USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. III > Part 72
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endeavor he gained broad experience in ascertaining public opinion that has been of great value to him in later years in the conduct of public utilities. In 1881 he resumed connection with the civil engineering pro- fession and for thirteen years thereafter was actively engaged in railroad engineering work, representing the New Orleans & Pacific, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas and the Illinois Central Railroads.
Mr. Hutchins dates his residence in Detroit from I894 and throughout the intervening period has been identified with the street railway service of the city. He became one of the large stockholders and was elected to the vice presidency of the Citizens' Street Railway Company, and further extending his efforts in this connection, he became president of the Detroit, Fort Wayne & Belle Isle Railway Company and vice president of the Detroit Electric Railway Company, these three corporations then controlling the principal street railway properties and interests of Detroit. On entering upon these relations Mr. Hutchins, with his usual thoroughness and enthusiasm, began the sys- tematic study of everything that had to do with efficient service and improvement in street railway management and operation. His business career has been notable by reason of the readiness with which he has discriminated between the essential and the non-essential in all business affairs and his skill in separating the incidental circumstances from the more important features of a business. When the Detroit United Railway Company was formed by merging the various street railway lines of the city in 1901, Mr. Hutchins was elected vice president and in January, 1902, his splendid administrative ability and executive force were recognized in his election to the presi- dency of the company. No one has questioned his dis- tinctive public service in the control of this great public utility. He has secured for Detroit a street railway system in connection with which has been provided the best possible equipment and the best possible service and the city has every reason to be proud of her urban transportation facilities. He is now the chairman of the board of directors, in which connection the public is yet enjoying the benefits of his splendid business ability, his sagacity and his interest in the public welfare. He is likewise a direc- tor of the Peoples State Bank of Detroit, Union Trust Company and Great Lakes Engineering Works, also of Detroit.
In April, 1881, Mr. Hutchins was married to Miss Anna M. Brooks of Waco, Texas, who passed away in July, 1900. In June, 1903, he wedded Miss Sarah H. Russel, daughter of the late Dr. George B. Russel, who was an honored pioneer and prominent citizen of Detroit. Mrs. Hutchins is connected with the lead- ing social activities of Detroit and Mr. Hutchins is a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he has taken the Knights Templar and Scottish Rite degrees. He is also connected along professional lines with
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JERE C. HUTCHINS
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the American Society of Civil Engineers. His appre- ciation for the social amenities of life is shown in his connection with the Detroit, Country, Fellowcraft, Detroit Athletic, Yondotega, Old, Huron Mountain, Marquette, Fontinalis and Detroit Boat Clubs, and the Bankers Club of Detroit; also to the Metropolitan Club of New York, Bankers Club of New York and the Union Club of Cleveland. Throughout much of the period of his residence in Detroit he has been a valued member of the Board of Commerce and no appeal for cooperation in measures of public benefit fails to receive his support. On the other hand he has been active in promoting many plans and projects which have been of decided worth to the city and it would be difficult to find one whose private business interests are conducted with a more just regard for the public welfare than Jere C. Hutchins.
WILLIAM ROTHMAN. Technical skill and marked executive ability have been shown by William Roth- man in the development of his prosperous business as a contractor, in the installation of plumbing and elec- trical equipment, and he specializes in making such installations in private houses, in which connection he had the distinction of introducing in Detroit the sys- tem and policy of making provision for payment for the work on the installment plan. This innovation has been of great value to householders, whose appre- ciation has been demonstrated in the very slight financial loss which Mr. Rothman has encountered in such connection. He has formulated a well ordered system providing for deferred payments covering a period of ten months, and thus many have found it possible to provide their homes with modern plumbing and electrical improvements when such would have proved impossible on the definite cash basis of pay- ment. Mr. Rothman's business is established at 112 Adams avenue, West, and he carries a full equipment of plumbing and electrical supplies, and is thus able to fill contracts at figures that in themselves make definite appeal. He is all that is reliable and progressive, and has secure place in popular confidence and esteem.
