USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. III > Part 23
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summers, and in driving his selected teams of coach horses.
On September 19, 1888, Mr. Eaton married Miss Eliza Walton Clark of Albany, New York, daughter of Rev. Rufus Wheelwright Clark, D. D., and Mrs. Clark, who was Eliza Walton. Mr. and Mrs. Eaton were married in Glenside Park, Murray Hill, New Jersey, by the latter's brother, Rev. William Walton Clark of Brooklyn, New York: Their children were: Theodore H. Eaton, Jr., born June 22, 1889, and who died May 5, 1891; Margaret Montgomery, born May 9, 1892, was married April 17, 1920, to John Weeden Grout of New York city, formerly of Detroit; and Berrien Clark Eaton, born August 3, 1893, who mar- ried in Chicago, August 15, 1917, Miss Gladys Ham- bleton. Two grandchildren of Mr. Eaton are living, Berrien Clark Eaton, Jr., born February 12, 1919, in Chicago, and Margaret Louise Grout, born April 8, 1921, in New York.
BERRIEN CLARK EATON, president of the Eaton- Clark Company, manufacturers and importers of chem- ieals and dyestuffs and the most important concern of its kind in the state, is a representative of the third generation of the family to be at the head of this old and well known establishment, and occupies the same office where his grandfather and father pre- ceded him, since 1849. Mr. Eaton was born in Detroit, August 3, 1893, a son of Theodore Horatio, (Jr.), and Eliza Walton (Clark) Eaton and grandson of Theodore H. Eaton who, in 1838, founded the business which was known until 1911 as Theo. H. Eaton & Son. Theo- dore Horatio Eaton was born in Schenectady, New York, January 16, 1842, and was just four months old when the family home was established in Detroit in May of that year. He died November 6, 1910. His children were: Theodore Horatio, Jr., who died in infancy; Margaret Montgomery, who was married April 17, 1920, to John Weeden Grout of New York city; and Berrien C., of this review.
ยท Berrien C. Eaton attended the Detroit University School for three years, having remained a student there uutil 1905, after which he entered St. George's School at Newport, Rhode Island, where he continued his studies for three years. In 1908 he entered the Lawrenceville School at Lawrenceville, New Jersey, from which he was graduated in 1911, and in the fall of that year he entered Williams College as a member of the class of 1915. With his return home Mr. Eaton became city salesman for the Eaton-Clark Company and in 1919 became purchasing agent, in which capac- ity he still serves. Mr. Eaton succeeded his cousin, Rufus W. Clark, now of Pasadena, California, to the presidency on February 12, 1920, and also, at the same time, was elected president of the Rainbow Color & Chemical Company, wholesalers of acids, the latter concern having been established in 1899. Mr. Eaton also acts as trustee of the estate of Theodore H. Eaton, and is president of the Eaton Land Company.
BERRIEN C. EATON
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On the 15th of August, 1917, Mr. Eaton was married to Miss Gladys Hambleton of Chicago, daughter of Earl Lander and Eleanor (Fargo) Hambleton, the for- mer now deceased, while the latter is yet a resident of Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Eaton have one son, Ber- rien Clark, Jr., born February 12, 1919, in Chicago. Their new home is on Bishop Road, in the village of Grosse Pointe Park, and their summer home is at Kingsville, Ontario.
In his political views Mr. Eaton is a republican and his religious faith is that of the Episcopal church. He belongs to the Detroit Club, Detroit Automobile Club, Detroit Symphony Society, University Club, the Williams Club of New York city, the Chemists' Club of New York city, and the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Michigan, in which latter organization he is now serving his second term as a gentleman of the council. He is also a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, the Detroit Board of Commerce, the Williams Alumni Association of Michigan, the Lawrenceville Alumni Association of Michigan and the Kappa Alpha Society. He was a charter member and secretary of the Detroit Polo Club, which introduced polo to this city in the fall of 1916 and which passed out of existence in 1917 with the adoption of polo by the Country Club. Mr. Eaton is one of the foremost figures in this line of sport in Detroit and gives this as his chief source of recreation.
