Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Terriff, William W. July 7, 1913 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Nan Wheaton wheaton1624@yahoo.com April 6, 2014, 3:37 pm Portland Observer - Thurs. July 10, 1913 DIES IN SANITARIUM William W. Terriff, Head of Enormous Soap and Remedy Business Expires in Flint LEAVES FORTUNE OF $160,000 A Remarkable Business Man Who Came to Portland in 1888 and Made a Success of Everything He Undertook. William W. Terriff, capitalist, manufacturer and patentee of Terriff’s Perfect Washer, wholesale dealer in soaps, remedies and toilet articles, and a business man of extraordinary ability, died at the Oak Grove sanitarium, in Flint, Monday afternoon at 4:30, after having reached that institution only about two hours prior to his death in company with John B. Hecox and Floyd Todd, of Portland. Mr. Terriff’s death was due to a long illness from rheumatism and organic heart trouble, which had greatly weakened his vitality and the final summons came following a chill and sinking spell. Many times during his illness he had rallied from similar attacks, but his vitality had been weakened to such an extent by the trip to Flint that the sanitarium physicians were unable to cope with his condition and death resulted. In the passing of Mr. Terriff Portland loses a citizen who made a success of every local business move on which he embarked. He came to Portland in 1888, at which time he was engaged in selling agents’ territory for washing machine which he had patented and which was being manufactured in Canada. The following year he organized the Portland Manufacturing Co., manufacturers of washing machines and various other articles, but his enterprise-appeared to be a failure until the manufacture of all articles except the washing machines was eliminated. The company was capitalized at $4,500, and when Mr. Terriff was granted a royality on each machine he pushed the business to its utmost capacity and dividends of as high as ___ percent were paid to stockholders. He soon made an improvement over the Perfect Washer and called it the “Greenville”, this machine being manufactured in Greenville for many years. Mr. Terriff retired from active management of the company several years ago, when the capital stock was increased to $25,000 for the manufacture of power washers, although he had recently taken up the sale of the gravity washer patented by E. L. Goodwin of Portland. In 1900 Mr. Terriff bought the plant of the Portland Soap Co. at 40c on the dollar, and although the business was a failure under former managements he made a complete success of it. The local plant manufactures laundry soap exclusively, but Mr. Terriff soon delved into the toilet soap and toilet article business, and today his products are sold by 8,000 agents throughout the country. In 1904 he organized the Turkish Remedy Co., being associated with A. L. Thomas, of Chicago, and this business has also been a decided success under his management. Mr. Terriff had amassed a fortune conservatively estimated at $160,000, a portion of which was on deposit in Canadian bands and invested in Canadian lands, although he is known to have purchased a large amount of United States government bonds a few years ago. He was a director of the Maynard-Allen State Bank, in Portland and a man of influence in financial matters. Mr. Terriff was born in 1867 on a farm near the village of Wingham, Huron county, Canada, and was of Scotch descent. In a booklet entitled” Twenty-Four Years on Hustling in The Washing Machine Business Under Two Flags,” Mr. Terriff tells of his ups and downs, his achievements and his success; how he helped his mother in the old-fashioned days of washing, and how he conceived the idea of making a machine that would do the hard work which in those days was accomplished only by hand. The book tells of many failures and reverses in the washing machine business and the final success, and is interesting from cover to cover. These have been distributed among his agents from coast to coast. Mr. Terriff was a tireless and diligent worker in all of his enterprises, and it was due to his constant attention to business that he brought on an organic heart trouble in his younger days, from which difficulty he had suffered at irregular intervals since. Dr. Alton, the attending physician, says Mr. Terriff’s death might have occurred at any moment during the past 15 years. Mr Terriff never married. He was a member of Portland lodge No. 331 F. & A. M. although he seldom attended the meetings on account of other business. His last illness dates back to the end of March. He had only recently returned from a sanitarium at St. Louis, where he received benefit, but his condition took a sudden turn for the worse about two weeks ago, and it was deemed imperative to remove him to the Flint institution Monday. Messrs. Hecox and Todd left for home at the patient’s suggestion. In less than two hours after their departure from the sanitarium, Mr. Terriff breathed his last. Mrs. E. Biggar, of Toronto, Ont., a sister of deceased who has been at her brother’s bedside in Portland for several weeks, left for Flint Tuesday morning and accompanied the remains from that city to Drayton, Canada, where funeral services were conducted Wednesday afternoon. Besides Mrs. Biggar deceased is survived by two other sisters, Mrs. Battey and Miss Mary Terriff, both of Toronto. Two brothers, John Terriff of Toronto, and James A. Terriff, of Gravelburg, Sask. also survive. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/ionia/obits/t/terriff24432nob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/mifiles/ File size: 5.9 Kb