The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. IV, Part 15

Author: Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932, ed; Stocking, William, 1840- joint ed; Miller, Gordon K., joint ed
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Detroit-Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1024

USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. IV > Part 15

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

"Resolved, That a copy of these proceedings and resolutions, under seal of the bank, be transmitted to Mr. Owen by the cashier, with the best wishes of the board for his continued happiness and prosperity."

That popular confidence and esteem were not re- stricted to local limitations as touching Mr. Owen is further evidenced in the fact that in 1860, at the climacteric period just prior to the outbreak of the Civil war and when financial disquietude was in evidence throughout the nation, he was elected to the office of state treasurer, of which he remained the incumbent from 1861 to 1865, covering the period of the war, and with utmost fidelity and discrimination did he administer the fiscal affairs of the state, pro- tecting its interests and loyally upholding the hands of the general state administration in providing for the needs of the Michigan troops at home and in the field. In the first years of the war his personal credit and reputation, together with those of the late Hon. Henry P. Baldwin, who was chairman of the senate finance committee during a portion of the same period, were the prime agencies which enabled the state to successfully negotiate the loans which it was compelled to make. Never a seeker of public office, Mr. Owen ac- cepted the same only when he felt that civic duty and responsibility obligated him to subordinate his own wishes for the public good, and in no position of trust to which he was called did he fail to accomplish much in the direction designated. In 1836, the year prior to the admission of Michigan to the Union, he held the office of alderman at large in Detroit, and in the same body he represented the first ward in 1844-5. In 1839-40 he was a member of the board of education; from 1859 to 1870 he was commissioner of grades; and from 1865 to 1879 he was a valued member of the board of water commissioners. His interest in ed- ucational matters was of insistent type, and he was a member of the board of regents of the University of Michigan from 1841 to 1848-a period during which the affairs of the institution especially needed wise management and guidance. In his earlier years he served as a member of the volunteer fire department of Detroit, having been foreman of Company No. 1 in 1837, and from 1841 to 1843 he was president of the department society. In 1864, while state treas- urer, he was also president of the Michigan Soldiers'

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Relief Society, and he was one of the first directors of the Detroit College of Medicine, to whose upbuild- ing he largely contributed. Mr. Owen was a trustee and treasurer of the Central Methodist Episcopal church for half a century and one of its most generous supporters. He was also a trustee of Albion College and in addition to his contributions thereto in his lifetime he made liberal provisions for the school in his will. As early as 1837 he served as president of a state temperance society and for more than forty years he was trustee and treasurer of Elmwood Ceme- tery Association. Of him it has been said: "His bene- factions have not been confined within denominational lines, but whenever time and influence and means could help solve social problems he has been ready to aid. His long residence in the city, his upright life and careful judgment, and the many services he has rendered the public, have made his name a syn- onym for character and worth." He married Jane Cook and their children were: Edmund J. and La- fayette, both deceased; John, Jr .; and Fannie, the widow of George H. Lothrop of Detroit. Mrs. Owen died March 22, 1908.

After attending the public schools of his native city John Owen, Jr., whose name introduces this re- view, entered the employ of the Detroit Dry Dock Company in 1885 and there remained for three years, thus obtaining his initial business experience. Since 1888 he has been engaged in the real estate business as manager of properties and in 1895 took over the management of the John Owen estate, which has claimed the major part of his time and attention throughout the intervening period of a quarter of a century. He has important interests under his direc- tion, for the estate embraces valuable realty holdings. He is also the secretary and treasurer of the Cook Farm Company, Limited. He has thoroughly ac- quainted himself with real estate values, has care- fully systematized the business interests under his control and has steadily increased the value of the estate through judicious investment and wise care.

