USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. III > Part 14
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On the 20th of October, 1891, Mr. Bee was united in marriage to Miss Susan Minnie Leckie of Detroit, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Leckie, and they became parents of two sons: Clarence Leckie, who died February 10, 1918, at the age of twenty-six years, and who was associated in business with his father; and George A., who was born in Chicago, October 11, 1896, and married Miss Helen Miller of Detroit. They have one son, George Edward, born August 28, 1920. George A. Bee is now the treasurer of the Palmer-Bee Company.
Fraternally Mr. William Edward Bee is connected
WILLIAM E. BEE
Vol. III-8
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with the Masons, has reached the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and is a Shriner. He gives his political allegiance to the republican party but has never been an office seeker, though at all times he keeps well informed on the questions and issnes of the day and at no time is he neglectful of the duties of citizenship. He belongs to the Detroit Athletic Club, to the Fellowcraft Athletic Club, the Detroit Golf Club, the Bloomfield Hills Country Club, the De- troit Engineers Club, the Detroit Curling Club, the Rainbow Fishing Club and the Detroit Board of Com- merce. He is appreciative of the social amenities and interests of life and his personal qualities have made him popular in the various organizations with which he is identified. Moreover, he is recognized as a splendid type of the American self-made man, for he started out in the business world empty-hauded and, embracing his opportunities and utilizing his advantages wisely and well, he has steadily progressed, winning an honorable name and position in the man- ufacturing circles of his adopted city. Mr. and Mrs. Bee are members of the Calvary Presbyterian church and their home is at No. 693 Edison street.
WALTER BARLOW, chief assistant corporation counsel of the city of Detroit, was born in Van Buren township, Wayne county, Michigan, September 20, 1854, and is a son of Caleb J. and Margaret (Spaun) Barlow, both of whom were natives of the state of New York. The ancestry in the paternal line is traced back to James Barlow, who came from England at the age of nineteen years and settled in Suffield, Connecti- cut, in 1634. There he resided throughout his remain- ing days. More than a century afterwards the family home was established at Bedford, now Granville, Massachusetts, and later a branch of the family was founded in New York. Benjamin Barlow, great- grandfather of Walter Barlow of this review, was a soldier of the Revolutionary war and was present at the surrender of General Burgoyne. The New York branch of the family was established in Lima town- ship, Livingston county, and Abner Barlow was the first white settler and also the first wheat grower of Ontario county, New York. In early life Caleb J. Barlow, father of Walter Barlow, accompanied his parents on their removal from the Empire state to Michigan, the family home being established in Van Buren township, Wayne county. In later life he engaged in merchandising at Rawsonville, Wayne county, Michigan, devoting his time and attention throughout his business career to commercial pur- suits. He also filled the office of justice of the peace for thirty years and for a number of years was supervisor of Van Buren township. His birth oc- curred in Avon township, Livingston county, New York, June 8, 1821, and he departed this life in Raw- sonville, July 28, 1895, having reached the seventy- fourth milestone on life's journey. His widow, who is of Holland descent, is still living in Detroit at the
notable old age of ninety-two years. There were two sons in the family, Walter and Edwin, both of Detroit, and a daughter, who died in infancy.
Walter Barlow, after attending the district schools of Rawsonville, Michigan, continued his education in the State Normal School at Ypsilanti and then en- tered the law department of the State University at Ann Arbor, from which he was graduated in March, 1881. He was admitted to practice January 8, 1880, in the Washtenaw county circuit court and on the 8th of September, 1882, opened an office in Detroit, where he has remained. For more than thirty-seven years he has been an active representative of the pro- fession in this eity and in 1908 he was made assistant corporation counsel of Detroit, while later he was ap- pointed chief assistant corporation counsel and is now most efficiently serving in that office. Mr. Barlow is a member of the Detroit Bar Association and he also be- longs to Detroit Camp, No. 10, of the United Spanish- American War Veterans. His military service began in June, 1878, when he joined the Michigan National Guard, serving for three years with his first company. After removing to Detroit he joined Company D of the Fourth Infantry and remained with that command from 1889 until May 19, 1917. He had been in contin- uous service with the National Guard through all this period and had occupied the various ranks save those of first and second lieutenant. He was promoted from the first sergeantey to the captaincy of his company and later was appointed a colonel of the Thirty-First Michigan Infantry. He served with the Thirty-Second Michigan Regiment in the Spanish-Am- erican war and on the 7th of January, 1916, was called again into the federal service for active duty on the Mexican border, serving at El Paso, Texas, as com- manding officer of the Thirty-First Michigan Infantry for seven months. He was mustered out of the federal service January 1, 1917, and retired from the National Guard on the 19th of May following.
