Back to Hudson because I feel like it.
Hudson’s founding team in 1909 had the three necessary members: a salesman/visionary, an engineer, and a manager/beancounter. Roy Chapin was the salesman, Howard Coffin the engineer, and Roscoe Jackson the manager. Chapin and Coffin started the whole project, which moved quickly through several existing companies, picking up training and helpers. Chapin knew where he was going and knew how to get there.
Jackson brought in the big investor, his wife’s uncle JL Hudson of department stores. Another JL Hudson niece was married to Edsel Ford. (Her surname Clay continues in the Ford line.) The two companies were in-laws, and their executives remained closer than you’d expect from competitors. Roy was playing tennis with Edsel in 1936 when he caught pneumonia and died.
Engineer Coffin seems to have distanced himself from the project. He was out of place financially; Chapin and Jackson came from wealth and Coffin’s mother managed a student boardinghouse in Lansing. Sources hint at his discontent with Chapin’s truth-stretching publicity. His name isn’t on some of the founding documents where you’d expect it.
This picture shows Coffin meeting with Henry Ford in 1912. The picture wasn’t intended for public view; it was taken by a British industry representative who was visiting the Ford plant. Was Howard invited to share in the British connection, or was he looking for a job? We don’t know. Hudson certainly did establish a strong British connection.
We do know that Coffin pulled out of active engineering by 1920 and handed the job to Stephen Fekete. He bought a large part of Sapelo Island off Georgia and became the landlord for the natives. He soon built a resort and managed it.
Genes count.
Polistra's Mill 