USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. IV > Part 99
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In the public schools of his native city Dudley Woodbridge Abbott obtained his education and on starting out in life independently he engaged in busi- ness as a contractor and builder, along which line he continued active until he entered the real estate field in 1903. He has since devoted his energies to this business and in 1909 organized the firm of Ab- bott & Beymer, while in 1910 he formed the William Tait Realty Company, a Michigan corporation of which he became secretary-treasurer, and in this ca- pacity he is now serving. This is recognized as one of the leading enterprises of the kind in the city and the business has reached extensive proportions, a branch office being maintained in Buffalo, New York. The firm handles improved as well as vacant prop- erties in both cities and has operated extensively in the development of subdivisions, opening up more than
fifteen subdivisions in the city of Detroit during the last six years and thus doing notably effective work in the development of a greater municipality. In the management of his extensive interests Mr. Abbott is proving capable, farsighted, progressive and energetic. He attacks everything with a contagious enthusiasm and throughout his career he seems to have realized at every point the possibilities for successful accomplish- ment at that point.
Mr. Abbott was united in marriage to Miss Amanda K. MeEvoy and they have become the parents of three children, all born in Detroit, namely: Mary Leona, born October 11, 1909; William Woodbridge, born July 22, 1912; and Edwin Anthony, born November 1, 1915.
In his political views Mr. Abbott is a republican and his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Catholic church. He is an active and earnest member of the Detroit Real Estate Board and the Board of Commerce and his social nature finds ex- pression in his membership in the Fellowcraft Club. Mr. Abbott is also a member of the National Associa- tion of Real Estate Boards. He is keenly alive to every new avenue opened in the natural ramifications of trade and in his business career has been a per- sistent, energetic worker, keeping his hand steadily upon the helm of his business and manifesting at all times strong executive power. His life is an exemplary one in all respects and he is generally regarded by the people of Detroit as among the foremost of those who have wrought effectively for the development and growth of the city.
GEORGE H. CRAIG. New business enterprises are constantly coming into being through the progres- siveness and activity of wide-awake and alert young men who recognize the opportunities here presented and utilize them to the full extent, promoting busi- ness interests which contribute to the growth and industrial development of the city as well as to in- dividual success. Of this class George H. Craig is a representative. A native of the Empire state, he was born in Buffalo, and pursued his education through attendance at several different boarding schools, supplemented by a two years' course in Princeton University. After his college days were over he engaged in the production of crude oils, his time being thus passed from 1892 until 1918, within which period he developed a business of substantial proportions. In the latter year he became connected with the Accurate Tool Company of Detroit, which was incorporated on the 16th of April, 1918. He joined the company as its secretary and treasurer but became president in January, 1920, since which time the corporation has largely increased its factory space, its facilities and its business. It now has seventy-five hundred square feet of floor space at No. 2270 Frank- lin street, where it is engaged in the manufacture of tools, dies and special machinery. In all its products
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it lives up to the idea expressed in the name which it has adopted-the Accurate Tool Company. The firm warrants and stands behind everything which it turns out of its shops, maintaining the highest standards of excellence in its products. It has already achieved a reputation in Detroit for work second to none in the country and in fact some manufacturers elaim that it stands at the head of the list in its different productive lines. This is the reputation which the officials of the company wish to win and to maintain and its progress has been most satisfactory.
Mr. Craig was united in marriage in 1916 to Mrs. Mary Jackson and they have one daughter, Frances. Mr. Craig is a member of City of the Straits Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and has taken the degrees of King Cyrus Chapter, R. A. M., and Detroit Commandery, No. 1, K. T., while with the Nobles of Moslem Temple of the Mystic Shrine he has crossed the sands of the desert. The Board of Commerce also has his name on its membership rolls and he is interested in all that pertains to the city's progress and improvement. He is a thoroughgoing business man of large experi- ence and of splendid executive ability, and the success of the Accurate Tool Company has been very pro- nounced since he became president of the corporation.
BRUNO B. BRUNKE, M. D. One of the able and representative physicians of the younger generation in Detroit is Dr. Bruno B. Brunke, who has gained special prestige as a gynecologist and as such has developed a large and important practice, with resi- denee and office headquarters on Mack avenne.
