Charles A. Lorman and His Ice Company

from Silas Farmer’s History of Detroit & Wayne County & Early Michigan, v. 2

Charles A. Lorman was born November 1, 1829 in Geislingen in Württemberg, Germany. His parents were Christian Lorman and Elizabeth Vetter. Christian was a blacksmith. After he left school at 14, Charles worked as a cabinetmaker. According to Silas Farmer, when Charles was 17, he “left home, with knapsack on back and cane in hand, traveling through different countries, working at times at his trade, until he finally arrived at Rotterdam, Holland” (p. 1245). From there he left for America, arriving in New York on August 9, 1849. In Detroit, he became a dry goods salesman and worked at a few different hotels. He then traveled to New Orleans and worked on a steamboat on the Mississippi River.

When Charles came back to Detroit, he headed up to Marine City where he worked in shipbuilding. He was in Marine City at the same time Alexander Linn and his family were there. Charles began attending Sunday meetings conducted by Linn. Linn baptized Charles in 1854 in the St. Clair River. According to G. G. Taylor, the ice on the river was 2 feet thick and had to be cut for the baptism. It was during this time Charles met Alexander Linn’s sister, Janette.

Janette Linn Lorman in the 1920s

Back in Detroit, he started working in the ice business, becoming a partner in the firm McLees & Lorman. In the 1856-57 Detroit City directory, he and Clinton McLees were listed as ice dealers in Springwells, Detroit. Meanwhile, Charles and Janette were married on December 24, 1858. When McLees died in 1860, Lorman went into the ice business for himself. In the 1860 U.S. census, Charles, Janette, and their baby Jean were living in the Railroad Hotel, owned by John F. Antisdel and located where the Detroit Opera House is now located. Jean had been born in February 1859. Another daughter, Caroline, was born in 1862. In the 1863 Detroit City directory, Lorman was listed as an ice dealer at 141 Jefferson Avenue. In the June 1863 Civil War draft, Lorman was living in Hamtramck. Charles and Janette’s next child, Flora, was born in 1865. Their 4th daughter, Jessie, was born on May 19, 1867. Their 5th child and 1st son, Christian Karl Lorman, was born May 30, 1872. Their last child, a son named Robert Blair, was born September 1, 1879.

Ad for Lorman’s “Belle Isle Ice Company” in the Mar. 3, 1872 Detroit Free Press

In 1869, Charles and Joseph L. Miner entered into a partnership and, in 1874, formed the Belle Isle Ice Company. In 1878, they absorbed the Wolverine Ice Company. Miner’s 1905 obituary said that he became president of the J. L. Miner Ice Company in 1882. Miner sued Lorman around this time and, in October 1892, the case went to the Michigan Supreme Court (I don’t understand the details, but the case can be read here and here.) The “1887 Michigan Reports of Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of Michigan” gave an enlightening description of how ice was harvested on the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair:

Colin Campbell’s oldest son John was a bookkeeper at the Belle Isle Ice Company (Lorman kept the name after Miner left). Walter Sanderson, John S. Gray’s brother-in-law, was the company’s secretary and treasurer, and W. F. Linn, Lorman’s nephew, was a stockholder.

Joint ad from the Gourlay Brothers, A.R. & W.F. Linn, and Lorman’s Belle Isle Ice Company in 1884’s “Proceedings of the Annual Conventions of the Christian Missionary Association“

Children of Charles & Janette Lorman

JEAN – born in 1859. Married Alan Murray (son of Lilly Gourlay) on 9/25/1884 at her father’s home. They had 2 sons: Lorman Gourlay Murray (born 2/23/1886) and Welwood G. Murray (4/12/1890). In 1900, the family lived in Pittsburgh where Alan was an insurance agent. In 1910, they were living in Seattle where Alan managed the Bankers’ Reserve Life Insurance Company. Lorman married Mabel Bush on 8/10/1910 in Tacoma. They had one child, Janet Lorman Murray, on 6/23/1913. On 7/12/1914, Welwood died in a car accident. Alan died in June 1918 in Seahurst Park, WA. In the 1920 census, Jean, her mother Janette, and her nephew Oliver Hollis were living in Detroit. In 1930, Jean was back in Seattle working as a stenographer at age 71. In 1940, she was living with her son Lorman and his wife in Seahurst. Jean died on 2/25/1959 in Seattle at the age of 100.

CAROLINE – born in 1862. Married Ira N. Hollis on 9/21/1894. From 1893 to 1913, he was an engineering professor at Harvard University. From 1913 to 1925, he was president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. They had 4 children: Janette Ralston (b. 5/14/1895), Oliver Nelson (b. 9/13/1896), Elinor (b. 5/11/1900), and Carolyn (b. 1/17/1903). Caroline died in 1925 and Ira died in 1930. Their daughter Carolyn died in 2005 at 102!

FLORA ISABEL – born in 1865. Married Julius O. Cobb on 12/14/1892. They had 2 daughters: Janet (b. Oct. 1893) and Nancy (b. 12/17/1899). In the 1900 census, the family was living at the Ft. Stanton U.S. Marine Hospital in Lincoln, NM where Julius was surgeon-in-charge. Cobb was sent to the Bitterroot Mountains in Montana to investigate a spotted fever outbreak in June 1902. In July 1903, Cobb was a surgeon at the Marine Hospital in Los Angeles, CA. In 1910 the family was living in Milwaukee, WI. In 1920, the four of them were living in Chicago and Julius was the surgeon-in-charge at Chicago’s Marine Hospital. Janet married Charles D. Murray on 6/15/1921 and they had one daughter named Nancy Isabel in 1928. Julius died on 3/26/1935, and Flora died on 2/24/1947.

JESSIE – born 5/19/1867. Married William H. Vollmer on 4/24/1912 in Chicago. Vollmer was an architect that designed many homes around Detroit. In 1908, Vollmer had designed a home for Jessie’s mother on Green Lake in what is now West Bloomfield (Jessie lived there too – I wonder if that is how she and Vollmer met). Jessie and William had 2 sons, Russell Karl and William Jr. William died of stomach cancer in April 1932. Jessie died in October 1944 at Grace Hospital in Detroit.

William H. Vollmer, far left, working at Spier & Rohn’s architectural firm, c1896. From Detroit Public Library

KARL CHRISTIAN– born 5/30/1872. In 1896, he was a clerk at “Pittmans & Dean,” which was a coal and ice supplier. In 1897, he disappeared without any word to his family. In 1905, Karl sent a letter to Flora’s husband Julius Cobb from Johannesburg. He explained that he had changed his name to John Long, fought in the Boer War, and been shot in the thigh. Soon after the letter, Karl boarded a ship for the U.S. via Southampton. He arrived in Detroit on 8-20-1905, too late to see his dying father. Charles had died on August 8th. Karl was interviewed for the 8-21-1905 Detroit Free Press and said he would return to South Africa because it was “the only place with which I will ever be satisfied.” Something must have changed, however, because between 1908 and 1918 he was 1st officer on the S.S. Iroquois, purchsed by the Puget Sound Navigation Co. in 1907. It was a passenger steamship that operated on a regular route from Vancouver to Bellingham and Seattle (coincidentally, it was originally built by Craig Shipbuilding Co. of Toledo). Karl’s application for a Seaman’s Protection Certificate (like a passport) on 10/7/1918 states that he would be joining the Emergency Fleet Corporation, whose job it was “to acquire, maintain, and operate merchant ships to meet national defense, foreign and domestic commerce during World War I.” I lost track of Karl after the 1920s.

Karl Christian Lorman, c1918

ROBERT BLAIR – born 9/1/1879. In 1898, he was a clerk at the dry goods store “Burnham, Stoepel & Co.” in Detroit. By 1918, he was living in Seattle (may have moved there because of his sister Jean). In 1920, he was living in Deer Harbor, WA and was a life insurance salesman (like Jean’s husband Alan). However, in the 1930 census, his occupation was fruit farmer. In 1940, he was back to being an insurance salesman at the Ohio National Life Insurance Co. in Seattle. He died on May 15, 1950 and was buried in Detroit’s Elmwood Cemetery with his family.

