USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. III > Part 69
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CHARLES KOTTING, a Detroit architect of highly developed powers, was born in Amsterdam, Holland, December 31, 1865, a son of Abraham and Christina Hendrika Gritters (Doublet) Kotting, who were also natives of Holland, where they spent their lives, the father being a dry goods merchant of Amsterdam. They had a family of twelve children, six of whom are living: Charles; Lieutenant Colonel Herman C. Kot- ting of the Holland army and a resident of Amster- dam; Christina Henrietta and Adriana Jacoba, both of Amsterdam; Christian, an attorney at Oosterblok- ken, Holland; and Hendrika Christina, also living in Amsterdam. C. L. J. was harbor master at Amsterdam, Holland, until his death in 1920.
In his boyhood days Charles Kotting attended the schools of his native country and later pursued studies in architecture and drawing under private tutors. He then followed his profession in Holland until the age of twenty-four years, on the expiration of which period he sought the opportunities of the new world and came to Detroit, entering the office of Mason & Rice, prominent architects of this city, with whom he con- tinued for thirteen years. He then entered into part- nership with A. W. Chittenden under the firm style of Chittenden & Kotting, a partnership that was maintained until 1916, since which time Mr. Kotting has practiced his profession alone. He is today one of the prominent architects of Detroit, having de- signed a number of the leading buildings of the city, including the clubhouse of the Detroit Boat Club, also of the Bloomfield Hills Country Club, the office building of the Detroit Stove Works, the plant of the Michigan Alkali Works, together with many fire sta- tions for the city of Detroit, many attractive resi- dences and about one hundred other structures in and around Detroit which stand as monuments to his skill and ability, displaying many beautiful designs. His high professional standing is indicated in the
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fact that he is one of the directors of the Michigan Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, so serving for the past two years, and he has also been the president of that organization and was its treas- urer for eight years. He likewise belongs to the Michigan Society of Architects.
On the 17th of June, 1890, Mr. Kotting was mar- ried to Miss Emma M. C. Runkle of Detroit, a daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. Philip Runkle. Their four chil- dren are: Henry Lester, who was born in Detroit in 1893; Marie, born in 1895; Helen, born in 1897; and Richard, born in 1906. The eldest, after attending the high school, continued his education in the Agricul- tural College at Lansing, Michigan, and is now a trusted employe of the Michigan Solvay Company of Detroit. He wedded Alma Honighausen and resides in Wyandotte; the elder daughter is a graduate of the Detroit high school and is now attending the Teachers College, Columbia University in New York city; Helen, who is a graduate of Smith College is now the wife of Walter Ballard Maurice; and Richard is a pupil in the Detroit schools.
Mr. Kotting is a member of the Dutch Reformed church. He belongs also to the Detroit Boat Club and to the Fellowcraft Athletic Club, while in politics he maintains an independent course. No regret has ever followed his determination to come to the new world. In this country he has found the opportunities which he sought and through the employment of his pro- fessional powers and skill he has contributed much to Detroit's upbuilding and improvement. He is today recognized as an architect of pronounced skill and ability, one whose designs combine in most at- tractive form utility, convenience and beauty.