On the 4th of June, 1890, in Detroit, was celebrated the marriage of John Owen and Miss Blanche Fletcher. Two interesting children are now members of the household, John (III), born March 12, 1895; and Helen. Mr. Owen and his wife are communicants of the Episcopal church. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and while he does not seek nor desire public office, he is an earnest supporter of the progressive plans put forth by the Detroit Board of Commerce for the benefit and upbuilding of the city. He is a member of that organization and is also connected with the Detroit Real Estate Board. In club circles, too, he is widely known, having mem- hership in the Grosse Pointe Hunt Club, the Bloom- field Club, the Detroit Club, the Detroit Athletic Club, the Detroit Boat Club and the Country Club. His social qualities make for personal popularity and his unfeigned cordiality has gained for him the friend-

ship of the great majority of those with whom he has come into contact. His life has been spent in Detroit and his fellow townsmen speak of him as a valuable and representative citizen.

GEORGE E. BRAND. An eminent American finan- cier has said that if you would win success you must be willing to pay the price-the price of earnest, self-denying effort. Whether or not George E. Brand had ever heard this expression when he started out to make his own way in the world, the spirit back of it came to him with force, and throughout his career he has striven diligently and earnestly to make the best possible use of his opportunities and step by step has advanced from a most humble and obscure posi- tion in the business world until he stands today as one of the representative and rising young lawyers of Detroit. There has been no secret in his success. Industry and close application constituted the key which unlocked to him the portals of advancement and prosperity. He was born in Houghton, Michigan, June 11, 1888, a son of George and Isabella (Monville) Brand, the latter a native of Port Huron, Michigan, while the former was born in Houghton. His father, formerly a blacksmith, became the owner of a dray line and a teaming business and also conducted a woodyard at Houghton. There he passed away in 1907, having for many years survived his wife, who died in 1893. In their family were four children: George E .; Mrs. Joseph Le Blanc, who resides in Michigan; and Joseph L. and Carlos E., both of De- troit, the latter being connected with the Liberty Starter Company of this city.

George E. Brand pursued his early education in the public and high schools of Houghton but his course was not a continuous one. Like many boys in their early teens, he thought he preferred earning his liv- ing to applying himself to his textbooks and he started out to accomplish the former task. When his father died the necessity of providing for his own support faced him and he became an apprentice to a gas fitter at a dollar per day, which entire sum was used to pay for his board and room. After twenty- two days he went on the railroad as a newsboy at a salary of a dollar and a quarter per day and next was employed as night collector on a railroad ferry, but he became ill with pneumonia and upon his re- covery found himself two hundred dollars in debt. To meet this situation he began working with the pick and shovel at a wage of two dollars per day and at the same time he tended furnaces for the resi- dents of Houghton, doing anything that would en- able him to earn an honest living and gain a start. During all this time he was coming to a realization of the value of education and he began learning shorthand, typewriting and bookkeeping and worked in the law offices of Ball & Stone while thus per- fecting himself in those studies. He spent three years with that firm at Houghton, Michigan, as ste-

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nographer. Every night and holiday was devoted to study of high school subjects, with and without the aid of tutors. He afterward entered the State Uni- versity as a special student, his lack of actual high school attendance preventing his regular matriculation. However, after entering the university he made such strides in his law studies that by vote of the faculty he was granted the right to receive the regular LL. B. degree in 1912. He worked his way through the Uni- versity, during spare hours acting as secretary to many of the law professors. Coming to Detroit, he accepted a position in the office of Bernard B. Selling at a salary which after one month was doubled and at the end of the second month was tripled, while after four months he was admitted to a partnership and the relation was maintained under the firm style of Selling & Brand until the death of the senior partner in 1918. Since that time Mr. Brand has practiced alone and has a very large and distinctively repre- sentative clientage. He is attorney for the Americau Radiator Company, for the Prudential Insurance Com- pany, Burnham, Stoepel & Company, the Straus Broth- ers Company and other important corporations and it is a recognized fact that his law business is among the largest in the city.

On the 24th of June, 1914, Mr. Brand was married to Miss Elsie B. Jones, a daughter of Elias H. and Sarah A. Jones, the former prominent in mining circles at Negaunee, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Brand have one child: George Edward, born in Detroit, Oc- tober 25, 1918. Mr. Brand is a member of the Roman Catholic church.

