C. R. Mabley

Christopher Richards Mabley (1836–1885) was the founder of a chain of department stores in United States.

Mabley was born on Feb 22, 1836, in St. Minver, Cornwall, England to William and Mary née Richards Mably.

Around 1875 he married Katherine Morice Hull (with whom he had another 6 children) and in 1877 emigrated via Toronto (where his father set up as a silk merchant) to America.

There he opened a chain of clothing stores (known as Mabley & Co) across Michigan (Pontiac, Ionia, Flint, Detroit), Illinois and Ohio (Toledo, Cleveland) which were so successful that he was soon able to commission the tallest building in Detroit (14 floors) as his flagship store but died in 1885 before it could be completed.

In politics he was a Democrat, but was very broad in his views, voting for the best man regardless of party affiliations.