William Rothman was born in New York city, on the 13th of January, 1891, and is the only child of Emil and Rebecca (Wolfe) Rothman. His early edu- cation was obtained in the public schools of his native city, and there also he gained his initial business experience. He finally became a salesman for the Glauber Brass Company of Cleveland, Ohio, in the interests of which he traveled throughout the various states of the Union and made an excellent record. He continued his connection with this company eight years, and in 1914 he established his present business in Detroit, his original headquarters having been at 425 Lafayette boulevard, whence he removed to his present location in the year 1917, the splendid expan- sion of his business having necessitated the securing of much larger quarters. He is an active member of the Detroit Board of Commerce, is affiliated with the
Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, and in poli- ties he is a stanch republican. In 1914 Mr. Rothman wedded Miss Rose Muscovich of Detroit, and they have two children: Edna, born in 1915, and Bernice, born in 1918.
JOHN J. DOWNEY, now deceased, was at one time superintendent of the Detroit police force, filling that position with distinction and credit. A native of Portland, Maine, he was born on the 1st of January, 1843, and was one of a family of three children, whose parents were Bartholomew and Johanna (Hill) Dow- ney, who removed westward to Detroit when their son, John J., was but four years of age. The father was born in Ireland and became a well known citizen of Detroit, where his death occurred.
When a lad of ten years he lost his father by death and the boy made his home with a farmer near Jackson, Michigan, where he resided until the age of seventeen years. He was educated in the public and high schools of his native county and when but seven- teen years of age enlisted for service as a drummer boy in the Civil war. He became a private of Com- pany K, Eighth Michigan Infantry, on the 23d of September, 1862, was wounded and taken prisoner, and later exchanged. He was again wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness on the 6th of May, 1864, and he remained with his command until the expiration of his three years' term of service. Following the close of the war Mr. Downey secured a clerkship in the Detroit post office, where he was employed from 1865 until 1872 and filled the position of superintendent of foreign mail. At length he resigned his position on account of ill health and retired to a farm, greatly benefiting by outdoor life until 1884, when he again became a resident of Detroit and here engaged in the commission business for about a year. On the 20th of June, 1885, he became connected with the police department of Detroit, doing duty as a patrolman for a time, while later he was made plain clothes man. His next promotion brought him to the position of superintendent of the police force and he continued to act in that capacity until one year before his death, which occurred February 28, 1916, at which time he had been a resident of Detroit for fifty-seven consecu- tive years. He gave splendid service as head of the police system of the city, doing everything in his power to maintain law and order and lessen crime. He was a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, served at one time as its vice presi- dent and also as a member of its board of directors.
Mr. Downey was twice married. On the 15th of August, 1865, in Detroit, he wedded Isabella Nichol, who passed away May 10, 1877. They were the par- ents of five children: John B. of Orion, Michigan; Agnes, who became the wife of William Rennie of Santa Monica, California; James N., of Detroit; Julia, the wife of Arthur B. Moody of Providence, Rhode Island; and Isabella, who was the wife of S. W. Berger,
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and is now deceased. At Oxford, Michigan, August 29, 1878, Mr. Downey was married to Miss Ella Vliet, a daughter of John V. Vliet of that place. The four children of this marriage are: Andrew J., of Detroit; Nina, the wife of William E. Scripps of Detroit; Ella, the wife of Clarence E. Day of Detroit; and William David.
Mr. Downey was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Library Association and he found recreation largely in trips to his summer home at Lake Orion, in the companionship of his wife. He was devoted to the welfare of his wife and children and his greatest happiness was found at his own fireside. Mrs. Downey still makes her home in Detroit and is a member of the Woman's City Club.
JOHN HENRY BISSELL, a member of the Detroit bar, was born at Lyons, Wayne county, New York, February 22, 1846, and was engaged in active practice until the past few years, when he has been grad- ually retiring. Although he has passed the seventy- fifth milestone on life's journey he is well preserved in mind and in body. Actuated at all times by a laudable ambition and wisely using the strong mental force with which nature endowed him, he has made steady progress in one of the "learned professions" and for many years has enjoyed a large and desirable clientage.
