USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. III > Part 64
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Detroit owes its permanent exposition in large measure to Mr. Cottrell, who evolved the plan in the winter of 1888-89. He also had charge of the mass of detail incident to the development of this great undertaking. He laid out the ground, supervised the plans and the arrangement of buildings, machinery, approaches and docks. In his address at the opening of the exposition Senator McMillan, the president of the Association, said: "In all such enterprises there must be one man to take the lead, and that man was Eber W. Cottrell, who, believing that the time had arrived for Detroit to have a permanent exposition, induced others to join him, and to his untiring energy and large experience we are largely indebted not ouly for the exposition itself, but for the admirable ar- rangement both of the grounds and buildings." After two years' service as secretary of the Exposition Association, Mr. Cottrell resigned to accept the office of land commissioner for the Detroit, Mackinaw & Marquette Railroad Company. Another important public project with which he was prominently asso- ciated was that of preparing for the national Grand Army encampment held in Detroit in 1892, on which occasion he was chairman of the accommodations com- mittee and planned and successfully carried out the details of all the camps, the task being one of great magnitude. The next year he was appointed chief of the live stock department of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and the appointment was con- firmed by the commissioners, but business reasons caused him to decline to serve. He was manager
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of the street car interests of Detroit at the time of the electrification of the line on Jefferson avenue and there is no project of great moment and worth to the city that has not received his endorsement and support.
It was in 1868, after his return from the West Indies, that Mr. Cottrell was married to Miss Ellen Smith and removed to Greenfield, Wayne county, Michigan. They have one son, George William. In club and social eireles Mr. Cottrell is widely and pop- ularly known. He belongs to the Detroit Club, the Michigan Club, the Automobile Country Club, the Grosse Pointe Country Club, Rainbow Fishing Club, North Channel Fishing and Shooting Club, Caledon Mountain Club of Ontario, Duck Lake Club and Au Sable Trout Club, and also to the Rawang Club of Rawang, Malay, Asia, which country he visited in 1916-17. He is a prominent representative of the Masonie fraternity, having attained the Knights Templar degree and the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite, while with the Nobles of Moslem Temple of the Mystic Shrine he has crossed the sands of the desert. Time gives the perspective which places every individual in his true position and time will but heighten the fame and emphasize the good work of Eber W. Cottrell in connection with his contributions to the development and upbuilding of Detroit. The worth of his labors can scarcely be overestimated nor can they be correctly measured until the interests which he instituted have reached their full fruition in the life of the city. This will not be for years to come, as many interests with which he has been connected still remain as active forces in the life of Detroit.
CHARLES A. WARREN, one of the founders of the Dime Savings Bank and an official in that institution ever since its organization, is one of Detroit's well known citizens whose connection with the business and financial life of the city has extended through more than a half century. Mr. Warren is a New Englander by birth and a Detroiter by adoption, born April 26, 1846, in Stow, Massachusetts, a son of Francis Worland and Lucy Ann (Forbush) Warren, both of whom were natives of that town and descend- ants of old and prominent Massachusetts families. Francis Worland Warren was a Boston business man and came west to enter the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad Company at the time of its purchase from the state by private interests. Subsequently he was the agent at Buffalo, New York, for the Ward Line of steamers, which was operated in connection with the New York Central and Michigan Central Railroads, before there had been railroad connection established between these two cities.
Charles A. Warren received his early education in the common schools of his native town. He was a young man not yet nineteen when he came to De- troit on the 8th of January, 1865, and entered the
employ of the Michigan Central Railroad Company in a clerical capacity. This was the beginning of a connection with that company that extended through twenty-seven years, during more than twenty years of which period he was the city passenger aud ticket agent of that company in Detroit. In his railroad connection Mr. Warren became known as one of the most popular and efficient local passenger men in this section of the west. In the meantime he had be- come interested in the banking business, being one of the organizers of the Dime Savings Bank in May, 1884. He was elected a member of its first board of directors, a connection that he has since maintained. Mr. Warren resigned from his connection with the Michigan Central Railroad Company in 1891 to accept the position of cashier of the Dime Savings Bank, to which he was appointed on the 21st of September of that year. In August, 1910, he was elected vice pres- ident, continuing to hold both offices in the bank until December 1, 1919, when because of failing health he resigned as cashier and vice president, continuing, however, as a director. Through the more than thirty- six years of his connection with the Dime Savings Bank Mr. Warren has seen its number of employes increased from nine to over two hundred and fifty, its resources grow beyond the forty-million dollar mark and the institution take a foremost position among the strongest and most ably managed banks not only in Detroit but in this section of the west. This wonderful growth and development cannot help but reflect great eredit upon those officials who have been active in shaping the hank's policy and directing its course.
