USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. III > Part 88
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erty. His operations have been confined to the district hetween Grand Circus Park and the boulevard and at one time his ownership of frontage along this section of Woodward avenue was more than one-quarter of a mile. There is probably no man in Detroit better informed on Woodward avenue values than Mr. George, or whose judgment of Detroit realty in general car- ries more weight.
At the beginning of the World war, in August, 1914, Mr. George was in England. His observation and fore- sight at that time led him to the certain conclusion that the United States was destined to play an active part in the hostilities and with this in mind he re- turned home, determined to do whatever was within his power to aid the country in preparing. Mr. George enlisted in the Officers' Reserve Corps in December, 1916, and received his commission as captain in that organization on April 14, 1917. During the ensuing summer, under orders of the Quartermaster's Depart- ment, he assisted in organizing Base Hospitals Nos. 17 and 36. In October he was ordered to Washington, D. C., and assigned to the duty of purchasing motor trucks and automobile equipment for the Signal Corps, under command of the chief signal officer. In Jan- uary, 1918, Captain George was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Signal Corps and was made a full colonel in July, 1918. Upon the consolidation of all the purchasing departments of motors and motor equipment, Colonel George was appointed chief of the motors branch, Motors and Vehicles Division, within the department of purchase, storage and traffic of the general staff. On February 14, 1919, Colonel George received his honorable discharge from the United States service and returned to private life.
Outside of his business connections Mr. George has been a conscientious worker for many things of benefit to Detroit, both of civil and social character. As a member and a director of the Board of Commerce of the city he has been closely allied with the good roads movement. Mr. George has been president of the Bloomfield Hills Country Club, of which he was the founder, and also the Automobile Club of Detroit. He belongs to the Detroit Club, the Detroit Athletic Club, the Country Club, the Bloomfield Open-Hunt and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. Mr. George is a member of the Masonic fraternity and politically is a republican. He has served as a trustee of the Fort Street Presbyterian church and as director and trustee in a number of charitable organizations.
On September 5, 1899, occurred the marriage of Mr. George and Miss Bessie Scotten, the daughter of the late Oren Scotten, prominent manufacturer and capitalist of Detroit. Mr. and Mrs. George have two daughters: Priscilla and Bessie. The George home, located at Bloomfield Hills, some twenty miles from Detroit, bears the attractive title of "Cedarholm" and here Mr George finds his greatest recreation: ex- tensive orchards are maintained at this estate as well as a herd of thoroughbred Jersey cattle. He
EDWIN S. GEORGE
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also has found keen enjoyment in hunting and fishing and has a lodge for this purpose in Cheboygan county, Michigan.
EARL LOVEJOY, for fifteen years a representative of the Detroit bar and a member of the firm of Finkelston & Lovejoy, was born in Milford, Michigan, August 23, 1882, his parents being Charles E. and Mary J. (Greig) Lovejoy. The father followed mer- chandising during his active business career and also filled the position of postmaster at Milford.
The son pursued his education in public schools of this state and in the Central high school of Detroit. Determining upon a professional career, he became a student in the law department of the State University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and was there graduated in June, 1905, upon the completion of the regular course. He returned to his native city to make his initial step in professional circles, opening a law office in Milford, where he remained from 1905 until 1912. He then again came to Detroit, where he has continued in the active practice of his profession, and after remaining alone for four years he entered into partnership in 1916 with Max H. Finkleston, under the firm style of Finkelston & Lovejoy. While resid- ing in Milford he served as village attorney and also filled other local offices, being at one time township clerk and again township treasurer.
Mr. Lovejoy is well known to his colleagues and contemporaries in the profession as a member of the Detroit Bar Association and also through his mem- bership in the Lawyers Club. He is likewise well known in fraternal circles, having membership with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, No. 34, with University Lodge, No. 482, F. & A. M., of which he is worshipful master, with Sojourners Chapter, R. A. M., Highland Park Commandery, No. 53, K. T. and Moslem Shrine. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party and he finds his recreation in athletic sports. He is the possessor of many ster- ling traits of character which have won for him the warm friendship of those with whom he has been brought into contact.
