, residing for a few months in Detroit, after which he became a pupil in the public schools of Ann Arbor, which he attended for a brief period following the establishment of the family home in that city. However, he began earning his living when a lad of but twelve years, securing a situation in a drug store of Ann Arbor. When thirteen years of age he was appointed to carry the mail between the university town and Detroit, making the trip on horseback over roads that at times were almost im- passable. In 1830 he came to Detroit to make his permanent abode and accepted a clerkship in the drug store of Rice & Bingham, there receiving thorough preliminary training which constituted a most valuable experience for him, as at the age of twenty years he entered into partnership with Edward Bingham and began business on his own account. A little later he was appointed deputy revenue collector for the port and district of, Detroit, which then included all of the United States shores of Lakes Huron and Michigan. In 1841 he acted as military secretary to the governor of Michigan, with the rank of major, and thus came more and more into prominence in public affairs as well as in connection with business interests. In 1845 he established a drug store at No. 80 Wood- ward avenue and fourteen years later was joined in a partnership relation by Alanson Sheley, while in 1860 the firm style of Farrand, Sheley & Company was adopted by the admission of William C. Williams to a partnership, at which time the business was ex- panded to include both the wholesale and retail trades. In 1871 they were joined by a fourth partner, Harvey C. Clark, at which time the firm style of Farrand, Williams & Company was adopted. The business steadily grew until it o'ertopped any enterprise of the kind in Michigan and had few rivals in the mid- dle west. The annual volume of business exceeded over a million dollars and Mr. Farrand continued a strong directing force under various changes in part-
nership until attacked with illness that resulted in his death, at which time he was senior member of the firm of Farrand, Williams & Clark. His sound business judgment and enterprise were sought in other con- nections and for fifteen years he was president of the First National Bank of Detroit and a director of the institution for even a longer period. He was also one of the incorporators of the Wayne County Savings Bank, of which he became vice president, and for nearly twenty years he was the president of the Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Company, while of the Detroit Fire & Marine Insurance Company he was a director and of the Detroit Gas Light Company was treasurer. He had still other invested interests, mak- ing him one of the foremost business men of the city.
On the 12th of August, 1841, Mr. Farrand was married to Miss Olive Maria Coe, a native of Hudson, Ohio, and they traveled life's journey almost a half century together, being separated by the death of Mr. Farrand a short time prior to their golden wed- ding anniversary. Mrs. Farrand was born in Vernon, Trumbull county, Ohio, April 18, 1821, and survived her husband until the 30th of March, 1910, his death having occurred on the 3d of April, 1891. Mrs. Farrand was a daughter of the Rev. Harvey and Deb- orah (Eddy) Coe and through the distaff side was descended from Samuel Eddy, a son of the Rev. William Eddy of Cranbrook, Kent, England. Samuel Eddy was the first of the family to establish a home in the new world and his name figured prominently upon the pages of Colonial history, as did that of other representatives of the family, one of these being Lawrence Eddy, who was with the American forces under Washington at Valley Forge and rendered val- iant aid to the cause of independence in the Revolu- tionary war. Samuel Coe, the great-grandfather of Mrs. Farrand on the paternal side, was a soldier of the Seventeenth Regiment, Continental Line, and par- ticipated in the battles of Roxbury and Bunker Hill and was made a sergeant in the Third Connecticut Regiment, with which he participated in the capture of West Point, in the battle of White Plains, and in the storming of Stony Point, receiving an honorable discharge August 18, 1778, after three years with the American forces. The mother of Mrs. Farrand was a daughter of Leveus and Deborah (Doane) Eddy and the latter was a direct descendant of Deacon John Doane, who was born in England in the early part of the last decade of the sixteenth century and passed away in Eastham, Massachusetts, February 21, 1686. He was a member of Captain Miles Standish's mili- tary company at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1643 and was military commissioner from Eastham, Mas- sachusetts, to the colonial military councils. He be- came one of the founders of Eastham and by reason of his military service his descendants are eligible to membership in the American Society of Colonial Wars. Rev. Harvey Coe, the father of Mrs. Farrand, was a graduate of Williams College and was the sec-
104
CITY OF DETROIT
ond home missionary sent from Connecticut to the Western Reserve, in Ohio. There he aided in found- ing the Western Reserve College, of which he was a trustee until his death, and he took active part in promoting religious, educational and social progress in Ohio. His birth occurred at Granville, Massachu- setts, October 6, 1783, and he passed away at Hud- son, Ohio, in March, 1860. His wife was born at Haddam, Connecticut, March 24, 1790, and died at Hudson, Ohio, May 4, 1860.
To Mr. and Mrs. Jacob S. Farrand were born two sons and two daughters: William R., and Jacob S., Jr., of Detroit; Mary Coe, who became the wife of Rev. James Lewis, a Presbyterian minister, and passed away at Joliet, Illinois, December 3, 1889; and Olive C., the wife of Richard P. Williams of Detroit.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Farrand were prominent and consistent members of the First Presbyterian church, taking a most active and helpful part in its work and also generously supporting many charitable and benev- olent projects of the city. Mr. Farrand served as president of the Harper Hospital board of trustees and was also president of the governing board of the Detroit Home and Day School. He occupied the presi- dency of the Wayne County Bible Society and the Detroit Society for Sabbath Observance and was a trustee of the Eastern Asylum for the Insane. For thirty-five years he was an elder in the First Presby- terian church, was a commissioner of the Presbyte- rian general assemblies of 1863, 1869 and 1873, and in the last. year was also a commissioner to the Canadian assembly. In 1877 he was made a delegate to the Pan-Presbyterian council in Edinburgh, Scotland, and for many years was receiving agent in Detroit of the American board of commissioners for foreign mis- sions. His wife took a most helpful part in the work of the Protestant Orphan Asylum and other benevolent organizations of the city and both were constantly extending a helping hand to less fortunate travelers on life's journey. Their contribution to the development of Detroit was most valuable. Their in- fluence was strongly felt in behalf of all those agencies which make for the uplift of the individual and for the benefit of the community. They contributed in marked measure to the material, intellectual, social and moral progress of Detroit and when Mr. Farrand passed away the Detroit Journal said editorially: "His name, prominent in a score of illustrious ways was, in consequence of his long, upright and eminent business career, a household word in the state. In usefulness to the community he surpassed many an- other who has filled loftier stations. Measured by the good he has accomplished, the evil he himself has fore- borne to do and has prevented others from doing, his life has been one of far more value than have the lives of men who have sought and obtained more prominent places and conspicuous honors. The lives of such men are public benefactions; their deaths puh- lie calamities. He deserves a public memorial whose
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.