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A pioneer Detroit, Michigan family, established the Ferry Seed Company and other business enterprises, active in civic and cultural affairs. Papers document the family and its business, cultural, political and philanthropic activities.

The Ferry family papers document the rise to prominence of this family who first gained their fortune as seed merchants. The papers also reveal the workings of other Detroit businesses, the development of the Detroit Institute of Arts, turn-of-the-century Michigan politics, and the suburban development of Grosse Pointe. The papers span the years 1758 to 1989 with the bulk of the materials covering 1855 to 1959. The collection consists of: account books, ledgers, journals, and business reports; blue prints, deeds, titles, abstracts, and mortgages; correspondence (business and personal); appointment books, diaries, scrapbooks, and clippings; receipts and tax returns, photographs, and printed miscellanea. It is important to note that the Michigan Historical Collections does not house all extant Ferry materials. The donor, Dexter M. Ferry, III, retains possession of several early account books, ledgers, and journals related to D.M. Ferry & Co.; he also kept some family correspondence and virtually all photographs.

The Ferry family papers arrived at the Michigan Historical Collections in an order based on when the donor reviewed the materials. In the course of reprocessing, this order was altered, and an arrangement assigning primacy to the generation of Ferry who created the document was followed. This reprocessing has resulted in three series: Historical and Background, materials predating Dexter M. Ferry; Dexter M. Ferry; and Dexter M. Ferry, Jr. The few problems presented by overlap between generations are duly noted in the contents list. Within these generational series the materials are arrayed in business, personal, philanthropic, and political subseries. Given the natures of the family and the family business, the researcher should note that murkiness exists between subseries divisions. In general these dividing principles work well. They preserve Dexter M. Ferry, III's original order at the folder level while facilitating access by independent researchers.

The strengths of the Ferry collection are myriad. The family correspondence provide unique insight into a family which grew wealthy but remained close-knit. Especially interesting are the long runs of correspondence between Dexter M. Ferry and his mother, Lucy Ferry Crippen, and Dexter M. Ferry, Jr. and his mother, Addie Miller Ferry. The former run reveals much about the fluid society of late nineteenth-century Detroit, and the latter reflects the pressures of more rigidly defined social strictures. The correspondence between Ferry, Jr. and his sisters, Blanche Ferry Hooker and Queene Ferry Coonley, are illuminating on the handling of the family business in the changing economic climates of the twentieth century.

Some facets of the development of the Detroit business community are well documented as the family invested heavily in local real estate and business. The strengths of the present collection revolve around the Dexter M. Ferry, Jr. materials relating to business and finance in Detroit from 1920 to 1950, particularly the banking community's reaction to the crisis of the Depression. The links between automobile touring, the good roads movement, and the development of ancillary industries to support the burgeoning automotive industry are fairly well documented by Dexter M. Ferry, Jr.'s papers. Young Ferry's close association with the development of the Detroit Institute of Arts is extremely well documented and these papers provide a case study of twentieth century patronage.

A somewhat refracted view of Michigan politics at the turn of the twentieth century is provided through the scrapbooks and clippings on Dexter Ferry's failed campaign in 1900 for governor of the state. The papers are stronger in their documentation of Dexter Ferry, Jr.'s political involvement with the local governance of Grosse Pointe. Here the details of community control are thoroughly covered by correspondence, reports, and minutes.

Physician; member of the first graduating class of the University of Michigan in 1845; papers include journals, correspondence, physician's records.

The Pray collection includes journals, 1844-1849, covering his years as a student at the University of Michigan and in the Medical Department of Western Reserve College, Cleveland, Ohio. In addition, there is correspondence exchanged with his wife, Adele, primarily during the year 1879 when they were separated due to his service in the Michigan House. Other materials of interest include various personal and business account books and record books from his medical practice.

Family papers of Amasa B. Watson are divided into the following series: Amasa B. Watson Papers, Amasa B. Watson Family and Associates Papers, Mrs. Martha A. (Brooks) Watson Papers, and Miscellaneous Papers The papers include: biographical materials; family correspondence; business correspondence, mostly related to lumber and timber, but also the Republic National Convention, 1888; education of his nephews at the Michigan Military Academy (Orchard Lake, Mich.); General Orders, 1861; and after his death, his wife's correspondence related to the building of his mausoleum and the Amasa B. Watson Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Post No. 395.

Family Papers, 1854-1932 and undated. The collection is divided into the following series: Amasa B. Watson Papers, Amasa B. Watson Family and Associates Papers, Mrs. Martha A. (Brooks) Watson Papers, and Miscellaneous Papers. Most of the collection documents Watson's business interests in pine lands and lumber sales.There are five folders of lumber correspondence with Hull and Watson; later M. B. Hull and Company, and finally Hull, Ulrich, and Company, 1879-1888, and four folders of related receipts and land taxes, 1860-1888. Eventually, Hull became executor of Watson's estate.

Family correspondence often relates to pine and land interests inherited from Watson. Family correspondence from his siblings concerns lumber and shingle sales. Correspondence from Watson's adopted sons, James and John Mead, is more personal in nature, and quite warm. In the correspondence, the boys describe their lives and experiences at school.