Mr. Barlow was married on the 4th of May, 1881, to Miss Minnie E. Pooley, who died in October, 1882, leaving a son, Leon D., who was born on the 19th of February, 1882, at Rawsonville. There he attended school and is now a resident of Detroit, where he is engaged in law practice. Mr. Barlow was married a second time when in July, 1894, Miss Effie Sherman, daughter of Horace Sherman of Port San- ilac, Michigan, became his wife. Her death occurred on the 14th of October, 1907, and four children were left to mourn her loss: Walter S., the eldest, born in Detroit, February 10, 1896, and now residing in this city, was graduated from the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, on the 6th of June, 1918, and served on the torpedo boat Sampson in the American navy for six months during the World war but has since been retired; Margaret, born in Detroit, April 21, 1898, is a graduate of the University of Michigan of the class of 1920; Almena Frances, born in Detroit, August 2, 1900, is a graduate of the Detroit high
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school and is now a student at the University of Michigan; Marion, born in Detroit, September 1, 1905, is attending high school. Mr. Barlow was again married June 23, 1909, when Miss Bathia S. Mercer became his wife. She is a daughter of Harry and Clementina Mercer, residents of Detroit, Michigan. They have one child, Harry Mercer Barlow, who was born in Detroit, June 27, 1910.
Mr. Barlow is fond of all outdoor sports and pur- suits. He is a prominent member of the Detroit Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution and that he inherited the spirit of patriotism of his Revolutionary war ancestors is indicated by his long connection with the military forces of the state of Michigan and his active duty in the Spanish-American war and on the Mexican border.
JAMES HENRY MEANS, who has long figured prominently in financial circles in Detroit, is now senior member in the banking firm of Means, Wade & Company and is identified with various other im- portant corporations of similar nature. He was born at Valier, in Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, in 1858, a son of Joseph and Margaret (Sutter) Means. The father was also born in Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, his natal year being 1829. At the time of the Civil war he joined the army as a private of the One Hun- dred and Fifth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and served for four years, being severely wounded on several occasions. After the war he returned to Valier, Pennsylvania, where he resumed work as a carpenter, and there he passed away in 1895. The Means family comes of Scotch-Irish Protestant an- cestry, originally from the north of Ireland. The mother of James H. Means was born in Germany but was brought to the United States in infancy. She passed away in 1881, fourteen years before the death of her husband.
James H. Means acquired his early education in the public schools of his native county and in 1881 was graduated from the National Normal College at Lebanon, Ohio. Through the succeeding eight years lie devoted his attention to school teaching in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky but regarded this merely as an initial step to other professional lahor and abandoned the work of the schoolroom in 1884 to devote his time to the reading of law in the office of Benjamin Butterworth of Cincinnati. In 1885 he was admitted to the bar and for two years he en- gaged in the practice of law at Troy, Ohio. Advance- ment at the bar, however, is proverbially slow and after two years Mr. Means decided that he could no longer wait for a profitable clientage. For sev- eral years he was in different sections of the country, employed in various ways, and in 1894 he came to Detroit, where he began selling life insurance. Two or three years later, however, he turned his attention to the securities and investment business and in 1917 was one of the organizers of the firm of Means, Wade
& Company, of which he is the senior member. From the beginning this firm has prospered and is now conducting an extensive and profitable banking busi- ness. In 1915 the United States Mortgage Bond Com- pany was organized and Mr. Means was elected its treasurer. In 1916 he became one of the organizers of the Metropolitan Investment Company, of which he was elected president, and thus he is identified with three of the leading financial interests of De- troit. He is the president of the Ecorse State Bank a director of the River Rouge State Bank and of the Halfway State Bank of Macomb county, Michigan, and was one of the incorporators of the Strathmore State Bank, incorporated in January, 1921.
