USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. III > Part 73
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John H. Waidelich attended the schools of his native country to the age of fourteen years, when he pleaded with his parents to send him to an uncle, his father's brother, then residing at Lansing, Michigan. It was the intention that he should be allowed only to pay a visit of six months or so to this uncle, but after the boy reached America and had remained under the watchful eye of his uncle for five months, he asked to remain in this country just as earnestly as he had implored his parents to be allowed to come to the new world. For a time he was sent to school and then took a position as a farm boy, and devoted two years to that work. All of this time he employed his spare moments in the study of the English language
THOMAS T. LEETE, JR.
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and reading helpful books, in order that he might qual- ify for life's practical and responsible duties. After two years of hard work on the farm, during which time he gained a wide knowledge of the English lan- guage and considerable education relative to business methods and conditions in America, he returned to Lansing, Michigan, where he secured a position in the Lansing Wheelbarrow Works, in which he spent one year. In 1907 he came to Detroit, worked in various lines for about four years and in 1911 first became connected with the Kirby-Sorge-Felske Company, with which he remained until 1915, when he organized the Waidelich-Ross Real Estate Company, of which he was secretary and treasurer. Disposing of his interests in the latter company, in March, 1918, Mr. Waidelich again became a member of the Kirby-Sorge-Felske organization, and since that time has been sales man- ager, a position which he is most capably filling. He is also in charge of the improvement department and of the suburban division of the business. His posi- tion, representing one of the most prominent firms operating in the Detroit real estate field, is one of broad scope and of large responsibility and his capac- ity and powers are widely recognized.
On the 14th of October, 1914, Mr. Waidelich was united in marriage to Miss Vernice Haines, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward F. Haines of Detroit. Po- litically Mr. Waidelich is a republican, having sup- ported the party since he became an American citizen. He belongs to the Harmonie Society and has always found great interest and pleasure in music. He has never regretted his determination to come to the new world nor his resolution to remain once he had crossed the Atlantic. Here he has found the opportunities which he sought amid congenial surroundings and he has advanced steadily as the result of his own labors, his perseverance, diligence and straightforward busi- ness methods constituting the basis of his growing success, as well as his high standing in realty circles.
RULUFF R. STERLING. Business enterprise has constituted the basis of city building in America and every legitimate and successful undertaking is a con- tributing factor to the progress of the community in which it is established. In the past two decades De- troit has enjoyed a phenomenal growth through the development of her manufacturing and industrial in- terests and it is along this line that Ruluff R. Sterling has become active, being now president of the Ster- ling & Skinner Manufacturing Company and also vice president of the Detroit Motor Casting Company. Michigan claims him as a native son, for his birth occurred at Sterling's Mill, April 20, 1858, his parents being Leander and Sarah (Van Vlack) Sterling. At the usual age he became a public school pupil in Wayne county, Michigan, and when the urge to enter business life became a dominant factor with him he secured a position with a clothing store at Ypsi- lanti, Michigan, being there employed until he reached
the age of twenty-five years. He afterward engaged in the retail shoe business at Escanaba, Michigan, for a period of ten years and in 1892 arrived in Detroit, where he has since made his home. Here he became a member of the McRae & Roberts Company and was thus associated until 1902, when he became one of the organizers of the Sterling & Skinner Manufactur- ing Company, of which he has since been the presi- dent. This company was formed for the manufacture of brass goods for steam, water and gas plants and for automobiles, the partners in the undertaking being the Messrs. Sterling, Skinner and Roney. From the beginning Mr. Sterling has occupied the position of chief executive officer, with Mr. Skinner as the secre- tary and treasurer, the third partner, Mr. Roney, having now passed away. The plant has always been located on East Grand boulevard and now gives em- ployment to one hundred and twenty-five operatives, while the product is shipped to all parts of the United States. During the war, under priority orders, parts were made for trucks and submarines and thus the plant rendered substantial aid to the government in the prosecution of the war.
At Buffalo, New York, Mr. Sterling was married in 1892 to Miss Sarah A. Thomas and they have become the parents of a daughter, Ruth, who is the wife of Captain J. B. Saunders, U. S. A., a West Point grad- uate, who is now the father of a two-year old son, John Sterling Saunders.