Charles Lorman was a deacon at the Plum Street Church of Christ for many years. Around 1893, he retired and sold his ice company to the Pittmans & Dean Company (his son Karl worked there in 1896). In April 1905, Charles began to get ill with kidney problems. In early August, he developed pneumonia and died on August 8th. Philip G. Sanderson (son of Walter Sanderson and Isabella Gray) was his physician and called Charles “one of the best-hearted men I ever knew.” (Detroit Free Press, 8-9-1905). He was buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

In July 1908, his wife Janette had a house built on Green Lake, near Orchard Lake. It was designed by William H. Vollmer, her future son-in-law. The house is currently located at 6890 Commerce Road in West Bloomfield. Janette died at the home of her daughter in Massachusetts on August 30, 1927 at the age of 95. The funeral was held at her home on Field Avenue in Detroit, with services conducted by Dr. Edgar DeWitt Jones (of the Central Christian Church) and Frederick Cowan (of Ann Arbor Church of Christ), with prayer offered by John T. Smith (of Plum Street Church of Christ).

Janette Linn Lorman’s house on Green Lake in 1909 (above) and in 2020 (below).

from Zillow.com

Sources:

• Farmer, Silas. (1889). The history of Detroit and Michigan.
• Taylor, G. G. (1906). A History of the Plum Street Church of Christ, Detroit, Michigan.
• More about the S.S. Iroquois – https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?284127

Vernon C. Fry

Vernon Charles Fry was born on August 29, 1865 at Selkirk, Haldimand County, Ontario to John Fry and Caroline Overholt. His siblings were Frank Dewitt Fry (born July 15, 1868) and twin sisters Lillie and Minnie (born September 17, 1870). In the 1871 Canadian census, the Fry family was living in Rainham Township, Haldimand County, Ontario. Caroline and John, who was a medical doctor, were aged 34. Vernon was 5, Frank was 3, and the twins were 6 months old. Caroline’s father, Aaron Overholt, was living there, too. In 1881, they were living in the same place and their religion was listed as Disciples of Christ. Vernon’s mother Caroline died on March 11, 1891. In the 1891 census, John and the children were still living in Rainham. Vernon was 24 and a dry goods clerk, while Frank was 22 and a student. Lillie, a schoolteacher, and Minnie were 20.

Sometime between 1891 and 1895, Vernon moved to Detroit. He married Frances Anna Louise “Birdie” Colby on June 5, 1896 in Toronto. Their son Stanley was born in Detroit on October 30, 1896. Their next son Colby was born June 28, 1900. Sadly, Birdie died of pneumonia on May 6, 1901. They were living at 121 Bethune Avenue at the time. Her funeral took place at Plum Street Church of Christ.

From the Detroit Free Press, 6/16/1963 issue
(60th anniversary of Ford Motor Co.)

In June 1903, Vernon invested in Ford Motor Company along with other Plum Street church members Alexander Malcomson and John S. Gray, among others. Some sources say he was Malcomson’s cousin, which I haven’t been able to confirm. He bought 50 shares for $5000. According to a May 25, 1953 LIFE magazine article by Sidney Olson, he “paid $3,000 in cash after a struggle of many months with Malcomson and many a jouncing ride in Henry’s car, and pledged another $2,000, which he later paid out of dividends.” He paid the $3000 on June 26, 1903, $1000 in December 1903, and another $1000 in January 1904. After Malcomson was bought out in 1906, Vernon sold his stock to Ford on September 1, 1907 for $25,000. Woodall and Bennett also sold out at that time. If he would’ve waited 12 years, he could have made millions.

Vernon married again on July 15, 1903 in Detroit to Helen Lawson Gourlay, the daughter of Alfred and Laura Gourlay (more about the Gourlay Brothers in another post).

The newspaper account of their wedding sounds impressive:

“The wedding of Miss Helen Gourlay, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A.L. Gourlay, to Mr. Vernon C. Fry, took place at her home, 647 Second Avenue [now 3745 2nd Ave.], Wednesday afternoon at three o’clock, Rev. Arthur Jackson of the Church of Christ, performing the ceremony. Miss Walton, of Cleveland, was maid of honor, the groom being assisted by Mr. Charles Gourlay, brother of the bride. The bride was gowned in Brussels net over white taffeta, elaborately trimmed with cluny, her only jewels being a diamond necklace, the gift of the groom. A shower bouquet of stephenatis and bridal roses completed a beautiful costume. Miss Walton wore a dove-colored mousseline de soie over pink, trimmed with pointe l’ire lace, and carried a shower bouquet of Madame cusen roses. A reception followed for upwards of 100 guests. The color scheme of the decorating was confined to pink and white, roses and carnations being most in evidence among the hanging vines. In the dining room the table was covered with a white lace spread and decorated with spirea, ferns and la France roses… . The young couple left for an extended trip to Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Boston, by steamer, and thence to New York where they will be extensively entertained. The trip will last about 5 or 6 weeks. The gifts were numerous and costly, many from abroad. Krolik & Co., with whom Mr. Fry is is associated, sent a magnificent bowl and standard of cut glass. Miss Gourlay is a musician of rare merit, having received a foreign education, is a member of the Tuesday Musicale and other musical societies in the city.”

Detroit Free Press, July 19, 1903

Vernon and Helen, photo from Vernon’s 1925 passport application at Ancestry.com

Their daughter Grace Ethelwyn Fry was born on April 21, 1904 in Detroit. Their next child Margaret Jean Fry was born November 13, 1905. Their third child, John, was born February 1, 1908.

Children of Vernon C. Fry

STANLEY EVAN FRY – born Oct. 30, 1896 in Detroit to Vernon and his first wife Birdie. In 1918, he was employed by the Detroit Twist Drill Company. He joined the army later in 1918. He married Agnes Gringle in Springfield, Ohio on Oct. 31, 1925. They had a son, Stanley, Jr., on Jan. 18, 1929. Sadly, he lived only 3 days. Agnes filed for divorce on Apr. 29, 1930. It was granted on Mar. 30, 1931. Stanley married Gladys Brazil Chambers on Nov. 9, 1950 in Ohio. He died Jan. 14, 1971.
COLBY BARKLEY FRY – born Jun. 28, 1900 in Detroit to Vernon and Birdie. In 1918-20, he farmed in Wayne and Macomb Counties. He married Beulah M. Martin on Aug. 15, 1936 in Detroit. In 1940, they lived at 19817 Roselawn. Colby was employed by an armored car company, and Beulah was a secretary. They had a daughter Madalyn in 1945. Colby died Mar. 16, 1983 in Harrison, Macomb County, Michigan.
GRACE ETHELWYN FRY – born Apr. 21, 1904 in Detroit to Vernon and his 2nd wife Helen. She married Alexander D. Dickie on Jan. 2, 1932 in Birmingham, Michigan. They lived in London, Ontario, where Alexander was a salesman at a rubber company. He died Aug. 27, 1947 of coronary thrombosis. Grace died in Florida on Dec. 3, 2001 at the age of 97.
MARGARET JEAN FRY – born Nov. 13, 1905 to Vernon and Helen. She graduated from National Park College in Washington, D.C. Margaret married Charles Momberg (1907-1991) on Feb. 8, 1930 in Lucas Co., Ohio. They had 2 sons (George Charles, born 1930, and John Vernon, 1938-2019). In 1940, they lived at 20110 Santa Rosa. After Charles’ death, she moved to Jacksonville, Florida. Margaret died Sept. 7, 2011 at the age of 105.
JOHN G. FRY – born Feb. 1, 1908 to Vernon and Helen. On Jan. 10, 1931, he died of a skull fracture and internal injuries due to a car accident. The Detroit Free Press said he “was found crushed to death beside his overturned automobile in a ditch on Northwestern highway Saturday morning… . The body was discovered at 2:30 a.m. by a passing motorist. The car…was more than 75 feet from the body. It had gone into a ditch and rolled over several times. It is believed Fry fell asleep at the wheel while returning from Detroit” to his home on W. Maple Rd. in Bloomfield Hills. He was buried in Woodmere Cemetery.

In the April 1910 U.S. census, Vernon and family lived at 94 Hazelwood Avenue (now would be 604 Hazelwood). Vernon was 44, Helen was 37, Stanley was 13, Colby was 9, Grace was 5, Margaret was 4, and John was 2. A servant named Pauline Kuhnile, aged 22, also lived there. Vernon’s occupation was listed as a manufacturer in the automobile industry. Later in 1910, Vernon, “representing a syndicate of gentlemen,” purchased the plant and materials of the Detroit Dearborn Auto Company for $14,800. The plan was to move the equipment to Detroit “and that a new car may be manufactured” (Detroit Free Press, Dec. 18, 1910).

