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

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

1271

Wayne county, and held that office several years. Many wise and effective provisions were inaugurated by him for the care and guidance of the
street boys, including the establishment of an ungraded or truant school
and a police supervision which eventually was organized as the present
truant squad. Not only of his time and energy was he prodigal in philanthropic work, but from his private income many needy boys were supplied with clothing, and for a number of years he is said to have spent
more in this direction than he did for the maintenance of his own family.
Bradford Smith was one of the early members of the Fort Street
Presbyterian church, held the post of deacon for many years, but later
transferred his membership to the Calvary church, nearer his home, and
for thirty years or more he was an elder in that society and was also
superintendent of the Sunday school. After retiring from his active career as an educator, he took up the real estate business, and platted a
number of pieces of land which are now thickly settled and built over.
At the beginning of the Civil war, Bradford Smith organized a company
and started for the front, but an injury in one of his knees incapacitated
him so that he was obliged to return home, but he paid for and maintained
a substitute throughout the war.
In 1851 Bradford Smith married Miss Lucia Weston of New York
city. She died in 1865, and the three living children of their marriage
are: Frederick B., Joseph W. and Lucia Weed Smith, all residents of
Detroit. In I869 Mr. Smith married Miss Julia Spencer, who died in
1889. Her two surviving sons are: A. Weston Smith of New York city
and Henry S. Smith of Chicago.
As a tribute to the long and useful career of Bradford Smith the following quotation from an editorial in the Detroit Free Press is a well
deserved estimate: "Bradford Smith was one of Detroit's foremost
educators and philanthropists. It is more often that we have citizens to
honor who have achieved commercial success. Here was a man who gave
to the city nmore than he received. He cut off from himself all hopes of
worldly advancement. He demonstrated how a citizen may be a philanthropist without wealth. The methods which he initiated years ago in
the treatment of wayward boys and neglected waifs outlined the policies
of the juvenile courts of today. There was something of the Froebel
about him. Long before modern teaching methods had been fixed, or even
recognized, he put them to use. Our schools were first graded by him.
His pupils at the old Houghton school give ample testimony in their frequent remembrances of his lovable character. It is much to have lived
this life of pre-eminent usefulness in the community and to have died
greatly respected at the ripe age of eighty-six years. The eighty-six years
of Bradford Smith's strong, courageous, cheerful life attest that the return in pleasure has been greater than the decimal system can account."
FREDERICK B. SMITH. Now president and general manager of the
Wolverine Manufacturing Company at Detroit, Frederick B. Smith is
one of the enterprising manufacturers of that city, and with his associates
has built up an industry whose products are distributed over many states
of the Union. The Wolverine Manufacturing Company was organized
a little more than twenty-five years ago when Mr. Smith was a young
man. It began in a small way with little capital, but the organizer had
the courage, ability and determination requisite for success. The goods
manufactured are of practical value and have a place in thousands of
homes in America, and it was a matter of pride and painstaking efforts
to Mr. Smith to improve and maintain a high standard for his products.
That has been the cause of the steady prosperity of this company, which
is now recognized as one of the important assets in Detroit industries.