My Genealogy Hound

William N. Tiffany, one of the old and experienced business citizens of Clarkston, Oakland County, was born August 25, 1856, in Detroit, and is a son of Louis L. and Elizabeth S. (Johnson) Tiffany, the latter of whom was a daughter of Augustus S. Johnson of Oriskany, New York.

Louis L. Tiffany was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and was one of the two sons of Ebenezer Tiffany, who was born in England, who belonged to the same family that has long been conspicuous in New York. Our subject’s father removed from Rhode Island to Detroit at the age of 18 years, under the care of his uncle, Gov. H. P. Baldwin. For some years Mr. Tiffany was in the employ of his uncle and then went into a grocery, mercantile and provision business, later into the shoe trade, subsequently entering the private banking establishment of H. P. Baldwin, which is now known as the Detroit National Bank. There he continued until his death in 1864, at the age of 39 years. He was an active worker in the Republican party. He was equally prominent in the Protestant Episcopal Church. Fraternally he was an Odd Fellow. He was one of the members of the State Militia, of the old “Grayson Guards,” the oldest of the militia organizations. Three children were born to his marriage with Elizabeth S. Johnson, namely: Mrs. Emily Dresser, of Detroit; William N.; and Walcott, a traveling salesman of Detroit. Mrs. Tiffany being left a widow when our subject was but eight years old, married as her second husband W. C. Habbin, and one daughter, Grace, was born, who resides with her mother in Detroit.

Our subject ended his school career at the age of 12 years and began making his own way in the world soon after. He worked in the drug laboratory of Frederick Sterns, later in a Board of Trade office for Harvey Clark for four years, for two years in the Western Union Telegraph Company’s office, and in 1879 entered the employ of his uncle, George A. Johnson, in the shoe business, on Woodward avenue, in Detroit. A few years later, E. T. Adams & Company purchased the business and Mr. Tiffany remained with them until they failed. J. L. Hudson then became the purchaser and retained Mr. Tiffany, and two years later sent him to St. Louis as manager of the shoe department in his department store there. Two years later Mr. Tiffany returned to Detroit where he remained for the succeeding five years. A desired change of climate brought Mr. Tiffany to Clarkston, where he became strong and well in the pure, invigorating air, and accepted a position again in Detroit, with the Regal Shoe Company. When failing health again warned him of a necessary change, he returned to Clarkston and established there his present shoe and gentlemen’s furnishing store, a business which has met with generous patronage from the start.

On June 27, 1888, Mr. Tiffany was married to Bertha C. Williams, who was born in Chicago, Illinois, April 6, 1866, and is a daughter of Ephraim S. and Harriet (Beech) Williams, and four children have been born to them, namely: L. W., who died aged six years; Walter; Doris and Gladys.

In politics, Mr. Tiffany is a Republican. With his family, he belongs to the Methodist Church and is chairman of the board of trustees. He is a man of genial presence, friendly and companionable, and those who are admitted to his hospitable home find an intellectual and refined family.