BETHUNE DUFFIELD. The representatives of the Duffield family through various generations have been connected with what are termed the learned profes- sions, and have won distinction and honor whether as clergymen or members of the bar. Bethune Duffield, a member of the family in the sixth generation in America, has devoted his life to the practice of law, entering upon active connection with this profession in 1885. He was born in Detroit, November 28, 1861, a son of Divie Bethune and Mary Strong (Buell) Duffield. So long and actively has the family been connected with Michigan that its history forms an integral chapter in the annals of the state. Coming of French-Huguenot ancestry, religious persecution caused members of the family to seek refuge in Eng- land and later in Ireland, whence the founder of the family came to the new world. The name was orig- inally spelled Dovefield and DuField, while Dufell was the orthography of the patronymic used by the founder of the family in the new world, George Dufell, who was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland, in 1690, and came to America between 1725 and 1730, accompanied by his wife, Elizabeth, and their two sons. After residing for a time in Lancaster county,
Pennsylvania, they removed to Salisbury, that state, and George Dufell passed away in Pennsylvania in 1744. His third son was his namesake, George Duf- field (II), who was born at Piqua, Pennsylvania, October 7, 1732. He was educated at Newark, New Jersey, attended Princeton College, being graduated therefrom in 1752, and for some time was a tutor in Newark. He became a minister of the Presbyterian church in March, 1756, and was formally ordained a clergyman on the 25th of September, 1761. He joined the American forces in the Revolutionary war, becom- ing a chaplain with the rank of colonel, and he won the title of "fighting parson." So great was his influence over the troops with whom he was associated that British officers placed a bounty of fifty pounds on his head. He accompanied the army on its retreat through New Jersey and was one of the last to cross the bridge south of Trenton before it was destroyed by Washington in order to prevent the crossing of the English. Prior to the war for independence he had served as chaplain of the provincial congress. When hostilities with the mother country had ceased he was active in reorganizing the Presbyterian church and remained one of the forceful representatives of its ministry until his death, which occurred in Phil- adelphia, February 2, 1790. He was twice married, his first wife being Elizabeth Blair, who died in 1757. In 1759 he married Margaret Armstrong, daughter of James Armstrong, a noted Indian fighter of the fron- tier and father of General John Armstrong of Revolu- tionary war fame, who served with the rank of major general in the Continental army, and in 1778-79 was a member of congress from Pennsylvania. There were four children born of the second marriage of George Duffield, the third of these being George Duffield (III), who was born in Philadelphia on the 28th of July, 1767. He was engaged in merchandising for a num- ber of years in his native city and was one of its prominent and influential residents. He served for nine years as state comptroller general of Pennsyl- vania and he was a devoted member and elder of the Presbyterian church. He married Faithful Slaymaker, daughter of Judge Henry Slaymaker and a descendant of Matthias Slaymaker, who came to America in 1710 and settled on a tract of one thousand acres of land in Pennsylvania. The Slaymaker family was also well represented in the Continental forces in the Revolu- tionary war. George and Faithful (Slaymaker) Duf- field had a family of two sons and two daughters.
The eldest of these, George Duffield (IV), was born at Strasburg, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1794, and was educated in the University of Penn- sylvania, where he completed a course by graduation at the early age of sixteen years. He then entered the theological seminary of the Reformed Presbyterian church in New York city and in 1815 was licensed to preach. He filled his first pastorate at Carlisle, Penn- sylvania, for nineteen years and was afterward pastor of a church in Philadelphia for two years, at the
Миthene Dufield .
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end of which time he accepted a call from the Broad- way Tabernacle of New York city, there remaining until 1837, when he entered upon the work of the First Presbyterian church in Detroit. Here he remained for thirty years, or until his demise, which occurred June 24, 1868, and perhaps the labors of no other one man have contributed more to the moral stability and progress of Detroit than did the work of Dr. George Duffield, upon whom had been conferred the Doctor of Divinity degree.
On the 11th of September, 1817, Dr. George Duffield was united in marriage to Miss Isabella Graham Bethune, a daughter of Divie and Joanna (Graham) Bethune. Her father was born at Dingwald, Rosshire, Scotland, in 1771, and in young manhood crossed the Atlantic, becoming a successful merchant of New York city. Dr. and Mrs. George Duffield had a family of five sons and one daughter. The work of the church was continued through the efforts of their eldest son, George (V), who became a distinguished preacher of the Presbyterian faith and the author of the hymn "Stand up, stand up for Jesus."
