Harvey J Hollister, 19th Century Mover and Shaker

 
The above biography was published in American Lumbermen: The Personal History and Public and Business Achievements of 100 Eminent Lumbermen of the United States, Volume 1, 1905, p91

Another bio is in The Bankers Magazine, Volume 59, Bradford Rhodes, 1899, p 921, virtually word-for-word.

When Daniel Ball moved back to New York in 1863, Harvey purchased his house on the north side of Fulton Street Hill, next to Portsmouth Court, set far back from the street.  The house exists today in an expanded form, and is unfortunately split up into 12 apartments.  It does not show on the 1853 Henry Hart map, and is said to have been built in 1853, probably too late to be shown on the map.

In 1883 there was a Hollister & Boyd's Addition to the City of Grand Rapids which encompassed several blocks south of Butterworth Avenue along Straight Street.  Although it was not on the same side of the river, Hollister Street on the SE side was undoubtedly named after this family.

Above from "Grand Rapids Illustrated", 1902.

In 1906 Harvey wrote a paper that he read at the annual meeting of the Michigan Historical Commission.  In it he recounts the early days of Grand Rapids from 1850 to 1860.  A lot can be learned about the way things were back then and he contrasts it with how things are in 1906 and all the wonderful new inventions and improvements they are currently enjoying.  He tells stories about some of the early settlers and mentions quite a few names.

Martha Clay Hollister, his wife, started the Sophie DeMarzac Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Grand Rapids and led it until her sudden death in 1901.

Photo from the Ancestry.com tree of Joy Ireland. 

Harvey died 24 September 1909 and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with others of his family.

In 1880, the Hollister family consisted of Harvey, 44, Martha, 46, Mary G, 20, Clay Harvey, 16, George Clay, 8, and John Chamberlain, 7.  Biographies of the two youngest sons, below, are from the Decennial Record of the Class of 1896, Yale College, compiled by Clarence S Day, Jr, class secretary, De Vinne Press, New York, 1907, pp404-409.

Clay Harvey Hollister, below, was the oldest son, and went to Amherst College, graduating in 1886.  The portrait if from an article on banking which he wrote for Business, a Magazine for Office Store and Factory, Volume 19, Issue 1, p 75, in 1906.

Here is a bio from Fisher, p 176:


Obituary from The Ludington Daily News, Monday, February 19, 1940, p 1.

Clay Harvey Hollister, 76, president of the Old Kent bank, Grand Rapids, died in a hospital here Sunday. Hollister collapsed at a hotel in Chandler, a few miles from, here, last Tuesday while on a trip west for his health. He did not regain consciousness. Holllster's older son, Paul, was at his bedside when the venerable business leader died. Hollister came here at the invitation of an old friend, John W. Blodgett, Grand Rapids, former president of the National Association of Lumber manufacturers. The day of his arrival, Blodgctt went to awaken him from a nap and found him in a coma. Although suffering from diabetes for a number of years, Hollister had remained active in business. 


Obituary of John C Hollister from Obituary Record of Yale Graduates, 1915 - 1920, New Haven, August 1920, p 139.

Of greater interest than her brothers to modern readers, is Mary G Hollister.  She married McGeorge Bundy, a young lawyer of Grand Rapids.

The above is from Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Michigan State Bar Association, with Reports of Committees, Lists of Officers, Members, Michigan State Bar Association, 1912, p 94.

Her son, Harvey Hollister Bundy, was a diplomat who helped institute The Marshall Plan in 1948.  His sons, William Putnam and McGeorge were advisors to JFK and LBJ, and there is a lot written about their involvement in the Vietnam War, membership in Skull and Bones, and possible Illuminati ties.

William Putnam Bundy, obituary here.

McGeorge Bundy, obituary here.

The Other Ball Families

When John Ball settled in Grand Rapids in 1837 he was just the first of many with that last name to make Grand Rapids their home.  Here are a few of the others.

Daniel Ball

Photo f rom the Grand Rapids Museum Collection.

Daniel Ball was in the Owosso, Shiawassee County census in 1840,  listed as a farmer, after moving to Michigan from New York after 1836.   He came to Grand Rapids about 1841 and stayed until 1863, when he moved back to New York.  He died in Jamestown, Chautauqua County, New York in 1872.   His family consisted of wife, Mary A Covert Ball, son Byron Daniel Ball, and daughters Mary E and Julia E.

Daniel Ball's parents were John Ball, of Woodstock, Windsor County, Vermont, and Anna Bradbury of Haverhill, Essex, Massachusetts.  There has not been any work done past Daniel's parents that I could find, so it is not known if they tie into any of the other Ball families.

