USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. III > Part 63
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hydro-electric plant. His success in that connection was followed by the organization of the Leland Light & Power Company, having one of the largest and most complete hydro-electric plants in Michigan. He next installed the Williamston Illuminating Company and the East Jordan Lighting Company in both of which he retains a controlling interest. With the development of motor car building he organized the Abbott Motor Car Company, of which he was presi- dent until 1910, when he sold his interests at a very substantial profit. He was one of the organizers of the Central States Finance Corporation of Detroit and has been vice president ever since. He is a man of sound judgment and keen sagacity, who in all business affairs readily discriminates between the es- sential and the non-essential and whose cooperation is at all times considered a valuable asset in the con- duct of any commercial enterprise.
In 1894 Mr. Abbott was united in marriage to Miss Merrie Hoover, a native of Clinton connty, Michigan, and a daughter of Jacob Hoover. She was educated in the public schools and then qualified for the bar as a law student in the University of Michigan, from which she was graduated with the LL. B. degree. She then entered upon the practice of her chosen profes- sion in West Branch and was successful almost from the beginning, no dreary novitiate awaiting her. Her ability won for her a unique honor-that of being chosen the first and for a long time she was the only woman county prosecuting attorney in the United States. While filling that office she conducted many important cases in both civil and criminal law. Her most noted criminal case was that of Rose Barron, who was accused of poisoning nineteen persons, patrons of the Alhambra. Mrs. Abbott represented the de- fendant in the trial, which lasted for forty days and in which many experts testified. The jury disagreed and finally Mrs. Abbott obtained the freedom of her client. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Abbott has been blessed with two sons: Manton and Addison. In the social circles of the city they occupy an enviable position and Mr. Abbott is a well known member of the Fellowcraft Club and other social organizations.
FREDERIC W. DENNIS is a broad-gauged business man who has made his own way in the world since leaving high school. He is a native son of Detroit, and while he has lived elsewhere for a time, he has always felt that this city offered opportunities and advantages equal to those to be found in any section of the country. He pursued a high school course here and then started out in the business world. For a time he was secretary with the firm of Hecker & Freer, proprietors of the old Peninsular Car Works, remaining in that connection for eight years, or from 1886 until 1893, inclusive. He then went to Lima, Ohio, and was with the Manhattan Oil Company at that place from September, 1893, until the spring of
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1894, when he returned to Detroit and has since been connected with the Joy estate. He has had large experience in handling estates and is now an active trustee of the estate of James Joy and the Nathan Jenks estate; is secretary and manager of the Joy Realty Company and is vice president and treasurer of the Detroit Union Railroad Depot & Station Com- pany. He likewise occupies the presidency of two Illinois corporations-the Cedar Point Light & Water Company and the Union Stores Company and is sec- retary and treasurer of the La Salle County Carbon Coal Company. He helped to establish the Michigan Sugar Company, in that he represented the directors of the Peninsular Sugar Refining Company at the organization of the Michigan Sugar Company. He was also very active in securing the right of way for the Caro & Lake Huron Railway. He aided in getting the property for Selfridge Field, the aviation field at Mount Clemens, Michigan, and in fact conducted the negotiations on behalf of Mr. Henry B. Joy, who financed the project. His life has been a most re- sultant one. He accomplishes what he purposes and his plans are the expression of careful consideration of every business situation with which he has to do. He is a man of keen sagacity and is everywhere regarded as a man of notably sound business judgment and discernment.
In 1894 Mr. Dennis was united in marriage to Miss Velma Clarke and they have two children: Frederic W., Jr., born in Detroit, March 3, 1897; and Helen Lucile. The son enlisted in the United States air service for the World war, in August, 1917, and was in Washington in that branch of the service for some time. He then went to the officers' training camp at Atlanta (Camp Gordon) and was commissioned second lieutenant of infantry. He is still in the United States Reserve.