EZRA H. JONES, who since 1912 has been engaged in the real estate business in Detroit, was born in Muskegon, Michigan, February 17, 1887. He is a grandson of the Rev. Ezra Jones, who was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, and a son of Arthur Jones, who was born in Lansing, Michigan, in 1861. The latter was married in Lansing to Miss Elizabeth Tryon Haines, and they are now residents of Detroit, where the father is engaged in the practice of law.
In the schools of Muskegon Ezra H. Jones pursued his early education and afterward attended the Albion (Mich.) College, while for three years he was a student in the University of Michigan. He left the latter institution in 1905 and came to Detroit, and
was for three years connected with the Acme White Lead & Color Works, which he represented in the office and on the road. Later he was for a year in the employ of Richard Irvin & Company, investment brokers of New York, and in 1909 he entered the employ of Seagrave & Company, Detroit bankers, with whom he continued until 1912. On the 1st of May of the latter year he opened a real estate office and has since engaged in business independently. He has thoroughly informed himself concerning realty values and the property that is on the market and has nego- tiated many important realty transfers.
On the 10th of September, 1907, in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Mr. Jones was united in marriage to Miss Mary C. Beau and their children are Ezra Keith, Robert Arthur and Mary Louise. Mr. Jones is a Mason of high rank and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He belongs to the American Patriotic League and during the World war assisted in promoting the various bond drives. His religious faith is that of the Episcopal church and the nature of his interests is furthermore indicated in the fact that he belongs to the Board of Commerce, to the Detroit Athletic Club, the Oakland Hills Country Club and to the Players Club. Opportunity has ever been to him a call to action, whether it has been the opportunity to assist in the upbuilding of the city or the advance- ment of his individual fortunes.
ORVILLE HENRY FOSTER, JR. For six years Orville H. Foster, Jr., has practiced law at the De- troit bar as a member of the firm of Vandeveer & Foster. He had just completed his college course when he entered into this partnership relation that has since been maintained and through the intervening period he has specialized in insurance law. He was born in Detroit, November 9, 1892, and is therefore numbered among the younger representatives of the bar. His parents were Orville H. and Adella D. (Plager) Foster, both of whom are still residents of this city. His early education was acquired in the public schools and in preparation for a professional career he entered the Detroit College of Law and won his degree of LL. B. upon graduation with the class of 1914. He then joined Fred L. Vandeveer as an attorney for the Travelers Insurance Company and they entered upon the general practice of law in 1916, specializing in insurance work. They have made a notable success in this field and are regarded as among the ablest insurance lawyers of the city.
On the 1st of March, 1919, Mr. Foster was united in marriage to Miss Dorothea Jane Balyeat of Lucas, Ohio. His political endorsement is given to the repub- lican party, which he has supported since age con- ferred upon him the right of franchise. His military record is an interesting one, for in the World war he volunteered for service at the beginning of that struggle and served as gunner's mate on Submarine Chaser, No. 178, being on active duty for twenty
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months, mostly in foreign waters. He is a well known as an exemplary member of the Masonic fraternity, belongs also to the Felloweraft Athletic Club, to the Delta Theta Phi, a law fraternity, to the Masonic Club and also to Larned Post of the American Legion, one of the largest and most influential posts of the middle west.
HON. VINCENT M. BRENNAN. On the 2d of November, 1920, Vincent M. Brennan was elected to the sixty-seventh congress of the United States. Although but thirty years of age this was not his first call to public service. He had been a member of the state senate, and was assistant corporation counsel of the city at the time of his election to the national halls of legislation. Moreover he has figured for a number of years as one of the most prominent and successful of the younger representatives of the Detroit bar, and his honors have at all times been most worthily won. A native of Mt. Clemens, Michigan, he was born on the 22d of April, 1890, a son of Charles T. and Mary Agnes (Morrison) Brennan, the former a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, while the latter was born in Toledo, Ohio. In early life they became residents of Michigan and the father engaged in the hotel business in Mt. Clemens for some time. In 1895 the elder Brennan moved to Detroit and opened The Congress Lunch Room on what later became the site of the Ford building. When the Ford building displaced the old Hoban block the res- taurant was moved to the Campan building and be- came known as "Brennan's Restaurant." Mr. Bren- nan later established what is now the Brennan, Fitz- gerald & Sinks chain of restaurants in Detroit, which for fifteen years have been numbered among the leading establishments of this kind in the city. He was engaged in this business up to the time of his death, which ocenrred in Detroit in 1918. He had for a long period survived his wife, who passed away in this city on the 2d of May, 1902. In their family were two children: the daughter being Marguerite Marie, the wife of the Hon. Edward Command, pro- bate judge of Detroit.
