USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. IV > Part 105
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His son, James D. Standish, Jr., attended the gram- mar and high schools of his native city, the Detroit University, and afterward entered Williams College at Williamstown, Massachusetts, from which he was grad- uated with the class of 1913, while later he devoted a
year to postgraduate work at Harvard. He then joined the Crown Hat Company of Detroit, with which he was actively identified for three years, and afterward asso- ciated himself with Nicol, Ford & Company, with which firm he is still connected. He is a director in the New- land Hat Company, and is also a member of the direc- torate of Hammond, Standish & Company, treasurer of the Detroit Beef Company, and president of the Alcona Land Company and is a man of large affairs, who is con- tinually broadening the scope of his activities. He pos- sesses that quality which has been termed commercial sense and his powers of administration and initiative spirit have led him into important connections.
Mr. Standish was united in marriage to Miss Isabell Stroh, a member of one of the most prominent and highly respected families of the city. During the World war he took an active part in the work of the American Pro- tective League, of which Frank Creel was the head, and acted as his assistant in Detroit. He is a well known clubman, being connected with the Detroit Athletic, Country, University, Detroit, Racquet and Lochmoor Country Clubs, and of the last named organization he is the president. He is an enthusiastic devotee of golf and is a member of the executive board of the United States Golf Association, is also connected with the Detroit Golf Association and is one of the directors of the Michi- gan Golf League. He worthily bears a name that for many years has been synonymous with integrity, enter- prise and reliability in business circles of Detroit and is a native son in whose record the city takes justifiable pride.
JAY W. RUSSELL. In thoroughness and the mastery of every detail of the duties that have devolved upon him lies the secret of the success which has brought Jay W. Russell to the position which he now occupies in business circles of Detroit. He was born September 3, 1884, at Bethany, Connecticut, and is a representative of one of the old and prominent families of New England. His education was acquired in the public schools of that state and he subsequently entered upon an apprenticeship to the carriage builder's trade, working in a shop in Union City, Connecticut, where he received practical training in every branch of the business. He was obliged to put in long hours of hard work but acquired a thorough knowledge of the trade, in which he has become recognized as an expert. He started to work at his trade when a youth of sixteen and continued to follow it until his twenty-first year, having charge of a shop when but eighteen. For two years he was a foreman in the employ of the Henry Hooker Carriage Company of New Haven, Connecticut, which bore the reputation of turning out the highest class of work. He has made a special study of mechanical and engine work and fourteen years ago constructed two automobiles. He also built one of the first air-cooled cars, which was delivered to a purchaser in Ohio. He has had broad experience in connection with the automobile industry, being first identified with the Electric Vehicle Company (owners of the Selden patent)
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and its successor, the Columbia Motor Company of Hartford, Connecticut, for a time. He was also foreman and later superintendent of the Pope-Hartford Company, with which he remained for four years, and then became connected with the Fiat Automobile Company at Pough- keepsie, New York, when they first started their factory in the United States, he being superintendent of the carriage division. In 1912 he came to Detroit and became superintendent of painting for the Wilson Body Corpora- tion, which he represented in that capacity for three years. He then became a partner in establishing, in 1915, what is now the Congdon-Russell Company, engaged in art-custom motor car painting, trimming and body repair work. The business has assumed very large proportions owing to the high-class work turned out by the firm and their enterprising business methods. In April, 1920, the business was incorporated under the present name, Mr. Russell being vice president and general manager.
Mr. Russell married Miss Lillian Bailey of Essex, Connecticut, and they have become the parents of two daughters, L. Jeannette and Winifred Bailey, both of whom are promising musicians. Mr. and Mrs. Russell are members of the Episcopal church and his political allegiance is given to the republican party. Since the age of twenty-one he has been identified with Masonry, be- coming a member of Charter Oak Lodge, A. F. & A. M., at Hartford, Connecticut. He is also a member of Palestine Chapter, R. A. M., Michigan Sovereign Con- sistory and Moslem Temple of the Mystic Shrine and is likewise affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Throughout his career he has closely applied himself to the work in hand and has steadily advanced, each forward step bringing him a broader outlook and wider opportunities. He has had broad experience in a business way and his enterprise and energy have carried him forward to a substantial point on the high road to success.
