William Raynolds Farrand (September 9, 1853 – August 15, 1930) was an American businessman, industrial designer, and manufacturer of pianos and organs. He was president of the Farrand Organ Company that specialized in manufacturing reed organs. He held an executive position in several businesses in the state of Michigan. He was a civic leader associated with many organizations and churches throughout the United States.

Early life

Farrand was born in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, on September 9, 1853, to Olive Maria ''née'' Coe and Jacob Shaw Farrand, who were married in Ohio in 1841. His father became a resident of Detroit in 1830. Farrand received his initial formal schooling at the Detroit public schools. He had a younger brother, Jacob Shaw Farrand Jr., and three sisters, Mary Coe, Martha Electa, and Olive Curtis.

Business career

Farrand started his first full-time job, when he was 17 years old, as a clerk for the wholesale drug firm Farrand, Williams & Clark founded by his father. He later was promoted to a department manager and worked at that position until he was thirty years old. Farrand then bought an interest in the Whitney Organ Company in 1883 and became their treasurer. In 1887 C. J. Whitney, owner of the company, retired. The company was reorganized and became the

Farrand & Votey Organ Company Farrand & Votey Organ Company was a nineteenth-century manufacturer of pianos, reed and pipe organs, and player pianos located in Detroit, Michigan. It evolved from William R. Farrand and Edwin S. Votey, hence the name of Farrand & Votey. The c ...

that built both

reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * ...

and

pipe organs The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

. Farrand became treasurer of this new firm. The factory was located in downtown Detroit at Twelfth Street and the main railroad depot. The company split up in 1897 where Farrand and Votey each specialized in their own type of organs with new firms. Farrand became president of Farrand Organ Company which specialized in manufacturing just reed organs. By 1905 his company employed over four hundred skilled workers manufacturing reed organs, pianos, and mechanical players. He established branch distribution centers in Detroit, Philadelphia, Paris, and London.

Public service

Farrand was associated with the Republican Party. He was active in public service and first accepted an appointment on the public lighting commission under Mayor Hazen S. Pingree, serving three terms with the last as chairman of the commission. Farrand served as a member of the Detroit Board of Estimate in 1890-91 and in 1893 became the president of the association. In 1893, the Mayor of Detroit appointed him a member of the public lighting commission. Farrand became its president in 1897. He was a member of the Michigan legislature for several years and helped introduce certain bills. He was a member of the Society of the Sons of the Revolution, the Detroit Golf Club, the Country Club, the Wilderness Club, and the Lake St. Clair Shooting & Fishing Club. Farrand was a longstanding member of the board of trustees of the

Harper University Hospital Harper University Hospital is one of eight hospitals and institutes that compose the Detroit Medical Center. Harper offers services in a broad range of clinical areas, including cardiology, neurology, neurosurgery, organ transplant, plastic surge ...

. In 1892 he organized a company of young men who were known as the Farrand Guards, a military and social organization.

Church

Farrand was an elder of the Detroit First

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

church and a chairman of the Detroit Young Men's Christian Association. Farrand was a delegate to the Presbyterian general assembly at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1895, and later at Denver, Colorado. He became the elected leader and president of the Presbyterian Brotherhood of America in 1906. He served as president of the Wayne County Sunday School Association and formed the Farrand Bible class in 1904 and that developed into the Young Business Men's club of the First Presbyterian church.

Personal life

Farrand's great-grandfather was Lieutenant Bethuel Farrand, Sr. (1741-1794), who fought in the Revolutionary War. Farrand married Cora Belle Wallace in

Philadelphia, Philadelphia Center City includes the central business district and central neighborhoods of Philadelphia. It comprises the area that made up the City of Philadelphia prior to the Act of Consolidation, 1854, which extended the city borders to be coterminous wi ...

, on October 4, 1876. She was a daughter of Dr. Perkins Wallace of Canton, Ohio. They had two children, Wallace Raynolds Farrand who died at six, and Rebekah Olive Farrand who married Lieutenant George C. Keleher of the 26th US Infantry. Cora died in Detroit on August 24, 1917. Farrand was taken seriously ill and hospitalized August 1, 1930. He died on August 15 at the age of 76 from heart disease.

Footnotes

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Farrand, William R. 1853 births 1930 deaths Businesspeople from Detroit Politicians from Detroit Presbyterians from Michigan Republican Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives