The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. III, Part 62

Author: Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932, ed; Stocking, William, 1840- joint ed; Miller, Gordon K., joint ed
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Detroit-Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1022

USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. III > Part 62

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In 1903 Mr. Lane initiated his independent career in the wholesale produce business. It was at this time that he formed a partnership with John C. Schultz and formed the Lane & Schultz Company. They es- tablished headquarters at the Eastern market in De- troit, and specialized in supplying the retail grocery trade. In 1917 Mr. Lane purchased Mr. Schultz's in- terest in the well ordered and prosperous business, and since that time he has continued operations under the title of William D. Lane & Company. As execu- tive head of the business he has formulated and brought into effective play most progressive policies, and special attention is given to the handling of fresh fruits and vegetables, in carload lots. An average of about four hundred carloads is received each season, and the enterprise is exclusively wholesale or jobbing. Mr. Lane buys produce through the medium of rep- resentatives retained in the various producing dis- tricts from which supplies are drawn and a certain amount of business is done also through reliable brokers. The jobbing trade in produce is one of im- portant economic functions, as it represents a potent agency in equalizing supply and prices and insuring the best method of bringing products to the consumer. Jobbers in this line extend their activities throughout all parts of the United States and into foreign coun- tries in order to supply their markets with the req- uisite food products. In short, the jobbing trade in produce is a distinct and valuable forwarding agency.

Mr. Lane is a loyal member of the Detroit Board of Commerce, is president of the local branch of the National League of Commission Merchants and is an influential member of the Detroit Produce Exchange and the Detroit Produce & Traffic Association. He is independent in politics, and he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic church and active mem- bers of the parish of St. Charles Borremo church, Mr. Lane is a fourth degree Knight of Columbus and a member of the Detroit Automobile Club.

In 1905 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Lane to Miss Lauretta M. O'Keefe, and their pleasant home is at 3058 Field avenue. They are the parents of five children, namely: Helen M., born in 1906; William D., Jr., born in 1909; Lauretta C., born in 1911; Charles Edward, born in 1913; and Robert F., born in 1919.

DANA HUNGERFORD TORREY. In connection with the remarkable impetus given to industrial and commercial enterprise in Detroit as one of the world's great centers of automobile manufacturing, there have here been developed many important and successful incidental industries, and one of the number is that of the Bearings Service Company, the headquarters of which are maintained in the Boyer building. Of this progressive corporation Mr. Torrey is secretary, and he is known as one of the representative business men of the younger generation in his native city.

Mr. Torrey was born in Detroit on the 3d of August, 1887, and is a son of Augustus and Charlotte (Foote) Torrey, whose other two surviving children are Mrs. Helen Keller of Baltimore, Maryland, and Mrs. Charlotte Taussig of New York city. The father was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, a representative of an influential family that was founded in New England in the colonial period of our national history. Augustus Torrey received excellent educational ad- vantages and was a man of high intellectual and pro- fessional attainments. He was a young man when he came to Michigan and entered the service of the Michi- gan Central Railroad Company, in which his technical ability in his profession led to his advancement to the position of chief engineer, of which he continued the incumbent until his death, in 1902, which resulted from an accident, when he was fifty-one years of age. He was a Detroit citizen whose loyalty was insistent and whose circle of friends was coextensive with that of his acquaintances. His wife was born and reared in Detroit, Michigan, and she survived him several years, her death having occurred in Pasadena, California, in 1917, when she was fifty-one years of age.

In the public schools of Detroit Dana H. Torrey pur- sued his studies until 1899, when he entered the De- troit University School as one of that institution's charter members. In 1906, at the age of eighteen, he was graduated from the Detroit University school, and he then entered the employ of the Detroit Copper & Brass Rolling Mills but after a brief interval he

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returned to the University School for a postgraduate course. In the fall of 1907 he entered the University of Michigan and continued his studies there until the close of 1909, when he became associated with the automobile industry in Detroit. Within the next few years he was employed by several of the leading auto- mobile manufacturing concerns of this city, and finally he resigned his position and became one of the organ- izers of the Bearings Service Company, which was incorporated in June, 1916. This corporation has been developed into one of major importance and is na- tional in its scope of operations, branches being main- tained in thirty-three leading cities of the United States and Canada. With this concern Mr. Torrey first gave executive service in the capacity of sales manager, and it has been in large measure due to his vigorous and progressive policies that the en- terprise has been developed to its present large pro- portions and important functioning. Of the company Mr. Torrey has been secretary since July 1, 1920.

