USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. IV > Part 60
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117
GEORGE O. BEGG, one of the well known business men of Detroit, was born September 2, 1859, and is a son of George and Christine (Ogston) Begg, both of whom were natives of Scotland. In early life they left Scotland and crossed the Atlantic to the new world, becoming residents of Detroit, where Mr. Begg afterward filled the position of auditor with the De- troit, Milwaukee & Grand Haven Railway Company, occupying that position for many years, or until he finally retired from active business pursuits. Both he and his wife continued to reside in this city until called to the Home beyond. In their family were two children, but one son, Charles Alex, died at the age of sixteen years.
The early education of George O. Begg was ob- tained in the public schools of Detroit and in Upper Canada College at Toronto. He later became inter- ested in the Michigan Car Company, of which United States Senator James McMillan was president, being thus engaged from 1876 until the Senator's plants were
WILLIAM S. SHERWOOD
519
CITY OF DETROIT
sold to the American Car & Foundry Company in 1899. At that date Mr. Begg entered upon lumber manu- facturing and became president and treasurer and principal owner of the Champion Lumber Company at Orvisburg, Mississippi. He snecessfully conducted this enterprise from 1899 until 1907, when he disposed of his interests in the business and removed to De- troit, where he has since devoted his time to his personal interests.
On the 20th of June, 1894, Mr. Begg was married to Miss Louise B. Breck, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hunt Breck, a well known and prominent family of Cleveland, Ohio. Three children have been born to them: Margaret Louise, who attended the Liggett School for Girls, after which she became a student in Smith College at Northampton, Massachu- setts; George O., Jr., who was born in Detroit, and after attending the Liggett school became a student in the Detroit University school, then entered the Taft School for Boys at Watertown, Connecticut, and still later pursued his university course in Williams College of Williamstown, Massachusetts; and C. Brooks, who was born in Detroit and is now attend- ing the Taft School for Boys at Watertown, Con- necticut.
In his political views Mr. Begg has always been independent and in the exercise of his right of franchise he has supported men and measures rather than party. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, having taken the degrees of the York and Scottish Rites. He has membership in the Detroit Club, De- troit Country Club, Detroit Athletic Club, the Old Club at St. Clair Flats, and the Detroit Curling Club. He and his wife are consistent members of the First Presbyterian church and he is now serving as chair- man of its board of trustees. He stands very high in the community, owing to the fact that he is not only a successful, but also a self-made, man. He started out in the business world empty-handed and has stead- ily progressed by reason of his capability, his adapt- ability, his resourcefulness and his energy. He has always made wise use of his time, talents and oppor- tunities and today he occupies an enviable position in business circles and his labors find their tangible expression in the attainment of gratifying success. Mr. Begg resides at 1015 Seminole avenue, and his summer home is at Pointe Aux Barques, Michigan. He has always taken a keen interest in athletics, shooting and fishing.
GEORGE A. FERRIS, president and general mana- ger of the Ferris-Fowler-Fosdick Company of Detroit, has had a large experience in both printing and pub- lishing, and the company of which he is the head is classed among the most reliable and responsible houses in its line in Detroit. At an early age Mr. Ferris manifested a pronounced bent for saying things on paper and after running the gauntlet as a printer, spent some years in a journalistic capacity as reporter
and newspaper and magazine editor. In September, 1916, he established the printing business of which he is now the head. The firm was originally the Ferris-Crane Printing Company, but in 1920 the busi- ness was incorporated under the name of the Ferris- Fowler-Fosdick Company, with Mr. Ferris as president and general manager. The business was started in a modest way and as the years have passed has become a very successful venture. The company en- joys a high and well merited reputation for work of the most superior kind and also for the reliability and integrity of its management. Knowledge of every feature of the business well qualifies Mr. Ferris for the direction of the interests now under his control and the results which follow his able management are highly gratifying.
JOSEPH H. SCHULTE. Among the multifarious enterprises contributing to the industrial and commer- cial precedence of the Michigan metropolis a place of no insignificant order must be accorded to the De- troit Leather Works, in the ownership and manage- ment of which Joseph H. Schulte is associated with Henry Kay, the headquarters of the business being at 683 Lafayette avenue, East.