Mr. Dennis is a prominent Mason, belonging to Palestine Lodge, A. F. & A. M .; Palestine Chapter, R. A. M .; and Detroit Commandery No. 1, K. T., of which he was eminent commander from April, 1919, until April, 1920. He belongs to the Detroit Athletic Club, the Detroit Golf Club, the Detroit Auto Club, the Ingleside Club, the Grosse Ile Country Club and Detroit Board of Commerce. His popularity in club circles arises from the same marked characteristics that have made him a dynamic force in the business world.
GEORGE JOHNSTON. For many years George Johnston occupied a commanding position in business circles in Detroit as the president of the Johnston Optical Company, manufacturing opticians. This, how- ever, was but one phase of his activity. He was closely associated with Masonry, was well known in the club. circles of the city and was a recognized sup- porter of many progressive plans and measures for the general good. In fact he did much to uphold the legal and moral status of Detroit and was honored
and esteemed wherever known and most of all where best known.
Mr. Johnston was born in Taylor, Cortland county, New York, August 20, 1851, his parents being the Rev. Isaac and Jane Louise (Camp) Johnston, both of whom were born in the year 1819. The father's birth occurred in the north of Ireland and he was only six months old when brought by his parents to the new world, the voyage being made on a sailing vessel. The family home was established near Rochester, New York, and there Isaac Johnston was reared, taking up the work of the ministry in early manhood and devoting many years to preaching the gospel in New York and in Michigan. His wife was a native of the Empire state and of Welsh lineage. It was in 1856 that Rev. Mr. Johnston removed with his family to Hudson, Lenawee county, Michigan, where he filled the pastorate of the Methodist church, and later he preached at various points in the state, including De- troit. He departed this life in Chicago in 1893, and his wife was called to her final rest in 1899. Their family numbered five children, four of whom reached adult age.
George Johnston was but five years of age when the family home was established in Michigan and he soon entered the public schools of this state, continuing his education at various points, as his father's min- isterial duties called him from place to place in accord- ance with the itinerant custom of the Methodist ministry at that time. After leaving the public schools George Johnston became a student in Adrian College at Adrian, Michigan, and later started out in the business world, securing a position as a com- mercial traveler with the Black Optical Goods house of Detroit. He thus gained a knowledge of the busi- ness which was destined to occupy his entire time and attention in later years. In fact his interest therein led him in 1876 to establish the business that is now carried on under the name of the Johnston Optical Company, of which he became the sole owner. After conducting the business for twelve years it was found necessary to secure more commodious quar- ters and as time passed the patronage of the house steadily grew. Mr. Johnston purchased the north- west corner of Washington boulevard and State street, thereon erecting a four-story building, giving them thirteen thousand five hundred square feet of floor space. A contemporary biographer, speaking of Mr. Johnston's activities in this connection while he was still an active factor in the world's work, said in part: "Mr. Johnston, early in his career, realized that the optical business should be treated as a profession and not as a commodity of business, and for the pur- pose of carrying out this thought the company for several years published a monthly paper called the Eye Echo and afterwards the Eye Light, giving a series of articles on eye study. It was indeed the pioneer publication in this country on advanced work in the optical profession, and one of its most im-
GEORGE JOHNSTON
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portant results was that it led the trade papers to recognize the existence of such a field, and now the majority of these publications carry a department devoted to optics. Mr. Johnston was likewise cog- nizant of the fact that with advanced education along this line there would result a higher standard of pro- ficiency in the mechanical department of the business. He spared neither time nor money to make the pre- scription department absolutely reliable. The John- ston Optical Company has every known appliance and facility which contributes to making this department successful. It has placed on the market many useful and valuable devices of its own invention, for which it holds letters of patent, and which have resulted in making the name famous throughout this country and Europe. Not the least item of the company's manufactured output is its very complete line of trial cases, all of which are made up in its own fac- tory under the direct supervision of experts in this line, every case being thoroughly tested and inspected by the head of the department and guaranteed ab- solutely perfect in every particular. It not only manufactures a very large line of stock cases, but is prepared to make to order any special cases to meet the requirements of the trade. The latest of its many time-saving products to the optician is the ametropometer, which has filled a long-felt want for the busy optician, enabling him to diagnose any error of refraction and directing him to a speedy correc- tion. This instrument has had a phenomenal sale, the demand making it necessary for the company to double its floor space in that department of the fac- tory to accommodate the greatly increased trade. The company has in all departments a large and in- creasing trade which is handled by an efficient corps of expert workmer, all prescriptions being returned complete the same day as received. It is not to be gainsaid that the Johnston Optical Company is one of the finest equipped optical establishments in the country. It not only ships goods to every state and territory in the Union, but the sun never ceases to shine upon the goods manufactured by it, and its name is familiar with every nation that belts the globe." The record of the business development was continued throughout the life of Mr. Johnston, the business steadily growing as the years passed.