Mr. Torrey takes lively interest in all things per- taining to the civic and industrial advancement of his native city, is independent in politics, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and is a member of the Detroit Yacht Club, the Detroit Automobile Club and the Society of Automotive Engineers.

On July 15, 1916, Mr. Torrey was united in marriage to Miss Frederica F. Brenner, a daughter of Judson Brenner of Youngstown, Ohio, and they have one child, a daughter, Ellen Hungerford, born in Detroit, May 21, 1921. They reside at 7411 Second boulevard.

HARLOW PALMER DAVOCK. Blessed with a judicial mind of great keenness, absolutely fair and just in all things and with kindly charity of thought as well as of act, the late Harlow Palmer Davock, referee in bankruptcy, was one of the most respected members of the Detroit bar. A native of New York, his birth occurred in Buffalo on the 11th of March, 1848, and there in the public schools he pursued his education until graduated with honors from the high school. He next entered the University of Michigan and completed a course in the literary department with the class of 1870, winning two degrees in one term- the literary degree of Bachelor of Arts and the degree of Civil Engineer. Moreover, he displayed the ele- mental strength of his character in meeting the ex- penses of his high school and college course by work- ing during vacations. He started out to provide for his own support as an office boy with the Buffalo & Erie Railroad in Buffalo, New York, and following the completion of his college course he practiced the profession of civil engineer in connection with many important railroad and engineering projects. He also served under General Godfrey Weitzel, United States government engineer at Detroit, and assisted in the construction of the Weitzel lock at Sault Ste. Marie and the government docks at that place as well as in the building of the Cascade locks in Oregon. He was

thus connected with many important engineering proj- ects in various sections of the country and while fol- lowing his profession he formed a warm personal friendship with Alfred Noble, who has since gained a wide reputation as a civil engineer and who was one of the consulting engineers of the Panama canal.

Eventually, however, Mr. Davock turned to the legal profession, becoming a law student in the office of Maybury & Conely in Detroit, and in 1878 was ad- mitted to the bar, entering upon the active practice of the profession in 1882. He made steady progress in his connection with the work of the courts and by reason of his activity in political affairs and his deep interest in the progress and welfare of the state he was chosen to public office. From the time that age conferred upon him the right of franchise he gave stal- wart allegiance to the republican party and in 1893-94 represented his district in the Michigan gen- eral assembly. He was also a member of the Detroit board of health from 1895 until 1900 and for two years of that period was president of the board. In 1894 he was chief supervisor of elections for the eastern district of Michigan and in August, 1898, he was ap- pointed by Judge H. H. Swan, of the United States circuit court, to the position of referee in bankruptcy, the appointment following almost immediately after the passage of the new bankruptcy law. He con- tinued to fill the position for twelve years or until the time of his death, which occurred August 30, 1910. As referee in bankruptcy he received no stated salary, the emoluments of the office being limited to fees fixed by law. The work of the office increased to such an extent that Mr. Davock was forced to abandon his private law practice. As referee he was noted for his fairness and his courtesy to those having business with the office. Many of the younger attor- neys received helpful suggestions from him, and be was ever careful to prevent older practitioners from taking advantage of younger men.

The home life of Mr. Davock presented many at- tractive phases. On the 4th of January, 1883, at St. Clair, Michigan, he was married to Mrs. Sarah Whiting Peabody of that place, daughter of Henry and Pamelia (Rice) Whiting and a descendant of one of the old New England families, the ancestral line being traced back to the Rev. Samuel Whiting, who came to America in 1636 and was pastor of the first church at Lynn, Massachusetts. Pamelia Rice, mother of Mrs. Davock, was a daughter of Dr. Justin Rice, a pioneer physician of Michigan, who later engaged in the lum- ber business. Colonel Henry Whiting, her father, was a native of Bath, New York, and was graduated from the West Point Military Academy, after which he saw service as a lieutenant in the Mexican war. Re- signing from the army, he was engaged in mercantile business at St. Clair when the Civil war broke out and he volunteered for service, being placed in com- mand of a Vermont regiment. He was also regent of the University of Michigan. Hon. Justin R. Whiting,

