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

1556

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

shoulders. In the meantime he and his wife had inaugurated a system
of careful economy, and as a result they had a considerable amount of
capital to show for all these years, so that in I907, on leaving the employ
of the Bartlett Company, Mr. Finlay with his capital and with his experience and with the confidence he was able to inspire among his associates, was able to organize the Valley Grey Iron Company, and became
its president and owns the controlling interest. After completing the
building and a modern plant, the Company began its operations, and has
since built up a business hardly second to any of its kind in northeastern
Michigan. The plant occupies a tract of about four acres, comprising
one of the best manufacturing sites in Saginaw, and in a strategic location, which of itself works for the success of the business. At the present
time, forty or more workmen are steadily employed, and the valley concern has more expert moulders in its employ than any other foundry in
Saginaw. To no one factor so much as to Mr. Finlay is the success of
this business due. Nominally he holds the dignified position of president of the company, but the visitor to the plant will less frequently find
him in front of his desk in the business office than in the factory working
alongside of his employes with his sleeves rolled up and with little to
distinguish him outwardly from his subordinates. Many executives who
have come up from a long experience in a business fail because of their
aloofness from the practical management of their business, and because
they no longer keep up that close and intimate touch with their employes,
which is as vital to the success of an enterprise as good material and
scientific methods. Mr. Finlay has never failed in this respect, and is
still as hard a worker as when he was in the ranks of wage earners. The
Valley Company specializes in the manufacture of bandsaws, and this
requires not only the highest grade of metal, but expert treatment in
every department.
Mr. Finlay is Independent in politics, belongs to the Presbyterian
church, and his long and active business career has allowed him little
time for diversions, or interests outside of home and family. Mr. Finlay
was married July 8, 1878, to Miss Lucy Kershaw, who was born in England. Their four children are: Thomas H. Finlay, who is a plumber by
trade and lives in Saginaw; Anna Clarissa, who is teacher of Domestic
Science and art in the Saginaw schools; Alexander Finlay, who is emplayed in the Lufkin Rule Company at Saginaw; and John J. Finlay,
who is a moulder with his father's company. Mr. Finlay owns and occupies his pleasant homestead at II26 South Jefferson Street in Saginaw.
JOHN CHARLES LUETJOHANN. The vice president of the Valley Grey
Iron Company, and for many years the daily companion and associate
of A. G. Finlay, president of the same company, John Charles Luetjohann
is one of the capable industrial leaders of Saginaw, who have come up
from the ranks, and who now occupy places of prominence in affairs.
In these days of strenuous competition among all departments of industry, and commerce, it requires not only ordinary business push and
energy, but expert knowledge and efficiency, to make a success of any
undertaking. Probably no Saginaw concern has a more substantial record of success and steady prosperity than the Valley Grey Iron Company, and this fact is almost entirely due to the seasoned judgment and
practical skill of the two men who are bearing the chief responsibilities
of its management, and who are owners of nearly all the stock in the
enterprise.
John Charles Luetjohann was born in Holstein, at that time a province of Denmark, but now a portion of the German Empire. His birth