S. Dow Elwood was born on Christmas Day 1824, in Otsego County. N. Y. near the historic Mohawk Valley, and is the son of Daniel and Hannah (Bushnall) Elwood. His paternal ancestors emigrated from Holland early in the seventeenth century: and his mother's family were pioneers in New England. While he was still an infant his father died, and a few years later his mother remarried and moved to Oneida Castle, N. Y. where she died in 1838. His parents were in modest circumstances and after their death he was left alone in the world. Fortune, however, interposed in his behalf and he found a home, with all that the most sacred and tender significance of the word suggests, in the family of a friend and neighbor, by the name of Patten. Though many years have passed he does not fail to cherish the memory of the noble souls who gave him so abundantly of their love and care. Mrs. Patten still lives, and it is one of his valued privileges to contribute to the comforts and pleasures of her declining years.

He attended school at Oneida Castle, and a few years later, at the age of eighteen, in the same building, he found himself the proud occupant of the master's chair. That spot is one of the loveliest in the most attractive section of the Empire State, and as the scene of his childish struggles and the arena where his ambitions first took form, it is revisited as often as his busy life will permit, and always with increasing interest.

In 1844 he moved to Rochester, N. Y where two paternal uncles, John B. and Isaac K. Elwood, and his two older brothers were living. He soon found employment as clerk in a grocery house, and the following year received an appointment as clerk in the United States Post Office. He remained in this position about a year and was then promoted to the position of U. S. Railway Mail Agent, and continued in this office without interruption until March 7, 1849. A Whig administration then succeeded the Democratic under which his appointment was made, and he was removed. In September 1849, he joined the Argonauts and sailed to California in search of the "Golden Fleece." Reaching California he engaged in trading in the mines and also established an Express between San Francisco and the southern mining region via Stockton. The California episode covered a period of one year, at the close of which, he returned to Rochester, and in February 1851, was married to a daughter of the Hon. E. M. Parsons. He soon after came to Detroit and engaged in the book and stationery trade, continuing in it until 1866. He then sold out and visited the Canadian oil region and, as a careful survey of the grounds satisfied him that it possessed favorable business prospects, he opened a banking office at Petrolta, where he remained about four years, prospering steadily.

In 1871, having in the meantime resumed his residence in Detroit, Mr. Elwood interested several business men in the establishment of the Wayne County Savings' Bank. This institution has grown to large proportions and is regarded as one of the strongest financial institutions of Michigan's metropolis. Its deposit account aggregates 84,000,000, and it has been in every sense a notable success. It is due to Mr. Elwood to say that he has been its principal manager from its organization to the present, and to it he devotes all of his business hours and most of his thought.

Politically, Mr. Elwood is a Democrat. His earliest remembered affiliations and convictions were of the democratic order, and he has been uninterruptedly loyal to that party. He is extremely averse to notoriety, and it is a matter of common knowledge that he has, more than once, put aside the offer of political preferment and declined many a nomination that would have been equivalent to an election—the sole exception in the way of office holding being a three years' term in the Board of Aldermen—serving from 1863 to 1866—most of that time in the President's chair. The sincerity of his political preferences is so fully believed, and so resolutely has he always defended them, that even those most opposed to him in these matters arc glad to be enrolled among his personal friends. His sagacity as a politician and his devotion to his principles were abundantly illustrated during his career as chairman for six years, of the Democratic Slate Central Committee of Michigan.

When the Young Men's Society of Detroit was in its best days, he was at its head as President. As the possessor of abundant means, in a characteristic and unobtrusive way. he has all his life been a liberal giver, a bountiful friend. In his personality, he is affable and among his intimates, distinctly " sociable." He never forgets to be courteous, kind and considerate, and not only enjoys the companionship of his friends, but attaches them strongly to himself.

For many years he has been an adherent of the Unitarian Church and a regular attendant upon its services. Mr. Elwood's family is composed of his wife and one daughter, now nearing womanhood.

Wayne County Savings Bank
Obituary