Benjamin deClaire was born Henri Benjamin deClaire, on October 20, 1889, in Detroit, MI, to Henri L. deClaire and Zolange Louise D’Aigle, AKA Louise, AKA Louisa, AKA Zoe.  Her family roots were in St. Hycinthe, Quebec.  Benjamin was a second generation Detroiter and was educated in the public schools. 

 

He learned a trade of being a machinist, which was a new thing in his time, theretofore metal was shaped by blacksmiths, on forges.  During the Civil War, machine tools appeared to mass produce rifles and other weaponry.  The gunsmiths were the first to adopt machine tools like lathes, boring mills, etc.  When the auto industry was born, automobiles were assembled by handcraftsmen, using the “scrape and fit” method, so no two cars were exactly alike.  Machine tools were quickly employed and a new trade of being a Machinist was born - someone who could operate various machine tools to produce uniform results.  Benjamin learned his trade at the Kelsey Hayes Wheel Company.  This gave him credentials to work at Packard Experimental, where creation of new parts was required from time to time.  Shifting careers, he became an office worker at the newly formed General Motors and eventually worked for Earl F. Johnson, a key figure at GM, in the statistical department, which did demographics for the country’s future needs for cars and trucks.  Leaving General Motors, he was involved in the organizing of the Lake Shore State Bank, and served as its Treasurer.  He held various county political offices and was elected State Representative for Macomb County in the 1929-30 session. 

 

During the Great Depression, he was self-employed and sold real estate and insurance.  In 1936, he returned to General Motors’s Argonaut Realty Division, which bought and sold industrial locations.  During World War II, he was assigned to Bendix Aviation, a GM subsidiary.  Post war, he was involved in the acquisition of building sites for a dramatically expanding auto industry.  He retired in 1952 at the age of 65.