On the 20th of May, 1883, Mr. Johnston was mar- ried to Miss Carrie R. Hendrickson of Ann Arbor, Michigan, daughter of Samuel and Romelia (Spencer) Hendrickson. They became the parents of four child- ren, of whom Marguerite A., the only daughter, is now the wife of Alan Lyle Corey, a broker of New York, son of William E. Corey, former president of the United States Steel Corporation. They have two children, Carolyn Johnston and Alan Lyle, Jr. The eldest son, S. Hendrickson Johnston, was educated in the Detroit University school and Columbia Univer- sity and became his father's associate in business; George Oliver Prepared for Yale at Philips-Andover
Academy and was a student at Yale, class of 1919, when he enlisted in the navy, on April 10, 1917, becoming an ensign and serving on the Leviathan. He is now president of the Johnston Optical Company; and Foreman Spencer is a student at the Pomfret school, Pomfret, Connecticut. The social position of the family has long been one of prominence.
Fraternally Mr. Johnston was a Mason, attaining the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite in the Michigan Sovereign Consistory. Hsi political alle- giance was given to the republican party and public questions and interests were a matter of deep concern to him, although he did not seek nor desire political office. He belonged to the Detroit Athletic Club, De- troit Boat Club and to the Country Club, also to the Municipal League and to the Detroit Board of Com- merce. He held membership in the First Presbyterian church, in which he was an elder, and passed away in that faith on the 27th of March, 1920, at the age of sixty-eight years, his remains being interred in Woodlawn cemetery. His entire course had been such as to win the honor and respect of his fellowmen and the sterling worth of his character was recognized by all who knew him. He was a man of innate refine- ment, his careful home training in his youthful days bearing fruit in an honorable, upright life that has made his example well worthy of emulation, while his memory is enshrined in the hearts of all who knew him.
ROSS BROWN. A resident of Detroit for nearly sixty years, Ross Brown, the venerable and honored president of the Lindsay-Brown Insurance Company has the distinction of being the dean of the insurance business in the Michigan metropolis, where his active association with this important line of enterprise has been continuous since the year 1865. The record of his career offers both lesson and incentive, for he has wrought worthily and effectively and well merits the unqualified popular confidence and esteem which he enjoys in the community that has long been his home.
Ross Brown was born in one of the counties in northwestern Ireland and the date of his nativity was September 25, 1844. He was but one year old at the time of the death of his father, Rodger Brown, who was a farmer in his native land until the time of his death. His widow, whose maiden name was Mary Carter, came with her son Ross to the United States and was a resident of Detroit from July, 1865, until her death, which occurred when she was about seventy years of age.
