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Compiled by John H. Wheeler Published in 1903 by B. F. Bowen Biography Page 165 - 166 |
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ARTHUR H. WEBBER
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One of the conspicuous figures in the commercial circles of Cadillac is the representative business man and prominent citizen to a brief outline of whose life and character the reader's attention is herewith respectfully invited. Arthur H. Webber, the leading druggist of this city and a man whom to know is to honor, is a native of Geauga county, Ohio, where his birth occurred on the 26th day of April, 1859, he being the son of Charles and Henrietta Webber. When he was about three years old his parents moved to Linden, Genesee county, Michigan, in which town he spent his childhood and youth and in the public schools of which he received his preliminary education. Actuated by a laudable desire for a more thorough mental training than the common schools could impart he subsequently became a student of the Northern Indiana Normal School and Business College at Valparaiso, where he pursued for some time the higher branches of learning, meanwhile receiving his initiation into more practical affairs of life by serving a two and a half years apprenticeship in pharmacy, under the direction of Charles Brown, who kept a drug store in the town of Linden. Later, in the spring of 1881, Mr. Webber went to Big Rapids, Michigan, where for a period of two years he worked in a drug store kept by Charles Wagner and at the expiration of that time formed a partnership in the drug business at the same place with Dr. W. A. Hendricks, the firm, under the name of W. A. Hendricks & Company, lasting until 1885, when the subject purchased the Doctor's interest and became sole proprietor. After running the business at Big Rapids with varied success until 1887, he removed to Cadillac, where he bought a stock of drugs belonging to R. J. Cummer & Company, and from that time to the present day he made this city his home, his business career the meantime presenting a series of successes which fully entitles him to the high reputation which he now enjoys as the leading druggist in the place, also as one of the most enterprising and progressive men in this section of the state. The drug business is only part of Mr. Webber's general business. His first venture in Cadillac was a drug store only, but from time to time he has added new departments as the wants of the people seemed to demand, until at the present time the business includes drugs, stationery, books, furniture, crockery, wall paper, carpets and bazaar lines; in fact, it is what might be considered a modern, up-to date department store. The store space occupied by this firm is about sixteen thousand square feet, making it the largest retail institution north of Grand Rapids. Mr. Webber is also interested in real estate, the growth of Cadillac having demonstrated to him the need of more homes. The Home Building and Realty Company of Cadillac, of which he is president, is the outgrowth of this fact. From the beginning of his career Mr. Webber has been remarkably prosperous, owing to the energy he has injected into the business and to the good judgment and discretion displayed in the purchase and display of his stock, to which may be added his careful selection of clerks, as he employs none but well qualified and judicious men to assist him in handling the large amount of business that has come to him with each recurring year. Mr. Webber is a close student of pharmacy and has investigated the science from every conceivable standpoint. He has a strong analytical mind, which has been strengthened and disciplined by thorough training, the result being a broad and comprehensive knowledge which he is able to apply practically, his ability and skill so winning the confidence of the public as to bring him a large and constantly increasing patronage. Keeping in close touch with the times on all matters relating to his chosen calling, Mr. Webber has achieved more than local reputation, as is attested by the fact of his having been elected, in 1889, president of the Michigan Pharmaceutical Association, an honorable post to which only the best known and most highly qualified men of the profession are called. Later he was chosen delegate to the meeting of the National Retail Druggists' Association, which held its session in Cincinnati in 1899, and in I900 he was further honored by representing the National Association of Retail Druggists at Detroit. His wide-spread popularity as a learned and skillful pharmacist has recently found expression in his appointment by Governor Bliss to a place on the state board of pharmacy, an honor which he greatly appreciated and in which his many friends in Cadillac and throughout Michigan feel something akin to personal pride. In his political affiliations Mr. Webber has been a lifelong Republican. While deeply interested in his party's welfare and laboring zealously for its success in local, state and national affairs, he is not an office seeker, neither has he any ambition for public distinction of any kind, nor has he ever aspired to leadership. His services, however, have been duly recognized and appreciated, as witness his appointment in 1899, and again the year following, to the chairmanship of the senatorial committee for the twenty-seventh district, which position he has since held by successive reappointments. Fraternally Mr. Webber belongs to several secret and benevolent orders, prominent among which are the Masons, Knights of Pythias and Knights of the Loyal Guard. Additional to these he is a leading spirit in the Board of Trade of Cadillac, of which he is now president. He has done much to promote the city's material welfare, also by means of this agency spreading the reputation of the place abroad and inducing men of means to put their capital in Wexford county real estate as a safe and remunerative investment. Mr. Webber's efforts since becoming a citizen of Cadillac have not been circumscribed within the bounds of his own business interests, as he has been, in a large sense, a public-spirited man, lending his influence and at times his more tangible aid to encourage enterprises for the upholding of the city, materially and along other lines. He is an earnest friend and zealous advocate of all agencies tending to the social advancement and moral welfare of the community, hence churches, schools, benevolent societies, public charities and like organizations enlist his encouragement and support. A man of broad mind and progressive ideas, there is nothing little or narrow in his nature; despising what is mean and low, detesting the base and recognizing the false and hypocritical, he discerns in every honest man, however poor and humble, the true essence of honorable character which bespeaks ties of brotherhood and reciprocity of interests. Mr. Webber possesses a pleasing personality, is easily approachable and all who come within range of his influence are profuse in their praise for his many amiable qualities, among which a genial disposition, a companionable nature and an optimistic temperament are especially conspicuous. His integrity is above reproach, his character strong but clear and transparent as an open book in which are no black or blotted pages, and his name is synonymous with all that is honorable in manhood and upright and straightforward in citizenship. Religiously the Congregational church represents his creed and for a number of years past he has been an active and zealous member of the society worshipping in Cadillac, being at the present time chairman of the church board of trustees. Mr. Webber has a beautiful and attractive home, the presiding genius of which is a lady of culture and refinement to whom he was united in marriage September 1, 1886. Mrs. Webber was formerly Miss Lucie M. Morrison, of Grand Rapids, whose father was for many years one of the leading citizens and founders of Kent county, also one of the first probate judges, while her mother was an active participant in the organization and work of charitable institutions in Grand Rapids. Mrs. Webber has been a true wife and helpmate, a fit companion for the husband whose name she honorably bears, assisting him in many ways, co-operating with him in his business enterprises, encouraging him in all his laudable endeavors, and proving a constant inspiration to him in all the walks and relations of life. One child, Harold, a bright son, eleven years old, completes the subject's mutually helpful and happy family circle. |