The second son was Divie Bethune Duffield, who for many years figured as an eminent representative of the Detroit bar. He wedded Mary Strong Bnell and passed away on the 12th of March, 1891. He studied in the preparatory department of Dickinson College and when but twelve years of age was eligible for admission to the collegiate department, save that the rules of the college forbade matriculation therein until the individual reached the age of fourteen. In 1835 his parents removed to Philadelphia, where he studied in Livingston College and after his graduation entered Yale as a member of the class of 1840. A lover of literature and the languages, he displayed re- markable proficiency along those lines and became well known as a writer of verse and prose. His knowl- edge of French, German, Latin, Greek and the Hebrew language and his familiarity with the best writings of ancient and modern authors marked him as a man of most scholarly attainments. In 1839 he joined his parents in Detroit, his father having two years before become pastor of the First Presbyterian church of this city. Soon afterward D. Bethune Duffield began reading law under the direction of Bates & Talbot, prominent attorneys, and in 1841 he entered Yale as a law student and also prosecuted his academic studies, winning the degrees of both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws before attaining his majority. He spent much of the succeeding year as a student in the Union Theological Seminary of New York, but ill health forced the abandonment of his studies. Return- ing to Detroit, he was admitted to the bar in 1843 and thereafter remained an active, prominent and honored practitioner in the courts of this state. He enjoyed marked prestige in his chosen calling, with which he was connected to the time of his death in 1891, and for several years he was the senior partner in the firm of Duffield & Duffield, his associate being bis
son and namesake. In 1847 he was elected city attorney of Detroit and he served as commissioner of the United States court for many years. In 1847 he also became a member of the Detroit board of edu- cation and did most effective work for the public school system, serving for several years as president of the board prior to his retirement in 1860. He has been designated the father of the high school system of this city. He was also a stalwart champion of the public library and in 1855 one of the public schools of Detroit was named in his honor. He long served as an officer in the First Presbyterian church and he was one of the founders of Harper Hospital, acting for several years as secretary of its board of trustees. He was likewise prominent in the Young Men's Society of Detroit, a leading social and literary organization, of which he was president in 1850. His political allegiance was given to the whig party until its dissolution, when he joined the ranks of the new re- publican party, being an uncompromising abolitionist and exercising a wide influence as a writer and public speaker in the promotion of the cause and the up- holding of the Union. He was married June 25, 1854, to Miss Mary Strong Buell, a native of Rochester, New York, who passed away February 27, 1898, sur- vived by two sons: Dr. George Duffield, an able physi- cian of Detroit; and Bethune of this review.
The latter was born in Detroit, November 28, 1861, and following his graduation from the Michigan Mili- tary Academy with the class of 1879 he entered the University of Michigan, where he pursued his more specifically classical course, winning the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1883. He determined to make his life work the profession to which his father was devoting his energies and his pronounced ability, and after care- ful preparation for the bar Bethune Duffield was ad- mitted to practice and took up active professional duties in Detroit in 1885, joining his father in the organization of the law firm of Duffield & Duffield, which maintained successful existence until the death of the senior member in 1891. Since that time Bethune Duffield has practiced alone and has fully maintained the reputation of the family for marked intellectual force, adaptability and efficiency. The thoroughness with which he has always prepared his cases has been one of the strong elements in his continued success. Possessing comprehensive knowl- edge of the principles of jurisprudence, he is seldom at fault in the application of such principles to the points in litigation. He likewise has important com- mercial and financial interests as a director of the Wabash-Portland Cement Company, a director of the Dime Savings Bank, as the secretary-treasurer of the Forest Heights Realty Company, as a director of the Woodlawn Cemetery Association and trustee of the Elmwood Cemetery Association.
On the 28th of October, 1885, Mr. Duffield was mar- ried in Detroit to Miss Eliza Steele Muir and they have become parents of four children: Muir B., of
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Detroit, who married Miss Ruth McChesney of Everett, Washington, and has two children, John and Virginia Muir; Mary B., the wife of Richard G. Neighbors and the mother of three children, Richard Graham, Elise Muir and Anne Fletcher; George, who is a law student the University of Michigan; and Marcus B., who is a senior of the Central high school.
Mr. Duffield is an elder in the First Presbyterian church, thus holding to the religious faith of his an- cestors, and his political allegiance is given to the republican party. He is also connected with the Delta Kappa Epsilon, was a member of the Michigan State Naval Brigade from 1894 until 1898, is a member of the Detroit, Country and Witenagemote Clubs and along strictly professional lines has connection with the Detroit and the Michigan State Bar Associations. He has been a member of the board of trustees of Harper Hospital since 1892. His course is in harmony with that of an honored and honorable ancestry, add- ing new luster to the name of Duffield, so prominently associated with the history of Detroit through many years.
