USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. III > Part 57
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promptly executed, bringing him to the goal of his desire in connection with some of the most important of the business and corporate interests of Detroit.
On the 2d of July, 1888, in New York city, Mr. Stair was married to Miss Grace Crookson, and they have become parents of a son and a daughter: Edward D. and Nancy K. Mr. Stair is a thirty-second degree Mason and belongs to the Detroit Club, the Old Club, the Country Club, Detroit Golf Club, the Green Room and the Oakland Hills Country Club.
HARRY F. DORWELD. A notably successful bus- iness career is that of Harry F. Dorweld, president of the Luths-Dorweld-Haller Company, leading whole- sale jewelers of Detroit, with offices in the Liggett building. Since 1891 he has been identified with this line of activity and through his long connection there- with has acquired a specialized knowledge of the business, so that his efforts have been most intelli- gently directed, winning for him a gratifying measure of success. Mr. Dorweld is widely and favorably known in Detroit, for he has here spent his life, covering a period of forty-eight years, and has wit- nessed the city's rapid growth and development, to which he has contributed in substantial measure through his activities in the business world. He was born August 2, 1873, a son of Henry F. and Sophia Dorweld, and in his native city he acquired his educa- tion, being a pupil in the Bishop school. He began his business career at the bottom of the ladder, start- ing in as parcel boy for the Farnsworth Shoe Company when but twelve years of age, the firm at that time being located on the present site of the Majestic building. He remained with that company until 1888, when he entered the employ of Samuel F. Fisk, a ticket broker of the city, with whom he continued for three years. His initial experience in the jewelry business was gained with Frank S. Ring, with whom he was identified from 1891 until 1905, and following the retirement of Mr. Ring from active commercial pursuits the Luths-Dorweld-Haller Company was formed, with Mr. Dorweld as president and one-third owner of the business, which was established at No. 68 Woodward avenue, and in 1915 removal was made to the present location in the Liggett building. The company handles a complete line of high-class jewelry and its well known reliability, reasonable prices and progressive business methods have secured for it an extensive patronage, which is drawn not only from Detroit and other sections of the state but also from the neighboring states of Ohio and Indiana. Mr. Dorweld gives his personal supervision to every detail of the business, with which he is thoroughly familiar, owing to his long connection therewith, while he manages the larger features in his interests with notable assurance and power.
Mr. Dorweld was united in marriage to Miss Rose. G. Burger, daughter of a well known and highly respected police officer of this city, and they have
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become the parents of two sons, Harry J., and Edward F., who are engaged in business in Detroit. In his political views Mr. Dorwald, Sr., is a republican where national issues are concerned hut at local elec- tions casts an independent ballot, voting for the best man for the office regardless of party ties. He belongs to numerous clubs and fraternal orders, including the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the United Trav- elers Council, the Knights of the Grip, the Detroit Yacht Club and the Detroit Athletic Club, and is keenly interested in all outdoor sports. He is a loyal, public-spirited and progressive citizen whose influence is ever on the side of advancement and improvement. Throughout his career he has closely applied himself to the work in hand, each forward step bringing him a broader outlook and wider opportunities. He de- serves much credit for what he has accomplished in a business way, for he started out in life for himself when hut twelve years of age and has steadily worked his way upward by persistent energy and unfaltering enterprise. His record should serve to inspire and encourage others, showing what may be accomplished when there is the will to dare and to do.
JUSTICE RICHARD PEARSON. Various business interests and enterprises have felt the stimulus of the cooperation of Justice Richard Pearson, a man of notably sound judgment and progressive spirit in all business affairs. He has recognized and utilized op- portunities which others have passed heedlessly by and his life has been marked by constant progress, thoroughly effective in the attainment of his pur- poses in the business world. Mr. Pearson is a native son of Michigan, his birth having occurred at White Lake, Oakland county, April 5, 1868, his parents being Alfred Benjamin and Marie Antoinette (Toms) Pear- son. The father was also a native of Michigan, and served as a soldier in the Union Army in the Civil war, enlisting in the Twenty-second Michigan Infantry when sixteen years of age. He participated in a number of important engagements, and was se- verely wounded in the battle of Chickamauga when but eighteen years of age. He died April 9, 1890, from the effects of his wounds.
