Detroit R L Polk City Directory 1870 - JewishGen KehilaLinks

E lay before the public of Detroit the Ninth Volume of the Annual Directory
of their city. It forms a larger b001i than any of its predecessors, showing
thereby tlle steady and subst ail tial growth of the metropolis of Michigan.
Thitt portion of the work clel-oted to the Directory of naines occupies this
year 343 pages, and contains 24,840 names. The sanle figures for the
Directory of 1869 were 318 pages nird 23,i5O names. the increase this year
thus being 27 pages and 1.090 nailres. These statistics (foll.owing the
usual basis of estimating population upon Directory returns) indicate. an increase
in Detroit's population of 4,500 souls.
We issue this volulile wit11 especial plet~sure, not. merely because the information
usually contained in such publications is presented herein in such full and complete form
as to make the work one of peculiar vr~lue as a standarcl n-ork of reference, but also on
account of the unique interest that \\-ill attend and reward a systematic perusal of its
pages by ttic Inan of curious leisure or of leis~rely curiosity, and of the strange and
hitherto nnt1ppreci:lted hcts it makes public concerning the social, commercial and moral
grandcur ancl attr:~ctiveness of the city, wllose guide book it is. We have given elsewhere
the aggregate of names it contains, but those few figures convey in only a slight
degree that iiiipressiou of the size ancl inlportance of Detroit that is produced when the
carefnl rezder fiiriis that ;~ithin its boundaries are even now contained a London, four
3f:tncliesters, three Parises. a Birininghanl. three Bostons, four Tyres, a Bremen, three
Clevelands, f'uur Bristols. a Brighton, a Leavenworth, two TVorcesters, two Milans, two
TITarsa~vs; a JIacon, a Tunis, a Lansing and a Yarborough. The refinement of Detroit
society, the culture of its peuple, the multitude of disti~iguished men who have chosen
this well-favored town as their home-all these circumstances our citizens appreciate at
their true value ; yet every candid mincl must confess that the vaunt themselves but
little and are aston:lshingly free from vanity, when the fact is taken into consideration
that their town contains a George Washington, a Daniel Webster, a Joseph Addison, a
Daniel O7Con=lell, three IVilliain Wall~ces, a Jaines Buchanan, a John Adams, a John
Q. Adalrls, a JV. H. Harrison, a John TVesley, three Heury Wilsons, four Westons and
4-1 other Wttlkers, an Oliver Golcls~llith, 89 "parties by the name of Johnson:" five
Rotlischilds, two Fisks and four Goulds, a Robert Lee, a John Marshall, three Billy
Pattersons, a IValtcr Raleigh. a Joseph Howard, a Robert Burns, a Thomas
Campbell. and 25 John Smiths. Nor is Detroit clevoid of aristocratic glory,
for aillong her resideilts are to be found 34 Kings. five Earls. one Lord, one Marquis, and 14
Nobles. In the matter of ecclesiastical magnates, also, her glory waseth great, for she
hath no less than three Popes, eight Bishops, 10 Abbotts, a Rector, 19 Deans, five
Parsons, six Priests, a Dorniney, nine Elders, and nine Christians, pure and simple.
Those who believe in theunadorned ncbility of Inanhood inore than in titles, tiaras or the
insignia of sacerdotal rank, will learn with unaffected pleasure that among her citizens are
sriii Savages, ahd 1h3d5 ii-h~ t~ th2 C ~ ~ S ~ C cf ~ z!i!;~ C C " spirits sf 5e2!t> ~r
goblins damned " mill find confirmation- of their faith in the recorded presence of two
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