Dr. Bruno Berthold Brunke was born at Mayville, Wisconsin, June 19, 1886, and is a son of Frank and Helena (Tillman) Brunke, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Wisconsin, in which state their marriage was solemnized, the father having been thirteen years of age at the time when his parents came to America and established their home in the Badger state. Frank Brunke eventually became a sue- cessful wholesale dealer in cigars, as a manufacturer, and with this line of enterprise he is still actively identified at Mayville, that state. He and his wife have five children, of whom Dr. Brunke of this sketch was the third in order of birth, the other sons being: Edwin, Walter and Herbert, and the only daughter, Leona, being now the wife of Herman Nitschke. In the public schools of his native place Dr. Brunke continued his studies until his graduation from the high school, at the age of seventeen years, and there- after he became a clerk in a drug store at Milwaukee, where he acquired thorough knowledge of the business and eventually became a registered pharmacist. He finally engaged in the drug business in an independent way, and in the meanwhile his experience created in him a definite ambition to expand his field of service by preparing himself for the medical profession. Ac- cordingly, in 1908, he entered the medical department of Marquette University, in the city of Milwaukee,
and after receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine, as a graduate of the class of 1913, he came to Detroit and gave one year of service as interne in St. Mary's Hospital, where he gained valuable clinical experience that further fortified him for his exacting profession. As a gynecologist his private practice, especially in his special field of gynecology, is of large and rep- resentative order. The Doctor is actively affiliated with the American Medical Association, the Michi- gan State Medical Society and the Wayne County Medical Society, and in politics is independent of strict partisan lines. In Detroit he is a director of the Caspar Hoffman Real Estate Company, and in the Masonic fraternity he holds membership in Palestine Lodge, Free & Accepted Masons.
On the 14th of March, 1917, Dr. Brunke married Miss Nanna I. Granger, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer B. Granger, prominent citizens of Capac, Michigan. Dr. and Mrs. Brunke have one child, Shirley Evelyn, born November 16, 1920. The Doctor has recently completed the erection of a fine modern office building at No. 7765 Mack avenue, where he is associated in the practice of medicine and surgery with Dr. Arthur L. Gignac.
WILLIAM E. POMNIETZKY is treasurer of the Southwick-Pomnietzky-MeFate Company, leading building contractors of Detroit, specializing in interior finishing, and examples of their excellent workman- ship are to be found in many of the finest public bulidings of the city. Mr. Pomnietzky is widely and favorably known in Detroit, for he has here spent his life. His parents were Edwin W. and Sarah A. (Addison) Pomnietzky, the former a native of Mary- land. In the public schools of his native city William E. acquired his education and on starting out in life independently secured a position in a lumber mill, where he remained for a short time and then ob- tained employment with the Michigan Stove Works, with which he was identified for four years. He next became connected with the Michigan Drug Com- pany and for four years was employed in the city order department of that corporation, after which he joined the Vinton Company, well known contractors of this city. Starting as office boy, he devoted every energy to acquiring a kuowledge of the business and his close application and ready adaptability soon won for him advancement until he was made pur- chasing agent. He remained with that firm until they discontinued business in 1916, having spent thir- teen years in their service, and in March of that year joined Mr. Southwick in forming the Sonthwick- Pomnietzky Company. In 1918 they admitted Robert MeFate as a partner and the style of the Southwick- Pomnietzky-McFate Company was then assnmed, Mr. Pomnietzy being made treasurer. They specialize in detail work and interior finishing and are equipped to handle contracts of any size. Their superior work- manship, progressive business methods and straight-
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forward dealing have won for them a large patronage and they are classed with the leading building con- tractors of Detroit. They have been awarded many important contracts, and notable examples of their skill are to be seen in several of Detroit's finest public buildings, among which may be mentioned the interior woodwork of the Orpheum Theatre and Cadil- lac Service buildings, both of which are finished in walnut; and the interior finishing in the Detroit Sav- ings Bank and United Savings Bank buildings and the Nurses' Home in connection with Harper Hospital.