HERMANN DARMSTAETTER, chairman of the board of directors of the Mundus Products Company, Limited, of Detroit, died on November 3, 1921. His active business career covered a period of more than forty years and he attained a foremost position in in- dustrial and financial circles. Mr. Darmstaetter was born in Detroit on the 27th of September, 1859, a son of Jacob and Louisa (Koch) Darmstaetter, and was one of a family of five children: Hermann, Gustav and Otto, all of whom are deceased; Mrs. Louis Wirth- wein of Columbus, Ohio; and Mrs. William Kinmont of Detroit. Jacob Darmstaetter was a native of Darm- stadt, Germany, and was about sixteen years of age when he came to Detroit, the trip consuming more than a month. He was first engaged in the baking business, later establishing a brewery business in De- troit in 1866, and conducting it until he was suc- ceeded in its management by his sons, Hermann and Gustav.
Hermann Darmstaetter was educated in the Detroit public schools and the Detroit Business University.
In 1877 he became identified with his father's busi- ness and in 1899 purchased the latter's interest and succeeded him as president and treasurer of the com- pany. In the year 1903 the business was incorporated under the name of the West Side Brewing Company, Limited. In recent years this has been transformed into the Mundus Products Company, Limited, and the company is today engaged in the manufacture of va- rious kinds of beverages. Mr. Darmstaetter was elected chairman of the board of directors of the new corporation, and while he directed the policy of the business, he left the active management to others and was in a sense retired, enjoying a rest which he had truly earned and richly merited. Mr. Darm- staetter was also a director of the Michigan Bonding Company, a director of the First State Bank, formerly the German-American Bank, and had other important business connections.
Mr. Darmstaetter was married in 1886 to Miss Min- nie Wolff, who was born in Eagle Harbor, Michigan, her parents removing with their family to Detroit when she was but a year old. Her father, who was a trunk manufacturer, passed away at the com- paratively early age of forty-two years. To Mr. and Mrs. Darmstaetter were born four children: Meta, who married Thomas J. Thorpe, secretary of the Mundus Products Company, Limited, of Detroit; Armin A., who is chairman of the board of directors of the Mundus Products Company; Elsie, who is Mrs. Hay Langenheim and resides in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; and Carl J., of Detroit.
In his political views Mr. Darmstaetter was a re- publican but was not bound by party ties. While he supported the candidates of the party in all na- tional elections, at local elections he considered only the capability of the candidate, as no party issues were involved in local elections. He was a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce, the Harmonie Society, the Detroit Athletic Club and the Detroit Yacht Club. He was at one time president of the Brewers' Asso- ciation. He was a man highly esteemed, having many warm friends in Detroit, and those who knew him at- tested his business ability and the many sterling traits of his character. The family residence is at 115 Arden Park.
L. J. McKINNEY, a prominent and prosperous business man of Detroit, where for years he has been identified with the commercial life of the city, is at present capably filling the position of treasurer of the All Power Truck Company. He is a native of the Keystone state, born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, February 25, 1881, a son of H. R. and Lavinia (McGuire) Mckinney.
Mr. Mckinney was educated at Olean (New York) high school, at Lima Seminary, and finished at Cornell University. On the completion of his college course he went to work for the Standard Oil Company, in which business his father was a stockholder, and remained with that company for about eight years. He then went into
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the oil business for himself, at Prairie Depot, Ohio, con- tinuing to operate in this line from 1903 to 1911, during these years having done very well. In the following year Mr. Mckinney started in the mercantile business in Detroit, and remained in that line until the early part of May, 1919, when he became treasurer of the All Power Truck Company, reference to which is made on another page of this work. He is also interested in other com- mercial projects, and is generally regarded in business circles as a sound and farseeing man of affairs.
On August 29, 1904, Mr. Mckinney was united in marriage to Miss Clara Louise Germann, and both he and his wife are prominent in the social and cultural activities of Detroit, where they have hosts of friends.
