USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. IV > Part 92
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In the public schools of Ionia, Albert Griffing Bed- ford acquired his education and on starting ont in life independently he became identified with the mercantile and mortgage loan business, while subsequently he turned his attention to the field of real estate, in which he has continued active. He specializes in apartment houses, business and income properties and has negotiated many important realty transfers, carry- ing on his operations on a most extensive scale. He is an expert valuator and is regarded as one of the most successful real estate dealers in the city.
On the 1st of Jannary, 1895, Mr. Bedford was united in marriage to Miss Grace Sarah Long, a daughter of Dr. Oscar R. and Annie M. (Freeman) Long, the for- mer of whom was for thirty years medical superintend- ent of the Ionia State Hospital for the Insane. Mrs. Bedford is a member of Louisa St. Clair Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and also of the Twentieth Century Club and occupies an envi- able position in social circles of the city. By her mar- riage she has become the mother of two daughters, Ruth Helena and Annie Long, both of whom are grad- uates of the Liggett School for Girls. Ruth Helena Bedford was married July 12, 1921, to Mr. Paul Swan
Robertson, who served as captain in the aviation sec- tion during the World war. The younger daughter is the widow of Lieutenant Clarence A. Hartman, who died October 7, 1918, while serving his country in the World war.
While residing at Ionia, Michigan, Mr. Bedford was a vestryman in St. John's church for many years and is now a member of St. Paul's cathedral. He is a republican in his political views and his interest in the welfare and progress of his city is indicated by his membership in the Board of Commerce, whose pro- jects for the development of the industrial interests of the municipality receive his hearty cooperation. He is also a valued member of the Real Estate Board, the Ingleside Club and the Detroit Boat Club, and fraternally is identified with the Masons. The force of his personality, the keenness of his insight and the soundness of his judgment have brought Mr. Bedford to a position of prominence in real estate circles of Detroit and his influence is one of broadening activity in the field in which he operates.
COLONEL JOHN ATKINSON. A representative member of the Detroit bar passed away when Colonel John Atkinson was called to the home beyond. He possessed few of those meteoric qualities which daz- zle for the moment and then vanish, but he was rich in those substantial qualities which endure and make for strength and capability in the practice of law. He always held to the highest ethical standards of the profession which he represented and enjoyed in the fullest degree the confidence and respect of his colleagues and contemporaries. Moreover, he was one of the eminent legislators of the state, one who ever placed the public good before personal aggrandizement and the general welfare before parti- sanship. His standards of life in every respect were the highest and the world is better for his having lived.
Colonel Atkinson was born at Warwick, Lamberton county, Ontario, Canada, on the 24th of May, 1841, his parents being James and Elizabeth (Shinners) Atkinson. The father was born in 1800 in County Mayo, Ireland, where his wife's birth also occurred and where they were married. They emigrated to the new world in 1832, settling first in Canada and re- moving thence to Port Huron, Michigan, in 1854. There Mr. Atkinson passed away in 1856, being for many years survived by his widow, who died in 1884. He was engaged in the lumber business on an exten- sive scale and won a gratifying measure of success in that connection.
John Atkinson, who was one of a family of ten children, obtained his early education in the public and high schools and began the study of law at Port Huron in 1857. In 1862, when twenty-one years of age, he was graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan and was admitted to the bar by the supreme court the same year. Starting in
ALBERT G. BEDFORD
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the practice of his profession, he became a partner of the late Hon. T. W. Mitchell, under the firm name of Mitchell & Atkinson, but two months later, on the 25th of July, 1862, he enlisted under President Lin- coln's call for three hundred thousand men and served with great distinction from the date of his enlist- ment until February 26, 1866. He first became lieu- tenant, later captain and then major of the Twenty- second Michigan Infantry, while subsequently he served with the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Third Michigan Infantry. The scene of his active service was mostly with the Army of the Cumberland, including all the important campaigns of that army corps.
