Cyrenius A. Newcomb, Sr.

Cyrenius Adelbert Newcomb Sr. (1837-1915) founded Michigan's first department store, Newcomb-Endicott, which became one of the largest mercantile firms in the Midwest prior to World War I. He was also a leader in reform and philanthropic work, including being one of the founders of the Detroit Institute of Arts.

New England Roots

Cyrenius Newcomb Sr. was born to Hezekiah and Nancy (Rounds) Newcomb in Cortland, New York, November 10, 1837. His family can be traced to the Newcombs who were actively involved in the American Revolution.[1] Starting in the dry goods business at age 18, Newcomb Sr. came to Detroit from Taunton, Massachusetts in 1868 and set up a dry goods store on the corner of Jefferson and Woodward. Three years later, the store moved to the first floor of the original Detroit Opera House Building. By 1881, the store moved again to a location on Woodward Avenue that Hudson's would later occupy. Newcomb Sr. was first married to Mary Haskell in Connecticut and they had three sons and a daughter. After her death, he married Mary Sharp in 1899 in Detroit.

Cyrenius Newcomb Sr. died in late 1915.[2]

Partnership with John Endicott

Massachusetts native and Harvard graduate John Endicott came to Detroit in 1891, becoming head bookkeeper of Newcomb's enterprise. He was “admitted as a member of the firm” in 1896 and became treasurer when Newcomb-Endicott was incorporated as a department store in 1903.[3] He was married twice, first to Elizabeth Watson, who died, and the in 1902 to Mary Elizabeth Booth and had three children. His other endeavors included being director of the Michigan State Agricultural Society, and owner of a large stock farm near Birmingham where he bred Hackney horses.

Descendants

Newcomb Jr., the second of C. A. Newcomb Sr.'s children who was born in 1871, joined his father's business in 1893 after obtaining a Bachelor of Letters degree from the University of Michigan. He became director and secretary of Newcomb-Endicott and also a trustee of the North Chicago Land Association. He married Brownie Jenness Kelly and had two sons, including C. A. Newcomb III, and daughter Alice Jenness Newcomb who later married DAC member Warren Scripps Booth. Newcomb Jr.'s hobbies included sailing and he was also a member of the Detroit Boat Club, Detroit Curling Club and the Aldine (NY) Club.

Little information was found about C. A. Newcomb III other than he lived in Palo Alto, California at the time of his father's death in 1958.[3]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.rkwest.com/personal/thenewcombs/?page_id=23
  2. ↑ Information index card at the Detroit Public Library
  3. 1 2 Burton, C.M. The Book of Detroiters, 1912.


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