The schools of his native land afforded Ross Brown his youthful education and there also he gained his initial business experience. In 1865, about the time he attained his legal majority, he severed the ties that bound him to his native land and with his mother set forth to seek his fortunes in the United States. On his arrival in Detroit he promptly sought a cleri-
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cal position, and the result was that he entered the employ of the insurance firm of Strong & Lindsay. He continued as an office man for this old firm until 1868, when Archibald G. Lindsay, the junior member of the firm, assumed control of the business by pur- chasing the interest of his partner, and later, ad- mitted Mr. Brown to partnership. The enterprise was successfully maintained until the death of Mr. Lindsay in 1904, when Mr. Brown, the surviving part- ner, effected a readjustment of the business, which has been carried forward under the title of the Lind- say-Brown Insurance Company, a corporation of which he has since been the president. His appreciation of and fealty to his former partner and old and valued friend, Mr. Lindsay, is signified in the retention of the latter's name in the corporate title. This im- portant ageney, the history of which has been con- tinuous for more than half a century, has long con- trolled a large and representative business in Detroit, as underwriters for many of the leading insurance corporations in the various lines, and Mr. Brown retains active supervision of the business, in which he is a recognized authority and of which he is one of the oldest continuous exponents in the state of Michigan.
Closely identified with Detroit business interests for many years, Mr. Brown has found pleasure in witnessing the marvelous industrial and commercial advancement of the city and is one of its loyal and public-spirited citizens. In polities he maintains an independent attitude, and in the time-honored Masonic fraternity he is a past master of Zion Lodge, No. 1, F. & A. M., and a member of Detroit Com- mandery, K. T.
In the year 1873 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Brown to Miss Jane E. Bowe, a representative of an old and well known Detroit family, and they have two children: Isabel L. is the wife of Richard Elliott, of New York; and Grace R. is the wife of Brady Brad- beer of this city, and the mother of two children, Barbara Jane and Isabella Ross.
EBER W. COTTRELL. Many tangible evidences may be eited concerning the public spirit, the busi- ness ability and the lofty patriotism of Eber W. Cot- trell. With many activities which have been of the greatest benefit to Detroit and the state at large his name is inseparably associated and it has always been a recognized fact that if the support of Mr. Cottrell could be secured for any project or measure that was planned, it would not be difficult to obtain a following therefor, because the public at large recognized the soundness of his judgment in all such matters and his marked devotion to the general wel- fare. From 1889 to 1913 he filled the position of land commissioner for the Detroit, Mackinaw & Mar- quette Railroad Company and since the latter year has been president of the Detroit, Mackinaw & Mar- quette Land Company, which succeeded the former
company. Mr. Cottrell was born in Cottrellville town- ship, St. Clair county, Michigan, February 17, 1841, and is a representative of one of the oldest families of this section of the state. The ancestral line is traced back through three generations to his great- grandfather, Henry Hoover, who was born in Sehe- nectady county, New York, about 1753. When he was only seven years of age he and a younger sister were captured by the Indians, who tomahawked and scalped five other members of the family, including an infant in the cradle. No tidings were ever afterward heard of the sister, but a few years later the captors of Henry Hoover took him to Montreal, where he was ransomed and adopted and educated by an English army officer named Cottrell, whose name was given to the boy. After attaining his majority he went to his native place, in 1774, in search of tidings of his family but found no trace of them and soon returned to Montreal. He made his way to Detroit in 1779 and here traded with the Indians along the river to the north. In 1781 he wedded Anne Curtis, a French lady, and they became the parents of nine children, the eldest of whom, George Cottrell, lived and died on the banks of the St. Clair river. He had a family of thirteen children, the eldest being George H. Cot- trell, who was a very popular and well known pioneer lake captain. He was long identified with the Detroit, St. Clair river and Saginaw commercial and traveling interests and he had a very wide and favorable ac- quaintance in this section of the country. In May, 1838, at Buffalo, New York, he married Submit Ward, daughter of the Hon. Zael Ward, and to them were born five children.