George Mckinney, brother of L. J. Mckinney, is a graduate of St. John's Military College, Manlius, New York, and a well known business man, being president of the Tupper Lake Chemical Company and of the Mc- Kinney-Ferguson Company.
JAMES McNAMARA, a prominent member of the Detroit bar, who passed away on the 30th of October, 1920, was born in Dexter, Michigan, July 4, 1866, being one of the family of three children whose parents were Mr. and Mrs. James McNamara. The father was a native of Ireland and became a well known railroad man, devoting his life to that business.
James McNamara acquired his early education in the public schools of Dexter, passing through consecutive grades to the high school, from which in due course of time he was graduated. He later continued his education in the University of Michigan and completed both literary and law courses there. He was thus splendidly qualified for his chosen profession and entered upon active practice in Alpena, Michigan, where he soon won for himself a name as a foremost representative of the bar. Elected to the office of prosecuting attorney of Alpena, he served continuously for six consecutive years in that position, making a most creditable record. He also filled the posi- tion of postmaster of Alpena for four years and in January, 1899, he became a resident of Detroit, seeking the broader field offered in the larger city.
With his removal to Detroit, Mr. McNamara entered into partnership relations with Frank C. Cook, under the style of McNamara & Cook. At a later period, being joined by a third partner, the style of McNamara, Cook & Dohany was assumed. After some time the partner- ship was dissolved and Mr. McNamara continued in practice alone until he was joined by John P. Scallen, the firm of MeNamara & Scallen continuing its existence until the death of the senior partner, on the 30th of October, 1920. Mr. McNamara was long recognized as a promi- nent member of the bar. His careful preparation of cases was one of the strong elements in his success and his de- ductions were always clear and logical, his reasoning cogent and his argument forceful. As a criminal lawyer he had not a peer in Michigan.
Mr. McNamara was united in marriage to Miss Lillie Conmey, a daughter of Thomas Conmey of Bay City,
Michigan. Mrs. McNamara is a member of the Woman's Club of Detroit, of the League of Catholic Women and of the Catholic Study Club. Both Mr. and Mrs. McNamara held membership in the Catholic church. Mr. McNamara also belonged to the Detroit Athletic Club, the Knights of Columbus, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Huron Point Club, while in his political views he was a democrat but never an office seeker. Along strictly professional lines he was identified with the Detroit Bar Association, the Michigan State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. For many years he acted as chief counsel for the Detroit & Mackinac Railway and he also served as president of the Welfare Commission. He concentrated his efforts and attention upon his professional duties and by reason of his wide study, close application and his powers as an analyst he won prominence in his chosen field, ranking for many years as a leading member not only of the bar of Detroit but of the state as well.
JOHN S. VAN ALSTYNE, JR. One of the foremost figures in business circles of Detroit is John S. Van Alstyne, Jr., who has been connected with commercial interests of this city since 1889. He is president of the John S. Van Alstyne Company, engravers, with offices in the Detroit News building, and for nearly thirty years has been identi- fied with this line of activity, being now at the head of one of the largest enterprises of this character in the state of Michigan. He was born in Wyandotte, Michigan, Janu- ary 22, I869, a son of John S. and Helen (Folger) Van Alstyne, and in the public schools of Wyandotte and Detroit he acquired his education. In 1889 he became an employe of the Aldine Printing Company, with whom he remained for a year, after which he identified himself with the firm of Winn & Hammond, also engaged in the printing business, remaining with that house from 1891 until 1895, during which period he was employed as an engraver. He became one of the organizers and the vice president of the Peninsular Engraving Company, with which he continued until the formation of his present company in 1915. He is thoroughly familiar with the engraving business, owing to his long connection there- with, and is therefore able capably to supervise the labors of those in his employ. He has secured experts in this line and the superior quality of work turned out by the John S. Van Alstyne Company has obtained for it a large clientele, which includes the Detroit News and many of the leading business houses of the city. As president of the company he is bending his energies to administrative direction and executive control and that he possesses keen discrimination, initiative spirit and marked business ability is indicated in the fact that he has developed one of the largest enterprises of this character in the entire state. His plans are carefully formulated and promptly executed, for he is a man of determined purpose who carries forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes and in his vocabulary there is no such word as fail.