Mr. Brand maintains an independent course in politics. He belongs to the Automobile Club, to the Detroit Board of Commerce, to the Lawyers Club and to the American Bar Association. His is a notable career of a self-made man, illustrating the fact that it is under the stimulus of opposition and the pressure of adversity that the strongest and best in men is brought out and developed. Providing for his own education beyond the slight advantage of the elemen- tary grades, he has through determination and per- sistent effort become one of Detroit's most intelligent, alert and progressive lawyers, who since his admission to the bar has made steady advancement until he now stands in the front rank of the profession.

C. J. McLENNAN, an expert chemist who was for many years prominently identified with the manufac- ture of paint, being regarded as an authority on this subject, now occupies a prominent position in indus- trial circles of Detroit as president of the Miracle Manufacturing Company, one of the important pro- ductive industries of the city. They are manufac- turers of Miracle washing cream, a dirt dissolvent whose valuable properties have already become widely recognized. Mr. McLennan is a native of Canada. He was born in Nova Scotia, February 26, 1868, a son of

John and Catherine McLennan, who reared a family of four children.

In the acquirement of an education C. J. McLen- nan attended the graded and high schools and later completed a course in chemistry, specializing in color. He then became identified with the paint business, being at first connected with the Massey Manufactur- ing Company of Toronto, Canada, with whom he re- mained for a considerable period. He next asso- ciated himself with the firm of French & Company, manufacturers of special paint for agricultural im- plements, and for three years was with that com- pany, after which he founded the McLennan Paint Company of Buffalo, New York, becoming its president. This became one of the largest enterprises of its kind in the country, furnishing employment to three hun- dred people, and for twenty-one years Mr. McLennan continued as its chief executive officer, most capably directing its affairs, but he at length sold the business to the Detroit White Lead Works. He is the inventor and owner of the patent rights of the McLennan dipping process, which was the first method of ap- plying paint by immersion. For twenty-eight years he was identified with the paint industry and few men in the country are better informed on this subject. He next became president of the Walker Company of Boston, extensively engaged in the building of smoke- less furnaces, and for three years continued to fill that office, which he resigned in 1912. He afterward became interested in the United States Home Building Company of New York, which was incorporated for three hundred thousand dollars and was awarded con- tracts for building many homes on Long Island. He was made vice president of the company and for three years was the incumbent of that position. In 1916 he came to Detroit and here organized the Miracle Manufacturing Company of New York, which was in- corporated for twenty thousand dollars, the capital stock being increased to fifty thousand dollars on the 24th of March, 1921. Mr. McLennan is the president and secretary of the company and is also the inventor of its manufactured product, Miracle washing cream. This is not a soap substitute but a dirt solvent which completely dissolves the fat elements of the soap and scientifically frees both the dirt and this soap fat from the meshes of the fabric. By simply boiling for a few minutes all of the dirt, grease and sediment are dissolved and washed out and the clothes are left entirely clean. The cream contains no acids or al- kalis and can be applied to the most delicate fabric without injury, being absolutely harmless. It is an article of great merit and an indispensable adjunct in the laundry, being now used in over fifty thousand Detroit homes. It is on sale in over twenty-five hun- dred drug stores, groceries and department stores of the city and is rapidly becoming known throughout the country, owing to its superior cleansing qualities. From its inception the business has enjoyed a contin-

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uous growth and twenty-five people are now employed in manufacturing the cream.

Mr. McLennan was married in Ogdensburg, New York, March 4, 1888, and has three children: Helen, the wife of H. M. Myler; Ella; and W. S., who is general sales manager of the Brandram Henderson Company of Montreal, Canada. His political alleg- iance is given to the democratic party. He is regarded as an authority on chemical subjects and his researches along this line have constituted valuable factors in modern industry. He possesses those qualities which make for leadership in any branch of activity to which he may turn his attention and his progressive spirit and superior business ability make him a decided acquisition to Detroit's citizenship.