The son, Vincent M. Brennan, was but five years of age when brought by his parents to Detroit, and here he attended the Jesuit parochial school of SS. Peter and Paul, while later he became a student in Detroit College, from which he was gradnated in 1909, with the degree of A. B. He then entered the Har- vard Law School, and won his LL. B. degree in 1912, while in 1914 the University of Detroit conferred upon him the Master of Arts degree. In the days of his early preparation for the bar he was also a law student in the office of Otto Kirchner, one of the most distinguished representatives of the Michigan bar, an association that was of great value to him. Following his admission to the bar he remained with Mr. Kirchner and later was with the former attorney general, now governor, Alexander J. Groesbeek, for
six months. He then became attorney for the state labor department, occupying the position at Lansing, Michigan, for a year. In 1915 he became assistant cor- poration counsel of Detroit, and was occupying that position when elected to congress. For five years he has furnished legal opinions to the city of Detroit and its various departments, and he has conducted some of the city's most important litigation in the circuit and supreme courts. He has likewise been connected with educational interests of the city as professor of contracts in the law school of the Uni- versity of Detroit. On Jannary I, 1921, Mr. Bren- nan resigned from the city's legal department and opened a private law office at 1018 Penobscot building.
Although a young man Mr. Brennan has for a number of years figured prominently in connection with political affairs. He has always been a stalwart republican and his position upon any vital question is never an equivocal one. He is well known as the author of the Brennan War Veterans' Preference Act, is the author of the Justices' Court Reorganization Act, and he became a stalwart champion of the Fed- eral Women Suffrage Amendment. In 1918 he was elected to the state senate withont opposition, a faet indicative of his popularity and the confidence re- posed in him by the people among whom he has spent practically his entire life. His record speaks for itself. He has always been the supporter of reform, progress and improvement and his influence and ef- forts have been a potent force in accomplishing de- sired ends. In 1920 he became the republican nom- inee for the office of representative in congress from the thirteenth district of Detroit, and the vote of his fellow townsmen showed him to be the choice of a large majority. He is alive to all questions of public interest and is particularly alert to the vital problems that are before the country today. With the analytical mind of the lawyer he goes readily to the root of any matter and his inductive mind quickly foresees the effect arising from the cause. His friends-and they are legion-seem to have no hesitancy in prophesying that Vincent M. Brennan will make a congressional record of which his constituents will have every reason to be proud.
On the 17th of July, 1915, Mr. Brennan was married to Miss Rnth Hurley of Detroit, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John T. Hurley, the father a well known coal and fuel dealer of this city. They have become par- ents of a daughter, Ann, born in Detroit in 1916. The religious faith of Mr. Brennan is that of the Roman Catholic church, and he is a member of the Knights of Columbus. He belongs also to the Order of the Amaranth, is a member of the University of Detroit Alumni Association and the Harvard Club of Michigan. He has membership with the Detroit Athletic Club, the Oakland Hills Country Club, the Detroit Board of Commerce, the Detroit Auto Club, and along strictly professional lines with the Detroit and Michigan State Bar Associations and the Lawyers
HON. VINCENT M. BRENNAN
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Club. He is a clean-cut man, forceful and resource- ful, and never stops short of the attainment of his objective. He has medals in elocution and oratory, won while a student in the Detroit College, as well as a medal for the highest general standing of anyone in his class, and these seem to point to the fact that one may expect to hear from him in debate upon the floor of the house. His past record speaks for itself. On one occasion the Detroit News said editorially: "Senator Brennan earns the commendation of thought- ful men who believe in democracy, and rebukes willful men who would have their own way for personal reasons." This course indicates the keynote of his character. He believes in the American people, pro- tection of their rights, and the safeguarding of their interests, and his entire publie conrse has been an indication of this belief.
LEROY JOHN GILBERT, one of the well known of the younger attorneys at the Detroit bar, was born at Port Huron, Michigan, June 9, 1887, and is a sơn of James and Margaret (Oakman) Gilbert, the latter a sister of Robert Oakman of Detroit. The son was but six years of age when his parents removed to Bay City, Michigan, where he attended school until he had completed the work of the sixth grade. He after- ward spent three terms in the graded schools of Detroit and then entered the Central high school. He finished his public school work, however, in Saginaw, Michigan, and in preparation for professional activity attended the Detroit College of Law, which conferred upon him the LL. B. degree in 1911.
