USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. III > Part 67
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DAVID WHITNEY, JR.
Vol. III-37
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being conducted along constantly growing lines until he ranked with Michigan's millionaires. While becom- ing one of the leading lumber operators of the west Mr. Whitney also had large connections with lake-marine transportation, becoming the owner of an extensive fleet of steam barges and consorts, utilized principally in the lumber trade but also in the shipment of iron ore from Lake Superior ports to manufacturing and distributing centers on the lower lakes. He made ex- tensive investments in valuable timber tracts, of which he remained owner to the time of his death, and he likewise became the owner af a large amount of real estate in Detroit. He was likewise a stockholder and director in many banking institutions and in many industrial corporations and was the owner of manufacturing plants in connection with the lumber industry. Through his investments in Detroit real estate he did much for the development and im- provement of the city.
Politically Mr. Whitney was a stalwart republican, unswerving in his allegiance to the party, and he was always a loyal and devoted member of the Presby- terian church. A contemporary writer has said of him: "His nature was strong and true, with perhaps a touch of austerity; he knew men at their real value and had no toleration of deceit or meanness in any of the relations of life. He did not come so largely to the attention of the public eye as did many of his contemporaries who accomplished less and who did less for the world, but he felt the responsibilities which wealth and success impose and ever endeavored to live up to those responsibilities, in the straightfor- ward, undemonstrative way characteristic of the man. His name merits an enduring place on the roster of the honored and valued citizens of the state of Michigan." Another writer said: "He coveted success but scorned to attain it except through industry and honest means. He acquired wealth without fraud or deceit, and the results of his life are full of inspiration to the rising generation." These significant words were written at the time of his death, which occurred on the 28th of November, 1900.
MURRAY S. PATERSON. To visit the Paterson Floral Shop, at 9128 Woodward avenue, is to be im- pressed with the attractiveness and admirable service of one of the leading establishments of this kind in the Michigan metropolis, and in the upbuilding of the prosperous enterprise, Murray S. Paterson has gained representative patronage by reason of the fact that he has spared no expense nor effort in supplying his customers with the best types of flowers and has availed himself of the best of productive facilities. He bnys from nurseries and greenhouses that special- ize in the development of superior flowers, and his discrimination is such that he offers to patrons no products that do not measure up to his own high standards.
Murray S. Paterson was born in Detroit, on the
25th of January, 1882, and is a son of Alexander and Georgiana Paterson, the only other child being Edith, who is now the wife of Frederick B. Kitch of De- troit. The excellent public schools of Detroit afforded Mr. Paterson his early education and after leaving school he was for ten years employed in the engineer- ing department of the Canadian Bridge Company, at Windsor, Ontario. In 1907 he engaged in the floral business, at 275 Woodward avenne, and here main- tained his headquarters until 1913, when he removed to his present location, where his business has shown a consecutive and gratifying expansion in the inter- vening period. He is an active member of the Detroit Floral Association, the Fine Arts Society, the Detroit Golf Club and the Detroit Automobile Club. His po- litical allegiance is given to the republican party.
On Angust 3, 1911, occurred the marriage of Mr. Paterson to Miss Winifred T. Foote, who was born in Scotland. They have one child, Margaret.
GRANT W. HATCHER, a real estate man of De- troit, was born in Gert, Michigan, December 17, 1892, his parents being Robert and Rosina (Halme) Hatcher, who are natives of Toledo, Ohio, but in early life became residents of Michigan. In this state the father engaged in farming, meeting with success as the years passed until at length he was able to retire with a comfortable fortune and now resides at Ann Arbor. His wife is also living. Their family numbered three children: Dr. Robert, Jr., a dentist of Detroit; Harry E., who is professor of science in the Highland Park high school of Detroit; and Grant W.
The last named attended the public schools of his native town, completing a high school course there, and afterward became a student in the Normal Col- lege at Ypsilanti, Michigan. For a year he taught in a district school and then entered the University of Michigan as a medical student, thinking to become a member of the medical profession. After studying for a year and a half at Ann Arbor his health be- came impaired, obliging him to give up his course. He then came to Detroit and entered the real estate business on his own account, since which time he has handled subdivision properties, including the Macomb Gardens, Grosse Pointe, Lakeside, Fair Gardens and other attractive subdivisions of the city. He is widely known because of his activity in real estate circles and his knowledge of the property upon the market and its valuation enables him to speak with authority upon many questions connected with the real estate market.