CLIFFORD JOHN HINKLEY, who passed away on the 17th of January, 1922, was born in Vanderbilt, Michigan, May 1, 1891, a son of A. V. and Mary Hinkley, the former also a native of Michigan, while the latter was born in England and came to the new world in her girlhood days with her parents, who settled in this state, where she grew to womanhood and was married. The founder of the Hinkley family in Michigan was John Hinkley, grandfather of C. J. Hinkley. The former was born in the state of New York and in his boyhood days came to Michigan, settling in Jackson county, where he was reared and educated. A. V. Hinkley attended school in Michigan and after reaching man's estate was married and en- gaged in merchandising at Vanderbilt. Still later he entered the banking business on Cheboygan and for the past twenty-two years has given his attention to the condnet of a bank. During the last fifteen years he has also engaged extensively in operating in real estate. He is now the president of the Onaway State Savings Bank of Onaway, Michigan, where he and his wife are prominent citizens.

Clifford J. Hinkley, their only child, attended the schools of Onaway and afterward became a student in the State Normal School at Mount Pleasant, Michigan, where he remained for a year and a half. He next entered the Detroit College of Law, from which he was graduated with the LL. B. degree in 1914. He entered upon his professional career in connection with Ralph B. Wilkinson, working in the office from the time he left school until 1916, when he was ad- mitted to a partnership under the firm style of Wil- kinson & Hinkley. This was one of the strong law firms of the state and their clientage was extensive and important.

On the 1st of September, 1918, Mr. Hinkley was married in Jackson, Michigan, to Miss Leonore Cun- ningham, a daughter of James and Julia Cunningham of Alpena, Michigan. During the World war Mr. Hinkley enlisted July 27, 1917, in the ordnance de- partment and was discharged November 27, 1917, at. the Rock Island arsenal on account of physical dis- ability. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity

and gave his political allegiance to the republican party. He also belonged to the Delta Theta Phi, to the Detroit Boat Club, the Detroit Athletic Club, the Lions Club, and the Board of Commerce, and along strictly professional lines was connected with the State and American Bar Associations.

RALPH J. HANDY. "Service" is the keynote which Ralph J. Handy has struck in relation to the management and conduct of his business. He now has the agency for the International trucks in Detroit and is also the president of the Handy Motor Man- nfacturing Company, engaged in the building of Handy automobiles. His business plans are most care- fully formulated and carefully executed and the value of his opinions and his methods in the motor car trade is manifest in the success which is now attend- ing him. Numbered among Michigan's native sons, he was born in Leslie, June 18, 1887, a son of James A. and Eugenia (Dieterle) Handy, who are natives of New York and of Germany, respectively. The mother came to America with her parents when but a year old and her father was afterward a prominent commission merchant and produce dealer of Detroit, in which city Mrs. Handy was reared, educated and married. James A. Handy engaged in the furniture business, in which he is still active and prominent in Detroit, where he and his wife yet make their home. Here they have reared their family of four children: Ralph J .; Arden W .; Lee; and Mrs. May Walker, the wife of R. W. Walker. All are Detroit residents. .

Ralph J. Handy attended the public schools of De- troit and after completing a course in the Central high school studied in the University of Chicago, from which he was graduated with the LL. B. degree in 1908. He never entered upon the practice of the profession, however, but became identified with the furniture business of his father and was thus asso- ciated from 1908 until 1915. In the latter year he became an employe of the Towar-Ayers Auto Com- pany, with which he was connected until 1917, when he established business on his own account under the name of the Ralph J. Handy Company and later began the manufacture of the Handy speed wagon, which was developed according to his own ideas. The company are also distributors of the International trucks for Wayne county and southeastern Michigan. Mr. Handy is sole proprietor of the International agency and also of the business of manufacturing the Handy speed wagon. He also maintains and owns a branch house in New York city, in the Columbia Circle building. In Detroit he employs sixty-three people and has one of the most complete of the smaller automobile manufacturing plants of the state. He bent his energies toward effecting an organization that would meet with International ideals when he took hold of the International truck, which is built in its entirety by the International Harvester Com- pany. This is not an assembled truck, everything in

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it from front bumper to the end gate being guaranteed by the International people, so that the International owner, when he wants service, does not find it nec- essary to seek experts of various kinds but can get all the service necessary at the International agencies. Mr. Handy has specialized on the idea of department- ized service and is thus solving one of the problems in connection with the automobile industry.

On the 3d of July, 1911, Mr. Handy was married to Miss Lillian C. Foley of Detroit, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Foley. They have one child: Marie Jane, born in Chicago, July 1, 1916.