When the United States entered the World war Mr. Eaton entered the first officers' training camp at Fort Sheridan on the 11th of May, 1917, and there re- mained until the 15th of August, winning a commis- sion as second lieutenant of the Field Artillery Re- serve Corps. He was at once assigned to the Three Hundred and Thirtieth Field Artillery of the Eighty- fifth Division, at Camp Custer, and was with Battery A of that regiment until April 16, 1918, when he transferred to the Headquarters Cavalry Troop of the Eighty-fifth Division, with which he sailed for France on the 22d of July, 1918. On the 19th of September he was commissioned first lieutenant and continued to serve with the same organization until February 10, 1919. This division took part in the operations of the Second army against the Germans between the Meuse and Moselle rivers, November 9-11, having been a part of the Meuse-Argonne campaign which termi- nated with the armistice. Mr. Eaton returned to the United States on February 24, 1919, and received his honorable discharge at Camp Dix, New Jersey, two days later.
WILLIAM C. BROWN, secretary and one of the organizers of the Boyer-Campbell Company, dealers in machinery and tools in Detroit, was born in Marion, Massachusetts, December 1, 1875, his parents being George H. and Mary L. (Handy) Brown, who were likewise natives of the Old Bay state. The father's ancestors came from England at an early period in the colonization of the new world, while the Handy
family was also of English lineage and was estab- lished on American soil in pioneer times. George H. Brown was a well known sea captain and always re- sided in New England, both he and his wife spending their last days in Marion, Massachusetts. Their fam- ily numbered but two children, the younger being George H. T. Brown, now a business man of New Bed- ford, Massachusetts.
William C. Brown, whose name introduces this review, spent his boyhood days as a public school pupil in his native state and as a student at Tabor Academy for three years. He then entered the hard- ware business at New Bedford, and later became associated with the Morse Twist & Machine Company as a traveling salesman, remaining on the road for that firm for two years, having his headquarters in Detroit, while his territory embraced the states of Michigan and Ohio. Late in the '90s he became associated with Messrs. Boyer and Campbell, organ- izing the Boyer-Campbell Company, dealers in ma- chinery and tools. He was still employed as travel- ing salesman when he became one of the organizers of the company, but later he gave up his position and accepted the secretaryship of the new concern. He is also the vice president of the Brown-McLaren Company, employing four hundred people. The firm puts out automatic screw machine products and parts for carburetors and during the war the plant was largely utilized for the manufacture of parts of aero- planes. The Boyer-Campbell Company of Detroit began business with but three people and the remark- able development and growth of the concern is indi- cated in the fact that it is now employing nearly two hundred people, with annual sales of two million dollars.
Mr. Brown belongs to the Detroit Athletic Club and in Masonry is connected with Palestine Lodge, with Detroit Commandery, and Moslem Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the Universalist church, and his life is actuated by high and honorable principles and worthy motives. His business affairs have been most carefully and wisely directed and his position is an enviable one in the commercial circles of Detroit.
ARTHUR R. DUFF, formerly a manufacturer and well known citizen of Detroit, who passed away on the 19th of August, 1920, had been a resident of the city for twenty-six years. He was born in Avonmore, Ontario, December 21, 1867, his parents being Alex- ander and Sarah (Mclaughlin) Duff, whose family numbered but two children. The education of Arthur R. Duff was received in the public and high schools of Avonmore, and later he attended the Montreal Business College. In young manhood he was employed as a bookkeeper in Canada, and continued to follow that vocation until 1904, when he embarked in the manufacture of blueing and ammonia in Detroit and so continued until his death.
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On the 4th of September, 1893, Mr. Duff was united in marriage to Miss Anna E. Cameron, of Mountain, Ontario, a daughter of Alexander Cameron, a pros- perous and highly esteemed citizen of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Duff had six children, as follows: Benson, who died in 1912 at the age of seventeen years; Leslie; Boyden; Jennings, who died in 1919 at the age of 13 years; Cameron; and John. Mr. Duff was a member of the Covenant Presbyterian church, being an elder there, loyally following its teachings and guiding his life according to its purposes. His political allegiance was given to the republican party and he kept well informed on the vital questions and issues of the day, although he did not seek nor desire public office. His life was preeminently that of a thoroughgoing business man, who built his success upon activity, energy and sound judgment. He gained many friends among those who appreciate the sterling qualities of character, and his death was the occasion of deep regret not only to his family but to all those who had come into contact with him.