On the 16th of February, 1895, in Windsor, Canada, Mr. Means was married to Miss Charlotte Williams, a daughter of the late Thomas D. Williams of Chat- ham, Canada. He is a member of the Ingleside Club. gives his political allegiance to the republican party and in Masonry has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, while with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine he has also crossed the sands of the desert. He has justly won the proud American title of a self-made man. Determination and energy have enabled him to overcome the obstacles and difficulties that always bar the path to success and his persistency of purpose and utilization of opportunity have at length brought him to a prominent place in the ranks of Detroit's moneyed men.
CHRISTIAN HENRY HABERKORN, deceased, was for many years a prominent representative of the manufacturing interests of Detroit, and by reason of his force of character and his skill and ability in his chosen line, reached a position of leadership in connection with the furniture trade that has made his name an honored one in this city. He was here born on the 27th of July, 1856, his parents being Henry and Margaret (Kolby) Haberkorn. His father was a native of Altenburg, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, born in 1831, and was a younger son of the mayor of that place. He was descended from an old Bavarian family which had removed to Hesse toward the end of the fifteenth century, and there the family was represented through many generations. Henry Haberkorn, severing home ties, sailed for the new world in 1851, attracted by the reports which he heard concerning the favorable opportunities that could be secured on this side of the Atlantic. He took up his abode in Detroit, then a little town of but small commercial or industrial importance. Here he married Miss Margaret Kolby, who had also come from Germany two years before.
Their son, Christian H. Haberkorn, pursued his education in the district schools to the age of eleven years and his lessons of life were afterward learned in the school of experience. He was but a youth in his teens when in the early '70s he went to San Fran- cisco, California, and there assisted in the construc-
JAMES H. MEANS
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tion of the first large buildings erected in that city, including the Palace hotel, which was destroyed in the earthquake of 1906. In 1878 he returned to De- troit, where he established a furniture manufacturing business under the name of C. H. Haberkorn & Com- pany. This was incorporated in 1904 and Mr. Haber- korn remained the president to the time of his death, which occurred on the 2nd of June, 1915. He dis- played much initiative and inventive ingenuity iu the conduct of his business and developed his trade to one of extensive proportions. In later years he special- ized in the manufacture of tables and it was Mr. Haberkorn who introduced the method of placing upon the market finished furniture. Hitherto furniture had been made in the shops and sent to the retailers who did the varnishing and finishing. Mr. Haberkorn, however, conceived the idea of placing upon the mar- ket finished products and his labors largely revolu- tionized the furniture trade.
It was in 1884 that Christian H. Haberkorn was united in marriage to Miss Frances H. Ruehle, a daughter of Frederick Ruehle, a prominent figure in connection with the early city government of Detroit, serving at one time as president of the Board of Pub- lie Works. He was also one of the four founders of the Michigan Democrat and in various ways left the impress of his individuality and ability upon the his- tory of the city and its progress. To Mr. and Mrs. Haberkorn were born two children: Christian Henry, Jr., who is mentioned elsewhere in this work; and Adelaide Dorothea, who was born June 28, 1891. The death of the mother occurred in Detroit in 1910. Mr. Haberkorn was again married in 1913, when Miss Helen H. Harvey became his wife. She died the fol- lowing year leaving one child, Henry Harvey, whose birth occurred in Detroit, April 24, 1914.
Mr. Haberkorn found his greatest happiness in pro- viding for his family and maintaining their comfort and welfare in every way. And thus it was that he closely applied himself to the management and con- duct of his business, in which connection his name became widely known and today the firm of C. H. Haberkorn & Company is one of the prominent repre- sentatives of the furniture trade in Detroit. Their house was devoted to the manufacture of high grade furniture and motor car accessories and a business of most gratifying proportions was developed. As the years passed Mr. Haberkorn also made large invest- ments in real estate and he devoted considerable time to the improvements in property, in and near Detroit. He also had various other investments in different sections of the country which included manufactur- ing, banking and railroad activities. He remained to the time of his death in the presidency of the firm of C. H. Haberkorn & Company and of the Haber- korn Investment Company, and he was also treasurer of the Grosse Pointe Park Corporation, which has secured a large tract of land at Grosse Pointe and developed it into one of the fine residential districts
of the city. His interests and activities also ex- tended to fields from which he derived no pecuniary benefit. He recognized the duties and obligations of citizenship and his obligations to his fellowmen as well. He belonged to the First Congregational church of Detroit, of which he served as a trustee and he was a member of the Detroit Club, the Detroit Coun- try Club, the Old Club, the Detroit Board of Com- merce, the American Geographical Society and the Archeological Society of Detroit, all of which indi- cate the nature and breadth of his interests and activity. He found recreation in golf, billiards, motor- ing and travel. His life was, indeed, a busy and use- ful one and the sterling worth of his character, as well as his notable business successes, place him among the eminent and honored residents of his native city.