His parents, William Henry Augustus and Martha Cotton (Moulton) Bissell, were natives of Orange county, Vermont. The father was a well known min- ister of the Episcopal church, who after preaching at Lyons and at Geneva, New York, came to Michigan as early as 1838. Here, associated with George East- man, he established a school for boys in Detroit, located at the corner of the alley, on the west side of Griswold street opposite what was then the Armory, now the City Hall. This school was sold to the regents of the University of Michigan and removed to the corner of Bates and Larned streets, where it was operated by the newly appointed regents of the State University, their school being the real beginning of the University. Mr. Eastman was made head master of the school at Kalamazoo, both schools being later merged and removed to Ann Arbor. Rev. Mr. Bissell returned to Vermont after years of service in western New York, and in 1868 became the second bishop of the Episcopal church in that state, there residing during the last twenty-five years of his life. He had long survived his wife, who passed away in 1859.
John H. Bissell attended school at Geneva, New York, and in 1862 came to Detroit, where for a year he engaged in teaching. He then returned east and entered Hobart College at Geneva, New York, in which he was a student for three years. On the expiration of that period he once more became a resident of Detroit and again was a teacher in this city for three years. After his return to the west Hobart College conferred upon him the Master of Arts degree. While
pursuing his work as a teacher he took up the study of law partly under the direction of Judge Campbell, devoting his leisure hours to the mastery of the prin- ciples of jurisprudence. Following his admission to practice in 1870 he spent one year at Burlington, Ver- mont, and then removed to Geneva, New York, where he remained until February, 1872, when he entered the office of Sidney D. Miller and became a member of the law firm of Miller, Bissell & Sibley. This con- nection proved to be a highly satisfactory one and t :e partnership was maintained for twenty years. Mr. Bissell then entered upon the private practice of law aud has since been alone in his professional work, which has long been of an important character. He was admitted to the supreme court of the United States in 1881.
On the 30th of June, 1869, at Geneva, New York, Mr. Bissell was married to Miss Annie A. Soverhill, a daughter of James M. Soverhill. She passed away August 21, 1918, in Detroit, leaving two daughters: Mrs. William E. S. Strong, who was born in Detroit and now resides in New York city; and Alice Chase, the wife of Colonel William J. L. Lyster of the United States Army Medical Corps, and they have one daughter, Elizabeth Bissell Lyster.
Mr. Bissell is a member of the Prismatic Club. For one term he served on the Michigan Fish Commission. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party and he belongs to the Detroit, Michigan and American Bar Associations, also to the American His- torical Association.
ALFRED COOKMAN MARSHALL, for over twen- ty-five years connected with public utilities of Michi- gan and now occupying the position of vice president of The Detroit Edison Company, is a native of the Buckeye state, born in Middletown, Ohio, September 26, 1872, coming to Detroit with his parents in 1880, and for all practical purposes may therefore be classed as a Detroiter.
Mr. Marshall was educated in the public schools and at the University of Michigan, graduating with the class of 1893, with the degree of Electrical En- gineer. He began his career in the construction of the city lighting plant in 1893, at which work he was engaged for some years. In 1899 he went into the elec- tric railway business first on construction work and later operating the Rapid Railway system-the De- troit-Port Huron line-and was thus engaged until that line was taken over by the Detroit United Railway in 1903.
It was in the latter year that Mr. Marshall joined The Detroit Edison Company, and with the exception of six years he has been with the company ever since. From 1905 to 1911, he was the general manager of the Port Huron Light and Power Company, and on terminating that engagement he returned to the Edison Company. In 1913 Mr. Marshall became vice president
JOHN H. BISSELL
Vol. III-40
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of The Detroit Edison Company and still retains that position.
In 1901 Mr. Marshall was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Schnoor and they are the parents of two children: Frances, born in 1903; and Brooks Marshall, born March 23, 1908, in Port Huron. Mr. Marshall is a member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the Detroit Engineering Society, the De- troit Club, Detroit Athletic Club, Meadowbrook Coun- try Club, Barton Hills Country Club, the Oakland Hills Country Club and Ingleside Club, in the affairs of all of which he takes a warm interest.
