BACK TO THE BIOGRAPHIES MAIN PAGE BARRETT, F. J. Thaddeus D. Seeley, History of Oakland County, Michigan, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago (1912), Vol. II, pp. 598-599 F. J. BARRETT. A live, wide-awake business man, familiar with all of the details of the lumber trade, F. J. Barrett, secretary, treasurer and general manager of the Michigan Manufacturing and Lumber Company, is officially identified with one of the foremost industries of Holly, Oakland county, and holds an assured position among its most prominent and influential citizens. A son of D. S. Barrett, he was born January 22, 1857, in Highland township, Oakland county, and was there reared and educated. Born in New York state, D. S. Barrett
came with his parents, Alfred and Cevinthia Barrett, to Oakland county,
Michigan, in 1840. He grew to manhood on the
farm on which his parents located in Highland township, and
having succeeded to its ownership has here spent the greater part of his life, devoting
his time and energies mainly to the care and improvement of his estate. He is financially interested in the Michigan
Manufacturing and Lumber Company of Holly, of which he is president, and though never an
aspirant for public favors he has served acceptably in various local offices. His wife passed to the life beyond in 1902. She was a most estimable woman, greatly beloved
by all who knew her, and was an active member of the Highland Free Baptist church, with
which he has been more or less closely connected all of his life. Beginning his active career as a teacher, F. J. Barrett taught for four years in Oakland and Livingston counties, and was afterwards for nine years engaged in the lumber and produce business at Clyde, Michigan. Coming from there to Holly in 1892, he operated a lumber yard here for two years. In I894 he succeeded in merging his lumber interests with the old Holly Manufacturing and Lumber Company, which had been managed for eight years prior to that time by Messrs. J. C. Simonson and H. H. Church, the new concern being organized as the Michigan Manufacturing and Lumber Company. This firm is carrying on an extensive and lucrative business, with D. S. Barrett as president; C. A. Wilson, vice president; and F. J. Barrett, secretary, treasurer and general manager. The original capital of the company was $15,000, but as its business enlarged the capital was greatly increased, its common stock amounting to $55,000, while its preferred stock is $20,000. The plant covers an area of ten acres, and, with its main one-story building, a frame one, and its adjoining two-story brick buildings, has a floor space of ten thousand feet. The company manufactures lumber and box shooks, especially, although a popular feature of its business, and an important one, is the manufacture of floor trucks for use in factories, which it sells to wholesale dealers. The annual output of the plant amounts to about a fourth of a million of dollars, while the monthly pay of the seventy-five employes amounts to $3,000. Mr. Barrett is a Republican in politics, and keeps in close touch with [Begin Page 599] local and public affairs. He has served for four years as a member of the village council, and for three years was its mayor, giving to the people an excellent administration. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is also a member of the official board of the Presbyterian church. He is a director in the First State Savings Bank of Holly. Mr. Barrett has been twice married. He married first Susie Pressly, of Bay
City, Michigan, and for his second wife married Edith Lockwood, daughter of Charles
Lockwood, of Highland township.
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