In 1916, Vernon and his real estate partner began selling properties in the new Sherwood Forest subdivision at Woodward and the “newly paved” Seven Mile Road, which their advertisement announced was “destined to be the Grosse Pointe of the North Woodward section.” (Detroit Free Press, Dec. 9, 1916). In 1918, Fry donated the land at Hamilton and Tuxedo for a new Plum Street Church of Christ building. In 1920, he was part of “The Citizens’ Committee on Street Railway Service” – against the mayor’s proposal. In 1922, Fry supported the extension of Livernois Avenue to the site of the future zoo at Woodward Avenue and 10-mile road.

“Ferndale [Church of Christ] began around the fall of 1923. They dedicated a building on Paxton and Academy in 1925. It was a wooden building in Ferndale built by Vernon Fry of Hamilton [Church of Christ] out of reclaimed lumber. He had all this stuff torn down and had it laying around so built a church building. He was a builder and real estate man. At one time he owned practically the entire area around Livernois and Six Mile… .”

Harmon Black, interviewed by Vernon Boyd on Nov. 14, 1986 (from Rochester Univ.’s MI Churches of Christ collection – http://dalnetarchive.org/handle/11061/2437)

The society pages of the Detroit Free Press were full of the travels of the upper crust, including the Fry’s – especially during the cold winter months. In April 1924, Vernon and Helen returned home after a six-week-long trip to Florida, Cuba, and Panama. In late January 1925, they and their daughter Grace left for Florida, with some time spent in Cuba and Jamaica, returning at the beginning of April. In the summer of 1925, Vernon and Helen took their daughters to Europe. In 1926, they again spent January – April in Florida. In 1927, they went to Seattle for a real estate convention, then traveled to Alaska, Banff, Lake Louise, and the Canadian Rockies. During the summers, the family spent time at their summer home called Woodcliff Lodge at Menesetung Park in Goderich, Ontario.

In 1930, Dearborn Church of Christ bought lots at the corner of Chase and Gould roads and a building paid for by Vernon Fry was put there.

Hamilton Blvd. (Plum Street) Church of Christ preachers and officers.
Photo taken October 24, 1936. Vernon Fry is circled.
(from Rochester University – http://dalnetarchive.org/handle/11061/2479)

Vernon Fry died at Victoria Hospital in London, Ontario on September 6, 1948 at the age of 83 from osteogenic sarcoma which began in his right pelvis bone. Helen died December 17, 1960 in Florida where she was living with her daughter Grace.

John Simpson Gray

John Simpson Gray was born in Edinburgh, Scotland to Philip C. Gray and Amelia (Tasker) Gray on October 5, 1841. He had one sister, Isabella, born February 19, 1834 and one brother, David, born November 8, 1836. Philip C. Gray was a Scotch Baptist but started reading the writings of Alexander Campbell in the Millenial Harbinger journal. He started a congregation of like-minded people in Edinburgh. The family, along with 11 others from the congregation, left Liverpool on April 9, 1849 and arrived in New York on April 30, 1849. The Grays stopped at Buffalo, New York where John’s uncle William Gray was living. Philip and his family continued on to Wisconsin and farmed until 1857 when the family moved to Detroit. There Philip established a toy business. He and his wife joined the Church of Christ. John attended high school in Detroit in 1858 and, upon graduation, became a teacher in Algonac, Michigan. In the Spring of 1859, he returned to Detroit and joining his father’s business. He also joined the church that year, and his sister Isabella and her husband Walter Sanderson joined when they arrived in Detroit that year.

Philip, Amelia, Isabella, David, and John Gray on the ship Constitution in 1849.

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Isabella Gray married Walter Sanderson (who had accompanied them from Scotland in 1849) in Wisconsin on April 6, 1856 and they joined her parents in Detroit in 1858. In the 1860 U.S. Census, Walter, Isabella, and their 3-year-old son James (who had been born in Wisconsin) were living with Isabella’s parents and brother John in Detroit. Walter and John were listed as “clerks in fancy store,” while Philip owned the “fancy store.” Isabella’s next child was Amelia, born April 22, 1862 in Sandwich, Ontario. Their son, Philip Gray Sanderson, was born in August 1866 in Detroit (he later became a physician) and their daughter Grace was born December 14, 1868 in Detroit. In the 1870 U.S. Census, Isabella’s family lived next to her parents and her husband’s occupation was “dealer in land.” Their last child, Edmond Lindsay Sanderson, was born on May 7, 1872. In the 1880 census, they still lived next to Isabella’s parents. Walter was in real estate, while son James was a civil engineer. Walter was apponted an elder at Plum Street in 1880. In February 1883, their daughter Amelia married George I. Lindsay. The Sandersons were old friends of the Lindsay family from Wisconsin times. Grace married a nephew of George Lindsay’s, Walter E. Lindsay, on November 20, 1901 in Detroit. James died by suicide on September 18, 1885 in Bay City at the age of 28. His funeral was at Plum Street. Walter Sanderson, who also served as the church clerk and kept great records, died on May 18, 1888 of blood poisoning.

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George Townsend, Mark Twain, and David Gray in 1871
from the Library of Congress – https://www.loc.gov/item/2017894932/

From Wisconsin, John Gray’s brother David moved onto Buffalo in 1856 and became the secretary/librarian of the Young Men’s Christian Union. In 1859, he started working for the Buffalo Courier newspaper, eventually becoming editor. He often wrote his family in Detroit and visited them there. John sometimes visited him in Buffalo. Between 1865 and 1868, David traveled through Europe and the Middle East and wrote a series of letters for the Courier. By April 1868, he was back in Buffalo and met his future wife, Martha Guthrie, in September. On June 2, 1869, they were married in New Orleans. Their first child David was born August 8, 1870 (between 1940-1947, he served as the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland and died in 1968 at the age of 97). David and Martha’s next son, Guthrie, was born in March 1874. His was an electrical engineer. He died August 26, 1905 at the age of 31 of sarcoma of the pelvis, having gone to the Muskoka area of Canada for his health. Their last child, a daughter named Emily, was born on January 23, 1882. She married Chauncey J. Hamlin and through their son Chauncey Jr., she became the grandmother of actor Harry Hamlin. Emily died in 1933. In September 1882, David Sr. and his family went back to Europe for David’s health. They stayed in Montreaux, Switzerland until April 1884. They returned to Buffalo in June. In ill health again in 1888, it was proposed that David go to Cuba accompanied by his brother John. There was a blizzard on March 12, so their train from Buffalo was delayed until the 15th. Their train derailed around 2:45 AM on March 16th, according to John, and David was badly injured. He never regained consciousness and died on March 18, 1888. Martha died in August 1931.

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Philip and John ran the toy company until 1861, when they partnered with a Mr. Pelgrim to form a candy company called Pelgrim, Gray, & Co. Unfortunately, their store and stock were lost in a fire in January 1862. Philip retired soon after. John and Mr. Pelgrim added Joseph Toynton to the partnership. In 1865, Mr. Pelgrim retired from the candy company, now named Gray & Toynton. In 1870, the name changed again to Gray, Toynton, & Fox when J. B. Fox was added as a partner. Both Toynton and Fox died in 1881. John continued running the company and eventually employed 200 people during busy season.

Gray & Toynton’s business card, c1865.
From the Burton Historical Collection at Detroit Public Library

James Mitchell’s 1891 “Detroit in History and Commerce,” he described Gray, Toynton & Fox like this: “the factory at 20 to 26 Woodbridge east is five stories above a commodious basement…and is fully equipped with the latest and most improved machinery and appliances for manufacturing by its extensive operations” (p. 109). It employed 150 people and earned $400,000 a year.

Gray, Toynton & Fox listing in the 1895 Detroit City Directory

Meanwhile, in October 1864, John married Anna E. Hayward in Wisconsin. Their first son Philip Hayward Gray was born in October 1865. Another son, Paul Robert Gray was born July 24, 1867. A third son, David, was born January 20, 1870. Their last child, a daughter named Alice, was born August 6, 1875. In the 1870 U.S. Census, John’s family was living in Detroit in the 5th ward. His occupation was “confectioner.” His real estate was valued at $4,000 and his personal estate was $2,000. Philip was 5, Paul was 2, and David was 4 months. Anna’s 18-year-old sister Sarah was boarding with them and a 20-year-old servant named Mary Wilson was also living there.

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Children of John S. Gray and Anna E. Hayward

Philip H. Gray married Mary A. Studley on May 6, 1890 in Ann Arbor. They had 4 children: Harold (1894-1972, married Laura Ley), Evelyn (1899-1974, married Richard M. Cameron), Almena (1903-1990, married John E. Wilde), and Philip II (1906-1978, married Margaret Day). Philip died November 25, 1922 in Boston. Mary died in 1939.