Justice Richard Pearson pursued his early educa- tion in the district schools of Pontiac, Michigan, and later attended the high school at Ovid, from which he was graduated at the early age of sixteen years. He then entered the field of newspaper activity, be- coming editor of the Ovid Register, owned by Irving Carrier, continuing in that position until Mr. Carrier sold the paper. Mr. Pearson remained in the office as bookkeeper, proofreader and general business man for a time. After taking a course in the Detroit Business University he entered the employ of the Farnsworth Shoe Company of Detroit, with which he continued until they, too, went out of business. It was then that he became bookkeeper for the Central Savings Bank, a position which he occupied
for four and a half years. He next became assistant manager for the Michigan Brass & Iron Works, and finally he joined James F. Macauley in the real estate business. Since the death of Mr. Macauley he has continued in the same business until the present time. Through the intervening period he has figured quite prominently in real estate circles in Detroit, promoting many property transfers and negotiating realty exchanges, which have contributed in no small measure to the development and upbuilding of the city. He is secretary of the Real Estate Trust Com- pany, which was organized in 1906. In the summer of 1915 he went to Germany, obtained options on Leggett Farm, and coming home through Switzerland and Italy, organized the Leggett Farm Land Com- pany, of which he likewise became secretary. In 1918 he became vice president of the Arrow Sand and Gravel Company, with which he is actively associated. In a word, he is a man of sound business judgment, and of unusual executive ability. His plans are care- fully formulated and then promptly executed and he never stops short of the successful accomplish- ment of his purpose, for he realizes that when one avenue of advancement seems closed, he can carve out other paths whereby to reach the desired goal.
Mr. Pearson is pleasantly situated in his home life, having been married in 1906 to Miss Bessie Louise Day of Detroit. They have become parents of five children, three of whom survive: Corinne Helen; Justice R., Jr., horn in Detroit, January 2, 1915; and Roberta Louise. Mr. Pearson has long been an ex- emplary representative of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Corinthian Lodge, No. 241, Detroit. His political endorsement is given to the republican party, and in all matters essential to good citizenship and to publie progress, his cooperation and aid can be counted upon. He is a man of sterling worth, being actuated by high principles and honorable purposes and in the legitimate deals of business he has reached a point of enviable success.
SHELDON R. NOBLE, secretary of the investment banking firm of H. W. Nohle & Company, was born in Detroit, April 3, 1892, and is a son of Herbert W. and Gertrude (Delbridge) Noble and a grandson of Garra B. and Eliza (Crosman) Noble and of Mr. and Mrs. James B. Delbridge, all prominent among the early residents of this state. More extended mention of the family history is made in connection with the record of Herbert W. Noble on another page of this work.
Sheldon R. Noble attended the public schools of De- troit and afterward entered the Detroit University School, in which he pursued a course preparatory to becoming a student in Princeton University, from which he was graduated with the class of 1914, winning the Litt. B. degree. Immediately afterward he returned to his home and hecame associated with his father in the investment brokerage business and
JUSTICE R. PEARSON
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is now the secretary of the firm of H. W. Noble & Company. They handle all kinds of securities and investments and enjoy a most enviable reputation for reliability and the worth of the commercial paper which they control.
On the 27th of December, 1917, Sheldon R. Noble was married to Miss Eleanor Reed of Springfield, Massachusetts, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Reed, representatives of a prominent New England family. Mr. and Mrs. Noble have two sons: H. W. Noble (II), who was born in Springfield, Massachu- setts, April 3, 1919; and John Reed Noble, born May 15, 1920. The parents are members of St. Paul's Episcopal church and Mr. Noble is connected with the Detroit Athletic Club, the University Club and the Detroit Boat Club. During the World war he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Three Hun- dred and Twenty-eighth Field Artillery and was in action in France. After receiving his discharge fol- lowing the signing of the armistice he returned to Detroit to enter upon business connections with his father and through the intervening period his alert- ness, progressiveness and enterprise have been impor- tant factors in the continued success and development of the business of H. W. Noble & Company.