After the war he was appointed collector of inter- nal revenue at Port Huron by President Johnson, but for political reasons his appointment failed of con- firmation at the hands of the senate. He practiced law in Port Huron from the spring of 1866 until the fall of 1870 and then located in Detroit, where he was associated as a member with many of the im- portant law firms, including those of Trowbridge & Atkinson & Hawley; Atkinson & Atkinson; Atkinson, Carpenter, Brooks & Haigh; and Atkinson & Haigh. Colonel Atkinson was recognized as an authority on the practice of libel and slander cases, contracts and wills in Michigan. The Bay City Tribune at the time of his death wrote: "As a lawyer John Atkinson had no superior, and few, if any, equals in Michigan at the time of his demise. In addressing a jury he brought all the powers of his well-stored, virile mind into action. As an orator he was magnetic, eloquent, witty, sarcastic, pathetic and humorous. He could inspire terror and beget mirth or tears at will." When Colonel Atkinson passed away, James Mc- Namara, who had long been associated with him as a member of the bar, the two at times being opponents in forensic battles, though the warmest friends, said: "Colonel Atkinson was my beau ideal of a great lawyer. He was one of the best equipped, all-around lawyers in the state. The foundation for his legal education was laid broad and deep. He was neither a surface skimmer nor case lawyer. He grasped and comprehended the philosophy of justice-the great principles upon which our jurisprudence rests. If he found a case which said that twice two is five, he wouldn't attempt to overthrow the mathematical prin- ciples of the multiplication table by solemnly an- nouncing this fact in court. He knew intuitively that snch reasoning was false. His analysis of a legal proposition was as keen as a rapier and as clear and comprehensive as a June sky. His argument in the somewhat famous Michigan Central mileage case be- fore Judge Donovan this year, when he had opposed to him such eminent attorneys as Alfred Russell, Ashley Pond, Henry Russel and Benton Hanchett, will easily stand as one of the finest and most eloquent arguments ever made before a court in this state. He was a wonderful advocate. Before a jury he had no
peers, and but few equals, in the United States. A close student of men as well as of books; earnest, persuasive and powerfully eloquent; a mind stored with the riches of ancient and modern literature; a great, sensitive heart which would respond to every beautiful sentiment of the soul, he could run the gamut of human feelings with a master's mind and a voice of wonderful volume and sweetness. He loved the law. He was too great for petty profes- sional jealousies. He knew that only the great would succeed, and always had a kind word and a genial smile for a struggling brother. His noble life en- riched the profession of the law. It was and is a compass and a guide to the struggling and the ambitious.
"Politically, Colonel Atkinson had attained to emi- nence and when at last he stood where ambition had lured him, death summoned him away. He was a consistent and honest admirer of Governor Pingree. He detested bluster, but when he was once convinced that Governor Pingree was honest in his great efforts to make the corporations of this state pay their just proportion of the taxes, and assume some of the burdens they had helped to create, his wonderful talents were at once enlisted in the crusade for equal rights; and the war he waged and the blows he struck made him not merely the fidus Achates of the governor, but the persistent, relentless and brainy enemy of tax-sulking corporations. He lifted the cam- paign against corporate greed from the slough of con- tempt, to the high plane of intellectual and legal respectability. His fight in the legislature for the principle of equal taxation, almost single-handed and alone; and the great legal battle against the rail- roads now pending in the supreme court of this state to which he lent the luster of his legal genius, are among his later works which will not soon be for- gotten by those against whom he fought and will long be cherished in sacred remembrance by the com- mon people of this state, in whose behalf he arrayed himself by the side of his friend-Governor Pingree."
