The “Quiet” Alger
Caroline Fay Alger – known to her family and acquaintances as “Fay” - was not born in the United States as her two siblings were, but in Grand-Mère, Quebec, Canada on September 1, 1898. Her father, Russell Jr. was tending to Gen. Alger’s lumber interests at Laurentide Pulp and Paper and during her brief time there several important things happened. First, her father was temporarily paralyzed and almost killed in a freak toboggan accident early that December. While he was laid up recovering, their lovely new mansion burned to the ground forcing the family to flee for their lives. On Sunday July 2, 1899, much of the paper mill was likewise burned during a very active fire season for Quebec. The following July 4, her Uncle Fred Alger almost blew his right hand off playing with firecrackers with her father. The family left Grand-Mère for Detroit again permanently not long after.
Fay was only about a year and a half younger than her sister Josephine in the close knit Alger family, but they had rather different personalities. The girls were living at the end of the Gilded Age crossing into the Progressive, and their wealthy, famous family was heavily ensconced in both. Although very active in the community and later philanthropy, Fay was more subdued and took after her mother, Marion, versus Josephine, who inherited her father’s wild and adventurous traits.
Fay was known as an expert horsewoman in an extended family of serious horse enthusiasts. She was a high profile member and frequent winning competitor of the Grosse Pointe Riding and Hunt Club and the Bloomfield Open Hunt. She traveled to other competitions with her prize winning jumpers, and also golfed, as did her father, and loved showing her prize English setters in competition.
Like her mother she loved to fish. Her go-to escape was her longtime summer residence up north at the Huron Mountain Club, an elite private getaway in Marquette County formed in the late 1890s. She loved the lake and the rugged forest wilderness with spectacular fishing and hunting. Fay purchased a cabin of her own which was open to select family and friends for visits each summer.
Fay attended the usual pedigree schools and participated in social activities befitting wealthy young Grosse Pointe young ladies but veered slightly from Josephine and her peers in one major respect. Instead of having the traditional formal ball as a major society debutant, she did something rather unheard of: she substituted hers for patriotic work as she performed service acts during World War One for the Red Cross. She canvassed for donations and spent her time knitting in the many Red Cross Work Rooms her mother and Aunt Mary helped set up across area schools and businesses.
Sidney MIller, Jr.
On October 1, 1922, a large photo bearing the surprise announcement that Fay was engaged to Sidney Trowbridge Miller, Jr. hit the newspapers. No wedding date was noted, and the low key couple was probably just fine with that. Her fiancée was legal royalty; his grandfather, Sidney Davy Miller founded what is now known as Miller Canfield in 1852 and his father, Sidney Trowbridge Miller followed in his footsteps at the prestigious law firm.
Miller Sr. introduced collegiate football in Detroit in 1887 as he organized and captained the Detroit Athletic Club football team, which Fay’s father later played on. He also had a York Harbor, Maine home and loved to fish like Marion. The Algers knew the Millers from way back and the impending marriage was welcomed as a solid one by all.
Sidney Miller, Jr. had been a field artillery instructor in the great war, twice wounded and twice gassed. He mustered out April of 1919 and went into the family business as a corporate attorney for banks and trusts. Like Fay, he was quieter, understated, and well respected.
The usual rounds of pre-wedding dinners and parties took place October through early December, when it was suddenly announced that the couple had married in a very small, private ceremony at “The Moorings” on December 9, 1922. There were no attendants just close immediate family and a small reception followed. This was also not the Grosse Pointe norm for the time. The couple planned to travel to Camden, South Carolina then New York, and return to his parents’ home to live briefly while their new home on Provencal was being built. After spending winter and spring 1923 with the Millers, they moved into the Alger’s for the entire summer still awaiting their house’s completion. Finally, the new Miller residence at 248 Provencal Road was ready for their move in on April 1,1924.
Fay with Marion Miller
Marion Miller was born September 17, 1923, and her brother, Sidney Trowbridge, III followed November 2, 1929. Even though she was raising the children and was busy socially as a very high profile attorney’s wife, Fay still found herself involved in some of the same community causes as her mother, namely the Neighborhood Club and the Neighborhood Thrift Shop. She was on the Club’s board, was president for several years, and was a trustee. Later, she teamed up with her sister – who was head of the Thrift Shop at the time – on a huge community undertaking to “gather clothes, household wares, or anything that could be converted into money” for the Ohio River Flood victims of 1937 (Detroit Free Press, 1/29/1937). Their local proceeds were funneled to the national Red Cross organization for appropriate distribution. All told, 385 people died and another million were left homeless across several states (Illinois, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky) in the historic flood. The people of Grosse Pointe stepped up to the task.
On April 1, 1936, Sidney T. Miller, Jr. died in Detroit’s Jennings Hospital at the age of 41. He had been hospitalized there for about two months for an infection that turned into pleurisy before passing. His multiple World War One injuries and gassings may or may not have played a part in his passing at such a young age. He pre-deceased his mother by a couple of months, and his father by four years. His passing also left his wife of 13 years with two children, ages 12 and six, without a father; Fay never remarried. The only somewhat bright spot amid the tragedy was that Marion Alger lived directly next door to the Millers at 242 Provencal, so she was available to Fay and the children when needed.
Fay & Marion Alger
Like her mother, Fay had also developed a serious interest in gardening and was involved with local flower shows, garden lectures, and all things Ellen Shipman. Fay was particularly skilled with floral arranging and won local awards for her creations. She was a member of Grosse Pointe’s Little Garden Club, and her gardens were always a stop on local tours.
In December of 1947, she struck a weird but familiar purchasing deal that used to be somewhat popular in the Grosse Pointes: she “swapped houses” with the Walter Buhl Ford IIs. They moved into her Provencal home and she into theirs on Dyar Lane the following spring. For whatever reason she was soon on the move again as by February 1950 she was into her new residence at 187 Irvine Lane where she would remain for decades.
Fay stayed very active with her community, philanthropic, and gardening work long after the kids had married and moved out. She traveled frequently with her mother, visiting her summer home in York Harbor or her winter residence in Boca Grande, Florida. She maintained her treasured escape at Huron Mountain and took excursions with friends to China, Russia, Cuba, and other far-flung locales. The Alger siblings even stepped up for The War Memorial after Marion had passed when the front gardens, pool, and outdoor areas needed upgrading post-Fries Auditorium build.
On Christmas Eve 1977, Fay passed away quietly at her home on Irvine Lane of throat cancer; she was 79 years old. Unlike the majority of the Alger’s, Fay was buried at Elmwood Cemetery - but not in the Alger mausoleum. She may be found at Lot 50 Sec A 2nd Grave 10 marked by a four-sided, tall monument honoring father-in-law Sidney Trowbridge Miller, wife Lucy Miller, and her beloved husband Sidney Jr.
PHOTO CREDIT: Sidney Trowbridge Miller, Jr. (Detroit Free Press, 1/13/1923); Miller headstones courtesy of Find A Grave.com