JOHN W. DUBOIS, brother of Henry M. DuBois, to whom further reference is made elsewhere in this work, is a lawyer of long standing in Detroit and senior partner in the law firm of DuBois & DuBois. Mr. DuBois was born in Wayne county, Michigan, October 21, 1842, and is now in his seventy-eightlı year, still hale and active.
John W. DuBois was educated at Ypsilanti Seminary and in the law department of Ann Arbor, Michigan. He graduated in'law in 1867, and immediately began the practice of his profession in Jackson, Michigan, where he remained for three years, then moved to Detroit, there continuing in practice for two years. He then temporarily abandoned law and entered the mercantile business at Lapeer, in which he was engaged for five years. At the end of the latter period Mr. DuBois went to Ulster county, New York, the home of his ancestors, and resided there until 1902, when he returned to Detroit and resumed the practice of his profession. He and his brother, Henry M., formed a law partnership under the title of DuBois & DuBois, which still exists and is widely known through- out this part of Michigan.
Mr. DuBois has been three times married. His first wife was Helen M. Tibitts, who passed away leaving one daughter, Helen. Subsequently he married Mary Schoonmaker, who died some time thereafter. He later married Helen M. Seely, who is still living. His daughter, Helen, is the wife of Albert B. Wagener, connected with the Drew Theological Seminary in Madison, New Jersey. Mr. DuBois became a member of the Masonic order in 1865, and is therefore one of
the oldest living Masons in Michigan. He is also a member of the Eastern Star.
Mr. DuBois is a direct descendant of Louis DuBois, one of the early settlers of Ulster county, New York, whose name is inscribed on a monument at New Paltz, New York, erected in memory of the early set- tlers. When the Huguenots were banished from France a large section of them settled in Ulster, Holland, and many of these immigrated to New York, where they gave the name of Ulster to the county in which they first settled.
GEORGE WILEY. The sum total of the varied business interests which have placed Detroit as the fourth city of the Union have received a considerable contribution from the efforts of George Wiley, who is now the vice president of the Wayne County & Home Savings Bank and also the assistant secretary and treasurer of the Detroit Edison Company. More- over, he is a native son of the city, born here February 21, 1860, his parents being Jefferson and Mary (Cun- ningham) Wiley, natives of Massachusetts. Coming to Michigan in 1854, they settled in Detroit, where the father established the Jackson & Wiley Foundry & Machine Shop, with which business he was con- nected for many years. He passed away in Detroit and the mother is still a resident of this city. In their family were ten children, six of whom survive, namely: Frederick J., Adams C., Mary H., Margaret W., Mrs. Gertrude Zacharias and George.
The last named, after attending the publie and high schools of Detroit, continued his education in the University of Michigan, being a member of the class of 1882. In the meantime, however, he had entered upon his active business career by securing a position as messenger in the Michigan Savings Bank in 1880. In that institution he gained promotion from one position to another until he became vice presi- dent in 1914, in which year was effected the merger with the Wayne County & Home Savings Bank, and he continued with the new institution as vice presi- dent and director. Throughout his business life he has been identified with banking and has gained a most thorough and comprehensive knowledge of every phase of the business in principle and detail. He is also assistant secretary and treasurer of the Detroit Edison Company and thus his interests are extensive and important.
On the 15th of January, 1890, Mr. Wiley was united in marriage to Miss Charlotte Doeltz, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Doeltz. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Wiley: Robert, born in Detroit in 1890, was graduated from the University of Michigan, married Miss Gladys Hutcheson, and during the World war was commissioned a first lieu- tenant and went to France with the Seventy-eighth Division as a member of the Field Artillery and was actively engaged on the fighting front. He now resides in Detroit; George S., born in Detroit in 1892, here
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attended the high school, and also entering the army at the time of the World war, was commissioned a captain in the Eighty-fifth Division. He is now at home; Charlotte, born in Detroit in 1901, is attend- ing the Liggett School for Girls.