Mr. Sterling has always voted with the republican party, believing that its platform contains the best principles of good government. An Episcopalian in religious faith, he is a communicant of St. Paul's cathedral. He is a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce and in club circles is well known as a member of the Detroit Athletic Club, Detroit Golf Club, Automobile Country Club and Detroit Automo- bile Club-associations that indicate much concerning the nature of his interests and recreation. There has been from time to time much fantastic theorizing in regard to the cause of success, but a study of the records of such men as Ruluff R. Sterling and other capable and prosperous representatives of commercial, industrial and manufacturing interests in Detroit shows that progress has in all cases resulted from close application, indefatigable energy and a thorough mastery of the principles underlying a particular line to which the individual is giving his attention. It has been by this method that R. R. Sterling has reached his present position, where he is in control of a profitable trade in the field of brass manufacturing.
W. LEO CAHALAN, admitted to the bar in April, 1918, has since engaged in practice in Detroit. He was born in Wyandotte, Michigan, February 11, 1893, and is a son of John C. and Anna (Hogan) Cahalan. The father is a prominent business man of Wyandotte, where he is engaged in real estate operations and in banking.
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The son, W. Leo Cahalan, was educated in St. Pat- rick's parochial school and in the University of De- troit, from which he was graduated in 1914 with the Bachelor of Arts degree. He next entered the law department of the University of Michigan and gained his LL.B. degree upon graduation with the class of 1917. In April of the following year he passed the required examination for admittance to the bar and is now associated in practice with Charles F. Delbridge. He belongs to the Detroit Bar Association and the Michigan Bar Association and aside from his profes- sional activities he is connected with the George W. Blake Manufacturing Company of Wyandotte, as its secretary.
Mr. Cahalan is very prominent in the Knights of Columbus and is a past grand knight of the council at Wyandotte, Michigan. He is also the secretary of the Knights of Columbus Building Association at Wyandotte and he was a member of the Supreme Council of the order for Michigan in 1918. He has likewise served as a member of the city council of Wyandotte and is interested in all those forces and activities which make for progress and improvement in connection with public affairs. He is a director of the Wyandotte Board of Commerce.
FRANK H. WHELDEN, secretary and treasurer of the Detroit-Star Grinding Wheel Company, came to Michigan from New England, his birth having occur- red in Proctorsville, Vermont, November 29, 1867. His parents, James H. and Rilla (Giddings) Whelden, were representatives of prominent old families of the Green Mountain state, their ancestral records being traced back to pre-Revolutionary times. The father was an active and successful hardware merchant of Proctorsville and continued a resident of Vermont until called to his final rest. His wife died in Cali- fornia. Following the death of her husband she came to Detroit in 1872 and was well known here for a number of years, but her last days were spent on the. Pacific coast. In the family were three children.
Frank H. Whelden was but five years of age when his mother removed with her family to Detroit and here he attended the public schools, after which he started out in the business world in the employ of The Charles A. Strelinger Company, with which he remained for six years. He next entered the employ of Gilbert Hart, who had established business in 1872. He was a prominent inventor who developed the patent grinding wheel, which is now known and widely used all over the country. Mr. Whelden became the assistant superintendent and later was elected vice president of the company, while event- ually he attained to the presidency of the business that was conducted under the name of the Detroit Grinding Wheel Company. In 1920 the business was consolidated with the Star Corundum Wheel Company, forming the Detroit-Star Grinding Wheel Company, of which Mr. Whelden became the secretary and treas-
urer. The consolidated interests are conducted along the same lines as the old companies, save on a much broader scale. They are inventors and manufacturers of standard vitrified grinding wheels. The company employs two hundred people and the business is now one of substantial proportions and the trade is steadily growing. Mr. Whelden is also a director of the Fed- eral Motor Truck Company.
