Mills-Martin Family Records - Person Sheet
Mills-Martin Family Records - Person Sheet
Individual Notes
• Heinrich Carl Weber5968
• At the eastern end of the campus [Campus Martius] was the wholesale and retail grocery store of Peter Henkel, whose eldest son, Edward, later became a brother-in-law to Alfred, eldest son of Dr. Herman Kiefer. Edward Henkel and Alfred Kiefer married the daughters of Henry Weber, the furniture manufacturer.176, p 16
• Woodward Avenue was paved with wooden cedar paving blocks only as far as Grand Circus Park and the one-horse streetcar ran only that far; the sidewalks were wooden planks laid on 2 x 4’s. The largest building in Detroit, in fact the only six story building between New York and Chicago, was Henry Weber’s furniture store. It still stands on the west side of Woodward Avenue, facing Opera House Square, just north of the Majestic Building, and at present [1951] is occupied by Sander’s Candy Store.176, p 17
• It seems that her father, young Henry Weber, being the eldest of quite a clan, had turned everything over to his brothers and sisters – abdicated as it were – and, with quite a bit of money for those days, had landed in Detroit. Discovering that in this fast-growing community all the furniture was being imported at great expense from the east or from Europe, while the best walnut, oak, birch, maple and other woods so abounded in the neighborhood that they were almost worthless and would be given away to help clear the land for agriculture, he soon determined to engage in the furniture business. He established his factory in the block bounded by High, Montcalm, Brush and John R Streets and this tract was soon piled with logs and lumber of all descriptions. As he was shrewd, honest, conscientious, and insisted on only the best workmanship and materials going into his product, he soon established a market for it and started making money. In fact it was said of him that “everything he touched turned into gold.”176, p 49
• Young Henry did betake himself back to Detroit and, as near the center of the city as he could get, about 200 feet from the city hall, on the principal street (Woodward Avenue), he bought one of the most valuable pieces of land in the city, facing Opera House Square.
There, he proceeded to erect the tallest and largest building between New York and Chicago, it being six stories high and faced with grey limestone. So well was it build that it is till one of the best buildings in downtown Detroit. At present it is occupied by Sanders Candy store and owned by the estate of Peter Henkel, whose oldest son was married to Fanny Weber’s next sister, Emma.176, p 50
• Original Title owner of three lots in Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit.174, p 2
• At the eastern end of the campus [Campus Martius] was the wholesale and retail grocery store of Peter Henkel, whose eldest son, Edward, later became a brother-in-law to Alfred, eldest son of Dr. Herman Kiefer. Edward Henkel and Alfred Kiefer married the daughters of Henry Weber, the furniture manufacturer.176, p 16
• Woodward Avenue was paved with wooden cedar paving blocks only as far as Grand Circus Park and the one-horse streetcar ran only that far; the sidewalks were wooden planks laid on 2 x 4’s. The largest building in Detroit, in fact the only six story building between New York and Chicago, was Henry Weber’s furniture store. It still stands on the west side of Woodward Avenue, facing Opera House Square, just north of the Majestic Building, and at present [1951] is occupied by Sander’s Candy Store.176, p 17
• It seems that her father, young Henry Weber, being the eldest of quite a clan, had turned everything over to his brothers and sisters – abdicated as it were – and, with quite a bit of money for those days, had landed in Detroit. Discovering that in this fast-growing community all the furniture was being imported at great expense from the east or from Europe, while the best walnut, oak, birch, maple and other woods so abounded in the neighborhood that they were almost worthless and would be given away to help clear the land for agriculture, he soon determined to engage in the furniture business. He established his factory in the block bounded by High, Montcalm, Brush and John R Streets and this tract was soon piled with logs and lumber of all descriptions. As he was shrewd, honest, conscientious, and insisted on only the best workmanship and materials going into his product, he soon established a market for it and started making money. In fact it was said of him that “everything he touched turned into gold.”176, p 49
• Young Henry did betake himself back to Detroit and, as near the center of the city as he could get, about 200 feet from the city hall, on the principal street (Woodward Avenue), he bought one of the most valuable pieces of land in the city, facing Opera House Square.
There, he proceeded to erect the tallest and largest building between New York and Chicago, it being six stories high and faced with grey limestone. So well was it build that it is till one of the best buildings in downtown Detroit. At present it is occupied by Sanders Candy store and owned by the estate of Peter Henkel, whose oldest son was married to Fanny Weber’s next sister, Emma.176, p 50
• Original Title owner of three lots in Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit.174, p 2
Census Data
• 1870 Census: Detroit, Wayne, Michigan. Age 44, b Chur Hesse, Germany. Dealer in Furniture. $150,000; $200,000.180
Spouses
Individual Notes
• The mothers of these two must have been on very good terms as they went to Europe together, with the six children of Mrs. Kiefer and four of Mrs. Weber, making the party an even dozen – maybe it was “cheaper by the dozen.”176, p 47
• As he traveled about the country buying timber, he met Caroline Dohmstreich, the only daughter of a very proud aristocrat, Gottlieb Dohmstreich, a former officer in the famous “Black Hussars,” who had a large tract of land just east of Plymouth where he lived in his gray octagonal house like the lord of the manor.176, pp 49-50
• As he traveled about the country buying timber, he met Caroline Dohmstreich, the only daughter of a very proud aristocrat, Gottlieb Dohmstreich, a former officer in the famous “Black Hussars,” who had a large tract of land just east of Plymouth where he lived in his gray octagonal house like the lord of the manor.176, pp 49-50
Census Data
• 1870 Census: Detroit, Wayne, Michigan. Age 42, b Prussia.180
• 1900 Census: Grosse Pointe, Wayne, Michigan. Age 72, b Jul 1827, Germany. Parents b Germany. Listed as Caroline Weber; “Mother” in household of Alfred Kiefer.5969
• 1900 Census: Grosse Pointe, Wayne, Michigan. Age 72, b Jul 1827, Germany. Parents b Germany. Listed as Caroline Weber; “Mother” in household of Alfred Kiefer.5969
ChildrenFrances Josephine Mary (1853-1937)
Emma (1855-1929)
Othelia (1858-)
Otto Louis Edgar (1867-1938)