On the 30th of September, 1917, Mr. Hatcher was married to Miss Annabelle Radtke of Detroit, daughter of Gustave Radtke, and they have one child, Douglas, who was born in Detroit, September 11, 1918. Frat- ernally Mr. Hatcher is connected with the Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows. He has never sought to figure prominently in club circles nor in public life, preferring the concentrate his energies upon business
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affairs, which have been developed along substantial lines, leading to an orderly progression that has brought him to an enviable place in the real estate ranks in Detroit.
JOHN HARVEY. In a classification of the busi- ness men of Detroit who have contributed to her com- mercial development, John Harvey would be mentioned as a retail druggist; but this would be to give only one phase of his life. While he won notable success in his chosen field of labor, he regarded his prosperity but as a talent entrusted to him and he made such wise and generous use of it as to well merit the Mas- ter's plaudit: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." All through his life he was intensely interested in the education and moral development of the young and his efforts resulted ultimately in the founding of the Detroit Industrial Sunday School. He was constantly extending a helping hand where aid was needed, not only in a material way but as a stimulus for intellectual and moral development. A modern philosopher has said: "Not the good that comes to us, but the good that comes to the world through us, is the measure of our success." Judged by this standard, John Harvey was a notably suc- cessful man.
He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, November 19, 1840, and passed away in Detroit, December 6, 1905. His parents were Andrew and Janet (Gould) Harvey. The father was the son of a Scotch clergyman and was born at the manse at Mearns, near Glasgow, in 1812. He became an engineer and about 1850 sailed for America, passing away in Detroit, May 22, 1875. He was left fatherless when very young, having a brother, James, who was for many years a resident of Edinburgh, and a sister, Mary, who became the wife of Dr. Joseph Bell, a surgeon of the University of Glasgow.
Andrew Harvey was educated in Campbellton, Scot- land, and in early manhood wedded Janet Gould of Glasgow, daughter of John and Eliza (Begg) Gould, representing a well-to-do and well known family of that city. One of the brothers of John Gould was a prosperous carpet manufacturer of Glasgow, estab- lishing a business to which his sons succeeded. An only sister and two of the sons live in the old home, Glenlyan, Mount Vernon, near Glasgow, one being still in the carpet business with his nephew and the other son a banker, Marshall Gould, the third brother of Janet (Gould) Harvey, was for about fifty years a minister of the United Presbyterian church iu Dum- fries. His wife, Helen Crawford, was the daughter of a carpet manufacturer of Glasgow, a woman of rare digntiy, character and attainments. Of their children one son was a minister in Glasgow and one in Morn- ingside church, Edinburgh. The latter was at one time minister of the largest Presbyterian church in England. Dr. John G. Paton, the great Scotch mis- eionary, was at one period a regular attendant at
Dr. Gould's church, walking several miles to service. The other brother, William Gould, assisted Dr. Paton in his mission work about the Wynds of Glasgow before going out to the New Hebrides. One daughter of the Rev. Dr. Gould married Rev. Robert Gray of Edinburgh, and another became the wife of Professor McNab of the department of natural history of Trinity College, Dublin, whose textbooks are widely known and valued in American colleges and universities. An unmarried daughter is noted for her work in church and benevolent circles. The Rev. James Gould of Edinburgh is a man of rare power and endowments and has refused the proffer of a pulpit from two of the largest Presbyterian churches in the United States.
It was following his marriage to Janet Gould that Andrew Harvey came to New York as inspector of the boilers of the Cunard Steamship Line. He after- ward removed to Dunkirk, New York, where he re- mained but a short time and then settled in Detroit. To him and his wife were born four sons and a daughter. The eldest, Dr. William Harvey, now de- ceased, was for many years a missionary in foreign lands and his widow now lives at Cairo, Egypt, with a daughter at Heliopolis, while another daughter of Dr. William Harvey was the wife of Dr. George L. Robinson of the McCormick Theological Seminary of Chicago. The second son of Andrew Harvey was named for his father and was the head of the large manufacturing concern of A. Harvey Sons Manufac- turing Company until his death in 1912. The third son, James, is now the president of that business.