CHARLES R. ROBERTSON. Following his admis- sion to the Michigan bar in 1898, Charles R. Robert- son has engaged in the practice of his profession in Detroit and through the intervening period of twenty- two years has become well established as a leading and capable lawyer. He was born in Kincardine, On- tario, Canada, on the 5th of May, 1868, and is a son of Ross and Eva E. (Cameron) Robertson. Liberal educational advantages well qualified him for a pro- fessional career. He attended the Kincardine Col- legiate Institute aud afterward matriculated in the Detroit College of Law, from which he won his LL. B. degree upon graduation with the class of 1898. At that time he had been a resident of the United States for a decade, having crossed the border into this country on the 21st of November, 1888. He was admitted to the Michigan bar in 1898, and through the intervening period has followed his profession in Detroit. He was a member of the law firm of Choate, Webster, Robertson & Lehmann from 1909 until 1912, when in September of the latter year Mr. Webster withdrew and the firm continued as Choate & Robert- son. A liberal clientage has been accorded Mr. Rob- ertson almost from the beginning of his connection with the Detroit bar, and he has been most careful and conscientious in handling the business intrusted to his care. He prepares his cases with great thor- oughness and his analytical mind readily enables him to recognize the relation between facts and legal prin- ciples. He holds to the highest ethical standards of the profession and is a valued member of the Detroit Bar Association, the Michigan State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.
Mr. Robertson is identified with the Detroit Boat Club and Detroit Athletic Club, also with the Law- yers Club, while fraternally he is a Mason of high degree, belonging to Detroit Commandery, K. T., and to the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church and his political alle- giance is given to the republican party. From 1909 until 1913 he was a member of the Detroit board of
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education and served as its president in 1912. His interests are broad and varied and he has manifested a constant recognition of his obligations in citizen- ship and is conscientious in the performance of every duty. He has been library commissioner since 1913, filling the unexpired term of Clarence Black, and re- elected in 1916.
ARTHUR LOGAN HOLMES, whose life history was closely interwoven with the records of Detroit, figured for many years as a most capable and progressive business man of the city and as one of the political leaders of the state, serving both as member of the legislature and of the state senate. His ideals were high and his activities at all times so directed as to further the end for which he stood. Detroit had every reason to be proud to claim him as a native son, his birth having occurred in this city on the 17th of June, 1862, his parents being Oscar F. and Helen M. (Fitzgibbons) Holmes, who had a family of six children. The father was also a native of Michigan and devoted his life to engineering, being called to his final rest in the year 1893.
Arthur L. Holmes, spending his youthful days under the parental roof, pursued his early education in the public schools of Detroit, passing through consecutive grades to the high school, from which he was grad- uated, and later attended the Bryant & Stratton Busi- ness College, in which he also completed a course. Early in his business career he spent six months as a clerk in a grocery store. He was hut fourteen years of age when in 1876 he entered the employ of E. G. Allen, a leading' lumher dealer of that day. The following year Mr. Allen was succeeded by George W. Loomer and Mr. Holmes remained in his employ until 1879. He then went north, where he worked in the lumber woods, operating in various capacities and winning promotion to various executive positions. On his return to Detroit he was given a position with William W. Crapo, who, soon recognizing the capability, resourcefulness, enterprise and reliability of Mr. Holmes, advanced him to the position of general manager. In that capacity he continued to serve until 1909, when he organized the Arthur L. Holmes Lumber Company, of which he became the president. The business prospered from the beginning and soon at- tained large proportions. Mr. Holmes then extended his efforts into other fields. He hecame the president and treasurer of the Arthur L. Holmes Lumber & Fuel Company, was interested in Alaskan development and was president of the Michigan-Alaska Development Company, which owned extensive coal lands in the northern territory. He remained in active charge of his business interests almost to the last and steadily developed his affairs along substantial lines, his in- terests becoming important features in the commercial development of Detroit. The Holmes Lumber Com- pany alone employed one hundred people and did a business amounting to a half million dollars annually.