HARLOW P. DAVOCK

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who was congressman from Michigan for eight years was a brother of Mrs. Davock. To Mr. and Mrs. Davock were born three children: Clarence Whiting, born May 27, 1884, was graduated from the Univer- sity of Michigan as a mechanical engineer and for some time was connected with the Detroit Steel Prod- ucts Company. He severed that connection to organize the Crittall Casement Company of Detroit, of which he was president at the time of his death on the 3d of November, 1915. On the 4th of April, 1911, he had married Hildegard Meigs and they had one son, Alfred Meigs, who was born June 5, 1912. Harlow Noble Davoek, the second son, born February 10, 1886, was graduated from the University of Michigan as a mechanical engineer and for several years was iden- tified with building operations in Detroit but is now an assistant to the president of the Packard Motor Car Company. He was married June 30, 1910, to Eloise Dickerson, of Detroit, and they have one son, Harlow Palmer, born June 10, 1911. Henry Whiting, the third son, born July 17, 1887, passed away Feb- ruary 19, 1894.

It was iu 1884 that Mr. Davock built the residence on Garfield avenue in Detroit where Mrs. Davock now resides. The family are all members of the Presby- terian church and Mr. Davock was identified with many social and club organizations. He displayed great activity in connection with the church work, serving as a trustee and never absenting himself from Sunday services except when out of the city. He belonged to the Michigan Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, to the University Club and the Detroit Boat Club. For many years he was an active member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and one of the proudest days of his life was when he assisted in initiating his two sons into the same fra- ternity. A few years later his son Harlow had the pleasure of initiating the father as an honorary mem- ber of the Tau Beta Pi, an honorary engineering so- ciety. The life of Mr. Davock was one of great activity and usefulness and his story is that of duty well done and of talents wisely used for the benefit of his fellowmen. On the 18th of August, 1910, in com- pany with his wife, he started on a trip to the White Mountains. They spent some time at Dixville's Notch in New Hampshire and later went to Bretton Woods in Coos county, New Hampshire, and there it was that Mr. Davock was suddenly stricken, passing away on the 30th of August, the news of his demise bring- ing a sense of personal bereavement to every Detroit home where he was known. The Detroit Journal said of him editorially: "The shockingly sudden death in New Hampshire of H. P. Davock will be deeply and genuinely mourned in Detroit. His passing is a serious loss to this community. His life and life's work offers an excellent demonstration of the public efficiency and civic usefulness which the well bal- anced, college bred man may develop. He had both the engineer's and lawyer's training. He had risen to

prominence in both professions. He early recognized his obligations to his fellow citizens, to his city and to his state, and did a man's work. He was loyal to his fraternity, to his college, to his church, to his political party, to his friends and to his ideals. His effectiveness refutes the assertion that culture is iu- compatible with creative force and energy. Mr. Da- vock enjoyed an extraordinary personal acquaintance largely because of his keen interest in so many activ- ities, and his hearty participation in all progress. That acquaintance was unusually substantial and en- during because it was builded on the general recog- nition of the man's unostentatious worth. As ref- eree in bankruptcy, Mr. Davock made a remarkable record and name. Such litigation is delicate of ad- justment. Where men seek, honestly, or dishonestly, to escape the heavy burden of debt it requires adjudi- cation based upon a keen sense of justice, more, per- haps, than a profound knowledge of the letter of the law. Yet in the years Mr. Davock heard these bank- rupt cases there was expressed no dissatisfaction with his decisions. Invariably he was sustained by the higher courts. In himself, he was a great-hearted, generous, charming gentleman at all times and under all circumstances. He was only sixty-two years old, and that for a life so full of achievement and big works, well and faithfully done, is very young to die. He was just approaching the interval of rest he had abundantly deserved. It is a considerable vacancy which Mr. Harlow P. Davock has left. The city of Detroit, and the citizens of Detroit, will require a long time, too, to fill it." His contribution to the world's work was of real and tangible order. He was an ideal official in the position which he so long filled and at all times his influence and aid were on the side of progress and improvement, reform, justice, truth and right.