The second son of the family was John Harvey, whose career presents the unusual phenomenon of the commingling of two great strains of averstract in- fluence. Following his father, he early displayed a scientific bent, but he began early also to develop that strong religious sentiment which had moulded the life of his grandfather and has indeed swayed the family for generations. As a youth he took full college courses in chemistry and pharmacy under the direction of professors in the University of Michigan, although he did not enter for his final examinations. Turning at once to the practical side of his career, after some preliminary experience under Dr. Spence, he opened a drug store at the corner of Woodward and Grand River avenues when he was but twenty- two years of age. There he remained for nearly thirty years, his place becoming one of the landmarks of the city in his line of business. In 1893 he secured larger quarters at the corner of Woodward avenue and High street, there remaining to the time of his death. From the beginning of his business career he achieved marked success but was content all his life to continue in the retail trade. One reason for this was that he soon found an all-engrossing sphere of interest in his church and the mission work con- nected therewith. His private character is summed up in the words of one of his coworkers, who says: "John Harvey was a very quiet, unostentatious man,
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JOHN HARVEY
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but he was a devout Christian and in a quiet but forceful way was a great power in the lives of many people, especially among the young." There are numbers of such men in every large community who are scarcely known beyond the borders of their own circle of acquaintances, yet whose genuine power for good cannot be overpraised, nor indeed in some cases even fully estimated.
John Harvey was a well known business man of Detroit for fifty years, yet it may be questioned if his actual power for good in his personal relations with mankind will ever be fully known. Of good old Presbyterian stock, he early united himself with the Fort Street Presbyterian church, of which for many years he was deacon and elder and active in both its religious and secular affairs. But his chief joy in church work lay in the Mission Sunday school of the Detroit Industrial School, of which for thirty- eight years he was the superintendent. This school was established in 1857 by a number of ladies of the various Protestant churches as an industrial school for destitute children, to be modeled after similar schools that had been opened in New York city, the original of which was the Five Points House of Industry in Mulberry Bend. For many years, because of the ab- solute poverty of the children that were gathered in, it was known as the "Ragged School." Beginning with sixteen pupils, the number was increased to ninety-nine in four weeks. A year later the school was housed in a building that had been remodeled for its especial uses. There for many years a hot dinner was served every day to hungry children; and there the little ones were clad in garments that were clean and warm, and were taught a verse of scripture daily and instructed in the duties and decencies of life. The school did a noble part in caring for the children of the men who were fighting for the Union in the war of the rebellion. The records for 1865 show that most of the whole number cared for that year were the children of soldiers who were absent fighting or had been killed in battle. The splendid culmination of this noble enterprise is the present model new building at the corner of Fourth and Porter streets, of which the corner stone was laid on the 27th of February, 1913, by the widow of John Harvey, whose mother was one of the charter members of the Industrial school and who herself had served on the board of the Association for over half a century. This act may be looked upon as a kind of climax to her husband's life work. The very soul of this undertaking during most of its years was the Sabbath school which was organized in 1864. John Harvey, who was its super- intendent for thirty-eight years, gave himself np to his task with what has been characterized by one of his contemporaries as "rare consecration." He gave not only of his time and work but of his means as well. When he died in 1905, the session of the Fort Street Presbyterian church in its printed memorial
said: "In our own and other Sunday schools he labored for more than twoscore years; through these and the Industrial School he wrought a monnment in the lofty esteem and generous affection in which he is held in the hearts of hundreds in our city." The memorial also bears eloqnent testimony to "his char- acter as a Christian, the rare consistency of his pro- fession and practice, his zeal for God's house, his love for it and all its agencies for good, the lofty ideal he had of his office, his jealousy for its honor and faithfulness in its duties." Of his work at the Industrial School one of his coworkers who was asso- ciated with him for over twenty-five years said: "Many of the grown-up men and women of our great and busy city can trace the foundation of their Chris- tian character to the faithful instructions of that school." The Great Lakes Presbyterian, one of the leading organs of that church, in writing of him says: "If the same high ideals that controlled Mr. John Harvey in his splendid work shall form the standard of achievement, the coming generations who pass through the Industrial School will have rare oppor- tunities for making the best of their lives."