FREDERICK MILLER is an able Detroit lawyer who has reached his present position in spite of various handicaps. Determination and undaunted purpose have been salient characteristics of his career and have enabled him to advance steadily in spite of difficulties and obstacles which would have deterred many a man of less resolute spirit and more limited capability.
Mr. Miller was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1879. His educational opportunities were very limited, for at the age of nine years he began to earn his living by working in a shoe factory, in which he was employed for seven years, thoroughly learning the trade during that period. He then started in business on his own account as a manufacturer and retailer of shoes and at nineteen years of age was doing a flour- ishing business, but he was boycotted by both the American Protective Association and the Ancient Or- der of Hibernians because he would side with neither in a local quarrel. This naturally crippled his busi- ness and, leaving New England, he made his way westward to Chicago, where he remained for a time and then returned to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he was connected with the Warwick Cycle Manufac- turing Company as assistant shipper. After a year there passed he went to Bradford, Pennsylvania, and for a short time was connected with the Fairbanks Consolidated Wood Rims Company. He next turned his attention to the cigar business, in which he engaged for two years, winning prosperity during that period, but again misfortune overtook him, for his establish- ment was destroyed by fire and he had no insurance upon it.
Mr. Miller later conducted a shoe store for a time and then went to Cripple Creek, Colorado, where he worked the Teutonic mine for four years without making a dollar. On the expiration of that period he opened a shoe store in Cripple Creek and soon built up a substantial trade, conducting his store profitably for two years. He then went to Denver to buy stock, but the train on which he was a passenger broke in two and the section in which he was riding ran down the mountainside, several people being killed, while Mr. Miller and others were injured. Because of his injuries he could not endure the altitude of Colo- rado and made his way eastward to Chicago, where
he visited his brother, who was a physician. This awakened in Mr. Miller the desire to enter upon a professional career and he began the study of law, but he found that his lack of early education was a serious handicap to him, for it was necessary for him to pursue a high school course before he could make much progress otherwise. He also had to work in order to provide the necessities of life while he was prosecuting his studies. He pursued his literary course in the University of Michigan and afterward became a student in the Detroit College of Law. His resolution and determination carried him over many obstacles and difficulties and in 1911 he was graduated and the same year was admitted to the bar. Since that time he has given his attention to practice and has made steady progress, being now recognized as an able lawyer of Detroit and a forceful public speaker.
In 1910 Mr. Miller was united in marriage to Miss Helen Schaar. He is well known socially and is re- garded as one of the exemplary representatives of the Masonic fraternity. He belongs to the blue lodge at Battle Creek, Michigan, also the chapter and council at Battle Creek and is a member of the consistory and the Mystic Shrine of Grand Rapids and of Damascus Commandery, K. T., at Detroit. He has thus taken both the York and Scottish Rite degrees and is a most loyal follower of the teachings of the craft. He was also one of the organizers of the Kiwanis Club. In polities he is a stalwart republican, giving unfaltering allegiance to the party and its principles, yet never seeking nor desiring office as a reward for party fealty. He has so directed his efforts as to make steady advancement since starting out in the world on his own account when a mere lad of nine years and today his position in the legal circles of Detroit is a credit- able and enviable one,
LOUIS CRANDALL STANLEY, member of the De- troit bar, who has largely specialized in corporation practice, was born in Washington, D. C., on the 9th of November, 1855. His father, John Mix Stanley, was a native of the state of New York and in early life learned the trade of wagon making and painting. In 1837 he became a resident of Detroit, where he re- mained for a year but afterward spent some time in the national capital, returning to become a permanent resident of this city in 1862. John Mix Stanley was for a number of years in the employ of the United States government, and in 1853 and 1854 served in connection with the expedition by the war department under orders from the United States senate to explore and survey a route for the Northern Pacific Railroad, from St. Paul to the Pacific coast. He wedded Alice Morgan English, a native of Maryland, and his death occurred April 9, 1872, while his wife survived until 1893.