EUGENE W. LEWIS, identified financially and actively with a number of the most important finan- cial and industrial concerns of Detroit, was born at Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, September 6, 1870, and is a son of Thornton F. and Margaret E. (Evans) Lewis. After attending the high school at New Castle, Pennsylvania, he continued his education in the Curry University at Pittsburgh and entered upon his first business relation as a clerk in the office of the Raney & Berger Iron & Steel Company at New Castle. He next became connected with the Bradford (Pa.) Win- dow Glass Company, in which his father was largely interested, and later he went to the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad Company in the passenger department, winning promotion eventually to a posi- tion in the general superintendent's department.
On leaving the railroad service Mr. Lewis entered the employ of the Commercial Natural Gas Company, a subsidiary concern of the Standard Oil Company, as accountant, later became its secretary and treasurer and subsequently manager. He was made assistant general manager of the East Ohio Gas Company, another property of the Standard Oil Company, op- erating in many cities throughout Ohio. Afterward he became actively interested in the J. H. MeLain Company of Canton, Ohio, makers of radiators, fur- naces, etc., and also founded and was president of the Canton Incandescent Light Company. He also became interested in and connected with the Timken Roller Bearing Company of Canton, Ohio, but dispos- ing of his interests in that company in 1909, he and several of his associates came to Detroit and founded the Timken-Detroit Axle Company, which now operates a number of plants in Michigan and one in Ohio. He is now one of the large stockholders of that concern and was its vice president up to the time he entered the service in the war department as chief of the
production branch of the general staff. He gave his aid to his country in that connection throughout the war period.
With his return to Detroit Mr. Lewis was actively urged to become interested in the housing problem and is now the president of the House Financing Corpo- ration of Detroit, a three million dollar corporation composed of some of Detroit's most substantial finan- cial and industrial leaders. His ability for the position is recognized as paramount. Large responsibilities devolve upon him in this connection, but his previous training and experience, his initiative and enterprise well qualify him for the duties which he has assumed as the chief executive head of the corporation. There is no question which Detroit faces today that is more serious than that of the housing problem and correct solution will be found therefor through the efforts of men of such splendid organizing ability as Eugene W. Lewis. He is also a director of the Security Trust Company, the Industrial Morris Plan Bank, of which he is chairman of the board, the First & Old Detroit National Bank, the Society for Savings, the firm of Bonbright & Company, the Motor Bankers Corporation and others. He is interested in and actively connected with a number of Detroit's manufacturing concerns and was one of the directors of the Board of Com- merce, which conceived and built the present Board of Commerce building. His name is on the directorate of the National Acceptance Corporation of Boston and the Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research. He is the vice president and one of the directors of the Morris Plan Bankers Association of the United States and is a director of the Industrial Finance Corpora- tion of New York and of the Children's Aid Society of Detroit, of which he was president for four years.
That his powers of administrative direction and executive ability have been sought in various other lines of activity in which the public is largely a direct beneficiary is indicated in the fact that he is now a director of the National Civil Service Reform League of New York, the War Camp Community Service of New York, the Playground & Recreation Association of America at New York and others of similar character.
On the 3d of June, 1902, Mr. Lewis was united in marriage to Miss Margaret E. Mellinger of Canton, Ohio, and they have two children: Eugene W., Jr., and Mary Margaret. Their home, Elmsleigh, is one of the beautiful residences at Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Mr. Lewis is well known in the club circles of Detroit, having membership in the Detroit Club, the Detroit Automobile Club, and the Detroit Athletic Club, of which he was one of the founders, serving as a director for six years, and for several years was on the finance committee and the house committee. He likewise belongs to and is a director of the Aero Club of Michigan, of the Country Club of Grosse Pointe and various other city and country clubs. He was one of the organizers and is one of the governors
EUGENE W. LEWIS
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CITY OF DETROIT
of the Detroit District Golf Association, composed of the seventeen golf clubs in the Detroit district. He is likewise connected with the Masonic bodies and the Mystic Shrine. The interests of his life are well balanced. Not only has he been most active and prominent in the control and development of some of the largest industrial and financial concerns of Detroit but has also found time for needed recreation, and in him the subjective and objective forces of life are well balanced and he fully meets the duties and obli- gations of man in relation to his fellowmen. In regard to the great 'sociological and economic problems of the country he keeps abreast with the best thinking men of the age and in fact has instituted many ac- tivities reaching out in benefit to all mankind.
