Harry "Hal" Mulford Jewett

His biography in a nutshell:

JEWETT, Harry Mulford; born, Elmira, N.Y., Aug. 14, 1870; son of Arthur Leroy and Gertrude (Osborne) Jewett; graduate University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind., degree of C.E., 1890; married at Detroit, Feb. 19, 1900, Mary Visscher Wendell. Began active career as civil engineer on Chicago Drainage Canal, later with Michigan Central RR as assistant engineer, with headquarters in Detroit; entered coal mining with the WP Rend Coal Co., Chicago, and began for self in same business, 1903, at Detroit; assistant in organizing firm of Jewett, Bigelow & Brooks, miners and wholesale dealers in coal. Also president Big Sandy Coal and Coke Co., J.B.B. Colleries Co., Twin Branch and Mining Co., Maher Coal and Coke Co. Member Appalachian Engineers Society. Member Michigan Naval Reserve, U.S. war with Spain, and on board U.S.S. Yosemite. Republican. Member Masonic order. Clubs: Detroit, Detroit Country. Recreations: Automobiling, baseball. Office: Penobscott Bldg. Residence: 1055 Jefferson Av.

It's funny that "automobiling" is the only near-mention of the cars that made him historically significant! We'll get to that later. Harry's life is chock-full of interesting tidbits and trivia. Let's start with athletics. Hal was an athletically gifted fella, so much so that it interfered with his high school education. He was expelled once in school for low grades and yet... somehow managed to make it into Notre Dame!

In the year 1890, Harry scored Notre Dame's first-ever touchdown in a 26-6 loss to Michigan during the school's (ND's) second-ever football game on April 20, 1888. A couple of years later he broke world records in track, one of which was broken by his brother a year later. There's sibling rivalry for you! He wrote an article about training for his various track events in a book called "The Athlete's Guide", in which he formulates his recipe for athletic success: his workout routine, sleep schedule, appetites, and his alcohol massages. The article can be read via Google Books here. In his later years he refereed the first Detroit marathon and donated "The Harry M Jewett Trophy" to the winner of the event.

After graduating from Notre Dame with a degree in civil engineering he went to work conducting surveys for the Chicago Draining Canal (lovely!) and worked his way up the chain of command, receiving high compliments such as "the greatest engineer of the division" and "genius of construction". He randomly quit one day and tried his luck at being a newspaper man, whatever that means. Soon, however, he got in touch with an old friend, W.P. Rend of W.P. Rend Coal Company, where he became the highest grossing coal salesman.

Coal was the first industry he started to make a substantial fortune with. He owned part of Jewett, Bigelow and Brooks, which became one of the largest coal operators in the nation. He acquired coal mine after coal mine until his interest in coal became replaced with the fascinating "horseless carriages" being manufactured in Detroit at that time. He simply had to try his hand at designing of those! He arranged a meeting with Fred Paige, his future partner, and the rest is automobile history.

On February 19, 1900, he married Miss Mary Visscher Wendell, a very beautiful woman indeed. Way to go, Harry! Mary was the daughter of a prominent Detroit family and had been Harry's long-time sweetheart. I imagine he wrote many letters to her during his Spanish-American War service aboard the USS Yosemite. Their wedding was quite a social event! According to The Graham-Paige legacy, "the marriage and family were looked upon as successful in every order."

The more and more I read about enterprising young Harry, the more I wonder how much time he actually had to devote to his wife. He was a busy man to say the very least. They made a life together in this charming white clapboard Colonial Revival home on 625 Lake Shore Road in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan. The house was built in 1909 by Walter McFarlane.

Today, the house is owned by attorney Robert Liggett, who built a small structure to accomodate a collection pertaining to Jewett Motors, Inc. and the Paige-Detroit Motor Car Company.

According to the Jewettsix.com: "Mr. Liggett acquired this collection from a California collector, that consists of ephemera, photographs, advertising pieces, varied small parts and other company related shelf items. He also keeps his 1923 Special Jewett “Six” Roadster here, which he acquired, from Edward Huntting Jewett’s grandson, Edward H. Jewett II. Edward Huntting was a brother of Harry M. Jewett."

One has to wonder, who is this Liggett fellow? I understand the fascination with the Jewetts, but to buy the house they lived in? That's devotion!

Harry had dreamt of a haven of his own for the "rod and gun." In the early 1920s, he bought 4300 acres of land just outside of Rose Hill, Michigan. He named it Grousehaven and built a lodge, decked out with indoor plumbing and a wine cellar. He raised and released game birds and fish at Grousehaven in addition to fishing, hunting, and hiking. Today it is open to the public as part of Rifle River State Park in which you can find "Jewett Lake" and even several families of bald eagles.

Another interesting tidbit is that Hal was quoted in Time Magazine, September 20, 1926: Harry Mulford Jewett, president Paige-Detroit Motor Car Co.: "I made a speech to 1,500 of my Jewett and Paige dealers at an elaborate dinner in the grand ballroom of the Book Cadillac Hotel, Detroit. Said I: 'The new Paige is a powerful brute. You can drive it right through hell and you can't make it heat up.'"