On the 19th of June, 1869, at Stow, Massachusetts, Mr. Warren was married to Miss Mary E. Whitney, a daughter of James F. Whitney. After a married life of more than fifty years Mrs. Warren passed away July 17, 1919.
In his political views Mr. Warren is a republican but has never sought nor desired office. Fraternally he is a prominent Mason and for over fifty years has taken an active part in Masonic work. He was made a Master Mason in June, 1868, in Detroit, and a Royal Arch Mason in May, 1869, while in December, 1869, he took the orders in Detroit Commandery, No. 1, Knights Templar, following which he served as commander in 1892, and served the Grand Command- ery of Michigan for six years as grand treasurer. He was elevated through the different offices of the Grand Commandery and elected grand commander of Michi- gan in 1907. On the 28th of January, 1904, he re- ceived the Scottish Rite degrees and in September, 1917, received the honorary thirty-third degree. He has been president of the Old Guard and is a member of the Board of Commerce, the Detroit Athletic Club, the New England Society and the Sons of the Ameri- can Revolution. In his religious affiliation he belongs to the First Congregational church and for twelve years was a member of its board of trustees. Mr.
CHARLES A. WARREN
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Warren's long identification with Detroit's business life brought him a wide acquaintance with the city's leading business men, among whom he is held in high esteem. Habits of trained industry, unquestioned honor and honesty, faithfulness to every duty and broadness of views, united with enough conservatism to prevent his taking undue risks, are the strongest traits in his character. Personally he is of quiet, retiring disposition, fond of his home, and when leisure from business permits turns to his garden for recrea- tion. Since September, 1881, Mr. Warren has resided at what is now 789 Cass avenue, in which section of the city he can almost be called a pioneer, as when he took up his residence there, his home, with the exception of two old structures some distance farther out, was the last one north on Cass avenue, while not a building had yet been erected on the north side Canfield street between Cass and Woodward. Changes of this character are but one of the many that more than fifty-five years' residence in Detroit have brought. Mr. Warren has seen the city grow from a population of fifty-five thousand to over one million and has witnessed as well the great trans- formation in all lines of business and industry which has placed this city among the first four of American municipalities.
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CAPTAIN CHARLES L. WILSON reached the ad- vanced age of eighty-three years and few men retain their vigor and their faculties unimpaired to such an extent as did he. In fact he remained active in the world's work until some time after he had passed the allotted promised span of threescore years and ten and notable vitality characterized him to within a few weeks of his demise. Captain Wilson came to America from Denmark. He was born in the city of Copenhagen, October 27, 1837, and his father was a well known civil engineer. The family numbered sixteen children, of whom Captain Wilson was the last survivor.
In the acquirement of his education Captain Wilson attended the public and high schools of his native land, but when he reached the age of fourteen he left Copenhagen and went to sea. For many years he sailed on salt water, at different times under four flags, visiting various ports in all parts of the globe. At length he came to the United States, landing in New York and for some time he sailed from that city. While in the marine service he traveled around the world, but at length took up his abode in Detroit and served for many years as master of vessels on the Great Lakes, being attached to the United States engineer office in Detroit. Following his retirement from navigation activities about a decade prior to his demise he continued for a time his connection with the United States engineer office in the capacity of inspector of river improvement work in the Living- stone channel and elsewhere. At length as he passed ou down the hill of life he gave up active business
and his last days were spent in honorable retirement, but he remained alert and vigorous until within five weeks of his demise.