Mr. Schulte is not only one of the progressive busi- ness men of Detroit but also claims this city as the place of his nativity, his birth having here occurred on the 15th of March, 1876, his parents being Peter and Catherine (Ternes) Schulte, who have long been honored citizens of Detroit. The subject of this re- view is indebted to the Catholic parochial schools of Detroit for his early education, which was effectively supplemented by a course in the Detroit Business Uni- versity. After leaving school he became associated with his father in the fire insurance business, the agency being conducted under the firm name of Peter Schulte & Son, an older brother of Joseph H. being junior member of the firm. With this business Joseph H. Schulte continued his alliance nine years, and he then formed a partnership with his cousin, Albert Ternes, and engaged in the retail coal business, under the firm name of Ternes & Schulte, with yards near the Michigan Central depot. This enterprise engaged the attention of Mr. Schulte for eleven years, and for the ensuing six years he conducted an individual business of the same order. In 1909 he entered into partnership with his brother-in-law, John Kay, and initiated the enterprise now conducted under the title of the Detroit Leather Works. They instituted oper- ations in a building at 844 Woodward avenue, later obtained larger quarters, at 33 Mullet street, and in 1916 they erected their present modern and well equipped plant on Lafayette avenue, East, where they utilized more than twelve thousand square feet of floor space and where the corps of employes averages eighty persons, including a number of skilled opera- tives. In this plant are manufactured diversified lines of leather goods that are in large measure used
520
CITY OF DETROIT
by the great automobile factories of Detroit. Among the prodnets thus issued from the Detroit Leather Works are fan belts, knuckle boots and other leather specialties, fully one hundred in number of types. The factory produces work in conformity with specifica- tions issued from the engineering departments of the various manufacturing institutions that are repre- sented on the list of the firm's clients and that in- eluded many of the leading industrial institutions of Detroit. . Mr. Schulte is called into consultation by clients whenever changes or innovations are to be made in the standard types of leather equipment, and by the leading automotive engineers be is a recog- nized anthority in this special phase of industrial production. He is well known in both business and social circles in his native city and bas a host of friends. Mr. Schulte has been vice president of the Michigan Grocer Company since 1916. He is a repub- lican, he and his wife are communicants of the parish of the Holy Rosary Catholic church, he is a loyal and helpful member of the Detroit Board of Commerce, is a member of the house committee of the Island Coun- try Club, and is past deputy grand knight of the Knights of Columbus.
On the 14th of June, 1905, Mr. Schulte was united in marriage to Miss Frances McCarthy of Detroit, and their only child, Gerard Joseph, was born in February, 1910. The attractive home of the family is at 2625 West Grand boulevard.
ALBERT ALEXANDER KOZLOWSKI, attorney at law of Detroit, was born in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, December 22, 1885. His parents, John and Magde- lena Kozlowski, were born in the Kingdom of Poland and in early life came to the new world, being mar- ried in Shamokin, Pennsylvania. The father followed varions oeenpations in Pennsylvania, where he is still living, but his wife passed away in Shamokin. They were the parents of eight children, four of whom survive: Albert A .; Mrs. Helen Jaroch; Frank; and Leo.
In his boyhood days Albert A. Kozlowski was a pupil in the Polish schools and later in the publie schools at Shamokin, Pennsylvania, and when his edu- eation was finished at the age of nineteen years, he became connected with the clothing trade in his native city. In 1910 be removed to Detroit, where he entered business circles as a salesman in a retail clothing store, being thus employed until 1912 by the John D. Mabley Company. In the meantime he at- tended the Detroit College of Law for two years and completed his law studies in the Chicago Law school from which he was graduated in 1913. While studying in Chicago he provided for his own support by working as a elothing salesman in the Hub, one of the leading clothing establishments of that city, owned by Henry C. Lytton & Sons. There he continued until 1914, when he secured a similar position with Gimble Brothers of New York city. In 1916 he resigned and
removed to Boston, Massachusetts. In the latter city he entered the office of a well known law firm, with which he remained for a year, and then went to Philadelphia, in 1918, where he engaged in law prac- tice with a prominent firm. At length he returned to Detroit to follow his profession and in the spring of 1919 he undertook and sneeessfully passed the re- quired bar examinations that admitted him to the Michigan bar. In the meantime he purchased prop- erty and erected the splendid residence and law office at 4821 Chene street, where he is now located, his place being considered one of the finest in this seetion. He has a comprehensive law library and is accorded a gratifying practice, which is constantly increasing in volume and importance. He is very faith- ful to the interests of his clients, leaving nothing undone that will promote their welfare in the courts, and in other commercial transactions, and has been very successful in his profession. He belongs to the Michigan State Bar Association. Mr. Kozlowski de- serves much credit for what he has accomplished in the profession, for be has depended upon his own resources for a living and to provide the means neees- sary for his college work. Moreover, the calling which he has chosen is one in which advancement can only be obtained by individual merit and ability and his progress is therefore direct testimony of the powers which he has developed as a representative of the bar.