Mr. Handy is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Oriental Lodge, to Michigan Sovereign Consistory and to Moslem Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is also connected with the Knights of Pythias and the nature of his interests and activities is fur- ther shown in the fact that he has membership in the Detroit Board of Commerce, the Adcraft Club, the Detroit Athletic Club, Gull Lake Country Club, and the Detroit Auto Club, while his religious faith is that of the Baptist church. He is a man of credit- able and high ideals as regards business and personal relations and the sterling traits of his character have won him confidence, trust and high regard.

GEORGE DINGWALL. The rapid industrial growth and development of Detroit has affected no other line of business in greater degree than it has real estate activities. The hundreds of thousands who have been brought to the city have of necessity sought homes and the real estate interests have constantly been stimulated with the result that subdivision after sub- division has been opened in order to meet the housing problem. Among those who has utilized the oppor- tunities for successful achievement through this real estate activity is George Dingwall, who although he has passed the Psalmist's allotted span of threescore years and ten remains an active factor in the world's work. He was born at Fayetteville, New York, July 22, 1844, a son of Alexander and Jeannette (Jack) Dingwall. The father is descended from Highland Scotch ancestry, the lineage being traced back to 783 A. D., when representatives of the family arrived in Scotland from Norway, settling in Rosshire. The result of this settlement was the establishment of the city of Dingwall, named in honor of the family, and Dingwall was made a royal burgh by Alexander II through government enactment and its charter was renewed by James IV, both Scottish monarchs.

It was about 1839 that the parents of George Ding- wall crossed the Atlantic to the new world, settling at Fayetteville, New York, where George Dingwall was born. In February, 1849, the parents brought their family to Detroit and thus George Dingwall was largely reared in this city. On the 13th of August, 1862, he and his eldest brother, John Ding- wall, enlisted for service in the Civil war, joining Company A of the Twenty-fourth Michigan Volunteer

Infantry. The brother was killed in the battle of Gettysburg on the first day of July, 1863. George Dingwall continued in the service with the Iron Brig- ade of the Army of the Potomac and was promoted successively to the ranks of corporal, sergeant and lieutenant. At the battle of the Wilderness on the 5th of May, 1864, he was wounded and was taken prisoner, after which he spent seven and a half months in the famous Andersonville prison of Georgia and in the prison camps at Florence, South Carolina. Later he was exchanged at Annapolis, Maryland, December 20, 1864, after which he returned to Detroit, where he spent some time convalescing. He then went back to his regiment at Springfield, Illinois, and was mus- tered ont at Detroit in June, 1865.

Soon after his return from the army Mr. Dingwall became a member of the Detroit police force and sub- sequently engaged in the government service as letter carrier. For a brief period he conducted a grocery business on his own account and was next made United States ganger at Detroit under General L. S. Trow- bridge, collector of revennes. About 1884 his activities attracted the attention of Collins B. Hubbard, a cap- italist, and the two became associated in real estate dealing in that year. They promoted subdivision work and founded the town of Hubbard on the old Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad. The partnership continued without interruption until 1901, since which time Mr. Dingwall has engaged in the real estate business alone. He has made a remarkable success in this field and has won a most enviable and well deserved reputation as a straightforward business man. He is one of the best liked of Detroit citizens and his sterling worth is acknowledged by all with whom he has come into contact.

At Detroit, in 1865, Mr. Dingwall was united in marriage to Miss Phebe Renz, who died on the 12th of November, 1900. Of their three children, John George passed away May 23, 1892, at the age of twenty-six years; Edward A. died August 4, 1910, when forty-one years of age, leaving a wife, who was Miss Effie M. Miner, and one daughter, Dorothy; Harrie R., the surviving son, is superintendent of the Walkerville (Canada) distillery and resides in Detroit. He married Miss May B. Swift and they have one son, John Franklin.

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The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. IV, Part 15

Author: Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932, ed; Stocking, William, 1840- joint ed; Miller, Gordon K., joint ed Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Detroit-Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 1024

Author: Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932, ed; Stocking, William, 1840- joint ed; Miller, Gordon K., joint ed
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Detroit-Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1024