In the family and associates papers, there is correspondence with the family lawyer (and son-in-law) Thomas F. Carroll, and Watson's Mississippi agent, D. D. Carter, concerning land and estate concerns, 1903-1923. Correspondence to James and John Mead also concerns these issues, 1892-1894. The papers of Philander J. Mead (d. 1853), paternal grandfather of the Mead children and father of William J. Mead, are of little interest except where they concern pine and land interests. The papers of William W. Mead, 1888-1932, cover mostly his and his aunt/ mother's business concerns, estates, and the building of Amasa Watson's mausoleum. William was his aunt/ mother's right hand man. Mrs. Watson's papers cover her husband's estate, mausoleum, and land and timber business concerns. The Amasa B. Watson Grand Army of the Republic (G. A. R.) Post 395 correspondence documents Mrs. Watson's donations, both to Post 395 and to individual Civil War veterans. The G. A. R. letterhead has an illustration of Watson as an older man. Also included is a 1912 meeting booklet listing the Post's officers and regular meetings, held on the first and third Friday of each month at 325 Central Avenue. The booklet has an oval portrait of Amasa B. Watson on the title page.

Additional family and miscellaneous papers relate to land patents, mostly copies, 1884-1919, and abstracts of titles of Amasa B. Watson's land, created for his heirs and for legal purposes. Biographical information and a carte-de-visite of Amasa B. Watson in his Civil War uniform complete the collection.

Member of the Michigan State Legislature. Personal papers include correspondence, speeches and writings, a scrapbook, and photographs.

The collection has been arranged into a single series of Personal papers. Included are correspondence; two volumes of speeches and other writings concerning prohibition, woman suffrage, and other political and patriotic subjects; scrapbook, family materials, and miscellanea. Within the correspondence, there are collected letters of Michigan Senator Charles E. Townsend, 1913-1914, and a letter from Benjamin R. Tillman concerning smoking in the U.S. Senate. Other correspondents include J. G. Cannon, Secretary of State William J. Bryan, Booker T. Washington, James B. Angell, Frank Knox, Harry B. Hutchins, Charles E. Townsend, and Earl C. Michener.

Group and composite portraits of the members of the Michigan Legislature.

This is a collection of group and composite portraits of the members of the Michigan Legislature. The photographs were accumulated from different sources.

Republican member of the state house and the state senate; president of the University Musical Society. Legislative and campaign files, 1919-1935, detailing his election campaigns, his activities within the legislature, and his various responsibilities as a member of the Republican State Central Committee; general correspondence files, 1922-1960, largely pertaining to his work with the University Musical Society and other civic activities; topical files; family history and memoirs; diaries and appointment books; papers of wife Alva Gordon Sink; and visual materials.

Farmer and businessman in Eagle Township, Clinton County, Michigan; thirteen-term (1923-1933, 1935-1949) Republican member of the Michigan House of Representatives; Chairman, Ways and Means Committee (1939-1949). Correspondence, newspaper clippings, diaries, photographs, and miscellanea concerning his life and legislative career.

This collection presents material concerning the life, business affairs, and legislative career of John P. Espie (1881-1949). The first folder contains copies of three biographical sketches and some handwritten genealogical information concerning Espie's 19th century forebears. Subsequent folders contain correspondence, newspaper clippings, miscellaneous items, and photographs.

Republican state representative, 1907-1912, speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, 1911, state senator, 1919-1922, and official of the Farmers' National Council, the National Gleaner Federation, the Michigan State Grange and other farm and insurance organizations; includes correspondence, clippings, photographs and scrapbooks, concerning his political and business activities.

The collection spans the dates 1904-1926 and contains five linear feet of correspondence, clippings, photographs and scrapbooks concerning Baker's political and business activities.

Member of the Michigan House of Representatives from Midland, Michigan, 1909-1915; U.S. Congressman, 1917-1921. Correspondence, 1910-1913, relating to activities in the Michigan House, especially his successful effort to become speaker; speeches, 1920-1958 (scattered dates); file relating to his work as legal counsel for the Dow Chemical Company; file concerning his interest in golf; and photographs.

The Currie papers cover the period between 1910 and 1960 and consist primarily of correspondence relating to his years in the Michigan Legislature, including letters of encouragement and support to and from peers and constituents. The majority of this correspondence focuses on support for and speculation concerning Gilbert Currie's bid for the job of speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives.

Democratic state representative from Menominee County, Michigan, 1923-1925 and 1927-1935. Correspondence, subject files, and clippings and scrapbooks primarily relating to his legislative career, his participation on the Michigan Legislative Council, and Upper Peninsula political and economic subjects.

While the collection dates from 1918-1961, the bulk of the papers are from 1923-1935 and relate to Mr. Bradley's legislative career. The collection has been arranged into four series: Biographical, Correspondence, Topical files, and Scrapbooks. This is a small but rich collection relating to Michigan politics, with special emphasis on Menominee County and the Upper Peninsula. Because of the correspondence, legislative files, proceedings of the legislative council, Bradley-Doyle folder, and the scrapbooks, the years 1933-1934 are especially well documented.