THOMAS H. CANDLER, president and treasurer of the Candler Dock & Dredge Company of Detroit, con- ducting a general contracting business, was born in this city, February 17, 1864, his parents being Homer W. and Emma (Ellard) Candler. The father figured for many years as a prominent representative of in- dustrial activity in Detroit and in 1878 established the business of which his son is now the head.

The latter in the acquirement of his education at- tended the public and high schools of Detroit and started out in the business world in connection with the engineering department of the Detroit City Iron Works in 1880, occupying a position at that plant for five years. He then went upon the lakes as marine engineer, so continuing from 1885 until 1893. In the latter year he accepted the position of foreman with the Eagle Iron Works, with which he remained until 1895, when he became chief engineer with the Detroit United Railways, a position of responsibility which he capably filled until 1898. He then entered into active relations with the business which had been estab-

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lished by his father twenty years before and which is conducted under the name of the Candler Dock & Dredge Company, of which he has been the president and treasurer through a period of twenty-two years. Under his direction the business has been steadily developed and has been conducted along practical and progressive lines, resulting in substantial success.

On the 22d of July, 1892, Mr. Candler was married to Miss Florence Bice of Detroit, and they have be- come the parents of three children: Edith Ellard, Rus- sell Gordon and Marjorie Biee. The family are com- municants of the Episcopal church and Mr. Candler belongs also to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He turns to motoring and boating for recrea- tion. His political endorsement is given to the republican party and his interest in community affairs is shown in his connection with the Detroit Board of Commerce and his active support of various projects and plans which are looking to the upbuilding of the city, the extension of its business connections and the maintenance of high civic standards.

JAMES HARVEY GREGG, president and founder of the Gregg Hardware Company, is one of Detroit's representative business men whose identification with the hardware trade began when he entered on his business career more than thirty years ago. Mr. Gregg is a Missourian by birth, an Ohioan by rearing and a Detroiter hy adoption. He was born in Brown- ing, Linn county, Missouri, August 8, 1866, a son of George and Mary (Steel) Gregg. On both his father's and mother's side James H. Gregg comes from old pioneer families of Carroll county, Ohio. His paternal grandfather, John Gregg, and his maternal grand- father, James Steel, were both early settlers in that section of the Buckeye state. The old Gregg home- stead farm near Carrollton, Ohio, is now owned and operated by the third generation of the family, a brother of James H. Gregg. Mr. Gregg's parents were both natives of Carroll county, Ohio, where they were married in 1865 and the same year removed to Linn county, Missouri. After a period of five or six years, on account of repeated droughts and other serious drawbacks to the farmer in a new country, they re- turned to Carroll county, Ohio, where George Gregg was a successful farmer during the remainder of his active life. His death occurred in 1899, while his widow yet survives. He was included among the most highly respected residents of the community, where he resided from his birth with the exception of a few year in the west, as previously mentioned.

James H. Gregg was but a youngster when his parents left Missouri for Ohio and was reared on his father's farm in Carroll county, attending the district school until leaving home to complete his education elsewhere. He taught school for a short time, but a business career appealed more to him and he accepted a position with a wholesale hardware house in Cleve- land. He applied himself closely to the business and

before long became a valuable employe. In 1898 he came to Detroit to take the position of department manager with the Buhl Sons Company and remained in that connection until 1905. In the latter year he organized the Gregg Hardware Company for the con- duet of a retail trade in hardware and builders' supplies, subsequently becoming its executive head and sole owner. The growth of this company has been remarkable and it ranks among the leading business houses in its line in Detroit. Mr. Gregg's success is due in part to the fact that he has always continued in the line to which he first gave his attention on starting out in the business world. He has thus gained a most thorough and intimate knowledge of the hardware trade in principle and detail, and the thoroughness of his efforts, his elose application, his reliability and his uniform courtesy have gained for him not only a high position among Detroit's best class of retail merchants but have been big factors in building up a business which he has directed from its inception. He is a member of the Detroit Builders and Traders Exchange, the Board of Commerce and the Ohio Society. In club circles he belongs to the Detroit Athletie, the Old Colony and the Rotary Clubs. He is likewise a Mason. belonging to Damascus Commandery, and has attained the thirty-second de- gree of the Scottish Rite in the Michigan Sovereign Consistory, while of Moslem Temple of the Mystic Shrine he is also a representative. In his political belief Mr. Gregg is a stanch republican, giving stal- wart allegiance to the party, and in his religious connection is a member of the North Congregational church.