It was on the 10th of December, 1868, that Mr. Wilson was united in marriage to Miss Mary Keal of Greenfield, Michigan, and they became the parents of a daughter: Leah V., who is now Mrs. Thomas M. Robson. Captain Wilson was a charter member of Palestine Lodge, F. & A. M., and he was a charter member of Detroit Lodge, No. 7, International Ship- masters' Association, of which he served as first president. His political allegiance was given to the republican party and while he never sought nor desired political preferment he always kept well in- formed on the questions and issues of the day. His death on May 20, 1920, marked the passing of one of the veteran navigators of the lakes, one who had a wide acquaintance in maritime circles and who was held in the highest esteem wherever he was known.
CHARLES F. TAYLOR. Among the popular and prominent young business men of Detroit who are native sons of the city is Charles F. Taylor, the pres- ident of the printing firm of Raynor & Taylor. He was born July 3, 1880, a son of John and Martha M. (Warriner) Taylor, the former a native of Fitzroy, Ontario, Canada, and the latter of Massachusetts. John Taylor's birth occurred on the 17th of July, 1847, and in his infancy he was brought to Detroit, so that practically his entire life was spent in this city. He early learned the printer's trade and be- came the founder of the firm of Raynor & Taylor, the business being established in 1876. With the incor- poration of the business he was elected president and so continued to the time of his death, which occurred in 1914. He was a Knights Templar, Consistory Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine and he belonged to the Fellowcraft Club. His wife, who was brought to Michigan in her early girlhood, died in Detroit in September, 1918. Their family numbered three sons and a daughter: Charles F .; Walter J. and Wilbur E., all of Detroit; and Edith, who is the wife of George Barrie, also of Detroit.
Charles F. Taylor obtained his early education in his native city and after leaving the Central high school of Detroit entered Michigan University but did not complete the full course there. He put aside his textbooks in order to engage in the printing busi- ness, entering his father's establishment at a wage of three dollars and a half per week. He worked his way upward through the various departments, earning his promotions, and at the time of his father's death he was the vice president of the company. Later he was elected to the presidency, which position he now fills. The company has one of the most modern and best equipped printing plants in the city of Detroit and the establishment is also one of the oldest of the kind in the city. They have a large force of employes and among their customers are many of the
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leading firms of Detroit, while a large outside patron- age is also aceorded them.
On the 28th of September, 1904, Mr. Taylor was married to Miss Dorothea E. Collinge, of Port Huron, daughter of James D. Collinge. They have two chil- dren: Charles F., who was born in Detroit in 1908; and Marjorie C., born in 1915.
Mr. and Mrs. Taylor are members of the Episcopal church and Mr. Taylor belongs to the Felloweraft Club. He has a wide acquaintance in his native city and his social qualities and sterling worth make for popularity among all who know him.
GEORGE HARRISON BARBOUR, chairman of the board of directors of the Michigan Stove Company, has for more than forty-eight years occupied a central place on the stage of business activity in Detroit. Arriving in this eity in July, 1872, he became identified with the Michigan Stove Company, which has long ranked with the leading productive industries of the city. Various other corporate interests have felt the stimulus of his cooperation and sound judgment and trade interests on the whole have been largely fur- thered and promoted by his executive force as head of prominent trade organizations.
Mr. Barbour was born in Collinsville, Hartford county, Connecticut, June 26, 1843, and traces his ancestry back to Thomas Barbour, who arrived in America in 1634, since which time the family has been associated with New England's development and growth. His father was Samuel Thompson Barbour and his mother was in her maindenhood Phoebe Beck- with. Samuel Thompson Barbour was for many years a general mereliant of Collinsville and there George H. was reared and educated, attending the public schools. He started upon his business career when a youth of sixteen, in partnership with his father, and eventually the firm became Goodman & Barbour, handling dry goods, groceries and other lines at Collinsville.