Mr. Wiley is a Chapter Mason and is well known in the club circles of the city, belonging to the De- troit, Detroit Athletic, Detroit Boat and Bloomfield Hills Country Clubs. His political endorsement is given to the republican party and his religious faith is that of the Unitarian church. He is interested in all those forces which make for the benefit and uplift of mankind and has become a factor in the develop- ment of the city's interests along many lines.
WILLIAM M. WALKER, president and founder of Walker Brothers Catering Company, is one of the heads of big business in Detroit whose identification with his enterprise dates back to its inception. Mr. Walker is a Detroiter by birth, and with the excep- tion of a few years, this city has been the scene of his business activities. He was born May 10, 1867, a son of Dugald and Sarah (Gainor) Walker. The father was a native of Nova Scotia, while the mother was horn near Norwichville, Ontario. They came to Detroit in 1865. Dugald Walker was a carpenter by trade and followed that occupation here for many years, passing away in Detroit in 1917. His widow survived until April 1, 1921, when she passed away in this city. Their family numbered six sons and five daughters: John; William M .; Mary, deceased; Alex- ander F., who is mentioned elsewhere in this work; Madge G .; Edward J., of whom further mention is also made elsewhere in this work; Sister Rosemary, who is connected with a Catholic order in Cincin- nati, Ohio; James J .; Mary (II), now Mrs. Thomas Stackpole of Detroit; Joseph V., treasurer of the Walker Brothers Catering Company; and Sadie, the wife of Fred McBurdy of Detroit.
William M. Walker attended St. Vincent's parochial school, the old Webster school and later Smith's Busi- ness College and Goldsmith's College. In deciding on a business to take up, he became an apprentice at the trade of a baker and caterer in the shop of A. G. Kronberg. After a four years' apprenticeship ho continued in the employ of Mr. Kronberg for three years as a journeyman. Mr. Walker then accepted a position with the Twin Brothers Yeast Company and for three years was a traveling representative for that house in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. His road expe- rience was of no little value to him, as in addition to being highly successful it created a desire to become settled. Returning to Detroit he bought a half interest in a wholesale bread business with C. W. Coon at what was then 361 Grand River avenue (now 2737) as the firm of Coon & Walker. After two years Mr. Walker disposed of his interest in the wholesale bread busi- ness and launched out in the retail grocery, catering and retail bakery business. In 1902 he bought out
the retail bakery and catering business at 361 Grand River avenue and two years later, or in 1904, his brother, Alexander F., became a partner in the busi- ness, the firm then becoming Walker Brothers, caterers. During the intervening years the business has been developed into the city's foremost enterprise of its kind and from a modest beginning now comprises twelve restaurants in various sections of the city. The location of every one was made with the view of having a Walker restaurant available in the busier section of the city. Many innovations, new to the trade and original with Walker management, have been made, so that the name of Walker has become a synonym for quality and service, and their motto- "If it is good to eat we furnish it; if we furnish it, it is good to eat"-is both unique and appropriate. With the expansion of the business and to facilitate its handling, the copartnership of Walker Brothers, ca- terers, was succeeded in 1912 by the Walker Brothers Catering Company, incorporated under the laws of Michigan, with William M. Walker as president, Alex- ander F. Walker as vice president, Joseph V. Walker as treasurer and Edward J. Walker as secretary. The personnel of the directorate has never been changed and the company's success may be largely attributed to the fact that the brothers have each had their particular interests to control and some member of the company has been "on the job" every minute, night or day. Among his other business interests Wil- liam M. Walker is president of the Palmyra Pecan Growers Association of Georgia, which he helped to organize and of which he is one of the heavy stock- holders. He is a director of the Regner-Graff Gents Furnishing Company of Detroit, also a director in the Standard Mortgage and Investment Company.
. On the 15th of November, 1902, Mr. Walker was married in Jackson, Michigan, to Miss Sarah O'Hal- loran of that city, a daughter of Michael O'Halloran. Mr. and Mrs. Walker have become the parents of four children, all born in Detroit: Rosemary, born in 1903, is attending Sacred Heart convent; William M., Jr., born October 25, 1907, is a pupil in the Blessed Sacra- ment school of Detroit; Sarah Mary, born in October, 1909, is in the Sacred Heart convent, as also is Anna May, who was born in March, 1912. The residence of Mr. Walker at 72 East Boston boulevard is one of the attractive homes in the North Woodward sec- tion, where the family has resided since 1915.