Paul Robert Gray married Frances Noble on January 23, 1900 in Detroit. They had 3 daughters: Frances (1901-1982, married 1st Waldo H. Brown who died in a 1939 naval reserve training flight crash; married 2nd Dr. Charles Merkel. See April 11, 1983 Detroit Free Press article “Glimpses of a Lavish Life”), Elizabeth (1902-1998, married Dr. Nelson B. Sackett), and Ann (1908-1994, married Joseph Scherer, Jr.). Paul Robert died September 27, 1929. Frances died in 1945.

David Gray married Martha L. Platt on January 16, 1894 in Detroit. They had a daughter, Sylvia Alger Gray (born January 15, 1902, died July 15, 1903 of nephritis), and a son David Gray, Jr. (1908-1966, married Helen “Nancy” Maxwell). David Sr. died on May 9, 1928. Martha died Sept. 16, 1946. The Montecito Journal has as article about David and Martha and their home life in California in the Winter/Spring 2012/13 edition (Moguls & Mansions by Hattie Beresford, v. 5, issue 2)

Alice Gray married William R. Kales on October 1, 1895 in Detroit. They had 5 children: Margaret (1896-1975, married Neil McMath – their daughter Margaret was kidnapped on May 2, 1933 and returned 2 days later. The Boston Globe ran a story on it recently: “Kidnapped on Cape Cod” by Alex Kingsbury), John Gray (born Dec. 4, 1899, died Jan. 2, 1902 of acute nephritis and uraemia), Robert (1904-1992, married Jane Webster), Alice (1909-1989, married Robert Hartwick), and Ellen (1914-1997, married Hugo Huettig). Alice died in 1960, and William died in 1942.

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On John’s passport application dated February 2, 1872, he was 30 years old and 5′ 10″ tall with dark brown eyes and hair. He was described as having a medium forehead, a larger than medium nose, a large mouth with a rather sharply defined chin, high cheekbones, and a sallow complexion. Walter Sanderson, his brother-in-law, was the notary public that signed his name to Gray’s statement on January 26, 1872.

Portrait of John Simpson Gray, later in life
From Rochester University’s Michigan Churches of Christ collection

By the 1880 census, the family was living at 41 E. Forest Avenue (which would become 87 after the 1921 city renumbering) in Detroit. John actually bought this property in September 1874. The Detroit Free Press on 9/20/1874 stated this real estate transaction, “Caroline M. Weed to John S. Gray, lot on the north side of Forest Avenue, in Carlisle & Brooks’ section of park lots 34 and 35 for $1800.” This was located between John R and Woodward. In May 1875, Gray and others from the street petitioned the city council to pave Forest Ave east between those two streets.

In the June 10, 1880 census, John was 39 and still a confectioner. Anna, his wife, was 40 and sick with “female weakness.” Philip, Paul, and David were 14, 12, and 10 and all attended school. Their daughter Alice was 4. Anna’s 2 sisters Sarah and Emma were living with them. Sarah was 28 and a schoolteacher. Emma was 29 and was “at home.” The servant Mary Wilson, aged 29, was still working for them. They also had another female servant, 24-year-old Anna Taylor and a 21-year-old coachman named Theodore Bear. By the 1900 U.S. census, Gray’s kids were out of the house. He (aged 58), his wife Anna (aged 59), and sisters-in-law Sarah (aged 48, private teacher) and Emma (aged 49, stenographer) were living at 41 E. Forest with servants Bertha Dufke and Margaret Wren.

Detroit Free Press, August 12, 1883. On 10/18/1882, the newspaper covered the St. Louis Excursion Train taken by the Grays and the Linn’s, starting from Detroit, stopping in Adrian, and traveling on to St. Louis.

John Gray was very involved in the philanthropic, spiritual, and intellectual life of Detroit society. As early as 1875, Gray was elected president of the Literary Society of the Church of Christ on Plum Street, along with James Gourlay as vice-president and A. L. Gourlay as secretary (Detroit Free Press, 10/9/1875). In 1884, John was elected as a deacon of Plum Street Church of Christ, along with C. Lorman, W.F. Linn, A.A. Trout, and James Gourlay. His brother-in-law Walter Sanderson was elected elder at the same time. In February 1892, Gray was appointed treasurer of the Russian Family Relief Fund created by the governor (Detroit Free Press, 2/27/1892). At the same time, he was the president of the Merchants’ and Manufacturers’ Exchange of Detroit. In 1894, Gray was on the executive committee of the Wayne County Bible Society (Detroit Free Press, 3/7/1894). In January 1895, John Gray was elected president of the German-American Bank of Detroit. In December 1896, he was elected as a member of the Board of Library Commissioners of the Detroit Public Library for a 6-year-term, and in February 1900 was elected president of the board. He was also a member of the Detroit Archaeological Society, becoming its president in January 1905.

In 1903, Gray sold his company Gray, Toynton & Fox to the National Candy Company and became its vice-president. Also in 1903, Gray’s involvement in the future Ford Motor Company began. Alexander Malcomson, a business associate of and in debt to Gray, asked him to invest in a company being formed by Henry Ford. Many sources claim that Gray was Malcomson’s uncle, but I have been unable to find the original source of this, nor any vital records or documents proving it. According to Boyd, Gray thought this investment was “asinine folly” (p. 326). John met with Ford and agreed to invest $10,500 with the option to back out with full reimbursement (from Malcomson) within a year. Since he invested the most cash, John was made President of the Ford Motor Company, which was incorporated on June 16, 1903. Other investors besides Ford and Malcomson were James Couzens, Albert Strelow, the Dodge Brothers, John W. Anderson, Horace H. Rackham, Vernon Fry, Charles Bennett, and Charles J. Woodall. Most had some connection to Malcomson. Within a few years, Malcomson and Ford fell out over the direction of the company (high-end vehicles vs. vehicles for the masses), and Malcomson sold out his shares to Ford in May 1906. More about the early years in the Ford Motor Company will be in another post.

Detroit Free Press, Feb. 12, 1905. They often traveled to California for Gray’s health. Gray and his wife Anna traveled extensively in Europe as well. In 1896, the Grays had even been in Athens for the Olympic Games.

The Gray’s seem to have made annual trips to California during Michigan winters for John’s health. He often had heart trouble. In February 1906, in Los Angeles, John suffered an attack. They stayed there for nearly two months. When he was planning to return home in April, his doctor advised against it “saying that the least excitement would kill [him].” They later headed for San Francisco, but stopped at Pacific Grove (about 115 miles south of San Francisco) for a visit. They stayed there on the night of April 17 instead of moving on. This was fortunate for them because around 5 AM on April 18, San Francisco was hit by a 7.9 magnitude earthquake. On April 19, 1906, the Detroit Free Press reported that the couple was due to arrive in San Francisco on the evening of the 17th and “their friends are greatly alarmed and fear that the tour took them to the city just in time for the disaster.”

Detroit Free Press, April 27, 1906

In the May 7, 1906 issue, the Detroit Free Press ran a narrative by Gray describing what happened. In Pacific Grove, “the shock was very severe” but “the place is small and the buildings are nearly all of frame construction, so that the property loss was comparatively small.” They had to wait a week for the railroad tracks to be fixed, but eventually they reached Oakland after a 13 hour trip (which usually took 3 hours). He stated, “The trains and stations were filled with wouned and poverty-stricken people.” The Gray’s made it back to Detroit by early May. John died due to his heart trouble on July 6, 1906, likely exacerbated by his California adventure. John left behind his wife Anna and four adult children, 1) Philip Hayward, who pursued a career in insurance and stayed with the Central Christian Church. He funded a dormitory at Hiram College, 2) Paul Robert, represented the Gray Estate in Ford Motor Company along with his brother David. Paul stayed with the Plum Street Church of Christ. He funded the building of Fairview Church of Christ and donated $50,000 to Freed-Hardeman College, 3) David, who was a member of the Ford Motor Company board in 1913. In 1919, Ford bought out all other investors, and the Gray heirs received $26,250,000 from their father’s 1903 investment of $10,500, and 4) Alice, wife of William R. Kales of the Whitehead & Kales Iron Works.

Gray’s funeral took place July 9, 1906 at the Plum Street Church of Christ. William D. Campbell conducted the service, G.G. Taylor delivered the prayer, and Charles Loos pronounced the benediction. James Gourlay directed the choir. Pallbearers included Vernon Fry, Alexander Malcomson, William G. Malcomson, and Charles Gourlay, among others. Henry Ford was an honorary pallbearer. Gray was buried at Woodmere Cemetery. On the day of the funeral, the Detroit Public Library and its branches were closed until 11:30 out of respect for Gray.