Albert Baxter, in his History of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan, page 112, had this to say about Daniel Ball:

This on page 439:

Page 672:

From A Citizen's History of Grand Rapids, William J Etten, 1926.

OLD NATIONAL BANK AND ITS PREDECESSORS.

Daniel Ball & Co., merchants, began to sell bills of exchange on Chicago and eastern cities in 1852. This business in 1853 became known as the Exchange bank. It continued until October, 1861, when it also was forced to close on account of severe losses following failures of individuals and banks of issue in Illinois and Wisconsin. It has always been the proud boast of this community that both these institutions, driven to the wall by untoward circumstances, paid their obligations in full, with interest.

In December, 1861, Martin L. Sweet took the office formerly occupied by Daniel Ball & Co., and as successor to the Exchange bank continued to do the principal banking business of the city. March 10, 1864, the First National Bank was organized, received its charter and began taking over the business of Martin L. Sweet's private bank. The First National had a capital of $50,000, considered large in those days. Martin L. Sweet was the president and Harvey J. Hollister the cashier. When the First National's charter expired February 24, 1883, the stockholders decided to liquidate the business, and the $400,000 capital and $284,000 undivided profits were paid to the stockholders.

The Old National bank, chartered in 1883, succeeded to the business of the First National, whose quarters it occupied. The Old National's capital was $800,000 and its first officers were: Solomon L. Withey, president; James M. Barnett, vice-president; Harvey J. Hollister, cashier.

Since the banking business of this institution was established by Daniel Ball & Co. in 1852, the Old National and its predecessors have been located at the northwest corner of Monroe avenue (the old Canal street) and Pearl street. The present officers of the Old National bank are: Clay H. Hollister, president; William Judson, Carroll F. Sweet, George F. MacKenzie, Eugene Richards, and L. Z. Caukin, vice-presidents; J. C. Bishop, cashier; Philip L. Hollway, assistant cashier; Henry E. Ford, auditor.

This photo is from the Grand Rapids Public Museum's Fitch Photo Shop Collection.  This is the Exchange Bank, later to become Sweet's Hotel.  The little building next to it may be the shop of William Haldane, built in 1853.

Here is a link to a very interesting advertising coin for the Daniel Ball Exchange Bank.

CHAPTER XI.
THE CIVIL CHRONICLE---EVENTS OF FORTY YEARS.
1859
Building of Daniel Ball’s block, where now is the Old National Bank and Sweet’s Hotel, was begun in September, and the brick work was finished in November.

(1866)The First National Bank building, of eighty four feet front on Canal street, at the corner of Pearl, was sold for $28,000 by Byron D Ball to Martin L Sweet.

Page 766, Baxter's, speaking of the years 1850 - 1852:

The house can be seen on lots 6 and 7 on the north side of Pearl Street.  For reference, William Haldane's house is on the se corner of Pearl and Justice, kitty-cornered from the Ball house.

 Both of the pictures of Daniel Ball's mansion on the north side of Pearl Street between Monroe and Justice (Ottawa), are also via Robert Kline.  The one below is circa 1865 and shows the height of the hill as it rises from the river. The little outbuilding may be a carriage house and stable or gatekeeper's house.  The notes at the  top of the picture refer to other pictures in the Grand Rapids Museum collection.  George B Morton lived in the house from 1872 to 1876 and his widow until 1881.

This photo, from the east side of the house, purports to be from 1860, but I think it's more like 1870.  The trees are taller and the access road and steps are not in the first picture.  Jim Winslow, a fellow local historian, says that the photo below is later than 1882, due to the carbon-arc lamp on the corner and the large light-colored building on the left of the house.

Below is the original picture from the Grand Rapids Public Library collection via Jim Winslow.  You can see a telephone pole on the far left. 

A great shot from 1876 - 1882, from the GRPL collection, showing the new Government Building in the back left.  The Houseman Block was built where the two white houses are standing in 1882-83.  For a look the other way from the schoolhouse at the top of the hill, see the masthead photo at the top of the page, from about the same time.

Here is what happened to the house by 1888.  Check out the 12 tenements built along the street!

Samuel B Ball
A nephew of Daniel Ball

Portrait from Baxter's, page 656.

Sidney Silas Ball

A nephew of Daniel Ball and brother of Samuel

The below portrait and biography are from Baxter's, page 564.

Orson A Ball

1911, from "Grand Rapids, Beautiful, Industrial, Commercial".