On the 2d of April, 1867, in Detroit, Mr. Harvey was married to Jessie Garnock Campbell, the daughter of Colin Campbell, a leading dry goods merchant of Detroit. As in the family of John Harvey, there were deeply religious influences prominent among his wife's people. Her father, Colin Campbell, was designed for the ministry and, being left fatherless at the age of four, his education was undertaken by his maternal uncle, Rev. Henry Garnock, who was born in the beautiful and storied town of Dumblane in Perthshire. Educated at St. Andrews', he was made the first minister at the Holywood Parish church in the Canongate, Edinburgh. He died suddenly on a trip by stage coach to London and lies buried in the Canon- gate Parish churchyard. His portrait adorns the church, along with that of Horatius Bonar, one of the great Scotch divines, and Adam Smith, author of "The Wealth of Nations." Colin Campbell prepar- ing for the ministry was thus thrown back upon his mother, who had but a small competence and two daughters to rear. He found a chance for a livelihood with a grocer in St. George's Square, still one of the best business centers of Glasgow. At twenty he lost his mother, whose memory he never ceased to revere and whose sterling character became the guiding star of his life. She was the inspiration, even to his last days, of a lofty ideal of personal character, which not only made his life one of truth and honor but rendered him unselfish, hospitable and generous to a fault. Ten years after her death he married Caro- line Linn, a young woman of unusual parts. The young couple, away in their humble Scottish home, heard the call of the great American west-
"The glorious land of room enough, beyond the ocean bars.
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Where the air is full of sunshine, and the flag is full of stars,"
and so with their infant son, they came to America. It is almost needless to say that the Campbells be- longed to the great and powerful Argyle family, but so sturdily independent was Colin Campbell that he did not even bring his family tree to America, be- lieving with Robert Burns that
"The rank is but the guinea's stamp A man's the gowd for a' that."
It was the first intention of Colin Campbell and his wife to try the free life of the plains and buy a ranch, for which purpose the family started west in 1840 and they concluded to settle in Detroit. Here Colin Campbell opened one of the pioneer stores and became a leading dry goods merchant. Both he and his wife were identified with many Christian and benevolent enterprises. Mrs. Campbell was among the first to be connected with the Protestant Orphan Asylum and was a charter member of the Home for the Friendless and the Industrial School Association. Her daughter, Mrs. Harvey, was early in her youth identified with both of these organizations but chiefly on account of its very large and important Sunday school gave her best efforts to the Industrial school, of which she was the recording secretary and the cor- responding secretary for many years and the president for four years.
By the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. John Harvey there were born six children: Caroline Campbell, who is a teacher in the Eastern high school; Jessie Gould; Dr. John Gould Harvey, who is now practicing in Detroit after serving in a professional capacity with the National Naval Volunteers; Amelia, who is the wife of David J. Law; Alice, the wife of Dr. Neil Bentley; and Campbell, who is a graduate of the medical department of the University of Michigan, and is engaged in practice at Ann Arbor, and assisting in the university and hospital.
Outside of his prosperous business and his beloved church and mission work, the chief delight of Mr. Harvey was in travel. He thus saw nearly all of our country including California, made three trips to Europe, and to Syria and Palestine. In 1896 his wife accompanied him on a tour especially arranged for her, which included the largest part of Europe and the Holy Land. He made the Holy Land his own so much as to become a living authority. His elder brother, William Harvey, D. D., was for more than forty years a missionary in Egypt, where he twice visited him. He traveled extensively in Egypt and in Syria, where he made the long and memorable trip on horseback from Baalbee and Damascus to the Sea of Galilee, and the coast cities of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jericho and many other places of interest. Taking the Holy Scriptures as his principal guide book, he became so expertly familiar with the Holy Land that when in later years his wife accompanied him, she
found even the guides glad to refer to him as an exact authority. As a natural corollary of this pro- found interest in Biblical scenes, he was very fond of ancient history and archæology and with comparatively little spare time had yet during his busy lifetime acquired much more than the average layman in these branches of knowledge. Withal his was a life quiet, little in the public eye, yet rich, full and far-reaching in good deeds and leading many to the great truths of Christianity. At the family home on Winder street, built thirty-four years ago, Mrs. Harvey still resides with her daughters, surrounded by the rarest of antique furnishings in harmonious juxtaposition with the modern. She is herself a woman of deep religious thought and quiet dignity and an interesting conversationalist. She is appreciative of the beautiful and artistic in life and possessed of a most sympa- thetic nature, combined with that spirit of universal motherhood which has prompted her to do so import- ant and active a work in connection with the care and education of Detroit's needy children.