OZIAS WILLIAMS SHIPMAN. In many ways Ozias Williams Shipman contributed to the upbuild- ing and advancement of Detroit and left the impress of his individuality and ability for good upon the his- tory of the city. He was a man of positive character, strong and determined in his purposes, and yet never domineering nor autocratic. Integrity was one of his marked traits and the straightforward course which he ever followed commanded for him the un- qualified confidence and respect of his fellowmen.
New York claims Ozias W. Shipman as a native son, his birth having occurred in Pierstown, Otsego county, January 29, 1834. He had therefore traveled life's journey for sixty-four years, when on the 28th of January, 1898, he passed away at his home in Detroit, 439 Cass avenue. His parents, Horace and Abigail Anne (Williams) Shipman, were representa- tives of old English families that were established on the American continent in early colonial days. Soon after the birth of their son, Ozias, Mr. and Mrs. Horace Shipman removed to Norwich, Chenango county, New York, where his father engaged in the milling business for a number of years and also en- gaged in the manufacture of lead pipe. Later the family home was established at Fort Plain, Mont- gomery county, New York, and there Ozias W. Ship- man had an opportunity to attend the Fort Plain Seminary. Up to this time his educational advan- tages had been quite limited, but he was ambitious to promote his knowledge, recognizing clearly the value and worth of intellectual training. The family resided at Fort Plain for four years and then took up their abode on a farm in Union township, Broome county, New York. A year later the father purchased a grist- mill, plaster mill and farm at Athens, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, but while most of the members of the
household went to the new home, Ozias W. Shipman and his elder brother remained to supervise the operation of the farm at Union. The two young men put forth their best efforts in this connection and through their ceaseless toil and endeavor met with unequivocal success. Two years later they joined the family at Athens, Pennsylvania, and there Mr. Ship- man lived until a short time before attaining his majority.
Starting out in the business world, however, he became associated with another young man in estab- lishing a grocery store at Waverly, New York. The undertaking prospered from the beginning and after a brief period Mr. Shipman purchased the interest of his partner and the business steadily developed to large and gratifying proportions, until for a number of years his annual sales amounted to more than one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. In the con- duct of his affairs he displayed initiative, enterprise, and marked executive ability, and by reason of these qualities his cooperation was sought in other con- nections.
When the employes of the Erie Railroad entered upon a long continued strike in 1870, Mr. Shipman's aid was asked in operating the line in opposition to the strikers. In this connection one of his biographers wrote, "His efforts in this direction were particularly valuable to the company but he aroused the ill will of the former railroad employes and some of the more lawless, in retaliation, set fire to his business block and it was completely destroyed. He immediately rebuilt, on a more extensive plan, one of the largest and finest business houses in Waverly, but in 1872 he sold out his business and went to New York city and in the interest of New York capitalists visited Utah to inspect a silver mine, in which, on favorable report being received, they proposed to invest a large sum of money. Mr. Shipman being convinced that the mine was absolutely worthless, so advised them and thus saved them from heavy losses."
The work that Mr. Shipman accomplished in con- nection with the railroad naturally brought him into prominence and as a number of the men in whose behalf he had made the trip to Utah were at the time engaged in building a railroad from Newark, Ohio, to the Shawnee coal fields, he became personally identified with the enterprise. He acquired a quarter interest in the stock of the Shawnee Coal Company, and following the completion of the railroad he had charge of the coal fields and of the shipment of the product to Shawnee, Ohio. He was thus actively en- gaged until 1880 and greatly promoted the produc- tivity of the mines through his careful management and well defined business plans, the mines turning out a hundred carloads of coal per day.
Mr. Shipman's connection with Detroit dated from 1874, in which year he established a coal agency in this city. This did not prove a profitable undertaking in the hands of a local representative, therefore the
OZIAS W. SHIPMAN
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following year Mr. Shipman took personal charge of the Detroit establishment and thereafter continued to make his home in Michigan. Here he further devoted his attention to the development of the rich coal deposits of the Mississippi Valley and as the years passed he worked his way steadily upward until he was at the head of the largest coal business in the state of Michigan, his annual sales attaining an ag- gregate of more than a million and a half dollars. This necessitated handling six hundred thousand tons of coal each year. He furnished several railroads and his trade extended throughout Michigan and a number of the western states and also into Canada. He was connected with the coal business in Detroit until his death and for several years prior thereto he was the owner and operator of a coal mine in Athens county, Ohio. His cooperation was sought in still other con- nections and when he passed away he was president of the Frontier Iron & Brass Company of Detroit and was also a stockholder in the Fire Proof Paint Com- pany of Chicago, and in the Commercial National and the American National Banks of Detroit.
