My Genealogy Hound

Charles E. Waldo, whose connection with the First Commercial Bank of Pontiac began in 1883, when he was 16 years of age, is now assistant cashier and a director of this institution, which is one of the most substantial banks in this section of the State. He is one of the substantial men of the city, and is interested in numerous important enterprises. Mr. Waldo was born in Holly, Oakland County, April 12, 1866, and is a son of A. Putnam and Harriet M. (Winegar) Waldo, and a grandson of Charles C. Waldo.

Charles C. Waldo was born in Vermont in 1809, and was a son of Dr. Godfrey and Elizabeth (Carpenter) Waldo, natives of Connecticut and New Hampshire, respectively. The Doctor moved to New York, where he practiced for nearly half a century, then came to Birmingham, Oakland County, Michigan, in 1838. He retired from practice five years later, and at the time of his death in 1848, at the age of 75 years, lived in Pontiac. His wife died in Holly in 1872. The father of Dr. Godfrey Waldo was Daniel Waldo, a Revolutionary hero, whom Washington placed in charge of the commissary department. Like other members of the Waldo family, he lived to an advanced age, dying at Pomfret, Connecticut.

Charles C. Waldo, grandfather of our subject, although not a man of college education, acquired a good education in the common schools and academies of New York. He became a teacher and followed that vocation until 1831, when he began his mercantile career at Union, Broome County, New York. He came to Michigan in 1839, locating at Birmingham, and in 1845 moved to Pontiac, where he continued his career as a merchant. In 1864 he moved to Holly. He was treasurer, of Oakland County from 1864 to 1866, and was also a member of the School Board and president of the village. He served as justice of the peace for a period of 20 years, and in that time never had a decision reversed by the higher courts. His thorough knowledge of the statutes and his sound judgment saved an immense amount of litigation. He was married in 1832 to Ruth Seymour in Broome County, New York, and she died September 20, 1865, having had one child, A. Putnam, father of our subject. Mr. Waldo formed a second union with Mary Axford, of Clarkston. He was a man of broad ideas and was of that type that is a credit to any community.

A. Putnam Waldo was born in Union, New York, in 1833, and accompanied his parents to Oakland County in 1839. He engaged in the mercantile business in Holly and Brighton for many years, but in the early “seventies” moved from the county. He is now living at Rapid River, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. His wife, who was a native of New York State, accompanied her father to Oakland County when quite young. To their union were born one son — Charles E. — and four daughters, of whom one is living in California, another in Chicago, while two are deceased.

Charles E. Waldo was educated in the common and high schools of Oakland County, and when 16 years of age entered the employ of the First Commercial Bank of Pontiac as office boy and collector. His rise in this institution has been steady, and he is now assistant cashier, a stockholder and director. He is also interested in a number of other enterprises and has been exceedingly successful in all his business ventures. Politically he is a stanch Democrat, as have been all members of the Waldo family, but he has never taken an active part in party affairs. Fraternally, he is secretary of the lodge of the B. P. O. E. at Pontiac. In religious faith and fellowship, he is a Presbyterian.