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

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and affection of the community and was especially well known among
the old German residents of the city. He was born in Detroit, at the
corner of Pipale and Franklin streets, on the 2nd of September, 1862.
He was the son of John and Katherine Troester, who were of German
descent and had been among the early settlers in the city. Charles
Troester received his early education in St. Mary's Catholic school
and in the public schools of Detroit, but for the most part he was a
self-educated and self-made man, for it was to his own keenness of
observation and to his wide reading after his school days were over that
he really owed the firm basis upon which his character was built. He
first entered the world of work at the age of fifteen, when as a bell boy
he was employed for a short time in the Windsor Hotel. After this
taste of the joy of earning money he went to work in real earnest in
his father's business. He stayed in the grocery store with his father,
learning the business, until he was nineteen years of age. He then
bought out his father and became the sole owner of the business, which
was a combination of grocery and saloon, located at the corner of Ripale
and Franklin streets. For fifteen years thereafter, he conducted the
business with great success, and then he sold out to his brother George,
who is now the owner and manager of the business.
After disposing of the business which he had bought from his father
Mr. Troester went into the real estate business and for six years bought
and sold property, with varying success, but taken as a whole these
were years of prosperity. At the end of this time he built a business
block at the corner of Ripale and Congress streets, and here he installed
a grocery and saloon business which he operated for about three years.
He then sold out and from this time until his death in 1906, lived in
retirement. After his death on the 11th of September, he was laid to
rest in Mount Elliot cemetery. He left many friends who knew him
as a kind and loyal friend, marked by the sterling German attributes of
industry and honor. He was a member of the American Insurance
Union, the Order of Foresters and of the Catholic Court.
Politically Mr. Troester was a Democrat, but though he took a great
interest in political issues, he could never be prevailed upon to run for
office.
On the 24th of June, 1891, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Troester to Miss Josephine Pulto, the daughter of Anthony and Mary
Pulto. She was born in Detroit and represented two of the oldest and
most distinguished German families in the city. Her father was for
many years a wholesale grocer and liquor dealer in Detroit, and was
well known for his progressive business methods. The union of Mr.
and Mrs. Troester was blessed with three sons; John Harry, Marshall
F. and Charles J., all of whom make their home with their mother. The
Troester family are all communicants of the Roman Catholic church.
Mrs. Troester now makes her home in the attractive residence she bought
after her husband's death on East Grand Boulevard.
THE DAISY MANUFACTURING COMPANY. One of the leading industrial
enterprises of Wayne county is the Daisy Manufacturiig Company, of
Plymouth, which, in the manufacture of the "Daisy" air rifle, and a
small toy pop gun, gives employment to nearly two hundred people,
it being the largest manufacture of air rifles in the world, each year
making more than all the other factories combined. This company is
in reality a continuation of the old Plymouth Iron Windmill Company
which, in 1882, was established in Plymouth, Michigan, by H. W. Baker,
the present president of the Daisy Manufacturing Company, and L. C.
Hough, father of E. C. Hough, now treasurer of the Daisy ManufacturVol. 111-23