In the meantime Mr. Gilbert had made his start in the business world, having in 1909 entered the employ of his uncle, Robert Oakman, with whom he remained until 1919. This connection was a valuable training for Mr. Gilbert, as he had thoroughly ac- quainted himself with every phase of the business while associated with his unele, and was no small factor in causing Mr. Gilbert to confine his profes- sional practice largely to matters involving real prop- erty. Mr. Gilbert is secretary and treasurer of the Wark-Gilbert Company, organized in 1916 to handle real estate holdings of the organizers and one of the representative firms in that business in Detroit.
On the 26th of November, 1913, Mr. Gilbert was married to Miss Louise Pesenecker of Saginaw, Mich- igan, and they have two children: Marian and Mar- jorie. The family holds membership in the Episco- pal church and Mr. Gilbert gives his political en- dorsement to the republican party. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he has taken the Consistory degrees, and has also crossed the sands of the desert with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is well known as a clubman of Detroit, belonging to the Detroit Yacht Club and the Detroit Automo- bile Club, the Lawyers Club and to the Detroit Bar Association and the Board of Commerce. His activi- ties are thus broad and varied and his enterprise has
carried him into important relations. He is a director of the Robert Oakman Land Company. He does with all of his might what his hands find to do and the thoroughness and enterprise which he has displayed have constituted the basic elements of his growing success.
BENJAMIN FREDERICK MORTENSON, attorney at law and a prominent figure in real estate circles, being president of the Benjamin F. Mortensou Com- pany of Detroit and secretary and treasurer of the Mortenson Land Company, was born at Roberts, Illi- nois, March 15, 1874. His college days were spent in Ann Arbor, for he became a student in the University of Michigan, in which he completed his law course in 1911. In the same year he was admitted to prae- tice at the bar of this state and opened an office in Detroit. Through the intervening period his time has been divided between the conduct of his law practice and his constantly developing real estate and manufac- turing interests and he is regarded as an authority ou all questions relative to the real estate market and other business conditions in Detroit. He is the president of the Benjamin F. Mortenson Company, also the secretary and treasurer of the Mortenson Land Company and is the president of the Baker Tractor Corporation, all of which, profiting by his progressiveness and enterprise in business, are proving profitable concerns of the city.
On the 10th of September, 1900, in Ottawa, Illinois, Mr. Mortenson was united in marriage to Miss Kathryn Elizabeth Westmeyer, a daughter of the late William Westmeyer, and they have one son, Benjamin Frank- lin, born January 15, 1905.
Mr. Mortenson is a republican in his political views and he is well known in club circles of Detroit. He is a member of the Detroit Real Estate Board and the Board of Commerce, cooperating to advance the interests of the city, to increase its trade relations and to uphold its civic standards. He is also identi- fied with the Young Men's Christian Association and the Civic League. During the period of the World war he was an adjutant in Division E, served in con- nection with the patriotic fund drive, and was one of the Four-Minute men. All of those things which are a matter of vital importance to city, commonwealth or country are of deep concern to him and he is an earnest supporter of every measure which he believes will prove of public benefit.
ALLAN HOWARD FRAZER, who for six terms served as prosecuting attorney of Wayne county, was a man whose profession was never to him merely a source of livelihood but he made it the avenue of intense effort on the side of law and order, of justice and right. Born in Detroit, January 26, 1859, he was a son of Thomas and Cecilia (Clancy) Frazer. After attending the public schools he entered the University of Michigan and won his Bachelor of Philosophy de-
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gree upon graduation with the class of 1851. The following year he was admitted to the bar and through the intervening period engaged in the general prae- tiee of law, save when filling publie offices along the line of his profession. He thus practiced in his native city for thirty-eight years and his inereasing power and ability brought him prominently to the front as an able defender of right. In 1889 he was made as- sistant prosecuting attorney of Wayne county, which office he filled for a year. In 1892 he was elected prosecuting attorney and was three times reelected to the position, deelining a renomination for a fifth term in order to enter again upon the general practice of law. In 1913 he was appointed special counsel for the city of Detroit and made a most enviable reputa- tion for his aggressive prosecution of lawbreakers. When he entered office in 1893 there were five hun- dred and sixty-six cases on the docket. Within two years his efforts had resulted in breaking up the gang of criminals that had been operating in Detroit for fifteen years, their leader being sent to prison. He used the utmost care and diligence in obtaining evidence and was untiring in his efforts to rid the city of the crime wave which had long proved so detrimental to Detroit's interests. His labors were indeed far-reaching and resultant and he possessed in large measure all of those strong points of the re- sourceful lawyer who stands as a worthy exponent of the profession to which right and justice, life and liberty must look for protection. He was war corpora- tion counsel of the city of Detroit in 1918 and had been special counsel for the United States government.