Mr. Pomnietzky was united in marriage to Miss Linnie Francombe and they have many friends in the city. In his political views he is a republican and his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Episcopal church. He is a Mason of high standing, belonging to Oriental Lodge, F. & A. M .; to Michigan Sovereign Consistory, A. & A. S. R., in which he has attained the thirty-second degree; and to Moslem Tem- ple of the Mystic Shrine. The nature of his recrea- tion is indicated in his membership in the Detroit Yacht Club, the Detroit Riding & Hunt Club and the Detroit Athletic Club. Mr. Pomnietzky is numbered among the self-made men who owe their advance- ment and prosperity directly to their own efforts, for he started out in life empty-handed and by his perseverance and diligence has overcome all obstacles and difficulties in his path, pressing steadily forward until he now ranks with the leading contractors and progressive citizens of Detroit.
ARTHUR P. DOWELL, well known in manufactur- ing circles in Detroit and for a number of years identified with certain branches of the automobile industry, is a native of this city. He was born September 22, 1883, and is a son of Charles W. and Adelaide (Houle) Dowell, both of whom are yet residents of Detroit. Arthur P. Dowell obtained his education in the schools of Detroit and his first business position was that of clerk in a railway freight office, where he was employed for ten years.
At the time of the organization of the Briggs Manufacturing Company in 1909, Mr. Dowell, who had been one of the organizers, was made accountant and office manager. In 1913 he was elected to the vice presidency and in 1917 was made general man- ager, in which capacity he continued until the fall of 1921, when he became associated with the Fisher Body Corporation and is now connected . with the management of Plant No. 21 of that corporation.
In 1905 Mr. Dowell was united in marriage to Miss Lillian Lescohier and they have a family of five chil- dren: Arthur P., LeRoy, Frank, Grace, and Robert. Fraternally Mr. Dowell is affiliated with the Masons, having membership in Zion Lodge. He also belongs to the Detroit Athletic Club and to the Red Run Golf Club, associations which indicate something of the nature of his recreation and diversion. His po- litical allegiance is given to the republican party
and his religious faith is shown by his membership in the Woodward Avenue Presbyterian church. Mr. Dowell resides at No. 4810 Ivanhoe street.
EDGAR FRANKLIN ROBERTS is a well known figure in Detroit real estate circles, where he has dis- played much of the spirit of the pioneer in condnet- ing his affairs, initiating various methods which have heen resultant forces in the attainment of success. The story of Mr. Roberts' life is nothing less than the record of a man who from boyhood has made good in whatever capacity his connections have found him. He was born on a farm in Dade county, Missouri, June 12, 1880, the youngest of ten children whose parents were Samnel S. and Martha Anne (Bedford) Roberts. When Edgar F. Roberts was but a child of three years his parents removed to Douglas county, Missouri, where the father carried on farming and stock raising and the family home was maintained until the latter's death at the age of sixty-seven years. The mother later removed to Springfield, Missouri, where her death occurred when she had reached the age of eighty- four years.
Reared on a farm in Douglas county, Missouri, Edgar F. Roberts early in life acquired a practical knowledge of work and responsibilities. His early education was received in the district schools. He learned rapidly and when but eighteen years old had fitted himself for teaching school. For two years he successfully fol- lowed that profession. He was ambitious and, with an abundance of natural energy, his constant aim was to fit himself for bigger things. Having spent the first twenty years of his life in the Ozark hills, Mr. Roberts had a craving for travel, to see the country and acquaint himself at first hand with places and people. Having no funds with which to travel he gratified this desire by joining a traveling dramatic company, playing repertoire in which he enacted roles in many different plays. This work he pursued until the age of twenty-three, and it took him all over the central states and contributed materially to his educa- tion. Subsequently he studied a number of corre- spondence courses in the attainment of his education. One of the first positions he filled after leaving his home locality was in the employ of a wholesale grocery house in Omaha, Nebraska. Receiving but nine dollars per week, he managed to save enough from his wages to pay for a course in advertising. This instruction naturally took him into a new field of activity and for about a year and a half he was connected with advertising interests in Omaha, devoting his attention principally to street-car advertising. He then became manager of the Seattle branch of the Street Car Ad- vertising Company of New York and for about one year successfully filled that position. On the expira- tion of that period he went to New York city and be- came a member of the advertising staff of the Jewel- ers' Circular Weekly and was thus engaged until he turned his attention to the real estate business in
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New York, remaining active in that field for two years.
