Bay City Times - Tuesday September 22, 1914 (Page 5)
Death Ends Long And Useful Life
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E. T. Carrington Passes Away At His West Side Home.
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Nearly Half A Century He Has Been A Prominent Figure In Business
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Was Among the Leaders in Lumber Manufacture of Valley and Canada
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Civil War Veteran
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Edwin T. Carrington, for nearly half a century prominently associated with the important commercial affairs of Bay City, a leading figure in the lumber industry of the Saginaw Valley, northeastern Michigan and Canada died at his home corner of South Union and Litchfield streets, shortly after 10 o’clock last night.
Mr. Carrington had been confined to his home for several weeks and for a number of days it was believed his death was a matter of only a few hours. When the end came it did so with his family surrounding him.
E. T. Carrington was born at Brooklyn, N.Y. September 13,1839, but his boyhood days were spent on a farm in Connecticut and he obtained his education in the country schools of those days. His parents were of the old colonial stock of Virginia, who served on the staff of Gen. Greene, one of the generals of the war of the revolution, and his mother being a direct descendant of Gov. Bradford, the leader of the Puritans who settled Massachusetts.
When the civil war broke out it found no more loyal supporter of the union than E. T. Carrington. He enlisted in the First Connecticut infantry on April 25, 1861, and served with his regiment which formed a part of the army of the Potomac, throughout the war, from the battles of Bull Run to Appomattox, being mustered out July 22,1864, with the rank of first lieutenant and adjutant. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Loyal Legion and was a commander of the latter for the department of Michigan for the year 1900.
In 1866 Mr. Carrington came to Bay City and entered the employ of Sage & McGraw, then the largest lumber manufacturing concern in the valley and he had the management of the firm’s business and that of its successor H. W. Sage & Co. for about 10 years. In 1867 he organized and took charge of the management of the Rifle Boom Co. which handled the millions of feet of pine lumber which were brought down the Rifle river and towed from there to be converted into lumber. He continued to manage this company until the timber on the Rifle river was exhausted and the company dissolved in 1903.
In 1882 in company with W. H. Tousey and C. E. Jennison he purchased the Gram saw mill at AuSable and the company operated it successfully until the mill was destroyed by fire seven years later.
When the exhaustion of the pine forests of Michigan was in sight Mr Carrington like many other far sighted Saginaw valley lumbermen transferred his activities to the Georgian Bay district of Ontario. He helped to organize and was the president of the Sable & Spanish Boom Co. which annually handled from 100,000,000 to 160,000,000 feet of logs brought to Bay City mills for sawing until the imposition of a heavy duty on lumber drove the Canadian government to prohibit the exportation of saw logs. With the great activity in lumber manufacture in the Georgian Bay which the act at once developed Mr. Carrington entered the lumber manufacturing business in Canada and was elected president of the Spanish River Lumber Co., which operated a large saw mill at the mouth of the Spanish river and had large timber holdings on the tributary to that steam. In 1905 Mr. Carrington disposed of his timber interests in Canada and since that time has not been actively engaged in the lumber business.
His business activities however were not devoted solely to the lumber industry. He was among the organizers of the first sugar factory in Bay City, in the old Michigan Sugar company, was a large stockholder in and manager of the Bay City Building company, which owns the Phoenix block, has been a stockholder and director in local banks, at the time of his death being a director of the People’s Savings bank, was a stockholder in the Ontario Sugar Co. and was interested in other business ventures in Bay City.
Since Coming to Michigan
Mr. Carrington has always been a resident of the west side of the river and from the early days he took active interest in civic, social and religious affairs. His name is connected in many ways with the development of the village of Wenona and its successor West Bay City. He served on numerous occasions as a member of the board of education on the west side, helped to organize and was always actively connected with the Westminster Presbyterian church and was always a liberal contributor towards all religious and charitable work.
In 1871 Mr. Carrington married Miss Charlotte Shepard a sister of the late Hon. T. F. Shepard and is survived by his wife , their three children, Edward Carrington, Mrs. Fred G. Eddy and Miss Grace Carrington.
The funeral will be held at 3 o’clock Thursday afternoon from the residence and the interment will be at Oak Ridge cemetery. Friends are requested to omit flowers.
None at this time.