According to a brochure produced by the Detroit Public Library in 1914, the John S. Gray branch of the Detroit Public Library was built in 1906 and remodeled in 1913. It was built at the corner of Field and Agnes Streets and designed by architects William G. Malcomson and William E. Higginbotham. Other photographs of the interior of the branch from the early 20th century are here. 2015 photographs from a Detroit urban explorer are at this website. The portrait above the fireplace was unveiled at the library’s rededication in 1914.

Children’s Room at the John S. Gray Branch, 1914 (portrait of Gray above fireplace). From Burton Historical Collection at DPL

Sources:

• Boyd, R. Vernon. (2009). A History of the Stone-Campbell churches in Michigan.
• Stephenson, Tom. The Gray Family. Accessed May 31, 2019. From http://www.grayhitandmiss.com/graystory.html
• U.S., Passport Applications, 1795-1925 for John S. Gray. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; Roll #: 179; Volume #: Roll 179 – 01 Feb 1872-17 Mar 1872. From Ancestry.com
• Detroit Public Library. (1914). Detroit Public Library branches, 1914.
• Gray, D. (1888). Letters, Poems and Selected Prose Writings of David Gray.
• Lindsay, E. J. (1925). History of the Lindsay Family.
• Mitchell, J. J. (1891). Detroit in history and commerce: a careful compilation of the history, mercantile and manufacturing interests of Detroit, Rogers & Thorpe, p. 109
• Taylor, G.G. (1906). A History of the Plum Street Church of Christ.
• Cyclopedia of Michigan: Historical and Biographical, Comprising a Synopsis of General History of the State, and Biographical Sketches of Men. (1900). Western Publishing and Engraving Co., pp. 272–273.

Beginnings of the Church of Christ/Disciples of Christ/Christian Church in Detroit

1815-1840s

Thomas Hawley (originally Scotch Baptist) and his family, including son Richard, had come to the United States in 1815. Between 1815 and 1835, they lived in Cambridge, MA, Germantown, PA, Wheeling, WV, and Cleveland, OH. In 1835, Alexander Campbell preached at the Cleveland courthouse. The next year, Richard was baptized. Thomas and the family (except for Richard) joined the Disciples of Christ. In 1840, they moved to Detroit.

Meanwhile in Scotland in 1838, Philip C. Gray, also Scotch Baptist, joined with others in Edinburgh to start a congregation. He had been influenced by Alexander Campbell’s writings in the Millennial Harbinger. In the same year in Paisley, Alexander Linn and his sister Caroline became friends with Helen Lambie and began attending services at the Methodist church with Helen. In 1839, Alexander Linn became a member of the Scotch Baptist church because they didn’t sprinkle for baptism and didn’t require belief in Calvinist doctrine. The whole Linn family also joined. In 1840, however, Caroline Linn joined with the Disciples of Christ meeting in Glasgow (Colin Campbell was already meeting with them).

In Fall 1841, six Hawley family members started meeting for worship at Thomas Hawley’s home in Detroit. Alexander Linn, now married to Helen Lambie, and his sister Caroline, now married to Colin Campbell, arrived in Detroit in 1842 and began meeting with the Hawley family. Their parents William and Jean (Ralston) Linn also moved to Detroit and joined. In 1843, Thomas Hawley’s son Richard settled in Detroit with his own family. Between 1844 and 1853, the congregation meeting at the Hawley home moved to a few different places – a schoolhouse on the corner of Randolph and Congress streets, Fireman’s Hall on Woodward between Congress and Larned, and the Detroit Institute on Jefferson near Antoine.

Meanwhile in 1849, the Gray family settled in Wisconsin.

1850s

In 1853, Thomas Hawley’s wife Rebecca died and he returned to England the next year. Also in 1854, Charles A. Lorman was baptized by Alexander Linn. The church moved to the Detroit Court House, east of Campus Martius. Isaac Errett, leader of the so-called “New Interest,” visited and preached in Detroit often. He was a big influence on Colin Campbell and Richard Hawley. The “New Interest” group supported instrumental music in worship, missionary societies, and some other ideas that other members disagreed with. In the spring of 1856, the congregation bought a lot on the southwest corner of Miami Avenue and State Street, and Hawley and Campbell were appointed trustees. The building, however, was never built, perhaps due to the friction between the congregation and Campbell and Hawley. The group continued to meet at the Court House until the Spring of 1863. In 1857, Philip C. Gray and his family moved to Detroit from Wisconsin. On December 24, 1858, Alexander Linn’s sister Janet married Charles Lorman. In 1859, Walter and Isabella (Gray) Sanderson also moved to Detroit, and John S. Gray joined the church.

1860s

In 1862, Richard Hawley, Colin Campbell, and fourteen others withdrew from the congregation meeting at the Court House and started meeting independently at a building on the corner of Jefferson and Beaubien. They adopted Isaac Errett’s “Synopsis of Faith and Practice” as their by-laws. This seemed a lot like a creed to the Linns and other men in the other congregation. In Spring 1863, the Court House congregation bought and moved into the old Tabernacle Baptist Meetinghouse on the north side of Howard Street between 2nd and 3rd streets. They call themselves the Howard Street Church of Christ, Charles Lorman, Philip C. Gray, Alexander Linn and 2 others were chosen as trustees. In 1865, Errett left Detroit for Cleveland to start the journal “Christian Standard.” He left W.T. Moore in charge who wanted to repair the rift between the congregations. In October of that year, the two groups met at Howard Street and adopted resolutions for merging (Walter Sanderson, P.C. Gray’s son-in-law, was the secretary at the meeting). On November 16, 1865, the churches joined together for worship again at the Jefferson and Beaubien building. The organ was used even though the Howard Street people didn’t want to. In 1866-1867, Moore left for Kentucky and a man named Hobbs was voted to replace him (Hobbs was called Pastor, another problem to the Linn group). The group tried to elect officers again (which had failed in 1865). Hawley and Campbell nominated each other for elders, as well as Alexander Linn and four others for deacons. Alexander protested the whole thing and withdrew his name. Hawley and Campbell were elected as elders, and P.C. Gray, Charles Lorman, and two others were elected as deacons. Lorman and Gray declined since they hadn’t received a majority vote. Alexander lead protests so often that Hawley and Campbell charged him with unruly and disorderly conduct and considered excluding him from the congregation. Hobbs resigned and a man named Berry replaced him. Alexander Linn resigned his membership, and Hawley and his family and some others withdrew and began another “faction.” There were now 3 groups: the Howard Street group (Linn), the original “new interest” group (Campbell), and the new “new interest group (Hawley).” Charles Lorman, Linn’s brother-in-law, opposed Campbell and Berry about by-laws and 19 members sign a petition. Campbell and his clerk son, John M.L. Campbell, sent a letter out that upset many. Finally, on December 15, 1867, Berry and Campbell excommunicated 11 of the 19 petition signers, including Helen Linn (Alexander’s wife), Philip C. Gray and his wife Amelia, Charles Lorman, and Walter Sanderson and his wife. Starting in 1868, Colin Campbell’s group met at St. Andrew’s Hall on Woodward and State street for awhile. Eventually Campbell’s group and Hawley’s group combined and met at 41 Washington Avenue until 1884 as the Central Christian Church. In January 1868, Linn and Lorman’s group started meeting at the Detroit Ice Company (owned by Lorman) while they sold the Howard Street property. In February 1868, the Church of Christ bought two lots at the southwest corner of Fourth and Plum streets for $1800. They formed a committee to build a meeting house for $2000. During construction, the congregation met at the Celtic Historical Society Hall on Michigan Avenue and Cass. Their first service at Fourth and Plum was on July 26, 1868, with Alexander Linn preaching about “The aims of the church in maintaining a distinctive existence” and Philip C. Gray presiding over the Lord’s Supper. On August 9, James and Jean Gourlay placed membership and by September 6, there were sixty members.

Meeting – The Disciples of Christ meeting on the corner of Fourth and Plum streets, hold public worship on Lord’s Day morning at the usual hour and at 3 1/2 o’clock in the afternoon. Bren, Black and Beatty, of Toronto, Ontario, will address the meeting on this occasion. A cordial invitation is extended to all.

Detroit Free Press, August 23, 1868

From the Burton Historical Collection at Detroit Public Library: “Disciples of Christ Church (Christian), 4th & Plum St., 1882”. Prior to 1906, the terms “Disciples of Christ” and “Church of Christ” were interchangeable.