From DNA testing, there is an indication that Orson Ball is from the John Ball of Watertown, Massachusetts line.

1870 shot of Monroe, looking SE from the corner of Justice.  The third building from the corner which would eventually become McKay Tower, is #19, Ball The Clothier, proprietor Orson A Ball.  From the Grand Rapids Public Museum's Fitch Collection, via Robert Kline's website.

From the 1868 Dudley & Goldsmith Grand Rapids City Directory.

Larkin Ball

From the John Ball of Watertown, Massachusetts line.

Larkin Ball was in the Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan Territory census in 1830.  By 1840 he was living in Byron Center, Kent County.  His family consisted of wife, Selima M Fuller Ball, daughters Harriet and Diantha, and sons Nathan and Benton.  Most of them are buried in the Winegar Cemetery in Byron Center.

Larkin's earliest known ancestors are John Ball and Mary Benjamin of Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts.

Nathan P Ball

Also early in Byron Center (at least by 1860) was Nathan P Ball of Canada.  His line descends from Jonannes Ball, who emigrated from Mauchenheim, Germany in 1709 to New York state.  He married Almira E Latham in 1865 when he was 38, and they had no known children.  They are also buried in the Winegar Cemetery in Byron Center.

Revilo Wells, A Grand Rapids Scoundrel

Up until now my posts have all been about fine, upstanding citizens.  These excerpts from three of Grand Rapids' most illustrious historians caught my interest.

History of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baxter, p 674
"Thus far no mention has been made of one Revilo Wells, who for a time between 1857 and 1860 held forth as a private banker and custodian of other people's money. His capital, both in money and integrity, was limited. His career was brief, and his methods so peculiar that some of our older inhabitants still remember him with painful emotions. Obtaining several thousand dollars of the people's money, he followed the advice of the Sage of Chappaqua, and "went west" and found a wider sphere of action somewhere on the California coast."

History of Kent County, Michigan, Chapman, 1881, p 460
"We have thus far omitted to mention the name of one Revilo Wells, who for a brief time held forth as a private banker and custodian of other people's money.  His career was so brief, and yet so painful to some of the older inhabitants, that we will only say, that after many promises to pay large rates of interest, and obtaining several thousand dollars of the people's money, he suddenly left for parts unknown, suddenly turning up in California, or somewhere upon the Pacific slope, where he now lives."

History of Kent County.White & Fuller, 1926, p 101.
" In speaking of banks the affair of Revilo Wells is not considered as having to do with legitimate banking. Wells had opened an office about the year 1857, claiming to be a private banker, but his career as such was brief and not creditable to himself."

Historical Collections, Collections and Researches Made By The Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, Vol 35, 1907, FIFTY YEARS AGO, EVENTS IN GRAND RAPIDS FROM 1850 TO 1860, BY HARVEY J. HOLLISTER, p 660.
"Our academy was under the direction of Franklin Everett. The banking interests were carried forward by Daniel Ball & Co. and William J. Wells. For a brief time one Revilo Wells did something in the way of discounting notes at heavy rates. He left us, however, between two days, and when next heard from had settled himself somewhere in Oregon."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Revilo Wells was born about 1828 in Ohio and married Mary C Sexton on 2 April 1850 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.  Mary was the daughter of Asaph Sexton and Electa Northrup, and was born 3 June 1822 in Ashtabula County, Ohio.

I was not able to discern who Revilo's parents were.

A little about the Sexton family:

"The first settlement in the southern part of Parkman was made in 1816, by Asaph Sexton, who purchased a tract of land lying on the road leading north from the center of Nelson, and extending to the township line. In 1819 he sold the greater part of it to Barnet Dixon, who owned it until about 1842. This farm is now owned by Mrs. C. M. Bestor. The southern portion, which Mr. Sexton retained possession of for some years, is now owned by Sanford Smith."
From line-height: 18px;">Pioneer and General History of Geauga County: With Sketches of Some of the Pioneers and Prominent Men, Historical Society of Geauga County, 1880, p 688.

Asaph Sexton was born 21 August 1790 in Springfield, , MA, and died 4 February 1849, and was buried in North Fairfield Cemetery, North Fairfield, Huron, OH.  After his land purchase in Geauga County, Ohio he lived in Ashtabula County, Ohio from at least 1818 through 1825, as tax records show.

Electa Northrup was born 10 December 1795 in Connecticut and died 1 April 1864 in Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio.  She married Asaph Sexton in 1816.


