History of Michigan, / by Charles Moore. [Vol. 3]

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

1355

Fraternity and the Detroit Board of Commerce. April 24, I880, he married Mary E. Rumney of Detroit.
MAJ. RoY CLARK VANDERCOOK, of Lansing, adjutant-gener of of Michigan, is a native of the state, having been born at Mason, the county seat of
Ingham county, November 20, 1873, and is descended from two pioneer
Michigan families, the Vandercooks and Smiths. The paternal grandfather of Major Vandercook was Isaac H. Vandercook, who was a native
of New York state and came to Michigan in 1848, locating first at Jackson and later moving to Mason, Ingham county. He was engaged in the
insurance many years, and was one of the best known men in that line in
this section.
Albert L. Vandercook, the father of the Major, was born at Gloversville, New York, in I849, and was a child when brought to Michigan by his parents. Reared and educated at Mason, he early
adopted merchandising as his life work, and for many years was the
proprietor of a business enterprise at Mason, where he is still located.
The mother of Major Vandercook bore the maiden name of Jennie A.
Smith, and was born in New York state, her father, Delevan C. Smith,
coming from the Empire State to Michigan in 1856 and becoming a pioneer of Ingham county, where he was for a long period of years extensively engaged in agricultural pursuits.
Maj. Roy C. Vandercook was reared at Mason and received his education in the public and high schools of that place. Upon laying aside
his school books, he entered the office of the Ingham County News, at
Mason, and learned the printers' trade, working his way up in the office
until attaining a position on the staff, doing local and editorial work. In
I898 he was commissioned first lieutenant of Company F (Mason company), of the Thirty-first Michigan Regiment, and was with that organization in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Following the war he
came to Lansing, and in I9oo took a position with the State Republican,
being engaged in newspaper work until his appointment, in February,
I912, by Governor Chase Osborn, to the office of adjutant-general of the
Michigan National Guard, with the rank of major. He organized Battery
A, Field Artillery of Lansing, and was its commander until he became
adjutant-general. Major Vandercook is a member of the Military Order
of Foreign Wars, of the Society of Spanish-American War Veterans, and
of the Masonic and Elk fraternities of Lansing. Major Vandercook's
popularity with the members of the National Guard has made him one of
the most valuable officers in the service, and during his incumbency of the
office the troops have made an enviable record for discipline, drill, efficiency and endurance. References by the newspapers to this well known
official have a certain manner and tone that betoken their esteem and
regard for him such as are earned by few men in the public eye.
Major Vandercqok was married to Miss Maude C. Burton, of Union
City, Michigan, and they have one son and one daughter: Cornelius Burton and Dorothy R. The family home is at No. 325 North Pine street,
Lansing.
JOSIAH DALLAS DORT. It has been said that a city is great not as it
has a numerous population, but in the importance of its work, meaning
what it does for its own inhabitants and produces for the outside world.
The work done by Flint has long made it a center of middle west manufactures. However, it is to a comparatively small group of men that the
city's industrial prosperity has been due, and during the last thirty years
none has been more steadily influential in promoting development in the
city than Josiah D. Dort, who by common consent is now one of the most
dominant figures in the business life df Michigan. As a youth he entered