1870s-1880s

Christian Church
In 1871, Colin and Caroline (Linn) Campbell founded the Orchard Lake Community Church for a summer chapel (Colin had bought Apple Island in 1856 for $3050). Its original building was dedicated on July 18, 1874. In the 1879 Detroit City Directory, Colin Campbell’s church was named the Central Christian Church and was located at Washington Avenue between State and Grand River with Colin Campbell and Asa Sears as elders. Colin Campbell died in September 1883. In 1884, the church moved to Second and Ledyard Streets.

The Christian Church on Washington Avenue. From the Burton Historical Collection at Detroit Public Library. This photo was owned by Colin Campbell’s daughter who inscribed on the back, “Father and Uncle Thomas Linn bought this building from the Scotch Presbyterian Church and paid for its removal from the eastern side of Woodward Ave. to its site on Washington Blvd. This was before 1870 or about that time.”

Church of Christ
In 1871-1873, the church on Plum Street held several multi-day meetings and raised money for various causes like the victims of the fire in the Thumb in 1871 and an 1873 yellow fever epidemic in Memphis. In the 1879 Detroit City Directory, the Plum Street church was referred to as the Disciples of Christ at the corner of 4th and Plum with elders A. Linn and P.C. Gray. At Plum Street, Philip C. Gray served as an elder from 1875-1892, while Alexander served as one from 1875-1882. Walter Sanderson was an elder from 1880 until his death in 1888. In December 1882, a committee including Lorman, J.S. Gray, James Gourlay, W.F. Linn, W.G. Malcomson, A.A. Trout (Alexander Linn’s son-in-law) and James Sanderson was formed to buy a lot at 14th and Ash Streets and build a meeting house. The first service at 14th and Ash occurred on May 6, 1883. Alexander A. Trout was appointed the leader there with W.G. Malcomson and James Sanderson as his assistants (these appointments apparently lasted a year).

Note on back: “Mission Chapel – Disciples of Christ, 14th Ave & Ash St., 1883.” From the Burton Historical Collection at Detroit Public Library.

In 1885, Ella F. Linn (daughter-in-law of Alexander Linn) started a Sunday school between Fort and Dix in a store building on what is now W. Vernor near Lansing Ave. Sarah Malcomson (Alexander Malcomson’s wife) helped her. In 1887, the church bought a lot at Vinewood and Dix for $3250. This new congregation grew to 100 members. Alex Y. Malcomson was an early member at Vinewood. In 1888, both Alexander Trout and Walter Sanderson died.

Vinewood Church of Christ, c1900, during building updates. From  http://dalnetarchive.org/handle/11061/2315

1890s-1900s

In 1891, Plum Street hired W. D. Campbell as their full-time preacher. Many members at 14th and Ash left to help at Vinewood and also to go back to Plum Street because they liked W.D. Campbell. After 10 years, the 14th and Ash mission was abandoned. In 1894, W. D. Campbell baptized Otoshige Fujimori at Plum Street. In 1898, Fujimori started a mission in Takahagi, Japan. John S. Gray paid half the balance for the purchase of the land. On December 26, 1905, there was a celebration of the anniversary of the Bible school of the Plum Street Church of Christ and architect W.G. Malcomson was the school’s superintendent. Also in 1895, Plum Street established a Cameron Avenue mission. After meeting in various places, John S. Gray paid to build a meetinghouse for that congregation on a lot at Clay and Cameron Avenues. The first service was held on June 7, 1903. Gray’s death on July 6, 1906 was a “severe blow to church efforts.” (Boyd, 112).

1910s-1930s

On August 1, 1912, Claud F. Witty became the preacher at Plum Street. In 1914-1916, the Fairview Church of Christ began by meeting in a remodeled dwelling at the northwest corner of Waterloo and Lemay Avenues in a section of Detroit called Fairview. In 1916, John S. Gray’s son Paul Robert Gray contributed the money for Fairview’s permanent building (Fairview later became Lemay). In 1918, the Plum Street congregation moved to Hamilton and Tuxedo to land donated by Vernon C. Fry. Then, according to a history of the Westside Central Church of Christ written by Claud Witty,

…an evil hour came upon us… . Upon hearing of this move, Brother A. Y. Malcomson, one of the Plum Street members, decided to take over the building on Plum Street and assemble another congregation, which would retain the historic name of “Plum Street Church of Christ”… . His first move was to employ Fred Cowan…as the minister. The second move was to go before the Cameron Avenue congregation… .

Malcomson went before Cameron Avenue to offer Cowan as preacher (supported financially by Malcomson). A church in Harlan, Kentucky church sent out a call for help and Malcomson asked the Wittys if they would go and he would pay their expenses. While they were gone, Malcomson wanted to combine the Gratiot Avenue mission and the Cameron Avenue church under Cowan. Some agreed and some didn’t. Malcomson sent two of his trucks to the Warren Avenue church (which became Westside Central) to load up their furniture and returned their key to the owner, without the congregation or Witty’s knowledge. His plan was to combine the enlarged Cameron Avenue church with the new congregation on Plum Street, as well as the Warren Avenue congregation.

The final move was to close the Warren Avenue church, as well as Gratiot Avenue and Cameron Avenue. This would make the new congregation consist of a goodly number of the Plum Street members, many from Vinewood, all from Warren Avenue, all from Cameron Avenue, and all from Gratiot Avenue… . Leading members were invited to the home of Brother Malcomson on different occasions for secret meetings.

The plan was not very successful. Twenty-three members of Warren Avenue did go over to the new congregation, but the congregation as a whole did not. This also happened at Cameron Avenue. In fact,

…many of the members, including all that went from Warren Avenue and Brother Malcomson himself withdrew from the effort and Brother Cowan and those loyal to him went in a body to the Central Christian Church, where Brother Cowan was made co-pastor with Edgar DeWitt Jones.

In 1925, the Central Christian Church and the Woodward Avenue Christian Church merged.

A final congregation I wanted to discuss is the Dearborn Church of Christ, which I have some personal connections to. The group first gathered on August 4, 1929 at the Robert Oakman school. W.G. Malcomson spoke at the service. In 1930, they bought lots at the corner of Chase Road and Gould and a temporary building paid for by Vernon C. Fry was put there.

Dearborn Church of Christ building from 1930-1937
– from http://dalnetarchive.org/handle/11061/2345

On November 13, 1936, ground was broken for a permanent Dearborn building designed by W.G. Malcomson. The building was not completed until 1942, but they occupied the basement beginning on August 5, 1937.

Dearborn Church of Christ building and congregation in June 1942. The building was designed by W. G. Malcomson. From http://dalnetarchive.org/handle/11061/2343

Sources:

• Boyd, R. Vernon. (2009). A History of the Stone-Campbell Churches in Michigan.
• Taylor, G. G. (1906). A History of the Plum Street Church of Christ, Detroit, Michigan.
• Adamson, H. A. (1941). The Church of Christ: 100 years in Detroit.
• Central Christian Church info from http://detroitchurches.history.msu.edu/Object/A-42-32/two-into-one-/ and http://detroitchurches.history.msu.edu/Object/A-42-29/historical-sketch-of-ccc-/.
• Witty, C. (1938). History of the West Side Central Church of Christ.

Luella Lockwood Moore

Last post, I mentioned that the son of George F. Moore married a woman named Luella Lockwood. Her family is pretty interesting, so I’ll write a little about them. Luella’s parents were Charles T. Lockwood and Josephine Crofoot (possibly a niece of Michael E. Crofoot, the namesake of The Crofoot in Pontiac, Michigan). C.T. Lockwood was born in New York in 1835. He and Josephine Crofoot married in 1861 in Oakland County, Michigan and had 2 children. In the August 1870 census, the family was living in Pontiac and C.T. taught music. Their children were Luella, aged 5 and LeBaron, aged 2. C.T. was a composer and wrote a number of songs, and his wife Josephine was also a “teacher of piano and voice culture,” especially after her husband’s death in October 1870.

Ad in the “Pontiac Bill Poster,” July 11, 1883, p. 1 from Digital Michigan Newspapers

Ad in the “Pontiac Jacksonian,” Apr. 19, 1866, p. 2 from Digital Michigan Newspapers

Luella Lockwood was born in Pontiac, Michigan on February 4, 1865. As mentioned above, when the census was taken on August 20, 1870 she was five years old living with her family and a servant named Nellie Jeffers. In the 1880 census, Josephine (37), Luella (15), and LeBaron (12) were living on Clark Street in Pontiac. Josephine was a music teacher while her children were going to school. On May 12, 1885, Luella married George F. Moore, Jr. in Pontiac. On January 6, 1887, their daughter Ruth Janet Moore was born in Detroit. According to the society pages in the Detroit Free Press, Luella passed the winter of 1890 at Colorado Springs and returned home in April 1890 (Apr. 27, 1890, p. 9).