Appreciative of the social amenities of life, Mr. Walker is a member of the Detroit Athletic Club, also of the Oakland Hills Country Club. Extremely fond of outdoor recreation, he finds a great deal of pleasure in hunting, fishing and baseball, but probably his greatest enthusiasm is shown in a game of golf. Mr. Walker is a very devout and prominent member of the Roman Catholic church, doing everything in his power to promote its growth and extend its influence. He is a valued representative of the Knights of Co- lumbus and is a past grand knight in the order. He
WILLIAM M. WALKER
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is also a past exalted ruler of the Benevolent Pro- tective Order of Elks. For several years he has been a member of the Detroit Poor Commission. In 1916, he helped organize the Bureau of Catholic So- cieties and became its first president and so served for two years. This organization has done and is doing wonderfully valuable work in finding homes and caring for Catholic girls who come before the juvenile court. Mr. Walker is president of the child earing department of St. Vincent de Paul Society. He was chairman of the great drive that collected the Sacred Heart Seminary fund of over nine million dollars. He was also one of the organizers of what is now the Detroit Community Fund and has taken an active part in the work and drives of this great fund. He is a director of St. Mary's Hospital, also of Providence Hospital. In political matters, while his sympathies are usually with the democratic party, his support is more often influenced by men and measures regardless of their political connection. His interests are broad and varied, his sympathies wide and his activities along every line in which he has engaged have been effective and resultant. His course may well serve to inspire and encourage others, show- ing what can be accomplished through individual effort intelligently directed.
JOHN F. O'BRIEN, chief accountant with the Peninsular Stove Company of Detroit and widely known as a most capable business man, has been continuously in the service of this corporation for almost three decades and has worked his way upward to his present position of responsibility through merit and industry. He was born in 1871, in the city which is still his home, and supplemented his pre- liminary education by a course of study in the Uni- versity of Detroit, then called Detroit College, from which institution he was graduated with the class of 1888. While attending college he acquainted him- self with the fundamental principles of accounting, and he perfected himself in the work by private study and by service in the office of the Peninsular Stove Company. After leaving the university he spent ten months in the United States weather bureau as civil- ian assistant and subsequently devoted two years to the wholesale millinery business, after which he entered the employ of the Peninsular Stove Company as entry clerk in the order department. From that capacity he passed into the accounting department in 1893 and six years ago became chief auditor, the duties of which important position he is now most efficiently discharging.
Mr. O'Brien was united in marriage to Miss Helena Roche and they have become the parents of two children: John Francis and Thelma. In young man- hood Mr. O'Brien served as a member of the Detroit Light Infantry for nine years and he has ever been a most loyal and public-spirited citizen, whose aid and influence are always given on the side of progress
and improvement. He is a member of the Detroit Yacht Club and the Knights of Equity and in social circles of his native city has won many warm friends, while as a business man he ranks with the representa- tive and substantial citizens of the municipality in which his life has been spent.
A. CLAIRE WALL. Decorating, papering, paint- ing and interior finishings and furnishings constitute the scope of the business of A. Claire Wall, who has guided his activities beyond the field of mere com- mercial transfer into the realm of art. His love of the beautiful, his appreciation of harmony, his under- standing of the methods of producing effects through color and design, have made him one of the most successful in his chosen field of labor not only in Detroit but in the entire middle west. Mr. Wall was born April 27, 1878, in the city which is still his home, his parents being Thomas and Frances (Yates) Wall, both of whom were natives of England and came to America in early childhood, the father being a lad of eight years when he crossed the Atlantic, while the mother was but six years of age. The former attended school in Detroit and learned the painting and decorating business, with which he became prom- inently identified, conducting his interests along that line in Detroit for many years or to the time of his death in 1909. His widow is still a resident of this city. Their family numbered four sons and two daughters: Charles of New York city; Anne and Robert of Detroit; Mrs. Louise Hunter of Los Angeles, California; Walter, deceased; and A. Claire.
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