THOMAS W. CONNOR, president of the Ditzler Color Company, the only exclusive color honse in America manufacturing its prodnet chiefly for the automotive industry, is a well known figure in the business circles of Detroit. A native of Michigan, he was born in Fenton, October 16, 1864, and is a son of Henry and Marion (Fletcher) Connor, whose family numbered nine children, six sons and three daughters.
In his youthful days Thomas W. Connor attended the public schools and afterward worked for a grocery concern as a driver for several years. He next be- came a shipping clerk for the firm of Flinn & Durfee, grocers, with whom he continued for about four years. In 1885 he accepted the position of salesman with the Acme White Lead Company and traveled for that house for about twenty-two years, becoming widely known and popular in the territory through which he traveled and winning many stanch friends. He was with the company altogether for twenty-seven years, for during the last five years of that period-after leaving the road-he was in charge of the industrial trade sales. In 1912 Mr. Connor purchased the busi- ness of the Ditzler Color Company from Peter Ditzler and has developed this business until the house enjoys eight times the volume of trade that it did when Mr. Connor took it over. He employs nearly one hundred people in various capacities and his product has be- eome a synonym of quality wherever paint is used in connection with automobile finishing. The company
ALBERT A. KOZLOWSKI
523
CITY OF DETROIT
ships its products all over the world and the business is steadily growing.
On the 26th of June, 1889, Mr. Connor was married to Miss Georgia Seovill and they have three children: Grace, who married W. T. Utley, treasurer of the Ditzler Color Company. They have a son and a daugh- ter: Robert C. and Betty Jane; Kirk W., secretary of the Ditzler Color Company, married Miss Maud Harris of Detroit and has a daughter, Barbara Grace; and Donald S. Mr. Connor belongs to the Detroit Athletic Club and also to the Detroit Golf Club. Fraternally he is a Mason and politically a republican.
HUGH MARTIN. No city in America has shown such marvelous and rapid industrial development as Detroit. While this is attributable in large measure to the growth of the automobile industry, it has given chance for the establishment and conduct of many allied activities, especially in the field of metal work. It is in this connection that Hugh Martin is known, being president of the Detroit Gray Iron Foundry Company. A native of Canada, he was born in Hamil- ton, Ontario, January 16, 1890, and was but three years of age when brought to Detroit by his parents, C. Harry Martin and Estelle M. (Hannan) Martin. A grammar school education laid the foundation for his intellectual progress, which was further directed by his studies in the Central high school, after which he pursued a course in business college. He was then with the American Car & Foundry Company for a period of eight years, working through all departments, and during five years of that time he was traffic man- ager. He afterward became traffic manager for the Lozier Company, a position which he occupied for two years, and later he was with the Tivoli Company for a short time. He then organized the Detroit Gray Iron Foundry Company, which was incorporated on the 15th of May, 1916, the officers of the company being: Hugh Martin, president; L. W. Schimmel, vice president; and H. H. Wyatt, secretary and treasurer. They employ an average of two hundred and fifty men and manufacture gray iron castings, jigs, fixtures and dies. They are the largest jobbing manufacturers of gray iron in Detroit. They have recently com- pleted two extensive additions to the foundry and now have a capacity of eighty tons of castings per day. Thus the business is steadily developing and growing, and back of their success is the thoroughness, capacity, determination and energy of the president and his official associates.
On the 10th of February, 1915, Mr. Martin was married to Miss Clara Schimmel and they have one daughter, Lois Wilhelmina. Mr. Martin belongs to the Detroit Yacht Club, which indicates something of the nature of his recreation. He belongs also to the Felloweraft Athletic Club and is at all times appre- ciative of the social amenities of life. His Masonic relations are with Detroit Lodge, No. 2, F. & A. M. He has connection with the Episcopal church as a
communicant of St. Paul's cathedral and in politics he is a stalwart republican. He belongs to the Detroit Board of Commerce, thns manifesting his keen interest in the city's welfare, and in trade organizations he is prominently known, having membership in the Trans- portation Club, the American Foundrymen's Associa- tion and the Detroit Foundrymen's Association.
