History of Detroit, a chronicle of its progress, its industries, its institutions, and the people of the fair City of the straits, / by Paul Leake ... [Vol. 3]

HISTORY OF DETROIT

853

was of English descent, married Harriet Gilbert, who was a direct
descendant on her father's side of Judge Jeffery Gilbert, a distinguished
jurist of Kent, England.
When about twenty years old George W. Ferris, having revolved
in his mind the question of location, decided to come to Detroit, Mich'igan, and for sometime thereafter he was in the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad Company. Subsequently going still farther west,
he visited what is now known as Cripple Creek, Colorado, and was there
a prospector and miner, likewise working for several years in an assay
office. During the time Mr. Ferris made frequent trips to Detroit, being
called here occasionally to look after his property interests at Spring
Wells and Greenfield, in Wayne county. An able business man, farsighted and progressive, he accumulated considerable wealth, and was
living practically retired from business pursuits at the time of his death,
his time being devoted to the care of his personal interests. He was a
sunny tempered, genial man, who, quietly, did many deeds of kindness
and won many friends, being popular with the young and the old.
Mr. Ferris married, at Bay City, Michigan, October 22, 1881, Lydia
Loyde Little, who was born in Ontario, Canada. Her father, Thomas
Little, was a son of Peter Little, who was born in Scotland, where the
family name was known as Lytle. Thomas Little was reared in Ontario,
where he was for many years successfully employed in business as a
contractor and builder. His wife, whose maiden name was Eunice
Walton, was born in Ontario, of English ancestry. As a child Mrs.
Ferris was taken to New York state to live, but subsequently was sent
to Peace Dale, Rhode Island, where she grew to womanhood, having
there been brought up by a widowed aunt. Shortly before her marriage
she came to Michigan, and until her union with Mr. Ferris resided with
friends in Bay City and Detroit. To Mr. and Mrs. Ferris three children
were born, namely: Georgia, who married R. J. Dotson, and they have one
child, Ferris Dotson; Vivian, wife of Alexander E. Sorum; and Thomas
Alden, who is associated with the Jones-Laughlin Steel Company. Mrs.
Ferris and her children are members of Highland Park Presbyterian
church and have been since its days as a mission Sunday School.
In 1893, but a short time prior to his death, Mr. Ferris sold that
part of his estate through which Ferris avenue now passes for the
snug little sum of twenty-three thousand dollars. The panic, which
lasted from 1893 until 1897, caused a depreciation in values, and Mrs.
Ferris, when left a widow, had a hard struggle to straighten out affairs
satisfactorily and is entitled to a great deal of praise and credit for
the able manner in which she managed the estate. Mr. Ferris was ever
actively interested in educational matters, and served for many years
as a member and the secretary of the Highland Park Board of Education, occupying that position at the time the school buildings were
erected. He was very influential as a man and a citizen, and on the day
of his funeral, as a mark of respect, the public schools were closed, and
the City Council passed resolutions of respect and of sympathy for the
family. Several years later, in memory of his labor on the Board, the
new school on Cortland avenue was named in his honor, attesting again
this truth: "Their works do follow them." Rev. 14; 13.
MORSE STEWART, M. D. In the life of the late Dr. Morse Stewart,
who died at his home in Detroit on the 9th of October, 1906, there was
indeed shown "the inward surety to have carried out a noble purpose
to a noble end," and the record of his career as a physician and as a man
among men offers much of lesson and inspiration. In offering in this
publication a tribute to the memory of this distinguished physician and
surgeon, this man of exalted character, this citizen of loyalty and be