While Colonel Atkinson was regarded as one of the most eminent representatives of the Michigan bar, he also left the impress of his individuality upon the history of city and state in many other ways. He was a member of the Detroit board of estimates for one term and was largely instrumental in bringing about the purchase of Belle Isle, Detroit's far-famed and beautiful park. In this he met with strong oppo- sition, many claiming that he wished to bankrupt the city through this purchase, but those who opposed him most bitterly recognize today how valuable an asset it is to Detroit. He also served as a member of the lighting board of the city and he was elected in 1896 to represent his district in the state legislature and in the same year was chosen one of the presidential electors on the republican ticket. In this connection a biographer of that period wrote of him: "The strong figure in the legislature of 1897, was he, who was
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always a lover of liberty and a champion of the lowly from the time he entered the army of the United States in 1862, until the last forensie battle was ended in the session of the Michigan legislature just closed, and who stood the leader in a long contested struggle for local self-government, a uniform system of taxa- tion on all kinds of property, uniform passenger and freight rates on the railroads in the state, and in opposition to unreasonable concessions to cor- porate interests. Never in the history of Michigan has any one man, through his position as a legis- lator, commanded the attention and plaudits of the legislators and the people as did the man here re- ferred to, Colonel John Atkinson of Detroit, repre- sentative in the legislature of 1897. Coming from a family every member of which is noted for breadth of intellect, scholastic attainments and oratorical gifts, he couples these with a keen wit, a princely courtesy, and a penchant for repartee that make of him a powerful adversary in debate. It is seldom that the people of any state are so fortunate as to be represented in the legislature by one so thoroughly qualified in natural gifts, training and experience in the affairs of life to assume the role of an ideal legisla- tor, and although he gave to the state time and talent that in his profession is said to be worth one hundred dollars a day, there was no member in the last ses- sion who put in more time at work upon bills, at his office in Detroit, in committee rooms of the capitol, on the floor of the house, and in chasing them through the mazes of parliamentary procedure, than did Rep- resentative Atkinson."
On the 1st of February, 1866, while still in the army, Colonel Atkinson was united in marriage to Miss Lida Lyons of San Antonio, Texas, who was a daughter of Dr. James Lyons, a surgeon of the Con- federate army. Mrs. Atkinson died October 6, 1921. Their marriage was celebrated while Colonel Atkinson was stationed in Texas, following the close of active hostilities during the Civil war. They became the parents of ten children, seven of whom are living, as follows: O'Brien, a resident of New York; Jolin, of Detroit; James, of Detroit; Reilly, of Boise, Idaho; Lucy, who married Frederick S. Hodge; David Far- rand, of Detroit; and Gerald, of Detroit.
Colonel Atkinson was a member of the Loyal Legion, the Michigan Club and the Irish Society and his family are members of the Catholic church. Colonel Atkinson passed away August 14, 1898, and his remains were interred in Mount Elliott cemetery. He was a man of splendid personal characteristics and of high professional attainments and his worth was attested by all with whom he came into contact.
At his passing one of the Michigan papers said of him: "John Atkinson was a loyal friend and a manly foe. He never abused a confidence or struck a fallen antagonist. Personally he was a lovable man. He was conscious of his own weaknesses and tolerant of the weaknesses of others. He hated Pharisaism
and hypocrisy and punctured both with merciless sar- casm. While John Atkinson did not underrate his own powers he was not an egotist and never yielded to the seductive influences of flattery; nor could he be moved from a fixed resolve by threats or promise of reward. A brave soldier, a great lawyer, a towering orator, an honest reformer, a good citizen, was John Atkinson. His demise has left a vacancy which will not be filled for many years." One of his old friends said of him: "John Atkinson was, in many respects, one of the truly great men of today. He fought his way from boyhood to manhood, unaided and alone. He began life in fortunate poverty. Not being born to affluence, he was not surfeited into idleness or suffocated with irresolution. His aspirations and ambitions were great. He always measured his own resources-which, to me, were always measureless- knew his own capabilities, and strove, strengthened with this consciousness, to make the most of them. He never had a sordid or selfish thought. His highest place was among those by whom he was best known. There was no sham or tinsel about him. He was in- tensely real and detested the cant of the legal or political hyprocite. Colonel Atkinson was as modest as he was chivalrous. He joined the army shortly after the outbreak of the war, being at that time less than twenty years of age, possibly about the age of his son, Reilly Atkinson, a second lieutenant in Company L, Thirty-third Michigan, and who just re- turned on a sick furlough from the battle field of Santiago, in time to see his father die. Colonel Atkin- son's record as a soldier is one of the brightest and bravest in the war annals of the state. And yet, it was from his title, won on the field of battle, and not from his conversation, that his acquaintances became possessed of the fact that he had served his country faithfully and well on many of the bloodiest battle fields of the rebellion."
