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November 16, 1011. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



45 



PETEB DEVOY NEAR DEATH. 



At last report from Poughkeepsie, N. 

 Y., Peter T. Devoy, the well-known 

 violet grower, who was suddenly taken 

 ill several days ago, was so low that 

 the doctors gave up all hopes of his re- 

 covery, and his death was thought to 

 be only a matter of a few hours. Mr. 

 Devoy was taken ill with pneumonia 

 and later typhoid fever set in. 



Mr. Devoy was born in Poughkeepsie 

 and has lived the greater part of his 

 life in that city. After attending the 

 ]»ublic schools there he learned the flo- 

 rist's trade and has since been engaged 

 in that business. He has been a promi- 

 nent member of the Kni^ts of Colum- 

 bus and several fraternal^iprganizations 

 and has enjoyed a large circle of 

 friends. Mrs. Peter Shields, mother of 

 Mrs, Devoy, also was in a critical con- 

 dition at her home at Poughkeepsie. 



OBITUARY. 



Gabriel H. Pieser. 



The not unexpected announcement of 

 the death of Gabriel H. Pieser, for 

 many years connected with Kennicott 

 Bros. Co., Chicago, came November 14, 

 a long struggle against dissolution hav- 

 ing terminated at two o'clock that 

 morning. 



Mr. Pieser had been ill for many 

 months and for weeks it had been cer- 

 tain that recovery was impossible. His 

 trouble was enlargement of the heart. 

 At the beginning of his illness he 

 would be apparently as well as ever 

 and then suddenly would be, for a time, 

 almost at death's door. For some days 

 prior to the end he was delirious. The 

 funeral will be held from the residence, 

 at 4447 Indiana avenue, Thursday morn- 

 ing, November 16. 



Gabriel H. Pieser was one of Chi- 

 cago's native sons. He was born on 

 Eandolph street, just west of the river. 

 May 8, 1855, and he saw the sprawling 

 town of that day grow to be the 

 metropolis of the west. In early life 

 he was in the flour and feed business, 

 but over twenty years ago he changed 

 the spellifig from flour to flower, join- 

 ing Flint Kennicott, who was then 

 doing a wholesale commission business 

 under the name of Kennicott Bros., 

 and who already had had for some 

 years as his chief lieutenant Mr. Pie- 

 ser 's younger brother, E. E. Pieser, the 

 present head of the Kennicott Bros. Co. 

 When the corporation was formed G. H. 

 Pieser became secretary', becoming both 

 president and secretary when Mr. Ken- 

 nicott died, in 1907. In December, 

 1910, appreciating that his illness was 

 such that it would be wise to put his 

 house in order, he f!isposed of all his 

 business interests and the presidency 

 of the company to which he had given 

 such close application during the great- 

 er part of his business life, was taken 

 over by his brother. Besides E. E. 

 Pieser, one other brother lives, and two 

 •sisters. The brother is Ike Pieser, who 

 is the manufacturer of Uncle Jerry 's 

 I'ancake Flour. He was twice married 

 and is survived by the second wife, 

 Kathleen Worley Pieser, also by George 

 H. Pieser, son of Rosa Pieser. 



Mr. Pieser was of that unswerving 

 honesty that made his word as good as 

 another man 's bond and he was so 

 thorough and methodical in his business 

 affairs that he gained for himself a 

 liigh ]>osition in the bu^<illess world. 



Gabriel H. Pieser. 



Stephen Taplin. 



Since the last issue of The Review 

 went to press, Detroit, Mich., has lost 

 its oldest florist, Stephen Taplin. He 

 died on Thursday, November 9, after 

 several months of illness and much 

 acute suffering. The cause of death 

 was said to be a malignant internal 

 growth. 



He was not only the oldest repre- 

 sentative of his trade in his city, but 

 was one of the noted members of the 

 family of florists whose combined 

 achievements have made the name of 

 Taplin familiarly known and highly re- 

 spected among florists throughout the 

 United States. In such records of his 

 life as are available there is a notice- 

 able lack of dates and other exact in- 

 formation, but it is certain that he was 

 born at Overton, Hampshire, England, 

 sometime in the early thirties and was 

 within a year or two of four score years 

 of age at his death. After obtaining 

 the rudiments of an education at the 

 village school, at the age of 17 he left 

 home to begin the comprehensive task 

 of learning gardening. To be an Eng- 

 lish gardener of high standing required 

 even more extensive and varied ac- 

 complishments in those days than at 

 present, for in these modern times the 

 division of labor has done something to 

 relieve even the gardener from the old- 

 time multiplicity of his duties. But Mr. 

 Taplin learned the trade thoroughly, ob- 

 taining some of his early experience on 

 the estate of the Duke of Sutherland, 

 and then spent eight or ten years in the 

 service of different members of the 



English nobility, including the Marquis 

 of Lansdowne and the Earl of Stam- 

 ford. At the Earl of Stamford's, it is 

 said, he was associated, as a fellow em- 

 ployee, with Edwin Lonsdale, now in 

 charge of a branch of the business of 

 W. Atlee Burpee & Co., at Lampoc, Cal. 



When about 35 years of age Mr. Tap- 

 lin came to America. Arriving, after 

 a time, at Detroit, he purchased the 

 Fort street greenhouses which were 

 to form the nucleus of his future estab- 

 lishment. Then he returned to England 

 and brought his family over on one of 

 the largest steamships on the ocean at 

 the time, the City of Paris. His green- 

 houses afterward covered more than an 

 acre of ground at 962 to 10.30 West Fort 

 street, and he also had a o-acre nursery 

 in another part of the city, where lie 

 grew roses and other hardy stock. His 

 knowledge of horticultural subjects was 

 so thorough that he soon became an ac- 

 knowledged authority on such matters. 

 He retired from business some years 

 ago. He is survived by his wife, by one 

 daughter, Mrs. E. J. Stapleton, and by 

 two sons. 



Stephen Taplin 's brother, James Tap- 

 lin, who died in 1892, was also promi- 

 nent in the trade, and was the father 

 of three children who became well 

 known in horticultural circles. One of 

 the three is James S. Taplin, now with 

 Siebrecht & Son, at New Rochelle, N. 

 Y. ; another is W, H. Taplin, superin- 

 tendent for Dailledouze Bros., at Brook- 

 lyn, and the third is Mrs. E. T. Royle, 

 for years associate editor of the Rural 

 New Yorker. 



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