BYRON EUGENE HAMLIN. So great has been the development of the automobile industry in Detroit that the majority of people think of the city as prac- tically a factor in this line of trade alone, and yet there is scarcely a field of manufacturing which is not represented here, with trade interests reaching out to all sections of the country and to many parts of the world. Byron Eugene Hamlin has made for himself a place in the manufacturing circles of De- troit as the president and manager of the Horton-Cato Manufacturing Company, handling table condiments, and a carefully systematized business enterprise has brought to him substantial success as the years have gone by. He was born in Sterling, Pennsylvania, October 9, 1852, a son of William E. and Deborah Ann (Noble) Hamlin, the former a native of Connecticut, while the latter was born in Pennsylvania. Following his marriage the father engaged in merchandising, milling and in lumbering at Sterling, Pennsylvania, and in connection with his commercial and industrial interests he was postmaster of the town for forty years. Both he and his wife have passed away. Their family numbered three children, one of whom is de- ceased, while the surviving daughter is Mrs. O. J. Howe of Detroit.
Byron E. Hamlin, the youngest of the family, began his education in his native town and afterward at- tended the public and high schools of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while later he completed a commercial course in the Bryant & Stratton Business College of that city. In 1869, when seventeen years of age, he began working in his father's store and in connection with his lumber interests at Sterling, Pennsylvania. The association between them was maintained for some years, when the son purchased his father's in- terests in both the lumber and mercantile branches, continuing individually until 1890. During this period
BYRON E. HAMLIN
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he developed his business to extensive proportions, becoming the proprietor of three different stores in as many towns in Pennsylvania, while with various lumber mills in the eastern section of the state he was also identified. He purchased a large timber tract of four thousand acres near Ridgeway, Pennsyl- vania. In the operation of his lumber mills from 1882 until 1889 he was as successful as in his other fields of enterprise. Eventually he sold all of his eastern interests and removed to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he engaged in the farm loan business, remaining there for three years, or until 1892, when he came to Detroit and bought the Horton-Cato Manu- facturing Company, then a small, struggling concern engaged in the manufacture of table products. He entered upon active association with this business on the 1st of January, 1893. He introduced new and progressive methods and almost from the beginning the results of his labors were manifest in the increase of the trade, which has grown to extensive propor- tions. The business had been in existence for twenty years before Mr. Hamlin became connected therewith and the interests had been conducted in a small building a story and a half in height, with a frontage of twenty feet. The plans that Mr. Hamlin proposed and which were adopted, led to immediate results in the establishment of a stable and growing trade and later a removal was made to 41 and 43 First street and afterward to Atwater street, in order to meet the growing demands of the trade. In 1904 the present site was purchased, securing a frontage of two hundred and ten feet, and a five-story building was erected. In this the enterprise is now conducted and the products of the house are here manufactured, having a sale from coast to coast, their patrons being found in every state of the Union. The business was incorporated January 1, 1893, and Mr. Hamlin has since been president and manager. Today the opera- tions are carried on under the name of the Horton- Cato Manufacturing Company and the products are in favor in thonsands and thousands of households throughout the land. About 1894 Mr. Hamlin estab- lished a branch factory in Windsor, Canada, to sup- ply the demand for Horton-Cato products in that country. The growth of the Canadian business has been remarkable and the concern occupies a foremost position among the producers of table condiments across the border, where the Horton-Cato line has become a standard from coast to coast. Mr. Hamlin's activities in the industrial line in Detroit have not been confined to the Horton-Cato Manufacturing Com- pany. He purchased the Peninsular Emery Wheel Company from James McConville and for ten years was sole owner of that business, which he successfully conducted. In November, 1917, he disposed of it to Vietor G. Beebe of Columbus, Ohio, and it is now being carried on by the Beebe interests as the Penin- sular Grinding Wheel Company.
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