Mr. Frazer was united in marriage in Detroit to Miss Jennie Palmer and they became parents of a son and a daughter: John P. and Frances J., the latter the wife of Charles M. Carmichael. Mr. Frazer was well known in the social eireles of the city, as is his wife, occupying an enviable position wherever true worth and intelligence are received as the pass- ports into good society. Mr. Frazer belonged to the De- troit Bar Association and to the Detroit Board of Com- merce, cooperating in all the well defined plans of the latter organization for the city's benefit and improve- ment. He belonged to the Country, Detroit Boat, Auto- mobile and Detroit Athletie Clubs and largely found his recreation in his reading, which covered a very wide scope, keeping him in touch with the best litera- ture of the day and with all the questions of vital interest to mankind. Mr. Frazer passed away Jan- uary 20, 1921, and in his death Detroit and Wayne county suffered the loss of an honored and representa- tive man. Hosts of friends and acquaintances joined with the family in feeling the bereavement to be a personal one.
LEWIS H. TANNER. Since starting out in the business world at a meager salary of a dollar and a half per week, Lewis H. Tanner has progressed until he is numbered among the prominent business men
of the city, being proprietor of the business carried on under the name of the Central Storage Company. Not all days in his career, however, have been equally bright, for at times he has seen the storm clouds gather, threatening disaster and ruin, nevertheless he has persevered and in time the sun of prosperity has come to shine fully upon him. He is now at the head of a business of large and gratifying propor- tions and, moreover, it is the visible evidence of his life of well directed energy, thrift and sound judg- ment.
Mr. Tanner was born at Brighton, Michigan, Sep- tember 8, 1866, and is a son of George C. and Clarissa (Hause) Tanner. The father, a native of New York, came to Michigan in 1860, settling at Brighton, in which city his future wife was born. He afterwards engaged in farming near Brighton, but in later years established his home in Detroit, where he remained until his death in 1910. He had long survived his wife who passed away in Brighton in 1871. In their family were two children, one of whom passed away in infancy.
Lewis H. Tanner is therefore the only surviving member of the family. He attended the public schools of Brighton to his thirteenth year, and then started out to provide for his own support. Coming to De- troit in 1879 he entered the employ of L. A. Smith, a dry goods merchant, conducting business at the corner of Woodward and Congress streets. His salary was the munificent sum of a dollar and a half per week, and in order to obtain something more with which to meet his weekly expenses he sold Sunday papers on the downtown streets, and in this way managed to get together enough money to pay his board and buy his clothes. After four years with Mr. Smith he left that employ to become connected with Roe Stephens, a piano dealer on Woodward avenue, with whom he continued until 1890. While in the service of Mr. Stephens he several times ap- proached the latter on the subject of bettering his posi- tion and starting out in business for himself. At length Mr. Stephens advised him to establish a storage warehouse, and he would become a partner in the under- taking. Accordingly a building loft was rented for one hundred dollars per month on Gratiot avenue, where the A. W. Woods millinery store now stands. Mr. Tanner had through elose economy saved one hundred dollars from his earnings. His first month's business showed a net earning of but two dollars and a half, which was not very encouraging. Mr. Tanner was advised by Mr. Stephens-then his part- ner-to dispose of his stock of pianos and undertook to sell them for him, without success, as the price asked was too high. Mr. Tanner then made a counter proposition to buy the pianos outright and give notes for their payment. This proposition Mr. Stephens finally accepted, and Mr. Tanner disposed of the pianos and collected enough to pay off all indebted- ness, while in the end he obtained a handsome profit.
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