On the 8th of January, 1888, Mr. Gregg was mar- ried at Carrollton, Ohio, to Miss Dora Gantz, of that city. They have two sons and a daughter: George A., head of the Gregg Motor Company, Cleveland, Ohio, distributors of Graham Brothers trucks, is married and has one daughter, Virginia; Robert M., is associated with his father in the Gregg Hardware Company; and Mary E., is the wife of J. D. Isaacs, service manager of Ford Motor Company at Walkerville, Ontario, and has a son, James G.

CHARLES STEWART ABBOTT, member of the De- troit bar and also connected with several important business corporations of which he has been the or- ganizer and promoter, was born in Lapeer, Michigan, November 3, 1872, and is a representative of one of the old families of the state, identified with the history of Michigan from pioneer times. His father, Austin Abbott, was also a native of Lapeer, born in 1837, and was a son of Asel Abbott, who removed from Massa- chusetts to Michigan when the work of settlement and development had scarcely been begun in the vicinity of Lapeer. He cleared a farm in the midst of the forest and established one of the first cobbler's shops in that section of the state. He continued the work of developing and improving his land, a portion of

JAMES H. GREGG

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which is now occupied by a section of the city of Lapeer. His son, Austin Abbott, was reared to the occupation of farming and took up that business when he started out in life independently. At the time of the Civil war, however, he put aside all business and personal considerations and joined a regiment of Michigan infantry, with which he went to the front, participating in many of the most hotly contested engagements of the Civil war. When hostilities had ceased he returned to Lapeer and afterward removed to West Branch, Michigan, where he carried on gen- eral merchandising successfully and at the same time devoted his attention to farming. He was at one time president of the Soldiers and Sailors Association of Michigan. He wedded Mary J. Ostrum, who was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1838, a daughter of Oliver J. Ostrum, a native of the Empire state and whose mother was a sister of President Van Buren. Mr. Ostrum settled on the Michigan frontier near North- ville, this county, on the farm where the Cold Springs are located. His stepson, R. H. Colburn, was a noted civil engineer and surveyed the first railroad from Buffalo to Detroit and thence to Chicago and also laid out Lincoln and Garfield parks in the latter city. Both Mr. and Mrs. Austin Abbott, by reason of the removal of their parents to Michigan, were reared on the frontier of this state and lived to witness its notable development and progress through many de- cades. The father passed away in 1898, while his wife survived only until 1899.

Their son, Charles Stewart Abbott, began his edn- cation in the public schools of his native city and afterward became a high school pupil in Ann Arbor. Following his graduation he matriculated in the Uni- versity of Michigan and was graduated therefrom with the class of 1897, on completing a course in law, the LL. B. degree being at that time conferred upon him. In the same year he was admitted to practice at the Michigan bar and opened an office at West Branch, where he remained for three years. He then re- moved to Detroit and has since been a well known representative of the bar of this city. He has been connected with many important cases and various litigated interests that have attracted wide attention, including the grade separation cases on Michigan avenue operations. In these an important point was involved as to whether abutting property owners could recover damages for injury to their property, the con- stitutionality of the grade separation act having been raised. He won his point and secured a verdict. He organized the legal end of the National Casualty Insurance Company and was general counsel and di- rector of the organization until the sale of the corpo- ration in 1910. He was likewise connected with insur- ance interests as one of the organizers of the Phoenix Preferred Accident Insurance Company of Detroit. His ability to recognize opportunity and his powers of organization also led to the formation of the Onaway Light & Power Company of northern Michigan, a

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The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. III, Part 62

Author: Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932, ed; Stocking, William, 1840- joint ed; Miller, Gordon K., joint ed Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Detroit-Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 1022

Author: Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932, ed; Stocking, William, 1840- joint ed; Miller, Gordon K., joint ed
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Detroit-Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1022