It was in 1911 that Mr. Roberts came to Detroit, where he has continued, and throughout the interven- ing period has been closely identified with real estate activity. He was first associated with the Stormfeltz- Loveley Company as a salesman and made a notable record in that connection by reason of the extent and importance of the sales which he negotiated. After a year and a half he was made superintendent and in that position added to the good name which he had already obtained in real estate circles, his sales reaching a million dollars annually. Iu 1916 he became general manager for that firm and remained in that capacity until the United States entered the World war. Mr. Roberts did not see active service in that struggle, owing to delay in his draft classification, which he was awaiting at the time the armistice was signed. He did, however, take a most active part in the work of the American Protective League and was a Four-Minute man, as well as a speaker on the issues of the war and he did everything possible to uphold the interests of the government.
After the armistice was signed Mr. Roberts opened a general real estate office in the Penobscot building, later entering the firm of Leinbach, Humphrey & Roberts. In December, 1919, he withdrew from that connection and has since operated alone uuder the name of the Edgar F. Roberts Company, with offices in the Congress building. He handles the Huntington Woods subdivision, a property of two hundred and fifty acres between Ten and Eleven Mile roads, which surrounds the new Zoological Park. He is also ex- clusive agent for Grayhaven, a unique river front subdivision built up out of the water, between the Five and Six Mile Circles, East, on the proposed River- side boulevard. His methods show marked initiative and enterprise and his progressiveness is recognized by all who know of his business career. He is a member of the Detroit Real Estate Board, is chairman of the publicity committee and was chairman of the membership committee in 1920, in which year the membership was increased two hundred per cent. He is now carrying on publicity advertising of Detroit real estate through the Detroit Realtor, the board's official publication. Mr. Roberts stands as a high type of the American citizen, resourceful, progressive, pub- lie-spirited, clean in business practices and with a steadfastness of purpose which has not only con- tributed to individual success but to the support of interests of vital worth to the community.
Mr. Roberts maintains an independent political course, voting for men and measures rather than party. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, belonging to Oriental Lodge, F. & A. M., Michigan Sovereign Con- sistory and also to Moslem Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He likewise has membership in the Detroit Athletic Club, Oakland Hills Country Club and in the Board of Commerce. One who has known Mr.
Roberts long and has watched with interest the de- velopment of his business career speaks of him as "a live wire in every way." lle is recognized as one of the most successful real estate salesmen of De- troit and is noted for his able handling of salesmen and his talks on standardized salesmanship, together with his interesting views concerning the conveyance of property. In a word he has made a study of his business until he has become a recognized authority on matters relating to the real estate development of Detroit. The knowledge and experience acquired in the real estate business has been incorporated iu a course of study prepared by Mr. Roberts under the title of Real Estate Salesmanship. This course cousists of seven lessons, each printed in the form of a separate booklet. Mr. Roberts' favorite hobby has been the study of personal character and of self development. His ob- servations and notes on this subject made during a period of twenty years are being written into a book to be called The Building of Self. This book will have some unique and notable features in connection with the classification and training of the various quailities of character.
Mr. Roberts married Miss Mildred Keef and they have a son and a daughter, both born in Detroit: Wilbur Edison, whose birth occurred April 17, 1915; and Patricia Rosalie, born May 30, 1919. Their city residence is at No. 1157 Edison, while their country home-Shadow Brook-situated on a branch of the River Rouge in the south edge of the Bloomfield Hills, comprises an eighty-acre tract of land, with a most charming natural environment and is one of the attractive suburban homes around Detroit.
DUBOIS YOUNG, vice president and manufacturing manager of the Hupp Motor Car Company of Detroit, was born in Greenville, Darke county, Ohio, July 7, 1879, and is a son of William A. and Hannah (DuBois) Young. The father, who has passed away, was a native of Kentucky. He devoted his life to the contracting business. The mother, who was born in Ohio, resides with her son DuBois in Detroit.
The removal of the family to Indianapolis, Indiana, during the boyhood days of DuBois Young enabled him to pursue his education in the public schools of that city, which he attended to the age of fourteen, when he started out to provide for his own support, securing employment in the Atlas Engine Works of Indianapolis as an apprentice. He there remained until eighteen years of age and was afterward with the Dean Brothers Steam Pump Works. In 1899 he went to Chicago, where he became a machinist in the employ of the G. A. Crosby Company, manufacturers of punches and dies. In that city he continued until 1902, when he returned to Indianapolis and made his initial step in connection with the automobile business as an employe at the Premier plant. In 1909, when he left the Premier, he had been advanced to the position of general foreman.