A huge article from Dec. 4, 1891 detailed the Annual Ball at the Light Infantry Armory, “a brilliant gathering of Detroit’s beauty and fashion.” (Detroit Free Press, p. 1-2). George and Luella, George’s parents, and George’s sister, “ladies and gentleman who viewed the dancers from the gallery,” occupied box 16.

Luella spent the summer of 1892 at Normandie-by-the-Sea, a hotel in New Jersey. She then visited her sister-in-law Adela (Mrs. J. Ledlie Hees) at Fonda, New York. (Detroit Free Press, 9/25/1892, p. 17)

Left: From Facebook, the “Normandie-by-the-Sea located in what is now the Normandie section of north beach in Sea Bright. It was quite a massive resort, including its own train station, which is the small building shown on the left side of the image… . The building was unfortunately destroyed by fire on Sept. 29, 1916.”

Luella and George’s son, George F. Moore III, was born August 31, 1895 in Pontiac. In 1900, the family was living in Pontiac on North Saginaw Street. Luella’s mother, Josephine, was living with them, as were a servant (Emma Howden) and a nurse for the children (Pearl Owen). Ruth was 13 and George III was 5. Luella’s father-in-law died at Magnolia Springs, Florida on March 25, 1904 and the newspapers noted that it was sudden and that George Jr. was with him. George Jr. filed for divorce from Luella on August 4, 1904.

“George Frederick Moore has begun suit for divorce from Luella Lockwood Moore, to whom he was married in Pontiac in May, 1885. He charges his wife with wilful desertion since April 27, 1901, which Mrs. Moore, in an answer filed yesterday from Pontiac, denies. She also sets up that her husband did not sufficiently provide for her support. She asks that his bill be dismissed, but in case the decree is granted, she asks the custody of their 8-year-old son. They also have a daughter, aged 17. Moore is a prominent Detroit business man.”

Detroit Free Press, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 1904, page 10

The divorce was granted December 20, 1904. George Jr. died only four months later, on April 23, 1905 in Los Angeles. His will, written in April 1904, left his estate for the two children to be divided between when George III reached age of 30 (Detroit Free Press, Apr. 29, 1905, p. 12).

Luella, like her father, became a composer. The Detroit Free Press wrote an article discussing the publication of one of her songs “Dearie, I’d Do Anything for You.” The article also talks a little about her father (May 24, 1908, p. 40 – see article at left). In May 1910, the newspaper called her “Detroit’s well-known song writer” who was “having tremendous vogue with her song, ‘Yester-Eve.'” (May 8, 1910, p. 24). In June, “Cecille Berryman [was] singing Luella Lockwood Moore’s songs at Penobscot Inn.” And “Joseph Sheehan, the operatic tenor, [was] singing it in vaudeville.” (June 19, 1910, page 11). On June 22, 1910, she left for a visit to New York City. (Detroit Free Press, Jun. 23, 1910, p. 7). Her daughter Ruth married Roy E. Wiant on June 28, 1911 and the wedding service featured two of Luella’s songs: “During the entrance of the bridal party Miss Elizabeth Moore sang ‘Bridal Veil and Orange Blossoms,’ the music of which was composed by the bride’s mother…. The marriage service was read…during which ‘Perfume,’ a new composition by Mrs. Moore, was played by the organist, Mr. C. W. Morse.” Obviously, fashion was a big part of the day. The article let us know that “Mrs. Moore, mother of the bride, wore a gown of white lace, embroidered with silver spangles and white silk pattern figures with touches of pink under the net. The bodice was cut in a square. Mrs. Lockwood, grandmother of the bride, wore a handsome gown of soft gray marquisette under gray satin, with a garniture of lace in various shades of pink and old gold” (Detroit Free Press, Jul. 2, 1911, p. 49). In mid-July 1911, Ruth and her husband returned from their honeymoon and moved into Luella’s house at 300 Forest Ave. West while Luella was vacationing in the Adirondacks (Detroit Times, July 14, 1911, p. 6). In Fall 1911, the Wiants moved to Philadelpia.

The Colorado Springs Gazette of May 5, 1912 read, “Mrs. Luella Lockwood Moore of Detroit, is spending a short time at the Antlers. Her musical compositions have been favorably received and Fink’s orchestra is using several of them at the hotel. Among them is a suite of three numbers called “My Lady’s Boudoir,” the subtitles of which are “Perfume” (a barcarolle); “Chiffon” (a caprice); and “High Heels and Buckles” (a ballata)” (p. 4).

A view of The Antlers Hotel in Colorado Springs, c1910-1915. From My Genealogy Hound

Luella’s daughter Ruth gave birth to a son named John Ledlie Wiant (Jack) in Philadelphia on April 21, 1914. The next year, Ruth and her husband moved back to Detroit and bought a house at 129 Palmer Ave. East (Detroit Times, Jul. 14, 1915, p. 8). On October 25, 1915, there was a song writer’s contest at the Orpheum Theatre with seven participants, including Luella (now living at 38 Hague Ave.) and her song “Mother’s Kiss is the Sweetest Kiss of All” (Detroit Times, Oct. 25, 1915, p. 2). Luella’s son George F. Moore III married Doris Blakesy in Detroit in March 1918. In the 1920 census, Luella, her mother Josephine, George III, Doris, and a servant named Margaret Ballard were living on Atkinson in Detroit. George was an insurance broker.

In August 1922, Luella, her daughter, and her grandson were spending the summer season at the Gratiot Inn in Port Huron, Michigan. In an article in the Detroit Times, Luella told a reporter, “I really don’t know just how I create my compositions. Of course I have studied some, but mainly I believe it was because of my father’s marked ability and because of God’s will.” She continued, “I believe my vacation here at Lake Huron will be conducive to assist me in writing several songs which I can offer before the winter. These wonderful cool days and the fresh breezes off the lake, cannot fail to help me.” (Detroit Times, Aug. 13, 1922, p. 38).

Postcard of the Gratiot Inn patio, https://digitalcollections.detroitpubliclibrary.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A242643

In September 1922, Luella’s brother LeBaron Lockwood was working as a photographer and living in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The local newspaper there reported that Luella was “terribly injured in an automobile accident in Detroit. Mr. Lockwood, who received word from his mother in Detroit about the accident, states that Mrs. Moore has not yet regained consciousness…” (Sault Ste. Marie Evening News, Sept. 30, 1922, p. 3). I wasn’t able to find an article in the Detroit newspapers about the accident, but I know Luella did regain consciousness. Meanwhile, in September 1923, George and his wife Doris divorced. The next few years were tragic for the family. Luella’s daughter Ruth died on October 25, 1925 at the age of 38. Her cause of death was a grand mal seizure/epilepsy with a contributory cause of terminal broncho-pneumonia. George III died the next year at the age of 30. He died of edema of the brain. Luella’s mother Josephine Crofoot Lockwood died on August 24, 1927 at the age of 84. She had been a widow for 57 years. Luella died just a few months later at the age of 62. She died October 18, 1927 of hemiplegia (defined as paralysis of one side of the body) and edema of the lungs. She was buried in Elmwood Cemetery. At the time of their deaths, George, Josephine and Luella were living at 1129 Atkinson Avenue.

• 

• 

• 

1129 Atkinson in Detroit was built in 1916 and is a part of the Atkinson Avenue Historic District. Unfortunately, it suffered a fire and sold for $17,600 through the Detroit Land Bank in 2018. It is currently for sale for $20,000.

#42 Charles T. Wilson

This week’s theme is adventure, so I thought I’d discuss my grandfather leaving Ontario and coming to Michigan in 1928. Charles Thompson Wilson arrived in Detroit, Michigan on April 11, 1928. On the border crossing document, the name of the ship is “C.N. 115” which stands for Canadian National #115. So instead of arriving on a ship, he arrived on a train from Windsor, Ontario through a railway tunnel under the Detroit River. The Michigan Central Railway Tunnel was completed in 1910. Before that rail cars were transported across the river by ferry. The Ambassador Bridge for car traffic was completed in 1929.

http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=detroitpl&h=667777&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt

Just one week later, on April 18, 1928, he swore his declaration of intention to become a U.S. citizen. He was living in Grosse Pointe at 152 Kerby. I’m not sure who he was living with; he had put John Purdy at 333 Mona Ave. in Detroit as his contact on his border passage document.