HUGH E. KENNY. Detroit lost one of her rep- resentative manufacturers as well as prominent and respected citizens when on the 14th of October, 1914, Hugh E. Kenny was called to his final rest. He be- came well known in business circles as president of the Chamberlin Metal Weather Strip Company. His birth occurred in New York city and he was one of a family of three children born to Patrick and Margaret Kenny.
Hugh E. Kenny was educated in the public and high schools of the eastern metropolis and on coming to Michigan first located in Pontiac, but subsequently took up his abode in Detroit. As a young man he here entered the service of the wholesale dry goods firm of Burnham, Stoepel & Company and after a few years engaged in the retail dry goods business as a member of the firm of Kenny & Adams, their store being located on the northwest corner of Wood- ward and Grand River avenues. Mr. Kenny later disposed of his interest in the store and for a period was successfully engaged in real estate operations. He
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then became connected with the organization of the Chamberlin Metal Weather Strip Company, of which he was made president and in which connection he conducted a successful and growing enterprise to the time of his retirement. He was watchful of all the details of his business and of all indications pointing toward prosperity, so that his efforts were attended with substantial and gratifying results.
On the 21st of June, 1893, Mr. Kenny was united in marriage to Miss Caroline S. Hutton, a daughter of Charles and Amanda (Swinscoe) Hutton. Mr. Hutton was one of the leading citizens and foremost manu- facturers of Detroit. Mrs. Hutton was a daughter of Judge Henry H. Swinscoe. Mr. and Mrs. Kenny became the parents of a son, Andrew T. H., whose birth occurred June 21, 1894. He was graduated from Princeton University in 1916 and was a student in the Harvard Law school when the United States entered the World war. He went to France in July, 1917, as a member of Base Hospital Unit No. 17, serving until after the close of the war. For six months after his discharge from the service he at- tended the Sorbonne in Paris, and returning to the United States, became connected with the Guaranty Trust Company of New York in their foreign depart- ment and during the greater part of 1921 represented them at Bombay, India.
Mr. Kenny gave his political allegiance to the re- publiean party, while fraternally he was identified with the Masons, belonging to Palestine Lodge, F. & A. M. He was likewise a member of the Detroit Athletic Club and the Detroit Golf Club, while his religious faith was that of the Congregational church, with which his family is also identified. Mrs. Kenny resides at No. 251 Eliot avenue in Detroit.
HAROLD MONTGOMERY STARK, consulting and commercial engineer of Detroit, was born at Wadding- ton, St. Lawrence county, New York, January 5, 1881. He was the eldest son of Charles Russel and Florence B. (Montgomery) Stark. Of Scottish ancestry, the line of descent is traced down from Archibald Stark, 1686-1758, the builder of Stark's Fort, and founder of what is now Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1720. He was the father of Colonel William Stark of the New Hampshire Rangers, into whose arms General Wolfe fell wounded at Quebec; and of General John Stark who commanded American troops at Bunker Hill and Bennington.
Harold M. Stark was educated in public schools at Appleton, Wisconsin, Lawrence University Military Academy, and at the University of Wisconsin. He began his professional career in 1901, with the firm of O'Keefe & Orbison, hydraulic engineers and mill constructors; entered the engineering department of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in 1902; became assistant superintendent of construction of the Fort Wayne works of the General Electric Company in 1906; was appointed assistant manager of the Boston
office of this company in 1907; and then manager of the Detroit office of the same company in 1909, acting in that capacity until 1913, when he resigned and took up the practice of engineering at Detroit, in which work and its commercial phases he is continuing.
Mr. Stark's military record is an interesting one. In the Spanish war he served as a division orderly in the Second Army Corps, while a private of Company H, Two Hundred and Third Regiment, New York Vol- unteer Infantry. During this period he held an alter- nate appointment to the United States Military Acad- emy at West Point. He also participated in the World war, being stationed at the naval district base, New London, Connecticut, where he became head of the Anti-Submarine Device Section, and was com- mended by personal letter from the secretary of the navy for services rendered.
Mr. Stark married, on November 23, 1907, Miss Jes- sie M. Taylor, daughter of Isaac N. and Annie L. Taylor, of Fort Wayne, Indiana. The following chil- dren have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Stark: John Carleton, born January 9, 1910, who met with an acci- dental death September 18, 1916; Ruth Margaret, born May 14, 1916; and Newton Taylor, born June 24, 1918.