On the 5th of June, 1856, Mr. Shipman was married to Miss Emily L. Comstock of Newark Valley, New York, who was born there, a daughter of Sanford and Mary Elizabeth (Fuller) Comstock. She passed away in Chicago, Illinois, March 9, 1895, survived by two of her three children, the first child a son, Arthur Williams, having died in infancy. The daughters are: Anne Evans, the wife of Frederic Beckwith Stevens of Detroit; and Marietta Celia, the wife of Henry Southard Lewis of Circleville, Ohio.
Mr. Shipman was a most zealous and earnest fol- lower of the Protestant Episcopal church, having long been a communicant of St. John's, in which he served as vestryman for a number of years. He was also prominent in Masonry, attaining the thirty-third de- gree of the Scottish Rite, an active member of the Supreme Council, thirty-third degree, and at the time of his death his brethern of the Michigan Sovereign Consistory said of him, "We, the surviving friends and fraters of Sovereign Grand Inspector O. W. Ship- man, thirty-third degree, unite in this expression of our admiration for him, in presenting ou the occasion of his decease this floral tribute-fit emblem of a beau- tiful life, fragrant with memories of real benevolence that fell upon the objects of his regard, as pure and silent as the beams of the morning upon an awakening world." In his political views Mr. Shipman was a republican, giving stalwart support to the party for many years and doing everything in his power to promote its growth and success. He was a man whose position upon any vital question was never an equivo- cal one. He stood firmly for what he believed to be right and at the same time he was a man of broad human sympathy which was expressed in many tangi- ble ways for the benefit of others; while thoroughly unostentatious, he was constantly extending a helping hand where aid was needed and yet he never spoke
of his benefactions. The fact that he had had oppor- tunities to do good was to him sufficient reward. His life was ever directed along constructive lines. He was constantly building up something-business in- terests, the public welfare, or the interests of his fellowmen. To know him was to esteem and honor him and he could number his friends by the number of his acquaintances, and they were many.
GEORGE CUMMINGS OSTERHOUS, secretary of the Colonial Garment Company of Detroit, was born in Flint, Michigan, April 17, 1883, a son of John and Ida (Cummings) Osterhous. After obtaining a public school education he accepted the position of traveling salesman with Edson, Moore & Company, representing that firm from 1903 until 1908. In September of the latter year he became vice president and sales man- ager of the Detroit Garment Manufacturing Company, with which he continued until August, 1912, when he resigned to become secretary of the Colonial Garment Company, manufacturers of children's dresses. He has now occupied this position for eight years, con- tributing to the success of the enterprise through his administrative direction and executive control.
Mr. Osterhous belongs to the Fellowcraft Club, also to the Detroit Golf Club and finds both interest and diversion on the links. He belongs also to the Detroit Board of Commerce.
FRED C. BAZLEY, vice president of George A. Drake & Company, office outfitters of Detroit, was born in Devonshire, England, March 15, 1865, and is a son of John and Matilda (Harvey) Bazley, both of whom were also natives of England. The father was a thatcher and was well known in that connection throughout his native land. Many of the roofs which he constructed are still in use there. It was while engaged in his work that he met his death. He was ascending a ladder with a bundle of thatch on his back when the ladder broke and he fell on the hard cobblestones, being instantly killed. His wife after- ward came to America with her children and estab- lished a home in Detroit, where she reared an inter- esting family and continued to reside until called to her final rest in 1916, when eighty-four years of age. They were the parents of nineteen children, most of whom, however, died in infancy. Six of the family are living, these being: Edward, William, Arthur H., Mrs. Nellie Cooper, Fred C. and Mrs. W. H. Neeb.
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