Louis Crandall Stanley was a lad of but seven years when the family home was established in Detroit and
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in the acquirement of his education he supplemented his early training, received in the public schools of this city, by a course in the University of Michigan, winning his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1876. Ear- nestly pursuing his preparation for the bar, he was admitted to practice in 1877 and has since heen num- bered among Detroit's attorneys. While advancement at the bar is proverbially slow, no dreary novitiate awaited him. Steadily his practice grew in volume and importance and for many years he has figured prominently as one of the corporation lawyers of the city. In 1877 he became attorney in Michigan for the Grand Trunk Railway System and so continued for forty years, or until January, 1917, when he resigned. At different periods he has extended his business con- nections to various important corporate interests of Detroit, becoming the vice president of the H. T. Wil- son Coal Company and a director of the Norfolk & Chesapeake Coal Company.
On the 12th of June, 1889, in Detroit, Mr. Stanley was married to Miss Jane C. Mahon and they have become parents of two sons and two daughters: John Meddaugh, who is connected with the Harris Zinc Process Company; Sarah L'Estrange, the wife of Rob- ert B. Frantz of Ann Arbor, who is a teacher in the architectural branch of the engineering department of the University of Michigan; Alice Caroline, the wife of Dean G. Acheson of Washington, D. C., and the mother of one daughter, Jane; and George Mahon, who is now a pupil in the Northern high school of Detroit.
Mr. and Mrs. Stanley have membership in the Pres- byterian church and his political allegiance is given to the republican party. He is a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce, also of the University of Michigan Alumni Association of Detroit, of which he has been the president, and of the Delta Kappa Ep- silon, while along strictly professional lines he has connection with the Detroit Bar Association and the Michigan State Bar Association. His interests are broad and varied, touching those things which have to do with the normal and progressive development of city and state, and his influence has always been on the side of advancement and upbuilding.
THOMAS T. LEETE, JR., member of the firm of Corliss, Leete & Moody, one of the well known law firms of Detroit, was born in this city November 26, 1858, and is a son of Thomas T. and Jean (Hopkins) Leete. He received his early education in the public schools of Detroit, and after leaving the high school, entered the University of Michigan and there com- pleted his preparation for the bar in the class of 1880. His first legal experience was as assistant city attorney under F. G. Russell, a position tendered him while yet in school. From 1885 until 1902 he prac- ticed law as a member of the firm of Corliss, Andrus & Leete and in the latter year became a partner in the firm of Corliss, Leete & Joslyn, which was later succeeded by the present firm of Corliss, Leete &
Moody. Mr. Leete has long been recognized as a lawyer of marked ability. At one time he served as the assistant corporation counsel uuder Hon. John J. Speed. He has likewise been a member of the Detroit board of education and in various public relations has contributed to progress and welfare and to the upholding of high municipal standards.
Mr. Leete is a member of the board of directors of the Young Men's Christian Association, also one of the directors of McGregor Institute and a trustee of the Young Women's Christian Association. His religious faith is that of the Baptist church and he is an officer of the Michigan Baptist Convention. He is keenly interested in all those forces which make for the uplift of mankind and the adoption of higher ideals for the individual and for the community. His political endorsement is given to the republican party. Along strictly professional lines he has connection with the American Bar Association, the Detroit Bar Association, of which he has served on the executive committee, and he likewise belongs to the Michigan State Bar Association.
In 1885, in Detroit, Mr. Leete was married to Miss Mary Cooper and they have one daughter: Lillian G., now the wife of Clifford S. Stilwell of Detroit, and they have one daughter, Mary Constance. Mr. Leete belongs to the Detroit Golf Club and the Michigan University Alumni Club. He is a member of the executive committee of the Detroit College of Law, and for ten years was a member of the faculty. On the list of Detroit's able lawyers the name of Thomas T. Leete occupies a high place.
JOHN H. WAIDELICH, one of the well known real estate men of Detroit, whose identification with that line of business dates back more than a decade, is sales manager for the Kirby-Sorge-Felske Company. He was born in Germany, June 30, 1890, and is a son of Martin and Johanna (Roller) Waidelich, both of whom are natives of Germany and are still residents of Central Europe. There the father follows the voca- tion of farming. In the family were five children, all of whom remain in Germany except John H. of this review, the others being: Martin, George, Johanna and Anna.
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