In August, 1892, Mr. Whelden was married.to Miss Lillian Hopkins of Ypsilanti, Michigan, and they have two children: Gilbert Hart and Ford Hopkins. The older son, born in 1897, married Miss Robina McCloud and they have one son, Gilbert Hart, Jr. Gilbert H. Whelden enlisted in 1917 for service in the World war with the Michigan Naval Reserves and was on the transport Von Steuben across the water. Later he was assigned to a submarine chaser, as gas engine and machinist's mate and rendered valuable aid to his country in these connections. He belongs to Palestine Lodge, No. 357, F. & A. M., and is highly esteemed in business and social circles of Detroit. He has membership in the Detroit Boat Club and the Detroit Athletic Club. Ford Hopkins Whel- den, the second son, born at Detroit in 1903, is at- tending the Northern high school.
Mr. Whelden is a Mason of high rank, a member of Oriental Lodge, No. 240, F. & A. M. and has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite in the Michigan Sovereign Consistory, and he is also a Noble of Moslem Temple of the Mystic Shrine. Politically he maintains an independent course and religiously his connection is with the Unitarian church. He be- longs to the Detroit, Detroit Athletic, Detroit Boat, Bloomfield Hills Country, Auto Country, Bloomfield Open Hunt and Oakland Hills Clubs, and is prominent and highly esteemed in the social organizations with which he is connected. Mr. Whelden's residence Kintra Hame-is at Bloomfield Hills.
JOSEPH P. McCORMICK, a progressive real estate dealer of Detroit, conducting an extensive business as the president of the Emlo Park Company and the American Syndicate Corporation, is a man of marked initiative spirit and executive ability who has gained success through the wise utilization of his time, his talents and his opportunities. A native son of Michigan, he was born at Ann Arbor, his parents being George W. and Josephine (Pray) McCormick, and in the common and high schools of his native city he acquired his education. He began his business life as salesman in a wholesale shoe house, doing in- side work for two years, after which he represented the company on the road for a period of ten years. He then came to Detroit, where he entered the real estate field, in which he has since been active. He first became connected with C. E. Friend & Company in real estate operations, continuing with that concern for two and a half years, after which he organized the firm of McCormick & Lawrence in 1913, under
FRANK H. WHELDEN
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which style he is still operating. Prompted by a spirit of initiative, he increased the scope of his activities by the organization of the Emulo Park Company and the American Syndicate Corporation, becoming presi- dent of both enterprises, which he has continued to conduct most successfully, demonstrating executive ability of a high order. Emlo Park is situated north of Royal Oak and is a development proposition which is proving a profitable source of investment to the owners, while the American Syndicate Corporation carries on extensive building operations. Mr. McCor- mick is au astute business man with keen insight into business affairs and situations and his connection with any enterprise insures a prosperous outcome of the same, for whatever he undertakes he carries for- ward to successful completion.
He was united in marriage to Miss Maud I. Moss and they have become the parents of three daughters: Inez, Phyllis, and Jessie Margaret. In his political views Mr. McCormick is a republican and in religious faith he is a Presbyterian. He is a prominent Mason, belonging to Highland Park Lodge, No. 468, F. & A. M .; Highland Park Chapter, No. 160, R. A. M .; High- land Park Commandery, No. 53, K. T .; and to Moslem Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is now serving as master of the Highland Park Blue Lodge, and he ever conforms his life to the beneficent teachings of the order. He possesses those qualities which make for personal popularity and is a valued member of the Fellowcraft Club. His success represents the wise utilization of his time and talents, combined with a ready recognition of opportunity and his activities have ever been of a constructive nature, contributing in large measure to the development, upbuilding and improvement of his city. His life is exemplary in all respects and he has ever supported those interests which are calculated to benefit human- ity, while his own personal worth is deserving of high commendation. Mr. McCormick resides at Emlo park, Royal Oak.