At least three of Mary C Sexton Wells' siblings also came to Grand Rapids and were in the 1860 census:  Clark Chapin, Bennett N, and Jeannette B.  Clark and Bennett were also involved in the early newspaper business in Grand Rapids, and Clark is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery.

Revilo Wells hasn't left much of a trace, but he did appear in city directories, censuses, and voter registration lists. I have added his occupation to the descriptions. Most of the links are to documents at Familysearch.com, and you can view them if you sign up (free).

1850 - East Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio - clerk

1852 - He was made Postmaster of LaPorte, Lorain, Ohio on 16 February.

History of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baxter, p 270
"WELLS' ADVERTISER. - A monthly real estate paper, started in the summer of 1856 by Revilo Wells associated with whom was Bennett N. Sexton {his brother-in-law}.

VALLEY CITY ADVERTISER.-A social and literary monthly, successor to Wells' Advertiser, published by B. N. Sexton for several years."

1860 - Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan - banker

1862 - San Francisco City Directory - no occupation listed

1863 - San Francisco City Directory - bookkeeper

1866 - 11th Ward Election District, San Francisco - bookkeeper

Revilo and Mary Wells lived in this historic home in San Francisco, California.

I added this additional historic landmark property because of the mention of Revilo Wells in the description.

1868 - " The London and San Francisco Bank, limited, recovered judgment to-day against Revilo Wells for $3,000 in gold coin."  (He seems to be up to his old tricks again.)

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 36, Number 5470, 7 October 1868

1870 - Census, Alameda, Alameda, California - at home - I'm pretty sure this is Revilo.  He has real estate worth $3000.

1871 - Great Register, Alameda County - clerk

1874 - San Francisco City Directory - mining stocks

1875  - San Francisco City Directory - bookkeeper

1877  - San Francisco City Directory - doors, sash, blinds, and lumber

1879 - San Francisco City Directory - agent

1881 - San Francisco City Directory - agent

1884 - San Francisco City Directory - The Silver Pill Co

1885 - San Francisco City Directory - no occupation listed

1886 - Voting Register, 4th Pct, 38th Assembly District, San Francisco - Age 61, b Ohio, Chemist, 1228 Market, Floor 1, Room 1, Reg Oct 16, 1886

1887 - San Francisco City Directory - prop. The Silver Pill

1888 - Voting Register, 4th Pct, 39th Assembly District, San Francisco - Age 63, b Ohio, Accountant, 1149 Market, Floor T, Room F, Reg Aug 23, 1888

1892 - 1st Pct, 43rd Assembly District, San Francisco - This entry gets serious about describing the voters: Age 66, Ht 5'11-3/4", Complexion Fair, Eyes Hazel, Hair Blond, Lost 3 fingers left hand, Occupation Accountant, Nativity Ohio, Local Res 930 Market, Floor 2, Room 15, Reg Aug 15, 1892

(I wonder what the story is about the finger loss?)

1895- San Francisco City Directory - patent medicines

Revilo Wells died 17 December 1896, according to the San Francisco Call, Friday, 18 December, 1896, p 13.

Mary C Sexton Wells died 22 November 1893, p 10, The Morning Call.

Max Braudy, Iron Man

Max and Rachel came from Lithuania and Latvia, respectively and found each other (I suspect) in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan.  I cannot find a notice of marriage,but their first five children were born there while Max was building his fortune in the iron business.  They moved to Grand Rapids before 1887 and lived at many locations on the near West Side, including 218 Jefferson, 193 Gold, 172 S Jefferson, 63 Chatham, and 66 Indiana (These are all pre-1912 address numbers).  Later they built a house at 87 Mount Vernon.  Both homes were within walking distance of the business on Alabama Street.

From the 1895 Sanborn Fire Map.

Clipped from:  The Men Behind the Guns in the Making of Greater Grand Rapids: An Illustrated Biographical and Industrial Reference Work, Giving the Lives of Professional Men Whose Interests are Centered in Michigan's Western Metropolis (Google eBook), Edward Altenbrandt, Dean-Hicks Printing Company, 1909 - Grand Rapids (Mich.) - 280 pages

MAX BRAUDY DIES
(Grandville Avenue Record, August 10, 1917 – Pg. 7)

A successful business career was brought to a close in the death of Max Braudy of Grand Rapids, where he was a large stockholder in banks and possessed large real estate holdings in the business districts. He was 63 years old.
At the age of 24 he came to America from Russian Poland, equipped only with pluck and persistence. On maturity his three sons were admitted in the iron firm which for a number of years has read M. Braudy & Sons.

Both Max and Rachel are buried in Greenwood Cemetery in the Jewish section on top of the hill.