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,880917,00.html#ixzz0aNSaqeGD

Harry's Life in Pictures:

The Detroit Athletic Club ca. 1919, which houses a small portion of Hal's athletic awards and trophies.

The USS Yosemite, on which he served as a gunnery captain in Manila Bay during the Spanish-American war.

Harry & one of his Jewett cars.

Further Reading:

The Wikipedia Jewett Automobile Page

The Jewett Six

Paige Detroit's Biographical HM Jewett Mention

John Clarke, Pilot of the Mayflower

Parish of St. Mary Rotherhithe

John Clarke is most significantly recognized as a master's mate or pilot of the Mayflower. He is also one of Halle's Great Great (etc.) Grandfathers. He was born on March 26th, 1576 and was baptized in the Parish of St. Mary Rotherhithe. Beautiful church!

From Mayflowerhistory.com: John Clark was perhaps the John Clark baptized on 26 March 1575 in Rotherhithe, Surrey, England. He first went to Jamestown, Virginia in March 1610 as a ship's pilot. There, at Point Comfort, he was captured by the Spanish in June 1611.

He was taken captive to Havana, Cuba, where he was interrogated, and then sent to Seville, Spain, and then on to Madrid in 1613. He was held as a prisoner until he was exchanged for a Spanish prisoner held by the English in 1616. He immediately went back to his occupation as a ship's pilot, and took a shipment of cattle to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 under some-time pirate Thomas Jones.In 1620, he was hired to be the master's mate and pilot of the Mayflower, on its intended voyage to Northern Virginia. While the Pilgrims were exploring Cape Cod and Plymouth Harbor, the shallop was caught in a storm and Clark brought them safely ashore at an Island, which is to this day known as Clark's Island. After returning, John Clark decided to settle in Virginia himself. He went to Jamestown in 1623 on the ship Providence, with the intention of settling there, but died not too long after his arrival.

That's John Clarke's story in a nutshell. I think it's odd that they didn't mention how he died. But that's for later. His first trip to America was ten years prior to The Mayflower landing. That's a LOT of time spent at sea in one's life. Allow me to expand a little...Point Comfort - they weren't expecting the Spanish Inquisition! (NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!)

He was captured by the Spanish in Jamestown (June 1611) and his testimonies to the Spanish Inquisition about the strategic condition of the North American English Colonial Coast can be read in numerous journals. He was later ransomed by King James I of England in 1616 and commissioned to pilot the Mayflower, although he did not sign the Mayflower Compact.

The Mayflower landed in December of 1620 - can you imagine how extremely cold it must've been to work on the deck of a ship in Plymouth harbor that time of year? Apparently, the Mayflower was running low on supplies, especially beer. Yes, beer. This point is disputed, and Clarke is said to have delivered the ship from a terrible storm. I'm not sure which version I like better, to be quite honest.

John Clarke spotted an accomodating isle and commanded the crew to "row lustily". They rested for a day, dried out their clothes (I imagine), and took in the enormity of suddenly finding themselves in The New World. I'm sure it was unfathomably surreal.

The next day, the Sabbath, the men returned to an immense rock at the center of Clark's Island and "gave God thanks for his mercies in their manifold deliverances." The date was December 20, 1620. The very first Thanksgiving took place on an island named for one of Halle's ancestors. Wow. (according to William Bradford's journal, 2nd signer of the Mayflower Compact and later Governor of the Plymouth Colony)Interesting Clark's Island Factoid! Truman Capote wrote "Breakfast at Tiffany's" on Clark's Island!

According to The First Republic in America: An Account of the Origin of this Nation, by Alexander Brown, Clarke was among the men who fell at the Indian Massacre of 1622 in Jamestown. The massacre was orchestrated by the Powhatan Confederacy as a warning to other settlers. John Smith wrote that the Powhatan "came unarmed into our houses with deer, turkeys, fish, fruits, and other provisions to sell us.” It was absolutely ruthless - all men, women and children were killed and their crops burned to the ground.Did they ever face justice?

Says my friend Wikipedia, "Colonists who survived the attacks raided the tribes and particularly their corn crops in the summer and fall of 1622 so successfully that Chief Opechancanough decided in desperation to negotiate. Through friendly Indian intermediaries, a peace parley finally took place between the two groups. However, some of the Jamestown leaders, led by Captain William Tucker and Dr. John Potts, poisoned the Indians' share of the liquor for the parley's ceremonial toast. The poison killed about two hundred Indians and another fifty were then killed by hand."

That's cold!

Cheif Opechancanough escaped, however. This jerk, whose Algonquin name meant "he whose soul is white" lived into his 90s and may have died of a neuromuscular disease. Geez.

Further Reading: The Mayflower & Her Log