HENRY MUNROE CAMPBELL. While the prac- tice of law has been the real life work of Henry Munroe Campbell of Detroit, he has also become iden- tified with various important corporation interests which have contributed much to the material devel- opment and improvemnet of the city in which his life has been passed. He is a native son of Detroit, born April 18, 1854, his parents being Judge James V. and Cornelia (Hotchkiss) Campbell, mention of whom is made elsewhere in this work. At the usual age he became a public school pupil, passing through consecutive grades to the high school, and later he entered the University of Michigan, in which he won the Bachelor of Philosophy degree in 1876. He re- mained as a law student through the succeeding two years and the LL.B. degree was conferred upon him in 1878, while in 1916 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. In the meantime he had been a law student
in the office of Alfred Russell and in October, 1877, was admitted to the bar. He entered into partnership relations with Henry Russel and in 1883 Charles H. Campbell joined the firm, the law firm of Russel & Campbell existing from 1878 until 1905, or for a period of twenty-seven years, without change. It was in 1905 that Harry C. Bulkley was admitted under the style of Russel, Campbell & Bulkley and in 1907 Henry Ledyard became a partner under the name of Russel, Campbell, Bulkley & Ledyard, so continuing until 1912, since which time Mr. Campbell has been senior partner of the firm under the title of Campbell, Bulkley & Ledyard, that now includes three other partners-Charles H. L'Hommedieu, Wilson W. Mills and Seldon S. Dickinson. Throughout the intervening time since his admission to the bar, now covering forty-three years, Mr. Campbell has occupied a com- manding position at the Detroit bar. He is widely recognized as a lawyer of marked ability, forceful and resourceful in the presentation of his cases and at all times strong and logical in his reasoning and in his deductions.
Extending his efforts into other lines Mr. Campbell is now a director of the People's State Bank, a director of the Michigan Central Railroad Company, vice president and counsel for Parke, Davis & Company, director, counsel and chairman of the board of the Union Trust Company, director and counsel of the Cass Farm Company, president of the River Rouge Improvement Company, president of the Russel-Woods Company, a director of the Union Trust Building Company and the Woodlawn Cemetery and president of the board of trustees of Elmwood Cemetery. In all business matters his judgment is sound, his dis- crimination keen and his enterprise unfaltering.
On the 22d of November, 1881, in Detroit,. Mr. Campbell was married to Miss Caroline B. Burtenshaw and they have become parents of two sons: Henry M. and Douglas. The religious faith of the family is that of the Episcopal church and Mr. Campbell is now serving as junior warden of Christ church. He has various other membership relations, being identi- fied with the Society of Colonial Governors, with the Delta Kappa Epsilon and Phi Beta Kappa, with the Detroit Club, of which he was formerly president, the Detroit Boat, Country, Yondotega, Witenagemote, University and Huron Mountain Clubs. Along profes- sional lines he has connection with the Detroit, Michi- gan State and American Bar Associations. He is chairman of the legislative committee of the trust division of the American Bankers Association, is a member of the National Association for Constitutional Government and a member of the National Associa- tion of Owners of Railroad Securities. He was one of the organizers of the Detroit Naval Reserve and commanded the Third Division as senior lieutenant. He has also been president of the Detroit Naval Reserve, so acting during the Spanish-American war. His political support has always been given to the
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republican party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise and in 1907 he served as a delegate to the state constitutional convention. Matters of vital interest to the community and commonwealth have always awakened his attention and he has given earnest support to many plans and measures which he deems of worth and benefit to city and state.
PHILIP BREITMEYER is the president of the John Breitmeyer's Sons Company, having one of the largest florists' establishments in the country. This has for many years been one of the important busi- ness enterprises of Detroit, having been established by John Breitmeyer and further developed by Philip Breitmeyer, who is today accounted one of the fore- most florists of the United States. He has long been actuated by the ambition to have the finest sales- rooms of the kind in the world and many able to speak with authority feel that he has realized his ambition in this particular. Yet Mr. Breitmeyer is not only a successful florist. He has been connected with various other business interests that are im- portant elements in Detroit's growth and as mayor he gave to the city a most business-like and progres- sive administration, the benefits of which are still being felt along many lines.
A native son of Detroit, Philip Breitmeyer was . born May 13, 1864, of the marriage of John and Fredericka (Schneider) Breitmeyer, who were natives of Germany. Coming to America at the age of fifteen years, John Breitmeyer turned his attention to the raising of vegetables and later realized the opportun- ities offered in horticulture and floriculture. He established a greenhouse and became the pioneer in this line of business in Detroit, concentrating all of his energies upon the production of plants and flowers. He built greenhouses at Mount Clemens and from time to time added to these until they were among the finest and largest in the country. Through the con- duct of this business Mr. Breitmeyer accumulated a comfortable fortune and as he prospered in his under- takings he made judicious investments in real estate, erecting many fine buildings and owning a number of attractive residence properties in Michigan. He passed away in Detroit in 1900, at the age of sixty- six years, and Mrs. Breitmeyer died in 1920, when she was eighty-three years of age. They were the parents of seven children who survive: Albert F. and Philip, who are residents of Detroit; Frederick of Mount Clemens; and William, Mrs. William Geist, Mrs. Charles Lonsby and Mrs. Louis R. Geist, all of Detroit.