On the 12th of June, 1897, Mr. Van Alstyne was united in marriage to Miss Belle Watkins of Wyandotte, Michi-
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gan, and they have become the parents of a son, John S., Jr. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and his religious faith is indicated by his member- ship in the Congregational church. He is interested in all that has to do with the welfare and progress of his city and is an active and earnest member of the Detroit Board of Commerce, while fraternally he is identified with the Masons, being an exemplary follower of the craft. Thoroughness and diligence have characterized Mr. Van Alstyne in all of his work and in business circles he has become recognized as a man to be trusted. His success is largely attributable to the fact that he has continued in the line of activity which he first entered and his well developed powers have brought him the preeminence that follows superior ability and concentrated effort, while his salient characteristics are those which make for popularity.
LOWELL HARRIS TURNBULL, president of the firm of Weil, Turnbull & Company, wholesale produce dealers in Detroit, was born in Saginaw, Michigan, December 16, 1875, a son of Theophilus Wells and Emily (Thompson) Turnbull. The father's birth oc -. curred in what is now Kitchener, then Berlin, Can- ada, while the mother was born in Saginaw county, Michigan, and they resided throughout their married life in Saginaw and Detroit. During his latter days the father was engaged in the wholesale produce busi- ness, which he followed both in Saginaw and Detroit, but is now deceased. The mother survives and makes her home in this city. They were parents of two children, the brother being Guy P., of Detroit.
The elder, Lowell H. Turnbull, attended the public and high schools of Saginaw and afterward went to Toledo, Ohio, where he secured a position as delivery- man with Nelson Morris & Company, meat packers, remaining there for three years. Coming to Detroit, he became an employe of the firm of Turnbull & Anstey, produce commission merchants, and when later this firm was dissolved he became associated with his father in business and was afterward his successor in the conduct of the enterprise. This business he subsequently consolidated with that of Mr. Weil, who was formerly with George Collins, and since that time Weil, Turnbull & Company have condueted a success- ful and growing wholesale produce business. For twenty-two years Mr. Turnbull has been actively asso- ciated with this undertaking, which employs from twelve to fifteen people in handling the farm prod- uets and fruit sold by the firm. Mr. Turnbull is also a director of the Gratiot Central Market Company and the United Fruit Auction Company and is thus con- trolling extensive and important business interests.
On the 1st of August, 1899, Mr. Turnbull was mar- ried to Miss C. Louise Anglim, daughter of Edward Anglim of Adrian, Michigan. They have one child, Edwin Bernard, born in Detroit, May 22, 1900. He was a volunteer in the United States navy during the
World war and is now attending school in Los Angeles, California.
Mr. Turnbull gives his political allegiance to the republiean party. He belongs to the Masons and the Elks, is a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce, of the Detroit Auto Club, the Detroit Real Estate Board and of the Methodist Episcopal ehureh-asso- ciations and connections which indicate the nature of his interests and the rules which govern his conduct. His has been a well spent life and the sterling qual- ities which he has displayed in his business career have won him steady advancement until he is now enjoying substantial success as a wholesale produce dealer, the firm of Weil, Turnbull & Company being one of the foremost in the handling of its line of goods in Detroit. From the humble position of de- liveryman with Nelson Morris & Company in Toledo he has advaneed steadily to the presidency of the company in which his name figures as that of one of the chief stockholders. Mr. Turnbull's residence is In Wood Place, on Cranbrook road, Bloomfield town- ship, Oakland county.
MAJOR BENJAMIN D. SAFFORD, who won his title by service in the Civil war and who spent his life in Michigan, residing in Detroit during the last seventeen years of his earthly existence, passed away on the 27th of June, 1920, when he had reached the venerable age of eighty-three years. He was born in the town of Canton, Wayne county, Michigan, April 23, 1837, and was one of a family of seven children whose parents were James and Eveline (Adams) Safford. The father followed farming as a life work and in the year 1849 took up government land in Center township, Wayne county, transforming a wild tract into rich and productive fields.