CHARLES C. WALKER, M. D. Dr. Charles C. Walker of Detroit, has attained a position of eminence in the medical profession, having established an in- ternational reputation as an oculist, and his life has been one of intense usefulness to his fellowmen. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, September 24, 1875, a son of Charles and Carrie Sophia (Saussler) Walker, who were also natives of the Buckeye state. The father was a prominent building contractor of Cleve- land and while engaged in that work was killed as the result of an accident, his demise occurring on the 8th of October, 1919. The mother survives and is yet a resident of Cleveland. In their family were two children: H. A., who is living in Cleveland; and Charles C., of this review.
In the acquirement of an education Dr. Walker at- tended the grammar and high schools of his native city and Oberlin Academy, later becoming a student at Oberlin College, Ohio. He then entered the Uni- versity of Michigan where he took a literary course in 1899, and four years later that institution conferred upon him the M. D. degree. Going to Bangkok, Siam, in 1904 he remained in that city for twelve years, specializing in the treatment of diseases pertaining to the eye. In Bangkok he established a private hospital containing thirty beds and he also became lecturer on the eye at the Royal Bangkok Medical College. He became widely knowu in that part of the world as a man of superior professional attainments, and in 1918 he visited India, where he attended the clinics of Colonel Henry Smith, M. D., the world famous eye surgeon.
In 1919 Dr. Walker left Siam, his departure being regarded as a great loss to the medical profession of that country, and came to the United States, prin- cipally for the purpose of educating his children. While in Siam he acquired a knowledge of several languages and is a fluent linguist. He brought with him many valuable souvenirs, curios of the country, including a fine collection of photographs of the beautiful temples of India and Siam. After reaching the United States Dr. Walker spent six months at the University of Pennsylvania and then came to Detroit, opening an office at the corner of Woodward and War- ren avenues. His pronounced ability has secured for him an extensive practice and he is also connected with the staff of Harper hospital and the Children's Free hospital, specializing in the treatment of diseases of the eye. His professional labors have been attended with a gratifying degree of success and he ranks with the eminent oculists of Detroit. He has never re-
524
CITY OF DETROIT
garded his professional education as completed with the termination of his college course and has continned his studies in the Post Graduate hospitals of New York and Philadelphia, at Canton, China, and at Amritsar, Punjab, India.
At Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the 1st of June, 1911, Dr. Walker was united in marriage to Miss Winette Johnson, a danghter of Mr. and Mrs. John Johnson, prominent residents of that city. Three children have been born to this union: Charles Hnm- miston, whose birth ocenrred in Bangkok, December 5, 1913, and who is now attending school in Detroit; Nancy, who was born in Bangkok, March 4, 1916; and J. Heyward, who is also a native of Bangkok, his birth having occurred February 5, 1919.
Dr. Walker is an active and earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Beverly and Green River avenue and is serving on its official board, while his professional connections are with the Wayne County and Michigan State Medical Societies. A man of high purposes and ideals, he has gained a position of pre- eminence in his profession and his contribution to the world's work has been one of great value. His residence is at No. 9069 N. Martindale avenue, Detroit.
HENRY H. BINGHAM is vice president and gen- eral manager of the Charcoal Iron Company of Amer- iea and in this connection has been instrumental in the industrial development of the state. His capa- bility and resourcefulness have taken a creditable place in the growth of an immense plant which has five large branches sitnated at various points in the United States. Mr. Bingham is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was born November 22, 1880, a son of C. D. and Annie M. (Harper) Bingham, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania, where they have remained thronghout their lives. The father is still actively connected with manufacturing interests in that city. To him and his wife were born six children: John H., Charles D., Hood W., Mrs. R. W. Hitt and Mrs. George F. Ort, all residents of Chi- cago; and Henry H. of this review.