On the 17th of June, 1892, Mr. Holmes was united in marriage to Miss Marie E. Collins, a daughter of Daniel Collins, of a prominent and well known family of Ontario. Five children were born of this marriage: Oscar F., born April 5, 1893; Arthur L., born April 22, 1894; Katherine C., who is now the wife of Walter W. Watson, a business man of Brownwood, Texas; Josephine M., born November 22, 1898; and Dorothea M., born November 13, 1904. The two younger daugh- ters are now students in the University of Michigan.
The family are members of the Catholic church, of which Mr. Holmes was also a communicant. In politics he was a stanch republican and took an active interest in supporting the party at all times. He served on the staff of Governors Bliss and Warner, being appointed by the latter on the 25th of May, 1904. He served for two terms under each governor and did valuable work for his chief executives in that connection. He prob- ably left the impress of his indivduality in largest measure upon the state through his legislative ex- perience. When only thirty-two years of age he was elected to the state legislature, serving during the years 1895 and 1896. Again he was called upon for legislative service when in 1897 he was elected to the state senate, serving for four years, or until 1901. His chief work in the legislature had to do with the passage of the so-called ripper bills, also with the re- organization of Detroit's city department and the sheriff's salary act, which did away with the expensive "fee grab" system in Wayne county. Much attention was drawn to the "ripper" bills when they were introduced in the legislature. They centralized author- ity in one commissioner in the Detroit police, parks and boulevards and public works departments, the latter being then known as the board of works. At the head of all three departments there had been three or more commissioners. The act proved of the greatest benefit to the state and showed the farsightedness of Mr. Holmes, who was constantly striving to promote the welfare of community, commonwealth and country in every possible way. During the special session of the legislature called by Governor Pingree, the only hill passed by that body was one to tax the express companies in the state. Mr. Holmes sponsored this bill and it was a distinctive act of recognition of Mr. Holmes' colleagues, not only in the merit of the bill hut a tribute to its sponsor. He went with the pro- gressive wing of the republican party in support of Roosevelt in 1912 and was always a great admirer of the man who has been aptly termed "America's most typical citizen"-one who perhaps has stood more firmly for real American interests and democracy than any other man. Mr. Holmes was the close friend of many of the distinguished political leaders of Michigan and his advice and counsel were frequently sought even after he had retired from the state senate. The soundness of his judgment and the clearness of his insight were widely recognized and the value of his opinions carried weight in political councils. In 1905,
ARTHUR L. HOLMES
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during the Denby-Newberry contest for the republican congressional nomination in the first district, Mr. Holmes threw all of his support to Edwin Denby, the present sceretary of the navy, who defeated Truman H. Newberry for the nomination.
Mr. Holmes was a member of the Chamber of Com- merce of Detroit and cooperated heartily in all plans and measures for the city's benefit and improvement. He was also a prominent member of the Detroit Ath- letic Club and the Fellowcraft Club aud he belonged to the Sons of the American Revolution. He was likewise identified with the Kuights of Columbus, which draws its membership from those of Catholic faith, Mr. Holmes being ever a loyal follower of the Catholic church. In every relation of life such were his qualities that he was accorded a position of prominence. In 1908 he published the Retail Lumber- man and Scout and his high position in lumber circles was indicated in the large banquet which was held in his honor not long before he put aside the activities of life. One who knew him long and well said: "He was a clean, manly man whose word was his bond, fearless and frank, but righteously just." Mr. Holmes had served his country in the Spanish-Ameri- can war and the same loyalty was manifest not only in military connections but at all times that the interests and welfare of the country might be ad- vanced. He was a forceful and resourceful man and one for whom friendship increased as the individual came to know him better. Those who knew him intimately had for him the strongest attachment and all entertained for him respect and confidence, it being a matter of deep and widespread regret when he passed to the Home beyond on May 27, 1916, at the comparatively early age of fifty-four years. Mrs. Holmes, who is well known socially in Detroit, is still carrying on the business left by her husband, which includes four lumber-yards, making the enterprise one of extensive and profitable proportions.
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