The opportunities of the growing west, however, attracted George H. Barbour to Detroit, where he arrived in July, 1872. Here he made investment in the Michigan Stove Company, which had been organized the previous year and of which he was elected the first secretary, occupying that position until 1886. He was then chosen first vice president and general manager and in 1919 Mr. Barbour became president, while later he was made chairman of the board of directors. The Michigan Stove Company, during the intervening period of nearly a half een- tury, has been developed into one of the most import- ant manufacturing concerns of the state and the largest of its kind in the world. Mr. Barbour has not only watched but has aided the growth of the institution, developing the plant to meet the demands of the trade and holding ever to the highest stand- ards in manufacture and in business methods. To speak of Mr. Barbour, however, only in connection with the Michigan Stove Company-although the
chief executive position of such an institution re- quires the closest concentration and marked initiative and executive ability-would be to present only one phase of a many-sided man. He has grasped and mastered problems in connection with many other business interests and aided in the establishment of some of the leading corporations of the state. In 1907 he organized the Michigan Copper & Brass Company, capitalized at six hundred thousand dollars, and re- mained in the presidency from the beginning until 1914, when other business demands made upon him caused him to resign. He is the president of the Ireland & Mathews Manufacturing Company, a direc- tor of the Peoples State Bank, vice president and a director of the Dime Savings Bank and a director of the Michigan Fire & Marine Insurance Company.
In his native town, in June, 1871, Mr. Barbour was united in marriage to Miss Katherine Hawley, a daughter of William H. and Susan A. Hawley of that place. Their children were four in number: Edwin S., treasurer of the Michigan Stove Company; George H., Jr., now deceased, who was general manager of the Michigan Copper & Brass Company; Grace, who married Joshua Rhodes and resided in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, now deceased; and Estelle, wife of Hobart C. Chatfield-Taylor, the author.
Mr. Barbour has been a patron and supporter of all of those interests which have tended to develop the welfare, promote the upbuilding and maintain the eivie standards of the city. At one time he was president of the Detroit Museum of Art and in 1893 he was made a member of the National Commission of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, while he served as chairman of the Michigan Com- mission at the Pan-American Exposition. He was very active in organizing the Detroit Exposition, an enterprise which he carried forward to successful completion, and he became the first president of the Detroit Board of Commerce, was likewise the first president of the Michigan Manufacturers Association and is active in the affairs of the National Associa- tion of Manufacturers, having been chairman of the legislative committee in 1902. In December, 1919, Mr. Barbour was appointed a member of the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. He belongs to the National Association of Stove Manufacturers, of which he was at one time president, and he is a familiar figure in the leading clubs of Detroit, belonging to the Detroit Club, of which he was formerly president, the Felloweraft Club, the Detroit Athletic Club and the Country Club. In polities Mr. Barbour is a conservative democrat and in 1887-88 he was a member of the board of alder- men of Detroit, serving as its president during his last term. He has been frequently urged to become a candidate for the mayoralty but has steadily de- clined, owing to the pressure of business interests. His breadth of view has not only seen possibilities for his own advancement but for the city's develop-
GEORGE H. BARBOUR
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ment, and his lofty patriotism has prompted him to utilize the latter as quickly and as effectively as the former.
FRED J. ROBINSON is the president of the Lowrie & Robinson Lumber Company, wholesale lumber dealers of Detroit, and his connection with this line of business dates back to his youth, when he became the assistant of his father in the conduct of a lumber trade. Fred J. Robinson was born in Detroit, Sep- tember 5, 1870, his parents being Thomas and Sarah (Wilkinson) Robinson, who removed to Buffalo, New York, when he was a lad of but five years, and in that city the father conducted a lumber-yard for a considerable period. In 1884, however, he left the east to become a resident of California and in that state his death soon afterward occurred.
Fred J. Robinson is indebted to the public school system of Buffalo, New York, for the educational opportunities which he enjoyed and which qualified him for life's practical and responsible duties. He was quite young when he entered upon his business career and in 1891, when twenty-one years of age, he returned to his native city and became an employe of W. A. C. Miller, a lumber dealer, who, recognizing his close application, his industry and loyalty to his employer, promoted him, thus giving him further op- portunity to acquaint himself with the trade and gain broader business experience. In the year 1904 Mr. Robinson became associated with Albert B. Lowrie in organizing the firm of Lowrie & Robinson. They purchased the business of Mr. Miller and also the lumber-yard of Edmond Wall and continued to carry on their interests under the firm style of Lowrie & Robinson until 1909, when the business was incor- porated as the Lowrie & Robinson Lumber Company, with Mr. Robinson as the president. Their patronage has enjoyed a wonderful growth, resulting from the able management of the officers of the company, which has long been considered one of the representative lumber interests of Detroit.