Week 42 (Oct. 14-20): Adventure

#46 Henry Oakes

Detroit House of Correction, circa 1884 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_House_of_Correction)

Random Fact: My great-great grandfather Henry Oakes (aka Henry Oax, Heinrich Ochs, Henry Ochs) was sent to the Detroit House of Correction for 5 years for horse stealing in Wyoming Territory. He was received at the jail March 28, 1871 and was let out August 30, 1875.

I am so fortunate to be able to hear his side of the story from his 1891 deposition from his Civil War Pension File:

When I was discharged from the regular army I went as brakeman on the U.P.R.R. – ran from Laramie to Rollin Springs. Brake man a little less than a year – got my left hand [?] [?] and was in a hospital with that in Laramie City. I can’t tell how long. Went braking again on same route. I can’t say how long then the whole crew was “pulled off.” I laid(?) round Laramie I don’t know how long and I kind of think I came from there to Detroit. No I worked quite awhile at the European Hotel at Laramie City as 2nd(?) cook. Then I had charge of the dining room there quite a spell. Then to Detroit. Was brought to Detroit and put in House of Correction for 5 years for horse stealing. Had started herding cattle and was roped in. Was taking 3 horses from Laramie to Ft. Bridger for a man whose name I can’t recollect and was arrested with the horses in my possession. The man who sent me with the horses kept a [?] house at Laramie and he skipped out.

52 Ancestors Week 46 (November 12-18)

#36 Timken-Detroit Axle Company

My grandfather Edward Lee Wells (1905-1955) worked in various capacities for Timken-Detroit Axle Company from the 1920s until his death on June 19, 1955. The company started on Clark and Fort Streets in Detroit in 1909.

Detroit Publishing Co. [Between 1910 and 1920]. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2016815614/

Edward, his mother Nannie, and his siblings Willis, Mary, William, and Jesse came to Detroit from Virginia in about 1923. He married my grandmother Velma Belknap on November 23, 1932. On the marriage license, his occupation was factory work.

In 1933, Edward and Velma were living in Lincoln Park, Michigan and he was a truck operator at Timken-Detroit Axle Company. In the 1940 U.S. Federal Census, Edward, Velma and their four children were living in Allen Park and his job was as a stock chaser at the axle company. His income was $1600 and he had worked 50 weeks out of the year. In 1947, now with seven children, the family was living in Melvindale and Edward was a press operator at Timken Axle. In 1953, with eight children, Edward was listed in the city directory as a mechanic at Timken. In 1954, the last directory before his death, Edward was a service representative for Timken.

Advertisement from the July 7, 1917 Saturday Evening Post for Timken-Detroit Axles

In the 1950s, my grandfather had to travel a lot to Chicago and back for his job.There is a family story that my grandmother once visited him there and that is where my youngest uncle was conceived (he was born March 31, 1953). Edward died ten days shy of his 50th birthday of a heart attack.

52 Ancestors #36 – Working for a living

#35 Mildred Wade Bolt

Mildred Wade was the wife of my 1st cousin 4x removed, William I. Bolt. She was born July 22, 1856 in Hillsdale, Michigan. Both her parents died by 1870 and she went to live with her grandmother in Geneva, Ohio. In 1877, she married William I. Bolt in Jackson, Michigan. William was my great-great-great grandfather William D. Bolt’s nephew and the son of Isaiah Bolt. William was a plumber and Mildred was a teacher of elocution in Detroit. They lived at 1191 Jefferson Ave. In 1888, she founded the Detroit School of Expression and became its principal.

Various ads from the Detroit Free Press

In what must’ve been the annual back-to-school issue on Wednesday, August 29, 1906, the Detroit Free Press devoted a large section to “Schools and Colleges of the Northwest.” The paragraph describing Mildred’s school is as follows:

Mrs. Mildred A. Bolt, principal of the Detroit School of Expression, is not only a teacher of the highest ability, but she possesses those invaluable qualities of earnestness and enthusiasm which seem to be transmitted to her pupils, inspiring them to greater diligence and higher aims.

Mrs. Bolt studied elocution with Prof. Moses True Brown, of Boston; attended lectures under Prof. S. H. Clarke, at Chicago University and graduated from the Detroit Training School, where she studied under Mrs. Edna Chaffee Noble.

Under her immediate direction is a staff of highly efficient teachers, who assist her in conducting the classes in elocution, English literature, Delsarte, philosophy, Shakespearian study, voice training, dramatic reading, criticism, physical culture, deportment and general literature.

Five new teachers will be added to the faculty this year, making it possible to give an increased amount of personal attention to each student. The Detroit School of Expression is located in one of Detroit’s finest residence sections, 1191-1195 Jefferson avenue, and was established by Mrs. Bolt in 1888.

William died at the age of 50 in 1907. Mildred’s home continued to be at 1191 Jefferson until at least 1920. Mildred was well-known in Detroit society and was involved in the Detroit Shakespeare Club. She died of uterine cancer on July 24, 1922 at 3578 Joseph Campau, which was the home of Dr. and Mrs. Siefert. Louise Siefert was the Secretary-Treasurer of the school. I’m glad Mildred had a friend to go to at the end.

Ad for the school after Mildred’s death lists her as the founder

Mildred and William were buried in Detroit’s Woodlawn Cemetery.

From the Detroit Free Press, July 27, 1922

52 Ancestors #35 – School Days

#29 Lafayette Theatre

I couldn’t think of anyone that would fit into the “musical” category (although I did play the clarinet in 6th-8th grades), so I thought I would focus on someone that worked in a Detroit theatre. Or more specifically, focus on that theatre.

In the 1910 U.S. Federal Census (enumerated April 27, 1910), my great-grandmother Mae Oakes was listed as aged 19 (although she was born May 18, 1892 and, if my math is right, that would make her 17 almost 18). Mae had been married in December 1908 to my great-grandfather, but he wasn’t living with her in 1910. Anyway, her occupation was ticket-clerk at “Laf. Theatre.” She and her mother Mina were lodgers of Alta Fisher at 77 W. Elizabeth St.

77 W. Elizabeth St. didn’t exist in the 1921 Old and New House Number for the City of Detroit, but 79’s address was changed to 203. If I look at Google Maps now, 203 is about at the corner of W. Elizabeth and Clifford, smack dab in the middle of parking lots for Comerica Park and Fox Theatre.

An autographed photograph of reporter Billy Repaid who worked for WJR in the 1930s. Apparently he was an acquaintance of my great-grandmother’s from the theatre days. His inscription to her says, “With kindest regards to ‘Mae.’ Remember the LaFayette, huh? Billy Repaid”

The “Laf. Theatre” listed on the 1910 census stood for the Lafayette Theatre. Here’s a little history on the theatre where my great-grandmother worked. The Lafayette Theatre first opened in 1893 as “Campbell’s Empire Theatre.” According to the New York Dramatic Mirror of 12/30/1893, it was built on the former Latimer’s Livery Stable and was located at 17 and 19 Lafayette Avenue, near Griswold.

Empire Theatre on the 1897 Sanborn Fire Map (Detroit, vol. 1, sheet 2)

Empire Theatre, between 1893 and 1904. From http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/38410/photos/42725

The Empire Theatre closed in May 1904 and reopened as the Lafayette in August 1904. In Polk’s Detroit Directory of 1907, the Lafayette was located at 15-17 Lafayette Blvd. Here is an ad from Wood’s Official Railway guide from about 1909.

Advertisement for Lafayette Theatre from 1909 about the time my great-grandmother worked there as a ticket clerk

The theatre’s listing in the Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide for 1909-1910 (p. 218)

Sometime before 1913, the Lafayette came down and a new theatre, called the Orpheum, went up in its place. It opened in 1914.

Orpheum Theatre, at the corner of Shelby and Lafayette (https://digitalcollections.detroitpubliclibrary.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A158954)

In 1925, the interior was completely remodeled and the theatre was eventually named the Schubert-Lafayette. It was demolished in 1964. The spot is now a parking lot for the Dime Building.

Other Citations:

Hauser, Michael. “Downtown Detroit’s Magnificent Movie Palaces.” Presentation at the 2013 Michigan in Perspective: The Local History Conference.

http://historicdetroit.org/building/shubert-lafayette-theatre/

52 Ancestors #29 – Musical