Mr. Stark is non-partisan in polities, Episcopalian in faith, is a Mason, fond of athletics, motoring, golf and chess. He is a member of Elizabeth Lake Country Club, Grosse Ile Golf Club, the Exchange Club, General Duffield Camp, U. S. W. V .; C. A. Larned Post, No. 1, American Legion; Naval Officers Reserve and the En- gineering Society. His offices are in the Kresge build- ing and his residence is at No. 230 California avenue.
CHARLES A. HUGHES, who has been the efficient and honored secretary of the Detroit Athletic Club since taking part in its organization in the year 1912, was born at Grand Ledge, Michigan, May 18, 1881, and is a son of Quincy A. and Olie E. (Dow) Hughes. He supplemented his public school education by a three years' course in the University of Michigan, being a member of the class of 1902. He then entered upon newspaper work in Detroit as an employe on the old Tribune and later was baseball editor of the Chicago Record-Herald. In 1910, however, he returned to Detroit and was connected with the advertising de- partment of the Hudson Motor Car Company for a time, while later he was connected with the Detroit branch of The J. Walter Thompson Company, advertis- ing agents.
In the year 1912 Mr. Hughes became one of the prime movers in the plan to establish a down-town ath- letie club in Detroit. This plan had been advocated a number of years before, but nothing had been done to make it a tangible asset in the club circles of the city. In fact many believed that such a thing was an impossibility, but as the years passed the demand grew for such a elub and in the fall of 1912 Mr. Hughes called a party of sixteen men to meet at the Pont-
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chartrain Hotel to talk over the prospeets of building up a real athletic club. This meeting resulted in the appointment of a committee on organization, of which Hugh Chalmers was made chairman, with Mr. Hughes, as secretary. The record of the club's development will be found in the historical seetion of this work. The success of the venture is attributable in very large measure to Mr. Hughes, who has also had the support of the other officers and directors of the elub in notable measure. He was made the secretary at the beginning and has so continued to the present time, and the Detroit Athletic Club is today one of the most important organizations of this character in the country.
On the 3Ist of July, 1909, Mr. Hughes was mar- ried to Miss Anna Lucinda Corhin of Eaton Rapids, and they have two children, Harriet Jane and Mary Carolyn. As an attache of a newspaper expedition in 1909, Mr. Hughes went to the African jungles for big game hunting. During the World war his activi- ties were largely concentrated upon his work as a member of the draft board. Aside from his eonnec- tion with the Detroit Athletic Club he belongs to the University Club, the Bloomfield Hills Country Club, the Country Club, the Detroit Automobile Club and the Aderaft Club, of which he was president for a year. His political allegiance is given to the re- publican party. He has never been an office seeker but has always been an earnest exponent of every cause or project put forth for the benefit of the city, the development and extension of its trade relations and the maintenance of its eivie standards. He has served for several years as a director of the Detroit Symphony Society. As publisher of the Detroit Athletic Club News, Mr. Hughes has been given eredit for creating and building up one of the most distinctive club magazines in the country.
JOSEPH WILLIAM DAILEY. Large corporate interests have felt the stimulus of the enterprise, initiative spirit and marked business ability of Joseph William Dailey, who was a well known cap- italist of Detroit, and for some years prior to his death lived largely retired, save for the supervision which he gave to his invested interests. He was a representa- tive of one of the old and prominent families of the city and was born in Canton, Connecticut, July 10, 1848, a son of Joseph and Sarah Evelyn (Bronson) Dailey, who were also natives of the Nutmeg state, the former born at Canton and the latter at Suffield. They continued residents of that state until 1855, when they removed to St. Paul, Minnesota, where they made their home until 1870 and then came to Detroit. Joseph Dailey, in partnership with his brother, Charles M., pur- chased what was then known as the Grand River Street Railway, of which Joseph Dailey became treasurer, continuing active in its operation until his demise. The mother also passed away in Detroit and they were well known and highly respected residents of
the city. In their family were three children: Charles W., who died in Detroit in 1918; Georgianna, who became the wife of Dr. Rollin C. Olin and also passed away in this city; and Joseph William of this review.
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