Eber W. Cottrell, like his direct ancestors, was also the eldest in his father's family. He pursued his education at Newport (now Marine City) Academy and in early life became identified with navigation inter- ests on the Great Lakes and soon developed expert knowledge of the business. He also made several sea voyages and at other times was connected with navi- gation interests on the Mississippi and other rivers of the south. His life as a sailor brought him many thrilling experiences and his reminiscences of those days are most interesting. The years 1866 and 1867 were spent in touring the West Indies, including a six months' stay in Jamaica, and during that period he wrote a series of letters concerning the islands, that were published in the Detroit Tribune. With his return to his native state he took up farming and in time developed one of the finest stock farms in Mich- igan. He was also interested in the production of small fruit and owned a fine vineyard and fruit farm within two miles of Detroit. He became a prominent member of the State Horticultural Society and the State Agricultural Society and his writings upon agri- cultural and horticultural subjects have frequently appeared in leading journals of that character. In 1889 Mr. Cottrell was called to the position of land commissioner for the Detroit, Mackinaw & Marquette
EBER W. COTTRELL
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Railroad Company and acted in that capacity until 1913, since when he has been president of the sue- cessor organization. He is likewise the president of the Detroit & Marquette Land Company and a diree- tor of the Wabash Portland Cement Company and the Iron Silver Mining Company and is a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce.
Throughout his life Mr. Cottrell has been more or less closely associated with political interests and the recognition of his ability on the part of his fellowmen has led to his selection for many positions of public honor and trust. In his home locality he has served as justice of the peace, as supervisor and superin- tendent of schools for Greenfield township, as a member of the Detroit school board and also in other positions. He became a recognized leader in republican ranks and from 1882 until 1886 was a member of the repub- lican state central committee. President Grant ap- pointed him to the office of receiver of public moneys for the Detroit district of the United States land office, but the pressure of private business interests caused him to decline the appointment. In 1879 he was elected to represent the third district of Wayne county in the state legislature and made so creditable a record in that office that he was reelected by an increased majority for a second term. Upon his return home at the close of the first session he was tendered a publie reception and was presented with an elegant gold watch and chain by his constituents "for faith- ful and efficient services in the legislature." A most important work which he did as a member of the general assembly was the introduction of the bill that secured to Detroit the Grand boulevard which encircles the city. He was instrumental in promoting the pass- age of the bill and in obtaining the right of way for this boulevard, which he did without cost to the city, save at the terminals. The line of the boulevard now, with some change on the east side, is the same as laid out by Mr. Cottrell. In his public life Mr. Cottrell has come into close connection with prominent political leaders. He was a trusted friend of the late Senator Zach Chandler and also a close friend and adviser of Governor H. P. Baldwin during the period of his political activity. In 1879, while a member of the state legislature, a warm and lasting friendship grew up between him and Thomas W. Palmer, then state senator and later United States senator and United States minister to Spain. The most confidential relations have since existed between them and Mr. Cottrell was a most earnest supporter of Mr. Palmer in his efforts to secure the nomination for governor in 1882, while later he did everything in his power to promote Mr. Palmer's election to the United States senate. When this had been ac- complished he accompanied Senator and Mrs. Palmer upon an extended trip through Europe and while abroad they selected many of the valuable Percheron horses and Jersey cattle that for a long time formed the chief attractions of the celebrated Log Cabin
Stock Farm. Mr. Cottrell once more visited Europe in 1887 and also went to Africa and Asia, while upon his return he brought with him some very valuable stock. After Senator Palmer's retirement Mr. Cot- trell became identified with the political career of the late Senator James McMillan and until his death was the Senator's most intimate and confidential friend and supporter.
Much of the public work of Mr. Cottrell has been of a character from which he himself has derived no pecuniary benefits. His time and efforts, how- ever, have been most freely given for the benefit of his fellowmen and in the exercise of his offices and the discharge of his duties he has displayed the keenest sagacity and thorough understanding of the situation involved. In 1881, when forest fires de- vastated the northern part of the Lower Peninsula and more than two million dollars were contributed for the relief of the homeless and destitute people, the Michigan Fire Relief Commission was constituted to have charge of the distribution of this fund, with Governor Jerome as chairman. Mr. Cottrell was the general manager and confidential agent of the com- mission and upon him devolved the active work of distribution, aid and succor being thus given to three thousand families. His work was of a most prompt and efficient character and received high commen- dation.
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