On the 10th of December, 1891, Mr. Robinson was united in marriage to Miss Nelly E. Hendricks, of Detroit, and they have become parents of three chil- dren: Ethel F., who was graduated from Bryn Mawr College; W. Dean, who was born March 22, 1898, and is a member of the class of 1920 in Yale University; and Edith, who is attending Miss Liggett's School for Girls.
Mr. Robinson is a member of the Detroit Club, the Detroit Athletic Club, the Country Club, the Loch- moor Club, the Detroit Fellowcraft Club and the Bloomfield Hills Country Club, and he is a director of the Dime Savings Bank of Detroit. During the period of the World war he acted as chief of the ordnance department of Michigan and was one of those one hundred per cent Americans who rendered valuable service through activity at home in support- ing the efforts of the khaki-clad boys overseas. In
polities he is a stanch republican, loyal to the party by reason of a firm belief in its principles as factors in good government. Of St. Paul's Episcopal church he is a communicant and his interest centers in all those activities which make for higher standards of living and advance community ideals. He is fond of outdoor life, is much interested in baseball and golf and also in motoring. He belongs to the more sub- stantial class of business men in Detroit and has come to the front steadily through his own efforts.
SAMUEL BELL COYL. Throughout his entire life Samuel Bell Coyl made excellent use of his time, his talents and his opportunities after starting out to provide for his own support when a youth of but fourteen years. He became recognized as one of the capitalists of Detroit and there is in his life history much of stimulating interest. He was numbered among Michigan's native sons, his birth having oc- curred at Birmingham on the 29th of December, 1833, being one of three children whose parents were William Kieft and Jane (Bell) Coyl. His brother, William, served as a major in the Civil war, having enlisted when but nineteen years of age, from the state of Iowa. He participated in many hotly con- tested battles and to him was assigned the duty by his superior officers to hang several spies in Louis- ville. He was commissioned marshal in Louisville and he afterward went to Europe in 1866. The steamer on which he had engaged passage for the return trip brought back his remains to the United States.
Samuel Bell Coyl was but two years of age when his parents removed from Birmingham to Detroit and here in the public schools he pursued his education, passing through consecutive grades until he reached the age of fourteen years, when he started out to provide for his own support, ambitious to make his way in the world. His father was proprietor of a hotel and also engaged in dealing in live stock, so that Samuel B. Coyl, when but fourteen years of age, took a load of hogs to Boston, for his father, sold them at a good profit and returned with the proceeds of the sale, transacting the business with ability worthy of a man of adult age. From that time forward he was active in connection with his father's business and before reaching man's estate was largely in charge of his father's entire interests. Not only did he manage important purchases and sales of live stock, but he also became well known as a grain buyer and was equally successful in that branch of the business. When but twenty years of age he entered the employ of the firm of Merrick & Fowler as their chief grain buyer, with headquarters at Pon- tiac, Michigan, and about a year later removed to Iowa, where he concentrated his efforts and attention upon the real estate business. After a brief period there passed he returned to Detroit, where he engaged in the grain and flour business on his own account, open- ing a store on Woodward avenue, where he remained
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for about five years. He enjoyed marvelous success in that undertaking and yet he was not quite satisfied with what he was achieving. He again went to Iowa for his father, who owned much land in that state, near Decorah. His idea was to develop a great farm to be worked by tenants and he engaged quite ex- tensively in raising grain. His affairs were wisely, carefully and profitably managed, but about this time the Civil war broke out, and as the Indians were causing much trouble in the vicinity of his father's farm, he notified his father of his intention of leaving the field and enlisted in the Sixth Iowa Cavalry, of which he became a first lieutenant. He saw much active service among the Indians during the war period, but his eyes became affected by the alkali dust and this obliged him to retire from the army. Nor was the result of his service over when he laid aside the uniform, for five years afterward, as the outcome of his experience on the alkali plains of the west, he went totally blind. In the meantime his carefully managed business affairs had brought him a very substantial capital and in later years he spent much of his time in Europe and in the south, ae- companied by his wife. He had previously been a great reader and he possessed a remarkable memory, so that what he read remained with him and his broad knowledge thus acquired was a source of much comfort to him in later years.
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