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In that year Mr. Young removed to Jackson, Mich- igan, where he became a partner in the American Gear & Manufacturing Company, and in 1915 he be- came a factor iu the ownership and management of the Hupp Motor Car Corporation, which had pur- chased the stock of the American Gear & Manufactur- ing Company. Mr. Young has been vice president and manufacturing manager of the Hupp Motor Car Com- pany since his arrival here and the results of his labors are manifest in the rapid growth of the busi- ness-so rapid as to seem almost phenomenal. He has advanced in the business world solely through individ- ual merit, his various promotions coming to him as the result of his energy, close application and fidelity. From the apprenticeship to his place of large respon- sibility he has steadily progressed without a reverse and is now one of the main factors in the development and control of the big organization which turns out the popular Hupp car.
On the 23d of August, 1903, Mr. Young was mar- ried to Miss Evalyn R. Buckingham of Chicago, and they have one son, Richard DuBois Young, who was born July 24, 1904, and is a student at the Northern high school. Mr. Young votes with the republican party and is a firm believer in its principles. In Ma- sonry he has attained the Knights Templar degree of the York Rite and is also a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is likewise well known in the club circles of the city, belonging to the Detroit Athletic, Detroit Automobile, Bloomfield Hills Country, Oakland Hills Country and the Jackson City Clubs. He has mem- bership with the Board of Commerce and he has made for himself an enviable position in the manufacturing circles of the greatest automobile center of the world. He has ever displayed a ready mastery of detail, which, combined with his broad mechanical skill and ingenuity and his mastery of the vital principles and forces of business, has gained for him a notable posi- tion as a car builder, winning for him well merited success. His residence is at 1197 Longfellow avenue.
GEORGE DUFFIELD, M. D., who in his profes- sional and other capacities made valuable contribu- tion to the world's work and whose well spent life won him the respect and honor of all who knew him, was born in Detroit, April 28, 1859, his parents being Divie Bethune and Mary Strong (Buell) Duffield. The family comes of English ancestry, the ancient family seat being at Ripon and Coverdale, County York. The family is of great antiquity, deriving its name from the township of Duffield, ten miles from York. The first representative of the name in Amer- ica was the Rev. George Duffield, who was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland, and who came from England to the new world in 1720, establishing his home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Rev. George Duffield and his wife Susanna, were the parents of a son, George, who married Elizabeth Blair, and they in turn had a son, George, who wedded Faithful Rich-
ardson Slaymaker. The line of descent comes on down through George Duffield (IV) and his wife, Isabella Graham (Bethune) Duffield, who were the grand- parents of Dr. Duffield of this review. The progenitor of the family in the new world and his son and name- sake were both ministers of the Presbyterian church, while George Duffield (III) became a chaplain in the American army, serving under Washington with the rank of colonel during the Revolutionary war. Later he was a chaplain of the First Continental Congress with Bishop White. His pronounced support of the cause of freedom at the time of the Revolutionary war led the British to place a price of fifty pounds sterling upon his head. In 1784 he was an honorary member of the American Philosophical Society, of which Benjamin Franklin was the head. The active interest of the Duffield family in the work of the ministry was continued by George Duffield (IV), who became widely known as a prominent representative of the Presbyterian church in Michigan. His eldest son, George Duffield (V), followed in the footsteps of his father and served many years as a minister in the Presbyterian church, and was also a hymn writer of note, his best known composition being the familiar one entitled: Stand up, stand up for Jesus. Another son, Divie Bethune Duffield, father of George Duffield (VI) of this review, was a lawyer and poet who won fame equal to that of his predecessors, though in other fields. He was a graduate of Yale College, was the founder of the first high school in Detroit and became a dominant factor in the civic and social life of the community as well as in its professional circles. When Mayor Buhl called a public meeting in Detroit early in 1861, he was one of the speakers to denounce the prospective action to repeal the personal liberty laws; to return to the Missouri Compromise line (in order to settle forever the question of slavery); to put a stop to kidnapping and to any further intereference with slavery in the south or in the District of Columbia. He stood in defense of his honest convictions with the same courage and zeal which characterized his an- cestors when the nation was founded.
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