The last named was the third in order of birth. In early life he attended the public schools of Phila- delphia, passing through consecutive grades to the high school, and later he became a student of the University of West Virginia, from which he was graduated on the completion of a conrse in electrical engineering in 1901. He afterward spent a short time in the employ of the Westinghouse Electric Com- pany and later became identified with the steel in- dustry in the steel mills of The Carnegie Steel Com- pany, Limited, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, He next became head of one of the departments of The Car- negie Steel Company, and continued with that corpo- ration until 1910, when he resigned and came to De- troit. Here he entered into conncetion with the Charcoal Iron Company of America, being made its
secretary, while later he was elected to the vice presidency and was made general manager of all the plants. While the rate of production is low at the present time the concern is, nevertheless, employing five thousand people at the varions plants. Of Amer- ica's charcoal iron sixty per cent is produced in Mich- igan. This partienlar grade of iron is largely used in the manufacture of castings for automotive vehicles and as Michigan leads the country in automobile manufacturing it is likewise evident that it is the greatest consumer of the charcoal iron produet. Ap- proximately forty million dollars have been invested by the company in mines, timber holdings, blast fur- naces, sawmills and chemical plants and the Charcoal Iron Company of America leads all other companies of this kind. The corporation operates the Yale iron mine at Bessemer, and sawmills at Marenisco and at Newberry, while at Newberry, Manistique and Boyne City, Michigan, and Ashland, Wisconsin, its large iron furnaces and chemical plants are found. The output of this corporation is more than one hundred and ten thonsand tons of charcoal iron annually. The Michi- gan Manufacturer and Financial Record, writing of the corporation, said, "The book value of the com- pany's holdings is placed at ten million dollars. Its actual physical valne today, however, if the existing high cost of property and equipment is taken into consideration, is considerably greater. In taxes alone this concern pays into the state treasury approxi- mately two hundred thousand dollars annually. It owns two hundred thousand acres of merchantable tim- ber in Michigan. Its Yale mine at Bessemer has a capacity of five hundred thousand tons of ore a year. While its timber is mostly hardwood, it owns one of the largest individual stands of pulpwood in the state -having approximately forty thousand acres. The town of Emerson just west of Sault Ste. Marie is owned by the company outright. The village is located on the Taguamenom river, the water power rights on this stream being also controlled by the company. Six large Inmber camps supply its mills with logs for lumber and charcoal wood. It has four large iron furnaces and chemical works. Ore from the mines is carried to the furnaces in the company's own steamship. Its two sawmills ent fifteen million feet of hardwood lumber annually. When a tree is felled, first and second grade logs are cut and con- verted into Inmber. The rest of the three is sawed into cordwood for charcoal carbonization. Besides the lumber, the mills eut one hundred and ninety-two thousand cords of wood a year, each cord being fonr feet high, four feet wide and eight feet long. The chemical plants produce two million gallons of wood alcohol and eleven thousand five hundred tons of acetate of lime a year. The wood alcohol is what is known to the trade as ernde alcohol and must be re- fined before marketable. The company does not go into the refining business but sells the product in its erude state to refining companies at Buffalo and else-
HENRY H. BINGHAM
527
CITY OF DETROIT
where. The acetate of lime is purchased by rubber concerns who use it in the treatment of raw rubber. When the company Inmbers a section it takes every tree. The merchantable timber is cut first. The cord- wood is piled on the ground and weather dried for six months. It is then sent to the charcoal retorts. The carbonization of the wood requires treatment in several retorts, no one retort completing the process. As the wood is carbonized and gases arise, the gases are gathered and carried through pipes into large condensers which reduce them to liquid form. This liquid is pumped to the chemical plant, where the separation of tar, acetic acid and wood alcohol takes place. The final residue is piteh-like tar, for which there is also a market, but this has not been de- veloped by the company. The tar is burned under the boilers of the various plants. Lime is not a by-product but must be used to give the acetic acid a body, for the acid itself is so powerful that it will eat through the strongest container. The Charcoal Iron Company of America employs between five and six thousand men. Because so many trades are in- volved the employment of labor is fraught with many problems. It has been simplified, however, by the location of the industry in the smaller cities, where living costs are comparatively low. There is, how- ever, a scarcity of common labor and the turnover runs high, but not as high as the turnover in some of Detroit's industrial plants employing a like num- ber of men. The least difficulty the company experi- ences is in obtaining woods labor. There is something about the woods that attracts red-blooded men. There a sort of free-masonry exists that cannot be found in any other place. Perhaps it is the invigorating fresh air, the aroma of the pines and balsams or the silence of the forest places, that brings men closer together. They are a care-free lot and for them the cities hold no attraction. Some time ago, when labor at New- berry became searce, many men were transferred from the camps to the plant in the town. But they would not stay, gradually quitting and drifting back to the lumber woods. The Charcoal Iron Company of Amer- ica is largely controlled by Detroit capital. Frank W. Blair is president; H. H. Bingham, vice presi- dent and general manager, and F. W. Hutchins, treas- urer. The company is contemplating an expansion program of considerable magnitude."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.