Grant and Crosman
1858-1861

William Cicero Grant was born in 1815 and died in Detroit, Michigan in 1883.  Charles Crosman was born in 1830 in Dexter, Michigan and died May 1, 1907 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  

The firm of Grant & Crosman operated from 1858 to 1861 in Detroit, Michigan. Both Charles Crosman and William Grant had been employed in 1853-1854 by Burt & Bailey and in 1855-1858 by Burt & Watson as instrument makers.  The firm of Grant & Crosman is only listed in the 1860-1861 Detroit directory.  The Detroit Advertiser, October 23, 1858: “Grant & Crosman have purchased the establishment of Burt & Watson, next door to the Advertiser’s Office, for manufacturing Burt’s Solar Compass and Mathematical Instrument generally.” They seem to have been in business from 1858 through 1861 at the old location at 214 Jefferson Avenue. 

In 1862 Grant moved the business to 11 Woodbridge and changed the name to William C. Grant.  Charles Crosman appears to have left the firm at this time.  Grant continued at various addresses until 1873.

Crosman is listed in the Detroit directories in 1859 as a mathematical Instrument maker at 316 Congress Street, also in the 1861-1863 directories. In 1861 he entered the Lighthouse Department of Staten Island. After a year he was transferred to the Detroit office and served on the lakes with the exception of a short period before his death. His name is linked with the history of the Great Lakes covering a period of almost half a century past, and he was long a Federal Engineer of note in the Department of Lake Michigan.

Burt & Watson (1857-1858) - In 1857 John and William Burt, almost certainly with their father's help, were able to entice Thomas N. Watson, William Young's foreman at the time and an excellent instrument maker, to move to Detroit and become a partner in the firm of Burt & Watson. The earliest evidence of this move is an invoice dated June 20, 1857: "Rec'd from W. A. Burt two Hundred dollars for one solar compass to be finished in one year. T. Watson." This was probably money advanced by William A. Burt to Thomas Watson to help with moving expenses. The firm is only listed in the 1857 directory. On the death of William A. Burt the family lost interest in the business and on October 23, 1858 the Detroit Advertiser announced: "GRANT AND CROSMAN have purchased the establishment of Burt & Watson, next door to the Advertiser's office, for manufacturing Burt's Solar Compass and Mathematical Instruments generally." Thomas Watson is listed in the 1859 Detroit directory and does not reappear in the Philadelphia directories until 1861 suggesting that he left Detroit in 1860.