GRAYDON E. SCHWAB, partner in the Detroit Lighting Fixture Company, dealers in household light- ing and electrical fixtures, is one of Detroit's unques- tionably broad-minded and progressive young busi- ness men. He is thoroughly familiar with every phase of the business, in connection with which his initia- tive spirit has prompted him to introduce innovations which have been generally accepted by enterprises of a similar character. He was born in Crawford county, Ohio, June 30, 1884, a son of Christian and Sarah Schwab, who reared a family of eight children.
In the public school of Crawford county, Ohio, Gray- don E. Schwab acquired his early education, after which he was for a time a student at the Ada Normal College, now the Ohio Northern University, at Ada, Ohio. When sixteen years of age he took up educa- tional work, teaching a country school for a period of two years, at the end of which time he entered the Tri-State Business College at Toledo, and following his graduation therefrom he entered the employ of the Dollar Savings & Trust Company in the capacity of bookkeeper, there remaining for a year. He served in a similar capacity with the Toledo Chandelier Manufacturing Company, with whom he continued until 1909, when he came to Detroit and organized the G. E. Schwab Chandelier Company for the man- ufacture of household lighting and electrical fixtures, being made president thereof. The business was con- tinued under that name until 1918, when it was con- solidated with other interests and has since been oper- ated under the style of the Detroit Lighting Fixture Company. Mr. Schwab employs the most modern and progressive methods in the management of the under- taking and his was the first company in the city to install a compressed spraying machine for making special finishings, such as old ivory and color com- binations on fixtures, which system has since come into general use in the manufacture of the highest class of fixtures. Mr. Schwab gives careful oversight to every phase of the business and his initiative spirit has enabled him to formulate plans that have resulted in the enlargement and substantial growth of the undertaking, to which he gives his undivided time and
attention. The trade has now reached extensive and gratifying proportions and the company has at all times enjoyed an unassailable reputation for integrity and reliability.
In 1906 Mr. Schwab was united in marriage to Miss Myrtle A. Good, who passed away leaving three chil- dren, Melvin, Helen and Victor, to all of whom he is devotedly attached, doing all in his power to promote their welfare and happiness. Mr. Schwab was again married on March 10, 1920, Miss Isa E. Stout, of Lake City, Michigan, becoming his wife. He attends the Christian Science church and guides his life by its teachings, but has not become identified with any club or fraternal organizations, feeling that his busi- ness interests and family require his entire attention. Close application, enterprise and determination have formed the basis of his advancement, combined with keen business insight, initiative and executive ability of a high order. He occupies a foremost position in business circles of Detroit and his progressiveness has been a potent element in its continued development and prosperity.
WALTER A. DROLET, a prominent citizen of Detroit, where for several years he has engaged in building operations and otherwise identified with the commercial growth and prosperity of the city, is a native son of Detroit, where he was born on June 10, 1883, a son of Peter and Harriet Drolet, both excellent people and well known in the social life of the city.
Mr. Drolet was educated at the public and parochial schools and at the Detroit Business College. His first step in business was handling real estate, at which he remained for one year, after which he took up the building business practically and also qualified as an architect, which profession helped him immensely in his building operations. Mr. Drolet bears the reputation of being one of the best and most suc- cessful builders and architects in Detroit. He formed a partnership with C. S. Vaughn and established the C. S. Vaughn Company, general contractors; they also deal largely in real estate, Mr. Drolet attending to the building and Mr. Vaughn to the real estate department.
The building operations of the C. S. Vaughn Com- pany are confined almost entirely to putting up build- ings on their own property and they have built up the most part of the North Woodward section of the city. The growing tendency of Detroit is well indi- cated by their building operations, which were twelve times greater in 1920 than in any preceding year. The scope of their contracts may be gauged in some measure from this circumstance, and to Mr. Drolet's initiative and energy much of the success of the business is due.