It was upon the old homestead farm that Benjamin D. Safford spent the days of his boyhood and youth, his experiences being those of the farm bred lad. He obtained a public school education, which was continued until he had completed the high school course, and later he became a student in the State Normal School at Ypsilanti. Be- fore completing his course there, however, the Civil war was inaugurated and his patriotic spirit prompted his enlistment at Ypsilanti on the 15th of August, 1862, as a member of Company E, Seventeenth Michigan Infantry, of which he was made sergeant. Promotions followed from time to time and on the 23d of February, 1863, he was commissioned second lieutenant, while on the 4th of September of the same year he became first lieutenant. On the Ist of May, 1864, he was advanced to the rank of captain and he was on the staff of General Wilcox, First Division, Ninth Corps, being made major for gallant services before Petersburg. While captain of infantry he was captured at the battle of Spottsylvania Court- house but made his escape from the train while being taken to Macon, Georgia, and after forty-three days, traveling as he could and hiding when he must, he re- joined the Union forces at Charleston, West Virginia. He participated in more than ten important battles and
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in several minor engagements and was mustered out on the 3d of January, 1865.
It was subsequent to his Civil war experience that Major Safford resumed his studies at Ypsilanti and in due time was graduated there. He then took up the profession of teaching, which he followed at Grand Haven, Michigan, and later he entered commercial circles by becoming a merchant in Grand Haven. In 1891 he removed from Grand Haven to Lansing, Michigan, where he again was connected with mercantile interests for some time, and twelve years later he came to Detroit, where the last seventeen years of his life were passed.
On the 1st of September, 1878, Major Safford was united in marriage to Miss Mary Belle Duncan, a daughter of Arien Duncan, a representative of a prominent family of Vermont and a well known silversmith who passed away in 1881. To Major and Mrs. Safford were born a daughter and three sons: Lucy D., who is the wife of Dr. T. Stewart Hamilton, superintendent of Harper Hospital at Detroit; James H. and Robert D., of Detroit; and L. A. Safford of St. Louis.
Major Safford was a member of the Baptist church, with which his family are still identified. He belonged to the Military Order of the Loyal Legion and at all times greatly appreciated the friendship and companionship of his old army comrades. His worth as a man and citizen was widely acknowledged and he was ever as loyal to the interests of his country in days of peace as when he followed the nation's starry banner on the battle fields of the south, doing his part toward the preservation of the Union.
WALTER S. WHEELER, attorney at law, was born in Hudson, Massachusetts, December 23, 1875, his parents being Frank D. and Mary (Roby) Wheeler, who were natives of Massachusetts, where they spent their lives. The father was engaged in the shoe business as a manufacturer and both he and his wife passed away at Hudson. In their family were six children: Carleton B., living at Hudson; Granville E., a resident of Bristol, New Hampshire; Walter S .; and Mrs. O. D. Light, Mrs. D. D. Rose and Mrs. W. L. Persons, all residents of Hud- son.
After attending the public and high schools of his native city Walter S. Wheeler took up the study of engineering at Tufts College and later attended the University of Maine for three and a half years. He then came to the middle west and entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor for a course in law, being graduated in 1904. On the completion of his studies he went to San Francisco, California, where he followed his profession for a year, being admitted to the bar of that state. In 1905 he returned to Michigan, and settling in Detroit, became a partner in the firm of McIntyre & Wheeler, in which connection he remained until 1912, enjoying a large clientage during that period. He then withdrew from the partnership to engage in general practice on his own account and has since been connected with much im- portant litigation heard in the courts of his district, his Vol. IV-58
ability being widely recognized by his colleagues and contemporaries at the bar as well as by the general public.
On the 20th of August, 1908, Mr. Wheeler was married to Miss Jennie E. Patterson of Detroit, and they have become the parents of four children: Margaret E., who was born in Detroit in 1909; Mary A., born in 1912; Virginia S., born in 1916; and Walter S., Jr., born on the 21st of January, 1919. The two eldest children are now in school.
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