Philip Breitmeyer attended the schools of Detroit until his eleventh year, after which his further educa- tion was largely acquired through home study, al- though he also attended the Lutheran night school. Entering business with his father, he acquainted him- self with the practical phases of flower culture and horticulture under his father's direction and continued with him until the latter's death, when the business
was incorporated under the firm style of John Breit- meyer's Sons Company, his brothers being the other incorporators. This was a close corporation. Under the able management of Philip Breitmeyer and his associates the business has steadily grown. The com- pany erected the Breitmeyer building on Broadway, which is a modern store and office building. After a time Philip Breitmeyer purchased the interests of his brothers in the business and he and his son Harry are now sole owners, retaining, however, the old firm name of John Breitmeyer's Sons Company. They have four stores in Detroit. Mr. Breitmeyer has steadily developed his interests until he is now one of the most prominent florists of the country and it is said by many that his salesrooms are unsurpassed for beauty and efficiency. Mr. Breitmeyer was also the promoter and organizer and is now president of the Florist Telegraph Delivery, which has made its slogan, "Say it with flowers," renowned throughout the world, and through this agency the amount of business transacted throughout the country is now counted into the millions of dollars. He has served as president of the American Society of Florists and he is one of the directors and officers of the Michigan Cut Flower Exchange. His business activities have been further extended, bringing him into connection with kindred lines, while at other times his invest- ments have been in different fields. He is now a director of the Lohrman Seed Company of Detroit; is the president of the Detroit National Fire Insurance Company; president of the Broadway Market Com- pany and is connected with many other business enterprises in the state. In 1917 the Breitmeyer Nursery & Landscape Company was established at South Rockwood, the property there comprising one hundred and twenty-five acres and all devoted to horticulture exclusively. This is the only nursery business of its kind that is purely a Detroit institu- tion. Mr. Breitmeyer is familiar with every prac- tical and scientific phase of floriculture and understands with equal thoroughness the sales end of the business, studying every phase of the trade.
On the 9th of March, 1886, at Philadelphia, Mr. Breitmeyer was married to Miss Katie Grass, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Grass. The two children of this marriage are Harry G. and Kathrine. The son was born in Detroit in 1890, attended the public and high schools and the Detroit Business Col- lege and is now associated with his father in the John Breitmeyer's Sons House of Flowers. He mar- ried Miss Maud Bamlet of Detroit. The daughter was educated in Detroit and became the wife of Frank A. Wright, now a prominent attorney of Lewis- ton, Montana. They have three children, Betty, Hazel and Phyllis, who are the idols of their grandparents.
Mr. and Mrs. Breitmeyer are members of the Chris- tian Science church and he is a well known figure in the leading clubs of the city, having membership with the Detroit Athletic, Detroit Golf, Fellowcraft
PHILIP BREITMEYER
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and others and the Harmonie Society. He is a Mason of high rank, having attained the Knights Templar degree in Detroit Commandery, while in the con- sistory he has reached the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite. He is also connected with the Mystic Shrine and is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Royal Arcanum and other organizations. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and for two years he served as commissioner of the park de- partment of the city of Detroit, during which time the Casino at Belle Isle and the public bath houses were built, while in 1909 and 1910 he was the chief ex- ecutive of the city. During his administration as mayor many worthy enterprises for the betterment of the city were instituted and in later years have proven of vast benefit to Detroit. Had Mr. Breit- meyer remained in office for another term the street car question would have been settled, as he was making excellent plans for better service and modern equipment. He was the father of the splendid city plans commission and many other worthy enterprises and movements were started during his term of office. He has at all times manifested a progressive citizen- ship, looking ever to the welfare and upbuilding of his city and state.
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