In 1906 Mr. Drolet was united in marriage to Miss Bertha Lacey and they are the parents of two chil- dren: Walter and Edwin. Mr. Drolet is a member of the Knights of Columbus, a member of the Board of
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Commerce, of the Detroit Athletic Club and the Detroit Golf Club, in the affairs of all of which he takes a practical and abiding interest. Following the date of America's entrance into the World war, Mr. Drolet served on nearly all of the city teams, making pa- triotie drives on behalf of the Red Cross and similar organizations, sparing neither his energy nor his ability.
THOMAS HARRISON WELCH. The rapid and substantial growth of Detroit in recent years has taken it to a point where it ranks among the first four of the largest cities of the country. This has naturally brought about great activity in the real estate field and among those who have been prominent factors in the upbuilding and development of De- troit and its suburbs is Thomas Harrison Welch, president of the T. H. Welch Company. He is a man of resolute spirit, extraordinary mental capacity and indefatigable energy. He it was who discovered Miami avenue when it was a cheap boarding house street and made it the Broadway it is today. He also took hold of Washington avenue when it was a dead street and foretold its future destiny as an exclusive shopping center. He now predicts a great future for the district surrounding the General Motors office building at Milwaukee and Second avenues. He also predicted many years ago the great development that is now taking place in the River Rouge district. Mr. Welch has visited nearly every large city in the world in his study of real estate and so comprehensive and perfect is his judgment in appraising properties which require expert knowledge that he is always paid at the rate of one hundred dollars a minute for his services. This puts him in a class by himself and is perhaps the highest fee ever paid to any expert.
Mr. Welch was born in a log house on a farm six miles southwest of Marine City, Michigan, on September 10, 1860, and is a son of John Lucien Welch and Ellen B. (Bagley) Welch. He is a descendant. of Lucien Welch of Gloucester, England, and also a grandson of Jane MeNicol of Edinburgh, Scotland, and nephew of Sir James Bagley of Castlebar, Ire- land. When he was about eight years old his parents moved to the state of Minnesota and purchased a large farm in the Mississippi valley, about twenty-five miles south of St. Paul, the nearest good market. These were pioneer days when ox-teams were the style and it was the custom to get up at four o'clock in the morning. It was in this environment that Mr. Welch learned how to do two men's work, which habit he still maintains. The educational advantages in the wild and woolly west were not very great. Three months in a log schoolhouse, with one teacher for all grades, was the limit. But when Mr. Welch returned to Michigan in 1876 he found he was head and shoulders above any of his early schoolmates, not- withstanding their fine schoolhouses and flock of teachers. There being nothing more for him to learn
in the public schools, he took a four and a half year's course in the Detroit Business University, which be completed in three months and fourteen days, with a special degree of being the best mathematician who ever attended that seat of learning. The next day he accepted a position as bookkeeper and cashier for Coulson & Morhous, one of the leading Woodward avenue firms of that time. This position he resigned after six years to accept one as bookkeeper for the Dime Savings Bank, where he remained until he engaged actively in the real estate business in the spring of 1889. In that 'field of activity he has re- mained to the present time, regardless of panics or anything else. He is also president of the Welch- Lonnquist Corporation, treasurer of the Fort Dearborn Land Company, treasurer of the Oakwood Board of Commerce, member of the Detroit Board of Commerce and Detroit Real Estate Board and a mem- ber of the Detroit Golf Club, the Island Country Club, the Automobile Country Club and the Cross Country Riding Club.
Mr. Welch was married April 16, 1895, to Marion M. Craig of Detroit, and has seven children: Ethel C., Marion B., Edna E., Homer J., Ralph J., Leonard L. and Alfred C. The family reside in a palatial residence at 50 Virginia Park. In politics Mr. Welch is a republican and his greatest enjoyment is found in the bosom of his family. Work is his prin- cipal recreation, although riding, golf, fishing and hunting are pleasing to him when he has the time.
CLARENCE EDWIN BOTSFORD, secretary of the Michigan Wire Cloth Company of Detroit, is a native of Illinois, Chicago being his birthplace and his natal day December 15, 1876. His parents were David and Mary (Sherwood) Botsford, the former born in Michi- gan and the latter in New Jersey. They became residents of Illinois in early life and the father after- ward engaged in farming near Chicago, while later he removed to Spokane, Washington, and there lived retired until his death. The mother survives and now makes her home in Detroit, Michigan. In their family were three sons: John, who has passed away; George, living in Spokane; and Clarence E., the eldest.
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